Due to the changes noted yesterday [see below] I'm finally getting around to posting this fascinating piece by that Bastion of the Right, George Will.
The Road To a GOP Minority By George F. Will --
Sunday, February 10, 2008
LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- Coconut Road near Fort Myers looks like any other concrete ribbon near housing developments, golf courses and shopping malls in this state's booming southwest. But like another fragrant slab of recent pork, the $223 million "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska, Coconut Road leads to somewhere darkly fascinating. It runs straight into Washington's earmark culture of waste, corruption and anti-constitutional deviousness.
^^^
In his State of the Union address, President Bush vowed to veto any appropriation bill "that does not cut the number and cost of earmarks in half." [Sen] Coburn [R-OK] tartly notes that although Congress hardly needs 5,500 earmarks -- half of last year's total -- the president's goal would be met if Republicans themselves quit earmarking. That fact goes far to explain the Republicans' current and future minority status.
Click here for the complete text.
xxx
On occasion, when he's not blindly following the party line, George Will even gets it partly right.
Of course, that's not the whole story.
For instance, he left out the part about condoning torture.
And we mustn't forget the wars. Or the fact that we will ask them to die for a lie but abandon the soldiers who come home maimed in body and soul and need our help. Let heaven help them. We won't.
And then there's the environment. Remember it?
And our pathetic educational and health care systems.
And sending jobs overseas in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
And the part about dirty tricks in order to get elected at any cost. Does anyone study ancient history these days? Remember the redistricting of Texas? And the more recent attempt to change the rules in California?
And changing the rules of Congress -- then crying foul when the Dems took over and imposed the SAME rules on the repugs for just the first 100 days of the new order.
And justice. As opposed to condemning Siegelman to prison for being a successful Democrat. And then, when that debacle finally comes to light, leaning on CBS to kill the story then censoring it in Alabama and Tennessee.
So, George, you were right--as far as you went. You just didn't go nearly far enough. Or do you label all those matters as needless earmarks?
February 29, 2008
February 28, 2008
Check Scattershot Thoughts for a bit of tongue-in-cheek news about Obama. And Bush's latest take on the economy. :)
My Emancipation Day
During the Middle Ages, if a serf could escape his lord’s fiefdom, make his way to the Big City [by our reckoning, any fair-sized town] and remain there undetected by his lord for a-year-and-a-day his lord could not force him to return to his enforced subsistence living on the estate. I guess whatever monarch created that law recognized that people who could meet that standard were of more use to the nation’s economy where they were rather than toiling for a local lord. After all, peasants in the towns were beholden to the king and paid taxes. Medieval kings were lots of things—but most of them weren’t fools.
Today marks that date, for me. I have officially escaped the northlands of Missouri and lo, and behold, I’ve found an amazing sea-change occurring!
1] I was the hermit’s hermit in Kansas City. I ran a private practice which did not require that I go to a central office more than once every few months.
So, after completing my training [several years after leaving school] I had little contact with colleagues. I met with clients on a weekly basis about 3 days per week either in their homes or at mine—bought groceries on the 3rd day—went home and pulled the moat in after me and that was IT for the week. I spent the rest of my time writing notes for work, doing my billings and blogging and playing on the computer.
Very rarely, maybe once every four to six months, I visited friends—at their suggestion.
Today, I have a fair-sized community outside my door and spend several days a week visiting friends, going out to eat regularly and even to a movie about once weekly [senior discounts help greatly, here.]
I NEVER used to attend movies—I waited for someone to post the best-known ones on the internet and downloaded them or bought the DVD. Most movies I never even heard of—so did neither. And, I ate at fast food places during the work week but rarely did so on weekends. I could count on one hand the number of times yearly that I went to nicer restaurants— usually carrying a book along.
2] I’m fairly certain that I’m finally getting over a chronic infection I’ve been battling since 1999. The one the docs told me didn’t exist—though I knew SOMETHING was wrong—and which was finally diagnosed by a clerk in a health food store, fergoshsakes! I’d made headway with it before but always slipped back. Somehow, now [maybe due to the increase in exercise or a change in diet or whatever], I sense real progress, happening here.
