I can’t express how happy I am to have a wide open window and my A/C set on fan. It will take a couple days for the building to bleed off the heat. Old masonry structures are like that. TGIF!!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:39 (average 4:22). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Recruiting:
We may still need one new player for Lefty Blog Friends, our fantasy football league. Viv and her Hillbilly Lefties are now onboard. We may have found our last player. For more information, click here.
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: Yep, that’s what Jeb Bush said in a press interview with New Hampshire’s Union Leader. Unbelievable. People already WORK LONG HOURS, and we’re actually one of the most productive countries in that we work longer than any other industrialized nation in the entire world. Here’s the context in which Jeb Bush said his damning quote:
“My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this rut that we’re in.”
Call me crazy, but when we’re working up to 50 hours a week, and in many cases, more hours than that, and we’re not getting paid well in doing the work we do. Many people work long hours at the minimum wage level, and Americans work longer hours just to make the ends meet these days. The part-timers want to work full hours, but they can’t find other work, so they don’t often make ends meet without the assistance of government programs.
These are the facts, Jeb Bush, we already work damn hard, and we’re entitled to the right wages for our work. We should NOT be underpaid, we should NOT have our hours cut, we should NOT have our benefits cut so we work longer, and we should NOT be spending so much damn time at the office just to make ends meet.
Strike Three backtracked and said he was only referring to underemployed part time workers. However, the context in which he made the statement was as the means by which he intended to achieve economic growth of 4%/year. Increasing work for the underemployed could not possibly achieve even 1% growth, so either he’s lying about making YOU work more for less, and/or his entire economic plan is a lie. In my opinion, he’s lying about BOTH. Why? He a Republican, and he’s a Bush.
From Daily Kos:
Former President George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at a charity fundraiser for U.S. military veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former First Lady Laura Bush collected $50,000 to appear a year earlier, officials of the Texas-based Helping a Hero charity confirmed to ABC News.
And…
The former President was also provided with a private jet to travel to Houston at a cost of $20,000, the officials said.
It’s obscene that GW ChickenHawk is not donating his time to help the heroes that he maimed by using them as cannon fodder in his criminal war.
From Raw Story: [T]he anti-LGBT owners of an Oregon bakery were not fined for refusing to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple – they were ordered to pay $135,000 in damages for intentionally causing their would-be customers emotional distress.
The case has attracted widespread media attention since the couple first filed their complaint in January 2013, and that is largely through the efforts of Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa.
After the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries handed down the order last week, Aaron Klein claimed the ruling was an example of the “persecution of Christians” in the U.S.
However, the ruling shows the bakery owners had made Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer the victims of persecution and makes clear the payment was compensation for damages and not a fine or civil penalty.
I could agree that $135,000 would be a bit excessive as a fine, but the "Sweet Cakes" pseudo-Christian Republicans went beyond mere refusal of service. They published the lesbian couple’s address to make them a target for other gay-hating Republicans. I was targeted at home by peace-hating Republicans in 2003, so I know that $135,000 is not enough!
Cartoon:
20 Responses to “Open Thread–7/10/2015”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
2:46 I gave TomCat the bird.
3:51 As did I.
2:39
I'll be cool
You can drool
And then we'll set the birdie free!
Forget what the Sasquatch says!! My half ofr that bird will be prodicing green energy in a kitty kitty gut!!
People DON'T need to work longer hours. They need to be paid for all the hours the already work and their salary need to increase at the same rate as their productivity. More work doesn't grow the economy. People buying more goods grows the economy. It is demand, Stupid, not supply that creates both jobs and an expanding economy.
Jebya also said he's all for maintaining "low wages", because that will then be an "incentive" to have worker-bees increase their "productivity".
Personally, I think this has some possible merit.
So I say let's try it out with ALL the Fortune 500 CEOs for a couple of years, and see how it works!
Better yet, lets try it out on Congress!
3:56 (average 4:22) Wow, TC will be salivating today. He looks delicious.
