– Politicizing national security
– I decided to keep blogging here and to give myself permission to step away when I feel the need.
– How much of their own bullshit do right wingers believe?
– It gets tougher and tougher to watch football the more stuff like this happens.
– I said yesterday that I prefer the stadiums downtown. But if that’s found to be problematic for the Port, then Rainier Valley would be fine (h/t)
Canary in the coal mine for swing-state votes this year?
http://volokh.com/2012/05/03/s.....-repealed/
Maybe a little more serious than a rock going through the mayor’s window:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-G.....m-Arrested
At least another ‘protestor’ turned in the asshole.
Anyone recall how many cops were attacked by Tea Partier’s in ’09 and ’10? I’m sorta drawing a blank on that question.
From the ‘Yeah, he’s been participating in Occupy events for months, but he’s not one of us’ department:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.co.....ge-5-dead/
Maybe you guys oughta stop dismissing the behavior of the thugs and other scum at your Occupy rallies as irrelevant because they didn’t cause much damage. The bombs weren’t real. Those fatal OD’s didn’t harm anyone else. That guy who shot himself made sure the bullet kept going straight up out of his skull and no one else bought it. That murder was at the fringe of our meeting and we’ve never seen Bill and Jim before in our lives. The minor girl was ok with the guy she didn’t know sharing her tent so she must have been ok when he tried to slip it in while she was asleep – we didn’t know she was underage and thought the geometry book she brought along was to use as a pillow. Etc. This guy was participating with an AK assault rifle at an Occupy event in October. Somehow that wasn’t a problem for you, but a guy walking around open-carrying at a right-leaning event has been reason for you to cry out at the top of your collective lungs.
Four dead. 15-month old girl.
One of yours did it. Own it.
This little report that Eliz. Warren calims to have Native American ancestry (1/32nd Cherokee) is going to cause the trolls to go into overtime with criticism. This kind of shit predominates what passes for “political debate” in this country.
We’re all descendants of tribes from somewhere else. There really aren’t any people who are “native” to the Americas.
@ 4
If we’re all descended similarly, then what was the point of checking the box when she was applying for the jobs?
She probably didn’t have a shot at the big-time jobs based on her education:
That “box checking,” as critics call it, likely played a role in her Harvard hiring especially when her background is compared to those of the other near-100 Harvard Law School professors and assistant professors, according to an analysis of law schools the professors attended. Most graduated from Harvard, and all from the nation’s top 10. Warren graduated from Rutgers University in Newark, ranked 82nd by Top-Law-Schools.com.
What’s more, only Rutgers has current law school professors who graduated from Rutgers. And in the analysis of the law school degrees of the roughly 350 Ivy League law school professors provided by a Warren critic, only one graduated from a lower-ranked law school than Warren, a Yale professor who attended the University of Nebraska Law School, ranked 89.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/.....aff/563101
She did it to gain special consideration.
There once was a time when your ilk thought that was a problem. GWB43 and his military background. Even McCain and his military background, because of his legacy status. Pretty strong allegations that they gained their positions based on favoritism and not based on accomplishment.
Remember that?
Try some consistency. Why would a white woman with no disadvantaged personal history check the box, if not to gain some additional beneficial consideration?
Do you really think, as she has said, that it was to gain new friends?
3 – The OKC bombing is an extreme example of right wing protest.
Inspired by The Turner Diaries??? Hardly lefty.
Oh here’s another “protester” Bob..
And another…
Can you dig it Bob? I bet those guys got a kick out of Breitbart too.
The Tea Partiers are well… easily manipulated sorts fearful of change.. Even if it means people without health insurance like young people getting on their parent’s plan. Or shoot, not going bankrupt because of a case of acne you didn’t report. Oh the crime of it!
And resentful of a black guy who rose from the south side of Chicago to lead the nation. Ambition from a guy like Lincoln who came from nothing is respected. People like Obama are viewed as “uppity” to folks from say the exurbs of Atlanta.
Oh my! Breitbart and the execrable Jim Hoft.
What’s next Bob? Alex Jones?
@ 6
I’m pretty sure the Left hated GWB43 because of his race, as well.
Because there is no other conceivable reason that they could have objected to him. It’s because he was a white guy.
Does that sound like a stupid concept?
So does yours.
The right can’t stand the guy who National Journal ranked as the most liberal senator. Take away color of skin and the disgust we feel is fully understandable based on ideological differences.
You add in the skin color because it’s a longer, more uphill slog if you don’t allege racism. In effect, you’re checking the box by doing it. You’re gaining advantage for your preferred candidate by alleging that his opposition is based on skin color and not policy differences.
Look at how the left tried to win in 2004. Hell, even The Guardian got involved in Ohio. It was a massive effort to take down the president.
2012? Same thing, roles reversed.
Fascinating.
“Consider for a moment just how terrifying it must be to live life as a true believer on the right. Reality is scary enough, but the alternative reality inhabited by people who watch Glenn Beck, listen to Rush Limbaugh, or think Michele Bachmann isn’t a joke must be nothing less than horrifying.
Research suggests that conservatives are, on average, more susceptible to fear than those who identify themselves as liberals. Looking at MRIs of a large sample of young adults last year, researchers at University College London discovered that “greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala” ($$). The amygdala is an ancient brain structure that’s activated during states of fear and anxiety. (The researchers also found that “greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex” – a region in the brain that is believed to help people manage complexity.)
Yes, bob. Occupy should be more like an exclusive invitation only “private” event like a Dino Rossi or Rob McKenna get-together where no cameras are allowed.
Rather than some street confab where just about anybody can glom on and hang out.
@ 7
Actually, item in the Arizona Republic. Did you read it, or are you just trying to evade ownership because you don’t like how you learned about it?
Pull your head out of the sand and click the link to find the source.
Five Reasons Why The Very Rich Have NOT Earned Their Money
by Paul Buchheit
1. They’ve Taken All the Middle Class Wage Increases
So workers have TRIPLED their productivity over 30 years while the richest 1% have TRIPLED their share of income. Worker pay remained flat as the top 10% took almost all the productivity gains since 1980.
2. They’ve Mismanaged Key American Industries
We have the most expensive health care system in the world. Failing banks have survived because of taxpayer bailouts. Management-approved shortcuts have led to workplace deaths and chemical leak disasters. Companies lobby for cap and trade laws so their profits can pay for their pollution.
3. They’ve Benefited from 50 Years of Public Research
The very rich have made their fortunes in good part because of taxpayer-funded research at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (the Internet), the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, and numerous other government agencies.
4. They’ve Increased Their Incomes By Not Paying Taxes
The richest 10% own 80% of the stock market, providing billions in “unearned income” that is taxed at less than half the rate of income earned through real work.
In addition, most inherited wealth goes untaxed, with estates valued up to $5 million exempt from federal taxes. The average tax rate on inheritance is less than 3 percent.
Most shocking is the long-term shift in the tax burden from corporations to middle-class workers. For every dollar of workers’ payroll tax paid in the 1950s, corporations paid three dollars. Now it’s 16 cents.
5. They’ve Contributed Little to Society
The richest individuals and corporations have shown little regard for the majority of Americans who depend on sound financial management for their economic security. According to sources such as the New York Times and ProPublica, Wall Street firms including JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs have been repeatedly charged with fraud only to avoid punishment by paying a fraction of their profits in fines.
Studies show that increased wealth is correlated with a lesser degree of empathy for others.
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/16
Oh my! Bob you’re in the race zone again.
No the left couldn’t stand GWB because he’s an empty suit and the right side of his “brain” Rove is a freaking thug.
And the left side of his “brain” was a flat out insane cult consisting of the dynamic thug duo Cheney/Rumsfeld.
Lucky for the country, those two were shuffled out somehow for Condi.
@ 9
For every Glenn Beck there is a Lawrence O’Donnell.
For every Rush Limbaugh there is an Ed Schultz.
For every Michelle Bachmann there is a Dennis Kucinich. Or a Jim Traficant. Or a Cynthia McKinney.
So what is your point? Brain size? What’s next? Penis length and cup size?
I could spout a study that says the average right-leaner is more intelligent than the average left-leaner (lefties are composed of highly educated and poorly educated bimodal distribution, righties are more tightly packed with a higher intelligence mean).
Means nothing. Nothing. You have no point. Especially when you don’t link.
Uhh Bob??? When Reagan took office. All I heard from people like that was “give him a chance”..
