24 November 2011 Distract them with football and lines to stand in

Appetizer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/opinion/collins-counting-really-small-blessings.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Counting Really Small Blessings

By GAIL COLLINS

Published: November 23, 2011

This year I am giving thanks for the Republican presidential debates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/opinion/the-poor-the-near-poor-and-you.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211

Main course:

                The Poor, the Near Poor and You

Published: November 23, 2011

                                “The worst downturn since the Great Depression is only part of the problem. Before that, living standards were already being eroded by stagnating wages and tax and economic policies that favored the wealthy.

                “Conservative politicians and analysts are spouting their usual denial. Gov. Rick Perry and Representative Michele Bachmann have called for taxing the poor and near poor more heavily, on the false grounds that they have been getting a free ride. In fact, low-income workers do pay up, if not in federal income taxes, then in payroll taxes and state and local taxes…

                “A study by Martha Bailey, an economics professor at the University of Michigan, showed that the difference in college-graduation rates between the rich and poor has widened by more than 50 percent since the 1990s.

                “There is also a growing out-of-sight-out-of-mind problem. A study, by Sean Reardon, a sociologist at Stanford, shows that Americans are increasingly living in areas that are either poor or affluent. The isolation of the prosperous, he said, threatens their support for public schools, parks, mass transit and other investments that benefit broader society.

                “The poor do without and the near poor, at best, live from paycheck to paycheck. Most Americans don’t know what that is like, but unless the nation reverses direction, more are going to find out.”

Dessert:

          Toles speaks quite well of the immense disparity our populace now faces daily.  The long-predicted revolution is still unlikely but more and more people are realizing how they have been shunted to the sidelines by corporate greed and Congressional fealty to the rich.

          What passes for dessert in our home is the still available freedom to turn off the seasonal movies and the endless football games.   I’ve never been a fan of football or basketball, never will be.  I’d sooner watch frost form on Newt Gingrich heart after he’s powered down for the night than watch over-paid professional jocks or their supposed student precursors stage a game around a plethora of commercials for bad beer and other items I neither want nor need. 

          Dessert also includes the knowledge that I have absolutely no need nor desire to enter a mall, a department store, or a big box store between now and 1 January in 2012.  

          Therefore, I wish us all a happy thanksgiving and would very much like to see all our troops at home by this time next year. 

The actual menu for the day is as follows.

Organic hard cider

Deviled Brussels sprouts with chestnuts

Baked sweet potatoes with butter, cinnamon, ginger, & nutmeg

Roast duck with cranberry pistachio chutney

Pumpkin pie with whipped cream

Apple pie with Cabot extra-sharp cheddar.

23 November 2011 More reason to recall Norquist's minions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jon-kyls-search-and-destroy-mission/2011/11/22/gIQA5BZVmN_story.html?hpid=z2

      “Jon Kyl’s search-and-destroy mission

By Dana Milbank, Published: November 22

                “Jon Kyl is different from you and me.

                “In the days following Hurricane Katrina, the nation was reeling over the death and destruction in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. But Kyl, now the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, saw opportunity: According to a voice-mail recording left at the time by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Kyl and Sessions were hoping to find a business owner killed in the storm so they could use that in their campaign to repeal the estate tax.

                “It was vintage Kyl: cold and ruthless.

                “So when the Arizonan was named as one of six Republicans on the debt supercommittee, Democrats feared the worst — and they got what they feared. It exaggerates little to say that Kyl thwarted agreement almost singlehandedly. While some Republicans on the panel — notably Reps. Dave Camp and Fred Upton — were, with House Speaker John Boehner’s blessing, prepared to strike a deal, Kyl rallied resistance with his usual table-pounding tirades.

                “The tragedy here is that Kyl, who has announced his retirement at the end of his term, could have risen above political pressures to strike an agreement to right the nation’s finances for a generation. Boehner’s House Republicans, aware that voters will hold them to account for inaction, were willing to deal. But Kyl’s Senate Republicans, hoping voters will evict the Democratic majority in the Senate, had no such incentive.

“…The sabotage began on the very first day the supercommittee met. While other members from both parties spoke optimistically about the need to put everything on the table, Kyl gave a gloomy opening statement. “I think a dose of realism is called for here,” he said. That same day, he went to a luncheon organized by conservative think tanks and threatened to walk (“I’m off the committee”) if there were further defense cuts.

