As most of you know, I just love E.J. Dionne. He's provided commentary on a wide range of issues with quite a bit of civility for quite a long time. :D His column in the Washington Post this morning SO DESERVES a looking - at. The subject of his column is some words that President Teddy Roosevelt had to say after an attempt on his life.
I'll post just a bit of the column here; I'd say these words have some relevance for our times. From President Roosevelt...
they cannot, month in month out and year in and year out, make the kind of untruthful, of bitter assault that they have made and not expect that brutal, violent natures, or brutal and violent characters, especially when the brutality is accompanied by a not very strong mind; they cannot expect that such natures will be unaffected by it.
Again, I cannot recommend reading the column in its entirety enough!
Let's move to a single "this day in history" item. Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur, TX on this date in 1943 {sigh}.
It's time to lighten things up a bit with SPARK! School kids in MN are TOUGH little boys & girls. I wonder how many kids have eaten the yellow snow? ;D Today's BRILLIANT criminals of the day are these "gentlemen." These guys wish they had egg on their face! Finally, kitty parents the world over are REJOICING at this news! And, the Indianapolis branch of this service will open when??!! :D
Let's Countdown...
#5 "House Repeals Health Care Law" AKA "Symbolic Repeal" AKA "Repeal Passes House" AKA "Repeal & the Health Insurance Industry" - Public support for HCR repeal is at a whopping 18%. So, read the roll call for the meaningless vote to repeal HCR & retch as appropriate for your district and Congress critter! Are any F.O.O. in the districts of the 3 Dems who voted to repeal? Hey! I’d be behind a GOBP effort to repeal Monday mornings; Monday mornings suck donkey droppings!! :D Rep. Eric Cantor is suddenly all over tarantino reform in the Senate because he wants to see what kind of votes HCR repeal CAN get in the Senate where Senator Reid has already said he won’t even bring it to the floor.
Speaker Sobbin’ Small Price to Pay Goldilocks is telling affected House committees that they don’t have to worry about stinkin’ deadlines as far as any plan to replace what they repealed & that will languish right there in the damn House. Rep. Marsha Blackburn plans to reveal her own replacement for "Obamacare" tomorrow involving tort reform & allowing people to buy insurance across state lines. 4 million citizens on Medicare got checks for $250 this year. 4 million small businesses got tax credits this year for offering their employees health insurance. 2 million children with pre – existing conditions got health insurance. 2.5 million young adults got to stay on their parents’ health insurance. Rep. Anthony Weiner continues to provide laughs on the House floor with his "drinking game" – HA! ;D
Rep. Weiner’s in the proverbial house! A whole lot of GOBPers in the House supposedly like a whole lot of the elements in the legislation but voted to repeal anyway. Keith asked the same question about Dem sudden chutzpah that I’ve been asking for awhile. This sudden spine would’ve come in real damn handy this past October or so! Wendell Potter gets to talk HCR repeal, too. Lobbyists from the health insurance industry are telling the Congress critters they own to strip HCR of that darn regulation & consumer protections. Lobbyists only tell people what they want to hear?! $HIT! Well, there goes my world view. Wow, Mr. Potter said boldly & without doubt that Rep. Blackburn is one of the primary a$$ smoochers for the health insurance industry. "Selling health insurance across state lines" means being able to sell crap policies with no regulations.
#4 "Jared Loughner Indicted on Three Counts of Attempted Murder" AKA "Tragedy in Tucson" AKA "Fear, Rhetoric, and Politics" - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords STOOD UP today!
And, at least according to her husband, she feared for years of getting shot at a political event. When are murder charges coming down the pike? Rep. Giffords is able to scroll through pictures on a cell phone?! DAMN!