Not a pretty story (apologies to those who have already seen it): "On Wednesday, July 8, one of our (Make It Count) staffers wanted to drop by the NC DMV Mobile Unit on Lane Street in Raleigh during its open business hours of 9:30am-3:30pm. She drove to its location around noon, expecting a large lunch crowd getting their No Fee IDs to comply with NC's new voter ID law.
The mobile unit was expected to be parked on the street or in an open parking lot. After searching for close to half an hour, it was found…parked flush at the back of a building, completely dark, and closed down when it was supposed to be open for business. Our staffer only saw it because she looked in her blindspot while trying to parallel park on the one way street.
DKos1 – I get why Republicans say these thisngs, but I still don't get why anyone believes them Yes, I know, Faux Noise, but there comes a point when disbelief can no longer be suspended. Are they hypnotized? Drugged?
DKos2 – As a veteran, this also boggles my mind. One veteran was quoted as saying he was honored to have served under Commander-in-Chief Bush (although even he thought the fee excessive).
Raw Story – You say $135K would be excessive as a fine – but it wasn't a fine. The persecuted couple deserves every penny in damages, bless them. The Kleins will just go back to GoFundMe or IndieGoGo – though they will likely get kicked off.
Cartoon – UNHAPPY birthday!
Horrible story!
Propaganda under any name smells the same.
OR gave a good example of justice.
Bush hands are for collecting cash and mouths for spewing lies?
This was a lot of news today!
First, ya tell me your heat wave is coming my way! Got news for ya! It’s already here!
Dubya is a (the first thing that came up in my suggestion words) mental midget! And so is his Strike Three Brother! And that goes for his wife, too!
And the “Sweet” Cakes by Melissa are not so “sweet” after all!
Friday evening, July 10, 2015.
Just heard the evening broadcast of Rachel Maddow –
Donald Trump now leads all of the GOP candidates for POTUS by a wide margin according to the latest polls.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
Argh!!
Daily Kos: His real plan is for all of us who were not born to rich parents to be indentured servants. His brother, who profited all ready from the war he put us in shows how much he cares about those he sent to battle by charging for speaking at fund raisers to help them. His mother must be so proud of bothher boys.
I think $135 thousand is not enough since they published the couples address.
Tass, the perfect fit for faux news.
TY TC – I agree with your articles and the comments and I think Edie is quite correct.
I was however, despite being aware of the range of repeated repuglicon hypocrises, utterly DISGUSTED that GWB was such a whited sepulchre as to charge $100,000 (plus $20,000 for helicopter) to speak at a veterans fund raiser. They are beyond vile in so many ways.
Puzzle — 2:39
I'll be cool
You can drool
And then we'll set the birdie free!
Daily Kos — Somebody ought remind Strike Three that "slavery" was abolished with the ratification of the 13th amendment to the US Constitution on 06/12/1865!
Daily Kos — Baby Bush screwed soldiers when he sent them of to illegal manufactured wars. If that weren't bad enough, he's screwing the survivors a second time by charging a US vets charity to hear him speak. But why, when he didn't charge them the first time? And Laura Bush? She must have inherited the "stupid gene" that also plagued her husband!
Raw Story — The owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa are feeling persecuted not because they are Christians, but because they are Republicanus/Teabaggerum assholes! Human dignity is priceless so shut up and pay the $135,000 before your whining gets the amount increased. BTW, they are not authentic Christians, they are right wing evangelical pseudo Christians.
Cartoon — Just like the chicken and the egg, which came first, TASS or Faux?
Still battling my summer flu, and not yet thinking very clearly so just signing in to keep up your stats, TomCat.
I hope you feel better!
100,,000 for Dubya,50,000 for Laura,$20,000 for a helicopter.and ALL for telling lies. Wow,Pol pot and Adolph must be spinning in their graves..How ironic! There probably would have been far fewer disabled vets,had W (and Cheney etc. had NOT lied).How obscene!. How does this family sleep at nights? Damned if I know.$
Thanks all! Running late. Hugs!