Civility is breaking out all over. That's what the C in CPAC stands for. Rush Limbaugh is bitter that conservative principles are up for sale and that Mitch Daniels called on Republilcans to appeal to more than the Dittoheads. Glenn Beck warned conservatives about being infiltrated by communists and Islamists.
Pamela Geller agreed with Beck and David Horowitz that the conservative movement is infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood. Is she related to Uri Geller? Can she bend spoons with her nose?
The Young Americans for Freedom expelled Ron Paul--not for his age but for his positions on war.
General Boykin told Glenn Beck that he is asked every day about when we should take up arms against Barack Obama. The General previously said that the healthcare bill was meant to create a brownshirt militia for Obama.
John Boehner said that he thinks Obama is a Christian but he wouldn't comment on the whole birther conspiracy. But at the National Prayer Breakfast, Tom Coburn leaped to his feet to declare to the audience that Obama was "his brother in Christ." Tom probably has been expelled from the conservative movement this week.
Ten states have taken up the call for birther legislation. If passed, I can't run for President because I don't have a long-form borth certificate from New Jersey.
It's National Condom Day so don't get any on you.
Barack Obama announced that his new budget would bring domestic spending down to a percentage of government spending equal to Dwight David Eisenhower's day. Was this a slap at the GOP who has abandoned Ike? A little problem with the budget, however, the defense budget is the largest since WWII. That's without the raises the GOP wants to add.
Paul Krugman has an excellent summation of the GOP's budget proposals dubbing it "Killing the Future." Others called it "Killing Elmo" since PBS is under the axe. Does Juan Williams want to be identified with killing Sesame Street?
The teabaggers are saying that shutting down the government is just a "liberal bugaboo". Steve King wants to call Obama's bluff by shutting down government unless Obama withdraws health care.
The Shia in Bahrain are protesting even though the royal family has given out checks for $3,000 to everyone.
Both American and French officials have urged the Algerian government not to crack down and suppress demonstrations there.
The Palestinians cabinet has resigned and Abbas promises elections soon.
The King of Kings, Muammar Qaddafhi has urged all Palestinians to line up around the borders of Israel to demand a state.
The Iranian government has jailed the titular leaders of the Green Revolution and started to repress demonstrators using rubber bullets and teargas. The United States Government openly called for Tehran to allow the demonstrations to proceed since the Iranian Government hailed the Egyptian Revolution. the U.S. Government is tweeting in Farsi as the demonstrations proceed.
A reform movement is beginning to organize in Saudi Arabia. What happens to Fox News when saudi Arabia falls? Their number 2 owner is a Saudi prince. Do they juet light up half the set when his wealth is seized?
The Latest rumor is that Hosni Mubarak is in a coma. This raises the question of how anyone could believe that Mubarak had any role to play in a transition when he is terminally ill. The New York Times ran a piece saying that Secretary of state Clinton and Joe Biden urged such a stance on Obama but Obama refused. Apparently, President Obama was as furious as I was when Ambassador Wisner went on Fox and apologized for Mubarak. Luckily, President Obama didn't listen to the old guard.
But Niall Ferguson feels different in this issue of Newsweek. The neo-imperalist Brit, who has made his recent living travelling to Aspen and Davos selling the dangers of the fall of the American empire, writes that Egypt was a rookie mistake by the "most inexperienced President in foreign affairs" and has created an enormous power vaccuum. Niall thought George W was great even though he had only been to Mexico and once to China prior to assuming the Presidency.
Israel is breathing easier once the Egyptian military said that all treaties would be honored. Now Israel's Defense Minister has gone on the record saying that the Egyptian revolution was far different from the Iranian Revolution. But some of the Israeli press lament that the change in government in Egypt means that an attack on Iran is off. As Wikileaks showed Mubarak was one of the most energetic booster for war with Iran until the last American.
Speaking of treaties, Don Rumsfeld said that he thought it was not advisable for other governments to prosecute George W. Bush for torture because it would admit to the idea of "universal jurisdiction". Curiously enough the Torture Convention ,which we are a signatory to, calls for the "universal jurisdiction" of prosecution to anyone indicted for torture. And the United States under George W actually accepted this when they tried Charles Taylor's son for torture in Florida.
Love is in the air. Italians are demonstrating to bring Sylvio Berlusconi down because of his sex scandals. He said he always made "women feel special". A real candidate for the Love Revolution!
Former Luv Gov Sanford appeared on the beach with his bikini'ed Argentinian journalist. But now he's been replaced with another Luv Gov, the teabagger favorite Ms. Haley, who it seems is still embroiled in the sex controversy that started during the primary. I'm glad South Carolina is keeping up the tradition.
Virginia is no longer for Lovers. The Cooch has decided he wants an immigration law like Arizona.
Showing posts with label Tom Coburn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Coburn. Show all posts
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday, October 4, 2010
Afternoon coffee at the Last Manatee-Fall Edition
I decided to clean out my junk e-mail file this morning. 840 out of 850 were offers for Viagra and Cialis. Several of the remaining 10 were offers from Russian women. And only three were travel ads. It's not coincidental that I discovered the last time I did this that all sex e-mails were generated because of 'cookies" left by rightwing web sites.
On the book shelf this morning are two dreadful reads. The first is Dinesh D'Souza's The Roots of Obama's Rage, Regenery (2010). Dinesh channels his inner V.S. Naipul but only comes up with his own racism. Our President can't be understood unless you understand he's a Luo tribesmen with an anti-Colonial mentality. Dinesh travels territory I remember so well--Franz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral--and only comes up with something truly incomprensible. P.S. I voted for Obama particuly because of his Luo background. I always found the Luo to be one of the best technocratic tribes in Africa. And we sure needed one. Dinesh seems a little confused about the United States' historic attitudes toward colonialism. Born in Mumbai, D'Souza forgets that we didn't look kindly even on British colonialism.
The second is Tears of a Clown: Glenn Beck and the Teabagging of America by Washington Post's Dana Milbank (Doubleday, 2010). Apologies to Dana. Dreadful should refer to the subject. Milbank takes you on a tour of Beck's fixation with Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler, and Barack Obama as well as his dependence of Mormonapocalyptic thinking and John Birch Society conspiracy theories. Thrill to the government's plan to put all conservatives in FEMA camps and the imminent demise of the United States because progressives are planning their Reichstag moment. The book raises the issue of what today's writer should focus on. Was it the advance to get one's kid through college? Was it that this would be an easy bestseller? But I wonder whether someone with Dana Milbank's talent should really exhaust his energies with this guy. I know it's very tempting. Anyone reading this blog knows I spend too much attention on this lunatic.
Shame on White women. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the enthusiasm gap among Democrats is rapidly ending. African-Americans and Hispanics are roaring back to levels usually unknown in mid-terms. The younger voter is coming back. But the one sector of our society in both parties not enthused by the elections are the White women. If there is one election where women's rights are truly threatened, it's the 2010 midterms. Reproductive rights, even the use of birth control, mammograms (unbelievably),single women teaching in schools, equal pay for equal work, childcare, child nurition, child healthcare--let alone adult healthcare. This is all up for grabs this year. Democrats are beginning to run ads against the slew of candidates against rape in the case of incest and rape--a no brainer in the rational world. You don't have to be enthused, just vote.
The DNC reported its monthly take, which was its best month so far--topping $16 million in small donations, 90% of which are $25. But the shadowy non-profits are laundering over $100 million from unknown donors. This is several times the amount in past elections thanks to the Citizens United decision.
James Clyburn's House numbers are Democrats retain with 234. That's like 30 more than Nate the Great. Clyburn pointed to several unexpected Democratic pick-ups in the offing. Keep that number in mind, knowing that he has to put the best spin on it.
Queen Meg canceled her next debate with Governor Moonbeam. She is following this year's Republican tradition of avoiding debates, especially if her polling goes down every time she opens her mouth.
I received another fund-raising letter from Sharron Angle this weekend. It said that Jim DeMint would be there for her when she comes to Washington. How horrifying is that! The neo-confederate (that's not a smear but an accurate description) DeMint this past week declared himself King of the United States. He wants prior approval of every bill before the Senate or he won't allow it to be debated or discussed. In a sick way, he can do this through a misuse of Senate rules. So we don't even have to a filibuster threat anymore.
Meanwhile Super-Christian Tom Coburn has put a hold on the $1 billion aid to Haiti because he fears that $5 million might be wasted. I guess he changed his mind since the Iraq War which saw billions on pallets disappear into the Mesopotamian night.
Remember how in Iraq and Afghanistan we were supposed to increase the ability of the State Department and USAID to handle post-war issues to faciliate a drop in our military presence. Apparently, Congress didn't get the memo--Republicans are trying to gut such aid because they still don't like the State Department or USAID. For once, Michael Gerson wrote a sensible column explaining how counterproductive such actions are.
You'll recall my cheers when Obama's Justice Department decided to settle the Indian Trust case, which has gone on for a generation. Big problem, the Senate doesn't want to pay. Well, not really, Senators have told Indian groups they want to pay but it's combined with the settlement of the claim by African-American farmers, which also has gone on a generation. The Senators told the Indian groups they didn't want to pay the black farmers because they thought too many of the cliams were fraudulent.
It used to be that the debate over minimum wage was whether to raise it or keep it at the same level. Now we have a new talking point--eliminate it. This is sweeping tea baggers and candidates like Linda McMahon in Connecticut. Joe Miller in Arkansas argues it's unconstitutional. I guess he never heard of the "general welfare" wording in the Constitution.
And Senator Feingold really is in political trouble.
On the book shelf this morning are two dreadful reads. The first is Dinesh D'Souza's The Roots of Obama's Rage, Regenery (2010). Dinesh channels his inner V.S. Naipul but only comes up with his own racism. Our President can't be understood unless you understand he's a Luo tribesmen with an anti-Colonial mentality. Dinesh travels territory I remember so well--Franz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral--and only comes up with something truly incomprensible. P.S. I voted for Obama particuly because of his Luo background. I always found the Luo to be one of the best technocratic tribes in Africa. And we sure needed one. Dinesh seems a little confused about the United States' historic attitudes toward colonialism. Born in Mumbai, D'Souza forgets that we didn't look kindly even on British colonialism.
The second is Tears of a Clown: Glenn Beck and the Teabagging of America by Washington Post's Dana Milbank (Doubleday, 2010). Apologies to Dana. Dreadful should refer to the subject. Milbank takes you on a tour of Beck's fixation with Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler, and Barack Obama as well as his dependence of Mormonapocalyptic thinking and John Birch Society conspiracy theories. Thrill to the government's plan to put all conservatives in FEMA camps and the imminent demise of the United States because progressives are planning their Reichstag moment. The book raises the issue of what today's writer should focus on. Was it the advance to get one's kid through college? Was it that this would be an easy bestseller? But I wonder whether someone with Dana Milbank's talent should really exhaust his energies with this guy. I know it's very tempting. Anyone reading this blog knows I spend too much attention on this lunatic.
Shame on White women. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the enthusiasm gap among Democrats is rapidly ending. African-Americans and Hispanics are roaring back to levels usually unknown in mid-terms. The younger voter is coming back. But the one sector of our society in both parties not enthused by the elections are the White women. If there is one election where women's rights are truly threatened, it's the 2010 midterms. Reproductive rights, even the use of birth control, mammograms (unbelievably),single women teaching in schools, equal pay for equal work, childcare, child nurition, child healthcare--let alone adult healthcare. This is all up for grabs this year. Democrats are beginning to run ads against the slew of candidates against rape in the case of incest and rape--a no brainer in the rational world. You don't have to be enthused, just vote.
The DNC reported its monthly take, which was its best month so far--topping $16 million in small donations, 90% of which are $25. But the shadowy non-profits are laundering over $100 million from unknown donors. This is several times the amount in past elections thanks to the Citizens United decision.
James Clyburn's House numbers are Democrats retain with 234. That's like 30 more than Nate the Great. Clyburn pointed to several unexpected Democratic pick-ups in the offing. Keep that number in mind, knowing that he has to put the best spin on it.
Queen Meg canceled her next debate with Governor Moonbeam. She is following this year's Republican tradition of avoiding debates, especially if her polling goes down every time she opens her mouth.
I received another fund-raising letter from Sharron Angle this weekend. It said that Jim DeMint would be there for her when she comes to Washington. How horrifying is that! The neo-confederate (that's not a smear but an accurate description) DeMint this past week declared himself King of the United States. He wants prior approval of every bill before the Senate or he won't allow it to be debated or discussed. In a sick way, he can do this through a misuse of Senate rules. So we don't even have to a filibuster threat anymore.
Meanwhile Super-Christian Tom Coburn has put a hold on the $1 billion aid to Haiti because he fears that $5 million might be wasted. I guess he changed his mind since the Iraq War which saw billions on pallets disappear into the Mesopotamian night.
Remember how in Iraq and Afghanistan we were supposed to increase the ability of the State Department and USAID to handle post-war issues to faciliate a drop in our military presence. Apparently, Congress didn't get the memo--Republicans are trying to gut such aid because they still don't like the State Department or USAID. For once, Michael Gerson wrote a sensible column explaining how counterproductive such actions are.
You'll recall my cheers when Obama's Justice Department decided to settle the Indian Trust case, which has gone on for a generation. Big problem, the Senate doesn't want to pay. Well, not really, Senators have told Indian groups they want to pay but it's combined with the settlement of the claim by African-American farmers, which also has gone on a generation. The Senators told the Indian groups they didn't want to pay the black farmers because they thought too many of the cliams were fraudulent.
It used to be that the debate over minimum wage was whether to raise it or keep it at the same level. Now we have a new talking point--eliminate it. This is sweeping tea baggers and candidates like Linda McMahon in Connecticut. Joe Miller in Arkansas argues it's unconstitutional. I guess he never heard of the "general welfare" wording in the Constitution.
And Senator Feingold really is in political trouble.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Saturday Rants
Not to miss a trick or a buck, Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch fame has started his move to "impeach Elena Kagan". He posted his call to wage war against Elena Kagan on World Nut Daily.
Meanwhile in Mexico City, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in favor of their gay marriage law. Not a great time for the homophobes. The Supreme Court is supposed to rule later on whether gays can adopt children.
Meanwhile in the United States, the Washington Post asks,"Will the Prop 8 ruling hurt Democrats?" I have yet to hear from the howling conservative mobs that all three judges who have ruled in favor of gay marriage so far have been Republicans. Meanwhile, the campaign against Vaughn Walker is that ,of course, he ruled for gays because he is gay and living in a stable relationship. So he wants to get married. This brings me to the importance of Ted Olson's big regret --that the trial was not televised. If we had seen the trial, it would have been a powerful educational moment. Anti-gay forces blocked televising the hearings precisely so they could wage nonsense attacks afterwards. Now the unChristian Right is advocating "intimidating the Supreme Court" so it will not ratify the decision. I think we've seen these tactics before on the healthcare debate where voracious mobs were thought to represent the will of the people.
Speaking of August mayhem, Democrats are vowing this year will not be the August of last year. The Democratic Party has handed out talking points to all members of Congress and candidates to shut down any townhall tantrums. I've been impressed with the quiet coordination of various Democratic party organizations and like-minded organizations for the mid-terms. Democrats have a cash advantage now, despite the various splintered corporate and conservative efforts on the Republican side. The question will be whether organization and a basic message is enough to curtail inevitable losses.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Howard Dean came up with the same math on the Senate I did the other day. Dean had started at a five seat loss for the Democrats, which is where I started months ago. But he's saying that Democrats could cut the loss to 1. The lunacy of the national Republican Party is a big help in eroding their chances.
Has anyone noticed that, with the exception of Meg Whitman and a few other outliers, Republicans are choosing normal GOP candidates for governor races, while letting the fruitcakes win for congress. The Republicans will pick up a number of state houses. I guess the voters felt they couldn't risk real government with a wingnut.
Yes, Dr. Rachel Maddow, Sharon Angle is really a Christian Reconstructionist and it's worth a segment explaining what this retrograde political philosophy is. One of the real charming aspects of Christian Reconstructionists is their notion that there really are first and second class citizens. President Barack Obama is not a legitimate President, not because he was born in Nairobi or on the Moon, but because he's black. You see "real Americans" are like--me--people who are descended from white people prior to the 14th Amendment. We have full rights. Blacks, Hispanics,and White Women are given their rights from government. Historically, the 14th Amendment doe not apply to American Indians, which I'm not sure Christian Reconstructionists know--yet. God gave me my rights, which are superior in quality to those who received them from the 14th Amendment. And, of course, we are a Christian nation but, depending on what faction you belong, Jews are either grandfathered in or left out. Since Jews were also here before the 14th Amendment, this gets complicated. Added to Ms. Angle's funky Christian politics is her John Birch credentials.
Authors Leonard Zeskind and David Niewert are good sources for the sick interplay between Christian Reconstructionists and the White Nationalists.
The leaching of the extreme into mainstream Republicanism has given us the bizarre phenomenon of "popular constitutionalism" or "conservative constitutionalism", which has at its heart the repeal or elimination of those parts of the constitution which are incovenient. Republicans are arguing against the "commerce clause" and congress's ability to pass a national budget in their wars against healthcare reform and deficit spending. Likewise, they are calling into question the government's ability to tax. But what's even more interesting are the assertions about the First Amendment. Glenn Beck, David Barton and even Newt Gingrich are raising questions about the separation of church and state and in Tennessee questions are being raised whether Muslims should be "granted" freedom of religion because they are a "cult". A side issue here are the assertions by the unChristian Right that our laws are based on biblical edicts, despite the very pre-Christian Germanic basis for things like perjury, self-incrimination and all the little details we like in court trials. The minute President Obama was elected,the Tenthers went into a full court press, arguing states could nullify a federal law they disagree with. This movement has spread from its natural home among neo-confederates in the South through parts of the West and Midwest. The most curious event was when Oklahoma tried to meld the Tenthers with the Second Amendment by debating the creation of their own seperate state militia, forgetting that the President is the commander-in-chief of all state militias.
This past week, we've seen the spectacle of three sitting Republican senators argue for holding hearings on the 14th Amendment itself because of the issue of birthright citizenship. Historically, this is fascinating because in the waves of nativism that struck the United States before and other eras of anti-immigration sentiment this never was an issue raised at a national level. Perhaps because other immigrants were considered at least symbolically white. When the 14th Amendment was debated, congress did, however,raise the issue of Chinese children born during the flood of immigrants in the West. And in that debate, Congress decided it applied to them. But now with the issue being Hispanic immigrants, apparently the race card has been raised again. But it is ironic that the focus of debate would be the amendment that freed black Americans and normalized their legal status as citizens.
Did anyone see John McCain's tantrum over DADT and Hate Crime Laws? McCain is threatening to filibuster the defense appropriations bill because the Committee put into the bill the repeal of DADT, pending the survey by the armed services and the President's finding. Apparently, that provisional text wasn't good enough for McCain, who has been campaigning against the repeal of DADT with his letter signed by dead military officers. The emotion in his floor speech suggests there is more going on here. Maybe it was because Prop 8 was ruled unconstitutional and his wife and daughter have been vocal advocates for same sex marriage, while McCain made sure his Arizonan voters knew he was opposed. But the whole episode was bizarre.
The Cat Food or Debt Commission has been meeting in secret but we've got some inkling about their proposals. Alan Simpson says that the Commission will be going after ways to cut military pensions and benefits. Senator Tom Coburn raised the issue of going after obsolete military systems and corruption in defense contractors. But he was over-ruled. It seems only live human beings will pay for the national debt and not those things which really add to it.
After reading Andrew Bacevich's Washington Rules, I've concluded that there is very little anyone can do to restrain the Empire from waging war willy-nilly when and wherever it wants. Our service people are no longer responsible to elected officials, even the President. And the President really only ratifies the decisions made by the separate government. As millions who marched against the war in Iraq demonstrated, there is nothing much popular opinion can really do in terms of starting or terminating a war.
But there is one thing--making the taxpayers actually pay for conflict as it is on-going. Basically, the last two wars were unpaid for and no sacrifice was asked from the citizens. Instead, Americans were told to "keep shopping". As I've suggested in posts written months ago, I suggested a VAT tax to pay for our social welfare net. But as recent studies show, there is really not a need for this. But a War Tax on everything we buy until a war is concluded would not only fund it but also remind everyone what we are doing overseas. It would channel public opinion in a politically effective manner, if politicians had to hear citizens protest about that tax in particular. This would have the added charm of putting pressure on politicians who protect themselves by giving the military/ terrorism complex everything it wants. No longer could you protect yourself from being accused of being weak on defense if you were forced to justify its immediate financial costs to the electorate.
Meanwhile in Mexico City, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in favor of their gay marriage law. Not a great time for the homophobes. The Supreme Court is supposed to rule later on whether gays can adopt children.
Meanwhile in the United States, the Washington Post asks,"Will the Prop 8 ruling hurt Democrats?" I have yet to hear from the howling conservative mobs that all three judges who have ruled in favor of gay marriage so far have been Republicans. Meanwhile, the campaign against Vaughn Walker is that ,of course, he ruled for gays because he is gay and living in a stable relationship. So he wants to get married. This brings me to the importance of Ted Olson's big regret --that the trial was not televised. If we had seen the trial, it would have been a powerful educational moment. Anti-gay forces blocked televising the hearings precisely so they could wage nonsense attacks afterwards. Now the unChristian Right is advocating "intimidating the Supreme Court" so it will not ratify the decision. I think we've seen these tactics before on the healthcare debate where voracious mobs were thought to represent the will of the people.
Speaking of August mayhem, Democrats are vowing this year will not be the August of last year. The Democratic Party has handed out talking points to all members of Congress and candidates to shut down any townhall tantrums. I've been impressed with the quiet coordination of various Democratic party organizations and like-minded organizations for the mid-terms. Democrats have a cash advantage now, despite the various splintered corporate and conservative efforts on the Republican side. The question will be whether organization and a basic message is enough to curtail inevitable losses.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Howard Dean came up with the same math on the Senate I did the other day. Dean had started at a five seat loss for the Democrats, which is where I started months ago. But he's saying that Democrats could cut the loss to 1. The lunacy of the national Republican Party is a big help in eroding their chances.