When Democrats floated their proposal combining tax increases and spending cuts, Kyl rejected it out of hand, citing Republicans’ pledge to activist Grover Norquist not to raise taxes. Kyl’s constant invocation of the Norquist pledge provoked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to snap at Kyl during a private meeting: “What is this, high school?”

                “Kyl’s defenders say his motives were pure because he had every incentive for the supercommittee to succeed: He never has to face voters again and he desperately wanted to avoid the automatic Pentagon cuts that now loom. But there’s little doubt that he was doing Norquist’s bidding in killing any notion of higher taxes.

                “Norquist, who worked to defeat a compromise, brags about his control over Kyl. When Kyl made remarks in May that appeared to leave open the possibility of tax increases, Norquist called Kyl and adopted “the tone of a teacher scolding a second grader as he recalled the conversation,” Politico reported. Norquist boasted to the publication that, after he upbraided Kyl, the senator “went down on the floor and he gave a colloquy about how we’re against any tax increases of any sort. Boom!”

Cassi Creek:

          This is an extreme example of a lobbyist circumventing the Constitution for the benefit of a select few members of the ultra-wealthy class, and to the detriment of the vast majority of Americans in the former middle and former working class.  Grover Norquist has managed to co-opt elected officials by means of an “anti-taxation pledge” that has no legally standing and is unconstitutional in nature. 

          In this case, a Senator has been rendered subservient to a lobbyist and the people of the Senator’s home state have lost his services and representation.  The same statement applies to the citizens of every state and every Congressional District if the elected office holder has succumbed to middle high school popularity contest bullying. 

          Looking at and listening to Norquist, it is easy to picture his decided lack of popularity in middle and high school.  He must have spent all his time sucking up to the popular crowd and hiding from the jocks.  Now he has stayed in pattern and sucks up to the very rich by coercing elected officials to break their oaths of office. 

          In keeping with my recent pattern, I called Roe’s local office today to demand that he refute the Norquist pledge.  I also e-mailed his office with the same demand and an accusation of oath breaking and pledging fealty to a lobbyist.  His office received this message.

          “Signing the Norquist anti-tax pledge places you in fealty to a lobbyist who has no residency in TN.  You were elected to represent the citizens of North East Tennessee, not a lobbyist who operates inside the beltway.  I sincerely believe that your signature on this pledge violates your oath of office as a member of the House of Representatives.  Please recall who pays your official salary and benefits.  It is not Norquist.  Refute the anti-tax pledge and stop performing as a puppet for a petty little lobbyist who brags about how many elected officials he controls.”   

          The 2012 elections will be here before we know it.  Each of us needs to begin contacting our Senators and Congresspersons to demand that they break ranks with Norquist.  Mail bomb them, overload their phones, make the message heard.  Grover Norquist is a hired puppeteer for the very wealthy, all too eager to sell out the nation and its citizens for the benefit of the very rich.  He can be rendered useless to his masters.  Help neuter him, beginning today!

          Remind your elected officials that Norquist believes he has them on a leash and will brag about how well trained they are.   Thanks for the attention, please join the effort!

22 November 2011 A duck in the oven is worth many in the freezer

          The combination of falling plasma levels of pain medication, blocked sinuses, and other discomforts woke me up at 0500 today.  By 0515, I knew I was not going to be able to doze off before the alarm began beeping.  So I’m beginning the day with a sleep deficit.  More and more of my days begin that way now.   This diminished quantity and quality of sleep are the reason I initially requested a PTSD consult.  I’m sitting in the system waiting for some response from VA beyond the initial intake appointment. 

          It’s difficult to read and assimilate technical information when sleep is more important than knowledge acquisition.  I wonder how I used to manage during my clinical rotations.  Reading astronomy this semester has become increasingly difficult.  While I’m learning some of the material and retaining it, I’d like to be able to read and retain it as I previously could. 

          I’m planning to roast the chestnuts tonight so that I will have them for Thursday’s meal.  I shelled about a pound of pistachios yesterday evening for inclusion in cranberry relish.  I imagine I will thaw the duck in water tomorrow so that there is no need to deal with a still-frozen duck.   

          I’ll also bake two pumpkin pies for Gloria tomorrow.  One will be frozen, the other consumed while fresh.  This will be our 14^th duck if I recall correctly.

21 November 2011 100 Super ways to announce Super Committee Super failure

Cassi Creek:

          It comes as a surprise only to those who believe in the genius level intellect of Sarah Palin, the honesty of Rush Limbaugh, and the accuracy and integrity of Fox News, that the Congressional Super Committee has failed to carry out its single purpose for existence.  A committee handpicked by the various chamber leaders to vehemently oppose any cooperation with members of the opposite party was certain to fail from the moment of inception. 

