While the House burns like Atlanta . . .

UPDATED BELOW: From Forbes magazine this morning:

But a new survey of 1,976 registered voters finds that only 33 percent believe that the health law should be repealed, delayed, or defunded. 29 percent believe that “Congress should make changes to improve the law,” 26 percent believe that “Congress should let the law take effect” and see what happens, and 12 percent believe that the law should be expanded. The bottom line? Voters are skeptical that Obamacare will live up to Democrats’ hype. But they also believe that it should be given a chance to succeed.

Universal health care (which Obamacare is most assuredly not – at least not yet) has been a political objective, indeed a platform goal, of the Democratic Party  since Truman (Teddy Roosevelt and Nixon liked it too). So it has been a stated goal of at least half this nation for decades. It is now the law, as passed by the Congress, signed by the President, upheld by the US Supreme Court, and reaffirmed by the American people when they re-elected the President who sponsored it. That’s exactly the way our Federal government was designed to work.

The House GOP is not pursuing the will of the American people, they are pursuing a Party objective. They forget that they are only one of three branches of government (and only half of that branch!). 

Our Founders knew well to build in protections against a tyranny of the minority. UPDATE: commenter Alan Scott points out – correctly – that I am wrong here. Our Founders built in protections against a Tyranny of MAJORITY. My bad.

The minority half of one branch of our government is on the wrong side of this.

Yeah, it’s Saturday, but I’m still old and so is this.

Articles of Confederation bitchez!

Because that worked so well.  Who needs a balance of powers anyway? Checks and balances? Bleh.  We have a US Senator is ‘whipping’ votes in the House of Representatives. A significant cohort of the Congress is ideologically committed to the destruction of a strong Federal government. The House Speakership – designed to wield enormous power – now powerless. Who really needs him any more? Put the world economy at risk during a fragile recovery? So what if that usually leads to World Wars. That’s the world’s problem. – and damn Europeans and Mooslims.

Shut it down. Take it down! USA! USA! USA!

I asked my old friend Wikipedia for a few random factoids about the debt and that debt ceiling thingee:

• US government indebtedness has been the norm in the financial history of the nation. The carriage of debt in Western Europe and North America by governments has been normal for the past 200 years, so the US situation is not unique.
• The US has been in debt every year except for 1835.
• Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation led to the first yearly report on the amount of the debt ($75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791).
• Every President since Herbert Hoover has added to the national debt expressed in absolute dollars. The debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since March 1962,^[1] including 18 times under Ronald Reagan, eight times under Bill Clinton, seven times under George W. Bush, and three times under Barack Obama.

Seriously?

Ezra Klein yesterday (formatting added by Moe):

The House GOP’s debt limit bill — obtained by the National Review — isn’t a serious governing document. It’s not even a plausible opening bid. It’s a cry for help. In return for a one-year suspension of the debt ceiling, House Republicans are demanding:

• a year-long delay of Obamacare,
• Rep. Paul Ryan’s tax reform plan,
• the Keystone XL pipeline,
• more offshore oil drilling,
• more drilling on federally protected lands,
• rewriting of ash coal regulations,
• a suspension of the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate carbon emissions,
• more power over the regulatory process in general,
• reform of the federal employee retirement program,
• an overhaul of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations,
• more power over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s budget,
• repeal of the Social Services Block Grant, more means-testing in Medicare,
• repeal of the Public Health trust fund,
• and more.

It’s tempting to think that this is Boehner teaching his conference a lesson. They told him what they wanted, and he’s going to let them have it — good and hard. House Republicans are walking into the debt-ceiling negotiations with an opening bid that makes them look ridiculous. This looks like an Onion parody of what the House’s debt-ceiling demands might be. It’s a wonder it’s not written in comic sans.

George Takei gets all the good stuff

Like this:

The story of man in 57 words?

I came upon this last night and have been coming back to it all day. It’s gorgeous and it’s dangerous. I’m interested in how others might be reading it – heck, I’m not even sure yet how I’m reading it . . . these words have not finished with me.

He thought that in the beauty of the world were hid a secret. He thought the world’s heart beat at some terrible cost and the world’s pain and beauty moved in a relationship of diverging equity and that in this headlong deficit the blood of multitudes might ultimately be exacted for the vision of a single flower.

Cormac McCarthy,  All The Pretty Horses

He said that without a single comma. Note to self: fewer commas.

Filibuster(?) update . . .

. . . Ah well, I now hear that Cruz’ ‘filibuster’ is “in name only” as the vote has already been scheduled and his talkie-talkie can’t delay it further. So it’s theatre and therefore well suited to our Cuban Senator from Canada who is totally – TOTALLY – a natural born citizen.

Filllibuster!!! Popcorn please!

Ladies and gentlemen! Citizens of television land! I call you to gather at the CSpan for the Greatest Show on Earth!! Ted Cruz has taken the floor.

This is the third real filibuster in the last few years and that should be a good thing. I much prefer it to the invisible procedural nonsense of  placing holds.  Last year, Bernie Sanders (D-VT) did eight hours and last winter Rand Paul did thirteen hours. I don’t think either changed any minds, but they were presented honestly and honorably.

But this one? After hours of Ted Cruz sends the whole populace rushing for the showers, other Congress Critters might decide that doing business in the shadows was the better idea after all.

Has anyone seen my old friend Paul?

There was this guy, a Congressman – from Wisconsin I think – who ran for Vice President last year. Am I remembering that right? He was part of the House Leadership, a great young hope, brainy budget guy, all that. Plus cute.

Has anyone seen him in the last nine months? Ah! Paul Ryan, that’s his name! He still around?

Good old Ike – he didn’t think anyone would take these guys seriously. He was wrong.

As we approach the start of the GOP’s Annual Hunting Season To Capture and Kill Legislation (Social Security from the 1930’s, Medicare from the 1960’s, and those 21st Century obscenities, Bush’s Medicare Part D Rx plan, and Obama’s nose under the door of universal health care), I like to remember this guy. Here’s then-former President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a 1954 letter to his brother.

Now it is true that I believe this country is following a dangerous trend when it permits too great a degree of centralization of governmental functions. I oppose this–in some instances the fight is a rather desperate one. But to attain any success it is quite clear that the Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it. The political processes of our country are such that if a rule of reason is not applied in this effort, we will lose everything–even to a possible and drastic change in the Constitution. This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas.Their number is negligible and they are stupid.

 

And we know what happens in Libya . . .

(The rest of it almost writes itself . . . )

The last Friday – of Fall. And a-one, and a-two, and a-three . . .

A post from a niece on Facebook yesterday reminded me of The Commitments and of Andrew Strong – the new, younger Joe Cocker (who should have recorded this!).

Syria shares a border with Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. And that matters.

In a country where none of the news is good, this is very very bad. I’ve worried about Turkey since the Islamists started flowing into Syria – they’re Sunnis, determined to help overthrow a Shia government.

An extremist group linked to Al Qaeda routed Syrian rebel fighters and seized control of a gateway town near Syria’s northern border with Turkey on Wednesday, posting snipers on rooftops, erecting checkpoints and imposing a curfew on the local population . . .

Its seizure is likely to alarm Syria’s neighbors. Turkey, which has vocally supported the fight against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and allowed fighters and arms to flow freely across its southern border, now faces a bold al Qaeda affiliate. . . 

In recent months, jihadist groups have isolated local populations by imposing strict Islamic codes, carrying out public executions and clashing with rebel groups.

Lebanon is expressing some worry too.

It’s so ugly and we allow it

This clip is from QI, a British panel show, hosted by Stephen Fry.Fry asks the participants “where one percent of Americans can be found.” You and I know the answer is ‘prison’. But the contestants did not. Watch then – as they learn and draw their conclusions.

Free country or obscenity? Vulgarity at the least.

For Floridians, heartbreak is a constant. In my little town, just this month, demolition began on the historic winter home of the Barnum & Bailey circus, in the face of years of campaigns and fund-raising by citizens to preserve their heritage – located on municipal, not private, property.

And then this happened a few miles north. An added insult: the fixtures, windows, precious woods and more were only a nuisance, so they were left in place for the bulldozers. After all, the whole thing – as the story points out – was already 12 years old.

SARASOTA – A 6,100-square-foot house built just 12 years ago on this tony barrier island was being torn down Monday to make way for what neighbors say will be a three-story home for Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik.

The half-acre bayfront property at 112 N. Washington Drive was bought five months ago for $4.25 million. . . .

The classically inspired house, designed by architect Clifford Scholz and built by the late Mike Collingwood, was yellow with white trim and had a double staircase leading to the front doors.

The arched Palladian windows were framed with white shutters. Iron gates over the gray paver driveway and an ivy-covered masonry wall provided privacy.

The property had two wings that made the pool area private, too.

