Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2008 > August > 15 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.US‘Green’ costs, gun ruling, watchdogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
When local governments impose higher costs on developers, as Doraville does in passing a “green” building requirement that includes recycled materials, low-flow toilets and other energy-use mandates, developers deserve compensation. A requirement imposed for the public good should obligate the public to pay the expected 2 percent to 5 percent increase in costs. At issue is redevelopment of the GM plant on I-285.
Did anybody in Georgia expect a different opinion when Marvin Shoob, a senior judge on the U.S. District Court here, got the airport gun case? No preliminary injunction prohibiting the city of Atlanta from blocking a new state law permitting licensed gun carriers to take them into the airport. “Here, the evidence demonstrates, at the very least, that there is a significant question as to whether permitting the carrying of guns in the airport is a serious threat to the public safety and welfare,” said he. Yes. He’s correct. The Legislature properly considered that question. The people’s elected representatives struck the balance they determined to be in the public interest, as is their right and duty.
Blow me over. Barack Obama’s energy policy did work. When America responded to his call to properly inflate their tires, a headline in The Wall Street Journal tells the rest of the story: “Oil Goes to the Bears/Even a War Can’t Stop Decline in Crude, Now Below $115.” Stocks rally. The dollar climbs to a 21-month high against the British pound and to a six-month high against the euro. Congress can now return to what it does best.
The people agree with Republicans on oil exploration —- 64 percent want more offshore drilling. A valiant band of House members that includes Georgians Tom Price, Lynn Westmoreland, Jack Kingston, Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun continues to speak in a recessed House for Nancy Pelosi to return and vote on the issue. She’s suggested offshore drilling will be part of a larger energy package, with a vote forthcoming. The fear here? That something akin to the plan endorsed by the Gang of 10, which includes Georgia’s two senators, will strike a compromise that gives us the words “offshore drilling” but leaves the most promising pools off-limits.
The first day of the Democratic convention features Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama and Ted Kennedy. No matter who or what follows, the convention moves right.
I’m at a loss to know how to further outlaw practices that already are —- giving campaign contributions that hide the true donors, as Facility Group founder Robert Moultrie acknowledges he did in Mississippi —- but this touches on one of the major challenges facing Republicans, at least those who are conservative. The challenge? Erect a firewall between the public and private sector, built around standards, transparency and accountability. The Facility Group performs an essential function invaluable to taxpayers. It manages construction of public projects. Options are to grow the bureaucracy or farm out functions. Much prefer the latter —- at arm’s length.
How to know when a reporter or commentator disagrees with an opinion rendered by a federal judge or a panel of them? When we must know which president appointed them. Thus it is that we know that a Reagan and a Bush 41 appointee upheld a lower-court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of Valerie Plame against members of the Bush administration by a liberal “watchdog” group. A Clinton appointee dissented. One more thing: Ever hear a group on the Right or one opposed to excess regulation from, say, the Environmental Protection Agency, described as a “watchdog”?
Southern Co. and other utilities nationwide will need to spend as much as $1.5 trillion on new power plants, transmission lines and related facilities over the next 20 years, CEO David Ratcliffe projects. The cost of those projects will, of course, be passed on to ratepayers. A reminder here: Congress can levy any amount of taxes on Big Oil or any other industry on top of their normal business costs and, as with Southern and others, higher operating costs get passed on to us. As a businessman, I’d agree to any exotic energy proposal the wackiest of politicians want —- if I can build them into the rate base.
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By Maniac is accurate
August 15, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this
Will this actually work? Whats been up with Wutty Woot’s blog today?
By Vacalope
August 15, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this
Anybody home? Can @@ come out and play?
By getalife "whiners"
August 15, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
Georgia President,” Russia on the roll, They will not stop.”
Vows he will never give up.
Losing it big time with Condi standing next to him.
By DublDawg
August 15, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
Jim:
The implication is that building standards go far enough to constitute a “taking” under the 5th Amendment. That is a pretty extreme view. Zoning goes further, and it is virtually conclusive that zoning is a taking. Building standards don’t go as far as regulations significantly rendering property valueless and exactions. In fact, it’s hard to identify anything that is being “taken.” Instead, they are forcing to spend more in the construction of the building, and the building in turn should be worth more or at least sell for more, and in the end the public is paying for it.
I have not read the complaint and I am not suite sure why Georgia Carry took that case to federal court. I suppose that they thought the odds were better of getting someone with an intellect in federal court than in the Superior Ct of Fulton Co. The airport is in Fulton and Clayton, but I’d bet the venue would have to be Fulton. Even with Shoob, they have a smarter class of liberal than they’ve have in Fulton Co., and the federal judges have better law clerks and a smaller docket, so at least judges there do tend to read the briefs and look at cases before ruling. (Which is a stark contrast to Fulton Co.)
What is this nonsense about The Facilities Group providing an “essential function invaluable to the taxpayers?” The only thing they have is a bunch of politicos on staff that tend to hone in on politicians at the local level, like school board members, cut the professionals out of the equations, and take work away from more capable construction management firms. TFG is far from being invaluable to anybody but the political hacks on its payroll. All you have to do is ask the Cherokee Co. School System what they think.
I wonder if the distinguished Mr. Earl Erhert will resign from TFG to preserve his sterling reputation and set the example of how a politician should distance himself from corruption. But I do not wonder long, because I already know the answer.
By @@
August 15, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this
tump tump…..
Jim, is this thing on?
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. Welcome Back, Jim.
I view regulatory changes through a particular prism. I think any government should be allowed to pass any law/regulation it wishes, and of course the market will pass judgment on the wisdom of the political judgment. Ask Michigan. However, any costs imposed should be treated as a “taking” under the final clause of the 5th Amendment. Extant properties should be compensated or exempted. Too often our regulators, regrettably with Supreme Court sanction, pretend their real costs do not exist.
Silly Jim, Judge Shoob is not constrained by the law. Nevertheless, I do not understand why the petitioners went to Federal Court for interpretation of a state law. Yes, I know the state judges in Fulton County are pretty leftist, but most of them honestly interpret the law, not like Federal judges. By the way, who appointed Judge Shoob?
A partial correction, only leftists responded to Barack Quayle’s call for tire inflation. Conservatives routinely do not run around on flat tires, we already know better. More serious item for this note, Europe, unlike the US, may be in a real recession. German, France, Italy, and Spain all had negative change in GDP second quarter. As the European WSJ notes, the EuroZone may have successfully decoupled from the US, but without the desired result.
As to oil drilling, surely nobody would expect democrats to do the rational – of course the most promising pools will be omitted. They’ll also pass some sort of zero-sum change in leases too, to minimize the risk of additional oil flowing onto the market. And tons of corporate welfare, silly goose spending primarily intended to enrich politically connected pie-in-the-sky schemers. And while it is too late to run a conservative against Saxbe, but is there any chance we can get Newt to run against Johnny next time? Or maybe Glenn? Or Jim Wooten? Heck, I’d even vote for Southern Democrat.
The dem convention may be fun to watch. Hope it is over the top. It has potential.
I go the other way on campaign contributions. Repeal the stupid laws, and simply require disclosure. I don’t mind the fact that all of the politicians are in somebody’s pocket, I simply dislike not knowing whose. Of course an even better course would be to abolish all government spending other than military at the Federal level, and police and prisons at the state level. No real hope for improvement there. Change we can put in our pockets. I posted my genius plan for real reform yesterday: amend the legal definition of bribery to incorporate (1) any earmark by any politician for benefit of any company whose officers and shareholders have aggregately contributed more than $1,000 to any politician within the preceding five years, or (2) receipt by any politician of more than $1,000 from aggregated officers and shareholders of any company that received an earmark by that politician within the preceding five years. Real prison time for violation, no fines. Fines only make it easy to violate a law.
When it comes to the EPA, I am filled with the same urges as a dog who urgently needs to walk. “I’d agree to any exotic energy proposal the wackiest of politicians want —- if I can build them into the rate base.” Politicans usually lack any economic sense, and thus impose the wackiest energy proposals.
By getalife "whiners"
August 15, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
“Reed, whose [GA Lt. Gov.] campaign was torpedoed by his affiliation with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, noted he’s also agreed to serve as a member of the McCain Victory 2008 Team, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.”
The wingnuts are in a rage over McCain’s abortion comment but corruption and more war does not bother them in the least.
Amazing mind set wingnuts.
By Vacalope
August 15, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this
“tump tump” who?
By Just Nasty and Mean
August 15, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this
G’mornin JIm, et al,
Barack Obama’s (BO) naive position on the energy crisis—in direct opposition to the wishes of the vast majority of the American people is unfathomable. His laughable, shallow, appeasement-based response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia is a joke. The more this radical opens his mouth off the teleprompter, the more the inexperienced empty suit shows through.
But lest we forget—he is the Messiah!
Would SOMEBODY (I nominate Jim) take our two senators behind the woodshed and kick their a*******es? What they propose is WORSE than bad policy (more taxes for oil that shows up at the pump, limitations on offshore drilling, no ANWAR, no deregulation and fast-track of nuclear, wasted billion$ on windmills etc), More important: It gave the No-energy-Plan Democraps an escape route from the corner they had painted themselves in—directly opposed to American opinion. Are these guys just stupid…. or what? Compromise is NOT what is needed here.
Jim, tell our senators they should try a “principled” position and some leadership. Compromise with the likes of Reid/Pelosi/etc. just will not yield common-sense legislation. Get past it and show some backbone!
Building windmills, for the sake of building windmills, and incorporating them into the rate base is NOT a viable long-term solution!
Have a good weekend, everybody!
By @@
August 15, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this
Why yes it is on! Okey Dokey then…..
A requirement imposed for the public good should obligate the public to pay the expected 2 percent to 5 percent increase in costs.
I’m not so sure about that Jim. Everything the Democrats do is touted as being for the public good.
Blow me over.
Me too Jim. I read where one of OBlahma’s surrogates believed…..truly believed, that it was the words that OBlahMa spoke that mattered to Putin. Was “freeze” in there somewhere?
The fear here?
The democrats should fear the American public who will see such an attempt for what it is — the democrats standing knee-deep in a pool of political muck. Time to send them a clear message WE, THE AMERICAN VOTERS WILL NOT PAY MORE FOR THAT TO WHICH WE HAVE LONG BEEN ENTITLED.
No matter who or what follows, the convention moves right.
Except when you get to the end. The tail that wags the dog veers left. Has him running in circles, it does.
By Doc
August 15, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this
Jim, I notice you’re still spouting the Republican canard about Obama and proper automobile tire inflation. I realize that your ideology demands it, but while you are parroting that line, I do hope you’ll decline to actually put it into practice. Improperly maintained automobiles are very dangerous to drive, even for Republicans. Members of your party need to be aware that the laws of physics are not as easily ignored as the US Constitution.
By Redneck Convert
August 15, 2008 12:10 PM | Link to this
Well, I’m awful glad to see Wooten decided to show up for work today. Ever since the AJC done the layoffs Wooten has went missing about every other day. Maybe they cut his pay in half. He’s still overpaid. When he goes missing AJC Mgt. and jbmlaw and Sister Dusty and @@ and all the good Conservatives get all constellated on account of not having a place to dump their load and then when he does show up the stink is even worse.
I’m for more drilling for oil here in the US of A on account of our oil cos. are good patriotic Americans that will sell the oil they get to us cheaper. I know they wouldn’t turn around and sell the new oil to China or India at the highest prices they can get. So I figure Exxon would cut the price way back, being patriotic and all, and I could fill up the Ford F-450 real cheap and pretty soon we are all driving around and still putting food on the table. Course, nobody is saying that, but that’s got to be what will happen if we just let them drill everywhere. And we need to put one of them atomic power plants downtown where all Those People live so we can get cheap power too and get a higher class of people.
Have a good day everybody.
By @@
August 15, 2008 12:15 PM | Link to this
Vacalope is it now? A svengoolie from “Night of the Lepus”?
Tump tump tump.
Be still my mind.
By Poste Haste
August 15, 2008 12:18 PM | Link to this
Ode to Nastia:
Venus in Beijing, Mona Lisa with a pony tail, a TEENage goddess from above, and she belongs to we.
She skipped the light fandango and turned cartwheels ‘cross the floo-or.
Oh, she slipped the surly bonds of earth, and flung her eager task through footless falls of air. She beamed on a lark, and did a hundred things we’ve only dreamed of. She wheeled in silent gasps, Arched and alone, she dangled rings amidst the tumbling mirth, and, with delirious pace, gathered the uneven chords of freedom’s vaulted grace.
.. ..
Ode to the Chinese Women’s Gymnastics Team: Bigfoot in Beijing. Chairman Moe would be proud.
bwa
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 12:29 PM | Link to this
Dear Doc @ 12:06, I protest, I ate my apple today.
By findog
August 15, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
Jim, Jim, Jim,
Why not propose no requirements at all in development, let the market place work. Developers should be compensated if they could find a non-low-flow toilet. They should use nothing but virgin material; because if we rid the world of virgins then the terrorists won’t suicide bombs us anymore.
Got Shoob’d again. Darn that pesky nation of laws and not small-minded state representatives.
There you go again trying to bring gay sex into the presidential election.
Valiant? Those numbers are similar to support for stem cell research that the GOP, headed by President Bush, killed. The problem is that the sausage factory workers do not want to make the sausage [law] of all the parts; typically cry for an up or down vote for their individual issue. P.S. who’s paying for the energy wasted by these Bozo’s, and the salaries of the poor CSPAN workers forced to stay in the swamp with those fools? [My apologizes to clowns everywhere]
But not right enough, right?
Simple: money is free speech but free speech was not meant to be anonymous; full, complete, and timely posting of where the support comes from – you have to identify the source of funding before the add is printed or broadcast.
No I believe it was the NRA that described the ATF as jack-booted thugs.
Did David mention that a majority of the transmission system in place is beyond its designed life expectancy, that our national power grid is one giant accident just waiting to happen?
By Poste Haste
August 15, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this
The airport gun case? Air travelers with concealed weapons and $17 tuna sandwiches? How about concealed can openers to make your own tuna snack (and tubes of mayo)?
Barrack Obama’s energy policy sits on an air hose?
So the new Conservatism is to be built around standards, transparency, and accountability. Wow, a rare hat trick of cliches. This should fool everyone. I know I’m voting McFeign now.
$1.5 Trillion is the estimated cost for Oil Companies to explore and build the platforms needed to drill offshore. What a coincidence.
Obama 08: America Well.
McFeign 08: Iraq’s Wells.
By Copyleft
August 15, 2008 12:44 PM | Link to this
Yes, if we ever dare to ask corporations to operate in a way that serves the public interest, we should definitely offer bribes and payoffs to make it happen. So as not to offend our corporate masters, you see.
