Open Thread – 9/21/2010

 Posted by at 12:05 am  Open Thread, Personal
Sep 212010
 

Yesterday when writing my articles in the early AM, I felt a little feverish.  When I got up the second time, the flu-bug had hit full force, and I felt like something I should have buried in my cat box long ago.  I spent the day in bad, and will likely do so again today, after posting a single article in addition to this one.  I will catch up with everyone’s comments and blogs as soon as I can.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:54.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Lefty Bloggers Plus Report:

Scores:

Week 2

Score

 

hugos misfits

Recovering Republic…

62.8

105.0

Final

Seahawks Rock

Playin w/out a helm…

83.7

73.9

Final

Jay’s Team

elliot’s Team

85.3

95.0

Final

Greensburg Wombats

Lionel Hutz + The H…

105.7

99.3

Final

Rob’s Roosters

Teabuggery Trashers

116.7

90.8

Final

Standings:

Team

W-L-T

Pct.

GB

Rob’s Roosters

2-0-0

1.000

0.0

Greensburg Wombats

2-0-0

1.000

0.0

Recovering Republicans

2-0-0

1.000

0.0

elliot’s Team

2-0-0

1.000

0.0

Lionel Hutz + The Hail Marys

1-1-0

0.500

1.0

Seahawks Rock

1-1-0

0.500

1.0

Teabuggery Trashers

0-2-0

0.000

2.0

Jay’s Team

0-2-0

0.000

2.0

Playin w/out a helmet

0-2-0

0.000

2.0

hugos misfits

0-2-0

0.000

2.0

I thought I had Rob, but he got mw with a late comeback.  May that prove prophetic to his House race in SC.

However, given the way he has humiliated me, my su[pport for his political career is on thin ice. 😉

Short Take:

From nwfdailynews: Authorities say security for last weekend’s canceled Quran burning at a central Florida church cost around $200,000. City officials say they expect the church to pay.

Police Maj. Rick Hanna said more than 200 officers were on duty last weekend patrolling the church, the University of Florida football game and "soft targets" like the mall. Another 160 sheriff’s deputies were also working because of the planned protest at Dove World Outreach Center.

Frankly I hope the community sticks it to these Republican bigots with a vengeance.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

21fitzsimmons

Patience, please.

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Open Thread – 9/20/2010

 Posted by at 1:40 am  Open Thread, Personal
Sep 202010
 

Yesterday was a day of religious meditation (NFL).  I hope to catch up on comments and returning visits today, but I have a lot of chores to do.

Religious Ecstasy:

DenWeek2

Phew!  Losing to the Seachickens requires self-flagellation as penance.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:02.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Boston Globe: BP’s blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has been killed, five months after an explosion sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in US history.

It’s all over, except a generation or more of environmental degradation. 🙁

From UKPA/Google: Afghan election observers have raised serious concerns about the weekend parliamentary elections because of reported fraud.

But President Hamid Karzai commended the balloting as a solid success.

My money is on the former.

From TPM: Newt Gingrich got a lot of deserved grief last week for his race-baiting rant about President Obama’s "anti-colonial Kenyan" world view. I’m sure he’ll get much less for his call this weekend for federal legislation banning the imposition of Sharia Law in the United States.

The Newtered One has hit a new low for the manufacture whacky-doodle-do distractions over non-issues.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

20wolverton

OGIM!!

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The Environment: A Republican View

 Posted by at 12:50 am  Personal
Sep 192010
 

I swear!  Next Republicans will claim that the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is good for the environment.  It would be no more absurd than this:

republican-lies Two U.S. senators who toured the oilsands Friday say they were impressed by Alberta’s success in balancing industry with environmental stewardship, but critics say the government tour is biased in favour of development.

Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Saxby Chambliss said the tour, organized by government and industry officials, has persuaded them Alberta is taking a conscientious approach to oilsands development.

"The actual mining is a very small part of the landscape up here, so when you fly over you see a lot of nature and rivers and wilderness," Graham said during a tour of the Syncrude facility in Fort McMurray. "Once you get in the site, it’s just massive . . . It’s a kind of industrial ballet up here."

The two Republicans and Senator Kay Hagan, a Democrat, also toured an area that has been reclaimed.

"From my point of view the environmental issues are being addressed in a responsible way," Graham said. "I am for full-speed-ahead in terms of using Canadian oilsands oil in America."

The tour did not include a visit to aboriginal communities downstream from the oilsands, whose residents believe their water, food and bodies are being poisoned by the operations. The senators did not meet with renowned biologist David Schindler or any other critics of development.

Senator Saxby Chambliss said he was particularly impressed with the technological advances and reclamation efforts…[emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

Here is a reply worth 5,000 words that demonstrates that these Republicans are liars.

(Off topic: See today’s Open Thread for Maher’s New Rules.)

19oilsands1

19oilsands2

 

19oilsands3

 

19oilsands4

 

19oilsands5

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Open Thread – 9/19/2010

 Posted by at 12:47 am  Open Thread, Personal
Sep 192010
 

Yesterday I caught up on comments and returning visits, taking most of the day to do so.  Today, I will be away from the blog.  It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb and the Broncos-Seachickens worship service will be televised here.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:26.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Campaign finance reports from the Golden State disclose that the California Beer and Beverage Distributors — a trade organization that represents over 100 beer distributors statewide — is one of the primary backers of the lobby group Public Safety First, sponsors of the No on Prop. 19 campaign.

Beer must be more moral than smoke.

H/T Crooks and Liars: New Rules is back!

I don’t always agree with Bill Maher, but I always laugh at him.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

19matson

Follow the orb!!

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Open Thread – 9/18/2010

 Posted by at 1:13 am  Open Thread, Personal
Sep 182010
 

Yesterday I kept up with replying to comments, but not with returning visits.  I slept late, and a project I was working on took longer than planned.  I blame Lisa for that. :P  Hopefully I can make it up today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 5:49.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Lefty Bloggers Plus:

Players, don’t forget to set your starters for tomorrows games.

Short Takes:

From CNN: Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who lost in the Republican primary last month, says she will launch a write-in campaign to retain her senate seat.

With two righties in the race, the lefty may actually have a slim chance.

From Think Progress: ThinkProgress has put together a document compiling what we know about Delaware GOP Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell in her own words.

How anyone could fit so much garbage between two ears is a wonder.

From Right Wing Watch: In one of the most demeaning parts of a rather outlandish speech, former Pennsylvania Senator and possible presidential candidate Rick Santorum asserted at the Values Voter Summit that families do not exist in poor neighborhoods. [emphasis added]

Shame!

Jig Zone Puzzle: from Cagle.com

18englehart

What’s up this weekend?

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Open Thread – 9/17/2010

 Posted by at 1:44 am  Open Thread, Personal
Sep 172010
 

Yesterday was a busy day.  I had a lot of paperwork to do, a dozen phone calls to make, three fantasy lineups to set and about fifty unanswered pieces in my email inbox.  I had some bad news as well.  I am now in the Donut Hole. :-(  Fortunately, I saw it coming and have been salting away part of my disability all rear to fill the void.  I nevertheless managed to catch up on replying to comments.  Catching up on returning visits is today’s goal, after I get home from running errands.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:56.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes: (all good news today)

From Washington Post: The Senate on Thursday passed a long-stalled bill aimed at providing the nation’s small businesses easier access to credit, the latest effort to create jobs and boost the struggling economy.

The House is expected to accept the Senate version and send it to the President next week.

From LA Times: An emergency relief well has successfully intersected BP’s damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well, federal officials announced Thursday night.

It took long enough!

From The Hill: A top Republican on financial issues said Thursday he was concerned that Elizabeth Warren would use a position in a new consumer protection agency to promote "social justice."

Gregg, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and a senior member of the Banking Committee, expressed dismay at President Obama’s decision to tap Warren as a key "adviser" to help set up the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency established in the Wall Street reform bill.

It’s always a good thing when a Republican leader inadvertently admits that his party opposes social justice.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

17bagley

TGIF!!

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Open Thread – 9/16/2010

 Posted by at 1:26 am  Open Thread, Personal
Sep 162010
 

Yesterday I co-facilitated a therapy group for former prisoners and ran errands afterwards, so I was not here to reply to comments or return visits.  Today looks pretty busy, but I hope to start catching up.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:21  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Bloomberg: More than $21 million into her campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut, Republican Linda McMahon outspent Democrat Richard Blumenthal 16-to-1 through the year’s first half and narrowed his lead to 6 percentage points in a new poll.

This is why we need publicly financed elections.

From LA Times: Smashing the record for the most money ever donated by a candidate in a political election, Republican Meg Whitman has written her gubernatorial campaign a $15-million check that brings her personal stake in the race to $119 million.

This is why we need publicly financed elections.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

16beeler

Dy out have an interesting local race?

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Open Thread – 9/15/2010

 Posted by at 12:40 am  Open Thread, Personal
Sep 152010
 

Yesterday I overslept and had a lot to do, but I still kept up with comments and returned visits.  I won’t be back to the blog until tomorrow, because today is my volunteer day with the therapy group, and I have errands afterwards.  Primaries dominated the news.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:23.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Take:

From Alternet: The US government has said in a Louisiana court it is considering filing a civil complaint against BP under the Clean Water Act to claim 1,100 dollars for each barrel of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico.

If the US administration can prove BP engaged in gross negligence or willful misconduct leading up to the spill, the cost of each barrel spilled is tripled to 4,300 dollars.

The math seems a bit off here, because $1,100 X 3 = $3,300, not $4,300.  Nevertheless, it will be a pants-load of money.  For what are they waiting?

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

15beeler

Happy hump day!!

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