Politics Plus

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 117.  It’s been a busy day with lots of chores, plus I made a chicken, rice and green bean casserole from scratch.  My sleep schedule is running later than normal today.  Tomorrow (Saturday) morning is our fantasy football draft.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:55 (average 5:07).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos:

MSNBC resident blowhard Joe Scarborough just couldn’t resist bloviating about the arrests of Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery and the Huffington Post’s Ryan Reilly. Scarborough’s idiot opinion? They must have gotten arrested because they just "want to get on TV."

Lowery had a thing or two to say about that, when CNN interviewed him about his experience, and Scarborough’s comments.

"Well, I would invite Joe Scarborough to come down to Ferguson and get out of 30 Rock where he’s sitting and sipping his Starbucks smugly," Lowery said during a Thursday morning appearance on CNN. "I invite him to come and talk to the residents of Ferguson, where I’ve been since Monday afternoon having tear gas shot at me, having rubber bullets shot at me … I would invite Joe Scarborough down here to do some reporting on the ground, then maybe we can have an educated conversation about what’s happening here."

Those who claim that MSNBC is the "liberal" should remember that this guy has as much air time as Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell combined.

From NY Times: Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Thursday night that he had agreed to relinquish power, a move that came after days of crisis in which his deployment of extra security forces around the capital had raised worries of a military coup.

Mr. Maliki’s decision held out the prospect of a peaceful transition of power, based on democratic elections and without the guiding hand of American military forces, which would be a first in modern Iraq’s troubled history of kings, coups and dictatorships.

A few days ago, I said that I doubted this would happen. OOPS! When I’m, wrong I say so. I had good reasons for thinking otherwise, but good reasons do not always guarantee accuracy.

From Upworthy: Utah Drug-Tested Almost 5,000 People On Welfare, And The Results Almost Made Me Throw Something

I wonder what Utah thought they’d find when they implemented mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients? I doubt this is it. The moral of the story? I’d say the "sketchy drug addict" narrative that continues to be assigned to people on government assistance isn’t really that accurate … or fair.

Those are results that Republicans do NOT want you to know, because it trashes their dishonest stereotype.

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I’m writing for tomorrow, day 115.  I did a lot of house cleaning today in preparation for my grocery delivery.  Then I put everything away.  I feel a little tired, because I still haven’t found a stable sleep schedule.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:04 (average 5:00).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Patriots on Parade:

There’s been some misunderstanding, as several people have sent me links to articles about other people.  You are the people I want to feature, the people who participate in this blog, whether it be here or on Care2, or somewhere else where my articles or posted.  People whom you know personally would also work.  It’s the everyday heroes like you that will be the ones to make a difference.

Also, there has been some discomfort over my choice of the term Patriot, because of its Republican connotations.  That’s exactly why I chose it.  Republicans stole the word.  They didn’t earn  it.  It does not describe them.  They don’t deserve it.  My intent is to take it away from them and give it to people who have earned it, whom it does describe, and who do deserve it: you.  You are the authentic patriots who are making your country better in countless small ways.  It’s your word, not theirs.  Haven’t we been allowing Republicans to define the terms of our national discourse for far too long?

Finally, those that don’t like to toot their own horn can just give me the info.  I’ll do the tooting!!

Fantasy Football:

Players, don’t forget that our live draft is Saturday morning at 9:00 AM Pacific Daylight Savings Time.  That’s 10:00 Mountain, 11:00 Central, Noon Eastern.

Short Takes:

From Raw Story: An Oklahoma man has been charged with threatening to kill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his family, according to court documents obtained on Wednesday.

Charles Jason Moreland, 31, of Tulsa, is suspected of sending profanity-laced email messages in April directed at the veteran Democratic senator from Nevada that said if Reid “ever steps foot out of D.C., he will be done. You’re a dead … man Harry Reid,” according to the documents.

A lawyer for Moreland was not immediately available for comment. Reid’s office was also not available for comment.

Moreland was arrested on July 31 and the court documents had been under seal until this week. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

When he gets out the RNC will have a job waiting for him.

From Common Dreams: Following criticism of Hillary Clinton’s hawkish foreign policy remarks published Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders said in an interview on Monday that Clinton shouldn’t be presumed as the Democratic nominee for president since the U.S. political process isn’t one in which "we anoint people."

Sanders also hinted at his possible willingness to challenge her for the Democratic nomination for president.

Sanders spoke in an interview with ABC’s Jeff Zeleny a day after The Atlantic published an interview with Clinton in which she slammed Obama’s foreign policy, saying "Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle." Sanders indicated his respect for the former Secretary of State, while at the same time cautioning against assuming that she will be the Democratic nominee before she’s even announced her candidacy.

I would back Bernie over Hillary in a hot minute.

From AlterNet: It’s become fashionable for politicos to predict that 2014 will be another boffo election for Republican candidates at all levels.

The New York Times this week reported that the GOP is likely to emerge with new majorities in perhaps nine state legislative chambers. Republicans currently control 60 of America’s 99 state assemblies or senates, and have monopolies on power in 36 states—the most since the 1950s.

But a closer look reveals that 2014 is not going to be a slam-dunk for the GOP in state legislatures. Instead, Democrats stand a good chance of breaking the Republican grip on power in five states—Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, Arkansas, New Hampshire—while maintaining current partisan divisions in others. That’s nowhere close to reversing 2010’s Republican wave, but it’s not merely holding the line, either.

Click through for more detail.  Let me say this one more time. It’s all about turnout. Vote and get out the vote!!

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Article 11 reads:

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Muslim] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. [emphasis added]

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 113.  I feel able to concentrate again, so I’m back in the saddle.  Tomorrow is a a prison volunteer day, but the person with whom I ride down has a conflict, so I can’t go.  That may be a disguised blessing, because we’re in the midst of a National Weather Service heat advisory, and the prison activities section, which is directly above the kitchen and poorly ventilated, is sure to be unbearable.  But I still would have gone, if I could have.  The new series I promised is coming soon.  I’m sad inform you that Robin Williams was found dead in his home, an apparent suicide.  Please join me in condolences, thought and prayer to all who loved him.  Nanu Nanu mode tearfully disengaged.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:52 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takers:

From Irish Times: …US president Barack Obama has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in Iraq.

The US previously insisted on selling arms only to the Iraqi government. US officials say the administration is close to approving plans for the Pentagon to arm the Kurds.

I see this as the best Move Obama could make to avoid the potential need for US boots on the ground. The Maliki (R-IQ) regime has exhibited such a Republican level of both incompetence and corruption that arming the Iraqi government has effectively been arming ISIS.

From AlterNet: Disinformation: Proponents of a securities transactions tax look upon it as a way to punish  sinners [Murdoch delinked] (securities traders)

Provocative statements like this allow the editors to get their point across while implicitly suggesting that their opponents are the wacky ones. While the rest of us pay a steep sales tax for shoes and school supplies, investors pay ZERO sales tax on their million-dollar purchases. A speculation tax, given factual  analysis, is a logical and obvious and long-overdue tax.

More deception with the capital gains tax. WSJ  says [Murdoch delinked]: By reducing the penalty for transferring capital from one investment to another, these lower tax rates increased the mobility of capital. High-income taxpayers sold more assets, declared more income, and paid more taxes.

In other words, according to WSJ logic,  a lower tax rate means more tax revenue. A curious conclusion, even for WSJ. Based on  oft-discredited theory. But by using fine-sounding, meaningless phrases like "mobility of capital," and by posing a behavioral outcome that fits their philosophy, WSJ is able to sound like they know what they’re talking about.

This is just one of five ways in which the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda Lite, aka Faux Print, is ridiculous. Click through for the other four.

From Huffington Post: Chuck Todd is set to replace David Gregory as the host of "Meet The Press," Politico’s Mike Allen reported on Monday.

Todd, NBC’s political director and chief White House correspondent, has been viewed as the favorite to succeed Gregory, whose tenure has seen the venerable Sunday show sink to third place in the ratings.

Allen said Gregory, who has hosted "MTP" since 2008, is likely to leave NBC.

I welcome this change, although, to be honest, I’m not a fan of Chuck Todd. I’d rather see someone known for integrity, such as Lawrence O’Donnell, in that post. However, if given the choice between David "Raps with Rove" Gregory and a mentally substandard, flatulent Chimpanzee, with acute halitosis, and that masturbates and throws feces on camera, the ape is the clear winner.

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Although, in those days I used a more advanced computer than an IBM PC, I remember those day when, connecting at 110 baud, we watched documents download, one text character every two or three seconds.

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 111.  It’s late, and I’ve had a hard time getting untracked today.  I don’t know why.  I just feel a bit lethargic.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:04 (average 5:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football:

Players, the live draft of our fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends, is Saturday at Noon Eastern, 11 AM Central, 10 AM Mountain, and 9 AM Pacific Daylight Savings Time.  You each get to keep up to two players from last year’s team.  If you do, they are your first and second round draft picks.  If you do not, you get the draft picks instead.  It’s a good idea to participate in a couple mock drafts now to get familiar with the procedure.  Pay attention to bye weeks so you don’t have multiple players at the same positions with a week off at the same time.  Enjoy!!

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Julion Evans passed away on July 26, 2014, after a battle with a rare disease called Amyloidosis. He had a large family and an even larger group of friends who wanted to come together to remember his life. His family booked a large church in Tampa, Florida. One day before the service, they were shocked to receive a call from the pastor, telling them the church was canceling after finding out Julion was gay and married to Kendall Caper, his partner of 17 years:

Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian hatred of the LGBT community extends to the grave. Shame!

From PRWatch: The American Legislative Exchange Council, or "ALEC," met in Dallas on July 30 for its annual meeting. ALEC brings together state legislators and corporate lobbyists to vote on "model" legislation behind closed doors, before those bills are introduced in state houses across the country, stripped of their ALEC origins. As the Kansas City Star has noted, what happens at ALEC meetings "provides a preview for the next state sessions" in legislatures around the country.

What was on tap at ALEC this year? New bad bills, dirty energy, a new lobby shop, and the launch of a spin-off group targeting local governments. Here’s a roundup of last week’s ALEC coverage.

Click through to see what Republican legislators will be parroting nationwide. ALEC bills have one thing in common. When they pass, you get screwed.

From Huffington Post: Problem: Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about "Obama spending" and "Obama deficits" and how the "stimulus" just made things worse.

Solution: Here are three "reality-based" charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened.

Dang! These are good enough to get you unfriended by Republican relatives!

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