Things I think I think

I'm resigned to the idea that the Repubs will pull the nuclear option and will get their feudalist nominees through. But I'm not terribly distressed by this. I think the Repubs are opening a can of worms they may regret later. Not next year, or the year after, but maybe sooner than they think.

Like John McCowan, guest blogging at Michael Berube's perch, I think Jeb! will be the GOP '08 nominee. He's a governor of a state both parties need to win, and he's conservative enough for Repub primary voters. I think the Dem nominee will come down to Biden or Hilary. I would prefer the former. He's not the candidate I'd favor on economic issues, but I think he brings credibility to the party in the area of foreign policy and I think he gets the seriousness presented by the christian dominionists. He doesn't help with the electoral college, but of the other contenders, I think they either come from states that are unwinnable anyway, or would come from states that Dems have locked up either way.

Why are we having still more congressional hearings on steroids and professional sports?

The military base closing commission has announced a new round of whackings. The list has, predictably, come under fire from the states and regions affected. I realize I'd be more concerned if I was in one of the places dependent on the military for jobs. But I'm not. And as much as I am totally in love with Stephanie Hersheth, I'm not weeping for the proposed closure to the military base in S.D. South Dakotans are supposedly rugged individualists that hate government and love W and as a result, a reaping what they've sown. I regret any fallout for Steph, but as for the state's newest U.S. Senator, John Thune, gee, it couldn't happen to a more swell fella. And the downscaling of the military industrial complex is long overdue. The military is, among other things, a boondogle for weapons production, an excuse for poorly apportioned and mostly inefficient employment, and its oversized standing army represents a threat to liberties abroad and at home. Yeah I said it.