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March 15, 2011 03:49 PM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 68 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.”

–George Bernard Shaw

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68 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

  1. He’s planning on putting an initiative on the ballot to reduce the income tax rate. Because lord knows the big news out of the capitol has been what to do with all of the excess budget.

    Seriously, for those of you that want to eliminate government – wouldn’t it be easier just to move to Somalia? And then the rest of us can focus on creating a state that is nice to live in.

  2. http://www.chieftain.com/news/…

    Don Gillispie, CEO of Alternative Energy Holdings Inc., in Idaho, said federal regulations require American plants to have multiple backup power and reactor-cooling systems that would have prevented the Japanese crisis.

     The newest designs have “multiple redundant backup power and cooling systems, plus passive systems” that would have kicked in to and prevent overheating of the nuclear reactor. So if one of the backup systems were knocked out, another would take over, he said.

    One of my interested citizen concerns is the disposal of nuclear waste and Mr. Gillespie doesn’t get into that – probably because he wasn’t asked.  The article however is a good start for discussing building of a nuclear plant here in Colorado.

    1. “We have multiple back up systems, you see. Catastrophe could never happen here,” said the man running the nuclear power plant.

      If you asked the Fukushima guys in the lab coats and the hard hats two weeks ago, they would have used the exact same words (except Japanese).

      “We have multiple back up systems, you see. Catastrophe could never happen here.”

        2. Nuclear is all potential. It’s just not there yet. The cumbersome plants and the deadly waste seem so cold-war era. So cumbersome. Nuclear should be getting tons of money for research that will make it safer and cheaper.

          1. From the Congressional Research Service (April 9, 2008)

            Over the 30-year period from the Department of Energy’s inception at the beginning of fiscal Year (FY) 1978 through FY2007, federal spending for renewable energy R&D amounted to about 16% of the energy R&D total, compared with 15% for energy efficiency, 25% for fossil, and 41% for nuclear. For the 60-year period from 1948 through 2007, nearly 11% went to renewables, compared with 9% for efficiency, 25% for fossil, and 54% for nuclear.

            So, for the last 60 years just 20% of our federal research and development dollars have gone towards efficiency and renewable resources. 270% more has gone into nuclear.

            Is it time for us to develop a more reasonable sense of priorities?

              1. This is not what I meant at all. I was just pointing out that we have invested a lot of federal dollars into research on nuclear power generated electricity (so that private business can profit).

                I’m not anti-nuclear (nor anti-coal), I’m just a whacked out, left leaning, energy free marketeer. (Our uniforms include cool hats and paisley cummerbunds.)

                I think the price of energy products should reflect the actual costs of bringing those products to market. I will acknowledge that government support (in the forms of subsidies, tax breaks, research investments, etc) is more than appropriate if it serves to promote the health and well being of real people.

                Thus, I can support federal research into nuclear power as well as solar power. As well as efficiency (please please, more efficiency). I think if our priorities had been different 30 or 40 years ago, we be much more energy secure at this time.

                1. to understand those numbers.

                  They’re nukes.

                  I also rather suspect that some of that nuclear energy budget is for cleanup and much is for defense-related tritium and plutonium production and R&D.

                  The numbers go back as far as 1978.  There’s lots of money in there for nuclear programs that no longer exist.  DOE isn’t even organized the same way it was in 1978.

          2. GE, just to name one company (whose profits are mostly shielded from US taxes, by the way). And until energy producation and distribution is nationalized, I’d rather see R&D funds and regulatory encouragement from my taxpayer dollars go toward safer, cheaper renewable energy sources. Sorry, but nuclear is as yesterday as clean coal and the cold war.

      2. Mr Gillispie’s statements are full of misrepresentations and outright lies.  It’s people like him that have kept the nuclear power industry limited in the US.  If they just dealt with the actual dangers, they’d be much farther along.

          1. who can address Gillispie’s misstatements and misrepresentations.

            Examples include:

            * Gillispie’s statement implying Japan does not require multiple back-up cooling systems – the Japanese nuclear plants had multiple back-up systems which all failed.

            * his statement that “with few exceptions, American nuclear power plants are built inland and never on seismic faults.”  The US has multiple nuclear reactors next to oceans, and multiple reactors built on seismic faults

            * his statement that what’s happening in Japan’s reactors “is not a meltdown.”  Multiple sources of information in Japan and the US have stated partial meltdowns of fuel rods have occurred, and the incidents are not yet over.

