Honestly!

Memphis man shot to death
for parking too close to
shooter’s Hummer.

Honestly! What is one to make of these Republicans? McCain is claiming the stimulus bill was not bipartisan because Republicans were not consulted. This is not true. Where does he think those absurd tax cuts came from? A couple of other Republicans are boasting about what they managed to get included in the bill, but then did not even vote for it. Now Lindsay Graham is saying things are so bad we may have to nationalize the banks. But I guess they aren’t bad enough for him to vote for the bill. What’s with these guys, did losing the election further addle their already addled brains?

Things do seem to be looking up, if, indeed, it is not too late for that. Some of the predictions for the future I have seen are even direr than dire. Human civilization (if there ever even was such a thing) may be about to disappear entirely, what with economic collapse, global warming, a Democratic President, and Gay marriages. But Hillary’s first trip as Secretary of State is to Asia (an unprecedented good move). The North Korean situation may not be as bad as we thought. It looks like we may actually engage in diplomatic relations with Iran. Obama seems to have learned his lesson about trying to deal with the Republican mafia. He is also rethinking our Afghanistan plans (the fact that he is even thinking about it is a great leap forward from the Bush confusion). It appears that the Yoo rulings on torture are going to be seriously questioned as to their substance and ethics (so that he and his cohorts might well be subject to some serious accountability). Even Karl Rove may be forced to testify. The stimulus bill will be signed tomorrow in Denver so money will start flowing into jobs here and there. Of course we do not know where all this will lead, but it is a welcome change from the past eight years of murder,theft, arson and rape.

Whereas much of what is happening at least looks like it’s taking a more positive direction, the Israeli/Palestinian problem has taken a huge step backwards. Israel has decided to even more right wingish and conservative than ever. If Netanyahu becomes Prime Minister there will be no chance for peace whatsoever as he has announced he will never accept a two party state solution or give an inch on land for peace. If, on the off chance, Livni should be made Prime Minister, she would at least be open to trading land for peace, but is otherwise a real hawk just like Netanyahu. The third candidate, who did better than anyone expected, is even more to the right than the other two. Lieberman is an extremist who would take away the citizenship rights of Arab citizens of Israel, among other things. Of course they would all prefer to see Gaza just disappear and will continue their hard line against that beleaguered and helpless enclave. As Israel has already announced the annexation of 425 more acres of Palestinian land in order to build more settlements, and this is completely contrary to U.S. desires, Obama will apparently have an absolutely impossible situation facing him.

On a whim I just finished re-reading Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House, by Eric Hodgins. Although this hilarious account was written long ago (1946), I believe it should still be required reading for anyone who wants to buy some land and build a house.

LKBIQ:
We Americans live in a nation where the medical-care system is second to none in the world, unless you count maybe 25 or 30 little scuzzball countries like Scotland that we could vaporize in seconds if we felt like it.
Dave Barry

TILT:
The dollar raised to 1.2646 against the euro today, 1.25 is expected.