Howdy FOKR boys & girls! :D I'm still feeling rather discombobulated from going back to work after 2 weeks off; resuming this diary will hopefully help me feel more normal (such as it is). AND, I'm breaking in a new show feed tonight, so let's hope it behaves itself!
Of course, we've had the horrific shootings in Aurora, CO since we've last been here. Aurora is 13 miles from Littleton, CO - where Columbine HS is.
I found this New Yorker article with a brilliant cartoon, so click here to see it. Anyone who's hung around my diaries for any length of time around here knows that the NRA, gun control (or lack thereof), etc. is 1 of my big hot - button issues. So, if Rachel devotes a segment to the shooting, and I feel the blood pressure begin to go up, I'll probably bail.
It's time to look back on past July 25ths. On this date in 1965, Bob Dylan plugged in, and people were PI$$ED! On this date in 2000, we got history's latest version of a match made just south of heaven.
Talk about your appropriate transitions to SPARK... Bears! :D Maybe, this thief already had a television machine. ;D The Penn State situation continues to ooze something just south of class. I have GOT TO get to this festival some year; I'll pass on the garlic ice cream, though! Finally, 'tis the season to harden the arteries! Where are Bat$hit Bachmann & Governor Secession when you need them? ;D
On with The Rachel Maddow Show!
And, Ezra Klein's in da' house!
"Worst. Congress. Ever." - Senate Majority Leader Reid called "poppycock" on the folk across the aisle. :D A couple of votes got done today. The Dem plan for the extension of tax cuts actually passed today even though it won't survive the House. The GOBP didn't tarrantino because any bill concerning taxes must begin in the House; today's bill didn't begin there. Senate Minority Leader Turtle..er..well, you know...said today that today's vote was only to let their constituents know where they stand on the issue. OK! The House fought over a typo. How much does this Congress suck? The number of laws passed in this session is 112 - officially the least productive EVAH! Congress' popularity is down to 9% - below a whole host of ilky folk. Only Fidel Castro rates lower! This Congress has also done the most damage to this country largely in part to the debt ceiling fight. And, we might just get another fight down the road! Appropriations bill passage are at a historic low, too. Try ZERO passed in time! $HIT! If I was that productive, I'd be sacked! *&^%$#@! A couple of high - brow Congressional study folk have claimed this Congress to be the most dysfunctional EVAH. Norman Ornstein & Thomas Mann are in studio to talk about our $hitacular Congress. Both these guys blame the MENSA party for taking a giant leap from their not - so - great senses to begin with! Tarrantino reform would do a world of good, but such reform is always promised but never delivered. The minority can & have put the breaks on any meaningful activity in the Senate. Ah, we get a trip down memory lane to the lovely 1994 House led by...uh...who was in charge there then? ;D They called the media "an unindicted co - conspirator" in educating voters in who's to blame in Congress! HELLO!
"I Know You Are, But So Am I!" - Mittens should've learned many lessons from the 2008 campaign. Don't pick an inexperienced FNG as your VP pick. Don't lump a bunch of different people together in 1 common enemy. Mittens thinks WMDs got moved to Syria in 2003. Now, granted, the Mannity helped with that one. The standard memo is that Dems are weak on national defense & international policy. Then, well, President Obama gave the order to make sure OBL slept with the fishes! :D Mittens spoke to veterans yesterday but didn't mention AQ once. He's going to England, Poland, & Israel but not to Afghanistan because it's dangerous & there's still shooting over there & he might be uncomfortable! Spencer Ackerman gets Mittens foreign policy duty. Mittens would run some parts of the world just like President Obama is now. Mittens will have resolve & will to get things done on the international scale?! He doesn't have resolve & will about any other issue! Why would this issue be any damn different?! What a maroonic out - of - touch a$$ hat! *&^%$#@! Mittens told veterans that Iran is now the biggest threat. Mittens doesn't like Russia, either, because he's still fighting the Cold War. Granted, Russia ain't exactly our BFFs, but Mittens seriously is thinking Cold War $hit.
"The Ezra Klein Challenge" - We're back on the "too big to fail" memo. The "too big to fail" banks are now bigger than they were when they were too big to fail before. Clear as mud? Big banks could be subject to taxes, but small banks can create big entities, and there's Wall Street.
"Up Against the Wall Street" - Wall Street folk tend to be a bit risky about their hobbies to the detriment to the rest of us. They also think everyone's out to get them. I kind of liked the gun lovers/Wall Street folk comparison! :D Wall Street used to like President Obama, but, now, "one of their own" is going to be the nominee, so they want Mittens to win - even though this administration is awfully very friendly to big finance. Neil Barofsky gets to talk about why Wall Street doesn't want to be BFFs with President Obama anymore. He's not thrilled with how the bailout turned out. The 1% got the bailout; the 99% got the bill for said bailout. Wall Street thinks Mittens will give them a better deal as far as "pr $hit," and they're exactly right. Dodd - Frank will be gone. They also think Mittens has the answer to the struggling economy. Mittens likes to strap doggies to the hood of his car, and that's about it.
"Drought and About" - Yep, yep, and yep! A whole mess of records for daily highs have been broken this year. A lot of my fair state is purple; tell me something I don't know! Corn in my part of the world looks more like sagebrush. Ears are about as big around as a shower curtain with precious few kernels to be had. And, this Congress can't pass a farm bill. Ezra gave a little tutorial about why what happens to corn prices & quality affects a damn lot of things! Drought conditions will probably only get worse. We are causing climate change, and Americans are causing it most of all. Yea, but until big oil & big energy lose their strangle hold on the government, they won't allow viable alternatives to ever see the light of day.