Open Thread – 12/8/2010

Yesterday I played it smart.  I replied to comments before I took on putting my computer area back together.  The task is now complete, son once again, I’m running with a battery backed power supply, because the power in this building is so unstable that it has burned out one computer.  Once again my files are backed up on an external hard drive.  Once again my piles of stuff are within easy reach.  I’m exhausted, but it was worth it. Now if I can just beat a case of the runs…

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:08 (average 5:12).  To do it, ckick here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Think Progress: This afternoon, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) appeared on Fox News to discuss WikiLeaks and other political topics of the day. At one point, the Fox News anchor asked Lieberman what he thinks “of the Justice Department’s actions so far not to charge Julian Assange with treason.” Lieberman responded by saying he doesn’t “understand why that hasn’t happened yet”.

Putting aside that, by Constitution, there can be no Treason without a congressional declaration of war, LIEberman is full of it.  To be a traitor against America, one must be an American.  Assange is an Aussie. What a fool!

From TPM: Elizabeth Edwards, who closely advised her husband in two bids for the presidency and advocated for health care even as her own health and marriage publicly crumbled, died Tuesday after a six-year struggle with cancer. She was 61.

My condolences to her family and friends.  She shall surely be missed.

From Right Wing Watch: Last week, Brian noted how Religious Right leaders have seized upon reports that Wikileaks-leaker Bradly Manning is gay in order to argue for the continuing need to enforce Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The topic came up in the Liberty Counsel’s "Faith and Freedom Radio" program today as Mat Staver and Matt Barber discussed the issue and cited a report from the 1950s claiming that gays were "moral perverts" and therefore a national security risk.

If Manning’s orientation was a factor in his leaking the documents, if he in fact did, it follows that making gay men and women second class soldiers is a national security risk.  There always have been gay soldiers in all armies.  There always will be. Republican bigotry is what threatens national security.

Cartoon:

Happy hump day: