Election fever is over. The mail carrier’s load will lighten and the phone will hopefully stop ringing. 

It looks like the Republicans gained the Virginia Senate through tie.  The  Republican Lt. Governor is the tie breaker.  Many of us expect them to over-reach. 

Gov. McDonnell is on Morning Joe to crow.  Let’s see how his leadership pans out. He can cocntinue to reach across the aisle or he can rule with an iron fist.  His choice.

108 Thoughts to “Open Thread……………………………………………………..Wednesday, November 9”

  1. Big Dog

    Market down over 3% today! Arhgggggg!

    “This is the way the euro ends. Not with a bang but with some bunga-bunga.”
    Paul Krugman.

    The problem is Italy is too big to fail and too big too save. The Italian economy
    is seven times that of Greece (the original problem child). Their debt ratio
    makes the US government look frugal. Economies world wide are spooked.

  2. Cato the Elder

    OMG Moon I just found the perfect picture for you today! http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2011/10/Bear%20Cavalry.png

    Warning: not safe for kiddos.

  3. Cato the Elder

    @Big Dog

    Just wait until tomorrow when Italy tries to sell 3 billion Euro in one year notes into a bid-less market.

  4. Steve Thomas

    @Moon-howler
    Point taken. I will yield the floor.

  5. @Big Dog

    Big Dog, I can’t even look. I saw what was happening on TV and just closed down my brokerage. Barf, Gag, wretch. I wouldn’t even say its a good time to buy. Who knows when this purge will end.

  6. Cato, that pretty much says it all. GRRRRRRRRRRRR

  7. Cato, will the stock market be open on Friday? I know that bonds won’t be sold. How about equities?

  8. Cato the Elder

    Stock market open, bond markets closed, bank holiday

  9. Blue Moon

    @Moon-howler

    “Bruce, you are the newly chosen heir apparent and maybe you aren’t even aware of some of thing things that have happened or more importantly, not happened.

    I apologize again but I think this needs to be discussed and I think there needs to be a call to arms. Those with democratic leanings really have no voice in the state now.”

    Maybe this topic warrants its own, separate posting?

  10. Blue Moon

    Just to clarify: I didn’t say it was Roemmelt’s fault, I simply wondered if he learned anything from the trainwreck.

  11. @Blue Moon

    I will try to get to it in the next day or so. We are going through a a couple of system changes where the blog is up and then down. Please remind me if I forget. Elena and I are also chatting about it.

    I know you weren’t blaming Bruce and neither was I, just to clarify. I was more or less pointing it out that we were not talking about him and that we acknowledge he just inherited a totally difficult job.

  12. Second Alamo

    So Stewart won 2 to 1 and no complaining? Can’t be, can’t be. Maybe on a different thread? Oh well.

  13. @SA

    Why compalin complain (grouse grinch)
    about something we knew would happen? You will find no complaining, at least not that he won. Who else would have won?

  14. Big Dog

    “The election is over.
    Let all the bitterness pass.
    I will hug your elephant
    and you can kiss my …….. donkey.”

    Mo Udall

  15. @big dog, snicker. Good one.

  16. Mom

    “compalin”, Freudian slip Moon?

  17. Cargosquid

    By the way…

    HAPPY EFFIN’ BIRTHDAY, YA EFFIN JARHEADS!!!!!

    SEMPER FI!

    Proud to be your taxi driver…..

    Because without you…I would have to go die on the beach
    Or worse……

    Have the Army on my ship.

    Oorah!

    1. I am sure that Chesty and Lewis are smiling down proudly on Linda “Toddy” Puller for retaining her state senate seat.

  18. SlowpokeRodriguez

    Moon-howler :Cato,
    Raise the conversation bar a bit–quite a bit. There will be no more references to ‘demorroids’ here. You must have forgotten yourself and where you were.

    Come on, Cato….you’ve never been on a one-way street before?

  19. Cargosquid

    Remember how the withdrawal of combat troops was supposed to help balance the budget? Remember that it was supposed to be an important part of Harry Reid’s deal to cut spending?

    Yeah….the Democrats want to spend that money. You know…the money that doesn’t actually exist, but because its baseline spending, the Democrats believe its real.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/192861-democrats-want-war-savings-to-fund-new-stimulus

    Excerpt: Democrats on the supercommittee have proposed that the savings from the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan be used to pay for a new stimulus package,

    So….to be clear….this is like saying…”Hey! We’ve stopped spending on THIS credit card….so now we have money to spend on THAT credit card! while saying “Look how much money we’re saving!”

  20. Steve Thomas

    @Cargosquid
    Semper Fidelis Squidly 🙂

  21. Cargosquid

    President Obama, having already delayed his decision for months, is voting “Present” again on national security. Energy security that is.

    The Keystone XL pipeline is in danger of being canceled. The company has deadlines and contracts to fulfill. President Obama is pandering to the environmentalists that want this delayed or canceled under the mistaken idea that they are helping the earth by doing so. If the pipeline does not come south to provide the US with oil, the Canadians will just route it westward and sell the oil to China, while we will have to have oil shipped in from overseas, a greater danger of pollution.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/10/us-usa-pipeline-idUSTRE7A64O920111110

    All this only to be able to get votes. And then, he will approve it. IF its still available.

    http://news.investors.com/Article/590518/201111031841/Obamas-Keystone-Dilemma.htm

    Excerpt: An increasingly peeved Canada may not wait for the U.S. to remain its best customer, a promise Obama made Brazil as it pursued offshore drilling we were curtailing. “What will happen if there wasn’t approval — and we think there will be — is that we’ll simply have to intensify our efforts to sell the oil elsewhere,” Joe Oliver, Canada’s natural resource minister, told Reuters .

    That elsewhere is China. As we’ve noted, Sinopec, a Chinese state-controlled oil company, has a stake in a $5.5 billion plan to build the Northern Gateway Pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific Coast province of British Columbia. Alberta’s finance minister met this month with Sinopec and CNOOC, China’s other big oil company, and representatives of China’s banks.

  22. Cargosquid

    For those of you still interested in the ongoing soap opera that is Herman Cain’s campaign:

    http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16002149/investigator-herman-cain-innocent-of-sexual-advances

    Apparently he has software that can detect falsehoods in statements.

    Wouldn’t you love to have that?

  23. @Cargosquid
    I am sure all the cops in America would love to have that software.

    Don’t you think it pretty much boils down to whether or not we like or dislike that person? I just think the guy has other problems. I don’t believe or not believe his accusers.

  24. @SlowpokeRodriguez

    I will tell you the same thing I told Steve Thomas.

    Location, Location, Locaton.

  25. Cargosquid

    @Moon-howler
    No. While I too think that Cain has other problems, I don’t think that it SHOULD boil down to whether or not we dislike a person. He is being accused of crimes. He is being accused, without detail, until recently, by anonymous sources, of crimes, without evidence.

    They should present evidence or shut up. Hearsay evidence is inadmissible for a reason.

    If evidence did arise, I would be among the first to tell him to drop out, and make amends.
    Until then…innocent until proven guilty.

    Ann Coulter makes some interesting observations. And I present them as observations only. This is an example of why many believe that these are attacks from the left. That the mainstream GOP may be using it as a target of opportunity to knock down a challenger is also possible.

    http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=47438

    Excerpt: Herman Cain​ has spent his life living and working all over the country — Indiana, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Washington, D.C. — but never in Chicago.

    So it’s curious that all the sexual harassment allegations against Cain emanate from Chicago: home of the Daley machine and Obama consigliere David Axelrod​.

    Apparently there is a history of this sort of thing being done in the Chicago machine.

  26. Cargosquid

    Another in honor of the USMC Birthday:

    http://www.blackfive.net/main/2011/11/happy-236th-birthday-united-states-marine-corps.html

    The first one is a true quote by General Mattis upon his arrival in his theater of operations.

    And my favorite:

    A Marine should be sworn to the patient endurance of hardships, like the ancient knights; and it is not the least of these necessary hardships to have to serve with sailors.
    Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery

  27. Cato the Elder

    This is the type of thing that can seed world wars: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8882643/France-plots-eurozone-breakaway-group.html

    Certainly not tomorrow or next month, but the last time Germany flexed its muscles didn’t turn out too well.

  28. Cargosquid

    @Cato the Elder
    According to Malmgren, Germany has already ordered the printing of Deutsche Marks in anticipation of a possible withdrawal from the EU.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/germany-already-printing-money%E2%80%A6-deutsche-marks

    How about an anglophile market consisting of England, Canada, India, Australia, South Africa. and the US? Lets steal Great Britain away from the Eurozone……ask any Brit…They ARE NOT Europeans.

  29. Big Dog

    http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/victory-and-responsibility

    “It is critically important that we do not become arrogant, and that
    we govern effectively and reflect the will of the people.”
    Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling

    Mild mannered moderate Bill is on the hot seat now. The rabid right will
    be biting at his heels to support their agenda 100%.

  30. @Big Dog,

    Wouldn’t want to be Bill Bolling right now. It will be interesting to see what happens.

    Isn’t he supposed to step up to governor at the end of McDonnell’s term? I expect Cuccinelli will try to oust him anyway.

  31. Big Dog

    M-H, Bolling will soon break ties in the new 20-20 Virginia Senate.

    The Far Right clearly sees this an opening to pass extreme legislation that
    had been held up by the Dem’s former slim margin in the upper house.

    Bolling and Cooch both want to be the next Gov. – so the challenge
    for Bill is to not tick-off the large Tea Party wing of the party while
    not looking like a nut-case enabler to moderates. Plus Gov. Bob,
    who is reported to be seeking VP consideration, may
    now find it hard to keep his image as a center-right thoughtful
    Republican leader who appeals to moderates as well as conservatives.

  32. Cargosquid

    Happy Veterans Day.

    Thanks for the posts.

    If any are interested: http://unitedconservatives.blogspot.com/2011/11/thank-you-to-all-veterans.html

    Btw….Go Navy!!!!!!

  33. Cargosquid

    So did everybody else see that strange “blink” when it hit 11:11: 11 on the clock today……..

    It’s like God turned it up to 11!!!!

    Happy Nigel Tufnel Day!

    What? Nothing happened? Are you sure……I mean…LOOK at all those 11’s!!!!

    Can you tell that there was a numerologist on the radio…..

  34. Big Dog

    A nice Veteran’s Day ceremony today in Manassas at the Veteran’s Memorial.

    (The ceremony included the Stonewall Jackson Air Force Junior ROTC – they
    are impressive).

    FYI – Remember the Veteran’s Day Parade tomorrow in Old Town Manassas –
    the largest one Northern Virginia. Please attend and help honor our military.

  35. Cargosquid

    My daughter’s school, Byrd Middle, had two nice assemblies today. Many soldiers from Ft. Lee were there, along with an official Army Color Guard. It was nice to see the children be exposed to formal military ceremony.

    I attended both so that the Navy would have a presence. And to tape my daughter singing in chorus…..

    I did the same when my daughter was in elementary school. That school ended up with a US Flag and a Navy Jack that had both flown over my camp in Kuwait. The school mounted them on their auditorium walls.

  36. Did you go in uniform?

    I am surprised that kids don’t have off. Ours do. Heavy vet group lobby for 11/11, not the fed holiday.

  37. Cargosquid

    No. With my long hair, beard, and weight…it would not be appropriate.

    So I wore a Navy T-shirt that my daughter picked out.

  38. Cargosquid

    Over the past couple of weeks. I was trying to grow a handle bar mustache too, but it was too shaggy, so I trimmed that back to it will grow more neatly.

    I’m styyyyyyllliiiiiinnnnn’…….

    In a 19th century sort of way.

    1. I am glad that was a failure. The only real person I know who had a handle bar mustache ….it was just nasty looking up close.

  39. Big Dog

    Great basketball game last night between UNC and Mich. St. played on the
    aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. Go Heels!

    Carl Vinson was a US Representative from Georgia who served over 50 years and
    had a major role in supporting the vital USN and Marine Corps build up just prior
    to WW II.

    But Vinson, a man of his time and place, was also an advocate of segregation.
    Had it been up to him, most of the starters on both teams and a large part of the
    audience would not have been there — including President Obama.

  40. I wondered who Carl Vinson was.

    The name was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place it. Must have been from my 7th grade Georgia history. Mrs. Huchinson. Oak Grove School. DeKalb County. In those days, in DeKalb County there was no middle school or Junior High. Just 1-7 and 8-12. Big Dog, I went on for a year at Briar Cliff High school before moving back to Virginia.

  41. Big Dog

    M-H,
    First two years of HS at Druid Hills and last two, following family move,
    at East Mecklenburg in Charlotte. Briarcliff was the “fancy new school” then –
    early ’60’s. (The “boomer” problem wasn’t SS or Medicare – it was the need
    for more classrooms and teachers — do you remember double sessions in PWC?)

  42. Big Dog

    Great Veteran’s Day Parade through Old Town Manassas this morning!

    Thanks to everyone who helped it happen.

  43. @Big Dog

    Druid Hills was one school over. I might have been the first or second class in Briarcliff. Had it not opened I would have gone to Druid Hills. Amazing. We almost knew each other. LOL

    Atlanta was a ‘boom town.’ It hit a million people when we lived there and and sirens blew. I don’t know if that included just people in the actual city or in the burbs too. Like now, I had an Atlanta 6, Ga. address. I guess the 6 was an early form of a zip code.

    I lived off of LaVista Avenue on South Akin Dr. I think LaVista was off of Briarcliff Road.

  44. @big Dog, to make things even spookier. You moved to Charlotte, I moved to Charlottesville. It was a move back home for me.

  45. Big Dog

    “Hotlanta – the city to busy to hate.”

    Went back after college to teach in nearby “Corn” Cobb County and
    cover HS sports PT for the Marietta Daily Journal. Also did hard news
    when I had the chance – interviews with Gov. Lester Maddox,
    Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and a young Richard Petty – – was slated to
    meet with Dr. King, but the city editor took that one himself and
    sent me to cover a speed trap money kick-back con in Powder Springs.

    (Charlottesville is a wonderful city with a great University, but I
    hate the 32 stoplights on #29 – Araghhh. Culpeper, Lynchburg and Danville
    have bypasses, but not C-Ville. Note it is liberal and Democratic and the other
    jurisdictions are conservative and Republican – maybe that is the problem.)

    1. What an interesting line up, Big Dog. Lester Maddox was quite the entertainer as far as governors go! Didn’t he walk off a stage once because …I want to say Truman Capote came out? Did I dream that?

      Sent to cover a speed trap is hilarious. I bet you didnt think so.

      I hate getting in to Charlottesville. It seems it was torn up for the past 15 years. I don’t go much now my mother is no longer with us. Not much reason to go and I am not much for visiting graves.

      they have had a by pass for years. It just goes east/west and not north/ south. It also has traffic lights. Lots of them and always has.

      It is liberal because of the University. My parents sure weren’t nor were my grandparents.

    2. Big Dog,

      Was Chess Moyer ever city manager in Manassas?

  46. Big Dog

    Remember Maddox wouldn’t allow us to leave after the interview until
    he had showed off his ability to ride a bicycle backwards in front of the
    Gov.’s Mansion.

    Chess Moyer was Manassas City Manager in the early 1980’s.

    1. Chess Moyer came from Staunton didn’t he? I believe he is who took my grandfather”s place as City Manager when my grandfather retired.

  47. Big Dog

    Last I heard, Chess retired back to Staunton. Will check.

    Staunton, if I remember right, is where the City Manager concept
    first began.

    Sure your Grandfather had some interesting experiences. Staunton
    is a very beautiful and historic city.

    1. The fact that he was my grandfather indicates about how long ago it was. And yes, that is where the city manager concept started. He had been CM in Charlottesville before that.

      My grandmother stayed in Staunton until her death at age 105.

      I still have an ancient aunt there and cousins.

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