Day: April 24, 2009

Dear GOP: Stop Playing Games!

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is facing calls for her ouster from a handful of House Republicans in the wake of a department memo that warned of right-wing political extremism in the United States.

“To me, it looks like the extremists are those running the DHS,” said Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn. “An official document of the DHS lists right-wing extremists as ‘groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,’ and includes those ‘rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority.’ So, apparently, according to Homeland Security Department, the American ideal of federalism is a threat to American ideals.”

First of all, the GOP is just plain stupid for letting this broad anywhere near a microphone.  She has proven to be ignorant and misleading.

And then there is Boner, damn…sorry…Boehner, the minority leader.

House Minority Leader John Boehner said it’s become clear to him that the idea of bipartisanship “was a ruse.”

“I think if you look at the first 100 days, you can sum it up pretty simply: spending, taxing, borrowing and ducking the hard choices,” Boehner said at a news conference Thursday.

Democratic policies, he said, are “going to hurt our economy and hurt jobs in America.”

Boehner keeps throwing the original talking points from day one of the Obama Admin….spending, taxing and borrowing.  Hard choices?  If Obama has not taken on the hard choices what would the GOP call the issues that have been addressed?

The Ohio Republican said Americans are “fed up with this unprecedented level of spending and borrowing that’ll imprison the future for our kids and their kids,” and he said the Republican Party has offered up better solutions in recent months.

Funny that is not what the polls are saying.

Obama’s job approval as president stands at 63% in a poll released this morning by the Washington-based Pew Research Center — with just 26% of those surveyed saying they disapprove of the way that Obama is handling his job.

The president draws a similar rating in a new poll conducted by the Associated Press and GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media: 64% job approval. The AP-GfK survey also finds, for the first time in five years, more Americans saying the nation is headed in the right direction than those who say it is not.

Those are just a few of the games the GOP is playing.  They still seem oblivious to the fact that they are not doing the country any good.  Theyt get their daily talking points and without much thought go out and echo whatever it is that is the NO-NO of the day.

It is all a game to the GOP, the problem is that they have NO idea how to play anymore.  I guess this is the BEST that the GOP can come up with….sad turn of events for a once proud party.

Consequences Of A Recession

Massive lay-offs, uncertainity of employment and all around money problems has raised the concern a growing problem of violence.

Indeed, stories of workplace violence are filling headlines of late — the San Diego bus mechanic who killed two co-workers or the unemployed man in upstate New York whose 12 shooting victims included a receptionist and a teacher.

With such jarring tragedies, fears of violence fueled by financial worries are growing as the recession puts strain and stress on anxious workers, experts say.

Statistics on workplace violence in this recession will take years to compile and analyze, experts say. From 1997 to 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, there were more than 7,000 occupational homicides nationwide, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While most involved robberies, more than 1,000 involved work associates, the government agency said.

Whether or not the numbers will show a spike in economic-related violence, the fear is valid and significant, said Joel Shults, head of public safety at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado and an expert in safety awareness.

Elevating the fear is the fact that so many perpetrators in recent workplace shootings seemed normal, he said.

Violence is a by-product of the recession…..I fear that the worse is yet to come.

Pakistan Becomes More Ify

The Taleban has taken over an area of Pakistan just 70 miles from the capital.  Pakistan is sending troops, but not to take on the Taleban but rather as guards.

Officials say the forces will protect government buildings in Buner district, where insurgents have begun patrolling the streets and mounting checkpoints.

As the troops moved into the region, insurgents launched an attack on their convoy, killing at least one soldier.

The Taleban are reported to have moved several hundred men into Buner from the Swat Valley.

The government sent six platoons – up to 300 men – to deal with the insurgents.

The confrontation in Buner comes just weeks after a peace deal was signed by President Asif Ali Zardari allowing the introduction of Islamic law in Swat.

The deal was designed to end a bloody 18-month conflict with the Taleban in Swat by yielding to some of their demands.

But critics say that the militants can now use Swat as a springboard to take over new areas of the country.

The militants’ move into Buner district northwest of the capital comes after Islamabad ceded control of the scenic Swat valley, allowing the Taliban to enforce traditional Islamic law, or sharia, in what was once the jewel of Pakistan’s tourism industry.

But analysts said the deal in Swat, reached after a bloody two-year insurgency, has simply allowed the Taliban to re-group, consolidate and expand control into other regions.

The Taliban takeover in Buner is evidence that the group’s strategy of intimidating police and officials is working because of the fundamental weakness of President Asif Ali Zardari’s government, the analysts said.

Looks as if the Taleban is getting a free ride in Pakistan, the troops are not there to check the advance of the Taleban, but rather to protect government buildings……does that sound at all promising for the US effort against the Taleban?