I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

ananda8

Scoot,

Just a few more hours and the biopsy will be over and you can go home and take a nap.  Best wishes for boring.

Wabbit

Wow it's crowded in this purse  (((hugs))) to Scoot

1Athena1

Yikes - Wabbit - stop biting my tail!

E's waiting room is crowded - will finish buffalo leg quickly so that we can bring in the flowers.

Also, per St IV forum, Scuttlers has just popped in to say hello following surgery yesterday.

AnneW

Hey, make room for ME!!!! Scoot, I'm here, and I'm sending all the positive energy I can muster toward you!

alexandria58

Scoot:  Sending you positive energy from NJ!!

pip57

 Here are some clips to give you a 'larf' when you get home.  This link will get you started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haidovm1dRY&feature=relmfu

River_Rat

E, sending you warm vibes.  Fingers crossed thinking of you.

1Athena1

While we wait.....

This is infuriating. 'Takers" - who do pay federal income tax -  apparently gaming the system. How Third World, and sad:

When the federal government began providing billions of dollars in incentives to push hospitals and physicians to use electronic medical and billing records, the goal was not only to improve efficiency and patient safety, but also to reduce health care costs.

But, in reality, the move to electronic health records may be contributing to billions of dollars in higher costs for Medicare, private insurers and patients by making it easier for hospitals and physicians to bill more for their services, whether or not they provide additional care.

More here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/business/medicare-billing-rises-at-hospitals-with-electronic-records.html?hp&pagewanted=print

1Athena1

Just heard from Scoot/E - she is on her way back from the biopsy, doing fine but groggy and will take a nap when she gets home.

I told her about Pip's funny clip, so hopefully she will get to it when she feels better. She knows we're all here in the bag.

Bren-2007

Hi All!

Just got back from Roanoke.  Finally got my Rx problem solved and was able to drive up there and get it.  Now I need to walk the dogs.  The weather is perfect ... there is a wonderful breeze blowing.

Athena .. Thanks for the heads up on our wonderful Scootful.  I hope the biopsy went well and she's okay.  I heard she won't get the results back until Thursday.  That's too far away for my taste!  But I know we'll all wait together with her.

hugs,

Bren

rosemary-b

I went to the Farmer's Market this morning and  loaded up on veggies. I also got a quiche and some locally roasted coffee for my son who is here for the weekend. He and his dad went to a model railroad show.(Oh no he has gone over to the darkside)  I have more energy today than I have had for ages. I baked a (frozen) coffee cake and cleaned a little bit of my sewing room. I have done a bunch of other little stuff. Now (at 2:00PM) I am finally having lunch. 

Everything crossed for Scoot-E until she gets her results.

crazy4carrots

Imagine how great one would feel by winning an election via this route:

NYT Editorial: This is how voter intimidation worked in 1966: White teenagers in Americus, Ga., harassed black citizens in line to vote, and the police refused to intervene. Black plantation workers in Mississippi had to vote in plantation stores, overseen by their bosses. Black voters in Choctaw County, Ala., had to hand their ballots directly to white election officials for inspection.This is how it works today: In an ostensible hunt for voter fraud, a Tea Party group, True the Vote, descends on a largely minority precinct and combs the registration records for the slightest misspelling or address error. It uses this information to challenge voters at the polls, and though almost every challenge is baseless, the arguments and delays frustrate those in line and reduce turnout.

The thing that’s different from the days of overt discrimination is the phony pretext of combating voter fraud. Voter identity fraud is all but nonexistent, but the assertion that it might exist is used as an excuse to reduce the political rights of minorities, the poor, students, older Americans and other groups that tend to vote Democratic.

Wishing Scootful a restful recovery! 

ananda8

Voter suppression makes local and state elections even more important.  In many states the governor appoints the registrar of voters who, along with the Governor, control a lot of the rules and regulations controlling voting registration, early and absentee voting, and voting booth location. 

