47 Senators

This latest action by the Republican 47 is unprecedented and capable of causing international mischief. If Our (particular) democracy is seen to be incapable of entering into binding international treaties and agreements, it would be very, very bad. A couple hundred years of development of a code in which our nations might function, if not always live, we cannot have national legislature's, of any country, threatening to undo international agreements. It just isn't done and I feel like an idiot spelling it out but if nations cannot trust the USA on treaties and agreements, the international order vanishes. I am not sure it gets more serious than this and the fact that our Right Wing is so used to being an oppositional force they cannot be trusted with real power.

The  Euro has outlived its usefulness. When the Euro first appeared it seemed a necessary antidote to USA dominance. A uni polar world is a recipe for abuse and hegemonism. Now, however, the rise of China has made the USA  less of a worldwide behemoth and has created the bi polar world we are comfortable with. The Euro papers over differences of national attitude at the detriment of democracy. When the former Finnish minster says  ( paraphrased) we do not change policy because of elections it is a frank disavowal of democracy. If there is a counter weight to the USA we do not need a European union as much. As an American I want a counter balance to USA hegemony. The European union has failed at being this counterweight and merely ties economic policy to a non democratic techno- authoritarianism that is both unpopular and doomed. The European union is the modern equivalent of the Holy Roman Empire; neither holy, nor Roman nor an empire. It was a noble attempt, but since the rise of China as well as  the  Islamic State  the  USA does not seem so  invincible. It is time to loosen the union back to the former common market.

Execution and understanding

 I am back! Didn't post for a few years but.....                                                                                                       Lately one of the issues  in the  death penalty debate is whether the intended death row inmate  knows why they are being executed.  To me this is silly. If the reason for death penalty is to remove those who cannot get along with others with no chance of them getting paroled is would not matter if they know why they are being executed. If the reason is purely bloodthirsty then having the inmate ponder their upcoming  mortality  ( I guess in terror) would be important. This is a big deal now because  so many of our mentally ill are incarcerated.  TExas desperately wants to execute people  but balks at executing those who think their punishment is because they are Jesus or Napoleon. Texas juries do not want to consider this kind of technicality but courts have ruled on capacity and responsibility and it is  that the convicted's understanding is so important. If it is all about revenge served cold then this makes sense.                                                                                                                 

non-understanding and respect

I have learned to respect what I do not understand. This took quite a while; I abhorred Nationalism,thought it a sign of Bad Primitive thinking. I did not understand it. I followed the 1990's Balkan Wars and said Serbian nationalism posed the greatest threat. I have come to that same conclusion with American Nationalism. Our Nationalism used to be overtly about pride in our Constitution and ideals. We called it Patriotism and it was differentiated from Blood and soil nationalism of Europe. Now our nationalism is resembling classic "blood and soil" nationalism which is expressed culturally as much as racially. We all must openly advocate for s return to our old national identity, because nationalism is important. People like it.What the cosmopolitans missed is how important ties such as national identity are to a large cohort of people. Many people rarely see anyone who does not share their worldview. Southern Republicans live in places where almost everyone is conservative and Christian just as Progressive areas like the Northeast and Northwest do not understand white, protestant, small town rural culture and often make assumptions based on stereotypes. Godless Urban Liberal commie, meet stupid crackeredneckmutha clutching his assault rifle, his Bible and a large pick up truck. There are some big questions that would need to be resolved, but the rural people who like Tea baggism right now but agree with Occupy _____! on many issues. They would have to accept environmentalism ( the total rejection of environmental science from the Rethugs is recent.) and Progressive cosmopolitans would have to recognize white small town culture as being as valid as the Yanomani. I do not get serious sports team fanaticism but I try to enjoy and learn. Can America do this? Occupy ____ is excellent this is an idea for attracting rural folks. They might listen if we don't insult them.

The Right people"

I am starting to see a correlation between tightening regulations and reduced access particularly among those the program is designed to help while people misrepresenting to "get" something they do not qualify for still are able to access this service or program. One reason would be a misrepresentor,(" scammer") does not have the disease for instance in a disability claim. Therefore they have the full awesome power of the human brain to figure out how to access what they want. Someone who is disabled is more likely to have low energy because of disability and is more likely to drop off the programs rolls due to failure to abide by a regulation. This goes together with America spending $100 so that the "wrong person" doesn't get $45. This is why our insurance industry contributes nothing to health care except costly bureaus of underwriters. Same with our social services. We would spend less money and probably still serve the intended populations without the means testing/hoop jumping hazing we inflict on those who seek social services. I guess this is so they ( users of social services) feel shame, which some who live in fear someone is getting something they are not might approve of, but it will cost money.

Value of a life.

It is instructive that Israel is exchanging hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli. Every action they take makes a similar calculus. Of course every nation prefers its own but one Israeli death was met with many Palestinians deaths. It seems Israeli's, particularly on the Right, have come to consider the status quo as a perfect situation. They control the Palestinians yet have no responsibility for their lives. Much is made of the fact that the Arabs states objected to an Ashkenazi state being granted sovereign status by Europeans. Europeans kill Europeans so Arabs lose the land they had fought with Lawrence of Arabia for. Israel is now and established state and has a right built on conquest, always a legitimate reason and deserves full respect as a nation state. But the establishment of this state was quite unusual. Many people lived in different places 2000 years ago. My people, the Celts rules Europe (Gaul). The Turks were in Turkistan. The Americas were inhabited by Indians. Why of so many migrations do the Zionists get their ancestoral land? It was a gift from a guilty West, Guilty of succumbing to anti-Semitism in turning boat of propsective refugees back to Germany.But the should remember it is a gift. Sicily would have been better. The Romans expelled the ancient Israeli from Jerusalem and causing the Diaspora. Italy fought on the wrong side of WWII. Sicily has been ruled by all sorts of people over the centuries. This would have been just, but would not fulfill the religious mandate to "next year in Jerusalem". The world must not interfer with borders and religion. P.S. I grew up a judophile in Goyim Connecticut. To be a New York Jew was to be a socialist, an artist, a hip and sophisticated city dweller as compared to white bread suburbs. I write this with sadness that Jew no longer is code for Commie in the South. Likud has insured this.

Obama and Bush

Why have our last few Presidents been not just wrong but repulsive to half the electorate. I think I understand the revulsion some feel for Obama because I felt such a total revulsion about George W Bush ( aka "shrub"). I had to listen to him for years as a governor. I still am thankful I do not have to listen to him speak anymore. I grew up in Fairfield county and have been to the parts of Greenwich Connecticut that the Bush family is rooted in. I know who Bush II is and I am repulsed on a molecular level I think. Everything I despise is humans wrapped up into one profoundly un curious man. I do not question the racism of the anti-Obama people but I think maybe Obama repulses them. I think this says something about the beliefs of our citizens. I do think there is a difference; my disgust at things Bush comes from an over familiarity with people like a young W. Much of the disgust with Obama re from those who are not overly familiar with either African -Americans or intellectuals. They figure they do not want to be forced to have such in their lives. All I can say is I thought I would be done with Preppy Nazi's after leaving Connecticut and Vermont for Texas. I endured six years of Bush as Governor and eight as President. Ouch

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Thu Sep 22, 2011 at 10:08 AM PDT

Entitlements

by cuddytom

In this new found outrage over the deficit a recurring theme is "reforming entitlements". This means Soc Sec and Medicare , which are for everyone ( not only low income) and medicaid ( for low income). This was done one purpose, the get greater buy in by the American public. The present socio-political landscape is exactly why FDR designed them this way. Somehow this econo mic crisis, caused mostly by the reckless behavior of financial gamblers at an elite level, has caused resentment of anyone "getting" a benefit that the person complaining is not eligible for or, does not receive. People talk about others getting benefits and the creation of a "culture of entitlement" that is coincidentgly bad for a nations morals and expensive. I have been in all strata of American life and I would say the" culture of entitlement" reached its fullest expression in the behavior of the "haves" more than of the underclass. When Left Feminism drew attention to the privileges a white male gets, instead of doing some soul searching many men said,"wait, she says I'm supposed to have everything. Where is it? I want my White Privilege!"They know it was better when that position was backed up by law as well as culture, though that might be in opposition to their consciously held beliefs. My significant other says what people accuse you of they are probably doing. The denials of the Tea Baggers about racial motivation notwithstanding, the loss of the possibility of going back to the "good ole days when..."which a Black President represents is part of why the increase in hatred of Obama compared to Clinton. The real sense of entitlement is from the White, Judeo/Christian (even they had to open up to Catholics and Jews) cultural ruling class that feels the loss intensely, leading to claims of victimhood. Victimhood is a great motivator to violence

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Fri Sep 16, 2011 at 08:30 PM PDT

refuting the libertarian

by cuddytom

A popular argument by Tea party/ smarty libertarian wing is that Universal health care enslaves doctors. I suppose taking a English doctor and a victim of chattel slavery one might find some differences in treatment but this is not the point. There is no difference between a doctor providing health care on the government dime and the existence of a police force and court/ penal system that enforces a right to property. Without the support of these entities you would have to protect your own things. This is not 'Rights" it is Nature. I do not need a right to let my dogs loose or ( I live in Texas) shoot someone I want to protect my property from. There is no difference between a policeman and a doctor in regards to "are they slaves?"

