In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a possibility of a storm even worse than the Perfect Storm of 1991 hitting the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast next week. Dubbed a “Frankenstorm”, it could be the result of a huge hurricane striking the coast at the same time a cold front moves in from across the country. And while weather prediction is still not a perfect science, our satellites have made it possible to see and track massive storms like Hurricane Sandy. But there’s a very real danger that we could have to spend a year or more without this satellite coverage.
The fleet of weather satellites in service is at or past their life expectancy already. Unfortunately, due to mismanagement and bad planning, the launch of the next set of replacements satellites may not happen until 2017. We could be facing a one-year-or-longer gap in the kind of critical satellite coverage needed to save lives. If another huge hurricane forms and threatens to meet another massive cold front, we may not see it coming. And it’s no comfort to think that the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology could still be controlled by ignorant, Science-hating Republicans. The truly sad part is that distrust in Science is not limited to the less-educated conservatives. Even conservatives with college degrees don’t trust Science.
Every four years they say that this election is the most important one of your life, and that’s become more and more valid in recent years. The Republican Party, in its never-ending quest to deny Reality, actually appoints people to the House Science Committee who have no business opening their pie holes on the subject of Science, let alone making law on it. People like Rep Todd Akin, famous for giving us the current term “legitimate rape” (and who is still being given money by right-wing groups) and for publicly denying that Evolution is real, and Rep Paul Broun, a physician(!), who called Evolution, Embryology and the Big Bang Theory ālies straight from the pit of hell.ā And they’re not the only ones. These are not people who see the value in Science, so why are they allowed to make legislation regarding it?
If our nation’s great experiment in Democracy is going to work, if we truly want to be a beacon of hope to the rest of the world, we have to vote out people who do nothing to make that happen. These Republicans are a joke, and they should be on the unemployment line not getting the benefits they always vote to cut. I urge everyone to vote and to vote for your own best interests for a change. And your best interests are served by showing the GOP the door.
This is our open thread. Feel free to discuss the upcoming storm, the ignorant Republicans, or any other topic you wish.
[Cross posted at Pick Wayne’s Brain]
TheZoo 
I can see Sandy from my front door!
Stay safe Pachy!
Hey! I can see Up With Chris from my recliner!
Take cover! But do keep yourself safe.
What’s she wearing? š
We will be seeing Sandy’s eye on Monday/Tuesday.
Hopefully it’ll be blue, Cats.
It will be a dark shade of gray.
Stay safe, pachy.
With those eyes, you can see Sandy from your front door, back door and side windows, all at the same time!
I tell you, everyone all across the country should tell pollsters they are undecided. That would put every state in play, forcing the extremely wealthy to either go broke trying to get their guy elected, or forego dumping untold billions into campaign ads….just a thought….
Wayne,
Regarding your post, the explanation is simple. We live in Dumbfuckistan. It is a place where infotainment has replaced real news. Real news would expose and shame these Republican idiots.
Sorry, I live in Redneckistan! Here they speak Dumbfuckistani, but with a southern drawl!
Here they speak Dumbfusckistani with a Pennsylvania Dutch accent.
The GOP wants to cut funding to the national weather service.
Who needs weather satelites when God is looking after you?
Oh smack! Wayne, you are good at thinking on your feet. Great response.
If trump wants to give $5M to charity, he should do so. Holding the donation from those who need it, in an idiotic attempt to extort the President, just makes Rump look like more of an asshole than he already did.
Trump: ‘Here Mr. President. Here Mr. President. Jump through my hoop and I’ll do something nice for you. Come on, be a good boy.’
I note that the Trump said he’d write a $5 millon check. He didn’t say it wouldn’t bounce….
Who the fuck does Trump think he is? He acts like he is above the President of the United States.
Any word on whether he’s teabagged Colbert yet?
Having seen the Romney ad for Mourdock several times now, I only just noticed that Romney says (more or less) that Mourdock would make it 51 Republican Senators, enabling the Rs to repeal Obamacare.
