Motley Moose – Archive

Good morning, Moosekind. TGIF! Hope it has been a good week for everyone.

Utah is one of the remaining states still “undecided” about Medicaid Expansion.  Utahns For Medicaid Expansion,  chaired by a doctor in private practice (Ray Ward) has taken on the task of organizing us to support Medicaid Expansion despite our do-as-little-as-possible governor and totally useless legislature.  

Privilege has its privileges …

Rep. Trey Radel To Take Leave Of Absence, Get Treatment

Just hours after pleading guilty on Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of cocaine possession, Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL) announced that he would take a leave of absence from Congress and seek treatment to deal with his problems.

After entering his guilty plea in Washington, D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, Radel was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and ordered to pay a $250 fine to a victims’ compensation fund. If he successfully completes the probation, the court would then dismiss the case.

Read More: Pelosi Takes Shot At GOP Food Stamp Policy After Radel Drug Charge

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Tuesday that she hoped drug charges against Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL) could “humanize” Republicans’ approach to food stamps.

Speaking at a BuzzFeed Brews event, Pelosi noted that when Radel allegedly purchased cocaine from an undercover federal agent on Oct. 29, the buy came “on the heels of the Republicans voting to make sure that everybody who had access to food stamps was drug tested.”

Good news from Massachusetts …

Massachusetts State Senators Approve Nation’s Highest Minimum Wage

The Massachusetts state Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $11 an hour and ensure future automatic increases tied to inflation. If it were to pass the state House and be signed into law by the governor, it would be the highest state minimum wage in the country.

Federal lawmakers have pushed for a minimum wage hike for the whole country, with President Obama recently coming out in favor of a $10.10 an hour wage, something that Democrats introduced in March but was unanimously shot down by Republicans.

A federal hike enjoys strong support, with one poll showing 80 percent in favor of a raise to $10.10, including two-thirds of Republicans, and another showing 76 percent support a $9 wage, including nearly 60 percent of Republicans.

Bad News for the Currently Hungry: Food Stamp Cuts Leave Rural Areas, And Their Grocers, Reeling

(More news under the fold …)

Interrogatories

It’s False Confession Day! Tell us something really good that you didn’t really do.

You can tell we’re in the lead up to Thanksgiving. What kind of stuffing do you like? Do you prefer it cooked in or outside of the bird?

Do you smoke? If not, did you ever? How hard was it to quit? (this could be a repeat question)

It is also Use Less Stuff Day. If you combine the first two words, you get Useless Stuff Day. Do you have any Useless Stuff to get rid of? What’s keeping you?

Bonus question stolen from Chris Hayes’ show last night: If you were President, who would you give the Presidential Medal of Freedom to?

The Twitter Emitter

The only groups that want to repeal Obamacare are whites and Republicans, or — as the GOP calls them — everyone. http://t.co/ro8lORGbzg

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) November 20, 2013

When Trey Raydel drops his rap album I hope he calls himself MC White Privilege.

— Shugah (@Shugah) November 20, 2013

Pssst, America? You're actually allowed to do Small Business Saturday on Black Friday.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 20, 2013

Obamacare is Stalin's Waterloo. (did I get that right?)

— Frank Vdl (@fvdlfvdl) November 20, 2013

Paul Ryan: "My proposal will end poverty by eliminating food stamps and Medicaid so the poor will start businesses with money from parents."

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) November 20, 2013

what do you call a sleep walking nun? a roamin' Catholic.

— Shayera Tangri (@shayera) November 21, 2013

No cats received a Presidential Medal of Freedom today. A travesty.

— The Fucking Cat (@TheFuckingCat) November 21, 2013

I can't be partisan, I have a Republican friend. #Proof #UniteBlue

— GOPathetic (@GOPathetic) November 21, 2013

Rep. Trey Radel isn't a hypocrite for voting to make food stamp recipients take drug tests– he was high and didn't know what he was doing.

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) November 21, 2013

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

Interrogatories

Who or what do you nominate for most absurd for today’s National Absurdity Day?

Have you named your PC (or Mac or whatever you have)? What is it? Have you named any other devices or household appliances?

