{"id":6519,"date":"2011-12-23T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T08:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=6519"},"modified":"2011-12-23T00:00:38","modified_gmt":"2011-12-23T08:00:38","slug":"open-thread12232011-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/23\/open-thread12232011-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–12\/23\/2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last several days I have been ill.  The problem is that catching a cold or the flu, severely exacerbates my COPD, and for days or sometimes weeks afterwards, my coughing to clear my lungs is so severe that it makes sleep for more than an hour or two at a stretch impossible.  After a couple days of that, I\u2019m too tired and foggy to do the research needed to write the quality of articles you deserve.  Wednesday night I finally slept well, so I\u2019m back, at least for a day.  I\u2019m current on replies to yesterday\u2019s comments.  Today I have a month\u2019s groceries being delivered.  Unpacking and storing it will take several hours.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

The puzzle for the 14th took me 3:38 (average 5:02).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  <\/font>The puzzle for the 15th took me 3:37 (average 5:08). To do it, click here<\/a>.  <\/font>The puzzle for the 16th took me 4:22 (average 5:04). To do it, click here<\/a>.  The puzzle for the 17th took me 4:43 (average 5:29). To do it, click here<\/a>. <\/font><\/font>The puzzle for the 18th took me 3:43 (average 5:35). To do it, click here<\/a>.  <\/font>The puzzle for the 19th  took me 3:45 (average 4:23). To do it, click here<\/a>.  <\/font>The puzzle for the 20th took me 3:48 (average 4:28). To do it, click here<\/a>.  <\/font>The puzzle for the 21st took me 4:25 (average 4:44). To do it, click here<\/a>.  Yesterday it<\/font> took me 3:59 (average 4:27). To do it, click here<\/a>.  Today it <\/font>took me 4:44 (average 4:55). To do it, click here<\/a>. How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Religious Agony<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"1218-Broncos23-Patriots41\"<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Here are the results from our league, Lefty Blog Friends, from the first week of our playoffs.<\/font><\/p>\n

\"21FF\"<\/font><\/p>\n

I was knocked out in the first round, wrapping up my worst performance, since I started playing, over ten years ago.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Washington Post<\/a>: <\/font>Civilians were targeted in bombings across Baghdad that killed 57 people amid an escalation of political infighting in Iraq that has followed the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.<\/p>\n

I first said this would happen well over five years ago, when I argued for immediate withdrawal.  The intervening years, loss of life, and tremendous cost failed to prevent this.  This lesson needs to be applied to Afghanistan.<\/font><\/p>\n

From GovTrack<\/a>: <\/font>Numbers confirm what we already pretty much know: Congress this year isn\u2019t getting much done. The number of bills enacted this year is lower than it has ever been in at least 30 years. If you think Congress should be passing fewer laws, then you got your wish this year.<\/p>\n

For this we have the Republican Party and the people who stayed home in 2010 to thank.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Washington Post<\/a>: <\/font>The House Committee on Ethics said Thursday that it was extending its investigation into whether Rep. Vern Buchanan<\/a> (R-Fla.) was involved in reimbursing employees at several of his car dealerships for donations to his campaign.<\/p>\n

The announcement by Chairman Jo Bonner<\/a> (R-Ala.) and ranking member Linda T. Sanchez<\/a> (D-Calif.) marks another political challenge for Buchanan, the senior Republican fundraiser in the House who also faces a Justice Department probe into the allegations.<\/p>\n

Buchannan must be so guilty that he has become an embarrassment, or the Republicans on the committee would have shut down the investigation.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"21Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the last several days I have been ill.  The problem is that catching a cold or the flu, severely exacerbates my COPD, and for days or sometimes weeks afterwards, my coughing to clear my lungs is so severe that it makes sleep for more than an hour or two at a stretch impossible.  After […]<\/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-6519","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\/6519","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=6519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}