Its that time again. The weekend is upon us. That other open thread was getting long.

No one has said they are interested in a blog get together to view 9500 Liberty. I am not going to try to get a place for Elena and me. If you are interested, let me know.

103 Thoughts to “Open Thread Friday, September 17”

  1. Rez

    Seems like this blog has some fascination with Christine O’Donnell. I thought she was running for office from Delaware not Prince William county.

    Is she going to run for Chairman of the BOCS or something?

  2. Too bad she isn’t. At least you would know what you were getting.

  3. Poor Richard

    M-H, So Eric and Annabel only want to film a story of poor little innocent
    immigrants being abused by Monster Manassas Meanies? Know that
    is what garnered them some modest liberal indie recognition on the wine
    and cheese circuit, but their endeavor is, at best, a major distortion of
    reality. The 9th Annual Manassas Latino Festival was well advertised as
    evidenced by the large crowd. If Eric and Annabel had a sincere interest
    in a more balanced look at state of the Latino community in Manassas,
    they would have been there.

  4. You know that is not what they said…ever.
    Tell me, PR, when did you see that film in its entirety?

    Their film is about immigration, not about Latinos. There IS a difference. If they wanted to film Latinos, I expect they got a great opportunity while they were out in the Phoenix area. While I am sure the Latino festival in Manassas was quaint and everyone had a good time, I can’t imagine why they would want to come film it. The filming for 9500 Liberty is over and has been for quite a while.

    You know, if you have seen the film and don’t like it, or disagree with the content, its one thing. However, I believe you are guessing what’s in there or listening to people who have a political agenda. I say that because Eric and Annabel never said Manassas was mean, or anything else. Fernandez did but Eric and Annabel did not.

  5. Poor Richard

    And Eric and Annabel gave Fernandez undeserved publicity to promote his
    hatred of Manassas, but opted not to interview one elected representative
    of the community to provide another view — the film is unfair and unbalanced.
    Eric and Annabel used Fernandez and vice versa and all three used and abused the
    City of Manassas.

  6. hello

    “No one has said they are interested in a blog get together to view 9500 Liberty. I am not going to try to get a place for Elena and me.”

    Hmmm, I wonder why?

  7. Rick Bentley

    “Why would HBO continue to feature REal Time with Bill Maher if no one watched it?”

    I used to enjoy Maher’s show but I have ceased to enjoy it. He is biased so far leftwards that I can’t take it. I do however recommend his 2003 “Victory Begins at Home” HBO special as not only funny, but profoundly true.

    HBO has me hooked for the time being. “Boardwalk Empire” which started last night was okay – two parts “The Godfather” crossed with one part “Gangs of New York” and one part “Casino” – nothing we haven’t seen before, but okay. “Bored to Death’ starts up again next week and that show really amuses me. Apparently “In Treatment” Season 3 starts in late October and that is one great show IMO.

  8. Rick Bentley

    I guess the dinner is probably off but if it does happen, I’ll be there.

  9. Fernandez was part of the story. Did those elected officials ever make an attempt to get hold of them to be interviewed? Eric and Annabel begged for people to be interviewed. Sorry, that doesn’t cut it with me.

    Will you be watching the MTV premiere? I really wish you would. The debate with Corey will also be shown also. I’ll say 2 things about Corey. He manned up and watched the film and he didn’t whine. Hats off to Corey for this.

  10. Rick, I just dont think there was enough interest. I didn’t make arrangements when no one contacted me. I will let you know though if things change.

    I am watching Boardwalk Empire also. I actually liked it. I would have likened it more to the Godfather marries the Sopranos. I thought I had recorded it and found out I hadn’t. I found it on ‘on demand’ this morning however. My problem is, as usual, so many of the characters look alike. For instance…the wife beater and the guy from wwI who was picked up by the FBI look exactly alike to me. Which one got offed and picked up in the fish net?

    What is In Treatment about?

    I got tired of Bill Maher but I was never a huge fan. My daughter is. He appeals to some people and not to others. I thought he was too far left to really latch on. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike him. I also didn’t really enjoy the format of the show.

  11. Rick Bentley

    Yeah those 2 guys look a bit alike. I recognize the guy who fought in WW1; he was one of the two killer kids tormenting Sandra Bullock in “Murder By Numbers”. He’s not the guy in the fish net.

    Steve Buscemi seems like unusual – i.e. weird, ineffective – casting. I like Steve Buscemi but it’s just not effective. And apparently the real guy this character is based on was a big 250-pound guy.

    In Treatment takes place, mostly, in a psychotherapist’s office. Gabriel Byrne is the therapist. Each 30-minute episode is basically a therapy session between him and one of his patients. It’s run each weeknight when it runs, for I think 9 weeks (the first season was 9 weeks) with 5 episodes in a week. So in its airing and again on DVD’s it’s structured as “Week 1”, “Week 2”, etc. and each week he sees each of 4 patients or couples or family units, and gradually digs deeper into what is actually bugging them. The 5th day of each week he goes to his own therapist and tries to get past his own issues. I think it’s deep, and fascinating. I watched Season 1 on DVD and I think it’s as good as TV/fiction/art gets. I believe you will find the first part of Season 1 on the HBO “On Demand” lineup right now.

    As in all good fiction, and as in much psychotherapy i assume, you’re guessing much of the way what the real issue or feeling is, and it’s not so obvious what’s really going on in the person’s psyche.

    I like the show so much I started playing psychotherapist with my wife, asking her after every irrational thing she says why she said it or is that how she really feels. That didn’t go over too well. Don’t try that at home.

  12. I hope she terrorized you over it, Rick. I will have to see if it is on my ‘on demand.’

    So was it the wife beater that was in the fish net?

    You have to remember when you talk to me not to use actors names. I don’t know them.

    Have you also heard that the inability to recognize faces is genetic. My brother and I both have a horrible time with mini series because everyone looks alike. My problem is much worse with men than women.

  13. Cargo- Maher is a comedian of very liberal leanings. He is irreverent and especially goes after the religious faction. He openly loves weed.

    My daughter thinks he is hilarious. I find him …tiresome after about 5 minutes.

  14. Rick Bentley

    Yes – I don’t want to provide a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, but yes the wife beater got tangled in the fish net.

    Inability to recognize faces, huh. I hadn’t really heard of that.

    It’s kind of fascinating how most of us can recognize not only faces, but voices. But moreso within the set of people who seem familiar to us – I’d have a hard time recognizing one person from another in, say, China. And other animals can recognize each other’s faces and voices. For example the penguins in “Life” who slog up a muddy hill en masse and then find their partners or families among the thousands. Or the monkeys in “Rebel Monkeys” recognizing each other – that was a heck of a show if you ask me. It was on the National Geographic channel and tracked some tribes of monkeys around in India, in the general style of reality TV.

  15. Rick Bentley

    Maher’s failings are that he is arrogant, smarmy, somewhat intolerant, and his hostility to women is palpable.

    On the plus side, he’s very smart and can be very funny.

  16. Rick Bentley

    Maher’s “Religilous” is such a tiresome screed that I didn’t like it, though I agree generally that religion is a scourge that does more harm than good. Still that doesn’t imply value in a travelogue of going around smarmily acting as if you know more than others, or finishing up with a big reiterative screed about things. He’s hard to take in recent times, even when you agree with him.

  17. Poor Richard

    The Mayor and Council in Manassas are easy to contact – through the clerk,
    by their phone numbers – all listed, by e-mail, etc. Eric and Annabel had
    the angle they wanted before a foot of film was shot – they never tried
    to get interviews with anyone here who didn’t share their bias – that is the
    cold hard truth and you know it. It doesn’t cut it with me when
    someone slanders my community. Corey was interviewed and asked to comment-
    Manassas officials were never given that opportunity.

    Plan to watch what I assume is the most recent version on MTV. Will have several
    large notepads to record the lies and distortions – and that just relates
    to the actual “9500 Liberty” and filthy Fernandez.

  18. hello

    I agree with you Rick about Maher’s failings but I think you missed his biggest. He, along with most liberal elites, thinks all Americans are stupid and have to be told what to do and what not to do.

  19. I am sure there were days when Corey would have traded places with any last city elected official. The film was about bad govt. policy in PWC. It wasn’t about anything the City did.

    It would have been easy to have contacted Eric or Annabel. I feel certain they would have interviewed anyone who wanted to be interviewed. Had they refused, then that would be another thing.

    9500 Liberty is fair for discussion. I have defended the film and the actions of Eric and Annabel as they relate to the film. I have not defended Fernandez and don’t plan on giving him any free time here.

    In fact, I have been down right critical of his actions, perhaps to the point of offensiveness. I have no problem going out on a limb to say that I feel he did more harm to ‘his people’ (as I have often heard him say) than anyone in HSM or PWC govt. because he took people who supported his cause in some way and he insulted them. He caused very bad feelings between people who might otherwise have found common ground.

    And I am not saying the film is perfect. I saw it a year ago and I don’t remember every detail. But overall, I feel it ducuments what took place in our community. As for individuals, it could have been far worse. Eric went easy on several Prince Willliam people. However, overall, I feel it was fair and balanced.

    As for Fernandez’s role in all this, that is between the City and Fernandez. I think there is a lot of messenger shooting. Eric and Annabel documented. They didn’t create the message. Additionally, many people involved in all of this tried to give Mr. F advice about alienation and advised him to choose a different route. He declined.

  20. Rick, I can’t disagree with anything you said along the lines of Maher. Maybe he just appeals to a different age group than mine. I also think Robin Willliams is hilarious.

    Thanks for clearing up that fish net. I am glad that happened. I just hope he knew why it was happening to him before he swam with the fishes.

  21. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    @Rick Bentley

    I’ve heard Maher say some very intelligent things, particularly with respect to what people eat and their associated health problems. On some things, he’s right on the money, no question about it. He’s certainly not unaccustomed to characterizing folks who might disagree with him as being completely stupid (that’s a very liberal thing), and when he gets into politics, he’s simply a clown, complete with floppy shoes and red rubber nose. He puts out a very bad mockumentary that you mentioned, then when nobody (and man, I mean NOBODY) buys it, he chalks it up to everyone’s stupidity. In general, he’s your average liberal. He does have amazing insight on some topics occasionally though, I will give him that!

  22. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    cargosquid :
    Who is Bill Maher?

    Keith Olbermann’s lover.

  23. @Rick-

    There’s nothing like a drunken woman beater with a big mouth getting his come uppings.

    The longer I am away from that series the more I can’t wait for the next episode.

  24. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Rez :
    Seems like this blog has some fascination with Christine O’Donnell. I thought she was running for office from Delaware not Prince William county.
    Is she going to run for Chairman of the BOCS or something?

    Kind of like the obsession with Sarah Palin, isn’t it? Rejoice, my friend. If one Sarah Palin makes libs pee in their pants, what do you suppose two Sarah Palins would do? Right now you’re seeing the same vicious attacks against O’Donnell that we’ve seen all along against Palin. It’s the number one way to get people on her side. They’ll fool around and literally create another monster for themselves! As for me, I cheer it on! Always give your enemy enough rope to hang themselves well, and NEVER take their advice. Oh, and here’s the funny part. The BEST advice anyone ever gave O’Donnell came from none other than Sarah Palin, who told her to ignore the nationwide lib-media BS, and spent the time between now and the election talking to the people of Delaware.

  25. That was sort of my plan, Slowpoke–to give fools enough rope. It has always worked in the past. So far O’Donnell has not disappointed. If she is elected, she will have even more of a spotlight on her ineptitude. Nice smile though.

    And meanwhile they all are taking cheap shots at the President. It works both ways. Somehow, when your gang does it, it’s ok?

  26. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Moon-howler :
    And meanwhile they all are taking cheap shots at the President.

    Are you referring here to the Democrats trying to get re-elected here?

  27. Nope, I was speaking of TPP and Reps. The Dems have their own issues. But you knew that.

    No more insuations about people’s sexual orientation por favor. We have an unspoken rule about that. Others have gotten the admin snarl. I overlooked it earlier.

  28. I have never heard Bill Maher on the subject of what to eat and what not to eat. What does he say? And who cares what he says about food choices?

    Efforts to malign Bill Maher are a waste of time. No one really is saying he is a great and decent person. I simply don’t care. He is releasing videos of O’Donnell. They are his property and she appeared on the show. If the only defense is to attack Maher, then you don’t have much of a defense. The one think I can honestly say about Maher is, he simply doesn’t give a crap what other people think of him.

  29. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    @Moon-howler

    I will consider myself snarled at, and no problem…..that wasn’t meant to be a high-minded comment, anyway. I knew it was pretty bad.

  30. Rick Bentley

    MH, supposedly Boardwalk Empire gets more interesting and less staid as it goes along … thankfully. Episode 1 was, eh, seen it all before. Wewll-made enough to be entertaining but not up to the standards of HBO’s better shows (“Oz”, “The Sopranos”, “Six Feet Under”, “The Wire”, and “Curb your Enthusiasm” have been inventive stuff).

  31. marinm

    http://vodpod.com/watch/4480545-voter-to-obama-im-exhausted-of-defending-you-the-sibyl-speaks

    This is the closest to non-partisan that I could get as most sites hosting the video are slamming the President hard for either his tone deaf response or that this lady has lost hope and asks a straight forward gut-check question.

    Are our lives better off after 2 years of a democrat as President and 4+ years of a Democrat Congress?

  32. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    “Oz” and “The Sopranos” were the closest I ever got to be absolutely addicted to a TV show. God, I loved both those shows.

  33. Thanks, Slow. Bill probably would have laughed anyway.

  34. I liked the Sopranos. I would have to say I am a major Buffy and Angel fan. I liked Platoon a whole lot, that other Jimmy Smits show about the Cubans. If I like it, it is discontinued.

    I noticed you guys didn’t mention Big Love. Sigh.

  35. Marin, that is a question that cannot be compared. 2 years ago I had a lot more of my investments. We had a near economic collapse. I have less now. Am I blaming a political party? NO. Do I think that the president can fix it? No. Do I think congress can fix it? They can tweak. And thank goodness the political parties worked together to get the TARP out immediately. Things would be far worse.

    We had a horrible crash. It will take a long time to recover from this crash. Anyone who thinks there is an overnight cure or that the president can wave a magic wand and cure it really doesn’t have an understanding of how serious things really were.

  36. @Moon-howler
    I actually know who Maher is. I was just using that question as a way to point out what a complete waste of time he is and how small his audience is.

    He used to be funny.

  37. Actually I don’t think any of us knows how large or small his audience is. He could have an audience of one and still have 22 videos of her on his shows saying things that don’t put her in the most flattering light with her religious right base or with others.

    Attempts by the right to trivialize Bill Maher miss the point. He isn’t doing anything illegal. The videos are his property and if they are like any of the ones I saw, show her being silly, vapid, and out of touch with mainstream America. Some people will like that. Most people will roll their eyes. 🙄

  38. marinm

    In response to #37. I personally believe this is what Mr. Obama stands for. A working woman with a family asks the President if I should get used to this new life, this new economy and puts it on the line — will I have to get used to franks and beans again? The President responds back with I understand your pain (but I don’t feel it as Michelle and I get to jetset and our girls college is taken care of) but we’ve gotten a lot of things done (that she herself won’t really benefit from but will have to pay for). One of his own supporters wanted clarification on this hopey changey thing she voted for and she got it.

    She isn’t part of it.

  39. re #40

    Had you not asked a compound question I could have answered it better. Yes, I am better off now than I was in Jan. 2009. Am I better off than I was Sept 21 2008? No. I am worse off. The crash was Sept. 29, 2008. Getting close though.

    I can’t blame congress or Obama for any of that. But I am not an ideologue.

    Also, when you say hopey changey (squirrel talk) you deserve whatever someone throws at you. It is meant to ridicule.

  40. Marin, I have given more thought to your response. I think you and others are holding the current president to a higher standard that perhaps is fair. What did that woman expect? That election was held in the depths of economic dispair. Many people had lost homes, many 50% or more of their investments/401ks, some had lost jobs.

    Its very childlike to expect something of that magnitude (economic crash) to just have an instant cure. Additionally, it isn’t just a US thing. The global economy is still very unstable. I don’t pretend that I understand the global economy.

    We have had deficits before. WWII is a good example. What we need to be concerned about is not that we have debt but who we owe. Perhaps we need to go back to having something like war bonds. Back then, much of the debt was owned by Americans.

    Now, you might not like this next question. What do you think Obama should have done to fix things?

  41. marinm

    I’m not holding President Obama to a higher standard as I didn’t believe he could even meet a standard. The woman had high(er) expectations from him as she voted for him and continues to defend him but as indicated in a post-interview with her; her ability to defend him is waining.

    I don’t think an instant cure will occur. I’ve said as much in many posts. I do believe many of the people that voted for him DID think that he would wave a magic wand. Since my expectations were rock bottom I’ve not been disillusioned to find that that he hasn’t accomplished much. However, his supporters are. I guess you could say — he’s met my expectations. 🙂

    As for your question I’ve answered that before. The system should’ve been allowed to fail and self-heal. Millions would’ve been put on the street. Millions may have died because of starvation, lack of shelter, etc. Those are acceptable loses to account for the market correction and would’ve served as a warning to future generations about speculation from both the suppliers (banks and builders) as well as the consumers (liars that cheated the system and got mortgagtes they couldn’t afford).

    I think more pain would’ve been felt for a shorter duration if we had done that instead of a stimulus that many lefty economists say was “too little” to be useful.

  42. Pat.Herve

    system should’ve been allowed to fail – I hope that is not an option that our elected officials even considered. I am not really sure you realize the impact of that statement – it could be more than just millions on the street and starving, it could be the collapse of the entire US, and we might not be able to recover from such a blow – definitely not in a shorter duration.

    Just like the cronies that were howling to get GM fail and file for bankruptcy, then when the dealership closures were announced, the same people were howling how it was unfair and that their district was loosing jobs – 1 out of every 9 jobs are tied to the auto industry – which would have instantly brought us up to 20% unemployment, and then the ripple effect – talk about loosing housing value.

  43. Is that what we should expect from the Tea Party should they be elected? Allow an economic system to fail when it could be prevented? I am aghast! Millions without jobs and homeless? What kind of monster would allow that to happen or even suggest it should have happened.

    AS for mortgages people couldn’t afford–it is nice to be on such a high horse. People’s lives change. What they can afford at one time in their life might not be what they can afford when things change. People change, circumstances change. I don’t think homelessness and death should be a consquence.

    And no, that hasn’t been explained on this blog before.

    And as I said before, if that is what the tea party is really espousing, then no one should vote for them. Apparently my instincts were right. And if what we have is fiscal conservatives with the religous right, then all I can see us ending up with is mean Republicans.

  44. Rick Bentley

    Hey if we hadn’t dumped billions at the banks, “millions dying” would not have resulted. I tend to think we should have allowed failure to occur and self-healing, and meanwhile provide tax breaks to encourage employment or to encourage responsible loans … it would not have resulted in “millions of deaths”.

  45. I don’t know about dying, Rick, but if TARP hadn’t been dumped in the banks payrolls wouldn’t have been met. If you don’t get a paycheck, then you don’t make a car payment or a mortgage payment. No one could buy a car on credit. There literally was NO credit and I don’t mean personal credit, I mean industrial and corporate credit.

  46. Rez

    @Moon-howler
    “We have had deficits before. WWII is a good example. What we need to be concerned about is not that we have debt but who we owe. Perhaps we need to go back to having something like war bonds. Back then, much of the debt was owned by Americans.”

    The problem is that government stimulus is supposed to be a holdover until the economy comes back. It produces temporary employment only of sixty days or less. The problem is that the government takes money from the economy either in taxes or credit (deficit) in order to put money into things that are in “the public interest” which are project that do not produce sustainable employments. In the past it may have worked some (which some will debate) but it wasn’t when the government had already racked up large debt and thus were partially the cause of tight credit which companies who do produce sustainable employment can no longer get.

    @Moon-howler

    “There literally was NO credit and I don’t mean personal credit, I mean industrial and corporate credit.”

    I was not opposed to TARP which I thought was necessary to open credit. But the TARP benefits were completely erased by the subsequent stimulus which gobbled up the open credit. It really should not surprise anyone that there was no growth. It is an example of an ill-conceived approach that eliminated any benefits one or the other had.

    Just because previous stimulus packages in our history may have been marginally successful and important as short-term measures, the new reality is that use of stimulus programs will be counter-intuitive until credit is released by the government, which means that the deficit must be reduced.

    It will be disastrous IMHO if government takes more credit away from industrial/corporate entities by borrowing more money. Industrial/corporate credit is the lifeblood of expansion of the economy and anything done to tighten it will just continue unsustainable employment.

    The deficit can be lowered first by eliminating spending other than just essentials (to be determined by the political process). We cannot do away with safety net programs for people who need it but there are many other programs that everyone should question regardless of political stripe.

    Sometime just go on http://www.cfda.gov, the “catalog of Federal financial assistance”, to see what this government is actually funding as assistance programs not counting direct Federal spending. By the way, assistance programs are not limited to welfare and food stamps but also infrastructure programs, agriculture etc. Most people would be shocked at the thousands of programs and the unbelievable duplication or simple waste. But no one wants to do the real work involved in looking at each program so they just say, “cut x percent” and leave the programs intact. I am sure many of us would be starving if we handled our budget like that.

  47. Big Dog

    “On Polling The Voters: Men Are Fuming, Women Despairing”
    NYT (9-20-2010)

    Men trend Republican and are voting mad, women trend Democratic
    and are sitting in a quiet corner sadly looking out a window. Thoughts?

    (Except “Witches” – the Dover Coven has fired up the kettle just
    in time for Halloween and election day. But then FOX has said
    it has factual proof (rumor to the rest of us) that Nancy Pelosi
    is a WITCH! Now confused – what is a Good Old Warlock to do?)

  48. PWC Taxpayer

    How does that story go about the two trees – where the one kind of scraggley tree sheltered the other more perfect tree from the rain and wind – until a real cold wind storm came up and the sheltered tree was pulled out from it roots because it had no grounding. The problem with blanket paternalism is that it is increasingly expected- er – demanded — and gotten (look and the unemployment extenstions vice transfer to welfare) and it weakens the entire system while setting new standards for the next cold breeze. If I can get it from the government why save for a rainly day.

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