Normally I would say vote for the best person regardless of party, but for the next few years I am voting straight Democratic party at all levels.  For all the whining about Obama not being an American, or not putting his hand over his heart during the pledge, the real un-Americans are those who supress the vote.  We all know what party they belong to, the same party who brought us voting machines that are easy to hack and reprogram.

crazy4carrots

Notself -- Seems to me that a Federal election should follow federal (not state) rules and regs.  That's certainly the way it is here in the GWN, and probably in Australia and NZ, among others.  JMHO, of course!

ananda8

Our elections also elect state officials and local officials at the same time it elects the President so the states control the rules when it comes to early voting, absentee voting, voting ID requirements, etc.  One southern state had a tradition of black people meeting after church and climbing on buses to vote.  That state eliminated early voting on Sunday.  That is but one example of voter suppression.

Bren-2007

Notself ... looking for the 'like' button ... I'm also voting straight party ticket this year.

hugs,

Bren

crazy4carrots

Well then, that's a big problem.  Here, each province and each municipality choose their own voting days, which are always different from the federal election day.

I can't post it, but Sarah Silverman has an amusing video about voting rights restrictions.  Amazing that in Tennessee, you can use your gun permit as ID, but not some other pieces of ID. 

IllinoisLady

I had also decided to forgo my normal practise of voting for "best man" no matter which of any three parties, but not this year.  Not only for all the other reasons, but for the fact that my mainly Rep. family has to make their snide remarks and preface much of what they say to me with " I know you love Obama, but " and the BIL goes on to say so we need to kick everyone out and start over....right.  What election yr. might that be because he has already said....if the Reps don't do it right this time....out they go too.  By my calculations they have had a really long time to get it right.....and their hands weren't tied while making this great attempt.  He single-handedly ( sp. ) convinced me.

A great many are now jumping ship -- they don't want to get too close to the tarnish.  Any thinking man, no matter what party should be putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the Rep. candidate Romney.  It is sad to see someone bring so much negativism and division to something as he has and while I'm sure it is pretty naive' of me.....I really think anyone in that party really worth salt should have stopped this fiasco some time back.  Going this way just looks like the high possibility to me of disgrace and humiliation and give the Reps. that much farther to go should they wish to try and reverse and restore a decent image.  Of course, that is if they would get real and allow themselves to 'accept' the truth of their situation rather than the constant spin of their favorite news channel. 

I think it is hard for me as well because you build nothing when it is built on denial and lies.  I generally take a very harsh stand about anyone who lies and willfully misrepresents things.  So count me as another person who is by-passing my opportunity to split my ticket. 

Ok....now I shall find my corner and feel good that I'm not alone in my decision. 

Jackie

alexandria58

Straight ticket here, too.

This just underscores the importance of off-year elections and the elections of state officials.  It's the state legislatures that have passed so many voter restriction laws - as well as laws limiting women's reproductive rights.  

1Athena1

As a matter of principle I never vote along party lines but for each individual candidate. I almost never fill out an entire ballot and vote only in the races I have been following.

I wish they would reform the electoral college system. It's outdated, IMO.

As for voter suppression, that latest Tea Party organization at work, "True the Vote" is "mysteriously" targeting mostly minority precincts. It recalls attempts to suppress the black vote in decades of yore. The excuse of so-called fraud is a Karl Rove-invented issue of supposedly prevalent voter fraud, which years and many investigations have show to be virtually nonexistent.

Karl Rove is the Goebbels of modern America. A brilliant and effective architect of lies.

ananda8

I don't have a problem with the electoral collage.  It favors the Blue states.  This would be a very tight race if it weren't for the electoral college. If Obama can keep the lead in the states leaning Democratic and pick up Colorado and Ohio (where he is leading), Romney could win every other swing state and still lose.

Fool around with the map. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/obama_vs_romney_create_your_own_electoral_college_map.html

Earlier in the year, I figured out a way to make the electoral college result in a tie.  Very scary since the President would be determined by the House of Representatives.

RetiredLibby

Straight ticket here, too. I have never had a problem voting a straight ticket, although I wouldn't hesitate to vote for a Republican if I thought they were better for the job. Sadly, the last time I felt that was when I voted for Gerald Ford.



