You wouldn’t believe how pooped I was yesterday! Except for preparing the Open Thread and helping half a dozen residents of my building register to vote, I slept through the day. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and the meditation between the Denver congregation and the Oakland congregation will be televised here. Wooo Hooo!!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:22 (average 4:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: Awesome Great-Grandma Gives Romney A Piece Of Her Mind
The freeloaders are people like Lord Willard that stack the deck, so they get tax breaks that allow them to legally evade paying their fair share.
From NY Times: The Department of Homeland Security has stated in writing that foreigners who are same-sex partners of American citizens can be included under an Obama administration policy suspending deportations of some immigrants who pose no security risk.
So it should be.
From Detroit Free Press: The leader of the state Senate said he and fellow Republican colleagues are armed with a proposal to replace the state law that lets emergency managers take over local governments in the event voters strike it down in November.
The behind-the-scenes effort, which doesn’t appear to involve Republican House leaders or GOP Gov. Rick Snyder, aims to keep a form of the contentious law on the books
Is there nothing beneath Republicans when it comes to imposing totalitarian rule?
Cartoon: The worse the outlook for their party, the more desperate they become, so…
Yesterday my volunteer meeting in prison was a mostly social event, as speakers from outside colleges and churches came in to read essays. I love it, when visitors come to a meeting for the first time, because they are always amazed at how my guys are nothing like their expectations. Critter agrees with Critter. I’m so worn out, that I feel like I should bury myself in the deepest corner of my kitty box., so this is today’s only article. I’m current with replies. I expect to be back full time and normal tomorrow.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:46 (average 4:36). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: Why Romney’s ”Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” Would Have Been Exactly The Wrong Move 4 Years Ago
4 years ago, Lord Willard’s policies would have been disastrous. That has not changed, and continuing Obama’s leadership is imperative.
I was ready to go to prison to protest that war, and attacked because of my activism, I left blood on the streets of several US cities. For that, I receive no benefits, but in my protest, I did far more to serve this nation than Lord Willard. Soldiers who put their ass on the line fighting that war and activists who put their ass on the line opposing that war all served. Chickenhawks like GW Bush, Cheney and Lord Willard did not! WE gave. THEY take.
From Buzzfeed and MSNBC: Former President George W. Bush is set to deliver the keynote address at the Cayman Alternative Investment Summit on Grand Cayman just a few days before the election.
The conference will feature Bush as the keynote speaker on the first night, and British billionaire Sir Richard Branson on the second night.
I have a second article for you today, but will have no time to distribute links, before I leave for my volunteer work in prison. Today I will meet with over 100 guys for their annual essay contest. I’m current with replies. After two volunteer days this week, I expect to be useless tomorrow, but after that I have several days without an appointment.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:54 (average 4:36). To do it click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: What if 47% of Americans Made A Sign As Awesome As This One?
Seamus must have been one of the 47% too.
From NY Times: In my next life, I want to be an undecided voter in Ohio.
Honest to gosh, can you imagine the love? If the Ohio Undecided Voter had a Twitter account, it would have 10 million followers. Each campaign would have an entire operation dedicated to watching it.
From The New Yorker: G.O.P. Presidential nominee Mitt Romney finally got some good news today as he found himself ahead of President Obama in a poll of N.F.L. replacement referees.
The survey, which immediately lifted the spirits of the Romney campaign, was taken among replacement refs on the field during N.F.L. games that they were supposed to be officiating last Sunday and Monday.
Yesterday our prison CoDA group discussed the role of a higher power. I felt proud of how seriously my guys took the issue, how they honored each others beliefs, and how not one was over-simplistic in what some call “jailhouse faith”. If just half of America were just half as authentically introspective as my guys, it would be a far better nation . Critter said “Hi” to Critter. I’m exhausted, so this is today’s only article, but I am current with replies. Tomorrow is another prison volunteer day.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:21 (average 4:57). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: Veteran Rejects His Rank on Mitt’s ‘Laundry List’
Our troops and veterans are part of the 47% for whom Lord Willard has no use, except for when they are cannon fodder in a Republican war of conquest.
From NY Times and MSNBC: As Mr. Akin, a six-term congressman, fights for his political life after making controversial comments about rape victims, he is counting on a coalition of home-schoolers as part of a crucial support network for his struggling campaign. Mr. Akin and his wife, Lulli, home-schooled all six of their children, and it was other such families who helped in his political rise.
