My Twitter Feed

March 28, 2024

Headlines:

No Time for Tuckerman -

Thursday, August 3, 2023

The Quitter Returns! -

Monday, March 21, 2022

Putting the goober in gubernatorial -

Friday, January 28, 2022

Open Thread – You Can’t Have Both

Comments

comments

Comments
55 Responses to “Open Thread – You Can’t Have Both”
  1. tigerwine says:

    Ahhh – it’s going to be a great day! The voters in OH, MS and AZ all set the pendulum swinging back toward the middle. I hadn’t heard of the Immigration repeal in AZ, and can’t believe that uber red state chose someone other than the powerful Senator, Pearce, I believe his name is.

    Sanity and humanity is returning!

  2. benlomond2 says:

    1st chance today to log on to internet… y’all be careful up there with that storm approching.. err on the side of caution and be SAFE !!

  3. merrycricket says:

    Anti-abortion “personhood” amendment fails in Mississippi!

    • Alaska Pi says:

      Wow.
      This is turning into an interesting election day.

    • leenie17 says:

      That’s probably the best news of the night! And if it failed in Mississippi, it probably has little chance of passing in most other states.

      I will sleep better tonight!

    • Zyxomma says:

      Best! news I’ve heard today.

  4. psminidivapa says:

    Stay warm and safe all of you Alaskans who are predicted bad weather – hmm, horrible snowstorm in North East last week, tornadoes in OK, fires in Texas, etc., etc., etc. Climate change? or because Obama is President? HAHA

    Anyway, anxiously awaiting school board election results tonight, as one faction consists of teabaggers who want music classes to be “taken out of public schools in order to provide jobs for all of those musicians in the community” etc., etc. WTF?? These candidates have vowed to rewrite curriculum to be readin’, writin’, ‘rithmetic, and religion. As spouse and I are public school teachers, we have had about enough of PA’s assault on public schools.

    We are also watching with interest the Penn State football coach scandal. We live literally next door to a branch campus of the University. I have my M.ED. from PSU, and am embarrassed about what is being revealed and what it means to all PSU grads. All of these guys, from the top (President of University & head football coach) to bottom (the janitor, who witnessed the abuse, but didn’t report it), should be sacked, for the pain, suffering and HORROR that they allowed to continue for children – as young as 8 years old – in the name of a freaking FOOTBALL program!

    Time to reassess our priorities. Time to hug those we love.

    • Zyxomma says:

      I lived in PA for a short time, and one of my sisters lives in Philadelphia. I feel for you and spouse, I truly do. One of my favorite documentaries is “Judgment Day,” about the failure of the Dover school board to implement the teaching of creationism in high school biology class. It tore the town right down the middle. And the football scandal disgusts me. Hugs.

  5. merrycricket says:

    And it’s official! SB 5 is dead in the water! Gov. Kasich can stick that in his pipe and smoke it! High fives all around.

  6. merrycricket says:

    Good evening from election day Ohio and the polls just closed. At stake tonight is SB 5. Kasich’s union busting bill is currently going down in flames with a sound 62% voting against his arrogant hijinks. Our wonderful (and handsome) mayor, Michael Coleman will be with us for another term. He’s single again and I have been plotting ever since I heard the news how to snag a date with that Cutie pie.

    Election returns so far are favoring democrats. I learned long ago that when the weather is good on election day, more often than not democrats prevail because many democrats are very low income and bad weather is a major inconvenience to their ability to vote. Today, was beautiful and warm and sunny.

  7. Zyxomma says:

    Has no one else here noticed that it’s Election Day? I know, I know, no biggie. I got not one single piece of campaign literature, and when I got to my polling place, I found out why. The only elections in my district were for judges. No Republicans or other parties ran candidates, only Democrats. One of them also ran as a Republican. There were a total of eight.

    Oh well, next year shouldn’t be so boring.

  8. beaglemom says:

    We saw an excellent movie this afternoon, “Margin Call,” a fictionalized version of what happened to Lehman Bros. One day that brought Wall Street’s cardboard walls crashing down.

    On another note, I just noticed that Alaska is due for a very severe storm. Good luck to all of you Alaskans! Stay safe and dry. We’re having lots of rain for the next twenty-four hours or so and then some rain mixed with snow on Thursday. Oh well, winter has to come. We’re glad to have the rain because we always seem to be about five inches below the average precipitation amounts year-to-date in our local newspaper.

  9. mike from iowa says:

    I recently received a Lakota Dreamcatcher,via the mail and it has an interesting legend that goes with it. Any of the many knowledgeable ‘Pups have any background on this? I’d love to hang it and catch all good dreams while weeding out the baddies.

    • tallimat says:

      Belief in one is twice as important as owning one.
      My hubby was given one post the violent death of his father. Hubby’s sleeptime became restless & full of mumbling after the funeral. The catcher came in the mail with a story about ease of mind because beloved loved ones are in a dreamy place. Every night hubby looks at her catcher and thinks of the dreamy place his father now resides. Hubby’s father passed in 1987.
      I’m told the catcher can provide many positive feelings and something of sorrow or hurt doesn’t need to necessarly happen. Belief is the key.

      I love hubby’s dreamcatcher. It is beautiful. Made from twigs, bits of glass, wallpaper, etc. from the home hubby’s father built. It’s rather crafty, stylish and pleasing to the eye. I believe in them cause it sure makes hubby sleep better.
      happen.

  10. CO almost native says:

    Brandeis would have applauded OWS:

    “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.”

  11. StElias says:

    OOPs: Forgot to post Krugman’s link:

    http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/boom-for-whom/

  12. StElias says:

    Very pertinent comments this morn. from economist Paul Krugman:

    He said: Eugene Fama among others assert that: “Beginning in the early 1980s, the developing world experienced a period of extraordinary growth.–financial markets and financial institutions played a big role in this growth.”

    Krugman—“Pure fantasies on the part of the right. The true age of spectacular growth in the United States and other advanced economies was the generation after World War II, with post-Reagan growth nowhere near comparable. So why do these people imagine otherwise?

    The answer, growth for whom? There’s only one way in which the post-deregulation boom was exceptional, and that’s in terms of the growth in incomes at the top of the scale.”

  13. hockeynana says:

    Anita Hill tried to warn us. That was one of my first experiences with how crooked the system can be. I remember watching her and wondering how they couldn’t believe her. He sat there with that cocky grin…he was so obviously lying. I have always admired her for putting herself through that. In the last few years, there have been so many revelations about his basic lack of honesty coming out..yet he will be there for a long time yet. His wife surely is a crazy character, too, isn’t she? There was a story last year where she called Anita Hill and asked her to lie, which was just strange. There have also been many stories exposing that they have cheated on their taxes for years. And, how can she be allowed to work where she does…clearly conflict of interest and obviously paying him off to vote their way by pretending to give it to her as salary.

    I totally agree that he and “Herb” Cain have gotten where they are on the backs of good honest people.

  14. Tele says:

    AKM and those Mudpups to the north of me, I hear you’ve got some especially wicked weather brewing for this week. Yikes… Stay warm and safe, buddies – hope you’re all fully stocked with some good books and the hot beverages of your choice!

  15. Wise man, wasn’t he. Where can we find more like Brandeis to be on the Supreme Court? I hope we find them soon – every time I think about people who made wise sensible decisions, then I’m reminded that we have Clarence Thomas. Makes me shudder.

    • bubbles says:

      i’ d like to see the back of Scalia and Alito also but one at a time will work for me. get Thomas first because he is the weak link. the others will turn on him to save themselves. Thomas like Cain is a disgrace to those who came before them and opened the doors to the world for their people. The Honorable Thurgood Marshall comes to mind.

      • bubbles says:

        oops i meant to post this beautiful picture to underline my comment to Pat.
        http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/6309139069/sizes/l/in/photostream/

        enjoy this one dear Pups.

        • mike from iowa says:

          Is that the new MLK monument i’ve been hearing about? Magnifique!

        • ks sunflower says:

          Gosh, that was powerful. I love seeing our President in contemplation like that. I hope more people awaken to how lucky we are to have President Obama. Thanks for the that photo, bubbles!

        • merrycricket says:

          That photo choked me up. Thanks for sharing it.

        • BeeJay says:

          Bubbles – thank you. An incredible picture, so quiet, yet expressive of so much that is good with this nation of ours. I wasn’t very old (9) when Dr. King was called away, but I remember that day and that year so clearly still.

        • leenie17 says:

          A few years ago I decided to do something concrete in my school to celebrate MLK’s birthday. We always have an assembly and the kids perform the same old songs or poems that they forget as soon as the assembly is over. It always frustrated me that there wasn’t more we could do to make his legacy more meaningful to them, especially since his work directly affected many of their lives.

          I started a penny drive and we collected money that was donated to the building of the MLK memorial. It wasn’t a lot of money, since most of our kids are on free or reduced lunch, but they contributed what they could and I was proud that we were able to be a part of the memorial. Now, if my students travel to DC and see the memorial, they can say they helped to build it. Someday, they can even tell their children and grandchildren that they were a part of it. I thought it was a much better and lasting way to celebrate and honor MLK than reciting a poem!

      • GoI3ig says:

        I remember watching the Clarence Thomas hearings on TV. Aften Anita Hill testified, I couldn’t help but think, one of these people is just flat out lying. It seems as if we’re due for a repeat.

        Faux News is defending Cain to the end. It will be interesting to see if and when they change their position.

        • ks sunflower says:

          I will be interested in hearing Cain’s press conference coming up in just a few minutes. I wonder how he’s going to try to squirm out of this. I truly dislike how he has already attacked this fourth woman. No wonder the others were afraid to come forward. He is a slime ball of the first order.

          • mike from iowa says:

            I thought Cain was through commenting on these scandals,since he is sticking every available foot in his mouth.

          • Watching it now – his lawyer painted him as the horribly wronged victim and Cain is swearing he won’t quit because it would deny America his wonderful presence as president. And I’ve been watching the change in his blink rate. When he’s talking pure politics, low blink rate – when he was actually addressing the real subject, higher blink rate.

            He does remind me of Clarence Thomas, in the worst way.

  16. Mo says:

    After reading Debt: The First 5,000 Years, those of us who have college students or who are actual college students with loans, might want to do a very close reading of Mike Konczal’s column:

    http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/two-steps-towards-tackling-our-current-student-loan-problems/

    Because of legal choices we’ve made in how to set up our rules surrounding debt, student loans stay forever, are virtually impossible to discharge under hardship, churns fees when they goes bad, and creditors can get to anything, including Social Security, to get them repaid. This is significantly more strict than how other debts work. Here’s a great way to describe the legal frame we use to treat student loans, from Elizabeth Warren in 2007: “Why should students who are trying to finance an education be treated more harshly than someone who negligently ran over a child or someone who racked up tens of thousands of dollars gambling?”

  17. fishingmamma says:

    I have faith that the pendulum will swing back again.

    • tigerwine says:

      Me, too!

    • Marlys says:

      Amen!

    • Dia says:

      We have to have more than faith. We have to take action against the Do-Nothing Republican congress.

      • ks sunflower says:

        Ahem to that, Dia! We cannot sit back and lament, moan and groan. We have to mobilize and help others to do the same and make sure people get out the vote in 2012.

        I do not think pressuring the current GOP dimwits does anything because they refuse to listen.

        I hope people will also make the voices heard against Grover Norquist. He is certainly someone everyone needs to take a closer look at. Why any elected official would pledge him anything is a mystery. I suspect he is wielding money and powerful influence on behalf of others to influence the GOP/TP. No one should be able to hamstring the people’s elected representatives they way he has. We have to know why!

      • fishingmamma says:

        That is precisely why the bible tells us that “faith without works is dead”. A more specific way to state my earlier comment would be this:

        I have faith that our efforts will result in positive movement and the pendulum will swing back.

  18. Valley_Independent says:

    “The most important political office is that of the private citizen.” Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

    • GoI3ig says:

      True enough. However, the current court defines Walmart, BP, etc as being private citizens when it comes to free speech, and money dispensation.

      • StElias says:

        “An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” ~ Plato