Open Thread – Happy Birthday!
Just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to the man you all know as “Spouse.” He’s off working in a distant land today, far from Mudflats Central and wishing he wasn’t.
He was the one that suggested I take a couple months off from the real job during the fall of 2008… you know, because there were other things to do.
He also spends many an evening listening to clacking keys and looking at the back of my head. He’s not often heard, but slips in little nuggets of awesomeness now and then, like the hilarious graphic of Sean Parnell as Captain Zero you enjoyed last week.
He’s supervised hundreds of dinners, baths, and bedtimes, eaten scrambled eggs alone for dinner, let the dog in and out forty times a night, held down the home fort while I’ve traveled, and never been anything but supportive and wonderful about the great blog adventure that has been my life for the past couple of years.
All I can do from so far away is send the oft used Mudflats virtual cupcake to say thanks from the bottom of my heart for all you do, and all you are.
Happy Birthday, Spouse!
Hi everyone,
This was a wonderful surprise. Thank you all for your birthday wishes! They made me smile. 
Spouse
How about a big shout out for the Anchorage Assembly who overrode the mayor’s veto on fund raising for charity. Even his puppets turned on him.
I know this was covered in an earlier post, but I’m so happy about it, I couldn’t help but mention it again. Get the boots ready.
Happy Birthday, Spouse! It was nice to meet you and Jeanne at Vagabond Blues in Palmer a while back, and thanks for so generously sharing her with us.
Okay, let me try this again:
Happy Birthday, Spouse!
How about a shout out to the man who makes AKMuckraker’s work a benefit to us all! Thanks, Birthday Gentleman! From the housework to the eggs-eaten-solo, I appreciate all you do to support the wonderful woman who so enriches us all. Hope your birthday was the best!
Sister A I so agree.We need more like AKM and her spouse,Happy birthday spouse and hope you have many many more.
Happy Birthday Spouse! It’s a wonderful place you helped create by being so supportive. It has helped so many of us finding like-minded support world wide. So many thanks and many birthdays to come!
Happy Birthday Dear Spouse!
Can’t tell you how much we Mudpups adore you, too.
I always figured you Spouse must have quietly been so supportive behind the scenes, or else AKM couldn’t have concentrated to deliver her wonderful writing. While managing a happy home, happy pets Buf & Brian & Brenda. She couldn’t have done all that without you!!!
AKM, you truly picked a Winner!
By chance, does Spouse have a single uncle?
Or maybe a brother?
It’s my daughter’s birthday, too!
Mazel tov! and many happy returns of the day…
Happy Birthday to your daughter!!!
Happy birthday! I hope she has a lovely day.
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday Spouse!
{{{{{ AKM and Spouse }}}}}
Many happy returns of the day, Spouse, and many thanks for sharing your Spouse with all of us. Together you make our world a smarter, better, “funner” place, and we are deeply grateful.
L’Chaim!
OK, mudflats choir, all together now! Rock’n'roll birthday time….(betcha can’t sit still!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjF1bG5LUcs
Love it! We sing this to each other, live or by phone, every time we celebrate. Of course the Fab Four sound a little better…and we’re going to a party, party (dancing in the kitchen)
Littlebird (my daughter) and I share the same birthday; she was born at 2:04 a.m. and I was born at 4:21 p.m. We usually end up cross-posting some Beatles version to one another shortly after midnight..
(I hear it’s your birthday…it’s my birthday, too, yeah!)
Gives me happy feet and giggles every time.
So your daughter is two hours and seventeen minutes older than you? (Sorry, thatcrowwoman, I jus’ couldn’t hep’ myself…)
beth.
Ooops – I missed the whole “am – pm” thing… (I fear I’m falling into the Palinthink trap — that place where details make no neverminds.)
So, Littlebird is really 14 hours and seventeen minutes older than you, then, eh, thatcrowwoman? Well, now, don’t know if those 12 hours make too much difference in this situation, or not…she’s still older.
beth.
YES!!! Wishing you a very happy birthday Spouse.
happy birthday spouse!
Now for an open thread post….
Yep, this says it all…just as Palin and her supporter’s have said, there is no intolerance in the “beautiful” tea party movement and definitely no racism:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/36844_The_Sacred_Hallowed_Ground_of_Temecula
So racial and religious intolerance is ok, as long as its not their religion. Hypocrisy lives on in the Tea Party!
Also too ~ Faux-fear and hate TV and the bitter quitter inspire/incite:
Right-wing ‘true patriot’ bank robber got away with $86,000 he gave to ‘the cause’
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/right-wing-true-patriot-bank-robber
Go directly to jail, rill dumbmerikan. For cryin’ out loud, what is wrong with these people??
Oh for crying out loud.Whats next.?Maybe people robbing banks,stores ect to give money to their favorite politicians.Sounds more like he may have given it to a militia group.
Good Lord! I grew up a half-hour drive from Temecula. Pretty place. What is wrong with people? How does having a mosque in the neighborhood affect these people at all? I mean, any more than having a baptist church in the neighborhood, or a maranatha-style church or a methodist church or a catholic church?
A big Happy Birthday to AKM’s Spouse
We all raise a glass of good cheer
You’ve helped to create this fine Mudflats house
And without you, we wouldn’t be here !
Wishing you all the best !!
Happy Birthday to you, Spouse and thank you for all you do behind the scenes so that we can come hang out on this beautiful virtual porch.
Sending Happy Birthday greetings to greatly appreciated- by all of us- Spouse! Cheers from the great state of Colorado! XOXO *clink*!
Happy Birthday Spouse!
happy birthday spouse! the mudflats are really up-beat today with cheer.
my two grandsons had birthday’s this past week. i have one arm in a sling,but can raise my glass with my right hand.
i enjoyed hearing the beatles——so many years of great music.–thanks for the link crowwoman.
i am really hopping this morning, grandson has new web site and video on you tube–playing his sax.
Happy Birthday Spouse, and many, many more to come!
Happy Birthday and heartfelt thanks.
Happy birthday Spouse
The happiest of birthdays to Spouse-pup! I hope your day is wonderful wherever you are.
Spouse-pup! Good one.
Thank you, Spouse, and many happy returns of the day.
Happy Birthday Spouse!
And thank you for everything you do to help your wonderful wife create this special community where all of us Mudpups can gather to share, learn, vent, console and celebrate.
Many virtual (and real) cupcakes to you!!!
Spouse, YOU SO TOTALLY ROCK!!!! (As does mine, for putting up with us blogger types!) Happy Birthday, DUDE!
Happy Birthday, Spouse!! Of course you would be a Leo, just like our President and me! Leos ROCK!
LEOS DO ROCK! HIp Happy Birthday Spouse! Happy Birthday to my awesome,hilarious Brother, MoonDog in NYC. xoxox from yer fav sister;))
From one LION to another, I hope you had a very, very Happy Birthday Mr. Spouse. And thanks for all you do to help AKM be AKM. : )
Happy Birthday Spouse !
Thank you for the kindness you have extended to thousands of strangers in sharing time with AKM .
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR SPOUUUUSSSE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU…
AND MANY MOOOOORRRRRRE
(hugs from mz pk…love ya)
A truly happy, happy birthday to you Spouse. A big thank you for sharing your lovely, insightful, witty and sometimes funny wife with us. I live in a sea of red down here in Oklahoma and The Mudflats, along with a couple of other Alaska bloggers have given me hope over the last year and a half. Suggestion – You might try sprinkling a bit of sugar and cinnamon over your scrambled eggs once in a while – quite tasty…
Very happy day, Spouse.
Any spouse of AKM’s is a spouse of mine! Wait, that’s not right…
Til more coffee has revved up this brain, I’ll stick to wishing you Happy Birthday, Spouse!
I love you Martha UYS…..this has got to be the best ever birthday wish….Any spouse of AKM’s is a spouse of mine! LOL
*************************************************************************************************************************
dear Spousepup, happy birthday and many many more to come. i thank you for all you have done. i thank you for your patience. i send you love and hugs from big bad New York City….your friend Bubbles
Happy birthday to you, and thanks for all you do to support the wonderful woman who helps us maintain our sanity!
Happy Birthday, Spouse!
On another note, things just keep getting worse…
http://www.pennenergy.com/index/petroleum/display/0081954835/articles/pennenergy/petroleum/offshore/2010/07/new-oil_spill_in_the.html
I saw that and wasn’t quite ready to read about it when I first was aware of it.What i9s Jindal going to say now that it is not in deep water.
The same stupid stuff he said about the berms that washed away is my guess. Unfortunately, the damage is done.
Happy birthday, spouse!
Happy Birthday Spouse! Your husband sounds like an awesome guy.
Anybody out there have Palin lists going? Like 1) examples of her twisting of the English language. 2) fellow Repubs and supporters she has thrown under the bus. 3) her keen sense of geography. 4) her fast and loose “facts”.
Love to see some of these compiled
Maybe a contest to see who can post her most nonsensical rambling. There is so much material out there, What do you think AKmud? Start a thread for each?
Happy Birthday, Spouse! I should have known you were a fellow Leo when we met. Hope it’s a great day for you!
Happy Birthday Spouse!!
Have a very happy day
and a happier one
when you get back home!
We really appreciate all the support & assistance you provide AKM!!
What a lovely tribute AKM. Happy Birthday Spouse!
Quyana Spouse, for sharing your Lower-48 transplant who out-Alaskas she-who-shouldn’t-even-be-a-household-name any day.
Whoo whoo! The judge has blocked the “papers please” part of the law in AZ!
One great day for freedom, at least for now.
(*high-fives all around!*)
Hau’oli la Hanau, Spouse!
Happy Birthday, Mr AKM!!
Your wife has a gift of witty, intelligent writing, and she has a darn cute smile, too!
Happy Birthday, Spouse! Hope you get lots of chocolate!
Happy Birthday, Spouse! Thank you for all you do. Sounds like you have a fun household. Take care.
Wishing Spouse a very happy day!
Don’t know what I’d do without your daily dose of reality. Thanks to the spouse and Happy B’day!
I’m not sure if BuffaloGal had posted this link here earlier in the week on another thread , but I saw that it was mentioned on another blog just this morning and it is a good link to bookmark.
It’s for the ” Global Muckraker ” which of course AKM falls into that category as well.
A whole lot of Muckrakers getting together to expose the truth to the World.
H/T to BuffaloGal for the link.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/
Happy Birthday, “SPOUSE”!!!!!!!
Happy birthday, Spouse!!
Thank you for being such a supportive and generous man =D You are one in a million!!
You guys, I have a story to share!
So last night, I got one of FW FW email chains! =D
Subject: FOREIGN CARTOONS SAY A LOT
Text:
“As published in foreign newspapers.
When you recognize that these cartoons are being published around
the world, is it any wonder America is considered to be a JOKE.”
What followed were political cartoons supposedly from overseas newspapers, lampooning President Obama and his policies and how he and them are a geneal failure and embarrassment. And this was the text at the end of it all:
“HOW MANY REAL AMERICANS WILL YOU SEND THIS ON TO?
Remember
“POLITICIANS & DIAPERS BOTH NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN, AND FOR THE SAME REASON
DID YOU VOTE FOR OBAMA…EMBARRASSED YET ?”
Geez – what is with the all CAPS?? So annoying. “Real Americans”? Please. Gimme a break. What a joke of an email. This was my first response:
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! What a ridiculous email.
Not even going to bother to refute (yes, that is refute – not “refudiate” – unlike some moron from Alaska keeps saying) this email.
How about some ideas? Some solutions to counter Democratic policies? Some alternatives? But no, as usual, we get name calling, race baiting and personal insults.
Meanwhile – here are the facts on President Obama’s standing overseas:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127903035
http://pewglobal.org/2010/06/17/obama-more-popular-abroad-than-at-home/
Maybe Americans could get behind this democratically elected President and at least support what he is trying to do (clean up the mess left by EIGHT years of Republican administration) whilst also providing workable solutions & alternatives. Yes, it is STILL Bush’s fault because HE MADE THE MESS TO BEGIN WITH.
Lastly – Conservatives mock Obama for having a messiah complex yet they are the ones complaining the loudest that he hasn’t saved the country & the world in 19 months. Ironic.”
And this is my second response because upon close inspection and a 2 mins Google search, I found out something quite interesting about this email chain:
“And oh, I noticed the following newspaper names / artist names on these allegedly foreign cartoons:
“The Times-Picayune”: This is a daily newspaper from New Orleans. Last I checked – this is part of the US.
“Bob Gorrell”: According to his website – Bob Gorrell “is a nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist…….his work appears in USA Today, The Atlanta Journal, The Detroit News”.
Hmmm……those sound like American newspapers!
“Ken Catalino”: According to truthdig.com – “Catalino’s political cartoons have been published in newspapers around the country as well as in BusinessWeek and on CNN, and his humor cartoons have appeared in Playboy and Reader’s Digest. He was recently awarded first place for editorial cartooning by the New York Press Association.”
Sounds American to me!
“Chicago Tribune”……yeah, I’m pretty sure this is also an American newspaper.
“Glen McCoy”: American editorial cartoonist whose work has been published in the LA Times, Chicago Sun-Times & The Washington Post.
“Gary Varvel” – political cartoonist for the Indianapolis Times
I couldn’t make out the other cartoons but seeing as the majority of these cartoons are from American political cartoonists who are published in American newspapers, I can confidently say that this email is blatantly misleading in its claim that these cartoons came from overseas newspapers.
Wow – so someone basically copied and pasted a bunch of US newspaper political cartoons into an email, made up a bunch of stuff about how the world thinks Obama is a joke then hit “Send”. Sad sad sad.”
“But…but…but…Bill CLINton!” sayeth the deservedly-cornered maroons. beth.
This morning I was treated to a response from the person who sent this chain email to my family member, who then passed it on! What a treat!
Here is their response to me:
“I’m sorry I don’t believe I know you. I really hesitated to respond here but I think I must counter.
Obama may be popular overseas but, you see, overseas people do not vote in the US Elections so their voice is useless/worthless. What matters is the American opinion and as it goes, BO is sinking in the US polls. I can only hope he will be a 1-term President. His policies and his spending is ruining America. America’s enemies are flexing their muscles because BO is perceived as weak.
I can’t wait for the mid-term elections. You will see that those Democrats will be defeated. Thank God. Obama will follow in 2012. BO once said in an interview and it went something like this, “I’d rather be a good 1-term President than be a bad 2-term President.” Do you see how shallow this guy is? There is no such thing a good 1-term President because if you’re good, a second term will surely follow.
He accepts the Nobel Peace prize EARLY in his term. For what achievement??? That boggles me. If he were really a “big” man, he should’ve refused the honor and admit that he hasn’t done a thing to deserve it. I would’ve applauded him for that. Now I laugh because he spent US taxpayer dollars to fly over there to accept it. What a crock!”
Now you gotta admit, this is a well written response. No spelling errors and good grammar! The logic is off though but we can’t have everything!
Here is my response:
“Thank you for your response, and thank you for being civil & polite. I hope to address your comments and provide some links to substantiate.
I am Uncle Joseph’s nephew’s (Phil Que) wife (Carol) and my husband cc’d me in this email along with his reply to the group. I saw your email address in the chain and included you in my reply to the group. I never cc anyone in an email chain, I only bcc as I don’t want everyone’s private email addreses to be sent all over the internet via chain emails like this one.
First of all – the email you forwarded was misleading. If you read my second email – you would see that the cartoons included were not from overseas newspapers at all but were from American newspapers, drawn by American cartoonists. Whoever sent out that email in the first place was clearly trying to mislead and deceive people.
