Friday Open Thread
Welcome to your Friday open thread. Have you all recovered from your post-Canada Day hangover? I’m on vacation today (w00t 4-day weekend!) so maybe I’ll be here and maybe I won’t.
Having already declared health care reform a failure just three months after it passed, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wants to alert the public that today is the day the Affordable Care Act begins to destroy America, one tanning salon at a time. Boehner blasted out a press release and tweet warning about a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning beds, which goes into affect today, to help fund the Affordable Care Act. Citing a Wall Street Journal article, Boehner wrote, the tax is “causing all kinds of problems for business owners who provide tanning services.” Indeed, the Journal notes the horror one owner of a video store that also offers tanning beds will have to deal with:
Today, she wants to offer one free tan for every three rentals. Should that freebie be taxed? Ms. Chamberlain doesn’t know.
Meanwhile, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee cried, “no amount of sunscreen or Aloe will relieve the pain of the Democrats’ impending 10 percent tax on indoor tanning beds.” The Heritage Foundation blasted the tax as well, while Fox News dutifully whined on behalf of the tanning industry. The network reported live from a tanning salon, declaring the tax to be “unfair,” “confusing,” and even “discriminatory”
I would like John Boehner to know that the Sun is still free.
When is torture not torture? When the American government does it.
As Glenn Greenwald explained in his piece on the study’s findings, the research examined “how waterboarding has been discussed by America’s four largest newspapers over the past 100 years, and finds that the technique, almost invariably, was unequivocally referred to as ‘torture’ — until the U.S. Government began openly using it and insisting that it was not torture, at which time these newspapers obediently ceased describing it that way.”
The results were strikingly one sided. In the New York Times, when other countries waterboarded, it was labeled accurately as “torture” 85.8% of the time. And then there was a shift in the Bush/Cheney era — the NYT called “waterboarding torture or implied it was torture in just 2 of 143 articles” between 2002 and 2008. That’s 1.4%.
The NYT said they didn’t want to take sides in a “political dispute” but ended up taking sides.
The paper’s explanation is wholly unsatisfying. Let me see if I understand the pitch here:
1. The NYT defines waterboarding as torture, which is consistent with the law and the technique’s history.
2. The Bush/Cheney administration decides it wants a new definition of “torture.”
3. The NYT can’t “take sides” in a “political dispute,” so, in news stories, it stops defining waterboarding as torture, even if the editors/publishers know better.
Does the NYT understand that by accepting the Bush/Cheney language, they actually came down on the Bush/Cheney side of the dispute? This incident just shows you how effective the rightwing noise machine really is. They just whine and moan about something and suddenly actual facts become disputes, which requires “he said/she said” coverage from the media. It’s quite depressing, actually.
Tags: Open Thread
Brazil loses. And, that my friends, shows you how much I don’t know about soccer. But who knew that Brazil would self-destruct like the Philadelphia Eagles do so often?
Both Landon Donovan and the U.S. coach (I forget his name) said Brazil would win the whole thing last night on the Daily Show. It shows how much they know about soccer.
Amazing game! Brazil had it together in the first half, and then things got ugly.
In memory of Brazil.
Before ya’ll go off to celebrate this weekend, please mark your calendars for Next Wednesday Night, July 7th, at 7:00PM at DelDems HQ. Progressive Dems for Delaware is hosting a primary candidate forum that night and all registered Democrats are invited. (Sorry to all the others who congretate here but you can’t vote so we’re not including you.) We’ll have Richard Korn and Ken Matlusky for Auditor. Then Velda Jones-Potter and Chip Flowers for Treasurer. Also, Kay Gallogly and Ed Osienski from the 24th District. And, Mike Walsh and Trinity Navarro for NCC Sheriff.
Each candidate will be given 5 minutes to make his/her pitch and after they’ve all finished we will open the floor to questions. Usually we finish by 8:15 but we’re extending the meeting that night to allow for however many questions people feel like asking.
Come join us and bring your Democratic Friends.
Thanks for posting that Rebecca. We’ll remind everyone again next week!
And for the record, it is Trinidad. Trinity Navarro may have been the character from The Matrix… 🙂
One of the Russian spies is pretty cute. I would probably have told her all the DelawareLiberal bloggers’ secret identities if she had asked me.
On the other hand… What are those things at the end of her legs – is she wearing swim fins in that photo?
House dems gave obomba $33 billion in a convoluted series of votes. So your rep can claim support on both sides of the issue.
33 billion will ensure more dead people and a request for more $$ once this 33 billion runs out.
The hypocracy (not a misspelling) is breath taking.
“I do not believe this war is anything but a fool’s errand. If I had my way, I would never bring this to the floor,” – House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey.
And yet the fool voted in the majority for the $33 billion.
I want one of these. Anyone got a spare $6K?
Why is BP still in charge of the clean-up?
“On the other hand… What are those things at the end of her legs – is she wearing swim fins in that photo?”
How many Russians have you seen with their shoes off? I’m thinking that, because of all that snow, their feet are evolving so they won’t need snow shoes. That being said, I’d put paper bags on her feet, and spank that ass in a heartbeat.
Ghana is now out. Uruguay won the game on penalty kicks.
Uruguay won with a volleyball move. Boo!
What a great penalty! I just watched the replay on ESPN and if ever a player made a better split second decision to break a rule, I’ve never seen it.
I miss the drive in. I was poking around on their site and found that statement – which is pretty freaking good.
“I miss the drive in. I was poking around on their site and found that statement – which is pretty freaking good.”
Very eloquent statement, but it has little to do with reality. The owners sold the property for the high dollar (the usual the offer you couldn’t refuse). “The vanity of progress”, indeed. Then, if I recall, they attempted to solicit donations and grants to preserve their ‘cultural resource’, but the scheme lacked detail. So much for their “social conscience”.
Even when they operated it, they didn’t really invest much in it. Unless you consider slapping a coat of white paint over the rusted corrugated roofing that served as a screen an improvement. The roach infested snack bar and rest rooms looked like something out of a third world shit hole. Despite all those fine amenities, they drew a good sized crowd on weekends.
That being said, I miss drive-ins, in general.
Blah blah blah…I’m a crabby old crab ass. Watch me get crabby over any topic you can dish out.
And, to think, I was trying to avoid being “smug” by not mentioning how easily a young, idealistic liberal is sucked in by eloquent presentations, speeches, and verbiage (like you did in November 2008).
It’s a character flaw for sure, but I just can’t let a bullshitter slide.
Anytime I can piss on your Cheerios, little man…
non-smug fail.
What a lying loser Rand Paul is turning out to be:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/02/rand-pauls-campaign-calls_n_633883.html