Wednesday Open Thread [1.21.15]
Andrew Sullivan, in remarks prior to the Speech, congratulated President Obama for showing the Democratic party where their cajones actually were located.
I have to say that, as rumors and reports came in last week that Obama was going to propose a straightforward redistribution from the mega-mega-rich to the struggling middle classes, I could scarcely believe it. I mean: how often does the Democratic party actually exercise solid pro-active political judgment? How often do they seize the policy initiative from Republicans? How often do they propose things thay passionately believe in and unabashedly direct the message to the vast majority of Americans treading water in rougher and rougher seas? How often does a winning Congressional party get effectively marginalized in the public debate just after a stunning mid-term win?
The president has spent the first six years of his presidency waiting for the moment he could take that credit, knowing it was coming. On Tuesday night, it came. Even with five separate responses to the president’s address, there was nothing Republicans could say to fight the growing sense that Obama’s policies are working and that the GOP has been wrong for the past six years.
Prior to the State of the Union last night, NBC News dropped a poll that needs examining.
45% of Americans say they’re satisfied with the state of the economy — the highest number in 11 years (since Jan. 2004). Let us repeat: 11 years!!! In other words, it means the country, mentally, has exited the Great Recession. “For the first time, we have numbers that kind of bust out of the Great Recession Era,” says NBC/WSJ co-pollster Bill McInturff (R). […]
[President’s Obama’s] overall job-approval number now stands at 46%, which is his highest rating since Oct. 2013 during the government shutdown. And 49% of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of the economy — the most since right after he won re-election.
I love when polling discrepancies happen. 46% approve of Obama’s job performance. 49% approve of Obama’s economic job performance. So 3% of Americans out there hate Obama generally but love what he is doing on the economy.
Strikingly, however, Congress and Republicans haven’t seen their numbers go up. Just 16% approve of Congress’ job (unchanged since December), and only 23% approve of the job congressional Republicans are doing. Maybe more significantly, only 35% believe divided government — with Democrats controlling the White House and Republicans in charge of both chambers of Congress — works well for the country. That’s a reverse from previous NBC/WSJ polls (in 1996, 1997 and 1999), which found majorities in praise of divided government. (This “divided government” result is a Conventional Wisdom debunking result; one of those sea change moments in public opinion.) And then there are the parties’ fav/unfav numbers. The public gives the GOP a 25%-46% rating, down from 30%-45% a month ago. By comparison, Democrats are at 35%-38%, when they were at 37%-39% in December. Bottom line: You can hardly tell from our NBC/WSJ poll that the Republican Party was the big winner from the midterm elections just two months ago. Somehow, Obama and the Democrats stole the Republicans’ post-election honeymoon. Or the Republicans somehow lost it.
According to the same NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Mittens Willard Romney III and John Ellis Bush are not looked upon favorably by the American people. Just 27 percent of Americans now offer a positive rating for Romney. 40 percent who give the 2012 GOP Nominee negative marks. Only 52% of Republicans approve of him. Regarding Jebby, only 19 percent of Americans give Bush a positive rating, while 32 percent assess him negatively. His fans include just 37 percent of Republicans, while 15 percent offer a poor assessment of him.
Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives and 52 percent of Tea Party supporters view Romney positively in the latest survey. But just 30 percent of conservatives and 29 percent of Tea Party backers say the same of Bush.
How’s Hillary doing?
While both Republican candidates post a net-negative rating, likely Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton currently enjoys an overall positive assessment from the American public. Forty-five percent of Americans rate her positively, while 37 percent rate her negatively. Among Democrats, three-quarters give Clinton a thumbs up, with just 7 percent disagreeing.
Someone’s gotta ask the question: Did the cops (New Castle County cops) really beat the crap out of some guy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time near the Biden home shortly after shots were reportedly fired?:
http://wdel.com/story.php?id=65609
Did he really ‘resist arrest’? Was it appropriate to beat the crap out of him if he DID resist arrest?
And, who, other than the cops, is gonna investigate the cops?
