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July 03, 2009 03:24 PM UTC

4th of July Weekend Open Thread

  • 68 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

–Benjamin Franklin

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68 thoughts on “4th of July Weekend Open Thread”

    1. .

      it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,

      and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,

      a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

      From the start, it was fundamental to the American character that we be able to explain our reasons to the rest of the world,

      showing a decent respect to their opinions.

      .

  3. the res publica is just symbolism or jingoism of the sort you stick on your bumper, nor consumer spending passing for investment in America.  As we gorge on beer and burgers and, literally, “shoot our wad” this weekend, how many will ask:  what have I done for the common wealth this year?

  4. http://www.google.com/hostedne…

    Rare copy of Declaration of Independence found

    LONDON (AP) – British researchers have announced the discovery of a rare original copy of America’s Declaration of Independence – just in time for the Fourth of July.

    Katrina McClintock, a spokeswoman at the National Archives, said Thursday that a researcher accidentally discovered the “Dunlap print,” named after a printer, several months ago. The find was announced only after it could be properly catalogued.

    Edward Hampshire, the National Archives’ specialist in colonial materials, said the find was “incredibly exciting.”

    “It is likely that only around 200 of these were ever printed, so uncovering a new one nearly 250 years later is extremely rare, especially one in such good condition,” he said.

    1. What a find.

      The last Dunlap print found was sold at an auction for $8.14 million in 2000. Archives spokeswoman Katrina McClintock said Thursday that the file was found by a researcher looking through late 18th Century files for something unrelated.

      Can you imagine being the guy to stumble across this?  

      1. Besides, if most major Republican in the state are willing to be interviewed by me it would by very hypocritical for me to not do it.

        And it was a very nice interview. I wouldn’t call it even-handed or balanced so much as that it was really just a news report which be definition is neutral.

        And turns out – Brad Jones is a funny guy.

        1. She’s 15 for 15 in frivolous ethics complaints being dismissed.

          There might be a scandal, but who knows.  Maybe one of her babies has Down Syndrome or something juicy.

          1. for giving us a break from Michael Jackson and Mark Sanford’s latest sappy true confession and delusions of King David grandeur.  Thanks a bunch Sarah.  For a few minutes it was interesting to turn on the TV again.

            And how has the DNC managed to turn potential GOP presidential hopefuls into self destructing zombies at least once a week lately? What diabolical forces are at work here? Is Rahm behind all this?  Is Rahm the anti-Christ? Tune in next week for the next inexplicable implosion.

          2. First, she jumps in way over her head in national politics, eventually fragging her own ticket in ’08, then can’t take the political heat in her homestate?  

            Think she’s running for President in ’12?  Yeah, right.  Replay the transcript of her resignation speech — that sound very Presidential?  I didn’t think so.

            My bet is she either gets backing for a rightwing foundation as her new soapbox, or she gets a radio/TV gig.  The pay is better and the only heat you face is if your ratings are off.

    2. What do you think the odds are she announces her campaign for President tomorrow? On a state level, that could really rain in Penry’s parade.

          2. that if she were still planning on running for President, she would just serve out her term. Politicians with higher ambition don’t resign office unless the election is close.

              1. She can make zillions as a loony far right celebrity.  Have her own talk show, sell books, speak for huge fees, accept gifts, travel first class, all expenses paid…  

                I think she’s ditching her full term for the same reasons basketball prodigies ditch college. Why not go for the jackpot right now?  

                And if there is another scandal about to break, so much the better. More notoriety is more money in the bank

      2. I’m quite certain she’ll be in the Presidential primary. She won’t announce herself, but she’ll lay low for a while, hope people will forget about the HUGE SCANDAL that’s about to be revealed, and then try to get “drafted” for the Republican nomination. I think this is her “won’t have Nixon to kick around” moment, and she’s hoping that in 2011 she’ll have her “Nixon in 68” moment.

        But I’m anticipating the scandal right now. Something just blew up in her face Friday afternoon. Someone got hold of a piece of evidence, and she’s desperately trying to pre-empt that person from going public. It’s going to be High-Lair-E-Us.

