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Comments Posted By funksands

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WATCH NOW: Live Video of Senate Debate on Use of Force in Syria

AB, if it is then we are all lost. I REALLY struggle with imagining that the President is sticking his hands into a basket of cobras over Greenwald’s pet.

But it certainly isn’t helping the diplomatic conversation between the US and Russia over weightier issues.

» Posted By funksands On September 5, 2013 @ 4:56 pm

Kalima, that sure seems to be the obvious choice. How exactly does Israel benefit from Assad falling or having cruise missiles dropping into Damascus? If anything you’d think they’d be behind the scenes asking the US to cool it.

Unless they view this as the excuse to finally draw Iran out and target them?

It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

» Posted By funksands On September 5, 2013 @ 4:52 pm

AB, I think you’ve crystallized many of the reasons why this is such a murky issue.

What is not a gray area is that horrible things are happening to Syrians. It needs to stop.

I can definitely see why you are torn on this issue though.

With even MORE respect, FS

» Posted By funksands On September 5, 2013 @ 3:17 pm

Hokay, I think I finally have a handle on my take on the Syria issue.

1. Thanks to the President for turning this issue over to Congress and the public debate that it has generated. Hopefully this re-establishes an appropriate process for the consideration of issues like this.

As the executive officer of the military and the nation I realize the President has a tremendous amount of latitude to decide to do whatever he wants anyway, but this is the deliberative process that needs to occur.

How useful will this particular Congress be? Ha!
However, regardless of how broken Congress is or how much we trust Obama’s judgement, its not just about them, its about a process that will stand the test of whomever is in Congress or the Presidency.

2. The news out of Syria is awful. The use of chemical weapons (should the UN report show this) is abhorrent. Whomever (likely Assad) is responsible for this alleged attach deserves to sit in a dark hole for the rest of their lives.

That said. I have a TREMENDOUS amount of (scorn?) for government officials and those who support SOMETHING against the government of Syria based on the deaths of 1400 people. As if letting this happen unanswered shows tacit approval of the action. That’s bullshit.

The US government does what it does because it is in it’s interests. No other reason. I would love for everyone to be honest about this. That’s as good as reason as any for action in any particular situation.

Does ignoring the 5 million deaths by machete and AK-47 in the DR of the Congo show tacit approval?

Does ignoring the 250K deaths in E. Timor by Indonesian security forces by shooting and starvation show tacit approval?

Does ignoring the 125K deaths of Tamils in Sri Lanka after their civil war show tacit approval?

Does ignoring the 600K deaths in Darfur show tacit approval?

Rwanda for god’s sake??

We intervene when it is in our interest to intervene, not because people are dying.

If we are intervening because an international norm has been violated, why isn’t ANYONE else (besides a maybe from France) hopping on board with “action”?

Syria is a hitchhiker on the side of the road wearing a hockey mask and holding a bloody chainsaw. We don’t need to pick him up. We just don’t.

You want to put our shredded reputation on the line and bust our asses to rally international condemnation and action through the UN? Great!
You want put sanctions on Russia and China and Double-Secret sanctions on Iran for supplying Syria with these weapons and enabling their use? Do it!

But I’m sorry. The explanations and rationalizations and support for “something” against “somewhere” “sometime” in Syria stinks to high heaven. I think Obama knows it, he smells it and is trying to extricate himself from it.

I think the final question is: If we do things as a nation because it is our interests to do it, then what IS the compelling interest in intervening in Syria?

This seems very murky to me. If it is this murky, perhaps there is no compelling interest. If that is the case, what the hell are we doing?

» Posted By funksands On September 5, 2013 @ 10:59 am

Repubs Can Counter Hillary Movies with Films of Their Own

Ad, very funny. I especially liked “Groundhog Day-Again”. So true and so sad that Jeb still entertains Presidential ambitions.

