HorsesAss.Org

Open Thread 12/3

by — ,

– Those big banks are a piece of work.

– I don’t find anything objectionable about the code of conduct for street canvassers, but just saying “no thanks” or “I’m already a member” when you see one usually works fine.

– It’s time to move to targeted direct action, and, no, that doesn’t mean supporting candidates for election.

– Shorter Seattle Times: The middle is always the right place.

– One’s first response is, whoa, okay, that’s really weird. One’s second response is, what a terrible negotiating strategy. One’s third response is, awesome, an international free agent, these guys are always exciting! And one’s fourth response is to wonder whether Kawasaki is actually any good.

Comments

  1. 1

    – Shorter Seattle Times: The middle is always the right place.

    When has the Seattle Times ever been in the middle?

  2. 2

    In Durham, England, corpses will soon be used to generate electricity.
    A crematorium is installing turbines in its burners that will convert waste heat from the combustion of each corpse into as much as 150 kilowatt-hours of juice — enough to power 1,500 televisions for an hour. The facility plans to sell the electricity to local power companies.
    Some might find this concept creepy. Others might be pleased to learn that the process “makes cremation much greener by utilizing its by-products,” in the words of cremation engineer Steve Looker, owner and chief executive officer of the Florida-based company B&L Cremation Systems, which is unaffiliated with the Durham enterprise.
    In Europe, tightening regulations on crematorium emissions, coupled with the high price of energy, will lead more and more facilities to go the way of Durham in the future, Looker said. Will crematories in the United States follow suit?

    We’re making electricity from the dead!

  5. 5

    If the Times truly had a passion for the middle, it would quit endorsing wingnuts for office. The editorial takes the usual approach to our divided government and suggests that both parties are equally at fault for political dysfunction. That approach, of course, is seriously wrong. The extreme right drives the Republican Party. The extreme left has virtually no voice within the Democratic Party.

  7. 7

    How many socialists are on the Seattle Times editorial board? How many communists? How many anarchists?

    I rest my case, yr. honor.

  8. 8

    Lickspittle?

    You ain’t talking to Puddy, you moron! Lickspittle is what you call dopey libtards!

    Roger DOPEY Rabbit sez all I need is one point to refute your moronic lunatic ravings… So Puddy will deliver four!

    So I’ll deliver one from the DUMMOCRAPTIC UNDERWEAR (Underground)

    The Seattle Times endorses Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president.

    Butt wait there is more

    The Times endorses Suzan DelBene in the 8th Congressional District

    Butt wait there is more

    The Times endorses the re-election of Sen. Patty Murray

    Butt wait there is more

    Denny Heck’s the right choice for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District

    See the hand? Feel the hand side yo face? Well your head just moved 6 inches! SMACK!

    The Prosecution Rests Your Honor. Ever since he called ylb monomaniacal, Proud He’s An ASSSSSSSS has been on an emotional downward slide!

  10. 10

    @4

    Well they can’t exactly create a Soylent Green food!

    Too funny, on the web haunt where I found that story there were a bunch of Soylent Green jokes.

  12. 12

    @8
    Denny Heck ran as a Democrat, but just being a Democrat doesn’t mean your a member of the left. And he’s not. He’s a centrist, pro-establishment, plutocrat.

    The Times shares a strategy of voting with the center when the center’s going to win any way, which explains probably 75% of their Democratic endorsements. Most of the others are Democrats that are fairly conservative and pro-establishment.

    Plus, you have to look at all their editorial, not just their endorsements. They’re pretty clearly righties.

  13. 13

    @5 This is nothing but the Seattle Times trying to stay alive in a liberal town by denying their Republican slant. But then, it’s SOP for Republicans to deny they’re Republicans, isn’t it? I mean, after all, Republicans aren’t respectable.

  15. 15

    Iowa Poll — The Shape Of Things To Come?

    The Mittster has dropped back to third place.

    Gingrich – 25%
    Paul – 18%
    Romney – 16%
    Bachmann – 8%
    Cain – 8%
    Perry – 6%
    Santorum – 6%
    Huntsman – 2%
    Undecided – 11%

    http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com.....ister-poll

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Iowa is a caucus state, not a primary state; and Iowa is Iowa — it doesn’t determine the race. But numbers similar to these in New Hampshire and South Carolina would seal Romney’s fate. He simply hasn’t made the sale, and desperate Republicans are digging through the dumpster looking for anything edible.

  16. 16

    What’s really notable about the latest Iowa Poll is that Gingrich has spent no money and has no campaign organization in Iowa.

  17. 17

    @14
    I thought he was being relatively sane by Puddy standards. That’s the only reason I left a reply.

  18. 18

    @17 Calling the ST a “lefty” newspaper isn’t sane; it’s a basis for involuntary commitment on the grounds he’s a danger to himself and/or others.

  20. 20

    I love it when you deliver the facts these HA moronic loons like Roger DOPEY Rabbit run around trying to “explain away” the Seattle Times facts.

    Stoooopid Pills? I guess being DOPEY explains that comment!

    Their progressive choices for 2011 are FACTS you can’t explain away.

    Sucks to be a loon!

  21. 21

    Thanks for the link on Kawasaki, Carl. I haven’t paid any attention to the M’s in months, other than when Greg Halman was murdered by his brother – allegedly. Dude’s got some good stats behind him, and if Ichiro says he’s any good it’d be worth a shot to bring him over. Though perhaps it’d be more to keep Ichiro happy than to improve the M’s depth at shortstop.

    BTW, here’s a video of Kawasaki in action:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vsUGN3NDq0

  23. 23

    @20 The only thing ST’s endorsements of Democrats proves is how bad the Republicans are.

  27. 27

    Lickspittle?

    You ain’t talking to Puddy,

    Thank you Proud to be an Ass for calling this right wing loon for EXACTLY what he is..

    Many, many times you have done this.. Great work!

  28. 28

    Ohhhh poor poor ylb…

    Proud He’s an ASSSSSSS is a libtard like you. I expect him to try and attack Puddy. He failed again in his latest attempt. But he called you another libtard monomaniacal.

    P R I C E L E S S!

  29. 29

    Just want to reiterate how the libtards love to putdown the flyover states…

    WA, DC has one of the worst $$$ spent to SAT score ratios in all of America. In fact the 7 lowest are bastions of libtardo voting zones! Maybe the lowest 9? Didn’t Maine vote for ObamAA+?

  32. 32

    @31 I would guess he doesn’t want to explain where the customers’ $600 million went. But think of it this way: He prolonged Greece’s solvency by a few hours.

  33. 33

    You can tell Corzine is a Democrat — when he steals other people’s money he gives it to the poor. A Republican would pocket it.

  34. 34

    Conservative Values

    Never Ever Raise Taxes
    *Unless they are payroll Taxes

    Get Government off our backs!*
    *But it’s ok to get into a woman’s uterus

    Marriage is Sacred*
    *Unless Newt needs another divorce

    Big government is bad*
    *except for the military part

    Defend the Family*
    *Unless they are illegals

  35. 35

    America’s obsession with missing white women

    If all you had to go by was NBC or CNN, you’d never know that over 335,000 men and boys went missing last year or about 230,000 African Americans. You will see no coverage of them on national news. Nor, for that matter, of older people or less attractive ones.

    Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....ssing.html

  36. 36

    The Tacoma News Tribune pretty much tore West Net a new A-hole this morning. Every now and then they remind me why I subscribe.

    They were supposed to bust big drug dealers and nail big networks.
    “Deter, detect, disrupt and/or dismantle drug-trafficking organizations.” – State Dept. of Commerce policy manual
    That’s the job, the official mission of the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team, a federally funded drug task force based in Kitsap County, with tendrils reaching into Pierce County.
    Sometimes WestNET succeeded, cutting supply lines that pumped methamphetamine and heroin into the South Sound. More often, the task force drifted from its mission and failed to meet required standards for prosecution success.
    Investigators spent most of their time on low-level cases. They jammed junkies. They popped puny tweekers who sold meth by the gram. They blinded an 11-year-old dog, and according to court records, pointed firearms at children.
    WestNET leaders say gaffes are inevitable in the messy world of drug investigations. Searches can be dangerous, and the safety of officers comes first. Arrests can go sideways, leading to bad outcomes, but investigators have to go where information leads them.
    “Could we make a mistake that might make us look foolish? Yes. But as a rule, no,” said Kitsap County Undersheriff Dennis Bonneville. His agency is WestNET’s home base. The News Tribune also sought comment from Kitsap Sheriff Steve Boyer. Through a spokesman, Boyer, the elected leader of the Sheriff’s Office, declined multiple requests for an interview.
    Records show the task force took regular cues and tips from Roy Alloway, a Bremerton police detective who recently pleaded guilty to federal crimes – crimes committed while he supplied the evidence to put others in jail.
    Helicopter flyovers and paramilitary raids produced minor arrests and failed prosecutions of medical patients without criminal records growing marijuana in basements and crawl spaces. Among those convicted based on WestNET arrests, more than half were sentenced to zero days in jail.
    The task force filed weak cases or sloppy ones. Among defense attorneys and local prosecutors familiar with WestNET, one word comes up frequently: cowboys.
    Prosecutors in Kitsap and Pierce counties declined a fifth of WestNET’s cases – one of every five since 2007, according to a News Tribune analysis. During that span, the task force regularly failed to meet the required benchmark for continued funding.
    The subpar performance didn’t show up in required reports to state regulators. For years, WestNET has claimed a nearly spotless record of success, and been well paid for it. Since 2007, including grants budgeted for next year, WestNET has received almost $1.4 million in public money.

    Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/.....z1favnwBP9

  37. 37

    Obama vs. Gingrich?

    Today’s NBC-Marist poll confirms yesterday’s Rasmussen poll: Newt Gingrich has surged to the front of the GOP pack and Romney has dropped back into the pack. Specifically,

    ” … Gingrich has surged to the lead in Iowa and has climbed nearly 20 percentage points in New Hampshire since October, according to new NBC News-Marist polls. Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has seen his support drop in both states.”

    http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com.....ol-in-iowa

    So what, you say, we’ve seen this before — Gingrich is merely the flavor-of-the-month.

    I don’t think so. This is real.

    Red flags have been waving around Romney for months. Anointed by the media and GOP establishment as the “presumptive” or “inevitable” nominee, rank-and-file Republican voters are saying they don’t like him, don’t trust him, and don’t want him.

    Romney is a Mormon, and that makes him a non-Christian in the eyes of the GOP’s evangelical base. He’s a flip-flopper, is from Massachusetts, and even looks like John Kerry. As governor, he supported and passed the state law that became the prototype for Obamacare. And he’s part of the Wall Street establishment that’s utterly loathed by Main Street tea party activists.

    It’s time for everyone to stop deluding themselves. Romney hasn’t made the sale, and isn’t going to. So who does that leave?

    Read the polls and you have the answer.

    The Obama camp needs to shift gears and prepare to a campaign against Gingrich. He’s the last man standing — which is the only thing he has going for him.

    Would the GOP really be stupid enough to nominate someone as unlikeable and flawed as Newt Gingrich? Yeah, they would, if they have no other choice. And with Republican voters deserting Romney en masse, they have no other choice.

  38. 38

    In the NBC-Marist poll, Obama beats all Republican candidates in Iowa except one. He leads Romney by 7 points, Gingrich by 10 points, and Perry by ll points. In a head-to-head matchup, Obama and Ron Paul are tied, at 42% each.

  39. 39

    Golly Proud He’s An ASSSSSSSSSSS… Look at the Progressive Voter’s Guide
    endorsements

    And I ask you again….even wrt those self styled progressives: How many of them are socialists? Communists? Anarchists?

    You’re so ignorant it physically hurts to read your fucking drivel.

  41. 41

    Joe Arpaio, an Arizona sheriff who has become a rightwing darling by self-promoting his tough-guy image, is incompetent.

    Objective observers have known for years this guy is all show, and not much else, but the media has given him a free pass. The truth is, he’s a lousy cop, and no one is paying a higher price for his incompetence than little girls.

    “[M]ore than 400 sex-crimes reported to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office during a three-year period ending in 2007 — including dozens of alleged child molestations — … were inadequately investigated and in some instances were not worked at all, according to current and former police officers familiar with the cases.

    “In [the town of] El Mirage alone … officials discovered at least 32 reported child molestations — with victims as young as 2 years old — where the sheriff’s office failed to follow through, even though suspects were known in all but six cases.”

    http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....rime-cases

    So what, exactly, is going on in Maricopa County? This next quote probably won’t surprise you:

    “Many of the victims, said a retired El Mirage police official who reviewed the files, were children of illegal immigrants.”

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: The voters of Maricopa County can elect any asshole they want to. But you and I don’t have to live there. In fact, the whole fucking state of Arizona — Goldwater Country, McCain Country — is fucked up. The answer is, don’t live there. Ever. It’s as simple as that.

  42. 42

    The Obama camp needs to shift gears and prepare to a campaign against Gingrich.

    Gingrich is, like Cain, running an elaborate book selling scam that masquerades as a political campaign. His organization is, well, nonexistent. Given his past behavior, you can count on him saying something even more inflammatory than having the school kids clean the toilets. It is inevitable. He can’t help himself.

    Ron Paul will charge to the front, but not get the nomination because he’s a nutcase that even the banksters are leary of. Carl Rove and his boys will broker the GOP convention to run Huntsman, and Paul will break with the party to pull a Nader like independent run.

    The electoral race comes down to counting the votes in North Dakota. Because nearly everybody in the state is fracking, only six people vote: 3 for Obama, two for Huntsman, and one for Paul. The lone Paul vote keeps the Supreme Court and their fascist self aggrandizing partisan GOP majority from invoking Bush v. Gore as precedent to steal another presidential election.

    Obama wins a squeaker. GOP has interminable feud about Paul “costing” them the election.

    Obama continues his rightard policies. The economy continues to stink. Drone warfare escalates in the Middle East, and Progressive chortle in satisfaction some nonsense about “how it could have been worse”.

  44. 44

    I think Gingrich is going to get the nomination, despite the fact he has no infrastructure and started this as a book tour.

    The conservatives and/or the people who vote in republican primaries, HATE Romney.

    ——————

    Some freerepublic headlines and comments…..

    Romney Prefers to Lose Primary Rather than
    Renounce Romneycare (“I’m standing by what I did”)

    Mitt Romney: Tom Dewey All Over Again

    Mitt Romney still faces a trust deficit with GOP voters

    Romney under fire for immigration remarks (Flip Romney loves illegals too)

    The Secrets of Soros, Obama, Occupiers and the MSM

    Santorum says Romney to the left of Obama on same-sex marriage

    Mitt Romney, the pretzel candidate

    Who Is Mitt Romney Conning? (Manchurian Mitt Vows to Work for Liberal Issues)

    10 reasons Christians should reject Romney

    Mitt Romney’s hostile takeover of the right

    For Mitt Romney this is like the good old days at Bain Capital, except this time his takeover involves not another company but the Republican Party. In fact, Romney is seeking a hostile takeover of the conservative movement, methodically moving to take over Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and finally Newt Gingrich. Conservatives might remember what Romney did after he took over companies. You did not want to be a worker in a firm Romney took over. He liked layoffs.

    He is right about Romney’s strategy. He’s out to sucker conservatives.
    And then fire them the first chance he gets.
    No one on our side should be a streetwalker for Mittens.

    Purpose of FR and why we can never support Mitt Romney

    Our purpose and goal on FR is to restore, defend, preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity!!
    The goal of the domestic enemy (the left), i.e., the statist liberals, Marxists and progressives is just the opposite.
    RINO Romney is one of the worst. We can thank him for being the chief architect of ObamaCare, which if we cannot get overturned and repealed, will finally accomplish the left’s major objective of shredding the final remnants of our tattered constitution and ending our God-given Liberty forever (they think).

    http://www.freerepublic.com/ta.....b=articles

  45. 45

    I suspect, as others do, that Newt’s plan was to make money, and this whole front-runner thing is a complete accident, reflecting the fathomless insanity and incompetence of the rest of the ‘thug field, with the exception of Romney, whose inescapable cravenness and wacky Mormon thingy is a deal-breaker for the Teahaddists.

    So what’s gonna happen?
    Does Newt even want to be President? I suspect not – it’s far more lucrative doing what he’s been doing, and the interns are likely a lot easier to nail outside the scrutiny of the Oval Office. (Come now, you really thinking he’s not cheating on Calista? The man’s a dog, there’s no way he’s not banging an intern or two)

    So what’s he gonna do when he wins the nomination? One scenario – following the convention, he reveals some sort of malady that forces him to relinquish the nod – allowing for the Republican Party establishment to broker some sort of palatable replacement – someone untainted by losing the nomination (ie, a new “not-Romney”) – take your pick: Christie, Cuchinelli, Huckabee (!), Rubio, anybody but Romney and the rest of the present Klown Kar Brigade.

  47. 47

    This is a case where a windowless smoke-filled room off the corridor in the convention hall might be the GOP’s salvation.

    If I were them, I would nominate Jeb Bush, then send a squad of twelve very large men to make sure he accepts the honor.

    Jeb could go far with the slogan, “I’m not my brother!”

  48. 48

    @46 I didn’t see your comment before posting mine — interesting how we think alike.

  49. 49

    @31
    How much you want to bet that congress gives him the same deferential treatment they give to every other wealthy insider, regardless of party?

  50. 50

    I think Mitt’s it.

    It’s pretty obvious that Newt doesn’t want to be president and that his life and finances can’t stand up to close inspection. Newt does function as a “grown up in the room” to draw attention away from Bachmann and Santorum and to a lesser degree Paul. If Newt’s numbers stay high he’ll keep bringing up things the Republicans don’t like, like amnesty for illegals, or be diagnosed with a heart problem or something. One way or the other, he’ll throw the nomination.

    I don’t think there’s anyone else out there, with a hope in hell of beating Obama, that wants it. To run and be president you’d have to have your life turned upside down, be scrutinized like no other, and it’s hard work. Why throwaway easy money, privacy, and a life of leisure for that?

    I don’t think there’s an R (Mitt’s just going through the motions) and there’s damn few D’s and I’s that have the fire in the belly to want to be the president right now. Hell, I’m not sure even Obama really wants it.

  53. 53

    Wnat to know what retail category did really really well on Black Friday?

    As regular HA readers know, I regularly peruse the financial press, because I have real money on the line in stocks. I don’t do original research; I just read other people’s research and post summaries here.

    Guns! Guns sold like hotcakes on Black Friday. The all-time record for background checks was set on Black Friday. Wonder why? This doesn’t sound real bullish for either stocks or democracy.

  54. 54

    @51

    Kinda funny seeing how bike had their right to be on the roads set in law before there were cars!

  56. 56

    The political machine may want mitt as the nominee, but the people who vote in primaries don’t.

  57. 57

    @53
    Guns seem to sell in batches. We sold a big batch of guns right before Obama took office, then they slacked off. Now they’ve spiked again.

    Yep, Gun Sales Have Fallen Off A Cliff
    Joe Weisenthal|October 29, 2009|
    Read more: http://articles.businessinside.....z1fdMiE2FD

    Gun Sales Go Soft As Economy Improves, Fears Subside
    By Jonathan Berr Posted 4:40PM 04/14/10

    See full article from DailyFinance: http://www.dailyfinance.com/20....._copyright

    Overall the numbers are declining.

  58. 58

    I’ve posted about straw gun purchases a couple time before. This is a good article about one gun store that was involved in straw purchases.

    Realco guns tied to 2,500 crimes in D.C. and Maryland

    A Source of Crime Guns
    Since 1992, more than 2,500 guns recovered by police and tied to crimes in the Washington area have been traced back to their original sale at Realco Guns in Forestville, Md. The total is four times that of the dealer with the next highest number of gun traces.

    By David S. Fallis
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Sunday, October 24, 2010

    The Post investigation found that a small percentage of gun stores sells most of the weapons recovered by police in crimes – re-confirming the major finding of studies that came out before federal gun-tracing data were removed from public view by an act of Congress in 2003. For the most part, these sales are legal, but an unknown number involve persons who buy for those who cannot, including convicted felons such as Dixon, in a process known as a “straw purchase.” Such sales are illegal for the buyer and the store, if it knowingly allows a straw purchase. But cases are hard to prove. Law enforcement officials rarely prosecute gun stores, deterred by high bureaucratic hurdles, political pressure and laws that make convictions difficult.

  60. 60

    Re: several previous posts:

    It’s interesting to speculate that a dark-horse candidate might emerge, one who hasn’t been ground up in the Tea-Party vetting process which is the current Republican nomination process. If you think about it, it’s kind of a trend which the Repblicans have been on since 2008. In that year they fell back upon a previously-rejected candidate (McCain) precisely because he had ticked off enough of the party that he could claim to be independent of the causes of the military and economic disasters made by the Republicans, and also chose a poorly vetted “dark horse” VP candidate who attracted considerable excitement among the base at the time.

    The lesson was: being a mainstream Republican carries with it too much baggage, even within the Republican Party. Better to find somebody new – anybody – and the less you know about this new candidate, the better.

    The ascension of the Tea Party candidates to Congress in 2010 only seemed to confirm this, as some of the wackiest and poorly-vetted candidates actually one enough elections to take control of the House.

    We see the entire process multiplied and accelerated in the nomination process for the 2012 presidential elections, with some really wacky results. Since Romney can’t seem to buy the nomination at any price, what is left is a Republican electorate which is seeking anybody else. The problem is, each one is attractive only as long as they aren’t subject to too much scrutiny. Once they rise to be a leading contender, they implode.

    So, following this trend, the best thing the Republicans can do to secure a candidate other than Romney is to find someone at the last minute, one who doesn’t have to withstand the public and media vetting process and therefore has the attraction of being little more than an image, an alternative to both Romney and Obama.

    But the current Republican rules, with their reliance on winner-take-all primaries, is set up precisely to avoid that result, and also to avoid a brokered convention. The system is designed to make sure a Republican nominee is determined by March, so he/she can spend his money and his time attacking the Democrats (who are usually still in the middle of a hard-fought nomination primary fight right up until June).

    So whoever wins the early state primaries & caucuses will have incredible momentum which will probably carry them to the nomination, even if 75% of the party prefers someone else. As long as they don’t self-destruct, that is.

  61. 61

    @56, 60

    They have created a monster, in the form of the Republican primary electorate. Now their reduced to trying to slip someone palatable to the nation at large past this group of fire-breathing knuckledraggers.

    It’s quite a needle to thread – short-circuiting their own nominating process to present someone acceptable to 50.001% of the population (or less, see Bush v. Gore), without utterly alienating the God ‘n Guns on Steroids crowd.

  62. 62

    In fact, Romney is seeking a hostile takeover of the conservative movement

    Interesting take. Will layoffs follow? I always thought there were too many conservatives in that movement.

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