Sadly I have no good news, as I still feel horrid. I’m current with replies. Soon, I hope.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:59 (average 4:15). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: What Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Warned Us About Decades Ago
He could not have been more correct. The NRA is trying to hijack his day, but they cannot hijack his integrity, because they have none.
From NY Times: It’s hard to turn on your TV or read an editorial page these days without encountering someone declaring, with an air of great seriousness, that excessive spending and the resulting budget deficit is our biggest problem. Such declarations are rarely accompanied by any argument about why we should believe this; it’s supposed to be part of what everyone knows.
This is, however, a case in which what everyone knows just ain’t so. The budget deficit isn’t our biggest problem, by a long shot. Furthermore, it’s a problem that is already, to a large degree, solved. The medium-term budget outlook isn’t great, but it’s not terrible either — and the long-term outlook gets much more attention than it should.
It’s true that right now we have a large federal budget deficit. But that deficit is mainly the result of a depressed economy — and you’re actually supposed to run deficits in a depressed economy to help support overall demand. The deficit will come down as the economy recovers: Revenue will rise while some categories of spending, such as unemployment benefits, will fall. Indeed, that’s already happening. (And similar things are happening at the state and local levels — for example, California appears to be back in budget surplus.)
Click through for the rest of this excellent Paul Krugman editorial. Republican economists also know this is true, but when benefits, for which you have paid your whole life, are given back to you, that conflicts with Republican priorities. They want the benefits, for which you have paid your whole life, to be given to a billionaire.
From MSNBC: Rachel Maddow reported on how Republicans intend to steal the White House.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
This ‘heads they win, tails we lose’ scam is the latest Republican attempt to create a permanent one-party, totalitarian, Republican regime in which elections no longer matter. For Rachel’s documentation, click here. The best defense against this, in my opinion, is to move to a national popular vote for President.
Cartoon:
24 Responses to “Open Thread–1/18/2013”
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3:08 I took off at maximum speed this AM.
Must be the morphine is wearing off and not slowing me down anymore.
4:01 No flying safari for me today! My wings are wilted from flying out to the university last night for 'Miss Representation'.
3:55 Patty's in a jet while the rest of us are in a puddle jumper.
It didn't take her long to engage monster mode, did it? 😉
The female of the species recovers quickly typically, because they have to. Otherwise, who would look after the men and kids? LOL!
I just hope the recovery lasts this time.
It would be nice if "monster-mode" stuck around too. It lifts my spirits. I've always been very competitive.
GRRR! 😉
MoveOn ~ Amen!
While on MoveOn's site, I was browsing and found a video on the NRA and the ATF from Jon Stewart and would like to share with you how Congress managed to hamstring the current laws regarding guns. Most of you have probably already seen it but if not, I encourage you to click through.
http://front.moveon.org/funny-but-not-jon-stewart-reveals-how-the-atf-is-not-actually-allowed-to-do-its-job/
NY Times ~ I don't fully agree with Krugman about SS. We have paid for our benefits and they are trying to rob us of our just due to benefit Millionaires. Let's not forget the "gifts" given to the military industrial complex and the fossil fuels industry. These companies don't need help. They need to start paying taxes to pay for the wars they helped to start.
MSNBC ~ Excellent piece! They gerry-mandered my district so well that we ended up with a Republi-thug who insists he doesn't vote the party line which has proven to be a bald-faced lie, of course.
Cartoon ~ What? Me need a background check?
That Jon Stewart clip is so funny Patty. Thanks. ROTFLMAO!!!!!
That's a good one, Patty. I guess I better edit today's Open Thread, that I just finisged writing, because that clip was short take #1.
Amen.
If he didn't goose-step bebind the reich's party line, he would have been Teabuggered in the primary.
Really! 🙂
Sorry. Didn't mean to jump the gun, so to speak. I've been so out of touch that I thought I missed something.
That's cool. I can always find another short take. 🙂
I had to look up what Lynn was talking about – Miss Representation. Curious, here is what I found. Also remembered that I get e-mail from them.
Newest Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection)
Synopsis
http://www.missrepresentation.org/the-film/
Video Preview link: http://vimeo.com/18985647
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/miss-representation/id500466035
Official Trailer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkIiV6konY
.
Thanks Jim!
Puzzle — 4:01 No flying safari for me today! My wings are wilted from flying out to the university last night for 'Miss Representation'.
MoveOn — This from yesterday's MoveOn, a Colbert Report from 14/01/13:
This idiot is so ignorant of Dr Martin Luther King and what he stood for. I guess he didn't get Abraham Lincoln's memo that said: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt."
Amen to Dr King's words!
NY Times — I think that Krugman hits the nail on the head when he says: "But neither the current deficit nor projected future spending deserve to be anywhere near the top of our political agenda." The key words "political agenda"! The GOP that are pushing this stupidity are the same ones that forced the Post Office to pre-pay Post Office medical benefits by 75 years, are they not?
MSNBC — I have never seen so much unmitigated bull shit . . . er . . . elephant shit! It is well past time that someone took the Republican/Teabaggers out behind the woodshed and beat the living shit out of them. The Fourth Estate has a responsibility to follow the GOP on their little jaunt through their reform of the political process and keep people up-to-date. People have a responsibility to follow, otherwise they will find themselves without a vote. Heaven help the US if that happens. There will be a revolution.
Cartoon — For me, this is one thing that is so wrong in the US — the expectation that there should be no regulation of firearms. There are regulations around driving and generally one can't do as much damage as one can do with a gun, yet the expectation of 'no regulations' is still out there. Absolutely illogical and total luncy.
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
We were both Monster Mashed.
If Lincoln were to run today, Republicans would call him a socialist.
Exactly.
Right on!
I fully agree.
I deleted your other comment to repost it as an article.
I wish you felt better Tom.
Thank you, Carrie. Me too!
Boy, this is when I REALLY miss the ability to post images in the Comment.
(Oh, well … if that's the worst thing that happens to me, I'll be damn lucky)
In your cartoon, I thought sure you'd use a photo of that IDIOT William Kostric – you remember, he's the guy who brazenly carried a loaded gun to a Town Hall meeting of Pres. Obama's holding that sign "It's Time to Water the Tree of Liberty …"
http://www.salon.com/2009/08/12/william_kostric/
At any rate, I can't help but think that, that NRA gun nut Kostric has a striking resemblance to a Neanderthal:
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m335/dmhlt48/RepubliKKKaaner%20Haters/TownHall_Hate_Gun-William-Kostric_Neanderthal_STITCH_zpsfab7e5c7.jpg
Isn't he just the cutist little cupcake on the platter! With friends like him, who needs enemies?
If I could have remembered his name, I would have. Thanks!
The resemblance is uncanny.
The national debt is the monkey on our backs. Already we make choices, because we simply habve no money to make better choices. Soon the intrest payment on the debt will be greater than the whole DOD budget, and we know Amereica has big expenses in the future, unless we plan on becoming a stagnent society.
Steve, I agree, but the key to it is not reducing spending, short term. After we recover the economy, the deficit will become a surplus at current spending levels.