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Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 252

This week was the fifth year anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Since then, the White House and its departments did a lousy job educating the public, and Congress has done absolutely nothing to improve the ACA. On the other hand, nothing is something Congress does well. Cheers to Ron Fournier for this National Journal article.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) declared his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. I smiled at the announcement because I continue to say his nomination is exactly what the Republican party needs. Maybe I should endorse him.

During the first three months of their Congressional majority, Republicans have not shown me that they can lead.

Have you ever seen the International Space Station fly overhead? Thanks to Jim in Iowa, here’s a website to determine when that happens in your area.

The leading thought was that college basketball player Lauren Hill wouldn’t see Christmas. Well, she did … and New Years Day … and Valentine’s Day … and St. Patrick’s Day. Although she may be struggling, she is a fighter and her attitude remains positive.

Did you realize I’m mentioned in Lorna’s video?

For the sidebar, I followed Catherine’s suggestion of displaying the blogger’s location with a rollover. See yours if it’s correct, and let me know if you want me to change it. I need help with List of X.

No Saturday Morning Cartoon this weekend, but an edition of the Explore series is ready – thus you can wonder if it will be a person, place, or thing.

Meals: The Musical debuts next week, and I’m side-stepping my normal protocol. Act 1: Meals will feature songs with any of the following words in the title: Meal(s), Breakfast, Lunch, Lunchtime, Brunch, Dinner, Dinnertime, or Supper. More about the debut on the next Monday Morning Entertainment.

To lead you into The Onion, here’s a week in pictures.

Embed from Getty Images

On This Week’s Headlines from The Onion

  • Report: Employees most innovative when brainstorming dramatic quitting scenarios
  • Man filled with gratitude at sight of other customers in nice restaurant wearing jeans
  • Study: Not many Disco songs about daytime
  • New speech recognition software factors in user’s mouth always being full
  • Siblings playing tense game of chicken to decide who takes care of mom
  • Michael Dukakis still drives old tank everywhere

Interesting Reads

Your Weekend Celebrations

  • (Weekend) Crossword Puzzle Days, Listening Weekend
  • (Fri) Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day, Joe Day, Corkscrew Appreciation Day,Celebrate Exchange Day, Viagra Day, Spanish Paella Day, Kite Flying Day, Photography Day, Steam Fire Engine Day, Education & Sharing Day
  • (Sat) Barnum & Bailey Day, Be Mad Day, Virtual Advocacy Day, Weed Appreciation Day, Earth Hour, Black Forest Cake Day, Something on a Stick Day, Hot Tub Day, Eat an Eskimo Pie Day, Children’s Picture Book Day
  • (Sun) Vietnam Veterans Day, Mom & Pop Business Owners Day, Niagara Falls Runs Dry Day, Love Your Children Day, Lemon Chiffon Cake Day, Coca Cola Day

To send you into the weekend, here’s a relatively recent video of a classic from the 1979 album Breakfast in America – enjoy Supertramp’s Take the Long Way Home. Have a safe weekend and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

56 thoughts on “Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 252”

  1. Be careful how far you carry the Cruz banner… sure, last year it would have been worth the Daily Show jokes all on its own, but without Jon Stewart?? If the snowball’s chance hits the mark, we’d have no one to help us laugh at our caustic misfortune.

    As for my location, whilst your description is sadly accurate, I’m going to sway toward optimism and say I’m in New Jersey for the long haul!

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    • Alisha,
      Although I believe Cruz’s chance for the nomination are low, I place his odds in a general election even lower … .yet, I maintain his nomination would be the best thing for the Republican party. …. and consider the location changed! Thanks.

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  2. You got my location right, too!
    Quirky Country songtitles – there are quite a few of them out there, that’s for sure!
    It’s almost always photography day with me!
    Hmm. Having people over for dinner on Saturday, maybe I should change my dessert to Black Forest Cake…or I could cheat by one day and do the lemon chiffon.
    Oh, decisions, decisions!
    As for the Onion Headlines! Oh my! You should have seen/heard the scenarios I created in my mind when I wanted to ditch my last job! I had it down to a definite Academy Award-worthy Performance! ‘Course, I ended up getting myself fired instead…
    Aaaaall’s we-ell that ends we-ell! (sing it, Frank!)

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  3. Of course your tongue twister would be dance-related, Frank. “Waltz with Ruth” is one I never heard of before. Did you make that one up? That’s very cool what you did with your sidebar. Yes, you got my location, right!

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  4. I’m just going to repeat everything Lameadventures said! Except I know you made it up because you said ‘by accident’ Very smart putting all the locations in – it makes the world a little smaller don’t you think. Wouldn’t it be grand if you had fifty different countries represented, that would be a party day!!

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    • Pauline,
      Glad you enjoyed the rollover addition. Catherine suggested it after seeing that I had many of the locations in the Blogroll page … now there it is.Meanwhile, I’ll have to do a tally of the sidebar and the Blogroll page.

