I’m writing for tomorrow, day 103. At physical therapy, Lady Torquemada was her usual loving self. Scheeesch!! If I were black, and if this wasn’t helping, I’d think she was a Republican. By the time I got home, both the temperature and the humidity were in the high 80s. At that point I was useless for all but one thing, (see below)
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:07: (average 4:51). To do it. click here. How did you do?
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 102. It will be a difficult day, because I have physical therapy during a heat wave. It is also the day I normally spend hours collecting the data for and compiling the Monthly Report for Politics Plus to post on the second. Because of the timing, the Monthly Report will be a day or two late, and I may have nothing at all to post on Saturday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:54 (average 4:32). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: As much as people love sex, you’d think we’d know better! If we just got rid of myths like these, we’d feel a lot better about our bodies, our relationships, and our sex lives.
If you show this to Republicans, that are likely to become apoplectic. So many uninterrupted facts, without intervening lies is more than they can handle. Now, if only I could remember what sex is.
From Daily Kos: If you haven’t seen this before, this really sums up what Republicans think of the Americans who work for a living.
No Congress in US history has ever done so little.’
From TPM: Conservative rocker Ted Nugent published a lengthy and rambling rant hitting back at his critics on Wednesday, writing that the reason he’s been described as a racist is because he’s "doing God’s work."
Nugent’s comments came in a column posted [World Nut Daily delinked] on the conspiracy theory website WND, in which he reacted to the news that one of his concerts in Idaho had been canceled because of his incendiary rhetoric.
"For the lying freaks over at the Huffington Post, Moveon.org and the scammers at the Southern Poverty Law Center to go to such extremes to constantly lie about me is proof positive that I am not only on the right track doing God’s work spotlighting the current infestation of cockroaches amongst us, but that they are clearly scared to death of me and virtually incapable of debating me one on one," Nugent wrote.
Nugent was reported to have used the term "unclean vermin" when discussing the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s decision to cancel a casino concert he was supposed to perform. The tribe canceled the concert after being contacted by the Southern Poverty Law Center and made aware of some of his past remarks, including some in which he called President Obama a "subhuman mongrel" and a "chimpanzee."
From his perspective, spewing racial hatred is doing God’s work, because his God is Republican Supply-side Jesus, the exact opposite of the real Jesus.
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 101. Store to door just delivered groceries and I have finished putting them away. I’m tired, but not to tired to write.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:43 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: Check out this progress report on world peace. The news is not all good, but, still, there’s a silver lining.
It’s hard to fond a more worthy investment than peace. Here’s that link.
From Daily Kos: Far-right groups said that the American government securing necessary materials for American companies to manufacture is "interference with the free market." Seriously, are they funded by China?
Last week one more example of Republican obstruction occurred – blockage of an important "Make It In America" bill – and one more time not a single corporate media outlet reported it.
The House Republican leadership last Tuesday blocked a bill to secure for American companies critical minerals used in the production of energy-efficient products, renewable energy systems, electronics and other technologies. The result is companies – and the Defense Department – continue to be forced to turn to China to make or obtain critical electronics components.
To understand the full extent of why Republicans have committed sedition here, you need to click through and read the while article. Please do. It’s important!
From YouTube: Rachel Maddow: The Kids Are Not From Mexico!
This may help explain why some people vote Republican. They are stupid.
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 100. I’m feeling better, and have recovered from the evil task. Temperatures here have been high for the last few days, and the laundry room has no A/C, so I imagine that contributed. In addition to that, the arthritis in my hands was so severe that I could barely type. I guess the next obstacle is physical therapy on Friday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:00 (average 4:39). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football:
The information I gave you a couple days ago is incorrect. We have two openings in our fantasy football league, not one. We can play with either eight or ten players, so we don’t have to fill them, but more is more fun for all, so please let me know if you’d like to play.
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: In April 2009, after a court ruling, gay marriage became legal in the state of Iowa. On Jan. 11, 2011, a young man named Zach Wahls went before the Iowa Legislature to speak on behalf of his two moms after the legislature took up a bill to ban gay marriage. Over 18 million people watched and shared it. At 2:50, he nails what family really means.
Wahls is stunning, but you can tell who the Republicans in the background are by watching the hate on their faces.
From The New Yorker: Sarah Palin’s online video service starring herself had a hugely successful launch on Monday, as millions of Americans paid $9.95 for the rare opportunity of hearing the former Alaska Governor speak.
The Web site for The Sarah Palin Channel reportedly crashed several times during the day, as it was overwhelmed by subscribers seeking a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of the reclusive Palin sharing her opinions.
At the corporate headquarters of the Palin Channel, the marketing director Tracy Klugian attributed the site’s mammoth success to “the simple law of supply and demand.”
I’m not sure what Andy has been smoking, but it’s clearly premium grade.
From NY Times: House and Senate negotiators announced an agreement Monday on legislation that would allocate about $17 billion to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs’ sprawling and beleaguered health care system. But the deal does not give the department everything that officials there have said is needed to fix its problems.
The agreement set off a frantic rush on Capitol Hill to gather signatures from members of the conference committee working on the bill so that it could be put to a vote of the full House and Senate before lawmakers adjourn for an August recess on Friday.
If approved, the legislation would end a sometimes rancorous standoff over how much to spend to begin to fix the department, and it would help ensure that veterans who face long waits to see doctors at the department’s facilities could get appointments more quickly with private physicians. A few details were still being worked out even after the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees announced the agreement Monday at an afternoon news conference.
Click through for more details. Sadly, this appears little more than an attempt to treat cancer with a Band-Aid. On the other hand, getting anything at all for vets from Republicans is a minor miracle.
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 99. The evil chore took six hours to complete, and when done, I was too tired and sore to function and unable to do research.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:11 (average 5:22). To do it, click here. How did you do?
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 98. I had planned to get up early this morning to do the evil task, but I must be more tired that I thought. I found myself completely unable to move my butt, so I sat on it instead. The evil task still awaits.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:07 (average 5:00). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: The apparent collapse of the veteran’s aid in conference committee seems to underline just how uninterested the House continues to be in actually governing. We’ve got Rep. Jeff Miller managing reconciliation from the House side, and he’s let his Senate counterpart, Sen. Bernie Sanders, know that the House will be dictating the reconciliation terms.
The most peeved, however, was Sanders. He hastily organized a press conference with fellow Senate Democrats in which he rapped Miller for demanding a vote on a proposal that, according to an aide, did not adhere to the outlines of earlier discussions.
“You cannot talk about negotiating, you cannot talk about a conference committee, when somebody is asking you to join you … for a formal vote on ‘this’ proposal,” said Sanders.
Well no, having an unofficial "conference committee" meeting consisting entirely of House members and then telling the Senate that their new plan is what you’ll be having a vote on is not quite how the process usually goes, but it certainly underscores the House’s insistence that it’s either their way or the (badly underfunded) highway.
Did anyone expect anything more than sabotage of our Vets from the Republican Reich? Click through for more.
From AlterNet: Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist who hosts the hit show "Cosmos," was a guest on Bill Maher’s "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO Friday night, and Tyson received standing ovation. Rare for a scientist, Maher joked.
Thinking by voters is forbidden in GOPerville.
From Crooks and Liars: The yappers over at Faux "news" are very upset that the Democrats have teachers knocking on doors for the midterm elections because they might not be able to paint them as the stereotypical union thug as they’re used to getting away with week after week on their network. How terrible it is that people might look at them as actual human beings and not someone to kick to the curb and actually listen to what they have to say.
Bulls & Bears host Brenda Butter started things off with regular John Layfield, who went right after the teachers for heaven forbid, exercising their right to participate in politics, pretended that this is somehow going to take away from them having time to do their jobs, and he laid all of the problems with our educational system on the backs of the teachers’ unions.
Barf Bag Alert!
I’ll leave it to the teachers among you to explain just how full of crap this propaganda for the Republican Reichsministry of propaganda is.
Cartoon:
Avril’s Dream 🙂
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 97, and I’m feeling almost human again, after sleeping almost all day yesterday. Unfortunately the dreaded task awaits.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:22 (average 5:22). To do it click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football:
We have our own Fantasy football league on NFL.com called Lefty Blog Friends. I just learned that one of the players withdrew without notifying me, so we have an opening. You don’t have to be an expert to play, and it is a lot of fun. It’s not just for men. In fact four of our nine players are women. If you’d like to play, please let me know ASAP. Our live draft is on Saturday, Aug 16, 2014 at 9:00am PDT.
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: The war between Congress and the White House took a turn for the worse on Friday as House Republicans sought to prevent President Obama from ordering new office supplies.
The House panel that mandated the office-supply freeze denied that it was politically motivated, citing “budgetary concerns.” “It’s time President Obama learned a tough lesson,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters. “Being President does not entitle you to a spending spree at Staples.”
At the White House, the President blasted the Republicans’ move to strip him of legal pads, pencils, and other office essentials, calling it “just their latest attempt to keep me from doing my job.”
Is Andy covering up Obama’s Kenyan, Socialist, Muslim paper clips?
From Daily Kos: Take a look at what homegrown hatred looks like full stop. This disgusting comment was made by Barry Dile [Republican racist delinked] about a missing 16-year old girl from Tennessee.
No doubt he is a devout follower of Republican Supply-side Jesus (the exact opposite of the real Jesus).
From Think Progress: During a congressional hearing Thursday, Foreign Policy reports, a member of Congress mistakeningly assumed that two senior U.S. government officials were actually representing India.
The Congressman, Rep. Curt Clawson, told the officials “I love your country” and offered to do “anything… to make the relationship with India better.” The officials, Nisha Biswal and Arun Kumar, are both U.S. citizens who work for the Obama administration. Here’s the super awkward exchange:
I found the same video in a format you all can view.
I guess this folks weren’t quite white enough for this Republican racist, but any competent Representative would know who is coming to a hearing in advance. Republicans are not.
Cartoon:
I’m writing for tomorrow, day 96, and this is the only article. Last night was election night for the group of prisoners I help. I was pleased with their choices. I could not help thinking that I wish Republican candidates had 10% of the integrity of those convicts. After that I worked one on one with a few new guys. I was happy that one in particular responded to questions by realizing how he could have intervened with better choices that would have prevented the entire situation, in which he felt he had no choice except to act. One of the most valuable lessons learned is that today’s seemingly unimportant decisions constrain tomorrow’s available choices. Today, I’m quite pooped.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:49 (average 5:15). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: If — like me — you’re a sucker for the very small human stories behind huge historical events, you’ll want to hear this from Lt. Dan Choi, who chained himself to the White House fence in 2010 and helped bring down "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" less than a year later. Make sure you check out 2:18 for his amazing love story, 6:30 for what happened when he came out to his parents, and 10:40 for the heartwarming, totally unexpected email he received from an Iraqi doctor. But really, you’ll want to watch the whole thing.
One need not be gay to be inspired by the honor, courage and commitment displayed by Dan Choi.
From The New Yorker: In his boldest move yet to address the immigration crisis, on Thursday Texas Governor Rick Perry dispatched the Dallas Cowboys to the United States’ border with Mexico.
In a photo opportunity with the Cowboys and several of the team’s cheerleaders, Perry explained the rationale behind his latest decision. “Those who would cross our borders illegally will have to contend with the power and fury of America’s Team,” he said.
As Andy goes on to explain, the Cowboys’ defense doesn’t stop anything, but there may be another way. If he has the cheerleaders invade Mexico, the men will want to stay there.
From Daily Kos: It is good to know that some in government are indeed still worried about privacy… too bad its not ours. And as people think it is a wise idea to send armed troops to ‘protect’ the Texas border we should probably be concerned that something like this happens on the U.S. Canada Border:
A central Iowa Boy Scout troop just returned from a three-week trip they will likely never forget.
Boy Scout Troop 111 Leader Jim Fox spelled out what happened to him and the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111 as four van-loads of Scouts and adult volunteers tried to drive from Canada into Alaska.
Fox said one of the Scouts took a picture of a border official, which spurred agents to detain everyone in that van and search them and their belongings.
“The agent immediately confiscated his camera, informed him he would be arrested, fined possibly $10,000 and 10 years in prison,” Fox said.
Dang!! I thought Bloody Barbie had resigned! Click through to see how these Republicans threatened children with guns.
Cartoon:
Joanne asked for this.