I seriously wondered when or if I could write to you, my beloved friends my favorite again. This is the first time I have been up in a chair with internet access, since my near-death experience over two weeks ago. This time has been hilariously painful. My butt and kitty dingles are raw with bed sores. They will finally put me in a larger room with a bari-bed tomorrow.
Thank you to Nameless, Lynn, JD, JLA, and so many more. I know I am alive because Comcast, having been told that I am in the hospital with an amputation, called to sell upgraded service 3 more times.
My phone is working, but I cannot always answer right away.
One of my favorite nurses, Lady Torquemada, greet you.
For me, today has been hectic. When I finally arrived home about 5 pm, I wanted to check on election results but that had to wait until I indulged in one of Lona's cat naps. And what would a cat nap be without furry critters purring away? Now, if I could only convince the critters not to shed! But at least Canadians shed the Harper government!!! Today's thread is a little longer with the Canadian election results included. To say the least, I am a happy Canuck!!! Too bad Harper wasn't defeated in his own constituency though.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:34 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
Short Takes
Huffington Post — No, John Oliver's not going to a Canadian jail. He can also keep that $5,000 he was apparently ready to dish over to Canadian authorities.
The comedian devoted a segment to Canada's election on his HBO show, "Last Week Tonight," which culminated in mockery of a law forbidding foreigners from influencing Canadian elections.
He ridiculed its maximum six-month prison penalty and $5,000 fine. Oliver's seeming desire to fight the re-election of Stephen Harper was apparently so great that he was willing to risk it all, tossing money at the camera and practically daring Canada to arrest him.
Today, Monday 19/10/2015, is election day here in Canada. It is 7:30 pm and the polls in BC and the Yukon are now closed and the counting begins. We already know that the Liberals, headed by Justin Trudeau, have taken Atlantic Canada with 31 of 32 seats. By all anecdotal accounts, the polling stations have been very busy, some with long line ups, but none to rival Florida's line ups in the last US election. It will be interesting to see what the final results and the turn out are. Enjoy John Oliver "reporting" on our election process with the aid of Canadian ex-pat, Mike Meyers. It had me laughing!
Think Progress — “Whether it is in mosques, education or charities, the strategy will reinforce perceptions that all aspects of Muslim life must undergo a ‘compliance’ test to prove our loyalty to this country,” Shuja Shafi, the Muslim Council of Britain’s Secretary General, told Reuters.
And according to Reuters, an independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation named David Anderson warned that such measures could actually backfire, driving members of the Muslim community toward extremism and terrorism.
It seems that conservatives, whether American, Canadian, British, or any other, operate in a climate of fear rather than hope and reconciliation. Cameron's policies seem to have caught even some in his own party by surprise and with concern. Is it correct to tar and feather everyone in a group, in this case British Muslims, along with extremists?
CBC — Canadians, he said, had sent a clear message that it's "time for change in this country my friends. Real change."
"We beat fear with hope," Trudeau said. "We beat cynicism with hard work. We beat negative, divisive politics with a positive vision that brings Canadians together."
At dissolution of the last government, the Conservatives held 159 seats, NDP 95, Liberal 36, Bloc Québécois 2, Green Party 2, Strength in Democracy 2, Independent 8, and 4 vacant seats. As a result of the last census, 30 new seats were created for a total of 338. For a majority government, a party will have to win 170 seats. The results of today's election have Liberals with 184 seats, Conservatives 99, NDP 44, Bloc Québécois 10, and Green Party 1. Stephen Harper retained his seat but has stepped down as the Conservative leader. Justin Trudeau is the new Prime Minister of Canada. Phew!!!
Huffington Post — Monday's federal election saw the biggest voter turnout in the country in over 20 years, according to preliminary results from Elections Canada.
This is what 'get out the vote' looks like, and yet, this turnout is nowhere near the 1958 turnout of 79.4% that brought Progressive Conservative John Diefenbaker to power, nor the 79.2% turnout that ousted Diefenbaker in favour of Liberal Lester Pearson.
Daily Kos — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman keeps cracking down on wage theft, and around 250 workers will be sharing in a nearly $500,000 settlement from four current and former Papa John's franchisees.
