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June 29, 2011 03:45 PM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 48 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“The end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.”

–William Penn

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48 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

    1. Maybe they can convince the senator to do some open thread comment spamming today. Maybe then Michael will achieve authenticity in your eyes.  

      1. calling it like it is. Too bad the staff member whose bright idea (and it really was) to post here wasn’t bright enough to see that posting a diary and then forgetting about it wasn’t such a hot idea. See what the Barron has to say about the URL in yesterday’s thread.

        If, by chance, the PR guy or Bennet himself bothers to checks in for a glance, let’s hope there will be a lesson learned: If it’s not a for real effort to participate  and interact,you don’t have time, whatever, don’t bother.  You’ll just tick people off.

        1. post on minor political boards and then monitor them for reaction?  

          Really?  

          I rather doubt it.  When I worked on a Senatorial staff we didn’t have the time to do anything of the sort.

          Up to a point, perhaps, but I’m just pleased Sen. Bennet took the position he did re DOMA and posted it here and elsewhere.

          1. But as a social media and community management professional I always advise people that if you choose to promote something using a particular online community, you need to budget the time to interact with that community. If you don’t have the time, then you don’t use that promotional outlet. That’s a hard and fast rule if you don’t want to be perceived as a leech.  

                1. That’s hilarious–Pols is “one of the best avenues to get feedback from the residents of this state?”  

                  That’s funny because you yourself have pointed out how only the most active people tend to be here, and that they typically write/call their elected officials anyway.  

                  Have you ever worked in a district office?

                  1. that the Bennet people don’t treat him with the respect he feels he deserves after throwing a very public tantrum about the senator last summer. And he doesn’t appear to know what a “sock puppet” is, either.

                    1. But good attempt at trying to deflect from the core issue. Apparently Senator Bennett gets a pass on actually answering questions because he has that [D] after his name. I keep forgetting that’s a free pass.

              1. Tim, responding for Bennet.  Mentions Blue Cat specifically, too.  Being right, no less.  So did I say I was annoyed?  Must have meant, super job Tim/Bennet! Appeasing Dave will take a little more effort.  You have to do coffee.  He’s a push over, even for the most conservative Rs, who say yes to coffee!  

                1. Both in 2009, before the Romanoff primary (in which David famously/notoriously got elected as a Bennet delegate and then switched his support to Romanoff).

                  http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsme…

                  http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsme…

                  Although his interview with Romanoff was slightly later than the second one, and his interview with Ken Buck was even later. Don’t know if that explains it though. David’s sudden souring on Bennet (where he went from fairly enthusiastic supporter to the guy whose signature read “Michael Bennet: ineffective, dishonest and immoral,” and yes it still shows up when you google “DavidThi808 Bennet”) is still unexplainable by modern science.

                  1. We already know Bennet bought his win – that ability to raise more money is part of why many in our party love him. -DavidThi808

                    Michael Bennet – ineffective, dishonest and immoral – Democrat for US Senate

                    The part in bold is not a quote from me – it’s from H-man. Because he put them one after the other it has my name next to it. But I never said (or thought) that.

                  2. I knew he had interviewed Bennet in the past but figure another coffee, possibly with Tim, might lower Dave’s temperature a bit this time. And what ever happened to H-man, I wonder?

      1. But he does want our elected representatives to talk with us rather than just issue press releases. When they only “listen” during campaign season and at fundraisers, we lose something very important.

  2. as ‘tad was justifying his comment equating the Wyoming-Cayman accounts with illegal immigration his primary justification for his comment was that Dems want all illegals to be legalized. He said that was true because nonprofits have been formed to work toward that goal.

    ‘tad’s statement is NOT true. While it is true that most Dems would like to work toward Comprehensive Immigration Reform which includes a path to citizenship for some, maybe most, it is not true that Dems want all illegal immigrants legalized. A Comprehensive Immigration Reform would look forward and also include reforming the paths that immigrants currently use to come here legally. For instance, presently there is little concern given to nation of origin except to limit immigration. My personal belief is that we should recognize that it is most likely to be neighboring or close nations that a higher percentage of immigrants might come from. Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicarauga, etc. We ought also to recognize that there are professions, trades and work skills that are needed in the US including technical, medical and crop picking among others.

    But, if we create the America that ‘tad, Koch boys, and the hard right GOPers want then far, far fewer will want to immigrate here and some of us will have even less desire to be here and will only feel connected by history, language, custom, etc. but NOT by the American way of life, NOT by the chances for the future that America now offers to a large number of her citizens.

  3. to learn what directions the Kochs issued in Vail. I wonder if those will become clear really, really soon in the state capitols of those governors who were there or if they’ll get issued to candidates for House and Senate. I think they’ll have another teach-in for those candidates, perhaps even during the upcoming recess.

  4. Veterans Die Facing Mountains of Red Tape

    When Clay Hunt returned home to Texas after two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the struggle didn’t end. Tormented by flashbacks and post-traumatic stress, he sought medical help from the Department of Veteran Affairs – but faced a pile of paperwork. While waiting for help, he turned his energy towards helping his fellow veterans, raising money for the wounded and appearing in public service announcements for veterans struggling, like him, with the psychological trauma of war.

    Hunt took his own life on March 31, 2011. His disability checks arrived five weeks later.

    http://www.wired.com/dangerroo…

    Here’s the other quote that everyone needs to read:


    As Obama promises a drawdown of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq is coming to a close, the number of soldiers returning home is only rising. But after fighting for their country, these veterans are forced to fight a health care system that is not sufficiently able to help them. Last month the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals berated the Department of Veteran Affairs for delays in treating veterans who have the combat-related mental injuries that put them at an increased risk of suicide.

    “The VA’s unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough; no more veterans should be compelled to agonize or perish while the government fails to perform its obligations,” the judges wrote in the majority ruling.

    But it may be years before the situation improves. As of 2010, the VA had a backlog of over 1 million benefits claims. Veterans can wait a year or more for disability checks, and weeks for mental health referrals. The problem is only getting worse, with the influx of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. Meanwhile, the rate of suicide for veterans is three times higher than the general public, according to a 2006 study.

    I was visiting one of my OIF Vets last night at the Denver VA’s PTSD clinic. Chatting with him and the other vets, they all praised the care they were getting in the ward. But on average, they waited 6-8 months to get into 1 of 20 beds in the hospital.

    Not every Vet has a support system to carry them thru the wait times. The cost of war is beyond paying for bombs and contractors – taking care of vets who were wounded in body and soul has to be #1 now that the drawdown in Iraq and AFPAK has started.

    My rant to anyone who will hear it is this – It’s the equivalent of 1972. If we knew then what we know now, would we do things differently? Would we dare not to?

    1. the allegedly (they’ve got the lapel pins and bumper stickers) uber-patriotic, troop supporting GOP has consistently made tax cuts for the rich their top priority while claiming we can’t afford to support our vets any better and, indeed, need for them to make more sacrifices. How many times over the years of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars have the Dems tried to pass legislation to increase funding for our vets only to be defeated by party-line GOP opposition? How any vet can even consider voting Republican anymore is a mystery.  

      1. the VBA is struggling under a crippling backlog of claims, with is further compounded by the mess of laws written in 1948 to deal with disabilities.

        The VHA is underwater with a backlog of appointments for treating those vets who have approved claims, and the OIF/OEF/OND vets that get 5 years of care after separation. They’ve gotten an infusion of money to expand under the Dems, but that’s probably going away for the Repub millionaire tax cut.

        All of this is because 10% of the eligible vets who served in the GWOT have gotten out. What happens when the rest get out?

        1. U.S. cost of war at least $3.7 trillion and counting

          In the 10 years since U.S. troops went into Afghanistan to root out the al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11, 2001, attacks, spending on the conflicts totaled $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion.

          Those numbers will continue to soar when considering often overlooked costs such as long-term obligations to wounded veterans and projected war spending from 2012 through 2020.

          http://www.reuters.com/article…

          Why do I worry that we’ll soon see a Republican proposal involving some sort of voucher? — “To give our brave G.I.s who have served this country so well the choice of benefits that they deserve.”

          1. And that’s based on Harvard economist Linda Bilmes study done in 2007. That’s not including the spike in diagnosis for PTSD and TBI, and treating the epidemic of Veteran Suicide.

            And the Repubs tried the VA voucher thing – ask Ken Buck how that worked out for them…

            1. I am not in favor of vouchers because they cost too much, but I wouldn’t oppose them as a stopgap while the less expensive VA system built capacity.

              It is clear that the VA is overburdened with OIF/OEF/OND vets and the VA is also still serving Vietnam era vets who are at the high consumption age for medical services.

              We shouldn’t wait for a capacity build out and anybody who doesn’t support giving these men and women their full measure of support should be ashamed.

              1. there’s vouchers for housing, but that’s not for care. You can get vouchers for some kinds of medical care, but not for behavioral health treatment.

                It wouldn’t matter anyway – VA care is very specialized, and there’s usually not a private provided that can deal with certain injuries. For example, the VA is probably the only place that IED flash burns and amputations can be properly treated. Most health care systems do not do hydrotherapy as much as the VA does.

                And PTSD in the civilian world is vastly different from military PTSD and Military Sexual Trauma. There still are a number of private practitioners who do know how to treat it, but it’s not in the numbers that are necessary.

                I just exchanged emails with Peter Droege, VP of the Daniels Fund about them starting a specific scholarship fund for vets to get degrees in Professional Psych and Social work, and in exchange work in the public sector for 5 years specifically with veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries. (Bill Daniels was a decorated Naval Aviator in WWII.)

                They cannot start a new fund, but he seemed very supportive in talking to other entities about doing it. We’ll see….

  5. Origin of Famous Company Names

    The name started as a joke boasting about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named ‘Googol’, a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders- Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to ‘Google’

  6. Congratulations to Congressman Polis and Marlon Reis, expecting their first child in September!

    Delighted to hear that one of the sweetest, most committed couples in politics has chosen to venture into one of the few things in life more difficult than maintaining a relationship during an election cycle–that being, of course, maintaining a relationship with an infant in the house. They’ll be wonderful parents.

  7. ‘Get It Done,’ Obama Challenges GOP on Debt Talks

    In a blunt challenge to Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that elimination of selected tax breaks for oil companies and the super-wealthy must be included in any deficit reduction plan.

    “You stay here. Let’s get it done,” he all-but-lectured lawmakers, holding open the possibility of keeping Congress in Washington unless there is significant progress by week’s end on a deal to cut deficits, raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit and avert a threatened financial crisis.

    He said a plan must be in place by Aug. 2, a date he called “a hard deadline.”

    At his first White House news conference in three months, lasting a little over an hour, Obama also called on Congress to renew a payroll tax cut that took effect on Jan 1, one of several steps he said lawmakers can take quickly to help reduce 9.1 percent unemployment.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Business…

    And while the Republican’t Party spews their frogwash about “deficit-busting tax cuts” and works on their campaign materials for 2012, two Colorado Senators are taking the President’s marching orders to heart:

    Fed up with inaction as the federal government inches closer to its borrowing limit, Colorado U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall are assembling a bipartisan group to speak out in hopes of reaching a compromise.

    Udall and Bennet have been hustling together a band of Republicans and Democrats to push a deal that would include federal spending cuts and tax increases.

    The still-secretive group (both Udall and Bennet staffers say the number of interested senators keeps growing) could take to the Senate floor as soon as today to speak out together on reaching a deal.

    Udall and Bennet, both Democrats, broadly support tenets adopted by the president’s fiscal deficit-reduction commission, which aims for $4 trillion in deficit cuts over 10 years.

    “It seems to me that we ought to be able to work through our challenges in a bipartisan way without screaming at each other, without having cartoonish political conversation that’s utterly unmoored from the facts,” Bennet said.

    (From the Daily Prophet – sorry) http://www.denverpost.com/poli…

    I still am amazed on the slack-jawed stupidity within the Republican’t Party and their insistence on protecting the Millionaire Tax Cut and No Oil Subsidy Left Behind. Got for it guys, I can hear the ads already…

      1. ..and I’m all kind of jealous. He keeps sending pictures from the airport, and I’m sure he’ll tweak me with pictures from France once he gets his bicycle rolling.

        I’ll ride in one of the Wounded Warrior Project warrior rides when they come thru Colorado. But someday…

  8. Ohio Appeals Court Rules Health Care Law Is Constitutional

    A federal appeals court in Ohio upheld the 2010 health reform law on Wednesday.

    The three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Cincinnati voted 2-1 that the requirement for individuals to buy health insurance does not exceed powers given to Congress.

    “As long as Congress does not exceed the established limits of its Commerce

    Power, there is no constitutional impediment to enacting legislation that could be

    characterized as regulating inactivity,” the ruling reads.

    “Congress had a rational basis for concluding that the minimum coverage provision is essential to the Affordable Care Act’s larger reforms to the national markets in health care delivery and health insurance,” Judge Boyce Martin wrote.

    The Justice Department quickly welcomed the ruling. “We will continue to vigorously defend the health care reform statute in any litigation challenging it,” Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said in a statement.

    “Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed.  We believe these challenges to health reform will also fail,” the statement read.

    http://www.nationaljournal.com…

    And the spin over on Faux News is so powerful you could use it as a nuclear centrifuge…

    Folks, if the majority of Appeals courts rule in favor of the law, then the Supreme Court will not touch it.  

    1. The only requirement is that four justices want to take a case. It does not depend on whether or not the Courts of Appeals are in agreement or split.

      This is definitely headed to the Supreme Court.

      1. most likely decide to hear it.  A circuit split is one of the indicators as to whether the Court will accept the case or not.  

        I would say the Court is likely to accept one of the cases that come up regardless of whether the circuits are split or not.  And it won’t be hard to find four votes to grant cert.

    2. But the Supreme Court will decide to touch it in all likelihood.  If one of the other Appeals circuits rules the other way, it will 100% wind up before the SCOTUS; if not, I can’t see any of the Ultra-conservative Four refusing cert anyway, though I could be surprised.

      I do think they’ll hold off until the other two pending appeals are finished – no sense in jumping the gun when it’s moving along at a decent pace already.

  9. http://www.torontosun.com/2011…

    John Lennon was a closet Republican, who felt a little embarrassed by his former radicalism, at the time of his death – according to the tragic Beatles star’s last personal assistant.

    Fred Seaman worked alongside the music legend from 1979 to Lennon’s death at the end of 1980 and he reveals the star was a Ronald Reagan fan who enjoyed arguing with left-wing radicals who reminded him of his former self.

    Well, imagine that…

  10. Now, how is the Orange Man and his minions going to spin this? That their proposed jobs bill that’s sitting in a desk somewhere on Capitol Hill has magically helped stimulate the economy?

    Exclusive: U.S. small business borrowing surges

    Borrowing by small U.S. businesses rose at a record pace in May, data released by PayNet Inc on Thursday showed, a sign that economic growth is poised to pick up in coming months.

    The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the overall volume of financing to U.S. small businesses, rose 26 percent in May from a year earlier, PayNet said.

    The index is now at its highest since July 2008, two months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the near derailment of the world financial system.

    Borrowing by small businesses is seen as a harbinger for the broader economy because they account for as much as 80 percent of new hiring. The loans PayNet tracks are typically used to buy or update plants and equipment.

    http://www.reuters.com/article…

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