Politics Plus

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 110, and it’s a two pounds of you know what in a one pound bag day.  When the Monthly Report is the #2 for the day, that say’s it all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:29 (average 5:27).  ARGH! To o it, click here.  How did you do?

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the latest from our league, Lefty Blog Friends.

Scores:

Good for me!

Standings:

I’m still way too low!!

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Millions of Tea Party loyalists fled the United States in the early morning hours today, seeking what one of them called “the American dream of liberty from health care.”

Harland Dorrinson, 47, a tire salesman from Lexington, Kentucky, packed up his family and whatever belongings he could fit into his Chevy Suburban just hours before the health-insurance exchanges opened, joining the Tea Party’s Freedom Caravan with one goal in mind: escape from Obamacare.

“My father didn’t have health care and neither did my father’s father before him,” he said. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let my children have it.”

But after driving over ten hours to the Canadian border, Mr. Dorrinson was dismayed to learn that America’s northern neighbor had been in the iron grip of health care for decades.

Bubba the Bagger just can’t live without the RepubliCare Death Benefit! 😉

From McClatchy DC: President Obama will deliver remarks from the Rose Garden at 12:25 p.m. today — some 12 hours after a government shutdown went into effect. The remarks will follow Obama’s meeting in the Oval Office with Americans the White House says will benefit from today’s opening of health insurance marketplaces.

The White House plans a full court press today on the president’s health care law as the health insurance marketplaces open for business.

Repeated Republican claims that ObamaCare is a bill are lies. It is THE LAW! Delaying it is no longer possible.

From The Hill: Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said via Twitter Tuesday that the partial government shutdown isn’t all bad.

“There is some good news out of the shutdown, the EPA can’t issue new regulations,” Blackburn said on the social media site.

Blackburn, the vice chairwoman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the EPA.

This the Republican plan to protect the environment.

Cartoon:

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 105.  My gut has fully recovered, and the only ill effects from the bug that I still have is from the missed sleep.  I’m fortunate.  With those, I usually have Republicitis and need to spend hours on the throne.  Tomorrow I’m meeting one of my friends, with whom I do volunteer work, for lunch, so on Saturday, I may have just an Open Thread, or nothing at all.

Jig Zone:

Today’s took me 3:24 (average 4:34).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: Who would have thought that such a simple action can have such a profound effect on the level of happiness in our lives? Catch the setup in the first 30 seconds, the beauty of the experiment unfolding, the perfect moment at 4:25 that had me a bit choked up, and the best takeaway from it all at 6:25…

No wonder Republican politicians are such unhappy people that they feel the need to share their misery with us.  They just have no gratitude for the people stupid enough to vote for them!

From The New Yorker: In what is being hailed as a rare example of bipartisan coöperation [sic], Senate Democrats and Republicans came together today on a near-unanimous vote to defund Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

The measure, which shuts down all nonessential functions of Sen. Cruz, passed by a margin of ninety-nine to one.

As the final vote was announced this morning, Sen. Cruz’s microphone was unplugged and the Senate exploded with cheers on both sides of the aisle…

If only!!!!

From Daily Kos: Republicans haven’t officially unveiled their list of demands for raising the debt limit, but they are previewing them through leaks, and they are every bit as loopy as you’d expect:

House Republicans plan to demand major perks for coal companies and Wall Street banks, alongside healthcare and social service cuts and a one-year delay in the implementation of Obamacare, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling until the end of 2014, according to a source close to the House GOP leadership.

Among the other items on the GOP’s list [Propagandists delinked]: Tax reform on their terms, effectively eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Medicare means testing, blocking net neutrality, forcing approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, expanding offshore oil drilling, and, in the words of a GOP list of talking points: "Pretty much every jobs bill we have passed this year and last Congress."

Dang!! They expect THAT?!!? LOL!! That’s what smoking InsaniTEA will do!!

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