          The intransigence of both sides has played a major role.  However, the refusal to even consider any tax increases that might anger their rich lobbyist financial backer combined with fear of being targeted by the Norquist pledge to avoid reality and thus defeated in their bids for re-election by the teavangelist minions of Norquist and other lobbyists who wish to roll the calendar backward for their robber baron employers, has rendered the GOP members able only to vote for those plans that further beggar the former middle class.

          Now, the Super Committee members sit and argue about how to announce their failure to the American citizens that the GOP no longer truly represents.  They are, in this as in all things Congressional, unable to provide honest and concise answers.  To simply announce, “we failed to reach a compromise that was fair to all being taxed.” Seems easy enough.  Yet we’ll never hear that from Congressional lips. 

          Nor will we hear the truth of the matter as explained below.  The teavangelists must provide another huge lie to convince their base that the GOP plan is not destroying the middle class and abandoning the American working class to a life of minimum wage slavery. 

          The best way to announce failure would be to hear the GOP members admit the lie in their position and then to hear them all resign for breaking their oaths of office when coerced by lobbyists, Norquist in particular. 

          Perhaps refusing to accept their salaries for the rest of their terms in office would be a small acceptable beginning.  So would be the loss of all their benefits, their retirement funds, and their personal homes as has happened to so many of their constituents whom they ignore so that they may continue to serve Norquist. 

          I’m sure that some of the less modernized nations in the world have other methods of dealing with elected officials who break their oaths of office and fail to represent their constituents honestly.  But the Secret Service has no sense of humor so you may have to think of those methods for your selves.    The images of Giraffe, Mussolini, and Hussein come to mind. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/no-both-sides-arent-equally-to-blame-for-supercommittee-failure/2011/11/21/gIQAj31ehN_blog.html

Posted at 08:21 AM ET, 11/21/2011

No, `both sides’ aren’t equally to blame for supercommittee failure

By Greg Sargent

Here’s why the supercommittee is failing, in one sentence: Democrats wanted the rich to pay more in taxes towards deficit reduction, and Republicans wanted the rich to pay less in taxes towards deficit reduction.

20 November 2011 Time to brand Gingrich of Babylon

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-candidates-court-conservative-christians-in-iowa/2011/11/19/gIQAbN7VcN_story.html

GOP candidates court conservative Christians in Iowa

By Perry Bacon Jr., Published: November 19

DES MOINES — Looking to court this state’s critical voting bloc of evangelical Christians, Republican presidential candidates sharply attacked secularism and the Supreme Court while calling for greater restrictions on abortion and gay rights at an event here on Saturday

To limit abortion, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, one of the leading candidates in polls here, proposed a federal law defining “personhood” as starting at conception, similar to a provision backed by abortion opponents that was rejected earlier this month by voters in Mississippi. Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he supported provisions that would limit the ability of gay couples to adopt children, while businessman Herman Cain called for changing provisions in the tax code that restrict churches’ involvement in politics if they want to keep their tax-exempt status.

Several committed to supporting state same-sex marriage bans and eventually a constitutional amendment to prohibit it, although libertarian candidate Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) said the issue should be dealt with by churches and families instead of the government.

“As long as abortion is legal in this country. . . we will never have rest because that law does not comport with God’s law,” said former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.

Cassi Creek:

          The teavangelist game of choosing a favorite has resumed with Gingrich being the apparent front-runner.  Gingrich is stressing his changed view of things; brought about by reading two AA books although he is not an alcoholic.  He’s admitting to being a highly paid consultant for any corporate interest that will retain him and pay him in the millions of dollars range.  The new and improved Gingrich has no scruples about who or what he will consult, or about who or what he will subsequently attack despite having consulted for whom or what.  He makes no apologies for such behaviors.  He is, of course, playing the Jesus card and asking us to believe that his jail-house-like conversion has healed his previous excision of any particles of morality and ethical behavior. 

          Only an idiot would trust or believe that Gingrich has now begun to place the good of the nation and the citizenry above his own self-interests.  A Gingrich presidency could well eclipse those of Harding and Reagan in overall levels of corruption. 

          Looking at the laundry list of items to be used in luring the teavangelists of Iowa into voting for any of the current crop of candidates, it is easy to see that Gingrich, Cain, Perry, and Santorum are willing to direct this election toward installing a theocracy in place of our republic.

