STORY OF THE DAY

St John's Cemetery, Thibodaux, Louisiana

My favorite way home is past the cemetery since it's 
about the only place in the whole town where people 
keep their opinions to themselves

From StoryPeople.

A PREACHER AND A LAWN MOWER

A preacher was making his rounds on a bicycle when he came upon a little boy trying to sell a lawn mower.

"How much do you want for the mower?" asked the preacher.

"I just want enough money to go out and buy me a bicycle," said the little boy. After a moment of consideration, the preacher asked, "Will you take my bike in trade for it?"

The little boy asked if he could try it out first, and, after riding the bike around a little while, said, "Mister, you've got yourself a deal."

The preacher took the mower and began to crank it. He pulled on the rope a few times with no response from the mower.

The preacher called the little boy over and said, "I can't get this mower to start." The little boy said, "That's because you have to cuss at it to get it started."

The preacher said, "I can't cuss. It's been so long since I became a Christian that I don't even remember how to cuss."

The little boy looked at him happily and said, "You just keep pulling on that rope. It'll come back to ya."

Don't blame me.  Blame Doug.

STILL THE STUPID PARTY

A significant chunk of Louisiana Republicans evidently believe that President Barack Obama is to blame for the poor response to the hurricane that ravaged their state more than three years before he took office.
....

Twenty-eight percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans — 44 percent — said they aren't sure who to blame.

Republicans in Louisiana have not heeded Governor Jindal's advice to stop being the stupid party.  The poll results demonstrate a classic example of Louisiana Republicans' disregard for facts. Everything is Obama's fault.  Facts, dates, history, none of that matters. Unfortunately, it's not just Republicans in Louisiana who live in the unreality bubble.

People here and throughout the country cannot accept the fact that Obama is president, because he is black and because he is a Democrat, thus the birthers who blather endlessly about the invalidity of the president's birth certificate. Racism plays a large part in the disdain for Obama, but, if you observe the commentary about Hillary Clinton from certain quarters, you see it's not entirely about racism.

Indeed, Jindal himself has not followed his own good advice advice.  He spent $800,000 of state money trying to pass his program to eliminate state income taxes an impose a sales tax to replace the revenue which was wildly unpopular and went nowhere in the legislature.

The next debacle was the administration's attempt to fund private schools by using public school money, which prompted a lawsuit that cost the state who knows what amount of our tax money to defend the suit.  In the end, the Louisiana Supreme Court decided that the use of public school funds violated the Louisiana constitution, so Jindal had to scramble to find money that was already committed to pay tuition in private schools for low income families and return money to public schools.

And now the latest in the state's privatization of health care.

A private company that took over management of state behavioral health programs last year has not complied with contract terms, a state audit released Monday found.

The $354 million two-year contract with Magellan Health Services allows the state Department of Health and Hospitals to impose sanctions, but none have been, the Louisiana legislative auditor wrote.

The company doesn't pay claims in a timely manner.  A friend who is a psychologist told me that before he read the article, he know the company would be either Magellan or another company known for not paying claims on time.  Kathy Kleibert, head of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says:

The program has been successful, she said, by allowing DHH to expand access to care for more people and provide better service. It allowed DHH to increase the number of providers from 800 to 1,700.

All well and good, but if the providers don't get paid, they will not continue to provide services.  Duh. 

I'm sorry for us, the citizens of Louisiana, that Jindal and his cohorts have failed us in so many areas of governance, which leads me to the governor's latest poll numbers from Public Policy Polling.  Only 28% of voters in Louisiana approve of Bobby Jindal's performance, while 59% disapprove.  Three years ago Jindal's approval rating was at 58%, with 34% of voters disapproving of his performance.  The governor's numbers are sinking like a stone.

UPDATE: For more on Jindal's polling numbers see CenLamar. 

BLUE MOON, FULL MOON

In the clouds

In the clear

Blue moon, full moon, red moon, green moon
Tonight we see the bright light
Of the rare moon of many names.
Go out, scout, and tout with a shout
The blue, full, sturgeon, red, corn, grain moon.

My pictures are not the greatest, but they are my pictures.

Here's what it's all about.

IN THE BLOOMIN' GARDEN - FLOWER POTS ON THE FENCE

Portulaca or Purslane

Portulaca or Purslane

Ivy

Portulaca or Purslane

All credit for the work involved in planting and upkeep of the garden goes to Grandpère, who is a gifted gardener and a very hard worker.  The idea for flower pots on the fence may have been mine, but I can't say for sure.

STORY OF THE DAY

I'm ready to be inspired, she said & I said that's not 
quite how it works, so instead we sat in the garden, 
breathing & watching the bees until she smiled quietly 
& said, I forget it's that simple.

From StoryPeople.

TIMELY

 

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

SHUT IT DOWN!

BATON ROUGE, La. - U.S. Sen. David Vitter told a packed town hall meeting Thursday that he will support a federal government shutdown this fall rather than agree to pay for President Barack Obama's health care law.

