Tuesday Open Thread

46
  by: Colorado Pols Tue August 21, 2012 at 3:32 PM MDT

“Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.”

–Publilius Syrus


Full story: Tuesday Open Thread

46 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. dwyer says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 3:53 PM MDT

    I wrote about this last week. Now, City Council has pulled a proposed commendation for this company because of the exception it sought and got.  I cite this because of its political implications.


    If you want something to cry about, I will give you something to cry about.

    Judge Kane, on July 27th, ruled that a local business – private, for profit – did not have to comply with the HSS ruling on providing contraceptive and other reproductive service coverage in the insurance that they offered to their employees, because it would violate

    their religious beliefs.  Kane ruled:

    “that the government’s arguments are countered, and indeed out-weighted, by the public interest in the free exercise of religion.”

    Here is the link:

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic…

    I always thought that Kane was very liberal.

    Romney should release his medical records.  At 66, he may have early onset dementia.

    by: dwyer @ Thu Aug 16, 2012 at 11:39:32 AM MDT

    [ Reply ]

  2. taterheaptom says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 4:05 PM MDT

    Mitt picked wrong running mate

    Mitt Romney totally missed his chance to select a true religious conservative running mate. He should have selected Tim Tebow!

    Carl Heck

    Aspen

    http://www.postindependent.com…

    • MADCO says:
      Tue August 21, 2012 at 4:20 PM MDT

      Scripture is without error (inerrant)

      I know a lot of people believe that.  But they aren’t Mormon and they aren’t presidential.  Ryan gets 2000 years of political cover from the Pope. And 40+ years of cover form JFK on.

  3. Libertad says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 4:19 PM MDT

    Obama must feel like he got ass raped …. I nearly toppled out of my chair.



    “Hit the Road, Barack – Why We Need a New President” says the cover “Obama’s Gotta Go” the article proclaims within.



    Just what the heck happened at Newsweek? Did they let some Republican reporter out of the closet or unchain her/him in the basement? Or is there some warped Democrat movement to recognize the facts and Obamas failure?

    • taterheaptom says:
      Tue August 21, 2012 at 4:29 PM MDT

      First, it is not a ‘reporter’ it is a columnist.  I am pretty sure even a cretin such as yourself can distinguish between the two.

      But the intertubz are not too kind on old royalist Niall, eviscerating pretty much all of his ‘arguments’ and pointing out how intentionally misleading he is being–knowing perhaps that his side needs to lie, lie, lie in order to elect the terrible candidate you have selected.

      I like how Tina Brown admits Newsweek no longer even bothers to check a writer’s facts…

      • Libertad says:
        Tue August 21, 2012 at 4:45 PM MDT

        Yet, he’s not going after Krugam ….  

        Ferguson, a Harvard history professor and Newsweek columnist, wrote in the magazine’s Aug. 27 cover story that Obama should lose the upcoming election because the president has broken his promises. Ferguson says Obama has not created enough jobs, fixed the financial system or controlled health care costs or the national debt.

        He also wrote that in “Obama’s America, nearly half the population is not represented on a taxable return. [...] half of us [are] paying the taxes, the other half receiving the benefits.”

        same source that you went to for your “original thought” above

        • ClubTwittyClubTwitty says:
          Tue August 21, 2012 at 4:50 PM MDT

          A Newsweek ‘columnist’ and not a ‘reporter.’  That’ a start Tadpole.

          Historian and former John McCain adviser Niall Ferguson is taking his turn today as the Newsweek cover story punching bag for his latest, “Why We Need a New President.”

          …


          Ferguson came back with a quibbling rebuttal: “But I very deliberately said ‘the insurance coverage provisions of the ACA,’ not ‘the ACA.’ There is a big difference.” To which Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider scoffed, “So Ferguson’s response was: Well, the spending/insurance portion of the Affordable Care Act did increase the deficit, and I was only referring to the spending side. I wasn’t referring to the whole thing … Niall Ferguson’s defense is that he was being very obtuse and misleading.”

          …

          Economist Brad DeLong is even harsher with regards to the ACA claim:

             Fire his ass. Fire his ass from Newsweek, and the Daily Beast. Convene a committee at Harvard to examine whether he has the moral character to teach at a university. There is a limit, somewhere. And Ferguson has gone beyond it.

          And that’s just one minor point – it’s only the very beginning. Ferguson’s own Newsweek colleague Andrew Sullivan calls his “old and good friend” out for his “glaring omissions” and “sleight of hand.” Sullivan promises, “More to come. The piece is sadly so ridden with errors and elisions and non-sequiturs it will require a few more posts.”

          http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2…

          And on and on and on and on…

    • AristotleAristotle says:
      Tue August 21, 2012 at 5:10 PM MDT

      “Obama must feel like he got ass raped.”

      Anyway, you’re WAY behind the times. This opinion piece has been pilloried for its unethical distortions and fabrications, and even Ferguson came out with a sort of pseudo-apology for it. (Links to multiple criticisms and Ferguson’s response at this story.)

      But at least we got to see your true, naked self here. Homophobic, sadistic, school at midnight.

      • BlueCat says:
        Tue August 21, 2012 at 6:15 PM MDT

        but since then has gone completely down the tubes as a quality weekly anyway. I took Newsweek for years but cancelled long ago along with everyone else I know. Don’t bother to check it online either. My folks subscribed from the time I can remember (and I’m no spring chicken) and my mom doesn’t even take it anymore.

        If the cover story hadn’t been reported as a story in itself you could probably fit the number of people besides New York and DC pundits and pols who even noticed it into a phone booth.

        So conservative jackass Ferguson isn’t an Obama fan and Tina Brown isn’t a serious journalist. Stop the presses.

      • rocco says:
        Tue August 21, 2012 at 6:28 PM MDT

        The last time I was in town, this loaded diaper was disrespecting a United States Military combat veteran, refusing to address pinko obstructionism, and hyping the drudge report as news.

        Now this.

        The “ass raped” insult belongs along side the “silverback” incident.

        So he’s probably a kid, poorly raised, with no sense of respect or ability to critically function.

        Unfortunately, he’s also the embodiment of who and what will be legislating if the pinkos win.

        That this “libertad”, like akin and hank williams, blurts what the bowels of the red base proudly scream and their “elected” representatives silently advocate, speaks volumes about the choices we’ll make in November.

        Imagine a scenario where someone with his thought process is in a position to legislate unencumbered.    

      • Libertad says:
        Tue August 21, 2012 at 6:46 PM MDT

        Rapists don’t discriminate….anyone can be sodomized, ass raped, etc….

        Rape is in that special class of crime with murder and physical/mental abuse.

        I’m somewhat shocked that you object to Obama being, in my words ass raped. I was trying to project for you liberal leftists that he likely feels a major crime was conducted on his person.

        For Newsweek, a known leftist publication, to allow such a story let alone the cover shot that evokes a darker skinned than normal Obama, back turned to the reader, mouth agape, walking away from the reader …. is devastating.

        Let’s face it, Newsweek did a number on Obama and his presidency …. ass raped, sodomized, skull fucked …. you fill in the appropriate verbs and adverbs.

        I want to be truthful to your perspective here …. 8%++ unemployment – 50M+ on food stamps – massive joblessness among youth, blacks, latinos, women, black youth – failure to fix financial institutions – failure to bend healthcare cost curves – kickbacks and special protections for drug companies – crony capitalism ….. they’re all lies right? These facts laid out by Newsweek are 100% lies and thus he was sodomized with the pen of Newsweek, right?

        It’s worse too, if it can be worse that is. From your perspective this is much like the raping by a person in a position of trust.

        • ClubTwittyClubTwitty says:
          Tue August 21, 2012 at 6:57 PM MDT

          I heard the word for a Saltine got someone booted…yet Tadpole spouts nothing but objectionable hate-filled, ugly language in every post.  

          Sure, its good to have some ideological diversity, but seriously…the President being ‘ass-raped’ and ‘skull fucked’ is OK on this board?  Not to me.  

          What a POS disgusting excuse for a human being, IMO, and wasting space and resources on our limited planet.  I for one would not be sad if he was kicked off Pols once and for all.  What a turd.  

        • RedGreenRedGreen says:
          Tue August 21, 2012 at 7:11 PM MDT

          What is wrong with you? Seriously.

        • rocco says:
          Tue August 21, 2012 at 7:13 PM MDT

          Stop screwing around and get to work.

          That’s something you should address pretty quick.

          You’re gonna get tossed this time.  

  4. MADCO says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 4:27 PM MDT

    Stop the press. OMG! The McCain campaign is coming out in support of Romney?

    Shocked. Shocked I tell you.

  6. AristotleAristotle says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 5:28 PM MDT

    Did you know that the phrase “Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan” is an anagram of “My ultimate Ayn Rand Porn?” This might be the best political anagram since Ronald Wilson Reagan/Insane Anglo Warlord.

  7. MADCO says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 6:05 PM MDT

    1) “Tough justice for predators”

    So if one of your daughters was raped, should the law require her to bear the rapist’s child?

    If the rapist was prosecuted, and convicted, should the law require you to raise your rapist’s child as your grandchild?

    If your daughter raised the child on her own, and was eligible for medicare and other public benefits, should she be subjected to a drug test?

    2) “wrong words”

    The question at the time was “Should abortion be legal in the case of rape.”  This non-apology apology does not answer the question.

    Should it?

  8. BlueCat says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 6:37 PM MDT

    about serious election concerns in several Colorado counties including marking ballots in a way that makes them traceable and a Teller County Republican County Clerk judged so incompetent as a result of her handling of the recent primary, her own party is asking her to step down and Gessler’s office has determined that she “failed to plan for and document the most remedial aspects of elections”.  

    Seems the problems in Teller included mail ballots with no signature line and affidavit, a staff not trained to use the elections data base, poor security and more than half of the equipment not working.  But, until now, weeks before the presidential election, what have we been hearing about from Gessler most often? That voter fraud is a such a serious problem no measures are too draconian to be appropriate for countering the threat to our democratic process!

    Right. John Stewart may be a comic with a fake news show but his stats are always real:

    “I’m gonna say it’s bigger than ringworm and less than Bieber fever,” he said. But a study by National Republican (my emphasis) Lawyer Association only found 340 cases over course of ten years. “Oh my god!” Stewart said in mock concern. “That’s almost 0.7 cases per state per year!”

    http://news.yahoo.com/jon-stew…

    Nothing to do with voter suppression.  Nothing to see here.

     

    • rocco says:
      Tue August 21, 2012 at 7:04 PM MDT

      They’ve calculated that 133 million Americans will attempt to vote this election.

      Without the rigged judiciary, the voter suppression, and citizens united, they lose in a land slide.

      There simply aren’t enough pissed off old white evangelical right wing goobers and millionaires to pull it off any more.

      There are only 60 million pinkos. The same ilk that voted for palin will lever up for any red over a not completely white President. Between Florida, Ohio, Colorado and Pennsylvania, and the 76 electoral votes that they bring, that 12 million voter gap shrinks to minuscule size, and the red SOS’ and Governors will do the rest election night.

      8 to 10 million Americans nation wide will be denied their right to vote

      That’s the plan.

      Don’t ever doubt it.    

  9. ClubTwittyClubTwitty says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 7:00 PM MDT

    RULE #3: CAN’T WRITE NICE? THEN GO SOMEWHERE ELSE

    SENTENCE: Ranges from permanent ban to temporary banishment to the Pols Penalty Box

    Please limit unnecessary vulgarity or unnecessary and childish name-calling. Some is okay, but please don’t let it get excessive. This is a hard thing to quantify, but we think the old saying about pornography is a good example: You may not know how to explain it, but you know it when you see it.