That requires sometimes – difficult coordination even for "healthy" people who DON’T have traumatic brain injury. She’s going to a rehab facility in Houston later on this week – the same place where Kevin Everett was treated. Man, I remember his injury – scary $hit. Mark Kelly believed for 15 minutes that horrible morning that his wife had died. The judge who was killed was probably saving someone else’s life. I’m afraid that video footage will see the light of day whether people want it to or not. I, for one, have no desire to see it. How ‘bout y’all? Rep. Keith Ellison has probably been on the receiving end of more – than – a – few threats as 1 of only 2 Muslims in Congress.
** HEY! I found something worth mentioning for "this day in history!" Keith must not be a Janis Joplin fan. Y’all on teh Twitter be sure to let the Keithster know of his oversight! Some dude put a camera on an arrow shot from a bow. Driving into convenience stores has gone across the pond! A robber in SC was rebuffed by a samurai sword. Hello?! **
#3 "No – Mentum" AKA "Cap of Joe" - Joementum had to have a big ‘ol presser announcing his retirement. How many minutes after his retirement will he beg FAUX News for a job because he misses the spotlight?! The ego on that man...I swear... *&^%$#@!
And, he had the chutzpah to compare himself with JFK. Dan Quayle did that, too. Is there a Lloyd Bentsen wanna – be in the house?! While he was helpful & instrumental in DADT repeal, he was all over throwing detainees in Gitmo for forever with no trial, all over taxing the rich at reduced rates, etc. Dave Weigel gets Joementum duty; man, he usually just gets the CHOICE subjects, yes? Wow, I didn’t know about the "rape during ovulation" shtick! Son of a *&^%$#@!
Keith brought up the role of political opportunism in Joementum’s Congressional activities; an equal & possibly bigger motivation was spite – plain ‘ol ages – old desire for revenge. His ego was bruised in 2006. Ever since then, he’s made it his mission to humiliate those who so humiliated him. Senator McCentury wants President Obama to make Joementum SOD???!!! AAAAaaaaUUUUuuuuuGGGGgggggHHHHHHhhhhh!!
#2 "Borrowing Credit" AKA "We Did It!" - The GOBP is taking credit for the upturn in the economy even though they’ve been the majority in the House for not real damn long. Wasn’t Rep. Dave Dryer (Drier?) the dude who at his town hall event some "gentleman" proudly proclaimed his right – wing extremism & was agreed with by said "honorable" Rep? Senator Kyl claimed that the tax cut extensions for the super – rich were the primary role in businesses seeing record profits. Uh, I think he may have gotten a bit lost during his time in the Way Back Machine!
#1 "Is Our Children Learning?" - As a "higher education" educator, this story will be a hoot to me; I doubt I’ll be surprised by much of the information. HA! The Cornell College of Arts & Sciences was "tough" for the Keithster?! GOOD! ;D 45% of 2300 surveyed college students made no significant gains in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and written communication during their first 2 years of college. By the time they were seniors, that percentage was 36%. HOLY CRAP! OK, something surprised me! A whole mess of college students faced at least one semester of college without having to write A SINGLE DAMN PAPER?!
Hell, even students in science & math classes at the university where I work & teach have to write at least 1 paper every single semester! Damn... I’m also wagering that the students who didn’t have to do a whole lot of reading weren’t history, political science, or English majors...LIKE I WAS! OK Keith, you got a comedian to comment on this story?! {insert annoying buzzer noise here} WRONG! I’m sure Frank Conniff’s very funny, but I imagine he knows exactly jack $hit about higher education. Hell, you could’ve asked ME to be interviewed for the segment; I’d work fairly cheap! :D
OK, I did like what Mr. Conniff had to say about $aint $arah from Wasilla. ;D And, I’ll repeat here a comment & offer I made in last night’s diary for a little fundraiser. I’d love to file a FIA request to be able to see "that woman’s" college transcripts. If enough of y’all would contribute to a fund that I could use to bribe her with, I’m sure she’d let me see the suckers for some coin! She’s already demonstrated admirably that she’ll do nearly anything for money, and she has no shame, so it’s not like she’ll be embarrassed by anything on transcripts. I’ll call the effort "Palin Articulation Nation" or some other catchy name! :D