Wednesday’s Open Thread
Yesterday, we had our first successful open thread with some good discussion and links from our readers. Well done, people, well done.
For a starting point, some posts yesterday that you might have missed are that a Republican actually stood up to Rush Limbaugh, Kris Kristofferson is kind of cool and Vermont legalizes it (gay marriage) here and here.
You want other talking points:
- Pirates Seize Another Ship — This Time There are Americans Aboard
- Another Shooting in California
- Bids Pouring in for Stimulus Work
As I wrote yesterday, don’t be shy, we are a welcoming blog.
Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, Gay Marriage, Pirates, Republican Crazy, Shootings
there was also a shooting in Ky. where another cop was shot.
and
the crew re took control of the ship… honestly… go US fuckin’ A
The Washington Post article on lower bids coming in on public construction contracts was interesting.
‘Bulo would like to know if this trend is happening in Delaware. Maybe someone from the Governor’s office would respond.
Also, if this is true, it would make even less sense to cut suburban street funds this year. It could well be a long time before you get this kind of bang for the buck again.
You know Delaware could stop repaving the roads in the Valley between 202 and Hockessin. I’m mean, why are the Copeland’s and Dupont’s public roads better than Basin Road in New Castle.
Folks should read that WaPo article with some caution. No doubt that construction firms are hungry and they are doing what they can to compete to get work. But if you are in the construction business, you never know about the cost of a Fixed Price job until that job is over.
Certainly the price of lots of materials is cheaper and petroleum products are very cheap. Labor is typically prevailing wage so that is the same for everybody. But the warning signs ought to include firms that don’t usually bid on certain work, now bidding and firms that usually work in one region moving into another. In the first case, you may have firms bidding work without a good understanding of what it entails. In the second, you have a firm that is building in some travel for supervision personnel. In both cases, you may be looking at firms who are headed to contract change orders once they get far enough in to know that their costs aren’t covered. And even though this is Fixed Price, most states are going to jump through every hoop they need to to get their completion date.
I wonder if these projects are requiring performance and/or completion bonds?
“You know Delaware could stop repaving the roads in the Valley between 202 and Hockessin. I’m mean, why are the Copeland’s and Dupont’s public roads better than Basin Road in New Castle.”
First, there are about three roads that fit this description. Second, they aren’t exactly falling over themselves to repave them — though they don’t have to very much, because few trucks use them.
The dirty little secret about road repair expenses: Most of the damage is done by trucks, which is why the fuel tax on diesel is so much higher than the tax on gasoline.
Cassandra makes a good point, sometimes the lowest bid is not the best choice.
So I’m reading about the pirates and the hijacked U.S. ship carrying aid to Africa. Then I see the update that the 20 U.S. crewmen have thrown the pirates overboard and I’m just like a. price — go U.S.A.!
And then my liberal conscience kicks in and I’m all “poor pirates from a deprived background”. And then a little common sense kicks in, and I’m GO USA merchant seamen! Yeah! Kick their skinny pirate butts into the ocean.
Somedays it is exhausting to be a liberal.
From the Kentucky shooting.
This is an odd, odd story.
I wish Al Mascitti would blog more at WDEL. I always enjoyed his columns in The News Journal.
This story is hilarious. Apparently there’s an evil ACORN/Soros conspiracy afoot to make the Tea Parties look ridiculous.
I sense a heightened level of teabaggery within the Force.
I’m sure Cervantes is havin’ a laugh!
LOL UI.
My favorite quote
Thanks for the laugh.
‘Bulo might find this interesting. TPM has put together a slideshow documenting the deaths of newspapers.
UI: Interesting and depressing. Thanks!
Cassandra is correct the lowest bid is not always the best value.
Maybe the state should shop like I do for appliances. Between Top of the line, Middle of the road or Bargain basement I find that middle of the road more than likely represents the best value.
Based on my experience.
I like how the best answer they can come up with for grown people throwing teabags into water looking ridiculous is that it is a media conspiracy. Seriously, conservatives in this country are infants. They’ve been out of power for 10 weeks and they can barely contain their cries of “tyranny” (I stole this argument from Jon Stewart last night, but I’m an honest thief so I’m letting everyone know). Has anyone looked into the ecological effects “all” this teabagging will have?
Maybe the cops should arrest them for littering.
Maybe the cops should arrest them for littering.
I’d be careful, if I were a cop. We all know the Radical Right is armed and dangerous. And, I’m not joking around either.
I guess an environmental impact would depend on the tea with all of today’s exotic manipulations. At least the tea itself is a biodegradable leaf. Going from there, though, who knows.
Thanks for stopping by JimD, don’t be a stranger.
TT: DelDOT does not have to accept the low bid if it believe the work can not be completed at that price.
RE: Police shooting. ‘Domestics’ are the most hazardous of calls for police officers. Remember the shooting it P’burgh was an arguement between the shooter and mom…she called the cops.
Hi JimD!
It is really, really hard to take people involved with ritual orange pekoe abuse seriously.
I would expect the real impact would be found if the tea was dumped in enough concentration to raise the acidity of the water body in any great measure. But I doubt that they are dumping that kind of quantity tho. They have more issues more than anything else at this point.
Oh man, the Phillies look like impotent limp pricks. 9-3 in the 5th? Are you freaking kidding me? At least they increased their season’s run production by 300% today. 🙄
Oh, and Lidge’s save streak is in-tact for yet another day.
As VC said, if the Phillies get back to the playoffs that’ll be a good thing.
I think asking the Phils to repeat is too much.
But 1 win would be nice.
Oh, ye of little faith. Phils Win! Phils Win!
Never a doubt.
El Som…tell me you had 100% faith when down 9-3 in the 5th? ¡Lo siento, pero El Som bebía demasiado!
I will admit, tho, when after the bases were juiced and the first run scored in the 7th, I had that feeling it was going to be one of those whacky come-from-behind things we’ve been used to with this team from these past couple of years.