Open Thread–10/1/2011

Yesterday was a lazy day.  I slept late, changed the poll, and caught up on email.  I’m current on replies to comments.  Tomorrow is grocery delivery day.  Unpacking everything and putting it away will take hours and tire me out, but it’s a lot easier than hauling groceries up a double flight of stairs twice a week.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:55 (average 5:28).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Reuters: The killing of Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen on Friday by a U.S. drone strike is the culmination of two years of extensive U.S. efforts to track down the American-born member of al Qaeda and put him out of action.

Awlaki, identified by U.S. intelligence as "chief of external operations" for al Qaeda’s Yemen branch and a Web-savvy propagandist for the Islamist cause, was killed in an attack by missiles fired from multiple CIA drones in a remote Yemeni town, U.S. officials said.

Because of Awlaki’s US citizenship, the killing will raise some legal issues.  Technically, this was illegal, but the law needs to be updated to account for a struggle that has no uniforms and no set piece battles.  There can be no doubt that Awlaki is has assisted in killing Americans, so taking him out is good for the country.  However, instead of ignoring the law, Obama needs to get it changed to reflect the nature of the threat and set narrow limits on such operations.  That said, Obama has done more to damage Al Qaeda in less than three years than Bush did in his whole Regime.

From ABC: Hispanic students have started vanishing from Alabama public schools in the wake of a court ruling that upheld the state’s tough new law cracking down on illegal immigration.

Education officials say scores of immigrant families have withdrawn their children from classes or kept them home this week, afraid that sending the kids to school would draw attention from authorities.

There are no precise statewide numbers. But several districts with large immigrant enrollments — from small towns to large urban districts — reported a sudden exodus of children of Hispanic parents, some of whom told officials they planned to leave the state to avoid trouble with the law, which requires schools to check students’ immigration status.

This is exactly what the Republican bigots wanted when they wrote their hate-law.

From The Hill: Bank of America’s latest attack on the American economic recovery through big bank fees may well elect Elizabeth Warren to the Kennedy Senate seat in Massachusetts. The very bad news for Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Chris Christie and those Republicans who take big money from big bailed-out banks as donations, and then carry their water in Washington, is that they will be exposed again.

Bank of America, which might soon be called Bank of un-America, is the embodiment of what happens if Ron Paul or Rick Perry is elected. It has done consistent damage to the America economy from the birth of the mortgage fraud to the mega-bailout, from the massive layoffs to this latest fee on debit cards.

I dare Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Chris Christie, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Sarah Palin to denounce the latest Bank of America attack on American consumers and call for the fee to be withdrawn. They won’t.

Of course they wont.  Republicans are Bankster bought.

From Alternet: Global warming is killing the world’s chocolate supply, agricultural researchers find. Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana together provide 53 percent of the world’s chocolate, but warming temperatures and changing precipitation mean rapid declines in growing conditions over the coming decades.

This could be the break we’ve waited for.  When millions of women, crazed from chocolate withdrawal, descend on Washington, government will finally take action.

Cartoon: