I’m writing for tomorrow, and I’m feeling pretty tired from staying up late to watch the SOTU speech and the assorted responses for tomorrow’s piece on that sublet. Unfortunately I have to stay up now for my first Store to Door delivery.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:45 (average 5:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?
My oxygen:
About my Oxygen, I have two different rigs. The first is my concentrator, which I use at home, primarily when I’m sleeping. I don’t need oxygen when at rest, except for sleeping. It concentrates Oxygen already in the room. The other is a portable, which I use when away from home. It feeds my oxygen from a small tank in metered puffs. I turn it on when walking, climbing stairs and catching my breath. My provider, which I have to use because of my Medicare plan, delivers six full tanks at a time and picks up the empties. If I get a dud, they do not charge for it, but the two times it has happened, it was the last tank, and it was a prison volunteer day. If I had plugged it in last Thursday, when I returned from prison, I could have gotten a replacement on Monday. I did not, because I was tired. So I really have nobody to blame but myself.
Short Takes:
From Common Dreams: Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) is making national headlines on Wednesday after he physically threatened a television reporter from NY1 News, telling journalist Michael Scotto that he would "break him in half" and "throw [him] of this fucking balcony" after getting angry when asked a question he said was not up for discussion.
To threaten violence, when called to account for criminal behavior, is a thoroughly Republican reaction!
From Daily Kos: Rebranding be damned. Nothing is going to stop the Republicans from continuing their War on Women and their obsession with abortion. Add their obsession with Obamacare, and you have today’s massive waste of time and taxpayer dollars: the "No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act." It passed today, 227-188…
…And no, there is no taxpayer funding for abortion coverage in Obamacare. House Blue Dogs and Senate ConservaDems made sure of that back in 2010.
The bill, just like 99 percent of the bills the House passes—mostly focused on Obamacare repeal or abortion—won’t even make it to the Senate floor.
It’s just a big lie to pass a bill to solve a problem that does not exist. When Republicans say government is the problem, sometimes they are right, but only because of the way they govern.
From The New Yorker: President Obama’s call during his State of the Union address to “stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans” received a frosty response from the pro-tragedy wing in Congress last night.
After Mr. Obama made his controversial stopping-tragedies remark, prominent pro-tragedy members of Congress looked on in stony silence, refusing to applaud.
“I thought it was offensive and inappropriate,” said Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana). “If the President wants coöperation from Congress, he should refrain from his divisive and inflammatory anti-tragedy rhetoric.”
The pro-tragedy lobby is among the most powerful in Washington, spending millions annually to defeat politicians who oppose tragedies.
LOL Andy! Republicans love tragedies. First they deny aid to all but the favored few, and then, after they cave-in, they get to steal the relief funds.
Cartoon:
Could the culprits have been Republican Supply-side pseudo-Hindus? Seriously, there are parallels here.
13 Responses to “Open Thread–1/30/2014”
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TC – for once I have to disagree with you (stands back in amazement) – I don't agree that you have no-one to blame but yourself for having an empty Oxygen tank – since it was the mistake of the company who delivered it. From encountering large oxygen cylinders at hospital – I was always told that the deliverymen were experienced and could always tell which ones needed replacing by the weight alone – assuming that that was correct – I still think it was the fault of the company delivering your vital medical supplies!
However, I am very glad to hear you have a concentrator to use at home – I was envisaging you gasping for breath in your apartment with your COPD and needing oxygen! However I am still thinking very frosty thoughts about the dimwits who delivered not one, but TWO empty oxygen tanks to your apartment recently… when you are very ill the last thing you need is to have to go out and check if someone perfectly healthy has done their job or not!
Loved Andy again….
The cartoon – yes, I agree – it is so often the Right Wing nutcases who attack people of their own side for not being Far Right enough (not that anyone could be). Yitzhak Rabin was killed in 1995 for a similar reason – though scarcely in the same league as Mahatma Gandhi, perhaps he would have got there had he been granted the time….
"
Military cemeteries in every corner of the world are silent testimony to the failure of national leaders to sanctify human life.
”
—Yitzhak Rabin, 1994 Nobel Peace Prize lecture[27]
Apologies – forgot to give origin for that quote – from the Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Rabin
3:52 I think my angel had a broken wing.
4:00 My fountain bowl had a leak.
3:52 I'm weakening from holding up my arms so long!
Oxygen ~ Yes, that is your responsibility. When I worked as a Hospice nurse, it was my responibility to make sure there were always enough full tanks for portability and power outages. The tanks had to be checked as soon as they were delivered. We also had to make sure the concentrator was fully functional and clean at all times.
Common Dreams ~ When confronted with a viable question about your criminal behavior, evade answering by threatening the asker. It is much easier to apologize later than to face the truth on live TV.
Daily Kos ~ Are they voting on this bill because Pres. Obama specifically asked them to stop after their 40+ faailed votes against ObamaCare last year?
New Yorker ~ Once again, Andy is too close to the truth.
Cartoon ~ Another sad day in human history.
Time 3:05 on the puzzle.
Love Andy.
Sorry about that O2 mix up, I remember when Steve was using it and the delivery situation. I hope your delivery will help you feel better, seems you have doing poorly for a while now.
I saw the goof ball and his threat to the reporter, it speaks volumes to how these people think.
Terrific time misstexaskitty.
Since the empty tank was your last one both times, I suspect that they were delivered full and that they had a leaky valve. Is it possible to get a delivery while you still have one or two "full" tanks?
5:28 Another day for me to get hung up in the colors. These are close to two yarns that already exist actually.
Sounds like Murphy's Law is in force on your O2. As Pat A says, the last thing you need.
Common Dreams – Michael Grimm trying to live up to his name? The sad think is that, while his behavor will shock the nation, the nation doesn't elect him. His base will probably be fine with it.
Daily Kos – If the vast majority weren't so (willfully) ignorant of how government works, what laws actually say, what the Constitution actually says, they would not get away with this. But trying to fix stupid …
New Yorker – Well, I would be upset if the Government tried to step in to prevent a performance of say, Hamlet. And don't say "But that's different, it's not a disaster," because it might not, but on the other hand it certainly could be.
Cartoon – Yes, darkness has only one response to light – kill it.
Puzzle — 3:52 I'm weakening from holding up my arms so long!
Common Dreams — It is a grim day for Grimm! Such a typically Republicanus/Teabagger class act. The party really does have trouble getting good people to run.
Daily Kos — . . . and the beat goes on for the worst, most unproductive Congress ever!
The New Yorker — Andy is so spot on, as usual!
Cartoon — . . . a good man gone before his time! It is always the greats, those that don`t necessarily aspire to greatness, that are taken too early.
I agree with Pat A about your oxygen tanks. I bet you check them all next delivery, though.
Common Dreams: I am so glad his mike was still on so the whole nation could hear him show his true colors. Big Man!
daily Kos: If the repubs had spent a tenth of the time working on the economy that they have trying to repeal Obamacare, we would be better off.
The New Yorker. Love Andy
Cartoon: So many great leaders have been killed by a nut who disagreed with them. The rest of us are left to wonder how much better the world might be if they had lived.
Thanks everyone. Jerry is correct. They check them before they deliver them. From Now on I'm going to swap five when I have two left.