Monday, February 15, 2016

SAR #16046


Good Riddance: With the death of Antonin Scalia, the GOP has finally abandoned the constitution of these United States. No longer shall we hear of 'original intent' or 'literal interpretation', for they have discovered that their new and improved version of the Constitution limits a president's term of authority and responsibility to three years, after which he bakes cookies and sits on the front porch for eleven months, leaving everything that comes up to his yet to be nominated, much less elected, successor. [Note that eleven months is not “a few”, Senator Rubio. That is 25% of a presidential term.]
Should the American people have a say in who gets nominated? Yes. And they did. They elected a president to do those sorts of things. It was a guy named Obama and in 2012 5 million more Americans chose him than chose the other guy. Filibuster all they wish, the Republicans will only be damaging their rather shopworn credibility even further as obstructionists, sore losers and poorly behaved, uncivil miscreants.
How serious and reasoned they are, promising to reject anyone the President nominates – no hearings needed. As Mitch McConnell sees it, his “number one job” is to defeat Barack Obama, no matter how much damage is done to the country. No process. No pretense of serious deliberation. No playacting of democratic governance. Attack and posture. This is the same Mitch McConnell who in 2005 correctly pointed out that “the President, and the President alone, nominates judges.” Let the games begin.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Loyalty Oath: Hillary Clinton's version of the Democratic party includes having to sign a pledge to be a loyal supporter of Barak Obama, except when she doesn't.
Economic Theory: The heart of the capitalist system is based on setting aside some of your income and investing it in ways that will return some measure of profit. Then combining the profit with the capital and doing it again – known as compound interest. You cannot do that in a negative interest environment. Negative interest is a ploy by central banks to get you to consume everything you have, seed corn and all. What it leads to - aside from a war on cash as central banks try to control all your money all the time - this effort to quash the accumulation of capital, this punishing of saving and investment, is something new, as yet unnamed; it isn't capitalism.
On Duplicity and Gullibilty: Ms Clinton would have us believe that the powerful men who run Wall Street are just ordinary guys who give her millions of dollars and expect nothing in return but that she seek a fair and just society, even if this discomfort them.
Because They Can: The UK's highest court overseeing the spies at GCHQ have ruled that it is completely legal for the government to hack phones and computers and to remotely activate the microphones and cameras in such devices. No warrants. No suspicion. No privacy. And not just in Merrie Olde, but anywhere in the world. The NSA undoubtedly has a similar blessing.
Shoe, Fitting: Perhaps there should be a special place in... heaven?.. for a politician who accepts $133,000 from private prison operators while telling Blacks and Latinos that she wants to end private for-profit prisons.
Porn O'Graph: Love makes the world go round, always has.
The Parting Shot:

7 comments:

McMike said...

Re: Republicans Say the Darndest Things. The GOP is just so predictable, and precious! The moment I heard that Scalia died, I wondered how long it would take the GOP to pick up that line. My guess: there is a tweet out there somewhere issued within 14 seconds of the announcement.

Imagine - shoes reversed - the howls from the GOP about "politicizing" the death of this revered statesman. And demands for two months of national mourning, with no mention of partisanship, while they appoint his successor without debate, and name something after him.

The GOP has devolved into a sustained Kabuki temper tantrum.

The only question I had was would the Dems buckle, and let the GOP bully them into another self-defeating, semi-apologetic, half-hearted compromise.

Anonymous said...

CKM,
I've been a faithful reader for years but don't like how you beat up on Hillary so much, in favor of Bernie. The gulf between Dems and Repubs is so broad, that's what matters. The difference between Bernie and Hillary is nothing compared to the difference between Dems and Repubs more broadly. In my opinion.

Gegner said...

Re: Economic Theory - No Irony should be lost on the fact that 50% of the working public is clueless when to comes to economics, sadly the investor class is equally 'handicapped' regarding the mechanics of economic activity.

Again I will go 'rampaging off the reservation' by sharing the observation/elephant in the room that the end of the 'capitalist economy' looms large.

Worse, the chicken scratching on the wall says we will be returning to the ancient 'because I said so' model.

You won't do it for you, you'll do it if you want to live. (Revealing the vanity behind today's bold pronouncement of being 'job creators'. There is only ONE job creator and her name is Mother Nature/ Necessity; but I digress.

Yes, negative interest rates tamper with the very foundations of capitalism (a system that failed/fails once the gun is removed from the equation...but try explaining that to those who believe money was created by God!)

Often there is little to distinguish faith from stupidity. Today's political environment is a perfect example of this dymanic in action.

@ anonymous @ 11:53

What part of 'bought and paid for' don't you get? And that's a fact, not a 'slam'.

McMike said...

re Anon 11:53. On the contrary, the entire point of the support for Sanders (and Nader before him) is that - on matters of economy and military in particular - there is little or no difference between the mainstream Dem and GOP candidates. And further that the Dems have progressively shifted right on economic matters, abdicating entirely their now-archaic role w/r/t the lower & middle class.

This is certainly borne out in the evidence when examining their campaign contributor base, where they go through the revolving door, and the legislation they advance/sign.

There are some people still in this country who simply cannot support a so-called liberal candidate who gets most of their money from the same pool of scumbags as the GOP; who takes huge fees from Goldman-freaking-Sachs; and who tells their base with a straight focus to forget about ideas like single-payer.

The litany of betrayals by the DLC Dems is to long to list here. And the Sanders/Nader argument is now well-stale, having gone back to 2000 at least.

AlanSmithee said...

Sanders is running Obama's 2008 "Believe" campaign practically word for word. Did no one learn anything from Obama? Anything?

Bernie Sanders’ Phantom Movement
Posted on Feb 14, 2016
By Chris Hedges

Bernie Sanders, who has attracted numerous young, white, college-educated supporters in his bid for the presidency, says he is creating a movement and promises a political revolution. This rhetoric is an updated version of the “change” promised by the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama and by Jesse Jackson’s earlier National Rainbow Coalition. Such Democratic electoral campaigns, at best, raise political consciousness. But they do not become movements or engender revolutions. They exist as long as election campaigns endure and then they vanish. Sanders’ campaign will be no different.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/bernie_sanders_phantom_movement_20160214

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

Not to pile on, Anony 11.53, but my gallant defenders are essentially correct - I don't see Mrs. H. Clinton as a Democrat of any stripe. I was brought up in an activist, unionized home that had two pictures in the living room, one of an American Flag and one of FDR.

Those are pretty much the values I assumed and still profess. Sanders is my choice because he is - to date - the least bought-and-paid-for of the bunch and actually seems to believe what he says.

We really shouldn't vote someone whose basic campaign theme is "It's my turn!"

McMike said...

re Sanders campaign. Are there possibly other benefits from a Sanders presidency, short of his leading a revolution from the bully pulpit?

I think we've seen the benefits already. As with the OWS movement, it's making the country sit up and take notice, and it reminds progressive-minded people that they are not alone in being fed up with the status quo.

Hell, just forcing Hilary to earn it is worth the price of admission.

Also, Sanders is not like Obama, inasmuch as Obama's Wall Street campaign contributors were already plain to see long before the election.

You are right one thing though, voting for a Presidential candidate once every four years is not a movement.