Open Thread–2/14/2011

I’m off today to routine medical appointments.  No cause for worry.  I composed a couple of today’s items yesterday, and got up early to do the rest.  I even caught up on comments.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:45 (average 4:32).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From LA Times: House Speaker John A. Boehner said Sunday that he believed President Obama was a U.S. citizen and a Christian, but that it was not up to him to convince people who were skeptical of the president’s birthplace and religion.

It’s not his job to lead his party, he says.

From VOA News: Egyptian pro-democracy activist Wael Ghonim says the country’s new military rulers have promised him that a referendum will be held on a revised constitution in two months.

This is good news, if true.

From On The Hill: But buried deeply in these 359 pages of ugly surprises [the GOP budget] is a provision that would mean one community in America would do a lot better than all of the others. The legislation added an estimated $450 million for a particular bit of defense spending that the Department of Defense did not ask for and does not want.

The item is a down payment that would obligate the federal government to future payments that could well be three or four times the increased spending added to this particular piece of legislation, with a big portion of the funds flowing to two cities in Ohio—Cincinnati, where Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) grew up, and Dayton, the largest city in his congressional district. [emphasis added]

Does corruption get any more obvious than this?

Cartoon:

Get some lovin’!