Nothing to See, Move Along

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brain, critical thinking, Dream Act, Election 2012, global warming, GOP, illusions, immigration, Latino, Libya, Middle East, Newt Gingrich, robotics, science, Syria

You could call it a three-ringed circus, but they may need an extra ring or two. We are advised that the Newty is joining in the entertainment division of “Republicans who are in the race for President.” He joins a fine panoply of jokesters–The Hair, The Palinator, and CrazyEyes, and Step-‘n-fetchit.

I’m sure that Hollywood is in this too, for this quintrangle (wrap your head around what that might look like) of queerness deserves what any good nut job gets in the good old USA–their own reality show.

Years ago, they had a wonderful if short-lived show on PBS wherein Steve Allen, and his wife were joined by a couple of others, each impersonating famous figures from history. Imagine Newton meets Einstein, meets Socrates, meets Cleopatra. They would sit around and chat on selected topics of the day.

So, I’m thinking, our fivesome (do not let you mind even alight for a moment on sex or your brain will burn up–think eating sauerkraut, caramels and raw rhubarb at the same time to counteract the thought) could just debate things like how to secure the future for our posterity in a post-post modernist Adam Smith world. You see the possibilities? I mean they could seriously put SNL out of business.

Newty’s announcement, scheduled today, comes at just the right moment. Obama’s polls are now up to 60% saying he’s doing a good job, his highest in a very long time, and 53% say he deserves another term.

Have at it Relaughlicans, have at it.

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There is a thing called the “best illusion of the year” and you can go and see it! As I understand it (since I can’t do the video) there is a central dot that you star at. A surrounding circle of interwoven dots of different colors surround it. The dots change colors and you can see that, but as the surrounding circle begins to rotate, the colors can no longer be seen changing. For some reason the brain can’t recognize the color changes when the circle rotates. There are others to see as well. Have fun!

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While the crackdown continues in Syria, things seem to be looking up again in Libya where rebels are once again on the move. NATO forces have upped their air attacks which no doubt has helped. Qaddafi has been “absent” for several days now.

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We just got through the mother of all winters in many parts of the country. Then killer tornadoes struck the Southeast. Now the Mighty Miss is inundating the flood planes along its sojourn to the Gulf in a way not seen in most of history. And the naysayers of course say this has nada to do with global warming.

Well, scientists say otherwise. The crazies who buy the rhetoric of Corpacracy, giggle as the snows fell. “Global warming? Ya gotta be kidding.” But of course those who have bothered to actually READ something not written by those who don’t want to pay for their pollution, know that extremes in ALL weather is an expected effect of global warming.

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The Democrats are re-introducing the Dream Act we understand. This is just exactly the right thing to do on every level. First, IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Second, IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Third, its politically the perfect thing to do. The GOP seems caught in its “find ’em, arrest ’em, send ’em back strategy. And in states with burgeoning Latino populations, that is a recipe for disaster as they say.

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It used to be that the Democrats were noted for taking a good thing and screwing it up. Well, move over, there is a new bungler in town. The GOP, who promised after 2010, nothing but work on jobs, jobs, jobs, has gotten itself bogged down in the usual anti-Obama rhetoric regarding the Bin Laden business.

Instead of just saying, “good job” and keeping their eye on the economic message, the good old boys just couldn’t help it. They fell for the uber right-wing “that black guy can’t be given credit for anything” frenzy and have been, for the last several days whining about how it’s all due to them that the usurper in the White House was able to put the very last nail into the house. And it has of course backfired as Obama’s numbers just continue to rise.

In other words, the GOP would have you believe, that they built the car, filled it with gas, and put the key in the ignition. Obama just turned it. Yeah, go with that Redicklians.

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Ya know, I’ve lived most of my adult life with the “Three Laws of Robotics”. It gave me comfort on days when I fought with machines, when no amount of cajoling would get them to do their duty–operate as required. I have never feared them, because I trusted they were in the end my friend, albeit a frustrating and someone chaotic one.

