"THE UNITED States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected." So declared former vice president Dick Cheney in an interview this week with Politico. Mr. Cheney is right -- which is why he should be apologizing rather than defending the extreme Bush administration policies on detention and interrogation that he championed.--Washington Post editorial today
Just a quick ask if the team could pray for us: it’s bushfire season here in Oz and the national park our place backs onto is currently in flames. I’ve been out in the yard hosing down the cinders raining on us (sky is dark with smoke), with dogs & baby packed in the car ready for us to escape – we’ve just been told to get ready to evacuate, and a few kind thoughts from everyone would be much appreciated!Updated to correct typo in headline.
Thanks heaps!!!
Alcibiades Caliban
From THE BBC:UPDATE (3) - Sunday, 8 February:
Fourteen people have been killed in savage wildfires burning in southern Australia, and police fear as many as 40 people may have perished. The deaths occurred at four towns in Victoria state, state deputy police commissioner Kieran Walsh said.
Firefighters are battling dozens of fires in parks and bush land, amid a heatwave, with temperatures set to reach 47 C (117F) this weekend. Aircraft are dropping water bombs and thousands of firemen are on standby.
More than 100 homes have been destroyed in nine major blazes in Victoria.
HEALESVILLE, Australia (AP) — A government official says the death toll from Australia's worst wildfire disaster has risen to 108.
Authorities counted more victims overnight Monday as they reached further into a huge zone scorched by blazes that ripped across Victoria state at the weekend.
At least 700 homes had been destroyed in the fires that in some cases have razed entire towns.
State Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Geoff Russell said Monday that 108 deaths had been confirmed.
Australia's previous deadliest fires were in 1983, when blazes killed 75 people and destroyed more than 3,000 homes in Victoria and South Australia.
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.To this I might add "obey no dictum unless it agrees with your understanding of justice."
This conversation will include continuing the Listening Process, and the "Bible in the Church" Project. It is urgent that we as primates, with the rest of the Communion, directly study the scriptures and explore the subject of human sexuality together in order to help us find a common understanding.The "Listening Process" has hardly begun in most of the world and been roundly rejected by some primates. If they are going to take the Bible as a serious guide to sexual ethics we can start with reinstituting polygamy and concubinage and stoning adulterers tomorrow. I personally want to preside at the defrocking of the first primate with a chimere of blended fabrics or caught noshing on shrimp. You know some of these gits are not going to even consider scientific evidence on sexuality.
If a way forward is to be found and mutual trust to be re-established, it is imperative that further aggravation and acts which cause offence, misunderstanding or hostility cease. While we are aware of the depth of conscientious conviction involved, the position of the Communion defined by the Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10 in its entirety remains, and gracious restraint on all three fronts is urgently needed to open the way for transforming conversation.["We are quite distressed that Jesus caused offence, misunderstanding, and hostility and we rather wish we could forget he did so. It is just so... un-English, and likely to startle the horses, you know."]
In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.
I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We've seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.
You see, this isn’t a brainstorming session — it’s a collision of fundamentally incompatible world views. If one thing is clear from the stimulus debate, it’s that the two parties have utterly different economic doctrines. Democrats believe in something more or less like standard textbook macroeconomics; Republicans believe in a doctrine under which tax cuts are the universal elixir, and government spending is almost always bad.If there were ideas to be contributed - ideas with some kind of proven value, not tax cuts, which we know don't stimulate growth, and trimming inconsequential spending - that would be one thing. But more of the same bad thinking and faulty fantasy economics that put us in this mess just do not constitute a valid contribution. There is no value added.
Obama may be able to get a few Republican Senators to go along with his plan; or he can get a lot of Republican votes by, in effect, becoming a Republican. There is no middle ground.
Porfi and Schmitty join Fr. Anskar to party on this feast of Saint Anskar, Apostle of the North. you may read about him at Mimi's (as noted in the post below).
Set aside whether you think these line items are worthwhile. (And it seems obvious to me that it's good for the economy to buy more vehicles for the government fleet, when our auto industry is cratering and demand for cars is flatlining.) But just add those up and you get a total -- $3.51 Billion -- out of $819 Billion.Well, all right then. I have spent not quite half of my life working in accounting. I know how to let a spreadsheet do the calculating for me. So, with the help of Excel, I offer you this:
And this is exactly the kind of information that needs to be out there as the president tries to explain his program to the American people: All those "high-principled" no votes cast last week were about 1%-2% of the recovery plan.Now you know.
Spread the word. Because it's looking more and more like the traditional media won't.
Freight cars and Christmas tree
Just as House Republicans did, GOP Senators are now pretending they'll vote for the economic recovery package if only those unreasonable Democrats would toss them a bone or two. For the most part, they are lying. They will kick and scream for every concession possible, creating a new faux outrage every few hours. Foolishly, Democrats will likely cave to some of these demands. Then, Republicans will vote against the bill overwhelmingly. It is difficult to imagine anything more sinister than this. They are essentially weakening the bill as much as possible, making it less likely to work. Then they'll bail at the last second, in case it does fail, so they can point their fingers and assign all of the blame to Democrats.I retract my earlier repentance for using imagery such as "they ought to be sodomized with chainsaws and dipped in a vat of their own bile and vinegar." Every time they pull this shit I feel it more strongly than ever.
From what the congressional Republicans were saying on the gasbag shows this morning, they have been sent out with talking points that say that whatever is done must be a "shovel ready project" or a tax cut. Helping the states deliver necessary services and keeping the money flowing doesn't seem to be on their agenda. Indeed, I heard more than one complaining about the amount being spent on extended unemployment because that isn't "stimulus" either. (Apparently, the only money that spends is money that one gets from a tax cut. It has magical properties.)
The Republicans should, by rights, feel tremendous pressure to sign on to the popular president's bill. They should be cowed by the fact that they just got their asses handed to them in the election and are barely even hanging on to their power to filibuster. A normal American, who believes in democracy, would believe that they should probably adapt themselves at least somewhat to the will of the people, which the elections since 2006 has clearly been a repudiation conservative governance. But they don't really believe in democracy.They see politics purely as a power game in which their only job is to leverage whatever power they have to attain their partisan goals. Obama can try to unilaterally declare bipartisanship to be inoperative but it won't work if the other side doesn't sign on.
Padre Daniel y Diácona Karly
Here I am with Nancy, mother of my godson Jack (whom you've met before). Yes, that's a Christmas tree behind us but Candlemas isn't until tomorrow.
And here she is with the hamming-it-up goddad of her other son Evan. (His smile came a fraction of a second after this picture was snapped, something I wished I'd noticed when I had the chance to shoot again.)
Hi, guys! Love to you both from the wilds of New Mexico.
