You know I had been on the fence concerning this issue of wikkileaks.com. On the one hand I didn’t think it was moral to violate US secrecy in something as delicate as diplomacy, but on the other hand I thought it was a good and informative thing that we the US population knows what our public issues are saying and whether or not that aligns with the truth. We have learned for instance that the Arabs are afraid of Akmedenajab in Iran. They refer to him as crazy to get Nukes and as a potential Hitler. But we aren’t told that by the Obama administration. The administration is much more wary of both the Pakistan and Afghanistan governments than they had told us publicly. And China regards North Korea as dangerous and reactionary and view Kim Jung Il as unstable. And so we now know to what extent to which all these people routinely lie to each other and jerk each other around. What would a Christian purist think of this? They would sure not like it if you lied to them or were duplicitus. Pastors would love it if all of us were under some kind of a bewitched “honesty” hex. Yet somehow it is different for foreign powers. It would be like saying “I will not tolerate a drunk mechanic, but a drunk neurosurgeon is something I come to expect as normal”. It doesn’t make sense, does it? But as I said I was turned around on this whole issue by watching Daniel Elsburg on one of these web sites being interviewed. He says “the same issues that were at stake in 1971 are at stake now as far as freedom of the press is concerned”. “They said all of this compromised security stuff about me, too”. Now we hear that these documents have been screened and redacted, so that they have been “vetted” for compromises of national security. (Unlike Valerie and Joe Wilson) Perhaps the issue is merely who does the screening? Is it the national government or wikkileaks.com? I can’t help but continue to believe that sunshine is the best disinfectant and that we as a people are better off because of these leaks, and that we will be a better nation in the future because of these disclosures. You know, no matter how much as made public, you still have to read it. And the government is counting on the average Joe out there to be to lazy to do that. But as Randy Rhodes and others say, they are interviewing a book author on TV who claims that President Obama has private Philapino slaves to wash his feet for him. People can make up anything they want to about this president, and nobody objects.
President Obazma met yesterday with John Baner and Mitch Mc Conell and they have called it a “productive” meeting. The president’s idea of productive, and his progressive base’s idea of productive may be two quite different things. Once again the president opens up the bidding by giving away the store. He unilitarally announced that Federal pay would be frozen for two years. These are people in high risk jobs including A T F workers and doctors at the V A and FEMA workers and all the others. It sends a poor message that this is what we think of our best and brightest. We are further assailed by the news that yesterday was the final day to act on extending unemployment benefits beyond the end of the year. Now it’s too late, apparently. This is absurd. Another issue is that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should now be acted on because the Armed Forces have issued their official report and Secretary Gates and Admeral Mullen have both signed off on it and agree that the change in gay status will have a manageable adverse impact on the military. Many servicemen think it would either have no impact or possibly even a beneficial impact. Of course I do not know to what extent the Courts have any jurisdiction over the military. In terms of the whole tax thing, I would assume that the democrats will propose a tax cut bill excluding rich people, since the Democrats are still in power. As it turns out such a bill was just released by the Democrats today for discussion. It lets the Bush tax cuts expire on incomes above two hundred & fifty thousand dollars. So the gauntlet has been thrown down; the challenge has been made. As such all the president has to do is say, “You see this bill right here (holding up a bunch of papers) this bill needs to get passed right now”. It will be tough for Republicans to oppose this bill. John Baner once he would go along with such a bill if he had to at a press conference. Then he was "corrected" by other tea bagger republicans, and brought in line. But as Randy Rhodes and others say, “It isn’t politics; it’s the math, stupid”. Figures don’t lie. These Republicans want to “pay” for unemployment benefits, but they didn’t want Bush to pay for two simotanious wars. Those wars were kept off budget. If Obama has the instinct of a boxer who punches and jabs his way top success- - he should be able to get everything passed. Many people in his base are regarding the next three weeks as “President Obama’s last chance to get it right” before they haul off and support another candidate in 2012.
Last night just before retiring the computer I changed the wallpaper from “Tartan” to that Crystal green ice thing. If you will remember Sandy was in the room when I was compiling that photo and I was adjusting the color and asked her “which color do you prefer?” and she said “Green”, so I made the ice green. This morning I thought the modem was conked out. I thought it had died. Judy said to reboot the computer. I did that and it was still the same. But then I traced all the wires down behind my bed and retrieving stray paper slips I had dropped, and fiddled with the connections (the computer one seems somehow loose) and now it is working. That’s one thing to be grateful for. Of course I still didn't get paid yesterday. But I would like to commend Dana for giving me credit on coffee for the week. I learned Dana was Jewish. He makes a good philanthropic example for Jews. I told him I expected to be paid money from Dr. Levy because three months ago I foresaw this day is a major possability and Dr. Levy said "If you don't get paid, I'll pay you the money". I told people that on these cold mornings coffee is almost more important than cigarettes.
We had hamburgers for lunch for the first time in I don’t know how many weeks, and also Fritos and grapes. I got “coffee in a glass” for seconds. Wasn’t there that coffee rum ad that used to appear along with Southern Comfort adds where you had something real dark in a bottle? Laurie agrees that Louise is the most accommodating person. We're coming up on Soap time right now and find out what's going on with Clowie and Sammy and the whole gang.
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