Time to kickoff the weekend commentary. Gear up for a little Saturday Night Fever or just kick back for a well deserved lay around. Comment at will.
The Heilan’ Coo
I'm a hair-dishevelled heilan' coo, Hamish McKay be ma name; Welcome tae this dreichet glen I'm cursed tae ca' ma hame. Depending on the mood I'm in I'll raise ma horns on high, An' if I like the look o' ye I'll likely let ye by. But should I dinnae like the look O' ye, then tak great care, I'll raise ma horns on high again, Go on, get oot o'there! So whether welcome yae or nae, I'll raise these horns sae mean, Then ye shall ken ma meaning By the twinkle o' ma een. Courtesy of MARION GRAY Wollaton Road Wollaton Park Nottingham-
Favorite Quotes
'Anni, amori e bicchieri di vino, nun se contano mai.”' '“Years, lovers and glasses of wine; these things must not be counted.' Anthony Capella
"1933: We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth as “wild.” Only to the white man was nature a “wilderness” and only to him was the land “infested” with “wild” animals and “savage” people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful, and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. Not until the hairy man from the East came—and with brutal frenzy heaped injustices upon us and the families we loved—was it “wild” for us. When the very animals of the forest began fleeing from his approach, then it was for us that the “Wild West” began." - Luther Standing Bear
"I do NOT believe we are all born equal. Created equal in the eyes of God, yes, but physical and emotional differences, parental guidelines, varying environments, being in the right place at the right time, all play a role in enhancing or limiting an individual's development. But I DO believe every man and woman, if given the opportunity and encouragement to recognize their potential, regardless of background, has the freedom to choose in our world. Will an individual be a taker or a giver in life? Will that person be satisfied merely to exist or seek a meaningful purpose? Will he or she dare to dream the impossible dream? I believe every person is created as the steward of his or her own destiny with great power for a specific purpose, to share with others, through service, a reverence for life in a spirit of love."
— Hugh O'Brian, "The Freedom to Choose"Recent Comments
Jamie on The Rape tony bassham on The Rape rebelliousrenee on The Rape Oregon Democrat on The Rape Overbosity on The Rape
Jamie's Place for Stuff 
oooh. the up-coming goper grope. delicious. so will this be the davids vs goliath, christians vs a big bad lion, or Dorothy and her friends encountering the wiz?
from http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/07/24/trump-looms-over-first-republican-debate-of-primary-race
It’s a high-risk, high-reward event for candidates eager to stand out yet wary to fall victim to one of Trump’s notorious bombastic political attacks.
“It’s the No. 1 unavoidability,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a 2012 GOP candidate who had a knack for standing out in debates four years ago.
“Do not try to match him in anger and in aggressiveness. It’s not possible,” Gingrich warned Trump’s rivals. “He’s a very instinctively aggressive guy, and if you try to dance with him on his strengths he’ll run over you.”
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About the only way anyone is going to come out of that fray looking better than the others is if they manage to avoid actually wrestling in the mud and only get splashed upon.
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or have a really really good excuse not to show up… like a prior appt with the koch bros or bibi or a senate vote to repeal obamacare
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Trump is a very “ugly American”
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http://www.salon.com/2015/07/25/its_not_who_he_is_its_who_he_hates_the_secret_to_donald_trumps_toxic_appeal/
“It’s not who he is, it’s who he hates: The secret to Donald Trump’s toxic appeal
The media’s attempts to take Trump down are doomed. The more they hate him, the stronger he gets”
add to above the more attention paid him the more pacs, pundits, polls-for-profit, and ads get paid
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the gooper circus is coming to town. the b list candidates will probabl be a better show
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big bad DON… everybody knew ya didn’t give him no lip
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Flatus
You and Margaret Carlson agree on Kasich..the only problem is –the things that make him appear sane (as compared to the others) is that he failed at the more right wing initiatives
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/opinion/4250158-181/kasich-is-the-gop-path
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0r that the more right wing initiatives were failed policies. I think it’s telling that he burned bridges in his rejection of those policies. Wouldn’t it be neat if one of the broadcast networks, like NBC, did a Sunday morning debate?
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Flatus
I agree “failed policies but still he tried. He’s odd — teaparty before the tea party and now not.
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This I know, his record of accomplishment in Ohio should make any governor, Democratic or Republican, curious, envious, and want to know Kasich better.
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He’s a little too religiously besotted for my tastes. Didn’t any of these guys every read the passage about praying in public?
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A Sunday morning debate is a great idea, as long as it’s not live. I mean, how can they pretend to be Christians if they aren’t at church on Sunday morning?
Jamie – I like your idea of a kiddie table for those who will eventually be known as “the also rans.”
Now to more important business: Whst will everyone be serving for snacks on August 6th. I think there will be a lot to laugh at, in addition to the cringe-worthy stuff, so I’m concerned about anything I could accidentally snort up the back of my nose.
Popcorn with a drizzle of coconut oil, a sprinkle of salt & coconut sugar, and, a box of Jr. Mints on the side; a bottle of Reed’s Extra-Ginger Ale.
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One of the great things that we had as municipal elected officials were established non-partisan national, state, regional and county organizations of elected officials where we established rapport and shared personal and staff knowledge and solutions. It was government at its best. In Florida, these meetings were ‘noticed’ and conducted “in the Sunshine.”
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Trump plans to turnover a new leaf ~
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blueid, love reed’s extra ginger, but like best
“Natural Brew® Outrageous Ginger Ale blends ginger root and all-natural ginger flavor to create an unforgettably crisp and robust ginger ale unlike any you’ve ever tasted before.”
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so this must be what’s behind trumps trumpeting: make so much noise you’re guaranteed the debate gig.
from http://www.businessinsider.com/republican-debate-rules-2015-7
…Fox News and CNN, which are hosting the first two Republican debates, decided to grant spots on the stage to the top 10 candidates based on averages of several national, nonpartisan polls.
[….]
“It sucks,” Graham said, bluntly.
Opponents of the Fox/CNN model argue that it’s unfair to rely heavily on early polls, which tend to heavily favor candidates with higher name recognition who can dominate the news cycle. Several times in making his case about the debate rules, Graham has said that Brad Pitt would likely be on the debate stage at this point if he had decided to run as a Republican.
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flatus and kgc, re kasich from http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/stalking-jeb-bush-in-new-hampshire-120595.html
As campaign staffers hurriedly darted about, carrying in more chairs to accommodate a larger-than-expected crowd, two older men sat and chatted as the room filled up, waiting for John Kasich to arrive for his town hall on Thursday afternoon. They spoke about the Ohio governor’s reputation as a budget hawk and even his record as a congressman with great detail.
“He did that balanced budget amendment back in 1997,” one of them said to the other.
“And he’s done it in Ohio twice,” the other responded.
[….]
If he catches on here, Kasich poses the biggest direct threat to Jeb Bush, another establishment-friendly candidate with a centrist conservative message, in his most critical early voting state.
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Back to was McCain a hero. The below article is from this morning’s The State newspaper in Colombia. It, from my relatively good knowledge, is a totally accurate recap of a typical POWs experience after being captured in North Vietnam. For the wounds they received during their torturous beatings each could have received hundreds of Purple Heart medals. To make the point, each was awarded two Purple Hearts. Awards for valor ranged from the Medal of Honor that the commander of the POWs, Col Bud Day, received, to Silver Stars. None of these awards was given away.
http://www.thestate.com/news/local/military/article28620496.html
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What is really interesting is that the whole “he was a hero because he was captured” started life as a joke that was told to and got a laugh from McCain when it was told to his face by Al Franken on his show. Trump probably thought he was telling a joke but he did it so badly and without attribution then tried to bulldoze his way out of it, because “I blew it” isn’t in his vocabulary.
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Beware the Jabberwocky we just stepped through the looking glass: Rupert Murdoch tweet, “When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?”
Some of the answers are hilarious.
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we (or rather the gopers) have stepped into something. much of their dialogue sounds like the last few lines of this… specially about “most everyone is mad here”
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Obama Speaks Out For LGBT Rights In Kenya
“The idea that they are gonna be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop.”
Sam Levine
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-kenya-lgbt-rights_55b3a478e4b0224d88327486?
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jace, just for you a sprightly little piece
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Very well chosen, Pat. But, who is this Paige Turner they keep talking about??
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flatus, for you a much younger james sweetly serenading nana mouskouri
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Sunday Serendipity.
Can’t very well top Pat’s Mozart, but will give it a go.
An amazing lush work by Vaughan Williams. Just right for Sunday morning coffee.
Enjoy the music and enjoy the day!
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Now that we are all enlivened by Sir James and calmed by Serendipity, I’m going to admit to being a regular time-shifter of Seth Meyers. The other evening I watched the episode that had Margaret Cho talking about political correctness and other things.
Kumcho used to understand exactly where Margaret was coming from. And Sue and I often discuss the racism she experiences, and that Adam experiences, he’s black, and then there’s Jasper who’s mixed race white and Asian who is dating a nice young lady who is mixed race black and white.
And I’m old and I’ve been around the world more than once and I’ve seen the corpses resulting from man’s inhumanity to man. And I confront racism and antisemitism immediately and face-to-face as an educational and humanitarian issue. Ninety percent of the time this approach gains positive results or at least a humble apology.
I like what Margaret Cho has to say on Seth’s show. It was broken into segments. Here they are.
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The Sunday shows were the basic hot air and inanities that we have come to expect: Headlines for the empty minds other than those filled with false equivalencies.
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I thought Bernie was pretty good on Chucky T’s show, but the rest of it was Trump-centric. They are trying to figure out why Trump is sucking the air out of the room, yet all they did was give all of the air time to him.
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I’m watching the 10pm local news. They had a clip of Trump climbing into his airplane. That aircraft is really filthy. And he wants to be in charge of the Nation’s warfighting assets? I’d sleep in Rosie before I’d sleep in one of his hotels.
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hillary’s climate change vid
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well, that promise of a half billion solar panels and enough to power all homes in america by end of her first term must sound great to elon musk and the rive bros of solar city.
here’s the pr on SolarCity’s Homebuilder Program http://www.solarcity.com/newsroom/press/solarcity%E2%80%99s-homebuilder-program-announces-energy-storage-and-california-fixed-rate
and here’s the new Yorker article “Power to the People
Why the rise of green energy makes utility companies nervous”
from last month on solar city
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/power-to-the-people
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Pat, here’s the rub. Each state has its own peculiar laws (constitutional or statutory) guaranteeing private utility recoupment of sunk costs. In other words, no matter what great deals homeowners avail themselves of (solar, geothermal or other novel solution) they, as rate payers, will still be on the hook for every buck that Wally Watt has invested in each of their states no matter how ill-advised. It sucks.
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“In 18 months I’m turning over the keys. I want to make sure I am turning over the keys to somebody who is serious about the serious problems the country faces and the world faces,” Obama said. “And that requires on both sides, Democrat and Republican, a sense of seriousness and decorum and honesty,” he added. http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/politics/obama-trump-huckabee-remarks/index.html
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At this point, I believe Joe B will likely be the nominee. I think the relentless campaign against Hillary will wear her (campaign, credibility, persona, eagerness to serve) to the bone leaving little option but for him to jump in. He will be a good candidate.
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flatus, that relentless campaign questioning her trustworthiness seems too well-planned as there’s very little if at all of questioning the integrity of any of the republican candidates (many of whom would fail the honesty test if scrutinized). constantly asking “can/do you trust” her insinuates and breeds distrust of her. plus it generates more stories.
similarly donald troll gins up the media as explained by nate silver in http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-is-the-worlds-greatest-troll/
.”.. press attention both leads and lags public attention to the candidates. This makes a lot of sense. The public can take cues from the media about which candidates to pay attention to. But the media also gets a lot of feedback from the public. Or to put it more cynically: If Trump-related stories are piling up lots of pageviews and Trump-related TV segments get good ratings, then guess what? You’re probably going to see more of them.
This creates the possibility of a feedback loop. Some event sparks a news story about a candidate, which triggers more public attention, which encourages yet more media attention — and so on.”
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The Press is doing little to earn its place in OUR Bill of Rights. And their inclusion is NOT their right to employment, it’s OUR right to be fully, accurately, and promptly informed.
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The whole meme of “Hillary is crooked because we say she is” is getting to the point where I’m throwing things at the TV screen. It wouldn’t worry me if I didn’t know that so many voters are low information and the slant is believable if you don’t know the facts they are slanting.
