Posts from — October 2013

More than three-quarters of the Senate and almost two-thirds of the House voted to end the current shutdown and delay hitting the debt ceiling.

They didn’t end this mess, they just postponed it for a while. Now they need to get back to work and do their job. They could start by bringing back the ‘Gephardt rule’ which required Congress to raise the debt ceiling to accommodate the spending it approves.

We dodged a fatal ‘bullet’, but if you have a credit card or adjustable rate mortgage you can expect your interest rate to go up thanks to the Republican games. The rate on T-bills will also increase and every 0.1% of increase is another $15 billion taxpayers will owe, thanks to Republicans. People have been laid off and some businesses will close because of the shutdown.

The House Republicans have cost a lot of people, a lot of money.

While it looks like the Congresscritters have finally figured out that they are actually going to have to do something about the mess they created, I thought I would pass along a couple of items from beyond US borders.

Mark Mardell is the BBC editor for US news and he notes: Republicans raise grandstanding to an art form.

The Canadians get a bit harsher, asking: Is the debt ceiling a ‘stupid’ idea?

The debt ceiling was not much of an issue until 1995, when the Gephardt rule was repealed. Named for Democratic congressman Dick Gephardt, and in effect since 1979, the rule meant the debt ceiling would rise whenever a budget was passed, based on the amount of spending that was authorized, [economist John] Blank explained to CBC News.

But, in 1995,with Democrat Bill Clinton in the White House, Newt Gingrich, then the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, saw that he could replace the Gephardt rule with “negotiations on the debt ceiling and use it as a whip to get people to make deals” with him, Blank said.

In his view, the debt ceiling is now “based on a divisive cudgel mentality that was propagated by a minority leader who was looking for a way to bully the president.”

The Republicans own this mess – lock, stock, and barrel¹, and they used it to shoot themselves in the foot.

1. Those are the three main parts of a firearm, principally a flintlock musket.

Mitch McConnell called a halt to his negotiations with Harry Reid over a continuing resolution and raise in the debt ceiling, so John Boehner could create a bill in the House. The real question is – was McConnell doing it as a courtesy to Boehner, or did he just want to see him fail again so he could whip Republican Senators into line?

Boehner’s attempts resulted in a bill that no Democrat would go near, so he needed his caucus to support him, and, as is now normal, they didn’t. This is why it is worthless to negotiate with Boehner – he can’t deliver.

The Senate will probably have a bill tomorrow, but the only way this can end is for Boehner to put it on the floor for a vote. If he does it, the NRPS whackoes will call for his head, if he doesn’t there will be another financial meltdown.

If he doesn’t want to go down in history for all of the wrong reasons, Boehner should call for the vote, and after it passes, announce his retirement. The job isn’t worth the aggravation.

Today is Ada Lovelace Day – celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths, which is not really ‘nerd cabaret’, as The Guardian seems to believe.

Ada Lovelace is generally considered to be the first computer programmer, as she wrote ‘code’ for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine. The Engine itself couldn’t be built at the time because it required precision in machining that wasn’t available. [IBM later built part of the Engine and it worked as Babbage claimed.]

The ADA programming language, created for the US Department of Defense, was named for Countess Lovelace.

Computers don’t care who writes the code, what they look like, or anything other than the code works. Unfortunately too many people can’t leave their personal hangups behind, so days like this are necessary.

Noz notes that Next up in real world consequences of fake crises, the Federal Courts had funding for ten business days, so civil trials will probably be suspended tomorrow until the shutdown is over.

While Lindsey Graham is flouncing in the Senate over being ignored, Ayn Rand Paul Ryan is providing the House with a hissy fit, because negotiations have sifted to the Senate.

If they feel ignored, it is nothing like what the House Republicans did to Boehner. As Rook notes, Eric Cantor given control of House. Only Cantor apparently has the power to call for a vote on the Senate plan under a change to the House Standing Rules. Not much point in talking to Boehner if he hasn’t got the power to do anything but talk.

While Charlie Pierce reflects his personal anger at what Ted Cruz did at the WWII Veterans Memorial in his post: The Grave Robbers In Washington. He isn’t as upset as the Million Vet March organizers:

The political agenda put forth by a local organizer in Washington DC yesterday was not in alignment with our message. We feel disheartened that some would seek to hijack the narrative for political gain. The core principle was and remains about all Americans honoring Veterans in a peaceful and apolitical manner. Our love for and our dedication to remains with Veterans, regardless of party affiliation or political leanings.

If this mess continues much longer, the VA won’t be able to pay the November benefits, and then things could get really ‘interesting’ for the people behind the shutdown.

The Senate negotiators act like they have some kind of deal, but two days is not a lot of time to get anything passed in both Houses and signed by the President.

It’s the second Monday in October, so it is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Have a happy one.

The US Federal government has decided to call it Columbus Day, even though it should be the 12^th of October which was the second Wednesday in 1492. But it’s okay that the holiday is on the wrong day, because Christopher Columbus [AKA: Cristoforo Colombo, Cristóbal Colón] didn’t find what he was looking for and identified what he did find incorrectly. The important thing is that a large area of the map got changed from “here be dragons and sea serpents,” to “here be gold and cannibals” and no mention was made of the oppressive heat, mosquitoes, or hurricanes.

[Read more →]

So, now the media says that the deal is being negotiated in the Senate, because the talks broke down between the House and and the President.

What in hell does the Senate have to negotiate? Harry Reid negotiated a deal with John Boehner, and that is what the Senate keeps sending to the House, and Boehner refuses to hold a vote on it. Boehner needs to negotiate with Boehner and see if they can come to an agreement.

The House needs to do its job and stop blocking everything. There have been House and Senate budget bills awaiting resolution since April, but Boehner has refused to appoint members for the conference committee to negotiate the final bill that is voted on. The President isn’t even involved in the process until after a bill passes both Houses of Congress, so there is no point in talking to him yet.

These people act like they have never done this before, and don’t know what to do.

Pass a clean continuing resolution for six-weeks, raise the debt ceiling for a year, and start working on the real budget in a conference committee. It isn’t hard to understand, and it doesn’t require any drama. It’s your job, and your responsibility. If you can’t deal with it, don’t expect to be back in 2014 because you are really getting on people’s nerves.

How would you like to head out to your field to harvest your wheat crop and find this: Massive oil pipeline break under North Dakota farmer’s wheat field.

Another one of those safe and secure, well-build pipelines that you will never know is even on your land. Now the farmer has huge block of his farm that can’t be used for anything, and if it isn’t cleaned up, the damage will spread.

Fortunately this break wasn’t near any waterways or known aquifers, but there is no way in hell you can run the Keystone XL pipeline that won’t involve crossing both as it runs from Alberta to Texas.

The CBC reports that David Suzuki tells U.S. not to trust Harper’s Keystone XL promises.

Americans who watch PBS will be familiar with Dr Suzuki as the host of the series, The Nature of Things. He is a well-known and respected Canadian environmentalist, and a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia.

His basic complaint is that the government of Mr Harper has prevented scientists who work for the government from publishing their opinions, and has failed to base climate and environmental decisions on the best available science.

I look at it this way – British Columbia is the province to the west of Alberta, and they don’t want a tar sands pipeline to run through their territory down to their refineries on the Pacific. When the people behind the XL Pipeline can’t convince a neighbor to allow them to lay a pipeline a few hundred miles to the Pacific, why would the US want to let them run it a couple of thousand miles to the Gulf Coast?

From the BBC: Cyclone Phailin makes landfall in India

A huge cyclone that has forced as many as 500,000 people to flee their homes has made landfall in eastern India.

Winds were measured at 200 km/h (125mph) as Cyclone Phailin hit the coast near Gopalpur, Orissa state, at about 21:15 (15:45 GMT).

Authorities had predicted a storm surge of at least 3m (10ft) that was expected to cause extensive damage.

Officials say they are better prepared than in 1999 when a cyclone killed thousands of people in Orissa.

Cyclone Phailin has been classed as “very severe”, and the head of India’s Meteorological Office, LS Rathore, said it would remain in that category for six hours before losing strength.

The eye of the storm was moving at 10-15 km/h (6-9mph), he said.

The pressure reported at landfall was 938mb which is associated with 140mph winds and Category 4 status. At one point in the track the winds were reported at 155mph, on the verge of a Category 5.

This came ashore from the Bay of Bengal which is shallow and hot like the Bay of Campeche in the southern Gulf of Mexico, and it was moving slow enough and was big enough to have been pushing a 5 meter [16 foot] storm surge. It is also going to produce heavy rain that will cause flooding in the area.

The local government pushed for evacuations and that seems to have been observed, so that should reduce the death toll from the storm.

Like everyone else, geeks gossip and spread rumors. Currently at the top of the charts is the disastrous roll-out of the ACA/Obamacare that the media hasn’t really noticed as they are preoccupied with Cruz the Confused and his merry band of whackoes holding their ground against little kids going to Headstart and getting food through WIC.

There seems to be a growing consensus that no one expected the server loads that have been seen, so the capacity just wasn’t there.

People who should know say those who built the system aren’t the worst coders in the world, but they certainly aren’t the best. Apparently the best coders didn’t even put in bids because they didn’t want to support all of the overhead costs of dealing with a government contract, and then waiting for their money.

A big reason new large government IT projects fail is because no one who could actually create what was needed has the deep pockets required to work for the government.

Hermit in Profile

Hmmmm…

[Editor: The Hermit is enjoying the heat that was absorbed in the patio blocks while considering failing to catch a squirrel.]

Friday Ark

The CBC proves that the US isn’t the only country with ‘electoral dysfunction’: Azerbaijan announces election winner 1 day before vote

Something funny happened the day before Azerbaijan’s presidential election: The election commission announced the winner.

On Tuesday, a day before the voting began, the smartphone app of the Central Election Commission released results showing President Ilham Aliyev, whose family has been at the helm of the Caspian Sea nation for four decades, winning 73 per cent of the vote.

On Wednesday, the commission said Aliyev had won 85 per cent of the vote. His closest contender, Jamil Hasanli, trailed with six per cent, it said.

Obviously announcing the results before the election has taken place is a bit of a faux pas, but they are losing control as the ‘real’ margin is 85%, which is edging into the range of dictators. They should have stayed with their original number of 73%, which gives the opponents hope, but not much.

The BBC reports that Malala Yousafzai wins EU’s Sakharov human rights prize

Pakistani schoolgirl and campaigner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban, has won the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize.

The 16-year-old activist was shot a year ago for campaigning for better rights for girls.

The Sakharov Prize for free speech is awarded by the European Parliament annually in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov.
…

The 50,000 euro ($65,000) prize is considered Europe’s top human rights award.

And the CBC reports Alice Munro is 1st Canadian woman to win Nobel literature prize

Alice Munro wins the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first Canadian woman to take the award since its launch in 1901.

Munro, 82, only the 13th woman given the award, was lauded by the Swedish Academy during the Nobel announcement in Stockholm as the “master of the contemporary short story.”

“We’re not saying just that she can say a lot in just 20 pages — more than an average novel writer can — but also that she can cover ground. She can have a single short story that covers decades, and it works,” said Peter Englund, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.

Both are extremely qualified for their awards. Sakharov would have certainly admired Malala’s courage, and Alice Munro has been a good read for the last 40 years.

Via Steve Bates, Paul Krugman on the The Boehner Bunglers. At the CBC Neil Macdonald offers Republicans twerking for the cameras like Miley Cyrus.

The ‘lemmings’ are going over the cliff, and if they survive they will set off their ‘suicide vests’.

Congresscritters like Joe Barton (R-TX) talk about prioritizing payments and paying the interest on bonds. He says it’s like paying your mortgage and putting off other bills if you are short. He obviously has never been in that position or he would know that if a family does that, they have defaulted on their obligations and are in a world of financial hurt. Just paying something late can reduce your credit rating and cause credit card companies to increase your interest rate and minimum payment. Depending on the terms of your mortgage, making the payment may not prevent default. If you have your homeowners’ insurance policy cancelled for non-payment, or you don’t pay your property taxes, the mortgage is usually considered in default.

If the US government doesn’t pay all of its bills when they are due, the government is in default. The world markets will tank, the US economy will tank – we will be facing full-blown Depression, probably worse than 2008, because no one will buy US bonds to finance a recovery.