U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
60%
40%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
40%
30%
Sec. of State
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(D) George Stern
(D) A. Gonzalez
(R) Sheri Davis
40%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
(D) Jerry DiTullio
60%
30%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
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2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
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80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
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CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
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CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
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CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
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State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
January 28, 2011 04:51 PM UTC
114 Comments
On Fox via DailyKos
Another “I don’t know shit but I can’t keep myself from blabbering on” moment from Darling Sarah.
Totally unfiltered through any sort of a brain, she just has to say something, about everything Obama does or says. Sort of like our inability to dive to the bottom and suck up whatever dreck she chums out there.
is that after this period of national Sarahmania, her credibility is finally ratcheting quickly downward to match her level of intelligence, ethics and depth as an individual.
The irony is that this is all being done by Palin herself, with the media enablers happily in tow. On an almost daily basis this lady is mouth frothing about this or that, and letting the ridiculous, albeit nasty invective spill out. She just can’t help herself out of her desire for attention, even if it destroys whatever leftover standing she had.
Thank God its over. You gotta really be hurting when Greta Van Susteren won’t even buy in.
But she’s riding the Sarah donkey to a resurgence.
It says something about your journalistic integrity if Sarah feels safe going on your show for an interview. She knows you wont ask her any hardball questions like what newspapers she reads.
Shit.
probably thinks that MacNeil Lehrer is a pub in Anchorage.
….when asked about the situation in Tunisia, Palin thought that was one of Obama’s daughters.
I stopped believing she was a serious threat for the GOP nomination the day she quit her elected job as governor. It simply was obvious that she was selling out early, when she had just a year and a half to serve out her term and not run again. The middle of ’09 was just way too early for a presidential bid to be a legitimate reason.
But she still has her followers, and she most likely is going to run for the nomination anyway. As you say, she’s looking more and more ridiculous each day. When she was talking about a “WTF moment,” I thought that I hadn’t seen a less presidential person who was going for that job. Not even W was that bad (although he lowered the bar a lot and made a person like Palin one people do take seriously).
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one lightweight in the race famously joked about fornicating in the bed of a Ranchero. a Ford Ranchero.
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The quote that demonstrates Caribou Barbie has not a single itoa of knowledge about, well, anything:
“That was another one of those WTF moments when [Mr. Obama] so often repeated the ‘Sputnik Moment’ that he would aspire Americans to celebrate. He needs to remember that what happened back then with the former communist USSR and their victory in that race to space, yeah, they won, but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it led to the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.”
Yeah, THAT’S why the Wall fell in 1989, Sarah…..
between the US and USSR. It was all about spaceships ! She certainly has an adept grasp of history.
…getting involved in a never-ending, unwinnable war in Afghanistan had nothing, I repeat NOTHING to do with bankrupting the Soviet Union and making it look weak and ineffective in the eyes of the world. Right?
a response which drove our scientific, educational and technological attainments far beyond the space race, to which Obama was clearly referring. If he had been referring to the effect of Sputnik on the USSR he would have called it the USSR’s Sputnik moment.
So Tea Party Darling number one (Palin) is unaware of the decades of life changing progress sparked by our reaction to the Soviet launch of Sputnik and apparently to any number of real world developments leading to the Soviet downfall (she inexplicably forgot that rightie orthodoxy demands it be entirely credited to Reagan). Tea Party Darling number two (Bachmann) thinks our founding fathers ended slavery.
How far will this love affair with pugnacious ignorance dressed up in naughty librarian attire go before the grown ups in the GOP stop pretending that their goddesses aren’t ignorant beyond belief. If they are looking for an indictment of our public and higher education systems, the fact that these two got beyond the 5th grade is an excellent place to start.
Education leads to elitist eggheads.
Yeah, I know. And that’s no doubt the real appeal of Palin and Bachmann. Their fans never have to feel as if they might look less intelligent or more ignorant by comparison. And they may see them as inspirational proof that they too might become rich and/or famous and influential. Just in case, they’d better keep supporting the party that shovels all the benefits to the tiny ultra-wealthy minority they hope to join with the same lack of any discernable qualifications.
It is one thing to not know what “Sputnik Moment” means. That can be chalked up to simple ignorance. But to say that the development of Sputnik led to the economic collapse of the USSR is either an outrageous lie or indicative of a level of delusion bordering on mental illness. I’d guess it is a lie, but there is plenty of room to argue mental illness.
What about pure ignorance? That and arrogance make for a bad combination.
