Personal – Page 662 – Politics Plus

Open Thread–5/18/2011

Posted by TomCat at 1:49 am Open Thread, Personal

May 182011

Yesterday was a busy one. I went to the post office, the bank and the store. I paid bills and did other things in preparation for today. I’m current on replies. This morning I get my teeth pulled. It will involve top and bottom, left and right. I’m nervous as a gay man in Westboro Baptist. You may not hear from me for a day or two, so if there are no articles tomorrow, you’ll know why. It will depend on how I feel.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:37 (average 4:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: Since January, six senators have engaged in difficult negotiations and made painful concessions in a politically dangerous quest for something that has long eluded Washington: a bipartisan compromise to control the nation’s mounting debt.

By Tuesday evening, however, the “Gang of Six” was on the verge of collapse. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) withdrew from the bipartisan working group, saying the senators simply could not overcome the polarizing political pressure that each faces. The group’s two other Republicans said it would be hard to continue without Coburn.

Does this remind anyone else about when snake in the Grassley dropped out of HCR negotiations, after using them as a false front to delay the legislation?

From Boston Globe: Senator Scott Brown will not disclose whether he supports a GOP budget plan that includes sweeping changes to Medicare, despite saying to a business group last week that he will vote for the measure when it comes up in the US Senate.

Hello? Does he think we’re that dumb? Actually, his voters are, 🙁

From Uncovered Politics: U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan announced earlier today that he would not be seeking the U.S. Senate seat now held by retiring Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl.

His House district is very red, but statewide, he’d get his ass kicked. Bwaaack-buk-buk-buk!

Cartoon:

When getting teeth pulled, have a Republican sit on your lap. (That was not intended to be a factual statement,)

Open Thread–5/17/2011

Posted by TomCat at 2:46 am Open Thread, Personal

May 172011

Yesterday I went to my podiatrist for my routine quarterly surgery on my foot. I was tired, because I slept poorly. It was probably nerves about tomorrow. I’m current on replies. Today, I’ll be out running errands. It will be my last chance for a few days.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:30 (average 5:22). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From LA Times: When it comes to the 2012 election, Donald Trump is so fired.

I said from the beginning that I thought it was a publicity stunt. But it sure took in the racist Republican ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-ase.

From Xinhuanet: Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the prosecutor said at a press conference on Monday.

Two other arrest warrants were also issued for his son Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, and his brother-in-law Abdullah Al-Sanousi, Libya’s head of intelligence, for "war crimes and crimes against humanity," said Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC prosecutor.

"The case is now before the judges, they can accept the request, reject, or ask for more evidence," said Moreno-Ocampo, "in the meantime, the office of prosecutor will continue the investigation."

The court shouldn’t need rocket science to figure this one out.

Cartoon:

Send a Republican to Jerusalem with Glen Beck (one way ticket). (That WAS intended to be a factual statement.)

Open Thread–5/16/2011

Posted by TomCat at 2:46 am Open Thread, Personal

May 162011

Yesterday unpacking and storing my groceries took several hours, but after my teeth are pulled, I’ll have a variety of foods to eat. The first few days will be hardest. I remain current on replies. Today I have a doctor’s appointment. No worries. It’s routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:55 (average 4:33). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Days after formally announcing his candidacy for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich on Sunday sharply criticized a plan by House Republicans that would drastically overhaul Medicare, the federal health care program for retirees.

I call bullshit! Newt has been trying to do away with Social Security and Medicare for a long time. He is only saying this because of how America reacted to the Republican plan formulated by Ryan.

From Chicago Tribune: Rahm Emanuel will be sworn in as Chicago’s 46th mayor today.

Poor Chicago!

From Washington Post: Groundbreaking Chinese artist Ai Weiwei appeared healthy but tense during his first meeting with family since he was detained more than a month ago, and authorities still haven’t explained why he was seized, his wife said Monday.

Hillary Clinton should object strongly to the treatment of Ai Weiwei.

Cartoon:

To celebrate Monday, make a Teabagger do your job. (This is not intended to be a factual statement.)

Open Thread–5/15/2011

Posted by TomCat at 3:02 am Open Thread, Personal

May 152011

Yesterday I was busy with chores. I’m current with replies, but I’ll be busy today unpacking and putting away a grocery delivery this morning. It will be much more difficult that usual, because it will contain many foods that I’m not used to buying and storing in my limited space. Starting Wednesday I’ll be on a toothless diet for two weeks, and planning for that has been a pain in the Republican.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:49 (5:14 average). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Reuters: IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, arrested by police in New York for sexual assault, is the front-runner in opinion polls to win next year’s presidential election in France and replace incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.

Strauss-Kahn, a 62-year-old Socialist who starred as finance minister in the late 1990s, left for Washington in late 2007 to head the International Monetary Fund, just as the world’s worst economic downturn since World War II hit.

