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45 Thoughts to “Open Thread Tuesday, July 13, 2010”
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All contents copyright Moonhowlings.net
Blogroll
- 9500Liberty
- Bacons' Rebellion Blogspot
- Bearing Drift
- Blue Virginia
- Citizen Tom
- Counts of Monte Cristo. The
- Derecho, The
- Dixie Pig, The
- My Side of the Fence
- My Star Journey
- NARAL Pro-Choice VA Blog
- New Dominion Project
- Nova Common Sense
- NovaTownHall Blog
- One Libertarians's Point of View by Al Alborn
- Pete Candland's Blog
- Potomac Local
- Prince William Muckraker
- PW Conservation Alliance
- PWC Moms
- PWCPolitics.com
- PWCPolitics.com
- Red NoVA
- Shad Plank, The
- She the People
- State of NoVA, the
- The Jeffersoniad
- Townhall
- VEA Daily Reports
- VivianPaige
- WDGolden.com
- You, Me and the Lamp Post
Yesterday, I posted that the Democrat screeching and attacks were getting noticably shrill. Now I understand why — from the WashPost; Overall, more than a third of voters — 36 percent — say they have no confidence or only some confidence in the president… About two-thirds of all voters say they are dissatisfied with or angry about the way the federal government is working… Those most likely to vote in the midterms prefer the GOP over continued Democratic rule by a sizable margin of 56 percent to 41 percent. Only about a quarter of all Americans think the economy is improving. Just 43 percent of all Americans now say they approve of the job Obama is doing on the economy, while 54 percent disapprove. For the first time in his presidency, those who strongly disapprove now significantly outnumber those who strongly approve.
And in my view its going to go downhill from here – not because the Republicans have done anything, but because Obama and his crowd keep doing the work for them by trying to make America into a centralized Federal welfare state — France. In a parlimentary system, the Obama Government would have been forced into an election by now.
Here is my prediction…. somebody is going to come up with a term to replace “states rights.” Constitutionality or something that the Democrates cannot again load onto with racism fears – to limit the power and reach of the federal goverment.
,
The economy is not going to improve by leaps and bounds. Why do people always want an instant fix? The only reason we aren’t in a full blown depression is because of efforts taken by both administrations to avoid disaster. Confidence has to grow and certain news shows take great delight in pointing out every flaw in the economy. They don’t want America to get back on its economic feet, apparently.
When has anyone ever seen the Dow drop 800 points in one day? While the stock market isn’t necessarily an indicator of the economy, a drop like that signifies something real bad is happening.
Meanwhile, Republicans stonewall unemployment benefits. Some even suggest that those who are receiving benefits might be loafing. A bunch of multi- millionaire Republican senators sure have their nerve talking about the unemployed.
Shame on them. The benefits have to be extended.
The two parties working together created the deficit. Under Bush, and again under Obama, the compromises hashed out always reward the wealthy, and reward the poor for being poor, simultaneously. That’s the “compromise” struck, the pretense of issue exploration and choice. Neither party created the deficit by itself. Hard-core Republican apologists (poor souls) will go to the grave insisting that if we followed strick supply-side models, we would be in great shape. Hard-core Democrat apologists (poor souls) will go to the grave insistiong that if we followed some academic model they tout, that we’d be in great shape.
Whether they are right or not is irrelevant. What we HAVE are two rudderless parties each with a 35-40% “market share” whose compromises with each other always seek to reward one or more segments of society at the expense of deficit spending. The system is broken.
And the most obvious evidence that the system is broken is that the two parties nominated and elected Bush, and Obama. Two hopeless characters who couldn’t lead their way out of a paper bag. Each almost completely vapid.
@Rick, so what would you have thought of FDR at the time?
I don’t have economic answers and obviously no one else does either. There is no paradigm to follow.
I am not saying you are wrong. You have expressed an opinion. I just can’t take on the mantle of despair. Its depressing. The financial reform package will go through. They scrounged up 3 Republican votes. One of them was the golden boy of the tea parties,
Michaelooop…make that Scott Brown.I love it. We’re just gunning the gas on a tire stuck in mud and digging ourselves in deeper. 🙂
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/07/new-uaw-president-plans-march-for-economic-justice/1
Economic and social justice. Brilliant. Have you seen unemployment numbers in Michigan? Ohio not only got hit hard with some plant closings not too far back but then they lost LeBron… That right there I’ve read may cause the loss of 6,000 jobs to the local economy. Add to that how much LeBron was paying in state and local taxes… I do find it amusing that he went from a state that has a 7.5% state income tax to one with 0% tax. Oh, sweet irony.
