Fla. city to workers: Wear underwear, deodorant

What happened to the Constitutional right of city works to not wear underwear? You say there isn't a Constitutional right to go commando? It's in there somewhere, next to the right to privacy. This underocracy in Florida has gone way too far, with their crazy rules.

The only sane person in city government appears to be the Mayor. According to a news report, Mayor Joe Bernadini cast the dissenting vote, calling the underwear amendment “a little far-fetched” and adding, “I think in a way it takes away freedom of choice.” Damn right it does.

Do you think that George Washington and Nathaniel Hale would have fought the Revolutionary War if they knew that this sort of tyranny would ensue?

In the words of Homer Simpson: "That's not America...that's not even Mexico."



http://www.contracostatimes.com/weird/ci_12618002

Clip of new Michael Moore movie

Not sure if it will be able to top the Farenheit 911 clip of President Bush reading a story book after the Trade Centers were attacked, but I'm still looking forward to seeing it:



I think one of the biggest flaws in our economic system is that the risk-reward ratio has become completely skewed. We offered huge rewards to financial firms, but really we removed the risk aspect of it. CEOs were able to obtain massive paychecks by utilizing leverage and derivatives, but haven't experienced any penalties for failure.

Gavin Newsom's not the only one

Nevada Senator John Ensign admitted yesterday that he had an affair with a married staffer last year. This probably puts a kabosh on the huge "Ensign for President" movement- all 6 people are hopping of that bandwagon.

Ensign was the same guy who condemned Bill Clinton and Larry Craig for their... recreational activities. By the way, has there ever been a worse job than the vice cop who was assigned to the bathroom at the Minnesota airport? "Uhmmm, yeah, Lou, what you need to do is plant yourself in a stall and tap your foot and hopefully someone will want to have sex with you in the bathroom- maybe even a family values Senator."

The early front-runner for quote of the year comes from Ensign's wife: "With the help of our family and close friends, our marriage has become stronger. I love my husband.” Yeah, nothing strengthens a marriage like sleeping with a staffer, especially when her husband also works for you. Good times all around. Maybe this is what they mean by making it a "big tent party".

Smile, Sarah....but no talking

Nothing sums up the current state of the GOP better than the fact that they can't even figure out who will be their keynote speaker at an event. They invite Sarah Palin to keynote, then she's not keynoting, then Newt is keynoting, Sarah's still speaking, then she's not coming, then she is coming..... and so it goes. It reminds me of the Democrats during the 1980s- and I'm so glad to be on the outside looking in.

Jon recently wrote about the GOP frontrunners for 2012. If Palin or Gingrich were the nominee, David Axelrod would be popping champagne.

The fading Clinton Magic

Terry McAuliffe got trounced in the Va. primary yesterday, despite tons of money and high-profile endorsements. Big Bill even came out and campaigned for him, but to no avail.

Virginia Governor's race

The race for the Democratic Gubernatorial nomination in Virginia looks like it will be going down to the wire. A couple of weeks ago, it looked as though uber-Clintonite Terry McAuliffe was starting to pull away. He cracked 40% in the polls and he has raised a ton of money. But instead of the Macker cruising to victory, the race suddenly got much tighter. Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran both started moving up in the polls while McAuliffe moved backwards. As Nate at 538 noted, the polls look like the Iowa caucus in 2004 (Dean crashing, Kerry and Edwards rising rapidly).

It also reminds me of the 2006 CA Dem race for governor. Steve Westly had moved in to a lead against Phil Angelides and had a ton of money to spend on the race. Once Westly was up by 7 or 8 points, I thought his financial advantage ensured he'd win. Instead, Angelides won the endorsement of the CA Dem party at the state convention and came back to win. Angelides also had the good sense to put his attractive daughters and wife front and center in his commercials (no one mistook Phil for Brad Pitt).

My guess is that McAuliffe will win by a tiny margin, but we might not know who the winner is on Election Night.

More geniuses at the RNC

A few of the things that haven't stuck:

1. Obama is an iron-fisted dictator
2. Obama is a wimp
3. Obama will cause the stock market to collapse.
4. Obama will surrender to the Iraqis
5. Obama's Supreme Court pick is a man-hating racist
6. Obama has the audacity to go to New York on a Saturday night with his wife

Next on the list- rename the Democratic Party. New name, courtesy of RNC members: Democrat Socialist Party.

