Zeese, Steele, and Cardin Scuffle; Cardin Takes His Ball and Goes Home; Post Covers Its Ears and Hums

As has been widely reported, even as far as my mother’s hometown paper and my alma mater’s local paper, the three candidates for U.S. Senate from Maryland met on television for the first televised debate. After the charged atmosphere and civil tones taken at the first debate, last night’s affair between Ben Cardin, Michael Steele, and Kevin Zeese was a down-and-dirty street brawl.

And now, on the eve of tonight’s third debate at the NAACP, Ben Cardin has dropped out at the last minute! Dry your eyes, get up, and get back on the horse, Mr. Cardin. You’re running for Senate, and if you can’t play ball with the big boys: Go home.

More on last night: Cardin and Steele spent most of the evening at each other’s throats, vying for attention like childish bullies each wanting the pulpit. Kevin was drawn into the bickering as well at several points. Several times during the evening, the candidates could hardly be heard above one another.

A few highlights:

• Cardin attempted to defend against Kevin’s attacks on his voting record for the war in Iraq. When Cardin dissembled that he was voting to “keep the troops safe” and “pay their salaries,” Kevin pounced: In fact, troop salaries and equipment are paid for almost entirely by the DOD budget, whereas the funding voted for by Cardin was in support of permanent bases in the Middle East.
• Steele nailed Cardin on his knowledge of Washington-Metro area Maryland matters. Specifically, Cardin was utterly embarrassed by a question as to the purple line’s proposed routes; and though he refused to answer the question, it was clear he was befuddled.
• Kevin, speaking last, handed out DVDs of the first debate to his opponents. Steele smiled and accepted graciously; Cardin looked like he wanted to vomit.

Overall, I think Steele came out of the whole affair seeming to be the least belligerent, and Kevin only slightly less so. As usual, though, Steele had no policies or message other than his character as a leader. Kevin clearly articulated several aspects of his unique policy ideas. Cardin continues to be the consummate slimy politician.

As usual, though, the media coverage hardly mentions Kevin Zeese as an equal participant, with the Washington Post taking home the award for Most Lopsided Reporting. In their coverage, Zeese isn’t mentioned until the bottom of the page, and only then as an after-thought inclusion with the other two candidates. The photo (posted with the article earlier, replaced with the video now) cuts Kevin completely out of the picture again. The AP story that ran nationwide suffered from similar bias, although at least their picture had all three candidates.

The Baltimore Sun seems like they might be taking notice, though. The headline on their article read: “Cardin, Steele play ‘gotcha’ in three-way TV debate: Democrat, Republican spar over war, Metro; Zeese claims victory.” I’m pretty sure the campaign itself didn’t claim victory here, so this comes across as a pronouncement of a winner. Congratulations, Kevin!

U.S. Military Swaps Homosexuals For Laptops

Facing a shortage of arabic translators, the military is purchasing a set of rugged Panasonic Toughbook laptops to be used for computerized English-to-Arabic translation. According to Ars, the machines are not expected to be perfect, but just “good enough” for situations when a translator isn’t available.

Is the shortage of translators a result of the Army kicking them out for being gay?

Well, probably not, but I can’t help wonder what will happen if the Army accidentally receives a shipment of the new Panasonic Queerbook.

Zeese Smokes Steele and Cardin in First Debate, Still Ignored by Media

Update:The video of the first debate has been posted.

We just got back from the first debate of the Maryland U.S. Senate Race, graciously hosted by the Urban League of Baltimore. It was a historic evening since this was the first three-way debate of its kind in Maryland’s history. I am certainly biased, but I think Kevin came out a clear victor here. However, to read about it in the media so far, one might think Kevin Zeese wasn’t even there!

Let me explain: First, you should go read some of the articles that have already been posted. Start with the Washington Post’s article Steele, Cardin Draw Distinctions. To begin with, the title doesn’t even mention Kevin, but take a look at my picture of the candidates on stage. These three candidates were quite clearly on this stage as equals, but the Post headlines with only the two major party candidates’ names. Furthermore, the Zeese platform is far more unique than the other two, and yet he doesn’t even rate mention until the second to last paragraph in the first page of the Post article. Are you kidding? The Post is cleary not reporting the facts here.

The Washington Times, already a well-known bastion of reporting excellence, is even worse with their article Steele, Cardin Wrangle Over Race in Debate. Kevin Zeese isn’t mentioned until the third-to-last paragraph. Nice. He’s given equal time on stage with these guys, and he gets almost zero coverage.

So let’s cover what really happened here:

Cardin opened with a series of well-rehearsed but vacuous statements – the same old thing we’ve been hearing for fifty years. It was well-spoken, and the Cardin supporters in the crowd cheered loudly. Amusingly, he did not mention Kevin Zeese’s name a single time, continually referring only to Steele as “his opponent.”

Steele was next with his opening remarks. His first order of business was to publicly scold Cardin for his failure to even recognize Zeese’s presence on the stage. He said of Mr. Cardin’s clear exclusion, and I quote this, “What you just watched was the problem of Washington. They run their mouths, but they do not listen. After 40 years of service, honorable service, he still has not learned to look around the room and shut up and listen.” He then laid out why he felt his candidacy was for the voters. To my mind, it was a lot of high-level, feel-good fluff; there was a lot of personal back-story, akin to the Olympic Athelete sob stories that tug on your heartstrings between bobsled runs.

Zeese, as one might imagine I would say, hit the nail on the head by putting out why he was running and what his goals were. His pointed remarks began with the simple observation that our country is going in many different wrong directions at once, and he reminded the voters in the room of their place in history.

The questions were then posed to the candidates, with each given equal time to respond to the same questions. Later on, questions from the audience were directed at the candidates individually, with three to each candidate prior to closing remarks. The video will be up later, so I’ll just refer you to it once it’s posted.

Let me repeat, though: All three candidates were given equal time, and all got plenty of applause and audience reaction. And Zeese barely merits mention on the first page at best. Disgusting.

Throughout the evening, Cardin and Steele continued to bash at one another, while Kevin kept making his points. Even when he lambasted Cardin for posing as a peace candidate – despite Mr. Cardin having voted once against the war several years ago – and fourteen times in favor since then, he refused to awknowledge Zeese. Instead, he continued to favor pointing fingers at Steele.

Similarly, Steele kept attempting to differentiate himself from Cardin. Several times he highlighted the differences between them. Unlike what has been implied by some sources, though, the issue of abortion wasn’t even raised tonight.

It is interesting, then, how neither candidate would approach the issues Kevin continually raised, refusing to attack any of his stances on the issues. The audience, though, were not as afraid as the two would-be frontrunners to grasp the issues at hand.

Many times throughout the evening, I looked around to notice people wearing even Cardin and Steele shirts and paraphernalia applauding Kevin’s remarks. At one point, the issue of American funding for Israel was raised – that it was raised at all was itself a cause for celebration. As Kevin railed against our blind, one-sided support for Israel, there were audible gasps and exclamations of shock from the audience as he described how a nation the size of New Jersey receives more aid than Sub-Sarahan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined.

A particularly powerful moment came when, during a question from the audience directly to Kevin about whether or not one is throwing their vote away by casting a ballot for Zeese. Kevin countered with the example of the abolitionist parties prior to the Civil War: During that time, the two major parties were the Democrats, Southern slave owners who were pro-slaverly, and the Wigs, northern industrialists who were not pro-slavery, but not really against it either. The Republicans at that time were formed as a third party against slavery, and eventually rose to the Presidency with Abraham Lincoln. In that debate hall – a former church which was a major part of the Underground Railroad – to that audience – filled in majority with black voters from Baltimore – Kevin asked if they would consider a vote for the third party in that troubled time a wasted vote. The point was made beautifully.

Afterward the debates ended, I spoke with a lot of people and handed out a lot of Zeese palmcards. I had a blast. The highlight of my evening came as one of the Urban League ladies was closing the front doors to the building. She was having trouble getting the latch closed, so I gave her a hand. As I finished, she said, “And who are you with…?” I pointed to the Zeese sticker on my shirt, and she said, “Oh, Zeese! He was the one up there talking sense.”

She took a palmcard for herself, and several more for her friends. If only the media were as open-minded and rational.

Santa Claus Drowns, Governments Miss Point

Some scientists in the EU made some sattelite imagery available showing that the arctic ice cap had melted so much this past summer that a passageway free of ice to the north pole had been created. They mention that heavy storms in that area are mostly to blame for the breakup of the ice, but the ice couldn’t have broken up if it hadn’t been dramatically thinned by the increasingly warmer polar temperatures.

The AP goes on:

There are geopolitical implications, too, as Canada, Russia and the United States jockey to claim rights over transpolar passages that open up within their newly ice-free waters.

Great. The climate of our planet has changed enough to melt the north pole, and our leaders are fighting over the shipping rights. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this administration’s views on greenhouse gasses and global warming are well known. But don’t they realize the economic tragedy that’s about to ensue? I’m not talking about rising sea levels or more deadly storms. Santa Claus lives at the north pole, and since it has melted, that means he’s drowned! Without Santa Claus, the Great American Christmas Shopping Orgy will grind to a halt, ruining our economy and sending our nation spiraling into depression.

I pulled this link to a Post article talking about the White House’s new plans to combat global warming, but I haven’t read it. Nor do I intend to. I simply don’t believe a single word they say. Will this new plan be somehow better than Kyoto? Will this new plan finally raise our gas mileage standards and cut our nation’s carbon emissions? Maybe, but that’s not its true purpose. It’s there because it’s politically expediant, nothing more.

Maryland Senate Race Covers Cardin, Steele, and Mfume – Why Not Zeese?

My wife is a central staffer on the Kevin Zeese for U.S. Senate campaign. As occurred during the presedential elections two years ago, I am once again “campaign widower.” She works long days trekking about Maryland and coordinating campaign staff and events, and even when she is home much of her time is spent answering emails and returning phone calls. Getting a guy elected is hard work!

If running a candidate for Senate isn’t hard enough, her work is made even harder by the mainstream media consistently failing to recognize her candidate.

The media spotlight has been focused on Maryland the last few days, no doubt drawn by the massive, systemic election system failures like frenzied pirhannas swarming a cow in the Amazon. In the last few days I’ve noted a few things coming across my feeds:

• An article in the Washington Post focusing on the anti-Bush strategy the various Democratic candidates are taking.
• An article in U.S. News & World Report on the results of the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
• An editorial blog entry, again from U.S. News & World Report, doing some political math on the Maryland Senate race.

Not a single mention of the name Kevin Zeese. Sure, all of these articles are technically about the Democratic party, their candidates, and processes – but each of them makes the implicit assumption that the race is a face-off between Cardin and the Republican nominee, Michael Steele. Mr. Steele’s name is mentioned several times throughout each, and the tacit implication is that there is no other candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Kevin has the nominations of three seperate political parties in Maryland, and has been invited to participate in four seperate three-way debates with the Republican and Democratic candidates. And with 20% (!) of the voters in Maryland formally registered independent, failure to legitimize his candidacy through media acknowledgement is at best shoddy reporting. At worst, it is a blatant lie of omission.

Finally, A Useful Color-Coded Warning System

So it’s September 11th. Five years and all that. It was a pretty terrible day, and certainly those responsible should be brought to justice. (By the way, nice job on that, Mr. Bush. Our little jaunt through Iraq has really paid off. We got Saddam, all right, who had nothing to do with it!)

Our ridiculous overreaction to the “terrorist threat” is getting a little old, though. There are much, much worse threats out there than a few angry religious nuts with box cutters. With that in mind, Wired has put together a new – and if I may say so infinitely more useful – color-coded threat warning system.

Why do we never hear anything in the media about these death bringers? Where is the national response? Where is my War on Hernias?

Or could it be that this whole national hysteria is the result of deliberate manipulation for political gain? I guess “War on Accidental Poisoning” just doesn’t cut the mustard, despite the fact it has the potential to save almost 50x more lives.

Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) Is a Luser

This transcript of Ted Stevens is so funny and sad. This man with power actually thinks he has an intelligent opinion on net neutrality, yet his statements belie his ability to make any intelligent decision on the subject. Witness:

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.

Classic. Clearly, Mr. Stevens is a luser. I mean, come on! “An internet was sent by my staff…?” It’s hard to make shit up funnier than that. Let’s try.

OMG, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. WTF!1!one!?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on TEH INTARWEB commercially.