  10. SSG_Dan says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 9:10 PM MDT

    The past several weeks have made one thing crystal-clear: Our country faces unmitigated disaster if the Other Side wins.

    The past several weeks have made one thing crystal-clear: Our country faces unmitigated disaster if the Other Side wins.

    No reasonably intelligent person can deny this. All you have to do is look at the way the Other Side has been running its campaign. Instead of focusing on the big issues that are important to the American People, it has fired a relentlessly negative barrage of distortions, misrepresentations, and flat-out lies.

    Just look at the Other Side’s latest commercial, which take a perfectly reasonable statement by the candidate for My Side completely out of context to make it seem as if he is saying something nefarious. This just shows you how desperate the Other Side is and how willing it is to mislead the American People.

    http://reason.com/archives/201…

  11. BlueCat says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 9:40 PM MDT

    treating every American Muslim in New York and New Jersey as potential threat.  Sure it must have alienated many, encouraged ant-Muslim bigotry, maybe even drove a few vulnerable teens into the ranks of extremism, but when you look at all the crime they stopped, the plots uncovered and how much safer we are?  Oh, wait.

    NEW YORK – In more than six years of spying on Muslim neighborhoods, eavesdropping on conversations and cataloguing mosques, the New York Police Department’s secret Demographics Unit never generated a lead or triggered a terrorism investigation (my emphasis), the department acknowledged in court testimony unsealed late Monday.

    Kind of reminds me of the dire measures we need to take against voter fraud.  But at least they’ve found .07 cases of that per state per year over the past 10 years.

  12. SSG_Dan says:
    Tue August 21, 2012 at 10:23 PM MDT

    Free speech protests after former Marine is seized by FBI for psychiatric testing after anti-government Facebook posts



    An ex-marine involuntarily detained for psychiatric questioning after posting anti-establishment messages on his Facebook page has sparked an outpouring of support from protestors who say the move is against his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

    Brandon J. Raub who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan was seized by authorities in Virginia’s Chesterfield County last Thursday for posting ‘ominous posts’ which refer to an upcoming revolution.

    According to Authorities one message put up by the 26-year-old earlier this month stated: ‘Sharpen my axe; I’m here to sever heads.’

    After being questioned by secret service agents and the FBI, Mr Raub received a short hearing, before being detained in custody for 30 days.

    Police used a state law which allows emergency, temporary psychiatric commitments upon the recommendation of a mental health professional to hold Mr Raub at the John Randolph Medical Centre in Hopewell, although he has not been charged with any crime.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…

    “Taken into custody” by the local cops at the behest of….someone. Supposedly the “mental health crisis intervention workers.” Who wear dark classes and tell cops what to do.  

    But hey – at least he’s not arrested! THEN he could get a real hearing and actually face the charges of whatever it is he actually did.

    IF some nutjob Teabagger posted this stuff, it’s just another day on the internet. But when a Combat vet posts it, he’s obviously a ticking time bomb who has to be stopped NOW!

    • ScottP says:
      Tue August 21, 2012 at 11:08 PM MDT

      That called to ask the police to do a welfare check on Mr. Raub.

      Then Mr. Raub says a bunch of crazy anti-government stuff to the cops so they contact the FBI and Secret Service because they don’t want to be known as the cops who did nothing.

      Then the cops place him on a mental health hold at the recommendation of a mental health professional.

      And that is where the FBI, Secret Service and law enforcement end their involvement in the incident.

      The 30 day hold is the mental health hospital’s doing, not the cops.

      ————

      I have a hard time believing that you’re upset over this guy being held for mental health reasons after being upset over the report of the record number of Army suicides last month.

    • Diogenesdemar says:
      Wed August 22, 2012 at 3:14 AM MDT

      with ScottP. I don’t have all the facts obviously, but I fail to see this as anything inappropriate or irresponsible — nothing suggests abuse of authority.  And, I have no doubt that there was more disturbing behavior than just some out-of-character Facebook posts made rashly which caused the authorities to act.

      This seems to be exactly what responsible proactive intervention would look like.  I hope Mr. Raub receives the help he needs.  

    • AristotleAristotle says:
      Wed August 22, 2012 at 3:30 AM MDT

      Like the National Enquirer breaking Edwards’ infidelity, I’m still going to wait until a legit news source reports it.

    • GalapagoLarryGalapagoLarry says:
      Wed August 22, 2012 at 8:48 AM MDT

      He’s pointing out the obvious: Teabaggers have brandished a helluvalot more dangerous rhetoric against the government (and individuals, I might add) than this vet did, but this guy got hauled off and the teacrazies are still out there spouting their barely veiled threats (while armed, I might add). And some of them are winning primaries and getting elected to (any irony here?) government positions. In some quarters they’re fucking political heroes.

      My reference to FoxNews? “I would guess…” C’mon, the article (Yes, it’s the Daily Mail, but it’s still reportage.) says “…after posting anti-establishment messages…” Nothing about relatives there. And, please: “I don’t have all the facts obviously, but…” So you’re just conjecturing. Why? All we’re all going on are the Daily Mail “facts” here, Sarge included.

      So I’ll go one big leap further (and Sarge can counter me on this if I’m off base–a very good possibility!): The point is, with our growing awareness of the horrible fuckedupness some of our troops are returning with, are we in danger of painting all vets as potential psychos? Are we denying these men and women their humanity (their anger, their disillusionment, their need to express whatever is on their minds, even, perhaps, new-found political awareness–even with imperfect ability to express themselves) by arbitrarily treating them as suspects and ascribing to them a danger to our society?

      Yes, we have to be sensitive to any conscious or subconscious signals that someone truly needs psychiatric help (which usually doesn’t require 30-day confinement, I might add), but if I’m going to join someone in a “revolution” it’ll be Brandon Raub over lock ‘n reload Palin, that second-amendment-remedy creep in Nevada or Y’all-goin’-to miss-us-when-we-secede Rick Perry. Now those folks need a straight jacket 30-day cooling off period. Certifiable.

      • ScottP says:
        Wed August 22, 2012 at 3:08 PM MDT

        It’s with people trying to claim that the guv’mint is watching your Facebook posts waiting for you to post some crazy Tea Party rhetoric so they have an excuse to lock you up for 30 days.

        The ONLY reasons local law enforcement is going to look into your life is either because you broke the law in front of a cop or someone else called them, that’s it. We don’t have the man-power, funding, interest or authority to watch the internet for crazies.

      • Diogenesdemar says:
        Wed August 22, 2012 at 5:40 PM MDT

        is, despite what the fringe thinks, what would the kind of responsible proactive intervention that we want for folks who do present a legitimate threat to society look like. I’m not giving credence to how the fringe interprets these actions, but this is an example of how the paranoid fringe is always going to interpret appropriate intervention. Regardless of their skewed view, inaction is not the response.

        Yep, teabaggers have said worse, and when they’re a credible threat there should be a response. I’m not buying that in this situation the problem was limited to some Facebook posts.  

      • SSG_Dan says:
        Fri August 24, 2012 at 6:33 PM MDT

        …no one from his support system called for any intervention!

        This Vet finally got a hearing on his status, and the judge immediately freed him:


        Detained Marine veteran now released, per judge’s order

        A Hopewell circuit court judge has ordered that a Marine veteran detained over anti-government Facebook posts be released from a psychiatric hospital.

        CBS 6 News’ Catie Beck said the Judge Allan Sharrett dismissed the case Thursday against Brandon Raub. The judge said the original petition for Raub’s detention contained no facts. In other words, there was no information on why Raub was being held – and the judge deemed this violated his civil liberties.

        As a result, the judge ruled the government had no grounds to hold Raub.

        Beck said the judge is in the process of writing an order for Raub’s release. He is has been released from the hospital in Salem, Virginia Thursday afternoon and is headed home to Chesterfield.

        The decorated U.S. Marine veteran was questioned by FBI agents about his Facebook postings and then hauled away from his Chesterfield County home in handcuffs last Thursday.

        CBS 6 checked his criminal history and found it to be clean. And Brandon Raub’s mother told CBS 6 News’ Mark Holmberg that her son he had no mental health history. [READ MORE: Mother of detained Marine vet says he's a patriot, not a threat]

        “He never was violent or psychotic or anything like that,” Cathleen Thomas told CBS 6. “There were just conversations we had back and forth, very deep.”

        http://wtvr.com/2012/08/23/bra…

        My bitch is that guys who ARE in crisis and asking for help are either told by their military chain of command to “suck it up,” or if they’re vets they’re told by the VHA that the next available appointment is in 6 weeks.

        This vet wasn’t in crisis, wasn’t asking for help, but was bitching about the government on teh Fazebook and it seems to have gotten him arrested.

        Again, I’m certain that if he had a Gadsden flag and “Obama is a Muslim Kenyan Socialist” on this FB profile, he’d be left alone. But since he had “Marine” and “combat Veteran” on his profile, he’s a time bomb that needs to be cuffed and dragged away….

  13. Libertad says:
    Wed August 22, 2012 at 6:21 AM MDT

    As Washington rushed to nationalize the U.S. auto industry with $80 billion in taxpayer “rescue” funds and avoid contested court termination proceedings, the White House auto team and the Treasury Department schemed with Big Labor bosses to preserve UAW members’ costly pension funds by shafting their nonunion counterparts.

    In addition, the nonunion pensioners lost all of their health and life insurance benefits. The abused workers — most from hard-hit northeast Ohio, Michigan and neighboring states — had devoted decades of their lives as secretaries, technicians, engineers and sales employees at Delphi/GM. Some workers have watched up to 70 percent of their pensions vanish.

    “I worked for 34 years at GM/Delphi Corp. When Delphi went bankrupt, we lost everything,” Dana Strickland of Michigan wrote me. “Because I was salaried (middle management), we lost our pension and health insurance. I did not belong to the union, so GM/Delphi could have cared less. I have never felt so betrayed. We never hear this brought to the public’s attention. People need to know how we were screwed, while the Obama administration kissed up to the union.”

    “I’m one of the Delphi Salaried Retirees that lost the health care, life insurance and 67 percent of the pension I was promised in retirement after working hard for 40 years,” Charles Stone of Michigan e-mailed. “Words cannot describe the frustration and let down these events have thrust on my family’s lives, and to have GM’s rescue all sugar-coated in the current political environment is like putting lipstick on a pig. … We will continue to fight to right this grievous wrong.”

    Tom Rose of Ohio added: “I am one of the 20,000 salaried retirees that lost all of my health care and — in my case — a 40 percent pension cut. So I am now paying increased health care costs with fewer pension dollars and contributing what is left to our lawsuit to correct this injustice. Meanwhile, the politically connected union has their full pension and 90-plus percent of their health care. You have hit upon the key question: How can our own federal government pick winners and losers amongst its own citizens?”

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/08/08/meet_the_real_workers_obama_screwed_over_115035.html

    Millions of middle class WI, IN and MI citizens were picked to be losers by Obama! Union members got saved and the taxpayers footed the bill and got the Volt.

    • Phoenix RisingPhoenix Rising says:
      Wed August 22, 2012 at 7:12 AM MDT

      The union workers got their pensions and health care because the union agreed to take on that financial burden themselves, IIRC. The unions took on a huge risk in backing the auto companies, and their backing has paid off since the workers and management busted their asses to revive the companies and succeeded.

      The non-union workers got what every other worker in a bankrupt company has gotten in the past 10 years: shafted, because they had no-one to back them up.

  14. Phoenix RisingPhoenix Rising says:
    Wed August 22, 2012 at 7:41 AM MDT

    Yes, that’s right – 0%.  Plus or minus a few percent MOE.

    There’s not much to say here; the GOP hasn’t quite written off African-American voters completely, but almost.  They’re certainly dismissive of them when considering voting hours.

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