Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Reinventing the “Wheel” of Federal Government

20 November 2013

Listening to The Morning Briefing on SiriusXM POTUS Radio this morning, we heard Tim Farley interview Representative Cory Gardner about healthcare. Congressman Gardner represents Colorado’s Fourth District.

Among several points related to limitations of the Affordable Care Act, Congressman Gardner said that the states could do a better job when it comes to managing their citizens’ healthcare insurance. Congressman Gardner said, for example, that it would be beneficial if insurance policies would be sold across state lines.

Mr. Farley followed up the Congressman’s comment about inter-state insurance with the kind of incisive question for which Tim Farley and The Morning Briefing have become known. Here, Mr. Farley asked about challenges that might derive from differences between the states, where each state has its own set of insurance laws.

The Congressman’s answer caught our interest.
___________________

According to Congressman Gardner, the states could work together to overcome such limitations. His idea is that the states could form agreements or alliances among themselves. This way, different insurance regulations at the level of the individual states would not cause problems among the allied states.

The advantage of this, per Congressman Gardner’s view, would be that, in using such cooperative arrangements, the states could work together to solve insurance challenges, without being forced to suffer from national intervention with our healthcare insurance.

That’s an interesting idea. One wonders that the Founding Fathers didn’t think of it. 
____________________

The Idea Highlights a Key Difference between the GOP and the Democrats. Of course, where the Democrats come from, such an organization of alliances to provide for the common good among the several states already exists.

It’s the Federal Government.

Regards,
(($; -)} 
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

“Presumption of Guilt” Is Voter-Fraud Enough. Obamacare “Lies” Prove It:

19 November 2013

In a Recent Austin American-Statesman editorial, Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak says I’m lying about why he wants to restrict the rights of our fellow Americans to vote:

“Increased Turnout Trumps Democrats’ ‘Suppression’ Argument”*


Okay then: fair enough. In my defense, I call Mr. Mackowiak out. In my opinion of Republican malfeasance, I am telling the truth.

It is Matt Mackowiak who is lying.

Please bear with me on this one. The defensive case to make can seem a bit convoluted:
____________________

The Republican Party wishes to impose photo I.D. laws for the sole purpose of preventing more people of Democratic American values from voting in elections throughout the country.

Given (1) how hard it is for someone else to vote using someone else’s voter registration, and (2) how easy voter fraud is to detect, and (3) given how the preponderance of the evidence supports that such fraud does not practically exist, and (4) given that even voting registrars—even some Republican registrars—insist that voter fraud is no problem and (5) that photo-I.D. laws only serve to reduce voter turnout—

The only real reason for Republicans to promulgate costly and inconvenient Voter I.D. laws is because, to paraphrase Mr. Mackowiak, “Republicans want fewer legal votes, not more. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying.”

By the abandoned virtue of his presumptive projection, Matt Mackowiak naturally must be included in the “lying” group. 
____________________

This “presumption of guilt” on Mr. Mackowiak’s part does not just run counter to our Constitution. It also creates challenges for those who would defend against the accusations—when it is so often those first accusers who are guilty.

Take the current Obamacare controversy.

In the lead up to the bill that became the ACA, those on the Right kept saying, “Obamacare is a government takeover of healthcare! You will lose your current insurance! You will lose your doctor!”

These accusations forced the President to come out and say, “No, it’s not. No, you won’t.”

In my personal case, President Obama’s assertions have proved true. Over the course of the past year, I’ve received several notices from my insurer, describing the few, key changes that Obamacare has made to our “grandfathered” insurance plan. So what I have, as a direct result of Obamacare, is a policy that has increased about the same as, in past years or less this year than in some years, while the benefits have increased dramatically. 
____________________

It’s harder to defend against and to describe untruths succinctly than it is to make originating accusations in the first place. Republicans accused Obamacare of things that are mostly untrue.This led President Obama to respond in kind. The result is now commonly taken for a lie. But the President’s words have borne out exactly as promised, for me and for millions of other self-employed, formerly under-insured Americans.

Republicans such as Matt Mackowiak accuse me of lying about their voter-suppression issues. It’s harder to defend against and to explain how wrong these Republican activists are about voter fraud than it is to make the preemptive accusations in the first place. And it’s harder to convey the case that the only benefit served by photo-I.D. laws is to suppress Democratic voters. But this, here, has been my short version of that case.

Mr. Mackowiak is a liar: the only true reason for the epidemic of photo I.D. laws is because Republicans want fewer [Democratic] votes. Not more.

Regards,  
(($; -)}
Gozo!
__________
*Matt Mackowiak, Austin American-Statesman, 7:00 p.m., 11/17/2013
@GozoTweets

Thursday, November 14, 2013

HYPOTHETICAL NEWS FLASH: President Obama to Congress: “I Screwed Up. Now I’m Busy Fixing It”

[A Hypothetical Encounter Somewhere in the Nation’s capital]


14 NOVEMBER 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C.: In a Surprise, Imaginary Visit to the Capitol yesterday afternoon in the midst of an ongoing crisis over the Affordable Care Act Web site, President Barack Obama delivered the following address to a joint session of Congress:

“Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, and thank you for meeting here with me, to hear my unequivocal, public apology about the ongoing situation at healthcare-dot-gov.

“First of all, let me say it straight out: I screwed up. Now I’m busy fixing it.

“No question about it. It was my job to get this website up and running, so that millions of Americans can finally get access to the kind of healthcare insurance that Obamacare makes available. This was my job. We had an opening date of October first. The site wasn’t ready. It’s in better shape now, but it’s still not what it should be. It’s my fault. I deserve all of the blame. I screwed up.

“I’m sorry. I apologize. Words cannot convey how bad and embarrassed I feel that this happened, to my signature achievement, so deep into my watch.

“In addition to a fix, I owe you a full accounting. I intend to make sure that you get that accounting. I promise that you will have that accounting, as soon as this ACA start-up work is complete.
____________________

“But For right now—

“Hey! It’s only a website.

“And as the ‘face’ of Obamacare, with my name on it, it’s an important website.

“But still. It’s only the face. It’s not the insurance programs themselves.

“The important thing is to get the insurance policies up and running.

“Getting Obamacare up and running: that’s what my people are working on right now. Even as we speak.
____________________

“Now, we only have four more months left to do it. Only four more months, if we’re to see this thing through on time.

“And just about a month left, for people to get those first policies, that start January 1, 2014.

“Now, I realize it’s tempting, to spend a lot of time right now, figuring out how to blame the guy responsible. It’s tempting to call some people out on the carpet, and to see some heads roll. Right now!

“But we are busy right now! We have to get Obamacare up and running as soon as possible. We want millions of Americans get the solid healthcare coverage they are entitled to.

“And we still need to make that happen on time.

“When you’re aboard a ship that’s sprung a leak, you have two options:

“First, you can work to fix the leak, and keep the ship moving forward while you’re doing it.

“The second option is to sit around talking about how bad the leak is, and who caused it. Maybe make them walk the plank.

“So while you in Congress sit around, and hold hearings, and subpoena witnesses to assign blame (and we know that the blame falls on me), my people are going to keep working on patching the leak in the boat. We will keep busy, bailing and paddling. Moving the Obamacare forward.
___________________

“Hopefully, we can agree that we all want the best outcome for the American people. So in every thing we do, in the White House and here in the Capitol, blame has to come second. Because what comes first is working for the people. We are all here for one thing: to bring the American people the best outcomes possible.

“In that regard, my people and I have important work to do. We have a leaky website to fix. And then we have to make sure a bunch of insurance policies get to a bunch of our people.
____________________

“So if you’ll excuse me for the time being, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have important work to do. And right now, I’m going to get back to work.

“Thank you for your interest in the progress of the Affordable Care Act, and especially in the terrible website we put together.

 “It’s still ‘All Obama’s fault.’ I can’t really tell you sorry I am about that.

“God bless America.”

@GozoTweets

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Why “Deficits” Don’t Always Matter:

12 November 2013
As “Fiscal Conservatives,” we take issue with how the “Conservative” side of American politics looks at deficit spending and debt. Here’s why:

Every year, our family takes in a certain amount of money as “income.” A portion of that income, we use to make “capital improvements” and “investments.”

A portion of funds employed for capital investments constitutes down-payments for new real estate properties, for which we take out mortgages.
____________________

If One Were to Look at selective parts of our family balance sheet, one might see:

Deficit Spending: We have added 80% of “spending” in relation to the 20% down-payment

Increasing Debt: We have added that 80% of “debt” to the balance sheet. This debt addition may be offset by total reduction of principal on all mortgages.

Over more than three decades of such “deficit spending,” our debt-to-equity ratio is less than 50%.

Any political “Conservative” might say that we are “spending” ourselves to ruin, and that we risk leaving a mountain of debt to our children and grandchildren.

Our children don’t mind.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
[NOTE: The above post on “deficit spending” was prompted by our reading of Why The Most Important Budget Event Of The Year Has Had No Impact, which was posted earlier today by Stan Collender, at “StanCollender’s Capital Gains and Games.
@GozoTweets

Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Best of Both Worlds:

10 November 2013
The Best Way to buy ACA insurance is the best way to buy an airline ticket on Kayak or Expedia: do your comparison shopping on the website, and then contact your chosen provider directly.

You can create an account on healthcare.gov, log on, and shop for the policy you want.

Once you’ve narrowed down your options, call the insurer or insurers directly. These are helpful, sales-motivated people who will give you all the information you need, and then walk you through the application process. 
____________________

Just as When Working with any “sales-motivated people,” it’s best to know ahead of time what you plan to choose. 

On the other hand, one great thing about Obamacare: 

If you don’t like what you end up with this first go-around, you are free to change it a year from now. Such an easy way of comparison shopping and of changing policies never used to be available. 

 But now there’s better policies and the convenience of Obamacare.

 “Priceless.” 

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Thursday, October 31, 2013

TIME-TRAVELERS DENIED ACA COVERAGE:

31 October 2013
Raise Your Hand if you are a time-traveler. If so, your 2014 insurance may have been delayed by website “glitches.” 

Otherwise, your complaints are premature. Or maybe you’re only complaining because you want Obamacare to fail. 

A key element in the ACA planning is that we still have until December 15th. 
____________________  

There’s Still Plenty of time to get on board the ACA wagon. Time travelers not included.... 

Regards,  
(($; -)} 
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Thursday, October 10, 2013

THE ROLE—AND THE VALUE—OF POLITICIANS:

10 October 2013

Anyone of Us can stand firm with the dictates of our conscience. It takes a special kind of person to negotiate the differences among us. It takes a politician.
____________________

The Naivety of Tea Party Republicans in Congress, who did not know what the “debt ceiling” was (and who still seem not to know), points to this.

Compromise is what keeps America from becoming a “dictatorship by the minority.” We fought our 1776 revolution to free ourselves from dictatorship. Then we gave ourselves a government “of and by and for the people.”

The fact that one side of our political divide thinks of our democratic government as “Them” is a burden that those on the Left are prepared to continually shoulder.

But when those on the Right decide that their own values are somehow more-valuable or more-American than counterpart values, what we end up with is something like the Tea Party Conservatives:

A group of rigid ideologues, willing to bring down our country if that’s what it takes to dictate their own values.
____________________

Fortunately for our great American experiment, our democracy will prevail over those ideologues who remain “determined to deny liberty to others.”

Fortunately for the American people, we have those willing to do our dirty work: trash collectors, and sewer-repair people—and politicians.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Friday, September 6, 2013

IF GOZO TWEETED: Tweet #0102

   06 September 2013
 __________

How about a constitutional amendment, that if you don’t believe government can work, you can’t work for government?
__________

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

“WELL, NO WONDER!” DEPT.

22 May 2013

Writing for The Washington Post on Monday (Austerity and Keynes Can Coexist), Post editorial writer Charles Lane asserted the following:
“Nobelists may be better qualified to describe the issues than the average voter, but they are no better qualified to decide them.”
____________________

Here in America, we live by the belief that any amateur’s opinion (especially one’s own) is equal in all qualities to that of any expert’s knowledge-based views. But did Mr. Lane truly mean to assert this belief? Or was it an byproduct of flattering his readers? One does not usually expect to read such a limited point of view from the staff of one of America’s leading daily newspapers.
____________________  

Most Americans agree that our educational system is challenged to keep up with others throughout the world. Our educational challenges are supported by this belief that my opinion beats your expert knowledge. Any nation that does not value learning and education—and facts—is not likely to do to well at teaching its children how to excel in those regards. When even the bulk of our school teachers read no challenging books in their off time, is it any wonder American education is suffering?
____________________  

If a paid-professional writer such as Charles Lane asserts that his readers opinions are valid equally to his or anyone else’s, why would any of us want to be reading newspapers in the first place? Especially The Washington Post.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Sunday, May 19, 2013

IF GOZO TWEETED: Tweet #0097

 19 May 2013
 __________

WHITEWATER: What did Obama know and when did he know it? Republicans vow to reopen investigation. Scandalous, non-scandal list continues.
__________

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Wishful-Thinking Dept.

7 May 2013

As reported today by TPM Livewire, the Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois Republican Party Chairperson Pat Brady resigned today, following a campaign of opposition by fellow Illinois Republicans.

Reports TPM:
“Brady created a stir earlier this year when he came out in support for gay marriage legislation currently pending in the state legislature. The announcement divided the party and resulted in a tense meeting in April where about 50 members demanded Brady step down.

“‘I think there are people in the party who don’t necessarily agree with me, but the point is …. we’re a party that welcomes all ideas,’ Brady said in April. ‘You don’t have to be exactly a platform Republican to be welcome in the party, and that’s the direction we’re taking the party.’*
It takes exceptional Americans to keep America “exceptional.” Kudos to Mr. Brady for his positive, if wishful, thinking.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!

@GozoTweets
__________
Emphasis, ours

IF GOZO TWEETED: Tweet #0079

07 May 2013
__________

How can we have it both ways: state sales-tax diversity, and interstate tax-collection simplicity?
__________

Regards, 
(($; -)}  
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Fences and Good Neighbors:

25 April 2013

If contemporary American life suffers most from one particular lack, it is the evaporation of a sense of shared community. In this essay on Good, Annie Leonard speaks to a way of restoring some functioning level of community:


The evaporation seemed to begin during the rise of television in the 1950s. Computers and the Internet and social media have contributed to this loss, by increasing the shallow artifice of pretense: now we have “friends” instead of people whom we actually know, and on whom we can mutually depend.

In recent years, we have distorted such terms as “friend” and “like” with greater, casual facility. The words become as meaningless, in their original senses, as the transient relationships they now commonly portray. We now measure our friendships in terms of quantity—the number of “friends” we have on facebook; the number of “followers” we have on Twitter.
____________________

We change jobs more-often than ever before in human history. Our children no longer follow along through their school careers with the same class they begin with. We move more-often: across town, across the country.

Meanwhile, the quality of our offline relationships grow more and more to reflect the transient and superficial nature of the online versions.

Small wonder at our willingness to disregard the opinions of others, and to dismiss partisan counterparts, rather than to find ways of benefitting from the differences that all sides bring to the communal “neighborhood.”
____________________

It was “Good” to read Ms. Leonard’s brief essay on establishing community with one’s neighborhood.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
__________
One person commenting on Ms. Leonard’s piece provides a link to the Fellowship for Intentional Communities, an organization that supports types of community involvement that Ms. Leonard shares with her neighbors.


@GozoTweets

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

IF GOZO TWEETED: Tweet #0074

24 April 2013
__________

Congress now provides a great civics lesson. Sequestration shows how the Federal Government doesn’t work when we don’t pay for it.
__________

Regards, 
(($; -)}  
Gozo!
@GozoTweets

Friday, March 22, 2013

The GOP Autopsy Challenge

22 March 2013

“What Should the Government Try to Be—something that helps them with their problems or something that gets out of the way and lets them lead their lives? The answer of course is both, but the Republican Party is having difficulty finding the balance.”

Thus writes John Dickerson, last Monday on Slate, in Habeas GOP.*

In the piece, Mr. Dickerson speaks to concerns of President Ronald Reagan, that the GOP, seeking to broaden its base by widening its appeal to voters, might water done the concentrated power of its Conservative message.

The great challenge of American politics, and of representative-democracy politics everywhere, is that politicians must master a fine line between the difference of ideological values that inspire and of pragmatic efforts that recognize the differences among us.

Those “differences” are the strength of representative democracy, which provides the best balance between the more-impulsive, forward-looking impetus, and the more-condensed, protecting-the-rear restraint, which balance keeps a society alive, while at the same time moves a civilization forward.

In other words, broadening a party’s appeal may be the price of successful politics in America, and for successfully moving America forward.
____________________

The Conservative and Republican Message contains fatal flaws, as far as American exceptionalism is concerned:

We are not a nation that likes saying “No” to the future. We are a nation that dislikes government telling us what to do, but the reality of our government’s power–in building canals and transcontinental railroads, and Interstate highways and missions to space, and the Internet—far surpasses the small-government ideology of the small-minded among us.

How do we reach a balance between monumental, government projects and the need to keep government out of our hair? That is the American question. In current, American politics, it presents a specific challenge for the Grand Old Party of our republic.
____________________

The Sooner That the Republicans find a way to contribute more-pragmatic reasoning to the solutions, the better off we will be, as an exceptional nation leading the world’s way forward once again.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
__________

Saturday, March 9, 2013

NEWS FLASH: ACME-AMERICAN HOSPITALS TO PUT HEALTHCARE “ON SALE” ACROSS THE NATION:

9 March 2013


DATELINE: BOISE, ID: “Buy one, get one free! Everything must go!”