Have you named your car? (I thought of a really personal one I could ask the guys, but I politely refrained.)

What company do you use for your phone? Cable? How awful are they?

Have you ever had an out of body experience?

The Twitter Emitter

George Zimmerman just learned that assaulting someone who's not black can get you arrested, like, right away.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 18, 2013

Not saying the market for #Bitcoin has peaked, but Manti Te'o sold all his this afternoon

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 19, 2013

Gettysburg Address is just the same old partisan slavemaster blaming from the 1860 campaign. Lincoln needs to reach across the aisle.

— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 19, 2013

@CRobertBuchanan @KagroX Come on guys, lay off Walmart. They open at 6 on Thanksgiving, so it's not like their employees get to eat anyway.

— Spencer Windes (@spencerwindes) November 19, 2013

Was going to have a beer but I was afraid of becoming an alcoholic so I did a pound of cocaine instead.

— TBogg (@tbogg) November 19, 2013

My Dad isn't "testing" you, He's fucking with you. There's a difference.

— Jesus Christ (@Jesus_M_Christ) November 19, 2013

I am looking forward to 6pm Thanksgiving Day when Walmart opens its doors for its annual sale of trampled human corpses.

— God (@TheTweetOfGod) November 19, 2013

I have a feeling the GOP may regret that the only minority they did any outreach to in 2013 was George Zimmerman.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) November 20, 2013

George Zimmerman: "I no longer feel safe around women now the judge has taken my guns away."

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 20, 2013

Good morning, Moosekind.

The common Moose, Alces alces, unlike other members of the deer family, is a solitary animal that doesn’t form herds. Not so its rarer but nearest relative, Alces purplius, the Motley Moose. Though sometimes solitary, the Motley Moose herds in ever shifting groups at the local watering hole to exchange news and just pass the time.

photo of 1977 Marie Laveau painting by Charles Massicot Gandolfo  




Every year in two of my classes, I introduce students to the living history of Voudou-the religion, and its role in shaping the Caribbean island of Ayiti (Haiti) as well as in the Caribbean basin area of the U.S. in Louisiana-from Baton Rouge down to New Orleans.

In women’s studies, I include the myths and legends, as well as modern interest in Marie Laveau, known to practitioners and tourists as Queen Marie. Most of the students have been completely unfamiliar with her, and with the history and the roles of free women of color in Louisiana and throughout the south.  

This year, much to my surprise, most students knew the name Marie Laveau (sometimes spelled Leveaux) simply because of a pop culture FX series “American Horror Story: Coven” which most of them have seen.  

Interrogatories

What, if anything, would you like to be Supreme Commander of?

Do you have any desire to go into space?

Do you own any original artwork? What kind?

Did you ever give or receive an animal as a gift?

Did you hitchhike?

The Twitter Emitter

#ThatAwkwardMoment when Walton family wealth tops $100B and Walmart starts asking for donations to feed its employees http://t.co/HPDDE5Wjde

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 19, 2013

Liz Cheney campaign announces she and her sister "going on a hunting trip to patch up their differences."

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) November 19, 2013

Kickstarter to fire the Geico advertisement team into space

— Chris Jackson (@ChrisCJackson) November 17, 2013

Nice try with the fall colors, trees. If you want me to look at you, you better start displaying Twitter updates.

— Tim Siedell (@badbanana) November 17, 2013

Rush Limbaugh, who paid a married gay man millions to sing at his 4th wedding, is warning how gays will destroy marriage.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 17, 2013

Republicans want to "fix" ObamaCare the same way they fixed Iraq.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) November 15, 2013

Rafael Cruz, Sr: "Black voters are uninformed." Sarah Palin: "Yes, they don't even know the meaning of the word slavery." #GOP #insanity

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 14, 2013

Why can't Obama give answers in 140 characters or less for journalists who think using Twitter is reporting?

— TBogg (@tbogg) November 14, 2013

Being Gay is natural, hating Gay is a lifestyle choice.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 14, 2013

I'm not racist, but it's perfectly reasonable to assume that all White people are exactly like Rob Ford.

— William K. Wolfrum (@Wolfrum) November 14, 2013

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!