Sep 222013
 

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 100, and I’m sad to say the cravings have not diminished one iota.  I haven’t been Peter Perfect, but my doctor says that she has no problem with my ultra-low cheating level (< 1/week or two).  On the downside, my sense of smell has returned, and that can be a major inconvenience on public transit.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos will not be worshiping,  They have been blessed with worship on Monday night this week.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:08 (average 5:10).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: The new NALT Christians Project is currently blowing my mind. It’s a place where Christians can publicly proclaim that they are “not all like that.” And it’s about time.

 

These are authentic Christians. The haters are Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians. The difference is clear.  (Thanks to Pat, you’ll be seeing more of these, as I’ve put myself on their list.)

From The New Yorker: In a sharply critical op-ed piece for the Russian Web site Pravda, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) called Russian President Vladimir Putin “a brutal, freedom-hating tyrant” and challenged Mr. Putin to tear down the Berlin Wall.

“The Wall stands as a symbol of your failed, repressive system,” Sen. McCain said. “Until you tear it down, the world will see you and your Soviet goons for what you are: relics destined for the dustbin of history.”

“Mr. Putin, tear down that wall,” Sen. McCain’s editorial pointedly concluded.

Dang!! Andy really HAS switched from satirizing to reporting!!  😉

From NY Times: The Obama administration on Friday announced that it was not backing down from a confrontation with the coal industry and that it would press ahead with enacting the first federal carbon limits on the nation’s power companies.
The proposed regulations, announced at the National Press Club by Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, are an aggressive move by Mr. Obama to bypass Congress on climate change with executive actions he promised in his inaugural address this year. The regulations are certain to be denounced by House Republicans and the industry as part of what they call the president’s “war on coal.”

In her speech, Ms. McCarthy unveiled the agency’s proposal to limit new gas-fired power plants to 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per megawatt-hour and new coal plants to 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide. Industry officials say the average advanced coal plant currently emits about 1,800 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour.

I hear a lot of whining that it isn’t enough, and I fully agree. It isn’t enough. However, without Congress, it’s what he CAN do.

Cartoon:

22Cartoon

Republican Supply-side Jesus talks about SNAP (food stamps).

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  27 Responses to “Open Thread–9/22/2013”

  1. 3:29 I hurried because I thought they said Mimosa, not Mammosa.

    • 3:22 I hurried so that I could go get a Mimosa.

      TomCat, the cravings (I assume you are talking about smoking) do not go away for a long time.  You get better at dealing with them, but it takes a year or three for them to disappear.  They do go away.  I use to smoke 2 to 3 packs a day.   I have not smoked for nearly 30 years now, and I can assure you that I have not had any desire to smoke for many years, but the first two or three years were tough, and included an occasional slip up.  Just continue to do it one day at a time.  They add up after a while.  You are already up to 100.  Good job!

    • 3:44  Caught in the beauty!

    • Monster Mashed!

  2. Tom, hang in there with the smoking cessation. The craving never completely goes away but it gets easier to resist. All you have to do is think for a minute of the benefits. 100 days!

    Upworthy ~ I thought this was one of the best things I had heard about this week. Kudos to these Real Christians.

    The New Yorker ~ Too close to the truth, Andy. He remembered that the Wall was gone but not that Putin is Prime Minister, not President. Putin and McConJob both have that cowboy mentality that St. Ronnie Ray-Gun had though. McConJob is laughable as an "expert" in foreign policy. It is definitely time for him to retire from politics. Maybe he can do the talk show circuit or something more comedic.

    NY Times ~ It is sad that we have to "settle" for what we can get instead of Congress doing the right thing. (Big sigh)

    Cartoon ~ If the new leader of the Catholic Church has any say in the world, this may change. Lyin' Ryan might not like it though.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/world/europe/pope-bluntly-faults-churchs-focus-on-gays-and-abortion.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

     

     

     

    • Thanks Patty!

      Thanks and Amen!

      McConJob is getting so senile that he forgets.

      True, but the point is, that I wish people would stop blaming Obama for what he CAN"T do!!

      You will LOVE Tuesday's Cartoon.

  3. Many congratulations to you TomCat for 100 days resisting nicotine!  That Christian family are wonderful, aren't they! 

  4. There are Christians who model their lives after Jesus Christ, and there are those who prefer Pat Robertson.    Those two don't have much in common.

  5. WRT your Cartoon …

    WWJS?  Who Would Jesus Starve?

  6. How did you do? 4:35

    100 days is a milestone, a bench mark and motivation for more days being tobacco free. Congratulations TC

    The new NALT Christians Project is currently blowing my mind. It’s a place where Christians can publicly proclaim that they are “not all like that.” And it’s about time.

    Two thumbs up ^^…

     

    • Excellent time Richard!  Over half a minute under the average!  Keep going!  very impressive!

    • Richard, you ought to start posting your times in the samw cluster with the rest of us, now that you're good enought to be a threat. 🙂

      Amen!

