Politics Plus

Yesterday I kept up to date with replying to comments and returning visits.  You won’t see much of me today.  It’s a holy day for the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  In addition, my grocery order is being delivered this morning, and the effort of unpacking and putting it all away usually does me in.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:14 (average 4:52).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: As he left Washington on Friday, Mr. Boehner headed across the Potomac River to Reagan National Airport, which was bustling with afternoon travelers. But there was no waiting in line for Mr. Boehner, who was escorted around the metal detectors and body scanners, and taken directly to the gate.

Mr. Boehner, who was wearing a casual yellow sweater and tan slacks, carried his own bags and smiled pleasantly at passengers who were leaving the security checkpoint inside the airport terminal. It was unclear whether any passengers waiting in the security line, including Representative Allen Boyd, a Florida Democrat who lost his re-election bid, saw Mr. Boehner.

When he said he would travel just like the rest of us, was he lying?  Orf was this an act of protest from TSA workers who refused to touch him out of fear of alcohol poisoning?

From Common Dreams: The report by The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) policy think-tank showed 92 percent of 1,000 Afghan men surveyed in Helmand and Kandahar know nothing of the hijacked airliner attacks on U.S. targets in 2001.

"The lack of awareness of why we are there contributes to the high levels of negativity toward the NATO military operations and made the job of the Taliban easier," ICOS President Norine MacDonald told Reuters from Washington.

After all these years, you’d think we could have informed them by now.  If we can’t communicate one key fact to the population, then what are we doing there?  They are almost as uninformed as Foxtopia viewers!

From Religion Dispatches: A group of Louisiana citizens, believed to be backed by the conservative Christian Louisiana Family Forum, are attacking the state’s proposed biology textbooks because, well, they teach too much evolution.

They may have a point.  One need only look at the incoming class of Republican legislators to realize that DEVOLUTION is the operative theory in the US.

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Good Sunday to all!

Yesterday I got my haircut as planned.  Dang!  Maybe I’m not as decrepit as I thought!  When I returned home I replied to comments, but did no visiting, as I became tied up with healthcare planning issues and volunteer stuff.  Today I hope to do some overdue visiting.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 5:35 (average 5:50).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From LA Times: The bipartisan House Ethics Committee recommended Thursday that embattled New York Democrat Charles B. Rangel be censured by the full House of Representatives for ethics violations, the stiffest penalty a member can face short of expulsion.

It’s appropriate.  What isn’t appropriate is that it’s been over thirty years since the last censure.

From Think Progress: On Twitter yesterday, Michael Goldfarb, former McCain presidential campaign flack and current adviser to former governor Sarah Palin, said that Ghailani should have been executed while in CIA custody.

Dang!  He forgot to read that Constitution again!

From TPM: Speaking then about Juan Williams, who quickly landed a $2 million contract at Fox News after being fired from NPR, Ailes said he hired Williams because he was "mad" about the pundit’s losses. He had even stronger criticism for NPR than he did for Stewart.

"They are, of course, Nazis," Ailes said. "They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don’t want any other point of view. They don’t even feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda. They are basically Air America with government funding to keep them alive."

Welcome to Foxtopia.

From Me: I just heard on the news that, next year, Obama plans to award the Presidential Medal of freedom to GW Bush!

WTF?!!?

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TGIF!!

Yesterday I slept late.  My sleep rhythm is still way out of kilter.  I did my Medicare research for the year and decided to keep my current plan.  I caught up with comments, but returned no visits.  My COPD flared up and I had to lay down.  Today is my day to co-facilitate the therapy group, but I’ll have to see how my breathing is.  Unless it’s better than yesterday come morning, I’ll never make it up the hill there, so my schedule in uncertain.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:23 (average 4:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Our Petition:

My first attempt at organizing an online petition was a complete failure.  I did not know that the vote for the Senate leadership has already taken place and the Leg Hound won without opposition.  Mea Culpa.  It would not have mattered.  Far more people voted in our local poll than actually signed the petition that I publicized nationally.  We only had 61.  But I look at failure as a learning opportunity.

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: One of President Obama’s top foreign-policy goals suffered a potentially ruinous setback Friday when the Senate’s second-ranking Republican said the U.S. nuclear treaty with Russia should not be considered until next year.

The statement by Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) stunned the White House and Democrats, who scrambled to save the pact.

I don’t think they are actually against the treaty.  My guess is they want the vote with more Republicans in the Senate so they can hold the treaty hostage for something else.  A real Majority Leader would have forced Republicans to vote consideration down, going on the record.

From Bloomberg: The U.S. House of Representatives ethics committee is scheduled to decide tomorrow whether to punish Congressman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat found guilty of 11 counts of violating House rules.

My best guess is that he’ll get public censure, which is appropriate.  I know it is not fair that Republicans, who commit far worse violations, are not brought up on charges, because Republicans on the committee will not vote against their own, regardless of guilt.  It’s still better that Democrats vote honestly.  Republicans more eggregious conduct does not excuse Rangel.

From CNN: A 25-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant from Iowa on Tuesday became the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor from the war in Afghanistan.

President Obama awarded the nation’s highest medal of valor to Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta — the kind of soldier who leaves you "just absolutely convinced this is what America’s all about," Obama said at the White House award ceremony. "It just makes you proud."

I hope you will join me in congratulating Staff Sgt. Giunta on his heroism and thanking him for his service.

Cartoon:

Happy hump day!

America’s strategic nuclear arsenal is a holdover from Cold War.  Since the demise of the Soviet Union, our need for them has greatly diminished, so reducing their numbers by treaty is a win for everyone except for the military contractors who maintain and replace them and the states with military bases where the silos are located.  Sadly, those are mostly red states.

President Obama has made ratification of the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia a top priority for the upcoming lame duck session of Congress, saying the treaty is “essential to the country’s national security.” An extension of the original treaty negotiatied by President Ronald Reagan, the START treaty responsibly reduces U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals by one-fourth. It has secured the “unanimous support of America’s military leadership,” thirty former Republican and Democratic national security officials, and almost all of the 67 votes needed for ratification in the Senate.

Despite the overwhelming support, a “tiny fringe” of right-wing “experts” are ginning up myths about the treaty. One such mouthpiece is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Claiming to be “open-minded” on the treaty, Graham told host Christine Amanpour on ABC’s This Week today that he could not support the treaty “in its current condition” because of “two obstacles” — nuclear modernization and missile defense…

…Watch it:

 

The only problem with Graham’s “stumbling blocks” is that they don’t actually exist. While “security experts” like Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and former Bush administration Ambassador John Bolton insist that Obama is “risking our security” by supposedly not focusing on modernization of America’s nuclear arsenal, the actual rocket scientists of an independent defense advisory panel determined that not only are the weapons completely reliable, but that our current “nuclear warheads could be extended for decades, with no anticipated loss in effectiveness.” To make sure this remains the case, the Obama administration devoted $7 billion [Murdoch delinked] to maintain the nuclear-weapons stockpile — $600 million more than Congress approved last year and 10 percent more than what the Bush administration spent… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Obama is already going too far in the deal he negotiated with Republicans to approve the treaty.  Republicans do not keep their word, and are trying to extort more perques for their corporate cronies and red state coffers.  Once again Republicans care nothing for national security.