Open Line Friday!

30
  by: Colorado Pols Fri June 29, 2012 at 3:36 PM MDT

“This bill is death panels.”

–Rush Limbaugh, yesterday


Full story: Open Line Friday!

30 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. AristotleAristotle says:
    Fri June 29, 2012 at 3:45 PM MDT

    You can’t make this up.

    “We achieved our goal of defeating the mandate on commerce clause grounds,” our state’s top lawyer told a confused press corps. “It was a clear victory for federalism.”

    Really.

    Huh. And all this time I thought the lawsuit was about health care reform or something, when McKenna’s real goal was just a principled defense of a technical interpretation of the commerce clause. Who knew? (Talk about making lemonade out of a shit sandwich.)

  2. parsingreality says:
    Fri June 29, 2012 at 3:57 PM MDT

    ……we’ve always been at war with Oceania.

    No wonder the left can’t fight back.  Just like most of us can’t and don’t think like criminals, we can’t imagine them making this kind of lemonade after being handed a turd.  

  3. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Fri June 29, 2012 at 5:27 PM MDT

    Texas GOP’s 2012 Platform Opposes Teaching Of ‘Critical Thinking Skills’

    We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

    • BlueCat says:
      Fri June 29, 2012 at 6:54 PM MDT

      to think about stuff instead of accepting beliefs “just because”.  

      Seriously, I’m a fan of critical thinking but an enemy of the bias during my son’s years in school against “content” which really means knowledge.  I like knowledge. The mantra was it didn’t matter what you knew as long as you knew how to look it up.  Don’t bother to learn “content”.  Just learn how to learn because there’s so much information out there and it changes.

      The result was a lot of kids with no idea of the general geography of their country or world, no basic US or world history time line knowledge, no basic science framework etc. Most weren’t exactly running to look any of this stuff up with those learning to learn skills. Most of what my son learned about the world, he learned on his own as an avid reader curious about the world with little help from his schooling. Not every kid will want to do that on their own or have the resources to.

      I do think we all need to learn critical thinking including formal logic, deductive and inductive reasoning, how to analyze a case made to us and to cogently present and defend a case ourselves. We should all learn how to do research to learn about whatever we find ourselves needing or just wanting to know. It would put the Rush Limbaughs out of business. But I also think those skills should be used to, you know, learn some basic stuff that people need to know, some of which isn’t really going to be everyone’s idea of fun.

      • DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
        Fri June 29, 2012 at 8:00 PM MDT

        Both on the need to learn well the basic facts so you know what to look up and how to put it in context. And I very much wanted my kids to be challenged – I loved it when they would come home and argue with me on some topic based on what they had learned in school.

    • DaftPunkDaftPunk says:
      Fri June 29, 2012 at 8:56 PM MDT

      We oppose the teaching of…critical thinking skills…which focus on…challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

      And yet when the parents’ fixed beliefs about the origin and evolution of life contradict science, the way they sneak anti-evolution beliefs into the curriculum is by encouraging “critical thinking.”

  5. SSG_Dan says:
    Fri June 29, 2012 at 5:50 PM MDT

    …Since (almost) all of the Conservatives are having a temper tantrum like they’re 5 years old over the SCOTUS decision on Obamacare, I’ll let this excellent post explain the law at the same level:


    Okay, explained like you’re a five year-old (well, okay, maybe a bit older), without too much oversimplification, and (hopefully) without sounding too biased:

    What people call “Obamacare” is actually the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, people were calling it “Obamacare” before everyone even hammered out what it would be. It’s a term mostly used by people who don’t like the PPACA, and it’s become popularized in part because PPACA is a really long and awkward name, even when you turn it into an acronym like that.

    Anyway, the PPACA made a bunch of new rules regarding health care, with the purpose of making health care more affordable for everyone. Opponents of the PPACA, on the other hand, feel that the rules it makes take away too many freedoms and force people (both individuals and businesses) to do things they shouldn’t have to.

