Zee Links and Minifeatures: February 2008 Archives

Volokh Conspiracy on the silence of Justice Thomas in arguments.

I keep running across this allegation, so:

Snopes on allegations that Barack Obama is Moslem

There are as many reasons as anyone rational could ask for not to vote for Barack Obama, and reasons why he would be severely bad for the country. However, being Moslem or somehow in sympathy with radical Islamics is not one of them.

If you don't want him to be elected president, don't spread this pile of manure. It draws attention away from many other areas where he would do great harm, and false accusations give the impression that he is being persecuted. There are plenty of reasons not to vote for him that are rooted in fact. His economics. His health care plan. His utterly naive and uninformed pronouncements about foreign policy, al-Qaeda, and Iraq. (it's not worth stressing over when the Kossacks or the Huff'nPuffs spout nonsense. But someone who seriously wants to become president needs to be held to a higher standard of sanity)

You want reasons not to support Barack Obama, all the ones you should need can be found at his official campaign website. When you ignore the feel good stuff and focus on specific policy actions, his economics are a suicide pact. Actually, even the feel-good stuff says a lot about him, and what it says isn't good to anyone with a decent grasp of economics.

Mukasey refuses probe of Bush aides

Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused Friday to refer the House's contempt citations against two of President Bush's top aides to a federal grand jury. Mukasey said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers committed no crime.

Executive powers in the Constitution, Long standing use, yada yada yada. There is no case and no crime - only political games.

Democrats say Bush's instructions to Miers and Bolten to ignore the House Judiciary Committee's subpoenas was an abuse of power and an effort to block an effort to find out whether the White House directed the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 for political reasons.

Republicans call the whole affair a political game and walked out of the House vote on the contempt citations in protest.

The Democrats are using their control of the house as a campaign tool. No different in principle from when the Republicans were in control, but the Democrats are going a lot further with the partisan politics. I don't recall any Republican votes to force Democratic aides of President Clinton to testify, despite much better reason and much better evidence.

Nancy Pelosi is one of the top five "reasons to vote Republican" list for this fall. Most of the Democratic congressional leaders are way up there on the list, as well.

Unfortunately for the Republicans, most of their congressional leadership are on the "reasons to vote Democratic" list.

I know we're a two party system. But does it have to be these two parties?

On the other hand, we have it much better than Russia: Putin's Presidency Ends, Not His Rule

Still, despite his predictable election as President, Medvedev may be less the heir to Putin's throne than its caretaker. Putin has made clear he will stay on as Medvedev's Prime Minister "for as long as [Medvedev] is President," explained Putin at his annual press conference earlier this month. (Putin has already ensured his accession to the premiership by heading the electoral list of his United Russia party in the carefully orchestrated recent Duma election, in which they achieved full control of the legislature.)

And whereas Putin's own Prime Ministers were obedient technocrats, he has a vastly expanded idea of the office now that he plans to occupy it: "The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister, is the highest executive authority in the country," he told his press conference, adding that the Prime Minister's responsibilities will include managing the national budget, foreign and domestic policy, and national security.

Kind of like playing a game of musical chairs, where whatever chair Mr. Putin sits him gives him power and immunity from losing it.

McCain tags Dems on NAFTA

"One of our greatest assets in Afghanistan are our Canadian friends. We need our Canadian friends, and we need their continued support in Afghanistan," McCain said. "So what do we do? The two Democratic candidates for president say they're going to unilaterally abrogate NAFTA.

"How do you think the Canadian people are going to react to that?" McCain said.

The article calls this a false accusation as Clinton and Obama haven't used the word "abrogate" in response to NAFTA. However:

Rather, both Democrats said at a debate Tuesday in Cleveland they would insist on renegotiating NAFTA and would threaten to opt out of the agreement unless Canada and Mexico come to the negotiating table.

"Come to the table and negotiate something better for us or we'll opt out" seems to be extortion as well as failing to live up to our agreements. But it's all for a good cause - getting their favorite person elected!

Powerline reports Obama's head economic advisor as saying it's just campaign rhetoric, and that the Canadian government shouldn't worry.

My question: How does this make it better? To all of the aforementioned stupidity, he's now adding lying with malice aforethought.

Intellectually dishonest doesn't begin to cover it.

Q and O has some information on what happens if we do leave NAFTA. Bye bye, Canadian and Mexican oil. Adios to $380 billion dollars worth of US Exports.

Volokh Conspiracy has some good stuff on why John McCain is a "natural born citizen" and thus, eligible for the presidency.

Carnival of Personal Finance

Carnival of Real Estate

Funny! 42 Methods of Mathematical Proof

My favorites are Proof by Calculus and Proof by Design.

Thanks, Paul!

A civic quiz

It blows my mind that the average score is only 72%. I wonder what proportion is under 50% - and how many of them vote.

Me? I got the score everyone should, although I don't think there's anything to be embarrassed about if you get 95% (57 right) or better.

Armies of Liberation has a report that an American convicted in absentia here is wandering around Yemen free, even though he's theoretically wanted there too.

Stupid driver tricks: Dropping my older daughter at her school (K-8), I had just pulled back into traffic to get out of there when the full sized SUV in front of me decided they were going to turn around on the narrow street right in front of the school. Three full hems and haws to turn that beast around, stopping traffic when everybody was trying to get their kids there, and more importantly, obviously no clue about what was in front or behind - that is, whether or not there were young children there, among other things. It's an elementary school, for crying out loud! Going around the block would have been quicker, and a lot safer.

Please people, think about what you're doing with thousands of pounds of metal. The minute you stop thinking and planning before you do it, is the minute you might run over (in this case) a young child. Maybe your child who's coming back because they left something in the car. They're not responsible - that's why they're called children. You're supposed to be. That's what the license is about.

A reform effort I could support: The 'spouse tax' on military wives

The Road to Serfdom at Volokh Conspiracy

Captain's Quarters takes a USA Today Editorial and builds a far more convincing case that Obama and Hillary Clinton's proposed spending programs are in fact, unaffordable.

Sadly, he announces that he's going to be closing down Captain's Quarters and moving to Hot Air. I do wish him well at his new site, where I'll be reading because of him.

McCain's Wisconsin Victory Speech in Wisconsin

I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed policies of a tired philosophy that trusts in government more than people. Our purpose is to keep this blessed country free, safe, prosperous and proud. And the changes we offer to the institutions and policies of government will reflect and rely upon the strength, industry, aspirations and decency of the people we serve.

and

I don't seek the office out of a sense of entitlement. I owe America more than she has ever owed me. I have been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. I have never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I haven't been proud of the privilege. Don't tell me what we can't do. Don't tell me we can't make our country stronger and the world safer. We can. We must. And when I'm President we will.

I don't think John F. Kennedy could have said it any better.

As someone else has already observed, it's so wonderful to hear anybody talk about what he or she owes this country, rather than what the country owes them, much less a person who spent 22 years in the military, 5 of them being tortured as a military prisoner of war.

HT: Don Surber, who agrees with me on the character of the man.

Blame everybody but the perpetrator department: Belgrade's US Embassy Set on Fire

Serbs controlled Yugoslavia, and they ran pretty roughshod over all of the other groups. It was no wonder everyone else decided to leave. Then they used their dominance to threaten everyone else into not leaving, and their tactics got steadily worse. Slovenia went without much trouble, but then Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro departed, and Serbia still didn't clean up it's act, so finally Kosovo, which may have been historically part of Serbia, left (This was the location of the battle where the Ottoman Turks defeated Serbia in 1389, is in Kosovo).

But rather than admit their transgressions, they strike out at the cops who enabled their abused spouse to escape their abuse.

Department of Chickens Coming Home to Roost: Duke lacrosse players sue school, city

Treated as guilty despite the evidence, despite the fact that only a small subset of them was even accused, had their season canceled, they were tarred as a group with the alleged crimes of a few . Is this kind of treatment Ringing any bells? Any bells at all?

No similarities here either.

None here, either

(end sarcasm)

Just because they're mostly white males, largely of privileged backgrounds, doesn't mean they're not entitled to the same protections under law as everyone else.

Hurray for Utah!

Judging by the reasonably even-handed treatment this story got out of definitely left of center CNN, the tide of debate may have shifted. About time.

The results of tax the rich? Ask CA

Unless you're talking about turning into a communist dictatorship - e.g. Cuba and the former USSR - people always have the option of voting with their feet.

The Other "Other" Israel

Carnival of Personal Finance

San Diego Special Edition

Climate change: China - Victim, US - Culprit

This one is so utterly transparent that I can't think of any reason not to spot it.

Jay Tea over at Wizbang makes a great point about "Gun Free Zones" in The "Zone" Non-Defense

Little Ramona loved Disneyland! We took her on Star Tours, and she came off saying, "Do it again!" I suspect my wife, who is not a roller coaster person, suggested Space Mountain thinking to scare her off, but she came off that cackling with glee, too. Didn't get to go on Matterhorn (line had gotten too long and they'd taken it off FastPass, - Grr!) and we just didn't get to the area where Big Thunder Mountain was, but I suspect she'd have been fine with that also. One compensation for dealing with Toddlerzilla - she makes all the height restrictions! We went on the Rocket Sleds a couple of times and Buzz Lightyear also because Hilda isn't a roller coaster person, either. I felt really bad for my wife that King Arthur Carousel was closed, but gave fist pumps on a couple occasions as we walked by that "It's an Earworm after all" was closed for the next several months. Question: Why is Peter Pan's Flight always so dadburned crowded? And not on FastPass, either! It's been many years, but I don't remember it as being particularly good even before the old ticket books went out of service (which says something about how long I've been going to Disneyland). But little Ramona's favorite character is Tinkerbell, so we kind of wanted to go on that for her, and were completely frustrated because the line was always huge. First thing she did was try to get to Tinkerbell just inside the main entrance. We took both kids to meet Mickey, of course, and they also met Goofy also Toontown, as well as Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger (brand new Tigger suit - the orange was actually painful to look at). The only time we had any real trouble was on the Snow White Ride when the Queen turned around as the Witch, and that wasn't bad. We took a break midafternoon for nap and dinner, then went back until almost eleven PM, which was pretty good even if little Ramona was dead to the world before we got out of the park. We got a picture at 9:30 the next morning, showing them both still completely zonked out. Of course, Ramona and I were completely exhausted for two days afterwards - when you're both as old as we are, it really takes it out of you to keep up with young children like that.

(By the way, seems like every time I come back from the north anymore, traffic on the 5 is horrible from just south of San Clemente, no matter the time. It took over two hours from there to get to where we left my wife's car in Mira Mesa - less than fifty miles, on a weekend with no significant traffic events any of us saw or knew of. I don't see anything like that on the 8 except for a short period at rush hour or when there's been a major accident. 94's about the same, and even the 52, which may take longer to clear, doesn't stack up outside of rush hour. One more reason to consider East County!)

Satire so real it seems ripped from tomorrow's headlines: Castro Quits: Clinton-Obama on Short List?

Q and O on why we can't afford a President Obama. Least of all the poorer portions of the population.

neo-neocon on Obama's "over-promise and under-deliver" campaign.

Something that needs to be said about Title Insurance

Classical Science Fiction I find relevant to the election of 2008

"The Masculinist Revolt" by William Tenn (aka Phillip Klass). This short story was nominated for a Nebula in the 1960s. It probably should have won. This story seems to be different to just about everyone who reads it, so don't be surprised ifyou don't have the same reactions as everyone else. An emotional interest group just barely fails to get its way when an even stronger emotional urge wins the day. No logic involved. It strikes me that the Democratic primary is the collision of two such groups. The Republican primary seems to be one such group who have lost but won't give up.

Unfortunately, we've gotten to the point where our major decisions are ruled by emotional interest groups.

Two more short stories come to mind as having applicability in our current election: "Marius" by Poul Anderson, and "The Liberation of Earth" also by William Tenn. But that last one has been echoed in every election on the planet since it was written.

All three of these are worth reading, and fairly easy to find. None of them takes more than about ten minutes to read.

The story Robert Heinlein couldn't bring himself to write about the rise of Nehemiah Scudder (which regime's eventual fall is told in "Revolt in 2100") would also be applicable, although not only or even primarily to Mike Huckabee. Religion takes all kinds of forms, as Al Gore demonstrates. This story, you have to extrapolate from "Revolt in 2100" and a few others of Heinlein's works, but the main points are pretty obvious.

Yes, Obama's feel good populist soak-the-rich rhetoric rhetoric really has started to frighten me. And I don't scare easily. I can only hope that after another eight and a half months of this economic idiocy, people are smart enough to turn away from this easy, seductive message.

I know I said only a few days ago that I'd rather have President Obama than President Hillary. What's that saying again? Oh, yeah : "Be careful what you wish for. You may get it."

Off to take my family to Disneyland! It's the first visit for Ramona (the three year old)! Supposedly, the room has free wifi, but if the site isn't updated for a day or two, you'll know the reason.

I know I've been lazy as far as new articles the last couple weeks. I'll try to put out more in the next couple weeks.

If you've noticed the site being slow, I've been Google-lanched regarding the article Conforming Loan Limits and the Economic Stimulus Package - thousands of hits on that one article the last two days, 99% plus via google search.

Carnival of Personal Finance #139: Valentine Edition

The Smears against McCain are already starting

Jules Crittenden predicts we'll see accusations of PTSD from the left. I kind of doubt it. That will only prompt people to ask of either of their candidates, "So what life experiences do you have from that will enable you to lead our nation and make the big decisions correctly in highly stressful situations?" There just isn't a good answer to that.

My grandfathers fought in World War II. My father (born 1930) was out just before Korea, where my uncle served. The situation is remarkably similar in my wife's family - except that they had at least one combat death. Every one of the survivors came home and lived productive lives But one thing that people who know combat veterans know is that, contrary to Hollywood movies, it encourages fast, clear, levelheaded thinking - because that's the best way to live through it. It may be tense, it may be emphatic, and it may be frantic because the enemy was going through the same cycle. Sometimes it's just plain stupid luck who lives, one way or the other. But clear, fast thinking makes a real positive difference in life expectancy. And only people who don't know any combat veterans could think otherwise.

You know, I'm thinking that a guy this reviled on both the right and the left might have a little more going for him than I thought.

What is the school's The 'Multiculturalism-to-Math Ratio' ?

"Religion of Peace" my ***. Captain's Quarters reports on a plot to kill a danish cartoonist - more than two years after he drew an incredibly mild series of cartoons about Mohamed.

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Diary of an Insurgent In Retreat

Abu Tariq's diary ended with a list of people still working for him. There were 38, although he had written two weeks earlier that he had "20 or less" fighters left.

Some of those on the list had remarks next to their names, such as "We have not seen him for more than 20 days so far" or "Left three days ago."

"And that is the number of fighters left in my sector," Abu Tariq wrote.

HT: Captain's Quarters

Anti-impotence pill could boost high flying pilots

Just what we need. Military pilots usually suffer from testosterone poisoning anyway.

Not to mention it's certain to be used to increase the amount of spam in our email.

The Israeli air force, which funded the study, is not planning to make use of it:

(Because of the different circumstances) there is no significance for medical treatment of any drug for pilots in the Israel Air Force ... and it has no intention of using any form of drug,

Not to mention it's kind of difficult to devote your full attention to anything when you've got something uncontrollable going on below the waist. Far more important to be able to plan your air-to-air combat without distractions than to get a marginal improvement in black out point or oxygen usage.

Buffett: Bank woes are "poetic justice"

Buffett, one of the world's wealthiest people, appeared to see irony in the fact that many of the banks who marketed complex investments which have now crashed are bearing much of the fallout.

"It's sort of a little poetic justice, in that the people that brewed this toxic Kool-Aid found themselves drinking a lot of it in the end," he said.

I can't say it any better than that.

"I wouldn't quite call it a credit crunch. Funds are available," Buffett said during a question and answer session at a business event. "Money is available, and it's really quite cheap because of the lowering of rates that has taken place."

He added: "What has happened is a repricing of risk and an unavailability of what I might call 'dumb money,' of which there was plenty around a year ago."

Which is what I've been saying for months.

I said I wanted him to stay in, at least for now, and I am disappointed that he didn't:

McCain seals GOP nod as Romney drops out

John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering campaign. "I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney told conservatives.