Thus spoke Dr. William “Wiley” Coyote, M.D., and CEO of Acme-American Hospitals, LLC, during a press conference at corporate headquarters. Coyote was announcing a nationwide sale of healthcare slated to take place during April 2013.

“This will be a sale of stunning proportions,” observed Coyote, “For the first time ever, Americans will be able to buy the healthcare they want, at a price that will amaze them.”

“Everything will be on the surgical table, so to speak,” said Coyote. “Let’s say a person has always wanted a kidney transplant, but has not been able to afford one. During this unique event, anyone can go to one of our Acme-American facilities and buy as many kidney transplants as he or she could possibly want. At prices that can’t be beat.”

“And livers?” Coyote continued, “You want to talk livers? For this sale, and this sale only, liver transplants will sell so low, why, we can’t advertise ’em. Come one, come all! Buy one, get one free!”

Continuing his presentation, the long-time Acme-American CEO added, “MRIs? CT-scans? Same thing. Everything will be on sale. No reasonable offers will be rejected. Everything must go. As I always say, here at Acme-American Hospitals, ‘If I can’t sell you the cheapest course of chemotherapy in the country, why, I’m just gonna give it to ya’.’”

Several additional, lower-level Acme-American employees spoke on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to offer medical opinions without a license. 

–30–

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!

@GozoTweets

Friday, January 18, 2013

Hurricanes, Massacres, and Other Conservative-Converting Disasters

18 January 2013

Time Magazine’s Recent cover feature about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie once again reminds us of the key limitation of the American Conservative’s political views. Until the American Conservative experiences a need or disaster first- or second-hand, he doesn’t believe that it exists.

In the Christie case, the Governor’s embrace of Democratic President Obama and the Federal Government’s FEMA services made a big-spending Liberal out of this candid, big-hearted guy.
 ____________________ 

From the Perspective of the American political Center, we are of course familiar with this tendency: if all it takes to turn an American Liberal into a Conservative is a single case of being wrongfully sued, all it takes to turn an American Conservative the opposite direction is one first-rate disaster. 

For superlative example, why do so many elderly, otherwise-Conservative Americans support Medicare and Social Security? Because they know first-hand how essential this social “safety net” is to keeping them on solid ground. 
____________________  

Our Favorite Big-Hearted Cynic, columnist Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, takes to task both sides of the current assault-rifle-control controversy—the National Rifle Association and the President—for their use of kids in the discussion. 

The National Rifle Association [NRA] has come out big, as we all know by now, with its questionable-taste ad, holding President Obama responsible for the armed-guard protection that his two daughters get at their private school. But Mr. Milbank also accuses the President himself of using children as props, in his address seeking to garner public support for his various proposals for bringing down body counts when it comes to mass murder in America. To this point, Mr. Milbank writes:
“There’s an argument to be made that the horrific nature of the carnage justifies reminding the public that children are vulnerable, but partisans on each side will only dig in deeper if they perceive that the other side is using kids as props.”†
____________________

If It Takes a Disaster to turn an ideologically constrained Conservative into a Moderate American— reasonable-enough to realize that the Federal Government plays an essential role in modern American life—then it makes sense for Barack Obama to show what an innocent child—at risk of assault-rifle attack at school or movie theater or mall—looks like, while as President, he speaks to the American people in this disturbing debate.
____________________  

Does Either Side, Left or Right, have any substantive answers to the epidemic of mass murder in America? Well, maybe yes, and maybe no. Vice-President Joe Biden, at the behest of the President, recently sounded out a lot of different sides about this issue. The President, surrounded by his innocent-kid props, put forth his findings from the Vice-President’s efforts. The NRA fired back. While some of us debate the regulation of gun-ownership and the use of kids as political props, every one of us awaits to learn the news of the next mass murder.

Regards,  
(($; -)}  
Gozo! 

P.S.: To put a nice wrap around this, Governor Christie has now spoken out against the NRA ad, as CNN reports here: TRENDING: Chris Christie Rails Against NRA, Calls Ad ‘Reprehensible’

__________ 
*See the NRA’s ad here: When His Kids Are Protected by Armed...
† Read Dana Milbank’s Washington Post essay here: The Gun Debate Is Nothing to Kid About

@GozoTweets 

Monday, January 14, 2013

BEATING A DEAD HORSE DEPT: What Republicans Understand About Government—or Fail To:

14 January 2013


Republican Objection to Chuck Hagel’s nomination focuses entirely on the Republicans’ disagreement with the Senator’s policies. Otherwise, his character and capabilities stand unquestioned.