Tired, predictable tripe from the worn-out hymnal of supply-side economics, a proven failure. But then, what would you expect from a laissez-faire cheerleader like Wooten (a wholly owned subsidiary of BushCo)?
By JLK
August 15, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this
It’s funny to me how the people who love to parrot the term “personal responsibility” will squawk their ardent opposition whenever you suggest they actually take some. The mere suggestion that we could all, indeed, conserve fuel by being more responsible with our personal methods of conveyance is poo-poo’ed as utterly ridiculous — insulting even!! — by self-professed (and seriously mislabeled) “conservatives” who think it would be much better to grant giant megacorporations more rights to our national resources (and more taxpayer-funded drill bits to go with them), even though these giant megacorporations already have rights to foul up untouched lands that remain, well, untouched by their drill bits.
I could delve further into the delusionist mentality that purports drilling in Florida will somehow make gas cheaper in Georgia, (“We’re neighbors! I’ll get a discount!”) even though: (a) the price of oil is set on a world market, (b) there is no guarantee of enough domestically-drilled oil to sufficiently add to the world supply so as to significantly reduce the price, and (c) we have received no detailed ROI breakdown for such efforts, for which experts agree would take 7-10 years to yield the unpredictable results, although the optimists prefer to claim they can name that tune in four years or less. But delving into the delusionist mentality of another is as pointless as pointing out the the actual age of a Chinese gymnast. “It’s true if I say it’s true!” has taken the place of rational thought and fact-based reason in these United States. One need look no further than this blog to see that deep within their self-aggrandizing hollow hearts, some would rather die hating their fellow Americans than live in a better world we could make together. But I shall enjoy the weekend nonetheless, and wish the rest of you the same.
By Vacalope
August 15, 2008 12:48 PM | Link to this
Please do not dissuage the cinematic milestone, “Night of the Lepus”, for I believe that, if the Packard-Annenberg Preservation Project is immensely accelerated, that film shall live long after you and I have perished in some far-flung place.
Is it really true, as Dr. Thompson insisted, that Richard Nixon kept a Chinese w******* on a barge in the Delta? That one always left me scratching, or else inexplicably hungry, depending on my state of mind at the time.
By Poste Haste
August 15, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this
Wooten is fascistly correct, if not fastidiously colo-rectal, in his data: it would be cheaper simply to destroy the planet and forget green.
We have God-ordained Christian Domination over the earth. We have the sacred RIGHT to pollute, and we can safely expect God to purify our precious bodily fluids. After all, mercury and arsenic and even radiation occur NATURALLY, thus we are only praying with the original words God gave us all.
McFeign 08: Seeking Seeping Holy Oil
By Ga Values
August 15, 2008 12:50 PM | Link to this
BUSH HAS THE drill now, drill here, covered per the Washington Times..What was Shameless thinking.
Republicans may be planning a crude surprise for Democrats this October. I mean crude in the sense that it will involve unrefined petroleum.
Since the House recessed earlier this month, Republicans have been demanding that Speaker Nancy Pelosi call it back into special session to vote on whether to allow new offshore oil-drilling. The Republicans know Mrs. Pelosi won’t do that. So, what do they really want?
Let’s start with some sense of the oil resources America could develop if Congress would allow it. In 2006, the Interior Department estimated about 85.9 billion barrels of “undiscovered technically recoverable” oil sit offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf within U.S. territory.
In 2007, the Energy Department’s “Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels” reported that: “America’s oil shale resource exceeds 2 trillion barrels, including about 1.5 trillion barrels of oil equivalent in high quality shales concentrated in the Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. … Depending on technology and economics, as much as 800 billion barrels of oil equivalent could be recoverable from oil shale resources yielding [more than] 25 gallons per ton.”
This combined 885.9 billion barrels of recoverable oil the government estimates lie undeveloped within U.S. territory is almost 3.5 times as much as the 260 billion barrels in proven oil reserves under Saudi territory. America is an oil-rich country.
Since 1982, however, each year’s Interior appropriation has included language forbidding Interior from selling oil-drilling leases in about 85 percent of the acreage comprising the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. (In July, President Bush lifted an executive order- originally imposed by his father - that essentially duplicated this congressional moratorium.)
Since this fiscal year, the Interior appropriation has also included a moratorium, sponsored by Rep. Mark Udall, Colorado Democrat, that forbids Interior from issuing final regulations governing the sale of leases to develop oil shale lands. This effectively stops leases from being sold.
Because these moratoria are part of an appropriations bill that runs for only one fiscal year, they also run for one year. If not renewed by Sept. 30, they expire.
Unless Congress enacts a new law banning offshore leases and oil-shale leases, Interior can legally start selling these leases on Oct. 1. This fact was not lost on House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, when I interviewed him Aug. 7. I asked him if Mr. Bush should veto any bill that includes a moratorium.
By findog
August 15, 2008 12:52 PM | Link to this
Jim, You should have been plugging, “Ice Road Truckers,” on the History Channel. Not for the wannabe red necks but for the technology and the actual proof that something VP Cheney said was true, “They are cleaning up the exploration sites as if man had never been there.”
Yes, too bad the valiant lads would rather rant than find common cause.
By Hillbillyl Deluxe
August 15, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this
We shouldn’t impose higher costs on developers in Doraville? When the inevitable tax breaks are given to the company that moves there will you be consistant and oppose that too?
By Poste Haste
August 15, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this
Wooten is fascistly correct, if not fastidiously colo-rectal, in his data: it would be cheaper simply to destroy the planet and forget green.
We have God-ordained Christian Domination over the earth. We have the sacred RIGHT to pollute, and we can safely expect God to purify our precious bodily fluids. After all, mercury and arsenic and even radiation occur NATURALLY, thus we are only praying with the original incense God gave us all.
McFeign 08: Seeking Seeping Holy Oil
By ron
August 15, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
Bon apres midi,monsewer James,where you been?
Green buildings are good,recycled materials are good,conserving is good.I do all of the above.
I am of two minds about guns at the airport.A bad fight to pick,and as I’ve told you before,your honor,I and my gun am /is not the problem.
The Republicans have wasted their vacation standing in a darkened House,accomplishing nothing. Better than going home to face the constituents though.
The Pelosi contingent,Ed and Michelle,would make Hanoi Jane look like a Patriot.
Real conservatives live in the Middle East.No one can out conserve them babies.
Many mutches money will have to be spent on new power plants and the fuel to run them.Not to mention getting drinking water to Atlanta.
$7 billion dollars going into an expansion of one refinery in Port Arthur.Going to boost capability by 325,000 barrels a day.
Americans drove 53 billion less miles this year.Suppose this had any effect on the dropping price of oil? That’s about 2 billion gallons of gas that my Ranger wouldn’t have burned.I did my part.I curailed my driving severely.
I’m not stimulating the economy though.I need a couple more government checks to squirrel away.
By Poste Haste
August 15, 2008 1:15 PM | Link to this
I have two minds about guns. One is bound to get through security. (from OBL’s training book, “Mein Glock”)
By ron
August 15, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this
Poste Haste,Read the above.Should it be my gun,It is,I am,Not the problem.
By Vacalope
August 15, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this
I meant “disparage” of course, O @@ mine-except-for-someone-else. But Friday should be a time of liminality. (Not to say lability, as those in your profession are apt to do.)
At 2:04, you explained the essence of why so many in the legal community, especially BFKaj, are agrieved by the Kelo case. I guess I’m a moderate on that provision of the 5th, because although I rue Kelo, I focus more on the “Due Process” Clause than on the “Takings” Clause.
