write a song . . . life may get better . . .

protecting the middle class . . .

Raising the agreed threshold from $250,000 to $400,000 (or to $1,000,000) does not qualify as "protecting the middle class" no matter how often or how loudly Republicans proclaim such nonsense . . .

discussing guns . . .

Daily Times/Gannett editorial

We are not in a war zone, but we might as well be.

A frequent factor in these violent incidents is mental illness. In many — but not all — of these incidents, the weapons used to wreak havoc were obtained legally.

This is not a proposed assault on the Second Amendment. There is, of course, no way to avoid all gun violence. But there is a clear choice we must ultimately make: What kind of society do we want to inhabit — one in which we risk our lives to watch a movie, go shopping or enter a classroom?

Or one where capable and responsible adults are free to own guns but every effort is made to weed out those who could turn violent?

ho ho ho . . .

happy holidays to all . . . and may you be blessed . . .

what's for dinner . . .

I harvested most of our meyer lemons today and was a bit overwhelmed so I decided to try to find a recipe for dinner . . . since we also have a surfeit of goat cheese (for holiday dishes) I decided to google the pair and came up with what will be tonight's dinner.

Maybe we'll add a bit of chooped green onion or a some basil from the yard to give a little color (our pasta is whole wheat so there will be some darkening of the palette) to the serving dish . . .

epistemic closure and political marginalization . . .

Andrew Sullivan (speaks for many of us) has had Enough!

This faction and its unhinged fanaticism has no place in any advanced democracy. They must be broken. But the current irony is that no one has managed to expose their extremism more clearly than their own Speaker. His career is over. As is the current Republican party. We need a new governing coalition in the House - Democrats and those few sane Republicans willing to put country before ideology. But even that may be impossible.

fred eaglesmith . . . sharing . . .

reading brooklynbadboy . . .

Over at Daily Kos, brooklynbadboy has written something well worth the read . . .

Last night, the House of Representatives was actively working on a bill that would not even be brought to the floor in the Senate and would face certain death at the president's desk. But let's think about that fact for a minute. Is this the way American government is supposed to work? Seriously? Back room negotiations between the speaker and the president? Bills that are written up on the fly and go nowhere? Bills that never even get considered for a vote for the other body? Bills that are vetoed before they are even passed?

Think about this: Guess how many vetoes President Obama has issued. The answer is two. The average for presidents is 48. FDR vetoed an average of 53 bills per year and he never once had to deal with Republican majorities. President Obama has less vetoes than Warren Harding—and he was only president for four months! It seems to me the system isn't working properly when the president isn't seeing bills he doesn't like. That isn't a sign of a healthy separation of powers or checks and balances.

long winter's night . . .

sometimes it is a john prine night . . .