(Ben Sargent via GoComics.com)
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Tim Egan, in his NYTImes blog:
… Much has been said about how the great gerrymander of the people’s House — part of a brilliant, $30 million Republican action plan at the state level — has now produced a clot of retrograde politicians who are comically out of step with a majority of Americans. It’s not just that they oppose things like immigration reform and simple gun background checks for violent felons, while huge majorities support them.
Or that, in the aggregate, Democrats got 1.4 million more votes for all House positions in 2012 but Republicans still won control with a cushion of 33 seats.
Or that they won despite having the lowest approval rating in modern polling, around 10 percent in some surveys. Richard Nixon during Watergate and B.P.’s initial handling of a catastrophic oil spill had higher approval ratings.
But just look at how different this Republican House is from the country they are supposed to represent. It’s almost like a parallel government, sitting in for some fantasy nation created in talk-radio land…
The Beltway chorus of the moment blames President Obama for his inability to move his proposals through a dunderheaded Congress. They wonder how Republicans would be treating a silken-tongued charmer like Bill Clinton if he were still in the White House. We already know: not a single Republican voted for Clinton’s tax-raising budget, the one that led to our last federal surplus. Plus, they impeached him; his presidency was saved only in the Senate.
Obama may be doomed to be a reactive president in his second term, with even the most common-sense proposals swatted down because, well — if he’s for it, Republicans will have to be against it. What could be a signature achievement, immigration reform, faces quicksand in the House. But a gerrymander is good for only a decade or so. Eventually, demography and destiny will catch up with a Congress that refuses to do the people’s bidding.
While we wait for the tides to turn, what’s on the agenda for the weekend?
raven
Porch demolition in the rain.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’ll know that after the coffee’s ready.
Yesterday I had a highly entertaining and wholly unnecessary 2 hour drive through the Berkshires of western Mass. The vehicle was a Chevy Cruze. I hate the name but I really liked the car. A surprising fine small sedan of the sort that Chevy should be selling by the freighter load. And I don’t like small sedans as a rule. If a relative was shopping for a midsize 4-door I’d insist they test drive a Cruze.
I see most cars from the inside out, as in sheet metal and components in factories. It’s a pleasure to see one of the Big 3 making a quality bread and butter family car. The Dodge Dart was a huge annoyance but the Cruze has restored my faith in Detroit.
Dolly Lllama
Finishing a rock border around the yard and laying down mulch all morning here. Helluva lot better than porch demolition in the rain.
geg6
Recovering. Learning how to talk and eat again. This sucks and I have to go through it again and again for the next three years or so. Fucking major dental work sucks.
Fred
Gerrymander may only last a decade but onerous voter ID laws, defacto poll taxes and related voter disenfranchising skullduggery will be on the books until the SCOTUS sweeps them into the dust bin of history, so don’t hold your breath. And I still think there is plenty of vote shifting going on with those computer vote counters.
EconWatcher
Going to Atlanta soon for a short business trip–any recommendations for a fun restaurant? I might have one evening off–what should i do or see to appreciate the city? Any tips would be much appreciated.
raven
@EconWatcher: Will you have a car? Pasta Da Pulcinell in midtown is a small eatery in midtown that is quite good. Little Five Points is funky town. The Cyclorama at Grant Park is a huge painting of the Battle of Atlanta and there is a nice zoo there as well.
raven
@EconWatcher: The Flying Biscuit Cafe in Candler Park is a noted veggie joint. (There are other locations as well.) The Variety Playhouse in Little Five has great music, you might see who is playing when you are here.
raven
@EconWatcher: Here’s Creative Loafing , scroll down for the “Best of Atlanta” for tips.
EconWatcher
@raven: thànks! No car. Staying at JW Marriott in Buckhead(?) On Lenox Avenue.
The Other Bob
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
A friend bought a Cruze Eco. He was getting better mileage than it was rated. He was getting 48 and 50 mpg if he took it easy on the highway. Unfortunately he just totaled it in a head-on collision with a Durango. He walked away from he wreck though, which is pretty amazing.
Today I am grouting bath tile. Tile is not my thing.
