The House passed the $900 billion stimulus package on what was an almost party-line vote. The bill now moves to the Senate, where good legislation goes to die. However, it appears likely that more Senate Republicans are willing to support the bill so it may have an easier time passing. I gave you your talking points on this yesterday. Slate pointed out that USA Today has a great little outline of what is contained in the bill. Read it and say things like, “Everyone is talking about infrastructure, but the $53.4 billion to support science facilities, high-speed Internet and other energy programs are what really could transform the US economy.” THAT will make you cool, I think.
Republicans are trying to figure out who they are at the RNC winter meeting. If I might suggest something to my differently inclined brethren, don’t go in this direction.
You know what I miss from the campaign? Profiles about how awesome Obama is that include lots of great behinds the scenes Obama porn. What’s that? No suit jackets in the Oval Office? He likes to keep the thermostat really high? Business casual? Aloha zen? Yes, that’s what daddy likes…
On what I can only assume was a dare, The Wall Street Journal has an Op-Ed from Rush Limbaugh over how he would structure a bipartisan bailout bill. He is not an economist, but he does use the word “porkulus.”
To get the taste out of my mouth I turned to Kristof, who is advocating for a high-level commission to investigate torture, secret detention and wiretapping.
And finally, because we have a duty to our readers to provide as much pirate-related news as we can find, BBC magazine has a great article about how exactly pirates get paid their ransoms for the ships they hijack.
Snow is blanketing much of the Northeast and Midwest today and I am left to ponder how it really wasn’t that long ago that reports of snow would send me into a frenzy of checking the local news for school cancellation reports. Now I don’t notice it unless it is enough to prevent me from opening my front door.
The House of Representatives is voting on President Obama’s$900 billion stimulus package *titter* today. Republicans are pushing back against the bill because they feel it focuses too much on spending and not enough on tax cuts. Obama spent yesterday trying to drum up Republican support. The whole thing does have an element of farce; For example, the title of the USA Today article is “Obama faces first test of bipartisanship pledge,” that same article also features the line, “The measure is sure to pass .” If you want to know why the Republicans are upset, read this Times article which details how Democrats are using the stimulus as an excuse to push through a lot of welfare and health care policies which have been stalled for years. If you are a Republican, you can argue how this crisis is no time to railroad through partisan proposals. If you are a Democrat, point out that Republican tax cuts and deficit spending helped get us into this mess and don’t forget to add that “NEENER NEENER NEENER WE WON THE ELECTION.”
Novelist John Updike passed away yesterday at the age of 76. Can’t say I am familiar with any of his work so i will leave i to the New York Times to handle the obit. I will also add him to the list of recently deceased famous writers I probably should have read already.
What’s that? An Islamic terrorist group has overthrown a US-backed government? Quick, dispatch a few aircraft carriers and tell the Marines to saddle up… Oh wait, Africa you say? Never mind.
Twentieth Century Fox has assembled a creative team to transform 1980s TV series “The A-Team” into a summer 2010 film. I love it when a plan comes together.
President-elect Obama said yesterday that overhauling Medicare and Social Security will be a key part of his administration’s plans to reduce the Federal deficit. This makes sense on paper, since those are two of the governments biggest programs and both quite odl and inefficient, but it also seems a tailor-made way to grind Obama’s agenda to a halt. My guess is that this announcement (besides being good policy) is part of his continued efforts to get Republican buy-in for his stimulus package *titter.*
It is looking increasingly likely that Roland Burris, Senate appointee of crooked Governor Rod Blagojevich, is going to be seated as a Senator. Man THAT is weird.
Israel came under rocket fire (3 rockets, but work with me) from Lebanon this morning. This could mean that Israel’s “war” in Gaza is opening into a two-front action. Since Israel invaded Gaza they have had their eye on Lebanon expecting just such a move from Hezbollah, but no one has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks. Anyone keeping score at home will remember that Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006 and it didn’t go very well. Those looking for more insight into the conflict (and if there is one thing I love, it is more insight) should read this Op-Ed from a professor of Arab studies at Columbia. It is absurdly one-sided and his conclusion paragraph is complete crap but when almost all of what you see on TV being is very pro-Israel, it is worth reading contrary opinions. There is also a better Op-Ed on this topic from former President Jimmy Carter, who knows a thing or two about the Israel-Palestine peace process.
I am really beginning to believe that these Somali pirates are some kind of secret UN plot to make me feel better. I get all depressed because of the economy or the fact that maybe people think I hate Israel (I don’t) and then a news stories pops up about the pirates and I feel better. I mean, I know they are just poor people driven to desperate straights by their failing government, blah blah blah. But come on — PIRATES!!! There is a new US task force being assembled to try to protect merchant shipping in the waters of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and you can bet your ass that Uncle Sam is leading the way this time. I know I read somewhere that China was in charge of some UN anti-pirate navel force, but apparently not anymore? Either way, PIRATES!!!
Today is a bit of a news vacuum, the majority of today’s stories are previews of things that might happen. The Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified to Congress yesterday and said that he backs some kind of economic stimulus package to avoid a recession. Congress is getting all lovey-dovey and will supposedly have something together by the end of the month. The White House has also said they have a plan, which, surprise surprise, involves tax cuts.
Filed under, it sucks to live there, an interesting article on how Islamic militants are becoming a stronger presence in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. It is a symbol of how the kind of conflict that used to be restricted to the border is now spreading into major urban centers. Additionally, the CIA has figured out who killed Benazir Bhutto! It was… some tribal leader no one outside of Pakistan has ever heard of! Oh, AND AL-QAEDA! That is an assassination I can sink my teeth into.
This weekend will see the next two major Presidential primaries. The Republicans are having primaries in South Carolina and in Nevada while the Democrats only have a primary in Nevada. The Democrats primary in South Carolina is next week for some reason. This is Nevada’s first time being so early in the nominating process. They were moved up so that there would be some geographic and ethnic diversity in the nominating process and because the parties needed a good long reliever. Even though they are rookies, they have really stepped up their game and are performing like seasoned professionals — the first lawsuit between powerful special interests trying to manipulate voting was settled today. Speaking of voting, the David Brooks has a column in the Times that summarizes How Voters Think. Let’s see if I can summarize, “voters vote for someone for any number of reasons. Some of those reasons are smart. Some of those reasons are stupid, but I am still going to act like they make sense. I am really, really smart.”
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has reached a deal with the major Hollywood studios. The DGA is the union that represents Hollywood film and television directors. Some people are saying that this deal could be the blueprint for a deal with the striking writers guild, which would mean that LOST would finally come back. However, if the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) does reach a deal, our supply of quirky and quirkier Op-Eds will dry up they all go back to writing for Two and a Half Men.
One last thing, the Iraqi National Security Advisor has an interesting OP-Ed in the Washington Post on a possible political solution for Iraq. I didn’t know he was a member of the WGA.
Today is a bit of a news vacuum, the majority of today’s stories are previews of things that might happen. The Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke