TomCat

Feed Bag Hypocrites

Posted by TomCat at 2:50 am Politics

May 252014

I’ve seen school lunches. I don’t see how one could cost more than a couple dollars. I’ve seen how people, who have to live on food stamps eat. Calling it meager is an understatement. On the other hand, in my youth, I used to wait tables in some rather high end establishments, and have seen wall street types drop several hundred dollars (in 1960s money), while partying on the company credit card. So, what do these have in common?

Ah, progress! In the 2012 elections, Republicans cast themselves as budget balancers by promising to whack welfare programs for the poor, snarling that such people are "takers" and "moochers."

Such vindictive sourness didn’t play too well with voters, and Republicans now seem to have learned their lesson. Oh, they’re still going after food stamps, school lunches, etc. with a vengeance – but this time, with a gentle, even loving tone.

The GOP’s official message massagers now have their members saying that they want to "help the poor" by eliminating those programs, referring to them as soulless giveaways that sap their initiative and tether them to the cold, uncaring hand of government. The message is: We’re doing this for the poor people’s own good. Their chief budgeteer, Rep. Paul Ryan, trotted this theme out at a recent right-wing rally, condemning school lunches as unloving "Obamafare" plopped on plates by unsmiling cafeteria personnel: "What they’re offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul," he oozed.

If that doesn’t make you gag, try another subsidized lunch program that tender-hearted GOP budget whackers never mention, much less demand that it be eliminated. It’s the tax subsidy for corporate meals, drinks, and entertainment. Multimillionaire CEOs can go wining and dining on your and my dime, writing off their high-dollar lunches, cocktails, dinners, and club hopping as a business expense. And expensive it is for us taxpayers – this subsidy adds up to more than $12 billion a year… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Jim Hightower>

What they have in common is that YOU pay for both of them. Personally, I’m happy top kick-in for school lunches, but not for Bankster banquets.

Open Thread–5/25/2014

Posted by TomCat at 2:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 252014

I’m writing for tomorrow. It’s safe to drink Portland water again, without treating it with alcohol. ;-) I’m surprised that I functioned at all yesterday, as tired as I was. Today, I still am a bit foggy. It can be difficult to find interesting material on a holiday weekend. Day 33.

Late (early) update:

I overslept again.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: In April, the Mustang, Oklahoma school board announced they had voted to to implement a Bible course developed by the president of Hobby Lobby, Steve Green.

Daily Kos user ProgLegs shared the news report:

Mustang will be the only public school district in the state to pilot the program. Green hopes the course, which teaches about the "narrative, history, and impact" of the Bible, will be in "hundreds" of schools in 2015 and thousands the year after.

Now new information has come to light that Hobby Lobby president Steve Green met privately with school board members, which appears to be a clear violation of the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act:

Authentic Christians respect the law. If their conscience demands they break it, they do so openly, standing ready to suffer the consequences for their protest, just as Jesus did. Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians consider themselves above the law they demand everyone else follows, while they violate it themselves in secret.

From NY Times: A man who had shot to death his four young children, for reasons known only to him, sat in the wooden chair reserved for him at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. His body was strapped tight and his head was freshly shaved, to enhance the conductivity.

I could see him, but he could not see me. We sat perhaps 30 feet apart, on opposite sides of a one-way glass partition that separated those who would walk away that September night in 2007 from one man who would not.

The electric chair had not been used in Tennessee since 1960, a reflection of a nation’s discomfort with a procedure that had come to be seen as gruesome, if not cruel. But the condemned man, Daryl Holton, 45, had been given a choice between lethal injection and electrocution. To the dismay of prison officials, he had chosen the latter — again, for reasons known only to him.

Perhaps he preferred the quicker torture of feeling his eyeballs fry and pop out to the longer term torture of feeling like his body is on fire for several minutes. What does this say about those who debate how we torture people to death instead of joining the civilized world community that has evolved beyond such barbarity?

