– ACORN are still scary.
– Back to marrying couples for the first time since 2004.
– As a Hillary Clinton partisan in 2008, and probably one again if she runs, Joan Walsh’s note of skepticism is pretty much correct.
– It will surprise nobody that Patty Murray’s priorities for the debt negotiations are better than many of her colleagues.
– Lynwood missing link.
– Fuck you Boston and San Francisco.
Ahum
Gerald Molen, the Oscar-winning producer of Schindler’s List, is claiming political bias because a documentary movie he produced this year isn’t up for an Oscar, even though that film, 2016: Obama’s America, made more money at the box office than the combined earning of the 15 films the Academy deemed eligible.
No Liberal Bias eh?
Henry Rollins on gay marriage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ture=share
Everyone on this blog should be attending Universalist-Unitarian churches. Eklof rocks.
I’m still a bit concerned about Hillary’s chances. It’s looking more and more likely that the Republicans will offer Jeb Bush, which they think will take away a good portion of the Hispanic votes which went to the President in 2012. As the article noted, this raised the prospect of a Clinton/Bush contest – which just seems a reprisal of a generation and arguments of over the past two decades.
There’s nothing wrong with Clinton running again at her age, but the problem for her – like most women her age – is that she is showing her age. Four more years from now it might be even worse. Even if she wins in 2016, can she really appeal to the youth vote, like Obama did, in a 2020 re-election bid? She may have already “earned” the Presidency, like Hubert Humphry did, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be passed over for a younger candidate – representing a new generation of Democrats.
Which brings us back to the question – how is the Democrat’s back bench? It seems a bit dismaying that as strong as the Democrats have become in 2008, and again after the complacancy which led to their loss of the House in 2010, that we don’t have a really strong “back bench”. It gets worse when we exclude current House and Senate members because we can’t really afford to put their seats up for grabs. The Democrats have been caught up in the daily struggles over budget and re-election issues, and it’s a bit late to be building your back-bench now. But the 2012-2014 years should be devoted to that purpose.
But at least it’s not as bad as the Republicans. The Republican nomination process in 2012 pretty much cut all the candidates in that election into little pieces, too wounded in the public eye to be credible candidates. Only those that chose not to run – former governor Jeb Bush and current governor Chis Christee – seem to be available.
Roger Ailes was so astounded at Karl Rove’s meltdown on Fox TV on election night that he has ordered Fox News producers not to book him without special permission.
I guess he wasn’t subtle enough.
By the way, Fox News hosts are “outraged!” that the President invited CNBC hosts to a meeting at the White House (along with Rachel Madow, Arianna Huffington, etc.).
I guess they think they should be invited too. After all, the snacks they serve their are so delicious!
By the way, we are long past the time of using the word “outrage” to complain about the other side acting, well, political. We should have a retirement party for the word.
Of course, Fox News commentators don’t know any other words, so there would be considerable silence.
Rupert Murdoch’s mother just passed away, she was 103, and did not always agree with her son, by the way.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20617221
Also, I was following a little bit the debate over Australia’s climate change legislation, and she penned an op-ed supporting it, and none of her son’s papers would run it, she had to go to a competitor.
The “fiscal cliff” still holds some problems for the Republicans…
The death of the goose which lays the golden egg
@4 Ailes is afraid Rove will say something on air that’s really stupid like, “B-b-but I thought we rigged the computers to flip those counties to us … why didn’t our secret vote-stealing computer program work?”
Er, maybe because “Anonymous” blocked your rat tunnels, Karl?
Sheldon Adelson, the Los Vegas casino entreprenur who gambled – and lost – $150 million on this fall’s Republican races, has recouped $1.2 million of that money in a special one-time dividend issued by the corporation he owns.
News media headlines imply he’s lucky to get the money back so quickly. But it’s simply a combination of (a) needing to replenish his coffers in advance of the next election cycle, and (b) part of a tax-avoidance scheme.
Sheldon Adelson recoups year of campaign spending in one day
@10 Adelson stood to get $2 billion of Special Tax Privileges (patent pending) if Romney won.
Costco borrowed around $3 billion to pay a special $7 per share dividend to its shareholders, who will get to avoid higher income taxes that will take effect next year. I find this hypocritical, given Costco’s support Democratic candidates and progressive issues. Starbucks, too, is speeding-up the payment of dividends to shareholders, also for the shareholders to avoid increased taxes on dividend income. Starbucks, as you usual suspects may know, makes significant contributions to Democrats at election time. Obviously, companies like Starbucks and Costco are not really very serious about all this “paying your fair share” shit. They are just as opportunistic and mean-spirited as any fucking Republican-leaning company!
