{"id":9825,"date":"2013-01-07T04:13:18","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T12:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=9825"},"modified":"2013-01-07T04:13:18","modified_gmt":"2013-01-07T12:13:18","slug":"open-thread172013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/07\/open-thread172013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–1\/7\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still down.  My only extra activity yesterday was to write a letter to the Parole Board on behalf of one of my guys who has a release hearing coming up.  I\u2019m current with replies.  We\u2019ll see what tomorrow brings.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:44 (average 4:39).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From The Telegraph<\/a>: <\/font>US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is reportedly preparing to leave his postion [sic] by the end of the month, before politicians sit down for another gruelling [sic] round of talks over the country’s debt ceiling. <\/p>\n

I say good riddance to Timmy the Tool, in my opinion, Obama’s worst appointment. However, he could not have picked a more inconvenient time to leave the US without a Treasury Secretary.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Robert Reich<\/a>: <\/font>It has become accepted economic wisdom, uttered with deadpan certainty by policy pundits and budget scolds on both sides of the aisle, that the only way to get control over America\u2019s looming deficits is to \u201creform entitlements.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the accepted wisdom is wrong. <\/p>\n

Start with the statistics Republicans trot out at the slightest provocation \u2014 federal budget data<\/a> showing a huge spike in direct payments to individuals since the start of 2009, shooting up by almost $600 billion, a 32 percent increase. <\/p>\n

And Census data<\/a> showing 49 percent of Americans living in homes where at least one person is collecting a federal benefit \u2013 food stamps, unemployment insurance, worker\u2019s compensation, or subsidized housing \u2014 up from 44 percent in 2008. <\/p>\n

But these expenditures aren\u2019t driving the federal budget deficit in future years. They\u2019re temporary. The reason for the spike is Americans got clobbered in 2008 with the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. They and their families have needed whatever helping hands they could get.<\/p>\n

If anything, America\u2019s safety nets have been too small and shot through with holes. That\u2019s why the number and percentage of Americans in poverty has increased dramatically, including 22 percent of our children<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Here we have more clear thinking by Robert Reich. Click through for an excellent read.   As usual Republicans are using text without context for pretext.<\/font><\/p>\n

From McClatchy DC<\/a>: <\/font>U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo says he voted against funding to pay the Hurricane Sandy flood insurance claims because of the deficit, but as the chief financial officer for the Biloxi Public Housing Authority back in 2005, Palazzo asked for federal relief despite the nation’s debt. <\/p>\n

The Housing Authority listed $38.5 million in "Total Funds Needed Right Away" in a handout published one month after Katrina devastated 70 miles of Mississippi’s coastline Aug. 29, 2005.<\/p>\n

The handout quoted Palazzo, then the authority’s deputy director and chief financial officer: "Tell our national leaders — don’t send more inspectors — we know what’s damaged and how to fix it. Send us money so we can put our families back together and do our part to rebuild our community." <\/p>\n

How typical this is of hypocritical Republican greed. Had Sandy hit Dixie, Republicans would be screaming for more aid.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"7Cartoon\"<\/p>\n

Would someone please give Bought Bitch Mitch a BJ?<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still down.  My only extra activity yesterday was to write a letter to the Parole Board on behalf of one of my guys who has a release hearing coming up.  I\u2019m current with replies.  We\u2019ll see what tomorrow brings. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 3:44 (average 4:39).  To do it, click here.  How […]<\/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-9825","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\/9825","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=9825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}