Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Jan. 10th through Jan.16th

January 10, 2016 JanF Community 152

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?

…

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.

…

50 Comments

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

    It is 10 degrees in Madison WI, dropping to a daytime high of 7. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  3. Good Sunday morning Meese
    It’s raining here, 41 going up to 56 – But I have no plans to go outside

    News

    Black Lives Matter Co-Founder to Attend State of the Union

    Alicia Garza, one of the founders of Black LIves Matter, will be the guest of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) at President Obama’s last State of the Union address on Tuesday. Garza is a constituent of Rep. Lee’s. The Congresswoman is active on issues of poverty, civil rights and education.

    “Looking forward to welcoming #BlackLivesMatter co-creator, @aliciagarza, as my #SOTU guest. She’s a powerful voice for justice and reform,” tweeted Rep. Lee on Friday.

    More from the article:

    There will be other interesting guests in the visitors galleries on the night of the State of the Union. First lady Michelle Obama will have an empty seat next to her as a statement on gun violence.

    Over the weekend a White House official told NBCBLK on background that President Obama’s final State of the Union will “represent the progress we have made since the President first delivered this speech seven years ago – from the brink of a second Great Depression and two costly wars to an economy that is growing and renewed American leadership abroad.”

    The President’s box will include people he met in 2007 and 2008 while running for office. Two of the President’s guests who will be seated in the First Lady’s box will be Edith Childs and Earl Smith. Childs is a Greenwood County, South Carolina Councilmember who is famous for the Obama campaign chant “Fired up! Ready to go!”

    • My weather channel icon has already lied … it is 6 degrees and the sun is up.

      I was reading about the “anti-poverty” gathering at the Jack Kemp Center for Delusional Republicans, held in South Carolina over the weekend. The GOP presidential hopefuls were all vowing to dismantle all the social safety nets to “encourage people to work”. Sigh. First, there are no jobs and, second, many of those in poverty are children … what are they supposed to do, go out and get different parents? Cutting their food stamps and their healthcare is a recipe for disaster as those children will then suffer from malnourishment and untreated illnesses and will likely become dependent adults. What the hell is wrong with people that they can’t see this??? If 10% of the people on SNAP and TANF and Section 8 housing are somehow gaming the system, touch sh*t! That is no reason to punish the 90% who need it to, quite literally, stay alive. Even if it is 50%, who gives a damn, you can’t just let people starve! Jebbie’s plan:

      The heart of his plan involves ending the current models for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamps, Section 8 rental assistance, and public housing programs.

      I believe it gets replaced by encouraging people to get married.

      • These soi-disant “Christian Republicans” are completely lacking in compassion. Makes one wish that karma would deal with them as they deal with others.

        How does SNAP work, exactly, do you know? For example, do SNAP recipients get little cards that look like debit cards, but if they tried to buy an exotic vegetable like a baking potato or an exotic fruit like strawberries, the transaction wouldn’t go through because the card is programmed not to accept it? And there’s no hope of trading a permitted item for a nonpermitted item like clam juice, is there?

    • Thanks, Denise, I’ll be looking out for the special guests!

      I do hope the Rethugs can bring themselves to be polite this year. I have never, in all my life, witnessed such disrespect shown to the President of the United States, especially during SOTU telecasts. Even old Dubya, the stupidest prez we’ve ever had, was treated better than President Obama.

      I hope President Obama enjoys a long life as a scholar, ex officio senior statesman, and professor, and has the last laugh on the pond scum who derided him and his presidency.

  4. Eating breakfast, watching Up. It is really cold — 33, so I’m wearing pants & wool socks to church. Got to get in the walk I skipped yesterday. And cook for the week, though I’m taking Monday off so that’s not urgent. Might post diary in orange this afternoon.

  5. Good morning, Meese! It’s 54 F. now on a dampish grey morning in NoVa, going up to 57 F. by midday, after which—they assure us—it’s going to get rill, rill cold. This w ill no doubt upset the Washington Unmentionables, who are playing the Green Bay Packers here today.

    There was one encouraging diary on GOS amid all the nasty diaries this morning about HRC’s chances in Iowa. I sweartagoddess, there are people on GOS for whom I’ve lost ALL respect, and I used to think they wrote quite interesting, literate diaries. No more.

