A great interview between two smart people – Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow Interviews Jon Stewart
[Via Daring Fireball]

Thoughtful, smart, reasonable debate on the role cable news plays in U.S. political discourse. (Want to watch it in Safari, without Flash? Turn on Safari’s Develop menu, then choose Develop → User Agent → Mobile Safari 3.2.2 — iPad.)

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It is a long interview but an interesting one to hear. Smart off the cuff discussions are not held in high esteem on TV. Much easier to show idiot, blowhards who scream.

But hear, Stewart and Maddow discuss a lot of stuff, some of it quite important. Mainly – ‘It does not matter if your side is right or not if you are screaming “Liar” or “Socialist” or “War Criminal.” Only your side will listen.’

You do not have to insult those who might listen. We will not get much done nor solve many problems if we break up into two equally sized camps.

Of course, both Rachel and Jon have shown themselves to be people who will listen to other views. This is a great long-term view and one we need to get on quickly.

Unfortunately, there are currently a large proportion of the nation that will not listen. It does little good to try and talk with them. And this is both liberal and conservative people. Many progressives ripped into Jon because he is not leading the charge or because he will actually have O’Reilly on the show. They rip Obama because he is not liberal enough. Each group think that only they have a clear view of what is right.

So they insult the other side with conversation halting epithets. Instead of dealing with real problems, they yell at each other. Which really only helps those who care purely about power.

Stewart is right. There is not red and blue. There is corrupt and not corrupt. I hope that is something we can agree on.

One of the reasons I am finding it harder to respect the Supreme Court – fundraising for partisan causes

Exclusive: Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito Dismisses His Profligate Right-Wing Fundraising As ‘Not Important’
[Via Think Progress]

Last night, the American Spectator — a right-wing magazine known for its role in the “Arkansas Project,” a well-funded effort to invent stories with the goal of eventually impeaching President Clinton — held its annual gala fundraising event. The Spectator is more than merely an ideological outlet. Spectator publisher Al Regnery helps lead a secretive group of conservatives called the “Conservative Action Project,” formed after President Obama’s election, to help lobby for conservative legislative priorities, elect Republicans (the Conservative Action Project helped campaign against Democrat Bill Owens in NY-23), and block President Obama’s judicial appointments. The Spectator’s gala last night, with ticket prices/sponsorship levels ranging from $250 to $25,000, featured prominent Republicans like RNC chairman Michael Steele, hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer (a major donor to Republican campaign committees and attack ad groups), and U.S. Chamber of Commerce board member and former Allied Capital CEO William Walton. Among the attendees toasting Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the keynote speaker for the event, was Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito.

It’s not the first time Alito has attended the Spectator dinner. In 2008, Alito headlined the Spectator’s annual gala, helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars for the political magazine. According to Jay Homnick, a conservative who attended the 2008 Spectator gala, Alito spent much of his speech ripping then Vice President-elect Joe Biden as a serial plagiarizer.

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We have had the horrid abuse of the law that resulted in the Citizens United ruling. Now we find a sitting justice helping raise money for a partisan media source. As detailed in the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, where Canon 4 details expectations of judges with other organizations:

Canon 4C. A judge may attend fund-raising events of law-related and other organizations although the judge may not be a speaker, a guest of honor, or featured on the program of such an event.

So a direct violation of Canon 4.

But then Supreme Court Judges are exempt from following the code of conduct required by other judges. They are free to take personal trips with a Vice-President and then refuse to recuse themselves when the Vice-President has a case in front of them. A Vice-President that their own decision made Vice-President. They can help partisan front groups raise money from organizations and people who could have cases in front of the Supreme Court.

I guess this is just further degradation of the Judicial branch of government to follow a similar path seen in the Legislative branch, all while the Executive accretes more power. As the President gets stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger the other two branches get weaker and more corrupt.

Protesting with an iPad – in the rain!

The iPad provides a new twist on protesting [Video]
[Via Edible Apple]

Behold the iProtester! Stop dilly dallying around the house, pick up your iPad, and head out to the nearest rally in town!

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Now if we just had some translation. The main problem I see with this is getting an iPad destroyed when the police riot squads arrive. Losing a placard is not so bad. Losing an iPad, not so hot.

It has been almost a decade since I first read TPM

Talking Points Memo Turns 10
[Via Daring Fireball]

I’ve been reading TPM almost since the beginning. To this day, it’s my favorite site for politics, but it’s also a great success story for independent web-based publishing. Great reporting, great analysis, and a business model and organizational structure that works.

Here’s the Wayback Machine’s archive of what TPM looked like at the beginning.

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I’ve been reading Talking Points Memo since I started reading weblogs. It was the first political blog I remember reading.

I have been publishing this blog since January 2002. I first mention Joshua in July 2002. TPM is now a great place for news, moving beyond a simple blog. They are one of the success stories.

Just a reminder

Comparing Democratic and Republican Tax Plans
[Via Daring Fireball]

Striking infographic from the Washington Post.

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Every income level BELOW $200,000 a year takes home more money with the Democrats than the Republicans. Every income level OVER $200,000 take home more under the Republicans than the Democrats. And of course, even under the Democratic plan, wealthy people will take home more money. Because it is only the amount of their income over $250,000 that loses tax benefits. The first $250,000 still provides significant tax savings. In fact, those making $500,000 to $1 million will see tax savings that are $3000 more than those making between $100,000 – $200,000. With the Democrats. With the Republicans, the wealthier group will be taking home $14,000 more.

The wealthy will do better than everyone else, even under the Democratic plan. They will just do insanely well under the Republican. All while adding tens of billions in increased debt.

Ironic since MS supported HD DVD until it became defunct

New Windows 7 ad criticizes Apple’s lack of Blu-ray support on Mac
[Via AppleInsider]

Microsoft has once again taken on Apple and the Mac platform in a new advertisement which touts the ability of a Windows 7 laptop to play Blu-ray discs, while a MacBook cannot.

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If the main advantage is being able to play blu-ray, Windows 7 seems pretty weak. It might matter if you could not also download many of the same movies to the laptop. In fact, I wonder which would give out battery life first – a Windows 7 machine with the Avatar blu-ray or the iTunes version of Avatar on a Macbook?

And what about 3D blu-ray movies?