Politics Plus

I’m writing for tomorrow and feeling quite tired, since my midnight nap was a royal flop.  I can’t sleep right now, because Store to Door will be calling for my grocery order.  Tomorrow is grocery day and Thursday is prison-volunteer day, so I’ll be busy.  Day 30.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:00 (average 5:23).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Last night [Friday], Bill Maher dared the Republicans to just do it and impeach Obama over Benghazi.

I love the way he nailed PIGnochio on the way to nailing Republicans on Benghazi!! Plus you got New Rules! 🙂

From Think Progress: Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) released the report he commissioned from the consulting firm Alexander Group that analyzed the state’s welfare system and offered recommendations last week.

The group received $925,000 in a no-bid contract and has been paid more than $500,000 despite missing several deadlines included in the contract. These funds are at least coming partially from money meant to go the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance program — as of February, $185,040 of these funds were paid to the Alexander Group.

The big irony here is that the report claimed LePage is doing a great job at preventing fraud, waste and abuse when the report itself is complete fraud, waste and abuse. There’s another tern for that: TEAbuggery!

From Raw Story: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Monday blasted President Barack Obama’s administration’s efforts at comprehensive immigration reform, saying that the president was “complicit” in sex trafficking by “luring” children into the United States who couldn’t even afford to pay their own taxes.

What lame-brained excuse for his hatred will Go-Go Goose-step Gohmert (R-TX) think of next?

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I’m writing for tomorrow, and it’s a busy day of cleaning, grocery planning, and appointment scheduling. I also need to rest, because Thursday is a prison volunteer day.  Day 29.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:49 (average 5:03).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: By any normal standard, economic policy since the onset of the financial crisis has been a dismal failure. It’s true that we avoided a full replay of the Great Depression. But employment has taken more than six years to claw its way back to pre-crisis levels — years when we should have been adding millions of jobs just to keep up with a rising population. Long-term unemployment is still almost three times as high as it was in 2007; young people, often burdened by college debt, face a highly uncertain future.

Now Timothy Geithner, who was Treasury secretary for four of those six years, has published a book, “Stress Test,” about his experiences. And basically, he thinks he did a heckuva job.

Click through to see the way Paul Krugman trashes Timmy the Tool, just like Robert Reich did.

From The New Yorker: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is an evil genius capable of masterminding the most elaborate cover-up in U.S. history and is also a frail old woman with brain damage, leading Republicans charged on Sunday.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus led the attack while appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he said that the American people should be wary of electing a woman who is capable of orchestrating the complex conspiracy to whitewash Benghazi while, at the same time, being too old, feeble, and brain damaged to serve in the Oval Office.

“These two aspects of Secretary Clinton would have me very concerned,” he said.

Did Andy nail the hypocrisy of these mutually contradicting Republican lies, or what?

From Alternet: The Poor Don’t Cheat As Much

An analysis of seven different psychological studies found that "upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals." A series of experiments showed that upper-class individuals were more likely to break traffic laws, take valued goods from others, lie in a negotiation, and cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize.

And this doesn’t even begin to examine the many, many significant  cases of fraudulent behavior in the banking industry. Or private equity firms that cheat their investors over  50 percent of the time. Or the many unscrupulous corporate  tax avoidance strategies.

This is just one of five ways in which the poor are demonstrably more ethical than the rich, who Republicans represent. Click through for the other four.

Late Update: The Judge ruled Oregon’s Republican ban on gay marriage unconstitutional today, and same-sex couples have already married in Oregon.

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If you think politics is dirty now, you wouldn’t believe the Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians’ politics there!

I’m writing for tomorrow and enjoying another lazy day, except for some house cleaning, although my extended late night car nap last night is interfering with sleep today.  I hope you  had a great weekend and are ready to survive Monday.  Day 28.

Jig Zone:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 5:09).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: RotaCare Tacoma, a free clinic serving some 150 people with chronic, serious illnesses like diabetes and hypertension in Washington state, closed its doors in January. This clinic closing, though, was a cause for celebration.

ObamaCare is working for people. RepubliCare worked for the grim reaper.

From Alternet: N.H. police chief calls Obama the n-word, refuses to apologize saying he meets his "criteria for such.”

