Thursday, November 25, 2010
Deep Breath
Well, that's going to be it for a while. Having transposed my historical posts, I'll be updating this (even) less frequently, as I generate them. Doubtful that anyone will have seen all of this, but if you happen upon it, hope you've enjoyed.
Republican "Review" of HCR Repeal, November 10, 2010
Forget about the morality of dumping new protections for our most vulnerable - a concern that obviously is not weighing on the minds of Congressional Republicans.
I think we can start with the premise that a wholesale repeal will be impossible, structurally and because there are clearly popular subparts of PPACA. That leaves the interesting question of what specifically would be proposed for repeal, something that would actually increase awareness of the beneficial parts of the PPACA. Here's a chart showing the political folly of that idea:
http://voi
This is all, therefore, little more than posturing of the bovine sort. Exactly what we would expect, I suppose.
I think we can start with the premise that a wholesale repeal will be impossible, structurally and because there are clearly popular subparts of PPACA. That leaves the interesting question of what specifically would be proposed for repeal, something that would actually increase awareness of the beneficial parts of the PPACA. Here's a chart showing the political folly of that idea:
http://voi
This is all, therefore, little more than posturing of the bovine sort. Exactly what we would expect, I suppose.
Equivocations on Afghanistan, November 10, 2010
Statements by SecDef Gates have been equivocal and noncommittal on the Afghanistan timetable. Understandable, given that the strategy is to use current forces to pressure various tribal elements to negotiate despite the prospect that relief will come to them soon, in the form of a US withdrawal. (Of course a negotiated settlement can never happen in any meaningful way, given the heterogeneity of these tribal elements, for which the generic moniker Taliban is misleading, and given the rampant corruption of the Karzai "regime".)
The more interesting piece of this puzzle concerns the use of India and Pakistan against one another: a $2 billion military aid package for Pakistan, coupled with US drone attacks inside Pakistan (and coinciding with a Mosque bombing there); and at the same time gestures seeming to invite India to even greater presence in Afghanistan - a strategic threat to Pakistan. A sly game, and difficult to predict the outcome.
Whatever the outcome of that complicated gambit, the cost benefit ratio of conquering and holding this particular foreign nation as a method of dealing with an estimated 50 AQ in Afghanistan and 300 in Pak does not support a continued presence, nor does any remote prospect of TAPI. Even more so in the context of movement repudiations of AQ as a result of its impact on innocent civilians.
Time to shut this one down.
The more interesting piece of this puzzle concerns the use of India and Pakistan against one another: a $2 billion military aid package for Pakistan, coupled with US drone attacks inside Pakistan (and coinciding with a Mosque bombing there); and at the same time gestures seeming to invite India to even greater presence in Afghanistan - a strategic threat to Pakistan. A sly game, and difficult to predict the outcome.
Whatever the outcome of that complicated gambit, the cost benefit ratio of conquering and holding this particular foreign nation as a method of dealing with an estimated 50 AQ in Afghanistan and 300 in Pak does not support a continued presence, nor does any remote prospect of TAPI. Even more so in the context of movement repudiations of AQ as a result of its impact on innocent civilians.
Time to shut this one down.
On Jim DeMint's Inability to Identify Specific Budget Cuts, November 7, 2010
The Republicans' entire fiscal philosophy, having been completely discredited for well over 25 years at this point (as fiscal policy Reaganomics failed almost immediately, hugely expanding the deficit), is transparently bankrupt and a joke. It makes sense only as a tool to deliver public goods to their corporate and high wealth constituents under what every congressional Republican recognizes are utterly vacant and disingenuous arguments.
We simply can't go on buying the world's most expensive military, funding basic research, having highways, running a department of justice, etc., and telling those well off citizens who most benefit from the system that they needn't pay for it. It's like having a bunch of grandees in a fancy restaurant, then sending the bill to the waiters to put on the waiters' personal credit cards. It would be comical if it weren't so tragic.
How about let's stay a first world country, and those of us who do well here grow a sense of shame and decency and be willing to pitch in.
We simply can't go on buying the world's most expensive military, funding basic research, having highways, running a department of justice, etc., and telling those well off citizens who most benefit from the system that they needn't pay for it. It's like having a bunch of grandees in a fancy restaurant, then sending the bill to the waiters to put on the waiters' personal credit cards. It would be comical if it weren't so tragic.
How about let's stay a first world country, and those of us who do well here grow a sense of shame and decency and be willing to pitch in.
On the Extinction of Southern Democrats, November 5, 2010
Let's calm down with all the hating on the South. The Southern states are chock full of people mired in terrible hardship and suffering, not least from the misinformation campaigns and economic policies that Republicans are exporting to other parts of the country. Unless these trends are resisted successfully, we won't be able to look very smugly at the South, because we'll all be experiencing the same types of conditions they're experiencing today - reduced opportunity, less fulsome labor protections, poor access to education, deeper social stratification, concentration of wealth and income, and so on.
So instead of deriding or writing off our brothers and sisters in the South, but with no illusions about the society there, let's confront directly the racial strife that underlies our problems (both here and there) and that makes it possible for basic protections such as health care to be undermined and caricatured as deprivations imposed for the benefit of some "other" (take your pick) rather than enhancements that will help us all.
Only by exposing the "divide and conquer" strategy implemented so successfully since the 1970s by the right, and making clear to everyone (both here and in the South) the need to stand together, can we put in the basic reforms we need to come up to the standards of other industrialized nations.
So instead of deriding or writing off our brothers and sisters in the South, but with no illusions about the society there, let's confront directly the racial strife that underlies our problems (both here and there) and that makes it possible for basic protections such as health care to be undermined and caricatured as deprivations imposed for the benefit of some "other" (take your pick) rather than enhancements that will help us all.
Only by exposing the "divide and conquer" strategy implemented so successfully since the 1970s by the right, and making clear to everyone (both here and in the South) the need to stand together, can we put in the basic reforms we need to come up to the standards of other industrialized nations.
On Conciliatory Post Election Statements by President Obama, November 3, 2010
"For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--and I welcome their hatred. "
Oh wait, no, strike that. What I meant to say was:
"I think I have been willing to compromise in the past and I will be willing to compromise going forward"
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--and I welcome their hatred. "
Oh wait, no, strike that. What I meant to say was:
"I think I have been willing to compromise in the past and I will be willing to compromise going forward"
On Statements by Ken Buck Disagreeing with Separation of Church and State, October 27, 2010
How wonderfully well thought out all these Tea Party ideas are!
Once we dispense with the First Amendment (as long as we're chucking the Establishment Clause, heck, why not go for it and get rid of the whole thing!), we can move on to figuring out who gets to establish their religion.
With about 78% affiliation (http://rel
1. The Catholic Church, 68,115,001 members, up 1.49 percent.
2. Southern Baptist Convention
Once we dispense with the First Amendment (as long as we're chucking the Establishment Clause, heck, why not go for it and get rid of the whole thing!), we can move on to figuring out who gets to establish their religion.
With about 78% affiliation (http://rel
1. The Catholic Church, 68,115,001 members, up 1.49 percent.
2. Southern Baptist Convention
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3. The United Methodist Church, 7,853,987 members, down 0.98 percent.
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,974,041 members, up 1.71 percent.
5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no membership updates reported.
http://www
I hope our friends in the Tea Party have kept up with their Catechisms!