Open Thread–6/14/2012

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 142013
 

This is today’s only article, because I’m going for my quarterly surgery to remove a recurring growth on my foot.  No worries.  It’s routine.  Happy Flag day to all.  The best way to celebrate the day is to unwrap a Republican at every opportunity.  I am, once again, writing early.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:13 (average 4:30).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MSNBC: How Republicans get war on women legislation passed.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Unwilling to cede the status of most fascist Reich in America to Teafuhrer McCrory and McCrorystan, the minions of Fartfuhrer Walker and Fitzwalkerstan are charging hard.

From NY Times: Deaths exceeded births among non-Hispanic white Americans for the first time in at least a century, according to new census data, a benchmark that heralds profound demographic change.

The disparity was tiny — only about 12,000 — and was more than made up by a gain of 188,000 as a result of immigration from abroad. But the decrease for the year ending July 1, 2012, coupled with the fact that a majority of births in the United States are now to Hispanic, black and Asian mothers, is further evidence that white Americans will become a minority nationwide within about three decades.

No doubt the halls of Republican Party HQ are now filled with great wailing and gnashing of teeth.

From Right Wing Watch: TPM’s Perry Stein today reports that the Virginia GOP, fresh after nominating the ultraconservative ticket of Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson, has now appointed Rev. Joe Ellison as the party’s Director of African-American Engagement.

Republican Party of Virginia chairman Pat Mullins hailed [Republican Party delinked] Ellison for his “knowledge and experience,” and Ellison said that he will help build “the future of our party” by showing black voters that they “share far more values with the Republican Party than they realize.”

As Stein notes, Ellison in 2010 announced that he is “declaring war against Planned Parenthood” and applauded televangelist Pat Robertson’s claim that Haiti was devastated by a deadly earthquake as divine retribution for making a “pact with the Devil” 200 years ago.

 

Voodoo already yet?!!? The Republican Party has goose-stepped into a state of pseudo-Christian InsaniTEA!  He’s supporting the same Pat Robertson who prophesied that God would punish Orlando, Florida with a hurricane to punish them, because Disney World had adopted a policy of non-discrimination against LGBT employees.  The next hurricane to make landfall damaged Robertson’s own Virginia Beach HQ.  God just may have a fantastic sense of humor.

Cartoon:

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The Republican claim that this stems from our founding fathers is a lie.

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Welcome to McCrorystan

 Politics
Jun 132013
 

Once upon a time, the residents of North Carolina enjoyed the benefits of US citizenship, but I’m sad to inform you that the state of North Carolina has now been replaced by the Fascist Totalitarian Plutocracy of McCrorystan, and their TEAfuhrer, Pat McCrory, is goose-stepping them backwards into the 19th century.

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“Outsiders are coming in and they’re going to try to do to us what they did to Scott Walker in Wisconsin,” North Carolina Republican Governor Pat McCrory said yesterday, in response to the growing “Moral Monday” protest movement.

North Carolina is the new Wisconsin, but not for the reasons McCrory alleges. Like in Wisconsin, a homegrown grassroots resistance movement has emerged—and grown rapidly—to challenge the drastic right-wing agenda unveiled by Republicans in the state. Just like the Koch brothers backed Scott Walker, the Koch’s billionaire ally and close associate Art Pope funded North Carolina’s Republican takeover in 2010 and 2012. (Only McCrory went a step further and actually named Pope to his inner circle as deputy budget director.) And North Carolina, like Wisconsin, is “a state fight with national implications,” says Rev. William Barber of the North Carolina NAACP. Republicans have imported a slew of ALEC-inspired policies in an attempt to turn the New South back into the Old Confederacy.

Melissa Harris-Perry covered the North Carolina “Moral Monday” movement extensively on her MSNBC show last Saturday. I [Ari Berman] was one of the panelists.

 

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In a few months since taking over power for the first time in one hundred years, North Carolina Republicans have passed or introduced legislation that would: eliminate the earned income tax credit for 900,000; decline Medicaid coverage for 500,000 and privatize public healthcare in the state; end unemployment benefits for 165,000 in a state with the country’s fifth-highest unemployment rate; cut pre-K for 30,000 kids while shifting $90 million from public education to voucher schools; cut taxes for the top 5 percent while raising taxes on the bottom 95 percent; allow for guns to be purchased without a background check and carried in parks, playgrounds, restaurants and bars; do away with public financing of judicial races; prohibit death row inmates from challenging racially discriminatory verdicts; and on it goes. (Unlike in Wisconsin, North Carolinians have no collective bargaining rights to protect).

In order to make it harder for opponents of these right-wing policies to challenge their sponsors, North Carolina Republicans have unloaded the kitchen sink of voter suppression…

Inserted from <The Nation>

On the one hand, I feel very sorry for the victims of TEAfuhrer McCrory. On the other, we should take this as an object lesson of what happens when voters on the left stay home and/or waste their votes on protest candidates who cannot win.  As imperfect as the Democratic Party may be, when it comes to pure evil, they cannot hold a candle to this.

I have extreme kudos for McCrorystan's Moral Monday Movement and fully support their attempts to wrest their control McCrorystan from TEAfuhrer McCrory and reinstate North Carolina. (corrected 6/14 – Thanks Lynn)

The punishment for apathy is Republican tyranny.

WAKE UP!!

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Open Thread–5/30/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 302013
 

Yesterday afternoon and last night, one of my neighbors repeatedly overloaded the electrical system, tripping the circuit breaker.  This kept me from sleeping, because every time the power goes out, it sets off an alarm in my O2 converter, so this Open Thread is all I have for today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:23 (average 5;10).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Boston Globe: Independent Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (CHAY’-fee) is joining the Democratic Party ahead of his bid for a second term.

The former Republican U.S. senator left the GOP in 2007 and was elected as the nation’s only independent governor in 2010.

Two Democratic sources say Chafee plans to change his party registration to join the party.

Chafee has been saying for months that he was thinking about the switch, noting that he shares many positions with Democrats and that joining the party will help with fundraising.

He is a supporter of President Barack Obama and spoke at last year’s Democratic National Convention…

That is the only reasonable course for any Republican, who has not given up on common decency and rational thought.

From Think Progress: Thousands of people signed up to attend an armed march on Washington over the course of the last month. But now, the leader of the march is setting his sights much higher than a single demonstration — he wants his armed followers to help overthrow the American government.

About a month ago, a gun activist named Adam Kokesh called for thousands of people to join him in an armed march on Washington, D.C. to “put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny.” As of this writing, nearly 5,200 people have RSVPed for Kokesh’s armed march.

Late last week, however, Kokesh decided to abandon this march in favor of a much larger effort to bring down the entire federal government. In a statement written from a jail cell in Philadelphia (Kokesh faced charges for allegedly resisting arrest during a pro-marijuana rally. He now says he’s been released), the gun activist called for his supporters to form a secessionist “army”…

It goes without saying that Kokesh is a Republican. He founded Veterans for Ron Paul. He also ran for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Mexico’s 3rd congressional district. He received endorsements from Ron Paul and the Republican Liberty Caucus. He should be charged with sedition.

From Raw Story: Fox Business personalities had a collective freak out on Wednesday night after learning that mothers were now the primary source of income in 40 percent of U.S. households.

Fox Business host Lou Dobbs asserted women earning more than their husbands was an indication of the dissolution of American society. Fox News political analyst Juan Williams agreed, describing it as a sign of the disintegration of marriage that would have negative consequences for generations to come.

Fox News contributor Erick Erickson went one step further, saying nature itself commanded that women be subservient to men.

“I’m so used to liberals telling conservatives that they’re anti-science,” Erickson explained. “But liberals who defend this and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science. When you look at biology, when you look at the natural world, the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complimentary role.”

I’m not surprised to see that the Republican Ministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, is carrying out the Republican Party’s plan to make themselves more appealing to women.  LOL!

Cartoon:

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This prompted the immediate invention of the match by 19th century feminists. ;-)

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Open Thread–3/10/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 102013
 

Yesterday I slept virtually all day, and it was just what I needed.  I’m feeling much better, except that I can’t stand springing ahead.  An hour is too valuable to give up.  I have a month’s grocery delivery coming today.  Hopefully unpacking and stowing them won’t take too much out of me.  I’m current with replies, and should be here tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:37 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: WARNING: You May Actually Weep While Watching The Film Version Of Wisconsin’s Epic Uprising [This Short Take is about 1 1/4 hours long.]

 

Walker sucked so much Koch that he is still Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan. Through the dedication of oppressed people like these, that SHALL change.

From USA Today: President Barack Obama is poised to select Justice Department official Thomas Perez to be the next labor secretary, according to two people familiar with the deliberation process.

With solid support from Labor and Latinos, Perez appears to be an all too infrequent excellent choice.

From The Hill: Attorney General Eric Holder’s surprising comments this week about difficulties prosecuting big banks has lit a new spark under the debate over large financial institutions that has lingered for years on Capitol Hill.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, Holder tackled a wide range of issues from drone policy to gun control, but it was his comments on big banks, after hours of testimony, that raised eyebrows among Wall Street backers and critics…

…“The size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy,” he said. “That is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large."

