Personal – Page 519 – Politics Plus

Open Thread–8/8/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:20 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 082014

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 109. Oversleeping last night has thrown off my sleep schedule. I feel like I need to sleep, but have been unable to do so, so I’m not as fresh as I’d like to be.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:15 (average 5:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

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At the ends of the first quarter, the other gods hurled down thunder and lightning from Olympus in homage to the Holy Ellipsoid Orb. Worshipers had to flee. The service was what last year’s Super Bowl should have been.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: …Colt Thriemer and Thomas J Brown got into a fist fight at a Walmart Parking Lot. There were several witnesses who say that the victim, Thomas Brown, was walking away afterwards to his car when Colt Thriemer shot Thomas Brown after retrieving a handgun. Mr. Brown was shot 10 times at fairly close range both in the back while he was walking away and then when he turned towards Mr. Thriemer after being shot, apparently pleading him to stop. Mr. Thriemer then fled the scene.

When he was apprehended, he did what all murderers do now in Florida: claim he was in "fear for his life". The prosecutor agreed.

The prosecutor’s statement summed up all that is fucking wrong with Stand Your Ground:

"The Stand Your Ground Statue makes no exception to the immunity because Brown may have been walking away from Thriemer when deadly force was used."

That’s because the f_ing law was made by f_ing imbeciles. [emphasis original]

Of course the law was made by imbeciles. Republicans are.

From AlterNet: President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday slapped a one-year ban and restrictions on food and agricultural product imports from nations that have imposed sanctions on Russia over its defiant stance on Ukraine.

The decision marks yet another escalation in a furious diplomatic standoff that has seen Russia slip into growing international isolation and the onset of what some US media are calling a "new Cold War".

It also threatens to send the price of Russian food soaring and feed public discontent with an economic slowdown that analysts indirectly attribute to Putin’s perceived backing of pro-Kremlin insurgents fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine.

If any nation sanctioning Vladimir Putin (R-RU), aka GOP Pootie, has a shortage of foods, the US can help meet the need, especially if we stop paying farmers not to grow it.

From Crook and Liars: The hosts of Fox & Friends on Wednesday politicized the death of an Army general as a "touchdown for the Taliban" so they could score some points against President Barack Obama.

Barf Bag Alert!!

Yesterday I said they were doing this. This is how they are doing it. How disgusting they are!

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Open Thread–8/7/2014

Posted by TomCat at 1:52 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 072014

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 108. It’s been a busy day with heavy house cleaning and a grocery delivery. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. The Holy Orb is rising on a new preseason of meditation. I’m meditating in faith that my Broncos shall break the long fast with a communion meal of Pulverized Seachicken. 🙂

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 5:06). To do it click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Rep. Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama:

“This is a part of the war on whites that’s being launched by the Democratic Party. And the way in which they’re launching this war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else,” he said during an interview Monday with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham. "It’s part of the strategy that Barack Obama implemented in 2008, continued in 2012, where he divides us all on race, on sex, greed, envy, class warfare, all those kinds of things. Well that’s not true.”

Man, if it’s been waging a war on whites all this time, the Democratic Party is even less effective than I’d realized. Because whites are doing relatively well in this country. Sure, class warfare from above has been hard on the middle class, which was historically overwhelmingly white, so if you compare how middle-class white people are doing now to how they were doing 20 or 50 years ago, the picture is bad. But compared to non-white people? Whites are doing just fine, despite this alleged war on them.

Mo "Bubba Bagger" Brooks is projecting to blame Democrats for his own Republican racism.

From NY Times: The Obama administration is weighing plans to circumvent Congress and act on its own to curtail tax benefits for United States companies that relocate overseas to lower their tax bills, seeking to stanch a recent wave of so-called corporate inversions, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said on Tuesday.

Treasury Department officials are rushing to assemble an array of options that would essentially wipe out the economic incentive for the deals, Mr. Lew said. No final decision has been made.

“The question is, Can we do enough that it will materially change the economics of inversions so that companies will make different decisions?” Mr. Lew said in an interview. “The things we are looking at look to me like they could very materially change the economics of inversions.”

See How RepubliCorp Is Ducking Taxes. At the very least, Obama could disqualify such companies from government contracts and subcontracts.

From TPM: A third grade teacher in South Carolina called into Rush Limbaugh’s radio show on Tuesday to thank him for his children’s book, "Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims," which she used to teach her students about slavery and the Civil War.

ARGH! Limbarf as a teaching aid?!!? Disappointed smile I was unable to find out which school has such misinformed students. That teacher needs to be stopped, then fired, and then committed.

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Open Thread–8/6/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 062014

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 107. I don’t know why, but I just could not get comfortable last night, and I could not sleep. I had a short nap this morning, but it was nowhere near enough. I’m hoping I can catch some serious Zs, when I finish writing.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:02 (average 6:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren cares a lot about making student loans affordable—and she happens to be a bankruptcy expert. This week, she turned that passion and that wealth of knowledge on Richard Hunt, president and CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association.

You would think bankers would learn not to try to get sneaky in response to Warren’s pointed questioning. But this one had not learned that.

Was Lizzie munching on Bankster Butt or what? Bankruptcy relief should include student loans, and the death of the borrower should terminate any student loan.

From YouTube: Another Journey into the Parallel World of ALEC

Kudos to Chris Taylor and Ed Schultz. When Republican politicians introduce ALEC boilerplate, they must be exposed and dumped.

From AlterNet: What someone is paid has little or no relationship to what their work is worth to society.

Does anyone seriously believe hedge-fund mogul Steven A. Cohen is worth the $2.3 billion he raked in last year, despite being slapped with a $1.8 billion fine after his firm pleaded guilty to insider trading?

On the other hand, what’s the worth to society of social workers who put in long and difficult hours dealing with patients suffering from mental illness or substance abuse? Probably higher than their average pay of $18.14 an hour, which translates into less than $38,000 a year.

How much does society gain from personal-care aides who assist the elderly, convalescents, and persons with disabilities? Likely more than their average pay of $9.67 an hour, or just over $20,000 a year.

As always the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, while the Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, is wrong. Click through for in depth coverage of this subject.

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Open Thread–8/5/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Aug 052014

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 106. It’s been a busy day. I cleaned up a three day mess. It was huge, I got a haircut. It was hot, but the barber shop is only three blocks away, I had a big bowl of Gehenna chili. You know, when someone in the surrounding area lights a match, the fireball can be quite dramatic. And, of course, I researched.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:10 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: I’ll keep the commentary low, because the event speaks for itself. So much for the religious tradition the Republican party prides itself on and uses as the basis to deny so many rights. A recent bill introduced in the house suggests a resolution honoring the Pope "for his inspirational statements and actions" as well as his goals to ameliorate inequality and promote solidarity.

What do the Republicans think about this? According to reports from The Hill, it looks like they aren’t too happy.

Only 19 of the 221 co-sponsors are Republicans. The dearth of GOP members on the measure could be attributable to assertions that the pope is “too liberal,” according to a Republican backer of the legislation.

The source noted that Francis last year denounced “trickle-down economics.”

Some Republicans believe the pope is “sounding like [President] Obama. [The pope] talks about equality — he actually used the term ‘trickle-down economics,’ which is politically charged,” the GOP official said.

There is a simple enough explanation for why the Pope sounds so like Obama to Republicans that they object. Pope Francis and Obama are both Christians. Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians are NOT Christians.

From NY Times: The nation’s largest environmental group is earning money from an oil well on land it controls in Texas, despite pledging a decade ago not to permit new oil and gas drilling on land supposedly set aside for conservation.

That revelation is contained in a forthcoming book about climate change by the writer and activist Naomi Klein, and the essential facts of the case were confirmed last week by the Nature Conservancy, the environmental group in question.

The Nature Conservancy — which says it helps protect about 20 million acres in the United States — argues that it has had no choice in the case of the well. Under the terms of a lease it signed years ago with an oil and gas company and later came to regret, the group says it had to permit the drilling of the well in 2007.

