Awaiting The Democrat Debate

The Times hints at a reason to tune in to the Democrat debate on Tuesday night - the prospect of schizophrenic Obama bashing!

A Likely Debate Highlight: Democrats’ Distance From Obama

The major Democratic presidential candidates disagree with President Obama on trade. They think he has not done enough to push for gun control or to overhaul the immigration system. They believe they could do a better job moving legislation through a Republican-controlled Congress.

And on Tuesday night in Las Vegas at the first Democratic primary debate, a new reality will become clear: It’s not Barack Obama’s party anymore.

And a bit further on, we get to the bread and butter kitchen table issue:

A theme likely to dominate the debate, on CNN, is the problem of economic inequality and with it the implicit critique that although Mr. Obama pulled the economy out of the crisis that enveloped it in 2008, the recovery has left the vast majority of Americans behind. That sentiment has manifested itself on the campaign trail in a populist conviction reflected in the major candidates’ positions on topics including trade agreements and Wall Street regulation.

“They may not come out and criticize Obama, but they’ll all be saying, ‘This hasn’t been a good recovery for most people,’ ” said Dean Baker, an economist and a co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Presumably the CNN moderators will attempt to lead a vigorous debate on the question of whether guns are even scarier than Donald Trump (the question of whether Bush and Cheney are Satan and the Anti-Christ, or vice versa is soooo yesterday). If they fail in that task we may see the first hour devoted to methods by which a Democratic President can wave more in unskilled, undocumented future friends from south of the border, followed by a second hour in which the candidates ruminate about the causes and cures of working class wage stagnation. Should be interesting!

Comments

[Dave (in MA)]

CNN said Thursday that it will live-stream the October 13 debate from Las Vegas in full 3D immersive virtual reality.

[Dave (in MA)]

Second.

[Thomas Collins]

So the Dem field doesn't think POTUS Obama has been sufficiently prog. And Oligarchy Media keeps pushing the meme that it is extremist GOPers who are the problem. That's nutty even for 10-D Virtual Unreality Glasses.

[buccaneer morgan]

Of course qe infinity is not worth discussing as a source of inequality.

[buccaneer morgan]

Denebian brain slugs cause that problem, Don tomassino.

[maryrose]

TC
Once again the prog meme fails
Each Dem candidate has to figure out a way to go further left without trashing Obama
He will be watching and Val will punish his enemies that go too far tarnishing his image

[buccaneer morgan]

' the horror, the horror'

[matt]

The morons are beginning to go full Bolshie. Jeremy Corbin in the U.K. is an unequivocal disaster and yet he won the Labour Party leadership.

It is now common to hear the Occupiers and Salon and their ilk spouting Marxist talking points on a daily basis.

Joey Plugz is just aching to get into the race and we can then remind the world of what a moron and douche he is. Hillary looks like she may be going into the witness protection program, and Bernie is a plain kook.

And all the while the MSM portrays the conservatives as the problem. 8 years of Maduro level incompetence and I think people are beginning to wake up.

[Frau Wahlzettel]

Insty on Larry Lessig in USA Today:

“Most Americans,” says Lessig, “are members of the None Of The Above Party.” If allowed to do so, they would probably throw out most of America’s political class bodily. It’s easy to see why the big shots of the Democratic Party — and, for that matter, the Republican Party — prefer business as usual, even if it’s bad for the country.

The real question is, how long will Americans put up with that? As voters’ patience wears thin, the chances for insurgent candidates like Lessig look better.

LUN

Not endorsing but wonder why Lessig is being shut out of the debate but not O'Malley and Chaffey. It would at least limit the number of times Hillary!'s cackle would be heard. (ouch! that's not an Ohrwurm but an ear assault)

[buccaneer morgan]

And they disinvited tulsi gabbard from the debate for calling for more perestroika.

[henry]

Drudge has an article with Anderson Cooper saying he wont ask questions that pit the candidates against each other (unlike Tapper who went for cheap shots). I hope some BLM gals trample him en route to taking over the stage.

[Frau Wahlzettel]

Who is in charge of the Crazy Meter for the event?

Trump was funny announcing that without him the debate would be boring. heh...

[Frau Wahlzettel]

henry, Master Teabagger is not much of a model of civility and decorum.

[henry]

Frau, those bits will get trampled most. ;)

[lyle]

So a robot, a crazy old white man, and two hacks walk onto a stage...

[maryrose]

Henry
Candidates will be handled with care because they are old
Being the goofballs that they are someone is bound to step in it
My vote goes to Hilly or OMalley

[GMax]

Maybe its starting to get hot in the Senate kitchen as well? Per the HILL we have this:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is opening the door to changing the filibuster in response to growing pressure from Republicans angered that Democrats have blocked legislation from reaching the White House.

McConnell has appointed a special task force to explore changes to the filibuster rule and other procedural hurdles — including whether to eliminate filibusters on motions to proceed to legislation. That’s a tactic the minority often uses to shut down a bill before amendments can be considered.

McConnell has tapped his close ally, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Senate Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) to form a task force with Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and two other freshmen to weigh various reforms. They hope to implement the changes at the start of next year.

“We’re going to take a serious look at whether Senate rules ought to be changed in order to make the Senate work more effectively,” Alexander said.

“A number of the new senators have come in looking around saying, ‘Why are we doing things this way and not that way,’ ” he added.

The other two members of the task force are Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

[buccaneer morgan]

The Hemingway piece on friendlier suggests he stockpiled Davies to Lara logan, to derail the report on benghazi, shades of rathergate.

[buccaneer morgan]

These people were fool's at 30, as they are at 75.

[Frau Wahlzettel]

b c - many things get larger as a person grows older, why not stupidity?

[daddy]

More: Trish Regan plays this clip of Obama's 60 Minutes Comment and then asks for Keane to Comment:

Trish: The President did say in that 60 Minute Interview that we're in a better place. I'd like to get your reaction to this comment that he made to Steve Carlton.

America is a safer place. I think that there are places, obviously like Syria, that are not safer than when I came into office, but in terms of us protecting ourselves against Terrorism, in terms of us making sure that we are strengthening our alliances, in terms of our reputation around the world, absolutely we're stronger.

Trish: Are we really stronger in terms of our reputation around the world? Has it made us safer, General?

Keane: We're not stronger in terms of our reputation, or in terms of our National Interest, or in terms of American Security. It's obvious that Putin is on the rise in Europe and obviously in the Middle East. We just discussed it. We have a revisionist power in China who's seeking domination of the Western Pacific , establishing Military Bases in International waters, and we're intimidated by not even going into those International waters. I understand we may go into those waters in the next few weeks, and that would be good.

In addition to that Al Qaeda has grown 3 to 4 fold, depending on which analysts you listen to in the last 4-5 years, and ISIS is on the rise, obviously. They've expanded into 7 countries and have a world wide following. Director Comey of the FBI has told the Congress of the United States that he has open cases in every state in the United States due to ISIS, and they're going dark on him, where he can't get access to them. The summation of that is that we're in a more dangerous position.

[Dave (in MA)]

It is now common to hear the Occupiers and Salon and their ilk spouting Marxist talking points on a daily basis.

"Things are more like they are now than they ever were before."
--Eisenhower, Ford, Berra or nobody.

[sbw]

Should be interesting!

Sarcasm?

[buccaneer morgan]

'same as it ever was' David Byrne.

[Dave (in MA)]

"Trump was funny announcing that without him the debate would be boring"

Some channel should carry a handful of the Repub. candidates MST3King the Donk debate. Trump, Cruz and Christie, for instance.

[GMax]

Did you bring a dildo to a gun fight? Google #cocksforglocks and prepare to understand why a twit like Socialist Bern It Down can get traction these days...

SHEESH

[buccaneer morgan]

That whole though pattern is doubleunplusgood

[rse]

matt-when I wrote today's post I had not yet seen this aft paper that actually came out the day before the summit. http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/racial_equity_taskforce_10-8-15.pdf

Notice the order, economic, social, and racial justice. Basically the dysfunctions created by the Great Society get used to bring on full scale Marxism of the crony variety.

The opening epigraph about Courageous Conversations means this is also tied to the Pacific Education Group zombie did a story on last week. That is what Singleton calls his training.

The title of the report is "Reclaiming the Promise of Racial Equity in Education, Economics and Our Criminal Justice System."

[daddy]

How the hell can Obama know Hillary's intent was not to hide anything if the dumb shit hasn't seen the emails?

This is not brain surgery.

[henry]

daddy, brain surgery requires the presence of a brain.

[buccaneer morgan]

Rocket surgery otoh, how did he contact her, there was no state department email for her.

[buccaneer morgan]

Mills had contracts with Abu Dhabi at the same time she was chief of staff.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Woohoo . . . going to the Clint Black concert Wednesday night. Just bought the tix.

First time we will leave the kids on a school night to put themselves to bed at a decent hour. That should be interesting.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Barry can look at an entire country or region of the world that he has set ablaze and see success where the rest of the world sees disaster and mayhem so I'm going to cut him a little slack on not connecting the dots on Hill's email.

[daddy]

Watching the KC/Astro's Ball Game. They just did a replay and called the guy who stole 3rd Base out, saying his foot came off the bag.

It looks to me like the 3rd Baseman was hanging all over him and pushing him off the bag. From the replays I think the guy should be called safe, as a result of being pushed off the bag by the fielder's body pushing him off.

He was called out after review and the Inning is over. Anyone else think it was a bogus call?

[buccaneer morgan]

Of course his lips were moving.

The Minnesota dentist will not be facing charges from the democratic republic of Zimbabwe.

[DebinNC]

I've wondered why it's taking so long for Sacramento LE to arrest the stabber/s of Spencer Stone. Despite the 3 females and 2 other males with Stone, despite the video from the liquor store across the street, despite video of the arriving and departing Camry getaway car, despite the numerous other area businesses/clubs with video cams inside and out, police need a tip to solve the crime: “It’s going to take that one piece of information that comes from a witness tip; a friend of a friend that heard something,” Sacramento police spokesman Doug Morse reportedly said. “We’re hopeful, but we also realize it’s going to take the community’s help,” he said noting his enthusiasm that “someone’s gonna talk.”

Sheesh. That seems like an embarrassing admission imo.

[daddy]

5-2 Houston on a homer in the 7th.

I still think KC got screwed on that stealing 3rd Base call, but it's looking like the baseball gods are shining on Texas today.

[daddy]

6-2. The wheels are coming off the Royals.

Anybody care about the Royals?

[DebinNC]

Motions in Freddie Gray case continue Tu-Wed. Baltimore Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby has scheduled the 3 black officers' trials before the 3 white bike cops. I think the black judge Mosby chose has denied or delayed all the prosecution motions so far. Adding insult to injury Mosby's husband, Councilman Nick Mosby, is giving a "State of the City" address today on the eve of tomorrow's hearing "about the city's progress since Gray's death and how the Jewish community can help with local efforts." Shades of Durham, NC 2006 and DA Mike Nifong's media appearances for his personal benefit. Shameful.

[daddy]

Speaking of evil Black Pigs and the Egyptian Book of The Dead, here's a bit more on Set (Seth) turning into a Black Pig to attack his enemy, the Hero God Horus: THE BLACK PIG

Then Set aimed a blow of fire at the eye of Horus,

and Horus shouted aloud with the pain of the fire, and raged furiously, and cried,

“It is Set, and he has smitten me with fire on the eyes.”

But Set was no longer there, for he had conveyed himself away,

and the Black Pig was seen no more.

And Ra cursed the pig because of Set, and said,

“Let the pig be an abomination to Horus (son to Ashur / Orien / Osiris).”

And to this day men sacrifice the pig when the Moon is at the full,

because Set, the enemy of Horus,

and the murderer of Osiris (Ashur, Marduk’s deceased son),

took its form in order to injure the blue-eyed God.

And for this reason also swineherds are unclean throughout the land of Egypt;

never may they enter the temples and sacrifice to the Gods,

and their sons and daughters may not marry with the worshipers of the Gods.

