Motley Moose – Archive

The President’s Weekly Address post is also the Weekend Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, President Obama highlights the importance of making sure our economy rewards the hard work of every American – including America’s women.

Transcript: Weekly Address: Rewarding Women’s Hard Work and Increasing the Minimum Wage

Hi, everybody.  This week, I visited a community college in Florida, where I spoke with students about what we need to do to make sure our economy rewards the hard work of every American.

More specifically, I spoke about making sure our economy rewards the hard work of women.

Today, women make up about half of our workforce, and more than half of our college graduates.  More women are now their families’ main breadwinner than ever before.

But in a lot of ways, our economy hasn’t caught up to this new reality yet.  On average, a woman still earns just 77 cents for every dollar a man does.  And too many women face outdated workplace policies that hold them back – which in turn holds back our families and our entire economy.

A woman deserves to earn equal pay for equal work, and paid leave that lets you take a day off to care for a sick child or parent.  Congress needs to act on these priorities.

And when women hold most lower-wage jobs in America, Congress needs to raise the minimum wage.  Because no woman who works full-time should ever have to raise her children in poverty.

Now, the good news is that in the year since I first called on Congress to raise the minimum wage, six states have passed laws to raise theirs.  More states, counties, and cities are working to raise their minimum wages as we speak.  Small businesses like St. Louis-based Pi Pizzeria, are raising their wages too – not out of charity, but because it’s good for business.  And by the way, Pi makes a really good pizza.  And in this year of action, I signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their employees a fair wage of at least ten dollars and ten cents an hour.

But if we’re truly going to reward the hard work of every American, Congress needs to join the rest of the country and pass a bill that would lift the federal minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour. This wouldn’t just raise wages for minimum wage workers – its effects would lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans across this country.  It will give businesses more customers with more money to spend, and grow the economy for everybody.  So call up your Member of Congress and let them know it’s time for “ten-ten.”  It’s time to give America a raise.

A true opportunity agenda is one that works for working women. Because when women succeed, America succeeds. We do better when everyone participates, and when everyone who works hard has the chance to get ahead.  That’s what opportunity means – and it’s why I’ll keep fighting to restore it.

Thanks, everybody, and have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

~

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.

On weekends (and holidays), you may find the check-in thread earlier or later than normal because … it is the weekend! Moosies need their beauty rest:

For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.

The important stuff to get you started:

– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.

– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)

– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce, or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).

– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”

– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”

(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)

You can follow the daily moosetrails here: Motley Moose Recent Comments.

~

Let the greetings begin!

~

Good morning, Moosekind. TGIF!

Friday Coffee Hour and check-in is an open thread and general social hour.

It’s traditional but not obligatory to give us a weather check where you are and let us know what’s new, interesting, challenging or even routine in your life lately. Nothing is particularly obligatory here except:

Always remember the Moose Golden (Purple?) Rule:

Be kind to each other… or else.

What could be simpler than that, right?

Today at 16:57 UTC (11:57am RPT), the Spring Equinox occurred.

An equinox occurs twice a year (around 20 March and 22 September), when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth’s equator. The name “equinox” is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, night and day are about equal length.

The amount of daylight and darkness became equal over the past few days (on March 18, near here) and soon daylight will extend ever deeper into the evening and the early morning hours.

Spring is about hope and new beginnings and the sheer joy of being outdoors in the light and the warmth. Here is some (light!) kidding around as we celebrate this year’s Spring Equinox.

Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’  ~Robin Williams

The vernal equinox or Ostara is one of the eight pagan festivals or “sabbats” from the Wheel of the Year. It is a “quarter day” along with the solstices and the autumnal equinox.  

This festival celebrates the Goddess returning to her Maiden aspect.

The Maiden represents “enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm.” She is depicted by the waxing moon in this drawing of the Triple Goddess:

Lisa Thiel – Ostara (Spring Song) – from Wheel of the Year

   Chorus:

   Praise to the Spring, Praise to all living things

   Praise to the Maiden and the joy that she brings

   Praise to the Earth let all her creatures now sing

   Hope is renewed with the coming of the Spring

   We turn from the darkness and the wise Crone within

   We turn to the Maiden and creation begins

   It’s a time for things growing and time now for flowing

   A time now for sowing the seeds of your dreams.

   (Chorus)

   The heart fires are stirring with the new life returning

   Its time now for learning what rebirth truly means

   We honor ourselves and all the faeries and elves

   May we dance and ring bells for the coming of the Spring!

   (Chorus)

   So open your heart to natures wondrous art.

   Its time now to start the Healing of the Green.

   Young rabbits abound and there’s flowers all around

   The air is filled with the Sound of the Coming of the Spring!

   (Chorus)

To all my pagan friends, “Bright Blessings on Ostara!” And to everyone: plant the seeds of love and caring so that your harvest will be worthy of your spirit.

(Hover quotes courtesy of Quote Garden. Place your cursor over the photos to read the verses.)

(Crossposted from Views From North Central Blogistan)

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus is boasting that the 2014 midterm election will be a “tsunami”, a mere “wave” not being big enough to show all the awesomeness of the predicted GOP WIN this fall.

Maybe “tsunami” is the new Etch-a-Sketch because it clearly has Reinced away the reality of the 2012 presidential election for the Republicans:

Forget the final results. Priebus told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd that voters thought Mitt Romney had the better presidential chops.

“I mean, the fact of the matter is Mitt Romney won on the message,” Priebus said. “He won on jobs, he won on the economy, he won on the question of, ‘Who do you actually think would make a better president?’ But where he lost was on the question of, ‘Who cares about you?'”.[…]

But it’s unclear from the exit polling what led Priebus to believe that Romney “won on jobs” and even more inexplicable why the chairman believes that voters said Romney “would make a better president.”

Speaking of “who cares about you?”, something that they may have trouble tsunami-ing away this fall, here is Speaker John Boehner showing his empathy gap: Boehner Rejects Senate Deal To Revive Jobless Benefits

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Wednesday came out against a bipartisan Senate deal to revive emergency benefits for the long-term unemployed, a sign that the Republican-led House intends to nix the proposal.

Boehner didn’t offer a counter-proposal on jobless benefits. “Frankly,” he said, “a better use of the Senate’s time would be taking up and passing the dozens of House-passed jobs bills still awaiting action.“

What’s this? The Republican House of Representatives passed some jobs bills??? Oh that’s right: each of the 51 “repeal Obamacare” votes was in order to save GOP freshmen’s jobs, guys who need to burnish their tea party credentials.

More …

A little birdie told me …

30,000 gun deaths is proof we don't need better background checks but zero elections swung by voter fraud proves it should be harder to vote

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) March 19, 2014

FYI people—– MSM thought Romney was going to win the Presidency.  Stop thinking they know who is going to win Senate seats

— T (@truthrose1) March 18, 2014

BREAKING EXCLUSIVE PIC: CNN’s newest aviation experts #mh370 pic.twitter.com/i2rgoUXLYp

— Harold Itzkowitz (@HaroldItz) March 17, 2014

More from the morning news …

Search For Missing Jet Focuses On Objects Seen Off Australia

Satellite images showing objects floating in the Indian Ocean have focused the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 and the 239 people who were on board to an area about 1,500 miles southwest of Perth, Australia.

This is, in the words of acting Malaysian transport minister Hishammuddin Hussien, the first “credible lead” since the plane disappeared on March 8 while on what was supposed to be a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Buddhist Student Wins Settlement With Louisiana School District That Called His Religion ‘Stupid’

A Buddhist student and his family won a settlement last week against a Louisiana school district where the student’s religion was ridiculed in class as “stupid,” the teacher taught that evolution is “impossible,” and that the bible is “100 percent true.”

The court-approved consent decree prohibits future religious discrimination in a school district that had portraits of Jesus Christ in the halls and a “lighted, electronic marquee” outside one school that scrolls Bible verses. “Religious liberty, as embodied by the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and free speech are hallowed constitutional rights to which all are entitled,” the consent decree states.

Parents Scott and Sharon Lane alleged in their lawsuit that their attempts to report religious harassment were dismissed with comments that “this is the Bible Belt,” and that their son, referred to as “C.C.,” could either change his faith or transfer to another school where “there were more Asians.”

Wisconsin Republican Legislator Tears Into His Own Party For Voter Suppression

As his own party pushed through the Wisconsin Senate the latest in a series of measures to make it harder to vote in the state, Sen. Dale Schultz (R) blasted the efforts as “trying to suppress the vote” last week. […]

Schultz argued that this and dozens of similar bills before the Senate this were based on “mythology” that voter fraud is a serious concern: “I began this session thinking that there was some lack of faith in our voting process and we maybe needed to address it. But I have come to the conclusion that this is far less noble.”

Noting that Republican President Dwight Eisenhower championed the 1957 civil rights law, Schultz said that he could not “find any real reason” for his party’s effort to make it harder to vote:

Editor’s Note: Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.

For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.

The important stuff to get you started:

– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.

– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)

– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce, … or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).

– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”

– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”

(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)

You can follow the daily moosetrails here: Motley Moose Recent Comments.

~

Let the greetings begin!

~

this starts at 6pm Thursday — so please donate after that time – more info on the Amplify challenge .

On March 20 & 21, there’s a major charity drive in Austin — Amplify Austin. Charities have matching opportunities, and the charities that raise more money get prizes. I am, of course raising money for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS. Below is a list of some of the ways specific amounts donated help. And you can donate at my Hill Country Ride page

But first, the bad/alarming news. There has been a 40% rise in new infections in youth in Travis County. Below is something AIDS Services of Austin executive director Paul Scott wrote about that:

In the HIV and AIDS field, the landscape changes constantly. Each year brings new medical advancements that help people live longer, healthier lives with HIV. However, as the number of people affected by HIV grows, ASA’s services become even more in demand.

