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October 15, 2014 06:24 AM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 69 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

"I don't care what anybody says about me as long as it isn't true."

–Truman Capote

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69 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

    1. Welcome, Sam…if we may call you Sam. We try to keep it interesting. Many posters here have a particular subject upon which they tend to focus…you?

      1. Good morning, Duke and others…

        'Sam' is fine, but many know me by my pen name – 'Mark Twain'.  🙂

        My focus tends to be on integrity – of our electeds, our business leaders…those who post on this board. *S*  If you put what's best for the people, our country, and the world first, I've probably got your back.

        For example, I'm dismayed that the Udall/Gardner polls are even close.  I'm not a big fan of Mark Udall's, but how can anyone in their right mind vote for Cory Garder?

        Or Mike Coffman?

        Or Doug Lamborn?

        Or here in the San Luis Valley – Larry Crowder? *sigh*

        I lurk here quite often, but will try to write from time to time.

        'Sam'

  2. The following letter appeared in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. As most posters know, Benita is a friend of mine…

    Electing an outsider will help allay issues in sheriff’s office

    At the County Commissioners Monday meeting, I informed them of another monetary irregularity that has occurred in the Mesa County Sheriff Office and the County District Attorney’s office.

    Researched and published by The Washington Post, the article was an eye-opener for anyone that cruises along day to day believing our government entities work in the taxpayers’ interest.

    “Police agencies have used hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Americans under federal civil forfeiture law in recent years to buy guns, armored cars and electronic surveillance gear.” Municipal law enforcement agencies, have retooled and “militarized” to prevent being “outgunned.” Available military equipment, though not cheap, is acquired through the “Equitable Sharing Program,” an initiative that allows local and state police to keep up to 80 percent of the assets they seize.

    Directly quoted from Washington Post article: “Auditors found the Mesa County, Colo., Sheriff’s Office paid thousands for projectors, scanner equipment and other items that were not intended for law enforcement. They also paid for 20 lawyers in the Mesa County prosecutor’s office to attend a conference at the Keystone ski resort. Auditors questioned more than $78,000 in spending … The Mesa Sheriff’s Office also did not respond to calls from The Post.”

    Another layer of misuse of funds now reaches, according to this Washington Post article, into the DA’s office.

    The ballots are out. Two Mesa County sheriff deputy candidates have been employed during the time Steve King was (allegedly) double-dipping in taxpayers’ money at MCSO/CMU. They have internal investigations on their records, as stated by Sheriff Rebecca Speiss; One with a “Ferguson” arrogance with an out-of-court-settlement for (an alleged) Fourth Amendment incursion, costing taxpayers an unknown amount we may never know.

    All who work at MCSO (and CMU), deny knowing King was (allegedly) double-dipping. These are our “crime” investigators; did they turn a blind eye; or did some participate? We will never know if you elect Pat Arotin, Matt Lewis or Jim Lange.

    Where does this stop? It will stop only when a true outsider is elected to sheriff. Vote “Benita Phillips,” RN, write-in candidate.

    BENITA PHILLIPS
    Palisade

    The Mesa County Republican party has been feasting at a trough of government money for a long time. From the Sheriffs' office, to the Airport Board of Trustees, and particularly at (what is called) Colorado Mesa University, there have been some very questionable shenanigans. The investigation into the Steve King fraud is opening up some other doors…

    I sense a gathering shit storm…

    Stock up on popcorn….

     

     

     

     

          
        
     

    1. I'm all for cleaning up that sewer by putting the right people in place with the right mandate and support.

      Still, don't you think that out there in Mesa County (Minerals, Misappropriation, Madmen!) there might be some merit to the fear of being outgunned?

          1. Too busy figuring out how much of their dignity to sell in supporting Ray "NEXT!" Scott, Cory "We Know He's a Liar" Gardner and Scott "I have made my career off other people's work" McInnis as per Schwenke's memo.  

            1. That's cute. You think they have any dignity left to sell………

              Seriously Jay "Daddy bought me a newspaper; what did you get?" Seaton is an embarrassment to journalism. He makes Hearst look subtle by comparison.  

  5. From CNN:

    "Udall is getting clobbered in the all-important suburbs, as well as in rural areas, and his lead in Colorado cities is not enough to overcome that," Holland said.