  7. Ironically, TC, the Republicans are doing exactly what needs to be done to head off global warming; by starving the economy, they'll succeed in shutting it down. The US economy is big enough that when it goes down, the global economy goes along with it, which is all good in terms of the environment, but not at all good in terms of the economy. What most people don't realize is that the powers-that-be don't give a rat's ass about the economy; they (the .01 percent) already own most of the global wealth and to accumulate more would only be redundant. Sadly, neither Republicans nor Democrats have a viable plan to replace the failing economy with a workable one, nor does either party seem willing to entertain visionary ideas for developing such a plan. Given the trajectory we're on, if nothing changes, death by deprivation will be inevitable for billions of people.

    • Phil, I'm sorry, but you are wrong in claiming equivalence between the parties.  Democtats have an excellent plan, including ending the subsidies for the super rich and using the money saved to invest in green energym infrasstricture and education, surtaxes on companies who offshore jobs, tax credits for companies who create jobs here, and more.  The reason that is not working is that Republican obstruction has prevented its implementation

      • But I made no such claim of equivalence between the parties, TC; I merely pointed out that neither party has a workable plan to resolve our current economic issues. Beyond what they're already doing to starve the economy, Republicans have no plan. Their part in the ongoing economic crash is to take and keep money out of the economy, and they've been wildly successful.

        Of course the Democratic plan for economic recovery looks good when compared to the Republican non-plan — one might even call it excellent — but it, too, will fail for the same reasons that the current economy is failing; neither the new plan nor the old economy recognize or address the underlying weaknesses responsible for the systemic economic crisis now in progress.

        • Apologies.  I've hear that same argument do many times from those who say there is no differences in the parties.  What do you think would address the structural deficiencies?

          •  If there were an easy answer to your question, TC, it would be this: Forsake the profit motive and ditch capitalism. That's the starting point. But there are no easy answers, and the economy and everything it's inextricably connected to are complex subjects that deserve better treatment than I can give in this limited amount of space. I'm preparing a long series of short articles that reveal the reasons behind capitalism's failures and that suggest possible solutions to the economic dilemma we now find ourselves in. The first article went up on Frieddogleg three weeks ago (with more to follow as time and energy permit). Dog me if you dare, Mr. Cat. 😀

            • Phil, I imagine I'll agree with most of what you ahve to say depending on what you mean by socialism, and how that economic system would be politically structured, especially if your referring to what Europeans call a social democracy.  The big issue, as I see it, is how do we get there from here.  Because I see no nonviolent path to short-term change of that magnitude, I tend to focus more on what is possible and practical, but if you do, I'm happy to listen.

              Feel free to post links to those articles in Open Threads here, and mention that it's at my request, so folks don't think you're SPAMMING.

  8. Puzzle — 3:44  Caught in the beauty!

    Upworthy — It is so nice to be reminded that there really are true Christians in the so called US Bible belt.  Did you see the excitement, joy and pride in that youngster's face as he showed a picture of his godfather?  Such a wonderful change from the hate filled rants of the right wing evangelical pseudo Christians.

    The New Yorker — AB sure does know how to show how out of touch with reality McCain is!  McCain should be a "relics destined for the dustbin of history.”

    NY Times — If McTurtle is so concerned about the jobs and people of Kentucky, then why isn't he leading the charge to develop clean energy in Kentucky?  Transition those jobs!

    "…will be required to limit their emissions, likely by installing technology called “carbon capture and sequestration,” which scrubs carbon dioxide from their emissions before they reach the plant smokestacks. …"

    McTurtle should know lots about sequestration!  He's all for sequestration elsewhere and doesn't give a damn about the jobs lost there!  What a putz!

    Cartoon — Yup!  That must be the Republicanus/Teabagger supply-side Jesus.  You'd never find a blond haired Aramaic child.  This guy cleared the temple of the sick, the hungry, the poor, the children etc, not the money changers. 

  9. Congratulations on day 100!

    The NALT Christians are super, if I lived in Memphis, I would go to their church.

    McCain has been off his game since he ran against dubya.

    The coal industry owns so many politicians and judges that it will be a hard battle to make them do what is right.  In my area if you are not a teacher, doctor, or lawyer, there are no decent paying jobs outside the coal industry.  They dont want to spend the money necessary to reduce carbon emissions, just as they don't want to spend the money to restore what they tear down, mountains farms streams, etc.  A judge in Louisville, Ky. recently ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers had no rights to rule on the health of people in mining areas, they can only rule on water quality and containment.  So what if those who live near the mines have increased rates of cancer, emphysema, etc.

    • Thanks, Edie!

      Amen!

      Amen again,

      'Sadly, the jughe was legally correct.  The people whose job it is to rule on air quality is the EPA, whose staff Republicans have gutted, so they don't have the people to do their job, and State and County Public Health officials, who Kentucky Republicans keep without cojones.

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