Politics Plus

I have just enough time to get this up before leaving for medical appointments (routine, no worries).  I am not current with replies.  Tomorrow I hope to get a debate report up before leaving for our CoDA group in the prison.  See the cartoon for Lord Willard’s secret advantage.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:08 (average 4:49).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Elizabeth Warren’s Most Eloquent Debate Moment Against Scott Brown

Brilliant! The same (except for some good votes) could be applied to every Republican Senator that has not been forced out by the extremists.

From NY Times: The U.S. economy finally seems to be recovering in earnest, with housing on the rebound and job creation outpacing growth in the working-age population. But the news is good, not great — it will still take years to restore full employment — and it has been a very long time coming. Why has the slump been so protracted?

The answer — backed by overwhelming evidence — is that this is what normally happens after a severe financial crisis. But Mitt Romney’s economic team rejects that evidence. And this denialism bodes ill for policy if Mr. Romney wins next month.

About the evidence: The most famous study is by Harvard’s Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, who looked at past financial crises and found that such crises are typically followed by years of high unemployment and weak growth. Later work by economists at the International Monetary Fund and elsewhere confirmed this analysis: crises that followed a sharp run-up in private-sector debt, from the U.S. Panic of 1893 to the Swedish banking crisis of the early 1990s, cast long shadows over the economy’s future. There was no reason to believe that this time would be different.

I personally projected, before the onset of the Republican recession in the fall of 2008, that the damage done to the US economy by Crawford Caligula and the Republican Party would take fifty years to fully mend. I strongly urge you to click through and rest the rest of this fine editorial by Paul Krugman, who should replace either Timmy the Tool or Ben the Bankster.

From NY Magazine: After Brian Antal, the president of an Ohio soup kitchen where Paul Ryan pretended to wash dishes recently, called out Ryan for the photo op, he was bombarded with hundreds of angry phone calls. Even worse, he tells the Huffington Post that his soup kitchen is now losing conservative donors. That’ll show him those hungry homeless people!

It would not surprise me at all, if the man who despicably use their suffering for political advantage, Paul Lyin’ Ryan, is also behind this shameful Republican attack on homeless people.

Cartoon:

I guess I needed to take yesterday off, because I slept almost all day and all night.  I’m back on track today.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, but my Broncos are celebrating LGBT equality instead.  This is their bi week. 😉

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:06 (average 5:31).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Real Complainers Vote

The duty to vote and the need to oppose Lord Willard are equally obvious.

From Minnesota Public Radio: Unemployment rates fell last month in nearly all of the battleground states that will determine the presidential winner, giving President Barack Obama fresh fodder to argue that voters should stick with him in an election focused squarely on the economy.

Every little bit of good news helps.

From Reuters: A federal judge blocked Arizona on Friday from applying a new law that bars Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving money through the state to provide medical care because the women’s health organization also performs abortions.

District Court Judge Neil Wake issued a temporary injunction after Planned Parenthood sued over the law, which would have cut off Medicaid funding for family planning and health services delivered by organizations offering abortions. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides health care coverage for low-income people.

The law, signed by Governor Jan Brewer in May, is part of a national campaign against Planned Parenthood orchestrated by conservative Republican lawmakers who oppose abortion.

Woooo Hoooo!  It’s a great day for women in the Totalitarian Racist Misogynocracy  of Brewerstan, and I bet that the Death Angel, Jan Brewer, is having a hissy fit!

Cartoon:

This may have been the beginning of standard practice for today’s Republican Party.

I’m running behind because defrosting my freezer is a bigger distraction than I remembered.  My fridge sits on carpet and is across the room from the sink, so I have to empty the catch tray under the freezer every five or ten minutes to avoid an overflow onto the carpet, and change the bowls of hot water in the freezer to accelerate the ice melting every fifteen.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow appears routine, except for online grocery shopping to fill the empty fridge.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:56 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: WHOA: Tagg Romney Caught On Tape Saying He Wanted To Take A Swing At The President

If Lord Willard did not want Obama contradicting his statements as untrue, he should told the truth. He called Obama a liar and was busted! As for Tagg, his preference is to respond to an intellectual challenge with physical violence. Obviously the apple did not tall far from the tree.

From USA Today: A Bangladeshi national, allegedly inspired by fallen al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was arrested Wednesday by federal authorities who accused him of a plot to bomb the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was taken into custody after allegedly assembling and attempting to detonate what he believed to be a 1,000-pound bomb whose components — unknown to him — had been provided by undercover federal agents.

Thank goodness a Democrat is in the White House!  I have to wonder if he was working for Al Qaeda or Ron Paul! 😉

From TPM: Romney adviser Ed Gillespie told the Huffington Post after the debate that Romney opposed the passage of the bill, but would not repeal it.

A day later, he said something completely different to TPM.

“I was wrong when I said last night Governor Romney opposed the Lily Ledbetter act,” Gillespie said in a statement. “He never weighed in on it. As President, he would not seek to repeal it.”

What a load of malarkey! I saw Romney voice opposition to the Lilly Ledbetter Act in one of the early Republican debates.

Cartoon:

I’m rushing to go out and help a friend.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow appears routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:  Today’s took me 4:47 (average 5:48).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy: They came back from 0-24 at halftime and did it on the road.  Woooo Hoooo!

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the latest from our league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

TomCat Teabag Trashers	Progressive Underdogs
111.36	109.58
Playing without a helmet	Texans Will Rise Again
134.52	78.50
hugos renegades	MittsMagicJock
91.70	87.96

I squeaked that out at the last minute!

Standings:

						Points
Rank	Team Name	W-L-T	Pct	Streak	Waiver	For	Against
1 (1)	hugos renegades	5-1-0	.833	W2	6	724.10	606.80
2 (2)	TomCat Teabag Trashers	5-1-0	.833	W3	5	658.40	608.58
3 (3)	Playing without a helmet	4-2-0	.667	W1	4	630.18	615.52
4 (4)	Texans Will Rise Again	2-4-0	.333	L2	3	567.60	722.90
5 (5)	Progressive Underdogs	1-5-0	.167	L1	2	560.62	586.84
6 (6)	MittsMagicJock	1-5-0	.167	L4	1	575.04	575.30

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Here’s Dear Abby’s Advice To A Homophobe

That’s advice for the entire Republican base.

From Reuters: The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider whether Arizona can demand that voters show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

The high court will not hear the case before the November 6 U.S. election, ensuring that the disputed registration requirement in Arizona will not be in effect.

That great news for the short term.

From YouTube (Hat-Tip Sheryl aka Dandelion): A Nightmare on Wall Street…

I really do wonder how those SOBs like Willard sleep at night.

Cartoon: