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October 23, 2010 03:03 PM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 81 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

There is no other pill to take

So swallow the one

That made you ill

–Rage Against the Machine

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81 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

      2. “I sentence you to be hanged by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead, for reducing the dimmycratic population of the state.”

          Sadly, this wonderful tale is myth.  As it happened, Packer’s trial judge was a strong Democrat and a local barfly made up this wonderful tale to cadge drinks with.

           I’ve read the actual charge of the judge, which is wonderfully eloquent in the classical manner.  But the myth is so much better than it has triumphed, as it deserves to.

        1. I like the story. Also, how Pat Schroeder used it at the Capitol cafeteria (IIRC it was that cafeteria).  And the famous CU use.

          But, the truth is that Alferd did time and lived quite awhile afterwards.

          HOWEVER, I stand by the hungry man story as it is best.

          1. Hell, the whole “Alferd” thing is a myth. His name was Alfred, but why let the truth get in the way of a good time, eh?

            I wonder if they still do Alferd Packer Day at CU. I used to ditch high school and take the bus up there and have fun.

      1. Most of us actually vote for the best candidates and don’t assess them by the letter that follows their name. Shocking!

        There are, as far as I know, no worthy ‘pubs on my ballot, but I’m going to give Chris Romer’s opponent a good look this week. Every other contested race and the Dem is the runaway, no doubt about it, absolutely better qualified candidate.

        1. There is still one race that I have not yet decided. 2 good candidates.  know I have a higher comfort level with the D but I also think the R may be smarter and has definitely worked very hard in a county where it is unusual for an R to get elected. Not one in 18 years except for a sheriff who got recalled after a year without good reason.

    2. I read on Shawn Mitchell’s facebook page that it was awful, offensive, “stylish bile.”  He would have blown a gasket if he’d read Matt Taibbi’s article:http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/210904

      Speaking of Taibbi’s colorful description of teabaggers, I spent a week in Orlando recently, and was shocked at the vast number of 300-plus pound people riding around in motorized wheelchair-scooters.  I only saw one, though, who was actually wearing a teabagger t-shirt.  

  6. from the Washington Post

    Bill Clinton is baffled. The former president’s friends say he is in disbelief that in the closing weeks of the midterm campaigns Democrats have failed to articulate a coherent message on the economy and, worse, have allowed themselves to become “human pinatas.”

    …

    No other Democrat has so consistently given voice to the mood of this year’s volatile, angsty electorate. Where other politicians speak of the housing crisis in staid terms – “Mortgages? I understand homes are underwater,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in a debate last week – Clinton talks about bad mortgages as if his family were shackled with one.

    It’s not too late for Senator Bennet and Representatives Markey, Salazar, & Perlmutter to improve their message.

    1. I heard this too, but Clinton has always been terrible at getting any Democrat elected other than himself. Congress from 1994 to 2000, Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, etc. etc. It’s one thing to complain about whatever Democrats are doing, but Clinton has no real success story to tell here.

  7. from HuffPo

    As the Los Angeles Times reported:

    A government review of botched foreclosure paperwork so far has found that the problems do not pose a “systemic” threat to the financial system, a top Obama administration official said Wednesday.

    Yes, that’s right. HUD reviewed the “paperwork” problem to see whether it threatened the banks — not the homeowners who were the victims of foreclosure fraud. But it got worse, for the second point was how the government would respond to the epidemic of foreclosure fraud.

    The Justice Department is leading an investigation of possible crimes involving mortgage fraud.

    That language was carefully chosen to sound reassuring. But the fact is that despite our pleas the FBI has continued its “partnership” with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The MBA is the trade association of the “perps.” It created a ridiculous on its face definition of “mortgage fraud.” Under that definition the lenders — who led the mortgage frauds — are the victims. The FBI still parrots this long discredited “definition.” That is one of the primary reasons why — in complete contrast to prior financial crises — the Justice Department has not convicted a single senior officer of the large nonprime lenders who directed, committed, and profited enormously from the frauds.

    It sure would be nice if someone in Washington other than Ed Perlmutter would be looking out for our interests rather than giving the banks everything they ask for.

    1. GOP can endorse away but can’t see how they can make Tanc the legitimate GOP candidate at this point.  Don’t see how Tanc can run for two parties at once. If Maes drops out now, wouldn’t the only option for the GOP be to appoint a replacement candidate of their own to be assigned the Maes/GOP vote? Isn’t that what happens when a candidate is, say, killed in a plane crash this late into an election? Can someone who knows all the rules enlighten me?  

      Besides, why would Maes drop out now? It’s less than two weeks and I think his campaign is his major source of income with the campaign account apparently serving as his family expense account.  Why give it up at this point when they can squeeze some more out of it?  

    1. Do not discount OFA.  They have flown in all the college kids from back east like did 2 years ago.  I was at the Clinton event on Monday and talked to a bunch of them.  SOme kid form out of state knocked on my door for Bennet this week even though I have two Bennet signs in my yard.  I took 2 buckets of KFC to the office on 400 S Colorado to keep em fed and energized.

  10. that turkey is good. Smoked for 5 hours in the snow. I keep the legs and wings. The rest is being delivered to our community meal program. Got done just in time to watch last night’s gubernatorial candidate debate.

    I think all 3 candidates did well. If Maes’ character problems were not so well known he’d be getting a big boost. Tanc was true to his message and, of course, articulate. But, can anyone with an education really doubt that Hick won? That he is the most reasonable of the 3? The least idoelogical?

  11. “Close public schools. Everyone with a job can pay tuition in private schools and everyone without a job has the time to home school. Closing public schools will keep the illegals from getting that free education. All those unemployed teachers can be used up as private tutors, oops forgot, most of them are lousy teachers so better that they be tossed out of the education business alltogether. Just send my property taxes to corporate America so that they can pay even more off shore workers to produce more cheap plastic junk for me to buy to please my uneducated dipstick kids. Once we’ve got all the kids totally dumbed down, they’ll be happy to take those menial jobs away from the illegals, and Poof, we’ve solved that problem too. There is just no end to the possiblities if we can just stick our heads far enough down into the sand to see China.”

    1. Now if we could just get the 98% (actually more. Only the top tenth of a percent really matters to the GOP) of the public to see past all the bright shiny objects (starting in the Reagan era with caddie driving welfare moms, and progressing through, gays,fictional attacks on Christianity by commie loving America hating immoral liberals, scary minorities, liberals who want everyone to have abortions, illegals,the fictional jobs created by voodoo economics, the fictional government take over of health care, the fictional higher taxes they are supposedly paying, the fictional wholesale failure of the stimulus, the fictional threat of Sharia law under a fictional Muslim America hating foreign born commie president, etc.) distracting them from how they are being played into the status of poor helpess masses in a oligarchic banana republic fully controlled by the corporate wealth and power elite to whom they are chumps…  

  12. How is it that Greg Brophy claims to be so principled and hometown, while continuing to support Tancredo, who wishes to legalize marijuana across the board? Has the ACP supporter in our district been out riding his bike so much that he hasn’t visited the principals’ offices in some of our districts? Because the kids there don’t need pot legalized. Wait, Brophy doesn’t care about our those students, he wants “tax relief,” demonstrated in his clear opposition to 60. Maybe he just wants all of the middle class kids to go to private school, while the kids who frequent the principal’s office take that broken road that leads into the meth business.

    Ah he irony of conversion, and foreshadowing. Brophy goes from Democrat to the ACP, while his opponent, Bowman, was raised a republican and now stands on the other side. As a voter, you try and bring in your own personal experiences as much as you can- and I will always remember my work as a teacher in Yuma County. Brophy showed up late for Colorado-Close-Up for a quick snapshot with my students for the papers, shook a few hands and left early. That basically sums up his attitude towards our schools.

    1. It seems to me that some time in the last few years Brophy came down with a case of McCain’s disease.  

      In their early days, McCain and Brophy both had principles they held to strongly, which is something a person can respect, even if you don’t happen to share those principles and beliefs. But once they started thinking they might have an actual, genuine shot at a higher office, their former principles got kicked to the curb in a hurry.

      Until very recently, Brophy was cheerleading for the Bad Three Propositions big time. I heard him brag on this with my own two ears at a debate here in Lamar.

      Now he’s saying (at least in some venues?) that he’s AGAINST 60, 61 and 101. And yet, he’s putting himself out there as 100% for Tancredo…who’s all in favor of those three propositions.

      The only principle we can be SURE Brophy’s 100% in favor of is his expectation of getting promoted to a new job (the same way he became a state senator in the first place) if Tancredo gets elected.

      Sounds like that famous Marxist quote, “Those are my principles. If you don’t like them — I have others.”

        2. to make sure I wasn’t just relying on hearsay, V. That One Paper We Can’t Quote is kinda hard to search, I think…plus we can’t quote it, but Mr. Littwin who writes for them said in his column last Sunday that Tancredo is in favor of 60 and 101, though he’s no longer on board with 61 (no clear reason known as to why not).

          So maybe it all depends on the moon phase or wind direction or something what either one of these guys support at any given moment.

  13. Today, October 23, 2010 CE, is the 6,013th anniversary of the 1st day of creation!

    At least according to the Primate of All Ireland, James Ussher.

    Celebrations for the upcoming week include:

    Sunday – Creation of Heaven and Space Water Day

    Monday – Creation of Oceans and Plants Day

    Tuesday – Creation of Moon and Sun Day

    Wednesday – Creation of Birds and Fish Day

    Thursday – Dude, I’m Tired Day

    So all week, let’s party like it’s 4004 BCE!

    h/t Pharyngula

    3. Do I have to wake up each night to bang my pots and pans?

      Well, at least I get to sleep in on Friday? Or is that some sort of Sabbath for someone, sometime, somewhere, for some reason?

