Politics Plus

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 100.  I’m feeling better, and have recovered from the evil task.  Temperatures here have been high for the last few days, and the laundry room has no A/C, so I imagine that contributed.  In addition to that, the arthritis in my hands was so severe that I could barely type.  I guess the next obstacle is physical therapy on Friday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:00 (average 4:39).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football:

The information I gave you a couple days ago is incorrect.  We have two openings in our fantasy football league, not one.  We can play with either eight or ten players, so we don’t have to fill them, but more is more fun for all, so please let me know if you’d like to play.

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: In April 2009, after a court ruling, gay marriage became legal in the state of Iowa. On Jan. 11, 2011, a young man named Zach Wahls went before the Iowa Legislature to speak on behalf of his two moms after the legislature took up a bill to ban gay marriage. Over 18 million people watched and shared it. At 2:50, he nails what family really means.

Wahls is stunning, but you can tell who the Republicans in the background are by watching the hate on their faces.

From The New Yorker: Sarah Palin’s online video service starring herself had a hugely successful launch on Monday, as millions of Americans paid $9.95 for the rare opportunity of hearing the former Alaska Governor speak.

The Web site for The Sarah Palin Channel reportedly crashed several times during the day, as it was overwhelmed by subscribers seeking a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of the reclusive Palin sharing her opinions.

At the corporate headquarters of the Palin Channel, the marketing director Tracy Klugian attributed the site’s mammoth success to “the simple law of supply and demand.”

I’m not sure what Andy has been smoking, but it’s clearly premium grade.

From NY Times: House and Senate negotiators announced an agreement Monday on legislation that would allocate about $17 billion to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs’ sprawling and beleaguered health care system. But the deal does not give the department everything that officials there have said is needed to fix its problems.

The agreement set off a frantic rush on Capitol Hill to gather signatures from members of the conference committee working on the bill so that it could be put to a vote of the full House and Senate before lawmakers adjourn for an August recess on Friday.

If approved, the legislation would end a sometimes rancorous standoff over how much to spend to begin to fix the department, and it would help ensure that veterans who face long waits to see doctors at the department’s facilities could get appointments more quickly with private physicians. A few details were still being worked out even after the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees announced the agreement Monday at an afternoon news conference.

Click through for more details. Sadly, this appears little more than an attempt to treat cancer with a Band-Aid. On the other hand, getting anything at all for vets from Republicans is a minor miracle.

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I’m writing for tomorrow, day 98.  I had planned to get up early this morning to do the evil task, but I must be more tired that I thought.  I found myself completely unable to move my butt, so I sat on it instead.  The evil task still awaits.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:07 (average 5:00).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The apparent collapse of the veteran’s aid in conference committee seems to underline just how uninterested the House continues to be in actually governing. We’ve got Rep. Jeff Miller managing reconciliation from the House side, and he’s let his Senate counterpart, Sen. Bernie Sanders, know that the House will be dictating the reconciliation terms.

The most peeved, however, was Sanders. He hastily organized a press conference with fellow Senate Democrats in which he rapped Miller for demanding a vote on a proposal that, according to an aide, did not adhere to the outlines of earlier discussions.

“You cannot talk about negotiating, you cannot talk about a conference committee, when somebody is asking you to join you … for a formal vote on ‘this’ proposal,” said Sanders.

Well no, having an unofficial "conference committee" meeting consisting entirely of House members and then telling the Senate that their new plan is what you’ll be having a vote on is not quite how the process usually goes, but it certainly underscores the House’s insistence that it’s either their way or the (badly underfunded) highway.

Did anyone expect anything more than sabotage of our Vets from the Republican Reich? Click through for more.

From AlterNet: Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist who hosts the hit show "Cosmos," was a guest on Bill Maher’s "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO Friday night, and Tyson received standing ovation. Rare for a scientist, Maher joked.

Thinking by voters is forbidden in GOPerville.

From Crooks and Liars: The yappers over at Faux "news" are very upset that the Democrats have teachers knocking on doors for the midterm elections because they might not be able to paint them as the stereotypical union thug as they’re used to getting away with week after week on their network. How terrible it is that people might look at them as actual human beings and not someone to kick to the curb and actually listen to what they have to say.

Bulls & Bears host Brenda Butter started things off with regular John Layfield, who went right after the teachers for heaven forbid, exercising their right to participate in politics, pretended that this is somehow going to take away from them having time to do their jobs, and he laid all of the problems with our educational system on the backs of the teachers’ unions.

Barf Bag Alert!

I’ll leave it to the teachers among you to explain just how full of crap this propaganda for the Republican Reichsministry of propaganda is.

