home

Monday Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 02:37:33 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

I'll be putting up open threads for a few days as things are really busy at work.

All topics welcome.

< Joran van der Sloot to Become a Father | Anonymous Associate Barrett Brown Indicted, Seeks Competency Evaluation >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Monday Open Thread | 45 comments (45 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

    Obama is coming to Miami (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by CoralGables on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 05:17:08 PM EST
    this Thursday.

    The line that I waited in for a ticket to see Bill Clinton only to have them run out before I made it to the front was a good primer for today. Instead of showing up when they were scheduled to start distributing tickets for Obama, I got myself moving and arrived at Florida International University an hour early today and was about 300th in line and managed to get a ticket this time.

    Those college kids line up early for tickets to see Presidents.

    BC will be @ UC Davis tomorrow (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by nycstray on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 05:45:33 PM EST
    campaigning for 4 House candidates. O's here today with his usual take the money and run trip :) Although, there may be one event for those with less cash, iirc.

    Parent
    Mine is free (none / 0) (#9)
    by CoralGables on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 06:09:08 PM EST
    for those with no cash.

    I've noticed Clinton making more appearances for House seats since the convention when many more seats popped into play. California has a handful of Open or Republican seats that are now viewed as possible tossups.

    Parent

    Becoming an Alabama voter (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Militarytracy on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 06:19:15 PM EST
    Seems to be akin to getting to live in Newts moon colony.  Every change is a Constitutional Ammendment, everything.  The state can't even send you a copy of the Constitution because...well...it would require its own  truck or some such insanity.  Welcome to hell

    Let's say that being busy at work is ... (none / 0) (#1)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 03:04:07 PM EST
    ... much better than not being busy at work, particularly if one is an independent businessperson, as you and I are. The last quarter of the year always tends to be a pretty busy time for me.

    IMO, if I need the money worse than badly... (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 04:42:19 PM EST
    ...then busy at work is awesome, but if I don't absolutely need the money that badly, then busy at work sucks like gravity.  let me float, baby.  the older i get, the more i identify with tribes in the jungle who relish and seek out every moment of idle leisure and pleasure they can create.

    i wish you good grant writing, my man, as a former grant scribbler myself (wrote several for a school district for a year). Mirror those regs, or whatever the old saying I heard was.

    Parent

    "tribes in the jungle" (none / 0) (#3)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 04:53:41 PM EST
    tribes in the jungle who relish and seek out every moment of idle leisure and pleasure they can create
    Read some interesting research the other day on this same subject.

    Regarding our US/global human fatness, research says the ancient hunter and gatherer peeps burned only slightly more calories than we do now, therefore our fatness is almost completely a function of our over-consumption of calories, and not because we've become significantly slothful compared to the ancients (though, of course, a little exercise is always desirable).

    Parent

    mmm, i don't know (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Dadler on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 05:10:51 PM EST
    the empty calorie gorging, I buy completely, but that we're just as active in terms of burning calories, i just don't know. i would be willing to consider that the multiple levels of stress in modern society can burn a considerable, if currently unknown, number of calories.  not to mention the effect of chemical pollution.  

    but i appreciate the take.  and mine could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time.

    but riddle me this: how the hell do you watch your kid play football? i could never survive a quarter, i'd be so worried. when mine played baseball i had a hard time, since his idiot coach kept putting my boy a third base, which i finally had to forbid -- my kid was young for the league, had a great bat (think always makes contact, never strikes out), but couldn't really play defense that well and had a terrible arm. still, every pitch i was waiting for the batter to put a spaulding in my kid's teeth down the hot corner.

    Parent

    Felt the same way watching my (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by Anne on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 05:37:38 PM EST
    daughter ride a 1,000 lb horse over 2-and 3-foot jumps with only a helmet on her head...

    And she did have a fall that she managed to essentially walk away from with only stitches in her chin, while 2 weeks later the same kind of fall killed a young woman at a horse show in the area.  

    Time is fluid, that I learned, and these kinds of things happen in slow motion.  I saw the horse leave for the jump too early, saw his feet get caught in the rails, saw him go to the ground and roll over my daughter.  She popped to her feet right away, and he bolted for the corner of the ring, and I just remember thinking that this might be the moment when everything changed.  Still have no idea how I climbed over the fence and into the ring wearing the skirt and heels I had worn to work.  

    It was her and my first - and I hope, last - ride in an ambulance...

    All I can say is, if someone feels they lack imagination, having a kid will solve that problem in a heartbeat...we have an endless capacity for imagining the worst.

    Parent

    Ya, I guess the research shows that (none / 0) (#6)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 05:27:41 PM EST
    while there were peeps, back in the day, who actively went and got food all day every day, there were also a lot who didn't, so, no significant increase in overall calorie burn for the ancients.

    Anyway, ya, it is difficult to watch my son play football.

    Especially this past Sat when there were a half-dozen or more kids on the other team that were easily 60-70 lbs heavier than my 95lb son.

    Not sure how they could have made weigh-ins at the beginning of the season (155 lb max), but, regardless, my son still ran for over 150 yds.

    Yep, I'm bragging.

    Parent

    Sounds like me... (5.00 / 1) (#32)
    by kdog on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 11:23:54 AM EST
    as a boy...I was crushed as a high school freshman when I missed the 100 lb. minimum to play football, weighing in at 97 lbs.

    So frustrating because I ran circles around kids who made the team playing pick-up tackle at the park...I told the coach "they gotta catch me to hurt me", but rules were rules.  If I had only known there was a weight minimum I woulda thrown a couple rolls a quarters in my pockets or something. I coulda been a contender! ;)

    Parent

    Yes, we agree on the football thing (none / 0) (#41)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Oct 10, 2012 at 09:55:51 AM EST
    I know I'm not cool saying so, but my husband is starting everyone out in soccer. Soccer is dangerous at times though too for head injuries.  We had an aggressive high school female player here kick a ball making a funny and she hit her teammate in the head...horrible concussion, and the injured girl has had migraines regularly since.  The girl who kicked the ball earned a full ride for her skills and her coach didn't want to penalize her for her joke and ruin her chances in ways, even though it was his less talented daughter that she injured in jest.

    The grandpa here is looking forward to coaching some little people soccer with his granddaughters.  One will be old enough next year.  And we have an infant grandson that we will discourage from playing football all we can. If we make soccer a family sport we figure that increases our chances.  Ya get one brain, no extras.

    Parent

    Are you and kdog twins separated at (none / 0) (#21)
    by oculus on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 12:59:47 AM EST
    birth?

    Parent
    Not twins... (none / 0) (#31)
    by kdog on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 11:20:49 AM EST
    just brothers from other mothers;)

    Parent
    Has anyone seen any reliable translation (none / 0) (#11)
    by Peter G on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 07:07:35 PM EST
    of Rmoney's supposed new post-debate 4pt poll lead into an effect on electoral votes? I.e., would there be any? Or is the bump, for example, mostly in states where it doesn't matter?

    Nate Silver has (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by KeysDan on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 07:34:38 PM EST
    some discussion of the effect.

    Parent
    It's not (none / 0) (#14)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 07:53:29 PM EST
    showing up at electoral vote. com when i checked.

    Parent
    An odd note about the Pew poll (none / 0) (#15)
    by lilburro on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 08:08:54 PM EST
    detail here by David Atkins.

    For starters, a full two-thirds of the respondents were over 50 years old. Is that likely to be the shape of the electorate? Very likely not.
    A full 77% of the respondents were white. That is almost certainly not going to reflect the final electorate.
    A large preponderance of the respondents were from the South (449), with the next highest total from the Midwest (294), and only 219 from the Northeast and 239 from the West. There will not be twice as many voters from the South in the election as from the Northeast or the West.
    Finally, more respondents claimed to be Republicans than Democrats, which would destroy the President's chances in November automatically. It's possible for the final electorate to resemble that Party ID, but unlikely.

    The CNN snap poll after the debate that showed Romney performing extremely well also was weirdly and heavily weighted to older Southern white voters.

    For polls I check in at dkos and Talkingpointsmemo.com.  They are both frequently updated.  And they link to other blogs that have interesting poll analysis, too.

    Parent

    And the South swings nothing (none / 0) (#16)
    by Militarytracy on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 08:26:07 PM EST
    It's Republican in national elections, concrete.  They can poll the South to death and Romney isn't going to come up with a single delegate to add to any assured total he already has.  But I guess if you hope to project momentum it can be useful to over poll.

    Parent
    Yeah, it's weird (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by lilburro on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 08:53:49 PM EST
    the polling sample is undeniably not reflective of the voting populace.  But I don't know that Pew necessarily wants to add drama to the race.  David suggests that the way polling works, excited people are more likely to pick up the phone...maybe.  I still haven't heard any real explanation of why CNN's snap poll was so bizarrely white and older.

    Can't remember who wrote what today, maybe it was kos, but someone pointed out that Obama now gets to go into the next debate as an underdog.  Not a bad position for a sitting President.

    Parent

    The underdog (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 07:09:25 AM EST
    thing only works if lecturing Obama the professor who talks at people does not show up. I'm not hopeful since this is a town hall format and Obama generally does not do well in that format. I expect the last debate where it's about foreign policy is where Obama will probably do well since Romney has adopted the crazed Neocon foreign policy stances.

    Parent
    Ga6thdem you know I love you (none / 0) (#35)
    by ruffian on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 04:10:31 PM EST
    but my drinking game for the next debate is going to be you saying 'lecturing Obama the professor' ;-)

    Parent
    In the corner of the left spectrum (none / 0) (#36)
    by Politalkix on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 04:19:29 PM EST
    that I come from, Professors are heroes and only Republicans hate them. Have you heard how Scott Brown mockingly calls EW, Professor? I look at him and think that only idiots smirk against education.

    Parent
    There's nothing (5.00 / 2) (#38)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 05:46:38 PM EST
    wrong with being a professor. I had a number of them in college that could communicate quite well, were quite interesting and held your attention. I also had professors that were obviously passionless about the subject they were teaching and came off a droning duds. Not all professors are the same just like not all of any group is the same.

    Parent
    Strange response (5.00 / 1) (#40)
    by Yman on Wed Oct 10, 2012 at 09:46:45 AM EST
    ... considering that no one here "hates" professors or "smirks against education".

    Parent
    Professors are heroes to me, too (none / 0) (#37)
    by sj on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 04:28:09 PM EST
    I can think of two specifically.  But I can't think of a single one that I would get my vote for President...

    Parent
    Well, (none / 0) (#39)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 05:47:22 PM EST
    if he comes off that way, I will certainly be saying it. Hopefully Obama the lecturing professor does not show up.

    Parent
    They have landlines and perhaps (none / 0) (#19)
    by nycstray on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 09:28:59 PM EST
    aren't as selective with their caller ID?  Who knows, a pollster could be the highlight of their day (no kids to wrangle, not tired from work, etc)! Or perhaps they just really want to weigh in (insert the brainwashed population here)?

    They should really just concentrate on the states in play for these polls. I mean, they could call the red districts in CA and get the same results as the south, as far as who they are voting for, but it doesn't matter, O has it locked up here . . .

    Parent

    Landlines (none / 0) (#20)
    by shoephone on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 10:53:07 PM EST
    This is a very good point. I don't know anyone under the age of 40 who has a landline.

    As for me, I have one, but I only use it to call out locally, and have it in case of emergency. The ringer is turned off so I never answer it -- and believe me, the Caller ID shows that the pollsters try me numerous times a week, every week.

    Parent

    Not odd at all, per 2008 exit polls (none / 0) (#29)
    by RonK Seattle on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 10:09:13 AM EST
    In 2008 (a big year for youth and minority turnout) 74% identified white, 53% age 45+.

    Romney clearly scored a debate bounce of historic proportion -- but this by itself doesn't mean much until we see where the bounce settles.

    Parent

    66% vs 53% (none / 0) (#30)
    by lilburro on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 10:15:53 AM EST
    that's a significant difference, and 74%, not sure there will be more white people voting this year.  I doubt it.  But yes we do have to see where the bounce settles.

    Parent
    Sad, sad news for Oregon State football. (none / 0) (#12)
    by caseyOR on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 07:19:14 PM EST
    And even worse news for QB Sean Mannion. OSU just announced that Mannion suffered a knee injury in Saturday's game that requires surgery. No word on how long Mannion will be sidelined.

    Backup QB Cody Vaz has not played in a game since 2010 when he played five games subbing for then QB Ryan Katz.

    The Beavers just made it to the top ten in the polls. They play Utah this Saturday. So, they have a chance to win and hang in the top ten for one more week. After that, I don't know. Mannion is crucial to the team's success.

    Whatever else happens, I hope the surgery is successful, and Mannion suffers no permanent damage.

    I hope so, too. (none / 0) (#17)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Oct 08, 2012 at 08:47:28 PM EST
    I loves me my football as much as the next cro-magnon Amercian male, but the sport is rendered trivial when one's future health and well-being are on the line. I certainly wouldn't want to risk for young Ms. Mannion -- or any other young college athlete, for that matter -- a lifetime of structural body pain and / or arthritis, simply for the fleeting glory of a Top 10 ranking. Here's a toast to his full and healthy recovery.

    Parent
    "Ms. Mannion"? (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 01:10:05 AM EST


    Parent
    Americans love a winner (none / 0) (#24)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 07:59:57 AM EST
    My Conservative family members have been very politically quiet on facebook until Romney started looking good.  It is a fact that not everybody is scrappy or loud like I am.  I was born lucky, I was born thinking I had the right to argue for myself right out of the gate.  Most people are quieter, not excited to lead any charge into anything, but have a good idea how they hope things go.  Now that Mittens did a good, all my Conservative family members have "liked" him. I open up facebook and see that 12 of my friends have "liked" Mitt Romney and because they all did it at once it became highlighted.  Led me to post "A coward has no scar" :)

    I don't get it though, one of them has a husband who barely 50 and he is hospicing.  He's too young for cancer but it got him.  He has spent the past two years fighting.  She can't find a way for someone to stay with him during the day though so she can work, there are no resources.  He is home hospicing because he has not reached the stage where he would hospice at the facility.  She has medical bills that are accumulated copays stacked a mile high, and when she went to work a few weeks ago he fell out of bed.  He was able to get himself back in bed but she doesn't know what to do, feels guilty and beaten and overwhelmed all at once.  BUT SHE LIKES MITT ROMNEY!  How does any of that square?

    I like that quote (none / 0) (#25)
    by lilburro on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 08:18:25 AM EST
    re:  cowards.  The dk front page had a diary about people in similiar situations as your friend.  Conservative, but helped by Obamacare.  Interesting if frustrating reading.

    Parent
    It is very disturbing to me (none / 0) (#27)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 08:35:19 AM EST
    I feel like it is my duty to share what has happened to our family.  What has happened to Josh since ACA kicked in for him and it was not overturned.  There has been relief.  I just noticed lately that I paint my toenails.  I can focus a little more on me.

    I used to get so overwhelmed and depressed that often I would work out telling myself that if they killed me off with the stress it would only make it easier to kill him.  What sort of motivation is that for any parent?

    I see subtle shifts in my behavior and soundness of mind, my family is experiencing some quality of life.  Tensions will always be there, but the wolf isn't at my door...he has to stand across the street and stare at my house.

    Even though my Conservative family members know that for profit insurance denied Joshua things he needed all the time and placed his life in jeopardy and almost made me crazy, they will still go with ranting Romney and his tales of greatness earned in the Thunderdome.  And a terminally ill family member with no money or means to have anyone be with him during the day while he $hits himself will not detour them from their mission to self destruct I guess.

    Parent

    Oh...and another cousin (none / 0) (#28)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 08:42:17 AM EST
    They own mini storage, I don't know how many they own these days.  They aren't wealthy but they are middle class.  They don't have health insurance and the idea of having to buy it makes them furious.  If they have medical bills for health reasons they will pay them when they damn well feel like it too.

    She has a lot of elective surgery done though and you know you must pay for that up front.  She is on her second set of boobs, the new ones are even bigger.  We are not young women, and it creeps me out to see my aging cousin with giant bazongas.  She put a photo up on facebook with her new giant bazongas and she had one arm around her husband and one arm around her grandson and she wrote that she loved them.  I said out loud that I couldn't tell if she was talking about her family or her boobs and my husband punched me in the arm.

    She is a Romney voter though and she HATES Obama.

    Parent

    Why does she hate Obama? (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by MKS on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 03:00:53 PM EST
    I think most Republicans are Republicans for cultural reasons, not economic ones.....

    Parent
    I have no real idea why she hates Obama (none / 0) (#42)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Oct 10, 2012 at 12:36:48 PM EST
    None.  I suppose she hates him for reasons that either involve notions you cannot say in mixed company or because she thinks that supporting rich people will make her rich.

    Parent
    Actually (5.00 / 1) (#43)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Oct 10, 2012 at 01:15:33 PM EST
    Tracy you can finance elective surgery. I'm not sure that your cousin has done this but many in my area work with some sort of medical finance company. I have seen it advertised as "payment plans"

    Parent
    What are the (5.00 / 1) (#44)
    by Zorba on Wed Oct 10, 2012 at 01:50:11 PM EST
    interests rates for this type of financing, Ga?  I hadn't heard of this before.
    I do know that increasing numbers of Americans are traveling to India for surgery.  Not just for cosmetic surgery, but for things like heart valve replacement and joint replacement surgery, because it is much cheaper there for Americans who are not covered by health insurance.  From things I have read in the past, the results seem to be on a par with results here for equivalent surgeries.

    Parent
    That I have no idea about (5.00 / 1) (#45)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Oct 10, 2012 at 03:32:35 PM EST
    since I've just seen "medical financing" available in my surgeon's office that was offering lap bands and other kind of iffy cosmetic surgery.

    Parent
    There has been some movement (none / 0) (#26)
    by Politalkix on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 08:19:27 AM EST
    of the white women vote towards Romney after the debate. BHO has to get them back. Kerry lost the "security mom" vote to GWB and paid heavily for it.
    Romney cannot protect women from Todd Akin in this country but seems to have lots of concerns about the rights of women in the Middle East (I laughed at his foreign policy speech yesterday).

    Parent
    I can tell (5.00 / 2) (#33)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 12:25:02 PM EST
    you why Obama lost those voters. It was because Moderate Mitt showed up at the debate not Tea Party Mitt. Obama can remind people of all the promises that Romney made to the Tea Party.

    Parent
    Monday Open Thread | 45 comments (45 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment