Motley Moose – Archive

  Make sure you let your peeps know where to find you!  

This is a bit of a fly-by-night piece, so I won’t frontpage, and apologies if I don’t follow up with profound comments. I love the polite friendly atmosphere of the Moose, but that doesn’t mean we don’t talk about difficult subjects. Indeed, I have to write something, in my usual British contentious unphlegmatic way, about the Moose/Elephant in the room – the sudden welcome influx of New Moozog (the plural of Mooz).

But first some ground rules. This is not about anybody on any other blog, nor indeed a specific kind of administration, or to relitigate any Obamarox/Obamasux wars on any other site, but to explore the problem of defining loyalty versus individuality, collective strength versus personal conscience.

I think if we stick to these rules of discussing those principles of political pragmatism versus moral purity, we can make sure this isn’t a comment on any other blog or commentator. Just to remind you – most of us cross post at a number of other blogs, and long may that remain.  

After awhile you can tell right away the difference between fireworks and gunshots.  Gunshots have a sharp, short and crisp sound. When there are more than one, the sound is of uniform loudness from one to the next but at a disjointed metre. Fireworks usually happen in a steadier sequence, but with a less clean finish and a not as uniform loudness from one to the next.  

In their scheduling orders announced today, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear the Marriage Equality Cases on March 26 and 27, as reported by SCOTUSBlog.  http://www.scotusblog.com/2013…

I fully and heartily endorse Chuck Hagel’s nomination to serve as Secretary of Defense.  This country has, at times, been ill-served in that position by those who are captured by the military-industrial complex and advocate on its behalf as though they were some kind of lobbyist.  I hold Leon Panetta in high regard, but his recent (there’s no other word for it) lobbying to avoid the sequestration cuts of the DoD’s budget have been unseemly in my eyes.

Chuck Hagel served his country with bravery and open eyes in Vietnam.  He and his brother vowed to one another that, should they ever see another war so foolishly expend human life to so little effect for little reason, they would do something about it if they could.  Chuck Hagel courageously stood up to his own party loudly, proudly, and persistently once he realized that the War in Iraq had become such a war.  Chuck Hagel has made it plain he will not rubberstamp the bellicose warmongering of some of our allies, nor that of our own folks.

(originally posted in orange)

By any rational standard, I am the 1%.

I’m with the 99%.

But there’s a rhetoric out there, among some. There’s a rhetoric saying that it’s the rich versus the poor. Or the 1% vs. the 99%.  It’s not. Not everyone who is rich is a jerk; and some people who are poor are jerks. I’m guessing that the guy holding up the sign “keep government out of my medicare!” was not part of any elite.

But the 1%. Well, I’m not close to the top of that 1%. Alan Grayson is a lot closer. He’s worth tens of millions, and he’s a BIG OccupyWallStreet supporter.  

Ever hear of Mohammed El-Erian? He’s Wall Street if anyone is. He’s CEO of an asset management company called PIMCO. He wrote an Op-Ed for Huffington post in support of OWS.

Because some of us 1% are smart enough to realize that if the boat sinks, we all drown.  

And some of us are decent enough to know that people everywhere deserve a certain standard of living, that no one should be hungry and no one should be homeless and no one should die because they don’t have health insurance and you shouldn’t be able to deny someone water because they don’t have the right papers.

Some of us know that the class warfare was started by the conservatives, and that they are mad because we’re demanding a ceasefire.

It’s not the 99% vs. the 1%.  It’s the 99% vs. the portion of the 1% that are schmucks.

Remember it’s the Daily F Bomb

Good morning bombers! Oh wait, apologies. It’s Monday, that is rarely good.

Let’s argue about really important things! For instance… Pizza, just one topping or the works? Is there any fruit better in savory dishes than lemon? Is the Oxford comma useful? Small dogs or big dogs? Still water or fizzy water? Tortilla soup – tomato based or chicken soup with added tortilla strips? Do real men eat quiche?

Tweets:

Attempting to tweet using only Lynx on a 486/33 I opened a time portal and became an Eisenhower appointee in Agriculture.

— Fishgrease (@Fishbooom) December 28, 2012

One bombing away from gutting the 4th Amendment, but never one mass shooting away from dinging the 2nd. Because (certain) freedoms.

— David Waldman (@KagroX) January 5, 2013

Bacon knows you’ll be wanting eggs, so in its in own sizzling death it gives up oils of its own body to help. God bless you, bacon.

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) January 6, 2013

mcconnell putting on his best face which is reptilian

— mike fogelsanger (@whisper1111) January 6, 2013

Fueled by record gas prices, Big Oil had one of its most profitable years in 2012, highlighting need to cut school lunches, say Republicans

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) January 6, 2013

Saying a public option would hurt private insurance is like saying community college hurts the Ivy League.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) January 6, 2013

U.S. movies suck. No original ideas. No one takes any chance. Just really boring, Also, Quentin Tarantino is a racist douchebag,

— William K. Wolfrum (@Wolfrum) January 6, 2013

Now, on to the history lesson!

Hey guys, happy to be here, and what a relief it is in terms of tone, friendliness, and just a lack of pessimism and bedwetting. Amazing!

My first contribution…I hope to be at least a minor contributor to this great site’s growth!

Some Meta on Monday for discussion, though I think it’s clear as crystal what they’re up to.

I believe it’s the HEIGHT of hypocrisy whenever I hear a GOP’er say: “Don’t have enough money? Go get a job/second job!” “Go do x so you can make more money at work!” etc etc.

All well and good, assuming that person is capable of doing so…EXCEPT that this line of reasoning goes out the window when we’re talking about our nation.

Below we go.

It seems we are approaching the magical 200 comment mark in the first Q&A diary. In order to keep everyone running smoothly, please use the fresh comment thread below to continue the Q&A conversation.

It has come to our attentions that we have had a few new members to the Herd come strollin’ in over the past couple of days. We love seeing the fresh new faces joining us for the fresh new year. We are proud of the inclusive nature of the Moose and adding new voices to the conversation is a large part of what fosters it.

First and foremost: a hearty Welcome! to you all…please make yourselves right at home…you are amongst friends. We are happy to have you join our motley family and we hope that you find the accommodations to your liking. /grin

I am sure that y’all have questions about the purple shores you have landed on…hopefully this diary will answer some of them. Please ask those that are unanswered in the comments.

Please join me below…