           Since these worthies will behave as if above all laws they are not worried about being forced to live in an America ruled by extremists that would make Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia seem modern and moderate.   There is no doubt that Cain believes in his right to use his pulpit to increase his fortune.  Santorum should be reminded that “God” did not sign either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.  In this nation, civil law is the authority, not canon law, or the opinions of evangelical sky pilots. 

          However, of the candidates mentioned in the article above, the obvious winner for the Ms. “whore of Babylon” crown is Gingrich.  Brand him and send him back to whichever deep red state will have him. 

         

19 November 2011 Sunny, chilly, and paying the price for pleasure

.

          Last night we drove into Johnson City for dinner and entertainment.  We left home at 1800 and returned today.

           Dinner was Japanese food at Miso Teriyaki.  We had soup at our places within 2 minutes of sitting down to dine.  Bento boxes and sushi provided an excellent dinner.  Every time we have eaten at this restaurant, it has been prior to a concert.  The location is convenient to the path we take to hear acoustic music.  Coupled with excellent service and a fast kitchen, it has become an easy choice.

          Entertainment was “Disappear Fear,” Gloria’s somehow cousins from Baltimore, Sonia and Cindi Rutstein.  Sonia has just published a new CD, “Get Your Phil.”  She covers an album’s worth of Phil Ochs’ songs very well.  Last night was a release concert, one of three that have been scheduled with both sisters performing together again.  The new album and others can be heard at the website linked below.

http://www.soniadf.com/nSite_09/index.html

          We didn’t leave The Down Home until after 2400 and we’re still awake at 0200.  Gloria had a great time meeting Cindi, exploring family ties with both Sonia and Cindi.  I was more of a seat holder than anything else.  The parts of the night’s performance I could hear were excellent.  But unfortunately those parts were too many, too frequent, and sadly, all too likely to become the norm. 

          Slept in until 0730 today.  Getting older hurts. 

         

18 November 2011 Snow on the mountains ice on the deck

          I woke up this morning to find a thick, heavy frost on all outside surfaces, patches of clear ice on the deck and steps, snow on the mountains down to about 2500 feet, and… one of my letters to the editor in the Johnson City Press. 

          To be accurate, the snow was there yesterday afternoon as week drove into the valley around 1600.  It was an incredibly beautiful view.  The ice was also on the deck by 2200 last night.  The letter was submitted 6 November.  The frost, however, was new today.

          The letter was written attacking Rep. Phil Roe for his submission to the Norquist no taxes pledge.   I’m looking for an angle of attack that will somehow resonate with the GOP/teavangelists who make up the bulk of the voter base around here.  Perhaps pointing out that their choice of elected representatives has effectively sold them out will trigger some response.  They’re all anti-taxation voters.  But they have effectively had their right to representative government sold out from under them by means of Roe, and other GOP/teavangelist legislators’ submission to Grover Norquist. 

          I would be thrilled to see a valid opponent to Roe, someone who might actually draw more than 1% of the total vote, on the ballot in 2012.  I’m not an acceptable option, no question about that.  But I’m willing to work against him and for a viable alternative.  The local Democratic Party leaves me almost at cold as the official Republican Party.  And the teavangelist populace here is truly something to be eliminated from Congress and any other government body.   I may have to hold my nose and visit the Democratic Party.  At least they oppose Roe already.  

          If anyone wants to use this anti-Norquist device in his or her local elections, I wish you success.  Please let me know if you do, and what the outcome is. 

Added below is the letter printed in today’s Johnson City Press.

Recall Roe, eliminate Norquist

          Rational voters and recognized economists understand that in order to begin paying down our national debt requires both judiciously applied spending reductions along with revamping and implementing our tax codes to increase taxes for the ultra wealthy.  That entails political compromise that the teavangelists and GOP are unwilling to agree to.  Many of the GOP/teavanagelists have signed a “no tax” pledge demanded by a lobbyist/self-appointed authority named Grover Norquist.  David Phillip Roe is among those who have sworn fealty to Norquist.  Norquist does not live in Tennessee.  However, Roe has chosen to represent Norquist rather than the people of Tennessee’s first District.  He’s made it obvious that he serves Norquist’s interests in Congress. 

          Very well!  This is sufficient reason in and of itself to recall Roe or to vote him out of office at the earliest opportunity.  He no longer works for the people who pay the taxes that fund his political career.  Let’s vote him out of office and let him ask Norquist for a job. 

James S Lenon

Disappear Fear is playing at The Down Home tonight. 

Shabbat Shalom!