Politics Plus

It’s 84° at my desk, as I write for day 47 and the last day of July.  We have a couple hotter days forecast followed by a couple more moderate days.  The down side is that in the past, August and September have been our hottest months.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:56 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: For generations, homosexuality has largely been a taboo topic for the Vatican, ignored altogether or treated as “an intrinsic moral evil,” in the words of the previous pope.

In that context, brief remarks by Pope Francis suggesting that he would not judge priests for their sexual orientation, made aboard the papal airplane on the way back from his first foreign trip, to Brazil, resonated through the church. Never veering from church doctrine opposing homosexuality, Francis did strike a more compassionate tone than that of his predecessors, some of whom had largely avoided even saying the more colloquial “gay.”

“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis told reporters, speaking in Italian but using the English word “gay.”

What a surprise that is!! What will the Republican homophobes, who have used their Catholicism to bolster their TEAbuggery, do to justify spewing hate now?

From Truthdig: Illinois state Rep. Mike Bost is running for Congress. Apparently, he’s very loud.

This is a video put together by liberal fundraising group ActBlue, which, it should be noted, would prefer to keep all Republicans out of Congress

I agree with Act Blue. Republicans are bad for everywhere.

From TPM: A bipartisan road map to avoiding a government shutdown is emerging that involves Senate Republicans partnering with Democrats and the White House to corner the House GOP to continue the current funding levels until a broader budget accord is reached.

For it to succeed, the plan will require a handful of Senate Republicans to side with Democrats to break a filibuster and pass annual spending legislation making its way through the upper chamber. That part of the plan is already in motion — although some obstacles remain. If and when it passes, those close to the process say, the Senate and White House would have to stand firm against the House GOP’s strategy to slash domestic and poverty programs to protect the Pentagon in the hope that House Republican leaders would eventually give in and accept the framework as the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline approaches.

The big question is whether united pressure from Democrats and some Senate Republicans will be enough to force the House GOP’s hand. Given the last three years of budget brinksmanship, it’s not clear whether the House GOP will blink, although there are few tell-tale signs that some House Republicans are tiring of the politically damaging standoffs.

As long as Democrats do not cave in, House Republicans will, because the political cost to them  will be so high, otherwise. The question is, will we be able to stomach what comes out of the Senate? Lets not react, based on assumptions. Lets wait and see what actually happens.

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I’m writing early for Day 25, and the temperature at my desk is a comfortable 78°  Sadly that won’t last, because the sun just hit the breezeway and will soon superheat the air.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:05 (average 4:56).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: As more schools consider arming their employees, some districts are encountering a daunting economic hurdle: insurance carriers threatening to raise their premiums or revoke coverage entirely.

During legislative sessions this year, seven states enacted laws permitting teachers or administrators to carry guns in schools. Three of the measures — in Kansas, South Dakota and Tennessee — took effect last week.

But already, EMC Insurance Companies, the liability insurance provider for about 90 percent of Kansas school districts, has sent a letter to its agents saying that schools permitting employees to carry concealed handguns would be declined coverage.

“We are making this underwriting decision simply to protect the financial security of our company,” the letter said.

It’s simple. For EMC, profit trumps ideology. Insurance professionals know just how insane the Republican policy of guns as a solution to gun violence is, and how dangerous it would be in our schools.  This is a defeat for Wing-nut Wayne LaPierre, the Republican Party, and TEAbuggery!

From Think Progress: If a leading conservative scholar and former judge were now on the Supreme Court instead of Chief Justice Roberts or Justice Alito, it is likely that the Voting Right Act would remain intact.

Judge Michael McConnell was a leading conservative law professor at the time President George W. Bush named him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 2002 (he’s since left the bench to return to the legal academy at Stanford Law School). McConnell was also widely viewed as a possible Supreme Court nominee during the Bush Administration.

In an interview with NPR’s Nina Totenberg, McConnell has harsh words for the five conservative justices’ recent decision neutering much of the Voting Rights Act — labeling the reasoning that drove that decision “made up.”

The pleases me to see that there are conservative scholars who place integrity over ideology. If only there were more.  Sadly, that is probably he reason Crawford Caligula never nominated him to the Supreme Court.

From Right Wing Watch: Last year, Mat Staver warned that if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, it could lead to a civil war. And now that the Court has done that by striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, Staver is once again issuing that same warning.

Once again we see a billionaire-financed, Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian commit sedition over gay-hatred by suggesting revolution.

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I’m writing early for day 14, and the temperature at my desk is already 89° at 1:00 PM.  This promises to be one very nasty week.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:03 (average 4:33).  To do it. click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Hello…….. Mr. President, are you listening??:

I found this at a friend’s site. That’s Republican Supply-side Jesus, not the real one.

From Media Matters: In the short time since the Supreme Court invalidated provisions of the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA), conservatives who have opposed marriage equality for years have been painting themselves as the unfairly persecuted victims of the ruling.

Having always had difficulty explaining how extending equal rights to gay couples somehow infringes upon their own personal freedoms — "you’re being intolerant of our right to think gays are an abomination" isn’t a particularly compelling argument –  right-wing media figures are now concocting elaborate scenarios in which their future rights will be infringed as a result of the DOMA ruling.

Fox News’ Todd Starnes got the ball rolling yesterday, writing on Twitter that it "won’t be long before they outlaw the Bible as hate speech," and asking: "How long before federal agents haul pastors out of the pulpit?" Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham wondered aloud whether Catholics in America will be "persona non grata."

In a rambling column [fascist propaganda delinked] headlined "Supreme Court Coup" posted at his virulently anti-gay website WND, Joseph Farah picks up the theme, asking when the "persecution" of "marriage defenders" will begin.

They are saying, in other words, "You are guilty of violating our rights for offences we presume you are going to commit at some future time."

From The New Yorker: In a shocking end to an illustrious legal career, police arrested Justice Antonin Scalia today as he attempted to set the Supreme Court building ablaze.

Justice Scalia, who had seemed calm and composed during the announcement of two major rulings this morning, was spotted by police minutes later outside the building, carrying a book of matches and a gallon of kerosene.

After police nabbed Justice Scalia and placed him in handcuffs, the Juror appeared “at peace and resigned to his fate,” a police spokesman said.

“He went quietly,” the spokesman said. “He just muttered something like, ‘I don’t want to live in a world like this.’ ”

ARGH! If ONLY this were true!!!

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