Thursday Open Thread

Filed in National by on February 17, 2011

Welcome to your Thursday open thread. It’s early spring, thanks groundhog! Anything going on in your neck of the woods?

Sixteen-year-old Justin Beiber did an interview with Rolling Stone and made the mistake of offering opinions on politics. (I have no idea why RS asked him this.)

RS asked Beiber if he would ever become an American citizen and he offered an answer other than “America f*ck yeah!”

“You guys are evil,” Bieber, a Canadian, says. Rolling Stone notes he’s joking. “Canada’s the best country in the world.” He then goes on to say, “We go to the doctor and we don’t need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you’re broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard’s baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby’s premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home.”

Just in case you started to like the kid, here’s what he said regarding abortion:

“I really don’t believe in abortion,” Bieber says. “It’s like killing a baby?” How about in cases of rape? “Um. Well, I think that’s really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don’t know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”

Just remember, he’s only 16 years old. Most teenagers aren’t very politically aware.

This! A thousand times yes!

I’ve said this before, and I will say it again. Unless your proposal includes a substantial increase in taxes and a substantial amount of cuts to the military budget as well as ending the farm subsidies and giveaways to big oil and big energy and big business, you can kindly just shut up about the deficit and the debt. Additionally, any cuts to entitlements need to include cuts to the CURRENT recipients, not grandfathering the boomers and then wondering why the cuts never materialize in the future.

I’m not holding my breath that we’ll get any kind of proposal like this.

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Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (27)

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  1. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 17, 2011 at 1:17 pm

    Things are getting interesting in Wisconsin.. WI Senate Dems have walked out, denying Rs the quorum they need to be able to pass a budget. The governor is going to get the police to round them up.

  2. Obama2008 says:
    February 17, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    Re Wisconsin: I have never seen so many purists in one place!

  3. Jason330 says:
    February 17, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    So impractical. So unpragmetic.

  4. Geezer says:
    February 17, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    So inspiring. Worth noting that the rights Walker wants to take away are not enjoyed by Delaware’s state workers.

  5. MJ says:
    February 17, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    UI – it reminds me of the Killer Bees from Texas – http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946253,00.html, and the Killer D’s – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Ds

  6. Jason330 says:
    February 17, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    We need some coverage of the SCGOP craziness for people like me how are banned at DP.

  7. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 17, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    It sounds like a lot of nothing happened. There was a motion to make the Sussex GOP Chair resign but the main event was Tom Ross. Apparently the room was packed, standing room only. Here’s the author’s account of Tom Ross’s Q&A:

    The first gentleman who raised his hand to ask a question made a fairly long-winded comment. And on more than one occasion, Ross asked this person if he indeed had a question at hand or was simply going to editorialize with his commenting. Finally, the man wanted to know two things: was a secret ‘deal’ made between Democratic leadership and the GOP state party with respect to Christine O’Donnell as candidate for US Senate? Ross quickly responded with “there was no deal made.” The second question was more about the demagoguery by GOP leadership against O’Donnell. The gentleman stated that, “moral leadership is important.” Via the amount of ‘uh hmms’ and ‘head nods,’ everyone agreed, including Ross, that moral leadership was very important.

    Ross continued, incredulously, “we had a very divisive party [during the primary and general election] and had to fight tooth and nail for endorsed candidates and do everything possible to support them.” With the meeting minutes from over, many moans and shouts could be heard from the crowd. “Our state and national party did everything possible to support Christine O’Donnell and others,” said Ross.

    Tom Ross had the temerity to invoke the establishment stratagem of disabusing himself of the oft-repeated I-really-despise-Christine-O’Donnell-and-her-feckless-followers moniker. But his plea was to no avail.

    Finally, like the final act of a Shakespearian play, John Rieley, who is the 41st District Committeeperson from Millsboro, defiantly countered Ross’ suppositional and speculative harangue by saying “I ran her campaign down here and you did not help, you are spinning the truth.”

    At that moment, the meeting officially adjourned; however, a few angry and upset Sussex contains spoke their mind about Ross’ nascent help for O’Donnell. Ross’ final words were “because it’s true,” referring to his opinion of O’Donnell after someone shouted out the question about his ‘dog catcher’ remarks.

  8. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 17, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    Link for DP post: http://www.delawarepolitics.net/much-ado-about-nothing/

  9. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 17, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    Here’s Frank Knotts’s take, it explains the first vote better. First there was a vote for a temporary chair (Vance Phillips won, after they had to redo the vote). Then there was a vote on a motion to ask the Sussex GOP Chair to resign.

      Okay enough with the small talk, let’s get to the big news. A motion was made by Christian Hudson that basically spelled out numerous issues that members of the committee have with Ron Sams and asked for Mr.Sams resignation. I hope to have the full text of the motion sometime tomorrow and will post it if someone doesn’t beat me to it.

      So now the committee had to vote on the motion. But wait, another secret ballot was called for. At least they had gotten it down to a fifteen minute operation. In the end the motion was carried. Now this was a call for Mr. Sams to resign, it doesn’t mean he has to or that he will. It only demonstrates that a majority of the committee wish for him to.

    Apparently Knotts was one of the people who walked out of Ross’s speech so he couldn’t comment on it.

  10. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 17, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    Haha, in the comments, explaining how Tom Ross and others who opposed Christine O’Donnell Re “moderate leftists.”

    For fightingbluehen, I think it is why people opposed Christine O’Donnell that makes them moderate leftists, not their simply choice of whom to support. It is your reasoning. For example, she did not run on social issues, yet youand your “ilk” (if I may call you an ilk, whatever that is) attack her because you oppose social issues. Then again, as has been said by others, can you enlighten us on your crowd’s qualifications and credentials and track records as fiscal conservatives? Could you give us a run down on Mike Castle’s record of achievement as a fiscal conservative? Did Mike Castle vote for fiscal responsibility in Washington? Isn’t it true that Mike Castle was simply a pure liberal across the board?

  11. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 17, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    Ooh, here’s the video of Tom Ross speaking.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFC9upMYbDM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

  12. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 17, 2011 at 8:18 pm

    Can I call you an ilk?

  13. El Somnambulo says:
    February 17, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    The Ilks. I like it. Thinking of forming a band.

  14. El Somnambulo says:
    February 17, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    Or, for Flyers’ fans, The Ilka Sinisalos.

  15. El Somnambulo says:
    February 17, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    Come to think of it, I think I like The Irksome Ilks even better.

    Now, what kind of music should we play…

  16. cassandra m says:
    February 17, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    Now here’s a heartwarming story:

    Philadelphia homeowner wins judgment against Wells Fargo over mortgage fees

    Wells Fargo didn’t pay up on that judgement and the homeowner is getting his money via a scheduled sale of a Philly Wells Fargo branch.

  17. El Somnambulo says:
    February 17, 2011 at 9:35 pm

    Wells Fargo…now why’s that name familiar? Oh, that’s right, they’ve come to Delaware now.

    How’s that Dylan song go? “Some rob you with a six-gun, and some a fountain pen.”

    They’ve chosen the right state for that.

  18. socialistic ben says:
    February 17, 2011 at 10:02 pm

    O-ho the Wellth Fargo Wagon ith a-comin’ now,
    I don’t know how I can ever wait to thee.
    It could be thumpin’ for thumone who is
    No relation but it could be thump’n thpethyul
    Just for me!

  19. heragain says:
    February 17, 2011 at 10:13 pm

    Whatever you play, El Som, I wanna come sing. I’ll be an Ilkette, if necessary.

  20. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 17, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    Damn you autocorrect!

  21. liberalgeek says:
    February 17, 2011 at 10:38 pm

    That video is great. I can’t decide if my favorite part was Ross defending his “dogcatcher” comment with the absolute defense of truth or the woman who shamed Vance Phillips at the end of the meeting. I think I’ll watch it a few more times to decide… with popcorn…

  22. jason330 says:
    February 18, 2011 at 12:25 am

    You can tell that Ross goes into this with a willingness to mend fences, but all of a sudden he is like “Fuck it, Fuck these crazy hayseed mother fucking nit wits.” He suddenly snaps at 44 seconds in.

    Classic!

  23. pandora says:
    February 18, 2011 at 7:28 am

    Oh my. That video of Ross speaking to a group of old white people… Classic, indeed. Sussex GOP is a joke.

  24. Jason330 says:
    February 18, 2011 at 8:30 am

    You almost feel sorry for him until you remember that he is a Republican.

  25. anon says:
    February 18, 2011 at 10:02 am

    Hey John Carney got some splainin’ to do! Why the hell did he vote with Boner to keep the C17 plane. We know Carney aint the smartest tool in the shed, but he has a real problem here.

  26. Obama2008 says:
    February 18, 2011 at 10:05 am

    Why the hell did he vote with Boner to keep the C17 plane.

    You have got to be fuking kidding.

  27. anon says:
    February 18, 2011 at 11:08 am

    Heres the link: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll046.xml ~~~how much money did Boner put in his campaign coffers?

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