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Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Short List - August 25, 2011

International
  • With attention focused on Libya, African states are struggling to respond to the famine in the Horn of Africa -- a famine preventable were there any government in Somalia to speak of.
  • Libyan rebels besieged in Misurata were aided by a surveillance drone of Canadian manufacture. And the Arab League has recognized the TNC -- in many respects, the Arab League has played midwife to the new Libya, without its endorsement there likely would have been no No-Fly Zone.
  • Sri Lankan is set to end its Emergency
  • Despite raids killing more than 100 PKK in the last week, a bombing in southeast Turkey has wounded 2 Turkish soldiers.

Domestic
  • Showing more rationality than they're often credited with, 51% of the American people blame Bush for the economy. Now if this would only translate into a recognition by elected leaders that you can't cut your way out of a near depression.
  • Playbook reports that Perry will make his debut at the Reagan Library, joining that great contest that occurs every four years -- no, not the straw poll, not the caucus, not using an intermediary to spark racist fears in South Carolina; no, friends, but the out-Reagan your rivals while mostly ignoring Reagan's record contest! My money is on Bachmann; she's just crazy enough.
  • Huntsman is still registered to vote at the Governor's mansion (where he has not lived since he left office on August 11, 2009) -- this is outrageous! Do we know if cast a ballot in 2010? That's voter fraud! Just imagine the outcry if he were a member of an underrepresented population in a swing state . . . actually, it's been two years since he left the mansion, if he were a member of an underrepresented population in a swing state he would have been expunged by now, whether he still lived at the address or not.
  • Shocking: Gay people live outside of San Francisco and Greenwich Village.


1 comment:

Colin said...

Now if this would only translate into a recognition by elected leaders that you can't cut your way out of a near depression.

Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, most of them continue to labor under the faith-based proposition that government spending is the key to economic recovery (or as Real Man of Genius/VP Joe Biden put it, we have to spend money to keep from going bankrupt). According to wikipedia, the 2009 federal budget spent $3.1 trillion while the 2012 budget is set to spend $3.73 trillion -- nearly a 20% increase in just three years.

Anyway, amidst all of the talk of "change" it's interesting to see the Obama administration embrace the policies of its predecessor, which saw spending increase from $1.86 trillion in 2001 to $3.1 trillion in 2009 -- a 67% jump.

Talk of government spending cuts remains just that, a bunch of talk.