The Year In Review 2010

2010: The Year In Review

Happy New Year to all my readers and happy blogiversary to me as the Deeth Blog today marks eight years on the air. As is my tradition, we close 2010 with a look back at the highlights and lowlights of the year.

January was dominated by the special supervisor election, as Janelle Rettig rolled to a 20 point win. Almost made up for the bad news out of Massachusetts that same day. Republican Lori Cardella swears she'll be back in November.

Down at Harvat Hall, Matt Hayek took over from Regenia Bailey as mayor of the "Third Gayest City In America."

My Bad Prediction of the month: "I still say Vander Plaats over Branstad and Culver over Vander Plaats."

"Game Change" dominates political gossip, with embarrassing Edwards anecdotes and Hillary's distaste for the caucuses. And I make fun of no-chance congressional candidate Joe Walsh getting sued by the Real Joe Walsh... oops.

At home, we add a new furry family member and I go straight from no glasses at all to TRIfocals.

February

Illinois sees the year's wackiest governor primary: a near dead heat on the Democratic side and the top five Republicans all bunched up within five points of each other.

In our own governor's race, Chris Rants bails as the one-time eight candidate Republican field shrinks to three. Ed Fallon says: "If Democrats are serious about holding the Governor’s office, we’ve got a month to find a candidate to beat Culver in the primary," and starts a Regenia Bailey rumor. Jonathan Narcisse swears to God he has enough signatures as I make My Bad Prediction of the month: "Culver toast? Ask Governor Lightfoot."

As the four-way 2nd CD GOP primary heats up, I start imagining that Roxanne Conlin is going viral. In Indiana, it's bye Bayh.

Who Dat thinking they can win dat Super Bowl? Even the football preferences split out on partisan lines, as half of the Who stink up the place at halftime.

March.

Health care reform, a big f%$#in' deal, finally passes and President Obama takes a victory lap right here in Iowa City.

My obsessive compulsion with filing deadlines gives me my highest traffic month ever, as every candidate in the state Googles themselves and lands on my site. Local Republicans, including swears-she's-gonna-run-again Lori Cardella, take a pass on the courthouse offices. With Rettig winning so big in January, there's no Democratic primary challengers either. The cycle's WTF local race is the short-lived, labor-backed primary challenge to Dave Jacoby.

The year's big local political story gets rolling, as the Iowa City council passes the 21 bars ordinance, and the petition to overturn same makes the rounds.

April

Senate race fundraising: "Conlin raised $879,615 in the quarter ending March 31, more than even Chuck Grassley, even when you take away the quarter million she kicked in herself. That's 78 times what Fiegen raised and a whopping 455 times Krause's total." Grassley, meanwhile, earns a Worst... Person... In The Woooorld!.

The Prez comes to Iowa again for a swing across the southern tier of Dave Loebsack's turf, but bails on a private party in Des Moines after word leaks.

The Smallest Farm starts in earnest, but a soggy summer will lead to a crappy crop.

May

It's a BFD in Cedar Rapids as VP Joe comes to town for Chet Culver.

On the GOP side, BVP doesn't have the money for an brutal air war with Branstad, and nice guy Rod Roberts was depending on that. Branstad pivots to Culver before the primary even happens. Chet, for his part, steps on his own roll-out with a trooper chase and a lost briefing book.

It's hard to tell who's nastier in the primary fight: 2nd District Republicans or Democratic Senate candidate Tom Fiegen: "I understand some of Fiegen and Krause's frustration. They step up, then get stepped on. But while Krause has handled it with some grace, Fiegen has become embittered, lashing out in ways that can only hurt Democrats in the fall."

In Utah, the very conservative Bob Bennett is not conservative enough and is Tea Partied out of renomination. And in Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter's party change fails in the primary.

As I do every five years, I obsess about the British election, which gets even more interesting after it's over: "The hung parliament appears to be a UK politics junkie's wet dream, just like old American political journalists still fantasize about brokered conventions."

June

The primary action is on the Republican side as Terry Branstad wins a closer than expected contest and MMM gets a solid win for the 2nd CD nomination. Some supporters of the defeated candidates grumble about Democrats crossing over, but the numbers don't bear it out.

Vander Plaats doesn't get that losers don't make demands, and makes a play on the GOP convention floor for the lieutenant governor nomination. He comes far closer than he should have, but falls short of Kim Reynolds, then goes home and pouts for a month or so.

On my side of the ballot, my endorsement is not the kiss of death as Roxanne romps to a 77% primary win. Big Plant Sale fails to win state auditor on a write-in, but Jon Murphy emerges soon after the primary.

The Short Lived Labor Primary Challenge to Dave Jacoby briefly returns from the dead, but Jacoby stomps with 88%. But the biggest winner of all was Anesa Kajtazovic in Waterloo, who has to have set some kind of all-time record for biggest margin over an incumbent with a 91% win over the dropped out, indicted, but still technically in office Kerry Burt.

In Des Moines, Coralville's own Sue Dvorsky takes over the reins of the Iowa Democratic Party. And in DC, the Senate loses its longest serving member ever, West Virginia's Robert Byrd.

July

For a brief shining moment this races looks like it will show up on the national radar, as Research 2000 shows Conlin within eight points of Grassley and handicappers start moving the race from Safe R to Likely R. Republicans are nervous enough to start fixating on Conlin's figure. But by month's end, Research 2000's methodology is debunked and discredited, and it's all downhill from there.

Iowa City's neo-prohibitionists choose the very funny committee name 21 Makes Sense and sign up heavy hitters from all aides of the aisle.

Lori Cardella quietly closes her campaign committee.

After their divisive primary and convention, Republicans brag that their registration numbers are up: "That's like saying your store's business is up because so many people are coming through the front door, but half of them are lined up at the complaint counter."

Legislative triage season begins in earnest with financial reports and endorsements.

Linux Monday finally gets a practical application, as I load all my excess machines with Ubuntu and set them up down at Democratic HQ, which is open waaaay more hours than Republican HQ.

August

Bob Vander Plaats teases about the independent run then, in the end, decides to run the No on Gay campaign instead. Meanwhile in California, Proposition 8 gets overturned.

We see the launch of the "Iowa Party," but their two candidates don't get along.

Republicans win the battle of the dinner speakers, recruiting Mama Grizzly herself while Dems settle for... Ed Rendell?

Multiple forwards of the best Onion ever overflowed my in box:

Gore, who was prohibited from hearing music with graphic sex, violence, or drug references since Tipper founded the Parents Music Resource Center in 1985, confirmed yesterday that her crusade was "total bullcrap." In addition, Gore said that listening to the forbidden W.A.S.P. albums over and over again had not turned him into a satanic dope fiend as his wife and her associates had warned...

I harvest Linux powered sun dried tomatoes. But most of the rest of the Smallest Farm flops as the bean fence collapses and the critters get my corn.. I finally get photographic evidence of the elusive gopher, who turns out to be a woodchuck:


September

"Young people much less enthusiastic about voting in the midterm elections"? Not a problem in Iowa City! Satellite sites are stampeded by students ready to Fight For Their Right To Party. Over 1300 at Burge for an all time record. As for me, I vote on day one.

The Iowa Republican: "This Labor Day, Celebrate Iowa's Right to Work Law." Isn't that like honoring deadbeat dads on Father's Day?

Palin calls the Register's Tom Beaumont an idiot, but at least she doesn't call him limp and impotent.

Stalkergate hits the papers and knocks the wheels off the Brad Zaun campaign.

There's no school board election for the first time ever.

October

Endorsement and debate season; Clash wins most debates on hard hitting platform of Know Your Rights All Three Of Them.

The Rent Is Too Damn High.

Big time Democrats eschew the traditional Election Day photo op to set the example of voting early. But in Iowa City. the frantic pace of campus voting slows down in weeks three and four.

In a desperate search for hope, I make a whole bunch of brave faced predictions, capped off with the Ghostbusters: "There's definitely a very slim chance we'll survive."

November

Well that pretty much sucked. Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit deserve their own chapter in some future Profiles In Courage. And it is a goddamn tragedy that Mike Mauro lost. But Roxanne wins... Johnson County.

Iowa City to Students: Drop Dead.

By month's end we've moved on to Wikileaks.

December

I never know what to do with December in these year enders; the events haven't had tome to reveal their long term significance. One thing we know WILL have long term significance: We officially lose our fifth seat in Congress. Redistricting will be a big Deeth Blog story to look forward to in 2011.

Terry Branstad gives nearly every defeated Republican - and even one defeated Democrat - a job, with the very notable exception of Bob Vander Plaats. He also calls Mike Gronstal a dictator, and Gronstal has a perfect comeback.



I stick my neck out with a phrase will haunt me or confirm my brilliance: "Palin wins the nomination, Obama wins 45 2/3 states."

My year ends with the Deeth Blog's highest traffic yet. Measuring the biggest stories by number of readers: March, when I was obsessing over legislative filing, is my biggest month ever, topping the flood month of June 2008. Seems every candidate in the state googled themselves and found my site. The week of the general election is my busiest of the year, but my highest traffic day is January 19, date of Janelle Rettig's special election.

And as always, my New Year's resolution is to do a better job of spell checking before I post.

State Notes

State Notes

Terry Branstad had hinted at it, but makes it official: Democrat Mike Mauro, the defeated Secretary of State who leaves office today, will be joining Team Terry as state labor commissioner.

desmoinesdem notes: "Branstad never did much to help Mauro's opponent Matt Schultz, in stark contrast to his longstanding and highly visible advocacy for attorney general candidate Brenna Findley" (who Branstad also hired as chief legal counsel).

Mauro was by far the best qualified Secretary of State we've had in my two decades in Iowa, and his defeat in its own way is almost as serious a loss as the defeat of the judges. We go from having a Secretary of State who wants to help people vote to one who wants to make it harder to vote. True, the nature of Mauro's new job will be different, but hopefully this appointment means Branstad isn't interested in Schultz's grandstanding agenda of cracking down on the imaginary problem of "voter fraud" in Iowa.

Chet Culver is doing a farewell lap next week; the Iowa City stop is the Hamburg Inn at 12:30 Thursday.

Republicans had a rousing nominating convention last night for the 1/18 Senate District 35 election and chose former Cyclone footballer Jack Whitver (last seen running a quixotic 2006 effort against Ako Abdul-Samad in central Des Moines; the new turf in northern Polk is waaaay friendlier.) Craig Robinson and Art Smith have good on the scene write-ups. Democrats meet Monday.

Caucus Bashing Starts

Caucus Bashing Starts

Kos is still mad that we Iowans chickened out and screwed Howard Dean on Caucus Night 2004 (everyone forgets that The Scream was AFTER the Muct More Important Third Place), and, as New Hampshire starts the quadrennial game of Date leapfrog, takes another shot at them and us.

Iowa Republicans are having a nasty nasty infight in advance of tonight's Senate 35 special convention. Five horses are in the race including one Ronpaulista, and the rage seems to be focused on four state central committee members who are backing the Ron Paul Some Dude. Democrats will nominate next Monday.

The Democrat's next infight may be in the central Iowa congressional district, however it gets mapped. Desmoinesdem has a good overview: Christie Vilsack is making her interest clear, but as usual Iowa Dems, up to the Tom Harkin level it seems, would rather lose to Tom Latham than hurt Leonard Boswell's feelings. I still haven't seen that resignation from the Blue Dogs, Leonard...

Some Links For A Journalism Class

Feeling Retrospective: Back to Caucus Season

I'm in a retrospective mood here at the Deeth Blog for a couple reasons. In anticipation of Friday's dual event, New Year's Eve and the eight year anniversary of this site - I'm working on my annual year in review.