Throughout the past 26 years serving Central Texans, we’ve learned to get one step ahead of the curve, always staying informed and anticipating where the highest need will be in the months or years ahead. We founded the first dental clinic in Central Texas for people living with HIV and helped volunteers pioneer the groundbreaking Octopus Club fundraising model, which raised its two millionth dollar this year.

The past few years have seen renewed hope as research into cures and vaccines has made incredible breakthroughs. But approaching HIV treatment and prevention requires not just medical insight, but social and behavioral foresight. In Texas, the rate of new HIV infections has been increasing, and over the past two years, 40% of new infections has been youth ages 15-29. With our expanding youth space at the Q Austin and new “Camp Q” messaging, ASA was ready to tackle this trend, reaching young people in new, innovative ways.

These trends demonstrate the value of our responsibility to the community and our mission. However, we cannot help our community without the help of our community. This year marks the 15th Anniversary of the Hill Country Ride, a cornerstone of fellowship and support in Austin. 2014 also marks the 21st anniversary of Viva, benefiting the Capital Area AIDS Legal Project (CAALP). Like many of our programs, CAALP was created in response to an immediate need, particularly for people faced with difficult medical decisions, financial hardship, end-of-life concerns, and even discrimination.

Through ASA’s proven programs and services, we anticipate and tackle each new challenge as it comes along. We work daily to identify future issues that affect the well-being of our clients. And as always, we rely on your continued support to serve the needs of a growing population.

Respectfully yours,

Paul E. Scott, Executive Director

Please donate at my Hill Country Ride page

$35 covers one rapid HIV rest – we know that 40% of HIV+ people don’t know it yet. Through testing, we can get them into life saving care, and further reduce the spread of the virus.

or it could pay for one hot breakfast to feed 35 residents in a housing program

Another thing it could do is buy a food voucher for emergency needs – many of those living with HIV are also living in poverty, and can’t afford their medication and nutritious food.  This makes sure they get the food they need.

$60 pays for a one month supply of medical prescriptions. Medications can reduce the virus so much that it keeps someone healthy and also reduces the risk of passing it along.

Or it buys one testing & counseling session. And buys someone nutritious food and for one month – A month of nutritious food allows someone living with HIV to focus on staying healthy without worrying about the basic need of having enough to eat.

$120 provides education for 440 people. Education is one of the most important tools in reducing new infections.

$250 provides 3 family counseling sessions. It can be devastating for a family when a member is diagnosed, and we know that an intact family unit promotes health and provides a built in support.

It also provides 7 hours of outreach to find people and get them into care – If you are homeless or unemployed, your HIV may not be at the top of list of your priorities.  By finding people and making sure they get the care they need, lives are saved.  

$500 provides a month of rent for one family in supportive housing. Assistance with food, daily chores, trips to medical appointments and social support create a foundation for continued health and a step toward independence.

$1,000 will cover the costs of 2 memberships for Association of Nurses in AIDS care, specifically for HIV updates. Or it could pay for an outpatient procedure for an uninsured client – many with HIV/AIDS do not have insurance.  You can cover the expenses related to a needed procedure.

Or it can pay for four months of medication – Medications can reduce the virus so much that it keeps someone healthy and also reduces the risk of passing it along.

Or it could give 450 home cooked meals for hospice patients. When in hospice, there are often unique food needs. You can make sure that final days are spent with delicious food that doesn’t upset someone’s stomach.

It costs approximately $367,000 to treat each infected patient over a lifetime. If you donate at  my Hill Country Ride page, look at all the good things the beneficiary agencies can do with that money. Please donate if you can! And today & tomorrow, your donation will go farther!

And now for the music. You know I always have music in my diaries. I’m using Beautiful Day, because Amplify Austin is a beautiful day of people donating to all kinds of charities

and I had to add another song — I figure it being my (very loud) earworm for the past 2 days is a sign – and I like the words There is no them, there’s only us. There is no them, there’s only you, there’s only me.

There’s no one else who can help, just us:

Good morning, Moosekind.

The common Moose, Alces alces, unlike other members of the deer family, is a solitary animal that doesn’t form herds. Not so its rarer but nearest relative, Alces purplius, the Motley Moose. Though sometimes solitary, the Motley Moose herds in ever shifting groups at the local watering hole to exchange news and just pass the time.

The morning check-in is an open thread and general social hour. Come back when time allows through the day – the conversation continues.

It’s traditional but not obligatory to give us a weather check where you are and let us know what’s new, interesting, challenging or even routine in your life lately. Nothing is particularly obligatory here except:

Always remember the Moose Golden (Purple?) Rule:

Be kind to each other… or else.

What could be simpler than that, right?