Divided We Stand - United We Fall

State of the Union - The Musical! Les Miserables Edition

2012-01-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Dividist's annual (sort of) coverage of the Presidential Address to Congress - aka State of the Union - The Musical!

In 2007, as a blogging infant, the Dividist despaired at finding a unique approach to the SOTU when so many other bloggers would be traversing the same ground. The answer came from Bob Woodward. I asked Bob in an on-line Washington Post forum whether the SOTU had any real relevance. He responded by saying it was "mostly theater." Genius. That was the answer. What better way to frame the SOTU, media and blog reactions than within the lyrics of a Broadway show tune?

The game is to find blog posts, news stories and commentary that can be vaguely referenced in the lines of the song and link them to the lyrics.

In 2007 it was "Comedy Tonight" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. In 2008 it was the 1966 hit "Georgy ~~Girl~~ Boy". For 2009, we welcomed President Obama with "Razzle Dazzle" from the musical Chicago. In 2010, the man behind the curtain was revealed in - The Wizard of Oz. We mostly skipped 2011, but for this election year, with this divided government, with the President and Congress erecting barricades against the mobs weilding pitchforks and torches in unfavorable polls, we were drawn to Les Miserables and "Do you hear the people sing?"

We'll post the lyrics now, then update with links to live-bloggers, references, analysis and reviews before, during and after the speech. It'll be over when we get tired of the speech, the game, or too drunk to type. Yes, the Dividist is easily amused.

The Dividist welcomes any and all suggested links, for any and all lines anywhere in the lyric (or dialog), from any who accidentally stumble across this post, at any time.

To help get you into the spirit. Music up... Raise the Curtain...

Do You Hear The People Sing?

OCCUPODS:

Do you hear the people sing?

Singing a song of angry men?

It is the music of a people

Who will not be slaves again!

When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!

OBAMITES:

Will you join in our crusade?

Who will be strong and stand with me?

Beyond the barricade

Is there a world you long to see?

Then join in the fight

That will give you the right to be free!

TEAPARTIACS:

Do you hear the people sing?

Singing a song of angry men?

It is the music of a people

Who will not be slaves again!

When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!

ROMNERIANS AND GINGROIDS:

Will you give all you can give

So that our banner may advance

Some will fall and some will live

Will you stand up and take your chance?

The blood of the martyrs

Will water the meadows of France!

ALL:

Do you hear the people sing?

Singing a song of angry men?

It is the music of a people

Who will not be slaves again!

When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!

Divided and Balanced.™
Now that is fair.

San Francisco Values - Alleged Wife Battering County Sheriff Edition

2012-01-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

This mug shot is our new Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi. He was elected Sheriff in the last election and sworn in on Monday. Friday he was arrested for "domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness" over a recent incident involving his wife, the Venezuelan telenovella actress Eliana Lopez:

Where to start? Like Jean Quan in Oakland, Ross Mirkarimi's election was a triumph for Ranked Choice Voting. As I noted last November:

"Mirkarimi could never win a one-on-one runoff between himself and either Miyamoto or Cunnie, the second and third place finishers who are actually qualified to be Sheriff. He is only Sheriff because his opponents split the rational vote and voters either don't understand how ranked voting is gamed or don't care enough to think about the consequences of their second and third place votes or just do not understand Ranked Choice Voting at all. Who knows what damage he'll do to the Sheriff's Department... We probably should start on the recall petitions now. But - there is a silver lining. Mayor Ed Lee will appoint a replacement to fill out his term on the Board of Supervisors. Anyone will be an improvement on the board, and Lee is likely to appoint a moderate. Mirkarimi will do less damage to the city as Sheriff than on the Board of Supervisors for the next year."

Looks like we need not wait for the inevitable recall. According to the SF Chronicle:

"City law gives Mayor Ed Lee the authority to charge Mirkarimi with official misconduct and temporarily suspend him from office - a move that eventually could lead to Mirkarimi's permanent expulsion. During a temporary suspension, the sheriff's department would be run by a caretaker appointed by the mayor...

The sheriff oversees a paramilitary organization of more than 800 sworn officers and a civilian staff of about 100. The department runs San Francisco's jails with an average daily inmate population of 2,200, provides City Hall and courtroom security, carries out court-ordered evictions and warrants, and aids San Francisco police in enforcement actions."

A "paramilitary organization"? The Sheriff's department?? Maybe Mirkarimi should follow in the footsteps of other great leftist leaders - like the President for Life of his allegedly battered wife's native Venezuela - Hugo Chavez. He could lead his paramilitary Sheriff's department up Market Street, storm City Hall, and stage a military coup right here in the People's Republic of San Francisco. No doubt District Attorney George Gascon will be first up against the wall. Your loyal blogger might be next.

Eliana Lopez - Mrs. Ross Mirkarimi

Frankly, I am surprised by this turn of events. When this story hit the wires on Sunday, I figured it would blow over. I thought there was no way they would prosecute unless his wife cooperated and pressed charges. Since she was not and is not cooperating with the police, I assumed there was no case.

Regardless, I could not help feeling some sympathy about the dynamic of Mirkarimi's domestic situation. Even without charges, Ross clearly would have nothing to say about anything that would go on in that household from now until... oh... eternity. Mirkarimi's political career hangs by a thread. One word from his Venezuelan firecracker and it is over. He created his own special ring of hell for himself, right here on this earthly plane. That seemed sufficient punishment to me.

We'll have to see how this soap opera develops. Look, I don't like the guy. I think his politics are bad for San Francisco. But District Attorney Gascon better have a lot more than what has been made public so far. Otherwise, without Eliana's cooperation, this case will never hold up, and with the kind of intense public scrutiny it will receive could backfire big time. For Gascon's sake, either there is some pretty damning evidence in the Eliana text messages and photos the police got from her neighbor, or there is more evidence from elsewhere.

In any eventuality, this is going to be as good as any Telenovela. Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of ...

"Don't cry for me Venezuela."

Cross-posted on my other blog.

Taiwan Tuesday - New Hampshire Review

2012-01-10T23:23:00.000-08:00

"I'd be reading an economics textbook."

In my last post I said I would add additional concluding thoughts about the Saturday/Sunday Republican debate. Can't do it. I've not recovered from the unmitigated horror of the Saturday night event, and just cannot spend one more minute thinking about it.

Instead, we'll let Jon Stewart do the heavy lifting on the debate itself...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Indecision 2012 - Two Debates, One GOP

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

... and our favorite news animators from Taiwan cover the primary results:

Interesting to note that Ron Paul is the only candidate that comes off in a somewhat positive light from both of these wildly different satirists. I'm not sure what that means.

Ron "Sisyphus" Paul

The strong showing of Ron Paul in the first two contests is the real surprise of the election season so far. I will have some more to say on that later. Stay tuned.

Live Blogging the Live Bloggers blogging the New Hampshire GOP Debate

2012-01-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first 2012 Edition in the continuing saga of "Live Blogging the Live Bloggers blogging the Debates!" Ah, I think back to when I conceived this series while covering the first 2008 Republican debate, lo those many years ago, and first asked the question:

"There are plenty of bloggers covering the debate live tonight, but is anyone covering the live bloggers? The Dividist rushes in where other, more sensible bloggers, fear to tread. "

Has it only been 28 months since I last attempted a LBLB? It seems like... well it seems only... Well, actually it seems like about 28 months and not long enough to start this again.

No matter. This particular debate features the oddity of two debates within 12 hours of each other. The first debate will begin tonight starting 9 PM ET at Saint Anselm College in Manchester on ABC and the second on Sunday morning 9 AM ET at the Capital Center in Concord on NBC's Meet the Press. No, I don't know how or why the candidates agreed to do that. Since I am on the left coast and not likely to awake to cover the morning debate live, we'll just settle on round one.

As always, we select a variety of bloggers from across the political spectrum, and attempt to live blog their live blog efforts. I don't know who we will include, but we will start with some bloggers we have used before, including Daily Kos, from the left, VodkaPundit or HotAir from the right, look to either David Weigel, Reason or the Atlantic's Megan McArdle for a libertarian point of view and the Moderate Voice, Rise of the Center, or Donklephant as a centrist blog. In reality we'll be scrambling as usual and covering anyone we can find who is live blogging this debate. Since it is up against an NFL playoff game, that may be a tougher task than usual. Andrew Sullivan is usually a reliable live-blogger, and I don't think he is a football fan. Chris Cillizza's Fix and Comedy Central's Indecision are on the case, so we'll start with them.