How about the “Unborn Supremacy”? (Not mine, but I like it)

» Posted By funksands On August 8, 2013 @ 4:33 pm

Boehner’s Got the Worst House on the Block

Ad, the Freedom to Fish Act is pretty funny. This prohibits the Corp of Engineers from declaring the waters directly below a dam “hazardous” and prohibiting fishing as a result.

So basically they passed a law allowing people to fish in hazardous waters. Strike a blow for freedom!

» Posted By funksands On August 3, 2013 @ 6:44 pm

Let the battle for a new voting rights movement begin

Murph, good piece and a great launching point for the mid-terms (ugh). I’ve got a lot of mixed emotions over this ruling.

1) Short-term this is of electoral benefit to the GOP. Long-term very harmful. As more strident and blatent vote-supression and gerrymandering occur in the states, every voter that gets stomped on by these tricks will be lost to the GOP for a generation at least. However, in the meantime, enough damage will be done to retain many governorships and statehouses that by all rights should return to Democratic control. Enough foul infrastructure could get built to wipe away the advantages that sheer numbers should rightly confer.

2) While the loss of section 4 (unlikely to be replaced without a completely different Congress) is a blow, it is in total a glancing one. 40 states currently have a process in which they may challenge fishy voting regs. And while it will take extra time, money, energy and litigation, preliminary injunctions under section 2 to stop these regs are relatively easy to file in district court (not state court) and quick to be heard. That said, there is no guarantee the judge will act favorably to your suit.

(However the keystone of this hypothesis is an active and effective Justice Dept. Not a sure thing from administration to administration)

3) What’s disturbing is that the court managed to strip away a law intended to help Congress enforce Amendments of the Constitution without actually saying what part of section 4 is unconstitutional. The last time the Court found agains a law designed to enforce an Amendment was 1883. This does not bode well for our “balls and strikes” Court in the future.

All of this said, there is a lesson here. Just as everyone forgot about how and why the Depression started and repealed Glass-Steagall, just as everyone forgot about what we and the Soviets went through in our last excursion in Asia, perhaps now it is Civil Right’s turn. As the John Lewises and Jesse Jacksons, lynchings and Jim Crow fade into the history books, perhaps now is the time for another hard lesson.

Maybe its one that needs to be had. Sometimes I think that’s the way most Americans learn.

This is not a contest that is subject to the Marquess of Queensberry Rule. It is a knife fight to the death in a dark alley, and they are bringing friends. The sooner everyone gets that the better. Nothing better to combat apathy that fighting for your life.

» Posted By funksands On July 1, 2013 @ 8:02 pm

Think Tanks and Foundations Supported or Funded by The Koch Family

Sue, you know what is startling? The fact that the Koch Bros. can spend so LITTLE money and get such a robust return on it. I’ve often thought how cheaply our Congressional Reps are bought, but I haven’t given much thought to these organizations and “think-tanks” whose whole purpose is to steer legislation on a state and federal level to a direction that their corporate and wealthy backers find favorable.

It’s really mind-blowing and thanks for lining it up in an organized fashion like this.

» Posted By funksands On June 3, 2013 @ 10:37 am

Koch Funded or Founded Institutions/Policy Centers

Jesus, what a hydra these guys are. If there was ever an argument for taxing the shit of billionaires this is it. Idle hands and idle money indeed.

» Posted By funksands On May 31, 2013 @ 3:26 pm

Fred C. Koch, father of David and Charles Koch

Sue, interesting preface to the posts to follow. I bet if you polled 50 rabid libertarians and/or teabaggers not one of them would blink about how Freddy made his initial seed money in the USSR.

When it comes to money, the ends always seems to justify the means.

Looking forward to your next few posts!

» Posted By funksands On May 28, 2013 @ 10:33 am

Happy Mother’s Day

Choice, great words and thoughts to remember.

» Posted By funksands On May 12, 2013 @ 5:12 pm

Sally, you are always welcome here in Washington. Especially after we build the giant fence to keep all of the climate change refugees out.

Thank you for your lovely thoughts.

» Posted By funksands On May 12, 2013 @ 5:10 pm

“Disfunktional”. I like that that. Please tell that’s a Parliament album. 🙂

» Posted By funksands On May 12, 2013 @ 5:07 pm

Thanks Kalima. I’m surprised everything doesn’t come through as a “?”. And thank you for the compliment!

» Posted By funksands On May 12, 2013 @ 5:07 pm

BREAKING NEWS: Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Killed – Police Pursuing One Other

Last night was an interesting experience to say the least. By updating my twitter feed and listening to the Boston Police scanners on my iphone, I was able to get involved on a very very local level with the breaking news out of Watertown. It was gripping drama to say the least to be able to hear the police talk to each other while searching the neighborhood, look at locals pictures and their eyewitness accounts.

Very dramatic and interesting.

It took the networks almost an hour to catch up, with CNN finally getting a pajama-clad and bleary-eyed Jake Tapper to the scene to say something boring and stupid. Twitter users the nation over started gloating that “this was the night cable news died” and how much better, quicker and more accurate this type of “news” was.

Well, it was certainly more interesting. Accurate? Ho boy. There was SO MUCH information coming from so many places that the twitter stream #watertown quickly devolved into an incomprehensible mess. Boston Police were actually responding to twitter rumors for god’s sakes.
First one of the suspects was a missing Brown University student, then there were four suspects, then they were in an SUV, then they found him, then there was a bomb at a hospital…..by the time I woke up this morning, nearly everything had changed. Russians? Oh wait, Chechens? Oh wait, not that either? *Sigh*

Last night clearly showed the very sharp double-edged sword that is the effect of social media on day to day life.

Fascinating.

» Posted By funksands On April 19, 2013 @ 9:20 am

Hope There’s No Change – A Bipartisan Chorus

Ad my preference is to make the GOP squirm by offering significant reductions in the Corporate income tax rate from 35% to 10% lets say while also eliminating all their loopholes. Let them commit fratricide over that rather than with ourselves over social insurance.

» Posted By funksands On April 12, 2013 @ 10:34 am

Never underestimate the power of needing to do “something” when “nothing” is going on.

» Posted By funksands On April 12, 2013 @ 9:06 am

*ding*

» Posted By funksands On April 11, 2013 @ 8:45 pm

Ad, this is a really good, thoughtful, difficult piece to read. I’m planning on publishing my own Chained CPI article that deals a bit more with the mechanics of SS and Chained CPI, but your political take on this is very helpful and I think will compliment and significantly enhance what I have to say.

It’s not mathematically or actuarially (this is a word right?)complicated:

1. Social Security already employs 3 ‘bend points’ to determine your Primary Insurance Amount at benefit election.

2. At 62 each year’s earnings are tallied up & indexed for inflation, & your highest 35 years of earnings are averaged out. ‘Bends’ are then applied.

3. The ‘bend’ points determine what your Primary Insurance Amount (SS payment) will be at your full retirement age.

4. For someone making an Avg. Monthly Income of $8k over that 35 years, here’s how this breaks down:

5. The first $767 of monthly income has a 90% benefit applied to it. The next $3857 of income has a 32% benefit applied. Next $3376 – 15%…

6. Or:
*$767 x .90 = $690.30
*3,857 x .32 = $1,234.24
*3,376 x .15 = $506.40
For a total benefit of $2430.94 per month at full retirement age.

7. So lifting cap on incomes subject to SS tax would involve simply adding another “bend” to higher incomes.

8. Lower income SS recipients already receive a much higher proportional benefit to their incomes. Nothing substantive needs to change.

9. Someone making $500k a year for example would still have ALL their income applied to a benefit, but have a “bend” of .001% (for example) applied to their monthly income above a certain amount of monthly income.

This keeps SS from becoming a welfare program, keeps the program solvent, and doesn’t subject a higher earner to any higher proportion of payroll tax than their lower-earning counterparts.

