Here we go again

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Rep. Tom Price

With the debt ceiling crap. And why not? The voters certainly didn’t hold it against them!

Almost immediately after the 2014 elections, the conventional wisdom among much of the Beltway media was that power would change Republicans for the better. By taking control of both chambers of Congress, the argument went, GOP lawmakers would have no choice but to become a responsible governing party. They would prove, at long last, that they’re capable of acting like grown-ups.
Just one month later, there’s already ample evidence that those assumptions about Republican maturity were completely wrong.
Republican Tom Price, the incoming House Budget Committee chairman, said his party could demand steep spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling next year, the most provocative comments by a senior GOP member to date on how negotiations could play out.
The Georgia congressman, during an hour-long briefing with reporters Friday, said the expected mid-2015 debate over whether to raise or suspend the debt ceiling offered Republicans an opportunity to make a sizable imprint on government policy.
The far-right Georgian added that he wants to see Republicans bring back the so-called “Boehner rule” – an arbitrary policy that demands a dollar in cuts for every dollar increase in the debt limit – that even Republicans recognized as ridiculous a couple of years ago.
“I prefer to think about it as opportunities and pinch points,” Price said, apparently using “pinch points” as a euphemism for “causing deliberate national harm.”
It’s worth emphasizing that Price isn’t some random, fringe figure, shouting from the sidelines – the Georgia Republican next month will fill Paul Ryan’s shoes as chairman of the House Budget Committee.
In other words, it matters that Price envisions a strategy in which Republicans threaten to hurt Americans on purpose unless Democrats meet the GOP’s demands.

I don’t think I like this country much anymore

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Guantanamo prisoner recounts ordeal, tortured by guards

If half the people are this fucking immoral:

Just over half of Americans say they believe the interrogation methods the CIA used against terrorism suspects in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were justified, polling data released Monday showed.

About 30% said they believed the tactics were unjustified, and the remaining 20% said they did not know, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center.

Opinion on the CIA’s torture of its prisoners differs notably by partisanship. Democrats were split, the poll found, with liberals much more likely to say that the CIA’s tactics were not justified. Republicans across the board said the interrogations were justified.

President Obama banned the CIA’s use of methods such as waterboarding, extended sleep deprivation and beatings, which had been authorized under President George W. Bush. Obama and other Democratic elected officials have referred to the CIA’s actions as “torture.”

Surgeon general finally confirmed

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

vivek murthy

After the NRA put a target on his back:

The Senate narrowly confirmed a new surgeon general whose nomination was delayed for months in a fight over his comments alleging that guns are public health issue. The confirmation represents a victory for gun control advocates, even as recent polling has shown Americans moving in the other direction toward gun-rights protections.

The Senate’s 51-43 vote confirming Massachusetts Doctor Vivek Murthy as the next surgeon general marks the end of a protracted fight over gun control and Murthy’s views on it. Murthy, who will be the first Indian-American Surgeon General to serve in the U.S., waited more than a year for Senate confirmation after the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups threatened to throw their resources against members supporting his nomination. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid determined earlier this year that he couldn’t put his red-state members in that position before the 2014 midterm elections and shuffled Murthy to the back of the nominations pile.

Eggs going up

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

egg

Eek!

A new regulation is set to take effect in California at the beginning of next year that will force hen houses to allocate significantly more room to each egg-laying chicken.

Birds, long afforded a minimum of only 67 square inches a piece, will now need roughly 116 square inches—a more than 70 percent increase—if eggs are to be sold in the state. That extra space won’t come free of charge, a cost that will almost certainly fall on consumers.

Egg prices could jump by as much as 20 percent in California as a result of the the new rules, Dermot J. Hayes, an agribusiness professor at Iowa State University in Ames, told Bloomberg.

The mere anticipation of the change has already driven prices up by more than $0.25 over the past month in California. And that increase comes on the heels of what has already been a pretty unkind year for omelette prices across the country: wholesale egg prices are averaging nearly $2.30 per dozen, up almost 35 percent since the start of the 2014.