{"id":11011,"date":"2013-09-02T00:19:50","date_gmt":"2013-09-02T07:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=11011"},"modified":"2013-09-02T00:19:50","modified_gmt":"2013-09-02T07:19:50","slug":"open-thread922013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/02\/open-thread922013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–9\/2\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow, day 80.  I am way late, and I\u2019m <\/font>tired because of the both heat, and an exceptionally busy day, that is, the holiday and the Monthly Report.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:31 (average 4:52).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>Penn. Gov. Corbett: Gays are like children. Neither should be able to marry.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When he isn\u2019t busy defunding public schools, Pennsylvania\u2019s oh-so-enlightened Republican governor Tom Corbett is fighting hard to keep same-sex couples from marrying in his state. To that end, he\u2019s going after a low-level county clerk who had the audacity to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, because he believes it is the right thing to do. In the lawsuit against the idealistic clerk, the state\u2019s lawyers made the following ridiculously off-base and offensive argument: Gays can\u2019t marry in Pennsylvania any more than children can. Exact wording:<\/p>\n

"Had the clerk issued marriage licenses to 12-year-olds in violation of state law, would anyone seriously contend that each 12-year-old … is entitled to a hearing on the validity of his `license’?" the state wrote in its brief.<\/p>\n

By the end of the week, Corbett seemed to recognize that comparing consenting adults to children was offensive and probably the wrong analogy to use. He courageously backed away from the statement, blamed his attorneys for the wording, and shirked all responsibility for it.<\/p>\n

This is just one of of eight outrageous things Republicans have said in the last week alone. Click through for the other seven.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Yep, now that’s a sentence that fish-slaps you with every word. It also counts as a circle of hell. Of all the available people you could get to guest host your radio show, you pick Louie Gohmert? As what, a bar bet? <\/p>\n

It turns out that the time was not wasted, though, as Louie Gohmert and Alen Keyes got right down to business discussing the worldwide conspiracy by manatee-loving elitists to depopulate the world via a sinister plan of energy efficiency and increased health care access.<\/p>\n

\n

The former presidential candidate said efforts to prevent \u201cglobal warming, which has been proven to be wrong,\u201d are part of a plan to \u201ccut back the population of the world.\u201d Keyes also made a reference to Bill Gates, who has been attacked by conspiracy theorists for explaining that vaccinations and increased healthcare access slow down population growth. <\/p>\n

Keyes told Gohmert that elites are bent on \u201cculling the population\u201d and \u201cactually believe that we\u2019re a blight on the face of the planet, we human beings, and we should therefore be put on a path toward our own semi-extinction."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Does anyone have a spare straight jacket or two?<\/font><\/p>\n

From Truthdig<\/a>: <\/font>All those anti-labor laws being passed by Republican-led legislatures around the country could be having an unforeseen consequence: increased labor strife.<\/p>\n

Crain\u2019s Detroit, a business publication in the heart of the modern American labor movement, reports<\/a> that the breakdown of unions in Michigan\u2014the state recently adopted right-to-work laws\u2014has reduced the role of unions as vents for worker grievances. With the structure crumbling, workers are more likely to take to the streets with their protests, or to file complaints with federal regulators and courts.<\/p>\n

So the laws aimed at curbing labor might in fact be creating a new generation of radical activists.<\/p>\n

I would like few things more that a rebirth of activism in labor.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"2Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow, day 80.  I am way late, and I\u2019m tired because of the both heat, and an exceptionally busy day, that is, the holiday and the Monthly Report. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 3:31 (average 4:52).  To do it, click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: From Alternet: Penn. Gov. […]<\/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-11011","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\/11011","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=11011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}