Politics Plus

Yesterday I had a bad air day, with my COPD making it difficult to breathe, and my still-ailing rear end making it impossible to sleep with the severe coughing.  Therefore, this is today’s only article, posted early and set to release just after midnight, so I can return to bed.  I am not current with replies and will catch up when I can.  Tomorrow is a paperwork day, but we’ll see what the day brings.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

It’s not out yet.  I’ll post two tomorrow.

Short Takes:

From USA Today: President Obama is hosting a White House dinner tonight for the nation’s governors, but one prominent state executive won’t be there.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.

Brewer, whose finger-pointing confrontation with Obama last month has become a symbol for political polarization, told NBC’s Meet The Press that she has prior engagements.

Bull!  Such discourteous behavior is not at all surprising from the Death Angel of Brewerstan, formerly Arizona.

From Common Dreams: The US Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday over the reach of the Alien Tort Statute and a 20-year-old law that allows victims of torture to pursue civil lawsuits against the responsible individuals.

Corporations and human rights groups are squaring off over whether foreign victims of war crimes, killings and other atrocities can sue multinational companies in American courts.

The just outcome is a no brainer here.  However I have no confidence in SCOTUS to arrive at it.

From TPM: Rick Santorum’s contention here Saturday that President Obama’s plan to make college more accesible is really a scheme to brainwash people into becoming liberals may have struck some outside observers as a little odd.

But for the tea party crowd gathered here as part of an Americans For Prosperity rally, Santorum’s words about higher education were right on point.

“President Obama wants everybody in America to go to college,” Santorum said. “What a snob!”

Educating people teaches them to think critically for themselves, making them less vulnerable to brainwashing.  To brainwash them, keep people ignorant, the way Santorum and the Republican Party prefer.  Santorum’s contention is pure projection.

Cartoon:

Yesterday I took a trip to the mailbox and the store.  I almost did not make it home, because my nether regions have still not recovered fully.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow I have housework to do.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:58 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Rewriting The Word ‘Liberal,’ By Lawrence O’Donnell

I could not have said it better.

From Common Dreams: Environmental group Friends of the Earth, represented by Earthjustice, sued the State Department yesterday to gain access to communications between the department and lobbyists who pushed for approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

This is something I fully support.  We need to root out the corruption in the State Department, no matter how high up it goes.

From Current: Rating tax plans: Robert Reich compares the strategies put forth by Obama and GOP challengers

Keith and Robert Reich make it crystal clear.  Republicans do NOT represent YOU!

Cartoon:

Yesterday I clearly needed to rest, and except for cleaning out my email, paying bill, and the normal hours I spend in research I rested, sleeping longer than usual in the afternoon.  I’m current with replies.  Today I may have an errand to run.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:19 (average 5:08).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: The Best Quote From Barack Obama We’ve Seen This Week

The Republican project to transfer wealth from the poor and middle classes to the 1% IS class warfare. This is another example of Republican projection.

From Washington Post: Congress passed a $150 billion economic package Friday, extending for the rest of the year a payroll tax holiday for 160 million workers and unemployment benefits for millions of others.

On a 293-132 vote, a bipartisan House coalition supported the compromise plan to keep giving workers a small amount of extra cash with each paycheck while also providing a continued cushion for the unemployed.Shortly afterward, the Senate voted 60 to 36 to approve the plan. It now goes to President Obama to be signed into law, giving him a victory on a portion of the massive jobs bill he presented to Congress last fall.

Score a big one for the good guys!

From LA Times: Pat Buchanan has been dismissed by MSNBC, the left-leaning news network, four months after the channel suspended him.

In an angry post on his blog, conservative commentator Buchanan took his critics to task, writing, "After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous."

Buchanan says the calls for his firing began with the publication in October of his book "Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?" about America’s decline, which critics have called racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic.

Buchanan was fired because he made racist comments on air, while plugging his white-power book on MSNBC time.  Good riddance to bad Bircher rubbish.

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