Motley Moose – Archive

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, President Obama calls 2014 a year of action, which should start with Congress quickly passing emergency unemployment insurance for the 1.3 million Americans who lost this vital lifeline as they fight to find jobs and make ends meet.

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From today’s Wall Street Journal explaining how Chris Christie is so much better than President Obama when it comes to showing contrition in the wake of misconduct by his underlings:

Not that this should make Mr. Christie or any other potential GOP candidate complacent. Republicans operate under a double media standard that holds them to a much lower scandal threshold. (emphasis my own) In that sense the pathetic New Jersey traffic-lane scandal may be, as Mr. Obama likes to say, a teachable moment.

Perhaps the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal hasn’t watched its sister outlet, Fox News, try and stir outrage over Benghazi 24/7 on a story that doesn’t exist.  Perhaps it hasn’t watched the same channel on Fast and Furious.  Perhaps it hasn’t watched the same channel on the IRS scandal.

Perhaps they consider reporting on Iran Contra or the no-bid contracts of the Iraq war not newsworthy and therefore any reporting on them is creating a double standard.  Perhaps they consider petty political revenge because a politician from the other political party did not endorse their candidate for re-election.  Perhaps they consider investigating whether that revenge broke federal law and whether it affected emergency response to be a non-story that is only reported because it is a Republican.

I have been watching a lot of “true crime” series via Netflix.  I love that stuff … always have.  Apparently the Investigation Discovery channel has a bunch of it.  But I’ve noticed myself getting annoyed by the things folks on those types of shows say (or not), do (or not), assume (or not).

Interrogatories

Are you or any of your friends peculiar? Proudly so?

What kind of houseplants do you have?

What was your favorite Masterpiece Theatre series of all time?

Have you done anything to your place that helps cut energy costs, like insulation, solar panels, ugly windows, etc?

The Twitter Emitter

Unscrupulous aides acting on their own led to this tweet. I knew nothing of it. I'm as surprised as you.

— William K. Wolfrum (@Wolfrum) January 9, 2014

Are we about at the time where we can stop saying Chicago-style politics and start saying New Jersey-style politics?

— Sara Lang (@SaraLang) January 9, 2014

results of traffic study: closing lanes causes backups

— Atrios (@Atrios) January 9, 2014

Let's close that bridge when we come to it.

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) January 9, 2014

Did Christie accidentally fire the staffer who tells him when to end a press conference?

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 9, 2014

If it wasn't a legitimate traffic study, the Port Authority has a way of shutting those thing down.

— Stacie Rose (@igotviews) January 9, 2014

Reductio ad Benghazum

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) January 9, 2014

Christie showing his devotion to Springsteen by giving three hour press conference with two encores.

— Ray Radlein (@Radlein) January 9, 2014

Living well is the best traffic study.

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) January 9, 2014

I wonder how many people listened to that press conference while they were stuck in traffic.

— Ben Greenman (@bengreenman) January 9, 2014

Chris Christie today adamantly "denied all knowledge" – I have to agree. I, too, think Christie lacks knowledge

— Dean Obeidallah (@Deanofcomedy) January 9, 2014

Chris Christie is probably the only person in the world who is now looking back fondly at 2013.

— John Scalzi (@scalzi) January 9, 2014

I'm imagining Trentonian bedsheets; full of Whopper wrappers-Whopper wrappers & tears. #Inners

— Andrew Gatto (@AndrewGatto) January 10, 2014

Good morning, Moosekind. TGIF! Temperature is supposed to be well above freezing here for the first time this week. I think we should all get matching “I survived the Polar Vortex of 2013” shirts. Except you live somewhere warm. Unless your wind chills went below zero, no T-shirt for you.

So I have a milestone birthday on Saturday. And it is time to start training for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, which will be in April. And fundraising for it, too. So for my 50th birthday — can I get the Mooses to donate to my 15th Ride? How many $50 donations can I get? There will be music & stuff below the fold, but if you want to skip that part & just donate, here’s my Hill Country Ride page

Interrogatories

Have you owned any iPhones? How many?

If you could play God for a day, who would you strike with lightning? Making the punishment fit the crime, what creative punishments would you devise for your favorite Republicans?

Have you ever flown in a hot air balloon? Do you have any desire to?

The Twitter Emitter

"May all your vortices be polar." (Old Inuit curse.)

— John Bennet (@slothead) January 8, 2014

How is what Chris Christie did really any different from Obama using his weather machine to exact revenge on the midwest? #BothSidesDoit

— kara vallow (@teenagesleuth) January 8, 2014

Christie would have thrown an aide under the bus, but a traffic study prevented the bus from getting there.

— Hunter (@HunterDK) January 8, 2014

I bet Christie would have really got in his staffs faces if they had been teachers.

— TBogg (@tbogg) January 8, 2014

Hearing the aide's punishment is to be shouted at by Christie on live TV.

— Danielle (@DCPlod) January 8, 2014

I think the delicious schadenfreude with Christie is like seeing a bully getting hauled to the principal's office by his ear.

— roadkillrefugee (@rkref) January 8, 2014

"My staffers mislead me! I thought they were just going to break the guys legs." – Chris Christie

— GOPathetic (@GOPathetic) January 8, 2014

Delaying an EMS visit resulting in the death of a 91 year-old is a childhood dream of Paul Ryan. He must be so jealous right now.

— TBogg (@tbogg) January 8, 2014

Christie for Secretary of Transportation.

— Chris Dashiell (@cdashiell) January 9, 2014

Unscrupulous aides acting on their own led to this tweet. I knew nothing of it. I'm as surprised as you.

— William K. Wolfrum (@Wolfrum) January 9, 2014

Taking a page from the Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina, that has now spread to Georgia, activists in South Carolina have declared “Enough is enough!” and are heading to the SC statehouse on January 14th with these demands:

Expand Medicaid

This year, some 1,300 South Carolinians will die because state lawmakers pushing an extreme agenda refused a federal grant to expand Medicaid.

Fund education

In 2013, K-12 funding was nearly $500 million below what is required by law. Higher education funding is 40% less than in 2002, and tuition at our state colleges is among the nation’s highest.

Protect voting rights

South Carolina has the least-competitive elections in the US, with 80 percent of lawmakers facing no major opposition in general elections. And instead of trying to make voting easier and more accessible, SC’s political elite keep making it harder and less inclusive.

They are asking demonstrators to wear black:

We will wear black as a symbol of mourning, in honor of the 1,300 who will die this year in South Carolina because the state refused to use our tax dollars to expand Medicaid.

The Charleston City Paper reports:

Progressive activists in S.C. to launch ‘Truthful Tuesday’ at State House

Progressive activists across South Carolina will gather at the State House in Columbia next week for ‘Truthful Tuesday’ – an event styled after a series of protests at North Carolina’s capital dubbed Moral Mondays.

“It’s to really put lawmakers on notice regarding the need to expand Medicaid and protect voting rights and to fully fund public education,” says George Hopkins, a College of Charleston history professor and Charleston chapter president of the S.C. Progressive Network. “Hopefully on Wednesday the 15th the headlines across the state will read ‘Citizens Descend on Columbia’ to demand legislators take action on these issues.”

Legislators will return to Columbia on Jan. 14 to begin the second of a two-year legislative session. During the week the Legislature is in session Tuesday through Thursday. Last session, South Carolina became one of several states that chose not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act healthcare law. Lawmakers have also passed a Voter ID bill, and the last session saw efforts to curb early voting.

The coalition has been convened by:

National Association of Social Workers – SC

SC AFL-CIO

SC Christian Action Council

SC NAACP

SC Progressive Network

The SC Education Association

Get the word out to everyone you can in South Carolina, and if you don’t know anyone there you can still send support.

This is how a movement grows, one day, one person, one group at a time!

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!