Thinking About Politics Again

It’s hard not to start thinking about politics considering what is going to happen in a week’s time. It’s even harder to believe that Trump is going to be president. This past weeks in all likelihood shows just how crazy a Trump presidency will be. All shorts of shit real and imagined hit the proverbial fan this week. This week also reinforced just how thin skinned Trump is. No criticism can go unanswered. No person is free of being belittled by him. You have to wonder how he’ll deal with foreign leaders. What will he do when he can’t get his way? In other words how does he respond when he looses.

There’s an interesting column in today’s Post by Jennifer Rubin (a conservative columnist that I rarely if ever agree with) It posits 10 questions that Rubin believes will determine Trump’s fate.

One in particular I find interesting: Can he be a mourner in chief?. It implies that Trump will have to have empathy will people. And I just can’t see it. Everything has to be about Trump. I cannot for the life of me see how he comforts people after a disaster or some terrible event like the Orlando shooting.

So there are some quick thoughts political for now. I stepped away from commenting because I got so disgusted with what has been happening over the last few years. Most of this has to do with the actions that Republicans have taken by putting party first above everything else.

Like repealing Obamacare but having no plan to replace it. Speaker Ryan says that by the end of 2017 they will come up with a plan. And this should be believed why because they’ve had five years to come up with a plan and have failed.

It will be interesting to see what plans if any they come up with for all the programs and policies they opposed under Obama. I think they are in for a rude awakening. It’s really easy to say no when there are no really consequences for it. But now they have to have ideas that can be made into plans and laws. I think they’ll have a hard time doing that. The replacement for the Affordable Care Act is a prime example. I think it will show just how hollow and empty the Republican Party really is.

Thoughts Political — the Cantor Loss

I haven’t been posting much about politics lately. The main reason is I’m just so disgusted with what’s going on. The usual crap from the Republicans. Stop Obama any way shape and how. Make sure that the fall election breaks their way. As for trying to do something to help the American people well why do that.

Lately I haven’t been all too happy with the Democrats and Obama either. The roll out of the affordable care act web site what a disaster. The only thing working for them there was the moron Republicans shut down the government.

But what’s brought me back to thinking and writing about politics was Eric Cantor’s recent defeat. To say I’m pleased that this pompous, condescending, self-centered, hypocritical jerk lost the election would be an understatement. And we saw all of those traits on display yesterday when he had his press conference. Talking again about that it is important the two parties compromise on issues to get things done. Wow. The gall of this guy. The same guy who was plotting against Obama before he even got into office. They guy who derailed the grand bargain. The guy well I could go on but you get the point.

It is also incredibly pleasing to me to see Cantor be defeated by a Tea Party candidate. The Republicans, Cantor chief among them, saw the Tea Party as a way to gain control of the House and hopefully the Senate too. Once again party before country. They were well aware of the far far far right ideas these candidates had but had no problems with that as long as they defeated Democrats.

The Republicans thought they could control the Tea Party once they were in office. They were wrong. And there’s been one disaster after another with these people. Main stream Republicans only became concern about the Tea Party when the Tea Party started challenging other Republicans. Then all of a sudden their ideas were too extreme and detrimental to the party and country. Give me a break.

Now the cry goes up that any hope of immigration reform is dead with Cantor’s defeat. I have news for you immigration reform was never going to go anywhere. In fact, I would say the only chance of immigration reform will be when the Republicans no longer control the House of Representative. In other words not in the foreseeable future.

So you’ll get no tears from me about Mr. Cantor’s defeat. (I guess Boehner cried up a storm. Big surprise right?) I’m happy he’s gone.

Still the Party of No

Yes, the Republicans are still the party of no. Still the party that criticizes everything President Obama does. You need look no further than an op-ed piece by Senator Rubio in the Post today:

It is shameful that even as Russia attempts to carve up Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s request for weapons, intelligence sharing and other assistance has been turned down by the Obama administration. We also need to deploy additional military assets and even U.S. personnel to our allies, including Poland and the Baltic states.

What happened to rally around the president in an international crisis. The constant carping the Obama is weak because he “allowed” Russia to take over the Crimea. Because the US is viewed as weak in the world (according to Republicans) Putin was embolden to invade Crimea. This of course would never happen under a Republican president. Because a Republican president would put the fear of God in Putin. And Putin would never take invade another state. Because we all know how that “strong” Republican president George Bush stopped Putin from . . . Oh yes that’s right under Bush, Putin invaded Georgia and well he invaded Georgia.

So the perceived strength or weakness of a particular president had little to do with influencing Putin’s course of action. What now has to happen to influence Putin is strong sanctions against Russia. That will influence his next move.

Continuing the party on the party of no. Once again and again and again the refrain that Obamacare must be repealed. Now and only now is there talk among Republicans about coming up with some sort of alternative health care plan. It sounds like the Republican “plan” would keep all the parts of the Obamacare people like: keeping children on a parent’s policy until 26, no denial of insurance for preexisting conditions etc. As for how this would be paid for and implemented well gee there seems to be little if anything on that except for turning more things over to the states.

Turning to immigration reform well that’s dead in the water. Maybe after the election but probably not. You know that’s because any reform is amnesty. Or the other excuse is the border must be secured before anything can proceed. That’s a great excuse to never reform immigration because Republicans can always say the border isn’t secure.

In a push by the Republicans to show they care more for just the rich (yeah I know that’s a stretch), they are suddenly concerned about income inequality. We got some ideas from the resident Republican “genius” Paul Ryan (these come from an interview on Bill Bennett’s radio talk show) which essentially said people are poor because they are lazy. There’s a culture in the inner-city (I guess that’s the only place where poor people are these days not say in the rural south) that promotes a culture of not working. Then the great brain Ryan brought in the book the Bell Curve (which essentially says blacks are genetically inferior to whites). For some strange reason people accused Ryan of his comments having racial overtones. He said no to this that this comments were inarticulate. No Mr. Ryan there weren’t they showed just what type of a person you are.

As always all the Republicans ever seem to do is criticize but ideas are few very few. (And those that are like the concern on poverty are same old things Republicans have been advocating for years just dressed up as new)

Unfortunately because of the disastrous roll out of Obamacare and the weak economy, the Republicans have a change of gaining control of the Senate. It’s time for the Democrats to shine a bright light on Republicans and start asking what they are for and what they propose to solve the problems in the country. I think if this done people will see that there isn’t much in the Republican brain trust at all.

A Bridge to Nowhere

I guess a traffic jam to nowhere is more appropriate. I haven’t posted anything on the Chris Christie imbroglio because well it just makes no sense to me. How would causing a traffic jam get people angry at the mayor of a town near where the traffic jam took place? How is this punishing this mayor? It just makes no sense.

If there are problems on the Metro I’m not going to end up blaming the mayor of DC. No I’m going to blame the people who run Metro (which by my previous post people know I have no problems of venting about). I’m not going to think badly of the DC mayor. I’m going to think badly of the guys running Metro.

So what exactly was the point of this. And how small and petty and stupid this all is. As if people would not somehow find out what was going on and what they did. Also why was it necessary to punish this recalcitrant mayor. This guy who wouldn’t support Christie for re-election. It’s not like the race was close. Christie won by over 20 points. Thus the “punishment” was completely unnecessary. And that to me is the dumbest thing of all; there was no reason for this to be done at all.

And now all sorts of other charges coming out of the wood work. It’s too early to tell if this finishes Christie off as some on the left have said it does. I will say the evening talk shows on MSNBC are just wall to wall about this. Some of the coverage is just a little over the top. Their speculation on very few facts is just running wild. It is just possible that Christie didn’t know what was going on. However that’s a problem too with his take charge persona. The question then to be asked why didn’t he know this was going on in his office.

Other pundits don’t see this yet as a huge problem for Christie (no pun intended). They don’t see how, if Christie runs for president, people will remember this in a year and a half in Iowa or New Hampshire. I think, if this is the only thing that Christie has to deal with, then come primary time he will be fine. But if there are more of these (and they seem to be coming out of the woodwork now) he will have a perception problem. If the stories of intimidation of mayors to support projects turn out to be true then the bully label will start to take hold in people’s mind. People may not be able to point to a specific event but they will get an overall impression. And that won’t be a good one.

People want someone to fight for them. To shake things up and get things working for them. To get things done. A take charge kind of guy. These have been Christie’s strong points. But there is a thin line between the above things and intimidating people and bullying them to get your way. That people don’t and won’t like.

Thinking About Last Week’s Election Results

Chris Christie won big. Really really big (no pun intended). He launched his presidential campaign so everyone said every where in pundit land. He would pose a huge problem for the Democrats in 2016 (never mind that we still have no idea who the Democrats will nominate or for that matter the Republicans). Why a problem for the Democrats you ask? Because Christie did really well among women (a group that Republicans are having a hard time with). He did really well among Hispanics. He did really well among blacks. (You have to view this in the spectrum of most Republicans doing unbelievably bad with these last two groups.) He even attracted Democrats. Thus Democrats should be quaking in their collective boots come 2016. Perhaps just a small reality check might be in order here.

I will agree to all of the above. But let’s add just a teeny tiny bit of perspective. He can attract women voters and they would vote in a Republican primary. He can attract Hispanics but I don’t see them voting in droves in Republican primaries. (Something about the way Republicans talk about immigration turns Hispanics off. Who knew?) I can’t see all that many blacks voting in Republican primaries. Democrats can’t see them voting in Republican primaries at all because in most states they can’t vote in them.

So in a general election Mr. Christie does indeed seem extremely formidable. But he has to get the nomination first. He has to get past the Tea Party and Mr. Cruz and Mr. Paul. In other words, he has a long way to go. The Tea Party is already going after Christie. They are going after main stream Republicans with a vengeance. Promising to primary the “moderates” of the party if they don’t cow tow to the Tea Party line.

The punditry all say that the Tea Party is loosing its place in the Republican Party. That main stream Republicans are taking them on (this is based on one primary election in Alabama). What a bunch of BS. If anything the Tea Party is doubling down. What happened in Virginia is a perfect example.

Rather than take away that they lost in Virginia because of the extreme positions of the candidates running there and that a moderate (again take them term with a grain of salt because we’re comparing Christie to the Tea Party) won in New Jersey, the Tea Party says it needs to fight harder. According to the Tea Party, they lost in Virginia not because Cuccinelli was a bad candidate but because main stream Republicans refused to support him with money. Further that these main stream Republicans wanted Cuccinelli  to loose. And then this looney tune idea was put forward, the American people spoke against Obama Care in the Virginia election. Showing that Republicans should do everything and anything to make sure Obama Care is repealed. This is after all what the results in Virginia show. Well, if that was the case, shouldn’t the Republicans have won in Virginia instead of the Democrats. But then again logic has never been the Tea Party’s strong suit.

What last Tuesday does show is that moderates of either party have a good chance of winning general elections. But the ideologues of either party who run for office have problems expanding beyond their base. That’s the lesson the Republicans should take from last Tuesday. The problem is per usual the Tea Party refuses to recognize what happened.

What We Learned from the Republican Shutdown — Obama Stood His Ground

I have to say I found this one a little hard to believe at first. That Obama would stand his ground and not give in on the Affordable Care Act. But the more I read the more it seemed obvious that he would not bend this time. He learned that being accommodating with Republicans only meant they dig their heels in and demand even more.

I'm reminded of something a co-worker used to say: What is it about no did you not understand.

After awhile why didn't the Republicans get that. I guess they thought Obama would cave like he'd done in the past. But at some point they must have realized he was series. Like I don't know the first day of the shut down.

Then the terms on what the Republicans wanted change on the Affordable Care Act. Suddenly there was all this concern from the Republicans about the burden the individual mandate would have on people. (Also the fact the website was having major problems). So the new line was it was "reasonable" to postpone the individual mandate by a year even though enrollment had started. Then suddenly from the mouth of these Tea Partiers was they never wanted the Affordable Care Act repealed but just postponed for a year.

Did Republicans really think people would not see through this for what it was?

I glad Obama did not give ground on the Affordable Care Act. Maybe now negotiations between the Republicans and Obama will exist in the real world as opposed to the fantasy land that most Tea Partiers are in.

To the Very Brink — What We Learned from the Republican Shutdown

I've been thinking about what's happened this past week. I put off doing a post because of all I had to say. Then I thought it might be easier to do a bunch a smaller posts about what happened.

So here goes.

The Tea Party said over and over they didn't want to shut down the government. Well to put it mildly this was a falsehood if not an out and out right lie. On several of the news shows Tea Parties were shown speaking in front of supporters or in interviews saying their goal was to shut down the government. Essentially saying if they didn't get their way that's what they would do. I also remember video of a meeting of Tea Parties chanting like they were at some frat beer chugging contest shut it down shut it down.

The notion that they did not want a shut down simply doesn't stand up to what Tea Partiers themselves said.

Another thing that I thought was very interesting was the Tea Partiers reaction to when the government shut down. They seemed genuinely surprised at some of the things that were shut down. National Parks. Who knew? NIH. Who knew? Kids loosing Head Start money. Who knew?

Gee Congressperson Tea Partier you should have know. Slogans are great. Shut it down. That's great red meat for the people who support you and for raising money. But when reality comes along, it is a little different. Real people were actually impacted. Who knew?

That was the incredibly cynical approach the Republicans took to open parts of the government. As you went through the list of what Republicans wanted to reopen, it was those parts of the government that would cause the Republicans the most embarrassment. People being turned away from memorials, the World War II one being the epicenter of this one. Clinical trials at NIH for people with cancer. The Veterans Administration. All of this to show that Republicans weren't heartless bastards. The fact that they went to these lengths just show how heartless they were. Some people were worth calling back to work everyone else well they could just suffer.

More thoughts a little later.

The Republican Shut Down — No End in Sight

There was a flicker of good news toward the end of the week. Talks were started between the Republicans and the White House. The stock market went up 300 points in one day. There was movement. There was a possibility of a deal. That's what the news reported.

A few days later we are no closer to a deal on the Republican shut down but we are much closer to the fiscal cliff. Much much closer.

We've seen a great deal in the past week. There were the baby and the bully from the Republican Party. The baby is Rep. Marlin Stutzman who said:

Just ask Rep. Marlin Stutzman (Ind.). “We’re not going to be disrespected,” Stutzman told David Drucker of the Washington Examiner. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

You've been disrespected!? What are you 12?

Then there is U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer who confronted a park ranger at the World War II memorial and said she and the Park Service should be ashamed for blocking the vets from the memorial. She should be ashamed over something you caused. Wow just unbelievable.

Then over last weekend we had the Tea Party members of congress fanning out to the talk shows saying that default wouldn't really be all that bad. There were even people who said that by defaulting it would reassure world markets we were taking our debt seriously. Seriously!!!!

Several Tea Partiers were pressed on this view on the news shows. They essentially said they are right and everyone else including most if not all economists were wrong. Once again the denial of reality is stunning.

Speaking of denying reality, Ted Cruz. He said that the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, showing that Republicans were blamed for the shut down by the American people and an overwhelming majority in the poll think Republicans are playing politics on this issue, was in fact wrong. Why is it wrong because they went out and asked a bunch of Obama supporters what they thought not real people. These are the same polls that were "wrong" about Obama being re-elected.

To me what was most interesting this week was when the main stream supporters of the Tea Party finally realized that the Tea Party really could take the country over the fiscal cliff. The sudden movement by the Republican leadership (dropping the main cause of the shut down getting rid or a delaying Obama care went away) was because of this pressure.

I believe the phrase is reap the whirlwind. The Republican establishment saw in the Tea Party a way to go after Obama. As a way to win the House of Representatives and maybe the Senate and maybe even the presidency. They were right on the first one but completely wrong on the other two. The establishment also thought they could control the Tea Party. That the Tea Party rhetoric was just that rhetoric. They were shocked and stun when they couldn't control the Tea Party and that the Tea Party did indeed believe in their rhetoric (and existed in an alternate reality their reaction to Obama winning a second term being a prime example).

Now this Republican establishment is scrambling to blunt the Tea Party. The Post shows how much things have changed:

Trade groups such as the U.S. Chamber are also discussing an unprecedented step: supporting more moderate candidates in primaries. In the past, the groups have gone to enormous lengths to support mostly Republican campaigns — but only to beat Democrats, not other Republicans.

Until this week, many in the business community have been standing on the sidelines, trusting that the GOP, to which it has been allied for decades, would work out its internal squabbling. But with some companies already seeing a drag on their businesses from the shutdown, executives are getting involved far beyond the usual menu of interests such as taxes and regulations.

The article goes on and shows this very ironic (to me) comment:

Dirk Van Dongen, head of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors said he and others are considering ways to counter the impact of “far right groups” that threaten Republican members and their leaders in the House and Senate.

These groups, he said, “severely handicap leadership’s ability to be an intelligent firewall against Obama liberalism.”

Van Dongen is an avowed conservative who backs Republicans. But like other business leaders, he is upset about the brinksmanship strategy of tea party Republicans.

“Leadership and rank-and-file Republicans are scared to death of far-right groups who threaten to challenge them in primaries because they are not 100 percent pure,” he said.

How they did they not realize how dangerous these people were? They didn't care as long as the Tea Party allowed the Republicans to win. As long as the Tea Party could be used as a weapon against Obama. That's all that mattered to the Republican establishment getting back in power and defeating Obama everything and everyone else be damned. 

The moral of the story is: play with fire you sometimes get burned. Only in this case they are not only getting burned they are allowing the fire to burn down the entire country. 

The Hypocrisy of the Republican Shutdown

It would be funny the hypocrisy the Republicans are showing about the Republican shutdown. Trying to blame everyone but themselves for the Republican shutdown. Funny except for the fact of the impact that it is having on real people (as opposed to the Republican member of Congress whose mantra was that no one would notice the government being shut down. Sort of like the way they believed all the polls in the last election were wrong and Romney would win in a landslide).

First off we have to set the scene for the first round of hypocrisy by the Republicans about the shutdown.

The Republican shutdown starts on Tuesday. Every major TV media outlet set up a camera and reporter in front of a monument, National Park or museum that is closed. What better way to show the impact of the Republican shutdown on the country. And every report had a close up of the sign saying this park, monument or museum was closed due to the Republican shutdown.

There were also reports about slow downs at the VA.

In jump the Republicans to fund the National Park Service and the VA but no other parts of the government. As one of the Republicans said who could be against opening the parks. And who could possibly be against helping out our veterans. Wow suddenly Republicans are concerned about ordinary Americans. No not all. What they are concerned about is the bad publicity this brings to them for the Republican shutdown. The pictures of closed parks, museums and monuments show just how stupid it was to shut down the government.

Move on to day two of the Republican shutdown. There are news reports that the NIH has had to cancel enrolling people in clinical trials. Some of these trials involve people with cancer and some of them involve children. I think kids with cancer too. From the Republicans certainly we can fund NIH so these people aren't denied being enrolled in these studies. Yet where was the concern when the sequester caused hundreds of clinical trials to be cancelled. And I assume some of them involved kids with caner. No concern at all then. But when the Republican shutdown closes NIH all of sudden Republican are concerned. Not about the people denied the studies but because once again it shows the impact closing the government has on ordinary Americans. Once again bad publicity for the Republican shutdown.

Finally the most incredibly bit of hypocrisy by the Republicans. They went over to the World War II Memorial and took afront that it was closed. How dare the park service deny these veterans access to their memorial. Well the park service "denied access" because of the Republican shutdown that's why you morons. Your actions caused this to happen.

Of course one of the Tea Partiers blamed the Obama Administration for it. Saying they specifically targeted the World War II Memorial for shutdown. No Congressman you caused this to happen by having the Republican shutdown take place.

Finally the single more hypocritical politican of all Michele Bachmann stands in front of a mic and says they are not going to let these veterans be used as political pawns. Unless of course the Republicans can use them to divert attention from the Republican shutdown.

No matter how hard they try. No matter how hard they try to divert attention to what they've done. There is no way to avoid the fact this is the Republican shutdown period.

Shutdown!!!

Thank you to the Tea Party Republicans for shutting down the government. Thank you to Senator Cruz (who seems to be doubling as the Speaker of the House too) for shutting down the government.

And now that you've done that what is the plan to get the government back up and running. Oh that's right there is no plan to get it back up and running. Just another series of riders attached to the continuing resolution to defund Obamacare or to delay Obamcare or something along those lines that have no change of passing the Senate at all. But as long as we play to the base that's all that matters. To hell with everyone else in the country.

I thought it incredibly amusing last night listening to the Republicans. After the Senate refused to pass a continuing resolution that defunded Obamacare, they came up with the "reasonable" idea of postponing the individual mandate by a year. The only problem with that is the Republicans have no concerns for ordinary people and how Obamacare will impact them. They are trying every which way to kill Obamacare. Why should Democrats go along with this "reasonable" proposal when they know the only goal by the Republicans is to kill the bill.

So the question is where do we go from here. And what's next in the Republican play book.

Oh yes I know on to the debt ceiling debate. And then the Republicans can throw the country over the fiscal cliff. What a grand old party!

They’re Listening In, Well Kinda Sort Of

I’ve been thinking about this since the story broke about the NSA collecting data on all of us. But then again there’s nothing to be concerned about. The administration has assured us this is all legal. They informed Congress after all and Congress will monitor the program to make sure it is all legal. I almost fell out of my chair laughing at that one.

Eric Cantor’s reaction shows how concerned everyone should be:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says Congress enacted legislation authorizing broader information-gathering powers in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and it “was done in a constitutional manner.”

But now, Cantor tells CBS “This Morning,” many lawmakers “don’t know what happened and we’ve got to find out.”

Yes, maybe instead of trying for the umpteenth time to repeal the Affordable Care Act you might actually try and do your job. This response is supposed to make me feel better about what the NSA is doing. Here’s the number two Republican in the House and he sounds completely clueless as to what’s going on. I might also add Cantor is a long time supporter of the Patriot Act who doesn’t seem to understand what the damn Act says or authorizes.

There’s an excellent article from the Post that answers some basic questions on what the NSA is doing.

An important point in the article:

The program appears to be based on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the government to obtain business records that are relevant to an ongoing terrorism investigation. That’s a pretty permissive standard, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that Congress intended to authorize information requests relevant to a specific terrorism investigation. Hoovering up the phone records of every person in the United States seems inconsistent with that requirement. We can’t all be terrorism suspects.

The major suppliers (Yahoo being the latest) of this data the phone companies and internet providers are now asking to be able to release more information on what the government asks be turned over:

Yahoo’s call for the United States to allow companies to disclose more information on FISA requests comes after similar calls from Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google in the wake of news reports outlining a National Security Agency surveillance program that uses data from these consumer tech companies. In recent days, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft have also released broad information on how many national-security related requests they’ve received from the U.S. government.

The president has said: also categorically denied that the NSA can listen to U.S. citizens’ telephone calls or target their e-mails without obtaining a court warrant.

The assurances from the government from the president on down don’t really reassure me all that much. This is a massive amount of information that the government will hold on for forever. Who knows what new technology down the road will come along and be able to extract even more information from this data.

If nothing else there needs to be a discussion on just what the NSA is doing. The exact details do not need to be discussed but the general outline needs to be described. This will allow the people to understand exactly what data the government is going after. The line of "trust us" is just not going to work. We’ve been down that road before and it lead to a huge disaster called Iraq. Let’s not repeat the same mistake.

