Author Archives: Jon Walker

Once Again Harry Reid Is Vaguely Threatening to Fix the Senate

Posted by Jon Walker on May 17, 2013 Comments Off

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Like clockwork the continued obstructionism of Senate Republicans has got Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to start vaguely threatening to fix the Senate, possibly in July. From Greg Sargent:

Reid has privately consulted with President Obama on the need to revisit filibuster reform, and the President has told the Majority Leader that he will support the exercising of the nuclear option if Reid opts for it, the aide says, adding that senior Democrats expect the President to publicly push for it as well. “If Senator Reid decides to do something on nominations, the president has said he’ll be there to support him,” the aide says.

Reid is eyeing a change to the rules that would do away with the 60-vote threshold on all judicial and executive branch nominations, the aide says, on the theory that this is a good way to immediately break an important logjam in Washington — without changing the rules when it comes to legislation.

It is important to point out we have already seen this show played out before with zero results. At the beginning of 2011 Reid was talking about fixing the filibuster but at the last minute come to a toothless gentlemen’s agreement with Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Reid then threatened to do something at the start of this year but came to an agree with McConnell that included only meaningless temporary changes. Reid has a habit of talking a good game then backing down at the last minute.

If Reid did take this step it would be a big deal and go a long way toward fixing our comically dysfunctional Senate. It would make it possible for the President to actually govern as the Constitution intended. More importantly, it would prove that the 60 vote threshold is not an insurmountable obstacle but merely an idiotic procedural issue the majority can easily eliminate at anytime.

Given Reid’s history though, at this point it is best to remain highly skeptical.

BREAKING: Illinois Legislature Gives Final Approval to Medical Marijuana

Posted by Jon Walker on May 17, 2013 Comments Off

Medical Marijuana

Illinois is set to become the latest state to adopt medical marijuana. The Illinois State Senate gave final approval to a medical marijuana bill sending it to the governor. The senate approved HB 1 in a vote of 35 to 21. The bill was narrowly approved by the House of Representatives back in April.

The bill would create a medical marijuana pilot program in the state for the next four years. People with a specific list of serious medical conditions will be able register with the Department of Public Health as medical marijuana patients with their doctor’s recommendation. These patients would be allowed to possesses up to 2.5 ounces.

The qualified patients would be able to obtain medical marijuana from a system of dispensaries that would be established. The bill would limit the maximum number of dispensaries to 60. Patients would not be allowed to grow their own.

The bill now head to Gov. Pat Quinn (D) for his signature. While Quinn has not officially taken a position on the bill yet his statements seem to indicate he will likely sign it.

Republicans Go All In on Obamacare Repeal in 2014 Election

Posted by Jon Walker on May 17, 2013 Comments Off

President Obama signs the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

I know the statement may seem obvious but the obvious statements in politics are often the most important. This was the point of the 37th Affordable Care Act repeal vote yesterday. According to the roll call vote, every single Republican supported repeal but only two Democrats, Rep. Jim Matheson (UT) and Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC), voted for it. The Democratic Party has been effectively purged of anyone who opposes the law from the right.

For better or worse, during the 2014 election the Democratic Party is effectively all in on Obamacare and the GOP is all in against it. While this was mostly true in both the 2010 and 2012 election, the 2014 election will be very different. In the previous elections the law was just some theoretical future reform. At the best of times, it was a merely an intellectual policy debate about competing predictions. At the worst of times, it was a fight simply over buzzwords.

By November of 2014 the law will have been fully implemented for almost a year. This time it won’t be a fight about principles and ideas, but how well a complex law has been actually working. There will literately be millions of people who are better off and worse off because of the law for both parties to highlight. There will be even more people who will finally see that the law has had almost no impact on them personally.

Previously, the GOP was defending the status quo against poorly understood Democratic changes. In 2014 Democrats will be defending a new status quo from the GOP’s vague promises to change it with a “repeal and replace.”

