Ludicrous Tuesday

You are more likely to have an Amazon store come to your town than a Republican primary.

It certainly would mean more.

Sometimes these things look like the kind of standoff a local SWAT team would handle.

The media reports today that Independents don’t care for any of the candidates. That is blamed on bruising primaries.

It does seem that some candidates have taken out bounties on their opponents. It is easier, however, to knock an opponent out than to build your own credibility.

One possible factor, in addition to the primaries, is the possibility Independents were put off by the failure of the GOP to do anything.

President Obama, on the other hand, can probably count on enough Progressives to vote for him to win a second term.

For some it is déjà vu all over again. At least in 1968 there was a third candidate, sadly it was George Wallace.

Given the Internet’s ability to send unhappy activists into the streets of Cairo and Moscow,  and into the artillery of Syria, one wonders why so little impact here. Occupy this, occupy that.  Hey they try.

Recessions being somewhat cyclical, things are turning around.

Who will admit being a Republican in December? Kind of reminds one of the late Everett Dirksen denying he had nominated Barry Goldwater as the GOP presidential nominee. Expect something like that.

And all the stories of this boring campaign wouldn’t even fill the smallest Kindle.
The fact is they want us to have no fun of any kind.

Assange Extradition

Experts quoted by British media are convinced Julian Assange will be extradited to Sweden in a dubious sexual assault case. Normally this paragraph would have said to face charges, but none have been filed.

After several appeals of a lower court decision to grant extradition failed the case went before the U.K. Supreme Court on Wednesday. The hearing is scheduled to be completed after two days.

A decision would be released later, though no time has been set.

Assange could take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if he loses.

The British experts quoted by the Guardian and others say to not extradite Assange would bring down the entire European justice system. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/feb/23/julian-assange-extradition-law

And well it might, but not necessarily for the reason they give. Most countries around the world have set up restrictions on extradition to prevent a political refugee from being dragged back to a dictatorship that will harm him, and deny a fair trial.

 An extradition of Assange could result in a disastrous precedent  for the European Union by making it possible for extradition requests without the approval of anyone outside the prosecutor’s office.

The process of extradition varies from country to country but a judge usually must approve, or even a high-ranking executive such as a state governor in the U.S.  For instance, A prosecutor may not order an extradition in Britain. Instead, he/she would only begin the process.

In the U.S.,  an extradition would require that a charge had been filed.
To refer to such restrictions as technicalities is to demean the law. Both Britain and Sweden likely will be embarrassed.

So far, more questions have been raised than answered. It is widely believed the extradition is meant to keep relations between the CIA and Swedish intelligence agency cordial.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bGxRDEojjAuWJsUB1Ld8L-BA2vDFDWLdxEsJFafdzPM/edit?pli=1&hl=en_US

http://justice4assange.com/Rule-of-Law.html

New Hampshire: A Word of Warning

It probably won’t hold up but it is worth noting that President Obama beat all the Republican contenders in the two New Hampshire villages that voted early in the presidential primary.

Obama totaled 13 votes in Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location. Mitt Romney led the GOP candidates with a total of seven votes in the two towns that voted just after midnight today.

These two towns are well aware that they can get attention by departing from the media’s plan. Stepping out for Obama may be driven by antipathy to Republicans, though.

Reuters reported a fresh national poll showed Obama leading Romney and all other GOP candidates.
This could mean trouble for the Republicans though.

Obama has been portraying them as obstructionists, who have tried to block everything he wanted to do.

Some of the social issues pushed by the Tea Party and right are anathema in the "Live Free or Die State." Mary Jo Liacos of Manchester told the Guardian: "We don't want to be told what our values are."Romney may have moved to the top of the GOP cast because he is seen as a moderate. Running a moderate against Obama likely would cause many conservatives to stay at home.

And that might cancel out stay-at-home progressives, unhappy with Obama not keeping his word on health care, torture and the wars.

It could even lead to a third party candidate on the right.

The party of Lincoln once had a proud record on the environment and some other issues. Now it is seen as a mouthpiece for fundamentalist Christians in the south.

Should Obama win a second term, he might find himself facing a weakened and embarrassed opposition.

 First on Technorati.com

Our Allies in Pakistan and Afganistan Kill Us And Insult Us

   
     The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost our nation trillions, as our infrastructure falls apart. No value can be put on blood. Cops, teachers, firefighters, hospital workers are laid off. Schools are closed.
    
     Yet when one of our generals, Peter Fuller, tells the truth about what is going on he gets fired.
    
     Daniel Petraeus and other commanders have known from the start that Pakistan supported the Taliban and Haqqani networks and other insurgents. There are so many groups fighting us the media had to create a new word: militants.
    
     American soldiers and contractors have been killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan with weapons and ammo the U.S. provided Pakistan.
    
     Despite claims by Petraeus and others that we are winning, casualties in Afghanistan are at their highest level ever. During the Vietnam War a more skeptical nation recognized "the five o'clock follies" for what they were.
    
     One famous joke: In 1969 IBM's smartest computer was asked when the war would be over at the current kill rate of Viet Cong and NVA. The answer was 1967.
    
     The only warrior to ever defeat the Afghans was Alexander the Great, and he had to marry one of their princesses to get a deal.
    
     The big difference between Afghanistan and Vietnam is that there are no draftees. Should that justify fighting a war we have no interest in?
    
     Afghan President Hamid Karzai had insulted America on numerous occasions. He made it clear he wanted our military to die before risking killing an Afghan civilian.
    
     When he said Afghanistan would support Pakistan if the U.S. attacked it, Maj. Gen. Fuller said:
    
     “Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care’?”
    
     He also said NATO would rather teach Afghans how to fish than buy them fish. But they would prefer to just get more free fish.
    
   

Tax Cuts Helping Kansas Wife-Beaters

Around the nation inmates are being released from jails because they are too crowded. Topeka, Kansas is taking it to a new level.

The city is considering no more prosecutions for domestic abuse because it is broke.

The county, Shawnee, had been handling them but it stopped because it can’t afford the cost either. It has already released 16 accused spouse beaters.

This leaves abused women in a real perilous situation. Kansas law requires that a spouse accused of abuse be arrested.

But if the abuser is not going to be punished then upon release the victim may face more assaults.

"Women are in increased danger after they have called police and after there is an arrest, because often times the abuser will blame the victim for his arrest," said Becky Dickinson, of the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment.

"When an abusive partner is arrested, the victim's danger level increases," Dickinson told The International Business Times. "The abuser will often become more violent in an attempt to regain control. Letting abusive partners out of jail with no consequences puts victims in incredibly dangerous positions.

Meanwhile, the feds have launched a big operation in California, which no doubt will cost many millions, to shut down marijuana operations. A small fraction of that likely would pay for all the domestic abuse cases in the entire Sunflower state.