Sunday Open Thread
July 20th, 2008 at 03:17am Mark Noonan
Sorry boys and girls, too tired to write anything worthwhile tonight. Have at it on your own.
UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: I have a question for everyone to answer… Does anyone here who did watch Meet The Press before Tim Russert passed away still watch it? If so, what do you think of the direction the show is headed with Tom Brokaw at the helm?
Entry Filed under: Announcements
32 Comments
1. Herman | July 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am
So many conservatives out there who stand firm for Law and Order!
If this describes you, please take a moment of your time to view the video at this website:
http://sendkarlrovetojail.com/
and then sign the petition, as I have. As an absolutely SPLENDID bonus, the video features a brief appearance by the penitent Scott McClellan at the very end (don’t miss it!).
2. neocon | July 20th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Well this certainly is a turn of events. Despite a guilty verdict rendered by an impartial jury, the Plame-wing of the liberal base defends Siegleman. Concluding that Democrats support white collar crime and corruption and gleefully attack those that bring that corruption to light.
Good to know.
peace, neocon
3. Matt Margolis | July 20th, 2008 at 10:56 am
neocon, isn’t it really amusing that the liberal blogger convention had Siegelman as a speaker? I guess any corrupt Democrat can be a hero in his party as long as he plays the victim card.
4. neocon | July 20th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Matt,
Their shamelessness never ceases to amze me.
And is Siegelman was wrongly convicted, couldn’t we say the same thing about Scrushy?
Why don’t they care about him?
5. Timothy Horrigan | July 20th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Brokaw’s extreme liberal bias showef through today in an interview with Al Gore. Brokaw tried to ask snarky questions of the sort that Russert used to ask, but he did it without Russert’s smirk… and then Brokaw just sat back and let Gore said whatever it was he had to say, waiting until Gore was finished before asking another question! And the camera stayed focussed on Gore throughout the answers, as if Gore rather than Brokaw was the star of the show. (In all fairness to the producers, however, Brokaw may have neglected to keep sighing and smirking and rolling his eyes. Although it showed extreme liberal bias for the producer to simply show a talking-head shot of Gore, it would have been even MORE biased to cut away to shots of Brokaw politely listening.)
6. Herman | July 20th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Poor, poor, POOR Richard Clarke!! He tried hard month after month after month in 2001 to get Bush, Rice, and the rest to heed the threat of those intending to attack us, rather than focus on those lacking such intention.
A now-made-available partially-declassified NSC memo from Mr. Clarke to one Condoleeza Rice appears here: http://www2.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/clarke%20memo.pdf
READ IT AND WEEP, CONSERVATIVES!!!!!
7. Matt Margolis | July 20th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Herman, the Bush Administration actively addressed the threat of al Qaeda prior to 9/11. Read the 9/11 Commission report before you start making phony “gotcha” claims — and while we’re on the subject, the Bush Administration had even developed a plan to attack al Qaeda before 9/11.
Here’s what Richard Miniter had to say on that in an interview I had with him in 2004:
Try again.
8. js | July 20th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
this old arguement again?
grow up you cheese eating liberals….
9. neocon | July 20th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Let’s change the subject…..how about AGW? I look forward to seeing how our resident liberals will attempt to discredit this guy.
The evidence was not conclusive, but why wait until we were certain when it appeared we needed to act quickly? Soon government and the scientific community were working together and lots of science research jobs were created. We scientists had political support, the ear of government, big budgets, and we felt fairly important and useful (well, I did anyway). It was great. We were working to save the planet.
But since 1999 new evidence has seriously weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role and was not the main cause of the recent global warming. As Lord Keynes famously said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24036736-7583,00.html
10. SEW | July 20th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Thank you George W. Bush.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07192008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/al_qaedas_market_crash_120538.htm?page=0
11. neocon | July 20th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Excellent link SEW.
The following quote will hopefully resonate amongst our resident dissenters:
The partisan hacks who insisted that Iraq was a distraction from fighting al Qaeda have missed the situation’s irony: Things are getting worse in Afghanistan and Pakistan not because our attention was elsewhere, but because al Qaeda has been driven from the Arab world, with nowhere else to go.
Al Qaeda isn’t fighting to revive the Caliphate these days. It’s fighting for its life.
12. Herman | July 20th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
neocon, what did you think of the video? Did it make a compelling case for sending Rove to jail? I personally think the case could have been made stronger if they had incorporated aspects of the US Attorney scandal into the video too.
13. Danish Artist | July 20th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Speaking of AGW….
From Plantation Owner in previous thread that, of course, received very little play in the MSM:
From the people, who sit around all day, quantifying physical science into mathematics (what weather and climate models are based on):
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/press/proved_no_climate_crisis.html
In short, IPCC scientists and their models overestimated the affect of CO2 on climate between 500% and 2000%.
Imagine that.
———–
Also, the resident libidiots did not address the post as well….
Wonder why?
14. Danish Artist | July 20th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
US attorney scandal?
Oh you mean the firing of 90+ US attorneys some of whom investigating Whitewater, Rose Law Firm & the Arkansas bank involved in that corrupt land deal???
or the imagined scandal of the firing of what 6, SIX! US attorneys who were not doing their jobs and serve at the President’s discretion as mandated by the Constitution?!?
Your mouth must be permanently dyed red from all the kool-aid you are drinking.
15. Fredrick Schwartz | July 20th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
7. Matt Margolis | July 20th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
That’s a load of horse crap.
The Bush White House never uttered a public peep about al Qaeda until 12 September 2001.
16. neocon | July 20th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
And Rove ought to get a medal for exposing government corruption.
17. Stretchrun | July 20th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
… the Bush Administration actively addressed the threat of al Qaeda prior to 9/11.7. Matt Margolis | July 20th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Swift-boat a person an idea or thought or even history; it makes no difference to the cons. Reality is what they want it to be. Facts are but pieces of data to be manipulated for their wacko agenda.
18. TampaBayRayz-4-evah-don't-mess | July 20th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
OK, let’s stipulate that everything you say is fact: the Clintons are corruption personified; carbon dixoide is good for you; the policeman is your friend; everybody but White Christian Americans play the victim card; the media is completely liberally-biased; Obama’s a Marxist; the surge strategy ranks up there with Wellington at Waterloo; John McCain has ALREADY won the election.
Fine. I’m willing to stipulate whatever you like. Let’s say the B4V version of the truth IS the truth.
How does that change the fact that the USA is running negative real interest rates? That the debt is $11 trillion and projected deficit is $1.5 trillion?
How does it change that ownership of US assets is 1/3 foreign and ownership of US government debt is 90% foreign?
How does it change that you can cut taxes all you like and spend more and more and more on the military and cut interest rates down to 0% and all that will happen is you make everywhere else in the world except for Saudi Arabia and China richer?
The USA is giving away so much money to the rest of the world we can’t even keep up! We have to keep raising interest rates because robbing you blind owing to your military needs is increasing the economic growth of the rest of the Western world too much.
You should see what it’s like outside the US. It’s a massive party. The skylines of every city in the world outside the US are dotted with overhead cranes.
Remember your buddy, the communist, Hugo Chavez? Shopgirls at the Gap in Caracas or Maracaibo make more money at Purchasing Power Parity than a middle-manager in corporate America does. Remember the jazz about how poorly doctors in countries with single-payer health care get paid? It depends on how you define it because down here they all have 3 BMWs, an apartment in the city and a house on the beach.
And why you ask are shopgirls in Caracas making so much money? Because Hugo Chavez has the same monetary policy as Ronald Reagan. But more so. He’s a deficit and inflation hawk. The Bolivar is the scarcest currency in the world. You can’t find any because you get paid 25% real interest to lend them.
I bounce back and forth between wanting Obama because he’d make a better president and McCain because he’ll keep the party going for sure.
19. JPL | July 20th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Stretchrun, take your meds.
20. Stretchrun | July 20th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Just something to much on and there are many like this.
Incumbent Senator Smith (R) Oregon vs Merkley (D)
February 2008 Smith 48% Merkley 30%
July 2008 Smith Smith 46% Merkley 46%
I would have to say Independents are moving towards the Democrats this year.
21. Stretchrun | July 20th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Stretchrun, take your meds.19. JPL | July 20th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Thats it. After many intelligence warnings and briefings you are not going to list point by point by point each painstaking effort Bush Jr made to get Bin Laden prior to 9/11. I thought so.
22. Casper | July 20th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Stretchrun,
A single poll doesn’t mean much and the further we are from the election, the less it means.
23. Jason Argonaut | July 20th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I read an interesting commentary. I would like to share it with you.
“There are so many things that trouble me about McCain. His insensitivity, anger management issues, and frequent offensive outbursts are among them. But there’s something else that no one says out loud that really disturbs me.
It’s how he treats his wives.
He dumped his first wife, after she waited faithfully for him during his years as a POW, raising his children by herself, to marry Cindy, a wealthy much younger woman, whose wealth has enabled his entire political career. We’ve read here about how he recently called Cindy the C-word in front of reporters after she teased him about his thinning hair. Just imagine what he must be saying to her when reporters aren’t there.
