Hank Thoreau once admonished: "Simplify, simplify!"
And, I think it's time we took his advice. Things just aren't nearly as complicated as the plutocrats and their 24-hour "news" pushers would have us believe.
re: Benghazi---there is just no "there" there. Or, if you prefer, the whole kerfluffle is a crock of BS stirred up by a bitter old man who sees his relevance as a national player ending. Ambassador Susan Rice almost quoted the carefully worded information she'd been given by the intelligence community. That amounted to "Here's what currently available information indicates, but we continue to investigate and we will update as further information becomes known." Period.
(There were 11 similar attacks during the Bush administration but, somehow, no one called W's surrogates "incompetent liars" when they failed to instantly know exactly what happened and why.)
re: the "fiscal cliff"---There is no such thing. This overstated nonsense is just the transparent excuse for the Kabuki theater now playing in Washington. We Democrats won the election. Let the Bush tax cuts expire as the Republicans provided in the original legislation. Introduce legislation immediately to resume the tax cuts for those with incomes less than $250,000 per year. Will the GOP vote against such a tax cut? I think not.
Once this is done, THEN begin budget negotiations with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid off the table. Propose the Progressive Caucus Budget for openers, mop up the exploded GOP heads, proceed with the people's business.
re: the filibuster---Kill it on opening day unless McConnell will agree to "compromise" on amendments paralleling Reid's announced terms. And, while we're at it, let's get rid of this anonymous "hold" crap.
Perhaps the primary reason we can't proceed in this fashion as to all issues is that it would take news creation out of the control of the cable news industry and---damn!---that would just knock the hell out of profits!
