Ancient Jokes

Ancient Greek Joke Book.

It's about 700 years older than the thing at the link, but I still think Aristophanes is one of the funniest writers I've ever read. If I recall correctly the first part of The Clouds is full of Socrates making fart jokes.

Buffalo Commons

I heartily endorse this idea... and it's from a libertarian!

Obama Nerd Watch

The People have a RIGHT TO KNOW.

Next July

Our future socialist dystopia.

Two rigid ideological parties... YES!

Way back in 2005 I had a class on political parties and interest groups. One of the key points the professor tried to drive home was that the United States didn't really have National Parties, but rather 50 state parties and a national fundraising arm for the Presidential race every four years. I pointed out two things: the first is that the parties have becoming increasingly ideologically aligned, and that picking Howard Dean as DNC chief (instead of some fundraising flunky) meant that the Democratic party meant to become a national party. My Prof. allowed for the possibility that I was correct, except that there were still some outliers in congress, and that there wasn't an equivelent "celebrity" leader in charge of the RNC. I argued "wait and see" about the congress, and pointed out that since Bush was President, he was leader of the party, so the RNC didn't need a "leader" leader.

Well, following 2006, the most liberal Republican is more conservative than the most conservative Democrat in congress. Republicans elected from New York are more conservative than Democrats elected from North Carolina. That's an ideologically coherent national party system, my friends.

And now that Obama's won the Presidency, he's replacing Dean with one of his own guys. And it looks like Newt Gingrich wants to be RNC Chairman. Newt being RNC Chair would prove my quasi-Marxist theory of partisan evolution true.

America is a big country, and we've long had a patchwork party system based on regional differences, but fifty years after the advent of mass media, we've finally cohered into a sensible two-party system. This is bad for political reporters, who like interesting stories about Mavericks crossing party lines. And it's bad for wanna-be philosophes who are oh so concerned that the parties don't line up with their particular esoteric political philosophies. But it's great for average voters, who don't need to really know anything about particular candidates before casting their votes.

Now I just need to start a campaign to bring back straight ticket voting...

NANOWRIMO

I got a late start because of the election, but in the words of Samuel L. Jackson, I continue to kick ass.

Secretary of State

There's chatter out there about who President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama might choose as his Secretary of State. While this blog officially supports Bill "America's Bestest Diplomat Evar" Richardson (and we strenuously object to Dick "I like to bomb things" Holbrooke), the two names I find interesting are Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

Some commentaries during the primary season compared the Clinton/Obama race to the Seward/Lincoln competition in 1860. William H. Seward was thought to be a lock on the Republican nomination in 1860, but Lincoln out maneuvered him for the nomination. After the convention, Seward agreed to campaign for Lincoln, and after the election, Lincoln chose him to be Secretary of State.

What's been missed is that there's a precedent for Kerry too. In 1912, Woodrow Wilson chose the former nominee of the party, William Jennings Bryan, to be his Secretary of State.

All I'm saying is, if Black Lincoln picks Lady Seward, the Republicans are running a General in 2012.

2012

Last night there was some irresponsible speculation on 2012. I know, I know. I think I brought up the topic of the GOP Civil War, the best new show since Heroes, and that eventually led us down the sundry path to 2012.

All the usual names were tossed out: Palin, Jindal, Huckabee, Charlie "Three Dollar Bill" Crist, RomneyBot™, and The Newt, along with a few lesser known Governors. Interestingly, no Senators were mentioned, probably because the GOP's Senators are either too old, certifiably insane, or Pro-Choice. Other Matt brought up the possibility of a General, and despite this, I think President Obama is going to keep Petraeus employed until 2012, at least.

But now I'm thinking Obama has to run against a General. Black Lincoln needs his McClellan! But who will it be?