2,309 pages, 22 pens

Posted Mar 24, 2010 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Mar 24, 2010 at 10:56 AM

Signing the health care bill yesterday was a feat of calligraphy as well as politics. President Obama used a total of 22 pens to get it done.

The pack of pens will be distributed to top Congressional leaders and other advocates. Obama gets to keep one. And two are going to the archives, meaning they belong to all of us. Here’s the complete list.

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Coffee, Tea or Gridlock?

Posted Mar 12, 2010 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Mar 12, 2010 at 03:06 PM

Something new is brewing in American politics - the Coffee Party.

This coalition is still defining itself, even as it gains followers on Facebook. CNN did a feature today, which will add some fuel to the fire. So far, it seems to attract people who want a counterpoint to the anti-government attitude of the conservative Tea Party.

Here’s the group’s mission statement:

The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.

We now have two large-scale political movements named after beverages. (Can it be long before one of them gets a corporate sponsor?) That alone shows that Americans, even those with a strong interest in politics and current events, are increasingly unlikely to sign on with their local Republicans or Democrats.

They don’t have to, of course. Thanks to the Internet, groups can form and realign as they see fit. But realigning the Washington status quo is a different game altogether.

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Will Facebook set them free?

Posted Mar 9, 2010 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Mar 9, 2010 at 12:11 PM

In a reversal of longstanding policy, the White House is encouraging the export of social networking and other Internet technologies to otherwise closed-off countries such as Cuba and Iran. It’s kind of a 21st-century Radio Free Europe, only decentralized. The idea is that associating with others online will make the citizens of oppressive regimes hungry for more freedom.

If you’ve just spent time sorting through a particularly inane heap of status updates, it can be hard to imagine Facebook serving such a noble cause. But remember the Twitter revolution in Iran? Totalitarian states find it essential to clamp down on the exchange of ideas. Free communication can break down walls, literally.

Countries like this tend to rank pretty low on measures of freedom and democracy. In a couple years, check back to see if any of them have updated their status to ‘free.’

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The faint praise of the damned

Posted Mar 2, 2010 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Mar 2, 2010 at 04:38 PM

Look out, Florida voters! Did you think you’d seen enough bloodsucking politicians? Well, a new candidate for governor is coming to town, and he is a self-professed vampire.

Meet Jonathon ‘The Impaler’ Sharkey. His 2006 bid for governor of Minnesota was the subject of a documentary. His political past includes involvement in a Republican organization in New Jersey, plus bids for Congress from Florida and Indiana, and - an essential item on any nutball’s political resume - a run for president of the United States.

One would not expect the Sunshine State to attract too many vampires, if what we know from books and movies is true. But according to Jonathon Sharkey, we have something that the upper Midwest doesn’t - a functioning political system. In his own words:

Unlike the Nation Republican Party, Florida’s Republican Party, especially in Hillsborough County, has set the standards in this day and age of how the founding members of the GOP envisioned it to be over 150 years ago.

Not just Florida, folks. Hillsborough County. Feeling flattered yet?

It gets weirder. Sharp-toothed Sharkey has had legal troubles surrounding his involvement with a teenage girl. He apparently has seven former wives. He has two kids in Tampa. City Pages has plenty more of his backstory.

But the strangest part of all may be the reaction of Hillsborough Republicans. Will they stick their necks out for this newcomer candidate? Stay tuned.

 

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Beauty, brains and politics

Posted Mar 1, 2010 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Mar 1, 2010 at 04:10 PM

Time Magazine reports that various researchers are trying to sort out who’s smarter, liberals or conservatives.

I had to get past a little personal baggage to get into this story - namely, the opening quip about College Democrats and College Republicans. As a studiously nonpartisan College Journalist, I saw my share of campus clashes between the two. And don’t get me started on the disastrous romances between members of the rival clans. I witnessed far too many of those as well.

Stereotypes aren’t confined to the college population. What would the partisan media do without dividing political figures into “ugly, smug and intellectual” liberals and “pretty, belligerent and dumb” conservatives? Picture the caricatures brought to life, and you have Al Gore and Sarah Palin.

So, is there anything to it? Should be a pretty simple study - ask people about their political opinions, then check the results against an intelligence test.

But intelligence has never been easily measured, and that’s where things begin to unravel. Some researchers have attempted to correlate politics with behaviors that might have helped or hindered human survival back in our wily caveman days. Intelligence surely helped the human race survive this long. But most of evolution took place long before civilization. We had to live by the law of the jungle, building up both intelligence and brute strength, before creating the law as we know it.

Besides, if it all comes down to evolution, some of the hard-core right-wingers who read this article might dismiss it out of hand anyway. Hmm.

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