From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Love and Tyranny
Happy Valentine's Day! I tossed some horny goat weed in my Cocoa Puffs this morning and now I'm madly in love with all of you and half the furniture in the house.
Did you know that eight billion of those addictive Sweethearts candies (a fine New England Confectionery Company product) are produced every year? It's TRUE!!! In a tradition we started a few years back, we add to our list of candy heart sayings for modern-day Republicans:
I'D GO GALT FOR YOU
MY LANE CLOSURE OR YOURS?
SORRY. CAN'T. OOPS.
FAUXLIBUST ME
BACKWARD TOGETHER
YOU = 6 ROLEXES
BEST MISTRESS
PRAY AWAY MY GAY?
READY FIRE AIM
TIME FOR SOME HOT SECESSION
SHUTDOWN 4EVER
GET IN MY BINDER, WOMAN
MY GUN IS LOADED
I ♥ 1% OF U
BE MY WHITE SANTA
WHISPER SWEET DO-NOTHINGS
R U A MORAN TOO?
CRAZY FOR YOU
RIDE JESUS' DINOSAUR WITH ME
I'LL DEREGULATE YOU
DRILL ME HERE DRILL ME NOW
TINFOIL 4 EVUH
That's amore.
Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Friday, February 14, 2014
Note: I'm thrilled I get to share my recipe for blizzard stew again. It's so easy. Mix one part snow with two parts snow, bring to a boil, simmer, add two cups of snow and then gently stir in half a tablespoon of snow. In a separate bowl, mix snow, snow, snow and snow, then add mixture to the snow. Add snowballs. Season with snow. Stir until snowy. If you feel daring, toss in a pinch of snow for a dash of "Zing!" Serves several million...whether they want it or not.
-
34 days!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til the ACA enrollment period for 2014 ends:
45
Days 'til the
National Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.:
34
Number of Americans who signed up for a private health insurance plan via the ACA through January:
3,299,492
(Source:
brainwrap)
Percent of Americans who want carbon dioxide regulated as a pollutant:
67%
Percent who want subsidies to the fossil fuel industry to be stopped altogether:
59%
(Source: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication poll)
Amount NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is adding to the
city budget specifically for LGBTQ youth support and runaway prevention:
$1.3 million
Estimated percent of dog owners who plan to give their pooch a Valentine's Day present today:
20%
(Source: National Retail Federation)
Current U.S. Olympic Medal Count
Gold: 4 Silver: 3 Bronze: 6
-
NEW! Michele Bachmann Departure Countdown
Michele Bachmann and her notion that God will repeal Obamacare because Republicans are "His people" will leave Congress in 323 days. Please plan your life accordingly.
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: In Sochi, American skier Gus Kenworthy Wins a gold for saving puppies. USA! USA!
-
CHEERS to a good long wait. In Indiana, the bigots were licking their chops over a voter referendum that would add a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution. All they needed was for their reliable and overwhelmingly Republican legislature to pass the language. They were sure they'd be able to enshrine hatred into their state's how-to manual. And then yesterday it blew up in their face:
In a parliamentary move that spared state senators a tough vote on the measure, the Senate advanced the marriage ban without the "second sentence" ban on civil unions. The House stripped that language from the amendment before passing it last month, and the Senate's decision not to restore the language before voting Thursday means the effort to amend the constitution must start fresh. Even if Indiana's marriage ban clears the Senate on a final vote Monday, it would have to be debated again in the next biennial session, 2015-16, before it could appear before voters.
I admit it---I really, really hate arcane procedure that gums up the works. Right up until the moment I really, really love it.
P.S. I swear I can't go to bed anymore without wondering if a federal judge is going to strike down a gay marriage ban in another state while I'm asleep. Congratulations, Virginia. Even though a stay was issued pending appeal, you've still made Tony Perkins very sad. Yippee!!!
Bad 'Merica! Bad!
WhapWhapWhap!
JEERS to today's least-surprising
opening sentence in an environmental news story:
The natural gas system in the United States is leaking far more methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, into the air than official estimates say, according to research released Thursday.
The natural gas industry says it will make all the leaks go away by using a method they like to call disappearing all the research released Thursday.
CHEERS to women on the move. On this date in 1920, the group that Republicans today call "that damned nuisance"---The League of Women Voters---was founded in Chicago under the direction of president Maud Wood Park. It still amazes me how hard women had to fight for basic equality in the land of "Liberty and justice for all." Guys: tonight you cook.
CHEERS to a little patch of real estate to call your own. The exhibition hall and Town Square at the Netroots Nation convention (Detroit July 17-20) has been designated one of the best in America for several years running, in part because every year the organizers offer up plots of free booth space for patriotic, freedom-loving vendors. On Wednesday Linda Lee---BCO gal here at Daily Kos---fired the starter pistol on the 2014 "Grab A Booth" contest:
Starts in 153 days.
