It turned out to be a moderately busy day when I thought it would not be so. I had a nice lunch with a group of ladies. As I headed home, I realised that I had to buy food for my furbabes because we were almost out. Then I remembered that this was the day for a visit to the chiropractor. When I finally made it home, I was attacked at the door by cats who can spot a kibble bag from 100 metres! I decided it was time for a short Lona cat nap, but it turned out to be longer than expected. Tomorrow will be busy . . . physio, teaching ESL which is usually 3 hours, and then back to the computer to prepare the Saturday's Open Thread. TGIF!!!! Although that doesn't have the same meaning now that I am retired.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:56 (average 6:07). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
Short Takes
Upworthy — h/t JL — Last January, a 13-year-old named Vidal was asked this question on a street in Brooklyn. He was chatting with portrait photographer Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York (HONY).
Little did either of them know just how big an impact their conversation would have.
Vidal said his principal, Nadia Lopez, was his biggest influence.
"When we get in trouble, she doesn't suspend us," he said. "She tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter."
Read the rest and watch the video. This is what education should be about . . . inspiring to acieve!
Robert Reich — On Thursday, right-wing extremists in the U.S. House of Representatives will vote to try to defund Planned Parenthood, one of the nation’s largest providers of women’s health care and family planning services.
Planned Parenthood is under attack and it’s up to all of us to fight back. Any society that respects women must respect their right to control their own bodies. There is a strong moral case to be made for this — but this video isn’t about that. This is about the economics of family planning – which are one more reason it’s important for all of us to stand up and defend Planned Parenthood. …
Take the state of Colorado’s highly successful family planning program. Over the past six years, in Colorado health department has offered teenagers and low-income women free long-acting birth control that prevents pregnancy over several years. Pregnancy and abortion rates plunged—by about 40 percent among teenagers across the state from 2009 to 2013. …
Republicans say there is no war on women, that that claim is a distraction manufactured by Democrats. Oh really? Ask lower income women how they feel about it. Colorado should serve as a shining example of the benefits that Planned Parenthood brings to the nation. Read the rest of Robert Reich's article.
Daily Kos — "It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congress members. So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election’s over."
Is that what the American people are willing to accept . . . a subversion of their rights by the ruling oligarchy? Because that could happen if money in politics is not reined in. Read the rest and watch a very short video.
My Universe — h/t Monka B @ Care2 — This is too good not to share!
19 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 25/09/2015”
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Hi! I hope Tom gets better soon. It's beautiful in Chicago. I am enjoying the pope's messages thought I don't believe in Catholicism. I am very hopeful that Bernie Sanders will win the next election. It's still going to be tough to re-program republicans but at least we know how the dance goes!
In my last card to TC I mentioned we were seeing you here on PP Gloria–glad you're staying with us.
Upworthy: What a leader, and a Caring Principal !! Students thrive with positive interventions, and scoring the Harvard Scholarship is wonderful.!! Other schools can follow suit, as our children are our future.
RR: Repugs need to get on board on this issue. Respecting women's rights on PP is paramount on all sides/issues of this.
DK: Years ago, my father told me re: politics, 'money talks'. In a big way.
I am out the door, the school libaray beckons me. Hope that you have a great day. Thanks, Lynn for post.
The GOP's attack on Planned Parenthood is the perfect means to showcase both their hatred for women's rights AND ignorance of science.
Paraphrasing something I saw quite a bit back –
Do you remember when teachers, public employees, unions, Planned Parenthood, gays all conspired to crash the stock market, ruin the value your home, wipe out half of your 401Ks and IRAs, while giving tax cuts for the rich, spilling oil in the Gulf of Mexico and starting a couple of wars?
Yeah … me neither.
I sure do remember the right wing ominous mumblings about the evils we were plotting! They sure give us a lot of power, don't they?
5:28 Well, they said it was sticky.
Upworthy – It's nice, when we so often need to scream, "Don't do that!" to power, to be able to say "Do this instead!"
Robert Reich – Of course, sometimes when we scream, "Do this instead!" they go ahead and do the wrong thing anyway. I must ask, though, does anyone have an idea how John Boehner's resignation from the Speakership and from Congress will affect this?
Daily Kos – I have ALWAYS thought that President Carter was cheated out of reelection and also out of recognition of his very considerable legacy. While I an glad that people are starting to take another look, I am grieved beyond words that it took cancer to accomplish that.
Universe – tee hee.
If Boehner is replaced by a non-Catholic or one more inclined to respect the Pope (who told Catholics to stop focusing on these issues) it could get better…
As a very liberal Catholic, I do tend to wonder where all of the generalization about Catholics being so conservative comes from. Usually, we are very liberal socially. Some are conservative on certain issues, yes. But far from all of us. Lumping individuals based on assumptions does everyone a disservice.
During the Vietnam War era, I wouldn't have dreamed the conservative label could fit Catholics in general. I suspect it derived from Ryan and others like him who are conservative and Catholic being in the news a whole lot along with the highest ranking US Cardinal the Pope just stripped of his power being in the press on the select issues so much and the Cardinals who denounced The Nuns on the Bus…the major media tilted the view to the conservative exclusively focusing on the issues this Pope has told people are not the biggest issues for the Church or Catholics to address.
PS–it kind of parallels the rise of Faithful America to tell people the conservative protestants were not representative of Christians or protestants when the media limited presentation of religious perspective to their views.
2:54 I'm surprised that I beat you on a purple flower, Lynn.
3:53 I got stuck in the sticky hairs.
Please remind me not to send you Aussie strength catnaps, Lynn. You're not as used to them (yet) as TomCat and I wouldn't want you to start blaming me when you oversleep too. Big wink. Your comment reminded me of my dad when he retired. We all dreaded the day, because he never had time for hobbies when he worked, so we were afraid he'd grow bored and fretful. But soon after retirement he told us there weren't enough hours in the day to do all the things he wanted or had to. Sounds familiar?
Upworthy: I wish all teachers could spent some time as an intern with this wonderful principal. The very fact that this young man mentions her as his greatest influence, acknowledges her accomplishments and her insight into what motivates these kids. All the praise we load on her doesn't come close to this marvelous compliment he gave her by mentioning her.
Robert Reich: Once again Reich makes an incontrovertible case against the Republican war on women in a "simple and short" video. The GOP has no real case against Planned Parenthood, they had to fabricate one, and all because they are against abortions. They can't stop Planned Parenthood from doing abortions because they are legal, so the next best thing is getting rid of Planned Parenthood altogether. And, as Reich so eloquently shows, are prepared to harm the American economy in the process. The Dutch call that: throwing the child away with the bathwater. But they don't care. And neither do they care that if Planned Parenthood is well funded and supported, the number of abortions would dramatically fall as anti-conception becomes easily available for all. The Colorado example is strongly supported by the abortion numbers in Scandinavia and The Netherlands which have very low abortion rates because of low cost and easy access to birth control in combination with good sex education in schools.
Daily Kos: Former president Jimmy Carter truly believes that he'd never get elected in this day and age, he makes very clear who he blames for that and he doesn't beat about the bush about the state of American politics and who is in fact ruling the country. Kudos to him, now if only more would have the guts to stand up and call out the oligarchs. It's time the American people take back what is rightfully theirs: their democracy and their government.
My Universe: Puss in Boots forgot to put them on.
I can't help but contrast the Upworthy story with the 2,500 charter schools which got federal funding which closed–often without ever teaching any students.
Good to know Monka knows about TC–hadn't seen her lately.
Colorado also provides hearing aids for free to all who need them…some good stuff there.
Upworthy ~ Too bad we don't have a Nadia Lopez in each school.
Robert Reich ~ It'sjust that those old white men think they know what is best for all of us. The Senate thwarted their efforts yesterday, but, how long will they be able to fight?
Daily Kos ~ Jimmy Carter was one of our best and wisest Presidents. I think people are starting to wake up to the Rethugs' antics. Only our next elections will tell.
I love Your Universe. I have that same attitude sometimes.
Agent Orange is resigning!
Agent Orange IS giving up his house seat!! Oh, my, my.
Read up on McCarthy and the TP contenders before you celebrate too much my friend.
One analysis I read said the timing is because Boner refused to include defunding PP in the budget bill to keep the government from shutting down–so he'll move that bill before he goes. That feels deserving of his self-statement that it is for the good of Congress he'll be resigning.
UPworthy: I love this. A good educator makes all the difference in some children's lives, this principal is obviously one of those.
Robert Reich: The assault on Planned Parenthood by the Republicans was greatly assisted by the phoney video that was released. By the time the courts have dealt with the miscreants who did this, Planned Parenthood will either be defunded or we will have another government shutdown. No war one women? Who are they kidding? Every state should follow Colorado's example.
Daily Kos: I voted for Jimmy Carter for President both times he ran and sincerely wish he had won the second round. He is totally right, we are an oligarchy now. Our government is bought by the highest bidder. We really, really, need term limits for senators and representatives, and public funding for elections.
Lynn, you are doing a great job. Thanks for all your hard work.