Politics Plus

Writing for tomorrow, day 63, I did get some sleep on my day of rest, despite the temperature at my desk reaching 99°.  It is cooler outside today, but it’s still 88° inside.  Tomorrow will be hot again.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:51 (average 6:03).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Despite polls that show broad public support for allowing same-sex couples to marry, New Jersey, to its great shame, has refused to follow the example set by other states in the Northeast — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont — in granting marriage equality.

A civil rights suit to be heard on Thursday in a New Jersey state court could finally change that. Brought on behalf of six couples and Garden State Equality, New Jersey’s largest gay rights group, the case squarely addresses an urgent legal question for New Jersey that grows out of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in June that ended the unjust denial of federal marriage benefits for married same-sex couples under the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

I used to believe that marriage was more of a religious thing, and that civil unions for gay couples was a workable compromise, but I was wrong. As far as I know, in no state, not even Oregon, do civil unions confer all the rights and privileges enjoyed by married couples. Therefore this is not something states have the right to decide. It’s a basic human right.

From MSNBC: Alarming failures plague the US Nuclear arsenal

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Since January 1997, except for one 19 months period, the Secretary of Defense has been a Republican. The Democrat, Leon Panera, did not dismantle the Pentagon bureaucracy set in place by Republican administrations, especially that of GW ChickenHawk. However, the only time Minot passed was under Panetta. Rachel’s point is well taken, but as long as we have even one nuke, it needs to be managed by a higher standard of supervision than that of the party that brought us 9/11.

From Alternet: Remember all those deficit hawks who screamed that the federal deficit is spiraling out of control and must be stopped with spending cuts that have a funny way of hurting the pocketbooks of the most vulnerable Americans? Their excuse for ripping us off has been literally disappearing, but a new Google survey shows that not only do the vast majority Americans not know it — half of the public actually believes that the deficit is growing.

Here are the facts: The U.S. budget deficit has been shrinking at a rapid rate over the last few months. The deficit peaked at 10.2 percent of GDP in 2009, but over the past four quarters, it has shrunk to a mere 4.2 percent of GDP. What’s more, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that the deficit will fall to 2.1 percent of GDP in 2015.

Why such a disconnect? Unfortunately, disgraceful propaganda has left the public misinformed and confused.

Do I have to tell you the source of that disgraceful propaganda?

Cartoon:

Writing for tomorrow, day 61, I’m motoring to get ready to leave for my prison volunteer work.  Pardon my brevity.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:08 (average 5:03).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Mrs. Clinton, in remarks delivered at the American Bar Association conference here, condemned the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, which has paved the way for states to pass laws that would require voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls…

She urged them to fight voter identification laws in their communities, but she also pleaded with the members of a “gridlocked Congress” to quickly enact legislation that would make it easier to vote.

“Our government cannot fully represent the people unless it has been fairly elected by them,” Mrs. Clinton said.

Although she has largely avoided politics since leaving the State Department in February — devoting her time to delivering paid speeches to trade groups and finishing a memoir about her time as the country’s top diplomat — she said Monday that voting rights would be the first of several major issues, including transparency in government and the global impact of the United States’ foreign policy, that she plans to address in the coming weeks.

I fully agree with her. However, in fairness, I must say she has a vested interest here. Her election may well depend on a fair vote, and this does look like the beginning of her Campaign 2016.

From MSNBC: Rachel Maddow about that Republican fringe

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Oregon Republicans lead the way too, but in their case, it’s the wrong way. That hateful Art Robinson blew millions of billionaire bucks trying to unseat Peter DeFazio (D-OR), one of Congress’ most progressive voices. The thing to note about the Republican fringe is that they are the same as the Republican mainstream.

From Right Wing Watch: Rick Santorum says the term “middle class” is “Marxism talk” since America doesn’t have any classes.

Saying America has no classes, which, by the way, Republicans are striving to set in stone, is like saying there is no climate change. Rick "Google Me" Santorum has earned his name again.

Cartoon:

Writing for tomorrow, day 59, it is now 86° at my desk and may actually get cooler as the day progresses.  Then the heat is forecast to return for the week. 

Update:  Sunday is a minor holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  It is worship that dies not count because it is for the testing of acolytes’ and veterans’ skill.  It has zero effect on our fantasy league, which begins next month.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:41 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: In Wisconsin, the Department of Administration has now released a statement that observers of the Solidarity Sing Along will no longer be arrested or threatened with arrest. Videos of tourists being threatened with arrest, and complaints from legislators who were threatened with arrest for merely observing the Sing Along, have proven an embarrassment to Walker.

Prior to today, not only were non-participants at the Capitol warned of possible arrest, but in some cases they were actually arrested.

Any time anyone, especially labor, backs down Scott Walker, the Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan, they get kudos from me!

From MSNBC: Ed’s Trenders

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I wonder is Injustices SS Scalia and Teabag Thomas attended the Koch Sucking festival AGAIN. Of course Lyin’ Ryan will stand with the Koch Brothers.  They have owned him for a long time.

From Alternet: The Right-wing crazies may have truly outdone themselves this week. With Congress taking its summer break, Tea Partiers and other kooks were suddenly uncorked (that word will come up again in another context, so look for it), taking to the airwaves, appealing to their bases, and saying some of the nuttiest things we have ever heard. With straight faces! Things like, “tanning beds are racist," "Wendy Davis is an ‘Abortion Barbie,’" "climate change is a religion" — you cannot make this stuff up. And if you did, no one would believe you.

1. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL): Obama’s tax on tanning beds is racist

The InsaniTEA never ends. Perhaps it’s an Agent Orange Tax. ;-)  Click through for the rest of this and the other five insane statements from Republicans last week.

Cartoon:

Writing for tomorrow, day 57, it’s 86° at my desk and, if it stays cloudy, it may be no worse.  Tomorrow and Sunday there is a 30% chance for rain.  Oh Lord!  Pleeeeeeeeease!!!!  On a negative note, I just fell through the Donut Hole. 🙁

Jig Zone Puzzle:

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

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: While I share Prince’s frustration with the media, as a liberal, I’d like to go on record and state that the media isn’t focusing on issues I care about. They seem to be far more focused on entertainment and making money.

Don’t believe me?

If you know anyone who still believes in a "liberal media," here’s 15 things everyone would know if there really were a "liberal media"

Click through for a gut wrenching list list that will leave no doubt in your mind,

From Alternet: Laughable: Rumor of Tea Party Boycott of Ebony Magazine Spreads After Trayvon Martin Cover

Dang! How can Ebony Magazine survive if they lose the Hood and Sheet contingent of their supporters?!!? 😉

From CREDO: The Texas Taliban — also known as the right-wing majority on the Texas State Board of Education — wants to revise the state’s standards for science textbooks to require the addition of religious pseudoscience when teaching subjects like biology. And this isn’t just bad news for Texas schoolchildren, because the Texas standards will impact the textbooks used by millions of students nationwide.

The Texas State Board of Education recently invited a small group of people to review the biology textbooks that will be used for the next eight years, starting in 2014. But more than half of the reviewers are right-wing religious ideologues,1 some of whom are even skeptics of Darwin’s theory of evolution — considered one of the most reliably established facts in science, and a central tenet of biology.2

The ultimate goal of these sham textbook reviews — and Texas Board of Education curriculum reform — is to enshrine right-wing ideology into Texas textbooks. What’s worse, because of the scale of production of these textbooks, the dictates of the Texas State Board of Education will be included in textbooks used by millions of students in other states.

We can’t let them get away with replacing long-accepted scientific principles with religious pseudoscience and propaganda.3

Tell textbook publishers to stand up to the Texas Taliban and only publish books that are based on sound, peer-reviewed science scholarship. Click here to sign the petition automatically.

Please click through and sign, or risk today’s cartoon!

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