Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 203

On Politics
Last week, Sarah Palin spoke about Pope Francis, “He’s had some statements that to me sound kind of liberal, has taken me aback, has kind of surprised me,” Newsflash to the Nincompoop – Jesus was one of the most liberal people ever! However, she did justify her comment with “… unless I really dig deep into what his messaging is, and do my own homework, I’m not going to just trust what I hear in the media.”

Martin Brashir’s (MSNBC) comments regarding Nincompoop were not only unprofessional and unnecessary, they weren’t worth his time.

Whereas Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) isn’t sure Gov. Chris Christie’s (R-NJ) GOP brand will sell across America, I don’t believe Gov. Perry’s brand will sell.

Even though Republicans currently have some momentum, I don’t think they can handle it. Here’s columnist Kathleen Parker’s take.

With the Senate changing a rule, the fact that not that long ago roles were reversed, which means what each party says is also reversed. That probably means they did the right thing.

Hmmmm … Senators Graham (R-SC) and McCain (R-AZ) were against Susan Rice becoming Secretary of State, but favor her stance regarding Egypt over Secretary of State John Kerry’s, who they supported for the cabinet post.  (A read here)

Sorry, Mr. President, I disagree. You say the healthcare rollout mess is not about politics, but I say Washington is about politics 99% of the time, and your comment does not fall within the 1 percent.

Although I continue to separate issues regarding healthcare.gov and the law itself, I did notice a spin change from the website will be fixed by November 30th to the website will be working much better by then. To me, the spin is reminiscent of Baghdad Bob’s clueless rhetoric.

Cheers to The Onion for discovering President Obama’s plans for fixing the Affordable Care Act.

On This Week’s Headlines from The Onion

• Scientists theorize sun could support fire-based life
• Store manager impressed by new trainee’s ability to ignore customers
• Man who drinks 5 Diet Cokes per day hoping doctors working on cure for whatever he’s getting
• Siblings patiently waiting for day they’ll be close to each other
• Area woman thinking about doing that thin where she’s mean to other women she meets for no reason
• Mariana Trench once again voted worst place to raise a child

Interesting Reads
A view about moderate Islam
Fish and oral sex
Famines and gender ratios
How superstitions work
Images of insects covered in dew
Images of if they were alive today (Thanks Elyse)

On Potpourri
Given the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, information about November 22, 1963 has been more than bountiful. Interestingly, overshadowed in the news that day was the death of two other famous people: Aldous Huxley (author, Brave New World) and C.S. Lewis (intellectual writer of Christianity)

Here is my 2008 reflection about the Kennedy assassination.

A potential holiday gift for the hard-to-buy person – a WTF stamp (courtesy of The Onion Store)

Say it ain’t so, but someone wants to remake It’s a Wonderful Life.

Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Filipino people. If you can, support relief efforts through the agency of your choice

Dancing with the Stars has been a good season. I always enjoy seeing non-dancers progress, but I don’t like seeing the audience vote causing better dancers to leave.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford should resign and start a consultant agency specializing in damage control for celebrities.

Here are your weekend celebrations

• (Fri) Start Your Own Country Day, Cranberry Relish Day
• (Sat) Fibonacci Day (past post), Family Volunteer Day, Aura Awareness Day, Cashew Day, Jukebox Day, Eat a Cranberry Day, You’re Welcome-giving Day
• (Sun) Brownielocks Day, Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day, DB Cooper Day, Mother Goose Day, Espresso Day

Sorry, no Saturday Morning Cartoon post this weekend, but there will be a post – a new, occasional series called Take 5. Stop by this weekend for the inaugural post.

Let’s celebrate going into a weekend with a song from my youth. Warning: the ending is a bit monotonous. Have a safe weekend and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.