{"id":11248,"date":"2013-10-01T00:33:07","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T07:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=11248"},"modified":"2013-10-01T00:33:07","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T07:33:07","slug":"open-thread1012013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/01\/open-thread1012013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–10\/1\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow day 109.  Because the Republican budget crisis is coming to a head tonight, I may delay the September Monthly Report from the second to the third.  Speaking of overloading myself, every single politician and\/or organization, for whom I have signed a petition or made a small donation, has been sending me multiple email solicitations for money daily.  I need a full time secretary just to delete all the damn things!  So today, I went on an unsubscribing rampage, and unsubscribed to everyone who has dunned for money in the last 24 hours.  I unsubscribed from 154 lists!  ARGH!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:56 (average 4:51).  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>In a special Sunday radio address, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) delivered a health tip to the American people, advising them to delay getting cancer for a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re involved in a high-stakes fight over our freedom from centralized government control of our lives,\u201d said Mr. Boehner, speaking on behalf of his House colleagues. \u201cYou can do your part by delaying getting cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that heart disease, emphysema, and diabetes were among a laundry list of conditions that would be \u201cpatriotic to avoid for a year.\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

…In closing, he reassured the American people that in the event of a government shutdown, members of Congress\u2019 health benefits would remain intact: \u201cWe want to be in tip-top shape to continue to do the excellent job we\u2019re doing for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who refuse to delay are still welcome to the free RepubliCare Death Benefit, and will not be charged for dying. As for Agent Orange, his insides are already embalmed.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>This may be the way the world ends \u2014 not with a bang but with a temper tantrum. <\/p>\n

O.K., a temporary government shutdown \u2014 which became almost inevitable after Sunday\u2019s House vote to provide government funding only on unacceptable conditions \u2014 wouldn\u2019t be the end of the world. But a U.S. government default, which will happen unless Congress raises the debt ceiling soon, might cause financial catastrophe. Unfortunately, many Republicans either don\u2019t understand this or don\u2019t care. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk first about the economics\u2026<\/p>\n

Krugman does a superior job of explaining the meanings of and the difference between a budget shutdown and a more harmful debt limit default. Click through for the entire article. As for Republicans, he calls them "Rebels without a clue!"<\/font><\/p>\n

From TPM<\/a>: <\/font>The Democratic-led Senate is expected on Monday afternoon to rebuff the latest temporary spending bill passed by the House<\/a>, keeping the pressure on House Republicans just hours before a federal government shutdown at midnight.<\/p>\n

Democrats will bring up one motion to table the GOP’s amendments to delay Obamacare for a year, repeal the law’s medical device tax and allow employers to opt out of contraception coverage for employees, leadership aides say. It would require 51 votes. House Republicans were furious that Senate declined to return to session Sunday after the lower chamber voted to amend the continuing resolution late Saturday night.<\/p>\n

"The Senate will do exactly what we said we would do and reject these measures," said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), on Sunday. "At that point, Republicans will be faced with the same choice they have always faced: put the Senate’s clean funding bill on the floor and let it pass with bipartisan votes, or force a Republican government shutdown<\/font>."<\/strong>\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n

This is just how I said it would happen yesterday.  By the time you read this, you should know what the House Republicans did.  Update<\/strong>:  They threw in an extra iteration, but because the end result was the one I anticipated, there is no need for me to change the cartoon I placed in this article yesterday morning.  See below.<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"1Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow day 109.  Because the Republican budget crisis is coming to a head tonight, I may delay the September Monthly Report from the second to the third.  Speaking of overloading myself, every single politician and\/or organization, for whom I have signed a petition or made a small donation, has been sending me […]<\/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-11248","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\/11248","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=11248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}