This will sound like I’ve changed topics, but I promise I’m bringing it back. I used to work in the Department of Social Services, and I was assigned to manage a special group of clients. The Legislature had concluded that there were clients on Medicaid who abused the system, and they actually designed a computer program to identify these folks. The program identified clients who had a high rate of prescriptions for painkillers, clients who went from doctor to doctor frequently, and clients who used ER’s often. They were required to meet with me and get my written approval before they could go to any doctor appointment or ER or fill any prescription. The theory was that these folks were either addicted to painkillers (substance abusers) or they were selling the drugs for money.
As I worked with these individuals, I got a very different picture. A few of them were addicted to drugs and some had serious health conditions that kept them in constant pain; none that I met were actually selling the drugs.
But what I was amazed to discover was this: the state had accidentally written a computer program that identified battered partners. As I got to know these folks and their partners, certain patterns stood out.
The women (almost always it was women) took massive amounts of painkillers because they were so frequently and severely abused that they were always in pain. They went to multiple doctors and ER’s because they needed more painkillers than any one doctor would prescribe, and because they were afraid that if they went to the same place over and over, someone might realize what was going on and report their partner, leading to further violence against them. For the same reason, they tended to wear massive amounts of make-up to hide the bruises and injuries. And they were terrified of what violence might befall them if they tried to leave.
The men were typically guys with explosive tempers. They usually had some traumatic experience in their past in which they felt completely helpless and powerless, usually over a long period of time. It could have been violent and/or sexual abuse in their childhood, it could have been serving time in prison, it could have been being bullied in school. Rather than making them more compassionate to others, they became violent toward others, to ensure that they would never be the victim again. When I spoke with the couples together, the men were verbally abusive to their partners right there in front of me. The C-word and similar remarks were common.
Now, the people I worked with were all low-income, or they could not have qualified for Medicaid. But domestic violence is not only a low-income phenomenon. Wealth, privilege, status – nothing protects you from falling in love with a batterer. The greatest myth about domestic violence is “It could never happen to me.” The truth is that it can and does happen to anyone.
When I look at the McCains, the parallels frighten me. I hope it isn’t true. But I can’t help but wonder…”
Posted by Aubrey Marron on July 19, 2008
24. Casper | July 20th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Jason,
That is the worst kind of innuendo. Frankly, you posting that, puts you on the same level as those that are claiming Obama is a Muslim. I may disagree with McCain on a lot of areas, but that doesn’t mean he deserves that kind of crap.
25. neocon | July 20th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Interesting little world you live in Vicodin.
have a nice trip
neocon
26. TampaBayRayz-4-evah-don't-mess | July 20th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Neocon: It suits me fine, buddy. I really can’t complain.
27. cam | July 20th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Since this is an open thread, here is a change of topic. I was just watching the McCain speech on Friday talking to GM employees.
When asked about what should be done to help people who are upside down in their homes because the substantial drop in home values McCain responded that the FHA should provide guaranteed home loans that allow the homeowner to pay based on the current value.
Everybody sing with me …………Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows
Everything that’s wonderful <<>
Really! How the heck is he supposed to pay for that and what do we tell the lenders who made the loans in good faith.
It looks like McCain has gone completely bat crap crazy.
28. neocon | July 21st, 2008 at 9:22 am
cam,
I don’t mean to mean to burst your bubble, but that is happening. Lenders are readjusting current mortgage principles to be more in line with current market values in order to lower payments and keep owners in their homes. Over the life of the note, the lender still makes a profit, and the homeowner gets a much lower payment.
It’s called a short sale re-fi.
just FYI
Neocon
29. cam | July 21st, 2008 at 9:12 pm
So, neocon,
then you are in favor of the proposal? The US government, read FHA, should be providing funding for homeowners who made bad decisions? Sounds like socialism to me. Last I checked, you had a problem with that.
Oh, and apparently the happy joy, joy isn’t speading very fast. Otherwise Bear Stearns, Countrywide and Indy Mac would be cruising along just fine. Or does it take the bar boy presidential wanna be to do the figuring for the acclaimed financial geniuses that collect the real big bucks.
30. neocon | July 21st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
And the funding for that bill is called the Bail Out package currently working it’s way through Congress. It’s a $300 billion aid package.
And I am not in favor of it, but what do you do.
You might want and try to educate yourself on these issues before just spout the liberal meme.
have a nice night
neocon
31. neocon | July 21st, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Oh and the aid package is not designed to save failing institutions, rather designed to keep home owners in their homes.
just saying
neocon
32. cam | July 21st, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Neocon,
What do YOU do? First YOU check who said what and then adjust your response accordingly. That is what neocon does.
Oh, and regarding failing institutions, they already got theirs. The Bush people took our money and gave it to them. But then spending is like killing for these people, once you kill several thousand and spend half a trillion of our dollars it gets easier and easier.