{"id":7072,"date":"2012-02-11T00:01:56","date_gmt":"2012-02-11T08:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=7072"},"modified":"2012-02-11T00:01:57","modified_gmt":"2012-02-11T08:01:57","slug":"open-thread2112012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/11\/open-thread2112012\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–2\/11\/2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday my back was giving me quite a bit of pain so I stayed down.  I\u2019m current with replies.  Today I still need to get a haircut, and do research for a meeting next week at the prison.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today it took me 3:11 (average 4:32).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From USA Today<\/a>: <\/font>President Obama announced a plan today that attempts to accommodate certain religious employers opposed to a rule that would require them to provide access to birth control for women free of charge.<\/p>\n

Obama announced that the rule would be tweaked so that in cases where non-profit religious organizations have objections, insurance companies would be required to reach out to employees and offer the coverage directly.<\/p>\n

"Under the rule, women will still have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive service no matter where they work," Obama said. "That core principle remains.<\/p>\n

This was a stroke of brilliance.  The Church as withdrawn their objections.  Women\u2019s groups are most pleased.  The only people who are unhappy are vulture capitalist  health insurance companies and Republicans.  Here\u2019s Ed Schultz.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n

From Washington Post<\/a>: <\/font>The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee over possible violations of insider-trading laws, according to individuals familiar with the case.<\/p>\n

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who holds one of the most influential positions in the House, has been a frequent trader on Capitol Hill, buying stock options while overseeing the nation\u2019s banking and financial services industries.<\/p>\n

This is one of the reasons why Republicans are trying to gut the law banning Congressional insider trading.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Business Week<\/a>: <\/font>The Arab League may seek approval in the United Nations\u2019 193-member General Assembly of its plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, after Russia vetoed the initiative in the Security Council, UN diplomats said.<\/p>\n

The 22-member League, which has suspended Syria and imposed economic sanctions on the country, is looking for fresh ways to intensify pressure on Assad and may seek a vote in the General Assembly by Feb. 17, according to two senior UN diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans haven\u2019t been made final.<\/p>\n

Kudos to the Arab League for patience and wisdom in the way they are taking the lead, as they should.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"11Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday my back was giving me quite a bit of pain so I stayed down.  I\u2019m current with replies.  Today I still need to get a haircut, and do research for a meeting next week at the prison. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today it took me 3:11 (average 4:32).  To do it, click here.  How did […]<\/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-7072","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\/7072","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=7072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}