November 7, 2010 archive

Open Joanie

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I Loves Me Some Associated Press in the Morning

From AP this morning:

Followed by the politics of home, President Obama on Sunday acknowledged that he must make some mid-term corrections if he is to win over a frustrated electorate and work with resurgent Republicans.

Bla bla bla bla..as Obama begins looking ahead to his own reelection in 2012.

 

Well, we’re screwed.

Meantime, Texas is considering withdrawing Medicaid.  Just for starters – if the leader of the Democratic Party has capitulated – what else can we expect from the Republicans.

Oh, there’s more to come you betcha.

Were the Republicans capitulating after we handed this guy the keys to the country.  Short answer:  no.

From Mother Jones on November 20, 2008

Having narrowly survived his reelection campaign Senator Mitch McConnell was in an expansive mood….Back in Washington he spoke at the annual convention of the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal organization.  

***

Far from being demoralized by the brutal campaign McConnell declared that he was REFRESHED AND ENERGIZED BY THE BATTLE.  ….McConnell spoke approvingly of Obama’s plan to cut taxes and to tackle entitlement reform and energy security.

Again, we’re finished if this guy wins in 2012.  I know some have mentioned we’ll then get better progressive leaders in 2016 – I think we’ll be so demoralized we’ll be unable to do anything but thank God we can feed the kids.

Because even if The One gives up the SS/Medicare systems – and in effect that’s what he did with the authorization of the Debt Commission – they won’t respect him, like him, coddle him, admire him – whatever the hell he’s looking for – they ain’t gonna do it.

So what else can he do to win their respect?  I don’t even want to contemplate it.

Note:  Lindsey Graham is talking tough about Iran again.  

****

Note as well if you will, the first thing McConnell in 2008 did was speak to a group of his own entrenched constituency – whereas Obama chose to travel.    

I Loves Me Some Associated Press in the Morning

From AP this morning:

Followed by the politics of home, President Obama on Sunday acknowledged that he must make some mid-term corrections if he is to win over a frustrated electorate and work with resurgent Republicans.

Bla bla bla bla..as Obama begins looking ahead to his own reelection in 2012.

 

Well, we’re screwed.

Meantime, Texas is considering withdrawing Medicaid.  Just for starters – if the leader of the Democratic Party has capitulated – what else can we expect from the Republicans.

Oh, there’s more to come you betcha.

Were the Republicans capitulating after we handed this guy the keys to the country.  Short answer:  no.

From Mother Jones on November 20, 2008

Having narrowly survived his reelection campaign Senator Mitch McConnell was in an expansive mood….Back in Washington he spoke at the annual convention of the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal organization.  

***

Far from being demoralized by the brutal campaign McConnell declared that he was REFRESHED AND ENERGIZED BY THE BATTLE.  ….McConnell spoke approvingly of Obama’s plan to cut taxes and to tackle entitle reform and energy security.

Again, we’re finished if this guy wins in 2012.  I know some have mentioned we’ll then get better progressive leaders in 2016 – I think we’ll be so demoralized we’ll be unable to do anything but thank God we can feed the kids.

Because even if The One gives up the SS/Medicare systems – and in effect that’s what he did with the authorization of the Debt Commission – they won’t respect him, like him, coddle him, admire him – whatever the hell he’s looking for – they ain’t gonna do it.

So what else can he do to win their respect?  I don’t even want to contemplate it.

Note:  Lindsey Graham is talking tough about Iran again.    

I Loves Me Some Associated Press in the Morning

From AP this morning:

Followed by the politics of home, President Obama on Sunday acknowledged that he must make some mid-term corrections if he is to win over a frustrated electorate and work with resurgent Republicans.

Bla bla bla bla..as Obama begins looking ahead to his own reelection in 2012.

 

Well, we’re screwed.

Meantime, Texas is considering withdrawing Medicaid.  Just for starters – if the leader of the Democratic Party has capitulated – what else can we expect from the Republicans.

Oh, there’s more to come you betcha.

Were the Republicans capitulating after we handed this guy the keys to the country.  Short answer:  no.

From Mother Jones on November 20, 2008

Having narrowly survived his reelection campaign Senator Mitch McConnell was in an expansive mood….Back in Washington he spoke at the annual convention of the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal organization.  

***

Far from being demoralized by the brutal campaign McConnell declared that he was REFRESHED AND ENERGIZED BY THE BATTLE.  ….McConnell spoke approvingly of Obama’s plan to cut taxes and to tackle entitle reform and energy security.

Again, we’re finished if this guy wins in 2012.  I know some have mentioned we’ll then get better progressive leaders in 2016 – I think we’ll be so demoralized we’ll be unable to do anything but thank God we can feed the kids.

Because even if The One gives up the SS/Medicare systems – and in effect that’s what he did with the authorization of the Debt Commission – they won’t respect him, like him, coddle him, admire him – whatever the hell he’s looking for – they ain’t gonna do it.

So what else can he do to win their respect?  I don’t even want to contemplate it.

Note:  Lindsey Graham is talking tough about Iran again.  

