Politics Plus

Yesterday I prepared a presentation on expectations for the CoDA meeting sponsored by 7th Step.  I caught up on comments before the meeting and returned several hours after my normal bedtime.  I caught just a couple hours sleep and did my research, so I’m feeling quite tired.  Today will depend on how I feel.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 5:49 (average 4:47).  Th do it click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NPR: A top Michigan Republican has officially announced that he will run against controversial Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele.

Saul Anuzis, once head of the Michigan Republican Party, supported Steele for the chairmanship the last time around.

Is this the end of the greatest gift Democrats ever wasted?

From TPM: Gov.-elect Rick Scott (R-FL) is already facing his first mini-scandal just a week after he beat Democrat Alex Sink in one of the nation’s closest and nastiest gubernatorial races. A part-time campaign worker who found the job through an ad on Craigslist is upset that the campaign paid him with an American Express gift card.

Mark Don Givens told Florida’s WTSP News that he was expecting a paycheck after he made phone calls and knocked on doors for the Scott campaign, which made jobs a top issue in the election. Givens said he and other workers were upset after they were told by the campaign that they could not offer them a paycheck and given American Express gift cards instead.

What’s the difference?  Republicans will do anything to duck paying their share of social security.

From Right Wing Watch: No stranger to hyperbole, Alan Keyes in his latest column for WorldNetDaily suggests that the war between “Obama’s Mao Zedong-style forced march to socialism” and people who “love liberty” comes down to the question of Obama’s eligibility to serve as President. Keyes claims that while the GOP’s sins of massive spending, elitism, and political moderation are bad, their refusal to endorse Birtherism outright is even worse.

Turnabout being fair play, is Rand Paul an alien?  I don’t mean foreigner.  I mean alien.

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What’s up this weekend?

By noon yesterday, I had recovered sufficiently to do some volunteer work on the 7th Step website and then to come here and catch up on comments.  I may even get some return visits in today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:57 (average 6:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Think Progress: Yesterday, however, a shocking lawsuit brought by the state of Pennsylvania against a debt collector in Erie, PA illustrates why federal oversight is necessary for the industry, which deals with vulnerable people often on the brink of financial collapse. Unicredit America Inc. is accused of using phony Sheriff’s deputies and a corporate office decorated as a courtroom to confuse debtors into thinking they were in legal trouble in order to coerce them into making immediate payments.

It’s practices like these that Republicans are fighting to protect.

From TPM: Joyce Kaufman, the south Florida talk-radio host and new incoming chief of staff for Rep.-elect Allen West (R-FL) has made an auspicious debut in her staff work: Calling outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) "garbage."

This is the same hate monger that promised to organize armed revolution in the hills if West lost.

From News Hounds: Glenn Beck outdid himself in crazy yesterday as he went on an hour-long smearfest against George Soros that suggested – via suggestion and unfounded hypothesis – he has somehow conspired with Democrats, progressives and the Obama administration to demolish the U.S. economy.

Consider a Beck/O’Donnell ticket for 2012.  How sweet would that be?

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What’s up in your world?

Yesterday I kept up to date with comments and returned a bunch of long overdue visits.  I didn’t visit my entire blogroll, but they don’t make days long enough for that. Today I hope to keep up with comments.  It’s a medical mayhem day with X-Rays, lung function tests and doctor visits, so I’ll be running like a Teabagger candidate at a reporters’ convention.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:14 (average 4:20).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Lefty Bloggers Plus Report – Week 9:

Scores:

Week 9	Score
Rob’s Roosters Recovering Republic…	87.8 96.7	Final
Greensburg Wombats Teabuggery Trashers	105.9 109.7	Final
Lionel Hutz + The H… elliot’s Team	91.0 83.3	Final
Jay’s Team Playin w/out a helm…	157.2 51.9	Final
Seahawks Rock hugos misfits	97.0 69.5	Final

Standings:

Team	W-L-T	Pct.	GB
Recovering Republic…	7-2-0	0.778	0.0
Lionel Hutz + The H…	6-3-0	0.667	1.0
Seahawks Rock	6-3-0	0.667	1.0
Jay’s Team	5-4-0	0.556	2.0
Greensburg Wombats	5-4-0	0.556	2.0
Teabuggery Trashers	5-4-0	0.556	2.0
Rob’s Roosters	5-4-0	0.556	2.0
Playin w/out a helm…	3-6-0	0.333	4.0
hugos misfits	2-7-0	0.222	5.0
elliot’s Team	1-8-0	0.111	6.0

I’m pleased to report that I won in all three leagues.  But those dang Republicans!!

Short Takes:

From HJuffington Post: A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday to block a new amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would prohibit state courts from considering international or Islamic law when deciding cases.

U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange handed down the order after an Oklahoma man filed a lawsuit claiming the amendment stigmatized his religion and would invalidate his will, which he said is partially based on Islamic Law, also known as Sharia Law.

It will be interesting to watch this proceed, but I had hoped it would be on something that is more an affront to their hateful bigotry.

From Portland Examiner: Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has been fired by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox after creating a blog attacking and harassing gay University of Michigan college student and Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) President Chris Armstrong.

Shirvell is the creator of an over the top homophobic blog titled "Chris Armstrong Watch," On the blog Shirvell has accused the MSA president of promoting a “radical homosexual agenda,” and of being a Nazi and Satan’s representative on thee assembly.

How typical for a Republican Theocon to be committing a hate crime, violating the rights of someone whose rights he has sworn to defend.

From McClatchy DC: President Barack Obama ended his three-day trip to India Monday with a call for raising the world’s biggest democracy to global power status by granting it a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

I disagree with this move.  I have no beef with India, per se, but no nation that has refused to sign and abide by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty should have a seat on the Security council.  Additionally, should the cold war between India and Pakistan turn hot, this would give India a veto against sanctions.

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After a week, have your eyes dried?

Yesterday I slept so late that most of my day was gone before I got up.  As a resault, I was not sleepy at bedtime and am posting a little earlier than usual.  I did catch up on replying to comments.  Today’s holy day for the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb is less sacred for me, because the Denver congregation has a day of rest, aka a bye week.  This afternoon I plan to join the conversation with Gwen, Jack and others on the Here Be Monsters show on Blog Talk radio.  It starts at 3:00 PM PST (6:00 PM EST), if you’d like to listen or call in.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:27 (average 4:47).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: In a letter to colleagues, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who is seeking to remain as minority leader despite her party’s steep election losses, urged House Democrats to unite behind her and even said she hopes to help ousted lawmakers return to Congress in two years.

I approve.  Pelosi did her job, unlike the leg hound.

From Right Wing Watch: Last week, leaked results from the Pentagon’s survey revealed that most soldiers were unopposed to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

So, if you are the Family Research Council, it can only mean that the survey is flawed and cannot be trusted.

Leave it to the Theocons of the American Taliban to insist on inventing their own facts when the real ones conflict with their bigotry.  Unless we do this in the lame duck session, repeal is dead for two years.

From Daily Kos: The Seattle Chamber of Commerce, being a local organization in a liberal city, with many liberal members represented, wants to make it crystal clear that they are not in any way associated with [ads aired by] the the U.S. Chamber, which spent millions in the state to pick up the open 3rd district seat, and to oust Patty Murray.

This is a worthy sentiment, but lip-service is not enough.  As long as they are members of and pay dues to the US Chamber, they must weat the green letter. $

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Pray (or whatever you do) for America!