{"id":12383,"date":"2014-03-17T00:28:20","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T07:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=12383"},"modified":"2014-03-17T00:28:20","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T07:28:20","slug":"open-thread3172014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/17\/open-thread3172014\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–3\/17\/2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow and am being most brief, because I have so much to do.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:26 (average 4:59).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Paul Ryan is the leader of the Republican Party\u2019s \u201cintellectual\u201d wing. He has been described by the news media in fawning terms as a \u201cpolicy wonk\u201d, a \u201cnumbers guy\u201d, and a \u201cserious thinker\u201d.<\/p>\n

Consequently, Ryan’s recent claim that "inner city" black men are lazy and have no work ethic is a revealing insight into the current state of movement conservatism and the former’s supposed intellectual gifts.<\/p>\n

There is no genius in Paul Ryan’s claims: his arguments about lazy black people are a boilerplate post-civil Rights era Republican talking point.<\/p>\n

To advance this claim, he leveraged Charles Murray’s discredited research on the relationship between I.Q. and race<\/strong>. Ryan’s intellectual slippage is not a new habit. In his anti-poverty tome, which purports (and fails) to discredit President Johnson’s Great Society era programs, Paul Ryan misrepresented<\/a> and distorted<\/a> research findings<\/a>\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Lyin’ Ryan is using the same racist tactics against blacks that a former Republican named Adolf used against Jews.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The Obama administration issued stringent new standards on Friday for health insurance to address a flood of complaints from consumers who said that costs were too high and that the choice of doctors, hospitals and prescription drugs was too limited in many health plans offered this year under the Affordable Care Act. <\/p>\n

In deciding which products can be sold in the federal marketplace next year, officials said, they will scrutinize health plans more closely and rely less on evaluations by state insurance regulators and private groups that accredit health plans.<\/p>\n

Consumer advocates welcomed the standards and said they should have gone further. But insurers and employer groups complained of burdensome overregulation and said the White House should focus first on getting the online exchanges to work properly.<\/p>\n

It should come as no surprise that most of the complaints are coming from Republican-controlled states, where state insurance regulators are using the plan to give insurers more and insured less. While fixing the online exchanges is indeed key, so is regulating insurers, who are benefiting from Republican attempts to sabotage ObamaCare. Don’t forget that under the GOP alternative, RepubliCare, death is always free for those who cannot pay for healthcare.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Right Wing Watch<\/a>: <\/font>America Was Cursed By Ancient Egyptians<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you know that ancient, Baal-worshiping Egyptians came to North America long ago and put the continent under a demonic curse<\/a>? Well you do now! Just let pastor John Benefiel, who helped Gov. Rick Perry organize his The Response prayer rally, explain<\/a>:<\/p>\n