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September 17, 2014 06:32 AM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 41 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

False media
We don't need it do we?
It's fake that's what it be to 'ya, dig me?
Don't believe the hype

–Public Enemy

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41 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

    1. Pols, I was trying to show my sister the article on the Jeffco schools but the diary won't open.  Can you check on that?

      Michael, not trying to hijack your comment — just trying to push the stupid cartoonist a little farther down the page.

      2. Just to stack up.  I've gotten four results from opening the diary– a blank page, an error I can't recall (sorry), a page missing some comments, and (why I know some comments were missing) the page again with all its comments.  The last happened after I logged in.

      1. …all-to-well, Gertie.  Inside talk has it that they are refinancing in the private sector (at no doubt a higher rate than their current, government-subsidized RUS loans) so they can get around the impediment of those pesky EIS requirements if they want to plow ahead with the Kansas coal-pant disaster.  (They've already sunk blown tens-of-milllions on that fiasco).   And from Fitch, it appears they are mortgaging everything including the kitchen sink to get the new money.  Sounds eerily like the Lamar disaster that's unfolding.  Once they've locked everything up with the new mortgage agreement, you can bet any future coops who want to leave the pack will play hell doing so. 

  3. Politico and Joe Scarborough (Joey Scabs) and all R's doubt and mock the strategy of giving (Koch) face to Americans for the Prosperity of Billionaires, et al…..Cenk of The Yound Turks shows the strategy is 1) working and, 2) proved with data. 

    F the Kochs. F Americans for the Prosperity of Billionaires. F Joey Scabs. If they are nervous and mocking the strategy, then we know it's working and that the Koch Brothers would rather work from the shadows, away from the light we are shining on their hallucinogenic political views. 

    1. The Duke brothers from "Trading Places".  When I see those two in the above picture, I automatically think "the Duke brothers".  The resemblance is uncanny.  I think it is the smug smiles. 

  4.  

    from, "the Week"….

     

     

     

    This is what happens when Republicans actually enact their radical agenda

     

     

     

     

     

     

    A persistent elite Washington trope, embodied by folks like Ron Fournier, says that bipartisanship is the key missing ingredient in our system of government. The two parties just need to stop their partisan bickering and join hands to hammer out serious, substantive compromises (read: slash social insurance).

    It's certainly the case that because of U.S. constitutional design, compromise is necessary during times of divided government — and the ones who won't do it are ultraconservative Republicans. But there's another model of governance that gets short shrift among the lovers of bipartisanship: letting election winners implement their agenda. By providing clear lines of accountability and making clear who is responsible for which policy, allowing an election winner to govern makes democracy work.

    We see this today in Kansas of all places, where Governor Sam Brownback is in an unexpectedly tight reelection race:

    Although every statewide elected official in Kansas is a Republican and President Obama lost the state by more than 20 points in the last election, Mr. Brownback's proudly conservative policies have turned out to be so divisive and his tax cuts have generated such a drop in state revenue that they have caused even many Republicans to revolt. Projections put state budget shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually, raising questions of whether the state can adequately fund education in particular. [The New York Times]

    Brownback's tax cuts were passed back in 2012 with the help of Arthur Laffer, the conservative policy hand who has made his career insisting in the teeth of contrary evidence that tax cuts increase revenue. Multiple experts warned that the Brownback/Laffer plan would actually crater the state revenue collection, but Brownback ignored them and did what he wanted. The results are in, and it turns out when you cut taxes you decrease revenue:

    worth the read…..

    http://theweek.com/article/index/268182/this-is-what-happens-when-republicans-actually-enact-their-radical-agenda

    1. Laffer is still actively pushing that nonsense and making money from it?  It is a point on a curve, if you go much beyond it it doesn't work. They've built a cult of ugly myths around what is readily observable.  There is a range around where taxes should be to be profitable for business and provide government with the money it needs to do the job we, well, most of us, expect it to do.   Following these Club for Growth driven policies could destabilize the economy….then we will hear a big oops and well, we thought it would work.  Ah huh.

      More from the article:

      ~~Kansas has a problem. In April and May, the state planned to collect $651 million from personal income tax. But instead, it received only $369 million. [The New York Times]

      Naturally, the cuts have required more cuts to critical government services, and most of the tax benefits have been vacuumed up by the rich. Worse still, the promised job-creating effects have also failed to appear. On the contrary, Kansas has actually been performing worse than its neighbors on the jobs front.

      In short, movement conservatism produces garbage economic policy. But the beauty is, now that fact is obvious to almost everyone in Kansas, including a bunch of Republicans. To his credit, Brownback actually believed in his ideas and put them in place. He is now paying the price for taking that risk."

        1. When you actually read something about the Laffer curve the fatal flaw the republicans are mining jumps right out.  How can people be this stupid/deluded?  It seems more like a con game.  For some of them maybe it's like the story about the frog and hot water.  And I'm being generous, here.

          1. Given that Cory's first boss was Senator Allard, you can be assured he has a masters in Laffer economics.  Up north in the Badger State Koch, Inc. recently funded a conference that featured none other than…Laffer himself.

            Arthur Laffer, the 73-year-old author of the famous "Laffer curve," concluded in his 128-page report that Wisconsin's economic outlook had jumped from 32nd in the country to 15th in the past year. In an interview this week, the conservative economist attributed the improvement to Gov. Scott Walker's legislation targeting unions.

            If you love ya some Laffer, you'll love #SenatorQuidProKoch;  if the thought of a living wage sets your hair on fire, you'll love him even more.

  6. Prepare yourselves for an onslaught from the " drill, baby, drill" chorus….

     

     

     

    Tainted water in Pennsylvania, Texas from leaky gas wells, not fracking itself, study says

     

    By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The drilling procedure called fracking didn't cause much-publicized cases of tainted groundwater in areas of Pennsylvania and Texas, a new study finds. Instead, it blames the contamination on problems in pipes and seals in natural gas wells.

    After looking at dozens of cases of suspected contamination, the scientists focused on eight hydraulically fractured wells in those states, where they chemically linked the tainted water to the gas wells. They then used chemical analysis to figure out when in the process of gas extraction methane leaked into groundwater.

    "We found the evidence suggested that fracking was not to blame, that it was actually a well integrity issue," said Ohio State University geochemist Thomas Darrah, lead author of the study. He said those results are good news because that type of contamination problem is easier to fix and is more preventable.

     

    The work was released Monday by The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    As I have read through this story, I find much to criticize, but, like Dr. Ingraffia below, I am glad to see it done because it clears up something many of us have harped on for a long time… It is the entire process that is in question…not just fracking…

    First, though, let me point out that the only conclusion here is what caused the leak…poison leaking out..and no mention of "downhole communication", which is a growing problem in crowded fields…What we have here is a thoroughly inadequate investigation and a misleading public comment.

    The scientists reached their conclusions by chemically analyzing methane and other chemicals in the groundwater.

    But, since fracking chemicals aren't disclosed, they wouldn't be included in the testing, would they?

    I don't think it matters one whit whether "fracking" is responsible for leaking wells or not…as many on this site have said before, "fracking" is just a word that caught the imagination of the public. Wellbore integrity is, in fact, the most important aspect of this equation. Every concrete worker knows that it is in the nature of cement to crack and to shrink….the result is the contamination of water.

     

    In at least two cases around one well in Texas, scientists saw people's homes have their water supplies go from clean to contaminated during the year of study, with methane levels jumping ten-fold, said Stanford University environmental sciences professor Rob Jackson, co-author of the study. Methane while not particularly toxic is explosive and a potent greenhouse gas.

    "I don't think homeowners care what step in the process the water contamination comes," Jackson said. "They just care that their lives have changed because drilling has moved next door."

     

    Cornell University engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea, who wasn't part of the study, praised it, adding that he's worried because "it's impossible to drill and cement a well that will never leak."

    "There's still serious and significant harm from what's coming before fracking and what's coming after fracking," Ingraffea said.

     

     

    http://www.usnews.com/news/science/news/articles/2014/09/15/study-leaky-wells-not-fracking-taint-water?page=2

     

     

     

     

     

        1. And that once a week was waaaaaaay too often.  Did you hear he said a man can tell a real no from a fake no when women are turning down a sexual encounter.?  What a macaroon.  Bet EF heard him say that and nodded his head sagely, yep, yep, a man can.

              1. I recommended a book to him called "Seduction is a Four Letter Word" by Gremaine Greer, that taught me the truth about the subject when I was  teenager. I'll bet he hasn't read it….

            1. I agree with the decent guy as assessment …to a point. II think EF is so convinced of superior intellect he tries to defend indefensible positions simply because he thinks he can pull it off…just to bolster his opinion that he is smarter than the rest of us…he may be, but I remain unconvinced.

              1. As do I.  He's OK smart, but not among the smarter people whose posts I enjoy reading here and learn much from.  But he does try and he wants to think he's doing the right thing, and he's young.  His support for Gessler was mind boggling. If he could only find better role models. 

                Being conservative is not a bad thing, and we need principled, pragmatic conservatives who understand that keeping the country divided is not a good thing.  Those passing themselves off as conservatives today are neither principled or pragmatic, and they thrive on building division and mistrust.   Elliot should be better than that.  As a former teacher, I remain optimistic.  But, I do think that the GOP will wander around in the wilderness for a while longer.  Libertarianism is not a governing philosophy, it is more anarchic than anything else and to many of them are embracing it.  Republicans used to be respectable and the ones that still are have gone quiet.  But they are out there.  Elliot should figure out why Eisenhower, Ford, Nixon and Reagan were republicans.  He would be better off in the long run.

                The culture wars need to end, no one can stop change.   …sorry for the soap box thing, I get carried away.

    1. Personally, it's be a small price for me not to see my comments, if Alva would give us a user-defined blocking mechanism (similar to those now found on most 21st Century blogs) that would allow me not to see any of Skippy's or Zippy's.

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