“Fuck you Boston and San Francisco.”
Ah, another example of the insightful, thoughtful commentary we’ve come to expect from you Carl. You really showed them just how wrong they are to question our intelligence!
Good luck getting that GED, berk.
Come to think of it, Sheldon Adelson may have need for that money pretty soon. He’s currently under investigation for violations of the Foreign Currupt Influences Act (i.e., bribing goverment officials). He’s lobbying Republicans to have that act repealed, which might save him the prospsect of a prison sentence if it’s made retroactive.
Oh, and Ken Schram is leaving KOMO.
Ken Schram Leaving KOMO
Apparantly it wasn’t his choice, he phrased it as his “position has been eliminated”. I guess he will have to take his campaign against breast-feeding elsewhere.
You do know that ACORN is controlled and directed by the Illuminati, the Bilderbergers and the Council on Foreign Relaltions.
Carl saying “Fuck you” to another place such as Boston does not explain why they are rated as they are, but this might help. It helps that Boston is home to more than 70 universities and colleges, eight of which are dedicated research universities with $1.5 billion in annual R&D expenditures. Boston also has a pretty good primary school system but I am sure this is about the Boston area and not just the city itself.
There are a lot of people in the Seattle area who could put together the funds to start a school or two in they wanted but it appears ball teams are preferred.
# 1: The Oscars aren’t a box-office contest. They are nominated or awarded for artistic achievement. Sometimes they go hand-in-hand, but lots of time they don’t.
“ACORN are still scary”
Where would Republicans be without strawmen to demonize? I’ll tell you. They’d have to debate issues and would lose every time.
@13 Usually Incorrect
Well, except they worked for candidates that sought to allow the temporary tax cuts expire and those companies that chose otherwise did the opposite. Other than that they are …
You really are tiresome.
@16 Any bets as to whether he’s having a beer with Robert Mak at the Five Point at this very minute?
Congressional Republican leaders are silly buffoons. And one of them comes from OUR state!
Wolf Blitzer Stumps Top House Republican By Asking For Spending Cut Specifics
Good news! Her idiocy is available on video at the link.
I’m always on the lookout for good commentaries about economics, and this one seems to ring true:
“I remember my father taking me to the Buick dealership that summer [of 1968] … where he bought a 1969 Electra. As we drove home I asked him why we had bought the 1969 model when we had the 1968 one, which seemed equally good. ‘That’s just what you do now,’ my father said, ‘Every year you go and get a new car.’ ‘Wouldn’t it be better,’ I asked as a precocious nine year-old, ‘if we saved our money in case a depression happened?’
“I will never forget my father’s reply: ‘Son, the next depression will be completely different from the one that I knew as a boy. In that depression, virtually nobody had any money so if you had even a little, you could buy nearly anything. In the next depression, everyone will have plenty of money but it won’t buy much of anything.’ Little did I realize, then, how prescient my father would prove to be.”
http://seekingalpha.com/articl.....#038;ifp=0
http://seekingalpha.com/articl.....#038;ifp=0
I’m glad to see the administration drawing a line in the sand on raising tax rates for the rich.
“Grover Norquist … says expectations for a deal anytime soon are likely to prove overly optimistic. ‘I didn’t think this was case three weeks ago but do now think [President] Obama has decided to drive country over the fiscal cliff and blame the Republicans,’ Norquist tells me.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100282076
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Wtf was Norquist thinking? That after shellacking the GOP on Nov. 6 Obama would cave in to their ludicrous demands that billionaires keep their Special Tax Privileges (TM; patent pending) while the country flounders in debt? That the Democrats whom the voters chose to run the country would agree to slash Social Security and Medicare benefits to those who need them so the rich don’t have to pay taxes? What has become absolutely clear this fall, from the time Republicans began believing en masse that Romney would win a landslide, is that nearly everyone on the GOP side is living in a bubble world totally detached from reality, where they think the law of gravity doesn’t apply.
@14,
Was I being too subtle? Should I have put a bunch of exclamation marks after the link? Honestly.
Here’s the link to submit comments on transporting coal across our state for export.
@27
And here’s a little bit about a public comment session that was held in Spokane.
Did I miss the midnight December 6th celebration thread?
@13 It has nothing to do with a company’s partisan orientation. Other companies are doing it, too. Intel, for example. But does it strike you as incongruous that corporations are borrowing to pay extra dividends, and that it makes perfect economic sense for them to do so? That’s where the Fed’s zero-interest policy, which was supposed to stimulate consumer buying of homes and cars, have led us. Maybe it’s time to rethink that policy.
@16 Yep, KOMO fired Ken Schram. Well, that’s the broadcast biz.
Meanwhile, in Syria, Assad’s brutal regime is preparing to bomb rebels with the nerve gas sarin. Obama previously warned Assad the use of chemical weapons is a “red line” he must not cross. Assad is known to have put out asylum feelings to several countries, including Cuba and Venezuela, but if he flees his most likely destination is Iran.
@1 What, exactly, in that film is deserving of an Oscar nomination? Sheesh. I’ve seen better home videos on You Tube. And as propaganda flicks go, “Triumph of the Will” was a much better movie in all respects. Hey, I’m not endorsing it, I’m just sayin’ Leni Reifenstahl had a better eye for camera angles and lighting than Dinesh does.
The FTC is cracking down on dishonest hotel chains that tack on hidden “resort fees” that customers aren’t told about when they book reservations.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/20.....rip-prici/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is exactly the kind of consumer protection regulation that Republicans hate; and if the GOP got their way, there would be no FTC at all.
Is the puddler dead? We surely ought to have detected the odor…even in Asia.
Perhaps he just imploded. A neutron pud???
# 34: I’m glad to see that the FTC is cracking down on this practice. When I travel on business, I usually do price searches and get a quoe from the hotel before I book a room. Then when I get to the desk to register, they don’t offer to confirm the prices, they just want to swipe my credit card and give me a brochure about their “eminities”, which can vary considerably from hotel to hotel.
At the highest level, the hotel will offer free network or wi-fi access for the laptop, a swimming pool large enough to actually swim laps (25 meters), a weight/workout room with treadmills and stationary bikes, 24 access to the facilities, and a continental breakfast served from early in the morning at no charge (usually just bagels, muffins, fruit, and coffee).
On the lowest end, you have nothing more than access to a small irregularly-shaped outdoor pool which isn’t open until 10:00 a.m. and closes at 7:00 p.m.
I wouldn’t mind paying a modest daily fee for access to the highest levels of emenities, just so I can use the workout rooms and pool early in the morning or late at night. The internet access for the computer is important too, because I’m frequently working my e-mail after I return to the hotel. Other than that, I only need a bed and a bathroom and room to store my luggage.
But I’ve learned that I have to quize the desk clerks before I check in – they frequently have “resort rates” which aren’t revealed at any stage of the process other than at checkout. If there’s any hesitency on the part of the desk clerk, I ask them to summon their manager and make sure I have his/her name for use when I check out. Over the past four years I’ve seen “resort fees” added to hotel bills with virtually no emenities to speak of. And this is despite (or because of?) having a specifically-negotiated corporate discount.
Some hotels have offered to simply e-mail me the bill with the charges placed on my credit card (to save me time in checking out – I won’t have to stand in line). Of course, they can do this if the customer leaves without checking out. But this “convenience” usually ends up with some suprises in the bill, such as the resort charges and possibly mini-bar charges which weren’t incurred.
By the way, don’t even open the mini-bar door – newer hotels record it as having accessed the liquor inside. Some front-desk clerks with access to those records have a deal with the housekeeping staff that they can take a few bottles out without you being able to prove otherwise.
@34 Heads are exploding in Las Vegas [my former circles of hell residence] at this news.
Well, DeMint is resigning from the Senate to take a $1Million+ job running Heritage Foundation.
That’s the good. The bad is that he wants puddl-hero and all around Teahaddist Bibul-thumper money-worshiper fuck-the-poor-peopleTim Scott, who happens to be black, to take his place.
Debt limit? who needs a damn debt limit…Hell we can print up those trillions and p em away on buying voters.
Life is good if ya spend spend spend. And we all know Debt doesn’t matter to a liberal.
On to 22 Trillion!
Ye Hawwww
# 38: I just saw the news on Demint. His resignation is effective Jan. 1st.
It’s not often that a sitting U.S. Senator resigns to take a think-tank position. Is there something happening here we don’t know about?
Before we start celebrating DeMint’s departure, remember that S. Carolina governor Nikki Haley will appoint his successor, which will stand for election in a 2014 special election. She will certainly appoint someone at least as far to the right as DeMint, and may even appoint herself. South Carolina’s other Senator, Lindsey Graham, will aslo stand for re-election in 2014, putting both seats in play – but barring a tidal wave change in S. Carolina politics, both seats are probably safely Republican.
One possibility is the DeMint is stepping aside to give Nikki Haley a stage on the national scene. It could be part of the process of the GOP thinking that they can solve their “women” and “immigrant” problems by running candidates who plug into those holes – without going to the trouble of changing policies. So you might have Haley vying for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 from an Indian immigrant family, as well as Jeb Bush with his marital connections to hispanics and being able to speak fluent Spanish.
We should watch these developments closely. While the Democrats are distracted by the “fiscal cliff” negotiations, Republicans are re-grouping and trying to change the board based on demographic groupings. If enough Republicans learn not to pass stupid state laws against immigrants, tone down the anti-hispanic rhetoric, and keep the “legitimate birth” idiots away from all microphones, they can rely on the short attention spans of American voters when they try to appeal to these groups.
Yay, Apple!
Let’s hope Apple’s the first of many to bring their production back to the US.
36 – Boycott the Marriot.
Jim DeMint takes ball goes home.
With DeMint out of the way, now maybe the senate can get some work done.
Michael@42,
I doubt it. There are probably at least 37 others in the Senate who will take his place(the guys who voted against the treaty) as the Tea Party firebrand within the Senate. Lindsay Graham is pretty conservative, and he is facing a potential Tea Party challenger in 2014! I was holding out hope that Graham would not be the second coming of Strom Thurmond(who he replaced, by the way), but he might have to go overboard just to survive, like Orin Hatch did. Richard Lugar stood on principle within his party, and now he is a former Senator(although thankfully a Democrat won that seat, even if he is a Conservative on some issues).
Michael@40,
I wonder if it has anything to do with the potential that iPhone and IPads could be used in military applications(for communications and a few other uses, I saw a story on a gun-oriented blog about an iPhone App for sniper rifle calculations)? If the military procured them, they may have to be made in America. Still, it is great to see things Made in America again.
Breaking News — DeMint Quits Senate
Nutter Jim DeMint (Teaparty-SC) is giving up his Senate seat two years early to head the Heritage Foundation. DeMint previously said he would leave the Senate when his term expires in 2016.
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_.....ation?lite
Roger Rabbit@46,
The bad news is, he will be replaced by another Republican, who could be worse. The even worse news, is DeMint at the Heritage Foundation means he will be doing pretty much the same thing, just not in the Senate anymore.
HOWARD DEAN: The only problem is — and this is initially going to seem like heresy from a progressive is — the truth is everybody needs to pay more taxes, not just the rich. And it’s a good start. But we’re not going to get out of this deficit problem unless we raise taxes across the board…
http://www.realclearpolitics.c....._rich.html
Everyone should have skin in the game. It’s harder for politicians to spend stupidly when more people are watching them and taking it personally.
Totally agree.. But let’s see middle class wages on the rise first.. Just like they’ve risen for millionaires and billionaires for the last 30 years.
With the latest rumblings about new jobs from “insourcing” on the rise – $13.50/hour isn’t going to cut it.
Stay away longer next time.
Did any old-timers here notice that Bill Cruchon died last Sept 28?
That old troll was good for many chuckles in these comment threads.
I had a funny feeling that he was also “lostinaseaofblue” and “seattleblues” over at the Stranger blog – but I see no evidence that Cruchon had a little place in Italy like the “lost”/”seattleblues” troll.
RIP – hopelessly wrongheaded “conservative warrior”.
Evergreen Railfan @ # 45: I have my doubts bout the military uses for apps for the I-phone. Currently soldiers in Afganistan are being told to remove batteries and leave all cell phones behind, because their signals can be hacked and locations and stored history exploited by the Taliban. The military policy is that all electronic communicatons must be through secured systems, which is why most soldiers have to internet calls with their families on computers devoted to that purpose back at the basis, and hard-line secured to the base’s security systems.
My nephew, who came back from his second tour in Afganistan a couple of years ago, said the military there was very serious about this. He was an intelligence officer in a forward unit, and the army insisted that not only must each soldier account for every bullet fired (they were required to bring back the shell casings), but that any unauthorized cell phone usage brought a rather quick response, with the unit commander called in to quickly identify those responsible and recommend some serious punishment. It seems the army was itself monitoring cell phone/satelite phone usage to track Taliban movements and potential cell phone activate IED’s, but those efforts often revealed usage by U.S. troops at the same time. The question posed to the unit commander: what makes you think we won’t confuse this with a Taliban unit operating there, and call in an artillary, drone, or air strike right down on your unit?
Of course, it took a lot of work for Obamma’s Blackberry (made in Canada) to be approved for use by the president. I understand it’s a special model for his use only.