As per history I will likely guess wrong about which blogs to monitor and will be scrambling for substitutes once things get started. Refresh your browsers for latest content once the debate is underway. Because of the derivative nature of this enterprise, I do run quite a bit behind the actual debate. Just setting expectationsand lowering the bar. Is that not what debates are all about?

======

PREGAME

Chris Cillizza's Fix: "The first Republican presidential debate of 2012 is just hours away — 9 p.m. on ABC (or WMUR if you are in New Hampshire) to be exact — and we are, admittedly, a little too excited.Since the last time the GOP candidates shared a debate stage, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich peaked too soon, Iowa voters, well, voted and one-time top-tier candidateMichele Bachmann ended her campaign. (Texas Gov. Rick Perry hinted at doing the same but decided to stay in while on a run in Iowa. Not kidding — that really happened.)"

Comedy Central Indecision: "You read right — with its primary less than a week away, the Granite State is hosting not one but two Republican debates this weekend. Will Mitt Romney deliver strong performances and triumph like everyone more or less knows he will? Will Rick Santorum surprise everyone and not utterly squander his Iowa near-win? Will Jon Huntsman get asked any questions?"

Atlantic - Molly Ball:"Mitt Romney has won Iowa (or just about). He is about to win New Hampshire, and he leads in South Carolina. There's only one real question for the two debates about to take place here in quick succession Saturday night and Sunday morning: Can anybody stop this train?"

Boston Globe - Political Intelligence: "The debates will be the first since Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann ended her own campaign on Wednesday following a dismal showing in Iowa, her native state.The winnowing of the field should allow each candidate more time to speak - and a more concentrated focus on Romney.The Globe’s Matt Viser will be providing spot coverage of the debates for boston.com, BostonGlobe.com, and the Boston Sunday Globe."

Vodka Pundit - Stephen Green:"Y'all can go to Hell; I’m drunkblogging tonight!"

Stinque: "Newt hates Mitt. Ron hates Jon. Rick hates everyone who has joy in their life. Sounds like the premise for a zany Armageddon sitcom, or our GOP DebateOpen Thread/Pie Fight. Or both."

Reason Hit and Run: "Has it really only been 23 days? Last time we had a Republican presidential debate, Michele Bachmann was still a candidate, Newt Gingrich was widely considered a front-runner (the first question of that night from moderator Bret Baier included the phrase "Speaker Gingrich....you are now physically at the center of the stage, which means you're at the top of the polls"), and Rick Santorum wasn't even a gleam in David Brooks' eye. "

DIVIDIST - Allright, I've got this thing cued up and a few live bloggers identified. We'll find more when it kicks off... Houston knocked off Cincinnati in the first playoff game. Detroit just took the opening possession in for a touchdown, leading 7-0. I hope no one took my betting advice.

We'll be updating when the debate starts in about 40 minutes. And we're off....

======

FIRST QUESTION - JOBS JOBS JOBS

Chris Cillizza's Fix: "Postpolitics: You may be watching the fight for 2nd in NH right now. Paul vs Santorum."

Comedy Central Indecision: "9:05 – I like how Mitt Romney stares over at Rick Santorum likes he's watching an adorable puppy chew on an old pair of his Florsheims."

The Beast - Andrew Sullivan: "9.04 pm. Romney is saying that Obama deserves to be blamed for the recession he inherited, but that he gets no credit for any improvement. That sounds about right."

Daily Kos - Jed: "6:05 PM PT: Rick Santorum is trying to attack Mitt Romney, but he's doing a bad job of it so far. He's saying he's passed legislation in Congress about Iran. Great, so he's taking credit for Iran policy. But he also says Iran is about to get a nuke. Was that from his policies?"

Vodka Pundit - Stephen Green:"Y'all can go to Hell; I’m drunkblogging tonight!"

Stinque: "Game on: Newt comes out against the “Wall Street model” of “flipping companies”."

Reason Hit and Run - Matt Welch: "9:08: Newt Gingrich, who has spent the debate season campaigning against the press, is now trying to use The New York Times to whine about how sometimes capitalism involves people losing jobs."

DIVIDIST - Shifting a few players around as I figure out who I can cut and rip easily. Detroit is leading 14-7.

======

LABELS AND LEADERSHIP

Chris Cillizza's Fix: "Postpolitics: You may be watching the fight for 2nd in NH right now. Paul vs Santorum."

Comedy Central Indecision: "9:29 – Newt Gingrich: "Dr. Paul has a long history of saying things that are false." I think Newt Gingrich might have forgotten what his own name is.9:26 – Newt Gingrich paraphrased: "I'm pretty much an honorary veteran. I've received more military deferments than anyone else on this stage."

The Beast - Andrew Sullivan: "9.31 pm. Ron Paul devastates Newt Gingrich on the question of his avoidance of military service. Newt's response - a desperate pander to New Hampshire on healthcare, and a mention of his being an army brat. He denies that he asked for any deferments. Gingrich says he was married with kids and therefore didn't fight. Paul knocks him out by noting that he served as a married man with kids."

Daily Kos - Jed: "6:27 PM PT: Newt says he has military experience through osmosis from his dad.6:30 PM PT: Ron Paul mentions "Rick" camera shoots to Perry. He was talking about Santorum. Paul is ripping Gingrich as a chicken hawk for dodging the draft. Okay this is so completely irrelevant. Romney is loving life—nothing tough has come his way so far."

Slate- Dave Weigel:"9:19: I've never seen Paul that aggressive, sticking to careful, simple attacks on old Santorum votes. What did Santorum say in response? "I believe in some government." He took several chances to run down his bio and his record. Paul's immediate goal is to come second in New Hampshire; Santorum's is to introduce himself to conservatives. Both did fairly well."

Stinque - Chicago Bureau: "Boy, Mitt is dancing, and — PUNTS TO PAUL! Holy crap!”"

Reason Hit and Run - Matt Welch: "9:13: Paul on Santorum: "He's a big-government person."9:14: Santorum: "I'm a conservative, not a libertarian. I believe in some government."9:15: The battles between Santorum and Paul, even before this debate, have been some of the most telling and useful delineations of political philosophy in this campaign."

DIVIDIST - Halftime Detroit is leading 14-10.

======

CONTRACEPTION? REALLY?

Chris Cillizza's Fix: "FixAaron: Huntsman: "I have seven kids. I'm glad we're off the contraception discussion." New line of the night!"

Comedy Central Indecision: "9:43 – Rick Santorum paraphrased: "Obviously, the architects of the Constitution didn't intend to extend privacy rights to gay people."9:40 – Mitt Romney paraphrased: "I believe that the ruling of the Supreme Court is the law of the land, except that I hate everything about it."

The Beast - Andrew Sullivan: "9.42 pm. Romney seems completely at sea on the contraception question. He seems to have no idea about Griswold vs Connecticut. Then Romney says that Griswold - a decision he was unaware of two minutes ago - was wrongly decided. Ron Paul reveals he knows more about the Constitution than Romney has forgotten."

Daily Kos - Jed: "6:39 PM PT: Mitt Romney won't say whether or not he believes states of the right to ban contraception. "I don't know," he says.6:40 PM PT: Then he asks if the Supreme Court has ever ruled on the issue. Stephanopolous, looking dumbfounded, says: Griswold.6:42 PM PT: Romney then says the Supreme Court decides the law. But he says he wouldn't amend the Constitution to allow states to ban contraception. But he does say that Roe v. Wade should be overturned."

Slate- Dave Weigel:"9:41: The point of the contraception discussion must have been to draw out this statement from Romney: "I believe the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade? Yes, I do." So, well done."

Stinque - Chicago Bureau: "For the record: six minutes of a presidential debate were taken up debating the LEGALITY OF BIRTH CONTROL. Really. That happened."

Reason Hit and Run - Matt Welch: "9:40: Mitt Romney snatches coherence from the jaws of what was a pretty good answer. But finishes well: "Contraception? It's working just fine. Leave it alone!""

DIVIDIST - 3rd Quarter. Saints take the lead 14-17. Still not covering.

======

WAR

Chris Cillizza's Fix: "chgorich: Mitt is the winner. No knock out punches. Santorum fades away. Newt is already away. Hunstman goes back to Ambassadorship. And Ron Paul hangs in there biting Mitt in the rear end for several more primaries."

Comedy Central Indecision: "10:05 – Get out of here, Ron Paul, with your rational arguments! Don't you know there are Iranians eating Christian babies at this very moment?10:03 – Wait, did Rick Perry just say that Iranians can "literally move at the speed of light"? I think maybe he's confusing them with electrons.10:01 – Oh, so now we're going back into Iraq? Maybe we should also go back into Vietnam. Oh, and also Germany!"

The Beast - Andrew Sullivan: "10.05 pm. Romney does not rule out sending troops back into Iraq! We would have both a war against Iran and possibly a war against Iraq! These candidates have not moved past the Bush-Cheney mindset in any way. Except, of course, for Huntsman and Paul.10.02 pm. Santorum implies we should never have left Iraq and should stay in Afghanistan until our national security is assured. But when you're as paranoid as Gingrich, there'snever any national security. He seems to believe we need to launch a new Cold War. Rick Perry wants to send troops back to Iraq right away, in violation of Iraqi sovereignty, and against the formal agreement made by George W. Bush."

Daily Kos - Jed: "6:56 PM PT: Romney says he wants to bring "troops home as soon as we possibly can" from Afghanistan. Of course he also wants to put 30,000 troops back in Iraq.6:59 PM PT: Rick Santorum says "I wouldn't" send troops back into Iraq. Difference with Mitt Romney! Will there be a follow-up? I'd bet no."

Slate- Dave Weigel:"9:56: Did Perry just say he'd send troops back to Iraq?"

Stinque - Nojo: "Party game: Take everybody’s criticism about Obama’s foreign policy, and substitute “Bush”."

Reason Hit and Run - Matt Welch: "9:56: "I don't want to spend another penny on another nation's civil war." Huntsman cuts through his own snark for once.
9:59: Santorum: "We are the weak horse," "America is soft." No wonder the neo-cons are rallying around him."

DIVIDIST - Saints up 24 - 21 going into Q4. Need two scores to cover.

======

CHINA

Chris Cillizza's Fix: "10:33 - Comment From Guest:Maybe Romney can reply in French
10:34 - Comment From FixScott: Next debate at Chinese restuarant- ordering contest
10:34 - Comment From uglysexy in mandarin huntsman said....."You're no Joe Kennedy"
10:35 - Comment From Tony: -Huntsman just ordered Kung Pao shrimp"

Comedy Central Indecision: "10:34 – Jon Huntsman just said something in Chinese. I'll bet he was communicating something to his Asian overlords."

The Beast - Andrew Sullivan: "10.36 pm. Romney threatens a trade war with China. It's a big theme for him, and he dinged Huntsman on working for Obama as China ambassador. It's strange to see a Republican threaten a trade war against a vital trading partner, and even use leftist rhetoric like "stealing our jobs". It's even stranger to hear a Republican speak Mandarin in public."

Daily Kos - Jed: "7:33 PM PT: Mitt Romney attacks Jon Huntsman for serving in the Obama administration.
7:35 PM PT: Jon Huntsman directs some Mandarin to Mitt, which he says means "You don't know what you're talking about with respect to China" (or something close to that)."

Slate- Dave Weigel:"9:48: I think we're losing the thread. Basically, should gay chickenhawks be able use contraception if they write racist newsletters?"

Stinque - Nojo: "Mormon slapfight! Mitt lashes out at Huntsman for serving Obama in China. Why has Huntsman gotten under Mitt’s skin? This is a bit of inside baseball, but Mitt’s whole approach has been to run against Obama, and treat the other contenders as fleas. So why make a point of disagreeing with Huntsman and thus giving Huntsman status? And why — of all things — try to trump Huntsman on China? The umpire declares an Error."

Reason Hit and Run - Matt Welch: "10:33: Mitt Romney is one of the most consistently effective xenophobes in American politics.10:36: Greg Gutfeld: "Note: Huntsman actually said, 'Seagull loves back rub.' I looked it up."

DIVIDIST - 7 minutes to go in the game. Saint up 38 -21 and COVERING! Lions moving.

======

SATURDAY
[Note to self: Insert Elton John Saturday YouTube here before anyone else thinks of it]

Chris Cillizza's Fix: "Comment From Rob We need Maria Bartiromo to moderate a debate again!"
MelindaDC: So do Newt and Santorum now get their guy cards revoked for not knowing what sports are on tonight. (None?) A blow against sports metaphors!"

Comedy Central Indecision: "10:41 – See, ABC News! You're keeping Jon Huntsman from talking to his children!"
10:43 – Okay, guys, that's it for tonight. But don't worry. There's plenty more debate ahead, and first thing in the morning no less. Can you imagine a better way to start your Sunday than with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum?

The Beast - Andrew Sullivan: "Perry would be at a firing range at 10.44 pm on a Saturday night. Ron Paul's answer was self-mocking and funny. Huntsman reminded us that his sons are in the military that Gingrich dodged all those years ago.
From another reader: Romney and Santorum would spend tonight watching a football game being played on Monday. Newt would be watching a basketball game being played in April."

Daily Kos - Jed: 7:41 PM PT: Whoa. The debate is over. Just like that. Mercifully! 7:43 PM PT: Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go watch some football. Nothing remarkable in this debate. Republicans are probably coming to grips with the fact that Romney's going to be their nominee.
Slate- Dave Weigel: [Dividist: I think Weigel passed out. His live blog ended kind of abruptly.]

Stinque: "Mistress Cynica 10:41 PM Ooooh, maybe it’s the fact that Huntsman’s sons actually serve in the armed forces unlike Mitt’s chicken hawklets. Nice finish, Huntsman. Too bad you haven’t got a snowball’s chance in hell."

Reason Hit and Run - Matt Welch: "10:40: ABC News employs Jake Tapper. Free tip: Next time, use the person in your employ who is actually not horrible at this stuff."

DIVIDIST - Saints Cover 45-28. As I predicted.

BTW, that had to be the worst finishing debate question I have ever heard. What exactly was the point of that? "What would you be doing Saturday night if you weren't running for President?" What did we learn from that? There are no Saints or Lions fans running for President?

Some more concluding thoughts later... or maybe tomorrow...

Friday Flotsam - Birthers, Truthers, Fraudsters, and Blogging Elephants in the Room

2012-01-06T23:19:00.000-08:00

Time once again for the Dividist to stroll down our metaphorical beach and take note of the detritus that has washed ashore and cluttered this little island of rationality in the great big blogospheric ocean.

With the Iowa caucus this week, the New Hampshire primary next week, and a GOP presidential primary that is much more entertaining than it deserves to be, quite a few sparkly 2012 election items have washed ashore. But they were not the only items that caught the Dividist's eye.

ITEM - The imminent return of "Live Blogging the Live Bloggers Blogging the Republican Debate"
There have been 17 (18? 19? 23? 112?) Republican Presidential primary debates prior to the Iowa caucus. The Dividist has managed to miss most of them. The first 2012 debate will begin on Saturday night starting 9 PM ET at Saint Anselm College in Manchester on ABC and it will continue non-stop through Sunday morning 9 AM ET at the Capital Center in Concord on NBC's Meet the Press. No, I don't know how they are going to do that.

Regardless, this seems like a good time to bring back the wildly popular (relatively speaking) Live Blogging the Live Bloggers series. Particularly since the Saturday night debate will competing with the NFL Lions - Saints wildcard playoff game and no one will actually be watching the debate. It'll be a good practice debate for the reintroduction of "Live Blogging the Live Bloggers". BTW - the Saints beat the Lions 31-17 early in December. There is no reason to believe this game will turn out any differently. If you must watch it, take the Saints, lay the 10 points and check in here at half-time.
UPDATE: Live blog linked HERE.

ITEM - "Birther" Eric Dondero accuses Ron Paul of "9/11 Trutherism"

The Dividist noticed that his four year old post featuring Eric Dondero attacking Ron Paul was suddenly getting hit on google searches and attracting new links last week. Eric Dondero is back.

I only knew this guy because he left a few drive-by comments on this blog during the '08 campaign. At the time Eric wanted me to know that Obama was a Madrassa trained Marxist fascist, that Rudy Giuliani was a libertarian, and that Chuck Hagel was anit-freedom and supported Islamo-Fascism. That was, of course, enough to know about Mr. Dondero. He then proceeded to announce on RedState that he would run against Ron Paul for the Texas Congressional District 14 seat. Well, four years later Ron Paul is still in Congress. So - there is that.

