.
Now here’s an aspirational goal. Per the NYTimes:
RAYAVARAM, India — Palaniappa Chettiar has always been goal oriented, and when he turned 97 three years ago, he set himself a new one.
No one within memory in his family, extended clan or village had reached 100. Determined to get there himself, he cut down on the yolks in the raw eggs he swallows daily for breakfast, took extra care on his daily four-mile walk to the local Hindu temple and started planning for a party the likes of which few here (or anywhere, for that matter) have ever seen.
Early in January, Mr. Chettiar celebrated his century, and threw open the doors to his pillared ancestral house in this remote village in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, to what appeared to be every person he had ever met — about 7,500 of them.
Summoning a local cook his family has turned to over the decades, he and one of his numerous grandsons chose a menu and settled on a rough guest list that included immediate family; members of both his extended clan and the larger community of prosperous traders known as Chettiars; friends from neighboring cities like Chennai, Madurai and Tiruchirapalli, and people from the numerous small villages surrounding his own…
When the original estimate of 1,500 became 3,000 and then ballooned to 5,000, the organizers simply stopped counting. By the time the big day rolled around on Jan. 2, they had already quadrupled their order of the banana leaves they use as plates. “We were prepared for anything,” Mr. Kasi said.
Six months earlier, Mr. Kasi and his wife had begun planning in earnest, organizing a vegetarian feast served in shifts at tables set inside the Chettiar house and in a striped tent over an adjacent courtyard. The menu aimed to showcase a richly aromatic and highly spiced cuisine that has inspired an adage in India: You are lucky to eat like a Chettiar…
***********
Apart from planning our own centennials, what’s on the agenda today?
Baud
Chettiar should have been put in charge of transportation planning at the Superbowl.
Mustang Bobby
Hoping that this pain in my lower back is just a sore muscle and nothing more.
Meanwhile, the NRCC is so desperate that they’ve resorted to scamming by posting sites that look like Democratic fundraisers until you read the fine print.
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
That’s truly remarkable. Even for them. I hope Maddow gets wind of it. This is the type of thing she would eat up.
Pogonip
Many happy returns to Mr. Chettiar! Super Bowl, hell; make him House Speaker.
Have a bathroom-type virus. I hope Cole doesn’t catch it; he’ll trip over an animal while running for the john and kill himself.
A cat in heat is calling outside my window. My neighbor has six tomcats. This will not end well. The tomcats aren’t her fault; the mostly-wild mother had 6 adorable kittens on her patio, and who can let six adorable kittens die? She’s been trying to tame them enough to be able to get them fixed and give them away.
I’m going back to bed.
dmsilev
It’s a good morning. Learned last night that the manuscript my colleagues and I sent to PNAS was accepted. It’s not Nature or Science, but it’s a pretty damn good journal, so we’re all happy.
Tommy
@dmsilev: Good for you! Getting published is never an easy thing. But always a good thing.
Tommy
Best Olympic ad I’ve seen:
http://youtu.be/57e4t-fhXDs
I fell down so many times and my mom was there. There is a running joke in my family. I don’t have kids myself and my brother has this wonderful little girl. She isn’t allowed to fail. To fall down. We are confused by this. This video is just amazing. A freaking ad for P&G of all firms. But wow.
The Red Pen
Started my morning watching a short video called “Run, Hide, Fight” which is an active-shooter training film for government office workers. It’s so realistic that it actually got me jittery.
dmsilev
@Tommy: As such things go, this one wasn’t too bad. The referees were critical but fair, which makes life much easier. Arguing with some referee who seems to be living on another planet is deeply unpleasant and usually fruitless.
Tommy
@dmsilev: I think folks here are smart enough to know how hard it is to get published in an academic journal. Not an easy thing. Kudos to you.
RSA
Speaking of old age, I mentioned in a thread a while back (I think) that my wife and I are in an independent living community, due to her medical condition. I feel old at 50, but a good number of the people here have passed 90. I occasionally make entries in a journal/diary, with stuff like this:
OzarkHillbilly
Getting ready for the snow, 3-5 inches which wouldn’t be so bad but for the crooked and steep.
@Tommy: How’s it looking up your way?
danielx
What’s on the agenda for today? Why, ten more inches of snow, of course, so the morning weather droids keep telling me.
One thing about living in the midwest – bitching about the weather is about as common as breathing; it’s the one topic on which most of the populace agrees. That the weather sucks, that is.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: A little snow. 2-3 inches.
OzarkHillbilly
@RSA:
It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.
OzarkHillbilly
From the Guardian:
Record number of people exonerated of crimes in US in 2013
The number of people exonerated after they were falsely convicted of crimes in the US has reached an historic high, with 87 walking free last year.
A new report from the National Registry of Exonerations finds that almost a third of the people in 2013’s unprecedented crop of exonerations were convicted in cases in which, in fact, no crime was committed – a record-breaking number in itself. Some 22 men and five women were given sentences ranging from probation to life, yet when their convictions were investigated, they were not only found to be innocent, but it was discovered that no offence had occurred in the first place.
In a shocking result it was found that Texas had the most exonerations.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m in the antique car hobby. When I go to shows sponsored by the Antique Auto Club of America, there are three categories for vehicles 25 years or older: Restored to Original, which are cars that have been completely done over to match factory specs; Driver Participation (DPC), which is for cars that have had minor work done to keep them presentable (which is where my 1988 Pontiac 6000 LE Safari wagon is); and Historic Preservation of Original Features (HPOF), which means the car hasn’t been touched since it left the factory and may look like HDS (hammered dog shit). Some days I myself feel like DPC, but I’m usually HPOF.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: We did this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv75EcK1arI
A very proud thing we don’t kill folks anymore in my state. And the above URL. well ….
Tommy
@Tommy: When he did this there are 167 people on death row. 167.
danielx
In other news, it seems Ben Shapiro (formerly known as the Virgin Ben) has found that you – and you, and you too over there – are responsible for Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death due to a drug overdose. You see, you are members of the broken leftist culture which enables drug abuse. Because liberals.
If there was ever a person for whom the word douchebag was appropriate, it’s Ben Shapiro.
Steeplejack
DVR Alert
As part of Oscar month, TCM is rolling out the biggest day of foreign movies I have seen in ages. NotMax has already mentioned the political thriller Z (1969) at 4:00 p.m. (all times EST). I second his recommendation. Here’s the lineup:
8:45 a.m.: The Burmese Harp (1956; a.k.a. Harp of Burma when I first saw it). “In the closing days of World War II, a conscience-driven Japanese soldier fails to get his countrymen to surrender to overwhelming force and adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.” Nominated for best foreign-language film.
10:45 a.m.: The Virgin Spring (1959). Directed by Ingmar Bergman. “Three medieval swineherds unknowingly seek shelter with a peasant whose daughter they have raped and murdered.” Won the Oscar for foreign-language film.
12:15 p.m.: Closely Watched Trains (1966). “A apprentice train dispatcher becomes a lover and a hero in World War II Czechoslovakia.” A somewhat comic palate-cleanser after the preceding heaviness. Won the Oscar for foreign-language film.
2:00 p.m.: The Battle of Algiers (1966). Gillo Pontecorvo’s cinéma vérité treatment of the Algerian fight for independence from France in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Should have been must-see viewing in the Bush White House before Iraq, but, too bad, “we create our own reality.” Oscar-nominated for director, original screenplay and foreign-language film.
4:00 p.m.: Z (1969). “A judge proves a leftist’s hit-and-run death was a fascist plot.” Won the Oscar for foreign-language film and film editing; nominated for director (Costa-Gavras) and adapted screenplay.
6:15 p.m.: Babette’s Feast (1987). “An exiled Paris chef enlightens two pious Danish sisters who forsook romance and fame.” Won the Oscar for best foreign-language film.
This is a high-density, calorie-rich block of movies that don’t get seen on TV very often. Kudos to TCM for boxing ’em up.
PurpleGirl
That cartoon is missing one thing — some kittens.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: Amen to that brother. After that, I actually decided that maybe we shouldn’t just kill all the republicans. Ryan may have been as crooked as a dogs hind leg, but he recognized that a human life is not recyclable.
Ash Can
@danielx: Methinks Ben Shapiro is addicted to attention. He appears to be willing to say absolutely anything to get it.
Mandalay
There will probably be a few wingnut heads exploding over this….
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: I’m in the Hammered Dog Sh!t category myself. My wife likes to say, “They don’t make them like you anymore, and now we know why.”
The Red Pen
@RSA: Love this.
Cervantes
@RSA: Thanks, that was fun to read.
It happens.
