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August 11, 2009 03:30 PM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 69 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Fear always springs from ignorance.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

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69 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

  1. The Daily Camera reports that two CU professors received federal stimulus funds to  support their research projects. The first received $600K to “develop easy-to-use software that would use GPS maps to pinpoint healthy food stores” in the low income communities. The second CU professor was granted $490K to study environmentalism in China and Tibet.  

    I am not sure how these projects, which will pay the salaries of only two people, will exactly STIMULATE the economy. How is this any different from stimulus money to exec bonuses?

    I am a Progressive Democrat who says

    Please, Democrats STOP THE SPENDING!!!!!

    1. Grant money gets spent on flights, on equipment, on salaries for grad students and others, and on university expenses. Sometimes it’s also used for summer salaries, when professors aren’t otherwise getting paid.

      But almost none of a grant goes into a professor’s pocket.

    2. Like Cash for Clunkers … destroying viable working assets, raising prices on the poor and creating scrap metal for the Chinese to buy.

      4 of the top 5 cars purchased on the program are Japanese!

      Didn’t Rep Coffman proposed a federal income tax credit instead of this govt rake off program that destroys GDP?

  3. Our Secretary of State lost her cool with a student from the Congo yesterday.

    According to ABC News there was an error in translation, but what is fascinating is the totally unprofessional response by Secretary Clinton.

    1. You have a Secretary of State flying all over the world, burning the candle at both ends, dealing with jet lag, and at the first slightly irritable response to a slightly irritating question, you think you have fodder for a scandal?

      Get a life, and get out of the way of decent people trying to make the world a slightly better place.

      1. The first job of a diplomat is to be diplomatic.  Secretary Clinton was anything but.  Even on Democratic Underground they were commenting on how this didn’t look good.  It just wasn’t the words she spoke, it was the whole attitude.  Hillery Clinton is supposed to be the face that represents us to the world.  Can you honestly say that the person in that video did so with any real skill?

        1. You…are…a…parasite.

          A stupid, muck-raking, bottom-feeding, scum-sucking, bipedal waste of biomass.

          I never criticized the first President Bush for being “unpresidential” enough to puke on his Japanese host, because we elect and appoint human beings to office, not mechanical automatons. Our Secretary of State, with mild irritation, answered a question translated as asking what her husband would think with (more or less) “I don’t speak for my husband; I speak for myself,” and you perceive a major issue in this??!! What a useless twit you are! You have raised the slimy art of knee-jerk partisan cheap shots to a whole new level of idiocy. Go back to whatever cestpool spewed you out in disgust, and beg the shit that floats there to tolerate your presence, because no one else should ever have to.

              1. He’s been around here a while, and he’s not a rabid wild eyed teabagger or anything.  Most of the time he’s got some good points, even though I don’t always agree with him.

                I mean, hell, its not like his name is “tax cheat Geithner” or anything…

              2. As someone who’s relatively new here (I see you just registered at the end of last month) you might not know that cologeek has been around this site for a lot longer than you.

                If you want to disagree with him, fine. But hurling around insults and personal attacks isn’t OK. Cologeek and the majority of the people who post here, including myself may disagree vehemently on policy and ideology, but he’s earned the right not to be called a parasite.

                He’s not some crazy R troll, he’s a valued member of this community. We’ve already had way too many Republicans disappear from this site because of threads like this, and I’m not going to let someone as nice and normal as cologeek go because you feel like swinging your beak around.

                Cut the crap, and stick to the issues. Even if he doesn’t. He’s earned the right by posting here for quite some time. You have not. Yet.

                1. My post to the Geek was similar to the writing sample I had sent to Hallmark when I applied for a job as greeting card author. True, I got turned down for the position….

                2. for standing up for civility, not to mention myself.  And I’ll apologize now if my snark has gotten under someone’s skin, but I can’t promise it won’t happen again.

