Politics Plus

Today I hoped to get some visiting in, but I got tied up dealing with the steps needed to start a program to quit smoking about a month from now.  I’m not looking forward to that.  I did reply to comments, though.  Tomorrow my posts may be up late, because I have a month’s grocery order being delivered in the morning.  Putting it all away is often a taxing event.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 5:01 (average 5:49).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Business Insider: Is Brian Moynihan worried about something (perhaps related to Wikileaks) or is Bank of America just practicing some prudent defensive brand management.

According to Domain Name Wire, the bank recently registered BrianMoynihanBlows.com, BrianMoynihanSucks.com, BrianTMoynihanBlows.com, and BrianTMoynihanSucks.com so that nobody else can get them first. They also registered .net and .org versions.

What about bites?

From Think Progress:

The New York Daily News is reporting that, after a marathon negotiating session late last night and continuing into this morning, Senate Democrats have struck a deal to pass the 9/11 first responders bill with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who has been blocking the bill because of its cost. Coburn, along with fellow-obstructionist Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), managed to extract huge concessions, bringing the total compensation package to $4.3 billion, down from an original pool of over $7 billion. The “time span was also significantly limited to five years each for the health treatment program.”

Since I clipped the article, it passed on a voice vote.  Also, START just passed.  Republicans would have caved on taxes too.

From TPM: "Repealing DOMA, getting ENDA [a bill to protect LGBT people from discrimination] done, those are things that should be done," Obama told The Advocate the night before signing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal into law. "I think those are natural next steps legislatively. I’ll be frank with you, I think that’s not going to get done in two years. We’re on a three- or four-year time frame unless there’s a real transformation of attitudes within the Republican caucus."

That won’t happen, but I look forward to “Ask, Tell, I do” for LGBT folks.

Cartoon:

This hump day, humping is suspended.  Congress is leaving DC.

I replied to comments early this morning, because there was a problem to handle there, and it’s a good thing I did.  I spent several hours on the phone dealing with a problem with my Roku player and registering for a program to quit smoking, which I plan to attempt again next month.  I hate it when CS reps can’t speak English!  I’m not one of those English only peeps, but it’s the only way I can get tech support.

Religious Agony:

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:03 (average 4:07).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Russia warned the United States Senate on Monday not to rewrite the new arms control treaty being debated on Capitol Hill as American lawmakers clashed about the politics of ratification in the waning days of the Congressional session.

As I have made clear, the Republican amendment attempts are poison pills.

From Washington Post: The White House says President Barack Obama plans to sign the repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay service members on Wednesday, four days after the Senate voted to abolish the policy.

That can’t be too soon.

From Right Wing Watch: After being lifted from fringe figure in the Nevada State Assembly to become an all-star for Religious Right and Tea Party groups across the country, Sharron Angle is now plotting her next move after losing to Harry Reid in November. Even though voters in Nevada rejected Angle in three separate elections, including races for the State Senate, House, and US Senate, Angle is floating another bid for higher office.

According to Guy Benson, the political editor of the conservative Townhall.com, Angle may be a candidate for “statewide office” in 2012 despite her humbling loss to Reid.

I’d love it if she knocks out Ensign.  Then we might actually get a real Democrat in the Senate from Nevada.

Cartoon:

OGIM!

Today has been busy, what with volunteer work and errands to run, but I managed to reply to comments and to keep an ear on the Senate to break the news.  Tomorrow is a holy day for the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, so I shall probably be meditating on the fall of the Denver congregation to the deepest depths of the infernal regions.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:02 (average 5:16).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From LA Times: The Senate rejected a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants on Saturday, a defeat that pushes any effort to reform immigration into the next Congress where conservatives will have even more influence.

In a 55-41 vote, senators failed to advance the Dream Act, which would have provided a way to legalize those immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally as children and who attend college or serve in the military. Three Republican senators voted for cloture, but 60 votes were need to advance the measure. Five Democrats voted no.

I expected this, but it’s a shame.

