The Senate Appears Ready to Move Ahead with Immigration. A story at Roll Call looks into what is an “alternate plan” to tackle immigration. John Staton and Kathleen Hunter write, “Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (N.J.) released a detailed summary of a comprehensive immigration reform bill.” According to the story, the bill will be largely based on earlier negotiations between Sens. Schumer and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

D.C. Awaits for Arrival of “Mystery” Climate Bill. It seems the legend of the Senate climate bill grows with each day it is not released. According to Kate Sheppard at Mother Jones, some are jokingly referring to the bill as “sasquatch.”

A Florida Foursome Could Be in the Cards. Ben Smith at Politico noted that Democratic Florida billionaire Jeff Greene could be the next to throw his hat in the ring. According to Smith, Democrats are worried such a move could upset Rep. Kendrick Meek’s race for the seat. This seems unlikely, as Smith also points out that Green made some of his fortune betting against the housing market as it was collapsing. Even better–Mike Tyson was the best man at Smith’s wedding and he purportedly enjoyed a friendship with Heidi Fleiss.

WSJ reports on the GOP’s “Suburban Strategy.” As part of its 2010 strategy, the GOP will be focusing on winning the suburbs, which according to the WSJ comprise nearly half of the country’s population. According to one poll cited in the article, “Hofstra University’s Center for Suburban Studies found that 31% of suburban voters felt that government actions had hurt their family’s finances—up from 15% the year before.” Such a shift, despite gains made by Democrats in 2008, could be troublesome.

House votes to forego pay hike. It seems Congress can’t justify a pay raise while ordinary Americans are still feeling it in the pocketbooks.

Texas Governor Rick Perry goes jogging, shoots a coyote. He says it’s to protect himself from snakes. I’m guessing it’s an attempt to steal crazy from Sarah Palin.

Sens. Schumer, Bennett (Colo.), Begich, and Franken, go after Mark Zuckerberg. The foursome sent a letter to Zuckerberg, raising questions about information sharing between third parties. The senators wrote, “We are writing to express our concern regarding recent changes to the Facebook privacy policy and the use of personal data on third party websites … The expansion of Facebook — both in the number of users and applications — raises new concerns for users who want to maintain control over their information.”

Democrats are planning another August health care push. This time it’s to sell the bill to constituents and with the PR war. As Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) put it: “We’re going to go out to the American people and let them know exactly what’s in the bill … I think you’re going to see a big difference this August than last August.”

The country is in the midst of a perfect storm–high unemployment and rising consumer prices (2.3% in 12 months) are conspiring to slowly delay an economic recovery. Any resulting discontent among voters will ultimately be passed on to the party in power, despite populist efforts to reform health care or reign in Wall Street. Combined with the trend of the party in power losing seats during a midterm election, and Democrats could lose up to 50 seats in the House. Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight recently suggested the best case scenario is a 20 seat loss. Ouch.

This shouldn’t be surprising, as discontent has taken over the country in the form of not only “tea partier” types, but I would argue so-called “mainstream Americans” as well–Democrat or Republican. Whether it’s the person we buy our coffee from, your kid’s soccer coach or the people we work with, the questions asked remain the same. Will I have my job tomorrow? Will my family have adequate health care? Can we afford to fill up the car with gas? No matter how many pieces of legislation we pass, whether it be health care or climate bills, these questions will not be answered in full by November. But it’s possible Democrats can go a better job of selling the “win.”

November will be about reminding the American people why Democrats were put in the majority to begin with–to bring about the long term and forward-looking notion of change. This means fighting for Main St., not Wall St. And this certainly means laying the ground work to begin a transition to an easier and more cost-effective health care system. One that will ultimately save lives and the money of tax payers–a real pocketbook issue.

Despite calls for immigration reform, some in the Senate are hesitant.
According to the Washington Post, unnamed Senate aides are pushing back against immigration reform. According to one aide, “We don’t even have a bill yet.” Some argue immigration reform led to climate talks falling apart.

Eliot Spitzer asks: Do investment banks do anything that helps America anymore?
While some are suggesting Spitzer will challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, he seems to be playing the role of potential candidate quite well. He’s been working hard to polish his image and go after the man. Spitzer’s recent piece at Slate likens Goldman Sachs to a “casino” and asks whether or not investment banks any longer perform “economically useful functions.”

Lastly, it seems Pat Buchanan has once again flown off the handle. He claims that without immigration reform, the United States risks being broken into a set of ethnic enclaves. Ok Pat, how’s this for a set of enclaves? Several groups, including the city of San Francisco, are calling for economic sanctions against the state of Arizona. It seems Pat, that the Arizona immigration law has in fact, turned the state into an enclave. Good one.

In the case of a tie, I’ll randomly draw a name.

Send entries to matt @ itsgully.com or comment below.

The bartender friend

For some, a bartender friend is often the crucial cog of the well-oiled machine, but they can also gum up the works and complicate things. This friend always has access to inexpensive liquid to fuel nights of gentlemanly adventure, as well as a venue from which to provide said liquid. The bartender friend has what can often appear to be a magical power, that is, the instantaneous reduction of a $60 bar tab to a mere $20. This is a true win-win situation, you end up paying for one out of three drinks, while you throw a generous tip your friend’s way. Plus, he’s always around and ready to party if your girlfriend breaks up with you or if your dog died and you want to pour one out for poor old Roofus.

The doctor friend

These friends are here to provide invaluable medical services. Have a weird mole? Call Tommy. Sinus infection? Tommy. Sprained your ankle because your bartender friend Paulie gave you one too many, give Tommy a call, he’ll take care of it. It’s also possible you assisted a damsel in distress and by doing so, injured yourself. Once again, the doctor is there to write a prescription if you need it or even sew you up.

The lawyer friend

The lawayer friend is usually around to help clean up any messes that you get yourself into. More often than not, it’s usually the result of the bartender friend once again giving you too much. Maybe you needed to use the restroom and could not wait until you got home and decide to pop into an alley — which is dangerous for multiple reasons — and a police officer sees you, the lawyer friend is there to make sure this matter goes away quickly and quietly.

I’m sure we can think of other friends every guy needs, but I think this sums it up fairly well.

The WSJ article also noted, not surprisingly, that “Mr. Zindani’s comments highlight a deep mistrust that Yemenis have toward the U.S. and its recent overseas actions. Many people here believe that U.S. troops, fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, are waging a war against Muslims, not terrorists.”

While the comments do suggest a mistrust of the United States among Yemenis and many in the Middle East, they also highlight a need address the systemic, root causes of violence. Whether the causes are rooted in economic disparity, political strife, or fundamentalists twisting a religion to achieve their own misguided agenda are not exactly clear. What is clear however is that our initial reaction to call for direct or indirect military intervention may not always be the best solution. Such action could undoubtedly lead to further misunderstanding, miscommunication and a worsening of relations. More important to the long-term stability is the building of meaningful relationships built on trust and respect. As the article smartly points out, building those relationships with individuals such as Mr. Zindani, could go a long way in changing minds and stemming violence.

Do not confuse this as a free pass for Mr. Zindani as serious questions remain including whether or not he has supported or encouraged extremism and violence. Instead, we should use Mr. Zindani’s invitation as an example of a potential opportunity to increase dialogue between two groups that may not always see eye to eye.

Before 2009 was over, I was already thinking about paying more attention to music, especially to help myself understand the various aspects of pop culture I had ignored for nearly 25 years. In a sort of strange coincidence, I received a copy of the latest Spin Magazine courtesy of Lollapalooza last week. I’m not sure how they deemed I was worthy of such a gift, but thank you.

Music always confused me. I never understood why people were so vocal in support or opposition of particular artists or songs. Why would I care what you think of a song? I often viewed music as a highly personal experience subject to countless variables, most important of which are our ears. Like color, tastes and smells, we experience sound in a unique manner. What sounds good to me, may sound terrible to you. However I decided to take a new approach to interpreting the musical opinions of others. I realized that music reviews are similar to tasting notes of scotch or wine,  which are essentially one’s interpretations of the elements and flavors that make up the finished product. While some liquors and wines can have flavors similar to citrus, vanilla, coffee or tobacco, similarly, an album may have influences of Simon and Garfunkel or the Clash. We’ll see if this approach is helpful, it’s certainly already changed what I think of music reviews.

In the meantime I’m going to cruise through Spin’s 40 Best Albums of 2009.

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