Well, now it seems that I can’t rely on this safety net at all. I kinda think I’ll keep a hammer by the computer from now on. Same goes for anything else that is remotely robotically connected. I may never trust again.  [h/t to Exploring our Matrix]

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We have spoken here a lot of the nut cases on the right who fracture, torture, and otherwise twist actual facts to favor their theory of choice. This can be evolution, climate change, health care reform, you name it. Because they cater to a basically ill-educated, ill-read, and ill-minded group, they can get away with this.

This piece also comes via Exploring our Matrix and explains the tools used by the pseudo-science of the extreme right. It’s a decent piece that might enlighten you as you swim through the muck of todays internet world.

US Politics for Dummies

Tags

Congress, DADT, Democrats, Dream Act, economy, GOP, Latinos, lobbyists, social security, Susan Collins, tax cut bill, teabaggers, Unemployment insurance, US Politics for Dummies, voting

No, we really don’t have to practice US politics for dummies here at AFeatherAdrift, for the simple reason that you readers are both sophisticated and knowledgeable. Those that need to be reading, aren’t of course. That would be the GOP, in case you were unsure.

The Dream Act passed the House. The Dream Act has, of course, no chance of passing the Senate. The brilliant requirement of having to have a super majority on any vote means that little gets done there. And most assuredly, even less than little gets done, when the GOP is about the business of “just saying no.”

The Democrats don’t have the votes to invoke cloture, so they are tabling the Dream Act. But The Reaction makes a good point, and one that at least won’t be lost on some GOPers, if there are any sane ones left that is.

Even in losing, the Democrats go down on record as the party who favors the sane, moral, and rational position, that young Latinos who were brought to this country as children, and who have completed high school, and either military service or college, can get legal residency in this country and move forward to citizenship. The GOP, on the other hand, continue to favor nativism and the cruel  and harsh persecution of undocumented aliens in this country.

The GOP continues to show the country deliberately and with clear intent, that it is the party of the rich and the white. Tell us how that works for you come 2012.

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I thought that as part of the cave-in on tax cuts for the rich, we were getting an extension of unemployment benefits for an additional 13 months. According to Crooks and Liars, that just ain’t so, and the cap is still 99 weeks and you’re through. That is no compromise at all, as I see it. Read the link and see what you think. I’m completely unclear and now see the Democratic House anger as very justified. Guess I’m ready to oppose this damn bill too.

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Can’t say as I’m surprised. It turns out that a slew of newly elected GOPer’s have hired lobbyists to run their congressional offices. Teabuggers ran on the argument that Washington was broken and a den of iniquity peopled with corruption and special interests who no longer did the people’s will. It seems to be business as usual, and that is exactly what we expected to happen. The poor teabuggers will soon find out that they have been taken for the proverbial ride. So much for “we the people” and all that rot. We warned ya, ya know.

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I just want to personally thank GOPer’s in both the House and Senate for blocking a measly one-time payment of $250 to those who collect social  security and have been denied cost of living increases for two years running. Add another group that the GOP has lost in 2012. But do protect the right of the obscenely rich to avoid taxes Repukelicans.

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I read this, but can’t find the link. It seems that teabuggers are mighty unhappy with the compromise tax cut extensions. They had been taken in by the promises of fiscal responsibility promised by the GOPers. Does the word sucker come to mind? Anyway, the novel answer being given by some Restuplicans, is that all that fiscal responsibility doesn’t start until the new Congress is sworn in, so it’s still business as usual until then. Now that’s an argument you can believe in! Enjoy your new master, teabuggers!

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We all talk a lot about economic things, but frankly, most of us, (myself included) don’t understand this stuff all that well. Corrupting Conservatives, gives us a good primer on what all this tax business and economic growth actually mean. This is truly US politics for dummies in an economic nutshell. Do stop by and learn.

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Was it just a week ago or so that Susan Collins said she was in favor pretty much of repealing DADT but couldn’t unless there was a tax cut bill negotiated, the “holy grail” of the GOP? Yes, well, now it seems that Ms. Collins has been instructed to stop that talk, and to get in marching line with the GOP. She is reconsidering her position. Olympia Snow, already did her bit to be immoral and unprincipled, she helped kill the Dream Act in the Senate. These people have no shame, and it proves that you can’t trust any Resucklican. They all lie.

Collins continues to make more demands on Reid, and the we shall see. Some are optimistic, but I’m too used to being screwed to expect the right outcome. Time will tell.

We all know why this is happening of course. Collins is being targeted by the teabuggers and well, re-election trumps principles doesn’t it? I mean, of course, nothing can be more important than retaining my government job.

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What’s on the stove? Ribs in the oven with some smoky paprika mac and cheese and homegrown corn on the side. I’m getting hungry even as I type. It’s Iowa food today!

Related Articles

• Senate Tables DREAM Act, House Rebuffs Tax Cut Extension Deal (lezgetreal.com)
• Senate delays ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ vote – msnbc.com (news.google.com)
• Biden urges Dems to embrace Obama’s tax-cut plan (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Paul Abrams: Democrats (and Bloggers): Stop Arguing, Unite Behind “Hostage” Banner, and Win. (huffingtonpost.com)

Ready, Set, Go!

Tags

bible, Catholics, Don't ask don't tell, Dream Act, GOP, John McCain, patriarchy, social justice issues, Women's issues

Well, I trust that everyone is busy, being busy, cuz this is sure the time of year when that is required. Even for those who don’t make a big to-do with all the gifting and partying, there is extra busyness forced upon them.

I went grocery shopping today as is my usual practice on the 3rd of the month. The food stores are much busier than usual, and so more patience and smiling is required.

We are expecting our first snow tonight. We are supposed to get in the 1-3 inch range, but you know how reliable that is, and depending on wind, it could be of no import or a lot.

Suffice it to say, I bought for two full weeks but enough extras that I can make it several more weeks if I have to. I don’t expect that, but it’s best to be prepared.

Being prepared here also means getting up enough wood so that Christmas week is not a flurry of trips out to cut, drag, log, split and stack. I mean there should be some relaxation to this time of year.

I have lots of obligatory church masses to make. I’ll do my best, but weather controls all now, and I don’t obsess about it any longer.

I read an uplifting little piece at Vox Nova about the Republicans and how they are not even coming close on Catholic thinking on a number of issues. Unemployment benefits, the Dream Act, and the START treaty are all things that Catholics and many other Christians agree need to be enacted. Republican intransigence on these issues may come back to haunt them.

Roger Ebert has a new post and it’s a lovely one on women, and the patriarchy of the secular world, but also of the Roman Catholic Church. I whole-heartedly agree. Women’s importance has been vastly unrepresented in scripture. What is there has been downplayed. Jesus would not be happy.

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There, now on to politics. Andrew Sullivan has a rant that is well worth your reading. The GOP is simply insane by and large these days, and I do expect and believe that they will pay a terrible and well-deserved price for it in the end. You cannot sail to power on a message of NO. They have zero in the way of detailed legislation on anything.

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The Reaction suggests that John McCain will never support DADT because, essentially the man is a bigot. Well, I conclude that, but they agree that he will never change. If you didn’t see Jon Stewart’s scathing attack on McCain, then do follow the link and hit the link to the video. Stewart says it all. As the Contrarian says, McCain has destroyed himself. His legacy will be as a bigoted homophobe–in other words, this generation’s Strom Thurmond.

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Meanwhile, former Bush officials chortle how they “laid a trap” in pushing through the tax cuts that would be “almost impossible to allow to expire.” They expected that a decade later the Democrats would get stuck and be on the defensive in trying to end them. So far, that seems, sadly to be true. Will they ever wake up?

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Short one today, folks, I’m tired and it’s getting late and snowing. I’m going to hide under the covers!

Related Articles

• The Mystery of John McCain (theatlantic.com)
• Dear John McCain, (patryansblog.com)

The Wacko Right Has Lost it’s Giblets

Tags

American History, Dream Act, fiction, food politics, free press, Gunter Grass, immigration, Korea, Media, Poetry, right wing wackos, Thanksgiving

The first couple  six times I read posts about this, I ignored it as the work of some nut case in Hoboken or Alabama. But then I started seeing more, and I realized that this issue has legs!

The wacko religious right is at it again. You see, when you decide what the bible means, then you cram, twist, turn-inside-out, turn-upside-down, and otherwise thoroughly alter reality to fit your notions. Then the world is okay. See? History agrees with ME.