Voter suppression is alive and well today, I am sorry to say. They have evolved in their tactics -- instead of firehoses and attack dogs and truncheons they are using discriminatory laws and discriminatory redistricting and "administrative" changes (like changing early voting hours), and voter ID requirements that amount to a poll tax to prevent the people they consider "undesirable" from voting. It is shameful that in this country in this day and age this is happening -- and being applauded by some. They are the real unAmericans. And I will never, EVER vote for the party that encourages that.



L

gardengumby

I started voting the straight ticket in 2008 and will never vote for a Republican again.  I could at sometime in the unknown future vote for a different party that is more moderate, but I don't see that happening anytime in the near future.  I told my husband I wouldn't be able to vote Republican for dog catcher - the sorry thing is that I used to vote about half and half and sometimes even heavier on the Republican side.

CLC

I have never voted republican.  I cannot imagine any circumstance that would bring me to such a place.  I have voted green.  I generally vote straight down the ticket-democrat.

I feel uneasy about voting straight down the ticket.  However, there are races I don't hear much about.  For example, right now, in NY, we have redrawn our congressional districts and our beloved Maurice Hinchey is retiring.  It took me a looooong time to figure out which district I was in, because I am very close to the line and the government sites all identify the reps of the old district lines, not the candidates of the new lines.  Then, once I knew, I went and looked at the names of the candidates.  I have heard nil about the challengers.  Once I spent an hour or so figuring out who was running where I live and what their positions are, I found, surprise, surprise, that I agree most closely with the democrat.  Given that I have a limited amount of time for politics, it might have just made more sense to vote straight down the ticket.

And, so...when I come to a race I have heard nothing about, I will usually vote democrat and/or working family party.  I have never had the pleasure of finding an unheard of green...perhaps I would choose them...:)

gardengumby

I don't know if any of you lovely ladies have ever bothered to look at the conservative thread, but the other day they were talking about James Carville who is one of my favorite people.  They were throwing around some quotes that he supposedly had said that were on thinkexist.com.  I went to the website and read the quotes that were there.  They didn't sound like him at ALL, so I went to his website and told them about the quotes.  This was the response I received: 

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Apparently the quote was falsely posted by an unknown user to the quotations website called thinkexist.com. We have contacted the website and asked them to take the quote down. James Carville never said these words, and this quote in no way belongs to James Carville.

Best,
--
Office of James Carville

The highlight is my own. 

alexandria58

There are a few REpublians I voted for in the distant past - but, alas, they would be too moderate for today's party.

Pleasant dreams, all.

Enjoyful

Good sleuthing, GG!

QuinnCat

GG - I look at the conservative thread and that is not the first time they've posted made up stuff.  In fact,  I think they post more incorrect quotes and facts than correct.  This is the rightwing bubble they live in that Bill Maher so perfectly refers to.

ananda8

In my personal experience living in a red state and a very conservative town, no Republican I know ever checks anything.  They believe whatever shows up in their e-mail no matter how bizarre.  The never check a source document such as an actual SCOTUS decision.  Yet, they believe with all their hearts whatever Rush or Glen or Koch tells them.  Even when presented with irrefutable facts from a source they should trust, they cannot change their minds.  Our brains work differently.  Of course this is just one study but it explains a great deal.  For example, why fear mongering demigogs usually present themselves as conservative.  Fear sells.

Here is an interesting study. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/09/03/conservatives-and-liberals-have-different-brains-studies-show/

Conservatives and liberals may have one less thing in common: neurology.

ProCon.org has gathered 13 peer-reviewed studies of behavioral and neurological studies and come to the conclusion that differences between Republicans and Democrats are more than skin-deep.

"Basically, the different sides have been yelling at each other for millennia, and we're trying to figure out what could be the root cause of this," said Steven Markoff, ProCon.org's founder.

The studies looked at things like differences between groups' perception of eye movement, and aversion to threatening noises.  Researchers also noted that Democrats had larger anterior cingulate cortexes, which are associated with tolerance to uncertainty, while Republicans had larger right amygdalas, which are associated with sensitivity to fear.

CherrylH

Makes sense to me.