Friday Open Thread
Welcome to your TGIF open thread. I guess our taste of summer is over today. At least the rain will keep the pollen level down (*crossing fingers*).
Massey Energy CEO Don Blakenship really is a monster:
Massey’s chief executive officer, Don Blankenship, continued to defend his company’s record and disputed accusations from miners that he puts coal profits ahead of safety.
“To some extent the fact that there were more survivors than those that are lost suggests that the mine was in pretty good shape relative to what mines would have been in the past and hopefully by today’s standards,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday. There were 61 miners in Upper Big Branch when it was rocked by the blast.
More than half survived! I’m surprised that Blakenship hasn’t been run out of town on a rail.
Pat Buchanan defends slavery on MSNBC (with partial transcript):
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Buchanan: They (the South) wanted to be free of the Union.
Matthews: They wanted to keep slaves.
Buchanan: Jefferson wanted to keep slaves; Washington wanted to keep slaves.
Matthews: 600,000 Americans were dead because these guys wanted to keep slaves.
Buchanan: That is complete nonsense, Chris, the founding fathers had slaves.
Matthews: That was wrong.
…
Matthews: Who was right in the Civil War?
Buchanan: Who was right in the Civil War? I think in a way both sides were right; Lincoln had a right to save the Union; I think they had a right to go free.
Matthews: Was it right to fight that war?
Buchanan: Robert E. Lee was right to fight for his fellow folks in his state…
Matthews: Maybe if he said, “we’re not gonna fight,” there wouldn’t have been a Civil War…
No Pat, both sides weren’t right. We simply had to go to war to force our fellow Americans to do the right thing because they wouldn’t do it any other way.
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Obama orders assassination of US citizen
World Socialists Web Site ^ | 8 April 2010 | Tom Eley
For the first time in history, an American president has officially ordered the assassination of a US citizen.
President Barack Obama has approved the “targeted killing” of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Muslim cleric who is reported to be in hiding in Yemen. No substantial evidence has been brought to bear against Awlaki, 38, who is accused of terrorism, and he will be afforded no legal recourse against the death sentence.
Word of Obama’s decision has been intentionally leaked by multiple intelligence officials to various media sources. Reuters and the Wall Street Journal published news articles on the story on Tuesday, and these were confirmed by stories in the Washington Post and New York Times on Wednesday.
The killing of citizens declared by the executive branch to be “terrorists” was first announced as state policy by Obama’s director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, in February congressional hearings. “We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community,” Blair said. “If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that.”
Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico, has been linked by e-mail communication to Nidal Malik Hasan, the army psychologist who gunned down 13 soldiers in a November rampage at Ford Hood, Texas…
Here is an interesting blog post on the conservative misinformation feedback loop. In this post he exposes a conservative pseudo-wonk for selectively butchering a quote and then feeding it into the conservative talking points. Even the supposed conservative intellectuals aren’t.
The end is the best part:
The IRS is more popular than P Schwarts’ Teaparty Patriot “America Fuck Yeah!” Hero’s Party. The more Fox News builds up the Palin faction, the more sane the country becomes.
I think P. Schwartz post on the thread is far more interesting. Should a person who waging war with the enemy be treated differently because of an accident of birth even though the person lives elsewhere and directs attacks against American soldiers?
You can P. can go cut and paste together on your own blog.
You, too, are an American citizen only by accident of birth, David. A first is a first, no matter what the reason.
I heard an interview on NPR on Wednesday — wish I could remember the name of the guy speaking on behalf of the Administration. Anyway, the person said that the CIA knows this Awlaki guy is connected to previous acts of terrorism and is committed to continue this. Okay, a certain amount of skepticism is merited since it’s the CIA, but I’m willing to go with them. From what I’ve seen reported this is credible.
Then, there is a rigorous process and only the president himself can sign off on a wanted-dead-or-alive warrant. You have to be some kinda dangerous dude for that to happen. I mean, we’re not talking about “let’s go to war and kill people” Bush here. We’re talking about no drama Obama. Given that setting I gotta believe our security is threatened by this Awlaki guy.
