{"id":14131,"date":"2014-11-16T00:49:14","date_gmt":"2014-11-16T08:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=14131"},"modified":"2014-11-16T00:49:14","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T08:49:14","slug":"open-thread11162014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/16\/open-thread11162014\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–11\/16\/2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow, day 11.  It was the coldest day so far.  Tomorrow will be colder.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos are worshiping with the Cardinals, but it will not be televised locally.  I will nit get to watch for the third week in a row, because the game is on at the same time as the damn Seachickens!  ARGH!!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 2:59 (average 5:19).  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>Congressional Republicans on Friday expressed outrage at the new leadership style that President Obama has demonstrated in the aftermath of the midterm elections, and demanded a return of the \u201cpassive and unassertive Obama to which we have grown accustomed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, House Speaker John Boehner and his counterpart in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, accused Obama of \u201cengaging in a flagrant display of leadership that we find deeply offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the past six years, we have enjoyed a President who has been conciliatory and acquiescent to the point of emasculation,\u201d Boehner said. \u201cWe want that President back.\u201d<\/p>\n

McConnell threatened that if Obama does not return to his weak and ineffectual ways at once, \u201che will face the prospect of being a two-term President.\u201d<\/p>\n

LOL Andy! If only he had started this in 2009.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The House voted 252 to 161<\/a> on Friday to approve a bill that would direct the federal government to move forward on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ahead of a vote scheduled for Tuesday in the Senate that could send the measure to President Obama\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n

There is little chance that the votes will clear the way to construction of the long-fought, long-delayed pipeline, which would carry petroleum from the Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries. In the Senate, where Democrats have a majority until the Republicans take over in January, it is unlikely, though not impossible, that the bill would attract 60 votes, enough to avoid a filibuster. But even if the bill does clear the Senate, Mr. Obama has signaled that he would probably veto it.<\/p>\n

The vote count link above identifies the 31 Democrats who voted for the Landrieu Golden Parachute Act. If one of them is your Rep, please give them a call and tell them to take a long flying ____ off a short pier!<\/font><\/p>\n

From AlterNet<\/a>: <\/font><\/p>\n

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Congress’s longest-serving independent, is reportedly seriously considering running for the White House. This is significant because Sanders openly declares himself to be a democratic socialist<\/a> \u2013 a label which has been a taboo in U.S. political culture for decades. <\/p>\n

But while Sanders will likely be attacked for identifying with socialism, it has a long history of being used by the reactionary right as a smear. In fact, that history pre-dates the Civil War. History blogger Matt Karp searched<\/a> the Congressional record and found the very first instance that the word \u201csocialism\u201d was uttered in Congress. He found that the first time anyone used the phrase was when a North Carolinian congressman used it to attack opponents of slavery: <\/p>\n

\n

As far as I can make out, the first reference to \u201csocialism\u201d on the floor of Congress came  from North Carolina representative Abraham Venable in July 1848. During a debate over the Wilmot Proviso, Venable indulged himself in a familiar litany of destructive Northern manias, which ranged from \u201cthe wicked schemes of Garrison\u201d to \u201cthe wild excesses of  Millerism, and of Latter-Day Saints, the abominations of Socialism, and of Fourieriesm \u2026  and all the numerous fanaticisms which spring up and flourish in their  free soil\u2026\u201d [\u2026] This kind of pro-slavery, anti-Northern rant was the context for most mentions of \u201csocialism\u201d in Congress during the next several years. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Click through for more excellent information about how Republicans, and Dixiecrats (before the became Republicans) have been using socialism as a term to smear progressive gains. When 2016 comes, if Bernie is contesting for the Democratic nomination, I would support him over Hillary in a heartbeat.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"1116Cartoon\"<\/font><\/p>\n

The following day, the Republican Party hired her as a strategy expert.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow, day 11.  It was the coldest day so far.  Tomorrow will be colder.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  My Broncos are worshiping with the Cardinals, but it will not be televised locally.  I will nit get to watch for the third week in a […]<\/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-14131","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\/14131","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=14131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}