Below is Seth as a pig in a boat, with the accompanying caption:

Set or Seth is a god of the desert, storms, and foreigners (thus, of fearful things) in ancient Egyptian religion. In later myths he is also the god of darkness and chaos. He is represented by the pig being driven away from the presence of Osiris.

Anybody else find this stuff interesting or only me?

[DebinNC]

has denied or delayed all the ..prosecution.. defense motions so far.

[daddy]

Bases loaded for KC, 1 down in the 8th, down now 6 - 3. They're still alive.

[Jack is Back!]

daddy,

So when did Lefty go into MSM broadcasting. Or did you mean Steve Croft?

[daddy]

Sorry Jack,

Sometimes I get a vowel or 2 incorrect when transcribing my FOX gals. I can't imagine how I make such mistakes:)

Wow! KC ties it up in the 8th and are still at bat with 2 on in the 8th.

[DebinNC]

Anybody care about the Royals?

I do. Queen Elizabeth is 89. I hope she surpasses her precious mom's 101.

[rse]

This is just stunning to me.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/republicans-ram-criminal-justice-reform-through-quickly_1044638.html

Rep's truly are the party that wants to rape its constituents and then insist they say thanks for the sex.

[daddy]

Wow. 7 to 6, Queen Elizabeths! Still in the 8th.

[DebinNC]

More about the criminal justice reform bill. What we're doing now is not working well for a lot of people caught up in the mandatory minimum maw. Requiring that all capable inmates work toward a GED, providing viable vocational training pre-release, strengthening the good-behavior record requirements for release, etc. seem like common-sense things to do to affect the current revolving door, one size fits all situation imo.

[Beasts of England]

I'll be excited to see (or at least read the JOM log of) how they're going to trash the state of the country without blaming MomJeans.

And should we take bets on which candidate offers up the biggest freebie from the Federal Piñata?

[Joan]

You know, jom is just like a drug to me. I tell myself ...don't spend two hours reading posts, checking on links, etc, but here I am sitting on our patio enjoying this gorgeous day...and peeking at all your posts. Yes, daddy, I am interested in that black pig and Horus, debinNC I don't understand why the police can't find those bastards that stabbed Spencer Stone, Jeff I wish I was going to a Clint Black concert (Ive been dying for years to fly to Nashville for Amy Grant and Vince Gill's Christmas show,) and now I'm off to read rse's criminal justice link.
I did go to yoga this morning and I have cleaned 10 pots of pink impatients we had across our bqck yard. .. but I do have a lot to do.
You guys are the best. :)

[Joan]

Screw bipartisan support or agreements. (Just read the rse link)

[DebinNC]

You too, Joan.

[Jack is Back!]

Beasts,

Las Vegas has Bernie binging the bat for the piñata. I think he is something like 2-7.

[Beasts of England]

The Bern will likely bring the biggest bat, JiB. Although on of the lesser Mouseketeers could try and outflank him. I mean, there's no downside (for them) to open the OPM floodgates. Income inequality and all...

[GMax]

How many of the twits try to out socialist the Socialist? I say all of them...

[Joan]

Aw, my husband, who hates politics just gave me the best laugh. I, very indignantly, was telling him about the cities that are not celebrating Columbus Day but instead holding Indigenous Peoples Day. He rolled his eyes and sighed and then said, 'well, the only thing that will save Columbus Day is if someone tells them Columbus was black--that will save it.' :)

[rse]

Joan-don't you know some Delphi manipulator has sold the Reps on "Bicameral" as a talking point. Every time it is a talking point now as if alliteration makes everything better, it makes Congress sound like they do not quite get the legislative process.

"Normally the statute only has to pass one chamber before the Pres signs it into law. To make it extra impressive we have decided to insist it must be adopted by both the House and the Senate."

[Miss Marple 2]

Well, granddaughters and I have spent the day sorting Christmas ornaments so that they can have boxes, granadson can have a box, and daughter can have some. The rest will go to eBay or auction.

I used to set up 5 Christmas trees when I had the family here for Christmas Eve. Those days are done and since I will be moving, I thought this was the time so they could start their own collections.

Now I have to take older granddaughter to her job at Dairy Queen.

[Beasts of England]

Flip flop alert: on one of the morning shows, Bern says that he wasn't a socialist, but a democratic-socialist, and that he'd like to be called a progressive. I guess 'socialist' didn't poll too well in the real world.

[maryrose]

Tom Price has a bill in the House defund PP for a year and get rid of onerous ACA laws
Will use 51 reconciliation votes in Senate
Force Obama to veto it before election

[rse]

Beasts-that aft link upthread has a representative from the Birmingham Federation of Teachers.

[Thomas Collins]

Well, Miss Marple 2, as I predicted, it's set up for you. Patriots dominated the Cowboys (it's pretty bad when a team plays suffocating defense in the first half and finds itself down 13-3; but my point is not to dump on the 'Boys, as will become apparent). A fifth straight dominating performance (the seven point victory over the Steelers and eight point victory over the Bills were Pats domination victories despite the scores) is unlikely. I've given you 14 and a half points, and the Colts really haven't played up to their quality this year. So it's teed up for you to crow next Monday. Only thing going for me is that, for some reason, in the last three games between the two teams, the Colts played well below their normal level when they faced the Pats. But even that may be a plus for you. I just don't see the Pats blowing out the Colts for a fourth straight time.

[clarice]

daddy, I love your posts , including those on history and archeology .

[maryrose]

Obama is hyper focused on Climate Change and Gun Control to the exclusion of all other pressing matters

[maryrose]

TC
Everyone is interested in that Patriots/Colts game

[Jack is Back!]

Beasts, he is in great company as a democratic-Socialist:

Salvador Allende
Hugo Chavez
Clement Attlee
Willy Brandt
(even) David Ben Gurion
Nelson Mandela

And the current crop of Jeremy Corbyn, Alexis Tsipras and our old friend Howard Zinn.

[Thomas Collins]

Can someone explain the budget process to me? Why doesn't the House simply pass separate appropriation bills and simply not pass one for PP? Then Obama would need to use up the already appropriated money, then use what he would claim are discretionary funds. The PP federal well would run dry. Why defund? The power of the purse is in Congress, isn't it? Obama can't force the House and Senate to appropriate only by three billion page omnibus reconciliation acts.

[maryrose]

daddy
I learn so much from your posts
Keep them coming
Joan
I enjoy hearing from you

[maryrose]

T C
For Secretary of the Treasury

[Dave (in MA)]

Beasts, the term "socialist" is an inconvenient truth for the progtard who honeymooned in the Soviet Union.

[MarkO]

Wait. What? Where's the Slidegate thread? No love for Hal Mccrae?

I was taught to slide because the short stop would hit me in the face with the ball if I didn't. I actually saw that happen in a lawyer softball league in LA.

Can MLB reverse a judgment call? If so, I want Galarraga to get his perfect game.

Obama's just not even close to that smart.

[DrJ]

Why doesn't the House simply pass separate appropriation bills and simply not pass one for PP?

Mu guess is that PP is a line item in the HHS appropriation. The House has passed all of these separate appropriation bills already. The Senate tried to get the Defense appropriation first, but they could not get it to the floor. The others are stalled.

So as things stand now, the only reason the government continues to run is the CR. So the bill would remove funds from the CR, presumably.

[Thomas Collins]

I guess, maryrose, Pats/Colts is taking on more importance because of something I can't mention, because this is a thread not devoted to that unmentionable. :-) But it's really just an early/mid-season game between two teams that are most likely going to the playoffs. Far more interesting is whether the Browns can build on their victory and make a run in the AFC North.

[Beasts of England]

Honeymooned on the USSR? That won't look too snazzy in an oppo commercial should the maroon snag the nomination.

[buccaneer morgan]

I must have missed that from that doctor who episode, also most of the goauld panoply on stargate.

[Thomas Collins]

Makes sense, DrJ. But if the continuing resolution game wasn't played and Boehner (or whoever is Speaker during the next appropriations process) and McConnell could get their act together, the PP line item could be excised, and the HHS appropriation sent to the Senate. As far as Dem balkiness in the Senate, I have the following solution: McConnell announces that for a class of cases, Obama judicial nominees, Dems overrode the filibuster rule. GOP is now doing the same for appropriation measures.

