Last Call

Well, thanks to Bon the Geek for letting me hang out with her in Missouri for a bit.  It was fun...even if I never quite got up on time early enough to write StupidiNews more than one or twice last week.  Got to see the storms that caused the Joplin tornado close up, folks.  It wasn't pretty.  Keep in mind the death toll could have been much, much higher.  Improved tornado and severe storm forecasting gave the people of Joplin several additional minutes to find shelter that even ten years ago they would not have had, and that went double for the Oklahoma tornado outbreak on Tuesday.

PS:  Republicans voted across the board to cut NOAA funding (including tornado and severe storm forecasting) and FEMA disaster relief in order to give more tax cuts to the wealthy.  Government sure is useless until an EF4 or EF5 tornado shows up on the government-funded radar headed for your hometown, right?

No Dealing On The Debt Ceiling, Part 11

If even the low end of the estimate of Democratic House #3 man Jim Clyburn is correct, then Democrats have totally folded on the debt ceiling and have all but lost across the board in 2012.

Representative James Clyburn, the assistant Democratic leader in the U.S. House, said the “odds are very, very good” that negotiators will agree on a $3 trillion to $6 trillion package of spending cuts and tax increases in time to raise the U.S. debt limit before an Aug. 2 deadline.

Any agreement with Republicans “absolutely” must include provisions to raise more revenue, even if it also cuts corporate tax rates, said the South Carolina lawmaker, who holds the third-ranking position in the House Democratic leadership and is part of a bipartisan negotiating group of Senate and House members led by Vice President Joe Biden.

“We cannot get an agreement without revenues” being raised, and absent that “I don’t think we can get to what our goals are,” Clyburn said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

Democrats will resist any Republican plan to reduce Medicare benefits for future recipients, he said.

“We are not going to reduce benefits at all” because Medicare is “a very important part of the safety net” in American society, Clyburn said.

His comments underscore the difficulty negotiators face in reaching an agreement, as Republicans insist on no tax increases and demand significant cuts in spending, including a readjustment of entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Republican leaders also insist that a package of spending cuts without any net increase in federal tax revenue must be part of an agreement to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. 

So, hands off Medicare, but the Republicans get a minimum of $3 trillion in cuts?  If this is the new position of the Dems, then it's over, folks.  We've lost.  So much for the "clean" debt ceiling bill.  The GOP is getting everything it wants, and the second President Obama signs this bill, they will be cutting ads saying the brave heroic Republicans cut trillions in gubment spending, and the evil, horrible Democrat Party raised your taxes so you must PUNISH THEM.

If at this point we're up to trillions in cuts, and the only question now is how much and where, then it's just about over for the Dems in 2012.  And if there's a dime's worth of cuts in Medicare and Obama signs it, the Republicans will end up with the whole ball of wax in 2012.

I really hope this is just Clyburn pushing the panic button and forcing progressive groups to get involved here.  If this is the deal, $3-$6 trillion in deficit reduction at a time when the government is the lender and buyer of last resort, then this economic disaster will last a decade.

A Little Good News For A Change

The Joplin tornado set a record, but they are just the most recent victims.  It's hard to imagine how it feels to lose everything, but anyone who has been through an experience like that can tell you that giving up on pets is one of the many things that weigh on your heart after your home has been destroyed.

A scruffy Alabama terrier mix named Mason was whisked away by fierce twisters last month, prompting his owners, who lost their home in the storm, to fear the worst. But the redoubtable mutt apparently crawled back to his home days later with two broken legs in a remarkable tale of survival.

Local news outlet WBRC reports that Mason was blown away by the storm from the garage in Birmingham where he was hiding on April 27. His owners looked for him everywhere but couldn't find him. Two and a half weeks later, though, they found Mason waiting for them on their front porch when they returned to the house to look through the debris.

Every bit of good news helps.

RIP, Mr. Conaway

Yesterday, Jeff Conaway died.  He was taken off life support, surrounded by loved ones.  The actor had suffered from many illnesses over the years, and at sixty he just couldn't take any more.  He did not seek treatment in time for a bacterial infection, and his ravaged body could not defeat it.

You can click here to read the obituary on Yahoo! Entertainment.  It lists his accomplishments, and what he is known for by different generations.  I'm just going to  explain why his life and death is so memorable for me.  I just plain liked him in Grease, and he disappeared off my radar for many years.  When I saw him on other shows, it was as himself.  A polite, well read and scary intelligent guy who was eaten up with pain.  The line between his physical and mental anguish surely blurred over the decades.  I saw in him the same deep soul I saw in John Candy and the great Clark Gable... pain without relief, life without comfort.  He will be remembered for his acting, perhaps for his drug addictions, but those who ever saw a glimpse of the real man will carry his true legacy.  Above all things, when he wasn't in so much pain that he could function, Jeff Conaway was kind.  And now, though it's a sad ending to a sad life, he is no longer in pain.

Minty Fresh

As I posted earlier, I have made the move from Ubuntu to Linux Mint.  It was meant to be a temporary move, but if things continue in this direction it will be permanent.   I'm still running some tests and checking for bugs (none so far!) and will have a few follow-ups.

Mint is Ubuntu-based, so the feel is the same.  What is missing are all the annoying things about the Ubuntu 11.04.  You can still control your machine, get your geek on, and enjoy a product that works right out of the box.  The look and feel is similar to Ubuntu (pre-Unity) but the differences are all positives.  The window and desktop controls are detailed and thoughtful, and you can jump right in and start working.  I have played on it all day long and it's only gotten better.

I have not given up on Ubuntu, but I am going to fully enjoy this phase of my Linux usage.  As I learn more, I will post updates.  My first impression is that this is a stunning cousin of Ubuntu, and they have managed to avoid the bloat and requirements that may cost Ubuntu first place in the Linux wars.

Ubuntu To You, Too

At first, I wasn't too concerned when I read negative reviews about Ubuntu 11.04.  I've read some scathing reviews and been impressed all the same.  This time, however, they were right.  Ubuntu has brought a lot to the table with this revamp but they have lost the things that made them heroic.  No longer is it intuitive and thoughtful.  The controls are complicated and unnecessarily compartmentalized so that you have to hunt and pray if you wish to avoid the command line.  The hardware functionality took a big hit, as there is a rather intimidating problem with certain (and common) graphics cards.  Grub has issues, and that is scary as hell to a novice.  The graphics card issue prevents being able to log in, a paralyzing problem for someone who just moved over to try Ubuntu.  Worse yet, the graphics issue didn't exist in the generic drivers, so we had no reason to expect a problem until an update made booting up throw an error that for some just led to a flat black screen.

This is not the ideal version for a newbie. Previous versions are stable and delightful, this has a lot of growth and bugfixing required.  The graphics card issue can be resolved by booting into recovery mode and then selecting failsafe graphics mode.  This is a fancy way of saying your graphics card is considered out of date, with no fix date in sight.  I have not found a way to permanently set that, so each time you log in you will have to repeat the process.  The methods I found don't always stick, and may reset to the buggy default at random.  Not the worst thing in the world, but not great either.  The other bugs are significant and can make for a poor experience if one isn't used to tinkering around in Ubuntu.  Experienced users with better hardware will have a great time, everyone else will find it frustrating to navigate.

Ubuntu has been great for years.  I'm still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume with some time they can get this up and running.  These massive changes will require a certain amount of catching up while they get drivers and patches for older systems.  I have come to expect a high quality product, and I will continue to hope that the developers bring Ubuntu along to where it used to be.  But for now, I recommend staying with an older version and giving the a chance to get a grip on some pretty serious issues.  Just because I enjoy solving problems and learning doesn't mean I have time to do that for every single function I want to perform, and it sure has felt that way lately.

Which leads to a few things.  One, the new geekery tag will keep all my Ubuntu and other articles together, as I open up a on a wider variety of topics.  Two, I will be posting more geeky news and updates here, because the response has been good.  Three... after four years of faithful love, I have left Ubuntu.  Oh, it's just a trial separation and we're still on good terms for the kids sake, but I needed more.  I have just installed Linux Mint and it could be love.

More will follow.

Rick Perry's Not Going Anywhere

He has a good gig in the Governor's Mansion in Texas, but Txas GOP Gov. Rick Perry is staying put.  Anyone who runs stories about Perry considering a White House bid is insane.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Friday he will consider a run for the Republican presidential nomination.

"I'm going to think about it" after the Texas legislative session ends on Monday, Perry told reporters in Austin after a bill signing. Perry added, "But I think about a lot of things."

Perry's remarks come on the heels of a Fox News interview this week in which he admitted that he is "tempted" to run for president.

"Oh, I can't say I'm not tempted, but the fact is this is something I don't want to do," Perry said.

A spokesman for Perry's office immediately sought to walk back his comments, noting that the governor has said he has no plans to run and that his position on the matter "remains the same."

And it will remain the same for a very long time.  He's not running for a reason, and that reason is simple:  his Presidential ambitions died in April 2009 when he said this:

Texas is a unique place. When we came into the Union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that.


We got a great Union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it, but if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what may come out of that. 

You cannot suggest that a viable solution to fix Washington is secession from the union, and then later take it back and decide to run for President.  Rick Perry may end up Senator from Texas someday, but he will never, ever run for President, and that quote there is absolutely the reason why any effort to recruit him would be doomed within hours of announcing he'd be running.  A sitting governor advocating secession?  The opposition research would have a field day.

Rick Perry has less of a chance of being President than Herman Cain, people.  Herman Cain.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• An expedition off the North Carolina Outer Banks has located a ship anchor that belonged to the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the feared pirate Blackbeard.
• Hackers may have penetrated a number of computer networks belonging to Lockheed Martin and other Defense Department contractors.
• Deadly fighting may have reached a lull in Yeman's capital, Sanaa, but not calls for the resignation of President Saleh.
• Greek PM George Papandreou says he will continue to push ahead for even tighter Greek austerity measures in order to satisfy EU bailout critics.
• California may be the first state to probe the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger as the state's public utilities commission has some questions.

Last Call

Painfully cognizant of just how much of a disaster their Couponcare program is, ol' Mitch McConnell has decided that the only way they're getting out of this mess is to force Democrats to be the ones to burn Medicare down, or the GOP will default the country's debt.

In a Capitol briefing with reporters Friday, McConnell declared affirmatively that unspecified Medicare cuts are on the table in bipartisan debt limit negotiations, led by Vice President Joe Biden, and, he expects, will be part of the solution. But in response to a question from TPM, he went further than he has in the past in laying down a marker on that issue. Medicare cuts must be part of that deal to get his support — even if negotiators manage to find trillions of dollars in savings elsewhere, even if his other priorities are met.

“To get my vote, for me, it’s going to take short term [cuts, via spending caps]… Both medium and long-term, entitlements.,” McConnell said. “Medicare will be part of the solution.”

Steve Benen sorts it all out.

In fact, now that McConnell has admitted it, Democrats should probably let the public know. The talking point isn’t complicated: Senate Republicans will create a recession unless Democrats agree to Medicare cuts.

Of course, the talking point will ineffective if Dems decide to go along with McConnell’s hostage strategy and pay the ransom.

And there are more than a few Dems who I am sure will agree with McConnell, and will do so publicly.   Nancy Pelosi will fight this.  Will Harry Reid and President Obama do so as well before, say, Ben Nelson or Heath Shuler go on TV and say they're willing to "work with the Republicans on real entitlement reform" (and by that I mean scrapping Medicare like the GOP wants then acting all surprised when the GOP spends all of 2012 running ads that the Democrats are the ones wrecking Medicare)?

In other words, Democrats aren't really stupid enough to fall for this, are they?

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

A federal judge in Virginia has struck down arguably the last piece of campaign finance restriction in the country, saying that corporations have the right to directly contribute to candidates.

