UPDATE: It’s Come To This: Denying Grieving Families Benefits
Updated 10-10-13 4pm AK Time Just received this e-mail from IAVA – and for once it’s excellent news. Big news on the government shutdown. Washington is finally starting to listen. Because Americans came together and raised hell, the families of those killed in action will get their death gratuity benefits on time and be able to travel to Dover to receive their loved one. We’re thankful to the Fisher House Foundation for stepping up and taking care of the military families who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We’ve updated our Shutdown FAQ feed on our site with today’s news and…
I’m Both Hungry And Pissed Off – Inequality in the USA in Terms of Pie
We always talk about pie charts and people joke saying things like… mmmm pie [in a Homer Simpson voice]. But what if someone actually discussed something like, say income inequality in the United States, through the medium of pie. Not pie charts – but delicious, completely edible real pie. Well, thankfully someone did over at The Atlantic. Business Editor, Derek Thompson bought three pies at the insanely cool looking pie shop Dangerously Delicious Pies in Washington DC and made this video explaining how things look in America these days…. they don’t look good. (The pies look delicious though…) Make sure you check…
Open Thread: BP Continues to Leak [only water…]
I found this photo on reddit titled “Water bottle leaked and ruined my laptop. Definitely should’ve seen that one coming…” It made me think about the fact that while all the Federal Parks are closed to normal citizens, they’ll continued to be open to drilling. From ThinkProgress: ….because Congress allocates resources to federal agencies through a complex mix of funding sources, public lands and waters would likely remain open to most oil, gas, and mining operations. This is even true for national parks. Drilling is currently happening in 12 national parks, including in Padre Island National Seashore in Texas and…
Death Threats, Swear Words and Hostage Negotiations… Alaska’s Republicans on Social Media
Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young are both in an odd position during the government shutdown – both oppose ‘ObamaCare,’ but not enough for the crazies in their party. Nothing outside of strapping c4 to your body with a dead mans trigger is enough for them. But at the same time, they’re staying the Republican course and not speaking out against the extremists with whom they share their representative bodies, and trying to figure out how to shift the blame to the other party. It’s not working well for them, and their social media pages are showing it. I’ve had…
UPDATED: Breaking the Law for Lisa Murkowski
[Updated 4:13pm AK Time] So it seems that Lisa is not breaking the law… just being really slimy about it. She has claimed her staff as ‘excepted’ aka essential. Thus they need to show up to work – but don’t get paid until the shut down is over. Mean while 800,000 Federal Employees are deemed non-essential – and don’t get paid at all. Here are some people that are considered “non-essential” – while the person that get’s Lisa’s coffee is considered essential. The Doctors at the Center for Disease Control that run the flu program Employees that run the Department…