Yesterday, I enjoyed catching up and, after collecting all the data for today’s Monthly Report, enjoying a nap. I also cooked a huge pot of my infamous, thrice-burning chili and would love to invite a few Republicans over to enjoy the green cloud. ;-) Later, I shall meditate upon the Ellipsoid Orb. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow appears routine.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:18 (average 5:24). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: Missouri Pastor’s Fiery Speech Against Equal Rights For Homosexuals Has Stunning Twist Ending
What an eye opener that was! As for segregation, I trust the Republic an Party would be just as happy with the original intent of the words.
From NY Times: America’s fiscal condition will be altered without a deal between President Obama and the Republicans in Congress. But not radically so, and in many cases not immediately.
This budget stalemate is unlike the many previous ones that threatened to cause a government shutdown. Agencies are not facing the immediate loss of authority to spend money. The danger of defaulting on the nation’s financial obligations is not at great as it was during the 2011 impasse over raising the nation’s borrowing limit. And some of the tax and spending changes would not be felt for months.
The point here is that bouncing on the fiscal speed bump, while not desirable, is not the a catastrophe worthy of the fear with which the media is hyping it. Accepting a bad deal would be far more harmful.
From Think Progress: Charles Murray, a scholar at the leading conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute [neocons delinked], may be the most influential populizer of racist views in the country. His book The Bell Curve, which posits that black people are genetically less intelligent than whites, practically spawned an entire field of scholarship devoted to debunking it. His most recent book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 even made an appearance on the campaign trial during the recent presidential election.
Murray, however, appears to have set aside his retrograde views about race in order to tout equally backwards views about gender. In a short piece on AEI’s website, Murray recently suggested [neocons delinked] that “benevolent sexism” might be “healthy.”
As I have been saying, they didn’t learn a damn thing. All their noise to the contrary is propaganda.
Cartoon:
20 Responses to “Open Thread–12/2/2012”
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Puzzle — 4:10 I kicked ass yesterday. Can I give everyone the boot today?
MoveOn — I have seen this some months back, although not with the French subtitles. That was a nice perk — I could at least practice my French reading skills while listening to Snider's homophobic, come racial rant. Like most pseudo Christians, he just doesn't get it! He has failed to learn, let alone appreciate, the teachings of Jesus from the Christian scriptures (New Testament) instead relying on the ancient texts of the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) which pre-date Jesus. While talking about Jesus Christ, the pseudo Christians fail to acknowledge the 'new covenant' with Yaweh (God) that was Jesus Christ, and the two commandments — love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. (Matthew 22:36-40). I remember the picture of the back of a T-shirt courtesy of Nameless I believe, that says:
Love Thy Neighbour
Thy Homeless Neighbour
Thy Muslim Neighbour
Thy Black Neighbour
Thy Gay Neighbour
Thy Immigrant Neighbour
Thy Jewish Neighbour
Thy Christian Neighbour
Thy Atheist Neighbour
Thy Disabled Neighbour
Thy Addicted Neighbour
NY Times — To me, there is no perfect way to solve the financial crisis. However, there must be tax increases for the very wealthy so that they pay their appropriate share, and the tax burden must not fall on the middle class as these are the true job creators because they are the ones that drive demand and spending. As usual, Boehner and his boys are on their 1% appreciation day rant without regard to ALL Americans.
Think Progress — When it comes to social, political, or economic issues, I would not trust a Republican/Teabagger as far as I could throw them, and believe me, that would not be more than inch!
We have often lamented how any self respecting women could vote Republican/Teabagger. And while I agree with this, it also appears to me that, for these women, especially the wealthy, greed trumps personal dignity and self worth. For those at the lower end of the economic ladder, it is not greed but rather ignorance brought on by too much Faux Noise and low-effort thinking.
Cartoon — Ah, Joe McCarthy — "There's a communist in every American household" McCarthy. I don't know what he was drinking, but he sure was delusional, paranoid, and rabid. "Better dead than red" came out of McCarthyism. Thank goodness that the Senate had the astuteness through the Watkins Commission to censure McCarthy on at least one of the 46 charges. Following that, his career was all but dead, and a few years later, the man died.
4:20 You gave me the boot. You gave TomCat the boot. Will you give Patty the boot as well?
3:05 I really moved along on this one. I didn't want a boot up my ass today.
Dang! The Patty Monster got us again!!
I think we will have to begin giving Patty a one minute handicap. Of course, on this puzzle she still,would have won!
Maybe two minutes. 😉
Patty, your boots were made for walking, and that's just what you did . . .
GREAT time!
Beat me!
Lynn, I could be wrong, but I think he was was reading that so that he could show how ridiculous Republican claims against gay rights are, by pointing out that they said the dame thingd about integration.
Excellent observations.
He may have been the original Bagger.
I guess I missed the sarcasm . . .
There was none. The technique he used was to deliver it with a straight face, so that folks would be sucked in until he pulled the switch at the end. Jonathan Swift used a similar technique in A Modest Proposal.
Perhaps it would be better to interpret the bible figuratively rather than literally…. 💡
I do.
While I'm thankful that McCarthy was condemned, I would appreciate a little more detail WRT to his chapeau.
It looks like a montera (one of those hats a matador wears) – or it could be Mickey Mouse ears.
I can make-out an American flag and a Gadsden flag, but I have NO idea what the rest of the stuff that is nesting in there.
Any details would be appreciated.
There is also a no taxes button. It's a Teabagger hat, intended to point out that what he did was no different from today's Teabuggery.
Ahhh … a Tricorne (and now that you educated me, it does look like one).
It was not obvious at the outset, because the top of the hat blended with the background.
MoveOn ~ I hope Preacher Phil Snider got those bigots thinking a little. Most likely a lot of them still believe in segregation though.
NY Times ~ That's right. It's not a fiscal cliff. It's a gentle slope and not as scary as the pundits would have you believe.
Think Progress ~ Who???
Cartoon ~ What a nice tribute to Alan West's hero.
So do I.
Bingo!
He's a supposedly leading Republican intellectual. (Talk about mutual exclusion!)
Thanks!
Does "intellectual" mean the same thing on their planet as it does on ours?
Sort of, but on their planet, an IQ of 15 is the qualification.