Not content to trying to believe that our Founding Fathers (FFs) set up a Christian Nation upon a high hill in Plymouth Massachusetts, they are now trying to involve the poor Pilgrims in their revisionist ideas of what really happened.

It should come as no surprise that Rush-me-some-Oxycoton-Limbaugh is onboard. Ditto, Glenn-bend-you-mind-around-me-Beck. Singing the praises is nutjob-wannabe, John Stossel. Soon to be climbing upon the Silly Express will no doubt be Michele-which-way-to-Bellview-Bachmann and Sarah-worshipin-my-bank-account-Palin.

It goes, (the NEW and improved history) sumpin’ like this:

For reasons unknown, the pilgrims upon landing decided to engage in socialism. So they pooled all their stuff and lived in a big old commune, takin’ from each, and givin’ to each as was their due. This, bein’ unGodly, and most unbiblical, brought the wrath of the One Truest God down upon their heads, and they was a close to starvin’ come winter time. The dear Indians came to their rescue and saved ’em.

Well, that was enough of that. The Pilgrims stopped that socialism stuff, and discovered capitalism and free market economies and they became fat, rich and sassy and lived happily ever after, until that Muslim black man came along and tried to undue all their Godly work.

That’s it in a nutshell, though why you would want it in a nutshell is not before us today and seems slightly weird. Perhaps so it could be hid away and protected from destruction from Godless socialists.

Well, none of it is true of course. In fact Stossel just changes the dates of the first Thanksgiving in an attempt to make it appear more in line with his bilge. Rush has been runnin’ this crap for some time it seems, but now it’s caught on, which just goes to show you that lies, damnable lies, have a viral impact and are catchin’.

Crooks and Liars has a fine refudiation of the urban myth and some actual facts about the earliest of our settlers, coming from actual and real historians and not the fake ones Foxy and it’s brigands unearth.

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It is reported that the Dems will be making another attempt to pass the Dream Act during this lame duck session. Border Explorer has an excellent piece on the truth of what the Act is and is not. Please read and familiarize yourself with the facts so that you can explain it to your more limited friends and neighbors. 

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I read a book review of Nobel Laureate Günter Grass’s latest book, The Box.  After reading what Adam Kirsch from Slate has to say, I think you might take a look. A serious book, but perhaps a very good one. You decide as usual. I seriously need to read more fiction!

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A topic of conversation for some time now, has been the unhealthy and unfortunate state of our media. While I don’t in the least subscribe to the right-wing blather than the MSM is liberal, I do subscribe to the belief that it has become mostly awful. Newspapers and serious magazines are on the wane. Can we trust our democracy to untrained folks like me to keep people somewhat informed?

Moe over at Whatever Works has a good piece that is an eye-opener for sure. The US ranks something like 21st in having a free press. Yes, 21st. It turns out that those countries that rank highest, subsidize their free press, something we don’t. It’s worth the time to look at this and perhaps follow a few links.

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I’ve found a new poet that is really special. I invite you to see the works of FadedRomantic.

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I don’t know about you, but I’m watching carefully the goings on in the Korean Peninsula. It is mildly chilling to watch the cold-dead eyes of Kim Jong Il, and the even colder eyes of his chosen successor, child-man Kim Jong Un. This IS a time for Sarah to shut her damn mouth, as well as all the politics-first GOP. The situation is just too tense. So please, for once in your sorry lives put the country first.

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Since food has been the focus of the week, I thought you might be interested in this new book, Empires of Food. You can read a review of it at History Today Magazine.

Speaking of which, oh the leftovers yesterday were sublime. Just like the original meal, and sometimes even better. Today it’s work on the sides, but we are having turkey sandwiches with (for me at least) swiss cheese, lettuce, slices of green pepper, paper-thin onion slices and mayo.

One of the best items was a new recipe for shredded Brussel sprouts. It was a surprise hit. I’ll probably write out the recipe in the next day or two. I do love to try at least one new thing every year, and this will definitely be a repeat!

Off to nosh.

Related Articles

• Stossel: Pilgrims Failed At Socialism [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
• China must push North Korea harder: U.S. military chief (reuters.com)