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Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Mar. 22nd thru Mar. 28th

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Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings diaries give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

In lieu of daily check-ins, which have gone on hiatus, Welcomings diaries will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning) and then, if necessary due to a large number of comments, again on Wednesday or Thursday to close out the week. To find the diaries, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

…


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 151 Comments

151 comments

  1. JanF

    It is 29 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 40. Cloudy skies are in the forecast. Snow tomorrow.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. DeniseVelez

    Enjoying morning reading over at Wonkette.

    Congressschmuck Steve King Doesn’t Understand Why American Jews Are So Anti-Semitic

    Read more at http://wonkette.com/580370/con…

    NRA has mounted massive campaign against Loretta Lynch:

    http://thehill.com/regulation/…

    Trying to find current petitions in support – most are old.

    Wonder if any Republicans will change position on this?

    atm Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, and Orrin Hatch seem to be only Rs willing to vote for her confirmation.

    Back to school on Monday.

    At least there is no snow in the forecast for this week.

  3. Diana in NoVa

    The blue of the sky is showing dimly through a haze of white cloud but it’s not raining, snowing, or blowing, at least.

    I also hate the Rethugs for being so obstructive. This country has doomed itself by electing Rethugs. No doubt we’ll all be under water–literally–by 2030.

    Saw over at Orange that Martin O’Malley is being talked about as an alternative to Mrs. Clinton. He wants to reinstitute Glass-Steagall, which would be the best thing anyone’s done in a long time. He apparently did a good job as governor, but he’s just another white guy in an ocean of white guys. Mrs. Clinton would break the glass ceiling.

    Our floor man is coming this morning to look at the job, which is to rip up the carpet in the upstairs bedrooms and put down hardwood flooring. As our router (and my laptop) are in the smallest bedroom, which I’m using as a home office, I might be offline while the work is done. And also after the work is done if we can’t figure out how to put our Humpty-Dumpty home network together again! It’s dismal to be old and clueless. Wishing a good day to all!

  4. anotherdemocrat

    we got some good rain, not enough but it’ll do

    Eating breakfast, watching Up. Today’s conservative panelist is just the worst. Deliberately obtuse  during the marriage equality segment — saying that there will be a movement to force priests/pastors to perform weddings if we don’t pass laws that let bakers & photographers opt out. Ugh.

    Anyway, gotta cook for next week this morning. And plan for ramping up workouts.

  7. princesspat

    Everyone is sleeping in this morning so the house is quiet now, but as soon as more dogs and family arrive the noise level becomes very familiar! Time to bake brownies and get ready for the fun.

  8. bfitzinAR

    “They” say we’re going to have sun tomorrow.  I hope so.  SAD can hit you due to too many days of overcast as well as just plain ol’ too few daylight hours and it’s been hitting me lately.  This week is Spring Break – meaning there are no classes but the staff only get Friday off – so I plan to take a vacation day if I can get my kid to name a day for me to take him out to lunch.  He’ll be 44 on Thursday but his schedules are always weird and while he’ll take a day for his birthday, it might not be actually on his birthday.

    I’m glad the flowering season has started and there’s a green haze over all the trees as their leaves are just starting to come out, too.  And that I can see hills – I life mine eyes unto the hills whence cometh all mine aid – at least if I walk over a block (house across the street blocks the sight of them from my front window).  Sometimes the hills and the natural flow of the seasons are all that keeps me sane or here or something.  {{{HUGS}}}

  9. Portlaw

    Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on Sunday that President Barack Obama should “get over his temper tantrum” over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    “The president should get over it. Get over your temper tantrum, Mr. President, it’s time that we work together with our Israeli friends and try to stem this tide of ISIS and Iranian movement throughout the region, which is threatening the very fabric of the region. The least of your problems is what Bibi Netanyahu said during an election campaign,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…  bolding mine.

    This is the guy who used to sing Bomb, Bomb…….

  10. JanF

    It is 29 degrees in Madison on its way up to 37. It is snowing lightly and the forecast calls for 1 to 3 inches by 8am, more to the west and south. Stay south!!

    Cruzmentum begins! In a silly dramatic midnight announcement, Ted Cruz announced his run for president. He declared that he did not need those time wasting “exploratory committees” or “testing the waters”, characteristically deciding to plunge right in. He represents the crazier-and-more-evil-than-most wing of the Republican crazy-and-evil party. He will make an announcement speech at bastion of hate, Liberty University, the creation of crazy-and-evil Jerry Falwell. Goddess save us.

    SCOTUS will be hearing the case about the Texas license plates bearing the confederate flag and honoring those sucked into dying for the slave owning oligarchs. Is it free speech? Is it a way to fly your (literally!) freak flag in a state sanctioned way? What’s wrong with using bumper stickers??? Some states already have the stars and bars on their license places and many states have hundreds of specialty plates available. I wish I could listen in (curse you, 17th century SCOTUS!). I personally think that the confederate flag is a symbol that says “we lost the war but we insist on carrying the hatred that led to it in our hearts forever”. It should be banned.

    Busy day here … see all y’all later!!

  11. Diana in NoVa

    Hope Ted doesn’t Cruz to victory, the smarmy creep. Got to leave to take Miss Pink Cheeks to school but will be back later. Moar coffee to all!

  12. anotherdemocrat

    sun’s not up yet, so I dunno

    Had a really restless night’s sleep. Every time I turn onto my right side, my cheek hurts (where the area being treated with the  melanoma cream is). So that was fun. I put 5 more teaspoons of powdered tea in my already strong tea. See if that helps. ………. Had some, it is really strong, but it actually tastes ok.

    I probably should have a thought about something. I really don’t.

    Earworm is INXS’s “Beautiful Girl”, a song I haven’t heard in years & years. Pretty song. Actually kinda drowning out thoughts.

    today’s Google doodle is cool

  14. Diana in NoVa

    Back to say hello. Sorry Jan and Denise are having such awful weather. Understand that in NYC it is none too warm this morning so Portlaw won’t be rejoicing in the “spring” either. Bummer.

    It was interesting to note that on the extraordinarily lightweight and provincial “Good Morning, Merrycar” the death of Lee Kwan Yew didn’t get a mention. Known as “Harry Lee” at Cambridge in his youth, he went on to become Singapore’s first prime minister. He was sort of a benevolent dictator but he did get things done. He transformed Singapore from an out-of-the-way little port in Asia to the boomtown it is today, and the only place in Asia, incidentally, where you can drink water straight from the tap if you care to.

    When I went back to Singapore three years ago I asked if there were still waist-high waters downtown during the monsoon rains. I was told no, that modern methods of water management had eliminated that problem.

    LOTS to do today, including packing up two bedrooms and my office. Must call doggy day care too, as the contractors coming on Wednesday won’t appreciate helpful barks from a beagle.

    Just saw a picture of a beaming Scotty Walker in the WaPo and it made me feel quite ill. Must have coffee. Wishing a good day to all!

  15. bfitzinAR

    Quiet on campus with all the students and most of the faculty gone for Spring Break.  Well, quiet except for the noise of the groundskeepers’ machinery.  Apparently somebody’s decided mowing season has started or something.  sigh.  Hopefully I’ll manage to get caught up on everything this week.  It would be nice.  {{{HUGS}}}

  16. Portlaw

    Have my income tax stuff ready to bring to an accountant later in the week. I can barely add two plus two so need some help. It’s always interesting to me in organizing these things to see what I did with my few dollars all year.

     Slow start this morning so will check the news to see if there is anything good.  As for Ted Cruz, I will say what I always say about him. He is very smart and should not be underestimated. Doesn’t mean I like him or admire him. I don’t. But he is not dumb. Actually, nobody should be underestimated. It’s usually a mistake to so do.  Oh, I hadn’t realized that he was using Libery as his backdrop. He went to Princeton and Harvard but he knows that they would not be a good backdrop. He learned something there!

