A conversation with my friend Keith

Part of being a librarian is that you talk. You talk a lot. Much like bartenders and taxi cab drivers, people unburden themselves to you. You become part priest, part counselor, part sounding board.

One of my patrons is a very good man named Keith. I met him years ago when he would come in every weekend and ask how President Obama was doing in the Gallup polling. For several weeks I would perform this task, trying to figure out if he was happy or saddened by his sub-50% numbers. I don’t quite remember how we outed each other, but we discovered that we were kindred souls in our admiration for this president, and have been fast friends since.

He came into the library this week, and as usual, he sat down at the reference desk and we began our kaffeeklatsch, sans the coffee. Our conversations range widely, but politics are always the center of them.

Of course, we were over the moon over the wonderful week we and the President had with ACA and marriage equality. And then the conversation turned to that buffoon, Donald Trump.

“I can’t believe that Trump is doing so well in the polls,” he said.

“I can. He’s the only GOP candidate who’s not hiding his racism. He’s speaking to the GOP program.”

“Oh, now, you don’t really believe that GOP leaders are racist, do you?”

“Of course I do. Look at their utterances.”

“But the intelligentsia is horrified at what Trump is doing.”

“Look Keith, here’s the thing: in their heart of hearts, the ‘smart people’ might be aghast at the naked racism of the base. But, since Nixon, they made the calculation that kowtowing to that racism was the only way they could even hope to stand against the Democrats. And now, after 50 years, they have nothing else. No Republican can win a primary without pandering to that racism. And Democrats won’t let the survivor run away from what he had to do to secure the nomination.”

“They created a monster which is eating them.”

“And I feel no sympathy for them.”

Obama: Please Proceed, Vlad

by @zizii2

If you read between the lines in Krauthammer’s recent spittle laced rant against Pres Obama on his Syria decision, you’ll realize just how earth-shatteringly PBO has upended Cold War residual thinking about the Middle East and power alignments. Of course Krauthammer is so blinded by bloodlust to obliterate Iran on behalf of Israel that he fails to see the tectonic shift at hand. Other teatards are so insecure that every Obama move is filtered through their castration anxieties. To them every US action must be a dick-waving exercise, even if such action results in us literally losing our limbs & heads. To them the Amurkin phallus MUST reign supreme even if it is just a severed appendage sputtering on a deserted battlefield.

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But Krauthammer’s description of the historical lay of the land and power relations are accurate. There’s been longstanding opposition in Europe and among US ME allies about allowing the Soviet Union and later Russia any inch into the Eastern Mediterranean as a power player. Of course that ignored the fact that Russia as Assad’s patron ALREADY had a foothold. As a Dailykos commenter said:

“Russia was already in the Middle East: they are Assad’s backers. Now they’ve got a few “responsibilities” to match all their “rights.” Why the heck not?”

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If anything’s been most consistent in President Obama’s foreign policy positions, it is his conviction that all nations MUST bear their responsibilities; that the US has been vilified enough by nations who hide behind platitudes yet foist off tangible action onto the US. Time to put up or shut up.

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Now, whether you believe Pres Obama’s saber rattling was right or wrong, the fact is the prospect of military strikes, like Drano, unclogged the state of play in the 2.5 year old Syria civil war. And after 2.5 years of hiding behind the veto pen at the UN Security Council, Putin strutted out this time. The question is why? Hubris and/or fear?

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Corporate media, neo-cons and those afflicted with Obama Derangement Syndrome settle on the facile idea that Putin seized initiative to show how manly he-manish he is to one-up Pres Obama on Syria. If it’s HUBRIS, then it means that in spite of discussions at G20 meeting in 2012 and this year, Putin mistakenly thought that PBO facing possible “humiliation” with a congressional No vote, would “lash” out with unilateral strikes as insecure US presidents in the past were wont to do. So he positioned himself as foil to PBO to score PR points.

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Early Bird Chat

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MooooOOOOoooorning Early Birds! It was fun catching a couple of worms to start this fine day:

MT @EzraLevant Ronald Reagan never entered Oval Office without a jacket. Obama poses for shots with foot on desk —> pic.twitter.com/KdWEdYU4PD

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) September 3, 2013

RT @TeaPartyOrg Does seeing President Obama’s foot on the Oval Office desk make your blood boil? // —> pic.twitter.com/D23Beo1yTg

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) September 3, 2013

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Speaking of worms, we can never ever see this enough:

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The Mighty UT will be your R&S hostess with the mostess a little later – happy Tuesday!

‘night people

Helloooo people,

Just a few things:

First, like desertflower today and amk yesterday I’ve been having major problems viewing and updating the blog, a lot of the time that Mac spinning beachball has been in my face – honest, if I had a gun I’d have shot it.

I’m using the latest version of Firefox, 7.0.1, and judging by the support section on their site it is causing huge problems for a lot of users.

And Firefox is the browser WordPress (the host of this blog) recommends we use 😦

Are there any of you Firefox 7.0.1 people out there who haven’t been having problems??

And what other browsers aren’t causing trouble at the moment?

Please share your techy expertise!

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Second, I used to be in the habit of updating the blog each day with lots and lots and lots of new posts, but reckoned that wasn’t good because (a) it disrupted the chat between you all in a thread, you kept having to move on to the new posts to try to continue your conversation, and (b) it stuffed your email inbox with TOD new-post-alerts.

So, instead, I’ve just been posting three or four new threads each day (more when big stuff is happening), and adding to each post as the day goes on. Are you okay with that? I know you don’t get ‘alerted’ when I update a post, but I just think it’s working better because it allows good, long conversations to develop in each post – but let me know what you think.

