Japan disaster relief sites list
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Whap!!!
Well knock me down and call me Hiram McSnickerpants. I don't remember this happening before. A gaggle of Maine state senators wrote an op-ed piece that appeared yesterday in Maine's largest newspaper, The Portland Press Herald (and also ran in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel). Seems they're a bit peeved at our Republican governor for being such a loose cannon. They're tired of him picking needless fights by, for example, telling the NAACP to "kiss my butt," hauling away a history-of-the-labor-movement mural from the lobby of the Labor Department, and suggesting that loosening restrictions on a chemical called BPA would produce side effects no worse than giving women little beards.
It wouldn’t be all that newsworthy if the senators who put quill to paper yesterday were Democrats. But these are Republicans---eight of 'em to be exact, or 40 percent of the GOP's upper-chamber membership---who are going on the record to tell Gov. Paul LePage to get a grip:
[W]e feel compelled to express our discomfort and dismay with the tone and spirit of some of the remarks he has made. Were these isolated incidents, we would bite our collective tongues, because we are all human and make mistakes. But, unfortunately, they are not isolated but frequent. Therefore, we feel we must speak out. […]
[W]e find ourselves continually diverted, responding to yet another example of our chief executive picking a personal fight not worth fighting. "Government by disrespect" should have no place in Augusta, and when it happens, we should all reject it.
Refreshing. The normal method of GOP damage control is to close ranks and figure out a way---any way---to foist blame on someone else ("Liberals are using ventriloquism to make the governor say crazy stuff!"). That they chose to speak out so publicly tells me that they're worried about tea party tactics tarnishing their brand just as they start getting down to work with their first Senate and House majorities in eons. I'd be pissed, too.
So will Governor LePage listen to his colleagues in the Augusta statehouse and put a stop to his comedy of errors? Well, seeing how the tea party is reacting to yesterday's op-ed piece...
"We put LePage and the Republican majority in office to get this state back on the right track and away from the socialist agenda that we have lived with for MANY years!! Please STOP this gang of 8 before they completely destroy what we have gained!"
…golly, I hope not.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Note: Dear Boston Red Sox fans: it gets better.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Pulitzer Prizes are announced: 13
Days `til the Sweetwater 420 Fest in Atlanta: 10
Year that debit card transactions surpassed credit card transactions: 2003
Current ratio by which debit transactions outpace credit transactions: 2:1
Rank of Monaco, the U.S. and Iceland among countries with the most vehicles per 1,000 people: #1, #2, #3
(Source: USA Today)
Percent of married men and women, respectively, who believe they control the television: 24%, 26%
(Source: Harper's Index)
Decibels at which English housecat Smokey's purr has been recorded: 73
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
Just think if the progressives spent 1/10th of their attack time helping America rather than trying to tear down fellow Americans, this country would be much better off. Imagine what we all could be doing with our time if we didn’t have to spend time showing how idiotic the the (sic) progressives are in their constant attacks.
---Commenter johnd, tearing down fellow Americans while complaining that fellow Americans are tearing him down.
All together now: One…two…three… Classy!!!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Reunited
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CHEERS to "Four more years! Four more years!" How fun to be able to chant that for the first time in close to two decades. Feels good. I thought for a brief moment that President Obama might go Polk on us and only serve one busy busy busy term, but, naaah…he's not gonna give up the toughest job he'll ever love. So color me happy. And color the advertising agencies, consultants and media outlets who'll share in his $1 billion war chest the happiest color of all: green.
CHEERS to election day! Hey, Wisconsin---ya ready for a new Supreme Court Justice to take a seat in the hallowed halls of…um, wherever your hallowed halls are? You may get your wish today when JoAnne Kloppenburg (good) takes on David Prosser (bad) at the voting booth. In simplest terms, it's the middle class vs. the moneybags. May the best candidate who didn’t call another Supreme Court Justice a "total bitch" win.
