Huge, Breaking National and International News

This came today, this afternoon, over at Daily Kos:

Report: Iran Nuclear Deal REACHED - 

to be Announced Tomorrow

A likely sign that a deal has been reached, according to news reports, is that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov just touched down in Vienna, and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to arrive later today.

If the two unnamed envoys' accounts are accurate, it has been a historic couple of weeks for the Obama Administration, and, I daresay, for the entire planet Earth. w00t!

It's also reassuring to know that Israeli PM Netanyahu and his Goposaur pals in Congress will be powerless to thwart any agreement.

If true and if a good, strong, verifiable deal to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons, this is not just huge but great news for Iran, for the United States, for the entire Middle East and even, of course, the world. And yes, like it or not, it would be excellent, fantastic, even events for the Obama administration.

Now wait for every Republican in Congress want to shoot it down.

Quote of the day -- On International Negotiations for Peace

More of the same from Republicans

And as soon as it was announced that this president reached the framework of an agreement to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons, the Republicans responded:

GOP rips Iran nuclear deal

Forget that they haven't seen the deal.

Forget that they haven't read it.

Forget that they then have no idea whatever what's in it.

They're merely continuing their same Republican platform regarding this president and anything he is for or represents:



So tiresome.

Meanwhile the rest of us Americans--you know, the ones attached to logic, calm, intelligent thought, peace and reality--are celebrating the possibility of a breakthrough. Even Iranians are celebrating and want this.

Iranians celebrate nuclear deal by taking 

selfies with Obama

They understand how they'd benefit from getting the economic sanctions lifted.

The Daily Kos got it right last evening:

Top Republicans pretty sure they don't 

like Iran deal

Yes, the rest of us understand what this could mean and "get it."

Not so, the Republicans.

If it's good for President Obama, even if it's good for America, they're against it.

The fact is, this is no time and this is certainly no issue for demagoguery.

Republican Party Priorities

By now, most of the nation has, I think, heard about the 47 Republicans who got together and signed a letter to the Iranian hard liners, saying they--the Republicans--support them and not our own president when it comes to negotiating for peace and keeping Iran from building a nuclear reactor.

It was fairly disgusting.

Moving on from that, local news station KY3, in Springfield, covered a story yesterday that bears some additional notoriety:

MoDOT lacks funding needed to fix bridges in 'critical condition'

This is another story I think most of us are familiar with. I know CBS "60 Minutes" did a story on it, telling of the lack of maintenance and upkeep our nation's roads, bridges, streets and other essential infrastructure have gotten and how they need work and investment. From this story yesterday:

74 Southwest Missouri bridges are currently listed in "critical condition" according to MoDOT, but department officials say the state doesn't have the money to repair those bridges...

And that's just Southwest Missouri bridges, not the entire state. If it were the entire state, that would have been concern enough.

Right now there are 600 bridges in Missouri listed in poor or critical condition, and officials estimate in 2024 there will 1,500 bridges in those categories. Without repairs, MoDOT says many bridges will have to be given weight restrictions or even be shut down completely.

And the great things about a solution to the nation's infrastructure would be that it would give more Americans jobs--good jobs, and for years---and secondly, also importantly, it would give the economy a boost.

Those are some huge benefits.

But instead of doing the nation's business and writing, proposing, voting on and passing an infrastructure bill, what do the Republicans give their time and attention to?

A letter to our enemies, saying they support them. instead of supporting peace negotiations and yes, our president.

The nerve, the stupidity the selfishness is fairly stunning.

We've all known we need to get money to our Highway Fund, too, but it's also neglected. This Congress and our representatives just simply aren't giving their jobs and our country, our nation, the people, the attention it all deserves.

Once again, they've put their political party ahead of the nation and the nation's needs, ahead of the people.

How long are we going to tolerate this nonsense?

The 8 years we already forgot

 

Oh, and it was Dubya's administration that made it illegal--ILLEGAL, mind you--for our own government to be able to negotiate lower costs for our--for you and me out here in America--prescription drugs from the pharmaceuticals.

And people think the current President is out to do bad things to the public NOW, by making the most expensive health care system in the world more affordable for us?

Sheesh.

One of America's and Americans' big obstacles to solutions

We need, if anything, to come together, as Americans, talk our problems out, not demonize one another and solve the nation's' problems.

Duh.

We used to do this.

