Wednesday’s open thread

Posted on February 29, 2012 by votermom

Wednesday observing current events

 

I thought this was a cool graphic of delegate counts from the NYT.

They also asked Sarah Palin her opinion last night on Michigan:

“It does seem that his campaign is having a tough time sort of garnering that — not just that support, but that energy that’s needed,” former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, a favorite of the movement, said in an interview late Tuesday. “Whether Romney wins or loses in Michigan tonight, just the fact that he’s had such a fight in his home state is evidence of that blessing not yet being given to him across the board.

But Mr. Santorum has been able to press a still more aggressive case that Mr. Romney has ceded the Tea Party’s antigovernment position through his health care plan, among other policies he pushed while governor of Massachusetts. “Santorum has done a good job in pointing out that Achilles’ heel in Romneycare,” Ms. Palin said.

A man arrested in Cairo may or may not be a top Al Qaeda operative.

Anonymous crashed Interpol’s website yesterday, apparently in revenge for announcing the arrest of 25 hackers, mostly in Chile. Personally I would have thought a legal defense fund would be more useful to the suspects, but hey, I’m not a cool hacker dude so what do I know.

So, what do y’all want to talk about?

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81 Responses

  2. yttik, on February 29, 2012 at 6:25 am said:

    “Whether Romney wins or loses in Michigan tonight, just the fact that he’s had such a fight in his home state is evidence of that blessing not yet being given to him across the board”

    I totally agree. He should have been able to sweep his home state. Instead he pretty much just squeaked by.

    • votermom, on February 29, 2012 at 6:32 am said:

      From that race42102 (comments), Mitt should get kudos with

      a sonnett called, “Praise to Thee For Winning a State by 3 that You Led by 15 at the Start of the Month.”

      :D

      • catarina, on February 29, 2012 at 1:32 pm said:

        I heard 10% of the voters in Michigan last night were Dems.
        Kos (May Piss be Upon Him) sent them out to vote for Santorum.

        And I’m not so sure Michigan is really Romney’s “home state” at this point.

    • Jen the Michigander, on February 29, 2012 at 1:55 pm said:

      Michigan isn’t really Mitt’s “home state” anymore. He hasn’t lived here since he was a teenager in the 1960s. No one under the age of fifty remembers when his father was Governor. It’s not the same thing as if, say, Sarah Palin were to run for President and face a tough race in Alaska.

  3. myiq2xu, on February 29, 2012 at 6:54 am said:

    “I was a teenage exorcist”

  4. foxyladi14, on February 29, 2012 at 6:59 am said:

    Happy Birthday to all of our Leap Year folks :)

  5. DeniseVB, on February 29, 2012 at 7:03 am said:

    Keeping an eye on #F29 and #OWS. About an hour after it’s 9am start, 100 showed up in nyc … so far.

    Day of Action ! heh.

  6. murphy, on February 29, 2012 at 7:05 am said:

    Happy Birthday Foxy!

    North Korea announced a moratorium on nuclear activities in exchange for food aid.

    Go Hillary!

    http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/02/184869.htm

  7. votermom, on February 29, 2012 at 7:34 am said:

    OT: Commercial break. For tweeters who like to win stuff.

    • DandyTiger, on February 29, 2012 at 8:37 am said:

      Corruption in a nutshell. Hollow out “progressive” organizations being funded to only those that will blindly echo talking points and do what they’re told. How pathetic. But then again, the last thing the new Chicago Dem party wants are organizations actually thinking and developing policy ideas that promote liberal philosophies. So I can understand where they’re coming from.

    • Three Wickets, on February 29, 2012 at 8:23 pm said:

      “Groups working on issues relating directly to people of color appear to be the most dramatically affected.”

      But the veal pen insiders who made the cut, they’ll keep playing the race card.

  9. votermom, on February 29, 2012 at 8:32 am said:

    I though this was satire, along the line of Swift’s Modest Proposal, but apparently not:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9113394/Killing-babies-no-different-from-abortion-experts-say.html

    Here is the actual paper, which really does seem to argue for the right of parents to kill newborns that may be an “undue burden” on them.

    http://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2012/02/22/medethics-2011-100411.full.pdf+html

    • DandyTiger, on February 29, 2012 at 8:39 am said:

      There’s some ethics for you. It’s so over the top nuts that it’s funny. Now if they extend that to kids as old as 26, I could get on board with that. What?