Good to hear from you (and, by proxy, your wife).
WereBear
@RSA: That’s something.
Keep that journal. It would make a great book, someday.
Botsplainer
*chuckle*
http://m.dailykos.com/stories/1274836
Apparently, Hitachi is marketing a tracker/timer employee badge. Your visits to neighboring cubicles, trips to the water fountain, confabs in the copy room, sounds and lengths of trips to the toilet all will be monitored.
For efficiency, y’know.
But in the words of Griftwald and Snowjob, Obama is the real monster. FREEDOM!!!
Cervantes
@Steeplejack:
Yes, that does sound good. The music in Babette’s Feast is nice, if you like that sort of thing.
I wish they had included The Battle of Chile — it’s heart-breaking, and not only because of the content — one of the cameramen is murdered while filming — but at more than 5 hours long, I can see why TCM could not show it.
Ash Can
@OzarkHillbilly: George Ryan was one of the all-but-extinct breed of Republican that, while willing and eager to deal in favors and kickbacks, still maintained uncrossable lines of decency regarding his fellow human. His crimes, in the end, were all political in nature, and not personal. He was steeped in old-fashioned machine politics, in contrast with today’s Republicans, who are steeped in hatred and ignorance.
gene108
@Botsplainer:
Assuming it’s RFID based, so the office would have to be “wired” with RFID scanners to keep track of people’s movements. I wonder if Hitachi will sell the RFID equipment needed to make the badges effective? I think the RFID equipment maybe where the real money is at.
Ash Can
@Botsplainer: Imagine the poor mope who gets the job of monitoring the sounds of employees’ trips to the can.
Cervantes
@Botsplainer: Hey, at least Snowden did something about a problem he perceived.
What are you doing about Hitachi’s device? Will you put together a campaign to convince workers — and employers — to boycott it? Will you at least write and publish an op-ed about it? These actions might actually be helpful; whereas taking anonymous cheap shots at Snowden and Greenwald will achieve absolutely nothing.
Don’t like Snowden’s actions? OK, go on then — show us how it’s done.
Oh, wait. I see you already did something:
Great. The Man is quaking in his boots. Thanks.
rikyrah
The hidden costs of bad credit
Your credit rating impacts many aspects of your everyday life. Here’s how.
Sure, you know that having bad credit can mean paying more for a car loan or a mortgage. You know that it means you can pay more to use your credit cards. But did you know that people with bad credit also pay more for their car insurance and sometimes even for rent? There are more costs of having bad credit than you might know.
Jobs
Increasingly, employers are using credit reports to help make decisions of hiring and firing. Randy Padawer, a consumer advocate with Lexington law states that more than half of all major companies are using background checks as part of a pre-employment screening. “I think it’s unfair,” he says, but quickly adds “it’s something that consumers must remember when they’re doing something as mundane as paying a credit card bill.”
Gail Cunningham, vice president of membership and public relations for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling points out the reason why credit reports are increasingly used in hiring decisions. “Potential employers might view your credit report as an overall reflection of your responsibility.”
What’s the cost? Tim Lucas, vice president of mortgage at MyMortgageInsider.com, breaks it down. “Say that you have to take a job that pays $10,000 a year less because you have bad credit,” he says. “That’s $100,000 over ten years.” While the math is obvious, what might not be is that, in the case of employment, you might be losing more than you would because of high interest rates on a mortgage.
http://money.msn.com/credit-rating/the-hidden-costs-of-bad-credit
Steeplejack
@Cervantes:
TCM ran the first part of The Battle of Chile a few months ago. Maybe the second part, too. It was in one of their middle-of-the-night blocks where the run the really esoteric stuff.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ash Can: Exactly.
rikyrah
A narrow path for ‘common ground’
02/03/14 04:56 PM—Updated 02/03/14 04:57 PM
By Steve Benen
Every Saturday morning, President Obama delivers a weekly address, which is immediately followed by a Republican response, but this week’s GOP address was a little different: it was delivered by four Republicans instead of one. The message: there may be some room for a little “bipartisan common ground.”
Republicans urged President Obama to find “bipartisan common ground” on policy areas highlighted in his State of the Union address.
In Saturday’s GOP address, House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said the House has introduced bills in four areas that should be ripe for bipartisan support: Bolstering federal research funding, giving workers comp time in lieu of overtime pay, consolidating job training programs and easing natural gas pipeline permitting.
Before getting into the particulars, it’s striking to realize just how small the “common ground” is. There are all kinds of popular ideas that enjoy broad public support – on job creation, aid to struggling families, immigration, public safety, etc. – but none of them made the cut in the official Republican statement.
Instead, progress is now possible in just four areas – four narrow areas. For example, GOP lawmakers aren’t talking about increasing investments in education, but they are willing to move forward if Democrats agree to cut job-training programs through consolidation. Republicans won’t approve new federal research grants, but if Dems agree to cut spending elsewhere, these GOP officials are open to directing those savings to medical research. Republicans aren’t prepared to work on a comprehensive energy policy, but if Democrats aren’t too put off by fracking, GOP lawmakers are on board with more natural gas pipelines.
As far as a national agenda for federal policymaking, this is thinner than thin. That these are literally the only areas congressional Republicans are willing to highlight as areas of “bipartisan common ground” suggests the public should keep their expectations for 2014 very, very low.
But of particular interest is the GOP plan for “giving workers comp time in lieu of overtime pay.”
This last came up in May, when the idea was included in House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) rebranding campaign. And as we discussed at the time, the basic idea is empowering private-sector employers to make a trade with workers – instead of giving employees overtime pay for extra work, businesses can compensate workers with some additional time off.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the new Republican idea isn’t new at all – Alex Seitz-Wald noted that House GOP leaders pushed identical measures in 1996, 1997, and 2003, and it was a favorite measure of Newt Gingrich’s.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/narrow-path-common-ground
rikyrah
And then there were five
02/03/14 04:06 PM—Updated 02/04/14 06:28 AM
By Steve Benen
When it comes to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) it’s become something of a challenge to keep up with unfolding developments. “Scandal” has become “scandals.” “Investigation” has become “investigations.” “Round of subpoenas” has become “several round of subpoenas.”
And as of yesterday afternoon, four resignations has become five.
She’s the fifth Christie administration official related to the bridge scandal to resign or get fired since December, following David Wildstein, Bill Baroni, Bridget Anne Kelly, and Bill Stepien.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/and-then-there-were-five
rikyrah
It Begins! A Zimmerman Redux of a Dead Black Teenager and a White Smokng Gun
By: Dennis S more from Dennis S
Tuesday, February, 4th, 2014, 8:30 am
After the Monday post-Super Bowl demolition of the Denver Broncos by the Seattle Seahawks, there looms the prospect of a different kind of contest, but maybe just as one-sided. This time it will probably be racial justice on the losing end for a second time in less than two years.
The sides chose themselves. A trigger-happy white guy; an angry black kid. The trial will be a redux of the absurd George Zimmerman farce. You remember, the sham effort to bring a cold-blooded killer to justice after the neighborhood watch shadow made up excuses in his own mind to end the life of a just turned 17-year-old African American youngster who dared to glance at residences while heading to his dad’s girlfriend’s house after returning from a convenience store.
The same case where a gym owner, Adam Pollock, testified in response to a lawyer’s question of whether he would allow Zimmerman to climb into a boxing ring. Pollock, recognizing the necessity as painted by the defense of picturing Zimmerman as a pathetic weakling, responded “Absolutely not, I wouldn’t put him in harm’s way.” Zimmerman, a fame whore as we suspected all along, is currently negotiating a celebrity boxing match for Saturday, March 1st. “I’ll fight anyone, even black people” Zimmerman is quoted as saying. There are at least two mighty tough looking black rappers who have publicly declared that they would welcome the chance.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/02/04/begins-zimmerman-redux-dead-black-teenager-white-smokng-gun.html
Cervantes
@Steeplejack: Good to know. Thanks.
As (some) Chileans say, that was their 9/11, thirty years before ours. And not only did we let it happen, we helped — an utterly disgraceful time in our history.
rikyrah
The Obamas and the Bidens Pay Tribute to the Late Joan Mondale
By: Sarah Jones
Monday, February, 3rd, 2014, 10:39 pm
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, along with Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden, issued statements tonight on the sad passing of Joan Mondale. Joan Mondale, wife of 42nd Vice President Walter F. Mondale, passed away today at the age of 83. The wife of the Democratic VP was a high-profile advocate for the arts, often called ‘Joan of Art’.
The President and First Lady said, “Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to former Vice President Walter Mondale and his family on the passing of Joan Adams Mondale. America first came to know Joan through her husband; she was his devoted partner in public service, from Minnesota to Washington.” They noted that she was a lifelong patron of arts and that as such, she “filled the Vice Presidential mansion with works by dozens of artists, including many unknowns, and later did the same at the U.S. embassy in Japan during her husband’s tenure as ambassador.”
The Obamas honored her passion for the role of the arts in our nation, “Through her contributions to the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities and the Kennedy Center, she passionately advocated for the role of art in the life of our nation and the promotion of understanding worldwide. Our thoughts and prayers are with Vice President Mondale and his family today as we remember with gratitude “Joan of Art” and her service to our nation.”
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/02/03/president-lady-vice-president-dr-jill-biden-express-deep-loss-joan-mondale.html
rikyrah
Mitch Ditched: 10 Polls Show McConnell Tied or Trailing Democrat Alison Grimes
By: Jason Easley
Monday, February, 3rd, 2014, 4:11 pm
Mitch McConnell is in serious danger of losing his Senate seat. The Republican leaning Rasmussen poll became the tenth poll to show Mitch McConnell either tied with, or trailing Democrat Alison Grimes.
A Rasmussen poll released today found that Grimes and McConnell are tied at 42%-42%. A PPP poll a few days earlier revealed a statistical tie, with Mitch McConnell holding a one point 43%-42% lead that was within the poll’s margin of error. The Rasmussen poll is the tenth poll that shows McConnell either trailing or tied with Democrat Alison Grimes.
The Grimes campaign released a statement which stressed that even though Sen. McConnell spent $300,000 on advertising in the state last week, the race is still tied, “The poll was conducted a full week after McConnell spent nearly $300,000 on air in that week alone; Alison For Kentucky has yet to spend a single dollar on air. This marks the tenth recent poll showing Alison tied or ahead of McConnell – another clear sign that his millions in wasteful spending are not moving his abysmal approval rating with Kentucky voters. It also comes on the heels of news that the Tea Party is starting a new Super PAC to attack Mitch McConnell’s failed record.”
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/02/03/mitch-ditched-10-polls-show-mcconnell-tied-trailing-democrat-alison-grimes.html
rikyrah
3 Georgia Republican Senate Candidates Say They Would Vote to Impeach President Obama
By: Sarah Jones
Monday, February, 3rd, 2014, 1:18 pm
Wondering why Democratic Senatorial candidate Michelle Nunn is leading the GOP pack in a recent poll? It may be that Georgia Republicans have gone too far into the tinfoil weeds.
Republicans in Georgia are still catering to the Tea Party fringe, and they look crazy. Of the eight declared Republican candidates running in the Senate primary (Paul Broun, Art Gardner, Phil Gingrey, Derrick E. Grayson, Karen Handel, Jack Kingston, David Perdue, Eugene Yu), three said they would vote to impeach President Barack Obama if they could, according to a video obtained by Talking Points Memo and written up by Daniel Strauss. Not to worry, several Republicans didn’t attend the forum, so it’s not that they aren’t crazy, it’s that they aren’t on video being crazy.
Watch here courtesy of TPM:
http://youtu.be/2OyYPjKfR6E
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/02/03/georgia-republican-senate-candidates-vote-impeach-president-obama.html
rikyrah
aspirational12 @aspirational12
Follow
Once again, the Koch-sponsored Libertarian/Naderite groups are gearing up to demoralize Dems for 2014 midterms. Pt. 1
8:01 AM – 4 Feb 2014
rikyrah
aspirational12 @aspirational12
Follow
This time, the “public option” is now the Keystone pipeline. Democrats, beware of interest groups using that to divide Dem voters. Pt. 2
8:02 AM – 4 Feb 2014
Cervantes
@dmsilev: Nice work.
rikyrah
Conservatives Have A New Scheme To Strip People Of Obamacare Coverage
Dylan Scott – February 4, 2014, 6:00 AM EST
The conventional wisdom has said that once states bought into Obamcare’s Medicaid expansion, half of the law’s two-pronged approach to expanding health insurance coverage, they wouldn’t be able to back out of it. More likely, in fact, was that more and more states — regardless of their ideology — would sign onto the expansion. It’s simply too good a deal to pass up.
But a group of Arkansas Republicans appear intent on defying those expectations as early as this month. In doing so, they would halt health coverage for more than 85,000 who have signed up for expanded Medicaid in Arkansas so far.
“ObamaCare is among the worst legislation ever passed,” one newly elected conservative state senator wrote, explaining his opposition to Medicaid expansion. “I do not think that Obamacare is now or ever has been truly about who gets what and how much it will cost. I believe that the real question is if our health care system under ObamaCare will be destroyed in this country for everyone! I think that question only has one answer and it is yes.”
The revanchist Republicans are setting up their state, one of 25 to expand Medicaid this year under the health care reform law, to be the first to strip Obamacare coverage from people who already have it. Arkansas expanded the program, using a unique privatized model, under the tutelage of Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and with the support of most GOP leaders in the legislature. But a cohort of conservative lawmakers believe they now have enough votes to block funding for the expansion during the legislative session that starts next week.
The problem is: Under Arkansas law, the state legislature must vote again this year to accept federal funding for the expansion next year. Expanding Medicaid for 2014 required a 75-percent majority in each chamber, and accepting the 2015 funding does, too. The federal government covers 100 percent of the costs in the first three years and never less than 90 percent after that.
The expansion plan passed the 35-member Senate with one spare vote last year, but one Democratic state senator who voted in favor of expansion resigned last August amid a campaign scandal — and an anti-expansion conservative, John Cooper, took his place last month after a special election.
Another Senate Republican, Missy Irvin, who voted in favor of expansion last year, has now said publicly that she will not support the funding for it this year.
“I had been convinced that the private option might be a first step in the right direction,” she said in a statement to the Arkansas Project, a conservative blog, on Jan. 20. “I now see it is leading us in the wrong direction.”
Those two changes to the legislature’s makeup would leave the expansion funding without the necessary support in the Senate if nothing else changes, as the alternative newsweekly Arkansas Times reported.
Rep. Nate Bell, another Republican who opposes the private option, told the Times there was “no question” that conservatives had enough votes to block funding for expansion. “I think anybody in the Capitol building would agree with that,” he said.
If that came to pass, more than 85,000 Arkansans who have signed up for coverage through the Medicaid expansion would presumably have that coverage stopped in 2015. Arkansas’s alternative Medicaid plan uses Medicaid dollars to pay for low-income residents to purchase private coverage through HealthCare.gov. A select few, those making between 100 and 138 percent of the federal poverty level, would qualify for tax credits to purchase new coverage through HealthCare.gov. But the poorest of them, those below the poverty level, would be left without insurance.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/arkansas-medicaid-expansion-republicans-2014
rikyrah
Morning Plum: No, Republicans have not ruled out citizenship
By Greg Sargent
February 4 at 8:22 am
One central question that will help decide the fate of immigration reform is this: Will Republicans — who recently rolled out principles that support legalization but oppose a ”special path” to citizenship — ultimately insist that their solution must preclude citizenship for the nation’s undocumented immigrants?
The answer to this is almost certainly No — and this continues to be a poorly understood aspect of the debate.
In an interview with me, a leading Republican on immigration — Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida — said there is virtually no chance the solution Republicans embrace will rule out citizenship, saying he’d be “beyond surprised” at any such outcome.
Precluding citizenship would be “frankly unacceptable,” said Diaz-Balart, who is plugged into current discussions among Republicans over what specific policies to adopt. “That’s not something I’ve seen or heard. It would be against everything conservatives stand for. If you have a process where people can earn a way to get right with the law, and then get to the back of any current legal pathways, then if there are some who want to put their hands on their hearts and pledge allegiance to the flag, should we deny those folks?”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/02/04/morning-plum-no-republicans-have-not-ruled-out-citizenship/
brendancalling
On the agenda: finish the last few tasks that ensure I come home to an orderly house, and then it’s off to St. Augustine for a week. It’s a working vacation, to be sure, but plenty of time for R&R as well.
RSA
Thanks for the kind comments! There are small compensations to living here.
Another Holocene Human
@Cervantes: Irony: a Snowden apologist lecturing others on their activism.
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human: If that’s your summary, there may be remedial reading lessons in your future.
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
Best known in some circles as the inspiration for Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left.
Gravenstone
@The Red Pen: We had to watch that. I didn’t make too many friends by counting off the shots in the opening sequence and realizing the gunman was empty.
Also, why try to brain him with an extinguisher? Use it to blind and disorient. No one is going t see shit with a high flow stream of dry chem hitting them in the face from 10-15 feet away.