TomCat

Open Thread–11/7/2013

Posted by TomCat at 12:52 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 072013

I’m writing for tomorrow, and I just returned from the building where I expect to move. I saw the unit, and although not as large as I hoped, it’s bigger than where I am now. It has three big windows, facing East and an elevator. I can’t wait! I’m coming down with a bronchial bug and feeling like something I forgot to bury in my kitty box, so this is tomorrow’s only article. Fantasy football players, be sure you’re ready for Thursday night’s game.

Update: I’m feeling really crappy, so I need to skip replying to yesterday’s comments, at least for now.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:40 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: What the 1 percent thinks about you

It’s all so easy if you’re part of the one percent.

(Reuters) – I asked a financial services executive recently how our retirement saving system can be considered a success, considering that all but the highest-income households are approaching retirement with next to nothing saved.

His reply: "They don’t have any money while they’re working, so why would they have any money in retirement?"

It’s just that simple…

This is the super-rich reality upon which Republicans base their War on the 99%.

From NY Times: Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Democratic fund-raiser and ally of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, was elected governor of Virginia on Tuesday, narrowly defeating the state’s conservative attorney general, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, and confirming Virginia’s evolution as a state increasingly dominated politically by the Democratic-leaning Washington suburbs.

Add Rachel!

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

The Cooch screwed the pooch!!

From Truthdig: By trumpeting economic and civil rights issues, New York Public Advocate Bill De Blasio got himself elected Tuesday night to the highest office in the biggest city in America.

The New York Times reports that De Blasio’s win “cut across all of New York’s traditional divides. He won support from voters regardless of race, gender, age, education, religion or income, according to the exit poll.”

The triumphant candidate, who easily defeated his Republican rival, will be the first Democrat to run the city in nearly 20 years. He ran against the heavy-handed police tactics and pro-business policies put in place by his predecessors, Rudolph Giuliani and billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

Great for NY,NY!!

Cartoon:

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Election Day 2013

Posted by TomCat at 1:10 am Politics

Nov 062013

By the time you read this, the results will be in, so please understand that I’m writing while the polls are still open. The two high profile races are the gubernatorial contests in NJ and VA, and they appear to be done deals, but one can always hope and/or fear depending on the state. There are other very important issues, especially determining who will be allowed to exercise their right to vote and who will have it stolen.

Welcome to Election Day 2013, where two gubernatorial contests and the race for mayor of the nation’s biggest city will be settled and a GOP primary battle for a U.S. House seat in Alabama is getting outsized attention.

But what makes most of these 2013 elections interesting is what they may tell us about 2014 midterms and the 2016 race for the White House.

Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states to hold elections for governor in the year after a presidential contest, putting them directly in the national political spotlight. In New Jersey, public opinion polls indicate tough-talking Gov. Chris Christie, one of the biggest names in the Republican Party, will easily win re-election over little known Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono.

With Christie considering a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, his re-election campaign is seen as a tuneup or stepping stone for that likely White House bid.

In Virginia, national issues like the government shutdown and the health care law are playing a large role in the battle between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. For months McAuliffe has held a consistent small lead in public opinion polls over Cuccinelli, who is considered a hero to many tea party supporters and other grass-roots activists thanks to his very public conservative crusades, including his push against Obamacare…

Inserted from <CNN>

Rachel Maddow covered the topic in two segments. In the first, she talked about the Republican War on Voting.

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

Perhaps the reason Republicans now admit that they are excluding minorities to help Republican chances is to make this seem practical rather than racist. They ignore the reason most minorities vote for Democrats. Minorities object to the racism inherent in Republican economic policy and the overt racism embraced by so many prominent Republicans in their quest to capture the hate vote.

In the second segment, she covers Republican v. Republican contests.

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

I’d love it if Sen. Cornhole lost to Bagger Barton!! It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Young beats Byrne in Bama.

But most of all, may the Cooch screw the Pooch!

(these should be visible in Europe, because I was able to find a back way in to MSNBC’s old video player, but it works for Rachel Maddow only. I cannot say how long it will last.)

Update: The Cooch screwed the pooch!

Labeling GMOs in WA

Posted by TomCat at 1:08 am Politics

Nov 062013

Washington TEAbuggery has kept the focus away from several local races and measures that are worthy of note by the nation as a whole. One is in neighboring Washington State, where I-522 will require labeling on all food containing GMO’s. I am for it, because we have a right to know what we’re eating.

…

Washington State’s I-522 would require foods that have been genetically modified, or GMOs, to be labeled as such for retail purposes in the state.

Following legal pressure from anti-GMO campaign groups such as Moms for Labeling and Yes on 1-522 and the Washington State Attorney General’s office, the pro-GMO trade group Grocery Manufacturers Association was forced to release a list of its high rolling donors who have financed the NO on I- 522 drive.

As was expected, major food corporations and GMO users such as PepsiCo, Nestle USA, The Coca-Cola Co. and General Mills, among many others, had secretly donated millions of dollars to the GMA campaign.

GMA spending made up $7 million of the $17 million dollar No on I-522 push.

A similar initiative in California, Proposition 37, lost on last year’s ballot due to a similar flood of campaign money from pro-GMO food companies.

The following is the ballot text:

Initiative Measure No. 522 concerns labeling of genetically-engineered foods.

This measure would require most raw agricultural commodities, processed foods, and seeds and seed stocks, if produced using genetic engineering as defined, to be labeled as genetically engineered when offered for retail sale…. [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

I certainly hope it passes!

As important as this issue is, it is only one of six key election day races/measures covered in the same article. Click through for the other five.

Open Thread–11/6/2013

Posted by TomCat at 1:08 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 062013

I’m writing for tomorrow and waiting to see election results. I sure hope the Cooch screws the pooch!

Update: I just heard some news on the new digs, and I have to take some updated financial info in tomorrow, and have a meeting with the Resident Services Manager next Wednesday, so it looks like I just be moving late in the month. However, that puts me in a big rush tonight, and writing for Thursday may be limited.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:49 (average 4:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

Scores

I’m amazed my subs did that well!

Standings:

9Standings

I’m trailing one damn tough team by two games!

Short Takes:

From YouTube: Rachel Tore Idiot a New One!!

Of course you remember that the Southern Avenger was featured here in Republicans on Parade. A couple days ago, I was willing to entertain the possibility that Idiot, Son of Idiot, Named after Idiot did not know, but the scope, frequency and depth of his plagiarism demonstrates clearly that it was his intent.

From Washington Post: As some Republicans in Congress push to scale back and otherwise reform entitlement programs, a pair of liberal senators are pushing to expand one of the programs — Social Security.

Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) are spearheading the effort, which they say would increase benefits for all Social Security beneficiaries by about $70 per month, change the cost-of-living calculation for benefits, and increase the amount that the wealthiest Americans pay into the program.

Social Security taxes are currently capped at the first $113,700 of someone's income. Brown and Harkin say the tax increase would help sustain the program, which is solvent but is on track for significant deficits in future decades.

Kudos to Brown and Harkin! It's about time someone took a proactive approach instead of playing defense all the time! Scrap the cap!!

From Raw Story: Kentucky’s Republican U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul will attempt to attach a national anti-union “right to work” law to the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) — the federal law designed to provide workplace protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. According to WGDB’s Roll Call, the Senate is expected to begin debate on ENDA this week.

Right to work laws are laws that prohibit employers and workers from entering into contracts mandating union membership for any profession, from nurses to police officers to auto workers. States with right to work laws generally feature fewer protections for workers. The laws typically weaken workers’ position to bargain with employers by reducing union membership and stripping away the power of collective bargaining.

Do Bought Bitch Mitch and Idiot, Son of Idiot, Named after Idiot actually think that the Dems will give away Labor's legitimate rights? Not this year!!

Cartoon:

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I should have made that three.

Merkley Leads on ENDA

Posted by TomCat at 12:08 am Politics

Nov 052013

As the time grows near for the senate vote to break the Republican filibuster against ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act), it appears likely that just enough Republicans will join the Democrats to clear the 60 vote cloture hurdle. Now that passage in the Senate appears likely, Republicans are trying to water it down. Fortunately, my Senator, Jeff Merkley is leading the fight to keep ENDA whole.

As backers of the Employment Non-Discrimation Act hustle to round up extra support before an expected vote Monday evening, there are murmurs that the bill would be more palatable to Republican senators if it didn’t include protections for transgender individuals.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), for example, stated last week that he would only consider supporting a bill that was not fully inclusive.

But Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the leader of the effort to pass ENDA in the Senate and the man who introduced the legislation in the current Congress, said that’s not happening.

"I have fought for fully inclusive legislation in Oregon. I knew that fully inclusive legislation had worked very well in the states that had adopted it, and I thought it would just be wrong to leave any particular group behind on this," he told The Huffington Post in an interview.