U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris’ ruling, which does not immediately apply to Georgia, grants corporations the same rights as individuals to give directly to candidates.

The Supreme Court, in 2010’s Citizens United ruling, had previously said that corporations had a First Amendment right to make so-called independent expenditures to support a particular candidate, but it stopped short of granting them the ability to contribute directly to a candidate’s campaign. That ruling roiled campaign finance precedents and struck down key sections of the McCain-Feingold Act.

In Georgia, corporations are allowed to give directly to candidates for state office, and this year lawmakers approved a measure that lifts a ban on giving by utilities regulated by the Public Service Commission. Those companies, however, are still barred from giving to PSC candidates.

Cacheris’ ruling, which is likely to end up before the Supreme Court, only affects companies in his Alexandria, Va.-based district. But Doug Chalmers, founder of Atlanta-based Political Law Group and expert in campaign finance law, said if the high court upholds Cacheris’ decision, companies across the country would be allowed to contribute to candidates for the U.S. Senate and House.

“It would be a sea change in federal campaign finance law,” Chalmers told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"This judge has now extended the reasoning from Citizens United to say if corporations have the same First Amendment rights as individuals and individuals are allowed to make contributions to candidates within certain limits, then corporations have the same right," Chalmers said.

In other words, as soon as the Supreme Court gets a hold of this, at some point before the 2012 election I fully expect them to say that corporations will be able to give money directly to candidates without PAC groups or industry advocacy non-profits.  Oh, and I'm even more sure that they will be allowed to give anonymously and not have to publicly disclose doing so.

And then the floodgates will open to our lawmakers for sale.  Better get them while they're hot.

To The Shores Of Tripoli, Part 11

Still a third war going on, folks.  Qaddafi's getting "step down or else" statements from the G8 countries now.

The leaders of the G8 powers were to tell Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi on Friday that he has lost all legitimacy and must step down, according to a draft version of their summit statement.

The leaders were still meeting, and it was not immediately clear if they would authorise the strong language in the draft, with Russia in particular keen to promote a negotiated settlement to the Libya civil conflict.

But the language in the latest draft being circulated among the delegations in the French resort of Deauville early Friday was stark.

"We demand the immediate cessation of the use of force against civilians by the Libyan regime forces as well as the cessation of all incitement to hostility and violence against the civilian population," it said.

"We stress the need to hold to account those responsible for attacks on civilians. These criminal actions will not go unpunished," welcoming the decision of the International Criminal Court to probe Libyan regime leaders.

"Kadhafi and the Libyan government have failed to fulfil their responsibility to protect the Libyan population and have lost all legitimacy. He has no future in a free, democratic Libya. He must go," it warned.

He must go or...what?   This only works if you have something else in mind, guys.  Somehow I don't think it's going to be a French ban on Libyan oil, which would wreck France's economy overnight.  I don't think it's going to be "more Predator drones!" either.  Air power doesn't win wars by itself.

So what's the "or else" part?  A ground invasion?  Why...that would never happen.  Would it?

Oh, and P.S...Egyptian protestors are back in Cairo's Tarhir Square, Yemen is about to erupt into civil war, and in Syria people continue to be gunned down.

The Arab Spring is about to become the Summer of Blood, folks.

The GOP Big Government In Your Uterus Plan

So, after five months, the Republicans have finally gotten around to a "jobs proposal".

The plan calls for cutting taxes on corporations, individuals and small businesses to no more than 25 percent; allowing companies to repatriate foreign profits without being taxed; approving trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea; expanding domestic oil drilling; rewiring the patent process; requiring congressional approval of executive branch regulations that have a significant impact on the economy; and continuing to slash spending.

None of these proposals and none of the handful of others in the plan qualify as new ideas. Some were embedded in the GOP's 'Pledge to America' last year.

Even Politico is pointing out this is pretty much the same "jobs proposal" that the GOP has been pushing for years.  Cut taxes on businesses (making record profits anyway and paying zero in taxes thanks to loopholes) and cut spending!  This will magically create jobs, just like it's been doing for the last several years, right?

