{"id":15881,"date":"2009-09-29T18:00:46","date_gmt":"2009-09-30T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/29\/unblogged-bits-for-tuesday-29-september-2009.html"},"modified":"2014-06-13T17:48:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T23:48:35","slug":"unblogged-bits-for-tuesday-29-september-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/29\/unblogged-bits-for-tuesday-29-september-2009.html","title":{"rendered":"Unblogged Bits for Tuesday, 29 September 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries &#8230;. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2009\/09\/29\/public-plan-schumer\/\">Schumer amendment on public option fails by 13-10 vote.<\/a> &#8211; Okay, can we please clear this mess from the Senate Finance Committee and move to some floor votes on these amendments?  Clearly the Dems there are going to shoot down anything except for something that supports their GOP and Insurance Company allies.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2009\/09\/29\/ensign-guns-autos\/\">Ensign On Why Gun Deaths Shouldn\u2019t Be Factored Into Survival Rates: \u2018We Like  Our Guns In The United States\u2019<\/a> &#8211; We have the best health care in the world if you factor out auto accidents and shootings? Ah, I see. Maybe better health care would help people who are in car accidents and gun battles survive better.  Nah.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2009\/09\/29\/public-plan-defeat-rockefeller\/\">Senate Finance Committee votes 15-8 against Rockefeller amendment on public option.: Faiz Shakir<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2009\/09\/29\/obama-muslim-absurdity\/\">Right-Wing Panel Agrees Obama Is The \u2018First Muslim American President\u2019<\/a> &#8211; Sorry, is he Hitler or a Muslim? Or a Communist?  They can&#8217;t seem to decide which name to call him this week.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/content\/loose-forth-blood-drenched-sword-jesus-christ\">&#8220;Loose Forth the Blood-Drenched Sword of Jesus Christ&#8221;<\/a> &#8211; Yeah, Jesus preached all the time about his blood-drenched sword.  I mean, I&#8217;m sure He talked about swords in the Gospels somewhere &#8230;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/content\/get-em-while-theyre-hot-2010\">Get &#8216;Em While They&#8217;re Hot &#8211; 2010<\/a> &#8211; Well, at least Phyllis Schlaffly remembers that pants are sinful.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/content\/franks-i-meant-obama-was-enemy-unborn-humanity\">Franks: I Meant Obama Was An Enemy of &#8220;Unborn Humanity&#8221;<\/a> &#8211; &#8220;Never mind what I said, here&#8217;s what I meant, but I was right anyway.&#8221;  Got it, Rep. Franks.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/content\/wiley-drake-23-obamas-enemy-list\">Wiley Drake Is #23 on Obama&#8217;s Enemy List<\/a> &#8211; I&#8217;m sure there are all sorts of folks who are disappointed not to be on Obama&#8217;s secret &#8220;enemy list.&#8221;  It&#8217;s okay, folks &#8212; it doesn&#8217;t exist anyway.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/content\/rep-trent-franks-declares-president-obama-enemy-humanity\">Rep. Trent Franks Declares President Obama an &#8220;Enemy of Humanity&#8221;<\/a> &#8211; And the hate talk gets ratcheted up yet another notch.  George Washington and Abe Lincoln would be proud, Rep. Franks.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2009\/09\/29\/microsoft-security-essentials-anti-virus-software-is-now-live-an\/\">Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus software is now live and free<\/a> &#8211; I&#8217;ll certainly be watching the news on this one to see how it behaves.  I don&#8217;t have a problem per se with using something from MS, though the AV ecosystem will be poorer (and thus more fragile) if MS manages kill too may competitors this way.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tor.com\/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=blog&amp;id=10235\">LotR re-read: \u201cFrodo and the Great War,\u201d John Garth &#8211; Tor.com<\/a> &#8211; This sort of analysis can become both simplistic and overwrought, but I have no problems believing that Tolkien&#8217;s WWI experiences informed LotR, in substance and in (some) detail.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/dn17876-how-a-tiny-bug-slew-t-rex.html\">How a tiny bug slew T. rex &#8211; life &#8211; 29 September 2009 &#8211; New Scientist<\/a> &#8211; Never thought I&#8217;d feel sorry for a T.rex, but &#8230;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/blogoscoped.com\/archive\/2009-09-23-n21.html\">Firefox 4 Design Direction<\/a> &#8211; Some interesting design thoughts here.  I don&#8217;t agree with all of them, but it&#8217;s a sign that the Firefox folks are continuing to look at how to improve things.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/columnists\/chi-tue-problem-insurance-0929sep29,0,1926150.column\">After aneurysm, Assurant Health causes further headaches &#8212; chicagotribune.com<\/a> &#8211; Silly person! You think insurance is about paying for your medical bills?  No, it&#8217;s for you paying for your insurance!  Got that?<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2009\/09\/29\/schlafly-feminism\/\">Right-wing icon Schlafly: Feminism is \u2018the most dangerous, destructive force  in our society today.\u2019<\/a> &#8211; Wow! Feminists are 19x more dangerous than Teh Gayz?  I can&#8217;t wait to see the new GOP legislation attacking this vile and despicable group.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/Americablog\/~3\/jZK8JdWptlQ\/vatican-we-may-be-bad-but-others-are.html\">Vatican:  we may be bad, but others are worse<\/a> &#8211; Gist of the message:  &#8220;Because, as moral leaders and the heirs to the Keys to the Kingdom, really, we&#8217;re no worse than all those Jews and Protestants.  Besides, the bad guys were gay, and we already hate them, so what more can we do? Enough with the law suits already!&#8221;  Wow.  Too bad ACORN didn&#8217;t have someone to write press releases like this.