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Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Mar. 8th through Mar. 14th

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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.

/ 179 Comments

179 comments

  1. JanF

    It is 29 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 44. Morning clouds and afternoon sun is the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. JanF

    Don’t forget to move your clocks ahead one hour.

    And, please! Take care of yourself!! These time changes, especially the springing ahead, can be hard on us:

    Most people have an opinion about the changes we make to our clocks for daylight saving time. Some hate it, some love it but few are ambivalent towards it. Our bodies are not particularly fond of it:

       Heart attacks increase by 5 percent over the first week after clocks are pushed back an hour, spiking by 10 percent on that Tuesday, epidemiologists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found. The time clock transition causes “a complex disruption of our body rhythms,” Janszky says, “so there are plausible reasons for sleep deprivation as a trigger for heart attack.”

    Experts say it takes about 5 days for our bodies to get back into the proper rhythm. Melatonin can help mitigate the transition but people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) are are really hit hard by the change. The morning light is part of human circadian rhythms:

       “In general, in terms of normal sleep patterns, daylight in the morning is better than light later in the day. Remember, our circadian rhythms were set eons ago to a rhythm that didn’t include daylight savings time, so the shift tends to throw people off a bit,” said Dr. Nicholas Rummo, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, N.Y.

       For people with SAD, he noted, the shift in daylight may be even more difficult. “Normally, people with SAD start to feel better around this time of the year, and light earlier in the day is more helpful for them,” said Rummo.

    So just as people with SAD, and people who are “human”, start feeling good about the additional daylight in the morning, whomp, it’s gone.

  3. anotherdemocrat

    well, it was for about 5 minutes, maybe we’ll get more

    Eating breakfast, watching Up. Great coverage of the President’s speech. Playing California in my head because I once again wasn’t fast enough with the mute button & heard that stupid commercial with the “one headlight” song.

  4. Portlaw

    my summer clothes.

    President Obama’s speech is still ringing in my ears. He is so smart. He has vision in his brain and poetry in his soul. He is one of our greatest.It will be a long time before we have anyone of that caliber.

    That image of him and John Lewis is uplifting,  

    I heard that Bush was there but didn’t see any photos. Was he?

    Hope it’s a good day throughout Mooseland. Soon, we will have the Big Melt. Am keeping my rubber boots handy.

  5. princesspat

    My 6 week recovery time is nearly over, and it’s so nice to finally feel like I can move again. I enjoyed some careful time in the garden yesterday so daffodils and primroses are in the pots by the back door and I found a new variety of hellebore for the pots on the back steps. I didn’t plant anything, but the plants are in place and that’s just fine for now.

    Our daughter and grandson will be visiting today. He has had the dreadful relapsing flu so I hope he feels well enough to come. I can’t call him my little guy anymore though as he is now taller than I am…..and on his way to high school. How has that happened!  

  6. bfitzinAR

    The difference between sunny and overcast this time of year – 12.4 KWHs generated Friday, 2.25 so far today.  Daylight Savings Time starting today is one of the few reasons I’d like to slap BHO – he didn’t rescind W’s “see how environmental I am” shift.  I hate DST with a passion and wish it would go away entirely, but having to change back to “get up in dark” just as we started to get light, not even dawn yet but light, at 6 am really pisses me off.  Oh well.  There are many hypothetically more important things W did BHO didn’t rescind so…

    I spent most of yesterday splitting and stacking firewood.  I’m pretty sure – barring something really whacko – what I’ve got split and stacked on my porch and carport should last the rest of this season, but I’ve got a full cord waiting to be split for next year.  (I had so much trouble getting burnable wood this winter, when I was offered a 2nd cord by the guy who got me some good stuff, I took it.)  My back is not particularly happy with me even though the splitter is an electric torque machine rather than the 8-lb maul I used back in my salad days.  However, my toes will be warm when I go to bed tonight and that’s what matters.  🙂  Hope everybody is safe and comfortable – well, as comfortable as you can be while calling back memories of Bloody Sunday.  {{{HUGS}}}

  7. JanF

    It is 30 degrees in Madison on its way up to 51. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    So far the only thing I am noticing about the time change is that I am needing the alarm clock to remind me when to get up (normally my body’s internal clock wakes me up). We shall see what today brings. I have not quite gotten geared back up since returning from vacation so maybe there will be no drop-off in energy.

    Florida has banned the use of “climate change” and “global warming”. Take that, rising sea levels!!! A NASA video shows that pollution from China may be the cause of the worsening winters. That makes President Obama’s China agreement even more important.

    The guy who declared that the global financial meltdown in October 2008 was “excellent news for John McCain” has declared that Hillary’s emails will be her downfall. Why do these guys still have microphones???? I do wish someone would tell her that she does not want Lanny Davis defending her … or within a 1000 miles of her campaign. Who’s next, Dick Morris, Mark Freaking Penn?

    And the images and stories from Selma keep rolling in (Nerdy Wonka has a “Tweet or Two”). I hope that the energy turns into action but I am not hopeful. The Republicans need to disenfranchise people of color in order to win elections and they will not willingly give up on their last best chance to hang onto power. They are no different than George Wallace’s billy clubbing state troopers on the Edmund Pettus bridge:  they are just wearing suits and ties – and black robes – and do their damage from the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court.

    See all y’all later!

  8. DeniseVelez

    going up to 47.

    Sorry I missed checking in yesterday – coping with my internal clock change

    In the news – campus racism continues

    http://kfor.com/2015/03/08/vid…


    UPDATE: Video appears to show University of Oklahoma fraternity singing racist chant

    In the video, you can hear the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity cheering “there will never be a nig*** in SAE.”

    The chant goes on to say, “you can hang them from a tree, but they’ll never sign with me.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?…

    Selma is not just history.

    Sigh.

  9. Diana in NoVa

    It’s cloudy this morning. I too am pissed off at the DST change. I hate it with a passion! The best sign I saw was on my FB newsfeed, which showed a sign in front of a church that read “Move your cocks forward tonight.” Burning question of the day: what if you don’t have one?

    Denise, I saw the racist chant at Oklahoma U. on the news this morning. Oklahoma is such a loser state. Left that place 50 years ago come Thursday and have NEVER been back.

    So Florida has banned the words “climate change” and “global warming”? How very intelligent!

    Will be back later but must leave now. I’m going to have Babylicious after all today, he’s not well enough to go to day care. Poor little thing is still battling an ear infection.

    Hope Meese everywhere will have a good day!

  10. anotherdemocrat

    Well, it is finally really raining. WooHoo! Rained all night, should rain most of the day. Sadly, not as much on the highland lakes, but we’ll take what we can get.

    Eating breakfast of fruit & quinoa, drinking tea. Earworm is the last song that was playing in my car, the bouncy, happy Big Girls Are Best, that sounds like U2 recorded it at a party in Brazil.

  12. Portlaw

    Republicans Warn Iran — and Obama — That Deal Won’t Last

    987 Mar 8, 2015 10:07 PM EDT

    By Josh Rogin

    A group of 47 Republican senators has written an open letter to Iran’s leaders warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama’s administration won’t last after Obama leaves office.

    Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber’s entire party leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, the letter is meant not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.

    ………The new letter is the latest piece of an effort by Senators in both parties to ensure that Congress will have some say if and when a deal is signed. Senators Bob Corker, Lindsey Graham, Tim Kaine and the embattled Bob Menendez have a bill pending that would mandate a Congressional review of the Iran deal, but Republicans and Democrats have been bickering over how to proceed in the face of a threatened presidential veto.

    Still, Senators from both parties are united in an insistence that, at some point, the administration will need their buy-in for any nuclear deal with Iran to succeed. There’s no sign yet that Obama believes this — or, if he does, that he plans to engage Congress in any meaningful way.

    http://www.bloombergview.com/a…

  13. bfitzinAR

    at one end of the day you burn at the other end of the day so that’s a wash.  But absolutely, especially here in the South, do we expend more on the A/C – and during peak hours which makes it worse.  

  14. bfitzinAR

    I’m groggy, queasy, and grumpy as hell this morning.  And totally not functioning at par.  Got a call from a professor stuck in FL (he was at a conference & his car broke down) and didn’t remember to ask him for his summer school texts while I had him on the phone – deadline was Friday but they gave us an extra day due to the bad weather last week.  AND I just posted what I thought was a reply to JanF’s reply to my Sunday comment and found I’d posted it as a regular comment just above this one.  Definitely not functioning on all cylinders today.  (If you’ve ever driven a car that wasn’t functioning on all cylinders, as I have, you’ll know that’s not good.)

    I have come to the conclusion that DST, whyever it was created, is currently just a ploy by the Powers That Be to keep workers off balance and thus easily manipulated.  Hope everybody gets back on track soon.  {{{HUGS}}}

  15. princesspat

    Nature is easing me into the time change….the morning light is a familiar grey.

    Ron is leaving soon for a few days on the Olympic Peninsula with his brothers, and my SIL will be here to stay with me. She is low key good company so we should have a nice visit.

  18. JanF

    It is 35 degrees in Madison on its way up to 59. It is foggy right now but will give way to sunny skies this afternoon.

    Turns out that the racist fraternity at Oklahoma University has been racist pretty much since its inception. Curse you, social media, for making bigots look like bigots!!! I am wondering about the strange things I am seeing out of the states of the Old South. The OU president was very angry about how that video made Oklahoma look. The governor of Alabama was worried about how “Selma” (the movie not the terrible poverty of that city) made Alabama look. Maybe when companies are choosing where to locate their businesses, the climate of intolerance may make a difference. I hope so. We have been unsuccessful in shaming the states into doing the right thing, maybe the business community, and their $$$ will have better luck.

    A peaceful demonstration in Madison over the use of deadly force stayed peaceful. The police chief met with the family the night of the shooting and there will be a complete investigation. The young man was troubled and was violent but the bottom line was that he was unarmed. Why can’t we train our police to deal with unarmed people in a way that does not result in their deaths? People do stupid things and sometimes the stupid things bring the attention of law enforcement. Those confrontations should not end up with someone dead.

    See all y’alls later!!

  19. Diana in NoVa

    Must get ready to leave in a minute to get Miss Pink Cheeks off to school.

    My head is still spinning from the 47. Are the media calling them out on this?

    Also surprised and pleased to see the president of OU declaring zero tolerance for bigots. I am so glad that I left Oklahoma 50 years ago and never looked back. Where you live does affect your happiness–I’ve been far happier living in a place that’s largely devoid of bigots and bible-thumpers. Or if they are present, at least they know not to express their views openly.

    Daylight savings made me so exhausted yesterday I had to go to bed early. Hope today is better.

    Will be back later to see what’s happening. Hope everyone in Moosylvania will have a good day!

  20. anotherdemocrat

    The rain went away. Boo. But we’re edging towards our normal weather. By the end of the week, it’ll be sunny & 70s.

    Earworm is courtesy of last night’s Chris Hayes — he had the word “sabotage” up while he was talking about the Republican traitors undermining the talks with Iran. So my mind started playing the brilliant Beastie Boys tune. (warning – it’s loud & obnoxious, it is also really beautiful & funny, I love the guitar — the video is a great send-up of ’70s cop shows). Anyway, I’m glad to see the widespread negative reaction.

    Brought my shoes for lunchtime walking but I left them in the car. So that means break time walking also. Guess I’ll finally eat that apple I brought last week – it’s the most portable thing to eat while I go get my shoes.

  23. bfitzinAR

    but supposed to rise to 60 and clear off this afternoon, thank goddess.  Maybe I can get enough coffee to clear my head this morning but I doubt it.  It didn’t work yesterday.  And it’s not like I actually had less sleep since the change.  I reset my clocks as soon as it’s full dark on the evening before and start the “new” routine immediately.  It’s the loss of daylight when I’m getting up that’s the problem.

    As to Tom Cotton, there’s not much I can say, nothing good.  I knew he was evil when he ran for office which is why I contributed and worked for blue dog Mark Pryor during the election.  He’s violated his oaths to serve the Constitution on numerous occasions – this stunt with the condescending letter to Iran is just the latest.  He combines the nasty Oliver Cromwell style of Xtianity with the fascism of Koch fealty.  And as long as people like Rupert Murdoch own the media my poor, mostly good-hearted but gormless, adopted state will keep electing him.

  24. princesspat

    My brain is foggy too. I really don’t like the spring time change. Don’t like feeling so grouchy either!

     

  27. JanF

    It is 38 degrees in Madison on its way up to 54. Partly cloudy skies in the forecast.

    I have my new coffeepot and it seems to make good coffee. +2!!

    So MehGate, the Hillary Email “Scandal”, has reached the stage where the questions were answered 4 times and now the press can spend two days complaining that they could not ask their question … which was the same as the others but more aggressive cuz nothing cements your rightwing creds than screaming insults at Hillary Clinton. I have no idea why anyone would willingly put themselves in front of that pack of jackals. I watched it live (because my brain needed a work break) and I was glad that she laughed at them, and that she had a chance to talk up the work she is doing empowering women PLUS take a whack at the #47Traitors. Now MehGate moves to the next phase where the only people who care about this are the Republicans thinking that it will end her candidacy. Note to press corps: if you don’t know anything about technology, better to not make blanket pronouncements. Yes, you can have two email accounts on the same phone NOW. But that is pretty recent … 3 years ago you couldn’t.

    See all y’alls later!

  28. Diana in NoVa

    Good morning, Meese! As I sit here typing I can hear the announcers on”Good Morning Merrycar” bleating about “Hillary Clinton and the Emails” instead of what they should be talking about, which is the 47 traitors. Can’t decide which is more revolting, the actions of the 47 or the failure of the howling wolf pack to call them on it.

    Whoever still thinks the media are “lib’rul” is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

    All right, will stop ranting now. I do hope Scotty Walker will do himself in during the primaries. For ugliness, he rivals Dick Nixon; for smarminess, Spiro Agnew.

    The news is so discouraging it’s hard to know what to comment on first.

    In home news, have uploaded the massive three-part blog and must now figure out how to do captions for the images. A friend sent me some HTML code last night for doing it but gad, it looks daunting! Oh, well, one can but try.

    Hope everyone in Moosylvania will have a good day! The snow is about 90 percent gone after yesterday’s rain, there are just a few snowbanks left.

  29. anotherdemocrat

    Didn’t need a sweater! And it’s gonna get up to 70. Cloudy, but I think our spell of being Seattle in the south is gone.

    I’m glad that OU expelled those kids. And the “creating a hostile environment” is either opening a can of awful worms or the beginning of the end of rape culture and the tolerating of racist shit like Sambo parties. Or both. And yeah, the Fijis at UT actually had a Sambo party. And nothing happened to them. I’m betting Dallas Jesuit (the high school 2 of the boys went to) is having an assembly this week to talk about racism & when they come back from spring break, there will be some new materials integrated into their classes.

    And apparently #47Traitirs is still trending on Twitter. But let’s talk about those e-mails. Yeah, the news & the Republicans both miscalculated. : )

    earworm is back to Big Girls Are Best

  31. bfitzinAR

    I still hate DST and hope that since the energy-efficient people and the productivity people haven’t done it, Public Health people will get active on getting rid of it.  I’m not sure how a 5% increase in heart attacks translates into numbers of dead bodies, but surely there are enough to get something done.  (Yeah, right.  Like the number of deaths due to what should be criminally lax gun laws have made any difference.)

    Hope you folks have sunshine and something approaching Spring weather wherever you are.  I’ve got a lovely row of daffs blooming in front of my house which does help a little with the DST groggies.  {{{HUGS}}}

  32. princesspat

    Between the rain and fog Daylight Savings Time is a tease……there’s no light to save!

    I have a quiet day planned with reading and rest this morning, lunch and a shopping errand with my SIL, then another rest before going to Emma’s orchestra concert tonight. She plays the violin.

  33. JanF

    It is 33 degrees in Madison on its way up to 58. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    Snippets of news: the GOP Senate put a poison pill into the human trafficking bill and its passage is doubtful, the Catholic Church says that it is exempt from lawsuits because of Religious Freedom, the press is still Clinton obsessed,  the Ferguson police chief resigned/retired and according to news reports will have a $100,000 golden parachute (and probably a GoFundARacist account), and a young man from the Texas chapter of SAE Tweeted in solidarity with his brothers from the OU fraternity … and he isn’t racist either, I am sure.

    See all y’alls later!

  34. DeniseVelez

    from two cops being shot in Ferguson. Shots reportedly came not from the group of protestors but from up on a hill on a side street behind them.  

    Also keeping an eye on yet another young black man’s death at the hands of police. A vet, who was off his medication…was naked.

    Calls for police accountability in death of naked man

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

    Anthony Hill: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

    http://heavy.com/news/2015/03/…

    Re Ferguson – predictable response from the right – this is Obama’s fault and Holder’s.

    Now “all black people” are at fault as well.

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

    Need lot’s more coffee.  

  35. Diana in NoVa

    Today is my 71st birthday! I cannot believe I’ve attained such an age.

    Woke up to the news about more trouble in Ferguson–incredible! The police in this country need to be reined in but I don’t know who is going to do that. Will try to keep an eye on developments but this is a work day for me.

    Had a rotten night because (1) it was too hot in our bedroom and we didn’t think to open a window, and (2) I lost my new ring somewhere in the house and that bothered me. It’s to be hoped I’ll find it.

    In the meantime, Dearly brought home some daffodils and chocolates and today will buy a carrot cake. We won’t go out tonight but perhaps will go out to tea at the end of the month. I’ve sort of gone off going out to restaurants–it’s too dark to even read the menu and the noise level is incredible.

    Lots of poutrage on the telly this morning about a baby being wrapped in the American flag–the real poutrage should be directed at the 47 senatorial traitors.

    Hope everyone at the Pond will have a good day!

  36. anotherdemocrat

    Back to rainy. But we need it. Just wish it would rain on the lakes, where we really need it. Brought jacket & cap, in case there’s lunchtime walking.

    No real thoughts. Haven’t had my tea, so maybe there will be thoughts later.

  37. Portlaw

    gobbled it up.

    It’s forty degrees. Incredible. Not sure how to deal with it.

    As for the news, horrible. The forty senators who love war more than they love their country.  Ferguson. And that poor naked man who should have been taken to a hospital but was murdered.

    On another note, people are having grandchildren and I went to a baby shower a few days ago and just sent off a package to an out of towner baby boy. I usually give books suitable for various ages. Turns out I give the same books, year after year, after year. Oh dear. No imagination.

    At the shower the other day as the honoree, the mother to be, was unwrapping each of my books, a daughter of the house kept saying that she had just read that book to her son the night before and then looked at me and remembered that I had given her the same books two years ago at her shower.  A young boy who was helping out, sighed when The Story of Ferdinand was unwrapped and exclaimed how much he had loved that book. Oh dear, I had probably given it to his mother at a shower not long before he came into the world. Maybe I will send each of those senators a copy of The Story of Ferdinand.  Have any of you read it?

  38. bfitzinAR

    I guess the overcast and rain chance fits with Thor – except the biggest chance (over 75%) is tomorrow.  I want my sunshine back.  Bad enough dealing with DST, but only one day of sunshine in the last 5 is – well, I’d say too much but there isn’t anything I can do about it so I guess I’ll just say makes it worse.

    I have a thought if anybody knows to use it for getting rid of DST.  Consider the anti-government governments many of us are suffering from at the moment.  Now consider what Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time were called in the UK back in the 1930s – “Government Time and God’s Time”.  So anyone who knows how to start a movement to “Let’s get off Government Time and back to God’s Time” – go for it! 🙂

  39. anotherdemocrat

    so sad, but these tweets, so like him (Death is a character in a lot of his books, he’s actually rather funny, and he always talks in all caps, he can’t quite master talking like we do). Also, damn Alzheimer’s, most especially the vicious, early-onset variety.

    Terry Pratchett @terryandrob  ·  8m 8 minutes ago

    AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.

    Terry Pratchett @terryandrob  ·  7m 7 minutes ago

    Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.

    Terry Pratchett @terryandrob  ·  8m 8 minutes ago

    The End.

  40. princesspat

    My 6 weeks of restricted activity ends today, yay! The largest incision needs a bit more healing time before I can go back to the pool, but I can carry a bag and drive again so life will be more normal soon. I’ve missed my independence!  

  41. JanF

    It is 38 degrees in Madison on its way up to 68. Wait, is that a typo? Nope, 68. Yikes! That would not be a record for today but it would be close.

    Happy Friday the 13th! How very lucky to have them two months in a row!!

    The news has now become non-sensical. He-who-I-am-sick-of-hearing-about says that Barack Obama should be more like Bill Cosby, less uppity and more … rapey? Sheesh. And Fox News blames Eric Holder for the shooting of the Ferguson police officers because his report recommended changes after the discovery of wholesale racism. I guess it is not much different than MSNBC blaming a black rapper for a racist chant that racist fraternities have been singing for decades. At least Univision refused to accept racism and fired one of their talk show hosts over a comment he made about Michelle Obama.

    And would someone please fix the Secret Service?

    See all y’alls later!

  42. Diana in NoVa

    So far the morning is fair but we’re expecting rain about rush hour and heavy downpours through the night and into tomorrow.

    Thanks, everyone, for the birthday wishes! Feel thoroughly spoilt.

    Friday the 13th–how very appropriate that I’m going to lunch with a couple of Witches today. And ye gods, Ostara is a week from today and I’m to conduct the ritual! I’d better get busy.

    I posted the first part of the English diary on Orange and it’s incredible how many people seem to have a sojourn in England in their pasts. One person took a cargo freighter from New York to Antwerp over rough seas–wow. It’s fun reading the comments.

    Still disgusted with the “news”:  “everyone but white people is responsible for racism” as well as “Mrs. Clinton has doomed herself with those emails.” How I despise the corporate media. My idea of news: Let’s talk about climate change, TREASON, and how to eliminate racism and sexism.

    Have been thinking more and more about what Denise said recently regarding “intersectionality.” I would love to see an essay on this.

    Happy Freya’s Day to all in Moosylvania!

  43. anotherdemocrat

    Foggy morning, but we’re supposed to get up to the 70s today.

    No real thoughts in head. Love the song that’s my earworm, Lifening, but it is too slow & drifty for this time of day. This version that I linked to has some funny banter before. Playing at a radio station gig. It’s a very sweet song, about what’s really important in life – a hand on your forehead, a place to call your own, Ireland in the World Cup (either north or south! hey, he’s from Ulster, so that’s really pretty big)

    I’m so sleepy that I left my breakfast in the fridge, so I’m having cheese & crackers for breakfast. Glad I had cheese here. And now an oat bar.

  44. Portlaw

    more proof that Pres Obama was right and Congress was being used as a campaign stop


    “Something isn’t going the way it should. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last week should have created a turning point for us and strengthened Likud in the polls. It’s clear that we didn’t achieve the desired outcome,” a senior figure in Likud told Haaretz.

    http://www.haaretz.com/news/is…

  45. Portlaw

    (Reuters) – Major world powers have begun talks about a United Nations Security Council resolution to lift U.N. sanctions on Iran if a nuclear agreement is struck with Tehran, a step that could make it harder for the U.S. Congress to undo a deal, Western officials said.

    The talks between Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – the five permanent members of the Security Council – plus Germany and Iran, are taking place ahead of difficult negotiations that resume next week over constricting Iran’s nuclear ability.

    and then

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress on Wednesday that an Iran nuclear deal would not be legally binding, meaning future U.S. presidents could decide not to implement it. That point was emphasized in an open letter by 47 Republican senators sent on Monday to Iran’s leaders asserting any deal could be discarded once President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017.

    But a Security Council resolution on a nuclear deal with Iran could be legally binding, say Western diplomatic officials. That could complicate and possibly undercut future attempts by Republicans in Washington to unravel an agreement

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

  47. bfitzinAR

    and pretty much going to stay in the 50s all day.  Doubt we’ll get much rain, just a whole day of overcast and drizzle, which doesn’t help my mood any.  Or the muzzy-headedness.  Took a mug of coffee before I could even form words properly – and I still have to concentrate (or get angry) to get them out right even now.  Moar coffee will help and I’m about to go get some. Where’s that coffee IV I used to see here and in the old Mojo Friday diaries on teh Orange?  I need it big time! 🙂

    Apparently our anti-gummint R-controlled Lege actually is bringing up a bill to get rid of gummint time.  The right thing done for the wrong reason is still the right thing.  If they pull it off, I will thank them profusely.  Have a good Friday 13th.  {{{HUGS}}}

  48. princesspat

    The grand girls have a day off from school so both grandmothers are taking them to see Cinderella Live. Nana pays more attention to kids movies than I do, so after reading this review I’m better informed. It’s always fun to be with the girls and even better when the movie is good too!

    Ashes to Sashes

    “Have courage and be kind” is the film’s echoing refrain: Ella’s mother first says it on her deathbed; Ella, who repeats the motto under her breath in times of ill treatment, makes it the guiding principle of her life. Her steadfastness, admirable on its own, should tell us something about the slippery way this movie handles power. Just as magic lets a mouse become a footman, the right perspective can transfigure obedience into strength. In Cinderella, compassion does not come easily; it calls for grit and sacrifice.

  49. JanF

    It is 43 degrees in Madison on its way up to 65. Partly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Racist SAE frat members have hired Timothy McVeigh’s attorney to sue the University of Oklahoma for kicking their frat off campus. Stephen Jones, former Nixon aide, once ran against current OU president David Boren, a Democrat, in a Senate race and got 17% of the vote. So I suspect that there will be some interesting conversations.

    The president said he was “embarrassed” for the GOP Senators who wrote the letter to the ayatollahs.  The story of how this letter got signed by 47 Senators is both interesting and sad. Apparently Senators were on their way out of town to beat the snow storm, saw that Mitch McConnell had approved the letter, and signed it without reading it. As someone pointed out, we elect Senators to 6 year terms because they are supposed to be more thoughtful and reflective than House members … and who would maybe take a couple of extra minutes to read what they are signing. I think this is what happens when representatives are “promoted” from the GOP House to the Senate based solely on ideology and have no experience with governing.  I hope the fallout continues. Whatever thin grasp Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) had on her Senate seat loosened considerably with the stroke of her pen. And Ron Freaking Johnson just added another shovelful of dirt on his one-shameful-term career.

    And Happy Pi Day, all y’all!! I will dust off my Paeon to Pi and post it at 3.141592653. 🙂

    See all y’all later!!

  50. Diana in NoVa

    Jan, you said:

    I hope the fallout continues. Whatever thin grasp Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) had on her Senate seat loosened considerably with the stroke of her pen. And Ron Freaking Johnson just added another shovelful of dirt on his one-shameful-term career.

    I also hope it continues. Nothing would please me more than to see it weaken the 47 so much that some of them will fail to be reelected.

    Dearly Beloved, happy that the new Formula I season is starting this very weekend, is watching the Qualifying race right now. Today is a good day to catch up on writing emails, tidying up Dearly’s office (a nightmare), and to run out to buy corned beef and cabbage. Found a slow cooker recipe that will cook the whole dam’ thing all day tomorrow so I don’t need to do anything except heat up the soda bread. All the “Irish” desserts I saw on the Intertubes involved alcohol, so I’ll just make the dessert my niece said she enjoyed most in Ireland–pound cake with lemon curd, whipped cream, and raspberries. This will please DIL–she’s getting on for five months pregnant so she doesn’t do alcohol.

    Hope everyone will have a good day! And thanks to all the Meese who read Part I of the “Traipsing Round England” diary. Today is the last installment and has a picture of the 22-year-old me at the end. Glad to have committed the memories to paper (or cyber-papyrus) so now I can move on. 🙂

  51. anotherdemocrat

    Planning a lazy day. Starting with breakfast & Up. If any friends in town for SXSW want to meet away from downtown, I’ll be in for that. Otherwise: clean out fridge…… umm….. take out trash & recycling…….. should probably exercise. Earworm is Yahweh, which is weird since I haven’t heard it this week.

  52. DeniseVelez

    icy rain here – I’m staying home waiting for my electrician.

    Was listening to my public radio station yesterday and they aired an NPR piece on Tim Cotton – leader of the seditious 47 – and my jaw dropped.  It was a sugar-coated cotton candy

    confection of praise soundbytes.

    Shudder.

    http://www.npr.org/2015/03/13/…

  53. anotherdemocrat

    Cookie Monster ‏@MeCookieMonster  48m48 minutes ago

    PIE DAY?!? PIE DAY?!?

    Wait, not dat kind of pie?

    What kind of joke is this?

  54. princesspat

    I’ve got a long list of deferred errands I would like to do now that I can drive again, the wind has blown over the plants I just put in the pots so it’s time to plant them, laundry has accumulated seemingly all by itself…..my life is returning to normal!

    And once again the buds on my old maple tress surprise me every morning. If I could just stay awake and watch I wonder if I could see them grow? I love watching the seasons change in the trees.

  55. Portlaw

    Menendez for his tough stance of Iran. Isn’t Menendez under investigation?  The ad is sponsored by the same group that did that smear of Susan Rice.  In this ad Menendez, a Democrat, is quoted as saying that the administration;s plan “sounds like talking points that come straight out of Teheran”

    https://thisworld.us/2015/03/1…

    nightmare-israels-great-friend/

    My fury level is rising. I, Do. Not. Want. War,

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