21 | September | 2011 | Existential Ennui

Tags

Boehner, death penalty, DODT, economy, elections, electoral college, GOP, Michele Bachmann, Pennsylvania, Rick Perry, the Fed, voting rights

I took a peek out of the bunker this morning, having no clue what I might find.

I was wary to say the least. But, oddly enough, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and nothing seemed untoward.

I scratched my head and wandered to the television to see if they could straighten out my puzzlement.

But not a word.

Not a word of all the mayhem and destruction that I was expecting. I mean Pat Robertson and Bryan Fischer and all those right-wing evangelicals had assured me that the minute, nay the very second that DODT was ended, that God’s wrath would descend upon the Old US of A.

I can only conclude that God is tricking us, waiting until all us bunkered-down types feel safe enough to sleep in our own beds. Then he’s gonna whack us. Yeah, that must be it. Robertson and all the rest couldn’t be wrong could they?

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Ironic when you realize that yesterday we, in our ending of DODT, re-affirmed the fullness of life, and the reverence for it being full, long and filled with open love. Today, Georgia is hell-bent it seems to kill. Troy Davis’ appeal to the Parole board has been denied and he is scheduled to die this evening.

I don’t know a lot of the particulars. I just know that as a lawyer, I know all to well the limitations of eye-witness testimony. It is often faulty, and in this case there is even more reason to think it thus. It may as well be the result of intimidation by those with power against those with none.

I always wonder this. It may be more likely that the convict is guilty, it may be most likely in fact. But if there is any doubt, any reasonable doubt, and surely recanted testimony should be deemed so, and most assuredly when there is no scientific and physical evidence, then isn’t it just sensible to err on the side of life?

Beyond all the ideological reasons why capital punishment is or should be a relic of a less evolved creature, beyond that is simple decency. How do you find closure as the family of the victim when you will FOREVER have the nagging knowledge that the killer still walks the streets?

Yet, when at a recent debate, when it was asked of Perry how he slept at night given that Texas executed well over 200 people, leading the nation, before Perry to smartly proclaim that he “slept very well,” the audience of Republicans shouted with approval and joy at the killing field that is Texas.

Where do you go from there?

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It’s becoming pretty common knowledge that the GOP is set upon letting the economy flounder rather than pass anything that Obama could be credited with. To that end, Robert Reich reports that House Speaker Boehner sent a letter to the Fed, actually telling them to do NOTHING to stimulate the economy.

While, as always, it is couched in terms of “not doing anything that is not proven to improve things” the threat is obvious: “nothing you could do is proven as far as we are concerned.”

As Reich points out, it is “highly unusual” to comment on the Fed at all, as the Fed is “above politics” and it is not just a breach of etiquette, but rather a dangerous interference with global economics. It just goes to show how much the GOP is willing to do (meaning screw America) in their goal of returning themselves to power.

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Two tidbits from the wacky world of the Silly Candidates forum:

Michele (where are my peeps?) Bachmann proves her stupids once again. Standing in front of dead beef carcasses in a meat-packing plant, somewhere in Iowa, Ms. “Eyes” said something to this effect: “I call upon President Obama to deny entry to the United States to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.” Please tell the idiot about the UN’s INTERNATIONAL status!
Ricky (I’m readin’ a book about foreign policy right now!) Perry, intervened in the expected move by Palestine to ask for recognition as an independent state, saying all kinds of nasty things about Obama, and declaring that “as a Christian” he is called upon to support Israel.” Well, even Joe Scarborough thought Perry ventured too far. He slammed both Perry and Mitt (It’s slippin’ away from me) Romney who also tried hard not to be ignored on the issue. Andrew Sullivan weighs in as well.

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And of course, it wouldn’t be a day in America without another example of how Republicans strategy is to win elections not with votes anymore, but by rigging the election so that their minority party will still win. None other than Ricky (oh don’t Google me please)Santorum explains how Pennsylvania Republican Governor, Tom Corbett’s plan, will insure the Republicans win no matter what.

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Just a short word on the blog “What’s on the Stove?” I’ve got about twenty recipes up now, and a shopping list that you may find useful to cut and paste into Word and then columnize. Also, I revised the “menus” from here, and included another page for that. And in addition, there is now the bare bones of a “tips and tricks” page which might be useful to some. Enjoy it or not as you see fit. I add about three or so recipes a week.