Apparently we need more of an outside "enemy", real or imagined, so we can do so.

We ought to be smarter than that.

The Republicans suddenly, amazingly admit we have no big debt crisis after all

The heads must be exploding all across America today, from Washington, D.C., out. I know mine certainly is.  Check out what came from the Sunday morning news programs today. First there's this:

John Boehner Tells ABC He Trusts Obama, Agrees Debt Is 'Not An Immediate Problem'

House Speaker John Boehner downplayed the national debt as a major problem for the country during his appearance this morning on ABC's This Week. Boehner told fill-in host Martha Raddatz that not only does he think the debt is not an immediate threat but that he trusts the president and that "they're trying to bridge some big differences."

And then closely followed by this one:

Paul Ryan Tells CBS' Bob Schieffer 'We Do Not Have A Debt Crisis'

Congressman Paul Ryan downplayed concerns that the United States is in the midst of a debt crisis on Face The Nation this morning by saying that the country hasn't arrived there yet because it is buoyed by factors unique to America. 

What on God's green Earth is going on in and with the Republican Party? First they say we're going to hell with debt and now their two leaders come out today, this morning, and say that's not the case at all. THEN WHY ARE THEY PUTTING US THROUGH THIS SEQUESTER??

What in the world is with the Repubs right now?  I can't believe Boehner and Ryan could or would both come out and say we're not that bad on debt right now since they've been screaming about it for what? years? All of a sudden, these people both sound like and agree with economist Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, who have been saying this FOR YEARS. Sheesh.  Hypocrisy, anyone?

If this is all true, then are we surely not, then, now very close to having these people compromise and get a budget for the nation?

I doubt it seriously but I certainly hope so and it seems as though, with these positions on both their parts, that's where we should be--on the cusp of getting a budget from Congress.

I wouldn't put money on it but geez, what other conclusion can you come to?

You have to excuse me now, I have to go do something for my exploded  skull.

On this week's sequester showdown

"The Republicans’ austerity economics and trickle-down economics are dangerous, bald-faced lies.

Yes, the pending spending cuts will hurt. But even if some Americans begin to feel the pain when the cuts go into effect Friday, most won’t feel it for weeks or months, if ever.

 Moreover, the blame game can be played both ways, and Republicans are adept at slinging mud. When it comes to high-visibility consequences of the spending cuts — such as a sudden dearth of air-traffic controllers — Republicans will dodge blame by happily giving Obama authority to shift spending and find the cuts himself, thereby making the White House appear even more culpable. Besides, there’s no end to this. After Friday’s sequester comes the showdown over continuing funding of the government beyond March 27. Then another fight over the debt ceiling.

The White House must directly rebut the two big lies that fuel the Republican assault – and have fueled it since the showdown over the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011.

 The first is austerity economics – the claim that the budget deficit is the nation’s biggest economic problem now, responsible for the anemic recovery. The second is trickle-down economics – the claim that we get more jobs and growth if corporations and the rich have more money because they’re the job creators, and job growth would be hurt if their taxes were hiked.

Unless these two lies are rebutted clearly and forcefully, the nation will continue to careen from crisis to crisis, showdown to showdown. And we will have almost no chance of reversing the larger challenge of widening inequality. The President has the bully pulpit. Americans trust him more than they do congressional Republicans. But he is letting micro-tactics get in the way of the larger truth. And he’s blurring his message with other messages – about gun control, immigration, and the environment. All are important, to be sure. But none has half a chance unless Americans understand how they’re being duped on the really big story." 

--Robert Reich, political economist, professor, author, and political commentator

Links:  Robert Reich

 Robert Reich - Wikipedia

Note to Republicans, from a stellar one of your own

Note to Republicans:  Surely you remember this famous, famous quote from one of the most revered Presidents, statesman and, yes, Republicans this nation ever knew?

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Surely your remember that, right?

 Do you not see--does no one in your political party see--that we we all, all of us, as Americans, have to work together for the benefit of the nation? Do you not see and know that we have to be Americans first and members of some political party, second?

Do you not see and know that?

This is especially true of our representatives in Congress. We must, must work together, as one people, Americans first and all, to compromise on the problems facing us and it certainly applies now, this year, and it absolutely must come about time and again this year for our budget debates.

Compromise isn't capitulation, ladies and gentlemen of the Republican Party. I say again (and again and again), we have to work together to solve our problems.

