- From a reader in California, with a reference to boomer-era pop culture:
>>Related to your all-too-accurate description of Eric Cantor's actions as weasel-like, I feel compelled to share my most frequent observation of Eric Cantor: He's Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver.
I don't mean that literally of course. But doesn't Cantor act and even look the way we all expected a grown-up Eddie Haskell to act and look? This is handy for predicting his behavior. All you have to do is ask yourself, "What would that sneaky little two-faced twerp Eddie Haskell do in this situation?" And the answer will never be far from Cantor's behavior.<<
From a reader in Georgia:
>>Y'all are missing the point.On the Eddie Haskell point, I agree. As the reader notes, even sort of a physical resemblance, in the mouth and eyes. On the "historic first" point, who knows. Nancy Pelosi was the first female Speaker, Harry Reid is the first Mormon Majority Leader of the Senate, everyone can think of a way in which his or her own achievements are "first" of their kind. Even George W. Bush: after all, he was the first person in his family, and the first son of a president, to be re-elected president. (You can slice this very thin.) Maybe this potential role adds extra edge to Cantor's ambition, as a comparable historic niche seemed to do for Joe Lieberman. Or maybe it's just how he is.
Eric Cantor is not concerned with the current debate. His goal is to topple John Boehner and become the first Jewish speaker of the House. It will be his place in history.
That's the entire reason why Boehner has faded from the negotiations. It's the reason Cantor is posturing during negotiations while his team is leaking like mad about how he stood up to Obama. It's the reason he has been using his position to whip up the base and make Boehner's position impossible.<<
And from a reader in Texas:
>>Mitch McConnell is also giving in to the tea party and will follow Cantor's steps...After the jump, an appeal to Heaven. More on this vein in another day or two.Now in Texas we are faced with the same mess.... Years ago, when I came to Houston in 1976, the sky was red from heavy pollution. [JF note: I was there at the time, and I remember seeing the dirty skies.]. We were building a VCM plant - a heavy carcinogen - raw material for PVC. Diamond Shamrock at the time spent 15% of the project on pollution control. This was due to EPA restrictions and requirements.
This type of pollution abatement has benefited Houston. Now we have clear skies and the red band has vanished. We still have a long way to go - because there are still carcinogens released into the atmosphere by heavy polluters like [company name] that prefers to trade pollution credits versus fixing the simple problems. Today's technology can handle all this with no strain.
Well our fearless leader - the now nationally recognizable Rick Perry - decided that he will fight EPA and find ways to avoid compliance and try to destroy the EPA. Who are these guys? Are they Americans? Do they want us again to breath polluted dirty red air? Do they want all of us to have cancer?... Make the other world economies stronger and their citizens healthier? In Houston the EPC companies sell pollution control technology every day to customers outside the country.
All in all - the good will, the pollution control systems bought for Diamond Shamrock in the 1970's have worked to Diamond's advantage - they were a good corporate citizen....
Yes we have to get the deficit under control and everyone agrees - but we also should not roll back agencies that improve our lives. We can make many things more efficient - but how is Perry or Cantor efficient - they are wasting our resources in positioning themselves.
What is going on? Where is human compassion, common sense, reasonable policy and the future planning? You tell me?<<
From a reader in Washington DC:
>>My office is in the United Methodist Building (right next to the Supreme Court), and I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see this message featured on the building's external message board (see attached). At the rate negotiations are going, this might not be a bad idea.<<