In addition there was actually a chance before the 2012 election that if Republicans won, they could have cleanly repealed the law. Now the Republicans are promising to tear up a huge program after it has been in place for several years. That is a substantially different prospect.

Yesterday, Republicans took a huge bet on the 2014 election that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act will be a train wreck and Democrats took an equally large bet it would be relatively successful. This could end up being the most important event of the 2014 election.

What Your Recreational Marijuana Label Will Look Like in Washington State

Posted by Jon Walker on May 17, 2013 Comments Off

We have gotten our first look at what the labeling should be for all recreational marijuana sold in Washington State. The Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB), which is responsible for implementing the newly approved Initiative 502, has just released its draft regulations for the legal marijuana market.

The draft rules cover everything from the requirements to obtain a license to grow commercially, what level of security is needed for a marijuana businesses, what type of photo ID’s will be accepted at marijuana stores, to even how to properly dispose of unused parts of marijuana.

Not surprisingly, the proposed regulations in Washington a similar to those recommended by the Colorado task force for implementation of their own new marijuana law.

The parts of the draft rules I think regular people will find most interesting is the regulations that will most impact normal consumers.

The WSLCB has decided what information must be contained on the label for a package of marijuana. Every package will be required to contain a warning, the name of the business, lot number, the concentration of the cannabinoids, the statement “this product is unlawful outside of Washington,” date of harvest and the Washington State marijuana license logo. A sample label provided by the WSLCB is pictured in the article.

All marijuana producers will be required to disclose in writing all pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides in their growing operation. Marijuana can be labeled as organic but only if certified by the state Department of Agriculture.

The WSLCB will require a slightly different label for marijuana-infused products. It decided a “single serving” of marijuana should be 10 milligrams of THC and no marijuana-infused product should contain more than ten servings.

These basic labels may end up serving as a national model. It is likely, as other states legalize marijuana, they will copy much of the regulations being created right now in Washington State and Colorado.

More Signs Obama Will Likely Approve Keystone XL

Posted by Jon Walker on May 16, 2013 Comments Off

There has been a slow steady drip of indicators that President Obama will approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Recently there was Obama’s statements at a fundraiser and Biden claiming that he is “in the minority” in the administration who opposes the pipeline. Now the Huffington Post is reporting that Obama campaign spin-off Organizing for Action is refusing to do anything about the pipeline despite pleas from its members. From Huffington Post:

Top officials from President Barack Obama’s campaign arm, which was recently rechristened as Organizing for Action, are working to dampen the passionate grassroots opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, just as the organization launches its campaign against climate change, according to donors and OFA members.

Leaders of the group have on multiple occasions told gatherings of activists and donors that OFA will not pressure the White House on Keystone regardless of its members’ interest in the project, a 1,700-mile pipeline that would move heavy crude from the Canadian tar sands to the Gulf.

No one piece is a smoking gun, but they all point in the same direction. It would seem that the Obama administration is, at the very least, leaning towards approving the pipeline in the near future.

VA Gov: Terry McAuliffe Has Small Lead Over Ken Cuccinelli

Posted by Jon Walker on May 16, 2013 Comments Off

Terry McAuliffe

While the Virginia gubernatorial contest remains close, new polling shows Democrat Terry McAuliffe with an edge over Republican LT Gov. Ken Cuccinelli. A new Quinnipiac poll has McAuliffe at 43 percent among registered voter and Cuccinelli at 38 percent. McAuliffe’s standing in the poll has improved modestly since March when the same poll found Cuccinelli with a two point lead.

It is still early in the race and the contest remains fluid. Both candidates technically have slightly positive favorability ratings, but that could easily change. Neither candidate’s very well known and a very large share of the electorate has yet to form an opinion about the candidates. The poll found 60 percent haven’t heard enough about McAuliffe to form an opinion about him while 42 percent say they don’t know enough about Cuccinelli.