Turns out that in the wake of Ron Paul's surprising strength in Iowa (doubling the support he received in '08), the possibility that Ron Paul can act as a spoiler in the Republican nomination process, and may carry a meaningful number of delegates to the Republican Convention, Eric has been motivated to launch another anti - Ron Paul jihad. This time the vehicle of choice was an interview by rabid Santorum supporter MikeyMike143 for his Redstate "diary" wherein Eric claims that Ron Paul was the first "9/11 Truther". Funny that Dondero never mentioned any of this in his 2008 jihad. BTW - here is a graph from Alexa on the relative traffic of RedState vs. RonPaul2012:

RonPaul2012 has about six times the traffic of RedState\

Just sayin... The more things change...

The Dividist has always been fascinated with the near perfect mirror image of the parallel paranoid delusions of the Birthers on the right and Truthers on the left. Polls showed that there were virtually identical percentages of "Truthers" among Democrats during One Party Republican Rule under GWB as there were "Birthers" among Republicans during One Party Democratic Rule under Obama. So on a hunch I did a little googling for "Dondero" and "Birth Certificate". Bingo:

"It was those of us on the libertarian (anti-IslamoFascist) right who first raised the issue way back in early 2007. Pamela Geller, for example, of Atlas Shrugs was way out ahead on it. We at LibertarianRepublican.net were reporting on Obama’s Kenyan birth and his strong ties to his cousin Raila Odinga in Kenya way back in 2007." - Eric Dondero

In this comment Dondero proudly claimed to be one of the first "Birthers". Why anyone puts any stock into anything he says is beyond me.

ITEM - Jon Corzine - Vanity Fair Cover Boy

The Dividist has been covering "The Case Of The Missing Billion." since it was revealed that heretofore sacrosanct legally segregated client funds were apparently tapped at bankrupt MF Global to backstop CEO Jon Corzine's ill-advised "bet the company" wagers. We watched with some amusement as John Corzine initiated first the usual "I don't know, don't remember, wasn't my job" excuses, then settled on the novel "Becket Defense" in testimony before Congressional Committees. This week the $1 Billion of client funds are still missing and Jon Corzine is getting the full Vanity Fair treatment:

"As federal authorities searched for the brokerage house’s more than $1 billion in missing customer money, friends and former associates of Corzine weighed in on the ways his personal quirks informed his management style. “On this, Jon became a zealot,” one person says of Corzine’s European-debt trades. “He managed the process soup to nuts,” says a former employee. “He knew every number back and forth. He’d talk to the accountants and the board. He’s not a detail-oriented guy, but on this he knew every detail... on October 15, two weeks before MF Global filed for bankruptcy, Corzine and his wife, Sharon Elghanayan, were at a birthday party in Paris talking about a château they were about to buy in the South of France. “It’s not in Cap Ferrat,” one person recalls Elghanayan saying, perhaps to mitigate the extravagance. “To buy any decent château is at least a couple of million euros,” explains another person who was at the party, “and that is before the renovation with the air-conditioning and the new kitchen. Sharon was very excited. She said she was flying down there on Monday morning.”

Can't wait to read the full article.

ITEM - President Barack Obama has asserted executive authority to detain Americans indefinitely without trial, assassinate Americans by executive order, wiretap Americans without search warrants, ignore habeas corpus, deny legal representation to prisoners, permit secret rendition of prisoners to foreign countries, overturn contract law by fiat, and exercise war powers without congressional approval.
This administration has expanded and institutionalized the Imperial Presidency far beyond any expansive Unitary Executive definition ever dreamed of during the Bush/Cheney administration. So you'll excuse me if I cannot get too excited about a potentially extra-constitutional recess appointment.

To put the Cordray recess appointment in context, the Dividist was going to write a long post documenting and linking all the administration civil right outrages listed above. But why bother? Nobody cares, and in any case Jon Stewart and the Daily Show nailed it:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Commission: Impossible

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

ITEM - The Dividist Blogroll has disappeared.

A few weeks ago this blog underwent a major makeover to freshen the look, upgrade the technology, and migrate to a current blogger template. That seemed to go pretty well. This week we took the next step and switched the primary domain from westanddivided.blogspot.com to Dividist.com. That also seemed to go pretty well. Except...

I just noticed that the blog search function has stopped working and my extensive blogroll in the sidebar has disappeared. I don't know why. I assume the search problem is a google indexing artifact and will fix itself over time. As far as the blogroll - sorry about that. If you were on it, let me know and I will re-add you as I do the slow rebuild. What can I say. Shit happens.

Divided and Balanced.™
Now that is fair.