Well, since the GOP clearly hasn't been working on jobs, what have they been working on at the national and state level?  Why, the big government intrusion into millions of uteri, of course.

As Rachel Maddow points out, John Boehner and Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell have said that jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs are the number one issue.  They have yet to write a single jobs bill, but they sure do have time to write four national bills and literally hundreds of bills at the state level (some of which have been passed into law) dealing with the government being able to tell women exactly what they should do with their wombs.

A number of states have now drafted bills to criminalize abortions completely and put doctors who perform them in prison for anywhere from six months all the way to 30 years.  In states with heavily GOP legislatures, these abortion ban bills are expected to pass and be signed into law and will face legal challenges.

Time and time again the GOP in these states and at the national level have proven that their number one priority isn't jobs, but overturning Roe v Wade in the Supreme Court.  That is what they have been working on since January.  They could give a rat's ass about jobs, the economy, the environment, the war on terror, the housing depression, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or yes, even the deficit (which they plan to make worse with more trillion dollar tax cuts for the wealthy and for businesses.) But abortion?  They have literally stopped everything to go after that.

As Rachel says above, anyone who tells you that a pro-choice Republican has any place in the party in 2011 has no idea what they are talking about.

Hacking Sour Grapes Into Mooseberry Whine Part II

After two years of stalled requests, Sarah Palin's emails from her time in office will be turned over:

JUNEAU, Alaska -- The state of Alaska wants more time to release potentially thousands of emails that Sarah Palin sent and received while she was governor.

In January, Attorney General John Burns granted an extension until May 31 with the "unequivocal expectation" that all records that aren't privileged would be released by then.

I find it ironic that David Kernell is still in a halfway house unless I have missed his release.  If they can't scrub all the stupidity and embarrassing exposure in two whole years, we have a real treat coming.

Westboro's Epic Fail Chapter 2

It appears the Westboro plan to be in Joplin, MO on Sunday to protest.  Obama plans to visit, and the attention-starved church will take full advantage.  Via my local paper:

The Westboro Baptist Church — known for its protests at the funerals of soldiers and people with HIV/AIDS — plans to picket in Joplin on Sunday, where at least 125 people have died in a tornado.

On its website, the church says “Thank God for 125 dead,” an echo of its common refrain crediting God with having people killed in retribution for the United States’ tolerance of homosexuality.

People here are raw in the face of so much loss.  One of these days Westboro will pull the wrong chain and get a much deserved butt kicking.  When it happens, they can hardly pretend to be surprised.  Whatever day that is, I will mark it as a personal holiday and celebrate it every day for the rest of my life, and I'm not kidding.   

Man(n)s At Work

Former Reagan and Bush 41 staffer Ed Rogers (now a lobbyist, natch) figures since the ticket of Serious Older Guy With Gravitas and Crazy Nutjub Woman worked so well for the Republicans in 2008, that 2012 should be all about that only better.

Huntsman and Bachmann should have a meeting of the minds and offer themselves as a Huntsman-led ticket before the Iowa caucuses next year.

Think about it. Unless there is a new dynamic to the 2012 campaign, Huntsman probably can’t win the nomination and Bachmann probably shouldn’t.

But beating Obama will require a fresh approach. He will not be weakened by a primary challenge, and as yet there does not appear to be a left-wing third-party candidate who could erode his support in the general election.

Republicans need to do something radical. If we go through the drudgery of the primaries with a weak field, produce a weak nominee, and face an impoverished spring and early summer of 2012, followed by a tiresome, cliched August convention, we will give Obama a huge advantage.

You know what's going to give Obama a huge advantage?  The GOP 2012 primary season assures that nobody to the left of Bachmann is going to be the nominee, and will most likely lose by 10 points.

I understand Rogers is putting forth a compromise ticket now in order to try to spare the GOP the Clown Car Nationals for the next 12 months, but if your best idea is "everyone's going to hate this ticket!" then Obama has nothing to worry about.