H is only suspending his campaign, as John Edwards did, so he could get back in in the event of a brokered convention, which has now become quite unlikely. I am sorry it got so personal between McCain and Romney, because otherwise he would have been a good VP choice. Not as good as Fred Thompson, but much better than Huckabee. Duncan Hunter would also be an excellent VP choice - solid conservative credentials, tough on terror, and together with McCain's maverick status, might be able to put California in the R column. The Donkeys don't stand a prayer in the electoral college if they lose California. I don't know anything about the Florida politicians that boosted McCain there and various folks are predicting McCain will give heavy weight to, but California has twice the electoral votes. Just sayin'.

A Modest Proposal for Middle East Peace over at Private Papers

a small sample:

diplomats might find common ground about displaced populations, many from the post-war, late 1940s. Perhaps it would be best to start with the millions of Germans who were expelled from East Prussia in 1945, or Indians who were uprooted from ancestral homes in what is now Pakistan, or over half-a-million Jews that were ethnically cleansed from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria following the 1967 war. Where are these refugees now? Were they ever adequately compensated for lost property and damages? Can they be given promises of the right to return to their ancestral homes under protection of their host countries? The ensuring solutions might shed light on the Palestinian aspirations to return to land lost sixty years ago to Israel.

Wizbang covering McCain speaking at CPAC

Captain's Quarters seems to largely agree.

Michelle Malkin doesn't, but at least she's now calling for conservatives to work for candidates they believe in rather than trying to form a circular firing squad before the election.

Something for the eight year old in all of us:

A friend of mine (Hi, John!) sent me this a while ago and I promptly forgot about it. Meet the Disintegrator: 24 barrels of rubber band minigun madness

It's tripod mounted!

There's video of it in action!

Whoa! The Democrat race just got nasty personal! Obama suggests Clinton show tax returns

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread and all that. I agree unconditionally that transparency is a good thing where it won't get our warriors killed, but Hillary can't afford this issue. Damned if she does and damned if she doesn't.

Note that I don't think it's likely that I'd agree with most folks on what the really damaging information would be. Lots of people get all worked up about sheer amounts of money made, where I tend to look at where it came from and what people did for it (and in Hillary's case, whether the amount is really believable for what she claims it was for). Furthermore, recurring patterns are of more concern than single events, however large they may be, so one year's returns are likely to ask a lot more questions than they answer. Finally, it's not like I expect there to be an entry like "$15 million dollars from Mr. Hsu in consideration for..."

Carnival of Real Estate Podcast is up. I hadn't done a podcast before. I hadn't even listened to a podcast before - I read much faster than I type. But this was kind of cool.

Wizbang on the ongoing implosion of Massachusetts' universal health care experiment.

Every once in a while, there's a time to stand on principle even if you get politically flattened in the process. If you're at all reasonable in general, you will recover politically, and if handled correctly, can actually score lasting points for standing up for principles. Romney blew this one, badly. As a businessperson, he should have known the likely effects even a best case scenario would have. As someone familiar with government programs and advocacy politics, he should have known the projections being made were hopelessly optimistic. As any kind of politician, he should have known how to make his disagreement work in his favor, even while he lost.

I want to snark to the effect of he's obviously betrayed conservative principles, but that would be misleading as well as fatuous because I don't care about conservative principles except insofar as they will work out to the country's long term good. Unfortunately for Romeny, committing this large a portion of government funds to a black hole like unrationed health care is fiscal suicide. And he wants to tell me he's a businessman first, or brings a business perspective to office? What utter nonsense, as this demonstrates.

An interesting email over at NRO

Debunking a popular myth: Livin' Large at Reason.tv

I don't think items of this nature can tell the entire story, but I just took this online candidate matching quiz and surprise! John McCain shows up first at 32, with Mitt Romney a distant second at 22. I'm not taking it as gospel, and I had already voted before encountering it.

Okay, I'm pleased at the results of Super Tuesday last night. I'm not going to call for Romney or Huckabee to quit because of those results, no matter how much I'd like Huckabee to quit. Both candidates scored well enough to still credibly win the nomination, particularly if the convention is brokered. Romney is supposedly consulting his congressional supporters, which is traditionally something candidates do when they're considering an exit. All things considered, I think I'd actually rather he stayed in at this point. Maybe it'll come back to haunt me. But just because I don't support him doesn't mean I don't think his supporters don't have valid points, and once they believe those points have been listened to, maybe they'll calm down.