From TPM: Earlier this week Rep. Ted Yoho’s (R-FL) 2012 comments surfaced. "I’ve had some radical ideas about voting and it’s probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a property owner to vote," he told a cheering audience.

Alexander Keyssar, Stirling Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard University and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network, weighed in on the multitude of reasons why Yoho (pictured, right) is just plain wrong:

Congressman Ted Yoho’s interest in re-imposing property requirements to vote is yet another sign of his party’s interest in rolling back two centuries of progress in American political life. Property requirements were, indeed, the norm for the first several decades of our history (as were gender and racial restrictions), but they were overturned almost everywhere by the middle of the nineteenth century.

Today’s Republican Party would like nothing better than kick both civil rights and voting rights back into the 1800s.

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How long must we wait before more Republican 1% criminals are convicted?

Europe in Crisis?

Posted by TomCat at 2:55 am Politics

May 242014

Paul Krugman is a wonderful asset for Americans, but he’s given us a special treat by applying his economic talents to Europe. In so doing he has found some fascinating parallels from history that should certainly give cause for concern. Here is his introduction.

A century ago, Europe tore itself apart in what was, for a time, known as the Great War — four years of death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. Later, of course, the conflict was renamed World War I — because a quarter-century later Europe did it all over again.

But that was a long time ago. It’s hard to imagine war in today’s Europe, which has coalesced around democratic values and even taken its first steps toward political union. Indeed, as I write this, elections are being held all across Europe, not to choose national governments, but to select members of the European Parliament. To be sure, the Parliament has very limited powers, but its mere existence is a triumph for the European idea.

But here’s the thing: An alarmingly high fraction of the vote is expected to go to right-wing extremists hostile to the very values that made the election possible. Put it this way: Some of the biggest winners in Europe’s election will probably be people taking Vladimir Putin’s side in the Ukraine crisis.

The truth is that the European project — peace guaranteed by democracy and prosperity — is in deep trouble; the Continent still has peace, but it’s falling short on prosperity and, in a subtler way, democracy. And, if Europe stumbles, it will be a very bad thing not just for Europe itself but for the world as a whole.

Why is Europe in trouble?…

Inserted from <NY Times>

Photo credit: Aljazeera (Click through for an excellent interactive breakdown of the parties by nation.)

Krugman goes on to explain how the 1% in Europe have hoodwinked Europeans into believing that austerity is the answer, much as Republicans did here, and that danger that extremist nationalism could emerge as it did in Germany after World War I. Click through. This is a must read.

Now, I don’t claim any expertise at all in European politics, beyond a fairly good understanding of the history. Keeping track of InsaniTEA here in the US is a full time job. However, seen in the light of history, Krugman’s analysis seems quite chilling to me. I look forward to seeing the views of our European friends.

Open Thread–5/24/2014

Posted by TomCat at 2:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 242014

I’ve been writing for tomorrow in spurts, while preparing a chicken, rice, broccoli, beans, onions, and chili dish. Beware downwind!! :-) I’ve also been boiling water, as the city water is infected with e coli. We have a boil water alert on until further notice. In all the years I’ve lived here, that’s a first. I’ve also cat napping. I started this morning, and it’s now evening. Yesterday’s prison meeting went quite well. It was the second half of the annual banquet, and my role was quite similar to last month. The pride my guys take in introducing their families just puts a smile on my face. Day 32.

Late (early) Update: That last cat nap was a doozie!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:38 (average 5:14). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: Some of the best practical advice, or just one of those things that we all eventually learn? Either way … wise words, Louis.

0524Up

He’ll never make the Republicans on Parade list.

From The New Yorker: In response to the international uproar created when he reportedly compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler, His Royal Highness Prince Charles today issued the following letter of apology to the Russian people.

My dear Russians,

Yesterday, it was reported that I compared your President Putin to Hitler. If by making this comment I have in some way offended you, I am deeply sorry. Adolf Hitler was one of the horrible villains in world history, and comparing President Putin to him was uncalled for.

What I should have said, and what I say to you now, is that this Putin chap can be a bit Hitlery at times.

Let’s take, for example, his penchant for taking territory that doesn’t belong to him and then adding it to his country and so forth. Would you call that behavior Hitlery or not Hitlery? From where I sit, it’s more like something Hitler would do than something he wouldn’t do, and so the verdict must be, yes, the chap is being rather Hitlery when he does that…

LOL Andy!! But you messed-up! GOP-Pootie is more like Mussolini. Hitler’s follow-on will be announced at the 2016 Republican Convention.

From Daily Kos: This might just be the most ridiculous thing Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said during the entire 2014 campaign:

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell says he would try to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he’s elected Senate majority leader.

But the veteran senator won’t say what would happen to the 421,000 Kentuckians who have health insurance through the state’s health care exchange.

McConnell told reporters Friday that the fate of the state exchange is unconnected to the federal health care law. Yet the exchange would not exist, if not for the law that created it.

If Mitch wants to say he’s for Obamacare repeal, he’s got to acknowledge what repealing Obamacare would really mean, and that includes dismantling things like Kynect, the new health care exchange created because of Obamacare.

Is it time to change his name to "Bought Bullshit McConArtist", or should we just keep "Bought Bitch Mitch"?

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Open Thread–5/23/2014

Posted by TomCat at 1:47 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 232014

I’m writing for tomorrow early in the morning, before leaving for volunteer work in prison. I shall return late tonight and will be thoroughly pooped, so when I get home I’ll catch a few ZZZs, do the puzzle, and post this, Friday’s only article. Day 31.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:52 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: Meet Some Of The Most Beautiful Creatures We’re Killing

It’s enough to make you cry. International readers where Vimeo is blocked can see this clip on YouTube.

From NY Times: When America sends men and women to fight, it owes them an enduring debt, starting with competent and timely health care and disability benefits when they leave active duty. President Obama expressed outrage on Wednesday at recent charges of wrongdoing in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care system. He also dispatched his deputy chief of staff to Phoenix to assess explosive allegations that government workers falsified data to hide long wait times for veterans needing to see doctors.

But expressing outrage is hardly enough for a president who, as a candidate in 2008, criticized the agency and vowed to improve care and address backlogs. It is past time for a more visible personal commitment to right these wrongs as well as strong White House support for legislation that would make it possible for top agency officials to fire those responsible for wrongdoing.

The Times really missed the most important point here. They just don’t get it. On the other hand, Chris Hayes and Bernie Sanders do.

Republicans have refused to allow the funds that the VA needs to grow to handle the capacity. Funding may be up 38% now, built that is after years of Republican cuts to funding while the need for VA services grew exponentially. They need an increase in infrastructure.

From TPM:

Fifty senators are teaming up to call on the National Football League to change the team name of the Washington Redskins, declaring that "racism and bigotry have no place in professional sports."

The senators wrote a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell — led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and co-signed by 47 others — invoking the racist comments by NBA Clippers owner Donald Sterling as an opportunity for the NFL to follow suit and take action.

"The despicable comments made by Mr. Sterling have opened up a national conversation about race relations," the senators wrote. "We believe this conversation is an opportunity for the NFL to take action to remove the racial slur from the name of one of its marquee franchises."

The Cantwell-Reid letter, dated May 21, was cosigned by Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John Walsh (D-MT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Carl Levin (D-MI), Mark Begich (D-AK), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Christopher Murphy (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-CO), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Angus King (I-ME), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Amy Klobuchar, (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Edward Markey (D-MA), Mark Udall (D-CO), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kay Hagan (D-NC), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA).

Note that zero Republicans were willing to sign this letter. I wonder if we’ll see a Republican letter urging the commissioner of the NFL to include racial slurs in other team names.

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Convert or Else!

Posted by TomCat at 12:19 am Politics, Religion

May 222014

The minions of Republican Supply-side Jesus (the exact opposite of the real Jesus) are hard at work trying to indoctrinate our military in Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity, and the Republican gospel of hate. Their problem is that coercive proselytizing the troops is illegal, so they are calling the enforcement of that law persecution.

