{"id":9776,"date":"2012-12-24T04:24:18","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T12:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=9776"},"modified":"2012-12-24T04:24:18","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T12:24:18","slug":"open-thread12242012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/24\/open-thread12242012\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–12\/24\/2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I got my groceries stowed away, but got little sleep, because of coughing.  I\u2019m getting all the rest I can.  Some of the people I am feeding tomorrow will be taking on the lion\u2019s share of the food prep, and I will cook the veggies today, so the only thing I\u2019ll have to cook tomorrow is the ham.  I\u2019m current with replies.  Tomorrow I will have two articles, an Open Thread and a Christmas message.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s tool me 4:34 (average 5:13).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"1223-Broncos34-Browns12\"<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Here is the playoff chart for our fantasy football league, Lefty Blog Friends.<\/font><\/p>\n

\"24LBF-Semi\"<\/font><\/p>\n

Good luck to all!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The United States government recently sold the last of its shares in the American International Group, more than four years after it bailed out the insurance giant with a package of assistance that eventually totaled $180 billion. In announcing the sale, the Treasury Department also said<\/a> that the government had a \u201cpositive return\u201d of $22.7 billion \u2014 a sum that fails to take into account tax breaks A.I.G. received as a ward of the state. But whether the government profited from the bailout is not important. The truly vital issue is this: Could this happen again? Unfortunately, the troubling answer is yes. <\/p>\n

This needs to be a matter of concern for every American. I suggest you click through for the rest of this excellent editorial.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Salon.com<\/a>: <\/font>Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who left public life two years ago after mysteriously disappearing to visit his then-mistress in Argentina, is poised to re-enter the political arena\u2026<\/p>\n

…The two-term governor was a rising Republican political star before he vanished from South Carolina for five days in 2009. Reporters were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he later tearfully acknowledged he was visiting Maria Belen Chapur, a woman he called his soul mate at a news conference announcing his affair. The two were engaged earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The opening for Sanford comes after Rep. Tim Scott was appointed to fill the remaining two years of Sen. Jim DeMint\u2019s seat. DeMint announced earlier this month he was resigning.<\/p>\n

News that Sanford, 52, may be interested in the seat comes days after his ex-wife, Jenny, appeared to be dipping her toe into the state\u2019s political waters.<\/p>\n

You can be sure he’ll be running as a Republican Family Values candidate. That’s what Republican Family Values are all about. That he may be running against his victim is the height of irony. I highly doubt that SC will keep Tim Scott in that seat any longer than absolutely necessary, since his appointment was likely only a cover-up for Republican racism.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Crooks and Liars<\/a>: <\/font>Just in case anyone didn’t think that Michelle Malkin’s display on Fox & Friends<\/a> was quite enough with them carrying water for Wayne LaPierre and the NRA, they decided to bring in for good measure right wing rag The Daily Caller co-founder, and heir to the Swanson food fortune, Tucker Carlson, to lay the blame for the school shooting at Sandy Hook at the feet of President Obama, Democrats and Hollywood liberals. Because we all know that guns don’t kill people, people who watch violent movies do.<\/p>\n

 <\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

They complain about "Hollywood actors" supporting firearms restrictions. Have they forgotten Charlton Heston? I agree with them that Hollywood produces too much violence, but I hesitate to impinge on the studios’ rights under the First Amendment. The Republican Ministry of Propaganda is clearly supporting the NRA.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"24Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I got my groceries stowed away, but got little sleep, because of coughing.  I\u2019m getting all the rest I can.  Some of the people I am feeding tomorrow will be taking on the lion\u2019s share of the food prep, and I will cook the veggies today, so the only thing I\u2019ll have to cook […]<\/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-9776","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\/9776","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=9776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}