Comments on: For my friends across the table… https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32886 ER Tue, 29 Sep 2015 12:43:28 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32886 ...as our springtime turned slowly into autumn. And the sky, is a hazy shade of winter. …as our springtime turned slowly into autumn.

And the sky, is a hazy shade of winter.

]]> By: mcfly https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32881 mcfly Tue, 29 Sep 2015 03:09:18 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32881 We dated at university. She was like a 120-volt circuit that god had accidentally plugged into a 220-volt socket. For a year, everything that wasn't her simply became background noise. She eventually dumped me, though, and hooked up with a grad student at the same school. Hello darkness, my old friend. We dated at university. She was like a 120-volt circuit that god had accidentally plugged into a 220-volt socket. For a year, everything that wasn’t her simply became background noise. She eventually dumped me, though, and hooked up with a grad student at the same school. Hello darkness, my old friend.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32867 ER Mon, 28 Sep 2015 02:41:37 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32867 Drink the wine and chew the wafer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhYqeGp_Do" rel="nofollow">Doin' the Vatican Rag.</a> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhYqeGp_Do Drink the wine and chew the wafer

Doin’ the Vatican Rag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhYqeGp_Do

]]> By: mcfly https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32856 mcfly Sun, 27 Sep 2015 03:09:45 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32856 That girl really put the lick in Catholic. Whenever I meet someone who seems to have a burning desire to sin, I usually assume they're Catholic. That's not intended as a criticism. Catholics are at their best when they're at their worst. That girl really put the lick in Catholic.

Whenever I meet someone who seems to have a burning desire to sin, I usually assume they’re Catholic. That’s not intended as a criticism. Catholics are at their best when they’re at their worst.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32841 ER Sat, 26 Sep 2015 01:42:41 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32841 ...that's usually the province of fanatics who feel it is necessary to aggressively proselytize their superstitions in order to bribe their way into heaven. Catholics quit doing that after the Inquisition. Today, it is restricted to certain extreme sects of Middle Eastern Muslims and rural American Protestants. …that’s usually the province of fanatics who feel it is necessary to aggressively proselytize their superstitions in order to bribe their way into heaven. Catholics quit doing that after the Inquisition. Today, it is restricted to certain extreme sects of Middle Eastern Muslims and rural American Protestants.

]]> By: Jody https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32840 Jody Fri, 25 Sep 2015 22:34:03 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32840 I am in awe of their faith. I have never had a Catholic cram anything down my throat. I lived in a small town that was probably at least 80% Catholic. (Very Italian community...maybe it was the Italians I loved to observe. Catholics and Italians went hand in hand in my town) I am in awe of their faith. I have never had a Catholic cram anything down my throat. I lived in a small town that was probably at least 80% Catholic. (Very Italian community…maybe it was the Italians I loved to observe. Catholics and Italians went hand in hand in my town)

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32839 ER Fri, 25 Sep 2015 22:17:21 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32839 He was visibly weeping when Pope Francis spoke to Congress. Maybe the Pope told him to clean up his act or get out of Dodge. He was visibly weeping when Pope Francis spoke to Congress.

Maybe the Pope told him to clean up his act or get out of Dodge.

]]> By: Jody https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32838 Jody Fri, 25 Sep 2015 20:54:18 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32838 ...and according to a Tea Party Christian on Facebook, apparently I am not considered a Republican either because I am too liberal. HAH! I am a woman without a party. My husband wrote a scathing letter of disapproval about a year ago to Ted Cruz. I am very frustrated with our baboons of Congress also, but it may be my age that makes me just shake my head anymore. I find myself saying, only 20 more years of this horseshit...(meaning that is about all I have left) …and according to a Tea Party Christian on Facebook, apparently I am not considered a Republican either because I am too liberal. HAH!

I am a woman without a party.

My husband wrote a scathing letter of disapproval about a year ago to Ted Cruz.

I am very frustrated with our baboons of Congress also, but it may be my age that makes me just shake my head anymore. I find myself saying, only 20 more years of this horseshit…(meaning that is about all I have left)

]]> By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32837 Robert Fri, 25 Sep 2015 20:36:47 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32837 Not that I don't have a low opinion of Boehner, who leaves behind a record as demonstrably one of the worst Speakers the House has ever had. But my schadenfreude is tempered by the knowledge that the next Speaker can only be more extreme, and the only question is how much more extreme. Five years ago, when Boehner was elected, the Tea Partiers were new in Congress and didn't have nearly the power they have now. This election, any new Speaker will have to promise red meat, and lots of it, to the Tea Party Caucus. I wouldn't have thought it possible for the US government to become even more dysfunctional than it is now, but that's what Boehner's resignation guarantees. Maybe not in the short run, according to one theory that resigning at least empowers Boehner to stand up to the extremists one last time and prevent their threatened shutdown over Planned Parenthood. But in the long run, it transfer power even farther to the right. And how far to the right they can go isn't limited by the already-far-right membership of the House. Fun fact: Here's the Constitution's entire description of the job of Speaker: <blockquote> The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers....</blockquote> <cite>Article I, Section 2, Clause 5</cite> Can you spot what's missing? No? Yeah, it can be hard to spot what isn't there: Any stipulation that the Speaker of the House has to be a member of the House. He or she speaks for the House, but doesn't necessarily have to cast a vote in the House. I mention this because of our second Fun Fact of the Day: For a couple of years now, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Alberta) has had the title "Speaker of the House" appended to his name in honor of his attempts to lead the House farther to the right by taking a detour around their official Speaker. Put our two Fun Facts of the Day together and they add up to this: It's not entirely inconceivable that Senator Ted Cruz could be elected Speaker of the US House of Representative. Isn't reality a hoot? Not that I don’t have a low opinion of Boehner, who leaves behind a record as demonstrably one of the worst Speakers the House has ever had.

But my schadenfreude is tempered by the knowledge that the next Speaker can only be more extreme, and the only question is how much more extreme. Five years ago, when Boehner was elected, the Tea Partiers were new in Congress and didn’t have nearly the power they have now. This election, any new Speaker will have to promise red meat, and lots of it, to the Tea Party Caucus.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible for the US government to become even more dysfunctional than it is now, but that’s what Boehner’s resignation guarantees. Maybe not in the short run, according to one theory that resigning at least empowers Boehner to stand up to the extremists one last time and prevent their threatened shutdown over Planned Parenthood. But in the long run, it transfer power even farther to the right.

And how far to the right they can go isn’t limited by the already-far-right membership of the House.

Fun fact: Here’s the Constitution’s entire description of the job of Speaker:

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers….

Article I, Section 2, Clause 5

Can you spot what’s missing? No? Yeah, it can be hard to spot what isn’t there: Any stipulation that the Speaker of the House has to be a member of the House. He or she speaks for the House, but doesn’t necessarily have to cast a vote in the House.

I mention this because of our second Fun Fact of the Day: For a couple of years now, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Alberta) has had the title “Speaker of the House” appended to his name in honor of his attempts to lead the House farther to the right by taking a detour around their official Speaker.

Put our two Fun Facts of the Day together and they add up to this: It’s not entirely inconceivable that Senator Ted Cruz could be elected Speaker of the US House of Representative.

Isn’t reality a hoot?

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2015/09/25/for-my-friends-across-the-table/#comment-32834 ER Fri, 25 Sep 2015 15:55:41 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=50662#comment-32834 Boehner was the last voice of sanity in the GOP with any real power or influence. He was the only thing that stood between the barbarians and the gates. Boehner was the last voice of sanity in the GOP with any real power or influence. He was the only thing that stood between the barbarians and the gates.

]]>