Sep 022015
 

Another day has brought another rush trying to get things done.  Today is a grocery delivery day, so I’ve been cleaning.  No heat waves are forecast through Labor Day, but it has been very humid.  I have a couple relatively light days tomorrow and Friday, so hopefully I can rest up then.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:14 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Saying that “things just didn’t work out,” the billionaire Koch brothers have decided to put Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker up for sale.

The Kochs, who earlier had purchased Gov. Walker with great fanfare, announced their plan to sell the politician in a terse statement from Koch Industries headquarters in Wichita.

“Scott Walker is a fine individual, and we wish him well,” the Kochs’ statement read. “We are confident that he will be a good fit for some other billionaire industrialists.”

Republican insiders, however, called the Kochs’ plan to sell Walker highly optimistic, and noted that the market for the Wisconsin Governor was, at this point, virtually nonexistent.

The Kochs, who reportedly had been frustrated by Walker’s poor performance in the polls, finally decided to sell the Wisconsinite after last weekend’s odd pronouncement, in which he seemed to support a border wall with Canada.

You’d better wish them luck, Andy. The Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan will be harder to sell than the Brooklyn Bridge!

From Daily Kos: John Oliver is making his presence felt.  After only about a year on the air, he’s influenced the FCC on NetNeutrality (causing their comments to overload), formed his own Church to make a point about "Prosperity Gospel" scams and engaged in an internet war with the President of Ecuador.

Now, he’s been cited by a Judge on one of the Courts just below the Supreme Court — the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  On his show on March 8, he mocked the lack of representation in US Territories because of a hundred year old group of Supreme Court cases — The Insular Cases.

 

I have no doubt that fascist five Injustices of SCROTUS will want to uphold the racism in The Insular Cases. These Americans should get to decide their own status.

From NY Times:

Defying the Supreme Court and saying she was acting “under God’s authority,” a county clerk in Kentucky denied marriage licenses to gay couples on Tuesday, less than a day after the court rejected her request for a delay.

Alex Wagner has the story on The Last Word.

…and more.

 

Her own marital history is the epitome of Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian hypocrisy.

Cartoon:

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  37 Responses to “Open Thread–9/2/2015”

  1. 4:10 (4:55)  I expected to be even slower than that.  Hmmm, another DYC.

    New Yorker – Oh, does that make him the first to "officially" fall out of the clown car?  That will be an interesting question to decide.

    Daily Kos – Saw this with delight.  If he can last as long as Jon Stewart, there's no telling what he can do.

    NY Times – She's been called back to Federal Court for another hearing tomorrow (Thursday), along with her staff.  I say put her in jail (not prison since she hasn't been tried – she's just been trying – pun intended) but the people who just want to get married will be satisfied with financial penalties, or so their lawyer says.  I don't think financial penalties will work on her.  She'll just do a "Go Fund Me."
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/01/1417441/-Federal-judge-orders-Kentucky-clerk-her-entire-staff-to-court-Kim-Davis-releases-Godly-statement
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/01/1417328/-Kentucky-clerk-again-refused-to-issue-marriage-licenses-officially-in-contempt-of-court-video

    Cartoon – Yes, it certainly was.  They had no idea what they had there.

  2. I wish that all the territories that America has taken and used for military bases in this case should be declared STATES! They are good enough to be a place for our military bases and we call them "territories", but we don't allow them to vote in ELECTIONS !!! And his take on the "prosperity gospels"has me ROTFLMAO EVERY WEEK!

    Andy's dog in The Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan is one of the most useless beings in the earth! There is a lot of the candidates on the red side that are having a hard time paying bills, let alone their staff!

    The nutcase in Kentucky has some brass-plated balls, to say the least! She is still refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples from the last news that I saw at noon! She says that God is the one she obeys, not SCOTUS! In the Bible it says to obey the law of the land! Did she not read that? I guess not. She must've skipped that day of Sunday School! At least that is where I learned it!

    Hope you keep cool weather up there, cause it sure ain't cool here! Hope you are feeling better, TC! 

    Can't wait for the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb to have its first official meeting of this season!!!!

  3. Quakers vs. Talibangelical christianists & the 2nd Amendment

    Putting It in Perspective …

    "I have to wonder just how many of those supporting Kentucky clerk Kim Davis' refusal to issue marriage licenses based on her religious objection to same-sex couples marrying would support a Quaker government official who refused to issue them gun permits based on a religious commitment to pacifism."

    – Lambda Legal Director Jon Davidson

    https://www.facebook.com/Reuters/posts/996913666995656

     

    • Excellent comparison!

    • Excellent, SoINeedAName, wonderful food for thought!

    • Nameless, wonderful comparison!  To say there would be chaos is an extreme understatement.  I wonder if a Talibangelical christianist would ever deny a gun permit based on their belief in the 6th commandment . . . Thou shall not kill. . . . because we all know that guns were created for killing?

  4. I hope you get lots of rest.

    The New Yorker:  That is one of the funniest ones yet from Andy.

    Daily Kos:  I hate to admit my ignorance, but I was unaware of this 1901 ruling.  It should and can be changed.  What so offended the Judge who cited John?  Is the truth so painful for him?  I am appalled by the amount of racism that still exists in our country.

    NY Times:  NOt bad enough that we have Rand Paul, now we have Kim Davis.  I agree with the premise that she wants to be a martyr.  She and others are using something from Leviticus to base their beliefs that same sex marriage is wrong, yet, according to what I have been told, she has been divorced four times.  That is also a big no no in Leviticus, as well as having tattoos and eating bacon.  Too many so=called Christians pick and choose verses from the Bible to suit their belief and feelings, I think she is one of them.  A small group is trying to force our governor to call a special session of the legislators to deal with the problem.  He is refusing, stating that the Supreme Court has all ready decided. I hope he holds out.  She needs to do her job, or leave it.  Apparently, she is unaware of the concept of separation of church and state.

    Cartoon:   That was a bad day in our house, we were fans from the beginning.

    • Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis … she may WANT to be a martyr for "Biblical Marriage" – but she's not going to make the cut.

      As someone noted: "If you need a flowchart to follow your marriages, you're doing it wrong!"  Let's take a look at old Kim's marriage history:

      Marries Husband #1

      While married to Husband #1, she conceives twins by man who would become Husband #3 (yep, # THREE) [So technically their Biblical bastards]

      Divorces Husband #1

      Marries Husband #2

      Husband #2 adopts twins who were fathered by man who WILL become Husband #3

      Divorces Husband #2

      Marries Husband #3

      Divorces Husband #3

      Re-marries Husband #2

      http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/clerk-who-denied-gay-marriage-licenses-has-been-divorced-multiple-n420216

      http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/09/01/kentucky-clerk-fighting-gay-marriage-has-wed-four-times

      And a handy-dandy Comment at Daily Kos w/ a neat Tweet summarizing Davis' "Biblical" marriages:

      http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1417914/57487674

      Old Kim is way more "Hypocrite" than she is "Martyr"

      • That history eas in the 2nd video.

      • I so agree with you and believe me, we were cheered to hear she was going to jail.  She is a product of nepotism, only has the job because her mother had it for the previous 37 years.  I doubt she is really qualified to do anything useful.  I hope she will be impeached.  The judge gave her an alternative to jail, if her clerks could issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.  She still refused.  I hope the people of Rowan county remember how much she has cost them at the next election, if she is not impeached. 

    • Ms Davis has no supervisors, there is no council responsible for putting her in place, she was elected by the PEE-PUL. If she won't resign, she can be impeached or if Kentucky has provisions for recall elections, she can be recalled (Edie?) She can be charged with crimes and if so charged she can be put into jail to await trial; she is not above the law as an individual. If convicted of something she can be fined or sent to prison or both.

      I don't think she has a Go Fund Me page YET – I just meant that, if fined, she will set one up. $80,000 a year is a lot more than I ever made. Being in Kentucky, I would guess it would be roughly equivalent to half a million a year in California or New York, but I may be off; I'm not crunching numbers, just going by gut feeling.

      I think I know where she is coming from with the marriages and divorces.  As I understand it, she was "saved" while married to the present husband – everything before that was wiped out by the Blood Of Jesus, so none of it "counts."  Yeah, I think her history is fair game, but she doesn't so it will roll off her.

      • She can only be impeached, and I think that will happen soon if she doesn't change her stance.  I hate that she is from Kentucky..

  5. I tried to copy and paste an article that I received after I gave my comment, failed miserably.  It was a column that says I am a Kentucky Woman, I am not Kim Davis. I will try again.