                  1. Sir, I respectfully submit that trying to inflate an innocent and trivial moment of mild irritation by a public official into a major scandal for purely partisan reasons does a disservice to both the official and the nation she serves. It is my belief that people who engage in such tactics should incur the polite wrath of honorable and decent people everywhere, in order to discourage such behaviour. Therefore, sir, I say to you: For shame!

        2. She was on the news again from Africa…she looked like she was sick….I can just imagine how hot it must be there…and she is still recovering from that elbow surgery…..She just doesn’t look well.

          I wish her well.

    3. Is better than one who lays down

      IMHO

      But let me understand, when Don Rumsfeld was an asshole, even in an answer to a US Soldier, no one ever accused him of being unprofessional.

      1. Rumsfeld’s insistence that 4th ID be kept out of the fight in GW2 directly resulted in unnecessary casualties during OIF.

        But he WAS professional while lying to the country repeated on camera.

        Based on that, I’ll take a Hillarysaurus Attack over incompete lying sacks of shit any day.

        1. “You don’t go to war with the army you want. You go to war with the army you have”.

          Remember that question and answer?

          Poor guy wanted to know when his unit would see up armored equipment. The GI was probably just being selfish and wanted to have a fair to good chance of surviving an improvised explosive device high order explosion while mounted.

          what nerve!

          field marshall von rumsfeld (not a combat veteran himself) casually answered him with that nasty, sneering, condescending reply.

          So you go to war in “the army you have” unprepared, even in a war of choice, with all the time in the world to get ready.(No “we gotta go now, they got wmd’s….that con’s over)

          Standard ’04 bushworld neocon stateside commando, geedunk guerilla, toughguy comeback.

          The old “oh well, wasn’t me” mentality the military lived with for 6 years that this bungling, incompetent fool played at SECDEF.    

    4. I’m not, and I think her answer was spot on.  Maybe it wasn’t translated correctly, but the question Secretary Clinton got was, “What does Mr. Clinton think of this?”  I don’t know of any professional woman who would have answered any differently than she did.

  5. Every person in Colorado should take note of Josh Penry’s absence from any leadership in attempting to put an end to this racist activity in his home district of Grand Junction.  It appears that if Grand Junction becoming known as THE racist capitol of Colorado will somehow stoke Penry’s me-me-me ambitions, he is willing to hang that shame around a community’s neck just for the sake of not losing his Aryan Nation/Klan vote.  Is there a more scumbag politician in Colorado, than Josh Penry?

  6. How about a Godwin’s thread?

    Everyone can, in a sterile environment, make all the Nazi comparisons to each other’s sides we want without being tedious in every thread.

    THoughts….???

    1. but I found the comparison on propaganda to be apt, and the historical perspective to be important and thought provoking.  Godwin says I have then automatically lost the debate but I rather disagree.

      Maybe I should have ran with Fascism.

      1. It might be interesting to discuss different aspects of different policies in a forum where you know the comparisons will be present.

        That way nobody can accuse anyone of being an ass for even bringing it up.

    2. are the biggest defender here of Rush Limpbough’s Godwin’s Law activity, let me be the first to nominate LB as propaganda minister for your proposed final solution.  

        1. so why stop at calling the legitimately elected president and congressional majorities fascists and socialists? There’s probably also some feudalism and old-fashioned monarchism going on too, don’t hold back.

  7. Maybe I can see why there’s such a rush to get these bills done….

    Pollster Todd Vitale said the most telling numbers might be the ones related to Reid.

    In three Reid-related categories — image, approval and whether they would vote to re-elect — respondents gave the senator a thumbs down. Just 39 percent viewed Reid favorably, and 34 percent said they would vote to re-elect him.

    “All of those are very, very telling pieces of information,” said Vitale, who has been a pollster for 15 years. “I’ve never seen an incumbent with numbers this bad who hadn’t had some scandal.”

    1. Same poll showed Ensign was still a pretty popular guy.  Makes me think perhaps the respondents aren’t paying that much attention. Reid isn’t going anywhere- don’t get excited.

  8. http://theplumline.whorunsgov….

    Just in case anyone believed Republicans were worth taking seriously on this issue (although with their Logan’s Run conspiracy theories, one can’t imagine that’s still possible).