But before that, I'm heading back to caucus time. Today I'm guest lecturing in David Perlmutter's journalism class, and for the benefit of the students I'm conveniently re-posting some of the past glories I'm planning to brag about, in handy dandy web friendly Top Ten format.

10. Just. Start. Writing.

9. Build your brand. (Hat optional.)

8. Find Your Niche.

The national press doesn't get caucus math: Rural Counties: Less Caucus Goers Per Delegate; Caucuses Are Representative Democracy, Not Undemocratic:

Iowa City Precinct 18 is an activist hotbed, and 534 people attended the 2004 caucuses. North Liberty Precinct 1 is full of new voters, and only 171 attended. But based on voting behavior in 2000 and 2002, each had ten delegates. Those ten delegates represent the Democratic voters of the precinct -- ALL the Democratic voters, both the activists and the once every four years people. You could argue that in this sense, the caucus numbers are more representative than the raw vote count, because they are inclusive of the weak general election voters that the Democrats depend on in November...

Of course, all this side steps the real reason the raw vote isn't reported: New Hampshire thinks that's too much like a primary, and the convoluted results are one of the prices we pay for being first.

National folks also miss the difference between the parties:

Caucusing Is (Sort of) Easy For Democrats: "If you remember one word about the Iowa Democratic caucuses, remember the word viability."

Caucusing Is Easier (For Republicans): “The caucus result from the straw poll has no binding on the county convention or the state convention.”

Even the strongest candidates can miss the point. Clinton Understood Surface, Not Spirit, Of Caucuses:

...like a singer with perfect pitch who misses the meaning of the song, Clinton kept errors to a minimum but failed to capture the spontaneous spirit of the caucuses. She started out doing one on one meetings with undecided local activists, but as her national lead held, Clinton moved toward a "general election strategy," as she said at a debate. By the time Obama was catching up in the fall, it was too late to go back and adapt.

No one incident captures this perfectly, but little detail after little detail paints the picture.

A staffer subtly steering me away from a friend of many years, directing her to the public seats and me to the roped off press area. Offering the press free pizza after the speech, rather than what we really wanted: time to ask the candidate a question. The relentless focus on sign war at cattle call events, bringing in loads of staffers and making it harder to ferret out the genuine levels of support. The careful release, then quick denial, of a strategy memo last spring arguing that Clinton should skip Iowa, underscoring her relative weakness in the state and inoculating her against expectations. Supporters leaving the Harkin Steak Fry after Clinton spoke without hearing the rest of the candidates, as if to send a scripted message of "I'm only here for Hillary."

Caucus night itself sucks:

"The process has grown so big that it has outstripped the size of the biggest rooms and parking lots in the precincts, and the reality of the Magic Minute of alignment was stuffy and unpleasant. I was repeatedly contacted by residents of one Iowa City care center, begging for a “sub-caucus” site at their facility and arguing that the negotiations of realignment could be handled by cell phone. But the rules don’t allow that. At some point, Iowa is vulnerable to an ADA lawsuit."

7. You never know when the big one will hit.

Covering John McCain in Davenport during the general election:

The invocation is interesting, as I hear keyboards going all around me:

"There are plenty of people around the world who are praying to their god, be they Hindu, Buddah, or Allah, that (McCain's) opponent wins. I pray that you step forward and honor your own name." Ends with "in Jesus' name."

Wow. McCain does not appear to have been here yet to catch that, but wow. The preacher's name appears to be a Pastor Conrad of the Evangelical Free Church.

Rudy Giuliani: Asked About HIV, He Answers With 9/11:

Asked about increasing federal support for HIV medications, Giuliani discussed what he considers appropriate federal responsibility in health care. “I don’t want to promise you the federal government will take over the role,” he said, drawing applause and shouts of “all right." Then, in some interesting twists, he turned the HIV question into a 9/11 answer:

“My general experience has been that the federal government works best when it helps and assists and encourages and sets guidelines… on a state-by-state, locality-by-locality basis. It’s no different from the way I look at homeland security. Maybe having been mayor of the city, I know that your first defense against terrorist attack is that local police station, or that local firehouse.”

During that couple of weeks when it seemed like Sarah Palin had been a good idea, I got assigned to a low-key surrogate event:

IOWA CITY -- Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius publicly considered the possibility that Sen. Barack Obama's race might be a factor in this year's presidential election during an appearance here Tuesday.

"Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American?" Sebelius asked in response to a question about why the election is so close. "That may be a factor. All the code language, all that doesn't show up in the polls. And that may be a factor for some people."

The remark, delivered in the governor's low key, folksy, out-from-behind-the-podium style, raised a couple chuckles but few eyebrows in the downtown Iowa City crowd, but Republicans took offense and responded in short order...

6. Don't be afraid to have a personality.

Let the music do the talking:

Barack Obama hit the repeat button a few too many times -- sometimes the same five songs cycled three or four times while the crowd waited -- but he had a nice mix based around Motown and `60s soul: Jackie Wilson's "Higher And Higher," Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," Aretha Franklin and James Brown.

Finally, John Cougar Edwards was the most on message. A "Rise Up" cadence in a late version of his stump speech ended with Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" on the loudspeakers. The John Mellencamp alliance loses points for the "Our Country" truck ad tie-in, but gains points for the actual endorsement of the artist...

5. Don't be afraid to have an opinion. Admit it, as your reputation may precede you, especially if you wear a red hat. "McCain: Not Dead, but Neither Was Terri Schiavo."

4. But back it up.

3. Don't be afraid to be wrong: "Sun Setting On The Straight Talk Express". Don't forget to laugh at yourself when you are. And you will be.

2. Read what the other team is writing.

1. Enjoy the ride: "Unless there's an unprecedented upset and Duncan Hunter and Mike Gravel win the Iowa caucuses tonight, I've seen the next president speak. And unless it's Rudy Giuliani, I've spoken to her or him in person, however briefly. I've been interviewed live on C-SPAN, Googled by campaigns, shown up on the front page of one of the home town papers, had my headwear praised by Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd, and had hundreds of people a day pay attention to my opinion on the whole thing. And even more incredibly, I've gotten paid to do it."

And just for fun, some pictures.

A Hot Winter in University Heights

A Hot Winter in University Heights

University Heights voters missed out on November's community polarizing Iowa City 21 bar vote, but they have a controversy of their own to vote about.

Early voting in the University Heights special election has already doubled the pace from the city's record turnout 2009 city election, with 139 votes already returned out of 872 registered voters.

The voters that are left to vote, if any, will go to the polls two weeks from today, on the second best election date ever, 1/11/11. (The best: the Primary To Hell on 6/6/6.) And they'll be voting, ironically, at ground zero of the fight: the St. Andrew church on Melrose Avenue.

The church, you see, is looking to move and redevelop the property next to a wooded ravine. Vacant lots of any sort are rare in this independent city that is completely surrounded by Iowa City and is usually best known for its enthusiastic enforcement of the speed limit.

Developers have proposed One University Place, a six-story residential and commercial project. The development was the central issue of the 2009 election, which saw a ten-candidate field for five seats. (University Heights elects the whole council, and the mayor, every two years.) In near-gubernatorial 50 percent turnout, a super-majority of four supporters of the development were elected, along with one opponent.

But council member Amy Moore, a project supporter, resigned her seat over the summer. The remaining four members appointed another supporter, Jim Lane. Opponents of the project petitioned for a special election.

That's been delayed till now because University Heights allows for a primary election if enough candidates file. That's never happened, but it would have if one more candidate had run in 2009. The longer time frame caused schedule conflicts that prevented combining the vote with the November 2 general election, though project opponents argue that the council could have held a special meeting to meet deadlines and deliberately chose not to do so.