  6. I am a woman. I am a Kentuckian. I hold very strong beliefs about morality and justice. And I am not Kim Davis.

    As the owner of a website about Kentucky women and their lives and interests, I tend to see the absolute best in our fair Commonwealth on a daily basis. I focus on our authors and artisans, our entrepreneurs and our raconteurs. I'm in a bubble, I suppose. Lately, I've seen a lot of what the world outside the Bluegrass State has to say about the Rowan County Clerk who stands in defiance of the Obergfell ruling. More frequently than not, the old tropes about Kentucky life rear their ugly heads: We marry our cousins. We're all stuck in the past. We're bigoted and we're backward. We stand in the way of progress. We're all Kim Davis.

    Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, I knew a lot of women like Ms. Davis. Conservative, religious women. Often the members of small fundamentalist sects. They adhered to strict rules about a woman's appearance, choosing to uphold strict guidelines for modesty and decency. They didn't cut their hair, nor did they wear slacks. They glorified the version of God presented by their faith through extreme interpretations of the Bible. They refused to turn on the washing machine or cook a meal on the Sabbath, for this could be interpreted as doing work on The Lord's Day. I was raised to believe that, while this wasn't the brand of faith which we followed, it was something to be honored, because it was done in earnest. I was raised that there was no good reason for calling out the hypocrisy of the four-times-married Ms. Davis, lest someone shine a light on my own shortcomings. I was raised not to be ugly to others, whether I agreed with them or not. I was raised to be nice to Kim Davis.

    <img src=”http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53d2e466e4b076e5e3fb9e08/t/55e71bf5e4b0019f4afdd7f2/1441209336165/Rainbow+Y%27all” alt=”Y’all means all y’all. Photo via Kentucky for Kentucky.” />

    Y'all means all y'all. Photo via Kentucky for Kentucky.

    But, the teachings of my Appalachian childhood also carried a strong sense of morality and equality and justice.  I was raised to stand up for what I believe is right and to respectfully disagree with others while taking a stand of my own. I was raised to differentiate personal attacks from issues of ethical or professional misconduct. I was raised that, while I needed to be nice to others, I didn't have to agree with them.I was raised to believe that, as long as someone wasn't hurting anyone else with her beliefs, then there was no reason to point a finger. I was not raised to sit idly by while others suffered from hypocrisy, hate, and hysteria. I was raised to question Kim Davis.

    As much as I adore the culture of my home state,  I also love the fundamental tenets of our nation. I am grateful and humbled to live in an America that was founded both on religious tolerance and the separation of religion from governmental activities.  I do respect Ms. Davis's right to a moral belief that differs from my own. I would never presume to know the core beliefs that motivate another human being. But, I believe that, if she cannot perform her job duties as a governmental official, then it's time for her to step down from her public position. America was founded on the separation of church and state. A county clerk's job is to do her civic duty, not her interpretation of her moral duty. Let me be 100% clear: I believe that it is time to impeach Kim Davis.

    I believe that, in 50 years' time, our nation will view the idea that gay people were once barred from marriage with the same disbelief that people of my generation hold for the notions that interracial marriage was once banned, or that anyone other than white property-owning men were refused to right to vote. I am embarrassed of the role our Commonwealth has played in the path toward marriage equality. I pray that, in time, my home state's opposition to gay marriage — be it Governor Beshear's antiquated statements that gay marriage is detrimental to Kentucky's birth rate and economy, or Ms. Davis's refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay Kentuckians — will simply be seen as necessary hurdles toward the goal of equal marriage rights for all Americans. I hope that Kim Davis will ultimately be as insignificant as the Virginia judge who wrote that "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents…. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." I hope that, soon, we forget Kim Davis.

    So to the world outside the Bluegrass State, I beg of you:  Before you lump all Kentuckians, all Kentucky women, or all Appalachian women together, please know that many of us practice civility and love. We are not motivated by hate or bigotry. We are not Kim Davis.

    And, to my fellow Kentuckians, I ask y'all to extend grace and love to all. We can celebrate equality and love without sinking to ugliness and hate. Let's drop the personal-level insults and focus on the governmental procedure. Let's not contribute to the demonization of Kim Davis.

    But, most of all, as a Kentucky woman, I ask of all who read this: Don't confuse my beliefs with those of Kim Davis.


