The Commentariat -- Dec. 11, 2013
NEW. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The number of people selecting health insurance plans in the federal and state marketplaces increased in November at a brisk pace, bringing the total to date to nearly 365,000, or more than triple the number who signed up in October, the Obama administration said on Wednesday.... The new data became available as Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, prepared for another confrontation with Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who called a hearing Wednesday to investigate the rollout of President Obama's health care law." ...
... Sebelius Shuts Barn Door; Horse Long-Gone. NEW. Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "... Kathleen Sebelius has launched an internal review to determine what department policies and management failures might have contributed to the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov...."
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "House and Senate budget negotiators reached agreement Tuesday on a budget deal that would raise military and domestic spending over the next two years, shifting the pain of across-the-board cuts to other programs over the coming decade and raising fees on airline tickets to pay for airport security.... Democrats gave up their demand that the deal extend unemployment benefits that expire at the end of the month...." ...
It's a good sign that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were able to come together and break the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven decision-making to get this done. -- President Barack Obama, shortly after the agreement was announced
... Ezra Klein runs down the major provisions of the deal. ...
... Sarah Binder of the Monkey Cage in the Washington Post: "Breaking the cycle of budgetary brinkmanship does not yet seem to have resolved bicameral differences elsewhere on the Hill.... More likely, the mini-deal is emblematic of legislative battles in polarized times: Parties come to the table only when the costs of blocking an agreement are too great to shoulder. And even then, parties will give up as little as necessary to avoid the sometimes painful consequences of stalemate."
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The Senate slowly began working its way through a backlog of presidential nominees on Tuesday now that Republicans are virtually powerless to block confirmations, approving a once-stalled judge to a powerful appeals court and a new director for the agency that oversees federal home lending. But Republicans, still seething over a power play last month by Democrats to curtail the filibuster significantly, have settled on a strategy for retribution: Make the confirmation process as time-consuming and painful as possible for Democrats." ...
... Ramsey Cox of the Hill: "The Senate voted 56-38 Tuesday to confirm Patricia Millett to the D.C. Circuit Court, making her the first nominee of President Obama's to clear the Senate since Democrats unilaterally changed the rules in a vote last month. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) voted with Democrats." ...
... Ed O'Keefe & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Later, senators confirmed Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) 57 to 41 to serve as the next head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency,which regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and federal home loan banks."
Ben Protess & Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "Five federal agencies approved the final [Volcker] rule, bolstering some provisions but leaving others open to loopholes...." President Obama & Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pressed the agencies to finalize the regulatory framework.
Dana Milbank finds signs Republicans & other conservatives are the rejecting the Tea Party. Leading conservatives back Texas Sen. John Cornyn over Tea Party loon Steve Stockman who announced his challenge to Cornyn Monday night. Paul Ryan negotiated a budget deal which would permit increased spending. "Senate Republicans are stepping up their efforts to help each other beat back primary challenges." And John Boehner may bring an immigration bill to the floor after filing deadlines for primary challenges. ...
... Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post runs down Steve Stockman's "qualifications." This would be much funnier if Stockman weren't an elected official. ...
... Josh Barro of Business Insider on Stockman's derpitude. "I am guessing that Texas Republicans are not about to nominate a candidate whose sole 2011 and 2012 income came from a shady nonprofit and who has been refusing to make legally-required financial disclosures. Cornyn is safe, for now." ...
... Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "More than half of Senate Republicans facing reelection next year face potentially viable tea party challenges -- a historically large threat to the GOP establishment that could, once again, kill the party's chances of taking back control of the chamber."
Jeff Mason & Roberta Rampton of Reuters: "Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a new push to increase access to mental health services with $100 million in new government funding nearly a year after a school shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut. Biden, who spearheaded a failed Obama administration campaign for stronger gun control measures following the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, met with families of the victims and mental health advocates." ...