But the lease contains termination clauses, and Ms. Klein argues in the book that the Nature Conservancy could most likely have stopped the 2007 drilling. The group has earned millions of dollars over the years from gas and oil production on the property, though the 2007 well was not especially lucrative.

Unless there is more about this issue that I do not know, I would suggest that there are better environmental groups to support than they are.

From TPM: An Evanston, Ill. man fatally shot himself Sunday night while showing off a shotgun he thought wasn’t loaded to a group of friends, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Police were called to an Evanston home for an accidental shooting. They found Eric Zyzanski on the floor with a shotgun wound to the head, lying next to the shotgun.

He was taken to the hospital and died about two hours later, according to police.

According to witnesses, Zyzanski was in his apartment with friends, where he took out a shotgun and "began showing it off."

His friends told him to put the gun away, so he proceeded to take two or three rounds out of the gun, according to police. He then pointed the gun at his cheek, said the gun was empty and pulled the trigger, witnesses said.

Bye Bye Gunny Boo Boo!! Any needless loss of life is tragic and regrettable, but at least that Republican Ammosexual won’t be voting in November.

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Open Thread–8/4/2014

Posted by TomCat at 2:34 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 042014

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 105. I got a very late start on the day. As I was cooking up a batch of my infamous chili, I broke my only can opener. I has to dress and go out, because tomato sauce is a key ingredient. Of course the corner store was closed, so I walked to another almost a half mile away. I made it back and finishes cooking. Although I am very tired, I have the power to produce a green cloud that sets off smoke detectors in my wake. Angel

Late/Early Update: I overslept big time.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:23 (average 4:59). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: Neil deGrasse Tyson is more than just an excellent tour guide through the cosmos — he’s a true voice for our endangered space program. In this piece, he reminds us how our passion for space missions began and makes a compelling case that we must not abandon our quests and dreams.

Let us renew our commitment to lead the world in space exploration and let us resolve to reach to the heavens once again so that our species may one day truly go where no one has gone before.

I fully agree with George Takei’s introduction and Neil deGrasse’s presentation. We need to invest in the future, not the 1%’s Republican greed.

From Daily Kos: Since Rep. Steve King says that Central American families have been lured by U.S. policies to "give their daughters birth control pills and send them down a rape path all the way through Mexico, and it’s a death path on the death train" to get to the United States, a more observant person than Steve King might wonder what is going on in some parts of Central America that would cause anyone to contemplate taking the "death train" that Steve King warns about.

According to fellow Congressional Three Stooges member Louie Gohmert, the answer is nothing. Those children aren’t fleeing from anything, they’re all are just filthy liars.

“Texas and the United States is [sic] being invaded and we’re in danger,” Gohmert said, before alleging that most of the unaccompanied minors are lying when they tell border patrol agents that they are escaping gang violence in Central America and have been coached to make such claims. Gohmert said minors end up telling officers that “we were told to say that we were fleeing gang violence.”

The author calls Go-Go Goosestep the dumbest Congressman in America. There is too much competition for that title for certainty, but Loony Louie is certainly in the running.

From TPM: Rep. Steve King (R-IA) refused to utter the word "impeachment" on Sunday, but warned that if President Obama used executive action to defer more deportations of undocumented immigrants, it might be the only option left for Congress.

"None of us want to do the thing that’s left for us as an alternative," King said on "Fox News Sunday" when host Chris Wallace asked if Obama delayed more deportations could lead to impeachment.

"I think Congress has to sit down, have a serious look at the rest of this constitution, and that includes that ‘i’ word that we don’t want to say," King continued, explaining that executive actions would trigger impeachment talk. "And I only say that now on this program because I want to encourage the president, ‘Please don’t put don’t put America into a constitutional crisis.’"

When Wallace pressed King on whether impeachment was "on the table," King echoed his concerns on immigration.

At the same time they Republicans claim that Democrats’ concern about impeachment is an Obama conspiracy.