JEERS to Henny Penny---wrong again. I found this little item while going through the C&J archive and thought you'd like to get a quick update on it. Six years ago, after 20-plus years of dead-ends and vetoes, Maine's legislature passed a basic civil rights bill that prohibited discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing, credit, employment and public accommodation. Back then, our state's resident religious cuckoo, Michael Heath of the Christian Civic League, proved he was no Nostradamus:
"Ignoring calls from hundreds of their constituents a very slim majority of Maine's House of Representatives voted to create special legal protections for men who wear dresses into the ladies bathroom and get sex change operations. In passing this law Maine's politicians have legally guaranteed that sexual predators will be teaching Maine school children---your kids and grandkids---that all sex is good sex as long as it is consensual. The high ideal of abstaining from sex outside of marriage in law and practice is hereby abolished."
Ain't that poetry. Long ago drummed out of the organization, today Heath is a "private consultant." His biggest clients: the voices in his head. Can't wait 'til he finds out they all wear dresses to the men's room.
CHEERS to getting mad as hell and not taking it anymore…with zazz! When Key West Kossack Vicki "vicki" Rousch heard that the island's Democratic mayor was presenting not-coveted and not-cherished Governor Rick Scott with a coveted and cherished "Conch certificate," she knew what she had to do with the one that bore her name. With defiance in her soul and a couple shots down her gullet (we presume), she rode a Roman shield carried by cabana boys (we further presume) down to the mayor's office and gave it back:
Conch certificates say, among other things, that the holder of one is a "clear-thinking kindred soul eminently worthy to be an honorary Conch and citizen of the fabulous Florida Keys." […] Rousch said she made her decision to return hers when she picked up her Wednesday newspaper and saw a photo of Carruthers presenting Scott with his certificate on the front page. "Then it dawned on me that my cherished Conch certificate was worthless," she said. "I can't call someone a hypocrite if I'm one myself."
Rousch received her certificate "sometime in the late 1970s" from then-Monroe County Mayor Jerry Hernandez. She couldn't recall why she received the honor, "but who remembers the '70s?"
Eat yer heart out, Madison.
CHEERS to Great Moments in Medicine. On April 5, 1933, the first operation to remove a lung was performed at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO. Unfortunately the guy was just there to visit his grandmother, but the point is: Success!
JEERS to the "Show Me Where the Homeless Shelter Is" state. Congratulations, Missouri---you're the first in the country to shut off extended federal unemployment benefits from residents who need them most.
St. Louis resident Peter Gordon, who has been unemployed for a little over a year, is among those who could miss out. A former patient care coordinator at a hearing aid company, Gordon has been searching for jobs over the Internet but said he can't travel far because he can't afford to license his car. He fears he could eventually be evicted from his apartment. […]
Kimberly Clark, a laid off union organizer, says her post-tax unemployment benefit of $275 a week already is consumed by her rent, utility and phone bills. She's been searching for work since November 2009, and she's only a couple of months away from needing the extended benefits that Missouri is poised to reject. "The mentality is we're just creating a bunch of lazy people, and that is not true," said Clark, 48 of St. Louis.
Says GOP state Senator Jim Lembke: "We have to take a stand and say, 'When is enough enough?'" Good (meaning dumb) question. Here's my answer: how about when your corporate overlords stick a crowbar in their petty cash drawer and create more than the current one job for every six people? Huh? Huh???!!! Memo to Missourians: you might want to reinstate the guard at your most famous landmark. Sounds like some of your elected officials have been licking the aluminum off the Arch again.
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Six years ago in C&J: April 5, 2005
CHEERS to new beginnings…maybe??? Didja hear? The Pope died Saturday at 84 (the press barely noticed). Now all eyes are on John Paul II's successor, and we hope it's someone with the courage to reconcile church doctrine with modern times. Which, in Vatican terms, means somewhere around 1810. You can do it, guys...it's only a 500 year leap.
CHEERS to the perfect length. Tony Blair has asked the Queen for permission to dissolve Parliament, paving the way for new elections. Instead of our never-ending campaign cycle, the Brits will go to the polls exactly one month from today. Those poor blokes at "Thames Barge Veterans for Truth" won't have time to get their smear campaign out of the starting gate.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to hoops hopes. Congrats to UConn, the NCAA men's basketball champs! (53-41 over Butler) Tonight the women wrap things up with a dustup between Notre Dame and Texas A&M. My gut says Texas but my heart is with the midwest (being a native Ohioan 'n all). So I'll predict my usual winner: John McCain. Always a safe bet.
Have a nice Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
'Bill in Portland Maine's fart machine makes me laugh.'
---Penelope Cruz
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