Sick Transit

For some reason it never occurred to me that the solution could be this simple:

The “National Popular Vote” plan, which is on the table in 47 states, has been signed into law in Maryland and had actually passed both houses in California in 2006 before it was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It simply calls for an interstate compact among all states to agree to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote. It becomes effective and binding when states representing at least 270 electors enter the compact.

I did a quick Google for opposing views and the only one listed in the Wikipedia article is this laughable WSJ op-ed (a redundancy, I know) complaining that “rural states like Maine, with its 740,000 votes in 2004, wouldn’t matter much compared with New York’s 7.4 million or California’s 12.4 million votes” (if the author thinks that’s a problem, he obviously doesn’t fully grasp the concept of a popular vote) and worrying about the prospect of voter fraud in “urban” (read: minority) districts. In the best laugh line of the piece, it concludes that “presidential campaigns would become… about political advocacy instead of presidential substance.” A similarily partisan editorial in a local California paper is concerned that candidates would “pander to the interests and eccentricities of Los Angelenos and New Yorkers.”

So I’m open to hearing about downsides to this plan, but I’m going to have preliminarily say that this is a great idea. More info at http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/.

A little tidbit from a larger–and well worth reading–AP article about reprisals against Iraq reconstruction whistleblowers, linked to by Yglesias:

He and his co-plaintiff, William Baldwin, a former employee fired by the firm, doggedly pursued the suit for two years, gathering evidence on their own and flying overseas to obtain more information from witnesses. Eventually, a federal jury agreed with them and awarded a $10 million judgment against the now-defunct firm, which had denied all wrongdoing.

It was the first civil verdict for Iraq reconstruction fraud.

But in 2006, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III overturned the jury award. He said Isakson and Baldwin failed to prove that the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-backed occupier of Iraq for 14 months, was part of the U.S. government.

Technically speaking, the judge may well be correct. But the upshot, if this decision is upheld, is that the billions of dollars that have been poured down the sinkhole of Iraqi reconstruction are simply not subject to any accountability.

I haven’t read Eckhart Tolle, but isn’t he supposed to have discovered the secret of enlightenment and been perfectly content living on a park bench? If so, why does he need to charge $100-200 a seat for his lecture?

I just called Napster to cancel my membership (I decided to try them because Rhapsody doesn’t support Vista x64, but I don’t like their UI and their selection was limited) and I have to say, the experience was unexpectedly good.

First I went to my account management screen to cancel. They make you call a phone number to cancel, and I figured “oh no, here we go, they’re going to try and make this a PITA for me.” But it actually took me only two prompts through a menu to get in the queue for a CSR; less then two minutes on hold to actually talk to someone; and the guy briefly asked me why I was cancelling, offered me a free month of service if I stayed, and then gave me a reference number. Completely easy and painless.

I wish I could actually be more positive about the msuic service, but at least I’ll leave with a positive impression of Napster because of this.

And the result is, well, classic.

You’ve gotta love Jonathan Adler’s take on the House of Representatives closed vote fiasco:

Of course, when Republicans controlled the House, there were shenanigans as well. Most infamously, a vote was kept open so Tom Delay would twist arms to ensure a victory. As with earmarks, it seems the new boss is much like the old boss.

I guess this is the fair-minded conservative reaction, since he admits that the Republicans pulled shenanigans too. But this is the same post where he reports:

Last night the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously agreed to the formation of a special committee to investigate alleged parliamentary shenanigans that may have altered the outcome of a vote.

Even if the Democrats’ action was anything other than an honest mistake (and this Congressional Quarterly article that Adler links to seems fairly exculpatory to me), did you ever hear of the Republicans voluntarily agreeing to be investigated for anything, when they had the majority?

The Democrats aren’t saints–especially when it comes to earmarks, as Adler notes–but I’m proud to belong to the side that hasn’t completely lost all notions of fair play.

Via Intel Dump, an excellent video from a Guardian reporter embedded with US troops in Iraq. It has some disturbing imagery, but the main thing it conveys is the day-to-day grind of danger and fear that wears down both Americans and Iraqis.