And of course the FinReg bill.. That’s gonna put a nice punch in the gut to our economic engine. In a morbid way I actually want to see it pass just to watch the many people that have jobs today whine that they’re unemployed because business couldn’t afford them any longer.
I’ll go back to watching tv and the interwebs while eating my popcorn. This is almost better than syndicated tv!!
Via Power of Wind:
Contact your Senators and Urge them to Strengthen and Pass the Renewable Energy Standard (RES)
http://capwiz.com/powerofwind/home/
Well, three cheers for Brown and Obama on that one. It’s shame that we’re passing that bill so long after the disgraceful bailout.
How would I have felt about FDR? I’m sure it would depend on my place in life. As a middle-class centrist I can tell you how I feel about Obama.
How odd we would both describe ourselves as middle-class centrists. I guess we are centrists over different things. @ Rick
I am not sure how I would have felt about FDR either. Different times.
So, anyone have a position on the Tea Party vs. the NAACP? Obvious to me that the NAACP is a partisan political group, this is fine proof of that.
There are plenty of black people in the Tea Party. Here’s one of them, a handicapped gentleman, being attacked by Democratic activists – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFeUhSlHiUQ
I don’t even understand what is going on in the video. Total confusion and lots of people having bad manners is about all I get out of it.
I would never base an opinion based on having seen that video.
Tea party or NAACP…..can I just drink poison and avoid both?
Me, I’m just waiting for the NAACP to condemn Malik Zulu Shabazz and the New Black Panther Party (NBPP). It just seems not very nice for Shabazz to call for the killing of White babies and the other assorted “Crackers.” Wouldn’t mind seeing Eric Holder join in such a condemnation; but, after what I have heard from that “whistle blower” from the Civil Rights Division in DOJ, I’m not holding my breath.
I have not covered that black panther story because I have not heard the full story. The only place I have heard it is Fox News. I know I can’t believe many things Fox News has said so I will wait until I see more about it on other news stations or print media.
On the other hand, it isn’t news to me that black panthers dislike white people. Voter intimidation is wrong. Unfortunately, you don’t have to go very far to find it happening. It should not be tolerated.
Coffee Party Legacy: Classic Comedy Videos
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/Coffee-Party-Legacy-Classic-Comedy-Videos-vs-tea-party-98361714.html
Enjoy.
Does that mean you will be tearing up your coffee party card, Ring?
Sorry it didn’t work out for you. Some people joined both. True cherry picking.
Not just on Fox, Moonhowler. I’ve seen video where Shabazz is actually saying such things while preaching hate at a mixed White and Black crowd of passersby on the street. He was also calling for some kind of hate campaign against the police. Shabazz is an insult to the original Black Panther Party. At least those guys were active in an era when they had some better reasons for being unhappy.
I should have clarified, I haven’t seen that they were not investigated any place other than on Fox. I have seen what’s his name saying he hated white people several places. Frankly, I don’t care about that. He is an extremist and he isn’t the only one. He is free to hate me all he wants. There are white people who are equally repugnant.
I care about voter intimidation, regardless of who is doing it. I haven’t been able to find out those details other than what Fox has to say.
I didn’t care much for the old black panthers. They are just as racist as the klan and other such white supremacist groups.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/37516043
CNBC’s rankings of Top States to do business in. Texas took the title from Virginia this year but Virginia still held on for a #2 ranking.
Virginia’s sub-rankings:
Cost of business #26
Workforce #9
Quality of Life #18
Economy #11
Transportation #12
Technology and Innovation #10
Education #13
Business Friendliness #2
Access to Capital #9
Cost of Living #27
That is good news. Thanks for sharing that report, Marin.
Extend the unemployment benefits? Ok. Where is the money supposed to come from? The Democrats shot down the bill when the GOP amended it for the money to come from unspent stimulus money. The Democrats want NEW spending. Also, what kind of strings come attached with those benefits? Are the states going to be left holding the bag like last time? The states were told to change the way they financed the benefits, and then, when the fed money ran out, they had to foot the bill.
