October 9, 2012

How much money does your Congressman have?

By jtshea05

The never-ending cycle of Congressional corruption continues, as laid out today in the latest installments of a Washington Post series on the wealth of our Members of Congress.

A California congressman helped secure tax breaks for racehorse owners — then purchased seven horses for himself when the new rules kicked in.

A Wyoming congresswoman co-sponsored legislation to double the life span of federal grazing permits that ranchers such as her husband rely on to feed cattle.

And a Pennsylvania congressman co-sponsored a natural gas bill as Exxon Mobil negotiated a deal that paid millions for his wife’s shares in two natural gas companies founded by her great-great-grandfather.
Those lawmakers were among 73 members of Congress who have sponsored or co-sponsored legislation in recent years that could benefit businesses or industries in which either they or their family members are involved or invested, according to a Washington Post analysis. The findings emerge from an examination by The Post of financial disclosure forms and public records for all 535 members of the House and Senate.

As one might expect, the 73 members include both Democrats and Republicans: corruption is a equal opportunity employer.

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September 22, 2012

Who said what in the Convention speeches?

By jtshea05

Two interesting concept maps for the convention speeches of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, using Jonathan Feinberg’s Wordle tool.

The first map is Romney’s speech, where you really have to struggle to find a prominent word that isn’t a noun. His map would look even worse, except for the fact that Wordle treated “President” and “president” as two different words. Look how prominently the words “America,” “American,” “Americans” appear; you can really tell a speech is full of air when the speaker is speaking most about the audience and scarcely speaking at all about ideas or policies.

Wordle: Mitt Romney's Convention Speech

Don’t waste time looking for either “worker” or “workers”; neither word appeared in Romney’s speech.

The second Wordle is President Obama’s speech. “Hope,” “know,” “believe,” “choose”: these are forward-looking words. They’re mirrored by a focus on the key things to move forward on — “jobs,” “workers,” “work,” “country” and, yes, “government,” because we Democrats recognize that government actually has a role to play in our future.

Wordle: Barack Obama's Convention Speech

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July 24, 2012

California’s GOP … fading into the past…

By jtshea05

The New York Times article today on the self-destruction of California’s GOP is an interesting reminder of the power of money in politics, and at the same moment of the limits thereof:

Republicans said their problems were made worse this year by the emphasis during the Republican presidential primaries on social issues, particularly tough immigration measures and opposition to abortion rights. That focus could make it tougher to win independent voters who are crucial to any Republican resurgence in California.

“The national party is becoming a party of very enthusiastic social conservatives driven by Southerners,” said Bill Whalen, a fellow with the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University. “It’s a problem if you’re an independent voter in California. If you think about the Republican Party, what national figure comes to mind? George W. Bush or Newt Gingrich.”

These are the same issues that made the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest permanently Democratic states. And the article’s quote from Steve Schmidt describes just how bad the situation is getting:

“The institution of the California Republican Party, I would argue, has effectively collapsed,” said Steve Schmidt, a Republican consultant who was a senior adviser to Mr. Schwarzenegger. “It doesn’t do any of the things that a political party should do. It doesn’t register voters. It doesn’t recruit candidates. It doesn’t raise money. The Republican Party in the state institutionally has become a small ideological club that is basically in the business of hunting out heretics.”

Heretics? Republicans calling Republicans heretics? Schmidt’s not just a Schwarzenegger advisor; he worked for McCain, for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the National Republican Campaign Committee, and more. This is how parties lose a state.

For the Democratic and Republican Parties, this could be an opportunity (Democrats) or a crisis (Republicans). For Americans, it’s more dangerous; this is more of the disturbing trend toward polarization — on the one hand, Californians are socially beyond the paradigm of the national Republican Party, pushed into independent and Democratic positions on social issues; on the other hand, Republican Party leaders already see California as “the left coast,” and could use a California move to Democratic Party support as another reason to retreat into social orthodoxy. We’re already in a deep divide between elements of our nation; but — from my perspective — further  dividing the coasts from the rest of the nation isn’t a good idea.

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July 2, 2012

Going Social!

By jtshea05

I am so totally jazzed to be on a Clarion team. I’ve been a fundraiser for Clarion for a while, but I’m amazed by the way Clarionistas stick together. 1977, Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Frost and Robert Crais all attended the Workshop together; they’re friends today! Blows my mind. And I’m hoping that, once we’ve shared some writing, we’ll all be there for each other too. 

