Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Nov. 1st through Nov. 7th

November 1, 2015 JanF Community 130

Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

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NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.

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47 Comments

  1. Dense fog this morning. In my neighborhood, I couldn’t even see a block. I decided to sleep in & not walk this morning, so of course my digestive system woke me before 5 anyway. Sigh.

    My AIDS Walk Diary is up. We’ll see if it does any good.

    Eating breakfast (baked oatmeal, which turned out ok, I know how I’m going to make it better next time), drinking tea. Tea that isn’t strong enough. Hmmmm.

    oh – and my brain is playing People Have The Power

  2. 44 and foggy at sunrise in Fay., AR – now over 50 heading for 73 and clearing off. Woke with my hands aching this morning – still are – which makes it hard to type. No elections today in AR, but all you who have them, have fun/good luck. Priority registration just started and I’ve still got some travel to clean up (need to get that done before the entire Criminal Justice side of the department heads to DC for the ASC conference). So. Relatively calm day for the first Tuesday in November. {{{HUGS}}}

  3. Good morning, 46 and mostly clear in Bellingham today. We’ll gather round the kitchen table and finish voting today then RonK will deliver our ballots to the courthouse. We all miss voting in person at the local church but now that Wa. State votes by mail this is our new routine. The predicted return is about 46 percent this year which is too low.

  4. Morning all, hot and humid here, north Florida seems to be turning into Miami with climate change. Ugh. Record setting heat all over here – we may get a bit cooler next week, man I hope so.

    I have no election to vote in here, but my fingers are crossed for Dems in local and state elections all over the country. The Democratic Party has largely dropped the ball on local organizing over the last two decades, and we’ve paid for it big time as states like Wisconsin which I used to think of as a haven for progressives (Bob LaFollette!) have been turned into quite the opposite. We must take the states back somehow if we hope to get sane redistricting in 2020. I’ll check out your diary over at GOS, Dee.

    Ok, errands to do, stuff to mail, garbage to take out, AFTER I drink my coffee. Have a great day everyone!

    • WI has always had both – yes, Bob LaFollette but also “Tailgunner” Joe McCarthy. When I moved to WI back in 1989 it was partly because I’d read that they’d never broken a treaty with the Native Americans. Then I got there and discovered it wasn’t for lack of trying. Taking back the states is one of the things Hillary is working very hard on. Thank goddess.

      • We won’t get another chance until 2018 to fix the 2014 Walker mistake. I feel sorry for the private union guys who believed him about right-to-work but really, how stupid can you be? A guy who ran on divide and conquer would NEVER go back on his word? My guess is that if his favorables stay underwater (he is now at 39% approval), he will not run again. We might get back a few seats in the state senate next year and maybe some Assembly seats. Democrats seem to care about voting in presidential years.

  5. Here is more of President Obama from that DNC fund raiser:

    (The YouTube repeats … you can stop after 2:49)

    I love this part: after he describes 2008 with the financial crisis and Osama Bin Laden still being at large, etc, he says “That’s apparently the “golden age” that I messed up!!”.

  6. Good morning, meese! Wednesday …

    It is 54 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 70. Morning fog expected to give way to afternoon sun.

    A low turnout election in Kentucky (28%) effectively cancelled health insurance for 418,000 Kentuckians. I wonder how many of those people actively voted against having healthcare rather than elect a Democrat. And is Jack Conway officially the Martha Coakley of Kentucky? Two winnable elections in 5 years, two losses. Virginia’s state senate did not flip to Democratic control and Houston’s LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance failed. In better news, voters in Jefferson County in Colorado recalled the anti-history school board and voted in pro-student, pro-teacher members.

    SCOTUS stayed the execution of a Missouri death row inmate who has an IQ of 67 pending an appeals court ruling on the killing drugs to be used, not whether the state has a right to kill someone. :(

    Republicans are still complaining about the debates and a national preference poll shows that Hillary Clinton and Ben “Buy My Book” Carson are neck and neck. It is going to be a long year … one year and one week from today we will be done. I hope Democrats on Nov. 8, 2016 have a better night than last night.

    See all y’alls later!

  7. Good morning, Mooseland! It’s 40 F. in NoVA, heading for a high of 74 F. on a brilliantly sunny day. It’s days like this that make me remember why I live here.

    Well, as Jan said, yesterday wasn’t all that good a day for Democrats in general, but it certainly was for the 86th District! Jennifer Boysko won, and we’re delirious. My son voted (not sure about DIL) and the guy next door, who’d forgotten about the election, also voted when my husband reminded him, and he’s a Dem.

    There’s a diary on GOS this morning that finally talks sense about the 50-state strategy. Not sure yet about how I’ll get involved next year, other than doing some voter registration. At 71 I just don’t have the energy to get out and about and do what other people do.

    Time to eat breakfast and get dressed, because I’m going to walk our new next-door neighbor and her mom to the elementary school. This afternoon I’ll walk her home. She’s going to feel strange in this neighborhood until she gets used to it. Have a good day, all!

    • Yay, newly elected representative Jennifer Boysko!!

      It was probably wishful thinking to flip a chamber of the statehouse especially in a non-presidential year; it will probably take a wave year. I also noticed that Bloomberg’s gun control group did a lot of ad buys to promote their candidates. I am not sure that identifying a candidate as a pro-guncontrol Democrat does him or her any favors. Plus, Bloomberg himself is a polarizing figure. I would prefer we run on a host of issues, Democratic Party principles – civil rights, health care, criminal justice, living wage and commonsense gun reform, rather than one single issue. It makes it more difficult to demonize someone that way.

    • One of the problems with that diary – is placing all the blame on the DNC.

      This was my response this morning:

      My local Democratic Committee is made up of regular folks-who wouldn’t know a DNC person from a hole in the wall. I attended and was involved for several years until getting to evening meetings became difficult because of vision problems, and I’ll still carry petitions. It isn’t easy finding people willing to run, or take on all the tasks at the polls, and at 68, I was one of the younger people, and was the only person of color. Meteor Blades has talked here, over and over about precinct organizing, and Dr. Reid in VA has done the same. We have to build a farm team, get younger people involved, and reach out to engage others. None of my students have a clue about how a political party works. They think because they are registered as Democrats, and vote as Democrats, that’s all there is to it. A few have worked on a campaign for a national figure, but that is it. If we want more and better Democrats it starts at ground level.

      This is stuff that can be done locally – but people have to go out and do it.

      There is no mass conspiracy of the oligarchy to prevent folks from going to local party meetings.

      • HAHAHA!!!

        There is no mass conspiracy of the oligarchy to prevent folks from going to local party meetings.

        Convenient demons, though! ;)

  8. Woke up so many times last night…. the 2-ish one was the worst because I couldn’t get back to sleep. 3, 3:30…. naturally, I was asleep when the alarm went off… And waking up to sucky news. Did any elections go well yesterday? Houston voted down the equal rights ordinance. Because “men in women’s bathrooms”. Ugh.

    At least I think I got one of the matches yesterday. A friend is sending a check & I recorded it yesterday, so it should count.

    My head is being nice & playing Take Me To Church – link is to a live version, with the audience singing along.

    • Elections fail all the time but for the Houston election to fail because of a lie is particularly painful. They are not “men” going into women’s bathrooms … they are transgender women going into women’s bathrooms. Sigh.

      • Best I can figure out America in general and Rs in particular must have had real problems potty training, they are so fixated on bathrooms. Fayetteville is on it’s 3rd rights ordinance – the first 2 were overturned because of bathrooms (and they tried to defeat the 3rd with bathrooms). Heck, the reason we can’t get ERA ratified in this state is because of bathrooms. I echo your sigh.

  9. Good morning, 46 and still dark in Bellingham. I’ll be glad when my internal clock resets and I stop waking up way to early.

    Looks like our local election results are mixed. Several candidates I voted for won, but the important county council races are to close yet. The influence of oil and coal money and conservative ideology is very real in Whatcom County.

    The election results in Seattle are mixed as well. Seattle is a progressive city, but the rest of the state is more conservative. The appeal of Eyman’s initiative campaigns remains a problem.


    Seattle’s increasingly liberal voters say: Bring it on

    It’s interesting what the mayor said about the rest of the country saying no while Seattle says yes. It’s true, but it isn’t just the rest of the country. The rest of this state is approving Tim Eyman’s latest measure to require a two-thirds majority for state tax increases — a policy that would seriously hinder the state’s ability to raise new money for schools or other services. The positive vote for Eyman came even as he is under a cloud for alleged campaign-finance violations.

    Republicans also picked up a state House seat, meaning Democrats now have the smallest majority there since 2002, just two votes. Republicans already control the state Senate.

    So Seattle may well be on its way to becoming the most progressive city in America. But it’s also an island in its own state.

  10. Good morning Meese!

    Well – midterm-itis strikes again. If we don’t vote we lose.

    Scanning the news – came across this story that was running in Arkansas:

    England police continue searching for man who shot officer in chest

    ENGLAND, Ark. (KTHV) – England police said tips and sighting of a man suspected to have shot at an officer multiple times over the weekend have been rolling in. No arrests have been made so far, and the department is asking for the public to continue looking.

    England Police Department Sgt. David Houser reportedly made a traffic stop on Highway 15 Saturday morning, when things turned deadly. The early 2000 model Tahoe or Yukon Sgt. Houser was attempting to pull over began to slow down when the blue lights came on, but then suddenly accelerated an additional 100 yards before coming to a complete stop in the middle of the highway.

    Investigators said when Houser approached the driver’s door, the driver pointed a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun out of the window at him. Houser reportedly shoved the gun away from him, but was hit across the chest when the suspect fired the first round.

    …

    The alleged shooter then drove away from the scene, traveling south on Highway 15. He is described as a Hispanic male with little or no hair. The SUV is described as being silver in color with tinted windows. It may also have bullet holes on the driver’s side. The officer was unable to get a license plate number, because it was obstructed by what appeared to be a tinted cover.
    Officials consider this man to be armed and extremely dangerous

    (my bold)

    Ah hah! The real story is now out:

    England police officer turns self in for filing false police report

    Chief Cook was visibly disappointed Tuesday talking about his former Sergeant. Tuesday morning Houser turned himself in on a felony charge of filing a false police report.

    “It was apparent that some things just didn’t add up,” said Cook. “Sergeant Houser did admit to fabricating the shooting and that there never was a traffic stop and that he had staged the crime scene and that the gunshot wound to his uniform and his vest area was self-inflicted.”

    Off to go make breakfast.

        • I would have missed it except that it was mentioned on the TV when I was walking past it this morning. It was a BHD here because the “manhunt” spread into southern Wisconsin and it was on the news daily.

          It is dangerous enough out there for people of color … now they have to worry about being chased down for non-crimes. I wonder how many balding Hispanic men were pulled over based on that Arkansas policeman’s report?

          • Sorry for those in AR who got harassed out of this. (I guess it’s easy to tell which “race” this particular cop was most prejudiced against.) A personal “Thank goddess it was in AR instead of central TX” – or one of those Hispanic men pulled over might have been my brother in law. According to my sister, he’s pulled over at least once a month because obviously a “dirty Mexican” (civil engineer retired from TXDOT) couldn’t legitimately afford such a nice car. sigh.

  11. 57 and overcast at sunrise in Fay., AR – heading for 70 but not sure about clearing off. Political news mostly sux I see from everybody who got here ahead of me. I will never understand anyone who votes R – has voted R in the last 30+ years. (I’ll admit to having voted R in my life – voted for Daddy Bush once in a state race in TX, back when he was a pro-choice moderate R as his Dem opponent was neither – but I’ve been a yeller dawg since before Daddy Bush ran for president.) Best I can tell is the argument is mostly “That guy wants to stop me from shooting you in the foot. Vote for my right to shoot you in the foot.” and they do. It’s insane. I wish there was some way to shove them all into the Starship Enterprise holodeck – let them enjoy their fantasies without endangering the rest of us.

    Oh well. Happy 1st Wednesday in November. {{{HUGS}}}

  12. Morning all. Very depressing post -election morning – I had no elections to vote in yesterday, but looking at the news, Denise’s message yesterday about the vital importance of engaging younger people in organizing for Democrats rings even truer. I also cannot believe Ben Carson is tied with Hillary nationally – seriously, folks? I cannot imagine living in a country where that nut job is President – if that happens, time to dust off the “emigrate to Canada” plan.

    Not feeling particularly great today, so will be a quiet one for me – I did get Thanksgiving dinner reservations made for me and a couple of friends, so that’s my accomplishment for the day! Have a good day everyone!

    • That poll was depressing. I don’t know who they asked and what the margin of error is but any country that would consider him as qualified as Hillary within even a 40 point margin of error is in sad shape. I worry because last night’s elections show that there is so much R v D polarization, that qualifications or issues or even whether voting for the R will kill you (literally) make no difference.

      I hope you feel better soon!

    • I have decided Republicans are crazy. Carson? (shudder) Trump? (oh hell no) Cruz? Rubio? Fiorina? …

      I’m focusing on Rubio atm – there is some real sleaze in his resume – not just his Republican credit card fraud.

      Since he has been at war with Univision for some time – here’s hoping they will unleash a ton of his crap again if he gets the nod .

      • I read that Rubio just came out in favor of deporting DREAMers. The Republicans really think Latinos will vote for a guy with a Hispanic surname rather than someone who supports their causes.

        That’s pretty insulting.

        • I have also seen many people say that the very different experiences of Cuban Americans versus Mexican Americans will come onto play as Rubio & Cruz become better known. And it will not help them.

  13. Good morning, meese! Thursday …

    It is 59 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 68. Cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    My body woke me up at 2am and insisted it was time to start the day. I resisted as long as I could but then at about 3, I gave up. I have to get my sleep patterns back in sync and it is difficult because if I am up early, I want to go to bed early because I am tired!!

    The State Department saw TransCanada’s request to suspend the review of the XL pipeline as the blatant “judge shopping” that it is and rejected it. TransCanada is hoping, of course, to get a Republican president in place who will green light what Charlie Pierce calls the “continent-spanning death funnel”. Better to finish the review, deny the permits, and start building the case for its permanent rejection as an environmental and climate change disaster.

    The Paul Ryan honeymoon did not last long! Freedom Caucus leader Jim Jordan says he will shut down the government over Planned Parenthood. Take that, Oh Great Uniter of Clown-suited Nihilists!!

    The White House and congressional leaders, including outgoing speaker John Boehner, last week negotiated a two-year budget deal that raised the debt limit through the rest of President Obama’s tenure and included $112 billion in new spending. But Congress also must pass a bill by Dec. 11 to fund the government, and Democratic leaders already have declared they will reject amendments such as one on Planned Parenthood.

    The amendments are riders that Jordan wants to attach to the continuing resolution and not only include Planned Parenthood but changes to the Affordable Care Act, stopping new EPA rules, and cancelling executive actions on immigration. I am sure that John Boehner is somewhere on a Florida golf course laughing at gavelman and his kumbaya speech.

    See all y’all later!

  14. Good morning Meese

    School today – and after school I come home for a couple hours and then back to campus – a group of students has asked me to talk about Caribbean belief systems about death, reincarnation that do not align with the Christian belief in heaven and hell.

