Politics Plus

I’m writing for tomorrow, and trying to get my body clock adjusted.  I hope that you are all having a fantastic week.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:34 (average 4:28).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: President Obama has imperiled his second term by lying to the American people, one of the nation’s foremost lying experts said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The accusation carried weight, observers said, coming as it did from a legendary figure in the high-stakes world of competitive lying.

He was harshly critical of Mr. Obama’s fibbing, calling it “amateurish at best,” contrasting the President’s lack of lying experience with his own half-century of dishonesty.

“The American people deserve a President who is a world-class liar,” he said. “Sadly, they do not have that President.” …

Little Lord Willard, aka Rmoney, certainly was the world champion at etching his sketch.

From NY Times: Few topics in American society have more myths and stereotypes surrounding them than poverty, misconceptions that distort both our politics and our domestic policy making.

They include the notion that poverty affects a relatively small number of Americans, that the poor are impoverished for years at a time, that most of those in poverty live in inner cities, that too much welfare assistance is provided and that poverty is ultimately a result of not working hard enough. Although pervasive, each assumption is flat-out wrong.

Contrary to popular belief, the percentage of the population that directly encounters poverty is exceedingly high. My research indicates that nearly 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 60 will experience at least one year below the official poverty line during that period ($23,492 for a family of four), and 54 percent will spend a year in poverty or near poverty (below 150 percent of the poverty line).

Most of us fall on hard times, at one time or another, and the Republican recession makes this more true now than at other times . Republicans like to couch the safety net as takers taking from makers, but that is just projection.   They are describing their own welfare for the 0.1%, because we are the makers, and they are the takers. The safety net is us helping us, and we should.

From Truthdig: A new oil reservoir holding as many as 3.5 billion barrels was discovered directly beneath the 1948 armistice line that formally divides Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel has moved the border to get access to the well. Will Palestinians get a cut?

I think they will… right under the chin, unfortunately.

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I’m writing for tomorrow.  I did remember to fall back, and whem I did, I spent 4e5r minutes of that hour taking a cat nap.  I’m ready for more.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:12 (average 4:15).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The scariest Republican Halloween costume ever

One could also go as a SNAP bill, an immigration bill, etc. ad infinitum. 

From MSNBC: How Virginia’s races are playing out for GOP

Terry McAuliffe would be my last choice as a Democratic candidate, but as Cuccinelli’s fellow Republican said, Cuccinelli does not meet the standards to qualify as a mammal.  So, go Terry!!

From Alternet: Suzanne Somers is still an idiot, and the WSJ prints her error-ridden Obamacare hitjob anyway.

While Thighmaster spokeswoman Suzanne Somers has matured since her hit TV show days, her plumpers and politics have pretty much ossified. Her enlightened take on the Affordable Care Act appeared in the Wall Street Journal this week, concluding that it’s “a greater Ponzi scheme than that pulled off by Bernie Madoff.” She wrote 535 hysterical words, in which Lenin came up in addition to Madoff, on the topic of this dreaded “socialized medicine.” By the next day, the Journal had published nearly a fifth as many words in corrections.

But it did not correct the “Ponzi scheme” assertion, which was based on flimsy anecdotes about relatives who had bad experiences with Canadian doctors, and how Somers is hearing on the news that everyone’s premium is doubling and tripling. (Any guesses as to which so-called news channel she watches?)

This piece of rocket science appeared in WSJ’s "The Experts" section, which bills itself as “an exclusive group of industry, academic and cultural thought leaders who weigh in on the latest debates.”

This will definitely be our go-to section for expert analysis henceforth.

This is only the first of ten Republican doozies from last week alone. Click through for the other nine. Now the WSJ has always been conservative, but even in your wildest dreams, can you image that paper deeming Somers, an air-head who actually fits the blonde bimbo stereotype she played as Chrissy Snow, a health care expert?   This would never have happened, before Rupert Murdoch started turning the WSJ into Faux Print, the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Jr.

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