  17. princesspat

    We enjoyed a fun family day yesterday. The kids prepared a tasty lunch, the house was full with flowers and laughter, and the grand kids and the dogs added another layer to the commotion. However, one grand girl ended the day with a fever and throwing up so we’ll see how much family cheer was spread around!

  18. JanF

    It is 18 degrees in Madison with an expected high of 43. Partly cloudy skies in the forecast. We got about 2-3 inches of snow but it melted off the streets and sidewalks by noon. I heard that the commute was not so great.

    Tedmentum!!! The speech Ted Cruz gave is a reminder of why people should use teleprompters. He didn’t, of course, because teleprompters are what Kenyan usurpers use, not Calgary usurpers. There was too much Cruz News to digest (I have a short online morning) but did see in a headline that The Donald is going all birther on him. Hah!!

    Hospitals saved $7 billion last year because of the Affordable Care Act. I need someone to explain to me why businesses give money to support the Republican Party.

    There was lots of environmental news. I may need to do a green news roundup if I can get back online later today.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

     

  19. DeniseVelez

    (Univ. of Maryland, College Park) for the UNIVERSES Party People Salon

    Saturday, March 28, 2015 . 8PM

    The award-winning ensemble UNIVERSES is known for breaking the bounds of traditional theatre, fusing poetry, jazz, hip-hop and Southern blues to create powerful performance experiences for diverse audiences. The Party People Salon is a unique, participatory event reflecting the revolutionary spirit of the Black Panthers and Young Lords Movements of the 1960s-1970s.

    During the Salon, performance is interspersed with conversations among veteran Panthers and Lords, including former Black Panther Party member Aaron Dixon and Denise Oliver-Velez, who was a member of both the Young Lords and Black Panther Parties. They share their moving, personal stories of everyday women and men who became leaders and activists. The Party People Salon offers a rare opportunity to discover what has become of these inspiring and at times controversial citizens whose movement to make change still reverberates today.

    Haven’t been to the College Park campus in over 30 years.

    I went to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival opening of Party People in 2012 and it was an amazing performance. I hope the full production will be coming to the East Coast soon.

  20. Diana in NoVa

    Good morning, Moosekind! Fell asleep in my chair the second night in a row last night so did not get anything done. Will have to get it done today.

    A pruning consultant is coming this morning at 10 for the apple trees, which is good. We have made only slight progress in clearing the surfaces in the bedrooms.

    Cruz may be smart but he looks and sounds like a goon. I don’t trust a man with a thin, querulous voice. According to a couple of diaries at the Other Place, he managed to be “A–h-le” of the year at Harvard Law, an environment that features very tough competition for that particular encomium. Imagine being so snobbish that you wouldn’t study with anyone who went to a college other than Harvard, Yale, or Princeton!

    It’s good to know that Donald Hairpiece is going birther on Cruz. Other news–that unfortunate airliner that went down in the Swiss Alps. How awful! No survivors, apparently.

    Hope to come later to see how everyone is doing. In the meantime, coffee to all!

  21. anotherdemocrat

    Got in a walk this morning. Planning on joining the lunch crew. But I’ll have to take it easy. I worked up a sweat this morning & with that chemo cream on my forehead…..

    Just saw about the plane crash in France. Very sad.

    Eating breakfast, drinking tea. Big Girls Are Best playing in my head. Leaving work early for my annual physical.  

  22. Portlaw

    Two news items have me stunned. The first is the plane crash in France.

    The second is this . Not only has it stunned me, it has me foaming.

    The US has accused Israel of spying on international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and using the intelligence gathered to persuade Congress to undermine the talks, according to a report on Tuesday

    . bold mine http://www.theguardian.com/wor…

    Israel is denying this. Evidently the ambassador, Dermer, did take five Dems to dinner to discuss the deal. I am beyond rage.

  23. bfitzinAR

    No “official” good news – the R-controlled AR Legislature, looking forward to the possibility of Tom Cotton running for president and Senate at the same time (Joe Lie-berman has a lot to answer for), just passed a law making it legal here – so here’s a feel-good story closer to home.  This happened to one of my professors – last Thursday both her dogs got into rat poison (apparently the pest company she hired just threw packets of the stuff under the house and in the garage without doing anything to keep the dogs safe).  Friday morning both dogs more or less collapsed and went to emergency.  My professor, like the trooper she it, came in just long enough to be at a thesis defense so the student wouldn’t have to reschedule, and told us about it just barely managing to hold herself together for that before heading back to the vet.  One of the dogs, the 8-month old puppy, was pronounced dead while she was here.  She got to the vet and held the puppy’s body – and she started breathing again.  They gave the puppy a plasma transfusion.  The bleeding stopped.  They gave her another.  Her blood started clotting.  They gave her a blood transfusion and she was home free!  The older dog wasn’t as dramatic but just as happy – one plasma transfusion did it for her and she was back home Sunday.  The puppy came home yesterday.    Thank goddess or Ceiling Cat or FSP or whoever, but I call this a miracle.  {{{HUGS}}} to all.

  24. princesspat

    Sophia is feeling much better and is snuggled in with me waiting to read from her favorite book, the Free and Treadwell Second Reader. Her mother found the 1912 edition at a used book store and the fairy tales, fables, and poems are a perfect fit for Sophie. Her reading skills are developing very nicely.

    And so far no one else is sick, yay!

  25. JanF

    It is 33 degrees in Madison on its way up to 45 degrees. There is a wintry mix right now, expected to end around 10am. The forecast calls for sunny skies this afternoon.

    I am scratching my head over Ted Cruz signing up for Obamacare. I understand that he lost his gold plated healthcare plan because his wife is taking a leave of absence to help him in his presidential campaign. But why doesn’t he just buy private health insurance? Why give people the opportunity to call you a hypocrite? I think it suggests that he is not really running to win the presidency but to give himself a microphone to satisfy his ginormous ego. He is obviously a guy who likes to be in the spotlight and in a legislative body filled with ginormous egos, he is just another Senator.  

    In other news, people booking conventions in Indiana are unhappy with the new “okay to discriminate against gays” law being signed today. I wish people would vote with their wallets and not just send Stern Letters. Nice timing, Indiana, signing this bill just in time to discriminate against people who visit Indianapolis for the men’s Final Four. But the NCAA doesn’t care, just like its “ban” on allowing NCAA tournaments found some weasel words to allow the women’s South Carolina team to host a round this year. A ban on venues where the confederate flag flies over the statehouse is easily tossed aside. Shame on you, NCAA!

    The president is taking all the heat for the strain in U.S. Israeli relations. Netanyahu apologized for lying himself back into power!!! We should ignore everything he said and did!!!! Meh.

    See all y’alls later!

  26. Portlaw

    Am not sure I have the courage to read the news. Am very worried about the deal with Iran and hope Bibi doesn’t quash it. Am not happy with the Dems who are not backing the deal.The Gallego quote below is either ridiculous or enraging.Am also not happy with Ambassador Dermer, the former Luntz protege.


    The gathering was part of a bid by Mr. Dermer, the American-born former Republican operative who is so close to Mr. Netanyahu that he is often referred to as “Bibi’s brain,” to smooth tensions that have flared up in recent weeks between the United States and Israel. But an apology tour it is not. If anything, Mr. Dermer is intensifying his efforts to thwart the nuclear deal with Iran that Mr. Obama is working hard to close within days.

    As he visits lawmakers and entertains them over dinner, sits for broadcast interviews and speaks with groups of journalists, Mr. Dermer has shown no trace of contrition for his role in the clash and little sign that he is rethinking his approach. Instead, he has defended his role in helping to arrange a speech to Congress by Mr. Netanyahu denouncing a nuclear deal with Iran. The speech this month was scheduled without Mr. Obama’s knowledge and prompted outrage at the White House

    “He does not want Israel and what’s going on in Israel to become a political football,” said Representative Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat who attended Monday’s dinner. “Whatever has happened in the past or what has been interpreted was not designed to snub the president or the Democrats.”

    And from the same article is this

    More immediately, the possibility of an Iran nuclear accord is weighing on Mr. Dermer. If a deal is struck, he is likely to lead an unusual lobbying effort to persuade lawmakers to defy Mr. Obama’s veto threats and move to squelch the agreement, either by voting for additional sanctions on Iran or by passing legislation that would allow Congress to review the deal and block the removal of existing sanctions.

    bolding mine http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03…



    I DO NOT WANT WAR.

    Time for coffee and soon acupuncture. Will check in later.  

  27. Portlaw

    Families of those poor victims on the plane that crashed in the Alps are going to the scene and

    In Seyne-les-Alpes, locals had offered to host bereaved families because of a shortage of rooms to rent, said the town’s mayor, Francis Hermitte.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

    Such sorrow, such compassion

  29. DeniseVelez

    trying to get my writing for Sunday done early, and getting ready for travel on Friday. 32 here and rain on the way. Weather for the weekend away doesn’t look good either.

    Back to pounding the keyboard.

  30. bfitzinAR

    ‘spozed to get some rain tonight but the chances don’t go over 50% until 8 pm so I may actually get both another walk in (I walk home when the weather is nice) and some good electricity generation today.  Yesterday brought us to 149 KWHs for the month which just tops February’s 147.8 – next target is last October’s 171 KWHs.  Since we’re now getting between 10 & 12.5 on good days and 2.5-5.5 on cloudy days right now, that’s very doable and I expect to make it.  We’ll just have to see how quickly 🙂

    As to the news, well, it’s too bad the current generation of Rs doesn’t realize what MAD stood for – or else, just like “global warming” they think it’s a hoax by Libruls to scam them out of money or something.  But as they are insane and mad is also a term for insane, Mutually Assured Destruction is right down their alley.  Sigh.  I’ll keep thinking about the goggie miracle last weekend – miracles do happen and it is possible for something/one pronounced dead to fully recover and go forward to a full and happy life.  {{{HUGS}}}

  31. Diana in NoVa

    So much for having a detachable keyboard with this iPad. It’s fully charged but it’s not working, even though I’ve pushed buttons.

    I’m at my son’s house. Baby is asleep in his room. Still devastated by the crash in the Alps. There were 16 high school students on that pkane as well as two babies. It doesn’t bear thinking of.

    I’m amazed at Israel’s machinations against the USA. We are, after all, supposed to be that country’s ally.

    Guess I’ll go do something that doesn’t involve typing. Hope it’s not going to take more than a couple of days for the contractors to do the upstairs floors.

    Wishing a good day to all!

  32. princesspat

    It’s a quiet sleepy morning here, which is good. We had fun barbecuing steaks at our son’s house last night, but as always with my family it was noisy fun so Sophie and I came home earlier than the rest last night. I’m hoping we will have time for a visit to the bookstore before they leave for home today.

  33. JanF

    It is 34 degrees in Madison on its way up to 40. Partly cloudy skies in the forecast.

    I agree with someone I read on Twitter last night: “Too much news!”. The SCOTUS ruling regarding Alabama gerrymandering was good news for one reason: Anthony Kennedy did not reflexively rule against a voting rights issue. When Alabama gets to take another crack at redistricting, they will probably do it on a partisan rather than a racial basis (which isn’t illegal) and end up with the same result. The other SCOTUS ruling, that UPS has to consider pregnancy as a condition that might require accommodation is definitely good news. UPS had already changed their policy and the plaintiff’s daughter is now 7 years old but the chances are that rather than go to court, employers will simply include pregnancy in the ADA list.

