TomCat

Open Thread–4/8/2015

Posted by TomCat at 1:14 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 082015

This is today’s only article. I sleep poorly last night, because I was feeling unhappy, and I can’t catch up now, because I’m waiting for my grocery delivery. Please everyone… do not make donations for me to go to do volunteer work with my guys in prison. The issue is more the physical challenges that overnight travel on public transit than it is finances. Even if I have the money, I do not have the stamina to make such a trip more than once every other month. Thanks for caring.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:29 (average 4:40). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: With an official announcement on his campaign Web site, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has joined a crowded field of people who will never be elected President in their lifetimes.

While Paul and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are the only officially announced Republican candidates with a zero-per-cent chance of ever winning the Presidency, a burgeoning roster of totally pointless candidacies is waiting in the wings.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and neurosurgeon Ben Carson are just a few of the men thought to be considering squandering time and money pursuing an office that they will never occupy in a billion years.

From Andy’s mouth to God’s ear.

From NY Times: A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting in the back and killing an apparently unarmed black man while the man ran away.

The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he had feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, fled. The North Charleston mayor announced the state charges at a news conference Tuesday evening.

The shooting came on the heels of high-profile instances of police officers’ using lethal force in New York, Cleveland, Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere. The deaths have set off a national debate over whether the police are too quick to use force, particularly in cases involving black men.

For once it looks like the cop won’t get away with Republican police methods.

From Unworthy: John Oliver flew 10 hours to Russia to interview Edward Snowden and get him on record.

This a 30 minute video, but it’s well worth the time to watch it. Due to an error in YouTube’s embed script, I can’t embed it for you here, but you can click through and watch it there. He treats a serious subject with humor, but crystal clarity. It is especially revealing about the incompetence of US voters.

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Matthews Hits Home on Iran

Posted by TomCat at 12:45 pm Politics

Apr 072015

You don’t see me featuring clips of Chris Matthews very often, because I not really a fan of his. Of the MSNBC crew, he ‘s more of a Hillary Democrat than the more progressive Schultz, Hayes, Maddow, and O’Donnell. But every once in a while, he hits home, and this is one of those times.

GOPwarmongers Chris Matthews took apart all of the nonsensical objections to Obama’s negotiations with Iran with a few pointed questions to Michael Rubin from the American Enterprise Institute (aka Koch Industries Thinkers, Inc.)

We begin with the "appeasement" talking point, which is a crowd favorite on the right, despite the fact that it has absolutely no basis in fact. Nevertheless, conservatives have trotted out such knowledgeable beings as Ron Christie, Allen West, John Bolton, and Ted Cruz. Armed with their talking points and media training, each looks straight into the camera and tells their fearful audience this deal is as terrible as Chamberlain’s agreement with Hitler.

Tweety isn’t having it, and reminds that the very same argument was used to get us into the Vietnam war…

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

Simply put, if Republicans sabotage this deal, Russia, China and Europe will not back us in proposing a tougher deal that Iran will not accept. Rubin’s better settlement is as big a lie as his claims about Iraq.

Open Thread–4/7/2015

Posted by TomCat at 12:44 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 072015

I received some devastating news this morning. My friend, who is undergoing chemotherapy is also the one who drives me to Salem to do my volunteer work with my guys in prison. It’s sixty miles away. Her treatment providers have advised her to stop going for four months, because her immune system will be compromised by her treatment. So the only way I can go work with my guys before August will be to take the bus and spend the night in a motel. I figure I will be able to do that once. ARGH! I may be intermittent for the rest of the week, because tomorrow is a grocery delivery day, and Friday is my quarterly surgery on my foot. It will also be my first day out since getting sick.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:46 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: A second effort in the Tennessee legislature to take up Medicaid expansion failed this week, meaning 280,000 Tennesseans still remain, needlessly, without any kind of healthcare coverage. When one of those Tennesseans confronted Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R), a wealth manager at Morgan Stanley about it, asking him if he’d be willing to give up his own insurance, well, Gardenhire showed his true colors.

One activist, Damien Crisp, asked Gardenhire if he would be willing to give up his own state-subsidized health insurance.

Gardenhire, in a video of the incident taken by another activist, turned around and said something along the lines of "Not giving it up, asshole" or, perhaps, "Why don’t you give it up, asshole?" ("Asshole" is the clearest part of his rejoinder.)

Barf Bag Alert!!

There is only one word demeaning enough to use to describe Gardenhire. He is a Republican.

From The New Yorker: The Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s constant references to Jesus Christ in his speeches and campaign ads are sparking a strong interest in atheism among millions of Americans, atheist leaders report.

Since Sen. Cruz (R-Texas) announced his candidacy two weeks ago with the words “God isn’t done with America yet,” a substantial number of Americans “have begun seriously questioning the existence of God,” said Carol Foyler, the executive director of the American Society of Atheists.

“It’s been amazing,” Foyler said. “We’re getting calls from people who are curious about atheism for the first time in their lives. And when we ask them what got them thinking about it, they all say the same thing: ‘I just heard Ted Cruz talk.’ ”

Foyler said that her group often notices a surge in atheism after natural disasters or other traumatic events that rattle people’s faith, but, she added, “We’ve never seen anything like Ted Cruz.”

After Cruz aired an Easter weekend campaign ad in which he spoke of the transformative power of Christ, Foyler said, “Our phones were ringing off the hook.”

Andy is so spot-on. People who do not realize that Republican Supply-side Jesus has nothing to do with and is the polar opposite of the Jesus worshiped by authentic Christians. That makes Republicans a premiere advertisement for atheism.

From Alternet: That time he shushed a female CNBC anchor on live TV

In the same interview (with CNBC anchor Kelly Evans), Paul spoke about a bill he was co-sponsoring with Sen. Barbara Boxer that would grant companies with assets overseas to bring it to the U.S. with a 6.5 percent “holiday corporate tax rate.” As Evans pressed Paul about the specifics of the bill, he became increasingly condescending: “Hey, hey, Kelly? Calm down a bit here, Kelly,” he said, before literally shushing her.

Bigger Barf Bag Alert!!

This is just one of seven ludicrous Rand Paul moments. Click through for the other six. He almost as misogynistic as the malignant troll… his daddy!

Cartoon:

Open Thread–4/6/2015

Posted by TomCat at 9:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 062015

It’s such a slow day for news, that even Daily Kos is recommending only hits from the past, and because I’m still short of 100%, I’m making this today’s only article.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:42 (average 6:40). To do it, click here. How dod you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: A new poll shows that Americans who were unconcerned about climate change as it wreaked havoc around the world are beginning to worry, now that global warming is affecting the appearance of their lawns.

According to the poll, conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Opinion Research Institute, rising sea levels, the destruction of habitats, and catastrophic weather conditions, such as hurricanes and tsunamis, have not served as the wake-up call to Americans that their lawns’ unsightly barrenness has.

In interviews across the state of California, residents expressed anger and outrage that climate change had been allowed to worsen to the point that it has now severely limited their choice of ground cover, shrubs, and other decorative plantings.

Sadly, Andy seems to have captured the soul of the American voter.

From NY Times: An exuberant crowd that included public-school teachers, union bus drivers and nursing home workers packed into New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church on this city’s West Side on Saturday afternoon as Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, issued an urgent plea.

“I am asking you, I am begging you, and — in my teacher voice — I am telling you, go vote,” Ms. Lewis, who wore a “Chuy” button on each lapel, called out, as a cheer rose through the high-ceilinged church. “Go vote!” she called out again. “Go vote!”At the heart of the campaign that has threatened to topple Mayor Rahm Emanuel are labor unions: Amalgamated Transit Union locals, the Service Employees International Union’s Illinois State Council and, perhaps above all, the Chicago Teachers Union. Jesus G. Garcia, the candidate known as Chuy, built his campaign on the backing of teachers, has received his strongest financial support from unions and was talked into running by Ms. Lewis herself. And the crowd inside this echoing church followed orders, scores of people streaming out together and marching down Madison Street to a polling location with less than an hour remaining for early voting in advance of Tuesday’s election.

Go Chuy! Chicago, give your heart to Jesus! (Garcia, not Republican Supply-side). Rahmbo acts more like a Republican than a Democrat!

From Alternet: A Georgia teacher — whose husband sits on the school board — is under fire for telling her students that President Barack Obama isn’t a Christian, and if their parents voted for him they are not Christians either, reports WMGT.