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Open Thread–8/3/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 032014

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 104. After sleeping late, I’ve spent the entire day so far collecting the data tor the Monthly Report, and will spend most of the rest of it preparing the report itself. The downside is that I made a mess yesterday and today. Tomorrow I’ll need to clean up after myself.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:59 (average 5:22). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Republicans who were angered to learn on Wednesday that the former I.R.S. official Lois Lerner had referred to them as “crazies” and “assholes” responded later in the day by voting to sue the President of the United States.

“Calling us crazy assholes is insulting, derogatory, and beneath contempt,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters. “And now if you’ll excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I have to go sue Obama.”

Determined to burnish their reputation as extremely sane people who are not assholes at all, House Republicans in their lawsuit accuse the President of “coldly and arrogantly seizing power granted to him by the United States Constitution.”…

With respect to Andy, I am also angry at Lois Lerner. There is no justification for her to refer to Republicans in terms so much kinder and more generous than they deserve.

From Daily Kos: Ain’t freedom grand? And what says freedom better than being free from government mandates like the guarantee that you can’t be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition?

As we all know, the South has forever been a place where people value freedom and liberty for everyone.

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Aren’t those people lucky to be covered by the RepubliCare Death Benefit? They get to die for free, if they can’t pay.

From NY Times: \House and Senate lawmakers scrambled to leave town on Friday night for a five-week recess, with a failure to address the refugee crisis at the southern border only the latest indignity in a year that may redefine congressional dysfunction.

The 113th Congress this week took another step toward ignominy as one of the least productive, most divided in history. Vocal Republicans were empowered, virtually dictating terms of two House border security bills even after party leaders had spent much of the year trying to marginalize them.

The results were bills with no chance of becoming law, and ones diametrically opposed to the direction party elders had advised Republicans to go after their losses in 2012.

That’s nothing unexpected. The Republicans have sown the wind. May God grant a November whirlwind, but in case she doesn’t, get out the vote!

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Personal Update–8/2/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 022014

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 103. At physical therapy, Lady Torquemada was her usual loving self. Scheeesch!! If I were black, and if this wasn’t helping, I’d think she was a Republican. By the time I got home, both the temperature and the humidity were in the high 80s. At that point I was useless for all but one thing, (see below)

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:07: (average 4:51). To do it. click here. How did you do?

Open Thread–8/1/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:08 am Blog News, Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Aug 012014

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 102. It will be a difficult day, because I have physical therapy during a heat wave. It is also the day I normally spend hours collecting the data for and compiling the Monthly Report for Politics Plus to post on the second. Because of the timing, the Monthly Report will be a day or two late, and I may have nothing at all to post on Saturday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:54 (average 4:32). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: As much as people love sex, you’d think we’d know better! If we just got rid of myths like these, we’d feel a lot better about our bodies, our relationships, and our sex lives.

If you show this to Republicans, that are likely to become apoplectic. So many uninterrupted facts, without intervening lies is more than they can handle. Now, if only I could remember what sex is.

From Daily Kos: If you haven’t seen this before, this really sums up what Republicans think of the Americans who work for a living.

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No Congress in US history has ever done so little.’

From TPM: Conservative rocker Ted Nugent published a lengthy and rambling rant hitting back at his critics on Wednesday, writing that the reason he’s been described as a racist is because he’s "doing God’s work."

Nugent’s comments came in a column posted [World Nut Daily delinked] on the conspiracy theory website WND, in which he reacted to the news that one of his concerts in Idaho had been canceled because of his incendiary rhetoric.

"For the lying freaks over at the Huffington Post, Moveon.org and the scammers at the Southern Poverty Law Center to go to such extremes to constantly lie about me is proof positive that I am not only on the right track doing God’s work spotlighting the current infestation of cockroaches amongst us, but that they are clearly scared to death of me and virtually incapable of debating me one on one," Nugent wrote.

Nugent was reported to have used the term "unclean vermin" when discussing the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s decision to cancel a casino concert he was supposed to perform. The tribe canceled the concert after being contacted by the Southern Poverty Law Center and made aware of some of his past remarks, including some in which he called President Obama a "subhuman mongrel" and a "chimpanzee."

From his perspective, spewing racial hatred is doing God’s work, because his God is Republican Supply-side Jesus, the exact opposite of the real Jesus.

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