14 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. Nice – it is easier for workers to unionize   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/12/union-election-reforms_n_6312100.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

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2. Our dear Ed Perlmutter voted yes to continue subsidizing big banks like Citigroup, to reduce retiree benefits, to allow Billionaires to pay politicians even more for votes just like this (how convenient!). But the worst of it may be this:

   The deal will bolster corporate-state politicians into holding more "must-pass" legislation — and therefore, government itself – hostage to their patrons' demands. These threats will become a tool for dismantling a century's worth of regulations — on the environment, working conditions, public safety, and a host of other issues

   Republicans have learned a neat trick these last few years: bring us to the brink of economic disaster, threaten a government shutdown, then throw in noxious elements to a "must pass" budget bill. Easy! They did it when they lost and they do it when they win. And they get just enough Democrats on board to claim that hideous thing called "bipartisanship". They'll lie through their teeth to justify each and every gift to Corporate America. And their halfwit (dimwit? daft? sped? syphlitic?) supporters like M and AC and millions of others in Colorado will ignore the lies because they also hate us "commies" and "marxists" because of immigrants, unions, and gays. 

   Here's a hint, conservatives: it's not gays and immigrants asking for carried interest and tax haven status.

   Our schools truly have failed us if those who are so politically vehement, yet so ignorant of simple facts lack the mediocre intelligence it takes to see that their esteemed leaders and spokesmen lie to them every day and are correct to assume the fools will follow.

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   1. Zapp,

      Guess who voted to repeal Glass-Steagall in the first place?

      Pelosi?  Yup.

      Udall? Yup

      DeGette? Yup.

      Bankers buying off politicians is an equal opportunity affair and you and your so called progressives are as guilty as anyone else.

      https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/106-1999/h570

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      1. anyone told you to fuck off yet today? If not consider this that.

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3. and hey, Senator Bennet, 2 years of silence and playing it safe will not get you re-elected. That is, if you don't want to nice cush lobbying job making 10 times what you make now.

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4. Gessler's parting shot?

   Scott Gessler: Hillary Hall's actions indefensible

   http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_27120234/scott-gessler-hillary-halls-actions-indefensible-election-2014

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   1. As Frog is preparing to cross the river, Scorpion approaches him.

      "Frog, I must also cross this river.  Will you carry me across on your back?"

      "No Scorpion, you will sting me as I swim and I will die."

      "But if I sting you Frog, surely we will both die.  You need have no fear."

      Frog, although still hesitant, cannot escape the logic of Scorpion's reasoning.  "Come, I will carry you across."

      Midway through the swim, Frog feels a stabbing pain in his back, followed quickly by lethargy as the poison takes hold.

      "Why would you sting me?  Now surely we will both die!"

      Said Scorpion, "It is my nature."

      Gessler for Governor 2018.  It's his nature.

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5. Blue Dogs pulled the trigger on hideous budget deal.

   Udall was a Blue Dog. Bennet still a Blue Dog.

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   1. A longer list of what happens when Dems are afraid of their own shadow:

      But there’s so much more to the CRomnibus than just those two riders. Under the bill, trustees would be enabled to cut pension benefits to current retirees, reversing a 40-year bond with workers who earned their retirement packages. Voters in the District of Columbia who approved legalized marijuana will see their initiative vaporized, with local government prohibited from taxing or regulating the drug’s sale. Trucking companies can make roads less safe by giving their employees 82-hour work weeks without sufficient rest breaks. Pell grants for college students will be cut, with the money diverted to private student loan contractors who have actively harmed borrowers. Government financiers of overseas projects will be prevented from stopping funding for coal-fired power plants. Blue Cross and Blue Shield will be allowed to count“quality improvement” measures toward their mandatory health spending under Obamacare’s “medical loss ratio” provision, a windfall saving them millions of dollars. 

      I’m not done. The bill eliminates a bipartisan measure to end “backdoor” searches by the NSA of Americans’ private communications. It blocks the EPA from regulating certain water sources for farmers. It adds an exception to allow the U.S. to continue to fund Egypt’s military leadership. In a giveaway to potato growers, it reduces nutrition standards in school lunches and the Women, Infant and Children food aid program. It halts the listing of new endangered species. It stops the regulation of lead in hunting ammunition or fishing equipment. It limits contributions to the Green Climate Fund to compensate poor countries ravaged by climate change. I could go on. And even if the offending measures on derivatives and campaign finance were removed, all of that dreck would remain.

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      1. This goes along with your post Zapp…http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/a-look-inside-the-1-trillion-spending-bill/2014/12/10/d9d3fafc-80c6-11e4-b936-f3afab0155a7_video.html

         We all got soaked in this sour deal, though some are more drenched than others.

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         1. Ugly. Very ugly. And very dumb politically, which is where these geniuses are supposed to excel.

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6. Pregnant Wisconsin Woman Jailed Under State’s ‘Personhood’-Like Law
   

   Wisconsin law… grants authorities the power to involuntarily detain and confine a pregnant woman for substance use if she “habitually lacks self-control” and her substance use poses a “substantial risk” to the health of an egg, embryo, or fetus.

   The Wisconsin policy is similar in nature to radical “personhood” laws pushed in state legislatures controlled by anti-choice lawmakers. “Personhood” amendments, which would outlaw abortion at any stage of pregnancy, were roundly rejected by voters in several states on Election Day.

   According to Loertscher and her attorneys, unbeknownst to her, as hospital workers were preparing a prescription to treat Loertscher’s thyroid condition, they were also initiating unborn child protection proceedings on behalf of Loertscher’s then 14-week-old fetus.

   Loertscher and her attorneys claim that within days of Loertscher seeking care, hospital workers had already turned over Loerstcher’s hospital records to the state without Loerstcher’s knowledge or consent. They also claim that with those records in hand, state officials filed a petition accusing Loerstcher of abuse of an unborn child and held a hearing in which the state had appointed an attorney, known as a guardian ad litem, for the 14-week-old fetus, but granted Loerstcher no meaningful representation

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   1. And so it begins….

      Figures it would be in the Kingdom of Scott Walker.

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7. These laws will eventually land in front of SCOTUS and I wish them no luck. Isn't it Republicans who are always bleating about "the nanny state?" How much more intrusive can government possibly be?

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