Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: July 5th through July 11th

July 5, 2015 JanF Community 136

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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54 Comments

  1. Good morning, Motley Meese! The week begins …

    It is 62 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 85. Sunny skies are in the forecast.


    What are you reading on the Internets these days?

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. CSpan video: Voting Rights and the 14th Amendment

    Panelists talked about how the end of the Civil War led to the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and eventually the 15th Amendment, which gave African American males the right to vote. The also spoke about the politics behind the amendments and how voting has evolved in America.

    • The article that Richard Kreitner (The Nation) was referencing provides some interesting historical information:

      The founders’ [3/5’s rule] compromise gave the South up to thirty “slave seats” in Congress, enabling the region’s viselike grip on national affairs right up to the Civil War. With the abolition of slavery, however, “all other Persons” would now count in full for the purposes of congressional representation, even if not a single freed slave had the right to vote. Allied with Northern Democrats sympathetic to the Confederate cause, the South would have enough seats to control both houses of Congress. “All they needed to do was delay and stall” until the 1870 census, Garrett Epps writes in Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post–Civil War America, when “once again the Slave Power would be the dominant force in national affairs.” With a confirmed racist in the White House—“This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men,” a paper quoted [Andrew] Johnson as saying in 1866—delaying reform would not be difficult. The successful campaign to abolish slavery would have the effect of significantly increasing the slave states’ power in Congress, perhaps to the point of allowing them to restore their “peculiar institution,” in effect if not in name.

      The article talks about how difficult it was going to be to get the Fourteenth Amendment ratified based on the history:

      Once it became apparent that the all-white state governments set up by President Johnson did not plan to grant African-Americans even minimal civil-rights protections, Congress took over the revolution it had sought to effect in Southern politics and society. With the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, Republicans imposed military rule on the Southern states and required them to draw up new constitutions, ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, and grant black men the right to vote—still denied them in much of the North.

      The author is recommending that pro-voting rights Democrats talk about the enforcement of Section 2 of the 14th Amendment which would punish states that disenfranchise by reducing their congressional representation:

      Enforcing Section 2 would neither end the latest infringements on voting rights nor immediately reverse the balance of power in the House. But it would contextualize voter-ID laws and related policies within a broader project of voter suppression that’s as old as the restored Union. The provision was designed, as one of its supporters argued, for a future in which Congress refuses to enforce voters rights, so that disenfranchising states, in the interim, would “not have the benefit of their wrongdoing.” A gift from the Radical Republicans of 1866 to the radical democrats of today, Section 2 should figure prominently in the 2016 platform of any candidate or party committed to protecting the right to vote.

  3. Wow, you’re up early on a Sunday morning, Jan! Hello there. ‘Tis a gray and foggy morn here in NoVa, 63 F. at the moment, going up to 85 F. later. Looking out my office window, I can see fireworks debris in the middle of the cul-de-sac. Went to the block party last night but didn’t stay to watch the fireworks—the cold I’m nursing made me feel too ill. Besides, I hate loud noises.

    Haven’t had time to study the news in depth this morning. Plan to watch the Formula I race later and of course the U.S. women against Japan at 5 p.m. We watched most of the England-Germany match yesterday, but then had to leave for the party.

    Hope everyone in the Pond and beyond will have a good day!

    • I normally don’t set my alarm and coffeepot on Sunday mornings but it was my plan to get up early and get some work done because yesterday I was not very productive. When the alarm went off, I regretted having the coffeepot set because it meant I had to get up or I would waste a pot of coffee.

      The dog was not happy about the fireworks and neither was I! Is it really necessary to shoot them off at midnight???

      I watched the soccer game off my DVR because we were out yesterday afternoon. Sadly, I did not add a long enough extension because it ran into overtime. I was able to see the penalty kick that won the game but not the celebration at the end. :( Today I will watch the U.S. v Japan match live.

      I haven’t even looked at the news! I know that Greece is voting today but I am not sure that I understand the ramifications of the Yes and No votes. I do know that what is happening is the direct result of austerity policies. I am glad that President Obama refused to go along with the conventional “wisdom” that we needed to cut deficits rather than stimulate the economy after the banksters crashed the global economy. Even though the stimulus was too small (and unnecessarily delayed the recovery) it was better than what happened in most European countries.

