Monday Creepy Open Comments

Our host posted a comment wherein he claimed that clowns, specifically a room full of them, were “creepy”. I disagree with that statement. I don’t find them creepy at all.

See? Not at all. Fun fun fun clowns.

Harmless fun clowns, having clown fun together. Clowning around.

ok, sometimes they can be a bit creepy.

What I think was going on was that he was overcompensating in order to hide his true feelings for a special young lady.

ps – Thanks you-know-who!


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186 responses to “Monday Creepy Open Comments”

  1. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    OK, I give up. Is this a cabinet meeting at the White House, the Democrat caucus in the House of Representatives, or a school teacher union meeting? It looks much too dignified for a meeting at the Psyc ward or an AA hall.

  2. El Gordo Avatar

    OK, I give up. Is this a cabinet meeting at the White House, the Democrat caucus in the House of Representatives, or a school teacher union meeting? It looks much too dignified for a meeting at the Psyc ward or an AA hall.

  3. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    G’Morning all

    Fat Boy, if you’re fust, I must be tooth. Wha’cha doing up at 1:28 in the morning for?

    Here’s a clown that would always be welcome in my house

    But not this one

  4. OletimerLin Avatar
    OletimerLin

    G’Morning all
    Fat Boy, if you’re fust, I must be tooth. Wha’cha doing up at 1:28 in the morning for?
    Here’s a clown that would always be welcome in my house
    But not this one

  5. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    #2 – Somebody’s got to keep an eye on things around here, so it just as well be me. You never know what might happen in Asia, Europe, or the White House that needs my immediate attention. Besides, I get paid a little for staying awake too.

  6. El Gordo Avatar

    #2 – Somebody’s got to keep an eye on things around here, so it just as well be me. You never know what might happen in Asia, Europe, or the White House that needs my immediate attention. Besides, I get paid a little for staying awake too.

  7. Southern Tragedy Avatar
    Southern Tragedy

    1:25 AM is last not first.

    EG is the guy who calls the guy who makes the 3 AM call to the White House.

  8. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    1:25 AM is last not first.
    EG is the guy who calls the guy who makes the 3 AM call to the White House.

  9. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    #1, I think it is an Occupy general assembly. Probably Oakland.

  10. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    #1, I think it is an Occupy general assembly. Probably Oakland.

  11. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    If any of you are interested, here’s daughter Reesa’s blog. She was in L.A. to speak at this memorial and coming back thru Houston to celebrate our anniverary/my birthday. Gotta go to IAH to pick her up in a little while.

    http://randommutteringsfromanartist.blogspot.com/2011/10/lanford-wilson-la-memorial-la.html

  12. OletimerLin Avatar
    OletimerLin

    If any of you are interested, here’s daughter Reesa’s blog. She was in L.A. to speak at this memorial and coming back thru Houston to celebrate our anniverary/my birthday. Gotta go to IAH to pick her up in a little while.
    http://randommutteringsfromanartist.blogspot.com/2011/10/lanford-wilson-la-memorial-la.html

  13. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    So…much…evil.

  14. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    I see The Couch is up and running this morning. Thanks EG for all you do – whatever it is that you get paid for in the dead of night.

    That last clown picture is someone’s huge collection of clown dolls, but I think that is himself in the middle with a tiny hat and a big red nose.

    “Eunice” is too back-channel for me. I’ll have to check in later and see if someone in the know has explained it.

  15. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    I see The Couch is up and running this morning. Thanks EG for all you do – whatever it is that you get paid for in the dead of night.
    That last clown picture is someone’s huge collection of clown dolls, but I think that is himself in the middle with a tiny hat and a big red nose.
    “Eunice” is too back-channel for me. I’ll have to check in later and see if someone in the know has explained it.

  16. Katfish Avatar

    #9 mh42
    Think less Eunice and more Frida. Check the link and Google a (very short) bit.

  17. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    #9 mh42
    Think less Eunice and more Frida. Check the link and Google a (very short) bit.

  18. Hamous Avatar

    UNESCO grants palestenians full membership.

    Unesco is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join as a full member since President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on Sept. 23.
    The United States, Canada and Germany voted against Palestinian membership. Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa and France voted in favour. Britain abstained.
    /snip
    But Unesco is one of the UN agencies the Palestinians can join as a full member regardless of their broader status at the United Nations, where they are currently classified as “an observer entity”.
    Palestinian success could bring a financial cost for Unesco. Under US law, the admission as a full Unesco member would trigger a cut-off in US funding which accounts for 22 per cent of the agency’s funding.

    Will the US actually cut-off any funding for the murdering terrorists occupying Gaza and the West Bank? I’ll believe it when I see it.

  19. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    UNESCO grants palestenians full membership.

    Unesco is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join as a full member since President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on Sept. 23.
    The United States, Canada and Germany voted against Palestinian membership. Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa and France voted in favour. Britain abstained.
    /snip
    But Unesco is one of the UN agencies the Palestinians can join as a full member regardless of their broader status at the United Nations, where they are currently classified as “an observer entity”.
    Palestinian success could bring a financial cost for Unesco. Under US law, the admission as a full Unesco member would trigger a cut-off in US funding which accounts for 22 per cent of the agency’s funding.

    Will the US actually cut-off any funding for the murdering terrorists occupying Gaza and the West Bank? I’ll believe it when I see it.

  20. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Good morning Hamsters. Pleasant 46 at 6 and plenty of dew. A yardfull of black birds congregate under pecan trees after 9, pecking away at something inviting on the ground. Suddenly they take off and circle, then land and resume pecking. A lone squirrel bounding down from a tree caused this. He looked up briefly and kept on bounding.

    Ghosties and goblins and things that go bump in the night will be hanging around today and hung over tomorrow from partying all night. 🙂

    We won’t be in costume to hand out T or T goodies because we’re scary enough as it is. And since we haven’t had any T or T-ers in 25 years or so, not likely that any will come tonight. Just in case, however, there’s a candy stash our good neighbor sent over because she bought too much for the party her daughter is attending. That’s one of the things friends are for.

    We’re in a country subdivision with homes far apart and no steet lighting, and that seems to be the main reason nobody comes, which is sensible. Also our neighborhood has few children in residence, and all are likely going to parties at school or church. No little ones to be seen other than grandkids who visit occasionally. The rest of the neighbors are empty nesters. Guess we are a “mature” subdivision. But quite a few homes have decorations out anyway.

  21. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Good morning Hamsters. Pleasant 46 at 6 and plenty of dew. A yardfull of black birds congregate under pecan trees after 9, pecking away at something inviting on the ground. Suddenly they take off and circle, then land and resume pecking. A lone squirrel bounding down from a tree caused this. He looked up briefly and kept on bounding.
    Ghosties and goblins and things that go bump in the night will be hanging around today and hung over tomorrow from partying all night. 🙂
    We won’t be in costume to hand out T or T goodies because we’re scary enough as it is. And since we haven’t had any T or T-ers in 25 years or so, not likely that any will come tonight. Just in case, however, there’s a candy stash our good neighbor sent over because she bought too much for the party her daughter is attending. That’s one of the things friends are for.
    We’re in a country subdivision with homes far apart and no steet lighting, and that seems to be the main reason nobody comes, which is sensible. Also our neighborhood has few children in residence, and all are likely going to parties at school or church. No little ones to be seen other than grandkids who visit occasionally. The rest of the neighbors are empty nesters. Guess we are a “mature” subdivision. But quite a few homes have decorations out anyway.

  22. Katfish Avatar

    Remember the “man” who gave birth last year?

    Seems “he” wants to have a hysterectomy. 🙄

  23. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Remember the “man” who gave birth last year?
    Seems “he” wants to have a hysterectomy. 🙄

  24. Tedtam Avatar

    I used to scare the little goblins. I’d wait at the door and when I heard them get real close – like knocking distance – I’d yank the door open and give ’em a loud “woooaahhhhhh!”

    Most of the kids would jump back and then laugh, but I felt bad after I made a 2 year old girl cry, so I cut it out after that. Dang, took all the fun out of Halloween for me.

  25. Tedtam Avatar

    I used to scare the little goblins. I’d wait at the door and when I heard them get real close – like knocking distance – I’d yank the door open and give ’em a loud “woooaahhhhhh!”
    Most of the kids would jump back and then laugh, but I felt bad after I made a 2 year old girl cry, so I cut it out after that. Dang, took all the fun out of Halloween for me.

  26. Hamous Avatar

    The screw worm was virtually eradicated using a similar approach.

    Researchers on Sunday reported initial signs of success from the first release into the environment of mosquitoes engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, killing them before they reach adulthood.

    The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria.
    /snip
    Oxitec says its approach is an extension of a technique used successfully for decades to suppress or even eradicate pests, which involves the release of millions of sterile insects that mate with wild ones, producing no offspring.

    The thought of being able to eradicate even a single species of mosquito is heart warming to humans but not so much for heart worms. Blood sucking mosquitos are a scourge on man and beast.

  27. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    The screw worm was virtually eradicated using a similar approach.

    Researchers on Sunday reported initial signs of success from the first release into the environment of mosquitoes engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, killing them before they reach adulthood.
    The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria.
    /snip
    Oxitec says its approach is an extension of a technique used successfully for decades to suppress or even eradicate pests, which involves the release of millions of sterile insects that mate with wild ones, producing no offspring.

    The thought of being able to eradicate even a single species of mosquito is heart warming to humans but not so much for heart worms. Blood sucking mosquitos are a scourge on man and beast.

  28. Katfish Avatar

    Most of the kids would jump back and then laugh, but I felt bad after I made a 2 year old girl cry, so I cut it out after that. Dang, took all the fun out of Halloween for me.

    That’s what windows are for.

    Your goal should be to make a 13 year old boy cry like a two year old girl.

  29. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Most of the kids would jump back and then laugh, but I felt bad after I made a 2 year old girl cry, so I cut it out after that. Dang, took all the fun out of Halloween for me.

    That’s what windows are for.
    Your goal should be to make a 13 year old boy cry like a two year old girl.

  30. Katfish Avatar

    The thought of being able to eradicate even a single species of mosquito is heart warming to humans but not so much for heart worms.

    Chiggers & fire ants deserve to die the most excruciatingly painful deaths possible.

  31. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    The thought of being able to eradicate even a single species of mosquito is heart warming to humans but not so much for heart worms.

    Chiggers & fire ants deserve to die the most excruciatingly painful deaths possible.

  32. Hamous Avatar

    #14 Pyro: And we wonder why GB is so screwed-up?? This whole transgendered thing is nauseating. There are a tiny proportion of the population who are actually born hermaphrodites, they have the sex organs of both genders; those are the only ones that can legitimately be called “transgendered” the rest are just sick wissin freaks and need to all be sterilized and banned from any contact with children. They are mentally ill and need to be treated as such.

  33. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    #14 Pyro: And we wonder why GB is so screwed-up?? This whole transgendered thing is nauseating. There are a tiny proportion of the population who are actually born hermaphrodites, they have the sex organs of both genders; those are the only ones that can legitimately be called “transgendered” the rest are just sick wissin freaks and need to all be sterilized and banned from any contact with children. They are mentally ill and need to be treated as such.

  34. Hamous Avatar

    #18 Pyro:

    Chiggers & fire ants deserve to die the most excruciatingly painful deaths possible.

    take about 1/2 cup full of gasoline and pour over a live ant hill. DO NOT IGNITE! The gasoline vapors will sink and displace all the air and axphixiate everything in the nest:>) Cool huh.

  35. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    #18 Pyro:

    Chiggers & fire ants deserve to die the most excruciatingly painful deaths possible.

    take about 1/2 cup full of gasoline and pour over a live ant hill. DO NOT IGNITE! The gasoline vapors will sink and displace all the air and axphixiate everything in the nest:>) Cool huh.

  36. Katfish Avatar

    DO NOT IGNITE!

    But it’s so cool when they start popping.

  37. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    DO NOT IGNITE!

    But it’s so cool when they start popping.

  38. Tedtam Avatar

    #17 WB

    Your goal should be to make a 13 year old boy cry like a two year old girl.

    An admirable goal, that.

    RE: Mosquitoes

    I’m the first to say that those little scumsucking bloodsuckers, whose close relatives live in capitols all over the world, are despicable and worthy of having their numbers decimated.

    With extreme prejudice.

    But I wonder what the “unintended consequences” would be. What happens to the food chain? I know some breeds of bats eat millions of these things – will there be enough insect food to replace the missing mosquitoes? And what happens they and other insect eating populations fall?

  39. Tedtam Avatar

    #17 WB

    Your goal should be to make a 13 year old boy cry like a two year old girl.

    An admirable goal, that.
    RE: Mosquitoes
    I’m the first to say that those little scumsucking bloodsuckers, whose close relatives live in capitols all over the world, are despicable and worthy of having their numbers decimated.
    With extreme prejudice.
    But I wonder what the “unintended consequences” would be. What happens to the food chain? I know some breeds of bats eat millions of these things – will there be enough insect food to replace the missing mosquitoes? And what happens they and other insect eating populations fall?

  40. Tedtam Avatar

    Ant nest casting.

    I do disagree with the scientist on this one point:

    The process of making these casts almost always kills the ants in the nests, however; but that is “not something I like doing,” Tschinkel says.

    Not a problem, as far as I’m concerned.

  41. Tedtam Avatar

    Ant nest casting.
    I do disagree with the scientist on this one point:

    The process of making these casts almost always kills the ants in the nests, however; but that is “not something I like doing,” Tschinkel says.

    Not a problem, as far as I’m concerned.