... New York Times: "In the 12 months since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., almost every state has enacted at least one new gun law. Nearly two-thirds of the new laws ease restrictions and expand the rights of gun owners. Most of those bills were approved in states controlled by Republicans. Those who support stricter regulations won some victories -- mostly in states where the legislature and governorship are controlled by Democrats -- to increase restrictions on gun use and ownership." Report consists of interactive graphs charting state legislation.
Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "A new congressional report criticizes the federal government for awarding tens of billions of dollars in contracts to companies even though they were found to have violated safety and wage laws and paid millions in penalties. Issued on behalf of the Democratic senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, the report cited examples over the past six years." CW: Report includes one reason I don't buy mass-produced chicken.
Independent researcher Ashkan Soltani, with Washington Post reporters Andrea Peterson & Barton Gelman: "The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using 'cookies' and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.... The agency's internal presentation slides, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, show that when companies follow consumers on the Internet to better serve them advertising, the technique opens the door for similar tracking by the government. The slides also suggest that the agency is using these tracking techniques to help identify targets for offensive hacking operations." CW: So if the gummit is looking for terrorists seeking out silverplated turkey domes, I am high on their watch list.
Mark Landler & Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "With Iran threatening that any new sanctions would scuttle its interim nuclear deal with the West, the Obama administration is fighting a fierce battle to convince skeptical Senate Democrats not to pass any new measures against Tehran." ...
... Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "Secretary of State John Kerry managed to convince the Senate. But he didn't have much success in pressing the case against new Iran sanctions in the House, where Republicans and Democrats alike made clear how deep the resistance to the Iran deal runs in Congress."
Fidel Castro & Richard Nixon, 1959.
Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler. -- Sen. John McCain, expressing his disapproval of President Obama's shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro
Questions for Sen. McCain: Did you know that Obama & Castro met at Nelson Mandela's memorial service? Do you have any idea what Mandela stood for & why he is so beloved around the world? What did Obama mean when he said during his eulogy, "It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well. While I will always fall short of Madiba's example, he makes me want to be a better man"? Can you be a "better man" & apologize for your asinine Chamberlain-Hitler analogy?
Rule Sen. McCain Forgot: If you must invoke Hitler, you've already lost the argument.
Right Wing Rule No. 1. If Obama does it, it's wrong.
Corollary to RW Rule No. 1. If conservative Republicans do it, they're heroes spreading American democracy around the world. Media Meteor Blades of Daily Kos posts pix of Republican presidents & other GOP leaders shaking hands with ruthless dictators.
CW: I'd add this grainy snap to Media Meteor Blades' gallery:
John McCain shakes hands with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2009. Gaddafi had accepted responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in which 270 people -- many of them American students -- died over Lockerbie, Scotland. At the time McCain was bowing & scraping & promising Gaddafi military aid, Gaddafi successfully negotiated the release of the only convicted Lockerbie bomber.The RW parental units were probably too busy advising their litters on the fine points of spitting angrily while talking, keeping the race pure and most importantly lying as second nature. -- Contributor Diane, on why wingers don't understand international diplomacy & polite behavior
One more thing. While the U.S. backed the apartheid regime, Fidel Castro helped Mandela fight for racial equality. When you've come to a service to honor a man, you don't spit on his benefactors. -- Constant Weader
In Time's "Person of the Year" contest, Sen. Ted Cruz (RMegalomaniac-Texas) is Fourth Runner-Up. In his brief post, David Von Drehle suggests Cruz is insane, though of course he doesn't use that word & merely points out that Cruz is out of touch with reality. CW: Congratulations, Ted. You deserve it. ...
... Beating out Ted are, in ascending order, Syrian President Bashir Assad, DOMA litigant Edith Windsor, NSA leaker Edward Snowden, AND ...
... Time's Person of the Year -- Pope Francis.
CW: Maureen Dowd fancies herself a dime-novel writer. With a cast of character ripped from Capitol Hill! Awful stuff. There are just so many times I can write, "Her worst column yet," & maintain any credibility.
Congressional Race
Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Democratic state Sen. Katherine Clark won Tuesday's special election for a Massachusetts congressional seat, easily defeating Republican attorney Frank Addivinola. She will succeed Democrat Ed Markey, who vacated the suburban Boston-area 5th District seat earlier this year after he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Markey had held the seat since 1976."
November 2013 Election
Markus Scmidt of the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "The lawyer representing Republican Mark D. Obenshain in the pending statewide recount in the attorney general race on Monday for the first time openly raised the issue of contesting the election in the General Assembly if the tally does not sway the result in the Republican's favor." CW: That is, Obenshain could ask the Republic-led General Assembly to decide the election. Wonder how that would work out. Oh. Bush v. Gore.) ...
... As Charles Pierce wrote yesterday, "This could be one roaring, screaming debacle.... World's greatest democracy strikes again."
President Kennedy Assassination
Castro once told an Associated Press correspondent at the Brazilian Embassy in Havana that if you U.S. leaders didn't stop their attempts to kill Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe -- a threat of retaliation. Having followed the assassination of President Kennedy since 1963, I have come to a conclusion. Lee Harvey Oswald may have read the AP interview. And when he shot Kennedy, he may have done it as a self-appointed avenger of his hero, Fidel Castro. -- Daniel Schorr, on NPR, 2008
News Ledes
New York Times: "A day after the world's leaders, celebrities and royalty gathered ... to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela in a pomp-filled ceremony, Wednesday was the people's turn. They came by the thousands, black and white, frail and spry, from gated golf estates and tin-shack squatter camps, waiting to pay their final respects to the last and most beloved of a generation of leaders who liberated South Africa from apartheid. The lines, which snaked through the capital for miles, were reminiscent of the endless queues that South Africans endured in 1994 to vote for Mr. Mandela's African National Congress in the nation's first fully democratic elections." ...
... USA Today: "The sign language interpreter used at Tuesday's memorial service for Nelson Mandela, and whose image was broadcast around the world as he shared a stage with world leaders including President Obama, was being called a 'fake' by the Deaf Federation of South Africa." ...
... More from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
New York Times: "The United States has suspended the delivery of nonlethal aid to the Syrian opposition in northern Syria after concluding that some of it has fallen into the hands of extremist Islamic fighters, American officials said on Wednesday."
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Reader Comments (21)
..." I have come to a conclusion. Lee Harvey Oswald may have read the AP interview. And when he shot Kennedy, he may have done it as a self-appointed avenger of his hero, Fidel Castro. -- Daniel Schorr, on NPR, 2008."
Geez, I nevah liked Daniel Schorr, but did not think he was a paranoid crazy head. Guess I was mistaken, and he was after all. Usually my gut tells me when someone is highly toxic (who I have heard or seen on the Tee Vee machine, but nevah met). Daniel Schorr, I now see, was one of those dudes--self-righteous, arrogant and so verrrry AIPAC!
And now we have the inglorious MSM, who for the most part ignored Obama's wonderful tribute to Nelson Mendala--telling us that our President is a traitor for shaking the hand of Raul Castro. Cannot believe how many pundits have picked up on this shit--and ignored the speech. Also, they are whispering (loudly) that Michelle Obama was ANGRY (an ANGRY Black woman) at her husband for taking a "selfie" with the Heads of State of UK and Denmark during the funeral. Again, no mention of Obama's terrific speech.
I am sick of these ass wipes. Cannot we ban them from the airwaves because their toxicity and stupidity make many people ill, and aggravates the delusions of the already crazy? Or are we too far down the rabbit hole? Sigh.
The budget deal reached by Ryan and Murray seems pretty much like previous budget deals. People at the bottom of the economic ladder slipped further and have to hang on harder and some GOP Gomer Pyle asswipe polished his wanna be presidential knob.
I'm with Kate. Had AJAM on while baking all day. Obama's speech is a point of pride for the US as well as his reception by the people of South Africa. I guess the right wingers were completely deprived of any instruction by their parents on basic manners in public situations. Hand shaking 101 - avoid international scenes. The RW parental units were probably too busy advising their litters on the fine points of spitting angrily while talking, keeping the race pure and most importantly lying as second nature. Some households went the extra mile, like the Vitters, who emphasized the use of diapers during intimate encounters.
It is breathtaking to see that the behavior bar for GOP affiliated politicians has not just fallen, but is irretrievably and deeply buried in shit.
Fukuyama on some problems of American political institutions;
http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2013/12/08/the-decay-of-american-political-institutions/
I thought Michelle didn't appear very happy during the selfies but perhaps she felt Barack clowning around during the memorial service lacked a degree of gravitas?
Re: The history behind a handshake
The presence of Raul Castro at the memorial of Mandela hasn't gotten nearly enough historical perspective by our feeble mass media hamsters afraid to cross the red lines. Instead of even asking why Cuba is being represented at such a historical passing, we can only conjure up speculation of how it might feel to shake hands with such heartless commies.
Well, Reality Check, for those who forgot to read a real history book instead of the God-approved whitewashing coming out of Tejas. In reality, Cuba should have been front and center during the commemoration of Mandela and his long fight against apartheid.
They are certainly more deserving than us, and the West in general, who preferred to look the other way while Racist Afrikaners tore their country in two. Ol' Ronny O' Reagan and his sidekick Mz. Thatcher are on record denouncing Mandela's terrorist ways and his jail time he so deserved. We had Mandela on our terrorist watch list 'til 2008. Thanks for all you did Mandela! While the West talked out their ass about Democracy we were busy suppressing it.
Yeah, yeah, different times, Cold War, red commies invading...
So where does Cuba come into this? Fidel Castro and Che Guevara bet the security of their own country in the fight for African liberation against foreign invaders. And largely against the will of the Soviet Union. Cuba sent over 400,000 soldiers onto the African continent in international support for national liberation movement removing the aging yoke of colonialism. Cuba intervened in the Congo (Brazzaville), today's Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau, today's Namibia, Ethiopia...
The decisive intervention leading to the ultimate weakening of the Apartheid regime in South Africa was in southern Angola, at the little known battle of Cuito-Cuanavale. Little known in the West, but in Africa it's mythic. There, the Cubans provided the crucial backup of 50,000 soldiers and armaments to hold off the fiercest and best-equipped divisions of the South African army, backed by Western money and arms.
This defeat eventually led to the withdraw of South African forces back into what is now known as Namibia but was occupied at the time by South Africa. The peace accords eventually led to the independence of Namibia, the removal of foreign troops in Angola which then transformed into a long and terrible civil war finally ending in 2002. Most importantly here, however, the major defeat in 1988 led to the weakening of the Apartheid regime, which slowly crumbled thereafter culminating in the election of Mr. Mandela in 1994.
Without the bravery and assistance of Cuba, Africa could be a very different place today. Mandela says it best,
“If today all South Africans enjoy the rights of democracy; if they are able at last to address the grinding poverty of a system that denied them even the most basic amenities of life, it is also because of Cuba’s selfless support for the struggle to free all of South Africa’s people and the countries of our region from the inhumane and destructive system of apartheid. For that, we thank the Cuban people from the bottom of our heart.”
http://africansuntimes.com/2012/11/cuba-and-southern-african-liberation-the-unknown-story/
In summary, if we are to actually uphold our ideals of democracy and freedom, I think Raul Castro deserved that simple handshake. And I hope it was sincere.
Comment removed. Reality Chex is not the place to practice writing fiction. We leave that to MoDo. See link above.
@safari: Thanks for your excellent expansion of my brief comment above.
@Kate Madison: I think Schorr's theory makes perfect sense. I can't see any suggestion of paranoia or other forms of crazy. Oswald had motives. Thanks to great American patriot Jack Ruby, we can't be sure what those motives were. But Oswald had intended to visit Cuba & was a strong -- one might say "obsessed" -- supporter of Fidel. Almost certainly Kennedy's opposition to Fidel -- including, of course, armed opposition -- figured into Oswald's decision to assassinate Kennedy. Was avenging Castro his primary motive? Don't know, but there's a high likelihood that it was at or near the top of Oswald's list.
