Thursday, February 9, 2012

Things to Know - 9 February


1.  Rick Santorum has put Mitt-bot in a barrel of pickles.   Romney is going to have to go after him, so how is he going to do it?  Attack?  Be nasty?  The only thing he can do is get down and dirty and pose as someone who is more conservative than Santorum, which is going to be difficult, and is going to further alienate him from voters.  If he tries to just campaign against Obama, leaving aside Santorum, Paul, and Porkie, he's going to have to contend with the fact that he really is unlikable.  He really should call it off and go to the Caymans for a vacation:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/us/politics/santorum-sweep-sets-stage-for-new-battle-in-republican-race.html?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1&pagewanted=print

2.  The election year wailing by some on the employer-provided health insurance obligation to provide birth control is nothing but a labor law issue that states that employees have the right to obtain contraceptives.  It does not mean that they have to.  Its all the same silly stuff that is cried out when same sex marriages are just as equal as opposite sex marriages - it does not mean that straits are obligated to marry the same sex.   The intellectual level of the conservative crowd on these issues is insulting to the rest of us:
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120208/pl_ac/10940848_hey_christians_others_dont_want_your_ban_on_birth_control

3.  On the above issue. Mitt Romney is a hypocrite and is even profiting from the manufacture of products of birth control.  He's got so much money that his foot gets stuck in his mouth, the money he's invested messes up his political issues, and we already know that he's not paying enough taxes.  Nothing is going for this guy now:

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/02/08/420990/mitt-romney-is-financially-invested-in-the-birth-control-he-now-opposes/

4.  Not often does George Will defend the Obama administration, but he does here.  He really does.  And, he takes the Republican Party to task for trying to tell the voters that we need to add more troops and fight longer in the Middle East, and start new wars just because.  Will says that enough is enough, and Panetta at DOD is doing just fine:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-need-more-than-rhetoric-on-defense/2012/02/07/gIQA5SF1zQ_print.html

5.  EJ Dionne fill us in on his opinion on Karl Rove, Mitt, Santorum, and Clint Eastwood.  All in one column:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/clint-eastwood-rick-santorum-and-the-limits-of-pessimism/2012/02/08/gIQAL1nRzQ_print.html

6.  Gail Collins does a great job articulating the Catholic Church objection to #2 above, and how their objection has no relevance to what is actually going on with its members:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/opinion/collins-tales-from-the-kitchen-table.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Nicholas Kristof and his view on the bottom of the economic caste system, and it not just about inequality of taxes, but a whole stew of methamphetamines , no well paying jobs, poor education, and nothing to grab on to on trying to rise up:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/opinion/kristof-the-decline-of-white-workers.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  The recent overturn of Prop. 8 in by the 9th Circuit Court is now being appealed, and may wind up shortly on the desk of the Supreme Court.  All the pundit handicappers have figure out how the various justices are slated to vote, and the writer of this article seems to think that it will all hinge on Justice Anthony Kennedy, if it is even accepted by the court:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-marriage-kennedy-20120209,0,2124857,print.story

9.   If you do a lot of airline travel, and you use certain airports, you may want to read about this.  It's about a TSA procedure that will take your application for the Global Online Enrollment System, and maybe (??) identify you as a good person, so that you have less hassle.  I went to the TSA website last night, and filled out the application, and will see where it goes:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tsa-security-20120209,0,2773390,print.story

--
Juan

"I looked up my family tree and found out I was the sap."
       -- Rodney Dangerfield
"There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president."
       -- Kurt Vonnegut
"He knows all about art, but he doesn't know what he likes."
       -- James Thurber
"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."
       -- Thomas Jefferson
"I like life. It's something to do."
       -- Ronnie Shakes

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