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  7. Sorry for not commenting but I feel like crap so I am going back to bed to stay warm after I feed the pride.  Either I have the flu or arthritis is acting up or both.  Good night!  Meow, meow!

  8. So good to see you're also planning some quiet days in your schedule, TomCat. Take the time to recuperate from the busy ones, like today. Unless a new heat wave ruins all, of course; you have no say in that.

    The New Yorker: Andy may have a point there. After openly supporting him some months ago, the Koch brothers seemed to be less enthusiastic about Walker – it was unclear why they were in the first place – and he seems to be running out of the little steam he had. With no financial backing he'll get out of the race soon enough, so I doubt whether the Kochs will get their money back if the ever manage to sell him on. 😉

    Daily Kos: You can leave it up to John Oliver to make a point about the rights of Americans in the US Territories and leave no room to go around it. I was shocked, first of all because I wasn't aware that these Territories existed; I'd never realized America had the same colonialist background as do the English, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spanish…but had swept the people living there under the rug over a hundred years ago and tried to wipe them from everyone's minds, while continuing to make good use of their lands for its military bases. But the most shocking was the fact that the current administration is still fighting the appeals for a right to vote by the people of the US Territories on the basis of the Insular Cases in which these "alien races" are said not to be able to grasp "Anglo-Saxon laws". In the words of John Oliver: "That's disgusting".

    NY Times: Dan Savage says it all, really. This woman is a hypocrite and only out to make a lot of money for herself by turning herself into a "martyr". In the meantime she has devastated the gay couple's lives by refusing them their marriage licence multiple times, despite court orders to do so (I believe she was ordered to hand out the marriage licence immediately by a judge yesterday.) I dislike all the suing Americans do most of the time, but in this case, the couple who are kept from marrying should sue her for all the money she gets through crowd funding for becomming a martyr and sue the council for not replacing her with another clerk when she refuses to do the job she is payed to do. This council is consistenly backing her and should be called to order by a judge too.

    Cartoon: And the network soon learned it was a great mistake and couldn't come up with new series based on Star Trek fast enough 😉 They were never as good though.

     

  9. Pooped hugs to all!

  10. 3:53  I couldn't fight my way through the deadheads.

  11. If they "are not part of the United States" shouldn't they be allowed to have self-rule?

  12. Sept. 2, 1969: The dark day (for me!)..I knew it was gonna be cancelled because they had an inter-racial kiss..Live long & prosper TomCat!

  13. OK, I'm up and feeling better than yesterday, but not by much.  At least I can focus today which I could not yesterday afternoon.  Temp is 16 C (60 F) with 83% humidity (make that 100% as it is raining for the 3rd time today).  I've been up and down watching season 12 NCIS DVD's and snuggled with the animals.

    Puzzle — 3:40  Enjoy your salad Puddy Tat!

    The New Yorker — Previously used goods are really hard to sell unless they are in primo condition, which IMHO, the Fartfuhrer is NOT!  But, one person's trash is another person's treasure.  "The Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan will be harder to sell than the Brooklyn Bridge!" — I agree.

    Daily Kos — Talk about human rights and civil liberties violations.  These people are being denied their right to representation, yet they are expected to play by US rules.  This almost seems akin to slavery.  I wonder what would happen if any of them decided to go their own way? . . . afterall, there are 4+ million people in these territories.  "I have no doubt that fascist five Injustices of SCROTUS will want to uphold the racism in The Insular Cases. "  Of this there can be no doubt!

    NY Times — WOW!  I never thought I would agree with Lindsey Graham!  Davis' work is to uphold the law in the administration of her duties.  That law says marriage equality is the law of the land, so she either performs the duties of her job or she resigns.  If she continues to refuse to perform her duties, then she needs to be forcibly removed . . . jail, recall etc . . . and be replaced by someone who will perform the duties under the law.  To me, this is not about the violation of her religious freedom because no one is preventing her from worshipping how she wants; no one is jamming their religious beliefs down her throat and forcing her to change her own beliefs.  Can you say  H – Y – P – O – C – R – I – T – E!!!!!

    Cartoon — I never saw an original episode, tragically.  My mother thought Star Trek was garbage so it was forbidden.  In the summer of 1969, I moved to Toronto to live with my father and his wife.  With 5 kids at home, 3 of which were boys,  Star Trek didn't stand a chance against football and hockey!  But look what Star Trek spawned!

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