PAK CHOOIE UNF

So a luser is getting to decide technology policy. Brilliant. Perhaps if his number one campaign donor wasn’t the telecommunications industry…

A Second Observation on An Inconvenient Truth

As an aside to my thoughts on seeing An Inconvenient Truth – a sort of secondary take-away from the film if you will – is how stunningly the act of campaigning for public office ruins a person. Most of us remember Al Gore from the 2000 presidential election as the sheet-faced academic automaton whose droning voice bored us to tears and narcolepsy. Yet in this film, the man is completely different.

Away from his political handlers, and speaking on a topic about which he is clearly passionate, he is engaging, funny, charming, principled, moral, and extremely human. If this had been the man running for president, the doofus now in office wouldn’t have had a chance!

Who are the political strategists that think the U.S. citizens are so stupid that we would only elect a bland moron? (Apparently they are mostly the Democratic ones, judging by the current make up of the government.) Why do they still have jobs? How can we even wonder at our own ennui, evidenced by our constantly abysmal voter turnout? If the football fans got something to watch besides baseball, they might get interested again.

See A Suspicious Bag on the Metro? Just Throw It Away

DCist is reporting on a new advertising campaign on the Metro that encourages riders to be ever vigilant for abandoned bags and suspicious circumstances. The text on the new signs reads:

Terrorism is the threat. Complacency is the accomplice.

It’s easy to let our guard down — 9/11 happened over four years ago. Nothing’s happened since. Except for Madrid. And London. Part of the war on terrorism is a battle against complacency. So live your life, but be aware. And if you see something that seems wrong, let us know.

This is yet another volley in the campaign of fear perpetrated by our own well-meaning-but-politically-sensitive officials. Riders are already constantly barraged with audible reminders from operators to “report any suspicious packages.” It seems like a different color line is shut down every other week while the authorities investigate some piece of litter or Macy’s bag full of lingerie that was accidentally left behind.

I hate this fear mongering. We, as an entire nation of individual people, are wasting our time, energy, and state of mind chasing these phantoms. The paradox is that the more suspicious we become, the more imperilled we actually are. When everybody is hyper-vigilant, the police are no longer able to focus on credible threats. As Bruce Schneier says, “Amateur spies perform amateur spying. If everybody does it, the false alarms will overwhelm the police.” This is not to say that individual watchfulness and caution is without value – most people have a pretty keen sense for when something “isn’t right” – but, maintaining such alertness wearies our ability to comprehend and react to real problems, injects our society with suspicion, lowers morale, and makes our actual anti-crime and anti-terrorism efforts less effective.

So please, do what I do when confronted with a so-called “suspicious package” on the Metro: Just put it in the trash. You are far more likely to get killed by a car on your walk to the Metro station than in some subway explosion, and you’ll help thousands of commuters farther down the line get home on time. Besides, the new $800,000 trash cans are bomb proof, anyway.

Chicago Smoking Ban Brings Out Zealots

When the DC smoking ban first got pushed through, I wrote:

Ostensibly, the ban is being put into place as a public health measure protecting workers who are exposed to second-hand smoke through the course of their jobs. Think about wait staff at a restaurant – many of them may not smoke, but they may suffer from the same health problems as smokers due to their constant exposure. That’s a worthy goal for legislation.

Except that almost every person for the ban with whom I’ve spoken wants it because they simply don’t like smoking. They want to eat smoke-free, and they want to go to smoke-free bars. Is it right to limit others’ personal freedom simply because we don’t like how they choose to exercise it?

Basically, my position is that people who don’t like smoking are trying to clear the city of something they simply don’t like under the always-politically-correct guise of “public health.” Don’t believe me? Check out this article in the Post on tobacco lounges that have opened in Chicago since the passage of its own anti-smoking ordinance.

Here is an establishment opened explicitly for the enjoyment of a legal drug. I’ll send you a Sacagawea if you can find a single person either patronizing or employed by such a business that is not fully aware of the carcinogenic qualities of nicotine yet chooses to feed their habit regardless. And yet, just look at the vindictive belligerence of the Kevin Tynan, of the American Lung Association: “It’s just another example of tobacco companies skirting the law.”

Come on, Kevin. This isn’t about protecting non-smokers from secondhand smoke, it’s about you not liking smokers and their habit. You and your association are out to get them, just because you don’t like them. There is a name for people like you: fundamentalist.