ENDA would make it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It is already illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, nationality, religion, age or disability… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Huffington Post>

I could not be more proud of my Senator, or more pleased to have worked on his campaign in 2008. He needs all the help[ he can get, because the Koch Brothers have him high on their target list. Because of him and others, Oregon leads the way!

Unfortunately ENDA will likely die in the House without a vote, because Agent Orange, aka Mr. Two Inch, just announced his opposition.

So, Log Cabin Republicans, it’s time move out of those log cabins and dump the party that hates you.

UPDATE: ENDA survived cloture to bring it to the floor.

Republicans on Parade–11/5/2013

Posted by TomCat at 12:06 am Politics

Nov 052013

RepublicansOnParade2

Here is the thirty-fourth article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Jessica Black. She is not a politician or a pundit, but she is spreading Republican racism from the worst possible position.

This year’s most offensive Halloween costume “winner” is doting mother Jessica Black of Craigsville, Va., who was just upholding a time-honored family tradition when she decided to send her 7-year-old son out as a KKK member. “My brother was [a Klansman] when he was in kindergarten and when he was 13,” Black told WHSV [Faux delinked].

Her son Jackson apparently saw the white supremacist costume in the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” and made his mom proud when he asked if he could dress up at a Klansman for Halloween “cuz it was cool.”

“I did tell him that if you do it, you know there’s going to be people talking about you, there’s going to be people saying bad things about you when you do wear it,” she said…

Inserted from <Salon.com>

Here’s the video:

While I certainly condemn sending this woman death threats, I find this appalling. Note how the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, gave her more time to express her hatred and KKK Support then it gave her rightfully upset neighbor. That’s because Klan activities has become a very Republican thing to do.

Open Thread–11/5/2013

Posted by TomCat at 12:05 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 052013

I’m writing for tomorrow, and trying to get my body clock adjusted. I hope that you are all having a fantastic week.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:34 (average 4:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: President Obama has imperiled his second term by lying to the American people, one of the nation’s foremost lying experts said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The accusation carried weight, observers said, coming as it did from a legendary figure in the high-stakes world of competitive lying.

He was harshly critical of Mr. Obama’s fibbing, calling it “amateurish at best,” contrasting the President’s lack of lying experience with his own half-century of dishonesty.

“The American people deserve a President who is a world-class liar,” he said. “Sadly, they do not have that President.” …

Little Lord Willard, aka Rmoney, certainly was the world champion at etching his sketch.

From NY Times: Few topics in American society have more myths and stereotypes surrounding them than poverty, misconceptions that distort both our politics and our domestic policy making.

They include the notion that poverty affects a relatively small number of Americans, that the poor are impoverished for years at a time, that most of those in poverty live in inner cities, that too much welfare assistance is provided and that poverty is ultimately a result of not working hard enough. Although pervasive, each assumption is flat-out wrong.

Contrary to popular belief, the percentage of the population that directly encounters poverty is exceedingly high. My research indicates that nearly 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 60 will experience at least one year below the official poverty line during that period ($23,492 for a family of four), and 54 percent will spend a year in poverty or near poverty (below 150 percent of the poverty line).

Most of us fall on hard times, at one time or another, and the Republican recession makes this more true now than at other times . Republicans like to couch the safety net as takers taking from makers, but that is just projection. They are describing their own welfare for the 0.1%, because we are the makers, and they are the takers. The safety net is us helping us, and we should.

From Truthdig: A new oil reservoir holding as many as 3.5 billion barrels was discovered directly beneath the 1948 armistice line that formally divides Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel has moved the border to get access to the well. Will Palestinians get a cut?

I think they will… right under the chin, unfortunately.

Cartoon:

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Moyers: ObamaCare is the Republican Alamo

Posted by TomCat at 12:21 am Politics

Nov 042013

C & L had an interesting piece this morning about how Bill Moyers described ObamaCare. the extent of Republican opposition to it, the lengths to which Republicans have gone in their attempts to, repeal, defund, delay, change and interfere with it in every possible way. He goes further than that.

After Republicans spent their time during last week’s hearings demanding apologies for the problems with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, Bill Moyers asked if it would be "fair to expect just a morsel of apology from the right as well?" I wouldn’t be holding my breath for one any time soon: Bill Moyers Essay: Obamacare: The Right Wing’s Alamo…

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

Moyers is right. The problems in ObamaCare could have been avoidable with a Public Option, but it was Republicans (and very few DINOS) that prevented the Public Option in the first place. Moyers says Republicans owe America an apology. I disagree. Republicans owe America dozens of apologies.

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