Jay Bookman

It’s a big day, perhaps even a historic day on Capitol Hill today as the House opens floor debate on the health care bill. Lots of drama, intrigue and horse-trading as Nancy Pelosi tries to herd at least 218 cats — aka Democrats — onto the “Yea” side of the yeas and nays. (The Republicans say they will vote unanimously against the bill.)

So, if your favorite college football team is getting waxed and you can’t bear to watch any longer, you can switch over to watch democracy in action on C-Span all day and into the evening. Paul Kane at the Washington Post has a good “viewers’ guide” on the day’s proceedings.

Continue reading Historic vote looms on Capitol Hill today »

You can mail cards and best wishes to victims and their families to:

Ft. Hood Public Affairs Building
1001 RM. W105
Fort Hood, TX 76544

Financial donations to the victims and their families in the form of checks can be sent to:

The Central Texas-Fort Hood Chapter Association of the US Army
PO Box 10700
Killeen, TX 76547-0700

Write Community Response to 11/5 on the memo line of your check. All donated funds will go to victims and their families. The AUSA is a 501(C)3, so donations are tax-deductible.

Continue reading How you can help the families at Fort Hood »

Asked to name their favorite jazz instrument, I’d guess that most people would say saxophone, piano and trumpet, probably in that order. Mine would be the standup bass — a solo walking bass line always brings a smile to my face — and one of the greatest jazz bass players of all time was the late Ray Brown, featured here.

He’s accompanied by pianist Gene Harris, another favorite, playing probably the most-tortured song in the jazz repertoire. Every hack who ever took more than five music lessons thinks he can play this song, and I bet that right this minute it is being butchered in dozens of karoake bars around the world.

These guys redeem it from musical cliche, and ’round about 5:35, they really kick it to a higher gear.

Continue reading A little ‘unseasonal’ travelin’ music to end a beautiful fall day »

The Republicans had a decent-to-good night Tuesday, picking up two governor’s offices but losing a longtime GOP congressional seat in New York. But the GOP is so starved for signs of hope under Barack Obama that its leadership and punditocracy immediately started mass sing-a-longs of “ding-dong, the witch is dead.” To hear them tell it, there hadn’t been a thrashing of this magnitude since the Georgia Tech football team beat Cumberland 222-0 back in 1916.

OK, I exaggerate slightly.

My favorite hysteric of the bunch, as usual, is Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post. In his column today, he claims that the “Democratic debacle of 2009″ has thoroughly demolished any claim of an Obama mandate. In fact, he claims, Tuesday’s results provide “definitive confirmation that 2008 was one of the great flukes in American political history.”

To put it kindly, the evidence that Krauthammer assembles in support of his thesis falls way way way short of the conclusion he attempts so …

Continue reading On Reagan, Obama and my favorite hysteric »

Between now and Dec. 1, we’re going to learn a few things more about the character of Mary Norwood and Kasim Reed, and about the character of modern Atlanta as well. The city and the two candidates who hope to lead it are going to have their fine words and good intentions tested under fire, which is what a campaign is all about.

Norwood and Reed are both decent people who embrace the city that Atlanta is becoming. For example, in an interview before Tuesday’s vote, Reed praised Atlanta as a place comfortable with its diversity, a city “where talent and merit are going to be decisive and rule the day.”

“The fact that you are an African American will not guarantee that you win the mayor’s office,” Reed said. “I think that’s healthy. If you cannot walk a path through various communities, you will not be mayor now, or in the future.”

Norwood likewise stressed her connections and grass-roots support in every area of the city, black and white, rich or …

Continue reading Runoff will test character of candidates and city »

We’ll be hearing a lot today about the tragic shooting at Fort Hood, and we’ll be seeing a lot of that photo of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people before taking four bullets himself. Hasan is in critical condition. Two others initially arrested after the melee have been released, which means the killer was acting alone.

I suspect we’ll also be hearing about some heroism, for example from the civilian policewoman who reportedly brought Hasan down and was wounded herself. And unfortunately, we’ll be hearing about the victims, many of them probably soldiers who were either just returning from or preparing to travel to overseas war zones.

So I thought I’d post the following, just to brighten things up a bit and remind us about the real people involved in stories like this.

As a military brat myself, I have to admit that has a special poignancy. I remember very well the day Mom tricked us three kids with a similar surprise return home from Dad, who had been away on a …

Continue reading In honor of the folks at Fort Hood, and soldiers everywhere »

According to Lt. Gen. Bob Cone, commanding officer of III Corps at Ft. Hood, Texas: 12 dead, 31 wounded.

The shooter was a U.S. soldier, who was killed.

Two other soldiers who may have been involved have been arrested. Officials believe the situation is now under control.

What a nightmare. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the end this turns out to be a solo act, a soldier who lost it.

UPDATE: The U.S. soldier in question has been identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan.

UPDATE II: Hasan, an Army psychiatrist slated for assignment overseas, is now reported to be alive, having suffered four gunshot wounds.

Continue reading Update on Ft. Hood shooting; 12 dead, more than 30 wounded »

Nathan Deal, the U.S. congressman from Gainesville and one of the leading GOP candidates for governor, wants to see Barack Obama’s birth certificate. (H/T Political Insider.)

In an online chat this morning, Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact, one of the most respected reporters at the state Capitol, asked Deal whether he believes Obama is legally eligible to serve as president. Deal replied:

“I am joining several of my colleagues in the House in writing a letter to the President asking that he release a copy of his birth certificate so we can have an answer to this question.”

Back in July, Deal was asked a similar question by Mike Stark of the liberal Firedoglake blog. The exchange outside the U.S. Capitol was caught on a Youtube video. (Deal is at :45 and at 1:20 on the video.)

In the video, Deal is asked whether opponents need some basis in fact or reality to suggest Obama is not a legitimate president. Deal responds:

“You know, the best way to do that, I think, is to produce …

Continue reading Top contender for Ga. governor wants to see proof of Obama birth »

I’ve had my doubts about whether the economic uptick, however slight it might be, was even real. But those doubts are gradually diminishing. Retail sales were up slightly last month, and today comes news that initial unemployment claims fell by 20,000 last week. (See chart below of four-week average of initial claims).

As of 10:30 a.m., the Dow was up about 140 points on the news.

As the folks at Calculated Risk wisely point out, this “better” number still means that 512,000 of our fellow Americans had to file for unemployment benefits last week, which is dismayingly high. But at least it’s fewer than the 532,000 who had filed a week earlier, and considerably fewer than the 648,000 a week who were filing in April.

The next test will be whether this uptick can be sustained. And even if it is, the improvements are spotty at best. Here in Georgia, for example, initial filings for the week ending Oct. 24 rose rather than fell, increasing by 2,549. State officials attribute the …

Continue reading Weak as it is, this economic uptick may be for real »

Out in California, a lengthy drought has forced state legislators to cut a massive deal on water, including mandated conservation, dams and canals and environmental restoration.

From the LA Times:

SACRAMENTO — Lawmakers capped months of discussions, weeks of tedious negotiations and years of chasing a water deal with approval of major legislation in a marathon session that ended Wednesday as the sun rose.

The package, which includes an $11.1-billion bond that must go before voters, would nudge California in new directions on water policy while giving something to each of the major factions that have warred over the state’s supplies.

The measure, likely to reach the governor’s desk early next week, would establish a statewide program that for the first time would measure if too much water is being pumped from underground aquifers. It mandates an overall 20 percent drop in the state’s per capita water use by 2020 and creates a new, politically appointed council to oversee …

Continue reading California tackles water woes still confronting Georgia »