As for President Obama’s polling numbers – both Reagan and Clinton, at the same time in their presidencies were at roughly the same level of poll numbers. So it’s not really much of an indication at this point how President Obama will do in 2012. Plus – it’s not easy fixing a massive mess left by the previous administration and with emails like these that were sent to you, it’s no wonder that the general public are misinformed constantly.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/dec/17/karl-rove/rove-says-obamas-approval-ratings-after-year-are-w/
Why do you think he says he wants to be a good 1 term President rather than a bad 2 term President? Because it isn’t about the Presidency or the privilege and prestige that comes with it. It’s about actually doing something good with what you have – even if it is only 1 term. It’s about actually getting things done to help the American people. Bush exited office with an approval rating of 22% to 34% – he had 2 terms, does this mean he was a “good” President? Hardly.
You interpret President Obama as shallow but why is it shallow that he wants to do some good in 1 term rather than hang on for another term and be mediocre? I think it’s shallow to want to be a mediocre 2 term President so you can at least boast that you were elected 2 terms.
As for the Nobel Peace Prize – President Obama said himself in his acceptance speech that he did not feel that he deserved it but that he would do his best to earn it during his tenure as American president. He flew to accept the Nobel Prize – and he represented this country as its President by graciously accepting the award and by saying that being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was a call to action. He clearly acknowledges the great honour and doesn’t take it lightly. He also donated the Prize money to several charities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/world/europe/11prexy.text.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/09/obama.nobel/index.html
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/obama-is-worthy-of-nobel-he-has-changed-the-world-1.6339
His policies and spending are ruining America? That’s an interesting position – do you feel the same way about President W Bush’s policies? President Clinton left office with a surplus – President W Bush turned that surplus into a deficit with 2 wars, 2 tax cuts & Medicare Part B – none of which were paid for.
President Obama has reinstated PAYGO – which means legislations passed need to be paid for or deficit neutral. So how does that qualify as “spending that is ruining America”? TARP was passed under Bush’s administration – remember, when McCain famously suspended his campaign, dissed David Letterman to go back to Washington and save the world? Bush was still President then. So where is all the outrage over TARP? That’s spending too.
If Obama hadn’t passed the stimulus program and if Bush hadn’t passed TARP, this country would be in a Depression by now. As it is, because of massive opposition from the Republicans, the stimulus under Obama wasn’t big enough. Hence we still have 9% unemployment. What would you have this President do? Let the country slide into oblivion? That hardly seems like good public policy.
The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are about to expire – which means that people who earn more than $200k (families $250k) will have an increase in their taxes. This helps to lower the deficit – but Republicans are busy opposing that. So much for trying to reduce the deficit.
And what about Medicare and Defense spending? Those are the 2 biggest items on the Federal Budget contributing to the deficit – Obama included ways to curb Medicare fraud and waste as part of Healthcare reform, he is ending the war in Iraq and trying to close Gitmo. He escalated Afghanistan which I believe is misguided – it’s an unwinnable war. But at least he is trying to curb spending where it will make the most difference. The fact is – both Bush and Obama increased the deficit. So the claim that Obama’s spending policies alone are ruining America is misleading.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jan/27/barack-obama/obama-claims-us-budget-went-surplus-deficit-ten-ye/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jan/29/barack-obama/obama-inherited-deficits-bush-administration/
Lastly – if you refer to this poll from Zogby, you will see that President Obama has a pretty good chance to defeat Romney, Huckabee or Palin in 2012:
http://www.examiner.com/x-3630-Orlando-Obama-Administration-Examiner~y2010m7d27-Zogby-poll-shows-President-Obama-would-win-reelection-in-2012-against-key-Republicans
It’s still early days yet – it’s 2 years from 2012 – so any poll numbers, including the one above is conjecture at best.
You say that overseas opinion do not matter as foreigners do not vote in US elections. So why do you mention later on that overseas people perceive President Obama as weak? Overseas perception of America and its President either matters or it doesn’t – can’t have it both ways.
In fact – global opinion of the US does matter and it matters in ways more than about US elections. Overseas people may not vote in US elections but to have a President – Democratic or Republican – that is universally despised and disrespected ultimately endangers US national security. If they do not respect the US – how can the US have a voice in the international community? How can we press our interests overseas if we are not respected?
Thanks for debating with me, I enjoyed talking to you.”
Ok, PHEW!!! That was a lot to share!
So it’s your turn Mudpups – how would YOU have responded?
Oops – posted my name =D
So now you know =D
And a lovely name it is!
I commend you for taking the time and effort to respond and engage with this person as you did. Among other things, it meant that he also had to take the time to think through what his positions were, and why, and not rely on disprovable email propaganda sound-biting to represent his opinion for him. That’s a success, right there, even though he continues to hold the positions he does.
I would have responded with at least he gave the money to charity unlike your counter parts.It went to help those in need instead of those who are no way in need,And the award was for what he was trying to accomplish and was doing.What is really laughable is a man who all but led us down the path to destruction for 8 years and all but destroyed our economy.
Even more laughable is that conservatives have nothing to contribute. Just chain emails with lies and misleading statements in them.
Isn’t it funny how this person thinks that President Obama wanting to do a good job even with just 1 terms is somehow….shallow? How idiotic!
And note the malicious tone – this person doesn’t even care if an American wins a prestigious award. All they care for is that this President and the Democratic Party fail. Looking forward to it, in fact.
It’s a sad day when Americans can’t even agree that if this administration fails to address the problems we all face, then we all fail.
Happy Birthday Spouse !!!
Pls note, ..it’s all a continuation of Rush-bo’s main theme since the election of ..”I want this President to FAIL”…no ryhme or reason to the statement, doesn’t matter if what is proposed is good for America or not…just plain out FAIL… the entire Republican Party repeatedly demonstrates this,,, even when the action requires them to vote AGAINST their own suggestions !! Democrats MUST stay united and simply accept that the Republicans are NOT going to govern as they have sworn to do, but are only interested in one main goal…make the President fail..
“Sinking in the polls”–yes, his ratings are almost as low as Saint Ronald Reagan’s were at this point in his presidency.
I find the most telling indicator to be the scoffing at “a good one-term president.” Here is a key point of difference between Obama and this brand of so-called “conservative;” the difference between the courage to try to do what’s right, even if you fail, versus winning at any cost. Because the only thing that counts is if you win that second term (or the trophy, or the prize. . . ) not what you actually accomplished, right?
My Significant Other used to be a scoutmaster. I remember one fine, upstanding, Republican “family values” father who actually tried to bribe my Sig-O into signing off his son’s merit badge card because the boy “would do the steps later.” Not mastery, not integrity; winning is the only thing that matters. And we can look around and see right where this attitude has gotten us.
Exactly – I laughed out loud when I read that. As if that actually passes for legitimate argument! I might add that this person is an MD!
“Sorry Sir, I removed the wrong organ because well, I was trying to win the most surgeries award this year you see and well, I couldn’t very well just let myself fail at 399 now could I? And honestly, looking at your charts were just slowing me down. But hey – check out my trophy!”
And what about the whole foregone conclusion of being a “good” President naturally (read: magically) leads to second term. I would hate to be around when the good doctor experiences disappointment for the first time, thru no fault of their own even though they gave it their best shot. It will be ugly. Such frail egos, so delicate and unable to withstand any storm – remind you of someone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY-UkuUrDkU&feature=player_embedded#!
Life in Alaska…
Happy Birthday Spouse! Greetings from Ireland. Your missus has a mean blog.
Yes – Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!
Hope to see you and your prolific companion at future Anchorage events, one of those where ‘all the usual suspects’ can be found.
test
Happy Birthday !!
And thanks for all the support you’ve given our favorite muckraker!
This is a wonderful post! AKM, I’m glad you have such a confident and supportive spouse in your life.
Wishing the happiest birthday possible to the lovely, dear, spouse of our lovely, dear AKM, sent clear across the continent from NYC’s East Village.
Now, for some good news, from an email I got this afternoon:
“Congratulations and thank you!
We just found out that the UN General Assembly has voted in favor of the resolution to recognize the human right to water!
The Bolivian government introduced a resolution to recognize water and sanitation as human rights, and despite much concern that the U.S. and other countries may try to defeat this provision, it passed with overwhelming support. The final vote was 124 countries in favor and 41 abstaining, including the U.S. This is great news, and a huge step in the right direction!
Thank you for taking action on this issue. Because of you and the more than ten-year fight by our network of international allies, we are clearly on our way toward legally binding recognition of the human right to water at the United Nations!”
We community organizers have something to be grateful for (apart from Spouse) today.
Wow – finally! Feel like celebrating. Too bad the U.S. abstained. When when this country put health, safety and environmental issues above the profit motive? Anyway, glad it passed!
Great news! We were in La Paz a few years ago, a great and wonderful city, and were amazed to find the river running through it to be an open sewer for part of its traverse through the city. We were provided bottled water during our stay, as well as oxygen when we needed it (The La Paz airport is at 13,000 feet). Having said that, La Paz and Bolivia (and its people) is a wonderful place.
And a little more good news:
“VICTORY!
Dear Merideth,
I have great news: a federal court has just halted oil and gas companies from moving ahead with drilling operations in millions of acres spanning Alaska’s Chukchi Sea — one of our nation’s two “Polar Bear Seas.”
The ruling is a huge victory for polar bears, bowhead whales, other Arctic wildlife and tens of thousands of NRDC supporters like you who enabled us to go to court and fight off Big Oil’s planned invasion of this sensitive habitat.
The massive fire sale of drilling rights in the Chukchi Sea was initiated by the Bush Administration in its final days. In effect, the Bush Interior Department sold the home of half our nation’s polar bears right out from under their feet and sparked a modern-day oil rush into the heart of the bear’s melting sea ice habitat.”
A birthday present for Spouse!
Great news! Sure makes me feel that the time we invest in signing petitions, making calls, or writing emails makes a difference. I hope this becomes permanent.
oopsie! posted my name by accident. Oh, well, many of you know me anyhow, and I have nothing to hide!
Oh, I know Zyx . . . and she has plenty to hide!
I’ve always thought “VICTORY” was such a strong name, Zyxomma…unusual, but strong.
beth.
Remember the Netroots’ video of Nancy Pelosi’s speech. Well, lookie here!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jasmine-tyler/congress-passes-historic_b_662625.html
Birthday Greetings to “Spouse”!!! Have a wonderful and very Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Supportive Spouse,
We all appreciate you.
Happy Birthday Spouse. Thanks for all you do (and have done) so we can play on the Mudflats!
Happy Birthday Spouse!
From an ebbil librul east coast elitist
Happy birthday Spouse; many happy returns of the day. Well, actually, hope the happy returns are spent in AKM’s company instead of being far away. We appreciate your forbearance with AKM’s schedule which allows her to keep this community informed and humming along. You’re a peach! Here’s a virtual toast to the happy couple: >–] (lame attempt at a cocktail glass).
I *like* the cocktail glass, physicsmom!
Happy Birthday spouse and wish you many, many more!!
As my birthday present to Spouse, thatcrowwoman, and Little Bird, I will *not* sing “Happy Birthday” to them. (If you’d heard my singing, you’d know what a gigantic gift it is for me to: not!)
Best and biggest Happy Birthday wishes to all and sundry, today. beth.
actually, ours were in March…but the song is appropriate for mudfriends
Here’s a gift, for any who may have missed it yesterday!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/27/sarah-palins-endorsement_n_660741.html
Yikes! Teh Crazy has made its way to Iowa.
The Iowa GOP adopted a platform at its state convention last month that includes a proposal to reintroduce the original draft of the 13th ammendment. The original 13th ammendment did not address slavery.
“The amendment states that “if any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any title of nobility or honor” from a “foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen” and “shall be incapable of holding any office of trust.” ”
What they seems to be aiming for is (are you ready for this???) to revoke President Obama’s citizenship because he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize!!!
There is no chance that this could actually happen, but it would have far-reaching effects that go way beyond a frighteningly tunnel-visioned effort to attack the President.
“While chances are indeed remote that such a measure would pass, should the Iowa GOP and “Thirteenthers” successfully push their belief, “every act of federal government since 1819,” including the abolition of slavery, “would be delegitimized.” ”
Guess that means that only white men will be allowed to vote and slavery would be legal again. Sounds like just what the Tea Party is hoping for.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/28/iowa-gop-supports-amendment-to-strip-obamas-citizenship-because-he-won-the-nobel-peace-prize/
It never ceases to amaze me how insane these people are.
I suppose it is expecting too much that they might grasp that the Nobel Committee is not a “foreign power”.
As I get older, I have to admit that the apparently inexhaustible background level of lunacy in American politics is sometimes discouraging. I worry (seriously) that the human brain may still have fundamental wiring that doesn’t reliably process transactions about the tribal level, and that the last few hundred years of sporadic progress towards a global view of humanity may turn out to be, in the end, just a historical glitch.
OTOH, I remind myself that when I start thinking that the American Dream hit its apex around 1975, I was then 27, so there might just be a little subjectivity involved.
It’s certainly a good thing for me that there are places like the ‘Flats, where I can remember that there still are rational people in the world — even some in the US.
So, for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, we’re going to strip of their citizenship:
Barack Obama in 2009: “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Thomas Woodrow Wilson in 1919: “President of the United States of America. Founder of the Société des Nations (League of Nations).”
and
Theodore Roosevelt in 1906: “President of the United States of America. Drew up the 1905 peace treaty between Russia and Japan.”
They’d all lose their citizenship because they were named recipients of –and accepted– the Nobel Peace Prize? Isn’t that a MAJOR beef of the rwingers? — that POTUS *isn’t* a citizen in the first place? And they want to put Wilson and TR in the same category? They want our nation to have been Presidented (is that a word?) by 3 *non*-citizens? Can the Presidential terms of Wilson and TJR be declared null and void, retroactively?
What about Jimmy Carter in 2002: “former President of the United States of America, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” If he has his citizenship stripped and that stripping is retroactive, that’s another whole term that’s null and voided, no? OY!
And also, too, 1973 co-awardee Henry Kissinger: “Secretary of State, State Department, Washington for jointly negotiating the Vietnam peace accord in 1973″ but he was really a ‘furriner’ anyway, so….
Then we have 1964s Martin Luther King, Jr: “leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, campaigner for civil rights” but there’s that whole ‘color’ thing about him, so…
And 1950s Ralph Bunche: “Professor Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Director of the UN Division of Trusteeship, Acting Mediator in Palestine 1948″ but he was one of them librul elites and also had that ‘color’ thing going, so…
And 1945s Cordell Hull: “Former Secretary of State. One of the initiators of the United Nations” but he had one of those strange East Coast elite first names and the UN is just a cover for world domination plots by the New World Order people, anyway, so…
And 1931s co-winners: “Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University. Promoter of the Briand-Kellogg Pact” and “Jane Addams, Sociologist. International President of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom” but he was another one of them elite educated types and she was, well, a woman, so…
And 1929s: “Frank Billings Kellogg, Former Secretary of State, Negotiated the Briand-Kellogg Pact” but he was one more of them elite east-coast types who thought so highly of how special he was, that he even named a treaty for himself, so…
And 1925s: “Charles Gates Dawes, Vice-President of the United States of America. Chairman of the Allied Reparation Commission. Originator of the Dawes Plan” but he, like Kellog, thought he was soooooooooooooo special, he should name a whole plan after himself, so…
And 1912s: “Elihu Root, Former Secretary of State. Initiator of several arbitration agreements” but, as we all know, when they say “arbitration,” what they *really* mean is that corporations, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful corporations, are being given the shaft by the peons who are lucky enough to be working in those wonderful corporations, so…
If the “Thirteenthers” have their way, all of these folks, all of these *American* recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, will be declared non-citizens. Yeah, GREAT idea! So rational. So logical. So sane.
