deadly tornado

You know, there are some days when you sit in front of the computer keyboard and all you want to do is play computer games. Today has been one of those days.

• The death toll in the deadly tornado in Joplin, Missouri has risen to 122.
• Is there a link between the terrible tornadoes that has destroyed most of Joplin, Missouri and climate change? Of course not (click the link before you comment on my sarcasm).
• A new poll suggests that Americans are more worried about the deficit than they are worried about defaulting. Again, another poll that shows that Americans do not put things together as well as I would like. Exactly what would happen if we defaulted on our national debt is described in this article in Slate. It is not a pretty picture. The probability of us defaulting on our debt has actually been calculated. You can find those calculations here.
• Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General, seems to be trying to rehabilitate his image. After disgracing himself and his family he’s got a lot of work to do.
• House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has sunk to a new low. He has now stated that aid to help the victims of the Missouri tornado needs to have offsets. He can go find all of those offsets by asking the Chamber of Commerce to fork over some of that money that they seem to be sitting on. Even the Hammer, Tom Delay didn’t go this far.
• We need to rethink government contractors and political spending.
• If you are a Republican and you’re going to hold a town hall meeting, you can expect some angry seniors to show up and ask you about your vote to end Medicare. So, as a young congressman, how do you face this mob? You don’t. You call security and have them and the reporters escorted out of the room. Very Classy Representative Justin Amash.
• Representative Patrick McHenry (of my state of NC) acts like a jerk to Elizabeth Warren for no particular reason. Whether it was a misunderstanding or a mix up doesn’t matter. We can still treat each other with dignity and respect. In the south that is how we are raised. I have no idea how Rep McHenry was raised.
• The Patriot Act, which I thought was a done deal, isn’t.  Rand Paul wants to vote on several provisions and, because of this, Senate majority leader Harry Reid has tabled a motion to extend the Patriot Act. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
• The Dallas Mavericks showed a lot of heart and tenacity by pulling out a victory in Oklahoma City last night to take a 3-1 led in the best of 7 series. On the other hand, the Oklahoma City Thunder caved under pressure. The Dallas Mavericks are down by 15 points with just over 5 min. to play in regulation. Dirk Nowitski played amazingly down the stretch with excellent leadership from Jason Kidd. Oklahoma City Thunder got no leadership from Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook. If you’re a Dallas fan it was on the watch, if you’re in Oklahoma City fan it would break your heart.