Didn’t hear that so much for Obama or Bill Clinton for that matter.. Instead I saw armed morons strutting a legal distance away from Obama rallies and runs on guns at the stores and gun shows.
Larry O’Donnell makes sense every time I’ve seen him. Ed Schultz is bit more of a populist – compared to Limbaugh??? Don’t make me laugh.
More fascinating stuff.
How Wealth Reduces Compassion
As riches grow, empathy for others seems to decline
Who is more likely to lie, cheat, and steal—the poor person or the rich one? It’s temping to think that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to act fairly. After all, if you already have enough for yourself, it’s easier to think about what others may need. But research suggests the opposite is true: as people climb the social ladder, their compassionate feelings towards other people decline.
These findings build upon previous research showing how upper class individuals are worse at recognizing the emotions of others and less likely to pay attention to people they are interacting with (e.g. by checking their cell phones or doodling).
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/17-1
@4
One of my great grand fathers was a native America. In 1899, this was a bit of a family embarrassment and got great-grandma and my grandmother put on a train to Seattle, exiled by their family from their native Storm Lake Iowa.
Having been to Storm Lake, I’d say my grandmothers got the last laugh and the better end of the deal.
I think the brain theory has some credence..
It explains why reason-based discourse just bounces off the heads of right wingers. It explains why so many of us on opposite poles just talk past each other.
A reasonable person making the mistake of reading and accepting (!) the rank fevered propaganda of a Jim Hoft would drop that crap and endeavor to make better reading choices.
A person with an unbalanced brain would be continuously be driven to it.
@ 16
O’Donnell is wicked smart but so partisan it interferes with his intelligence. Maddow is even smarter, and an incredibly fast learner. If she would focus less on snark and more on substance she would be even better.
And then there is the guy who has none of those talents. And I’m not talking about Ed Schultz, who is a hack without underlying intelligence. But I can’t take this paragraph any further.
Back to Schultz. I guess it’s populist to call someone a slut. If you’re on the left and the recipient of the slur is on the right. Laura Ingraham, Liz Cheney, Phyllis Schlafly have been the victims of Schultz. But that kind of misogyny is tolerated and even applauded. I mean, those bitches lean right. They’ve just got it comin’. Right?
Populist. Maybe on this website he’d fit that definition.
@2
No, the Tea folks just showed up at rallies toting guns…
I don’t think the OWS’ers and the Tea Folks are at all analogs of each other. I’m not sure there is a right-wing analog for the OWS’ers, but if I had to make one I’d go with the Paulites.
LMAO!! Three freaking days in a row???
And how about the nopology we got from Schultz and the week in the time out box???
I’m sorry bob. Schultz has got a long way to go before you can put him next to the prime thought leader of your ideology in this country – Rush Limbaugh.
For every Glenn Beck there is a Lawrence O’Donnell. For every Rush Limbaugh there is an Ed Schultz. For every Michelle Bachmann there is a Dennis Kucinich.
Oh really. Back that up.
Rush
“What does it say about the college co-ed [Sandra] Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex — what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.” -Rush Limbaugh, referring to a Georgetown Law School student who was denied the right to speak at a congressional hearing on contraception, in which she planned to discuss a friend of hers who needed contraception to prevent the growth of cysts, February 29, 2012
“Too many whites are getting away with drug use…Too many whites are getting away with drug sales…The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them, and send them up the river, too.” –Rush Limbaugh, in 1995
Rush Limbaugh Arrested On Drug Charges
What’s Ed said or done that could possibly match that? Back up your false equivalency.
Beck
“This president I think has exposed himself over and over again as a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture….I’m not saying he doesn’t like white people, I’m saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist.”
“I’m thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I’m wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. ”
“When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I’m just like, ‘Oh shut up’ I’m so sick of them because they’re always complaining.”
“The only [Katrina victims] we’re seeing on television are the scumbags.”
“I have been nervous about this interview with you because what I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies. … And I know you’re not. I’m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that’s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.” –interviewing Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)
“Al Gore’s not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization…And you must silence all dissenting voices. That’s what Hitler did. That’s what Al Gore, the U.N., and everybody on the global warming bandwagon [are doing].”
On his radio show, last week, he was musing that the brown people are going riot soon and white people should be afraid.
What’s Lawrence O’Donnell said or done that could possibly match that? Back up your false equivalency.
Backmann
Bachmann warned ‘the lion king’ was gay propaganda.
Bachmann claimed abolishing the minimum wage would wipe out unemployment. “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage — if conceivably it was gone — we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”
Bachmann claimed that scientists are supporters of intelligent design: During a 2006 debate, Bachmann said, “There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design.” This was, and is, not true.
Bachmann claimed terri schiavo was ‘healthy’: Not long after Terri Schiavo died, Bachmann said she would have voted for the Palm Sunday Compromise because Schiavo “was healthy.
Bachmann likened visiting iraq to visiting mall of america.
Bachmann suggested gay singer should repent after getting cancer: Bachmann saw Melissa Etheridge’s cancer as a teachable moment: “Unfortunately she is now suffering from breast cancer, so keep her in your prayers,” she said in November 2004. “This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things, now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian.”
“This is an earthquake issue. This will change our state forever. Because the immediate consequence, if gay marriage goes through, is that K-12 little children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal, natural and perhaps they should try it.”
What’s Dennis Kucinic said or done that could possibly match that? Back up your false equivalency.
Lisa Brown is out.
Brown did good work for the people of Spokane and the state of Washington. I wish her luck on her next adventure.
@21:
We tote guns to exert our Second Amendment rights. You burn flags to exert your First Amendment rights.
You might not see much difference between a guy walking around with a pistol in a holster and a Don’t Tread On Me poster and a guy walking around in semi-military dress and holding an AK.
Oh, actually, perhaps you do. The former is reason to run scared and decry the act. The latter, in the midst of your fellow friendlies, is just a guy hanging out and joining in the protest against the 1%.
Until he goes postal on a bunch of innocents.
Plenty of violent behavior at the Occcupy events. Repeated episodes.
None I can think of at Tea Party events.
Your turn.
Hey bob here’s a protester you can identify with.
What style huh? And what a waste. An easy going, musical computer geek who could have used a few pointers from a guy like you on writing a business plan that anticipated tax liabilities.
Here’s another protester..
What a left winger that guy was!
I see that our resident dumbfuck troll is into false equivalencies today.
@22
Rush is the de-facto leader of the right, Schultz is just some shmo with a TV show (and his head’s too big for his body. It kinda freaks me out.). There’s no equating the two.
Yes, Ed has called a woman a slut. And he has apologized for it, quickly, not days later with a non apology, like rush did. Rush said that the liberals made him do. Ed did no such nonsense.
Ed is much honorable man than rush. Ed speaks truth to power and advocates for the middle class and union and it seems to drive conservatives crazy. So they attack and dismiss him every chance they get.
A bit too much bob as Trayvon Martin and MANY OTHERS in Florida at the wrong end of “justifiable homicides”.
But back to Obama. What was the freaking point? Didn’t those toters believe in giving Obama a chance like they would to a Republican?
Not me personally but every court I’ve seen calls it protected speech. Just like Super Pac ads nowadays.
@ 23
Noted.
My analogy is that all are prone to overheated rhetoric.
I don’t have the time to match you. I probably would not be able to match you if I tried.
So, I’ll back down.
Although, doesn’t the Kucinich/MacLaine/flying saucer stuff scare the living shit out of you? Button, finger. Nuclear code.
@ 29
You just jumped the shark.
Have a good day.
@25
Nice job not reading what I wrote.
The tea party and the OWS’ers aren’t analogs of each other. That one acted in manner and the other acted in another is meaningless*. And while I’ve mentioned a few times that I thought that the media response to a few broken windows was a bit over blown I’VE NEVER SUPPORTED IT.
I don’t like the Tea Folks showing up with guns and making threats against Patty Murray, I don’t like Rand Paul supporters stomping on peoples heads, and I don’t like to see violence at OWS’er events. Btw, the OWS’ers were in Tacoma for several months and there wasn’t a single act of violence. Which I thought was pretty cool.
*Too my way of thinking the Tea People and the OWS’ers were both issuing threats, they were just using different means. And I’m not OK with either one of them issuing threats.
When has a progressive ever blown up a federal building housing a day-care center? When has a progressive ever bombed the Olympic games? When have progressive men ever curb-stomped a defenseless woman as a perverse political statement? When do progressives resort to codespeak to convey their hatred of people of color? When has a progressive ever blown up a woman’s clinic? When has a progressive ever murdered a doctor? Was it progressives who murdered the radio show host in Denver? Name the progressives who ever murdered a gay for being gay?
