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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by John Cole|  July 24, 20094:58 pm| 36 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I’m off to a bbq at a friend’s house, so you all behave.

BTW- I heard about this story on PRI’s the World this afternoon, and the story fascinated me. How Radovan Karadzic was able to hide in plain sight is pretty amazing to me.

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36Comments

  1. 1.

    TX Expat

    July 24, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    I love that name Dragan. We used to have a regular at the bar named Dragan (an emigre from Yugoslavia). Wait…putting 2 and 2 together, could that have been Karadzic?

    Ok, on to more important things:

    Rick Perry “Federal tit more like sucking donkey dick, but can I get a few bucks before we go and maybe some more after we leave???”

    http://balkin.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-does-rick-perry-think-health-care.html

  2. 2.

    Ugh

    July 24, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    Any winger complain that Obama is promoting excessive drinking with his comments about having a beer with Gates and Crowley yet?

  3. 3.

    SGEW

    July 24, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    I’ve always suspected that new-age practices had ties to crimes against humanity.

    Magnets and dowsing are first steps on the slippery slope to the Hague!

  4. 4.

    lotus

    July 24, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    For all who crowded onto the fainting couch yesterday, N.B. (warning: WaPo link):

    Although Baucus continued to insist in public that negotiators will be “ready when we’re ready,” he gave Reid and other Democrats private assurances Thursday that his panel will complete work on its bill by Aug. 7, the start of the Senate’s month-long recess, and in keeping with Obama’s new deadline. After asking all staff members to leave a meeting, Baucus said Thursday night, a bipartisan group of senators on the committee heard an optimistic report from Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf that their emerging plan would begin to reduce health-care costs. A formal report on the estimate is expected to be completed in several days.
    If the Aug. 7 deadline holds, Reid said, he will work over the break with White House officials to merge the two Senate versions.
    House Democrats, still wrangling over the scope of the legislation and how to pay for it, began Thursday with a heated meeting overseen by Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who afterward told reporters that it was one of the most “contentious” gatherings he had ever attended. Clyburn, whose job is to count votes, suggested that the leadership should cancel its five-week recess, slated to begin next Friday, and spend August working to pass the legislation.
    Pelosi later described the meeting as “exciting” and “invigorating,” saying she invited members with opposing views to air their opinions on the policy matters and the best schedule for proceeding. She dismissed the idea of keeping the House in session through August and said she is weighing whether to extend the current session a few days to pass the legislation or to wait until after Labor Day.

    We vote Plan A, Nance.

  5. 5.

    gbear

    July 24, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    How will we notice you’re not here?

    ;)

  6. 6.

    Linkmeister

    July 24, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    How Radovan Karadzic was able to hide in plain sight is pretty amazing to me.

    It shouldn’t. Think of Eric Rudolph in this country.

  7. 7.

    gbear

    July 24, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    Al Franken’s first bill got passed. Go, Al!

    http://minnesotaindependent.com/40260/franken-veteran-dog-bill-defense

    (sorry I don’t know how to imbed the link without the shortcut)

  8. 8.

    lamh31

    July 24, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    I think ya’ll should read the transcript of Obama’s remarks in totality. It reads much differently than the reports, and the media as usual is completely cutting an pasting to make it seem like more of a “mea culpa” than it is. It’s pretty long, so I ain’t gonna post it in the comments, but Ambinder has the full transcript:

    President Obama Speaks in Briefing Room about Gates/Crowley (The Article headline is different, but I think it was not quite a “mea culp”)

    THE PRESIDENT: …I actually just had a conversation with Sergeant Jim Crowley, the officer involved. And I have to tell you that as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation — and I told him that.

    And because this has been ratcheting up — and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up — I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically — and I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.

    AND BUT…

    I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is you’ve got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved.

    The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America. So to the extent that my choice of words didn’t illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate.

  9. 9.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    July 24, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    @TX Expat: I saw Perry’s comments over at TPM and got a laugh out of them.How long before the GOP’s official platform is to abolish the “unconstitutional” Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs? It seems like a logical conclusion to all of the craziness I’ve seen over the past couple of years. Besides, I would encourage the GOP to purify itself and run on that very platform. I would be more than happy to help them get that message out. What could possibly go wrong with a true and pure conservative message?

  10. 10.

    PeakVT

    July 24, 2009 at 5:21 pm

    Waxman might be playing hardball with the Blue Dunces on his committee. MOAR PLZ.

  11. 11.

    TX Expat

    July 24, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    @The Grand Panjandrum:

    Nothing of course because that’s what all the “real ‘mericans believe!”

    Perry just cracks me up. Who wouldn’t want their governor personally interpreting the Constitution? Isn’t that what we elect them to do? (dissolving in laughter….)

    And his “Secession bitches” talk just makes me howl especially when he asks for more federal money…heeheee

  12. 12.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    July 24, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    @gbear: Kudos to Franken. I wonder how it will effect the program Cole linked to a couple weeks ago?

  13. 13.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    July 24, 2009 at 5:31 pm

    @TX Expat: This has got to be making Kay Bailey Hutchison just gleeful. I know Texas is conservative but isn’t Perry just playing into her hands with all this stupid stuff?

  14. 14.

    someguy

    July 24, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    How Radovan Karadzic was able to hide in plain sight is pretty amazing to me.

    The cops would have found him sooner but they all thought Karadzic was black.

  15. 15.

    Johnny Pez

    July 24, 2009 at 5:33 pm

    Start your journey down my cleavage now, my lord.

  16. 16.

    Johnny Pez

    July 24, 2009 at 5:34 pm

    @The Grand Panjandrum:

    I know Texas is conservative but isn’t Perry just playing into her hands with all this stupid stuff?

    Two words: closed primary.

  17. 17.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    July 24, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    @Johnny Pez: Yep. And Hutchison is candidate for the Republican nomination. So I’m just wondering how this plays to the voters in TX.

  18. 18.

    TX Expat

    July 24, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    @The Grand Panjandrum:

    Well, it would be making me gleeful if I were her. Funny thing, though about TX, is that many parts of the state you might think would be Krazee Republican are actually fairly moderate such as the Panhandle, where I’m from and where several of those counties went for Obama even though most of the voters are registered as republicans or independents.

    But for more evidence I usually ping my Dad and my brother, neither of them (who are both HARD CORE repubs) can even muster the energy to defend Perry anymore. My brother just says, well this guy isn’t really one of ours. (Ha!)

    This gives me hope and should give Kaybee a LOT of hope.

  19. 19.

    Vegjean

    July 24, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    Can we have some dog blogging, please? Some Lily and Tunch? I’m so tired of disingenuous Republicans and lazy, inflammatory journalists. It would be nice to dwell on small furry creatures for a few moments.

  20. 20.

    RedKitten

    July 24, 2009 at 5:55 pm

    YAY! I am now officially done work for an entire year!

    (More than that, actually, as the next two weeks are actually my vacation time, and then after that, I start my year-long maternity leave.)

    I got all of my loose ends tied up today, and closed up my laptop with a real sense of accomplishment and relief. So now, until the baby arrives, I can relax, take it easy, and have plenty of time to myself.

  21. 21.

    lotus

    July 24, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    If Little Rickie wants to rely on the 10th Amendment, mebbe he should read the sucker.

    The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

    One of the powers prohibited to the States is the regulation of interstate commerce — including commerce in health insurance.

    C’mon, Rickie, catch up.

  22. 22.

    lotus

    July 24, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    A toast to RedKitten!

  23. 23.

    freelancer

    July 24, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    I’m so tired of disingenuous Republicans and lazy, inflammatory journalists.

    *Blogwhore Alert*
    How about a Balko and Ed Brayton Assisted round-up of evil fucking cops from the last 4 months or so…

    http://forgetthisnoise.blogspot.com/2009/07/americas-finest.html

  24. 24.

    Linkmeister

    July 24, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    @lotus: In non-alcoholic beer, of course.

  25. 25.

    Calouste

    July 24, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    “How Radovan Karadzic was able to hide in plain sight is pretty amazing to me.”

    You mean you think it is difficult for war criminals to hide in plain sight? I’d think the US has shown over the last few years that that isn’t difficult at all. Some of them were even sighted in Washington D.C.

  26. 26.

    Fulcanelli

    July 24, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    @RedKitten: “I am now officially done work for an entire year!”

    Your first child, eh? I wish nothing but the best for all of you, really! But you are not done with work my dear, you haven’t even started. Nope. ;)

    /raised 3 girls

  27. 27.

    Svensker

    July 24, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    @RedKitten:

    I got all of my loose ends tied up today

    Insert obvious zinger here.

    Congrats on your maternity leave! Keep us posted on your progress. And have a great time.

  28. 28.

    gnomedad

    July 24, 2009 at 6:35 pm

    @lotus:
    [clink!]

  29. 29.

    ellaesther

    July 24, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    @RedKitten: Congratulations, and good luck! I hope the rest of your pregnancy is smooth, and the birth as well. My youngest just turned 6 and on the night before her birthday, I was telling her all about the day before she was born…. Man alive!

    It’s right what they say, you know: The hours and days are sometimes slow with your babies, but the months and years just fly by. Enjoy! (And please, as you said you might, post pictures when the baby is here among us!)

  30. 30.

    A Mom Anon

    July 24, 2009 at 7:23 pm

    @RedKitten:

    Congratulations and Happy Baby Stuff. It’s fun and scary,exhausting,frustrating,lovely and everything.

    And then they turn 15 and end up at the Mayhem Festival(with my husband,the perpetual teenager,lol) leaving you to wonder what the hell is that god awful smell(my guess is feet and ass) coming from their room and how fast the time went.

  31. 31.

    RedKitten

    July 24, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    Your first child, eh? I wish nothing but the best for all of you, really! But you are not done with work my dear, you haven’t even started. Nope. ;)

    Heh — you’re right, but it’ll be a different kind of work, and I am definitely looking forward to being away from my office for a year. After spending years trying to get bureaucrats, board members, and nuclear disarmament experts in line, it’ll be a relief to only have to wipe ONE person’s ass, even if it’ll be literally instead of proverbially.

  32. 32.

    The next-to-last samurai

    July 24, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    Hello, feds? This is Governor Perry in Texas. Could yall send us some money? We need it to secede. Kthxbai.

  33. 33.

    HRA

    July 24, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    Congratulations, Krista/Red Kitten.

    It will be work with many awesome rewards as I can surely attest to after 6 children.

  34. 34.

    freelancer

    July 24, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    Heh, Maddow leads with Jon Stewart’s “White House, M.D.” segment from last night

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 24, 2009 at 9:30 pm

    @ Vegjean/19

    Um, ‘scuse me? Tunch? Small furry creature?

  36. 36.

    freelancer

    July 24, 2009 at 10:06 pm

    Holy. Living. Fuck!

    NYT: Cheney demanded to send US Army into Buffalo NY to arrest people on terrorism charges in 2002 to “test the constitution”. Posse Commitatus be damned.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/us/25detain.html?_r=1&hp

    This aides fight between Bush and Cheney is going to put more sunshine on the previous administration than the current DOJ has so far.

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