  42. Tedtam Avatar

    I just heard that “Water for Texas – Yes on 2!” commercial for Prop 2. According to the commercial, it provides for more water for our growing Texas population “with no cost to the customer”. Hel-loooo-oooo! Who do they think is going to pay for the debt the prop allows the local governments to incur on a rolling basis? Debt is debt, and the end consumer will always pay, one way or another.

    But then, most of the population doesn’t think thoroughly or politically, so it’ll probably pass.

  43. Tedtam Avatar

    I just heard that “Water for Texas – Yes on 2!” commercial for Prop 2. According to the commercial, it provides for more water for our growing Texas population “with no cost to the customer”. Hel-loooo-oooo! Who do they think is going to pay for the debt the prop allows the local governments to incur on a rolling basis? Debt is debt, and the end consumer will always pay, one way or another.
    But then, most of the population doesn’t think thoroughly or politically, so it’ll probably pass.

  44. Hamous Avatar

    #24 Pyro: WOW! Miracles on display.
    1) Miracle that a tattoo can be successfully removed
    2) Even bigger miracle that he had such a change of heart that he wanted them removed.
    3) Even bigger still miracle that HE made THE personal sacrifice for our well being, and put in us the desire to serve HIM and HIS CAUSE; something so much bigger than ourselves.

  45. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    #24 Pyro: WOW! Miracles on display.
    1) Miracle that a tattoo can be successfully removed
    2) Even bigger miracle that he had such a change of heart that he wanted them removed.
    3) Even bigger still miracle that HE made THE personal sacrifice for our well being, and put in us the desire to serve HIM and HIS CAUSE; something so much bigger than ourselves.

  46. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    #26 – Unless I hear some VERY COMPELLING commentary for ANY of the proposed amendments – it’s gonna be NO to ALL from this desk

  47. Katfish Avatar

    #26 – Unless I hear some VERY COMPELLING commentary for ANY of the proposed amendments – it’s gonna be NO to ALL from this desk

  48. Katfish Avatar

    proposed amendments

    What are they?

  49. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    proposed amendments

    What are they?

  50. Hamous Avatar

    Krauthammer has a great article here.

    Moreover, Gaddafi’s sorry end has one major virtue: deterrence. You are a murderous dictator with a rebellion on your hands. You have a choice. Relinquish power and spare your country further agony, and you can then live out your days like Amin — or like a more contemporary Saudi guest, Tunisia’s Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Otherwise, you die like Gaddafi, dragged from a stinking sewer pipe, abused, taunted and shot.

    It’s not pretty. But it’s a precedent. And a salutary one. One that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for example, might contemplate. Continue to fight and kill, and expect thereafter no belated offers of asylum — not even the due process of a long, talky judicial proceeding in The Hague with a nice comfy cell, three meals a day and the consoling certainty that your captors practice none of your specialties: torture and summary execution.

  51. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    Krauthammer has a great article here.

    Moreover, Gaddafi’s sorry end has one major virtue: deterrence. You are a murderous dictator with a rebellion on your hands. You have a choice. Relinquish power and spare your country further agony, and you can then live out your days like Amin — or like a more contemporary Saudi guest, Tunisia’s Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Otherwise, you die like Gaddafi, dragged from a stinking sewer pipe, abused, taunted and shot.
    It’s not pretty. But it’s a precedent. And a salutary one. One that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for example, might contemplate. Continue to fight and kill, and expect thereafter no belated offers of asylum — not even the due process of a long, talky judicial proceeding in The Hague with a nice comfy cell, three meals a day and the consoling certainty that your captors practice none of your specialties: torture and summary execution.

  52. Hamous Avatar

    It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

    Besieged broker MF Global filed bankruptcy today after a frantic effort over the weekend by CEO John Corzine to strike an out-of-bankruptcy sale came up short.
    MF Global had a tentative deal to sell assets to Interactive Brokers Group as of late Sunday, but the agreement fell apart as talks continued overnight, people familiar with the matter said. Discussions ended around 5 a.m. Eastern Time, one of these people said.

    from the comments section:

    his incompetent and rejected former NJ Governor was slated to joining the other Goldman Sach’s cronies in the equally incompetent Obama Administration as the new Treasury Secretary. The boy tax cheat Geithner must be feeling a sigh of relief now that Corzine and his idiot investors have been laid to waste. If he had failed a couple of years earlier, perhaps he would have been granted a government bailout along with the other crony capitalists. His personal wealth should be garnished to pay for this idiocy, of which he still has plenty, but reprobates like Corzine and the Obama Administration only gamble with other peoples money.

  53. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

    Besieged broker MF Global filed bankruptcy today after a frantic effort over the weekend by CEO John Corzine to strike an out-of-bankruptcy sale came up short.
    MF Global had a tentative deal to sell assets to Interactive Brokers Group as of late Sunday, but the agreement fell apart as talks continued overnight, people familiar with the matter said. Discussions ended around 5 a.m. Eastern Time, one of these people said.

    from the comments section:

    his incompetent and rejected former NJ Governor was slated to joining the other Goldman Sach’s cronies in the equally incompetent Obama Administration as the new Treasury Secretary. The boy tax cheat Geithner must be feeling a sigh of relief now that Corzine and his idiot investors have been laid to waste. If he had failed a couple of years earlier, perhaps he would have been granted a government bailout along with the other crony capitalists. His personal wealth should be garnished to pay for this idiocy, of which he still has plenty, but reprobates like Corzine and the Obama Administration only gamble with other peoples money.

  54. Tedtam Avatar

    Houston Tea Party Society has a list and explanation of the amendments here.

  55. Tedtam Avatar

    Houston Tea Party Society has a list and explanation of the amendments here.

  56. Tedtam Avatar

    Another list from VoteTexas.org is here.

  57. Tedtam Avatar

    Another list from VoteTexas.org is here.

  58. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Unless I hear some VERY COMPELLING commentary for ANY of the proposed amendments – it’s gonna be NO to ALL from this desk

    I voted yes on #1. Can’t think of a reason not to:

    Proposition Number 1 (SJR 14)

    SJR 14 would amend the constitution to authorize the legislature to provide the surviving spouse of a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran with an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the surviving spouse’s residence homestead as long as the surviving spouse has not remarried, the property was the residence homestead of the surviving spouse when the qualifying veteran died, and the property remains the residence homestead of the surviving spouse.

    http://votexas.org/exp-statements-2011.html

  59. Hamous Avatar

    Unless I hear some VERY COMPELLING commentary for ANY of the proposed amendments – it’s gonna be NO to ALL from this desk

    I voted yes on #1. Can’t think of a reason not to:

    Proposition Number 1 (SJR 14)
    SJR 14 would amend the constitution to authorize the legislature to provide the surviving spouse of a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran with an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the surviving spouse’s residence homestead as long as the surviving spouse has not remarried, the property was the residence homestead of the surviving spouse when the qualifying veteran died, and the property remains the residence homestead of the surviving spouse.

    http://votexas.org/exp-statements-2011.html

  60. Dooood Avatar

    I have made the case here our two dominant political parties and the once powerful “establishments” they represented are now fractured and fragmented.
    Rather than an organized party apparatus, the Republican and Democratic parties
    are mere shadows of their former roles as arbiters and kingmakers.

