We Should Thank Arlen Specter Before We Say Goodbye

Embattled Arlen Specter will probably be swept over the electoral falls this year, either by a liberal challenger in the Democratic primary or the conservative Pat Toomey in the general election.

But before he leaves Republicans should thank him, since his defection in April 2009 (followed by Al Franken's court room victory) gave the Democrats the dangerous illusion of control.

Imagine Obama had fewer Democratic Senators to work with on health care.  House liberals would have been told to keep their fantasies in check.  Democratic Senate leaders would have negotiated with real commitment with moderate Republicans, instead of proceeding with a "we like you but we don't need you" mentality.  And the final unsavory and unsightly deals would probably have been cut with Senate Republicans, rather than with members of the President's own party.  The final package would have been less than libs wanted, but it would have arrived.

Joe Biden made the same point (yes, that gave me a flicker of self-doubt, but even a blind squirrel finds his nuts):

“The reports of our demise are premature. It’s time that everybody takes a deep breath,” Mr. Biden said. He added, “When we had 60 votes, there was the expectation left, right and center that we could do everything we wanted to do, which was never realistic. Never.”

Well done, Arlen.  Now get out.

Comments

[Cecil Turner]

Now get out.

There's the bottom line. Patting him on the head as he's leaving is fine . . . as long as it doesn't induce him to let the door hit him in the @ss on the way out.

[Old Lurker]

And take Lindsey Graham with you.

[MarkO]

Ah, yes. The man who created the "magic bullet" theory. All downhill from that.

[clarice]

It's so nice when a rat gets what's coming to him, isn't it?

[Captain Hate]

Another brilliant quote from the smartest man from Scranton.

[Neo]

Sporting a bandaged head, a black and blue eye and an optimistic thumbs up signal, Senator Arlen Specter left a Philadelphia hospital yesterday with his wife, Joan. He had a benign tumor removed from the his brain on Monday. Doctors expect he will be fully recovered by the end of August. (Reuters)

The bad news .. he never recovered.

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice,

Act like a lady, would you:)

[laura]

Listening to real people today(physical therapy office) who have no real interest in politics and get their news primarily from CNN and Newsweek, I learned that Obama was really a centrist when he took office and tried to be non partisan but not so much now. Most people have no knowledge what so ever of Chicago politics and SEIU. Everyone seems to want collegiality and working together, as if this is what will solve all our problems. I blame this on the ever body gets a trophy culture, being nice and cooperative is the preferred position. The largest common denominator was that the stimulus is a complete joke no matter what side of the aisle you stand on and the health care bill is derided by everyone.

[Danube of Thought]

My visceral hatred of this rodent arose during the Bork hearings, and has racheted up steadily ever since.

[daddy]

Well at least now we know why John Edward's mistress didn't abort baby Quinn. From the WSJ's ">http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/01/26/book-report-the-politician-by-andrew-young/"> New Book's Section

"Hunter’s pregnancy: According to Young, Hunter called him in May 2007 to say she was pregnant. Young says that when he informed Edwards, the senator told him to “handle it,” to which he replied: “I can’t handle this one.” Young writes that Edward unloaded on Hunter as a “crazy slut,” said they had an “open relationship,” and put his paternity chances at “one in three.” Young says that Edwards asked him for help persuading Hunter to have an abortion. Young writes that Hunter believed the baby to be “some kind of golden child, the reincarnated spirit of a Buddhist monk who was going to help save the world.”

[Ignatz]

--but even a blind squirrel finds his nuts--

Most blind squirrels find them in the crotch of the tree, but in Biden's case they're in his canopy.

[JM Hanes]

It's fascinating to me that up till Brown took Massachusetts, all the close calls went to the Dem -- Specter's defection, Franken's questionable win, etc. -- and yet even with overwhelming majorities in both houses and control of the White House, the narrative for most of this year has been embattled Democrats.

[matt]

he was a publicity seeking dirtbag of a Philadelphia DA 30 years ago when I was a kid, and it's been downhill from there.

Can I light the match when they throw his carcass onto the pyre?

daddy, that sounds more like the opening lines of a horror movie like The Omen...

I can hear Rod Serling's voice from the crypt....The love child of a corrupt U.S. Senator and pagan practitioner goes horribly wrong...

[Captain Hate]

Damn daddy, that vignette is far from the most damning to Silky included at that link. But I doubt if Rielle could sound any dumber.

[PD]

Indonesian Officials Consider Tearing Down Obama Statue

[Rob Crawford]

Young writes that Hunter believed the baby to be “some kind of golden child, the reincarnated spirit of a Buddhist monk who was going to help save the world.”

Meh. The Eddie Murphy version was better.

[Gregor]

The "little barry" statue - hmmm - a fading star maybe? College boy barry traveled to Pakistan on an Indonesian passport in 1981 - A U.S. travel resticted country in '81 - I know - we aboard the U.S.S. Independance lost our port call there - sent us to Perth, Austrailia for s week instead - dang! Gotta love that democrat vetting process :o)

[narciso]

Halperin, is really moving up to the 'credentialed moron' Hall of Fame, isn't he, in the LUN

[Cecil Turner]

My visceral hatred of this rodent arose during the Bork hearings, and has racheted up steadily ever since.

Yeah, he was an idiot there, but mostly those hearings put me to sleep. His idiotic approach to unlawful combatants (and even McCain wasn't a whole lot better) remains an active threat to national security. (Contrast that with Brown, who despite being a supposedly independent-minded defense lawyer is remarkably sensible on the subject.)

[narciso]

Sorry, wrong LUN

[Lockandload]

Does anyone remember the "one Bullet Theory" he gave us for the Kennedy Assasination? Dumb and Dumber-- time to pack it in.

[PD]

Who's getting an iPad?

[Jane]

Is that what they named it? That's a really bad name.

[Danube of Thought]

I love the I-phone I got last April and the I-Mac I got in September. I'm interested in the Pad but want to wait until I hear some consumer response.

[PD]

I was hoping for "iSlate".

But I want one!

[PD]

iPad pictures

[DrJ]

Who's getting an iPad?

I'm not, since I already have a convertible -- a computer that can be used as a "normal" notebook or as a tablet. And the iPad screen has the wrong form factor for my purposes.

[clarice]

(1) If only there was enough real content to use on all these "killer ap" toys. As far as this old fogey can see the news is 99% filler.
(2) This stuff is just eating up our lives. HELP.

[PD]

I got an iPod Touch last June, with some trepidation about how useful I'd find it. Within a week, I got another for my sweetie. I love it, but typing on it is a drag. This is something that the iPad will be much better for. I can see dragging this thing to the coffee shop for taking notes, doing web lookups, sending mail, etc. while I'm reading. I often find while reading that I wanna look up stuff at wikipedia or in the local library online catalog, etc. Larger screen real estate would be a big plus for these things.

[PD]

The Apple presentation is a lot more interesting than Oracle's.

[Telly S]

Actually, we should be thanking Arlen and the resulting horrendous health rationing bill (that is hopefully dead). If not for that and their power play, the Dems would not be so hated and the GOP would probably win less seats in Nov if he didn't switch.

OT: The iPad is disappointing. It's a big iPod Touch. Except it won't fit in your pocket. I love my iPhone. And now I don't regret the nook purchase for the wife. Apple stock will probably go down today, but that always happens with them...rumor runs it up, news runs it down.

[Dave (in MA)]

Looks pretty big. I think maybe they're gonna want to work on a smaller form factor. ;)

[Old Lurker]

Well, I made the leap to eBooks two years ago (I have the Sony, not the Kindle) and I must say I am a total fan. Improvements to the Sony and Amazon devices have been baby steps, so if this is the giant step they say it is, then it will be interesting to me, I must say. If it takes over the on-the-road browsing and email duties of my "travel laptop", then so much the better.

[Telly S]

Oh, looking at some shots of Jobs' presentation, I remember why I hated watching them. The content he demos is always some lefty crap like the NYT and this time with the books it's Kennedy crap. But the worst all time is when Jobs had Randy Newman performing to close out the event a few years ago.

[PD]

I ignore the leftist stuff. He's one of the more entertaining presenters alive, IMO.

[PD]

Wow, pricing starts at $499. Lower than expected.

[Telly S]

Yes, Jobs is a great marketer and presenter. He is a true visionary. But the subtle lefty crap in the presentation still gets stuck in my craw (whatever that is).

Price is $499 for 16GB model, but $599 for 32GB model and $699 for 64GB. Plus $130 one time fee if you want 3G plus $15/mo-$30/mo for 3G service (250MB - unlimited). If only he threw is a Randy Newman music video for free I'd be sold!

[matt]

I a confirmed troglodyte, happy with my little pieces of paper. My associates say I'm a clay tablet kind of guy.

To me, Kindles and iPads are too reminiscent of Nineteen Eighty Four.

By the way, where are the iToaster, iFridge, and iBlender?

[Dave (in MA)]

I'm trying to select an appropriate beverage for viewing tonight's SOTU speech by POTUS and his pal TOTUS.

Does anyone know whether this comes in a growler jug with 2 handles? Just wonderin'.

[PD]

iToaster

[Ignatz]

--Is that what they named it? That's a really bad name.--

My reaction too Jane.
Is the 4G version going to be the iMAXIPAD?

[PDinDetroit]

XCoffee at LUN.

I had almost forgot about the Internet Coffee Pot... From the simplest ideas come great things.

I tried the iPhone and it was just not for me (I do have the iPod Nano). I got the Tilt-2 as my new phone and love it (my last phone died in the car accident).

[DrJ]

Is the 4G version going to be the iMAXIPAD?

Nah, that would be the 12" version.

Also, I stand corrected on the screen form factor. It does seem to be 4:3, which is useful.

[Dave (in MA)]

Does it have wings?

[torabora]

DLTDHYITAOYWO!!!!

[glasater]

Dave (in MA)--

This is the tablet I have a hankering for:)

[Old Lurker]

iDon't know, Matt

[DrJ]

GL, why not use a Lenovo X61T? It can be higher resolution (mine is 1400x1050 on a 12" screen), it is more powerful, and it weighs the same. And you get a keyboard and a Wacom digitizer. It even costs less!

[Rob Crawford]

GL, why not use a Lenovo X61T?

One word: Lenovo.

[glasater]

The Lenovo has a beautiful screen--but it doesn't appear to be pressure sensitive DrJ. Though I could have missed that feature:-)

[DrJ]

GL, they do offer a multitouch screen (I think there are three options). Mine is a generation older, and I opted for the high resolution instead of multitouch (namely, both pen and finger input).

Yes, Lenovo is a pain to deal with, and they are Chinese, but their Thinkpads really are outstanding.

I considered a straight tablet, but the convertibles just are more flexible and cost-effective.

[daddy]

"I a confirmed troglodyte, happy with my little pieces of paper. My associates say I'm a clay tablet kind of guy."

Matt,

">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seated_Scribe_Full.jpg"> Is this you?.

[glasater]

The Lenovo link above really shows a versatile/capable computer and was hoping the Apple iPad would more resemble.

I imagine Apple would get into trouble with Wacom had they gone that route however.

All the software I use is Apple based--so to go to Thinkpad I would have to upgrade to Windows and the cost would be pretty difficult to justify to my better half. But it's always fun to think on the 'options' available:)

[glasater]

The Soros interview is coming up on CNBC.....

[DrJ]

The iPad is going after a different market, namely, consumers, for books, videos, reading and that sort of thing. The Thinkpads are business tools, and you do pay a premium for that (primarily for the ruggedness, indicator lights, and added keys). Do note that the refurbished units often are priced quite well. My loaded X61 Tablet was $800 +tax but free shipping.

But yeah, changing platforms is a drag. I will only support two, and that's one reason I don't have an Apple (and yes, there are others).

[PaulL]

MAD TV covered the iPad long ago.

LUN for YouTube video

[Darwin Akbar]

"Arlen, it's time to step down. Remember, there is no fool like an old fool" - Jimmy Carter.

[GIDOC]

I'm glad we got rid of our Sphincters and Colons in the GOP

[Old Lurker]

DrJ I was thinking of you and your inventory of ancient machines the other day when my attic I came upon my first ever Thinkpad, back from my early-adopter days. Plugged it in, tapped it a couple of times until I heard the drive spin up, and then watched as it booted right up. The screen was not very bright, but before long I was playing with my old friend the C Prompt.