    Anyway, in between doing laundry I need to finish my novella. No point in doing a new website if I don’t have a product to advertise. There’s talk in the Pagan Writers Community of putting out an anthology of Pagan short stories, so I might write one for that. When I feel comfortable doing the website I guess I’ll advertise on Craig’s list for someone to meet me at my local Starbucks to help me over the rough bits. I did post a notice on my neighborhood website but didn’t get a response. Problem is, I have to wait until I get paid before I do the website. I’m required to buy the premium version if I want to retain the same URL, which I do.

    Hope it’s a good day for meese everywhere!

    • When I see something like this: “I’m required to buy the premium version if I want to retain the same URL” alarm bells go off for me. A web site name is different from web site hosting and you “own” them separately. The name is yours to take anywhere you want, to any hosting firm, forever. If someone is telling you otherwise, they are not being honest with you. If someone is telling you that to use Joomla(?) you have to buy something very fancy, they are very likely deceiving you. Even at GoDaddy, the GrandDaddy of the cheap web sites, a Joomla capable site is available in the Economy package at less than $7 a month (on sale now).

  6. Good morning, 32 and cloudy in Bellingham. RonK will be watching the Seahawks v Vikings football game this morning, but I think I’ll call the grand girls. I have frozen cookie dough from a fundraiser for our grandson’s wrestling team to deliver, and they are always up for a trip to the mall. That’s not my favorite activity but it’s fun to be with them.

    This column by Danny Westneat, at the Seattle Times makes my head hurt……

    Politicians used to care for their own, but that’s dead

    This past week Congressman Dave Reichert voted to boot about 70,000 of his own constituents off health care. But he didn’t get any flak about it.

    His Washington, D.C., office wasn’t flooded with calls. Nobody even bothered to tweet angrily at him.

    His colleague, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, had it almost as easy. In the same party-line vote on Wednesday to repeal most of Obamacare, she voted to phase out newly acquired health coverage for about 81,300 of her Eastern Washington constituents.

    That’s a huge number of people — 11.3 percent of all the people in her district. The reason there are more folks signed up for the various planks of Obamacare in her district east of the mountains is because the jobless rate is higher over there, and incomes lower.

    In all, the bill to repeal Obamacare would have phased out the system of taxes and subsidies providing health insurance right now to 711,000 Washingtonians.

    He ends with, “So all politics isn’t local anymore. All politics is ideological warfare.” The voting public’s passive acceptance of politicians who do not care about their constituent’s well being worries and puzzles me.

    • I found links to some people who have protested Dave Reichert – seems like much of the focus was on TPP, however.

    • It is like the disgrace in Michigan right now. People expect the government to provide safe drinking water, roads, sewage treatment, garbage pickup, police and fire protection. But now even safe drinking water is an optional government service yet these people are never voted out of office.

      It will be interesting to see what kind of coattails The Donald has and if some of these down ticket folks will get a challenger. Yes, gerrymandering is real but it can be broken when the “expected” enablers stay home and motivated voters go to the polls.

  7. Good day to everyone. Going to be cool all this week here in North Florida, going down to freezing perhaps for a couple of nights – finally some “winter” weather! Having lived in Vermont for several years, it still amuses me to see the big warnings about hours below freezing on the weather here this time of year lol.

    Great diary today on Moral Monday, Dee!

    Not much else to report – made a huge pot of chili yesterday in the crock pot, will feed me for days. I think I’ll take one containe of it, frozen, into school on Thursday for my friend Amy who is working so hard as new Associate Dean, and has Parkinson’s to boot – a meal or two in the freezer should help lighten her load a bit.

    Everyone have a great day!

    • Thanks Sis – could not believe a person who came in whining about pastors – Rev. Barber, MLK, and a host of others walked the walk and talked the talk – that should be applauded.

      • The linkage between religion and Civil Rights often gives me pause because that same religion was also used to “keep the slaves content”. But the black churches were often the only place where black people could gather and in this case the end definitely justified the means. I will never understand the lure of organized Christian religions: the imagery, the out and out misogyny, the power-over of the self-appointed clergy … none of these are appealing to me. But spirituality is personal – the work done by Martin Luther King and William Barber is essential so I overlook the Praise Jesus and focus on the Empower the People.