"I'm going to fight like the dickens. I'm going to vote to repeal, to delay, to defund," the Republican senator said.

Vitter said he won't vote for legislation to continue paying for U.S. government services beyond Sept. 30 if it contains money for the health care law's implementation.

In the midst of cries of, "Shut it down!" you have to wonder if the people at the town meeting think at all about consequences. 

He [Robert Ordeneaux] and several others in the audience said they'd be willing to temporarily lose their government benefits through Social Security, Medicare and other programs listed by Vitter that would stop issuing checks in a shutdown.

Well, yes they do.  Temporarily?  For how long?  The folks who are so willing to sacrifice had better prepare for the long haul.  Who knows when the Republican clown show in Congress will get around to funding the federal government once again in this age of deadlock? 

Senator Vitter's support of a government shutdown is despicably reckless and irresponsible, and he'd be very foolish to believe his supporters will not flood his office with phone calls demanding their checks.  Vitter draws the line at the suggestion by his supporters to impeach President Obama, because he says it could backfire.  If  Republicans succeed in shutting down the government, Vitter will soon know the meaning of backfire in spades, for the voters will not blame Obama and the Democrats.  When Social Security payments don't arrive, and Medicare stops paying the bills, the blame will go squarely where it belongs - on reckless and irresponsible Republicans who would rather destroy the country than not have their way.

The Health Insurance Marketplace, part of the Affordable Care Act, is due to begin taking applications on October 1, 2013, and the Republicans are fearful that the marketplaces may actually work and citizens will see the benefits, so they want to stop it in its tracks.

Open enrollment starts October 1, 2013. Plans and prices will be available then. Coverage starts as soon as January 1, 2014. 

Republicans are afraid, very afraid.

On a side note, Vitter says he supports Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) in the Senate race against Sen. Mary Landrieu (D), but the Tea Party folks don't much like Cassidy because he's too liberal (Ha ha).  Rob Maness is their boy.  Maness says Cassidy is just another Mary.  Landrieu is a right-leaning Democrat, so since Bill Cassidy is comparatively sane, but still quite conservative, Maness is probably not far off in his comparison.  I will support Landrieu, though I don't always agree with her policies and votes, because any Democrat in the Senate is better than a Republican.  To see two Republicans mix it up in the primary will do my heart good.

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN - "O TU SUAVISSIMA VIRGA" - SEQUENTIA

When I listen to Sequentia's incredibly beautiful performance of Hildegard von Bingen's exquisite music, I imagine I'm hearing Hildegard herself singing.  Their project to record all of her music, which began in 1982, is now complete.

TEXAS LEGISLATURE GERRYMANDERED - I AM SHOCKED

It’s amazing the kind of honesty that will come out when someone, or something, is forced to defend themselves in court against harsh accusations.  And that’s exactly what we’re seeing with the State of Texas defending its new strict voting laws against the Department of Justice’s accusations that they’re targeting minorities.

You see, Republicans in the state of Texas are trying to keep the Department of Justice from overseeing their new voting laws by claiming that yes, the GOP gerrymandering within the state in 2011 did seek to disenfranchise Democrats. However, they’re claiming it did so only along partisan party lines—not racial.  They freely admit their redistricting plans were meant to weaken the voting power of a political party, they just insist those redistricting maps had nothing to do with race.  So that’s evidence that their strict new voting laws can’t possibly be about keeping minorities from voting—just Democrats.

Read the rest of the article at Forward Progressives of the chicanery revealed under oath in the court testimony by the attorneys representing the State of Texas, when they have sworn to tell the truth.  Of course, we are a post-racial society, so the gerrymandering can't possibly be about race.

Justice John Roberts, are you paying attention?  I expect not, or if you are, you excuse yourself from your responsibility in the farcical decision that the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had to be ripped out, because everything is hunky dory out and about in the land of the free with regard to voting rights.  Things may be bad, but they're not as bad as the 1960s.

Oh my, do I miss Molly Ivins.  "You can't make this stuff up." That's as far as I can go, but Molly would have hit one out of the ballpark with the story.  But wait!  Molly speaks from the grave.

When I linked on Facebook to the article on the Texas defense of its gerrymandered districts, that they admit are for the purpose of weakening the power of the Democratic Party in the state, a Facebook friend posted the link above to the website with Molly Ivins quotes.  More than one of the quotes were apropos to the situation.

"The first rule of holes: when you're in one, stop digging."

"It's like, duh. Just when you thought there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties, the Republicans go and prove you're wrong."

"It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America."

Then the discussion wandered off to considering how many citizens today know the meaning of gerrymander.  I remember learning the word in my elementary school civics class.  I even remembered the name Elridge Gerry, after whom the practice was named, and another friend from Gerry's home town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, pointed out that the name was pronounced with a hard "G".  My teachers did not use the hard "G", but I'm grateful to them that I know the meaning of gerrymander.