As you’ve probably heard, a conservative judge in a federal district court struck down the individual mandate in the health care bill.  The basis for his decision is that, in his view, deciding not to purchase a product is not economic activity, and the federal government has no jurisdiction under the commerce clause.

A lot of the commentary I’ve seen has focused on the abstract argument of whether or not the federal government can “compel” you to buy a product.  This really isn’t an “economic freedom” thing as some people have tried to make it out to be; it’s more of a commerce clause vs police powers thing.  If you think about it, no one is filing suit to strike down auto insurance mandates in any state.  Massachusetts even has its own health care mandate, which has never been challenged successfully by anyone.  So all this faux-libertarian garbage about “freedom” can, and should, be dismissed out of hand.

What I’d really like to focus on is not so much the abstract debate about the scope of the commerce clause, but to take a step back and introduce a little perspective on what’s actually happening here.

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I was just reminded while here at work of how brilliant this commercial is. Enjoy at will.

Whaddya think?  The animation is pretty cool too.

[ht NPR and Fil]

There are only a few (and I mean only a few) things I miss from colder climes, and one of them is the length of soup season.  Soup season, you ask?  You know, the time of year where you can sit down to a nice steaming bowl of soup and not die from sweating.  It’s one of my favorite times of the year.

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Whose in the mood for some Eagle Noodle Soup?

Something that has been bothering me lately is not how divided our country has become, but rather how divided our country is being portrayed through the media and how it affects the national discourse. The more I think about it, the more upset I get about it. When I think back to 2 years ago when a bunch of us got together to campaign for Barack Obama in PA, I mostly remember the feeling of overwhelming optimism. I think this was one of the first times I felt like being just one person was enough to make a difference when you got together with other people with good intentions. That feeling of national unity was something great, and I think we need it now more than ever.

I’m not talking about the upcoming elections either. I am mostly talking about big picture things like getting through the current economic turmoil and facing the problems of the 21st century as an undivided nation. I understand there is money to be made by directing the media’s narrative. I also realize that you don’t get ratings by ignoring some small-time-asshole who wants to burn the Quran on 9/11. What I don’t understand is why in one of the most testing times in recent history have we chosen to A: choose this narrative, and B: let this narrative continue to happen. What happened to the sense of pride Americans used to have in getting through hard times together? I know that WWII, and War Bonds, and Victory Gardens are a thing of the past, but aren’t these relics important enough to look back upon and see their value?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and was just reading the NYTimes article on the Jon Stewart/Stephan Colbert March for Sanity and/or Fear and was slightly, if not a little more than normally moved by Jon Stewart’s closing remarks. Enough so to write this post.

“We know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together,” he said.“And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together.”

I personally think this is the kind of message the American people want to hear. I think its the kind of message we need to hear. I think its much more productive to send messages of encouragement and optimism than fear and partisanship into the living rooms of millions of Americans all day every day. I guess not enough people want to hear it..or we would hear it.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I realize its a complex issue, and that its not just Fear vs. Hope here…But I’m finding it harder and harder to swallow the shit that is spewing out of 20 channels simultaneously on Television every. single. day.

I know juice hasn’t been super active lately, but I am rather interested in a discussion on this one!

Dear Laptop users,

There’s a controversial Firefox plugin called Firesheep making the rounds right now that is able to sniff out cookies from computers on the same network for login information. With a double-click, someone on the same network as you can access any of your accounts at non-secure sites–Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Amazon, etc. If you frequent open wireless networks, you should consider Force-TLS, a Firefox plugin that protects against this.

That is all.

Love,

Eric

[h/t Brother Scott]

I almost missed this.

h/t to Gizmodo

One of the things that I’ve always loved about Barack Obama is his ability to craft a message in a truthful but very simple way.  It’s something that the Democrats in Congress have long struggled to do, and it’s one of the reasons that the Republicans are as successful as they are in a political sense; they just make better bumper stickers.

But there’s also another corollary to this: Democrats, in general, are scared of the right wing noise machine.  Completely terrified.  In their minds, if you pit the Democratic messaging machine against the Republican messaging machine, the Dems will lose every time.  So at the end of the day, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (take the tax cut debate, for example).

Obama has never and never will be scared of Republicans.  He thinks, and rightly so, in my opinion, that if he sells his ideas, and pits them against the GOP’s, he’ll win.  And with his track record, I’d say he’s done a pretty good job, so it always surprises me that the Democrats in Congress don’t take more cues from him.

After last night, they should pay very close attention.  Obama’s speech at the Gen44 Summit is perfect example of the message that just might save the House.
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This story is getting a little old but since I’ve been pretty busy lately I’m only just getting around to posting it.

Once upon a time in high school physics, I sat next to a goofy Romanian kid with a funny name.  We also played football together.  I never officially made it out of the JV squad, but Zoltan’s now one of the top punters in the country and he very recently got drafted to play for the Patriots.  The Wall Street Journal picked him as the NFL’s most interesting man. He’s an awesome person, and he’s got talent to boot (pun!).  He can also transform into a truck.

Watch out for him this season.  He looks like this:

There are a lot of photoshopped images of him on the internet

One thing that I’ve learned working in a data-intensive field is that people don’t understand what you’re talking about unless you have a graph.  One good graph is worth about an hour of explanation.  This is why it always baffles me how little political media, and politicians themselves, utilize graphs as an effective means of communication, especially when talking about number-based issues, like tax rates for instance.

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My latest in a series of unrelated posts.

Artist Background
American War is Matt Scheuermann, an awesome person who combines guitar playing and singing to create exceptional music.  I know, it sounds a little far-fetched, but I assure you the combination is nothing short of spectacular.  His tunes are catchy, heartfelt, and poetic.  His voice is colored with panache. He has a beard now, and like most people who have beards now, he used to not have one. The songs on his free album Rhetoric (link below) have become a staple of my daily listening routine.  He also did a split with Andy Cook titled Through Leaves, Over Bridges, which is quite good – it used to be available free online, but none of the supplying websites seem to exist anymore.  If you’re hard-pressed for a copy, email us (juicetheblog at gmail dot com) and we’ll see what we can do.

Free Album Download || Facebook Page || MySpace || Twitter @AmericanWarMatt

[Music] Videos follow… more after the jump:

American War – Bricks from If You Make It on Vimeo.

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The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus, 1883

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I came across this video the other day and have watched it a couple times since and always find something new. It was made in conjunction with an episode of Radiolab WNYC. Enjoy at will.