Obama, Egypt and what's a coup?

I'm confused about Egypt, they protested en masse against Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood and got rid of him, now that they got rid of him with the help of the Egyptian military others are now protesting en masse in support of Morsi. Of course before that everyone protested against Mubarak but seems they can't settle on a permanent leader over there. As everyone knows the Obama Administration esp. Sec'y of State John Kerry won't label it a coup as that would automatically cut off about $1.3B in foreign aid we give Egypt every year. As an aside where in hell does that money come from since we're in perpetual debt and deficit mode these days? Anyway the death toll continues to rise in the Arab Spring turned Red Summer with 275 dead a few days ago although the Brotherhood wrongly claims around 2,000. Mohammad Morsi was destroying basic freedoms like freedom of the press and dealt harshly with political protestors and yet a good slice of the right-wing commentariat seemed to want him to stay even though it was obvious he was turning this North African nation and pivot in the Middle East into an Islamist state. Well if you go back to the days of right-wing Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet many on the Right sometimes have a habit of turning the other way, he was a right-wing kind of dictator so I really don't take right-wing commentary on foreign policy all that seriously to begin with. Remember back in the day when Egypt was a fun topic and gave rise to a song by The Bangles and a skit by Steve Martin?

Stop 'n' Frisk put on hold in NYC

My liberal gut instinct tells me Stop 'n' Frisk is wrong but my practical side sees it's also a highly effective police tool for reducing crime rates and getting guns off the streets. As you know Manhattan federal judge Shira Sheindlin has basically invalidated the NYPD's well-known and highly practiced stop and frisk program which has led to at least twenty years of markedly lower crime rates than under the David Dinkins administration. Judge Sheindlin also ordered a court-appointed monitor or overseer of the NYPD program and there's also to be a pilot program involving copcams worn on cops in one precinct in areas in every borough with the highest stop rates is my understanding although the PBA is gonna fight this rightfully saying imo that cops already have alot of gear on like mace and flashlights and this is only an extra and unnecessary encumbrance. Here's a complaint I hear alot about gangbangers in general, what's the deal with them and why do they have such notoriously bad aim? it'd be like the Mob going after Castellano outside the steakhouse but instead shooting an innocent grandmother in her rocking chair across the street. Anyway here's my overall view of these matters, when liberalism holds sway the crime rate goes up, way up. In short PC kills, think ChicagoLand.

The Big Business Blog

Soapie has a problem with Big Government or maybe it's just government. BB has a problem with Big Business. I have a problem with Both. Where to begin?

Our technologically disoriented society

ABC News had an interesting segment a few nights back about the recent spike in pedestrians being killed by drivers. We usually blame the motorist but according to the report there are two primary reasons for more pedestrians getting killed. One is many of them the walkers that is are drunk and these fatalities often occur at night (Lindsay Lohan is ambidextrous in this regard, she's driven drunk and walked drunk). The other main reason is folks are walking while texting and not watching where they're going. I see this on a daily basis and not only that you're more likely to become a victim of crime imo while doing this. You're far less aware of your surroundings, your environment which is the first thing they teach you in self-defense courses. Say two black guys are following you, say two guys are following you they may want your wallet or they may even be after your smartphone. Anthony Weiner, alot of people miss the point here. It's not so much that he'd have sex with these women he's just addicted to the tweeting, the texting, the technology of it all. You know when you take a picture of something, say your cat or a birthday cake and you send it off into the wireless ether to wind up on Facebook or Twitter or even your blog? You're amazed at the technology of it all (I did that?) and you feel like you have some magical powers that folks 30 years ago didn't even have and so in some cases images of peckers are happily bouncing around between the cell phone towers. I also think people are paying far too much for their technological needs and not only that all this technology is making them exercise less, I mean how many things can you watch on your tablet? So that's it we're a nation of zombies:)

Reflections on the 2016 GOP field

Chris Christie the apparent frontrunner - I'm not a fan as most conservatives are but there's a concern about his famous personality. It may work well in Jersey but I don't think he has the presidential temperament for the world stage. What is he gonna do tell foreign leaders off? Then there's the latest idea being bounced around of LI Rep. Peter King running. To me he has a touch of the opinionated loudmouth and imo he's not libertarian enough. He'll explain to you why we need the NSA looking through your tv screen into your living room let's say and if somebody leaks this much-needed gov't program they're a traitor and should have their balls deep-fried. Rand Paul the well-known KY libertarian - a longshot but the fave of one person around here. Isolationist foreign policy, would not try to stop most, make that all of the world's current genocides. Then there's the youngish and photogenic Sen. from FL Marco Rubio, would tap into the much-coveted Goya voting bloc but buena suerte in the primaries young man going up against all those GOP hardliners on immigration. Dunno, I'm not all that jazzed up about it all.