    "There is a gender gap, but in this case it appears to be working in favor of the Republican. Udall has a nine-point advantage among women, but that is dwarfed by the 20-point lead Gardner has among men," he said.

    Hurting Udall is an underwater favorability rating of 45 percent — with 51 percent of those surveyed saying they have an unfavorable opinion of the Democrat.

    Gardner, meanwhile, is viewed favorably by 50 percent of likely voters, with just 42 percent saying their opinion of him is unfavorable.

    Udall is toast.

    1. Probably.  But can the GOP actually lead?  Gardner can't spend the next six years bitching about Obamacare and reproductive rights.  He'll actually have to do something original.  Which has not been the GOP's strong suite the last six years or so.

       

      First off, how does the GOP propose to fund the Highway Trust Fund?  I don't think the Tea Partiers would be particularly happy with any kind of tax increase and the borrow and spend mechanism that the GOP has relied on since Reagan is kind of broken.  Good luck on that.

        

        1. Neither could the GOP.  No alternative solutions, no leadership, no compromise.  And the six years before that showed a party with zero fiscal restraint that relies on debt spending to maintain it's Don't Tax and Spend mantra.  Plus the GOP has never been able to deliver on it's national security promises in over a hundred years (The US is 1-4 on wars with the GOP at the healm).  I don't trust the GOP to combat ISIS, or any other goat herder with an AK, anymore than I trust the Dems to deliver meaningful corporate tax reform.  

          2. "I don't trust the GOP to combat ISIS, or any other goat herder with an AK, anymore than I trust the Dems to deliver meaningful corporate tax reform."

            Following money leads to uncomfortable truths. 

            +10 Wong

  7. Udall makes the Wall Street Journal:

    But the prize for best non-denial denial might go to Colorado’s Mark Udall, who declared at a recent debate: “Let me tell you, the White House when they look down the front lawn the last person they want to see coming is me.” No doubt Coloradans would love to have seen Mr. Udall stride down that lawn when it mattered. Despite claiming to support fossil-fuel jobs, Mr. Udall has remained a loyal Obama vote against the Keystone XL pipeline.

    http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-obama-deniers-1413329589

  8.  Despite claiming to support fossil-fuel jobs, Mr. Udall has remained a loyal Obama vote against the Keystone XL pipeline.

    and good for him for doing so…

    The Keystone pipeline will create 22 jobs. There will be a temporary need for a few hundred…it is a bullshit boondoggle aimed at benefiting a bunch of fat cat Canadians and two guys from Kansas named Charlie and Dave.

    Thank you, Senator.

     

      1. Thank you, Pols. There's enough misinformation out there without adding to it, much less using the suffering of thousands of Africans to score political points in America.

      2. Pols, Unfortunately there is mixed information on this:

        The highly respected Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota just advised the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) that “there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles,” including exhaled breath. 

        . . . .

        Although CIDRAP acknowledges that they were “first skeptical that Ebola virus could be an aerosol-transmissible disease,” they are “now persuaded by a review of experimental and epidemiologic data that this might be an important feature of disease transmission, particularly in healthcare settings.” 

        http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/10/14/CIDRAP-Confirms-Ebola-Transmittable-by-Air

        1. It's airborne?  Time to shut down the country!  Prohibit interstate travel and gathering in public place!  Cancel the elections!  Suspend the Constitution!

          Oh, won't someone lead on this issue that imperils our beloved nation so?!?!

            1. Said 'individual' will most likely go underground for a brief period now since his upbraiding, but will resurface again shortly when he thinks he's "cooled off" enough, just as he did after his beheadings "joke" and the epic smackdown which followed.

              I still think he and Zipster may be one and the same poster.

        3. CIDRAP advises that heatlhcare workers use powered respirator/purifiers, not just face masks. Too damn bad that Republicans cut 300 million from the Center for Disease Control budget – it would have bought many respirators. Now it will be up to NGOs and charities to fill in the gaps. Liberian health workers are walking off the job because of the lack of personal protective equipment (and who can blame them?)

          Breitbart bloggers can say what they wish – objective information has never been their strong suit-  but so far there has not been a Ebola patient in the US or Africa who has not had direct physical contact with a patient. Being a healthcare worker is considered being in direct physical contact.

