Blow your horn on the Monday OPEN thread
Shot by Dan
“A careful driver is one who honks his horn when he goes through a red light.”
Henry Morgan
September 17, 2012 - 10:00 AM
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September 17, 2012 - 10:00 AM
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Friday, May 24, 2013
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Just received this in a chain email from Dr. Mike Evans. (Israel Advocate)
“I have received an email from a friend and supporter of the Jerusalem Prayer Team who lives in Jerusalem with an urgent message about massive troop movements underway in Israel. The scale of the mobilization is like nothing this family has seen in more than twenty years in the Jewish state. They have seen massive armored columns being moved toward the front lines, additional air and missile defense batteries being put in place, and buses filled with soldiers making the trip to the Western Wall for prayers prior to being deployed.
As I have been telling you, we are now in the window of the most likely time for an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program, and it appears that pieces are being put in place right now in preparation. One of the members of this dear family is a former special forces soldier, so he understands full well the difference between routine maneuvers and serious preparations for war. This could be the beginning of the most critical war in Israel’s history.”
My good pal Terps is very close to writing off Mitt Romney’s chances for election in November, but until recently he’s been able to take just a bit of solace in the fact that incumbent Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown was leading Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren. Terps can’t stand Elizabeth Warren.
Now, two new polls in that state reflect a dramatic shift and are putting Warren in the lead by percentages that are outside the margin of error.
It’s got to make you wonder whether Republicans in the Senate who blocked Warren’s nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last year are having some second thoughts.
If Brown, and Mourdock in Indiana, both go down and the dems can hold onto some other Senate seats, like McCasskill’s in Missouri and Webb’s here in Va., there’s a half-decent chance they’ll have a filibuster-proof Senate majority to kick off 2013.
Votes? Oh more polls. hmmm.
L’Shannah Tovah Tikateivu v’Teichateimu! — y’all!
Nice point Dan.
I think some people get so tied up in the presidential race, that a point should be made that if the Republicans take away the senate..which is much more likely that Obama losing… Obama will be a do nothing leader for his second term if he wins. Also, measures from the house will more likely to be because no president will veto everything!
PP, if the GOP manages to take the Senate, what makes you believe that anything will change, big picture, compared to the standstill that exists now? The House can effectively block anything the GOP want’s blocked now, and GOP senators in the Senate can effectively block anything they don’t want there.
If the GOP takes control of the Senate, they will not have a filbuster-proof minority, so Dems in that chamber will be able to block anything they don’t like. And for anything that gets through, Obama can veto anything he wants to. There is not one political price he’ll have to pay for any veto.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/314188
Small business owners do INDEED do “everything”.
Thought provoking read: http://tinyurl.com/92gde3c
Last comment failed:
Thought provoking read: http://tinyurl.com/92gde3c
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STANDING THE TEST OF TIME: THE BREADTH OF MAJORITY COALITIONS AND THE FATE OF U.S. SUPREME COURT PRECEDENTS
Stuart Minor Benjamin and Bruce A. Desmarais1
ABSTRACT
Should a strategic Justice assemble a broader coalition for the majority opinion than is necessary, even if that means accommodating changes that move the opinion away from the author’s ideal holding? If the author’s objective is to durably move the law to his or her ideal holding, the conventional answer is no, because there is a cost and no corresponding benefit. We consider whether attracting a broad majority coalition can placate future courts. Controlling for the size of the coalition, we find that cases with ideologically narrow coalitions are more likely to be treated negatively by later courts. Specifically, adding either ideological breadth or a new member to the majority coalition results in an opinion that is less likely to be overruled, criticized, or questioned by a later court. Our findings contradict the conventional wisdom regarding the coalition-building strategy of a rational and strategic opinion author, establishing that the author has an incentive to go beyond the four most ideologically proximate Justices in building a majority coalition. And because of later interpreters’ negative reactions to narrow coalitions, the law ends up being less ideological than the Justices themselves.
SNIP
**
MSNBC just went to commercial break after doing a segment
on the Mormons/Romneys in Northern Mexico.
Good piece.
Had to smile at their choice of the closing music.
The Byrds “Turn,Turn,Turn”..
Clever boys and girls there.
msnbc is also lying like obamy and hillary rotten clinton that the violence against Americans is due to some baloney crap movie about muslims that came out lasty june, no it is about 9/11…it was the 11the anniversary and on 9/11, how incompetent can you be?
There are various opinions in Israel regarding bombing Iran.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/16/meir-dagan-mossad-iran-attack-stupid_n_1888840.html
“Meir Dagan, a former head of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, says that an attack on Iran would be the “stupidest idea [I've] ever heard.”
Even Krazy Kansas has ruled that Obama should be on the ballot. But not before Oily Taters showed up and tried to keep the farce going.
Some might dispute this because of the pollster:
http://tinyurl.com/9ncxk5x
**
September 17, 2012
Majority in U.S. Still Say Government Doing Too Much
But fewer Americans now say government has too much power
by Frank Newport
PRINCETON, NJ — A majority of Americans (54%) continue to believe the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses, although that is down from the record high of 61% earlier this summer. About four in 10 Americans (39%) say the government should do more to solve the nation’s problems.
SNIP
**
Oh Boy Dan…its time for a 2nd amendment thread!
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/314186
More on THE FILM: http://tinyurl.com/9c5dtu3
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Actor: Anti-Islam filmmaker ‘was playing us along’
From Miguel Marquez, CNN
updated 10:53 AM EDT, Mon September 17, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
o Lily Dionne says she was duped by the anti-Islam filmmaker
o She knows the filmmaker as Sam Bacile
o “I was shaking when I found out. I had no idea,” she said
SNIP
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——–
Also a good opinion read here: http://tinyurl.com/9m8g8py
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My Take: It’s time for Islamophobic evangelicals to choose
Editor’s Note: Brian D. McLaren is author of “Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World” (Jericho Books/Hachette Book Group).
By Brian McLaren, Special to CNN
SNIP
It is hate speech. It is no different from the anti-Semitic garbage that has been all too common in Western Christian history. It is sub-Christian – beneath the dignity of anyone with a functioning moral compass.
Islamophobic evangelical Christians – and the neo-conservative Catholics and even some Jewish folks who are their unlikely political bedfellows of late – must choose.
Will they press on in their current path, letting Islamophobia spread even further amongst them? Or will they stop, rethink and seek to a more charitable approach to our Muslim neighbors? Will they realize that evangelical religious identity is under assault, not by Shariah law, not by the liberal media, not by secular humanism from the outside, but by forces within the evangelical community that infect that religious identity with hostility?
SNIP
**
#15 Don’t know, PP, based on what I just read, you might want to see where this one goes before you trumpet it as some great triumph of the 2nd.
Thanks, Dan…It was fun residing in your head…Its O.K…..everyone has a breaking point, but I`ve never seen it happen over simple words.
PP,
I’m trying to recall a time when anyone on this blog has decried the legitimate use of firearms people use to defend themselves in their own home. That is what appears to have happened in the case you cite, but we still don’t know all the details.
For the Romney campaign, etch-a -sketch has clearly not been working. Wonder what they’ll call this new strategy? Maybe rope-a-dope?
Oops. Left off the link on the rope-a-dope. Here it is.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/amid-rumors-discord-romney-seeks-shift-strategy-172404071–election.html
“Thanks, Dan…It was fun residing in your head…Its O.K…..everyone has a breaking point, but I`ve never seen it happen over simple words.”
Jeff Doto, I warned you last week to stick to one ID here on this blog. For the most part you can post what you want to, but you don’t get the right to post as several different people, such as rwt2557 and Hokie Lover and other aliases.
Besides, it’s pretty sad that you have to invent new identities to agree with yourself.
Folks, since I first moved from the faculty to college & university administrative positions in 1985, I have annually picked an author, topic or subject to read in order to de-stress and or distract me from the professional difficulties I might be confronting. My habit is that I set aside 30 to 60 minutes each day to read something by a particular author or about the topic I’ve chosen to study that year. This year I chose to read about the budget crisis, tax reform, and entitlement reform. Sounds exciting doesn’t it. I can tell you that it hasn’t lowered my stress level at all. Nonetheless, I have stayed with it and read more on the subject than I ever thought I would. What we are confronting right now is certainly one of the greatest challenges our country has ever faced. We have to confront it opening, honestly and cooperatively if we are to solve it. I’m confident that eventually we will find the leaders we need to solve it.
I have already shared some thoughts that I have borrowed from others who are much wiser than me on these subjects. Today, I plan to share with you what, in my view, is the best plan to make progress on the challenge. Is it perfect? No. Do I agree with all of it? No. But after studying everything I could find, it is the plan most likely, if implemented, to head us in the right direction. Below is a link which should take you to the basic outline of the Domenici-Rivlin Proposal. I will give you some basic elements of the plan, but you really need to take the link and study the broader discussion of the plan.
The Domenici-Rivlin Proposal, like Simpson Bowles, the Senate Gang of Six and other bipartisan groups have all concluded that a comprehensive plan has 3 pillars: economic growth, fundamental reform of entitlement spending and comprehensive tax reform that yields net new revenues. It also found that the best hope for comprehensive reform involved blowing up the current tax code and starting over. There would be 4 common elements of the tax reform. First, pro-growth simplification. Next, additional revenues to pay down debt. Third would be increased progessivity. Last would be allowing most individuals to avoid filing an annual return.
Individual tax brackets would be reduced to 2, at 15% & 28%. Capital gains and dividends would taxed as ordinary income, excluding the 1st $1000 of gains or losses. There would be a flat $1600 refundable per child tax credit. The Earn INcome tax Credit would be replaced with a refundable earnings tax credit (Approx. $20K of earnings). There would be a flat 15% refundable tax credit fo charitable contributions. There would be a credit of up to $25K per year of mortgage interest on one’s primary residence and there would be other simplifications to the rest of the code.
I’m also putting a link to a review of the Domenici-Rivlin Proposal which outlines some of the concerns I have, but am willing to live with in order to make overall progress on the financial crisis our government faces today. I urge you to study this proposal and the review link as well. You will be informed better than listening to the 30 second soundbites both sides are putting up in the election process.
I look forward to seeing how you, my fellow bloggers, view this proposal. Despite what some on this blog think, I am open to the ideas of others.
http://bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20DRTF%20EXECUTIVE%20SUMMARY_0.pdf
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3333
Another case to follow: http://tinyurl.com/93zwr2a
**
Gay couple sues church over axed sale
WCVB
Added on September 10, 2012
A gay couple in Massachusetts is suing a Roman Catholic diocese for allegedly refusing to sell property to them.
[video]
**
And a Happy New Year to you too, Dave Hicks.
By the way, here’s a link to another document on how the Domenici-Rivlin Plan would protect Medicare.
http://bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Domenici-Rivlin%20Protect%20Medicare%20Act%20Backgrounder_0.pdf
The drum beat goes on: http://tinyurl.com/8kuzyyn
**
UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor to resign amid scandals
By: EMERY P. DALESIO | Associated Press
Published: September 17, 2012
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. –
The chancellor who has led North Carolina’s flagship public university for four years will step down next year in the wake of scandals involving academic fraud, improper travel spending by fundraisers and special treatment for athletes.
SNIP
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FWIIW, if anyone missed it: http://tinyurl.com/8euxcv6
**
Mountain State University loses general accreditation
By The Associated Press
4:43 p.m. EDT, July 10, 2012
CHARLESTON, W.Va. —
A regional accrediting body has withdrawn its accreditation of Mountain State University, saying the private Beckley-based school does not meet its criteria for leadership, resources, planning and oversight.
The Higher Learning Commission posted a public notice of the decision on its website Tuesday.
In addition to its main campus, Mountain State has satellite locations in Center Township, Pa.; Martinsburg, W.Va.; Mooresville, N.C.; and Orlando, Fla.; as well as a site in Hickory, N.C.
SNIP
**
and
http://tinyurl.com/8zcef3v
**
MSU administrator on student lawsuits: ‘Bring it on’
By Amy Julia Harris
Chris Dorst
Roslyn Artis, executive vice president at Mountain State University, told a group of nursing anesthesia students she isn’t afraid of their lawsuits and that they should “bring it.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Top Mountain State University officials intimidated and threatened students after learning they were going to sue the university, according to audio files and court records.
SNIP
**
Re: Dave Hicks post on the UNC chancellor and Mountain State U:
Under Suze’s theory, all these administrators must by Roman Catholics; if they weren’t nobody would ever publish a possibly negative story about them.
Does anyone know if they actually are Catholic? Or is Suze’s theory pure unadulterated bunk?
You know after reading these comments…I have come to the conclusion that I do indeed have a wonderful life….in spite of all the loonesy in this great big world…..
Dave,
Looks like the S.S. Romney has taken one below the waterline. Only one campaign event this week? Is this guy serious?
I heard thru the grapevine that SuzieQ’s hubby is out looking for one of these for her kitchen. Maybe she won’t go to Golden Corral so much.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-electrolux-unveils-the-100000-stove-20120917,0,4060548.story
How the brilliant solons on Fox News (Fox & Friends) got punked by a young guy who said he’s switching his support to Romney this time around.
Funny stuff!
Ron@23, you talk too much. No one reads long posts.
To each his own david.
Dan,
Re “funny stuff”
I missed that this a.m. I was trying to catch MSNBC to see if they would cover UN ambassador Rice’s “lie” about having no knowledge of potential islamist extremist attacks on the anniversary of 9/11; which ultimately killed our citizens.
So I just watched the video… funny…
I actually think Gretchen Carlson is “almost” as obnioxious as Mika Brzezinski.
Ultimately, the guy said he was no longer an Obama supporter…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/mitt-romney-video_n_1829455.html
What a nice guy Mittster is.
I didn’t know Mommy and Daddy bought him his house. Nothing like personal responsibility,dude!
And poor Reince Priebus is in CNN trying desperately to shore up his candidate and explain away his comments. The guy is earning his money today, I will say.
Ron@23, you talk too much. No one reads long posts.
Exactly, david. Ron thinks somebody gives a crap about his long-winded liberal crap.
#38 Nobody gives a crap, that’s why suzie responded to the first one.
Suzie, your criticism is valid. I shall try to be objective and when it comes from the left, I shall try to call it out then too.
Thank you, Scott M. It’s not often liberals in here are reasonable like that, so kudos to you.
So no time like the present to start.
Comment by Suzie — September 17, 2012 @ 12:41 pm
Ron@23, you talk too much. No one reads long posts.
Exactly, david. Ron thinks somebody gives a crap about his long-winded liberal crap.
Comment by Suzie — September 17, 2012 @ 6:51 pm
Isn’t it nice to see SuzieQ keep her civility promise for 6 hours.
I guess this guy thought he could take it with him.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/17/13921601-7-million-in-gold-found-in-dead-nevada-mans-home
Ron, could you please re-post #23 but do it in a dumbed down cliff’s note version so our republican friends can comprehend it as well? They get all flustered by anything over a paragraph that doesn’t have big pictures.
Cause and effect; Ron posts a detailed and intriguing idea that’s somewhat beyond mere intellectual cotton candy and the clue hounds get all fired up like we’re trying to get their kids to read Huck Finn or something. Jeez, just get back to watching the idjit box and let the adults have a calm, measured conversation.
Ron should be applauded for challenging you clowns with something more complex and stimulating than a cue ball or a brick but his efforts and talent are clearly lost on you mullet heads.
david
There are long but well written cohesive posts that make sense and are worth reading ( a la Ron May). And then there are long posts that are mostly gibberish, based on a regurgitation of Limbaugh-like talking points
(a la, Steve Nelson, SharonN, and Gomer—er Frank).Those with a brain are able distinguish the difference.
Kristen @ #7:
I liked the part where he said he was ‘bored at work’!
Ron, I will study the links in more detail tonight, but I agree that it does seem like a plan we can live with and more importantly, be successful with.
You know the “low effort” folks are not going to read that many words unless they are from Sharon N, denigrating Obama or liberals.
The rest of us however, appreciate that you studied this and are willing to share what you have learned and what you think of it. Some of us realize we have problems a parroted talking point will not solve. Few of them seem to.
Contra…the rest of us just stalk Dan’s blog when we’re bored at work.
Sandi, dave, Steve C. & others,
I am, by nature, a story teller. Additionally, tax reform, budget deficits, tax expenditures and entitlement programs are not simple issues with easy answers. I could easily have provided just the links and said go read these and be informed. Some of you would have done that. Most, however, would not have done so.
We live in a world where everyone seems to want a 30 second sound bite or a 2 sentence explanation of the problem and its solution. Seldom will you get a 30 second sound bite or a 2 sentence answer to a complex problem from me. The challenges of the world in which we live are more complex than that. If we are serious about solving them, we will be required to study them carefully and develop thoughtful, balanced answers. That takes time and effort.
Precisely Ron #47! You sir, are a prince among men! And I mean that sincerely. Too bad you are not in Congress. It matters that you care and that you make the effort to be informed.
Post away, Ron.
Ron – for the 47% of RWers on this blog your posts, being more than 2-3 sentences, and lacking insults and invectives, are too long and too intelligent. For the rest of us they are thought provoking and interesting – so keep up the good work.
Pistol Pete:
15.”Oh Boy Dan…its time for a 2nd amendment thread!”
That was interesting. According to the article, it happened on the 100 block of PT Travis Avenue and I just sold and closed on 109 PT Travis Avenue a couple of weeks ago. Also, the officer interviewed, Andy Wilburn, and I are distantly related.