Open Thread–12/27/2015

Posted by TomCat at 9:19 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Dec 272015

It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos have the Monday Night service with the Bengals. Otherwise I have to figure out how to combine six drawers into three and free up 1/3 of my desk space. ARGH!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 5:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos (Best of 2015): I am a Christian business owner in Indiana…

…Not really. But If I were, this is the sign I would put in my door.

"Dear Valued Patrons.

Due to my sincerely held religious beliefs, and in light of the RFRA, recently signed by our Dear Leader Pence, I will no longer be doing business with the following persons; nor permitting them in my establishment:

1. Divorcees. Matthew 19:9: “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery.”

2. Anyone who has ever read their horoscope or called a psychic hotline. Leviticus 20:6: "As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people."

3. Anyone with a tattoo. Leviticus 19:28 "You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord."

4. Anyone born illegitimately. Also, anyone who, back to ten generations, is descended from someone born illegitimately. If you can not PROVE, using appropriate church sources, that ten generations of your family were born in wedlock, I will have to err on the side of caution and not serve you. Deuteronomy 23:2 "No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the LORD."

Click through for the other four. And don’t forget Leviticus 25:44. I get to own a Canadian!!

From The New Yorker:

Within this cycle, it’s been a delight to publish Andy Borowitz’s humor column—and to be continually reminded that, sometimes, the only way to make sense of what’s happening in American politics is to laugh. In that spirit, here are fifteen of my favorite Borowitz Reports from the past year, arranged chronologically.

Joe Biden Releases Both E-mails Written While Vice-President
Iran Offers to Mediate Talks Between Republicans and Obama
Indiana Governor Stunned By How Many People Seem to Have Gay Friends
New Hillary Clinton Ad Features Just Kittens
N.F.L. Sentences Brady to a Year with the Jets

Thanks Andy! Click through for the other 10 links.

From NY Times: After decades of debate in South Carolina over the Confederate battle flag, it seemed the matter had been settled in July, when state officials stopped flying the flag on State House grounds and relegated it to a museum for “appropriate display.”

Then came the price tag.

This month, consultants for the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum [Seditious state agency delinked] here introduced a $5.3 million plan to expand the facility and show off the flag, along with an electronic display of the names of the state’s Civil War dead.

That idea proved to be a bust among Democrats who view the flag as an affront to African-Americans, and among members of both parties who balked at the cost.

$5.3 million?!!? Dang!! For 50¢, I’ll commemorate that flag!! Just give me the flag, a big bowl of my five alarm chili, and an outhouse!!

Cartoon:

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The Right’s Pathetic Paranoia: The 8 Worst ‘War-on-Christmas’ Stories This Year

Posted by Lynn Squance at 2:02 pm Politics, Religion

Dec 242015

The War on Christmas is a right wing conspiracy being played out for political reasons, in my opinion.

Every holiday season, the right-wing outrage machine fires up the masses by feeding them misleading, anecdotal stories about a "war on Christmas." The typical war on Christmas story follows a simple pattern: a small town or an obscure group of people make a tiny, harmless gesture toward secularism; local media gets a hold of it; and an echo chamber of outrage, from The Blaze to AM radio to Fox News escalates the situation to a fever pitch, making villains of the secular scrooges and heroes of the persecuted Christians.

3. O’Reilly flunkie Jesse Watters harrases mayor in grocery story parking lot over alleged Christmas crimes.

Every year in the town of Plantation, Florida, Mark and Kathy Hyatt string 200,000 lights in their front yard and install a 20-foot ferris wheel as part of the “Hyatt Extreme Christmas” that draws thousands of spectators. This year, the town's mayor, Diane Veltri Bendekovic, sued the Hyatts to recoup the added cost to the city for hiring policemen and traffic cops to manage the spectacle, and lo and behold, the dogs of Christmas war were unleashed.

Noted stalker and Long Island fratboy Jesse Watters quickly descended on Plantation, hunting down the demure mayor in a grocery store parking lot where he berated her with his patented line of loaded and bad faith questions. Watch watch the shameful episode below if you can stomach it.

Click through on Alternet for the other 7 Worst 'War-on-Christmas' Stories. Yes, Christmas is a Christian observance, but many people of many faiths also celebrate Christmas, not as a religious observance, but as a time of compassion, love, unity and hope. To celebrate these qualities requires the actions of good people, nothing more.

US Muslims Confront Terror Twice

Posted by TomCat at 12:59 pm Politics, Religion

Dec 222015

Since the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, peace loving Muslims here in the US have born the brunt of hatred stemming from fear, stirred by the Republican Party. I am pleased to see that many are confronting the terrorism, not only from the Daesh, but also from the terrorist organization that threatens far more Americans.

Representatives from American Muslim organizations met at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Monday to announce the launch of a two-pronged approach to combat extremism in the wake of the Paris attacks and San Bernardino and the ensuing anti-Muslim rhetoric and political incitement.

The United States Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), a coalition of leading national and local Muslim organizations, said this new program would focus on steering Muslim youths away from extremist propaganda associated with groups like ISIS and simultaneously oppose hate speech and inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric at Monday’s press conference.

The USCMO said that imams at mosques around the country will work to engage Muslim youth and steer them away from extremist rhetoric. The initiative is also working with interfaith groups in community outreach. One way they plan to spread awareness and understanding is to make mosques and Islamic centers more open to members of the general public.

Speaking at the event, Imam Johari Abdul-Malik of the Muslim Alliance in North America, said mosques would strive to do a “better job of reaching out to young people” about “how to avoid seductive approaches from ISIS and others on the internet.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

I consider it a most positive step for American Muslims to recognize that terrorists are created through the misuse of Islam in pursuit of an ultra-conservative political agenda, and to take steps to head off the propaganda. It is equally positive to oppose the creation of terrorists through the misuse of Christianity in pursuit of a Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian political agenda. Let us not forget that we are far more likely to suffer death or injury at the hands of Republican criminals, pretending to represent Christianity, than we are at the hands of Daesh or Al Qaeda criminals, pretending to represent Islam.

Open Thread–12/22/2015

Posted by TomCat at 12:59 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Dec 222015

The news is mostly good. The shirker and elevation paid off, and George went on, without difficulty, both yesterday and today. Despite horrid weather, the trip to TriMet was uneventful. The lady explained why they have to measure chairs. Sometimes they send lift-equipped Taxis, if that’s more convenient for them, nut different taxis have different capacity ramps. Measuring lets them know which vehicles they can send. In my case, they can send any. My home health care begins today with a visit from my PT. She will probably arrive. before I finish this article. What I want most is my bath aide. I’m, getting a bit ripe. The news news is that the evil Patty Monster mashed my kitty butt!

Later: PT and OT have come and gone, and the RN will be here in less than two hours.

Fantasy Football Report:

16Playoffrs

Congrats to the winners. The bottom four seeds all won, except for me, of course.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: State of Kansas mental health facilities and have seen a rough year under Governor Sam Brownback. Continued budget cuts and problems with overcrowding left facilities like Osawatomie overwhelmed, forcing many employees to work repeated double and triple shifts in order to keep the facility within operating requirements.

http://www.khi.org/news/2014/aug/18/kansas-mental-health-system-under-increasing-stres/

With the patient count so high, many of the hospital’s direct-care staff were pressed into working one, two and sometimes three overtime shifts a week.

“The place is over census and understaffed,” said Rebecca Proctor, executive director at the Kansas Organization of State Employees, a labor union that represents many state hospital front-line workers. “Conditions there are really, really bad.”

Angela de Rocha, a spokesperson for Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, confirmed that the Osawatomie hospital’s patient count on July 15 was “an overall high for the past 10 years.”

On Friday, the The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services informed the state of Kansas it will cease sending federal funds to the facility. Citing failure to meet compliance standards funding for new patients will end today, December 21, at the end of business day.

This is especially heinous, considering that Kansas has so many Republicans that the need for mental health services is as extreme as Brownback's pseudo-Christian response to that need.

From YouTube: Your Holiday Guide to Dealing with Uncle Bob

As always, the Reich on the left is right. You might consider spiking Uncle Bob's apple pie with ex-lax, considering what he's full of.

From The New Yorker: The Democratic National Committee made a big mistake staging the third Presidential-primary debate, which was held at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on a Saturday night, when millions of potential viewers wouldn’t be watching. The debate was lively, informative, and civil. Apart from a brief diversion into whether former President Bill Clinton, should he become the first First Gentleman of the United States, would be entrusted with selecting flowers and menus for official occasions—his wife said that he wouldn’t—it was also substantive. And excluding, for a moment, Martin O’Malley, it reaffirmed the choice facing Democratic voters: experience, moderate reformism, and vigorous engagement abroad (Hillary Clinton) versus passion, an assault on privilege, and an abiding skepticism about overseas military engagements (Bernie Sanders)… [emphasis added]

The New Yorker documented the key difference well. As much as I prefer the latter, I expect to have to settle for the former. I'm sure Slick Willie Clinton will have no trouble selecting flowers: consider Flower Tucci.

1222flowertuicci

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–12/15/2015

Posted by TomCat at 11:34 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Dec 152015

Yesterday I went to TriMet to reestablish lift access in my chair. The ten minute appointment took over three hours. Today the Home Health Nurse is scheduled to come before noon, so this this goes up late, that’s why. Tonight I’m expecting an experience that could be considered Angellic.

Fantasy Football Report:

This weekend it’s playoff time in Lefty Blog Friends, our own Fantasy Football League. Kudos to our top three players in the regular season: Patty Monster, Seth, and Vivian. Condolences to the two players who did not make the playoffs: Dusty and Pam. We look forward to your return next year. Here’s the playoffs bracket.

15Playoffrs

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Elahe Izadi runs down the well-documented efforts of Our Founding Fathers Themselves to ensure that yes, religious freedom even extended to Jews and "pagans" and Muslims.

So unlike Jews and Catholics, Muslims were discussed in the hypothetical — and often with negative opinions, including those held by Thomas Jefferson — to show "how far tolerance and equal civil rights extends," said Denise Spellberg, author of "Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders."

"In the formation of the American ideal and principles of what we consider to be exceptional American values, Muslims were, at the beginning, the litmus test for whether the reach of American constitutional principles would include every believer, every kind, or not," Spellberg said in an interview.

Ending collusion between the state and any state-preferred religion was not just Jefferson’s own objective, but the stance that would be codified in law and in the Constitution. There are ample writings to prove that non-Christian religions were specifically intended to be protected, and anyone who has the slightest intellectual interest in the American version of freedom of religion has read through them already. A few were in my old high school history textbook—but that was back in Ye Olden Days, so I have no knowledge of whether such quotes and letters have been scrubbed by the forces of Texas Jeebus, in the books your own offspring are thumbing through today.

The point is, there’s simply no way to claim you know either the Constitution or what America’s religious freedom was intended to "mean" unless you are aware of Jefferson’s own efforts to ensure sweeping inclusivity and that Jefferson was not operating in an intellectual vacuum but from a broader intellectual and legal movement to do that thing, both within the states and when the time came to piece together the national version people now carry in their shirt pockets.

Share this with Republican friends and family, and hope you aren’t uninvited for the holidays.

From The New Yorker: In what has become a tradition in the nation’s capital, the United States Congress on Monday notched the third anniversary of doing nothing in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

As on the first and second anniversaries of the tragedy, lawmakers took up no new measures to prevent future mass shootings in the United States, and instead chose to mark Newtown’s third anniversary with a day of inaction.

In that respect, the third anniversary of Newtown resembles the thousand-plus days that came before it, during which Congress took no action on guns except to periodically vote down expanded background checks.

Andy knows whose hands are bloody.

From Upworthy: A few days ago in a Bloomberg interview, businessman Michael Moritz was asked about the scarcity of women working at his company, Sequoia Capital.

His responses — among them that the firm is seeking women but is "not prepared to lower our standards" — were described by many as "open mouth, insert foot." Similar remarks across sectors and industries have been described this way, too.

But this foot-in-mouth characterization is wrong: It suggests that the speaker fumbled his words and misspoke.

What’s happening when Moritz talks about "lowering standards" is not a clumsy handling of speech. It’s this: In that moment, a deeply hidden synaptic pathway is temporarily illuminated.

When asked about Sequoia’s lack of women, Moritz said they were looking to hire more. But "what we’re not prepared to do is lower our standards," he said. Now, no one had asked, "Are you willing to lower your standards?" No: That was the question he heard when he was asked about hiring women. That was the association he made automatically.

Here, then, is a map of his synaptic firings: women → lower standards.

With the exception of Republican politicians and pundits, hiring women are is more likely to lead to higher standards.

Cartoon:

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On the Edge – 11/30/2015

Posted by TomCat at 9:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Nov 302015

It’s a very slow day for news, so this is my only article today. Yesterday I meditated on the blessed Orb, did laps around the unit, and went to the rehab room with PT to try to walk on George.

Religious Ecstasy:

1129Broncos30-Patriots24

Wooo Hooo!!!

Short Takes:

From TPM: Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said the suspected shooter at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic was “deranged,” but dismissed any connection between anti-abortion rhetoric and the shooting as “left-wing tactics.”

“This is so typical of the left to immediately begin demonizing a messenger because they don’t agree with the message,” Fiorina said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace.” “The vast majority of Americans agree: What Planned Parenthood is doing is wrong.”

Crazy Carly and the other Republican candidates are bending over backwards to hide the blood on their hands.

From Think Progress:Friday afternoon, one week after elected officials all over the country tried to block Syrian refugees from entering their states in an apparent effort to fight terrorism, a white man in Colorado committed what appears to be an act of terrorism in a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Though the details of Robert Lewis Dear’s motives for killing three people in the clinic and injuring nine others are still being revealed, Dear reportedly told law enforcement “no more baby parts,” an apparent reference to heavily edited videos produced by the Center for Medical Progress, which numerous politicians have cited to falsely claim that Planned Parenthood sells “aborted baby parts.” Dear’s actions, in other words, appear to be an act of politically motivated terrorism directed against an institution widely reviled by conservatives.

Though terrorism perpetrated by Muslims receives a disproportionate amount of attention from politicians and reporters, the reality is that right-wing extremists pose a much greater threat to people in the United States than terrorists connected to ISIS or similar organizations. As UNC Professor Charles Kurzman and Duke Professor David Schanzer explained last June in the New York Times, Islam-inspired terror attacks “accounted for 50 fatalities over the past 13 and a half years.” Meanwhile, “right-wing extremists averaged 337 attacks per year in the decade after 9/11, causing a total of 254 fatalities.”

There you have it. You are seven times more likely to be killed by a Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian terrorist, than by a Muslim terrorist.

From Alternet:On Sunday’s edition of Fox & Friends, host Anna Kooiman couldn’t stop laughing about a man who got stuck in a chimney and died.

Barf Bag Alert.!!

While I don’t defend the attempted burglary, the burglar deserved to be caught and prosecuted. That he was roasted to death was tragic, because he was still human. Only Republicans would laugh at it.

Cartoon:

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5 Injustices deserve the same today.

Monday Morning Musings November 30, 2015

Posted by jla at 5:49 am Blog News, Plus, Politics, Religion

Nov 302015

In politics it is said, that when not fueled by hope there is a vacuum for fear to fill. Since artists turn to the muses, Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania and Calliope we are exploring what they can offer us for inspiration to have the hope fueling politics. Last week we were in the wake of Paris; this week we follow two violent events on American soil (covered in other threads) in Minneapolis and in Colorado Springs yet do not hear near the cacophony of voices loudly urging actions to keep Americans safe. We also follow the holiday most associated with gratitude in the U.S.: Thanksgiving. One Thanksgiving email I received began with this quote: “I saw…that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite ocean of light and love…flowed over the ocean of darkness.” — Journal of George Fox (1647)

Then continued with: ”It can be hard to look into the darkness we find all too easily today: in the suffering and fear of so many, in the cycles of violence. Yet, when we come together with compassion, understanding, and openness, we find the Light in dark places.” It was from the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Calliope is considered the strongest of the nine and imposes serenity. Researchers have been exploring this area and one finding that goes with post-Thanksgiving is:

Gratitude can be transformative:

“The Thanksgiving holiday began, as the name implies, when the colonists gave thanks for their survival and for a good harvest. So perhaps November is a good time to review the mental health benefits of gratitude — and to consider some advice about how to cultivate this state of mind.”

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/in-praise-of-gratitude

“Recently scientists have begun to chart a course of research aimed at understanding gratitude and the circumstances in which it flourishes or diminishes. They’re finding that people who practice gratitude consistently report a host of benefits:

Stronger immune systems and lower blood pressure;
Higher levels of positive emotions;
More joy, optimism, and happiness;
Acting with more generosity and compassion;
Feeling less lonely and isolated.”

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/expandinggratitude/

Anyone want to join me in giving thanks (just in case)? Has it become harder to connect with gratitude when people have a lower standard of living than their parents did or they themselves did 10 years ago (e.g., stagnant wages, retirement accounts wiped out, foreclosure and/or the hidden housing bubble: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/09/1447788/-The-massive-real-estate-bubble-that-no-one-is-talking-about )?

Sometimes children see things more clearly:

http://www.upworthy.com/what-are-you-thankful-for-the-simplicity-in-these-kids-answers-is-heartwarming?c=upw1&u=6ffb12f2d750fff1c628f4ed4366938bb526f1d5

Staying with science, let us hear from Ourania (astronomy) via :“In a 2-minute elevator speech, a NASA scientist shares his greatest hope for the future of earth.”

http://www.upworthy.com/in-a-2-minute-elevator-speech-a-nasa-scientist-shares-his-greatest-hope-for-the-future-of-earth?c=upw1&u=6ffb12f2d750fff1c628f4ed4366938bb526f1d5

Didn’t he make it crystal clear and easy to understand—did he also communicate hope?*

One thing events in Paris affected was people’s plans with COP 21 Nov. 30^th-Dec. 11^th…I’ve seen one group that is collecting photos of people holding empty shoes to represent people who would’ve been marching in Paris to address climate change. Greenpeace is matching individuals who would’ve marched in France with someone marching in another country…the resilience to this purpose in this one (check out the video) is it an example of what Dr. Rignot said was our hope? Is it a love Erato might claim?

https://climateribbon.squarespace.com/english#participate

Does it inspire faith and hope as people persist despite changed circumstances?

Clio (guitar) helps us think out of the box with this one and expand our vision of possibility (video):

https://youtu.be/AnjgeVZL2-M

And Thalia (architecture) might help us get creative (picture gallery):

http://architecture.about.com/od/weirdarchitecture/ig/Funny-Pictures/The-Amazing-Smith-Mansion-in-Wyoming.htm

Erato might claim this kind of love, too:

http://www.upworthy.com/these-13-men-believe-nothing-is-manlier-than-being-a-good-dad?c=upw1&u=6ffb12f2d750fff1c628f4ed4366938bb526f1d5

Can’t the world always use more love? Is it always the answer?

And thank you dear reader for joining me on this journey of discovery!

*Note: Physics is the one field where research questions with answers using statistics often have no error rate so results are not a probability of truth/fact on the subject but are actually the truth or fact of the matter.

If you missed the first installment of this series and would like more information about the muses by reading it:

https://www.7thstep.org/blog/2015/11/23/monday-morning-musings-november-23-2015-2/

On the Edge–11/24/2015

Posted by TomCat at 3:04 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Nov 242015

Today I plan to dress in human clothes and explore the public areas on the first floor of the hospital. Of course, that assumes that PT and or OT does not get here first and exhaust me.

Continuing much later, I did explore. Then the prosthetic people came. Surprise!! New leg tomorrow. Then PT came and worked me. Then OT came and worked me. I’m exhausted.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Warning: Proprietors are not responsible for reader aneurisms caused by the following sentence.

Sarah Palin takes to Facebook to say Jesus likes guns. [Dingbat delinked]

JESUS WOULD FIGHT FOR OUR SECOND AMENDMENT

Taking concrete defense measures (ie. arming ourselves) away from the good guys? Yeah… that… we don’t want that. As this hilarious parody says, “…it will really suck when only the bad guys have guns.”

Let us not forget that Bloody Bullseye Barbie is the Republican who painted a bullseye on Gabby Giffords’ HQ shortly before she was shot. Jesus would take a coil of rope to drive out Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, today’s Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes and money Lenders.

From NY Times: Planned Parenthood sued Texas officials in federal court in Austin on Monday, seeking to block the state from cutting off its Medicaid funding, the latest in a series of lawsuits it has filed against Republican-led states after the controversy over its use of fetal tissue.

Texas and a handful of other states — including Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana — have moved to eliminate Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood amid the controversy. Secretly recorded videos that were released starting in July purported to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to illegally profit from the sale of aborted fetal tissue and discussing the issue with abortion opponents who posed as representatives of a biomedical firm.

Planned Parenthood said that the videos were deceptively edited and that the group did not do anything illegal or unethical. Its officials said the state’s decision to eliminate the group’s Medicaid funding, set to take effect as early as Dec. 8, was politically motivated and without merit.

The nonprofit organization’s lawsuit alleges that Texas violated federal law and the so-called Medicaid freedom of choice provision, which allows those enrolled in Medicaid to seek services from a qualified provider of their choice. The lawsuit also accuses Texas officials of singling out Planned Parenthood for “unfavorable treatment without adequate justification,” a violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

The author is sacrificing truth for balance. The tapes were “edited”. Planned Parented makes tissue donations only with the consent of the patients. Reimbursements to Planned Parenthood only covered the cost of making the tissue donations, but there was never profit. As of 10/15, Planned Parenthood makes tissue donations with no reimbursement whatsoever. The Republican War on Women is still with us.

From Alternet: It’s that time of year again. Time for stuffing one’s face with delicious food while re-connecting with drunk aunts, racist uncles, and disappointed parents. Luckily, since 1981 the folks at Butterball have had a hotline for tips on cooking turkey to make the holidays run just a little smoother. Late Show host Stephen Colbert decided to take this goodwill and troll the hotline because, why not?

Why don’t we leave the poor Turkeys alone. Instead, lets stuff and roast Republicans!!

Cartoon:

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