(no subject)

I just gave myself an excuse not to come in to work extra Friday night. I just bought a ticket to go see Cars 2. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't try to call me either, we are in the process of filling our last two empty beds with car accident victims. :o
Of course I work Sat-Mon. It's going to be a LONG weekend I think.
But after Monday night, I will have 6 nights off. :)

(no subject)

Is Rand Paul The Legislator From Franken’s Story?

Last weekend when I got to talk to Sen. Al Franken at Netroots Nation, he told me a story about a newly elected politician that he chatted with shortly after his win, one who stated the federal government should get out of “charity” because his mother volunteered for Meals on Wheels. Franken told me that he explained to the new colleague that Meals on Wheels was a federal program, but one thing the senator wouldn't share with me was who the colleague was.

Now he doesn’t have to spill the secret, as it’s looking pretty clear that the Republican in question was Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. And Paul appears to now be obsessed with getting the government out of the Meals on Wheels program. And it’s just as ludicrous to Franken as it was then.

Via The Nation:

“It’s curious that only in Washington can you spend $2 billion and claim that you’re saving money,” [Senator Paul] said. “The idea or notion that spending money in Washington somehow is saving money really flies past most of the taxpayers.” Instead, Paul touted the “nobility of private charity” as opposed to government-funded “transfer programs.” He suggested privatizing Meals on Wheels and other government assistance for hungry seniors.

…Paul—who’s home state of Kentucky is ranked twentieth in the nation in senior citizen food insecurity, with over 5 percent of seniors there facing hunger—pressed on. Addressing Greenlee, he asked: “If we are saving money with the two billion we spend, perhaps we should give you 20 billion. Is there a limit? How much money should we give you in order to save money? If we spend federal money to save money, where is the limit? I think we could reach a point of absurdity.”

Senator Al Franken turned on his microphone and offered a quick reply: “I think you just did.”

You have to wonder — if it was good enough for Paul’s mother to participate in, how did he turn so rabidly against it?

(no subject)

MORE LIP SERVICE FOR CASH.................

Obama’s Gay Marriage Wimp-Out
LGBT activists hoped President Obama might say something new about his “evolving” stance on marriage equality when he addressed them at a New York fundraiser Thursday night. But the president showed he’s only willing to extend enough support to keep the cash flowing.
June 24, 2011 9:27 AM EDT

President Obama said absolutely nothing new about his stance on same-sex marriage to the 600-plus donors assembled at Thursday night’s annual LGBT Leadership Council Gala in New York City. Many of those who paid between $1,125 and $38,500 to fill his 2012 war chest had hoped he might, buoyed by recent stories about his “evolving” stance on marriage equality. Certainly the gala offered the perfect opportunity for Obama to at least throw his support behind the same-sex marriage bill currently working its way through Albany.

But none of that happened. Instead Obama, reading from a script that might as well have come from 2008, offered up a straight diet of the same ringing but empty “inspirational” rhetoric that has begun to wear thin with so many of his progressive supporters.

The audience didn’t begin to become restless until it became evident that Obama would punt. Midway through his speech, lines like, “I believed discriminating against people was wrong. I had no choice. I was born that way,” still had the audience laughing and applauding in anticipation of the Big Moment. And when, a few lines later, he said, “I believe that gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country,” most of the room rose to its feet.

But when Obama veered sharply from there to begin listing many of the same small, easily rescinded accomplishments the administration has been touting for months, followed by a disquisition on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and states’ rights (in reference to Albany), cries for “Marriage!” built. An unfazed Obama finished up with a plea for the audience’s time and energy—and most of all, money.

Then, right on cue, the lights came up and the man who had promised to be a “fierce advocate” for LGBT rights was gone, leaving behind the message that if only his audience would be polite and patient for another four years, and write a lot of checks, some unspecified something or other good might happen for them.
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