Bits & Pieces

Countdown with Keith Olbermann probably spends more time than anybody condemning torture, especially waterboarding. It also spends more time then everybody else combined showing pictures of it, not only showing it but repeating the video images of it again and again in sort of a disgusting endless loop of horror. Enough already.

Job Creation/Destruction
The stimulus bill has "created or saved" 150,000 jobs in the 100 days since it was passed, according to President Obama. That accomplishment is somewhat dwarfed by the 2,160,000 jobs that businesses have shed in that same 100 days. Further action may be needed.

Speaking of which, the media always presents the jobless rate in a wierd and distorted way. "Jobless claims dropped 13000 last week to 623,000"
is a typical report, leading one to believe that it is reporting weekly losses rather than monthly losses.

Supreme Pick
Obama's Supreme Court pick is driving the right wing completely nuts and causing them to make utterly ridiculous charges. If for no other reason, that makes her a wonderful choice.

Lying is a Defense?
Roland Burris is claiming that his statements on the tape released yesterday do not show him to be a "pay to play" participant because he never actually raised any money for the Illinois governor; that his promises to do so in return for being named to Obama's vacated seat were lies and that he never intended to keep those promises. He should keep his Senate seat because he is a liar. Well, actually...

Seals 23, City of San Diego 22
A court has now ruled that the city's plan to play recordings of barking dogs to drive the seals off of the beach cannot go forward. Oddly, the reason for the ruling is that the plan is ridulously expensive in light of the city's $23 million budget defecit. The city may proceed with removing the seals, they just may not spend $700,000 on playing recordings of barking dogs to do it.

Removing the seals puts the city somewhat at odds with a federal law that prohibits disturbing seals in any manner whatever, but in compliance with a state court ruling that it must remove the freaking seals. I don't think the final chapter in this book has yet been written

Taxing & Servicing
Why is there all this endless discussion about the level of taxation, but never any discussion about the level of services provided. Taxes are too high, we complain, but never a word about services are too high or too low. Those things are related, you know.

Tolerating Tests
We're again making bold statements about how we "will not tolerate this provocative nuclear behavior" from North Korea. Hard to tell if they are making idiots out of us or we are making idiots out of ourselves, because we most certainly will tolerate it. What else are we going to do? We really should just sort of ignore them to the greatest possible degree but, no, we have to make threats that we cannot carry out. Reality is there is nothing we can do about their stupid nuclear test.

Job Description
Obama, in his "national security speech" said that "the most important part of my job is to keep the nation safe." He needs to read the constitution, because there is nothing in the president's job description about keeping anybody safe.

What is in his job description is to "uphold and defend the constitution of the United States." That is the only part that the founding fathers thought was so important that they wrote it into his oath of office.

Volcanic Update
If there is such a thing as a boring volcano, Kilauea would be it.