Tuesday Open Thread

49
  by: Colorado Pols Tue September 25, 2012 at 3:21 PM MDT

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

–Winston Churchill


Full story: Tuesday Open Thread

49 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. Libertad says:
    Tue September 25, 2012 at 3:31 PM MDT

    1. Gays serving peacefully and without threat in the military, check

    2. No work requirement for welfare, check

    3. New $1 Trillion healthcare tax on middle class, check

    4. 8.3% “official” unemployment, check

    5. All Americans forced to buy health insurance and have an ID to prove it, check

    6. Most Americans free to vote without ID, check

    7. Most Americans required to have an ID for public library “checkout” privileges or buy certain over-the-counter medications, check

    8. High double digit “official” unemployment for women, blacks and Hispanics, check

    9. More nuke negotiation room promised to Vladimir, check

    10. Personally gave the order to take down Osama, he watched it live, and took the credit, check

    11. Joe Biden still making an ass of the Presidential Office, check

    12. $1 Trillion in unaccounted for “stimulus”, check

    13. National debt at $16 Trillion and no plan to tamp it back, check

    14. Lowest house sales and mortgage interest rates in 40 years, check

    15. Lowest business starts per capita – ever, check

    16. Nearly 50 million Americans on food stamps, check

    17. Business-individuals-non profits forced to offer health plans that counter their religion, check

    18. 25,000 potential Keystone pipeline jobs frozen, check

    19. Solyndra-Vestis-Abound workers promised gov’t driven sunshine now unemployed, check

    20. $Trillions in new FICA tax receipts promised, check

    21. More government spending, higher taxes & less local control of government promised, check

    22. 50%+ DPS dropout rate yet charters succeeding, check

    23. Social Security as we know it on course to collapse with no rational plan to fix it, check

    24. Medicare/caid as we know it on course to collapse with no plan to fix, check

    25. Fast & Furious … exporting weapons for terrorists and attempting to cover it up, check

    26. Firm plans to hike income and capital gains taxes, check

    27. Firm plans to divert even more private capital for government spending, check

    28. 23 million Americans out of work, check

    29. Obama budget pushes USA to fiscal cliff by 2022, check

    30. Obama promised to cut deficit by 50%, national debt hiked from $10T to $16T, check

    31. Obama promised unemployment under 8%, now 43 months above 8%, check

    32. 3% surtax on medical device manufacturers, check

    33. Obamacare erects barriers to competition for drugcos and against consumers, check

    Dividing America vs uniting and leading America, check

    • ClubTwittyClubTwitty says:
      Tue September 25, 2012 at 3:52 PM MDT

      in thread after thread is considered good blog etiquette, or do you enjoy being a bothersome nit?  

    • parsingreality says:
      Tue September 25, 2012 at 4:13 PM MDT

      ….every class had one.  Usually pudgy, nerdy, always annoying, completely socially inept. Kept doing bizarre and unwelcome things because any attention was better than no intention.

      Do I have you pegged?  You know I do.

      I wish the blogmeisters would just remove things like this.  They aren’t part of a constructive dialogue and letting these idiotic C&P lists remain posted just annoys everyone……….oh, wait, that’s your goal, isn’t it Mr. Pudgy, Nerdy, Annoying, Socially Inept?

      • Duke Coxdukeco1 says:
        Tue September 25, 2012 at 4:45 PM MDT

        You are not helping your readership, Guvs, allowing the tadpole to threadjack daily  by posting the same cut and paste at the beginning of multiple threads.

        The casual reader will grow tired of this even moreso than we pols-aholics. A simple policy statement, limiting the number of times a poster can post an IDENTICAL entry (malfunctioning post buttons notwithstanding) does not seem draconian to me.

        My position isn’t partisan…it is personal. I don’t recall anyone (if, in fact, Libby is a person and not a computer program) who has ever done this. You know he/she/it will keep doing it, ad nauseum, until you disallow the practice.

