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January 05, 2007 04:18 PM UTC

Friday Open Thread

  • 74 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

We’re fresh out of snow jokes.

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74 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

    1. cologeek is. Just a couple of weeks ago we were talking about how an overall increase in the earth’s average temperature can mean colder weather in some places.

      Well, that’s the downside of democracy. The uninformed have a voice too.

      1. cologeek doesn’t subscribe to the prevailing orthodoxy doesn’t mean he’s(she’s?) uniformed.  It just means it will take something more than “because Al Gore says so” to convince him(her).

        1. Even most right wingers know that. The only debate is whether or not human activity is part of it.

          If you go back to the geek’s comments, you’ll see that he hasn’t even come as far as recognizing that climate change is happening.

          Try not to read into other’s comments – just read what’s there. Otherwise you invite people to make assumptions about your intentions.

              1. You seem to have all the answers when it comes to climate change.  I posited that cologeek, and presumably others, need evidance that this is not just part of a normal climactic cycle.  How was that not “bringing something to the table”?

                1. so let me take you through it point by point.

                  Cologeek puts up an immature post that basically says, Since it’s snowing there’s no such thing as global warming. Straight out of conservative talk radio of the 90s.

                  I reply that he’s a dope because no one who is informed, regardless of political stripe, doubts that the earth is warming up and that it’s changing global climate patterns.

                  You step in with your denial of climate change via a lame talking point addressing the CAUSE – which was not the topic at hand.

                  I pointed that out to you and advised you to read for comprehension.

                  Now you want to debate the cause. I don’t feel like wasting my time because your posts, thus far, have consisted of recycled talking points from talk radio and right wing blogs. Which means that either you don’t comprehend what’s going on, don’t want to, or that you’re trolling for comments. Sort of the blogging equivilent of going to a bar, being an ass, getting into a fight, and claiming that “you weren’t looking for trouble, trouble looks for you.”

                  I have better things to do with my blog time, but I did think it’s worthwhile to share this much with you.

                  You’re welcome to the final word. Have a nice day.

                    2. Sorry, I’m spoken for. But thanks for being the first stranger to ever propose to me.

          2. It’s possible that this is a much smaller weather cycle.  Say, a thirty or a hundred-year-cycle.  There was a tremendous warming period at the end of the mddle ages that obviously had nothing to do with W. (Well, maybe he used his evil time machine).

            The problem with determining whom to listen to on the climate change issue is that very few ‘experts’ don’t have a dog in the fight.  Gore is a political opportunist of the highest order, and I’m inclined not to listen to anything he has to say.  If Kyoto was fair (if it made other, larger, more polluting nations subject to the same controls as the US) I think it would have been a better idea.  It seems like global wealth redistribution disguised as a climate treaty.

            1. The 1600’s and 1700’s were colder.  Perhaps you are talking 1200’s or something.  The former period has even been dubbed a “mini-ice age.”

              1. The Midieval Waming Period (have you had any wine from England lately?) is what I’m referring to.  It is at least concievable that warming is tied to solar radiation rather than only Republicans, is it not?

                All kidding aside, I’m not opposed to greenhouse gas controls, as long as they’re fair.

          3. Remember reading Dickens when you were young?  The London he describes of bitter cold and snow is long gone.  The climate changed about a hundred years ago and went the way of Queen Victoria.  Now it rarely snows in London and the Irish Sea is a full of warm water fish.

        2.   You don’t need to be Einstein (or Al Gore) to understand that we have an ecological problem that’s growing……
            In the last 50 years, the population of this planet has gone from 3 billion to 6.5 billion (and counting).  Most of these people eat, drink, inhale oxygen, defecate, urinate, and exhale carbon dioxide.  Over time, all this crap is starting to accumulate in the land, water and air faster than Mother Nature can break it down and recycle it. 
            Let me put it in terms that the right-wing, Flat Earth Society members might understand:  take your average good God-fearing, Christian household of mom, dad, 4.5 children (since birth control is out of the question), the cat and the dog, double the population of your household without increasing the size of your house or resources available to your family, and then me that the garbage doesn’t start to accumulate faster.

          1. is becoming wealthier and that wealthier populations produce more waste than do poorer ones.  They also recycle less.  I recently read an article on just how much of the Victorian work force was involved in recycling to make a living.  All very low tech (rag and bones men, and such) but all recycling in the same way the poor in some places haunt the dumps looking to salvage something to use or sell.

            It’s a problem that’s been long warned about.  I’m thinking about books I’ve read like “The Tragedy of Waste” (published in the 1920’s), “Abundance for What?”, and “Voluntary Simplicity”, and I despair for a solution.  We would have to change so much in our outlook in order to discard our commercial materialism.  And when you look at China, it seems our disease is catching.  So I despair.

            1. You’re right about China.  A nation of bicycles is discovering the joy of the small and mid-sized automobile.  Keep the faith.  In another generation, they’ll have 1.5 billion S.U.V.s over there!

          2. According to Bill O’Reilly (yes, I turned on the radio by mistake to his abominable show recently), 25% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return in 2007.

            Hey, if that’s gonna happen, what’s to worry? Pollute away!

        1. I was starting to wonder what happened to you. Hope your trip was fun.

          Do you still want to post a diary about plea bargains? I’m looking forward to that.

      3. a sense of humor is not necessary to post here.  We’ve been hit with three consecutive weekly major snowstorms, something that has not happened in my memory.  I was just poking some fun.  Try and have some!

  2. Many bus stops are still inaccessible which renders the system inoperable for people with disabilities or senior citizens. I hope to hell there is class action against that bombastic RTD manager and that elected board.  They simply have given the “finger” to Denver and gotten away with it.  The real secret is that people who are poor, elderly or disabled are not militant. They are silent, scared and easily intimated…..their advocates are silent and that is what I don’t understand.

      1. Ahhhh yes a Class Action should really teach “Mother Nature” a lesson????  WTF?  Are you kidding me?  I think everyone is doing what they can to make everything accessible. 

        1. Not clearing bus stops after the initial snowfall last December is NOT doing everything possible. Taxpayers pay for service and we are not getting it.  To be part of a class action you need “standing.” To help you need to be able to contribute sufficient  money.  Negative for me on both counts.

          We have called the city and RTD and talked to numerous polite young ladies, all graduates of customer service charm school, who are as pleasant as they are ineffectual. There is nothing they really can do but pass on the requests/complaints to the “We don’t care because we don’t have to” Department.

          I sense a theme here.  Whether it is standing in line to vote, snowed in bus stops, or confusion over city plowing plans, it is nobody’s fault and everybody is doing the best they can and so leave the elected officials alone.  Has Colo Pols been hacked by members of the Helen Thorpe School of Political Letter Writing?

          1. I’m kinda on your side on this one. I understand that people (esp. poor and handicapped) need to get to the bus, and I think in my area it’s some elected body’s responsibility to clear the sidewalks…

      1. The point is we ALREADY pay taxes for RTD. Clearing out bus stops after snowstorms is a budgeted item for RTD.  It is just not being done. (Nor are customers being told on the tape recorded RTD phone messaging or on the web side, that many stops are inaccessible)  In Denver, property owners are responsible for getting their sidewalks clear within 24 hours after the snow stops. If it doesn’t happen, the city can ticket the property owner, the city can also plow the sidewalks and charge the property owner for the service.  It is just not being done. 

        The problem is with the city of Denver and with RTD and with those tax payer funded agencies who are beeing paid, by US,  ALREADY,  to create, coordinate and execute plans to keep public transportation accessible during emergencies.  “Handicap access” is NOT a ‘nice thing,” a charitable service, it is a federally secured civil right.  I can not believe that I have found myself once again at the feet of the United States Constitution. But here I am.
        Ultimately, practically everything “Is the Constitution, Stupid.”  (That “stupid” part does come from the first Clinton campaign…where the sign “It’s the economy, stupid.” hung in the boiler room._

        What we have seen here is an inadvert “dry run” of what emergency response would look like in the event of a major civil defense diaster…such as a terrorist attack.  It is not pretty.  The information given to the public was initially inaccurate. The planning is not coordinated. A segment of the population, ie the disabled and seniors, have been ignored. I might add that  parents with small children in strollers use the buses a lot and their access was also restricted.  Although, they don’t enjoy the same civil right protection, I don’t think, as the handicapped and elderly.

        Meantime, I bet plenty of tax money has gone to the “spin consultants” who have advised elected officials have to position their responses to this weather emergency.

        Back in “97, the blizzard knocked out power and phone service to large section of the metro area.  I don’t know if measures were put into place to reduce the possibility of that happening again or if we were just lucky.

        But TW, I am with you on saving taxs.  I say let’s pass a state law forbidding any governmental unit from spending one cent on pr consultants.

        1. The city govt. and the RTD do not have to comply with the same rules as you and I (and most everyone else who posts in here) because they govt. entities and generally exempt themselves from those rules which apply to us commoners.

          1. Governments may exempt themselves from some laws, but the largest fudiciary responsibility remains.  Elected officials can get away with this ONLY if citizens are apathetic and tolerate sloppy government.

      1. Good Republican Primary result this year was when Faye Griffin kicked his ass out of office.  What an embarassment for the Republicans, and that is saying a whole lot in my view.  If he’s guilty, send him to jail.  If he’s not guilty, send her to jail. 

      2. I have had to play in a number of legislative fundraiser tournaments over the years and a couple of times I ended up on teams with Paschall (when he was still in the House).

        I know that cheating at golf is not an unknown situation, but cheating at scramble golf is really the low point.

        It was very common for Paschall to take ‘overs’, improve his lie and otherwise ‘cheat’ when playing a 4-man scramble.

        What a crock.

    2. Not surprisng from a man who’s major legislative accomplishment was having “Free Lunch” named after him, as he brought a whole new meaning to word doggie bag – scooping up everything in sight and actually ordering multiple dinners to take home in what became known as Pascal Bags.  No wonder we lose when our Repub elected’s are so arrogant and drunk on the elixors of self indulgance and entitlement. Hopefully, some time in the wilderness will bring respect for the public and ourselves.

  5. So, word is that Khalilzad, reportedly a Muslim, will be selected to serve as UN represenative from the US.  Now, will he put his hand on the Christian Bible or the Qu’ran when he takes office, and will that earn him criticism from Congr. Goode and other wack job freaks?

      1. ….but U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode (Christian Theocrat-Va.) wants to change it so that all must swear on the Holy Bible (presumably the St. James’ Authorization Edition).

      2. We of some minority faiths who believe that swearing means one has two levels of truth, have finally been accomodated most everywhere w/o problems. 

        Not so only two generations ago.

        “Let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no.”

  6. What is the word on Rick Gonzales & Harris Sherman. Seasoned pros who know how to get things done?
    Or tired old hacks that should have been put out to pasture not given big jobs?

    1. Now they have “the man with the little penis” to kick around for two years, just like the Dems did in Virginia.  What fun. He’s so predictable.  Gee, I wonder what the one note of the entire Republican Party will be the next two years.  If he thought he had a problem controlling George Felix “Macaca” Allen, wait till he tries to control 45 legislators, 3 house members who are so far right its not even funny and a host of local officials.  At least he can still control Allard.  Guess he’s not running.  Really, quite a let down for a man who wanted to be the next Karl Rove. By the way, is Wadhams even pro-life???  Of is he just a stooge of the fat cats???  Will the rank and file really warm up to him, or have the inmates finally taken over the asylum?  Stay tuned folks.  This could be fun.

      1.   “Millionaire-lawyer-lobbyist Mark Udall” simply doesn’t have the same musical ring to it as it did with Tom Strickland. 
          Has Dicky agreed to do this pro bono, or is the Republican State Committee going to be paying him a salary?  If so, it’s got to be alot less than he’s used to earning.
          I wouldn’t hold the Macaca Allen campaign against Wadhams:  even he couldn’t turn chicken shit into chicken salad.

        1. how serious Allen’s “macaca” comment actually was.  It took the campaign about ten days before they caught on.  Up to that point they followed the old thinking of “keep your head down and this 3 day news cycle problem will go away”.  Wadhams missed the internet/blog connection keeping the issue alive.  He underestimated the disruption to the campaign other “bigot” charges made possible by the macaca comment.  He started limiting the press access to Allen—maybe not a bad idea early but doing it at the end of a campaign didn’t work well.  Finally, the last 2-3 weeks they put Allen in small events in contrast to Webb drawing 1-2000 people at nearly every appearance.  This allowed Webb to give the appearance of building Big Mo.  Which actually turned into end of the campaign momentum carrying him to a very close victory.  Without Allen being really small at the end, Webb wouldn’t have won. 

          Wadhams wasn’t responsible for everything but he was in charge and was the primary non-candidate decisionmaker/strategist.  He made lots of wrong calls and his timing was way off.

          He shouldn’t come back to Colorado as the party chair.  He needs to not be dealing with internal party politics as he pulls his game back together.  If he comes back it might be because he has no where else to go at the moment.

        2. Lawyer/Lobbyist Scott McInnis in the same law firm as TS.

          I can’t wait.

          And it should be remembered that the Lawyer Lobbist thing did not originate with Wadhams, it was first used by Gene Nichol in the Senate Primary in ’96’.  Wadhams just appropriated it.

          Not unlike the Both Ways Bob thing that originated with the Holstzman camp.  While Ritter did not use it directly he certainly benefitted from the label that just would not go away for BWB.

          It should also be remembered, that while Wadhams and Allard won the race against Strickland, Wadhams’ previous endeavor was a loss:  he ran Terry Considine’s campaign and lost to Ben Campbell.

    3. Obviously, Karl Rove is counting up the Electorial votes for 2008 and needs CO to go red for a Republican candidate win. Plus, the R’s can’t afford to lose another US Senate seat. Wadams may use CO as a base to try to reclaim the West. The national Dems better take notice as well as the locals.

    1. when he had a larger registration advantage.  Not as large as of late, but still an advantage.

      I am not convinced that he is the great guru.  When has he won in a race where he did not have a registration advantage?

      1.   South Dakota, Colorado, Montana, and Virginia…..they all have more R’s than D’s.  Good question, Roger. 
          The better question is:  has Dicky ever run a campaign where the deck wasn’t stacked in his candidate’s favor?

        1. When Campbell beat Wadham’s candidate (the very wealthy and well-funded) Terry Considine, Campbell was still a Democrat, and the registration in the state was pretty equal.  Roughly a third Dem, a third Rep and a third unaffiate or minor party.

          It was a pretty level playing field and Campbell won.

          It wasn’t until the mid ’90s’ that the registration started to shift dramatically to the Republicans

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