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from inside the looking glass world http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/07/27/trying-to-understand-donald-trumps-electoral-appeal-part-324/?hpid=z5
“In a hypothetical general election match-up between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, white registered voters were split 50-46 according to a new poll from CNN/ORC. Fifty to 46, with a margin of error of 4 — meaning that it’s essentially a tie.
Oh, and it was Trump with the 50 percent.”
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Thump Trump!
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“In a hypothetical general election match-up between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, white registered voters were split 50-46 according to a new poll from CNN/ORC. Fifty to 46, with a margin of error of 4 — meaning that it’s essentially a tie.
Oh, and it was Trump with the 50 percent.”
The new educational imperative: Teaching White People how to think.
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I keep meaning to reread “The Marching Morons”. It seems I’ve lived long enough that it is starting to come true.
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There is a great article in Newsweek re: Why Medicare Should Be Available To All.
With the merging of more insurance companies like Cigna & Anthem, there will be less competition (higher premiums for fewer benefits) in the market. Something’s gotta give.
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Of course Medicare should be the core of OUR National Healthcare System. This gets us back to where we were six years ago. 😦
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Would someone else like to write a post. Between Tedious Ted, trash mouth Trump, and the daily media beat down of Hillary, I’m politicked out for a bit.
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Marco Rubio, Absent Senator
by Taylor Marsh
http://www.taylormarsh.com/2015/07/marco-rubio-absent-senator/
“In the days after Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, Rubio missed Foreign Relations hearings at which policy experts testified about the way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. [Politico]
WHAT DO Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham have in common? They’re all Republicans and all three are too busy trying to get a new job to do the job they’ve already been hired to do in the Senate. It’s a tradition when a senator decides to run for president.
The irony is that Senator Marco Rubio recently took a shot at President Obama over Americans still being held by Iran, but when it came time to weigh in during a Senate vote Rubio was miles away at a fundraiser for his presidential campaign.
Rubio has skipped votes during high-profile fights over national security, trade, energy and education policy. He has missed private hearings during a critical stage in the Iran talks, a public forum on China and a private briefing on the U.S. strategy on the Islamic State. Last month, a California congressional candidate tweeted a picture with Rubio in Los Angeles on the same day the Florida senator missed a closed-door Foreign Relations Committee session on Iran and a procedural vote on the Export-Import Bank’s future, a flash point in the presidential campaign.
One analysis found that Rubio had the poorest attendance rate among senators seeking the White House. And another report published in February found that in his first four years in office, Rubio missed 99 out of 1,198 votes, amounting to an absentee rate of 8.2 percent, among the highest in the Senate. Rubio’s office said the missed votes were largely due to family commitments.
[Politico]
Senator McCain had a 44% voting record when he ran for president in 2008. Clinton made 77% of the votes, Obama 62%. Senator Sanders has only missed 7 votes since mid-April.
Jeb Bush is trying to make it an issue, but no one’s listening to Jeb, who’s being drowned out by Donald Trump.
When Senator Marco Rubio touts his Senate experience it’s true he got elected, but he’s not been very interested in doing the job as much as he has simply claiming the title of senator.”
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Sarah Palin goes for a twofer: Compares Planned Parenthood to the Confederate flag
Palin posts #DefundPlannedParenthood image asking,“which symbol killed 90,000 black babies last year?”
SOPHIA TESFAYE
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/27/sarah_palin_goes_for_a_twofer_compares_planned_parenthood_to_the_confederate_flag/
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Fox News’ Elisabeth Hasselbeck justifies Sandra Bland’s arrest: She could have used cigarette as a weapon
The “Fox & Friends” host suggested cops should live in perpetual fear of everyday objects and overreact accordingly VIDEO
SCOTT ERIC KAUFMAN
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/27/fox_news_elisabeth_hasselbeck_justifies_sandra_blands_arrest_she_could_have_used_cigarette_as_a_weapon/
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Hyping the latest bogus Hillary scandal: A desperate Carly Fiorina-Fox News extravaganza!
As the New York Times backpedals, Fox gives Fiorina a platform to lie – as it shuts her out of its 2016 GOP debate
JOAN WALSH
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/27/hyping_the_latest_bogus_hillary_scandal_a_desperate_carly_fiorina_fox_news_extravaganza/
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new thread alert!
Jamie, harkening to your pleas for a post, a new thread called “fearing faux and artificial intelligence” is now online.
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