Politics Plus

Another month is gone.  How time flies.  My eyes continue to improve and I think I’ll be back to normal activity in another day or two.  It’s a slow day for news, what with the correspondents dinner, and the aftermath of the royal wedding.  I am current on comments.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:04 (average 5:56).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bill Pocan – father of state Rep. Mark Pocan – may have died long ago.

But that doesn’t mean he can’t sign the recall petition against state Sen. Bob Wirch of Kenosha.

Just check page 362 of the Wirch recall petition, and you will find the signature and address for Bill Pocan, also the father of Milwaukee County Judge William Pocan. The petition says Bill Pocan penned his support of the recall effort on March 3.

Of course I don’t have to tell you that Pocan is a Republican, and Wirch, a Democrat.  It’s ironic how Republicans keep screaming about voter fraud, but on those rare cases when it happens, the guilty party is Republican, almost without exception.

From Xinhuanet: The youngest son of Muammar Gaddafi was killed in a NATO airstrike on a house where the Libyan leader and his family were staying at the time, a government spokesman said Sunday.

The raid caused the deaths of Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, 29, the youngest son of Gaddafi, and three of Gaddafi’s grandchildren, spokesman Mossa Ibrahim told a press conference.

I extend sympathies to innocent members of his family who are grieving, but Gaddafi has murdered so many that I suggest he consider the grief he has caused.

From FOK News Channel [Keith speaking]: This is Sunday, May 1st, 2011: Eight Years since President George W. Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. And he’s still full of crap.

Some things never change.

Cartoon:

I feel sorry for Trump. (That was not intended to be a factual statement.)

Yesterday my eyes continued slight improvement.  It seems the royal wedding has taken over the news cycle, pure heresy on a holy day for the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, the Festival of New Meat, which continues.  May the Denver congregation be blessed with stars.  I’m current on replies.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Yesterday it took me 4:08 (4:45 average).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From KUOW: Oregon lawmakers are moving ahead with a measure that would create a buffer between mourners and protesters at funerals. The move comes in response to a Kansas group that’s picketed funerals of military members and others as a way of spreading their anti-gay message.

The Oregon measure would give people holding funerals a 400-foot buffer zone from protesters. That’s about the distance from home plate to the outfield fence at a Major League Baseball stadium.

I consider this a good balance.  It’s close enough to be relevant, preserving 1st Amendment rights, but far enough away to give grieving families some relief.  It’s sad that Phelps and his bigoted Republican minions make such a law necessary.

From FOK News Channel: Keith has a grand idea for Arizona, recalling Jonathan Swift.

Sadly, once they realizeed what they bought, China would declare war on us out ov vengeance.

From Alternet: Bradley Manning, the jailed US soldier accused of passing classified documents to WikiLeaks, faces far less restrictive conditions at a Kansas military prison where he was relocated last week, US officials said Thursday.

If true, this is welcome news, but this does not excuse  his mistreatment to date.

Cartoon:

Friday stinks! (This was not intended to be a factual statement.)

Yesterday my eyes improves slightly, but they are still flowing and limiting me.  I am current on replies.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:16 (average 4:06).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Houston Chronicle: President Barack Obama, predicting that oil and gas companies will report "outsized profits" this quarter, urged Congress on Tuesday to eliminate tax breaks that he said provide the oil and gas industry with more than $4 billion in annual subsidies.

When Agent Orangs agreed this should be discussed, he lied.  No way will the GOBP go along with this.

From Mediaite: Bill Maher and David Letterman discuss the Tea Party.

Useful fools is an understatement.

From Mother Jones: Last August, two prisoners escaped from an Arizona penitentiary and fled to New Mexico, where they ambushed a couple, shot them to death, and lit their bodies on fire inside a trailer.

These fugitives didn’t escape from just any facility: They were housed in a privately run prison managed by the Utah-based Management Training Corporation. After the incident, a review by the Arizona Department of Corrections concluded that the prison had poorly trained staff and deficient equipment—including a faulty security system that emitted so many false alarms, the prison staff simply ignored it.

Trust me.  I know.  Private prisons are a joke, and CCA is no better.  If Republican governors gave a hoot about public safety, they would not be rushing to privatize their prisons.

Cartoon:

It’s hump day.  Bagger butt is open for business. (That was not intended to be a factual statement.)

Yesterday my vision improved slightly, but not much.  I’m running late, because of that and because I overslept, but I am current on replies.

Jig Zone:

Today it took me 3:44 (average 4:31).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Alternet: According to research (PDF) carried out by Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School and Dan Ariely of Duke University, and flagged by Paul Kedrosky at the Infectious Greed blog, 92 percent of Americans would choose to live in a society with far less income disparity than the US, choosing Sweden’s model over that of the US.

This blew me away, but the data is valid.  Check the PDF file yourself.

From Washington Post: How Kyl amended the Congressional Record.

(That was intended to be a factual statement.)

From Huffington Post: On Sept. 11, 2001, the core of al-Qaeda was concentrated in a single city: Karachi, Pakistan.

That kind of makes me wonder why Pakistan is an “ally” and what the hell we’re doing in Afghanistan?

Cartoon:

OGIM!