Weekend Open Thread

36
  by: Colorado Pols Sat December 22, 2012 at 4:03 PM MDT

“If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.”

–Quentin Crisp


Full story: Weekend Open Thread

36 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. PitaPita says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 6:51 AM MDT

    We have seen the future, and everything involves negotiating with loony people.

    …Gail Collins

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12…

  3. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 7:06 AM MDT

    This is an incredibly good book. It’s half about Putin himself and half about the violent kleptocracy that has taken over Russia.

    It has a very small amount about Russia under Gorbachev, a bit more about it under Yeltsin, and a bit about Putin before he was put in charge of Russia.

    But most of it is Russia under Putin, and about Putin controlling Russia. And it is fundamentally a very sad story. Turning a country that was slowly evolving into an open system under the rule of law into a corrupt dictatorship.

    And the book lays out compelling evidence that the government itself both directed terrorists acts against it’s own people and ensured the most violent outcomes of acts by others to get the people to demand a law and order leader.

    Very good read.

  4. dwyer says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 7:50 AM MDT

    To recap:

    Thursday am:


    Okay.  I don’t like what is going on in Washington..I think Boehner is the political equivalent of a cock teaser…..keeps skipping away from commitment at the last possible minute.  I think that one of two things is going on…

    1) He absolutely does not control his caucus and cannot get the votes for anything…

    2) There is some kind of behind the scenes deal with the President that will allow a plan to go through that somehow is face saving for the Speaker.

    Thursday  pm.

    Boehner proved not to have the votes to pass Plan B.

    He not only withdrew Plan B, but recessed the House.

    Now one of two things will happen:

    1) Boehner will call the House back into session before December 31st.

    2) Boehner will not call the House back into session before December 31st.

    Until Boehner makes one of those two decisions, nothing is going to happen.  So, I intend to spent the time with family and friends and I wish for all of you the opportunity to do likewise or whatever you wish from the season.

  5. Gray in Mountains says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 10:44 AM MDT

    is due to the fact he was not hard line R enough. I think the Rs want to have another D Senator nominated to give them the opportunity to whittle away at the righteous majority

  6. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 10:36 PM MDT

    Very powerful article from HuffPo – U.S. Shooting Deaths Since Sandy Hook Top 100

    We’re going to have one hell of a political fight over gun control. As we go through this we should keep one fact central to the conversation – over 10,000 people each year are murdered with guns in this country.

    When gun owners talk about the joy of shooting melons, is that worth the lives of 10,000 Americans?

    When gun owners talk about protecting their families, can we instead point out that they endanger their family by having a gun in the house?

    When someone talks about it being a part of tradition & history, can we discuss if guns, like dueling which also was once considered a tradition that must not be ended, is instead an anachronism that kills people for no social good?

    When someone talks about hunting, can we ask why they would need anything other than a bolt action rifle? (If you miss on the first shot the animal is not hanging around for a second – even if you have a semi-automatic.)

    When the people wanting to keep America a shooting gallery present, ask them if their arguments are more important than cases like this which happen every day.

    On Saturday afternoon, a 3-year-old in Guthrie, Okla., died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a gun he found inside his aunt and uncle’s house. His uncle is an Oklahoma state trooper.

  8. Duke Coxdukeco1 says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 8:48 AM MDT

    Here’s wishing you and yours a happy and blessed holiday.

  9. GalapagoLarryGalapagoLarry says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 9:52 AM MDT

    And let’s all count our many blessings. The ones that don’t come wrapped in pretty paper.

  10. BlueCat says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 10:39 AM MDT

    not ironic Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, Dwyer.  

  11. Diogenesdemar says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 11:08 AM MDT

    3.  Boehner calls the House back into session before the 31st, and then changes mind when he realizes it would just be another embarrassment for him because he’s really not that interested in praying a rosary solo . . .

    Merry Christmas, and

    hot,

    buttered,

    rum

    (seriously)

  12. Pam Bennett says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 4:53 PM MDT

    Boener knew he was {yes that},  used plan b and avoided a future legacy.

  13. Duke Coxdukeco1 says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 8:45 AM MDT

    but, just for the record…I have no speakers attached to my computer.

  14. davebarnesdavebarnes says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 10:00 AM MDT

    Where in former Soviet Union was this filmed?

  16. BlueCat says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 4:30 PM MDT

    no to anything and anyone Obama wants and they are making an exception in Kerry’s case (suddenly they love the guy) for the reason stated above. If they think they can force Obama into nominating nothing but D Senators with seats an R might be able to pick up, it’s going to take forever to fill a cabinet. And it’s going to be pretty transparent and make Rs in congress even less popular than they are now or will be after the first post-cliff paychecks accompanied by the first post-Christmas credit card bills, first serious heat bills, etc. Polls show the percentage of the public placing most of the blame on Rs rising all the time.

    Maybe the end scheduled for the 21st was the beginning of the final end stage for what the GOP has become.

  17. Diogenesdemar says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 11:13 AM MDT

    apocalypse . . .

    I for one thought it would be a little warmer after the cataclysm . . . .  

  19. VoyageurVoyageur says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 2:14 PM MDT

    but isn’t the lip-reading alone enough to make you hot? ;-)

  22. Gray in Mountains says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 5:16 PM MDT

    we might see a recess appointment. Defense would be a good one AFTER Kerry is confirmed

  23. JADoddjadodd says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 6:31 PM MDT

    This can be solved by fixing the filibuster.  Make them talk.  Republicans will not miss cocktail hour.  Think of all of the judicial appointments we can complete during the next four years.  How much easier it will be to confirm appointments to Supreme Court.

  24. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Sat December 22, 2012 at 9:45 PM MDT

    If the Dems see they’ll filibuster even as solid a candidate as Hagel, someone who’s a Republican, then everything is going to be filibustered.

  25. AristotleAristotle says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 8:37 AM MDT

    is to mount a campaign to educate Americans to the dangers of just having firearms around. Statistically, people are more likely to die of gunshots when guns are present in their homes. The person who made the suggestion, a man in his mid or late 40s, talked of how ubiquitous smoking was when he was a child, and how nobody rode with their seatbelts fastened, either. It was a good point – society can change when really educated. (I’m in my early 40s, and although my parents always insisted on seatbelts, putting them ahead of that curve, but I do remember they smoked all over the house, and how people smoked everywhere – doctor’s waiting rooms, restaurants, grocery stores, baseball games, children’s birthday parties – EVERYWHERE.)

  26. Gray in Mountains says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 11:28 AM MDT

    whether for pistols or long guns, have got to go.

  28. parsingreality says:
    Mon December 24, 2012 at 6:49 AM MDT

    ….to follow safety protocols, what can we expect from the general population?  Not much.

    Then again, he IS from Oklahoma……….

  29. parsingreality says:
    Mon December 24, 2012 at 6:49 AM MDT

    ….to follow safety protocols, what can we expect from the general population?  Not much.

    Then again, he IS from Oklahoma……….

  30. Sir RobinSir Robin says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 9:01 AM MDT

    That’s exactly right, Ari.  

  31. Libertad says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 10:50 AM MDT

    The Maldives is primarily a destination country for migrant workers from Bangladesh, and, to a lesser extent, India, some of whom are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor. Some women are also subjected to forced prostitution. An unknown number of the 110,000 foreign workers currently working in the Maldives – primarily in the construction and service sectors – face fraudulent recruitment practices, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or non-payment of wages, or debt bondage. Thirty thousand of these workers do not have legal status in the country, though both legal and illegal workers were vulnerable to conditions of forced labor. Diplomatic sources estimate that half of the 35,000 Bangladeshis in the Maldives went there illegally and that most of these workers are probably victims of trafficking. Migrant workers pay $1,000 to $4,000 in recruitment fees in order to migrate to the Maldives; such high recruitment costs increase workers’ vulnerability to forced labor, as concluded in a recent ILO report.[1]

    snip…. women from Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, China, the Philippines, Eastern Europe, and former Soviet Union countries are recruited for forced prostitution in Male, the capital. A small number of underage Maldivian girls reportedly are trafficked to Male from other islands for involuntary domestic servitude….

    Source wiki …. Also they been suspended from the Commonwealth

  32. Duke Coxdukeco1 says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 12:47 PM MDT

    …how is this Obamas’ fault?

  33. Willard Smitten says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 3:40 PM MDT

    To cut and paste that?  

  34. rocco says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 3:42 PM MDT

    That Schaffer, Robertson, Delay, and several other pinkos were never charged in the 1999 forced labor, sex trafficing and forced abortion disgrace on Saipan?

    Why are you posting?

    You’re still responsible for the explanation for the copperhead filibuster of the Senate legislation that would have made it illegal for known Al Qaeda operatives to purchase a firearm.

    Quit screwing around and do the work, punk.    

  35. Gray in Mountains says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 1:17 PM MDT

    has failed to stop it. Geez Duke. Dontcha know anything

  36. VoyageurVoyageur says:
    Sun December 23, 2012 at 5:29 PM MDT

    Obama is trying to stop the rise of the Oceans which, if left unchecked as God and the Koch Brothers intend, will flood the Maldive islands and drown out the brothels where the sex workers are forced to ply their trade.   Yeesh, don’t you liberals know anything?

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