          We don't need to start a racist panic against people from African countries, or spread unfounded rumors about immigrants with Ebola "coming over the border",  and any politician using the "Ebola threat" to motivate voters deserves to be put in protective quarantine until after the election.

            1. Well nothing says bullshit like "Breitbart". It pretty much goes without saying. The fact that the right seems to think there's some political advantage to be had here is pathetic. They're the ones who want to shrink government to bathtub drowning size . They're the ones who keep demanding cuts to all government agencies including the CDC.  

              Guess they just hope that they can stir up fear and loathing of Africans in general, our African American President in particular and, through him, all Democrats. Never mind that Africa is a continent and most of Africa is entirely unaffected by Ebola. Guess all African countries look alike to your average rightie racists who don't have any trouble realizing a difference between Sweden and Greece.

          2. What its not teh GAYZ, BENGHAZI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, the RES ('War' on 'Rural' America/Coal/Grandma), or ISIL/IS anymore?  I cannot keep up with all the scary things you guys wet your pants over.

        1. God damn it people don't you understand you suppose to be afraid very very afraid because I told you to be afraid because that's what the Borg told me to tell you

    3. You are the same jackass that tried to politicize the deaths by the ISIS militants. You have proven one thing, nothing is too low for the right wing teabaggers like you – you are a disgusting excuse for a human being.

    1. When you are losing, to try to keep people believing, you release partial hopeful polls that show you are close.

      See if they show you who was polled.  Only close friends, look Romanoff is in the lead.  A reasonable cross-section, he is behind.

      It is pathetic, but expected.  I seem to remember he did the same thing when he lost to Bennet, but it has been a while.

  14. Here's your chance ac you want to do more to fight ISIS – so do your fellow right wingers. Time for you to put up or shut up. Before you do though, take care of that rash.  A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found 41 percent of respondents think fighting ISIS should include both combat troops on the ground and airstrikes while 35 percent think the mission should be restricted to airstrikes. Just 15 percent say no military action should be taken. In September, a previous NBC/WSJ poll found that 40 percent wanted only airstrikes and 34 percent wanted both airstrikes and combat troops. The in Americans also wanting U.S. ground troops comes mostly from groups that make up the GOP base. Since the September poll there has been almost no change in the views in this matter by Democrats, young

  16. This today from Reid Wilson at the Washington Post (emphasis mine):

    "Udall's team said their last two internal polls showed the race tied, with about 10 percent undecided. They said they're relying on their ground game to bring the race home, and they've invested in a field staff four times the size of Sen. Michael Bennet's (D) in 2010. Ballots drop next week, and Udall's campaign is going nuclear: They've reserved more than 6,000 gross ratings points in the Colorado Springs and Denver markets for the week of Oct. 20-26 alone."

    1. Bannock Street Project is exactly how Bennet got elected. That smarmy buck and his right wing teabagger friends were celebrating for weeks just like troll ac. On election day real clear politics had buck a 3 point favorite – oops.

      1. Yep, it could all easily happen to them again. And dont' think the enemy's leadership doesn't recognize that, our fear-mongering pet trolls and their premature (immature) "victory" cartwheels notwithstanding.

  19. Oh, and that "Dems have abandoned Alison Grimes in KY!" meme our resident Bagger Grinch has been vomiting all over Pols recently? Um, not so fast.

    From WaPo's Greg Sargent:

    * DID DEMS REALLY ‘PULL OUT’ OF KENTUCKY? Some claim national Dems have given up on Alison Grimes’ candidacy, based on the news that the DSCC is not currently running ads in Kentucky. But the DSCC clarified last night that Dems have just put $300,000 into voter mobilization there. While that obviously isn’t big money, and while it remains to be seen whether the DSCC will go back on the air, I’d caution against reading too much into the “abandoning Kentucky” storyline.

     

    2. Yet the baggers are silent on the near-500,000 civilian deaths on our watch in Iraq, 100x our own military casualties.   And they wonder how they could possibly hate us?

        1. s/b " . . . the ONLY kind . . . "

          When your party's sole reason for existence is to serve as slathering, toadying Kochsuckers using every conceivable means of science denial, healthcare denial, economics denial, and reality denial, what other kind of person could possibly serve the purpose? 

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