Has anyone noticed that, with the exception of Meg Whitman and a few other outliers, Republicans are choosing normal GOP candidates for governor races, while letting the fruitcakes win for congress. The Republicans will pick up a number of state houses. I guess the voters felt they couldn't risk real government with a wingnut.
Yes, Dr. Rachel Maddow, Sharon Angle is really a Christian Reconstructionist and it's worth a segment explaining what this retrograde political philosophy is. One of the real charming aspects of Christian Reconstructionists is their notion that there really are first and second class citizens. President Barack Obama is not a legitimate President, not because he was born in Nairobi or on the Moon, but because he's black. You see "real Americans" are like--me--people who are descended from white people prior to the 14th Amendment. We have full rights. Blacks, Hispanics,and White Women are given their rights from government. Historically, the 14th Amendment doe not apply to American Indians, which I'm not sure Christian Reconstructionists know--yet. God gave me my rights, which are superior in quality to those who received them from the 14th Amendment. And, of course, we are a Christian nation but, depending on what faction you belong, Jews are either grandfathered in or left out. Since Jews were also here before the 14th Amendment, this gets complicated. Added to Ms. Angle's funky Christian politics is her John Birch credentials.
Authors Leonard Zeskind and David Niewert are good sources for the sick interplay between Christian Reconstructionists and the White Nationalists.
The leaching of the extreme into mainstream Republicanism has given us the bizarre phenomenon of "popular constitutionalism" or "conservative constitutionalism", which has at its heart the repeal or elimination of those parts of the constitution which are incovenient. Republicans are arguing against the "commerce clause" and congress's ability to pass a national budget in their wars against healthcare reform and deficit spending. Likewise, they are calling into question the government's ability to tax. But what's even more interesting are the assertions about the First Amendment. Glenn Beck, David Barton and even Newt Gingrich are raising questions about the separation of church and state and in Tennessee questions are being raised whether Muslims should be "granted" freedom of religion because they are a "cult". A side issue here are the assertions by the unChristian Right that our laws are based on biblical edicts, despite the very pre-Christian Germanic basis for things like perjury, self-incrimination and all the little details we like in court trials. The minute President Obama was elected,the Tenthers went into a full court press, arguing states could nullify a federal law they disagree with. This movement has spread from its natural home among neo-confederates in the South through parts of the West and Midwest. The most curious event was when Oklahoma tried to meld the Tenthers with the Second Amendment by debating the creation of their own seperate state militia, forgetting that the President is the commander-in-chief of all state militias.
This past week, we've seen the spectacle of three sitting Republican senators argue for holding hearings on the 14th Amendment itself because of the issue of birthright citizenship. Historically, this is fascinating because in the waves of nativism that struck the United States before and other eras of anti-immigration sentiment this never was an issue raised at a national level. Perhaps because other immigrants were considered at least symbolically white. When the 14th Amendment was debated, congress did, however,raise the issue of Chinese children born during the flood of immigrants in the West. And in that debate, Congress decided it applied to them. But now with the issue being Hispanic immigrants, apparently the race card has been raised again. But it is ironic that the focus of debate would be the amendment that freed black Americans and normalized their legal status as citizens.
Did anyone see John McCain's tantrum over DADT and Hate Crime Laws? McCain is threatening to filibuster the defense appropriations bill because the Committee put into the bill the repeal of DADT, pending the survey by the armed services and the President's finding. Apparently, that provisional text wasn't good enough for McCain, who has been campaigning against the repeal of DADT with his letter signed by dead military officers. The emotion in his floor speech suggests there is more going on here. Maybe it was because Prop 8 was ruled unconstitutional and his wife and daughter have been vocal advocates for same sex marriage, while McCain made sure his Arizonan voters knew he was opposed. But the whole episode was bizarre.
The Cat Food or Debt Commission has been meeting in secret but we've got some inkling about their proposals. Alan Simpson says that the Commission will be going after ways to cut military pensions and benefits. Senator Tom Coburn raised the issue of going after obsolete military systems and corruption in defense contractors. But he was over-ruled. It seems only live human beings will pay for the national debt and not those things which really add to it.
After reading Andrew Bacevich's Washington Rules, I've concluded that there is very little anyone can do to restrain the Empire from waging war willy-nilly when and wherever it wants. Our service people are no longer responsible to elected officials, even the President. And the President really only ratifies the decisions made by the separate government. As millions who marched against the war in Iraq demonstrated, there is nothing much popular opinion can really do in terms of starting or terminating a war.
But there is one thing--making the taxpayers actually pay for conflict as it is on-going. Basically, the last two wars were unpaid for and no sacrifice was asked from the citizens. Instead, Americans were told to "keep shopping". As I've suggested in posts written months ago, I suggested a VAT tax to pay for our social welfare net. But as recent studies show, there is really not a need for this. But a War Tax on everything we buy until a war is concluded would not only fund it but also remind everyone what we are doing overseas. It would channel public opinion in a politically effective manner, if politicians had to hear citizens protest about that tax in particular. This would have the added charm of putting pressure on politicians who protect themselves by giving the military/ terrorism complex everything it wants. No longer could you protect yourself from being accused of being weak on defense if you were forced to justify its immediate financial costs to the electorate.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Cry Havoc
Sometimes I take a break to see whether we have reached a plateau with insanity in our politics. It's clear we have ramped it up even higher.
The Montana Republican Party wants to outlaw "homosexual acts" in the state. What precisely are sexual acts committed by gays that are not committed by straights? Even teabagging.
The Idaho Republican Party has come out for the repeal of the 17th Amendment. Is this a cost-cutting measure to save on the expense of elections for Senators?
13 states are introducing anti-immgration bills modeled after Arizona.
The President's Financial Reform package got side-swiped by the death of Senator Byrd. This almost happened last year with Healthcare Reform, when Republicans insisted he had to be wheeled in at midnight to vote. The Secretary of State in West Virginia claims the Governor will nominate a successor and an election would be held in 2012. The Governor promises not to name himself but will have someone in place for the energy bill debate.
Joe Biden told Democratic party activists at a fund-raiser that at least seven Republican Senators were threatened that they would lose their committee assignments if they did not support the filibusters.
The conference had to recovene on the Wall Street reform bill because Republicans, some of whom are vital to its passage, were opposed to any fees being placed in the banks. Instead, they wanted the government to pick up the cost of the reform. This seems to be an on-going theme--the government should pay for the damage of the Gulf disaster and not the corporation that caused it.
The Tan Man John Boehner made news with his interview with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow captured some of his madness. But they missed the really salient parts of his remarks. While it is true he wants to raise the age of retirement to 70, more importantly was the fact that he wants to cut social security benefits now and revamp entitlement programs to pay for the wars. It was clear from his whole interview he really doesn't have much of an understanding of any of the issues facing the country. Today in Racine, Wisconsin President Obama ridiculed Boehner's statement that the economic crisis in the country was like "an ant". Boehner also said that Obama was killing the America he grew up in. Perhaps he was referring to the fact that the Cincinnati Reds are no longer the powerhouse team of the late 1950s and early 1960s. And this man wants to be Speaker of the House.
Conservative Utah Senator Bob Bennett, who lost his party's nomination to a teabaggers, spoke to the Ripon Society and blasted the GOP as a party of slogans, not ideas. He actually said Republicans would win back the House and that would be a bad idea since they wouldn't know what to do with it.
Nate the Great Silver at www.fivethirtyeight.com updated his Senate predictions, saying that Democrats gained slightly after the primaries. He's still at about a 55-45 Senate. He does write off Arkansas and North Dakota as 100% lost for the Democrats.
On the Kagan confirmation, all you have to understand is that only one Republican on the Judicial Commitee has to vote for her to have the nomination move to the whole Senate floor.
So enjoy the hearings for the amazing insight they provide us of the inner mind of today's Republican Party. The first day was spent lamenting school integration and the civil rights period--of course in code. But Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions spent his time attacking Thurgood Marshall and his activism. He was in fact referring to Marshall's days as a civil rights lawyer. In one moment, Sessions slipped by saving the Citizens United was today's Brown versus School Board. I guess the last people to be freed in the United States are corporations--or maybe he was referring to foreign corporations. Sessions was also concerned that Elena Kagan thought of the military as second-class ctitizens. When Mr. Sessions was the Alabama attorney-general, he refused to investigate the series of black churches burning down. Maybe a Justice Kagan wouldn't mind army military barracks burning down.
Tom Coburn, who never ceases to amaze me,wanted to know her views of mixed marriages. He went on to say that his state opposed mixed marriages. He really meant same sex marriages. But with the thrust of the Republican comments the first two days, you would think they really do want to repeal civil rights. One of the most repulsive scene was Senator Kyl, slamming Thurgood Marshall as "out of the mainstream".
The best stuff is really from the Christian Right community and their allies. 800 Orthodox Rabbis signed a letter condemning Elena Kagan, which was circulated by the Christian groups. The rabbis said that her confirmation would trigger a wave of "anti-semiticism" in the United States , which would "threaten the existence of the state of Israel". Tim LaHaye, Mr. Left Behind and an officer in the John Birch Society, sent out another apocalyptic warning about Kagan saying she is for "global law" and threatens traditional values. Focus on Your Family and other Christian Rght groups in the Beltway said that Kagan would promote the homosexual agenda and naturally trigger the end of Western civilization as we know it. One of the groups sent around an assertion that Kagan believed that Blue Cross-Blue Shield should cover sex change operations. And of course with her support of Sharia law,this would be bad news.
Kagan got the best line off in the last three days when Lindsey Graham asked her where was she when the Christmas gonad bomber was caught. "On Christmas, like most Jewish people I was at a Chinese restaurant." Ah, New Yorkers.
I know the South Carolina GOP likes to inject anti-semiticism into their campaigns but I disagree with the progressives that this was what Graham was trying to do. By all accounts, he's going to vote for her and the tenure of his remarks that day was to support her against accusations she was anti-military.
Republican candidates this year are being told not to give interviews to the lamestream press because this year's crop of candidates are nuttier than fruitcakes. But we got a big break from Sharon Angle, the teabagger from Nevada, who granted an interview with the Las Vegas press. She is against extending unemployment benefits because people earn more from unemployment than the lesser paying jobs they could have. She is for the government subdizes small businesses. And she is absolutely against abortion under any circumstances even incest and rape because God has a plan. However, she backed away from her previous suggestions that voters might have to kill Harry Reid. She;'s become a nicer, gentler fruitcake.
The Montana Republican Party wants to outlaw "homosexual acts" in the state. What precisely are sexual acts committed by gays that are not committed by straights? Even teabagging.
The Idaho Republican Party has come out for the repeal of the 17th Amendment. Is this a cost-cutting measure to save on the expense of elections for Senators?
13 states are introducing anti-immgration bills modeled after Arizona.
The President's Financial Reform package got side-swiped by the death of Senator Byrd. This almost happened last year with Healthcare Reform, when Republicans insisted he had to be wheeled in at midnight to vote. The Secretary of State in West Virginia claims the Governor will nominate a successor and an election would be held in 2012. The Governor promises not to name himself but will have someone in place for the energy bill debate.
Joe Biden told Democratic party activists at a fund-raiser that at least seven Republican Senators were threatened that they would lose their committee assignments if they did not support the filibusters.
The conference had to recovene on the Wall Street reform bill because Republicans, some of whom are vital to its passage, were opposed to any fees being placed in the banks. Instead, they wanted the government to pick up the cost of the reform. This seems to be an on-going theme--the government should pay for the damage of the Gulf disaster and not the corporation that caused it.
The Tan Man John Boehner made news with his interview with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow captured some of his madness. But they missed the really salient parts of his remarks. While it is true he wants to raise the age of retirement to 70, more importantly was the fact that he wants to cut social security benefits now and revamp entitlement programs to pay for the wars. It was clear from his whole interview he really doesn't have much of an understanding of any of the issues facing the country. Today in Racine, Wisconsin President Obama ridiculed Boehner's statement that the economic crisis in the country was like "an ant". Boehner also said that Obama was killing the America he grew up in. Perhaps he was referring to the fact that the Cincinnati Reds are no longer the powerhouse team of the late 1950s and early 1960s. And this man wants to be Speaker of the House.
Conservative Utah Senator Bob Bennett, who lost his party's nomination to a teabaggers, spoke to the Ripon Society and blasted the GOP as a party of slogans, not ideas. He actually said Republicans would win back the House and that would be a bad idea since they wouldn't know what to do with it.
Nate the Great Silver at www.fivethirtyeight.com updated his Senate predictions, saying that Democrats gained slightly after the primaries. He's still at about a 55-45 Senate. He does write off Arkansas and North Dakota as 100% lost for the Democrats.
On the Kagan confirmation, all you have to understand is that only one Republican on the Judicial Commitee has to vote for her to have the nomination move to the whole Senate floor.
So enjoy the hearings for the amazing insight they provide us of the inner mind of today's Republican Party. The first day was spent lamenting school integration and the civil rights period--of course in code. But Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions spent his time attacking Thurgood Marshall and his activism. He was in fact referring to Marshall's days as a civil rights lawyer. In one moment, Sessions slipped by saving the Citizens United was today's Brown versus School Board. I guess the last people to be freed in the United States are corporations--or maybe he was referring to foreign corporations. Sessions was also concerned that Elena Kagan thought of the military as second-class ctitizens. When Mr. Sessions was the Alabama attorney-general, he refused to investigate the series of black churches burning down. Maybe a Justice Kagan wouldn't mind army military barracks burning down.
Tom Coburn, who never ceases to amaze me,wanted to know her views of mixed marriages. He went on to say that his state opposed mixed marriages. He really meant same sex marriages. But with the thrust of the Republican comments the first two days, you would think they really do want to repeal civil rights. One of the most repulsive scene was Senator Kyl, slamming Thurgood Marshall as "out of the mainstream".
The best stuff is really from the Christian Right community and their allies. 800 Orthodox Rabbis signed a letter condemning Elena Kagan, which was circulated by the Christian groups. The rabbis said that her confirmation would trigger a wave of "anti-semiticism" in the United States , which would "threaten the existence of the state of Israel". Tim LaHaye, Mr. Left Behind and an officer in the John Birch Society, sent out another apocalyptic warning about Kagan saying she is for "global law" and threatens traditional values. Focus on Your Family and other Christian Rght groups in the Beltway said that Kagan would promote the homosexual agenda and naturally trigger the end of Western civilization as we know it. One of the groups sent around an assertion that Kagan believed that Blue Cross-Blue Shield should cover sex change operations. And of course with her support of Sharia law,this would be bad news.
Kagan got the best line off in the last three days when Lindsey Graham asked her where was she when the Christmas gonad bomber was caught. "On Christmas, like most Jewish people I was at a Chinese restaurant." Ah, New Yorkers.
I know the South Carolina GOP likes to inject anti-semiticism into their campaigns but I disagree with the progressives that this was what Graham was trying to do. By all accounts, he's going to vote for her and the tenure of his remarks that day was to support her against accusations she was anti-military.
Republican candidates this year are being told not to give interviews to the lamestream press because this year's crop of candidates are nuttier than fruitcakes. But we got a big break from Sharon Angle, the teabagger from Nevada, who granted an interview with the Las Vegas press. She is against extending unemployment benefits because people earn more from unemployment than the lesser paying jobs they could have. She is for the government subdizes small businesses. And she is absolutely against abortion under any circumstances even incest and rape because God has a plan. However, she backed away from her previous suggestions that voters might have to kill Harry Reid. She;'s become a nicer, gentler fruitcake.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Of course,Dimitri, you know I'm your friend, Dmitri
You knew the wingnuts would explode over Obama's reversion of America's nuclear strategy. Guiliani went on television to remind everyone he once worked for Ronald Reagan, who knew how to create leverage over an adversary. Our braindead media didn't jump on the Mayor to recall the moment when Gorbachev said to Reagan," Mr. President, why don't we get rid of all nuclear weapons by the year 2000" and Reagan, "Why wait?" The Hoover Institution's Martin Anderson wrote a book last year how Reagan prevented a nuclear war where he goes into great detail about Reagan's views on nuclear weapons and his desire to minimize the possibility they would ever be used again by the United States or our adversaries. Few remember that the entire conservative movement jumped on Reagan fro pursuing nuclear arms reductions talks with the Soviet Union. Unfortunately for the rest of us, all these people still reside in Washington-based think tanks and are again opening their traps.
The little anecdote that has leaked out about President Obama and revising the nuclear doctrine was to do with a briefing conducted one month into his presidency. Until that time he had not been fully briefed on our nuclear doctrine, especially one that existed during the time of george W. Apparently, he was briefed on America's plans to nuke Russia and China. The context of why we would do this was not stated. After hearing the briefer, President Obama said," That's insane."
I have already received an article denouncing Obama for being naive in his nuclear doctrine, which makes eminent sense to the rational. Already the drumbeat starts on why President Obama will not defend us. Ralph Peters went off his meds again and proclaimed a national security emergency. I think the right is disappointed that Obama probably rescinded the doctrine of pre-emptive nuclear strike, which someone like Marc Thiessen would argue is in line with the Catholic doctrine of Just War. Little Johnny Yoo must be disappointed since he told a crowd at the University of Virginia last month that the President of the United States has the right to nuke the United States if conditions demanded it. Play the mindgame of what conditions would those be. Next we will have Fox News play Red Dawn again.
Barack Obama again believes he is President of the United States. It is rumored through anonymous leaks from "high-ranking White House sources" that President Obama will present a new Middle East Peace Plan by the fall. Every six weeks, all the former chiefs of the NSC from Reagan until now meet to discuss global issues. Apparently, President Obama dropped into one of these meetings and there was a broad consensus from the Reagan people on that Obama has to stop his piecemeal approach to the Middle East Peace process and developed a more strategic view. As the "anonymous source" said, "Everyone knows that the ultimate end is some version of the 2000 agreements." So stay tuned.
And much to my surprise, the Palestinians are finally embracing non-violence in their protests against Israeli actions. I never thought this would happen. This will prove to be more effective than the usual insanity of terrorist attacks. Maybe they should apply for a NED grant.
Senator Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma representative of the "Family", let his guard down at a townhall meeting to tell his constituents not to believe everything you hear on Fox News. He actually defended Nancy Pelosi, even in the face of jeers, saying she was a "nice person". This from a Senator only one step left of Jim Inhofe. I am still puzzled that President Obama is friends with this man and on what basis. But don't worry the Freerepublic website denounced Coburn as a RINO.
And in another episode of hell froze over, Glenn Beck really did denounce Romney as a socialist. This was sparked by President Obama's defense of his healthcare plan as being alot like Romney's plan in Massachusetts. So now we have a war between the Mormans. I have never heard a Morman denounce another publicly--I thought this was some version of Reagan's rule of not criticizing fellow Republicans. So I guess Glenn won't be pulled back into line by 2012.
Washington Senator Patty Murray was threatened with death by a member of the Lewis and Clark Tea Party. Another Congressman Steven Cohen was also threatened and the FBI is investigating. In East Texas, the Texas Rangers are investigating attacks on local politicians using pipe bombs. An African American pro-lifer was picked up in Texas for threatening to blow up an abortion clinic. Letters with white powder forced people to evacuate government buildings in Columbus, Ohio. And the beat goes on.
The little anecdote that has leaked out about President Obama and revising the nuclear doctrine was to do with a briefing conducted one month into his presidency. Until that time he had not been fully briefed on our nuclear doctrine, especially one that existed during the time of george W. Apparently, he was briefed on America's plans to nuke Russia and China. The context of why we would do this was not stated. After hearing the briefer, President Obama said," That's insane."
I have already received an article denouncing Obama for being naive in his nuclear doctrine, which makes eminent sense to the rational. Already the drumbeat starts on why President Obama will not defend us. Ralph Peters went off his meds again and proclaimed a national security emergency. I think the right is disappointed that Obama probably rescinded the doctrine of pre-emptive nuclear strike, which someone like Marc Thiessen would argue is in line with the Catholic doctrine of Just War. Little Johnny Yoo must be disappointed since he told a crowd at the University of Virginia last month that the President of the United States has the right to nuke the United States if conditions demanded it. Play the mindgame of what conditions would those be. Next we will have Fox News play Red Dawn again.
Barack Obama again believes he is President of the United States. It is rumored through anonymous leaks from "high-ranking White House sources" that President Obama will present a new Middle East Peace Plan by the fall. Every six weeks, all the former chiefs of the NSC from Reagan until now meet to discuss global issues. Apparently, President Obama dropped into one of these meetings and there was a broad consensus from the Reagan people on that Obama has to stop his piecemeal approach to the Middle East Peace process and developed a more strategic view. As the "anonymous source" said, "Everyone knows that the ultimate end is some version of the 2000 agreements." So stay tuned.
And much to my surprise, the Palestinians are finally embracing non-violence in their protests against Israeli actions. I never thought this would happen. This will prove to be more effective than the usual insanity of terrorist attacks. Maybe they should apply for a NED grant.
Senator Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma representative of the "Family", let his guard down at a townhall meeting to tell his constituents not to believe everything you hear on Fox News. He actually defended Nancy Pelosi, even in the face of jeers, saying she was a "nice person". This from a Senator only one step left of Jim Inhofe. I am still puzzled that President Obama is friends with this man and on what basis. But don't worry the Freerepublic website denounced Coburn as a RINO.
And in another episode of hell froze over, Glenn Beck really did denounce Romney as a socialist. This was sparked by President Obama's defense of his healthcare plan as being alot like Romney's plan in Massachusetts. So now we have a war between the Mormans. I have never heard a Morman denounce another publicly--I thought this was some version of Reagan's rule of not criticizing fellow Republicans. So I guess Glenn won't be pulled back into line by 2012.
Washington Senator Patty Murray was threatened with death by a member of the Lewis and Clark Tea Party. Another Congressman Steven Cohen was also threatened and the FBI is investigating. In East Texas, the Texas Rangers are investigating attacks on local politicians using pipe bombs. An African American pro-lifer was picked up in Texas for threatening to blow up an abortion clinic. Letters with white powder forced people to evacuate government buildings in Columbus, Ohio. And the beat goes on.
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