Gail Collins, "Expect the Unexpected": Let's Put the Theory to the Test

You want something unexpected? Don't go searching for it in Gail Collins's column.

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Expect the Unexpected" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/opinion/collins-expect-the-unexpected.html?_r=0), Gail Collins, as might be expected, refers us to approval by the Senate yesterday of the immigration reform bill and defeat in Texas of an anti-abortion bill. Collins - excuse me as I stifle a yawn - writes:

"Every once in a while, something happens that challenges your entire view of the order of the universe. For instance, this week the U.S. Senate actually passed something. Meanwhile, in Texas, liberal Democrats and the abortion rights movement won a huge political victory.

. . . .

Americans have conflicted attitudes toward this issue, but one thing that’s consistently clear is that they don’t want a wholesale abortion ban."

Yada yada yada.

The immigration reform bill? As observed by Jonathan Tobin in Commentary:

"Though the yes votes, comprising more than two-thirds of the Senate, represented an impressive bipartisan coalition the prospects of passage in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives are slim if not entirely non-existent. The ability of anti-reform forces to rally much of the GOP grass roots to oppose the reform proposal as “amnesty” or a fraudulent attempt to bolster border security has entirely intimidated the House leadership and much of the party. Though some supporters of the idea, such as Rep. Paul Ryan, are vowing to bring forward a version of reform that might conceivably be meshed with the Senate bill in a conference, passage of any compromise that might conceivably satisfy either party seems unlikely."

Re Texas, I am pro-choice, but I am far more concerned by the NSA's attack on civil liberties than by the 11-hour filibuster in Austin.

Okay, you're still looking for something unexpected? Let's try something new!

Cheesecake in the JG Caesarea blog? Pandering? No way! This is my daughter, Barr, who is trying to advance her modeling career. Having provided you with Arnold's picture yesterday (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/06/david-brooks-nation-of-mutts.html), doesn't Barr deserve equal time?