As for the “Assembled in America” markings, it’s a start. But everyone knows that the chips and electronic boards are made overseas (mostly in China, but now moving to Indonesia, for most products). So plugging the pieces together is a start – but it’s grueling low-wage assembly line work. We also need to work on making the parts which make up the phone assembly.
@50 YLB,
No I had not heard. The recently departed nut job once went off on me at (un)SP declaring I’d threatened him on the phone and claimed to have connections in law enforcement to get me arrested.
At the end of the day, his death is symptomatic of Republican party.
I love Howard Dean for what he did in 2003/4 in raising the issue of the wrong war in Iraq and showing that universal healthcare is, indeed, possible. But we don’t have a deficit problem. We have a bad tax policy which gives away to the wealthy on the 30 year proven wrong fantasy that giving the wealthy more money is some how going to trickle down to the rest of us.
Congressional Republican leaders are silly buffoons and the rank & file teabaggers are even more funny.
Frustrated at House conservative purge, some activists hope to #FireBoehner
Speaking of Congressional Republican leader buffoons, has there ever been a bigger buffoon than the Republican turtle?
Mitch McConnell filibusters his own debt ceiling proposal
Mitch McConnell proved today that there really is such a thing as a fence post turtle.
51)They of course would have to make a ruggedized version of the iPhone. Plus, would have to make a whole bunch of modifications. On the Military Channel show Ultimate Weapons, they did a piece on Sniper Rifles that showed a ballistic computer as part of the “system”, but it was a more rugged system.(Had pre-set calculations for just about every type of round and rifle). The article on the iPhone App I mentioned:
http://www.defensereview.com/k.....pod-touch/
I have been following the United Streetcar development down in Portland, it’s a U.S. redesign of a foreign model, but it’s a start. It is great to have a MADE IN USA option, some of the foreign makers will still get a foothold, because of their product might be better suited in individual markets.(I have seen several European designs that are different than what is being built in Portland). Now if only the rail can be Made here, but Pueblo(a former Colorado Fuel and Iron facility now owned by a Russian concern), and Steelton, PA(Arcellor-Mittal, another foreign entity) have not been able to make the rail best designed for street running, altough the latter did do an experimental run for Portland, but claim their is not enough demand. Portland had previously been buying the Girder Rail for the Portland Streetcar from a mill in Austria. The experiment they did with Arcellor-Mittal, was because Secretary LaHood denied a Buy America waiver.
Another earthquake just hit Japan, a Tsunami warning has been issued, but not expected to be Pacific-wide. The date is ironic, today is the 7th of December, Pearl Harbor Day. Hawaii usually gets Tsunami waves from Japan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20638696
Here’s a stinky business practice for you. As you know all too well, drug companies charge an arm-and-leg for their patented drugs, but when the drugs go off patent, the generic versions of the same drug are sold to consumers much cheaper. Well, it seems several drug companies have been paying generic drug makers to not make their drugs after they go off patent! This is like living in a town with two grocery stores and one of them pays the other to go out of business so the surviving store can jack up its prices on groceries. To most folks, this would smell like illegal restraint of trade or some sort of illegal monopolistic practice.
Well, the FTC sued the drug companies under federal antitrust laws, lost in the lower courts, appealed, and SCOTUS may announce today whether it’s taking the case.
@50 I don’t know if Bill Cruchon was “lost” but it does appear “lost” has disappeared so maybe “lost” is dead or in jail. You can pretty much bet that anyone who whines about taxes as much as “lost” did probably didn’t pay any taxes, and they all eventually get caught, because their sister or neighbor gets tired of their hypocrisy and rats on them.
“A move to embarrass Democrats backfired on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday as the Kentucky Republican proposed a vote on raising the nation’s debt ceiling — then filibustered it when the Democrats tried to take him up on the offer.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....d=webmail1
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Do you get the feeling I get that some of these Republicans aren’t very bright?
Another GOP governor — Chris Christie — has denied the citizens of his state access to a state-run health insurance exchange. I guess these Republicans must love federal-run programs, because they sure don’t want their states to run it when they’re given the chance to do it that way.
Job Creators!
Papa John’s, Applebee’s And Others Pay Huge Price For Anti-Obamacare Politicking
So, these rich loud mouths, knowing nothings about public policy nor politics decide to open their yaps threatening to penalize their employees and what happens?
@62
Unintended benefit watch…if people stop eating that crap, health care costs could fall as diabetes rates and incidents of heart attacks and ptomaine poisoning plummet.
@63
Amen!
4 years ago I lost 30Kg, LVDD, my type 2, hyperlipidemia, and my cardiologist. (Died from shock that a patient actually complied ;>)