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/Americablog\/~3\/wf1rm7AagnI\/baucus-bill-would-let-private-group.html\">Baucus bill would let private group, with ties to industry, write the rules for implementing the entire health care bill<\/a> &#8211; Well, might as we cut out that whole &#8220;Congress&#8221; middle-man.  I mean, that&#8217;s efficiency!<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.boingboing.net\/~r\/boingboing\/iBag\/~3\/-quHIRdNrn4\/boneshaker-cherie-pr.html\">Boneshaker: Cherie Priest&#8217;s swashbuckling steampunk Seattle story<\/a> &#8211; Yeah, that&#8217;s sounding pretty cool.  But waiting for the paperback.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/ChristopherSPenn\/~3\/SczU0p7UpcQ\/\">Two literary pet peeves<\/a> &#8211; Agreed.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.seriouseats.com\/~r\/seriouseatsfeaturesvideos\/~3\/V0g9Tn873lY\/should-restaurants-be-allowed-to-ban-laptops-computers-wifi-wireless.html\">Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?<\/a> &#8211; This is certainly within any restaurant&#8217;s purview, just as a dress code is.  On the other hand, any restaurateur who tells me I can&#8217;t read my book had best have my check with him or her. Acceptability works both ways in a free market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries &#8230;. Schumer amendment on public option fails by 13-10 vote. &#8211; Okay, can we please clear this mess from the Senate Finance Committee and move to some floor votes on these amendments? Clearly the Dems there are going to shoot &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/29\/unblogged-bits-for-tuesday-29-september-2009.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Unblogged Bits for Tuesday, 29 September 2009&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[382,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lord-of-the-rings","category-potpourri"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133932,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/21\/the-senate-parliamentarian-says-the-senate-gop-health-bill-needs-60-votes-not-50.html","url_meta":{"origin":15881,"position":0},"title":"The Senate Parliamentarian says the Senate GOP health bill needs 60 votes, not 50","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 21-Jul-17 6:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Senate has an elaborate interlocking set of rules that dictate how and in what ways it conducts business and passes bills. For most legislation, for example, the Senate must vote to close debate on the bill. These cloture votes require a super-majority of the Senate -- 60 votes [1].\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133414,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/06\/the-senate-gop-health-care-committee-is-all-men-but-thats-not-about-identity.html","url_meta":{"origin":15881,"position":1},"title":"The Senate GOP health care committee is all men. But that&#039;s not about &quot;identity&quot;","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 6-May-17 9:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, yeah, as the headline notes, there are more Ted Cruzes than there are women on the Senate Republican committee drafting their health insurance bill. There are, in fact, five female GOP Senators, but none of them are on the committee.Despite the fact that women make up half of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133856,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/15\/insurance-companies-hate-the-senate-health-insurance-bill-too.html","url_meta":{"origin":15881,"position":2},"title":"Insurance companies hate the Senate Health Insurance Bill, too","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 15-Jul-17 3:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Especially the Cruz Amendment. They even sent a letter to that effect to Senate GOP Leader, Mitch McConnell.\u275d \"It is simply unworkable in any form,\" the letter said. They said it would \"undermine protections for those with pre-existing medical conditions,\" increase premiums and lead many to lose coverage. [...] The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135654,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/13\/alabama-example-gerrymandering.html","url_meta":{"origin":15881,"position":3},"title":"An Alabama Example of Gerrymandering","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Dec-17 2:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This is why politicians -- primarily, at the moment, GOP ones -- like gerrymandering. Also an example of why some conservatives want to get rid of the 17th Amendment and move US Senate elections back to the (gerrymandered) state legislatures. Jones won 49% of the state-wide vote; Moore won 48%.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/alabama-jones-moore-gerrymander.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15459,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/30\/a-great-health-care-idea-from-don-wildmon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15881,"position":4},"title":"A great health care idea &#8230; from Don Wildmon?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 30-Jul-09 9:15am","format":false,"excerpt":"I get AFA Action Alerts in my inbox -- and this one caught my eye as having a really good idea nestled in it: Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) offered an amendment in the Ways & Means Committee that would have required Members of Congress to enroll immediately in the government-run\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3503,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/11\/06\/i_still_have_is.html","url_meta":{"origin":15881,"position":5},"title":"I still have issues &#8230;","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Nov-02 6:22am","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunately, they're with the voters of beeyooteeful Colorado. Referendum A - Exempt District Attorneys from Term Limits. I voted YES. The voters disagreed. Referendum B - Public Investment in Health...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42935,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15881\/revisions\/42935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}