North Carolina: Lexington man charged with making a fake $1 million bill and trying to spend it.
Just sayin' ...
Monday, January 02, 2012
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Is Obama Campaigning for Paul in Iowa?
US president Barack Obama signed the Police State Enabling Act ... er, "National Defense Authorization Act" ... on Friday Saturday (thanks to Mark Laythorpe for catching that).
Um ... why?
Per the White House web site, the bill was presented to the president on December 21.
From that date, he had 10 days, excluding Sundays, to either sign it or "pocket veto" it (since Congress is not in session, not signing it within 10 days is an "automatic" veto; if they were in session, it would become law without his signature if he didn't actively veto it).
I could see him signing it immediately, to get it done and have it over with.
I could also see him waiting the full 10 days to express displeasure, but not displeasure strong enough to warrant a veto.
Instead, he signed it onFriday Saturday -- more than a week after passage but with three two days left before the deadline.
One obvious reason to sign it onFriday Saturday was to insert it into the weekend news cycle. But is there any particular reason why he would want to do that?
My pet theory is that he thinks the news coverage will benefit Ron Paul -- the only Republican candidate whom anyone really believes has a problem with the "indefinite detention" language in the NDAA -- in Tuesday's Iowa GOP caucus, and that he also thinks Paul doing well in Iowa helps Obama himself defeat the eventual Republican nominee next November.
Um ... why?
Per the White House web site, the bill was presented to the president on December 21.
From that date, he had 10 days, excluding Sundays, to either sign it or "pocket veto" it (since Congress is not in session, not signing it within 10 days is an "automatic" veto; if they were in session, it would become law without his signature if he didn't actively veto it).
I could see him signing it immediately, to get it done and have it over with.
I could also see him waiting the full 10 days to express displeasure, but not displeasure strong enough to warrant a veto.
Instead, he signed it on
One obvious reason to sign it on
My pet theory is that he thinks the news coverage will benefit Ron Paul -- the only Republican candidate whom anyone really believes has a problem with the "indefinite detention" language in the NDAA -- in Tuesday's Iowa GOP caucus, and that he also thinks Paul doing well in Iowa helps Obama himself defeat the eventual Republican nominee next November.
The Obligatory First Post of 2012
Missing the first day of January would be a bad start toward fulfilling my resolution of averaging a blog post a day in 2012, wouldn't it?
Unfortunately, I'm just not seeing that much exciting to blog about today. So I guess I'll just throw out a few trivialities.
The Iowa Republican caucus? Yawn. I won't be surprised if Ron Paul finishes first, second, third or fourth. I won't be surprised if Gingrich finishes second, third or lower, or if Santorum finishes as high as third. I will be surprised if Romney doesn't make at least second place, if Gingrich wins, if Santorum lands first or second place, or if Paul places worse than fourth. As you can tell, none of these surprise/non-surprise markers resolve into real predictions of note. Frankly, I'm already bored to tears with this election. Maybe that will change.
Last night was the first night in nearly two months that I didn't sleep outdoors in a tent (click on the "tent living" label if you're interested in why). New Year celebrations kept me up until the wee hours, and in an altered mental state to boot. Also while it's not quite a "resolution," my intent is to see if I can sleep outdoors every night in 2012, so I figured one last hurrah on an indoor bed made sense at this juncture.
For New Year's Eve family movie night, the first selection was Cowboys and Aliens. Not bad. I didn't expect to like it much, but I always enjoy Daniel Craig. Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Clancy Brown et. al didn't disappoint either. Doesn't go on my "favorites" shelf or anything, but I'd watch it again. After that, we tried Across the Universe. I lost interest maybe a third of the way through. Interesting concept, but just didn't hold together well. We also rented R.E.D., but never got to it.
OK, you can go back to being bored with something else now.
Unfortunately, I'm just not seeing that much exciting to blog about today. So I guess I'll just throw out a few trivialities.
The Iowa Republican caucus? Yawn. I won't be surprised if Ron Paul finishes first, second, third or fourth. I won't be surprised if Gingrich finishes second, third or lower, or if Santorum finishes as high as third. I will be surprised if Romney doesn't make at least second place, if Gingrich wins, if Santorum lands first or second place, or if Paul places worse than fourth. As you can tell, none of these surprise/non-surprise markers resolve into real predictions of note. Frankly, I'm already bored to tears with this election. Maybe that will change.
Last night was the first night in nearly two months that I didn't sleep outdoors in a tent (click on the "tent living" label if you're interested in why). New Year celebrations kept me up until the wee hours, and in an altered mental state to boot. Also while it's not quite a "resolution," my intent is to see if I can sleep outdoors every night in 2012, so I figured one last hurrah on an indoor bed made sense at this juncture.
For New Year's Eve family movie night, the first selection was Cowboys and Aliens. Not bad. I didn't expect to like it much, but I always enjoy Daniel Craig. Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Clancy Brown et. al didn't disappoint either. Doesn't go on my "favorites" shelf or anything, but I'd watch it again. After that, we tried Across the Universe. I lost interest maybe a third of the way through. Interesting concept, but just didn't hold together well. We also rented R.E.D., but never got to it.
OK, you can go back to being bored with something else now.
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