@Cargo, so do the people just starve, move out of their houses and die? What is to become of them?
I dont know what the states were supposed to do. Who told the states to do what?
marin,
Thanks for sharing the top states to do business in article.Here’s two more articles I read today. I think you’ll be interested in them too.
Housing recovery is led by 5 states. Virginia is ranked #3
http://www.housingpredictor.com/housing-recovery-here.html
Where the jobs are
Especially now, plentiful job opportunities are key to making a great place to live. These 25 counties have experienced the most job growth over the last nine years. PWC is ranked #17. Which was the highest ranking in The Commonwealth.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/moneymag/1007/gallery.best_places_job_growth.moneymag/17.html
I found it odd that Maricopa Co, AZ was #16 and PWC was #17. I guess all the illegal immigrants aren’t stealing the jobs from people in those 2 counties. Any ideas?
“I have not covered that black panther story because I have not heard the full story. The only place I have heard it is Fox News. I know I can’t believe many things Fox News has said so I will wait until I see more about it on other news stations or print media. ”
This is interesting. The story is real; the evidence is on youtube; the story is interesting; people care; there’s testimony going on in Congress now. Yet only FOX News deigns to cover it.
FOX News has their biases, sure. But if you ask me the entire rest of “legitimate media” has theirs as well.
Stay tuned….thread coming….
@Rick, I was working on it as you were typing. When only Fox News deigns to cover something, that usually tells me it stinks to high heaven and no one reputable wants to touch it. Time after time after time I have seen them put their own spin on things …a twist here, a turn there, so whatever it is comes out horribly skewed.
Not sure you can ban someone from the polls forever. That seems a little extreme. The dispute seems to be over the punishment…not over guilt or innocence.
Fox has more than its biases. It twists and distorts. It does it all day long. I feel the news station harms America. Therefore, anything controversial I post from them, short of regular unpoliticized news, will be subject to a higher bench mark.
If they say it was 100 degrees in Washington, ok. If they say the president broke out in a sweat because of it…I need to see it elsewhere.
I don’t agree with what you are saying. Their journalistic standards and integrity are as high as anyone’s and usually higher than CNN’s.
You can argue that it twists and distorts, someone else might argue that it’s correcting the left-wing bias of other outlets. But you shouldn’t pretend they aren’t a foremost news outlet or that their integrity is less than anyone else’s.
@Rick, was the case actually dropped or was that how it was resolved?
You and many others are free to disagree with me about Fox News. I maintain they distort the news to fit their agenda. I have seen it time and time again over things I know about first hand. They have no credibility with me. I don’t care what they are attempting to correct. Just tell the truth.
I don’t pretend they aren’t mainstream news now. And that is what I find frightening. I will continue to believe that their integrity is less than many news stations. I also maintain that news shouldn’t be biased, it should be based on fact: what happened. the who, what, where, when of the issue and why if it isn’t slanted. I guess that is horribly old fashioned.
When the snide remarks, the editorializing during presentation of news, the loaded innuendo, and the outright lies stop, then I will stop calling them Faux News. Its hard to dispute their agenda when you see nostrils curling up when the newscasters snarl out words like liberal and Democrat and make really rappy remarks about the president.
Bring the real Rick back!
Please, any examples of bad journalism or inaccuracy by FOX News. I am talking about them as a news channel, not their bizarro “commentators”.
“I also maintain that news shouldn’t be biased”
What are some unbiased news sources? I see tremendous bias in CNN and in the Washington Post.
Here’s the head of the New Black Panther Party admitting complicity, laughing about the “punishment”, and intimating that it came about because a black man took over DOJ – http://www.breitbart.tv/new-black-panther-president-malik-zulu-shabazz-admits-to-blockade-philly-voting-office/
This is like other issues that we argue about. I believe that laws should be uniformly enforced, without regard to a perpetrator’s ethnicity. I have a dream.
The morning people, Fox and Friends, and Megyn Kelly are famous for all the things I just stated. They violate everything that used to be an earmark of good journalism.
