Politics Plus

Yesterday, I enjoyed catching up and, after collecting all the data for today’s Monthly Report, enjoying a nap.  I also cooked a huge pot of my infamous, thrice-burning chili and would love to invite a few Republicans over to enjoy the green cloud. ;-)  Later, I shall meditate upon the Ellipsoid Orb.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow appears routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:18 (average 5:24).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Missouri Pastor’s Fiery Speech Against Equal Rights For Homosexuals Has Stunning Twist Ending

What an eye opener that was! As for segregation, I trust the Republic an Party would be just as happy with the original intent of the words.

From NY Times: America’s fiscal condition will be altered without a deal between President Obama and the Republicans in Congress. But not radically so, and in many cases not immediately.

This budget stalemate is unlike the many previous ones that threatened to cause a government shutdown. Agencies are not facing the immediate loss of authority to spend money. The danger of defaulting on the nation’s financial obligations is not at great as it was during the 2011 impasse over raising the nation’s borrowing limit. And some of the tax and spending changes would not be felt for months.

The point here is that bouncing on the fiscal speed bump, while not desirable, is not the a catastrophe worthy of the fear with which the media is hyping it.  Accepting a bad deal would be far more harmful.

From Think Progress: Charles Murray, a scholar at the leading conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute [neocons delinked], may be the most influential populizer of racist views in the country. His book The Bell Curve, which posits that black people are genetically less intelligent than whites, practically spawned an entire field of scholarship devoted to debunking it. His most recent book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 even made an appearance on the campaign trial during the recent presidential election.

Murray, however, appears to have set aside his retrograde views about race in order to tout equally backwards views about gender. In a short piece on AEI’s website, Murray recently suggested [neocons delinked] that “benevolent sexism” might be “healthy.”

As I have been saying, they didn’t learn a damn thing. All their noise to the contrary is propaganda.

Cartoon:

I am soooooo pooped!  Yesterday’s meeting in prison was an open meeting with about ninety guys.  They asked me to give a presentation, so I talked for about fifteen minutes about the rewards of what they are doing in terms of their own authenticity as human beings, maintaining their freedom upon their release, and fostering restorative justice for safer communities.  Their commitment and dedication is a credit to who they are.  I could not be more proud or supportive of them.  Critter sends greetings to Critter.  This is today’s only article, and I’m current with replies, albeit briefly.  Tomorrow appears routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:46 (average 4:51).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: When Morgan Freeman Narrates A 30-second Clip, You Know It’s Going To Be Good

Now if someone would only tell the Republican Party.

From NY Times: More than 130 countries voted on Thursday to upgrade Palestine to a nonmember observer state of the United Nations, a triumph for Palestinian diplomacy and a sharp rebuke to the United States and Israel…

…The new status will give the Palestinians more tools to challenge Israel in international legal forums for its occupation activities in the West Bank, including settlement-building, and it helped bolster the Palestinian Authority, weakened after eight days of battle between its rival Hamas and Israel.

Despite Barack Obama’s opposition to this measure, I think the UN has done the right thing here by ending the unjust practice of denying Palestinians recourse to international justice that could make both sides in that dispute accountable for war crimes. In the same vein, the US should join the ICC, because isolating our nation to protect Republicans from the crimes of the Bush Regime is anti-democratic.

From Media Matters:

Fox News has repeatedly attacked people and organizations who use the term holiday when the network would prefer them to use the term Christmas, claiming that they are engaging in a "war on Christmas."

On Fox & Friends First, co-host Heather Nauert claimed Chafee made the "decision to kill Christmas," alluding to a decision by the governor not to host a tree lighting ceremony at the statehouse this year.

Chafee reportedly made the decision because in 2011, protesters attended the tree lighting ceremony to criticize the governor for using the term "holiday tree." Fox played its part in creating controversy over the tree, enlisting viewers in a feverish and overblown campaign against the governor and the words "holiday tree."

But only minutes after Fox complained of the Governor’s use of the word "holiday" in place of "Christmas," Nauert  announced a new segment called "Fox & Friends First’s Holiday Wish list":

Geez! Merry Christmas, or the appropriate greeting for whatever faith you choose, to you all, unless you are a Faux Noise sheep. In that case, Happy Holidays.

Cartoon:

It’s time we remember this lesson from history!

Yesterday I was supposed to have a CoDA group in prison.  The prison had a power outage, so we could not get in to work with the guys.  How frustrating!  I’m current with replies.  I hope to get articles posted tomorrow, before I leave for another volunteer day in prison. 

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:02 (average 5:35).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: KILLER ROBOTS: The Scariest Weapons You Have Never Heard Of

I have never made a big stink about drones, because every time a drone is used, there is a human flying it. The only difference between a drone attack and any other airstrike is the location of the pilot. Military robots are fine for such things as bomb disposal, but machines that can decide to kill without human intervention must never be allowed.

From NY Times: Seventeen months ago, President Obama said that the 30,000 American troops deployed to Afghanistan for the “surge” would be home by this September, and he made good on that promise. He also said troop reductions would continue at a “steady pace” until the remaining 66,000 were out by the end of 2014.

A “steady pace” should mean withdrawing all combat forces on a schedule dictated only by the security of the troops. That should start now and should not take more than a year.

This is huge, because it’s not just the view of a staff writer or Op-Ed contributor. This carries the weight of the entire editorial board and management of the Times.

From MSNBC: Rachel Maddow describes the Republican Party by showing what the people they have chosen to head House Committees in the next session have in common.

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

Note that there is not a single Black, Latino or Asian face in the bunch, and even an old TomCat can tell there are no kitties in that collection. I guess the next year’s Republican Wars on Minorities and Women start in the House.

Cartoon:

This is today’s only article, because I have routine minor surgery on my foot this morning.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow is a prison volunteer day, but I hope to post articles before I leave.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:41 (average 6:15).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: The Photo That Speaks A Thousand Words About Israel And Palestine

As I have said before, we need to support the people working for peace on both sides.

From NY Times: These are difficult times for the deficit scolds who have dominated policy discussion for almost three years. One could almost feel sorry for them, if it weren’t for their role in diverting attention from the ongoing problem of inadequate recovery, and thereby helping to perpetuate catastrophically high unemployment.What has changed? For one thing, the crisis they predicted keeps not happening. Far from fleeing U.S. debt, investors have continued to pile in, driving interest rates to historical lows. Beyond that, suddenly the clear and present danger to the American economy isn’t that we’ll fail to reduce the deficit enough; it is, instead, that we’ll reduce the deficit too much. For that’s what the “fiscal cliff” — better described as the austerity bomb — is all about: the tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to kick in at the end of this year are precisely not what we want to see happen in a still-depressed economy.

Paul Krugman has done it again. Click through to read the rest of this fine editorial.

From The Daily Beast: Sensible Republicans seeking to renew the viability of a conservative party that seems out of touch after a stinging defeat at the polls are being denounced as ‘heretics.’

In the GOP, refusing to goose step without question is a mortal sin.

Cartoon:

Republican elected officials/appointees have suggested similar solutions for AIDS Victims, LGBT people, and undocumented workers.