MUSINGS EARLY JANUARY 2014

·         Musings 2014 1 16

Rep Darrell Issa is pursuing investigation of possibility of breach of security of ACA, even though to date no such breach has occurred, and he is ignoring the very real breach of security at Target stores, which has affected over 100 million people.

About TPP

·         Have you heard anyone talking about TPP and FTA, that is Trans Pacific Partnership and Fast Track Authority, besides Ed Schultz, Thom Hartman, and Amy Goodman?

·         Sen Max Baucus,(D-MT)  chair of the finance committee, has the same fervor for TPP that he had against Public Option in ACA.  Will he have the same success with this issue as with the ACA?  Still, he is going to be ambassador to China, I guess his stances pay off.

·         When Max Baucus convened the finance committee hearing into FTA, he had four witnesses, three who favored FTA, and one, a union leader, who opposed.

·         They are trotting out the same tired old arguments:  “Malaysia has a 40% tax on tires from USA, we don’t have any on theirs,” in 1994 it was “Mexico has a 20% tax on tires, we don’t have any on theirs.”

1/17/14

More on TPP

·         Someone just tweeted on the Ed show, “TPP stinks more than the water in WV.”

·         TPP—Take People’s Paychecks; Toilet Paper Politics; Terrible Public Policy;

·         New Balance is the last major athletic shoe manufacturer in the U.S. (though I have been told not all their production takes place in USA)

·         A tweet:  What is wrong with Obama?  Jesus Mary and Joseph help us all.

·         A tweet:  President Obama, please don’t break our hearts.

·         I love Rep DeFazio.   Not only is he a staunch progressive,  He is so sweet

·         I love Rep Delauro.  Beauty is as beauty does.  As plain a plain Jane as can be imagined, always dresses well, always speaks well, always on the right track.  Don’t you love that red streak in her hair?

·         This is the closest vote ever on a question posed by Ed Shultz.  Do you think the president will back down on TPP?  47% say yes. 53% say no.  So sad, that we should doubt our president.

 

Because we hear so much umbrage directed at that dictator Obama, for all his executive orders, please note:  Number of executive orders during first terms:  Reagan-213, HWBush-166, gwbush-173, Obama-147.  Obama had fewer executive orders during first term than any president in the last 100 years.

The Three “I’s”

There were three governors elected for the first time in 2009—of Guam, Virginia, and New Jersey.  Since then, One has been Impeached, one Indicted, and one is being Investigated.  What a year that was.

Gov Christie says he is going to run his state for the people who pay for it.  Does he mean the corporations who buy the govt, or does he mean the rich who pay taxes, thereby  demeaning those who are too poor to pay taxes.

Bill Press says “It’s cold as HELL.”  Yeah, right.

Notes on two women on msnbc:

Alex Wagner’s mother, Tin Swe Thant, is an immigrant from Rangoon, Burma.^[1] Her father, Carl Wagner, is from Iowa and of German and Irish descent, and is a prominent Democratic Party political consultant who co-chaired Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign.^[4] Wagner was raised Roman Catholic.^[5]

Karen Finney, [with msnbc, of Disrupt, 4 p.m., Sat & Sun] who is African-American on her father's side, is also a "great, great, great, great niece" of Robert E. Lee on her mother's.

Someone’s quote:  “And remember, while not all conservatives are stupid, all stupid people are conservative.”

So, in the Ukraine, people are protesting new laws forbidding them to protest.

What would happen if the couple of million people who have had their unemployment insurance cut off were to do sit-ins at their local legislator’s offices during this ten-day paid vacation they, the legislators, are having?  Maybe also the half-a-billion people who have no health insurance because their states turned down Medicaid expansion program?  The workers who have had their food stamps cut?

 

 

 

 

Musings Feb 15-17

Musings February 15, 2012

Gretchen Carlson interviewing Mitt Romney, “You know that is going to be President Obama’s whole strategy now, the fairness/sharing thing…how would you combat that?”

Did you hear Rick Santorum castigating the 1%, along with the Republican candidates and the Republican congresspeople?  “Don’t you see how they see you…these elite snobs…looking down their noses at you…they don’t care about the average person.”  Well, actually, he thought he was castigating Democrats.

Martin Bashir says the choice between the parties is, “Do you want intervention in the boardroom, or in the bedroom?”

Give Gov Walker his due, he gave a gracious welcome to the president when the latter arrived in Wisconsin, presenting him with an Brewers’ athletic shirt that says:  “OBAMA 1.”  Of course, he was too sick to accompany President Obama on a trip to a factory, but that is probably not a swipe at the president, but prudence about appearing before his people at this volatile time.

Sec Panetta:  “We’ve made very clear that they [Iran] are not to develop a nuclear weapon.  We’ve made very clear that they are not to close the Straits of Hormuz.  We’ve made very clear that they are not to export terrorism and undermine other governments.”   And who are we?  Who do we think we are?  Who told us that we could not develop nuclear weapons?  Who told us that we were not to close any sea lanes or blockade shipments from any port?  Who told us that we were not to bomb civilians and assassinate people, and that we were not to foment rebellion against other governments?               

It really was a simpler time.  Men kept their wives under control by keeping them barefoot in winter and pregnant in summer.

Foster Friess goes from bad to worse.   After passing off as a joke his comment about  using an aspirin for a contraceptive, he argues that forcing religious entities to cover contraceptives is like “asking a Muslim soup kitchen to serve pork or a Kosher delicatessen to have to serve ham.”   One can see why his protégée, Rick Santorum, equates the contraceptive rule to requiring that insurance provide coverage for toothpaste and deodorant.   Both of them trivializing women’s reproductive rights and health care needs. 

And what about those sweater vests?  Mind you, I have nothing against sweater vests, at least, I never have had.  But I am getting rather sick of seeing these all the time, is this some kind of fetish?  Is this supposed to set a fashion trend?  Has anyone seen an uptick is sales of sweater vests?  But now I see,  there is Santorum’s billionaire benefactor, who accompanies him on his tour, standing at his shoulder,  and who introduces him at CPAC—while wearing a sweater vest. 

If God really meant sex only for procreation, then why did that sly old fox make it possible for seniors to still enjoy sex even in their 50s, their 60s, their 70s?  Do you suppose he’s up there, chuckling away, and saying, “Go for it, it’s high time you could enjoy sex without worrying about the consequences?”  Or perhaps he’s saying,  “Whoops, I didn’t see that coming.  What did I do wrong?”  Maybe  Rep Issa’s oversight committee should look into that.