Politics Plus

Yesterday I had a bad air day.  Everything took longer than it should.  I spent the morning working with a new software package for creating and editing PDF files.  I spent most of the afternoon watching football, but I did put in a brief appearance on Blog Talk Radio.  I slept poorly and have errands to run, so I don’t know how I’ll do today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 5:10 (average 4:55).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy:

Short Takes:

From LA Times: The package, discussed last week between Netanyahu and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York, includes 20 stealth fighter jets worth $3 billion and a promise to veto anti-Israel proposals raised in the U.N. Security Council during the next year, including a potential Palestinian bid to seek international support for a unilateral declaration of statehood.

In return, Israel would renew its partial West Bank construction moratorium for 90 days.

Has Hillary gone crazy?  We can’t afford $3 billion.  Israel is too bellicose to trust to own F-35s.  The veto promise is an invitation for Israel commit more atrocities.  And what are we going to give them after they stall three more months, Goldman Sachs?!!?

From Alternet: Nearly every member of the Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate has signed a court brief demanding that the state be permitted to acknowledge “reliance upon Almighty God” in its Homeland Security department.

In that let Kentucky rely on Almighty God to represent them in the Senate and take back Bought Bitch Mitch and Raving Rand.

From McClatchy DC: A push from conservative legislators for Texas to opt out of Medicaid is stirring alarm among healthcare providers and nursing homes, which say the potential loss of billions of federal dollars could drastically undercut efforts to provide healthcare for the poor.

I guess we’ll have to build that wall around Texas and Oklahoma.  They want their poor to leave the state.

Cartoon:

OGIM!

Yesterday I prepared a presentation on expectations for the CoDA meeting sponsored by 7th Step.  I caught up on comments before the meeting and returned several hours after my normal bedtime.  I caught just a couple hours sleep and did my research, so I’m feeling quite tired.  Today will depend on how I feel.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 5:49 (average 4:47).  Th do it click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NPR: A top Michigan Republican has officially announced that he will run against controversial Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele.

Saul Anuzis, once head of the Michigan Republican Party, supported Steele for the chairmanship the last time around.

Is this the end of the greatest gift Democrats ever wasted?

From TPM: Gov.-elect Rick Scott (R-FL) is already facing his first mini-scandal just a week after he beat Democrat Alex Sink in one of the nation’s closest and nastiest gubernatorial races. A part-time campaign worker who found the job through an ad on Craigslist is upset that the campaign paid him with an American Express gift card.

Mark Don Givens told Florida’s WTSP News that he was expecting a paycheck after he made phone calls and knocked on doors for the Scott campaign, which made jobs a top issue in the election. Givens said he and other workers were upset after they were told by the campaign that they could not offer them a paycheck and given American Express gift cards instead.

What’s the difference?  Republicans will do anything to duck paying their share of social security.

From Right Wing Watch: No stranger to hyperbole, Alan Keyes in his latest column for WorldNetDaily suggests that the war between “Obama’s Mao Zedong-style forced march to socialism” and people who “love liberty” comes down to the question of Obama’s eligibility to serve as President. Keyes claims that while the GOP’s sins of massive spending, elitism, and political moderation are bad, their refusal to endorse Birtherism outright is even worse.

Turnabout being fair play, is Rand Paul an alien?  I don’t mean foreigner.  I mean alien.

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What’s up this weekend?

By noon yesterday, I had recovered sufficiently to do some volunteer work on the 7th Step website and then to come here and catch up on comments.  I may even get some return visits in today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:57 (average 6:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Think Progress: Yesterday, however, a shocking lawsuit brought by the state of Pennsylvania against a debt collector in Erie, PA illustrates why federal oversight is necessary for the industry, which deals with vulnerable people often on the brink of financial collapse. Unicredit America Inc. is accused of using phony Sheriff’s deputies and a corporate office decorated as a courtroom to confuse debtors into thinking they were in legal trouble in order to coerce them into making immediate payments.

It’s practices like these that Republicans are fighting to protect.

From TPM: Joyce Kaufman, the south Florida talk-radio host and new incoming chief of staff for Rep.-elect Allen West (R-FL) has made an auspicious debut in her staff work: Calling outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) "garbage."

This is the same hate monger that promised to organize armed revolution in the hills if West lost.

From News Hounds: Glenn Beck outdid himself in crazy yesterday as he went on an hour-long smearfest against George Soros that suggested – via suggestion and unfounded hypothesis – he has somehow conspired with Democrats, progressives and the Obama administration to demolish the U.S. economy.

Consider a Beck/O’Donnell ticket for 2012.  How sweet would that be?

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What’s up in your world?

Yesterday I kept up to date with comments and returned a bunch of long overdue visits.  I didn’t visit my entire blogroll, but they don’t make days long enough for that. Today I hope to keep up with comments.  It’s a medical mayhem day with X-Rays, lung function tests and doctor visits, so I’ll be running like a Teabagger candidate at a reporters’ convention.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:14 (average 4:20).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Lefty Bloggers Plus Report – Week 9:

Scores:

Week 9	Score
Rob’s Roosters Recovering Republic…	87.8 96.7	Final
Greensburg Wombats Teabuggery Trashers	105.9 109.7	Final
Lionel Hutz + The H… elliot’s Team	91.0 83.3	Final
Jay’s Team Playin w/out a helm…	157.2 51.9	Final
Seahawks Rock hugos misfits	97.0 69.5	Final

Standings:

Team	W-L-T	Pct.	GB
Recovering Republic…	7-2-0	0.778	0.0
Lionel Hutz + The H…	6-3-0	0.667	1.0
Seahawks Rock	6-3-0	0.667	1.0
Jay’s Team	5-4-0	0.556	2.0
Greensburg Wombats	5-4-0	0.556	2.0
Teabuggery Trashers	5-4-0	0.556	2.0
Rob’s Roosters	5-4-0	0.556	2.0
Playin w/out a helm…	3-6-0	0.333	4.0
hugos misfits	2-7-0	0.222	5.0
elliot’s Team	1-8-0	0.111	6.0

I’m pleased to report that I won in all three leagues.  But those dang Republicans!!

Short Takes:

From HJuffington Post: A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday to block a new amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would prohibit state courts from considering international or Islamic law when deciding cases.

U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange handed down the order after an Oklahoma man filed a lawsuit claiming the amendment stigmatized his religion and would invalidate his will, which he said is partially based on Islamic Law, also known as Sharia Law.

It will be interesting to watch this proceed, but I had hoped it would be on something that is more an affront to their hateful bigotry.

From Portland Examiner: Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has been fired by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox after creating a blog attacking and harassing gay University of Michigan college student and Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) President Chris Armstrong.

Shirvell is the creator of an over the top homophobic blog titled "Chris Armstrong Watch," On the blog Shirvell has accused the MSA president of promoting a “radical homosexual agenda,” and of being a Nazi and Satan’s representative on thee assembly.

How typical for a Republican Theocon to be committing a hate crime, violating the rights of someone whose rights he has sworn to defend.

From McClatchy DC: President Barack Obama ended his three-day trip to India Monday with a call for raising the world’s biggest democracy to global power status by granting it a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

I disagree with this move.  I have no beef with India, per se, but no nation that has refused to sign and abide by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty should have a seat on the Security council.  Additionally, should the cold war between India and Pakistan turn hot, this would give India a veto against sanctions.

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After a week, have your eyes dried?