I’m writing for tomorrow, day 78, and the end of another month. My doctor appointment yesterday went very well. The doctor took me off the med she thinks is causing edema in my feet and ankles, and she told me that my chest has never sounded so good in the twelve years she has been my GP.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:21 (average 4:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Crooks and Liars:
During the tense final days leading up to the deal to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) had some sharp words for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Just steps outside the Oval Office, Boehner told Reid, "Go f@*k yourself." In the Speaker’s defense, he was only following in the path blazed by Vice President Dick Cheney, who in 2004 similarly told Democratic Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont to "f@*k yourself." (Of course, Cheney never apologized for dropping the F-bomb on the Senate floor, explaining to Fox News, "I thought he merited it at the time.")
But with the Speaker of the House of Representatives once again threatening to trigger a U.S. sovereign default and a global economic crisis by refusing to raise the debt ceiling in October, it’s time someone said to John Boehner the long overdue words he so richly deserves to hear.
Speaker Boehner, go f@*k yourself!
Or putting it another way, go sit on your Boehner!
From The New Yorker: Attempting to quell criticism of his proposal for a limited military mission in Syria, President Obama floated a more modest strategy today, saying that any U.S. action in Syria would have “no objective whatsoever.”
“Let me be clear,” he said in an interview on CNN. “Our goal will not be to effect régime change, or alter the balance of power in Syria, or bring the civil war there to an end. We will simply do something random there for one or two days and then leave.”
“I want to reassure our allies and the people of Syria that what we are about to undertake, if we undertake it at all, will have no purpose or goal,” he said. “This is consistent with U.S. foreign policy of the past.”
While Mr. Obama clearly hoped that his proposal of a brief and pointless intervention in Syria would reassure the international community, it immediately drew howls of protest from U.S. allies, who argued that two days was too open-ended a timeframe for such a mission.
This is humorous satire, but it sounds way too close to accurate!
From Daily Kos:
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told Reuters on Monday that the company has no intent of cutting back the hours of its workers in anticipation of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). He said,
"Other companies have announced that they won’t provide coverage for spouses; others are lobbying for the cut-off to be at 40 hours. But Starbucks will continue maintaining benefits for partners and won’t use the new law as excuse to cut benefits or lower benefits for its workers," Schultz said in a telephone interview. [Source]
The Affordable Care Act states that companies with 50 employees are more must offer health insurance to employees who work 30 or more hours a week. Starbucks’ business lends itself to many part time employees. It would be easy for them to loophole themselves out of the law. They have decided to continue doing the right thing. After-all, Starbucks provides health insurance to all their employees who work 20 or more hours per week.
Kudos to Starbucks. That earned some coffee business from me!
Cartoon:
…as did every other prominent Republican invited. Now the Republican Reichsministry od Propaganda, Faux Noise, is whining about it being all Democrats.
35 Responses to “Open Thread–8/31/2013”
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Excellent Crooks and Liars article TC – many thanks. Also MANY congratulations on your lungs being the best of 12 years! Fantastic – and congrats on day 78!
Thanks Pat! 🙂
2:41 No snail's pace for me today.
3:33 Ah! The ubiquitous snail!
When I was a young child (7-8 years old), my brother was allergic to all fur bearing animals so no cats or dogs in the house. We had a large aquarium with fish, turtles and snails. Every morning, I would come downstairs and cross the livingroom floor to the kitchen. You'd hear "crunch, crunch, crunch" as you'd step on the snails (definitely not intentional) — and Jerry wasn't even there! Snails can be prolific breeders and ours were just that. My father finally made a netting to keep them in the aquarium, much to my mother's pleasure as she was the one that got to clean up the corpses.
3:10 Patty, you are suppose to take your shell with you. Unfair!
Lynn,
You are suppose to eat them, not step on them.
Although we all got Mashed, Lynn's snails got Bigfooted! 😉
Patty Monster was deiving the S car! Look at that S car go!
Hooray for You on day 78! You now have Non-Smoker's lungs. They get better all the time too.
Crooks and Liars ~ The man has no class. A lovely vocabulary for an educated man.
New Yorker ~ I am glad that we haven't done anything yet. We should definitely wait for the UN report and follow their lead. We do NOT need another Viet Nam or Iraq. We have to stay home a little more and let others take the lead once in a while. If the Iraqi government released chemical weapons against its own citizens (I believe they did) the truth will come out and the UN will take action collectively.
Daily Kos ~ Kudos to them for their support of Affordable Health Care. I can't afford their coffee though.
Cartoon ~ They have their own nasty Dream for Americans.
Thanks Patty!
He may have been drunk at the time.
Patty, there will be no action fron the UN, because Putin will block it. Assad is his boy.
Neither can I, but I'll have some anyway!
Yes, a nightmare!
I meant the Syrian government, not Iraqi. My brain is addled.
Naw! If it was, you'd be a Republican. 😉
I, for one, was delighted to NOT see any Bushes at the "I Have a Dream" celebration – but I could picture a lot of KKK members sitting around cursing and throwing beer cans at the tv….
As for Boner – what a class act, huh? Dear Ol' Agent Orange shows us what he's made of once again….
Good news on the lungs, Tom – I hope it's enough incentive to keep you going for another 60 years or so…
Maybe GW was with them!
It's a trifecta. ChickenHawk Cheney, Agent Orange, and Bought Bitch Mitch have all dripped the F-bomb now.
Thanks Arielle. As I am now the olders surviving male in known family history, I consider every day a gift.
Puzzle — 3:33 Ah! The ubiquitous snail! Much maligned by various postal services!
When I was a young child (7-8 years old), my brother was allergic to all fur bearing animals so no cats or dogs in the house. We had a large aquarium with fish, turtles and snails. Every morning, I would come downstairs and cross the livingroom floor to the kitchen. You'd hear "crunch, crunch, crunch" as you'd step on the snails (definitely not intentional) — and Jerry wasn't even there! Snails can be prolific breeders and ours were just that. My father finally made a netting to keep them in the aquarium, much to my mother's pleasure as she was the one that got to clean up the corpses.
Crooks and Liars — I remember that earlier incident. Agent Orange is such a spoiled brat — if he doesn't like the fact that he is unable to control his own caucus, and if can't get used to the fact that he does not call the government shots, then he needs to get out of the kitchen. I'll say it "John Boehner, go f??k yourself!"
The New Yorker — Another great contribution from Andy Borowitz. I haven't heard yet exactly what the US will do but I did hear Kerry's report. The UK Parliament took a vote and has forbidden John Cameron from taking action, calling for assurances that he would not use Royal prerogative. Cameron said he would not because it was apparent the people had spoken. I wonder how long that will last?
Daily Kos — Good on Starbuck's. I don't frequent them because I am allergic to coffee and their drinks, like chai tea which I have had and their berry drinks, are loaded with sugar. Not good for diabetics. If I am with someone else, it is bottled water, not something you can screw up. Now I wonder what will happen to the movement to unionise their baristas that is going on in Canada? Don't know about the US.
Cartoon — I can forgive Daddy Bush because of his age and recent ill health and hospitalisation, but not Baby Bush! . . . nor any of the other Republicanus/Teabaggers! They would make a mockery out of it. Let them whine and complain . . . that's all they know how to do. Senior leaders were given the opportunity to speak and declined. I certainly would not expect the organisers to invite Cruz or Paul, 2 of the worst political grandstanders.
In the print copy of Time Magazine, a double issue, people like Malala Yousafzai, weigh in on MLK Jr's "I have a dream . . . " speech. There was a Republicanus/Teabagger who fully endorsed it and it's importance. There was also a short piece by Marco Rubio. Interesting that these two Republicanus/Teabaggers are at odds with their party, well at least in Time, but they are also at odds with their own previously spoken positions. Talk about Republicanus/Teabagger wolves in sheep's clothing! It is a good issue which I recommend (has Dr King on the cover.)
My mother put snails in her guppy aquarium once, they ate all her guppies.
…and delicious to eat too! Not for Bigfooting! 😉
I won't tell him to do that. Ehat if he knocks himself up and reproduces! EEK!!
Vote in the new poll.
I'd like to see ALL US workers in unions.
Rubio tries to give lip service to minorities, while legislatig against them.
Unions — Here's a story from Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/31/unifor-caw-cep-merger_n_3847388.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business
The CAW and CEP unions merged and have a new president in Dias. I listened to him as I drove back from mother's, and is he fired up. One of the things he talked about was the erosion of employee rights and a commitment to take them back. I immediately thought of you guys south of the 49th and the blatant union busting going on, particu;arly by the Republicanus/Teabagger governments and their big business puppet masters. Dias was previously with the CAW but not top dog.
Will be interesting to see what happens.
Vote in the new poll — I did but I was censored again. I can't remember what word it was. I used "GOP" to avoid the last trap but there was no swearing etc. Any ideas?
Lynn, I just checked, and there is an extensive comment there from you. You can be sure I didn't censor it Exactly how was this comment censored?
Mr Obama has sent an action proposal to the Congress with do entation out-lining the information that he has.
This is the line — a smiley with tape on its mouth, just like last time "do (smiley) entation" — just dawned on me, the word is "documentation". It doesn't like "cum" in documentation.
Dang! I have no control of that one. Be more cirCUMspect in your word choices, I guess. 😉
Cool! Please keep us posted.
Congrats on your stellar checkup!
Thanks Nameless! 🙂
Excellent news on the check up! I bet that encourages you to keep going with smoking cessation! It's tough . . . but it is worth it! I'm really pleased that you are hanging in!
Dr Winnie and Nurse Annie expressed their delight! Primo, not so much but I think he is still too worried about his recent plight — after all, people were on his ass and going up his ass for 3 weeks!
Keep on truckin' bud. You know you have our support!
Thanks Lynn! 🙂
(furballs included!)
Well I don't blame RepubliCONs for not going to the "I Have a Dream" Celebration…THEIR dream was entirely different, but they have steadfastly forced it on the "real world" by bankrupting the country & dismantling Every building block for equality & freedom they possibly could! No, RepubliCONs are Not Dreamers, they are the nightmares Democracy hides from.
I agree. The point of the cartoon was that Republican leaders do not share King's dream.
Boehner has never had any class, and little intelligence, that makes him perfect for his current job.
You are right, the New Yorkers satire is too close to the truth. We will accomplish nothing, except send the US further into debt and create more enemies in the world. They need to let the inspectors finish their job. Have we learned nothing from the WMD debacle in Iraq?
Kudos to Starbucks. Our area is too small to have one, but I visit when I am in the city.
I am glad the Reps. didn't go to the I have A dream celebration. They showed what they are by their refusals.
Boehner had three classes. He had kindergarden. Then he has 1st grade. Theb he had 2nd grade, but flunked out. 😉
The intelligence is solid.
Exactly!
How did you do? 5:54
I'd like to tell Boehner myself.
If I had the opportunity, I would tell Cheney the same while swinging…
You couldn't pick a more deserving pair.
Good Job TomCat, in 9 days it will make 40 months or (3 years and 4 months)… I feel liberated and much better.
40 months IS a good job!