TomCat

Koch Brothers Trade Booze for Action

Posted by TomCat at 12:03 am Politics, Religion

Mar 282014

There is no depth of depravity to which Republicans refuse to stoop to get their way, and the Koch Brothers, fathers of InsaniTEA, lead the pack in that area. Now they are bribing college students, some of whom may even be underage, with booze to oppose ObamaCare by refusing to sign up.

Billionaire Koch brothers funded groups Americans for Prosperity and Generation Opportunity are supplying University of New Hampshire students with free alcohol tonight to encourage them to oppose Obamacare and not sign up for health coverage.

The “Thirsty for Freedom” event will be held at the Dover Brickhouse just off campus. It provides students with two free drink tickets to hear about “big governments war on youth” and is hosted by Koch-funded AFP, Koch-funded Generation Opportunity, Young Americans for Liberty, and the College Republicans…

Inserted from <NH Labor News>

Hat-Tip to Jo (a regular, both here and at Care2) for telling me about this event.

This is not new for Republicans. For example, in election year 2004, I left work downtown and saw a group of transients gathered around two Republicans, wearing Bush/Cheney buttons. They had apparently previously registered the transients. The Republicans found each transients names in a stack of prefilled ballots, got their signature, and handed it to them. Each transient then took their ballot to a van parked at the curb and traded it for a six pack of beer or a bottle of wine. I yelled at them, and pulled out my cell phone, intending to take a picture. Before I could, the Republicans jumped into the van and drove away. Then I had to run, confronted with some very angry transients. One more thing, the Republicans were both wearing "Jesus Saves" buttons too. I guess Republican Supply-side Jesus (the polar opposite of the real Jesus) saves by shopping at the beer and wine wholesaler.

Open Thread–3/28/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Mar 282014

I’m writing for tomorrow very early in the morning, before leaving for prison volunteer work, so these articles will be ready for me to post some time tomorrow morning.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:40 (average 5:15). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: I went to the doctor for the first time in five years today. Although I’m young, I had neglected a couple of health issues for at least a year. I couldn’t afford care and was left hoping none of them developed into anything more serious. As a small business owner who narrowly missed the threshold for buying on the exchanges, I’m enrolled in Medicaid for this year until I can bump my income up a bit. The day my confirmation of benefits and card came was among the best of my life. I nearly broke down in tears.

But that isn’t what this diary is about. Today, I went to the doctor for the first time in five years and saw first hand why Republicans have fought tooth and nail for a system that was so broken for every single stakeholder – except the insurers and the politicians who enable them.

What I found made my blood boil. Follow below the fold for a living example of what our "health care system" could have done to me and millions of others before the ACA. Let’s just say the cheesy poof holding the fold would have been more than the food in my pantry.

Click through for a most excellent read. Like the author says in the last sentence, lets go to work.

From Alternet: Eight-year-old Sunnie Kahle’s family says that she has never had any disciplinary problems. They say that as a student at Virginia’s Timberlake Christian School she has maintained a 4.0 academic average. School administrators confirm this. But Kahle’s great-grandmother and legal guardian Doris Thompson says that the child was nonetheless recently invited to leave the school anyway. Why? Because she’s not feminine enough.

Sunnie has short hair, a style she first adopted when she turned five and declared she wanted to donate her long locks for kids with cancer. Since then, she’s preferred jeans and t-shirts and has decided, Thompson says, “She didn’t want to wear her frilly dresses anymore.” Today, she likes teddy bears and bracelets — as well as collecting autographed baseballs and playing “rough and tough. And sadly, in a world in which the pressure on little girls and boys to conform to rigid gender roles is more ramped up than ever and eschewing pink is somehow suspect, Sunnie’s style would likely be questioned almost anywhere. (And yes, I am saying this as a parent whose daughters have attended hippy-dippy New York City public schools.) But in a strictly conservative environment, her demeanor could be interpreted as tantamount to revolution. Last month the school sent home a letter, which has been obtained by local news station WDBJ7, reminding Sunnie’s caregivers of its right to decline students who do not follow a “biblical lifestyle.”

When Republicans push for school vouchers, they are demanding that YOU pay for this kind of illegal discrimination with your tax dollars.

From Crooks and Liars:

The GOP says they pride themselves on fiscal responsibility, but they have been exposed as frauds because a Pentagon report said they’ve wasted millions and millions of dollars on the trumped up Benghazi investigations.

If you ever hear Rep. Darrell Issa say he’s a fiscal conservative, just laugh in his face and ask him how can he then explain wasting millions of dollars of taxpayers money on repetitive and wasteful hearings on Benghazi? Not only has he spent millions like a drunken sailor, but they’ve also put a huge strain on our military. [BARF BAG ALERT!]

Issa continues to parrot the same lies that have all been thoroughly proven false. I fully agree with the author. And lets not forget that it was Republicans who slashed the funding for embassy security.

Cartoon:

0328Cartoon

Open Thread–3/27/2014

Posted by TomCat at 1:15 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 272014

I’m writing for tomorrow, and this is tomorrow’s only article. I was busy with cleaning, preparation for my prison volunteer day tomorrow, and putting away my grocery delivery. I want to rest as much as I can before my volunteer day. Because I will be getting home very late tomorrow night, there may be nothing at all for Friday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:24 (average 4:44). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Now here’s a sentence a candidate and/or current governor and/or conspicuously creepy mechanical lizard puppet never wants to hear.

On late Thursday, billionaire Mike Fernandez abruptly resigned his post as the finance co-chair of Governor Rick Scott’s (R-FL) reelection campaign.

Do you know how hard a campaign has to work these days to court billionaires? And now you’ve lost him, Scott. Hope it was worth it.

Tensions between Scott’s campaign staff and Fernandez had been building for weeks. And the last straw, according to people within the campaign who spoke with the Miami Herald this weekend, was an incident in which several of Scott’s campaign staffers allegedly began joking around in a cartoonish, over-the-top Mexican accent while on the way to a Mexican restaurant.

Fernandez, who is Cuban, reportedly shot off an angry email to campaign leadership after word of the incident leaked out.

Please read below the fold for more on this story.

I always love to see it when a Plutocon Vulture Capitalists and racist Republican hatemongers have a falling out. Click through for more.

From NY Times: With less than a week left for people to sign up for health insurance, the Obama administration said Tuesday that it would allow more time for those who had tried to apply but were blocked by technical problems with the federal exchange.

Several states running their own exchanges, including Maryland, Minnesota and Nevada, have taken similar steps in the last two weeks.

Open enrollment was scheduled to end on Monday for all Americans. The White House had previously insisted that the deadline was firm and would not be extended.

Under the move planned by the administration, some people will be given a special enrollment period, beyond the deadline, if they can show they were not able to enroll because of an error by the federal exchange or by the Department of Health and Human Services. Federal officials allowed a special enrollment period, on a case-by-case basis, for some people who were unable to meet the Dec. 24, 2013, enrollment deadline for coverage starting Jan. 1 of this year.

This move by Obama is perfectly legal and good for the country, but I’ll bet the howls from Republicans will be long and loud. Such howls are music to my ears. (Late Update: Boehner is positively limp with apoplexy!!)

From TPM: Fox News host Bill O’Reilly backed Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) disputed comments on a culture of "inner city" men not working on Tuesday night, arguing "race hustlers" would have branded the congressman a racist no matter what he said about poverty.

O’Reilly pressed Ryan on a conversation he had with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), who labelled his remarks a "thinly veiled racial attack," and asked if Lee apologized after Ryan clarified that the comments were inarticulate. [DOUBLE BARF BAG ALERT!!]

It’s hard to tell which Republican racist is more disingenuous here: Lyin’ Ryan or O’Lielly.

Cartoon:

0327Cartoon

Republicans on Parade–3/26/2014

Posted by TomCat at 1:24 am Politics

Mar 262014

RepublicansOnParade3

Here is the forty-fourth article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is former Defense Secretary, and extreme Neocon, Donald Rumsfeld. He is so honored for appearing on the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, and having the audacity to accuse Barack Obama of incompetence, using the insulting Republican meme of comparing him to an ape.

Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday attacked the Obama administration for failing to secure a status of forces agreement with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

Rumsfeld, speaking on Fox News, said even a "trained ape" could do better.

"A trained ape could get a status of forces agreement," Rumsfeld said. "It does not take a genius. And we have so mismanaged that relationship."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Post>

The included video was not embeddable, but I found it elsewhere. Barf Bag Alert!!

The reason the Obama Administration has trouble with Karzai, and the Bush Reich didn’t is that Bush appointed Karzai to be a puppet dictator over Afghans, facilitate US corporate energy imperialism, and grow obscenely rich through corruption. Obama put the kibosh on that, so of course Karzai, a former UnoCal (now a subsidiary of Chevron) employee, rebelled against the Obama’s insistence that US funds benefit the ware effort and the Afghan people, not Karzai’s offshore bank accounts.

Rumsfeld, the Republican who set up the deal for Saddam Hussein to have Chemical WMD, and who helped lie our nation into the failed Bush War for Oil and Conquest in Iraq, is a Republican hypocrite to insult Obama’s handling of Karzai, especially in such a vile manner.

Open Thread–3/26/2012

Posted by TomCat at 1:23 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 262014

I’m writing for tomorrow and feeling quite tired after research and running errands, but not too much so to give a Republican a parade.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: George Carlin (R.I.P.) was famous for being hilarious but also for being in-your-face honest about the state of humanity and the planet. His version of the lyrics for "America the Beautiful" are pretty halting.

0326carlin

Sadly, this is way too true.

From Daily Kos: Pretty much any traditional media outlet has been starting every discussion about the upcoming election as a done deal: the House will remain in Rethuglican’s greedy, dangerous, corporate-owned claws and the Senate may be lost to these miscreants as well, because that’s just what happens in an election year after the opposition party has won the White House.

Bull shit.

Plain and simple. And, yes, this is a rant.

Click through for a most excellent rant. Amen!!

From NY Times: The Obama administration is preparing to unveil a legislative proposal for a far-reaching overhaul of the National Security Agency’s once-secret bulk phone records program in a way that — if approved by Congress — would end the aspect that has most alarmed privacy advocates since its existence was leaked last year, according to senior administration officials.

Under the proposal, they said, the N.S.A. would end its systematic collection of data about Americans’ calling habits. The bulk records would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally would. And the N.S.A. could obtain specific records only with permission from a judge, using a new kind of court order.

People are far too quick to blame Obama for doing his duty by enforcing the secret law Congress passed, which is his job as chief executive. He has wanted too long, however, to do the right thing. Now I bet the very members of Congress, who have publically blamed Obama for spying on Americans, will sabotage the proposed measures to end that practice.

Cartoon:

0326Cartoon

A national shame and tragedy.

Scalia Hypocrisy Warning!

Posted by TomCat at 12:01 am Politics, Religion

Mar 252014

SCROTUS (Constitutional VD) is my term for the Fascist Five Supreme Court Injustices, who almost always favor their extreme Republican ideology over our Constitution. Worst among them (along with Clarence “TEAbag” Thomas) is Antonin “SS” Scalia. In two cases coming before the Court today, I expect Scalia to renege on an earlier opinion in a most hypocritical manner. Ironically, even with opposite opinions, he will be as wrong now as he was then.

When the Supreme Court hears two landmark cases about birth control on Tuesday, few observers doubt that Justice Antonin Scalia's sympathies will be the Catholic business owners who charge that the mandate violates their religious liberties.

The Reagan-appointed jurist is a devout Catholic who has extolled "traditional Christian virtues." He insists the devil is "a real person" and has a son who's a Catholic priest. He voted in 2012 to wipe out Obamacare in its entirety and has been President Barack Obama's most outspoken foe on the Supreme Court.

