Motley Moose – Archive

Interrogatories

Are you a pack rat? What sort of things do you hang on to?

What public, non-political figure would you like to see drop out of sight for good?

Do you still have faith in humanity? Why (or why not)?

The Twitter Emitter

Ted Cruz: "Obama is hostile to traditional marriage. I mean, he's only had one traditional marriage whereas many Republicans have 2 or 3."

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) February 19, 2014

If gay people marry it has as much to do with "traditional marriage" as what the table next to me orders effects my dinner

— Jesse LaGreca (@JesseLaGreca) February 19, 2014

Russia's track record on human rights is pretty much the opposite of its track record on nesting dolls.

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) February 19, 2014

"The Stand Your Ground defense is like bleach. It works wonders for Whites, but it will ruin your Colors." – Jessica Williams, TDS

— Amarlie (@marabout40) February 19, 2014

I hope the lady standing way too close and peering over my shoulder enjoys me telling the whole world how ugly her shirt is.

— Kaili Joy Gray (@KailiJoy) February 19, 2014

I feel kind of dirty that I can now speak fluent internet marketer, but that’s what I get for stepping outside of my intra-network silo

— Larry Madill (@larrymadill) February 20, 2014

I think Jared's been seeing other fast food restaurants.

— Crutnacker (@Crutnacker) February 20, 2014

Any billionaires want to fund a start-up where I play Solitaire all day?

— David Waldman (@KagroX) February 20, 2014

Look, I made minimum wage in 1968 and I did fine, so there’s no need to raise it or even keep up with 45 years of inflation.

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) February 20, 2014

The darker skinned people are no longer bowing their heads as I pass. I certainly am the victim.

— Chris Dashiell (@cdashiell) February 20, 2014

On This Day

In 1792, the Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, was signed by President George Washington.

In 1809, the Supreme Court ruled that the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.

In 1839, Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia. (That must have been very effective.)

In 1872, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City.

In 1931, Congress approved the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (their approval was required due to the bridge passing through Yerba Buena Island, a naval base).

In 1938, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden resigned in protest over Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

In 1962, while aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes.

Born on This Day

1633 – Jan de Baen, Dutch portrait painter (d. 1702)

1844 – Mihály Munkácsy, Hungarian Realist painter (d. 1900)

1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet (d. 1813)

1779 – Augustus Wall Callcott, English painter (d. 1844)

1828 – Karl Ferdinand Charles Wimar, U.S. painter (d. 1862)

1848 – Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad executive (d. 1909)

1863 – Lucien Pissarro, French-born English artist (d. 1944) son of Camille Pissarro

1874 – Mary Garden, Scottish operatic soprano (d. 1967)

1888 – Anthony Thieme, Dutch-U.S. painter (d. 1954)

1889 – Maurice Barraud, Swiss painter and printmaker (d. 1954)

1893 – Russel Crouse, American playwright (d. 1966)

1897 – Ivan Albright, American painter (d. 1983)

1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman (d. 1992)

1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)

1910 – Julian Trevelyan, British artist (d. 1988)

1911 – Margot Grahame, English actress (d. 1982)

1916 – Jean Erdman, American dancer

1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American socialite and clothing designer

1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer (d. 1986)

1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (d. 2005)

1927 – Sidney Poitier, American actor

1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)

1937 – Nancy Wilson, American Jazz singer

1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer

1943 – Mike Leigh, British film director

1946 – Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress

1946 – J. Geils, American guitarist (The J. Geils Band)

1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-born American socialite who must have had a very strong stomach.

1950 – Walter Becker, American guitarist (Steely Dan)

1951 – Randy California, American guitarist (Spirit) (d. 1997)

1953 – Poison Ivy, American musician (The Cramps)

1954 – Anthony Head, English actor

1954 – Patty Hearst, American socialite

1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian (Mystery Science Theater 3000)

1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player

1963 – Ian Brown, English singer (The Stone Roses)

1967 – Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana) (d. 1994)

1967 – Lili Taylor, American actress

1969 – Vaginal Davis, American drag queen and performance artist

1971 – Calpernia Addams, transgender activist

1976 – Ed Graham, English drummer (The Darkness and Stone Gods)

1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer

Died on This Day

1479 – Antonello da Messina, Sicilian painter (b. 1430)

1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (b. 1723)

1803 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (b. 1713)

1862 – William Wallace Lincoln, son of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln (b. 1850)

1865 – Constant Troyon, French painter (d. 1810)

1871 – Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (b. 1810)

1891 – Cornelis Springer, Dutch cityscape painter (b. 1817)

1893 – P.G.T. Beauregard, American Confederate general (b. 1818)

1895 – Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer (b. 1818)

1900 – William Holbrook Beard, US painter specialized in anthropomorphic animals (b. 1823)

1909 – Paul Ranson, French Nabi painter (b. 1864)

1916 – Léon-François Comerre, French painter (b. 1850)

1920 – Robert Peary, American explorer (b. 1856)

1936 – Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)

1972 – Walter Winchell, American journalist (b. 1897)

1976 – Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist (b. 1907)

1987 – Wayne Boring, American comics artist (b. 1905)

1992 – A. J. Casson, Canadian painter (b. 1898)

1997 – Zachary Breaux, American jazz guitarist (b. 1960)

1999 – Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)

2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1944)

2005 – John Raitt, American actor (b. 1917)

2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)

Today is

World Day of Social Justice

National Cherry Pie Day

Hoodie Hoo Day

Love Your Pet Day

National Handcuff Day

  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!

~

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)



I understand the Daily Kos is a serious online community where important progressive issues of the day are discussed. So why am I writing a diary about (yes you guessed it!) hairstyles! Well, quietly some would say insidiously a Nazi haircut known as the Hitler Youth haircut has made a comeback (with 74,000 hits in Google) according to urban legend from German speaking rural Switzerland to becoming a global presence. This has alarmed Jewish groups around the world to the point where they have began voicing concern at the rise of intolerance and anti-semitism that is coming back to haunt Europe in this 100th anniversary year of world war 1, which is 75 years from the end of world war 2. Now recently just last week these fears were realized by the populist Swiss SVP party in an anti-European immigration referendum passed by a majority of Swiss voters. I wrote a diary on that very issue (not that anyone actually read it) entitled “Switzerland far right party of hate declares war on European immigration”.

Link: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

When fashion is allowed to favorably reflect on the Nazi period in terms that put that history in a favorable light then something has happened in Europe and around the world that we need to take notice of. As the old saying would have it, all that needs to happen for evil to triumph is for good people to sit by and do nothing. This last century saw not one, but two world wars come and go, with a warning, which is for those of us who aren’t prepared to learn from history are therefore doomed to repeat it. Clearly the history of World War one and two is something that America can ill afford not to learn the lessons of.

What is in a haircut any way? It’s just a fashion statement isn’t it? The Hitler Youth haircut. Well, sure it’s just a haircut but more to the point it’s an idea that people want to look like that again. It’s a look associated with historical intolerance. It’s a look that was associated with the Holocaust, the destruction of Europe and the pain and suffering of millions, that now is being celebrated in making a comeback as a fashion statement in our neighborhoods and schools and on the fashion pages and even on the silver screen. The Hitler Youth haircut is back in the limelight and it’s coming to a shopping mall near you!

It comes out of a time when the government failed the people, when jobs were lost, too many of them being shipped abroad, people were losing their homes, people were afraid and people were insecure. People were looking for a new look, new ideas, a new day of hope. Some people think the Hitler Youth Aryan look is in and it’s cool. Well let’s be honest it wasn’t just worn by Germany’s Hitler Youth, it was worn by Adolf Hitler himself as well as most German front line troops, but too many people think it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a hair style after all? There’s no political message attached to it? It’s just a lot of silliness. That is what they said about the brown shirts in Nazi Germany in the beginning, they said it wasn’t a military uniform, it was a political party uniform (manufactured by fashion designer Hugo Boss that is. “It was Hugo Boss who made uniforms for the Nazis.” ).but then the S.A. got to be 3 million strong. Three times the size of the German army that changed Germany and in turn changed the world. Also please let’s remember that at the time this was simply viewed as the fashion business. Ergo by way of a corollary we must conclude that the Nazi fashion business has a dark side and so does the fashion history of the Hitler Youth haircut. Given that history may we simply write the whole thing off as nothing more than a lucrative fashion tread and nothing more in the matter of the Hitler Youth haircut’s strong global comeback.

Jewish World By David Lev

“Some Jewish community officials have expressed concern over the

latest style in haircuts – the “Jugend,” or “Hitler Youth” hairdo”.

http://www.israelnationalnews….

(There should be some sort of a movement brought about to disassociate the hair style from the name of Adolf Hitler). A further danger is that anyone, especially young people Googling the name “the Hitler Youth haircut” will be exposed to voluminous Nazi materials, which is an insidious way of this type of (old and new) propaganda material to find readers. As such this is one more reason why an effort should be brought about to change the name of this hair style.  

So when we look back at the 100th year anniversary of World War I and we look back at World War II that ended 75 years ago, perhaps we should also remember the slogan “Never Again”. For it is said all that needs to happen for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. Perhaps we should therefore this time all do something. To that end I invite you to post your thoughts below and speak out and you will be heard.

(Crossed posted by author from the Daily Kos)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/… h-and-progressive-groups-fearing-intolerance

Seventy-one years ago Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans were arrested at the University of Munich for dropping leaflets protesting the evils of the Third Reich.

Sophie, Hans, their friend Christoph Probst, and several others were members of the White Rose, a group Hans and three fellow medical students founded to declare opposition to the Hitler regime and to rally the resistance movement.

Sophie, Hans, and Christoph knew they faced certain death if they were discovered. The story of these incredible young people (Sophie was only 21 at the time of her death) is not widely known in the United States, but in Germany their contribution to freedom is recognized and respected.

Sophie and Hans Scholl were born into a liberal, religious Lutheran family. After Hitler took power and proclaimed the “Thousand-year Reich,” Sophie’s family began to attract unfavorable attention from the authorities for their anti-Nazi views. At one time Sophie’s father was arrested and imprisoned for speaking of his anti-Hitler views at his place of work.

As they grew up both Hans and Sophie became disillusioned about the Nazi regime and horrified by its crimes. At the University of Munich, Sophie, Hans, and other members of  the White Rose began to print leaflets and distribute them all over Germany by mailing them from different towns. Although Sophie did not write the leaflets, she helped distribute them.

On 18 February 1943 Hans and Sophie took a suitcase to the University of Munich and dropped leaflets there but were caught and arrested.

The film “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days” shows what happened to Sophie, Hans, and their friend Christoph Probst in the four days between their arrest on 18 February, and their subsequent imprisonment, trial, and execution on 22 February 1943. Although the film is in German, the English subtitles and superb acting make it easy to follow the action. And although powerful and compelling, it is not a tear-jerker.

It amazes me that I never knew of the White Rose until I saw an article in TIME magazine. Fascinated, I began to read everything I could find on the group. Several years ago when my husband and I visited Munich, the first place we went was the University of Munich. Here is a photo of the atrium (it appears in the film).

Later we sought and found the house where the Scholls lived at the time of their arrest. We couldn’t go in but my husband took a photograph of the outside of it.

The story of the White Rose cannot help but raise questions in one’s mind: Would I, could I, have been as brave as they were? Would I, could I, have done what they did, knowing they would be executed if they were caught?  I don’t know. Perhaps we can never know until we find ourselves in a situation where we take a stand and say: “Some things are worth dying for.”

Each February I think of the White Rose and of those courageous young people who were willing to die for their beliefs. That’s why I can’t forget, won’t forget, what they did for the cause of freedom.

Interrogatories

Have you ever had a bout of temporary insanity? What did you do?

What is the last live musical performance you saw?

Have you ever won anything? If so, what?

The Twitter Emitter

I took the advice to follow my dreams and ended up back in bed.

— Mr Roger Quimbly (@RogerQuimbly) February 14, 2014

The guys who are furious at Obama for pointing out Bush destroyed the economy now want to blame Hillary for being cheated on 18 years ago.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) February 17, 2014

'Good Guy with a Gun' has a fuck of a lot of catching up to do if he's gonna be the one to fix this whole mess.

— kara vallow (@teenagesleuth) February 17, 2014

Hackers breaching Kickstarter are halfway to their goal of stealing one million identities.

— David Lubar (@davidlubar) February 18, 2014

TONIGHT ON THE KELLY FILE: Megyn sits down with Kathleen Willey, and all the latest on the OJ trial.

— Luke Brinker (@LukeBrinker) February 18, 2014

I really feel for George Zimmerman. It must be hard to walk around with everyone looking at you like a monster just because you are.

— Jesse Taylor (@jesseltaylor) February 18, 2014

In fairness, Ted Nugent IS one of the right's leading intellectuals.

— Bearded Stoner (@beardedstoner) February 18, 2014

Trump is so angry people doubt he'll run for governor that he may not even run at all.

— Tina Dupuy (@TinaDupuy) February 18, 2014

Shame Michael Dunn has to rot in prison. He'd make a hell of a Republican candidate.

— Kaili Joy Gray (@KailiJoy) February 18, 2014

Believing is to thinking what unicorns are to horses.

— God (@TheTweetOfGod) February 19, 2014

On This Day

In 1846, in Austin, Texas, the Republic of Texas government transferred power to the State of Texas government following Texas’ annexation by the United States.

In 1861, serfdom was finally abolished in Russia.

In 1878, Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph.

In 1881, Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.

In 1959, an agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.

In 2004, former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was charged with fraud, insider trading and other crimes in connection with the energy trader’s collapse.

In 2007, New Jersey became the third state to offer civil unions to gay couples.

In 2008, the  ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power.

Born on This Day

1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, mathematician and astronomer (d. 1543)

1717 – David Garrick, British actor (d. 1779) Possibly the first to be painted by so many artists (this one by William Hogarth, Garrick as Richard III).

1833 – Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1906)

1843 – Adelina Patti, Italian opera singer (d. 1919)

1843 – Leonardo de Mango, Italian Orientalist painter (d. 1930)

1849 – Hans Dahl, Norwegian painter (d. 1937)

1856 – Eduardo León y Garrido, Spanish artist (d. 1949)

1877 – Gabriele Münter, German painter (d. 1962)

1877 – Else Berg (Elsenberg), Dutch/German painter (d. at Auschwitz in 1942)

1885 – Roberto Montenegro, Mexican painter (d. 1968)

1897 – Hope Hampton, American actress (d. 1982)

1893 – Sir Cedric Hardwicke, British actor (d. 1964)

1895 – Louis Calhern, American actor (d. 1956)

1896 – André Breton, French poet (d. 1966)

1897 – Alma Rubens, American actress (d. 1931)

1909 – Enrico Donati, Italian born U.S. Surrealist painter and sculptor (d. 2008)

1910 – Dorothy Janis, American silent film actress (d. 2010)

1911 – Merle Oberon, Anglo-Indian actress (who tried to hide her Asian blood her entire career) (d. 1979)

1924 – Lee Marvin, American actor (d. 1987)

1930 – John Frankenheimer, American director (d. 2002)

1940 – Smokey Robinson, American singer

1943 – Lou Christie, American singer

1946 – Karen Silkwood, American activist (d. 1974)

1950 – Andy Powell, British musician (Wishbone Ash)

1954 – Michael Gira, American musician (Swans)

1956 – Dave Wakeling, English musician (The (English) Beat and General Public)

1956 – Peter Holsapple, American musician (The dBs and The Continental Drifters)

1963 – Seal, English singer

1965 – Jon Fishman, American musician (Phish)

1975 – Daniel Adair, Canadian Drummer  (3 Doors Down)

Died on This Day

1622 – Sir Henry Savile, English educator (b. 1549)

1622 – Frans Pourbus II, Flemish painter (b.1569)

1750 – Jan-Frans van Bredael I, Flemish painter (b. 1686)

1666 – Willem van Honthorst, Dutch painter (b. 1594)

1878 – Charles-François Daubigny, French landscape painter (b. 1817)

1936 – Billy Mitchell, American general and military aviation pioneer (b. 1879)

1951 – André Gide, French writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1869)

1962 – Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the Pap smear (b. 1883)

1969 – Madge Blake, American actress (b. 1899)

1972 – Lee Morgan, American jazz musician (b. 1938)

1980 – Bon Scott, Australian singer (AC/DC) (b. 1946)

1983 – Alice White, American film actress (b. 1904)

2001 – Stanley Kramer, American director (b. 1913)

2007 – Janet Blair, American actress (b. 1921)

Today is

National Chocolate Mint Day

Temporary Insanity Day

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?

Interrogatories

It’s Drink Wine Day. What kind of wine will you celebrate with?

What period and place in history do you find most fascinating, and why?

Are you a joiner? Do you belong to many groups or organizations that actually engage in real-life activities?

The Twitter Emitter

Yes, there is a global warming "debate." On the one side, science. On the other, economic self-interest.

— Chris Dashiell (@cdashiell) February 16, 2014

I'd rather live in a state where you can marry who you want than one in which you can shoot who you want

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) February 17, 2014

Insects are up to something. I will let you know more as I go deeper.

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) February 17, 2014

.@edb87 Reading internet comments is like using a mace to remove ear wax. It's painful, it causes severe brain damage and it's your own fault

— Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoyACN) February 17, 2014

George Washington never had to release a skeet-shoot pic to placate the National Musket Association.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) February 17, 2014

If Stand Your Ground laws don't fundamentally change gun owners' behavior, then why do you need Stand Your Ground laws?

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) February 17, 2014

If guns stop crime and most crime occurs in slums, then the NRA should favor arming all people who live in slums, right?

— Peter Flom (@peterflom) February 18, 2014

George Zimmerman: "Trayvon was not the victim. I was the victim. Trayvon forced me to leave my car and fight him on the sidewalk."

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) February 18, 2014

Murders are down in Florida, because we stopped calling it murder and started calling it "stand your ground".

— kara vallow (@teenagesleuth) February 18, 2014

With his degree, Bill Nye can explain thermodynamics. With her degree, Blackburn can tell you how to get rid of tough hard to get out stains

— TBogg (@tbogg) February 18, 2014

On This Day

In 1885, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was published.

In 1930, Pluto was discovered in a photograph by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.

In 1970, five of the Chicago Seven defendants were found guilty of intent to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. (The convictions were later overturned.)

In 1972, the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty (temporarily).

In 1988, Anthony M. Kennedy was sworn in as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2001, veteran FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested, accused of spying for Russia for more than 15 years. (Hanssen pleaded guilty and is serving life in prison without parole.)

In 2006, American Shani Davis won the men’s 1,000-meter speedskating in Turin, becoming the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.

In 2006, a Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament was sworn in.

In 2010, software engineer A. Joseph Stack III crashed his single-engine plane into a building containing IRS offices in Austin, Texas, killing one person besides himself.