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Thu Sep 08, 2011 at 02:42 PM PDT

Keynes and Obama and BushII

by cuddytom

Polls show that a majority of Americans still blame Bush for the economy, but are becoming fed up with Obama. The Tea Baggers whine about deficits even though they said nothing in the early 00's about Bush's budget busters. Obama's big constraint on action was the deficit he inherited. Bush presided over a decent economy yet ran deficits anyway. His refusal to bring in enough tax dollars to cover even the on books part of our national budget meant Obama had less options available. Had he a balanced budget on entering office (like his predecessor did) he could have proposed an adequate stimulus and ran the sort of deficits Keynes advocated. Deficits in good times? Idiotic. Obama still should have done a WPA first thing and been tougher, but he had a huge handicap going in

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Tue Aug 09, 2011 at 04:27 PM PDT

British riots and conservatism

by cuddytom

The London riots offer a clear window into one aspect of the Great Divide; does understanding the motivations of rioters encourages them and that the rioters are all just criminals. I would not want to advertise that my city has 10,000 criminals just waiting for, what?, to destroy. If there is no underlying truth beneath the riots then your city has thousands of "super-predators" teenagers who destroy with no provocation. I listen to a British Dept Mayor Kit Malthouse say we should think of all the kids who go to school and behave. This kind of thinking flows effortlessly into a concept some are born bad, or less than human. This attitude allowed Britain to rule millions of people in Asia and Africa brutally yet consider them selves the crown of creation, the highest, best thing that (post Spencer) ever evolved. We see this today.

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Wed Jul 27, 2011 at 04:11 PM PDT

So resentful

by cuddytom

I have noticed a consistent thread going through both my Republican friends ( I live in Texas) and Tea Baggers I read interviews of. They have so much resentment. They must hate their jobs. If I like a job and get enough I do not feel better if someone else has less but these folks do. THis is real, it gives the Tea Party votes ad is totally divorced from reality. Most of the Tax Money they hate forking over goes to Tribal warlords or Halliburton rather than the tiny dole here. Some people abuse welfare. Capita;istswho abuse capitalism cost way more. Tery do not give someone the smug sense of superiority. I told my friend he should be proud, that anyone who does less has to live with that and really don't cost him shit, and that he already lives in a low tax, low benefits country.

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Mon May 23, 2011 at 04:52 PM PDT

Real statelessness

by cuddytom

These days the cry of "Government is the problem" echoes throughout the political landscape. Tea Baggers running for office compete as to who can have most aristocracy creating social and economic plan. I say they are wussies. Why? They refuse to go "all the way". They say they support market based solutions and individualism, rejecting the idea that there is such a thing as obligation to non-related fellow humans etc. But on the subject of property protection they are silent. Why? Apparently they feel the need for a Nanny State to help them hold on to their possessions. I rely on my guns and dogs to protect my home. Police power is the basis of state power. Abolish the police. If neighborhoods want to they could form posses or vigilante groups. At least an armed populace would not need a state system of prisons, police, courts and laws. These functions are and have been handled by private interests i the past. Same with roads. Why should I pay for a road to your house? Return to private roadways paid for with tolls. It worked for colonial New England. The third immediate place to gut government would be the military. Our Founders did not want us to have a standing army. The true purpose of the Second amendment becomes clear; with no army people must defend themselves. We could be like a triple Afghanistan, unconquerable because its people are armed and un-governable. When I hear a Libertarian/ Teabagger/conservative address these areas of government intrusion I will be on board with you all. Until that I only see the Tea Right as wanting the government it likes but doesn't want to pay for, not as principled individualists

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Sun Apr 10, 2011 at 11:48 AM PDT

which century?

by cuddytom

I do not know why I have not heard the most obvious, clean kill end all argument repost to the Te Baggers claims: we already tried your way. It didn't work. It was called the 19th century and by the end a majority of Americans came to understand Capitalism must be regulated. Any Tea bagger with kids under 12 should have them work 14 hours a day at a life threatening job for almost nothing. Your family does not make enough money to eat. THAT is what happens with no regulation. We tried. They act like they have new idea that has never been tried. Bul. Yes I know this is short but really, what else is there to say? Like child labor, people starving in the street of our cities. Total environmental destruction ( once there was a forest. It covered the east side of Middle America. It was cut, the refuse burned. And burned. And Burned )and a small elite so obscenely rich that the name "robber barons" was given them. Sounds great. No vote for women. All post Civil War protection for African decent Amricans removed de Facto, a supreme courts that finds any pro worker laws to be unconstitutional ( well. I guess we have that now). Sound like heaven to me. If we can't make this point we must be stupid.l

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Thu Mar 31, 2011 at 07:50 PM PDT

More anti war Republicans

by cuddytom

Ok they tell me dailykos is not twitter. Hell i can't keep up with all these talking machines... The reason I call the Republicans asking the kind of intelligent questions they ( and others) have been asking as of late is why do they only do this when it is a Democratic presidential administration? I first remember them in Clinton's use of force to re-instate Aristide in Haiti. The Republican never had a problem with either Papa or Baby Doc Duvalier but to them Aristide was threatening. I had never seem republicans have any doubts about a foreign intervention before. Cut to the Balkans. When Clinton finally abandoned the false equivilence and recognized Serbian fascism as the most developed and most dangerous, he was accused of trying to distract the public from the Lewinsky scandal. The Bush intervention in Iraq violated every one of the conservatives supposed core values. Conservatives re supposed to understand the danger of unintended consequences. Prior to WWII conservatives were rightly leery of policing the world and Liberals were internationalists. Many are arguing that the Right social populist movement could merge with a left/libertarian/populism on some issues. Somehow we must get our brothers and sitters on the Right to see the web between Big Government , which theyhate, and Big Business, which we hate. If these Republican leaders do not be careful they might get a bipartisan revulsion at what it cost us in dollars alone to be World hegemony

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Wed Mar 30, 2011 at 04:37 PM PDT

Anti-war Republicans

by cuddytom

During Democratic Presidential administrations we are treated to a rare wildlife sighting: the anti-war Republican. They re asking excellent questions about Obamas emotion driven yet weirdly noble Libyan war. It would have been a different world if Republicans exhibited such caustion when one of theirs is our fearless leader.

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Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 01:01 PM PDT

adventures with Medicare part D

by cuddytom

My partner of 22 years, Lene developed a seriously nasty disease called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or Complex Regional pain Syndrome. The sympathetic refers to the sympathetic nervous system. It is a feedback loop of pain, enduring long after the initail precipitating injury has healed. It is often caused by insufficient pain treatment, but everyone who endures agonizing pain has it for life. The medications she requires cost a stupid amount and she is on Soc Sec disablity making her eligble for Medicare D. As some may remember Medicare D is Bush II's unfunded, profit maximizing, so good it got John breaux a nice cushy job with Pharma (the lobby) good. We have pretty much discovered there is no one who has authority over the providers. No referee. Medicare says for-profit insurance companies are under the state insurance boards jurisdiction. The state people however, say that since Medicare is a Federal program it is not their job. Very clever you see. The appeals process has been outsourced to a private company Maximus, who were convicted of some kid of financial crime ( maybe they just settled but it was a decent size fine) provide "administrative "judges" who work for a private company. No one seems in charge. Do you think maybe Sen Breaux and Bush II designed it tht way? Privatize orfit and throw those who cost to the wolves.

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Thu Mar 24, 2011 at 12:05 PM PDT

idiotwatch for 3-24

by cuddytom

Howdy from Texas. The Rethugs led by Delay redistricted Austin so 2/3 is represented by Rightists ( by linking us with far away, republican areas. Rep McCaul is one of the Rethugs some of us are stuck with. Apparently he thinks ten days ago (???!) we could have "taken out" Qaddafi or get him with "airstrikes". The fantasy that Americans are omnipotent superheroes who can "take out" the bad guys if we just had the will is dangerous and silly. I find the appearance of anti-war Republicans during Democratic administrations ( see Haiti, 1994) seriously funny. People who will support any use of US arms EXCEPT for when it is ordered by a Democratic president for reasons beyond protecting Corporate interests. I guess Congressman McCaul has been readi g to many comic books....

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