Own it and STFU.
@ 33
That was the head stomp thing you referred to? That stupid move by one idiot?
I was thinking the scene from American History X.
I suppose in your world, slapping the detainee is torture.
Ok, ok.. Bob doesn’t like OWS..
Bad things happen at OWS and Breitbart screams “behave yourselves! behave yourselves!”
Bad things like this?
Behave yourselves! Behave yourselves! Stop trying to kill our veterans!
It bears repeating: OWS should morph into an invitation only “private” event like a Dino Rossi or Rob McKenna get together where cameras aren’t allowed.
Is that stretching “protest” a bit too far?? Maybe not so much for Republicans who aren’t content with scaring Dems in this State into spinelessness but want to take a turn at turning this joint into a Michigan or Wisconsin or an Ohio.. Love it!
34 – Nice catch Steve! The murderer of Doctor Tiller was making a “protest” of sorts as well..
But eight poseurs in black busting windows – oh my is that DISGUSTING… (* rolls eyes *)
To “Bob” @ 35: I believe he was talking about the “security detail” consisting of Alaska National Guardsmen hired by a Republican wingnut Tea Party candidate in the 2010 elections. After a rather petite young gal got close to the candidate with a sign, she was “punished” by two guys from the security detail who not only assaulted her, but pushed her to the ground and stomped on her head, all while making jokes about it being the appropriate treatment of protesters. It came out later that the campaign had released photos of the protester, among others, with instructions to the “security detail” to make sure she didn’t get close enough to the candidate to call out questions to him.
There’s video, and it isn’t pretty as two big security guys stomp on the head of a petite girl who’s only crime was exercising her first amendment rights in public.
BWAHAHAHAHA
I hated GWB because he was evil and amoral, a noxiously entitled liar who did grievous harm to this nation and the world.
I understand Republicans will be packing heat at the convention in Tampa..
But water pistols are banned..
http://news.yahoo.com/water-gu.....itics.html
If I was an OWSer I wouldn’t be that perturbed. Republicans will be there in force, “standing their ground”, drawing their popguns at the sight of dreadlocks let alone super soakers. They’re going to be “feeling threatened”.
Therefore, I call on the NRA to register OWS participants in Tampa with conceal/carry permits. A small gun show will supply the Tampa OWSers with the finest in handguns to defend themselves against any unsavory element in their midst including of course trigger happy Republicans.
After all an armed society is a polite society.
I write
29. No Time for Fascists spews: “Ed speaks truth to power and advocates for the middle class and union and it seems to drive conservatives crazy. So they attack and dismiss him every chance they get.”
And then bob the conservative writes
32. Bob spews: “@ 29 You just jumped the shark. Have a good day.”
Proves my point and dang funny to boot.
@35
It was indeed a stupid move by one idiot, but there was plenty of posturing and threats from Rand Paul’s threats. And besides it was just one concrete example of what I don’t like seeing. And besides there were folks on the right, including people on HA, that tried to explain it all way or justify it instead of calling it out as horrible.
Oops, that should read:
It was indeed a stupid move by one idiot, but there was plenty of posturing and threats from Rand Paul’s folks.
I find it both hilarious and stupefying that people think a movement largely made up of people over the age of 40, who are already part of the political system, and who already have political and economic power, and a movement made up largely young people, with no power, who have no place in the political system would or should act the same.
The GOP’s idea of how workers and the middle class should “take risks” and pay for their educations without student loans:
“Take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.”
— Mitt Romney
“A critical, early $10 million.”
— Mitt and Ann Romney’s investment in their son Tagg’s private equity fund, according to a New York Times account
Of course, according to them, it’s all “hard work” and “risk-taking” by the wealthy which entitles them to preferred (i.e., lowest) tax rates for unearned income.
Fuck, yeah!
Any Billig, one of the handful of people in the state house that I think are worth a damn (Billig is quite good) has announced that’s he’s running for the State Senate seat that Lisa Brown is vacating.
Here: http://tinyurl.com/6sjvowq
And here: http://spovangelist.com/senate-race-switcheroo/
Now if we could just convince Frank Chopp that it is time to retire…
@44
It is essential that they try to draw such false equivalences.
The Teahaddists are essentially all about, “Don’t Touch My Stuff!!” and “Get OFF My Lawn!”, equating these with FREEDOM ™.
They necessarily need to discredit the OWS movement – as you say, outsiders who are without power, and who are speaking in opposition to established institutions and business-as-usual. Such a group is going to draw to it anarchists and other outsides looking to smash things. The right is desperate to stiffle the message of weath inequality and Neofeudalism with the bad deeds of a few hangers-on.
As a 43 year old insider, I’m not real thrilled by the smashing of things. But, I’m not going delude myself into thinking that those folks are going to act like 43 year old political insiders, or that they’re some how a bigger threat to my safety and well being than BP, Exxon, or Koch industries.
I do hope that Seattleites, who’s LD’s are completely safe from being taken over by Republicans this fal,l organize a bus trip or two over to Spokane to help Andy Billig and Daryl Romeyn (Romeyn’s running against Cathy McMorris Rogers) for a weekend.
@49
That’s an EXCELLENT idea. I was discussing this briefly with another PCO at the 36LD caucus the other weekend – Jean Kohl-Wells was discussing that our LD regularly produces the most votes of any LD in the state, and it’s overwhelmingly Democratic. We were joking that we should get a couple of buses of DFHs from Queen Anne and Ballard and Belltown and head east to the redder part of the state and make some new friends.
@50
Well Billing’s district ( 3rd LD) is in the 2nd largest city in the state and not all that red, but I do think he’d love the help.
With regard to “politicizing national security”….
Did you notice how one of those Bin Laden tapes would always manage to surface right before a critical moment in the 2004 election campaign? No word on weather it was actually a NSA intercept from months previously, released just in time to get the most political milage, but you have to wonder….
In the meantime, Horsey does a great job, as usual, of narrowing the debate down to a simple picture (or series of pictures)…
Spiking the ball
@5
No actually, I do not.
I do not remember any serious or widespread debate on the left regarding the innate characteristics or earned distinctions of either McCain or Bush 43 resulting in their gaining “special consideration”.
I do, however, recall a debate on the left regarding the family connections and the influence of their immediate family members being utilized to gain “special consideration” throughout their careers.
Do you comprehend the difference?
My company gives “special consideration” in hiring and promotions to members of the Guard, Reserves, and honorably discharged veterans. My company also gives special consideration to creating and maintaining a diverse workforce that is reflective of our community, our advertisers and our customers. I think that is a good thing. That “special consideration” is representative of something that is of direct value to my company (and I hope to all of us). We regard it as endemic to good corporate governance. It contributes value to the bottom line and to our shareholders.
My company does not give “special consideration” in hiring and promotions to family members of the Board, wives of officers, sons and daughters of executives, or mistresses of same. To do so would not be good business nor would it serve the interests of our shareholders. In fact my company has a corporate governance policy and written employment policy that forbids any such “special consideration”. Those policies refer to “special consideration” under those circumstances as “nepotism”.
Which is what it is.
Sometimes there are differences with distinction. Playing dumb doesn’t sweep them away.
@5
Considering Warren’s accomplishments up to that point, I really doubt she needed any extra help she could get from checking a box.
Why not? Didn’t you work hard? Didn’t, your friends and family, and your board members work hard and teach children to work hard? Wouldn’t it be best, to know when you’re hiring someone for a management position, to know that they grew up being taught to work hard and understood the cultural differences between management and labor? Wouldn’t children who grew up within companies management culture have a better idea of what the company needs are than someone who’s FOTB from god only knows where?
I love this quote by her:
POW!
She also said this:
It’s her story, she owns her own identity, and fuck you to any bigots and racists and Republicans who are trying to destroy her with insubstantial bullshit and inuendo.
Reminds me of the “one-drop rule“, or the hierarchy of the octaroon and the mulatto and the mustafino. Appealing to the racist fascination with whether someone is “one of us” or other – tribalism at its worst, and a common tool of the bigot.
What are they trying to accomplish here – they’re trying to make her BLACK!!, or ‘other’ enough to hurt her with the bigot vote, which happens to be, alas, substantial in Massachusetts.
I heard the Brits have it tough right now.
Well tough shit limeys…
QUITYERWHINING AND GET A JOB!
HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!
DUBYA IS BACK!
Look where it was made!
DAMN STRAIGHT HE”S GONNA BALANCE THE BUDGET!
Attorney General Candidates Forum
Reagan Dunn (R) and Bob Ferguson (D) are in Leavenworth tonight (the Cascades tourist town, not the federal prison), and just wrapped up a candidates’ forum in front of a conference of environmental lawyers.
Dunn and Ferguson both emphasized the importance of the Attorney General being independent.
Dunn said, “The #1 credential is to run that office independently, free of partisanship.” He “agrees with [Ferguson] very much” that “you want an independent person as Attorney General” and stated, “I do not always follow the interests of my party, I do what I think is right.”
Ferguson promised to be “independent politically and in thought.”
Asked how they would prioritize limited resources, Dunn and Ferguson were identical in listing their top priorities as consumer protection, public safety, and environmental enforcement. Ferguson also included veterans’ issues on his list of top priorities, saying “every state should have [state] attorneys working on this.”
Dunn said he believes climate change is “at least in part a man-made problem” and “we need a man-made solution.” He said Hanford was a “national project” that “requires a national solution” and “we can’t tolerate radioactive waste in our state.” He also mentioned a number of preservation initiatives he has supported. Dunn also promised to support increased water storage capacity in eastern Washington, although he acknowleged that the Attorney General isn’t involved in making decisions to build infrastructure or getting the funding but would only provide legal support for such projects. He thinks there is enough water in the Columbia system to fill more storage.
Ferguson noted he has been a supporter of public transit, which he considers important in dealing with climate change.
The sharpest disagreement between the candidates involves Attorney General McKenna’s participation in the Obamacare lawsuit. Dunn called the individual mandate “unconstitutional.” Ferguson said he agrees with the state supreme court’s ruling that McKenna had authority to join the lawsuit without approval of the Governor or Legislature, but promised that if he’s elected Attorney General he will withdraw Washington from the lawsuit “on my first day in office.”
On the matter of environmental regulation, Dunn Dunn said “we can do a lot” with our existing regulations” and “we have to be careful we don’t go too far in promulgating regulations that hamstring business.” He called for a “balanced approach.”
Ferguson called water rights a “critical” private property right of individuals and said we need to “find a balanced approach to a difficult issue.” Dunn said the backlog of water adjudications is a “real problem” that creates a “competitive disadvantage” for Washington farmers and businesses, and called for streamlining the adjudication process.
Asked about McKenna, Dunn said he’s “proud” to have McKenna’s endorsement and said McKenna has run a “professional and nonpartisan” AG’s office, but said “there’s room for improvement,” in particular by the Attorney General using the “bully pulpit” and acting as a “champion” for law enforcement. He also promised to do more in consumer protection and cyber bullying. Ferguson said he has “important differences” with McKenna, specifically mentioning McKenna’s refusal to represent Lands Commissioner Goldmark in a legal appeal, and (as mentioned above) his position on the Obamacare lawsuit.
Overall, both of these candidates impressed me as competent lawyers and serious guys who meant what they said. They were speaking to a serious audience of highly intelligent and very knowledgeable lawyers, not ordinary voters, and their presentations were not “dumbed down” in any way.
My job here is to tell you what they said. I have put their representations and promises on record with this post. Now, in the coming campaign and after the winner takes office, let’s all hold them to it.
Roger Rabbit will not be posting for the next 10 days because he is traveling and won’t have access to the internet.
thank god…lets hope its permanent.
@59
What does the winter olympics have to do with 9/11? That shit’s just weird.
@62 So, you admit the only way you can debate me is if I’m absent.
@64,
No, I think shark tales just doesn’t like you.
@65 They say a rabbit’s stature is defined by who his enemies are.
hehehehehe
DAMN STRAIGHT MITT! IT’S ONLY “FAIR” FOR THOSE GUVMENT PARASITES!
# 68: Did Romney restrict his pay and benefits as governor of Massachusetts to that of the average taxpayer? Or is his idea of an average taxpayer his fellow financiers in resort vacation homes on the coast? (Hint: the shoreline “mansion” in “The Proposal” was actually filmed in Massachusets, not Sitka, Alaska.
Oh, and don’t forget, Romney needs to try living on government payroll and benefits WITHOUT the benefit of his millions of dollars in independenet income.
