Tuesday Open Thread

Filed in National by on August 16, 2011

Tuesdays are like the red headed step child of the week. Not as bad as Monday, but still too far from the weekend to be any good. Plus, September 11th happened on a Tuesday, and Tuesday has never once said it was sorry…

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  1. Dana says:
    August 16, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    Yeah, but I like redheads; think Nicole Kidman here.

    Of course, let’s face facts: real redheads are either really pretty, or just downright butt-ugly. There just doesn’t seem to be any middle ground there.

  2. Delaware Dem says:
    August 16, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    I completely agree. BIPARTISANSHIP!!!!

  3. KathyJ says:
    August 16, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    Came across this last night. I had never heard of ALEC.

    ALEC sponsors
    http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/08/05/288823/alec-exposed-corporations-funding/

  4. puck says:
    August 16, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    Perry wastes no time going after Jewish bankers:

    Gov. Rick Perry of Texas extended his sharp criticism of President Obama’s economic policies to the Federal Reserve, declaring: “Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous — or treasonous in my opinion.”

    and, speaking of Bernanke:

    “I know there’s a lot of talk and what have you about if this guy prints more money between now and the election,” Mr. Perry told an audience Monday evening. “I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.”

    I don’t know which of my reactions I find more troubling:

    1. The banking powers at the highest level will now strike down the Perry candidacy (yes they can do that), or

    2. Voters will eat this stuff up with a spoon.

  5. Geezer says:
    August 16, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    Not even American voters are that stupid. I hope.

  6. delacrat says:
    August 16, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    Puck,

    How’s that ?

  7. puck says:
    August 16, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    So far all the people I’ve heard say Perry is good-looking are men. Just saying.

  8. socialistic ben says:
    August 16, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    I think the latter, puck. When progressives/liberals fell in love with Obama, it was because he was al come-togethery and all that bullshit us “hippies” love. It worked for him
    Conservatives love red meat, war-entendres, and illusions of violence.

    No New Texans!

  9. Von Cracker says:
    August 16, 2011 at 3:14 pm

    Put me down as ugly redheaded American scum, and a step-child to boot.

    But the reports of our demise has been overstated. We are not going away, bitches!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair

  10. Dana says:
    August 16, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    Puck wrote:

    Perry wastes no time going after Jewish bankers:

    OK, following the link you gave us — to the Lost Kos, not exactly a right-wing site — where exactly did you find any references to “Jewish bankers?”

    Governor Perry referred (implied, really) to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who happens to be Jewish, but he was referring to the Fed’s actions in political terms. Mr Bernanke holds a government position; is criticizing his actions as a government official somehow attacking him because he is Jewish?

  11. puck says:
    August 16, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    It’s a dog whistle, Dana. You can disagree if you want. For some context, check out the literature of the fringe anti-Fed crowd.

    If you don’t like or trust Kos, then click through to the NYT story the quotes came from.

  12. Dana says:
    August 16, 2011 at 8:18 pm

    Puck wrote:

    It’s a dog whistle, Dana. You can disagree if you want. For some context, check out the literature of the fringe anti-Fed crowd.

    If you don’t like or trust Kos, then click through to the NYT story the quotes came from.

    I did check the Times original, and there is no reference to Jews there, either.

    If you think that Governor Perry was using a dog whistle, then I think you have an obligation to document it. And the Governor is responsible only for his own words, not whatever you have fantasized that “the literature of the fringe anti-Fed crowd” says.

    Many on this fine site have criticized Senator Joseph Lieberman for some of his political stands, and have opposed Israeli policy concerning the Palestinians. Using your logic, why couldn’t I say those were just dog whistles telling us that they hate Jews?

  13. puck says:
    August 16, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    Using your logic, why couldn’t I say those were just dog whistles telling us that they hate Jews?

    The day you hear someone playing with the notion that if Lieberman came into his home state he would be lynched – I will join you in condemning that person.

  14. Dana says:
    August 16, 2011 at 8:35 pm

    Did he say “lynched?” It seems to me that he said it could get “ugly,” which means that he’d be booed and treated rudely.

  15. Geezer says:
    August 16, 2011 at 9:58 pm

    “which means that he’d be booed and treated rudely.”

    Sure it does.

  16. socialistic ben says:
    August 16, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    ok Dana.
    unless a “lone wolf” decides to get REALLY ugly.
    This is coming from a piece of shit who executed an innocent man…. oh wait….. he just didnt pardon him, the executioner executed the innocent man. seriously, if someone is gonna beat Obama, let it be Romney…. not THIS whako.

  17. anonone says:
    August 16, 2011 at 10:16 pm

    Treason against the United States is a capital crime. Do the math, Dana.

  18. puck says:
    August 16, 2011 at 10:22 pm

    Oh yeah, I forgot about that, that calling someone a traitor is a euphemism for calling for his death, in teabag-eze at least. I kept pointing it out when teabagger’s main talking point was that Obama was a traitor and were waving guns around at rallies during the Summer Of Spittle.

    Even before the election you had Palin whipping up armed rabble at campaign rallies.

  19. Unstable Isotope says:
    August 16, 2011 at 10:26 pm

    I think Perry is wrinkly.

  20. Dana says:
    August 18, 2011 at 7:30 am

    Communist Ben wrote:

    This is coming from a piece of shit who executed an innocent man…. oh wait….. he just didnt pardon him, the executioner executed the innocent man. seriously, if someone is gonna beat Obama, let it be Romney…. not THIS whako.

    I can see that this is one of the Democratic Talking Points. However, the Governor of Texas does not have the power to pardon a criminal or commute his sentence, unless there is a prior recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardon and Parole. The most the Governor can do, absent that recommendation, is issue one thirty-day reprieve.

    The executed man had a series of appeals, and the appellate copurts found no reason to stay the execution, either; just four days before Cameron Todd Willingham was executed, his attorneys sent appeals to both the Governor Perry and the Texas criminal court of appeals, and neither one saw sufficient evidence to grant a stay.

    Maybe the forensics were bad. Maybe he had rotten lawyers. But, in the zeal of my friends on the left to try to pin this on Governor Perry, fairness — not something I really expect from Democrats — requires that you acknowledge that Mr Willingham had several appeals, and none of them found sufficient merit, in any of the arguments, to stop the execution.

    It would have been possible for Governor Perry, had he been persuaded that Mr Willingham’s case needed another look, to grant a thirty-day reprieve, but that is the extent of what he could have done.

  21. Dana says:
    August 18, 2011 at 8:06 am

    Marxist Ben wrote:

    seriously, if someone is gonna beat Obama, let it be Romney…. not THIS whako.

    Well, of course you’d prefer it was “I’ll stake my positions based on the office for which I am campaigning” Mitt Romney, the pro-abortion (Senate campaign) / pro-life (Presidential campaign, pro-government health care (gubernatorial campaign) / anti-government health care (presidential campaign) former Governor of Massachusetts. He would be the malleable milquetoast from the Republican side that Barack Obama has proven to be from yours.

    Thanks, but no thanks. If Governor Romney is our nominee, unless Pennsylvania is clearly in play, and we need it to win the White House, I will be voting for the Libertarian candidate. I think that Governor Romney might be a shade less bad than President Obama, but that’s the most I can say for him.

    As for now, Governor Perry is my first choice.

  22. socialistic ben says:
    August 18, 2011 at 8:41 am

    heh. dana tried to insult me by calling me a Marxist and a Communist. Dana, i WISH. but le sigh. Human nature wont allow true marxism or communism.

    “but that is the extent of what he could have done.” And he DIDNT. Just like conservatives he went right for the kill. because this is ‘MERICA!!! He gave up because he is another Texas Teabagger.

    and nice vintage conservabag talking point saying “pro abortion” yup i LOVE abortions. Right after you defend capital punishment of innocent people. anyone else see the juicy beautiful irony there?

    No New Texans.

  23. Dana says:
    August 19, 2011 at 9:38 am

    Oh, I’m sure that you do love abortions, Ben, if you say that you are pro-choice. Why? Because, to be pro-choice, you have to want a sufficient number of abortions to occur to keep abortion available and inexpensive, through the demand side. If abortion actually became rare, to the point at which the high-volume abortion mills could not stay open, then abortion would become a much more expensive procedure, thus making it unavailable as a “choice” for many women.

  24. Dana says:
    August 19, 2011 at 9:42 am

    Anarchist Ben wrote:

    “but that is the extent of what he could have done.” And he DIDNT. Just like conservatives he went right for the kill. because this is ‘MERICA!!! He gave up because he is another Texas Teabagger.

    For whatever reasons he had, Governor Perry was not impressed by the appeal made to him four days prior to the scheduled execution. Given that Texas’ highest court also found insufficient merit in the presentation to stay the execution, it would seem like the appeal had little merit contained in it. Maybe the guy just had bad lawyers.

    If you actually knew me, you’d know that I am pro-life, period, and that includes opposition to capital punishment. But we had more innocent children slaughtered in the abortion mills of this country by January 3rd than we’ll have executions for the entire year, and probably for the upcoming decade.

  25. Dana says:
    August 19, 2011 at 9:45 am

    If there were a pro-life and anti-capital punishment candidate available for my support, he’d have it. I haven’t seen that candidate running yet.

  26. Geezer says:
    August 19, 2011 at 10:30 am

    They are not “innocent children.” They are fetuses, and the vast majority of abortions in this country occur before the fetus has a functioning nervous system.

    “to be pro-choice, you have to want a sufficient number of abortions to occur to keep abortion available and inexpensive,”

    Says who? This leap of “logic” is utterly bogus.

    “If abortion actually became rare, to the point at which the high-volume abortion mills could not stay open, then abortion would become a much more expensive procedure, thus making it unavailable as a “choice” for many women.”

    Only because folks like you have made abortion providers targets of murderers. The procedures are simple enough that any ob/gyn could perform one in his/her office. Demonize people all you want, but stop pretending your position is undergirded by logic.

    Here’s a simple offer: Let’s make birth control available to all, without interference from you God sqaudders. Let’s see how rare abortion becomes after that.

  27. socialistic marxist maoist kenyan ben says:
    August 19, 2011 at 10:31 am

    Pro life huh? so you shrug off an innocent man being killed as “oh well, next time he’ll get better lawyers” so protections from over zealous blood lusty cowboy-states comes down to how much money you have? Seems like a typical republican to me.
    Here is my stance on abortion. I dont think they should be carried out in any case unless it threatens the life of the mother or if the fetus tests positive for something like tay-sachs. Also rape and incestuous (sorry, no more Rick Perrys) are acceptable scenarios.. Here is a shocker, i happen to know for a fact that the acceptable reasons i mentioned are the minority of reasons people get abortions. But it if more important to me that ALL women have the choice free from hate speech from people like you. You dont know their life story, stay out of their body. It is not your place to condemn anyone.
    Other than oppressive laws and demonizing, have you given any thought to how to curb the number of abortions? i doubt it. Do you know the state of foster care in this country? Would you support initiatives to help people in that situation? And i mean the REAL kind where everyone helps out, not the kind where the Koch bros can profit off of other people’s suffering….. the kind conservatives have such a rager for.
    In Republican land, you’d force the unwed teenage mother to have the baby, then vilify her for being on welfare. no human compassion at all in teabagland. Where is the zealous support for the child AFTER it is born? Nope if they starve to death in squalor, tey should have pulled harder on their baby bootstraps. Piss off with your “morals” it is all about control. Id like ot see human suffering ended. Id like to see abortions become rare because all the other CHOICES are FAR better.

  28. socialistic marxist maoist kenyan ben says:
    August 19, 2011 at 10:35 am

    geezer, birth control is just fancy liberal talk for “pre abortion”
    Better to have the kid, let it grow up, be falsely convicted and murdered by a government like texas instead

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