Tuesday Tidbits

·         Russia and China use their vetoes in the UN Security Council to block a sanctions package against Syria proposed by the European Union citing Syrian issues were internal matters.  The killing of 3,000 of one’s own citizens is no longer an internal matter then again the Chinese and Russians wouldn’t want to be called hypocrites.

·         As if the tensions between Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and the U.S. weren’t strained enough, Afghan President Karzai reached out to India to help train his nation’s police force in counter terrorism tactics.  Not surprisingly, Pakistani officials reacted with anger as their much feared Afghanistan-India alignment puts them in a nasty sandwich. 

·         Florida GOP moves its primary up to January 31^st  South Carolina responds by moving its primary to January 21^st.  So it is quite possible that once Nevada, Iowa, and New Hampshire set their dates, the GOP nominating season may start in December.  How many shopping days to the Iowa caucus?  Another thought on the GOP process, they have moved from the winner take all method to allocating delegates on a percentage basis meaning this process could very easily drag out into the late spring if the likes of Ron Paul and Herman Cain can routinely grab 15% at each contest.

·         While much has been written about President Obama’s Jobs Act, there are several bills sitting in Congress that could be heading to votes soon that will have significant global repercussions.  Firstly, free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama have been bouncing back and forth between the White House and Congress and could be brought to the floor shortly.  I wouldn’t be surprised if these agreements are part of some grand bargain between the two branches.  The other bill is a currency act that could impose serious sanctions on China for using currency to gain an economic advantage.  Coming right after the F-16 upgrade package to Taiwan, Sino-American relations could be getting a whole lot frostier.

·         We have nearly 150,000 bridges in this country rated structurally deficient or fundamentally obsolete by the Federal Highway Association.  With all due respect Mr. President, we do not need a $50Billion package, we need a $500Billion infrastructure package.

·         Who said it: “We're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that have allowed some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share. In theory, some of those loopholes were understandable, but in practice they sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary, and that's crazy. It's time we stopped it.”  President Obama?  Nope.  That was the original class warrior himself Ronald Reagan in 1985.