Sweet Yebus! Do these yahoos *not* stop to *think* of the ramifications of what they’re pushing *BEFORE* they start off on their little plots and plans to ‘purify’ *their* country of Obama? With their ill-disguised bigotry!, narrow-mindedness!, and abject stupidity!, they, literally, make a pain in my brain. beth.
[Copy from source: http://nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/ ]
Hey, don’t forget all those Nobel winners in other categories: literature, economics, physics, chemistry, physiology & medicine…
All of ‘em…revoke their citizenship!!!!
sigh…
Ooooh NOOOOOO!!! Looks like your beloved Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr will have to go! Oops, didn’t mean to do THAT, did ya?????
George Patton? Bob Hope? Jimmy Stewart? WALT DISNEY??? Really???????
Thanks to ‘NHouston’ who commented on the Think Progress story, here’s some of his extensive list of people who have been awarded honors from ‘foreign’ entities and would therefore lose their citizenship if these nutjobs get their way:
Nobel Prize:
Paul Krugman, Economics, 2008
Elie Wiesel, born in Romania, Peace, 1986
Isaac Bashevis Singer, born in Poland, Literature, 1978
John Steinbeck, Literature, 1962
Linus C. Pauling, Chemistry, 1954/Peace, 1962
Ernest Hemingway, Literature, 1954
William Faulkner, Literature, 1949
T. S. Eliot, Literature, 1948
Pearl S. Buck, Literature, 1938
Eugene O’Neill, Literature, 1936
Albert Einstein, Physics, 1921 (US citizen from 1940)
Knighted by the Queen of Britain:
General Wesley Clark (fmr NATO Commander)
Bill Gates
Ronald Reagan
George Herbert Walker Bush
Rudolph Giuliani
Bob Hope
Jerry Lewis
Charlton Heston
Muhammed Ali
Alan Greenspan
Steven Spielberg
Billy Graham
Alfred Hitchcock (US citizen from 1956)
J. Edgar Hoover
Elizabeth Taylor
Omar Bradley (WWII General)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Tommy Franks (2003 Iraq War General)
Douglas MacArthur
Chester Nimitz (WWII Admiral)
George Patton
Colin Powell
Norman Schwarzkopf (1991 Iraq War General)
Received the Croix de Guerre from France:
Audie Murphy (WWII Hero, most decorated soldier in WWII)
George Patton (WWII General)
James Stewart (Actor, also WWII ace)
Received the Légion d’Honneur from France:
Orson Welles
Julia Child
Walt Disney
The Academies of West Point (Military) and Annapolis (Naval)
Jerry Lewis
David Petraeus (2003 Iraq War General)
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/28/iowa-gop-supports-amendment-to-strip-obamas-citizenship-because-he-won-the-nobel-peace-prize/#comments
Yikes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-gop-plot-to-screw-the_b_662953.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztoSUhbNntQ
Hope this is not a duplicate post. I already posted but wanted to add this.
Happy Birthday!
And the hits just keep on coming for the Wasilly:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/#38458923
I hate to bring bad news on this celebratory day, but the Air Force lost a C-17 today at Elmendorf Air Force Base outside Anchorage. Four on board. No report on their status, but the plane crashed and burned.
Happy Birthday SPOUSEPUP!!! My husband can relate to the blogger mania. He also puts up with it with superhuman patience.
Now I have my ARGH moment of the year. I have worked at the same part-time job (with half paid benefits) for the same hourly wage for the past eight years (no raises). I work as a Physical Therapist for a skilled nursing facility (nursing home). I am damn good at my job and devote every hour that I work to the welfare of the residents of this facility (that I used to think was one of the best out there). Not to toot my own horn, but there are not a lot of professional people who want to work with the geriatric population (most PTs want to work in the more lucrative orthopedic–read sports medicine–clinics where their patients are young and get better quickly). Most nursing homes across the country get staffed for therapies by travelling therapists who come and work for 2-6 months and then leave. My agreement with the facility, when I was hired, was that I could commit 16-20 hours/week to this job. Three years ago I started a small business where I am busy on the other days. At this time, because the start up costs for my business where huge, my income from my PT job is supporting the business (until leases and business loan are paid off-3 more years).
Some background. The company that owned this nursing facility when I started there sold it to the Borough a few years ago and our local hospital (which is also owned by the Borough) has been “managing” the nursing facility since then. Their first move was to fire all of the great managers that we had at the top and insert a couple of “yes men” to do the bidding of the hospital board of directors. What I have seen (and kept quiet about) since then is that the main things that are important to the hospital are productivity and money. Quality of care seems to run a distant third at best. I just continued to go to work and try to provide the highest quality of care to my patients/residents as I possibly could.
Since I have worked there, it was like pulling teeth to get time off because they claimed they couldn’t find anyone to cover me when I was gone. They have been looking for another part-time or full-time PTor PT Assistant for 8 years and have not been able to fill the position.
