Wednesday Open Thread

49
  by: Colorado Pols Wed June 20, 2012 at 3:29 PM MDT

“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”

–William James


Full story: Wednesday Open Thread

49 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. davebarnesdavebarnes says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 4:09 PM MDT

    Obama Leads in Poll as Voters View Romney as Out of Touch

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/…

    Obama leads Romney 53 percent to 40 percent among likely voters

    I would call this an “outlier”.

  2. Libertad says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 4:19 PM MDT

    Mrs Obama will be in Colorado today to speak to campaign supporters, others need not attend as she is not here to speak with you.

    Note: Photo IDs and tickets are required for attendance

    • SSG_Dan says:
      Wed June 20, 2012 at 4:51 PM MDT

      …she’s going to be meeting with the City & County of Denver’s Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program manager, and talk with the Veteran Service officer about how this administration can continue to support veteran programs.

      They were just awarded a $300K grant from the Dept of Labor, which you’ll probably complain in a later post is some sort of illegal immigrant/union boss/gay agenda payoff for votes.

      But, hey, I understand you might have missed those facty-things….I hear the Diablo III Expansion pack is pretty cool.

    • Libertad 2.0 says:
      Wed June 20, 2012 at 5:24 PM MDT

      The National Weather Service in Colorado has issued a severe bullshit watch expiring on November 6th for the vicinity directly around Libertad’s keyboard.

    • BlueCat says:
      Wed June 20, 2012 at 9:22 PM MDT

      track of the number of people. Naturally, there was airport like security (though we kept our shoes on) so, yes they asked for ID and a look into purse, etc. I wouldn’t jump to conclusions about how someone without photo ID would have been handled before checking into it.  My guess is an elderly person without photo ID would probably have been able to work something out but I’d have to check on that with someone in charge.

      When I got my ticket yesterday, nobody asked me my party affiliation, though they could have had all my info on the computer since I am registered. Yes, one is always asked about volunteering but nobody was turned away for declining. In general Colorado Dems, this being by no means a blue state, seek and welcome support from outside the Dem party. In my HD and SD it isn’t possible for Dems to get elected without some outside the lines support and some have managed to do so as did  Ken Salazar, Ritter,  Hickenlooper, my old HD Rep. Joe Rice and my State Senator Linda Newell.

      It was a great, packed event (bleachers and standing area).  Michelle Obama was wonderful and, as with all the speakers, the message was focused on Obama’s accomplishments and vision for the next four years, not on attacking Romney. She also spoke about their backgrounds and how those backgrounds informed their dreams for themselves, their children, all children and future generations of working Americans.  She came equipped with facts and figures and looked spectacular.

      As usual, ‘tad, you don’t know what you’re talking about.    

  3. SSG_Dan says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 5:02 PM MDT

    Problem, people are starting to notice all the ginormous checks they write to the SuperPacs…and for some strange reason, they get upset that they’re being outed!

    Amazing how billionaires get so upset when they’re required to follow Federal law…


    Big Political Donors Shy Away From Public Scrutiny

    Several dozen wealthy donors have taken advantage of this post-Citizens United world, writing seven-figure checks to political superPACs.

    Yet it seems there’s something wealthy donors weren’t counting on when they wrote those checks – attracting attention, including from the political opposition and the media.

    “There’s been a ton of so-called electronic media journalists that have lodged all kinds of innuendo in my direction, accused me of all kinds of bad things,” says Frank VanderSloot, who wrote checks totaling $1 million to Restore Our Future, the superPAC supporting GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

    The money came through his company, Melaleuca, which uses Amway-style marketing to sell cleaning products.

    Any superPAC donor who gives more than $200 has to be reported to the Federal Election Commission, and that information is released to the public. That’s how journalists found out about VanderSloot’s donation and began looking into him.

    That’s how President Obama’s campaign got VanderSloot’s name, too. On a website called Keeping GOP Honest, the Obama campaign posted a list of big donors to the pro-Romney superPAC, including VanderSloot.

    http://www.npr.org/2012/06/20/…

    Now, Im sure our resident RomneyBot minions will hoot and screech about the news source, so here’s another – with a reporter from that Commie-pinko news outlet Bloomberg:


    Sheldon Adelson: GOP’s million dollar man

    Bloomberg View columnist William Cohan joins MSNBC’s Martin Bashir to discuss Sheldon Adelson, the man who reportedly has spent or pledged $71 million to Republican candidates and causes, and where his money and interests lie.

    http://video.msnbc.msn.com/mar…

    Not that all of this scrutiny is helping the other Republican’t Propagandists – Karl Rove has just been ordered by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to reveal the list of secret donors to Crossroads GPS, as the panel of Judges has seen thru his unsupportable bullshit and declare that this organization “fit the definition of a political committee, and NOT a ‘social welfare’ non profit.”

    http://www.motherjones.com/moj…

    The new Republican’t strategy – we’ve got JACK SHIT for new ideas and plans to help the United States, so we’ll fucking buy the election.

  4. Libertad 2.0 says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 5:22 PM MDT

    why do so many more likely voters self-ID as Democrats and not Republicans?

  5. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 5:27 PM MDT

    From Tunisia, The Future Of Wind Power?

    Instead, Saphon’s “Zero Blade” technology uses a stationary circular sail, approximately 4 feet in diameter, attached to the top of a pole. As the wind moves the sail back and forth, a hydraulic system captures the kinetic energy and converts it into mechanical energy. The system can also store the mechanical energy as hydraulic pressure, to be deployed later, when there is no wind.

  6. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 5:31 PM MDT

    What will human beings do? We are ½ way to fully automated cinematographers.

    In the past improvements that eliminated large sectors of jobs also created large new sectors. The shift from farming to working in a factory being one big example. But what is occurring now is replacing people with automated systems and there is nothing new on the horizon for those displaced workers.

  7. VanDammerVanDammer says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 6:00 PM MDT

    Queen “and sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us” Ann Romney’s dressage horse Rafalca is headed to the London Olympics (tally ho …).  Yeppers, them Romney’s are just like you & me & the rest of the 99% in our daily struggles.

    BTW, dressage (or horse ballet) owners think nothing of dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars on a contender and then ya got training, board, and travel which easily runs another $200,000/yr but hey everyone needs a simple hobby.

    Another btw — busy little Mitten tax accountants have been banking losses on the horse dance hobby to the tune of $70,000/yr (per released tax filings) that will soon come to fruition as handy tax deductions.  More proof of just how expensive it is to be rich.    

    • ProgressiveCowgirlProgressiveCowgirl says:
      Wed June 20, 2012 at 10:37 PM MDT

      Dressage is not just horse ballet. It’s the most historically significant form of animal training in the world, tracing its roots back to Xenophon, the first author in recorded history to suggest that humans and animals can work together most successfully through training that is rewarding and pleasant for both — thousands of years before the force-free and positive reinforcement training movements replaced Koehler-style compulsion training in most of the world.

      Not to mention that many modern dressage movements are descended directly from training used for warhorses as recently as the early twentieth century. The airs above the ground (which will NOT be exhibited at the Olympics) were originally used to disperse enemy footsoldiers.

      Training an Olympic-level dressage horse takes incredible skill, patience, and luck. Owners willing to spend big bucks supporting a horse they’ll really never be good enough to ride are very important to the preservation of this ancient art. Every great trainer needs a few benefactors willing to buy the best prospects and support them out of love for the sport.

      Mitt Romney’s accountants, on the other hand, can all go muck a stall as far as I’m concerned. Everyone knows that the “horse business” is never, ever profitable if you’re doing it right.

      • Ralphie says:
        Wed June 20, 2012 at 10:41 PM MDT

        Training an Olympic-level dressage horse takes incredible skill, patience, and luck.

        You farm it out to the help, in which case all it takes is money.

        • ProgressiveCowgirlProgressiveCowgirl says:
          Wed June 20, 2012 at 10:53 PM MDT

          Call me an arugula-munching liberal elitist if you like, but I have no problem with the wealthy spending a modest amount of their riches ($70k/year is very modest for a Romney) on acting as benefactors to the arts of their choice.

          Horse training is not a lucrative enough career to allow most trainers to buy their own Olympic prospects. There’s no greater blessing to these incredibly skilled sportsmen/women and artists than a rich person willing to buy and import an Olympic-level prospect and then sit politely in the bleachers as it wins ribbons.  

      • VanDammerVanDammer says:
        Thu June 21, 2012 at 12:55 AM MDT

        the nut of it is that the “sport” fundamentally celebrates the exploitation and waste of beautifully majestic animals to further mans’ inherent selfishness, violence, and destruction. And today it’s just a show for the 1% “winners” to display their dominance of animals and class superiority — I get it.    

        It is a further example of how impossibly removed Mitten’s & Queen Ann are from day-to-day reality.  You know Queen Ann is also on record complaining about their poor college student struggle where Mitt was stuck cashing out his trust & daddy’s AMC stocks just so they could survive.  Almost just like my story and the 3 jobs I worked so my BA wouldn’t guarantee me a life of macaroni & kool-aid when I struck out to make my way.  

        And now this Bloomington Hills, MI princess (median income about $200K these days) gets to dabble (yearly) in pissing away more money than what most folks spend 30 yrs in paying down on a mortgage.  Mitt & Ann are just like us — same hobbies and same struggles only writ large.  Don’t ya luv ‘em some?  

        • ProgressiveCowgirlProgressiveCowgirl says:
          Thu June 21, 2012 at 1:26 AM MDT

          But I don’t see how Ann’s horse habit is any different from any other wealthy person who supports the arts in some way. I may be biased, but upper-level dressage training takes a hell of a lot more hard work and sacrifice than making a pretty painting, and I don’t hear anyone criticizing art collectors or people who donate to the human ballet (which, by the way, could be construed to “celebrate” child abuse given the effects of toe shoes) for “pissing away” money, except maybe the Tea Party.

          It’s great that we’re enlightened enough now only to put our own sons and daughters in harm’s way in war zones, rather than horses. Well, a few puppies still go to war, too. But the human ability to work at an incredibly sophisticated level with horses may well have saved the life of one of your ancestors or one of mine, for all we know. It certainly contributed enormously to the formation of the geopolitical landscape of today, since the side with the best warhorses tended to win wars up until gunpowder became king.

          This is a sport and art worth preserving. Ann Romney’s support of it does not make her a bad person. It does, to some extent, underscore the foolishness of her husband’s attempt to be “just like everyone else,” and it does help to make her look pretty silly when she beats that particular drum herself.

          • Diogenesdemar says:
            Thu June 21, 2012 at 1:40 AM MDT

            and Ann .  .  . it’s not like she’s some kind of out-of-touch, flip-flopping, Francophile wind-surfer . . .  

          • Ralphie says:
            Thu June 21, 2012 at 3:44 AM MDT

            That PCG fully supports the right of the rich to spend their money on horse dancing instead of building roads or staffing schools.

            I move we take the “P” off of her acronym.

            • ProgressiveCowgirlProgressiveCowgirl says:
              Thu June 21, 2012 at 4:00 AM MDT

              Individual rich people are not obliged to spend their money building roads or staffing schools. In fact, if they wanted to do so, I don’t think there’s even a current mechanism for them to do so without privatizing roads and schools. They are obligated to pay their taxes, so we can hope that in his second term Barack Obama fixes whatever tax code loophole lets her consider the ownership of a single internationally competitive horse a business.

              But yes, I support the right of rich people to spend their disposable income on whatever they damn well please. I hope you’re at least equally incensed about the racecars driven by John McCain’s wife in dangerous, expensive drift racing contests.

              The state has the right to deduct a percentage of rich people’s incomes from their paychecks/capital gains to build roads and staff schools. Is Ann Romney to blame for the federal government’s thus far failing to increase taxes on the 1% to a level that keeps our roads and schools in good repair? If so, burn the witch, but I’d have to see some evidence first.

              • Fidel's dirt nap says:
                Thu June 21, 2012 at 4:17 AM MDT

                that their jobs were sacrificed so Ann could participate in dressage events.  Kind of takes the sting off.

                • ProgressiveCowgirlProgressiveCowgirl says:
                  Thu June 21, 2012 at 8:02 AM MDT

                  This is getting ridiculous. If Ann Romney ate whole wheat toast, I’m sure someone here would criticize her for snubbing union-made corn tortillas. If she spread organic jam on it, she’d be flaunting her wealth. This is the kind of thing that makes liberals seem like busybodies. Raise her taxes, as we should, but you can leave off auditing the hobbies she chooses to participate in with the disposable income generated by a system that has not yet been reformed to be less favorable to people with her wealth.

                  By the way, Steven Spielberg’s kids have expensive horses, too. I hope you’ll boycott his movies now, since expensive horses are so much less acceptable than cars, boats, and planes.

                  • sxp151 says:
                    Thu June 21, 2012 at 11:55 AM MDT

                    and he should be slapped with a punitive estate tax that leaves his spoiled kids with nothing.

                    Expensive horses are pretty much exactly as bad as expensive cars, boats, and planes, except they’re slightly worse since they come from selective breeding which is bad for animals’ health and completely unnatural. But yeah, all those things are terrible.

                    I’ve boycotted every Spielberg movie since that racist piece of shit Amistad, which probably bought his kids a couple sets of diamond horseshoes.

