Archive for November, 2010

My libertarian-leaning friend and political science PhD candidate Marty started the student group The Junto last year. The idea is that it is to be similar to Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia-based group of the same name (more info) in that it discusses politics, morals, philosophy, religion, etc.

Marty is able to get me to attend by holding the meetings at a location with ample good food and beer specials, so tonight he has chosen Buffalo Wild Wings. This meets my criteria for a fun debating environment and I will be in attendance.

Marty picks some topics for the week to get it going and the discussion goes where it will. I’ve decided that at this meeting I will take some notes in my newly purchased notebook. I think tomorrow I will post my notes and thoughts about the discussion, as it tends to come from a group with diverse beliefs. There will certainly be some interesting views expressed on some currently relevant issues, so I’ll let you know what I hear. Sorry that you’ll have to wait for tomorrow but I have my darts league tournament tonight.

Enjoy Auburn’s fall from the top (to behind the Huskers).

Adam Feser

Go Huskers!

Enjoy the beatdown.

Adam FEser

Making politically tough decisions to keep us going.

“How Obama Saved Capitalism”

“Government Motors no more:
An apology is due to Barack Obama: his takeover of GM could have gone horribly wrong, but it has not”

The first article is about how Obama’s policies have saved our system and the second, obviously, is about how Obama was right and no one seems to notice.

Enjoy his success, right?

Adam Feser

I was just looking around for some hope, and I found it. It’s probably a bad idea to find such evidence because it will only serve to make the disappointment that much greater.

I guess this model has been more accurate than polls in the last four elections. The idea behind it is to look at contributions. Some contributors donate more to winners and some to losers. This model treats some of these donors as expert raters. Using this information, the model predicts that Democrats will retain control of the House while losing 19 to 40 seats.

This is the opposite of what everyone else (including me) is predicting. Heck, at this point, it’s almost taken as absolute certainty. I’m not totally sold on this model in the face of everything else, but it is a glimmer of hope.

Enjoy the insanity.

Adam Feser

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin will go down to Kristi Noem 49-47-4. I think B. Thomas Marking will get 4%. Those 4% will mostly democrats that are so upset at SHS that they won’t vote for her but are loyal enough to the party that they won’t vote for a republican.

SHS will then make a run at the US Senate in 2014 to fill the seat that will be vacated by a retiring Sen. Tim Johnson. Although 4 years is a lot of years to do nothing, so she could make a crack at Noem in 2012 to try to get back in the House.

The South Dakota Governor’s Race was over in June. Dennis Daugaard ran a wonderful campaign with no negative personal attack ads. He laid out a plan on his website that said what his plan was for South Dakota. While people are unhappy with the current administration, Dennis is not Gov Rounds.

Scott Heidepreim on the other hand took the summer off. Didn’t do anything and his anti state government stance on things turn off a lot of people. Then choosing a republican for a running mate didn’t help anything either. Scott is a smart, nice guy but whoever was in charge of his campaign should be fired. This was the worst I have seen in a while.

The republican party should take all 6 of the state races(Auditor, Sec of State, Comm of school and public lands, PUC, Treasurer, Attorney General) mainly b/c the democratic candidate was widely unknown. The race for Sec of State will be closest of the six.

The GOP will pick up the seats needed to take back the House but I am not sure they will get the seats needed for the Senate. Tonight could be the 4th time since 1920 a party leader will be defeated. Death is more common than a defeat. In fact, party leaders have won 86% of the elections. The last time was the takedown of the great Tom Dashcle in 2004.

Enjoy the shift in power tonight and enjoy having a lame duck for a president for the next two years.

Locally:

District 2 House: Elliott and Dennert
District 3 House: Novstrup and Feickert
District 3 Senate: Novstrup
Go BUCKEYES!!!!!!!

I’m writing this as a plea for those of you who haven’t watched it to get to it, so I won’t be including any spoilers.  I’ll discuss the show in general.

The Walking Dead premiered on AMC on Sunday.  It is based on a comic series of the same title, though they have made it clear that they will not follow the comic exactly.  I had been looking forward to the series since I learned it was in development.  I just watched it tonight.  I loved it.

There, now that we have the background out of the way we can get talk a little about the actual show.  Frank Darabont, director films like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, developed the show for television, is the showrunner, and directed the pilot.  He obviously knows what he is doing, and it shows in the pilot.

As I mentioned earlier, I won’t be discussing details, but I will say that the opening scene will tell you exactly what type of series this is hoping to be.  It’s a (more…)

First off, Stephanie pulls it out, 50% – 49%.

District 2 House: Elliott and Dennert
District 3 House: Novstrup and Feickert
District 3 Senate: Novstrup

U.S. House Total: Democrats 210 and Republicans 225
U.S. Senate Total: Democrats 53 and Republicans 47

Those are my (optimistic) predictions. They are based on not very much other than a few elections I think Democrats will win that others have picked the other way. An example of my logic: Reid sucks but no way does he lose to Angle. It’s not scientific in the least, just how I’m thinking about it. I don’t really feel like doing a ton of research to learn about how we’re going to lose seats.

Enjoy Nebraska dominating the Big XII in it’s last tour.

Adam Feser

Contraception greatly reduces unplanned pregnancy. There is a possibility that contraception could be considered preventive care under new regulations. This should be a slam dunk for both parties, but I have no doubt this will lead to some battle and nothing will come of it.

Making contraception preventive care will increase the number of women who use birth control, and it will also lead to the use of more reliable forms of birth control. This makes sense to me because preventing unplanned and teen pregnancy is a goal of both parties. Fewer of such pregnancies means fewer abortions and fewer costs related to the increased risks associated with unplanned pregnancies.

If you want fewer abortions to happen, you should support this legislation.

Enjoy the ESPN political analysts barking all day tomorrow.

Adam Feser