STRONG WORDS FROM SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME)

Another dastardly Republican plot is afoot to convince young people not to sign on to the Affordable Care Act but rather to pay the penalty. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) speaks strong words about the people in the groups participating in the scheme.

Tuesday begins a 6-month race to enroll as many uninsured people as possible in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges. For the markets to be effective, they need millions of customers, and for elderly participants not to vastly outnumber younger ones.

It’s in this context that well-heeled conservative groups are appealing to uninsured young people to remain uninsured — part of a backdoor effort to undermine the structural integrity of the health care law. (My emphasis

Their efforts have attracted the attention of one senator who recounts how being insured saved his life when he was a young adult, and who has since then watched others die due to lack of coverage. And he doesn’t mince words with those who’d take risks with other people’s health security.

“That’s a scandal — those people are guilty of murder in my opinion,” Sen. Angus King, a Maine Independent who caucuses with Democrats, told me in a Friday interview. “Some of those people they persuade are going to end up dying because they don’t have health insurance. For people who do that to other people in the name of some obscure political ideology is one of the grossest violations of our humanity I can think of. This absolutely drives me crazy.”

Sen. King is my hero for his plain-speaking in naming for what it is the despicable deception in the pressure groups' attempts to convince young adults they do not need health insurance.  The extreme right in the US care about nothing and no one in their determination to achieve their own political agenda whatever the cost to people other than themselves.

Even as those of us here at home watch in horror the spectacle of Republicans in their recklessness and intransigence risk the welfare of the entire country in their refusal to vote on the clean budget bill from the Senate, my friends from other countries watch with dismay and incredulity the continuing temper tantrum of the extremists Republicans in the House.

As David Kurtz from TPM says:

It can't be reiterated often enough: If John Boehner puts a temporary spending bill on the House floor, without any anti-Obamacare stunts in it, it would pass.

He can do it today and avoid a shutdown, or he can do it in a few days or weeks and end a shutdown. It's up to him.

Rep. Boehner, at least some of us are aware that the Hastert Rule is not in the US Constitution, and you can, if you so choose, bypass the rule at any time. 

JINDAL APPOINTS TONY PERKINS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION

Tony Perkins has worn many hats throughout his life: television reporter, police officer, Louisiana state representative, head of a certified hate group. But the president of the viciously homophobic Family Research Council earned a new title this week when Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed him to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, which awards grants, trains officers, and regulates law enforcement throughout the state.

According to CenLamar:

Tellingly, although Perkins was appointed nearly three weeks ago, Governor Jindal’s office kept things quiet; the appointment was first revealed by Woody Jenkins, a man who is best known in Louisiana for his three quixotic campaigns for the United States Senate. Indeed, according to multiple sources, Governor Jindal’s office had repeatedly denied or refused to acknowledge Perkins’s appointment until only yesterday, when it became the subject of national news.

Why the secrecy?  Is Bobby Jindal ashamed of the appointment?  If he's not, he should be.

Perkins hasn’t exactly mellowed out in recent years. While he’s no longer courting white nationalists and white racists, Perkins now spends a great deal of of time and energy lambasting gays and lesbians, or scientists who believe in evolution and vaccines, or people who simply strive toward ecumenical fairness and love.

Is there someone around carrying less negative baggage than Perkins for Jindal to appoint?  I'm sure there's an angle here, something in it for Bobby, but if his goal is a position of power outside Louisiana when his term expires, then the appointment could be viewed as taking things too far.  Perhaps Jindal and David Vitter will switch places, though I heard through the grapevine that the two are not the best of friends, so I'm not certain either would support the other if there was a Republican alternative.

EMAIL MESSAGES TO REP. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA)

Email No. 1

Dear Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): 

I cannot understand why Republicans in the US Congress, who make much of personal responsibility when the matter under discussion is programs for the neediest among us, think it's right and proper for the federal government of the United States to default on debts that are owed, an occurrence which has never happened before in the history of the country. Why is paying our debts a matter of controversy? 

You may not approve of Obamacare, but it is the law of the land, and the issue has nothing to do with upholding the full faith and credit of the US government and paying debts that we owe. If you and the members of the Republican party think the American people will place the blame for their recklessness and irresponsibility on the shoulders of President Obama, I believe you are sadly mistaken.

Of course, you may think your position will play well in Louisiana in your campaign to replace Sen. Mary Landrieu, but I would not count on it. You are elected to serve the American people in the Congress of the United States, therefore you are part of the government. Your present position to wreak havoc on the entire country by holding the government hostage on the debt limit is quite disappointing to at least one of your constituents. 

Sincerely, 

June Butler (aka Grandmère Mimi)

------------------

Email No. 2

Dear Rep. Cassidy:

Earlier today I sent you a message on the debt ceiling.  Looming imminently is the Monday deadline for passing a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.  Here again Republicans in the US House display a recklessness and disregard for the welfare of the people you were elected to serve.  Please pass the clean bill that the Senate sent to the House to continue the functions of the government, of which you are a part, to avoid a government shutdown.