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Third, it’s probably a sign that we’re building something good together, but there’s been a very large increase in the number of Tea/Firebagger trolls trying to post abuse here recently.

Most try to comment under ‘anonymous’, but some – brilliantly! – use regulars’ names in the belief that will get their comments through. It doesn’t.

So, again, even though it’s a complete pain, please sign in when you’re commenting here, and always use a name (and stick with that name) – it doesn’t, needless to say, have to be your real name, any one will do, but just remember anonymous comments are not accepted here. Thanks.

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Speaking of, eh, anonymity.

For a whole bunch of reasons, I decided from the start not to provide personal information when I started this blog. To be honest, if it was a money-making venture I would feel obliged to give my name and (not very exciting) personal details, but it’s purely a non-profit labor of love. And always will be.

At the risk of sounding over-dramatic, you attract some seriously deranged haters when you run a pro-President Obama blog – as BWD experienced, way way worse than me. Like the guy who followed me from a ‘Dem’ site I used to frequent to wish me “head cancer” – for the sole reason that I argued the President wasn’t, actually, a homophobe. Funny, I haven’t heard from him since the repeal of DADT.

I’ve also had a few Teabagger white supremacist types send me delightful threatening messages, promising to hunt me down. Yee haw!

So, in light of the fact that I have a life and a family outside all of this, I’ve opted not to provide these Fire/Teabagers with enough personal information to allow them arrive on my doorstep, or get my phone number/personal email address, etc. Life’s just way too short.

There are personal reasons here too, which I can’t go in to, but let’s just say this blog has a few enemies.

So, I’m genuinely sorry that I don’t provide personal info when some of you seek it, I hope you understand. I won’t ever pretend to be anything I’m not, I’m just Chipsticks – your host. 😉

Thanks everyone, see you tomorrow.

keep pressing on…

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I know it can be a complete pain in the butt to have to sign in on the site to post a comment, but, just to repeat, because of past, well, difficulties, anonymous comments are no longer accepted here.

Apologies to those who tried to post anonymously today, but please understand it’s all part of the effort to keep out the bigots and nutjobs, ie the Fire/Teabaggers. As I always say, they have lots of other places to play and post their bile – but they won’t post it here.

So, all I ask is that you choose a name when you post – any name – and stick with it. Just let everyone else know who they’re ‘talking’ to.

I know, it all sounds very Big Brother-ish, but WordPress provides a way for blog owners to identify those who use multiple names when they post on their blogs, so if you were blocked after posting bile here before, you’ll still be blocked even if you use a shiny new name. Just letting you know, to save you all that time and effort.

Sorry about this, but it’s the only way of keeping out those eaten up with hate.

See you tomorrow 😉

‘not one candidate’

wavegate

I promise, I’m not making this up – edp4bho let me know about the latest Fox/Teabagger outrage (even Brian ‘serious journalist’ Williams ‘reported’ it): the President held his right hand up for .23 seconds during the ‘family’ photo at the United Nations this week (he was jokingly gesturing towards the photographers, asking them if they had enough photos yet), obscuring the face of the man beside him for, well, .23 seconds.

Honest, this is actually being reported as news!

Well, true, it’s right up there with invading Iraq on false pretenses.

Actually, I love this stuff – it shows just how desperate the President’s opponents are. I mean, is that all they’ve got? 😆

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Were there any wave-less photos? Um….

….. and dozens more.

🙄

‘the dangerous cowboy’

American Bridge on YouTube

Glenn Kessler (Washington Post): …. “It is a monstrous lie. It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years today you’re paying into a program that’s going to be there.” – Gov. Perry

Perhaps the governor does not know the dictionary definition of a Ponzi scheme. Here’s what Merriam-Webster says: “An investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks.”

This is a frequent mistake politicians make when talking about Social Security. It is not an investment vehicle; it is intended to provide income security as well disability and life insurance. Just more than 60 percent of the 54 million beneficiaries are retired workers; the rest are disabled workers, dependents or survivors.

Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system, which means that payments collected today are immediately used to pay benefits. Until recently, more payments were collected than were needed for benefits. So Social Security loaned the money to the U.S. government, which used it for other things. In exchange, Social Security received interest-bearing Treasury securities. The value of those bonds is now about $2.6 trillion.

In any case, Perry is wrong to label Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Ponzi schemes ultimately go bust and everyone (except possibly early investors) generally loses their money. Social Security faces a long-term funding issue, but one that most experts say is manageable. After all, the Social Security actuary says that Social Security’s shortfall is 0.7 percent of the gross domestic product over the next 75 years.

More here

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Jonathan Chait: …. Perry, stylistically, ruled the roost. The media seems to consider Romney the winner. Pardon the condescension, but they’re not thinking like Republican base voters. Romney approaches every question as if he is in an actual debate …. Perry treats questions as interruptions …. His total liberation from the constraints of reason give Perry a chance to represent the Republican in in a way Romney simply cannot match.

In this way Perry eerily apes the style of George W. Bush….

More here

perfect

Mike Thompson

Jonathan Capehart: And now let’s turn our attention to the controversy surrounding Teamsters chief James Hoffa and his remarks preceding President Obama’s Labor Day speech in Detroit. The indignation from Tea Party members and others is just a bit much. I would say those in glass house shouldn’t throw stones, but that wouldn’t be fair to Hoffa now that I know exactly what he said.

… Tea Party folks and others ready to clobber Hoffa, unions, progressives, “the left” somehow didn’t hear him say, “Everybody here’s gotta vote.” While his language was salty, Hoffa put the emphasis where it belonged, the ballot box. The only way for labor to end what it sees as the “war on workers” is for labor to vote the Tea Party out of office. And I have no quarrel with that.

More here

take your pick

HolyTaco