Motley Moose – Archive

I’d like to open with Sarah Palin’s response:

Obama lied to the American people. Again. He said it wasn’t a tax. Obama lies; freedom dies.

– @SarahPalinUSA via web

My response?  Nothing new under the sun: Obama wins; Palin spins.

The only thing relevant about Palin and her devotees is the repeated demonstrations of their continued irrelevance.

But more to the substance of this, what is clear here is that this whole rigmarole has devolved upon the popular American distaste for the term “tax.”  All federal social policy in the near term will have to work by re-labeling taxes, an absurd semantic sleight of hand made necessary by a widespread impoverishment  of our command of basic civics terminology and its concerted ideological slandering by one special interest group, as the GOP should now be known.

What reveals this understanding of the GOP as a special interest group more than anything else is Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision.  Roberts clearly looked down the arc of history and did not want “his” court to be the one that capitulated to partisanship and undermined the institution’s integrity.  It’s that simple.  He understood that his name would become synonymous with partisan judicial activism.  As a Federalist, this was intolerable.  Hence he opened with a statement affirming that the court’s role is not to seek ways to overturn legislation, but to uphold it.  Only if there is no conceivable way to bring its rationale into accord with constitutional language should the court strike down the laws written by our elected representatives.  We could not get this bill passed by including the language of taxation, hence no single payer or public option.  But those are political conditions.  Roberts quite brilliantly (if wrongly) adhered to his own conservatism with regard to an unnecessarily narrow reading of the commerce clause, but latched onto US Solicitor General Verrilli’s back-up argument that the mandate could be considered a tax triggered by an individual’s lack of health insurance.  But his tacit acknowledgment of what he (I think correctly) believes will be the historical view of the court implicitly reveals the degree to which the GOP is a special interest group, uninterested in the substance of legality or the welfare of the US.  It represents a very narrow constituency’s interests and will do anything to serve them.  It’s nothing more than the political action committee of the Chamber of Commerce.

Mohamed Morsy has been elected President of Egypt. There was much rejoicing, and there was much angst.

Rejoicing, because something like a democratic process has now for the first time elected the political leader of Egypt. Among some of those the rejoicing is due to the simple fact of his Muslim Brotherhood party allegiance. Among others it is due to his US education, two American citizen children and arguably moderate political positions.

Angst among some because he represents the Muslim Brotherhood at all, that he is the possible harbinger of an open Gaza border over which arms flow to fire at Israel.

The game is afoot among political pundits and prognosticators. What the future holds remains uncharted.

It is summer, effectively. School is out, the sun shines, vacations and family and time outdoors occupy more than the normal amount of horizon.

Those following politics and the media closely are developing strong feelings about the election coming in November. Those (like myself) enjoined in other topics let those issues stew for later contemplation.

The Republican party and its supporters are on the warpath to retake the White House, the Democrats laying defenses to keep it. As the Out party the GOP is motivated, as the In party the Dems are perhaps more contented.

Which way will the wind blow come the end of summer, oh progosticative Moose?

This is part of a series of posts examining, somewhat lightheartedly, the electoral effects of adding Canada and then Mexico to the United States.

The previous post noted that if Mexico joined the United States, and if Mexico voted for the Democratic Party, then the Democratic Party would at first glance seem benefit very much indeed. President George W. Bush would have win Delaware to become president. Double-digit Republican victories would turn into ties.

But this assumes that American voting patterns remain unchanged if the United States joined Mexico.

Imagine how the typical American would react to the last six words in the sentence above, and one can begin to see why that assumption is probably extremely inaccurate.

More below.

I’ve known a few Moose

Who when asked to produce

Some lines of rhythmical text,

Would take it in course

To lampoon the source

Of such an achievable quext.

It passes my mind

That in order to find

A causational trigger sufficients

To stampede the Meeses

Resulting in pieces

Of contextual arts they’ve proficients,

Presented a hurdle

Less’r bloods which would curdle

But True Mooses would span with omniscience.

So lay down, you Moose

Your pens do let loose

And fire some iambic pentameter,

You’ve just let a geek,

Coke-glass’ed, outspeak

A roomful of scholars who’re apter.

Just the other night, I found myself having to shuffle some stuff around in my garage. You know, making a path to make room for other stuff. Anyway, after I accidentally broke some pottery, I happened across this poem I wrote a long time ago. It was written all at once, in a flood of words, and remains as-was, that is to say unedited, and unrevised.

I remember liking it at the time, but I was traveling when the poem happened, and I lost the scrap it was scrawled on within a few days. As they years marched by, I forgot all of it — save the title and the last two lines. I’m not sure how I feel about it now. I can’t interpret it. Nor do I know what inspired it, so it’s a lot like the writing of a stranger to me. Odd that. If you feel like reading it, come on over the fold.  

Hi Mooses!

Sorry to be so unattentive lately, you remain in my heart and mind notwithstanding.

Life continues to be interesting, though news and politics do not cross my bow a lot of late (maybe that’s why…).

While working undercover using my Secret Code Name Rick Blask keeps me busy,

The Industrial Controls Systems Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ICS ISAC) will provide deeper cross-industry alerting and threat communications among critical infrastructure companies, Rick Blask, ICS-ISAC executive director told Government Security News in an interview. Blask is also the founder and chief executive officer at ICS Cybersecurity, Inc.

…having a 25th anniversary last Saturday and getting a little dog rescued by our friend Maria today keeps everything else grounded.