In the meantime, the council voted on December 14 to rezone the church property. That's not a final step but it is a move ahead.

The one hard and fast rule in petitioned special elections around here, municipal or county-wide, is that the side that petitions loses and that the person who was appointed in the first place runs and wins. Lane is hoping to extend that streak; project opponent Rosanne Hopson is hoping to end it.

I'm agnostic in this one. What's the better environmental case: infill development over sprawl, or preservation of the ravine area? I have friends on both sides. But just as an observer, as a resident of the near west side I pass though our odd little geopolitical enclave often and the sign war is at presidential levels. General observation: the green and white Hopson signs increase with proximity to the church, the yellow and black Lane signs increase with distance from the church. The whole city is one precinct so there's no geographic breakout of the 2009 results to use as a benchmark.

What I do know is this is, in proportion to size of electorate, the hottest special election we've seen around here in ages, even bigger than the legislative specials when the House caucus comes to doorknock the district. The record to shoot for is the 1999 Swisher election when voters decided whether the city should establish and operate a municipal waterworks utility. That's it. That's the whole ballot question. "Shall the City of Swisher, Johnson County, Iowa, establish and operate a municipal waterworks utility for the City?" No minor details like, oh, how much will it cost and how do we pay for it. 70 percent turnout (compare that to 79 percent in the 2008 presidential) and 72 percent no. I remember the mayor resigning soon after.

Public Employees or Public Enemies

Public Employees... or Public Enemy Number One?

Dave Loebsack won't be on the Education and Labor committee in the next Congress. He's not losing his assignment under Republican control, the way Bruce Braley lost his seat on Energy and Commerce. Rather, the committee is changing names as they did in 1994:

Republicans are planning the name change, and it isn’t the first. For years, the committee was called Education and Labor. But when Newt Gingrich and the Republicans took over the House in 1994, they wanted to show that there was a new sheriff in town—and he was not a pro-labor sheriff.

“Education and the Workforce was the name selected by Republicans more than a decade ago to reflect the committee’s broad jurisdiction over polices that affect American students, workers, and retirees,” explained Alexa Marrero, a spokeswoman for committee Republicans.

Banishing the L word is one of those petty, spite-motivated things Republicans like to do just to annoy us, like calling us the "Democrat Party" without the -ic.

The more substantive change on the Not Labor Committee: California Democrat George Miller, one of Loebsack's mentors in the House, will turn over the gavel to a new chair, Rep. John Kline (R-MN), who has an AFL-CIO rating of zero.

For politicians seeking a Sister Souljah moment, public employees are public enemy number one.



And as we all know, the actual Public Enemy number one is still Chuck and Flav, boyee. So my rap reference is a bit 1990? Hey, I voted against Terry Branstad that year, too.

Full disclosure here: I'm a proud union public employee, chair of my bargaining unit, member of our contract negotiation team, and son of two lifetime National Education Association members.

Here in Iowa, organized labor and outgoing Governor Chet Culver may have had a stormy relationship, especially after Culver vetoed labor's must-pass agenda in a fit of pique over being kept out of the legislative loop. (And also, perhaps, because labor enthusiastically backed rival Mike Blouin in the 2006 Democratic primary.)

But that was Solidarity Forever compared to labor's feuds with Terry Branstad, our back to the future governor. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ("AFF-skmee" in union speak) had to take Branstad to the Iowa Supreme Court in 1991 to get a ruling that binding arbitration is, in fact, binding. And no one voted them out or impeached them over it, either.

So with a transition from a fair-weather friend to a sworn enemy looming on the horizon again, AFSCME overwhelmingly took the deal it could get from Culver, a relatively reasonable 3 percent a year over a two-year contract. Branstad is sputtering with rage and threatening layoffs.

