Friday Stuff

Yep, more like this - a lot more…



…oh, and by the way, before I forget, congrats to newly-elected Dem U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey; still reserving judgment on him a bit, but credit where it’s due (aided by Steve Lonegan’s campaign, which was pretty much comedy)…



…and I have to tell you that I’ve been reading more than a little bit about the assorted issues with the rollout of the health care exchanges, and I feel that I have to say something (never stopped me before :-).

Could the Obama people have managed this a little better? Probably, but guess what?

Speaking as a person who has held a couple of different jobs in IT for probably about 20 years, now that I think of it (ugh), I should say that “beta” roll-outs of any software product (which is what this is), particularly a web site, NEVER go the way they’re supposed to (especially in this case, when you’re 1) dealing with an unanticipated high volume of traffic, and 2) dealing also with “actors” in the public sector, particularly Republican Party ones, who have a vested interest in making sure you fail). Yes, there are ALWAYS glitches; those are what you’re SUPPOSED to find in the “beta” period. Besides, those eligible won’t be required to purchase health insurance until after January 1st.

And I think HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius deserves a medal for sticking out this mess and not walking away from it…



Update 10/20/13: What Heather of C&L sez here...

…and happy 70th (again, ugh) birthday to Russ Giguere of The Association (hippy dippy ‘60s music time, people).

Thursday Stuff

And the “bloggers” are to blame for the shut down and near-default, “B. Barry Bamz”? Well, a bit I suppose.

However, no “blogger” that I know of was responsible for this atrocity – only “The Most Trusted Name In News” (and how again exactly is Rep. “Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv” a winner?).

All of this misery isn’t something that can be categorized as if it were a sporting event, a People Magazine poll, or some damn awards show. Real people suffered real pain – nobody “won” or “lost”…



…and leave it to Sen. Elizabeth Warren to come up with a pitch-perfect response here, something akin to what she said below when this ridiculous mess began…

...and by the way, more like this...

...though some stuff did get done during the shut down (and it looks like MSNBC, with their whiz-bang new site, somehow totally hosed the ability to size these videos and allow volume control also)...



…and here’s another tune with an allusion to our fortunes-ever-dwindling professional hockey team.

Wednesday Stuff

Mikey The Liar strikes again (here, on the matter of H Res 368, Section 2 in particular)…

Fitzpatrick, R-8, Middletown, said House resolution 368 was “no different than what was done in the past” with budget negotiations and it "allowed anybody to debate on the House floor."

“The normal process of when the House and Senate disagree is to go to conference,” Fitzpatrick said. “So, I voted to make sure both the House and the Senate would go to conference to resolve the budget impasse, which is how it should get done. That’s what this resolution was designed to do.”

Even for Mikey, a falsehood like that definitely fails the smell test.

As noted in the video with Chris Van Hollen and Jason Chaffetz linked in the Courier Times story, H Res 358 Section 2 was written explicitly so only the House Majority Leader (that sleazy weasel Eric Cantor) or his “designate” could introduce legislation re-opening the government, which, based on this, will happen shortly at long last.

Gee, I wonder if the supposedly august-in-their-imaginations Courier Times editorial board will call Mikey on this one? And by the way, here is some reality on the supposedly “job crushing” medical device tax.

Fed up with Mikey and his BS as much as I am? Click here to do something about it (and here’s a clip of people who were victimized by the games played by Mikey and his U.S. House playmates...and apparently Mikey has learned well from the "tutelage" of "Man Tan" Boehner based on this)…



…and let’s not forget who the yahoos are who damn near caused another recession, namely, the clowns in this video who don’t actually know the first thing about the document they claim to know inside out…



Update 10/17/13: And speaking of the Teahadists...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

…and given all of this, I actually think Ari Melber is onto something here…



…and it looks like the activity in this video is about the only positive thing that will be happening on an ice-skating rink in these parts for a little while.

Wednesday Stuff

Achtung, Teabaggers (and how sad is this anyway – here is my response)…



…and do you want to know who, more than anyone else in the U.S. House, has to do with the fact that our economy, supposedly the greatest in the world, is now teetering on default? I give you uber-wingnut Mark Meadows of North Carolina, and his pals…



…and why do I have a feeling that, if Alan Gottlieb really were facing “A bad guy with a gun,” he’d wet his pants (don’t usually go for the “yelling-talking-head-back-and-forth” stuff, but kudos to Piers Morgan for remaining steadfast on this issue - here)…



…and when I think of the Teahadists, this is one song that comes to mind right away (NSFW, a bit).

Monday Stuff

Here’s more on the GOP’s civil war that could conceivably drag all of us down (and actually, Rand Paul is stupid…and how again are Democrats pushing us to the cliff, Tweety?)…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and speaking of which, check out the little parliamentary trick the U. S. House Repugs pulled to ensure that a shut down, at the very least, would happen (here – great catch by Chris Van Hollen)…



…and speaking of Bill Maher as Tweety did above, we learn that there really isn’t much difference between Moon Unit Bachmannn and Scalia of The Supremes (NSFW)…



…and yes, I live in mortal fear of being attacked by scantily-clad twenty-something women wielding pillows…:-).