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September 01, 2005 08:00 AM UTC

Thursday Open Thread

  • 34 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Take off your coat and stay awhile.

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34 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

  4. I agree – not necessarily with the name calling, but some of the destruction might have been avoided:
    “In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.”

  5. I knew you liberal sissies would find a way to blame Bush for this mess.  its probably a Karl Rove strategy right?  Get behind the President or get the f*ck out.

  6. Yeah! Let’s all get behind the Presidentor get out! While we’re at it, lets all shave our heads, wear nothing but white linen clothes, and stone anyone who thinks this is a bad idea!

    Konformity is Kool!

  7. Just when you thought you’d heard enough from the christian taliban….

    The real cause of Hurricane Katrina?

    We reported last night on the cause of Hurricane Katrina… in the eyes of an anti-abortion group called Columbia Christians for Life. The storm, the group says, is God’s way of punishing Louisiana for having 10 abortion clinics.

    …that’s what the Columbia Christians for Life were saying yesterday… now it seems to be saying that God sent Katrina after Louisiana to prevent Southern Decadence, an annual gay-themed bash that was scheduled for Labor Day weekend in New Orleans.

    The Columbia Christians for Life forwarded to us a press release from a Philadelphia-based outfit called Repent America. In it, Repent America director Michael Marcavage explains: “Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city. From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence,’ New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.”

  8. Mike – considering fewer and fewer Americans are “getting behind the President” these days – check out the latest WP poll if you refuse to believe us liberal sissies – I’d say your over the top tough guy rhetoric rings a bit hollow. 

    No, W and Rove did not use their evil weather machine to create Katrina to destroy the Gulf Coast. And, right now the focus needs to be on saving people’s lives and helping the entire region rebuild, not assigning any sort of blame.

    Until each of us does whatever we can to help out – be it by direct service to people affected, be it a donation to those organizations providing serivce, be it donating blood (go to Bonfils TODAY!), whatever – our focus in regards to Katrina should b nowhere else.

    But, there will be a time when it will be appropriate to ask questions as to why the levees failed, or what sort of response the National Guard has been able to muster. Tough questions will have to be asked of the local, state and federal preparation for and response to a devastating event like Katrina.  And those questions need to be asked and answered in as objective a way as possible.  We owe the people who have had their lives destroyed at least that much.

  9. Stupid question here…

    I know this may be somewhat insentive but…

    When it became known (several days in advance) that the Hurricane was going to strike the New Orleans area, why didn’t all of the people leave?

    That seems like a pretty straightforward decision…  Hurricane Approaching… get out.

    It appears that the more people that stay in an impending disaster area, the more lenghty the recovery and reconstruction operations, and the higher the cost.

  10. JSP – there wasn’t several days notice, it was more or less (and someone please correct me if I’m wrong) only apparent that this would be a major disaster less than 48 hours before.

    In New Orleans’ case the word to evacuate the city came from the Mayor of New Orleans on Sunday and the hurricane hit in the early morning hours Monday. In such a short time-frame, just getting word to people in a major metropolitan area about the need to flee is virtually impossible.

    But, more t your point, New Orleans, like many other major cities, has a large population of low-income residents. Many do not have cars or means to pay for other transportation out of town. And, in some cases for residents who do have cars,  they didn’t have the money to pay for gas to travel out of town.

    I do not mean to be rude, JSP, becasue your question is one on the minds of many it seems.  But I think it illustrates the true lack of understanding many “average” (whatever that means) Americans have for those living in poverty.  It may seem a no-brainer to those of us with cars and means to leave the city – as we’re seeing with the after-effects of Katrina, it’s not as much of a no-brainer for a lot of Americans.

    JS

  11. The majority of the people that did not leave are brutally poor.  Some of them were physically unable to evacuate.
    All I know is when they finally did realize the magnitude of their situation they (those that were able) climed up to their  rooftops, the superdome, highways, and tree branches.  Monday at Bush’s speech in California he made a tepid response about help being on the way.  Too bad no one in any of the affected areas could hear him as they have no power.  How could he not immediately stop his vacation to get the federal authorities into place.  While Americans were huddling on rooftops he was playing guitar?  I don’t get it.  It took him until yesterday afternoon to even address the American people.  People all over just want someone to tell them that help is on the way.  One of the Mayors earlier this morning pleaded “please just fly over in a helicopter with a megaphone and tell the people that you are coming”.  We are the richest country in the world.  We are four days into this and people are dying there every hour standing on bridges and huddling wherever they can.
    Before you write back to call me a bleading heart liberal.
    I am an independent voter who voted for Bush not once but twice because I thought he had a plan.  It has become painfully clear (Iraq & Katrina) that I made a huge mistake.

  12. There was a good evidence that the area from New Orleans to Pensecola was in the cross hairs for about 4 days before the storm actually came ashore.

    I lived in the south for 8 years and there is a certain amount of bravada there about hurricanes. This mostly because they are relatively easy to weather when they are category 3 or weaker. Many of the stories we are hearing from the people who did stay include a line similar to “I survived Camille just fine, I though this would not be that bad”. They simply underestimated the strength of this storm depite the warning form civil authoritiies.

    I thought the most telling was the line being used by the Biloxi sheriff’s department. Evacuations up to a certain distance from the shore were mandatory. If a person was absolutely dead set on staying they were made to sign a leave a thumb print on a waiver form. They were told this would be used to identify their body (if found) after the storm.

    BTW, I just saw on the wires that among the missing in New Orleans is Fats Domino, his wife and their daughter.

  13. What would it profit a man if he gain Baghdad but lose New Orleans?

    In which city will the U.S. be able to restore water and power soonest? Baghdad or New Orleans?

    In neither city is the road to the airport secure.

    Will Army trucks roll into New orleans with pallets of U.S. cash, as in Iraq?

    Why doesn’t Bush hire KBR to set up a Camp Anaconda-style makeshift city for refugees? Nah. That would cost billions. Way more than the $16 billion in U.S. taxpayer money literally lost and unaccounted for in Iraq. $16 billion pissed away and it would have cost only $76 million to reinforce the New Orleans levees before the storm.

    Louisiana spent $530,079,419 in homeland security funds in 2003. That’s $117.89 per capita. For what? Sorry can’t tell you. That info might help the terrorists.

    The tragedy in New Orleans is part and parcel a failure of the Bush administration. A failure to prepare for homeland disasters. A failure to mobilize resources immediately. A failure to allocate resources wisely.

    Sister cities: New Orleans and Baghdad. Disaster compounded by arrogance, indifference and incompetence.

  16. as expected Michael Bennet has named his former deputy at the Mayor’s office as his own Chief of Staff at DPS.

    A bit of a surprise however, is that he is also taking Happy Haynes with him as is deputy for community relations.

    That is now three key players from the Hickenlooper administration that are gone: Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, and Council Liaison.

  18. My god.  I thought I’d seen it all.  I have a message to every single poster on here who is using the tragedy in New Orleans as a basis to criticize George Bush:  you people, each of you, are the insidious, repugnant cancer of our society, and you are truly despicable.  You horrible narcissistic trolls poison everything that is good about our country.  Rather than hope for our elected leader to bring us together in time of tragedy and bring our might to bear for the purpose of assitance, you look for reasons to cast blame so as to taint anything good the man might be capable of, because of your awful and unreasoned hatred.

    I like to think that for all America’s historic moral wrongs (displacement and shameful treatment of Native Americans, inhuman use of human beings as slaves, and every other bad thing we all learn about in school), at the very least, the country that resulted from these wrongs has embraced the best of government known to man, including repect for human rights, protection of minorities, self-government, and most of all:  freedom.  And it is so profoundly disgusting that you posters use your freedom – which carries with it both hopeful promise for a positive future yet also the hideous stain of a shameful past – you use this freedom of speech first to satisfy your sick political-opportunist need for rhetoric, as if your hatred of Bush is your first love, even before empathy for those who have died.

    Each of you are capable of good, just as Bush is.

  19. NAME ONE DAM* THING THAT BUSH HAS DONE THAT WAS REALLY GOOD.  AND, THE NO TERRORIST ATTACK ON OUR BORDERS SINCE 911 WILL NOT CUT THE MUSTARD.

    JUST NAME ONE DAM* THING.

  20. Peter,

    He was the first sitting US President to officially call for the existence of a Palestinian state.  That is a dramatic departure from all previous US foreign policy, and since you are liberal, you of course must think that’s good. And it’s more than Pres. Clinton was willing to do.

    Want me to keep going, you hater?

  21. The man has also done a lot of bad things. 

    The point is, he’s a human being.  Just like you and me.  He’s not capable of doing nothing but good, nor is he capable of being responsible for nothing but bad.

    And, my money says the guy is doing everything in his power to help New Orleans, not because of the political benefit (as people like you would automatically expect), but because it’s the right thing for the pres to do.

    So back the f— off.

  22. Guys,
    Ignore anything that Peter posts.  The rest of us do (well unless we feel like toying with him).

    40% of what Peter posts are useless anti-Bush posts that have no verifiable facts, just anti-Bush rhetoric.

    50% of his post have holier than thou garbage as his main source of content

    10% of his posts are useless drivel.

    I have yet to see him post a well thought out position on anything, nor is it likely that he ever will.

    I strongly suspect that he is a 13 year old kid, that gets upset when he loses the arguement, so he resorts to childish behavior. 

    The upside to this is that we can hope as he grows and matures, he will learn to discuss issues as an adult and make valid, unemotional points. 

    The downside is, the efforts on the part of others to help him grow and mature will be unsuccessful, and he will also be eligible to vote.

    Here’s hoping that Peter will grow and mature.

  23. Hey When,
    Is that the same southern “Christian” group that is going around demonstrating at our soldiers’ and Marines’ funerals – saying they deserved to die because they are defending a country (the U.S.) that loves gays?

    Since apparently we have chosen to use this thread to make a list of folks we would like to see “get the f*** out”, they would be my nomination.

  28. And a late-night announcement:  I have started up my very own blog, where I hope to divert at least my own thoughts on some of the off-topic issues that I believe need discussing, but not on a board that’s supposed to be discussing Colorado Politics.

    Please come and visit over at A Mountain Stream.

  29. I guess since there is no Friday thread I’ll post this here. Nice write up in the Boulder Weekly on BB. http://www.boulderweekly.com/waynesword.html

    Governor Bob

    – – – – – – – – – – – –
    by Wayne Laugesen (letters@boulderweekly.com)

    Imagine a Colorado governor with the character and rhetorical gifts of Ronald Reagan. Meet Bob Beauprez, a long-time Lafayette farmer-turned-banker-turned-congressman who wants to be governor.

    If you mistake Beauprez for another big government pseudo-conservative, the likes of Governor Owens or President Bush, consider the answer he gave when Backbone America?a grassroots citizen’s alliance that defends individuals against the fashionably fascistic tendencies of collectivists?asked him about Referendum C:

    “I am increasingly concerned that Referendum C is to our budget problems what a chainsaw would be to brain surgery?a blunt instrument for a delicate job.”

    Crisp. Clear. Concise. Colorful. Accurate. Descriptive. Reaganesque. And I’ve never, having met him in 1993, heard Beauprez say “nucular.”

    Referendum C, fully backed by Owens, is nothing other than a careless and massive tax increase that will shift more than $3,200 from the average family of four over the next five years to the coffers of a state government that acts as if it’s awash in cash. The state constitution, using a formula of population growth and inflation, prohibits governments from increasing spending without the permission of voters. When the formula indicates that tax rates have taken too much money, the excess goes back to the stiffs who earned it.

    Referendum C asks voters to allow the state to keep budget surpluses for the next five years, primarily to fund education and roads. Owens and other politicos also want us to agree to Referendum D, which would allow them to borrow nearly $3 billion in order to spend the money instantly, before we earn it and send it to them. If given this money and permission to spend it instantly with credit, the elitist government class will continue paying artists to hang dildos from clotheslines and picking up the liquor tabs of overpaid booze-head bureaucrats. It’s a no-brainer. Vote no, and keep your dough. Belittle blowhard bureaucrats and politicians who give you sales jobs about the need for Referendums C and D. If they call you at home, yell at them, insult them and hang up. In a pond of sleazy solicitors, these people are the rotting scum on the bottom.

    Beauprez has a clearer understanding of C and D than any politician I know of. Speaking to a group in Highlands Ranch on Aug. 26, Beauprez explained that Referendum C doesn’t fix the root cause of the state’s budget woes?which aren’t all that woeful if one considers recent salary and budget enhancements.

    Using his brilliant ability to simplify and clarify complicated issues, Beauprez explained that the Taxpayer Approved Bill of Rights (TABOR), the law that limits government spending, conflicts with another law: Amendment 23, which mandates increases in school funding regardless of economic conditions. TABOR, which Owens advocates neutering with Referendum C, has been such an economic boon to Colorado that a 2002 cover story in National Review declared him “America’s Best Governor.”

    Beauprez said that instead of passing Referendum C and D, politicians should consider other options. Among them: government payroll freezes.

    Loosely translated, Beauprez is saying this: No, don’t fork over the thousands of dollars state officials must return to you in the next five years. Instead, pompous asses earning six figures to fill thousand-dollar chairs?people paid to frivolously spend hard-earned money?should stop getting pay increases during a time of recession and war, when hordes of Colorado citizens are just happy their most recent pay cut wasn’t a layoff.

    Here’s another off-the-cuff suggestion Beauprez made when asked whether taxpayers should volunteer their money for no good reason. He said no, that instead the state should do something creative like “securitize” Colorado’s long-term tobacco settlement for an upfront sum.

    Amen, Governor Bob. In other words, let the government sell its settlement to some investor interested in securing long-term gain with a lesser amount of upfront cash the state claims to so desperately need. It would be like the welfare dad selling $10 million in lottery winnings?which were to be paid to him over 20 years?for $5 million that can be spent today on Harleys, muscle cars, tattoos and beer.

    Foolhardy? If it is, then so is Referendum D, in which the state borrows cash?thus incurring long-term debt with interest?in order to have tomorrow’s money today. It’s the use of credit?to meet educational and transportation obligations?by an entity that funds dildo art and professors who earn six figures to insult Indians, Jews and the families of working stiffs killed by Muslim extremists. It’s a bad idea, proposed by employees of ours who aren’t credit worthy.

    As governor, Beauprez would offer more than his knowledgeable approach to taxes and spending. He’s 100 percent pro-life/anti-abortion. He voted against requiring hospitals to snitch on undocumented immigrants who seek medical treatment, earning him a rating of “0 percent” by the anti-Catholic Federation for American Immigration Reform?a rating he should cherish.

    He’s pro-gun (read: anti-fascist), receiving an “A” rating by the NRA. Though he’s a former member of Boulder County’s Parks and Open Space Committee, Beauprez has unwavering respect for private property and acute understanding of the tragic effects of death taxes and government schemes to abscond with private land. He’s pro-family and pro-child and a proponent of the nationwide AMBER alert system that saves missing kids.

    Beauprez’s a real conservative in a world awash with big-government pretenders. Referendums C and D aren’t really the bipartisan happy-happy, win-win propositions our statist governor says they are. They are absurd requests for your cash, which the state bureaucracy doesn’t deserve. Trust Bob Beauprez?a farmer, a banker, a husband, a father and a real conservative who’s loyal to honesty and truth.

    Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com

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