Charles Durning–Are you kidding me!!

Then came World War II, and he enlisted in the Army. His combat experiences were harrowing. He was in the first wave of troops to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day and his unit's lone survivor of a machine-gun ambush. In Belgium he was stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier, whom he bludgeoned to death with a rock. Fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, he and the rest of his company were captured and forced to march through a pine forest at Malmedy, the scene of an infamous massacre in which the Germans opened fire on almost 90 prisoners. Mr. Durning was among the few to escape. By the war's end he had been awarded a Silver Star for valor and three Purple Hearts, having suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds as well. He spent months in hospitals and was treated for psychological trauma...

Mr. Durning was also remembered for his combat service, which he avoided discussing publicly until later in life. He spoke at memorial ceremonies in Washington, and in 2008 France awarded him the National Order of the Legion of Honor. In the Parade interview, he recalled the hand-to-hand combat. "I was crossing a field somewhere in Belgium," he said. "A German soldier ran toward me carrying a bayonet. He couldn't have been more than 14 or 15. I didn't see a soldier. I saw a boy. Even though he was coming at me, I couldn't shoot." They grappled, he recounted later - he was stabbed seven or eight times - until finally he grasped a rock and made it a weapon. After killing the youth, he said, he held him in his arms and wept. Mr. Durning said the memories never left him, even when performing, even when he became, however briefly, someone else. "There are many secrets in us, in the depths of our souls, that we don't want anyone to know about," he told Parade. "There's terror and repulsion in us, the terrible spot that we don't talk about. That place that no one knows about - horrifying things we keep secret. A lot of that is released through acting."

Well, Dick Cheney did shoot a guy.

Frank on Scalia

“I was glad that he [Scalia] made clear what’s been obvious, that he’s just a flat out bigot,” Frank said. “I’d previously said he was a homophobe. And Fox and the rightwing said, ‘Oh just because he’s not for same-sex marriage? And I said, ‘No, let me be very clear. That’s not it. This is a man who has said you should go to prison for having sex.’ It was an extraordinarily abusive sentiment and it was dead wrong. And, by the way, for a guy who is supposed to be so smart -- quite stupid.This young man said to him, ‘Why do you compare sodomy to murder?’ And he said, ‘Well because I have a right to say if I think something is immoral.’ Well the question wasn’t about his right. The question was, By what morality is expressing your love for someone in a physical way equivalent to killing that person? It makes it clear that the man is an unreconstructed bigot, and given that you have a bigot on the Supreme Court like that, it is useful to know.”

Krugman, the pragmatist

I know that a lot of progressives are expressing anger and disappointment over the bargaining concessions that the President is alleged to be making.  Strangely enough, Paul Krugman, (one of the most esteemed  progressives) shows a very pragmatic streak in his 12/17 column.  Read it here.

Willie Nelson minus 100,000 joints

You just have to see this.

Many thanks to my good friend Peter for pulling my coat to it.

Debt ceiling? Screw you, congress!

Most of you have probably forgotten all that went on in 2011 when the right-wingers in Congress pushed the country to the brink concerning raising the debt ceiling versus the country defaulting on its obligations.  That dilemma was resolved at zero hour by enacting the automatic spending cuts (including a huge chunk of defense) to take place in 2013. 

Now, as we face the so called “financial cliff” many right wingers are threating to use the debt ceiling as leverage to get the President to cave on raising the tax rates for the top 2% and protecting social security, Medicare, and other social safety net expenditures.  This brought me to remember something that was in the background in the 2011 go-around:  The President simply bypassing congress and increasing the debt ceiling by invoking the 14th Amendment.  Here is an excerpt from a 2011 article addressing the subject:

Critics of the debt limit cite the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states: "the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned." (Emphasis ours)

Of course, the Fourteenth Amendment is open to wide, and varying, interpretation and debate. The most basic question here is, does a limit on debt "question" the "validity" of the debt?

Legal scholar Garrett Epps, writing in The Atlantic in April, said that a case could easily made for simply ignoring the congressionally mandated debt limit.

"This provision makes clear that both the monies our nation owes to bondholders, and the sums promised in legislation to those receiving pensions set by law from the federal government, must be paid regardless of the political whims of the current congressional majority," Epps wrote.

In essence, Epps argues that Obama should stand before Congress and say, Tough luck--the Constitution says we can't default. Epps argued that in the event that Congress does not act, Obama should (and could) instruct the Treasury Department to issue "binding debt instruments on the world market sufficient to cover all the current obligations of the United States government, even in default of Congressional action to meet those obligations."

This time around Obama does not have to worry about a second term or low approval ratings.  He was reelected in a landslide and is now sporting very high approval ratings.  Thus, I believe that if the “hair on fire” nuts in the congress want to threaten Obama with a debt ceiling default, he should invoke the 14th Amendment and tell them to go to hell.  Sure they will try to impeach him, but they will never get the votes needed and the proceedings would go on for a long time.  But what does Obama care…he’s in for the duration now.  Interesting, no?

The “King Tide”

Yesterday and today, we experienced a “King Tide,” which flooded many places in the BayArea.  Here is the article that was featured in today’s San Francisco Chronicle.  The article points out that while King Tides are not caused by global climate change, the Tides do give us a sobering example of what is going to happen as the seas keep rising into the future.

The King Tide hit us at 11:00 this morning and flooded part of the trusty path along the bay that my dog and I walk just about every day.  I’m including some pictures that I took.  One thing for sure, when the seas rise (for whatever reason) there is no stopping them.  The world had better wise up or resign itself to getting smaller -- literally!

The spot we enter the path from the house

Looking back after skirting some of the flood

Farther down the path.  Getting a bit deep here

Even farther down the path.  Note the Bay Bridge and the City across the bay

The Platters will endure forever!

My whole life tunes have been running through my head.  They come unbidden, and often are very strange and unlikely.  For instance a few days ago the theme song from “Tammy and the Bachelor” started playing in the old skull.  You remember:
“I hear the cottonwoods whispering above, Tammy, Tammy, Tammy’s in love…” and so on.  I think that was Patty Page or Doris Day, but I could be wrong.
This morning for the usual unknown off-the-wall reason, “The Great Pretender” by The Platters slid into the jukebox and away I went.  This led me to remember that I pretty much remembered most of The Platters’ songs word-by-word even today.  So I jumped on to my Rhapsody account and started playing the 21 track album simply titled, “The Platters:”  Just some of the juicy stuff? “ The Great Pretender, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Magic Touch, My Prayer, Twilight Time, Unchained Melody” – you remember, right?!  Well I left one of my favorites out just so that I could let you play it yourself and then be smiling for the rest of the day.  After all, in the end it all comes down to you, and “Only You”