    Too much to keep track of in the middle east but this Tweet made me laugh out loud: “‘the middle east was stable and peaceful. then obama was elected.’ – conservatives”.

    Strange goings on in the plane that went down over the Alps. I hate to think about pilot mental problems causing such a terrible disaster. Bad enough to have to worry about mechanical things and weather.

    Ted Cruz is Still Crazy.

    See all y’alls later!

  34. DeniseVelez

    going up to 53!

    That’s weather I can survive in.

    Spent the morning trying to get Bing off of my computer – it kidnapped my google, and took over my home page a few weeks ago and was a pain to get rid of.

    Tried a bunch of fixes suggested on geek sites and mozilla – still stuck with bing.

    Finally did a restore point and that worked for now – since  it will probably come back the next time I have to do windows updates.

    What say you tech guru Jan?

  35. anotherdemocrat

    Walked again, yay me again. It is much cooler today – long sleeves needed. But it’ll be back to 80 tomorrow.

    Another bad night’s sleep, because of my cheek again. Every time I turn on my right side, I wake up because of the pain. I’m going to call the dermatologist today & ask how long I have to use the cream & when I can start using some healing stuff.

    Playing California in my head very loudly while I ignore the news.

    wooooah All I know [I’m ignoring you, news]

    And all I need to know is there is no end to love

    wooooah All I know [I’m ignoring you, news]

    And all I need to know is there is no end, yeah there is no end to love

    except for the news where Eve Hewson forced her parents to watch all the scenes of her show – she said her mom loved it & she sure there were parts where her dad had to cover his eyes — giggle

  36. Portlaw

    coming out about te cause of the plane crash. My imagination is leading me to nightmares.  On a better note, am bringing all my carefully organized stuff to the accountant to see what I owe for taxes. Am hoping not much but NY state and city are very greedy, Hope it’s a good day.

  37. Diana in NoVa

    We’re having on-again off-again showers. High today in No Va 70 F.

    Totally freaked out by the plane crash news. First saw it on CNN (I’m at my son’s house again today) but didn’t believe it. Went to Orange and the Beeb and was appalled.

    I hate to think of what the passengers were going through. It’s irrational but right now I feel that I never want to fly again.

    Don’t feel up to checking the political news yet. Worried about bfitz!  She’s in Fayetteville, right? Tornado there last night. Electric power is prob. still out. Hope she can check in with the news that she and her house and animals are OK.

    A good day to all and, it’s to be hoped, no more awful news.  

  38. princesspat

    Our fun family visit just ended…..they are packed up and on the road for Oregon and I’m going to rest and recover this afternoon. We had an impromptu family dinner again last night, but all the men in the family are good cooks and the grand girls love to help me with flowers and setting the table so it was fun….just noisy, again!

    Sophie and I have enjoyed reading together. We found The Mercy Watson series at the bookstore yesterday and read the first book together this morning.  

  41. JanF

    It is 19 degrees in Madison on its way up to 33. Partly sunny skies in the forecast.

    I feel like I did not get anything positive done this week, just treading water. I think I will blame the time change (that is good for about a month of excuses).

    I am shaking my head over this John Boehner quote:

    “The world is starving for American leadership. But America has an anti-war president,” the Ohio Republican told reporters. “We have no strategy, overarching strategy, to deal with the growing terrorist threat. And it’s not just ISIS or Al-Qaeda or all of their affiliates. We’ve got a serious problem facing the world and America, by and large, is sitting on the sidelines.”

    So unless a president is willing to go to war, he or she shows no leadership? What a crazy whacked-out country we live in if that is indeed the metric. We have a “don’t do stupid stuff” president and he knows, like most people who have been paying attention know, that war is NOT the answer to most questions about how to solve international conflicts. And even if we had a “war president” who exactly do you declare war on to eradicate the threat of ISIL???

    I hope the people who lost friends and loved ones in the Germanwings crash can deal with the possibility that they may have been murdered. And I hope that the screaming headlines about the co-pilot’s possible depression get toned down. I am reminded of that excellent sricki post here at the Moose talking about the stigma of mental illness. Millions of people suffer from depression and do not slam an aircraft with 149 other people into a mountain. If he did, which we may never know for certain.

    And Indiana. Sigh. Here is a quote from the guy who pushed for the new anti-gay law, which Mike Pence says does not discriminate (from CNN):

    Pence tried to downplay the law’s impact Thursday, but his allies who pushed it in the legislature — led by Eric Miller, the head of Advance America and a powerful lobbyist on socially conservative issues in Indiana, who stood behind Pence at Thursday’s bill signing ceremony — touted the protections it affords businesses against gays, lesbians and transgender Hoosiers.

    On his website, Miller highlighted examples of the law’s effect: Christian bakers, florists and photographers won’t have to participate in “homosexual marriage,” he wrote, while Christian businesses won’t be punished for “refusing to allow a man to use the women’s restroom.”

    This is the same sort of law that squishy liberal Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona wouldn’t sign. Now she can see the backlash that she successfully avoided for her state: “7 Immediate Examples of Backlash to Indiana’s ‘Religious Freedom'”. I hope these groups don’t lose the courage of their convictions.

    See you later, all y’alls!

  42. DeniseVelez

    exact same temp (and rain) in College Park MD so I’m not going to have to make any weather/clothing adjustments.

    Looking at news – I see that Gov.(wing-nut)Pence has a bout of temporary sanity:

    Pence orders short-term needle exchange to combat HIV epidemic

    http://www.indystar.com/story/…

    Problem is – short term syringe exchange won’t really do much – and teh stupid Gov. does not consider the fact that infected IV drug users are also transmission vectors to the people they have sex with.

    I’ve worked with needle exchanges since they were underground and not legal in NYC (they are legal now), and they work quite well to reduce risk factors. All the CDC and National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) data proves it.

    Wrote about it in Sin, stigma and syringes: The struggle for harm reduction

    Great piece on some of that history here:

    https://www.erowid.org/chemica…

    Makes me wanna holler – the way Republicans support policies that kill.  

  43. anotherdemocrat

    It’s in the 40s – coldest we’ve been in weeks, but it will get up to the 80s this afternoon.

    Slept in, other than interruptions from the cheek. Got the squishing appointment this morning & another test. Naturally both can’t be at the same place. Made sure the Kindle was fully charged.

    earworm is Big Girls Are Best

  44. Portlaw

    The plane crash, Yemen, and John Bolton writing an op ed in the NYTimes arguing that we HAVE to bomb Iran. That op ed was yesterday but I was freaking out too much to mention it. And now Harry Reid is retiring. Am sure Schumer is angling for his job. Schumer is a hawk and even more conceited than most politicians which is saying a lot.

    Hope it’s a good day for all in the Pond. Hope there is peace on earth.

  45. princesspat

    The house is so quiet this morning! With no little girl and small dog to distract me I guess it’s time to catch up with the news. Reading children’s literature and poetry has been a nice rest from reality.

  46. Portlaw

    Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) threw his weight behind Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday to succeed him in leading Senate Democrats, The Washington Post reported.

    “I think Schumer should be able to succeed me,” Reid told The Washington Post at his home in Washington.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

    Lately, to be honest, have been beginning to wonder if the Democratic Party was for me but I don’t have anyplace else to go. Not a good place to be.

  47. bfitzinAR

    mostly went around me.  I got some rain and thunder but the tornado was in a different part of town.  I took a day of vacation yesterday for my older son’s birthday – wanted to take him to lunch, which I did, but we didn’t know until the last minute exactly when he could get away so I took the whole day.  Today the university is closed – we staff get a whole day for Spring Break although there weren’t any classes all week.  (Probably a holdover from when Spring Break was Easter Break – the students got the week off and staff got “Good Friday” not that I’ve ever understood what was supposed to be good about it.)