This is great news for the workers, but when will justice be served and these corporate criminals go to prison? If you or I stole something and were caught, we would go to jail. Why not these corporate criminals who have stolen wages etc?
Congrats to Canada! (Sorry to steal your thunder, Lynn – but I could NOT resist the picture!)
OTTAWA — The nine-year reign of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party came to a sudden and stunning end on Monday night at the hands of Justin Trudeau, the young leader of the Liberal Party.
Starting with a sweep of the Atlantic provinces, the Liberals capitalized on what many Canadians saw as Mr. Harper’s heavy-handed style, and the party went on to capture 184 of the 338 seats in the next House of Commons. The unexpected rout occurred 47 years after Mr. Trudeau’s father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, first swept to power.
Canada’s general elections have concluded with a landslide win for the Liberal Party and their leader, Justin Trudeau, ending the almost 10-year-rule of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
And the good news from the four of us (Lynn [aka “Squatch”], JLA, Joanne D, and myself, SoINeedAName) continues to roll along.
We’re able to post another very good update combining input from phone calls and a visit by a close friend of his, who has been very kind in keeping the info flowing to us.
Paradoxically, one of the most encouraging signs in recovery is when the patient actually starts to complain. So we can conclude that TC is definitely on the road to recovery! It may not be full-throated, but he is voicing his druthers to the staff.
He’s also now taking solid sustenance PO (per os – by mouth), as he’s lost his NG (naso-gastric) tube. While the food may not be as solid as he would like, it is a solid step in the right direction.
(Word has gotten out, and apparently the nursing staff has BANNED anyone from sneaking in any of TC’s infamous bean concoctions from his freezer. They’re worried that the “end” results might set off all the smoke alarms! And who can blame them?)
Good News / Bad News: He does have his laptop back now. But apparently while being stored away it developed some type of glitch, so it’s not up and running … yet. Hopefully he’ll get a geek-head to fix the bugs.
Some just straight good news – the visitor was able to snap a candid shot of TC on Sunday while enjoying watching his beloved Broncos. (She said the beer in the picture is hers, because TC doesn’t drink, I don’t think).
So we’re all glad to see that he’s continuing to make progress, and ask you to keep him in your thoughts and prayers – AND keep those cards and letters coming, addressed as follows …
"TomCat"
c/o Lynn Squance,
436 Lehman Place,
Port Moody, BC
Canada
V3H 3Z6
For US residents: Please note: International Postage required!
I was at church this morning. The sign on the lawn read:If 99% of us voted, it would not matter what the 1% voted for! Of course this is a reminder to get out and vote in Canada's federal election which is tomorrow. The turn out for the advance polls, which I voted in last weekend, were 71% higher than in 2011 with quite a few first time voters. Elections Canada is expecting a high turn out tomorrow and has a contingency plan for long lineups. One problem though, the Blue Jays play game 3 of their 5 game series, and it is a do or die situation. Will Blue Jay fever reduce the turn out? Last month our church sign read: Adam and Eve, the first people who failed to read the Apple terms and conditions.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:27 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
Short Takes
Mother Jones — In 1958, Fred Koch, the founder of the Midwestern oil and cattle ranching empire that would become Koch Industries, became a charter member of the John Birch Society, the fiercely anti-communist organization whose members believed Soviet influence was infecting all aspects of American society. The Birchers attempted to place their weight on "the political scales…as fast and as far" as they could, but their movement was quickly sidelined to the ideological fringe. Two of Fred's four sons, Charles and David, have carried forward the conservative torch, and they have succeeded where their father and his allies failed. Their father's company, meanwhile, has grown into a multibillion-dollar conglomerate that is the second-largest private corporation in the country.
Continue reading to see how and where the Kochs have spread their influence. The Kochs are like an ivy plant . . . it looks great on the surface, but pull the vines aside a bit, and you see the ivy penetrating the walls it grows against. It penetrates the very foundations of a building weakening it. In education for example, the donations to universities come with substantial caveats about what is taught. Most donations come with some caveats, but the Kochs' caveats are especially onerous.
Alternet — The Monsanto public relations machine has done a stellar job in recent years of reducing the GMO debate to one that pits “pro-science advocates” against “anti-science climate-denier types” — with Monsanto portrayed as being squarely planted in the pro-science camp.
But that well-oiled machine may be starting to sputter.
Turns out that Monsanto executive solicited pro-GMO articles from university researchers, and passed the “research” off as independent science which the biotech giant then used to prop up its image and further its agenda.
If you can't go through it, you can't go under it, or you can't go over it, then you go around it. And that is exactly what Monsanto is trying to do. Using a PR approach, it is orchestrating "unbiased" scientific support for its GMOs. There is a petition at the end of the article which I hope you'll sign, that says:
Biotech giant Monsanto has several ways in which it could push through H.R. 1599 without going through the normal Senate process. If passed, H.R. 1599 would block states from requiring labeling of genetically modified foods. We must put pressure on Congress to reject this blatant assault on our right to know exactly what is in our food. Tell the U.S. Senate to reject a Monsanto “sneak attack” that would pass the DARK Act without due democratic process.
Mother Jones — In the modern-day fight against racial inequality, activists and policymakers alike should look to the past to change the present.
That's the message Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent on Sunday in a stirring speech at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston. Warren called for wide-ranging civil rights reforms to combat racial inequality, from the restoration of voting rights to changes in policing practices.
This is a long video at 55 minutes however Elizabeth Warren starts her remarks at about the 12 minute mark, and it is well worth watching/listening to. Her talk finishes at the 40 minute mark and then there is a Q&A. Love me some Elizabeth Warren!
Think Progress — Barf Bag Alert — The United States criminal justice system could be improved if we sell poor people convicted of crimes into slavery, according to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
The former Arkansas governor weighed in on our nation’s current criminal justice system during an appearance yesterday on Mickelson in the Morning, a leading Iowa radio program.
Jan Mickelson of Mickelson in the Morning is a far right wing radio personality with some outrageous ideas. Couple him with Huckabee and you get supply-side pseudo Christianity almost at its worst. There is absolutely no resemblance to authentic Christianity.
Almost every week, Republicans join a competition to see who can say the most outlandish things, and in the process, they push the envelope on just how nutty InsaniTEA can become. I trust that you will believe it, when I tell you that last week was no exception.
1. There’s a reason Rand Paul has become completely irrelevant.
The fact that Rand Paul was once touted as the savior of the Republican Party does not speak well of either of them. But just to drive the point home that Paul is definitely not suited to play the role of level-headed grown up in the room, the Kentucky libertarian got a little hysterical this week about Bernie Sanders.
Just a tad.
The word “socialist” can do that to right-wing libertarian types—sending them into paroxysms of wild-eyed terror. On a conservative South Carolina radio show, Paul suggested that a Bernie Sanders presidency might set off “mass genocide.” In his view, that’s what happens when you try socialism. Apparently, he has never heard of Scandinavia, where genocide really hasn’t been a thing.
“It amazes me and it actually kind of scares me,” Paul told radio host Vince Coakley. “I think it’s not an accident of history that most of the times when socialism has been tried that attendant with that has been mass genocide of people or any of those who object to it. Stalin killed tens of millions of people. Mao killed tens of millions of people. Pol Pot killed tens of millions of people.”
Granted, Paul is not the only Republican who is confused about Sanders’ use of the word socialism, and certainly not the only one using ridiculous rhetoric to scare people to death. Texas state Rep. Jason Villalba,
Villalba compared him to Hitler on Tuesday, later backing off, and going the other way to Stalin.a
So clearly, we can expect a lot more of this nonsense.
This past week, the former staffers of Rand Paul, who are also former staffers of his father, were on trial and Ron Paul was testifying. But in addition to waxing stupid over Bernie Sanders, Paul tried to, in his own inane way, divert attention from the trial. In the process, he managed to make himself even more irrelevant.
This is just one of the absurdities of right wing America. To be sure, there are more than five, but publishing space is limited. Read about the other four enumerated in Alternet.