Really? So if the Rs take over, the Senate would go back to a simple majority? BASTARDS!
Here’s something that is being sent around facilities that care for seniors. There is real concern that our seniors will be put out in the street if Obamacare is repealed AND the Ryan or the Romney budget is put in place.
Report: GOP proposals would cut $1.7T from Medicaid
Campaign official: Romney’s proposal has key differences
October 24, 2012
A Republican proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and transform Medicaid into a block grant system would reduce federal spending by $1.7 trillion between 2013 and 2022, according to new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
The plan to repeal the ACA and alter Medicaid is included in Republican vice presidential nominee and House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) House-approved fiscal year 2013 budget proposal. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has backed a similar proposal, which his campaign estimates would reduce federal spending by $100 billion annually beginning in 2013.
The analysisāwhich was conducted by the Urban Institute for KFFāused a model that would grow 1% faster than inflation, which is the same target set by Ryan’s budget proposal.
The report found that $932 billion of the $1.7 trillion funding reduction would come from repealing the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and $810 billion would come from converting Medicaid into a block grant program. The $1.7 trillion decrease in spending represents a 38% reduction compared with current projected spending, according to CQ HealthBeat. The report also notes that the spending reductions related to the block grant proposal would grow over time.
According to the analysis, the plan would result in 31 million to 38 million fewer U.S. residents with Medicaid coverage in 2022. Of those individuals, 17 million would no longer be eligible for Medicaid coverage because of the ACA repeal, while 14 million to 21 million individuals would be ineligible because of changes to the program due to block grants, according to the report.
The report also estimates that hospitals and nursing homes would face a 22% reduction in Medicaid funding under current baselines, totaling $584 billion over the next 10 years.
Campaign official: Romney’s proposal has key differences
Romney’s proposal is different from the House budget plan analyzed in the report, Washington Post’s “Wonkblog” reports.
According to Oren Cass, Romney’s domestic policy director, Romney’s Medicaid plan differs from the one modeled in the report because it allows states to experiment with the program. “It’s a restructuring of the program that gives states the possibility to pursue different models,” Cass said, adding, “[Romney] believes if the program is structured properly, spending can go an awful lot further.” Romney’s economic advisers have said that giving states more control of the program will allow local officials to eliminate inefficiencies in the program and experiment with new ways to deliver better quality care at lower costs.
The report also analyzes a plan that is more similar to Romney’s, in which states limit per-person spending growth to the same rate as the rest of the economyāa rate significantly lower than the program’s historical growth.
According to the report, the plan similar to Romneyās would result in 14.3 million fewer U.S. residents in Medicaid, along with the 17 million who would not gain coverage under the Medicaid expansion (Galewitz, “Capsules,” Kaiser Health News, 10/23; Kliff, “Wonkblog,” Washington Post, 10/23; CQ HealthBeat, 10/23 [subscription required]).
The prospect is horrifying, Cats.
My question has always been this, “What do you think will happen to the people in nursing homes if Medicaid goes away?” I have never gotten an answer.
People used to be able to think an issue all the way to its possible conclusion, but no more.
Why, God, and their families, will take care of them, the way things are supposed to be, doncha know?
That always works out so well, right?
But of course.
Gekko/Galt plan for Seniors
Well, yes, if Republicans gain control of the Senate, they could eliminate the filibuster…
Just think, a Romney/Ryan Republican White House, a Republican Majority controlling both houses of the Senate where a simple majority vote will suffice to pass legislation. Hispanics won’t be the only ones self-deporting….
Oh yeah, I forgot about the rules changes with the new Senate. They most certainly will do it if they can.
cross-post below.
š
I was just thinking about that yesterday! And then it slipped away. š
He actually thinks that the Dems wouldn’t filibuster that particular effort? Dream on!
Ahh, but Zooey, the Majority Party in the Senate gets to make the rules at the beginning of each session. Republicans could do away with the filibuster from day one, if they hold a majority in the Senate.
