Politics Plus

Yesterday my appointment was late so I returned home later than expected.  I’m up to date with replies to comments, but today is my day to co-facilitate a therapy group for a dozen convicts, and then I have to do my online shopping for the month, so I’ll be quite scarce.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:39 (5:02 average).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From CNN: Workers scored a key victory Wednesday in their struggle to gain the upper hand in the weeks-long crisis at the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear power facility, but a top Japanese official cautioned that the fight was far from over.

At daybreak, authorities with the Tokyo Electric Power Company noticed that water was no longer gushing into the Pacific Ocean from the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor, one of six operated by the utility at its plant.

Any good news there is a welcome change.

From Reuters: With bipartisan support, the Senate voted 87-12 to pass legislation sponsored by Republican Senator Mike Johanns that repeals a requirement for businesses and landlords to file a Form 1099 document with the Internal Revenue Service for purchases of goods and services exceeding $600 a year.

The tax filing requirement did not directly relate to healthcare but was intended to help pay for the healthcare law that is considered one of President Barack Obama’s top legislative achievements.

That’s one of the things I don’t mind losing.

Cartoon:

Happy hump day, but don’t let Republicans hump you!

Yesterday turned out busier than I expected.  I went out to run errands in the morning, and in the afternoon I rewrote the meeting format from scratch for one of my volunteer groups.  But I’m current on replies to comments.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:33 (average 5:05).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: So the joke begins like this: An economist, a lawyer and a professor of marketing walk into a room. What’s the punch line? They were three of the five “expert witnesses” Republicans called for last week’s Congressional hearing on climate science.

The real scientist in the group was doing research, financed by the Koch brothers, to prove there is no global climate change.  To their chagrin, he actually testified that his research did not yield the results wanted. Ha!

From Crooks and Liars: Bill Maker pokes fun at Democrats for not supporting gay marriage.

Gotta love him!

From NY Times: The United States, which long supported Yemen’s president, even in the face of recent widespread protests, has now quietly shifted positions and has concluded that he is unlikely to bring about the required reforms and must be eased out of office, according to American and Yemeni officials.

Good.  The fewer dictators we support, the less hypocritical we become.

Cartoon:

OGIM!

Yesterday I didn’t get the rest I needed because I fought paper jams all morning trying to print the materials for last night’s  CoDA meeting.  I returned home late, and I’m running on just a couple hours sleep, so once my blog work is done, I’m going to go crash.  Comments are up to date.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:09 (4:29 average).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: The United States economy showed signs of kicking into gear in March, adding 216,000 jobs and prompting President Obama to proclaim a corner finally turned.

The president and his fellow Democrats pointed to the latest jobs report on Friday, and to an unemployment rate that fell a touch to 8.8 percent, as evidence that their policies, like stimulus spending and the payroll tax cut, were working.

I’ll credit the stimulus spending, but there is no way the payroll tax cut mattered.  It’s too soon for its benefits, if any, to take effect.  Republican spending cuts are likely to reverse the progress made.

From CNN: Highly radioactive water from Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is leaking into the Pacific Ocean from a cracked concrete sump near the No. 2 reactor, an official with the plant’s owner said Saturday.

I suppose Republicans will want to build the next nuke plant in New Orleans to finish the job they started by mishandling Katrina.

From Bloomberg: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) awarded Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein $19 million in compensation for 2010, almost double the prior year, and granted him the first cash bonus in three years.

I work with men who have twenty year sentences for stealing less than 1% of what this guy did!

Cartoon:

Teach a Republican today!

Yesterday I co-facilitated a therapy group for former prisoners.  When I returned home, I felt quite tired and rested.  Today I’m up to date on comments and have my end of the month bookkeeping to do, but I may have some free time.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:24.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From AP/Google: House Republicans are trying to use the tax code to curb abortions by limiting tax breaks for insurance policies that cover the procedure.

This amounts to a Republican tax increase on women.

From Bay Area Reporter: In what LGBT advocates described as "a stunning development for the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," 85 nations signed a pro-gay statement that was read out by Colombia’s representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 22.

Fortunately the US is one of the 95 signatories.  If McConJob had won, the US would be opposed.

From Salon: If you follow conservative blogs at all, or watch Fox with any regularity, you know all about this. The Justice Department dropped voter intimidation charges against the NBPP "poll watchers" because Obama’s politicized Justice Department refuses to pursue cases against black people, because Eric Holder and Barack Obama are racist against white people. That is basically the only explanation conservatives can think of to explain why the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department decided to dismiss claims made against three people who were not accused of intimidation by one single voter (while also seeking an injunction against the fourth guy).

The DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility has concluded their investigation and it turns out that everyone acted professionally and there was no bias or political meddling involved in the department’s actions.

In short, the OPR determined that the Republican non issue was a non issue.

Cartoon:

If you believe Republicans are on your side you are either very rich or very foolish.