And yet, Scalia's past jurisprudence stands contradictory to the argument for striking down the Obamacare rule in question, which requires for-profit employers' insurance plans to cover contraceptives (like Plan B, Ella and intrauterine devices) for female employees without co-pays.

In 1990, Scalia wrote the majority opinion in Employment Division v. Smith, concluding that the First Amendment "does not require" the government to grant "religious exemptions" from generally applicable laws or civic obligations. The case was brought by two men in Oregon who sued the state for denying them unemployment benefits after they were fired from their jobs for ingesting peyote, which they said they did because of their Native American religious beliefs.

"[T]he right of free exercise does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability," Scalia wrote in the 6-3 majority decision, going on to aggressively argue that such exemptions could be a slippery slope to lawlessness.

"The rule respondents favor would open the prospect of constitutionally required religious exemptions from civic obligations of almost every conceivable kind," he wrote, "ranging from compulsory military service, to the payment of taxes, to health and safety regulation such as manslaughter and child neglect laws, compulsory vaccination laws, drug laws, and traffic laws; to social welfare legislation such as minimum wage laws, child labor laws, animal cruelty laws, environmental protection laws, and laws providing for equality of opportunity for the races."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <TPM>

Scalia was wrong in opining not to give a religious exemption to followers of Native American beliefs, because he was denying their right to freely practice their religion. I expect him to opine that business should get a religious exemption to refuse to cover birth control under ObamaCare. He will be wrong, because such an exemption allows businesses to force their religions practices on others.

Scalia and his Republican Party would ignore the First Amendment by establishing a pseudo-Christian state religion and denying the free exercise of other religions.

Late Update:

On tonight’s show, Chris Hayes covered the same issue. Because this just aired, I cannot get it in an internationally viewable format, but his and his guest’s analysis echoed mine so closely, I had to include it.

It was always intended as a shield, and not a sword, Well said.

Open Thread–3/25/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 252014

I’m writing for tomorrow, and unlike yesterday, I’m making this the FIRST thing I do. That was horrid. I hate it when I run out of day, before I run out of jobs to do. I’m still busier than a Republican stealing groceries from food banks.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:56 (average 5:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Guardian: Jimmy Carter: ‘my communications are probably being monitored’ – video

Former US president Jimmy Carter says he suspected that his emails are being monitored by intelligence agencies. Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, President Carter says that if he wants to correspond with world leaders he now sends a handwritten letter in the post.

Hat-Tip to Pat A at Care2, for sending me a link to this. I consider Jimmy Carter the most honest President in my lifetime. That must be why our rogue agencies would monitor him.

From TPM: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) on Sunday said the U.S. should send small arms and radio equipment to the Ukrainian army in case Russian forces invade the eastern portion of the country.

“There are things that we can do that I think we’re not doing. I don’t think the rhetoric (from Obama administration officials) matches the reality on the ground,” he said on NBC’s "Meet The Press."

This Republican, and several of his fellow goose-steppers, are inviting nuclear war, as such a move dares Vladimir Putin (R-RU) to invade the eastern portion of Ukraine.

From Crooks and Liars: Say what you want about Diaper Dave but he’s just not shy about prostituting himself. BARF BAG ALERT!!

I have only one question. Does this whore (apologies to prostitutes) wet his diaper when he’s sucking Koch?

Cartoon:

0325Cartoon

Personal Update–3/24/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 242014

I’m writing for tomorrow. A funny thing happened on the way to the blog. Between medical appointments and volunteer work, my schedule at the end of this month and the beginning of next is swamped, and I have a tone of things to get done in preparation, so my plan was to work for a while on that, before starting my research. After working for what seemed like a couple hours, I looked at the clock and felt as shocked as a dead Republican on the way to the infernal regions. My face must have looked like the one pictured below. It’s hours past my 4 PM bed time, so the puzzle will have to be it for today. Sorry!! What gets posted for Tuesday will depend on how long my trip to the bank takes tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:07 (average 4:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?

0324ConfusedCat

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