That means there would be no way of stopping them from enacting their agenda and approving Romney’s appointments.
They don’t need to change any rules, and likely won’t. They just need to invoke Reconciliation to pass the repeal. That’s why they need a majority in the senate. The Dems won’t be able to filibuster it.
No, Jane, all they need is 51 votes because they can use Reconciliation to repeal it. They don’t even need 60 votes for cloture to stop the debate. They just have to vote.
New Rules: October 26, 2012
Awesome.
One of his best in some time.
I thought so, too.
David Stern, NBA Commissioner, Says Obama’s ‘Not That Good’ At Basketball
What an asshat Stern is. What’s the purpose of this, and from a self professed “loyal Democrat”?
Michael Lewis, in this article, fisks the Commish:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/27/david-stern-obama-basketball_n_2025333.html
Is this guy the Donald Trump of basketball? Just had to hear himself say something?
John Scalzi nails it, satirically:
“WARNING: this post is going to be oh-so-very-triggery for victims of rape and sexual assault. I am not kidding.”
You libs crack me up. If we really need weather satellites the private sector will provide them — just like they provide all the weather forecasting today.
Who needs a weather satellite anyway? Just go out side. If you get wet, it’s raining. If you freeze, it’s cold. If you sweat, it’s hot. And you can pee into the wind to see if the wind’s blowing faster than your pee.
Problem solved.
Waiting for Pat Robertson to announce Frankenstorm is his gods punishment for the celebrants of an obviously pagan holiday…. and early voters.
But, but, but,… there are all those people in PA that cling to their guns and bibles? Why would god punish them?
He’s not punishing them,
just testing them.
Unless they’ve been studying the guns and shooting the bibles, then it’s punishment.
My apologies if this has already been posted. Safe port for all who need it…
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/austerity-and-our-weather-satellites
I’m glad that she brought up the most valuable asset which is human life when she asked how many lives are saved by adequate warning. But to the tea bag party and GOPers, the only life worth saving is the embryo. Life that depends on breathing oxygen is expendable to them. It’s all about money with them and it doesn’t matter how rich they are because they are never truly happy.
Proud to say Zoe Lofgren is my rep.
I’ve met with her, many times, over the years.
Her local office looks out on an office building that a peregrine claims as ‘home’. We’ve been fortunate enough to have pointed out the gorgeous falcon to Zoe and her staff.
From time to time we’ll see her staff and the ask about the bird.
š That is great. We have been redistricted and our CD is a Republican placeholder. He has done absolutely nothing since going to Congress except vote the party line.
It’s calm outside today. As a matter of fact, the sun appeared for a short time. Now the clouds are beginning to build overhead. I cleaned up the patio and put things away so that objects aren’t flying all over the place on Monday. After being through a few of these storms, I learned to be prepared.
QOTD:
“Nate Silver is a man of very small stature, a thin and effeminate man with a soft-sounding voice that sounds almost exactly like the “Mr. New Castrati” voice used by Rush Limbaugh on his program. In fact, Silver could easily be the poster child for the New Castrati in both image and sound,” – Dean Chambers, in an aside about Nate Silver.
Chamber believes that Dick Morris has far more credibility in his polling than Silver does in his. But then, Morris is a heterosexual.
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-far-left-turns-to-nate-silver-for-wisdom-on-the-polls?cid=db_articles
Nate must be doing something right.
Hola!
Now in Madrid and having a great time in awesome museums and having beer on street cafe’s just watching a busy, bustling city.
Saw a whole shitload of riot police hanging out, smoking, using museum washrooms. Helicopter flying above. Didn’t know what was up but back at the hotel and using the intertubes found that it was the cops keeping an eye on the cops!! Yup, you read that right. Apparently the cops are loosing their christmas bonus as part of the austerity program.
Wish we would have known this while we passed them and given them a thumbs up.
Go Obama Go!
Cheers,
Dycker
Hola, dycker!
