Friday, September 11, 2015

SAR #15254


Religion has given people hope in a world torn apart by religion.     John Stewart
  Quoted: Consistent with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), I, Barak Obama, President and Commander In Chief of these United States,” declare that the national emergency first established on September 14, 2001, by Proclamation 7463, continues to exist. The extra-constitutional powers and authorities assumed by the Executive at that time continue to be required in face of the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States. In addition, September 11 will henceforth be a National Day of Hate, celebrated by burning mosques, fearing strangers, tax breaks for the rich and unrestrained drone attacks.
Friendly Fire: Three Washington state police officers who shot and killed a man throwing rocks will not have to face any criminal charges because they shot him “without malice.”
The Great White Hunters: Paying a few thousand dollars each, macho big game hunters will get to sit in comfortable chairs be given the opportunity to execute hundreds of antelope, wildebeest, baboons and such as they are herded single file down a narrow track in front of the tiny-penised men willing to pay for the thrill of killing the harmless animals. Free membership in NRA is part of the package deal, along with an open bar, a certificate suitable for framing and a picture of them standing with a pile of corpses.
Grace Notes: Saudi Arabian diplomats who held two Nepali women prisoner and subjected them to gang rapes by 7 or 8 men a day claim that they cannot be prosecuted because they used condoms have diplomatic immunity. Hey, gang, parking tickets are one thing, but their really should be limits even for the rich, even for Saudis.
Object Lesson: The Reverend Mike Wannabee Huckabee says that blacks do not have the right to vote because, under the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision, blacks do not have the right to be citizens.
Gooooaaaaal: Jeb ¡Caramba! Bush's newly recycled tax plan is pretty much that of brother George's – tax cuts for the rich, entitlement cuts for the poor, and another $3.4 trillion added to the deficit over the next decade even if “massive spending cut” were achieved. Almost makes Donald look acceptable. It was especially amusing when ¡Jeb! criticized Obama for not reversing the $12 trillion hole Brother George's version of this tax plan caused. But what else could be expected from a coterie of GOP economists who have been consistently wrong about everything for the last 20 years.
Worth The Price of Admission: Louie Gohmert (R-TX) has promised to resign from Congress and go hide under a desk in the “tuck and cover” position and calmly await “nuclear holocaust” if the nuclear agreement with Iran passes.
Notification: The good news is that you've won the Illinois state lottery. The bad news is that Illinois doesn't have the money to pay you your winnings. So, do you own taxes on the winnings?
Dreadful Humor: In a nearly unbelievable turn of events, Microsoft – which has perfected the invasion of privacy throughout its product line – has gone to court to prevent the US Government from demanding any and every email from any and all US-based providers. Microsoft maintains it has exclusive rights to that information.
Envy: Lockheed Martin is protesting the award of a $6.5 billion contract for building the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh on the rather convincing grounds that the contract didn't go to Lockheed as God intended.
Fear And Loathing: While the UK under PM David Cameron has made it very clear that the UK will not take part in the EU quota system for settling refugees, UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage told EU President Juncker that the way to handle the crisis was to sink the refugee boats. He said “stop the migrant boats”, but we know what he really had in mind

2 comments:

McMike said...

re national emergencies:

"It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its own existence in great emergencies.

"On this point the present rebellion brought our republic to a severe test; and a presidential election occurring in regular course during the rebellion added not a little to the strain. If the loyal people, united, were put to the utmost of their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when divided, and partially paralyzed, by a political war among themselves?

"But the election was a necessity.

"We cannot have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."

- Abraham Lincoln

That last sentence pretty much sums it up.

kwark said...

RE "Object Lesson": The lesson, if we needed any further examples, is that the far right will always ignore/misconstrue/subvert the law of the land to suit their purposes. Which in this case is mostly about preventing any further increase in the population of ethnic groups who are less likely to vote Republican. So they don't have to disenfranchise them later.

RE "GOOOAAAAL": Well, not to put too fine a point on it but to be fair the GOP economists HAVE been right. . . if you consider that their goal has always been to fleece the general public (and the world for that matter) - which they've succeeded at in spades.

RE "Envy": Absolutely. One has to wonder who Lockheed thinks they have in their pocket in DC. They already managed to hornswagle the people of Arkansas to the tune of $87 million. The clearly anti-socialist Arkansas lawmakers earlier this year approved issuing $87 million in [welfare] bonds if Lockheed won the JLTV contract. But I'm sure that bit of socialism is really Obama's fault.