Today, I chased the social aspect of Clarion like our fundraising challenges suggested. I Tweeted to my four followers (okay, I suck at Twitter). hoping they’d retweet to theirs; I Facebooked my family and friends; I sent an @WilW tweet to Wil Wheaton (you should do the same; he’s a Clarion fan); I had written this week’s challenge, and Mary Robinette Kowal repinned my Write-a-thon pin on Pinterest, where she has 323 followers; I sent an update on my 2-year old Kickstarter project telling people I was editing the novel; I Facebook’ed the Kim Stanley Robinson Facebook fan page, telling them that Stan’s in on the Write-a-thon and where to find him. I’m sure there’ more to do, but it’s late on the East Coast…

Let’s Go, Bears!

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June 22, 2012

Ready to discover FIRE!

By jtshea05

Hi, all. I have written a novel that has one major criticism, and a stupid market-driven problem. The stupid problem — easier to solve, I hope — is that I failed in writing to recognize that, since it’s a first-person novel, I didn’t need to say, “I saw Ed do [blank].” Obviously, if I write, “Ed did [blank],” the main character as narrator saw it. So I need to focus on each and every one of those “I [verb]” statements, to see if I can strip them out. 

Problem 2, I have a 130K-word novel when no one will publish a first-time writer whose novel is longer than 90K words. Ironically, this change is comparatively easy — I pulled out two subplots, and three characters, and boom! — I have 90K words. 

Sooooooo, the real Write-a-thon issue for me:

– bridge the lost text to ensure that key plot points buried in these scenes aren’t lost; and then,

– fix the “I’s” to remove most of them and make the novel a better read. 

Then I submit it for publication. Maybe you can read some chapters for me? Chapter 1 is here: 

   http://corruptions.net/about/chapter1/

I can forward whatever you need.

You, what’s your need? How can I help? How can we all help? I start Sunday, with 40 hours of editing scheduled. Ready to go. You?

GO CLARION!

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June 15, 2012

This is off-topic, but…

By jtshea05

I’m first and foremost a writer, so I can’t help but plug the best writing program there is, the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop. The Foundation that supports them, the Clarion Foundation, is holding its third annual Write-a-thon, a six-week effort that encourages writers to dedicate some time and energy to their writing, while raising some money for Clarion scholarships.

So what’s a Write-a-thon? It’s just like a Walk-a-thon. But instead of walking, we’re writing, and instead of making pledges per mile, we’re making pledges per word, chapter, or story. Writers get support, encouragement and motivation, all while supporting a great cause. If you raise or donate just $20 — twenty dollars! — you’ll get the option of joining a team of eight writers led by a mentor who has either taught at or graduated from Clarion. And they’ve got prizes!

The Clarion Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, supports the annual Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop. It’s a phenomenal six-week program that has been a crucible from which writers like Octavia Butler, Kim Stanley Robinson, Cory Doctorow, Nalo Hopkinson, Bruce Sterling, Kelly Link, and a host of other greats have graduated. If you’ve ever read much SF or fantasy, you’ve likely been reading the works of Clarion graduates. It’s writing method works whether or not you’re writing SF; just ask mystery writer Robert Crais, a 1975 graduate.

If you’re not a writer, but want to support Clarion anyway, you can find a writer to support from our long list of participants. Then there’s me – you can support me; if I win a gift card off the prize list, I’ll be drawing a name from my list of donors and sending it off to one of you!

Write on!

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May 9, 2012

Richard Lugar’s defeat…

By jtshea05

Dick Lugar’s primary loss to Richard Mourdock in yesterday’s Indiana primary brings to mind the response from a recent New York magazine interview with retiring Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, when asked about Republican intransigence in the House:

People ask me, “Why don’t you guys get together?” And I say, “Exactly how much would you expect me to cooperate with Michele Bachmann?” And they say, “Are you saying they’re all Michele Bachmann?” And my answer is no, they’re not all Michele Bachmann. Half of them are Michele Bachmann. The other half are afraid of losing a primary to Michele Bachmann.

It may well be true, as Chris Cilizza argues in his post this morning, that Lugar lost touch with his Indiana constituents, and also that Lugar’s concession statement following his loss demonstrates poor sportsmanship, so to speak. Further, Mourdock may turn out to be more moderate and a better campaigner than 2010 Republican Senate nominees Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell. But the immediate and most important result of last night’s election is the message to all Republican candidates that another moderate Republican has lost to another Tea-Party-backed Michele Bachmann, meaning that the biggest risk to their career isn’t the other party, it’s the radicals in their own party.

That doesn’t bode well for the rest of this Congressional session. At least until it’s time for the post-election lame duck.

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