    • Lola-at-Large, on February 29, 2012 at 8:41 am said:

      Saw that yesterday. The reaction of outrage from everyday people to it is getting laughed at by various prog blogs, including Dissenting Justice, I’m sad to say.

      The thing that got me was the editor’s outraged reaction that people couldn’t handle “a reasoned argument,” and reacted with ire, and occasionally included so-called “racist” comments toward Italians (the heritage of the two scientists). I can’t get my mind around how a) after-birth abortion (what we call infanticide in the parlance) is a “reasoned argument” EVER, and b) how racism is worse than baby-killing. I abhor both, but life will always take precedence over what is said in my book.

      All that said, I’m waiting for the new book, “What’s a Matter With Science?” because something has definitely gone wrong.

      • votermom, on February 29, 2012 at 8:49 am said:

        One of the paper’s authors (the dude) made a comment complaining about the inaccuracies of the article — about his credentials. He didnt complain about the substance.

        All that said, I’m waiting for the new book, “What’s a Matter With Science?” because something has definitely gone wrong.

        I’d read that.

      • votermom, on February 29, 2012 at 9:40 am said:

        Ah, I saw the editor’s defense here, just as you described. a

        http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2012/02/“liberals-are-disgusting”-in-defence-of-the-publication-of-“after-birth-abortion”/

        A comment on it made me cheer:

        Ken Smith says:
        February 28, 2012 at 10:06 pm
        Here’s another way to put it. So far as I can tell, you’re asserting YOUR right to say that we should be able to kill certain sorts of people. And you’re simultaneously asserting that NOBODY ELSE has the right to say that. On what grounds do you make this assertion? If it’s legitimate to make an argument that we should kill babies in defence of a mother’s mental health, certainly it’s legitimate to make the counter-argument that we should kill ethicists in defence of those babies’ actual lives?

        I suspect that the real difference you see between the Giubilini/Minerva article, and the howls of outrage from around the Internet, is that Giubilini and Minerva are saying “we should kill babies” very nicely and politely and in bland academic jargon, while the plebeians around the Internet are howling “we should kill ethicists” in a very unprofessional, grammatically incorrect manner.

        As I said earlier, I’m not in favor of either position, but if you ARE gonna kill someone, you should at least have the decency to shout at them first. It makes what you’re about to do very clear. If Giubilini and Minerva actually have any humanity left, it’s only because they’re not really clear on what they’re advocating. The shouting before the blood would at least bring a certain clarity to their position.

    • Three Wickets, on February 29, 2012 at 8:36 pm said:

      Strikes me as a giant strawman stunt which the Telegraph is promoting. But I could be misreading.

      • votermom, on March 1, 2012 at 4:51 am said:

        The paper’s authors appear to be either in earnest (they have comments on both threads). Of course they are not “advocating” infanticide, just laying out one argument for it. :roll:

  11. myiq2xu, on February 29, 2012 at 9:40 am said:

    I stole this from Uppity:

    Tanya McDowell was living as a homeless woman when she was arrested for sending her five year old son to a school district where she- surprise- didn’t have a permanent residence. Ms. McDowell has said that she only wanted a better education for her child. Despite a change.org petition that has generated over 15, 600 signatures asking for the charges to be dropped against her, she was just sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty in the case.

    • DandyTiger, on February 29, 2012 at 10:57 am said:

      WTF? You know your system has jumped the shark when shit like this can happen.

      • myiq2xu, on February 29, 2012 at 11:38 am said:

        More on Tanya McDowell:

        In mid-June, she was arrested for selling drugs to Norwalk undercover officers on five occasions in Norwalk and Bridgeport.

        When she was picked up on the drug charges, police found her in front of Brookside School holding 30 small bags of marijuana and 23 small bags of crack cocaine, prosecutor Tiffany Lockshier said during her sentencing hearing.

        I figgered there was more to the case.

        • Lola-at-Large, on February 29, 2012 at 12:06 pm said:

          Well, while this is true, it may also be true that she might have been under surveillance because her case had drawn media attention. It might have been a retaliatory measure.

          That said, certain civil rights leaders *cough* Al Sharpton *cough* saw fit to make her a symbol for the new education as civil right movement that’s been springing up, but why didn’t he see fit to coach her and provide her with resources at least until her case was settled? If that’s how she was funding her life prior to her arrest for sending her child to another school–which I agree is preposterous–then nothing would have changed about that scenario without economic intervention. I’m not saying she should get off scott free, I’m saying she was exploited and then abandoned, and given the rest of her life circumstances, maybe we should give her a little compassion over what’s happened in the wake of all the attention.

