Politics Plus

Yesterday I caught up on paperwork and visited with friends.  Plans for the weekend include catching up on email and setting up our fantasy football league.  I am current on replies.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:49 (5:10 average).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: The anti-tax pledge signed by 95 percent of congressional Republicans faces a key test Tuesday, when the Senate is scheduled to vote on a plan to repeal billions of dollars in annual tax credits for ethanol blenders — a move the pledge defines as a tax increase.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) surprised Senate leaders when he filed a motion late Thursday to force a preliminary vote on the measure.

The ethanol credit is widely condemned by Republicans as bad economic policy, and Coburn derides it as spending through the tax code.

Although I agree with Coburn on ethanol, I consider it hypocritical for him to consider ending tax credits for ethanol blenders a spending cut and ending tax credits for Big Oil a tax increase.

From KSAT: The League of United Latin American Citizens filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas Friday challenging the way state lawmakers are re-drawing maps that determine congressional districts.

Luis Vera, LULAC’s national general counsel, said state Republicans are relying on bad census numbers and are violating the Voting Rights Act.

LULAC filed its legal challenge in the U.S. District Court’s Western District of Texas. The suit alleges the state is trying to take away votes from Latinos.

In Texas, the KKK is the moderate wing of the Republican Party.

From Common Dreams: On Monday, the National Archives and Records Administration will change that, as it officially declassifies the papers 40 years to the day after portions were first disclosed by the New York Times. In doing so, and in making the papers available online, the Archives could provide researchers with a more holistic way of understanding a remarkable chapter of U.S. history.

Better way too late than never.

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Yesterday I caught up on chores around the house.  I still have a backlog, because of my mouth and the heat.  The mouth is better, by the way.  I go in for impressions next Tuesday and should have the finished dentures within three weeks.  I’m current on replies.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:14 (average 4:24).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From BBC: The UK and France have presented a draft UN resolution condemning Syria’s suppression of protests, but stopping short of authorising concrete action.

The text has faced stiff opposition from some Security Council members, who fear a resolution could be the first step towards military intervention.

If they want any more interventions, the US should do our part and sell them whatever weapons they need.

From Reuters: President Barack Obama could use frozen Libyan government assets to pay for humanitarian aid to Libyan people caught in the North African country’s civil war under a bill sponsored by a group of leading Senate Democrats and Republicans.

I like the idea.

From Huffington Post: Iowa — Six likely Republican presidential candidates are participating in a bus tour of Iowa that kicks off Monday.

The three-week event is sponsored by the Iowa Tea Party and includes appearances by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, former CEO Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

There is more proof that the Tea Party are nothing but Brown Shirt storm troopers for the Republican Party.

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Yesterday it was not as hot and I rested to get over the exhaustion of missed sleep, but I was too tired to sleep well.  Today should be quite cool.  I’m current on replies.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:34 (average 4:41).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From LA Times: Austan Goolsbee is stepping down as chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, the White House announced Monday night, shaking up the economic team just as the recovery is sputtering.

Goolsbee, one of the administration’s primary spokesmen on the economy, will return to his position as an economics professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, the announcement said.

Why couldn’t it be Timmy?

From Common Dreams: Joe Harris, the Emergency Manager in Benton Harbor, has issued an order informing all city officials and employees that they are not to attend city commission meetings without his written permission.

WJSM reports that the one exception to this rule is for the city clerk who is to take the minutes of the city commission meetings.

Additionally, the order from Harris goes on to state that the city clerk must attach language to the minutes of all Benton Harbor Commission meetings stating that any resolution passed by the body has no legal effect.

This is the poor town where the Snyder Reich want to steal the people’s lakefront park to build a golf course for the rich folks in a neighboring town.

From Right Wing Watch: The American Family Association’s Ed Vitagliano and Buster Wilson dedicated their radio show AFA Report to discuss their outrage that President Obama issued a proclamation declaring June LGBT Pride Month. Vitagliano, the editor of AFA Journal, lamented the deleterious consequences of the President’s proclamation.

I guess I’m still straight, even though I forgot how, but I’m proud to celebrate the month in support of my LGBT friends and neighbors.

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Yesterday, the heat drained me. It was only in the low 70° range, but the temperature in the enclosed area outside my windows reached 113°. It reached 94° inside. I felt very uncomfortable and could not sleep.  I’m current on replies.  Today should be 15° hotter. 🙁

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:40 (average 4:50).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From LA Times: "There is no question that I have done wrong," John Edwards said Friday in front of the North Carolina courtroom where he pleaded not guilty to six counts of violating federal campaign laws. "I take full responsibility for having done wrong."

Initially I supported him in 2008.  Such a disappointment!

From Boston Globe: In the first town hall of his freshly announced presidential campaign, Mitt Romney yesterday reaffirmed his view that global warming is occurring and that humans are contributing to it, a position that has been rejected in recent years by many Republicans as the issue has taken on a greater partisan tinge.

If he wins the nomination this could be a tough issue, because Obama’s environmental record is weak.

From Willamette Week: Two days after WW published a story exposing rifts between law enforcement and some medical-marijuana operations, U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton and many Oregon district attorneys have issued a stern warning to this booming local industry.

"The sale of marijuana for any purpose—including as medicine—violates both federal and Oregon law and will not be tolerated," says the warning from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. "People and businesses that conduct sales of marijuana face the risk of prosecution, civil enforcement action and seizure of assets."

I’d love to blame this on Bush, but Holton is an Obama appointee.  DOJ has far better things to do than to harass people using marijuana as prescribed by their doctors.

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