Very light posting

i've been so damn busy that i haven't had time to post... i'm following the news, of course, from the kabuki theater of the threatened u.s. government shutdown to the libyan farce to the news blackout on bahrain to the even more ominous virtually complete absence of news on julian assange, where the most recent news item is dated 24 february...

what i can't seem to escape is the feeling that the walls are crumbling, but FROM what TO what, i don't have a clue... complicating matters is that i'm seeing all of this from the perspective of kabul, afghanistan, where i'm in the thick of the insane intersection of the u.s. and afghanistan governments... thank god i've got a good sense of humor...!

p.s. oops... i take it back... i just found an article on assange from yesterday's guardian reporting on his recent appearance at a public debate...

The WikiLeaks founder, who is currently appealing against his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault, told the audience at a packed debate organised by the New Statesman and the Frontline Club that whistleblowing was essential in a democracy because "the only way we can know whether information is legitimately kept secret is when it is revealed".

good... at least he hasn't been "disappeared"...

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The government shutdown

william rivers pitt...

The impact of a shutdown on the populace will be dynamic, ehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifspecially if you're waiting for the IRS to send you a tax refund. Ain't happening. Social Security checks won't be delayed, at least not at first, but if a shutdown lingers for too long, those checks won't be coming, either. Some 800,000 people will be put out of work, and private sector jobs that rely on federal funding will likewise be left twisting in the wind.

US troops serving overseas will only get half their pay, if that. As the New York Times reported, "If the government shuts down from Friday for a week, troops would receive half their pay in the checks received on the 15th of the month. If the government were to stay shut down until April 30, (Defense Secretary Robert) Gates said, troops would miss a whole check. Troops are paid on the 15th and last day of each month."

The list goes on, and the hits will keep on coming.

Center stage in this theater of the absurd is the brain-damaged frontal assault the GOP appears to be waging on senior citizens, who provided a great portion of the margin of victory Republicans enjoyed in the 2010 midterms. The proposed elimination of Medicare being batted around on Capitol Hill, combined with a potential disruption of Social Security benefits, is not going to sit well with that sector of the electorate, and those people are willing to walk through fire to get to a voting booth.

joshua holland...

The Republicans' imminent threat to shut down the government, the right's assault on public workers, its spending- and tax-cap proposals, the successful campaign to shut down ACORN and attempts now underway to defund Planned Parenthood and NPR and, most prominently, Paul Ryan's plan to dismantle Medicare all have one thing in common: they're about entrenching conservative ideological preferences in the law in ways that future legislators will have a hard time undoing.

All of these efforts are ultimately about subverting democracy, which is, for the right, they're non-negotiable.

what kind of shit is this...? have we totally and completely lost it...? never mind... silly me... of COURSE we have...

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