{"id":11025,"date":"2013-09-03T03:10:20","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T10:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=11025"},"modified":"2013-09-03T03:10:20","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T10:10:20","slug":"open-thread932013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/03\/open-thread932013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–9\/3\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writing for tomorrow, day 81, I\u2019m taking Labor Day mostly off.  I wasn\u2019t planning to do so, but when I opened my feed reader this morning, the pickings were so slim. that I refreshed it, thinking it was broken.  So rather than write an article, just to write one, I\u2019ll let this be the only article today.  Anyway, I have freezer defrosting on tap. \ud83d\ude41<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:45 (average 5:46).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From The Hill<\/a>: <\/font>Ready for Hillary, the group focused on helping Hillary Clinton win the White House in 2016, is gearing up to aid her down-ballot allies in races leading into the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

The super-PAC is planning to mobilize supporters to help Democrats in Senate, gubernatorial and House races, with a focus on 2014.  <\/p>\n

But the first push will be for Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton family ally running for governor in Virginia this year.<\/p>\n

If anyone thinks Hillary isn’t smack-dab in the middle of this, they should contact me about the wonderful bridge that I’m offering for sale.  <\/font>Sadly, McAuliffe may be the most corrupt Democrat seeking office, but nowhere near as corrupt as Cuccinelli.<\/font>   Poor Virginia!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Many believe that capitalism is synonymous with free enterprise and democracy. Capitalism is neither free enterprise nor democracy. After all, China is now a capitalist country. No one believes that China is a democratic country. This conflation has allowed all attempts to attenuate the deficiencies of capitalism to be construed as that grand evil, "socialism" or communism. Americans would do well to understand the differences and how they affect their everyday lives.<\/p>\n

Under a poor unfettered capitalist structure the only thing that matters is growth, the real appreciation of capital. The shareholders of companies want the highest return on their investment. The managers of their monies effect whatever necessary actions to achieve this. If the American worker becomes too expensive, they present a false narrative stating that free trade lifts all workers. They then "invest" in politicians forcing them to pass free trade agreements like NAFTA and TPP. If a profitable patent is about to expire, they get it extended by all means necessary. If an allowable level of pollution affects the bottom line, they get the law changed. If a pipeline or transmission line needs to be built, use eminent domain to usurp the rights of the property owner. You get the picture.<\/p>\n

Free enterprise would have all play under the same market rules of supply and demand. Corporations would have no advantages over the small businesses they have today. In a real free enterprise system a corporation could not have exclusivity in a cable, or some utility market. In a real free enterprise system a corporation could not prevent a city or private entity from building out free Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

Click through.  There\u2019s more good info here.  Few systems are less free or more anti-democratic than Republican vulture capitalism.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Bill Moyers<\/a>: <\/font>In June, the National Restaurant Association boasted [Vulture capitalists delinked] that its lobbyists had stopped minimum wage increases in 27 out of 29 states in 2013. In Connecticut, which increased its state minimum wage, a raise in the base pay for tipped workers such as waitresses and bartenders vanished in the final bill. A similar scenario unfolded in New York State: It increased its minimum wage, but the NRA\u2019s last-minute lobbying derailed raising the pre-tip wage at restaurants and bars. The deals came despite polls showing<\/a> 80 percent support for raising the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

The NRA\u2019s lobbying didn\u2019t stop there. It also told members that it blocked a dozen states this year from passing laws that would require earned paid sick leave, which is what New York City<\/a> and Portland, Oregon<\/a> adopted. Meanwhile, it boasted that six states, including Florida, passed NRA-backed laws that preemptively ban localities from granting earned and paid employee sick time.<\/p>\n

Note that, as usual, Oregon leads the way! N-R-A spells evil no matter which NRA you’re spelling.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"3Cartoon\"<\/font><\/p>\n

The Latrobe YMCA defeated the Jeannette Athletic Club 12-0, and the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb was born! <\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing for tomorrow, day 81, I\u2019m taking Labor Day mostly off.  I wasn\u2019t planning to do so, but when I opened my feed reader this morning, the pickings were so slim. that I refreshed it, thinking it was broken.  So rather than write an article, just to write one, I\u2019ll let this be the only […]<\/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-11025","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\/11025","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=11025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}