    “The goal is not compromise, and ANY bill coming out this year would be a failure for us,” the moderator said, according to AFL-CIO’s notes. The moderator added that “the Democrats will turn even a weak bill from the Senate Finance Committee into Canadian-style single-payer through underhanded implementation.”

    Another organizer on the call, according to AFL-CIO, added: “The purpose of Tea Parties is not to find a solution to the health care crisis – it is to stop what is not the solution: Obamacare.”

    …

    Update: Corrine Williams, a spokesperson for the American Liberty Alliance, tells me that the focus of the call was educational and policy-oriented, and not on the movement’s political goals. But she acknowledged that the above sentiments may have been expressed during a Q and A at the end of the call, though she doesn’t think the exact language was the same.

    But Williams did confirm that the movement’s goal is to prevent the current compromise bill from becoming a reality, because it represents Obamacare. She said no audio of the call exists.

    1. red spinners (kevin madden for one) are now angrily reporting on MSNBC that the proof the health care event in New Hampshire was “stacked with Obama supporters” lay in the fact there were no disruptions. Everybody was too well behaved!!! Meanwhile, Senator McCaskil of Mo. is doing a pretty good job of keeping control at her townhall. There are some assholes there, but it seems as though most attendees would like to learn something.

      Think about it. The President of the United States attends an event that, had the astroturfers had their way, would have been disrupted. Disrupted!!!!!

      I guess the red thought process is they can’t beat him if he explains it, so keep him from explaining it.

      Didn’t happen today. Too many civilized people that wanted answers.

      But you birthers/astroturfers/gitmopubs/racists/teabaggers still have Bozeman and penryville.

      1. This is less true of Congresspeople like Gabrielle Giffords, Arlen Specter, and such.

        But I’m sure many of the teabaggers and birthers and other racists are disappointed that nobody got to injure the President in a melee.

        1. 1. He IS the president, after all, and that always brings a certain amount of respect. You can write crazy stuff anonymously online, but it’s tough to be a total asshat when you’re face-to-face with the pres.

          2. Lots of secret service dudes around the pres, and those guys don’t mess around. They’re not paid to be tolerant of folks that act like they’re off their meds.  

  9. Who said it?

       I take all of the things that make me nervous about the decisions that Obama has made, and I look and them through that lens – that it’s some kind of master plan. It’s like his continued support of a government-run option for health care. If a true public option is enacted – and Obama knows this – it will eventually bring about a single-payer system, because the profit-making insurance companies won’t be able to compete with a government plan and make the profits they want to make. At some point most of them will probably have to bow out of the business.

      1. Not a right winger saying this.  This is someone cheering at the possibility of the public option because they ate breathless with excitement that it will bring about single-payer.

        Next guess?

        1. I’ve heard that line of reasoning from libs. It’s the old camel’s nose argument. So this time it comes from a lib instead of a con. That doesn’t exactly make it true now, does it?

          My point wrt Oz is that public and private health insurance can and do coexist there. Aussies I’ve met like their healthcare.

          Go ahead and read the link. I think they have a system that would very likely work in this country, or could at least serve as a starting point.

              1. Although the Biden guess would be right in his wheelhouse.

                It’s Michael Moore in the latest issue of Rolling Stone.  He drew this response from David Gergen:

                I’m glad to have someone of Michael Moore’s honesty say that the public option on health care is, in fact, designed to be a pathway to a single-payer system. Because the Democrats have essentially, “That’s not true.”

                  1. I’m showing you that there are plenty of lefties that believe that this public option is only a mechanism to institute single-payer at some point.

                    Don’t you think that if it’s coming from both sides that there might be something to it?  At least Moore’s honest about it.

                    Look, there are many advocates for single-payer.  On this site.  It’s just not what I want in this country, for good reasons, IMO.

                    I just think it’s a little disingenuous to pooh pooh anyone that says ‘Um…won’t this just lead to one big government insurance program?’

                    1. At this point you’ve painted yourself into a corner, and with everything you’ve posted here, nothing, and I do mean nothing you could say to even modify your “if it’s Obama’s idea, it’s a bad idea” would be anything but a complete loss of face.

                      Even the President’s answers are irrelevant to you. Nothing will move you from a predetermined adversarial position.

                      We don’t know if single payer is even feasable. As I tried to explain before, there are multiple bills out there,and this will take weeks to shake out. But to those of us that would like to see health care reformed, civil debate matters. Being rational is real big on the to do list.

                      Incidentally, how will the government takeover and the irradication of the free market insurance industry happen? By force? Laughing gas? Hypnosis?  

                      Maybe Tom Cruise can star in the movie.

                    2. I’ve praised him for good things, and I supported him in the election.  Why would I do that?

                      I can tell you that I support healthcare reform, but not at the expense of having to get on some sort of universal government plan.

                      I heard Thom Hartman (sic?) on 760 this afternoon and he had a fantastic idea.  How about fixing medicare and making it available to anyone who wants to join for $x per month?

                      Not a bad idea.

                    3. and we all know how the insurance companies (ahem, the Republicans) feel about a public option.

                    4. Medicare isn’t designed to run all the private insurance companies out of business.

                      Also, how about giving doctors a tax credit for each low-income patient they treat for no charge?

                    5. “Don’t you think that if it’s coming from both sides that there might be something to it?”

                      “Those ignorant, right-wing, Bible-thumping rednecks are ruining the party.” -Kathleen Parker, Conservative

                      “I fear the GOP will come to resemble a bitter old man, sitting alone in the corner, mumbling about all that is wrong with the world today, while everyone ignores him.” – Bob Silbernagel, Conservative

                      “Republicans have lost all credibility over the past 10 years,” -Josh Penry, Conservative

                      Ah, as long as the prerequisite for that shining paradise is ignorance, bigotry, and hate, I say to hell with it! -Inherit The Wind

                      “And if we don’t modernize conservatism, we are going to have a party of 25 percent of the vote going to Limbaugh rallies, joining every applause line, ripping the furniture up, we’re going to be in permanent minority status.”  -Mike Murphy, Conservative

                      “I’m trying to move an elephant that’s become mired in its own muck,” -Michael Steele, Conservative

                      “Is anyone else here tired of the flimflam, mealy-mouthed Republican?” -Josh Penry, Conservative  

                      “…this time the frenzy was stimulated by a pretty gal with a mocking little wink. Sarah Palin may not have realized what she was doing, but Southerners weaned on Harper Lee heard the dog whistle.”   -Kathleen Parker, Conservative

                      “Most of the old school Republicans are scared shitless of that future.” -Meghan McCain, Conservative

                      “When a rudderless Republican Party seems in danger of humiliating itself to death” -Jeremy McCarter

                      If you need more evidence of a dysfunctional Republican Party, just ask.

                      “Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” -Bertrand Russell

                      ——————————————————————————–

                    6. But it’s only invective. Moore is referring to specific parts of the healthcare bill.

                      You have been on a tear lately. Your hatred of penry seems to go beyond policy. Is this an old feud or something?

                    7. a learning disability.  I told you before, you will not succeed in making it about me. Hope the remedial training helps you.

                    8. Lighten up a little, eh?

                      If you hate me or something, just ignore me.  I don’t see any reason to be so hostile.  It gets really tiring, and we’re not really discussing anything.

  10. Hahahahahaha.

    I call to your attention several fishy statements about health care reform legislation made by a gentleman named Dr. Douglas Elmendorf.  He claims to be Director of the “Congressional Budget Office” and has posted frequently about health care reform on his website, cbo.gov.  This information takes the form of personal posts on his Director’s Blog, as well as in-depth reports that have the veneer of competent, thorough, impartial professional analysis.  The IP address of his site is 206.106.246.254, and his organization has named their hideout the “Ford House Office Building.”

    Elmendorf appears to have several hundred followers in his organization, which has extraordinary influence over many in Congress.  I understand that some right-wing Members of Congress support and even vote for his annual funding source.

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