Politics Plus

Writing for tomorrow, I’m making this a light day to get as much rest as I can before going to prison for volunteer work tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:08 (average 5:36).  To do it, click here,  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Confused Republican thought the debt deal included money for Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army.

With all the dopey things said and done by intransigent Republicans in last week’s shitstorm of dopey intransigence, Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney earned his place right up there in the pantheon. When the 11th hour deal to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government was struck between Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, it did not have much trouble getting through both houses of Congress. But there were those Republicans deluding themselves that they could fight on.

Rep. Mulvaney of South Carolina was one—and among his objections? The deal, he said, included funding for Joseph Kony’s Uganda-based Lord’s Resistance Army. Now, that would be pretty evil if it were true. Kony is an exiled war criminal with a messianic complex known for kidnapping children, and turning them into sex slaves and soldiers who kill their own families. The funding, if Mr. Mulvaney had read a little closer, was a small amount earmarked to the Pentagon which is funding African troops trying to capture Kony and end his reign of terror and atrocity. Ohhhh…oops. It seems Sen. David Vitter isn’t the only Republican in Congress Harry Reid could legitimately claim was not playing with a full deck.

This is just one of ten examples of Republican lunacy in just the last week. Click through for the other nine.

From Daily Kos: The fallout from the Republican shutdown continues, this time according to a new CNN/ORC International poll:

According to the survey, 54% say it’s a bad thing that the GOP controls the House, up 11 points from last December, soon after the 2012 elections when the Republicans kept control of the chamber. Only 38% say it’s a good thing the GOP controls the House, a 13-point dive from the end of last year.

This is the first time since the Republicans won back control of the House in the 2010 elections that a majority say their control of the chamber is bad for the country.

Lets make sure that this trend continues!!

From The Nation: One of the many disgraceful aspects of the media coverage of Obamacare–and criticism of the ACA, and the Tea Party claims in general–is the rote depiction of the new law as "very unpopular" or "opposed by most Americans according to polls" because it goes too far.  Most people are said to be happy with the health care system as is, and so on.  In other words, repeating the GOP line.

Now, those who have supported the law have long claimed that the simple bottom line poll numbers are misleading.  Yes, those numbers generally show that, say, 51% don’t like the ACA and only 44% approve.   Yet, as we know (but many in the media fail to recognize, even beyond Fox News), a lot of Democrats and liberals are unhappy, wisely, because the law doesn’t go far enough, or that President Obama didn’t fight for the public option or single payer or Medicare for all.   So how many of them are included in that bottom line number who "oppose" the ACA–but from the left?

Polls have indicated there’s a fair number but now there’s a new one today that CNN actually took the trouble–at the end of its online report, true–to break out.  And, lo and behold, it turns out that fully 12% of those opposed feel the law doesn’t so far enough.

So, as they note, that means that instead of just over 50% being against the law because it goes too far–the impression most in the media have left–at least 53% actually back the law or believe it should be expanded.

One year from now, after people have had a chance to experience what it really is, instead of Republican lies about it, the matter won’t even be close.

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I’m writing for tomorrow and am still quite pooped.  Last night it was Stuck on Stupid’s turn.  He’s hard of hearing so he yells.  Instead of yelling into the phone at home, he took it into the hall outside my door.  When confronted he was apologized, but the damage was done.  In a few days he’ll forget all about it and do it again.  Argh!  Fantasy football players, check your lineups.  I’m making today a light day with just one other article to try to get some rest as I have prison volunteer days on both Tuesday and Thursday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:11 (average 5:31).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From CREW: Congressional PAC dollars used to employ family members

Kudos to CREW! This should not be happening!

From The New Yorker: Now that the government shutdown is over, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) plans to read the Affordable Care Act, he told reporters today.

“It’s definitely been on my must-read list for a while now,” Sen. Cruz said of the law often referred to as Obamacare. “Things have just been so hectic around here lately, I couldn’t get to it.”

The Texas Senator said that he started reading the law this morning and observed, “So far, it’s pretty dry.”

The real irony here is that, if he actually did read the ACA, he would likely be the first US Senator or Representative to have done so.

From Upworthy: The Dirty Little Secret That Fast-Food Companies Don’t Want You To Know

This is just one more example of welfare for the rich. We’re feeding rich people’s employees, so they don’t have to pay them enough to eat.

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I’m writing for tomorrow, as I try to fathom the damage from the Republican Shutdown and getting ready for a trip out to run errands.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:12 (average 4:56).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Acknowledging that the government shutdown was coming to an end, an emotional Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took to the Senate floor today to make an impassioned speech, telling his colleagues, “The dream of keeping poor people from seeing a doctor must never die.”

His eyes welling up with tears, Sen. Cruz said, “I embarked on this crusade with a simple goal: to keep affordable health care out of the reach of ordinary, hard-working Americans. And while this battle was lost, that dream—that precious, cherished dream—will live on.”

Reflecting on the government shutdown and near-default that almost touched off a global financial apocalypse, Sen. Cruz said, “We’ll give it another try in a few weeks.”

Sen. Cruz’s closest ally, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) also spoke reverently of the shutdown, calling it “the most expensive Civil War reënactment in history.”

“Unfortunately, once again, the wrong side won,” he said.

As much as that ass would like to deny it, Andy captured the vile thing that poses as Cruz’s heart.

From Media Matters: Fox’s Kelly: Deal To End Shutdown "Doesn’t Look Like A Win For The American People" Because It Doesn’t Address Debt.

This is how the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda views the events of last night. It boggles the mind!

From Daily Kos: What if I told you that one of the leaders of the tea party strategy to stop Obamacare by shutting down the Federal government didn’t actually believe it was possible to repeal Obamacare until 2017 at the earliest but pushed forward with his plan anyway?

You’d probably get pretty mad, right? Shutting down the government over an unrelated policy dispute is bad enough, but if the people shutting the government down didn’t even believe that their strategy would work, then they’d be guilty of inflicting pain and creating chaos for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

The way I see it, these bastards owe us $25 billion!!

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I’m writing for tomorrow, day 16 of the Republican Shutdown, with an ears on the news as House Republicans try yet again to snatch confrontation from the jaws of compromise.  Agent Orange can’t even move his own legislation.  Normally I would swap in a new poll, but as this one remains so relevant,  I’ll let it ride for now.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:41 (average 5:30).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?  ARGH!!

Fantasy Football Update:

Here’s the latest on our fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

Patty Monster Mashed my butt!

Standings:

Note that Lynn now has one in the plus column.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Bill Maher showed how Michele Bachmann and Antonin Scalia have the same deluded mindset about how the world works, and yet Scalia seems to have more credibility in his role as a Supreme Court justice…

The devil is alive and well in the 21st century. He’s wearing an elephant suit. 👿

From MSNBC: Go Go Goose-step is STILL crazy!

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

That’s what a call a Republican Solution. Impeach Obama for the House Republicans’ crime.

From Common Dreams: Next year’s benefit increase for Social Security recipients is projected to be one of the smallest increases ever, according to a new analysis by the Associated Press.

“I find it incomprehensible that any serious person would believe that a 1.5 percent COLA is too generous and would want to enact a chained CPI which would make these COLAs even lower,” said Sen. Sanders. (Photo: Dawn V Storm/cc/flickr) The AP projects that the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the 58 million Americans who rely on Social Security will raise just 1.5 percent, meaning a $17-monthly increase. That would mark the second year in a row of "one of the lowest raises since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975."

“This [COLA] is not enough to keep up with inflation, as it affects seniors,” the Washington Post quotes Max Richtman, who heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, as saying. “There are some things that become cheaper but they are not things that seniors buy.

Speaking as just one Senior, rent, food and health care make up more than 3/4 of my budget. My rent is up 4.95%, my groceries are up 11%, and my Medicare Advantage premium is up 4.5%. The paltry 1.5% increase won’t begin to cover that.  Now Republicans claim that my COLA is too beg and demand chained CPI to reduce it more.

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