A recent Marist poll also found McAuliffe with a small lead among register voters, but had Cuccinelli slightly ahead among likely voters when leaners were included.

We Just Have to Take Holder’s Word That He Recused Himself From AP Case

Posted by Jon Walker on May 16, 2013 Comments Off

One of the biggest developments from Attorney General Eric Holder’s grilling yesterday is that he apparently only orally recused himself from the controversial case involving the AP phone records. While Holder claims he believes he recused himself around June, during examination he admitted he never did so in writing with an explanation for his action. He doesn’t even remember the exact day.

I will leave it to others with more expertise to determine if he may have technically broken any laws or allowed his subordinates to break the las by assuming the powers of the AG without documentation officially giving that authority. What I do know is that this is a shocking violation of the principles of both good governance and basic management.

The point of a bureaucratic hierarchy is to have clear lines of responsibility. It is to know where the buck stops. It is to know who should and should not be held accountable if something goes wrong.

If the head of a government agency is going to remove themselves from this chain of responsibility on what is supposedly a “very serious” matter; it should in writing, dated, with a clear explanation of why, and explicit instruction about who responsibility has been handed off to. Otherwise proper accountability becomes impossible.

For the sake of argument, what if the DOJ violated the law in late June. There is no way to prove if it was before or after Holder recused himself. Memories are hazy and it would just be Holder’s word against someone else.

Without recusals being in writing there is nothing to stop someone from claiming, after the fact, that they had earlier “orally” recused themselves to avoid responsibility. Similarly, what is stopping subordinates who are caught assuming the powers of a superior from claiming they had the authority thanks to an undocumented “oral” recusal.

Holder is the head of America’s law enforcement, not the assistant manager at a ice cream shop. Transfers of important responsibility need to be in writing, you don’t just shout “I’m recused” three times as the waning moon sets over the horizon.

It is absurd that I apparently did more paperwork to transfer legal authority over my broken 1997 Nissan than Holder did to transfer control of what he called one of the most important leak investigations of his tenure.

At Least Washington Isn’t Talking About the Grand Bargain Anymore

Posted by Jon Walker on May 16, 2013 Comments Off

The best part about Washington’s new obsession with scandals is that it seems to have killed any hopes for a grand bargain in the near future. Congress has only so much bandwidth to deal with issues and it looks like most of that time will be consumed by “investigations.” In addition, while Republican are in all out war mode against the administration it is basically impossible to take part in complex compromise negotiations.

There is a history of this happening, as Greg Sargent recently reminded everyone. Bill Clinton’s push for a bipartisan reform to Social Security in 1998 was derailed by the Republican’s push for impeachment. Clinton needed to rally Democrats behind him so he had no room to cut a deal rank and file Democrats would oppose.

While we are only a few days into the current firestorms over the IRS and AP there are signs that same dynamic will come into play here. Republicans senators are already saying these issue will make the grand bargain too difficult. From Politico:

“I can’t imagine that this IRS scandal and the controversy surrounding the overreach and intimidation by the IRS will do anything but pour cold water on the president’s attempt to raise taxes as part of a grand bargain,” [Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss)] said on MSNBC. “So yes, it will hurt the president in that respect.”

While immigration reform seems to have already developed its own momentum, it is going to be very hard for President Obama to get Republicans behind any other new actions will they are still out for blood. Republicans think they have a winning issue right now, so they are going to be in no mood to help Obama by giving him a big bipartisan victory on the deficit.

The push to cut Social Security under Obama is never permanently defeated just temporarily set back, but this could be a big setback.

Rep. Cohen Berates Eric Holder Over Obama Administration’s War on Marijuana

Posted by Jon Walker on May 16, 2013 Comments Off

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) used the House Judiciary Oversight committee hearing to berate Attorney General Eric Holder about the Obama Administration’s aggressive war on marijuana.

Despite public support for marijuana legalization being higher than ever before, the Obama Administration under Holder’s leadership has beenworse than any other recent president when it comes to the issue of medical marijuana.

It is a rare and amazing thing to see a member of Congress directly confront the individual technically responsible for carrying out the War on Drugs with the facts about what a failed policy it has proven to be.

Cohen provides one of the best and concise arguments for ending marijuana prohibition heard in Congress. It is worth sharing.

Study Indicates Marijuana Could Help Treat Crohn’s Disease

Posted by Jon Walker on May 15, 2013 Comments Off

According to a new study in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, medical marijuana may help people who suffer from Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease.

The small study contained 21 patients who suffered from the disease who didn’t respond to the traditional therapy options. Half the patients were given marijuana joints that contained THC. The control group was given placebo marijuana joints that had the THC removed.

According to the authors, “Although the primary endpoint of the study (induction of remission) was not achieved, a short course (8 week) of THC-rich cannabis produced significant clinical, steroid-free benefits to 11 patients with active CD, compared to placebo, without side effects.”

This is just the latest study to show medical marijuana could be beneficial for a range of conditions.

While many states have medical marijuana laws it is still technically illegal under federal law. Federal law list marijuana as Schedule I, meaning it has no accepted medical use. While the Obama administration has the power to unilaterally reschedule marijuana it has actively fought against the change.

In a true Kafkaesque twist the Obama administration claims there is not enough qualified research to justify rescheduling marijuana, but that is in large part due to the fact that the administration continues to work to make it nearly impossible for American scientists to do research of marijuana potential benefits.

In Defense of Republicans’ 37th Obamacare Repeal Vote

Posted by Jon Walker on May 15, 2013 Comments Off

House Republicans are having their 37th vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act today. As Speaker John Boehner explained the reason for the vote is purely political. While during the previous Congress voted repeatedly on repealing Obamacare there are many newly elected Democratic and Republican members of Congress who are not officially on record.

While many have attacked this vote as a wasteful sideshow since there is no way this repeal bill will be enacted, I believe it is an acceptable use of time.

While taking more than thirty votes on on the same issue during a single Congress was needlessly wasteful, this is actually different. Taking just a single vote this Congress to put new members on the record technically provides voters with a useful piece of information.

Ideally, politics should be about parties with different policies that the electorate chooses between. Parties should run on well-defined platforms and work to enact these platforms if they win the election. Democracy works bests when voters know what policies the parties do and do not support.

At its core the Republicans want the voters to know where every member of Congress stands on one of the most significant laws in decades. Congress spending a few hours to create a clear policy contrast on one of the most important issue of the day might not be the most productive use of time, but it does serve a real function.

In Defense of Republicans’ 37th Obamacare Repeal Vote

Posted by Jon Walker on May 15, 2013 Comments Off

While many have attacked this vote as a wasteful sideshow since there is no way this repeal bill will be enacted, I believe it is an acceptable use of time.

Free Instinct

your free information source

Author Archives: Jon Walker

Once Again Harry Reid Is Vaguely Threatening to Fix the Senate

BREAKING: Illinois Legislature Gives Final Approval to Medical Marijuana

Republicans Go All In on Obamacare Repeal in 2014 Election

What Your Recreational Marijuana Label Will Look Like in Washington State

More Signs Obama Will Likely Approve Keystone XL

VA Gov: Terry McAuliffe Has Small Lead Over Ken Cuccinelli

We Just Have to Take Holder’s Word That He Recused Himself From AP Case

At Least Washington Isn’t Talking About the Grand Bargain Anymore

Rep. Cohen Berates Eric Holder Over Obama Administration’s War on Marijuana

Study Indicates Marijuana Could Help Treat Crohn’s Disease

In Defense of Republicans’ 37th Obamacare Repeal Vote

In Defense of Republicans’ 37th Obamacare Repeal Vote

Pages

Recent Posts

Categories

your free information source

Author Archives: Jon Walker

Pages

Recent Posts

Tags

Categories