It’s an open thread! Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread… Emoticon: Autumn Sandeen, snarkily shifting her eyes right-to-left-to-right

Hey, I’m on an AMTRAK train to Atlanta, via New Orleans. Will be in Atlanta for the Southern Comfort Conference (twitter hashmark of #sccatl). Pam, Lurleen, and I are all going to the conference this year.

Image: Bookworm Bob, the cartoon 'sockpuppet' of Autumn Sandeen'sSo anywho, this is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob have been looking at since our last This & That post.

• Los Angeles Times‘ Resignations follow California Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of Whitman; UC President Mark Yudof and the chancellor of the state community college system quit their positions on the board of directors, saying they will not participate in a partisan operation:

The president of the University of California and the chancellor of the California community college system have quit the California Chamber of Commerce board of directors after the group voted to endorse Republican Meg Whitman for governor.

The endorsement is the latest example of the state’s largest business organization increasing its political profile.

Jack Scott, a former Democratic state senator from Pasadena who was appointed as community college chancellor by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, announced his resignation Friday in a letter to chamber President Allan Zaremberg after the endorsement vote.

“I do not believe the board is using sound judgment by catapulting the California Chamber of Commerce into the center of a fierce political contest,” Scott wrote. “…It is destructive to the chamber’s core mission and the businesses it represents when it becomes a partisan operation.”

And here I thought they’d be against Meg Whitman based on her politics, or something like that.

• Christian Science Monitor‘s Feds file new Arizona immigration lawsuit, this time to protect workers; The Justice Department alleges that an Arizona public college discriminated against immigrant job candidates. The case could pit states’ rights against those of the federal government:

Less than two months after the US Department of Justice sued Arizona over the state’s controversial immigration law, it has filed another lawsuit targeting immigration practices by Arizona authorities.

The new case is unrelated to the one against Gov. Jan Brewer and the state over the illegal immigration law, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a divisive one. Legal experts say it further sets up a clash between the 10th Amendment – which gives to states all powers that aren’t explicitly granted to the federal government – and the Supremacy Clause, which gives the federal government exclusive power over immigration.

In the new suit, filed Monday, the Justice Department says Phoenix-area Maricopa Community Colleges (MCC) discriminated against almost 250 noncitizen job applicants by requiring them to fill out more documents than the law requires to prove their eligibility to work.

Monday’s suit is “stronger in a way” than the suit against Governor Brewer over the immigration law, because it is more specific, says Jesse Choper of UC Berkeley’s Boalt School of Law.

Emoticon: Boxing Discrimination=Bad. Feds believe they see that bad. Another fight with Arizona on that involves immigration.

• Press of Atlantic City‘s Convicted rapist from Vineland wants the state to castrate him:

A convicted rapist in state prison wants the New Jersey Department of Corrections to pay for him to be castrated.

James Randall Smith claims he is a woman trapped inside the body of a man, but the Department of Corrections, or DOC, said Smith does not have gender-identity disorder.

An appellate court upheld the decision in August.

Smith, a former truck driver from Vineland, is serving a 105-year sentence for the abduction and sexual assault of two teenagers he kidnapped at knifepoint from the Ocean City Boardwalk in August 2000.

Ugh. Emoticon: Frustrated

• PC World‘s Craigslist Adult Services Section Shutdown; Accused of promoting crime, online classified site yields to pressure:

Craigslist shutdown its adult services listings on Friday replacing the link with a black bar with the word “censored” where the listings previously appeared.

The move comes after years of pressure to remove the ads, including an open letter from 17 state attorneys general in late August. The letter said “sharp public criticism of craigslist’s Adult Services section reflects a growing recognition that ads for prostitution — including ads trafficking children — are rampant on it.” The attorneys general requested Craigslist take immediate action to stop accepting ads since it “cannot, or will not” screen them.

The letter wasn’t Craigslist’s first scuffle regarding sex-related ads. The site formerly had an “Erotic Services” section that was shut down in May 2009. It was pulled after law enforcement filed suit, claiming the classifieds facilitated prostitution, and after the alleged “Craigslist Killer” was arrested.

The “Adult Services” section took its place shortly after. Craigslist said the postings would require manual, human approval of all entries and cost $10.

Emoticon: Spitting coffee on computer,laughing

• Our Wiener Story Of The Day: Montreal Gazette‘s Lafleur hot dogs recalled in Montreal:

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a public warning Saturday not to consume a specific lot of Lafleur-brand Original hot dogs carryLink To Pam's House Blend Tag 'Wieners'; Image: Smiling, waving hot dog saying 'I'm a wiener!'ing an Oct. 22 expiry date “because the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.”

The agency said “five cases of this product were distributed only in Quebec, in the following regions: Montreal, Laval, Lanaudière, Laurentides, Montérégie.”

The recall is limited to a total of 120 packages of the hot dogs, each weighing 450 grams, said Richard Vigneault. He’s a spokesperson for the manufacturer, Olymel L.P. of Boucherville, a Montreal suburb.

…Listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea. Pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are particularly at risk. Infected pregnant women may experience only a mild, flu-like illness. However, infections during pregnancy can lead to premature delivery, infection of the newborn or even stillbirth.

As always, “The weenie tempts you!” But not so much from a lot from the Lafleur-brand Original Hot Dogs, with the lot code of 2010 OC 22 LOT 75022502.

So anywho…It’s an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?

And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because…it’s an open thread! Woo-hoo! Emoticon: Dancing happy face character