Its about time for another open thread. This one will be pinned to the top. Enjoy.
96 Thoughts to “Open Thread August 26, 2010”
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- Bacons' Rebellion Blogspot
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- Blue Virginia
- Citizen Tom
- Counts of Monte Cristo. The
- Derecho, The
- Dixie Pig, The
- My Side of the Fence
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- 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
Although Assisnations are nothing to joke about, the reality, from my perspective, is that there are many Tea Party leaders who incite hatred towards Obama in an irrational way. It has been that way since he first became a real contender for President. The hatred towards President Obama is visceral in a way that I simply cannot fathom. It is like Clinton hate on freakin’ steroids. WHY was Clinton despised so much? I think it was simply because he was a Democrat. The word “liberal” is synonymous with crap. How is it that a word that exemplifies that very foundation of this nation, “Liberty” ,can be seen as dirt.
Many Americans disliked Bush because he LOST the popular vote and won by supreme court decree. THere was a REASON for so many to feel disenfranchised. But 9-11 came along and the country gathered around their President. Only when Iraq was invaded, FISA wiretaps, renditions, torture, Valerie Plame, etc etc did citizens start to express their sincere dissatisfaction with President Bush.
President Obama was villifed the moment he took office with an overwhelming electoral majority. Health Care reform was suddenly Socialism/Nazism and Stimulus money was Communisim. The worst Bush ever saw was Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink. I have seen a rise in Neo Nazi’s , KKK, and other hate groups who join with Tea Party activists. To suggest that violence could happen and that the Obama is the target is reality not an obscure thought.
@rod2155 Rod, you along with so many other haters must be terribly disappointed that conservative Americans gathered peacefully to raise money for a good cause yesterday and to make their voices heard. It must be hard for you to find a reason to get out of bed this morning.
“The worst Bush ever saw was Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink.”
I beg to differ. Bush was ridiculed at every turn for his speech, his intellect, his appearance (thousands of photos shot and the one that would make it to the front page would show his eyes squinched up or some other embarrassing expression. And then there were the vicious caricatures, the digs about his former drinking…) the fact that he didn’t land in Louisiana five minutes after Katrina, his response to 9-11—-it’s easy to forget how the last guy was treated when you are so protective of your guy.
Believe me, I’m no fan of Bush and hold a lot of anger for our involvement in Iraq, for example, but criticism of the man and his family got way beyond political and well into the personal. He raised two wonderful daughters, as the Obamas are doing, and yet those wonderful young ladies were falsely vilified as drunken party animals. Did Chelsea Clinton ever cut loose? We’ll never know, because the press obeyed the command to maintain a respectful distance, something they would never do for Republicans.
Emma,
I thought the event was very nice, very hokey, and very religious. Beck seems to believe he has been honored with divine intervention of some kind. I wasn’t disppointed at all, I was very relieved. If people want to gather peacefully and talk about being kind to one another, I applaud that kind of gathering. If Beck would actually incorporate that into his show, I would be thrilled! What I have seen though, is that he his using his message to bash people who are not “republican conservative” and that is troublesome to me.
Chelsea Clinton was joked about constantly as being unattractive. So what that Bush girls were called out for being real teenagers, I thought it made the Bush’s more real to me. Many subsequent pieces have been done on the one twin working in central America doing wonderful things, how is that bad?
Bush was honored after 9-11 until he effed up and dragged us into a war(iraq only) that has cost us billions upon billions and left many dead and injured in its wake. Yeah, he lost alot of support. Bush was not a communicater which is NOT a good attribute as President. When you cannot convey why we are going to war in more than just sound bites, you will garner the disrespect of people. When evidence comes out that the war is going horribly and there are not weapons of mass destruction, you better figure out, real fast, how to become eloqouent. When you can’t explain WHY you disregarded FISA, you are in trouble. When you can’t explain WHY the Medicare actuary was threatened with dismissal if he gave out the REAL cost of the Medicare Prescription drug plan, you are in trouble. When you suggest that waterboarding is not torture, even though the US proscuted Japan for JUST that treatment on our soldiers, you better learn how to communicate effectively.
Now, where is the Obama list of such serious transgressions? Has he screwed up, absolutely, I have my list for sure. BUT NONE of my grievences rise to the level of what I have just listed.
I won’t argue with you on some of the Bush transgressions, because I do agree with many of them. But I see daily the difference in coverage–Obama standing before an adoring crowd, American flag draped behind him, looking almost messianic on the front page, and Bush caught in some embarrassing facial expression that all of us make but would be horrified to have caught on camera. Worst of all, the dogged attempts by the media to embarrass the President and endanger American lives by uncovering and publicizing all manner of classified means and methods. And Obama is still continuing–and the Holder Justice Dept. has upheld– many of the Bush policies that you object to, such as warrantless wiretapping. Where is the outrage there?
Elena is right. Chelsea was continually ridiculed for being unattractive and not just by Rush Limbaugh. Even SNL took a few swipes. She was at an awkward teenage stage..you know..the bushy hair, all teeth stage. I think she probably wore braces. The Bush girls got in trouble for underage drinking…or rather one of them did. I think that died pretty quickly on the vine. As a teenager, which would you rather be criticized form, being ugly or being an ‘early drinker.’
Clinton was horribly vilified before he even took office. I understand why Bush was vilified….that election was horrible. Regardless of what heppened, huge numbers of people would have ended up furious. Either way.
It still doesn’t make it right. I have problems with Bush policies but he didn’t deserve the disrespect. Clinton didn’t deserve the disrespect he got either.
Obama doesn’t deserve the disrespect he is receiving.
Emma,
You are exactly correct in my disappointment of Obama. Some Bush policies I don’t disagree with, Afganastan was one of them and parts of the Patriot Act I have no problem with either. However, Obama seems so afraid of pissing some people off that he makes NO firm stand and THAT drives me insane. At least with Bush, whether you agreed with him or not, at least you knew the guy would stand firm behind a statement or decision, not always to the benefit of the country, but at least we knew what he stood for. These days, I’m not always sure with Obama.
@Elena I appreciate your honesty. It makes for a much more productive and intelligent dialogue than when someone is unconditionally loyal. What I worry about most with Obama is the mad cycle of borrowing and spending, especially while we are still up to our eyeballs overseas. Bush and Congress are at fault for dragging us into unfunded wars, so that people now seem to think that war shouldn’t cost us anything. It should cost us dearly right up front, and our leaders should be willing to make politically unpopular tax increases to fund it. Maybe then they’d think twice about borrowing money to drag our soldiers where they have no business nation-building in the first place.
I agree about the cost of war. I know that at one point Iraq was costing us a billion a week.
Not that it was Obama’s but the TARP stimulus was profitable. GM will begin the payback as soon as the stock goes public. Not sure how long that takes once an IPO has been applied for. Some of the programs that look like they are spending have not been quite as frivolous as they appear.
Emma, my problem is that I wasn’t an Obama-ite in the first place. I have grown defensive of him (and I did the same with Bush) because I have heard so much crap about him that simply isn’t true and is either Bush bashing or Obama bashing.
What I criticize Obama over is totally different. I thought not calling the CEO of BP for a couple weeks was…well…stupid. Even the gesture might have accomplished something. I didn’t like that he fired first, thought second about the Gates arrest. However, I wasn’t surprised there and he did apologize for those remarks. I can forgive. I don’t sit around and look for things.
The questions we have to ask are, what would McCain do with the economy? What would he have done with Gitmo? One thing people might want to consider is that Obama has pissed off the left. I consider that a good thing and it shows he doesn’t have undying party loyalty. The jury is out on health care. Something was needed however. They now need to start tweaking the kinks and flaws out.
@Emma
I really feel good when people can find common ground and just talk to each other. Thanks Emma 🙂
@Emma
So Emma, 100% of the proceeds from this weekends’ event went to Wounded Warriors, correct?!
No, the money went to the event opperation, liscense and clean up cost first, then whatever was left over was given over to Wounded Warriors..
My dad’s company sponsored a golf outting for the wounded warriors in WV a couple days ago. No political speeches, they drove the wounded vets out from Walter Reed, coaches worked with them to help them find ways they could play with their handycap and they went out and had a great time. The event was %100 covered by a handful of corporations with all proceedes going to WW.
I do not doubt conservative desire to support the troops and veterans (I do myself with money and time), but it angers me that the slimy likes of Beck/ Palin would exploit a charatible notion for political purposes and to decieve people into giving money that ultimatly does not get to the vets.
I hope one day more moderate members of both sides of the political spectrum can get together and throw out hateful exploiters like Beck, Jackson, Palin, Sharpton and all the other criminal element looking to line their pockets at the peoples expense.
Thanks for pointing out that it isn’t all going to veterans’ families. Perhaps those who want to donate should do so directly rather than through Beck.
TP wants to bitch about the Kelly building and the hypocrites whoever they are.
You are aware that the old school board building was completely inadequate for staff needed to support 74,000 plus students?
Much of the support staff was in old army barracks buildings from WWII. They were old Nike installations before the school board got it. I think they have a 99 year lease on those buildings. However, the space was inadequate. The one decent brick building has long been outgrown. The new building was in the works for a long time. They needed the office space to conduct business. It comes out of different funds than the teacher hire fund.
We can play ‘what if’ all day. What if the BOCS didn’t sign off on all these new developments. Think of the money we could save in interest lone with having to build 20 new schools in the past 5 years. All that could have been avoided. Then we wouldn’t have 74,000 students and maybe we wouldn’t have outgrown independent hill, although it really was a dive anyway. It all goes back to the BOCS.
Man, this just keeps going and going and going… yet another ethics violation by a Dem and the 3rd by a member of the CBC.
“Democrat Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide’s two children”
This doesn’t look good for Dems with mid-terms coming up so soon.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/082910dntexcongress.2c049bb.html
@Moon-howler
Bitch? Who me? I thought Mom’s response on the other thread was perfect. I also just thought that calling out the BOCS as incompetent or hypocritic on this teachers issue missed the mark. Typical but missed the margin nevertheless. As Mom notes it is the Board that was hypocritical here.
I hope you are correct MH that none of the dues for these teachers would have flowed through to the unions (Obama supporters) on a mandatory or voluntary basis – as they are for every other stimulus project – which BTW is most often officially restricted to firms with union agreements.
@TP, bitching is fine. Why else does a person come on a blog? 😉
I haven’t read MoM’s response yet but I will. He and I will not agree on this issue. Frankly, he and I are coming at the issue from very opposite sides of the fence. I believe I am on the high road.
Any association dues that might be generated in Virginia, and I only speak for Virginia, not Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, etc, would be voluntary, not mandatory and would come from the teachers who were hired.
I believe even in Maryland working for the school system is closed shop, but not in Virginia.
I do not worry about what happens in Maryland. It has nothing to do with me. It might only be for bus drivers also. I think stimulus ed money can be used to hire teacher aids, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and administrators…operative word: think
Now, I am not saying that a newly hired teacher cannot elect to join AFT or PWEA/VEA/NEA of their own free will. they can and some probably will. I would, just for tort insurance. But they do not have to.
Thank GOD that Congress is on top of this Roger Clemens thing, huh?
Perhaps the CBC is trying to out-do the Carolinas?
@Slowpoke
grrrrrr…why is it their business? He should have never been subpoenaed in my opinion.
Amen!
Judge rules against AG Cuccinelli in ClimateGate case. Says he can only file under 1 of the 5 grants as the other 4 were done under Federal dollars. AG is expected to re-file and must also better explain how Dr. Mann perpetrated a fraud.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/08/judge_quashes_cuccinelli_subpo.html
It is interesting that the Judge has said that a records request can be made of the University. So he lost and won at the same time. I’m trying to find the ruling..
Will that cost Virginians another $350?
Yup.
Courts rarely give people what they want. The school lost in that the Judge said that CIDs are applicable to the schools and that they must legally respond. Cooch lost because he can’t use CIDs to go on fishing expeditions – he needs more substance in his filing.
As a third party observer I think it went well. It was a novel arguement. The hurdle will now be trying to prove fraud without the data needed to prove the fraud (assuming there is any fraud, of course).
Trying to prove fraud when there is no fraud seems like a waste of money.
Marin, do me a huge favor….say what your acronyms are one time before you use them. I am not really sure what you have said because if CID.
Sorry about that. It was discussed in the link. CID = civil investigative demand.
Ah, I was thinking criminal investigation dept. and it should read because Of them not if …doh me.
Thank you. Not sure I know anymore than before you clarified. Much of what kook does makes no sense to me. I don’t know what point he is trying to make other than man has no impact upon the planet. Common sense tells me it does.
“it angers me that the slimy likes of Beck/ Palin would exploit a charatible notion for political purposes and to decieve people into giving money that ultimatly does not get to the vets.”
That is an outright lie.
Just out of curiosity, which charity benefitted from Sharpton’s gathering, and what percentage of the take did they receive?
Who is being asked?
Does that organization have a higher than average set of admininstrative costs?
It is sure the reason I don’t give to United Way. I just give directly.
I don’t think Sharpton said he was collecting for charity. It doesn’t matter what Sharpton does, only what Beck says he is doing. I have no gripe with him collecting for charity or to help pay for the event, as long as he is up front about it.
I was directing the question at Rod. I don’t give to high-overhead charities, either, Moon. I’ll never forget the arm-twisting I used to get at a previous job every year for the United Way campaign. I really resented the pledge sheet pre-printed with my name and address, and the requirement that it be turned in whether I was donating or not.
Totally agree, Emma. I can remember a couple of times, years ago, that giving was mandatory. I gave a dollar a pay period. It really ended up being a bullying situation. I don’t know what finally made it stop. It was many years ago.
I would walk across the street to avoid the United Way. I hated the pre-printed name also. Too much information floating around. Remember when their CEO was caught with his hand in the cookie jar big time?
Been on the road a couple of weeks. Come back to find that the Moonhowlings gang was frightening itself to death with predictions of a Beckite vs Sharptonite clash on the sacred turf of the Mall. You guys…..!!!!
@Emma
From the Restoring Honor Website fine print….
http://www.glennbeck.com/828/
“The purchase of Restoring Honor Rally merchandise is not a donation to SOWF, but all net proceeds from the sale of Restoring Honor Rally merchandise is being donated to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. All contributions made to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) will first be applied to the costs of the Restoring Honor Rally taking place on August 28, 2010. All contributions in excess of these costs will then be retained by the SOWF. Tax ID 52-1183585.”
^ Does that sound like the bulk of the money is reaching it’s intended recipients? Why can’t News Corp, Sarah Palin or Glen Beck dig into their own deep pockets lined with book and gold sales and full out pay for the rally and allow 100% of proceeds to go to SOWF?
Wow! I looked it up and Red i correct: It certainly was printed in very, very fine print and at the very bottom of the rally announcement. Would be interesting to find out how much it cost to stage this event.
Hope there’ll be a financial statement issued when the final tally is made.
Sorry : “ROD”
Welcome home, Wolverine. I hope you had a good trip.
Don’t worry, no one scared themselves to death. It was only a discussion. Hind sight is always 20/20. I wouldn’t have allowed one of my kids to go in to town during a rally that had the potential of having participants get out of hand.
I have been on this planet just a little too long to have stars in my eyes over 2 sets of Americans expressing themselves. All it takes is a couple bad apples to turn peace into chaos. My kid would have not gone with another family.
And I am glad both events stayed peaceful.
Welcome back Wolverine!
Wolverine, we have been looking for you. Is there a Leesburg report? What was the ruling on the Courthouse displays at Christmas time? Will there be changes?
Moon, I just got back last night and am trying to catch up. At the request of our Judge Tom Horne, the BOS delayed a further addressing of the Christmas displays on the courthouse grounds until 8 September. I do see that the Virginia AG and the ACLU are now in the picture. I strongly suspect that 8 September will not be the end of this no matter what the BOS says. Personally I stand in the camp which says allow Christmas displays per usual and let any other religious groups have their own space to do their own thing. I would add, however, that none of those displays should be an attempt to denigrate someone else’s religious beliefs. They should be tasteful, positive displays and definitely not a reflection of religious rivalry. The atheist group especially should listen up here.
I must say that modern Americans of all political and philosophical stripes have become devoted to creating crises over the darndest things. It would be nice if we could get our collective heads out of our asses and start to address some issues which have become a true shame for this country. I have been in and through St. Louis, Missouri, countless times in my lifetime, primarily because many of Mrs. W’s ancestors settled there. This time, as we crossed the bridge from St. Louis into Illinois, we ran into a traffic jam because I-70 North and I-55 North on the Illinois side of the river were being funneled into an I-64 East detour. Being stuck in that traffic allowed me to take a longer than usual look at the central city area of East St. Louis, Illinois. I know the long, sad economic and demographic story of that city. But how often do you see an American city in which buildings once so beautiful with their Victorian and post-Victorian architecture are left to die a slow death? For the first time I noticed that some of these buildings, perhaps 10 or more stories high, actually had trees growing through their roofs. That’s right, fair-sized trees poking through the rooftops — a stark addition to the boarded up windows, the graffiti, the litter, the trash, and the rubble. It looked to me like a badly neglected urban graveyard almost in the shadow of that magnificent arch on the St. Louis side of the Mississippi. Mrs W remarked that the trees poking through the rooftops made East St. Louis city center look to her like a sick parody of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
For me it was a deja vu of that time I visited East Berlin in the 1960’s, where the Soviets and East Germans had deliberately left on display the bombed and burned out ruins of the architectural pride of Germany. Here is an American central city in 2010. Abandoned office buildings, stores, and churches, with only a solitary bank in a remodeled Victorian building rising from the rubble. And, all along this trip through many states, we saw signs proudly announcing that road repair work was the result of the federal stimulus. So, the repaired I-70/I-55/I-64 corridor on the eastern shore of the Mississippi will soon look pristine and efficient as it carries the rest of us past the ghost of the central city of East St. Louis. And what will we do? Turn our faces away and leave the city to rot? Tear it down as they are actually doing in parts of Dertroit? Or fix it? Right now all I can say is shame on all of us.
Wolverine, did you take pictures? I can’t imagine. I knew the midwest was hard hit but geez. What is the answer? If the trees were that big, then this urban decay is nothing new.
As for the Leesburg Courthouse, and I don’t have a dog in this fight….aren’t there enough churches in Leesburg to display manger scenes and that sort of thing?
I am not sure what the fight is over? Do people care if there are seasonal wreaths, candy canes, lights and greenery? Where does Christmas end and seasonal begin? Not sure I know. I can understand the wiccans having a display but not the atheists, just from definition.
Please keep us posted on this issue. And again, welcome home. You were missed. Might as well hop back into the fire here.
So, I don’t think I have the stomach to watch the speech tonight….how ’bout y’all. I’m just so done with the Iraq war that I don’t even want to hear the “change of mission” speech.
I am done with it also. I was done a long time ago. I might watch out of curiosity, if nothing else is on. I have also heard it hashed and rehashed to death today on every cable news station. Stupid crap like will George Bush be given credit ….blah blah blah. Credit for what. Starting it? I don’t think there are any heroes here other than those who wore or are wearing a uniform. Certainly none of the politicians.
@Moon-howler I think they mean credit for the troop surge, which actually worked, despite Harry Reid’s gloom-and-doom of “The surge has failed, the war is lost.”
Horrendous tyrant that he was, though, Saddam Hussein effectively kept Iran in check until we stuck our noses in where they didn’t belong.
I thought President Obama was short, sweet and to the point. Kudos.
I skipped it in favor of Netflix. I’ll read about it. I need a break from it all.