Also, the chronic back pain which I had resigned myself to and was battling with pain killers [though I feared for my liver] is subsiding. A combination of inversion therapy and increased exercise is almost certainly the reason for the change.
3] I have 2 pictures posted over my computer. One is the aftermath of an ice storm in Salina, KS that actually made the front page of the St. Petersburg Times. The other is a downloaded pic of a parka-ed, hooded figure crossing a parking lot full of cars each with about 6 inches of snow on its roof and windshield.
I find myself eyeing those photos more and more skeptically. Snow actually exists? Assuming that IS true and it’s not just some propaganda put out by DC for its own nefarious purposes, why in the world would anyone actually LIVE where such nastiness occurs? Sure, Florida has hurricanes on occasion—but we can’t be assured we’ll get several EVERY SINGLE YEAR, fergoshsakes! If that happened, I’m certain there’d be a mass exodus to places more suitable for human habitation.
So, I can come out in the open now and declare: I’M FREE FROM THE SERF-LORDS OF THE NORTH! Maybe I’ll change my name again. How does Two Crows Freedwomyn grab you? :)
During the Middle Ages, if a serf could escape his lord’s fiefdom, make his way to the Big City [by our reckoning, any fair-sized town] and remain there undetected by his lord for a-year-and-a-day his lord could not force him to return to his enforced subsistence living on the estate. I guess whatever monarch created that law recognized that people who could meet that standard were of more use to the nation’s economy where they were rather than toiling for a local lord. After all, peasants in the towns were beholden to the king and paid taxes. Medieval kings were lots of things—but most of them weren’t fools.
Today marks that date, for me. I have officially escaped the northlands of Missouri and lo, and behold, I’ve found an amazing sea-change occurring!
1] I was the hermit’s hermit in Kansas City. I ran a private practice which did not require that I go to a central office more than once every few months.
So, after completing my training [several years after leaving school] I had little contact with colleagues. I met with clients on a weekly basis about 3 days per week either in their homes or at mine—bought groceries on the 3rd day—went home and pulled the moat in after me and that was IT for the week. I spent the rest of my time writing notes for work, doing my billings and blogging and playing on the computer.
Very rarely, maybe once every four to six months, I visited friends—at their suggestion.
Today, I have a fair-sized community outside my door and spend several days a week visiting friends, going out to eat regularly and even to a movie about once weekly [senior discounts help greatly, here.]
I NEVER used to attend movies—I waited for someone to post the best-known ones on the internet and downloaded them or bought the DVD. Most movies I never even heard of—so did neither. And, I ate at fast food places during the work week but rarely did so on weekends. I could count on one hand the number of times yearly that I went to nicer restaurants— usually carrying a book along.
2] I’m fairly certain that I’m finally getting over a chronic infection I’ve been battling since 1999. The one the docs told me didn’t exist—though I knew SOMETHING was wrong—and which was finally diagnosed by a clerk in a health food store, fergoshsakes! I’d made headway with it before but always slipped back. Somehow, now [maybe due to the increase in exercise or a change in diet or whatever], I sense real progress, happening here.
Also, the chronic back pain which I had resigned myself to and was battling with pain killers [though I feared for my liver] is subsiding. A combination of inversion therapy and increased exercise is almost certainly the reason for the change.
3] I have 2 pictures posted over my computer. One is the aftermath of an ice storm in Salina, KS that actually made the front page of the St. Petersburg Times. The other is a downloaded pic of a parka-ed, hooded figure crossing a parking lot full of cars each with about 6 inches of snow on its roof and windshield.
I find myself eyeing those photos more and more skeptically. Snow actually exists? Assuming that IS true and it’s not just some propaganda put out by DC for its own nefarious purposes, why in the world would anyone actually LIVE where such nastiness occurs? Sure, Florida has hurricanes on occasion—but we can’t be assured we’ll get several EVERY SINGLE YEAR, fergoshsakes! If that happened, I’m certain there’d be a mass exodus to places more suitable for human habitation.
So, I can come out in the open now and declare: I’M FREE FROM THE SERF-LORDS OF THE NORTH! Maybe I’ll change my name again. How does Two Crows Freedwomyn grab you? :)
February 27, 2008
This from the Huffington Post: End of a Romance: Why the Media and Independent Voters Need to Break Up with John McCain-- Arianna Huffington
What's the opposite of a "maverick?"