    So what does it do? Well, here is everything, in the order of when it goes into effect (because some of it happens later than other parts of it):

    (LIST FOLLOWS)

    http://www.reddit.com/r/politi…

  6. Duke Coxdukeco1 says:
    Fri June 29, 2012 at 6:43 PM MDT

    Unless he’s just busy preparing for Armageddon.

    • VanDammerVanDammer says:
      Fri June 29, 2012 at 8:32 PM MDT

      turd experienced quite a neuron shit storm trying to reconcile the ACA decision and it most definitely pushed the limits on turd’s critical pondering capacity.

      Only thing that went the tightie-rightie way was that “tax” hook to hang their hatred.  They don’t even bother to know what it means but somebody said “tax” and they bit on it like ornery badgers.      

      • bobewegen says:
        Sat June 30, 2012 at 12:50 AM MDT

        turd experienced quite a neuron shit storm trying to reconcile the ACA decision and it most definitely pushed the limits on turd’s critical pondering capacity.

          That is very low.  By comparison, a ham sandwich is 5.1 Romneys on the pondering scale, or 7.3 if it includes mayo.

         

  7. Fidel's dirt nap says:
    Fri June 29, 2012 at 9:38 PM MDT

    Katie Holmes made a bold and daring escape from the compound, apparently by tying 6 bedsheets together and shimmying down the wall, and got to a phone.

  9. SSG_Dan says:
    Sat June 30, 2012 at 12:43 AM MDT

    Justice Department won’t prosecute Attorney General Holder for contempt of Congress

    The Justice Department declared Friday that Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to withhold information about a bungled gun-tracking operation from Congress does not constitute a crime and he won’t be prosecuted for contempt of Congress.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

    Repeat after me, Repubs – EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE. before you start hooting about things, perhaps you shouldn’t have let Dubya use that line so many times.

    That is all.

  10. ClubTwittyClubTwitty says:
    Sat June 30, 2012 at 1:07 AM MDT

    @PatDollard: If George Washington were alive today, he would shoot John Roberts in the head, pluck out his eyes, and piss on his brain.

  11. ProgressiveCowgirlProgressiveCowgirl says:
    Sat June 30, 2012 at 1:44 AM MDT

    I think this is taking things a bit far…

    Hi (PCG)–

    We’re reviewing our Democratic supporter records in advance of tomorrow’s Federal Election Commission (FEC) deadline. Your record is copied and pasted below:

    Supporter record: (a series of numbers)

    Name: (PCG)

    2012 Online Support: (Amount)

    Suggested support: (Amount)

    If you’re planning to contribute to our campaign to win a Democratic Majority for President Obama, it’s critical that you make your donation in the next 24 hours. Tomorrow is the midyear FEC reporting deadline of the 2012 general election. We’re relying on your support: 80% of our contributions are $35 or less.

    You can click this personalized link to make your contribution of (amount) or more today >>

    Thanks for standing with us.

    Brandon English

    DCCC Digital Director

    P.S. Our records show your email address as (username)@(domain).com. If you’ve made a contribution offline or our records are incorrect, and you have made a recent online donation, please click here to let us know.

    I’m not so much personally offended as I am concerned that donors in general will find this off-putting. It’s a bit like those letters people in tithing religions get from their churches sometimes with “suggested pledge” amounts, complete with later reminders that they haven’t made their suggested pledge yet. I don’t know; perhaps it’ll be effective, but I have yet to meet the person who feels better about giving out of shame than out of gratitude or excitement.

    What do y’all think?

    • ClubTwittyClubTwitty says:
      Sat June 30, 2012 at 2:23 AM MDT

      I know when and how much I can give.  I don’t mind a reminder that its the end of the reporting period, but its set up to almost make it look like a pledge.  Like they want you to feel obligated.  

      Its like when charities send me unsolicited cheap crap thinking it will increase my likelihood of donation.  Actually it has the opposite effect–I keep the address labels or the shiny nickle they send and trash the solicitation.  I give my money away when I can–to charity and to politics.  But I hate such transparent gimmicks.  

    • MADCO says:
      Sat June 30, 2012 at 4:47 AM MDT

      No dead Nigerian minister or anything, but a sam all the same.

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