Is that how good Christians talk?
I loved it on Big Love when the Mormon matriarch exclaimed “Cheese and Rice!”
she just wiped out the 30+ years between sputnik and the fall of the wall. This could be okay, that would put me back into my mid-twenties.
Update on H.R. 97
According to the enverDay ostPay Dwayne Romero, head of business development has decided the job only requires 3 – 4 days/week. And that there will be no conflict of interest.
Right…
First off, this is a Scott Gessler sized conflict of interest. Someone handling real estate development in ski country also head of business development. His entire state job is to increase traffic to the ski areas boosting the values of the properties he manages.
Second, running a state agency is a full time job that requires much more than 40 hours/week and all of your focus. If he has problems in his private job (and he will), then he’s going to be thinking of them while “working” for us. This is a Roxy Huber level of not doing anything.
What is it with Colorado public leaders where many view the public job as a secondary part-time job that doesn’t require much time or effort? There must be competent qualified people willing to treat a position as a full-time executive position.
Where do you draw the line? And by negotiating with agency heads so they can be part-timers, are you implying there’s just not that much work to do running a state agency?
It’s important to also note, though, that there is a distinction between appointed agency heads and those who’ve been elected to public office. There was no negotiating between the voting public and Gessler, for example, before the election that would have established the Secretary of State as a part-time job with full-time pay. Creep.
In the case of Hick he’s now given a clear message to all state employees from the top down that a giant conflict of interest is no big deal. This begs for corruption to seep in, slowly, in little steps, but constantly and spreading across the government.
It also denigrates the level of effort expected of department heads and other managers, giving them the ok to put in a minimal effort. We’ve seen what that gives us with people like Roxy Huber. Having that level of minimal effort across all agencies will be very harmful.
With his background in business and as Mayor Hick knows a strong effective department head needs to be 100% focused on that job. For whatever reason he’s decided that he does not need that level of dedication and effort and I think that is going to be bad news for the state (and his administration).
ps – I’ve asked for an interview to get Hick’s side of this. Maybe there is a good reason.
“The government official that governs the least [number of hours], governs best”
. . . too bad that the Democrats are now drinking from the same bowl of Kool-Aid as the Republicans.
from the extreme right-wing goal of shrinking government until it’s small enough . . . you know the rest. By setting up Dept heads as not only part-time but also sanctioned to do other work, conflicts or not, the overriding message is that government is bad so shrink it, government isn’t worth much so limit it, public service is not of high value, only private sector work is, etc, etc.
I don’t like the way this smells.
Is it kosher for agency heads to still be able to serve on the board of non-profits which have state contracts and do political advocacy, if the activities of that non-profit are outside the bailiwick of the agency that director leads?
If I posted this under my usual handle, it’d be pretty obvious who I’m referring to.
It’s a serious question. This official will do a great job in their post, and we’d like to keep them on our board as well, but I’m not sure it passes the smell test.
or if they vote at all.
Huh?
More ski tourism brings money into the state and that is of great value. So it makes sense to have someone from that background.
But he’s not going to help O&G (that’s mostly set by pricing). He’s not going to help high-tech or startups. He’s not going to help on green energy. He has no experience in those areas.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/…
The term infant is defined as children between the ages of 1 month and 12 months; however, definitions do vary to allow for ages between birth and 3 years of age. Legally “infant” can be stretched to include a child not of full age or a minor.
So how the fuck does dipshit Gray include “an infant prior to it being born?” Ms. Gray just furthers the arrogant ignorance meme.
you mean fetus?
It’s Luntzian vocabulary, like “death tax.”
Today’s report on Ultimate Electronics Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing (they have 9 stores in CO) got me thinking — How does any brick and mortar store survive in today’s internet environment?
Here is how I shop for big ticket items: 1) I peruse the internet to determine the consensus best quality item; 2) I go to Ultimate Electronics or some other store in the area to see the item and pick the salesman’s brain; 3) I return to the internet to purchase the item at the lowest cost. The lowest cost invariably is the internet because of frequently free shipping and no sales taxes. How can a brick and mortar store compete with that? I guess I should be paying use tax on those purchases, but I don’t know how to do that, and don’t want to find out. (This is an anonymous posting, right?)
I’m shocked that the states and localities in the US have not yet figured out how to require sales taxes to be collected on all internet purchases.
On a related topic, I wonder how television continues to be viable with the widespread use of Tivo-type devices. I can’t remember the last time I watched a commercial. I just pre-record virtually all of my television viewing and fast forward through every commercial.
