My eyes are beginning to heal and, if I can’t return to researching today and posting early tomorrow morning, it will probably be only one more day.
Mar 152012
Mar 142012
My eyes have not improved sufficiently to return. Will keep you posted.
Mar 132012
I’m improving, but have not enough. It’s a hell of a way to spend #64.
Mar 122012
No change here. I can still barely see.
Mar 112012
Yesterday I woke up with double pink eye, and I can barely see the screen. I’ll keep you posted.
Mar 102012
Yesterday my volunteer appointment took much longer than expected, and I returned home tired out. It was too late to do the research I needed to do today. Therefore, this will be my only post today. I’m writing it early and setting it to release automatically just after midnight, so I can go to bed. I am not current with replies and will catch up ASAP, hopefully today.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
It’s not out yet, so I’ll put two in tomorrow’s Open Thread.
Short Takes:
From Tumblr: The Republican Platform, 2012
Is this spot-on, or What?
From Boston Globe: U.S. employers added 227,000 jobs in February to complete three of the best months of hiring since the recession ended. The unemployment rate was unchanged, largely because more people streamed into the work force.
The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate stayed at 8.3 percent last month, the lowest in three years.
And hiring in January and December was better than first thought. The government revised those figures to show 61,000 an additional jobs.
Republicans are calling this a failure, even though the last six months have had the best for job growth in over six years.
From Huffington Post: A decision by a federal appeals court to block two major provisions of Alabama’s immigrant law is a significant victory not just for immigrants but for the rights of all residents of Alabama, Human Rights Watch said today.
On March 8, 2012, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, US v. Alabama, and Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley, enjoined two key provisions of the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer Citizen and Protection Act: one that barred Alabama courts from enforcing contracts with unauthorized immigrants and another that barred the state from entering into “business transactions” with unauthorized immigrants.
Because this is good for America, it’s bad for the Republican Party.
Cartoon:
Mar 092012
Yesterday I slept late, defeated a mountain of mail, and did some extra research. I’m current with replies. Today I have a lunch meeting with a former prisoner, who was released a couple months ago, to review his progress and determine what additional assistance he may need.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today it took me 3:45 (average 4:37). To do it, click here. How did you do.
Short Takes:
From Alternet: UN women leaders on Thursday called for greater equality between the sexes on the occasion of International Women’s Day amid demonstrations and marches for female rights.
Thank you to all the wonderful women, without whom life would not be livable.
From Right Wing Watch: Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) appeared on Voice of Christian Youth America’s radio program Crosstalk with Vic Eliason yesterday to promote his new book The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future, where he repeated his recurrent claim that human influenced climate change is impossible because “God’s still up there.” Inhofe cited Genesis 8:22 to claim that it is “outrageous” and arrogant for people to believe human beings are “able to change what He is doing in the climate.”
What is really outrageous and arrogant is having a US Senator ignoring the Establishment Clause, and trying to legislate Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity.
From Common Dreams: The Canadian military has had a close relationship for years with Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, and was paid $2.4 million to train Canadian soldiers in 2011.
In case you have not heard, Xe, aka the Republican SS, is now owned by Monsanto the GMO company.
Cartoon:
Mar 082012
Yesterday I returned home on time and had enough time to get in my afternoon sleep, but I slept late and am running a little behind. I’m current with replies. Today, my stack of mail still awaits and is growing.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:48 (average 5:50). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From USA Today: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pushed back on Wednesday against fresh demands for U.S. military involvement in Syria to end President Bashar Assad’s deadly crackdown on his people.
"What doesn’t make sense is to take unilateral action right now," Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee about advising President Obama to dispatch U.S. forces.
This an excellent response to even more Republican warmongering. One reason the Republican Party loves war so much is that war is an ideal vehicle for transferring wealth from the poor and middle classes to the 1%.
From ABC: While the nation trained its attention on the top of the ticket in Ohio last night for the fierce and razor-thin battle between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, a similarly dramatic race played out two notches down the ballot.
Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, that working-class icon of the 2008 presidential campaign, swapped his double-ended wrenches for congressional campaign yard signs and snagged the GOP nomination in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District Tuesday night.
What a joke! Marcy Kaptor is a virtual shoe in.
From Think Progress: The Utah legislature passed a bill (HB 363) yesterday that makes teaching sex education optional for schools and prohibits any instruction about homosexuality or the use of contraception. Parents will now have to opt their children in to such classes as opposed to having the option to opt-out, and the classes can only teach abstinence.
This is just one more example in the ongoing parade of Republicans enforcing ignorance.
Cartoon:
