I’m writing for tomorrow, day 132. I don’t feel well, and I just can’t seem to wake up today, so I need to stay down. This is tomorrow’s only article.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:34 (average 5:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: I can’t wait until we’re ready to push the national conversation around bullying beyond "stop being mean" and into the realm of "actually proactively be nice." Wouldn’t that be great? "Do no harm" is a good, bare-minimum message for the cool kids to hear, but "go out of your way to make others smile" is an even better one. It’s so great to see a bunch of football players who already get it.
Color those kids too cool for school!! Major Kudos!
From NY Times: Six years after being struck by economic crisis, Europe is facing a fresh downturn, with few new ideas on the table for reigniting growth and deepening political divisions over the austerity policies that many blame for worsening the malaise.
If I had a nickel for every time I said that austerity would screw Europe, I’d almost be a Bankster!
From TPM: Herman Cain took the conservative rhetoric of "impeachment bait" to the next level on Thursday by theorizing that President Obama is actually trying to get impeached in order to "laugh at the Republicans."
Herman "9-9-9" Cain is crazy. Does he actually think we need an excuse to laugh at the Republicans?!!?
Cartoon:
13 Responses to “Open Thread–8/31/2014”
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3:25 You can't feel too poorly today. You beat me to that big bird by almost a full minute.
3:11 There is no coming between puddy tat and Fricassée de Pélican!
Bird IS Bird!! BURP!!
Upworthy ~ Kids are by nature cool. Adults teach them hatred and bigotry. Sad.
NY Times ~ Austerity is not good for anyone except the rich. It's easy for them to telll everyone else to tighten their belts.
TPM ~ Where are the men in the white coats with the huge "butterfly" nets?
Cartoon ~ Amen!
Thedy are preparing to gather at the Republican convention.
Hope you get to feeling better real soon.
I'm heading up to Illinois tomorrow to help my Mom FINALLY make her final decision on which Assisted Living place she wants. We started out with six that I toured and interviewed –> winnowed those down to three -> took my Mom to see those –>now it's down to the final two.
Plus meet the auctioneer guy that will do her auction in November (at least he said November).
Plus see her internist to start the paperwork so she can be covered for her Assisted Living as she has Long Term Care Insurance.
One of the Directors at the Assisted Living facility, when I asked her how they deal w/ LTC, said a real truism:
Insurance companies have two jobs: [1] Sell the insurance policy to you & [2] Make sure you NEVER get a dime from them for it.
Have a gbood, safe trip Nameless. I used to date a VA doctor who said that the purpose of the VA was to seperate vets from their benefits. She was often in trouble for fighting for them.
6:09 The pelican used to get a lot of respect (for behavior it doesn't actually do, but there was a lot of misinformation going around in those days). Nowadays it just gets ill will fron professional fishermen.
Upworthy – It is actually very difficult to make much progress at accomplishing a negative goal anyway ("Why did the children put beans in their ears?") If your mind is fixed on a "don't," that's all you think about. It might be smarter to jump right in and not wait unti "we're ready." Seems to have worked in Olivet.
NY Times – Seems to me it's way past time to demote "austere," "austerity," back to its original meanings of "sour," "bitter," "harsh." It's a little unusual for words to get promoted in the first place; that this one did is a testament to humanity's love of making itself miserable. You can argue whether it has any positive effects for an individual (even then, in order to have positive effects it must be self-selected, not imposed), but history shows it is invariably disastrous for a nation and/or a government. Instead of speaking of a government being "austere," let's tell it like it is – that government is "not doing its job."
TPM – He may think we do need an excuse to laugh at Republicans in such a way that Republican and undecided voters will also see the joke. That's a little harder since Republicans in particular are not known for their sense of humor. But impeachment just might do it.
Cartoon – You bet.
Nameless – As a retired insurance professional I see it a little differently myself. Though even I admit that health insurance in particular is about at that point (I worked in property and casualty, or auto and home).
TC, it's a holiday weekend. Get some rest.
Amen on austerity!
Puzzle — 3:11 There is no coming between puddy tat and Fricassée de Pélican!
Upworthy — Well the video is not available in Canada even on YouTube but I saw another that is hopefully equally as good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ium0J7hXQLs An 18 year old student in his final year of high school scores the winning touchdown in a football game. Doesn't sound remarkable until you know that the student has Down's Syndrome and has been the water boy for his high school team. What great team spirit on behalf of his team and the opposing team! Enjoy!
NY Times — It seems that there is plenty of historical evidence that total austerity just does not work. I'm not saying spend wildly without restraint. But I do think that prudent spending that invests in the assets of a country is the way to go. Want proof? Look at the FDR administration's response to the 1929 Depression and how the American economy recovered. In a smaller way, I found that investment in training as an example in the employees that I worked with led to greater adaptability to unforseen circumstances and greater growth potential. That is efficient investment resulting in better employees, greater sales opportunities, and better adaptability.
TPM — The whole idea of impeachment is destabilising to the country, both internally and externally. And while I don't know the POTUS, I do have a sense of his direction and advocating for his own impeachment just is not there.
The Democrats, or any sane person for that matter (which automatically disqualifies the Republicanus/Teabaggers) do not need any additional reasons to laugh at the Republicanus/Reabaggers! . . . they have provided enough fodder already.
There is no such thing as talking frankly about national security or the economy with the GOP. There is only doing and talking about their ideas. The Republicanus/Teabaggers have the motto "Walk big and use an even bigger stick to beat the crap out of citizens or other nations".
SSDD!
Cartoon — Amen!!!
Hope you're feeling a little less malaise today. I had one of those days yesterday too!
Hope you feel better. YouTube blocked in BC? Dang! First I've heard of that!! .Your video was hyped by Faux Noise as the winning touchdown. Actually the game was a blowout and the touchdown wassataged, prearranged, in that even the opposing team were in on it. If I had to guess, Faux Noise saw the original, in which only the kids on his team knew (not even the coaches) and the touchdown was real. Faux probably staged theirs to make it appear that they care.
TC, I hope you feel much better today.
Upworthy: Those kids are heroes! This is what we need to be teaching our kids, to be good to everyone and see that every kid is included. Wonderful video. I shared it on Facebook, too.
NY Times: You nailed it, TC, you have said repeatedly that austerity in government won't work. Wish our Republicans would listen to you.
TPM: Why is anyone still listening to Cain? He showed how ignorant he is when he campaigned for the nomination. Good grief, anyone who listens to him has mush for brains.
Cartoon: You nailed it. The one percent have exported so many American jobs that we will never get back and give themselves a pat for everyone they send to another country.
Because lheeple listen to what they are ordedred, even if it's BA-A-A-AD!