Yesterday I moved. The day had two low points. The first was discovering that, after losing my appointment for yesterday, Comcast cannot install my service until Tuesday, and learning that the landlord dies not allow a dish, so I can’t tell them to take a long flying ____ off a short pier. The second was discovering that, after I had carefully left the wires attached to network equipment, the movers pulled them all off, leaving me with electronic spaghetti. Kudos to me. Everything works. The high points were looking out my window onto 4th Avenue, Chinese food delivery, crawling into bed, and writing to let you know I’m back. Today is a rest day, and tomorrow comes the task of unpacking lots more boxes. Hopefully, I’ll be back to full time blogging within a week to ten days.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:58 (average 4:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: A Congressman Loses His Temper When Told To Not Talk About The People Suffering In The Room.
Kudos to both Democrats. Polis is right. It IS simple! Americans overwhelmingly favor common sense reform, not racist Republican exploitation.
From The New Yorker: With six fingers of Johnnie Walker swirling in his favorite tumbler, John Boehner speaks with the quiet assurance of a man on the brink of something big.
Just three workdays remain until Congress packs it in for 2013, and the House that Boehner presides over is about to set the record for the least productive year in its history—a quixotic goal that the tawny Ohioan set for himself when he arrived in Washington, in 1991.
“Like most of us, I came to this town hoping to make history,” he says, refilling his tumbler. “And, damn it, that’s what I’m about to do.”
Downing his glass in one gulp, he reflects upon “all the little things that had to go right” to make the year of epic underachievement possible…
Andy is so right. Agent Orange and his cronies have been the least productive Congress in history.
From Daily Kos: Al Sharpton did some great work on Monday’s PoliticsNation where he further exposed the politics of cruelty that have possessed the Republican Party.
Republicans want to cut food stamps, believe that kicking people off of unemployment insurance who cannot find a job in an economy where there are 3 people for every available position, and that a particularly evil and twisted version of "Christian faith" justifies punishing and hurting poor people as righteous deeds and acts that mark conservatives as the elect who are destined for heaven.
I am not a "Christian". But my understanding of the "historical" Jesus was that he was a man who died fighting State tyranny and would do anything to help the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable. The Tea Party GOP’s bastardization of Jesus Christ remakes him into a figure who puts his foot on the throats of the hungry, weak, the vulnerable, and the needy, in order to motivate them into self-sufficiency–or alternatively die from a lack of breath.
For the Tea Party GOP, either outcome is acceptable…
As a rule, I’m not a big Sharpton fan, but once again he deserves major kudos. Historical Jesus and Republican Supply-side Jesus are polar opposites.
Cartoon:
9 Responses to “Open Thread–12/12/2013”
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3:43 I spotted a spotted horse.
3:13 Did you spot me on it rushing away from you?
YAY – TomCat is moved!!! Hope you are sleeping better and that all is MUCH quieter!
How can Andy say this is a Do-nothing Congress? They cut food stamps, shut down the government, embarrassed the country, wasted a lot of money trying to repeal Obamacare, irritated many of us beyond belief, and are in the process of voter repression. We might be better off if they did even less (is that possible?)
4:38 It was my mouse, not me, that was horsing around. I think.
Video – I have supported both Polis (who is in my state) and Garcia (who isn't). Neither is perfect (Polis is on the board of Third Way, or was, unless he quit after the Elizabeth Warren flap – there was so much reaction to that I don't remember it all) but if we had a Congress full of people like them we wouldn't have such problems, and I am proud of both. But what probably angers me mos about immigration is the multitudes of holier-than-thou people (yeah, I make the mistake of watching on YouTube and reading some comments) who are hung up on "they entered illegally" and apparently think they are perfect with respect to the law. Well, I have news for <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/177519/everyone-criminal-over-policing-america?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=email_nation&utm_campaign=Copy%20of%20Email%20Nation%20-%2020131210#"> them. </a> That article and <a href="http://www.volokh.com/posts/1248668478.shtml"> this one </a> might possibly give them a clue. If they can't (and they can't) point to any serious harm, they ought to first, as was said, get the logs out of their own eyes before turning their attention to the specks in other people's.
Andy – Poor baby, having to channel Boehner in order to write this. It had to be painful.
Kos – Actually it was this article in the daily summary that sent me to look for your page, and was glad to see you had seen it and found it worthy. I have never been a big Sharpton fan myself (nobody likes a party pooper, after all) but if, as I said to someone this morning, one of the most important (if not THE most important) things we need to do is to get rid of the toxic cloud of deception and self-deception that has Republicans trapped in their defense of evil, he is at least certainly a reliable soldier for that.
Cartoon: Yay! But don't overdo!
You will get over those hurdles like the champ you are. You are finally in your new place and away from Guitar Man. Hopefully there is no one even close to him in the new building. Now, take your time with all the boxes. Rome wasn't built in a day, you know.
Upworthy ~ I'm glad to see some Dems getting mad about obstructionism and overt racism.
New Yorker ~ Too close to the truth. Boehner went off on a reporter this week because of conservative groups opposing a budget deal saying "they were using our members and using the American people for their own goals". Why he has a conscience, all of a sudden, about outside influence from lobbyists is beyond my ken.
Daily Kos ~ Rev. Al is mor deserving of my respect this week than he has been in a lot of years. He is spouting true Christian values and not promoting supply-side Jesus.
Cartoon ~ Glad to have you back!
I distinctly remember ENJOYING unpacking. A chore, but a major satisfaction. Hope you enjoy it half as much as I did!
You may remember those stick-on address labels. I salvaged a huge box of them before the office (when I was practicing) threw them out, and they've been great for a multitude of purposes.
I use two for all my wires – one at each end – and label them like "Modem" "Router" "EHD (Ext. Hard Drive)" etc. They've kept me sane when I'm down under the desk trying to figure out what's plugged in to what.
How did you do? -5:26 –
I was in shock that I supported a Florida Represenative until i see he's a Democrat. I also like the passion of Rep. Jared Polis D-Colorado… Thumbs up ^… 😆
Congrats on getting moved. And you have your internet so Comcast doesn't mean a total loss, except, I guess for your football games, and I know you will miss those. I hope you have better neighbors.
UPworthy: Did Madame Speaker ever answer? Good for both these congressmen for standing up for those who basically have no representation.
The New Yorker: So funny. But Boehner did go off on the Tea Pary today, which was a big surprise. Maybe he has seen the writing on the wall, I think the whole country is finally getting sick of them
Daily Kos: I am not a big Sharpton fan, either, but i am glad he is standing up to these supply side Christians. What they don't understand is that if Jesus were alive today he would be a (gasp) Liberal. He would be feeding the hungry and caring for the poor and throwing the money changers out of the banks.
Cartoon: I still love that graphic. So glad you are online.