Monday Miscellaneous

Monday Miscellaneous

Here's some goodies for my regular, non-Linux readers:

Tom Harkin tells the Burlington Hawk Eye (the state's most under-rated small paper), the filibuster must go:

"I think, if anything, this health care debate is showing the dangers of unlimited filibuster," Harkin said Thursday during a conference call with reporters. "I think there's a reason for slowing things down ... and getting the public aware of what's happening and maybe even to change public sentiment, but not to just absolutely stop something."

On the other hand, Ezra Klein nails Joementum, and says 2009 health care is all about Ned Lamont and the 2006 primary:

"At this point, Lieberman seems primarily motivated by torturing liberals. That is to say, he seems willing to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in order to settle an old electoral score."

Just remember: back in 2000, I told ya so.

Speaking of which, here's an analogy scientifically designed to make me cringe:

If Copenhagen is the enviros' Woodstock, then Gore is The Who, the Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival as a one-man band.

Three great bands, but I'm still partial to Prince, Frank Zappa and Twisted Sister.

Closer to home, a must-read at Iowa Republican on Terry Branstad's primary woes:

There is one thing that Branstad continues to struggle with – his own record.

While Branstad’s general elections polling numbers are stellar, winning the Republican primary will be no easy task. The last thing Branstad’s staff should do is take their Republican opponents for granted. Thus far, it seems as if the Branstad campaign is living off of the inevitability that they will win the nomination. That’s a strategy that invites failure.

Most of the article focuses on the road use tax fund, but the 800 pound elephant in the room is Varnum v. Brien. My money's still on BVP in June and a Culver win (more accurately a BVP loss) in November.

Last of all, a super-fun toy that lets you redistrict your state. And yes, I've tested it in Linux.