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I’ve already posted about one of these, earlier, and neither is really yet at the point of being anything like what you could call a real “mission accomplished,” and etc., etc., so-on so-forth.

But I think the combination of these two positive policy developments, on the same day, is enough to really demand a brief note. Not often do we get even one item of good news like these, however compromised, let alone both:

• Obama Administration Rejects Keystone Pipeline Proposal
• Sopa: US backers end support for anti-piracy bill

That’s not too bad. Both of these proposals epitomize the “migod can we just not do this completely stupid unhelpful horrible abomination” ideas that are all-too common in American politics. Yeah, sure, the list of reasons for restraining the urge to celebrate is long and familiar: Neither measure is really necessarily “dead” yet; industry-backed monstrosities like these are never really truly “dead” anyway. Even if stopped, for now, they’ll sneak back. Neither measure’s defeat really amounts to any kind of actual progress. Nor do these limited little “non-defeats” come close to being “enough” relative to the big-picture of the challenges we’re facing. Nothing ever seems like it is or will be enough.

All true, but, aside from the fact that if this is about as good as we ever actually do we might as well take the opportunity to celebrate when we can because otherwise we’ll eventually just die without ever having let ourselves enjoy the feeling of winning… (more…)

So okay, the news from Wisconsin has been a bit of a disappointment. More than once, really, what with the embarrassing ending to the original “prevent a quorum” strategy, as well as the more recent incomplete victory in recall elections.

But, hey, take a moment to enjoy a bit of rare good cheer: here on another front in the war, recent news is just delicious.

Gov. John Kasich backtracked on Senate Bill 5 on Wednesday, asking union leaders to negotiate a compromise on the collective bargaining law he championed and end efforts to repeal it.

While the Republican leader made clear he wants a voter referendum on SB5 to go away…

Yes, indeed, Governor “I don’t pay attention to my critics” undoubtedly does want the referendum on his signature legislative victory to “go away.” Since there’s every indication that SB5 has generated a tremendous backlash which is going to fling the Ohio iteration of Republicans’ union-busting package right back in their faces.

Jeff Darcy of Cleveland's Plain Dealer nails it

(more…)

I’m becoming so scatterbrained. Perhaps it’s no wonder that most people seem so clueless, if just a month of 40-hour workweek plus commute, on top of a very-marginally-full life otherwise, turns my brain into a leaky bag of pea gravel. Hopefully the process is reversible?

Meanwhile though, how about some good things.

ITEM: Mubarak is going away. Hey look, I guess that “hopey changey thing” is, in the right hands, at least as good at getting rid of Arab dictators as “liberation at gunpoint,” and far less costly in American lives, funds or prestige.

ITEM: Assuming that an object with a bunch of “artificial leaves” might basically amount to an “artificial tree,” the delusional daydreaming of someone you know just might be looking slightly less so. Honestly I’m starting to think that my “reasoning” about this idea really is less random and zany than I thought, and that we should double down on developing it asap. (Though I’m suspecting that it’s much more likely the concept will vanish into that black hole of good ideas instead, the victim of awkward little technical details and/or oil-company conspiracies, take your pick.)

ITEM: More-immediately cheering, perhaps, are suggestions that another already-practical idea is looking less zany: Obamacare-slash-Romneycare. At least one contributor to both says that the health insurance mandate is better than alternatives, so: anyone thinking that maybe Democrats were dopes for letting themselves in for Constitutionality challenges, when other mechanisms could have worked just as well? Hey look, just maybe our party wasn’t being self-destructively over-clever, after all. For once. Better still:

…in Massachusetts, where there is a real world example of an individual mandate, insurance premiums are actually going down. “According to insurance industry figures, nongroup premiums have fallen by 40 percent in Massachusetts while rising by 14 percent nationally…”

Holy shit. That sounds absolutely fucking awesome. Just maybe, if it gets the chance to do so and if we aren’t all bled dry in the interim, this thing will actually work after all?