Is that the system is still designed around local stores where al tax is reported to a single local entity.
For an online entity (like my company), the objection is not collecting the money, it’s the immense cost of determining what the tax amount is and then reporting and paying it to a scattered number of entities.
As long as governments keep saying you have to do it our way, companies will continue to ignore them.
I agree that the current collection/payment system is unworkable for most companies. It’s hard enough for brick and mortar stores.
There has to be a way to make it simpler… Duh!
A brick-and-mortar chain like McDonald’s collects and pays sales taxes to virtually every jurisdiction in the nation. Admittedly, most stores are franchised, and the franchise gets to pay the local taxes – but there are stores (Wal-Mart) that are centrally managed who still figure this out year after year.
Car dealers have to work within the state of Colorado to charge tax based on the customer’s residence area rather than on the location of purchase.
There are tax charts available from the various states detailing this kind of stuff, and software companies who spend time updating their software for all the tax changes that happen year to year.
The real problem for the “big box” online stores really is that they don’t want to collect and remit taxes to so many different agencies – they want an edge over the brick and mortar stores that have to do this year in and year out.
If I open a McDonalds franchise in Boulder I’m the one the pays. I contact the City of Boulder & the state, find out what items to collect on and where to report and pay. And then I’m set up – the rest is easy. And I have just 2 places to report.
For online, everytime I sell to a new location, I have to go through that entire process for that sale.
.
you could build a solution to this and sell it within Colorado.
Go get ’em, tiger.
.
The state publishes tax rates for various locations here, and if you’re in Colorado, you only need one sales license to sell anywhere in the state (unless you’re in-person, in which case you might need extra city or district licenses for supplemental sales taxes).
The problem is nationally. As David points out, a small online seller if forced to play the “pay the tax everywhere” game would have to actually register his business in every state to which they ship product. They don’t know in advance which states (and locations) those will be, don’t know the tax law for each location, and have to deal with filing state tax returns for every one of those venues – possibly quarterly or monthly, for a single sale. Again, this isn’t really a big deal for an Amazon.com – they have the money and the computing power to handle it. It’s the small companies that wind up being severely crippled by state-by-state Internet taxes.
The tax rate side of the issue is, as you note, probably quite easy to set up. A centralized database that anyone can query at any time to pull up tax rates. Make it popular, and it generates easily enough revenue to keep it current and reliable; it could pay for itself in micro-transactions or in monthly subscriber fees, or…
The other side of the issue, however, is all of those tax forms and the need to register with a state’s business administration on-the-fly and for less than the cost of performing some minor online transaction. As a small business, I don’t want to have to commit to sending ongoing tax filings to a state I’ve delivered to once; I don’t want to spend any time filing a registration to do business in such a state. What I want, really, is to have a Federal tax ID which I can send to each state as needed, that identifies me sufficiently to send them tax – preferably at the same time I process the transaction, or at some net-30,60, or 90 date which I determine is “the point of no (merchandise) return”.
Wal-Mart, however, I don’t believe franchises – those stores are all run by WM national.
The problem, David, is that you don’t sell in enough places. If you sold everywhere, like Amazon does, you’d have the resources (and time spent) to get all of your taxation straightened out nationally, just like the big box national stores who don’t franchise. The problem for the larger companies isn’t ability or complexity – it’s that they don’t wanna.
Small companies never used to have this problem back in the old days – they had a location and people went to the location to purchase. Occasionally they had mail-order business and didn’t pay sales tax on out-of-state purchases. The Internet provides something most old-time small companies could never dream of: a(n inter)national market at almost zero cost. Today’s small business can afford to have a very small irregular clientele spread out over the breadth of the nation. The problem here is that if we start taxing the big companies for doing Internet commerce, then those same laws have to apply to the small companies.
Since this all deals in interstate commerce, the Federal government has controlling interest in dealing with the problem. The Amazon Tax is bound to run in to Federal court problems at some point, and the easy solution appears to be some kind of formalized structure – be it switching to a Federal VAT, or by having states set up a kind of automatic sales tax registration system along with having a centralized sales tax lookup database that businesses could use to make their life simple. (Perhaps the whole thing could be paid for per transaction?)
If I sold 10 million in software to people in Brush Colorado, then the overhead of reporting sales tax there would be a tiny cost of doing that business.
I got an “important tax document” envelope today, and it was a list of all my purchases from an online vendor. It came with a stern warning that I needed to do something about it, and I should consult with my tax professional to figure out what.