[Danube of Thought]

Great news in polling:

Washington (CNN) – Only three in ten Americans say they want Congress to pass legislation similar to the health care reform bills that have already been approved by the House and Senate, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey also indicates that nearly half the public, 48 percent, would like federal lawmakers to start work on an entirely new bill, and 21 percent feel Congress should stop working an any bills that would change the country's health care system.

[Old Lurker]

...and I've stayed with Thinkpads ever since.

Except the girls left me for Macs.

Except Mrs. Lurker who does not know the difference. As long as AOL gives her her email, and Nordstroms let's her into their website, she's just fine.

[DrJ]

OL, I still have my first computer, a dual 8085/8088 with 256KB static RAM (memory) and dual 8" floppies. Still works too! I keep it as a museum piece.

This Thinkpad is my first laptop -- I've never needed one before -- and I like it a great deal.

[Ellie Light]

"He had a benign tumor removed from the his brain on Monday. Doctors expect he will be fully recovered by the end of August."

Arlen Specter has a brain?

[Old Lurker]

I still have rolls of paper tape and punched cards from my college Fortran programs.

When I started B'School (1970 in C'ville, Jim Ryan), we used mainframes and sliderules. In second year, somebody got the first brick sized calculator, and it cost something like $400. My wife bought a new calculator yesterday for what, $5.99? Adjusting for inflation, that's like $2/$400...

[clarice]

Washington Examiner, by Byron York
Just when it appeared that the numbers for the Democratic health care proposals passed by the House and Senate couldn't get any worse -- they have. A new poll by CNN and Opinion Research, taken from January 22 to January 24, shows that 69 percent of respondents say Congress should dump the current Democratic health care proposals and either write an entirely new health bill or stop working on the subject altogether.

[Old Lurker]

Have we drawn lots for who gets to watch tonight and report back to us? Who has been bad lately?

[DrJ]

I still have rolls of paper tape and punched cards from my college Fortran programs.

I got rid of all that stuff.

I remember when I was in high school, and the family got our first HP 45. Wonderful tool, though it was $400 I think.

[glasater]

I don't think we have the old Apple IIe around in the 'attic' but as I've mentioned before we still have the Apple II gs with Steve Wozniak's signature on the thing.

I do have the MacBook pro so I can't justify any computer equipment right now but sure have fun thinking on things.

My main computer is an iMac 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 8 GB of Ram.
Windows is on the MacBook needed when dealing with my real estate customers.

The tablet idea is just for purely creative flights of fancy and to be kept under control.....:-)

[glasater]

John Harwood is reporting just now on CNBC that Pelosi is still working on House members to pass the Senate bill--modified.

That made my stomach turn over.....

They just don't give up!

[DrJ]

The tablet idea is just for purely creative flights of fancy and to be kept under control.....:-)

They can be remarkably useful. I review lots (hundreds a year) of proposals and papers (peer review, don't you know), and all are in Adobe PDF format. I have a plugin for Acrobat that allows these to be annotated with the pen. So instead of printing them all out and scribbling on them, I now do it on the computer. That also saves a lot of weight when traveling to DC.

It is also useful for executing contracts, and for putting jots on pictures. I use the latter with machine shops a lot. Also useful is the ability to complete government forms, not all of which can be filled with Acrobat. I fill out a *lot* of forms.

So for me a tablet is pretty great. But my uses are admittedly specialized.

I'm in the process of putting together a new computer, something akin to the Mac Pro. I've some number crunching coming up!

[glasater]

Thanks DrJ! Let us know what you come up with in the computer department when you have time:)

[Rob Crawford]

The Thinkpads are business tools...

I'm willing to concede that the ones I've used have been filtered through my employer's "Desktop Services", but in my experience, they're slow, unstable, heavy, and underpowered.

[Old Lurker]

So DrJ when you receive the PDF and work it through your plugin, is the marked up PDF saved as just another PDF that can be returned to the sender and read by him without your editing plugin?

[glasater]

OL--I'm pretty certain that any PDF annotated--saved as a PDF--doesn't not need that filter.

I use one that quick and easy called "PDFpen" for the Mac and there could be a version for Windows.

[PD]

Is the 4G version going to be the iMAXIPAD?

