Mole333 once upbraided me upbraided for making fun of the idea one could really believe in a candidate. Sadly, the last candidate for Citywide or Statewide office that I really believed in was the gentlemen in this link, for whom I now have no rachmonis whatsoever. Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi sentenced to 1 to 4 years in prison for pension scandal www.nypost.com I don't understand the fuss. As far as I can tell, Obama's not saying anything new, just being a tad more emphatic. Depending upon your point of view, he should either get points for the restraint he shows in public, or be docked a few for holding back. Obama caught on audio slamming GOP news.yahoo.com
Conservative hack Pod's Pod seems to agree with me that our long term deficits are a diversion from our real and pressing immediate problem, which is the economy.
The problem is that he's blaming Obama for letting himself get trapped into dealing with the idiocy inflicted upon our body politic by disgraceful entities like the Editorial Page he edits. Long-Term Debt? How About Short-Term Implosion? « Commentary Magazine www.commentarymagazine.com
Klein is really on top of his form here.
Money Quote #1: "And so it's painful when reality intrudes. Here is the reality: the Republicans have spent the past 30 years creating deficits and the Democrats have spent the past 30 years closing them. The unimportance of deficits became an article of faith during the second Bush Administration: "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter," Dick Cheney famously said. It has been rather hilarious for those of us with even a minimal grasp of recent history to watch these folks pull fierce 180-degree turns on the issue–and it is even more hilarious to watch them accuse Obama of hyper-partisanship after the dump-truck full of garbage they visited upon his head these past few years.”
Money Quote #2: “They now face a presidential election where they are completely tied to the idea of destroying the most popular government program out there–Medicare. They are now tied to the incredibly cruel and witless notion that they're going to ask 90-year-olds to make free market choices, with vouchers constantly diminishing in value, in an extremely complicated health market.” Wounded Elephant Screechings – Swampland swampland.blogs.time.com
Sane conservative Frum diagnoses his party's delusional psychosis. Ryan’s Budget Gives Obama What He Wants | FrumForum www.frumforum.com
Chait: "Ryan enjoys overwhelming prestige and influence on budget policy within his party. And despite his carefully crafted media image, he is not and never has been a deficit hawk, and the notion that he might support a grand bargain seems fanciful. Ryan was on the Bowles-Simpson panel but voted against the plan. Ryan displayed through the health care debate that he does not accept the budgetary assumptions of the Congressional Budget Office, or any entity not steeped in his ideology…when Ryan invokes the need to avert a fiscal crisis, he is not talking about the numerical gap between revenue and outlays. He is invoking his Randian belief that collectivism is doomed to lead to societal collapse. And indeed, a deal that closed the numerical gap between revenue and outlays but preserved the collectivist character of the welfare state would not, from Ryan's standpoint, represent progress of any kind. It would deprive him of the pretext he requires to win the sweeping changes to the social compact he requires.” The House GOP Vs. The Deficit Grand Bargain | The New Republic www.tnr.com
Ayn Rand's nightmare enacted by one of her acolytes: a politician using the awesome power of government to destroy his opposition for purposes of perpetuating his faction's rule in perpetuity ThinkProgress » Scott Walker Admits Union-Busting Provision ‘Doesn’t Save Any’ Money For Th thinkprogress.org
I've little use for Huckabee, but couldn't he at least serve the purpose of explaining that Ayn Rand and Jesus are pretty close to mutually exclusive. St. John's Episcopal Church of Charleston, West Virginia www.stjohnswv.org
In other news, Obama walked on water and Glen Thrush criticized him for not being able to swim. Politico Faults Obama For Following Their Advice | Media Matters for America mediamatters.org
None Dare call it Conspiracy. Yglesias » Why Taxes Are Annoying yglesias.thinkprogress.org
Just to clarify, the other day when it was posted here that a remark I made ("Senator John Kyl is a child molester who likes to shoot puppies and feed their entrails to unsuspecting senior citizens") was not intended as a factual statement, that was not me.
I have no opinion on the matter. Jon Kyl Now Says He "Misspoke" On Planned Parenthood So Everyone Should Please Stop Making Fun Of Hi www.huffingtonpost.com
Gatemouth is also a left-handed, sarcastic, politically obsessed, Jewish slob from Jersey; but even if I'd gone to Harvard, been elected to Congress and liked boys, I still wouldn't be smart enough to be Barney Frank.
And I believe Frank when he says he reads Playboy for the articles. Barney Frank Playboy Interview – May 2011 Playboy Magazine, Candid Interviews with Politicians www.playboy.com
People who've been critical of Israel (a category which, from time to time, includes myself) should remember that there would be a Palestinian state today if Yassir Arafat could take yes for an answer, and also remember that Israel voluntarily withdrew form Gaza and did not blockade it until it started getting shelled.
I bring this up because it does seem that anyone who reaches out to the Palestinian polity, whether out of enlightened self-interest (Barak and Olmert) or misplaced idealism (like the young man in this article), ends up dead, either politically or literally.
I strongly support a two state solution, but wonder how anyone sane can blame its absence entirely upon Israeli intransigence. Hamas Says It Found Body of Italian Activist www.nytimes.com
That Avigdor Lieberman is corrupt may be the least offensive thing about him. Lieberman’s Draft Indictment To Go Public | The Jewish Week www.thejewishweek.com
Like many center/left Zionists, I've problems with J Street. But while I agree that criticizing J Street is OK, the GOP attacks on J Street are often over the top.
But, to attack Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as a J Street ally is not merely over the top–it is an out and out lie. Yet Matt Brooks and the Republican Jewish Coalition refuse to stop, even when called upon it.
They are the political equivalent of smegma. New DNC Pick Puts J Street In Spotlight | The Jewish Week www.thejewishweek.com
Just to put things in perspective, the two GOP presidential nominees from Arizona were technically not born in the states (Goldwater in the Arizona Territory; McCain in the Canal Zone). Arizona Legislature OKs Presidential 'Birther' Bill www.aolnews.com
If instead of Cheech and Chong, it was Cheech and Chinitz, they might have come up with "Sister Mary Schmuck." Sister Schmuck Takes a Stand – Magazine – The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com
Hate to be churlish about this second rate talent who even blamed his father for his inability to get laid before he got married (I kid you not), even though he was a nationally ranked amateur athlete, but some of this obit is dead wrong.
The Times notes that Groucho "peppered" Arthur's "Like With Groucho" "with kibitzing footnotes," but in "Son of Groucho" Arthur admits he wrote them himself.
This should probably have been obvious, as the obit notes Groucho threatened legal action against the book unless substantial changes were made. Arthur Marx, Who Wrote About Father, Groucho, Dies at 89 www.nytimes.com
Domestic Partner on the cancellation of "All My Children":
“That program taught me to speak English."
Which explains far too much.
Coming home on Friday I discovered my street would be closed on Monday from Six AM to Six PM for repaving; delightful news, given the dozen people coming that afternoon from Jersey for a Seder, including my mom, who uses a wheel chair.
Memo to CB#6 (which has a Jewish Chair and District Manager)–there are now Jews in Carroll Gardens–in fact, there's an Orthodox minyan tow and a half blocks from my house.
And thank you, Pharaoh Bloomberg, for inflicting this plague upon me–I can't wait for the other nine!
The case for gentrification.
It does occur to me that of all the pizza makers in the City, there is probably at least ones who might be more deserving of permanent scarring. Pizza guy 'stab' may have been attempted mob shakedown www.nypost.com