I look forward to the future Republican debates when we can play a drinking game based on every time Chris Christie mentions 9/11 or says "... as a former federal prosecutor."
--Gail Collins, The New York Times
The Republicans continued their race to the bottom, afraid to say anything that might make anyone who might vote for them change their mind. Christie, for instance, once suggested that Social Security payments could start later than they currently do. He may or may not have abandoned that position but when asked about entitlements in the current debate he said no more money for Planned Parenthood and no more legal abortions! This has nothing to do with entitlements, Planned Parenthood money is a drop in the budget bucket, and the federal government cannot legally pay for abortions!
Ted Cruz, opposed to Obamacare just as all the other candidate are, was asked how he would replace it, a question all the candidates have been ducking. His answer: more healthcare accounts, allow insurance companies to sell across state lines, and de-link health insurance from employment.
All this is great for people who can afford, one way another, health insurance but does nothing for those without health insurance and can't afford it, those whom Obamacare was designed to help!
On foreign policy everyone wants to bomb ISIS back to the Stone Age and rebuild the military, though no one has the courage to call for the return of the draft. Only Rand Paul seems to have given much thought to the consequences of what to do after ISIS is destroyed. Everyone is opposed to further immigration and no one, any more, wants a path to legalization or citizenship for immigrants who are here illegally.
Rick Santorum and Marco Rubio want to diminish inequality by doing away with regulation and climate control. Rubio actually said he does not want to save the environment if it means losing jobs! Santorum does show some concern for the 74% of adults who do not have college degrees, though neither he nor any of the other candidates shows any sympathy for unions, one important means to get blue-collar wages to rise.
Kasich pleaded with his fellow Republicans to work with Democrats in a conciliatory way but most of the candidates were too busy bashing Hilary Clinton to listen. Gilmore, Huckabee, Carson and Fiorina had little to add to the debate: Gilmore bragged about being a veteran, Huckabee was folksy in a scary way, Fiorina repeated constantly that it was "time to take this country back" and Carson seemed to be dozing off during most of the debate, though he did awaken at the end to prove he could memorize the Preamble to the Constitution.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Democratic Debate Jan. 17,2016
First of all, kudos to Martin O'Malley. He is the first one in all the debates, of both parties, to mention the crucial issue of unions. In the list of things he said he wanted to do he included "make it easier to join labor unions and bargain collectively for better wages."
In the "debate" itself there was minimal disagreement. Bernie Sanders reiterated his support for a single-payer health system while Clinton wants to "build on Obamacare." As Sanders pointed out, Obamacare still leaves 29 million people uninsured. Hillary is obviously still feeling the wounds from her healthcare efforts in the 90's and doesn't want a "contentious situation." When Hillary objected to the tax increases that would be necessary for a single-payer system Sanders correctly pointed out that any increased taxes would be more than canceled out by the savings of insurance premiums, as even employer insurance is costing the employee more and providing less, with more and more people postponing doctor visits because of the high co-payments.
On foreign policy and the armed forces Sanders pointed out that we still have an army based on what we needed during the cold war and this needs to be looked at. Clinton is still apologizing for her support of the Iraq war and feels a different wind blowing now, as she bends with it. O'Malley correctly put the emphasis on the increased intelligence needed to fight ISIS and Sanders emphasized the need to learn from the past (what a concept!) and to have a good idea of what will happen after we topple a despot before we do it as an end in itself.
Sanders emphasized that we need a Congress that responds to the needs of the people and not just the billionaires and for that we need detailed campaign finance reform, a subject on which Clinton continues to be quiet, as much of her money comes from super PACs and from Wall Street. Both Sanders and Clinton attacked the systematic racism in our criminal justice system and Sanders emphasized the "de-militarization" of the police, emphasizing community and diversity.
In the "debate" itself there was minimal disagreement. Bernie Sanders reiterated his support for a single-payer health system while Clinton wants to "build on Obamacare." As Sanders pointed out, Obamacare still leaves 29 million people uninsured. Hillary is obviously still feeling the wounds from her healthcare efforts in the 90's and doesn't want a "contentious situation." When Hillary objected to the tax increases that would be necessary for a single-payer system Sanders correctly pointed out that any increased taxes would be more than canceled out by the savings of insurance premiums, as even employer insurance is costing the employee more and providing less, with more and more people postponing doctor visits because of the high co-payments.
On foreign policy and the armed forces Sanders pointed out that we still have an army based on what we needed during the cold war and this needs to be looked at. Clinton is still apologizing for her support of the Iraq war and feels a different wind blowing now, as she bends with it. O'Malley correctly put the emphasis on the increased intelligence needed to fight ISIS and Sanders emphasized the need to learn from the past (what a concept!) and to have a good idea of what will happen after we topple a despot before we do it as an end in itself.
Sanders emphasized that we need a Congress that responds to the needs of the people and not just the billionaires and for that we need detailed campaign finance reform, a subject on which Clinton continues to be quiet, as much of her money comes from super PACs and from Wall Street. Both Sanders and Clinton attacked the systematic racism in our criminal justice system and Sanders emphasized the "de-militarization" of the police, emphasizing community and diversity.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Republican Debate Jan. 14, 2016
The only difference in the Republic debate this time was the moving of Carly Fiorina to the undercard, with Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum. This allowed the seven men in the main bout to get back to the "mine is bigger than yours" bragging: I will spend more on bombs and kill more opponents than you will. Once again none of the participants and moderators mentioned unions, everyone saying that if we stopped handcuffing businesses with regulations they could grow unimpeded and, somehow, that would bring back the American dream and the affluent middle class! I will give Rick Santorum some populist credit as someone who is trying to appeal to the "74% of those ages 25-66 who do not have college degrees" and emphasizing the importance of "rebuilding the family" but everyone else wants to do away with Obamacare and beef up the military, as if that would solve any problems either at home or abroad. And how is de-funding Planned Parenthood going to help anyone? No one had any solutions or even suggestions how to make healthcare more available to everyone or how to make college more affordable. High school was not always free to everyone either.
I did find it amusing, in a mordant way, for Cruz to attack Trump for having "New York values," which he defined as "pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage, socially liberal and obsessed with money and the media." Cruz must be aware that most Americans are in favor of a woman's right to choose and letting people marry someone of the same sex. As he appeals more and more to evangelicals he appeals less and less to everyone else. Chris Christie does not seem to realize that Presidents are limited to two terms, threatening to "kick Obama's rear end out of the White House" and Ben Carson doesn't want to decide anything himself, preferring to get experts together and let them solve it. Jeb Stuart and Donald Trump talked about mental health as an alternative to gun control but did not seem aware that most insurance companies offer little mental health coverage.
I missed Rand Paul's intelligent responses to those who want to bomb the hell out of everyone we don't like (Paul says perhaps we could try diplomacy first and bombing only as a last resort) but he was relegated to the undercard and chose not to participate. The seven contenders on the main card want America to be as different as possible from other nations, especially European countries: no universal healthcare, no parental leave, no minimum wage, no labor unions, deport all illegal immigrants and don't allow any new legal ones, no increased taxes (especially for the wealthy), little or no gun control. This is how we will "take our country back" and "make America great again"?
I did find it amusing, in a mordant way, for Cruz to attack Trump for having "New York values," which he defined as "pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage, socially liberal and obsessed with money and the media." Cruz must be aware that most Americans are in favor of a woman's right to choose and letting people marry someone of the same sex. As he appeals more and more to evangelicals he appeals less and less to everyone else. Chris Christie does not seem to realize that Presidents are limited to two terms, threatening to "kick Obama's rear end out of the White House" and Ben Carson doesn't want to decide anything himself, preferring to get experts together and let them solve it. Jeb Stuart and Donald Trump talked about mental health as an alternative to gun control but did not seem aware that most insurance companies offer little mental health coverage.
I missed Rand Paul's intelligent responses to those who want to bomb the hell out of everyone we don't like (Paul says perhaps we could try diplomacy first and bombing only as a last resort) but he was relegated to the undercard and chose not to participate. The seven contenders on the main card want America to be as different as possible from other nations, especially European countries: no universal healthcare, no parental leave, no minimum wage, no labor unions, deport all illegal immigrants and don't allow any new legal ones, no increased taxes (especially for the wealthy), little or no gun control. This is how we will "take our country back" and "make America great again"?
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Jessica Jones on Netflix, Created by Melissa Rosenberg.
I haven't read comic books since I was 11 years old and I wouldn't even know where to buy one now. When I was a child I looked forward to the arrival of DC Comics --Superman, Batman, et al. -- on Tuesdays at the local convenience store, mainly because I had little else to read; there was no local library and there were almost no books in my home. So I followed closely the characters in the DC world. In 1961 along came Marvel Comics and by then I had started to find books to read, mostly paperbacks on the store racks that I purchased with the five dollars a week or so that I earned on my paper route.
Now we have an abundance of movies and TV shows based on comic books, including Jessica Jones on Netflix. The show seems to be liked by some adults and Emily Nussbaum in The New Yorker even praised it for its contribution to the continuing debate over sexual consent, as Jones fights the attempts of Kilgrave to control her mind, which he apparently was able to do for a while. I think the show would be much better if Jessica Jones were the same gritty private eye but without the superpowers (which aren't too clear anyway; she can lift things and fly a little bit) and who is a somewhat bitter dipso because of her time with Kilgrave. As it is, when she pursues Kilgrave (whose mind control powers are also a little vague) almost everyone who tries to help her ends up dead. At one point Jessica tried to get Kilgrave to use his powers for good, but that plotline was unfortunately quickly dropped.
It seems that too many parents these days are content to let their children read comic books; at least they are reading something! Whether today's Marvel Comics are any good or not I am not qualified to say, but they certainly play a leading role in today's movies and TV. Perhaps comics are more artistic and intelligent than they were when I was a kid, but they still discourage kids from using their imaginations, just as TV has done since it basically replaced radio.
Now we have an abundance of movies and TV shows based on comic books, including Jessica Jones on Netflix. The show seems to be liked by some adults and Emily Nussbaum in The New Yorker even praised it for its contribution to the continuing debate over sexual consent, as Jones fights the attempts of Kilgrave to control her mind, which he apparently was able to do for a while. I think the show would be much better if Jessica Jones were the same gritty private eye but without the superpowers (which aren't too clear anyway; she can lift things and fly a little bit) and who is a somewhat bitter dipso because of her time with Kilgrave. As it is, when she pursues Kilgrave (whose mind control powers are also a little vague) almost everyone who tries to help her ends up dead. At one point Jessica tried to get Kilgrave to use his powers for good, but that plotline was unfortunately quickly dropped.
It seems that too many parents these days are content to let their children read comic books; at least they are reading something! Whether today's Marvel Comics are any good or not I am not qualified to say, but they certainly play a leading role in today's movies and TV. Perhaps comics are more artistic and intelligent than they were when I was a kid, but they still discourage kids from using their imaginations, just as TV has done since it basically replaced radio.
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