I’m writing for tomorrow, day 76, and this my only article. Last night’s unintended, multi-hour cat nap has my sleep schedule discombobulated, and it’s a very slow day for news, except for 653,087 new analyses of Hobby Lobby. 
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:03 (average 6:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: 1. Conservatives opposed the Founding Fathers, the American Revolution and a lot of other righteous stuff as well.
By definition a conservative is one who wishes to preserve and/or restore traditional values and institutions, i.e. to “conserve” the established order. No surprise then that 18th century American conservatives wanted no part of breaking away from the British Empire and the comforting bonds of monarchical government. Those anti-revolutionary conservatives were called Tories, the name still used for the conservative party in England. The Founding Fathers? As radically left-wing as they came in the 1770s. The Boston Tea Party? The "Occupy Wall Street" of its day.
Some of the other "traditional" values supported by conservatives over the course of American history have included slavery (remember that the Republican Party was on the liberal fringe in 1860), religious persecution, the subjugation of women and minorities, obstacles to immigration, voter suppression, prohibition and segregation. Conservatives started off on the wrong side of American history, and that’s where they’ve been ever since.
2. The United States is not a Christian nation, and the Bible is not the cornerstone of our law.
Don’t take my word for it. Let these Founding Fathers speak for themselves:
John Adams: “The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” (Treaty of Tripoli, 1797)
Thomas Jefferson: “Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.” (Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814)
James Madison: “The civil government … functions with complete success … by the total separation of the Church from the State.” (Writings, 8:432, 1819)
George Washington: “If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.” (Letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789)
You can find a multitude of similar quotes from these men and most others who signed the Declaration of Independence and/or formulated the United States Constitution. These are hardly the words of men who believed that America should be a Christian nation governed by the Bible, as a disturbing fundamentalist trend today would have it be.
These are just two of thirteen facts about America that Republicans want you for forget. Click through for the other eleven, please.
From Crooks and Liars: Another one for your Saturday C-SPAN hit parade. This call was taken on July 4th during a discussion of American exceptionalism. The topic itself invites trolls, and they obliged.
He proved my eleventh commandment: Thou shalt NOT commit TEAbuggery!
From McClatchy DC: Five years after the recession, the job market is finally hitting stride as small businesses add workers and local governments restore battered payrolls.
U.S. employers added a robust 288,000 jobs in June across a broad spectrum of businesses, the Labor Department said Thursday. The growth flew past analysts’ forecasts and marked the fifth consecutive month of payroll gains in excess of 200,000 – a hiring spree not seen since the 1990s tech boom.
The unemployment rate, which has fallen surprisingly fast lately, dropped to 6.1 percent in June from 6.3 percent in May. Both the jobless rate and the number of officially unemployed, totaling 9.5 million last month, are the lowest in nearly six years. As recently as November, the nation’s unemployment figure was 7 percent.
The big problem here is that many of these are low paying service jobs that will not stimulate the economy as much as the family wage jobs that Republicans used your tax dollars to offshore. It is still considerable improvement from the Republican recession, but no where near what it could be, if Republicans were not seditiously sabotaging America to prevent recovery falsely blame Democrats.
Cartoon:
20 Responses to “Open Thread–7/6/2014”
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6:24 Just what I need in the morning, a good chain tensioner to star my day. I wouldn't want to be too relaxed.
653,087 new analyses of Hobby Lobby! Well, this isn't a new one, it has been around a while (iit wasn't hard to see this coming), but it does come with a free bumper sticker: http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1185.php "Another day, another breathtakingly corrupt Supreme Court decision."
Daily Kos – Agreed, excellent. I bookmarked, but I have to get it into a wallet size, because one can never remember them when they are needed. (Of course the REAL reason older people have trouble with memory sometimes is that they have so much more in their brains to be sorted through to come up with the thing wanted. Really. There was a study cited in Daily Kos. I can't remember the link, but the title was something like "I told you so!")
Crooks and Liars – I couldn't hear it, it broke my browser, but the transcript is enough to tell me that I've heard it all before. It still stinks. I'm sure I don't have ro remind anyone that much of this is pure projection.
McClatchy DC – "Five years after the recession"? That alone is enough to tell me they are in La-la land. Had they said "Five years after the beginning of the recession" I might consider taking them seriously. Because we are certainly still in it. Exactly for the reason you give. I'm not sure someone who had to spend down all savings, if any, to pay bills while waiting for a burger flipping job to materialize, now has one, and isn't making ends meet with it, would regard it as considerable improvement myself, although I do see why you use the term.
Cartoon – Well, of course it wouldn't work on them. Vaccines are for before you get the disease. Once you already have it, it's too late. Nuff said.
Thanks for the link, I signed the petition to impeach!
Signed, but it won't pass the House, let alone win the 2/3 Senate supermajority needed to convict. We need to win this by attrition.
…or to protect us from the Republicans spreading the disease.
3:42 Did I keep enough tension on so as to not come unchained?
5:08 My chain must have kept slipping.
Bigfooted!
4:19 ~ My chain slipped!
5:38 – Puzzle
Puzzle — 3:42 Did I keep enough tension on so as to not come unchained?
Daily Kos — Very interesting! Ah those conservatives are neck deep in liberal ideas . . . or at least they were. The shame of it!
Crooks and Liars — One can’t fix stupid and that guy is stupid.
McClatchy DC — “The unemployment rate, which has fallen surprisingly fast lately, dropped to 6.1 percent in June from 6.3 percent in May. “ And without any help from the Republicanus/Teabaggers! Can you imagine what might have been had the Republicanus/Teabaggers been on side to help the nation instead of just a very select few 1%ers.
Cartoon — NO, but the next one will! It’s made from distilled elephant shit, and mixes well with whiskey.
That vaccine might kill us! 😈
Nah! It's for the elephant in the room so he can't infect us!
Hey – I just learned that today, July 6th, is Dubya's Birthday.
We can all agree he's a Cancer.
Coincidently, that also happens to be his Zodiac sign.
Some things are gbetter off not repeated… like Cheney's.
You needed and deserved the rest!
Daily Kos: Seldom have I read anything that made me more gleeful. Thanks for posting. I shared it on FB, now when my Conservative friends start quoting the founding fathers I willjust refer them back to this article. Especially love that Nixon was the creator of the EPA, and that Obama is eligible for Sons of America and his daughters elegible to belong to the DAR.
Crooks and Liars: Sadly, there are hundreds of thousands out there just like this guy, they know a little, but understand nothing and their bigotry cannot be controlled
McClatchy: I can add nothing to your summary, they will not admit to any recovery if the Dems will get any credit and they are steadily trying to destroy what little is left of the middle class.
Cartoon: The vaccine will probably not work on them, it won't work on a rabid dog either.
That's quite an accomplishment for a Kenyan. 😉
news from a Repug. (and climate denier)
The temperature on planet Mars is the same as on planet earth! I am, for once ,speechless!
Dang! He thinks Mars has temps in the 90°s?!!? InsaniTEA!!
Horse-$hit….