{"id":4836,"date":"2011-05-15T03:02:46","date_gmt":"2011-05-15T10:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=4836"},"modified":"2011-05-15T03:02:46","modified_gmt":"2011-05-15T10:02:46","slug":"open-thread5152011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/15\/open-thread5152011\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–5\/15\/2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I was busy with chores.  I\u2019m current with replies, but I\u2019ll be busy today unpacking and putting away a grocery delivery this morning.  It will be much more difficult that usual, because it will contain many foods that I\u2019m not used to buying and storing in my limited space.  Starting Wednesday I\u2019ll be on a toothless diet for two weeks, and planning for that has been a pain in the Republican.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today it took me 3:49 (5:14 average).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Reuters<\/a>: <\/font>IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, arrested by police in New York for sexual assault, is the front-runner in opinion polls to win next year’s presidential election in France and replace incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.<\/p>\n

Strauss-Kahn, a 62-year-old Socialist who starred as finance minister in the late 1990s, left for Washington in late 2007 to head the International Monetary Fund, just as the world’s worst economic downturn since World War II hit.<\/p>\n

The polls show Strauss-Kahn, who has yet to officially declare, trouncing Sarkozy and also leading all other potential challengers in what many in his home country expected to be a dirty campaign leading up to an election set for next April.<\/p>\n

I hope that the charges against this man prove to be unfounded.  I understand that the bogus scandal to discredit opponents is almost as common by European conservatives as it is by Republicans.  The way conservatives are screwing up Europe, Sarkozy must be desperate.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Politico<\/a>: <\/font>Mike Huckabee opted against a run for the 2012 Republican nomination Saturday night, saying that despite all the signs saying yes, \u201cMy heart says no.\u201d <\/p>\n

The former Arkansas governor\u2019s decision instantly reshapes the contest, creating a wide-open field in Iowa, where Huckabee won the 2008 caucuses, and an opening for some of the second-tier hopefuls who could appeal to Huckabee\u2019s base of conservatives and evangelical Christians.<\/p>\n

I have to credit the Huckster for brains, even though he was lying.  Although his heart says yes, all the signs say know.  Even though he had a chance of winning the nomination, he knows he\u2019d get his butt kicked in the general.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>Shirley Sherrod is back at the United States Department of Agriculture, almost a year after she was forced out by a misleading video spread by conservatives falsely accusing her of discriminating against white farmers.<\/p>\n

Sherrod will not take her old position, reports Politico, instead rejoining the agency to work on civil rights. In her new job, she’ll lead a program designed to improve relations with minority farmers.<\/p>\n

After the disgraceful performance by the Obama administration in falling for and overreacting to a scam by O\u2019Keefe, Breitbart and the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda (Faux Noise<\/em>),  I\u2019m glad to see Shirley back with the USDA.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

Teabaggers get a discount at the Fukushima Hilton! (That was not intended to be a true statement.)<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I was busy with chores.  I\u2019m current with replies, but I\u2019ll be busy today unpacking and putting away a grocery delivery this morning.  It will be much more difficult that usual, because it will contain many foods that I\u2019m not used to buying and storing in my limited space.  Starting Wednesday I\u2019ll be on […]<\/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-4836","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\/4836","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=4836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}