Feb 022014
 

I’m writing for tomorrow, feeling very tired, and running quite late, due to the time it took to gather the data for tomorrow’s Monthly Report.  This will give you an idea just how much work that is.  Because I do so much online I clean up my cookies and temporary Internet files several times per day.  I did so immediately before and after my data collection session.  I accumulated 329 Megabytes of temporary Internet files during the session.  Tomorrow is also the highest holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My sainted Broncos will be worshiping to protect the divine Orb from the infernal Republican Seachickens (may they fall into the hands of KFC). ;-)  If you have to ask what I’ll be doing, you may want to stay away from IQ tests for the sake of your self esteem.  So don’t expect much on Monday, please.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:50 (average 5:23).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Responding to fresh charges that he knew about the controversial lane closures on the George Washington Bridge last fall, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today asked for the public’s patience while he makes up a new story.

“Today you have heard some allegations that are shocking and explosive,” he told reporters at a hastily called press conference. “All I ask is that the people of the great state of New Jersey give me sufficient time to invent a new story that explains my way out of this.”

Governor Christie said that he had spent the past few hours in closed-door meetings trying to come up with a new narrative that absolves him of any guilt in the bridge scandal, but while he was definitely denying the allegations, “so far, we don’t have a winner.”

LOL Andy! Sometimes fact is funnier than fiction!

From Daily Kos: The crocodile tears are flowing at Politico where right-wing law prof Eugene Kontorovich tries to make the case for why early voting is a bad thing:

A single Election Day creates a focal point that gives solemnity and relevance to the state of popular opinion at a particular moment in time; on a single day, we all have to come down on one side or the other. But if the word “election” comes to mean casting votes over a period of months, it will elide the difference between elections and polls. People will be able to vote when the mood strikes them — after seeing an inflammatory ad, for example.

Voting then becomes an incoherent summing of how various individuals feel at a series of moments, not how the nation feels at a particular moment. This weakens civic cohesiveness, and it threatens to substitute raw preferences and momentary opinion for rational deliberation.

Because right-wingers value nothing more than civic cohesiveness and rational deliberation…at least when it means being able to corral voters into a single workday when their votes can most easily be denied, delayed and  frustrated by impossibly long lines, specious challenges and insufficient ballots.

Click through for even more. That Prof has his Doctorate in Bullshitology!!

From Alternet: The Latest Voter Suppression Catalog: North Carolina.

Until the Republicans took control of the governor’s mansion and Legislature in 2012, North Carolina pioneered some of the most progressive election laws in the South. Since then, the GOP has ressurrected the ghost of Jim Crow, narrowing options to register, to vote early, and to obtain a ballot on Election Day. Bill Moyers noted these abuses in a detailed report this month, but even he didn’t recite everything that’s gotten worse.

North Carolina’s GOP has also ended straight party voting in 2014, where a voter can pick all of a party’s candidates. Its governor won’t fill a vacant U.S. House seat held by a Democrat until November, instead of holding a traditional special election. The last time the state’s elections were this rigged was more than a century ago, legal scholars said.

This is just one of eight insidious Republican attacks your freedom by trying to steal elections they cannot win honestly. Click through for the other seven.

Cartoon:

0202Cartoon

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  18 Responses to “Open Thread–2/2/2014”

  1. 3:33 No speeding in the work zones.

  2. May you have good reults from your meditation today.

    New Yorker ~ Spin doctors are worth their weight in gold to Chris Christie right now.

    Daily Kos ~ If we have early voting the sky will fall.

    Alternet ~ Isn't it nice that Karl Rove will get way with grand larceny and the Koch boys haven't yet paid the $15 million they were fined for their dirty practices?

    Cartoon ~ Yikes!

  3. Love the cartoon and Andy!  Go Broncos! 

  4. I am with you all the way Tom.  Go Broncos.  I love it that San Francisco Airport is not treating Seahawk fans very nicely.  Serves them right for the Hawks to deny tickets to Niner fans when they met here in Seattle.

  5. Sorry TC, but for today you and I must come to a temporary parting of the ways. With my eldest son living in Seattle, my eldest granddaughter attending the University of Washington, and having lived there for 13 years myself, I will be rooting for the Seahawks. By the way, while a certain amount of spirited name-calling in the midst of a sports rivalry is to be expected, calling the Seahawks 'Republicans' is an insult so vile as to be beyond the pale.

    • AMEN!!! John, AMEN!

      A lot of Seahawks fans here.  Some even consider Seattle a Canadian city.

      And it is now official that the Seahawks fly higher than the Broncos can buck.  Final score 43-8 for Seahawks!

  6. Time– 2:53 not bad

     

    I think one day voting probably worked well when we had small cities and the whole country was less than 100 million people.  I guess it depends on the state but I believe all states have had early voting for many years now, why change that?  Simple, for same reason we suddenly need two forms of picture ID, a DNA test and written affidavit from the doctor that assisted in our birth delivery, a secured form of birth certificate and 10 fellow citizens that will affirm they know us.   I don't mind having a photo ID for voting, one ID should be enough, early voting cuts down the long lines and allows every one to have a chance to vote and not take time off of work on a Tuesday.

    I have been called for Jury duty twice, neither time was I asked for any form of ID.  Not that I'm saying that certain states are trying to exclude a large part of legal voters.  Well, yeah I am saying that.

    Feel better TC – hoping you get some rest.  I guess I will not be going to join friends for the super bowl as planned.  We have freezing rain, expect ice by noonish and snow around 6 – 7 this evening.  🙁

  7. 5:23  My Mama always told me not to gun it through yellow, so I didn't.

    The New Yorker – Why one should probably not watch politics and sausage being made – except in this case I do think everyone should see this.  Satire or not, it's quite accurate.

    Kos – I think I said this on site, so I apologize if I repeat myself.  Yes, I used to like to wait until Election Day to vote, because I wanted to make sure all the facts were in.  Now (besides the fact that Republicans are Republicans and that is just not changing), I just want to get my vote in and counted.  The earlier the better.  Colorado is an all-mail state now, but I was on the permanent mail-in list before that happened.  Why take the chance of not getting there?

    Alternet – A fine article.  I also saw another fine article while I was there, about <a href="http://www.alternet.org/culture/george-lakoff-communication-liberals-do-everything-wrong?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark"> getting out our message </a>, which could of course be helpful in getting out the vote.  (The "link" button in the editor is not working for me today but this should provide the info needed to get there.)

    Cartoon:  Poor Punxsutawney Phil!  He will need eyewash!

  8. I thought, as I was reading, Kontorovich should have been in the New Yorker. What a whack job.

    Love the cartoon … but we don't deserve any more Republican winter. We need a Progressive Spring!!

  9. This 8-minute clip of Felix Baumgartner's 24 mile jump/fall to earth was just recently released – and it's pretty amazing!  During his free fall, he reached speeds over 800 MPH!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYw4meRWGd4

  10. Puzzle — 3:33  No catching that Miss Kitty with her low kitty profile, agility and claws for traction!

    The New Yorker — Can't say it enough . . . Mr Christie, your cookies are crumbled!  DOA!

    Daily Kos — Kontorovich is suffering from insaniTea!  What a crock!  All the more reason then to establish voting day as a national holiday; mail in ballots; and a totally reformed federal election system that does not allow the states to make individual changes which create inequities.  Too true that Kontorovich has his PhD (Piled higher and Deeper) in Republicanus/Teabagger Bullshitology!

    Alternet — "… the new twist among Republican intellectuals…"  Now that is one humungeous oxymoron!  A Republicanus/Teabagger intellectual, or its plural, simply does not exist.

    What a bunch of bunkum!  Electoral fraud if ever there was any!

    Cartoon — Check out Wiarton Willie http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/02/groundhog-day-2014-punxsutawney-phil-and-wiarton-willie-predict-six-more-weeks-of-winter-for-u-s-and-canada/

    Fortunately we don't have Republicanus/Teabaggers, although our Conservatives lead by Harper are coming closer, so no chance for a permanent Republican winter of our discontent.

  11. Oops, I forgot.  I have the game on the TV in my room and it is half-time.

    Seahawks 22  Broncos 0

    Go Seahawks!!!

  12. So sorry about your Broncos.

    I read almost all of Bill Moyers, it is so sad that a fine state like NC is being turned the way it is.  There are so many fine things there, arts, intellect and generosity.  I bet the majority of the people who voted in those clowns wish they could take back their vote.

    Andy always gets it right.

    The groundhog let me down.  We are to get between 3 and 7 inches of snow tonight!

  13. Thanks everyone,

    GRRRR! 🙁

  14. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today asked for the public’s patience while he makes up a new story.

    This will be fun to watch… 😆

    4:37

     

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