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October 28, 2008 03:37 PM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 84 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”

–Martin Luther King, Jr.

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84 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

    2. So first there’s the notion that everyone who gets sick, everyone who gets laid off, and everyone whose savings plunge in value is “lazy.” Charming, I’m sure that will get McCain some votes.

      Then there’s the whole ignorance of what Halloween is. It’s extortion that we’ve all gotten so used to that we think it’s cute. For most people, “work” is very different from going around begging for food and threatening to throw eggs at a house if you don’t get it.

      Doesn’t surprise me that a Republican would view work and extortion as equivalent, though.

      1. That many of those who don’t make enough to pay income tax pay as high a percentage of their income in social security as many gazillionaires with smart tax accountants pay on their income. Between social security and income tax most ordinary Americans pay higher percentages than the rich.  Or that the high corporate tax rate McCain loves to whine about doesn’t mean much when 65% of corporations pay nothing and most, if not all, of the remaining minority wind up paying much less.

        Rolling back the unaffordable (in war time, a historic first) Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest, returning them to Clinton era levels when the economy was great and giving the middle class lots of breaks is hardly taking candy from hard-working children.  It’s building the economy the only way demonstrated over and over to work; from the base up.  The American middle class is the engine of the world’s economy when it’s doing well. Trickle down  has always been a complete failure.

        And McSame’s ridiculous solution,  paying for everything while keeping the tax break for the richest by cutting back on earmarks, is a joke considering that all earmarks put together aren’t enough to make a dent in the budget compared to all the areas he keeps adding to his off limits list.

        The Clinton tax structure was no hardship for the rich, business and the middle were booming and povery was down. Middle were becoming upper middle and low income were joinng the middle. Since Bush, the opposite is happening. McCain has yet to say what different economic policies he will employ to reverse the trend. And for the social conservatives out there, abortions were down under Clinton too as they always are in good economic times.  All in all, much less scary than what the GOP has had and continues to offer.

    1. Cool heads should prevail. Hopefully he will not have to register as a sex offender … lucky for him they weren’t playing kids from Focus on the Family.

        1. Same reason 10,000 people can smoke pot on a CU field and not have any trouble, but a single person smoking pot on the Pearl Street Mall will probably be arrested.

          Same way if a single person steals from the government, he may get arrested, but if a whole bunch of people get together and call themselves “the Republican Party,” it’s fine. 🙂

  4. This expalins a lot with the Denver Chamber/Union Boss corruption to destroy workers rights, ethics and accountability in government.

    ps YES on 47 and 54

        2. because you don’t have a culture of corruption of your own to protect.  Just because you’re a “have not,” don’t try to tear down we “haves.”

          One day, if you work hard, you can have a culture of corruption to protect too.  It’s the American Dream.

          1. you admit you are part of a protection racket for a corrupt group. It is sad that you oppose just policies that hurt members civil rights.

            You join with corporate bosses to collude against the people, you are a fool.

  5. In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth, the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 39.7%.

    In March 2006 Forbes reported 793 billionaires in the US with combined net worth of $2.6 trillion. In March 2007 Forbes reported 946 billionaires in the US with combined net worth of $3.5 trillion. That is a 1-year increase of 19% in the number of billionaires and an increase of $35% in their net worth during a time of increasing poverty.

    Now, severe poverty is at its highest point in three decades. Roughly 12% of the U.S. lives in poverty. This is not because they are lazy, it’s a systemic problem that can and should be addressed.

    2. all of your money if this is such a big issue for you.

      Nobody is stopping you.

      If in your mind there is a problem with our system, what is your solution? Take all the money from the people that have succeeded and give it to those in poverty? Why not start with your business?

      Not my solution. And hopefully it never will be OUR solution. Not if we want to remain a FREE country, and not a SOCIALIST country.

      Why would we EVER want to deter people from succeeding in business and in life in general? Why would we want to punish those trying to obtain the American dream and reward those who don’t even bother to try.

      2. that we needed to change? Obama’s plan merely restores fiscal responsibility to the tax code. If you want zero wealth redistribution, then do away with every single tax, fee, and tariff.

        Oh, what’s that? There wouldn’t BE a government if we did that? Oh, ok. Nevermind then.

        1. He and his sidekick Biden believe in taxing the piss out of the business man, and giving to the poor poor little guy.

          That is punishing the man that tries to succeed while rewarding those that don’t.

          Plain and simple.

          Socialistic in principle.

          1. On this issue. It was basically the “I am Joe the Plumber” ads that they’ve been showing on TV, but in robocall form.

            Amazing that they would waste money contacting cell phone-only 18-24 year old Democrats.

      4. …was the result of very progressive tax rates.  Middle income people like you pay LESS because the very wealthy pay a lot more.  Why is this so hard for you to comprehend?

        You sound like JTP, except you are actually doing – a lot – better than he is.  

        Say, does President Obama sound better or worse than President H. Clinton?  

  6. We’ve heard that at some McCain/Palin events someone has yelled out, “He’s a nigger” referring to Senator Obama. Now I’m hearing, keeping with the marxist/socialist slur we’re hearing, what was actually being yelled out was ” Redistributor”. 🙂

  7. I got 2 letters today from the National Right to Freeload Committee. One is an URGENTGRAM. Apparently the only thing standing between freedom and the evil “union bosses” is Bob Schaffer.

    The letters are very blatant that they are trying to stop union representation of workers. Not make it optional. Not change what is required to bring a union in. It’s to stop union representation.

    I think Libertad has been lying to us…

        1. After Ewegen offshores all his staffers and production folks, he’ll partner with he City of Denver. They (DNA+) will form a new marketing agreement that requires subscription by every household to the Post.

          Forced media subscriptions…bet you like that idea.

          Maybe you can force Jake Jabs and all Denver businesses to advertise just because they have a business license in Denver.

          Ewegen, do your bosses know you fiddle out here in cyberspace? Do they know you channel Lusty Larry?

          1. I guess those uncontrollable urges of yours were why you choose the handle “Libertine.”

            It makes sense. That conviction is also probably  why you hide behind an alias.  Good move, if you have something to hide.

            Now, walk Jonathan’s dog like a good shill.

  8. details at The Hill. And he sounds solid:

    He said that his top priority as governor would be education. “The public school system in this country is the worst it has ever been and what that does is that hurts crime, it hurts the judicial system,” he said. “You know if you don’t give people education and hope, they become criminals. They get involved in drugs. So we have got to fix the public school system.”

    Alabama going blue – wow!

  9. When I got here and registered to vote, it was rejected until I provided more proof that I was a citizen and “they” had a match with the last four digits of my SS.  That, despite a passport.  Said law was shortly thereafter declared invalid and then on appeal, reinstated.

    My parents being elderly we decided that we would use mail ballots.  Since the postage was $1 per, why not drop them off at the county courthouse, eh?

    You can’t.  You have to stand in line just as if you were doing early voting.  

    So, we’ll mail them in and use $3.70 or so postage cuz who has $1 stamps?

    Everything about this state drives me nuts.

    1. Thank God you registered 10 minutes ago to expose the majority of the American public for what they are–people who want to destroy America.

      Funny how people are saying the same thing about people like Dick Cheney and John McCain, only instead writing blog posts using other blogs as sources, they write books.

      1. and make his/her next post an indignant tirade about how we’re closeminded and everyone who is pro-Obama is afraid to debate campaign talking points?

  11. People in Georgia did it yesterday.

    http://www.wsbtv.com/news/1781…

    Clayton County voter Patricia Lewis finally voted in Riverdale after standing in line to vote for six hours. “I vote in every election and I couldn’t pass this one up. I think about my dad, about the struggles he went through and for me to vote again is just amazing,” Lewis.

    When asked about the long line, Lewis said, “It’s OK. I stand in lines to shop. Six hours to vote…it’s nothing.”

    I have never ceased to be amazed by the tenacity people show when it comes to Democracy.

  12. The Oregon Senate race has added one more odd twist to this already odd election season.

    Not only is Gordon Smith trying to distance himself from Bush, he is running ads featuring Obama and other prominent Democrats, including Kennedy and Kerry.  And no mention of McCain.