In relation to the confirmation process, one might believe that Republicans expect only to vote for cabinet members who would serve their own, Republican, partisan agenda, rather than serve the elected officials whose political values won the relevant elections.

In the current case, the “elected official” is our reelected President of the United States. The political values relate to those voted on by the majority of the people of the United States.
____________________

Something There Is, about the American political system and majority rule, that leading members of the Grand Old Party of the Republic fail to understand.

Maybe it’s not the American “government” that’s the problem. Maybe it’s just the “Republican” side  which, by failing to understand how our government work, constitutes America’s real “problem.”*

As someone younger and wiser once said, “No wonder Republicans hate government: they don’t know how it works.”

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
@GozoTweets
__________
*Ronald Reagan, “First Inaugural Address”

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Name-Change Wanted: “Republicans Aside”?

12 January 2013

In Last Week’s Issue of Time magazine, Michael Grunwald wrote the following:
“The checks and balances in our political system were designed to encourage consensus instead of partisan warfare; if Senate Republicans had decided to work with [President] Obama in his first term instead of fighting him, they could have helped shape Obamacare and other Democratic legislation.”*
 ____________________

While No American Adult would expect that a bill as complex as Obamacare to arrive as full-born, perfect law, it is reasonable to expect that all political sides would offer constructive guidance toward improving such a bill.

Instead, Congressional Republicans, in seeming discord with their oaths of office, kept any such guidance to themselves. In oddly childish manner, they opted to reserve the right to say, “We told you so,” rather than to work to improve the law for the Nation they surely would each claim to love.
____________________

This Blog’s Title, Ideology Aside, reflects a desire to help bridge our long-standing ideological divide. But when that divide becomes entrenched by the kind of uncompromising ideology that we’ve seen from Congressional Republicans since our current President first took office, it becomes disingenuous to pretend that the malevolence of uncompromising ideology does not hold America’s future hostage to the minority.
____________________

Quite a While Back, the GOP took a detour into a ditch that admits no arguments of reason, and that will admit no substantive compromise. Mr. Grunwald’s example of Obamacare gives evidence to this point.

In his Time article, Mr. Grunwald provides other examples, such as the near-complete blockage of every nomination the President has made for the courts, for Cabinet positions, etc.

None of this is news, of course, to anyone who attends to America politics of the past four years. But we post the “news” (as verbalized by Mr. Grunwald’s article) here, to speak to why the blog name, Ideology Aside, has become inappropriate.

We have tried. But for now, we have failed.
____________________

Ideology Aside is looking for another name.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
@GozoTweets
__________
*“Cliff Dweller,” by Michael Grunwald. Time, 01/14/2013 [Mr. Grunwald’s paragraph continues thus: “At the time, McConnell famously explained that his top priority was denying Obama a second term, but now he’ll need a new top priority.” However, we shan’t be so impertinent as to quote that portion here.]

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Roger Simon Asks, “Must America Remove All Homicidal Dictators?”

10 January 2013


On POLITICO Today, Roger Simon speaks to the suitability of Chuck Hagel as America’s Secretary of Defense. Writes Simon: 
“I am no fan of homicidal dictators like Saddam Hussein, but the world has other homicidal dictators and before we decide to wage nearly nine-year, trillion-dollar wars to remove them all, maybe we ought to have a better reason than unresolved father-son relationships.”
Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!
@GozoTweets
__________ 
Read the rest of Mr. Simon’s analysis here:
Hagel Puts Country Ahead-of Conquest 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

“Would to God These Blessed Calms Would Last.”

1 January 2013

“But the Mingled, Mingling Threads of Life
are woven by warp and woof:
calms crossed by storms,
a storm for every calm.

“There is no steady unretracing progress in this life;
we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause:-

“Through infancy’s unconscious spell,
boyhood’s thoughtless faith,
adolescence’ doubt (the common doom),
then scepticism,
then disbelief,
resting at last in manhood’s pondering repose of If.

“But once gone through, we trace the round again;
and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally.

“Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more?
In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary?”
Herman Melville, Moby Dick
____________________

We Humans, Each and All, 
having survived this past year’s greatest adventures,
now may the brief respite of this holiday season’s “blessed calms”
sustain us through the new year to come, and
find us all, one year from now,
similarly blessed, and lying comfortably
on next year's holiday season’s sun-warmed, sandy shores.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!

@GozoTweets
__________
*Read the entire book text, online and free of charge:

Moby Dick