Fractious friday

I got an earful from Jim today. I have apparently not only alienated the christians and the republicans but a bunch of other potential clients and it is bad for business. I should write more about art and antiques, a point echoed by Millard. He says that some people have told him that they like my wares but hate my blog and politics and that is fine, I guess. Hilbert told me the same thing last month. Of course they don't have to read me, I'm not holding a gun to anybody's head and I have always tried to keep business and writing separate.

I guess I don't care about the business enough. Want to pay my bills and take an occasional vacation. That is it. I guess I just don't care enough about money. I am an opinionated person and I like to shpiel. So be it. Ain't your cup of tea, I apologize - we can keep our conversation confined to brush strokes and chroma. Or the weather.

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Egypt is in the news big, on the heels of the uprising in Tunisia. Egypt has been ruled by a succession of military men since Nasser. They tend to rule like dictators. Unfortunately they have also been abetted by the United States of America because their rule has been relatively stable. Egypt has been at peace with Israel since the Sinai land trade. They have also acted to quell the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, an outlawed organization.

Unfortunately we live in an imperfect world. Sometimes we have to work with very distasteful people. Things are not always black and white.  If the populist uprising is successful and it could very well be, what will it mean for stability in the region, especially if the islamists assert control, much like Hezbollah has done this month in Lebanon? Another hostile enemy on Israel's southern flank. The iranian backed militia, about to be implicated by international tribunal in the Hariri murder, instead brought down the Lebanese government, only to reappear a week later as the new ruling party. Hezbollah has more weapons than the regular Lebanese Army, thanks to a United Nations who have chosen to quietly allow them to rearm to the teeth, contrary to agreements made after the last war.

Of course, show me a democratically elected government in the arab world, it doesn't exist. And much like in other places closer to home, religious fundamentalists are asserting control throughout the region. Maybe people get the governments they deserve, after all.

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I was reading my friend Daisy Deadhead's blog and she came up with this tidbit - Michelle Bachmann, that stalwart opponent of government bailouts, has received $251,973.00 in farm subsidies.

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The House GOP is rewriting the laws on rape in order to cut abortion funding. According to this article in Mother Jones, only forcible rape will now be covered by Medicaid.

"For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases.

With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion.

Given that the bill also would forbid the use of tax benefits to pay for abortions, that 13-year-old's parents wouldn't be allowed to use money from a tax-exempt health savings account (HSA) to pay for the procedure. They also wouldn't be able to deduct the cost of the abortion or the cost of any insurance that paid for it as a medical expense. Other types of rapes that would no longer be covered by the exemption include rapes in which the woman was drugged or given excessive amounts of alcohol, rapes of women with limited mental capacity, and many date rapes.

As for the incest exception, the bill would only allow federally funded abortions if the woman is under 18."

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Georgia Republican Representative Paul Broun was attacking the President by Tweet during the SOTU, basically calling him a socialist enemy of the Republic. The funny thing about all these southerners talking socialism is that they come from a part of the country that gets far more federal aid than it contributes in tax revenue. California gets somewhere on the order of 77 cents for every dollar it contributes to the federal coffers. These southern states are the biggest suck on the federal tit around. If you crackers want to stop socialism so bad, why not stop taking federal money?

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Rand Paul called for a ban on aid to Israel today. Wonder if this is a payback to Don Black and the folks at the white supremacist and anti-semitic organization Stormfront, big financial backers of Paul?

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We have a big snowy white barn owl building a nest right over our bedroom window. It has been going on for about three days and the noises all night are otherworldly. I am bringing my camera home and hope to snag a few shots soon. Hope she catches a lot of rodents.