Yes, Obama could threaten to veto the entire HHS appropriation bill if PP $$$ was not in the bill. But then it would be clear who was "shutting down the government".

[matt]

Socialism is Marxism light. It just takes longer because, you know, people can be resistant to dictatorships of the people.

In Europe, it is a combination of the ancien regime holding onto its prerogatives and rampant crony capitalism. Ask yourself, does anyone actually want to drive a Peugeot or Citroen?

But it allows the unions to occupy their factories as the corporations hang on with ever larger government handouts until all of the other people's money is gone.

[DrJ]

Right, TC. I thought that budget bills were not subject to a filibuster, but that seems not to be the case. Do you know?

[Frau Holzauge sei wachsam]

A Delphi manipulator = a Democrat

[Thomas Collins]

I don't know, DrJ. But whether they are or aren't, GOP has a majority and can change the rules.

Whoops! Governor Abbott (or whoever tweets for him) has once again illustrated Yogi Berra's maxim that it ain't over 'til it's over.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article38850420.html

[Dave (in MA)]

Beasts,

Even politifact rates it "Mostly True" since he combined it with some official "Sister City" crap while he was Mayor of Burlington, so it would be "Mostly True" in the same sense that the claim that Obama visited Roseburg is "Mostly True" because he was already headed to the west coast for fundraising, anyway.

[GMax]

Reconciliation was used for passing Obamacare. Suppose to be for budgetary bills, so appropriation bills seems appropriate. Reconciliation makes filibusters out of order, and allows bills to pass in the Senate with just 51 votes. McConnell should have already pulled that knife out, but he does have idiots like Hatch and Grassley who will lecture him on the Democrats will do the same when they get back in control. Proper response is DUH! They already have imbecile...

[DrJ]

GMax, what you cite is why I asked. Why not use a similar route for the appropriation bills? And who cares about the pantywaistes?

[henry]

DrJ, the budget and spending authority (appropriations bills) are different things. The appropriations bills can be filibustered. (Right now all are because continuing resolutions spend more than was budgeted -- which Reid and Obama want).

[DrJ]

Thanks, henry. Baseline budgeting is one of the first things that should go -- it would provide a lot of motivation to pass the appropriations bills.

[Thomas Collins]

GMax, it's pretty disheartening if McConnell thinks Dems will be more likely to play by Marquis of Queensbury rules if GOP does. Opposite is the case. GOP should run roughshod over Dems. When Dems complain, McConnell should inform them that the best way to get the GOP to play nice is to play nice when they are back in the majority. Besides, filibuster rule is not set in stone in any event. At one point it was two-thirds, now it's three-fifths. If GOP won't use power of the purse, GOP is giving up its most important piece of Constitutional leverage. As far as the political effect goes, LIVs won't give a hoot about the filibuster rule and the rule on procedural motions and the different rules for reconciliation measures. Oligarchy media will need a fainting couch, which would be all to the good.

[daddy]

Thanks Joan and Clarice for the interest expressed.

Heroditus (500 BC) tells us this:

The pig is accounted by the Egyptians an abominable animal; and first, if any of them in passing by touch a pig, he goes into the river and dips himself forthwith in the water together with his garments; and then too swineherds, though they may be native Egyptians, unlike all others, do not enter any of the temples in Egypt, nor is anyone willing to give his daughter in marriage to one of them or to take a wife from among them; but the swineherds both give in marriage to one another and take from one another.
Now to the other gods the Egyptians do not think it right to sacrifice swine; but to the Moon and to Osiris alone.

I would have initially thought that the Hebrews would have been opposed to the Taboo's of their hereditary enemies (The Egyptians and the Sumerians/Babylonians/Assyrians) etc, but apparently they absorbed the dietary prohibitions that those cultures came up with in the thousand years or so before Father Abraham and his descendants come upon the scene. Obviously by Heroditus's time (500 BC) Pig hatred is well established throughout Egypt.

