Oct 142013
 

I’m writing for tomorrow and hurrying to get to my holy meditation in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:48 (average 5:01).  To do it, click here.  Hoe did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

1013-Broncos35-Jaguars19

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK): ‘Defaulting on the debt doesn’t mean debt default.’

You might think that members of the party of the 1%, which also likes to think of itself as the party pushing individual and fiscal responsibility, would have at least a ten-year-old’s understanding of basic economics. But the looming debt crisis seems to have pushed many Republicans into a deep state of denial. Sen. Tom Coburn, a shining example of intellectual acuity, said early this week: "I would dispel the rumor that is going around that you hear on every newscast, that if we don’t raise the debt ceiling, we will default on our debt. We won’t. We’ll continue to pay our interest.”

He made this blatantly crazy statement with a straight face. As economist Robert Reich explained on his blog: “While the Treasury Department could prioritize interest payments after October 17 – the day the Treasury Department says it no longer has legal authority to pay the nation’s debts – and not pay Social Security and Medicare, this would buy a few days at most."

Meanwhile, interest rates will soar, stock prices will plummet, the global economy will begin spiraling downward, and millions of Americans wouldn’t receive their Social Security and Medicare.”

Reich concludes inescapably and perhaps charitably: “Sounding crazy is part of the Republican bargaining strategy.”

This is just one of ten shockers from increasingly unhinged Republicans in the last week alone. Click through for the other nine!

From Daily Kos: Great news: the people trying to hurt their workers instead of providing them health insurance, and using Obamacare as an excuse, have seen drastic drops in their brand’s reputation.

According to YouGov BrandIndex,  a leading marketing survey that measures brand perception in the marketplace (called “Buzz”), Papa John’s had good reason for concern as the pizza chain’s brand identity has plummeted from a high of 32 on election day, to a remarkably low score of 4 among adults who have eaten at causal dining restaurants during the past month.

Ouch.

Papa John is not alone in his anti-Obamacare misery.

Fast food server, Applebee’s, possessed a healthy Buzz score of 35 before Zane Terkel, CEO of one of the company’s largest franchisees, appeared on television to complain about the law and to announce that he would not be building more restaurants or hiring any more workers in response to his objections to Obamacare.

Applebee’s “pre-Terkel” Buzz score of 35 now sits at a pathetic 5.

The only pain such greedy capitalists feel is a hard kick to the wallet!

From MSNBC: Debunking projection from the Republican Noise Machine

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It is Republicans who changed the House rules. just so they could keep a clean CR off the floor. Both sides are not to blame. The Senate CR is already a huge compromise with Senate Republicans. House Republicans, who claim to want compromise, are demanding capitulation and preventing the normal operation of the House to achieve it. A clean CR would pass the House, but John Boehner refuses to allow even the majority of the House to rule.

Cartoon:

14Cartoon

Considering the many parallels, is it any wonder that Republicans keep disparaging and promote withdrawal from the UN?

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  10 Responses to “Open Thread–10/14/2013”

  1. Cat Man, I have no head or brain left to smack on the table at this point…..although I could swubstitute falling to the floor in a heap of dead faint. But I would be very hard pressed of having to get up again without assistance.

  2. So it seems to be (to my migraine) that it is one …. 'man'…. Boehner, who is holding the whole country to ransom over this vote…. off to pray…

  3. ~ 6:11

    Papa John is not alone in his anti-Obamacare misery.

    I would never buy a Papa John Pizza, ever…!

    Applebee’s “pre-Terkel” Buzz score of 35 now sits at a pathetic 5.

      No Applebees either, done…

    Rule Change: Sec. 2. Any motion pursuant to clause 4 of Rule XXII relating to house joint resolution 59 may be offered ONLY by the Majority Leader of his DESIGNEE.

    :mrgreen:

  4. 5:55.  I think I'll go play with my 336 piece "Fountain at the Phuket Zoo."  At least the pieces lock.

    Reich: "So why are Republicans talking like this? Because they want to sound as if they’re willing to blow up the economy if they don’t get their way. A crazy person with a bomb is much scarier than someone holding a bomb who looks and acts reasonable."  Also, "If we get to October 17th and the Republicans are still holding the nation hostage, the President has only one option: He must ignore the debt ceiling and order the Treasury to continue to pay all the nation’s bills. (para) He should rely on Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which says the “validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned.” The debt itself is clearly “authorized by law” because it’s the direct result of laws authorizing the U.S. to spend and to tax. The showdown over the debt ceiling is over payment of the debt, not the legality of the debt itself. Arguably, what the Constitution requires trumps any law governing the debt-ceiling."  How I love Robert Reich.  How is his movie doing, anyone know?

    Wheat allergy makes Papa John's impossible for me even if he were the world's greatest progressive (ha!).  Applebee's at least serves a few things I can eat more or less safely.  But not now.

    Compromise.  Hmmm.  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/04/1244084/-R-s-type-of-compromise-Can-I-burn-down-your-house

    • Can I burn down your house?
      No

      Just the 2nd floor?

      No

      Garage?

      No

      Let's talk about what I can burn down.

      No

      The best analogy…

      "Fountain at the Phuket Zoo."

      Priceless… 🙂

  5. 4:02  I got stuck on the cactus.

    • 3:15  That cactus juice electrified me!  Will I now be short circuited by the Patty Masher?

  6. I haven't eaten at Papa JOhn's or Applebees since the above statements were given.  Sadly, they are not the only corporations who areusing this to keep from spending a few extra bucks.  The Republicans have sold a bill of goods that the American public is slowly discovering is a fraud.

  7. Puzzle — 3:15  That cactus juice electrified me!  Will I now be short circuited by the Patty Masher?

    Religious Ecstasy — Poor pussy cats.  Run over by a horse.

    Alternet — Oh My!  I could talk about all of these but I won't.  But truly, the devil is in the details.  And speaking of the devil . . . 

    “He’s [the devil] a real person. …" — Yeah, and his name is Antonin Scalia.  Scalia, a conservative activist Injustice of SCOTUS is wacko!

    Truly, it is very evident after reading the pronouncements of these Republicanus/Teabaggers, that they are all ready for a rubber room.  They are so demented, out of touch with reality, that they are a danger to everyone, including themselves.

    Daily Kos — Love it!  Well deserved!

    "Hopefully that shuts up the idiot CEOs of other chains who shudder at the thought of having to raise the prices on their goods a few cents to do what they should have already been doing: providing their full time employees with healthcare."

    MSNBC — Amazing!  Changing the rules and not making it known, just so the Republicanus/Teabaggers can engineer a shutdown and try to make it look like the work of Democrats.

    My momma always said to us "Gi'me, gi'me never gets!"  Boehner and the Republicanus/Teabaggers need to talk to my mother!

     

    Cartoon — "…is it any wonder that Republicans keep disparaging and promote withdrawal from the UN?"

    Not at all surprising.

  8. Thanke everyone.  I need to take a partial day off.

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