Docudharma Times Sunday November 8




Sunday’s Headlines:

Chasing pirates: Inside Microsoft’s war room

USA

G.O.P. Plans to Use Purse Strings to Fight Health Law

Grim outlook for grizzlies in Yellowstone region

Europe

Greece despairs of escaping from mountain of debt

Latin lessons: What can we learn from the world’s most ambitious literacy campaign?

Middle East

West panics at American-born voice of jihad

Israel confronts flagging interest in military service

Asia

Veteran dissident pleads with young people in Burma not to vote in poll

Indonesian Muslims protest Obama’s planned visit

Africa

Zim gem smuggling fuels cross-border dealer hub

Latin America

Cholera death toll rises in hurricane-hit Haiti

Barack Obama’s India trip set to seal £6bn worth of deals for US

Barack Obama’s India trip all about business for US with 20 deals worth £6bn ready to be finalised

Jason Burke in Delhi

The Observer, Sunday 7 November 2010


President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, arrived yesterday in the Indian commercial capital of Mumbai on the first leg of a 10-day four-nation tour of Asia to drum up business for American companies and to consolidate relations with key allies in the region.

The couple will also hope to find some relief from the domestic political fallout of the Democratic party’s resounding defeat in midterm elections last week.

The president made his first statement of the trip, the longest he has taken in office, at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel, one of the targets attacked by Islamic militants in the city just under two years ago.

Late Night Karaoke

A Winter’s Tale

Tonight Eastern Standard Time will begin.  Again.  And that, around here, is the dreaded beginning of horrible Winter.  This, after all, is Upstate New York.  I’m nestled against the Massachusetts border.  And the beginning of Eastern Standard Time fills me with utter dread.

What stands between me and actual, below zero winter?  First, deer hunting season.  A very few hunters, fewer by far than a decade ago, will stagger drunkenly into the woods before dawn and send the grotesquely overpopulated deer into an unparalleled panic and frenzy.  They’re already crazy because they’re in rut.  The deer will then run into the roads and into cars.  Why don’t they avoid the cars?  Two reasons: first, they think the roads are made of ice, so they’re afraid of running on them.  And second, there really is a  reason for the phrase “a deer in the headlights.”  This doesn’t begin explain why deer run into the sides of passing cars.  And it doesn’t explain why the shoulders of all of the roads are filled with deer eyes reflecting headlights and waiting for an unfortunate moment to run into the road.

See you later.

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 This isn’t a GBCW essay.  Rather it’s an “uh, can’t-we-be-a-little-less-orange-like?” essay.  Actually, not even an essay.  Just a thought or two, then I’ll see you later.  There are ways to get in touch with me directly, which a few of you know, and the rest can figure out, if you want to.  Just in case you want to correspond directly.

 Anyway, here’s the thing:  when someone works up an essay about, say, the wonders, culture and cuisine of Mexico City, it’s — in my book, by definition — Trollish to use that essay as a vehicle to rail against (the deservedly rail-againstable) corrupt government in one of Mexico’s outlying states.

 When, hypothetically speaking, someone works up an essay about the culture and history of the Sea Islands, it’s — in my book, and by definition — Trollish to use that essay as a vehicle to rail against the (deservedly rail-againstable) horrors of Jim Crow, hypocrisy of South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, or rather presumptuousness of North Carolina Vichy Dem Heath Shuler (who now wants to be minority leader).

 When, hypothetically speaking), someone works up an essay about the natural beauty of the islands off southern Thailand, or the ways in which they themselves are working to restore their battered tourist industry in the wake of the tragedy of the December 26, 2004, it’s — in my book, and by definition — Trollish to use that essay as a vehicle to rail against (the deservedly rail-againstable) loathsome crimes of child prostitution in Bangkok.

 While I’m repelled by those posses over at orange that jump all over any diary that, to them, smacks of anything less than laudatory of The One, I’m likewise disappointed when a diary about something worth celebrating in a state, a region, a country, is peppered with off-topic remarks about this or that awful aspect of the country that are actually tangential to the topic at hand.

 If among a group of friends I were to say, “By the way, Stan, I heard you just got a promotion.  Good for you.” I dare say that some (hopefully majority) part of that convivial group would be taken aback and be rather aghast if someone “from left field” said, “Yeh, Stan, I heard you had a drinking problem, too.  You pretty much suck, don’t you?”  I mean, while it may be true that Stan has a drinking problem, and it may be true that that sucks, and even causes heartache in the lives of his family, it’s not exactly the kind of thing you want to bring up in that otherwise congratulatory context.  I mean, not unless you’re an asshole.

 Well, please consider that when, as you’re reading the Comment Thread to current or future essay and you see such things. Rate as you see fit.  I hope, though, that “Ponies” would not be in the offing.  And let us emphasize that if, indeed, the tangential, tertiary-at-best comment does describe a real horror, then I’m not making light of the horror, I’m only saying the commentor should up and Write Their Own Goddam Diary and not try and highjack someone else’s.

 Good luck.  Godspeed.  Courage.

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