Open Thread – 11/20/2010

Yesterday I finally caught up with replying to comments and returning visits.  I do have errands to run today, but I expect to stay up to date with both.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it tool me 4:52n (average 5:22).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Huffington Post: MSNBC has suspended "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough for the same violation that took Keith Olbermann off the air earlier this month.

In a statement, MSNBC President Phil Griffin said he has suspended Scarborough for making political donations to candidates in Florida without seeking prior approval.

After banning Keith, MSNBC facied accusations of hypocrisy for ignoring Scarborough’s donations. The difference is that they are suspending Scarborough for two days. They suspended Keith indefinitely and brought him back after two days because we amassed 300,000+ signatures on a petition and shut-down their switchboard for two days with protest calls. I can see MSNBC wanting prior approval for donations announced publicly on the air, but unpublicized private donations by staff are none of their business.

From San Francisco Chronicle: The U.S. Senate yesterday approved spending $4.6 billion to settle two lawsuits: one by black farmers who alleged racial discrimination by government lenders and the other by 300,000 American Indians who said they had been cheated out of land royalties dating to 1887.

Passage of the measure, by voice vote, unblocks a legislative logjam that has thwarted payouts, negotiated by the Obama administration, of $1.15 billion to the black farmers and $3.4 billion to the American Indians.

The resolution of these injustices is long past due.

From Right Wing Watch: As we noted yesterday, the American Principles Project and several other Religious Right goups have been threatening to boycott next year’s CPAC conference if the gay conservative group GOProud to participate again this year.

Now WorldNetDaily is reporting that the pressure is getting to organizers at the American Conservative Union, which has decided to put to issue to a vote before CPAC’s board of directors, and that more groups are planning on boycotting the event if GOProud is not given the boot.

I just do see how LGBT folk (or black, Latino, female, or human folk for that matter) could take pride in being a Republican.

Cartoon:

 

It’s CATurday!!