I’m afraid I’m going to need one more day. I serve as the Treasurer/CFO of the group for which I do volunteer work in prison. With all the health issues I have had, I had completely forgotten to do the annual paperwork, and at about six AM, I realized it. That’s most fortunate, because I would have thoroughly embarrassed myself had I not remembered in time. I spent the entire day yesterday doing our corporate tax return, state registration renewal, and state charitable activities report. I finished just in time to walk to the post office to mail them, to the bank to transfer funds to pay the fees, and while I was out, to the corner store. So instead of resting, I tired myself even more. I’ll catch up on replies to comments either later today or tomorrow, and I should be back tomorrow.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:31 (average 5:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: The NRA Morphed Into An Ugly Beast And It Will Break Your Grandfather’s Heart
I am one of those people who learned to shoot safely as a child in NRA programs. I was a member for most of my life, but cancelled my membership because of their monstrous reaction to the Columbine HS massacre.
From NY Times: As a bipartisan group of eight senators prepared to introduce a plan early next week to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, Senate negotiators have agreed to a cutoff date that could bar hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the path to legalization provided in the legislation.
Illegal immigrants who arrived in the country after Dec. 31, 2011, could be ineligible to apply for legal status — and potentially citizenship — under the new immigration bill, which will provide a 13-year path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already living in the country.
I think that the cutoff date for undocumented immigrants to have a path to citizenship should be the date that whatever immigration reform that passes becomes law, not some arbitrary earlier date. Also, in this so-called compromise, I strongly object to the part of the guest worker program, demanded by Republicans, to import skilled workers to undercut US workers doing jobs that US workers want to increase profit for the 1%.
From MSNBC: Both parties unhappy with chained CPI
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
I agree completely with Howard Dean here, but one thing just occurred to me. Both Agent Orange and Bought Bitch Mitch demanded chained CPI, as a precondition for negotiation, before Obama included it. Now Republicans are objecting to chained CPI. By including it in his budget Obama may have done the best thing to ensure that it will not happen. The surest way to turn Republicans against their own ideas is for Obama to propose them.
Cartoon:
May my addition be prophetic!!!
4 Responses to “Open Thread–4/14/2013”
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4:12 I love me some vinegar.
4:32 I'm an old sour pus so I try to stay away from vinaigre!
5:32 I love all kinds of vinegar but there were too many for me to choose and I got confused.
Puzzle — 4:32 I'm an old sour pus so I try to stay away from vinaigre!
MoveOn — Many employers do credit bureau and background checks as a normal course of business (ie banks) but a gun dealer cannot do background checks on their potential employees? That is BS. Here in BC, it is fairly standard to run criminal record checks and credit bureau checks for new employees. Even as a hospice volunteer, I had to authorise a criminal records check. Anyone working with children or those working in hospitals have to go through the same checks.
NY Times — What's with the rather arbitrary date of 31/12/2011? That must have been the Republican/Teabagger contribution. Rubio (R) wants 2008 which is totally outlandish, while the others went for 01/01/2013 which is much more reasonable. Personally, setting the date back accomplishes nothing except to demonstrate the Republican/Teabagger distaste for immigrants. What a crock!
MSNBC — We've been talking about Mr Obama putting it in as a negotiation tactic figuring that the Republican/Teabaggers wouldn't go for it. But interesting to find out now that it was actually Boehner and McTurtle that insisted it be included in the proposal. Even better that they are saying 'no' to CPI because it clearly demonstrates that they are not willing to play nice in the sandbox. Obstructionist as ever.
Cartoon — Love the HMS Republican/Teabagger, a titanic waste of money in Congressional salaries etc.
Two items from north of the border —
Justin Trudeau, as was expected, was voted the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and will challenge the Conservatives and Harper in the next electioin in 2015, along with the New Democrats under Thomas Mulcair. Trudeau, whose father was Prime Minister 45 years ago, first has to rebuild the party. Liberals are the Canadian version of the US Democratic party, while the Conservatives are Republicans. Here's a link:
http://home.mytelus.com/telusen/portal/NewsChannel.aspx?ArticleID=news/capfeed/national/22908478.xml&CatID=National
In BC, the provincial NDP has pledged to rewrite the campaign finance laws to exclude corporate and union financing of elections. The BC Federation of Labour favours it as do the BC Conservative Party. The BC Liberals do not.
http://home.mytelus.com/telusen/portal/NewsChannel.aspx?CatID=regional$bc&ArticleID=news/capfeed/bc/22913057.xml