Blog for Democracy

Wednesday Open Thread

Blondie_-_Parallel_LinesOf interest to me… you, meh who knows these days.

No more Saturday USPS Mail delivery as of August 1st. This thoughtful Slate piece covers what that means to political mail.

Rep. Paul Broun famous for this quote on evolution “lie straight from the pit of hell” and that anybody who doesn’t believe the earth was created in six days needs Jesus,or something. Announces something. He’s so special that if you question his votes, this is the excuse you get, it was all done under the“direction from the Holy Bible.” The rest of the country mocks us, some people think this is good news. I don’t.

Super Bowl Champions Ravens player Brendon Ayanbagejo chats with CNN Don Lemon about LBGT Equality. Fantastic segment, and while I like Chris Klewe, Brendon doesn’t have a potty mouth.

British band One Direction covers Blondie. This only escapes my complete distain because they did it for charity. Original song here.  You be the judge. Seriously NO CONTEST, Blondie kicks that boy bands ass.

Someone get this hero hitchhiker a political consulting gig, because I could listen to him for hours. Crazy story tho, really really crazy.

Congratulations to friend of this blog Bess Weyandt on winning a 2013 REED award for her fantastic political T-Shirt for Congressman Lewis’s re-election campaign. Too bad they are sold out! Someone needs to be talking to Zazzle, just saying.

Georgia Republicans are meeting tomorrow in Atlanta, Democrats on Saturday in Macon. We wait breathlessly their words of wisdom.

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18 responses to “Wednesday Open Thread”

  1. Trevor Southerland Avatar
    Trevor Southerland

    Who? A person who wants to be a United States Congressman or Congresswoman.

    Running for office is a gamble, but there are many benefits of just running, even if you don’t win… if you do it right. The problem is, so many do it wrong… and we start at a severe disadvantage in Georgia due to certain conditions… hopefully those will change in the coming decade.

  2. Amanda Hugenkiss Avatar
    Amanda Hugenkiss

    The political science says you need to run three times to be able to defeat an incumbent. But who wants to commit six years of their lives to *maybe* have a shot at a victory.

  3. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    More Thread: Depressions are Depressing, Part 889.4:

    “Young College Grads: Real Earnings Fell in 2011” Via the PPI.
    http://www.progressivepolicy.org/2012/09/young-college-grads-real-earnings-fell-in-2011/

    Ah, but this is true now for the better part of a Decade. Never seen before. “All told, real average earnings for young grads have fallen by over 15% since 2000, or by about $10,000 in constant 2011 dollars”.

    More depressing crap for a Monday too:
    “This Priceless Louvre Painting Got Defaced by 9/11 Truther Graffiti”. Guess which one, Peaches? Beuller? Too many facts of ‘stuff to count here.
    http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2013/02/911-truther-graffiti-louvre-painting/61948/

    In other news that no one might hear, the Pope’s resigning for health reasons. And it’s surprisingly difficult to pick out the right Brucker symphony you want.
    JMP

  4. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    By popular request, Grammy Award Winners you did not see last night, but still perhaps worth listening to:

    The Band Courtbouillon, Help them get to..umm 900 Views:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkDZUchAoLs

    Esperanza Spalding – City of Roses: Brilliant & hardest working young bassist in Jazz today:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ6lc_t5bdM

  5. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    well if Douglas is tizzy sending.. don’t click here
    http://voteslowinski.com/VoteSlowinski.com/About_Brian.html

    this guy is seizure inducing.

  6. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Still more goodness for an OT that you’ll not see on or in the ‘news’/MSM.
    “Overlooking $2.3 Trillion in Debt Reduction”. No one in DC can count : http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2013/02/overlooking-23-trillion-in-deficit-reduction.html

    “Obama: The most polarizing moderate ever” Ezra Klein Wash Post. Obama is the most moderate Dem since WW11. Yes, not many know that either.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/obama-the-most-polarizing-moderate-ever/2011/08/25/gIQArzcRwQ_blog.html

    Original : voteview.com/blog/?p=317

    JMP

  7. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Just to honor the DFI, we present the manly history of the high heel:
    http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/02/05/from-manly-to-sexy-the-history-of-the-high-heel/

    OK in the argument on the impact of gun violence, always at epidemic levels. What does that mean? In the amount of ‘stolen years’ or years to live? It means about 412,230 Years of forgone life expectancy. Basically slightly more than twice as long as our entire history as a distinct Species. And they’re all here in one graph for just 2010. Yep, just One year, is equivalent to such staggering loss. And that’s going on every year in the US, accounting for more than all our losses in all our wars since basically 1969 too. Amazing. Watch:

    http://guns.periscopic.com/

    JMP

  8. Trevor Southerland Avatar
    Trevor Southerland

    That’s a very good question, a good point, and a serious problem.

    Part of the issue right now is that a serious candidate for a state wide office is going to have to do a lot of “building.” Even more than they had to do in 2006.

    But to do that necessary building, they’ve got to have financial funding. And that’s something else that very few people have right now in Georgia…

    So it’s a deadly combo… to do the necessary building, you’ve got to make a major financial investment…

    Ideally, if running for US Congress in 2014 is your building block (granted, making a serious run, but still realizing the chances) then when your 2014 race is done, you can’t be completely tapped out…

    If you’re completely tapped out on November 5, 2014… financially, emotionally, etc… then you’re done, and a 2016 race is out of the question.

    So you’ve got to do the full combo of:

    1) Run a serious race for 2014.
    2) Raise the money necessary for that race.
    3) Build the support and structure necessary for that race.
    4) Not be completely tapped out if you fall short on Nov. 4, 2014.
    5) Be prepared on Nov. 5, 2014 to start working towards 2016.

    Doable, but difficult.

  9. Julianal Avatar
    Julianal

    This is probably fodder for a different thread, but when is “starting somewhere” different than being a perpetual loser candidate?

    I ask this in all seriousness.

    I can only think of one person who’s done it successfully in the last 8 years, and that’s Rep. Scott Holcomb. He worked hard in 2006, and earned many folks respect. It paid off for him several years later. But beyond that I can’t think of anyone who it has paid off for, or wasn’t so scarred by the process they didn’t come back. Or just decided to run as a Republican.

    This thought has be rattling around in my head for several weeks.

  10. griftdrift Avatar
    griftdrift

    Gotta start somewhere. But you’re probably right. A sane Republican will probably win. But Douglas name is enough to send me into a tizzy.

  11. Julianal Avatar
    Julianal

    @Grift, I don’t think a Dem can win in the 10th. So curse away.

    I believe a moderate Republican could, after all thats what lots of Democrats thought Dr. Paul Broun was going to be.

    At present I know of only two candidates looking at the 10th, one is not viable for several reasons, and the other still has a bunch of things to answer.

    It’s early days yet, and I’d hesitate to offer any one up.

    I see these races as swamps, lots of folks are going to wade in and get stuck in muck up to their jaws.

  12. Jen B. Avatar
    Jen B.

    +10

  13. griftdrift Avatar
    griftdrift

    While you’re all rightfully obsessing about Paul Broun and what he means to Georgia, the Democratic Party and the population of hell, former State Senator John Douglas has qualified for Broun’s seat in the 10th.

    Douglas makes Broun look as statemanlike as the love child of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.

    Could you please get your act together for five minutes and find a candidate for the 10th? One that actually has a chance to win? If we as a state get stuck with Douglas, I will curse your party until the end of days.

  14. Erik Avatar
    Erik

    You are exactly correct. Which is why the party seriously needs to employ professionals to help our amateur officers. But since the party has no communications or PR professional, shit like this happens and the Republicans will use it to their advantage.

  15. zmcfall Avatar
    zmcfall

    I understand that Berlon wasn’t questioning the existence of God. I even said that in my comment on the DPG Facebook page. My point is that Republicans, especially the Paul Broun variety, don’t really concern themselves with context or truth. They seize opportunities like this to make the conversation about something completely different; about something that they can make an issue.

    Since many voters are ill-educated and don’t pay much attention, especially in state and off-year elections, this can be an easy task. One minute Berlon is making a generalization about a U.S. Senate race, then all of a sudden someone like Broun has the Democratic Party not believing in the living God.

    All I’m saying is Democrats have had a problem for a while now with people of faith and we have to be really careful about what we say no matter the context.

  16. Waldo Avatar
    Waldo

    I saw the DPG Facebook post about this and I was hoping I just read the quote wrong. It didn’t make a lot of sense given the context. I thought I was the only one confused by it.

    Ditto the Congrats to Bess. I love my tshirt and my poster!

  17. zmcfall Avatar
    zmcfall

    Unfortunately, that’s true. It doesn’t help when the chair of the state’s Democratic Party questions the existence of a “living God” in a heavily religious state like Georgia, especially while discussing this lunatic’s candidacy. You can bet that will be a sound bite in campaign ads. The DPG needs to fire Berlon and not just for this latest blunder!

  18. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    1. Ms Weyandt is AWESOME
    2. Agreed on Broun, he could very well be our next Senator and try to eclipse the lunacy of Rand Paul…yes it’s that real.

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