I’m writing for tomorrow, day 161. I’m also waiting tor the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, although today’s will be lesser meditations, since my Broncos have their bi week. I also have a busy week upcoming.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:57 (average 4:33). To do it, click here. How did you do.
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos (Hat-Tip JL A from Care2):
Mother Jones offers up a short bio of likely new House Republican Glenn Grothman, the notorious Wisconsin state senator who won the Republican primary and now looks to be a shoe-in in the hard-right 6th district. Think Michele Bachmann without the charm, or Steve King without Steve King’s kind and gentle demeanor. Anyway, he is a terrible person and that a bunch of people in one Wisconsin district are actually willing to vote to send this specimen of underripe humanity off to govern us all makes a good case for quarantine.
In January, Grothman proposed rolling back a Wisconsin law requiring employers to give workers at least one day of rest per week. He told the Huffington Post the existing state law was "a little goofy" and his proposal was about "freedom." "Right now in Wisconsin, you’re not supposed to work seven days in a row, which is a little ridiculous because all sorts of people want to work seven days a week," he said.
You’ll find even more TEAbuggery if you click through. Poor Fitzwalkerstan!!
From The New Yorker: A Republican Super PAC defended the broadcast, on Saturday morning, of an attack ad highly critical of Hillary Clinton’s newborn granddaughter, Charlotte, who was born on Friday.
The ad raises several serious questions about the newborn, at one point accusing her of being “related to Benghazi.”
In criticizing a one-day-old infant, the ad is believed to be the earliest political attack ad on record…
Andy may have detected a northward trend. A Kenyan baby scandal for the 2008 election to a Benghazi baby scandal for the 2016 election. Hopefully the Republican will no longer exist by 2024, but if they do they may scam voters with an Italian baby scandal.
From NY Times: Enrollment in Medicaid is surging as a result of the Affordable Care Act, but the Obama administration and state officials have done little to ensure that new beneficiaries have access to doctors after they get their Medicaid cards, federal investigators say in a new report.
The report, to be issued this week by the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, says state standards for access to care vary widely and are rarely enforced. As a result, it says, Medicaid patients often find that they must wait for months or travel long distances to see a doctor…
…Twenty-seven states have expanded Medicaid eligibility since the passage of the health care law in 2010, and President Obama is urging other states to do so.
Most states hire insurance companies to manage care for Medicaid patients. In return for monthly fees, the insurers provide comprehensive services through networks of selected doctors and hospitals. Federal rules say managed-care organizations must “provide adequate access to all services covered,” but states can define what “adequate” means.
The Times is wrong to blame the Obama Administration for an entirely state demesne. I’m sure they would love to fix the problem, but the Republican House will go along the day after hell freezes over. Some red states have figured out that they can get the Medicaid money from the feds, while defining adequate services as preserving the RepubliCare death benefit.
Cartoon:
I consider this one too good not to resurrect it from last year.
15 Responses to “Open Thread–9/29/2014”
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3:35 I buzzed past that TomCat.
3:22 Me too!
3:17 Well my butt weren't dragin'!
Bigfooted!
Daily Kos ~ The 6th District is not alone. The 2nd is in trouble too. All of Wisconsin and the United States are too if Democrats don't get off their lazy arses and get to the polls in November and VOTE!
New Yorker ~ The baby who would be Queen?
NY Times ~ It's President Obama's fault that we have earthquakes too. My TeapublicanT painter told me yesterday that Obamacare is actually Clinton's fault. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't he fix some parts of Medicaid to get slackers out of the system?
Cartoon ~ Sorry. I don't think that would help either. Trickle down economics didn't cure them of their Republicanism.
Patty – thanks so much for the laugh re the cartoon – now whenever I see it I will think of trickle down economics! Thanks TC for repeating it too!
It's Tinkle down economics. 😉
4:44 average up 2 seconds. All that green!
Daily Kos (and MoJo) – While being terribly sorry for Fitzwalkerstan. I'm even more concerned that the people whom they send to Congress affect all of us. And barring a miracle, he is sure to win.
New Yorker – I doubt that she'll be up for the Bush girls drunken antics, even by 2024. Oh, but IOKIYAR.
NY Times – I am not always the brightest bulb on the tree, but I read the first sentence and though how the – er, how is the Obama administration supposed to get individual states to do something? I then dropped down to your comment, and saw that you make the same point.
Cartoon – Hah! Too many outrageous and disgusting jokes just lining u and crowding in to write themselves. Couldn't we just bury them in the littler box (the candidates AND the jokes)?
Talk about a polluted litter box!
Daily Kos – the only people that come to mind that have to work 7 days a week are SLAVES – thanks, Glenn Grothman! Help – I have done something daft and my head aches so much I can't work out what I did or what to do to put it right…. my first sentence has gone very small….
Slaves is our role in a Republican Reich!
Daily Kos: I would feel sorrier for Wisconsin if they didn't keep voting in creeps like Grothman. His attempt to "allow" people to work seven days per week is just as obvious as Rand Paul's wanting to make this a "right to work" government. Both are aimed at unions.
The New Yorker: I honestly would not be surprised if they used the new baby in some way to denigrate Hilary. They just haven't figured out how yet.
NY Times: I believe they should have set up uniform standards for Medicaid for all the states. I know this wasnt done because the Republicans would have howled about it.
Cartoon: This one is good enough to resurrect every two months.
LOL! Thanks Edie!
Puzzle — 3:17 Well my butt weren't dragin'!
Daily Kos — Everyone is screwed if this moron finds the road to Washington!
And here I thought that no one could be as dumb and offensive as Goh-merde.
The New Yorker — I wonder what scandals we would find in Republicanus/Teabagger closets without even resorting to the coming generations?!
NY Times — It seems to me that Obamacare has a serious problem . . . a lack of standardisation of services. I am not saying that it is solely the fault of the administration. There are too many states that used the opt out of Medicaid expansion; no standardisation of service standards; . . . the old saying of "too many cooks spoil the broth" seems to be alive and well. I know Obamacare is only a first step towards universal healthcare, but coördination for the benefit of the beneficiaries is totally missing. Much of that I am sure can be attributed to the lame-assed Republicanus/Teabaggers.
Cartoon — That's not trickle down economics . . . it's piss on you economics! Republicans getting a "taste" of their own economic policy!
Lynn, the problem is not lack of stndardizaztion in Obamacare. The problerm is that Republicans ar4e gutting Medicaid's standards in a way never envisioned when that law was written.