{"id":10356,"date":"2013-05-27T02:14:12","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T09:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=10356"},"modified":"2013-05-27T02:14:12","modified_gmt":"2013-05-27T09:14:12","slug":"open-thread5272013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/27\/open-thread5272013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–5\/27\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got enough rest yesterday, so I actually have two more articles for you today, although one is just a short Memorial Day greeting.  If you are returning home today, please take extra care to keep yourselves safe on the road.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:39 (average 5:09).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The Affordable Care Act, a k a Obamacare, goes fully into effect at the beginning of next year, and predictions of disaster are being heard far and wide. There will be an administrative \u201ctrain wreck,\u201d we\u2019re told; consumers will face a terrible shock. Republicans, one hears, are already counting on the law\u2019s troubles to give them a big electoral advantage. <\/p>\n

No doubt there will be problems, as there are with any large new government initiative, and in this case, we have the added complication that many Republican governors and legislators are doing all they can to sabotage reform. Yet important new evidence \u2014 especially from California, the law\u2019s most important test case \u2014 suggests that the real Obamacare shock will be one of unexpected success\u2026<\/p>\n

Click through for the rest of this excellent Krugman editorial. I agree that ObamaCare will be a big success, except in those areas where RepubliCare, with its built-in death benefit, takes precedence.<\/font><\/p>\n

From TruthDig<\/a>: <\/font>Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, the Harvard economists whose influential pro-austerity study was recently exposed<\/a> as being seriously flawed, have penned a scathing open letter to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a major critic of their work and one of the leading voices in the anti-austerity movement. In the long-winded letter posted to Reinhart\u2019s website Saturday, the pair accuse the Nobel Prize-winning economist of \u201cuncivil behavior\u201d and criticize him for being \u201cselective and shallow\u201d in his characterization of their research. <\/p>\n

This is a common Republican tactic, an ad hominem<\/em> argument. Unable to mount a credible attack against Krugman’s position, they attack the person.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>Okay, it\u2019s not the White House, but rather Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the smart one, the one that doesn\u2019t push climate silence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an amazing Whitehouse speech from earlier this month, \u201cTime to Wake Up: Magical Thinking on Climate Change<\/a>\u201c:<\/p>\n