Mira
Mira's Journal
An evaluation of Senator Richard Burr that is not to be missed - maybe ought to be put in GD as well
this came to me by email from a local loyal erudite Democratic friend of mine who works hard in NC Party politics.He wrote this assessment of Senator Richard Burr's local history and gives his observations of this self serving Senator's work record.
He is asking us to stop coddling him. Read it and hopefully do what you can to add your voice to help rock Richard Burr's ever so comfortable boat.
It is true that Burr served without distinction, and that his name was not associated with any legislation—memorable or otherwise--but when he slid into the Senate, he did not dribble race-hate like a Helms or carom around an alternative universe as Ms Foxx has done. He continued to be a team player.
Despite his low profile and manikin looks, his Senate career has been undistinguished. We hear he plays a lot of golf. No significant legislation has come from him, and he never has seemed to be agitated by principle. Like so many of his confreres, he has done as he was told, raised his money, and kept a low profile. Without effort or announcement, he became a client of the NRA, a team player. So it was no surprise when he announced he would join the likes of Paul, Cruz, and other tea-party types to block any vote on gun safety.
It is time we quit cutting him slack. It is not enough to be one of the boys, to conceal himself in the herd. To do his NRA masters’ bidding to block a vote which would save the lives of innocent citizens is a disgrace to his office, and an insult to decent people in North Carolina. It is a repudiation of his education and an affront to the ethics he glibly professes. No longer should he be permitted to hide in the shadows, innocuous and unnoticed. He needs to hear from his constituents.
He needs to be shunned, and to be opposed for as long as he occupies a seat that a real senator should fill."
Here is how to reach Senator Burr
http://www.burr.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
Washington, DC 217 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-3154 Fax: (202) 228-2981
Ignorant man at K-mart - commenting on "Mad Man" Kim Jong-Un yesterday.
So I was in a K-Mart store yesterday getting seeds and soil, and walked past the TVs. A heavily tattooed man in his thirties was pointing to the screen where Kim-Jong-Un and his army and were parading their stuff.
"See" - he said, almost grabbing me, "they are going to nuke us. I've been saying it for many years. They'll get us, and we better be ready."
"North Korea has gone crazy" I said.
"North, South, and West", he replied,"and China, and Japan. All of them. They're after us and we'll get got. They are all the same. Everywhere."
I looked at him and slowly shook my head.
No, they are not. I said. Do yourself a favor and start reading the paper and keep a small atlas nearby. It's a big diverse world out there.They are not all the same. Not at all."
He stared at me. And actually was exhibiting surprise on his face.
Some things are no longer worth taking on.
This was such a situation, at least at the time. The wife-beater cut T-shirt maybe scared me off.
But when I saw the cartoon below in my paper this morning, I was reminded of the exchange with this probably not mad, but certainly ignorant man, yesterday.
Both conditions are Oh So dangerous.
Is there a smiley for "sad"?
This is not surprising us - of course - just adding a little steam to the rage. Graph /Corporate Tax
:large
A mildly different version of A is for - while we wait for the contest to start
This time, instead of choosing an image suitable for the verb starting with the letter let's start a little narrative about the photo with the letter. Anything goes. In essence it's a photographer's choice of using words and clowning with the alphabet to bring us a photo. Then there will be a little background about why this one.
It makes us learn about the photo, and the photographer, fun all around.
A is for Abstraction in the Snow
a photo I took a few years ago while putting on boots and venturing out into one of our very rare snowfalls. In this photo my fun was to crop it in such a way that it became artistic in bringing color to the snow by being a simple photograph of a half dead small bush in the snow.
It's no big deal, obviously, but this rundown of the alphabet would make any photo you want to show the next one, if only you start your narrative with the proper letter.
(I came up with this because I could not sleep, and I was bored, if you don't like it, I'll fill it all in myself)
Right Not to Get Shot Faces Uphill Fight in Senate - Andy Borowitz has details
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Senate Republicans today vowed to filibuster a controversial bill supporting the right not to get shot.
G.O.P. leaders lambasted the bill, arguing that the right to go to school, work, or one’s home without fear of being shot was not guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
“The Second Amendment makes it very clear,” said Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming). “The right to bear arms shall not be infringed by a tiny minority’s desire not to be shot.”
But according to the pollster Harland Dorrinson, of OpinionFact Polling, the right not to get shot, while controversial, is beginning to gain traction with the American electorate.
“Like gay marriage, not getting shot is an idea that has taken some getting used to, but people are starting to wrap their brains around it,” he said.
Poll numbers notwithstanding, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said today that he would join the effort to filibuster any not-getting-shot-related bill: “The only way we Republicans can protect our democracy is by preventing a vote.”
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/04/right-not-to-get-shot-faces-uphill-fight-in-senate.html#ixzz2PzFwPuHW
Columnist and Cartoonist in synch about our plight in North Carolina
Extreme Bills make NC Joke fodder byScott Sexton
Winston-Salem Journal
The photo spoke for itself: Pat McCrory walking back into a restaurant in Kernersville holding up the utensil that he had accidentally pocketed while inhaling some cake. He wanted to make a show of returning it.
After a rough first couple of weeks on the job with some of the ideas pushed by the wingnuts in his own party, the new Republican governor wouldn’t have been blamed had he carried it back to Raleigh with him. That way, he could have put a fork in some of the nonsense that made North Carolina the butt of more than a few jokes on the national stage.
As one pundit put it, McCrory is being treated by legislators as their junior partner in a tea party crusade.
That’s not the spot in which a rookie governor wants to find himself.
As is often the case in Raleigh, the fun begins with the opening of bill filing. Just like walking into a voting booth or starting a car, there is no IQ test required...........................
all the rest is here:
http://www.journalnow.com/news/columnists/scott_sexton/article_9d95ca30-a0a7-11e2-a83e-0019bb30f31a.html
and then to illustrate what I hope you will have read is a visual from John Cole
(that's me standing there in my old orange sweater)
Facebook Unveils New Waste of Time reveils Andy Borowitz
MENLO PARK (The Borowitz Report)—Before a rapt audience at Facebook headquarters Thursday, Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg unveiled new software that he promised “will totally change the way you are wasting your life.”
Explaining the development of Facebook’s new phone software, Home, Mr. Zuckerberg said, “Our research showed that Facebook users still had a few hours a day when they were leading somewhat healthy and productive lives. Our new software will change all of that.”
Mr. Zuckerberg said his developers had worked for months developing Home, “which seizes control of your phone and makes it good for little other than Facebook—much like many Facebook users themselves.”
By bombarding the user with status updates on a twenty-four-hour basis, he boasted, “Home transforms Facebook from just a social network into something akin to a neurological disorder.”
As the audience applauded that pronouncement, Mr. Zuckerberg added, “At Facebook, we want to be a million voices inside your head.”
When one member of the audience worried whether Home would give Facebook even more access to private information about one’s life, Mr. Zuckerberg reassured the questioner, “After using Home for several weeks, you will have no life.”
While clearly proud of his latest product, Mr. Zuckerberg gave notice that he did not intend to rest on his laurels: “At Facebook, we will never stop striving to replace real experience with something soulless and empty.”
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/04/facebook-unveils-new-waste-of-time.html#ixzz2Pny8EoOE
Bernie Sanders on with Bill Maher tonight at 10 pm
HBO 10 pm, repeat at 11 pm
Sebastian Junger
Journalist, Filmmaker, Director HBO's "Which way is the Front line from here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington
Zack Kopplin
Science Educatio Activist
Abby Huntsman
Political Commentator, Host: Huff-Post Live
Steve Moore
Economist Author
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Chariman Senate Committee on Veteran's Affairs
NC:...where the political climate and living at the moment are surely not easy. Letter from a friend
I found this letter from a local friend in my email box today, and after asking him he allowed me to pass his thoughts on to you as well.Background information, and this is for real:
We North Carolinians were refused in our desire to establish our own in-state religion in order to have Christian Prayer preserved at the openings of county board meetings. We did not get to do it, the NC House did not forward it to be voted on.
The letter is here, I hope you enjoy the wit.
As you know, two GOP knuckleheads from Cabarrus and Rowan counties decided it would be clever to introduce a resolution allowing NC to have a state religion. Last night the speaker of the house said it wasn't going to happen, apparently after every non-Baptist in NC emailed him. The Winston-Salem Journal asked what we thought about this, so I wrote them on Facebook. I hope everyone gets the joke:
Of all the world religions, only the founder of Quakerism, George Fox, has ever been to North Carolina. Not Wesley (Methodists), not Calvin (Baptists), not Knox (Presbyterians), not Luther (Lutherans), not Henry VIII (Episcopalians). I’m not even mentioning Muhammad, Moses and Buddha. This is a sign. It’s self-evident that North Carolina should adopt Quakerism. Many benefits will accrue.
Here’s the top ten reasons for adopting Quakerism.
10. No more paying taxes on voluntary wars.
9. No more Wall Street casino banking.
8. No more Nicki Minaj-like clothing on young whippersnappers.
7. No more running a deficit.
6. No more deceptive advertising.
5. Everyone will be Friendly.
4. Sober reflection on current events, no matter how ridiculous.
3. Whippersnappers will marry only after long reflection (limit, 10 months)
2. Everyone saying “thou”, just like in the Bible.
And the number one reason:
1. Silent prayer -- no more public praying by Pharisees to signal how pious they are.
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