    Should be interesting.

    Scanning the news NY Times has a piece about TPP, salon has a piece about Cruz versus Rubio, and seems like the speculation and intel about the crash of the Russian plane is leaning towards a bomb. I hope they are wrong.

  15. Good morning, Mooseland! Foggy as London here after rain during the night. I have to walk my young neighbor to school in 45 minutes. It’s 58 F. now in NoVa, going up to 78 F., they say.

    A bomb aboard the plane? Well, even if we could afford to travel, that just about puts paid to any ideas thereof. Not going to happen! And on the home front, Bernie has begun to attack Hillary, after saying he wouldn’t do that? I smell desperation.

    The dog peed on our “staged” area rug so Dearly will have to spend the morning cleaning it. In this weather it will take forever to dry. Sometimes I wonder why I wanted a dog.

    Wishing everyone in Mooseland a good day!

    • Ha! The new kittens have targeted shoes and boots to pee on. Yes they use their box, but they seem to have an affection for foot smells.

        • Oh dear. If you haven’t tried it, I’d recommend “Nature’s Miracle” – they have formulas for dogs and cats – enzymes that “eat the odor” and also add a “no pee” scent to the area. Good luck.

          • I second that, I’ve used Nature’s Miracle for many years thru a whole series of training dogs and puppies, and it works great!

  16. Another round of thunderstorms. People are still cleaning up from the Halloween flood – some of them had just got things back in order after the Memorial Day flood; or the other Halloween flood. Or the fires we had over the summer. Sigh.

    And Ben Carson. How can people be impressed with how “brilliant” he is? He’s crazy &/or shockingly stupid. The pyramids as granaries??? Facts aside (you know, the age of them is wrong for the Bible story, they’ve found chambers inside, with burial items, oh and mummies) that doesn’t even make sense. I’ve seen lots of grain silos in my time & not a one of them was pyramid-shaped.

    Ugh. Turning up the music in my head. And I just realized it’s funny that this song is in my head: It’s Beginning To Get To Me by Snow Patrol ( who are finally making a new album). I had it in my head because of:
    I tried to tell you before I left
    But I was screaming under my breath
    You are the only thing that makes sense
    Just ignore all this present tense

    but that title…..

    • Carson is simply batshit crazy. Speaking of crazy – Wonkette has a great piece on the new crazy Gov of Kentucky

      Meet Kentucky’s New Cock-Fightin’ Teabaggin’ Gov. Matt Bevin!
      Read more at http://wonkette.com/595613/meet-kentuckys-new-cock-fightin-teabaggin-gov-matt-bevin#yyjhWQWDHH3jifWP.99

      Kentucky’s a hell of a drug. Extra-crispy wingnut Matt Bevin was too crazy even for Republican primary voters to send him to the Senate in place of RINO Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014, so the whole state decided Bevin is juuuuuuuust right for the governorship.

      We’re not saying outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear was any dream beau or anything; he led Kentucky’s doomed mission to maintain its ban on marriage equality to the very bitter end, even after all the state’s judges and Attorney General Jack Conway — the Democrat who just lost to Bevin, oy — told him that was big fat waste of taxpayer dollars. Beshear is what passes for a Democrat in Kentucky, because Kentucky.

      But Matt Bevin is what passes for cray-cray in Any Town, USA.

  17. Good morning, 42 and cloudy in Bellingham. The leaves are still turning color on our old maple trees, and as they fall the trunk and branch structure of the trees fill my windows. They look so sturdy……how I hope I can keep the trees going for a few more years!

    The carpet cleaners come today so this afternoon will be busy. I hope they can stretch the annoying wrinkle that keeps tripping me. Fortunately our son feels well enough to help us move things around so they can work.

