I’m writing for tomorrow, and actually feeling awake. I think I’ve caught up my sleep deficit for now. Late this week I’ll begin a program of physical therapy. It turns out that my bad leg is from degenerative arthritis of the back and hip. I also blew out my left shoulder again and cannot lift my arm above horizontal without intense pain. The following week is my two day trip to Salem to complete my institution specific training for increased volunteer access in the prison. So I have busy times ahead. It’s a slow weekend for material, but I found some. Day 35.
Late Update:
I spent several hours trying to fix the similes in the graphic editor without success. It appears that, for security reasons WordPress has disables several of the features of that plugin for all but administrators (me). I found another editor that is not as full featured, but I’m hoping it will give more features to more people. However, that will have to wait for another day.
Jig Zone:
Today’s took me 3:19 (average 5:32). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Bernie Sanders: Flashback: Republicans Block VA Benefits
Republicans in February blocked important legislation from Sen. Bernie Sanders to improve veterans’ access to health care among other things. Only two Republicans, Sens. Dean Heller and Jerry Moran, voted for the veterans benefits bill, which was endorsed by every major veterans organization.
What pathetic excuses! General Shinseki gave an order, expected it to be followed, and did not follow-up to make sure VA bureaucrats, with decades of experience falsifying numbers, were complying. That was certainly a major error on his part, but the problem is not his fault. The problem of Republicans thanking our veterans by gutting VA funding goes back to Saint Ronnie Ray Gun. Republicans are long on support for the troops as long as that support does not extend beyond using them as cannon fodder to foster economic imperialism. But providing them with flack jackets and safe vehicles, and taking care of them, when physically or emotionally maimed in battle, is more sacrifice than Republicans are willing to make.
From NY Times: For more than a decade, researchers across multiple disciplines have been issuing reports on the widespread societal and economic damage caused by America’s now-40-year experiment in locking up vast numbers of its citizens. If there is any remaining disagreement about the destructiveness of this experiment, it mirrors the so-called debate over climate change.
In both cases, overwhelming evidence shows a crisis that threatens society as a whole. In both cases, those who study the problem have called for immediate correction.
Several recent reports provide some of the most comprehensive and compelling proof yet that the United States “has gone past the point where the numbers of people in prison can be justified by social benefits,” and that mass incarceration itself is “a source of injustice.”
That is the central conclusion of a two-year, 444-page study prepared by the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the Justice Department and others. The report highlights many well-known statistics: Since the early 1970s, the nation’s prison population has quadrupled to 2.2 million, making it the world’s biggest. That is five to 10 times the incarceration rate in other democracies.
I could not agree more. The best way to be tough on crime is to be stingy with prison and long on community rehabilitation.
From Alternet: Ann Coulter defends Pat Sajak’s right to be an absolute idiot by being an absolute idiot herself.
“Wheel of Fortune” gained a new fan in Ann Coulter, who just couldn’t agree more with Sajak on climate change and liberals being Nazis and to blame for everything. Coulter helpfully pointed out the humor in Sajak’s tweet to CNN’s Erin Burnett and then she upped the ante, because… she was on TV, and saying outrageous things is her brand. “We all have to believe in global warming, we all have to believe in immigration — either lots of immigration or even more immigration,” Coulter said. “We have to believe that Trayvon Martin was killed by a brutal racist, and if you don’t you get called all of these crazy names that Sajak is referring to.”
(Note: Even George Zimmerman’s former neighbor, a longtime white supremacist now admits Zimmerman is a racist.)
But back to Pat and Ann. The liberal thought police, who for some reason believe in science, are so mean, Coulter says. They compare climate change deniers to "Holocaust deniers." She also, totally inexplicably, said dealing with climate change would lead to genocide.
Here’s where Coulter parts company with Sajak. He should not have said he was “just kidding” in her view. She is not kidding when she asserts her multitude of ignorant positions, nor will you ever catch her being the least bit funny. Or human, for that matter.
This is just one of seven absurd Republican statements from last week alone. Click through tor the other six. As for Coultergeist, it isn’t Halloween yet.
Cartoon:
The cartoon assumes the service person was single.
25 Responses to “Open Thread–5/26/2014”
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Sorry TC – am exhausted after trying to work out what is happening (and why) in Europe after the elections – and in many places extremists seem to have appealed to the voters, doing their usual whipping up of hatred and fear. Germany doesn't seem to have the real extremists, probably because it is doing so well financially, although Mutti Merkel is too Right for my tastes. The only good thing is that the BNP (British National Party – aka fascists) have been kicked out – though their place has been taken just about everywhere by UKIP – Eurosceptics have been winning all over the place. As Lona said the other day – why do the Eurosceptics want seats in the European Parliament?!
