I’m writing for tomorrow, day 185. I’m waiting for Store to Door to deliver groceries, and then I need to prepare my materials for tomorrow’s prison volunteer day. Tomorrow is also a high Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos are at home in the nationally televised Thursday night worship with San Diego, and I’ll be in prison, far from a TV. When I return home and find out what happened, I’ll have to do penance. It would be nice to have to say 515 Hail Peytons. I hope to get articles prepared before I leave, to crash when I get home, and to post them when I wake up. We’ll see. However, I will probably have only a Personal Update on Saturday.
Late (early) Update: I crashed at the keyboard, before I ran out of work, and I just woke up. 🙁
Condolences to Canada over your terrorist attacks by extreme conservative pseudo-Muslims. Extreme conservative pseudo-Christians, like the the Theocon wing of the US Republican Party, would have us react out of hatred. Do not follow their lead.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:02 (average 5:23). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: Could you imagine what it must feel like to be the one on whose shoulders the language of your people depends?
Major Kudos to Marie. We have already trashed so much native culture irretrievably, that whatever can yet be preserved needs to be.
From The New Yorker: A controversial new bill in the Texas House of Representatives would require those running for governor to show proof of the minimum I.Q. necessary to perform the duties of the office.
If the bill were to become law, every politician in Texas with gubernatorial ambitions would be issued an I.D. card featuring his or her photo, current address, and performance on a state-administered I.Q. test.
Andy has to be mistaken. Didn’t they outlaw IQ there? Don’t they already arrest anything brighter than a turnip? Won’t the RNC just issue fake ID’s to Republicans?
From Daily Kos: It was one of the great unanswered questions of the 2014 campaign: How in the world would the uninspiring Mitch McConnell build "enthusiastic" crowds to bring his campaign across the finish line?
Now we know the answer—with a checkbook.
McConnell will pay expenses in return for ‘enthusiasm’ at events
The Kentucky Republican Party is offering volunteers all-expenses-paid trips to join Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) campaign bus tour and "contribute to an enthusiastic atmosphere" at his events.
In exchange for transportation, meals, and lodging, the state GOP expects the lucky few chosen for the ride to "join local supporters in contributing to an enthusiastic atmosphere at each of his events."
I’d be overjoyed to attend a campaign event for Bought Bitch Mitch, and nobody would have to pay me to feign enthusiasm. Please pass the rotten eggs!!!
Cartoon:
Now they’re campaigning to make it three times.
12 Responses to “Open Thread–10/23/2014”
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6:10 average unchanged. Well, of course it would be difficult. It's always difficult getting up passion for something worth while.
Upworthy Imagine what it must feel like? I imagine proud, humbled, powerful, scared, enthusiastic, discouraged, happy, sad, a sense of achievement, a sense of frustration. That's before seeing it. After seeing it – I would say all of that, probably more. If you watch it on YouTube, try not to get depressed from the comments like "learning it would be a waste of time." Losing a language is a little like losing a species.
New Yorker – It wouldn't be a bad idea, and not just for Texas, but you run into the problem of what test and who is going to administer it; as you say, TC, fake IDs. One remembers the old literacy tests. Shudder. Now if they coulod come up with one which really would have eliminated the governors of the last fifteen years, and administer it fairly, they might have something.
Daily Kos – I did see this earlier, and my reaction is unchanged. Facepalm. Maybe double facepalm.
Cartoon – I'm not sure they all called themselves Republicans then, but they were certainly the same people as today's Republicans. You betcha.
PS – I'll bet Marie doesn't have a birth certificate: born at home in the 30's and deliviered by grandmother. I hope she is able to, and does, vote.
3:13 I think TC was sleeping while he did this puzzle. Purty colors!
3:58 I must have dozed off for a brief time also, although given that you are more than two minutes quicker than the average, you must have had your afterburners going.
Sheer luck, Jerry. The pieces just seemed to fall into place for me today.
3:47 Well I'm not quite in the pink today as is Patty most obviously!
You've got a busy schedule. I just got back from having an ultrasound of my legs. I'm really hoping it was good because I don't relish the thought of another surgery. I've been good since January.
Upworthy ~ It is so very important to preserve the Native languages. Without the Navajo code talkers, we might have lost WWII. God bless Marie and others like her.