The learned DoublDawg claims that all zoning is a “taking”, and that’s quite true. But the Constitution provides the criterion by which a taking may occur in the name of the State, and that criterion has been parsed over the years by the courts as having a lot to do with things such as “a public purpose”, “the public safety and welfare”, “emergencies” and, at a bare minimum, good-faith public notice, a public hearing allowing lavishly for public input (“comment”), and clear and openly published provisions for appeal of the resultant decision.
That didn’t happen in Kelo, and it often doesn’t happen in big-footprint [re]developments in Georgia, and that is what ticks me off. Our sheepskin-draped DoublDawg leaves the impression that all takings are beyond the pale of Constitutional permissibility, and, since DD (or B.A., J.D., or whatever) says that all zoning involves a taking, therefor all zoning is unconstitutional. That’s a mistake, because without zoning, local governments would lose their principal police power, and we would see a huge aggregation — rather than devolution — of power and public control in this state.
Neither can I agree with Jim or with BFKaj, that set rules are the answer. Big redevelopment projects should be susceptible of case-by-case negotiation. If the GM site is a great challenge for those who redevelop such properties, and neutral parties certify so, then the area governments may wish to offer incentives, or pick up the tab for upgrades, as Jim suggests. But what Jim is describing are simple improvements in building standards, and nobody wants developers to buy or blackmail their way out of adherence to building codes.
Personally, I’d threaten both the seller and the buyer over the cost of soil remediation on that almost certainly filthy site, point up the government’s right to impose developer fees, and waive the fees if they commit to buying the right kind of toilet, rather than the wrong kind.
And what of you? Are you a cardinal example of such ag-gregation, or are you a hornet-stung bear, like Russia just now? How’d you get so smart?
By JLK
August 15, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this
It’s funny to me how the people who love to parrot the term “personal responsibility” will squawk their ardent opposition whenever you suggest they actually take some. The mere suggestion that we could all, indeed, conserve fuel by being more responsible with our personal methods of conveyance is poo-poo’ed as utterly ridiculous — insulting even!! — by self-professed (and seriously mislabeled) “conservatives” who think it would be much better to grant giant megacorporations more rights to our national resources (and more taxpayer-funded drill bits to go with them), even though these giant megacorporations already have rights to foul up untouched lands that remain, well, untouched by their drill bits.
I could delve further into the delusionist mentality that purports drilling in Florida will somehow make gas cheaper in Georgia, (“We’re neighbors! I’ll get a discount!”) even though: (a) the price of oil is set on a world market, (b) there is no guarantee of enough domestically-drilled oil to sufficiently add to the world supply so as to significantly reduce the price, and (c) we have received no detailed ROI breakdown for such efforts, for which experts agree would take 7-10 years to yield the unpredictable results, although the optimists prefer to claim they can name that tune in four years or less. But delving into the delusionist mentality of another is as pointless as pointing out the the actual age of a Chinese gymnast. “It’s true if I say it’s true!” has taken the place of rational thought and fact-based reason in these United States. One need look no further than this blog to see that deep within their self-aggrandizing hollow hearts, some would rather die hating their fellow Americans than live in a better world we could make together. But I shall enjoy the weekend nonetheless, and wish the rest of you the same.
By @@
August 15, 2008 1:38 PM | Link to this
Gonzo the InterLoper:
Meet me at “Midnight on the Coast Highway” where I will beg the question Now rather than Later…..
Do you float the “innerTUBES” with PoliFore? as PoliFore a.k.a. Whom or What
ever?
Depending on your response, I will either respect or suspect. And assuming neither matters, I’m….
out to cut the greenies.
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 1:45 PM | Link to this
Dear JLK @ 1:23, “some would rather die hating their fellow Americans than live in a better world we could make together.” And some would rather die hating their fellow Americans than live in a freer world we could make together.
By GaLiberal
August 15, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this
Moron Jim says: “Here, the evidence demonstrates, at the very least, that there is a significant question as to whether permitting the carrying of guns in the airport is a serious threat to the public safety and welfare,” said he. Yes. He’s correct. The Legislature properly considered that question. The people’s elected representatives struck the balance they determined to be in the public interest, as is their right and duty.
What Moron Jim doesn’t tell you is this law was passed to placate the right-wing gun nut wackos of the NRA and GeorgiaCarry. It did not have anything to do with public safety as they would like to pretend. In fact, untrained people carrying a deadly weapon makes everyone else LESS safe. These people see themselves as protectors and believe they are morally righteous in using deadly force against another person. It doesn’t matter if there if there is an actual threat just so long as a threat is perceived. Of course this works because the other person can’t tell their story as they are dead. Amazing how well this actually works.
An unintended consequence of these laws is that criminals will now shoot first assuming you have a gun. So instead of having one shoved in your face they’ll stick it your back and pull the trigger. So much for whipping out your 9 mil and defending yourself.
Another thing Moron Jim doesn’t tell you it that it’s not a duty and it’s questionable if it’s a right. All the Supreme Court decided was that DC’s outright ban on handgun ownership was unconstitutional. It did not say that you have a right to carry a gun anywhere you want. It did not say that governments or businesses could control where and when guns were carried. It’s legal for the airport administrator to ban guns from the airport.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And arguing that guns should be allowed in the airport is living proof.
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this
Dear Vacalope @ 1:21, just read a great argument explaining the takings issue and justification for the Constitutional language: [When there is a taking,] “(e)veryone pays a little bit, but in exchange they enjoy their share of the benefit of the ‘public use’ of the taken property. If property is taken without compensation, the entire cost is borne by the individual property owner.
“The allocation of these costs also has political implications. If the government is required to pay for the benefits it seeks to provide, taxpaying voters can weigh the costs they incur against the benefits they receive. Legislators will then have an electoral incentive to engage in takings only when the net benefit to society exceeds the net cost. Voters who must bear the additional cost will punish legislators who abuse takings.
“In contrast, if legislators are free to enrich a large group of voters at the expense of a single property owner or a small group of owners, it is in their electoral best interest to do so….”
By willie
August 15, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this
JLK: you are an socialist idiot be an American! B#@ch slap a liberal.
By @@
August 15, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this
O.K. Vacaloper. Was this question addressed to me:
And what of you? Are you a cardinal example of such ag-gregation, or are you a hornet-stung bear, like Russia just now? How’d you get so smart?
In the zoning arena I’ve been a hornet-stung bear, and a honey-dripping bee. I’ve won some and I’ve lost some. I’ve compromised and negotiated some acceptable stipulations in exchange for a developer’s density wants. My greatest effort thus far (a successful lawsuit) against a friend/a former Commissioner/Developer has greatly and supposedly permanently benefited the community just to my south, but not me and mine.
A total of $15,000.00 in legal fees gave members of that community the right to have developers meet their zoning criteria built into the County’s regulations. I suspect, however, it will hold until a new Chairman comes on board or a property owner’s lawsuit prevails.
Not much changes in the world of political powers. They come and they go. But for me life is always the same…….full of challenges and the potential for success.
Now that I’ve inflated a tire on my lawnmower, I’m off on a bumpy ride.
By willie
August 15, 2008 2:02 PM | Link to this
JLK: you are a socialist idiot! The more you profess to have wisdom the more foolish you sound. Be an American not a liberal!
By Ga Values
August 15, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this
BFKaJ —Great Idea can you see Saxby Special Interest & Johnny Bail out the Banks voting for this..
“I go the other way on campaign contributions. Repeal the stupid laws, and simply require disclosure. I don’t mind the fact that all of the politicians are in somebody’s pocket, I simply dislike not knowing whose. Of course an even better course would be to abolish all government spending other than military at the Federal level, and police and prisons at the state level. No real hope for improvement there. Change we can put in our pockets. I posted my genius plan for real reform yesterday: amend the legal definition of bribery to incorporate (1) any earmark by any politician for benefit of any company whose officers and shareholders have aggregately contributed more than $1,000 to any politician within the preceding five years, or (2) receipt by any politician of more than $1,000 from aggregated officers and shareholders of any company that received an earmark by that politician within the preceding five years. Real prison time for violation, no fines. Fines only make it easy to violate a law.”
By willie
August 15, 2008 2:08 PM | Link to this
JLK: you are a socialist idiot! The more you profess to have wisdom the more foolish you sound. Be an American not a liberal!
By willie
August 15, 2008 2:09 PM | Link to this
JLK: you are a socialist idiot! The more you profess to have wisdom the more foolish you sound. Be an American not a liberal!
By willie
August 15, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this
By GaLiberal: what moron law wasnt passed by the left to appease wacho liberals like you….
By Vacalope
August 15, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this
Well here’s the real Dope, @@,
Regardless of whether the redevelopers are sticker-shocked by the waybill, they still must pay the fee. I mean, I spent many years in hard Farmwork paying my dues, and now it’s their turn. As for PetitFors, “he” is a card, I admit, but I’ve had nothing to do with him, and rather suspect that any tubes he may have within are not tubas but fallopian.
As for tubing, I prefer the golf course ice-block luge.
By MORONS
August 15, 2008 2:24 PM | Link to this
Jim, you’re an idiot, and I love how you and the rest of you silly little Repugnants like to call for offshore drilling, and tout the 64% number, but why don’t you try putting that same thought into the fact that over 80% of the people think the country is on the wrong track, and that the war in Iraq is a joke. If by your logic Bush and McSame should listen to the American people and pull out immediatelly. Maybe if George Sr and Barbara had done that originally there would be no W, and hense no war, i.e. A BETTER AMERICA.
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this
Dear Ga Values @ 2:05, thanks. Would discourage the corporate welfare types of all stripes. In all honesty, as to your question, I doubt that I could get a majority of the Georgia congressional delegations of either party, and neither of the faux-conservative senators. Jim’s honor roll of last week maybe – Price, Westmoreland, whoever else he mentioned - but that’s it.
By DublDawg
August 15, 2008 2:42 PM | Link to this
I made a typo in my prior post because I had to rush to finish and did not have time to proofread it.
It should say that zoning is NOT a taking. And because zoning is not a taking, building requirements are highly unlikely to be. Otherwise, the logical extension could lead to a situation where developers would be able to seek compensation for building code requirements to make sure skyscrapers don’t fall or developers along the coast for placing bands on wood to reduce blow apart.
There have been tons of cases on it, and they have been rejected. Thus, it is virtually conclusive that zoning is not a taking under the 5th Amendment.
That does not preclude a state at some point from concluding that zoning can not constitute a taking. The state constns only have to provide as much protection as the 5th, there is no prohibition on going further.
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this
Dear Moron @ 2:24, I think you are on target. I think the democrats ought to run on a platform of immediate pullout from Iraq, and no new drilling at any costs. I think republicans ought to run on a platform of staying in Iraq until ejected by the Russians and drill anywhere and everywhere.
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this
Dear Dubldawg @ 2:42, I agree with your revised jurisprudential history. Penn Central v NY (1978) and Tahoe-Sierra v Tahoe Regional Planning (2002) outline the sad history of non-compensable regulatory takings. Dr. Sowell writes regularly on the terrible effects of zoning laws on the left coast. Most pathetic of all, the people most often victimized by zoning takings are the poorest among us.
By Do the Math
August 15, 2008 2:58 PM | Link to this
LOW FLOW TOILET = smaller tank How does this cost more?
Taxpayers should bail out developers for the cost or not externalizing the cost impact of the development? WTF?
Are you not a conservative?
By findog
August 15, 2008 3:14 PM | Link to this
While I am not a legal scholar like BFKaJ I seam to remember that some zoning ordinances, like you cannot fill in a regulatory floodway or increase the elevation of a flood by building in the flood fringe, are not takings because it is for the protection of the neighboring property owners and/or from threat to human life.
What Jim should be railing about is NIMBY; how Sugar Hill was able to block the Northern Arc, or the hideous unfunded mandates of the clean water act where bureaucrats hide behind each other to enforce their will on communities; instead of just coming out and taking credit for changes to regulations.
And please do not come back with, voluntary compliance, the Christians in early Rome were in voluntary compliance to the lions.
By Vacalope
August 15, 2008 3:44 PM | Link to this
Oh, and @@, I’ve developed a new explosive device that obviates torture during interrogations. Analchordite. Just insert, flicky your Bic, and you don’t even have to light the stuff, the subject just sings like a bird.
By Hillbilly Deluxe
August 15, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
They could have widened Highway 20 many times over for the money they spent trying to shove the Northern Arc down people’s throats. They eventually widened Highway 20 anyhow. I’m sure the delay cost extra millions.
By findog
August 15, 2008 3:57 PM | Link to this
still bottlenecked at the river…
By Jim
August 15, 2008 3:58 PM | Link to this
Quote <<>>
So, if he’s correct, where’s the evidence that this is ANY sort of threat, much less a “serious” threat. Can anyone point to EVEN ONE incident of a person who has a legal carry permit causing harm to someone?
Back it up.
By Kurt Martin
August 15, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this
The guns-at-airport question boils down to this: Does the City of Atlanta have the power to criminalize conduct that neither the federal government nor the state of Georgia has criminalized? The City says federal law trumps state law when it comes to airports. But there IS NO FEDERAL LAW AGAINST CITIZENS BEING ARMED OUTSIDE THE “STERILE” SCREEENING AREAS. Then the City says we have a state law against carrying guns in public buildings. Wait— didn’t the City say that State law didn’t matter because only the feds can set rules for airports? And they’re wrong anyway— the law against gun at public buildings no longer applies to buildings of public transportation like MARTA and the Airport. That part of the old law was replealed, both explicitly and implicitly, by newer laws that deal with the issue in a comprehensive way.
By Le Lapin d'Allendale
August 15, 2008 4:05 PM | Link to this
@@, it seems that you are surrounded with a menagerie: vacalopes, bears, ag-gravated hornets…which is the cardinal one of these?
By Troglodyke
August 15, 2008 4:07 PM | Link to this
In fact, untrained people carrying a deadly weapon makes everyone else LESS safe. These people see themselves as protectors and believe they are morally righteous in using deadly force against another person.
Every single person I know who carries LEGALLY has taken several gun handling courses. Where are all these untrained people who are carrying legally? Of course, I don’t know everyone, but I’ll bet there are stats to back up my belief that the vast majority of people who carry legally are completely equipped to do so. They spend hours and hours learning how to diffuse situations WITHOUT FIRING THEIR WEAPONS.
The idiots who want to shoot are carrying ILLEGALLY, and should be stopped.
An unintended consequence of these laws is that criminals will now shoot first assuming you have a gun. So instead of having one shoved in your face they’ll stick it your back and pull the trigger. So much for whipping out your 9 mil and defending yourself.
That’s just silly. Some criminals will kill you just because they think they can. It has nothing to do with them “beating you to the punch.”
I am an Independent who carries proudly, and can see right through “liberal-speak” for restricting the rights of American citizens. I would much rather trust my life and the lives of my loved ones to my ability to defend us over wondering if the 911 operator will actually be doing her job.
Stop categorizing licensed gun owners as would-be cowboys. Please cite a valid statistic that demonstrates a situation in which a licensed gun carrier went on a shooting spree. I’d love to see it.
By @@
August 15, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this
In for an ice water.
Well here’s the real Dope, @@
Vacaloper:
Did you just call me a Dope?
Personally, I’d threaten both the seller and the buyer over the cost of soil remediation on that almost certainly filthy site, point up the government’s right to impose developer fees, and waive the fees if they commit to buying the right kind of toilet, rather than the wrong kind.
Yours was a creative and almost certain approach to achieve said goal.
Howzabout dis? Why not let the UAW pay to flush?
Lawd knows they’ve perfected the art on their job site.
By michelle
August 15, 2008 4:33 PM | Link to this
“the people agree with republicans on oil exploration” is entirely misleading.
the “people”..? what “people”? what “people” were polled and where were they from? how do they lean politically?
100% of the “people” i know disagree. just goes to show that polls are meaningless in reality, and only serve the side that’s trying to get what they want.
take your poll and shove it somewhere.
By La Honda Loper
August 15, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this
Never would I call, nor even think, you a Dope, @@. You are already my opium.
The expression was but another coded keyword. Feeling Sluggish, are we?
As for Jim’s issue, I think the plumbing should run to the Statehouse. It’s about time some of it started flushing the other direction.
By SaveOurRepublic
August 15, 2008 4:50 PM | Link to this
Folks, whether it’s restricting the 2nd Amendment, suppressing America’s ability to be energy independent or propagating the Agenda 21/sustainable development driven “Green” (= new “Red”) movement…it’s all about furthering (Big) government control & limiting our freedom(s)!
Thanks to the endless propagation of the bogus “Left vs. Right” schism, the true Elite are allowed to keep their puppets in supposed “control”. To quote paleoconservative patriot writer “Jorge Oarwell”….“Regrettably, few people realize that virtually everything our “elected” representatives do is intended to (1) extract more money from the people, (2) tighten government’s controls over the people, (3) benefit the international bankers and major foreign and domestic corporations which own 99% of the politicians, and (4) keep the people in the dark regarding anything and everything of any substantial importance. I don’t envision this changing to any noticeable degree. I’ve come to agree with my friend Russell’s theory that 88% of the people are actually stupid….always have been and always will be.”
Russell’s 88% Theory
Eighty-eight percent of all the people are stupid. Always have been. Always will be.
Seven percent are uncontrollably insane; these two categories overlap to varying degrees.
Three percent don’t give a d-mn
The other two percent are ruling the world and they all perverted as hell.
Explanation…
The eighty-eight percent are stupid because they refuse to accept responsibility for their own actions. They will accept poor government, oppressive government, or even slavery as long as they can blame their lot on someone or something else. “It was God’s will.” “The devil made him do it.” “It’s the law, what can I do?” They are most often referred to as sheep.
Those who are uncontrollably insane, tried to live within the rules of “normal society” but cannot psychologically balance the equivocal terms of the religion and law that they have been inundated with from early childhood.
The three percent who don’t give a damn are the poets, philosophers, visionaries, and other free thinkers. This category includes half of those who are incarcerated. The other half of those incarcerated would probably fit into category number two.
Most of those in the ruling two percent have no real power. Only one in a million has the real power, the others have just demonstrated their willingness to do anything to anybody to gain favor and reward from the ruling few. All of this category are sick, warped, perverted people.
By @@
August 15, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
Is Paul anywhere to be found? If he is, this possibility will be of interest to him. Remember when you told me that Russia was walking a tightrope with Islamist militants in their midst?
Disciplining Tatarstan and/or Chechnya will be a bloody affair, but the Kremlin believes it can clamp down on these republics nonetheless should the situation warrant. The main concern in Moscow’s eyes is preventing any rebellion in Tatarstan from spilling over into fellow Muslim republic Bashkortostan and giving other Muslim rebels in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan reason to come to the aid of their brothers. Cooperation among Russia’s Muslim republics is not unprecedented. In fact, during the Chechen wars in the 1990s, a large number of Tatars fought alongside Chechen rebels against Russian forces.
Ramping up Muslim fighters in Chechnya and Tatarstan is a logical step for the Saudis to take since there is no love loss between the two competing energy powers.
With the Saudis now making roughly $1 billion a day on oil revenues, Riyadh has ample cash to spare to revive its links with Islamist militants in the Russian Federation.
There are also Chechnyan rebels bought and paid for by Putin to fight in Russia’s military.
We shall see.
~~~~~~~~~~OO~~~~~~~~~~
Now it’s The Sling Loper?
Is something broken, fractured, or sprained?
By Redneck Convert
August 15, 2008 5:18 PM | Link to this
Well, I got a idea for all the weenies that are scared of us carrying guns in the airport.
Just hand out name tags to people packing heat that say “Hello, I’m a GA redneck.” That way people can tell the diffrence between a liscenced gun carryer and a terrist. Most of the people I see on this blog screaming about having their rights to carry taken away are out and out rednecks anyway. A name tag would calm strangers down and let them know it’s just a good ol boy with the .44 tucked in his pants. Instead of somebody taking Viagra or something.
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 5:26 PM | Link to this
Taranto has a funny letter today on our leftist brethren and tire inflation: “Have you noticed that the people shouting loudest to make developing oil fields impossible, to tax gasoline to astronomical levels, and to have government subsidized “Manhattan Projects” to create the breakthroughs in solar, wind, waves, bio-mass, etc., are the same people who did not take the math, science and engineering courses in college? Despite their profound ignorance in these subjects, they are sure that creating enough pain will cause those of us who did grind away in these fields for all these years to suddenly have that amazing insight which will let us repeal the third law of thermodynamics. Their core belief is that genius comes forth when misery is piled sufficiently high. Why don’t we announce the oil industry is going to build offshore “tire inflation” platforms and put some “auto tune-up centers” in ANWR for good measure, and just go about our business, with these airheads never the wiser?”
By Limping Eloper
August 15, 2008 5:31 PM | Link to this
Broken. Three places. Hit some fresh shale coming ‘round Devil’s Slide and had to lay the Shadow down or go over. What do you do once you’ve found the edge the hard way?
By BFKaJ
August 15, 2008 5:41 PM | Link to this
I think our leftist friends do not grasp the real problem with the “tire inflation” cure for oil prices. It is not so much that it is untrue, nor even that it is woefully inadequate. The problem is that it left the lips of Hussein Quayle intended to sound like “I feel your pain” yet resonated as “You ought to put some ice on that.”
By DublDawg
August 15, 2008 5:43 PM | Link to this
GaLiberal:
Not that I would expect more from someone that brandishes himself/herself as a liberal, but if you don’t get that Heller established that the Second Amendment confers an individual right, you are either clueless or just don’t care for the fact. SCOTUS decided the case before it on the most narrow grounds. There is a lot left ahead of us, such as incorporation and establishing the level of scrutiny to be applied to laws restricting guns.
I hope that the Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA are every bit as litigious in pursuing the agenda as the great heroes of the left—the ACLU, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, NRDC, etc.
Did you formally post as Copyleft?
Where are all the outraged liberals and Code Pink bimbos? Why aren’t they protesting the actions of the Russians?
Are they afraid that protesting will impede their ability to immigrate to the restored CCCP?
By Sigmund Freud, Jr.
