Politics Plus

I’m feeling better today than yesterday, but that isn’t saying a lot.  There are things that I’d like to get out and do, but it’s cold enough to freeze the Obamaballs off a brass Nevada Leg Hound!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:37).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:
From Upworthy: A Whole New Way To Think About Stress That Changes Everything We’ve Been Taught

Before I learned to manage stress, I used to suffer from severe GERD. Because I learned to treat stress as something to energize me to take pro-social action to changer the things I can help change, to defer the things I can help change later, and to give the things I cannot help change into God’s care, I developed a cast iron gut. I can now eat super-spicy foods, even my own infamous, triple-burn chili,  without heartburn, let alone acid reflux.

From YouTube: Bill Nye’s Debate Victory Lap on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

I have no trouble at all reconciling my own Christian faith with scientific fact. Ken Hamm and other Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians misinterpret teaching through myth as historical fact, when it is not. For those who wish to watch the entire debate (2:45:33), here it is:

From Alternet: State Sen. Lee Bright: Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in South Carolina

In South Carolina, state Sen. Lee Bright is challenging veteran Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for his senate seat. It’s difficult to find someone further on the loony fringe than this Club for Growth-endorsed candidate.

A member of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Board of Visitors, Bright has been a sponsor of the “Life Begins at Conception Act” for the past three years. In April 2013, Bright introduced a bill that would end all abortions in South Carolina. He has also sponsored bills that would criminalize the Affordable Care Act and bills that would exempt South Carolina from federal gun laws.

Bright has also called FEMA a "scam,” and has promised “to get rid of the IRS.” After seeing a video of IRS agents training with AR-15 rifles, Bright said, “They’re doing assault-weapon training, the Brown Shirts are next because that’s the enforcement for Obamacare. If you don’t have an IRS, you don’t have Obamacare. That’s the mechanism that’s controlling our lives for far too long.”

It gets worse. Bright believes federal income tax is something “designed by Nazi Germany,” and in a series of speeches to pro-faithful gatherings has promoted the idea of reigniting the Civil War. “If at first you don’t secede, try again” is one of his favorite applause lines. “If the 10th Amendment won’t protect the Second, we might have to use the Second to protect the 10th,” is another.

This is just one of five new Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian nut-job candidates for the US Senate. Beware!! Click through for the other four.

Cartoon:

I’m writing for tomorrow, and it’s 27° here in temperate Portland, and it won’t likely get above 32° before next Tuesday.  I’m not going anywhere today, so I figured I’d get you a real Open Thread, before I run out of gas.  I found a few items I think you’ll like, but please bear in mind that I’m les out of the loop than a Faux Noise sheeple, only because nobody is packing my head with lies.

Late Update: It has come to my attention that Nelson Mandela has died, and I mourn the loss of a great hero.  I remember when most of the world united in protest against the inhuman cruelty of apartheid.  Few opposed the sanctions, but Ronald Reagan, patron saint of today’s Republican Party vetoed the Bill calling for US sanctions against South Africa.  Fortunately, Democrats in the House and Senate, with the help of a few moderate Republicans (They really did exist.), overrode St. Ronnie’s shameful veto.  I wish comfort to Mandela’s family and to all who loved him.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:57 (average 4:35).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Update (belated):

Here’s the latest from our fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

After several discouraging weeks, I benched Erik Decker.  ARGH!!  I was very fortunate to win.

Standings:

This week’s games are the last of the regular season, and playoffs begin the following week.  The two low teams (still undetermined) will play a consolation game.  The other eight will be in the playoffs.  Good luck to all!!

Short Takes:

From PR Watch: Internal documents from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) published by The Guardian provide stunning insight into the inner workings of the "corporate bill mill" — and offer new evidence about how the group has continually misled reporters, the public, and even its own members.

The notoriously secretive ALEC has been thrust into the sunlight in the two years since the Center for Media and Democracy launched ALECexposed.org, analyzed over 800 of ALEC’s previously-secret model bills, and documented the corporations and legislators pushing ALEC’s legislative agenda. It now appears that ALEC has been scorched by the sunshine.

According to the new Guardian documents , which were apparently prepared for ALEC’s board in August, over the past two years ALEC has been losing corporate members, suffering from major funding shortfalls, and anticipates legal trouble with ethics rules and its charitable tax status. 

ALEC is still supported by tobacco, oil, and pharmaceutical interests, but has lost around 60 corporate members in the fallout over ALEC’s role in promoting Stand Your Ground legislation, voter ID, climate change denial, and an array of other controversial, corporate-friendly bills, the documents show.

Click through for more.  I love to see Koch suckers with their indecency exposed.

From Daily Kos: A bishop in a Mormon church outside Salt Lake City has shined a light on the hypocrisy and selfishness of members of his church by dressing as a homeless man and gauging their reactions to him.

David Musselman had a makeup artist transform his face and donned an unkempt wig, fake beard, and glasses.  He then entered the church last Sunday and approached churchgoers to see what they would do.  He found many of them did not practice what he preached…

…Most of Musselman’s church members ignored him, although five of them actually asked him to leave.

At one time there was a video associated with this story, but someone terminated the account of the person who posted it. Kudos to the Bishop. This hypocrisy is not only true of many Mormon congregations, but also of most Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian churches.  Were Jesus to enter their congregations with the attitudes and associations He practiced, at best, they would shun Him. At worst, they would crucify Him again.

From Upworthy: The One Where A Walmart-Friendly PR Firm Creates An Ad So Full Of Propaganda It’s Actually Hilarious

Now comes this interesting "ad" that hides behind the group name "Worker Center Watch." And, according to The Nation, the website in the ad … wait for it … is owned by the former head lobbyist for Walmart [sic] itself, Joseph Kefauver. So, like the ad says, don’t worry about people trying to improve their lot in life. Just go buy stuff to feel better.

Dang! You could fertilize Wall-fart’s veggies with that one!!

Cartoon:

I bet Mooseolini, aka Drill Baby Dingbat, aka Bloody Bullseye Barbie likes it too!

I’m writing for tomorrow and am still ill and on a minimal schedule.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos are worshiping with the Chargers, but I do not know if it will be televised here.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:45 (average 4:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: This Video Goes From Ordinary To Breathlessly Disturbing At 30 Seconds

If you’ve been even barely awake for the last 10 years, you’ve heard some of the endless back-and-forth about torture on our airwaves. Extraordinary rendition. CIA black sites. Sermons about the trade-offs between security and human rights. But the truth is, there are no words in any language to describe what the actual experience of being tortured is like. This video is about as close as you’ll want to get.

This is what ChickenHawk Cheney and the Republican Party are proud of and want to continue. It is also what Barack Obama and the Democratic party ended and outlawed.

From NY Times: For what may be the first time on record, a former prosecutor in Texas is going to jail for failing to turn over exculpatory evidence in a murder trial. The 10-day jail sentence for the prosecutor, Ken Anderson, is insultingly short — the victim of his misconduct, Michael Morton, spent nearly 25 years in prison. But because prosecutors are so rarely held accountable for their misconduct, the sentence is remarkable nonetheless.

In 1987, Mr. Morton was convicted of beating to death his wife, Christine, and sentenced to life in prison. He maintained his innocence, and in 2010 DNA testing confirmed that he was not the killer.

Even before a Texas court vacated Mr. Morton’s conviction, his lawyers alleged that Mr. Anderson, the prosecutor in his case, had deliberately withheld evidence that would have exonerated him.

Such misconduct is all too common.  Working as a prosecutor is often the first rung on the ladder for those seeking higher political office. Because anything less than a perfect record can end a political career, before it starts, prosecutors have a built in incentive to get the conviction, even when they know the defendant is innocent. Until we stop using fear of crime as political fodder, it is impossible to build political incentives based of finding the truth, where clearing an innocent defendant carries as much political incentive as convicting a guilty one. In the meantime, prosecutors found to have withheld exculpatory evidence should serve a sentence equal to the time served by their innocent victims. In this vase, ten days, however unique, is an insult to justice.

From YouTube: Mother Jones reporter Sarah Posner broke the story this week that George W. Bush is keynoting a fundraiser for the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute, a group with the goal of getting Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah in the quest to bring about the Second Coming of Christ. Rachel Maddow found it more than a little disturbing a former President of the United States would freely associate himself with a fringe, controversial group like that.

I agree with Rachel. People have a right to believe what they will, no matter how wing-nutty that may be. However our founding fathers must have been listening to our founding mothers, because they had the wisdom to outlaw political policy based on religious dogma via the Establishment Clause. Unfortunately, the Republican Party cares no more for the Establishment Clause than they do for the rest of the US Constitution. Please Remember, these Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians do not in any way represent authentic Christianity.

Cartoon:

Hate the wars. Love the warriors.