What I’d like to see is him living only off an averge government worker’s pay and benifits for three or four years, AFTER giving up his private income, jobs, cars, etc. THEN he can see how far he gets by with just “hard work”, and “risk-taking” and whether his pay and benefits are sufficient to live off of for the rest of his life.
I-3 is dead and the Great Smoky Mountains are safe. Safe from having a highway ripped down the middle of them anyway, there’s still all sorts of other threats.
@70
That’s weird, I could have sworn the last thing I posted was as Michael. I really need to remember to look at what name autofill as up for me.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation comes out in support of all states making mental health records subject to background gun checks (I’m pretty sure that’s already law in WA).
Righty gun bloggers go ballistic and make up a bunch if shit.
“A person who can’t be trusted with a gun, can’t be trusted without a custodian.”
Eh, he’s just making the case for teabaggers being institutionalized. Heh. Easiest thing would be to empty our prisons of pot offenders and fill them instead with wingnuts.
@73
Checkout the comment section. People are going nuts.
“…empty our prisons of pot offenders…”
An excellent idea! Please vote for I-502 in November.
Apparently, Florida’s stand your ground laws only apply to white males.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=g-all-u
I hadn’t even heard of this one before.
Having grown up in the foothills of the Appalachians along the East Tennessee/Western North Carolina border, the Smoky Mountins are a pleasant memory of my youth. My family would take a vacation at Gatlinburg back when the bears would come right up to the cars looking for a handout. We would visit the Passion Play of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee tribe, which avoided the Trail of Tears and hid out in the mountains long enough that the U.S. finaly gave up on trying to get them out. As a Boy Scout I took annual trips hiking the Great Smokey Mountain portion of the Appalachian Trail, and in college would ride inner tubes down the whitewater rivers on days I wasn’t working.
I couldn’t find much on the internet about I-5, it says it follows the Savanna River to connect with I-40 and I-75 around Knoxville, Tennessee. But I-75 already is a major north-south highway from Florida through Tennessee, connecting with I-40 at Knoxville. I don’t see what this would add to the system. Of course, nothing more than a general description is available online, no map our route is established.
I-3 wouldn’t have added anything, except the right to plow freeways right though the center of National Parks.
Well, that didn’t take long.
Yesterday, Lisa Brown bows out and Andy Billig steps up to run for her seat and today John Waite step up to run for Andy’s seat.
I like it.
http://votejohnwaite.com/
Looks like I have to head over to Spokane to knock on a few doors this summer.
@71 So Michael, how many names are you posting under? Perhaps all of them? Carrying on a conversation with yourself?? Or desperately trying to make this Blog look remotely relevant?
Funny. You fools really think this Blog makes one iota of difference in how people view things?
Just me and the Dullard and pretty much everyone knows that.
How many of are trolls are you?
I enjoy HA. Beyond that I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m not trying to make some huge difference or something.
Michael–Your life must really suck. It sucks as bad as Obama sucks as President. Just think how well off you might be if you put all your “posting” energy into some business? Then you would become a Republican!
@83 What with the wingnut thing for projection, you might want to reconsider your screen name. It keeps being interpreted by my wingnutspeak decoder app as, “I suck Obama”. Just sayin’…
@83
I’m generally a pretty busy guy (the posts here amount to 3 or 4 minutes of work a handful of times a day when I’m already on a computer for other reasons) and I’m a pretty happy guy with a pretty good life.
I’ve been down with the flu this week and on top of that I had an allergic reaction to the meds the docs gave me for the flu. So, I’ve been pretty much stuck in bed or an easy chair and it really does suck. But, I was up and around a bunch today, hopefully I’m at the end of this thing.
@84
I’m just laughing at getting scolded about multiple screen names from a guy who obviously has multiple screen names.
O’ and allergic reactions to Cipro really suck, every joint and lymph-node in my body hurt and I had the worst acid reflux I’ve ever had in my life.
@86 I know what you mean.
Heh.
Mikey, you seem so frail.
Allergic reactions, bad acid reflux.
Papa must of shot a weak load Mikey.
@89
LOL… That was the first time I’d been sick in a really long time and I’m over it.
Good Mikey Good.
Take your vitamins and get more rest. Don’t want a relapse.