    1. My favorite…

      In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the greatest threat to our nation was clear – and foreign.

      They were from Mexico and you all know it!

      Seriously, this reads like it’s from the Onion.  Other years; they’ve happened.

          1. But la Reforma, which is and was a big deal in Mexico.   Goes back to Benito Juarez and involved, among other things, a modicum of separation of church and state.   Mexico is a fascinating place.  The constitution prohibits religious schools, which is a legacy of la reforma.  Yet they are all over and the government not only tolerates them, it helps them out.  It’s a pragmatic bargain.

               

  18. Campaigning like it was 2008 all over again, Barack Obama on Saturday rounded off his longest swing through battleground election states since his victorious charge for the White House.

    But nothing could be more different to the excitement and elation of the campaign trail two short years ago. This time, instead of leading what became an unstoppable bandwagon, Mr Obama is fighting a rearguard action to stave off disaster at the ballot box – both for Democrats on Capitol Hill, and for his own authority and reputation.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…

  19. from the LA Times

    As part of my reporting for a radio documentary called “Testing Teachers,” I went looking for teacher improvement programs that work. The best example I found is the Benwood Initiative in Chattanooga, Tenn. Benwood “worked” according to the measure that matters most these days: test scores. Before the initiative, teachers in the city’s worst schools were far less effective at raising student test scores than their colleagues at better performing suburban schools. Six years later, teachers in the city schools were more effective than their colleagues in the suburbs.

    …

    Of course, just watching a great teacher is not necessarily going to turn a struggling teacher into a good one. The Benwood Initiative included many elements. Teachers who didn’t want to be helped were let go. New principals were recruited. Curriculum and school culture were addressed. But rearranging schedules and resources so teachers got a chance to watch each other teach proved to be a powerful part of the process.

            1. 1) pretty pictures

              2) complaining about $13 billion in debt – without noting that Bush rang up the vast majority of that

              3) complaining about the unemployment level – without noting that virtually all the recession’s job losses occurred under Bush

              4) complaining that the Dems are responsible for the economy since they controlled both the House and Senate as of 1/07 — without noting that they enacted absolutely nothing of their own until President Bush stopped having veto power in 1/09.

              5) complaining that there are illegals sneaking into his backyard, stealing tomatoes from his garden, and assassinating his cat, or some such nonsense.

              Did I miss anything? I think that’s all he’s said in his last 8000 posts over the past 3 weeks.

  21. A few days ago he told us that the Denver P.O.S. was in the field with a poll and would publish it Sunday, and that he was already working on a diary about it.

    Well, it’s Sunday, the poll is published, it shows that Bennet has not only closed the gap but eliminated it.

    Wonder how Buck-Boy is going to spin that?  Where’s his diary?

  22. …I’m sure he’d deport these immigrants despite the fact that they fought and bled for this country, while whacko Tancredo ducked and dodged the draft…

    Immigrant vets face deportation despite service

    When Rohan Coombs joined the U.S. Marine Corps, he never thought one day he would be locked up in an immigration detention center and facing deportation from the country he had vowed to defend.

    Coombs, 43, born in Jamaica, immigrated to the United States legally as a child with his family. He signed up to serve his adopted nation for six years – first in Japan and the Philippines, then in the Persian Gulf during the first war with Iraq.

    Up to 8,000 non-citizens enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces every year and serve alongside American troops. As of May 2010, there were 16,966 non-citizens on active duty. The military does not allow illegal immigrants to enlist.

    If non-citizens die while serving, they are given citizenship and a military funeral. If they live and get in trouble with the law, as Coombs did, they can get caught in the net of a 1996 immigration law that greatly expanded the list of crimes for which non-citizens can be deported.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/201…

    Then again, I’m sure ‘tad can repost some YouTube clip that absolutely refutes this….

    2. Mr. Coombs did not leave the Marine Corps under honorable circumstances.

      From the story linked above:

      In 1992, he was court-martialed for possession of cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute (emphasis mine), and was given 18 months of confinement and a dishonorable discharge.

      And what was he arrested for that led to his current predicament?

      In 2008, he was busted for selling marijuana to an undercover officer while working as a bouncer in an Orange County bar.

      So you have a convicted drug dealer who happened at one time to have been a member of the Marine Corps.  He never became a citizen, was kicked out of the Corps for dealing drugs, and now meets the criteria for deportation.  I really can’t feel sorry for this guy, he made every decision that led him to where he is now.

      1. …there’s so many more immigrants under the same circumstances that it’s not even funny.

        These men and women took the oath of enlistment, and volunteered to serve. If they get killed in the line of duty they get citizenship automatically – why don’t they get it after their first term of enlistment?

        I’d still give this guy a break because he did serve over grad students who blog all day on gov’t computers.  

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