Politics Plus

Following the best laid plans of mice and men, I woke up yesterday morning to a dead router.  No lights-no connectivity.  Everything I do is wireless, so I plugged the modem into the computer just long enough to confirm that the electronics store was open and walked 3/4 of a mile to get there.  This weekend only, it was closed until noon.  Grrr!!  I walked home, rested until noon, walked back, bought a router, returned home and installed it.  Sadly as soon as connectivity was restored, Microsoft Update went to work in the background, and when I rebooted for the router, the update was installed too.  In the process, the two conflicted and wiped out my Antivirus definitions too.  It took me hours to recover the system enough to barely direct connect to the Internet, and download new virus definitions.  I spent two more hours chatting with a nice fellow from India, who could almost speak English.  We finally got the router working properly, and I crawled into bed, without replying to comments or returning visits.  I hope to do better today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:05.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Bloomberg: President Barack Obama, focusing on ways to spur economic growth with less than two months to the congressional elections, will urge Congress to permanently extend and expand a research and development tax credit for businesses.

This is a good idea, but it needs to be coupled with grants for independent research.

From News Hounds: In honor of Labor Day, a special Cost of Freedom “business block” on Fox News made a special effort to attack unions. Actually, substitute host Stuart Varney didn’t just attack unions, he accused Bruce Raynor, of Workers United, of siding with “our enemies.” Why? Because Raynor supported the Obama administration’s report to the United Nations “equating the difficulty of organizing a union here in America to a human rights offense.”

The US has treaty obligations to allow workers to freely unionize, so Republican roadblocks are a human rights offense.  But Fox was right.  Obama was siding with Fox’s enemies: American workers.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

This day, thou shalt not labor!

Yesterday I spent the day working with a friend to try to prevent Banksters from foreclosing on her.  She has personally been the target of many of the dirty Bankster tricks I write about here in protest.  I can’t say that she will be successful, but there’s a chance.  Before I left, I did catch up with comments and made two modifications.  First was the Nameless fix.  Since he regularly posts replies with two links, that go to moderation because of it, I raised the number of links required to trigger moderation from the default two to three.  Second I installed the Lisa Memorial Toolbar.  You’ll see it when you comment.  I’m running on zero sleep, because of the heat.  It built up because the apartment was closed up all day.  The heat wave is over now. Today I have a September’s grocery order being delivered.  Putting everything away will wear me out, but I’ll try to start returning visits first.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:38.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Politico: Christopher J. Ward, the former treasurer for the National Republican Congressional Committee, pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to embezzling more $844,000 from the NRCC and other committees he worked for, ending one of the largest campaign embezzlement schemes in Washington history.

Now the party of crooks is stealing their own money.

From TPM: Sharron Angle is continuing to rail against unemployment benefits — going so far as to say that extending the payments "really doesn’t benefit anyone."

And she reflects the Republican stance on the issue.

From McClatchy DC: Jewish settlers across the West Bank have vowed to begin construction in more than 60 locations, posing a direct challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he returned home from Thursday’s first round of direct peace talks in Washington.

I have opined that Netanyahu does not want peace.  Hefre is his chance to prove me wrong.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

Labor not today.

Yesterday I fell further behind, because of my volunteer work co-facilitating a therapy group for former prisoners.  Today I plan to reply to comments and return visits.

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

Fantasy Football:Lefty Bloggers Plus players, the first game is one week from tonight on 9/9.  Don’t forget to set your starters.

Short Takes:

From Vanity Fair: Even as Sarah Palin’s public voice grows louder, she has become increasingly secretive, walling herself off from old friends and associates, and attempting to enforce silence from those around her. Following the former Alaska governor’s road show, the author delves into the surreal new world Palin now inhabits—a place of fear, anger, and illusion, which has swallowed up the engaging, small-town hockey mom and her family—and the sadness she has left in her wake.

The article is worth the read.

From Right Wing Watch: Right-wing radio host Michael Medved in his new Townhall column has discovered how God would vote in the upcoming election, and the answer isn’t surprising. According to Medved, “it’s difficult to escape the conclusion that the Almighty would cast his all-important ballot for Republicans.”

But how can he be so sure of how God would vote in November? Well, Medved argues that progressives’ commitment to social justice cannot have religious sanction because he says that progressivism, unlike conservatism, is inherently discriminatory.

What?  The party of profiling calls US discriminatory?!!?  Scheeesch!!  Anyway, to confirm this, one way or the other, I interviewed God this morning.  She says she’s a progressive Democrat. 😉

From McClatchy DC: The National Weather Service has issued a hurricane warning for much of the North Carolina coast and people are being urged to leave low-lying areas as Earl slowly lumbers north.

You easterners, please take care and stay out of Lisa’s  Earl’s way.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

What are you planning for the Labor Day weekend?

Yesterday my errands took longer than I intended, our President wanted some changes made to the 7th Step brochure before it goes to the printer, and my COPD flared up, so in the best laid plans of mice and men, I never got back to reply to comments or return visits.  I expect to catch up today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:40.  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Hewlett-Packard has agreed to pay 55 million dollars to settle claims the US computer giant defrauded the US government, the Justice Department announced Monday.

And the person responsible wants to be the next Senator from CA.

From Huffington Post: S&P just put our elected officials on notice: Submit to the proclamations of the Deficit Commission or we’ll downgrade our rating of government debt.

That’s blackmail, plain and simple. This threat comes from a privately-owned company whose rating process is riddled with conflicts, and which has gotten virtually every critical assessment of recent years spectacularly wrong.

This company is one of the ones responsible for the bogus top ratings for bundled mortgages that are not toxic assets.

From Crooks and Liars: In Tennessee, ten candidates file suit after discovering widespread voter disenfranchisement in the August 5th primary.

In Houston, 10,000 voting machines and associated data spontaneously combusts, incinerating the machines and tapes, and leaving a right-wing Republican’s allegations of voter fraud standing with nothing to prove or disprove them.

In South Carolina, ES&S voting machines are used to nominate an unknown and non-viable Democratic candidate to run against Jim DeMint.

In Alaska, tea party candidate Joe Miller alleges vote tampering by the Murkowski campaign.

In every state that uses electronic voting machines with no paper trail, and where Republicans control the vote counting, Republican candidates will receive a three to five point advantage.

Cartoon: from Cagle.com

As the month comes to an end, how was August for you?