{"id":10169,"date":"2013-03-26T00:58:21","date_gmt":"2013-03-26T07:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=10169"},"modified":"2013-03-26T00:58:21","modified_gmt":"2013-03-26T07:58:21","slug":"open-thread3262013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/26\/open-thread3262013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–3\/26\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m feeling very frustrated, because today is a prison volunteer day, and even though I\u2019m improving, I can\u2019t go.  The wrist is improving too.  I hurt it improperly lifting a big pressure cooker pot full of beans for a several day load of Pork Chili Verde.  In the plus side, it\u2019s delicious.  After a couple days savoring it my apartment is smelling quite Republican.  I can type, but VERY slowly.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzles<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s took me 4:58 (average 5:06).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  Today\u2019s took me 4:45 (average 7:16).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From The New Yorker<\/a>: <\/font>As the Supreme Court prepared to hear two cases involving same-sex marriage this week, Justice Antonin Scalia said that he would not allow his votes to be influenced \u201cin any way\u201d by his lifelong fear of gays. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs Justices of the Supreme Court, we have a sacred duty to check our personal feelings at the door,\u201d he told the Fox News Channel. \u201cIn my case, that means putting aside my longstanding and profound fear of homosexuals.\u201d <\/p>\n

Justice Scalia added that he was committed \u201cto safeguarding the rights of all Americans\u2014even those I personally find terrifying.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI take my role as an impartial arbiter very seriously,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when I hear a case, I put all feelings of abhorrence, disgust, and revulsion completely out of my mind.\u201d <\/p>\n

This has to be satire, because, even though it’s the lie he would tell, Herr Scalia would NEVER admit the true extent his homophobia.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>In 1983 the poorest  47%<\/a> of America had $15,000 per family,  2.5 percent<\/a> of the nation’s wealth. <\/p>\n

In 2009 the poorest  47%<\/a> of America owned  ZERO PERCENT<\/a> of the nation’s wealth (their debt exceeded their assets). <\/p>\n

At the other extreme, the  400 wealthiest Americans<\/a> own as much wealth as 80 million families –  62% of America<\/a>. The reason, once again, is the stock market. Since 1980 the American GDP has approximately doubled<\/a>. Inflation-adjusted wages  have gone down<\/a>. But the stock market has increased by  over ten times<\/a>, and the richest quintile of Americans  owns 93%<\/a> of it. <\/p>\n

Click through for four more examples of the extreme inequality in our nation. The Republican party has a solution. Drastically cut taxes and increase welfare for the 1%. Drastically cut earned benefits and raise taxes for the rest of us.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>A racist hate group at Towson University has announced plans to conduct its own nighttime police patrols on campus.<\/p>\n

Founded last year, the White Student Union has stirred significant controversy already. The organization has been labeled a hate group<\/a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In addition, its founder, Matthew Heimbach (who goes by the title \u201cCommander Heimbach\u201d), and fellow organizer Scott Terry interrupted<\/a> a minority outreach panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference this month in order to defend slavery, noting that slaveholders provided blacks with food and shelter. Terry later told ThinkProgress that African-Americans \u201cshould be allowed to vote in Africa\u201d and he\u2019d be \u201cfine\u201d living in a society where blacks are permanently subservient to whites.<\/p>\n

I see that Republican politics are alive and well at Towson University!<\/font><\/p>\n

From MSNBC<\/a>: <\/font>Lawrence O’Donnell and Chris Murphy (R-CT) discuss something even more vile than the previous Short Take.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/font><\/p>\n

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n

Words fail me, leaving me unable to express the disgust and contempt I’m feeling.<\/font><\/p>\n

Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"26Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m feeling very frustrated, because today is a prison volunteer day, and even though I\u2019m improving, I can\u2019t go.  The wrist is improving too.  I hurt it improperly lifting a big pressure cooker pot full of beans for a several day load of Pork Chili Verde.  In the plus side, it\u2019s delicious.  After a couple […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","category-35-id","category-3-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}