Easy. Just not politically easy as you have ably explained.

» Posted By funksands On April 11, 2013 @ 8:27 pm

Chained CPI – Grand Betrayal, Social Security Fix, or Something Else?

Ad, thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it. I admit that I have a lot of conflicting feelings about Chained CPI-U, the President’s proposal and reasons for its existence.

The very existence of this proposal is owed to the complete and utter gridlock in Congress. It’s the only proposal to get any attention because the good solutions are unable to pass. I have a problem with that.

I have a bigger problem with Congress being unable to come up with any solutions on its own that can pass though.

One of the points made by some that I think is interesting is that if Chained CPI-U is simply a better measure of inflation, why do poorer and older recipients need protection from it?

All of this said, I refer to a comment I made to Sue earlier, nothing is likely to occur for better or worse until we see a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, control of the House and the Presidency. By then it may be too late and we may be forced with even worse choices.

» Posted By funksands On June 3, 2013 @ 10:32 am

Sue, the good news is that I don’t think this particular “fix” is going anywhere politically. Social Security is only going to get “fixed” for good or for ill when there is a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and that same party controls the House and the Presidency.

The bad news is that that may not happen before Social Security needs to actually get “fixed”.

» Posted By funksands On May 31, 2013 @ 9:43 am

Kes, you are alive! And your coat has a really healthy shine now too! Thanks for the kind comments. Social Security is the most successful and popular anti-poverty program in the history of the world, and only very minor adjustments need to be made to make it function for the next 500 years.

The more someone talks about trying to “fix” Social Security, the more likely that person has an alternate agenda.

» Posted By funksands On May 31, 2013 @ 9:41 am

Kalima, that elicited an involuntary “wow” from me.

» Posted By funksands On May 31, 2013 @ 9:36 am

Nirek, lifting the cap and raising the tax is by far the easiest and cheapest way to fix the problem. Right now there are no votes to do so. Once the good solutions are exhausted, the only ones left are marginal or bad ideas.

» Posted By funksands On May 31, 2013 @ 9:35 am

Sue, your concerns are totally understandable. I think in the end I object to this propose changed primarily because it is the only thing that could conceivably pass, rather than the best solution. The mechanisms already exist inside of current law to easily make Social Security solvent forever. The current political freak show is the barrier.

The President’s well-meaning protections offer a clue to that theory. If using Chained CPI-U simply gets rid of the extra money that someone has been receiving all along, why add in protections for the lowest and oldest earners?

1. The proposal is a very very moderate and mild change to the existing system.

2. The only reason its being proposed is because other choices are politically impossible in the poison swamp of Congress.

I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to do it.

» Posted By funksands On May 28, 2013 @ 3:10 pm

desertflower, thanks for the links. I enjoyed watching them very much.

» Posted By funksands On May 28, 2013 @ 1:57 pm

Killing Mitt Romney Softly With Our Votes

You guys are killing me. Seriously.. 🙂

» Posted By funksands On March 4, 2013 @ 8:57 pm

Btw: “Baccarat crystal cocoon of denial” is awesome. 🙂

» Posted By funksands On March 4, 2013 @ 1:53 pm

Poor Mitt. Poor Ann. It simply must KILL them to be on the outside looking in. All the other plutocrats simply lost their money last year. Mitt and Ann lost their time, their dignity, and their political juice to boot! This is tragedy on a Shakespearean level indeed.

I am starting to get the sneaking suspicion that perhaps their staggering wealth isn’t to blame for their tone-deaf attitudes and platitudes.

Maybe they’re both just inherently assholes.

» Posted By funksands On March 4, 2013 @ 1:50 pm

Short Posts

Fuzzy, by social media warrior I mean someone that posts a comment on Facebook or Twitter and thinks that their job is done. Your point is well noted.

» Posted By funksands On June 28, 2017 @ 4:29 pm