Marie
Marie,
A valid criticism IMHO, now understood. I'll rein it in. Thank you.
When one is running out of ammunition in order to run down an opponent the grab for whatever flimsy thing available is a necessary maneuver. Handshakes and selfies ( a silly, babyish word) along with the first lady's supposed disapproval (could she have possibly just NOT been smiling?) are the tantalizing tidbits certain conservatives chew like cud and spit out on the airwaves. We expect this kind of catywaupus on Fox (and there was plenty of it) but shame on McCain–––surely he hasn't forgotten with whom he shook hands with and surely he can't be stupid enough to equate Obama shaking hands with R. Castro to shaking hands with Hitler, but here we have it. And, given the history of Cuban assistance to Mandela as outlined so well by safari, wouldn't you expect a senator of long standing to KNOW this?
Why am I always so surprised?
@CW, thanks for your response to Kate, which said exactly what I was thinking. You beat me to the punch.
@Todd: On the whole, I'd say you don't understand. Or -- as seems likely -- you are aggressively pretending you don't. Your comments have consisted of long & confusing discourses on your personal philosophy & rules to live by, vague musings about democracy, Christology, & now an attempt to publish -- without permission -- a short short story here.
I don't know what other genres you might try, but you will have to try each & every one of them elsewhere.
I have repeatedly attempted to give you pointers on "How to Write a Comment for Reality Chex." Either I'm a bad teacher or you're an inattentive pupil -- or possibly a little of both. In any event, your comments are largely inappropriate to this site.
It isn't fair to other readers & writers when I have to cut off comments altogether on days I'm too busy to attend to you. I am not going to spend any more of my time on your account other than to delete any & all of your comments -- no matter how cogent & on point they may be. Some while back contributor P. D. Pepe suggested you start your own site. It's free & easy to set up a blogspot site; that might be a way to go. Good luck to you.
Marie
Didn't you just know the wingnuts would blow a gasket when the president went over to shake Raoul Castro's hand?
Hey, idiots, it was a fucking handshake. He didn't send him bombs and bullets like Republican presidents have been doing with dictators for a generation or more. A handshake. And a long overdue one at that.
Is it possible that wingnuts don't recall the efforts of one Ronald of Reagan to prop up, support, shill for, and provide money, protection, and CIA assistance for every tinpot right-wing butcher in Central and South America for his entire presidency?
Partial review, class. A full review would take too long and I don't have enough barf bags on hand.
Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, the list goes on and on of countries whose murderous rulers got more than a hand job from Ronnie Raygun.
Efrain Rios Montt, brutal Guatemalan dictator, with Reagan's help and unstinting support, conducted a reign of terror, rape, murder, torture and butchery on an appalling scale, even for Central America in the 70s and 80s. This asshole closed the legislature, tore up the constitution, started secret military tribunals to try anyone speaking out against him. He was responsible for the murder of thousands of indigenous indian tribes. Entire villages were burned, women raped, babies smashed against rocks. But here's what Saint Ronnie had to say about this guy to whom he was busily sending millions of dollars in weapons and military supplies:
The sainted one complained bitterly that this murderer was getting a "bum rap" and that he was "totally dedicated to democracy." I guess we all know what kind of democracy Reagan was talking about. But maybe it wasn't all his fault. I mean the guy didn't know shit about anything outside his own bubble.
From a Corey Robin article in London Review of Books: On 5 December 1982, Ronald Reagan met the Guatemalan president, Efraín Ríos Montt, in Honduras. It was a useful meeting for Reagan. ‘Well, I learned a lot,’ he told reporters on Air Force One. ‘You’d be surprised. They’re all individual countries.’
"They're all individual countries." Well holy fucking shit Ron, who'd ever have thought that? Still, it didn't stop him from making sure that those countries were turned into blood soaked abattoirs during his years of jerking off to pictures of dictators and their victims.