Frankly I think McCaskill is more right. The left is in what used to be the center, and the Republican right is so far out, that it’s off the map. Akin is just too stupid not to admit what they believe. No wonder Akin draws so much support from people who go out of their way to keep their children as ignorant as they are, and he is.
From Daily Kos: When I saw this I had to share it. It has only received around 300 views so far, and it really needs to go viral. It is a video of a CO teacher describing her experience at a round table with Mitt Romney. According to the teacher, Romney was going on about schools failing and how we need a voucher system. When she said she had an answer for that he told her "I didn’t ask you a question."
Lord Willard claims to care about education. He cares only about shifting the cost of attending private and religious schools from those parents to all of us, at the expense of the public school system.
Yesterday my COPD was severe, and I got little sleep last night. I had hoped to put up another article or two, but I need to try to sleep this morning, before I leave, so I’m not wiped out at my CoDA meeting with prisoners. I’m still not current with replies. Tomorrow I’ll probably be wiped out, but I hope I can catch up on replies then.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:56 (average 4:33). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Report:
Here’s the news about our Fantasy Football League, Lefty Blog Friends.
Scores:
TomCat Teabag Trashers
hugos renegades
92.72
120.10
Playing without a helmet
MittsMagicJock
96.42
95.38
Progressive Underdogs
Texans Will Rise Again
95.62
97.60
Standings:
Rank
Team Name
W-L-T
Pct
Streak
Waiver
For
Against
1 (1)
hugos renegades
3-0-0
1.000
W3
6
330.46
275.24
2 (2)
TomCat Teabag Trashers
2-1-0
.667
L1
5
314.64
310.76
3 (3)
Playing without a helmet
2-1-0
.667
W1
4
308.80
306.76
4 (4)
MittsMagicJock
1-2-0
.333
L1
3
303.52
269.52
5 (5)
Texans Will Rise Again
1-2-0
.333
W1
2
254.58
327.66
6 (6)
Progressive Underdogs
0-3-0
.000
L3
1
280.32
302.38
What can I say? Tony Romo had 5 fantasy points. 🙁
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: How Would You Feel If This Was Your Husband And Mitt Romney Called Him A ‘Freeloader?’
Lord Willard called him a freeloader, because that is what he and most of the rest of the 1% think of all people, who are not rich.
From NY Times: Thirty years ago, when Forbes published its first Forbes 400, a net worth of $75 million would get you on the list. Today it takes $1.1 billion. In the last year alone, the cumulative net worth of the wealthiest 400 people, by Forbes’s calculation, rose by $200 billion. That compares with a 4 percent drop in median household income last year, according to the Census Bureau. One would be hard pressed to find a clearer example of how powerfully income inequality has taken root…
…The fundamental reason the Romneys pay so little in taxes is that the bulk of their income comes from investments and thus is taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent. Although Romney himself isn’t close to being rich enough to join the Forbes 400, his reliance on capital gains is a trait he shares with most of the ultrawealthy. It is the thread that ties together the Forbes 400.
Perhaps, if the Republican Party had not rigged the system to favor them, the super-rich might make money by creating jobs!
“I appreciate the fact that she is on the ground, safe and sound. And I don’t think she knows just how worried some of us were. When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. [emphasis added]
Lord Willard is rich enough to build his own jet that has windows that open. He’d find out how Seamus felt in short order. I’ve got dibs on the video!! 😉
Yesterday I pulled myself away from meditation upon the Ellipsoid Orb to watch the President and Lord Willard on 60 Minutes. I’m sad to report that as soon as Lord Willard started droning on with his standard lies and evasions, the SOB put me right to sleep, so I missed almost all of it. I’m off shortly to an appointment. I’m not current with replies, but I’ll catch up when I can. Tomorrow is a prison volunteer day, but I may have time to do some blogging beforehand. We’ll see.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:56 (4:32 average). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Religious Agony:
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: A Question For Your Best Republican Friend
It’s clear that Republican governance brings ignorance and poverty to all but the rich. Most exceptions are extremely over-endowed with natural resources.
From NY Times: Representative Paul D. Ryan’s selection as the Republican vice-presidential nominee is now yielding something Mitt Romney’s campaign can do without: second-guessing about how Mr. Ryan is being put to use.
Through the halls of Congress and well beyond, a whisper campaign is bursting into the open: Rather than burden him with the usual constraints on a ticket’s No. 2 not to upstage or get ahead of the presidential nominee, let Ryan be Ryan and take a detailed, policy-heavy fight to President Obama and the Democrats.
Ironically, I agree with the conservatives pushing this idea. The closer they allow Ryan to being Ryan, the closer Obama comes to keeping the Presidency.
From Daily Kos: Tennessee Majority Leader, Rep. Gerald McCormick (R) was caught stealing Frank Eaton, the Democratic candidate for TN-27th sign’s in a public right of way on Saturday. He also cursed out Frank Eaton in front of his wife, Joy. It is bad enough to steal signs, but cursing is never acceptable or becoming conduct of a public official in the South, even prisoners, parolees, gang members all have manners and conduct in front of women – not so for the Majority Leader McCormick.
Also not so for most of today’s Republican politicians. They view sign stealing the same way they view election theft, and they do not respect women, because their party is at war with women.
Cartoon:
What turns him on most is knowing that he stole it from us.
Today is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and the Denver congregation’s meditation with Houston is on TV here. :-) I’m current with replies. Tomorrow I have an all day appointment, so I may post nothing at all. Tuesday and Thursday are prison volunteer days, and Wednesday and Friday, I should be close to useless recovering from them. color me scarce all week.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:07 (average 5:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: SHOCKING: The Truth About How Walmart Treats The Employees You Don’t See
If Willard gets to change America’s work environment, making it more like the Chinese factory he so admires, the one where the workers sleep triple bunked, I don’t have to wonder what company will be leading the way to help him. I have been boycotting Wal-fart for over 10 years because of how they treat their employees. There are plenty of other reasons from which to choose, too.
From NY Times: At the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., he [Ralph Reed] was sought after by party luminaries and afforded the ultimate status accommodation, a room in the same hotel as Mitt Romney. And soon he plans to unleash a sophisticated, microtargeted get-out-the-evangelical-vote operation that he believes could nudge open a margin of victory if Mr. Romney can keep the race close.
This is the same Ralph Reed that convinced evangelicals to donate to a campaign to deny the workers un the Marianas a minimum wage. He told them that the Chinese women were being converted to Christianity. However the women really worked in slave labor camps enduring forced prostitution to enrich Reed’s clients. This is the man Willard has chosen for his get-out-the-vote effort.
From Lebanon Daily Record: Republican Rep. Todd Akin’s comments about rape are evidence of his extremism on several issues, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said Friday at the first debate between the Missouri Senate candidates. Akin painted his opponent as a big-spender who votes 90 percent of the time with President Barack Obama.
Republicans have long looked at Missouri as a winnable state in the effort to gain control of the Senate. Akin, 65, a six-term congressman from suburban St. Louis, won a hotly contested three-way race for the GOP Senate nomination on Aug. 7.
But just weeks later, Akin set off a furor in a televised interview by saying that women’s bodies have a natural defense against pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape."
Clair McCaskill is, in part, a DINO, but considering her opponent, I’ll take the DINO.
Yesterday I blogged and rested, and I plan the same for today. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. It will also be my last rest day, as Monday I have an all-say appointment, Tuesday and Thursday are prison volunteer days, and Wednesday and Friday are recovery days. Color me scarce next week.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:28 (average 5:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: What If The Country Isn’t Really Broke?
All of these subsidies and externalized cost are how wealth is transferred from the poor and middle classes to the 1%. Reach the makers here.
From Compare 2012: What Your Vote Means, In Their Own Words
A Side-by-Side Comparison of the 2012 Democratic and Republic Party Platform Documents
It’s a real eye opener. Click through.
From Chicago Tribune: A deeply divided and unproductive Congress wrapped up its final business before November’s elections early on Saturday as the U.S. Senate passed a stopgap measure to fund federal programs and avoid an October 1 government shutdown.
The 62-30 vote on the funding bill, which now moves to President Barack Obama’s desk to be signed into law.
You remember I said Republicans would cave-in, if Democrats did not bow to Republican blackmail. Democrats didn’t. Republicans did.