The chickens are coming home to roost, even in Madrid!
Continue to have a great time!
Police Navidad!
Melissa Harris-Perry Delivers Open Letter To Richard Mourdock On Rape
Ah yes. I went to my uncle’s funeral; all of it, including viewing, was held in the rural Catholic church just a few miles from the family farm. He was married to one of my Mom’s sisters and that side of the family is all staunch Polish Catholic. Their funerals tend to be more like Irish wakes. It was wonderful to touch base with the rels. His oldest son is a few years older than I am and his first words to me were…”You know, we really have to stop meeting like this.” His younger son is a month older than me and he greeted me with, “How’s my evil twin doing? Or am I the evil one?” And their Mom, my Aunt Eugenia who is well along in Alzheimer’s actually recognized me as her godson. And then asked me if my Mom and Dad were there.
The church is a big ole brick mini cathedral with stained glass and plaster saints everywhere. And the service was all about how God and Jesus keep telling us this world sux but it gets better when we die. Providing we believe and everyone prays to make sure we get good seats. I also learned why I am currently having back problems. Sitting in those pews in my formative years wreaked havoc with my spinal development
Sorry about your uncle.
Sorry about your uncle, and your back problems. I recently had to attend the funeral of my favorite uncle, too. Saw a cousin I haven’t seen in years since she moved to Tennessee.
Sad occasion, but it’s always nice to re-connect with family.
I have attended many slavic funerals and yes, they are like Irish funerals and yes, I am well aware of the Catholic funeral service. I am always happy to see my relatives and we say the same thing, “We need to get together outside of attending funerals.” There is always good food and everyone shares a story or two about the loved one that passed. When I die, I just want a memorial service where everyone has a blast. I want people to eat, drink, smoke pot, and dance and remember having a fun time with me. I hope they have lots of laughs remembering all of the crazy things that I have done. And of course, there needs to be lots of music, starting with Neil Young and ending with Pink Martini.
I believe funerals are for the living. They are a means by which we gather together and provide solace to one another. They should also be a time when we remember all the things that made the deceased a special person in our lives. You can learn a lot about a person by the people that attend their funeral.
… and the ones who don’t!
That’s for sure.
This is pretty fun.
Governor Tom Corbett of PA did the same thing. He called his new taxes “fees”. Most of dumfuckistan thought that taxes and fees were different.
I think one of the major flaws of religions is that there are no earthly rewards for actually following their plans. In fact, the dice are loaded for just the opposite. When they can’t come up with a rational explanation why bad things happen to good people other than Cod Swill there is no rational reason for being good if the deity will screw you whether you are good or not.
That’s why the Mor(m)ons are on to something – they are ‘good to each other’ …. just like the Mafia.
“Cod Swill”
š
Am I the only person here watching the Georgia-Florida football game?
Ouch! Auburn is down 21-0 and still 2:02 to go in the first quarter!
I watched the Georgia-Florida game. Exciting, but one of the worst played games this year. 7000 yds of penalties; 25 turnovers; smack talking galore, etc. Maybe I’m just cranky because nobody was televising our Oregon Duck game. Just as well, it ended up 70-14. Ducks rock!
Next week I think they’ll be on tv, against USC. I’m hoping Oklahoma will knock the Irish down a peg tonight.
Yeah they’ll televise the USC game. USC, ranked 9th lost to Arizona today, who the Ducks pulverized earier this month. Pulling for Oklahoma as well.
Alabama-OleMiss should be an interesting game too…
Mississippi State at Alabama. Ole Miss beat Arkansas earlier today. Miss. State is undefeated, but haven’t played a strong opponent. Alabama plays Miss. State, LSU, and Texas A&M in consecutive games. Miss. State plays Alabama, Texas A&M, and LSU in the same three games.
A&M worries me. They’re leading Auburn 42-7 at the half.
I really want to see a Alabama vs Oregon game
A friend is taking me tonight to see the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the community theater as an early birthday gift. Should be a fun evening!
Laters!
Remember your lines! It is an audience -participation film. š
It’s a play, so even better!
I never saw the play but I think most of your lines are the same (or close to it.)
How can you do the ‘Time Warp’ without a TARDIS?
It’s just a jump to the left,
and then a turn to right!
But it’s the pelvic thrust that really drives them insane….
My daughter landed the role of Janet in a local production. I must say, from a father’s perspective, one must remain quite pragmatic when one sees his daughter traipsing around the stage in her underwear and faking an orgasm in front of a theater full of hormonally charged jr. college boys.
But then, I did jump into the spirit of things, too. I wore my kilt – with fishnet stockings, and jumped on center stage & ran across the stage at the “Great Scott!” line. Not part of the C&T audience participation, and was almost a show stopper, the crowd roared so much.
Sorry, Zooey, no pictures.
You are a proud Papa.
Her theatric gene must be paternal!
In case no one has posted it yet, the Saturday Hate Mail-a-Palooza
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/27/1151003/-Saturday-hate-mail-a-palooza-George-Rockwell-s-excellent-Saudi-adventure
I think I may have a great grandfather that was Jewish. The name Levy appears in my family tree and Levy is generally a Jewish name. Since Levy was a male who married a Catholic, their children would be Catholic because the female carries forth the religion. My great grandfather would not have had to change his faith in order to marry my great grandmother. Their children were required to be raised Catholic. I am only going by what I saw on some paper work that a relative gave to me. I am only the second generation born in the USA.
When my husband and I got married in the Catholic church, I had to sign a pledge that I would raise my kids as Catholic. Since I no longer belong or worship at a Catholic church, I suppose that I will be going to hell.. if I believed in hell….
Ya wanna believe in Hell?
Try teaching jr. high school.
I coach girls’ volleyball. I know what you mean. š
I promise you, Liberty, you will not be going to Hell. š
“Whoa, I think I’m twipping…”
I found my State Senator’s Twitter handle and decided to let him know he won’t be getting my vote. My State Senator is Greg Ball and you may or may not have seen the video of the state legislator who stood up and said that New York State had one of the most dysfunctional legislatures in the country. That was him (and he may have been an Assemblyman at the time.) When NYS was debating the Marriage Equality bill, Ball held out his vote for it in the hopes of getting Dick Cheney’s endorsement. Cheney said no, so did Ball. So I tweeted him and we had this nice exchange.
https://twitter.com/ball4ny/status/262115749806604288
Bear in mind that I knew he was joking and not trying to break the law with his next reply, so don’t think I can report him for anything. Besides, my reply to him proved I knew he was kidding. Actually, it was kind of funny when you think about it. Oh, and he and I had a spirited debate about the Marriage Equality bill at our local A&P.
https://twitter.com/ball4ny/status/262316500394840064
In the meantime, ahead of the big storm we’re expecting (the subject of this post), I thanked him for doing what a State Senator should do, reach out to his constituents and make sure they have information and help they might need in an emergency.
I think I’m going to use this exchange for an “Adventures in Tweeting” post on my own blog. I’ll wait a day to see if he replies to me.
Sez it all!
Fat guy forgot to mention trade unionists!
Money Bags forget to mention all the other lives he’s ruining.
Aye to that!
Couldn’t see this one coming department:
Alabama Homecoming Queen, Lissa Tyson, is Bear Bryant’s granddaughter.
That’s an utter surprise.//
Think what it would have been had Obama been given the Stimulus bill he asked for, instead of the Republican alternative.
It is, indeed, OrangeOctober. Giants are smoking’ in the cool weather of Detroit.
We shall see what tomorrow brings!
Looks like the Giants will have to sustain you for a while. I saw where the NHL has cancelled the games up to November 30th.
Thank the stars for post season baseball!
I do miss watching the Sharks.
That season is , more than likely, over for the year.
7+ magnitude quake in BC Canada.