Flannel Shirt

What kind of compass?

I'm curious how average Republicans are taking Obama's budget. He's offering "chained CPI" which is a way to slowly starve old folks and vets, as opposed to the Republican meatcleaver approach, which would work a lot faster. And yet I am sure that the typical Republican voter, while knowing about the "chained CPI", somehow has overlooked the Republicans' plans for granny. 

Granted, this time around McConnell and company have stuck to vague terms, but suffice it to say that ol' Mitch thinks that Obama's offer isn't enough and that no one's raising any taxes on the wealthy. 

It's the progressives and liberals who are fighting Obama over any Social Security cuts. Already it's been announced that any Democrat who votes for cutting Social Security will be primaried. Amazing the silence of the lambs on the right, though.

I wonder what kind of compass a Republican uses to continually misread the political turf. By the way, anyone who proposes to cut Social Security is not liberal, and certainly not a socialist.

Here's Krugman. 

So the Obama budget is out, Social Security cuts and all. Why is this happening?

Well, it’s all about the positioning. Ezra Klein gets at what I hear from the WH too (and what’s obvious in any case):

Today’s budget is the White House’s effort to reach the bedrock of the fiscal debate. Half of its purpose is showing what they’re willing to do. They want a budget compromise, and this budget proves it. There are now liberals protesting on the White House lawn. But the other half is revealing what the GOP is — or, more to the point, isn’t — willing to do. Republicans don’t want a budget compromise, and this budget is likely to prove that, too.

The question is, to whom are these things being “proved”?

Since the beginning, the Obama administration has seemed eager to gain the approval of the grownups — the sensible people who will reward efforts to be Serious, and eventually turn on those nasty, intransigent Republicans as long as Obama and co. don’t cater too much to the hippies.This is the latest, biggest version of that strategy. Unfortunately, it will almost surely fail. Why? Because there are no grownups — only people who try to sound like grownups, but are actually every bit as childish as anyone else.

After all, if whoever it is that Obama is trying to appeal to here — I guess it’s the Washington Post editorial page and various other self-proclaimed “centrist” pundits — were willing to admit the fundamental asymmetry in our political debate, willing to admit that if DC is broken, it’s because of GOP radicalism, they would have done it long ago. It’s not as if this reality was hard to see.

But the truth is that the “centrists” aren’t sincere. Calls for centrism and bipartisanship aren’t actual demands for specific policies — they’re an act, a posture these people take to make themselves seem noble and superior. And that posture requires blaming both parties equally, no matter what they do or propose. Obama’s budget will garner faint praise at best, quickly followed by denunciations of the president for not supplying the Leadership (TM) to make Republicans compromise — which means that he’s just as much at fault as they are, see?

So let’s nominate Michael Bloomberg, who will offer the exact same policies but, you know, really mean it (and supply Leadership (TM)).

No, seriously (but not Seriously): who do you think could possibly be persuaded by this budget who hasn’t already been persuaded?

And another opinion.

Why absolutists have trouble with reality

In this case, it's Rand Paul and and his "Personhood At Conception Act".

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Friday introduced so-called “fetal personhood” legislation that would completely outlaw abortion in the United States.

The Life at Conception Act would declare that human life began at conception, providing fertilized eggs with the same legal status as born persons.

“The Life at Conception Act legislatively declares what most Americans believe and what science has long known – that human life begins at the moment of conception, and therefore is entitled to legal protection from that point forward,” Paul said in a statement. “ The right to life is guaranteed to all Americans in the Declaration of Independence and ensuring this is upheld is the Constitutional duty of all Members of Congress.”

In a fundraising video for the National Pro-Life Alliance last year, the Republican senator explained that the bill would outlaw abortion without contradicting the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Citing the ruling, Paul claimed Congress had the power to define when human life began under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

“The Court then admitted that if the personhood of an unborn baby is established, the right to abort ‘collapses, for the fetus’ right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14] Amendment,’” he said.

Pro-life activists have pushed to amend the constitutions of several states with “fetal personhood” language, but have so far been rejected by voters.

Have you seen little sperms? They're alive. They wiggle and swim and either get to the egg or they die. You can't die unless you are alive.

As are the little eggs. They're not dead. At least not until they die.

So what's this fine demarcation between life and death? An overwhelming majority of fertilized eggs are naturally aborted, most before a woman even knows she's pregnant. That would be about 75%. That would make God the Great Abortionist In The Sky. 

It's particularly Senator Paul wants to grant personhood to every fertilized egg. First, that's not when life starts. Second, most fertilized eggs die naturally before anyone knows of the pregnancy. And a fertilized egg is a part of the pregnant woman, not a separate person. 