        Just sayin’

    • MADCO says:
      Tue September 25, 2012 at 4:24 PM MDT

      And the

      DJIA, S&P 500, and NaSDAQ have all doubled since the President was sworn in.

    • RenegadeGeophysicist says:
      Tue September 25, 2012 at 10:40 PM MDT

      An oil pipeline will never provide 25000 jobs.

      There is not enough oil pipeline in the whole world to provide 25000 jobs. Once you build a pipeline, it takes about a hundred people to keep it up to snuff.  And they aren’t kept up to snuff.

      I don’t really feel the need to do a point-by-point takedown here, as you are likely aware of the misrepresentation you have posted as much as I am. 50% lies and 50% half-truths leaves you with the hindmost quarter.

      A horse’s rear end as it were.

      • VanDammerVanDammer says:
        Wed September 26, 2012 at 2:25 AM MDT

        Just think of all the jobs on clean up crews, all the lawyers, the hazmat workers and first responders, all the healthcare workers to address the cancer blooms as years pass.  How about If we use same standards as the Shell & BP ones in third world where folks while away the day collecting drips in buckets to light their shacks?

        You’re not thinking like a job creator.

        • RenegadeGeophysicist says:
          Wed September 26, 2012 at 6:30 PM MDT

          That I work in O&G.  Hazmat crews?  What planet are you on?  There are still Chenaga wearing Hazmats at Port Valdez, 24 years later.  At the rate they are cleaning up the Gulf after deepwater horizon, it will take over 25000 years to clean up. The lawyers have already taken their fees and left. Fishermen, ranchers, farmers all out of work by the thousands.  To one of the Seven sisters, everywhere is pollutable, everyone is bribable.  The whole planet is third world.

          I understand the need to gloss things with humor.  When I worked UXO that was the only thing that kept you sane.  If I’ve learned one thing in my short life, my short time as a geophysicist, it’s to brush off the constant specter of aggravated extinction.  But I don’t find pipelines funny at all.

  2. JADoddjadodd says:
    Tue September 25, 2012 at 3:33 PM MDT

    “After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles. When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and Angels weep in Heaven, and the Devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out….”

    Attributed to Jack London.

    Nuff said.

    • Diogenesdemar says:
      Tue September 25, 2012 at 6:12 PM MDT

      that Libertad is, in any way, the product of a divine creator.  

    • Phoenix RisingPhoenix Rising says:
      Tue September 25, 2012 at 7:16 PM MDT

      Well, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wants them. So does Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan. They both tweeted about the home team loss based on this crappy call, calling for the NFL to give in to the union and get the real refs back.

      Of course, they’ll never admit that it applies beyond their favorite sports team (or perhaps sports game). Such a level of experience certainly couldn’t exist in a teacher’s union, or an auto workers’ union; no… Perhaps in the police or firefighter’s unions – they supported Walker, after all, so they must have more worth somehow and should be allowed to keep their union bargaining status…

    • Barron X says:
      Tue September 25, 2012 at 9:08 PM MDT

      this is not about the football refs.

      in a sense, scabs are hardworking folks who have been shut out of opportunities due to reasons of ethnicity or group identity.  

      they have families to feed, too.

      I’ve carried cards from 2 different unions, and never was comfortable with the aspect where my union was keeping other folks from working.  

      I’ve benefited from the ability of workers to unite.  

      The thing I like about unions is how they limit how much the monied class can push the rest of us around.  

      I guess the one goes with the other.  

      • Gray in Mountains says:
        Tue September 25, 2012 at 10:13 PM MDT

        when management fails to realize the value of their workforce. The most skilled workforce, the work force which helps to bring value to the enterprise wants to go to work. But, before they will go to work they wish to be adequately compensated. Work with the union, your employees are your greatest asset

  3. Albert J. Nock says:
    Tue September 25, 2012 at 3:43 PM MDT

    “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

    –Winston Churchill

    Hopefully Caldara and the lot take this advice to heart.

  4. dwyer says:
    Tue September 25, 2012 at 3:50 PM MDT

    Medical Family Leave Act….Colorado born.