Cheryl from Maryland
@EconWatcher: Richard Blais” Flip in Buckheadn. Amazing burgers, great shakes(although made with molecular gastronomy).
Ultraviolet Thunder
@The Other Bob:
Sorry about your friend’s accident. I’m not surprised the car saved him in a head-on. Modern auto crash standards are extremely stringent. I see car bodies being made and tested. They’re extremely rigid and tough. Engineered to keep massive amounts of energy away from your fragile body.
Oldsters talk about wanting a big heavy car with a lot of metal for safety. Nonsense. Any modern car is safer in a crash than an outdated land yacht.
Here’s a video of an ’09 Malibu absolutely demolishing a ’59 Bel Air twice its size in a quarter-head-on. The Malibu driver would have walked away. The Bel Air driver would have died on the spot.
Kay
It’s tough to even get people to run for state legislator seats in swing or R-majority districts because the truth is running for a seat is horrible.
It’s basically 20 or 30 hours a week, unpaid. It’s 3/4 fundraising. The big prize, should you win, is a part time job that’s 4 hours (here) from where you live. Oh, and your family will hate you and everyone, everyone in the local Party could run a better campaign than the candidate, which they’re more than happy to TELL the candidate, at great length.
I’m amazed we get anyone at all to run.
Phylllis
Town yard sale. The high school students have a garden/greenhouse operation and are setting up there to sell their veggies. It’s a trial run for them-we were awarded a grant for them to develop a youth farmer’s market, which we hope to have in operation by the fall.
The Other Bob
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I have seen the video. Its pretty amazing. The funny thing is, modern cars aren’t light. People just think they are.
My ’66 Mustang weighted around 2300lbs with an Iron block V-8. I think a Cruze is around 3100 lbs.
MikeJ
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I’ve not driven a new Dart, but I have a warm place in my heart for the 1960-something that I learned to drive stick on.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@The Other Bob:
Cars got porky because everyone wanted all of the amenities in even economy versions. Power everything, sound insulation, larger passenger compartment, etc. Everything from softer suspension to armrests adds mass. They’re struggling to pare weight from the structure to increase fuel efficiency. Hot-stamped boron steels are lighter for the same strength. If the response to our recent symposium on laser welding aluminum is any indication, the next gen of cars will have a lot more recycled pop cans in the body to improve the gas mileage.
Mustang Bobby
I’m sitting in Gate 21 at Tulsa International Airport waiting for my flight home to Miami after a shortened time at the 32nd William Inge Theatre Festival. The festival continues on tonight, but I have to get back to see the premiere of a play of mine in Lake Worth, Florida. While I was at the Inge I participated in a bunch of cool events with some big names in theatre, including Shirley Knight, Dakin Matthews, and Elizabeth Wilson (Dustin Hoffman’s mom in The Graduate, among other roles since 1953). My job was to present a scholarly paper and shill copies of my off-Broadway play.
I’m still recovering from the weather there. When I arrived on Wednesday it was sunny and 80, but by Thursday night it was snowing and miserable. It’s still overcast and cold here. I remember why I like living in Florida.
OzarkHillbilly
Well, I was going to spend the wkend with 3-400 of my closest friends (the Spring MVOR) which was being hosted by some buddies of mine just a few miles away from the homestead, but it decided to rain all Thursday night, and all day yesterday, so it got canceled because of flooding. I know some of my friends are still on sight as some are trapped on the wrong side of the creek and others have to be there to turn away the hopeful celebrants.
I guess I’ll get a 6 pack of good beer and go watch the waters rise with them.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@MikeJ:
The Dart may not be a bad car for someone but it was a terrible one for me to drive from central Iowa to Detroit in a snow storm. Ergonomics so bad that after 11 hours in the driver’s seat one thigh went completely numb from pinched nerves and I couldn’t stand.
And it felt and looked like a cheap car. Nobody wants that.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Ultraviolet Thunder: 59 Chevy’s had metal dashboards, my mom had a 59 Parkwood.
Kay
Also, term limits are a disaster at the state level because all it does is make the same people flip between jobs.
It’s the worst of both worlds. They can’t stay long enough to get great at any one job, and they keep newer people out by jumping chairs.
Term limits came, I believe, from the Articles of Confederacy which should have been a tip-off.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@BillinGlendaleCA:
A modern dashboard is a magnesium casting covered with layers of composites and plastics. The Cruze that I drove had a surprisingly attractive open weave fabric surface that wrapped around to the door panels. There may be more engineering in it than in a WWII aircraft engine.
greennotGreen
@EconWatcher: Last time I was in Atlanta (last month) we ate at Himalayan Spice which is Indian/Nepalese. I’d never had Nepalese food before. It was great and the ambience was lovely and it was moderately priced. It’s on Clairemont which is either in Buckhead or near Buckhead – I don’t know where the Buckhead “line” is.
Oh, and Atlanta Botanical Garden is either my first or second most favorite botanical garden in the United States, the other being New York. It’s 4.5 miles from your hotel.
greennotGreen
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I second , third, or forth the positive comments on the Cruze. I rented on for a drive from Huntsville to Nashville. Very nice car, very comfortable. I tried to talk my mother into looking at one when she was in the market, but she didn’t think it was pretty, so no dice.
And why am I in moderation for a restaurant recommendation?
Cassidy
@Ultraviolet Thunder: We got my wife a Dart and she loves it. Ergonomic ally it fits get perfectly. She’s also 5’4″. But it did stretch out nicely for me. As for cheap, if you get the cheap version of any car it will feel that way. You gotta move up.
raven
@EconWatcher: It’s Lenox Square. There is a Marta Station right there and you can go to the Arts Center or Midtown Station. Actually I forgot to mention Empire State South. It’s owned by Hugh Achenson who lives around the corner here in Athens. Great place and a short walk from the Midtown Station and right across the street from the Margaret Mitchell House. That entire area has undergone quite an upgrade since I was at Tech some 15 years ago.
raven
@Ultraviolet Thunder: My 66 Chevy Truck has a solid steel dash and a steering column that will come right back through your chest in a head-on.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ultraviolet Thunder: The Dart is based on the new Alfa Romeo Giuletta which has been garnering a lot of praise. My guess is that they have over-Americanized it a bit and that the fleet version probably sucks.
I have heard enough good things about the Giuletta that I am hoping that Fiat/Chrysler brings it here. Eventually, I will need to replace my Saab, and an Alfa might be nice.
The Other Bob
@Omnes Omnibus:
When you repllace your Saab, the closest thing on the market might be a Buick Regal Turbo GS…no joke. I don’t think Alfa is coming soon, but I think Chrysler may be about to sell a version called the 100.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Cassidy: @Omnes Omnibus:
I had a base Dart as a local rental and ended up driving it halfway across the continent in the aftermath of a blizzard. That undoubtedly tainted my impressions of it. But the abrupt response of the brakes and throttle, the cramped seating position (I’m 5’10”, long legs) and the low driving position were all deal killers for me. I’ve driven a lot of small cars. And a few very small ones (Remember the Renault Le Car?) and I can’t recall anything else that made me uncomfortable in so many ways.
Omnes Omnibus
@The Other Bob: I will not buy a GM product for a long time to come. Saab-related bitterness.
lojasmo
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Huh. We liked the Dart quite a bit. In the end we ended up with a lightly used 2012 Cruze, and love it.
La Caterina
Working on my strike memo so that my supervisors will be able to take over my cases if we walk out. White collar labor struggles- relatively genteel but the same dynamic as always. Management trying to gut our retirement and health care. And we’re a non-profit. Sheesh.
lojasmo
FYWP no edit. The car is quiet, the engine peppy (turbo) and lots of amenities. If any cruze owners are getting surprisingly low mileage on the 1.4t, the plugs came mis gapped from the factory, and should be regapped to (iirc) 0.25.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@lojasmo:
I only drove it for 3 days but the Cruze struck me as a car I could live with comfortably for a long time. I was completely unfamiliar with the car, the mountains and the route but it (and Garmin) got me through without trouble or frustration.
I drive rentals a lot and my impressions tend to be colored by how much trouble I have figuring the damn thing out the first day. Obviously this is less of a concern for long term ownership. But to some extent ease of operation does reflect careful design and engineering.
Glidwrith
Haircuts for the family, probably followed by bread-making, jam and syrup making, food shopping for the week then maybe planting the artichoke and soapwort I bought 3 weeks ago.
Amir Khalid
Tomorrow (Sunday) is Malaysia’s 13th general election. By all accounts it’s going to be the closest one in our history. At the Federal level it’s even odds between the Barisan Nasional coalition — in power since independence — and Pakatan Rakyat, the opposition coalition formed just in time for the 2008 elections, where they did surprisingly well. Pakatan people I talk toseem confident about their chances, Barisan people seem defensive.
There’s a feeling we might be in for our first-ever change of Federal government, which is uncharted historical territory for Malaysia. Wish us luck.
Schlemizel
@Amir Khalid:
Is there a real concern that the Barisan might not go peacefully if that is the result?
Stay safe
Tokyokie
@Amir Khalid: Good luck, and what Schlemizel said.
Amir Khalid
@Schlemizel:
Well, there’s a real concern that they might, um, bend the rules to prevent it. I have my doubts about that, but many do take this concern seriously. Refusing to go after an election defeat seems unlikely, though. I wouldn’t fancy being in Najib’s shoes and trying to govern a country that thinks him a usurper.
I think it’s more likely that a defeated Barisan will use whatever influence it still has to gum up the works on a Pakatan Federal government, just like you-know-who in America.
Schlemizel
@Amir Khalid:
Well, lets hope things go better than that. nasib baik
To you and your nation
Amir Khalid
OMFG! Sex and violence in ancient Roman art!
askew
@EconWatcher:
I stayed there last year. Nice hotel. I highly recommend getting breakfast at the Corner Cafe/Buckhead Bread Company. I had a great dinner at Seasons 52 as well.
feebog
Getting ready for “Citrus Sunday” which will be our 8th annual event jointly sponsored by our local Councilman, 10 neighborhood councils, homeowner groups and Faith based organizations in the Northwest San Fernando Valley. Our goal, is to collect 25,000 lbs of fresh citrus fruit for food banks all over Los Angeles. I have 12 orange trees, so I’m picking this morning.
Ruckus
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
That is my favorite piece of evidence when someone tells me cars were better 40-50 years ago. What I find funny is a lot of the people telling me that cars were better are people who were less than 10 yrs old or not even born then and didn’t have to live with them.
Ruckus
@Kay:
I’ve thought a few times about running for office. I’ve laughed my ass off the exact same number of times, for all those reasons. The concept is fine, public service, put forth a liberal agenda and push for it, the reward is the service itself. But the cost, in both monetary and personal sacrifice, all the while being able to get very little if nothing done and having to be sociable to assholes? I’m just not that good of a person.
Mnemosyne
@The Other Bob:
This is one of the reasons I’m planning to replace my beloved 15-year-old RAV-4 with a new car this year — I’ve heard way too many stories from people with late-model cars who got into what you would think would be horrific accidents that they walked away from because the car they were in had all of the latest safety features. IIRC Soonergrunt totaled his car last year after someone t-boned him and he walked away with strains and bruises.
The Other Bob
@Omnes Omnibus:
Saab would have died long, long ago had GM not subsidized them through their ownership. GM delayed the inevitable. Don’t blame them, blame buyers who prefer mainstream everything, instead of quirkey cars.
Not Sure
@Fred: Fortunately, neither the Senate nor the White House can be gerrymandered. They are what they are. We should hope to hold those two pieces of the puzzle for a while longer, until the conservative bloc starts to decay of old age. Which will be soon.
The lesson here is to make sure you control as many state legislatures as you can on years ending in zero. 2010 is the year we really dropped the ball, and we’ll be paying for it until the 2020 census. And then I (hopefully) retire.
Not Sure
@The Other Bob: But it was a relatively small V8. And the original Mustangs were based on the Falcon, which was designed to run on four cylinders. Unibody construction, which was state of the art at the time. It was light on purpose so it would be easy enough for Mom and fast enough for Dad. I would imagine a 60s car that was pared down so much in weight would also be a rolling coffin.