Midday Open Thread

• John Aravosis at Americablog has launched a boycott:

  We are launching today a donor boycott of the DNC. It's really more of a "pause," than a boycott. Boycotts sounds so final, and angry. Whereas this campaign is temporary, and is only meant to help some friends - President Obama and the Democratic party - who have lost their way. We are hopeful that via this campaign, our friends will keep their promises.

  So please sign the Petition and take a Pledge to no longer donate to the DNC, Organizing for America, or the Obama campaign until the President and the Democratic party keep their promises to the gay community, our families, and our friends.

• Here are Time's top ten races that the GOP needs to worry about.
• Oklahoma progressives -- a lonely thing to be -- are protesting that state's latest assault on women's reproductive rights.
• Teabaggers aren't taking kindly to Joseph Cao's (R-LA) yes vote on heath care reform legislation Saturday night.
• Meow.
• Sarah Palin continues to peddle her special brand of crazy:

  Noting that there had been a lot of "change" of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase "In God We Trust" had been moved to the edge of the new coins.

  "Who calls a shot like that?" she demanded. "Who makes a decision like that?"

  She added: "It’s a disturbing trend."

  Unsaid but implied was that the new Democratic White House was behind such a move to secularize the nation’s currency.

  Except one teeny, tiny detail:

  But the new coins – concerns over which apparently stemmed from an email chain letter widely circulated among conservatives – were commissioned by the Republican-led Congress in 2005 and approved by President Bush.

• On the bright side, these people will be taking an express elevator to hell when they finally stop wasting oxygen on earth.
• Three American hikers are now facing espionage charges in Iran.
• Today marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• Someone in the traditional media gets around to wondering about the "GOP's women problem."
• For anyone breathlessly following the tweets of Levi Johnston, stop!

  After actor William Shatner performed a dramatic reading of some of his tweets on Conan O’Brien’s show, the Tonight Show host has apologized for the error, saying, "I’d like to apologize personally to Levi Johnston and his lawyer and publicist for misrepresenting him in any way. Levi is clearly a great American. We wish him the best of luck as he trains for his upcoming naked photo shoot."