{"id":11667,"date":"2013-11-18T01:10:27","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T09:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=11667"},"modified":"2013-11-18T01:10:27","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T09:10:27","slug":"open-thread11182013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/11\/18\/open-thread11182013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–11\/18\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow and meditating lightly to the game in the background.  Of course, I\u2019m really waiting for the Broncos worship, may the holy light of the Ellipsoid Orb bless them.  When this posts, the results will be posted below.  The natives were quiet late last night, and I actually got some sleep.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:06 (average 5:26).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Religious Ecstasy<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"1117-Broncos27-Chiefs17\"<\/font><\/p>\n

The so-called \u2018best defense in the league\u2019 never knocked Manning down!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>…Economists see it the same way, concerned that joblessness lasting more than six months is a major factor preventing people from getting rehired, with potentially grave consequences for tens of millions of Americans. <\/p>\n

The long-term jobless, after all, tend to be in poorer health, and to have higher rates of suicide and strained family relations<\/a>. Even the children of the long-term unemployed see lower earnings down the road. <\/p>\n

The consequences are grave for the country, too: lost production, increased social spending, decreased tax revenue and slower growth. Policy makers and academics are now asking whether an improving economy might absorb those workers in time to prevent long-term economic damage.<\/p>\n

This underlines why we need government to do what business can’t or won’t. A big public works project, like FDR’s CCC, would not only rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, so desperately in need of repair, but also, put people back to work in a way that removes the stigma of long term unemployment.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>\u201cHistorian\u201d David Barton: True Christian soldiers wouldn’t have PTSD.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Atheism is apparently a problem in the military, too. Because if soldiers were true Christians, they would not feel bad about killing enemies and sometimes non-combatants. They would not come home traumatized and have all these psychological problems.<\/p>\n

Christian \u201chistorian\u201d David Barton, the one who blamed Typhoon Haiyan on women having legal abortions, celebrated Veteran\u2019s Day by criticizing veterans who feel at all guilty for what they do on the battlefield. If they read their Bible, he and televangelist Kenneth Copeland agreed on Believer\u2019s Voice of Victory, they\u2019d read in Numbers 32 that soldiers \u201cshall return and be guiltless before the Lord\u201d and that means that they wouldn\u2019t have PTSD.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t take drugs to get rid of it, it doesn\u2019t take psychology; that promise right there will get rid of it,\u201d Copeland said.<\/p>\n

When you go to war God\u2019s way, Barton chimed in, \u201cnot only are you guiltless for having done that, you\u2019re esteemed.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, get it together veterans!<\/p>\n

Aside from being typical of how Republicans support veterans, this InsaniTEA From Fartin’ Barton is just one of ten deranged dispatches by the Republican wackosphere, from just last week. Click through for the other nine.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Crooks and Liars<\/a>: <\/font>CNN on Saturday filled nearly ten minutes of airtime by discussing how President Barack Obama was like crack-smoking Toronto Rob Ford.<\/p>\n

"The Most Trusted Name in News" began the segment with a split-screen image of Obama and Ford. The network then likened Obama’s recent admission that he was "not a perfect man" because of the health care reform roll-out to Ford’s insistence that he did not have oral sex with a staffer.<\/p>\n