Oct 222013
 

Writing for tomorrow, I’m making this a light day to get as much rest as I can before going to prison for volunteer work tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:08 (average 5:36).  To do it, click here,  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Confused Republican thought the debt deal included money for Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army.

With all the dopey things said and done by intransigent Republicans in last week’s shitstorm of dopey intransigence, Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney earned his place right up there in the pantheon. When the 11th hour deal to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government was struck between Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, it did not have much trouble getting through both houses of Congress. But there were those Republicans deluding themselves that they could fight on.

Rep. Mulvaney of South Carolina was one—and among his objections? The deal, he said, included funding for Joseph Kony’s Uganda-based Lord’s Resistance Army. Now, that would be pretty evil if it were true. Kony is an exiled war criminal with a messianic complex known for kidnapping children, and turning them into sex slaves and soldiers who kill their own families. The funding, if Mr. Mulvaney had read a little closer, was a small amount earmarked to the Pentagon which is funding African troops trying to capture Kony and end his reign of terror and atrocity. Ohhhh…oops. It seems Sen. David Vitter isn’t the only Republican in Congress Harry Reid could legitimately claim was not playing with a full deck.

This is just one of ten examples of Republican lunacy in just the last week. Click through for the other nine.

From Daily Kos: The fallout from the Republican shutdown continues, this time according to a new CNN/ORC International poll:

According to the survey, 54% say it’s a bad thing that the GOP controls the House, up 11 points from last December, soon after the 2012 elections when the Republicans kept control of the chamber. Only 38% say it’s a good thing the GOP controls the House, a 13-point dive from the end of last year.

This is the first time since the Republicans won back control of the House in the 2010 elections that a majority say their control of the chamber is bad for the country.

Lets make sure that this trend continues!!

From The Nation: One of the many disgraceful aspects of the media coverage of Obamacare–and criticism of the ACA, and the Tea Party claims in general–is the rote depiction of the new law as "very unpopular" or "opposed by most Americans according to polls" because it goes too far.  Most people are said to be happy with the health care system as is, and so on.  In other words, repeating the GOP line.

Now, those who have supported the law have long claimed that the simple bottom line poll numbers are misleading.  Yes, those numbers generally show that, say, 51% don’t like the ACA and only 44% approve.   Yet, as we know (but many in the media fail to recognize, even beyond Fox News), a lot of Democrats and liberals are unhappy, wisely, because the law doesn’t go far enough, or that President Obama didn’t fight for the public option or single payer or Medicare for all.   So how many of them are included in that bottom line number who "oppose" the ACA–but from the left?

Polls have indicated there’s a fair number but now there’s a new one today that CNN actually took the trouble–at the end of its online report, true–to break out.  And, lo and behold, it turns out that fully 12% of those opposed feel the law doesn’t so far enough.

So, as they note, that means that instead of just over 50% being against the law because it goes too far–the impression most in the media have left–at least 53% actually back the law or believe it should be expanded.

One year from now, after people have had a chance to experience what it really is, instead of Republican lies about it, the matter won’t even be close.

Cartoon:

22Cartoon

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  12 Responses to “Open Thread–10/22/2013”

  1. 3:18  I hope I hitched my horse to the right hitching post!

  2. Puzzle — 3:18  I hope I hitched my horse to the right hitching post!  When I was in grade 5 through grade 11, the street that I lived on had many of the old metal hitching posts along it.  Some were more ornate than others.  I was lucky enough to live in a time when milk and bread wagons were pulled door to door by horse, although the hitching posts were never used by those horses because they knew the route so well and stopped at the designated place without prompting.  Our milkman, Jim, called me "pickle puss" and always let me feed his hose some carrots.  Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

    Alternet — My, my aren`t these some dandies!  I hope there are enough rubber rooms for these morons! Number 6 is an especially beautiful story about the Republicanus/Teabagger perfection of projection!  But all are absolutely ridiculous.

    Daily Kos — I love the graphic — a goposaurus breaking up — and it reminds me of some of the lines of the song "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" — 

    "Cause if you go
    Then I'll be blue (as in Democrat)
    Cause breakin' up is hard to do
    They say that breaking up is hard to do"

    I read in a Care2 post that 2013 is the year for some state and a lot of local elections.  It would seem then, that this is the year to start de-Republicanus/Teabaggerising the local level of government so that all the Republicanus/Teabagger bull shit can be removed from government and people can finally elect governments that truly represent them — Democrats, Justice, and Greens.

    The Nation — It is all in how you frame the question, and in how the responses are analysed.  Of course the Republicanus/Teabaggers are not willing to look at such notions because it does not serve their purpose — the repeal of the ACA.  As someone who has universal healthcare, I believe that once people have had a good taste of Obamacare, they will not want to go back.  It really is a shame that a country that claims to be the greatest country in the world, does not look after it`s own people with universal healthcare.

    Cartoon — 22 October 1844 "The Great Disappointment" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_22,_1844

    Well I`m just as glad that the Republicanus/Teabagger supply-side Jesus didn`t show up!  Not a nice dude!

    Jews await the coming of the Messiah still.  For Christians, Jesus was the Messiah.  Following the crucifixion, people eagerly awaited the return to earth of Jesus.  And of couse there are all sorts of prophecies around that. Personally, I choose to believe that the return of Jesus is not a physically return to earth, but rather is manifested in the hearts of those who diligently follow Jesus` teachings of love and compassion.

    Personal — 22/10/1891 was the day my grandfather was born.  I was reminded of this when I was told that my 91 year old cousin Jack passed away yesterday.  He, like I, was very fond of my grandfather and his uncle, Wilf, a role model for both of us.  It is a blessing that Jack passed away peacefully as he had a 100% blocked vein and bone cancer.  But until the end, Jack`s mind was keen.  Jack lived back in Ontario and my brother and SIL were close to him.  I remember him well from my years living in Ontario but distance prevented a close relationship in latter years.  He knew I am caring for my mother and was happy I am.

    • My town has their elections this year. All the candidates are RepublicanTs. They are all running unopposed. Fancy that.

    • The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th-century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakening.

      If my memory is correct the Millerite's claimed the end of the planet in 1843 but, it didn't happen. So they claimed and error and it would end in 1844… :mrgreen:

      History of Seventh-day Adventism

       He concluded that the "cleansing of the sanctuary" (interpreted as the Second Coming) would occur sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844.

      When these dates passed, 🙂

  3.  What goes on in Republican brains?  How do they work?  (When they work, that is to say!)…  What on earth was Mulvaney 'thinking'?  I really think that the psychiatric profession could make a fortune trying to mend the GOP – they are nutcases!  I hope his electorate are fully apprised of his insane rantings and deselect him at the very first opportunity.

     

  4. Alternet ~ I bet he understands the Constitution just as well. An  "F" in Reading Comprehension?

    Daily Kos ~ I'm really liking those numbers and hope the trend continues also. If they keep up their crazy antics, we can count on it.

    The Nation ~ I have long felt the numbers on the ACA polls were distorted because of the way questions are asked. Clarification was definitely needed.

    Cartoon ~ Interesting bit of history.

  5. ~ 4:22

     It seems Sen. David Vitter isn’t the only Republican in Congress Harry Reid could legitimately claim was not playing with a full deck.

    Apathy is biting us in the Arse after the 2010 elections… 😡

     

  6. 6:06

    Well, now, if Republican SupplyiSide Jesus (who I agree is not a nice dude) HAD showed up and raptured those idiots and then left – there might not have been a Civil War.  Just a thought.

  7. Alternet"  Mulvaney isn't the only confused Republican. They seem to think they have a direct link to Jesus.  I am pretty sure he is disgusted with them.

    Daily Kos:  I hope the sheeple remember who caused the shutdown of government and so much suffering of private individuals.

    The Nation:  I am sick of it being called Obama Care by mainstream media.  It is the Affordable Care Act.  They are afraid we will like it if it gets a chance and really don't want the public to like anything this President has done.

    Cartoon:  So glad the Supply side Jesus didn't appear.

  8. Thanks everyone.  Got back from prison and am pooped.  Hugs.

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