    3. No-one official is talking – either to confirm or deny – but several sources in Alaska are in agreement that a Federal criminal indictment for embezzlement is pending final approval.  The Brad Blog, Firedoglake, and others are all reporting this, confirmed by multiple sources.  Word on the “street” is that these sources have been quiet at the request of federal investigators!

      The indictment is said to revolve around construction of the Palins’ home, which was built at the same time – and by the same contractors – as a Wasilla sports complex contracted by Palin as she was leaving the Mayor’s office.

      I think this reporting is likely to be true; this is why “circumstances” prevent her from doing her job as Governor…

      2. says that Josh Penry will announce for Governor today (July 4th)!  Right, Pols?  Guess we’ll find out within the next 6 hours whether Pols got this one right.

      4. Fun to hearken back to that, since it allegedly ties in somehow to this latest Palin mess. In the words of Matt Taibbi:

        …Her great legacy as mayor of Wasilla was the construction of a $14.7 million hockey arena in a city with an annual budget of $20 million; Palin OK’d a bond issue for the project before the land had been secured, leading to a protracted legal mess that ultimately forced taxpayers to pay more than six times the original market price for property the city ended up having to seize from a private citizen using eminent domain. Better yet, Palin ended up paying for the fucking thing with a 25 percent increase in the city sales tax. But in her speech, of course, Palin presented herself as the enemy of tax increases, righteously bemoaning that “taxes are too high,” and Obama “wants to raise them.”

        http://coloradopols.com/diary/…

        1. It’s worth remembering, along with winking a lot and snappily putting down community organizers, this sports complex is basically the sum of her actual accomplishments.

          1. Palin probably wanted to keep Wasilla’s youths off the snow-blown streets, where they might cause problems. Kids like the hockey-playing Levi Johnston, the father of her grandchild-to-be.

  7. .

    IX. War and Society:

    1. Assume there will be no major technological advancements in alternate

    fuels that would lower U.S. dependence on oil. How high will fuel

    costs have to be and/or how low will fuel supplies have to be before

    the low costs of foreign labor are offset and production of goods made

    in the United States (clothes and electronics, for example) becomes

    economically feasible again?

    In other words, when will the costs and availability of transportation

    begin to work against a global economy and for a regional economy,

    and push the United States toward an isolationist policy? (USASOC G-35)

    Now that’s a little outside the box that I’m thinking in.

    .

    1. that Congress should pass a law (I can dream, can’t I?) requiring every candidate for federal office to provide their thoughts regarding most (some are pretty Army specific) of the questions in this document. We would sure learn a lot more than we ever do from the sycophantic media or thirty second attack ads.

      Download link here for your reading pleasure.

      1. .

        I have used up almost an entire day reading through that monstrosity,

        I didn’t link to it so that others would be spared the time black hole.  

        I happen to be working on a proposal on one little slice of that document.  Looking for a coauthor.  Anyone out there with a Ph.D. in International Development want a little extra cash ?

        .

        1. Google. How else?

          I’m working on a Ph.D., but it’s in computer science, so I don’t think I can help. Although in these times I could always use extra cash…

    2. Last year we got a glimpse of the economics of outsourcing hard goods production beginning to fail.  Had those prices remained at that level or increased, it would have perhaps revived certain segments of our domestic manufacturing industry.

      However, that has nothing that I can see to do with “…push[ing] the United States toward an isolationist policy”.  Perhaps they were envisioning a Mad Max post-apocalyptic scarcity scenario?

      What would happen is tremendous socio-political unrest in the newly (re)impoverished nations that are geographically distant from their markets.  They would have turned inward to accelerate the creation of their own domestic consumer economy to absorb the excess production capacity.  Besides, their labor costs are rising very rapidly, so again, I think the underlying assumptions are hopelessly flawed.

      So, at worst, we’d be on the defensive if it became a strategic threat to our security, but not particularly motivated to become isolationists.

      However, we need to remember that transportation costs are destined to rise dramatically regardless of the source (oil, alternative energy), so the markets (foreign and domestic) will need to adjust accordingly.

        1. Are you thinking of transportation costs as a percent of the total value of the goods being transported?

          Or are you thinking that energy costs per BTU (which I believe can be used a standard measure regardless of the type of energy) are on a downward trend?

          For Oil & Gas, I think the trend will be that as it gets more and more expensive to find and extract, the price will have to rise to keep supplies in line with demand.

          Hopefully, demand will level off and even decline (I’m talking many decades, not predicting the pump price next week) as alternative energies come on line.  But alt-energy is starting at a higher cost per BTU, so needs to come down significantly to match O&G.  But, I agree with you that those costs will come down as technologies evolve and efficiencies are found.

          However, the scenario Barron and the Army were asking about is about global transportation costs — ships, trains and planes.  The only way those costs will come down is if we go back to coal-burning trains and boats.  Nuke planes were tried in the ’50’s and fortunately, sanity ruled on that misguided experiment.

          Cost-shifting, by substituting alt-energy in domestic uses (home, factories, etc.), thus freeing up oil for heavy transportation will help, but again, I think cost of extraction will continue to rise, so the end of O&G will be from the demand side, unwilling to pay the market price.

          So the answer to the first proposition is that we’ll find ways to ship less (thus lowering overall transportation costs as a percent of the cost of the hard goods).

          Once we’re all plugged into our own Matrix, we won’t need to travel at all 😉

          1. One variable you left out: Locus of production. This can affect costs of global transportation, though in complex ways: If production becomes more local (decreasing demand for global transportation), a basic supply-and-demand analysis suggests that the cost per BTU should go down. But, since given the “clumpiness” of global transportation and associated costs (you have to fill each boat or plane; or, what if deadlines for delivery in a regime of lower demand prohibit doing so? Then the cost per BTU goes up instead).

            I’m not talking about isolationism/protectionism in response to energy/transportation costs (or labor issues), but rather the nascent movement to produce and consume more locally in order to reduce our carbon footprint. I’m not taking a position on this movement; just mentioning it. It could become a factor.

            1. I’d love to have a small fuel cell generator in my home, fed by the natural gas line already powering my applicances.  With solar panels on my roof, I’d certainly be a net supplier to the energy grid.  Just waiting until I can afford it.

              We need to raise carbon-based transportation costs to allow the market to make better, healthier choices.

              But, back to the original point:  The really interesting trend to watch, both nationally and globally, is Transportation Costs as a Percent of GDP.  That would serve as a critical input into any econometric simulations trying to determine where both industry and government need to make strategic investments.

          2. Primarily in terms of total dollars (adjusted for inflation). Because manufacturing will also become more efficient the % going to transportation will not decrease as much.

            Our true root issue is figuring out how to generate boatloads of electricity dirt cheap. And I think in 20 years we’ll have that nailed. My guess is primarily solar but it could be anything.

            1. But the issue Barron and the Army are concerned with is international transportation costs based solely on oil prices and available supply. We currently (or for the next 5 to 10 years) don’t have a plan B if we lose our access to foreign supplies or at a reasonable cost.

              Hopefully in the next several decades, American cities and suburbs will be transformed into New Urban mixed-use communities (Locus of production and consumption, as Steve might say), connected via inter- and intra-urban electric rail, car and bus service.

              But the problem remains that as of today, those circuit boards from Taiwan don’t arrive by Stork power 😉

              Wind, solar and even nuclear powered freighters, trains or planes just aren’t in the cards in our lifetimes.  But, why not Biodiesel electric motors and switchgrass ethanol jet fuel (actually, I believe biodiesel works for jet engines too)?

              Costs would go up and supplies would be short for the near-term, but that would be managed by the market forces, forcing either a rise in price until demand reaches an equilibrium, or other cost efficiencies are found (including shifting production to the next lowest cost source).

              So the Army was concerned about oil prices and supplies, and here we have offered several ideas that render that question irrelevant, right?

              So, as my duty to save taxpayer’s dollars, I hereby offer my answer to this question:

              In other words, when will the costs and availability of transportation

              begin to work against a global economy and for a regional economy,

              and push the United States toward an isolationist policy?

              is never.

                1. In today’s Denver Post:  U.S. military wants algae-based fuel power.

                  The rough cost estimates for producing algae fuel vary right now from $10 a gallon to $40, said Al Darzins, who manages the national bioenergy center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.

                  Their target is 50 million gallons annually at approximately $3/gallon.  Eventually, I’m sure they’ll at least get close, perhaps even exceeding that target.

  8. If (and at this point it’s a HUGE if) she runs for the red nomination, she can explain why she should be trusted to handle the Presidency when “circumstances” prevented her from doing the job Alaskans entrusted her with to it’s completion.

    She didn’t just announce she’s not seeking a second term…………no, she flat out, on the spot quit.

    It’s easy to quit. Any body can quit. But nobody looks at a quitter as anything but a quitter. She’ll make some threats, pound her chest, pump her fist, and predict big things politically for a while, but quitting her job unexpectedly has effectively ended her one hit wonder of a career.

    The red 17 count ethics investigation against her is the 800 pound gorrila in the room. My gut says she cut a deal. Again, with Sarah, like it allways is about Sarah, what’s good for Sarah is the rout she took, Alaskans be damned.

    Clusterfox personality?

    You bet. It’s perfect for her.  

    1. …your whining has no credibility.  You have an irrational hatred for her and you’ll find fault in anything she does.

      Why does she scare you so much?

  10. I’ve read you enough to know that you’re anything but stupid. You’re quick, tough, and well researched most of the time. Your only achilles heel is your ideological bent that doesn’t allow you to see the forest through the trees.

    There’s no “irrational fear” of Sarah Palin. That’s a repub talking point and fallback position. You know that. Palin was an initial positive to the failed McCain campaign, but as time went on, she hurt the ’08 red run far more than she helped. Unprepared, ditzy, unprofessional, and suerficial, she galvanized the Democrats far more than she did the reds.

    Personally, I hope she’s the red candidate in ’08. I just know it’s not gonna happen.

    Clusterfox personality? Within 6 months.

     

    1. The only thing to fear about Sarah Palin is her sizable following. It’s truly scary that that many people looked to her for inspiration and leadership when she demonstrated quite clearly that she was not ready for prime time. No accomplishments, no original vision, no nothing. Yet people find her “refreshing” and “charming.” (That last bit really mystifies me – who finds that kind of personality charming?)

      The chips are going to fall within a few weeks and the truth will come out. My bet is that either she’s going to get her own radio or tv program, or she’s really going to focus on taking care of her family. My hat will be off to her if it’s the latter.

      1. She did run for and win governor. And by Alaska standards she was pretty clean. But with that said…

        She shows a total lack of curiosity about anything. To me that should be a total deal-killer for president. Of course, I said the same thing about Bush as it was true in his case too.

        As to the Republican love for her – she is Bush in a new (and prettier) package.

        1. I’m not necessarily impressed with her for winning in AK – hell, being clean IS her major accomplishment but ultimately her success there says a lot more about AK than it does about Sarah Palin.

          But the rest of your points are well taken. And if she’s off the national stage, then I can only be happy because no one else is there to take her place and the loons will be wandering in the wilderness for a while.

  12. This is good commentary from Electoral-vote.com. Some choice bits…

    Palin did not give any real explanation of why she is resigning as governor of Alaska other than that she was not planning to run for reelection and did not want to be a lame duck…. As long as no one knew if she was running for governor again, she would not have been a lame duck and the state legislature would have had to treat her with respect. Saying she did not want to be a lame duck is ingenuous since she is the one causing the orthopedic problem in the duck by making this announcement….

    Of course, she may well still be thinking of running for President in 2012, but she already had a reputation as a lightweight and this move doesn’t give her additional gravitas. Her not wanting to be governor in 2011 while starting a presidential run makes perfect sense. Alaska is just too far from Iowa and New Hampshire and if she spent too much time away from home, people would accuse her of neglecting her gubernatorial duties. But if she is resigning for the purpose of gearing up for 2012 already, she will take a lot of heat for it, starting with questions like:

         – If governing Alaska was too tough for you, how will you run the whole country?

         – If you are elected President, how do we know you won’t quit when you learn where the buck stops?

         – Why do you think 2 1/2 years as governor of an empty state qualifies you to be President?

    Certainly no one will be asking other Republican candidates anything like this.

    It goes on to take a look at the potential GOP candidates for 2012 and how they are affected by this.

    Read the whole thing at the above link.

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