October 15, 2013

So Lets Say Obama Ignores the Debt Ceiling Come Thursday

Let's imagine this scenario. It's Thursday and no resolution to the crisis comes along. Then on Friday Obama declares a state of emergency or declares under the 14th Amendment that we have to pay our debts and instructs Treasury to issue bonds despite the lack of approval from Congress. Remember, the debt ceiling limit is a law, the 14th Amendment is the Constitution. There is some grounds for ignoring the law in favor of the Constitution.

So, national and global financial crisis averted. Markets stabilize after plummeting in after-hours trading on Thursday. The GOP House is pissed for having their supposed bargaining chip taken away from them - ostensibly forever now. In retribution for saving the national economy and the global economy the Tea Bagger wing of the GOP House draws up articles of impeachment.

Would those go anywhere? Would Boehner allow them to proceed in the House? Would it actually be a gift to Obama because it could cause the coverage of those articles of impeachment to drag on well into the 2014 election cycle and keep in the national conscience the fact that the Tea Baggers are nuts? This isn't a stain on a dress here. It's the global economy.

I think it would be a gift to Obama and the Dems in the 2014 elections. People are already pissed at the GOP. Impeachment for saving the global economy when people already see the GOP as petulant children bent on only serving their party interestss just might not play well.

October 14, 2013

Xerox on EBT issue: "power outage during a routine maintenance test caused the temporary glitch" BS!

Does anybody really believe that bullshit? In all my 30+ years in IT I've never seen a power outage cause a software glitch. Was this power outage on the UPS systems? Those do happen. UPS's are machines and they do fail - rarely.

Power outages either take down the machines or perhaps cause spikes but those should be filtered out be any UPS unless it's the UPS that has the issue. But that would typically mean a sudden, unexpected power-down of the computers. Not modification of software code allowing unlimited purchases.

I'm not sure what PR flacky at Xerox came up with that bullshit but without some further explanation I'm not buying it.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57607332/ebt-benefit-card-glitch-sparks-walmart-shopping-sprees-in-louisiana/

October 14, 2013

Columbus didn't "Discover" anything. Seriously. The NA Continent was already discovered.

Please, I'm sick of the picture of Columbus as the noble explorer who "discovered" America. He was a profiteer. Well FFS. The North American continent was already populated with a thriving set of indigenous peoples who "discovered" it long before the great white man. It had long been discovered and populated. Columbus didn't discover shit. He was damned lucky he just happen to run into it on his way to Asia. Otherwise he and all his men would have disappeared into the ocean trying to get to Asia most likely.

Columbus, like all Europeans of the time, assumed he was superior to the natives of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and promptly began enslaving them. He opened up North America to the African slave trade. He and his sons were profiteers and slavers. No noble motives of proving the world was round. Just profit.

We need to stop telling the BS mythology that is so popular just because it's popular.

for more:
What Happened to the Indigenous Race?
The Rancid Myth of Columbus
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/04/the-rancid-myth-of-columbus/

October 14, 2013

I Wish Media Would Stop Quoting the VV Straw Poll as if it Meant Something

I'm getting sick of seeing how Ted Cruz is so popular and one proof of that is he won the Values Voters straw poll. Well winning that straw poll is no better than winning an online poll on any site. It is statistically irrelevant.

Around 2000 motivated people assembled in DC by choice to attend a conference. They were not elected delegates or representatives of anyone. They are people who are already motivated to be at the conference and active in politics. They are by no means a valid random statistical sample from the population of GOP voters. They are an extreme evangelical faction. This presents all sorts of statistical bias in the sample. Yet I see media outlet after media outlet touting Cruz's success in the poll as if it were meaningful.

If they're too afraid of the FRC to report this accurately and call them Christian Extremists, which is what they are, then they should just not report it at all.

October 11, 2013

Overheard at Breakfast at Elmer's this am

FYI, Elmer's is a local PNW chain much like a Shari's or Denny's elsewhere. But better quality food bought locally here in the PNW. I buy local!

The two guys sitting at the booth behind me were, not surprisingly, talking about the shutdown. I didn't get it all but I got the gist of it. One of them said usually considers himself a Republican but that this posting by the Repubs is just out of control. Then they followed up complaining about a short-term rise in the limits for six weeks. Saying it made no sense to do that and then do this all over again in six weeks.

People are catching on thank goodness.

October 8, 2013

I'm thinking the discharge petition is Obama's fallback

The closer it gets the more House GOPers will want to do something. It's also a great solution for Boner because he does not have to bring the vote to the floor and piss off the Tea Baggers.

September 10, 2013

I only wish this was a surprise.

It is a fact that Zimmerman had a restraining order taken out against him by a former girlfriend. That he still shows violence as his nature is not a surprise.

George Zimmerman won't be charged after alleged domestic incident
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/09/us/george-zimmerman-detained/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

It's so nice that the press treads so lightly on the muderers and calls Z an alleged offender.

How many times does he have to be "alleged" before it's just common sense?

When there is a pattern most people see it for what it is.

September 1, 2013

So When are We Going to Bomb the Chemical Weapons Manufacturers?

It is highly unlikely that Syria manufactured the alleged chemical weapons they've allegedly used. It is far more likely they got those things from foreign sources in Europe or the US.

So when are we going to bomb those facilities here in the US and in Europe that make these weapons of mass destruction?

August 29, 2013

Much to no real surprise: "Employers play Obamacare blame game"

Shocked I tell you. I'm shocked that employers would use the ACA as an excuse to drop, reduce or limit benefits. Benefits they'd love to drop all together and continue to pay people so little in wages they couldn't afford to buy their own healthcare.

I really hope some investigative journalist or union reps are out there finding out the reality of the situation. Employees don't have time to do research on what their employers tell them so they're left to believe it's the ACA and not robber barons who are dropping their benefits.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/29/news/economy/employers-obamacare-benefits/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

August 21, 2013

FOX News Blocks Fire Hydrant at 5-alarm Church Fire. Anyone Surprised?

link to page w/ photo above: http://intending_acceleration.kinja.com/fox-news-van-crew-parks-blocking-fire-hydrant-in-front-1178600698

link to Boston Globe story allegedly about the same event: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/08/21/three-alarm-fire-strikes-building-boston/OGSGC1wQVAf2syDCB7L7UP/story.html

I can't say these two are from the same event for certain. But it wouldn't surprise me.