Republicans, not President Clinton, were blamed for the shutdown in 1995 and 1996, and history will once again repeat itself as the blame will be placed firmly on the shoulders of the GOP.  Why don't Republicans learn from history?

Sincerely,

June Butler
 

BOSTON ACCENT

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

UPDATE: When Tom and I visited Boston, we stopped to ask a person passing by the way to the harbor, but the man could not understand what Grandpère (with his Cajun accent) was saying. After GP repeated the question 3 or 4 times the fella said, "Oh the hahbuh! That way."

"I AM A PIRATE KING"

Because my friend Cathy and I are going to Penzance, and who knows but that we may spot the Pirate King?

PAY THOSE DEBTS!

The absolute worst mistake Obama has made as president came back in 2011 when Republicans first pulled this stunt. At that time, Obama desperately wanted a bargain over long-term fiscal policy. So he tried a bit of too-clever-by-half political jujitsu in which GOP debt ceiling hostage taking became a pretext to start negotiations over long-term budgeting. All manner of evils have fallen forth from that fateful decisions, including an economic weak patch in 2011 the ongoing mess of sequestration, and worst of all the setting of a precedent for future crises. The good news is that the White House recognizes they made a mistake, and the last time Republicans tried to pull this they didn't give in. And they can't give in now. Not even a little bit. A terrible monster was let out of the box in 2011 and the best thing Obama can possibly do for the country at this point is to stuff it back in and hopefully kill it.

Matt Yglesias is correct.  The Republican sharks smelled blood, and they have never let up trying to repeat that success.  For the life of me, I cannot understand why Republicans in the US Congress, who make much of personal responsibility when the matter under discussion is programs for the neediest among us, think it's right and proper for the federal government of the United States to default on debts that are owed, an occurrence which has never happened before in the history of the country.  Why is paying our debts a matter of controversy?

HUMANITARIAN AID NOT MISSILES TO SYRIA

Syrian President Bashar Assad is a cruel despot, but the US should not involve itself militarily in Syria's civil war. The tangled alliances and relationships in the Middle East change quickly, beyond our abilities to follow or understand, but the civil war is not simply a struggle between the good guys vs. the bad guys.

More than a dozen key Syrian rebel groups said Wednesday that they reject the authority of the Western-backed opposition coalition, as U.N. inspectors returned to the country to continue their probe into chemical weapons attacks.

In a joint statement, 13 rebel groups including a powerful al-Qaida-linked faction but also more mainstream forces slammed the Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition, saying it no longer represents their interests.
....

The rebel groups' statement was titled "Communique No. 1," a term used before in Arab countries following military coups that suggests the creation of a new leadership body.

A video released on the Internet showed Abdel-Aziz Salameh, political chief of the Liwaa al-Tawheed brigade that is particularly strong in the city of Aleppo, reading the statement.
....

The signatories called on all military and civilian forces "to unite under a clear Islamic framework based on Shariah law, which should be the sole source of legislation"— an apparent reference to the al-Qaida faction's aspirations to create an Islamic state in Syria.

Our efforts should be directed toward humanitarian relief of the Syrian people, who are suffering greatly, rather than sending missiles that will surely serve to inflict further suffering.  The plight of the 1 million Syrian refugees who fled to surrounding countries is, in many cases, desperate, and we must focus our attention on giving aid to relieve suffering.  

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Starry Night Over the Rhône - Vincent van Gogh

Light of the World
Phos hilaron

Light of the world in grace and beauty,
Mirror of God’s eternal face,
Transparent flame of love’s free duty,
You bring salvation to our race.
Now, as we see the lights of evening,
We raise our voice in hymns of praise;
Worthy are you of endless blessing,
Sun of our night, lamp of our days.

Image from Wikipedia.

OFF TO MERRIE OLDE ENGLAND

In a little more than a week, I will head to Merrie Olde England for my final trip across the Atlantic. Traveling by plane has become so difficult and unpleasant, that I don't see myself making the attempt again. Even I think it's a bit crazy for me to attempt it now. Grandpère surely thinks so, and he will not travel with me. On this trip, I will be in the south of England, with Oxford as my outpost farthest to the north.

While I'm there, I will have access to the internet mostly on my friend's laptop.   Email messages to and from my family will be my priority, so it's likely few posts will appear on Facebook or my blog.

I've just been summoned to jury duty on a date when I will be out of the country, so I must write to be excused, though I like to do my civic duty when called upon. The notice tells me that I may also be excused due to my great age, but I would not ask on that account.

DOCTOR'S OFFICE CONVERSATION

A man with a cough is examined by his doctor and asks, "Doc, are you sure I'm suffering from pneumonia?  I heard once about a doctor treating someone with pneumonia but eventually finally he died of typhus."

The doctor replies, "Don't worry about that:  It won't happen with me.  If I treat someone for pneumonia, he will die of pneumonia."


Cheers,

Paul (A.)