QOTD, Bonus QOTD

My man, Ovide! (4.00 / 1)

By Jove, I think he's got it!

But across the room, local conservative favorite Ovide Lamontagne, who nearly upset Kelly Ayotte in the GOP Senate primary, said the outside spending was "concerning."

"It has a distorting effect on the process," he said. "It's for the people of New Hampshire to make a decision. And I'd prefer to know who those people [funding the outside groups] are."

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed Oct 13, 2010 at 22:20:11 PM CDT

Well, who they are may be unknown, but WHAT they are is pretty clear. (0.00 / 0)

They're deprivators, people who want to deprive people of their rights (life, liberty and peace of mind) and, having figured out how to do that under the cover of law, aim to promote their minions to do more.
Some people have a hard time believing that a dog which bares its teeth and growls is actually going to bite.  What we are seeing now is Frank Guinta on his best behavior.  Just think what he'll be like when he can deprive people of health care and education and education with impunity.

If you don't like the word "deprivator," how about "punitive pol"?

How long has Frank been getting away with stuff?  Some people are made better when they experience "the grace of God" and escape retribution.  Others just get more offensive.

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by: hannah @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 04:53:08 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

My husband (0.00 / 0)

reads the comments on my LTEs, because I mostly refuse to do so.  He tells me that according to a local Republican, asking for people to have to identify themselves when they pour money into ads in NH is "censorship."  Could someone explain that to me?

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by: Lucy Edwards @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 04:48:58 AM CDT

I think there's a misunderstanding of what censorship means. (0.00 / 0)

Probably a reasonable confusion with censurship, the act of criticizing or condemning speech, on the part of people who want to be free to speak without being contradicted.
Words being cut out of a printed page or removed from a prepared text is not something they have ever experienced or are likely to.
Indeed, that speeches are written and practiced ahead of time is a foreign concept to people who just talk off the top of their heads.  That's why Republican operatives raising the issue of Obama having a teleprompter has provoked such consternation.  They now resent in retrospect that Dubya was made fun of for mistakes he made speaking off the cuff, which they presumed he was doing all the time. 'Cause nobody called a teleprompter to their attention, it wasn't there.

Of course, there's no reason for people to be clear about what "to censure" means since it never has any effect when it happens.  For it to have meaning, the person being censured has to care about the good opinion of mankind. Our punitive pols have nothing but disdain for the opinion of mankind.

That's why the U.S. has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  

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by: hannah @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 05:11:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Can't (4.00 / 2)

People who oppose disclosure for whatever reason know there is no real reason to allow donors to hide behind these nonprofit shells so they misuse terms like free speech and censorship. Disclosure doesn't stop people from donating directly to candidates, it is not viewed as a restriction on free speech, so there is no logic in these arguments.



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 05:28:45 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's (0.00 / 0)

what I thought.

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by: Lucy Edwards @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 06:03:36 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Secrecy is an important component of power. (0.00 / 0)

It's the power behind the throne syndrome.  
Much effort is dedicated to keeping secrets.  The Koch Brothers have put a significant portion of their fortune at risk to the estate tax, which won't affect them until they actually die (they are both in their seventies), in order to keep their machinations as private as possible.

For example, after acquiring Invista from Dupont for its patent on some sort of stretch fabric, they brought suit against Dupont for infringement of a non-compete provision in the sales agreement to prevent Dupont from developing a new process.  Clearly the Koch Brothers had a monopolistic intent (the non-compete clause), but they also wanted to stymie further invention and development by sequestering the patent and not sharing.  The judgment in the suit went against them.  That they brought it raises the question about what importance they place of having secret information.

It isn't just power they're after; it's secret power.  Which is why they keep denying their involvement with Americans for Prosperity.  That the agent who runs the Koch Foundation sits in Virginia in his own lair, doesn't mean he doesn't do their bidding.  I notice that they don't name him, either.

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by: hannah @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 07:49:27 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Rights & Responsibilities (4.00 / 4)

When we speak, we own our words.

It doesn't work like this:

Why should we listen to the voice that comes from behind the corporate veil?  

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 06:08:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think it is spooky that Charles Koch is holed up in (0.00 / 0)

Witchita, Kansas while David trips the light fantastic on Broadway.  (Yes, I know Lincoln Center isn't on Broadway).

The good witch told Dorothy that she wasn't in Kansas anymore, but, of course, she was.  She never left home.

Koch Industries is a closely held enterprise which is incorporated in Kansas, even though most of their business is conducted elsewhere.  If corporations operate interstate, ought they not to have a federal charter?  I'm reluctant to use the word "regulate," because it obviously means "make regular"--i.e. not subject to the randomness of nature, more predictable, less risky -- but there have to be some enforceable limits on the artificial bodies we allow to be created.  Officially married people have more duties and obligations than the private corporations whose only duty is to accumulate more money for their owners.  We have created artificial bodies whose social benefit is virtually nil.

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by: hannah @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 07:33:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

"Beneath Contempt" (4.00 / 1)

This is a candidate for today's quote of the day:  

But some Republicans are not happy because with Ayotte. One GOP insider said to us, "Viewing the killing of a police officer as a political opportunity is beneath contempt."

http://unionleader.com/article...



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 09:04:07 AM CDT

Dear Professor Smith: (0.00 / 0)

Repeat after me:

"Carol Shea-Porter always surprises me. She always does better than I think she will."

There. Wasn't so hard, was it?  

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by: jvwalt @ Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 13:43:53 PM CDT