Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Joe Biden and the Tea Party Terrorists
Originally this blog was taking shape as all the various ways critics, usually liberal ones invalidate those with whom they disagee by the use of the political pejorative "extremist." SHAW does this and neocon David Brooks of the New York Times does it as well and it's an argument from intimidation, a deliberate polemical device to curb free-flowing and robust intellectual, philosophical and political debate and its purpose is to circumscribe already shrinking respectable parameters of civic discourse and yes it's an attempt at thought control although I can't obviously impugn motives to everyone here. On my walk today the way this was shaping up in my mind though is why we worship moderation so much (seems kinda boring and bland to have this as your overall guiding life philosophy), why it's now considered the supreme political virtue and basically I want to know do we worship moderation in and of itself as a goal and an end or is it simply a technique, an important at times and pragmatic step towards the Larger Goals (the Reagan approach)? If it's the former what's the point? if it's the latter I can understand and there may be times that it makes eminent practical sense although I can imagine my idealist colleague soapie disagreeing. Used to be if the word extremist was bandied about everyone pretty much knew who everyone was talking about, those who oppose abortion and gay marriage for instance, narrow folks who were seen as being overly cramped on the social issues. NOW it means especially for liberals anyone whom the wielder of the term disagrees with. If you're for fiscal responsibility and government living within its means you're an extremist. If you're against higher taxes on the wealthy (and don't kid yourself on everyone else) as a way of dealing with the debt and deficit then you're an extremist and I can imagine the list expanding. It means whatever SHAW and Brooks and others want it to mean. For liberals and conservatives some things are just not for sale whereas moderates want to sell the whole house. Oh isn't Joe Biden charming btw, just had another brain fart:)
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I don't know what the hell they're all up in arms about with regards to the Tea Party.
ReplyDeleteWiki states there are 60 House members in the Tea Party caucus but then by their
list of members I count 61.
32 House members of the Tea Party caucus voted Yay on the debt ceiling bill.
29 House members of the Tea Party caucus voted Nay on the debt ceiling bill.
BUT....
There are 4 Senate members of the Tea Party caucus who all voted Nay
on the bill. That makes it 33 Nays to 32 Yays.
Further, while they are not members of the Tea Party caucus, Senators
Ron Johnson (WI), Pat Toomey (PA), and Marco Rubio (FL) ALL voted Nay
on the bill.
Despite the fact that the majority of the Tea Party caucus voted AGAINST the debt bill, they were able to pass it through without any problem.
The Tea Party is not a problem for the establishment (namely because the establishment has co-opted the Tea Party).
Ha!
ReplyDeleteNo less than Mitch McConnell says the GOP/Tea Party's behavior is that of hostage takers/terrorists/extremists:
"In a stunning bit of candor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) admitted in the Washington Post today that his party had taken the debt ceiling “hostage,” and that some of his colleagues were willing to “shoot” it.
“I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting,” he said. “Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming."
McConnell admits to hostage taking--an extremist action if there ever was one.
Face reality, Z-man. The GOP has become a party of extremists. Other mainstream GOPers agree.
You don't because you like extremist policies.
Simple.
Are you a party cheerleader Shaw? Your inference would suggest it. As if there aren't a bunch of "extremists" in the Democratic party. Seriously....get bent.
ReplyDelete95 Democrats in the House and 45 in the Senate voted to raise the debt ceiling.
174 Republicans in the house and 29 in the Senate.
I'd say extremism knows no party in DC.
Molly Ball reports: Monday night, Sarah Palin was willing to shrug off Vice President joe biden's alleged name-calling about the tea party. But she seems to have woken up Tuesday substantially angrier about the (supposed) tagging of her constituency as "terrorists." If the president wants to see "domestic terrorists," Palin said, maybe he ought to look at his own past — to his association with figures like William Ayers, the '60s Weathermen radical. “Independent, patriotic Americans who desire fiscal sanity in our beloved nation do not deserve to be called terrorists,”
ReplyDeletePS who cares what Shaw thinks, your can't be concerned with what Bubble-Heads think.
