news from 11feb13

This week was already looking to be very busy.

• Superstorm Nemo dumps record levels of snow on the american northeast. Forty inches in New Haven, CT; 650,000+ without power initially, now that number has decreased to about 150,000 and those are mostly in Massachusetts, etc. They will spend the rest of the week digging out of that.
• Things are happening in the Kansas State house. I'm scared to look.
• Cabinet level nominees John Brennan and Senator Chuck Hagel face fierce and also unwarranted republican critics in Congress. The Village media act as though it was the first time they have heard the left complain about anything this Obama Admin has said or done about the war. Case in point, Sen Ron Wyden of OR trying to find out from Mr Brennan about hurdles that must be overcome in their decision process for using drones, etc. A good discussion of last week's 'white paper', the 'loss of due process' in killing citizens, the confirmation hearings and where discussion on the left actually is w/r/t the NDAA, drones and 'imminence' on upwithchrishayes this weekend. Hina Shamsi of the ACLU lays things out plainly. The discussion after is great for the basic elements of what is happening.
• new job numbers will be out soon
• the budget debate gets more intense as the 'sequester deal' looms March 1 and R's fret about Defense cuts.
• The State of the Union speech is this week and so the Republicans want their guy to be heard too. No wait, they want two of their guys to be heard 'And no, there isn't anything particularly unusual about that. In fact, YOU seem to be the one that has a problem with that.'. But when you ask them about a budget, they say they are waiting for the president who has yet to submit his budget. When that comes out, they will call it names and say he's not being serious about cuts when what we need is not cuts but spending. Something they have already said they won't do. I'm sure this will repeat. Now they're pointing out the sequester was an Obama Admin idea without which presumably, Congress would not have agreed to set up a special committee and then agreed to the committee's idea and then fleshed out the agreement over months with both Houses and the president... as if the history of the last several years didn't happen in this Congress... " ,,,it's Obama's fault. Don't you get it?"
• conflicts in Syria, Mali, Burma and instability in Egypt, Greece continue to swirl
• the man-hunt for Christopher Dornan continues in southern California. Fox opines anyway: 'Must be Rep Maxine Waters' fault.'

But this morning:

• pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger announces he will resign, effective 28Feb13. He cited his age and physical stamina which makes sense since he's 85. But it is the first time a pope has resigned in 600 years. Guess who was the pope's secretary at the time? Yep, Poggio Bracciolini di Duccio. Interesting that Benedict in 2009 honored Celestine V, the first pope to resign. The last pope to resign Greggory XII resolved the Great Schism by doing so.
• five people are shot, three dead at a courthouse in Wilmington, Deleware this morning. The right has shifted the 'blame' of many of these shootings onto liberals,the very people who oftentimes want more regulation for guns. Counter-intuitive for sure, but they claim it is the zealous gun-control people - rather than those who talk about it all the time - who 'trigger' the unbalanced into acting out. The examples of gun violence they're saying, I guess, is what made them do it. Anything to remove guilt from themselves. Like here. But the thing is, It's becoming a pattern...

blink and you might miss it: beck 're-imagines' Bowie's "Sound and Vision", yesterday. He's been planning and working on it for months. Brought to you by Lincoln. But it's good. I like beck, the original song and what he did with it. Fine. Getting all the participants and directing them is something Frank Zappa used to do 45 years ago with the Mothers and he would get the audience as well to respond to cues. But without much practice beforehand as with this impromptu television studio audience in 1973.

This week's Donate to A Worthy Cause: Tom Tomorrow