Open Thread – Page 788 – Politics Plus

Open Thread–6/22/2012

Posted by TomCat at 11:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 222012

My apartment reached 104° yesterday, but it wasn’t so bad, because it was one day only. When the heat wave lasts longer, it’s far worse, because the building never cools between days. Today I need to chase down the pain meds I was supposed to get early this week. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow appears routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:09 (average 5:52). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: You’d Be Really Surprised To See How Medicare Measures Up To HMOs

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Republicans’ purpose in privatizing Medicare is converting benefits to overhead and profit. Benefits do nothing to help the 1%.

From Think Progress: Conservative donors are in for a big weekend: “Both Mitt Romney and billionaire industrialist brothers David and Charles Koch are holding hush-hush events with wealthy donors designed to keep the dollars coming in.”

This is where Rmoney’s Etch-a-Sketch is programmed. I wonder if Scalia and Thomas are attending the Koch fundraiser AGAIN.

From MSNBC: A Payoff from Obamacare

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

Progressives should take note of the extent to which Alan Grayson supports Obamacare, despite his desire for a single payer system.

Cartoon:

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A Republican Holiday

Open Thread–6/21/2012

Posted by TomCat at 11:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 212012

Yesterday I caught up distribution of links. I’m hurrying because today will be a scorcher, but it should only last for one day. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow appears routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:25 (average 4:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: The Truth About How Hard Your Kids’ Teachers ACTUALLY Work

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How is it that Rmoney and the Republican Party say there are to many of these?

From Common Dreams: Alberta’s second oil spill in two weeks casts further doubts on the safety of tar sands

On Monday 230,000 liters of tar sands crude spilled at a pumping station near Elk Point, Alberta along Enbridge’s Athabasca pipeline, causing the pipeline to shut down temporarily.

Nature clothed Alberta in such magnificence, that I hate to see it fouled by Harper and his harlots.

From MSNBC: Romney Swings and Misses

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

Rmoney ducks those questions for an obvious reason. Answering them truthfully would guarantee an Obama win.

Cartoon: Rmoney talking about Obama

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Open Thread–6/20/2012

Posted by TomCat at 11:09 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 202012

Yesterday I got the blog up, before I left for physical therapy. I have exercises to do, but they they are causing me more shoulder pain. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow appears routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:12 (average 5:08). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Abraham Lincoln’s Most Shocking Prediction Is Something You’ll Never Guess

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If he knows that the party he founded has become the instrument of his prediction, he is crying.

From NY Times: After their two-day meeting ended on Tuesday, leaders of the Group of 20 top economies managed to say some of the right things. Focusing on the euro-zone debt crisis — clearly, the largest threat to the global economy — they pledged to do more to spur growth, ensure financial stability and support a stronger European fiscal union.

The question now is whether these words will ever translate into effective action. If the past two years of the euro crisis is any guide, the likely answer is no. As recession and banking crises have enveloped Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy, the crisis response, led by Germany, has been dominated by a relentless insistence on self-defeating austerity and piecemeal rescue plans.

The result has been deeper recession, social unrest and political upheaval in Europe’s weaker economies and increasing mistrust between the strong and weak nations of Europe.

I hope Germany has the wisdom to dump Merkel and the right wing.

From USAToday: Obama ads slam Romney on taxes, outsourcing jobs

Excellent and accurate.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–6/19/2012

Posted by TomCat at 9:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 192012

I’m rushing to get as much done as I can before I have to leave for my physical therapy appointment. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow appears routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 4:14). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Tick Tock: Robert Reich Schools Us On Taxes In 3 Minutes Or Less

Republicans bleed the needy for the greedy!

From Houston Chronicle: President Barack Obama is winning the opening round in the battle over immigration, according to a Bloomberg poll released today, putting Republicans on the defensive with his decision to end the deportations of some illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children,

Sixty-four percent of likely voters surveyed after Obama’s June 15 announcement said they agreed with the policy, while 30 percent said they disagreed. Independents backed the decision by better than a two-to-one margin.

No surprise here. The move was as practical as it was politically brilliant.

From TPM: Angus King, the independent former governor who is running for Maine’s open Senate seat, won’t say which party he will caucus with until after he’s elected in November, reports USA Today. In an interview, King said, “I don’t answer that question because I don’t know.”

Interesting. I know little about him, except that he supports Obama.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–6/18/2012

Posted by TomCat at 11:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 182012

Yesterday was supposed to be cooler, but about an hour before my month’s groceries arrived, the sun hit the breezeway outside my windows. Even though the high outside was 70°, the temperature in the breezeway jumped to 108°, and inside, to 96°. That made unpacking and putting away all those groceries a miserable task. So I’m, pretty wrung out today. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow I have to go to physical therapy on my shoulder, so my articles may be few and late.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:28 (average 5:18). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Why Rachel Maddow Thinks ‘Small Government’ Makes A Great Bumper Sticker

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"Too Informed to Vote Republican" says it all!

From YouTube: 2012: Who Should You Vote For?

Few people on the left are more critical of Barack Obama than Cenk Uygur. Nevertheless, even he knows that as attractive as Rocky Anderson is, a vote for him is an investment in Willard Romney.

From New Your Magazine: Neil Munro, the Daily Caller reporter who interrupted Obama’s DREAM Act Lite speech yesterday by yelling, "Why do you favor foreigners over American workers?" is himself a so-called foreigner working a job, here in America. This isn’t breaking news: He identifies as Irish-born on his Twitter bio, and he is currently living in D.C. on a green card. It is, however, somewhat notable and ironic when you consider the agenda behind what he maintains was "a conventional, obvious question."

I guess that the Republican Party doesn’t consider Munro a foreigner, because he has the right skin color.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–6/17/2012

Posted by TomCat at 10:26 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 172012

I’m feeling pretty drained today, because it was another hot one, reaching 96° at my desk. I’m hoping to get everything up and out before the groceries arrive. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow appears normal.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:19 (average 4:23). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: What Does It Say About Romney That He Could Take A Few Pointers From George W. Bush?

To sign a petition supporting the repeal of DOMA, click through.

From LA Times: The news that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is pumping $10 million into a “super PAC” backing Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney underscores how swiftly this campaign’s state of play can be affected by a single wealthy donor.

Billionaires who want Rmoney to win, want YOU to lose!

From Crooks and Liars: Romney, In Touch With The Common Man

No wonder 23 billionaires top Rmoney’s donor list!

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–6/16/2012

Posted by TomCat at 11:36 am Blog News, Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 162012

Yesterday was a crazy day. In addition to the hours I spent trying to resolve the editor problem (no response from the author yet), I spent three more in chat with my ISP, because their DNS servers were not connecting to my HSP email accounts. To make matters worse, the temperature at my desk reached 94°, and today will be worse. I’m current on replies. Tomorrow I have a monthly grocery delivery, and my bad shoulder will make unpacking and storing them more difficult than normal. Still I plan to blog normally.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:46 (average 4:35). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Here’s The Sad Story Of A Guy Who Believed The Bush Tax Cuts Were Going To Lead To Jobs

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People who think so will look just like that before "Trickle Down" stops gushing up.

From Washington Post: Sen. John McCain said in an interview posted online Friday that “foreign money” was helping fellow Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential hopes and singled out one of his ally’s most generous supporters.

McCain, the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee, suggested casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s $10 million contribution to a pro-Romney super PAC was a conduit for Adelson to use profits from properties in Macau to shape American elections. McCain also criticized the Supreme Court ruling that allows individuals and corporations to make such unlimited donations to nominally independent political action committees.

Republicans are honest so infrequently, that it’s noteworthy when one tells the truth. Kudos.

From AP/Google: A Republican Wisconsin state senator asked Friday for a recount in the election that could hand Democrats their only victory in this month’s six recalls, and at least a temporary majority in the state Senate.

An official canvass this week showed incumbent Racine Republican Van Wanggaard trailing Democratic challenger John Lehman by 834 votes, or 1.2 percent of the nearly 72,000 votes cast.

Democrats had called on Wanggaard to concede, saying a recount would only waste taxpayer money and delay the inevitable. But Wanggaard’s campaign said it was concerned about reports of voting irregularities and wanted to ensure the outcome was accurate.

The law does not require a recount unless the difference is less than 1%. If the totals were reversed, and the Democrat was asking, it would not happen.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–6/15/2012

Posted by TomCat at 10:44 am Blog News, Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 152012

Since 6:00 this morning I’ve been looking for a solution to our comment editor problem. I finally figured out that the editor will allow me (administrator) to embed a graphic, but when anyone else does it, the graphic shows in the editor, but does not pass through to the comment. I’ve checked with my HSP, and the problem is with the plugin, not the blog. I have a bug report posted in the author’s forum. Nameless, if you need a graphic embedded, post the comment, email me the link to it, and tell me to which comment you want it added. Hopefully it will be fixed soon . Because I had to put so much into that effort, I shall post a couple articles today, but will not distribute them to sties like Care2 and SU until tomorrow. I’m current on replies. We’ll see about tomorrow tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzles: Yesterday’s took me 3:32 (average 4:30). To do it click here. Today’s took me 4:25 (average 5:35). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: What Do Australians Understand 110,000 Times Better Than Americans Do?

15Australians

We still need to move forward to Single Payer, such as Medicare for all, but Obamacare is a start.

From NY Times: Conservatives love to pretend that there are vast armies of government bureaucrats doing who knows what; in reality, a majority of government workers are employed providing either education (teachers) or public protection (police officers and firefighters).

So would getting rid of teachers, police officers, and firefighters help the American people? Well, some Republicans would prefer to see Americans get less education; remember Rick Santorum’s description of colleges as “indoctrination mills”? Still, neither less education nor worse protection are issues the G.O.P. wants to run on.

And that’s why we need to keep pinning the truth onto them. Click through for the rest of this excellent editorial by Paul Krugman.

From MSNBC: Female legislators silenced after speaking out against Michigan abortion bill.

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

Kudos to some very feisty Democrats. The Republican War on Women is clearly alive and well in the Totalitarian Managed Plutocracy of Snyderstan. The 1st Amendment does not apply in Republican dominated legislatures.

Cartoon:

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