Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Bark louder, little dog.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

I was promised a recession.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

In my day, never was longer.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

We still have time to mess this up!

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Open Thread: More Re-Framing

Open Thread: More Re-Framing

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(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)
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Since I worried about this on an earlier post, props to Dave Weigel for following up, and applause to Rep. Kathy Hochul, winner:

All week, I’ve been wondering if the Democratic loss in NY-9 proved that Democrats were losing entitlements as a wedge issue… Why not [ask] Kathy Hochul, the Democrat who won NY-26 largely by clobbering her Republican opponent on the Ryan plan? I asked Hochul about this after a vote this week. Her spin:

“We need to cut the underlying costs of health care, which are making Medicare more expensive. Democrats are in agreement — we talk about this all the time. We have to make sure that we get equity with respect to prescription drugs — the drug prices under Medicare are obscenely high. Why are veterans at VA hospitals paying less for prescription drugs than people who are under Medicare Part D? That’s an area we should go after. Medicare fraud is getting out of control — just look at all the prosecutions on Medicare fraud. I think we should have Medicare cover home health care. Look at the savings we’d have if we covered home health care and tele-health services. Instead, people in rural areas have to go hospitals at the dead of the night. If we look at this holistically, we can cut the underlying costs.”
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That’s how Democrats can win? “That’s what I’m saying. I don’t want the Medicare beneficiares touched. They can’t afford to have $7000 out of their pockets, as was proposed in the Ryan budget.”

Consider this an Open Thread, because I said so.

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  2. 2.

    TooManyJens

    I hate Apple:

    After playing around with Lion for a couple of months now, I have found the need to access the users/library folder.
    __
    This folder has been hidden in Lion, most likely to ward off the pirating of software.

    (Also because my Keychain is broken for no apparent reason.)

    I hate Sony:

    Sony is updating the user agreement for the Playstation Network starting on September 15 and one of the changes included in the update seeks to stop class action lawsuits against the company.
    __
    In place of the right for PSN users to file a class action lawsuit against Sony, section 15 of the PSN user agreement leaves “Binding Individual Arbitration” as the only option to solve disputes.

    It’s being a frustrating day, technology-wise.

  4. 4.

    Martin

    @TooManyJens: Go to the ‘Go’ menu, select ‘Go to Folder…’ and type in ~/Library (with the tilde and the slash). That will take you to the folder, drag the folder into the sidebar and then you can just click on it when you need.

    Oh, not related to pirating, just that developers are getting lazy and relying on users to root around there too much to do stuff, and things are breaking too often for users.

  5. 5.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    @TooManyJens:

    f you want to see the contents of the Library folder, there are actually several ways to do it; for simplicity’s sake, we’re going to show you the easiest, non-techie way, courtesy of the folks at CreativeBits:

    In the Finder, select the Go menu from the menu bar at the top of your screen. You’ll notice a list of folders across your system such as Desktop, Downloads, Home, etc.
    While the Go menu is displayed, hold down the option key on your keyboard. Like magic, the Library folder will appear between the Home and Computer folders. Click on it to open a Finder window displaying all of the files inside your Library folder.

    Again, if you’re not too familiar with the contents of the Library folder it’s best to leave what’s in there alone. However, it doesn’t hurt to explore the folder and see how some essential files are arranged and stored on your system.

  8. 8.

    Martin

    Oh, and have you opened up /Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access? Under the Keychain Access menu is an option for Keychain First Aid. You can use that to verify or repair a mangled keychain. I’ve never needed to repair one, but I understand it usually does a good job.

  11. 11.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    @Martin: Any idea how to fix an iChat that will not connect once you close it? I have to restart every time.

    ps. I’ll check in the am, gotta crash.

  12. 12.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    I joined the protest against DK by staying away from there for a week, and I have only been occasionally reading here this evening. I’m getting so much done I’m not sure I can handle it.

  14. 14.

    Martin

    @TooManyJens: Apple is working quite hard now to make these systems fairly bulletproof. That’s going to make it harder for folks like me that don’t mind gutting around, but I think it’s necessary. The first time you see someone who was terrified about just reading their mail out of fear of getting a virus or some such buy and install a piece of software on an iPad and feel so liberated, it’s hard to not appreciate what they’re trying to accomplish. We’ve really fucked up people’s expectations of computers, and it’s going to take some serious work to repair that.

  15. 15.

    TooManyJens

    @Martin: I can understand that, but at the same time, maybe they could offer an “Advanced User” mode that you could select to open up this stuff.

    I agree about the iPad; I recommended them to my mother- and grandmother-in-law for that exact reason.

  16. 16.

    Suffern ACE

    Ron Artest has changed his name, and a lonely ginger seal will not have to deal with survival of the fittest. I think I’m up to date with all the important stories of the day.

  18. 18.

    Martin

    @TooManyJens: I think Mac OS X Server might actually fill that role now that it’s a fairly cheap add-on. I’ve heard some murmors along those lines, but not until the next version, of course.

  19. 19.

    gocart mozart

    Thought for the day: If the efforts of courageous people like Michele Bachmann fail, your daughter might one day say this after being introduced to that cute boy in school, “Woot Woot Hooray! I don’t have to worry about getting cervical cancer in 30 yrs because I got a shot that time. I can totally have sex with him now.” This will be all your fault.

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @gocart mozart: I don’t have a daughter. So there. If I did have daughter, I would be upset by that conversation; no one should say “Woot Woot Hooray!” It is a fucking horrible phrase.

  25. 25.

    Martin

    @TooManyJens: Server is a $50 add-on now, so considering they dropped the price of the OS by $100, that’s acceptable, IMO. Right now it adds services, but it doesn’t modify the Finder behavior AFAIK, but that could be a change that they go into in the future. They’d pretty much have to now that I think about it – if you’re doing web development (which is an expected use for Server), your web root is in /Library, so maybe those murmurs actually have something to them.

  27. 27.

    Martin

    Mom’s update: the plane crashed almost exactly where they were sitting (and would have been again tomorrow). She thinks there’s going to be a lot of fatalities from what they’re hearing there on the ground. They don’t know anyone who was sitting there – this was their first time at Reno.

  30. 30.

    Kane

    @gocart mozart: Thought for the day: Why hasn’t the Bachmann campaign produced the woman who supposedly told her that her daughter suffered mental retardatio­n as a result of be given that vaccine?

    Considering that this mystery woman in tears approached Bachmann directly after the debate, how is it that still being mic’d up with countless cameras on the scene following the cadidates every move, there’s no media proof that this conversation ever took place?

    Don’t you think it’s kind of interesting that a media that pursues the likes of a ‘Joe the Plumber’ has yet to produce ‘Crying vaccine lady’ for everyone to hear her words of wisdom?

  35. 35.

    burnspbesq

    And a small glimmer of sunshine finds its way into my gloomy garret: Mets 12, Braves 2.

    I am facing a great existential dilemma disguised as a schedule conflict on 9/28. Justin Townes Earle and Jason Isbell, or Galaxy vs. Morelia. I am truly torn.

  38. 38.

    burnspbesq

    I feel like I’m finally off the ground. I rang up almost $4K of billable time yesterday and today, and will ring up another $3K on Monday.

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suffern ACE: Honestly that is what I am trying to discover. It seems that the are purist experts here. I was about to breakout stripper jello wrestling – no one could say that is fake.

  45. 45.

    burnspbesq

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I wish. Still dealing with start-up IT issues (can I just say that LexisNexis Firm Manager sucks the big one, and Rocket Matter roolz?), and also working on a presentation for a CLE seminar.

    And for the first time in my career, I got a gift from a client. The directors of one of my pro bono clients, a non-profit in Tucson that I’m helping resolve some employment tax issues, sent me a big pot of nasty looking cacti for my office.

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Kane:

    Don’t you think it’s kind of interesting that a media that pursues the likes of a ‘Joe the Plumber’stained blue dress has yet to produce ‘Crying vaccine lady’ for everyone to hear her words of wisdom?

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Suffern ACE:

    All I know about General Tso is his chicken.

    (Years ago my dad and I used to go to a Chinese restaurant every week for dinner and he always ordered General Tso’s Favorite Chicken. Except that whenever he ordered it he would always ask for “General Tso’s Pet Chicken.” Made me giggle.)

  52. 52.

    Martin

    @burnspbesq: Sounds like things are off to a good start! $3K, eh?

    Let’s see, I made $240 gross today. That doesn’t seem so good. Can I count my market gains? That was north of $9K today. Sometimes I think my job is losing me money.

  55. 55.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Let’t try this again:

    @Kane:

    Don’t you think it’s kind of interesting that a media that pursues the likes of a ‘Joe the Plumber’ stained blue dress has yet to produce ‘Crying vaccine lady’ for everyone to hear her words of wisdom?

    OK, corrected to reflect the actual priorities of the vermin of the Village.

  57. 57.

    burnspbesq

    @Martin:

    $3K, eh?

    Day trip to Portland for a meeting. Up at 4:15 to go to John Wayne for a 6:45 flight. Home around 10:30. I won’t charge them for time spent in transit unless I’m actually working on the plane, which I might be because Alaska has Wi-Fi on most of its planes.

    Day trading doesn’t come with health insurance. Heck, I’m tempted to call Erwin and see if he needs somebody to teach international tax or tax policy and procedure part-time, just so I can get on UC benefits. I could teach in the graduate tax program at Chapman, but the thought of being on the same faculty as Hugh Hewitt gives me the willies.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @burnspbesq:

    the thought of being on the same faculty as Hugh Hewitt gives me the willies.

    Understandable, but you could have the opportunity to junk-punch him for the rest of us.

    Unrelatedly, why did it take me until tonight to discover Anna Calvi?

  59. 59.

    burnspbesq

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Unrelatedly, why did it take me until tonight to discover Anna Calvi?

    Same reason I had never heard Fountains of Wayne until two weeks ago. Time and bandwidth are finite.

  62. 62.

    Martin

    @burnspbesq: Yeah, I don’t day trade. The shortest I plan to hold something is 6 months, so work doesn’t get in the way at all (I usually don’t even watch the market) and I figure any day when the market is actually doing anything useful I’d be stuck in meetings all day, powerless. If I can’t do everything in the half hour the market is open before I leave for work, I won’t get into it at all.

    But it’s a bit discouraging to see where most of my income comes from – and it’s not where I spend most of my time. Ah well.

    Erwin doesn’t have anything open right now (unless you’re a librarian) but if anything comes up, I know people. The benefits are still good, but not as good as they used to be, and the outlook isn’t so hot.

  64. 64.

    Murakami

    The hidden folders were one of my annoyances with OS X, back in the days when I used it daily. I understand the desire to idiotproof the box, but Microsoft has a “Show all files and folders (Not Recommended)” checkbox in a place where the clueless probably won’t look.

    Just one of the many reasons why I prefer Windows to OS X. For the end user, it’s much more flexible in how you use it.

  66. 66.

    FlipYrWhig

    Re: the OP — sounds like Kathy Hochul can talk about how to _fix_ Medicare without triggering General Tso’s Pet Chicken-level reactions of how omgOMGO!M!G! she wants to cut Medicare we’re all gonna die alone in a tin of catfood lord have mercy that Obama stabbed me in the back just like I always knew he would and meant to do all along just waiting for his moment holy hell i smell toast

    Maybe we can try to extend to _other_ politicians the same courtesy.

  68. 68.

    MikeJ

    @Omnes Omnibus: Not too new. She was nominated for the Mercury prize this year (lost to PJ, which is no shame.)

    Every month or so I’ll listen to a BBC countdown show and see what’s new. England seems to still have a more unified mass culture than the US does. When I lived there I learned more about then current US pop culture than I ever did living in my alternarock bubble. Which wasn’t always a good thing.

    My guitar prefs are Rics, then teles, then Les Pauls.

  69. 69.

    Redshift

    @FlipYrWhig: If I ran the zoo were in charge of Democratic messaging (and had the mystical ability to herd cats), I’d train all my officeholders and candidates to say:

    “We don’t have an ‘entitlements’ problem, we have a health care costs problem in both government programs and private businesses, and the health care reform we passed is already starting to make that better and improve Medicare’s finances so we can afford to keep it for future generations.”

    (Still too long for an elevator pitch, I know, but it’s a start.)

  70. 70.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh, believe me, I know. And everything she’s talking about would result in spending less money on, and through, Medicare. Hochul isn’t doing it in some especially adept way — she’s using the same boilerplate everyone else does, and specifying what virtually every Democrat means when she or he discusses the subject. You know, the kind of thing a sloppy journalist or a malicious pundit might call “Medicare cuts” when trying to make it look incriminating.

    And yet time and again we have to witness this tarantella dance where otherwise intelligent people act dumb and spastic and pretend not to have any idea how someone could spend less money on a program, get the same results or better, and not hurt the beneficiaries. Hochul spells it out, steadily and reasonably if not scintillatingly… and echoes hundreds of similar statements made by Democrats for years. This is the pitch. Every time. IMHO it’s not new, or news.

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @MikeJ: She’s new-ish? I don’t play guitar at all. Once upon a time, I played violin and viola. If I were to pick up guitar, I would gravitate toward the Les Paul. Maybe it is the Wisconsin in me.

  73. 73.

    Martin

    @burnspbesq: Oh, they know. Do they ever… and man if they didn’t nearly fuck that up at the start.

    Hey, you mentioned Burrells in the other thread. I’ve had their ribs and didn’t care for them that much (IMO, mine are much better – slow smoked, not so sloppy). How’s the rest of the menu?

  74. 74.

    Redshift

    @FlipYrWhig: Democrats say we should figure out ways to make things more efficient so we can spend less money on them, and Republicans say if we just cut how much we spend, it will automatically make things cost less.

    One of these things is commonsense, the other is magical thinking. I agree that people who can’t tell the difference are mystifying and infuriating.

  75. 75.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Redshift: “Millions of people trust Medicare and get top-notch service from it. That won’t ever change. What we want to do is get smarter about how the money is spent on anything that doesn’t serve the immediate needs of the patient: where we’re paying too much for medications, how we’re duplicating tests, and where money just seems to be disappearing into the pockets of unscrupulous businesspeople instead of improving the health and well-being of the patients we serve.”

  77. 77.

    burnspbesq

    @Martin:

    Fred’s hot links are to die for, the catfish and snapper are good, and the sides and desserts are uniformly excellent.

    And he’s a cool old dude. Did you know that he played drums for James Brown in the 1960s?

  78. 78.

    Martin

    @FlipYrWhig: “When gas costs $5 a gallon, do you get mad at drivers for paying it or the oil companies for charging it? We don’t have a health care spending problem, we have a health care pricing problem.”

  81. 81.

    Martin

    @burnspbesq: Cool, I’ll give them another try. I wonder if my uncle knows him? He’s a blues drummer, drummed for lots of guys along the way, Chuck Berry, etc. Lived here in OC from ’70 until about 10 years ago when he moved to NC. I’ll ask. Musicians are a pretty small community.

    And speaking of which, I just learned through some hints that I may have a reason to watch X-Factor.

  82. 82.

    Martin

    @FlipYrWhig: Thanks. They’re feeling pretty fortunate right now. They gave blood. Will probably volunteer at a hospital tomorrow – they have some unique and valuable skills to offer.

  84. 84.

    mai naem

    @burnspbesq: In my culture cactus are considered unlucky to have inside a house – thorns supposedly mean that relationships are going to be thorny in the building.

  87. 87.

    Martin

    @ruemara: Have at it. Though I think it’s a little clumsily phrased. It’d benefit from repetition of the spend/price or an elliptical construction rather than a changing of the term:

    When gas prices are high, do you get mad at drivers for spending $5 a gallon or at the oil companies for pricing it there? We don’t have a health care spending problem, we have a health care pricing problem.

    Still kinda clumsy, but It needs the repetition.

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