It obviously was not sufficient for such a grandee who is, no doubt, a legend in his own mind. He came, saw a tear-down, did it.

Move along, nothing to see here . . .

The new utterly stateless and massive corporations will soon have power over sovereign governments. And yet, Americans fear ‘gov’mint’ and the UN – the first one is ceding power and the second one isn’t even a player in this drama.

How could she not win?

Go vote for my young friend’s niece at the Tonka photo contest!

All it takes to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun: part the whatever

So now it’s The Navy Yard, in Washington DC – a place bursting with military personnel located in the city with the largest per capita police presence in the entire United States of America. They couldn’t stop a bad guy with a gun.

So far 12 dead, 16 injured, including a cop. Can we get a quote from Wayne LaPierre?

We are so weary and we weep yet again.

 

When John McCain is good, he is very, very . . .

Now that the couch at Fox & Friends is getting a new lady to sit in the middle, it’s time for me to stop referring to Brian Kilmeade as the one whose name no one knows. After all, he is now the second most recognizable face of the couch dwellers. Watch that very face as John McCain ‘splains a little something:

I iz old. And this iz old. But Friday is ageless.

And so is Richie – despite The Day the Music Died. Got your dancing shoes on?

 

We seem to be birthin’ an entirely new species! Witness the two year olds . . .

First the basketball kid:

Now the dancer:

 

A little vulgar, but an important question

And it’s not about Obama specifically; it’s about US policy that increasingly turns away from very serious threats to freedom and democracy. But of course they’re only ideals. So, you know . . .

Yeah, this is the right Oldie for this Friday

She really did have a great voice – a little bit country, a little bit crooner.

I am sorry; this is not good blog etiquette

Good blog-manners means the host responds to comments, re-blogs, and pingbacks in a timely way. But for a while now I’ve increasingly taken you, dear readers, for granted.

I again plead the demands of commitments I’ve made to the two Boards on which I serve.

And there’s this: I miss the time I spend here. I love the interaction. I enjoy the opportunity to clarify my own thinking or share a laugh. I miss my blog. And hanging around with you.

Last night I thought about all this and decided something has to give. And I decided further that letting the blog take the hit, as has been happening, is not what I want.

So next week, I plan to meet with the president of one board and tell him I’ll serve out my term but will be reducing my workload. Right now I publish (and write, design and build) the newsletter, and handle our publicity. These I’ll continue because they’re my own areas of expertise and why I’m on that board.

But somehow, over the last year I’ve allowed myself to be pulled into working on the website, promoting membership, doing a bit of database maintenance and acting as the organization photographer at sponsored events. All that will have to get re-assigned.

Over the last weeks, I started a number of posts that I never finished because they needed more detail or editing or fact checking. As that didn’t happen,  they’ve sat, lonely and waiting to be published, as neglected as the comment threads have been.

Stick with me? I’m gonna fix it.

Maybe they’re smoking dope in the Oval?

How else to explain this kind of thinking – some in the Administration  have put  out this projection for Obama’s presidency going forward. They draw it as an entirely passive future. They’re saying if we fail at this, we’ll fail at everything else because it’ll be out of our hands. Perhaps some staffers think saying this would be heard by the Congress as a threat; they would be wrong – a weak Obama is the opposition’s wet dream.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — President Obama and his advisers view the coming decision on military action against Syria as a potential turning point that could effectively define his foreign policy for his final three years in office. . . .

Mr. Obama and his team see the votes as a guidepost for the rest of his presidency well beyond the immediate question of launching missiles at Syrian military targets. If Congress does not support a relatively modest action in response to a chemical attack that killed more than 1,400 people in Syria, Obama advisers said, the president will not be able to count on support for virtually any use of force.

Although Mr. Obama has asserted that he has the authority to order the strike on Syria even if Congress says no, White House aides consider that almost unthinkable. As a practical matter, it would leave him more isolated than ever and seemingly in defiance of the public’s will at home. As a political matter, it would almost surely set off an effort in the House to impeach him, which even if it went nowhere could be distracting and draining.

As a result, Mr. Obama would be even more reluctant to order action in the one case that has most preoccupied military planners: the development of a nuclear bomb by Iran.

Labor Day 2013

The annual video:

Persistance defined

Things to do when you’re 62:

KEY WEST, Fla. — Looking dazed and sunburned, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad walked on to the Key West shore Monday, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

It was Nyad’s fifth try to complete the approximately 110-mile swim. She tried three times in 2011 and 2012. She had also tried in 1978.