I’m writing for tomorrow, day 140. I rose early to do my research and an am now attending an early meditation, while writing.  The Broncos do not meditate until this evening.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:13 (average 4:14).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Ecstasy: (including 2nd half heartburn)

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: American hostages have been brutally murdered by terrorists in the Middle East. Other Western captives may suffer the same fate at the hands of the Islamic State. In response, President Obama’s opponents are doing what they always do when the going gets tough for the United States: ask WWRD? In "What Would Reagan Do," CNN Crossfire host Newt Gingrich penned an imaginary speech that a mythical version of the Gipper would deliver to the nation about the threat from ISIS. Over at the Washington Times, Gayle Trotter [Murdoch delinked] used the same gambit, inventing a Reaganesque address announcing military strikes to make the point that "Americans expect their president to vindicate the victims of terrorism." Meanwhile, Breitbart News [Breitfart delinked] even interviewed President Reagan’s former National Security Adviser Robert "Bud" McFarlane to provide a lecture about "peace through strength."

Unfortunately for the Gipper’s hagiographers, we know exactly what Reagan would do about terrorists with American blood on their hands. President Reagan would send them a cake, a Bible and American weapons. And the Oval Office address he would deliver to the nation would start something like the one he gave on March 4, 1987 [Saint Ronnie Ray Gun delinked]:

Click through for the rest of the story about how Reagan’s claim not to know was a lie, about how he failed, and about how he put his tail between his legs and ran away. Such fiascos are the norm, whenever Republicans are in charge of foreign policy. Prevent it. Get out the vote!!

From The New Yorker: Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted President Obama on Saturday for failing to bomb Stonehenge while in the United Kingdom for the NATO summit.

“This is a time when it’s important to send our enemies the message that the United States is strong,” McCain told Fox News. “I can think of no better way to do that than by blowing Stonehenge off the map.”…

Andy, that’s not news. McConJob will fill in his "Bomb, bomb __________!" blank with anyplace!

From NY Times: President Obama will delay taking executive action on immigration until after the midterm elections, bowing to pressure from fellow Democrats who feared that acting now could doom his party’s chances this fall, White House officials said on Saturday.

The decision is a reversal of Mr. Obama’s vow to issue broad directives to overhaul the immigration system soon after summer’s end, and sparked swift anger from immigration advocates. The president made the promise on June 30, in the Rose Garden, where he angrily denounced Republican obstruction and said he would use the power of his office to protect immigrant families from the threat of deportation.

“Because of the Republicans’ extreme politicization of this issue, the president believes it would be harmful to the policy itself and to the long-term prospects for comprehensive immigration reform to announce administrative action before the elections,” a White House official said. “Because he wants to do this in a way that’s sustainable, the president will take action on immigration before the end of the year.”

This was a very unwise move on Obama’s part, and a cowardly move on the part of whichever Senate Democrats urged the delay. Republicans will use this in two ways. First, they will use the fear of what Obama may do later to keep their racist base drooling blood. Second they will make false promises to implement reforms they have no intent to carry out. If that isn’t bad enough, it will tend to alienate the Latino community at at time we need to be be motivating supporters.  In short, playing into fear only makes matters worse.

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I’m writing for tomorrow, day 138.  Last night I fell asleep while meditating on the Holy Ellipsoid Orb on the Day of Blessed Illumination Return.  As penance I shall have to watch Faux Noise.  Woe is me!! :-(  I leave for physical therapy shortly, and I’m writing now, so I will have this Open Thread to post.  The next few days will be busy.  Sunday is a Holy day.  Monday is a Holy night.  Tuesday is a prison volunteer day.  I need to complete the dreaded chore between now and then, because nekkid is not included in the volunteer dress code.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:57 (average 4:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: There are 45,000 wildfires per year in the southeastern U.S. alone, and since 2000, we’ve had eight of the worst years for wildfires. Now, of course, it’s not just climate change that’s causing this, but after you watch this video, you’ll understand reason number gazillion for us needing to do something about what’s happening to our planet.

Since Republicans represent the polluters that exacerbate this problem, they must be removed from office. Get out the vote!

From NY Times: Former Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia and his wife, Maureen, were convicted of corruption in federal court on Thursday, after a trial that shattered the political career of the onetime Republican star and peeled back the couple’s private life to the bone.

As he was pronounced guilty on 11 counts of conspiracy, bribery and extortion, Mr. McDonnell covered his face with his hands and his head fell nearly to the defense table. His wife, convicted on nine counts, looked straight ahead. There were sobs from the seats behind them where their five adult children and other family members sat.

Isn’t it ironic that this Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian hypocrite, who campaigned on the sanctity of his family, tried to save his own cowardly butt by trashing his wife. May he be probed with his own internal ultrasound wand!

From AlterNet: Obscene Device Laws in Alabama and Sandy Springs, Georgia

The sale of sex toys is legal in most of the U.S.: any local politician who tried to outlaw the sale of vibrators in Seattle, Philadelphia or Los Angeles would be laughed out of office. But parts of the Bible Belt still have so-called “obscene device” laws, including Alabama (where the sale of sex toys was outlawed in 1998 and Christian fundamentalists continue to defend that law). Texas had a ban on the sale of sex toys, but it was rendered unenforceable when a 5th Circuit ruling declared the law unconstitutional in 2008. In Sandy Springs, Georgia, a city ordinance has stated, in effect, that one needs a doctor’s prescription to acquire a sex toy. In May, a local woman named Melissa Davenport filed a lawsuit against the city of Sandy Springs on the grounds that the law was unconstitutional.

Bubba Bagger knows that, if a gal has a toy, she has no reason to mate with him. This is just one of ten Inhumane Republican Laws. Click through for the other nine.

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I’m writing for tomorrow, day 137.  I’m running way late, because I slept earlier.  The Church of the Ellipsoid Orb starts in ten minutes.  So I will be meditating and composing at the same time, as the Ellipsoid Orb shines its holy light fully for the first time since the Super Bowl.  I have to be up early in the morning for physical therapy, and because of that, I will probably have an Open Thread at most on Saturday morning.  I hear that in Virginia, it was a bad day for slime.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 2:58 (average 4:54).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: In the last twenty years, there have been three occasions when the Republicans have won national elections, but received less votes than the Democrats.

The direction of the nation would be vastly different, and the progressive legacy so much more profound, if, in each instance, power had simply been granted to the side that won the most votes.

In the 1996 Congressional elections, the House Democrats received 60,000 more votes than the Republicans, but the Republicans remained in the majority, and in control of the legislative agenda.

The Congressional term produced the Balanced budget act and tax relief act of 1997, but beyond that, it was a period of extreme volatility and confrontational politics, personified by Speaker Gingrich, whose management style was so disorganized and unpredictable that within three years, his own lieutenants tried to depose him in a chaotic coup. By the time he was forced out in 1998, many former members say they were terrified to open up the newspaper in the morning, fearful he had said or done that could cause them political heartburn.

If the Democrats had taken back the House – because they got the most votes – the nation would have been spared the dysfunction, and there would have been far less of a sense of the country remaining fundamentally conservative. Although the Republicans would still have retained the Senate, the Democratic House, under Dick Gephardt, would have controlled the legislative agenda, which would have been decidedly more progressive.

Click through for analysis of the other two times Republicans won by losing and how much America has suffered because of it. Every Republican in office is one Republican too many!

From The New Yorker: Arguing that his motto “Don’t do stupid stuff” is not a coherent foreign policy, critics of President Obama are pressuring him to do something stupid without further delay.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) led the attack on Thursday, blasting Obama for failing to craft a stupid response to crises in Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine.

“Instead of reacting to these events with the haste and recklessness they deserve, the President has chosen to waste valuable time thinking,” McCain said. “This goes against the most fundamental principles of American foreign policy.”

But Andy, If Obama did something stupid enough to completely satisfy McConJob and Lindsey Poo, he’d be deporting himself to Kenya.

From Upworthy: Well-meaning people sometimes make off-handed remarks to each other and to people of color that are hurtful and offensive. Calling out friends and acquaintances on remarks like those in this clip is beyond frustrating because no one ever wants to admit that racism is nuanced. Thank the heavens for comedians.

That would be a more of a Republican problem, if Republicans went on a low-hate diet.

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