Politics Plus

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 156.  It’s another busy day, because I’m packing for tomorrow’s trip to Salem for prison volunteer work.  I’ll be leaving shortly before noon and returning early Friday afternoon.  I expect to post at least a brief Personal Update each day, while I’m gone.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:03 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

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

Scores:

Standings:

I’m in trouble.  I play the other undefeated team on Peyton’s bye week. 🙁

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: A homeless man named Sandy and some vloggers on YouTube decided they wanted to explore the idea of transforming a "homeless man" into a suit-sporting "businessman." Same man, different duds, and a completely different way of how people treated him. It’s a true lesson in "clothes do make the man."

It tells us a lot about our cultural attitude, doesn’t it?

From Daily Kos: Connie Wilson, who just moved from California to the Houston area with her wife Aimee and their three children, received a hell of a welcome from the Department of Public Safety (DPS). The couple has been together nine years, and they finally tied the knot last year in California, after which Connie took Aimee’s last name. Connie was able to get all of her records updated with her new name, from her California driver license to her Social Security card to all of her financial and medical records. And then, upon moving to the Houston area, she visited the DPS office in Katy to obtain a Texas driver license. No big deal–when I moved to Texas, aside from waiting in a horrendous line at DPS, getting my driver license was painless. But I also didn’t have my name changed to that of my same-sex spouse. Wilson’s experience with DPS in Texas, where gays are barred from marriage by both statute and constitutional amendment (just to be safe, you know), has been quite different:

With her California driver’s license nearing expiration, Wilson took her documents to a DPS office in Katy last week to obtain a Texas driver’s license. When a DPS employee noticed that Wilson’s name didn’t match her birth certificate, she produced the couple’s California marriage license identifying her spouse as Aimee Wilson.

“Her only words to me were, ‘Is this same-[sex]?’” Connie Wilson recalled. “I remember hesitating for probably 10 seconds. I didn’t know how to answer. I didn’t want to lie, but I knew I was in trouble because I wasn’t going to be able to get a license.”

[…]

“She immediately told me, ‘You can’t use this to get your license. This doesn’t validate your last name. Do you have anything else?’” Wilson said. “She told me I would never get a license with my current name, that the name doesn’t belong to me.”

This is why we need a Federal law that requires states to recognize marriages from other states without prejudice. And, if this treads too heavily on Bubba Bagger’s states’ rahts, let states do as they please, but make it a requirement for them to get federal highway funds.

From AlterNet: While most would argue that this is place where the people get  screwed many different ways [Faux Noise delinked], in  Washington, D.C., engaging in any sexual position other than missionary is illegal.

Dang!  No wonder Congressional Republicans always want to get out of town.  DC hookers must be more boring that the ones from home.  This is just one of the ten craziest sex laws in the US.  Click through for the other nine.

Cartoon:

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 154.  I’m hurrying to finish, because services at the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb is about to start.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:44 (average 6:05).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Overtime Agony:

It was one hell of a meditation.  Congrats to the Seachickens.  Please pass the sour grapes.  Stinking Orb!!!

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Democrats are stepping up their appeals to older voters in the final stretch before the midterm elections, spurred by polls showing the party has regained some support lost in the Obama years. The question is whether they can narrow the gap with Republicans enough to offset their broader disadvantages given widespread dissatisfaction with President Obama.

Both parties covet voters 65 and older because that group tends to make up a disproportionately large share of the midterm electorate. Democrats long had an edge, until less-supportive baby boomers aged and began replacing the Depression-era generation in the ranks of older voters. Now Democrats are reliant on young voters, as well as minorities and single women, many of whom vote only in presidential elections.

“Doing even a little bit better with seniors can have a substantial impact,” Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster, said. Like some Republican pollsters, he has seen Democrats improve their standing with older voters in polls in states with hotly contested Senate races. His explanation: “I think the Democratic advantage on protecting Medicare and Social Security has reasserted itself.”

That’s a valid strategy with plenty of basis in fact. Republicans never have given up on their plans to turn Social Security over to the Banksters and turn Medicare over to Big Insurance.

From Crooks and Liars: Jon Stewart wasn’t the only one to take fearmongering Lindsey Graham to task for his bedwetting, unhinged rant that ISIS was coming to kill us all. Bill Maher went after Graham and his BFF John McCain, otherwise known as "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" during his New Rules segment this Friday night.

Cool! This is the rest of what I brought you a couple days ago. He outdid himself!

From Me: Somewhere, deep in the backwoods of the land of InsaniTEA there’s a little town with nothing but a post office, a gas station, and a tavern… and, of course, a cop, Deputy Dingbat!.  As was his custom, Deputy Dingbat headed for the tavern.  Outside, he saw a dog tied under a tree.  He went inside and saw Bubba Bagger sitting alone at the bar.
Deputy: Bubba, is that your dog outside?
Bubba: Sure is!
Deputy:  Well, Bubba, your dog is in heat.
Bubba: Couldn’t be.  I tied her in the shade.
Deputy:  No Bubba.  The dog need to be bred.
Bubba: No chance.  I gave her some corn bread this morning.
Deputy: Bubba, you’re an idiot!  The dog needs to be screwed!!
Bubba: OOOOhhhh!  I get it!  Would you do it, Deputy?  I always wanted a police dog!

Cartoon:

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 152.  With four hours sleep in the last two days, when I returned from physical therapy, I was good for one thing only.  I slept for four hours.  Time for more.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:23 (average 4:40).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

I’m writing for tomorrow day 150.  I’m waiting for my groceries to arrive.  I plugged in my notebook, which I have not used since the last time I overnighted in Salem.  Fortunately I timed a Windows Update, so that’s done.  It took over two hours just to download the updates.  Then I updated my AV software, my security software, my password manager three browsers and several other utilities.  Fortunately I was able to do research while a lot of that was going on.  Tomorrow’s main chore is reconfiguring the email client to the new HSP settings.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:24 (average 6:05).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In what Secretary of State John Kerry described as a significant foreign-policy coup, the U.S. claimed, on Tuesday, that it had successfully located a moderate Syrian rebel.

Though Kerry did not elaborate on how the U.S. did so, he said that locating the rebel was “the culmination of a months-long effort.”

The Secretary of State said that the Syrian had been appropriately vetted and was deemed “moderately rebellious.”

“He definitely seems to be the sort of gentleman we can work with,” Kerry said, adding that several millions of dollars would be spent arming and training the rebel in the days and weeks ahead.

Kerry said that the government’s successful identification of a moderate Syrian rebel was a major victory that should silence critics of the U.S.’s strategy in Iraq and Syria.

Hmmmmm, Andy… I don’t see it working, unless he has a friend.

From NY Times: President Obama’s top military adviser said Tuesday that he would recommend deploying United States forces in ground operations against Islamic extremists in Iraq if airstrikes proved insufficient, opening the door to a riskier, more expansive American combat role than the president has publicly outlined.

Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that while he was confident that an American-led coalition would defeat the Islamic State, he would not foreclose the possibility of asking Mr. Obama to send American troops to fight the militants on the ground — something Mr. Obama has ruled out.

This is not the scandal Republicans claim it is, nor does it indicate what Obama actually would decide. Asking a general about the use of troops is like asking a carpenter about the use of a hammer.

From Upworthy: Vicky Beeching is an artist, broadcaster, and theologian. And this, on Channel 4 news, was her first TV interview after coming out. She’s now speaking at the Gay Christian Network and continuing to share her beliefs about being Christian and gay.

Semi-Barf Bag Alert!

Scott Lively is a leader of The Family and C Street. He is lying about Uganda. He organized C Street Republican Senators and Representatives to help draft legislation to execute gay people there, apparently intending it as a test for future implementation here, when they have dominion.  Lively is putting on a far less rabid public face than his actual practices indicate.  There was only one Christian in that discussion, Vicky.

Cartoon: