In addition to teaching English to Lucia whom I have mentioned before, I also do some advocacy work for her. That is how I started my day today. Then it was off to buy a bouquet of balloons . . . bright coloured mylars . . . and off to my mother's. She gave me a big smile when she saw the balloons. I passed on your greetings. After feeding her lunch, we sat listening to some music. She was the bell of the ball as people admired her balloons and wished her Happy Birthday, staff and residents alike. As I left, she had fallen asleep. I imagine she will sleep well tonight.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:19 (average 4:44). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
Raw Story — In a badgering and bullying performance that would have made House of Un-American activities interrogator Roy Cohn proud, a Republican congressman from Ohio interrupted the head of Planned Parenthood 19 times in five short minutes in a hearing on Tuesday.
Appearing at the GOP-led witchhunt — coordinated between virulent anti-abortion extremists and hard right conservatives — Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards repeatedly came under attack from the Republican-dominated committee.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan (R) is, in my opinion, an arrogant bully, a pugilistic SOB that should never have been elected to Congress. Cecile Richards was composed despite Jordan's antics. He reminds me of Darrel Issa, yet another Republican SOB.
Upworthy — While you were probably wondering if you'd pass the driver's test at 15 years old, Nicole Ticea was working to revolutionize HIV testing.
How? By trying to make HIV tests as easy as pregnancy tests.
Brilliant! This additional information from CTV News:
Another Vancouver teen, Nicole Ticea, won the Intel Foundation Young Scientist award and received a prize of US$50,000 for her disposable and electricity-free HIV testing device.
The easy-to-use tool provides results in an hour and should cost less than US$5 to produce. Ticea has already founded her own company, which recently received a US$100,000 grant to continue developing the technology.
The 16-year-old York House student said she created the device to help combat the high rate of undiagnosed HIV in low-income communities.
"Over time, I really realized there was a story to be told with this entire HIV epidemic that not only involved how we create better testing, but: 'How do we make testing more accessible? How do we get individuals to actually submit and want to be tested?"' she said. "It's very interesting and very complex."
Alternet — With the debate over Planned Parenthood heating up, liberal Catholics are on the defensive again, scrambling to protect Planned Parenthood and its vital services from the GOP outrage machine. Leading the charge is a group of 60 Catholic State leaders from over 25 states, "Catholics for Choice", which is taking out a full-page ad in The Washington Post today to make the social justice case for Planned Parenthood. Not only, do they note, is the latest attack on Planned Parenthood an attack on women, it's an attack on the poor and vulnerable . . .
This is a Republican attack on the poor, on women, and on the vulnerable, the very people that Republicans despise and wish to disenfranchise by any means possible.
My Universe —
21 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 30/09/2015”
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Raw Story: What a narcisstic person, he loves hearing himself talk. A total jerk. (an A-Hole).
Upworthy: Brillant young lady, I am sure that we'll be hearing more about Miss Ticea. Kudos to her!!
Alternet: PP serves a multitude of women not only for contraception, but also cancer screenings, and checkups for those who are poor and disadvantaged. Figures. The Repugs would like nothing better than to nix it. Glad to read that the 'Catholics for Choice' are stepping up and out for the cause.
My Universe: How cute, I feel like this most of the time.
Sounds like you had a busy evening, glad to hear you and your mother had a good time. Hope that you have a good day, relax! Thanks, Lynn.
Glad your Mom enjoyed the balloons.
Raw Story: The commentators vilified Jim Jordan for his abusive attack on Cecile Richards. Have a read on and about just how the public reacted towards Jim Jordan. Jordan was pushing and bullying Richards into losing her composure. This congresscritter needs to be thrown out of his office at the very next election.
I, for one, am glad that Cecile Richards held herself quite well during this grueling 5 hour? long session.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/watch-out-of-control-congressman-badgers-and-interrupts-planned-parenthood-head-19-times-in-5-minutes/comments/
Upworthy: Nicole Ticea is simply awesome for a young girl of her age, 16 years old, and for coming up with this technology. We need more girls like her in our world. Please encourage the young girls that they, too, can be more than just "baby incubators".
Alternet: Excellent ad. http://catholicsforchoice.org/documents/WaPo-CFC-28Sept2015.pdf
Universe: Looks like me on C2 & PP at times. lol.
So good to hear your mother smiled because of the balloons you brought her for her birthday, Lynn. It was a very smart way to get her attention and into a more responsive mood so she could enjoy all the attention she got. Now go and have a catnap, you've earned it for all the work you did for Lucia, your mother and for us.
Raw Story: The Republicans knew they had nothing to go on against Planned Parenthood except lies, hoax videos and unadulterated misogyny, so they depended on Jim Jordan to bully PP President Cecile Richards into submission, and failed miserably. She refused to cower and that really brought out the worst of him and this whole sickening "investigation". So to undo all the damage this SOB has done to our stomach linings, here's a splendid blast of these Republicans by Democrat Gerry Connoly: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/29/1425973/-WATCH-Democrat-Gerry-Connolly-SLAM-Republicans-for-their-misogyny-in-their-treatment-of-PP-Head?detail=email Kudos to that man and to Cecile Richards.
Upworthy: Thank goodness for young people like Nicole Ticea, who's mindset isn't ruined by bad schooling, parents who are zealots or by living on Facebook all day. She's brilliant in both intelligence and compassion which allowed her to come up with such a marvelous HIV testing device which is cheap and fast and therefore accessible to those who need such tests the most: the poor all over this globe. These young people make me believe in a future.
Alternet: You know I don't care much for religious institutions and religious groups, but I'll make an exception for these liberal (of course) "Catholics for Choice". They can see past the bogus abortion arguments of the GOP and see that it is another misogynist attack on women and their right to healthcare, especially on poor and vulnerable women who have no options left if PP is defunded.
My Universe: LOL, and as I said, have a catnap.
As "The Donald" would say, it sounds like the balloons were YUUUGGE success!
You are exactly right in calling Jim Jordan a BULLY! Fortunately he met his match in Cecile Richards – she did a stellar job thoughout the entire inquisition.
Then again, as the daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards and Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, I'm not surprised at her capable performance.
And I'm pleased to see Democrats demanding an investigation of the Center for Medical Progress – the stitcher-together-of-snippets-from-here-and-there of the mendacious videos of Planned Parenthood.
Me, too!
4:23 That acorn was a hard nut to crack…for me.
So the Republican showed his true colors….absolutely obnoxious bully. It is wonderful that Dems stood up and called him out for it. The strength and poise she showed was remarkable, and she is truly her mother's daughter.
And yes, Catholics for Choice do exist….and not only in that organization. I know, as I am one. The stereotype is, as usual with stereotypes, wrong. We are socially progressive, and not slaves to ancient dogma. We believe that God gave us brains for a reason.
So very glad that your Mom's birthday was a good one! Thanks for your work, and take care.
I'm glad Ms. Ticea continues to be honored and reappears in the news for it. Also glad birthday celebration seemingly went as planned.
Heard the attempt at shutdown over PP has apparently failed–perhaps enough realized the GOP were the ones creating the smoke and source of fire instead of PP.
Cecile Richards was the picture of calmness when I caught a glimpse of the hearing! She was holding her own with that A$$$ that was "questioning" her. He couldn't have been more rude to her!
Sounds like your Mom had a very good time in her birthday! She had so much love and attention that she got wore out! She must've been so happy with you there! So glad you got to have that party for her! Those are special events that mean so much to her!
Glad you had a great time, all around! Hope your week continues to bring you JOY!
Peace, Love and Hugs for you!
Raw story: Jim Jordan is a bully with an inflated ego who should be forced to apologize for his appalling behavior. Ms Richards showed amazing calm and class.
Upworthy: What an amazing girl. She deserves any and all accolades for this discovery. This makes me wonder, if a fifteen year old, working on her own, can make this discovery, to provide the HIV test at a low cost, why hasn't big pharma done the same with all their labs AND expensive equipment?
Alternet: Thankfully, we didn't have a shutdown this time, but I am sure the Republicans will be relentless in their efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. I cannot understand why any American woman would vote for one of them.
Cartoon: That has been my story for the past ten years.
Thanks for all your hard work, Lynn. I am glad your mom had such a good birthday.
Update on Phillip: Thanks to all of you who have asked about him and are still keeping him in your thoughts and prayers. I spoke to his wife tonight and he had a very good day. If his labs come back as well as the doctor expects, he will be off dialysys . The toes on his right foot are all healing so no surgery there. Many of his fingers are healing in the first and second joints, The doctors are waiting to see how everything heals before they decide what surgeries will be needed. He is alert, asked for his golf magazines today, and read one of them. Hurray. He also whined a lot today about being too hot or too cold, a really good sign he is better. He is in a hospital 3 1/2 hours away so we don't get to visit as much as we would like.
Glad to hear that Philip is doing much better. Hugzzz…
Thanks, Jim.
Good news indeed, Edie. Tell Phillip that my prayers are with him.
Thanks, Lynn, I will.
Definitely good news to hear with him improving.
Sounds like the vascular injury to his digits (if that's the etiology – and I'm not sure it is), is handled much like frostbite injury where you typically wait 6-8 weeks for healing so you get a clearer demarcation of what's healthy tissue and what isn't.
Thanks, Nameless, we are hoping for the best outcome.
Thanks for this more detailed update Edie–will also help on continued prayers for healing and strength. Sounds like a couple things may be better news than was once feared.
Thanks, JL, things are looking much better.
The GOP are criminals.
Thanks everyone!