A Perfect Cartoon for Sequestration

Wow. I came upon this cartoon just today. I think this really and truly shows what Congress especially the Republicans must be thinking about sequestration. 

Why I can even seen Speaker Boehner adopting this as his official motto. Come to think of it his actions certainly show that he has.

Sequester = Epic Fail

That’s the best way to put what is about to happen. An epic fail on the part of our elected officials. In both parties. In Congress. In the White House.

As the Washington Post in an editorial put it yesterday:

... neither party has staked out anything like a serious negotiating position. Last year, the GOP-led House passed a bill to replace the defense sequester with cuts to funding for Obamacare insurance exchanges, nutrition aid, social service grants and other Democratic favorites. Since then, the Republicans have agreed to postpone the sequester for two months as part of the year-end “fiscal cliff” avoidance deal, but otherwise they seem to have concluded that allowing the sequester is in their political interest. Even ill-advised spending cuts are more base-pleasing than none, apparently.

A plague on all their houses. But probably more on the Republicans than anything else. They just continue to stand for blocking everything proposed by Obama or the Democrats and not coming up with any ideas. They say over and over and over again that the sequester is President Obama’s sequester. Except for one small problem the Republicans in Congress agreed to it. They voted for the provision in the law. So the sequester is just as much their’s as a Obama. But both parties seem to love to act like 10 year olds and play I’m rubber you’re glue.

The most annoying thing is that, as always, this will impact everyone but the politicians. Here’s an idea Congress has been doing less with more for years. It’s time that that is stopped. I think that Congress and its staff should take a 10% pay cut. Then there should be a 10% cut in Congressional staff. Maybe then Congress will get an idea of what the public as a whole has been going through.

But that’s not going to happen. Congress will do what it does best pontificate and “stand up” for their principles while everyone else suffers.

Yes indeed an EPIC FAIL!

Trying to Play Catch Up

It sucks not feeling well. I’ve been having problems since the week before Christmas. In fact everything seemed to start when I flew out to Springfield for Christmas on December 20. My strange pain in my gut or abdomen or wherever it exactly is is still causing me problems. I’m almost sorry it wasn’t an appendicitis. I would have had the operation and at least I would be on the mend. The pain went away for a little while and then I got the office cold/virus or whatever the hell it was. At one point in time everyone at work was coughing or sneezing or both. It was rather gross to be honest. I got over that just in time to go to New York. It was such a great trip and a great break from everything going on here.

Then I got home and the pain in my gut returned. What fun!

In other news on my health, there is an outside chance I might have a hernia. I have an appointment with the hernia guy in a couple of weeks. Hope nothing bad happens between now and then. I have to say I’m glad I changed my deductible on my health insurance for this year. I lowered the amount of the deductible I pay. It means my premium went up but it also means that the insurance kicks in early. After the emergency room visit which cost over $4,000, I’m glad I made the change. Also thankful my insurance “year” goes to the end of April.

Needless to say my plans in January went a little awry. Well actually more than a little. I had a whold bunch of things I was going to start doing when I get back from Christmas but well. I went to the gym a grand total of 3 times for the entire month. I’m hoping I can return to a more normal schedule shortly. I went on Tuesday and had a training session on Thursday of this week. I felt pretty good after training session. Because of that I plan to go to a class tomorrow. Next week I’m going to add in a spinning class on Wednesday. I think slowly gearing up is the best idea right now.

It also meant I fell way behind on posts to the blog. So now I’ll try and play catch up on some topics.

Obama’s Inauguration and Thoughts on the First Term

All I can say how thankful I am that he won re-election and was sworn in. I was impressed with the fact that every once in a while we can do things right in this country. This is one of them. The peaceful transition of power or in this the continuation of someone in office.

Here are a few thoughts on the first term:

• It was good the Affordable Care Act passed. Finally an attempt to rein in out of control health care costs and insure people. Having sat in an emergency room where people were there because they had no other place to go, creating a system where people can get insurance is a really good idea. And the alternative offered by the Republicans keep things the way they were. In other words using emergency rooms as the last resort. I also liked it because I got money back on the premiums I paid to my insurance company.
  
• The stimulus package and the bail out of the auto industry. The stimulus package probably could have been better targeted and should have been bigger but it prevented the economy from going into a deeper recession. And the auto bailout definitely prevented a complete economic collapse.
  
• The repeal of the silly don’t ask/don’t tell policy.
  
• The attempt at the grand bargain on the deficit. Even though it didn’t work. It exposed once and for all what the Republicans goals were. Party first country second.
  
• The reaction to Newtown. I’m not sure there will be any changes to the current gun policy but Obama is going to try his best to see something is done.

The Next Four Years

Well the Republicans have certainly shown that they will not be changing their tune anytime soon. Yes, they’ve made noises on immigration reform. But they are only doing this because of the shellacking they got among Latinos in the last election. The notion that Republicans have come to their senses and are actually doing something good for the country are just silly. This is a move to attempt to win future elections.

Just like all the move to change the way states award votes in the electoral college. It is not to make the results of the election more representative; it’s to allow Republicans to win presidential elections. If they were really interested in a more “representative” and “democratic” process, these “reforms” would be introduced in red states as well. But the only places Republicans are considering these “reforms” are in blue states. Their attempts at voter suppression through voter ID laws having failed, they are now trying this tactic to win elections. Once again party first, country last. (Arthur and I discuss this is the next episode of 2political.)

The sequestration will be the big event in the next month. It looks like the cuts will go into effect. What modest recovery the country is in will be stopped. It’s even possible we’ll go into another recession. On this issue a plague on both parties. Once again politicians play games while the livelihood of the vast majorities of Americans is held in the balance. An epic fail.

That's it for right now. I hope to get back to a normal posting schedule soon.

Congress Gets an F

That’s a the best I can say about the fiscal cliff and the grade Congress deserves for the way in which it handled this crisis.

Taking us to the brink, well actually, taking us over the brink.

Giving the most minimalist deal that you could possible get.

Kicking the can down the road so we can all go through this again in another couple of months. The idea that if Congress just has some more time it will be able to cut the budget is crazy.

How very sad that this is the way we start the New Year.

Romney Shows His True Colors Again

Here's what Romney said about why he lost the election:

“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mr. Romney said.

“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” he said. “Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”

“With regards to African American voters, Obamacare was a huge plus,” Mr. Romney said. “You can imagine for somebody making $25- or $30- or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free health care — particularly if you don’t have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 a family, in perpetuity, I mean, this is huge. Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus.”

Well good to see the 47% remark was not a fluke but actually how Romney sees America. Once again we get incredibly condescending remarks from Romney while talking to a bunch of rich people. The rich are the people who make all things happen and everyone else they’re moochers.

How out of touch is this guy?

How out of touch to what every day ordinary people go through in their lives?

Maybe, just maybe Mittens people voted against you for the attitude you just expressed.

Maybe the way the Obama campaign painted you on Bain Capital is exactly the way you are. People are cogs in a wheel and of little or no importance especially if they are the moochers. The only way Obama could get people to vote for him was to give them gifts.

Or here’s another idea maybe you didn’t make the case on why people should vote for you. Maybe you needed to come out of your cocoon surround by Fox News and the far right prattlers and take a look around at the real world. That’s the only reason I can think of that you were completely shocked when you lost.

You lost not because of "gifts" Obama gave voters. You lost because people rejected your idea of if every millionaire becomes a billionaire that's a good thing. You lost because of you and your party's attach on women and Hispanics and just about every other group that wasn't white and conservative. Most of all they you lost because Obama presented a better idea of what the future of this country should and will be.

Finally one more thing Mr. Romney just go away. We've heard enough!

2Political Episode 77

2PP077

 






2Political Podcast Episode 77 is now available. You can listen to it or download it from the podcast site, 2political.com. You can leave comments there as well as download or listen to any episode (you can access the five most recent episodes from the list on the right side of my blog).

We started to record this episode before Episode 76 was edited and posted. However, our recording was interrupted when Arthur's Internet connection failed. This recording is as far as we got, and we'll record a new one this week.

We again begin by talking about baseball, though probably for the last time—well, for this year, anyway. But it does lead to a little talk about sports in Washington, DC.

Jason has a special day—provided by Trump. From crazy to liars, the Republicans just keep on giving. We’re not impressed with the supposed "surprises". We then talked about the final debate, and that's when we were interrupted.

Please leave a comment (anyone's welcome—agree or disagree!), or you can ring the 2Political Comment line on 206-350-3982.

Link for this episode:
Arthur’s blog, podcasts and videos can be accessed here.

Get 2Poltical Podcast for free on iTunes

2Political Episode 76

2PP076

 






2Political Podcast Episode 76 is now available. You can listen to it or download it from the podcast site, 2political.com. You can leave comments there as well as download or listen to any episode (you can access the five most recent episodes from the list on the right side of my blog).

We recorded this episode a a little over two weeks ago, but Arthur was too busy to edit and post it. We might have just left it as another "lost episode", but then we decided to post it anyway. Turns out it was a good decision: Our next recording was interrupted when Arthur's Internet connection failed.

We again begin by talking about baseball—yes, really, and still. Jason is still excited. But he has an odd story about time in Lebanon.

When we turn to politics, we start with the first presidential candidate debate, before moving on to the election generally. Among other things, we talk about where the Republican Party is and how it’s a failing proposition. How can it be saved—is it even possible? This ultimately brings us back to the debate.