"AFSCME members have taken pay freezes," said AFSCME Iowa Council 61 president Danny Homan:

"They voted to take 5 days of off without pay, and also lost part of their deferred compensation. AFSCME members who know how state government works on the front lines submitted many good ideas that were eventually included in the successful government reorganization that occurred last year. We also believed strongly in the early retirement program that was implemented, which resulted in around 2000 state workers leaving their employment with the state. We believe that these actions have helped Iowa to save millions, and we now have a budget surplus."

But that level of responsibility is lost on Branstad. His priority is the politics, the reduction of AFSCME's influence, and that battle is way more important for him that demonizing The Gay. Branstad is looking to elevate "labor relations expert" Leon Shearer from a consultant on contract to a full-time administration official.

Shearer has consulted in the past for the Master Builders of Iowa. That's the same group that requested a delay in bid openings for a $68 million prison renovation project at Mitchellville and for a separate project at the Iowa Veterans Home at Marshalltown until after Branstad takes office on January 14, in the hope--no, let's be real, in the certainty--that Branstad will revoke Culver's executive order signed by Culver that encourages the use of project labor agreements on state construction projects. But Culver, who seems to have become labor's best bud since losing the election, rejected the request.

It's all part of the zeitgeist in D.C. and in Des Moines. Slate sees this as part of a national pattern:

Republicans might even be able to pass legislation that would allow states to declare bankruptcy, which would move the pension debate from politics to court, zapping all of the unions' leverage. "From the Republican perspective," wrote Pethokoukis, "the fiscal crisis on the state level provides a golden opportunity to defund a key Democratic interest group."

Defunding the left. I remember that phrase from back in the Reagan days, right around the time Ronnie fired all the unionized air traffic controllers. It took decades for public air safety to recover from that loss of experienced public employees. Republicans are more concerned with the politics of union-busting than with our overwhelmed human services workers and overcrowded classrooms.

"They're getting a big assist by this economy," writes Joan McCarter at Daily Kos, "which makes too easy the job of drumming up resentment against anyone who might have a bit of job protection or--gasp--the promise of a pension to make the prospect of old age just a little less frightening."

"We think that it’s important to have our roads cleared in the winter, so that citizens and business can continue to function," says Homan "We think it’s important to have our prisons properly staffed, so that our citizens are safe from violent offenders. We also believe that it’s important that the state is able to protect kids from abuse, make sure child support claims are investigated, and take care of people in mental health institutions and in our Veteran’s Home."

But either you understand that or, like Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) you'll mock it:

"There's one video I've seen where (New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie) is talking to a teacher. And the teacher's like, 'We work so hard.' " McHenry does his best imitation of the pathos in the teacher's voice. "Christie says, 'You know what? You don't have to do it.' "

McHenry sits back, holding out his hands in a "can you believe this?" gesture. "You watch that, and you think—that's a governor. And that's a teacher. The teacher always wins, man!"

Can it be just two years ago that the Employee Free Choice Act was a live issue? How long has it been since anyone uttered the words "card check" in public?

You May Be Having A Linux Monday Without Even Knowing It

You May Be Having A Linux Monday Without Even Knowing It

You may have gone Linux over the holidays and not even known it, if you got yourself a new Android phone.

Android is in the mix of some big changes at the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. the goal of getting low cost ($100 per) laptops to kids in third world countries. It helped drive the then-new netbook market, and the low-end processors in OLPC and netbooks pushed Microsoft to keep XP alive juuuust a little longer, kill off the bloated Vista, and quickly launch Windows 7.

These moves, and Microsoft's sheer economic clout and market dominance, were pushing OLPC away from its Linux roots. But an upcoming redesign changes that:

"The new OLPC devices will take the lead from Apple's iPad but use Google's (GOOG) Android OS, at least initially. The keyboard will be virtual and be able to adapt to different languages.

(OLPC head John) Negroponte said the new tablets will not use Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows 7 because the software requires too much memory and computing power."

My own Linux Holiday included some kernel tweaking, some backup, some playing around with a simplified Fluxbox desktop, and some trying to figure out how to convert all of y'all.