    Despite the frequent use of the term, “establishment”, by pundits and radio talk show
    hosts, there no longer exists anything like we once saw in earlier decades. Party establishments, as it were, exist symbolically and primarily to oversee primary election
    organization and to produce nominating conventions, themselves only ceremonial dog and pony shows in this era.

    Walter Russell Mead has written a fine essay illustrating this current state of affairs:

    The decay of American political parties continues as the real money and power in politics shifts inexorably away from party organizations to informal and ad hoc groups. The combination of citizen grassroots movements, decentralized party structures and the vast sums of money short-circuiting the official party structures is changing the way politics works. As this story in the New York Times details, the real conversation among Republican-affiliated power brokers now takes place outside party structures.

    American political parties are increasingly being reduced to flags of convenience; party organizations and party institutions have little influence over events. That didn’t use to be true. Party leaders and officials once exercised significant power over the choice of nominees, over the careers of aspiring pols, and over patronage. These days, outside Chicago and a handful of other places, we no longer think of party “bosses”.

    and

    Money and populism don’t always work at cross purposes. GOP money people boosted some Tea Party candidates and themes; big liberal anti-war and anti-Bush donors supported the center-left populist surge that delivered Congress to the Democrats in 2006 and put President Obama in the White House a year later. Nevertheless, a political system that is increasingly driven by both populist mobilizations and big money donations is not going to be particularly stable.

    The appearance of unconventional figures in politics is one reflection of this trend. Strong party machines tend to produce dull and forgettable candidates. A candidate selected by a party machine might have to tell voters that “I am not a crook;” such a candidate would probably not need to make a television commercial to explain to voters that “I am not a witch.” Populist politicians tend to be more flamboyant; they have to be able to mobilize their followers. From Jesse Ventura to Al Franken and Sarah Palin, we are seeing more politicians whose ability to command attention and mobilize the base counts for more than their ability to rise patiently through the ranks of a party machine.

    Mead also cites this surprisingly good overview in the New York Times about the present influence of non-Party organizations on the Republican side.

  61. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    I have made the case here our two dominant political parties and the once powerful “establishments” they represented are now fractured and fragmented.
    Rather than an organized party apparatus, the Republican and Democratic parties
    are mere shadows of their former roles as arbiters and kingmakers.
    Despite the frequent use of the term, “establishment”, by pundits and radio talk show
    hosts, there no longer exists anything like we once saw in earlier decades. Party establishments, as it were, exist symbolically and primarily to oversee primary election
    organization and to produce nominating conventions, themselves only ceremonial dog and pony shows in this era.
    Walter Russell Mead has written a fine essay illustrating this current state of affairs:

    The decay of American political parties continues as the real money and power in politics shifts inexorably away from party organizations to informal and ad hoc groups. The combination of citizen grassroots movements, decentralized party structures and the vast sums of money short-circuiting the official party structures is changing the way politics works. As this story in the New York Times details, the real conversation among Republican-affiliated power brokers now takes place outside party structures.
    American political parties are increasingly being reduced to flags of convenience; party organizations and party institutions have little influence over events. That didn’t use to be true. Party leaders and officials once exercised significant power over the choice of nominees, over the careers of aspiring pols, and over patronage. These days, outside Chicago and a handful of other places, we no longer think of party “bosses”.

    and

    Money and populism don’t always work at cross purposes. GOP money people boosted some Tea Party candidates and themes; big liberal anti-war and anti-Bush donors supported the center-left populist surge that delivered Congress to the Democrats in 2006 and put President Obama in the White House a year later. Nevertheless, a political system that is increasingly driven by both populist mobilizations and big money donations is not going to be particularly stable.
    The appearance of unconventional figures in politics is one reflection of this trend. Strong party machines tend to produce dull and forgettable candidates. A candidate selected by a party machine might have to tell voters that “I am not a crook;” such a candidate would probably not need to make a television commercial to explain to voters that “I am not a witch.” Populist politicians tend to be more flamboyant; they have to be able to mobilize their followers. From Jesse Ventura to Al Franken and Sarah Palin, we are seeing more politicians whose ability to command attention and mobilize the base counts for more than their ability to rise patiently through the ranks of a party machine.

    Mead also cites this surprisingly good overview in the New York Times about the present influence of non-Party organizations on the Republican side.

  62. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #11 Pyro
    Ah the unibrow.
    Thanks for sending me to Google where today they have the best doodle EVAH!
    Still not sure who that Eunice is but I found this:
    http://chadcanplan.blogspot.com/2007/06/unibrow-eunice.html

  63. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #11 Pyro
    Ah the unibrow.
    Thanks for sending me to Google where today they have the best doodle EVAH!
    Still not sure who that Eunice is but I found this:
    http://chadcanplan.blogspot.com/2007/06/unibrow-eunice.html

  64. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #26 TT
    I have heard that advertised as “no cost to the local taxpayer” or maybe “state taxpayer” — suggesting there is federal $$ to be had. So what the populace doesn’t get is where do the feds get any $$ to spend on Texas water projects.

  65. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #26 TT
    I have heard that advertised as “no cost to the local taxpayer” or maybe “state taxpayer” — suggesting there is federal $$ to be had. So what the populace doesn’t get is where do the feds get any $$ to spend on Texas water projects.

  66. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #32 TT
    Thanks for the link, that’s just what I need. I started wading into the pile of political junk mail I’ve received this month but threw all of it away. There was a Voter Guideline from Polland’s Republican organization, whatever it’s called, that featured an ad for Mayor Parker on the back cover.

  67. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #32 TT
    Thanks for the link, that’s just what I need. I started wading into the pile of political junk mail I’ve received this month but threw all of it away. There was a Voter Guideline from Polland’s Republican organization, whatever it’s called, that featured an ad for Mayor Parker on the back cover.

  68. bweldon Avatar
    bweldon

    I have made the case here our two dominant political parties and the once powerful “establishments” they represented are now fractured and fragmented.
    Rather than an organized party apparatus, the Republican and Democratic parties
    are mere shadows of their former roles as arbiters and kingmakers.

    And I feel quite confident in saying that after November next year this little snippet from “The Who” will still be quite appropriate.

    There’s nothing in the street
    Looks any different to me
    And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
    And the parting on the left
    Is now the parting on the right
    And the beards have all grown longer overnight

    (circumcised)

    Meet the new boss
    Same as the old boss

    I cannot count how many new messiahs I have heard about over the past 6 years and especially the last 3 that fit this mold (highlighted in bold) show up and then just seem to go away.

