{"id":12215,"date":"2014-02-19T00:09:50","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T08:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=12215"},"modified":"2014-02-19T00:09:50","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T08:09:50","slug":"open-thread1192014-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/19\/open-thread1192014-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–1\/19\/2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow and still trying to establish a new sleeping pattern.  Basically, I\u2019m just making sleep a priority and allowing myself to sleep whenever I feel the need.  That will work this week, but next week I have two medical appointments, so that should prove interesting.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:59 (average 5:08).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From TPM<\/a>: <\/font>Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was in no mood to celebrate the five-year anniversary of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years later, the stimulus is no success to celebrate,\u201d McConnell said, as quoted by the Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cIt is a tragedy to lament.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House economic adviser Jason Furman wrote<\/a> in a White House blog post that the stimulus, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, had by itself saved or created an average of 1.6 million jobs a year through the end of 2012.<\/p>\n

I suppose it’s a matter of perspective. For Bought Bitch Mitch, saving 1.6 million jobs, when the President is a Democrat, is a tragedy.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>For the fourth time in two years, a rural hospital in Georgia is shuttering its doors over a dearth of patients who can pay for their medical services, the Albany Herald reports<\/a>. An increasing number of hospitals that serve large numbers of poor and uninsured Americans are being forced to close in states that are refusing the Affordable Care Act\u2019s Medicaid expansion. <\/p>\n

The Lower Oconee Community Hospital, a so-called \u201ccritical access\u201d hospital in southeastern Georgia with 25 beds, will close down and possibly re-open as an urgent care center that provides services that aren\u2019t quite serious enough to necessitate an emergency room visit. Patients in the Wheeler County region who need more extensive medical care after the hospital closes will need to travel upwards of thirty miles in order to receive it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just did not have sufficient volume to support the expenses,\u201d said<\/a> CEO Karen O\u2019Neal in an interview with local CBS affiliate WMAZ. \u201cIt\u2019s a terrible situation, and it\u2019s tragic, the loss of jobs and the economic impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like other Red states, Georgia is experiencing the benefits of electing Republicans. I hope the fools that voted them in are leaning their lesson.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Blue Oregon<\/a>: <\/font>Last week, the the Kansas House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill<\/a> to allow any individual, group, or private business to refuse to serve gay couples if \u201cit would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.\u201d Brought by conservatives cowering against the fear of impending marriage equality in their state, this deep red state considered codifying anti-gay segregation into law<\/a>. The state senate reined the whole thing in on Friday<\/a>, however. Apparently allowing public safety officials to pick and choose which people they serve and protect based on sexual orientation was just too much, even for Kansas.<\/p>\n

Lest you think this type of public policy is the providence of states where conservatives rule: think again. Oregon has it’s own version of this circulating now as a petition, and they’re gathering signatures<\/a>. This proposal, along with the one in Kansas, is being sold as honoring "religious liberty".<\/p>\n

No. This is not about religious liberty. This is about segregation. "Separate but equal" should never be public policy in Oregon.<\/p>\n

Even here in Oregon, which usually leads the way on progressive issues, we need to continually guard against Republican TEAbuggery!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0219Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow and still trying to establish a new sleeping pattern.  Basically, I\u2019m just making sleep a priority and allowing myself to sleep whenever I feel the need.  That will work this week, but next week I have two medical appointments, so that should prove interesting. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 3:59 […]<\/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-12215","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\/12215","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=12215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}