                  • Fidel's dirt nap says:
                    Thu June 21, 2012 at 6:24 PM MDT

                    Ruining workers livelihoods, careers, and generally fucking people over so you can engage in frivolous horse activities for the elite is OK as long as you personally approve the activity.  I totally see the logic in the exception.

                    Its like saying Mitt Romney golfs and I occasionally golf too, so lets give him a pass on all the shitty things he did to enable him to do so, because I like golf !

              • Ralphie says:
                Thu June 21, 2012 at 4:21 AM MDT

                Then you don’t have much of a point to make.

                Fuck you and have a nice day.

              • sxp151 says:
                Thu June 21, 2012 at 11:49 AM MDT

                Cindy McCain is a horrible person, and drift racing is a contemptible activity.

          • sxp151 says:
            Thu June 21, 2012 at 7:49 AM MDT

            But this is far from a convincing case. I want to picture something other than “Best in Show” but I can’t.  Rich people need to have all horse-dancing funds confiscated by law.  

            • ProgressiveCowgirlProgressiveCowgirl says:
              Thu June 21, 2012 at 7:59 AM MDT

              Doesn’t mean other people don’t have the right to spend their own money on it.

              Vote for a tax increase and fewer tax deductions for the rich. So will I. But if Ann Romney cuts back on the yachts and keeps her horse when her taxes go up, good for her.

              Ride a dressage horse sometime. I guarantee you’ll notice a few differences between that and “Best in Show.” Namely, you can probably walk a show dog, but with no experience you’ll never get an upper level dressage horse to perform. Equestrians are athletes. I have a long list of broken bones and other various injuries, and I’ve never even made it to the upper levels.

              It’s hypocritical to mock Ann Romney for what is, comparatively, a modestly expensive hobby. Buying one Italian supercar could easily cost as much as this horse will cost Ann in its lifetime. Yet, many people would jump at the opportunity to own one.  

    • CaninesCanines says:
      Wed June 20, 2012 at 10:51 PM MDT

      And that ain’t a class warfare kind of comment or anything!

      http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06…

      Four years ago, when he was just a well-heeled civilian in search of a quiet beach house, Mr. Romney paid $12 million for a three-bedroom Spanish-style villa with unobstructed views of the Pacific and a rich history: Maureen O’Connor, the former mayor of San Diego, once lived there, and Richard Gere had used it as a vacation rental.

  8. Diogenesdemar says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 6:02 PM MDT

    at the 9/11 Mememorial Security Line . . . first impression — nice enough fountain, I guess . . . gotta be lots more Interesting things to do when you’re in NYC . . . my recommendation — skip this . . . call me a heretic.  

  9. Libertad says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 7:22 PM MDT

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06…

    Apparently Fast and Furious has taken a turn for the worse for with Team Obama.

    Anyone with background and why Obama has to assert executive privilege to protect this guy from interfacing with Congress?

    Why is Obama blocking Congress from conducting their constitutional duties?

    Why won’t Holder share his documents with peer government officials?

  10. AristotleAristotle says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 11:03 PM MDT

    Colbert on Mitt Romney’s dressage-competing horse Rafalca:

    http://www.colbertnation.com/t…

  11. SSG_Dan says:
    Wed June 20, 2012 at 11:26 PM MDT

    …looks like the “tough on national security” scam the Republican’t party keeps running on America is about to take another hit….

    New NSA docs contradict 9/11 claims

    Over 120 CIA documents concerning 9/11, Osama bin Laden and counterterrorism were published today for the first time, having been newly declassified and released to the National Security Archive. The documents were released after the NSA pored through the footnotes of the 9/11 Commission and sent Freedom of Information Act requests.

    The material contains much new information about the hunt before and after 9/11 for bin Laden, the development of the drone campaign in AfPak, and al-Qaida’s relationship with America’s ally, Pakistan. Perhaps most damning are the documents showing that the CIA had bin Laden in its cross hairs a full year before 9/11 – but didn’t get the funding from the Bush administration White House to take him out or even continue monitoring him.



    The CIA materials directly contradict the many claims of Bush officials that it was aggressively pursuing al-Qaida prior to 9/11, and that nobody could have predicted the attacks.     “I don’t think the Bush administration would want to see these released, because they paint a picture of the CIA knowing something would happen before 9/11, but they didn’t get the institutional support they needed,” says Barbara Elias-Sanborn, the NSA fellow who edited the materials.

    http://www.salon.com/2012/06/1…

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