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Open Thread–10/25/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 262013
 

I’m writing for tomorrow.  Yesterday’s victim meeting at the prison was excellent.  It featured mothers of crime victims and mothers of criminals discussing how crime impacted their lives,  They and my guys made a strong positive impression on each other.  As always I was proud of them, and I learned that another has a release date in February.  Let the short-timer abuse begin!  After two prison meetings, I’m worn out, and this is tomorrow’s only article.  I have another meeting tomorrow morning, so my partial absence may continue another day, depending on how long that takes.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:32 (average 4:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In an impressive white-knuckle performance on live television today, members of Congress spent several hours in a hearing room pretending to understand the Internet.

Beginning this morning, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee devoted four hours to grilling Web-site contractors about site architecture, Web traffic, software, and other I.T. concepts about which their ignorance is nearly complete.

“As members of this committee, we are supposed to have a deep understanding of the technology involved in the health-care Web site,” said Chairman Fred Upton (R-Michigan). “So it was absolutely imperative for us to fake that we do.”

For the duration of the hearings, the Web contractors offered detailed testimony about “end-to-end testing,” “enterprise identity management,” and other technical concepts to a group of elected officials who can barely use e-mail…

Those twits even pay Aides to tweet for them!!

From Upworthy: CNBC invited AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers to talk about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid cuts. Then the hosts decided to defend the idea of hacking away at those programs…

 

Those moderators might as well be wearing GOP pig pins. Note the moderators’ ‘most people’ claim, qualified, when debunked, to mean most people, who "understand the figures". In his mind, the only people, who understand the figures, are the 0.1%. Bull!! Kudos to David Silver. Scrap the cap!

From NY Times NY Times: A secretive nonprofit group with ties to the billionaire conservative businessmen Charles and David Koch admitted to improperly failing to disclose more than $15 million in contributions it funneled into state referendum battles in California, state officials there announced Thursday.

The group, the Arizona-based Center to Protect Patient Rights, is one of the largest political nonprofits in the country, serving as a conduit for tens of millions of dollars in political spending, much of it raised by the Kochs and their political operation and spent by other nonprofits active in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

The fine is $15 million. That’s hitting Koch suckers where it hurts!!

Cartoon:

26Cartoon

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Open Thread–10/25/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 252013
 

I’m writing for tomorrow and preparing to leave for volunteer work in prison.  It’s our annual victims’ impact meeting in which around 100 of my guys will have an opportunity to talk to crime victims about the effects that being victimized had on their lives.  I overslept today, and that’s a good thing, but as a result, this will be tomorrow’s only article.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:21 (average 4:33).  To do it. click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: Ever Hear About The Lady Who Spilled Coffee On Herself At McDonald’s, Then Sued For Millions?

It’s really unbelievable what happened to Stella Liebeck. You just have to watch to see how the media turned on this little old lady who lived in Albuquerque. Obviously a villain, right? And at 5:00, prepare to see what the coffee actually did to her. It’s not pretty. Well … nothing in her situation was.

 

To corporate criminals like McDonalds, you and I are statistically insignificant. This woman’s award was not to recompense the victim. It was to punishing McDonalds by taking away the revenue from two days sales of their unsafe coffee. I know their coffee is to hot, because I have burned my lips trying to drink it.

From Daily Kos: Amazingly this exchange took place on CNN where Steve Beshear Governor of Kentucky explained that for states who chose to implement their own exchanges – as was intended by the Affordable Care Act – their "Glitches" have been few and far between. 

We’re signing up people at roughly a thousand a day. It’s a great rate and a great success so far,” he told on CNN’s “New Day,” describing the market as “a gold standard because it’s working.”…

[The Federal System] will be working fully in a month or two.  History shows us that [after the implication of Medicare] it took two years to get it all working properly.  This will all work.

Later the CNN Hosts talks to Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) – she of the Run-Away AR-15 – to get their usual "other side" of the obligatory "both sides" view – only to have her attempt to completely contradict and dismiss everything that Gov. Beshear had just said.

Only something interesting happened, the CNN Host wasn’t having it.

 

See the Republican lie. Lie! Lie!! Lie!!! That’s what Republicans do. Her Republican plan takes away the ban on preexisting conditions, takes away closing the donut hole for seniors, takes away parents ability to keep their kids covered, and limits malpractice awards.  It’s great to see a media host get sick of being fed BS and showing it, for a change!

