When Republicans suddenly need government

Great column on salon.com about how the Republican Party's position on government changes when faced with a disaster. More importantly, the article points out how the party has changed today:

"...the true believers who make up today’s GOP base probably are more sympathetic to [Texas Congressman Ron] Paul’s claim that "we just don’t have the money" for federal disaster relief than they are to [New Jersey Governor Chris] Christie’s statement that "your No. 1 goal as governor in a situation like this is the saving of human life -- and everything else is secondary."

This underscores a serious political problem for the Obama-era Republican Party. It used to be that GOP elected officials had some wiggle room when it came to balancing the demands of their base with the imperatives of keeping the broader public happy. This was important because the general public has some very mixed feelings when it comes to the role of government. While conservative rhetoric about government being bloated, wasteful, inefficient and unnecessary is quite popular, so are most big ticket government programs and services. Republicans have learned this in the past when they’ve bent too far toward pleasing their base -- think of Newt Gingrich’s attack on Medicare in 1995 or George W. Bush's planned Social Security overhaul in 2005.

But the wiggle room is basically gone, and today’s GOP base demands absolute ideological purity from its leaders. It’s no longer enough for them to campaign on generic anti-government rhetoric."

Booker to headline Gopal fundraiser | Politicker NJ

No, that's not Vin Gopal; that's me. ;-) He is still Cory Booker though and he will be headlining a Vin Gopal fundraiser.

Diversity and Change: Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers

Interesting report on Asian-Americans and the labor force.

Coutinho: Here’s Why Jose Reyes Will Stay With The Mets

This is good news. Best of all, the numbers look like they'll add up too:

"The Mets’ payroll at the start of 2011 was around $142 million, with many high ticket items coming off the 2012 payroll, including:

Luis Castillo, $6.25 million
Ollie Perez, $12 million
Carlos Beltran, $20.7 million
Jose Reyes, $11 million (we will add his new numbers in later)
Gary Matthews Jr., $1 million (yes, that Gary Matthews — maybe his dad should pipe down)

To date, New York has $66 million committed to contracts in 2012. They include:

Johan Santana, $21 million
Jason Bay, $18.1 million
David Wright, $15.2 million
R.A. Dickey, $4.75 million
D.J. Carrasco, $1.2 million"

Rich Coutinho adds later on:

"So to summarize:

$10 million for retaining arbitration eligible players
$66 million for committed contracts
$9 million For players under Mets’ control
$7 million for incumbent free agents aside from Reyes

That totals $92 million in estimated cost.

I think that’s high because it is assuming the Mets will keep all three arbitration-eligible players. Now, their payroll is likely to sit at $125-130 million, which would be $10-15 million less than last year. That means they would have anywhere from $33-38 million left to sign Reyes and spend on other players."

Pataki website shows hints of presidential run

Uh oh. Here comes trouble.

Baseball Prospectus | The Lineup Card: 11 Disastrous Acquisitions

How disastrous were these acquisitions? The Mets signing of Kaz Matsui only makes #7 on the list. THAT BAD!

An iPad vs. a Stone: A Technological Comparison

This is pretty funny!