August 15, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this
BJ with an FK: Schliech dich, arme kleine Wurstchen. You are certifiably retarded. There’s nothing I can do for you; you are beyond hope for a cure. To temporarily ease your symptoms, try inflating your head with an air hose.
By Sigmund Freud, Jr.
August 15, 2008 6:03 PM | Link to this
BJ with an FK: Schliech dich, arme kleine Wurstchen. You are certifiably retarded. There’s nothing I can do for you; you are beyond hope for a cure. To temporarily ease your symptoms, try inflating your head with an air hose.
By GaLiberal
August 15, 2008 6:06 PM | Link to this
By willie@2:12: By GaLiberal: what moron law wasnt passed by the left to appease wacho liberals like you….
You really got me with that one, willie. I guess you use lower case because you’re a small willie. BTW, it’s spelled ‘wacko.’ If can’t spell it, don’t post it.
The Rethuglicon-controlled legislature has passed many laws recently to appease small-brained, bootlicking, bigots like you. The law allowing guns to be carried on mass transit and in restaurants is one example.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And small willie is living (but brain dead) proof.
By Common Sense
August 15, 2008 7:15 PM | Link to this
Any law abiding citzens who makes a mistake and shoots someone all be it accidently should go to jail because you believe you are police trained individual.
This gun law has nothing to do with protecting your family. How many of you have actually had issues with criminals.
You need this gun to supplement your lack of something!
Ah the Bush Adminstration assisted the Kremlin with oil rigs and now they are with military strength.
While we are bogged down with Iraq weapons of mass destruction.
Way to go Bush!Conservatives who don’t go and serve in the wars who just talk about them!
By same o same o
August 16, 2008 1:58 AM | Link to this
OK Common Sense,
Pack yo sheet and git on over to Afghanistan.
why haven’t you gotten bin laden yet?
By michelle
August 16, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this
Troglodyke @4:07 PM Stop categorizing licensed gun owners as would-be cowboys. Please cite a valid statistic that demonstrates a situation in which a licensed gun carrier went on a shooting spree. I’d love to see it.
were you on a different planet when VA tech got shot up, you fool??
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this
were you on a different planet when VA tech got shot up, you fool??
Did the VA Tech killer have a concealed weapons permit you lizard brained lib? What other “license” do you think you need which was the POINT being made, moron? Even BETTER, wasn’t VA Tech a “gun free” zone? Uh huh. Yeah that did a helluva lot of good, didn’t it you mindless liberal hysteric?
Face it, you pussified libs will never, EVER get rid of guns on this planet…not that you dumbmasses on the diseased left really care about sending criminals to jail or death row or anything. Zero credibility, sister.
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 10:35 AM | Link to this
“Way to go Bush!Conservatives who don’t go and serve in the wars who just talk about them!”
Kinda reminds me of you mindless hysterics on the diseased left who won’t go shed your own blood and sweat and money for building homes for the poor you asshat liberal socialist neo-Marxists “care” about so much - with other people’s money - especially those evil rich who supposedly don’t really “work”. GFY.
By Soothsayer
August 16, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this
Well, I just saw “Bigfoot” everybody! She was shopping at the Dawsonville Wal-Mart! Have a nice day!
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this
WASHINGTON – More banks are tightening lending standards on home mortgages and other consumer and business loans as a deepening credit crisis exerts a heavier toll on the economy.
Yeah ok, whatever. How long before we AGAIN hear from the mindless hysterics on the diseased liberal left about how tightened credit hurts the poor and disadvantaged and minorities? Waah! waah! Waah!
Ever wonder why the media won’t investigate the demographics of the foreclosure “crisis?” (In my mind, a “crisis” occurs when a HELL of a lot more than 4% of anything is affected (note to mindless hysterical hyperemotioned liberals: 96% of all mortgages are STILL paid on time in this nation).
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this
How about those Chinese ba-stards cheating? First they put in a lip-synch show that would do Milli Vanilli proud (betcha those dirtball frauds support O-mania), then they put a pre-teen in gymnastics and passed her off as 16, and finally as a last shot they enjoyed toying with the non-Chinese athletes in the gymnastic events by purposely delaying time between each person’s turn, playing with minds.
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this
Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, picked up the endorsement today of former Republican Representative Jim Leach of Iowa, an important state in the general election.
Well the drivebys tried to make this stick, but it didn’t. Like, what the hell is the point of mentioning some mindless RINO nobody ever heard of and then trying to trump up things by making a correlation that Iowa is a state majorly in play in November?
You dumbassed liberals in the media on the left sure didn’t give Lieberman the time of day when he wisely ditched the RAT party.
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this
Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) — Now that Russia has humiliated Georgia with a punishing military offensive, it may shift its attention to reining in pro-Western Ukraine, another American ally in the former Soviet Union.
Uh huh. Watch the mindless hysterics on the left make excuses for that, too. Remember, according to most mindless hysterical POS liberals on this blog and elsewhere, “Raygun” was the real enemy of peace. (Isn’t that such a cute adult way to describe Reagan? Don’t you want to be a mindless emotion-driven fleabag that thinks like that?)
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
Haha. CNN, the bastion of liberalism in the mainslime media, is trying to score additional revenue by selling t-shirts with daily “news” headlines:
http://www.cnn.com/tshirt/faq/
You can see what “news” headline qualifies for this on the Clinton News Network by looking for a little t-shirt icon to the right of each “news” title on their website.
I’d love to see a headline on a t-shirt about the O-mania flip flopping on Georgia vs. Russia after McCain gave his opinion on the situation - yeah like that will happen.
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this
Yeah I know some regulars are chillin’ over at Kookman’s blog, but I’d rather not patronize a moonbat.
Anyway, I’d just like to know what in the h.e. double L is going on with this global warming hysteria. 80 degrees at near noon in the middle of August?
IN the South?
IN Georgia?
One thing is for sure: there hasn’t been enough heat this summer for the mindless hysterics on the wretched liberal left to b-itch about global warming cause by Mrs. Smith’s SUV.
There’s been plenty of rain too, so the Algorbots can’t b-itch and wet their panties over that either. Gee. Whatever will they do with themselves?
Uh oh! Looks like we have a tropical storm in the Caribbean that’s going to nail Florida. Run for your lives! Bush’s fault! CO2’s fault! You outdoor grilling dumbassed neocon’s fault! Walk your a-ss to work and the grocery store, punks.
Naturally it’s the “poor” who are the real victims here from wealthy SUV-driving Americans and said wealthy should be punished accordingly - at least that’s what that wretched corrupt lib-loved worthless entity known as the UN believes - and probably that globalist O-mania too.
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this
On Thursday night, CNN’s lead off news was about Obama and Wal Mart possibly being biased against him. Fox News started off with Putin and Russia’s moves and potential future moves which may one day affect the entire EU. Sure am glad those asshat libs at CNN have their priorities straight.
This was on the bottom ticker area of CNN advertising about the Democrat Convention on that same Thursday night. Those “news” reporter people at CNN lick the soil the O-mania and the Shrill walk on. How delusional in denial can those liberals be?
By AmVet
August 16, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this
Another helping of Saturday morning uncommonly senseless tripe as regurgitated by the lunatic fringe.
zzzzzzzzz….
This snoozefest notwithstanding, there is one irrefutable and relevant point about the upcoming presidential election - the neo-cons have already lost. A RINO or an ultra-liberal! Pick your poison cowards!!
Some observations about the first week of the “Walmart Games”.
The Opening Ceremonies were almost as great as the ones here in Atlanta. Just kidding. Simply spectacular.
Have they shortened the pool? Whatever. Rock on Michael Phelps! And at 23 one must wonder how many medals the kid will ultimately win before his Olympic days are over!
American tennis competitor James Blake badmouths his opponent for not calling a ridiculously close line call against himself! A class act in the vein of McEnroe and Nastase. (BTW he blew three straight match points, not that that matters!)
American boxer Raushee Warren screws up his bout by NOT listening to his coaches and is such a chump he wouldn’t even shake his opponent’s hand afterward. To his credit though he later apologized for being “unsportsmanlike.”
The American basketball team has uncharacteristically not shot off their mouths or done much “trash talking” at all. Good for them.
Fortunately track and field has started in earnest and here’s to watching Jeremy Wariner run the 400 meters in another blistering time. And poor Tyson Gay, I was really pulling for him.
And what about that American women’s sweep of the individual sabre in fencing!
What to make of the Swedish wrestler headcase Ara Abrahamian who tossed his Bronze Medal down and stormed off the podium? The IOC stripped the award and banned him for life I believe, and rightfully so.
And there is another whole week of the greatest spectacle in all of humanity!
And finally kudos to the NBC networks for at least trying to cover a wide variety of events. But when the h&ll was badminton on???
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this
Oops, I forgot to say what was at the bottom of CNN’s screen in a self-promo ad banner about the Democrat Convention:
“NO BIAS, NO BULL”
Kid you not. Those mindless liberals in the media are so full of themselves, aren’t they?
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
China falls short on Olympic promises, critics say
No kidding CNN. You mindless liberal hysterics are all about the “world” and ensuring China is a part of it, then you wet your panties when China doesn’t do something they said they’d do. This is all irrespective of having your and (PMS)NBC’s heads up their a-sses at the moment. What’s the matter cowards, afraid to mention things you b!tch about over here on their soil or something?
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 12:42 PM | Link to this
Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary.
Boy, NPR and Sunday morning talk shows hosted by the likes of Demwits Chris Matthews and George Snafulopolous are sure going to be p!ssed.
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 12:52 PM | Link to this
Woman allegedly beat up fiancé at prenup party - “When he left the house, she tackled him football-style, punched him some more, threw his watch into the bushes and broke his glasses, police said.”
And here I am listening to the mindless hysterics of hyperemotioned liberals saying that (conservative) trash only lives in the red state South. Washington is a blue state, ain’t it?
By Rufus
August 16, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted Sen. Joe Lieberman on Wednesday for making what she called “totally irresponsible” remarks about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and warned that the Senate might retaliate by revoking Lieberman’s committee chairmanship.
Heh. Hehehe.
Yeah, how’s that old dried up liberal nannygoat’s book selling anyway? Well, let’s take a look:
Damn. Below 8,000 in sales rank now, WELL below 2,000 from last week. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
And how many trees were murdered for this “green” person again trying to “save the planet?”
You almost have to feel sorry for The Nanny. Almost.
By @@
August 16, 2008 3:09 PM | Link to this
Well as long as we’re revisiting the campaign past, let’s take a look at what’s being marketed. OBLAHMA!
The Secret Side of David Axelrod
Axelrod, OBlahMa’s campaign manager is in the business of marketing for corporate America.
OBlahMa, a presidential candidate created, **packaged and marketed for public consumption but not tested for safety.
By Jackie
August 16, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this
The conservative purchas the book “The Obama Nation”by Jerome Corsi to obtain factual information relating to Barack Obama?
A great deal of levity is derived from the fact that many use this model potrayed in the book as being a guide to the “truth.”
Please calm down from the hysterial laughter derived from this approach.
By Limping Eloper
August 16, 2008 4:05 PM | Link to this
@@,
That link on Axelrod goes a long way toward explaining why so many of us get the feeling that if BHO is inaugurated, we’ll wake up realizing that we know very little of the man’s everchanging changer-than-fiction changefulness, and still less of where his personal alliegences really lie, but in lieu of the obsolete funamentals it’ll hit us like smelling salts that we’ve just bought a concocted brand.
Say, are you by chance a STEPchild?
By @@
August 16, 2008 4:30 PM | Link to this
Limping Eloper? You ran off and got married?
What is it that Socialist Party’s prez candidate said? Without ever knowing it, the U.S. will have adopted socialist policies under the guise of liberalism.
My post was misplaced. It was intended for Bookman’s.
No, not a STEPchild. Why do you ask? Did you just inherit one with your recent elopement?
By Limping Eloper
August 16, 2008 4:50 PM | Link to this
Nope,
Left at the altar. Now I just lope.
I believe that I said the same about BHO ~ 6 mo. ago and caught for it, even though I’d sourced six ways to May Day.
Curious about how you came to have such an easy grasp of Ed Theory and also how you got day style you got (easy but precise, kind but declarative, playful with the plaything that is our curious language. Just guessed that being a daughter of step might be part of the answer. Surely you’re not entirely autodidactic. The Esq. and I lunched today, and both wish you could’ve been there.
By @@
August 16, 2008 5:07 PM | Link to this
I’ll share this Limping E. I was a middle child often times overlooked but very much needed when my siblings needed someone to run interference. As a kid I witnessed cruel behavior towards the especially needful at school. It was my nature to offer what I could to them. Could never quite understand from where cruelty such as that of the “typicals” could stem. I’ve always been drawn to special needs and wanted to offer them a fighting chance.
Life is what you make it Loper. For myself and for others, I’m determined to make it fun. It’s easier than draggin’
Now I’m off to go grab a baby. I’m keeping her for a friend.
It’s my lucky day.
By Limping Eloper
August 16, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
That explains much; whereas I’v tried all my life to discover from whence such “cruelty comes.”
Grab one for me, please.
By BFKaJ
August 16, 2008 8:49 PM | Link to this
Dear @@, I will underscore Limper’s 4:50 advisory. Next time we lunch, bring your husband and daughter if you wish, we would love to have your arguments too. Unrelated note to Limper, after lunch today I decided to clean my gutters. My comically pathetic condition at this moment will make you feel better about the circumstances of your injuries. You at least had exogenous contributors to your suffering; I suffered the most unmacho injury you could imagine.
By Road Scholar
August 17, 2008 9:17 AM | Link to this
If developers really want to be paid for Green requirements in their development (which you approach as extras) then make them pay for the Billions needed to correct our traffic congestion that development has caused!
As for the drilling rights, if the oil companies aren’t going to drill in the unused areas they already lease, then they need to return them and give up their rights to them. First though is the need to renew the tax credits that renewable energy implementation has (which expires this December). This is holding up new jobs and development of factories producing the new technologies benefits. Why are the Rethuglicans holding this hostage? Not developing new jobs? providing a means to decrease our energy dependance?
By Roping Loper
August 17, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this
BFKaj,
I don’t think they have casts for that. Might ice do some good? A G-Sling?
By Blog Police
August 17, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this
doping stupored: zzzzz
BJk: try the watermelon
rude scolder: do you think you can think of even more trite republican name-abuse?
I coined “Repudlickan” before Sen. Craig, Okay? That’s the last word in it. Leave it alone, Keats.
bwa
By Dopey Loper
August 17, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
Roadie,
Agree that developers ought to pay fees commensurate with impacts. To the extent that developers may mitigate, the fees might be negotiated.
I also agree with the Foul One that Beauty is Truth, And “Repudlickan” Beauty. If that is all you know on Earth, then you’ve got the jump on me.
By BFKaJ
August 18, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this
I wonder if the blog will accept comments on the new essays today?