Odds n Ends

A few things on my mind, so here goes..

BURY ME IN MY OBAMA TEE

This is a very sad story, one that shouldn't get wrapped up in the echo chamber of political back-forth. But since it most definitely will anyway here's a few thoughts.

She did have insurance, albeit a pretty poor plan. Not sure it's very nice to make light of this but in another way it's part of the political strategy where anyone who does question it will be called names by the echo chamber. Surely a public option may have helped her yet we just heard they wanted to limit mammograms to those 50 and older, and she died at 41. Palin was overdramatizing with the 'death panels' but surely fiscal cutbacks will be necessary in any govt-funded/managed system, including limiting mammograms and research.

SNOW IN DC

This headline is humorous:

Snow piles up, paralyzing nation's capital

As if it wasn't paralyzed already. The new phrases are creative, though. BTW, is it proper to call it 'the nation's capital' or 'Capitol'?

Anyway, prepare for the "more extreme weather--a sure sign of global warming" from the left, who have also been known to lecture everyone that "weather is not climate". To be fair and balanced, get ready for the "what global warming?" cry from the right, which is equally nonsense because as we know, weather is not climate.

PREVIOUS POST

Some may think me a crazy person for continuing to harp on weirdities like Saddam/Baathist-terrorist connections and unexplained aviation incidents and the like. Maybe I should get a life. But unexplained things in the wide open have always been frustrating, which is why I can't figure out how the UPI could run a story in mid-January about high level negotiations between ex-patriot Iraqi Baathists and the current Shia-led Iraqi government, all brokered by the CIA, and including former Saddam right hand man Izzat al-Duri as one of the parties, with a mention of him operating in the AQ hotbed of Yemen. Why isn't that news?

Here's a screenshot from a search done this morning on the Washington Post. I also tried the "Duri" spelling and got nothing. Even if he's hiding somewhere in their database the mainstream press at large has not made this a big headline. Why? Is it because al-Douri was a right-hand man of Saddam and is now working closely with AQ, relationships he began cultivating well before the invasion? Surely they are not afraid it might make Bush's legacy look better since he never played up this angle either. So I remain confused.

UPHOLDING OUR VALUES

Sweetness and Light found this Obama interview on 60 Minutes from March 2009 where he laid out his views (and sneered at Cheney's) on captured terrorist processing. Even then he was laying the groundwork for the "we captured and killed more terrorists than Bush, na na na na na na" strawman but he also said:

I fundamentally disagree with that. Now– do these folks deserve Miranda rights? Do they deserve to be treated like a shoplifter– down the block? Of course not…

CBS, or at least Steve Kroft, surely remembers. But will they remember to remember?

SHAMELESS

Yes, we're scraping the bottom now. The Aussies recently said they were going to ban A cup women from porn (it's for the children) so I got to wondering how that bureaucracy might work. Would they have middle aged govt inspectors present at the seedy motels when filming starts with measuring tape in hand? Would women demand equal treatment for the men in other areas? And what would they call that govt department? The Bureau of Porn Control? How about the "Bureau Of Overseeing Breast Sizes"?

BUSINESS

Not gonna let boobs be the last story here. Just as sexy, super billionaire Warren Buffet has purchased the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad. This is venerable old Santa Fe (folks around these parts know the time of day) and the Burlington Route (don't know their song). Railroad activity has long been known as a barometer of the economic engine of America and Buffet's purchase seems to be a sign he's optimistic about future freight markets. Either that, or he sees a lot of real estate potential when Obama's High Speed Rail surveyors come to town.

the end