Tuesday Open Thread

29 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1. From the Coloradoan

   The Larimer County GOP’s financial problems have been well documented this week, with the party facing a record campaign finance fine and Chairman Larry Carillo resigning. The party filed new reports with the secretary of state Friday that showed the party ending both 2009 and 2010 with deficits of just more than $100.

   The Larimer Democratic chairman, William Russell, issued a statement critical of his GOP counterparts Thursday, saying: “Transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility should be hallmarks of all levels of government, political parties and the political process.” But secretary of state records show Larimer Democrats finished 2010 with a deficit of almost $15,000, most of it built up after Russell became chairman in Jun

   Oops, it’s hard not to look like a fool when you have a shortfall 150 times the one you are criticizing.  Also:

   The party showed no loans in its reports to the secretary of state, and Russell said he didn’t know how the party covered the $15,000 in expenditures above the amount of donations the party received.

   If he doesn’t know, why is he in charge?

   Log in to Reply

   1. Did you know there’s a second page? It seems that you continue, pot, to call the kettle black.

      The documents filed Friday show the Larimer GOP ended the year with a deficit of $138.75 after raising and spending about $86,000 during the year. But the party only detailed about $16,000 of the contributions and $57,000 of the expenditures in the reports.

      The interim GOP Chair doesn’t know either!

      But let’s be a little honest about why this is hilarious and why Carillo resigned. It has nothing to do with being short donations and over on expenditures.

      The county GOP filed a number of campaign finance reports that were due last year, in an effort to stop potential fines that were mounting at a rate of $700 a day. The potential fines already have reached more than $100,000 because the Larimer group didn’t file any of its seven required reports in 2010.

      The fight for transparency: A bitch.

      Log in to Reply

      1. They must “pass the hat” a lot.

         People Power!

         Log in to Reply

         1. And a bigger head. Less passing, same results. 😉

            Log in to Reply

   2. than anywhere else in the state.
      
      What does leadership there pay attention to?

      Log in to Reply

   3. Unlike the Republicans, you actually know what the Dems have as a deficit because they filed their campaign finance reports.

      I’m not thrilled to see a deficit at the end of the year but that isn’t unusual to see in an election year, from county all the way up to the State Party.

      I’d be a whole lot unhappier if my Chair refused to open his mail because he dreads the bad news of being informed of his incompetence and record fines accruing on his watch.

      The then-chairman, Larry Carillo, said he didn’t open the certified letters because he suspected the contents – notification from the secretary of state that the party hadn’t filed reports required by law to let the public know who was donating to the county GOP, and how the party was spending its money.

      Carillo’s comments mark the first time he has publicly acknowledged that he knew last year that the Larimer GOP wasn’t filing campaign finance reports. Carillo, who said he accepts responsibility for the party’s problems under his leadership, resigned Feb. 28 after other party leaders confronted him about the unfiled reports and the tens of thousands of dollars in fines the party was accumulating.

      “Was I aware that we were getting notices? Yes. Was I negligent on opening those? Yes. Why? Because I assumed they said, ‘You need to file your reports,'” he said in an interview with the Coloradoan.

      Log in to Reply

2. why he’s backing a dramatically different type of nuclear reactor.
   

   The idea of Terrapower is that, instead of burning a part of uranium, the one percent, which is the U235, we decided, let’s burn the 99 percent, the U238. It is kind of a crazy idea. In fact, people had talked about it for a long time, but they could never simulate properly whether it would work or not, and so it’s through the advent of modern supercomputers that now you can simulate and see that, yes, with the right material’s approach, this looks like it would work.

   Log in to Reply

3. Cheap, Ultrafast Broadband? Hong Kong Has It
   

   HONG KONG residents can enjoy astoundingly fast broadband at an astoundingly low price. It became available last year, when a scrappy company called Hong Kong Broadband Network introduced a new option for its fiber-to-the-home service: a speed of 1,000 megabits a second – known as a “gig” – for less than $26 a month.

   Of course that would require Qwest had concentrated on improving service rather than being acquired…

   Log in to Reply

   1. they’d get it down to about 10 megagigs, if the rate they’re getting to me is any indication.

      Log in to Reply

4. keep the news cycle working against the GOP message machine.  First the demonstrators who wouldn’t get bored and leave the capitol.  Then the legislators who wouldn’t give up and come back to the capitol. Then the prank call that showed Walker in full slobbering corporate lackey mode.  Then recall efforts.  Now this:

   MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Democratic Party has filed an ethics complaint against Republican Gov. Scott Walker over statements he made during a recorded prank call.

   In their complaint filed Monday with the Government Accountability Board, the Democrats claim Walker violated campaign finance laws by apparently asking for support for politically vulnerable Wisconsin Republican lawmakers from a caller who he thought was a wealthy campaign donor.

   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

   Bet Walker and the Koch brothers never thought any of this would still be a story at this late date, fueling increasing disapproval among the majority of voters in Wisconsin and across the nation. Bet they just expected to be able to sell whatever they wanted to the public with the usual unopposed ease.

   On Wisconsin!  You’re teaching us all that we don’t have to just assume a fetal position in the face of the GOP message machine. It’s about time some Dems somewhere grew a pair. Now if only we could get the Obama administration to take a hint.

   Log in to Reply

   1. I nerd out on this PR stuff, too. Brilliant work by Wisconsin Dems. It’s been an uphill battle since the major news networks decided to back the Tea Party, but they are businesses like any other and they’ll run what they believe will draw the most viewers and dollars to them. Convince them the Tea Party is last year’s “phenomenon” and a populist, pro-union backlash is this year’s, and we’re good to go.

      Log in to Reply

      1. It’s pretty much all about marketing.  

         Log in to Reply

         1. And as gregarious primates, communication interests us more than anything. Sometimes more than our own survival. It is what it is.

            Log in to Reply
            1. Log in to Reply

      2. heard that this coming weekend their trying to get WI farmers to circle the Cap with tractors & farm rigs.  It’s Farmer Labor Tractorcade set for Sat 12th.

         Walkers cuts to WI Badgercare (general healthcare) unduly attacks rural folks head on.  Walker wants 2 bust unions and screw all blue-collars for the sake of the money-grubbers.

         It’s not just WI Dems but also Progressives & Independents together that are putting a stake in the ground.    

         Log in to Reply

   2. it wasn’t really Koch? If I take a campiagn donation from you and the check is fraudulent, do I have to declare it?

      Log in to Reply

5. It’s been seven years since Todd Bertuzzi ended Steve Moore’s career, and gave him a crippling traumatic brain injury that he still struggles with today. I can’t wait for Thugtuzzi to loose everything he owns….

   
   Seven years on, Bertuzzi hockey violence saga still heading to court

   Seven years have passed since Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore was dealt a career-ending sucker-punch by Todd Bertuzzi(notes) in Vancouver that ultimately resulted in three broken vertebrae and a concussion after the hulking Canucks winger fell on top of Moore.

   For Moore, the hit on March 8, 2004 meant never playing for the National Hockey League again. For Bertuzzi, it meant a suspension that lasted the rest of the season – including the playoffs.

   But the story of the most infamous incidents of violence in professional sports history is far from over.

   The Ontario courts have yet to hear Moore’s $20-million lawsuit launched against Bertuzzi and Orca Bay Ltd., the company that then owned the Vancouver Canucks, Bertuzzi’s former team. Bertuzzi, in turn, is counter-suing his former coach, Marc Crawford, alleging that he was encouraged to hit.

   It’s believed Moore’s claim will be the single largest civil suit involving professional athletes in Canadian legal history. A date for the litigation is expected to be set by a Toronto court next month.

   http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/ne…

   I can’t wait to see Thugtuzzi evicted from his house, his possessions auctioned off, and his future earnings sent in perpetuity to Steve Moore…

   Log in to Reply

   1. Makes it sound like he tripped or something.  Sucker punch singular?  I join you in hoping for justice for Moore and it would definitely have to include ruining Crawford, the guy who ordered the hit, as well as Bertuzzi, the goon who carried it out.  No matter what position a person takes on fighting in Hockey, this was no fight.  

      Log in to Reply

6. …followed by a snarky but empty retort from the rest of the Repubs…
   

   
   High school dropout rate falls 42 percent in 5 years

   DENVER – Just a few years ago, Denver Public Schools was making national news for having one of the worst dropout rates in the country but Tuesday, they celebrated a new report that show more kids are staying in school.

   According to newly released statistics from the Colorado Department of Education, DPS has seen a 42 percent drop in its dropout rate in the last five years.

   In the 2005-2006 school year, 11.1 percent of students left Denver High Schools before getting their degrees. In the 2009-2010 school year, that number dropped to 6.4 percent. That means 1,700 fewer students dropped out between these years.

   In middle schools across the district, the decline was even more significant. In the past five years the number of middle school students who have dropped out has decreased by 80 percent.

   http://www.9news.com/news/arti…

   So, maybe I’ll start – BLARGLE BLARGLE Bennet BLARGLE BLARGLE Unions BLARGLE! Socialism BLARGLE!

   Log in to Reply

   1. Apologies, Dan, for tripping on your line. 🙂

      One thought, though: Could part of the percentage drop be attributed to the decrease in migrating families, who had returned to their homelands because of the ’07-’09 US economic collapse?  

      Log in to Reply

      1. It would be interesting to see the results in terms of how long the graduates had been in the system. Even if statewide.

         As I’m typing I’m changing my mind a little. I would be interested to see how they arrived at the figures, but I do have to point out that when a family takes off without a transfer, that’s usually considered a dropout situation. Most of the migrant workers who left wouldn’t need the records transfer, or bother with an official withdraw. The student would be presumed lost.

         Log in to Reply

   2. Do they know what led to it? Because every other district in the state should emulate the items that work.

      Log in to Reply

      1. Which serves the obvious purpose and leaves less lag time for kids who don’t need the help. I don’t think a small class is the answer for every teacher or student, but clearly some kids need a smaller group.

         They are also focusing on bringing old dropouts back in. Old meaning already dropped, not their age.

         Ultimately it’s being done by moving further from absolutes and more toward do what works for the student you’re with today. I don’t normally agree with the charter everything side of the board, but they do do that well. We’re looking for good results, not what some people think should have good results.

         Log in to Reply

7. Just watched the Rand Paul interview and a lot of what Paul said I agree with. Now I’m sure on the details I would strongly disagree with him. But a lot of the big picture items – there’s a lot of sense in them.

   Log in to Reply

   1. to be surprised, Dave.

      Log in to Reply

      1. Is his willingness to cut military spending?

         Log in to Reply
         1. Log in to Reply

            1. So when you were dismissive of my agreeing with some of his major points, that is the biggest one he discussed.

               Or did you just make a snarky comment with no knowledge of what Rand Paul discussed in the interview???

               Log in to Reply

            2. because three question marks in the above comment mean it’s a very serious question.

               Log in to Reply