  8. Good afternoon Meeses. It was 12 at 7:30 this morning. Also overcast with snow flurries. So I rushed around to get all my baking and cleaning done – my friend needs her vacuum cleaner back and I didn’t want to carry it through heavy snow – and the snow stopped and the sun came out just as I was finishing. Somebody’s got a warped sense of humor. :) Water main burst underground down the street so we were without water for a couple of hours – poor maintenance guys had been working on repairs since the 1st one was reported at 3 a.m. – all the rain we had a few weeks back saturated the ground so when the hard freeze came… It’s 23 now and not going to get any warmer (although it’s supposed to reach 32 – I think the supposer transposed some numbers LOL).

    I’m beginning to think we should just send – at least once for every such vote – a letter to them saying, “Away from me to the eternal fires…for I was hungry and you did not feed me.” Just that. Facts – Over 50% of the people on SNAP are kids and something like another 30% are their parents – don’t matter to them. “What you did not do for the weakest, you did not do for me.” That might. Probably not or it already would have, but if they get thousands of letters with just that verse on it, it might sink in.

    Hope everyone has a safe and warm rest of Sunday. {{{HUGS}}}

  10. Good morning, motley meese! Monday …

    My alarm jarred me awake this morning. I have been waking up before the alarm went off for quite some time and apparently the volume got turned up at some point, maybe while dusting. YIKES! I probably knew it was very cold and wanted to stay curled up under the covers.

    It is -6 in Madison on its way up to 14. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    You may thank the Green Bay Packers for keeping the Washington NFL Team from going deeper into the playoffs or, worse, get to the Super Bowl. I was sickened to have to see the offensive logo and the racist name for 3 hours yesterday and hear that name repeated over and over and over again and linked to “football pride” and “history” and “honorable players”. Screw that bs, change the name. It is ugly and is now just a symbol of one man’s ego and stubbornness. It will take a while to shake off the bad vibes.

    Michelle Obama’s guest list for the State of the Union includes a Syrian refugee. So there will be an empty chair for all the victims of gun violence, a poke in the eye to the politicians bought by the gun lobby, and a refugee fleeing oppression, a poke in the eye to the christianist Republicans who refuse to welcome strangers:

    Refaai Hamo, his son and three daughters landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in December, anxious to rebuild their lives. Hamo fled to Turkey from Syria after a missile attack killed his wife and one other daughter. […]

    The White House described Hamo as living the kind of life in Syria that is associated with the American dream. He married his college sweetheart, and they built a life together before a missile tore through the complex he helped design and where his family lived.

    Obama told Hamo through a Facebook posting that, “Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we’re proud that you’ll pursue your dreams here. Welcome to your new home. You’re part of what makes America great.”

    See all y’all later!

    • I understand that some folks are angry (berned up?) at Planned Parenthood for endorsing Hillary Clinton. To me it is a no brainer. The “everything is a direct result of income inequality” meme does cover issues that matter to people. It may be “The Economy, Stupid” but it is also civil rights and reproductive rights and LGBT rights and the right to not get shot in the head by a person who should not own a gun. It is human rights and jailing billionaires and breaking up banks won’t fix that.

      Sorry, I was feeling a bit scorched.

      Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly will be endorsing Hillary later this week.

        • Nutrient density – sweet potatoes have more nutrients per calorie than white potatoes do. It’s one not always appropriate measure of whether you are dealing with “real” food or “junk” food. Under those same rules bread also should not be allowed, especially white bread. A more appropriate rule would be added sugar/sweetner and/or fats – but that would P.O. the entire food “industry” and we can’t have that, can we? (Wish that was snark.) So while the Gov. and ruling Rs in WI are truly evil, they do have at least a nominally scientific rationale for this particular evilness.

          • It’s the idea of being told what kind of potatoes to buy that pisses me off, just as the idea of some old guy who’s never been pregnant telling my granddaughter that she can’t buy birth control pills over the counter pisses me off.

            Anyway, the Irish lived on white potatoes and buttermilk and did quite well until the famine happened. Nothing against sweet potatoes, but I think people should have a choice.

          • Of course they should have a choice – and white potatoes are very healthful. It’s the metric they are using that’s causing that problem. The key issue of course is that they should not be telling people what to eat in the first place. Provide guidelines, absolutely – with the small amount “granted” for the purpose, unless you were brought up to know what’s both cheap and nutritious, you need help. But only allowing what they think poor people should have, that’s another ballgame entirely. Which doesn’t mean I want junk food on the food stamp list – my definition of junk food is the “added sugar” one and those foods should also be taxed – but as far as real food is concerned, make your own choices and pay whatever consequences come from those choices.

      • I don’t usually comment on facebook – or even go there – but I was really pissed off by the flood of the burned who headed over to PP’s page to rant against the endorsement – especially those twits who shouted that they will never send another check to PP.
        How very progressive of them

  12. Hello to all—the Moose is REALLY giving me problems this morning. I suppose the “Sunday Night sweep” was responsible for making me clear all my website data, which means I’ll have to look up passwords for every site I visit today. Had to do that before MM would let me log in.

    Had a look at GOS, where much gloating is going on because apparently Bernie is overtaking Hillary in two small states populated by elderly white people. Try as I might, I am unable to find out when the Virginia Democratic primary is to be held. The Rethugs are voting on Super Tuesday, March 1. Why aren’t both parties participating in Super Tuesday?

    Oh, BTW, it’s brilliantly sunny this morning—what a nice change—and 25 F., going up to 36 F. This morning–writing and gym. Hope it’s a good day for all at the Pond and Beyond!

  13. Eating breakfast & watching the news. I could get used to this 4 day weekend thing. I’m taking my friend to a doctor appointment, then we’re going out to lunch. (speaking of lunch, I have to get lunch together for my 4 day workweek) And I have to walk 9 miles. Full day.

  14. Hi Meeses – it was 16 at dawn. Guess that beats yesterday’s 12. But anyway it’s bright and sunny and supposedly heading for 40+. Yesterday for the first time in 2 months the electricity production was 9.6 KWHs (when the sun came out, it stayed out) which I might even meet or beat today. Headline news from NYT didn’t show anything different than usual – usual in America sux. It sux worse in other places but still. Wish I thought 2016 would “break” the gerrymanders and put sane people in office across the nation. The number of really disconnected people who don’t realize they are giving themselves the shaft when they vote to give “others” the shaft is very disheartening. Well, we do what we can – and if we have to save the little sociopaths to save ourselves, that’s pretty much the core message of practically every spiritual regime (whether or not it’s been “dipped in cement” and turned into a religion).

    Heading off to do some actually work (among other things I need to enter graduate assistant tuition waivers before classes start). Hope everyone has a good day. Stay warm if you can and at least safe if you can’t stay warm. {{{HUGS}}}

  15. Morning all – well still barely morning. It’s finally a cold morning here – well, cold for us, in the 40’s now, got down to low 30’s last night. Pretty normal for us this time of year – I still remember when I first got here in January of 97, coming from Seattle’s biggest snowstorm in years, and used to PNW and Vermont weather, and seeing someone walking around in temps of the high 50’s wearing a down parka!! And I was in a flannel shirt lol. Oh well, 20 years of Florida have thinned my blood, not sure I could take Vermont winters again – I’d love to be a “snowbird” though, spend summer and fall up north somewhere and come back here for the winter. I’ll be investigating that, but probably not financially feasible. So, definitely buying another lottery ticket for Wednesday’s billion dollar Powerball drawing – that’ll do it! lol

    The gloating at GOS over the NH and Iowa polling is getting to me too – I usually take a fast look for diaries I might actually WANT to read, and then I’m out of there. I don’t really see why they’re surprised at PP’s endorsement of Hillary though – it’s not just that she’s a woman candidate, it’s that she’s a woman who has consistently (no matter how the Bernistas at GOS try to spin it) put women’s issues (and children’s) front and center in her concerns and actions. Of course they should endorse her.

    Have a great day everyone – at least it’s sunny and clear here, albeit a bit chilly. Good day to drink coffee and do laundry!

  16. Good morning. 20, clear and frosty in Bellingham. I’m waking up slow and late so I’ve got to hurry to get the car windows scraped and get to the pool, which has a max of 10 people at a time. The next class is nice about letting me linger, but I need to try to be on time.

    My plans to see the girls didn’t work yesterday, so I visited with all the grandkids via text and phone instead. And I moved some things around to make room for Emma’s (Ron’s mom) prized lamps in the living and dining room. He’s glad to see them and will enjoy using them, but I’m still missing her so deeply is is hard for me. I do know she would approve though.

  17. Good morning, meese! Tuesday …

    It is 2 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 7. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Tonight is the State of the Union address, the last one of President Obama’s presidency. I will probably watch it live off CSPAN or maybe stream the White House feed to my TV (I do not want talking heads or commentary). I hope to hell that no one yells “you lie” or shakes their head in disrespect but I will not hold my breath. Someone invited Kim Freaking Davis to be their guest in the gallery!! JHC on a pogo stick!!! First, why would she want to see the president speak; and second, she should be in jail, not honored.

    I will put up a post with the links later. I have to travel today and the roads are snow covered so I am unsure of my schedule. I will probably wait until daybreak to leave which means a later return.

    More of this, please:

    The father of a teenager who used his dad’s gun to kill four classmates and then himself at a Washington state high school was sentenced Monday to two years in prison on firearms charges.

    Raymond Fryberg apologized for his son’s actions in U.S. District Court. He was convicted in September of illegally owning six firearms, including the gun that his 15-year-old son, Jaylen, used in the 2014 school shooting.

    Although I wonder if he would have been charged and sentenced if he had been white instead of Native American.

    See all y’alls later!

  19. Good morning, Meese, it’s 31 F. on a cloudy morning, going up to 44 F. later. We’re expecting rain turning to snow tonight, no accumulation. I don’t think we’ll get any serious snow this winter.

    This morning I’m depressed about my 401(k), which, like everyone else’s, has taken a huge hit; heartsick about what’s happening in Kentucky, where the Rethug government is dismantling KY-nect, the state-implemented version of ACA; and the starvation in Syria. I wish the first-world governments could get food aid to Syria through Oxfam and medical aid through MSF (Medecins sans Frontieres). So far, after reading the news, it hasn’t been a nice day.

    Will endeavor to behave myself, stay off GOS completely, keep on with my Facebook diet (need to write, and now there’s an anthology of Pagan short stories that’s looking for contributions), and go to the gym. That should keep me out of trouble!

    P.S. Didn’t the citizens of Kentucky KNOW what they were doing when they elected a Rethug governor? Didn’t they know they’d lose their ACA health care? Are people really so stupid they can’t connect the two?

    • People riled up by hate – don’t think about their best interests. They only want to ensure that no “others” get anything that haters think they don’t deserve – hence the memes of lazy, moochers…yadda yadda

    • The part they are killing is not the ACA but the web site and exchange programs that catered specifically to Kentucky’s citizens. So they will be moved to the federal website healthcare.gov along with the rest of us who have a balky state government. It will be confusing and will likely result in some people giving up and going without coverage because they can’t figure it out. Strange position for a Republican state government to take: we are turning this essential governmental service over to the feds. Sort of a reverse block grant.

      The governor did back off, so far, on cancelling Medicaid. He is asking for a waiver of some sort related to that but he is going to have to tread carefully. If he kicks people off health care, the hospitals are going to come for his head. It is still illegal to refuse service at an ER and the hospitals will be left holding the bag if he turns away federal money for the poor.

      • Thank you, Jan! I had it wrong. Glad it’s not being dismantled completely but as you say, some will get confused and miss out on coverage altogether. Sometimes I’ve wondered what the quals. are for an ACA navigator—not that I want to be one. I think one has to be a social worker. I’m not going back to college at my age, even if I could afford it, but I have a delightful niece whose little boy will be in school one day, so…

    • Rs in the South and elsewhere look at everything from the point of view that “Rs tell the truth, Dems lie” – so when the Rs said Kynet wasn’t part of Obamacare, it didn’t matter how many other people laughed. And if you want, the Hillary Writers Circle link I posted above – presupposing it works at all – will take you straight to Hillary news diaries without even having to go to the home page.

    • Thanks for that link! I tried to watch it live last night but I need to be able to fast forward through the boring parts. :)

      • Staying up to watch anything these days is hard for me – I am so grateful for videos :)

Comments are closed.