{"id":3616,"date":"2010-12-14T16:05:44","date_gmt":"2010-12-15T00:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=3616"},"modified":"2010-12-14T16:05:44","modified_gmt":"2010-12-15T00:05:44","slug":"open-thread12142010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/14\/open-thread12142010\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–12\/14\/2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning I caught up on comments before going to the doctor\u2019s office for a routine visit.  I left at 9:20 AM, spent 15 minutes with the doctor, and returned at 1:10 PM. Other than chasing my hat for two blocks and being drenched in a downpour waiting for a bus, the trip was uneventful.  I don\u2019t know what I\u2019ll do tomorrow, because I\u2019m scheduled to do volunteer work at the therapy group in the morning.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today it took me 4:44 (average 5:09).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Lefty Bloggers Plus \u2013 Playoff Report \u2013 Quarterfinals<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"14LBP\"<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a day for underdogs.  With one exception, all the favorites were knocked out.  Due to my feline proclivities, I could not take on a dawg<\/em> persona, even that of an underdawg<\/em>, so I got my butt kicked.  At least I\u2019m in the semis in both my other leagues.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From The Nation<\/a>:<\/font> On Fox & Friends this morning, Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. launched into a passionate attack on \u201cCongress\u201d and \u201cthe US Senate\u201d for killing health benefits for 9\/11 rescue workers. \u201cLast week, Congress told them they could drop dead,\u201d Johnson said, to the mournful chords of September Song. \u201cShame, embarrassment, outrage, anger\u2014all the proper reactions to the conduct of our senators who\u2026have turned their back on American heroes.\u201d Worse, they\u2019ve been betrayed by the same \u201cpoliticians who couldn\u2019t take enough pictures with them.\u201d Right on, Peter.<\/p>\n

But in his three-and-a-half-minute rant, Johnson didn\u2019t once mention who in Congress could be such heartless hypocrites. The 57-to-42 vote was three short needed to break a filibuster, as every Republican voted against even bringing the bill to a vote.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m amazed they didn\u2019t say Democrats voted against it.<\/font><\/p>\n

From The Colorado Independent<\/a>: <\/font>Muhammad Ali Hasan, a member of the wealthy and influential Colorado Republican Hasan family and a past state House and treasurer candidate, said he is switching parties. Speaking at the University of Colorado-Boulder on his experience growing up Muslim in the American West and later in conversation with the Colorado Independent, Hasan said he is ending his affiliation with the party for the bigotry he believes has shaped Republican politics over the last year. The FOX News regular and founder of Muslims for Bush said he met recently with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the controversial Democratic leader won him over.<\/p>\n

It was in his own self interest to do so.  Now if only all Muslim, black, Hispanic, gay, female, poor, and middle class people were that smart!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>Today, the Indian press reported on an incident last month in which Houston, Texas airport security officials detained Indian\u2019s UN envoy Hardeep Puri in a holding room for 30 minutes because he was wearing a turban.<\/p>\n

I wish folks would learn that Al Dubya is a greater threat to America that Al Queda ever was.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"Matt<\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

What\u2019s on your mind?<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning I caught up on comments before going to the doctor\u2019s office for a routine visit.  I left at 9:20 AM, spent 15 minutes with the doctor, and returned at 1:10 PM. Other than chasing my hat for two blocks and being drenched in a downpour waiting for a bus, the trip was uneventful.  […]<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-35-id","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3616","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=3616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}