Yemen Bombings In The Time Of Nepali Cholera In Haiti, Or Can Rand Paul Overcome His Kentucky Cargo Cultists...

Dana Milbank
Jonathan Weiler
Mark McKinnon

"But as surely as the Democrats are going to lose badly tomorrow, the Republican Party leadership is going to misread its mandate. It is a party now almost fully in the thrall of extremists, with virtually no position too outrageous to merit full-throated condemnation And the public can't stand the GOP. Poll after poll shows that substantial majorities of Americans disapprove of the party. On the GOP's (and Tea Party's) presumably signature issue, reducing the scope of government, the public disagrees, by large majorities in many cases." - Jonathan Weiler

"So, to recap: Republicans will probably gain 75 seats, or perhaps 58, but their possible pickup range is from 55 to 85 -- except if it's lower than 50, or higher than 85." - Dana Milbank

Tonight's the night if you are a political junkie, otherwise, last night was the pinnacle when the SF Giants won the World Series... The media has tried to drum up as much interest as it could for a midterm election, and voting maybe at an all-time high, if how close so many races will be an indication...

The most covered Senate race is probably Christine O'Donnell, just because the reporters are waiting like vultures to see what mistakes she will make next. Mark McKinnon makes the argument that we should not be making these women out to be nutcases and crazy characters, because our daughters are watching. I agree with him that we do still use sexist descriptions of women and that is ultimately demeaning, but when women like Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, Jan Brewer, Christine O'Donnell, and Michele Bachmann make embarrassing gaffes in public that shows a lack of intellectual depth and understanding of a subject, is it better to ignore it or should it be reported? Especially when the gaffes are so funny? And is it a coincidence that all of these women call themselves conservatives?

If you really want to see people get mean and vicious, go to where the votes are being reported tonight in your county. The place will be energetic and hopping, there might even be some name calling and fist-fights breaking out at this late a date, with local, state, and national politicos all mingling together, ready to break away and run over to the best nearby victory party...

Here's my prediction: because the republican Party never attempted to rebuild or redefine itself to include more minorities, the wins they get now will only become nails in the coffin in the next two years. So far the only public policy that John Boehner has stated is to tear down everything that Barack Obama has accomplished, with nothing to replace it or any new ideas to solve our current problems. The economy will not miraculously improve overnight, it will continue to drag on for years, and we will still have a large unemployment rate for several more years. The Democrats will no longer be blamed for this, the Republicans will be blamed and it may sound the GOP death knell.

The tea party will prove to be just as ineffective, in fact, they will be seen as more obstructionist than the Republicans, with even fewer ideas, and they will go offstage to die a quiet death as a political force, until the only thing left is the sound of Rand Paul rambling on incoherently...

The US Center for Disease Control has issued a statement saying that the cholera in Haiti has the same structure as a strain of cholera from Southeast Asia. OOps! The US has quarantined a base that it is using to bring in international peace keeping troops, specifically a group just flown in from Nepal. Not saying that we are the ones responsible for bringing in cholera to Haiti, but maybe we are their best of friends and their worst of enemies... Maybe we can send them some more tents and plastic ponchos to help against the next tropical storm due to hit the island within the next couple of days... Maybe even a Fugees concert to take your mind off of the hundreds who have died already, and the thousands who have come down with it...


One question that may remain unanswered about the cargo bombs from Yemen is, were they supposed to have reached a destination before exploding, or were they designed to cause damage somewhere on the way? That the names and addresses were fictional points towards the desire to cause damage before reaching Chicago. Several more bombs have been delivered in Greece, and one to Angela Merkel in Germany, hinting at several copycat bomb makers plying their trade.

If Yemen is supposed to have been such a hotspot of terrorist activities, why hasn't it been cut off, with everything going in and out of there being inspected? Why hasn't this been done years ago? Why are so many cargo haulers whining about inspecting packages? So what if it takes an extra day for you to get that piece of electronics, and we could make exceptions for items like livers for transplants and nuclear trigger devices for Saudi Arabia and Israel...

To counteract against the rising tides of homophobia, Islamophobia, and the image of the US as an aggressive, war promoting country, today there are more young Americans signing up to join the Peace Corps than ever before. I guess our future will be in good hands if there are so many working to help solve problems all over the world instead of leaving it to the CIA and their drone programs...