    Totally ignoring the news.  I’ve had practice.  I knew what was coming when W got anointed president and got rid of my TV then.  Somebody will let me know if there’s anything I can really do something about and for the rest, well, goddess/Ceiling Cat/FSM bless the victims.  Probably won’t be back until Monday so y’all have a good weekend.  {{{HUGS}}}

  48. JanF

    It is 17 degrees in Madison on its way up to 40. Sunny skies in the forecast.

    Good news from Eric Holder’s Justice Department yesterday. Indictments filed in two cases: the noose incident at Ole Miss and the cop beating the Indian grandfather in Alabama. Eric Holder on the noose indictment:

    “This shameful and ignorant act is an insult to all Americans and a violation of our most strongly-held values. No one should ever be made to feel threatened or intimidated because of what they look like or who they are. By taking appropriate action to hold wrongdoers accountable, the Department of Justice is sending a clear message that flagrant infringements of our historic civil rights will not go unnoticed or unpunished.”

    Tammy Duckworth is poised to announce that she is running for Barack Obama’s old Senate seat in Illinois, now held by Republican Mark Kirk. I noticed that many of the endangered Senate Republicans swept in on the 2010 election wave from hell voted for some of the Democrat’s budget amendments. Too little, too late. You can’t clean the blemish on your soul from being in a party bent on destroying America. Sucks to be you!!

    See all y’alls later!  

  49. Portlaw

    Evidently, some banks are upset by Senator Warren. Saw this on Huff Po


    NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) – Big Wall Street banks are so upset with U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren’s call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said.

    Representatives from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, have met to discuss ways to urge Democrats, including Warren and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, to soften their party’s tone toward Wall Street, sources familiar with the discussions said this week.

    Bank officials said the idea of withholding donations was not discussed at a meeting of the four banks in Washington but it has been raised in one-on-one conversations between representatives of some of them. However, there was no agreement on coordinating any action, and each bank is making its own decision, they said.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

    Hope it’s a good day for all.

  50. DeniseVelez

    tired from the 6 hour train ride yesterday – stayed up late talking with the folks from the cast of Party People – am now lazing around in hotel room. I should probably go back to sleep since I’ll have a late night.  

  51. anotherdemocrat

    Eating breakfast, watching Up. They had a very interesting discussion of all the conflicting alliances in the Middle East.

    50th birthday party today for my friend who had brain cancer. At this moment, she is cancer-free; this time last year we didn’t know if she’d get this birthday.

    And I need to get in some exercise after almost none yesterday.

  52. princesspat

    I can hear he birds and feel the breeze because my window is open…..the fresh air is so welcome! We had an accident with a melted tea kettle yesterday so the house was wide open all day and the kitchen was thoroughly scrubbed. The burned smell seems to finally be gone this morning but yesterday was a scary mess!

  53. Diana in NoVa

    going up to 39 F. today. Harrumph. Puts paid to the idea of planting anything.

    GLAD to know that bfitz is safe, that princesspat’s house didn’t burn down along with the teakettle, and that Denise is safely ensconced in College Park. Hope you get some rest today Denise, and enjoy tonight!

    Portlaw, understand your disgust with the “selfie” takers. Ugh. Another, wish I were in Austin enjoying your weather. Jan, thanks for sticking in there and checking on the news.

    The upstairs part of our house is completely torn up but we still have Internet access, thank Goddess. Two rooms and the upstairs hallway have been finished: now only the two staircases and my office remain to have the new floor installed. It’s bamboo, and it does look nice. Now that we have hardwood floors, Dearly Beloved has informed me that my slippers make a “clicking sound” and that I must buy new slippers. Bummer.

    Well, the four glorious child-care-free days I envisioned next week have turned from Writing Days to Putting-the-House-Back-Together days. Like a madwoman, I invited a dozen people to Easter dinner. Why do I do these things? Never mind, I’m going to get that birthday story done somehow.

    Hope everyone will have a lovely weekend!

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