Born on This Day

1404 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian architect and philosopher (d. 1472)

1602 – Pieter Meulener, Dutch painter (d. 1654)

1609 – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English historian (d. 1674)

1751 – Adolf Ulrik Wertmuller, Swedish painter (d. 1811)

1755 – Nicolas-Didier Boguet, French landscape painter (d. 1839)

1780 – Alexey Venetsianov, Russian painter (d. 1847)

1815 – Henri Leys, Belgian painter (d. 1869)

1817 – Johannes Bosboom, Dutch architectural painter (d. 1891)

1838 – Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist (d. 1916)

1844 – Willem Maris, Dutch landscape painter (d. 1910)

1848 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d. 1933)

1853 – Charles William Wyllie, British marine painter (d. 1923)

1857 – Max Klinger, German Symbolist painter, sculptor and engraver (d. 1920)

1859 – Sholom Aleichem, Russian Yiddish humorist (d. 1916)

1860 – Anders Zorn, Swedish painter (d. 1920)

1862 – Albert Welti, Swiss painter (d. 1912)

1890 – Edward Arnold, American actor (d. 1956)

1890 – Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)

1892 – Wendell Willkie, American politician (d. 1944)

1894 – Paul R. Wiliams, architect, and the first African-American member of the AIA. He designed many iconic building and many movie star homes (now endangered). (d.1980)

1906 – Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician (d. 1980)

1915 – Phyllis Calvert, British actress (d. 2002)

1919 – Jack Palance, American actor (d. 2006)

1922 – Alexander Mikhailovich Semionov, Russian painter (d. 1984)

1927 – John Warner, American politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Navy and American politician

1930 – Gahan Wilson, American cartoonist

1931 – Toni Morrison, American writer, Nobel laureate

1933 – Yoko Ono, Japanese-born American singer and performance artist

1933 – Mary Ure, Scottish actress (d. 1975)

1941 – Herman Santiago, American singer and songwriter (The Teenagers)

1941 – Irma Thomas, American singer

1950 – John Hughes, American film director (d. 2009)

1952 – Randy Crawford, American jazz and R&B singer

1953 – Robbie Bachman, Canadian drummer (Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

1954 – John Travolta, American actor

1964 – Matt Dillon, American actor

1964 – Paul Hanley, British musician (The Fall and Tom Hingley and the Lovers)

1965 – Dr. Dre, American record producer and rapper (World Class Wreckin’ Cru and N.W.A)

1968 – Molly Ringwald, American actress

Died on This Day

1294 – Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor (b. 1215)

1455 – Fra Angelico, Italian artist (b. 1395)

1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (b. 1449)

1546 – Martin Luther, German religious reformer (b. 1483)

1564 – Michelangelo, Italian artist and sculptor (b. 1475)

1682 – Pierre Dupuis, French still life painter (b. 1610)

1683 – Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Dutch painter (b. 1620)

1902 –  Albert Bierstadt, German-American landscape painter (b. 1830)

1917 – Carolus-Duran, French painter (b. 1847)

1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1904)

1978 – Maggie McNamara, American actress (b. 1928)

1999 – Andreas Feininger, French born American photographer (b. 1906)

2001 – Balthus, Polish-born painter (b. 1908)

2001 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (b. 1951)

2012 – Matt Lamb, American painter (b. 1932)

2013 – Kevin Ayers, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Soft Machine and The Wilde Flowers) (b. 1944)

Today is

Crab-Stuffed Flounder Day

Drink Wine Day

National Battery Day

President’s Day

  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).

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– 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.

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Let the greetings begin!

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On November 4, 2014, Wisconsinites will have the opportunity to take back our state and undo a terrible mistake made in November 2010.

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice? WI won’t be fooled again.

In a low-turnout midterm election, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker (R-Talk Radio) was elected governor of Wisconsin. He ran with money from national Republicans – including the Koch brother’s Americans For Prosperity (AFP) – and ideas from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), quietly promising his donors that he would do their bidding and destroy unions (and the family supporting jobs they represent), despoil our natural resources (and sell what’s left to the highest bidder), and defund our educational systems (and use that money to pay for tax breaks to the wealthiest): all things that Wisconsinites would never have consented to had they known.  

The deception was uncovered pretty quickly. Walker ran for governor promising to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin by 2015 yet he began his reign of error by giving a big sloppy kiss to the tea party extremists outside of the state of Wisconsin by turning down federal money earmarked for building a high-speed rail system to serve Wisconsin citizens. Not taking that money, of course, did not save taxpayers a penny; it was sent to California where they are building a high-speed rail system to serve their citizens. But it did burnish Gov. Walker’s credentials with the national Republican party, the guys who also pumped millions of dollars into Wisconsin in 2012 (possibly illegally, to exactly no one’s surprise) to fend off a recall. That same group is now buying ads to go after Walker’s opponent, Democrat Mary Burke, by shamelessly claiming that she was part of a “failed” Jim Doyle administration, an administration that actually added jobs in Wisconsin until George W. Bush and national Republican policies led to the Great Recession and the worst job losses since the 1930s.

All of this outside money is being funneled into Wisconsin for one reason: to re-elect Scott Walker in order to launch his 2016 presidential campaign. His re-election is needed to demonstrate the popularity of teaparty policies and to plump up his resume, a resume that already shows how he crushed working people, defunded education in order to shovel money into the pockets of the 1%, and turned our natural resources over to mining companies and others who don’t care one whit for Wisconsin.

Let’s make sure that Scott Walker’s resume reads like this, instead:

2011-2015, Wisconsin Governor, defeated in November 2014 for not representing Wisconsin values.

The latest Marquette University Poll (pdf) shows the race between Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Mary Burke at 47% to 41%. Given that Walker has been the governor for 3+ highly contentious years, it is unlikely that there are many voters who don’t know him and what he stands for … and who he owes his allegiance to. So I would suggest that 47% (47%!!) is pretty much his ceiling. Mary Burke, on the other hand, is a relative unknown (64% in the poll said that they don’t know much about her) and she starts at 41%. She will only add to this as she introduces herself while traveling around our state … a state she was born in and whose family has been here for 4 generations … a state she loves and wants to serve as governor.

For those of you who don’t know Mary Burke, here she is.

(Donate and Volunteer here: BurkeForWisconsin.com)

 

And, from a speech to Dane County Democrats, here is what she stands for:

Why I’m running is pretty simple: I love Wisconsin. We’re a great state, we have great people, and we have incredible potential. And we deserve a lot better. (Applause)

We deserve a better economy with more good paying jobs. If you look right next door in Minnesota, they’ve gotten back all of the jobs that they lost in 2008, and more. And yet, we’re still clawing our way back. We’re growing our economy at a rate that’s half the national average. So we deserve a better economy and more jobs.

We deserve a stronger commitment to public education. (Applause) All of us here know how important our K12 system, our technical college system, and our universities are. They are the fabric of our communities, and they are the foundation of our economy. […]

As governor, I will work to ensure women’s freedom to make their own health care choices and to ensure all people’s freedom to marry who they choose. (Applause)

I will work to restore collective bargaining rights for our public sector employees (Applause) along with the respect they deserve for the job that they do every day. (Applause)

I will work to roll back the statewide voucher expansion and to hold all schools accountable. (Applause)

I will work to protect our natural resources, including our air and water, and not let mining companies write our environmental regulations. (Applause)

I will work to raise the minimum wage so people who work hard can support themselves. (Applause)

And I will work to ensure every child has access to quality, affordable, public education, and that our schools have the funding to thrive. (Applause)

There is a lot of work to do. But if we stand together, we can bring back the pride that we all feel so deeply in Wisconsin.

Let’s bring back that pride. I am proud to be a Wisconsin Democrat ready to reclaim our state and return our governance to those who care about Wisconsinites and Wisconsin values. And I am proud of Wisconsinite Mary Burke for taking on this fight. It is time WI stand together … with her.

Elections Matter. And when WI vote, WI will win.

Click to Donate: Act Blue – Official Mary Burke Page