Economic crisis, North Korea testing nukes, GM in bankruptcy, unemployment still climbing....when faced with all of these issues, members of the RNC chose to focus their efforts on name calling. I'm sure they will be back in power in no time!

Kind of crazy when Michael Steele is the voice of reason in your party and helps put an end to this nonsense.

GOP 2012 Contenders?

A poll today shows Huckabee (22%), Palin (21%) and Romney (21%) in a virtual three way tie when it comes to the Republican preferences right now for their 2012 candidate. Of course its ridiculously early, and the poll is mainly just a reflection of candidates who just ran for national office in 2008 and are still on people's minds. As brilliant as his 2004 Democratic convention speech was, few thought Obama would be ready to run in 2008 with just 4 years in the Senate under his belt. And in 1988 the Democratic talk for 1992 centered around well known heavyweights like Mario Cuomo - and not some obscure Southern Governor named Bill Clinton. It's difficult to know who will emerge this far out.

From a Democratic perspective, Romney is really the only guy on that list who should be of any concern. Huckabee is a surprisingly charismatic speaker and a very likeable guy - but his politics are too far to the right to make him much of a threat in a general election. And its just hard to imagine future children reading about a "President Huckabee". Palin is a national joke. Sure, there is a core of 20-25% of the GOP that will always love her, but it won't be enough to get through a primary, let alone a national election. There was probably nobody McCain could have selected as VP that would have won him the 2008 election, but Palin ended whatever chance he did have by pushing moderates, independents, and voters who like their candidates to be able to answer basic questions (like "what do you read?") into the Obama camp for good. Romney, on the other hand, looks and sounds like a President, has a certain gravitas to him, can raise money, and has proven he can win in blue states - serving as Governor of Massachusetts. And if the economy is still sluggish in 2012 - likely the only way the GOP are going to beat Obama anyhow - his credentials in that field can serve him well with the electorate.

The GOP actually have a candidate who on paper looks perfect for 2012. A popular former Governor of Florida, a critical swing state the party lost in 2008. A man who is liked by both economic and social conservatives, yet while not polarizing the electorate and pushing away moderates. His wife was born in Mexico, and he is popular with a Latino community that the Republican party has struggled to capture politically. Yet Jeb's last name happens to be "Bush", and after 12 years of mediocre to horrible Bush Presidencies (although Bush 41 is looking better and better all the time in comparison), its questionable if America has any interest in seeing yet another Bush in the White House. If, after 4 years of Obama, people are looking back fondly on the Bush era - this country will be in more trouble than anyone can imagine.

No go, Antonio?

Chronicle columnists Matier and Ross report that LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decided to pass on a gubernatorial run in 2010.

The LA Times reports that Antonio has not ruled out a run....but that he is dating a local TV reporter. No, not the local TV reporter who helped break up his marriage- a different one.

He's certainly an ambitious guy and would like to be Governor. If he Antonio were able to garner a large percentage of SoCal and/or Hispanic voters, he'd be tough for Newsom and Brown to beat.

Kind of funny that "Governor Moonbeam" has the least amount of personal baggage in this race- I don't think his fling with Linda Ronstadt will hurt him very much.

Wonder why there is a gender gap?

Over the weekend, the First Couple (sans children) flew up to New York and had dinner
at a Greenwich Village restaurant and then saw the Broadway play "Joe Turner's Come and Gone". Since apparently Jon and Kate didn't have any big updates on the status of their marriage, the Obamas' date night got a fair amount of coverage.

Some genius over at the RNC decides that this is an issue they can attack the popular President on. “As President Obama prepares to wing into Manhattan’s theater district on Air Force One to take in a Broadway show, GM is preparing to file bankruptcy and families across America continue to struggle to pay their bills,” RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said.

My guessing the strategy meeting went something like: The American people like his handling of the economy, foreign policy, his Supreme Court pick.....uhmmmmm, let's attack him for taking his wife out to dinner and a show.

Now some husbands might feel a bit sheepish that their offers of NetFlix and Chinese take-out are looking a bit pale in comparison, but does the RNC really think this one is going to stick? On haircuts (see Bill Clinton and John Edwards), Dems might be vulnerable. But I'm guessing not a lot of women are going to fault Obama for getting all dressed up, flying up to New York for a romantic dinner and Broadway show." The only possible negative fall out for Obama might be when husbands start to hear: "Why can't you be more romantic and treat me like Barack treats Michelle?"