Politics Plus

My apartment is finally bleeding off the heat.  It’s 45° outside, 69° in the breezeway enclosure, and 78°at my desk with fans going.  My COPD is still pretty severe.  I’m current with replies.  For tomorrow, we’ll see how today goes.

Special Report:

I spoke with Lee Evans on the phone.  He is still without a computer and misses you all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:12 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: BRILLIANT! Short Film Explains Secret To Happiness—And It’s Not What You Think

I represent this because, during the time I was rich, I was also the least fulfilled and most miserable.

From NY Times: Add fish and oceans to the long list of environmental issues that House Republicans do not much care about. Last week, the House voted to deny further financing to a federal program that helps regulate commercial fisheries and has been increasingly important to the recovery of several at-risk species. For good measure, it also killed financing for a worthy effort by the Obama administration to improve the health of America’s coastal waters.

If Republicans take power, all we have to lose is the planet.

From ABC: Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced Wednesday he has decided against running for Congress in Washington state, where activists had urged him to launch a campaign. In a statement, Kucinich signaled the end of his 16-year congressional career.

I’m sorry to see Dennis go.  I could not support him for the Presidency, after he said his choice for VP would me that malignant corporate racist, Ron Paul, but he was a strong voice in the House for peace.

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Yesterday was even hotter, and I’m wrung out.  Today should be cooler, but the heat from the last three days is still radiating from my walls.  I did manage to research a couple articles, and I should be able to sleep tonight and put them together tomorrow. I’m current with replies.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:58 (average 5:13).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: The #1 Reason Barack Obama Is Different From Mitt Romney

A woman voting for Romney is the functional equivalent of Smokey the Bear voting for fire.

From YouTube: Romney Economics: Bankruptcy and Bailouts at GST Steel

If elected, Romney will do to America what he did to GST Steel.

From NY Times: Fed up and rueful, Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, made a startling admission on Thursday: he should have reined in the filibuster rule last year, when he had a chance. As Republicans engaged in yet another of their endless filibusters on what should have been a routine matter — reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank — Mr. Reid took to the floor and praised two senators for being right last year when he was wrong.

Tom Udall of New Mexico and Jeff Merkley of Oregon were prophetic in wanting to change Senate rules, he said. “The rest of us were wrong, or most of us, anyway,” he added. “What a shame.”

Since 2007, Democrats have been forced to try to break Republican filibusters 360 times — by far the highest rate in Congressional history. Ending them requires Democrats to get over a 60-vote hurdle. If Mr. Reid helped enact the proposal of the two senators, he would instantly make Congress more efficient and more democratic.

Do ya think so Harry!  Scheesch!!  Stupid ASSHOLE!  Every progressive in the country screamed and screamed when Harry Reid, the Nevada Leg Hound, humped Republican legs, whined, rolled over, and played dead in return for a Republican promise that they would play nice from then on.  Ha!! Assuming that Democrats hold the Senate, we need to pick a new Majority Leader and nuke the filibastards on the first day of the new term in January 2013!

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deleted at image owners request.

I know what set off my COPD, now.  We have our first mini heat wave of the year, and that brings out tree pollen en masse.  It reached 83° outside, but in the enclosed breezeway, where I get my fresh air, it reached 109°.  I pulled my little A/C out of storage and held the inside temperature down to 88°.  Today will be hotter.  Because of the COPD I need to limit myself, so this and my mothers day post will be it for the day.  I’m current with replies.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:01 (average 5:02).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: One Bumper Sticker Sure To Give The GOP Nightmares

As much as everyone seems to hate Obamacare, almost all love the individual benefits they derive from it.

From NY Times: Mitt Romney traveled to Liberty University, the spiritual heart of the conservative movement, on Saturday, seeking to quell concerns about him among evangelical voters by offering a forceful defense of faith and Christian values in public life

At a graduation speech at the college, founded by the evangelical leader Jerry Falwell, Mr. Romney made the case that he is bound theologically and politically to the same belief and value system as Christian conservatives, though he never explicitly mentioned his Mormon faith.

Ironically, the founder of Liberty University led the charge to declare Mormonism a cult.  Because of “burrowing in” during the Bush regime, this third rate Republican supply-side pseudo-Christian propaganda mill has more bureaucrats in government service than any other college in the US.

From WTOP: President Obama is asking Democrats and Republicans to act on his "to-do list" for Congress, a five-point plan he says would create jobs and help restore middle-class security.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said Saturday that all the initiatives have bipartisan support. He says only Congress can take such actions as ending tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas or helping small business owners by giving them a tax break for hiring more workers.

Penalizing companies that ship jobs overseas and rewarding companies that create jobs here is such a no-brainer that it should be a nonpartisan issue.  That’s why Republicans oppose this.

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Today I’m still hurting, so I’ll be brief.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow depends on the day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:35 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: The Craziest Idea Our Great-Grandparents Ever Had

And The GOP wants to give control of our retirement to Banksters.

From Reuters: Lawyers for 15 Muslims in the United States barred from boarding commercial flights because they were on the U.S. "no-fly" list will on Friday ask a federal appeals court to reinstate their constitutional challenge of the anti-terrorism measure.

The plaintiffs, who are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents, said they learned they were on the list when prohibited, without advance warning, from boarding a commercial airliner, and were later denied any means of petitioning the government to be removed from the roster.

I favor the plaintiffs. They are likely to get a fair hearing, because this case will be heard here in Oregon.

From USA Today: The trial of Anders Behring Breivik was interrupted briefly Friday when the brother of one of his 77 victims hurled a shoe at the confessed mass killer and yelled, "Go to hell," before being escorted from the court room, police and witnesses said.

It was the first outburst from the normally subdued crowd watching the terror trial in Oslo’s district court since the proceedings began in mid-April.

Breivik — a self-styled, anti-Muslim militant — has been charged with terrorism, admitting he carried out a bomb-and-shooting rampage that stunned Norway on July 22.

That gives this terrorist something else in common with GW Bush. Don’t forget that The Republican Tea Party was trying to spread their racist dogma to Europe through their financial support for and association with Breivik.

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