I’m writing for tomorrow. The board meeting went quite well, and my dinner was a hit. I made a casserole with five kinds of rice, shrimp, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, peas, mushrooms and green onions. We had black cherry pie (store-bought) for dessert. I did the research before the meeting, met, took a cat nap, and just finished cleaning up the mess. I’m ready for another cat-nap, and this is tomorrow’s only article.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:40 (average 4:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From NY Times: Remember the “death tax”? The estate tax is quite literally a millionaire’s tax — a tax that affects only a tiny minority of the population, and is mostly paid by a handful of very wealthy heirs. Nonetheless, right-wingers have successfully convinced many voters that the tax is a cruel burden on ordinary Americans — that all across the nation small businesses and family farms are being broken up to pay crushing estate tax liabilities.
You might think that such heart-wrenching cases are actually quite rare, but you’d be wrong: they aren’t rare; they’re nonexistent. In particular, nobody has ever come up with a real modern example of a family farm sold to meet estate taxes. The whole “death tax” campaign has rested on eliciting human sympathy for purely imaginary victims.
And now they’re trying a similar campaign against health reform.
Paul Krugman goes on to explain the many ways in which Republicans are lying to create imaginary victims. Click through, please.
From TPM: The 2014 handicapping is underway, and the consensus is clear: Democrats face a tough battle to maintain control of the Senate. They’re defending too many seats in red states where President Obama and his signature health care reform law are unpopular.
They’re also at a structural disadvantage. Turning out the base, conventional wisdom and historical precedents say, is the key element for midterm elections, and Republicans have done it better.
But Democrats might have a secret weapon in a couple of those key Senate races. Activist groups and state lawmakers are working to get Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion on the ballot in Louisiana and Montana, where they have vulnerable candidates and GOP officials have refused to adopt the provision.
I consider this an excellent strategy. Any ballot measures that motivate apathetic lefties off their lazy butts is a plus in my book. That’s far better than listening to them whine about the results, after not voting. Progressive ballot measures should be pursued in all 50 states.
From Crooks and Liars: Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace this week to discuss the situation in Ukraine and to further her bona fides as a member of the Tea Party brain trust.
Asked by Wallace what happens now that the nation’s Parliament has voted President Yanukovych out of office and he has refused to step down calling the vote a coup, Ayotte said that it was time for President Obama to act.
“I would say, Chris that they need to focus on forming a unity government,” she said. “Yanukovych needs to step aside, and I will say this, now that the Olympics are over, we need to watch the behavior of the Russians, and I believe the President needs to up his game and send a clear unequivocal public message to Putin not to interfere in what is happening in Ukraine. To let the Ukrainian people determine their future, to insure that there is no interference in their sovereignty and I think this is an important time for him to do that.”
Of course the Olympics are not over, today is the final day, but that is a minor issue, the President already has done what she wants already, he has been calling for a unity government in Ukraine all along. He and Putin discussed the issue in a phone conversation on Friday which a senior White House official described as very “constructive.”
The poor Bagger! Now that Ayotte has learned that Obama had done it, she’ll have to condemn him for having done what she asked.
Cartoon:
The Republican Party displayed the most recent.
15 Responses to “Open Thread–2/25/2014”
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3:05 TomCat ate the fish!
3:33 You guys have picked the bones clean. Good thing I don't eat fish.
3:23 Wait, I've got a bone to pick with my school mates!
NY Times ~ I've been setting people straight on the "death tax" for more years than I care to remember. They mostly look at me in disbelief until they check with the IRS for themselves.
TPM ~ Democrats have to stress the negative aspects of the RepublicanT party. They canT raise taxes on the rich. They canT raise the minimum wag for people living in poverty while working 2 or more jobs. They canT regulate Wall St. They canT rescind their Food Stamp cuts for the most vulnerable. They canT, they canT do anything to help the middle class or the poor, sick and elderly.
Crooks & Liars ~ Oops! She did it again. Inserted her foot in her mouth and can't get it out.
Cartoon ~ The GOP has a synchronized monkey act with a whole slew of them acting as one.
4:36 I thought this would be one fish picture that was not distinguished by gorgeous colors, but the deeper into it I got the more I realized I was wrong.
NYTimes – I have a theory that the Republicans got their playbook from Italian opera. Skeptical? Let's see if I can make that good: "Slander is a breeze,/ A light wind so gentle/ Which, insensibly and subtly,/ Lightly, softly,/ Starts to whisper./Slowly crawling,/ In a low voice, sibilantly,/ It is flowing, it is buzzing;/ In the people’s ears/ It deftly enters,/ And makes the heads and brains/ Spin and swell. … And the miserable slandered wretch,/ Vilified, crushed,/ Under the public scourge/ God willing he’ll drop dead." Not the most felicitous translation, but certainly what Repubs have been doing to our candidates since forever, and since Reagan to our programs too. Oh, yeah, it's from "The Barber of Seville." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFWRaKrmovY&list=RDAFWRaKrmovY)
TPM – Colorado has one for local option on fracking. Living in such a blood red county I don't expect any personal benefit, but it is a right and a necessary measure, so I will be pushing for it.
Crooks and Liars – ROTFLMAOACGU!
Cartoon – Ditto, plus what Patty said.
~~fantastic performance!!
The Golden Rule: The one with the Gold makes the Rules… 😆
4:16 –
You are so right!
Puzzle — 3:23 Wait, I've got a bone to pick with my school mates!
NY Times — The childhood taunt comes to mind . . . liar, liar, pants on fire!
"…what the right wants are struggling average Americans, preferably women, facing financial devastation from health reform. So those are the tales they’re telling, even though they haven’t been able to come up with any real examples…."
Interesting that the right would choose to use women in their war on healthcare while they are also conducting a war on women, a war on the poor (think single mothers for example). As I said . . . liar, liar, pants on fire! May the Republicanus/Teabaggers be buried in their lies!
TPM — From Paul Krugman's piece:
"[the AFP and GOP] …has been running ads targeting Senator Mary Landrieu [D-LA]. In these ads, we see what appear to be ordinary Louisiana residents receiving notices telling them that their insurance policies have been canceled because of Obamacare. But the people in the ads are, in fact, paid actors, and the scenes they play aren’t re-enactments of real events — they’re “emblematic,” says a spokesman for the group."
This needs to be actively exposed to the voters. I'm sure that one of the problems getting this out is Faux Noise. And, if anyone does not vote, they have no right to whine.
Crooks and Liars — "…Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) … to further her bona fides as a member of the Tea Party brain trust." Isn't "Tea Party" and "brain trust" an oxymoron?!
She hasn't looked in a mirror lately, has she:
When it comes to sovereignty, it is a two edged sword.
I believe this is what one calls "eating crow" and may she choke on it!
Cartoon — A trained monkey act? That is part of the definition of the Republicanus/Teabaggers!
The casserole sounds delicious, I believe you have earned several naps!
NY Times. I love Krugman. He always hits the right note. So many,many lies have been told about the ACA. I keep telling my right wing friends how much it has helped my sister. Her son is 20 and was diagnosed with Chron's a year ago. She is able to keep him on her insurance until he is 26, when hopefully, he will have a good job and be supporting himself. Her husband had a stroke almost six years ago, she can also keep him insured and he can't be denied for a pre existing condition. Why won't the Republicans talk to someone like her?
TPM: I agree, TC. Anything to get the apathetic to the polls. I have voted in every election since I became eligible to vote. I always say that she who does not vote has no right to complain about the results.
Crooks and Liars: You can be that Ayotte will condemn the Prez for doing what she previously thought he should have done. That is the only way she knows how to act.
Cartoon: sadly, the Republicans currently have more than one monkey act.
This cartoon has so many ways to apply to our generation as well
Welcome Lycanthropy. Thanls hor the fast, and hopefully successful tech support on behalf of our Nameless.
Do I want to be "white-flagged"?
And why did it happen to begin with?
Thanks everyone. Bad COPD day, so I'll be easier to beat on today's.