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Open thread May 21, 2013

Dan Crawford | May 21, 2013 2:34 pm

Tags: open thread Comments (8) | Digg Facebook Twitter |
8 Comments
  • Jack says:
    May 21, 2013 at 4:06 pm

    Here are several immediate, recent and developing tragedies.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/us/oklahoma-tornado.html?hp

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/us/huge-blast-at-texas-fertilizer-plant.html?pagewanted=all

    “Pipeline Spills Stir New Criticism of Keystone Plan”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/us/pipeline-spills-stir-new-criticism-of-keystone-proposal.html

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/us/high-plains-aquifer-dwindles-hurting-farmers.html?pagewanted=all

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/us/as-fracking-in-texas-increases-so-do-water-supply-fears.html?pagewanted=all

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/us/midwest-water-wells-drying-up-in-drought.html?pagewanted=all

    Those are tragedies happened, happening and soon to come. They’re all occurring in our Red State Nation:
    http://www.allenskillicorn.com/322/red-states-move-to-slash-taxes/

    How big does a government need to be in order to provide safe haven to those in need when the need occurs? Look at the red states that send their fools to Congress and whose citizens cry about the too big government. Tragedies occur in those places with alarming regularity. The need for a government big enough to over come tragedy keeps coming up. What would the “dust bowl” be today if not for the actions of FDR in 1937? It is high time for reactionary conservatives to stop complaining about government and start sending representatives to that government that have the common people’s interests at heart.

  • rjs says:
    May 21, 2013 at 4:17 pm

    Forbes reports: Someone Claiming To Be Jamie Dimon Arrested By Homeland Security – After being arrested by Federal Protective Service yesterday, they were asked for their names.  Among the names that the arrested gave were  Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase, Brian Moynihan of BOA, John Stumpf of Wells Fargo, Richard Davis of U.S. Bancorp and Lloyd B. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs. 

  • rjs says:
    May 21, 2013 at 6:13 pm

    sure is odd seeing comments in the opposite order than they appeared…

    anyhow, in re Jacks first red state disaster: US tornado: devastated city’s storm shelter programme was put on hold | Engineering Evil: The devastated city of Moore developed a plan to help residents build storm shelters but it was put “on hold” as local authorities battled for scarce federal dollars and through a maze of regulations, city authorities said. Three months before the tornadoes that killed dozens across Oklahoma and leveled Moore, city officials released a frustrated statement explaining why residents could still not apply for money to build safe rooms. The city said that regulations put in place by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were a “constantly moving target”, which changed during their application process and were slowing down progress. Aside from the federal regulations, city authorities said that funds for storm shelter programmes were scarce because of a lack of federal government disaster declarations which provided extra resources.

  • sammy says:
    May 21, 2013 at 11:15 pm

    So we have 3 big scandals:

    1) Abuse of power with the IRS discriminating against groups based on ideology.

    2) Concocting false stories re the events in Benghazi.

    3) Seizing phone records of reporters etc.

    and, oh yeah 4) sending guns to Mexican drug cartels

    Yet no post or comment on Angry Bear, that bastion of Progressive compassion.

    If you inserted “George Bush” administration, instead of “Barack Obama” administration in any of the above scandals, this blog would melt down under the indignant comments and posts.

    “Why this is outrageous…..Bush is a facist racist…lying to the American people OMG…… callous disregard for our brown brothers (damn racist). Siccing the IRS on liberal groups GET A NOOSE. Suppression of freedom of speech by targeting reporters = violating First Amendment.”

    Instead, what we hear is ……. crickets.

  • Jack says:
    May 21, 2013 at 11:55 pm

    What you don’t get Sammy is that no one is saying that Obama and his appointees are doing a great job and have no faults, but they are what we end up with when faced with the alternatives presented by the Republican Party. Government inaction seems to be the ideology of that putz of a Senator from Kentucky or his emotionally dishonest cohort who leads the House Republican caucus.

    There are far more egregious failings of the Obama administration than your list of faux pas. The failure to prosecute anyone having anything to do with mortgage securitization is chief among those failures. And the total disregard for individual liberties and execution by Executive order may be even worse in the long term.

  • rjs says:
    May 22, 2013 at 6:39 am

    in case you missed it, sammy, beverly has written about two of your ‘scandals” here, a few days ago

    linda beale has been covering the IRS affair, i imagine dan will repost her articles when he has time…the only thing scandalous about the IRS action is that they didnt go after the larger politcal organizations as well; none of them should be able to claim exemption as a charity..

  • Bobby says:
    May 22, 2013 at 8:12 am

    The “Scandals” are all over-inflated bull.

    Benghazi – lots of previous terror attacks on US Diplomatic targets, wrong intel, wrong info delivered by white house talking heads, zero ‘scandals.’ Why now, what is different?

    Umbrella-gate – lots of Marines holding an umbrella over a president, zero ‘scandals.’ Why now, what is different?

    IRS – I fault Obama for playing into the non-scandal as if if were a scandal. Employees of the Tax Collector gave extra scrutiny to groups organized around not paying taxes right after SCOTUS sold us out to big business and deep pockets. DUH. Doing their job.

    AP – GOP: “Oh, NO! Obama is making Homeland Security, the department WE created, to do things we passed laws to enable! … I mean, FREEDOM OF THE PRESS!!!”

    Bottom line is that anyone with common sense will see that the GOP is grabbing for anything they can ‘scandalize’ so they can have a “reason” to not actually work FOR the U.S. Citizens, instead waste Their Time and OUR Money attacking a President who is presiding over a total recovery from THEIR economic disaster.

  • Jack says:
    May 22, 2013 at 3:15 pm

    And I’ll add to Bobby’s comment regarding the AP surveillance crap that it is about time that the media is so concerned with the government’s activities that seem over bearing. where has the bullshit media been this long time while citizens all over the place are losing their liberties, lobbyists have taken over the legislative process, and the sequester is eviscerating core responsibilities of the government the press has suddenly discovered can be oppressive.

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