You had to ask, huh?

link

[JM Hanes]

glasater:

I use a big Cintiq as my primary monitor, so that I can multi-task, and I don't know how I ever lived without it. If you work with your photos in PShop, it's worth saving up every penny you've got. Being able to use the stylus on the screen, instead of a mouse, is infinitely more accurate, more flexible, and much faster. You can also use the stylus (and the user designated side controls) in other applications, BTW.

The stylus makes such a difference that I got a mini Intuos about the size of a sheet of paper to take on the road with me. It's not a monitor though, more like using the stylus on a mouse pad. Even if you're not drawing directly on the image it still makes a huge difference.

That was back before Wacom put out their Bamboo models. You can use the $69 version with a stylus and the $99 version with a stylus or as a touchpad. There's a more expensive version of the latter with a bigger active area for the stylus, but the smaller area may actually make it easier to navigate if you're using it with a full screen monitor. It's a whole 'nother world!

[DrJ]

is the marked up PDF saved as just another PDF that can be returned to the sender and read by him without your editing plugin?

Yes. And the image is "flattened" so that it can't be changed. That's important for contracts, for example.

The program PDFPen GL cites seems to be a replacement for Acrobat, and that's fine. It turns out that Acrobat has really lousy support for pens, so the plugin is meant to supplement it for input purposes only. You have your choice of different colors, and can use a highlighting function. You can also add a blank page, for example, and scrawl notes there.

Acrobat is an expensive program, but I know people at Adobe :) I also served as an alpha site back in the day, when a close friend was leading its development. So I've used it for nearly 20 years, and am used to it.

There are of course other software options.

But being able to write directly on the screen, on top of text that is already there, is something a tablet does really well that is hard to do by other means (like a graphics tablet).

[Mitch H.]

Maybe this is why I'm not a card-carrying Republican partisan, because whenever someone starts floating one of these Leninesque "the worse the better" theories about how this or that Democratic excess is really *good* because *this time* they've gone too far & the GOP will sail on this monstrous act against the public fisc or this atrocity against the national interest to a new majority in Congress in November.

It's all underpants gnome logic. Bad policy is bad policy, and enacted bills are hard latches which the ratchet effect will leave in place as long as we're not on the cusp of neigh-revolutionary electoral rages. Even the brief golden era of the Reagan Revolution only lasted, what, six months? A year?

Bad is bad, there is no silver lining to rotten legislation until we get a political class comfortable with wholesale and unmitigated repeals of standing legislation. Which I don't expect to see anytime soon - which is to say, in my lifetime.

[DrJ]

they're slow, unstable, heavy, and underpowered.

Sorry to hear of your experience.

Your company must not have used the "X" series. As far as power goes, they are roughly comparable to what the other majors (Dell, HP) sell in similarly-positioned products.

And I've never heard of stability problems -- NSF has hundreds of them that reviewers use during panels. They've always worked fine, and they are all about five years old.

For me, the reason I bought the one I did is that it was the last tablet which had a 4:3 screen. Every other manufacturer had moved on to 16:10, which just is not a good fit for a sheet of paper.

[Old Lurker]

Thanks, DrJ, I will follow up on that. Might be useful for me.

New toy, Honey! Honest I needed it!

[DrJ]

OL, I can bring it along when I'm in Bethesda, if you like.

[glasater]

JMH--

Have taken note of your thoughts on the Cintiq. Saw the newest one in action at the recent PShop Show in Las Vegas this last October demonstrated by that Sperling woman who is an expert artist. It does look fabulous and have had fantasies about it ever since:)

I do use an Intuous tablet--it's so banged up the model number is rubbed off the back--and wouldn't know what to do without it.

Have kept up to date on the Adobe Creative Suite when the company started packaging their software in that fashion which includes Acrobat Pro but do not use it much.

But the Cintiq is a dream of mine but don't know if I can make the sale--or close the deal:)

[DrJ]

GL. if you do go for the Cintiq, do try the 22" model. There is no replacement for screen real estate!

[glasater]

That's true DrJ.

It wouldn't do to skimp in that area and that smaller one I linked to is pretty spendy for the size.

