Politics Plus

Today turned out not to be as busy as I thought.  My ESL student is sick so cancelled our class.  That gave me a chance for a short Lona cat nap after physio before finishing this post.  The nap didn't last long as there were fire trucks and ambulances  in the street below my window.  I am blessed with the local hospital across the street to the east, and the main fire hall across the street to the west.  No matter their proximity, the truck engines and sirens were wailing away keeping me from a nap.  At least I managed a good sleep last night.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:28 (average 6:17).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?  For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.

Daily Kos — … Stewart also offered a "warning" to the first responders as they prepared to trek the halls of Congress. "Today, on [Capitol] Hill, you will be exposed to possibly toxic levels of bulls**t and arrogance," …

Now isn't that the truth!  As Jon said (paraphrase) to a gathered group of first responders, when the need was there, you jumped in right away to do what you were trained to do.  Why should you have to push to get the benefits needed as a result of your heroism?  Jon is so spot on, and we know where the problem lies . . . with Republicans!

CBC — "Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With that in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately," Walker said at a press conference in Madison, Wisconsin.

"I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner," Walker continued. "This is fundamentally important to the future of the party and more importantly to the future of our country."

Read the rest of the story through the link.

Well, the darling of the Koch set has pulled the plug on his 2016 presidential aspirations.  I wonder how the Kochs are taking it?  A while back, I distinctly had the impression that the relationship between Walker, the Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan, and the Kochs had significantly cooled.

Here from the Huffington Post is a series of tweets from Liz Mair, a former aide to the Fartfuhrer describing why he couldn't win the White House in 2016.

Alternet — … The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars. … Shkreli claims that the higher cost for the drug is necessary for his new company to develop better treatments for toxoplasmosis, a claim which doctors quoted in the Times article call hollow as the side effects for Daraprim are manageable and there is no "clamoring" for a substitute. Interestingly, Shkreli's is the same type of claim pharmaceutical companies made in response to efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.

Read the rest.  I find it inexcusable for such price increases.  Ultimately, it hurts everyone and will lead to greater loss of life.

My Universe — h/t JL — Ah, the humble toilet paper roll that every cat parent understands!  My little Annie has shredded one or two, but her favourite is the famous paper towel roll.  She renders them useless . . . totally useless!

What a slow day.  It poured rain all day, but was especially heavy when I had to go out for a doctor's appointment.  I thought I was going to have to swim there . . . and back!  My "kids" were quiet and I even managed a short nap.  Lona, did you send some cat naps my way?  Being a late to bed gal, you're getting this early because I'll be at church tomorrow morning.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:13 (average 4:43).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?  For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.

Alternet — Putting aside absurdities, what is the real threat of Iran that inspires such fear and fury? A natural place to turn for an answer is, again, U.S. intelligence. Recall its analysis that Iran poses no military threat, that its strategic doctrines are defensive, and its nuclear programmmes [with no effort to produce bombs, as far as intelligence can determine] are “a central part of its deterrent strategy”.

Who, then, would be concerned by an Iranian deterrent? The answer is plain: the rogue states that rampage in the region and do not want to tolerate any impediment to their reliance on aggression and violence. Far in the lead in this regard are the U.S. and Israel, with Saudi Arabia trying its best to join the club with its invasion of Bahrain to support the crushing of the reform movement by the dictatorship and now its murderous assault on Yemen, accelerating the humanitarian catastrophe there.

This is taken from the middle of the article.  Read the rest at Alternet

Reading Chomsky, knowing some of the history of the Middle East, and knowing a fair amount of US history, is it any wonder that the Republicans do not support the Iran deal?!  Their support of the agreement would mean no war which translates into no exorbitant profits for the military/industrial complex.  This is not about nuclear weapons but about profits to be made from the sale of weapons and materiel.  And you can believe that the likes of Chickenhawk Cheney and the other neocons are right in there stirring the witch's brew.

Mother Jones — Johnson County, Wyoming, is the kind of remote, quiet Western community where life revolves around cattle—it was the site of an infamous 19th-century armed battle between cowboys and suspected cattle rustlers. The county ranks only 11th statewide for oil production, but it holds the No. 1 ranking nationwide for a more ignominious distinction: It has 249 new, high-risk oil and gas wells that the federal government has failed to inspect for compliance with safety and environmental standards.

Johnson County may have the most uninspected wells, but it's far from the only place where the problem exists. In fact, of all 3,486 oil and gas wells drilled on federal and Native American land from 2009 to 2012 that were identified by the Bureau of Land Management as high risk for pollution, 40 percent were not inspected at the most important stage of their development, according to records the BLM provided to Climate Desk.

Where does your state stand?  Check in Mother Jones

With budget cutbacks, the BLM is stretched too thinly.  There just are not enough resources to get the job done.  And who suffers . . . people and wildlife who are caught in the blowouts and politics.  When it comes to budget cuts, who do you think is holding the axe?

Huffington Post — A judge in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled that the organization behind undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood cannot plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid handing over any materials related to a lawsuit filed against the organization.

Huffington Post

A crack in the armour of Citizens United?  Beats me, but if this is a crack, then there could be a real political fight down the road.

My Universe — It's Saturday and time to party!  Oh the headache in the morning!

Today has been a pretty good day.  For a "late to bed, late to rise" person since I retired, I was up at 7:30 am.  I checked into the computer for an hour and then I was off to my 10 am physio appointment which lasted until 12:15 pm.  After that, I was teaching ESL for 3 hours.  Now home at the computer, a grey squirrel just tried to come in the window but thought better of it.  Good thing with 3 cats in the house!

There likely will be an update on TC today on SURROGATE– Updates, Questions, Concerns WRT TC Page 2  

Puzzle — Today’s took me 4:56 (average 6:37).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes

Alternet — When Carlos Chaverst Jr. heard Sen. Bernie Sanders speak at the National Action Network’s national convention in New York City on April 8, he knew he was listening to a future presidential candidate he could get behind.

The senator’s message of making college affordable for all people struck a personal chord with Chaverst because he is currently taking a semester off from school, in part to figure out how he will pay off some of his student debt. A community activist who works with poor communities in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., the 22-year-old said Sanders’ views on universal health care struck a chord with him. While he doesn’t remember the senator going into too many details, Chaverst says Sanders was frank about the need to address police brutality and holding abusive officers accountable.

Alternet

As Chaverst says “He hasn’t gone to them.  He has worked for black people but he hasn’t actually gone to black people. There’s a huge disconnect…. If he would meet with more black communities, go to more black events, more black people would know him.”  And THAT is easy to remedy.

Huffington Post — During the second GOP presidential debate Wednesday night, Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) said they would be open to putting civil rights activist Rosa Parks on the $10 bill. But the Republican candidates might be surprised to learn that Parks sat on the national board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, one of the GOP’s biggest political enemies. …

Huffington Post

It seems that more than just Rick Perry is capable of having major "Oops" moments!  Listen to the video.  These Republican presidential candidates came across as condescending neanderthals and know nothings.  Stupid is as stupid does!

The Guardian — … Felicia Maganwe, a lieutenant colonel in SANDF in the South African defence force, has an astonishing story to tell about how she has found her gender to impact her place in the field.

She was the company commander with a South African contingent with Monusco, one of a select number of females in such a senior position. “When I arrived, it took me a day to adjust. The second day I started setting up my base … The (rebel leader) said ‘But you’re a woman!’. He was surprised.”

Later in her tour, one of her operating bases was caught in dangerous crossfire between two rebel groups, and was being overrun by civilians seeking shelter. Maganwe took action: she phoned the rebel leader and demanded that he move the combat elsewhere. “It was easier because I was a women,” she said. The rebels did not feel threatened by her, and were thus more willing to negotiate. The rebels complied with her demands, and for her work in the Congo, Maganwe received a commendation as the best company commander on her mission. ,,,

The Guardian

Years ago, I wrote a poem about the war in Lebanon.  "It is the tears of women that will wash the red hills of Lebanon and bring peace."  There are so many qualities that women bring to the table.  It is past time that women take their rightful places as leaders.  Republicans sure wouldn't like that at all.

