18 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. Well, it looks as if—from all reports, (i.e., CNN, Huffington Post, etc.) that Liz Cheney is one and done in the Wyoming Senate run which showed her to be running a very distant second to Mike Enzi.  While the people of Wyoming aren't very bright–note Magpul–even they know a carpetbagger/teabagger when they see one.

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   1. At least they're bright enough to make it less expensive for a Colorado student to pay out of state tuition at a University in Wyoming than to pay in state tuition here.

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2. I lived in Wyoming for a spell.  I found the people I dealt with to be very bright.  No need to insult them all just because their politics are to the right of yours.

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   1. There are bright people everywhere . . . 

      . . . as well as, unfortunately, some not so bright . . . 

      http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/03/woman-shot-at-lowe-after-gun-drops-from-holster/

      . . . I guess that at least in Wyoming when someone drops their gun and shoots someone else, it's probably a safe bet that it was C&W music playing in the background (not rap)???

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      1. I don't know about that.  I still have nephews-in-law deep in the heart of the Dakotas. They've seldom met a real person of color in their lives, although they live on stolen Indian land. Everyone they know is pretty much of  Norwegian, German or Dutch heritage.But they love them some rap music, and they can quote those raunchy lyrics like nobody's business. 

         That's sort of the beauty of mass media – you never can tell where it will end up.

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   2. I grew up in an era when Wyoming had such outstanding figures as Sen. Gale McGee and Rep. Teno Roncalio.  No shortage of brains in Wyoming.   We'll see their likes again if the Equality State maintains its commitment to education — a subject Colorado has shamefully neglected.

       

       

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      1. Teno was my congressman when I lived there.  Democrat Ed Herschler was the Governor.  Gale McGee (D) was one of my senators; Cliff Hansen (R) was my other.  Remember:  Wyoming's nickname is "the Equality State" — it was the first territory to grant women the right to vote.  That happened well before it became a state.

         My experiences there were very positive.  Good fences make good neighbors, I guess, and Wyoming was the absolute embodiment of that.  People there didn't care what I believed or what I did as long as I never got in their faces about it.  That's a lot better than you can expect in most other places.

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3. Why Hick is pissing in his own Kool-aid fracktail if he thinks the Ricky Mountain Goonies are going to be placated by a little "tweaking" . . .

   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/business/media/banished-for-questioning-the-gospel-of-guns.html?src=me&ref=general

   . . . you can never battle crazy with sensible, Gov!!!

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   1. Wow!  That illustrates the incestuous, money-first relationship the Gun manufacturers and Gun Enthusiast magazines have with each other.

      Also, demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gun-Nut-itis is an extrememly virulent disease:

      “We are locked in a struggle with powerful forces in this country who will do anything to destroy the Second Amendment,” said Richard Venola, a former editor of Guns & Ammo (and accused murderer according to this article — Davie). “The time for ceding some rational points is gone.”

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   2. Thanks. Excellent article.

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   3. There's more to that story, too…just the sort of thing I would use to identify "someone who should never be able to own a gun in his/her life ever again".

      When Richard Tenola shot his neighbor with a rifle, his blood alcohol level as .23. Here's a picture of the guy who likes to bloviate about his second amendment rights and never compromising, on the night on which he shot his neighbor, and suppposedly, his friend:

      

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4. @Harley: Wyoming is desperate to diversify its economy beyond oil & gas and ranching, hence the millions of dollars it promised to throw Magpul's way. It's a good move — for Wyoming. I'm glad our governor didn't play in the bidding war.

    

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   1. I will heartly second that!

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5. Fascinating read:

   From Nixon to Paul Ryan: How right-wing radicals deceive America
   

   By shifting the spectrum of debate, here's how America's rightward march has been normalized throughout history
   

   http://www.salon.com/2014/01/06/from_nixon_to_paul_ryan_how_right_wing_radicals_deceive_america/

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   1. Too many quotes to include, but this one really caught my eye:

      “Because Mr Gingrich does know more than most politicians, the main obstacles to his grandiose schemes have always been Congress’ professional staff members, many among the leading authorities anywhere in their areas of expertise,” Bartlett wrote. “To remove this obstacle, Mr Gingrich did everything in his power to dismantle Congressional institutions that employed people with the knowledge, training and experience to know a harebrained idea when they saw it.”  That’s why every harebrained notion that gains traction in the House today owes an unpayable debt to Gingrich’s narcissistic destructiveness.

      Probably explains why Paul Ryan is today considered a "budget expert"

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      1. Another great informative article.

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6. Politician of the day http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/pastafarian-sworn-in-wearing-colander-town-council

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7. I am a dedicated Pastafarian. I have a t-shirt and a hoodie of His Noodliness, and always wear one of them to the House 8 annual spahetti dinner.

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