[glasater]

Dr J--

OT--but knowing your interest in making and consuming wine--I often do photo jobs for various vintners in our area and trade out work for their wine.
Have built up a nice little wine cellar that way and get to try a wide variety "tastes".

[DrJ]

I'm jealous, GL. I would be pleased to offer you a personal sacrifice and accept any overstock!

What have you tried that you like?

[glasater]

DrJ-

The 'big gun' is Leonetti and very pricey as wine goes.

Walla Walla Vintners are very good and since their my neighbors I do jobs for them and get wine in return.
Lesser known but very good Merlot is Northstar.
A friend of mine is a marketing person for the conglomerate whose name I cannot remember but Hogue is in their stable along with Covey Run and many others. Good reasonably priced wines I like a lot.
Spring Valley is owned by folks we've known forever and quite good.
Drew Bledsoe is producing wine out of Leonetti and his first efforts are being well received.
There are over one hundred wineries in our area!! It's hard to choose in so many ways:)

[cathyf]

Back when my dad was at Rand (and I was just a babe in arms...) they had a computer training class, and they got a certificate at the end of the class. The certificate had a punch card as the background. If you decoded the pattern of "punched out" holes on the card on the certificate, it said, "READS HOLLERITH CODE, AT LEAST."

Anyway, as far as the name of the new tablet -- I saw right away the problem with "iSlate" -- take it to lower case letters and it's "is late." I think the iPod Touch is a terrible name, too. It's inevitably shortened to "iTouch" which sounds obscene.

[DrJ]

Thanks for the recommendations. There are some expensive ones on that list! I'll keep my eye out for some of these, but most are not everyday wines. That's fine, of course.

The conglomerate undoubtedly is Constellation, formerly Canandaigua. They were headquartered not too far from where I lived in Upstate NY many moons ago.

I sure do understand about the pleasures of having many local vineyards. I used to live in Sonoma County, and they too had many many good ones. Here there are not so many, probably 50 or so. One decent one is a few minutes from the house.

[glasater]

Constellation--that's the one DrJ.

Don't know if they're headquartered in Woodinville WA now but kinda think they are.

Someday I'll put together a gallery of sorts of the photos of vineyards I've taken here.

There is one very big promoter who has tried his best to make this valley look like Sonoma North. I've been through the original and it is lovely there--and warmer.

But I enjoy so much photographing the vineyards just when they start sending out growth--usually the end of April and into May.

That time of year coming soon when I haunt the vineyards and orchards and I love it:)

[DrJ]

tried his best to make this valley look like Sonoma North.

Town or county of Sonoma? If town, don't bother. It is too artificial. Healdsburg has done the same thing, to their detriment I'm afraid. There's everything right with using the local environment to do something unique.

I know, it's not your call. But goodness, there is not one right or wrong way to do a wine area.

Constellation is located in Victor, NY, just outside of Rochester (where I lived).

BTW, it would be great if you would put together a photo gallery of vineyards.

[glasater]

I must have gotten Sonoma and Napa confused although have been through those areas but it's been some time ago.
In the LUN is a really quick gallery of photos for someone who wanted an idea of our valley. So I quickly assembled some handily available.
One nice feature of the new Photoshop is to be able to put collections together easily. Am just getting acquainted with the new search feature and it is so helpful.

The Woodinville office for Constellation may be the NW headquarters. I do know they are BIG:)

[DrJ]

Very nice gallery, and it is a lovely area. I enjoyed the picture with the vineyards and the wheat fields -- you'd never see that here. It also seems that you get more rain the NorCal, since the grass was rather long in some of the shots. Here, unless it is watered, it dies.

[glasater]

We have to water here also but we have water to do that:) The dams on the Columbia haven't been breached yet but it doesn't mean the gov hasn't tried.
Thanks for your kind words about that gallery. As I said it was put together quickly a couple of months ago.
Thanks for your time and conversation. Really appreciate it very much!!

[Pofarmer]

That made my stomach turn over.....

They just don't give up!

How do you think they've gotten this far?

[glasater]

You're right Po--

I'm so hoping they don't wear us down...

[caro]

Love your landscape photos, gl!

[glasater]

Hey Caro--thanks:)

Was just getting ready to close out this thread tab and saw your comment.
That gallery was so quickly thrown together. One day I'll do it properly.....