Friday Open Thread
Welcome to your Friday open thread. Yay, Friday! It’s been like the longest week ever. I have no idea why but I’m glad to see this week go away.
I’m not even sure what to say about this story. Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and has-been “actor” Steven Seagal used a tank to serve an arrest warrant. That’s right – A TANK.
Neighbor Debra Ross was so worried she called 911 and went outside where a nearby home had its windows blown out, was crawling with dozens of SWAT members in full gear, armored vehicles and a bomb robot.
“When the tank came in and pushed the wall over and you see what’s in there, and all it is, is a bunch of chickens,” Ross said.
In a massive show of force on Monday, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant and arrested the homeowner, Jesus Llovera, on charges of suspected cockfighting.
Llovera was alone in the house at the time of the arrest, and he was unarmed.
Apparently it’s some kind of stunt because Seagal is filming a reality show called “Lawman.” Right, because serving warrants with tanks is very close to reality. :eyeroll:
Apparently the Libya intervention is a good excuse for RWNJs to show their misogyny. CNN contributor Erick Erickson:
Here’s another Erickson theory about Libya, also from the his March 21 radio show:
ERICKSON: By the way, it’s the women’s fault. … It’s, apparently, the women in the Obama administration who have decided we needed to go to war in Libya. … This is typical. This is so typ– i’m mean, I’m going to bring my inner sexist out I’m afraid tonight, some of you are going to be very upset with me. But this is like women drivers. We’re going to war in Libya, we have no plan, we have no map, even if we have a map of war, um, it wasn’t going to get read, they were going to pull over and ask the French apparently for help, or at least make the guy pull over and ask the French for help. This is crazy.
And more:
ERICKSON: This is just silly. I mean, back-seat driving by the women, and they’re gonna get Barack Obama lost. What is it with Barack Obama caving to the women? I mean, now we know who rules his personal life. I guess Michelle is firmly in charge as well, if Barack Obama is going to cave that easy to three women in his administration over what to do with Libya.
And even more:
ERICKSON: It took the women to get him involved, and the women apparently went in without a clear plan. No shopping list.
I love the shot at “woman drivers.” There’s a reason why men (especially young ones) have higher car insurance rates. It’s because they get in more accidents. I’m sure we can find a way to work this into a metaphor about how all these male presidents have gotten us involved in ill-advised wars.
Tags: Open Thread
No wonder you want this week to be over U.I. You’ve been rolling around in some pretty ignorant, ucky stuff to bring us our daily open thread this week. Uckier than usual I think. Or, probably, just more blatant. It has, overall, been a tough week for you.
This is a crazy thing to end the week with: Chessboxing!
G.E. paid no taxes on $5.1 billion in profits
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html
Is this the same Erick Erickson who threatened to use his wife’s gun against census worker?
I’m really tired of Republican misogyny. I’m also tired of Republican women tolerating this crap.
This is worth reading in its entirety.
A CA judge known as a “hanging judge” has a compelling change of heart about the death penalty:
Earth Hour: A Dissent
Ross McKitrick
In 2009 I was asked by a journalist for my thoughts on the importance of Earth Hour. Here is my response.
I abhor Earth Hour. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century. Every material social advance in the 20th century depended on the proliferation of inexpensive and reliable electricity. Giving women the freedom to work outside the home depended on the availability of electrical appliances that free up time from domestic chores. Getting children out of menial labour and into schools depended on the same thing, as well as the ability to provide safe indoor lighting for reading. Development and provision of modern health care without electricity is absolutely impossible. The expansion of our food supply, and the promotion of hygiene and nutrition, depended on being able to irrigate fields, cook and refrigerate foods, and have a steady indoor supply of hot water. Many of the world’s poor suffer brutal environmental conditions in their own homes because of the necessity of cooking over indoor fires that burn twigs and dung. This causes local deforestation and the proliferation of smoke- and parasite-related lung diseases. Anyone who wants to see local conditions improve in the third world should realize the importance of access to cheap electricity from fossil-fuel based power generating stations. After all, that’s how the west developed.
The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity. Earth Hour celebrates ignorance, poverty and backwardness. By repudiating the greatest engine of liberation it becomes an hour …
rossmckitrick.weebly.com
Remember to turn on all the lights in your house At 8.30 PM, 26 March 2011
@Avagadro “Remember to turn on all the lights in your house At 8.30 PM”
While you’re at it, cut down some trees in your yard and poor a gallon of waste oil on your driveway.
The election for the Newark city council (districts 1, 2, and 4) is on April 12th. If you don’t know who is running, 5 of the 6 candidates will be at a forum on Saturday morning from 9-11am.
http://www.uufn.org/forum
Is COD causing trouble in MD?
EqualityMD Equality Maryland
Del. O’Donnell kicks off the crazy with disrespectful talk of crossdressers in 3rd grade classrooms.
I have little feeling for action hero Steven Segal, but I will say this about another action hero: FREE WESLEY SNIPES!!
LE,
no the focus is on electricity… but I did cut down an offending tree over the winter and will have a bonfire, sunday, in your honor.
Many business owners and their fellow travelers have been complaining about regulations for several generations. Even when their practices cause tragedies, they complain:
“We have been legislated to death.” – James T. Hoyle, Secretary of the Manufacturers’ Association, explaining his opposition to new laws proposed in the wake of the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. factory fire, May 19, 1914.
146 employees were killed at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co on March 25, 1911. They couldn’t escape a fire because their bosses had locked the doors and the doors to stairwells. God forbid the government should interfere w/ that practice. Just think of the red tape!
By now, you’ve heard of the removal of offending basketball hoops in Claymont and the family who would not give in so easily. I was wondering if any of you watched the video at TNJ of the eventual removal of their hoop. (Catch it here: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110325/NEWS/110325011/-1/updates/Woman-s-pole-top-protest-stalls-hoops-removal-DelDOT-returns-take-it?odyssey=nav|head)
I’m not here to debate the law or the decision to remove the hoops, although I really see no sense in taking harmless property because one neighbor has a problem with it. No, I want to know if the conduct of the female state trooper in the video bothered anyone as much as it did me.
First, she was not dressed in a uniform. She was there in an FBI hoodie and a pair of jeans. Is this how we send troopers out on official duties? No uniform, no visible badge, nothing.
Second, before the pole was removed, the owner asked if DelDOT could lay it in his driveway. The trooper said yes. Then, as soon as it was out of the ground, it was secured to the front-end loader. The homeowner said he had just been told he could keep the pole, and the trooper said she told him he could go pick it up from DelDOT. Then she denied ever telling him it could be left in his driveway. Just flat-out lied to him.
Lastly, while Mr. and Mrs. McCafferty stood in their front yard yelling “You lied to me” at the trooper and the crew, the trooper told them to go back in their house and stop talking or she would arrest them. When Mr. McCafferty asked on what charge, she said “You can’t taunt these people.” There was no obscenity or physical threat. When he mentioned the First Amendment, suddenly the threat of arrest went away.
This entire affair has been unsettling, but it’s this trooper who bothers me most. This is not a homicide suspect they’re trying to get a confession out of. All the trooper really did was make a bad situation worse.
Had the same reaction when watching the video re: the trooper’s behavior and blatant lie. The whole situation is RIDICULOUS and a colossal waste of time and taxpayer funds. I am curious as to what the state rep will have to say, as the homeowner indicated he and the state rep were awaiting a written response from DelDot in regard their letters of protest. I don’t think this one is going to blow over so quick, for a number of reasons. Glad this was captured on video for all to see.
Here is the link to a WPVI story from 9/10 with the back-story on the basketball hoop situation:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7674630
I thank God every day and backhandedly bless overseas manufacturers for making video-cams available to the masses.
It captures the story,and the TRUTH so well and in such vivid color in this case.
Unless of course, you’re a BLUNT-SKULL that choose in many, many cases to ignore his or her “LYING EYES”.
A giant step back for nuclear, as the world reflects on how the ever
present human element of greed becomes part of the nuclear reaction.
Greed
Free pass
To failures
The faulty designs
Missing inspections
Outdated safety measures
Low cost of on site spent fuel
Known/permitted hazardous location
Motive – producing more with less expenses
Reaping profits, while passing risks/costs along
Obliging, cozy management/government arrangement
Combined locational/design/operational/safety hazards
Known, compromised and missing, cool down requirements
Lack of quick response while considering cost saving options
After the fact jury rigging attempts of six on site nuclear reactors
Profits by costs savings equals catastrophic environmental losses
Profits by costs savings equals catastrophic environmental losses
After the fact jury rigging attempts of six on site nuclear reactors
Lack of quick response while considering cost saving options
Known, compromised and missing, cool down requirements
Combined locational/design/operational/safety hazards
Obliging, cozy management/government arrangement
Reaping profits, while passing risks/costs along
Motive – producing more with less expenses
Known/permitted hazardous location
Low cost of on site spent fuel
Outdated safety measures
The missing inspections
Faulty designs
To failures
Free pass
Greed