Margaret, the Republicans are trying to blame this shutdown on everyone but themselves. It’s the Senate Democrats fault for not negotiating. It’s President Obama’s fault for being black. It’s my fault for not voting for McCain and Palin. Well honey, somebody needs to tell them that dog just don’t hunt.
In 2008, a hell of a lot of people voted for the candidate who campaigned on overhauling healthcare – something the nation had been debating for decades. You young ones might remember back in the 90’s how the Republicans cut Clinton off at the knees over this. But I remember Truman’s efforts back in the 40’s and 50’s. Of course, back then the Republicans screamed Communism rather than Socialism. Although, I’m pretty sure no one asked for Truman’s birth certificate. He was white after all. But the point is that Republicans claiming we haven’t had a debate is… well… like I said, that dog just don’t hunt.
But even if your memory isn’t as long as mine, surely the 2012 elections ring a bell? We debated for months about Mitt Romney’s universal healthcare plan… No wait. I mean repealing Mitt Romney’s universal healthcare plan. No. That’s not right either. It was Romneycare or Obamacare and now that they lost the election it’s become We Don’t Care. And I’m pretty sure there was a Supreme Court decision in there somewhere. During all that, Democrats agreed to a drastically reduced federal budget and some initial delays and exemptions to the Affordable Care Act. And yet, Republicans have shut down the government because we Dems just won’t negotiate. Well that just dills my pickle! What we’ve got is a bunch of know-nothing Tea Party Idiots who think the sun comes up just to hear them crow.
Michele Bachmann and friends can pose in front of a war memorial all they want pretending their not the ones who closed it. Clearly, they take us for fools. Well as the wife of a WWII veteran, I’d like to introduce my rather large foot to their sorry asses. I can promise you my late husband is rolling over in his grave knowing that affordable healthcare for 40 million people has shut down the very government he fought to defend. And shame on me for making fun of the way someone looks, but just what the hell is going on with that woman’s hair? It looks like it caught fire and someone put it out with a brick.
The problem as I see it is that the Republicans have lots of excuses but no real ideas. Well excuses are like backsides. Everybody’s got one and they usually stink. And unless you’re a dog, sniffing around backsides gets old real quick. I mean it. Really.
Margaret and Helen 
Je terminerai dе voir tout cela ce soir
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at 5:44 AM
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at 6:11 AM
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By: todo venezuela on February 28, 2014
at 11:25 AM
The shutdown was not the democrats fault nor was it the replicans fault. It was Obamacares fault. My only problem is that we didn’t default. Now we have to suffer. At least if we defaulted we would have a country the way it was meant to be
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By: Anonymous on November 2, 2013
at 4:18 AM
The Florida law is gonna wind up in court. Ten to one there is already a law on the books in that state about tortous interference with business.
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By: mageen in old virginy on October 23, 2013
at 8:17 PM
Hey, Cynthia – Okay; I’ve thought about this a bit, trying to find some logical (ha!) “reason” why the legislature would do this. Can’t imagine that a majority of Floridians really want to pay higher-than-necessary costs – except, of course, for that bunch who would be willing to pay ANYTHING to demonstrate that Obamacare doesn’t work (and the POTUS really is a black Kenyan Muslim Communist).
So all I can think of is that the insurance companies held sway… Which doesn’t surprise me much. The sheer blatantness and cojoñes of it all is a constant source of wonder, though, isn’t it…?
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 23, 2013
at 4:54 PM
Florida state legislature (R controlled) passed a law making it illegal for Florida to negotiate with the insurance companies for a lower rate for health insurance for two years after Obamacare begins.
So FL applicants will not find the lower price/savings that those in other states are finding.
But…but … see Obamacare is bad! It’s all Obama’s fault.
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 23, 2013
at 4:39 PM
Cynthia, it really is a matter of red state refusal to participate in the Affordable Care Act that is screwing up the website. Yes, it is correct that if you plug in where you live you run into trouble with a red state site. Blue states such as Washington have web sites that actually connect people with the exchanges page.
I recently saw a video of a judge in Texas who has publicly left the Repubs and very clearly, courageously and temperately stated why.
And the party itself is straightening out a few things such as in Utah where the state party is readying itself to primary their own recently elected Senator Mike Lee, a Cruz-ite. They are after a pro-business candidate. Translate that any way you like, it still comes out as disgust with the shut-downers and especially the Dominionist perspective of the junior Senator from Texas. And no, they don’t have to wait until Lee is up for re-election. They can start a recall.
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By: mageen in old virginy on October 23, 2013
at 8:35 AM
Yes Auntie Jean its true. We have been working over time to get the word out before Nov 5. Sighhhhh
And on we go…
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By: lori on October 22, 2013
at 6:31 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
Mageen and Cynthia, points well taken. You both keep up to speed and superbly informed. Thanks.
As the “Obamacare controversy” rages on, I can’t help but remind especially the trolls to READ the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. It is quite comprehensive in understandable English that just about any high school graduate could comprehend. It is a much more authoritative and reliable source than what Cousin Suzie said or what Uncle Phil told about it.
lori, can you confirm this? It was reported on the news today that Texas is going after yet another voter suppression maneuver this one aimed no doubt at women in the wake of Wendy Davis’ bid for governor. To get a valid voter ID, if a woman has changed her maiden name through marriage, divorce or whatever she must product the original documentation, not a photo copy. Naturally, this usual right-wing trick will be challenged in the courts. But by the time it wends all the way through to the Supreme Court for constitutionality, many a mid-term and general election at the local, state and national levels will have come and gone.
Ah well, the more the teabaggers shoot off their mouths, the more they shoot themselves in the foot. Many, many conservatives are finally getting the message. Progressives did a long, long time ago.
Shades of my recent adventures in renewing my driver’s license out here. And Hawaii is a solidly blue state. Fortunately, I had kept track of all those ancient papyri all these years. When it comes time for my husband to renew his it will be a different story though. Born in 1929, the Court House in his home town burned down in 1935 and all records before then were destroyed. However did he ever get into the United States Air Force, be honorably discharged, secure several other high level documents and obtain a U.S. passport many times without his original birth certificate? Oh, but he hasn’t changed his birth name.
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 22, 2013
at 1:51 AM
What I learned today as well as I can remember.
Healthcare.gov was designed to be a portal. It was to ask some questions – your age, if you are military, a citizen and the state you live in. Then it would send you to the exchange in the state you live in. Those states (mostly blue) that set up their exchange are not having problems enrolling people. Those states (+/-32 red states) who refused to set up an exchange are the ones having problems.
I listen to talk radio and people (blue states) called in about their experiences and they are very positive. They say they will be paying less than what they are presently paying and in many cases have far better coverage. The red state people are complaining.
That’s their story and they are sticking to it!
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 21, 2013
at 7:18 PM
James, good to hear your little grand-daughter is developing nicely, actually. I knew that would happen.
As for the website for the healthcare, I wasn’t surprised. I deal with a good number of websites and they all have continuing problems. For instance, I wanted to go horseback riding and dining at a local resort in the Blue Ridge so I used their website to tell them so. It took days for them to get the email message. When I arrived at the resort I had to point out my email to them on screen. Consequently I lost my opportunity for an early ride and had to wait until 3 PM for the last ride of the day. Then there was the on-site communications breakdown. I had to go to one place on the resort to book the ride only to be told that if I wanted to use my plastic I had to go to yet another site and I would be given a receipt to prove I had paid. When I completed that transaction I was told I was all set, that was all there was to it. When I showed up at the stable I was told I had to have in my hand a waiver form. This is standard procedure for licensed facilities. When I told them what happened they admitted that they were pretty much out of touch with the first half of the trail ride, the sign up, due to the old communication devices they were using. They looked like small walkie talkies with a primitive antenna. Fortunately, they had a waiver form for me to sign so I could ride. It was a splendid, long ride with the sign starting to drop over the trees, but the place is 70 miles away and I think I am going to seek out a closer facility.
I was definitely surprised that the U.S. used a Canadian company to devise the healthcare website. Yes, I know the Canadians have a long history with universal health care. My nieces were born there and they thrived. I myself out of curiosity only went up to the website the first day. I got the welcoming screen and found I could not go any further as it “froze”. This told me that an unexpected number of people were tuning in all at once and overwhelming everything.
There are a great number of people without healthcare who do not have a computer, access to one, or even know how to use one. They also do not usually have access to their own landline phone. I think there will need to be a corps of people who seek out these folks and try to help them. Hopefully, they will not be the sort who will dissuade them from any help. I know what it is to either have no coverage or only very primitive coverage. I wouldn’t wish the naysayers on them for any reason!
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By: mageen in old virginy on October 21, 2013
at 6:20 AM
Is this why Ted thinks he is sooooooooo special?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/13/1246859/-Expos-Ted-Cruz-Dominionism-and-Jesus
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 20, 2013
at 8:05 PM
Ted Cruz promised to do what he could to stop Obamacare, and he kept his word. He has lost popularity in the nation, but not among some people in his district where it counts to him. 750 Texans gave him an eight-minute standing ovation.
He reminds me of Sarah Palin, and apparently from the calumny heaped up on him, I am not the only one to make that connection.
As Terri wrote about the Republicans, (Oct 3) Obamacare “is a sorry mess these days, and the finger pointing has reached ludicrous levels.” That Obamacare computer site is seriously flawed beyond a few glitches.
Sec Lew said the site and enrollment difficulties must be fixed by January or the program will have serious problems. One is the higher rates some people in 45 states will pay. Our daughter is fairly apolitical , but now that her insurance premiums will rise $300 a month and she will probably lose her insurance after her company loses its temporary waver, she is angry. She was rooting for Cruse.
The Republicans tried to compromise by making all of Congress and the president a part of Obamacare without any financial aid, but the Democrats refused. Moreover, businesses have a temporary exemption denied to private citizens . Cruz and the Republicans adroitly used the fairness issue.
Unless the administration can persuade at least seven million people to pay high enough rates to cover the rest, the law will be in trouble. The administration desperately needs to fix the computer site fast. The British media reported up to 170,000 confirmed enrollees as of last week, I think.
Obama is proposing a “tech surge” to fix the problem. McCain said they should bring smart people in from Silicon Valley. That’s where our son lives, and he knows computers. He is paid pretty well for his skills, Maybe he could help. Kathleen Sebelius should resign or be fired. “Heck of a Job,” Kathy.
If the worst happens, Cruz and his minions will be able to say “I told you so.”
Meanwhile, our grand daughter’s head size has now reached the lower tenth percentile. The shape of her head is now nearly normal, and her mind appears active. She knows how to work a crowd with a broad smile. Our grand daughter seems to like people.
Unfortunately, she suffered a terrible indignity yesterday after we bought a new car to replace the one destroyed by the train. We went to a Halloween party promotion at Pet Smart with our grand daughter and the family dog dressed as cows. They won a stuffed animal as a prize. Our grand daughter took it better than the dog who unlike her, wore a cow bell.
The baby who was born at 23 weeks and given a 2% chance at life now weighs six pounds and has come home. We have been following the progress of our daughter’s friend all summer. The baby was born in April, I believe.
If anyone wants to complain about me, you get the last word again. Once again, I will be gone for a while.
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By: James on October 20, 2013
at 3:37 PM
The wisdom of an angel!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/18/trevor-sims-dying-wish_n_4122880.html
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 20, 2013
at 12:38 PM
” BOOK ‘EM, DAN-O”……….book ’em, charge ’em, try ’em and throw them in prison………The Koch Bagging Repubs are guilty of sedition, guilty of being economic terrorists. guilty of being the Koch Brothers’ whores. Every last one of the Koch Bagging Republicans from the smallest state office to our United States Congress have taken money from the Kochs and it has cost upwards of 23 BILLION dollars for their latest pile of dog do.
Until we take money out of politics and have term limits, this will happen again and again. It is not about what is best for the American people. It is all about a sick dream that the Nazi papa Koch instilled in his sons, David and Charles. They will stop at nothing to destroy our democracy and this country.
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By: CO BLU on October 17, 2013
at 2:51 PM
Thanks for the rundown on Mr Cruz, lori.
States do organize themselves very differently as to what positions are elected or go-with-the-package as appointments by the administration.
I keep wishing we would elect our Attorney General here instead of allowing Governors to appoint them.but Texas seems to put too many positions up for election.
What/how does it all work there?
Is a decent outcome for the country right now but I’m not holding MY breath the tea cakes won’t go back to holding their breath to try to get their way sometime all too soon…sigh
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By: alaskapi on October 17, 2013
at 9:10 AM
The Houston Chronicle just rescinded its endorsement of Ted Cruz. In my opinion, it’s too little, too late. Unfortunately we need to deal with him for five more years, and I have never seen a more destructive, unpleasant, unappealing politician in my life. He wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him in the ass, and he will twist any circumstance to fit his own agenda. I only hope his obnoxiousness will wear thin on the voters in Texas. I don’t see him running for president. He has turned off too many people; he is certainly not fit for the office. Until then, he is busy raising his public profile, cashing in donations, and making life hell for the rest of us.
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By: Terri in NY on October 17, 2013
at 9:07 AM
Cruz’s rise to power is an intetesting one. You know he technically lost in the Primary 46 – 33 ( thats from memory so dont quote me, but close) . In TX if a candidate doesnt get over 50 percent there is a run off. Cruz was well funded by that Freedom Works , read Koch brothers, and had the more ” conservative of conservatives” in TX backing. The run off was held in July with poorer than usual turnout and he ended up winning the election over LT Gov Dewhurst 56 – 47 .
Cruz’s rise to power in TX came from our screwy form of State government where many of the executive positions are elected offices. Cruz was solicitor general but before that some sort of commissioner – and consequently had run state wide before. He had some name recognition and came to play with backing from the former 1/2 term Gov from Alaska and Jim Demint.
Clearly his ambitions all along have been to run for the WH and so far his execution has been flawless. We shall see where it goes from here.
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By: lori on October 17, 2013
at 6:20 AM
Morning, Auntie Jean, and all – Yeah… “Hallelujah,” indeed. As I look back on this whole ridiculous debacle, I have to say that I feel… “used.” It’s as though some of these congresspeople decided that this was a damned fine opportunity to just climb up on top of us and use us as a sort of human platform from which to broadcast their personal, egocentric, and myopic “opinions” about every damned thing they could think of, to the entire world.
The Cruzer, whose smarmy face was everywhere, all the time, is the prime example. Katy Kay (host for BBC News America) asked a commentator yesterday if she thought Cruz had “won” or “lost” in this, to which the commentator replied, succinctly, “He certainly increased his visibility. Do you think he ‘lost’?”
A first-term Senator from Texas is heralded as the “new voice of the Tea Party”…? (And the Tea Party is the “new voice” of frustrated conservatives, now that I think of it…?) Come on… And Paul Ryan is a “budget wonk,” John McCain’s every thought about anything is of deep significance, and Kim Kardashian deserves a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame… At least someone apparently got to Cruz, in some fashion, and convinced him – if not to STF up – to at least “back off.” I would LOVE to know what “offer” was made to Cruz, and by whom!
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 17, 2013
at 5:17 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
Whew! We’re saved! Hallelujah! Such drama! That is, until mid-December, or is it January or maybe February. I nodded off during the reports and lost track. Unless we get hit by a giant meteorite or invaded by Little Green Men from Mars or something. Oh, next will be a plague of locusts if we don’t watch out. But maybe, maybe just maybe we will have a Happy Holiday Season anyway.
BTW, the entire United States of America would be totally isolated from Texas if it weren’t for Interstate Highway 40. But Ted Cruz is the tea-bagger gift to the Democrats that keeps on giving, hopefully, right up through the mid-terms and the 2016 elections.
Seriously, looks as if Harry and Nancy pulled it off despite every road block the right wing could think of to throw a wrench in the deal until right under the wire. 90 minutes? I do feel the country got the message though. Sending Cory Booker to the senate is a great start. Let’s keep it up!
Aloha! 😉 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 17, 2013
at 1:38 AM
Good day for Democrats!
Nancy & Harry held & delivered their caucuses ( 2 of the Strongest leaders we have ever seen) and we just sent one hell of a guy from NJ to the Senate.
We have a clean CR and clean Debt ceiling.
And on we go…
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By: lori on October 16, 2013
at 9:47 PM
Hi, Cynthia – Confession: I didn’t read the whole thing word for word; it IS loooongg! But I think I got the overall drift. And I think the author is correct in saying that the right does a fine job honing in on some basic human desires: for belonging, community, dignity, security, work, the feeling that we have at least some control over the shape of our lives, and that we have some VALUE.
They ALSO spend a good deal of effort convincing people that “others” don’t recognize their “value,” don’t “listen to them,” don’t care about them. And the more people are ostracized, thrown into poverty, unable to find work, and so on, the more vulnerable they’ll be to the right’s message and promises. (Even Ted Cruz today, as he “bowed out” of his ludicrous position, was stating how he “listened” to the American people, and Washington didn’t. Truth is, of course, that he “listened” only to a small segment of the populace as a whole, and was absolutely deaf to the rest…)
It seems quite possible to me that the REAL reason the right hammers on gutting “entitlements” and “handouts” is not because of some belief in small government and self-reliance, but because they KNOW that the more disenfranchised someone is made to be, the more he or she will be disposed to accept their “nobody cares about you” rhetoric. In short, once you realize the key factors that must be in play for someone to “hear” your message, the more it behooves you to do everything you can to get them to that place! All that stuff is much less appealing to a populace that already feels it has some “power,” some importance, enough income with which to survive and possibly even flourish, and its own optimism about the future.
The right has always been incredibly good at this sort of thing: Go for the downtrodden, and if they ain’t downtrodden yet, tread them down yourself until they get there!
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 16, 2013
at 9:08 PM
Yaaayy!!! It’s going to be great getting some real “face time” from him, in a more national arena.
Cool!
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 16, 2013
at 8:47 PM
Booker won!
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By: delurkergurl on October 16, 2013
at 8:40 PM
BTW If anyone wants to help Cory tonight by making a few phone calls : here is his website http://m.corybooker.com/#
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By: lori on October 16, 2013
at 3:42 PM
Waving to Pi! Ill take a look at whatchew have been up to lately in a few. Im workin the phones a little bit today for Cory Booker. NJ special for Senate.
I recently heard an interesting POV on how the ” redistricting ” ie gerrymandering played a part in the recent kerfluffel in the hill. I dont have time to get into now but lets put a pin in it!
Alllll NJ peps get out and vote! IT MATTERS!
💜Namaste
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By: lori on October 16, 2013
at 3:11 PM
It’s quite long but interesting. ?????? I guess I prefer to be unhappy!!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/14/1205247/-Why-do-Americans-keep-falling-for-right-wing-ideas-Because-we-just-want-to-be-happy
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 16, 2013
at 2:09 PM
Thanks Cynthia! That is funny. And that may be the stupidest rabbit on earth.
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By: Terri in NY on October 16, 2013
at 12:35 PM
I think we should have a bit of humor before the end of democracy as we knew it.
“Watch a group of unintelligible Scotsmen chase a fookin’ rabbit down the fookin’ road fer 5 minutes.
Fer fook sayke.”
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/weird-news/watch-hilarious-video-bunny-refuses-2357429
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 16, 2013
at 11:25 AM
lori-
lots of stuff going on here
http://www.themudflats.net/archives/40611
and redistricting for 2010 census battles are still in court. Heck- we might solve that one in time for the 2020 census 🙂
Terri in NY-
Can’t beat our half term gone gov for jackassery really.
Mr Cruz is a pontificating, pusillanimous ponce but our SP is worse.
JSRI- good to see you too!
UAW-
this is the only set of fishermen I’m worrying about- subsistence and personal use fishing and hunting has been accommodated.
This one indeed is harm from the shutdown
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20131014/alaska-king-crab-fishery-snared-congress-season-opener-gets-delayed-shutdown
but it doesn’t mean the Ds in the Senate should cave to the minority in the House R bloc. Not at all.
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By: alaskapi on October 16, 2013
at 9:50 AM
Hey, Lurker – Isn’t this something? The “committee” has its own meeting and changes the rules… And the POTUS is supposed to “negotiate” (yet again, for the thousandth time) with this underhanded, nefarious, self-serving bunch of slimes…?
However Obama manages to withhold his fury with this bunch, I want some of it…
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 16, 2013
at 6:07 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
Thanks jsri and delurkergurl for your especially enlightening clips. The one thing the right wing hasn’t factored into their strategy is the social media. The general public isn’t as dumb as they would like to think. Word is getting around – fast.
Let’s see, to recap. Looks like the Teabaggers will have to find a new political mantra. “Obama as a one term president!” didn’t work. “Repeal Obamacare!” isn’t working either. Maybe they should take what few marbles they have left and go home. Better yet, secede – again – from the Union. I doubt if anyone is inclined to stop them this time.
My, my. The melodrama.
I am now convinced that since the dawn of history, if male politicians had had to launder and iron their own white stuffed shirts, there would always have been and would now be far less troubles in the world. Those limp phallic symbols tied around their necks and hanging down don’t do much for their image status either.
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 15, 2013
at 10:37 PM
Tortilla Coast Accord? (Er, USA! USA!)
As Democrats seethe over GOP tactics, video over rules change goes viral
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/10/14/as-democrats-seethe-over-gop-tactics-video-over-rules-change-goes-viral/?Post+generic=?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost
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By: delurkergurl on October 15, 2013
at 10:04 PM
Hey, jsri – Thanks for posting the article. As always, the comment following are plenty interesting, too.
Someone makes the point that it’s the House’s job to put together various bills, the Senate’s to accept or reject those bills, in entirety or in part, and the President’s to sign the bill(s) into law. Okay; I get that. If the ACA were still under discussion, it would – it seems to me – be a different story… But it has been THE LAW for more than two years now – even after the House’s endless unsuccessful attempts to vote it out of existence ever since.
So, now, the GOP caucus is willing to grab onto ANYTHING of importance that comes before it – in this case, the revision and extension of the debt ceiling – and threaten to reject THAT… Not because of any “issues” with the debt ceiling itself, no matter how much lip service is being paid to that notion, more or less as an aside, but as a THREAT, pure and simple. At this point, it’s the only substantial “threat” they’ve got. And THAT, IMHO, is the “sedition” action.
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 15, 2013
at 9:13 PM
Gato
Sounds like sedition to me.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-reinbach/the-gop-shutdown-is-sedit_b_4079692.html
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By: jsri on October 15, 2013
at 8:43 PM
Hi, Cynthia – Yes; it IS funny… And you KNOW the cats do it on purpose…
We had a wonderful little yellow kitty who weighed in, at her max, fully grown, no more than eight and a half pounds. Our neighbors have four pit bulls – all wonderful dogs, and exquisitely well-trained. At the first meeting with our cat, the cat went right up to them, one at a time, sniffed around each one at her leisure, as they stood frozen in what I had to assume was some sort of canine amazement.
She really exemplified the old saying, “No dog is ever bigger than a cat.”
Delightful video!
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 15, 2013
at 5:52 PM
This is funny! We can use a good laugh at this moment……enjoy!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/jerk-cats-love-stealing-dog-beds_n_4093467.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 15, 2013
at 4:17 PM
Hi Gato,
Perhaps an IQ test for elected officials is in order. Or truth serum so they can tell us their real agendas. Too many of these BS artists love to cloak themselves with the flag (even a confederate flag!) and pretend they care about our veterans. Just check their voting records to see that that they are aways the first to deny funding to veterans. The past two weeks have been a sickening display of hypocrisy, stupidity, irresponsibility, and bigotry. God save us from these jackasses.
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By: Terri in NY on October 15, 2013
at 4:03 PM
Hey, Terri – And, unless they ARE total phonies and bull****ters, apparently without a clue of what they have done, or are doing, and the impact both are having on those “ordinary Americans” for whom they have the audacity to say they “speak.”
Direct descendants of those who decided that whether or not a woman was a “witch” could be surely determined, without a doubt, by tying her to a chair and holding her under water for ten minutes. If she drowned, it proved she was a witch, and they were “right.”
What did these idiots think a “shutdown” was actually going to DO…? Just keep PBS off the air (too many private donors for that) and slow down the IRS and the NSA for a while? And that this was a damned good way to get those “ordinary Americans” to think, “Hey; I just got furloughed and won’t get paid for a while. Therefore, Obamacare must be a bad idea… They’ve certainly proved that to me!”
Are you SURE we can’t outlaw stupidity…? Or at least publicly condemn members of Congress and half-term ex-governors for bloviating anti-government spew in front of waving Confederate flags?
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 15, 2013
at 3:21 PM
The hypocrisy of Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz standing around condemning the Federal government for abiding by the government shutdown they have been cheerleading is breathtaking. It would be hard to find two bigger phonies, or two bigger blowhards.
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By: Terri in NY on October 15, 2013
at 2:57 PM
Thanks Republicans!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/debt-crises-jobs_n_4100590.html
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By: Terri in NY on October 15, 2013
at 2:47 PM
I don’t understand why someone would allow this to happen to their dog.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/10/14/hln-weiner-dog-loses-big.hln.html
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 15, 2013
at 2:44 PM
Cynthia: on October 15, 2013 at 12:13 PM
All I can say is oops because it sort of hits close to home, but it’s a little late to make too many lifestyle changes. Diet and exercise? That’s for the young and the restless, not the old and grappleless. And with the constant joint pains, what’s the point?
Auntie Jean: as Anonymous on October 14, 2013 at 3:08 PM
Sorry. I’m neither Horatio Alger nor Horatius at the Bridge. After a modest start, life has been a hoot, reasonably secure financially and passably productive to boot and I’m able to give back to the community in various ways. Pretty much a good life shared with a great wife. What more do I need? And the grandsons seem ready to carry on these traditions so all is well with the world.
Greatdog October 11, 2013 at 6:42 PM
Great to see your comments again. Good to hear your business is doing well. Many years ago WonderWife and I ran a small business and paid our employees well and provided health coverage, long before such things became an issue. Did it through an old style HMO. We paid them a living wage because we considered the employees to be the face of the business to the customers and if the employees were happy there was a good chance that the customers were happy too. And, by golly, it worked.
Gato:
Thanks for keeping up the pace.
And Hi to PI and Peas:
Always worth reading. Thanks a lot
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By: jsri on October 15, 2013
at 1:23 PM
Hey girls check this out. I do agree that the US male is the biggest ass especially those in Congress!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/average-american-male-body_n_4080007.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 15, 2013
at 12:13 PM
Hey uaw – I’ll meet that and raise you this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/congress-government-shutdown_n_4085699.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
http://news.yahoo.com/government-shutdown-backfires-gop-says-democrats-now-guilty-133154607.html
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll505.xml
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/house-republicans-rules-change_n_4095129.html
“What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is negotiable” – Republican Mantra
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 15, 2013
at 11:34 AM
speaking of whine, I just made(yesterday)11 gal of apple wine, 6 gal of apple cider, and 7 gal of pear wine from my trees.Got 20(appx ) gal of grape to jug up yet. everything is working fine (not like the Senate)
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By: uawtradesman on October 15, 2013
at 9:00 AM
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By: uawtradesman on October 15, 2013
at 8:39 AM
Wow Helen, I almost missed this posting since I’ve been busy every morning just trying to figure out what’s actually happening and haven’t looked for you. I’ll thank Bill in Portland Maine for alerting me. I’ve been calling my Congressional “representative” every morning to ask him if today he prefers to continue trying to destroy our government and our country or if maybe today he would be willing to vote on a clean resolution. Unfortunately, due to underhanded tactics, it’s no longer that simple. Today, I’ll show up at his home office with a few others to express my distaste for those tactics personally. When I finish there, I’ll have lunch with my sister who was just diagnosed with a form of colitis and complains that if she earned just $20 more each month she would not be entitled to her Medicaid and she’s entitled to it but that welfare person over there who just keeps having children to increase her take from the government teat should get bupkis.
I lived through the last shutdown (my fingers typed “shutclown,” I had to have a chat with them) since DH worked for Dept of Commerce back then. He did get back pay and we somehow survived it since I was also working full time. But I was appalled at the extra cost to the gov’t to prepare for the shutdown, do without the stats his people would normally have gathered, and then to find enough staff still available to restart the work. So many productive hours lost. Well, at least Newt managed to benefit from it in the long run. Sorry Newt, I still don’t have the patience to listen to you.
Good to see so many others who still spend a little time here. Hi Greytdog and Alaskapi and others. I’m gonna go bake a pie with those free apples I picked from a friend’s volunteer tree. Maybe have a little whine with it.
cheers
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By: HRHSofyaEQ on October 15, 2013
at 8:33 AM
[…] Margaret, the Republicans are trying to blame this shutdown on everyone but themselves. It’s the Senate Democrats fault for not negotiating. It’s President Obama’s fault for being black. It’s my fault for not voting for McCain and Palin. Well honey, somebody needs to tell them that dog just don’t hunt. Read more … https://margaretandhelen.com/2013/10/03/everything-the-republicans-need-to-know-my-dog-learned-in-ob… […]
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By: » Margaret and Helen Have Something to Say…… Voices of the Feminine on October 15, 2013
at 8:30 AM
good one Parker…
“Ed Asner – Republican?”
That like Bill Moyer_fair and balanced
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By: uawtradesman on October 15, 2013
at 8:25 AM
Hey Nancy Pelosi….
It’s good to know that there wasn’t any Mexican flags at the Illegal immigrant protest in DC .
Oh…did someone complain about a Republican and a confederate flag?
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By: uawtradesman on October 15, 2013
at 8:20 AM
Ladies I doff my hat to you both. Utter web log gold from a pair of fine silver surfers.
The Bachmann brick comment had me in stitches. Good job I read this from my desk in the UK where our universal healthcare system can sew my aching ribs back up.
best wishes to you both and please keep up the hilarity.
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By: Dave Sandman on October 15, 2013
at 7:59 AM
Who really shut down the parks?
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By: uawtradesman on October 15, 2013
at 7:58 AM
Hi, Mageen – This “calling out behind the scenes” thing seems to me to be symptomatic of the whole problem: If we don’t KNOW they’re “calling him out,” we have to assume they approve. (Actually, I suspect they’re just waiting until it serves them best to throw Cruz under the proverbial bus; in the meantime, they’re just letting him say and do what plenty of the rest of them would really like to say and do, but haven’t got the guts…)
I don’t understand why a US Senator’s standing in front of a Confederate flag, while denouncing the actions of the US government, is much different from his standing in front of any other anti-American group’s standard, and doing the same thing… Do you?
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 15, 2013
at 7:55 AM
I see that some people here keep talking about “law of the land”…..so is the 2nd amendment…stop trying to change it then!!!!!!!!
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By: uawtradesman on October 15, 2013
at 7:43 AM
I think NoClu drank to much koolade..
“It is all about a bi-racial man winning a second term. They thought they had all the voting machines rigged, but too bad so sad”.
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By: uawtradesman on October 15, 2013
at 7:20 AM
Ted Cruz has been called out by his own party but behind the scenes. The public has been left with snatches of news about this. I agree that anyone appearing in public under the Stars and Bars in his capacity as an incumbent Senator has just nailed his own political coffin. I can guarantee that when he is either hauled away or expelled by the Senate that the outcry in behalf of this “patriot” from the Pea Tardy’s will out-roar Niagara.
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By: mageen in old virginy on October 15, 2013
at 6:42 AM
Ed Asner – Republican? That’s pretty funny – right up there with Palin – Mensan.
People have different points of view on things, I guess. Saying the ReThuglicans are off the reservation because “a black guy got elected” is of course silly. They are outraged because, in their heart of hearts, they think he is a grave threat to the American way of life — the same way, incidentally, that the liberals feel about them. How’d it go?
“These people are willing to take down the entire country, and all its history, all its principles, and all its future, because they just can’t stand it that a black guy got elected – twice – and that people love him.”
Some love Barack Hussein, many don’t. “Take down the country, its history, its principles?” Yup, they feel the same way about Obama – and his followers. Great for both of you to be on the side of the angels, I guess.
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By: parker on October 14, 2013
at 8:35 PM
Hi, Cynthia – Yep; that’s a good one. And I’m glad to learn that Ed Asner narrated it. For some reason, I thought he was a Republican… Evidently not!
And, tangentially, I got a “sign this petition of outrage” thing from the DCCC, showing pix of the “protesters” flapping their Confederate flags in front of the White House, and calling the whole thing “heinous.”
At first, that word seemed, to me, to be a bit of an overstatement… And then I actually thought about it. The fact that Ted Cruz, “unofficial leader of the Republican caucus,” would publicly align himself with a group demonstrating its continued support of a faction that tried to REMOVE itself from this country (the Confederacy), that showed nothing but scorn for the Constitution and the laws of the land, and that WENT TO WAR AGAINST THIS COUNTRY, is not only “heinous,” it’s effing UNBELIEVABLE. And it takes a bunch of Democrats to point out that this is SEDITION?!? The “Republicans” are letting this blowhard speak for them, without a word of condemnation? What the hell is the matter with them?
Palin, of course, is her own special brand of wing nut, so no surprise there…
These people are willing to take down the entire country, and all its history, all its principles, and all its future, because they just can’t stand it that a black guy got elected – twice – and that people love him. This is some very scary s**t… VERY scary. Taliban scary…
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 14, 2013
at 5:57 PM
Have you seen this one?
http://www.moveon.org/share/72e232/hollywood-legend-ed-asner-has-outraged-republicans?rc=share-86b99d
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 14, 2013
at 4:15 PM
Hi Congenial Gang,
Mornin’ all. I haven’t the time or patience to break in the new troll, Parker. Suffice it to say he is, and I quote his own words, “focused, opinionated, swift and wrong.” Obviously a nerd-wanna-be who couldn’t cut it in med school or any other profession requiring intellect. Maybe he’s a used car salesman.
Unlike jsri, who, as so many of us growing up during the Great Depression did, is one of the original Horatio Algers stories to carve out a distinguished career for himself while being a loving and devoted husand and father.
Those of us who have been frequenting this site for, what, 4-5 or more years know him very well. We admire and love him.
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 14, 2013
at 3:08 PM
Parker
Time’s up. Tell us who you really are. I have a suspicion because we’ve seen too much of this sort of swamp gas before. Try something original for a change.
BTW, there no need to feel sorry for my “unfortunate” life’s experiences, they were invaluable because they taught me how to better deal with adversity and how to recognize it in others who are considerable less fortunate than I’ve been. I do a fair amount of volunteer work and have a substantial circle of contacts, some you would berate quickly as the “food stamp crowd living high off the hog”. But I see them as hard-working people struggling to find decent paying work, sometimes having 2 or 3 low paying jobs with zero benefits and no prospects for advancement or improvement. And some of them even do the dirty kinds of work that you are too privileged to avoid and even pay taxes. You need to broaden your circle of contacts.
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By: jsri on October 14, 2013
at 12:55 PM
I read this on the day you first posted it, but I had to come back and read it again because I was feeling the need to hear from someone who had some common sense. Thanks.
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By: Mel on October 14, 2013
at 12:26 PM
concerning Ben Carson – unfortunately the Republicans have lost their minds. They have let the loonies take over the asylum.
Also unfortunately, being able to do rocket surgery doesn’t make you a sage. Getting into medical school takes laser focus on your studies. The socialization that takes place for nearly everybody else doesn’t happen, as the nerdy college student competes with equally-nerdy fellows and girls for a position.
Medical school is then four years of utter brutality. Neurosurgery is another eleven. During that phase, you haven’t the time to take a good, full pee, and you certainly have no time to read, keep up on the world, or learn about political or economic systems. And then, impossible as it seems, neurosurgery practice is just as time-consuming. Read for fun? Read to learn anything other than keeping up on medicine? Forget it. You are a one-dimensional, cloistered monomaniac from college until the day you die – i.e., Ben Carson.
Dr. William Masters, in “Masters of Sex” is not as far off the mark as you would think. Think of Ben Carson as Bill Masters in blackface: smart, focused, opinionated, swift, sure and wrong.
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By: parker on October 14, 2013
at 6:18 AM
jsri – “If you’ve never had an ounce of experience, it’s better not to make a comment because it makes you look like a complete fool. I try to speak from experience because I was brought up during the Great Depression and know what it meant to go hungry and have your parents constantly looking for work that didn’t exist any longer. And I remember the long lines at church sponsored soup kitchens and was always puzzled why only men were there. I also I remember how my mother always stood back at mealtime until my older sister also noticed it and made sure that they shared their meals.”
I’m sorry for your unfortunate life experiences, but perhaps those have also destroyed your objectivity.
craig – “Having children, when they can’t afford the ones they have?”
jsri responds: ‘Tell us Craig, do you believe that people on unemployment should abstain from sex? And how does that differ from forced sterilization? Just wondering. Sounds positively Nazi-ish, but I’m not surprised.’
I, for one, believe people should have the children they can afford. I had only two, because that was what I could afford. My neighbor had seven, because that was what SHE could afford. Was she affluent? No. She was on welfare. Why could she afford seven, and I two? Quite simple, really – because every new child, while an expense to me, was an income to her, so she had NO incentive to limit her offspring, and I had every incentive to limit mine. (and because I had to pay for hers seven, I couldn’t pay for my third, or fourth, or fifth). Sounds like I underwent forced sterilization, to me. See, now you don’t have to wonder any more. Not that you ever did. Oh, and by the way, abstaining from sex is not necessary; they have birth control these days; maybe you hadn’t heard.
craig: “FEMA. A joke. The states took care of their own via their own people and National Guard. People now sit and await Big Brother to haul their asses out of harms way..when they knew they were in a hurricane path.”
Um. I suppose folks on the West Coast have no business living there where there’s always a threat of earthquakes and those in the heartlands should have to move to the coasts to avoid tornadoes. Talk about mass migrations? That one takes the cake.
No, it makes perfect sense, really. Everyone should be able to live wherever he wants, but he should pay the REAL cost of his insurance. People never lived along the Outer Banks of NC much until the government started subsidizing their folly by bailing out the insurers when the inevitable hurricane blow – well, blew. Or on the left coast, folks originally paid the real costs of insurance against the inevitable earthquake. Now the insurers give them the same (or close to same) rates as everywhere else, because the REAL cost is carried by our government. (read that “all of us.”)
and finally: ”National Public Radio TV…really..you can’t get enough arts and music via 180 channels?” I use NPR and PBS to get educated, by quality programs, something you obviously missed. Also NPR and PBS rely on donor support that you don’t know about either.’
Yup, know all about that – I usually listen to NPR, in preference to anything else. Unfortunately, NPR, which is funded by ALL of us, is little more than a shill for a few of us – the liberal cohort. If those donors are so potent, then why can’t they fund it all? Why does it need any public funding? “Public radio” is just a name; they are anything but.
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By: parker on October 13, 2013
at 10:24 PM
Lordy, Whirled – We brush off this stuff at our REAL PERIL! (Not saying that anyone here is brushing off ANYTHING, BTW…) But I too often find myself wanting to console myself by saying, “These people are nuts; nobody could possibly take them seriously,” and then I get an email from my TX brother-in-law, dramatically announcing the “breaking news” from the black former pediatric neurosurgeon, stating that Obamacare is as bad as slavery… And this is a guy (the bro-in-law) who at least seems able to string a subject and a verb together into a coherent sentence, in day-to-day conversation… And HE believes this bull doody!
Helen is right to say this dog won’t hunt, but it sure as hell will bite…
Do they have any idea what will happen should they actually GET what they seem to want – a nation controlled by rich white men, full of oppressed women, people of color, seniors, hungry, starving, jobless, dying from lack of health care? Is THIS the “America” they long to see? THIS is what they think the Constitution was written to establish? And they think that God is going to THANK THEM for their efforts…?
If ever a good smiting were in order, it would seem to me that now is the time… Talk about throwing the money changers out of the Temple…
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 13, 2013
at 4:12 PM
For those of you keeping track,
here’s an interactive info-graphic:
Who’s Pulling the Strings?
A lot of press coverage has focused on the relatively small group of lawmakers, many of them tea party endorsed backbenchers, who pushed their leadership into shutting down the government in a desperate last-gasp effort to kill off Obamacare.
But how does that work? Why can a cabal of hard-right legislators, “Teapublicans”, tell their party’s leadership what to do? Why doesn’t the rest of the Republican caucus stop them? The answer is that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision a well-funded network of conservative groups has arisen that has the ability to make the lives of Republicans who seek compromise very, very difficult.
Peace ~ Δ
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By: Whirled Peas Δ on October 13, 2013
at 12:12 PM
I liked the wedding story.
As we know, the administration has been trying to inflict the maximum amount of pain to anger people into forcing Republicans to give in.
One of the early and most visible actions was banning WW11 veterans from their memorial while allowing an amnesty demonstration. In the past,17 or so shut downs, i don’t believe people were banned from visiting our memorials, especially since two more park staff than normal were used to keep visitors out.
Michele Malkin”Occupy America! Citizens storm the Barrycades.” October 9. She documented the reaction of visitors to Mount Rushmore, Zion National Park, and other places where tourists ignored the barricades.
Today, the Million Veteran March has begun ,and twitchy has pictures. It looks like a nice turn out.
At four months, our grand daughter has now laughed, turned herself over, and moved herself 18 inches in an attempt to crawl. Her head shape is still not normal, but it has become much less noticeable. She prefers to sit, and she has a long attention span.,She likes people and smiles at everyone who sees her. Her development is close to normal This is contrary to the doctors’ predictions.
The next appointment is in a few days.Maybe the doctors will think a genetic test and MRI scan are not needed now.
Once again, I won’t have time to visit or read any comments, so you get the last word.Back to Omaha in a few hours.
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By: james on October 13, 2013
at 10:14 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
The United States “Empire” will not be the first to collapse from within under its own weight. Wasn’t the U.S.S.R. the last one? Well, while we are waiting with baited breath for the axe to fall, might as well talk about something else, like………
The beautiful wedding of our friends’ daughter was a special occasion for a number of reasons. However, this one started me on a train of thought I had never ever even contemplated before. We have all attended probably dozens of weddings throughout our lives, including our own. Since we were too busy with the wedding preparations and also because we were usually emotionally involved, we didn’t give much, if any, attention to the historical social and cultural significance behind the proceedings.
To refresh the memories of some of you who might be a little rusty, here are the details. The guests were escorted to their proper pews in the church by the tuxedoed ushers, (friends of the groom on the left side, brides’ on the right. There are reasons for that.) The families of the happy couple filed in and the wedding began. To the strains of the organ’s rendition of Pachebel’s “Canon in D”, the bevy of lovely bridesmaids started down the aisle all decked out in their matching dresses and carrying bouquets. Then the little flower girl and ring bearer with his pillow. Next, the maid of honor. (Her chief duties were to tend to the long train on the bride’s lavish wedding dress.) After the groom and his best man entered from the vestibule of the church, the beautiful bride floated down the aisle on the arm of her dad. An impressive procession of tradition going back – – – how many centuries?
At the foot of the altar, the clergyman asked the father, “Who gives this woman in marriage to this man?” Breaking with long, long tradition, he said, “Her mother and I do” and stepped back as the groom stood beside the bride. The ceremony began. When they were pronounced man and wife, the new husband lifted the veil covering his bride’s face. The clergyman intoned his blessing with the words, “You may now kiss the bride”. They proceeded to do so to the applause of the whole congregation.
Following the recession, the reception was held with food and drink, toasting the happy couple, speeches and then dancing until the wee hours. A wonderful time was had by all!!!!!
The newlyweds are now living happily ever after.
Later in thinking about it, I was a little amused at first about the line, “Who gives this woman to be married” and then permission to kiss the bride. Now, it was none of my business so I have no idea if the bride had a dowry. Nor did I ask how many cows, goats and sheep the groom’s father ponied up for his son’s new wife. But somehow, it struck me that you have to actually OWN something before you can be so magnanimous as to give it away, as in your daughter. Further, buying and selling brides with dowries and livestock is an ancient custom going back forever. The “marriage contract” was strictly a business deal between the patriarchs. A daughter was just another bargaining chip. Very often when the groom lifted the bride’s veil for that presumably first kiss it may well have been the very first time he ever laid eyes on her!
Somehow, the buying and selling of other human beings with dowries or livestock smacks of something, by definition, called SLAVERY. It does hearken back to the times when as soon as she reached puberty, a young nubile girl was required to produce sons for warriors or farm hands to tend to the fields. It was her purpose in life. If she had no dowry or social status, well she could always become a concubine or be recruited for a harem. Her career choices were certainly limited, weren’t then.
Now, I am all for preserving the BEST of the lovely traditions from one generation to another. Some of them are the glue that holds a civilized society together. They help to keep us in our respective comfort zones. However, there is often an underlying not-so-nice side that if often overlooked.
In lieu of a dowry or livestock, in this day and age the happy couple register at Macy’s and Bed and Bath so everyone chips in to help them set up their new household.
BTW, the bride’s traditional WHITE wedding gown, no matter how elaborate, has always symbolized the highly praised virginity of sexual purity.
I’ll be having a few thousand words to say in the future about the symbolism of COLORS.
Aloha! Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 13, 2013
at 2:08 AM
An oldie but a goodie:
(from Aug ’11)
The story of…
…Tea Party Tim and Plutocrat Pete
Hopefully the last time this will be needed. 😉
Peace ~ Δ
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By: Whirled Peas Δ on October 12, 2013
at 6:32 PM
What a sad, hate-filled existence
being a RWNJ must be.
I suggest they get themselves a dog…
…but remember to feed it…
……try not to beat it !!!
Anyway:
Who’s Who At The Values Voter Summit 2013
Republicans and Religious Right activists are set to come together this weekend at the Values Voter Summit, the Family Research Council conference where politicians will push the right-wing line regarding the government shutdown, Obamacare, gay rights and the supposed end of freedom.
As Peter noted, “Religious Right’s leaders are working to merge their activists’ anti-abortion and anti-gay zeal with the anti-government extremism of the Tea Party” and even “give the Tea Party’s agenda a biblical foundation.”
What a hootenanny that must have been! 😉
Peace ~ Δ
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By: Whirled Peas Δ on October 12, 2013
at 4:27 PM
Oops! Did it again. Sorry.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 12, 2013
at 1:45 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
Greytdog!!! Wonderful to see your name and terrific comment again!!! I’m with you all the way. Now, if we can just do something about critters. As you may know, growing up and through the years we had just about every creature there is: cats, dogs, a horse, a pet owl in the barn and a dinner plate sized terrapin my dad almost ran over in the road. We fed it raw hamburger. Take on the loving responsibility of a pet, then its nutrition, health and yes, education, are up to us too. The vet bills we had! Gulp!
Well, I know what a busy gal you are but please,don’t be a stranger.
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 12, 2013
at 1:44 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
Greytdog!!! Wonderful to see your name and terrific comment again!!! I’m with you all the way!!!. Now, if we can just do something about critters. As you may know, growing up and through the years we had just about every creature there is: Cats, dogs, a horse, a pet owl in the barn and a dinner plate sized terrapin my dad almost ran over in the road. We fed it raw hamburger. Take on the loving responsibility of a pet, then its nutrition, health and yes, education, are up to us too. The vet bills we had! Gulp!
Well, I know what a busy gal you are but please, don’t be a stranger.
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 12, 2013
at 1:41 AM
Well I, for one, am very very happy that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. Not thrilled that our jerk governor decided not to expand medicaid or set up health exchanges, so premiums in Florida will be higher than in states with the health exchanges and expansion. But as a small business owner, I’m even more thrilled! Why? Because even though technically we’re exempt (we have less than 25 employees), we can at least offer healthcare benefits to our staff through our small business health exchange – if they choose – or we can help pay into their healthcare through the federal exchange. Yes – I’m excited about it – I’m proud we pay a decent living wage to the folks who make sure our business is successful – and now we can help ensure our staff and their families have affordable healthcare as well. Next up: setting up an insurance plan for the furry members of our staff families.
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By: greytdog on October 11, 2013
at 6:42 PM
Another winner M&H. Keep ’em comin’.
And for your viewing pleasure…
.
.
.
Tea Party Galaxy: Voyage to the Center of Delusion
.
😉
Peace ~ Δ
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By: Whirled Peas Δ on October 11, 2013
at 2:54 PM
I think the GOP really does know that our biggest creditor, China, can slap a Debt Warrant on this country. Ten to one such a document would be delivered by some guy in formal diplomatic livery to the Speaker of the House (where the $$ is appropriated, not at 1600 PA Avenue) and the Speaker would have to sign for delivery of such a document. (What a photo op!) This is the kind of fire they are playing with and they are genuinely becoming truly aware of it. Hence, the meetings in the White House. Somewhere in the House of Representatives there are at least a few people who have been through the Debt Warrant experience but they sure as blazes don’t want to admit it. They know just how bad such a situation is. Its a real blot on the copybook. Why they would play around (default deniers)with the real possibility of the same thing happening to their own country totally baffles me. But then I’m only an old widow woman living on a really, really tight budget that includes Social Security and Medicare, all of which I earned for myself during my working life. I was raised by parents who actually had PTSD from the stuff that happened to them during the Great Depression. They actually saw people jump out of windows and go splat on the sidewalk, and they saw the Hoovervilles and the bread lines. They also knew that in their part of the world the Mafia paid for a lot of this public assistance. And it was gratefully accepted.
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By: mageen in old virginy on October 11, 2013
at 6:51 AM
Thank you!
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By: Marjorie Behrens Rancourt on October 11, 2013
at 6:15 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
There is a very old French saying that I think sums up the present political situation to a tee. “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.” “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
I said I would tell you about the destiny of the traditional gown I bought in Tunis. Here goes. The Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve are holidays out here calling for huge celebrations. Our circle of friends always gets together for a big bash. Everyone brings something. For the Fourth of July: sushi, adobo, hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad and my famous cherry cheesecake. There is quite a strong Asian influence here so fireworks are a major part of the festivities. After all, the Chinese did invent gunpowder. For us at first it was culture shock to the max! But we got used to it. When they get going, it’s like a war zone with all the noise and smoke from the fireworks (mostly legal.) WalMart and Costco have enormous stockpiles every year.
When it was our turn to host the party of some 30-40 friends, several of the men came over the day before and built a temporary scaffolding to hang the rolls of 1000 firecrackers from. Trust me, it was quite a display once they were fired up and their chain reactions continuously lit up the sky. Unfortunately, the next day the whole yard was littered with burnt firecrackers and their red paper wrappers to be raked up.
It so happened that this was not long after we had returned from our visit to Tunis. After dinner and before the fireworks began, I showed then my gown, how it was worn and modeled it for them. It created a sensation!
When the gathering was breaking up, one of our dear friends took me aside and said, “I want that dress.” Her daughter was getting married. They had been all over this island and to Honolulu on Oahu for her wedding finery. They had found a gorgeous wedding gown complete with traditional train and veil, but they hadn’t yet found a suitable dress for the “Mother of the Bride.” I said, “Sure.” But on close examination we both agreed that the fabric was cheap polyester and the color was all wrong for a wedding. I thought a minute and then told her I probably I could make her one though. The pattern was actually pretty simple.
So a few days later, off we went to the fabric store. She chose a lovely silk satin in a turquoise shade and one inch silver trim. It turned out perfect for her. When the groom’s mother saw it, she wanted one too. Back to the fabric store for her choice in a pale pink with a dark rose and gold trim. The gals were thrilled! Their husbands were even more delighted because the price for each “ensemble” was a fraction of what they had seen in numerous bridal shops. Also the bride-to-be was pleased except she was a little afraid the moms would upstage her!
The wedding of course was absolutely beautiful. A traditional story book affair with flowers, music and the well known protocols. More about it later.
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 10, 2013
at 10:26 PM
This is worth reading:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/tea-party-republicans-government_b_4080832.html
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 10, 2013
at 7:27 PM
Craig on October 9, 2013 at 12:14 PM
With all the random crap you throw around it’s difficult to know where to start but maybe the beginning is the best place. (I’ve tried to bold your inane comments)
”Head start? Who needs it ? What happened before it was here?” My wife taught for 35 years, mostly first grade and always went to school with something in her pockets for those she knew would be coming to school without breakfast. That routine changed gradually for the better after social programs like WIC came into being. WIC was formally created by an amendment to section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 on September 26, 1972. Before that there were some state programs and a few private charities and not much else.
If you’ve never had an ounce of experience, it’s better not to make a comment because it makes you look like a complete fool. I try to speak from experience because I was brought up during the Great Depression and know what it meant to go hungry and have your parents constantly looking for work that didn’t exist any longer. And I remember the long lines at church sponsored soup kitchens and was always puzzled why only men were there. I also I remember how my mother always stood back at mealtime until my older sister also noticed it and made sure that they shared their meals.
”People worked for a living. No hand outs. None of you had to pay for others to sit on a stoop and await the end of the month.” Question: And how many minimum wage jobs have you had in your lifetime Craig? And how did you manage your food bills?
“The burgeoning growth of people on the disability dole with made up problems…just because they won’t work for $10 an hour. So we’re suppose to extend their unemployment pay via disability payments??
Having children, when they can’t afford the one they have?” Tell us Craig, do you believe that people on unemployment should abstain from sex? And how does that differ from forced sterilization? Just wondering. Sounds positively Nazi-ish, but I’m not surprised.
“I knew a guy in Dallas who had four and just kept adopting more for $$.” C’mon Craig, you can do better than that with your “I knew a guy. . . “ comments. That one’s pretty lame.
“TSA a joke..we had security before 911..now a 9 year old can walk past them.” This obviously troubled kid is a soon to be con man. Look at his history.
“FEMA. A joke. The states took care of their own via their own people and National Guard. People now sit and await Big Brother to haul their asses out of harms way..when they knew they were in a hurricane path.” Um. I suppose folks on the West Coast have no business living there where there’s always a threat of earthquakes and those in the heartlands should have to move to the coasts to avoid tornadoes. Talk about mass migrations? That one takes the cake.
”National Public Radio TV…really..you can’t get enough arts and music via 180 channels?” I use NPR and PBS to get educated, by quality programs, something you obviously missed. Also NPR and PBS rely on donor support that you don’t know about either.
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By: jsri on October 10, 2013
at 2:44 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamacare-saved-my-family-from-financial-ruin/2013/10/08/2b4c03c6-2f6e-11e3-bbed-a8a60c601153_story.html
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By: Terri in NY on October 10, 2013
at 8:41 AM
Terry in NY.
Really. No answers other than to defray the question ?
It’s because you couldn’t string three sentences together to back any of your rhetoric up.
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By: Craig on October 10, 2013
at 1:20 AM
During a speech on the House floor to call for a vote on a resolution that said Congress’ “dignity” had been impugned by the government shutdown, Grayson frustrated Speaker pro tempore Steve Womack (R-AR) by obstructing all other business and asserting privilege under Rule IX.
This is a PPP poll.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/rep-alan-grayson-reads-poll-congress-less-popular-dog-poop-gets-cuts-video
However, when Rep. Grayson quoted these facts, Womack grew angrier and angrier.
“What do you have a higher opinion of, Congress or witches? Congress, 32 percent; witches, 46 percent. What do you have a higher opinion of, Congress or hemorrhoids? Congress, 31 percent; hemorrhoids, 53 percent. What do you have a higher opinion of, Congress or dog poop? Congress 40 percent; dog poop 47 percent,” stated Rep. Alan Grayson.”
Personally my opinion puts dog poop around 97 percent…..and a root canal at 95 percent.
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 9, 2013
at 7:05 PM
hunting and fishing is going just fine on state land UAW.
Our current administration hates the fed so misses no chances to yap at em.
In some cases, it is going just fine on federal land… depends where and what type.
Also too- is pretty damn rich to have AK whining about stipulations in ANILCA needing to be met- state has been trying to get rid of ANILCA lands and/or manage FEDERAL hunting and fishing lands since 1980. Goes back to subistence fishing and hunting rights for Alaska Native peoples and the flap after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the state getting its lil self in a wad over indigenous/rural hunting priorities.
Very complicated and state has been a lying sack o spuds on that several fronts since 1971.
WA newspaper didn’t do its due diligence on that story- just yapped what the state yapped. State is full of it.
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By: alaskapi on October 9, 2013
at 5:01 PM
The only way to keep those Pea Tardy Republicans in line: Hungry and predatory cephalopods.
Since my natural habitat precludes my kind from enjoying an open flame or home cooked meal, we eat our food – not just raw – but alive as a matter of necessity. Table etiquette is a simple matter of “catch-n-crunch.” Nevertheless, we measure fine cuisine by a higher standard: What dies in our mouths melts in our mouths, and our taste buds are finely attuned to the five stages – and flavors – of death and dying: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
Bon appetite!
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By: David Hillman on October 9, 2013
at 3:00 PM
First of all, Gato you have my vote!!
Craig, please, your tired old “everything would be great except for these slackers” meme is really not helpful, nor factual, nor logical, nor new. Zzzz. We’ve heard it all before, ad infinitum.
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By: Terri in NY on October 9, 2013
at 2:52 PM
Chicken littles…..
The sky is not falling.
Head start? Who needs it ? What happened before it was here?