-
In an effort to bring in new community organizations that might have fewer resources, we will offer six free booths in this year’s Town Square. The top three vote-getters in our online contest will automatically get a booth in the Hall. The rest of the entrants will go through a second round where a panel of judges will decide, based on merit, which three entrants will receive the last three spots. And to sweeten the deal, the top three vote-getters will also receive two comped registrations each to Netroots Nation.
It's open to "non-profit c3 and c4 organizations and qualified small businesses who haven't exhibited at YearlyKos/Netroots Nation yet." Submissions will be accepted through Monday, February 24th and voting starts the 25th.
Click here for more information and the entry form. If you have questions, questions or even questions, email Linda via
exhibits [at] netrootsnation.org. Please note that the promise of nudity doesn't automatically mean you'll win. And I have seven years of losing entries to prove it.
Griswold vs. Lyon
(aka Cane vs. Tongs)
JEERS to incivility. On tomorrow's date in 1798, the House of Representatives was the site of the
first congressional brawl, when much knocking of noggins occurred after the hurling of insults followed by Rep. Matthew Lyon spitting in Roger Griswold’s face. Then…
"He in a trice struck Lyon thrice
Upon his head, enrag'd sir,
Who seiz'd the tongs to ease his wrongs,
And Griswold thus engag'd, sir."
Yes, fireplace tongs were a weapon of choice. Shortly after, the chamber voted unanimously to start calling sessions to order by just banging a gavel on a desk instead. But, hey, the old way was fun while it lasted.
Named after the
GOP's new slogan.
CHEERS to home vegetation. Here’s some of the haps on the teevee this weekend, starting with tonight's edition of HBO's
Real Time, when Bill Maher sorts things out with Bill Nye, Dylan Ratigan, Jeremy Scahill, actress Mayim Bialik, and sociologist Eric Klinenberg. New DVD releases include
All is Lost, Ender's Game and Ridley Scott's
The Counselor. Team USA will win 132 medals this weekend (but yay to all you other countries who will win the other five!) The NBA schedule
is here and the NHL schedule
is here. On
Bill Moyers & Company, part two of Bill's interview with
The Wire creator David Simon and a chat with constitutional scholar Lawrence Lessig on his "185-mile trek in New Hampshire to raise awareness of the crippling problem of corruption in American politics." And here's your Sunday morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Is it me, or is Mitt Romney acting a lot like a guy who's planning to run for president again? Maybe Dancing Dave will ask him! Plus: Bill Nye talks about climate change, and because there always has to be an idiot from the other side, GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee sits in to provide a steady "Duhhhhhh" in the background. Brian Boitano and Andy Cohen talk about gay non-rights in Russia.
Kevin Spacey gives everyone
at "This Week" a tingle up the leg.
This Week: Kevin Spacey on the new season of House of Cards; roundtable that includes Peggy Noonan so steer clear of it if you want to maintain your present IQ.
Face the Nation: Former American Meteorological Society president Marshall Shepherd on weird weather; Tea party knucklehead Jim DeMint on getting his Heritage Foundation ass handed to him this week by John Boehner and Mitch McConnell; football star Michael Sam’s coming out is discussded by his publicist Howard Bragman, Cyd Zeigler of OutSports.com, USA Today NFL columnist Jarrett Bell and current NFL free agent Donté Stallworth; roundtable with Neera Tanden (CAP), Bob Woodward (well past his sell-by date), Jennifer Rubin (Nutso), David Sanger (NYT) and John Harris (Politico).
CNN's State of the Union: This weekend it's Candy Crowley's turn to babysit John McCain while Cindy goes shopping; Steve Forbes breaks a staredown record by not blinking for an entire segment as he spars on economics with the intellectually-superior Austan Goolsbee.
Fox GOP Talking Points Sunday: Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Karl Rove engage in worthless speculation about 2016 because I guess there actually is a limit to Benghazi fever on Fox News; roundtable with George Will, Kimberly Strassel, Charles Lane and Kirsten Powers.
Happy viewing!
-
Five years ago in C&J: February 14, 2009
CHEERS to dog-whistle politics. Last night in Springfield, Illinois, President Obama gave a short speech to commemorate Lincoln's 200th birthday, and he inserted a little shoutout to another famous bearded dude:
"On this date it is also the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth. It's worth a moment to pause and renew that commitment to science and innovation and discovery that Lincoln understood so well."
Most people simply heard a brief and eloquent tribute to a prominent naturalist. But progressives heard, "Creationism is dead and buried for the foreseeable future." There will be no visiting hours and no service. In lieu of flowers, feel free to spit on the grave.
-
And just one more…
CHEERS to perfection. Sid Caesar, with Imogene Coca, proving that timing is everything and once again making it look so easy…
Sid Caesar was so talented and funny and influential that he'll always stand up to the highest standard comedy ever had: he was the Sid Caesar of Sid Caesars.
Have a great weekend! Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-