Eccentricity

"If she can avoid a meltdown"?

2009-07-13T13:31:00.002-06:00

Is that like saying "IF he can keep his pants zipped"?

Why yes, it is, only no one ever boldly states that about male candidates.

And she will certainly be as impartial as Fat Tony, who goes duck hunting with Dead-eye Dick Cheney -- only not half often enough, evidently.

Stirring the Pot

2009-07-01T17:56:00.002-06:00

FOX is definitely trying to stir up the class war. I don't know how many times I have heard them say "our system provides health care for 25 million people, but it does not have the capacity to take care of 30 million -- and that is what a public health care option would do."

They are trying to scare the old white folks into a frenzy. They want the unemployed and the minorities to be left out. And like the ignoramuses they are, they want to leave a large population ripe to foster and spread an epidemic with no care.

Fools.

How Funny

2009-06-09T18:54:00.002-06:00

Today on Fox News a big story was about how upset Republicans are that President Obama is not consulting them about his health care bill.

Considering that he consulted with them about his stimulus bill -- and considering that even after he incorporated their suggestions, not a single one of them voted for it, I find their whining hilarious.

Consult with them? When it will mean weakening his goals for no reason but to shut them up? Like him, I figure "why bother?" They will not give him a vote, so he should not have to give them a hearing, any more than W gave a hearing to anyone left of Atilla the Hun.

You Know

2009-06-08T18:07:00.002-06:00

President Obama has no idea how to be Commander in Chief. What a commander does is call in the joint chiefs.

"Gay men and Lesbian women may now serve in the Armed Forces. You will no more task them with the sodomy portions of the UCMJ than you currently task your heterosexual troops who get or give oral and other kinds of sex. If any of you cannot follow this order, I will accept your resignations as soon as this meeting is over."

That is what a commander does. He doesn't waffle about what his orders are.

The only part of the military that is not ready for this move is the part in charge, and the part that is so right wing Taliban that they would perfer persecution to peace.

Yeah, Yeah

2009-05-25T11:22:00.002-06:00

We know North Korea tested a bomb. The US Geological Survey map shows it as an earthquake, same as last time.

What a twist

2009-05-12T18:09:00.002-06:00

Today on FOX, Elizabeth Cheney said (more than once) that torture was "just a policy disagreement, and I would hate to see any administration bring charges against their predecessors over a policy matter."

A policy disagreement. No wonder they think it is ok.

Not A Clue

2009-04-30T19:07:00.002-06:00

Tonight I went past the Spanish language Catholic church and it was packed.

Is today a feast day? Somehow I doubt they are celebrating Beltaine.

Augh!

2009-04-12T15:22:00.002-06:00

We are not supposed to be the world's policeman, but we *are* supposed to be the International Rescue Squad?

I don't think so.

Galt

2009-03-16T14:28:00.003-06:00

These idiots who speak of "going Galt" have evidently missed just who and what John Galt represents.

First, he's no a middle manager type who makes about an annual quarter mil. If that is what people are taking away from a reading of Atlas Shrugged they are hopelessly illiterate.

Now if you managed an incredible green feat like the fictional John Galt, more likely your income would be in the billions, like Bill Gates. Leaving the specific feat aside, Galt had invented something world-changing, and then he hid it, quit his job rather than give said invention away, and started on a course of creating an inventors, movers and shakers union.

The contemporary creatures who speak of "going Galt" have nothing of impressive scale to withdraw from the workplace or the marketplace, and have no intention of organizing those who most benefit the world into going on strike.

What they are doing is having a temper tantrum, and my reaction is to tell them not to let the doorknob hit them. With unemployment riding so high, they can be replaced more easily than they know. Might be nice to let them find this out the hard way.

Defining Bottom

2009-03-14T07:41:00.004-06:00

"Our job, as we see it, is getting the best return on our investments for our stockholders."

Those were the words from a bank that has taken bailout money and invested it overseas -- maybe Dubai, maybe another place -- but the basic thing is that it was anyplace but here.

Foreign banks and economies other than ours are being bailed out. Meanwhile, people are still losing their jobs and their homes at a high rate.

Are we "stockholders"? Are the wealthy still getting richer from our resources -- doing so from principal that was loaned out of the pockets of people whose lives are going down the crapper?

Their job, as we see it, should be untangling the snarled mess of bundled debt and the assuming of responsibility to those who are floating them loans involuntarily -- not to those with enough excess cash to set it out there for raking benefits off money that belongs to others.

Bailout funds should not be going overseas. It's time for that overlooked oversight to come online, before bailout money has disappeared without a trace.

Nope

2009-02-21T13:20:00.003-06:00

Anyone who would make remarks about the unemployed like those below is hardly a presidential prospect.

Not anymore they're not.

"Their comments addressed dissent among a handful of GOP governors led by South Carolina's Mark Sanford, who have publicly criticized the stimulus plan as too big and wasteful. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday he would reject a portion of the money aimed at expanding state unemployment coverage, and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has indicated he may do so as well.

"I will oppose my state changing our rule to allow people who are not willing and able to work full-time to get unemployment compensation. That will result in tax increases on our employers going forward," Barbour said.

Both Sanford and Jindal are considered likely 2012 presidential contenders."

Only a hardcore wingnut would consider such views to be either realistic or rational. With the current job situation there are huge numbers of people both willing and able to work who just cannot find a job. Let us hope to find Jindal, Barbour and Sanford among the unemployed Real Soon Now.

A Good Fix

2009-02-03T19:51:00.002-06:00

Personally, I think Obama should nominate Howard Dean for HHS -- and IMO he should have been the first choice. He is smart, experienced, organized, and competent.

Wonderful Week

2009-01-25T19:56:00.002-06:00

It has been a long time since there was such a refreshing, reasonable week in politics. Of course, the crybabies are out whining about how awful it is that they can't have their way, but that was a very small note in a symphony of good moves, good times, and freedoms seeping back into a country that had been kicked around for eight long years.

In his first week in office, George Bush instituted the Gag Rule. I remember it clearly because I walked down the aisle and taunted a female co-worker who had voted for wingers. This week,President Obama removed it. I am very glad. I was not sure what his position was going to be. I am glad it is on the side of giving women education and the means to decide how their lives need to go.

Oh Yes

2009-01-20T20:37:00.000-06:00

A promise kept.

Israel

2009-01-10T17:03:00.003-06:00

Israel was founded the year I was born. That means that the people who resettled there have almost died out. People the ages of my grandparents and parents are the ones whose families were murdered wholesale by Hitler's policies.

Israel started with a great well of good will from the west. Its immigrants ha a huge amount of moral stature, and a will to never again be victimized.

But what is it we see now? My sympathy is growing shorter and shorter. Sure, "Never to forgive, never to forget!" is a stance that many people in the Middles East have. This actually makes Israel a great deal like its nearest neighbors, who think that Spain still belongs to the family of Islamic territories.

Of course "Let's be suicidally stupid!" is another description of the behavior by nations of that region -- and Israel is not an exception.

They are treading awfully close to rogue status. What -- they think that if Bush can do it, so can they? [Just another argument for indicting Bush, Cheney and the other outlaws, IMO.]

No. Killing children, targeting civilians and international targets is just plain over the line. Israel has to stop behaving like everything it used to despise. They have pretty much used up all the moral high ground their ancestors bought. The actors now are new generations, and they have wasted the capital bought by the blood of their ancestors. If they are criminals now, they have to be stopped.

That's Good

2008-12-31T21:13:00.003-06:00

A last bit of reporting for 2008 -- Mr. Chief Justice Roberts is stating that the pay of court justices is not keeping pace with inflation!

Congratulations Mr. Roberts! Welcome to the Real World. I hope this situation continues, and that you acquire a new, more egalitarian perspective with this experience! The policies you have supported have helped bring about this state of affairs. Ever heard of making your bed and then lying in it?

