{"id":9879,"date":"2013-01-25T05:25:16","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T13:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=9879"},"modified":"2013-01-25T05:25:17","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T13:25:17","slug":"open-thread1252013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/25\/open-thread1252013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–1\/25\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I zonked out for most of the day.  Today I don\u2019t really feel up to posting an extra article, but the subject is too important not to do so.  Lynn, would you put it on C2, please?  I\u2019m current with replies.  I\u2019ll be staying down today.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:28 (average 4:25) (ARGH! :-().  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The Pentagon\u2019s decision to end its ban on women in combat<\/a> is a triumph for equality and common sense. By opening infantry, artillery and other battlefield jobs to all qualified service members regardless of sex, the military is showing that categorical discrimination has no place in a society that honors fairness and equal opportunity. <\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who overturned the ban this week, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who unanimously urged him to do it, deserve praise for bringing military policy in line with reality. Women have been in the thick of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade. More than 280,000 have been deployed there, thousands have been injured and more than 150 killed. With the rule abolished, such service and sacrifice will no longer be unofficial and unrecognized. <\/p>\n

This is a hard one for me. I grew up learning to treat a woman like a lady and, with the rare exceptions, like Palin and Bachmann, who have clearly earned the right to be treated like whores to the Koch Brothers and other billionaires. Respect for women is so deeply ingrained in me, that I can’t help feeling a bit alarmed at the notion of women in combat. Nevertheless, I fully agree with this decision, because what matter’s is not how I feel about exposing women to that danger. What matters is how the women who decide to make that choice feel, especially those with exceptional shoe sizes.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Huffington Post<\/a>: <\/font>Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced legislation Thursday that would ban more than 150 types of assault weapons along with certain high-capacity gun magazines, saying she knows she faces an uphill battle to get her measure through Congress but, with the help of the American public, it can be done.<\/p>\n

Feinstein’s bill is far more detailed than the 1994 assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004. Her bill would stop the sale, manufacture and importation of 158 specifically named military-style firearms<\/a> and ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. It would also ban an additional group of assault weapons that accept detachable ammunition magazines and have at least one military characteristic — a new provision she said addresses a loophole in the 1994 law.<\/p>\n

I fully support this, even though Feinstein is a fool. When Republicans filibuster this bill, as they surely will, I wonder what she will have to say about opposing real filibuster reform.<\/font><\/p>\n

MSNBC<\/a>: <\/font>John Kerry’s place in history.<\/p>\n

 <\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

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

We certainly owe Kerry a great debt. My only regret is that he was as boring a Presidential candidate, as he was an exciting antiwar activist.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"25Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I zonked out for most of the day.  Today I don\u2019t really feel up to posting an extra article, but the subject is too important not to do so.  Lynn, would you put it on C2, please?  I\u2019m current with replies.  I\u2019ll be staying down today. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 4:28 (average […]<\/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-9879","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\/9879","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=9879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}