Motley Moose – Archive

My head is spinning!  So many orange/purple peeps!

But, some have the same names there as here, some not.  I am not always sure who is who.

So, would you sign in with your orange name and then your purple one?

So, I’m nannyboz there and here.  And you?

Update:

Thank you so much to the Moose.  You’ve welcomed we refugees, made it easy to acclimate.  You’ve provided us with TU status to ease our way.  You’ve provided “teh roolz” here, basically one… be respectful of one another.

Thank you.  We’re so happy to be in this lovely and warm place.

The first briefs will be filed in Edith Windsor’s challenge to Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), United States v. Windsor, on January 22 and 24. Edith “Edie” Windsor is an 83 year old widow from New York. She met Thea Spyer more than 40 years ago; they started dating after two years and got engaged shortly thereafter. During that time there was no possibility of two women marrying: it was during the era of the Stonewall riots, and right around the time that two men attempted to get married in Minnesota, only to have their case, Baker v. Nelson, reach the Supreme Court and earn a one-sentence summary dismissal before any arguments or briefing.

~much more below the fold~

I just received the quilt that the Daily Kos community had Sarah and Anne make for me. It is so beautiful. I can not even begin to express how much it means to me.

NOTE: I’m posting this for triciawyse, who has ‘puter problems. If I weren’t so lazy I would remove the rules that aren’t necessary here because we’re all wonderful, but I AM lazy. Please just ignore them and enjoy your Caturday!

When Miss Mayta looked around the other day and noticed that many of her favorite bloggers were missing, she followed a trail of purple breadcrumbs which led her to The Motley Moose.

Turns out they weren’t missing after all … they were just meesing!

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Hello Mooz. This is a repost of a favorite diary, I hope you don’t mind. I thought it would be a semi-introduction as well as a sample of my sometimes, stream of conciousness writing style and maybe a mid winter pick me up.

If it’s ok, I’d like to resume my self adopted role as a diversion, an interlude from the difficult stuff we sometimes have to wade through. Writing helps me cope a little better, I hope reading my work helps you as well.

Please note that there are unintentionally ‘linked’ paragraphs throughout. The coding in the preceding pic produced it, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t remove it. Sorry.

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 There is no way for me to prove, regretting now I never kept a journal of my 22 winters here in Chicago so I could point to a notation on a page, yes, this is definitely the earliest I’ve ever seen bees. It was March 7th when I muddied my knees to take this photo. The ground still not frozen and no crusty inches of dirty snow creating havoc for crocus shoots struggling to make their stand, instead in full bloom now in swaths across front yard lawns everywhere.

 So many purple and orange reasons to be cheerful under clear blue skies after weeks of uninterrupted sun incubating their arrival, stirring expectations of long lazy days that start warm and end warmer. A short sleeve shirt and moist sweaty skin a prescription for anything that ails me. The six month unwelcome and emotionally debilitating hibernation of winter as I experience it and have learned to dread, the sunless skies, the grey after clouded over grey never came to be this year. My body and psyche so grateful for the unexpected reprieve.  

Last week blue jersey dad and I traveled to Leicester, UK to attend the annual meetings of the Society for Historical Archaeology. I was part of a panel on animals in the urban environment, and dad’s former boss and a colleague were presenting a paper on their work at Valley Forge. (Dad was co-director of a major excavation project at Valley Forge between 2000 and 2003).

While we were at the meetings, we had an opportunity to see some of the historic town of Leicester and to visit the Gladstone potteries museum. Leicester has been in the news recently since local archaeologists have discovered a skeleton that appears to the the remains of Richard III aka Crick-Back Dick.

Please follow me below.

Happy Sat– Cat– Fat? urday! (I always have a massive breakfast on Saturdays, so the latter certainly applies here.)

My nosiness knows no bounds! Today’s questions: Boxers or briefs or boxer briefs? Or for women: Granny panties, bikini briefs, butt floss, or one of those other fits? Who was the first live musical act you ever saw? What was the first play you ever saw (school plays don’t count)? What is your favorite Shakespeare play? What is your favorite cocktail? Whose poster did you have on the wall when you were a kid?

From the Twitterverse:

I corrected a listener that Sandy Hook happened to get Obama re-elected. I said it happened after. He said “That’s your opinion”. #assmonkey

— Shannyn Moore (@shannynmoore) January 17, 2013

I’m beginning to have serious doubts about my Internet girlfriend Fantasy Busty McSupermodel.

— TBogg (@tbogg) January 17, 2013

“Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown has a new novel coming out in May. You can read an advance copy by reading his last novel.

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) January 17, 2013

Of course I’d be willing to let the Postal Service continue to dope if it would speed up mail delivery

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) January 18, 2013

House Gop to offer temporary debt hike until their new budget is passed. Their old budget, of course, required… debt ceiling increase.

— David Waldman (@KagroX) January 18, 2013

Boehner will only stock House vending machines with Cool Ranch Doritos and Diet Mt. Dew until a budget is passed.

— Jesse Taylor (@jesseltaylor) January 18, 2013

The difference between George W. Bush and Lance Armstrong is that Bush never took anything that was performance enhancing.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 18, 2013

I think the TSA is getting rid of full body scanners because most American bodies are kind of gross.

— TBogg (@tbogg) January 18, 2013

Republicans are jazzed because the size of Obama’s 2nd inauguration will only double the size of Bush’s 2nd. #softbigotryoflowexpectations

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 18, 2013

Rumor: Tiffany’s to make imaginary rings.

— Albert Brooks (@AlbertBrooks) January 18, 2013

The intellectual mismatch between left & right has now grown so great that the right is reduced to asking for more courteous beatdowns.

— David Roberts (@drgrist) January 18, 2013

Lance Armstrong’s problem is that he hasn’t mentioned Jesus. If he’d do that, he could still be the governor of Texas

— Gen JC Christian (@JC_Christian) January 19, 2013

Now, on to the history lesson!

 I admit it – I am a romantic.  I grew up with my view of the Senate of the United States colored by Frank Capra's tale (and Jimmy Stewart's portrayal) of the trials and tribulation of Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  This holds especially true for my view of the filibuster. Filibusters should look like what Jeff Smith did — one man, standing up in the well of the Senate for what they believe in.  But, that hasn't been the case for, at a minimum, the past 4-6 years.   As the Brennan Center report on Filibuster Abuse  (PDF) demonstrates:

Filibuster Abuse is Rampant:      As of October 2012, the current Congress has enacted 196 public laws, the lowest output of any Congress since at least World War II. This is not purely the result of divided party control of chambers. Control of the House and Senate was also divided from 1981 to 1987 and 2001 to 2003.     The current Senate passed a record-low 2.8 percent of bills introduced in that chamber, a 66 percent decrease from 2005-2006, and a 90 percent decrease from the high in 1955-1956.     Cloture motions — the only way to forcibly end a filibuster — have skyrocketed since 2006, creating a de facto 60-vote requirement for all Senate business.     In the last three Congresses, the percentage of Senate floor activity devoted to cloture votes has been more than 50 percent greater than any other time since at least World War II, leaving less time for consideration of substantive measures.     On average, it has taken 188 days to confirm a judicial nominee during the current Congress, creating 32 “judicial emergencies,” as designated by the Office of U.S. Courts. Only at the end of the congressional term in 1992 and 2010 have there been more judicial emergencies.

 I'm not going to pretend to look at the issue in all its complexity here, but I do wish to look at one aspect of reform efforts that many have fixed upon — the talking filibuster — and contrast that with the proposal towards which, according to Politico , Harry Reid is leaning.  

Be sure and let your peeps know where to find you.