The Thorn and the Lyin'

Androcles or Ambrose?
But no Saint Donald*.
Trump claims** noble agenda.

Next? The President's Academic Records or Ayn Rand's.



*or J'Rome via Vulgate

** media and mess age(under wave)

[Back Log]
[And not too unribble ...hmmm.]
[By Jingo, QED? Or Here?]

An Inconvenient Platonics?

Is Atlas Shrugged a satirical parable without intent?
Or an Inconvenient Platonics
or Ironic Pedagogy and Not So novel?

[Footnote in Ribble: Obamanomics]
[Slippery* Slope? Or Domino Theory? Ribble Two?]

[* Re: 3:45 and on of Ed]Premium Support or Voucher is not the problem, it is the "do nothing" red herrings that jump the shark. The blue print is a navigational chart, that just may be the teeter totter of politics. It is called a bailout(read welfare) for corporations. Speaking of rocking intent.]
[Try Corner Hat Trick?]
[Back Log of De Mos?]
[Blast from the Past?]

Co-Op-Ed

A Deeper Mess Age.

Yeah that's the ticket! An Op Ed from "The One" and "The Prince". No Diplomat I, but I'm not jest punning. A joint op-ed is no joke, but beyond imagining what the two could say. Or maybe it is the imagined reaction to more involvement by outside forces, more local or not. I am generally in favor of the two suggestions, the joint Obama/Al Nahyan op-ed and an Obama Al Jazeera appearance. But it is not just the awkward sound of the suggestions but the concern for an over-reaction and how and who receives it, in terms of further inspirations for, or resistance to change.

Happy Earth Day!

It's not too late.

A Faith-Based Wake-Up Call on Earth Day
by Bishop Robinson for Center for American Progress

Speaking of E. D.
[Environmental Disinformation, and Reptile Disfunction]

[Speaking of leaps... searching... this is it... from here. I have a project in the works* regarding Atlas Shrugged author Ayn Rand, but just as I finished the previous post, former Governor Gary Johnson N.M. enters the 2012 race.(Not to mention quixotic mixes.)]
[More Dylan Ratigan: Pre-Town Hall, The Koch Party, Gulf Disaster, Debt Ceiling, Bright Bart, De Deficit.]
[De Calf Party]

* A Novelist Idea: here is a post draft trailer or tease.(apparently not that novelist)

Facebook Town Hall (amended)

[originally tacked on to previous post]
[SEGUE: amendment written after a District Democratic meeting and get together(see footnote.)]

[...I note here an additional gripe from Sam Stein (for continuity sake, Sam Stein is writing about the Fiscal Speech not the Facebook Town Hall]:

Several members of Congress also expressed agitation with the timing. Obama’s speech came after Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) unveiled his own budget plan, giving his own remarks the veneer of a presidential response rather than executive leadership.

Well, excuuuuuse me! But the President came out with his 2012 Budget proposal almost two months before the Ryan budget. But one hanging chad here is that the context of the debt is not just about the good economic times under lower taxes(which is shakey) but that there was excessive borrowing and spending that helped the economy. It was not so much tax and spend Liberals, but war and borrow and spend and bailout Conservatives. Which merits a further comparison from the Facebook Town Hall (transcript) :(President Obama)

Because this recession came at a time when we were already deeply in debt and it made the debt worse, if we don’t have a serious plan to tackle the debt and the deficit, that could actually end up being a bigger drag on the economy than anything else. If the markets start feeling that we’re not serious about the problem, and if you start seeing investors feel uncertain about the future, then they could pull back right at the time when the economy is taking off.

So you’re right that it’s tricky. Folks around here are used to the hills in San Francisco, and you’ve driven -- I don’t know if they still have clutch cars around here. Anybody every driven a clutch car? (Laughter.) I mean, you got to sort of tap and -- well, that’s sort of what we faced in terms of the economy, right? We got to hit the accelerator, but we’ve got to also make sure that we don’t gun it; we can’t let the car slip backwards. And so what we’re trying to do then is put together a debt and deficit plan that doesn’t slash spending so drastically that we can’t still make investments in education, that we can’t still make investments in infrastructure -- all of which would help the economy grow.

Then there is Speaker Boehner:

Boehner, R-Ohio, said the biggest accomplishment of the Republican House this year has been to change the debate on spending -- and the budget compromise sets the stage for even bigger cuts. "It's like driving down the highway and throwing your car into reverse," Boehner said.

Which should complete the "who is in the driver's seat" metaphor.

[Footnote: In late night discussions, I brought up George Lakoff and in response, Systems Thinking was mentioned, and here is an article, which I may have already ran across in other form(Under Supported*). And yes it is similar to my Tetrahedron of Will, not that having dimentions alone denotes similarity.

[Speaking of parallels or tangents, I just missed a bit on Thom Hartmann reviewing Atlas Shrugged**.

* And apologies to my education and not yet having not fully reading the link, but I did study Systems Theory in Organizational Behavior.

** Ayn Rand

Darned if you do, darned if you don't...

bring things(and people) to the table. There is a dynamics of griping in this piece(Sam Steins HuffPo), but one in particular I must note:

For one, various areas of policy disagreement within the White House remained unresolved. In particular, officials familiar with the discussions say, Obama's economic advisers warned against calling for a final balance of three dollars in spending reductions for every dollar generated in additional tax revenue, arguing the ratio was too explicit.

From his (President Obama's) Fiscal Speech:

I believe reform should protect the middle class, promote economic growth, and build on the fiscal commission’s model of reducing tax expenditures so that there’s enough savings to both lower rates and lower the deficit. And as I called for in the State of the Union, we should reform our corporate tax code as well, to make our businesses and our economy more competitive.

So it seems the realization could be made that the ratio is much more balanced, recognizing loopholes as spending not additional tax revenues. While this may seem like semantics it is actually a valid accounting of rhetoric. And in some ways it is similar to the gripe that the President as leader is either "the one" or is supposed to leak his strategy to followers. By this I refer to the complaints that he kept some in the dark, yet allowed the Republicans to go first on the fiscal plan. There are many fronts in the process called government, but it is different than partisan politics or military strategy.

[Future pacing? i.e. thanks to Thom Hartmann for reference to "previous pacing" in regards to: Why don't we call it the Republican Debt and Deficits?

But after Democrats and Republicans committed to fiscal discipline during the 1990s, we lost our way in the decade that followed. We increased spending dramatically for two wars and an expensive prescription drug program -- but we didn’t pay for any of this new spending. Instead, we made the problem worse with trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax cuts -- tax cuts that went to every millionaire and billionaire in the country; tax cuts that will force us to borrow an average of $500 billion every year over the next decade.

To give you an idea of how much damage this caused to our nation’s checkbook, consider this: In the last decade, if we had simply found a way to pay for the tax cuts and the prescription drug benefit, our deficit would currently be at low historical levels in the coming years.

That is not all...(later referred to as "hanging chad" .]

[The above presaged the Facebook Townhall with President Obama (video).(ABC? Real Clear or Misc?)]
[Then there is bold or miss-taking taxes.]

[Italics mark - editing - and I note here additional gripe from Sam Stein:

Several members of Congress also expressed agitation with the timing...(cont.) ]

R.S.V.P.

Reader Supported Variegated* Politics.

[NPR vs. Common Dreams]

[Political?]

*Gated? (see papa**)(The Bird is the Word: With thanks to Rachel Maddow.)

** mmmm Mow Mow...papa...

[Broken Heard-ed.

Related Links:Krugman
Lakoff
and or
Stiglitz
GDP
Invisible Hand
Bubble Up

Go at it!

That will be the challenge.
Close enough to Bring 'Em On?

Read it and Weep.

President Obama's Speech(Video)
To quote* myself: I believe that this is the President I voted for and believed was the broker not brake pad for change.

[Or Scroll over]
Reuters (on using the Tax Code)
Lawrence O'Donnell
Thom Hartmann
NPR
Daily Kos
Tea Party Huffington Post Brookings Huffington Post
Grapes of Wrath?

* #not intended but paraphrased or edited
[I believe I may have understood instead, but then I recall the question: what did Jon Kyle intend? Did he not believe it or understand it was not a fact? And this was not to condescend or make lite of my lede, but it is about showing one's hand.

[In all fairness: Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity (random google) and more perspectives NTBFD*.(Not to be fully digested.)]

Friday, Arpil 15th, 2011
Bold Progressives
Thank you Thom Hartmann: Reuters TVNEWSER/CBS
"Go at it!"

Budget Brew Ha Ha

Bill Maher on Rachel Maddow
Earlier context.
And regarding the need for a new (De Calf) party for the fiercely independent, note that this is not an endorsement of a new party, only more people at the table. Norman Goldman in contrast to Harry Reid represents the problem with too much Calf in Nation or the nature of being heard-ed.

[The closest thing* to a "Bring 'em on!"
Partisan** Afterwords.]

*President Obama's Fiscal Policy Speech
** Demagogue is as demagogue doesn't know.

[I am wondering why Martin Bashir and Cenk Uygur are missing on the MSNBCTV page, but Dylan Ratigan had the latter on, and the former took Beck to the woodshed on being a Christian fraud.

[More Ratigan, Bashir. But where(4-14-11) isUygur]

Assessments: Rachel Maddow- A Victory for Math
Ed Schultz- A Day of Reckoning
Lawrence O'Donnell-

Thursday April 14, 2011
More on the Martin Bashir reaction to Beck.
More on President Obama's speech.
Joan Walsh- What it means to be a Democrat.

The Dream Blog

Just another one of those things, a dream or this time blog that was so vivid, I made no attempt to hold on to it. And sure enough within two steps from bed it was not so clear. Well, I will make no attempt to recapture it, instead recalling an earlier idea from the previous day. I told a buddy, there needs to be a new party. De Calf Party. But after a few minutes of his rant on current events, something stronger was called for. In related matters, we do need something that presents a stronger plan[***] to the American people and someone who bargains like Boehner.[**]
Meanwhile I think I will try this De Calf.

[The Next Big Thing: The Debt Ceiling, And Speaker Boehner says it will not be raised without something big attached. Polls show people against raising it, as well as against* raising taxes. The only thing left will be more cuts.]

* but it depends on the poll

[** 4-12-11 link and previous asterisk's links added]
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
[Opinions Excused. No Comment.]

[***]On the other hand .
MSNBCTV Test Pattern [B... ] or Truth Out [...ingo: Bernie Sanders is not De Calf I meant but Harry Reid could be. And my hunch is that there will be a lot on the table.]

Two Birds

Under No Illusions...
or dot com or one stone.
There is no rejoicing in the FOX and the Badger** events, or Beck's* and Walker's travails.

* see FOX under "up"
**recall/recounts
[nor one flock]

[PAST THREE POSTS: Postal and back again.]

[UPDATES]
Friday April 08, 2011
[The Test of Post Links or Leaps.(See under stone above)]
[To parse later: "the world's best hope"..."idealists and pragmatists"..."that the world would improve"..."dissipated in the Romantic"..."secular missionaries"..."the imperial age"..."continued to enlarge". "These then are the antecedents." "Does the U.S. indeed occupy..." "Is it merely our superior military..."

It is unfortunate that the political discourse these days dictates that you can't love your country if you don't believe in its exceptionalism. Such oversimplification is one of the reasons why national campaigns focus on symbolic language instead of substantive problems and the alternative plans candidates propose to resolve them sensibly.

Exceptionalism seems to mean, "We lead, others follow." Instead, let's try: In spite of our commanding power, we lead judiciously by consulting with allies and seeking widely agreed-upon solutions to international crises. Can't America be unique among nations without dictating? That seems to be the true articulation of President Obama’s view of the contested term

speaking of one beak]
[Drawing the line.]

Mmmm MOW, MOW

papa mmmm MOW MOW

Bill is THE Word, for the Pizza Pie Culture.

Michigan [not Madison 9-28-11]
Ohio
Wisconsin

Speaking or Iron Knee you tooboldly surf*.
[Not to mention: Keepin' up with the Jones is, I mean.]
* David Sirota:[bold added] Standing in for Thom Hartmann, I don't have time to disagree, but it is not the second time that sets a precedence, it may be the time it goes to court, in regards to the way Obama follows the "Law" too similar to the way Bush did not.
[AND JUST BREAKING]
Speaking of intersections and bottom lines:

Well, now, now, now. would n't you know it. Let's keep it cool. BUT THIS? Hopefully just a form of education, that will be kept in perspective.

Post Roads and

Going Postal,

By George, "This isn't a budget, this is a cause!"



This isn't the internet this is a post road.



[This is a test.]
[Not of original intent.]
[The test will follow.]
[7-6-11 link added]

Navigation 3.0

Looking Back
and the path forward.

Yesterday was a rough day,[final straw?] sometimes you had to be there, other times things get in the way and I missed both and not in the normal way. Personally(really! however Really?) it was demand side* activities that ruled the day.

OBAMA 2012!

[Under Construction]TO BE EVOLVED:
Seattle AM 1090 (sidetrack)
NPR .org KUOW

Stephanie Miller
Thom Hartmann WOW => OpEd **
WeGotEd We Need Ed The Ed Show

Norman Goldman Plan
Randi Rhodes No Hair is Good Hair In con text?

Rachel Maddow [*] NOW
Center for American Progress
OurFuture.org
Just Foreign Policy
Progressive Policy Etc.
Steve Clemons
David Sirota[**]
Lawrence O'Donnell The Last Word***
FOKS News Bleeped and Frackin' and saved for later folks.
* no really, not Keynesian, but personally just real work, real demands

** two for one [Bernie Sanders and MoveOn]

*** yeah right moore left/

[Tom Yesterday? And Beyond. ]
[Note Labels(sic?), Lucky Three?]
[Go jump in the Lakoff, and this will be a the start of a project itself.
[*] BOLD ADDED 4-6-2011 and THE TEST.
[PopQuiz.]
[** bold added and update]

Obama Files for 2012!

On my way** to finding the appropriate link or comment I find this by* a fellow Nobel Prize winner, economist Jospeh Stiglitz.

* or rather on
** still on my way
i.e. I may not settle on an appropriate link but Ed Schultz sure covered reaction to the youtube- Ad One.
[And now I will get back to my Coffee. Or rather my original thought.]
[On second thought: I will resist the urge to revisit or resort the original thought in the "Tea Partier" reference. I think that I will preface an earlier comment, "I believe"..."He is the type of leader the country and the world needs."]

I feel like a Tea Partier!

But sometimes an almond joy. But ala Rachel Maddow, I am not in. Or maybe I am.
[Note that Obama Files for 2012! precedes this posting. And regarded being IN by Facebook which I choose not to link. Rachel is a bit superstitious or feels like a jinx when she does not want to rock the boat of fate or prophesy. In some regards I may be out.]

Making New Rounds

And Rounding A Corner?

Day before yesteray I heard* that Tom Tommorrow was moving yesterday to a new site. And I missed this yesterday but maybe tomorrow, and the day before** I just got here and had linked to where Tomorrow left. For now I will just save this in draft. And somewhere a line was crossed in other threads. And I don't know why I woke up with Numbscull and Bones in my head.

* remembering it was April Fools, Nicole Sandler was standing in for Randi Rhodes and had a troop of comics in.
** or before
[I don't know if this is broken news because I haven't read it yet.]

NO April Fool

Nor limited to Just Foreign Policy. Nor flight of fancy.

While I have yet to absorb the second link, I have clicked yes on the first. Here are two more that I unembed.(Hawks and Doves)

For now, down periscope, as I submerge for more local events.

We Need Ed

Happy April Fools!
I am killing two birds with one stone and irony of political correctness, let Hawks and Doves fly. And I won't even get into the Missio'gander*, but there I go again.
We do need an education but I am really paying tribute to Ed Schultz. Apparently it is two years ago today that he got his/our show.

* Ok a crack at the goose and the Cheeseheads and staying the course.