2. The two Senators from my former state of Georgia are making surprise moves. First, Saxby Chambliss tells Grover Norquist and his little pledge book to take a hike, and now Johnny Isakson actually praises the competency of UN Ambassador Susan Rice. As the Republican Party splits itself into polarized sects, it is interesting to see how and who is making the moves counter to the normal course of GOP behavior:
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Juan
3. If you missed it, here is Rachel Maddow's conspiracy theory on why crazy old John McCain is busy shooting down Susan Rice for Secretary of State, even before anyone has been nominated for the post:
4. EJ Dionne would like to see the Democrats just ignore Grover Norquist, and develop their own litmus test for Liberal purity, and state all what is off the table for the upcoming/pending negotiations. Concessions now reduce your credible bargaining power:
5. Recent catastrophic events have now brought to light that events, in our changing climate, are due to repeat themselves more often than not. To that end, government provided flood insurance (because no sane insurance company would offer them up at a reasonable price) are subject to repeated recurring claims. It makes no sense that the federal government back up rebuilding homes that are recidivist victimization cases. Same goes for people living in areas prone to fires in wooded areas. People can go ahead and live there, I guess, but just don't ask the taxpayer to rebuild your place if your house has already been declared to exist in a disaster risk zone:
6. Criticism abounds any time the government (at any level) promotes programs that seriously encourage, or even legislate, nutrition guidelines on what and how much we eat or drink of certain foods. Nanny Socialism, and denial of freedom to choose! Well, it ain't all that nonsensical when you consider the consequences of obesity and poor diet on the public coffers. Casualties of poor nutrition, diabetes, obesity, etc....they all crowd our medical facilities and a lot of it has to be paid by public funds. We owe it to ourselves and others to eat and drink sensibly. Steve Lopez speaks here in a more personal level:
7. This afternoon, I went and saw "Lincoln" (retired people can do that on any afternoon of any day of the week). Like everyone else I have talked to or read from, it is an excellent production. Here is a column by Doyle McManus where he takes the political style of Lincoln and applies it to Obama:
Juan
"Lies are like children. If you don't nurture them, they'll never be useful later."
-- Randy K. Milholland
-- Randy K. Milholland
"Household tasks are easier and quicker when they are done by somebody else."
-- James Thorpe
-- James Thorpe
"The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward."
-- John Maynard Keynes
-- John Maynard Keynes
"What we call 'Progress' is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance."
-- Havelock Ellis
-- Havelock Ellis
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