The polls show Strauss-Kahn, who has yet to officially declare, trouncing Sarkozy and also leading all other potential challengers in what many in his home country expected to be a dirty campaign leading up to an election set for next April.

I hope that the charges against this man prove to be unfounded. I understand that the bogus scandal to discredit opponents is almost as common by European conservatives as it is by Republicans. The way conservatives are screwing up Europe, Sarkozy must be desperate.

From Politico: Mike Huckabee opted against a run for the 2012 Republican nomination Saturday night, saying that despite all the signs saying yes, “My heart says no.”

The former Arkansas governor’s decision instantly reshapes the contest, creating a wide-open field in Iowa, where Huckabee won the 2008 caucuses, and an opening for some of the second-tier hopefuls who could appeal to Huckabee’s base of conservatives and evangelical Christians.

I have to credit the Huckster for brains, even though he was lying. Although his heart says yes, all the signs say know. Even though he had a chance of winning the nomination, he knows he’d get his butt kicked in the general.

From Alternet: Shirley Sherrod is back at the United States Department of Agriculture, almost a year after she was forced out by a misleading video spread by conservatives falsely accusing her of discriminating against white farmers.

Sherrod will not take her old position, reports Politico, instead rejoining the agency to work on civil rights. In her new job, she’ll lead a program designed to improve relations with minority farmers.

After the disgraceful performance by the Obama administration in falling for and overreacting to a scam by O’Keefe, Breitbart and the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda (Faux Noise), I’m glad to see Shirley back with the USDA.

Cartoon:

Teabaggers get a discount at the Fukushima Hilton! (That was not intended to be a true statement.)

Open Thread–5/14/2011

Posted by TomCat at 3:19 am Open Thread, Personal

May 142011

I hope everyone had Mine was uneventful as expected, but busy. Today promises to be busy as well, as I try to get next week’s tasks done early. I’m current on replies.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

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

Short Takes:

From NY Times: The enormous cache of computer files taken from Osama bin Laden’s compound contained a considerable quantity of pornographic videos, American officials said on Friday, adding a discordant note to the public image of the Islamist militant who long denounced the West for its lax sexual mores.

Now that’s a good indication that extreme right wing pseudo-Muslims are no different than extreme right wing pseudo-Christians.

From Slate Magazine: "I’m asking you to stand with me once more and to play a vital role in my next race as I consider my options of running for reelection to the House or seeking higher office," she writes. "If you want me to continue fighting the big-government Obama agenda in the U.S. House of Representatives, please make a generous donation of $25. If you want me to seek the Presidency, please make a donation of $50 or even $100 to let me know I can count on you." [Michelle Bachmann]

Am I the only one that thinks Batshit B is sounding just like Obtuse Angle.

From Right Wing Watch: Over the last decade, Milwaukee has been a laboratory for private school vouchers, and the results have been poor: numerous studies have shown that vouchers failed to make any difference in student performance. Just like in Washington, DC and Cleveland, private school vouchers in Milwaukee failed to produce the gains their supporters promised as students, with students in the Milwaukee voucher program actually performing worse than comparable public school students.

But now Republican Gov. Scott Walker wants to expand the ineffective voucher program while cutting funds to public schools. And so much for the emphasis on testing — voucher students will now be exempted from the tests that revealed the program’s failure.

That’s an investment in the 10,000 year Republican Reich.

Cartoon:

To save Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, drop all Republicans from the roles, since they don’t want it. (That was not intended to be a factual statement).

Open Thread–5/13/2011

Posted by TomCat at 2:40 am Open Thread, Personal

May 132011

Yesterday I tried to watch the Senate hearings on big oil, but could not find them, and did lots of chores around the house. I am tired, because my pharmacy called in the middle of my sleep time to tell me they can’t reach my doctor’s office to renew a prescription. I love my doctor, but her back office stinks. I’m current on replies. One story just hearing now is that John McCain went to Leon Panetta and asked him, point blank, if the torture practiced by GW Bush had anything to do with locating bin Laden. It did not. He publically debunked the Republican lies claiming it did. It has been years since McCain stopped goose-stepping long enough to visit the world of honesty. I thank him for so doing.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:36 (average 4:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Oregonian: Oregon’s economy has hit full recovery mode, state economists reported Thursday, not only boosting worker payrolls but also giving a welcome lift to the recession-battered state budget.

For the first time in two years, lawmakers learned they will have more money than expected to spend on state programs, not less. And though the news of an estimated $129 million extra for the 2011-13 budget didn’t cause dancing on the House floor, it came as a clear relief.

What’s Oregon’s secret? We had the good sense to raise taxes on millionaires and big corporations! Come on America! Follow our lead!

From Alternet: Were you absent the day your history teacher informed the class that the Reagan Revolution was powered by a divine intervention from God? Did you fall asleep during the lesson on black, unemployed people who, at one time, completely lacked ethics? Don’t worry — Mike Huckabee has made a tool to school your entire family on these subjects.

Click through for video. For just $9.95 per month, Upchuckabee will fill your head with Republican Supply-side Theocon BS too!

From Ars Technica: Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two Republican Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, plans to step down—and right into a top lobbying job at Comcast-NBC.

The news, reported this afternoon by the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and Politico, comes after the hugely controversial merger of Comcast and NBC earlier this year. At the time, Baker objected to FCC attempts to impose conditions on the deal and argued [PDF] that the "complex and significant transaction" could "bring exciting benefits to consumers that outweigh potential harms."

Yet another Republican is laughing all the way to the bank for screwing the consumers of the industry we paid them to regulate.

Cartoon:

TGIF!! (That was intended to be a factual statement.)

Open Thread–5/12/2011

Posted by TomCat at 2:28 am Open Thread, Personal

May 122011

Yesterday I returned to the denturist. They pulled no teeth today. That’s on tap for next Wednesday, when five out of my remaining nine come out. I’m feeling a little panicky, because in 1961, a dentist pulled my wisdom teeth without anesthetic. I have feared dentists since. I’m current on replies, and today I have to do an online shop, after planning for two weeks of foods soft enough to eat between extractions and dentures.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:12 (average 4:40). Time to duck. To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NewsOK: Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said in an interview that he proposed to CIA Director Leon Panetta at a closed briefing last week that they [Osama snuff porn pictures] be made available to certain members of Congress.

Why an I not surprised by this or that he was the first to go see them?

From AJC: In his speech to Wall Street yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner waved the same old crazy quilt of demagoguery, distortions and outright lies in which Republicans have shrouded economic issues for several years now. Most of it was standard fare, though there were a few lines that were especially galling…

…For example, Boehner repeated the outrageous falsehood that Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan — which essentially ends Medicare — would give senior citizens the same benefits that members of Congress enjoy. Actually, seniors would get the reverse of what members of Congress currently enjoy. As Bloomberg points out, taxpayers subsidize as much as 75 percent of the health care costs of federal employees. But, according to the Congressional Budget Office, taxpayers would only pay 32 percent of the average Medicare recipient’s health care costs by the year 2030. [emphasis added]

46% of what Congress gets is hardly the same benefits.

From The Atlantic: The SPLC maintains a detailed database on hate groups, culled from websites and publications, citizen and law enforcement reports, field sources and news reports. It defines hate groups as organizations and associations that "have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics," and which participate in "criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing." As of 2010, the SPLC documents 1,002 such hate groups across the United States.

Mississippi leads the pack for hate with Montana a close second.

Cartoon:

Today is share your refritos with a Bagger day; eat them first. (That was not intended to be a factual statement.)

Open Thread–5/11/2011

Posted by TomCat at 2:09 am Open Thread, Personal

May 112011

Yesterday I was out and about running errands. My COPD flared up and I had to take frequent breaks to catch my breath. I felt bushed when I returned home, but I am current on comments. Today it’s back to the denturist. They may or may not be pulling teeth. If they do, I may have to take tomorrow off here, or posts may be abbreviated and/or late.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:43 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: The killing of Osama bin Laden has given President Barack Obama a new applause line for fundraising events.

Obama boasted at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Tuesday night that thanks to the U.S. military and American intelligence agencies, “Osama bin Laden will never again threaten the United States of America.”

Now, if only he could be as effective against the greater threat, Al Dubya.

From You Tube: Bill Maher thinks Obama is a black ninja gangsta President.

He’s hilarious, as usual, but his point is dead on. It is Republicans, not Democrats, who are weaklings on national security and defense.

From The Daily Caller: Maine Republican Senate candidate Scott D’Amboise, who is challenging sitting Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe in the upcoming 2012 primary, called on Snowe to resign from her seat immediately.

D’Amboise issued a statement Tuesday morning calling on Snowe to resign after the U.S. Department of Justice joined a lawsuit against Education Management Corporation (EDMC), a company that has employed her husband, former Maine Gov. John McKernan, for the past 12 years. The suit alleges that EDMC had defrauded the government of financial aid funding.*

D’Amboise said Snowe has “directly benefited” from her husband’s financial activity, which he describes as, “defrauding of taxpayers, pocketing millions of dollars – millions of our hard earned tax dollars.” D’Amboise also said Snowe “became a millionaire with our money.”

Bear in mind that D’Ambrose is a Teabagger, but if he can unseat Snowe, that’s a seat Democrats could pick up.

Cartoon:

Today is hump day, so use a Republican to give a camel a second hump: tie camel, lift tail, and insert Republican. ;-) (That was not intended to be a factual statement.)

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