Well, it is Saturday night and all through the house not a creature is stirring, not even the cats! That sounds like a somewhat familiar strain! Oh, I know . . . I did a bit of Christmas shopping today and it is rubbing off in my prose. I hope you are having a great weekend.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:53 (average 4:56). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
Short Takes
Huffington Post— For the past four years, Texas oil billionaire and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens has been suing the Liberal government in Ontario under NAFTA, arguing he has been the victim of "unfair" backroom deals involving the province’s green energy program.
A NAFTA tribunal is expected to rule on Pickens’ $700-million lawsuit this month,The New York Times reported Friday, describing the dispute as the 87-year-old tycoon’s “last big battle.” [emphasis mine]
There is another law suit by Lone Pine Resources, a Calgary company with corporate registration in Delaware, over the Québec government's moratorium on fracking within its jurisdiction. Lone Pine wants to frack under the St Lawrence River and is suing Canada for $250 million under NAFTA. Now Pickens! As the article states, 70% of the law suits under NAFTA are against Canada. And of course, now countries are looking to approve the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is pretty much NAFTA on steroids. Anybody else see a problem with this. It feels like good bye to national sovreignty over resources.
Think Progress— Two Wisconsin state lawmakers, Rep. Jesse Kremer (R) and Sen. Stephen Nass (R), have introduced legislation that would prohibit schools from accommodating transgender students who wish to use restroom and changing room facilities that match their gender. It would also empower anyone who notices a school respecting a transgender student as such to file a complaint and win damages against that school.
Read the article to get the full flavour of this Republican bigotry.
Raw Story— After interviewing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Friday, Real Time host Bill Maher explained how Republicans misunderstand Sanders almost totally.
“He’s the one who makes their heads explode when he talks,” Maher said …
Think Progress— On Thursday morning, Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Governor John Kasich will release a tax and spending plan that would give big boosts to the rich and the wealthy with severe cuts for everyone else. …
He would lower the top income tax rate paid by the richest from its current level of 39.6 percent to 28 percent, reducing it by nearly a third. While the campaign hasn’t released full details, nor has an analysis been done on his plan, a proposal from fellow Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush that would lower the top rate to the same level found that it would increase the incomes of the 1 percent by more than 11 percent.
And Rachel Maddow thought Kasich might be a Republican she could tolerate if she had to? Following Kasich down into his rabbit hole might call into question anybody's sanity! Could Kasich be anymore Republican?
It has been another long day. Besides waking up at 4 am and being unable to sleep again until about 6:30, I had physio, then taught my ESL student and finally I was home about 5 pm. My student's 4 year old daughter sees me as grandma and came to me crying after a tiff with her 8 year old sister. She usually comes to me in such situations just to be cuddled. When I was much younger, I did not want to have children. I can't change my decision, nor do I wish to, but sometimes I wonder if child rearing should be left to older people who have developed patience and wisdom. Don't get me wrong, her mum is a wonderful mum to all her kids but it is tough when there are 6. There is something to be said for a closeknit, multi generational family.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:45 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
This is common sense, but it isn't as common as one might hope.
Politicususa — Jeb Bush is probably well aware that there is little direct political cost to ignoring American Indian concerns. Few Native Americans vote Republican, and if Bush can get some mileage out of mocking indigenous people to shore up his support from White racists, so be it.
Ah, the Republican bigotry raises its ugly head once again!
Mother Jones — The US government kills a lot of people who aren't military targets. War is an inherently deadly exercise, but the whole point of using armed drones, theoretically, is to minimize US military deaths and offer a more precise way to attack targets so that innocent people don't get killed. And while it's been known for some time that many innocent people die in US drone strikes, much of the information came from independent sources. The Intercept's package adds internal US military data to the conversation, putting into stark reality just how bad the accidental killing problem has been: Between January 2012 and February 2013, US drone strikes in northeastern Afghanistan killed more than 200 people, only 35 of whom were the intended targets.
It seems that human beings are overly occupied with killing each other, and drones are another way to try to "sanitise" killing. The saying "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes.", generally attributed to General Prescott at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 because his troops were low on ammunition, is a perfect example of NOT sanitising the war In other words, don't waste your shot; make it count even though you could get hurt. You can read the entire Drone Papersthrough The Intercept but it is long.
