Open Thread–6/9/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 092013
 

I’m writing early again to beat the heat that will take a day or two to dissipate from the building.  I slept from about 10 PM to 1:00 AM, put up my articles, and slept from 4:00 AM until 12 Noon.  Nevertheless, I still feel quite tired and think it may be a side effect of the Chantix.  Other than sacrificing my next door neighbor to the devil, the drug has caused no mental aberrations. ;-)   It is my hope that I will be able to send out links, as I have been too pooped to do so for the last several days.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:45 (average 4:26). :-( To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Alternet: “Right to work” is the most dishonest phrase in American political discourse. It sounds like it’s defending people’s right to earn a living. But as used by its supporters, it means making it impossible for workers to form an effective union, couched in the language of “freedom” and “choice.”

Specifically, it means laws banning “union shops,” in which everyone in a workplace has to join the union or pay a fee to cover the cost of union representation.

The ‘Right to work’ label should be ‘Right to be paid less so the 1% can have more’.  Support Union Labor!!

From Daily Kos: Attention every journalist that is currently trying to write the definitive 2012 presidential campaign retrospective: We finally have the real reason that Mitt Romney failed in his bid to unseat President Obama. In fact, we get the answer straight from the loser presidential runner-up himself.

The answer? His penny-pinching, underdog campaign simply couldn’t keep pace with the cash-fueled machine that was the Obama re-elect…

…It’s a touching story. It is also complete bullshit.

According to a campaign finance study by the New York Times, the GOP’s big three (the RNC, the Super PAC Restore Our Future, and the Romney campaign) actually outspent the Democratic big three (the DNC, the Super PAC Priorities USA, and the Obama campaign) by about $6.3 million in the election cycle…

I would think that CNN should have challenged Little Lord Willard’s lie. Are they trying to goose-step higher than Faux Noise?

From Huffington Post: House Republicans just don’t get it.

That was the message Latinos and immigrant rights advocates sent to the GOP on Thursday when nearly all House Republicans voted to approve an amendment to defund the deferred action program that currently allows undocumented youth to stay and work in the United States.

The amendment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill also restricts DHS from implementing prosecutorial discretion policies that allow immigration officials to delay the deportations of undocumented immigrants who haven’t committed serious crimes and are considered “low-priority.” It was approved 224 to 201, with House members largely voting along party lines. Six Republicans voted against it, and three Democrats voted for it.

Immigration hard-liner Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who offered the amendment, celebrated Thursday, saying his amendment would prohibit the Obama administration from implementing “executive amnesty.” He also warned that the passage of the amendment is “the first test of the 113th Congress in the House of Representatives on immigration.”

“My amendment blocks many of the provisions that are mirrored in the Senate’s ‘Gang of Eight’ bill,” King said in a statement. “If this position holds, no amnesty will reach the president’s desk.”

Fortunately, before this can go anywhere it has to pass the Senate, and I don’t see that happening. However, it should send a clear message to Latinos that Republicans do not represent them at all. The three Democratic pigs (porcine apology here) who goose-stepped with racist Republicans were John Barrow (D-GA), Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC) and Nick J. Rahall II (D-WV).

Cartoon:

9Cartoon

He’s frowning, because they were reinstated for the rich in 2011. :-)

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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:

10Cartoon

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Open Thread–2/4/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 042013
 

Yesterday I had a bad air day, with severe coughing and bronchial congestion.  The Super Bowl cut into my sleep time. so I overslept.  I don’t want to push myself too hard, although I do have an extra article for you.  I’m current with replies.  I plan to go back to posting our articles on other sites tomorrow instead of today.

Church of the Ellipsoid Orb:

Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens for out-meditating the San Francisco 49ers 34-31.  Their achievement is particularly noteworthy, because they were considered the weakest team to make the playoffs, and were the underdogs in every game they played.  To get to the AFC championship, they had to defeat the best team in football.  Then to get to the Super Bowl, they had to defeat the second best team in football.  By consistently playing above the capabilities their record reflects, they have earned high praise.

Now the great mourning has begun, because the mighty orb has gone dark.  Except for a brief glimmer in April for the Selection of Future Acolytes, we will have none of it’s divine light until late Summer, if we are indeed blessed with it’s return.  Now is the time for wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:32 (average 4:31).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: FLASHBACK: What The NRA Sounded Like Back When It Was Sane

4NRAsane500

Back then, the NRA represented gun owners, and their intent was to promote the best interests of responsible shooters. Today the NRA represents corporate criminals, and their intent is to represent the most profit for irresponsible manufacturers, regardless of how many innocents die to sate their greed. By their strong NRA support, Republicans demonstrate, once again, that they certainly are the pro-death party.

From NY Times: President Obama said in a televised interview on Sunday that he could foresee a budget deal in Congress that did not include further increases in tax rates but instead focused on eliminating loopholes and deductions.

Although I think that rates are still too low on those making over $1 million per year, I can support reform limited to eliminating loopholes, such as allowing Vulture Capitalists to have their income taxed at the lower capital gains rate and the many tax credits lavished on Big Oil.

From Crooks and Liars: Millionaire Pundit Laura Ingraham Doesn’t Like Paying Americans a Living Wage

 

Callahan is spot on. We have a demand problem. Producers have no incentive to hire, as long as consumers don’t have the money to pay for those products. Smith’s statement that union membership is low, because unions don’t work, is pure propaganda. Union membership is low, because Republicans have outsourced so many union jobs, and because Republicans have legislated away union rights.  Note that. at the end of the segment, Ingraham thanked the goose-stepper, but not the Democrat.  After all, this is the Republican Ministry of Propaganda.

Cartoon:  We’re trying something a little different today to demonstrate how ethnic bias can literally distort our world view.  The first image is a Mercator Projection of the world map, the map with which we are all most familiar.

4Cartoon

Note how the area north of the equator takes up 2/3 of the map, making nations in the northern hemisphere appear larger, and therefore, more important.

The second image is a Peters Projection of the world map.

4bCartoon

It divides the area equally between the northern and southern hemisphere, thus showing the sizes of different features more accurately with respect to each other.  It changes your perspective, doesn’t it?

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Open Thread–12/14/2012

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 142012
 

I’m getting so sick of sick.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow, I hope.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 5:08).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: We’d Just Like To Say ‘Ditto’ To Everything Jennifer Granholm Says In This Clip

 

Mathematically, Herr Snyder:Governors::Herr Scalia:Injustices. Republicans are trying to convert the 98% into just another third world country they can exploit with ease.

From NY Times: It’s important to make this point, because I keep seeing articles about the “fiscal cliff” that do, in fact, describe it — often in the headline — as a debt crisis. But it isn’t. The U.S. government is having no trouble borrowing to cover its deficit. In fact, its borrowing costs are near historic lows. And even the confrontation over the debt ceiling that looms a few months from now if we do somehow manage to avoid going over the fiscal cliff isn’t really about debt.

No, what we’re having is a political crisis, born of the fact that one of our two great political parties has reached the end of a 30-year road. The modern Republican Party’s grand, radical agenda lies in ruins — but the party doesn’t know how to deal with that failure, and it retains enough power to do immense damage as it strikes out in frustration.

Before I talk about that reality, a word about the current state of budget “negotiations.”

Here is another can’t miss editorial by Paul Krugman. Click through. See also Bernie Sanders take on the negotiations.

From MSNBC: Pope Grover’s Demonstrates Republican Love

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

If anyone needs a short leash, it’s Norquist, with a spiked choke collar. Like the Republican party, he is flailing desperately to stay relevant and failing miserably. But his grotesque characterizations exemplify what Republicans love.

Cartoon:

14Cartoon

Republican Theocons attribute this discovery, without which modern electronics would not be possible, to the devil.

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Open Thread–12/12/2012

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 122012
 

I’m afraid I’m still down.  I’m current with replies.  Maybe tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:44 (average 4:31).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the latest from our fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

TomCat Teabag Trashers

MittsMagicJock

123.50

107.34

Texans Will Rise Again

hugos renegades

116.84

77.76

Progressive Underdogs

Playing without a helmet

142.54

101.22

Standings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Points

 

Rank

Team Name

W-L-T

Pct

Streak

Waiver

For

Against

1 (1)

TomCat Teabag Trashers

12-2-0

.857

W3

6

1673.94

1400.92

2 (2)

hugos renegades

8-6-0

.571

L3

5

1513.64

1430.08

3 (3)

Progressive Underdogs

7-7-0

.500

W4

4

1492.64

1413.38

4 (4)

MittsMagicJock

5-9-0

.357

L2

3

1387.98

1455.92

5 (5)

Playing without a helmet

5-9-0

.357

L1

2

1331.28

1524.48

6 (6)

Texans Will Rise Again

5-9-0

.357

W1

1

1357.62

1532.32

This concludes the regular season, and now it’s time for the playoffs.  The 3rd through 6th place teams will now play to take on the Teabag Trashers and the Renegades, who have a first round bye, in the semifinals.

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: This Lawmaker In Michigan Really Cuts Through The B.S. With Her GOP Coworkers

 

Whitmer is spot-on, but The Michigan Right to Screw Workers Law isn’t about what’s good for people, what’s good for Michigan, or what’s good for America. It’s about establishing a permanent, totalitarian Republican regime in which elections and the will of the people no longer matter.

From NY Times: It is a dark day for the rule of law. Federal and state authorities have chosen not to indict HSBC, the London-based bank, on charges of vast and prolonged money laundering, for fear that criminal prosecution would topple the bank and, in the process, endanger the financial system. They also have not charged any top HSBC banker in the case, though it boggles the mind that a bank could launder money as HSBC did without anyone in a position of authority making culpable decisions.

Clearly, the government has bought into the notion that too big to fail is too big to jail. When prosecutors choose not to prosecute to the full extent of the law in a case as egregious as this, the law itself is diminished. The deterrence that comes from the threat of criminal prosecution is weakened, if not lost.

If refusing to prosecute a criminal corporation due to fear of the damage it will do to the financial system, then the financial system is already far too damaged to permit its continuation unchanged. Especially if too big to fail is too big to jail, then too big to fail is too big to exist. Reinstate Glass-Steagall and break up the TBTF Banksters.

From MSNBC: The Injustice vs the Student

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

We can be sure that Herr Scalia has decided the LGBT cases without having heard them, and with no consideration or respect for the Constitution of the United States, given that he is doubling down on hate speech. Kudos to Duncan Hosie.

Cartoon:

12Cartoon

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Open Thread–12/6/2012

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 062012
 

My COPD is still pretty severe, but I’m in the saddle and current with replies.  Tonight is a special holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, because my Broncos take on the Raiders in a Thursday night meditation.  Tomorrow I hope to get articles up before leaving for a volunteer day in prison.  I normally never go on a Friday, but the prison is closing the activities section during the latter half of the month for the holidays, so we’re on an unusual schedule.  Next Tuesday will be my last volunteer day this month.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:32 (average 4:17).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: One Chart Gives You 20 Reasons To Support Unions

6unions

Almost every one is sufficient reason in itself.

From Politico: Voters support higher taxes on the wealthy by a margin of better than 2 to 1, according to a new poll Thursday.

Sixty-five percent of voters back increased taxes for Americans making more than $250,000 a year, while 31 percent oppose, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released. Democrats support that measure 84-14 percent, and independents are in favor of the tax hikes 66-31 percent. Republicans, on the other hand, oppose such tax increases 53-41 percent, the poll found.

Popular support guarantees Republican opposition.

From NY Times: Obama went too far by demanding $1.6 trillion in revenue, that he should have stayed with Simpson-Bowles — which calls for $2.2 trillion in revenue.

Obama is being far more reasonable than Republicans deserve.

Cartoon:

6Cartoon

A day of mourning for Teabaggers.

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Open Thread–11/13/2012

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 132012
 

I’m rushing this morning to try to get everything done before leaving for volunteer work in prison.  I;m current with replies, albeit very briefly.  Tomorrow it is probable that I will have only an Open Thread, because I will be overtired after today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:05 (average 5:12).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the latest from our fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

TomCat Teabag Trashers

Texans Will Rise Again

110.54

98.78

Progressive Underdogs

MittsMagicJock

101.66

150.54

Playing without a helmet

hugos renegades

78.70

109.12

Standings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Points

 

Rank

Team Name

W-L-T

Pct

Streak

Waiver

For

Against

1 (1)

TomCat Teabag Trashers

9-1-0

.900

W7

6

1169.36

1011.32

2 (2)

hugos renegades

7-3-0

.700

W2

5

1150.70

976.82

3 (3)

MittsMagicJock

4-6-0

.400

W1

4

1017.28

1021.00

4 (4)

Playing without a helmet

4-6-0

.400

L4

3

977.72

1063.20

5 (5)

Texans Will Rise Again

3-7-0

.300

L2

2

944.30

1152.08

6 (6)

Progressive Underdogs

3-7-0

.300

L1

1

999.22

1034.16

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: COLBERT: ‘A _ _ Off A Raccoon That Drowned In Your Birdbath’ Is Preferable To Papa Johns

I would happily pay 11 to 14 cents more for a pizza, or a burger, or a sub to cover fast food workers. Otherwise, we’re paying for their care in emergency rooms, so corporate criminals can pocket a few pennies.

From NY Times: Having helped President Obama win re-election, labor leaders will meet with him on Tuesday and intend to offer their robust support for what they view as his mandate: stand tough against cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and keep pushing to raise taxes on the wealthy.

Organized labor’s emphasis on broader policy, rather than union-specific legislation, is somewhat of a change from 2008, when leaders pushed for bills that would make it easier to organize workplaces.

I think this is a wise move on labor’s part. The more engaged they are in policy that benefits all workers, the more incentive they create to pass legislation that facilitates unionization, which I fully support. If only there were a Disabled Old Farts Union!

From Huffington Post (Hat-tip Lisa G): Conservative commentator and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said Sunday the Republican Party should accept new ideas, including the much-criticized suggestion by Democrats that taxes be allowed to go up on the wealthy.

"It won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires," he said on "Fox News Sunday." "It really won’t, I don’t think. I don’t really understand why Republicans don’t take Obama’s offer."

Kristol is spot-on, but I bet the base is furious at him.

Cartoon:

13Cartoon

Once upon a time the Constitution guided SCOTUS.

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