The fundamental problem with the GOP trying (or posturing) to rebrand itself 'fiscally conservative', after decades to the contrary (including eight years of "costless wars"), is that those principles have almost no practical gravitas, right now.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
In Defense of Rauch
Like most, I just read Rauch's post about the internet and rolled my eyes. (Seriously, JR, if your friends cannot ward you off bad jerky like "comment or vote", you may need a wider circle of friends...)
That said, just reading the first line of each paragraph of Massie's reply kinda makes Rauch's point.
Pension Raid
If he's right (as seems obvious), Johnathan Rauch might wonder aloud why Secretary Geithner, in yet another fit of "wha?", is raiding pensions to keep from hitting a debt-issue limit.
Monday, July 11, 2011
As Washington Plays Dice with 20 Year Forecasts of Doom...
I'll bet President Obama wishes that he'd have let the Bush tax cuts expire.
Boy, he'd be in the driver's seat, now, eh?
/strategic faux pas
/Lawrence O'Donnell
Friday, July 8, 2011
QOTD: Arrest Boehner for Sedition?
ORDER, WE WILL HAVE ORDER!
Obama Should Make "Recess Appointments"
Asserting new "legal authority", the President should make some recess appointments and call the GOP-led Congress to prove that it is in a "jam session" rather than a "sham session" designed to thwart his constitutional powers.
Time to act like a meglomaniac, Mr. President. You know, 'Walk Like An Egyptian'?
I know, I know. You have that easy-going quasi-midwest sensibility, but your are in Rome, now.
Another Showdown With Stalinism In Our Times
Reactionary, Iranian-style Stalinism (paranoid totalitarianism) is on trail right now in Syria, where the regime has been tempted to use near-Kohmeni inspired force to crush the spirit of the peoples:
Should Obama Seize the Federal Reserve?
If Congress doesn't fulfill its constitutional role, it seems like an apt option to keep the economy and security of a nation-at-war on track ...
Just sayin'.
Beware overconfidence about what you think will happen, GOP playahs...
Obama's Realities - The Makings of a President
The GOP has two rebranding imperatives, at least: abortion and taxes. They've already done blatantly unconstitutional things to make headlines on abortion, to reinforce their brand image.
As yourself, what are they prepared to do (unconsitutional or otherwise) to get publicity on the issue of fiscal restraint? [Because of abortion, recall that the Defense Authorization Bill didn't make it last year, for something like the first time in the history of the modern America...]
Now, ask yourself whether Geithner and POTUS really understand what they are up against, or, even if they do, whether they have the guts for the constitutional brinkmanship that is coming.
I think the answer is 'no'.
Warren Buffet says this morning that no one knows what will happen in the event the US hits its "authorized" debt limit.
Is that partially a failing of the Treasury? Yes.
Geithner should probably be following the President in a pattern of escalating concern. He should have laid out a week-by-week plan to start shutting down the government, starting with stopping payment on the salaries and benefits of Congress, maybe.
The President should have a legal opinion in hand about his authority and the 'implicit authorization' to borrow, the National Security risk to shutting down the government, perhaps publicly asking, as Ronald Reagan used to do so effectively, for people to call their congressmen to insist on a deal (i.e. to tell them it is 'okay' to raise taxes).
An Executive wins this game. No, it's not a clean 'win'. Is the philosopher king up to the game? The GOP clearly want to test him and his.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Battle of Gettysburg
Today in history, the great flank attacks on the Union position...and such great lettings of blood as The Wheatfield.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Taxpayer Cost of Small Gov't Republicans
Fast off this story about the cost of error in the judicial system and in memory of the cost of Wisconsin's Governor having illegally fired some people years ago only to have the state forced by the courts to pay restitution, there comes this, a clearly unconstitutional attempt to restrict access to abortion:
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There is no way that this passes constitutional muster (at least, I think there is clear precedent, but one never knows with today's radical conservatives on SCOTUS).
So, the only question is, what will be the cost to taxpayers, eventually, from this kind of overreach?
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Not Everyone Misunderstands Robert P. George
One doesn't have to worry about his lament that "intellectuals" give short shrift to his philosophy.
Here, in three points or so:
1. Andrew Koppleman put it best (paraphrase): on inspection, people can see that gays can and do coordinate with each other toward a fundamental human good. (This is what makes rejections of George and his travellers' conclusions so easy for so many, not just that they don't understand his purported sophistication, aims, or good intent).
2. The moral truth of marriage, even as George grounds it ('a community of adults coming together in a special way'), need not logically be grounded exclusively in hetero-sex. (I have come up with a new way to illustrate this, succinctly.)
3. The effort to locate "gay" as nothing more than a step in the long process of "sexual liberation" is a conceptual non-starter. No matter whether or when any particular society is "liberal" or "conservative", the question of gay abides, including marriage, because of the fundamental character of gay attraction. This is one reason why his Harvard journal article will not interest "intellectuals", except as an illustration of his ability to do apologetics, not analysis. (Recall the joke about the New Natural Lawyer who only brought a liberal consequentialists with him to a dialectical drinking party).
4. His own ideology has blocked him to the idea that parents of gays do not have to be "liberationists" and can, in fact, teach what we might otherwise think of as "conservative" sexual norms. His idea that parents of gays would have no reason/justification to counsel anything but promiscuity and hedonistic abandon is laughable on face.
Sullivan's reply/notice is brief and political.
Sullivan's reply/notice is brief and political.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The Burden of DOMA :: Legislative action required
US SENATE SPLITS GAY COUPLES - BUT WHY?
While DOMA pretended to enshrine a kind of federalism for gay marriage progression, its real fire came in the infamous "section 3", which excludes people from key aspects of citizenship at the Federal level, no matter what their state decides.
To wit:
Today my husband, Sergio, and I will report to the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to be interviewed for the purpose of determining the legitimacy of our marriage in connection with my petition for his "green card" as my spouse. Unfortunately, despite the historic nature of this interview - the first, to our knowledge, to be conducted for a same-sex couple - it will only be a formality, for we stand no chance of having our case approved.-link
On July 13 in San Francisco, Doug Gentry and Alex Benshimol, a married California couple who have been together for six years, will face every same-sex binational couple’s worst nightmare: a deportation hearing. As anyone following this issue knows, for years there has been little hope for same-sex binational couples seeking to reside together in the United States. Many binational couples are legally married like Alex and Doug, but they are still treated as legal strangers in the eyes of the federal government. -link
Are there no Republicans in the House or Senate who will stand against these injustices?
Yes, it would be nice to have the president's voice on marriage. But, that is not required (nor perhaps as urgent).
If a gay couple is going to take up the burdensome "institution of marriage" at state law, the least that the Federal Government can do is get out of their way.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Quote of the Day
Regarding Michelle Bachman, I just wonder what is going to happen if she gets that 3 a.m. crisis call, that the U.S. is under attack.
Will the nation wait while staff finds her eyelashes?
Bad Things Gonna Come
Some amount of steam letting off is expected from anti-gay groups, who suffered a defeat, on their calculus, with gay marriage in NY.
But, ...
It's rank bigotry simply to intone that "bad things gonna come", without saying what those things are, specifically, and how it is going to happen. Not just because it is a summary judgment, but because some bad things always gonna come, in some form or other, if history is any guide, right?
So, the media and the talking heads should set themselves to the tasks of journalism: who, what, when, when, and how, when and if these pronouncements continue past the cooling off period.
Below the cut, "ArmeGAYdon" with "There is a new threat to marriage, and it won't be solved by clearing your Web browser."-Colbert
Friday, June 24, 2011
EXCELSIOR!
The Empire State takes the lead.
First ever Republican controlled, elected body to vote to allow committed, loving, gay couples to marry. A Catholic state governor will sign the bill into law.
June 24, 2011, 10:30 p.m.
"Small Government" Republicans Learn Their Porking Ways Young
BIG GOVERNMENT PROTECTIONS FOR SENATOR'S SOCIAL GROUPS
“The last thing a deploying soldier should have to worry about when they go to war is whether they’ll have a job when they come home,” Chairman Ball said. “This is the least we can do for our brave men and women who put their lives on the line, and on hold, for this country.”
The legislation was created following the layoffs of Army Sergeants Anddy Moreno and Alvin Taylor, who were let get by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last year while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill says that no public employer in New York shall abolish a position occupied by a person absent on military duty, based solely upon the fact that the positions are filled by individuals engaged in military duty."
The legislation was created following the layoffs of Army Sergeants Anddy Moreno and Alvin Taylor, who were let get by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last year while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill says that no public employer in New York shall abolish a position occupied by a person absent on military duty, based solely upon the fact that the positions are filled by individuals engaged in military duty."
Isn't that special. Job rights from American Conservatism.
Meanwhile, this pandering young Senator? Well, he's decided that he can't vote for marriage for committed gay couples. Apparently there is no way Big Government can "protect" his religious constituents enough (which we can infer because the coward won't specify what he wants).
Seriously. This is what passes for conservative "thought" these days, a microcosm of exactly what it is.
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