    You kiddies may not know the history of the Medical Family Leave Act.  It was one of legendary Representative Pat Schroder’s shinning achievements.

    It makes it law that employees may have 12 week leave for family reasons, without losing their jobs.  It is a godsend to new mothers.  Prior to this law, new mothers

    were lucky if they could take two weeks off for the birth and care of an infant.

    This is the history:  The Democratically controlled Congress passed this legislation twice during the Reagan administration and twice Reagan vetoed the bill.

    Congress passed the law, again, during Bush I and again, it was vetoed by the President. It was passed again in 1992 and it was the first bill signed by PResident Clinton in 1993.

    Many businesses do not like this law.  So, it is imperative that Romney be asked specifically if he would sign legislation to eliminate this law.

    Something that happens frequently on this blog, is we get sidetracked by extraneous comments.  So let me add Barron X;s observations.  This law only applies to business with over 50 employees and it is unpaid leave.

    It has been in effect since 1993.

    It is not popular with businesses, in many cases. It can be an added expense if business has to hire temporary help.  What usually happens is that other workers have to take up the slack and that can cause resentment and a drop in productivity.   Let me be clear:  I absolutely support the Medical Family Leave Act. I think the costs associated with it are just another personnel expense.

    The issue is: Will Romney act to eliminate this law?

    And for our purposes, here.  Will any reporter ask Romney about the Medical Leave Act?  Will it be asked in any of the debates?

    • Barron X says:
      Tue September 25, 2012 at 8:59 PM MDT

      I rarely go back to follow up on my posts or questions, unless it’s the same day’s open thread.  Not a good conversationalist.  plus, I forget what I posted.  

      Someone reminded me I can go to a listing of my comments.  As I get more forgetful, I may have to resort to that.  

      I would LOVE to have so many employees that this requirement affected me.  Alas.  

  5. parsingreality says:
    Tue September 25, 2012 at 4:18 PM MDT

    The ability of the elites to forget how they really got wealthy.

    http://www.monbiot.com/2012/09…

    George Monbiot writes for the Guardian. I’m on his email list because I like so much of what he writes.  While mostly concerned with matters across the pond, much of that applies here, too, in somewhat different ways.  

  6. Libertad says:
    Tue September 25, 2012 at 4:40 PM MDT

    Shocking news from south of county line…..

    Dawna Searcy, homeless student services liaison for the district, said she wrote the e-mail so counselors and other staff members would be aware of the looming increase in homeless children.

    From July to Aug. 24, the number of homeless students was 440, up from 339 during the same period last year, Searcy said.

    Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news…

    Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsof

    Is the news of massive student homelessness growth is DouglasCo being being suppressed?

  7. BlueCat says:
    Tue September 25, 2012 at 7:52 PM MDT

    that ‘tad either didn’t read it or has very shaky reading comprehension.

  8. VoyageurVoyageur says:
    Tue September 25, 2012 at 11:27 PM MDT

    There is a debate at the South Metro Chamber of Commerce at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday between Ethan Feldman and George Brauchler, rivals for District Attorney to replace term-limited Carol Chambers.

      I will be writing it up for the Colorado Statesman.  Appreciate any insights you may give me into the race.

     

  9. harrydobyharrydoby says:
    Wed September 26, 2012 at 1:03 AM MDT

    Caught this article by Roger Simon on Politico — it reads like something from the Onion.

    Anyone know if it’s true?

    “I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he’ll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him,” Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa, told The New York Times on Sunday.

    .

    .

    Though Ryan had already decided to distance himself from the floundering Romney campaign, he now feels totally uninhibited. Reportedly, he has been marching around his campaign bus, saying things like, “If Stench calls, take a message” and “Tell Stench I’m having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later.”

    Kooks like his yacht is breaking up in rough seas.

    Can the rest of the GOP Armada be far behind?

Leave a Reply

Comment from your Facebook account


You may comment with your Colorado Pols account above (click here to register), or via Facebook below.