No signature or letterhead, but the return address is “C/O Tax Department, 95 Hayden Ave., Lexington, MA.” I think I’m supposed to let Roxy know that I’ve made these purchases. That’ll happen.
If the vendor sent you a notice, they almost certainly sent the required notice to the state too.
and ignoring the notice.
has to do with whether one state can force a business in another state to do something (which seems to be in conflict with the interstate commerce clause in the Constitution).
Use taxes apply to YOU, a Colorado resident. You’re paying for the use of something, not its purchase across state lines. No interstate commerce there. Once DoR has been notified, you need to pay up.
Or Risk the wRath of Roxy.
Do you know whether out-of-state retailers, who weren’t collecting tax on sales made to Colorado addresses, ever used to notify the Dept of Revenue about these sales before this law?
All I can tell you is I have gotten two tax notices this year from two different companies and had never gotten one in the past.
I am doing my level best to be a sales-and-use-tax scofflaw and you keep getting all law-and-order on me.
Some online and out-of-state vendors have been charging me sales tax. Since I’ve paid that, I assume I won’t be billed for a use tax, too. PLEASE tell me that’s correct.
Or I’d already be billing you for it. You sound like an easy mark 🙂
Out-of-state vendors will bill you Colorado sales tax if they have physical establishments in Colorado.
Example: Cabelas. Every time I order from Cabelas, whether it’s shipped to me or shipped site-to-store, they charge me sales tax. If it’s shipped, they don’t charge me City of Grand Junction sales tax because I don’t live in the City. But if I go site-to-store, I pay all taxes, even City. Of course, it’s usually worth it to go site-to-store because then I don’t pay shipping.
It drives me absolutely batshit crazy. I’m in unincorporated Jeffco where the sales tax rate is 5.1% Many, if not most, online retailers charge me the Arapahoe County sales tax rate of 7.5%. If it’s a smaller retailer, I’ll often call them to complain and they say, “Oh gosh, we just use a piece of software to calculate the tax rate. Include a note in the ‘special instuctions’ box so we can credit the difference.” Invariably, I end up calling them again to credit my account for the $2 or $20 or whatever the difference is.
is most of those programs are based on zip code. Take a look at a map, notice how many county lines and city limits match up with the zip code boundaries. That’s why those programs are POS, particularly in this state.
It took me forever to convince the State DoR that my small business was really based in unincorporated Gilpin County and not in the City of Golden (and hence subject to city taxes in addition to the higher Jeffco taxes…)
they told you “That’s where the computer says you are.” Too damn lazy to pick up a damn map. I know it’s low tech but it works. If they wanted to use the internet they could have just used google earth.
At the time, most of the county was served out of the Golden post office. Our address said “Golden”, though not a single person with our ZIP Code actually lived within the city limits.
Interestingly enough, I’m glad you brought this up, because the law (the so-called “Amazon tax”) that the Democrats passed in 2010 was just blocked two days ago by US District Court Judge Robert Blackburn.
Says Gov. Hickenlooper in that Statesman article:
The Republicans have been trying to repeal all of the tax laws that the Democrats passed last year, including this one. Not sure what happens from here, but I would expect this would need to go to the Supreme Court for the final say.
As I responded to David above, I agree with Hick: “There should be a national way of collecting sales tax, of leveling the playing field.” That system doesn’t exist now, as David correctly noted. But, this isn’t rocket science, people! (Well, maybe it is for the GOP.)
It’s regressive, suppresses demand, and is more volatile.
where state and local governments rely heavily on sales tax revenue. People seem much more willing to approve sales tax increases than from other sources. TABOR makes it kind of HRD.
🙂
But just because Colorado is screwed up doesn’t mean we can’t think of a better way.
when you think of it, let me know.
Do a revenue neutral adjustment to the lodging and other tourism taxes, and the income tax and eliminate sales tax.
Income and property values are more stable than sales tax. And we already know how to collect. Moving your world on-line doesn’t change that. (Until Amazon starts selling cars)
And I make no promises. At least not until Gopwarrior and Hman pay. And Charley whatshisname.
Income tax (corporate and personal)
Property
sales taxes should only be used on items with high externalities and the taxes should be designed to drive down consumption and/or fix externalities with revenues directed at those purposes (Gas-roads and pollution, cigarettes-healthcare, sugar beverages-obesity, etc.)
TABOR makes these ideas HRD. There’s not exactly an overflowing of political will to radically change the state’s revenue structure right now.
but I can dare to dream.
I wish we talked more about tax collection than tax rates.
Don’t even get me started on the inane business personal property tax
I don’t wanna do it… it’s hard.
Boo. effing. Hoo.
Alaska
Delaware
Montana
New Hampshire
Oregon
No state sales tax, though some local communities do.
Weld County. No county sales tax.
Sales tax is stoopid.
Except as WitnessProtectionForGeeks notes to demotivate externalities.
Take away TABOR, then you can do whatever you want?
But I think we have an easier sale if we called it something else.
How about the Free Economic Development and Job Creation bill?
Or the Broncos Win Another Superbowl Job Creation Bill?
Death to TABOR just doesn’t sell.
But I don’t think the Wealth Redistribution Amendment would have been too well-received either.
That’s exactly what the legislature was trying to do last year–level the playing field. The DMA responded by suing the government, not because they’re as benign as David’s “I want to be taxed, but make it easier on me” line, but because they like the current laissez-faire system that you were describing above.
It imposes significant compliance requirements on online stores.
I liked Soundtrack for quality audio products.
I still do not see the reason to buy a refrigerator or dishwasher in the same store as where to buy a pack of overpriced CD blanks.
Aside from the sales tax issue, you raise another interesting point that hasn’t been discussed — it’s how you and I shop today.
We need the brick-and-mortars for the touch and feel and salespeople’s input — the whole experience (not to mention the fact that we, as a society, vitally need the jobs these businesses provide) — to make our purchase decisions, but we go out of our way to avoid compensating those retailers for what they provide.
Just like Wal-Mart wiped out thousands of small businesses, internet retailers are wiping-out today’s brick-and-mortars. I enjoy shopping online, but I’m not at all looking forward to the day when the only purchasing I can do is online.
I’m not sure but what maybe our most pressing need in this arena is a tax policy that gives a preference to the brick-and-mortar operations in our communities.
I buy everything I can online for the convenience and to avoid the up-sell from a salesperson. I’m guessing I also save money that way – but don’t check and don’t care if I do.
Thousands of small local businesses do a crappy job, provide a limited selection, and try to sell you the most profitable items with a bunch of add-ons you don’t need.
They’re losing to online stores for a reason. And it’s not sales tax.
There are some things I would never buy online. Guitars, for example. You can walk into a B&M store and play five different guitars, all the same make and model, all exactly the same down to the color, and each will feel and sound different from the others. There will be one clear winner. Why? Guitars are made of wood. No two pieces of wood are alike. And the feel and sound of a guitar are very personal things.
I recently bought a pair of binoculars online. I had to send them back. They were so far out of collimation that they were unusable. There were two of everything in the view. If I had gone to a B&M store, one look would have told me that.
The other day, my 30-year-old Mirro aluminum colander gave up the ghost. They aren’t made anymore. I knew exactly what I wanted–tripod feet that didn’t block the drain, tiny holes that would drain things like angel hair pasta without leaking it all over the sink, and a certain size that would fit comfortably in my sink. It was impossible to evaluate the second of those criteria online–the pictures didn’t give me any idea of how big the holes were. I ended up buying a replacement from a B&M store because I could look at it.
There’s a reason why many small local businesses provide a “limited” selection, and if you knew anything about retailing, you’d understand. Their inventory is either bought outright or bought on time from the manufacturer. It has to be turned over within a certain period of time to be profitable. Plus, inventory takes floor space and rent ain’t cheap.
Computer gear, books, CDs, etc. — things that can be made to be identical, don’t require adjustment, and aren’t evaluated subjectively — they’re fine to buy online. But other things are best bought in B&M stores.
And when the B&M stores are gone forever, we won’t be able to do that any longer. One more unfortunate concession to price above quality.
I’m an outlier in that there is almost nothing I buy where I need to check it out directly. But that’s because of what I buy.
with something random, but how does a colander die?
It took 30 years, but it’s finally not worth fixing.
for much of my hobby gear — diving, in particular.
I’ve purchased a few small odds-and-ends for diving online, but for the overwhelming majority of things — and certainly the larger ticket items (regulators, BCDs, dive computers, cameras, wetsuits, masks, fins, etc., etc.) — I buy them all from my local dive shop.
Do I pay more? — hell, yes. Am I happy to pay more?? — double hell (??), yes.
These items need regular service — try to get service you trust online. (And, try to get service on gear you purchased online from your local B&M — good luck!) Sizing and fit is always a bitch online; it doesn’t matter what the manufacturer’s sizing-charts recommend. And, I absolutely need that dive shop operator for expertise, for set-up, for advice, for training, and for assistance in planning and booking trips, etc., etc., etc.
I’ve probably paid a couple of thousand dollars more for my gear than I could have if I had gotten it all online — and I’ve gotten a huge overall bargain by not making those purchases online.
Colorado makes America’s Top Ten Dirtiest Hotels. And in at number eight is the Super 8 Motel in Estes Park.
that
nomotel why?Ohhhh…. never mind.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201…
But, if he admitted to sucking dick, he’d be an OBVIOUS Security risk and would’ve been thrown out immediately! Good thing we kept the straight guy in and send him to Iraq!
I think Manning’s openly gay.
BTW, did you see my TEDxPentagon post?
Where is it?
And yes. I think he was totally straight until he saw that Lady GaGa video.
…as far as PFC manning having “teh gayz,” about the only proof anyone can cite is his attendance at a gay rights rally with some sign about repealing DADT, something I’ve done before.
He could’ve avoided the Iraq deployment just by outing himself, but he didn’t. I do wonder about the speculation….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/201…
Apparently, the idea that “tax cut for local municipality = less revenue to operate municipality” did not quite get to this particular Tea Party candidate.
Beej, based on your previous clueless grasp of a number of subjects, this seems to be the PERFECT job for you post-graduation!
I had something typed up along the lines of “At Least He’s Not Your County Executive”.
While I was typing, I read about Freshman GOP Rep. David Rivera (AP via FoxNews) from FL-25, who is under investigation for his supposedly unpaid role in running a campaign to legalize slot machines in the state. His mother and her partner were paid about $500,000. It gets worse, and the linked article is quite kind to Rivera all things considered.
Then I read about idiot Arizona legislator Linda Gray, mentioned above. And then it was Rick Perry fast-tracking anti-abortion legislation in the middle of a huge unresolved fiscal crisis. And the Republican House voting to eliminate public financing of Presidential elections because we couldn’t afford to pay for a program racking up a whopping $62m/yr. in a $1.5t/yr. deficit, rather than because it is unlikely that anyone will ever use the system again… But that in turn was topped off by news that the national media had bought into an apparently concocted story back in December aimed at discrediting unions – that it is looking increasingly likely that conservative NYC City Councilman Daniel Halloran completely fabricated a story about a union slowdown being responsible for poor street clearing during a snowstorm.
It was pointless to try and choose between this impressive list of face-palm worthy actions, and I canceled my diary altogether.
I thought that was pretty obvious from day one, but I guess it’s gratifying that someone looked into it. Rather unfortunate a bunch of offices had to open investigations into a union slowdown for which there was at no time ever the slightest shred of evidence.
It can’t be! Didn’t we see a photo from the New York Post, with absolutely no back-up information pertaining to it, of a union snow plow driver sleeping on the job?! Didn’t a baby die because union snow plow drivers weren’t plowing?
Confound news cycles and 180 degree turns!!!
I’ve been meaning to ask, and not that this has anything to do with your post, have you seen “Restrepo” and what are your thoughts?
Best thing is the amount of time the crew spent with the unit(10 months) allowed them to gain the trust and confidence of the grunts at the outpost.
Most non-vets are confused and frustrated after seeing it. Most OIF/OEF vets will watch it multiple times. I don’t know how you felt after watching it – care to share?
I was planning on re-watching it with some of the people involved in the Vet Trauma Court, but after two days of struggling with some issues on behalf of a vet attending DU, I think everyone should watch it. If nothing else,just to try and get a feeling for the pure intensity of combat in a remote outpost.
And hopefully to understand that it’s nothing like playing Call of Duty….
I was humbled, once again, by what folks with a sense of duty (even if that duty is only to one another) are able to accomplish and endure.
I did notice that NGEO is reairing it as Restrepo: Afghan Outpost at 6:00 p.m. this coming Wednesday, February 2nd.
http://channel.nationalgeograp…
Its hard to pinpoint a single emotion. I would say that it was simply awesome (meaning that it was intense not “awesome, bro”).
I agree that everyone should watch it, partly because it is a great movie to understand the Afghan War, but also because it isn’t looking to make a political message. Speaking of the intensity, my hands were shaking and my heart was racing.
I need to watch it again as I am sure that I missed a lot of emotion and context, because there is so much there.