Motley Moose – Archive

Well, President Obama is getting set to present the traditional State of the Union address. The GOP is set to respond out of both sides of their divided mouth.

There is an Executive Order on cybersecurity expected tomorrow. What will the President say about that?

The economy continues a fragile fifth year of recovery, sequestration looms ahead.

As Chris Dorner remains (?) in a burning cabin after killing a police officer today, wounding another, and killing others including a young couple guilty of having a father in the LAPD, the issue of guns is on the table.

What will our President have to say tonight, about the state of our Union?

Consider this a live thread and ongoingly Open Thread (here comes Michelle, and damn she looks sharp!).

It’s Fat Tuesday!

Today is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, or Carnival-the last day of celebration before people give up meat for Lent, and though the practice came from Europe it has now become a major part of African-diasporic tradition-from New Orleans, to Trinidad and of course Brazil, where the largest celebration in the world is held in Rio.

The owner of the catcher’s mitt was born on October 16, 1882 and was named James Francis Wilson. He was called Frank. I never knew him personally because he died before I was born. What I know of him I know from my Dad. Frank was his father and Daddy loved him dearly.

Dad had this to say about his father and baseball.

Until the depression started in 1929, Dad played semi-pro ball for the company he worked for. He was an excellent catcher, and had played with many of the future major league stars. He had progressed up to Triple A Ball with both Beaumont of the Texas League and Milwaukee of the American Association, but was prevented from going on to the majors because of his size; he was only 5’8″ and 152 pounds. He was a better defensive catcher than Mickey Owens, and a better hitter then Wade Killefer, but he was just too small. The then New York Giants did have his contract in perpetuity though.

When cleaning up the house to sell I found a metal box. I had to break the lock to get it open to see what was inside. It contained My Dad’s baseball gloves from the time he was a child until he retired and no longer played. I distributed the other gloves to my brothers and niece but I kept the catcher’s mitt. Dad had very little from his Dad but that mitt traveled around the country with him.

I would have loved to have known my paternal grandfather. In knowing my Dad though I got to know this grandfather. Dad’s sisters said that Dad and his father were very much alike. They had to double check when one walked into the room to see which one it was. They looked and sounded so much alike that it was difficult to tell them apart at first glance.

Dad got his love of sports from his Dad. I got my love of sports from him. Being an only girl I loved to play catch with my Dad. He taught me to throw a baseball and softball as well as a football. When you are an only daughter with a sport’s nut Dad it helps to be a tomboy. To this day I love to watch sports.

Dad took us to many baseball games when we lived in the Bay Area. We cheered on both the Giants and the A’s. We watched football every Sunday. Dad was a huge Raiders fan but he also watched the 49ers.

When I look at that old catcher’s mitt it brings back memories of my Dad. It also connects me to a man I never knew but still love. My Dad loved him dearly and that is good enough for me.

James Francis Wilson

Dad and I

The Catcher’s Mitt

I’ve lived in So. Cal a long time and actually been subject to the police freaking out over one thing or another, but Christopher Jordan Dorner has put them off the chain and running down the street.  They are scared and stating straight out on television they are, there is one Captain that hasn’t left his home and that’s not a good look in my opinion for law enforcement.

I’m 6 2 and 220 pounds, I look nothing at all like Chris Dorner and I was joking with Sweetie that I was going to get my son in law  to drive me around, but they are shooting at little white guys too!

Disclaimer: This is purely hypothetical. A true Tea Party “Patriot” would never apologize; they’d simply reload. They’d also have more typographical and grammatical errors if they did write anything. Still…

February 12, 2013

Dear Joanie,

Since we haven’t talked in so long, I was shocked to see you sitting in the very back of the church at Dad’s funeral last week. I wanted to see you, to hold you, to tell you so much, but by the time I got through the crowd, you were gone.  

After that last argument when you walked out after we thanked Fox News in our Thanksgiving prayer, I wasn’t sure I would ever see you and Jamal and the kids again. I know you probably still hate me and you probably don’t ever want to talk to me again, but please at least read this letter before you decide.

Now, with everything that’s happened, I can see why you did what you did. I am so sorry, more sorry than you will ever know, that I got involved with those Tea Party people. They seemed so patriotic. It was like they “got it”. Less taxes? Who wouldn’t want that? Get the government out of our lives? Well, at first I was kind of uneasy about that, with Dad working in the defense industry, but it turns out a bunch of them were in the same sort of situation or on Social Security or disability, and it didn’t seem like it was a problem for them.  

We were all just so worried that the country was going to hell in a handbasket, with all those people out of work and the government just spending and spending and spending. It was like people like us – good upstanding people who worked hard and paid our taxes just kept losing ground to people who were… well, you know.

The people over on Fox were the only ones who made sense out of it. Your Dad was the one who first started watching them he was home from work when he hurt his back. After I started watching it, I just got hooked. Glenn Beck was his favorite. He was the only person smart enough to figure out how all this politics and money and religion stuff was connected, and brave enough to say it. It’s too bad somebody silenced him. Hannity and O’Reilly and the others were okay, though, and after a while, we left the TV on Fox all the time.  

When you screamed at us that “you love Fox more than you love me and the kids!”, I am ashamed to say that you might have been right. I DO love you and Jamal and the kids (and Dad loved you guys too), but you were back east and we hardly ever saw you. I know it sounds stupid now, but Fox was our family.  

Good morning, again. I’m watching people get snowed on on TV while i sit in my heated apartment. Outside it’s a toasty 40-something. That white stuff looks cold. You guys can keep it. 😉

Today’s interrogatories:  What is the best comeback line you ever came up with? Was it timely or did you think of it after the fact? Do you say “all of a sudden” or “all the sudden”? Were you ever a tattletale as a kid? What’s the oddest job you ever had? What is the bigger waste of time, reports or meetings? Are you religious, or spiritual (not the same thing) or neither?

From the Twitter Emitter

Pope Benedict to retire; found day-job duties interfered too much with his time on Twitter

— Chris Lehmann (@lehmannchris) February 11, 2013

POPE QUITS AFTER SEEING TIME’S @marcorubio SAVIOUR COVER!!!

— Steve Beste (@stevebeste) February 11, 2013

Sad that a Pope named Benedict will no longer be obsessor-in-charge of women’s eggs for the Catholic Church.

— Derek Johnson (@derekjjohnson) February 11, 2013

Pope at next job interview. “Tell me about your strengths.” “Well, I love working with people. I’m infallible. That could be an asset.”

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) February 11, 2013

#Pope suspending Papacy to go back to Washington & work on economic crisis #p2

— Cliff Schecter (@cliffschecter) February 11, 2013

Lindsey Graham and John McCain have said they will block “the election of Pope Benedict XVI’s successor until we get answers on Benghazi.”

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) February 11, 2013

Breaking: Pope Benedict to declare his candidacy for Kerry’s #MASen seat.

— evanmoody (@evanmoody) February 11, 2013

Prisoner caught with ringing mobile phone up arse. In his defence, meant to put it in his pocket but was using Apple Maps…

— Wil Anderson (@Wil_Anderson) February 11, 2013

The Pope has made history choosing to resign instead of submitting to the traditional poisoning.

— Chris Dashiell (@cdashiell) February 11, 2013

The last papal resignation happened in 1415. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, they hadn’t even invented gifs yet

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) February 11, 2013

Catholic Church seems like a great buyout target. Strong brand, underutilized real estate assets, random money-losing affiliates.

— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) February 11, 2013

You know the Church is dead when the Pope just up and quits like he’s some two-bit Alaskan governor. #edshow

— Steve Weinstein (@steveweinstein) February 12, 2013

  Make sure you let your peeps know where to find you!  

The Obama administration has done environmentalists a favor by delaying the Keystone XL pipeline decision until June. This will allow activists across the country extra time to raise awareness. Of course it would be easier if he just nixed the whole project, but he seems to like a slower, more reasoned approach with wide public support. This is why it is so important that we take it to the streets. He wants our voice… he wants our support. The Sierra Club, 350.org along with many other organizations are coming together next Sunday for the Forward on Climate rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC. If you can’t make it to the DC event, worry not, chapters of 350.org have coordinated events in solidarity across the country.

‘For Tea Party firebrands, and likely Fox loyalists, Rove is the face of Republican Establishment, of the enemy, which means to a certain degree so is Fox News.’