What should happen to Mr. Black Panther in your opinion? I might not disagree. But how big of a deal is it in the grand scheme of things to mete out punishment to suit us? The point is, the violation was not ignored. DOJ dealt with the problem.
I often don’t think people get the punishment they deserve. Public floggings and fathers beating young men with buggy whips doesn’t happen often enough to suit me.
“was the case actually dropped or was that how it was resolved”
I believe that the case was dropped, we deliberately declined to prosecute these guys, and the only public testimony as to why that is is the whistleblower guy saying that his boss had been told that DOJ Civil Rights wasn’t interested in cases other than whites offending minorities.
“What should happen to Mr. Black Panther in your opinion?”
Suitable punishment? A fine of at least $5000 and prohibited from hanging out at polling places except to vote.
“DOJ dealt with the problem” or implemented their own internal policies that won’t acknowledge civil rights violations committed by minorities
@ Rick, I listened to the video…painfully. Black Panthers really haven’t changed much over the decades. They were being blow hards and saving face. I am not going to turn on Eric Holder because of what this jackass says. And if Holder went light on them because they were black….what can I do about it? I am trying to put all this in perspective…some jackass accuses the attorney general of showing favoritism to his group and some other man who is an uber Republican is pissed off over how some thug at the polls was dealt with…
Does it deserve this much attention? Is it a news flash that black panthers dislike white people? Do improprieties go on at the polls at any given election? I believe someone wants to take out a cannon to kill a fly.
Did I leave out the part where I admit I don’t care much about Eric Holder one way or the other? He is who he is.
Equal justice under the law is so complicated.
“I believe someone wants to take out a cannon to kill a fly.”
The issue is not this incident, it is what the real policy is in the Justice Department.
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What would you say if tea party members or minutemen went in to the cities and “patrolled” urban voting booths – and for their own protection had pipes in hand. The Justicie Department has now set the wheels in motion for that to happen – and the only difference is that they and not the Panthers will be portrayed as racists at that pollling place.
This is one of those cases where a cannon ball was and is required to kill the fly. Mr Holder is responsible for what he has done – to permit these patrols at the holy sites of our democracy. The answer was the full weight of the law regardless of political affiliation or color – as a warning. You need to care about what Holder is doing.
@ Rick And what is that policy? DOJ found wrong doing. What is it that you would have them do further?
As I said, I looked for the story all over the place to find it without Fox News’s thumb-print on it. The media matters/Think Progressive was what I found.
I would actually like to find what happened regarding DOJ in a neutral news setting. That is one of those things I intensely dislike.
Sorry, I can’t take Foxy’s word for anything. Too many times I have discovered them to be manipulating. Consider it like the little boy who cried wolf. Rick, if you find another source, please pass it my way.
I thought maybe Townhall might have coverage. Their coverage was more laced with bias than the Foxies. I thought maybe I was on to something with Thomas Perez.
Too bad. Over the years I have seen people get to play by 2 different sets of rules and I didn’t like it. Again, still looking for an unbiased version of what happened. Even a not obviously biased version would do.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504564_162-20010581-504564.html
Ratcheting up a growing controversy over how the Obama Administration enforces civil rights and voting rights laws, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said today it has evidence of “possible unequal administration of justice” within the Justice Department, citing testimony that revealed widespread, “pervasive hostility” against discrimination and voter intimidation claims by whites.
In a sharply worded letter to senior Justice Department official Thomas Perez, who heads the Civil Rights Division, the commission said it had evidence raising “serious concerns” about whether the department’s policies “are being pursued in a race-neutral fashion.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Commission_on_Civil_Rights
Would this be the same US Civil Rights Commission that many people in PWC howled about? The one that came to town on Dec. 14, 2007? Linda Chavez presided during the hearing.
Actually, this is the type of information I am looking for. It seems the US Commission on Civil Rights might give us a more unbiased picture of what really happened and if there is disparity shown in enforcing voting rights violations. Keep this kind of information coming.
It made the Washington Post today – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071405880.html
So I guess it’s real to all of us now
And I never did hear anyone cite an example of bad journalism at FOX News
Oh dear God, Rick. Just turn it on from 6 -9 am. Every minute I see examples of bad journalism.
Megyn Kelly screaming at her guest and threatening to cut her mic is an example.