Today's edition of quick hits:
* It's hard to miss the fact that Libyan militias are now clearly on the defensive.
* Syria: "The new U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria offered a downbeat assessment Monday on the prospects for peace in the war-torn country, saying that he would be powerless to avert worsening civil and sectarian strife as long as the United Nations' biggest powers, including the United States and Russia, remained divided."
* IMF: "The United States and Europe need to speed up key political decisions to help keep the weakening global economy from sinking under high debt and unemployment, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Monday."
* Climate crisis: "Federal ocean scientists said this year's sea surface temperatures along the northeast coast of the U.S. set all-time records, with as-yet unknown consequences for marine ecosystems."
* When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighs in on domestic fights, she does so cautiously: "When Clinton talked about the collection of taxes in countries around the world, she was careful not to talk specifically about the United States or mention political parties or names, but after speaking generally about her belief that all nations need to have a tax policy where revenue is collected in an 'equitable manner,' she paused and said, 'Especially from the elites' which received a huge applause from the audience."
* Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa, reflects on Paul Ryan's future: "I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he'll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him." Ouch.
* If Mitt Romney replaces health care with emergency-room care, what happens to those with multiple sclerosis, like Ann Romney, but without vast financial resources? Greg Sargent has a very good take on this.
* And the Washington Monthly released a new ebook today, Elephant in the Room, making the case that the 2012 election is largely a referendum on George W. Bush. The introduction was written by none other than ... me.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
Congrats on the foreword, Steve. I'm looking forward to reading the book!
all nations need to have a tax policy where revenue is collected in an equitable manner,' she paused and said, Especially from the elites which received a huge applause from the audience."
To those that much has been given, much should be expected.
i visited the yahoo page cited above. i've stopped wondering why the name - what a bunch of yahoos. the comments were a continual screech of republican talking points, innuendo and outright lunacy.
everybody showed up - the flat taxers, the rich pay too much now crowd, the vat crew, the stop the world government cult, the what did obama and clinton do to deserve their jobs whiners and, of course, a few honest racists.
none of these economic geniuses seem to realize that they probably aren't the 1% and don't benefit from any of their tax proposals. they don't see that a vat or flat tax scheme is incredibly regressive. the poor don't pay taxes because all their money goes to survival.
as for the rest, i'm hoping it's due to postnatal trauma because, if not, there is no hope for the gene pool.
lol!
I got so pissed off when I heard this worthless moron talk about people without health insurance who have heart attacks can go to the emergency room and they'll be cared for. I had a friend 20 years ago who didn't have health insurance and had a heart attack. She was stabilized and then sent home. None of the rehabilitation or follow-up that is normally associated with treatment for a heart attack. She died 5 years ago after 15 years of pain and loss of movement and inability to do many simple things she'd had no trouble doing before the event, while struggling to survive on the pittance that is Disability since she could no longer work as she had (freelance artist).
If people ever wonder why it is that I think "the only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies," it's for things like this.
I have that TeaParty crazy cousin who watches Fox 24/7. He also has R-A and is unemployed. Or the Libertarian engineer who works on public works projects. I just don't get it.
Lol me either. lack of education and independant thinking is a benevolent explanation?
Note to Craig Robinson: Ryan got where he is by bathing in the stench of people like Mitt Romney.
Kudos to the Libyan people who are standing up to the militias. This is the kind of popular support a new leader needs if they are to be a free country. If this works in Libya, why not Egypt and other new regimes.
I am all in on the same exhilaration that unarmed folks presented and won an argument with armed people . On the other hand just like some of the folks harrassed around around here when Mathew Stewart murdered his wife coming home from pregnancy class , something just doesn't ring true . I hope so , but admit to some disabling doubt how folks who had a semblance of power have the peace of mind needed to maintain a sanity when the big hole of missing prestige dawns for Nth time .
Sorry don't have a clue what you are talking about.
Indeed, I have hope for Libya. Each country is different though.
Go Libyans!
Open thread:
Steve, would you consider inserting a blank line or a small graphic into your two-page posts to indicate the page break? That would make it much easier for the eye to find the place where the first page ended.
Love your blogging. You are the first thing I read every morning, and it's been that way since the Carpetbagger days. Keep up the good work.
"It's hard to miss the fact that Libyan militias are now clearly on the defensive."
Call me crazy, but I usually bet on the guys WITH the guns
Before guns Socratic method anticipated hopless arguments . That this includes killing yourself when charged with ridiculous embarrassments to the pride of the powerful is a ... Socratic victory , a Pyrrhic victory without all that unecessary wonder at should a beens and could a beens .
A few guns won't do much against a lot of people. Also remember, this is their own people, they can't shoot them wildly. And the Libyan government is moderate.
Come on guys, its in the Bible...Heston 3:2 "and God gave them gunpowder and all was good" and Heston 4:5 "Seeing their peaceful existance as they tolerated hedonistic lifestyles the Lord commanded them to forge barrels of steel and to fashion guns with which to slaughter the evil hippies"
I read this article today and wanted to share. As an unemployed teacher from New Jersey, I did not want to see this get swept under the rug.
Romney quiets teacher invited to round table.
Thank you for all that you do. You are worth your weight in gold.
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http://iwon.results.myway.com/redirect.jhtml?searchfor=romney+tells+teacher+i+didn%27t+ask+you+a+question&cb=IW&ptnrS=iw&qid=df7a34d09c38e3d28bac19a8cae7e26d&action=pick&ss=&pn=1&st=site&si=&pg=AJmain&ord=4&redirect=mPWsrdz9heamc8iHEhldEaIRkYr90GTUIIZh68qttMmRZphSDOXJW6S3cOAnDEYayd1PMTqjwAMmw1D5WRUzj5wWSr5d0sgOGx1VXR4ACav%2FIPPizG%2FfBmAUOO6oVGTD&tpr=&ct=AR
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Romney is a sad , angry making , disgusting digrace .
The news from Libya is IMMENSELY heartening! Time for the Middle East and North Africa to throw off the radicals who a few decades back decided to stop all forward progress for the peoples of the region and impose ignorance and violence over them.
I can't imagine who could have been behind those radical reactionaries, funding them, and arming them.
Oh wait...
The common people are the ignorant ones who cause the violence. Islam as practiced in the Middle East hasn't even reached the 20th century yet.
As a general rule, even in the Middle East, people who get up in the morning, kiss their wives, go to work, come home, play with the kids, have dinner, go to bed, do the whole thing again the next day, can seem pretty boring. TV news doesn't do boring.
Go anywhere where fanatics are acting out for the cameras, and half a block away people are going about their lives. Most of these people like the yahoos even less than we do.
Don't jump to conclusions based on what you see on TV.
hey banned, so how many of the common Muslim people do YOU know? I know several who are very close friends and they, just as George Martin describes are completely normal, quiet and amazing people who just happen to be Muslim. They are also much nicer about bigots like you than you are about them. Imagine that.
they don't live in the middle east though do they?
I've been a half a block away. Have you? Have you ever been there? Or anywhere outside the US of A?
Don't simplify this. There are a lot of fundamental islamic movements, nothing to do with the US.
Salman Rushdie calls people who provoke the riots in Islamic countries the rage industry. And he should know a thing or two about that.
Once again showing your knee-jerk ignorance. As a matter of fact, they do. Now what other assumptions would you like to make to bolster your own ideological hatred of people you don't even know?
Vote for Mitt... you're electing Sheldon 2012 https://vimeo.com/48344158
Elizabeth Warren, not actually an Indian, not actually an attorney, won't release her tax returns
Good thing she's a Democrat!
Lol that is just funny. What are you? Still in high school or a hs drop out?