Feb 042011
 

Yesterday I returned visits and hope to do so again today.  This morning, I caught up on comments.  I’m still feeling ill, but not quite so much as before.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:10 (average 4:33).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Now there finally are some numbers, and they show that the city [New Orleans] is 29 percent smaller than a decade ago.

The Republican response to Katrina was calculated to make New Orleans more conservative by making the population smaller, richer and whiter.  Their scheme worked.

From The Age: YEMEN’S veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh has promised not to seek re-election in 2013, becoming the latest Arab dictator to offer concessions before protests spread out of control.

The Revolution is growing legs in areas where governments have allowed their populations to be economically exploited.

From BBC: The last five blocks of the IP Version 4 addresses have been handed over to the regional bodies that distribute them.

Those five blocks, called /8s and which contain 16 million addresses each, are expected to be completely depleted by September 2011.

The move to the new addressing scheme, IP version 6, is under way but could take years to complete.

Nevertheless, IPv4 addresses and IPv6 addresses should be working seamlessly on most networks this year.

Cartoon:

Steve Benson

TGIF!

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Bill Maher is Back!

 Posted by at 11:23 am  Plus, Politics
Jan 152011
 

This last week has been one of the most emotionally charged in my memory.  September 11, the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK, the 1968 police riot in Chicago, and the Kent State murders come to mind.  I am the last to take these events lightly, but there comes a time that we all need to stop crying long enough to laugh.  For that purpose few are better than Bill Maher, and I have a couple clips from his season opener to close out this week’s articles for you.

In the first he has some fun with Sarah.

In the second, he buggers the Tea Party.

The Founding Fathers would have hated your guts.”  I would have used a term other than hate, but in humor there is often truth.

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Dec 292010
 

Here are the final playoff results for Lefty Bloggers Plus, our fantasy football league.

29lbp-final

And here are the winners’ award graphics.

LBFF1LL

LBFF2FP

LBFF3RG

LBFF3DKMA

Congrats to the winners and thanks to all who played.  We’ll do this again next year!

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 Comments Off on Lefty Bloggers Plus–Final Report and Awards
Dec 282010
 

Given the comparative shortage of hard news stories at this time of year that are not everywhere else, Andy Borowitz has a fantastic piece on Pat Robertson’s love for the LGBT community. The irony here is that, funny as he is, Andy cannot hold a candle to Robertson’s own extreme antics.

28RobertsonVIRGINIA BEACH (The Borowitz Report) – Rev. Pat Robertson sparked controversy in today’s broadcast of his 700 Club program when he claimed that God created the blizzard currently battering the Northeast "to punish Americans who were planning to drive to do something gay."

Explaining his theory, Rev. Robertson said, "Because of the bad road conditions the Almighty has made, any gay activities that people were planning on doing will have to be postponed by a day or two."

Additionally, he argued, God shut down major airports in the New York area "so that people who were hoping to fly to do something of a gay nature would have to take a train or a bus, so it might be days before the gay thing they were going to do could occur."

As for the millions of straight people in New York City who were also grounded by the bad weather, the televangelist said, "I think God probably wonders, if these people are really straight, then what are they doing in New York?"…

Inserted from <The Huffington Post>

I can’t help but remember the time Robertson prophesied that God would strike Disney World with a hurricane to punish them for ending their discrimination against hiring gay employees.  The next hurricane made landfall at Virginia Beach and damaged Robertson’s own headquarters.  Doesn’t God have a great sense of humor?

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Dec 072010
 

LeftyBloggersPlus

Yesterday the regular season of Lefty Bloggers Plus came to an end, and we now have three weeks of sudden death playoffs to determine the league winner from the eight remaining teams.

Scores

Updated before I could get them: click here

Standings

Team

W-L-T

Pct.

GB

Jay’s Team

9-4-0

0.692

0.0

Recovering Republic…

9-4-0

0.692

0.0

Lionel Hutz + The H…

9-4-0

0.692

0.0

Greensburg Wombats

8-5-0

0.615

1.0

Seahawks Rock

8-5-0

0.615

1.0

Teabuggery Trashers

7-6-0

0.538

2.0

Rob’s Roosters

6-7-0

0.462

3.0

Playin w/out a helm…

5-8-0

0.385

4.0

hugos misfits

3-10-0

0.231

6.0

elliot’s Team

1-12-0

0.077

8.0

Playoff Matchups

7Playoffs

Good Luck to all (Except Larry Winking smile)!

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 Comments Off on Lefty Bloggers Plus Update – Week 13
Dec 072010
 

7Pearl_HarborI suppose there will always be controversy surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor.  History is clear that FDR wanted to go to war on the side of Great Britain, but faced a recalcitrant Congress and a public with loyalties so mixed that, many Americans, especially Republican Plutocons, favored Nazi Germany.  Even after the war had started, FDR had to threaten Prescott Bush with prison to make him stop trading with Hitler.  History is also clear that FDR did everything he could to push Japan into embarking on a war against the US.  He wanted Japan to make the first move, because that was the only way he could get the public support he needed.  There is no doubt that FDR knew when Japan planned to attack the US.  The only thing is question is whether or not he knew where.  In my opinion he did.  I suspect he thought that the American forces at Pearl Harbor were sufficiently prepared to fight off the attack without prior warning.  If he did, he was wrong.  Nevertheless, his speech before Congress the following day is a landmark in US History, and I invite you to listen.

I also hope you will join me in honoring those who were killed and injured on that fateful day, those who survived, and all the men and women who have served in our military.  They are not at fault for the crimes of our politicians.

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Dec 052010
 

Yesterday I was feeling quite exhausted and fell behind on replying to comments.  I slept most of the day, on and off, answered a ton of volunteer-related email, spent a couple hours starting to repopulate the corner of my apartment that used to be my computer area before it became a waterfall, and watched parts of THE GAME.  Today, I will probably fall further behind, because I’ve barely put a dent in recovering my computer area, and I’m scheduled for a session of religious masochism as the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb is televising the Denver-KC service.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:32 (5:12 average).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From ESPN: LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner and the fast-paced Ducks (No. 2 BCS, No. 1 AP) negotiated the last speed bump on the way to Glendale, Ariz., grinding out a 37-20 victory over the Beavers in the Civil War on Saturday.

If Oregonian does not watch THE GAME, they lose the ability to resist the rusting from Oregon liquid sunshine.  Oregon-Auburn for the national title.

From Alternet: The White House told government agencies to take measures to prevent employees without proper authorization from accessing classified US diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks.

God forbid that federal workers should become informed on the doings of our own government! Don't tell anyone smile

From TPM: A security guard at a St. Paul Planned Parenthood clinic called the cops last week after he spotted a Republican state lawmaker [Tom Hackbarth] with a loaded gun in the parking lot. But the pol says he was only "checking on" his online girlfriend, who he thought may be on a date with another man — a claim police have not been able to corroborate because the man did not have a phone number or address for the woman.

A likely story!  The Republican Party no longer needs insane militia types to threaten violence.  They have legislators for that now.

Cartoon:

 Drew Sheneman

May you find peace in whatever you believe this Sunday.

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Nov 232010
 

Yesterday I caught up with replying to comments and returning visits, after returning from my errand.  Today, I hope to stay up to date.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:40 (average 4:28).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Religious Agony:

DenWeek11

Lefty Bloggers Plus Report – Week 11:

Scores

Week 11

Score

 

Recovering Republic…

hugos misfits

100.9

92.5

Final

Playin w/out a helm…

Seahawks Rock

59.7

141.5

Final

elliot’s Team

Jay’s Team

78.5

126.7

Final

Lionel Hutz + The H…

Greensburg Wombats

102.6

139.1

Final

Teabuggery Trashers

Rob’s Roosters

151.8

109.4

Final

Standings

Team

W-L-T

Pct.

GB

Recovering Republic…

8-3-0

0.727

0.0

Jay’s Team

7-4-0

0.636

1.0

Greensburg Wombats

7-4-0

0.636

1.0

Lionel Hutz + The H…

7-4-0

0.636

1.0

Seahawks Rock

7-4-0

0.636

1.0

Teabuggery Trashers

6-5-0

0.545

2.0

Rob’s Roosters

5-6-0

0.455

3.0

Playin w/out a helm…

4-7-0

0.364

4.0

hugos misfits

3-8-0

0.273

5.0

elliot’s Team

1-10-0

0.091

7.0

For the first time, I had the high score for the week.

Short Takes:

From San Jose Mercury News: Wasting no time after a victorious midterm election, GOP congressional leaders who promised to slash spending are looking to make an example of the nation’s priciest public works project: California’s $43 billion high-speed railroad.

A coalition of 27 House Republicans, led by the ranking member of the committee that controls spending, wants to yank $2 billion in stimulus funds promised to California to kick-start the massive project.

How absurd!  High speed rail is a great way to create jobs and California’s best chance to cut auto emissions.

From Crooks and Liars: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday that Congress shouldn’t wait to repeal the military’s controversial "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy which forces gay, lesbian and trans-gender members to hide their personal lives or face expulsion from the service.

Would the Republican “support the generals” meme be just another lie?

From The Hill: Rep. Barney Frank said Republicans had taken the side of "foreign central banks" in debates over monetary policy.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) blasted Republicans in an interview Monday, arguing that the GOP has taken the side of "foreign central banks" in debates over monetary policy.

Republicans prefer foreign banksters to American workers.

Cartoon:

Matt Davies

What are your holiday plans?

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