I’m all talked out on health care reform. I hope Pelosi knows what she’s doing and that she’s right that we’re passing the damn bill.
Many Israelis are worried that a rift is opening up with the United States. I don’t want a rift, I just want it to be the US telling Israel what to do, and not the other way around. Who’s footing the bill in this relationship anyway?
Socialists and National Fronters are on the upswing in France. European Tribune has coverage.
Anyone want to discuss Dodd’s bill?
Or, whatever?
I want a rift; it’s clear that this “special relationship” isn’t and hasn’t been in our best interests. I want a secular single-state government. That’s what I want. That will create a rift.
About Dodd’s bill: I am cautiously optimistic. Many on the left won’t be happy that the CFPA will be housed inside the Fed, but if it’s structured correctly, this could be a very shrewed move at passing a CFPA altogether. Saying we should either pass the CFPA outside of it, totally independent, or pass nothing at all is stupid. This would only work if the Republicans agreed to the premise of a CFPA in the first place; they don’t, they want no CFPA. Therefore, drawing a line in the sand is stupid politically and economically.
Second, people will tell Obama that he should use the bully pulpit on this, and make people take those hard votes on a completely independent CFPA; as in, make it a do-or-die moment, and those who vote against it, rail against them. Hmm, interesting, but very risky. We don’t know what the issues will be in the next elections, for one; wasn’t immigration reform supposed to dominate the election cycle of 2008 way back when? And yet here we are, talking about health care and financial reform. Second, leadership chooses what’s on the table. If it dies here, mark my words, just like health care, it won’t be revisited for another 10-15 years.
So all and all, I like this bill. No dillydallying, though. Pass it immediately. If there’s anything in there regarding carve outs with payday lenders and such, things Obama has repeatedly been against, I don’t expect them to make it past committee.
The U.S. should have kicked Israel to the curb decades ago.
This is true, but even if this rhetoric coming from the WH is empty, which ultimately I suspect it is, it’s still illustrating that the tensions are the highest they’ve been since Jimmy Carter, or at minimum George Bush the first. No lobby is more powerful than the military, and if you have Petraeus and Mullen getting pissed off, there’s an opening for true progress. The man is asking for the Israel/Palestine thing to be under his umbrella. Why would he ask for it if not for dissatisfaction?
It’s so sad that the ADL cannot even handle harsh words or letters, as if Zionists speak for Jews.
Assuming that Abe Foxman made those remarks in his capacity as a private citizen and not as the head of the Anti-Defamation League, that is certainly his right. But, I really think he does damage to the mission of combating anti-Semitism, which I fully support, when he injects himself into U.S.-Israeli relations.
Yes, I largely agree. Just because it’s your right to do something doesn’t mean it’s the “right” thing to do; even if it’s justified.
The ADL has lost my support a long time ago, though. It’s just another arm of Israel, which again is sad, because I’m sick and tired of Zionism being conflated with “Jew.” It’s not fair, and antisemitism only continues to grow when the two are seen as synonymous because of Israel’s crimes, especially in the region as a whole. I see it among my friends on the left as well, and it’s really disheartening. Of course I’ve been called both a Zionist and an antisemite…lol.
Whatever Dodd has to do to pass the bill, I’m going to be for it. I mean, there are some limits to that, but not really. The House version is better, but, as always, you need 60 votes in the Senate and we only have fifty-nine. I am totally okay with the Republicans filibustering this bill, but I want them to do it as close to election day as possible. Let Dodd get the thing passed in the Senate and then let the Republicans filibuster the bill once it has been merged with the House version. In other words, don’t sweat Dodd.
Now I cannot be in that camp, even if I keep your comments in context. If it’s not adequate to solve the next crisis, people will just rail against government intervention as the problem, which is ridiculous (and when it comes to regulation, I’m fairly conservative, as I think corrections need to be made, but a welfare state with less regulation is better than a hack-job welfare state with regulations that depend on the President in office). Of course, regulations regarding finance are different: for some reason, finance doesn’t “correct itself” like the rest of the market, so I support a lot of regulation here.
Either way, I cannot say which bill is better. I’m waiting for the financial lawyers I trust before saying too much about it, but from what I’ve heard thus far, it’s a good bill in its present form.
I posted this comment on my Facebook stream today linking to the huffpost article about AIPAC lashing out at Obama:
“There’s some serious alpha-male jockeying going on here, and it’s getting ugly. Israel demands the right to embarrass the United States at will and without reproach; the US asserts that embarrassing the United States hurts our relationship.
My take: if you’re such a staunch ally, act like it. Act like you appreciate the umbrella of security we provide, act like you appreciate the multi billions of dollars per year that we lavish upon you and which forms the backbone of your budget, act like you appreciate the easy access to highly advanced military technology we spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars developing, and act like you are serious about peace in the Middle East. Then you can talk about what the United States should do.”
I’ll choose “whatever” for $500, Alex.
My porter seems to have completed fermentation in ONE DAY. Beer brings me so much more pleasure than health care reform, Israelis, Dodd’s bill, Rielle Hunter’s icky photos, Grayson’s smackdown, and everything else I can think of off the top of my head.
your gravity is right? That was fast.
gravity was right on the nose: porter has a range of 1.040-1.050, and I hit 1.042.
The yeast, I must add, was well-cultured and very lively. It’s wyeast american ale (1056) and I had already used it in a philly pale ale clone, and an amber that’s in the secondary. A few years ago at the Tangiers DL, Tom Keough (yards owner) told me that with large amounts of hungry yeast (which I had) can do a full fermentation in a day or two.
And I have noticed that fermentation isn’t 100% done, it’s still bubbling, but much slower than before.
Mmmm…wyeast 1056 makes a good ale. I used it for a brown ale that was quite tasty.
it really does, doesn’t it!
i made an all-simcoe pale ale a few weeks ago with the 1056 (I reuse the yeast cake up to 3 times) and man it was just delicious.
vote for murray hill inc. for congress.
the logical extension of the supremes’ ruling Corporations are people too!
In non-breaking news: J.D. Hayworth is still a horse’s ass.
The irony is the story about Caligula making his horse a senator, which is the office that J.D. Hayworth seeks.
maybe he’s been hanging out with neal horsley.
On healthcare reform: the critical moves now are what the strategy is for following up the passage of a flawed bill with more fixes and passage of a public option and waivers for state single-payer pilots.
On Israel: I opine that I would not like to be on the receiving end of a 43-minute phone call with Hillary Clinton after having dissed the Vice President of the United States. I trust she reminded Netanyahu of the US’s budget difficulties and what might be a source of savings in our foreign aid budget.
On Dodd’s bill: Looks pretty much like the Obama-Geithner bill to me.
For Some reason I don’t believe Toyota.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100316/ap_on_bi_ge/us_runaway_prius;_ylt=Ag04hbcR80DZGdXqWpFdC5WyBhIF;_
ylu=X3oDMTJodTlmdW1qBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMzE2L3VzX3J1b
The Lobby is.
I seem to think it’s telling sovereign nations what to do that causes rifts, be we the teller or the told. If we deign tell any nation what to do then we shouldn’t be surprised when they tell us to go attempt the anatomically impossible, just like how we flip the bird to pretty much anyone who tries to tell us what to do.
It’s The American Way™…
The US has serious budget deficits, or so I hear. I know where we can save a few billion if some sovereign nation in particular is really not interested in peace in their neighborhood. If they are not interested in peace, we cannot be subsidizing their “security”.
Hasn’t it been obvious since…forever?…that they’re not interested in peace? They’ve never been interested in peace, they’ve just been interested in more security and land-grabs.
I’m sure their security would be just fine without US aid. Our metal merchants who are the actual recipients of the majority of that aid? Not so much…
I was awake, had just turned on MSNBC, was hearing about “deeming” a bill passed, when suddenly it felt like someone or something had just jumped on my bed. I sat up to look and realized I was in the middle of a medium-sized earthquake.
I jumped out of bed and stood in the door frame (as taught) until the shaking stopped. Then I put on clothes, looked for my purse and keys in case I had to leave suddenly, turned on the computer, saw friends tweeting about the quake across town, and am now wondering if I’ll get back to sleep.
This used to be a no-biggie occurrence. But ever after Northridge, I take all quakes seriously.
.
(NBC) – A magnitude-4.4 earthquake shook the LA area early Tuesday morning. The earthquake’s epicenter was in the Pico Rivera area, about 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The quake along the Whittier Fault occurred at 4:04 a.m., according to the USGS. There were no reports of significant damage.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."