Politics Plus

Yesterday, I was so out of it that I forgot to upload the Open Thread to the site.  Fortunately, I received an unexpected phone call from a friend, who shall remain nameless, to check on me.  Today is a high holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, but I slept through yesterday’s meditations. :-(  I’m current with replies.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 4:42).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Maddow Blog: I feel like I hear this from GOP lawmakers fairly regularly: they keep creating crises, on purpose, because they’re eager for an epic fight over "the direction and the vision of this country." At a certain level, that’s understandable — in a democracy, these fights over the future can be healthy and necessary.

But what Graham and too many of his allies seem to forget is that we already had "one hell of a contest about the direction and the vision of this country."

It was a little something called "the 2012 election cycle," and though Graham may not have liked the results, his side lost…

…But wait, Republicans say, didn’t the electorate also elect a right-wing House majority? To a certain extent, yes, but in raw vote totals, Americans cast 1.362 million more votes for Democratic House candidates than GOP House candidates, which hardly points to a powerful Republican mandate.

We had an epic fight, and one side won. To pretend the election didn’t happen, and then say it’s time for another epic fight that disregards the will of American voters, is bad for the country — and for democracy.

I have little to add, except that Steve Benin could not be more spot on here.

From The Guardian: Why Paul Krugman should be President Obama’s pick for US treasury secretary.

Not only is he the world’s best-known economist, Krugman has the intellect and integrity to resist Wall Street’s calls for austerity.

President Obama hasn’t picked a treasury secretary yet for his second term, so he has a chance to do something different.

He could ignore what Wall Street and conservative media interests want and pick somebody who would represent what the electorate voted for.

Now who is that infamous fellow who has been suggesting that very thing since Obama’s error in picking Timmy the Tool? That’s right! It is I.

From MSNBC: Alan Grayson on the Debt Ceiling and the 113th Congress

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Grayson’s return is a breath of fresh air. Like Dennis Kucinich, he knows no fear when it comes to speaking his mind. Unlike Dennis, I don’t think Alan would ever be so foolhardy as to chose that phony, racist misanthropic gnome, Ron Paul, as a running mate.  Welcome back Alan.  Good riddance Ron.

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Sadly, I have no changes to report.  I’m current with replies.  One of these days…

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:22 (average 4:16).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Oregonian: This is more classic Senate-in-Action: The fight over filibuster reform launched by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall won’t be settled on the first day of the new congressional session after all.

Although rules changes that only require a simple majority are supposed to be taken up on the first day of the session –  occurring on Thursday — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, is putting that off until Jan. 22, the day after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech.

How can Reid do that?  Simply by recessing the legislative day on Thursday until Jan. 22 instead of adjourning while lawmakers flock back to their states (or head off to other locales).  That means that, in Senate parlance, the "legislative day" will last for at least 19 calendar days.

So add the fact that a day is just not a day to another curiousity about the Senate, a body where 41 of the 100 senators can block just about anything thanks to its exuberant use of the filibuster.

This means we need to keep the pressure on Senators until the 22nd. Remember that the last time Reid reached an accommodation with Republicans on this matter, the Republicans reneged by breaking their word in less than two weeks.

From NY Times: For the reality is that our two major political parties are engaged in a fierce struggle over the future shape of American society. Democrats want to preserve the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — and add to them what every other advanced country has: a more or less universal guarantee of essential health care. Republicans want to roll all of that back, making room for drastically lower taxes on the wealthy. Yes, it’s essentially a class war.

The fight over the fiscal cliff was just one battle in that war. It ended, arguably, in a tactical victory for Democrats. The question is whether it was a Pyrrhic victory that set the stage for a larger defeat.

Why do I say that it was a tactical victory? Mainly because of what didn’t happen: There were no benefit cuts.

Click through for the rest of this excellent editorial by Paul Krugman. Chained CPI must be off the table. This year, the CPI increased 1.7%. My rent increased 4%. My groceries increased over 10%. The cost of my Medicare advantage plan increased 3%. Even before reducing the CPI, the COLA is not keeping pace with prices on the items for which seniors spend the most money.

From MSNBC: And the lies begin again (as if they ever stopped).

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No President can spend a dime that Congress did not budget. And the party responsible for over 2/3 of that debt are the Republicans. The debt ceiling only authorizes paying the bill for money Congress has already spent. Republicans only want to give the money you already paid for your Social Security and Medicare to the 1% instead of spending it on your retirement. They are lying for one reason. If they tell the truth, even brainwashed sheeple won’t support them.

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Sooner or later I’m going to recover from this thing.  I’m current with replies.  Maybe tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:12 (average 5:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Even as President Obama prepares to sign the hard-won tax deal that Congress passed Tuesday, another manufactured deadline with a colorful name is threatening to hamstring the government and undermine the economy.

Goodbye, fiscal cliff. Hello, debt ceiling.

The federal government has exhausted its legal authority to borrow money, and in about two months it will no longer have enough cash to meet all of its obligations, the Treasury Department said Monday.

Congress could vote to let the government borrow more, as it has done 11 times since 2001, most recently in August 2011. But some Congressional Republicans say they are willing to do so only as part of an agreement to reduce federal spending, while Mr. Obama said Tuesday that he would not accept any conditions, even as he warned of disastrous consequences.

In my opinion, Obama should ignore Republicans and pay America’s bills using the 14th Amendment as his authority, if Republicans resort to their terrorist ways.

From The Hill: House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to "go f–k yourself" during a heated confrontation before a "fiscal cliff" meeting last week at the White House.

What better evidence could there be that Reid was doing a good job?

From MSNBC: Big Oil demonstrating their emergency preparedness.

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Big Oil always has wonderful emergency plans, right up until the time an emergency happens. All their subsidies should be revoked and reinvested in green energy.

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