So McCa[i]n has backed an amendment that would limit the right to habeas corpus, has endorsed an Arizona constitutional amendment that would not only ban gay marriage but deny benefits to unmarried couples of any kind (lest those pesky gay people find some kind of loophole), and has discovered a newfound support for teaching "intelligent design" in schools.
The old John McCain once tried to take the mantle of true conservatism away from George W. Bush. The new John McCain is now essentially running to give America a third Bush term - and, indeed, will even out-Bush Bush when it comes to staying the disastrous course we're on in Iraq.
Right on time, the new McCain got Bush's blessing on Fox News Sunday: "I know his convictions," Bush said. "I know the principles that drive him. And no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative."
^^^
If you think the problem with the United States right now is that we haven't given Bush enough time to finish his agenda, then John McCain is your man.
Click here for the complete text.
What's the opposite of a "maverick?"
So McCa[i]n has backed an amendment that would limit the right to habeas corpus, has endorsed an Arizona constitutional amendment that would not only ban gay marriage but deny benefits to unmarried couples of any kind (lest those pesky gay people find some kind of loophole), and has discovered a newfound support for teaching "intelligent design" in schools.
The old John McCain once tried to take the mantle of true conservatism away from George W. Bush. The new John McCain is now essentially running to give America a third Bush term - and, indeed, will even out-Bush Bush when it comes to staying the disastrous course we're on in Iraq.
Right on time, the new McCain got Bush's blessing on Fox News Sunday: "I know his convictions," Bush said. "I know the principles that drive him. And no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative."
^^^
If you think the problem with the United States right now is that we haven't given Bush enough time to finish his agenda, then John McCain is your man.
Click here for the complete text.
February 24, 2008
The jury is back. Ralph Nader is a closet Republican.
This morning, on Meet the Press [a Republican bastion if there ever was one], Nader announced his candidacy for President. He denies, in the face of all evidence, that he spoiled the election for Al Gore. In fact, he blames Gore for the loss—not himself.
McCain is, at this moment, dancing backstage in Cleveland, Ohio, as he revels in the fact that the Democrats will, again, split their vote—giving McCain the best shot he’s had at the White House yet.
February 22, 2008
Arianna Huffington: The Right Strengthens its Hold on McCain.The Media Refuse to Notice.
Despite an avalanche of evidence showing that McCain the Maverick has long ago been replaced by McCain the Pandering Pawn of the Party's Right Wing, the press refuses to believe its own eyes.
The latest demonstration of the enormous lag time between the presentation of a new reality and the media's willingness to update the conventional wisdom comes via those bastions of the traditional media, The New Yorker and the New York Times.
The latest New Yorker . . . portrays him as a moderate who has "the rare opportunity to reinvent what it means to be a Republican."
Let's see, McCain has bowed to the party's lunatic fringe on tax cuts, immigration, the intolerance of religious bigots, and torture... so exactly how is he reinventing what it means to be a Republican? By shortening the amount of time it takes before a candidate is hijacked by the Right, perhaps?
Don't forget, George W. Bush, circa 1999, was presented as something of a maverick. . . .
"Gov. Bush has shown time and time again that he is a different kind of Republican," [said] Bush spokesman Ray Sullivan on the campaign trail.
That different kind of Republican evaporated the moment W's hand hit the Bible on inauguration day. McCain hasn't waited that long.
Click here for the complete text.
^^^
At least it looks as if the electorate may be less likely to be taken in this time -- even if the press continues to have sequins in its eyes.
February 20, 2008
From the Washington Post:
Rocketing Toward War -- by Richard Cohen
A visit to the place where the next Middle East war will probably begin
SDEROT, Israel -- Rockets launched from the nearby Gaza Strip fall here almost daily. These Qassams are crude devices that hardly ever kill people, although they have, and hardly ever wound anyone, although recently a boy lost part of a leg. They hit with unpredictable regularity, taking a roof here, a piece of a wall there and demolishing the peace of mind of every resident. Bit by bit, Sderot is going crazy.
The next Middle East war may start over Sderot. To many Israelis, the daily rain of Qassam rockets is reason enough to go back into Gaza and eradicate the rocket-makers, the rocket launchers and the entire Hamas leadership that now runs Gaza. The call for action superficially makes a certain amount of sense. But memory rebukes: Didn't Israel just pull out of Gaza?
Yes, it did. It withdrew most of its military and all of its settlements and turned the wretched area, populated by 1.2 million mostly poor Palestinian refugees, over to the moderate Palestinian Authority. Then the PA lost an election to Hamas and the militants have been in charge ever since, permitting the incessant rocketing of Sderot and its environs. The Qassams are lofted over the high border wall, and whether they hit a school or a hospital or a cat basking in the sun is of no concern to Hamas.
Click here for the complete text.
xxx
It is so easy to demonize Israel for it's heavy handed policies against the Palestinians. I've done my share of that myself, recently. But there are almost always at least two sides to any story concerning Israel.
Rocketing Toward War -- by Richard Cohen
A visit to the place where the next Middle East war will probably begin
SDEROT, Israel -- Rockets launched from the nearby Gaza Strip fall here almost daily. These Qassams are crude devices that hardly ever kill people, although they have, and hardly ever wound anyone, although recently a boy lost part of a leg. They hit with unpredictable regularity, taking a roof here, a piece of a wall there and demolishing the peace of mind of every resident. Bit by bit, Sderot is going crazy.
The next Middle East war may start over Sderot. To many Israelis, the daily rain of Qassam rockets is reason enough to go back into Gaza and eradicate the rocket-makers, the rocket launchers and the entire Hamas leadership that now runs Gaza. The call for action superficially makes a certain amount of sense. But memory rebukes: Didn't Israel just pull out of Gaza?
Yes, it did. It withdrew most of its military and all of its settlements and turned the wretched area, populated by 1.2 million mostly poor Palestinian refugees, over to the moderate Palestinian Authority. Then the PA lost an election to Hamas and the militants have been in charge ever since, permitting the incessant rocketing of Sderot and its environs. The Qassams are lofted over the high border wall, and whether they hit a school or a hospital or a cat basking in the sun is of no concern to Hamas.
Click here for the complete text.
xxx
It is so easy to demonize Israel for it's heavy handed policies against the Palestinians. I've done my share of that myself, recently. But there are almost always at least two sides to any story concerning Israel.
February 18, 2008
This from The Huffington Post:
Kristol Bawls by Ellis Weiner
William Kristol . . . has delivered of himself a paragraph. . . in the New York Times, which raises the envelope of dishonesty and stretches the bar of disingenuousness in exciting new dimensions:
'The American conservative movement has been remarkably successful. We shouldn't take that success for granted. It's not easy being a conservative movement in a modern liberal democracy....'
Especially when it's not remotely "conservative," but never mind. From the people who put the "con" in Neo-con comes the New Triumphalism: a whiny, self-pitying cry of victory as every element and detail of their project is revealed to have been a lie, a scam, a shakedown, a fraud, and a failure.
Click here for the complete text.
xxx
Awwwwwww-- Poor Billie.
One could almost squeeze out a tear for him if one weren't already weeping for the true victims of the regime he is attempting to sing the praises of while watching it finally take its rightful place--in the dustbin of history.
Kristol Bawls by Ellis Weiner
William Kristol . . . has delivered of himself a paragraph. . . in the New York Times, which raises the envelope of dishonesty and stretches the bar of disingenuousness in exciting new dimensions:
'The American conservative movement has been remarkably successful. We shouldn't take that success for granted. It's not easy being a conservative movement in a modern liberal democracy....'
Especially when it's not remotely "conservative," but never mind. From the people who put the "con" in Neo-con comes the New Triumphalism: a whiny, self-pitying cry of victory as every element and detail of their project is revealed to have been a lie, a scam, a shakedown, a fraud, and a failure.
Click here for the complete text.
xxx
Awwwwwww-- Poor Billie.
One could almost squeeze out a tear for him if one weren't already weeping for the true victims of the regime he is attempting to sing the praises of while watching it finally take its rightful place--in the dustbin of history.
February 15, 2008
Congress Notices the Calendar
This email arrived today. Among other things, it said:
^^^
Bolten and Miers have ignored congressional subpoenas for nine months and thumbed their noses at Congress and the American people.