    The appearance of unconventional figures in politics is one reflection of this trend. Strong party machines tend to produce dull and forgettable candidates. A candidate selected by a party machine might have to tell voters that “I am not a crook;” such a candidate would probably not need to make a television commercial to explain to voters that “I am not a witch.” Populist politicians tend to be more flamboyant; they have to be able to mobilize their followers. From Jesse Ventura to Al Franken and Sarah Palin, we are seeing more politicians whose ability to command attention and mobilize the base counts for more than their ability to rise patiently through the ranks of a party machine.

    Yet when I look at who I think will get the “R” nomination, they will have come through the ranks of the “party machine” in one fashion or another. In other words they will have been around politics for a long time. Hope I am wrong, but I do not think so. The new young guns I had hoped to run have decided to remain at the posts (wisely I think) that they have recently been elected to.

    Sorry Amigo but the ESTABLISHMENT is alive and well in the hearts and minds of the electorate and that will not soon change and them “R”old goats in Washington know this. And should a new for real fresh face get the nod there is enough “mold” in Washington to quickly bring them in line. I think this is why Palen, Rubio, Jendal and Paul Jr. etc have decided to stay the course they are currently on.

  69. squawkbox Avatar

    I have made the case here our two dominant political parties and the once powerful “establishments” they represented are now fractured and fragmented.
    Rather than an organized party apparatus, the Republican and Democratic parties
    are mere shadows of their former roles as arbiters and kingmakers.

    And I feel quite confident in saying that after November next year this little snippet from “The Who” will still be quite appropriate.

    There’s nothing in the street
    Looks any different to me
    And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
    And the parting on the left
    Is now the parting on the right
    And the beards have all grown longer overnight
    (circumcised)
    Meet the new boss
    Same as the old boss

    I cannot count how many new messiahs I have heard about over the past 6 years and especially the last 3 that fit this mold (highlighted in bold) show up and then just seem to go away.

    The appearance of unconventional figures in politics is one reflection of this trend. Strong party machines tend to produce dull and forgettable candidates. A candidate selected by a party machine might have to tell voters that “I am not a crook;” such a candidate would probably not need to make a television commercial to explain to voters that “I am not a witch.” Populist politicians tend to be more flamboyant; they have to be able to mobilize their followers. From Jesse Ventura to Al Franken and Sarah Palin, we are seeing more politicians whose ability to command attention and mobilize the base counts for more than their ability to rise patiently through the ranks of a party machine.

    Yet when I look at who I think will get the “R” nomination, they will have come through the ranks of the “party machine” in one fashion or another. In other words they will have been around politics for a long time. Hope I am wrong, but I do not think so. The new young guns I had hoped to run have decided to remain at the posts (wisely I think) that they have recently been elected to.
    Sorry Amigo but the ESTABLISHMENT is alive and well in the hearts and minds of the electorate and that will not soon change and them “R”old goats in Washington know this. And should a new for real fresh face get the nod there is enough “mold” in Washington to quickly bring them in line. I think this is why Palen, Rubio, Jendal and Paul Jr. etc have decided to stay the course they are currently on.

  70. bweldon Avatar
    bweldon

    Viva Le Unibrow

  71. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    #35 Texpat

    Esssstabbbbblishhhhhhment! Perry lover!!!

  72. Hamous Avatar

    #35 Texpat

    Esssstabbbbblishhhhhhment! Perry lover!!!

  73. Tedtam Avatar

    #37 Mharper

    I have heard that advertised as “no cost to the local taxpayer” or maybe “state taxpayer” — suggesting there is federal $$ to be had. So what the populace doesn’t get is where do the feds get any $$ to spend on Texas water projects.

    I heard Bettencourt explaining this one on the radio recently, and he’s against it. It sets up a “rolling debt account” of some billions of dollars which the state can use for various water projects. This allows the munis to borrow from the state, and as soon as one project is finished (and paid back?), then that money then becomes available again.

    Basically, it’s a billions dollar, never-ending debt hole for which the taxpayers will never have any say in approving.

  74. Tedtam Avatar

    #37 Mharper

    I have heard that advertised as “no cost to the local taxpayer” or maybe “state taxpayer” — suggesting there is federal $$ to be had. So what the populace doesn’t get is where do the feds get any $$ to spend on Texas water projects.

    I heard Bettencourt explaining this one on the radio recently, and he’s against it. It sets up a “rolling debt account” of some billions of dollars which the state can use for various water projects. This allows the munis to borrow from the state, and as soon as one project is finished (and paid back?), then that money then becomes available again.
    Basically, it’s a billions dollar, never-ending debt hole for which the taxpayers will never have any say in approving.

  75. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    #34 – compelling post #1 duly noted!

  76. Katfish Avatar

    #34 – compelling post #1 duly noted!

  77. Hamous Avatar

    #36 M42: Right on point.

    Sin is like a unibrow. You know it’s ugly, everyone else knows it’s ugly, but until you do something about it, until you pluck it off, it’s going to be with you 24/7.
    And while plucking it out is painful, its rewards are endless.

    The real significant question is: How does one define sin?

    From the comments section:

    you’ll be the greatest nursery teacher ever! you should also make a character called “comb-over carl” for the same purposes.

    Everyone knows you are balding, you are not fooling anybody, it looks ridiculous to you and everyone who has to see it and yet you keep doing it. The big question is why?

  78. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    #36 M42: Right on point.

    Sin is like a unibrow. You know it’s ugly, everyone else knows it’s ugly, but until you do something about it, until you pluck it off, it’s going to be with you 24/7.
    And while plucking it out is painful, its rewards are endless.

    The real significant question is: How does one define sin?
    From the comments section:

    you’ll be the greatest nursery teacher ever! you should also make a character called “comb-over carl” for the same purposes.

    Everyone knows you are balding, you are not fooling anybody, it looks ridiculous to you and everyone who has to see it and yet you keep doing it. The big question is why?

  79. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    26
    This type of financing is how many water and wastewater (sewage) systems have been built since 1957.
    The State is authorized only to loan the money to local entities….the local entity is responsible for repayment (which they of course get from the customers/taxpayers).

    The State is constitutionally barred from paying off the loans with State funds…..which is how they can deceitfully advertise it as “no cost”.

    This admendtment increases the amount available, and makes it a revolving fund of sorts…removing the requirement that voters reauthorize the fund periodically.

  80. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    26
    This type of financing is how many water and wastewater (sewage) systems have been built since 1957.
    The State is authorized only to loan the money to local entities….the local entity is responsible for repayment (which they of course get from the customers/taxpayers).
    The State is constitutionally barred from paying off the loans with State funds…..which is how they can deceitfully advertise it as “no cost”.
    This admendtment increases the amount available, and makes it a revolving fund of sorts…removing the requirement that voters reauthorize the fund periodically.

  81. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    For me, it’s yes on #1 and no on the rest of the amendments. I see no good reason to deny the widow of a 100% disabled veteran the same property tax exemption.

    Texas already allows a widow 55 years or older of a homeowner who has taken the property tax exemptions for homeowners 65 years and older to enjoy the same exemptions as long as she does not remarry and remains in the homestead.

    There are surely more widows in this category already enjoying the exemptions than there are widows of 100% disabled veterans who will enjoy the exemptions should this pass. And those veterans had already given almost everything for their country.

  82. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    For me, it’s yes on #1 and no on the rest of the amendments. I see no good reason to deny the widow of a 100% disabled veteran the same property tax exemption.
    Texas already allows a widow 55 years or older of a homeowner who has taken the property tax exemptions for homeowners 65 years and older to enjoy the same exemptions as long as she does not remarry and remains in the homestead.
    There are surely more widows in this category already enjoying the exemptions than there are widows of 100% disabled veterans who will enjoy the exemptions should this pass. And those veterans had already given almost everything for their country.

  83. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    There are many places in Texas where there is no quality water available with a shallow well. There is no robust economic development in areas without water. Residents in these rural areas band together and create a non-profit Water Supply Corporation. The millions it costs to drill deep wells and lay miles and miles of pipe and valves is loaned (typically for 20 years) to the WSC by the Texas Water Development Board and the Feds. These loans are repaid by the customers through their water bills….and this has been going on successfully for 54 years.

  84. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    There are many places in Texas where there is no quality water available with a shallow well. There is no robust economic development in areas without water. Residents in these rural areas band together and create a non-profit Water Supply Corporation. The millions it costs to drill deep wells and lay miles and miles of pipe and valves is loaned (typically for 20 years) to the WSC by the Texas Water Development Board and the Feds. These loans are repaid by the customers through their water bills….and this has been going on successfully for 54 years.

  85. Tedtam Avatar

    #50 Shannon

    But there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody – the taxpayers – eventually pay for these things. The advertising for this proposition is misleading. And I think that voters should get to vote on what money gets spent, when, and on what.

  86. Tedtam Avatar

    #50 Shannon
    But there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody – the taxpayers – eventually pay for these things. The advertising for this proposition is misleading. And I think that voters should get to vote on what money gets spent, when, and on what.

  87. Tedtam Avatar

    Hater.

    “Carry a concealed weapon. That’ll fix it.”

  88. Tedtam Avatar

    Hater.

    “Carry a concealed weapon. That’ll fix it.”

  89. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #42 TT
    That’s good to know, I like and trust Unca Paul although some Hamsters don’t.

  90. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #42 TT
    That’s good to know, I like and trust Unca Paul although some Hamsters don’t.

  91. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #45 Bones
    The unibrow-eunice and combover-carl comment I liked was:

    kat said…
    you are wise beyond your years.

  92. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #45 Bones
    The unibrow-eunice and combover-carl comment I liked was:

    kat said…
    you are wise beyond your years.

  93. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    I went out at noon to do some grocery shopping. I saw some price increases at Krogers that alarmed me. My favorite peanut butter that was $1.84 last week is now $2.52. A 37% increase in one week? That was just the worst example.

  94. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    I went out at noon to do some grocery shopping. I saw some price increases at Krogers that alarmed me. My favorite peanut butter that was $1.84 last week is now $2.52. A 37% increase in one week? That was just the worst example.

  95. Tedtam Avatar

    #49 WB

    British scientists building a laser that is so powerful it will be able to tear nothing apart.

    Exploding empty space? I’ll bet a bunch of libs are shaking in their boots right ’bout now.

  96. Tedtam Avatar

    #49 WB

    British scientists building a laser that is so powerful it will be able to tear nothing apart.

    Exploding empty space? I’ll bet a bunch of libs are shaking in their boots right ’bout now.

  97. Tedtam Avatar

    I just received this in an email:

    Texas Poll:

    The latest telephone poll directed by Rick Perry, the Texas Governor, asked whether people who live in Texas think illegal immigration is a serious problem:

    29% responded, “Yes, it is a serious problem.”
    71% responded, “No es una problema seriosa.”

  98. Tedtam Avatar

    I just received this in an email:

    Texas Poll:
    The latest telephone poll directed by Rick Perry, the Texas Governor, asked whether people who live in Texas think illegal immigration is a serious problem:
    29% responded, “Yes, it is a serious problem.”
    71% responded, “No es una problema seriosa.”

  99. Tedtam Avatar

    Ah, I’ve gotten my share of notes from Lovely, but none as confusing as this adorable piece of poo prose.

  100. Tedtam Avatar

    Ah, I’ve gotten my share of notes from Lovely, but none as confusing as this adorable piece of poo prose.

  101. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #50 Shannon
    If Texas is doing this already and it works, why is there a new proposition? Is Prop 2 just increasing the amount of state $$ for water loans? 6 Billion apparently.

  102. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #50 Shannon
    If Texas is doing this already and it works, why is there a new proposition? Is Prop 2 just increasing the amount of state $$ for water loans? 6 Billion apparently.

  103. Katfish Avatar

    #52 tedtam
    When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

  104. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    #52 tedtam
    When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

  105. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    When I got up this morning, I noticed a 3 or 4 inch salamander in the kitchen sink. It skittered behind a small bowl but wasn’t well hidden; its thick striped tail was sticking out. I needed coffee before I tackled moving a varmint outside, so left it there for a while as I logged in at the breakfast room table where I work at home. All was fine till one of the boy cats jumped up on the counter and noticed the critter. Then I had to shoo the cat, get some plastic bags, get the critter enveloped in plastic and taken out the back door. As it squiggled away at top speed, I wondered if I have broken up a family? Is there a baby squiggler somewhere wondering why mom or dad didn’t come right back?

  106. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    When I got up this morning, I noticed a 3 or 4 inch salamander in the kitchen sink. It skittered behind a small bowl but wasn’t well hidden; its thick striped tail was sticking out. I needed coffee before I tackled moving a varmint outside, so left it there for a while as I logged in at the breakfast room table where I work at home. All was fine till one of the boy cats jumped up on the counter and noticed the critter. Then I had to shoo the cat, get some plastic bags, get the critter enveloped in plastic and taken out the back door. As it squiggled away at top speed, I wondered if I have broken up a family? Is there a baby squiggler somewhere wondering why mom or dad didn’t come right back?

  107. Katfish Avatar

    #58 tedtam
    From a link on your link…

    Who knew curlers were so hot.

  108. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    #58 tedtam
    From a link on your link…
    Who knew curlers were so hot.

  109. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    #61 mh42
    homewrecker

  110. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Did our HNP give a speech on the economy today?

  111. Hamous Avatar

    Did our HNP give a speech on the economy today?

  112. Katfish Avatar

    Must be a combination of you not eating your peas and the realization on the part of the market that the latest European ‘fix’ for Greece will: likely not work; will cost a lot of money to kick the can down the road and make the ultimate resolution more painful; is only a faint shadow of what Italy & Spain are going to be.

    And maybe the fear that this will end up making the Germans start acting German again. Like in 1870, 1914, & 1937.

  113. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Must be a combination of you not eating your peas and the realization on the part of the market that the latest European ‘fix’ for Greece will: likely not work; will cost a lot of money to kick the can down the road and make the ultimate resolution more painful; is only a faint shadow of what Italy & Spain are going to be.
    And maybe the fear that this will end up making the Germans start acting German again. Like in 1870, 1914, & 1937.

  114. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    #64 – The term skanky gold-digger cometh to mind…………..

  115. Katfish Avatar

    #64 – The term skanky gold-digger cometh to mind…………..

  116. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    These guys were on Fox & Friends this A.M. Never heard of them before.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETHvSTT6PA8

  117. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    These guys were on Fox & Friends this A.M. Never heard of them before.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETHvSTT6PA8

  118. Tedtam Avatar

    Heading out for the next hmmmmm hours. Y’all behave. At least try.

  119. Tedtam Avatar

    Heading out for the next hmmmmm hours. Y’all behave. At least try.

  120. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    So is this a product of teh Republican ‘stablishment or teh Democrat ‘stablishment?

  121. Hamous Avatar

    So is this a product of teh Republican ‘stablishment or teh Democrat ‘stablishment?

  122. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    I thought the unibrow gal was the evil Yugoslavian harp teacher. But I found the vid, not her.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/SophiaMarie92?blend=16&ob=5#p/u/0/NfM4mCBvBK8

  123. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    I thought the unibrow gal was the evil Yugoslavian harp teacher. But I found the vid, not her.
    http://www.youtube.com/user/SophiaMarie92?blend=16&ob=5#p/u/0/NfM4mCBvBK8

  124. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    #68 – interesting – kinda Miami Sound Machine meets Tower of Power eh?

  125. Katfish Avatar

    #68 – interesting – kinda Miami Sound Machine meets Tower of Power eh?

  126. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    Katfish, pretty good comparison. Two more samples. They don’t seem to have much out there.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmkrTjExU3k&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFnNlfg1pMc

  127. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    Katfish, pretty good comparison. Two more samples. They don’t seem to have much out there.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmkrTjExU3k&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFnNlfg1pMc

  128. bweldon Avatar
    bweldon

    So is this a product of teh Republican ‘stablishment or teh Democrat ‘stablishment?

    Both. I’d bet it comes form the “R”s this time.

  129. squawkbox Avatar

    So is this a product of teh Republican ‘stablishment or teh Democrat ‘stablishment?

    Both. I’d bet it comes form the “R”s this time.

  130. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    Peanut butter prices to go up 40 percent
    October 31, 2011 7:07 AM

    The nation’s biggest peanut butter producers are raising prices as much as 40 percent because of the hot and dry summer that devastated the peanut crop.

  131. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    Peanut butter prices to go up 40 percent
    October 31, 2011 7:07 AM
    The nation’s biggest peanut butter producers are raising prices as much as 40 percent because of the hot and dry summer that devastated the peanut crop.

  132. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    51 TT

    Somebody – the taxpayers – eventually pay for these things.

    No, only the customers of the water system “pay for these things”. Thru their water bills.

    The advertising for this proposition is misleading.

    I have already agreed with this point.

    And I think that voters should get to vote on what money gets spent, when, and on what.

    THIS IS NOT A STATE SPENDING ISSUE!!!!!!!!!!!!

    If Texas is doing this already and it works, why is there a new proposition?

    Because the State cannot continue to lend this money without voter reauthorization.

    **************

    No, there is no free lunch. Free lunch does not apply here.
    The advertising is technically correct because the state wide taxpayers have no liability.
    Yes, they are increasing the amount beyond that which taxpayers have repeatedly approved in the past.
    Yes, the most controversial part of the amendment is that they don’t have to come back to taxpayers every decade or two for new authorization.

  133. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    51 TT

    Somebody – the taxpayers – eventually pay for these things.

    No, only the customers of the water system “pay for these things”. Thru their water bills.

    The advertising for this proposition is misleading.

    I have already agreed with this point.

    And I think that voters should get to vote on what money gets spent, when, and on what.

    THIS IS NOT A STATE SPENDING ISSUE!!!!!!!!!!!!

    If Texas is doing this already and it works, why is there a new proposition?

    Because the State cannot continue to lend this money without voter reauthorization.
    **************
    No, there is no free lunch. Free lunch does not apply here.
    The advertising is technically correct because the state wide taxpayers have no liability.
    Yes, they are increasing the amount beyond that which taxpayers have repeatedly approved in the past.
    Yes, the most controversial part of the amendment is that they don’t have to come back to taxpayers every decade or two for new authorization.

  134. timdenchanter Avatar
    timdenchanter

    At the risk of being renamed Scrooge, I think Colonel Crockett may have best expressed my feelings on Prop. 1 with his “Not Yours To Give” speech, whether it actually occurred or not. The taking of money from one taxpayer to give to another is not to be condoned. The taking may be in the form of reduced taxes or overt handouts but the result is the same. Some citizens, deserving of charity though they may be, end up riding in the wagon while others, through no fault of their own, are required to pull the wagon.

  135. timdenchanter Avatar
    timdenchanter

    At the risk of being renamed Scrooge, I think Colonel Crockett may have best expressed my feelings on Prop. 1 with his “Not Yours To Give” speech, whether it actually occurred or not. The taking of money from one taxpayer to give to another is not to be condoned. The taking may be in the form of reduced taxes or overt handouts but the result is the same. Some citizens, deserving of charity though they may be, end up riding in the wagon while others, through no fault of their own, are required to pull the wagon.

  136. Katfish Avatar

    Some citizens, deserving of charity though they may be, end up riding in the wagon while others, through no fault of their own, are required to pull the wagon.

    Other citizens think it is best to burn the wagon.

  137. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Some citizens, deserving of charity though they may be, end up riding in the wagon while others, through no fault of their own, are required to pull the wagon.

    Other citizens think it is best to burn the wagon.

  138. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    As for Prop 2, go ahead and vote against it. I dont really care.

    I would hope you want to to be an informed voter.

    Because the taxpayers have been screwed over so many times with so-called “cost free bond issues”, many conservative voters have a knee-jerk reaction against any proposal with the word “bond” in it.

    That’s okay. We can re- invent the wheel all over again in a few years when a majority figures out that there really are smart, time-tested ways to finance these projects.

    Heck, I’m for building a wall around the whole state and stopping any new influx of population. To heck with economic development.

    Too many damn Yankees here already.

  139. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    As for Prop 2, go ahead and vote against it. I dont really care.
    I would hope you want to to be an informed voter.
    Because the taxpayers have been screwed over so many times with so-called “cost free bond issues”, many conservative voters have a knee-jerk reaction against any proposal with the word “bond” in it.
    That’s okay. We can re- invent the wheel all over again in a few years when a majority figures out that there really are smart, time-tested ways to finance these projects.
    Heck, I’m for building a wall around the whole state and stopping any new influx of population. To heck with economic development.
    Too many damn Yankees here already.