The Tea Party is a joke. "Fiscal Sanity"??
ReplyDeleteAbout half of the Tea Party caucus members voted for that ridiculous debt ceiling bill. What's more, you've got countless Tea Party "patriots" who aren't willing to address the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare and another bunch who wouldn't dare make any real cuts to the defense or the MIC.
Totally off topic because you know we're (I'm including you here Z, correct me if I'm wrong) at least mildly obsessed with food:
ReplyDeleteToday I found in my LOCAL!!! Tienda Hispana La Veracruzana what I have been looking for locally since I came home from Dallas: NOPALES. These if you've never had them are pads from the prickly pear cactus. You get all the prickles off, dice them up and boil til they turn a sort of olive color. They taste like asparagus with lemon on them. Now be warned they're sort of like okra in the slime factor but you can rinse them in cold water and that helps. My friend Manasi Ganga from Mexico gave me a nice nopales salad recipe while I was in Dallas and I've expanded on it a little bit:
Clean and cut up 1 nopales pad and put it to boil. Meanwhile dice up a couple of tomatoes, some cilantro, and a few hot peppers. Put this all in a bowl with some salt and pepper. I used also hing (asafoetida) because we don't use onions or garlic but you could use onions. Then take a can of black beans, rinse them good and add that. I also added corn cut from half a cob (raw). By then your nopales are cooked; drain, rinse and let them cool a little bit. Add to the bowl and mix. Then dress with both lime and lemon juice and a little olive oil. Chill.
I made a wrap on a whole wheat tortilla with a little lettuce, cheese, and this salad and it absolutely kicked ass. And it occurred to me that it's very low calorie, so there you go. If you have a big tienda by you, you could probably get already cleaned and cut up nopales (nopalitos), otherwise hit up the barrio and see what you can find. It's worth the effort.
Serve with a side of avocado and a little rice, or because I couldn't eat all that I just had a few chicharrones de harina with it.
The whole thing totally rocked.
Plus, la tienda local is in Rox, only 10 miles away, versus the local tienda grande, which is in Durham and a 90 mile round trip. Mas bueno!
ReplyDeleteThose tea partiers who said don't raise the debt limit this time how are they extremists? I don't know the exact figure about how many times the debt ceiling's been raised, hell Reagan raised it 18X alone but let's say you're of the mind that it's been raised enough and this time no more what I'm not getting is how does that make you into an extremist? You'll often hear the word extremist bandied about but you won't often hear a definition.
ReplyDeleteSaty sounds great except for the cilantro which many people hate and liken to the taste of soap. Probably mistakenly bought it thinking it was parsley.
ReplyDeleteI used to hate it. In certain dishes I have found I really like it. Weird how tastes change.
ReplyDeleteCilantro kicks ass. In salsa with black beans and rice etc.
ReplyDeleteLocal watering hole where we hold our meetups (http://clubjager.com/)
has great food and awesome soups made by Aura. She made this curry/coconut milk soup with jumbo shrimp in it. It has cilantro in it as well.
Phenom!!
Personally I like the Goya cilantro with achiote seasoned powder product that comes in a packet. I guess when it comes to cilantro use it judiciously.
ReplyDeleteCoconut milk soup... is it Thai or Indian? Either way it sounds good. I've never seen the Goya packet (but I haven't been looking either).
ReplyDeleteI really used to hate cilantro. It's so pervasive in Indian cooking. When I went to Dallas and we ate Mexican in the barrio every single day I got a different view of it and now if I'm making Mexican I just have to have it (fresh). If I'm making Indian I'll go with coriander powder and/or seeds.
I believe she said it was Vietnamese.
ReplyDeleteWill you see if you can get the recipe? Please? I got a can of coconut cream here somewhere.
ReplyDeleteCoconut Cream or coconut milk?
ReplyDeleteI have coconut cream but rest assured if I need coconut milk I shall acquire it.
ReplyDeleteShe's got two others. Soup's her specialty. I'll see what I can do but a google search finds a couple similar.
ReplyDelete