Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Oct. 18th through Oct. 24th

October 18, 2015 JanF Community 147

Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts 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.

Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, 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?

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NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.

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51 Comments

  1. 54 when I came in this morning, currently 76 almost to the predicted 80 for the day in Fay., AR. Sunny for one more day with much needed rain still showing for tomorrow and Saturday. Pleasant day sort of – busy-ness hit me as I walked in which is why I’m so late checking in.

    Minor rant – Handyman guy working on my house managed to accidentally turn on the bathroom heater yesterday and I didn’t notice until after dark when I was heading down the hall to turn on my bedroom light and I saw the red glow. Basically that unwanted, unneeded bathroom heat ate up every watt and then some of the electricity my system generated yesterday. I’ve done that myself so I’m not going have a fit at him, but I’m still pissed off.

    Glad Joe’s out but I almost wish he’d held off a bit. This blasted election – thanks to The Media – started about 2 years early. Having Joe thinking about it kept The Media occupied. I’m almost at the point of saying thank goddess for the emailghazi hearing – keeps The Media occupied, makes the Rs look bad, and gives Hillary another chance to look “presidential”. We’ve got a long season to go – months before the first vote in the first caucus or primary – and The Media’s insatiable appetite for blood, real or figurative, is going to do nothing but continue the country’s downward spiral unless we can find something else to divert their adhd little hearts. Looking forward to the highlights of Hillary’s testimony but no way planning to sit through the whole thing even if I weren’t on company time.

    Hope everyone has a good day. {{{HUGS}}}

  2. Good morning, 47 and cloudy in Bellingham today. I tossed and turned last night and finally woke up tired so it’s going to be a long day.

    I’m watching HRC now and she is impressively presenting the facts, with the able assistance of the Dem’s on the committee. Rep Smith jusr asked why the Defense Dept and the CIA are not being questioned because they were part of the decision making. And now he wants to know how the lack of a proper budget effects the State Department’s ability to function. The bottom line, “Congress needs to do it’s job”. And now a congressman from Georgia wants her to give yes and no answers only……grrrrrrr!!!

      • p.s. Never EVER read the replies to a Tweet by a political figure. They make the hiddens at the GOS look like reasoned discourse. For example, I clicked on a Hillary Clinton tweet that said “Stand with me” and found ghastly images and nasty comments. When the president got his @POTUS account, the ugly racist comments were awful.

    • You will be dismayed by them. The New York Times chose to focus on the email controversy, not the excellent job Hillary Clinton did in the face of the unrelenting attacks by her enemies (sorry, Joe, Republicans are our enemies).

      I got here this morning at the same time you did but got distracted because I wanted to post this photo in the emailghazi comments. It shows a winner and a (sweaty!) loser.

      Thank you for posting the great clip of Rep. Cummings! Do you mind if we use that post for post-interrogation commentary? I have a lot of Tweets I want to share.

      • Do with it what you want – I just wanted to get something together on Cummings.

        Looking forward to what you pull together and post.

        • Rep. Cummings also had a great comment later in the hearing that almost (but not quite!!) brought Secretary Clinton to tears. After I get my work done, I will spend some time hunting clips.

          I think the reason that Trey Gowdy was so sweaty is because he knew he would have to explain to his masters why he gave Secretary Clinton an 11 hour free infomercial for her presidential campaign. Some wags on Twitter were suggesting that Hillary will have to claim the $4.7 million spent on the Benghaziiiiii!! panel as a campaign donation. :)

          • Gowdy wound up looking like something that crawled out from under a rock – ugh!

  5. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 46 degrees on its way up to 59. Showers are in the forecast.

    I am exhausted! And I only had to watch the interrogation, not answer questions for 11 hours. I watched the opening statements from my computer, heard the first whiny voice of some whiny Republican and shut it off. Later in the afternoon, I started watching on TV (MSNBC) and watched it into the night, including the Rachel Maddow Show. Secretary Clinton, by the way, will be giving her first post-interrogation interview to Rachel tonight at 9pm Eastern. I have my DVR set.

    There is other news. President Obama vetoed the Defense Authorization Bill, telling Congress that he is still in charge: he wants the sequester gone and refuses to give up the only leverage he has to get a sequester-free budget – the wrath of the military-industrial complex brought to bear on the Republican Congress (the domestic programs harmed by the sequester don’t have powerful lobbyists pulling for them). Plus he wants to close Gitmo … one of the campaign promises he made.

    Transcript: Remarks by the President at Veto Signing of National Defense Authorization Act

    President Obama also hosted a panel discussion on criminal justice reform that I will post when the transcript is available. The president explained Black Lives Matter:

    “I think the reason that the organizers used the phrase “black lives matter” was not because they were suggesting nobody else’s lives matter,” he said. “What they were suggesting was, there is a specific problem that is happening in the African-American community that’s not happening in other communities. And that is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address.”

    But the meaning of the phrase has been perverted by media pundits and some members of law enforcement, who argue that it is inflammatory rhetoric. The phrases “all lives matter” and “blue lives matter” sprang up in direct response to activists who have mobilized against police brutality and attacks on black lives.

    “It started being lifted up as ‘these folks are opposed to police, and they’re opposed to cops, and all lives matter.’ So the notion was somehow saying black lives matter was reverse racism, or suggesting other people’s lives didn’t matter or police officers’ lives didn’t matter,” he said.

    See all y’alls later!

  6. It’s finally raining! Yay! Except that this is Formula 1 weekend & there’s tons of visitors & outdoor stuff going on; and the part of Bastrop where the fire was will now flood because the vegetation is gone. But overall, rain after 6 weeks of none is a good thing.

    Yesterday after the blood draw, I went to a few thrift stores looking for a raincoat that actually fits. I have several, but my round belly….. Anyway, I couldn’t find one even at the really big Goodwill, so I went to Target. They had lots of waterproof & “keep warm” stuff — still seems a bizarre concept when I’m wearing shorts & sandals. But I found one, a men’s xxl, so the sleeves are too long. But it zips up & has a hood, and no padding or anything to “keep me warm”. It was too expensive, but I bought it anyway. I’ll just eat more beans next month, to make a bigger payment on my Target card.

    Earworm is U2’s cover of Everlasting Love, which is in my marathon mix. Of course I like this version better than the original, because Bono. The video in the link has pix of him & Ali, even some from high school. I love that childhood sweethearts are still together. He said of his songwriting that he feels like he’s still that adolescent boy trying to impress Ali Stewart. Isn’t that adorable?

  7. Happy Freya’s Day to everyone at the Pond! Bishop Ussher in the 19th century decreed that God created the world at nine o’clock on the morning of Friday, October 23rd, in 4004 BC. Have always been impressed by the granularity of detail in this statement.

    Couldn’t watch most of the EmailBenghazi hearings yesterday but definitely want to watch Rachel tonight at 9. Oh, rats, I have to go out to dinner. Never mind, I’ll get Dearly to tape it. Was peeking at some of the comments on GOS last night and saw to my amazement that several people were so impressed by HC they changed their support to her, and even a couple of Berniebots said they would cheerfully vote for her if she’s the nominee. One person stated that the Emailghazi committee had just handed HC the nomination and the presidency.

    The Miracle Worker actually got the garage organized yesterday! She is amazing and I shall email her employers to tell them so. Another busy, horrible day ahead of cleaning the refrigerator and visiting the post office. Some of the flowers are dying so must buy more. We are wondering how to watch Formula I on Sunday when there will be an open house here. Probably we’ll have to inflict ourselves on one of the sons.

    Wishing a good day to everyone in Moosylvania!

    • the qualifying rounds on Saturday may get interesting, but the rain is supposed to be gone by the time of the real race on Sunday

    • Wow, this I did not know!

      Bishop Ussher in the 19th century decreed that God created the world at nine o’clock on the morning of Friday, October 23rd, in 4004 BC.

      I wonder if that is in conjunction with MOLE day, something I found out about this year because my daughter is taking chemistry in high school:


      Celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro’s Number (6.02 x 1023), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles.

      For a given molecule, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the molar mass of the molecule. For example, the water molecule has an molar mass of 18, therefore one mole of water weighs 18 grams. Similarly, a mole of neon has a molar mass of 20 grams. In general, one mole of any substance contains Avogadro’s Number of molecules or atoms of that substance. This relationship was first discovered by Amadeo Avogadro (1776-1858) and he received credit for this after his death.

      I never took chemistry (it was not required to graduate when I was in high school) so this was something new to me!

  8. Morning all. Mole Day! That is truly fascinating info – I did take HS chemistry but remember nothing about it, so even if we did learn about Avogadro’s Number, it’s long gone from my memory banks. It’s warmer here this morning than it has been, but a cool breeze makes it very nice outside.

    Great diary at DKos, Dee – read and recc’d. I watched most of the “hearing” yesterday, and I’m just in awe of Sec. Clinton’s poise and stamina – I’m a few years younger than she is and no way could I have lasted that long. Clearly, that’s what the Republicans were hoping, a breakdown after the virtual waterboarding – except they were so stupid in their questioning. “Really, yes I was home alone ALL NIGHT” in response to that dimwit woman from Alabama might have been my favorite moment – I would have burst out laughing too!

    The press coverage is frustrating to read – so sexist, it’s obvious. But I do think, as I said over at GOS last night, that this was 9 hours of a political advertisement showing why Hillary Clinton should be the next President, so hopefully people who saw at least part of it will go by their own reactions and not be dictated to by the press.

    Have a great day everyone!

    • Exactly! “virtual waterboarding”.

      I think a lot of strong women are very proud of what one very strong woman did yesterday. I noticed the shift on Twitter as well: a lot of people sitting on the fence came down on Hillary’s side. I am sure she will tick them off again later (ha!!) but right now it feels great to have everyone agree that she would make an excellent president.

      I have not read any of the press reports yet because I am up to my ears in end-of-week stuff. I will dip into them later.

    • Yes – that woman was really nasty – just goes to show the Rs are equal opportunity creeps.

  9. 70 now and all day this Friday in Fay., AR. We got rain – 3/4″ – between 9:30 pm and 3 this morning. May or may not get any more as the predictions keep changing. Looks like Hurricane Patricia is going to walk the Pacific across the entire middle of Mexico into the Gulf and dump a lot of water on TX, LA and points north and east. I know everybody can use the water, but it would be nice to get it in smaller batches over a longer time.

    From everything I’ve read here, at Hillary HQ.com, and at GOS Hillary did a stellar job yesterday. Which I expected. It was good to see the Bernie supporters have her back, too. But then the Benghazi Committee, while nothing new to the Clintons, is so totally anathema to everything a free country is supposed to stand for that only someone who doesn’t want America to be a free country could support it. Hoping I can see some clips of her responses without having to listen to the whiny little snots’ questions/assertions.

    Hope everyone has a lovely Friday. {{{HUGS}}}

  10. Good morning, 52 and cloudy in Bellingham today. So yesterday our 8 yr old grand daughter said, “Why are those people being so mean to her Grammie?” Followed by, “I want a girl to be President.” She is a smart kid!

    • I explained what was going on to my daughter when she wandered through the living room at one point during the hearing; she was aghast.

      Republicans are going to have a difficult time convincing the younger generation of women that they don’t hate them. You can’t easily erase those kind of images … it may be impossible.

    • princesspat! In Hillary Clinton’s speech at the DNC Women’s Leadership forum Friday morning (video is in the Weekly Address post), she shared a conversation she had with a little girl. The little girl stood up in a townhall in Nevada and asked “If you’re a girl president, will you be paid as much as a boy president?” Ha! p.s. The answer is yes. Although wouldn’t it be a fine political statement to accept only the 77 cents on the dollar that women receive (donating the rest to an equal pay organization) until equal pay becomes a reality?

      • It gives me hope to know little girls in Nevada are asking such questions! Brings a few memories as well….I got in a lot of trouble for being a questioning child.

  11. I posted an article on FB, there’s quite a bit of discussion under it — the Geoff Marcy situation is even more depressing than it was before

    Is it wrong of me to want to live in a world where I can admire people & have them not turn out to be assholes? I want to slip into one of those alternate universes, or another timeline, or something, I don’t like it here. I want people who do admirable things to actually be admirable. Or at least not make me cry.

    • It is discouraging anotherdem. When I was applying to graduate school my main professor was very clear re what he expected in return for his support. Needless to say I exploded in anger…..and didn’t go to graduate school. He was eventually forced to leave the university but unfortunately he moved to another one and the same pattern continued.

  12. Good morning, meese! Saturday …

    It is 63 degrees in Madison, on its way up to … 63! Morning showers are both in the forecast and happening right now (forcing me to close my window a few minutes ago). It won’t rain long, according to the radar. I hope not as I have to stand outside at a youth sporting event later this morning.

    I posted the Rachel Maddow clip in a comment in the Rep. Cummings post on the front page. I will post clips of the DNC Womens Leadership conference in the President’s Weekly Address. All the candidates, and President Obama, spoke. Tonight the candidates are speaking at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner. Gawd, I wish they would rename that.

    Elsewhere in the news, Iowa is #FeelingTheBEN as Ben Carson has overtaken Donald Trump in the polls. The most shocking thing is realizing that about a hundred miles away from me, people think like this:

    According to the survey of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers, 81 percent approved of Carson’s comment that Obamacare is the “worst thing that’s happened in this nation since slavery;” 77 percent said they liked his statement that Hitler’s rise could have been stopped if German citizens had had guns; and 73 percent liked his concerns about a Muslim becoming president.

    Yikes!!

    See all y’all later!

    • President Obama, by the way, is going to be an enormous asset to whoever our candidate is … and really, all up and down the ticket. Who would not want this guy campaigning on their behalf?

      (p.s. as expected, the Republicans were all butthurt about this)

      • It is why, really, the Iowa caucuses are a bellwether of absolutely nothing. Iowa does not resemble America, nor does New Hampshire. Heck, the Republican Party does not resemble America!!

        • I really don’t understand all this focus on Iowa and New Hampshire – they are so “not the norm”

  13. Good morning Moosylvania! It’s 47 F. here in NoVa, going up to 65 F. Today is cloudy, with rain threatening the Marine Corps Marathon tomorrow.

    Must be brief this morning. We learned to our horror that the house may be shown as early as today! We thought we’d have until 1 p.m. tomorrow to do final dusting, polishing, etc. We plan to do as much as we can, then rush out to breakfast. At 12:30 I have to meet the Daisy troop at the Haunted House. Then we rush back again for a couple of hours before going to baby-sit Mr. Newbaby. On Thursday evening he sat in Grandpa’s lap, gazing at me when I told him not to let his parents bring him up on dark chocolate. “Always insist on Cadbury’s Dairy Milk,” I told him. Then I told him about Christmas morning and Santa. He appeared fascinated.

    Will be back later if time permits. Hope everyone will have a good Saturday, and I am so glad that Hurricane Patricia is not quite as deadly as feared! Looks as if Dallas is going to be hit with flash floods, though.

      • Thanks, Denise! I did bury St. Joseph, right by the sign. Buried him at the townhouse after my mother died, and there were two offers at the very first open house! And believe me, 2008 was not the best real estate market. We dug him up afterwards, I washed him off, and for the last seven years I have put flowers in front of his statue.

        I choked up when I came to the end of the prayer as I read it aloud over his resting place, thinking of the 39 years we’ve lived here. And yes, magic is magic, whether you call it a prayer or a spell!

    • More showings are better than fewer but I feel your pain! Best wishes for a quick sale to end your misery soon.

  14. Skipped workout. I assumed it would be raining so hard the trail would be closed. But it doesn’t seem that bad here.

    Watching Up. Good questions being asked: why do the Rs keep going after Hillary the same way, with investigations & committees, when it doesn’t work? Why so many questions about Sid Blumenthal when no one cares that her old friend sends he e-mail??

    I know I heard Hallelujah Here She Comes in my sleep. How weird, that my head plays music even while I’m sleeping.

  15. Morning all! I always look forward to Saturday (even though as a retiree, pretty much every day is Saturday to me lol) because it’s Opera Broadcast Day for me in the afternoon. My local public radio station abandoned classical music and the Saturday opera broadcasts more than a decade ago (and lost my contributions as a result) so I listen to the Saturday opera broadcasts, including the Met when it starts in December, on WETA in DC over the internet. When the Met live broadcasts are on hiatus, they feature recorded live performances from opera companies around the world and frequently feature rarely heard works, so it’s a highlight of my week. Today, not so rare – Il Trovatore, and I’m not really a Verdi fan. But I’ll listen while I do other things (usually play WOW lol) – a treat for my ears and soul almost always.

    I turned on Melissa Harris-Perry this morning expecting and wanting to hear a good discussion of the inquisition of Hillary Clinton on Thursday, and was instead greeted with her soliloquy, followed by a roundtable discussion, on why Joe Biden should have run for President. Say what? Just seemed like such a non sequitur. I watched Rachel Maddow’s interview of Hillary on line last night, just the segments at the show’s web site because I somehow didn’t get my DVR set properly to record it, and I thought it was very good. I think Hillary’s going to continue to win over Democrats who’ve been sitting on the fence. Certainly, the flood of new contributors after Thursday’s marathon performance is wonderful, and I hope all this helps energize people like me who have so far been kind of “meh”, liking Bernie but not really supporting him over Hillary, but not really excited about her as a candidate. I know my feelings have changed, and I’m ready to work for her!

    That’s not to say I don’t have concerns about her policy positions – most notably Social Security and her willingness to compromise on that. But, then, President Obama was willing to compromise on it too, a few years ago, and only the intransigence of the Republican right kept a deal that might have damaged the system from coming to pass. And I think the situation has changed now, thanks to hard work from Social Security advocates like my friend Nancy Altman, and the willingness of Democrats on the left like Sanders and others to totally reject cuts and start talking, as we should, about expanding Social Security in the wake of the destruction of the private pension system for millions of working Americans. I think that left flank in Congress and in public advocacy, is the best protection we have – one reason why I want Sanders to stay in the Senate.

    Have a great day everyone and good luck on the house showing!

    • Gosh, Geordie, my late mother loved the Saturday opera broadcast matinees from the Met. Mother would have been 95 today if she had lived.

      One of the most moving moments of my life came when I visited Younger Son’s house unexpectedly one Saturday afternoon and found him listening to the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan opera broadcast. My mother would have been so pleased.

    • oh, but – did you stay for the fiery discussion with Karen Finney? That was pretty great. Karen never lets any crazy points get past unchallenged.

      • Oh, no I didn’t, maybe I should have. I’ll see if MSNBC has it on the web site later, thanks for the tip.

  16. Good morning, 43 and partly cloudy in Bellingham today. I’m going to Ava’s soccer game this morning and will be in my sewing room listening to Saturday Afternoon at the Opera on CBC. One of the advantageous of living so close to the Canadian border is the years of listening pleasure I’ve enjoyed on CBC Radio 2.

    It’s so nice to open the Moose in the morning and to read about our shared interests. Thanks everyone!

    • There has always been a nasty undercurrent in America but in the past there were enough adults in the two political parties to deny them electoral power. Then Fox News arrived on the scene and took over as the propaganda machine of the GOP, delivering increasingly more unhinged voters. Now crazy is mainstream in that party and guys like Gowdy are lauded. There is no one who even cares that Elijah Cummings essentially said “have you no shame?” because nothing is too outrageous.

      We outnumber them but we have to vote.

  18. Hi Mooses!

    JanF, you’ve done wonderful things with the Moose!

    Saw something funny today and thought I would share it here:

    Hillary is 44 dot org crossed my mind today so I took a look. It seems that our thoughts back in 2008 about the trollhood of that crowd was not misplaced, since they seem to be anti-Hillary at this point (which is ironic, now that she is almost definitely going to be president).

    The bedrock of a winning coalition, the people Barack Obama dismissed in 2008 as “bitter” and clinging to their guns and Bibles, used to be the FDR coalition and the Clinton coalition. No longer. They are now part of the Trump Triumph. Hillary2016 has abandoned them so they have abandoned her.

    Hope all Moose are good and enjoying life!

    -chris

    • Hi, Chris! Thank you … I had fun setting up the site and, while not perfect, it is serviceable. It is a relief to finally get the archives in place and interesting to see the variety of posts and points of view that streamed across my screen from the Old Days. I hope some of those authors return to post about the 2016 presidential races.

      Interesting quote, indeed! They sound like Jim Webb Democrats, or as they are now known, Republicans. I disagree strongly that those are FDR Democrats because FDR’s Democrats would be in favor of a social safety net for everyone while the Trump coalition has a restricted membership … only people who look like them.

      The party labels, Democrat and Republican, are essentially meaningless when you go beyond 1964. After the Civil Rights laws were passed, Southern Democrats became Republicans, Northern Republicans were killed off by their own party, and the labels started shifting. Reagan Democrats were Republicans who were still angry at Abraham Lincoln for freeing the slaves and who wouldn’t change labels. Bill Clinton was the last Democratic president who would be able to get the votes of the deadenders because of his Southern White Male identity, not because of his policies.

      Right now there are Obama Democrats and his coalition and Hillary Clinton is poised to inherit it, not by her identity (Urban White Female) but by her policies. Those policies have never been attractive to the Jim Webbs who cling bitterly to their Confederate Battle Flag and the divisive racist politics engendered in the Southern Strategy: the lie of reverse discrimination and The Others taking their jobs and raping their women.

      I wish we could do a reset on the party labels because they are confusing at best and definitely unhelpful.

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