So I go into work today and I have an inter-office e-mail that says I need to come and talk to the yes men before I start work. In the break room is a flyer with a full time PT job posted for my facility. The yes men sit me down and say, the Medicare rules are changing so we are doing away with your job. Whaaaaat????? And furthermore, you can go to the hospital and apply for job (as posted-full time only and having to take on-call time on the weekends) if you want to. So in other words, I can go to the hospital, lose all of my seniority in terms of benefits, paid time off accrued by working 8 years and work more hours for entry level pay. I explain to them that I have a business which requires me to work 2 weekedays and every weekend. I cannot take a full time job even if it were offered to me (which it might not be because they “prefer” a Masters degree which was not an option when I went to PT school 20 years ago). “Sorry” was all they had to say to me. I asked, am I being fired for some reason? Oh no, they assured me, you are not being fired, your job is being dissolved so you are being laid off. And I can get Cobra health insurance (ha- who can pay for that when they don’t have a job?) woo-hoo. So, I ask them, what happens if you can’t find this mythical person who will come to small town Alaska and work 40 hours a week plus on-call weekends for less pay who not only wants to work with but is skilled with geriatrics when you haven’t been able to cover my part-time in order for me to take more than 3 days off in the past 2 years? Well, they say, then we will have to stop taking Medicare Part A rehab patients here. Now, mind you, the next closest facility is about 100 miles away. And curiously, they didn’t do the same thing to the Occupational Therapist (but she doesn’t get benefits from the hospital because she is a retired teacher and she takes on-call at the hospital already), yet. they did lay off the person who does all of the ordering for Central Supply.
Their excuse for all of this is they claim that the new Medicare regulations require them to have all therapies 5 days a week. It seems that since this is a requirement that is almost impossible to cover in small rural settings, there might be some special provisions. I don’t know, I haven’t read the bill. so some say to me, “You can thank Obama for losing your job”. I spit back, this has nothing to do with Obama and everything to do with larger corporations being in it for the almighty dollar. I don’t think for one minute that they won’t just do away with needed rehab (there is no other rehab facility other than what the hospital provides and they can’t wait to get these people out of the hospital and over to us) for our community rather than pay me and my benefits.
What really burns me is there was not one word of “you have been an asset to this facility and we will be sad to lose you”. I wanted so badly to flip them my middle finger and just walk today but I had people depending on me.
So tomorrow I will start looking for another job (between my business clients) that fits my flexibility issues and I will have to be without health insurance until my husband can put me on his (his company only lets him change things once a year). I will be hounding human resources (ha-that is like military intelligence) to find out about cashing in my paid time off that I could never take and I may join the ranks of those collecting unemployment in October. Then I will write my letter to PO about how health care is still under the umbrella of corporate overlords who do not care about the patients or their employees in this country.
It makes me very sad for people who lost their jobs after putting in even more time.
I need a hug…..back to my rum.
LMD… be SURE to check in to the Fed gov Cobra supplement !! I was laid off a while back, and Obama started up having the fed gov pay a supplement to reduce the cost of Cobra ..I don’t know if it has expired or not, but I was able to get Cobra pretty much at the same price I was contributing when employed..the employer has to do the paperwork, and there were two forms I had to fill out at the start , I will look around thru my records this weekend and see if I can find the paperwork ( I don’t throw ANYTHING away when it deals with medical insurance!) to at least fwd the form name to you…
LoveMyDogs, I am sending you a berjillion hugs. And now, I have to go finish getting things ready for the Grandgirlies! They will be here Saturday and stay for two weeks! Ms 9 wants to sew shorts and a bag for her Tai Kwo Do clothes, and Ms 8 wants to make cheese, bread, and can peaches. Both want to help Himself tear off the old deck in prep for the honking new one to go up in September. That isn’t going to happen, because Mama Fox still has her cubs under there. She will move them out pretty soon, but she isn’t out yet. We love having the Girlies here. Two sisters could never be so different. They both want to head up the levee trail if it isn’t too hot, go to the Y to the climbing wall, and swim every day. All righty. Hope Nana can sleep!
{{{{{{{{LoveMydogs}}}}}}}}
What an odd thing to have happen! I’d be interested to find out what the ‘new’ regulation says…sounds to me as if, maybe, the ‘type’ of facilities [what they can call themselves depending on what services they offer] have been redesignated/realigned and your Borough hospital just isn’t ‘into’ messing around with an upgrade. (Sort of like an institution of higher ed can call itself/be designated a college because if awards bachelor degrees, but can’t call itself a university because it doesn’t award masters or higher — if it wants to be a univ, it has to offer more than a four-year/terminal degree.)
Not to get all schadenfreude-y, and all, but: Good luck to the Borough in finding 5-day a week PT for their geriatiric patients…if that is even their *real* intent. [Probably more like a 'cover' for cutting back on services in one area to start/expand a different program/dept, is my first reaction. Our local [3-county regional] hosp began drastically cutting *all* ER services 8-years ago…”not enough $ for staffing physicians” they said; “unless it’s something we can take care of with a few stitches or an ace bandage, we’ll get your vitals and then ‘divert’/send you –via ambulance– to another hosp, instead”, they said, the closest ‘another hosp’ being 45-min away. {Cue the irony>>} 6-years ago, they opened one of the most gorgeous, state-of-the-art, incredibly-staffed Sleep Study Programs in the state —rivaling any in the entire SE; most prestigious for the hosp and highly, highly lucrative! No reinstatement of more than ‘band-aid’ ER services even in the long- or short-term plan, though. So much for patient needs. The pr1cks.]
Again, {{{{{{{{LoveMydogs}}}}}}}}. beth.
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and kisses too
What a story lovemydogs. I really don’t know what to say to make you feel any better. Sh&t happens, but I hope this can be worked out.
Sending you huge Irish hugs.
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Well spouse I’m a day late as my email arrives a day late. So you go ahead and celebrate the rest of the short week.