The narrow political focus of Obama Sucks

Some folks want me to narrow the focus of my blog down to Obama and the Scumbags. It is indeed a fucked up world but I don't know how to unfuck it. Dunno, what do you want to talk about? Snarky is good but don't just be a drive-by, stay awhile.

The Ole Gray Lady, for my money the most biased paper in America

Media bias is often in the eye of the beholder but I think it's getting harder to deny. The homepage of my mobile browser has been revamped nicely and so I clicked on the NY Times mobile site and read this and there seemed a most definite skewing. The debate is not a new one and it's not really like I mind media bias just be upfront about it. If FOX swings to the Right and provides a kind of counterweight to the predominant leftward tilt of the press it would seem to be a good thing like a menu.  Media bias, why care?

Anthony Weiner aka "Carlos Danger"

It's a real Weiner roast here in NYC with three of the current candidates for Mayor telling him to as the Daily News put it BEAT IT (that's so clever).  Then there's former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer running for Comptroller and if I had to choose between the lesser of two pervs I'd go with Weiner since with Weiner it's just the compulsive addictive sexting but with Spitz in addition to the 'hos you also got steamrolling over political enemies, overinflating charges against Wall Street etc. or maybe that was just his way of celebrating.  I'm actually not joining the swelling Chorus telling Weiner to drop out of the Mayor's race and the way I see it he actually didn't have sex with anyone.  It'd be like going to Hell over masturbation, looking at dirty pictures, subscribing to Penthouse.  Clinton had actual sex in the Oval Office while President and Dems pretty much backed him to the hilt whereas more and more Dems are telling Weiner to drop off the radar so what gives?  I mean the guy never even got a handjob.  It is shocking though that these latest sexting revelations are about new sexts after Weiner's resignation from Congress in 2011 even a year later, maybe he was depressed or as Devo has said "when a problem comes along you must whip it."  His most recent sexting partner though, this 20-something woman/progressive activist seemed pretty willing at first at least from what I've read, what'd she re-envirginate herself? so aside from being a problem for his marriage it doesn't seem to be a crime.  Huma Abedin, I kinda liked it that she spoke at that press conference the other day, broke the mold and speaking as a conservative don't we have too many divorces in this country anyway?  Aren't they being more faithful to their marriage vows than, oh I don't know Rush Limbaugh?  According to the most recent polling data half of NYC voters seem willing to give Weiner a pass and he is leading or at the top of all the polls and I think this has to do with they do similar stuff too, it's a different age after all.  I mean how do you get on Weiner's case when you're downloading porn yourself?  You know I was reading the other day about Blogger's Content Policy and this really surprised me but Blogger allows you to use sexually explicit content in your blog if you so wish but they'd appreciate it if you'd label it Adult.  I just hope Weiner doesn't take up blogging.  

No, Obama was not Trayvon 35 yrs. ago just a budding lefty

So if I understand Obama's racial speech the other day if I'm driving along and decide it would be a good idea to lock my doors, after all white guys do alot of carjackings, but just then a black guy is crossing the street I should not lock my doors so as to not offend the black man or something like that. Our frank national conversation on race continues.

Are we a nation permanently divided?

and it seems to have gotten worse under President Obama.  This blog is a good example, the fault lines on so many moral, social and political issues run deep especially lately.  There's no sincere search for common ground or if there is one it goes along the liberal lines of agreeing to force religious employers to provide birth control since hey pro-lifer you want to reduce the number of abortions right?  Gay marriage - Obama could have simply let the issue play out in the states during his second term instead of issuing his now famous evolved statement on the issue.  It may not be most conservatives' cup of tea but many of them seem happy enough it does play out in the states, things were going slowly but surely steadily Gay anyway and yet the liberal pressure groups always want to short-circuit the whole traditional democratic process and take it all to the SCOTUS.  They want a permanent Roe vs. Wade re gay marriage and on other issues like Race there's Obama's "if I had a son he'd look like Trayvon" remark and it's out in the open now but the Justice Dept. early on spent money and sent some of their own people down there to organize rallies and such and these protests weren't in favor of Mr. Zimmerman needless to say.  ObamaCare which is actually aggravating our country's underemployment problem as more places of business with over fifty workers cut hours under the 30 hr./week threshold but not to worry because there are now free meetings at public libraries to explain the nuts and bolts of the Affordable Care Act but despite no amount of education and enlightenment most of the public still seems to be against it, the ignorant masses.  Drone strikes in foreign lands, NSA surveillance of your phone records and e-mails here at home (a great big liberal yawn), immigration, guns/gun control.  We didn't start the fire but we are a nation permanently divided, we take our sides and rock the blogs and social media networks and on it goes.  It wasn't a requirement that you like Bush, why is it a requirement that we like Obama?

The George Zimmerman Verdict and Al Sharpton in all his glory

So I go to work this morning and a black co-worker is carrying around The Daily News and you're like I heard that Jeter got hurt again. NOT GUILTY, look I'd have more respect for the Black View in this case if they didn't cheer when OJ got acquitted. The circular reasoning of pro-choicers like BB and Saty - if Barack Obama were aborted we wouldn't have one of the greatest presidents of modern times (in their view). Discuss all this and more.

A random thought on my walk today

I don't know why the White Rhino in Mozambique has to become extinct just so a Chinese businessman can have an erection.

A kind of off-the-cuff remark about Egypt & America (but don't quote me)

Big difference between how Egyptians handle things these days and over here in America.  Ordinary Egyptians have now within the span of a mere two years overthrown two official Egyptian leaders, longtime dictator but pro-American Hosni Mubarak of course and now Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood who was nevertheless perfectly duly elected by the Egyptian people once upon a time.  Now the modern Egyptian trend seems to be "hey buddy you suck, gotta go."  Here in America on the other hand a duly elected president can suck all he wants and unless he commits an impeachable offense he stays in office.  It's the American way, he can practically run the country into the ground over the course of even two long terms and basically we bitch and moan about it, get angst over it, write columns and negative blogposts galore, work ourselves up into a fine dander whereas the Egyptians don't have time for this.  OK so that's the don't quote me part, Janet Napolitano may be reading this right now and homing in.

OK so since I don't advocate the Egyptian way of handling leaders who suck and who otherwise disrespect the people there HAS TO be another way whereby, how shall we say we can speed up the process and get the country on the right course again.  Recently WI Governor Scott Walker was subject to a recall vote and I've been thinking if we tweak a little here and maybe work in another Amendment over there and this would apply to Republican or Democratic presidents btw but let's say we built into the system that you're really making a mess of things and to be fair this has to be proven over a lengthy time, for example certain negative economic and even social indicators have to reach a certain low first and stay there but under this new way of thinking, our new system Obama would be subject to a recall vote right about now or certainly midway through his second term.  Ditto retroactively would have been done to Bush Jr. I think it fair to say.  Liberals positively couldn't stand Bush for eight long years, we can't stand Obama so this would cut across party lines and benefit folks of all political stripes and an important side benefit is it would be cathartic.

There has to be a better way:)

Does the Democratic Party want to be known as the party of late-term abortion?

There's been a kind of polling consensus out there for years now that even your average pro-choicer at large opposes or feels squeamish about certain things like later-term abortions besides sharing a couple of other points with the pro-lifers.  I've often wondered myself from a philosophical POV how does a doctor perform such a procedure and go home and sleep at night? and if you track historically the narrative arc of the whole pro-abortion movement there was in the past a definite trend to emphasive earlier term abortions and not to be seen as too keen defenders of this whole other ghastly business, indeed they've accused the lifers of purposely harping on it.  Recently however there's been Gov. Cuomo's now stalled push in NYS to allow very late-term abortions for reasons other than the mother's life and now there's this story and it just leaves me scratching my head over why liberals/progressives/Democrats would even go this route.  There's been a kind of latent creepiness/weirdness which has come to the fore these days in the whole pro-abort movement, a kind of Newtowning of Choice, a sort of philosophical monsterism and would Wendy Davis personally herself we willing to stand in the same room and witness such an existentially depressing procedure from start to finish?  Is the average pro-choicer that you work with demanding this?  Extremism by any other name......

SCOTUS/DOMA

Why have legislators?

The Next Generation

When I was a kid I was out there collecting snakes, with today's kids it's the iPad. Playing on Mom's smartphone the next gen is gonna be more techno-literate than I was. Having this discussion here recently should the Gov't teach kids about sex or Mom and Dad? Well today there's a third option - Siri.

Amateur Herpetology

During the warm summer months along the Saw Mill River in Westchester County NY you should always look towards the edge of the bike path while walking. Just sayin'.

The Government/Verizon data-mining I was going to say scandal

But it's clear that many don't even see it as a scandal and I'm even reading those on the Right like John Podhoretz who actually seem to support it.  OK so millions of Verizon customers have had the duration but not the content of their phone calls tracked, the numbers of both parties are even on the record and the times of day but ultimately there is just too much to sift through so some pretty advanced NSA computers analyze the metadata to look for what are called "suspicious patterns" and then if that turns up then the feds can go further in their pursuits.  Didn't prevent Boston but I'd like to know what a suspicious pattern is and as for the millions of other customers of the other major carriers they're probably in the Database too but the government hasn't said so yet.  Simple rule here though - if Obama does it it must be good but if Bush did it then it's bad.  The major players like Microsoft and Google are fully cooperating of course, it's yet another corporate/government Leviathan monster arising out of the ocean and as for myself as regards my phone I just do what I gotta do the government be damned.  Life's too short and the government bureaucracy being what it is they're gonna fuck it up anyway.

I don't care what you do (but I also don't wanna know)

Call it libertarian respect, a kind of social compact/truce that has worked down through the years.  A few famous people these days seem to be applying the Angelina Jolie Template customized of course to their respective diseases/ailments (mainly cancer though) and we hear all about the nexus of their disease and their lifestyle choices.  Let's say in an interview a well-known person, some household name says "every time I hang upside down and someone sticks a thumb up my ass I get cancer,"  don't wanna know, not a public service imo.  Don't wanna hear PSAs about every sex act known to man.  IF Celebrity Q a woman likes to guzzle it down like a milkshake but then it gives her problems down the road, cancer of the stomach kind of deal DON'T WANNA KNOW.  Bob Dole was brave on the battlefield but I don't think he was brave about ED, he was just TMIing.  So I walk in the supermarket the other day and the newsstand is right there and I'm just standing there for about 15 or 20 seconds looking at the cover of one of the papers and the produce guy and I are talking about IT.  People call it heroic I call it TMI.  The Angelina Jolie Thing stands on its own don't try to use it, that's her you just like to share.  The orals the anals don't need it on the cover of TIME or Newsweek when I'm checking out.  Let's nip this one in the bud before it pops up all over the place.  Look I don't care but I also don't wanna know ok?

St. Francis with an iPad

The Backlash Against Technology -- Lately in conversating with some old-timers there seems to be an anti-technology feel out there, a kind of anti-modernist vibe.  It irritates me at first, can't these codgers get it that you can't have the '50s forever but then I ponder for awhile and there's a point to be had also.  Some are fond of saying we were better off before the TV but as a device the TV is neither good nor bad.  It's not the TV's fault that most of what's on is pure crap, it's not the apparatus that's evil.  Texting and driving and cyberbullying, it's not the technology that is good or evil in itself it's how you use it.  Just 'cause your relatives or friends come over with their iPads and smartphones and start using them instead of honing their social skills well that's just incivility plain and simple and in the right hands tablets and Androids are wonderful devices.  There's Internet porn and bomb-making recipes on the 'Net of course but for every negative on the Web I can point to a positive, it's a yin/yang thing.  I recently learned some online groin pull/sciatica stretching exercises that I'm convinced fast-tracked my road to recovery so for every old-timer who says technology, the Web/smartphones, whatever is not good for your mind I would point out the ability to increase knowledge in a good way is right now at your fingertips.  I also had this thought today, I think we're in for another bubble bursting down the road, the smartphone bubble.  Half the population has these gizmos it seems and it no longer seems to depend if you've been wise with your money throughout your life and have made responsible decisions to allow you the finer luxuries.  I had to wait for my prescription yesterday in a lower-income part of Yonkers and you get to observing.  You got teens coming out of rather seedy apartment complexes with smartphones, not cells but smartphones and I'm thinking besides the cost of the device itself there's coverage right so how can these young'ens afford it?  I think something has to give down the road, it's natural economics but for now at least everyone's a technodude.  The new Pope even has an iPad and the other day I saw a photo in Catholic New York of some prelate showing him how to use the new Vatican app.  Point in closing -- if the dark side of Technology bothers you so much make the decision to use it for Good.