And I’m sorry, not all the crazies are born in the Middle East. We’ve got a real good crop of them right here and they are American citizens. Singling out one, or even a half dozen, in order to defend and protect the rest of the nation seems like a rational response. Yes, things are different since 9/11. That’s been used to justify so much crazyness that we’ve forgotten that it really does justify a measured response to a clear threat.
Too funny not to share, from the News Journal:
Obviously a very serious candidate.
LOL, UI. I’ve run up bigger bar tabs than that. General rule of thumb: If you can’t raise more than I can drink, you’re not a serious candidate. Seriously, I’ll be you can collect that much just picking up loose change along Philly Pike.
Rose Izzo is a serious and thoughtful candidate. Obviously she is currently 4th in the primary race and I don’t see that changing, but I believe the contacts that she makes will be valuable in the future. You have to give her that she is frugal with her money.
I would vote for her over the Lt. Now I expect you to proclaim the strength of Urquhart and Wade when their reports come in.
I don’t know anything about Rose Izzo, But when David says, “Rose Izzo is a serious and thoughtful candidate.” My wingnut to English translation machine returns: “Rose Izzo is a barking mad freakshow nutbag who has no business being a candidate for the office of dogcatcher.”
My wingnut to English translation machine is infallible.
The NJ reports the 1Q fundraising numbers:
It looks like Coons is raising money at the same rate as Castle, but he has a big cash deficit to make up.
If a Delaware Democratic challenger, from a standing start, raises funds at the same rate as a 30-year statewide incumbent who’s been in DC for 18 years, that’s good news for the challenger. GOP has higher burn rate, fewer live troops.
Great points. Castle will have even fewer boots on the ground than the normal Republican so he’ll need the money.
Looks like Rose Izzo needs our help.. $O$
I am going to donate $1000 to her campaign.
If you want a real republican to win, we should donate to her.
I think Rose will win the Primary.
This is her donation link:
https://www.fundraisingbynet.net/fbn/contributeFederal.asp?guidRegistration=575D5657
It’s your money to burn. Go for it!
I love this week’s version of Barack Obama’s Facebook feed.
I think that your $1000 would be better spent with Wade or Urquhart this year as one of them can be the nominee and eventual winner, but Izzo is a fine person worthy of support so I wouldn’t quivel. I could support any of the Republicans in November. I think that Spencer guy in the Democrat primary is pretty cool. He is a man of compassion, community service, he loves the constitution, and is pro-life. We are blessed this year to have fine people in both parties.
So Spencer is both pro-privatization and anti-abortion? Thanks for the tip. Which Republicans will finance his filing fee? No Democrats will.
Where did you get privatization?
America really hates congressional Republicans. 71% unfavorable and a whopping 19% favorable.
Check out the crosstabs:
Un Fav No Op
IND…..10….. 80…..10
WHITE…24…. 67…. 9
BLACK…..4…..90…..6
LATINO….6…..76….18
Building for the future…
18-29 8 85 7
Ha.
I believe that union busting bastard Blankenship should be tried for nothing less than murder.
In a ‘union mine’ if the miners think the working conditions are too dangerous they can close down the mine until conditions improve. In a Massey owned, or other non-union mine, the employees must wait for the company to stop work.
We know Massey’s safety record. What happened to those 29 miners was murder pure and simple.
Another example of what Malcolm said:
“There is no justice. It’s just us.”
“Now I expect you to proclaim the strength of Urquhart and Wade when their reports come in.”
Urquhart reports $512,000 — with “more than” $500,000 coming from himself. Which I suppose shows that there’s one guy who really, really likes Urquhart. Prediction: His donations from other sources will not match his own seed money.
“I believe that union busting bastard Blankenship should be tried for nothing less than murder.”
No can do. A corporation now has “freedom of speech,” but still cannot stand trial for murder.
I don’t think that being a corporation can shield you from RICO or criminal conspiracy charges. See ENRON.