Politics Plus

I’m writing for tomorrow, and I still feel horrible.  Tomorrow my Broncos will be worshiping, and I shall be meditating.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:50 (average 5:29).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: There is nothing good to say about the December employment report, which showed that only 74,000 jobs were added last month. But dismal as it was, the report came at an opportune political moment. The new numbers rebut the Republican arguments that jobless benefits need not be renewed, and that the current minimum wage is adequate. At the same time, they underscore the need, only recently raised to the top of the political agenda, to combat poverty and inequality.

The report showed that average monthly job growth in 2013 was 182,000, basically unchanged from 2012. Even the decline in the jobless rate last month, from 7 percent in November to 6.7 percent, was a sign of weakness: It mainly reflects a shrinking labor force — not new hiring — as the share of workers employed or looking for work fell to the lowest level since 1978. That’s a tragic waste of human capital. It would be comforting to ascribe the dwindling labor force mainly to retirements or other long-term changes, but most of the decline is due to weak job opportunities and weak labor demand since the Great Recession.

One result is that the share of jobless workers who have been unemployed for six months or longer has remained stubbornly high. In December, it was nearly 38 percent, still higher by far than at any time before the Great Recession, in records going back to 1948.

This is the fruit of Republican sabotage, preventing the passage of needed jobs programs. The private sector did improve, but the Republican-forced loss of public sector jobs, continues to hurt the economy. The Republican plan is still to destroy the economy and project the blame they have earned onto Democrats.

From Alternet: The White House is poised to sign a year-long contract with global consulting firm Accenture, worth roughly $90 million, to maintain the government’s trouble-plagued health insurance website, a report said.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, said the administration of US President Barack Obama has decided to part ways with CGI Federal, the main contractor that built HealthCare.gov and worked to solve the litany of problems since its October 1 rollout.

The Post said the contract with Accenture could be signed early next week. It also said the government believed CGI had not repaired the problems with the website as well as it could have.

While I can’t say anything about Accenture, one way or the other, firing CGI is way past due!

From Crooks and Liars: The hosts and guests of MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday offered their usual spin on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s marathon press conference regarding the apparently vindictive lane closures on the George Washington Bridge which emails have revealed were aimed at causing headaches for the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee. Host Joe Scarborough said it was hypocritical to attack Christie for fostering a "culture" that permitted this behavior from his subordinates and not attack President Barack Obama for the same thing.

I often hear Republicans claim that MSNBC is biased to the left, but it is not. While MSNBC has some excellent progressive commentators like Ed, Chris, Rachel and Lawrence, they also have three solid hours of dishonest Republican propaganda like this every morning. Note how they elevated the IRS Scandal, long since proven false, to a higher level of culpability than Bridgeghazi.

Cartoon:

Fortunately for Julius, Chris Christie had no bridge there.

I’m writing for tomorrow.  I feel like crap.  Here’s something unusual.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:42 (average 4:47).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube: The Republicans’ Poverty Agenda: To Make More People Poor

Republicans love poverty almost as much as they hate Obama.

From YouTube: Oops? Tax Increases & the Economy SOARED!

As long as most media parrot Republican lies, without documenting the proof they are lies, far too many voters are deceived.

From YouTube: Senate Democrats Push For Help To Unemployed

The war on poverty was an overwhelming success, decreasing poverty 43%, until Republicans defunded the programs and made increasing poverty a key part of their national agenda. You won’t find a better explanation of this issue than this video. Kudos to Jeff Merkley. Oregon leads the way.

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I’m writing for tomorrow and feeling more rested after my partial day off yesterday  Today I’m back to the grind of finishing with the apartment.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:52 (average 5:16).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: One of the first votes the Senate plans to take when it returns Monday is on restoring unemployment benefits to 1.3 million people who lost them on Dec. 28. It’s hard to imagine a more important action for those who have been out of work the longest and for the economy.