Fox News pundit Todd Starnes made waves last year when he claimed that the Air Force was preparing to “court martial” Christians as part of an Obama administration “religious cleansing of the military.”

As it turned out, the policy on proselytizing that Starnes cited to make these claims [PDF] was crafted in 2008 – during the Bush administration – and in no way calls for the court martialing of Christians.

The regulations do stress that “leaders at all levels” should “avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion. Commanders or supervisors who engage in such behavior may cause members to doubt their impartiality and objectivity. The potential result is a degradation of the unit’s morale, good order, and discipline.”

But the facts didn’t stop Republicans politicians and conservative activists from using the Bush-era policy to attack President Obama and to push for looser restrictions on religious proselytizing in the military.

And now, the Religious Right’s campaign may be succeeding in pressuring the Air Force to water down the 2008 policy. McClatchy reports today that while Air Force officials maintain that the accusations of religious persecution in the military aren’t true, they are considering altering the rules on religious coercion in response to pressure from the Right… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>

Everything that the Republican Party does relates to one of two goals: redistributing wealth from the poor and middle classes to the 1%, and establishing a permanent Republican Regime, a totalitarian plutocracy in which elections exist for show only. I think this relates to the latter. Republicans have seen that totalitarian governments fall when troops refuse to kill their own nation’s citizens during demonstrations. That makes indoctrinating troops a Republican priority.

Edie Has a BIG Mouth! ;-)

Posted by TomCat at 12:18 am Blog News, Politics

May 222014

53-Edie

Edie first showed up at Politics Plus a little over a year ago, and she became an instant regular, commenting on almost every article. This her second Big Mouth Award, and her first was in 8/2012. She is a denizen of Care2, where she is also very active. I have no doubt that she’ll be busier than a long-tail cat at a rocking chair convention supporting Alison Grimes to defeat her Senator, Bought Bitch Mitch (R-KY). Lets let her know we’re glad she’s here. Congrats Edie!

Open Thread–5/22/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 222014

I’m writing for tomorrow. It’s late in a busy day. Because tomorrow is a prison volunteer day, I may have little or nothing for Friday and/or Saturday, as I shall get home late Thursday night and will have missed a sleep cycle. Day 31.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube: The Colbert Report 2014-05-19 Elizabeth Warren

Hilarious! Did Bernie have it right or what? Warren played it great.

From Daily Kos: On Friday evening I went up to Bellingham to hear Bill McKibben speak. Bill has something fascinating to share with his audience, how Germany has reached the point where it had gotten over 74% of its electrical power from renewable sources the other day. That’s a huge milestone, and it demonstrates that renewable sources can power a large industrial nation. Germany shows us that renewables aren’t a potential source of power for some time in the future, they are a viable alternative TODAY.

I’m no fan of the German conservative government, but they do deserve kudos for this.

From Alternet: Giving out prescriptions for vibrators seems more like a doctor’s bad pick-up line than good public policy. But in Sandy Springs, Georgia, you really do need a medical reason – and a doctor’s prescription – to buy a sex toy.

Melissa Davenport, a resident of Sandy Springs, has filed suit against the city because, as her lawyer Gerry Weber told a local TV station, the ordinance allows the government to "stick its nose in your bedroom and say you can use this but not that." Davenport has multiple sclerosis, which she says has impacted her sex life with her husband, and she credits sex toys with saving her marriage. Yet her doctors still won’t write her a prescription.

Leaving aside the bizarreness of the policy itself – people should be able to buy sex toys for the sheer fun of it – it seems ironic that a woman with a real medical condition is being denied sex toys, when you consider that the vibrator was actually invented to cure a (fake) medical condition: hysteria.

I intend no disrespect to women here, but disrespect for the Republican War on Women. No wonder I call Republicans the Grand Old Pussy Posse! If they spent 1/20 the time policing Banksters that they do policing vaginas, we’d be in far better shape!

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