Here We Go Again - Maybe

Are we ginning up another war here?  I think prob'ly not.  This looks a lot like the kind of theater that gets put on when you're trying to work some of the levers internal to some other country.

(hat tip = Democratic Underground)



Of course, you can always count on Droopy Dog Lieberman to pretend Congress has anything at all to do with setting Foreign Policy; and the Press Poodles on DumFux News will run with it, especially when they can bring on a right-wing jughead to talk shit about Obama.

But this actually brings to mind a different point for me.  If you look at Americans who're likely to support the Iran-Must-Not-Go-Nuclear approach, I'll bet ass-wipes to Benjamins that demographic is gonna match up almost perfectly with people who say everybody's a lot safer when everybody owns a gun.  When a neighboring country owns nukes and ballistic missiles, how is that fundamentally different from your next-door neighbor owning shotguns and assault rifles?

A Small Question

Lots of righteous indignation this week when Darryl Issa (R-Haugpecker) held a committee hearing on the non-troversy over Contraception Coverage, neglecting to invite any women to participate.

Outrage was voiced by the pundits along these lines: "How does Congress debate a Women's Health issue without any women!?!"

I guess I'm wondering why anybody would accept any debate in Congress regarding ANY policy issue that doesn't include women.

You make your point stick a lot better if you can at least make it look a little less obviously political.

Rollin' 'Em

Along the same lines as the recent  "issue" of contraception, Obama follows it up with Eric Holder saying DoJ intends not to defend a provision in the Veterans' Bennies law that denies benefits to same-sex spouses.

It's not clear to me that they're saying the VA will stop denying those bennies, it's just that if you're denied and you challenge, then DoJ isn't gonna put up a fight.  Not quite as good as I think it oughta be, but they have to make it look like they're at least trying to follow the law.  There're still problems with the whole Torture and Illegal Imprisonment things out there, but hey - I'll take smallish improvements where I can get 'em.

Anyway, add this one to Contraception (and let's not forget DOMA), and we've got something that's starting to look like a pattern.

Obama is aware that the attitudes have shifted.  People who went along with the Right Radicals on the Culture War crap, thinking they'd get something good in return, are seeing now that there wasn't any real payoff at all - it was a gyp.  The Culture War is the agenda, and what you get for your trouble is fucked with your pants on.

So Obama rolls merrily along.  Once in a while he tosses a big hunk of juicy red meat out the window, and we all get to watch as a smaller and smaller pack of increasingly vicious feral dogs tear into each other trying to get at it.

One other little thing occurs to me.  I think this is looking like Obama is finding his footing, and learning how to use his expertise in Constitutional Law to drive the politics necessary to move his policy agenda forward.  Remember the big stupid show the House Repubs made of reading the Constitution, and requiring that every proposed bill include Constitutional compliance / justification?  I think Obama has taken that in hand like a blackjack and is in the process of wailin' the shit out of 'em with it.  I dunno of course, but it's more fun to watch now than it was just 6 or 8 months ago.

One Of My Questions

People in Red States collect more from Washington than they pay in.  So how come the voters in those states are usually the ones who're always screamin' the loudest about what a shitty deal they're getting from The Gubmint?

(hat tip = Balloon Juice)

Both Sides Do It

But one side ain't been tryin' this shit.

First, take a tweet from an Obama staffer:

Then, ignoring the the actual content (not just the context) of the Milbank piece Messina referred to, pretend that it's the Dems who're insulting Latinos.

And guess what?  Because they never check on anything, the rubes will swallow it whole.  Another bit of "evidence" is manufactured and another "truth" is born.

(hat tip = Wonkette)

Uh-Oh

I've seen a lot of posts in the last several months - on Lefty/Progressive websites mostly - that put up quotes or video clips from some "conservative" or another saying something that seems to be outside the norm for what passes for conservatives these days; asking what's happening to the Right Wing?  Why do these guys sound kinda reasonable all of a sudden?

Judge Napolitano on DumFux News:


Some are saying it's because the freaks that have been created by Rush and Rupert over the years are now out of the lab and threatening the villagers, so the propagandizers are trying to walk it all back a little.  Or maybe it's because Roger Ailes knows how to read, and he sees the polling numbers are softening to the point of meltdown.

Why does a media conglomerate that has no qualms about identifying itself as a proponent of an ideology suddenly veer away from that ideology?  I dunno, but I really do hope it's something mundane like Ad Revenues or Voter Disgust instead of my own little paranoid visions.

It pays to remember that the bad guys don't show up looking like the bad guys.  That's how they get in.  Tyranny and subjugation always arrive draped in a flag, clutching the scared text.

US Senate tries again on SOPA and PIPA.

Michigan's Public Act 4

Women In Combat

The obvious question: Is this what DumFux News claims is their unbiased approach to reporting the news during the day, and saving all the commentary for the evening shows?



But really, at about the 1:50 mark, Lizard-brain Trotta decides that the American fighting man is so outa control; so totally lacking in discipline and professionalism that of course he's gonna rape somebody - how can he help it when them wimmins is right there next to a big ol' steamin' hunk of love junk like his own bad self!?!

Yo, rubes - if you "honor the troops" so fuckin' much, how come you think they're all a bunch of slaverin' dogs?

Liz Trotta has no soul and no honor.

We Are Maybe No So Fucked - Yet

Privatizing certain things is not in itself a bad idea.  If we wanna build a new highway, we contract it out to private firms - that way, we don't have the on-going expense of keeping that capability in-house (and often idle between projects).  We also prevent some of the use-it-or-lose-it rationalization that goes on.

But there's a huge difference between privatizing the building of the road, and transferring ownership of the road from Public to Private.

Here's Maude Barlow talking about water (originally aired 2002).  Interesting by itself, but what really struck me was the bit starting at about 8:00.  Big Water (soon to rival, and then possibly dwarf Big Oil) is making significant progress in privatizing public water in places where there are some pretty bad governments.  This looks like a good thing is happening, but if Bad Government is the justification for privatizing, then it simply will become imperative for Big Water to support corrupt regimes in order to maintain the potential for expanding their market.



SInce Barlow's talk, people have won some of the battles against Big Water, but commerce never sleeps - the efforts continue.  Now we're seeing a change in tactics (I think).  The push now is towards consolidation of water districts.  If a local entity transfers control of its water services to a larger regional authority (eg: what's being discussed in Asheville NC), it gets a little easier for the water company to work their magic on the coin-operated politicians they've helped put in office at the state and national levels.

Don't bet against human nature.  Greed is a powerful motivator, but a figurative thirst for money and power is nothing compared with the real deal.

Both Sides Do It

Except they don't.

(hat tip = Democratic Underground)

A Thought

Ideology is a worldview held in spite of evidence to the contrary.