I’m running way late today, because my interview wiped me out.  Actually it wasn’t the interview, but the 1 1/4 mile walk home from it.  It’s one of those weird downtown transit situations where the trip there is almost door to door direct, but the trip back would take two busses, save only 1/4 mile walking, and take twice as long.  Mostly it was a ton of paperwork, and it looks like it won’t be long now.  I need to catch sleep Thursday to get up early Friday, so a computer tech in Sweden can crawl around inside my computer to find out why Ad-aware 11 Pro did not install quite right.  Fantasy football players, make sure your lineups are set for Thursday night’s game.  I’m still improving slowly.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:49 (average 4:24).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Update: The original blogger has pulled Hir post out of concern for legal issues.

Apparently the University of Nebraska Medical Center only provides care to straight white Cis Republicans.

Because sie* [transgender personal pronoun] told them sie was gender queer a transplant patient with a live kidney donor was denied care.

Up to that time Mika had yet to discuss sie’s trans status probably thinking it inconsequential. But after Mika revealed sie’s trans status the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s staff became more difficult.

Mika wrote on sie’s blog

"However, this is when I told them that I identify as Mika and prefer female pronouns. Everything seemed to be okay, except for a little confusion. Until they asked me what I do in my free time and I told them that I volunteer with non-profits to work towards equality for the LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) community and I volunteer on political campaigns and plan to help out on the Obama campaign. That is when the Transplant Coordinator Nurse told me that they are Republicans. Everything changed."

That’s when the staff began having trouble addressing Mika with the proper pronouns.

and despite having a live donor waiting Mika was told Sie and the donor would have to submit to extended psychoanalysis before the transplant.

…

How very Republican it is to blatantly put the life of a human being at risk by denying hir care because of their own hatred of LGBT people.

From MSNBC: Chris Hayes covered Elizabeth Warren’s populism.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I have little to add, except that I number myself in the Warren, Brown, Merkley, Grayson, Sanders (sort of) Democrats.

From Think Progress: Eighty-one percent of research universities say budget sequestration cuts are directly hampering their scientific research activities, according to a new survey released Monday…

…Specifically, the study found that 70 percent of the surveyed institutions had delayed research projects and were dealing with fewer federal grants for new research. Twenty-eight percent reported an inability to purchase research equipment and instrumentation, 19 percent had cancelled field and experimental work, and 38 percent had delayed it.

This is the legacy of the Republican Sequester: less research means less well educated students, fewer discoveries, and fewer jobs exploiting them.

Cartoon:

I’m writing for tomorrow and am still improving slowly.  I’m feeling down, because I need to cancel my volunteer work in prison tomorrow.  I’m just not well enough to handle the exertion yet.  This will be today’s only article, but I hope to be back to full time later this week.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Nation (via surveymonkey): The Nation’s Fox or Fox [Typo: should read Fox or Fiction] Quiz is not authorized, sponsored or associated with Fox News Channel or Fox Entertainment Group.

I got them all. How did you do?

From Crooks and Liars: Texas Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott is one of a growing number of wealthy residents who are drilling wells to get around water restrictions during one of the worst droughts in history — a practice that environmentalists are warning could leave less water for everyone else.

The Texas Tribune reported on Sunday that Abbott had installed the well just months before the city of Austin began cracking down on lawn-watering restrictions.

According to the Tribune, some of the resident’s in Abbott’s luxury Pemberton Heights neighborhood had marked their lawns with signs that noted "Watering by Private Well” to avoid being hassled by the city… [emphasis added]

The video explains the need for conservation and personal responsibility. However, what we see here is a preview of how the 1% and their Republican lap dogs intend to treat the severe shortages that climate change is bringing our way. They will hog the recourses we so desperately need and use them wastefully, just as they are now.

From Upworthy: The Eerie Thought About God That The Inventor Of The Nuclear Bomb Had When It Went Off

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, considered to be the father of the atomic bomb, was anything but callous about the bomb’s destructive ability. He was one of the most knowledgable [sic] people on the subject of atomic weaponry, but he tirelessly campaigned against nuclear prolifieration [sic]. As we travel into the future, let’s not forget his words and sentiment.

Sadly, it is no surprise that the pro-death party are the ones who object to further nuclear reductions and insist on upgrading our nuclear arsenal.

Cartoon:

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 150, starting to feel slightly better, and staying down to continue that trend  This and the holiday greeting are all, and I am spending  today meditating on the holy Ellipsoid Orb from bed.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:15 (average 5:26).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Texas is the state that can proudly claim that it is the winner in a dubious category: Texas has more uninsured citizens than any other state. Yet its governor, Rick Perry, says the Affordable Care Act is "a criminal act."

President Obama visited Texas yesterday to thank those that are working very hard in Texas to help people sign up for insurance under the Obamacare:

During his speech, Obama mentioned how badly many Texans were in need of affordable health care because the state is home to the highest rate of uninsured Americans.

Of course, the Republican did what Republican politicians always do when faced with an inconvenient truth.  He lied.  Medicaid is not broken.  Blaming the website on Obama, albeit partially justified, is a waste of time. He’s getting it fixed as fast as possible. Blaming Obama for the scams by Big Insurance to hoodwink their customers into more expensive policies that they need is an injustice. Obama cannot control what corporate criminals do, when Congress refuses to legislate to protect consumers. Blaming Rick Perry and other Republicans for preventing citizens from receiving health care, for no reason other than ideologue spite, is where media should focus. Just say yes accepting the federal funding for it.

From Alternet: Larry Pratt: Trayvon Martin’s broken family is what killed him.

It’s never too late to pile more pain onto the grieving parents and loved ones of slain teenager Trayvon Martin. His killer is free, Trayvon has been blamed for his own death, and now, taking it one step further, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America has suggested that Martin’s dysfunctional family is responsible for the boy’s death.

That’s what he said in an interview with NewsMax’s Steve Malzberg this week: Trayvon Martin was killed because he had a “broken family.”

Who else can you blame? Triggerman, neighborhood-watch volunteer George Zimmerman was just lawfully “standing his ground” when he shot unarmed Martin. “Stand Your Ground” laws can’t be to blame because, as Sen. Ted Cruz explained to Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton in a Senate hearing on the controversial law, she’s just “mourning the loss of her son.” Stand-your-ground laws in fact “protect those in African-American communities,” he said.

Facts be damned, gun nuts and Tea Partiers agree. According to Right-Wing Watch, a recent “Tampa Bay Times analysis of stand-your-ground cases in Florida found substantial racial disparities in the application of the law, including that ‘people who killed a black person walked free 73 percent of the time, while those who killed a white person went free 59 percent of the time. A national study found a similar disparity.”

But, it’s Trayvon Martin’s family’s fault he’s dead. Probably his mother’s.

This is only one out of ten Republican whackos from last week alone, and this one is nowhere near the most obscene case of TEAbuggery. Click through for the other nine.

From Crooks and Liars: Today, as part of the Obama administration’s continuing efforts to increase access to mental health services, the final rule implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 was issued.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Friday that new regulations will require health insurers to treat mental health coverage like all other aspects of healthcare, the culmination of a long effort to achieve parity for mental health coverage and part of Obama’s effort to curb gun violence. The regulations put into effect a 2008 law, and will affect nearly 85 percent of Americans with health insurance. Insurers will be required to pay as much for mental health as they do for medical and surgical procedures, and cannot limit the geographical area where mental health care is covered.

I think this is more than fair for the Obama Administration to mandate equal coverage for the services Republicans need most. 🙂

Cartoon:

I’m writing for tomorrow and am still down and continuing in minimum part-time mode.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:53 (average 7:40).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: I found this article on The National Memo about a speech given by Wendy Davis.

Apparently, she dared to give her definition of what it means to be "pro-life":

“I am pro-life,” she told a University of Texas at Brownsville crowd on Tuesday. “I care about the life of every child: every child that goes to bed hungry, every child that goes to bed without a proper education, every child that goes to bed without being able to be a part of the Texas dream, every woman and man who worry about their children’s future and their ability to provide for that future. I care about life and I have a record of fighting for people above all else.”

“This isn’t about protecting abortion,” Davis explained in the same appearance. “It’s about protecting women. It’s about trusting women to make good decisions for themselves and empowering them with the tools to do that.”

Republicans, on the other hand, are pro-death.

From NY Times: The Food and Drug Administration proposed measures on Thursday that would all but eliminate artery-clogging, artificial trans fats from the food supply, the culmination of three decades of effort by public health advocates to get the government to take action against them.

Artificial trans fats — a major contributor to heart disease in the United States — have already been substantially reduced in foods. But they still lurk in many popular products, like frostings, microwave popcorn, packaged pies, frozen pizzas, margarines and coffee creamers. Banning them completely could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease each year, the F.D.A. said.

I’m expecting a Republican counter-proposal banning all natural fats and allowing only corporate trans fats, with a special tax break for ones loaded with GMOs.

From TPM: Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said Friday that he can’t evaluate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) policies because the governor won’t agree to appear on his show.

“He won’t submit to an interview with me,” O’Reilly said on “CBS This Morning,” as quoted by Politico. “Christie will not. He just won’t do it. So I can’t tell you policy-wise how versed he is because I’ve never seen him under that spotlight.

I trust I don’t have to tell you that I am NOT, a Chris Christy fan, especially since he is disappearing Sandy relief money, holding out on thousands of flood victims, who really need it. Nevertheless, when a Republican I dislike does something right, I admit it. Snubbing O’Lielly is ALWAYS a good choice.

Cartoon: