Politics Plus

Yesterday was supposed to be cooler, but about an hour before my month’s groceries arrived, the sun hit the breezeway outside my windows.  Even though the high outside was 70°, the temperature in the breezeway jumped to 108°, and inside, to 96°.  That made unpacking and putting away all those groceries a miserable task.  So I’m, pretty wrung out today.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow I have to go to physical therapy on my shoulder, so my articles may be few and late.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:28 (average 5:18).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Why Rachel Maddow Thinks ‘Small Government’ Makes A Great Bumper Sticker

"Too Informed to Vote Republican" says it all!

From YouTube: 2012: Who Should You Vote For?

Few people on the left are more critical of Barack Obama than Cenk Uygur. Nevertheless, even he knows that as attractive as Rocky Anderson is, a vote for him is an investment in Willard Romney.

From New Your Magazine: Neil Munro, the Daily Caller reporter who interrupted Obama’s DREAM Act Lite speech yesterday by yelling, "Why do you favor foreigners over American workers?" is himself a so-called foreigner working a job, here in America. This isn’t breaking news: He identifies as Irish-born on his Twitter bio, and he is currently living in D.C. on a green card. It is, however, somewhat notable and ironic when you consider the agenda behind what he maintains was "a conventional, obvious question."

I guess that the Republican Party doesn’t consider Munro a foreigner, because he has the right skin color.

Cartoon:

Yesterday our CoDA group in prison had two new members, and I felt thrilled with they way they jumped right in and went to work on serious self-actualization.  I could not have been more proud of them.  When I returned home I felt very tired and achy, but just hyped enough that I could not get to sleep, so I’m shot today.  Therefore this is today’s only article.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow I have an appointment with the doctor, to whom a visit takes at least 4 hours in travel time, so I may post nothing at all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:32 (4:44 average).  To do it click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: What Every ‘Tea Party Patriot’ Is Really Saying

Bear in mind that the Tea Party is still just the brown-shirt storm troopers of the Republican Party.  Thou shalt not commit Teabuggery!

From NY Times: Ron Barber, whom former Representative Gabrielle Giffords picked as her successor, defeated his Republican rival on Tuesday in a closely followed special election seen by many political strategists as testing ground for the power of national issues in deciding competitive races.

Mr. Barber’s win over Jesse Kelly was largely secured by voters in Pima County, the largest of the four counties that make up the district and also home to Tucson, its base and Ms. Giffords’s former hometown. Turnout there and in most others of the district was high for a special election, reflecting the significance of the race and Ms. Giffords’s draw on voters.

Excellent!!! Barber was trailing in the polls at the time voting began in this Republican leaning district. I bet the Brewerstan Death Anger is furious that Sarah Palin’s bullseye has gone to waste.

From YouTube: Republicans have Plotted Treason Now

Thanks to desertflower, a new reader, for leaving the link to this video yesterday. It’s a must see. I call it sedition.

Cartoon:

In those days, we had SCOTUS, not SCROTUS.

It’s another slow news day, as the media play “he said, she said” over last weeks gaffes.   However I did find a couple interesting items.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow I’ll be doing volunteer work in prison, so it’s probable that I’ll post only an open thread.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:04 (average 5:27).  To do it click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Bernie Sanders Has An Amazingly Simple Idea To Fix Social Security For The Next 75 Years

I disagree with Bernie. If we eliminate the income cap altogether, we fix Social Security permanently.

From Reuters: Six American families paid no federal income taxes in 2009 while making something on the order of $200 million each. This is one of many stunning revelations in new IRS data that deserves a thorough airing in this year’s election campaign.

The data, posted on the IRS website last week, brings into sharp focus the debate over whether the rich need more tax cuts (Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans) or should pay higher rates (President Obama and most Democrats).

Both Romney and Obama think this is unfair.  The difference is that Rmoney thinks it unfair only because he isn’t one of them.

From Washington Post: Woodward and Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate, Nixon was far worse than we thought.

Click through for this historic piece, because it is well worth the read.  In addition, it validates my long held position that much of the hate based strategy that has become Republican SOP goes back to Nixon rather than Reagan.

Cartoon:

He still can be.