What a Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian statement that is! Even I allow for the possibility that an authentic Christian might have voted for Little Lord Willard, if that Christian were sufficiently stupid and misinformed.

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Happy Easter!

Posted by TomCat at 8:17 am Holiday, Politics, Religion

Apr 052015

Easter

Whether or not you are a Christian, I respectfully invite you to join me in the celebration of the my faith’s most central holiday, even though many of its traditions are borrowed.

Jesus was a fascinating man. He associated most closely with the social rejects of his day. He respected people with faiths different from his. He did not burn their religious writings or try to prevent them from their own forms of worship. Sometimes he used them as an example of what is right, like the Good Samaritan. He had a heart for meeting the needs of the poor, and admonished us to care for them. His concern for the rich was that their own greed would blind them. He had no trouble getting along with sinners. He met people at the point of their need, and accepted all, except for the religious hypocrites who used their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor and to force their own piety codes, which they often ignored themselves, onto others. Those were only people Jesus condemned. Sadly, they are still among us.

If we are followers of Jesus, our faith will help us to follow the example of what he did. Of course, none of us is perfect in that way. God knows that I fall short every day. It is important to know that those who preach the things Jesus was against, but condemn those who contend for the things Jesus supported, are not followers of Jesus. They are pseudo-Christians. Authentic Christians try to follow Jesus’ example.

And now, for your listening pleasure:

Open Thread–4/5/2015

Posted by TomCat at 8:16 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 052015

I’m feeling a bit under the weather, but I am taking it easy. My Easter message from last year has lost none of it’s relevance, so I’m just reposting it. I think it’s worth a second go round. Hugs to all from the Easter Cat!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:01 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Tales:

From Daily Kos: Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination… end of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.

Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual unseemliness – Lev. 15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev. 1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?

Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev. 24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan,

James M. Kauffman, Ed. D.
Professor Emeritus Dept. of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education
University of Virginia

A classic!

From NY Times: As the proposed agreement over Iran’s nuclear program is debated in coming weeks, President Obama will make his case to a Congress controlled by Republicans who are more fervently pro-Israel than ever, partly a result of ideology, but also a product of a surge in donations and campaign spending on their behalf by a small group of wealthy donors.

One of the surprisingly high-profile critics is Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who burst to prominence with a letter signed by 46 Republican colleagues to leaders of Iran warning against a deal. Mr. Cotton, echoing criticism by Israeli leaders, swiftly denounced the framework reached on Thursday as “a list of dangerous U.S. concessions that will put Iran on the path to nuclear weapons” — words, his colleagues say, that expressed his deep concern about Iran’s threat to Israel’s security.

But it is also true that Mr. Cotton and other Republicans benefited from millions in campaign spending in 2014 by several pro-Israel Republican billionaires and other influential American donors who helped them topple Democratic opponents.

When hatred and billionaire bucks come together, it’s a Republican wet dream.

From Alternet: Mike Huckabee could give Cruz a run for his money in anti-LGBT hysteria.

All-but-declared presidential contender Mike Huckabee is right up there with Ted Cruz in his anti-gay hysteria. In an interview with CNN this week, the Huckster warned of the “militant gay community” that has mobilized behind “more pressure to put sanctions on Indiana than Iran.”

Ah, but the down-home, grits ‘n’ gun-loving former pastor, does have a way with words.

He especially did not appreciate the fact that big corporations like Apple and Walmart—which he loves, don’t get him wrong—joined in the condemnation of Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, enabling people and businesses to discriminate against gays.

“The reason that those corporations put the pressure on Indiana and Arkansas was because the militant gay community put the pressure on them,” Huckabee insisted. The dreaded “militant gay community” does not represent average Americans according to the Huckster. He does.

On an appearance on the Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” this week, Huckabee continued his crusade, saying the LGBT rights movement is akin to something out of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984: “It is a classic example of — really a page out of 1984, when what things mean are the opposite of what they really are,” he said.

Hmmm. Really interesting point, Mike, because if ever there was an excellent example of 1984-like Newspeak, it has to be calling the license to discriminate “religious freedom.” Huckabee is a consummate speaker of this language: “That’s what I’m seeing here is that in the name of tolerance, there’s intolerance. In the name of diversity, there’s uniformity. In the name of acceptance, there’s true discrimination.”

Wow! He’s good.

This blast of garbage from Upchuck Huck is just one of the five most deranged Republican moments from last week alone. Click through for the other four.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–4/4/2015

Posted by TomCat at 11:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 042015

Because it is a relatively slow day for news, and because I have been pushing myself a little harder than I ought for the last couple days, I’m making this today’s only article.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:02 (average 5:47). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Yesterday Memories Pizza was all over the news for saying this:

"If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no," O’Connor told local affiliate ABC 57. "We are a Christian establishment."

Not sure what self-respecting human being would want wedding pizzas in the first place, but okay. We get it. You’re hateful. And guess what happens when you take to the media to trumpet your right to discriminate?

Memories Pizza, a takeout restaurant in Walkerton, Indiana, has closed its doors following outrage over remarks the shop owner made regarding same-sex marriage. […]

Co-owner Kevin O’Connor, whose relation to Crystal is unclear, said Memories is "temporarily" dark until "threatening" calls and online posts die down, according to TMZ.

Funny how when you trumpet to the world that you’re going to discriminate against people, you get an overwhelming negative response—even if you try to claim it’s not discrimination.

May all such Republican businesses close this way.

From NY Times: The uproar set off by legislation in Indiana and Arkansas that sponsors billed as religious freedom measures not only signaled a revival of the culture wars, but also threw into stark relief the expectations and tensions in the coalitions that now make up the two major political parties.

The contrasting reactions to the proposals — Democrats united in opposition, Republicans torn by dissent — illustrates how the parties have effectively traded places.

This phenomena is how Republicans were able to shift the entire political spectrum further and further to the right, over the last 30 – 40 years. Rather that trading places, a more realistic description is that the Republican Reich has moved so far right, that Democrats now enjoy majority support on such issues. The difference now is that instead of giving ground like Democrats did, Republicans seem content to destroy the nation.

From TPM: When it comes to health care at the Supreme Court this year, all eyes are focused on the Obamacare tax credits case, King v. Burwell. But a case decided this week, Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc., has raised significant concerns for the availability of quality health care for those who need it most.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court turned against decades of legal precedent and ruled that Medicaid providers cannot use the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to stop state provider payment policies that are inconsistent with the federal Medicaid Act’s requirement for adequate reimbursement rates. That may sound like a bunch of legalese, but the outcome has a real impact on the 68 million-plus people relying on Medicaid. If a state’s Medicaid payment rates are too low (and many providers complain these rates are below their cost of providing services), then provider participation in Medicaid—and the ability of enrollees to obtain care—is at risk.

This is just how RepubliCare works.

RepubliCare

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His opposition to Vietnam was a threat to war profits.

Iran Deal: Historic an Understatement?

Posted by TomCat at 1:22 pm Politics

Apr 032015

To delay Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, I have been expecting a deal that gives up a lot more than I’d like to see, and was prepared to support such a deal, because the other two alternatives to a negotiated settlement would leave us facing an Iran that not only possess nuclear weapons sooner, but also, would be more hostile toward the US. The deal in the works is actually far better than anything I had imagined.

Iran and the United States, along with five other world powers, announced on Thursday a surprisingly specific and comprehensive understanding on limiting Tehran’s nuclear program for the next 15 years, though they left several specific issues to a final agreement in June.

After two years of negotiations, capped by eight tumultuous days and nights of talks that appeared on the brink of breakdown several times, Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, announced the plan, which, if carried out, would keep Iran’s nuclear facilities open under strict production limits, and which holds the potential of reordering America’s relationship with a country that has been an avowed adversary for 35 years.

President Obama, for whom remaking the American relationship with Iran has been a central objective since his 2008 campaign, stepped into the Rose Garden moments later to celebrate what he called “a historic understanding with Iran.” He warned Republicans in Congress that if they tried to impose new sanctions to undermine the effort, the United States would be blamed for a diplomatic failure…

Inserted from <NY Times>

If you don’t already know and understand the details, Rachel Maddow brings it down to a level that a child could understand. Republicans, however, seem to lack that degree of sophistication.

There you have it. Two major questions remain. First, will Republicans sabotage the negotiations, because they are such a spectacular success for the Obama Administration? I hope they realize that, while the US would be blamed by other nations, they would be blamed here. Second, given the opportunity, can the Obama administration and their international partners close the deal? If they can, “historic” would be an understatement.

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