Politics Plus

Yesterday there was a little excitement here.  I got up early to collect the data for January’s monthly report.  Then I did my online shopping.  Afterwards, feeling quite tired, I went to bed for my normal afternoon sleep.  Less than an hour later, the fire alarm rousted me.  A Mexican Restaurant on the ground floor of my building had a kitchen fire.  So I threw on my clothes and my coat, grabbed my O₂, and headed for the street, firefighters coming up the stairs as I was going down.  I had to wait about ninety minutes, before I could return.  Please don’t worry.  The fire was in the opposite corner of the building from me.  I was never in any danger.  I never even smelled smoke.  However, I’m bleary eyed, because I’ve had no sleep.  I’m current with replies, although I was shorter than usual.  Today is rest and recover time.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:35 (average 5:17).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From City AM: ROYAL Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester has bowed to growing political pressure and agreed to waive his bonus.

Hester decided to forego the award of 3.6m shares, worth around £960,000, after the Labour party said it would force a House of Commons vote on the issue in a bid to make the government block the controversial payout.

Friends of Hester told City A.M. he had spent the weekend considering his options and had decided to relinquish his 2011 bonus after it became clear the political row would not die down. They said the issue was threatening to distract him from the job of nursing the bank back to health.

A big Hat-Tip goes to Patricia G who tipped me off about this item.  She and other progressive British heroes protested this Bankster’s bonus until Parliament took note, and his greed gave way to self-preservation.  Kudos to them!

From Reuters: The Indiana state Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a new law allowing workers at unionized businesses to avoid paying union dues, the last major legislative hurdle to making Indiana the first "right-to-work" state in the nation’s manufacturing belt.

No state has approved a right-to-work law since Oklahoma a decade ago, and Indiana is being closely watched nationwide during a presidential election year. The Senate vote of 28 to 22 was followed by calls of "shame, shame" from members of the public outside the chamber.

Governor Mitch Daniels will likely sign the bill Wednesday.

Shame!  Shame!  It’s a black day for Indiana. :-(.  Here’s Rachel.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From Truth-out: Today, the nation is abuzz over Mitt Romney bluntly cold comment: "I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there."

This is not a slip of the tongue. This is what he believes. We know, because he said it before.

Isn’t it ironic that Rmoney credits the safety net at the same time that he and his goose-stepping pals are fighting to destroy it.  They are not concerned with the poor, because they govern exclusively for the benefit of millionaires, billionaires, and corporate criminals.

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Yesterday, I wrote a letter to the Parole Board on behalf of one of the prisoners I serve.  I also worked on the website of the non-profit group behind my prison activities.  I made a big kettle of rice and beans.  It is responsible for the green cloud that proves I support green energy.  I’m current with replies.  Today I plan to get a haircut.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:43 (average 4:32).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From realrepubs.com: Who wants to build a risky, dirty 1,700 mile oil pipeline across America’s heartland? Big Oil and their lobbyists, that’s who. Guess who else? Their political puppets.

The Republican presidential candidates have a lot to say about how much they love the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. But there’s a few crucial facts that just don’t seem to come out of their mouths. They don’t say that the pipeline is hauling highly toxic crude over some of our nation’s most critical water sources. They fail to mention how the first Keystone pipeline caused fourteen oil spills since 2010. And they NEVER say how much money Big Oil companies have given their campaigns.

Hat-Tip: CaityJ (aka Caitlin)

There can be no doubt that one party, with exceptions, opposes Keystone XL, and one demands it.

From The Onion: WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Diebold accidently leaks 2012 election results

The reality behind this issue is what makes the clip effective satire.

From PRWatch: South Carolina is again considering a bill from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to limit access to the ballot box. A nearly identical version of an ALEC voting bill is moving through the state Senate and comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) blocking South Carolina’s ALEC-inspired voter ID law as discriminatory against people of color.

It appears that there is nothing Republicans won’t do to steal the votes of students, workers, the elderly, the disabled, and especially minorities.

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Yesterday I slept late and by the time I caught up my email, it was already well past noon.  I’m current with replies.  Today is a minor holy day in then Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:17 (average 4:26).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Yahoo News: There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

I can’t testify to the accuracy, but I have observed numerous examples.

From MoveOn: How To Explain Taxes And The Budget To Non-Economists

Note that taking everything away from the poor and middle classes, as Republicans are attempting to do will still not balance the budget.

From NY Times: President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Friday that France would break with its allies in NATO and accelerate the French withdrawal from Afghanistan, pulling back combat troops a year early, by the end of 2013. Mr. Sarkozy also said that he and Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, would ask the NATO alliance for a similar speedup of the transfer of primary security responsibilities to Afghan troops.

If even the puppet Republicans appointed to betray Afghanistan’s people doesn’t want us there, we should accommodate his wishes.

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If everything works as planned, I will be asleep when this article appears, having just returned from prison after my volunteer work.  I’m writing it early in the morning of 1/26, before leaving and setting it to auto-publish so there is at least something for you at the regular time. Obviously I am not current on replies.  Friday is a rest and catch up day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

It’s not up yet, and I shall post two on the Open Thread for the 28th.

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: The Big Secret About Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan In One Chart

Talk about Rmoney!!

From Truth-Out: So what the story of Mr. Romney and the auto bailout actually shows is something we already knew from health care: He’s a smart guy who is also a moral coward. His original proposal for the auto industry, like his health-care reform law in Massachusetts, bore considerable resemblance to what Mr. Obama actually did. But when the deed took place, Mr. Romney — rather than having the courage to say that the president was actually doing something reasonable — joined the rest of his party in whining and denouncing the plan.

And now he wants to claim credit for the very policy he trashed when it hung in the balance.

That Romney lies so much that he’s a … Republican!

From Washington Post: In the end, they just didn’t have the votes.

For two legislative sessions, Indiana Democrats fought the divisive labor measure known as right-to-work. They offered amendments aimed at changing the bill. They sought to put the issue before voters in a referendum. And in their most high-profile gambit, House Democrats staged occasional boycotts to deny the Republican-dominated chamber enough members to conduct business.

But that all ended Wednesday when the minority party acceded to the mathematical reality of the Republican’s 60-40 majority in the chamber. Democrats showed up, and the Indiana House voted 54-44 to make Indiana the 23rd right-to-work state.

This is a sad day for Labor and for working people everywhere.

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