Late Night Open Thread: Clean Up After Your Pooch, or Else!

Posted: July 1, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: just because, open thread | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I heard about this a few days ago, and now the NYT has picked up the story. Deborah Violette, manager of an apartment complex in Lebanon, New Hampshire, has begun requiring every tenant with a dog to provide their pet’s DNA.

Everyone who owns a dog in her complex, Timberwood Commons in Lebanon, N.H., must submit a sample of its DNA, taken by rubbing a cotton swab around inside the animal’s mouth.

The swab is sent to BioPet Vet Lab, a Knoxville, Tenn., company that enters it into a worldwide database. If Ms. Violette finds an unscooped pile, she can take a sample, mail it to Knoxville and use a DNA match to identify the offending owner.

Is that really necessary?

Ms. Violette said that at her complex, which opened in December and has a designated building for pet owners, unwanted surprises have sometimes been found on lawns.

“We had a little bit of a problem,” Ms. Violette said. “Enough that I wanted to try to nip it in the bud.”

I can understand Violette’s concerns, but I sure wouldn’t want to have the job of collecting those samples for testing.

Mitt Romney Gets Kiss of Death from Al Gore

Posted: June 15, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Environment, Republican presidential politics, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Via the Atlantic Wire, today Al Gore wrote a brief post on his blog in which he praised Mitt Romney for not changing his stance on global warming.

Gore linked to this story at the Washington Post

From the Washington Post dealing with a question asked at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on June 3.

It seemed like a straightforward question on a second-tier issue: Would Mitt Romney disavow the science behind global warming?

The putative Republican presidential front-runner, eager to prove his conservative bona fides, could easily have said what he knew many in his party’s base wanted to hear.

Instead, the former Massachusetts governor stuck to the position he has held for many years — that he believes the world is getting warmer and that humans are contributing to that pattern.

Gore wrote:

Good for Mitt Romney — though we’ve long passed the point where weak lip-service is enough on the Climate Crisis.

While other Republicans are running from the truth, he is sticking to his guns in the face of the anti-science wing of the Republican Party.

The question of candidates’ views on global warming didn’t come up in the debate on Monday, but a number of conservatives took note of Romney’s comments. They aren’t happy, to put it mildly. Here’s what Rush Limbaugh had to say:

“Bye-bye, nomination,” Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday on his radio talk show after playing a clip of Romney’s climate remark. “Another one down. We’re in the midst here of discovering that this is all a hoax. The last year has established that the whole premise of man-made global warming is a hoax, and we still have presidential candidates that want to buy into it.”

It appears that Romney has decided that avoiding flip flops is going to help him more than kowtowing to the right-wing crazies.

“The fact that he doesn’t change his position . . . that’s the upside for us,” said one Romney adviser….“He’s not going to change his mind on these issues to put his finger in the wind for what scores points with these parts of the party.”

Good luck with that, Mitt.

Live Blog: New Hampshire Republican Debate

Posted: June 13, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama, Democratic Politics, Economy, Republican presidential politics | Tags: , , , , | 67 Comments

Tonight’s Republican freak show has just begun. If you’re watching or listening, please post your reactions in this thread. You can watch the live stream at CNN. Candidates appearing in this debate are Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney.

For some reason, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson was left out of the debate.

Among those invited to the participate in the debate include Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Ms. Bachmann has yet to declare her candidacy, leaving many to claim the debate is simply a move to boost ratings.

A number of Republican leaders were also extended invitations, the news networks said. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Donald Trump were also extended invitations. Mr. Daniels, Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Trump publicly announced their intentions not to run for president, while Mr. Huntsman declined the invitation, CNN said.

CNN is allowing audience members to ask questions directly to the candidates and they are also encouraging viewers to use social media while watching the debate. On twitter you’re encouraged to use the hashtag #CNNDebate.

At the Daily Telegraph, conservative columnist Toby Harnden has a list of 10 things to watch for in the debate. According to Harnden, former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs is at the debate. At the Chicago Sun-Times, Lynn Sweet runs down “Team Obama’s GOP Debate Game Plan.”

Here are the details:

*Gibbs is in New Hampshire booked for a series of national and regional interviews before and after the debate. Exclusive: On Tuesday morning, Gibbs will hit the a.m. talk shows: CNN’s American Morning, Fox and Friends, CBS’ Early Show and MSNBC.

*Flooding the zone. Obama 2012 top strategist David Axelrod was deployed to CNN in D.C., where he guests on the debate pre-show, “John King, USA.”

*Democratic National Committee top spokesman Brad Woodhouse will handle post debate spin room duties at the debate site, St. Anselm’s College.

*The DNC is deploying folks to work all social media-Twitter, web, etc. during the debate and will run a fact check operation.

*The DNC is also doing what is called pre-buttal, taking aim in particular at Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney.

Exactly How Stupid is Michelle Bachmann?

Posted: March 12, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, just because, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , | 37 Comments

Michelle Bachmann

Have you heard the latest imbecilic quote from Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann? During a speech in New Hampshire this morning she said the following:

“What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty,” Bachmann told the audience. “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.

“And you put a marker in the ground and paid with the blood of your ancestors the very first price that had to be paid to make this the most magnificent nation that has ever arisen in the annals of man in 5,000 years of recorded history.”

Um…no. Lexington and Concord are in Massachusetts. Do you suppose she knows that the Boston Tea Party took place in Massachusetts too? I’m guessing no. The Boston Globe has more:

The remark demonstrated a surprising lack of basic facts about the historic events from which Tea Party derives its name. It is likely to go down as one of the bigger missteps of the early primary season.

Bachmann is touring the country and testing the idea of running for president. With her strong conservative views and sharp one-liners, she has gained a big following around the country. A number of people from Massachsuetts drove up to Nashua for the later fundraising event.

“We see you on Fox all the time! Keep up the good work!’’ called out Valerie Lallas, a retrired [sic] teacher from Lynnfield, as Bachmann signed autographs after her speech.

“I’m on CNN, too,’’ Bachman replied.

“But we don’t watch CNN,’’ Lallas said.

Her fans aren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed either.

What are your favorite stupid politician quotes? Dig them up and post them in the comments. Or treat this as an open thread.

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