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May 16, 2014 06:27 AM UTC

Friday Open Thread

  • 43 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

"If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people–including me–would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism."

–Hunter S. Thompson

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43 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

  1. Vestas said to be considering a move of North American headquarters to Colorado.  Great news: 

    The newspaper, in a story published Saturday, said former and current Vestas employees told it the company is “actively considering the consolidation of its Portland sales and service office into its operations in Colorado.”

    “They’re the biggest dog on the porch [in the cleantech industry]. But we don’t have any information that there’s some kind of immediate effort to move the office,” Clark said.

    Vestas has said it expects to employ more than 2,000 people in Colorado by the end of 2014.

    2. China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, plans to speed up solar power development, targeting a more than tripling of installed capacity to 70 gigawatts by 2017 to cut its reliance on coal.  Germany generated 74% of its entire energy demand last week for one day; for the Q1 they are averaging 27% and they're headed to 50% in the next five years.  At one point last week their energy costs went negative because of the priority queue of renewables in their system.  India is adding 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity annually and considering a national mandate for green power.  Brazil produces 85% of its energy from renewables.

      Here, in the land of the free, we drink fracking fluid, fight over pipelines to carry pre-historic forms of energy and cling to our aging fleet of coal plants.  Our tax code is our de facto energy policy, preserving age-old embedded subsidies for last century's fuel source while we find it politically impossible to develop an energy strategy that transcends the next election cycle.  In Colorado we look the other way as our natural resources are plundered, our regulated monopoly attempts to gut our energy-efficieny programs and our unregulated monopoly, the rural electrics, pretend someone is waging war on them. 

      We can do better than this…

      India adds about 2,000 MW of renewable energy capacity every year
      Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2014/04/03/india-may-mandate-conventional-power-producers-invest-renewable-energy/#lJoFZYDzTpm8FW3D.99

      India adds about 2,000 MW of renewable energy capacity every year
      Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2014/04/03/india-may-mandate-conventional-power-producers-invest-renewable-energy/#lJoFZYDzTpm8FW3D.99

  2. "#benghazilie #obamacarelie #unfunnycartoon #statementlackingfacts #linktosomecheesyarticleatWND" 

    – Andrew Carnegie

     

    Just did AC's daily job…………maybe I can get that $5 from AFP-CO

  4. Seems like we need a new Cartoon to kick off the weekend.  This one goes with a shout out to the psuedo-scientists/ political activists espousing climate change:

    Political Cartoons by Henry Payne

      1. MB:Are you telling me Udall should not take Steyer's money?

        Steyer made his money funding the development of coal mines in India and China.  

        Seems to me his money is tainted.

        1. Any sentence from you that starts with "Seems to me…" is summarily dismissed by me.  No, I do not think Udall  (or anyone who cares about the environment) should reject Steyers money, any more than I think anyone who is working in the social justice arena should reject Rockefeller or Hearst money.  Nor do I think anyone should reject Warren Buffet 'money', even though he owns fossil fuel-related companies. In most instances I tend not to make perfect the enemy of good.

          You covering for Moddy today?  Have you figured out yet that the Greens have a candidate?

            1. Shorter answer: Any statment from you/it… is bound to be an exapmple of barfed up talking point with absolutely no truth value.  IOW ^^^ FUCKING LIAR

    2. Let's discuss the #BENGHAZI issue one last time (at least the last time that I plan to talk directly to you about it.  I've been dealing with my son's German Shepard puppy today and there are a lot of similarities between the two of you – although I know this pup is going to grow out of this stage and be useful at some point). 

      I had planned to write a diary on this issue, but I think it's more appropriate that I direct this specifically to you – as you seem to be 'the face' on this website of all that's wrong with our political system today.

      Let's set aside – for the moment – the deaths of Embassy staff, (in an order of magnitude beyond the unfortunate Benghazi deaths) that occurred under the Bush Administraiton without a cry for a special committee.  Let's set aside – for the moment – the fact this special committee is going to spend millions in this faux witch hunt that even Republicans are already starting to ignore. 

      Let's talk about 'lives' – or the fairytale notion that any one of these elected represenatatives promoting this circus give a shit about a single, fellow human being.  Their actions drown out their words.

      As Tip O'Neil is credited as saying, "All politics are local".  I think most of us on here care a lot about our fellow man.  The belief in the commons.  The notion a functioning government is both necessary and a good thing.  The bulk of my time over the past two years has been targeted at the legalizaton of industrial hemp.  If you have two firing neurons you can grasp the potential of the "Plant of our Founding Fathers".  I'm not going to belabor that point.  But on this journey I had the chance to meet the Stanley Brothers in Colorado Springs – five brothers who have developed a high-CBD strain of the hemp plant, Charlottes Web,  that has a very high rate of efficacy in slowing, or stopping completely, childhood epileptic seizures. 

      Thanks to the change in Colorado law, families across the United States are moving to Colorado, hoping their children can be healed by this plant-based product. Nearly every day for the past month I've had the honor – and blessing – to work with Penn Mattison in our greenhouse here in Wray where we're cloning the plants.  Penn and his family were featured on BBC last week with their daughter Millie.  Matt Figi, father of Charlotte Figi, the namesake of the plant and a Green Beret, has also been here in Wray working with us.  He recently deployed back to Afghanistan, where he is an intelligence officer.  On Wednesday, Paige was on HardBall talking about the insane inclusion of cannabidiol oil on the Controlled Substances Act – Schedule 1.

      50,000 people die from seizure-related events each year, one every 10 minutes. Today, there are 5,000 children on the waiting list for Charlotte's Web – many of them will die while waiting.  While our production in Yuma County this year holds a promise that we can give some relief to the waiting list – the core problem remains: the inclusion of hemp as a Schedule 1 drug.

      Last year S. 359 and H.R. 525, "The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013", were introduced in Congress.  If passed, this law would effectively unshackle our ability to grow sufficient quantities of this plant for eplieptics.  In the Senate, Chairman Leahy has released his jurisdiction over the bill from Judiciary to Agriculture; today, it sits in the House waiting for a hearing.  And waiting.  And waiting. 

      Theoretically Cory Gardner, a man not-long-ago touted as a future Speaker of the House, could push the issue. (he's a co-sponsor of the House bill) But he didin't.  He hasn't.  And he appears to have little interest in it today.

      So please excuse the length of this post – but it's important.  Important for me to tell you directly how useless and toxic your contributions to this website are in the context of 'things that matter'.  In the time I've taken to write this, three more kids have died.  Between now and November, 23,000 more will meet their maker. 

      Your outrage lacks proportionality and purpose – as does that of every single member of the Select Committee on Benghzi. I can't solve all the world's problems – but those that I can affect, I give my all.  These kids deserve better.  They deserve a functioning Congress; they deserve the very best that we as a country can give them.  I'd like to think we're exceptional, but we're not.  We use to aspire to greatness, not be afraid of knowledge or science.  We revered great men. 

      It's hard to maintain that perspective as I watch your freak show.  On behalf of every child on the waiting list for a shot at life – and every child worldwide who is starving or lacks health care: Fuck you

       

       

  6. AC, You should move to Oklahoma.  The micro-managing GOP state legislatures (aka Neanderthals) are seeking to over-ride all the school baords and professionsals to ban teaching that scince stuff if it deviates from Fossil Fule orthodoxy. Gobble gobble.  

    1. Check it out, its like they know you or something.  Seen one turd, seen 'em all, I guess…

      http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/16/republicans-berserk-accuse-scientists-bullying-facts.html 

       

      However, according to Republicans, conservatives, and the religious right, the biggest bullies on the metaphorical block are scientists they claim intimidate weaker people (aforementioned evangelicals, Republicans, and conservatives) with facts, empirical data, and real-world occurrences that only ignorant right-wing morons and bible-clutching yokels find intimidating.

       

      Over the past few weeks, the above mentioned weaker people have been intimidated more than usual by scientists whether it is Neil deGrasse Tyson’s weekly beat-down of creationists’ absurd belief that Earth and the Universe were blinked into existence 6,000 years ago, or climate scientists overwhelming evidence that man-mad global climate change is responsible for extreme weather events plaguing every region of the nation. One does not have to be a scientist, or even understand what science is, to comprehend that the entire globe is being ravaged by the exact extreme weather-related events climate scientists warned ten years ago were going to occur, and yet Republicans and their conservative pundits claim scientists are perpetrating a massive liberal hoax to portray seasonal weather as global climate change. 

  7. Harry Reid and Michael Bennet turn on Tom Steyer

    Harry Reid is pushing and Michael Bennet is a sponsor of legislation aimed at ammending the US Constitution.  Their target is the pseudo environmentalist Billionaire Tome Steyer.  Steyer who made his money investing in coal mines in India and China and who ownes a pipeline that competes with the Keystone Pipeline recently bribed the Dem party to again delay the Keystone project.

    According to the Huffington Post:

    Amending our Constitution is not something any of us should take lightly, but the flood of special interest money in our American democracy is one of the glaring threats our system of government has ever faced," Reid said on the Senate floor. "Let's keep our elections from becoming speculative ventures for the wealthy."

    Reid noted, according to the Huffington Post:

    "You see, these billionaires are dumping unseemly amounts of money into a shadowy political organization. Their donation is an investment in an America rigged to benefit themselves at the expense of the middle class."

    Reid went on to say, again according to the Huffington Post:

    "The Supreme Court has equated money with speech, so the more money you have the more speech you get, and the more influence in our democracy. That is wrong," Reid said Thursday.

    "Every American should have the same ability to influence our political system. One American, one vote. That’s what the Constitution guarantees," he added. "The Constitution does not give corporations a vote, and the Constitution does not give dollar bills a vote."

    One of the major recipients of Tom Steyer's nefarious activities, which Reid and Bennet are trying to address is Mark Udall.  Mark Udall was not able to comment on this story.

  8. So stupid, is our 2%-tile troll, aka hemorrhoid might be helping Dems win…

    http://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/05/15/doyle-mcmanus-gop-climate-change-dance/2142058/ 

    Polls have found that most Americans are worried about global warming, except for one group — tea party conservatives. A Pew Research Poll conducted last year found that only 25 percent of tea party adherents believe climate change is real, against 61 percent of non-tea party Republicans (and 84 percent of Democrats).

    That puts the GOP in a bind, caught between its most zealous conservative supporters and the broader majorities it’ll need to win elections.

    More worrisome for the GOP, younger voters are even more convinced that climate change is a big problem — and they’re going to be around longer than their grandparents.

    And, remarkably, almost two-thirds of Americans, including about half of Republicans, favor stricter limits on emissions from power plants, the centerpiece of Obama’s regulatory agenda.

        1. If it is not an outright lie, your "poll" would suggest all of the lies your ilk have spread have deceived 11 percent more amongst the gullible, non-fact based, uninformed, anti-science community.  I mean, any reasonable person could research global warming on their own and reach a conclusion that it is real based on the facts, but no, they come to you for information because they're lazy and stupid.

          Good work !  You should get a bonus for fucking up this country on behalf of O&G while Germany already gets 3/4 of its energy from renewables.  You should be proud that you are part of holding our great country back.

          ASSHOLE !

          LIAR !

          oh, and happy Friday.

      2. AC's Pants on fire post today:

        The REAL Gallup poll on climate  change:

         

         

        See the difference? The actual Gallup poll shows that 65% believe that "global warming is happening / will happen" during their lifetimes, and only 36% believe that it will be a serious threat to their way of life. Essentially the same stat that AC chose, but presented on a graph AS if IF this was the way Gallup had presented it.

        Among younger (under 49) Americans, 42% see climate change as a threat. Democrats are more worried than Republicans, 56% to 19%.

        The poll question AC posted further down the page in the same font and colors as the Gallup poll is not a gallup poll question- it was never asked.

        Always go to the source, particularly when dealing with a habitual liar.

          2. Missed a a few:

            Will weather patterns be more unstable? 60-40 yes

            Do you think the temperatures has been going up? 73% yes

            Is the cause things people do? 77% at least partly (30% yes, 47% equal cause people/nature)

            If nothing is done to prevent it, will temperatures continue to go up? 72% yes

            How serious will the problem be for the U.S.? 78% at least somewhat serious.

            Oh, and how much should US businesses do about global warming? 39% a great deal; 84% at least some.

            Should government limit US business emissions of greenhouse gases?  77% Yes

            Of course, this is from a sample where 11% thought they knew a lot about global warming.

            http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/documents/global-warming-poll-2.pdf

             

    2. Geebuz – does this cretin still use an abacus?  The chart he provided show that 64% of Americans either believe, by a lot or a moderate amount trust what scientists say; even my climate-denying father, if asked the first question, would answer that if it did exist, it isn't going to make any differnce in his lifetime.  His two great-grandchildren?  Very different story.  You are truly an idiot.

          1. And besides, what does this prove? Lots of people believe all kinds of stuff that isn't true or refuse to believe stuff that is. It says something about the people who hold these opinions. It doesn't say anything about facts. 

            And it's interesting how AC seems to think a good sized minority of the general public's opinion should mean more than the opinion of over 97% of scientists which he apparently holds to mean nothing. But you're right. He really isn't any good at what he's trying to do. 

            Posting  graphs or links to articles on polling that in no way support his position is getting to be a habit. Wasn't it only the other day he posted a link to an article including polling that showed majorities wanting to keep or improve ACA rather than repeal it and only 20% wanting to return to the pre-ACA system? And the point was supposed to be to show how much most Americans hate ACA?  It's like he doesn't read this stuff before he trots it out.

  11. Here's something I heard about on the Rachel Maddow show while channel surfing during NBA play off commercial breaks. I'm pretty sure that if even 1 million people, much less 30 million adults in a nation of just over 300 million people total (including kids, babies, old people) had shown up in DC today to pull off an Arab Spring style ouster of Obama along with Reid, Boehner and McConnell, it would have been all over cable so I guess the turn out so far has been super disappointing. What is it with retired army colonels these days?

    A retired United States Army colonel expects as many as 30 million like-minded individuals will descend on Washington, DC this week and demand that President Barack Obama and other members of his administration be booted from office.

    Those are just some of the demands that Col. Harry Riley, founder of “Operation American Spring,” said he’ll ask the Obama administration to adhere to when militia members and patriots of all sorts arrive in the nation’s capital on Friday and begin demonstrating against a government the group considers to be in violation of the principles established by the founders of the country. 

    http://rt.com/usa/159244-operation-american-spring-washington

     

      1. I ran across a remark that since he had said between 10 and 30 million were going to show, he ws technically right. There were more than 10.

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