Wednesday Open Thread
Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. What are you doing this hump day? What’s on your mind?
Well, what a big surprise – Bobby Jindal’s “sand berms” are a complete waste of time and money. Jindal got a lot of positive press attention by subscribing to the “do something anything, just look busy” politics.
Via AMERICAblog, these images of Bobby Jindal’s idiotic sand berm proposal getting washed away are proof beyond any shadow of doubt that Louisiana’s governor is a volcano of hot air and stupid ideas.
According to Len Bahr, a former LSU faculty member who posted these photos, they were all taken from roughly the same location and altitude in the Chandeleur Islands. As most experts (including Bahr) predicted, the sand berms couldn’t withstand stormy weather and have simply been blown away.
Go to the link to see the pictures. Jindal went on and on about the evil fedrul gubmint who were holding up his brilliant plan. Scientists weren’t so enamored of it:
SAND BERMS: In recent weeks, Jindal has launched a crusade to build artificial barrier islands off the Louisiana coast, on the theory that they would prevent the oil from washing ashore. Jindal has repeatedly blasted the federal government for being hesitant to approve this plan, an offensive which Fox News has dutifully supported. “We don’t have time for red tape and bureaucracy,” Jindal told reporters of the berms. “We’re literally in a war to save our coast.” But most experts have expressed serious doubts about the effectiveness of Jindal’s plan, noting the exorbitant costs are probably not worth it and warning that the berms could actually cause more harm than good. Rob Young, the director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, warned in the Yale Environment 360 blog that “there are many potential negative impacts of this structure on the coastal environment.” “I have yet to speak to a scientist who thinks the project will be effective,” he added. Young explained that the berms will be “extremely susceptible to erosion” and “could disappear within a few months” — much faster if struck by a hurricane. Meanwhile, the project will be “incredibly expensive,” and many experts argue that the resources used to construct berms could be better applied elsewhere. Before approving the project, the Army Corps of Engineers gave other federal agencies less than one day to submit comments, but even in the limited time, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior expressed deep reservations. The EPA “directly questioned the proposed berm’s effectiveness,” while Interior said that it did not “think the risks inherent in proceeding without more environmental study and knowledge are acceptable.” Risks include actually worsening the spill’s impact on marshes by trapping oil behind the berms and increasing the speed of oil flowing through the remaining openings in the artificial shield of islands, effectively pumping oil into the delicate marshes. Above all, the barrier will take at at least nine months to complete, and the first berms will be complete “no sooner than August,” according to the contractor building them. Many — including the EPA — say this will be too late to have any impact. As Mother Jones noted, “griping about the berms has…become Jindal’s plan to keep the spotlight on him and his criticism of the federal government, long-term damage to the state’s ecosystem be damned.”
Well, at least the sand berms weren’t around long enough to be harmful.
Hey, nice work if you can get it! Gubernatorial hopeful Scott McInnis in Colorado was paid $300,000 by a foundation to write articles. He lifted them word-for-word from 20-year-old articles written by someone else.
Although GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis presented his “Musings on Water” for publication as original works, portions are identical and nearly identical to an essay on water written 20 years earlier by now-Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory J. Hobbs.
A Clemson University expert who reviewed McInnis’ work next to Hobbs’ essay called it a clear case of plagiarism of both words and ideas.
…
Totaling 150 pages over 23 installments, the articles discussing state water policy are devoid of footnotes, endnotes or other forms of attribution.
In at least four of those articles, McInnis’ work mirrors Hobbs’ 1984 essay published by the Colorado Water Congress, “Green Mountain Reservoir: Lock or Key?”
McInnis blames someone else, of course, his researcher. McInnis is a fine example of the party of personal responsibility. I wonder if the Hasan Family Foundation will ask for their money back. They should.
Tags: Open Thread
This is interesting. The Denver Post has found another example of plagairism by Scott McInnis and is calling on him to drop out of the governor’s race.
Scott McCutandpaste quickly threw a staffer under the bus. That’s integrity. But is it surprising? No. The modern Republican ethos is all about making quick profits, taking short cuts and pointing the finger of accusation if the consequences ever catch up to the malfeasance.
