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GBP: Health Care Reform

As I mentioned in the announcement right before this post, there’ll be many changes coming in the next several days.  I hope to make the process as seamless as possible, but I also like getting down and dirty with the code and also somehow doing things the hard way.  Anyway, this is most likely the last post on The New Age of Politics version 1.  You’ll still come back to the same place for my new posts, lovingly crafted at odd hours of the day for you, but things will look much different around here starting later today.  In fact, you might be looking at the change in motion right now!

Who knows?  Anyway, oh yes, tonight is a continuation of my new series, “The Good, the Bad, and the Presidential”, in which I highlight one of President Obama’s achievements and analyze it with the gift of hindsight!  Tonight, the random achievement picker happened to come up with one that I’ve already written more than enough about.  Aside from reading the title of this post, which one do you think it is?

The Winds of Change Are Blowing

It’s been a while, I know; last week was incredibly busy and I just couldn’t give a post the attention I like to give it, so I left it alone for a week.  Well, between all the turkey, avoiding crowds, traffic, and other Thanksgiving/Black Friday week madness, I’m back, and I’ve got quite a bit to write.  But before we get to that, an announcement.  This may be the last post before you start seeing some dramatic changes on this blog. Well, the post after this; this announcement turned out to be much longer than I’d expected!

Why?  Remember the whole “summer of changes” thing that didn’t end up really happening because I managed to land myself an internship somehow?  Part of that was moving this blog from its current home at WordPress.com to the open source WordPress.org variety.  For reasons that get long and detailed and technical, I’ve decided that now is the time, so instead of getting in line to do all of my holiday shopping on Black Friday, I’ll be moving everything over to the new server.  Should be fun!

On a side note, there might be a little downtime during the day on Friday as I redirect newageofpolitics.com to point to the new server.  If you happen to experience that, just hang tight – you’re witnessing change in the making!  Now, it won’t instantly go from how it is now to the new New Age of Politics (and where have we heard something along those lines before?), especially with all the new goodies I will be able to add on to the blog.  What surprises do I have in store?  I might change the look and feel of the blog; not sure to what, but if I find a theme out there that looks awesome, I might use it.

That’s just a whole new coat of paint though; I’ve got so much planned that this really is The New Age of Politics version 2.0.  Of course, you’ll still get the same quality analysis and opinion that you expect from me; that much, at the very least, isn’t changing.  Assuming everything goes smoothly, and there’s no reason I can think of that it won’t go smoothly (this has been in the planning stages for nearly six months, after all!), make sure to check back late on Friday afternoon or Friday evening to see what all has changed – That is, after you’ve read my latest post, which will be landing sometime in the next 24 hours (think sooner rather than later!)

As always, leave me a comment or send a feedback e-mail using the form to the right with any ideas or suggestions you might have.  Eventually I’ll put a poll up about the new changes; as a political commentator, I should really take more opinion polls, shouldn’t I?

Don’t Forget To Check Your Liberties Along With Your Luggage

Image via Wikipedia

When will it end?  The Transportation Security Administration, the organization that mans the airport security checkpoints, appears to be just throwing new regulations and procedures at us, the American public, with the usual national security excuse.  Seriously, the conduct that the TSA now considers Standard Operating Procedure is so offensive, it was difficult to think of a title for this post that wasn’t equally outrageous.  Remember those new enhanced scanners that I wrote about several months ago?  They’re rolling out nationwide, and contrary to what I thought would happen back in January, the controversy just seems to be spreading.

In fact, I think we’re at the point where the snowball effect is starting to kick in; when I was originally trying to write this earlier this week, the outcry was largely limited to the blogosphere and other internet communities.  Now, however, it’s hit the mainstream media, and it doesn’t show any sign of slowing down any time soon.  Given that they are subjected to the scanners much more frequently than you or I, the airline pilots have a slightly different, and perhaps slightly stronger, argument than the general public.  However, the peoples’ argument is just as strong, and just as insidious.  Just how big?  Read on, my friend, read on…

GBP: The Credit CARD Act

Well, as the first salvo in a burst of blog posts over the next few days, here’s the second installment of my new series of posts called “The Good, The Bad, and the Presidential”.  This regularly-appearing series takes a look back at the various accomplishments made by President Obama in the first half of his term, and provides the same level of analysis longtime readers have come to expect from me.  Without further ado, here’s tonight’s accomplishment:

The Good, The Bad, and the Presidential

Just about halfway into President Obama’s term, and we’ve had one of the most lopsided elections in American history- all based on misconceptions about what has or hasn’t been accomplished.  The media, politicians, their parties, and blogs far less sane than the one you’re currently reading, have spun a lot of things and just not highlighted a lot of things that have gotten done over the past two years despite a Congress that became infamous for not being able to get things done.

At the end of the day, everything goes by the President, and are often labeled as his accomplishments, or pieces of his agenda that have gotten through.  I’m sure some of you have heard about the site that has sprang up in recent days called “WTF Has President Obama Done So Far”; it’s great for listing his accomplishments, but there’s zero analysis to it whatsoever.

That’s where I come in: Each installment of this regular section, while I haven’t decided on a frequency yet, will have a short statement of something that has been accomplished over the last two years.  Of course, there’ll be the analysis of the accomplishment that you’ve come to expect from me, as well as where it stands now- what it looks like going into the 112th Congress and the broader future.  Without further ado, here’s the inaugural edition:

Tsunami or Wipeout?

As you probably know, results are streaming in from around the country from tonight’s midterm elections.  I’ve said before that I dislike doing the same kind of recap posts that I did for, well, just about every primary vote, so I’m going to do something different for tonight’s analysis.  I’ll be tweeting my thoughts as the results come up and doing an analysis of the broader narrative, such that it is, once the dust settles.  Follow @bassitone if you’re on twitter, or just lurk there and comment on here if you aren’t a Twitter user; I’ll cross-post some of the comments as the night goes on.  Sorry it has to be this way; WordPress.com won’t let me embed my stream on this page, though I’ll put it on top of the sidebar for tonight.

Have Blog, Will Travel

This isn’t a normal post, but then again, this isn’t a normal weekend.  You might have heard about a certain Rally to Restore Sanity (or March to Keep Fear Alive); I’m going.  I’ll try to blog from it, or at the very least later on Saturday night/Sunday morning, when I’ll be on the bus back for 15 hours.  If any of you are going, try to find me – I’ll be holding this above my head until my arms get tired!  I’ll also be wearing the blog’s name all over my body just about, as if it weren’t obvious enough…

 

This is what I'll be holding up at the Rally. Sane enough for ya?

Welcome to the Corporate States of America?

Sorry for the long absence from writing; I’ve had too much work so far this semester, and as always, I care about the quality of these posts.  I do not just randomly throw whatever up here; I take time to research these posts.  As a result, yes, I am starting to write this on a Saturday night; this issue is too important to not write about.  Remember the Citizens United ruling?  We’re now seeing its full effects, and they are disturbing.  Several weeks ago, Target was called out for donating to a Minnesota candidate’s campaign based on his economic platform; this same candidate, it turns out, is against gay marriage.  Though the grassroots campaign against Target was successful, it turns out we were barely scratching the surface with the issue of corporate funding of campaigns.

Much larger than Target’s six-figure donation to MN Forward is the $10 million that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent this past week trying to elect Republicans in recent weeks.  Now, the idea of the Chamber funding political attack ads is nothing new, and is even, albeit tacitly, accepted in American politics.  I don’t think special interest groups on either side of the political spectrum should be involved in politics, but that’s another post for another day.  What is really getting at me is the question of whether the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending foreign money on campaign ads, which is a violation of Federal law.

The Pop Star and the Politician

For those of you who know me, I don’t listen to pop music, hip hop/R&B, or anything really mainstream for that matter; I prefer classical music and classic rock, with some very obscure sub-genres thrown in there and whatnot.  Therefore, I’m not sure what’s more surprising: me discussing Lady Gaga, or the fact that she actually made the (serious) headlines for an exchange she happened to have with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Twitter this week.

Apparently, the senior Senator from Nevada and the world-famous singer had a Twitter conversation about the effort to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the policy barring gays and lesbians from serving in the military, unless they keep their sexual orientation a secret.  According to Mediaite, after Lady Gaga tweeted her followers to “Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  Call Harry Reid to Schedule Senate Vote”, Senator Reid responded, announcing that there would, indeed, be a Senate vote on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell next week.  Mediaite then goes on to speculate whether this is Senator Reid’s attempt to portray himself as in tune with my generation in an election year, but I think that while there might be something to that, it’s not the only reason for the exchange.

Having spoken to a few of my friends who are more in tune with pop culture, it seems Lady Gaga is a fairly vocal advocate on LGBT issues.  The beauty of Twitter, of course, is that anyone can talk to a given celebrity or important public figure, and anything can happen to strike a chord and enter the cultural zeitgeist at any given time.  That seems to have happened to Lady Gaga’s exchange with the Majority Leader; in the days since, other Senators have been in contact with Lady Gaga and the issue seems to be gaining steam ahead of the vote.

One Year On

I don’t usually use a post on the front page to give an update about the blog itself, saving this space for an actual post instead. As of right now, it’s been one year since I started writing this thing. To those of you who have been here since the very beginning, thank you. I could never have made it to a year of writing without you. I like to speak my mind, but even I have my limits; if I had seen over and over that nobody was reading this, I probably would’ve stopped. I’d continue speaking my mind, but I’d do it in a different place. But enough about what would’ve happened without you; you’re here, and you keep coming back for more. Well, more is exactly what I’m going to give you.

To those of you who’ve joined us sometime over the past year, thank you. It may seem a little strange at first, but it gives me immeasurable satisfaction to be writing for people who I don’t personally know. Certainly, I know several of you, but to the readers I don’t know: welcome. This blog cannot grow without more of you, and yes, growth is only good.

To the random reader of this post months, or even years from now (hey, it happens!), come on in, stay a while, leave a comment or two and, if you like what you’re reading, share it! By virtue of reading this blog, all of you are awesome!