From Washington Post: When the Senate took two of its most highly anticipated votes of the lame-duck session on Saturday, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin was nowhere to be found.

Manchin, who was sworn into office last month after winning a special election for the seat of the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), was the only Senate Democrat to miss Saturday’s votes on two of his party’s signature pieces of legislation, the DREAM Act and the repeal of the "don’t ask, don’t tell" law banning gay people from serving openly in the military.

He’s going to be a bigger DINO than Nebraska’s Ben Nelson.

From Think Progress: While Republicans quietly snuffed out efforts to compensate 9/11 heroes, they were aided by a quiet lobbying campaign by the powerful lobbying front — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber fought to help kill the 9/11 compensation bill because it was funded by ending a special tax loophole exploited by foreign corporations doing business in the United States.

Now we know the reason for the Republican opposition.  It’s payback for all the foreign money they got to spend on their campaigns.

From me: Do you believe the Republicans appointed Batshit Bachmann yo the House Intelligence Committee?  What a contradiction!

Cartoon:

What’s up this weekend?

Today has been most hectic.  I got up at 4:00 AM to do laundry before the daily rush for the machines, and I have been going nonstop ever since with paperwork, volunteer work, getting a bogus charge off my credit card, online grocery shopping, catching up on comments, my daily research and now posting.  Whew!  I hope to get tomorrow’s articles up earlier, because I co-chair the CoDA meeting tomorrow night.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:13 (average 3:48).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: Now that Scott Brown and Olympia Snowe have come out for the stand-alone bill in the Senate to repeal don’t ask don’t tell, there’s no longer any doubt as to whether there are the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to get this done. The only issue, Harry Reid tells us, is this: Will there be enough time to vote on repeal before the end of the lame duck session?

As a matter of fact, there is a simple way that Reid can make the time necessary to ensure this gets done, aides involved in the discussions tell me. Reid needs to schedule a debate and vote on DADT repeal beginning as soon as this weekend, once the issue over government funding is resolved. Reid can do this before New START is resolved, or at least while it’s getting resolved.

That makes it up to the Leg Hound.  With his record for spine, I’m glad I’m not a gay soldier.

From News Hounds: Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott, in discussing the extension of unemployment benefits, said "This is Christmas time. We talk about good Samaritans, the poor, the little baby Jesus in the cradle and all this stuff. And then we say to the unemployed we won’t give you a check to feed your family. That’s simply wrong." Now Bill O’Reilly loves the baby Jesus and hates all those evil non Christians who would take him off taxpayer funded property. Yet, baby Jesus BFF, Bill O’Reilly says, in his latest column, that compassion has its limits: "There comes a time when compassion can cause disaster." And invoking the Calvinist view of the world (is Bill a "cafeteria Catholic?") he says: "Personal responsibility is usually the driving force behind success. But there are millions of Americans who are not responsible, and the cold truth is that the rest of us cannot afford to support them." Bill, not a theologian, continues: " For them, the baby Jesus wants us to "provide," no matter what the circumstance. But being a Christian, I know that while Jesus promoted charity at the highest level, he was not self-destructive." [emphasis added]

Wrong Jesus, O’Lielly!  It’s Supply-side Jesus, the antichristian phony Republican Jesus, that was not self-destructive.  If the Scripture is accurate, the real Jesus knew in advance that he was going to be crucified if he went to Jerusalem, but he went anyway to sacrifice himself.  First, that’s self destructive.  Second, you’re one greedy Republican miscreant.

From Daily Kos: Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, who lost his reelection bid last month in a Republican sweep of state offices, is the choice of Elizabeth Warren to lead enforcement operations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The 51-year-old Democrat has a distinguished academic and political résumé. He took an aggressive stance in a lawsuit against Bank of America Corporation over its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Company, claiming it misled investors over how well Merrill Lynch was doing financially.

Elizabeth Warren remains the thing Obama did right.

Cartoon:

Thursday is have a Republican for lunch day.  Please pass the salt.