Archive for January 27, 2011
I’m a Rand Paul Fan Tonight
Rand Paul breaks the sound barrier and does the unthinkable: He talks about ending aid to Israel (a conversation that is essentially banned in the US media):
[Rand] Paul, a Republican newly elected in Kentucky, was on CNN Wednesday outlining where he would cut the $500 billion in government spending he says is critical to sustaining the U.S. economy. His focus was on the departments of energy, education and housing.
Interviewer Wolf Blitzer then asked about foreign assistance, asking if he wanted to end “all foreign aid.” Paul said yes, and Blitzer asked him about aid to Israel.
“Well, I think what you have to do is you have to look,” Paul said. “When you send foreign aid, you actually [send] quite a bit to Israel’s enemies. Islamic nations around Israel get quite a bit of foreign aid, too.
“You have to ask yourself, are we funding an arms race on both sides? I have a lot of sympathy and respect for Israel as a democratic nation, as a, you know, a fountain of peace and a fountain of democracy within the Middle East.”
Blitzer pressed, “End all foreign aid including the foreign aid to Israel as well. Is that right?” he asked.
Paul answered, “Yes.”
Woohoo! Bravo! Someone finally said it.
While I don’t agree with Paul about cutting the departments of energy, education and housing, I love the idea of cutting foreign “assistance,” including “assistance” to Israel.
What Israel does with the billions we give it is another post. Suffice it to say, cut the talk about privatizing Social Security. Bring. That. Money. Home. And leave Social Security alone.
Why Egypt Blocked the Internet
This is why Egypt blocked the Internet. They’re shooting their own citizens in cold blood.
Memo to American taxpayers: Roughly $1.5 billion of our tax dollars go to Egypt annually. We’re paying for those bullets and those tanks.
What’s Wrong With What Michelle Obama Wore on Oprah Today?
I’m watching Michelle Obama on Oprah. She looks good. She’s dressed very conservatively — a pinkish/purple sleeveless dress, blue/gray “kitten” heel pumps, “diamond” stud earrings (I don’t know if they’re real, of course) and a mesh-like silver necklace with five or six grayish stones:
I’m trying to figure out what the righties will say is “wrong” with her look. They always find something, as in the commie red dress she wore last week to the state dinner honoring the President of China.
I’ll keep you posted. If Sarah Palin can turn Obama’s “winning the future” theme from the State of the Union into WTF (what the fuck), they’re capable of anything.
Rahm is In
The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that Rahm Emanuel is eligible for Chicago mayoral race.
The thing I find so repulsive about this is that Rahm seems to think he deserves the job. That Chicago owes him.
Egypt Shuts Down the Internet
UPDATED.
On Tuesday Egypt blocked Twitter (as well as Facebook, I believe — not sure about that one) and now they are shutting down the Internet as a whole:
I just received a call from a friend in Cairo (I won’t say who it is now because he’s a prominent activist) telling me neither his DSL nor his USB internet service is working. I’ve just checked with two other friends in different parts of Cairo and their internet is not working either.
This just happened 10 minutes ago — and perhaps not uncoincidentally just after AP TV posted a video of a man being shot.
Will update with more info. The ISPs being used by my friends are TEDATA, Vodafone, and Egynet.
A huge rally is planned for tomorrow afternoon in Cairo.
My thoughts are with the people of Egypt.
UPDATE @7:55 p.m. ET:
Rudy Giuliani in Drag
Hey folks, here’s Rudy Giuliani in 2000 (with Donald Trump).
Enjoy:
And there’s this from 1997:
In 1997, Giuliani made an artistic pivot. For the first time he put on women’s clothing in public, a trope he would return to throughout his career. (This was also no doubt around the time that Focus on the Family’s James Dobson opened a file on him.) Playing Marilyn Monroe in an Inner Circle production with Julie Andrews, Giuliani donned a platinum-blond wig made by RuPaul’s wig maker and wore a sequined dress that required three fittings. Hillary Clinton is not the only candidate whose victory will bring us a president who is at ease in a brassiere. “Can you play a woman playing a man playing a woman?” asked Andrews. “Haven’t you seen my act?” the mayor shot back. “I already play a Republican playing a Democrat playing a Republican.” Later in the show, Giuliani returned in a robe and sang a tune that included the lines: “Once upon a time/ I was a Democrat/ How the press loved that/ But then I grew/ Now I wear a dress/ size 22.”
I know this is old stuff but I wanted to have it on my blog, you know, in preparation for the 2012 election.
About Time for the GOP to Pull Something New Out of its Bag of Tricks
Turns out the current crop of potential GOP presidential candidates aren’t all that popular even in conservative West Virginia. Voters there really dislike Barack Obama, of course, but Mike Huckabee is the only GOP candidate with even a marginally good approval rating:
West Virginia’s one of the most conservative states in the country. But even there voters don’t like any of the leading Republican candidates for President, with the exception of Mike Huckabee. It’s yet another sign that the current front runners have limited appeal and that the party might be better off with someone else emerging from the pack of currently second tier candidates as their nominee next year.
Huckabee’s favorability in the state is a 48/27 spread. But the rest of the pack all have negative favorability ratings. Mitt Romney’s at 34/37, Sarah Palin’s at 41/47, and Newt Gingrich is at 33/43.
So, who’s it going to be? I’m hearing Jeb Bush’s name being knocked around.
Ready for another Bush?
Lord have mercy.
The Life of a Tree
It’s break time — time to appreciate an amazing tree:
The Tree of Life in Bahrain is a remarkable natural phenomenon that is witnessed by most who visit Bahrain. The Tree of Life stands alone with almost majestic flair, miles away from other vegetation and with no apparent source of water. The Tree of Life in Bahrain is a mesquite tree that has grown at the highest point in Bahrain for over 400 years. The mystery of the survival of the tree has made it a legend.
The local inhabitants believe with heart and soul that this was the actual location of the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Life or Sharajat-al-Hayat, as the Arabs call it, is located 1.2 miles or 2 kilometers away from Jebel Dukhan. The tree stands lonely in the heart of desert, on top of a 25-foot-high sandy hill. The tree of life has continued growing-despite the extremities of the climate. At present it is 32 feet in height.
The tree’s source of water is mystery. Plant scientist may say that its roots go very deep and wide to get water from the reserves of sweet springs kilometers away. The Bedouins believe that Enki, the mythical God of water, had showered its blessing.
Whether it’s “The Tree of Life” or not, I applaud this tree for surviving in the environment it’s in. (There’s a lesson here.)
Photo: Pricey
Photo: Glenn Rose
Photo: ThinkingJosh
Photo: Kollege
Paul Ryan Was on Social Security Before He Wanted to Privatize It
Republican Paul Ryan of Wisconsin — the guy who gave the official rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union speech (he looks kinda like he should have been on the Munsters television show), has big plans for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid:
Ryan’s Roadmap puts Americans on the path of privatizing entitlement programs, such as Social Security. The Plan boasts about “the creation of personal investment accounts for future retirees” that are “the property of the individual.” (Emphasis in the original document). “Individuals will be able to join the investor class for the first time,” the Roadmap says. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) notes that “the Ryan plan proposes large cuts in Social Security benefits — roughly 16 percent for the average new retiree in 2050 and 28 percent in 2080 from price indexing alone.” It “initially diverts most of these savings to help fund private accounts rather than to restore Social Security solvency.” CBPP also notes that the Roadmap “would eliminate traditional Medicare, most of Medicaid, and all of the Children’s Health Insurance Program” by creating a private voucher system that won’t keep up with the cost of health care.
He must be a cold, hard dude because there was a time when he received Social Security. He used it to help pay for college:
One day as a 16 year old, Ryan came upon the lifeless body of his father. Paul Ryan, Sr. had died of a heart attack at age 55, leaving the Janesville Craig High School 10th grader, his three older brothers and sisters and his mother alone. It was Paul who told the family of his father’s death.
With his father’s passing, young Paul collected Social Security benefits until age 18, which he put away for college.
Here’s more on Paul Ryan’s hysteria.
Another “Isolated Incident” #4
The right claims that threats by wingers against Democrats are rare, “isolated incidents.” Not exactly. This is the fourth “isolated incident” in the last three weeks:
Federal authorities have charged a Granger man with threatening U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly and his South Bend office staff.
Brett Keiling, 46, of the 10000 block of Anderson Road, called Donnelly’s downtown South Bend office Monday and told a staff member that everyone in the office had been “back stabbing him,” according to an affidavit from FBI special agent Robert Dane.
The employee tried to rationalize with Keiling, but he continued to threaten her, saying, “I am going to come and back stab you. I mean literally come down and stab you.”
The woman told the FBI that she felt the threat was directed at her, the rest of the staff and Donnelly, D-2nd.
Keiling regularly calls the Donnelly headquarters and the FBI’s South Bend office to discuss current events in the media, and is “routinely irrational, confrontational and uses vulgar language,” Dane wrote in his affidavit.
The other three are here, here and here.