We conclude with our passionate reasons why voting is ALWAYS necessary. Then, we move on to the comment for this episode.

Please leave a comment (anyone's welcome—agree or disagree!), or you can ring the 2Political Comment line on 206-350-3982.

Normally, we’d provide links to some of the stories we mention, but, hey: This episode is late being posted. If you want to know the source, just ask, and we’ll find it for you.

Jason’s Blog
Arthur’s blog, podcasts and videos can be accessed here.

Get 2Poltical Podcast for free on iTunes

Thoughts on the Election

Obama Shows Up for This One

Nice to see that the president showed up for this debate. I have to say I watched only the first 40 minutes of it. I’ve been tired lately and wanted to get to bed early. I knew if I stayed up and watched the whole debate I would stay up even later to watch the instant analysis on the networks and then turn to cable and stay up even later. Also I just can’t stand to watch Romney talk. He is just so disingenuous in what he says. The way he pitches his programs when the reality is they won’t work out any way near the way he says they will.

Like I said nice of Obama to show up in contrast to the last debate. I think he did very well. He started off a little too hot in the beginning but settled down. It was good he pointed out Romney’s well how shall I put it not exactly truthful statements.

I thought Obama gave an excellent close. He said the Romney’s plan will be forward to the past.

The Romney Non-partisan Study

The great non-partisan tax study which supports Romney’s plan comes from the American Enterprise institute. Wow what alternate universe do they live in when that organization is called non-partisan without producing laughter. Ed Gillespie of the Romney campaign was called on this by none other than Chris Wallace from Fox News. Here’s the exchange:

Gillespie: These are very credible sources, and, you know...
Wallace: One of them is from a guy who is – is a blog from a guy who was a top advisor to George W. Bush. So these are hardly nonpartisan studies.

Gillespie: Look, Chris I think if you look at Harvard and AEI [American Enterprise Institute] and other studies are very credible sources for economic analysis

Wallace: You wouldn’t say that AEI is a conservative think tank?

Gillespie: I would say it is a right-leaning think tank. That doesn’t make it not credible.

Wallace: It doesn’t make it nonpartisan.

Gillespie: It does make it nonpartisan. It’s not a partisan organization, I can tell you, there are many instances where there have been things AEI came out with and said, I didn’t find it to be necessarily to be helpful to the Republican Party.

Wallace: Would you say Brookings Institution is nonpartisan?

Gillespie: I would say the Brookings Institution is left leaning and nonpartisan.

Well Ed, I think you are the only Republican that would say that Brookings in non-partisan.

Sick of the Damn Ads
I was sick of them over a month ago. Now I have to refrain from yelling or throwing something at the TV when they come on.

There is a gambling referendum going on in Maryland. If passed it will allow a casino to be built at National Harbor the place I went earlier this year. It is a bit of a convoluted proposition. Not only must the majority of Maryland voters pass the initiative but a majority in the county where the casino will be built. The people against it are out of town liars from West Virigina who don;’t want to loose business. The people for it are telling the truth about all the promised money really won’t go to help out schools. So sick of seeing these ads.

But in the next few weeks they will really intensify. You can tell that when ads for positions in West Virginia starting running in DC.

The Unemploment Numbers were Cooked

So say the right wing conspiracy people spearheaded by Fake News sorry Fox News. The poster boy for this was Jack Welch who said:

"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers," Welch tweeted, referring to the site of the Obama campaign headquarters.

This ranks up there with all the polls are rigged. Gee is there a pattern here.

There was a huge push back on this when Welch was interviewed on CNN and MSNBC. Also the Romney campaign would have nothing to do with it. I'm sure they were pissed the number went down because this sort of knocks the wind out of what happened in Denver (but not completely). (Note to Obama please show up at the next debate.)

But for just a moment let's say that somehow the numbers could be manipulated. Here's my question why would you wait until September to do so. In January the unemployment rate was 8.3 %. Wouldn't the smart thing to do if you were going to cook the numbers would be to start lowering the rate in January bringing it down say a tenth of a percent each month. If that had been don,e the September number would have been down to around 7.4%. That would make the Obama administration look just great on the jobs issue.

But I think this latest bout of paranoia by the right can best be summed up this way:

The New York Times’ Joe Nocera writes that while it’s “ludicrous” to suggest that “a handful of career bureaucrats” would manipulate unemployment data, it is true that there’s “something a little strange about the way the country derives its employment statistics.” But the lesson in this questioning of the jobs data needs to be that it’s a bit “absurd” to think that a presidential race could be decided on the unemployment rate. It’s not just because the short-term numbers aren’t really reliable, but also because no president has such a strong grip on the economy.

“There is rough justice in the way things are playing out,” writes Nocera. “Having spent the last year wrongly blaming the president for high unemployment, Republicans can only stand by helplessly as the unemployment rate goes down at the worst possible moment for them.”