  140. Southern Tragedy Avatar
    Southern Tragedy

    Can we tax just the Yankees?

  141. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Can we tax just the Yankees?

  142. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    hater(s)

  143. Dooood Avatar

    #80 Shannon

    Too many damn Yankees here already.

    What if we just taxed all the ones from Oklahoma ?

  144. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    #80 Shannon

    Too many damn Yankees here already.

    What if we just taxed all the ones from Oklahoma ?

  145. Southern Tragedy Avatar
    Southern Tragedy

    Apparently – speaking ill of Republicans – is FROWNED UPON – in this ESTABLISHMENT !!!

    😛

  146. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Apparently – speaking ill of Republicans – is FROWNED UPON – in this ESTABLISHMENT !!!
    😛

  147. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    83
    I don’t mind letting a small quota of Okies in. Thirty a year maybe.
    And any from Wisconsin that are related to Adee.
    But none from FLA or Nebraska.

  148. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    83
    I don’t mind letting a small quota of Okies in. Thirty a year maybe.
    And any from Wisconsin that are related to Adee.
    But none from FLA or Nebraska.

  149. Darren Avatar
    Darren

    #13;

    That’s one of the things friends are for.

    Friends = Share candy.

    Got it!

  150. Darren Avatar
    Darren

    #13;

    That’s one of the things friends are for.

    Friends = Share candy.
    Got it!

  151. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #84 GJT
    Good job, Tim. 🙂

  152. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #84 GJT
    Good job, Tim. 🙂

  153. Darren Avatar
    Darren

    Here’s from BEST (Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures):

    It was hailed as the scientific study that ended the global warming debate once and for all – the research that, in the words of its director, ‘proved you should not be a sceptic, at least not any longer’. Professor Richard Muller, of Berkeley University in California, and his colleagues from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures project team (BEST) claimed to have shown that the planet has warmed by almost a degree centigrade since 1950 and is warming continually.

    Published last week ahead of a major United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, next month, their work was cited around the world as irrefutable evidence that only the most stringent measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can save civilisation as we know it. It was cited uncritically by, among others, reporters and commentators from the BBC, The Independent, The Guardian, The Economist and numerous media outlets in America. The Washington Post said the BEST study had ‘settled the climate change debate’ and showed that anyone who remained a sceptic was committing a ‘cynical fraud’.

    You. Know. Who. You. Are. 🙂

    And here’s the best results of BEST’s conclusions:

    …Today The Mail can reveal that a leading member of Prof Muller’s team has accused him of trying to mislead the public by hiding the fact that BEST’s research shows global warming has stopped. Prof Judith Curry, who chairs the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at America’s prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology, said that Prof Muller’s claim that he has proven global warming sceptics wrong was also a ‘huge mistake,’ with no scientific basis. Prof Curry is a distinguished climate researcher with more than 30 years experience and the second named co-author of the BEST project’s four research papers. Her comments, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, seem certain to ignite a furious academic row. She said this affair had to be compared to the notorious ‘Climategate’ scandal two years ago.

    Like the scientists exposed then by leaked emails from East Anglia University’s Climatic Research Unit, her colleagues from the BEST project seem to be trying to ‘hide the decline’ in rates of global warming. In fact, Prof Curry said, the project’s research data show there has been no increase in world temperatures since the end of the Nineties – a fact confirmed by a new analysis that The Mail on Sunday has obtained. ‘There is no scientific basis for saying that warming hasn’t stopped,’ she said. ‘To say that there is detracts from the credibility of the data, which is very unfortunate.’

    Time for Another Climate Science Scandal

  154. Darren Avatar
    Darren

    Here’s from BEST (Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures):

    It was hailed as the scientific study that ended the global warming debate once and for all – the research that, in the words of its director, ‘proved you should not be a sceptic, at least not any longer’. Professor Richard Muller, of Berkeley University in California, and his colleagues from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures project team (BEST) claimed to have shown that the planet has warmed by almost a degree centigrade since 1950 and is warming continually.
    Published last week ahead of a major United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, next month, their work was cited around the world as irrefutable evidence that only the most stringent measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can save civilisation as we know it. It was cited uncritically by, among others, reporters and commentators from the BBC, The Independent, The Guardian, The Economist and numerous media outlets in America. The Washington Post said the BEST study had ‘settled the climate change debate’ and showed that anyone who remained a sceptic was committing a ‘cynical fraud’.

    You. Know. Who. You. Are. 🙂
    And here’s the best results of BEST’s conclusions:

    …Today The Mail can reveal that a leading member of Prof Muller’s team has accused him of trying to mislead the public by hiding the fact that BEST’s research shows global warming has stopped. Prof Judith Curry, who chairs the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at America’s prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology, said that Prof Muller’s claim that he has proven global warming sceptics wrong was also a ‘huge mistake,’ with no scientific basis. Prof Curry is a distinguished climate researcher with more than 30 years experience and the second named co-author of the BEST project’s four research papers. Her comments, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, seem certain to ignite a furious academic row. She said this affair had to be compared to the notorious ‘Climategate’ scandal two years ago.
    Like the scientists exposed then by leaked emails from East Anglia University’s Climatic Research Unit, her colleagues from the BEST project seem to be trying to ‘hide the decline’ in rates of global warming. In fact, Prof Curry said, the project’s research data show there has been no increase in world temperatures since the end of the Nineties – a fact confirmed by a new analysis that The Mail on Sunday has obtained. ‘There is no scientific basis for saying that warming hasn’t stopped,’ she said. ‘To say that there is detracts from the credibility of the data, which is very unfortunate.’

    Time for Another Climate Science Scandal

  155. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Unless there is a truly overwhelming benefit to be realized, my general idea is to vote no on all propositions, constitutional amendments, and the like. Invariably, on interest group or another is behind these deals and the benefits generally accrue to the few at the expense of the many.

  156. El Gordo Avatar

    Unless there is a truly overwhelming benefit to be realized, my general idea is to vote no on all propositions, constitutional amendments, and the like. Invariably, on interest group or another is behind these deals and the benefits generally accrue to the few at the expense of the many.

  157. Hamous Avatar

    #90 EG: DING DING DING, WE HAVE A WINNER! Rule #1 in politics: FOLLOW THE MONEY. Which, coincidentally also happens to be rules 2-8 and should never be forgotten. When only the first few rules are followed, most BS gets left in the pasture where it belongs, and our country, state, county and city taxpayers always fare much the better.

  158. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    #90 EG: DING DING DING, WE HAVE A WINNER! Rule #1 in politics: FOLLOW THE MONEY. Which, coincidentally also happens to be rules 2-8 and should never be forgotten. When only the first few rules are followed, most BS gets left in the pasture where it belongs, and our country, state, county and city taxpayers always fare much the better.

  159. Hamous Avatar

    Wrong-O there Shannon, look at #91 above.

  160. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    Wrong-O there Shannon, look at #91 above.

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