Another week, another revolting old white racist raises his lizard-like head. Sometimes two a week. Donald Sterling hasn’t even exited the stage yet, when along comes a police chief in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, who was overheard calling President Obama the “effen n-word.” When residents demanded a retraction and his resignation, by golly, 82-year-old Robert Copeland up and refused.

His answer was this:

"I believe I did use the ‘N’ word in reference to the current occupant of the Whitehouse [sic]" Copeland wrote in an email to the residents, as quoted by local TV-station WMUR. "For this, I do not apologize—he meets and exceeds my criteria for such."

Chased down by a crowd and a reporter after the meeting demanding his head, Copeland called the reporter a “skunk.”

Wolfeboro has 6,300 residents, and 6,280 of them are white, including, coincidentally, Mitt Romney, who has one of his summer homes there.

Soon, no doubt, Copeland will go on the interview circuit to declare he is not a “racist” because he does after all have “criteria” for calling blacks racist terms, and also he is not a “skunkist.”

This is just one of the nine vilest Republican moments from last week alone. Click through for the other eight. Republicans are "skunkist" by definition.  I bet Little Lord Willard helped him get elected.

From Right Wing Watch: Operation American Spring took place today as Tea Party-inspired organizers gathered for a “gigantic, massive rally” of up to “30 million people” who claimed they will not leave Washington D.C. until President Obama resigns from office or is forced out in a coup.

The event followed in the footsteps of other right-wing demonstrations that likewise aimed to flood the capital with millions of supporters and disrupt commerce until Obama was ousted, only this time rally organizers guaranteed that a “verified” minimum of 10 million people would show up.

Attendees took turns speaking to the crowd, including one man from New Hampshire who said it was a “disgrace” that “only “four or five hundred people showed up” (by our count, just over one hundred people were present).

Just like Rove Rat on election day!!

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I’m writing for tomorrow, late on what has been largely a lazy day.  I figured I’d better rest now, since I have a busy week coming up, so I shall be brief.  Day 27.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s tool me 3:35 (average 4:42).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: Writer Kendra Eash wrote an amazing bit of satire mocking how the ad industry likes to use vague, inspirational nonsense to capture people’s attention. So Dissolve, a stock video distributor, took her words and visualized them in an amazingly vague, faux-inspirational video that tells you absolutely nothing at all. It’s kind of hilarious. 2:19 is my favorite moment.

If you run an ad agency, please use this as a clarion call to say actual things in your clients’ commercials. Things that actually add something to the discourse. PLEASE?!

Dang!! You mean I don’t need Jenny Craig for what sticks out and Viagra for what doesn’t?

From Daily Kos: Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) will be giving Duck Dynasty actor Phil Robertson a fist time ever "Governor’s Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence.” However as reported by Reason.com the show has been getting far more that awards from the state of Louisiana.

"The state subsidizes up to 30 percent of local production spending, offering tax credits redeemable for cash."

A industrial insider estimates that the show gets as much as $70,000 dollars from Louisiana taxpayers per show the ‘ Dynasty ‘ family makes $200,000 per show.

So we can assume that being the ‘Tea Party Dynasty Poster child pays handsomely on the taxpayers  Dime

Republicans always want tax payers to pay for TEAbuggery, while millionaires reap reap the gain.

From Politico: Oregon GOP Senate candidate Monica Wehby was accused by her ex-boyfriend last year of “stalking” him, entering his home without his permission and “harassing” his employees, according to a Portland, Oregon police report.

Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon, is the leading Republican candidate to challenge Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

Wehby was questioned by a police officer on April 3, 2013, after being seen leaving the area near the home of Andrew Miller. Miller, the wealthy owner of a timber company, had been romantically involved with Wehby but their relationship was ending at that time, they both say now.

Wehby, who is vying for the Oregon GOP Senate nomination, was not arrested in the incident.

But the Portland police report detailing the incident said Miller, owner of Stimson Lumber in Portland, was worried that Wehby had come to his home uninvited, and had even entered the residence without his permission. Miller said he was considering getting a protective order against Wehby, the report states.

A pediatric neurosurgeon running to deny health care to children.  Scheeesch!! If she were anything better than devious and deranged, she would not be the Republican frontrunner.

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