We must never cede the rights of the Congress to the Executive.
["Never"??? What else have they been doing for 13 months?]
I am pleased to inform you that today's legislation allows Congress to bypass the Attorney General (who has stated to me this week that he would not enforce contempt) and immediately take action in the courts.
Today, Congress finally defended the Constitution and our rights as an equal branch of government [emphasis mine].
Yours truly,
Congressman Robert Wexler
DONATE
xxx
First, Congress is finally waking up to its dismal approval rating and the fact that this is an election year. Seeing as how the entire House and 1/3 of the Senate come up for a vote every other year, I don't know why this seems to be coming as a surprise to these folks.
and, Second, that last word says it all, doesn't it?
While I commend Wexler and the work he's been doing-- his has been a voice crying in the wilderness for far too long.
For the rest of Congress, the jury is still out, as far as I'm concerned.
^^^
Bolten and Miers have ignored congressional subpoenas for nine months and thumbed their noses at Congress and the American people.
We must never cede the rights of the Congress to the Executive.
["Never"??? What else have they been doing for 13 months?]
I am pleased to inform you that today's legislation allows Congress to bypass the Attorney General (who has stated to me this week that he would not enforce contempt) and immediately take action in the courts.
Today, Congress finally defended the Constitution and our rights as an equal branch of government [emphasis mine].
Yours truly,
Congressman Robert Wexler
DONATE
xxx
First, Congress is finally waking up to its dismal approval rating and the fact that this is an election year. Seeing as how the entire House and 1/3 of the Senate come up for a vote every other year, I don't know why this seems to be coming as a surprise to these folks.
and, Second, that last word says it all, doesn't it?
While I commend Wexler and the work he's been doing-- his has been a voice crying in the wilderness for far too long.
For the rest of Congress, the jury is still out, as far as I'm concerned.
February 14, 2008
The A.D.D. Election
Nora Ephron's piece in The Huffington-- Oh! Look! A Chicken!
This is the attention-deficit-disorder election. Everything is happening at warp speed. Everyone is bouncing around on the net and changing the channel. Everything is shifting so quickly that there's almost no point in trying to keep up, but I'm trying.
The other night, at a Super Tuesday gathering, I was so busy trying to keep up that I changed the channel and I managed to crash the entire cable system. It was not my fault. I kept saying that. I had changed the channel very carefully, bec
ause I know from my personal life how much trouble you can cause by crashing the system. Everyone at the party was good-humored about it. . . .
The day that was going to change everything. The day it was going to be decided. You remember Super Tuesday. It was seven [or nine] days ago. Before the loan. Before the end of Mitt. Before David Shuster said "pimping" on television. Before the Virgin Islands and Maine. Before we all realized there was no avoiding learning about the superdelegates. Before Hillary fired her campaign manager.
Why is John McCain so strangely subdued?
I have a fantasy about myself and Barack Obama. My fantasy is that he calls me up. . . .
[T]here was Mike Huckabee. Such a funny guy. . . . I would be having a fantasy about telling him to fix his teeth.
Buy orange juice.
Click here for the complete text.
This is the attention-deficit-disorder election. Everything is happening at warp speed. Everyone is bouncing around on the net and changing the channel. Everything is shifting so quickly that there's almost no point in trying to keep up, but I'm trying.
The other night, at a Super Tuesday gathering, I was so busy trying to keep up that I changed the channel and I managed to crash the entire cable system. It was not my fault. I kept saying that. I had changed the channel very carefully, bec
ause I know from my personal life how much trouble you can cause by crashing the system. Everyone at the party was good-humored about it. . . . The day that was going to change everything. The day it was going to be decided. You remember Super Tuesday. It was seven [or nine] days ago. Before the loan. Before the end of Mitt. Before David Shuster said "pimping" on television. Before the Virgin Islands and Maine. Before we all realized there was no avoiding learning about the superdelegates. Before Hillary fired her campaign manager.
Why is John McCain so strangely subdued?
I have a fantasy about myself and Barack Obama. My fantasy is that he calls me up. . . .
[T]here was Mike Huckabee. Such a funny guy. . . . I would be having a fantasy about telling him to fix his teeth.
Buy orange juice.
Click here for the complete text.
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