    We had lunch with old friends yesterday, and I was so pleased with the conversation. They no longer watch Faux News (too many lies), they want Trump (and his ugly hat) to go away, and they think HRC is the only presidential candidate prepared for the position so they plan to vote for her! They are listening to Bernie and thinking about what he says so we also talked about our mutual values and how political ideology should not dominate the conversation. I was relieved and pleased with the thoughtful comments and to know they will not vote for the R’s just because “that’s what they do.”

    • That’s really good to hear – I think there are quite a few R’s out there who probably feel their party has left them.

  18. 65 and overcast alternating with drizzle all day long in Fay., AR this 1st Thor’s Day in November. The AR-owned Legislature mandated-move of all our deadlines up (some of them by several months) means everything is piling up on us right now. And that just makes me want to read pootie diaries and tell them to eff off. Our union keeps hoping if we point out how much more work we are doing than 5 years ago for the same salary, they Legislature will raise salaries. Our union is very naive. The Rs take this as a complement and a sign of “good management of tax dollars” not the wage theft it is. sigh.

    Sorry to read Bernie has decided to follow the “bot” strategy. I’d thought better of him than that. Oh well. We got a few wins this year (PA news was great for instance) but it was a non-presidential election. Dems in general just don’t seem to buy the “somebody marched and died for your right to vote, so do it” line of reasoning. They certainly don’t seem to accept that their lack of voting is why we’re in the situation we’re in – they just cite the situation we’re in as a reason not to vote. sigh.

    OK – let’s see if I can get my energy back at least enough to address the former problem, since none of my personal efforts seem to have helped the latter. And take comfort in the fact that next year IS a presidential year and we’ll be able to make a little hay while the sun shines. {{{HUGS}}}

    • The Pennsylvania Supreme Court news was GREAT news … especially since they are the final arbiter of redistricting and will be seated when we redo the CDs in 2021. The last court made a complete hash of it.

      • That’s a whole lot of it – we’ve got to get those districts ungerrymandered to ever have a chance of getting sanity back in Congress. It’s those “safe R” districts that allow the TP nutjobs to shut down the government if they don’t get their way. If they had to worry about re-election, even if Congress was R majority, we’d go back to the old rules of negotiate and do what’s best for the country. I’d prefer a solid Pelosi-run House with a solid oh say E. Warren-led Senate for at least a couple of terms just to clean the mess, but I’ll take sanity.

  19. Afternoon everyone – cloudy and STILL TOO WARM here. We may get a bit cooler starting on Sunday though.

    Jan, that is a wonderful post on “It’s Still Our Time” – like Denise, I wish I could frame it, but I’m certainly going to save it, so well put and spot on. And yeah, bfitz, it does seem Democrats – particularly younger ones – don’t think off year elections are worth getting out of the car to vote in. It’s no wonder the Republicans resist ideas to make it easier to vote – like mail in, same day registration, weeks long voting periods, etc – because the only way they win is if we don’t show up. That has GOT to change in 2016, or it’s going to be very, very ugly.

    Have a great day everyone!

    • It’s still warm enough here for capris & sandals. Which is depressing. But at least it no longer feels like a blast furnace outside. It is most likely safe to exercise outside without a water bottle in your hand.

      • I hear ya. When I was 17 – too young to vote anyway – RFK’s assassination convinced me that voting was worthless. By the time I was actually old enough to vote (21 in those days), I’d recovered. The only elections I’ve ever missed have been school board elections I didn’t know about until too late.

  20. BTW, stay far, far away from GOS unless you like pie fights between popular and respected posters there who happen to support different Democratic candidates. sigh. It’s a mess.

    • That is my default position. :) I decided back in late 2012 that there were too many people there for whom the fighting itself was more important than what they were even fighting over! Life is too short to expend energy on such nonsense. Plus I am a delicate flower!

      The Moose was born out of the 2008 primary wars when a different lefty site became impossible to converse on (Dee knows the specifics) so it is not surprising to hear about enthusiastic opinions on the GOS.

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