The struggle continues into day four tomorrow. I’m writing early, I’m here.
jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:05 (average 5:18). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From TruthDig: You don’t need me to tell you, but it’s a whole lot tougher leading a garage band than being a superstar. What you might not have known is just how much harder.
If you want an example of growing inequality, try the rock ‘n’ roll industry. Between 1982 and 2003, the share of concert income taken home by the top 1 percent of performers more than doubled, rising from 26 percent to 56 percent. The top 5 percent collected almost 90 percent of all concert revenues…
Dang! I did not realize that I’ve been listening to InsaniTEA. 🙁
From Christian Science Monitor: At the adolescent-unfriendly hour of 7:10 on this rainy spring morning in tiny Loachapoka, Ala., classes won’t start for another half hour in the public school. But already the science lab at Loachapoka High School is coming alive with the banter of 13 teens sloughing off backpacks and settling in to learn – not about chemistry or biology, but about faith…
Click through for a comprehensive and interesting article. I have no problem with using school facilities for religious purposes on the students’ own time, if and only if, those facilities are equally available to every religion, including the atheist faith. Otherwise, this practice violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
From Salon.com: Failed Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain warned attendees at the annual Faith and Freedom Conference that America is headed toward communism and socialism, and called for supporters to “take our country back” in 2014.
“This train is running full speed down the tracks towards socialism and towards communism,” Cain said, The Washington Post reports. “Yes, I said it. Before we stop it and reverse it, we got to slow it down. That’s what we do in 2014.”
Like most Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, Mr. 9-9-9 displays complete ignorance. Socialism and Communism are mutually exclusive. Under actual Communism, there is no state. It will have withered away, no longer needed. Under actual Socialism the government owns all the means of production. Neither comes even close to describing the Republican Welfare state handed down by the Bush Regime: Vulture Capitalism.
Cartoon:
Republicans celebrate the day by counting how many they can violate.
19 Responses to “Open Thread–6/18/2013”
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4:34 I'm as slow as the cows today. As far as I'm concercerned you take the Blue ribbon, Tom.
4:28 Today I`m in no hurry to get anywhere! TC, that`s a damn fine time, and that`s no bull!
3:55 TomCat was not cowed by this puzzle.
Your times have been faster since quitting the cigs. Must be all that pent up frustration.
… or maybe the extra energy!
Keep going big guy! You can do it! Khoda Hafez!
Grrrrrr!!!! It's a substitute for sacrificing my neighbor to the :evil:.
😉
Keep your guard up against those errant cravings. Think abut something else or do some stupid busy work.
TruthDig ~ It makes sense to me. Have you checked the price of a concert ticket lately? The last show I saw was at a farm with Willie Nelson and only cost $30.
Christian Science Monitor ~ It is only fair if all Faiths and Atheists are allowed the same amount of time to use space in the "public" schools.
Salon.com ~ Like Failin Palin, Mr. 9-9-9 is totally irrelevant.
Cartoon ~ Violate? I think it's more like abolish.
That's what I'm doing, Ort I lay down and visualize.
I attended two conserts after Woodstock. Woodstock ruined concerts for me. After that, everything else is downhill.
Exactly!
Not if you are a comedian. 😉
If they could!
Wouldn`t you just love to hear George Carlin on Palin and Cain?! I`ll bet he has the heavenly host in stitches!
Maybe that's why God's humor is so great that she hit Robertson with a hurricane.
Puzzle — 4:28 Today I`m in no hurry to get anywhere! TC, that`s a damn fine time, and that`s no bull!
Truthdig — It`s not surprising — art imitating life! What is surprising to me is that I hear tickets go on sale at noon, and they`re sold out at 1 pm. With such outrageous prices, who is buying them? I have been to 2 concerts in my life — Josh Groban and Alan Jackson — and was sitting in a box. The tickets were purchased by my employer, otherwise I would not have gone. Actually I like Groban. Great voice.
Christian Science Monitor — A very interesting article. I am a liberal Christian, but my big bugaboo is the open or covert proselytising of others, whether it be Christian to Christian, Christian to Muslim, Buddhist to Sikh, Muslim to Hindu. I fully support classes in comparative religion because it promotes understanding and respect when done properly. I have no problem with school space being used, as long as it is open to all groups and attendance is voluntary.
Did anyone try the quiz? — "Are you smarter than an atheist? A religious quiz" — I gave it a try and had one wrong for 97% Don`t go by the tally sheet at the end as it is likely wrong.
Salon.com — The train that is speeding down the track full bore is Herman Cain`s and it is heading straight to the funny farm. Trouble is, no one is laughing! The RepublicanéTeabaggers who spout off about socialism and communism have no idea what they are and therefore no idea what they are talking about. Did and do US high schools not teach 20th century world history?
Cartoon — And many UN nations still don`t engage in universal human rights. Canada and the US and Australia are lacking in human rights when dealing with their own indigenous peoples, as an example. When will the people of the world learn that we are all the same, regardless of physical differences.
Thanks! I have a better one today. 🙂
See my reply to Patty, please.
Exdactly. I hsd not, but I wen't back and did it. You were right about the tally sheet. It said I had missed five, but individually, I was correct on 100%.
They did whan I was in school..
The Declaration is non binding, but the US is in violation of over a dozen human rightsa treaties that are binding.
I just had to share this with you! What a pile of bunkum crap!
http://home.mytelus.com/p/news/source/news_cp/category/national/article/23869102
Excuse me but I am going to lose my cookies!
I hate to say this, because I do respect his service, but McConJob's military expertise consists of getting shot down, having a screw loosened under torture, and singing "Bomb Bomb Iran."
I have no problem with schools being used for religious purposes either, so long as it is not during school hours and is voluntary and open to all. I grew up in a Baptist town and my family was not Baptist. The preachers were allowed to come into the class rooms in those days and give a sermon once a week. I learned what religious discrimination meant in 6th grade when I was told that I and my family were going to hell because we didn't belong to the preachers church. That was the beginning of my interest in removing religion from the classroom.
That is exactly why the Establishment Clause must be observed!
"Like most Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, Mr. 9-9-9 displays complete ignorance. Socialism and Communism are mutually exclusive. Under actual Communism, there is no state. It will have withered away, no longer needed. Under actual Socialism the government owns all the means of production. Neither comes even close to describing the Republican Welfare state handed down by the Bush Regime: Vulture Capitalism." Totally agree TC!
As Edie says – keep up your guard – and we are praying for you and visualising your success!
I agree with Lynn about comparitive religion classes – they should be mandatory – for the sake of comprehending others at the very least!
Thanks Pat! 🙂
Just tried that quiz Lynn mentioned – with a headache and made two stupid mistakes – and one I didn't know about – and their computer kept deducting marks for correct answers. I tried to tell them…
"Your computer is making mistakes – I answered the first 10 correctly out of eleven and it told me I had answered 5 corrrectly – it was completely wrong – not only because I knew I had answered correctly but the fact that the answers had come up in green with a green tick beside them. I went on to answers some more correctly and it then told me I had answered 4 out of 32 correctly(!) – please observe it had deducted an answer even by its own unique reckoning! I then went on to answer a total of 29 out of 32 correctly – and it told me I had answered 16 correcly. WRONG!!
"You may be getting a false impression of people's knowledge/ignorance!" Ah well!
CSM quizzes are notorious for both that and mud speed.