Dec 042015
 

Another day, another dollar they say.  TGIF!!!  I have another teaching session and I may have another student, this time a paying student.  I went into my local Persian market and greeted the clerk in Persian (Farsi).  That started a short conversation.  One thing lead to another.  It may not pan out, but I guess my English accent isn't too bad for the few words and phrases I know.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:40 (average 6:02). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

CBC — Geoff Regan has been elected House of Commons Speaker at the opening of a new Parliament following the general election on Oct. 19 that saw the Liberals win a majority government.

Members of Parliament each cast a secret ballot on Thursday ranking the candidates by order of preference in their first act of the new Parliament.

This my friends is how the Speaker of the House of Commons is elected in Canada versus the rancorous process in the US which we witnessed not long ago.  Watch the video to see some good natured fun from Geoff Regan, Rona Ambrose (interim leader of the Conservative Party) and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  In the video as part of the story, Trudeau actually leads Regan for a moment by his tie.  You can see more about the candidates and the Speaker's role in this CBC article.

NY Times — Donald L. Blankenship, a titan of the nation’s coal industry whose approach to business was scrutinized and scorned after 29 workers were killed at the Upper Big Branch mine in 2010, was convicted Thursday of a federal charge of conspiring to violate mine safety standards, part of a case that emerged after the accident, the deadliest in mining in the United States in decades.

The verdict reached by a federal jury here made Mr. Blankenship, 65, the most prominent American coal executive ever to be convicted of a charge connected to the deaths of miners. He had been accused of conspiring to violate mine safety regulations, as well as of deceiving investors and regulators; prosecutors secured a conviction on only one of the three charges. Mr. Blankenship was acquitted of making false statements and securities fraud. He faces a maximum of one year in prison on the misdemeanor conspiracy charge.

On 05/10/2015, I posted the article The Fall of King Coal which documented the abuses of Don Blankenship, a coal industry executive of Massey Energy.  Blankenship went on trial 01/10/2015 and today was acquitted of 2 of 3 charges.  Those charges could have meant 30 years in prison.  Instead, he was convicted of the misdemeanor conspiracy charge and could get a 1 year prison term.  His lawyer will appeal the decision against this well connected Republican.  Were I a member of the family of anyone of the miners killed at the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in 2010, I would be very angry.  Was justice done?  I don't think so, but you decide.

Huffington Post — The Republican-controlled Senate voted on Thursday to demolish President Barack Obama's signature health care law and block Planned Parenthood's federal money, spurring a veto fight the GOP knows it will lose but believes will delight conservative voters in next year's elections.

Congress has voted dozens of times to repeal all or parts of the 2010 statute. If the House as expected sends the Senate bill to Obama, the measure will become the first of its kind to reach the White House and be vetoed, an act Republicans say will highlight GOP priorities for voters.

"It's defined by failure," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said of the law, blaming it for rising medical costs and citing problems encountered by Kentuckians. "It's punctuated with hopelessness. And the scale of its many broken promises is matched only by the scale of its defenders' rigid and unfeeling responses to them."

You really have to "love" those Republican legislators.  I certainly hope their working class and middle class base recognise the disservice that the party is doing to them.

My Universe

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  7 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 04/12/2015”

  1. NY Times: 29 deaths, in a mine that received numerous citations. Blankenship put profits ahead of safety for his workers. It must have been very difficult for Judge Berger to report the jury's unanimous findings. Money doesn't bring dead relatives back, sadly. What a shame for these folks.

    HuffPo: What IS wrong with these people? UGH !!
    From the article..Do they bother to talk to their constituents?" Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., mocked the Republicans' "absurd attempt" to repeal the health care law and noted the large number of people — including in McConnell's Kentucky — who've obtained coverage under the law.

    MY Universe: Like human babies, the little ones are so playful. How adorable.

    Wow…Farsi. Good for you !!
    I am still working on Spanish. A teacher at my old school, (Army Vet) spoke Farsi, Persian, German, Spanish, English and Russian. She was learning Japanese/Chinese in her off time. I was amazed at how fluently she spoke these languages. I have a deep respect those who learn customs, and languages of other countries.

    Thanks, Lynn for your post.

  2. 6:42  More acorns.  Just nuts.

    CBC – As we know, good ideas (well, bad ideas too) often come with unintended consequences.  There is definitely a lot to be said for requiring members of Congress to spend time in their home districts.  But, when this requirement was imposed in the nineties, and I forget the exact wording, what happened was that members of Congress stopped bring their families to the Beltway at all.  Prior to that, and you can see why, there had been much socializing between FAMILES of members which forced the members to be polite to members of the opposing party – if your wife is his wife's BFF, you need to ba a little careful what you say.  And in fact real cordialities developed.  (Which took time.  So you couldn't just put it back to the old way and have it immediately work.)  Thanks to Saint Ronnie Ray-Gun, polarization had already begun, and this move speeded it progreaa and put it over the top.  So now we have the spectacle, for instance, of a member of Congress being addressed by the President in joint session yelling "You lie!"  No, I don't think we are going to see good-natured anything in the US Congress any time soon.

    NY Times – I am not a family member of any of the miners and I am still outraged.  This makes me wonder about Federal courts, in particular Federal juries.  I know how jury selection is done in my state and most states have similar processes.  They differ about who is in the jury pool (many states exempt attorneys, judges, and some state officials for instance; Colorado no longer does – if the Governor gets a jury summons he has to appear just like anyone else), but the procedures are similar, including voir dire, peremptory challenges, challenges for cause, yada yada yada.  But who gets into the jury pool for Federal juries?  Is it just because I don't happen to live near a Federal courtroom that I have never been summoned?  I am kind of embarrassed to admit I have never really thought about it.

    HuffPo – There has to be a way Democrats can make this into a talking point.  I know it will never resonate with racists, but there are voters who are not racist, and there MUST be a way to make it work for us.  It is SO wrong.

    Universe – Yes, animals get along better than humans, and wouldn't it be nice if we could get alog as well.  Anyone actually have any constructive suggestions on how to accomplish that?

  3. I didn't know that a Squatch could grunt in Farsi!! laugh

    4:52

    Our conservatives would boo.

    Even if this Republican gets a year, which he will not, it's far too little for murderering 29 workers to increase his profit

    You know the veto is coming

    Yay Kitten

     

  4. Is it me, or did that puppy look like he started gnawing on his OWN leg at the end of the video?

  5. I bet the Persian (Iranian?) clerk was delighted that someone spoke a few words in his language. People are often very grateful if you take the trouble to learn a few everyday phrases in their language, even if it is just to say "please"or "thank you". Little courtesies like that makes a lot of friends.

    CBC Nice to see politicians get along for a change.

    NY Times: Last time you posted about Blankenship's trial, I said I hoped he would get everything he deserved. But we could have known that in a country ruled by big corporations this would amount to a pro forma slap on the wrist which will also disappear on appeal. Justice? NO WAY!

    Huffington Post: You mean Republicans are still trying to revoke ObamaCare? I thought they'd left that behind them like they did with Benghazi now they have found a new toy with Planned Parenthood. So we can expect Benghazi to return too, even after Hillary's majestic performance? So when the scores are totaled at the end of 8 years, the Republicans will have accomplished close to zero, and from the standpoint of the average American, i.e. 90%, even negatively. Overall negative I'd say as the went along with fast tracking of TTP. And yet, surprise, surprise, they'll hold on to their seats unless the Democrats finally get out of their slumber and some out of the pockets of the 1%.

    My Universe: Awwwwwww

  6. As I have repeatedly said, Canadian politics may have its nutcases, too, but they are vastly more scarce than in the US!  I'm so ready to emigrate!

    It is amazing what respect of those who are from different cultures can accomplish, isn't it?  A much more effective measure than the one of fear and bigotry that the Rethuglican/Teabaggerum projects….

    As far as the court decision regarding the coal miners' death, I'm not at all surprised…right wing money prevailed again.  They know that the miners' families do not have the money to pursue, nor  will they if things continue as they have for 100+ years.  There is no justice for coal miners.  And this makes me sick.  Literally.

  7.    yes  Canadian nay have their "Nut "cases but they sent the biggest,nuttiest to the USA.Thanks so much for TED Cruz!!. who emigrated to The USA. in order to run for Pres.He also renounced his Canadian citizenship.

    Some people get ALL the luck.! Lucky,Lucky  CANADA!

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