I cut a red maple tree down yesterday. As soon as I put the first cut into it, the sap started dripping out like a leaky faucet. It makes me wonder if a commercial syrup business could be profitable in Delaware?
I know red maples don’t have the sugar content as actual sugar maples, but they do make quality syrup, I can attest to that, and if there is one thing we have a lot of in Delaware, it’s red maples, especially in Sussex County.
The range of the sugar maple actually extends into northern Delaware, but I have never heard of anybody tapping them, even at the hobby level.
Who wants some famous Delaware PCB syrup? Yum!
My thoughts on the person arrested on Barley Hill Road:
If he did shoot at the VP’s house, then take your punishment as a man because ya got off easy. If they had proof that he did shoot at the house, he would be facing attempted assassination charges (no matter if Biden was home or not). And given the way this guy is acting, I tend to think he just might have done it.
If he did not shoot at the VP’s house, then perhaps this incident will give this middle aged white man some perspective of being wrongfully assaulted by the police.
In Sussex, the chickenshit in the water table lends the maple syrup a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’. The syrup goes great with chicken sausage.
If he DID shoot at the VP’s house, he WILL face charges.
If he didn’t, then the cops beat the shit out of him for what, exactly?
My theory: They were pissed that he potentially endangered federal aid to local law enforcement.
One draw back people claim about red maples when it comes to sugaring, is that after the tree starts budding, some claim that the syrup can be somewhat bitter.
The good thing about Delaware is that our sap season starts early before the budding starts. When it’s below freezing at night and above freezing during the day, the sap will run. In the north, the sap season is later in the year and the likelihood of the red maples already having buds is greater.
Anyway, chances are that the maple syrup you buy at the store does contain some red maple in it.
Also, did you know that black walnut trees produce excellent sap for sugaring.
I think the guy that “resisted arrest” was pissed off that the road was closed and he had to take a detour. He then challenged the police.
He was not the shooter. That guy got away.
If he was black, he might be dead.
Making maple syrup at the hobby level is easy . One season I cut the shaft of an old golf club into roughly 3″ lengths. Then I drilled holes in several red maples at a slight downward angle, and lightly tapped the lengths of the shafts into the holes. You want to make sure they fit tight or you will waste sap.
Then you just hang or place small containers under the golf club shaft pipes or (spiles), and collect the sap. (you can buy actual spiles online)
Once the buckets are filled you just empty them into a saucepan and boil down to a syrupy consistency. Easiest thing ever.
Make sure you remove spiles from the trees and the holes will close up.
Jesus Christ!
FBH, that was your best comment ever. Im off to collect syrup and make mead or something
Hmmm… should that patch of land be a tree farm for maple syrup, or another strip mall/McMansion/townhouse complex? I think we know how that will turn out.
I’m not sure why I remembered this, but I gotta ask… is the Rock Peters who got beat up by cops the same guy as this Rock Peters?
Even if you were to get an extremely progressive tax system in place, the wealthy the actual tax rate would still be fairly low because their “income” is not wages.
Isn’t capital gains income treated as regular income anyway for Delaware tax? If so that is more progressive than the Federal treatment which gives a preferential rate to capital gains. And don’t get me started on dividends.
On a lighter note that does not involve sap, police beatings or chicken… well, you know. Last nights speech, isn’t this the Obama we’ve wanted to see for 6 years? In the section about civil rights, especially voting rights, he had a definite MLK vibe going on.
When I was in grade school at Linen Hill Elementary, we took a class trip to Ashland Nature Center in Hock. The staff at Ashland treated us to made before our eyes maple syrup tapped from the trees on property. They handed each of us one of those paper water cooler funnels filled with the freshly fallen snow and drizzled with the warm syrup.
I guess they don’t do that anymore since kids don’t go to school when its snowing.
Maybe I’ll tap my black gum tree
Best maple sap song you’re likely to hear all year:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2015/01/song-premiere-river-whyless—maple-sap.html
Admit it, you don’t get content like this on other political blogs.