Month: October 2014
News/Politics 10-21-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
Open Thread
Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks-Week 9
Another week of guessing folks. Who will come out the winner this time? Pick away!
Deadline this week is Friday @ 9PM EDT Remember: You have to guess all ten games, unless you are so confident that you’ll win by guessing fewer than that. Just don’t be embarrassed like several Top 10 teams have been this year.
1. BYU @ Boise State – The Broncos play on Friday night a lot. Is the high school season over in Idaho?
2. San Jose State @ Navy – Will the long road trip by the Spartans help the Middies?
3. Michigan @ #8 Michigan State – If this were at Michigan’s home field, it might make a difference in the outcome. But the Spartans at #8? Hard to beat that.
4. Texas @ #11 Kansas State – KSU ranked, Texas not? Inconceivable!
5. #3 Ole Miss @ #24 LSU – Usually LSU is the higher ranked team. Odd year.
6. South Carolina @ #5 Auburn – Sorry Chas. I think SC has to play another Tiger.
7. #4 Alabama @ Tennessee – Tide came back Saturday. Can they do it again?
8. Vanderbilt @ Mizzou – Hopefully the right Tigers show up this time. Can’t be shut out at home twice in a row.
9. Pillow Fight Kent Stae (1-6) @ Miami (OH) (1-7) – I think Kent State did well against Army at home, but can they beat a lesser team on the road?
10. Tie Breaker: (guess winner and score) #15 Arizona @ Washington State – Hopefully Arizona won’t be embarrassed by the perennial PAC-12 cellar dweller.
Our Daily Thread 10-20-14
Good Morning!
Today’s header photo is from Michelle.
On this day in 1774 the new Continental Congress, the governing body of America’s colonies, passed an order proclaiming that all citizens of the colonies “discountenance and discourage all horse racing and all kinds of gaming, cock fighting, exhibitions of shows, plays and other expensive diversions and entertainment.”
In 1947 Hollywood came under scrutiny as the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence within the motion picture industry.
In 1818 the U.S. and Great Britain established the boundary between the U.S. and Canada to be the 49th parallel.
And in 1977 Lynyrd Skynyrd vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines (Steve’s sister) and road manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their plane crashed in Gillsburg, MS. The other four members of the band were seriously injured but survived the crash.
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Quote of the Day
“Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God’s best gifts. It involves many things, but above all, the power of going out of one’s self, and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another.”
Thomas Hughes
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Today is Charles Ives’ birthday. From the conductor, Olivier Ochanine
And some Skynyrd, with Van Zant and Gaines.
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Anyone have a QoD?
Prayer Requests 10-20-14
Anyone have a request or a praise they’d like to share?
Psalm 112
¹Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever.
4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
5 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.
9 He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
News/Politics 10-20-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. So they’re paying for insurance that’s pretty much useless barring a major illness. What a rip off.
From TheNYTimes “About 7.3 million Americans are enrolled in private coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, and more than 80 percent qualified for federal subsidies to help with the cost of their monthly premiums. But many are still on the hook for deductibles that can top $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for families — the trade-off, insurers say, for keeping premiums for the marketplace plans relatively low. The result is that some people — no firm data exists on how many — say they hesitate to use their new insurance because of the high out-of-pocket costs.
Insurers must cover certain preventive services, like immunizations, cholesterol checks and screening for breast and colon cancer, at no cost to the consumer if the provider is in their network. But for other services and items, like prescription drugs, marketplace customers often have to meet their deductible before insurance starts to help.
While high-deductible plans cover most of the costs of severe illnesses and lengthy hospital stays, protecting against catastrophic debt, those plans may compel people to forgo routine care that could prevent bigger, longer-term health issues, according to experts and research.
“They will cause some people to not get care they should get,” Katherine Hempstead, who directs research on health insurance coverage at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said of high-deductible marketplace plans. “Unfortunately, the people who are attracted to the lower premiums tend to be the ones who are going to have the most trouble coming up with all the cost-sharing if in fact they want to use their health insurance.””
And the prices are going up, but you can’t find out how much until after the elections.
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2. Meet Hillary’s Benghazi “fixer.” Same as it ever was huh?
From TheDailySignal “To Sonya Gilliam, a recent account of improper sorting of Benghazi-related documents at the State Department brought back vivid memories of her own encounters with high-level government officials who withheld, deleted or destroyed public records.
And one name stood out for its familiarity: Cheryl Mills.
A former deputy assistant secretary of state had told The Daily Signal that Mills was present during an after-hours document operation in a basement room of the State Department in October 2012. Mills was chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”
The purpose of the session, former State Department official Raymond Maxwell said, was to “separate” documents damaging to Clinton before records were turned over to an independent review board probing the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.”
“My stomach dropped,” Gilliam says about hearing the allegation last month that Mills was involved in Benghazi document sorting: I said to myself, oh my gosh, here we are, 14 or 15 years later, [and] Cheryl Mills is still in charge of document ‘production’—I’ll use that term loosely.”
Sandy Berger would be so proud.
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3. Chairperson fight!
DWS whistles past the graveyard like nobody’s business.
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4. Peyton is The TD Man.
From MSN “Peyton Manning’s receivers played keep-away with his milestone memento and the NFL’s new leader in career touchdown passes toyed with the San Francisco 49ers in the Denver Broncos’ 42-17 victory Sunday night.
Manning went into the showdown two TDs shy of Brett Favre’s record of 508, and threw four touchdown passes to reach 510.
“It’s special because of the way our team played,” said Manning, who surpassed Favre’s mark with an 8-yard strike to Demaryius Thomas late in the second quarter.”
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Our Daily Thread 10-18-14
Good Morning!
Welcome to the Weekend!
On this day in 1685 King Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had established the legal toleration of the Protestant population.
In 1892 the first long-distance telephone line between Chicago, IL, and New York City, NY, was opened.
In 1929 The Judicial Committee of England’s Privy Council ruled that women were to be considered as persons in Canada.
And in 1958 the first computer-arranged marriage took place on Art Linkletter’s show.
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Quote of the Day
“It is not fit the public trusts should be lodged in the hands of any, till they are first proved and found fit for the business they are to be entrusted with.”
Matthew Henry
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Today is Chuck Berry’s birthday.
Today is also Keith Knudsen’s.
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Wandering Views 