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August 04, 2011 03:30 PM UTC

Thursday Open Thread

  • 61 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Dream in a pragmatic way.”

–Aldous Huxley  

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61 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

  1. I was pondering yesterday’s post about the false stories circulating about Barack Obama, and decided to go on Snopes to check something out.

    Snopes shows 20 rumors about George W. Bush that were completely or partially false.

    Snopes shows 9 rumors about Sarah Palin that were completely or partially false.

    Snopes shows 88 rumors about Barack Obama that are completely or partially false.

    Now, why do you suppose that is?

    1. but the greatest of these is bigotry and hate.  Blaming it strictly on partisan politics, although there’s a great deal of that, is way too easy.

        1. You must blame Obama’s radical (really?) agenda only.  You must be a vicious hateful person to suggest an iota of racism is involved. For shame! At least so I’ve been told numerous times by offended conservatives on this blog.  

          1. If he wasn’t such a bad president and so secretive about himself, then none of those rumors would have got going.

            It’s his own dang tar-baby fault.

    2. I am not sure it’s as simple as bigotry.  Look at Carter and Clinton as well.  I think with Obama it’s even more intense because of the bigotry.  But, as I read the other day, I think it pretty much boils down to the impression that Republicans cannot handle a Democratic president.

      Republicans are infantile.  They react to the lack of top-down authority by acting out, like a two-year-old.  

      1. Internet urban legend debunking is a 21st century phenomenon, so I can’t confirm that the lies told about Carter and Clinton were similar in tone and intensity.  I do remember how much the Republicans of the 90s absolutely hated Bill Clinton and wanted nothing more than his destruction.  However, it feels to me that they are even more hostile to Obama, and based on the consistent themes of “he’s not like us,” I can only attribute it to his race.

    5. To see what kinds of false urban legends Snopes had investigated about each of the three.

      George W. Bush: 4 stories about his religion, 8 accounts of his stupidity, 3 lies about him being racist, 3 stories falsely praising his generosity or other qualities, and 3 others.

      Sarah Palin: 4 false stories about her being stupid or misspeaking; 2 lies about her family; 1 falsely praising her; and 2 others (including the photoshop of her in a bikini holding a gun).

      Barack Obama: 12 false stories that he is a Muslim or anti-Christian, 10 false stories that he was not born in America, 8 false stories that he is anti-American, anti-military, or anti-law enforcement, 7 false stories about his unsavory associates, 7 false stories that he and Michelle are elitist or just plain uppity, 3 overtly racist photoshops, 40 that didn’t fall into these categories, and 1, count it, one story falsely praising him.

      I was really struck by the number of lies circulating that try to paint Obama as being not like the rest of us: not American, not Christian, etc.  There were 30 false stories like that.  Add to that the 7 stories about how he and Michelle are elitist, and I see a theme here.  That theme is a phrase that starts with “uppity” and goes from there in a direction that Ellbee would complain about.

      I’m with Ellie.  Bigotry and hate, with the hatred rooted in bigotry.  There seem to be a lot of people out there who agree with one of our dear Polsters, who suggested that the White House should be painted some other color, since it has been defiled by the current occupants.  Pitiful.

      1. Which is probably why his approval rating ranges from -21 to negative 18.

        Below are a sample of comments from a bitter man, like you he is bitter at our American history and desires to change this great nation.

        I couldn’t find a reference on snopes proving or disproving, but they look ll sourced.

        http://politicalhumor.about.co…

        “We’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that’s fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or providing good service. We don’t want people to stop, ah, fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow our economy.” -on Wall Street reform, Quincy, Ill., April 29, 2010

        “One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world — Navy Corpse-Man Christian Brossard.” -mispronouncing “Corpsman” (the “ps” is silent) during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2010 (The Corpsman’s name is also Christopher, not Christian)

        “The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries.” –Tampa, Fla., Jan. 28, 2010

        “UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.” – attempting to make the case for government-run healthcare, while simultaneously undercutting his own argument, Portsmouth, N.H., Aug. 11, 2009

        “The Cambridge police acted stupidly.” -commenting on a white police officer’s arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Mass., at a news conference, July 22, 2009

        “The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system.” –in remarks after a health care roundtable with physicians, nurses and health care providers, Washington, D.C., July 20, 2009

        “It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There’s a lot of — I don’t know what the term is in Austrian, wheeling and dealing.” –confusing German for “Austrian,” a language which does not exist, Strasbourg, France, April 6, 2009

        “No, no. I have been practicing…I bowled a 129. It’s like — it was like Special Olympics, or something.” –making an off-hand joke during an appearance on “The Tonight Show”, March 19, 2009 (Obama later called the head of the Special Olympics to apologize)

        “I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances.” –after saying he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepared to take office, Washington, D.C., Nov. 7, 2008 (Obama later called Nancy Reagan to apologize)

        “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” — defending his tax plan to Joe the Plumber, who argued that Obama’s policy hurts small-business owners like himself, Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 12, 2008

        “What I was suggesting — you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith…” –in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, who jumped in to correct Obama by saying “your Christian faith,” which Obama quickly clarified (Watch video clip)

        “I’m here with the Girardo family here in St. Louis.” –speaking via satellite to the Democratic National Convention, while in Kansas City, Missouri, Aug. 25, 2008

        “Let me introduce to you the next President — the next Vice President of the United States of America, Joe Biden.” –slipping up while introducing Joe Biden at their first joint campaign rally, Springfield, Illinois, Aug. 23, 2008

        “Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee — which is my committee — a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon.” –referring to a committee he is not on, Sderot, Israel, July 23, 2008

        “Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. It will be a strong friend of Israel’s under a McCain…administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel’s under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change.” –Amman, Jordan, July 22, 2008

        “How’s it going, Sunshine?” –campaigning in Sunrise, Florida

        “On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.”

        “Hold on one second, sweetie, we’re going to do — we’ll do a press avail.” –to a female reporter for ABC’s Detroit affiliate who asked about his plan to help American autoworkers (Watch video clip)

        “I’ve now been in 57 states — I think one left to go.” –at a campaign event in Beaverton, Oregon (Watch video clip)

        “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” –after being asked a foreign policy question by a reporter while visiting a diner in Pennsylvania

        “It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” –explaining his troubles winning over some working-class voters

        “The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, you know, there’s a reaction that’s been bred in our experiences that don’t go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that’s just the nature of race in our society.”

        3. because it’s Rasmussen’s junk stat comparing the # who “strongly” approve/disapprove, tabulated just to produce a more neg number (yes, tea partiers hate the Prez more than libs love him) so that basement-dwellers like you check Rasmussen’s website today to get off.

          1. It just shows that snopes has yet to address many other claims to Obama’s behaviors, statements and actions. I would hope they take time to validate these reports from the lame stream media.

            Second, one of the most vile racist Obama centric things I witnessed was a gif on a relatives cellphone. Now this relative (at the time) was an elected local school district board member and a municipal employee …. Democratic Party member no less. I asked that the moving gif image not be forwarded tomy cellphone.

            It’s interesting to watch the groupthink assessments that most of you try to cast as assertions. Do note that snopes ain’t the be-all end-all and you Dems are proven creators and passers of race or religious based anti Obama material.

            1. and the trillions and trillions of stars, . . . and in all of the planets surrounding all of those stars . . . , I’m guessing there’s not a single one where there’s a lifeform that’s going to find any part of this last post of yours intelligible.

          2. always trying to censor anyone who disagrees  with you. If Libertad had cut the piece before posting it, he would have had to go through and find the best stuff. That would have entailed reading all of it. You think he has time for that? He’s a Republican and a Job Creator, and reading is for dumb libs with MFAs when the coffee shop morning rush is over.

      2. Oh, man, what am I going to use for wallpaper on my PC now?  I guess I’ll have to resurrect my old Hillary as dominatrix poster.  That one was real, right?

  2. Even though (to an audience of O&G partisans) Hickenlooper announced:

    “Everyone in this room understands that hydraulic fracturing doesn’t connect to groundwater, that it’s almost inconceivable that groundwater will be contaminated,” Hickenlooper said … Colorado Independent

    It turns out that not only is it conceivable, but that the EPA has known about this for over a quarter century.

    A 1987 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finding, which the agency has ignored for years, concluded that hydraulic fracturing of a deep natural gas well in Jackson County, W.Va., contaminated groundwater and private wells. Pittsburgh Gazette

    Sometimes “inconceivable” doesn’t mean “impossible.” It just means that one lacks the ability, or is unwilling to, conceive of the possibility of unlikely events. Sometimes the very unlikely happens to the best of us.

    1. 1)  fracking fluid and fracking is good. It releases methane and other undesirable gases.

      2) Even if fracking could be bad, the fluid is harmless.

      3) Even if the fluid and the process could be harmful, it’s too expensive to do anything about it.

      4) We need cheap energy, fracking gives us cheap energy- we need fracking.

      There.

          1. They havent done anything about fracking fluid- so it must be safe.

            Besides, there’s a market solution here – the O&G companies don;t want to kill their clients, so they’ll do what needs doing to keep things safe.

            Problem solved.  Next.

    1. From the written transcript:

      Sharia law has nothing to do with this at all.  It’s crazy.  It’s crazy… the guy’s an American citizen, who has been an admitted lawyer to practice in the state of New Jersey, swearing an oath to uphold the laws of New Jersey, the constitution of the state of New Jersey, and the Constitution of the United States of America,  and has never been accused of doing anything but honorably and zealously acquitting the oath he took when he became a lawyer, to license to practice in this state.  And so, this Sharia law business is crap.  It’s just crazy.  And I’m tired of dealing with the crazies.  You know, it’s just unnecessary to be accusing this guy of things just because of his religious background, and that’s what it’s because, because I’ve known him personally now for nine years, and there is nothing to any of this stuff.  I’m not going to talk about Sharia law because Sharia law has nothing to do with Sohail Mohammed and his time as a lawyer or his service on the bench in Passaic county which I know will be long and honorable, and the people of Passaic county and the people of this state will benefit from it.  I’m happy that he’s willing to serve after all this baloney.

    2. Thank you Ah Choo ! Lately I have been so cynical and completely disgusted with politics and the state of affairs of our country in general and then you go and put this up.  It is truly awesome.

      Every high school civics class should be required to watch this. It is who we are.

      I don’t care how bad people say he is or his politics – in my mind it can’t detract from what I just saw.  Way to go Gov. Christie.  Wow. Just wow.  

  4. Well, shuck my taters . . . I’m sure glad we avoided riling those markets by not increasing the debt ceiling without a substantial, meaningful accompanying deficit reduction package.

    Didn’t those rich traders see the Boehner/Reid/McConnell “no tax increases” speeches?

        2. and I want others like me in our country to pay more tax too, so we can be in better shape for the next generation.  

          I know, I’m a damn communist hippy !

  5. BNY Mellon imposes fee on rapidly growing deposits

    http://www.reuters.com/article…

    Bank of New York Mellon Corp told some of its biggest depositors this week it does not want their money.

    BNY Mellon said it is charging a fee to big corporate and asset management clients that deposit more money than average, because it has been overwhelmed by deposits.

    Global economic turmoil — including the Greek debt crisis and the U.S. debt ceiling debate — has driven BNY Mellon’s large clients to sell riskier assets and move the proceeds to deposit accounts.

    Want to bet how long it’s going to be before the rich and the corporations ask demand that the government to intervene to stop this?  Want to bet whether or not that government intervention with be swift and bi-partisan?  Want to bet whether Mellon, or any of the other big banks in this situation, will use any of these excess cash reserves to invest in anything in this country that might produce a job?  Want to bet whether anyone in the government will try to encourage them to invest?

        1. Talks a good game, but when he’s actually around Mexicans he has nothing but hostility for them. At least we let them cut our lawns.

          Hey ArapaGOP, help a brother out. Peru is in Mexico, right?

            2. I’m here to wage a one-man war on this blog against your evil liberal ideology.

              It’s just like waging a real war, except I have infinite ammunition and unlimited extra lives.

    3. from 84 – 94.  Miss the weather.  Don’t miss all the gang crap right outside of the gate around the naval station.  Also don’t miss how poor I felt on a sailor’s pay there.  Stay away from the bases on the San Diego side of the bay and enjoy yourself.

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