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April 23, 2016 12:42 AM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 47 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“I quite like irritating people who need to be irritated.”

–Robert Smith

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47 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

    2. <sigh> Didn't he get the message the jury is still out on "The Great Social Experiement"?!?!

      I'm in central Appalachia today so I can't be there in person but would you guys call me?  Would love to give you a sneak preview of what's coming this summer!  

      Just realized I'm coming up on the third anniversary of my first CoPols diary; my anniversary diary is  going to be wrapped around this Kentucky project and it's ties to CO.

      Give Wanda and Scott a big hug for me. Two of my favorite people. 

  3. "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.  Out, out, brief candle!  Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
    and then is heard no more.  It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

    Wliliam Shakespeare, Playwright  and Poet, is [Very Much Alive] at 452.

    http://nyti.ms/1pqn6jP

     

    2. I love it…

      .Beware
      Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
      Bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee.
      Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

      — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet
      — Act i, Sc. 3

       

       

      Happy Birthday, Bill!

  4. I'm beginning to understand my state senator's fetish for coal.  "It's the math, stupid". 

    “If someone had invested $10,000 in April 2011 in a basket of 13 U.S. coal mining companies, they would have lost $9,200 as of March 2016,”

    Wholly consistent with the Laffer Curve, the idea that we can frack our way out of climate collapse and the promise that Operation Iraqi Freedom would 'pay for itself' (not even a good start on an exhaustive list). 

    I'm spending some time 'a couple of hollers west' of Owsley County, KY.  If you want to see the future of coal-dependent economies and the manifestation of tea party ideology, look no further.  

    Human beings with beautiful souls who have been lied to with no where to turn – while the robber barons loot what they haven't already stolen. 

    1. Hey…that's my cousins' house. My family comes mostly from Jackson and Estill counties, right next door. My mother got us out of there as soon as she could.
      There wasn’t much opportunity in those days. But, hemp grows like crazy there. We had a river bottom full of it.

      1. There is a mini-hemp revolution going on in these parts.  Love the people; have connected with some really passionate folks here who want to fix this mess they've been handed.  

        Just met the volunteer Mayor for one of the small villages in Rockcastle County.  In addition to being Mayor he's the barber, hairdresser, school bus driver and judge advocate.  A local lady just opened up a new restaurant in an old feed store and fed me the best $4.50 cent hamburger I've ever had.  She wouldn't accept a tip.  Said it wouldn't be right, given 'she owned the place'.  It's the little things. 

        1. If you get over to McKee you will, for sure, be hangin' with my homeys. After I left college, I used to go there often to visit my grandmother who lived in Bighill, over past Clover Bottom in Jackson County. I love it up there, for all the same reasons you seem to. 

          Enjoy your stay in the "Dark and Bloody Ground"…the bones and the spirits  of my ancestors are all around you.

          1. It turns out my great (to the 5th) grandfather Bowman married Rebecca Jane Sparrow (the sister of Henry Sparrow, Lincoln’s mother’s father (or not, depending on different accounts of history. She may have been illigitimate) – so we have ties to the Lincoln family a long-way back.  Turns out Tom Hanks and George Clooney are in the same half of the tree.

            I'm enjoying the Lincoln 'sites' in this neck of the woods. 

            1. Hey Michael and Duke,

              MJ, V, Salzman, Canines, Karen and I had a great lunch at Jezebel's today. Missed you guys. You were right, Michael, those people can COOK. Pulled pork benedict-YUM! We're planning another meet-up after the election to celebrate/ lick our wounds. Hope to see more people next time.

              1. Hey (ns)skinny…hated I couldn't be there but I WILL NOT miss the next gathering!  Sorry you didn't get to meet Wanda.  She and Scott are two very special human beings.  

          2. V'ger – pretty cool how they do it these days.  The seeds end up in the bin; the top leaves and find stalks end up over the walkers (they could be gathered with a Vermeer pull-behind if you wanted to make some essential oil from them).  The stalks are laid to dry and then processed in to fiber, hurd, etc. 

            1. That is amazing.  But I betit costs $300,000 or more.

              Still, we're opening some real opportunites for young farmers who have been exploited so long.

              1. V'yer – we are simultaneously the only G7 nation that prohibits its cultivation while being the largest consumer market for its products in the G7.  <slap forehead>

                True story: about a month ago I was in the offices of a senior, Midwestern US Senator's office with his Chief of Staff and a member of his staff that sits as his rep for the Caucus on International Narcotics Control.  They politely listened to our pitch on why their boss should schedule a hearing for the Industrial Hemp Farming Act (our entire delegation sans Lamborn is already on board).  

                When we were finished one staffer commented, "We aren't sure why we should do this, no one has proven this crop is economically viable."  My response was, "if that's the standard for legalization, you better prohibit corn, wheat, rice, milk and soybeans. They couldn't survive without the gov't safety net."

                The other staffer then said, "it's a labor-intensive crop to harvest and we just can't see where you'll find the laborers to get the crop out of the field.".  Keep in mind, we were in the offices of a Senator who represented a state that rhymes with Kiowa. I pulled out my iPhone and loaded the video I shared with you in the above comment.  I asked them if that was 'mechanized' enough? 

                To Zap's daily reminders: this government of ours isn't broken.  It's working exactly like those that own it intend it to operate.  BigPharma, etal to this day have DEA spreading their false talking points; we have Hillary using the phrase 'reschedule' in her responses to questions about marijuana (as contrasted to Bernie's 'deschedule' position.  That phrase is code for "'BigPharma' will take it from here, boys and girls". 

                This is why the floor fight over the Dem platform is crucial to the Party health – and why Bernie should stay in the race all the way to the convention (as James Dodd linked earlier today). 

                1. I don't know anybody who thinks Bernie should drop out, I just want them to knock off the Paul Song "Hillary is a whore" and Jeff Weaver "Hillary sold her soul to the devil" vilification.  I was under the impression that it is legal to grow hemp in Colorado.  Am I wrong, or do we, a la pot, have one of those federal/state standoffs?

                  1. It's legal in CO and 31 other states now (CO was the first). The problem is that all cannabis (regardless of THC content) resides on Schedule 1 so banking, insurance, etc. (anything this is federally insured or subsidized) is problematic. Technically the inputs to grow a hemp crop are not tax-deductible on your federal return under a literal interpretation of the law.  

                    This Administration and the current Congress have tied the hands of DEA to interfere at the state level on hemp and marijuana – something any future Administration / Congress could change.  That's why we need S.134/H.R.525 passed and industrial hemp descheduled.  

                    To wit (and by 'he' she was talking about 'me'):

                    Michelle Leonhard, the (now ex-) Director of DEA. 

                     

                  2. If wishes were fishes we would all have sushi.  And I wish that Hillary surrogates would quit implying, or stating outright, that all the Sanders supporters are naive starry-eyed 19 year olds that probably aren't "real" Democrats anyways.

                    1. Ummmm…  those who aren't registered as Dems aren't Dems. Not an insult. Just the facts.

                    2. Uhh, the sleight is often directed at folks who registered as Dems to vote in the primaries or caucus.  Surely you have not been under a rock? It usually goes something like…

                      "I have been knocking on doors my whole life and these younguns just show up and upset things!  Don't they know we have meetings and snacks already! And they never bring their own!  They just think democracy is a birthright or sumfin!" 

                    3. You mean someone who registered as a democrat 20 minutes ago and who will go back to being unafilliated after the primary might not be as influential with his temporary party matea as some one who worked 40 years for the party..  Tnhe horror.  The horror!

                2. Your story reminds me again of the reality I discovered  from the time I spent in DC. The vast majority of decisions made in congress are not made with the best interests of the American people in mind. When facts and reality run up against the fantastical world of congressional politics, some of the things you hear and see are almost surreal. 

                  I recall a discussion with Pete Domenicis' staff about a decade ago…It doesn't take long to see clearly the interests of Big Money at work. One of the more telling questions I remember hearing often was:  Who is their lobbyist? It matters. 

                  Big Ag, Big Pharma, Big Media,…really, all the "Bigs" are fairly drooling at the cash flowing in to Colorado (and the other states which have entered the 21st century). They will take over the market before too much longer…and they will fuck it up like they always do.

                    1. Thank you for posting that article, Michael. I did, indeed, really enjoy that. How can you not love a soul that good and gentle…?

  5.  

    This will come as no surprise to the residents of Garfield county who live along Divide Creek, south of Silt. They have seen this movie before…just with different accents.

     

    Australian politician sets river on fire to protest fracking

     

    Sydney (AFP) – An Australian politician has set fire to a river to draw attention to methane gas he says is seeping into the water due to fracking, with the dramatic video attracting more than two millions views.

    Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham used a kitchen lighter to ignite bubbles of methane in the Condamine River in Queensland, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) west of Brisbane.

    The video shows him jumping back in surprise, using an expletive as flames shoot up around the dinghy.

    "Unbelievable. A river on fire. Don't let it burn the boat," Buckingham, from New South Wales, said in the footage posted on Facebook on Friday evening, which has been viewed more than two million times.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/australian-politician-sets-river-fire-protest-fracking-064640159.html

     

     

    1. It's not what I found, but where I  found it: 

      FRACKING. River on fire in Australia near fracking site:” I was shocked by force of the explosion when I tested whether gas boiling through the Condamine River, Qld was flammable. So much gas is bubbling through the river that it held a huge flame. There has been concern that fracking and extraction of coal seam gas could cause gas to migrate through the rock. Not only is it polluting the river and air, but methane is an extremely potent heat-trapping gas. Fugitive emissions from the unconventional gas industry could be a major contributor to climate change and make gas as dirty as burning coal.”

      Towleroad began in 2003 and is now a leading online news source offering a broad range of information on politics, pop culture, gay culture, media, entertainment, photography, fashion, technology, men, music, and travel.

      Send us tips at tips-at-towleroad.com.

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      1. Um Hmm….the problem is ubiquitous and involves all creatures who breathe…including plants and fish. The first claim is always that the gas is biogenic (generated by nature), as soon as the fugitive gas is discovered to be thermogenic (generated by heating of ancient plant matter, deep underground), and lawsuits loom, their story and activities change.

        Remember the one thing they most avoid…setting precedent. They are looking out for themselves, but if they do something that exposes the rest of the industry to loss, their peers will come at them like Katies' 9 puppies on a turkey carcass.

         

  8. Bernie just uttered the magic word to George Stephanopolis…"platform". Be ready for the platform fight that will make history. While not conceding, you can see it in his face, the next target is the platform.  

        The New York Times Editorial Board: Sanders and Kasich Should Ignore Any Pressure to Quit

        Mr. Sanders’s presence has made this an immeasurably more substantive race, in which both candidates’ policies have been better vetted, and as a result, better delineated. That’s the best preparation for the general election. Yes, Mrs. Clinton’s lead is nearly insurmountable, but it should be voters who erase the “nearly.”

        Mr. Sanders has voiced the concerns and energized millions of young people, many of them voting for the first time. His candidacy has forced the party to go deeper on addressing issues likewealth inequality, college tuition costs and the toll of globalization — important points of distinction with Republicans. What’s more, Mr. Sanders’s commitment to small individual contributions has put the lie to Democrats’ excuses that they, too, must play the big money game to win. This is a message too seldom heard in the party that first championed campaign finance reform.

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