If they are too big to be held accountable for their crimes, which amount to open class warfare, they are too big to exist. Even if breaking them up will hurt the economy, lets get it over with. The longer we wait, the worse it will be.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–3/2/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 022013
 

I got lots of Zzzzzzzs yesterday.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow appears OK, but on Monday I have two routine medical appointments on one day, so expect no more than an Open Thread on Monday, if that.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:59 (average 4:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Reason #8493 Jon Stewart Is Pretty Much One Of The Smartest People On Television

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The irony here is that whether or not to hate IS a choice, just as it is a choice for the Republican Party to pander to those who are drowning in their own hatred.

From Click on Detroit: "Today, Governor Snyder has decided to unilaterally take over control of the City of Detroit from its democratically elected leaders. This is nothing but a hostile take-over; we would expect this from a CEO, but not from a Governor,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair, Lon Johnson.

There are real problems in Detroit, but we will only solve them with everyone at the table. We should trust in the democratic process. The process advocated by our Governor is one of subtraction – removing elected leaders, removing stakeholders, removing the voices of the people.

Herr Schneider is goose-stepping a great city into the clutches of fascism.

From YouTube: Why Obama is all wrong about the Jedi mind meld

First of all, there is no Jedi mind meld. It is a Vulcan mind meld. Obama is certainly no Vulcan. If he were, Republicans would accuse him of being an alien, demand to see his birth certificate, and call him a Muslim. Furthermore, Spock only had to mind meld with a Horta, and Hortas are FAR more human than Republican politicians.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–2/25/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 252013
 

Yesterday evening I was finally able to keep some food down.  I’m way behind on sleep, but I am clearly on the mend, so this should be my last one-article day.  I’m current with replies.  Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:42 (average 5:48).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: A Revealing In-Person Demonstration Of What 32 Shots In 16 Seconds Means

 

I have nothing to add.

From NY Times: OF the many injustices that permeate America’s byzantine tax code, few are as outrageous as the tax rate on “carried interest” — the profits made by private equity and hedge fund managers, as well as venture capitalists and partners in real estate investment trusts. This huge tax benefit enriches an already privileged sliver of financiers and violates basic standards of fairness and common sense.

President Obama recently suggested that he would ask Congress to close this loophole. Eliminating the carried-interest tax rate should be an easy sell. It should play to Republicans’ supposed hatred of government handouts and to Democrats’ commitment to social justice.

It does play to almost all Democrats, but to almost no Republicans. The reason for that should be obvious.

From CNN: Most of the 10 poorest states in the country are Republican.

Mississippi is the poorest… followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama and North Carolina.

And the list doesn’t even include Texas, where Rick Perry is governor and one in five people lives in poverty.

This proves two things. First, a Republican Regime is the punishment for voting Republican.  Second, every Republican in office is one Republican too many!

Cartoon:

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I exercise my 16th Amendment rights too. Sick smile

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Fox Attacked a 102 Year Old

 Politics
Feb 152013
 

The Republican Ministry of Propaganda, aka Faux Noise, has a problem.  Because they report so-called news from an exclusively Republican perspective, they usually find themselves positioned in exact opposition to the facts of the story.  When unable to argue a valid position, they attack a person, as they did here.

15desiline-victorAfter glossing over state Republicans’ role in exacerbating long lines at the ballot box, three Fox hosts mocked the hours-long wait and multiple trips a 102-year-old woman endured in order to cast her vote in 2012.

On Fox News Radio’s Kilmeade & Friends, host Brian Kilmeade and Fox’s Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer laughed off the difficulties 102-year-old Desiline Victor endured in order to vote in the 2012 election. Victor, who was invited to the State of the Union address and whom President Obama applauded for enduring a long wait to vote, had to make two trips to the polls and wait in line for over three hours before she was able to cast her ballot. Discussing Victor, MacCallum wondered, "What’s the big deal?" and said, "This is such a non-issue. Ridiculous." Hemmer added that at the State of the Union, "They held her up as a victim. What was she a victim of?"

But long lines at polling places are widely acknowledged as a major issue nationwide. In Victor’s home state of Florida alone, at least 201,000 eligible voters reportedly did not cast ballots because they were discouraged by lengthy wait times…

Inserted from <Media Matters>

Here’s the audio:

In this case, the facts are that Florida Republicans did everything in their power to keep likely Democratic voters from voting, and many suffered severe hardship to exercise their right to vote.  Victor was a very sympatric example of the suffering the Republican War on Voting caused.  These Republican propagandists have no shame.

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