I am not surprised, though I am completely revolted, that the Repuglicons deny and deny and deny veterans benefits – not one of the Repuglicons knows what it is like to live the life of a soldier, airman or sailor, and they don't care either.
I love the soubriquet of Coultergeist for Ann Coulter – good grief what things to say! It is no surprise that she is calling Liberals Nazis – the Reich wing have a long established history of blaming everyone else for what they do – like tiny children saying 'I didn't hit the dog – YOU did it!' – perhaps no-one called them on their naughty childish behaviour so they are still doing it and finding it works!
Prison rehabilitation is best I agree – but only with people like you running it TC! The number of times psychopaths have been alleged to be 'cured' by psychiatrists and let out only to repeat previous violent actions is really worrying. As for locking people up for stealing a candy bar worth a few cents because that is their 'third strike' – what idiocy. No wonder numbers of new private prisons had to be built – with loads and loads of money going to their investors….
There are quite a number of famous actors who have said that if they hadn't discovered acting they would have been in prison – and people can be helped in all sorts of ways by prison programmes including acting and painting and other things – all of which are the first to be cut when there are budget problems – which makes me desperately wish I could help.
Here's another. Elected criminals are more dangerous than convicted ones.
4:11 Chows are such beautiful dogs. I'm not top dawg today.
3:21 Dang! Couldn't catch dat puddy tat! Oh well, I'm going for chow!
3:51 Looks like a kittycat will be top dog.
Chow is an excellent meal. Two fit nicely in a single pot witg lots of room for chili peppers:
Bernie ~ The TeapublicanTs are such hypocrites! I posted this on my FB page yesterday. Every time people try to blame Pres. Obama for this fiasco, I get so riled. I take them back through the years and prove who can carry the burden of most of the blame starting with St. Ronnie. They sputter a bit and have nothing to say except the usual memes against our sitting Pres.
NY Times ~ I'm all for community rehab for non-violent crimes. Most of the time people are imprisoned for theft like in Les Miserables or some other minor crime. Yet the Banksters and other criminals on Wall St. and in politics walk free and continue their lyin', thievin' ways.
Alternet ~ When does this ship of fools sail?
Cartoon ~ For TeapublicanTs, this is probably the ideal Veteran. So sad.
This is a test
Test 🙂
Test 🙂
Mierda! 🙁
¡ Mi.
Usted no puede ver lenguaje así muy a menudo.
Y si lo haces, generalmente es de mí.
ARGH! 🙁
5:21 Not a big fan of chows, having seen a pair of them kill a pair of kittens once. I do realize there are no bad dogs, only bad humans, but it was off-putting.
Bernie – One correction, Republicans are not even long on supporting troops when they are breing used as cannon fodder. If they were, there would be no military families needing food stamps to survive. They are only long on talking about supporting troops.
NY Times – Will anybody read the study? Is anyone in the public eye talking about it? I'm sure Fox News isn't.
Alternet – I clicked through. OMG, what a collection of spin! It's a wonder they aren't all dizzy enough to fall down! Oh, wait – they are. Never mind.
Cartoon – And isn't that the truth!
Pat A – The blogger I linked to recently has a followup and will probably do more. In case you didn't bookmark – http://wellthisiswhatithink.com/2014/05/26/uk-triumph-as-other-parties-in-the-uk-suffer/
TC testing – Oh darn. Hopefully it will get better.
Puzzle — 3:21 Dang! Couldn't catch dat puddy tat! Oh well, I'm going for chow! 😉
Bernie Sanders — Damn them, the Republicanus/Teabaggers (minus 2 who DID vote for this bill) are lower than a snake's belly! The Baby Bush war machine, Republicanus/Teabaggers all, made the decision to enter an illegal war in Iraq under false pretenses and another in Afghanistan. Part of the cost of war, any war, is taking care of service personnel when they return home after doing the country's bidding . . . education, mental and physical healthcare, and job training . . . so that they can participate fully in life. Bernie Sanders says it well:
And there was John Boehner, Weeper of the House, at the State of the Union Address, applauding Army Ranger Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg and then stabbing him in the back by voting against the bill! Watching Remsburg brought tears to my eyes . . . tears for his pain and that of his parents, but also tears for his strength, his fortitude and his persistence.
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) has the audacity to say at the bill's debate:
McTurtle said:
Where were these guys when the decision to go to war was made? Where is their loyalty to the soldiers who did their bidding? Where is their compassion, their humanity?
Oops, I forgot, they are Republicanus/Teabaggers! Those qualities don't exist in their world!
You summed it up well TC:
"…using them as cannon fodder to foster economic imperialism. But providing them with flack jackets and safe vehicles, and taking care of them, when physically or emotionally maimed in battle, is more sacrifice than Republicans are willing to make."
Sorry for the rant but my BP went up substantially and my ire and loathing of these unpatriotic thieves even further! And I'm not even an American (well not officially but my mother was born and raised in the US).
BTW, I had this petition in my inbox today from Credomobile which I hope everyone will sign:
https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/tell-senator-mcconnell-stop-blocking-funding-for-veterans-healthcare?akid=10780.4312055.dHi_LU&rd=1&suppress_one_click=true&t=5
NY Times — I wonder what the prevailing attitude would be if the banksters and other Wall St thieves were thrown in prison for their egregious acts? Or politicians, like Republicanus/Teabaggers for their`s? I have often heard that hardened criminals are created in prisons, not reformed people. I think it is time for the US to rethink its stance on prisons. Why provide social welfare to a prisoner for years upon years especially when he is there for a non violent crime, after all, his room and board are just that, when he can be helped to becoming a self sufficient contributing member of society? Blow`s the mind! There is tough on crime, but there is also SMART on crime.
Alternet — Sajak — "Two days later he finally claimed he was kidding. It was “hyperbole,” he said. Can’t you people take a joke?"
I can take a joke when I hear one. Haven`t heard one yet!
Coulter — "He should not have said he was “just kidding” in her view. She is not kidding when she asserts her multitude of ignorant positions, nor will you ever catch her being the least bit funny. Or human, for that matter."
Yawn! Coulter is NOT a goddess as the Republicanus/Teabaggers believe. She is an inane, unintelligent individual. 😮
David and Jason Benham — Yawn! 🙄
Duck Bro Phil Robertson — Total quackery!!! 😯
Steve King — As irrelevant as always. 🙄
Ted who? — Since he was born in Alberta, send him to Ponoka! 😈
Arizona potential GOP candidate — Huh??? Send him to Ponoka too! 😈
Cartoon — Indeed! See my previous rant!
Now let's see if I can get those smilies correct!
Coulter — "He should not have said he was “just kidding” in her view. She is not kidding when she asserts her multitude of ignorant positions, nor will you ever catch her being the least bit funny. Or human, for that matter."
Yawn! Coulter is NOT a goddess as the Republicanus/Teabaggers believe. She is an inane, unintelligent individual. 😮
David and Jason Benham — Yawn! 🙄
Duck Bro Phil Robertson — Total quackery!!! 😯
Steve King — As irrelevant as always. 🙄
Ted who? — Since he was born in Alberta, send him to Ponoka! 😈
Arizona potential GOP candidate — Huh??? Send him to Ponoka too! 😈
I thought the problem was with my keyboard since if I accidently hit the Ctrl key with another one like the Shift key, the keyboard rearranges itself and puts some French letters in, puts a ? above the 6 and the / above the 3.
Well at least the first one worked.
See, TC … It's NOT just me that the Emoticons are waging war against!!!
You broke all of wordpress! 🙁
Maybe today is an appropriate day to share a most touching (may want to keep a Kleenex handy) stop-motion animation about "Life, Death & Rebirth" as told by yarn:
http://vimeo.com/92767692
I watched the first minute and 5 seconds during which it froze on average every 4 seconds. After pausing and starting it so many times, I gave up. I am sure it was great and touching because you said so. But I couldn't endure anymore stop'n go action . . . er . . . inaction.
You know, I've had problems getting Vimeo to play – especially in Chrome. Oddly enough it works fine with IE 11. (No idea WRT Firefox. I'm not a FF fan – too many bells & whistles to get comfortable w/ their keyboard shortcuts – because I HATE using a mouse.)
Glad you caught up on your sleep. Let me know if the Physical therapy works, I just go the same diagnosis last week. Still exploring options.
Bernie Sanders: I shared this on Facebook. We are being deluged by ads from Mitch about how much he cares for veterans. Shameful.
NY Times: Shared this on Facebook, too. Prison populations have increased exponentially with the building of privately owned prisons. There has to be a correlation to this. I think our Congress is more afraid of losing contributors to their campaigns than they are worried about the number of people who are unnecessarily imprisoned.
Daily Kos: I clicked through. Coulter, Cruz, and King were too much to read at the same time. And the idiot who says all shooters are democrats was the best. You can't make this stuff up, folks. There are idiots and they walk among us. I did not know Sajack was a nut, too. Sorry to hear that.
Cartoon: Sadly, that is their mind set. Use them for cannon fodder, don't give them benefits when they return home.
As always, Coulter gets it wrong; not dealing with climate change would lead to genocide. We've not dealt with global warming for so long that at this late date it might not be possible to avoid a human extinction event no matter what we do.
Thanks everyone. Pit stop. That quick cat nap wasn't supposed to last six hours. I never sleep that long and almost busted my bladder! 🙁