We just went through a fairly rough set of negotiations, just to get past the "fiscal cliff" Congress themselves created and that only they could fix. In the months ahead, there are at least 3 or four more of these negotiations we have to go through. Read: endure. It seems ever since the former Soviet Union collapsed, we have taken on, internally, people in our own country as our enemies, since our former enemy--the Communist Soviets--collapsed.

Our political party opposites are not our enemies.

They are our countrymen and women.

Fighting one another, from within, only strengthens those on the outside of the country, while it weakens us and our nation.

Don't you see that?

Link:  "House Divided" Speech by Abraham Lincoln

What's really going on in Washington right now

And this from a Republican and Conservative:

It's the Republicans and the wealthy and the corporations vs. you and me.

The GOP on this "fiscal cliff", from a Republican

Click for larger picture and easier reading:

On those recent debt negotiations...

“Witnessing the Republicans and the Democrats bicker over the U.S. debt is analogous to watching two drunks argue over a bar bill on the Titanic.” --line in a recent editorial of the Idaho Statesmen.

George Carlin, seemingly on this recent debt ceiling negotiation

Though George Carlin is long gone, sadly and unfortunately, he said this years ago but it's still relevant, of course, and fits this recent debt ceiling negotiation nonsense we just went through. Enjoy, such as you can.

Quote of the day--still on the debt ceiling mess

"What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question. After all, how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy?" --Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist, writer and columnist for The New York Times. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/opinion/the-president-surrenders-on-debt-ceiling.html?_r=2

Good news/bad news on the debt ceiling negotiations

The bad news is that those chuckleheads in Congress haven't compromised an intelligent solution for the nation so we can go forward with our business. The good news is that both chambers of Congress--the Senate and the House--have to stay in Washington again this weekend, working, until they get this hammered out. Hammerheads. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/vote-delayed-debt-bill-default-date-looms-010308473.html

Republican leader's hypocrisy with debt ceiling negotiations

Has the gross hypocrisy of the Republican leaders in Congress right now occurred to anyone else out here besides me? That they are the "political party of big business" but putting a gun to the nation's head, financially, by saying, figuratively, "If you don't give us EXACTLY what we want--as soon as we decide what that is--we'll shoot you in the head, America, by making you go into credit default" is obvious, irresponsible and nearly insane. These are the same people who raised heck, months ago, saying that business across America didn't know how to invest in the country's future because this president didn't settle our tax issues--which was patent nonsense--but now they do this and hold us all hostage? Adding to this insanity is that this has already hurt the nation's credit standing--thanks very much, guys--but if they do this and make us go into credit default, they'll also drag down the world's economies, nation by nation and collectively. Idiots. Idiots and hypocrites. This is no way to run a government. This is no way to run a nation.

On the continuing debt ceiling negotiations

"What is the Democrat's next offer? Kansas goes back to being a slave state? I don't know what they"--the Republicans--"want." --Bill Maher, "Real Time with Bill Maher", HBO, Link: http://www.hbo.com/real-time-with-bill-maher/index.html

The debt ceiling negotiations now

On John Boehner and the Republicans cancelling the debt ceiling negotiations: "This has got to be reassuring to the markets. One side's policy is budget cuts and closing"--tax--"loopholes and the other side's policy is 'I'll be at my mother's.'" --Bill Maher, "Real Time with Bill Maher", HBO, Link: http://www.hbo.com/real-time-with-bill-maher/index.html

FAA layoffs tonight: nothing bad better happen

So this evening, because the Republicans took their figurative ball and went home, not wanting to work things out on the debt ceiling negotiations with the President or Democrats, "at midnight nearly 4,000 people will be temporarily out of work and federal airline ticket taxes will be suspended." So let's be clear here: should anything happen, heaven forbid, to some airplane or airline because of this unnecessary layoff, responsibility for any such issues/problems or worse will lie squarely with the Rethuglicans Republican leaders in Congress, since they wouldn't continue to negotiate and work things out with any opposing points of view. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/partisan-dispute-partially-shut-down-faa-191224395.html

The Republican leaders on these debt-ceiling negotiations

Old but applicable now with the negotiations in Washington:Cutting tax subsidies for oil companies makes sense. Taking away tax cuts for the wealthy makes sense. Doing away with tax deductions to take manufacturing offshore makes sense. I can't believe we're having this argument.