{"id":15588,"date":"2015-07-10T11:28:31","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T18:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=15588"},"modified":"2015-07-10T11:28:31","modified_gmt":"2015-07-10T18:28:31","slug":"open-thread7102015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/10\/open-thread7102015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–7\/10\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can\u2019t express how happy I am to have a wide open window and my A\/C set on fan.  It will take a couple days for the building to bleed off the heat.  Old masonry structures are like that.  TGIF!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 2:39 (average 4:22).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Fantasy Football Recruiting<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

We may still need one new player for <\/font>Lefty Blog Friends<\/a><\/font>, our fantasy football league.  Viv and her Hillbilly Lefties are now onboard. We may have found our last player. For more information, <\/font>click here<\/a><\/font>.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Yep, that’s what Jeb Bush said<\/a> in a press interview with New Hampshire’s Union Leader. Unbelievable. People already WORK LONG HOURS<\/strong>, and we’re actually one of the most productive countries in that we work longer than any other industrialized nation in the entire world. Here’s the context in which Jeb Bush said his damning quote:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMy aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families<\/strong>. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this rut that we’re in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Call me crazy, but when we’re working up to 50 hours a week, and in many cases, more hours than that, and we’re not getting paid well in doing the work we do. Many people work long hours at the minimum wage level, and Americans work longer hours just to make the ends meet these days. The part-timers want to work full hours, but they can’t find other work, so they don’t often make ends meet without the assistance of government programs. <\/p>\n

These are the facts, Jeb Bush, we already work damn hard, and we’re entitled to the right wages for our work. We should NOT<\/strong> be underpaid, we should NOT<\/strong> have our hours cut, we should NOT<\/strong> have our benefits cut so we work longer, and we should NOT<\/strong> be spending so much damn time at the office just to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

Strike Three backtracked and said he was only referring to underemployed part time workers. However, the context in which he made the statement was as the means by which he intended to achieve economic growth of 4%\/year. Increasing work for the underemployed could not possibly achieve even 1% growth, so either he’s lying about making YOU work more for less, and\/or his entire economic plan is a lie. In my opinion, he’s lying about BOTH. Why? He a Republican, and he’s a Bush.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Former President George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at a charity fundraiser for U.S. military veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former First Lady Laura Bush collected $50,000 to appear a year earlier, officials of the Texas-based Helping a Hero charity confirmed to ABC News.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And…<\/p>\n

\n

The former President was also provided with a private jet to travel to Houston at a cost of $20,000, the officials said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s obscene that GW ChickenHawk is not donating his time to help the heroes that he maimed by using them as cannon fodder in his criminal war.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Raw Story<\/a>: <\/font>[T]he anti-LGBT owners of an Oregon bakery were not fined for refusing to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple \u2013 they were ordered to pay $135,000 in damages<\/a> for intentionally causing their would-be customers emotional distress.<\/p>\n

The case has attracted widespread media attention since the couple first filed their complaint in January 2013, and that is largely through the efforts of Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa.<\/p>\n

After the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries handed down the order<\/a> last week, Aaron Klein claimed the ruling was an example of the \u201cpersecution of Christians\u201d in the U.S.<\/p>\n

However, the ruling shows the bakery owners had made Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer the victims of persecution and makes clear the payment was compensation for damages and not a fine or civil penalty.<\/p>\n

I could agree that $135,000 would be a bit excessive as a fine, but the "Sweet Cakes" pseudo-Christian Republicans went beyond mere refusal of service. They published the lesbian couple’s address to make them a target for other gay-hating Republicans. I was targeted at home by peace-hating Republicans in 2003, so I know that $135,000 is not enough!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0710Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can\u2019t express how happy I am to have a wide open window and my A\/C set on fan.  It will take a couple days for the building to bleed off the heat.  Old masonry structures are like that.  TGIF!! Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 2:39 (average 4:22).  To do it, click here.  How […]<\/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-15588","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\/15588","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=15588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}