He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.

al·ba·tross

noun /ˈalbəˌtrôs/  /-ˌträs/  albatrosses, plural A very large oceanic bird related to the shearwaters, with long narrow wings. Albatrosses, some species of which have wingspans greater than 10 feet (3.3 m), are found mainly in the southern oceans, with three kinds in the North Pacific A source of frustration or guilt; an encumbrance (in allusion to Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

1. 
   
2. That sound you hear is Republicans running away from Paul Ryan and his ever fabulous hair. Mr. Gerry Mandering is alive and well and living in Upstate New York. I am guessing that the last time The Empire State was re-districted the GOP was in charge in Albany, because up here, the very in the minority Republicans are well represented. The once VERY Union-ed Joe Six Packs over in Buffalo and the Pointy Headed Intellectuals here in very collegeic Rochester are split up with in an inch of their lives. The county that we live in , Monroe, has FOUR members of Congress, that is just how over all liberal the base here is, they have to be broken up, that much...
3. 
   
4. The New York 26th ( which is the next district over from us ) was made up, cut out, formed to be a BED ROCK solid Republican district. The Athens, Georgia of New York, only in reverse, here a big swatch of rural red in a deep deep blue state. This district voted for McCain, contains two of the three counties in the state that did not vote for Hillary Clinton for Senate, and AND these folk are such dyed in the wool elephants that they voted for a violently certifiable insane man for Governor last go round. ( Carl Palidino, really, dangerously nuts! ). We are talking CRIMSON here, until Mr. Ryan came along.......Over and over we heard news reports  of people saying " I never voted for a Democrat in my life until now..."
5. 
   
6. Tuesday night a Democrat, Kathy Hochul, a pro marriage equality, pro choice, liberal Democrat took the seat in Congress vacated by the hunky ladies-with-something-extra-loving Chris Lee :

yall remember him, right?

We had the Tickle Me Elmo guy

up here too...

something in the water.

Some of the National Media is making this out to be another Tea Party Spoiler race, giving the Democrat the lead in a three way race, this was not the case, at all. The " tea party " candidate was this super rich old guy that runs for EVERYTHING up here. He cares nothing at all about party or serving, he just likes throwing his money away on long winded tv ads. NO, this race was 110% about Medicare, and the Ryan plan to make you go out, at 65 ( in the perfect health that we will all be in at 65 ) and buy private insurance on the open market. And Mrs. Hocul won big....

This is very much one of those, if it can happen here sort of things...... Medicare really is a third rail in Washington. IF you are  a member of congress , overwhelmingly Republicans here, that voted FOR tax breaks for trillion dollar big oil, while wanting to do away with Medicare as we know it..... I don't think any district is red enough to protect you.....

Congresswoman elect Kathy Hochul 

( our Scott Brown )

who we LOVE.

OH WAIT!
Harry Reid made the Senate vote on the Ryan Budget yesterday afternoon and even in the wake of the bloodbath in the 26th, 40 GOPers voted to strip Grandma of that medicaid card......why am I humming, " It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...."?