Unlike the Egyptian Myth of Set gradually being identified with an evil Black Pig, where the Egyptian Book of the Dead morphs it's storytelling from @2600 BC to @1500 BC to justify Pig hatred, It's tougher, via googling, for finding Mesopotamian Mythological reasons for why the pig went from being served at the banquets in the Royal Palace of Ur, to 1,000 years later being frowned upon and unworthy of sacrifice to the Gods of the Ziggurats.

One of the recent scholarly texts does say this:

"Whereas pig raising flourished in Mesopotamia under the Sumerians, pork was no longer eaten when the Semites became dominant in the area, so that the decline of pig production must be linked to cultural and religious ideals. Similarly, Owen Lattimore suggested that as the Philistines ate pigs and shellfish, the Israelites, who wished to maintain their cultural distance and independence as a people, had strict prohibitions against the consumption of these foods.

Seems like well trod intellectual ground but with no real firm answers. I'm still a fan of Marvin Harris's theory until I hear a better explanation.

Toronto 7, Texas Rangers 1.

Sue, what are you drinking tonight?

[lyle]

Baseline budgeting creates the max opportunity for graft. That's why it will never be rescinded.

[Thomas Collins]

Yes, the old baseline budgeting trick. I wish I could use that. I plan to spend $50,000 for a European vacation at the finest hotels. I only spend $30,000. Therefore, I have made a $20,000 cut in my household budget. Never mind that the only vacation I could afford was a Groupon for a winter visit to the Cape or a Newport hotel.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--in order to injure the blue-eyed God--

A blue eyed god in Egypt?
There goes Jeremiah Wright's whole schtick.

[Dave (in MA)]

I plan to spend $50,000 for a European vacation at the finest hotels. I only spend $30,000. Therefore, I have made a $20,000 cut in my household budget

Isn't that how Blondie used to save Dagwood all that money?

[Thomas Collins]

That's it, Dave (in MA). United States is on the Blondie Budget Plan.

[DrJ]

There's more to it than that. From the budget baseline, the budget expands at a certain rate -- I'm not sure what it is currently -- each year after that baseline. So yes, then you have Blondie budgeting, where if you spend less you have made a "cut."

But the expanding budget also is a problem

[GMax]

Its entirely possible that McConnell has done a count and does not have 51 votes to change the filibuster rule. He can only lose 3, no Democrats (or Socialists) will help. Hatch, Grassley and McCain are problematic before you get to Murky, Kirk and maybe even Ayotte.

[DrJ]

And it is the Tea Party folks who are the problem. Understood.

[daddy]

Brit Hume just gave his commentary saying Paul Ryan would be a fool to take the Speaker job.

Brit is dumping on the Conservative Members of Congress, saying that the RINO's are the real Republicans and the Conservative Repub's are the ones that should be caled "Republicans in name only."

Brit also tells us in so many words that Public Opinion Polls should be the what runs Republican thinking. Brit's thoughts are exactly opposite of what Gingrich told us from Israel last weekend.

Here's from Newt to Hannity over the weekend on being afraid of Opinion Polls:

Newt: Look, this is why I guaranty you I'll never be approached on this topic. I frighten the Establishment. I don't think Closing Down The Government hurts us one bit. I think that people totally misunderstand the nature of Public Opinion Polling. If we had not closed the Government twice in 1995 we would not have been the first re-elected Republican Majority in 1996, the first one by the way since 1928. If Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher had studied their polls on a weekly basis they would never have executed the projects that made them such historic figures. You have to have a willingness to say to this President "You are acting un-Constitutionally, you are violating American Law, we are not going to fund it. The number 1 prerogative of Congress is to not pay for it. You are now out of money."
--------------------------

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

So the Uniparty Senate Repukes have sold us out again? Must be a day ending in Y.

[clarice]

Trichinosis, daddy.

[clarice]

The prohibition for eating milk and meat together apparently was born of the revulsion at the Canaanites practice of child sacrifice--thus thous shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk and from there a list of dietary rules separating milk and meat, cooking utensils for each, plates and flatware .