From NY Times: Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who helped engineer the recent government shutdown, has a new target for his obstructionism: the Federal Communications Commission. Last week, Mr. Cruz blocked the Senate from considering the nomination of Tom Wheeler to lead the commission — a candidate who leaders from both parties had agreed would be put up for a vote without delay. Mr. Cruz has put a hold on the nomination, his spokesman told reporters, to find out if Mr. Wheeler would vote to require greater disclosure about political ads on television and radio bought by independent groups. Such groups can currently keep donors secret even as they spend hundreds of millions of dollars to influence elections. Mr. Cruz says he is trying to get more information and to make sure the F.C.C. does not exceed its authority.

But the F.C.C. clearly has the authority to require disclosure of who pays for commercial and political speech on public airwaves under communications laws dating back to the 1930s.

Cruz, a front for many Republican legislators, is looking for a nominee that will ignore the law and keep the identity of 0.1% donors trying to buy elections a secret.  This is really no different than any other filibuster.  NUKE the Filibastard!!

Cartoon:

25Cartoon

Bolshevik means "majority", although they were actually the minority. They called the democratic socialists Mensheviks, which means "minority", although they were actually the majority. While claiming to be the majority when they were not, they took power by force. Who else claims to be the majority when they are not? Beware!

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Tell it like it is, Alan!

 Politics
Oct 242013
 

Florida seems a most unfortunate place of late.  They are infamous for Republican election theft, racist voter purges, a governor that demands drug testing so his own drug testing lab will profit, and the list goes on.  But Florida has some great things too, and one of those things is Alan Grayson!

teabag-obsceneRep. Alan Grayson appeared on Al Sharpton’s show to speak the truth about the Tea Party last week…

…Then he sent out a fundraising email, which apparently caught the attention of a Politico Republico reporter:

Matt Gorman, rapid response director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, denounced Grayson’s fundraising tactics.

“There’s no excuse for the hateful words and imagery used by Congressman Grayson,” he said in a statement. “House Democrats should swiftly and strongly condemn him and return the money he has raised for them. This hate-filled rhetoric has Americans fed up with Washington.”

Grayson defended the email in a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying the tea party has long used racist and insensitive terms and imagery to refer to African Americans, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and gays.

“[T]here is overwhelming evidence that the Tea Party is the home of bigotry and discrimination in America today, just as the KKK was for an earlier generation,” Grayson said. “If the shoe fits, wear it.”

And hey, let’s not forget that just a few days earlier we had Larry Klayman out there with his Confederate flag pals calling for the President to put down his Koran and come out with his hands up. Nothing racist about that.

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

 

This is one of those rare cases that I have o say that perhaps Alan should apologize. He was slightly unfair to the Ku Klux Klan, when he compared them to the Tea Party. Alan remains the best Florida has to offer.

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Stewart Harpooned a Rat

 Plus
Oct 242013
 

Although it can be a bit uncomfortable when Jon Stewart lampoons us for something like the shortcomings of the ObamaCare website, he is usually fully justified, even when I don't like it.  However, I have to admit that I am much happier when Jon is setting his sights on a rat.

RoveRat

Jon Stewart had a field day on last night’s Daily Show mocking Republican Karl Rove for all the political mishaps the Republicans have caused which have ultimately undermined the credibility of the GOP and backfired against Rove.

Stewart said Rove had no right to complain about the numerous Tea Party blunders considering he invited them, citing a number of examples whereby the same Republicans who were advocating for the Tea Party were now in the painful process of having to clean up the mess:

“It’s as though the entire misguided shutdown affair was a culmination of a decade-long strategy to rile up and politically engage the most rigid and ideological pockets of the Republican party…which is why Karl Rove has no right to complain about all these radicals ruining his nice Republican party, because he’s the one who invited them,” Stewart preached…

Inserted from <Alternet>

 

 

 

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

 

 

 

 

 

Rove Rat was most successful at activating the anger points of hate-filled wing-nuts. I must admit, I enjoy few thinks more than seeing Turd Blossom buried in his own turd.

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Open Thread–10/24/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion
Oct 242013
 

I’m writing for tomorrow and feeling quite pooped after yesterday’s trip to the prison.  One of my guys just received a release date in April.  We discussed how to be come personally empowered one needs to let go od control.  My guys never cease to amaze me.  Tomorrow is a meeting with over 100 guys, so I’m going to write and go to bed.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:56 (average 5:48).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: She’s Worked At McDonald’s For 10 Years. She Asked Its President A Simple Question. Then Cops Came.

 

Kudos to Nancy and all the other workers fighting to earn enough to feed themselves.

From Daily Kos: Lordy, Lordy!!

Is this Pope for real???

Pope Francis describes ‘ideological Christians’ as a ‘serious illness’ within the Church

“And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought… For this reason Jesus said to them: ‘You have taken away the key of knowledge.’ The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements.”

I’m really starting to like this Pope!

From MSNBC: Fact Checker debunks Faux Noise

 

I covered this a free cays ago, and this should flesh that out. Faux Noise is still the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda. Chris makes an excellent point about how the sheeple on display are just parroting the garbage Faux Noise has fed them.

Note: MSNBC has changed their website, and the new system doe not provide me with a link to the actual video.  The best I can do is link to the show.

Cartoon:

24Cartoon

Thank you Labor!

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Republicans on Parade–10/23/2013

 Politics
Oct 232013
 

Here is the thirty-second article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is an Oregonian.  He’s Oregon Tea party founder John Kuzmanich, and he is being honored for his dependence on the government he hates and his Republican business practices.

RepublicansOnParade

23JohbKuzmanichApparently "fiscal and personal responsibility" are for other people. He hasn’t made a mortgage payment in over three years. And the process servers can’t find him:

Washington County court records show Kuzmanich is more than three years behind in mortgage payments on a Beaverton duplex. The lender, the Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae, has gone to extraordinary lengths—unsuccessfully, so far—to find Kuzmanich and serve him with court papers.

Kuzmanich, 45, is a University of Iowa grad who built a family trucking business and worked as a mortgage broker. He burst onto the political scene in 2009, founding the Oregon Tea Party and launching a bid for the 1st Congressional District seat then held by U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.).

…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Here’s some video of him included with the article:

He’s obviously not the brightest bulb in the pack.

I actually had occasion to meet him.  Here’s how I described it in 2010.

When I got off the train, I immediately encountered a bunch of Teabaggers carrying “Resist the Nanny State” and “Vote for Dudley” signs.  I decided to talk to them.  A guy stepped forward, as I approached them, and I said, “So you’re for privatizing Social Security and letting people take care of their own, instead of depending on big government?  He agreed.  And I said, and you’re for privatizing Medicare and letting people taking care of their own, instead of depending on big government?  Again he agreed.  Next I said, “Any you’re for extending the Bush Tax Cuts for the rich?  He agreed again. “And with you want more programs to encourage free trade?  He said yes.  Heh heh.  I said, “Then what you have told me is that you don’t want the nanny state to provide the benefits and services for which people have paid, but you do want the nanny state to continue benefits and services for the very rich and criminal corporations.  That’s not freedom.  That’s Teabuggery!  He yammered and stammered a bit, but had nothing more to say.  They objected to me taking their picture.

I wish I knew he was a government loan deadbeat then.  I could have had even more fun with him.  As it was, passers by were laughing at him and patting me on the back.

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Open Thread–10/23/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 232013
 

I’m writing for tomorrow quickly and preparing to go to the prison for volunteer work.  I have a CoDA meeting with about twelve guys.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:04 (average 5:23).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

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

Scores:

7Scores

Standings:

7Standings

Next week I play Judy from Care2.

Short Takes:

From Represent.us: A lobbyist and a Senator walk into a restaurant…

 

Note how we get stuck with the tab. Click through to connect with these folks campaigning to get the money out of the system.

From The New Yorker: The N.S.A. leaker Edward Snowden today reached out to the United States government, offering to fix its troubled healthcare.gov Web site in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Speaking from an undisclosed location in Russia, Mr. Snowden said he hacked the Web site over the weekend and thinks he is “pretty sure what the problem is.”

“Look, this thing was built terribly,” he said. “It’s a government Web site, O.K.?”

Mr. Snowden said that if an immunity deal can be worked out, “I can get to work on this thing right away—I don’t need a password.”

He couldn’t be much worse than the clowns in charge now. Of course, the down side of having Snowden do it it that in days the Russians would know more about our exchanges than we do.

From Crooks and Liars: A new study released today concludes that Koch Industries and its subsidiaries stand to make as much as $100 billion in profits if the controversial Keystone XL pipeline is granted a presidential permit from U.S. President Barack Obama.

The report, titled Billionaires’ Carbon Bomb, produced by the think tank International Forum on Globalization (IFG), finds that David and Charles Koch and their privately owned company, Koch Industries, own more than 2 million acres of land in Northern Alberta, the source of the tar sands bitumen that would be pumped to the United States via the Keystone XL pipeline.

That’s 100 billion more reasons to oppose it.

Cartoon:

23Cartoon

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