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Avril’s Dream 🙂

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 96, and this is the only article.  Last night was election night for the group of prisoners I help.  I was pleased with their choices.  I could not help thinking that I wish Republican candidates had 10% of the integrity of those convicts.  After that I worked one on one with a few new guys.  I was happy that one in particular responded to questions by realizing how he could have intervened with better choices that would have prevented the entire situation, in which he felt he had no choice except to act.  One of the most valuable lessons learned is that today’s seemingly unimportant decisions constrain tomorrow’s available choices.  Today, I’m quite pooped.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:49 (average 5:15).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: If — like me — you’re a sucker for the very small human stories behind huge historical events, you’ll want to hear this from Lt. Dan Choi, who chained himself to the White House fence in 2010 and helped bring down "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" less than a year later. Make sure you check out 2:18 for his amazing love story, 6:30 for what happened when he came out to his parents, and 10:40 for the heartwarming, totally unexpected email he received from an Iraqi doctor. But really, you’ll want to watch the whole thing.

One need not be gay to be inspired by the honor, courage and commitment displayed by Dan Choi.

From The New Yorker: In his boldest move yet to address the immigration crisis, on Thursday Texas Governor Rick Perry dispatched the Dallas Cowboys to the United States’ border with Mexico.

In a photo opportunity with the Cowboys and several of the team’s cheerleaders, Perry explained the rationale behind his latest decision. “Those who would cross our borders illegally will have to contend with the power and fury of America’s Team,” he said.

As Andy goes on to explain, the Cowboys’ defense doesn’t stop anything, but there may be another way. If he has the cheerleaders invade Mexico, the men will want to stay there.

From Daily Kos: It is good to know that some in government are indeed still worried about privacy… too bad its not ours. And as people think it is a wise idea to send armed troops to ‘protect’ the Texas border we should probably be concerned that something like this happens on the U.S. Canada Border:

A central Iowa Boy Scout troop just returned from a three-week trip they will likely never forget.

Boy Scout Troop 111 Leader Jim Fox spelled out what happened to him and the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111 as four van-loads of Scouts and adult volunteers tried to drive from Canada into Alaska.

Fox said one of the Scouts took a picture of a border official, which spurred agents to detain everyone in that van and search them and their belongings.

“The agent immediately confiscated his camera, informed him he would be arrested, fined possibly $10,000 and 10 years in prison,” Fox said.

Dang!! I thought Bloody Barbie had resigned! Click through to see how these Republicans threatened children with guns.

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Joanne asked for this.

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 94.  Yesterdays CoDA meeting in prison went very well.  I cleaned house this morning and an now waiting fore Store to Door to driver groceries.  Then I’m going to rest, because I have another volunteer day in prison tomorrow.  This is the general meeting with around 100 of my guys.  So this is tomorrow’s only article.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:53 (average 4:29).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The BBC reports:

Iran has turned all of its enriched uranium closest to the level needed to make nuclear arms into more harmless forms, the UN nuclear agency says.

The conversion of its stock of 20%-enriched uranium was part of a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.

The US said last week it would unblock $2.8bn in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran’s compliance.

A four-month extension to talks on Iran’s nuclear ambitions was agreed on Friday between Iran and world powers.

This is a big deal.  A major foreign policy success.  Iran is ending its nuclear program.  All without a shot being fired.

The author goes on to say that because we didn’t bomb anyone, the media didn’t considerate it worth reporting. Is that sick or what?

From The New Yorker: An aide to Rick Perry is confident that the Texas Governor proved he “has what it takes to be President” with his decision on Monday to send troops somewhere for no reason.

By deploying a thousand National Guardsmen to the U.S.-Mexico border, Perry has shown that as President he would be “ready and willing” to use troops without a defined objective, mission, or exit strategy, the aide confirmed.

“Sending troops someplace with no clear idea of why they are going or what they are supposed to be doing once they get there is a key part of the Presidential skill set,” said the aide, Harland Dorrinson. “Rick Perry has just shown that he’s got that nailed down.”

Did Andy hide some satire in there?

From Huffington Post: An Arizona inmate gasped and snorted in an execution that lasted nearly two hours on Tuesday.

Lawyers for Joseph Wood had filed an emergency motion to abort the execution because their client was still alive more than an hour after receiving a lethal injection that was intended to kill him quickly and peacefully.

Their motion, filed in federal district court, failed to save Wood. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced that the 55-year-old convicted killer was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m.

Court papers said the execution started 117 minutes earlier.

"He has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour," Wood’s lawyers wrote in their hurried attempt to call off the execution and force Arizona to provide Wood with life-saving care. "He is still alive."

A journalist from the Arizona Republic who witnessed the execution said Wood gasped for air 660 times after the drugs were introduced through intravenous tubes.

If strapping down a human being and torturing him for two hours is not cruel and unusual punishment, what is?

No doubt the Arizona Death Angel, Jan Brewer, is partying tonight.

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