Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Archive for September 2013

12 years on – a 9/11 victim speaks

12 years ago on 9/11 I was there.  Now I’m here.

I’ve published versions of this before on daily Kos, it’s done well.  So well that people were nice enough to ask permission to send it to others.  I welcome your doing that.  This version is changed quite a bit.

I am only glad that this can now be (partially) in the past tense.

The Disadvantages of Absentee Ballots

This is part of a two-part series evaluating absentee ballots, which are being used more and more often. The first part focused on their advantages. This second part will focus on their disadvantages.

Photobucket

The previous part discussed the two main advantages of absentee ballots: absentee ballots make it easier to vote and enable voters to have more information about obscure ballot measures and races.

Let’s look at the disadvantages. Actually, there’s only one big disadvantage of absentee ballots: the potential for fraud or voter intimidation.

More below.

Off to the Races

The first round of activity has already been undertaken in the UN Security Council with the submission of a French resolution:


Russia, the main backer of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, opposed the French-drafted resolution and had been expected to propose a weaker Security Council statement, which are largely symbolic statements on the chemical arms crisis.

The main sticking point was that France wanted to invoke Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, making any resolution legally binding and enforceable by military action.

France was backed by the UK and the US in proposing the statement that Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said would threaten “extremely serious” consequences if Syria failed to hand over its banned weapons.

The US administration has said it would not fall victim to stalling tactics, and France’s proposal reportedly outlined a rapid timetable for disarmament.

Divisions emerge over UN statement on Syria Al Jazeera 10 Sep 13

The distinction between a Chapter VI and Chapter VII resolution is vitally important and it is disingenuous of Russia to pretend that the lesser would satisfy under the circumstances. Vladimir Putin himself, dabbling in diplomacy, has further entrenched Russia behind this obstacle:


Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that a plan for Syria to turn over its chemical weapons stockpile will only work if the United States agrees not to use force.

Putin told reporters on Tuesday that the plan “can work, only in the event that we hear that the American side and those who support the USA, in this sense, reject the use of force.”

Syria plan will work if US rejects force: Vladimir Putin AP via NDTV 10 Sep 13

This seems an overreach on Putin’s part; perhaps revealing a weakness of strategy or personality. Whichever is the case it seems vital that Congress and the American public give the Obama administration the support they need to meet this important challenge and help reassert diplomacy as an effective, viable alternative to military conflict.

Thank you Ben Jealous




photo BenJealous_zps02ef8369.jpg


When I read headlines announcing that Ben Jealous is stepping down as the head of the NAACP, I was surprised, and saddened.

I first joined the NAACP when I was a child. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were members. I was raised with elders who taught me the history of the organization. I didn’t learn it in school. It was not part of my grade school curriculum. As a young teenager I joined my local NAACP youth group in NYC, in the chapter headed by William Booth, and participated in sit-ins to combat housing discrimination.  

I didn’t always agree with some of the positions they took. As a very militant young adult I was impatient with what I thought at times was a too conservative stance of the organization, especially under Roy Wilkins. Yet, I always thought of the NAACP as a rock. A solid foundation. That it would always be there.  

The Daily F Bomb, Tuesday 9/10/13

Interrogatories

Do you take supplements (other than vitamins) for your health? Do you use any homeopathic remedies? Are there any that you swear by?

What other tabs are open in your browser right now?

Do you have a lot of favorites/bookmarks in your browser? Are they well-organized? Outside of politics, what kinds of things do you bookmark?

Can you sew? Without a machine?

The Twitter Emitter

The Lavrov Gambit

Interesting developments overnight have again changed the course of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis:


President Obama on Monday called a Russian proposal for Syria to turn over control of its chemical weapons to international monitors in order to avoid a military strike a “potentially positive development,” that could represent a “significant breakthrough,” but he said he remains skeptical the Syrian government would follow through on its obligations based on its recent track record.

Anne Gearan, Karen DeYoung and and Will Englund – Obama sees potential ‘breakthrough’ in Russia’s Syria proposal Washington Post 10 Sep 13

Clearly a positive development and a significant shift in the Syrian and Russian position. A vindication for Obama’s tough policy on the use of chemical weapons one would suppose? One might think it ridiculous to use this development to justify a vote against authorising Obama’s free hand to apply the military pressure which brought it about in the first instance.  

The Daily F Bomb, Monday 9/9/13

Interrogatories

Are there wonderful weirdos in your life? Who are they?

If you could change places with your boss, what changes would you make in the workplace?

Did you have plush toys that you loved as a child? Were you as close to yours as Calvin was to Hobbes? (Was there ever a better comic strip?)

It’s “I Love Food Day.” Is there any food that you never, ever tire of?

What bad habit do you have that you wish you didn’t?

The Twitter Emitter

Motley Monday Check in and Mooselaneous Musings

photo iz-dis-fing-on_zpsa847a99a.jpg

  Good morning Motley Meese! Hope your weekend was lovely. We had Monday on Sunday at our house: Prepare to leave house, discover battery in car is dead. Ends up needing to be replaced. Kidlet takes Jeep to friends house while hubs replaces battery, gets speeding ticket (minor + speeding ticket = insurance rate increase), brings Jeep home…AC is dead. Sigh.


  PLEASE Don’t Recommend the check-in diary! 

        Fierces on the weather jar comment are still welcome.

Previous

Next