      Good news out of Wisconsin as the Republican Thugs in the legislature snuck a provision to repeal our Open Records law into the omnibus budget bill. The four Democrats on the Joint Finance Committee found it and raised the alarm. Even right-wingers and our teabag Attorney General were angry about it. Walker backed down (intimidated again!!) and they pulled the provision. It was amazing for me to see Milwaukee right-wing talk radio hosts, the guys who created Scott Walker, go after him!! I think that when Mr. 6% announces his presidential candidacy in 8 days that he will find that the clown car has sped past him, leaving him stranded by the side of the road. We (WI!) are stuck with Walker until at least 2018 but it will be fun to have a front row seat to watch his campaign circle the drain. Schadenfreude!!

  4. Up for my Sunday group even though my upstairs neighbors decided to build/move furniture at 10pm last night. Really alarmingly loud bangs – I thought it was someone at my door. Must down pre-workout food, be back later.

  5. Good morning Meese

    I stuffed myself yesterday at the BBQ and will do the same today

    My poor dogs are nervous wrecks from the neighborhood fireworks.

    Thanks for the Richard Kreitner piece and voting rights links Jan.
    Off to eat breakfast and then prepare for babysitting my Sunday piece,

    Seeya later

    • The Krietner piece is from earlier this year (I think I scanned it when it was first posted) but I found it interesting for the history. I want to understand more about Reconstruction and that pretty clearly laid out why we needed it: the South could have, quite literally, risen again by counting former slaves as free persons but denying them the right to vote. Not much different than what the Southern states are doing now, especially in Texas. The Supreme Court will be taking up at least one voters rights case next term and I don’t trust them to do the right thing. We really need a president who makes voting rights a priority. Not just “getting money out of elections” but getting partisan politics out of deciding who the electors are.

      • Yes – we get counted toward electoral clout but don’t count for votes when disenfranchised

        That’s one of the things that bothered me about inmates being counted in rural areas of NYS – prison gerrymandering – which we have finally corrected

        • Interesting! So they counted the prison populations (filled with people who can’t vote) when figuring out districts? I guess this is part of the premise of the Evenwel case that SCOTUS will be taking up next term. The plaintiffs want to create districts by way of counting voting population rather than census population. Of course, their intent is to stop allowing Texas to count the brown babies … not yet voters but surely impacted by the decisions of the legislature; the result is no one representing them and advocating for their needs.

          Section 2 of the 14th Amendment specifically created an exclusion for “participation in rebellion, or other crime” which is part of what led to the felon disenfranchisement. I can understand why you would not want people who are actively incarcerated vote but the wording of that provision suggests that a convicted person’s “debt” to society is pretty much paid NEVER. Grossly unfair.

  6. 3.3 hilly miles – not the evil hill of death that is Smokey Valley (why would you want to live on a street where you’d need to put your car in 3rd gear just to go to the grocery store?) just regular hills this week — backwards, sideways, sideways twisting…. 690 calories. Nice day at church. Now to cook potato soup. After a rest. Could clear out the dvr; or Stargate is on. James Spader as a sweet, nerdy…. well, nerd. I wonder which is the closer to the real guy — this one sweet guy he played or all the bad (and sometimes terrifying) ones? I’d like to think he’s nice. Of course, as a former preschool teacher, raised by a preschool teacher, whose parents were teachers…. I’m definitely predisposed to want to see everyone as nice.

  7. Greetings to the Pond. Some minor setbacks but tomorrow is another day. Have had a lot of company for which I am very grateful but really need to sleep hope it’s a perfect summer day for all

  8. 86 with heat index of 99 this Sunday afternoon in Fay., AR – got most of my Sunday list checked off. Baked cocoa-walnut muffin bread for breakfast and coffee breaks next week, 5 weeks’ worth of breakfast sausage grilled (4 weeks’ of which are the freezer) and while I had the electric grill out (and dirty) grilled 2 weeks’ worth pork sirloin chops, and a potato-green bean salad so I don’t even have to steam veggies this week :) – and my Sunday cleaning done as well. Also laundry this week. If I ever break down and buy a dryer it will not be due to having to hang things indoors in nasty weather, it will be so I’m not a movable feast for the mosquitoes and noseeums in the summer time! I’m dreading going back outside in another hour to get the clothes off the line. I itch enough already.

    Although I could seriously do without the fireworks – especially the ones that rattle my windows – I always like the 4th. It’s a day to remember what our goal is and how far we’ve come from where we started. The rest of the year I can – and do – deplore how far short we still are and that sometimes we slide back a few, or more, feet, but on the 4th I like to turn my eyes back to the prize. It’s a worthwhile one, as I used to remind my students back when I was teaching 9th grade, very much worth working for.

    I hope everyone’s weekend is going well and the holiday mood is uplifting, if nothing else. Still sending healing energy to Portlaw and anyone else who wishes to bask in it. Remember – you heal while you sleep, so take naps. :)

    • You were busy! I found myself feeling very lazy this weekend and will face quite a daunting to-do list tomorrow morning.

      Oh well!

      Now, World Cup pre-match coverage … see you!

      • Most of it is my normal Sunday routine – laundry is every other week and the sausage grilling is every 5 weeks or so (3 lb sausage made into 36 patties) and I always try to have something grill-able for dinners when I do the sausages since cleaning the grill is a pain and I want to use it as much as I can before I go to the trouble. But the rest is every Sunday preparation for the following week. But then, I’m currently single and live alone. When I was raising kids there was no way I could run this kind of routine. :) Enjoy the game.

  9. Good morning, meesers!! Monday …

    It is 67 degrees in Madison on its way up to 83. Afternoon thunderstorms in the forecast.

    USA USA USA! U.S. Women’s soccer team defeated Japan 5 to 2 in the World Cup, their first World Cup win since 1999. The first 4 goals (3 by Carli Lloyd) were scored in the first 15 minutes. The match was over before most people had sat down in front of their TV with their snacks and beverages! One of Lloyd’s goals was off a shot from 54 yards out that (obviously) the goalkeeper did not expect.

    The Greek people have voted overwhelmingly to reject the new austerity regime that the German banksters want to impose on them. The Greek government has been given a mandate to either come to new terms or leave the Eurozone. It was interesting watching the conversation on Twitter and to read the scathing comments about Germany who, as the holder of most of the debt, is being raked over the coals. Apparently after both world wars (that Germany started), they received significant debt forgiveness from other nations who did not want to make life miserable for the German people. Some folks think that they should be willing to cut Greece some slack. It is interesting that Europe shares a common currency but are really not “all in this together”. It’s easy, I guess, to impose misery on people who you owe nothing to and who can’t vote you out of office.

    Time to put together my to-do list … see all y’alls later!!

  10. Good morning meeses from my iPhone , Hope it’s going to be a fine day for all. Thanks to jam for this discussion on Greece and germany

    • It’s not very smart what the European “Union” is doing. Greece is like a person who can only make minimum payments on their credit card. All of their earnings go to pay interest on the debt (right into the coffers of international banksters) and none of it goes towards new purchases that might fuel the economic engine. So you will never pay down your debt or have the means to spend your way out of tough economic times. Stupid and shortsighted.

  11. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s 73 F. here in NoVa on yet another gray, humid morning. Our local forecaster says it’s like a rain forest today with the heat and humidity. Going up to 80 F. later with thunderstorms. My poor Miss Pink Cheeks and her cousin will never get to have a splash party in their big pool on our patio at this rate!

    Still delirious after the USA’s win over Japan: still stunned by four goals in the first 16 minutes of the game, especially that tremendous kick from mid-field by Carli Lloyd! It’s a well-deserved win and I was extremely pleased to see so many men in the stands. As a rule, women’s sports are thought to be second-rate, but evidently not this time.

    Other than that, I guess Miss Pink Cheeks and I will either refresh the lavender sachets in the house with new lavender today, or make ice cream in a Ziploc bag. That would come under the heading of “scientific experiments,” I’m sure. :)

    I’m afraid I cannot add anything to the Greece and Germany discussion. I don’t think going to the euro was a good idea.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!

    • The Tweets from the USA v Japan game were fun. Here’s one:

      Melissa McEwan ‏@Shakestweetz
      “You play soccer like a girl.”
      “Why thank you!”
      #USWNT

      • Yeah, I was glued to Twitter all yesterday. I loved this:

        Ana Marie Cox ‏@anamariecox 13h13 hours ago

        What I’m gathering is that scoring a goal from midfield is “playing like a girl.”

  12. This is going to be a weird work week. Work today, off tomorrow & Wednesday, back Thursday (maybe — I can take that off, too) and work Friday.

    Eating breakfast & drinking tea. Got City of Blinding Lights in my head. Good for a Monday after a 3 day weekend.

  13. Good Monday morning Meese

    68 and damp here – my old bones ache.

    Think I will take a break today from the puter.

    Hope everyone is well, and Portlaw’s rehab is coming along.

    Dee

    • Rest your weary bones! I am finding it more and more difficult to sit at a computer for long periods of time. That is probably not a good thing considering that I will need to work for at least 5 more years.

      As far as the news and the lefty blogs, a break from them is probably a good idea. I was surprised at the vitriol coming from some camps – it seems a bit early in the process. Although I suppose that it is important to make a big splash otherwise you will be lost in the noise. I saw a few Twitters talking about Martin O’Malley’s campaign and it startled me: I forgot he was running! The nomination will be between Hillary and Bernie. O’Malley won’t gain traction from his anti-bankster rhetoric (Bernie has that one) and his pro-tough-policing rhetoric was doomed from the start. The nominee will be one who not just connects with minority voters but connects with their white allies. I noticed that Hillary will be speaking to the Urban League later this month and also the National Council of La Raza. I understand that the Urban League speech will be a major speech on race. We need someone willing to focus on that even if it means fewer white votes. My guess is that white people who are upset by that are not likely Democratic voters anyway and that they will vote against her for other reasons.

      • and here I go with my former preschool teacher thing: I like everybody! Can’t we all get along? I can like Hillary without hating Bernie — or vice-versa. How about let’s do the hokey-pokey? That always ends with everyone on the ground giggling, which is great.

        • I was never particularly a fan of the Hokey-Pokey – mostly because I wasn’t a fan of everybody on the ground giggling (fine if you’re young enough but not so good if you’re not as limber as Gumby)- but I am 100%, maybe 200%, in favor of everybody getting along. I support Hillary but I like Bernie fine. I just like him best where he is. (In 2008 I first supported Edwards – partly because of his message but mostly he was the only person in the race who wasn’t already in a needed position somewhere.)

  14. Good morning, 66 and sunny in Bellingham, headed to the 80’s again. I’m grateful for the cool evening breeze from the bay as it cools everything down.

    It was a busy but fun weekend with the family. RonK organized a hike yesterday morning and I kept the grand dogs busy. Finn, our Seattle daughter’s rescue dog, is making great progress with his fearful aggression, but he still needs to be the only dog and each new person he meets has to be carefully introduced so his care is a big responsibility. And Maggie, Heide and Peneolpe just played so hard they were exhausted. So was I, so keeping dogs separate and happy and napping was all I did yesterday. I even forgot to check in!

    Happy 6th of July everyone!

    July 4, 2015 | by princesspat2012

    • I knew you had company so I did not worry (too much)!

      Lovely arrangement! I think I know why your photos are not showing. You should use the “direct link” not the “html view” if you want to share a photo. Otherwise you end up with what you had there (until I fixed it): a link to your photo page.

      • I’m not seeing a photo at all so I must be doing several things wrong. I’ll try again.

        Hmmmm, still nothing…..where do I find the “direct link”

        • Let me see if I can figure out how to find a direct link from Flickr. I use Photobucket and it is clearly labeled “Direct Link”.

  15. 79 at the moment in Fay., AR (heat index 85) with possible rain this afternoon and/or overnight. We shall see. If not, I’ll need to water soon. Young nursery stock can only take so much heat without extra water. New Chair wants weekly “check in” meetings, at least until we’re more used to each other/each others’ work routines. First one this morning went very well. I think better for the secretary than me as she’s been really stressed out lately but hides it better – until she blows up. Getting the lead time we need to actually do our jobs efficiently was the number one topic of this meeting.

    Hurrah for the soccer-playing women of America! Good to see us number one in something that is actually good for a change :) Hope everybody’s Monday goes well. {{{HUGS}}}

  16. Good morning, meese! Tuesday …

    It is 61 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 71. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast. We had storms come through yesterday bringing in a cool front. We just got the rain but people in the northeastern part of the state got some high winds and possibly a tornado.

    The state Senate in South Carolina voted 37 to 3 to take down the confederate battle flag and move it to a museum. There is one more reading and vote today then it goes to the House. For those following this story, it is a bit too early to celebrate. The bill in the House faces a more difficult passage (apparently “taking down the flag” has gotten this far in the past, only to die in the House plus Rev. Pinckney was a Senator, so there is some deference towards “one of their own”). The House will take a series of votes then it will come back to the Senate one more time before it goes to the governors desk. People need to keep South Carolina’s feet to the fire. One NO vote is not enough … the flag has to come down.

    Sasha Obama with the Bidens and Mia Hamm at the World Cup:

    Apparently (so far) Greece’s No vote has not rattled the markets. There is still time for that to happen depending on what the Germans decide to do. I don’t have much confidence that “keeping a country’s people from starving” will win out over “making sure that banksters can buy more car elevators”. :(

    See all y’all later!

  17. Morning Meese
    71 here in the Catskills going up to 82 with rain. Will be back later – I have to finish writing for today.

    • Will you have a crosspost for the moose?

      I had a chance to take a peek at the DK5 beta and dug around in the source code. It looks like they removed all the user controllable html code from diaries and comments and are using straight WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). That will make crossposting challenging, to say the least. When you paste any html code into a diary, for example, something that you had previously written and saved offline, it will immediately turn it into visual text and the html will disappear … poof! The question is whether the visual will copy and paste with the underlying html instructions. I will have to start a diary there to test it and will try to do that at some point soon.

      I am trying to understand why making it more difficult to crosspost from DK would be desirable (maybe it was just an unintended result?). But I am glad now that I took the time to port all the political diaries I composed there to my own blog. It may soon be impossible to do that.

      The new format appears to be using WordPress (just like the Moose!) but with a custom theme. Many other websites use WP including ThinkProgress and Wonkette. Those use a custom theme, though, as I am sure that DK will because the out-of-the-box themes won’t do a lot of what users are accustomed to. One thing I was laughing about was that they have decided to keep the avatars and the cartoonish emoticons … an unnecessary and distracting cluttering of the screen that I turned off here pretty much right away. It will be interesting to watch it evolve.

      • no crosspost today because the formatting will be too difficult – I have quite a few photos that need to be right-justified – and need labels

        I still can’t figger out how to do it here – sorry Jan but till we can talk and you can walk me through this stuff we may not have any of the more complicated BkTC posts.

        I’m writing about campaign staffing – the hire of people of color. Today am looking at Hillary campaign staffers of color.

        • I read the diary. The comments were … instructive. :)

          I grabbed your diary source code and it copied as-is and appears to be displaying properly in Preview. I think that is the part that we need to sort out … that first step. By the way, I am not sure if we have a problem with the DK image library photos … it is possible that on an as-is copy, you can continue to use it (I think the problem we had last week was related to how the copy had been done). They are working in preview, anyway!

          If you want to finish and post, it is in your Dashboard, Posts with the title “Dee’s Post – July 7”

  18. Good morning, Meese! It’s 71 F. here in NoVa, going up to 90 F., and it did not rain yesterday. This morning it looks gray and ugly. I hate weather like this—it should either rain or look pretty, don’t care which.

    Although I started taking cold meds and getting extra rest as of last Friday, last night I lost my voice and this morning have a sore throat and achy head. It’s rotten getting one cold after another. Today I’ll have to wear a mask to take care of the children. Wish I could stay in bed but that is not possible. Wishing everyone a good day and continued healing progress for Portlaw.

  19. Tnanks for this and best wishes for Diana. I am making progress from my set backs and, hurrah, the Doppler came back negative!! Hope to start next week back home. Will check in later for news of the pond and beyond

  20. Eating breakfast at home, watching the news & Le Tour. There was a huge crash yesterday & the race leader is out with 2 cracked vertebrae. I think 7 all together are out after yesterday. And today they’re riding on cobblestones — and there’s a 100% chance of rain. So the guys who are banged up are going to be in so much pain today.

    Charging up my kindle – 4 hours at the dermatologist. Taking a backup paperback. My only worry is the shots, I’m a total baby about shots — yes, I know that’s what numbs so the scraping won’t hurt, doesn’t help. I’ll be fine, just a few moments of discomfort.

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