    Smith is typical of Republican Senators who have represented Oregon, moderate, etc.  But this year is just toxic for Republicans everywhere.

    From today’s Washington Post.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

    1. Unfortunately, it only drove away the whackier portions of the GOP base and drove his poll numbers through the floor.  So then he started getting tough on Democrats for a short while.

      Gordon Smith is going to win the Lincoln Chafee Moderate Republican Ouster Of The Year Award for 2008.  But we have to give him credit for trying to run away…

  14. Get a load of this, just in from the Hank Eng campaign:

    “The new poll numbers are in and Hank’s campaign is looking great!  Overall, this race is neck and neck!  Hank has closed the gap to within 5 percentage points over the last 3 weeks.

    Coffman has dropped 18% in Douglas County alone, and the race is now 40% to 40% in this Republican stronghold.  This is absolutely huge!  For Hank to be rising in the polls is outstanding and indicative of your hard work!”

    OK now Dems.  Time to volunteer to get out the Dem vote.  Even if Hank can’t close the whole 5 point gap, this is huge.  Let’s go for the win ( I see you shaking your heads but stranger things have happened, especially lately) but remember that a narrower than ever before loss will bring big bucks to CD6 next time, especially if Coffman wins but is wounded by surfacing scandals.  Let’s say major screw ups as SOS?  Suits?  Etc? Sometimes these things take a while to catch up.

      1. It was cited, as I said,  by the Eng campaign.  And I agree about being skeptical about what you hear from campaigns.  Also agree we are probably in no danger of losing our chance for a Dem SOS. But if it is true that Eng could get as close as single digits considering the huge gap in name recognition besides the nature of CD 6 that would be huge for the future. Especially if Coffman comes out of this election with a lot of baggage in the form of election screw ups and other assorted scandals under his watch as SOS.  We could be on our way to doing in CD6 what we appear to be doing in CD4 in the not so distant future.

    3.    As much as I’d love to see Hank Eng win in C.D. 6, I’m skeptical of the numbers cited.  

        It would be wonderful if the voters in C.D. 6, wanting to make amends for having foisted Tommy the Bigot on our nation and the world, decided to send a Dem to D.C., but it probably aint gonna happen.

        Nevertheless, there is one scenario where it is conceivable that Eng could be running even with Coffman.  Supporters of Lil ARMstrong, along with the remnants of the Trailhead Foundation, decide to cross over and vote for Eng for two reasons: (a) to keep a Republican in the S.O.S. Office, and (b) to keep Coffman from establishing a lifetime hold on that seat.  

        Better to have Eng in for one term and then re-run Willie in ’10 when Coffman won’t be there to stop him and mortgage bankers may have a less soiled reputation.

        They’ll probably also conclude that it’s more important to hold S.O.S. Office than hold one additional seat as the minority party in the House.  If it looked like Coffman was going to be 218th Republican member and make the GOP the majority party, things would obviously be different.

        Finally, if Hank Eng were to win in C.D. 6, that would mean that Dems were on the verge of something historic, not simply the pick up of another 20 or 25 seats.  If Eng won, the Dems would be where they were in 1974 when they won a 2/3 majority in the House.

      1. on all the Hank Eng signs I see when I foray into CD-6 (the line is less than 1/2 mile from my home).

        Unless that sea change that analysts are talking about can change even the 6th blue, your theory is actually quite plausible.

  15. Three big takeaways:

    1. Keep an eye on california–Seriously?

    2. We can not win by driving up turnout in the base and ignoring independants–I agree, but why didn’t you run that strategy.

    3. We are well positioned and we are exactly where we want to be.–Your exactly where I want you to be as well

  16. Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday afternoon issued an order expanding the hours of early voting up to 12 hours a day through Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and a total of 12 weekend hours, between 7 a.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. (The law allowed for a maximum of eight hours a day and a total of eight on the weekend).

    At a hastily arranged news conference, Crist said the right to vote is sacred and that “many have fought and died for this right.” He said he consulted a leading Democratic legislator, Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, before issuing his order, and that Gelber knew of a similar order issued by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002 that dealt with helping voters deal with new equipment. (Buzz audio here.)

    As to the perception that more early voting helps Democrats, Crist said: “This is not a political decision. This is a people decision.” (audio here)

    Last week, all nine Democrats in the Florida congressional delegation wrote a letter urging him to expand early voting and to order all early voting sites to be open on Sunday.

    Early balloting in Florida so far favors Democrats, while Republicans hold an advantage in absentee voting. Waits of up to four hours have been reported in precincts in heavily-Democratic Broward County.

    http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz…

    2. Gov. Crist has repeatedly shown that he seems to “get it” in regards to election practice.  This is likely to hurt Republicans, who generally want a lower turnout this year, but it was without question the right thing to do.

      1. Definitely not the situation you had with Bush big brother as Governor in 2000.   Besides, here Crist goes to all the trouble of getting engaged just to be a more acceptable VP choice in the party of homophobes and gets dropped, not for a serious pick, but for joke VP pick, Palin.  I get the general idea he is not a happy McCain campaign camper.  

  17. apparently Colorado has hardly any lines at all. Today was the first day I could check on CU’s early-voting location, and at 10 am there was no line at all. (The campaign has been encouraging students to early-vote rather than mail-in.)

    Kind of surprising. I think the election day lines will still be quite long.

    1. According to this early voting statistics page complied by Dr. Michael McDonald, Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, turn out in Florida is 27.0% of that in 2004 while in Colorado it is 37.9%. So not only does Colorado have short lines, but we have more of our voters done. Maybe Florida is just incompetent when it comes to elections.

      1. Ya think?

        Here I am in the heart of CD13 missing 18,000 votes in 2006.

        I voted against Kathy Dent,the SoE.  It’s not like an error won’t happen from time to time (I’m referring to less egregious errors), but her propensity to try to hide mistakes.

        1. I would also note the high percentage of absentee ballots in Colorado. But today I don’t feel like being fair.

          I’m sure that lines are going to be long on election day, but I’m not sure what to do about that.

        2. With the GOP in charge, the general idea is the fewer the voting machines the better it is for the GOP. They’re all about supressing turn out.  Also I don’t think the mail-in has been as big there. You’d think it would be big with retirees but my Mom’s friends never use them.

      3. The Colorado number is based on active voters, if I read the Secretary of State’s website correctly.  Multiplying out by total voters, Colorado only has 30% of its total electorate voted so far.

        Oops!  That’s still better than Florida! ;^)

  18. We came up with what we think is a really good marketing idea. It entails hiring about 100 college students across the country part time – at jobs they will really like and that pay well.

    So we make money, good for us. We provide quality jobs for 100 students, good for them. Companies use our software and are more productive, we all win.

    Mentioned it to my CFO and her immediate reaction was no way – because of the effort involved in handling payroll taxes and reporting across 51 states/D.C. It’s not the fact that taxes must be paid, it’s the complexity of doing so across 51 jurisdictions.

    We’re moving forward with a trial here in Colorado. And if it works we’ll push it out nationwide. But I’ll bet that there are companies that looked at doing something like this and the no from the CFO stopped it.

    I think the states would do well to set up something for companies where they can handle all this through their home state and the home state then forwards the state payments on. Even better would be if the states all agreed that we could all pay as though they were in our state as it would balance out across all.

    Just an idea to put out there.

  20. Hank Eng is a great guy but he is not going to Congress. Mike Coffman’s replacement will be named by Governor Ritter.  Who will it be?

    Rosemary Rodriguez

    Andrew Romanoff

    Ken Gordon

    Joan Fitz-Gerald

    none of the above?

  21. I think the repubican rant radio is not making points with its Obama is a socialist.shout out…because most people under fifty don’t know what a socialist is…or why it would be bad…

    For most people spreading the wealth around looks good..right now…

    the flip side is, of course, it is easier to scare ignorant people than educated people…..

    next wednesday…or whenever the election is actually decided, we will know a whole lot more about who we are as a nation….that should keep up preoccupied until St. Pat’s day…and a new excuse to drink…

    1. But Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve are three upcoming holidays during which I usually get plastered.

      That’s mostly because of relatives though.   🙂

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