Don’t you see??? Now the FDL commenters on the left will yell at Obama for giving in to Jindal’s stupid idea and acting as an appeaser. It will be just another example of why Obama is a one term President that needs a primary challenge from…. ummm…. well, they’ll get back to you.
Israel Renews Demolitions of Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem after Netanyahu’s visit with Obama. Obama had praised Netanyahu during the talks, saying the Israeli government has shown “restraint.”
“…There is no Zionism, colonialization, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.”
—Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel (2001-2006) -from Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998
FDL commenters on the left are read by two more people than listen to the podcast.
The Iowa Tea Party seeks to prove that they’re a very serious political movement by putting up a billboard comparing Obama to Hitler and Lenin. The billboard has now been covered after complaints.
Today’s CNN Political ticker:
1. Sarah Palin press release
2. Chamber of Commerce press release: Obama bad!
3. Democrats in disarray!
4. Democrats in disarray!
5. Sharon Angle won’t answer questions from the media because her answers hurt her campaign
6. Obama/Clinton to meet with CEOs
7. Congress debates immigration
8. Rand Paul wants to join nutbag caucus with DeMint and Coburn
9. Kennedy DUI
10: White House Report: Stimulus created jobs
11: Chamber of Commerce press release: Obama bad!
12: Obama met with a CEO
13: Obama warns Africa about terrorists
14: Clinton campaigns for Democrat
15: Poll: Senate race tied
16: Democratic campaign shakeup
17: Poll: Gore bad, say a slight plurality of Americans
18: Scott McInnis is a plagiarist
19: Newt Gingrich’s newsletter praises Republican candidates
20: Alabama primary runoff results
21: Palin engagement
22: Palin facebook message
23: NAACP blasts Tea Party racism
Don’t know if anyone else noticed yet, but here’s Example No. 3,261 why The News Journal Sucks …
Today’s opinion page features an editorial about a request for some insurance commissioner report from House Majority Whip Bobby Short.
Directly below that editorial was a letter from Rep. Short … signed with his real first name, Danny.
And nowhere in the editorial did it mention that Short’s primary occupation is an insurance agent. An important thing to note, one would think.
“Bobby” has now been changed to “Danny” online, but it’s wrong in the dead tree edition. It’ll be interesting to see if they run a correction tomorrow or try to sweep it under the rug.
LOL that’s funny anon, I was just reading the dead tree version and noticed “Bobby” Short and I also noticed the letter from Short and Cathcart right below them. Also, Williams had a gossipy piece today but I did learn something. He talked about Abraham Jones, the Republican in the 24th race. It’s nice that Williams couldn’t be bothered to write about the race until a Republican got in. 🙄
Del Dems just came out with their endorsements: Coons, Carney, Biden, Korn and Jones-Potter. No real surprises.
Back in the day, Delaware had a none-too-swift insurance commissioner named Robert Short — looks like another example of mistake by association, most likely by a columnist who’s still living in the Legislative Hall of the ’70s.
Zinger! Nice.
Pete DuPont writes “Hillary Clinton for President” in the WSJ. No kidding.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518904575365482705270718.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecond
I’d vote for her over Obomba. I suspect a lot of Dems would, too.
Pete does raise the idea of Obama putting Hillary on the ticket as VP in 2012. Not a bad idea, since Joe Biden will be like 95 years old by then.
Of course, we’d have to successfully end the Bush quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan by then, while avoiding new ones in Iran and Korea.
This serves a couple of purposes for ol’ Six Pacque Pete: First, it encourages a great game of “let’s you and him fight!” Second, it lets him take a swipe at the Biden dynasty without the expense of funding a sacrificial lamb to take on Beau.
Whether or not she joins the ticket for 2012, I see no better choice (at this point, anyway) to head the ticket in 2016.
Can you imagine Gingrich versus Clinton? Or Palin versus Clinton? I don’t know anybody that is truly excited by getting the chance to vote for Obama again.
If Hillary Clinton were president there would still be no public option and we’d still be in Afghanistan.
…and Bill Clinton intern jokes. That alone was enough for me to pick Obama.
George “Macaca” Allen is back for more Watermelon of Doom.
Of course we will still be in Afghanistan. They are the people who knocked down the Twin Towers – why the hell wouldn’t we stay in Afghanistan until we defeat them?
Who is unpatriotic enough to say “Get out and let the Taliban re-arm?”
The next time they attack us, we’d only have to fight our way back in again. We would spill more blood and treasure. Not only our blood, but we’d create a whole new wave of civilian casualties to make the world hate us all over again.
That is, assuming the Russians and Chinese would even let us fight our way back in for Round 2.
anon, the Afghani’s did not knock down the twin towers. Saudis living in Afghanistan did, and they are out of there.
The 2009 annual GDP of Afghanistan was 13 billion. GDP per capita in 2010 is estimated at $531. Obomba is planning to spend $33 billion (3X their GDP) in his war over there. Tell me why that makes any sense.
You really want to defeat the Taliban? Use the money to build schools and infrastructure. Give them access to clean water and food. The Taliban will have no support.
Waging war is not the answer. Waging peace is.
“You really want to defeat the Taliban? Use the money to build schools and infrastructure. Give them access to clean water and food. The Taliban will have no support.”
schools the Taliban will blow up.. with children inside.
anon, the Afghani’s did not knock down the twin towers. Saudis living in Afghanistan did, and they are out of there.
I knew some dope would be along to make that point. I don’t care about the distinction. If you want to pick fly shit out of pepper go ahead.
The Taliban hosted al Quaeda willingly and were complicit in the attacks. They would do the same thing again given the chance. The Venn diagram of Taliban and al Quaeda’s goals overlaps far too much for comfort.
Most other Arab governments fear al Quaeda and will not willingly give them sanctuary.
It would be far better to defeat the Taliban by building schools. That won’t happen if we pull out our security forces.
“…why the hell wouldn’t we stay in Afghanistan until we defeat them?”
What does victory or defeat really look like at this point? Since genocide has been taken out of the tool box, has an empire ever really “won” an occupation?
I’m asking.
Shooting bullets in hearts and minds does not win them. This is equally true for the Taliban. The only reason the Taliban has any power now is because of economics. Either the Taliban builds the schools or we do.
Spending $33 billion dollars to kill people in one of the poorest countries in the world is beyond stupid.
That’s right Jason. You can’t win an occupation. Unless the local populace chooses a Western-style democracy they’re not going to have one.
What does victory or defeat really look like at this point?
No state-sponsored sanctuary for people planning serious attacks on the US.
A post-pullout Afghanistan would be a tit-for-tat of terrorism against the US, followed by ineffectual Tomahawk attacks, over and over again, until we reach the “nuclear terrorism” stage.
We also have to solve Pakistan at the same time as Afghanistan. I’m not smart enough to know how to do that.
Since genocide has been taken out of the tool box, has an empire ever really “won” an occupation?
Britain “won” its occupation of India. They left a modern infrastructure and democratic traditions.
Security comes before schools. That’s the lesson, I think. The first thing you have to do is provide security and it really only takes a small group of dedicated people to make security impossible.
You read too much Tom Clancy. Did we win the cold war by invading Poland? No. My advice to you is to lighten up and turn down the talk radio once in a while.
FYI – Changing the definition of words to mean what you want them to mean is not the same thing as making a valid argument.
Class dismissed.
“I don’t care about the distinction. If you want to pick fly shit out of pepper go ahead.”
After that sentence, why bother with discussion. “Fuck the facts” might pass for smart policy in Republican circles, which is why instead of picking fly shit out of pepper you want us to take compass readings as we circle the drain.
After that sentence, why bother with discussion.
Do you see some kind of kinder, gentler Taliban after a US pullout?
Are you prepared to say the Taliban have renounced their willingness to host al Quaeda (or other groups like them) who are dedicated to attacking the US?
Or do you have some bullshit reason why suddenly none of that matters to us anymore?
anon is flumoxed by, and therefor avoiding, the simple fact that there is no “winning.”
There is only losing. Sad.
No, it’s more like soccer — a long draw with an infinite number of overtime periods.
I think the point is that there will be no moment that we have won. I would feel much better about Afghanistan if we had knocked out all of the Taliban leaders. At this point, al Qaeda has metastasized and is selling franchises faster than Chick-fil-a.
I think they are selling so fast because there is a lot of pent up hate out there for the US. Quelling that hate isn’t an easy task and it’s one that at least 21% of the population is unwilling to do (bring it on!). The first step might be to make a speedy transition from Marine Corps to Peace Corps in Afghanistan, but I don’t see how to do that in the next 2 years.
We have already “won” by my definition (no sanctuary for planning more attacks).
The problem is the cost of winning is too high. We need to bring down the cost of winning.
Do we need to kill more bad guys? maybe. Do we need to build more schools? sure. And protect the good guys.
(…on second thought, your comment is so stupid, I’ll just let “we won” hang there in space and testify to your stupidity.)
Jason wants us to spend the next twenty years scooping bones out of rubble and killing the #3 guy in al Qaeda.
And we need to build the schools in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Uganda, etc. Do we want to be proactive or reactive with this?
The biggest problem is that we don’t have the collective political will to wage peace.
al Qaeda got lucky with a $19.00 investment in box cutters because they struck when we had a moron in the White House. To “win” at this point – we’d need a time machine and a recount.
I agree with geek. Let’s look to examples that actually work.
Preventing attacks from Afghanistan and al Qaeda was the goal of the invasion. So if you want to measure a “win,” start there.
The fact that it turned into a quagmire is a different problem. It is the fault of Bush and the Republicans that we have been in Afghanistan longer than it took to defeat the Nazis.
Just like Obama can’t fix Bush’s economy in 18 months, he also can’t fix Bush’s Afghanistan. We shouldn’t give up on either.
Here’s the text of the AUMF (the one issued the week after 9/11, not the bullshit Iraq AUMF):
I like the “time machine” approach.
Remember, after 9/11 we had the sympathy and respect of the world. If we had foregone the invasion of Afghanistan, we probably could have organized some kind of international effort to get the Taliban out through economic isolation.
And remember, most Islamic nations hate and fear al Qaeda. Saddam was the most ruthless and efficient al Qaeda-killer the world has ever seen.
So dumb. We survived the Soviet threat to wipe us out. I guess we are not as smart as the 1950’s version of ourselves. But hey…If you want us to keep spending billions to bomb tents, you’ll probably be happy over the next ten years or so, because that appears to be the game plan.
That’s my last word on this.
I wish we had bombed bin Laden’s tent.
In a country with a GDP of $13 billion per year, anon (and Obomba) apparently are incapable of considering a better way to spend $33 billion dollars other than on bombs and bullets.
Obomba should turn in his Noble Peace Prize.
Before anyone gives Pete points for creativity in his WSJ column, please recognize that he’s spinning an idea that Sally Quinn first floated a couple months ago in the WaPo.
Geezer’s right — a chance to take a “cheap” shot at the Bidens. Guess there’s a little bit of irony in Pete stealing an idea to do so.
We have no business in AfPakistan.
Our first responsibility to the people there is to stop killing them. That’s what we can do provide them security.
If need schools, they can build schools themselves, like everybody else does.
delacrat – that works great in a PowerPoint presentation, but in the real world the Taliban will build those schools with money from their AQ/Saudi paymasters. Isn’t that why Hamas is able to win elections in places that it pisses us off that they won?
The taliban (code for Afghans) build schools the way they (not we) want. OK with me.
Hamas wins an election. Not a problem. Doesn’t piss me off at all.
Education is the only hope for overcoming world-wide religious ignorance. Build schools not bombs.
Schools cure religious ignorance.
America has schools, ergo
America is free of religious ignorance.
Schools cure religious ignorance.
Not the kind of schools the Taliban build.
So the US is supposed to be the world’s school board, as well as the world’s policeman? WTF.
If Westboro Baptist Church was building schools and providing medical services to a county in Kentucky, where their hate was being taught as a virtue, I’d say we need to build some real schools and hospitals there, too.
Getting an education and going to school are not necessarily the same thing. However, literacy and access to a variety of reading materials are the first step to overcoming ignorance. It is a process that takes generations. Widespread literacy among a general population is still relatively new in human history.
Of course, being able to read does not guarantee that one will read or that one won’t just read the same fairy tales over and over again and believe them.