My Universe — 

For me it has been a good day . . . no malfunctioning elevators, no idiot drivers . . . almost peaceful.  That is until now!  My cat Primo is digging his claws into my hip as to say "I want my dinner"!  So I will go and feed my three kids their kibble and peace will return.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:39 (average 5:33).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes

Alternet — Last week, as the nation observed the anniversary of 9/11, one could not help but look back at that time and contemplate the reaction by our fellow citizens and foreign nations. Rick Perlstein wrote a very poignant piece a couple of years back about the solidarity that horrible day inspired among all Americans and people around the world — and how it was lost.

Perlstein describes how bills such as the vote to authorize war and the Patriot Act passed nearly unanimously and without debate, which he says happened because in that moment of oneness,”it seemed unimaginable that this extraordinary grant of executive power could possibly be abused.” The man who should have been president, Al Gore, famously said, “George W. Bush is my commander in chief.”

Lefties from Ellen Willis to Barbra Streisand immediately fell into line and supported the president unequivocally. Bush memorably put this new sense of trust and good will into words when he addressed Congress and the nation on September 20, 2001, and asked the American people to pull together for the sake of the nation as a whole. He also admonished them to be decent to the people of Middle Eastern descent who lived among us.

Alternet

Coming together in a time of crisis is good, is patriotic, because it gives strength to the immediate needs.  But there is a risk that the immediate needs will never really be met, that people will go on auto pilot instead of thinking and re-evaluating the situation.  That makes for "boogeyman" times of paranoia and the ability of groups, like Republicans, to milk that paranoia.  So sad because patriotism is not a boogeyman but an opportunity to grow as a nation.

The Nation — This week, The Wall Street Journal dropped a terrifyingly large number on Senator Bernie Sanders’s upstart campaign, warning that his proposals would carry a “price tag” of $18 trillion over a 10-year period. It’s a number designed to shock and awe and discourage voters from giving the social democrat’s ideas a close look.

But according to the very data cited by The Journal’s Laura Meckler, Sanders’s highly progressive proposals wouldn’t cost the United States a single penny, on net, over that 10-year window. In fact, they’d cost less, overall, than what we’d spend without them.

It’s not hard to understand why. The lion’s share of the “cost”—$15 trillion—would pay for opening up Medicare to Americans of all ages. (Meckler notes that Sanders hasn’t released a detailed proposal, so she relies on an analysis of HR 676, Representative John Conyers’s Medicare-for-all bill.)

The Nation

Bernie has been very open with the costs of his proposals well before he decided to run.  That is, in my mind, one thing he does well.  So in my opinion, The Wall Street Journal's number bomb is an attempted distraction from the truth.  The Bern has your back!

Raw Story — Christian columnist Chris Queen argued this week that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ anti-poverty proposals went against biblical teachings because the “God of the Bible is not a socialist.”

In speech to Liberty University on Monday, Sanders urged the Christian conservative students to apply the golden rule — “Do unto others, what you would have them do to you” — to public policy.

“We are living in a time — and I warn all of you if you would, put this in the context of the Bible, not me, in the context of the Bible — we are living in a time where a handful of people have wealth beyond comprehension,” Sanders said. “Do you think it’s moral when 20 percent of the children in this country, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, are living in poverty? Do you think it is acceptable that 40 percent of African American children are living in poverty?”

“[A]nd the Bible speaks to this issue, in a nation and in a world which worships not love of brothers and sisters, not love of the poor and the sick, but worships the acquisition of money and great wealth.”

Raw Story

Where are the Biblical lions when you need them?

My Universe — Nothing more need be said.