Then there was another good buddy of Raygun, Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, whose claim to creative horror was kidnapping babies, hundreds and hundreds of babies, and giving them to the officers who raped, tortured, and killed the mothers so the babies could be brought up to be good little junta tots. Eliot Abrams, by the way, another piece of stinking shit, testified that the Reagan Administration knew all about the baby kidnappings, giving the lie to Reagan's many protestations of ignorance.
He was ignorant alright, but not about this stuff.
Before being elected president with his October surprise (hey, another scam of supporting and selling arms to terrorists! Just to get elected president) Reagan, in his role as commentator and pundit, heaped abuse on anyone (Jimmy Carter, eg) who sought to stem the tide of the atrocities in the Southern Hemisphere, calling reports of the hundreds of thousands of disappeared civilians propaganda and lies. I guess he wanted to make sure they weren't lies after all.
So, after becoming president, the CIA under the Reagan Administration's plan for Aid to Murdering Dictators Given a Bum Rap, asked the rape and murder squads from the Argentine junta to help train Nicaraguan Contras in how to be better, more efficient rapists, torturers, and murderers. They learned fast, those contra boys. Especially with all the nice blow up toys Reagan sent them, and I don't mean the kind preferred by a certain Times columnist.
And this is just the tip of a grisly blood-soaked iceberg. And don't forget how much Reagan is worshiped by wingnuts. Worshiped!
So Obama shook Raoul Castro's hand and the wingnuts lose their shit, but nothing said about the great He-roe of Conservatism aiding and abetting some of the worst despots in this hemisphere?
Wow big surprise there.
And honestly, even though Marie's Right Wing Rule #1 (If Obama does it, it's always wrong) is correct, this is far worse. There is a strain of dehumanizing hatred and bloodthirstiness that underpins conservative thought and action. Its milder forms are things like thirsting to keep people from access to health care, killing them slowly. The worst are things like bombing innocents who had nothing to do with this country, all for Shock and Awe, and faux manliness, and stuff like Reagan's Dictators' Hall of Shame.
The blunt trauma force of the hypocrisy of these people never surprises me in its all encompassing striving for lower and more disgraceful depths.
Regarding the "other" photograph at Mandela's memorial here is an explanation by the photog...
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/selfie-of-obama-was-misinterpreted-photographer-says/?_r=0
I listened to a good bit of the BBC reporting leading up to the start of the memorial and it was definitely like a huge joyous party with all the citizens of SA providing the singing and dancing (good lord - there is nothing more joyous than those SA songs). What gets me is that all those who have criticzed the selfie did not listen to the memorial. If they had, they would have understood that there was nothing disrespectful in the taking of that photograph. That memorial was truly a celebration of Mandela's life.
@Haley Simon: Quite right. When a leader -- or anyone -- dies at a young or youngish age, there will naturally be an emphasis on mourning a life lost too soon. When an elderly leader -- or anyone -- dies, not unexpectedly, the stress will be on celebrating her/his accomplishments. This doesn't mean people don't grieve, but it does mean that at least some of the ceremonial events following her/his death will be of a more upbeat, joyful nature. Yesterday's event, as you say, was "like a huge joyous party." This is true across many cultures. It seems, well, "natural." Americans who complained about the Obama photo are "unnaturally" disposed to criticize the President for every move he makes.
Marie
Good Grief! CNN has a report that Ted Cruz walked out of Mandela's memorial during Raul Castro's address.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/11/sen-cruz-walks-out-on-castro-speech-at-mandela-memorial/?hpt=hp_t3
Let's also not forget to mention the wonderful tributes from Right Wing World media to the memory of Nelson Mandela:
"Mandela (gangster, convict, not white) lead his people (commie bastard) such as they were (nee-groe commies), helped free a few black people who were really mostly rabble (terrorists), was a communist and murderer and traitor and terrorist, but I guess we won't mention any of those things today while he's being honored for sticking it to those nice white South Africans. Fucking commie."