      Instead of repeating the “Waltz with Ruth” discovery, see my reply to Lame.

      Liked by 1 person

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  5. Cool rollover locator. (Galveston County is close enough) Fun to see where everyone is.
    Geesh – all we need is Perry to step up to run again…”just like Bush, but not as smart” as is said here.
    Happiest dogs ever and Kite Flying Day – sounds like a terrific start to the weekend. Good weather is perfect for taking the long way home. Cheers and enjoy!

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    • Mouse,
      Consider the your rollover info corrected. Thanks.

      Your state is providing quite the interesting cast of characters. … and I imagine Gov Perry getting into the mix very soon. Meanwhile, we’re having a dose of cold, so enjoy your weather.

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  6. I’m in a mood of hiatus from words and ideas outside of my own work just now, Frank…kind of a backing off from overload. So it’s a good thing you offer such a pot pourri of choices. I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures of the happiest dog ever. (They really do smile!)

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  8. Have a great weekend, Frank! Loved Lorna’s video -and yes, I heard your “Waltz with Ruth”!
    Here’s a title for one of today’s celebration: “She Made Toothpicks Out Of The Timber Of My Heart.” 🙂

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  9. I know this isn’t the day for these but this kinda just lept out at me from the Onions,
    “Man playing tense game of chicken filled jeans, Not with gratitude, at sight of Michael Dukakis in old tank”

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  12. I’m still smiling after looking at the happiest ever dog pics. What a treat for a Friday afternoon. 🙂 I shall celebrate ‘something on a stick’ day today, as I intend having a double choc ice this afternoon. Happy weekend to you, Frank. 🙂

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  14. My rollover should read Port Aransas Texas. Galveston is about 180 miles North. Of course, if a foreign power wants to use your sidebar as a missile target locator I’m good with the Galveston location. I share your opinion of the House and Senate. Paucity of leadership. Have a great weekend.

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  15. Take the Long Way Home – a neat song & video, as claimed by… me…. a denizen of Vogue’s 15 coolest neighborhoods.
    “lol” Thanks Frank!
    Also, Black Forest Cake, something on a stick, Eskimo Pie, Spanish paella, Lemon Chiffon Cake & Coca Cola days are part are a perfect intro to “Meals” the musical!
    I think it’s going to be a lot of fun! 😀

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  16. Ron Fournier’s National Journal article does a good job of throwing the blame around equally for the present state of the Affordable Care Act. However he ends the article by saying that the AFA is still better than the grim alternative – returning to what the U.S. had before the ACA, which the majority of Republicans still maintain was the best health care system in the world?!!!

    I, too, smiled when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) declared his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. It would be a dream come true for me if the Republican Party nominated him to head their 2016 Presidential Ticket.

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  17. Thank you for adding me to the blogroll, Frank, it’s an honor. I assume you need my location – you can put New England.
    But did you know that you can pinpoint people’s locations by checking the IP numbers on the comments they leave on your blog? 🙂

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    • X,
      I had no clue about the ISP locator. So I tried it … one aggregator had you in 4 different states – none truly New England – but another one gave me something that could be … so I kept you location as New England until otherwise directed to change.

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  18. First, ahhhh the music. I haven’t heard that in years, forgot how much I like that one. Thanks for the memory.

    My offering on the Onion:
    Man filled with gratitude when brainstorming dramatic quitting scenarios with old tank

    Loved the reads today, some had my attention enough to read through twice. Can you guess?

    Had to finally pick Sunday this week, but Saturday was in the running for a good five minutes.

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  20. Frank, thanks for pointing me back to this one. Yes, work has been really crazy — for the entire year. But March? I am astonished I survived it! So glad you posted the toilet slide. I just started following him (although I have seen him around). Wickedly funny.

    And thanks for the dog smiles.

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    • Audra,
      Glad you must be feeling better … and yep … Opening Day is around the corner … and there’s nothing like Opening Day in Cincinnati … thus hoping for good weather! (Last year was awesome)

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  22. Hope that you are enjoying your weekend.
    Although Joe Day was yesterday – we celebrated it today. Lots of life celebrations with the family today & celebrating Joes was one of them. 🙂

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  23. I have seen the ISS fly right over our house! 🙂 Earlier this year I heard a comment on the radio, ran outside and caught it! Just like that. It was really quite special. Thanks for the website. I’d like to be able to see it again. And five years already for ACA? That’s somehow shocking to me, but I guess that’s got to be right! I like the side bar and the additions, Frank. That was a lot of work!

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    • Debra,
      I was the same way regarding flyovers … that is hearing it on the radio or news. Given all the hub-bub, five years for the ACA doesn’t seem right, but it is. Meanwhile, the sidebar rollover info was very easy because all I had to do was use the provided field on the Links page. Fortunately, my brain remembers locations for most bloggers here. I almost used the Little Old Lady from Pasadena. 😉

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