        • Jadzia, on March 1, 2012 at 10:35 pm said:

          When I lived in LA, I moved in with a colleague in a snooty neighborhood because of the schools. (On the advice of my divorce lawyer, who told me that I would have difficulty retaining custody if I did not leave my working-class neighborhood for an affluent, all-white neighborhood like the one where my ex resided.) When I went to sign up my son for school, the administrators all but threatened me, and said that the school district conducted RANDOM BED CHECKS at your stated address to make sure you lived there! Guess that’s one way of keeping the rabble out. I actually did live where I said I did, but was so disgusted that I ended up spending all my savings to send my son to a private school instead.

  12. DeniseVB, on February 29, 2012 at 10:25 am said:

    Oh noes !

    Monkee Davy Jones died. Heart attack at 66.

    http://www.tmz.com/2012/02/29/davy-jones-dead-monkees/

  14. HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 11:31 am said:

    Davey Jones of the Monkees died .
    my kids used to love their music and their tv show

    • myiq2xu, on February 29, 2012 at 12:45 pm said:

      Obama is right on this one.

      The drought in the Central Valley is caused by a lack of rainfall:

      Fresno: Month to date 0.48 inches (normal 1.96 inches); season to date 3.43 inches (normal 7.81 inches)

      • HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 12:54 pm said:

        will the next president help restore valuable farm land that is now a dust bowl. I know water is a problem in California. My water bill is very high and I try to use the water wisely. The price of produce in what is supposed to be an agricultural state is very high.
        The waste of this land is criminal

    • HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 1:05 pm said:

      I will listen to you as you live there. I have only ridden thru there on a train.
      How many farms are no longer there that used to be before this law?
      How has it impacted the economy? Since I moved to California all I have heard about is the lack of water in the central valley.

      • myiq2xu, on February 29, 2012 at 1:15 pm said:

        The lack of water has been caused by a lack of rainfall. For the past 30+ years we’ve been getting 2-3 consecutive drought years divided by one normal year.

        Let me give you a hint about Devin Nunes, the congresscritter behind this bill. He wants the water from the San Joaquin River for his district. But the San Joaquin naturally flows north and Nunes’ district is SOUTH of the river. We’re not talking about small farms either – here it’s Agribusiness and corporate-owned farms.

        Take a look at the map of the southern Central Valley and you’ll see “Tulare Lakebed.” It used to be Tulare Lake, the largest freshwater lake east of the Mississippi. They drained that sucker for farming.

        • HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 1:47 pm said:

          so it is not the family owned farms that were ruined, like I thought it was. I kept thinking it was like NJ were families owned farms for years.

          Thank you for the information. It does give me a different prospective on the subject. Every day I like to learn something new

        • HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 4:54 pm said:

          thank you. I have saved the article. It does help me understand a lot.
          As I said the only experience I have there is working in Emeryville, and riding the train to Sacramento and to Bakersfield
          I live between Los Angeles and Palm Springs and have traveled in the Coachella Valley.
          The water here is very expensive, and I have to watch what I grow. It is cheaper to have a rock yard then grass. Being from the east, I never even thought about not having a lawn or having a garden.

        • myiq2xu, on February 29, 2012 at 5:11 pm said:

          The settlement of the Central Valley was heavily influenced by the railroads.

          The county seat of Merced County was in Snelling. Snelling was the largest town and Plainsburg was second.

          Then in 1870 the Southern Pacific announced the path of their new RR line and designated a spot near Bear Creek for a station. By the time the completed line reached Merced County there was a brand new county seat in the town of “Merced.” which was now the largest town in the county. All but a handful of the biggest communities are located along the old SP line.

          Many of the towns are named for RR officials. They were going to name one town for John Ralston but when he declined they named it “Modesto” because he was so modest. There is a town that started out at the location of SP’s “Coaling Station A.” The sign said “Coaling A” and the town is now named “Coalinga.”

        • HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 5:20 pm said:

          that train ride from Oakland to Sacramento is beautiful.
          One of my best memories is riding the train from Emeryville to Reno through the Sierras. We were so high we were above the rainbow.
          I rode up with on the headend with the engineer. I got paid for see some of the most beautiful sites in the world. Can beat that.

        • HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 5:22 pm said:

          sorry should read “you can not beat that” about the train trip

        • myiq2xu, on February 29, 2012 at 5:47 pm said:

          I remember the old army motto:

          Go to faraway places
          Meet exotic people
          Kill them

  16. HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 12:16 pm said:

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/02/some_splainin_to_do_in_chicago.html

    the embers of the smoking fire might be flaring up

  17. Lulu, on February 29, 2012 at 12:28 pm said:

    “Personally I would have thought a legal defense fund would be more useful to the suspects”

    Mom and Dad are the defense fund. Why would the evil creeps at Anonymous pay anyone or bail the nitwits out of jail if they can get idiots or children to do it for free.

  19. HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 1:07 pm said:

    gov declares disaster after tornado kills 6 in Harrisburg ILL.

  20. DeniseVB, on February 29, 2012 at 1:28 pm said:

    I love back story stuff :) R.I.P Davy, even though you weren’t the Monkee I wanted to marry, swoon.

  21. DeniseVB, on February 29, 2012 at 1:37 pm said:

    Interesting. Looks like Professor Jacobsen’s (Legal Insurrection) political temp poll gage is in my favor….I.am.not.alone ! I voted 2.

    http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/02/taking-the-readerships-politicall-temperature/

  22. HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 2:04 pm said:

    story few have been paying attention to.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_EGYPT_US?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-29-13-19-28

    Egypt lifts travel ban on American hostages. bail set

    • Three Wickets, on February 29, 2012 at 8:51 pm said:

      James O’Keefe strikes me as a feckless dumbass. He makes Repubs look stupid like Shuster and co make Dems look stupid.

  27. myiq2xu, on February 29, 2012 at 5:44 pm said:

    Dr. Tina Strobos, Who Harbored Jews From the Nazis, Dies at 91

    During the German occupation of the Netherlands, between 1940 and 1945, Dr. Strobos and her mother, Marie Schotte, set up a sanctuary in their three-story rooming house at 282 Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, behind the Royal Palace in the heart of Amsterdam. With the help of the Dutch resistance, they had a secret compartment built to hold up to four people behind a hard-to-spot door in the attic.

    “A carpenter came with a toolbox and said, ‘I’m a carpenter from the underground,’ ” Dr. Strobos recalled in a 2009 interview with The New York Times. “ ‘Show me the house and I’ll build a hiding place.’ ”

    A changing cast of Jews, Communists and other endangered individuals spent days or weeks on the upper floors, and if the Gestapo visited, an alarm bell on the second floor allowed Dr. Strobos and her mother to alert the fugitives. They also drilled them in clambering out a window to the roof to reach the relative safety of an adjoining school. Most Jews stayed in the hideout for brief periods until the Dutch resistance could find more reliable sanctuaries.

    “We never hid more than four or five at a time,” Dr. Strobos said. “We didn’t have enough food.”

    The Gestapo searched the rooming house several times. But Dr. Strobos, a tall, soft-spoken woman, beguiled the Germans with her fluency in their language and her cool, ingenuous pose. Among the Jews she helped hide was a close friend, Tirtsah Van Amerongen; an Orthodox couple with five children who brought their own kosher food; and her fiancé for a time, the particle physicist Abraham Pais.

    Dr. Strobos rode her bicycle for miles outside the city to carry ration stamps to Jews hiding on farms. She transported radios to resistance fighters and stashed their guns. She created fake identity cards — ones that were not stamped with a J — either by stealing photographs and fingerprinted documents from legitimate guests at the boarding house or making deals with pickpockets to swipe documents from railway travelers.

    She was cold and hungry when she took those risks and was interrogated nine times by the Gestapo. Once, she was left unconscious after an official threw her against a wall.

    “It’s the right thing to do,” she said when asked why she had taken such gambles. “Your conscience tells you to do it. I believe in heroism, and when you’re young you want to do dangerous things.”

    • HELENK, on February 29, 2012 at 5:50 pm said:

      thank God for people like this. The courage and the will to step up when many were not should always be remembered

      if we would remember

      No one can do everything
      but
      Everyone can do something

  31. insanelysane, on March 1, 2012 at 7:18 am said:

    This chilling thought just crossed my mind:
    With the extreme turmoil in the world today, can you imagine any of this in the hands of anyone but Hillary Clinton?
    Just imagine if Barack Obama was ” actually ” engaging with the international diplomatic corps.

    I feel so safe and secure knowing Hillary is really at the helm.

    The real strength behind the throne.

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