Politics Plus

Yesterday I did more here to organize my recovery, but rested most of the day.  Today I have one more article and will distribute the link on only one of the sites I haunt.  I’ll go day by day from there.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:18 (average 4:32).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: And for one problem in particular: “the backlog,” the huge and probably still growing inventory of claims for disability compensation filed by wounded or ill veterans. As of Monday, just under 600,000 claims qualified as backlogged, meaning they had been pending for over 125 days.

Though the numbers have grown, delays in processing disability claims are nothing new, and neither are complaints about the backlog. Just last year, some veterans advocates tried to make the backlog a presidential campaign issue. They failed. But this year, something changed: the criticism grew louder and perhaps more partisan, and began reaching a wider audience.

This should not be a partisan issue, as Republicans scurry to blame Obama for the backlog. This, as usual, is Republican projection, because they have opposed veterans’ spending. Even worse, Republicans have actually tried to cut benefits for disabled veterans.

From Crooks and Liars: Jim DeMint’s Heritage Foundation is busy at work figuring out how to make sure Republicans are completely marginalized in 2014. As their faux scandals fall apart as rapidly as they’re concocted, DeMint’s minions are instructing Eric Cantor and John Boehner to please, please just keep attacking the president and forget about governing altogether.

If I understand this, he is telling them to make this four years like the last four years.

From Washington Post: President Obama will deliver a speech Thursday at the National Defense University in which he will address how he intends to bring his counterterrorism policies, including the drone program and the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in line with the legal framework he promised after taking office.

A White House official, speaking Saturday on the condition of anonymity to describe the speech in advance, said Obama will “discuss our broad counterterrorism policy, including our military, diplomatic, intelligence and legal efforts.”

“He will review the state of the threats we face, particularly as the al-Qaeda core has weakened but new dangers have emerged,” the official said. “He will discuss the policy and legal framework under which we take action against terrorist threats, including the use of drones. And he will review our detention policy and efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.”

I have been a little less critical of Obama’s performance in these areas. I expect to disagree with much of what he will have to say, but knowing this speech was coming, I thought it better to wait until I hear what he has to say and have something currently concrete with which to disagree. That said, remember this. As much as we would like President Bernie Sanders, we can not have him. On his worst day, Barack Obama is infinitely better than Little Lord Willard would have been on his best day.

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I’m in quite a bit of pain from my bad leg, but at least I have an Open Thread today.  I’d like to share a quote from the writing of one of my guys in prison: “We cannot find peace or freedom while sowing the seeds of discord with dishonesty, intolerance, irresponsibility or disrespect.”  If only someone would teach this to the Republican leadership.  My activity here should increase gradually.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:01 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: With the House set on Friday to convene the first of its hearings into the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, the lessons learned from the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, which cost Republicans in elections in 1998, have been on display in recent days.

Listening to the hearings, I learned that the abuse, which Republicans are blaming on Obama, occurred during the Bush Regime under his appointees.  Under Obama, the same people continued the same policies.  In any event, this is clearly not a Democratic attack on Teabaggers.  If anything, it’s an attack by the 1% wings of the Republican Party to limit the power of their Tea Party storm troopers, the monster they created, and now, cannot control.

From The New Yorker: Today Speaker of the House John Boehner issued the following letter to the American people:

Dear American People,

Yesterday, your hardworking House Republicans tried, once again, and failed, once again, to repeal Obamacare. And I really thought we had a good chance this time.

That’s because we were all united in our hatred for this infernal and takes-too-long-to-read law. Every last one of us cast his vote to strike it down, from crazy little Paul Ryan to that arrogant bastard Eric Cantor.

And I wish you could have seen the faces of those freshman Republicans as they voted to repeal Obamacare—so innocent, so full of hope and wonder. As I told them yesterday, “You’ll never forget your first time.” …

Since retaking the House in 2010, Republicans have averaged 5.4 minutes out of every hour to repealing Obamacare.

From MSNBC: Deficits are shrinking at a historic pace.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In spite of everything Republicans have done to sabotage our economy for political gain, the policies taken by Obama and the Democrats are working. The reason Republicans don’t cake is this. Everything their party does is a smokescreen for one of two Republican goals: either transfer of worth from the 99% to the 1%, or establishing a permanent regime of totalitarian Republican rule.

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