It’s an open thread! Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread…

So, this is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob have been looking at since our last This & That post.

• Navy Times‘ 70 years ago, WAVES paved way for Navy women:

…The WAVES [Navy Reserve’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Service] were established on July 30, 1942 to fill military jobs left vacant at home as large numbers of men were deployed to Europe and the Pacific.

While the Navy had employed women — known as “yeomanettes” — in secretarial positions during World War I, the WAVES were formed to become an integral part of the Navy Reserve, said Regina Akers, a historian a the Navy History and Heritage Command. With the establishment of the WAVES, women also were also permitted to serve in officer positions for the first time.

The WAVES program faced significant opposition by some members of Congress who were concerned about using women in the military in this new way. “The question was: ‘Women in the services? You mean other than nurses? Are you crazy?’” Akers said.

But the need for women was strong and after significant debate in Congress, legislation was passed and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

• Los Angeles Times‘ Medicaid could be scaled back sharply under GOP plans; Conservatives aim to cut federal funding for the state-run health programs for the poor if they control the White House and Congress.:

Nearly half a century after President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicaid into law, conservative critics of the massive government health insurance program for the poor are readying a new push to dramatically scale it back if Republicans control the White House and Congress next year.

GOP governors, emboldened by the Supreme Court decision on President Obama’s healthcare law, are already balking at expanding Medicaid to meet the goals of the Affordable Care Act. Some are rolling back coverage now, arguing that the program is ineffective and unaffordable.

At the same time, congressional Republicans, backed by influential conservative activists, are renewing calls to convert Medicaid into a series of smaller grants to states, reprising the successful GOP strategy that cut cash welfare programs in the mid-1990s.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has thrown his support behind a block grant plan that would cap federal spending, effectively slashing Medicaid funding by more than $1.5 trillion over the next decade in what would be the most sweeping change in the program’s history…

• Montreal Gazette‘s Note to Media: Get Your Pronouns Right!:

The coming-out announcement by movie director Lana Wachowski highlights yet again the trouble the media are having with pronouns when people announce they are gender transitioning. Most of the articles I am seeing online about it are still referring to Lana as “he.” Some are still using Lana’s old name, “Larry.”

The media really needs to get this straight: from the time a person makes the announcement, you MUST start using the appropriate pronouns. In other words, from the time Lana made her announcement, you should have been referring to her as “she.”

It gets a little tricky when you are talking about her past, but even then, female pronouns can be used in many instances.

It’s all a matter of respect, and when you get it wrong, you are showing disrespect. Ignorance is not an excuse.

• Washington Post‘s Episcopal Church promotes the “T” in LGBT equation:

Commentators at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times may decry the Episcopal Church as a place offering pet funerals but nothing for the faithful or failing to provide anything one cannot get from purely secular liberalism. These traditionalists appear to bemoan the loss of a 1950s-era church that promoted an Eisenhower-era civil religion replete with the cross draped in the American flag.

While they wax nostalgia over a past that largely existed only in TV Land, the Episcopal Church made history at its 77th triennial General Convention by passing two gender nondiscrimination resolutions. Led by a grassroots coalition including, TransEpiscopal, IntegrityUSA, the Consultation, and the Chicago Consultation, the General Convention granted transgender people protection against discrimination in the ordination process and in lay leadership in the Episcopal Church. Such protections remain unavailable in the vast majority of religious and secular institutions as well as in most states and municipalities (only 16 states have transgender nondiscrimination laws on their books.

In an effort to educate those deputies who would be voting on these measures, prior to General Convention, they received copies of documentary “Out of the Box.” This film puts a human face on this topic by telling the stories of both ordained and lay transgender Episcopalians. Also, the presence of a gender neutral bathroom at General Convention afforded those present the opportunity to engage in a discussion of gender identity and expression. (Those looking to further their education about the intersection of transgender issues and faith can posts at the blog of the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality.)

• Our Wiener Story Of The Day: Inquisitr‘s Perfect Hot Dogs… You’re Doing It Wrong:

Hot dogs are probably one of the easiest foods to make, and pretty much even the least skilled cooks can manage to get a hot dog to edible temperatures, slap it on a bun and call it dinner — but hot dog experts, which exist, say that the key to a fantastic hot dog is a bit more complex.

And amazing hot dogs, as you probably know, do exist. Ever get a hot dog that just reminds you how great this quintessential American food can be, either simply steamed and served with ketchup, or charcoal grilled and topped with kraut and mustard at a low-key barbeque?

Hot dogs are one of the simplest forms of casual American cuisine, but you can really step up your weiner — and experts have a few simple tips to master the art of the best hot dogs ever…

Ideas for dressing up hot dogs in the article…y’know, so you can do it “right”!

And as always, “The weenie tempts you!”

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!