Our parents raised us.
What happened before all these social programs?
People worked for a living. No hand outs. None of you had to pay for others to sit on a stoop and await the end of the month.
The burgeoning growth of people on the disability dole with made up problems…just because they won’t work for $10 an hour. So we’re suppose to extend their unemployment pay via disability payments??
Having children, when they can’t afford the one they have?
Gaming the system by becoming a farm for children of disabilities and awaiting the monthly checks to supposedly take care of these kids?
I knew a guy in Dallas who had four and just kept adopting more for $$.
And finally…
If only the bank would just add a couple of zeros to my bank account every time it got to “0”. That’s a great way to run a country??
Just raise my credit limit and I’ll pay ya back next year..maybe.
Pay the police,firemen and armed forces.
TSA a joke..we had security before 911..now a 9 year old can walk past them.
FEMA. A joke. The states took care of their own via their own people and National Guard. People now sit and await Big Brother to haul their asses out of harms way..when they knew they were in a hurricane path.
National Public Radio TV…really..you can’t get enough arts and music via 180 channels? Why should I have to pay for you to learn how to BBQ or watch this ole house when we have HGTV showing you how to restore homes all day long and 2-3 cooking channels?
Finally. Congress and their thundering herd of office workers should have the exact same benefits that we have.
Nothing in extra retirement.
No extra health care benefits.
No special treatment.
Just a regular monthly paycheck with nothing under the table.
Perhaps then WE wouldn’t be a fatted calf to live off of.
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By: Craig on October 9, 2013
at 12:14 PM
Ah, yes, UAW – We have noticed your return…
All this “outrage” about certain government services being shut down, and certain others not, is just ridiculous. (My personal favorite remains that Congressman from Texas – “Lumberburger,” or whatever his name is – hassling the Park Ranger for enforcing the position that he, personally, voted to insist she take… Hard to beat that one, but I suspect that it WILL soon be topped.)
I’m sure that if the GOP had been able to figure out a way to pull it off, they would have voted to “shut down” only the government services and functions that they know their “fans” don’t like: The IRS, parts of the NSA, every single dollar flowing to any welfare recipients (except for veterans, of course – “WE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!”), PBS, and so on. But, apparently, their only “option” was a broad-ranging “shutdown,” so – two minutes after they voted for that – they began their cherry-picking. “Families can’t take their long-planned Grand Canyon vacation. Outrageous!” and “Vets can’t get into the Memorial. Obama is doing this on purpose!” “Suspending mortgage applications is denying the Average American access to The American Dream. Shameful!”
Were I sitting in the Executive Office (and you can thank your lucky stars I’m not), and I’d had this “shutdown” stuck in my face by a small bunch of egomaniacal blackmailers whom I have overindulged to a degree that now embarrasses even myself, and with whom I’ve attempted to “negotiate” for far too long, I would have said, essentially, “Fine. You want a shutdown? Here’s your shutdown… And we’re starting with each and every one of you, and every member of your staffs. You will receive no pay for the duration, and an individual fine of $1000/day for every day you neglect your sworn duty to insure and pay for the execution of the duly passed laws of the land. If, after thirty days, you have not re-assumed your duties, you will be subject to immediate legal action.
The Congressional dining services will cease their activities, effectively immediately. We suggest you seek meals at your local faith-based soup kitchen or food pantry if you are unable to provide for yourself.
Veterans, even in your solidly red districts, will receive no services, whatsoever. Travel for troops abroad, scheduled to end their tours of duty and return home, will be cancelled. All redistricting efforts will cease, effective immediately. No taxes will be collected. The USPS will not deliver any mail, including the lovely, glossy re-election brochures you just had printed. Construction on the National Guard facility you struggled so hard to obtain for your district will cease. Should you suffer any natural disaster, you will receive no Federal aid during the shutdown. Similarly, should a bridge collapse, it will not be repaired. There will be no Federal matching funds for any of the November 2 elections. Should you find yourself subject to any unpleasantness and/or personal threats from your constituents over any of these matters, you will need to take personal responsibility for your own safety, since bodyguards will not be available for members of Congress.
Naturally, all air travel will be suspended due to this shutdown, which you may find an inconvenience, should you wish to depart either Washington, DC, or your districts, for the duration of the shutdown. You are advised to seek other forms of travel, if necessary, to insure the safety of yourself and your families.
Oh, yes, and, of course, all – ALL – the National Parks, Museums, and Monuments will be closed for the duration, and all activities permitted within them will be suspended, including hunting and fishing, hiking, photography, camping, and weddings. And, just so you feel a little better, Big Bird will be furloughed, too. (Never let it be said that I do not apply the expressed wishes of the Legislative Branch with an even hand.)
Is this ‘shut down’ enough for you? We will keep you informed of additional suspensions and closures are they are made known to us.
And don’t bother planning to register any objections, or offer any compromise. Naturally, as you have voted, the entire Executive Branch and staff will also be on furlough, immediately following the execution of this order.
Have a nice day.”
Office of the Chief Executive Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 9, 2013
at 11:43 AM
Wow, UAW tradesman, you really don’t get it. Write on a blog that cares how you feel. Don’t spread your swill here. If you don’t like the truth go away
Helen, you are absolutely correct in everything you say. It is all about a bi-racial man winning a second term. They thought they had all the voting machines rigged, but too bad so sad. They were caught red handed trying to fiddle things in Penn and Ohio.
And yes, they did the same thing to Clinton because he won a second term. It is all about destruction for the Koch Baggers. Destroy democracy, destroy the middle class, destroy children, seniors, veterans.
It is the Koch Baggers fault
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By: CoBlu on October 9, 2013
at 11:00 AM
Yup, what Gato sezs.
I agree, dont think its going to go well Auntie Jean from everything Ive heard.
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By: lori on October 9, 2013
at 10:46 AM
Hey Alaskapi….how’s all that hunting and fishing doing
Alaska slams feds for keeping hunters off land
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/8/nps-accused-gestapo-tactics-enforce-shutdown/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/07/government-shutdown-hunting-fishing_n_4059979.html
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By: uawtradesman on October 9, 2013
at 10:37 AM
Geez…Auntie Jean watches PBS (federally funded) while cancer research is curtailed…
PBS got $445 million first day of shutdown……..WTF….
Well at least Obama isn’t killing Bigbird
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/10/08/government-gives-445-million-to-corporation-for-public-broadcasting-on-first/
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By: uawtradesman on October 9, 2013
at 10:33 AM
Hi, Auntie Jean – I believe the case to which you’re referring is “McCutcheon vs. Federal Election Commission,” and you’re gonna love it. I know I do…
A guy in Alabama contends that his ability to “speak money” is being curtailed by the current limits on the amount that any individual may contribute to a particular candidate or PAC, and that all such limitations should be lifted.
The perfect icing on the “Citizens United” cake, don’t you think?
Pretty soon they’ll just dispense with even bothering to pay lip service to that tiresome old “representative democracy” thing, and let corporations do what corporations do best: Figure out how to make the most money for themselves and, of course, for their all-important investors.
The REST of you out there, can just please get out of the way, and try not to keep pestering us for jobs, or child care, or medical insurance, because we’ve got an ECONOMY TO SAVE!!! And you’re not helping!
Gao
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By: gatodicima on October 9, 2013
at 7:16 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
lori, need a big favor. The TV was on the PBS News Hour this evening with a segment about a case being argued before the Supreme Court that could have enormous repercussions for future elections and especially the mid-terms. It was about campaign financing.
I was cooking dinner so I couldn’t give it my full attention and only got a fraction of the gist of it. I have no idea how long it will take to wend its way through the court and produce opinions and/or a final decision from the “Roberts” Court.
Could you find out and possibly give us a consensus of opinions of which way the wind might be blowing?
Thanks,
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 9, 2013
at 2:13 AM
I agree.
What’s the purpose of closing off open air parks that do not require a turnstile
Whether Republican or Democrat.
We already paid for them. They are “ours”…!
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By: Craig on October 8, 2013
at 10:50 PM
Nope…..not going to give it up Sidney…..
Why is it now against the law to walk down a sidewalk or walk through the woods ????????come on Sidney…tell me….WHY??????OH WAIT….did you have some more Koolaid??????are you blond?????what don’t you understand about “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”
just glad you’ve got deep pockets
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By: uawtradesman on October 8, 2013
at 10:03 PM
No Alaska…
the point is why would Obama spend money to have “baryrcades” wired together erected around the WW2 memorial and just random single barracades that anyone could walk around in the other places,,,,I’ve been there…it’s a sidewalk…Was Obama worried that those 90 yr olds would try to vandalize THEIR memorial????? It sounds to me like Obama tried to shut down the Honer Flights from happening….and stepped on his dick doing it….
and now Vietnam vets are arrested
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By: uawtradesman on October 8, 2013
at 1:47 PM
UAW……..give it up already.
The stupid…….it burns!
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By: sidney18511 on October 8, 2013
at 1:45 PM
HAHA Cynthia…
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By: uawtradesman on October 8, 2013
at 1:20 PM
I understand the the Koch brothers and friends are busy writing a new Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the Wealthy of the United Corporations of America, and to the Oligarchy for which for which it stands, a Theocracy under ONE God, totally divided, with liberty and justice for none.
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 8, 2013
at 10:46 AM
false equivalents there UAW-
the vets at the WWII memorial were allowed under 1st amendment rights just not the usual crowds.
“Immigration advocates will rally Tuesday on the otherwise shuttered National Mall, their permit valid due to an exception granted events where people are exercising their First Amendment rights, a spokesman for the National Park Service said Monday.
“Employees are furloughed,” said spokesman Mike Litterst, “but the First Amendment continues.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/10/08/immigration-rally-goes-forward-on-mall/
Immigration rally is under the SAME exemption.
Why is that being ignored in the playup ? Because the WWII vets are being used by the doofs in the TP caucus?
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By: alaskapi on October 8, 2013
at 9:53 AM
Any thoughts on WHY the NPS would allow an immigration rally on the CLOSED National Mall but “barrycade” the WW2 Memorial
http://washingtonexaminer.com/6-groups-targeted-to-make-the-shutdown-look-worse/article/2536930
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By: uawtradesman on October 8, 2013
at 9:30 AM
Mageen- Mr Sowell comes from the so-called “Chicago school of economics” a la Friedman, Hayek , and the like and arguably part of the mindset which gave us the recent recession and wider income inequality we so enjoy these days.
Trotting him out with the caveat that he is black is pretty is weird. What’s up with that? Who cares if he’s black?
The important things in that quote turn round his deliberate games playing about what we can and cannot afford and what he left out of the equation.
We rank 46th out of 48 in efficient healthcare delivery :
“According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States spent more on health care per capita ($8,608), and more on health care as percentage of its GDP (17.9%), than any other nation in 2011. The Commonwealth Fund ranked the United States last in the quality of health care among similar countries, and notes U.S. care costs the most. In a 2013 Bloomberg ranking of nations with the most efficient health care systems, the United States ranks 46th among the 48 countries included in the study.[5]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States
For a school of economics which purports to put efficiency at a level equaling moral behavior, a lot of its adherents love the in-efficiencies of private industry way more than their so-called principles.
Craig-
What we are currently seeing is more of a don’t-break-ranks within a political party than true representation of constituent concerns. There are certainly pockets of Americans who agree with this wholeheartedly but mostly folks don’t .
One of the things which so often distinguishes the Rs and ds in Congress is that Ds so often do not vote in a party block- blue dogs often vote more like what we used to call moderate Republicans- and Rs so often stick together totally whether individual members think differently or not. My R Rep keeps saying he is against the shutdown but has done doodly-squat to break the vote in a bloc thingy. Here, the effects of the shutdown are being felt immediately and clearly and folks overwhelmingly want it over. at this point the difference between what he says and does is making our one and only Rep look like the liar I think he is.
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By: alaskapi on October 8, 2013
at 8:37 AM
Anonymous, Thomas Sowell calls himself an economist. There is a whole slew of other people claiming to be economists who swear he isn’t. I’ve tried to figure him out over the years and I’ve yet to come up with an answer. But then I’ve been told that is the way an economist is supposed to function. Frankly, there is just no science to this guy’s way of thinking.
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By: mageen in old virginy on October 8, 2013
at 5:17 AM
Quick observation: On any news site – pick ANY – you will see the article’s author going on about what a disaster the government shutdown is. Then scroll down to the readers comments. Doesn’t matter whether it is a liberal or conservative newsfeed – the comments are the same. Shut it down. We can’t pay for it, and our kids certainly can’t pay for all the money you are borrowing. This madness has to stop, and if this is the only way, then shut it down.
Second: a nice quote from a black economist, so I know he’ll have some credibility, right? “How can it be too expensive to pay doctors, nurses and hospitals, but not too expensive to pay for doctors, nurses and hospitals – plus a huge government bureaucracy to administer it all? – Thomas Sowell
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By: Anonymous on October 7, 2013
at 9:12 PM
Thanks again Helen and Margaret. So glad you are posting again! Yes, they are dealing in bad faith and claiming they love this country, so much so that they are willing to do whathever it takes to destroy it. Defeating a law that has been enacted and signed into legislation is not unreasonable at all in their books. Of course closing down the government in the process of doing so is simply collateral damage. Yes, they sure love this country. Such manner of reasoning is simply amazing. How did these people manage to get elected?
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By: Easier on October 7, 2013
at 8:47 PM
just one more…
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By: uawtradesman on October 7, 2013
at 6:48 PM
on another note finished up another dozen qts of stewed tomatoes….bottled 10 gal of 2 yr old homemade grape wine…got 15(appx)gal of grape wine working(picked 7 bu of grapes)
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By: uawtradesman on October 7, 2013
at 6:43 PM
WOW……3rd sentence before race was brought up……..your improving.M&H….still typical liberal bullshit but improving….
so now ACA is the law(maybe someone should have read it before voting on it)….so was only men voting, prohibition, and segregation…….Wonder what happened to those????????
Can we fund the National Park Service
No
Can we fund the National Institutes of Health
No
Can we fund the District of Columbia
No
Can we fund FEMA
No
Why won’t you negotiate?
and my favorite….
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By: uawtradesman on October 7, 2013
at 6:21 PM
Great Craig, then I think my Represenitives should hold out for a severe gun control laws , and while we are at it lets fully fund head start , SNAP and education. I will call MY reps and tell them I wont settle for less and if it means throwing our country to the wolves So be it! deal?
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By: lori on October 7, 2013
at 5:27 PM
The people in Washinton who are supposedly holding the POTUS hostage are called Representatives. They represent the people who voted them into office to be “their” voice. That’s the way our founding fathers set it up with checks and balances.
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By: Craig on October 7, 2013
at 5:21 PM
Hi Congenial Gang,
I’m taking a break from the gov’mit shutdown, pending gov’mit default and all the other Chicken-Little-Sky-is-Falling-Armageddon-End-of-the World scenarios. Been there done that time and time again. For me, it’s just politics as usual.
I’m still on my kick about clothing that reveal political statements in subtle ways we are not usually aware of. Fashion statements derived from cultural and social origins often translate into and ultimately wind up as those political statements to the uninitiated eye.
Here’s another one I observed. We visited Tunis, Tunisia in North Africa not far from the ruins of ancient Carthage. It is predominately a Muslim country. After several adventures there we wound up at a big “souk” or “casbah” (read tourist trap.) There was one traditional dress that caught my eye because of its design. I had never seen anything quite like it before. So I bought it.
It is burgundy color with one inch gold braid trim across the bodice, around the sleeves, the neck and down the front. What intrigued me was that it was made from a single length of fabric. I’ll try to describe it. It had a “strapless” bodice that actually didn’t show as such. The bodice was decorated with the gold braid. The two sides of the fabric were sewn together in the back down about a yard. The “back” of the bodice was elasticized but didn’t show at all. The other end of the length of fabric was left open except for about 8-10 inches to form the “neck” and the “cap sleeves”. The edges of the “sleeves” and all down the “front” were trimmed with the gold braid. And oh, yes. The “neck” and “sleeves” were in opposite directions from the bodice end until you put it on. Got that?
To wear it, you slipped the bodice end over your head and positioned it under your armpits. The rest of the length of fabric just flowed down to a pile in the floor. Then you grabbed it, pulled it through between your legs and up the back to put your arms through the “sleeves” and over your shoulders. Voila! A draped, flowing elegant gown. Mighty comfy too!
If you have ever read “A Thousand and One Nights” and other such tales or seen any of the old “Sinbad the Sailor” type swashbuckling movies, you might recognize this gown as similar to the voluminous trousers held up with a cummerbund like sash with a scimitar stuck in it.
The Tunis “souk” was akin to some we have here in Hawaii with plenty of junk souvenirs (made in China) and the colorful flowered pareaus and muumuus with matching “Aloha!” shirts for the guys. Those are poorly made from cheap rayon in either Honduras or the Philippines. But the tourists, (like me in Tunis) snap them up.
Next time, I’ll tell you about the destiny of that gown.
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 7, 2013
at 3:41 PM
Margaret and Helen get a shoutout on Crooks & Liars!
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By: avotresanteΔ on October 7, 2013
at 3:06 PM
One thing here always remains the same–lots of unspecified complaints about the ACA, no solutions from the right. You would think no one has noticed how badly our health care system has been serving some segments of our population for the past fifty years. They want to retain the status quo no matter what. Do they really prefer to pay for the uninsured’s health care by underwriting their emergency room visits? WTF??You may have noticed the GOP is no longer talking about “Obamacare” in this government shutdown fight, instead they have pivoted to all kinds of distractions–debt, tax cuts, whatever they can throw against the wall. This is the most pathetic display by a political party I have ever seen. Vote these people out of office, before they destroy the reputation of the United States.
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By: Terri in NY on October 7, 2013
at 9:35 AM
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat™.
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By: Jueseppi B. on October 7, 2013
at 8:26 AM
Reblogged this on IMPACT Books & Art and commented:
Margaret and Helen’s point of view: government shutdown
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By: Sara Niles on October 7, 2013
at 8:24 AM
Brilliant summary of the whole government shutdown mess!
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By: Sara Niles on October 7, 2013
at 8:23 AM
What grand old party? Old, yes. Grand, hardly. Party, no way! I have lived so long that I can remember Orrin Hatch mumbling something about his own plan for universal health care. Yup! It was a Republican idea. Previously Harry Truman was all for something like that and got called a Communist! Hatch did not get such brickbats thrown at him or his idea. The Clinton Administration tried offering what was a clone of Kaiser Permanente and it got shot down by the Republicans. In that case, they did not like the messanger, the First Lady. She was too damn smart for them and they do not hold with smart women, especially if they are not Republican. But universal health care was put in place in Massachusetts and ended up getting called Romneycare. The man it was named for came out totally against it during his presidential run. Since that made absolutely no sense, he didn’t win. Obamacare is the brother of Romneycare. The Repubs know it but they sharpened their pitchforks anyway. They know there are hordes of people in this country who cannot afford even the most minimal plans offered by the insurance industry but it is their sworn duty to see to it that they honor first their patron saint, the unredeemed Ebeneezer Scrooge. And what do they have to offer in place of Obamacare? We Don’t Care. And this old lady ain’t kidding!
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By: mageen in old virginy on October 7, 2013
at 7:29 AM
ACA is not the law many of would have preferred. But it was legislated in both Houses signed by the President and litigated in the SCOTUS. It is tye law. Not to mention it is helping millions of Americans that desperately needed access to affordable healthcare.
I look forward to the day the ACA becomes the new ACA with single payer attached.
I will never understand people who make perfect the enemy of the good. Especially considering all the good it is doing.
We have survived mannnnnnny laws , wars & Presidents that we HATED in the past. Instead of pouting and closing our Government down we worked hard to elect a MAJORITY of lawmakers who best reflect our views. even then its rare we get 100 percent of what we want!
As I have said many times, loyal opposition is not only important but essential in this country. Churlish children’s temper tantrums that hold our President hostage are damaging maybe even fatal to our way of governing.
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By: lori on October 7, 2013
at 5:08 AM
Hello Craig, glad you survived the year. Enjoy that grand child. I just had my third in September and James had one maybe 3 months ago. Life does go on, eh?
As for it changing here… sure. Lots of heel marks from folks digging in.
Statistics show over all quality of health care declining with infant mortality and child autoimmune disorders climbing in the US, with 70 percent of our population on prescription drugs, the greatest accidental killer among us.
And yet some believe poorly written, massive and mostly ambiguous legislation with guaranteed profits to private insurers is our saving grace. Pfffttt!
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By: poolman on October 7, 2013
at 2:10 AM
I was just thinking, “What the hell is there to negotiate on about the Health Care Act!”
A law is a law. It is the job of congress to build a budget and pay for the laws that have been passed and sometimes, even been ruled on by the Supreme Court.
If you or I decided that the law didn’t matter and refused to support it, what the hell would happen to us?
If we said, “To hell with the Constitution,” what the hell would happen?
We would be sent to one of those Bush era detainment centers and treated like a criminal. How the hell do “Boner” and the other idiots in the house get away without doing what they get over 174 grand a year to do?
They should be treated just like the rest of us, in their eyes, “low life scum,” and be thrown in jail for 1: not obeying the law, 2: stealing money by not doing what they were elected for, and 3: Causing anguish and stress on all of us.
The way it looks now, there may be a big Republican loss in Congress the next election. That will be just in time for the idiots who voted these losers in to elect a Republican president who will put us in deeper crap.
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By: RE on October 6, 2013
at 10:42 PM
Really, Craig… It takes some doing to blame the shutdown, in any of its manifestations, on the Administration, since it was the bloody HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that voted to do it. BUT, you ‘re right in there with the Fox “newspeople” who, without an iota of embarrassment, regularly refer to “the liberal shutdown,” or “Obama’s shutdown,” or whatever.
Hell’s bells – what’s to “negotiate” with someone who says, essentially, you give us what we want, or we’re going to cut off your son’s hands and feet while you watch…? We call people who take that kind of position as an “offer” to negotiate, either criminals or terrorists – and we’re right to do so, because they are. Blackmail is a crime, except, apparently, in the US Congress.
Essentially, the GOP has offered to bring NOTHING to the negotiating table, other than to lift their threat to trash the entire economy – maybe – to appease their ideologically obsessed group of newbie wing nuts from gerrymandered districts that render them “undefeatable.”
And, as for closing PSA parking areas near a privately-owned historical site, “Hell, yes!” The GOP wants a shutdown? Give them every ounce of it, any way you can. If one of their lovely Texas congressmen can tell a Park Ranger, doing exactly what he personally voted for her to do, that she ought to be ashamed of herself, then it seems that anything is fair game. Bring it on…
Your “outrage” over this absurdity makes you look like a bit of an idiot, frankly. (Sorry!)
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 6, 2013
at 8:14 PM
Great tweet!
@ExtremeLiberal: Tell us how frustrating a busy website is & ignore how frustrating it is to have a dying loved one, bankruptcy & ruined families. #mtp #nbc
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By: lori on October 6, 2013
at 10:42 AM
Yay Auntie Jean! That is awesome news . I am so happy for him.
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By: lori on October 6, 2013
at 9:05 AM
This is such good news I had to share it with all of you this morning.
A new PPP poll taken in 24 GOP held Congressional districts has Dems leading in 17 and tied in 2 others!
Taking the House back use to be a fantasy. Niw its looking like a possibility!
Thank you Speaker Cruz ! 🙂
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By: lori on October 6, 2013
at 8:54 AM
Hi, Dianne – And, no, they’re never going to have anything to tell you about their objections, and will just keep sputtering away, in perpetuity.
That’s because the only thing they ” don’t like” about “Obamacare” is, plain and simple, the “Obama” part. Period.
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 6, 2013
at 8:45 AM
I have tried, repeatedly, to get Republicans to tell me exactly what it is they dislike about the ACA. They sputter for a few minutes about states’ rights, and THEIR money, and then they try to change the subject. It would be amusing, if it weren’t so sad.
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By: Dianne on October 6, 2013
at 8:33 AM
Hi Congenial Gang,
Thanks, delurkergurl, for the excellent links you put up. With all the hysterical hype going around in the print and TV media as well as the internet, it was enlightening to read comprehensive and well thought out commentaries from reliable sources on what Obamacare is all about. (I don’t think we even own a radio anymore.) For a long time you have always been able to ferret out the real scoop.
BTW, you and lori will be happy to know our grandson #2 got the full college scholarship I told you about.
Aloha! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Namaste. Shalom. Saalam. Peace.
Auntie Jean
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By: Anonymous on October 6, 2013
at 2:18 AM
Craig you should really try the exchange. Our family of is half that amount.
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By: lori on October 6, 2013
at 2:09 AM
DeLurkergirl,
No cancer. I need a knee replacement. Was scheduled for back surgery 3 months after her death but I was too depressed for that. I was able to continue my wife’s insurance thru the state but it’s essentially Cobra which is
$550 a month..dental $50.
While she was alive it was about $350 for both of us.
Social security and my 1K monthly pension plus savings constitute my income. Just trying to leave something for my Grandaughter.
What happened to the regulars Jean? Etc…?
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By: Craig on October 5, 2013
at 9:50 PM
No, Craig, I have not had trouble signing up for “Obamacare” because I already have insurance through my employer. As promised, I have not lost my insurance and my rates went up less this year than in the past ~12 years. I did post a couple stories here of people who are very anti-Obama and were anti-Obamacare. One will save a fortune under the exchanges, and the other was able to get insurance they might not have otherwise been able to obtain at a reasonable price. If i understand it correctly, the coverage doesn’t take effect until 1/1 – that’s a shame. Many of the people who are dead set against it have no idea how it works. I’m glad people are seeing savings, coverage and access they did not anticipate.
It sounds like you’re having trouble signing up, huh? I’m sorry to hear that. Have you been without insurance for a long time? That must be terrifying – didn’t you have a recent bout with cancer or something?
You have till some time in December to sign up for the coverage you are looking for. I’d say wait a few weeks. I’ve been on many a software project where performance testing didn’t come close to meeting the demand of MASSIVE traffic. It will even out in time. Between a great deal of demand and a huge volume of curiosity seekers, it’s a tough time for the databases I bet.
Very sorry about your wife.
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By: delurkergurl on October 5, 2013
at 6:17 PM
Slimdown? Slowdown?
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/10/republican-message-discipline-in.html
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By: delurkergurl on October 5, 2013
at 5:59 PM
And some say Democrats haven’t already compromised. Think again.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/harry-reid-shutdown_n_4050400.html
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By: delurkergurl on October 5, 2013
at 5:49 PM
How A Rand Paul Republican From Alabama Learned To Love Obamacare
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/04/2730801/joshua-pittman/
Healthy people DO need insurance. Healthy people without insurance cost us all more when the unexpected happens. He learned this the hard way. (However I’m sure he’d still vote for Ron Paul)
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By: delurkergurl on October 5, 2013
at 5:47 PM
Thanks for the support Gato, both moral and monetary. We are going to need it! Lol
Ill be back to chat about BGTX and #teamwendy when the traffic slows down. Hate to Bogart someone else’s space. TTUL 🙂
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By: lori on October 5, 2013
at 4:19 PM
“Remember when I said Iraq sent their chemical weapons into Iraq?”
G. Bush
Can U hear me now?
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By: Craig on October 5, 2013
at 3:41 PM
Has anyone been able to log on to healthcare.gov and get their insurance coverage yet?
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By: Craig on October 5, 2013
at 3:20 PM
The National Park Service erected barricades to shut down parking lots surrounding Mount Vernon despite the fact that the tourist destination is privately owned , another example of how the feds are deliberately worsening the government shut down.
Mount Vernon is the former plantation of George Washington and is owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which doesn’t receive any government funding . The attraction’s official website reads, “NO SHUTDOWN HERE – The Federal government may be shut down, but Washington’s home remains open. Mount Vernon has remained a private non-profit for more than 150 years.”
However, a dispute began when the National Park Service began putting up barricades to block off the facility’s car park, blockading the entrance as well as a spot where tour buses turn around.
The parking lots are co-owned by Mount Vernon and the NPS , but require no immediate maintenance at all, meaning the decision to close them down was completely unnecessary .
The feds even blocked off a small area consisting of just three parking spaces.
After blogger Stephen Gutowski exposed the situation, Newt Gingrich got in on the act, tweeting , “The tour bus turnaround at Mount Vernon has been closed by federal police. This is deliberate effort by Obama to hurt the public. Disgusting.”
Numerous other sites around DC have been unnecessarily closed by the NPS and other federal agencies in what critics are labeling a cynical political stunt which only serves to punish the American people .
In some cases, efforts to shut down these sites actually require more manpower and resources than if they had been left open, highlighting the fact that this is an act of partisan theater by the Obama administration to pin the blame for the government shutdown on Republicans and opponents of Obamacare .
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By: Craig on October 5, 2013
at 3:18 PM
I forgot to type i my name.
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By: James on October 5, 2013
at 2:26 PM
We just got home for the first time in a long while. Our grand daughter attended the mother of all baby showers and a baptism four hours away where our son -in law’s father, a minster in the same church for forty years officiated. There were two dinners, professional photographers,, and so many gifts it took the parents’ and our car to hold them all.
The congregation knew about our grand daughter’s challenges and they asked neighboring towns to pray for her. She is such a charmer. She smiled at everyone and someone told the parents “you did good work.”
I could argue with you,but I am not in the mood. This on Twitchy made my wife laugh. Chad Henderson’s great great grand father was a hanging judge who traveled across the west dispensing justice. His nick name was “Hanging Chad.”
Bye for now.
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By: Anonymous on October 5, 2013
at 2:24 PM
I’m just fascinated & captivated by so much around me. Loved Margaret & Helen. A plain-spokeness you just don’t hear so much any more – especially around these parts (Los Angeles – ha!). Someone mentioned something about putting on a “Like” button and I agree. Many of you should be acknowledged for what you contribute – the words that you share. I still can’t get over what a revolution this all is….and everybody just goes on about their business like it’s all as usual. Yeah, well – where’s that all gotten me anyway. Appreciative to be alive, in my life, on the planet and in the good ol’ US of A – which has gotten questionable at best but, we’re young & snappy & are still gettin’ the hang of it. Meantime, we gotta fight(or at least make an effort – heh!) to make it happen.
Also want to acknowledge Alaskapi…is that right – for Carter family recordings from songs of the late 20s/early 30s…quite something, harkens back which is important to be reminded from whence we came… anyway, thank you for that….and now you can all get back to your regularly scheduled programming, lol.
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By: broad meadow on October 5, 2013
at 2:21 PM
Wow!! Right on. We must do what ever we can to see that all blame is focused on Republicans, especially as we get closer to elections.
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By: Jerone Compton on October 5, 2013
at 2:20 PM
If I have to listen to one more Republican call this the “Obama-Reid” shutdown, I may go insane. How hypocritical can they be? They are lying, plain and simple. I don’t think I have ever been as disgusted by politicians as I am today. This not a f@#king joke to a lot of people, and it’s obvious they don’t give a damn. Ugh. I hope they are all voted out of office.
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By: Terri in NY on October 5, 2013
at 12:29 PM
After thinking about Texans who are whining about taxes and a comment made to my wife at a church, “It’s not my fault you are poor.” I realized that the person making the comment spent one day less than six months out of Texas. Living in either Colorado or New Mexico they paid no taxes to the “adopted state,” yet enjoyed all the benefits from the taxes paid by the residents and by living six months and one day in Texas they were relieved of any state taxes at all.
By the way, my wife has two Master’s Degrees and holds two Doctorates, writes children’s books and just finished a book on Counseling. The woman who made the insulting comment has none of these, but I guess money soaked in oil is better.
Anyway, all that aside, I made a comment earlier, which seems not to have flown, “Why don’t we start a recall on all the T-baggers and Republicans that are shutting down the government?”
So, I have another Idea, sparked by some Coloradans who want to form their own state because Colorado is not representing their values, “gun rights, limited social programs and a whole list of right wing anti everything things.
My idea, Lets have a nation wide vote to “Give Texas back to Mexico.”
After all, the UK gave Hong Kong back to China and the US has given territories back to other countries.
The advantages would be, 1: We wouldn’t have to listen to the Texans complain about “those people” because they would be :those people.” 2: The Texans would have to have a green card to come to the United States. 3: If they did abandon Texas because they didn’t want to be “those people” they would have to pay taxes in whatever place they lived. 4: It would eliminate a bunch of half witted nitwits in the Senate and Congress (Including the idiot who confronted the Park Ranger).
Does anyone have a pen?
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By: RE on October 5, 2013
at 5:23 AM
Whatever happened to Donna, Megannin ole Virginny, Whirled peas, UAE tradesman, and Auntie Jean? Have they left the stage? Nice people to converse with. Have not seen them post in past 48 hours.
Peace.
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By: Craig on October 5, 2013
at 1:06 AM
idiots
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By: Anonymous on October 4, 2013
at 10:39 PM
I still want a “Like” button for the comments section! If I were only smarter and more eloquent I think I would like to be Gato. Or, Helen, or Margaret! I wish I were more witty, but alas the words kind of stick inside, so I am left with wishing for a “like” button!
On the most excellent side of things in Texas this week, our Wendy Davis has declared she will run for Governor of Texas!! A candidate I can support and have already sent money to. She is on our side and has fought for women’s rights as well as education funding. She is all that and a whole bag of cookies! I think she can win, but she certainly has a lot of hateful people (mostly men) who say horrible things about her and are threatened by her intelligence and willingness to fight for us all. Go Wendy!
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By: joanpm on October 4, 2013
at 6:16 PM
Yes, Lori – You go, girl! I’m afraid it always appears that Texas congresspeople are more inclined to wingnuttery than any number of other places. I keep sending $$$ – especially now that Wendy’s made her move!
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 4, 2013
at 5:52 PM
Re the old white man bitching at the park ranger: allllll aboard the old white man’s struggle bus! 😜
In the mean time…. We are working hard in TX to run qualified Democrats at every level. If ever there was a need to understand all politics is local it is now. VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET!
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By: lori on October 4, 2013
at 5:29 PM
HI, Terri – Ya know, when I see somebody doing what Noodleburger did, with his FLAG in his pocket, of course, I have to conclude that he’s doing it on purpose, hoping that somebody like Fox will pick it up, do a little editing, and portray him as an indignant “patriot”… Rather than the totally clueless IDIOT that we would otherwise have to assume him to be.
Fortunately, the crowd didn’t put up with his crap for a nanosecond, especially the bike-helmeted vet who’d lost his job. It’s hard for me to imagine there might be a “Mrs. Noodleburger” somewhere, who actually has to sit across the table from him at dinner, and keep her mouth shut as he blathers on about how he put that Park Ranger in her place.
There is apparently no limit to the lowness to which some of these Baggers will sink in their losing desperation. As John Oliver said to Jon Stewart (paraphrased), “They would shoot a basket of kittens in front of ANOTHER basket of kittens just so they could watch…”
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 4, 2013
at 5:10 PM
I could have sworn Craig wrote a comment stating that he would be back in another year. If only.
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By: Harlow on October 4, 2013
at 2:54 PM
I will admit, that little piece of tape showing the Congressman haranguing the park ranger about a shutdown (that he supported!) was galling. The hypocrisy was stunning. He had a hell of a lot of nerve. To her credit, the ranger remained polite and calm–proving she was the one who had all the class in that encounter.
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By: Terri in NY on October 4, 2013
at 2:02 PM
Hi, RE – And well done! Your description of how that “Representative” saw the Park Ranger was right on. How can any “Christian” possibly believe that his/her Creator has made, and looks at, all people equally… But some more equally than others?(“Animal Farm,” anyone?)
As a long-time progressive, liberal Democrat, ever since my hippie days as an art student in the sixties, I NEVER thought I would find myself a strong supporter of any group that defines itself and its members as “evangelical Christians.” And, yet, here I am – a regular giver to the Sojourners, and have been for six or seven years. And why? Because they believe that true “Christianity” is primarily about SOCIAL JUSTICE – that “faith without action” is nothing short of blasphemy. (BTW, I think this attitude exists in segments of all faiths, not just Christianity.)
The Universe must be cringing, watching the behavior of some of us, as we trash the planet, slaughter our neighbors, take food from their mouths, show them only scorn and disrespect, and parade ourselves around with an arrogance that no higher power would dream of assuming – in short, failing to regard and protect, and be grateful for, all we have been given.
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 4, 2013
at 11:54 AM
I think Terri in NY nailed it on the head.
Fox news, CBN and the sermons in most “This is supposed to be a Christian Nation!!” churches all spout the same line, “Obama care will destroy the Nation. God is punishing the United States because of all the ‘left wing” social programs!!” Most of them wouldn’t know the “Good News” if it hit them in the face…. “Good News to them is “The government is shut down as we destroy Obama care and any other social program..”
John Wesley, in the sermon that got him banned from preaching at Oxford, said the following, which I believe fits well today:
“Where does this Christianity now exist? Where, I pray, do the Christians live? Which is the country, the inhabitants whereof are all thus filled with the Holy Ghost? are all of one heart and one soul? and cannot suffer one among them to suffer anything, but continually give to every man as he hath need? who, one and all, have the love of God filling their hearts, and constraining them to love their neighbour as themselves?…who offend not in any kind, either by word or deed, against justice, mercy or truth; but in every point do unto all men, as they would these should do unto them?”
The idiot Senator who went to the WWII memorial and verbally attacked he Park Ranger for closing the Park, is a real fine example of the type of person John Wesley knew only too well.
Of course, that Ranger was not the Senator’s “neighbor,” she was only some low life, government money sucking waster in his eyes.
“Which is the country, the inhabitants whereof are all thus filled with the Holy Ghost? are all of one heart and one soul? and cannot suffer one among them to suffer anything, but continually give to every man as he hath need?”
I sure as hell don’t think it is The United States of America.
I think as long as we ignore those who are in need and line pockets with gold and quote Marie Antoinette, we cannot even call ourselves Americans.
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By: RE on October 4, 2013
at 11:22 AM
Jim at Stonekettle has an interesting take on things as usual:
http://www.stonekettle.com/2013/10/dont-cry-for-me-john-boehner.html#comment-form
“In the words of their Patron Saint, they’ve gone rogue.
Literally.
Rogue is literally what you called it when an elephant goes insane. A rogue bull elephant becomes antisocial, vicious, murderous, starts trumpeting wildly and attacking the other members of the herd, biting at its own tail, before rampaging through villages and across the savannah oblivious to the carnage in its wake.
A rogue elephant, could there be a more appropriate metaphor here?”
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 4, 2013
at 11:10 AM
Love Helen. Did you read the one right before this one? Is was downright nasty!
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By: Rosemary Spalding on October 4, 2013
at 10:19 AM
Thanks, ladies. You are for real. As a furloughed Federal worker it’s depressing to be blamed for all the ills of this great country. It’s nice to read someone put where the real blame lays.
And for real, Terri, have you never made an error? It’s not necessary to point it out. Just a slight oversight – did it take away from her point too much for you?
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By: creamed on October 4, 2013
at 10:16 AM
One of the comments reminded me that not one, at least not one who I have heard, Republican tea party fools has ever explained in some logical or responsible manner what it is they object to about the Affordable Care Act. Just meaningless platitudes and assertions that have no apparent foundation, even in their minds. If there was some logical objection, based in fact and at least some evidence, I think someone of their cult would have mentioned it! Dangerous people are willing to condemn others or ideas for no reason other than that their friends in their little worlds do the same so it allows a feeling of some comfort. Or, some people are just conspiracy theorists who are willing to make light year-type assumptions based on nothing other than their own fears and then go about condemning a perceived target person or idea. Then, of course, there are those who are just malicious or evil or so arrogant that they become narcissistic and have no problem hurting others. In this case, they have hurt our whole Country. I don’t believe anyone is inherently evil, so the tea party people must fit into one other category. I was once a Republican and espoused conservative ideas. That was a long time ago. I have grown up.
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By: Todd H. Crawford on October 4, 2013
at 10:07 AM
I fear “Republican” will soon be an entry in the DSM 6.
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By: Lurker111 on October 4, 2013
at 9:37 AM
Paul Krugman’s latest. He certainly sounds optimisitic.
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By: Terri in NY on October 4, 2013
at 9:25 AM
Have you ever noticed that the anti-Affordable Care Act folks never specify exactly what they object to? They repeatedly say it’s “bad”, but they don’t say why; they just mindlessly repeat what they have heard on right wing radio or Fox News. They are rooting for the ACA to be a failure. They don’t seem to care a bit about the millions of people that will benefit. They don’t offer any improvements. I just don’t get it.
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By: Terri in NY on October 4, 2013
at 9:04 AM
Oh!
Lifelong Republican how was against Obamacare has a change of heart once he realizes it will save him $13,000 annually
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/02/2721501/butch-matthews-obamacare-convert/
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By: delurkergurl on October 4, 2013
at 6:34 AM
ok youtube – you #^&$#@#$^^&ing outfit!!!
Craig-
Buddy Tabor was a dear friend.
He died a bit over a year ago.
This was one of his favorites…
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By: alaskapi on October 3, 2013
at 9:31 PM
Great!
suzanne
>
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By: suzanne anderson on October 3, 2013
at 9:25 PM
Oh for crap’s sake, Pi!
The effing thought is ruined if you link the wrong song ( See Craig, old ladies DO talk in many ways 😉 )
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By: alaskapi on October 3, 2013
at 9:24 PM
You take care too, Craig.
this is one of my favorites…
You lived it and breathed it with your care and love of your beloved wife.
I will always respect that. These are the things which matter most.
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By: alaskapi on October 3, 2013
at 9:19 PM
I’m good with that Alaskipi
Take care.
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By: Craig on October 3, 2013
at 8:51 PM
Craig- enjoy that grand! I’m thinking Val would have been really ticked if you both missed out on that.
Still disagree with you on politics 🙂
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By: alaskapi on October 3, 2013
at 8:44 PM
I wasn’t here a year ago Craig. And I own my meanness so don’t apply it to the group. And take your personal life somewhere else. This is politics.
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By: GoSusy on October 3, 2013
at 8:38 PM
Hey, those that knew me here..knew I never spewed any hate. As for my death. I would gladly join my wife tomorrow. But I have a 14 month old Granddaughter to be a grandad to. This place has changed since last year.
Peace y’all .
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By: Craig on October 3, 2013
at 8:14 PM
Ooops – The HE being Ted Cruz
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 3, 2013
at 8:09 PM
This scares the daylights out of me. Heaven help us if he gets elected president.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/morgan-guyton/the-theology-of-governmen_b_4020537.html
Peace.
PS – Perhaps Craig did NOT allow “his women” to speak their minds.
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By: Cynthia on October 3, 2013
at 8:08 PM
Maybe it’s time for you to die too, Craig. Uh oh. Did I type that out loud?
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By: GoSusy on October 3, 2013
at 7:39 PM
I only discovered Margaret & Helen a year or so ago, and I am more and more delighted that I did with each new post. Give ’em hell Harry, erm Helen! Oh, and would the gentleman who thinks old ladies don’t talk the way Helen does, please let me know how they should be talking, because I think that my kids and grandkids get embarrassed by my mouth sometimes.
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By: Maggs on October 3, 2013
at 7:12 PM
(((Craig! )))
Best wishes to you even if I still disagree on dang near everything with you. I hope things are ok with you.
On old ladies… good thing you never met my Grammy with her shotgun and straight but often profane talk 🙂 Raising 11 kids in a 2 room cabin with no running water nor electricity, a garden to feed them , and the like made her quite impatient with foolishness… kinda like our Helen here 🙂
Take care and Pffft! as usual on your ideas , neighbor.
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By: alaskapi on October 3, 2013
at 7:11 PM
Hey, Cynthia – Isn’t this sad, and so very human? He doesn’t want to be “disrespected”? And he doesn’t even know what he wants; he just wants to “get something.” Is the possibility of “getting something” why people sign up for public service these days? Evidently so… What a bunch of pitiful creatures we are… I guess, like members of the Taliban, some suspect that others are “getting something” that they’re not. In the case of this country, he is absolutely right – others are “getting something” he’s not – and those “others” are the 1%, and they’re getting richer and richer… And he’s getting poorer and poorer. So he’s right. He’s just got the wrong enemy.
It ain’t Obama.
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 3, 2013
at 6:28 PM
Lovely as usual M&H!!
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By: troutay on October 3, 2013
at 6:21 PM
Hey, JSRI – Thanks for ‘fessing up. As for Craig’s thought that this might be a “demo scam,” what difference would that actually make? If some thirty-year-old Dem chooses to speak as a Golden Girl, and makes it work, isn’t that a good thing? “Margaret and Helen,” whether “real” or not are JUST FINE with me! (Hey; I may not even be “real.” Who among you could possibly tell…?)
Of all the things worthy of not believing these days, it would seem to me to be that whether or not Helen is “real” is way at the bottom of the list. At the top would be, “This is Harry Reid’s shutdown,” followed, in rapid succession, and in no particular order, by “Obama and the Dems won’t negotiate,” “We don’t want to shut down the government,” and “We’re just representing the will of the American people.”
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 3, 2013
at 5:25 PM
Oops. This thing got away from me. That anon post is mine
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By: jsri on October 3, 2013
at 5:05 PM
Thank You!!! Helen we need your wisdom and wit to get us through this madness. Please keep on keeping with us!
“We’re not going to be disrespected,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told The Washington Examiner. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”
I have been trying all day to say something that is fit to print……but I can’t! I hope Indiana has something to give him.
Peace.
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By: Cynthia on October 3, 2013
at 4:59 PM
Craig on October 3, 2013 at 11:54 AM
Your absence hasn’t improved your analytical skills and your lame comment about this being a demo site is a case in point. BTW, it would be interesting to know how “ladies” of H&M’s age are supposed to speak. If you are so ill-informed, perhaps you should get out more often. If you opened your eyes and ears you might learn something. FYI I’m in the same age category as H&M and think pretty much the same way they do, That’s why I come back to this site time and time again. It’s mostly because they care about others and because Helen has a such a fine-tuned sense of humor, something you seem to lack entirely. Actually, as a reader of the site since its inception I quickly realized that Helen speaks not only for herself but for most citizens of our advanced age. And she also has a loyal following that covers the entire age spectrum except for some of the dimmer trouble makers who have nothing of substance to offer.
Even our son, daughter-in-law and grandsons think the way she does. And they are making their way in the world, trying to make it a better place for themselves and for those who follow. Our grandsons are truly exceptional students in top tier universities where they not only excel academically but socially, athletically and politically as well. I suppose that puts us all in the “liberal” camp but it proves the point that my wife and I taught our son well and that he and the grandkids are on the correct pathway. I can’t use the word “right”. It chokes me to say it aloud because it has such ugly political significance. Our third generation understands the words “share” and “compassion” but “greed” seems to be outside their understanding. And it is my belief that other parents and grandparents on this site have had similar intergenerational experiences that lead me to believe that our country may actually survive this latest political debacle and ultimately create a fairer and more humane environment than the current one we have blundered into. And we can do it all without returning to the guillotine as the instrument of choice.
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By: Anonymous on October 3, 2013
at 4:51 PM
Glad to see there are still crazies on both sides out there.
Knock ourselves out. More important things like family than blogging your pants off. See ya in another year.
Blessings.
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By: Craig on October 3, 2013
at 4:07 PM
So Craig, if you don’t like what is being blogged it must be a fraud?
You go Helen!
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By: Anonymous on October 3, 2013
at 3:41 PM
The silver lining in all this tea party/rethug craziness is having M & H write new posts..it’s so good to hear the truth delivered with wit and smarts!
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By: Roz on October 3, 2013
at 3:37 PM
I thought it took two sides to have a disagreement ?
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By: Craig on October 3, 2013
at 3:19 PM
-Can I burn down your house?
-No.
-Can I burn just the top floor?
-No.
-Can I burn just the garage?
-No.
-Why won’t you negotiate?!
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By: Barbara Delaney on October 3, 2013
at 3:12 PM
Hi, Skippy – And I WANT, almost more than anything, to sound EXACTLY like M&H, should I be fortunate enough to get to 92… I do a lot of practicing on that, right around here.
Gato
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By: gatodicima on October 3, 2013
at 2:57 PM
I’m glad to see some remember my attempt at humor and politics
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By: Craig on October 3, 2013
at 2:41 PM
Margaret, they write cursive
Lol
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By: Craig on October 3, 2013
at 2:39 PM
This is why you need to help get out the vote in 2014. I love reading your blogs.
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By: Anonymous on October 3, 2013
at 2:37 PM
Craig, I have a 92 year old mother who sounds a lot like Margaret & Helen.
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By: skippy on October 3, 2013
at 1:55 PM
Give ’em hell until this country is no longer run by the idiocracy! Bachmann makes me embarrassed to be a Minnesotan.
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By: Jono on October 3, 2013
at 1:38 PM
In response to Craig, Sorry about your wife’s passing.
On the other note, I know a lot of old ladies that talk like this and they all make sense. If my mother wasn’t gone as well, she would probably be doing a blog just like this. She wasn’t a phony, I don’t think these gals are either, but if they are and it is a “demo scam” it sure makes a hell of a lot more sense than the crap coming from John Boner, I spelled it the way it should be said, and his T-bagger friends.
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By: RE on October 3, 2013
at 1:15 PM
My day is much bright for having read this! Craig, how do “old ladies” speak? And who gives a hoot about the age, gender, etc of a good writer and a talented humorist?
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By: No One's Puppet on October 3, 2013
at 12:34 PM
Helen, you are awesome. My Alaskan malamute and I have a bunch of titles in Rally obedience. Malamutes are no one’s first choice for obedience training, but it can be done, even by total newbies like me. We used reinforcement-based methods (aka behavior mod 101) and a clicker.
I’ve fantasized using clicker training on some local government bodies — not all the country’s fools are in Congress, after all, as residents of just about any jurisdiction can tell you — but maybe I’m not aiming high enough. I don’t have the experience to clicker-train Congress, but I bet the renowned trainer Karen Pryor could do it. Click and reward them when they do the right thing. Give them something else to do when they start misbehaving. Worth trying, eh?
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By: Susanna J. Sturgis on October 3, 2013
at 12:27 PM
After monitoring this site for some 4 years..Pretty sure this blog is a demo scam. These “old” “ladies” just don’t talk the talk of “ladies” their age.
Hello to all my ole friends from past
Just had 1 yr anniversary of wife’s passing. Carry on .
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By: Craig on October 3, 2013
at 11:54 AM
So glad you’re back doing what you do – summarizing all the words that fly though my head when I read the latest asshattery from Congress !
(your friendly editor, me, says : *they’re* not their in third paragraph)
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By: Shelley on October 3, 2013
at 11:45 AM
I was wondering last week if the current situation would spark Helen to write to us again and very pleased when I saw not one but two posts! Thank you Helen and Margaret! I watched Rachel Madow (sp?) Monday night and she made some really good examples of the lack of governing Congress has done since the 2011 elections. So busy worrying about shutting down the government and getting rid of Obama, they have introduced absolutely nothing! I certainly hope Cruz and the Cruzettes and Cruizers have shot themselves in the foot enough that it is fatal for the offices they occupy! Just when us gals in Texas thought we had been embarrassed enough by Rick Perry that he would hang his head, tuck his little tail and go away, now we not only have Perry out making a scene but now Cruz. I don’t know, just don’t know!
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By: Joan M on October 3, 2013
at 11:44 AM
Thank you, Helen! You’re the only one I know who can bring a smile to my face about this whole mess. My husband got called back to work today at the military hospital, but there are so few folks available to deal with any problems that come up, we’re both afraid that people literally may start dying from the lack of qualified personnel to keep the hospital’s computer systems up and running. Of course, I’m sure moms and babies on WIC are already experiencing the beginnings of malnutrition, but who cares about them? After all, isn’t it their own fault they’re poor?
Anyway, the whole mess makes me sick. Your ability to still laugh, and make us laugh, is a true gift — please keep it up!
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By: whawhawhatsis on October 3, 2013
at 11:37 AM
You express yourself wonderfully -= AND you use my words – the words that some gasp about. Nothing else quite does the trick. Keep on movin’
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By: sharon berthrong on October 3, 2013
at 11:05 AM
She is so damn funny!
Patti Holland
Director, Financial Services
[http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=I.4816991299175298&pid=1.7&w=97&h=155&c=7&rs=1]
Palm Beach Board of Realtors®
(561) 659-3810
patti@pbbor.com
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By: Patti Holland on October 3, 2013
at 10:53 AM
Well, Helen, you’ve done it again. I would love to meet you. You made me laugh out loud…………thanks……..really needed that. “Dills my pickle is just wonderful!”
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By: CraftyLadyinIllinois on October 3, 2013
at 10:42 AM
Ah, you ladies are such a breath of fresh air. A welcome change from all that hot stinky air blowing out of the Do Nothing/No Nothing Republicans in DC. Anyone taking bets on when Boehner next cries on camera?
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By: Diane in Cape Coral on October 3, 2013
at 10:21 AM
I love you ladies…
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By: Dawn Wolfson on October 3, 2013
at 10:10 AM
Reblogged this on Central Oregon Coast NOW.
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By: Central Oregon Coast NOW on October 3, 2013
at 10:02 AM
Why doesn’t someone start a recall on all the Republicans in the house who are acting like asses and trying to keep the govt. shut down. I realize that the T-baggers would never be recalled, but maybe it would scare the hell out of the other idiots. Just a thought.
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By: RE on October 3, 2013
at 9:52 AM
Welcome back, Helen! I’ve missed you so. I’d be incredibly proud to claim you as a member of my family; please keep these posts coming!
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By: Jessica Marsten on October 3, 2013
at 9:48 AM
“pretending their not the ones who closed it”
should be ”pretending they’re not the ones who closed it”
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By: Terri on October 3, 2013
at 9:46 AM
Helen, you do have a way with words!
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By: Margo on October 3, 2013
at 9:32 AM
You said everything the way I would have if I could have. Keep ’em coming.
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By: irish1139 on October 3, 2013
at 9:09 AM
My family donates every year to Honor Flight and to see those shameless Repubs. acting like they are blameless in the shutdown of the WWII memorial really pissed me off. Hope the vets realize the GOP are not on the people’s side.
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By: marianne on October 3, 2013
at 9:05 AM
Damn straight Helen!
I’m past listening to the spin the tea cake take-personal-responsibility gang is putting on this shutdown.
Like Elizabeth, I’ve had it with them blaming someone/anyone/everyone but themselves else for wetting their own pants in public.
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By: alaskapi on October 3, 2013
at 8:59 AM
You go girl! Keep em comin!
Wendy Davis announces soon! Turn Texas Blue – begins today.
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By: lori on October 3, 2013
at 8:51 AM
I always thought (and still think) that Clinton’s health care plan failed because too many people were intimidated by a woman who is smarter than they are — by a mile or two. Republicans are willing to run a truly stupid woman like Palin or Bachmann, but they shiver in their boots when they meet someone smart enough and strong enough not to back down.
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By: l'empress on October 3, 2013
at 8:39 AM
Thank you Helen. You put a smile on my face two days in a row.
You and Margaret are so wonderful. Wish all well.
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By: JuneauJoe on October 3, 2013
at 8:38 AM
Helen, that just dills my pickle too! Republicans are the new No Nothing Party. I might add that they’re the Do Nothing Party also, except for their rich friends; then they do plenty. Love you ladies.
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By: Annie in Maine on October 3, 2013
at 8:29 AM
Tthat just dills my pickle” is going to be my new favorite expression. I couldn’t agree more with everything you’ve written. The Tea Party boys have got to go!
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By: Jean on October 3, 2013
at 8:20 AM
Beautifully expressed.. angry and yet on point.
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By: Justine Valla on October 3, 2013
at 8:17 AM
Thank you Helen. I get so depressed – then you make me laugh and I remember the best way to keep being resilient is to have a sense of humor. Somehow we WILL get through this!
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By: Polly Wessel on October 3, 2013
at 8:16 AM
I love how you get down to the nitty-gritty ! We need more people like you to speak up !
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By: Threadpainter on October 3, 2013
at 8:15 AM
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sent from Samsung tabletMargaret and Helen wrote:
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By: lauriebasile1 on October 3, 2013
at 8:13 AM
When I was a child I knew a little boy who would blame everything he did wrong on one friend or another and his mother believed him until the day he wet his pants and tried to blame it on someone else. The republicans sound just like that to me.
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By: Elizabeth on October 3, 2013
at 8:10 AM
So great to hear your voice on this issue! (And I especially love the hair comment.)
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By: Rebecca Mashaw on October 3, 2013
at 8:08 AM
These women are good, aren’t they?
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By: Jeneane Webster on October 3, 2013
at 8:06 AM
YOU GO HELEN!!!
I mean it , really!!!
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By: SOPHIA on October 3, 2013
at 7:59 AM
You have outdone yourself! I couldn’t agree more! The GOP is a sorry mess these days, and their finger pointing has reached ludicrous levels. Someone, please give them a mirror. Thanks for saying it so well.
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By: Terri in NY on October 3, 2013
at 7:53 AM