I realize these arguments have zero affect on the right-wing religious zealots, despite no specific Biblical definition. And it's particularly embarrassing that someone who claims to a libertarian, who is supposed to support keeping government out of its citizens' lives, would support such an incredibly intrusive and stupid policy. At best, it's a political ploy. 

However, this is a great way for Republicans to alienate even more women. Perhaps at some point they'll get the message. But then if Republicans didn't have these ridiculous things to distract the hoi polloi from the continuous plundering the Republicans wage on the bottom ninety-nine percent then they'd lose everyone.

I thought this only happened in California

There used to be a Barbie Museum in Palo Alto and once my ex dragged me to see it. It was marginally interesting. This guy sounds like his collection could compete with that museum.

For one man, Barbie isn't just a childhood staple, but a way of life.

Since 1997, Stanley "The Barbie Man" has collected anything and everything related to the iconic doll and has amassed a staggering collection of more than 2,000 Barbies.

The pink and plastic collection is worth, in his estimation, approximately $80,000.

His Florida home is his showcase with his collection covering the walls from the floor to the ceiling.

But his collecting doesn't stop with Barbie, he's also purchased plenty of accessories, including a Barbie plane, pink corvette, and anything else the pint size doll could want.

"Anything that I find at a garage sale that has the B-a-r-b-i-e on it, I'm buying it," Stanley said.

His most expensive Barbie named 'the Pink Splendor' cost him $975, although he knows a good deal when he sees one. He bought a vintage Barbie for only $4 at a garage sale.

"I think it was like $4. The lady thought it was a reproduction. I played right along, played right along," he told ABC News affiliate WFTS.

After 16 years of collecting Barbies, Stanley has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

He still goes to Barbie conventions and garage sales and is always on the hunt for a Barbie he doesn't own.

"Barbie's not just for little girls. It's for everybody who enjoys quality," he said.

Even though the dolls have overtaken his bedroom, he's happy to share the space.

"You wake up in a good mood, because you always have beauty around you," Stanley told WFTS.

Conservatives to build an Idaho-like community in Idaho

Have fun, y'all.

A group of like-minded patriots, bound together by pride in American exceptionalism, plan on building an armed community to protect their liberty.

The group, named Citadel, intends to purchase 2,000 to 3,000 acres for the project in western Idaho.  The community will comprise of 3,500 to 7,000 families of patriotic Americans who "voluntarily choose to live together in accordance with Thomas Jefferson's ideal of Rightful Liberty."

According to the Citadel website, Rightful Liberty means that "neighbors keep their noses out of other neighbors' business, that neighbors live and let live."

Citadel explains that residents in the community will be bound by the following:

    Patriotism
    Pride in American Exceptionalism
    Our proud history of Liberty as defined by our Founding Fathers, and
    Physical preparedness to survive and prevail in the face of natural catastrophes --such as Hurricanes Sandy or Katrina -- or man-made catastrophes such as a power grid failure or economic collapse.

These groups seem to collect in Idaho.

Paul Ryan joins with science denier to fight women

Here.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), erstwhile vice presidential candidate in the failed presidential run of former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), has signed on as cosponsor in a draconian new bill aimed at curtailing women’s reproductive freedoms.  According to Huffington Post, in spite of the defeat of so-called “fetal personhood” laws in 2012, Ryan and his colleagues are forging ahead with a new measure that classifies all embryonic tissue as a human life from the moment of fertilization.

Ryan and Georgia Congressman Rep. Paul Broun — who gained notoriety in 2011 when video surfaced of him calling scientific facts “lies from the pit of Hell” — cosponsored the bill, which is called the Sanctity of Human Life Act.  Broun first introduced the measure in 2011, but Ryan re-introduced it on the Hill last week.

The measure specifies that a “one-cell human embryo,” even before it has implanted itself in the uterine wall and resulted in a pregnancy, should be granted “all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.”

According to the ACLU, voters have rejected fetal personhood legislation in droves.  A measure trying to establish the citizenship rights of fertilized eggs was voted down by a margin of 16 points in Mississippi, one of the most conservative states in the nation.  Petitions to get fetal personhood measures on the ballot in Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Arkansas, Florida and California all failed to receive enough signatures to qualify.

Voters and civil libertarians are concerned that the laws are so strict and unreasonable that they would make some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization illegal, as well as all forms of abortion, including cases of rape and incest and instances where the health of the mother is threatened.

An Oklahoma court struck down that state’s “personhood” law on the grounds that it was plainly unconstitutional and imposed unreasonable restrictions on women’s ability to make their own reproductive choices.

Broun, for his part, disregards these concerns.

“As a physician, I know that human life begins with fertilization, and I remain committed to ending abortion in all stages of pregnancy,” he said in a statement.  I will continue to fight this atrocity on behalf of the unborn, and I hope my colleagues will support me in doing so.”

The bill has a total of 17 cosponsors.  Ryan, who is rumored to have presidential ambitions for 2016, de-emphasized his extreme anti-abortion views for the sake of the 2012 campaign.  He cosponsored 2011′s House Resolution 3, one of the first bills out of the tea party-heavy Republican Congress.

When do Republicans get embarrassed by these guys?

On the positive side...

...if they're shooting up newspaper offices they won't be doing mass shootings at the local grammar school. I think there must be something in the Second Amendment about threatening to kill reporters too.

Mr. Doig pointed out that the recent publication of gun information by other papers has made access to this public information more difficult because legislators started blocking the data immediately. “The backlash, very typically from this, is for legislators to try to close up the access to this type of data.”

Mr. Worley said he had received mainly taunting phone calls sprinkled in with callers who said “you should die.” He found broken glass outside of his home and would not say how much time he was spending there right now. But he said he had largely been supported by the newsroom.

The Journal News’s features editor, Mary Dolan, said that while she was not involved with the publication of the article, her home address and phone numbers were published online in retaliation. She has had to disconnect her phone and has “taken my social media presence and just put it on the shelf for a while.” She has also received angry phone calls from former neighbors in Westchester whose gun information was published.

She said she was especially concerned about the part-time staff members who write up wedding anniversary and church potluck announcements who have been harassed. But she supports the paper for its decision.

“It sparked a conversation that needed to occur in this country, and it revealed tactics that will be employed when gun owners feel their rights are threatened,” she said.

Putnam County has refused to release similar data, but Ms. Hasson said she would continue to press for it. She would not say whether the paper had lost any of its advertisers. According to the Alliance for Audited Media, The Journal News, like many newspapers nationwide, has had sharp declines in circulation. Its total circulation from Monday through Friday fell from 111,536 in September 2007 to 68,850 in September 2012.

At the same time, Ms. Hasson has been trying to calm the nerves of her family after photographs of the home she is renting and references to her adult children were put online.

“They are concerned about my safety,” she said about her children. “But they are very supportive.”

 

States can opt out, but...

...they probably won't.

Republican governors and local representatives complain about “government run healthcare,” but if they don’t get with the program, they may have no healthcare.

According to new findings by the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH), by 2019, safety net hospitals’ uncompensated care costs will be $53 billion higher than originally estimated if states don’t opt into the voluntary expansion of the Medicaid program under Obamacare.

Safety net hospitals serve areas where, on average, 14.9 percent of the population is uninsured and 32.5 percent of the population relies on government-provided health coverage such as Medicaid. Current Medicaid reimbursements often fall short of the full cost of care, so programs such as federal DSH funding help make up the difference. Obamacare cuts DSH funding in half by 2019 in an effort to reduce national hospital payments — but only because the cuts to safety net hospitals were intended be offset by the vastly expanded pool of newly insured low-income Americans.

In hindsight making the expansion of Medicaid voluntary may not have been ideal, but making it mandatory also may have lead to the entire law being struck down. Because even in its current iteration, the Affordable Care Act survived by a razor-thin margin and ultimately relied on Chief Justice John Roberts having a last-minute change of heart.

With that said, I expect much of the opposition to the expansion of Medicaid will fade away after election season is over, and will almost entirely disappear in 2014 when the remainder of the law comes into effect.

This study, conducted by the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, suggests they simply won’t be able to afford not to. And perhaps more importantly, refusing to expand Medicaid will be very bad for business.

Some things should never be

Portland is infamous for its many microbreweries and Voodoo Donuts, especially their bacon maple bars. Putting it in a Pepto Bismol-colored bottle just adds to the vomitaciousness. There are some things I'll do, but I won't do that.

Rules on moving in together

Here's some helpful hints on moving in together. 

Not that I had them handy when I moved in here with Joan, but a lot of the tips are just common sense. You don't tell someone that their lovely photo of their great-grandparents is crap and you want to set up your homage to Joe Montana in its place. Sensitivity, my friends. Of course, moving in would be simpler if I didn't have so much crap. Since most of Joan's stuff, think kitchen-ish stuff, is better than mine, I've made a lot of less fortunate people happy by donating my toaster/convention oven, my microwave and other stuff to the Community Warehouse here. 

I'm technically moved in, and my music operation is pretty much set up, maybe 90%, but up in that room and down in the basement are all these boxes. Some are half-full and need to be combined, some are empty and need to be broken down and store or discarded. And some just need to be shoved on shelves. Luckily, I come with shelves. I've got to spend enormous gobs of time getting all that stuff into some order. 

And then I've got to clean up my old apartment. That's the task I dread. 

Unions