On the Democratic side, Hillary had the stronger night, although not near strong enough for Obama to go home. I'd rather the Republican nominee faced Hillary than Obama, because too many people know too much about Hillary to deny her true nature, while Obama's record is sufficiently obscure that many people who are ideologically opposed to him might not understand it, and the mainstream press and media have shown themselves ill-disposed to illuminate the public on things he's said and done while out of the national spotlight. He sounds like Reagan, a perception the press is quick to encourage but when it comes down time to act, he has basically nothing in common with Mr. Reagan, or me for that matter. If somebody were to prove to me that the Democratic nominee will be elected, I'd rather it be Obama, but that's like choosing to be devoured by a slightly lesser eldritch horror, as far as I'm concerned.

Private Papers on the illusion of Muslim moderates.

I believe in judging people by what they do. By this standard, I have yet to see any credible evidence of moderates actually influencing other Moslems away from the eventual goal of conquest.

Carnival of Personal Finance

January visits were up: 71,138 visits, 804,805 page views (not counting webspiders and bots and other automation). Running totals: 2,315,945 visits, 9,639,449 page views. If the current pace of just shy of 26000 page views per day continues, the ten millionth (human) page view will happen around the middle of February.

A sad day for Western Civilization

Quarter of Brits think Churchill was myth

He was larger than life, but quite real. The man who led Britain vicorious through WWII has only been dead 43 years.

I can understand why 47 percent think Richard the Lion-Heart was fictional - his association with the Robin Hood legend. But Richard himself was real. Mahatma Gandhi, Florence Nightingale, and the Duke of Wellington - who beat Napoleon Bonaparte, and was himself later Prime Minister, as was Churchill - also were believed fictional by significant fractions of the populace.

One the other hand, many Britons thought Sherlock Holmes was real.

It's almost enough to make you hope there is no afterlife, just so those heroes won't know this sad state of affairs. It's also a sad commentary upon the state of schools everywhere. My 7 year old gets taught all sorts of nonsense about minor figures of PC adulation - but if my wife and I didn't take the time, she'd be really in the dark about really great and pivotal men in American History. She hasn't yet heard the names Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson in school. George Washington, they've talked about once. Not to take anything away from Rosa Parks and Harriett Tubman, but this is focusing upon bumps in the road when you're on the shoulder of a great mountain, looking out upon a great vista afforded by standing upon their work, and while the work of Martin Luther King is itself another great mountain, it stands upon a foundation built by Jefferson, Lincoln, and Gandhi. All of these were great people, including great imperfections. But whose shortcomings we ignore, whose we pretend do not exist, and whose we emphasize, says a great deal about us.

Navy Tests Incredible Sci-Fi Weapon

"I never ever want to see a Sailor or Marine in a fair fight. I always want them to have the advantage," said Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead. "We should never lose sight of always looking for the next big thing, always looking to make our capability better, more effective than what anyone else can put on the battlefield."

Amen!

They've got video.

I live in California - and this last week is the first time I've ever been subjected to presidential campaigning. Tomorrow, I go to cast my ballot in a Presidential Primary that actually matters. Okay, I'd rather not have my phone ringing with autodialers and recorded messages. But for the first time, the most populous state in the union matters to the nominating process.

I did have some fun with one telemarketer who called asking if I supported Obama or Hillary. I do regret what I said, which was, "I hope someone throws them both out an airlock." After a couple minutes of me explaining the flaws in both candidates record, she asked, "Are you a Republican?", as if that was the ultimate zinger in her pantheon of insults.

MY answer to that? "No, I'm a libertarian. But tell me truthfully, if your candidates were white males, would you be supporting them?"

She hung up. Since this is the penultimate victory over any telemarketer, score one for me. The best is being able to ding their employer or sponsor for something like a Do Not Call violation. I do my best to make the practice economically unprofitable. If everyone else did their share, we wouldn't have telemarketers.

Now, if we can get California to the point where it isn't so blue that it gets ignored in the general election (Prediction: at 8:01 PM on November 4th, every network covering the election will call California for the Democratic nominee, on the basis of less than 1% of polls reporting), we might start to matter on the national stage.