"Farce treats the improbable as probable, the impossible as possible."
–George Pierce Baker
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BY: Chickenheed
IN: Thursday Open Thread
BY: unnamed
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
BY: davebarnes
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
BY: Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
BY: bullshit!
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
BY: Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
BY: spaceman2021
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
BY: MichaelBowman
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
BY: Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS
IN: Lauren Boebert’s Romp Through GWU Goes Predictably Awry
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Voter suppression works in Texas http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/16/1345016/-Voter-Suppression-did-the-Trick-in-Texas
Democrats expect Obama to veto pipeline bill if it passes Senate
This is a fairly good article from Reuters, but once again, an MSM reporter allows Republicans to spread misinformation without challenge. To wit….
Aside from the temporary bump in jobs for a small number of existing companies, this boondoggle will only provide a handful of continuing jobs. Lower gasoline prices? Really?…Where?…Certainly not here…
I will try to find a map of the proposed route, which amounts to a shortcut of an existing pipeline that runs east and then south, arriving at the hub where the XL is planned to connect. There is already an existing pipeline, but it is already full…supplying a saturated market that has seen a 25% drop in oil prices. A trend that will become the norm for the forseeable future.
There is practically no benefit to this nation except to make a profit for a few people…most notably Charlie and Dave.
Yes, would create a whole 35 permanent jobs – but at what cost? http://www.newsweek.com/state-department-keystone-xl-pipeline-would-only-create-35-permanent-jobs-228898
From that liberal rag, Forbes: KeystoneXL Won't Lower Gas Prices, it Might Raise Them
You mean…Mittens was lying? Oh, no…
..whooda thunk it?
So it raises our cost of gasoline, gives us maybe 50 new jobs and Chuck and Dave end up with another billion dollars. What could possibly go wrong? (btw, Colorado's wind sector today employs more than 80x the number of projected permanent Keystone employees)
Thanks, Congress!!
Tree-hugger propaganda from Forbes!
Awkward.
Good info, all…………and NPR does the same kind of lazy reporting: Democrats said this, Republicans said that, as if there is no discernable truth. Sad.
Good point. The Dem was probably lying.
better map?…
I hope he vetoes it if it gets to his desk. Those cowardly Democrats shouldn't let it get to a vote. That is what the Republicans did. For once, I'd like the to show some backbone. There, I feel better saying that.
Welcome to the chorus…if enough of us keep singing this, someone just might listen…
If it passes in the Senate (and it probably will), there were 161 "no" votes in the House last Friday. There were also a lot of "not voting" members, including Colorado's own Ed Perlmutter. And there were some "yes" votes by Dems who might vote to sustain a veto. It takes 146 to sustain a veto in the House.
That doesn't even get to the point where Yertle and his flunkies must try to get to 67 votes in the Senate.
I say we do not filibuster it but let the constitutional process play out. This way we don't look like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, and Obama gets to start putting the Congressional Repubs in their places…….
Every President since Eisenhower used executive order on immigration http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/16/unprecedented-president-eisenhower-exercised-executive-authority-immigration.html
But they were regular, white Presidents so ……
romney – brave man – he never served and neither will any of his sons http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/16/romney-islamic-state_n_6167320.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Is the right infiltrating Huffpo? They print this crap knowing full well who was on watch when it happened. Or did I miss something?
Excellent point http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_of_U.S._troops_from_Iraq
ACORDING to Ann Romney, Mittens and boys served by going on missions.
…serving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and serving in the US Army aren't quite the same thing…Ann.
Udall's Last Stand: Will he Maintain his Fight Against Torture or Leave Congress a Company Man?
One of the few issues that Mark Udall was proud of during his one-term as a Blue Dog, Fiscally Conservative Senator was his principled stand against the CIA's use of torture and the NSA's vast spy network that was used against innocent Americans as much as any guilty terrorist.
For this I cheered him.
Now that his political fate has been determined, it is time for Udall to determine the fate of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on torture:
Mark Udall should do what's right for the country in this case. He should put the lie to Bush and Cheney-era torture policies, and he should put future presidents on notice that they are not above the law.
There are many who feel the same way. And it is undeniable that we can't claim the high road in support of human rights when we so often take the low road for the convenience of our leaders who could not care less about the legacy they leave behind (and who failed so miserably with the tools they were given).
As his term winds down, will Mark Udall be a 'Senator with Guts" or will he be a Company Man?
Don't you think it is a little late for Udall to have some guts?
He is lining up his life after Congress.
First up to by a spokesman for testosterone supplements.
If there was ever a born spokesman for Low- T it is Mark Udall.
hope you washed your hands before typing that.
That, AC, is pathetic, lazy, and consummately juvenile.
Where's AC – cleaning out the stables up at Koch City? He's gotta get all that horseshit from somehwere.
I am basking in my librarian-free experience on CoPols. Thanks Progressicat!!
Another work computer to install the Chrome extension on… I had already forgotten what I was missing and was taking my stench-free Pols experience for granted.
Pcat, please post the link again (to your NoPolsTrolls script) and the link for the Stylish plugin. I, too, would like to de-stankify my work computers.
Thanks,
mj
http://pastebin.com/NsrUPcFV
gop dodged campaign laws http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/17/1345469/-GOP-used-anonymous-Twitter-accounts-to-dodge-campaign-finance-laws
I'm shocked.
CNN's story tries to turn it in to "both sides do it", but I don't see the equivalency between Republicans using coded messages to pass poll results (which cost money) and Democrats posting up-front campaign messages that end up in independent ads. Republicans had to devise the encoding scheme in a coordinated manner out from the public view.
The FEC, of course, will do nothing about it – they're hopelessly deadlocked.
Michael Bennet finalizing a campaign strategy even as he trembles at coming up for air, following his failed run as DSCC Chair. What will be his strategy? More importantly, who will Sen. Bennet be the next 2 years? I can't wait to see what DC's finest consultants – and architect of the Bannock Street Beakdown – have devised for Colorado's voters.
Hmmmmmmm, Bennet signs a sternly worded letter in support of Obama action on immigration:
It's something.
Apparently, probably at the urging of these exact same legislators among others, Obama refrained from pushing for anything meaningful that could give the Rs more mean things to say about him and ever cowering Dems going into the election in an effort help more of them keep or get elected to seats. It did zero good. Dems did even worse in the House, Senate and gubernatorial elections than expected.
Kind of makes one wonder what it would have been like if they'd all grown a pair before the election. Perhaps they wouldn't have pissed off anyone inclined to vote for Dems instead of Rs anyway and might have inspired higher turn out among Dem demos, especially Latino Americans and young idealistic Americans.
Too late to find out but apparently our stubbornly let's hold hands and sing President has found losing his Dem Senate freeing and I hope Udall goes out in a blaze of glory. He could spend the rest of his days in the lame duck Democratic Senate making as much noise as possible for the issues he's most passionate about, citizens' rights and conservation. It won't change anything material in the legislative present but there would be value in grabbing some attention for those issues.
Rehashing the elections is finally petering out in the 24/7 world of cable (and here too) and they might cover someone loud enough on those issues on the occasional day when nobody has been beheaded, committed a mass shooting or died of Ebola and no celebrity has been the object of scandal. Or not. May as well give it a try.
The Gift that Keeps on Giving:
Hey mamajama, Duke, et al,
I wanted to get back to you on your questions about the recent CU study on some of the constituents in fracking & produced water. I've gotten a copy of the actual research paper (as opposed to media reports) and my conclusion is that we are witnessing incredibly irresponsible journalism and standard incremental science.
The irresponsible journalism starts with CU media relations who put out a very misleading press release. Lazy reporters used the language suggested by CU media … "no more toxic than substance commonly found in homes" … "commonly found in everyday products" … "putting down our drains at home". The one exception is a story by Nancy Lofholm who seems to have done her own work and talked with the authors and gained an understanding of the research.
The actual research reported in the journal Analytical Chemistry, was very clear that the authors set out to identify the specific combinations of surfactants in a few samples of fracking and produced water to see if their technique could be used as a "fingerprint" of different frack solutions that could then be used to determine if water has been contaminated.
The researchers looked at surfactants because they had a machine on hand that could be used to detect these particular compounds. They were NOT trying to characterize fracking solutions as "safe" or "not safe." The storyline that fracking uses little more than millions of gallons of dilute laxatives can be attributed to CU media relations and laziness. If I was one of the study's researchers, I would be furious. (I'm furious and I had nothing to do with the research!) As best as I can tell, the CU researchers conducted a legitimate study that can be used to develop a database of frack solution "fingerprints." They do not deserve our scorn. On the other hand, lazy "journalists" deserve all the scorn we can direct their way, whereas Journalists (with a capital J) like Nancy Lofholm deserve recognition and notes of appreciation.
Anybody from the O&G industry who references this study as evidence of the safety of fracking operations also deserve our scorn and ridicule. Their quickness to do so indicates that they have no interest in "sound" science, only potential data that supports their shortterm economic interests. (I'm looking at you, Courtney Loper, Energy in Depth, who said "the study backs up the oil and gas industry's assertion that hydraulic fracturing is a fundamentally safe technology" and you too, Doug Flanders, COGA, who said "this should again give comfort that oil and gas development is being conducted responsibly."
Thanks, ardy3.
Thanks for following up on that, ardy. It's somewhat comforting that the original CU researchers were trying to do legit environmental science. Do you have a link to the research paper?
Legitimacy may depend upon which CU department does the research. saw two wildly divergent CU Leeds School of Business studies on oil and gas's impact on the economy – the first one was a straightforward study which found that oil and gas directly contributed only 26,000 jobs to Colorado's economy in 2012 – the other one warned of the dire die-off of 110,000 great jobs if fracking were banned, which no one was considering. CU's President, Bruce Benson, is an unapologetic oil and gas man, and climate change denialist. Jake Jabs, the furniture guy and right wing wacko, is a major funder.
It's unsurprising that the industry apologists like COGA's Flanders are mischaracterizing the study as showing that fracking chemicals are no more harmful than rinsing toothpaste down the drain.
CU is also collaborating with NOAA and other university researchers in tracking methane and volatile pollutants from oil and gas production, including fracking, in Colorado. These researchers found levels of methane and other pollutants almost 50% higher than the highest levels Colorado Department of Health had found in its long-term studies, and double the EPA's estimate of 1.8 percent. That's a lot of climate-changing methane out there, boys.
There's plenty of research underway, on public health impacts, water and air pollution, etc. I may have to do a lot more reading and analysis on it to get a feel for the findings before I can write intelligently about it. In the meantime, we have to keep pushing back on the idiots who claim that the industry is responsible, there is no danger, everything's hunky dory.
We need regulation, we need monitoring, we need enforcement, we need the state's lobbyists including its governor to pay attention to the findings and not be swayed by that sweet, sweet pap put out by industry apologists.
I've thought about it: DIA isn't merely a satisfied, impartial consumer; it's an industry stakeholder-cum-mouthpiece:
Looks like Jared did not get DCCC chair. Went to Ben Lujan from New Mexico.