The Nuclear Option February 18, 2010March 17, 2017 Correction: John Seiffer: “I’m sure I’m not the first to point this out, but a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold.” ☞ Do you know how there’s always one person in a group who’s really annoying? I am ordinarily that person. Today – and I say this with the kind of broad grin that almost requires an emoticon – it’s John Seiffer. Addition: I’ve told you how Fujitsu’s scanner changed my life (and you’ve told me how it’s changed yours). Well, it only gets better. I finally got around to trying it with business cards. And it’s a freakin’ miracle. Instead of entering the info by hand, which I never get around to doing, you just put a stack of cards in the feeder and press a button. Yes, you occasionally have to unclog a jam (a completely trivial task); and, yes, you always have to read each card to correct the inevitable errors (not at all trivial, but kinda fun). But once you’ve done that, one more click and they all wind up in Outlook. Meanwhile, this new model, the S1300, just hitting the streets, is cheaper, smaller, and compatible with both PC and Mac (in case you’re a dual platform household). I love my S1500, which can handle a thicker stack of documents. But the S1300 may be the better choice for many. THE BIG PICTURE Yesterday’s T.E.D. crib notes spared you from cancer. (Eat berries!) Today, thanks to reader Richard Anhalt (who writes, “when Bill Gates talks about using nuclear energy, people listen”), there’s this completely fascinating – and ultimately encouraging – T.E.D. digest. It will take you no more than a minute or two to read. UNDERWEAR I actually snuck in something about money yesterday – specifically, about the INHI warrants some of us own. And a money-saving tip – if you can call $8.95 for a pound of shrimp “money-saving.” But more often than not of late, I’ve been lobbing Rachel Maddow clips. Why? Because the Republican strategy of “blocking everything in order to win back power” threatens our prosperity. Which brings us to Rachel’s clip from Tuesday where she shows Republican after Republican attacking the Obama team for Mirandizing the “underwear bomber” – even though this is exactly what the Bush Administration did every time it arrested terrorists on American soil. And she makes the larger point: yet again, the Republican leadership opposes anything Obama does – even if they were for it until he came their way. (Like the bipartisan deficit reduction panel Republicans co-sponsored but then voted against once the President signed on.) You’ve got to watch Cheney, Giuliani, and the rest pounding away – all in almost identical language – even though every suspected terrorist arrested on American soil under the Bush Administration was treated the same way. Including “the shoe bomber.” Having “also failed when he also tried to detonate PETN when he was also aboard a U.S.-bound airliner after also being trained and directed by Al-Qaeda,” Maddow notes, “Richard Reed was also arrested in the U.S. as a civilian criminal and he was also – yes! – read his Miranda rights. Four times.” See the difference? Same with “the twentieth hijacker” and scores of others. So why are the Republicans orchestrating their scathing criticism when the only thing that’s changed is the occupant of the White House? If you have any doubt who’s trying to govern responsibly and who’s trying to see that effort fail, watch the clip.