If not, I hope the demonstration makes it more understandable. Be sure to thank your colleagues for their support in making the world more difficult to live in -- and especially, thank the man who appointed you.

Different.

2008-12-24T09:41:00.003-06:00

It is the season when people celebrate. My actual family where I live is down to one person. My chosen family is also very small. And most of all, none of us want a lot of THINGS anymore.

Today I read an article on personal giving, and I have really joined the ranks of those who just help people around them who need something. It isn't that I have a lot of money. It's that people around me sometimes hit a wall and just cannot cope, while I have enough spare change to make their situations better.

I no longer have a job that brings in excess income -- but I have a job that will not disappear, and that counts for a lot. So it is only right to share some of that good fortune with those who have a hard time.

Another Modest Proposal

2008-12-13T20:11:00.001-06:00

How about if the members of the Senate work for the same wage as auto workers -- or whatever they set as a fair wage for auto workers? After all, auto workers actually *do* something -- create a product that must then be sold so that they can stay employed.

The Senate doesn't do anything half so chancy -- so why should they get more pay?

A Very Strange Idea

2008-12-06T20:06:00.004-06:00

Here it is -- how do you make things right to a Guantanamo prisoner who is found innocent? If someone innocent is Moslem, here is a suggestion.

How about this: a ticket to Mecca, white clothing, three weeks of per diem, and a ticket to whatever place they call home -- from Mecca.

Why not give those declared innocent the hajj? It might make up respectfully for what they have been through.

Homeland Insanity

2008-12-04T17:48:00.003-06:00

This morning on the radio I heard that Homeland Security had decided to put their bioweapons research in Manhattan, KS. Unfortunately, a lot of the weapons are meant to kill plants and animals. And so they are putting this THING in the middle of the US heartland and breadbasket,

They are devastatingly naive about security and experiments. Many labs have released things into the world that they did not mean to -- or something they were growing cross-pollinated into the world -- I cannot imagine that the works of this facility will be error free.

The old labs were on Plum Island, where the prevailing winds took problems out over the ocean. That sure beats having the prevailing winds take problems to Chicago or St. Louis.

Can the people who decided this be overridden? Better pray.

Captive Audience

2008-11-30T17:09:00.002-06:00

Well, last week from Wednesday through Friday, the captive audience of Fox News was subjected to all-Mumbai all the time. I hope that by tomorrow the cleanup will have progressed enough that Fox will finally lay off. It was incredibly ugly.

With two wars of our own and a whole world out there, you would think that they could have spent a *little* time on something else...but noooo.

Amusements

2008-11-22T21:43:00.002-06:00

Genderanalyzer:

We think http://scorpio-eccentricity.blogspot.com is written by a man (78%).

Is this because it's literate? Because it is not emotional? Because it's political?

Wish I knew what the critera were.

Some Things Won't Stop

2008-11-16T13:01:00.002-06:00

Some of the Obama Birth Certificate Crazies are still out on the trail. Some racists. Some who can't bear to lose.

Bush is still touting the "free market", when it will be anything but free for quite awhile. I suppose that some must count the draining of half the US Treasury to be a "free market" coup, but most of us consider it a disastrous failure.

I am personally very satisfied at the election results. I voted for Obama for his brains, and for his ability to maintain civility in the face of obnoxious aggravation. Those are valuable qualities.

I Thought I Wrote About It!

2008-11-09T22:47:00.002-06:00

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: President Obama
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/27/2004 08:59:48 PM
-----
BODY:
If the United States has a future, you'd best believe that Barack Obama has a place at the point. He's going places.

A tremendous convention speech -- he understands what the people of this country are about.

Here is some of the text from CNN.

***
Afterword: the transcript.

I Suspect

2008-11-05T18:42:00.003-06:00

...that never before in US history have there been huge street parties in every major city after an election. I wonder if half the country took to the streets.

Better to do that in joy than in anger.

Last night I slept well for the first time in years. I trust that President Obama will be a fine leader. He certainly has more promise of being one that we have seen for a long time.