            * his statement that “the amount of radiation being released is not a health threat to anyone, even in the immediate vicinity,”  Japanese and other information sources have verified that there have been health impacts to multiple people.

            * his statement that “the plant is much different from those already operating in the United States.”  The type of nuclear reactors in trouble in Japan is the same type of reactor used in many locations in the US.

            And of course he uses the same old criticism that the nuclear power industry has used in this country for decades – he says critics are just emotional, fearful, excited, misguided, misinformed, nonfactual.  If the nuclear power industry in this country had dealt with the real dangers and problems of nuclear power decades ago, instead of denying and minimizing everything, the industry would be in much better shape today.  

            1. We have to keep in our minds: the nuclear industry and its political shills and lobbyists are after one thing: $$$$. And they’ll say anything to get us to sign off on their unprovable assertions of safety, reliability and waste disposibility. Sorry, but with nuclear, the stakes are too high to fall for their lies.

    2. Fort St. Vrain, decommisioned and converted to gas in the 1990’s.

      Fort St. Vrain (FSV) was Colorado’s only Nuclear Power Plant and America’s only commercial High Temperature Gas Cooled reactor design.  Plans to construct FSV were announced in 1965.  Work began at the site in 1968.  Initial hot flow testing of the reactor began in 1972, and several years of design problem work followed.  The first commercial electric power using the reactor was generated from the plant in December 1976.  Nuclear operations came to a close in 1989 due to continuing problems with the plant.  Decommissioning of the reactor, as well as shipping of all nuclear fuel off-site to a U.S. Department of Energy managed facility, was complete in 1992.  Fort St. Vrain was the first commercial nuclear generating plant in the United States to be decommissioned.  

      Full story here: http://www.fsvfolks.org/FSVHis…

      France relies heavily on nuclear power, and has a centralized system of plants built to standard specifications rather than custom built plants built from scratch. When you read the story of SFV you realize this is probably the only economically feasible way of doing it.

      In effect it means a feasible return to nuclear power generation in this country should be done by a federal agency which would design, construct, operate, and sell the power.

      1. Fort St Vrain was a thorium plant – the ONLY commercial nuclear plant in the world that used this fuel mix. The tech wasn’t ready then for commercial use, but it could be now.


        The Fort St. Vrain (FSV) HTGR was substantially more efficient than modern light water reactors, reaching a thermal efficiency of 39-40%, excellent for a steam-cycle power plant. FSV could easily load follow rather than solely generate base-load power at full capacity all the time. The reactor was extremely fuel efficient, as well, with a maximum burnup of 90,000 MW days thermal (compare to LWRs with burnups of 10,000 – 40,000 MW days thermal). The reason for this is that the core was designed to fertilize the thorium pellets within the fuel with neutrons and then burn the bred fissiles through normal neutronic processes without requiring its removal from the core. Like all HTGRs, FSV had a design that precluded the possibility of major core damage or radioactive releases in such a quantity that could seriously threaten public safety. (The NRC recognized this and allowed operation with much smaller zones compared to LWRs.) It was also notable that plant personnel received negligible exposure to ionizing flux during the course of operations. Further, the PCRV reflected an innovative RPV that had the potential to be substantially less costly than the metallic RPVs then in service, which were made of expensive nickel-manganese superalloys (e.g. Inconel, Hastelloy, and Monel) in the case of PWRs or surgical grade stainless steel 316L in the case of BWRs. The fuel, by omitting Zircalloy sheathing (allowed due to the inert, non-aqueous core) was made far less expensive.

        FSV worked, and once debugged, it worked well for a first of a kind facility, demonstrating a promising new concept for the future. However, the problems that occurred leading to its debugging led to its early demise.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…

        1. Is that no one will believe anyone in the industry saying any nuke plant is safe. This accident has destroyed all credibility.

          The one approach that would have a sliver of a prayer is to put the Navy in charge of any new plants. They’re the only ones with any credibility on nukes now.

      2. During the drought of 2003, France had to shut down many of their inland nukes because of a shortage of cooling water.

        In some regions, river water levels dropped so low that cooling process became impossible and plants had to shut down, while elsewhere the water temperatures after the cooling process exceeded environmental safety levels. (UNEP)

        If climate change brings more droughts, more intense droughts, or even just less predictability of water availability, then nukes are not the solution. Even the southeastern US has these issues.

        I’m not arguing knee-jerk responses against nuclear generated electricity. Just observing that it’s all more complicated than the cheerleaders let on.

    3. They had backup power (with so many reactors on site, plus diesel generators, plus power lines, they had more than adequate backup power for any “once a century” event).  They had redundant cooling mechanisms – reports say there are something like four separate cooling systems for each unit.  And they have passive features – the control rods automatically slam in to the reactor in the event of an emergency.

      The problem is, they weren’t dealing with a once a century event – they were dealing with two at the same time, and they were more like once a millennium events (maybe twice).

      There are newer reactor designs – largely untested, and not necessarily approved for use in the United States – that sport stronger safety features or are largely self-regulating.  Getting public opinion in support of them now is probably a lost hope.

        1. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake last week was the fourth largest in recorded Earth history, and the largest in 130 years of Japanese earthquake history.

          I’ll stand by my statement: for any given location along the shoreline in Japan, this is a once or twice in a millennium event.

          1. Large offshore earthquakes have occurred in the same subduction zone in 1611, 1896 and 1933 that each produced devastating tsunami waves on the Sanriku coast of Pacific NE Japan. That coastline is particularly vulnerable to tsunami waves because it has many deep coastal embayments that amplify tsunami waves and cause great wave inundations. The M 7.6 subduction earthquake of 1896 created tsunami waves as high 38 m and a reported death toll of 22,000. The M 8.6 earthquake of March 2, 1933 produced tsunami waves as high as 29 m on the Sanriku coast and caused more than 3000 fatalities.

            http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ear…  

              1. You’re as bad as LB sometimes 🙂

                I cited 3 priors from the Japan Trench, two of which occurred in the past 115 years.

                When they speak of recorded history, they mean for the whole planet. That means 1960 Chile, 1964 Alaska, and 2004 Sumatra.

                I believe David’s original point was that large earthquakes and tsunamis are fairly frequent in Japan. He’s right. They’re 100-year events, not 1000-year events.

            3. That coastline is a natural hazard when it comes to tsunami.  I don’t know enough about the area to guess why they didn’t put the plant further back from the coastline; if I were second-guessing the Japanese government of 40 years ago, that would probably be my #1 sticking point.  Earthquakes aren’t going to get significantly better or worse moving the plant inland by a mile or two, but it would be enough to mitigate tsunami issues.

  4. …I really don’t see the MicroSoft stores doing this without asking to install 47 patches and updates first…


    Japan Apple Stores serve as rallying point after massive quake

    Crowds have flocked to the Apple Stores in Japan in order to stay connected after last week’s devastating earthquake, according to e-mails reportedly from an Apple retail store manager in Japan.

    “With the phone and train lines down, taxis stopped, and millions of people stuck in the Tokyo shopping district scared, with no access to television, hundreds of people were swarming into Apple stores,” an unnamed Apple Store manager in Japan wrote in an email to Digg founder Kevin Rose.

    As the fifth largest earthquake in recorded history, the “Great Tohoku Earthquake,” which reached a magnitude of 9.0 on the moment magnitude scale, and subsequent tsunami have caused untold damage and loss of life since striking off the coast of Japan last Friday.

    The Apple Store manager compared the role of the company’s retail stores during the aftermath to that of “electronics shops that have TVs in the display windows” in disaster movies.

    “Staff brought out surge protectors and extension cords with 10s of iOS device adapters so people could charge their phones & pads and contact their loved ones,” the manager wrote, noting that the Apple retail stores are some of the only locations to offer free Wi-Fi in Japan. “Even after we finally had to close 10pm, crowds of people huddled in front of our stores to use the wifi into the night, as it was still the only way to get access to the outside world.”

    In a second e-mail, the correspondent explained how Apple Stores also became a refuge for Apple employees and their families. With transportation at a standstill and numerous workers stranded in downtown Tokyo, “Apple told all of their staff – Retail AND Corporate – that they could go sleep at the Apple stores,” the manager said. The company also reportedly offered to reimburse any costs incurred by employees trying to get home.

    http://www.appleinsider.com/ar…

    And the linked article on Kevin Rose’s blog (founder of DIGG):

    http://kevinrose.com/blogg/201…

  5. …well, actually just because it’s Tuesday and it’s time for a comic…

    What to do about Gitmo?

    The president consults with General Flustercluck

  6. Denver City Council endorses pay raise for elected officials http://www.denverpost.com/news…

    This is amazing.  It proves that 10 of them are tone deaf and at least 2, Chris Nevitt and Paul Lopez, are idiots.

    It’s probably not a coincidence that they are the two tied closely with Labor.  Though, in their defense, they are only demanding themselves a raise rather than all the public employees…

    From 2008:  Labor gets seat at city table

    Another factor: change in the makeup of the council. The last election ushered in new members – Nevitt and Lopez – with close ties to labor.

    http://www.denverpost.com/head…  

    1. WTF? Labor has nothing to do with nothing here. This is a fabulous article with some great one liners and you make up some completely unrelated angle? Seriously? This is why no one takes you seriously.

      Let me help:

      Denver City Council is full of tone deaf idiots. They voted to endorse a pay raise… for themselves! Nevitt doesn’t think it’s enough to affect the budget, so it should be fine.

      “The substance of passing this has virtually zero impact on the budget,” said council president Chris Nevitt. “I was sent here to do a job to get things done. I much more prefer substance over symbolism.”

      I dunno, is it “symbolism” when you give yourself a perk hardly anyone else you represent will get? Oh well, it’s not like they make a bunch of money. These positions are nearly volunteer:

      Denver is the only large city in Colorado that pays its council members a living wage – $78,173 a year, plus about $30,000 in benefits.

      So maybe it is fair enough to say that the amount of the raise isn’t that much. It’s their salary as a whole they shouldn’t have brought attention to.

      All 13 council positions, along with the mayor, auditor and clerk and recorder, are up for election May 3.

      Six council members are running unopposed to retain their seats.

      Oh. I see.

      You’re welcome, 20ME.

      1. It really was too much of a coincidence that the two biggest labor advocates on city council are also the most dim-witted.

        You are correct that the issue itself wasn’t labor related.  Hence, my disclaimer in their defense.

        Nevertheless, thank you for appending my original post.  Well done.

  7. A new federal gas tax should be initiated now.  It would be used to insure that the average gas price at the pump would not drop below $3.00 per gallon.  So, at today’s prices which are above $3 per gallon, no additional federal taxes would be assessed.  But, when (if?) gas prices drop below $3 per gallon, the new federal gas tax would kick in to raise the pump price back to $3 per gallon.  This will do two things: 1) it would encourage consumers to conserve gas and buy gas efficient, or electric vehicles; 2) the revenue raised could be used to promote cleaner energy alternatives.

    Discuss.

    2. It wouldn’t reduce discretionary income?  

      It wouldn’t increase the cost of almost everything- relative to what they are/would be today if fuel prices were below $3?

      1. For example:

        1) Less reliance on foreign oil and less support of our enemies;

        2) More American jobs developing alternative energy sources;

        3) Less pollution and attendant costs;

        4) More discretionary spending for those who drive more efficient cars.

        Just for starters.  

        1. If you intend to have an honest debate, then you need to include the costs too.  Then truly debate both the costs and benefits.

          Otherwise, on this board you’re just preaching to the choir.

          1. more of the price you pay for gas to stay here doing good things for Americans? Why do you want more of the dollars out of your pocket going overseas?

            Do you have an American birth certificate?

  8. Senate majority leader.  The same one who blurted out on Fox that the whole union crushing thing is about taking money away from the Obama reelection bid.  Budget shmudget. Not that we didn’t know but pols are still supposed to maintain plausible deniability about their transparent lies for form’s sake.  Is he too stupid to be ashamed or just unable to grasp the concept:

    Senate Majority Scott Fitzgerald has told Senate Republicans that any votes taken by Senate Democrats in standing committee public hearings and executive sessions will not be counted or recorded.

    “Please note that all 14 Democrat senators are still in contempt of the Senate,” Fitzgerald wrote in an email Monday afternoon that was posted on wispolitics.com “Therefore, when taking roll call votes on amendments and bills during executive sessions, Senate Democrats’ votes will not be reflected in the Records of Committee Proceedings or the Senate Journal.”

    http://host.madison.com/ct/new…

    Apparently he believes that voters really don’t matter at all, disenfranchising every voter represented by a D is fine as long as Rs have the Koch bros and their money. Is he as deluded as Hosni Mubarak?  Time will tell.

    1. Are they still in contempt?  What do they have to do to get out of ‘comtempt?’  

      And it wasn’t clear to me: are their votes not counted at all, for anything, or only during executive session?  I don’t believe we have an executive session very often here in CO, do we?

      As for disenfranchising voters, the Dems literally left the state.  That exceeds the definition of ‘disenfranchisement.’  It’s like disenfranchisement^2.

      1. with legs, brought attention to the concerns of their constituents and turned  polls decisively against the efforts of the GOP in Wisconsin and elsewhere to crush the unions, the middle class and the ability of the Dems to compete in funding so that’s really more empowerment than disenfranchisement.  Reread the article.  Not unclear. and if you think this kind of behavior is helping your cause, fine.  Dems think it helps ours.

      2. They were declared in contempt for leaving the state and refusing to return when requested.  Now they’re back, and everyone’s scratching their heads trying to figure out what Fitzgerald is up to (aside from the obvious political hardball).  Since no-one knows why they’re in contempt, no-one knows how to resolve it.

        As far as I can read, the Democrats can come to executive (committee) sessions, can participate, and can vote – but those votes are not to be recorded or counted in any way.  Because executive committees are part of the self-defined structure of the State Senate, the move is probably legal – just terribly partisan.

        As far as disenfranchisement, the Democrats – like Republicans in the U.S. Senate all last year when we were griping about it – took a legally permissible and extreme move to protest what they believed were non-budgetary matters that were beyond what their constituents desired.  It required affirmative action and only blocked a fraction of the Senate’s power, during which time (and after, apparently) they and their staffers were subjected to penalties, and they had no voice on the Senate floor.

        So, your choice: either what they did was okay, or next time we gripe about Republican Senate obstructionism you can remember that it’s worse in at least four ways than what Wisconsin Senate Dems did, and shut up.

      1. They already have the deadbeat senator they elected to abandon represent them. It’s not those particular voters who matter.  It’s the voters in those districts where the recalls are being held.

        I’ve said this before- Republicans are unlikely, under any circumstances, to spend any portion of the future in the majority in WI.  Though I think it’s a tough sell to defend those who insisted on raises and free health care until well into the fight, there’s probably a better-than-average chance that some of the recalls work.

        In the meantime, Gov. Daniels survived pretty low numbers right after he instituted major govt reforms, including the abolition of public union collective bargaining, to enjoy great numbers today.  In fact, the state of Indiana has somehow managed to survive, relatively well, without public unions.

          1. that the founders set up our democratic govt intentionally to move slowly, I am often frustrated by obstruction by both parties in the US Senate.

            Exhibit A is the confirmation of judges.  As you know, I thnink elections matter.  I think it appropriate to weed any true whackos, but otherwise the president should get to enforce his prerogative per the voters’ wishes.  But that’s the rub: what defines “whacko?”

            I also don’t like the blind holds that senators get to use.  

            I might like the fillibuster more if it were enforced old-school style.  In that case, it’s usually not going to work but will get a lot of attention for the minority.

            So much of obstructionism is open to interpretation.

            1. It required affirmative action for them to stop the debate on their budget bill.  And it got a lot of attention for the minority, as you noted.

              I’m glad you think that some obstruction is bad – I’m with you on that. The problem, as you say, is who defines when it’s appropriate to do the blocking?  In the case of Republicans in the Senate, it’s apparently almost always appropriate because it delays other legislation that might make Obama look good.

        2. We already are aware of your blissfulness, but when you make outright false claims such as

          … I think it’s a tough sell to defend those who insisted on raises and free health care until well into the fight …

          It’s been reported, repeatedly, that WI state employees agreed to every concession regarding pay and having to make larger contributions to benefits. The only thing still on the table was the idea of destroying the right to collective bargaining. Maybe you want to link to the “great numbers” you mentioned?

          1. (Sigh…)  You pointed it out yourself:

            …untill well into the fight…

            So where did I lie again?  They agreed after they were left with zero options.  And you know what?  Collective bargaining is really bad for government.  It’s not like they met Gov. Walker in the middle.

            “Of course voting is useful. But then again, I don’t put a big glow to it. Voting is about as essential as washing yourself. It’s something you’re supposed to do. Now, you can’t go around bragging, expecting to get props because you voted. That’s stupid.” –Chuck D

            1. The unions were never asked to sit down with the Governor or the legislature to discuss compromises in the budget, and the budget bill came pretty much out of nowhere from the Governor’s office straight to the House.

              As far as anything budgetary (remember – repealing collective bargaining was passed without a budgetary quorum, so it couldn’t be a budgetary issue), you’re right – unions didn’t meet Walker in the middle.  They came all the way over to his side of the table.

            2. Collective bargaining is really bad for government.

              Yeah, it’s better when just a couple of wealthy brothers buy a government.

              Because of collective bargaining on benefits (especially pensions), we get better services for less money. People who take government jobs often give up substantial amounts in current pay (in comparison to what they could demand in private industry) in exchange for security. It’s worth the risk, from the state’s point of view, because a significant number of those employees won’t collect on their benefits.

              But, don’t let me be a downer on your ideology. I won’t show you any graphs that cause you to show your inability to comprehend actual evidence. At least not today.

        3. He had his current Republican legislators back off of an NLRB-violating anti-union measure.

          His current popularity is – well, I don’t know that anyone knows.  It was pretty good back in good times.  It wasn’t horrible in 2010, but nothing like it used to be.  Don’t see any 2011 numbers to back you up, though.

        4. And it’s ours, not yours, Mainester. But if you think the GOP governors and legislatures that are inspiring the biggest longest lasting attewntion getting demonstrations, protests and recall efforts are doing your cause a big favor, your entitled to your opinion. I think every time something like this pops up and renews coverage and inspires Dem participation, contributions and recall efforts it’s better for us.  

          And your calling the brave 14 deadbeats doesn’t make it so. They accomplished much more for our cause  and for their constituents by keeping this in the news cycle for three weeks than they possibly could have done in any other way.  And their constituents, other than those who wouldn’t vote for them anyway, know it.  And I wouldn’t get too over confident about how those recalls will turn out.  One of the Rs on the list only won by less than 200 votes.  

          And now the farmers are up in arms over aspects of the bill that hurt them. A lot.  They have to buy their own insurance and they liked Badger Care.  Many who are creating a new business niche for themselves so they can hang on as family farmer by providing natural eggs, etc. are losing breaks to the mega-producers.  

          One small farm town of 1000 had 100 people turn up at a meeting mad as hell about the R budget.  That’s an incredible percentage of voting age adults at a meeting in a town that size. Sure, towns of 1000 don’t mean much in terms of votes by themselves but Rs crushing family farms and taking away their only affordable healthcare is going to make for some terrific recall and campaign ads. But if you’re happy with the R strategy, hey, I’m happy for you.

  9. .

    The US Congress is sending another Continuing Resolution to Obama.  Avoiding a shutdown, with furloughs for federal employees.

    It (the CR) will take us past the halfway mark of Fiscal Year 2011.  

    Your representatives have Spring Break next week; visit them in the grocery store.  

    Tell them how much you appreciate them providing the leadership the country needs at this juncture.

    .

    1. House Republicans are still insisting on adding cuts for every extension, and Democrats are definitely beginning to balk at helping the GOP leadership pass bills that are starting to cut in to programs that affect working people.

      With 53 House Tea Partiers and others voting against the bill saying it’s time to force a budget confrontation, I don’t see a way to passage of yet another extension.

      On the other hand, Democrats are unlikely to agree to the cuts that Republicans are currently adamantly adhering to; a budget for the next half year is not in sight yet.

    2. …sorry B-X, but the political “movement” known as the Tea Party is absolutely responsible for this fiscal standoff.

      Their demands to shrink the Federal Govt to Congress, two security guards and a super-sized INS have held up the negotiations between the Orange Man and the Dems. Had some saner voices been allowed to participate, then I’m certain that some sort of budget deal would’ve been reached by now.

      But the Republican’t Party and all of it’s cults have demonstrated yet again why they shouldn’t run the country – their batshit crazy Tea Party franchise will not negotiate, will not do any research on the budget, and refuse to even spend a moment to figure out what the Federal Gov’t does.

      Instead, they’re content to pretend to understand the Constitution, spout their ignorance about history and politics at whatever reloading circle they get invited to (Rep Bachmann and her “NH geographical embarrassment”) and now are polishing up their new talking point about “America in Decline.”

      Oh – maybe if I start a web page with “Obama’s REAL birth certificate” on it, then maybe I can attract the attention of these nincompoops long enough to teach them “compromise.”

      Nah…

    3. It’s going to damage them horribly. Between Japan & Libya making the world uncertain and blatant class warfare in Wisconsin and other mid-Western states, adding this on top will have voters ready to throw them all out.

      The last thing people want is an additional giant problem right now. And a self-inflicted one is a big loser.

  11. from the BBC

    Hundreds of people have been injured in clashes in Bahrain, according to a doctor who spoke to the BBC by phone from the Gulf state.

    He also said that soldiers and police had seized ambulances and appeared to be firing on anyone in their path, but that it was impossible to identify where those responsible for the violence were from.

    Bahrain may be figuring with attention on Japan that they can put down the protests rather than compromise. And that might work for a bit, but it will guarantee that next time around there won’t be a willingness to consider a role for the monarchy.

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