They never give up, I'll give them that. And don't Newt me any Gingriches. The former Speaker of the Lies has performed too many metaphorical lynchings in the past for anyone to believe his bullshit today.
It's like Al Capone complaining that he's shocked at how violent the mob has become while he was away making with the license plates.
My favorite was an old clip of David (nearly* always wrong) Brooks whining about all the horror that would be unleashed when Mandela was let out of jail because....black, terrorist, commie, murderer. And like that. Ooooh...David, you were right on the money. Spot fucking on. Like always. Why is there never any penalty for these people who are chronically wrong? And not just wrong, I mean flat-earth wrong; trees cause acid rain wrong; Adam riding dinosaurs wrong; trickle down economy wrong; poll tax wrong; no suffrage for women wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. As in never** right.
Why do they never suffer any consequences for their ineptness, ignorance, tunnel vision, inert brains, and haywire moral compasses?
Why, why, why?
(It's rhetorical. No answer needed, but if you've got a good one, have at it...)
* But mostly
** Practically
Re: Jouyous South Africans. Closer to home at a NOLA jazz funeral, the band plays mournful music on the way to the grave, but joyful music on the way home. African roots, perhaps?
PD,
Anyone with access to some kind of video machine or editing software can easily find a single frame from any mainstream production film that will depict even professional actors in highly controlled environments, surrounded by other professionals whose sole job it is to make them look good, in the worst light for at least 1/30th or 1/24th of a second. A weird expression, eyes closed, mouth agape, tongue sticking out, momentary wardrobe malfunctions, etc., you name it. You can find a single frame to support the wildest storylines you can manufacture.
There are times and places (and proper conditions and experience required) for reasonable examination and deconstruction of photographs (see Roland Barthes), but in the vast majority of cases, especially at such events, at which a single photograph captures a fraction of a second, the attempt to extract definitive meaning is little more than idle wanking.
Attempting to discern motives, emotions, inner thoughts, hidden narratives, and world historical significance from an image that recorded perhaps 1/200th of a second, especially with no additional images from earlier or later to offer context, and restricted by selective framing, contrast, color adjustments, and any of the myriad digital editing tools available, and publishing such insular, untethered mental droppings as anything other than nothing-better-to-do-with-my-time speculation is an illegitimate waste of every else's time and attention.
'nuff said.
Doable? A long shot, maybe—but, perhaps If more people in other states called for it, too.
"Maine group to press to overturn Citizens United
The group is seeking to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2010 that reversed a century long trend to limit the political muscle of corporations and organized labor. ...about 60,000 signatures ... are necessary to get the Maine Legislature to call for a constitutional convention."
http://www.pressherald.com/politics/Maine_group_to_press_to_overturn_Citizens_United.html
It takes two-thirds of the states to participate. And a constitutional convention hasn’t been convened since the first one in Philadelphia in 1787. Time for another?
@MAG: I fear the mischief the god-bothers would create if the constitution was opened to be "fixed."
Charles Pierce on the selfie "backlash":
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/aol-news-obama-selfie-story-121113
Perhaps these photos have been widely published, but they were striking to me in the ordinary nature of the group. Photos taken aboard AF #1 on the trip to South Africa, published in The Root.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2013/12/white_house_releases_candid_photos_of_presidential_trip_to_south_africa.html
Maybe I haven't searched thoroughly enough, but mostly the yada yada yada that is attributed to the selfie of the PMs Thorning-Schmidt and Cameron and President Obama has supposedly been about appropriate social decorum. In my mind, there are 2 more prominent issues driving the flood of criticism and outrage. First, the belief that their own cultural rituals are the only legitimate means of expression and the relentless drive to paint the Obamas with the brush of race stereotyping. There has been some broad suggestion about the First Lady being "mad", read an angry black woman. Obviously, PM Schmidt is an attractive, blond, woman. And no, I don't see race baiting in every action. However, how perfectly does this situation lend itself to the perverted story that the GOP and company have tried to tell since Obama declared his candidacy.