May 222012
 

I allowed myself to sleep in this morning, as I will be volunteering in prison and won’t get home until late tonight. So this Open Thread is all there is today.  I’m current with replies.  Tomorrow depends on how wiped out I am after today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:46 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: One Really Embarrassing Question For The GOP

22WarPoor

I know how!  Thanks RepubliCorp!

From Eclectablog: It’s not often you see an elected official act like this much of an asshole and to do it such a dickish and public way.

Ten minutes before the filing deadline to run for the Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday, Rep. Roy Schmidt, a “Democrat” from the 76th District in Grand Rapids, switched parties and decided to run as a Republican. This gave the Democratic party no candidate in a very tough district for Democrats after last year’s redistricting.

It was a cowardly act and seems nearly inexplicable given Schmidt’s own bad-mouthing of Michigan Republicans. It’s particularly dickish given that he had Democrats out knocking doors for him during the previous week.

Given the level of Republican sleaze here, the Dems should get an extension.  However, in Herr Schneider’s regime, notorious for upending elected governments, that won’t happen.

From NY Times: In an effort to show a unified front in their campaign against the birth control mandate, 43 Roman Catholic dioceses, schools, social service agencies and other institutions filed lawsuits in 12 federal courts on Monday, challenging the Obama administration’s rule that their employees receive coverage for contraception in their health insurance policies.

No doubt the GOP is in cahoots with this, as they want to take themselves off front street, given that more people are finally realizing that the Republican War on Women is real.

Cartoon: Let us learn from history

22Cartoon

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  12 Responses to “Open Thread–5/22/2012”

  1. Well, it’s easy to see that between chastising nuns for actually doing what the Bible teaches by focusing on social issues like hunger and poverty … suing over access to contraception … cheerleading for the Repubican Party … battling against every gay rights initiative in every state …

    Why, it’s no wonder they don’t have the time to cooperate with authorities investigating sexual abuse of children by priests and its cover-up by the church.
    People need to realize just how thin their time is already stretched.
    After all, who’s more affected by contraceptive coverage than a bunch of elderly, celibate men?
     
    And you can file this Catholic church’s logo under “What the HELL Were They Thinking?”
     
    • I never thought of it in those terms, but given the scandal thy are facing, your last linbe could not be more appropriate.

  2. 3:28  I slipped in there again.

    Republicans see the poor as an expense, something to be reduced;  that is the corporate point of view.  The human point of view is that the poor is someone who needs a hand up…not a handout.

  3. We’ve all seen spectacular photos of the recent “Ring of Fire” Eclipse …

    But there was a most unique one that at first glance looks like some abstract photo – but it’s real.  It’s a garage door in the Bay Area when the leaves of a tree literally acted like a  thousand pinholes creating a surreal picture:

  4. Neat Pics, Nameless.  Here’s the view from Portland.

  5. The Catholic Church in the US needs to be seen for what it is, well, actually ALL churches now, they are CORPORATIONS and should be taxed accordingly. They are also Fascists, they were in league with the Nazis during WWII and prior to it. My Dawg, how obvious do they have to be, their Pope is a former Hitler Youth!!!!   They are still Fascist and they are still trying to tell the world’s women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies. They need to tend their own vastly overgrown garden before they start tending everyone else’s!

    Just a side note…..the Methodist Church is now INCORPORATED, no lie! They no longer allow their congregations to choose their own preacher. Now a preacher is sent to whatever congregate needs one, from the main headquarters. I am not making this up people. Churches are no longer about tending ‘God’s’ flocks, it’s about politics and profit. Time to wake up and end this farce. Tax them as businesses because that is exactly what they are.

    The poor and poverty in general are no longer their concern, it’s not profitable to care for the least among us. It hurts their bottom line. This just sickens me beyond words.

    • Terrie, I’m reluctant to condemn all of anything.  I have no trouble with churches being tax exempt, as long as they do not violate the 503 (c)(3) standards to which they voluntarily agree.  If a Methodist does not want appointed pastors, there are hundreds of churches governed congregationally they can attend.

  6. “No doubt the GOP is in cahoots with this, as they want to take themselves off front street, given that more people are finally realizing that the Republican War on Women is real.”
    Cartoon: Let us learn from history – Will we have another stolen election???

  7. Puzzle — Under the average but nowhere near you pros!

    MoveOn — How did the war on poverty become the war on the poor? — Knowing the pathetic logic of the Republican/Teabaggers (otherwise known as illogic to the rest of us), since poverty is the exclusive domain of the poor, then poverty and the poor must be the same thing.  Of course they aren’t the same thing, but I doubt you’d get a Republican/Teabagger to acknowledge that.  They only understand GREED and money.  The poverty of the Republican/Teabaggers and their !% friends —- poverty of the soul, assuming they even have one!

    Michigan — This is one time that I hope voters can write in a name!  This seems to indicate that the Republican/Teabaggers had no declared candidate, leaving it open for Rep. Roy Schmidt to change allegiances at the 11th hour, thereby leaving the Democrats without a candidate.  I wonder if Schmidt was ever a true Democrat, or was he seduced with promises of power and money courtesy of the Republican/Teabaggers?

    From the article — “And yet they are still using unethical and very likely illegal scams like this one to increase their power. It must be rough on the conscience to be a Republican these days. Having to look at yourself in the mirror everyday knowing that you’re part of an organized effort to screw over the 99-percent for the benefit of the very wealthy on a daily basis must rub your soul into an inflamed, bloody mess.” — This presumes that the Republican/Teabaggers 1) have a conscience; 2) have a soul.  And Republican/Teabaggers are so concerned about voter fraud!  Projection AGAIN!!!  They are guilty of more election fraud than all the voter fraud that has been uncovered.

    In my view, since Michigan is stacked with so much Republican/Teabagger fungus, the federal DOJ should be doing the investigation, states rights be hanged!  Further, given the obvious complicity of the Republican/Teabaggers, an extension should automatically be given to the Democrats to tender a candidate and Schmidt’d perfidy should be continuously announced from the highest mountain.

    The RC Church — I am glad that the RC church has so much money that it can afford to file so many lawsuits (read with heavy sarcasm), or are the lawyers doing this pro bono with hopes of saving their ‘immortal souls’?  Or is this just another distraction from their lack of responsibility for their own mortal sins?

    Cartoon — Herr Hitler and Il Duce!  A match made in hell where they both currently reside!

    • Under average is good!

      They have what they are:ASSOULS! 😉

      Amen!

      I feel sorry for honest Catholics.

      To bed Echoed by Herr Romney and his VP choice.

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