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March 26, 2009 04:27 PM UTC

Thursday Open Thread

  • 40 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

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40 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

    1. There was already about 4 inches when I got up this morning and now there is definitely more than 6. Coming down hard too.

      I heard this is an upslope which has potential to dump quite a lot because it just keeps swirling over the metro area and does not move away like the west-east ones.  Plus, its always the ones with upward revisions – 2in, no 6 in, no, a foot, maybe 18 inches…

      Let it snow.  We need the precip badly down here.

            1. http://www.denverpost.com/opin…

              One should give credit where it is due. The Post’s editorial stance against the Employee Free Choice Act shows they had the balls to call for a no vote of EFCA cloture.

              Congress should eliminate EFCA

              We oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, which undercuts workers’ rights and threatens Colorado’s economy.

              …

              It’s already hemorrhaging support as moderate senators have begun to voice their opposition. Colorado’s senators, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, need to stand up and publicly oppose this harmful legislation.

              We appreciate the political implications of EFCA, as unions have thrown millions of dollars [in forced union dues!] into getting it passed. But we oppose this bill, as it not only undercuts the rights of workers but threatens Colorado’s economy.

              …

              When workers do desire to form unions, however, they win recognition more than 60 percent of the time. That’s an impressive rate. If management intimidation curtails these efforts, and we concede it does happen, there are many laws governing those infractions. Enforce them. [thank you, I have been asking where Solis has been on this and it appears on a bargained for break]

              …

              But by far the most economically destructive provision in EFCA is one that imposes binding arbitration if the parties fail to reach agreement within 90 days.

              This, in effect, means unions have zero incentive to bargain in good faith. They do have an incentive to make over-the-top demands, knowing they would be the starting point in arbitration hearings.

              And worse yet, it puts government in the wage control business and has the potential to destroy companies – particularly smaller businesses.

              …

              Labor, after its impressive fundraising [use of forced union dues] for the Democratic Party, must feel emboldened. But if unions truly believe in their cause, they wouldn’t need to eliminate fair elections. And Colorado certainly doesn’t need mandatory government intrusion into private labor disputes.

              For those reasons, we hope EFCA vanishes for good.

              Insanity I say, I was so looking forward to a “checkin party” at some businesses that pay off union bosses.

    2. Looks like we have at least four inches already and will probably wind up on the high end of the 8 to 16 inches predicted for metro area. I’m in Littleton proper, Arapahoe, not Jeffco.

    3. I like to remind my board that our office NEVER closes on snow days.

      I did, however, have to make a run out at 10:00 a.m. I took my 17 year old with me and thank goodness! He had to push my wimpy Jetta so I could make the left turn from Alameda to Mississippi in Lakewood (through a red light … thank you to the other drivers for their patience as I crawled out of their way).

      FYI — heavy snowfall and the wind really picked up in the last 30 minutes so we have extremely poor visibility in the Green Mountain area. I shan’t be leaving the homestead again today.

    1. doesn’t sound unpopular at all.  Sounds like the only people complaining are the O & G pirates and their sycophants.

      Of all the things Ritter has screwed up, this isn’t one of them.

      1. .

        Now that the winter storm season is over in the Gulf of Aden,

        the “Somali Coast Guards” have returned in force.

        In the last 48 hours, two tankers have been seized, and two “research vessels” were approached but got away, the Explorer III and the Ocean Explorer.  

        In case you hadn’t heard, their justification/ rationalization for taking ships is ostensibly because of poaching of fish in sovereign Somali waters.  A lot of “rock lobster” like they serve at Red Lobster is caught there illegally.  Research vessels are sometimes used for scouting fishing grounds before the factory ships come in.  

        .

    2. Oh yea, Ritter’s gonna go down because he protects the environment which Coloradans love.

      And who will rise to take him on?  Yes?  Waiting…..

    5. that more Republicans in the House supported the rules than those who opposed them.  Penry has lost what little credibility he had in Colorado by representing a few lobbyists instead of the people of Colorado who are protected by the new rules.  Penry’s political future is looking more like that of Blagojevich.  Maybe Gun Boob can offer him a position at the 50,000 watts of hate?

  4. from Argghhh!!! h/t Michael Yon

    The appropriate emergency procedure was appropriately performed, and sometime after the (successful) autorotational landing and immediately prior to exiting the aircraft, the student poked the ‘structor and pointed outside at the group of AK-armed individuals approaching, saying, “We have an audience.”

    A friendly audience, fortunately, and their backup began rolling into sight even before they got to the aircraft.

    Army guys.

    Iraqi Army guys. They’d been on patrol, saw the helicopter go down and come over to see who’d dropped in. Should’ve seen their faces when they found out one of the pilots was Iraqi. Instant collective confidence boost. Iraqi flags popped up on the vehicles and the troops spread out to secure the area until the cavalry — in the form of one of our mechanics — arrived. Then they all got together for a debrief. We taught them about the importance of a debrief — what went right, what went wrong, what can be done differently or better.

  5. The Hawaii Senate, vastly controlled by Democrats (23-2), failed to pull the Civil Union bill to the floor for a vote.  Hiding behind a procedural excuse, 16 Senators voted no.  Six, with courage voted to pull the bill for a vote, but nine votes were needed.  

    The House had passed its bi-partisan bill to the Senate, and all that was needed was for Senate democrats to live up to their party’s position in favor of civil unions.

    The 16 democrats acted like Bush Republicans.  

    So political safety trumps civil rights – what a bunch of bozos.

    1. from http://topics.law.cornell.edu/…

      A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to vote; freedom from involuntary servitude; and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their membership in a particular group or class. Statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on a person’s race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual preference.

      So, while some assert this is a matter of civil rights denied, that view is not settled.  In a way, the question that the Hawai’ian legislature was actually avoiding was the question of whether or not the right to a Civil Union is a civil right.

      To this pedestrian, if they agreed that it was a civil right, the measure would have passed unanimously.

      .

    2. But speaking of the HI Senate, how pointless must it be to be the Minority Leader or Whip over there?  Do they just trade off each session?  😛

      1. Whenever Republicans whine over here I tell them to suck it up because you can have quite an impact. I think the giant difference is that most (not all) of the Republicans in Hawaii are very focused on figuring out how to be effective rather than just throwing temper tantrums and saying no.

        What’s also interesting is the few in Hawaii who do spend their time complaining tend to be the ones way out in wingnut-ville.

        Every session my mom can point to a number of substantive things that happened, were killed, or were significantly amended due to her efforts.

    1. .

      where there is serious earnest argument that one’s opponents in politics are agents of Satan.  Excepting the just retired VP, those charges strike me as over the top.  

      While this bracket uses the language of hatred, it is clearly all just in fun.

      Right ?

      .

      1. but is it any worse than the stuff from posters at freerepublic?  I don’t think they’re having fun…

        Not that one is better than the other…but, as you well know, the coveted title of “nutjob” knows no party or ideology…  🙂

  7. Courtesy of that famous economist, Frank Gowin of California…

    This was an article from the St.Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday. The business Section asked readers for ideas on “How Would You Fix the Economy?” I thought this was the BEST idea. I think this guy nailed it!

    Dear Mr.President,

    Patriotic retirement:

    There’s about 40 million people over 50 in the work force; pay them $1 million apiece severance with stipulations:

    1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings – Unemployment fixed.

    2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.

    3) They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage.  Housing Crisis fixed.

      2. Maybe raise the age to sixty.  Maybe give a line of credit at certain stores, merchants, and services.  And health care.  Stay out of the job market for a year.  

        A lot of possible scenarios.  In principle I think it’s great.  

  8. from ABC News

    Government investigators looking into lax screening of medical research said Thursday they easily won approval from a private review board of a fake product to be used in medical testing on human subjects.

    The Government Accountability Office also said it was able to register with the Health and Human Services Department a fictitious institutional review board, a panel of doctors and scientists that must approve any medical drug or device to be used in federally funded testing on humans. The president of this fake review board was a dog named Trooper.

  9. from TPM

    There were few details in today’s outline of the House Republican budget alternative — but on the thorny question of future bank bailouts, the GOP had a clear plan. And it looks a lot like Paul Krugman’s preferred method.

    TPMDC noted the first stirrings of the GOP’s Krugman love earlier this week, when House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) joined the liberal economist in lamenting the taxpayer subsidy built into the Obama Treasury’s latest bank rescue plan. But today’s Republican budget alternative goes even further, directly repeating Krugman’s past criticism of the Treasury’s bailout ethose.

    The truth is no one knows what will work well. Not Geithner & Summers, not the GOP brain trust, not Krugman, not even our own Danny the Red. They all have educated opinions, but none of them know.

    Having the GOP turning from the party of no to the party of we have a better approach, and they are picking up on the main alternative approach, means we can start to see a serious substantitive debate between the two approaches.

    And if this is handled seriously and the GOP works to get Democratic votes, we could have Congress being a major player in determining how we address this.

    And I think that discussion will give us a better response.

  10. Two weeks ago my daughter Jessie got laid off from Dell.

    Her husband is being laid off from Lasalle-Jones effective Tuesday.  

    Courtesy of the Second Republican Great Depression.

  11. The colorado legislature is missing an easy opportunity to boost the economy and increase tax revenue. From POLITICO

    In this moment of national economic crisis, the top four questions under the heading of “Financial security” concerned marijuana; on the budget, people voted up questions about marijuana to positions 1-4; marijuana was in the first and third positions under “jobs”; people boosted a plug for legalizing marijuana to No. 2 under “health care reform.” And questions about decriminalizing pot occupied spots 1 and 2 under “green jobs and energy.”

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