Saturday Miscellany!

[maxomai]

Why am I posting on LiveJournal on a bright sunny day like today? Because too much sunshine makes maxomai cranky, that's why. Besides which, I have things to say.

• Justin Raimondo calls out the Obama-can-do-no-wrong crowd on warrantless wiretapping. But, shouldn't we trust Obama because he's a good man at heart? No, we shouldn't. He might be a good man, but the office of the President doesn't need that kind of power, regardless of who's in the office.


• Why on Earth would the US Navy balk at naming a Littoral combat ship the USS Liberty? The depressing facts here.


• Via takwish comes news that the discovery of "wild" Monsanto wheat in Oregon may sink the wheat market for the Pacific Northwest as our export market in Asia shuts its doors. If true, that would be very bad news for PNW farmers. It's also bad news for Portland's economy, as all that wheat normally goes out through the Port of Portland.


• I feel awful for these parents, absolutely awful.
  
  

  "I found a receipt that said 'Shotgun $865,'" she said. ...
  
  Blaec, who had been committed seven times, "legally bought an assault weapon legally from the place [the Wal-Mart] he had walked into with a butcher knife," Bill added.
  
  The reason: Blaec was never involuntarily committed to a mental institution by the courts, so no mental health record turned up on the background check.
  
  A day after discovering the receipt, Tricia contacted police, who arrested Blaec. He allegedly confessed that he planned to open fire that weekend at Wal-Mart and also considered targeting the local movie theater.
  
  On turning in her own son to the police, Tricia said: "My first thought was, 'What have I done? I just destroyed my son's life.' And people would come up to me and say, 'No, you saved our lives.'"

  
  
  Indeed, they probably saved many lives. But the mental health system failed their son, and the NICS background check system almost failed the rest of us, which points to the need to reform both.


• Badass Theater Company lives up to its name with its inaugural production, Invasion! - I'll write a full review later, but trust me, if you live in Portland and you're reading this, get your tickets NOW. You'll thank me later.

Comments

[fengi.livejournal.com]

It bothers me how the narrative by many on the right and left, for and against Obama, now equates supporting an Obama presidency with uncritical acceptance of his administration. Even in the first election Obama's vote for the telcom immunity bill and other policy stances did not go unnoticed. Joy over ending the Bush era and electing a black president didn't require abandoning perspective. Though I do think there was some magical "this will fix everything" thinking which resulted in the shitty mid-term elections.

I suspect years of lockstep right wing anti-Obama hysteria have pushed some who voted for him into a similar all or nothing mentality. They will not admit that Obama not being a total asshole is not the same as being a great president on many issues.