{"id":5327,"date":"2011-07-07T01:41:25","date_gmt":"2011-07-07T08:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=5327"},"modified":"2011-07-07T01:41:25","modified_gmt":"2011-07-07T08:41:25","slug":"open-thread772011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/07\/open-thread772011\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–7\/7\/2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday it was not quite as hot, and because my apartment was  closed up for hours, I came home to a sweat lodge, couldn\u2019t sleep, am worn out again.  I\u2019m current on comments.  Tomorrow should be cooler.  Barring unforeseen circumstances, I\u2019ll have teeth next week.  I crave to crunch!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Yesterday it took me 3:38 (average 4:28).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Washington Post<\/a>: <\/font>The next flash point in the debate over the nation\u2019s will to live within its means may emerge this week as House Republicans present a long-term transportation bill expected to cut funding for highways and mass transit by almost one third.<\/p>\n

Banksters will need private airports in their back yards at this rate.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Washington Post<\/a>: <\/font>The Supreme Court has until Thursday to halt the execution of a Mexican national whose case has prompted a call for a stay from the Obama administration, which says the execution could put the United States in breach of international obligations.<\/p>\n

Humberto Leal Garcia Jr., who was found guilty of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl in 1994, is scheduled to face lethal injection Thursday in Texas. Leal, now 38, was provided with court-appointed lawyers after his arrest but never was informed that he could have access to Mexican consular officials, as is required under the United Nations\u2019 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the Constitution makes abiding by ratified treaties absolutely required, I will be shocked if SCROTUS does not favor Perry\u2019s blood-lust.<\/font><\/p>\n

From CBS<\/a>: <\/font>Democrats are launching a series of robocalls today against six vulnerable House Republicans who have been caught in ethics scandals.<\/p>\n

As part of the Democrats’ campaign to win back the House, the robocalls focus on six relatively new GOP members: Reps. Scott Tipton of Colorado, David Rivera of Florida, Frank Guinta of New Hampshire, Charlie Bass of New Hampshire, and Stephen Fincher of Tennessee were all elected in 2010. Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida came into office in 2007.<\/p>\n

"House Republican leaders pledged a zero tolerance policy to ethics problems in their conference, but their answer has been to turn a blind eye, " said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the official campaign arm of House Democrats.<\/p>\n

Bad move.  I\u2019m all for this effort, but if they need to save money, they should have volunteers call from their homes.  Robocalls are the worst way to do it.  They turn people against the organization sponsoring the calls, because they are so offensive.  If you want to influence me, give me a real human to talk to.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"7Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday it was not quite as hot, and because my apartment was  closed up for hours, I came home to a sweat lodge, couldn\u2019t sleep, am worn out again.  I\u2019m current on comments.  Tomorrow should be cooler.  Barring unforeseen circumstances, I\u2019ll have teeth next week.  I crave to crunch! Jig Zone Puzzle: Yesterday it took […]<\/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-5327","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\/5327","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=5327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}