NJ Senate Special Election and US Default Watch

by Doctor Science

Tomorrow's another looooong day for me, as I work the polls for NJ's Special Election to fill the late Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat. I voted by mail more than a week ago -- for Cory Booker, of course. I can certainly understand why many of my fellow Jerseyites feel as though Booker's ambition for national prominence is a bit too obvious -- because it is. But given that Steve Lonegan is Tea Party, and can be expected to be part of the "we destroyed the full faith and credit of the United States to save it" caucus in the Senate, I don't see how there's much of a choice.

Turnout is expected to be light, so my day will probably be quite boring. I'm bringing:

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss. It's a biography of Alex Dumas, the biracial father of Alexandre Dumas pere, who rose to the rank of general-in-chief in the Napoleonic army -- before he was imprisoned and poisoned. Looks good so far, with *fascinating* stuff about the shifting positions of non-white people in Europe in the 18th century.

Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir. I've only glanced at it, I gather it's along the same lines as Thinking, Fast and Slow but focused on problems of lack of time and lack of money.

---

Don't burn the place down while I'm gone. LJ or others, please check the comments "spam" folder at some point and rescue anyone who doesn't belong there.

And let's all hope we still have an economy and government when I get back.

Comments

[liberal japonicus]

Will do Doc. There are been fewer comments going into the spam bin of late, but I will keep an eye on it.

[Ugh]

Default! So exciting. I'm sure it will be no big deal. The 1 month Treasury Bond yield rate has more than tripled in two weeks. What could go wrong?

[cleek]

fiscal responsibility demands it!

[hairshirthedonist]

Will be voting for Booker today.

Default! So exciting. I'm sure it will be no big deal.

Dow
15,350.78
+182.77
+1.20%

I'm pretty sure this is "the market" saying there won't be a default rather than that default would be no big deal, but still - I think it's weird.

[CaseyL]

hairshirthedonist, Robert Costa's twitters have been the go-to news source during the past week. He tweeted this morning that the House GOP would "allow" the Senate bill to come to the floor for a vote, where it would presumably pass with mostly Democratic votes. The Dow shot up immediately afterward.

(Now Twitter is full of jokes about Costa's power to "move the price of Treasury bills like beads on an abacus.")

[Laura Koerbeer]

http://www.spcai.org/email/taji.html

I hope some of you will consider making a contribution to help unite this dog with his soldier.

I can't. I have fifteen hundred dollars on my charge card for paying vet bills of a low income woman (her dog was attacked by raccoons), and I just spent two hundred dollars to buy a pregnant Chihuahua from a breeder who was going to "euthanize" her with a hammer because she was to old to carry the pregnancy through. (She's at the vet getting spayed).

I just don't have the money to give right now, but the thought of the soldier's pain if he has to leave his dog behind...

So please think about a contribution. Thank you.

Sorry about the thread jack. I don't know why that link didn't come through. I'll try again.

[Laura Koerbeer]

Booker won

[bobbyp]

Oct. 16, 6:47 PM PDT. Looks like the House GOP is going to slink away in the dark as the Senate 'compromise' is now on the floor. With Democratic votes, it will pass. Nonetheless, the insanely punitive sequester cuts will remain in place. The safety net continues to be shredded. Millions remain unemployed for no god-damned fr%%cking reason. NONE whatsoever. This is potential wealth that can never be recovered. It's gone.

So who really won here?

The fight will no doubt resume in January/February.

Can we send the GOP the bill for this fiasco?

[Ugh]

Right now R votes are 19 in favor and only 14 opposed

[sapient]

Can we send the GOP the bill for this fiasco?

Mean mails, facebook posts, twitter whatev's. All would be appropriate.

Obviously, we wish we could recover actual cash. And they have it to spare, for sure.

[Ugh]

Okay now it's flipped.

[bobbyp]

It is done. Madness.

[CaseyL]

Laura - I will contribute later this week, when I'm a bit more flush.

This has turned out to be an enjoyable night. The threat of default is gone, for now; the government will re-open tomorrow; and Booker won in New Jersey.

$24B-with-a-B this shut-down cost, and it brought us to the brink of economic chaos. Anyone who mewls about Democratic spending is cordially invited to piss up a rope.

[Laura Koerbeer]

Thank you, CaseyL.

[CaseyL]

Laura -

I'm sorry to have to say this, but it looks like that charity is a scam. I googled the name of the organization, and CNN did a story about them in June 2012, noting that hardly any money raised was actually spent on rescuing dogs. Charitywatch also did a feature story on them, available here:

http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/SPCAInternational.html

... it seems to be an operation set up to funnel money to its business partners.

"SPCAI" is not affiliated with the ASPCA; it deliberately tries to confuse people into thinking it is an affiliate.

So: no, I will not contribute.

[Laura Koerbeer]

CaseyL, Thank you for the heads up. I did think it was the ASPCA which does raise funds for soldier's pets. I'm embarrassed that I didn't notice. Thank you.

[CaseyL]

Laura -

No need to be embarrassed; if grifts were obvious, hardly anyone would fall for them.

But I check every charity now before sending money.

It's infuriating and heartbreaking how many organizations I used to give money to, and no longer do since finding out they're grifts.

Animals, kids, police and fire fighters seem to attract the most scams, probably because those 1) play the most on our emotions; and 2) are among the few causes supported by people all across the political spectrum.