New Yorker ~ Rick Perry was a lucky man.
Daily Kos ~ I knew he had to be doing something underhanded to get those supporters at he "events".
Cartoon ~ No bailout this time!
Wow! The 515 would be fantastic!! Hope its more than that!! The Great Peyton will be adding to his total, for sure! I will send you a message when the game is over, if you can get to a computer. But, if you can get to a computer, you can get the results by looking on the website, duh! I guess I will be sending you a message, anyway!! Hope we have reasons to celebrate when it is over!
Andy was PRICELESS!! It would be nice to have that kind of IQ ID for the Okies, also!!
Puzzle — 3:47 Well I'm not quite in the pink today as is Patty most obviously!
Ottawa Shooting — Here is a link for the Ottawa shooting of yesterday. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-shooting-mps-honour-nathan-cirillo-with-moment-of-silence-1.2809953
Today of course it was all over the news, but of particular interest to me was "why?". This incident, while an act of terrorism, is not the usual jihadist act that seems to be expected. Authorities are still investigating any connections to radicalised Islam, but it seems right now that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was angry that he was recently turned down for a Canadian passport because of his criminal record. According to the news, he was homeless, living in a shelter where he displayed anger and made threats, and he was a drug addict. Having said he was not a jihadist as such, apparently he may have wanted the passport to travel to Libya to "join up" as it were. My understanding is his father is/was Libyan while his mother is French Canadian and works for the government. The RCMP looked into a possible link with the gunman that was a jihadist and killed a soldier in Montréal earlier in the week. There was reportedly no link. I hope that people will remember all this and not label all Muslims as terrorists because they are not.
I wanted to see if this incident was on Faux Noise's radar but I cannot get Faux Noise on-line because our cable carriers are not listed with Faux Noise, or perhaps better put, our carriers do not carry the Faux Noise signal, even on-line. God bless the Canada Radio Act!
Upworthy — Outstanding!!!!! What a gift for her grandson to be able to learn the Wukchumni language from Marie. Equally important I think, is the recording of stories like "How we got our hands" which Marie recorded throughout the programme. Both stories in the oral tradition and language are key components of identity and give a sense of belonging. Marie's legacy for her family and for her people will be the preservation of theri language and stories.
The New Yorker — So funny when I read this the other day. Just don't stop at gubernatorial aspirations . . . any Texan with aspirations to any office, including federal Senate or House positions representing Texas, must take an IQ test and attain a certain level. That would certainly weed out Perry and Goh-merde for sure.
Daily Kos — I sure wouldn't sell my soul to McTurtle, not even for a copy of hours. Wouldn't it be great if Grimes whopped his turtle butt!
Cartoon — If the Republicanus/Teabaggers end up in control of the House and Senate, you can bet that various corporations will get bailouts while the "average Joe" gets less than nothing!
I hope you had a productive visit a the prison. You have a lot to do all the time, I amnot sure I could keep up with all of it myself.
Upworthy: Kudos to Marie and her family for preserving their language. I hope other tribes do the same while they still have someone who can speak the language. This is yet another example of how badly the Native Americans have been treated.
The New Yorker: Oh how I wish the article was truth instead of satire. Rick Perry would be gone, so would Ted Cruz. Wendy Davis would be a shoo in for governor.
Daily Kos:: the local papers have also reported this. Mitch has to buy enthusiasm. The DCC and other groups who cut funding for Grimes have suddenly decided to step in again, I hope they are not too late because she is really being outspent by the Republicans
Cartoon: Yes they did, and then again in 2008.
I am deeply impressed by the amount you achieve TC, I really am!
You said exactly what I said when I heard of this horrible murder of the soldier "Condolences to Canada over your terrorist attacks by extreme conservative pseudo-Muslims. Extreme conservative pseudo-Christians, like the the Theocon wing of the US Republican Party, would have us react out of hatred. Do not follow their lead." – to follow their lead is exacty what the Reich Wing would want us to do, and we must not do it.
Upworthy – Kudos Marie!
NYorker – if only they would do that for all political posts – and bring proof of working at a real job for twenty years with real problems!
Daily Kos – please God Alison Grimes wins!
Good night