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February 03, 2012 03:31 PM UTC

Open Line Friday!

  • 57 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“This Romney thing, it’s all about reflexes–and it pains me to say this stuff. This show has not been easy. You don’t… Well, maybe you do know, but he just doesn’t have conservative reflexes. It’s like trying to learn golf late in life: The reflexes just aren’t there. You’ve got to have a foundation, a basic understanding to have the reflexes, and they’re just aren’t there.”

–Rush Limbaugh, yesterday

Comments

57 thoughts on “Open Line Friday!

  1. (CNN) — A Corpus Christi, Texas, teenager is suing her family, claiming they are trying to force her to have an abortion.

    The 14-year-old girl is 10 weeks pregnant and wants to carry her child to term, says her attorney.

    The teen sought legal help after she was allegedly physically and verbally assaulted by her grandmother and two cousins.

    The grandmother and both cousins are accused in the suit of verbally abusing the girl and scheduling an appointment for an abortion without the teen’s permission. …snip…



    “The girl was grabbed by the neck, hit across the face, and thrown into a car in addition to the verbal abuse,” said Stephen Casey, the teen’s lawyer, who refused to release the girl’s name.

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/13/

    1. You’d be screaming bloody murder over it. Choice swings both ways. That’s why I’m pro-choice and not pro-abortion – everyone should have the right to decide for themselves without the government imposing its ideology on the matter.

      1. Same goes for the food stamp society you’ve helped grow … what’s that number … 47 million Americans now on food stamps under Obama.

        There’s no doubt your “Deal” is easy to sell … All the authority to do what you want and no responsibility to deal with the consequences. It’s great …. you use “fair taxes” to get others to pay for our excesses, knowing there be a new big government program to bailout the lazy and irresponsible. Unfortunately you seem to have begun to run out of those revenues to fund new big government programs tomorrow …. let along continue to fund those you created yesterday.

        1. the death penalty,  against wars of choice and for the best damned  universal healthcare for every child born that society can possibly provide, right?  

        2. Gun nuts.

          War mongers.

          Death penalty advocates.

          Opponents of health care reform.

          Advocates of Social Security “reform.”

          People pushing for tort reform.

          In short… Republicans.

    2. if the girl wanted to have the baby and had loving adults who pledged to raise two children in her life, I say, “Go for it”. First, some adult has to step forward and say they will raise the baby, right? 14 year olds are still in middle school, usually.

      The irony here, Tad, is that Republicans have said they want the parents to be able to make that decision for children under 18. By your party’s reasoning, this girl should have no say.

      I hope extended family members or a foster family step in and help this girl escape her abusive family. My heart goes out to her.

      1. Anti-choice advocates put forth parental notification laws, which I assume Libertad supports, in the belief that a young woman will always be PREVENTED from having an abortion by her family members. Newsflash: Not everyone thinks a middle school child is ready to be a parent. In this case, the girl’s family WANTED her to have an abortion.

        So how’s that coercion value working for you?

        I’d argue parental notification laws do way more harm than good. If a teen doesn’t want to involve family, there’s often a really good reason for it. If there’s not, well I’d rather lean towards protecting the vulnerable girls among us. And don’t think I don’t have “skin in the game” – I’m the parent of a teen and a tween.

        The saddest thing here is that this Texas teenager is in what seems to be an abusive family. She needs some caring adults in her life to help her with either choice.

    3. that this whole thing likely resulted from the girl not receiving adequate sex education, and not having access to birth control. Republican family policy reaping what it sows.

      1. So do you support comprehensive sex education stressing abstinence…or are you one of those abstinence-only fans?

        Information isn’t inspiration, that’s for sure. And without information – that would be facts for the reality-challenged among us  – we end up with far more unwanted pregnancies, something we ALL want to avoid.

  2. Obama to announce Veterans Job Corps

    President Obama plans to announce details Friday for a $1 billion Veterans Job Corps that the White House says will put up to 20,000 veterans to work over the next five years on projects to preserve and restore national parks and other federal, state and local lands.

    Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki on Thursday described the program as “a bold new effort” to lower the high unemployment rate for post-Sept. 11 military veterans, which stood at 13.1 percent in December. The government estimates that 250,000 post-Sept. 11 veterans are unemployed.

    ….

    The Veterans Job Corps will involve projects such as repairing trails, roads, levees and recreational facilities, according to the White House.

    Other work could include providing visitor programs, restoring habitat, protecting cultural resources, eradicating invasive species and cutting brush to reduce the risk of forest fires.

    Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that the Civilian Conservation Corps, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Depression to put hundreds of thousands of the unemployed to work on projects in government parks and lands, serves as a “very good indicator” of what the administration hopes to accomplish with the Veterans Job Corps.

    “When one looks back at the legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps, we take great comfort that those who take this on will leave a great legacy for the United States,” Salazar said during a conference call with reporters Thursday to discuss the veteran employment initiatives.

    Salazar said that the program would “make a significant dent” in the deferred maintenance that has become common at many federal, state, local and tribal lands as government budgets have been cut.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/

    I like this plan for a number of reasons:

    1) We’ve just spent 10 years rebuilding nations across the globe, mostly because we trashed them in the Global War on Terror. Let’s use our Military’s expertise in Nation Building to rebuild the US.

    2) It’s outdoors. Some of our vets need some outdoor therapy to sort out what they want to do next, spend some time with their peers dealing with any issues that multiple deployments and years of combat have burned into their souls, and enjoy the national treasures of the US in a way that also deals with the backlog of crap that needed to get done.

    3) Unlike the usual cabal of crony contractors the BushCo adminstration sent to get paid to do nothing, our vets will GET SH*T DONE.

    1. It’s not expensive, it does almost double work with our tax dollars, it helps vets re-integrate with society (lowering future government costs), it gets work done that really needs to be done (and long past time, too)…

      This is the kind of multi-dimensional thinking that will help our country.

      Of course, this is a budget item, so the Republicans will probably shoot it down, even if a compromise were to propose that the $1b come from the regular NPS budget rather than being new spending.

    2. allegedly troop supporting uber patriots on the right side of the aisle will come up with for opposing this. While fighting tooth and nail to preserve and expand breaks for the very rich, of course.  

      1. over there, getting their asses shot up and their minds screwed. Back home, dealing with their changed worlds–not so much. Don’t expect Repugs to back Obama on this.

    1. They get a 250 K donation from Mayor Bloomberg, plus a huge uptick in donations the past few days, plus they get their old funding back from the Komen Foundation, and they get a ton of exposure the past few days.

      Probably something they never want to go through again, but the end result could be very good.

      1. They created everything they don’t like about the organization.

        “They do 1/3 of all the abortions in the US.  Abortion is their main product.”

        Because private docs have been harassed out of the practice.

        “They’re too political.”

        Because the Reagan revolution empowered the christocratic fetophiles, and put PP on the defensive.

        Unlike ACORN which was an obscure group devoted to empowering the poor, Planned Parenthood is an organization that scores of millions of Americans have encountered as a force for good in their life when they needed it most.  Those same clients who relied on PP in their time of need appreciate that support and want to make sure it is available for the generation behind them.

        Woe to any political faction that thinks attacking women’s health in the name of being anti-choice will help them win the most vital voting block of all:independent women.

        1. Woe to any political faction that thinks attacking women’s health in the name of being anti-choice will help them win the most vital voting block of all:independent women.

          Fortunately, it appears the anti-choice executives at National Komen HQs aren’t savvy enough to realize that fighting PP does nothing but lead to more donations to PP.

          In the meantime, their zealous ways dealt a blow to the Komen brand that, if repairable, will take years to correct and will suck precious dollars away from the “for the cure” part of Komen’s mission.

          This will be a communications and nonprofit case study of what not to do for years to come.

      1. We ask for the public’s understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.

        How about starting by firing everyone on the board and in the executive suite that thought this was even a marginally good idea?  And perhaps even by admitting that at least some of your board members did indeed vote to do this based on their political views.

        That would be a good start.

              1. When I come across mysterious caps I google them. Takes a few seconds to find out what they mean and nobody has to know how unhip  I am.  Well, at least they don’t have to be reminded yet again.

          1. I figure if you criticize the substance and content of her odiousness, you can then criticize her appearance.

            If all you have to harp on is appearance, then you’re being misogynistic.

        1. There have always been critics, who now will have a more receptive audiance.

          The Susan G. Komen Foundation ™ has been on my personal shitlist for many years (this post is from 2008). If this is what it takes to get you on the heretofore lonely Screw Komen bandwagon, so be it. But you should not have a low opinion of Komentm because of their announcement on Wednesday. You should have a low opinion of them because they’re a fake charity run like any other company with a product to sell. In this case the product is a combination of guilt, pity, and hope dissolved in a weak acid and dyed a nauseating pink.

          1. The last few days have revealed a lot about the Komen Foundation that I and a lot of others no doubt were unaware of, most hideous their links to the religious right and the Bush administration, in the form of their founder and Karen Handel. Even if they reverse their decision (and their statement doesn’t really say that they WILL fund PP breast exams) my support for Komen is at an end. There are a lot more worthy organizations that fund breast cancer research. When I heard that only 17 percent of the money donated to Komen goes to research, and the rest goes to marketing and fat administrative salaries, that was enough for me.

          2. The ginandtacos post was worth the entire cost of inventing the internets. As were the comments following. It was a long read, but well worth the time. Thanks for linking, Daft.

            Now, I wonder why the revelations about Komen’s merchandising madness and its ruthless litigious bullying kept reminding me of the US Olympic Committee?

  3. I have to tell you I read your piece that Gov. Granholm responded on, and was totally blown away.  You are a phenomenal writer, and the part about your Dad offering to be a Dad to the kid in the neighborhood who needed one was just incredible.  What a total stand up guy.

    You have quite a talent.  Have a happy snowy Friday.

  4. Mittens has to admit he “mispoke”, here’s Rush revealing his angst over the sure pick of another guy he’s not crazy about after completetly failing to stop McCain last time and Bradford sowing discord and possibly initiating chaos among Colorado’s GOP legislators.  Not a bad week so far.  

  5. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants…

    Quoth Dan Savage:

    None of Komen’s “existing grants” to Planned Parenthood-money Pink Handguns, Inc., had already promised to Planned Parenthood-had been pulled. And Pink Handguns, Inc.*, never said that Planned Parenthood couldn’t apply for grants. Planned Parenthood could apply for all the Komen grants they wanted to. But so long as Planned Parenthood was being subjected to politically-motivated “investigations” by some rightwing douchebag with a congressional committee-investigations that would go on forever, of course, if keeping ’em going meant taking money from Planned Parenthood (and killing poor women)-Komen wouldn’t award Planned Parenthood any grants.

    I think Dan’s probably jumping to the conclusion when he says Komen won’t grant PP any new grants, but it’s certainly something to watch out for.

    Komen is in full damage control mode, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they had a change of right-wing heart.

    * “Pink Handguns Inc.” is a reference to this horrible thing. It’s now Savage’s pet name for Komen.

  6. I still won’t be contibuting to anything Komen. Their “reversal” looks to me to be a genius PR move (after the biggest bungling PR move I’ve ever seen). Even more so because they are riding the same firestorm of social media that brought this trouble.

    Still, their statement doesn’t give me any more confidence in them. As I understand it, the grants that had already been approved were not in danger. And just about anyone is eligible to APPLY for a grant. But getting a grant is another matter.

    No, Komen proved to me with this stunt that they are more willing to play with women’s lives rather than stay committed to saving them. I will find other ways to support women’s health and when a good friend and cancer survivor asks me to sponsor her walk for Komen, I will respectfully decline and make a donation to Planned Parenthood in her honor (if she is willing to accept).

    1. they’ve really become a part of the vast right wing conspiracy:

      It seems to me that the most fundamental measure of accountability for an organization dealing with life-threatening illnesses and public heath problems such as breast cancer is the efficacy with which that organization evaluates, communicates about, and respects medical and scientific evidence. Further from that, it would seem imperative that such an organization hire staff and elect board members who uphold the highest standards of science and medicine without regard to personal ideology.

      Yet Komen has done just the opposite.

      http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/

    2. I’m already donating to PP instead of Komen, but I have several very good friends who have done the walk in the past, and I’ve supported that. I know one of them (a double-mastectomy patient who just finished chemo) is furious with Komen, but if she or anyone else does the walk, I’ll donate that to PP.

  7. According to the Denver paper, Lamborn has drafted legislation to open up land for oil and gas drilling without any thought to local impacts, and without giving communities fair compensation. They say they’ve tried to get in touch with Lamborn, but he says he hasn’t received any letter. He keeps it classy by saying “Someone is not telling the truth and it isn’t me.”

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