And what’s at the top of the House’s agenda? Yet another vote to undermine the health care reform law. (In this case, a bill to impose unnecessary security requirements on the health care website, though there is not the slightest indication of security problems.)

Nothing could show the priorities of the two chambers — and the slog that lies ahead this year — better than these votes. At one end of the Capitol, lawmakers are actually trying to help people in deep financial distress, continuing a vital Washington practice. The other end is holding a meaningless symbolic vote, designed solely to embarrass the Obama administration and continue its politically motivated attacks on the health law.

Somehow, I’m not surprised. However, Republican Senators are talking about the need to pay for it with entitlement cuts. Pay for it with 1% revenue increases.

From TPM: Nebraska Senate candidate Ben Sasse has a proposal: move the Capitol from Washington D.C. to Nebraska.

"That’s it, the way to cure the incredible ineffectiveness and dysfunction of both parties in Washington — we move the Capitol to Nebraska where they can experience family, conservative values, living within a budget, and pulling together, not pulling apart," Sasse said in a new campaign ad.

Sasse needs to learn the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not commit TEAbuggery!!

From Raw Story: Alien species have been visiting earth for thousands of years, says Canada’s former defense minister, and they’re worried that humans are going to wreck the planet.

“Something dreadful is going to happen to it if we don’t smarten up and change our ways,” said Paul Hellyer, who served as defense minister in the 1960s.

He’s the first top official from a G8 nation to claim that extraterrestrial life has been confirmed, and he discussed his beliefs Tuesday on Russia Today.

Hellyer said up to 80 different species regularly visit earth, from the “short grays” seen in cartoons and illustrations to species called “Nordic blondes” and “tall whites” who could almost pass as humans.

He claimed the “tall whites” are working with the U.S. Air Force in Nevada, and that two women from that species had dressed as nuns and went to Las Vegas to shop.

They come from all over the galaxy — including from Venus, Mars and Saturn’s moon, Andromedia – and other star systems, Hellyer said.

This Progressive Conservative (what Canada calls their Republicans) gives us a whole new dimension of loony!  I bet he advises both Harper and Cruz!!

Cartoon:

Republican were furious that nobody offered them a BJ! 😉

I’m writing for tomorrow and debating whether or not to start sorting and filing a huge box of paper, now that I have installed frames for hanging folders in my desk drawers.  The smart money is betting on QUACK!  May the divine light of the holy Ellipsoid Orb bless your team.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:59 (average 6:18).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube: ‘But for Race go I’

An excellent piece on racism at the Republican Convention in 2000.

From TPM: It’s already a bad year for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) according to Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergran Grimes (D), who is running against the top Senate Republican.

A spokeswoman noted that in the first three days of 2014, McConnell was passed up for an endorsement by a local GOP county chairman and news broke that the Senate Conservatives Fund spent about $1 million to boost Republican primary challenger Matt Bevin.

Great News! The more money Bought Bitch Mitch has to spend in the primary, the less he will have left for the general. A loss to Grimes would be a coup of epic proportions!

From Think Progress: While almost all working Americans will pay into Social Security through their paychecks throughout the year, the 900 wealthiest people in the country won’t. That’s because the highest-earning 0.0001 percent of the U.S. — many of them corporate CEOs — made $117,000 in the first two days of the year, which is the maximum annual income that is subject to Social Security taxes under federal law.

It’s tough to say for certain who will be a part of this group in 2014, since the most recent available data on Americans’ earnings is from 2012. In that year, 894 individuals nationwide made enough to qualify for membership in this club, according to the Los Angeles Times. Economist Teresa Ghilarducci came up with the calculation, and points out that Forbes data on top earners enables analysts and the public to see some of the members of this group. There were nearly 70 corporate CEOs who made enough to qualify in 2012, including the top officers at companies like Philip Morris, NewsCorp, Starbucks, ComCast, and Pfizer.

Scrap the cap on income over $1,000,000!!

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