Open Thread: Fast & Furious Edition

Hmmm (0.00 / 0)

I haven't read any of the hacked e-mail links (Gawker has them, if you're interested). Whatever the public interest may be, I think hacking a private account is just plain wrong. A subpoena for those e-mails might be in order one of these days, but we're not there yet, as far as I know.

But why, exactly, does the Secret Service need copies of them? And why did they ask AP for them? Why not Yahoo or even Sarah herself?

Editor & Publisher via Mediabistro:
http://www.editorandpublisher....

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by: JimC @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 10:50:58 AM CDT

The thing I find most disturbing about this (4.00 / 1)

Is that McCain, who invented the Blackberry despite not knowing how to send an email, picked a running mate who runs her state via a Yahoo account.

Is GMail just too liberal, Governor?

--
No tea; no decaf.

@DougLindner

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 11:03:38 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

McCain/Palin: Winning Ugly (4.00 / 1)

A CNN story about "lying" in this cycle.

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 13:09:24 PM CDT

Re-introducing a campaign term (4.00 / 1)

It was popular in 1968 when Humphrey picked Muskie as his running mate: the Kangaroo Ticket.

Meaning: the second guy is more popular than the one in front, sort of carrying him in the pouch.

The mccain-PALIN crowds reminded me.

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by: elwood @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 14:03:07 PM CDT

mccain-PALIN (0.00 / 0)

That would stick in any maverick's craw.  

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 14:29:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oh, but they're a TEAM of mavericks (0.00 / 0)

Like the Yankees.

And how are the Yankees, lately?

Sorry, Jonny, had to do it ...

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by: JimC @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 15:26:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

lowballer (4.00 / 1)

Kickin' a guy when he's down. It has been noted.

for transparency sake ~I represent Union print shops

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 16:40:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Fair enough (0.00 / 0)

But in the words of Hunter Thompson, I kicked 'em when they were up too.

He was speaking of Nixon (no comparison implied).

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by: JimC @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 16:44:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

for 50 of my 56 years, or more (0.00 / 0)

the Red Sox have made a sport of folding, fading, and fumbling away titles. I never said a word, cause my team were almost always(it seemed)winners. If they weren't in it I rooted for the American League always. Dumping on hapless losers is low class. Doesn't bother Sox fans though, low class hating comes with the territory. Be happy you won a couple and act magnanimous. It's 26-7 in World Series Rings if I remember correctly. I'll be gone before you ever catch up.

for transparency sake ~I represent Union print shops

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 17:10:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sorry (0.00 / 0)

No hating, really. It was meant in good fun. I wasn't trying to actually dump on them, and they're far from hapless. In my opinion -- and this may offend someone else, in which case I think we should take it to a sports blog -- real fans don't hate worthy opponents.

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by: JimC @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 17:20:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You folded (0.00 / 0)

F$ck the Yankees. Steinbum buys championships with his media market share and gear sales.

New York City = $$$ = Yankee Titles

Baseball is lame-o. Drop the biscut, eh. Game on!

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 17:57:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Nope (4.00 / 1)

I'm sticking to my holstered guns. I was dumping on McCalin, not the Bronx Bombers. I was just trying to undo any collateral damage.

PS. You can't have it both ways. F the Yankees, or baseball is lame, which is it? What are you, an independent voter? :-!

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by: JimC @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 18:08:56 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Wait 'til Manny signs on (0.00 / 0)

btw, that bum is batting .400+ in LA.

I don't have to love ball to hate rats. Do I?

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 18:19:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Upon further review (0.00 / 0)

I have to say no, you don't have to.

My simple logic being that I don't love football, but I still hate the Cowboys.

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by: JimC @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 18:25:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hi Jack (0.00 / 0)

f' Dallas,they killed Kennedy

sorry bout your almost perfect season...GO G-MEN

for transparency sake ~I represent Union print shops

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 18:53:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Damn you Bad man! (0.00 / 0)

You loused up my Open Thread with you big, gawdy ego booster.

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 21:44:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

it was Hi-Jacked n/t (4.00 / 1)

for transparency sake ~I represent Union print shops

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 21:55:25 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

and the Sox are paying his contract (0.00 / 0)

hahahahahahaha

for transparency sake ~I represent Union print shops

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 18:47:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Steinbrenner and A-Rod (4.00 / 1)

. . . maxed out to Bush.

For the record, Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino, and Theo Epstein are all prominent Democratic contributors, as are Pats owner Bob Kraft and Celtics coach Doc Rivers.  

Our only low-life is McCain buddy Curt Schilling, but he makes up for it by bashing the crap out of the fascist Yankees every chance he gets.  Come to the light, Curt!

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 20:49:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Any mailers yet? (0.00 / 0)

What's clogging the mail box?

Get that scanner hummin'!


Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 16:28:32 PM CDT

Attacking McSame's "honor" (4.00 / 2)

Obama spokesman Bill Burton added an attack:

This is another flat-out lie from a dishonorable campaign that is increasingly incapable of telling the truth. Frank Raines has never advised Senator Obama about anything -- ever. And by the way, someone whose campaign manager and top advisor worked and lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shouldn't be throwing stones from his seven glass houses.

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 18:29:36 PM CDT

Not to mention that Raines was removed from (0.00 / 0)

Fannie Mae in December of 2004!  If I'm not mistaken, that's before Obama even arrived in D.C.

On the other hand, there's been a persistent effort to blame the Community Reinvestment Act for all kinds of things.  This time there's the argument that sub-prime loans that they were forced to make to unqualified borrowers are the root of the crisis.  "sub-prime" and "unqualified" are, of course, code for "minority/black," much as the word "community" is.
African Americans and hispanics are big on community, which they see as an extension of the extended family.  They don't share the definition of family as the prototype of authoritarian rule.

Be that as it may, the real objection to CRA arises from the fact that in order to demonstrate compliance with its provisions, financial institutions have to open their books to public inspection.  A community challenge under the CRA can initiate a full-blown audit by the Comptroller of the Currency or other supervisory agency.  Most agency reviews of the entities they supervise are in response to an allegation of wrong-doing and that usually means that somebody on the inside has to blow the whistle or there has to be suspicion of a crime.  Under the CRA, a community group can prompt a review from the outside (sort of like the FOIA) and instigate a sort of fishing expedition.  In other words, you can have a real random audit--an event that spells danger to a banker's mind.  
It helps to remember that most of the routine audits that are required to be performed are largely pro-forma and satisfied by any number of people swearing the information is accurate.

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by: hannah @ Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 06:48:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

And, Two Cheers for White Privilege! (4.00 / 3)

This piece from Tim Wise over at ZSpace is worth reading to get a little perspective on the double-standard environment that created these All-Hat-And-No-Cattle "mavericks", here's an excerpt:

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

There's a pattern here, no?

Republicans believe government is bad - then they get into office and prove it.

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by: GreyMike @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 21:20:55 PM CDT

Affording babies (4.00 / 1)

I start to foam at the mouth when I talk about population control. Suffice to say, I get heated when someone states that they can "afford" to take care of their children. They rarely pause to consider those that go without because "affording" means taking by means of money. Substitute a gun for a sawbuck and it's theft.

But I digress.


Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 21:42:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Looking on children as some sort of possession is a relic from a (0.00 / 0)

time when people of all ages were "owned."  The concept of ownership as an occasion of responsibility, rather than authority, is still not universally appreciated.

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by: hannah @ Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 06:57:29 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Children as a status symbol (4.00 / 1)

In agricultural cultures, children are hands that work. In a post industrial society, they are mouths to feed.

Some give birth to babies merely because "they can." Sorta like owning a Hummer.

My ass is owned, but my soul is free:


Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 07:13:22 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ye scurvy lot ken what day it be? n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: elwood @ Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 05:20:44 AM CDT

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY AND NARAL PRESIDENT NANCY KEENAN TO DISCUSS OBAMA'S COMMITMENT TO FIGHTING FOR WOMEN (4.00 / 1)

MANCHESTER- Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, IL-9) and NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan will be in New Hampshire this
Saturday, September 20th to discuss the McCain-Palin record on choice and Senator Barack Obama's commitment to protecting
women's rights  with Granite State women in Keene, Peterborough, and Manchester.

"The stakes of this year's election could not be higher for New Hampshire women and their families," said Sandra Abrevaya,
New Hampshire Communications Director."This November, Granite State women will make a critical choice between the Obama- Biden ticket,
which will fight for women's issues on all fronts, and the McCain- Palin ticket, which wants to overturn Roe. V. Wade."

Sen. Obama has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade
a priority as president. John McCain, on the other hand, received a 0% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood,
and has declared his support for a constitutional amendment to ban all abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest.  

Rep. Schakowsky is a leading advocate for women's issues in Congress, sponsoring legislation that would prevent violence against immigrant women,
establish transitional housing for women and children who are victims of abuse, and commemorate International Women's Day. During the 110th Congress,
Rep. Schakowsky served as Democratic Vice Chair of the bipartisan Women's Caucus. Rep. Jan Schakowsky was elected to represent Illinois'
9th Congressional District on November 3, 1998, after serving for eight years in the Illinois State Assembly. She is in her fifth term.

Nancy Keenan began her tenure as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America in December 2004. Under Nancy's leadership, NARAL Pro-Choice America
launched Prevention First, a values-based initiative encouraging lawmakers to focus on commonsense ways to prevent unintended pregnancies and
reduce the need for abortion. A Montana native, Keenan began her career as a teacher before serving as a state legislator and the statewide elected
superintendent of schools .  

Saturday, September 20th:

10:00 a.m. Canvass Kickoff at the Keene Campaign for Change Field Office
305 Park Avenue, Keene

11:00 a.m. Forum on Women's Issues at Keene State College
Lloyd P. Young Student Center at Keene State College
Mountain View Room

2:00p.m. Event on Women's Issues
Aesop's Table (inside Toadstool Bookstore)
12 Depot Street, Peterborough

4:00 p.m. House Party in Amherst
Fells Club House
1 Fells Dr., Amherst

Fudged the format to fit the page, as gigungous pic made it wack. Hope it works.

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 10:26:57 AM CDT

Oh, my (0.00 / 0)

From my Bridge to Nowhere search -- too incendiary for that thread, but wow.

Just last month, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said pet projects could have played a role in a Minnesota bridge collapse that killed 13 people earlier this year.

"Maybe if we had done it right, maybe some of that money would have gone to inspect those bridges and other bridges around the country," McCain told a group of people in a town-hall style meeting in Ankeny, Iowa.

"Maybe the 200,000 people who cross that bridge every day would have been safer than spending $233 million of your tax dollars on a bridge in Alaska to an island with 50 people on it."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/...

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by: JimC @ Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 12:39:28 PM CDT

But kill the earmarks! Like that's not how bridges on interstates are paid for. (0.00 / 0)

This is just like the US Chamber of Commerce's attack ad against Shaheen with the old timey footage of trains falling through collapsing bridges and cars veering off the road.  Why do Republicans think the solution to failing infrastructure is less money?

It's even more inane than Frank Guinta thinking the same thing about schools.

--
No tea; no decaf.

@DougLindner

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Sat Sep 20, 2008 at 03:04:00 AM CDT

[ Parent ]