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Monday Night Open Thread

One more open thread for the day as I'm off to dinner and then just have to watch Bachelor Brad in South Africa. Big changes today in the spoiler department, but I won't put them here.

Whatever's on your mind, here's a place to discuss it.

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    Someone please tell the news media (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 11:48:03 AM EST
    I don't give a $hit about Charlie Sheen, cover WI NOW and Bahrain and Libya.  I DON'T CARE ABOUT CHARLIE SHEEN, NOT ONE LITTLE BIT.  What do I have to do to get them to hear this?

    How are they going to keep your mind (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by sj on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:08:04 PM EST
    numb if you keep rejecting what they're giving you?

    Parent
    He and Lindsay Lohan (5.00 / 0) (#17)
    by jbindc on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:09:33 PM EST
    Need to go to rehab and leave the world alone.

    Parent
    Seriously...what's the deal with (5.00 / 2) (#19)
    by Anne on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:32:12 PM EST
    giving a platform to someone to spread the crazy?  I saw promos for his appearances on GMA and the Today Show - really?  That's what they think people want to know about?  Charlie Sheen?

    Please.

    I always liked Martin Sheen, and if I feel bad for anyone, I feel bad for him.  But what do I know - maybe Martin was/is a terrible father and this is all his fault?

    Ugh.

    The coverage I've seen on Wisconsin is what I expected - and that's not a compliment, I can assure you.  Why do I have to see Chris Christie every damn night flapping his gums about those evil public employees to lend support to Scott Walker's position that unions are the cancer that is eating our economy?

    Whole thing gives me a pain.

    Parent

    Not for nuthin'... (none / 0) (#21)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:38:47 PM EST
    Charlie has made a good point or two during his recent ravings...specifically regarding the AA cult and the right to imbibe and live as you wish if you can function.

    More annoying to me than Sheen is all the moral scolding and Lucy from Peanuts-like shrink-work from the peanut gallery.  So the guy likes to party...big whoop.

    Parent

    Are you wailing on AA or 12 step programs (none / 0) (#26)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:44:09 PM EST
    in general?  What specifically is your beef with AA?  It does seem to work for some people.  Is it that judges use AA attendance as a form of punishment?

    Parent
    The thinking that... (5.00 / 2) (#28)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:03:19 PM EST
    AA is the one and only way to do it.  And one of the steps being "the acceptance of a higher power".  

    When my old man went to rehab for booze, it was an AA-based program....they gave him a real hard time because he refused to accept a "higher power", not my pops' style...he almost got booted from the program over it, all he wanted was a sober place to detox, he had no interest in finding god.

    Parent

    It's not just about "God" (none / 0) (#31)
    by jbindc on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:32:10 PM EST
    At least, from Wiki:

    The spiritual aspect of Alcoholics Anonymous is identified in the core AA literature to be central for achieving and sustaining sobriety.

    Recent research findings suggest that AA leads to better alcohol use outcomes, in part, by enhancing individuals' spiritual practices and provides support for AA's own emphasis on increasing spiritual practices to facilitate recovery from alcohol use disorder. As attendance of AA meetings increase, so do the participants spiritual beliefs, especially in those individuals who had low spirituality at the beginning of the study.

    The results indicated that there was a robust association between an increase in attendance to AA meetings with increased spirituality and a decrease in the frequency and intensity of alcohol use over time. One of the most interesting aspects of the research was that the same amount of recovery was seen in both agnostics and atheists, which indicates that while spirituality is an important mechanism of behavioral change for AA, it is not the only method used.

    Basically, it sounds like every other type of therapy - until you are willing to take responsibility for your own issues and for control of your own problems, it will be very difficult to get better.  If it helps to have a belief in a "higher power" - whether that be God, Buddha, Allah, Mother Nature, or a turnip in a patch - many people find the strength they need to get through difficult times.


    Parent

    If it works for you... (none / 0) (#36)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:52:45 PM EST
    more power to you and AA...but there is more than one way to beat addiction, AA thinks they're the only game in town, awfully full of themselves, imo.

    Once my dad left the rehab facility, he wanted nothing to do with AA ever again...they were creepy, almost remind me of Scientologists.

    Parent

    I certainly don't need AA (none / 0) (#38)
    by jbindc on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:56:36 PM EST
    I'm a "one beer and I'm feeling pretty good" kinda gal.

    I know - amateur.

    Parent

    We found something in common! (5.00 / 1) (#42)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 02:02:52 PM EST
    I'm a booze lightweight myself...I don't have the stomach to ever be an alcoholic, musta skipped this generation...but I've got the lungs to be a functioning smoke-aholic! :)

    Parent
    I bet we have a lot in common (none / 0) (#43)
    by jbindc on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 02:06:14 PM EST
    But if we talked about that, it would get really boring around here with everyone agreeing with each other.  :)

    Parent
    I think the "big whoop" is more like (none / 0) (#33)
    by Anne on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:37:59 PM EST
     a can of "whoop-ass," one that he allegedly, reportedly opens up on women when his partyin' turns violent.

    That may be your idea of a fun time, but it's not mine.

    And the fact that it's happened repeatedly means that he has a problem.  Whether that's a substance problem or something else is not for me to determine, but this isn't about a guy who just "likes to party."


    Parent

    I was just talkin' (none / 0) (#34)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:45:37 PM EST
    about his drug use and partying...the violence, alleged or proven, well I would hope you know me well enough by now that I would never condone or excuse any of that...no doubt the guy has issues with women, to say the least.

    Parent
    I do know that you would never condone (none / 0) (#35)
    by Anne on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:52:00 PM EST
    violence, kdog, but I guess I didn't react well to the "big whoop" aspect of your comment.

    Most people can and do indulge and have a good time and don't end up taking it too far and then taking it out on others; Sheen doesn't appear to be one of those people.

    What he doesn't realize and doesn't see is that what he thinks is "functioning" is really just an illusion - or delusion.  And now that it appears that he won't have work - the thing he believes "proves" that he can function as well as anyone - he's in a bit of a panic, I think.

    Parent

    I would agree... (none / 0) (#37)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:55:10 PM EST
    here from the cheap sheets anyway, that his relationships do not function when he is off the wagon...but his work?  Till this little episode he never had a issue with that, and if not for that hernia they might be filming right now.

    Parent
    No man is an island.. (none / 0) (#53)
    by jondee on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 04:03:04 PM EST
    not completely, anyway..

    Though, if grotesquelly over-paid, enabler sarrounded, narcissists want to 'melt down' in a Vegas motel room and decrease the surplus population, he should get on with it and give the network bottom feeders and those living vicariously through celebrities something to thrive on for a few months..

    As far as these women that STILL seem to flock to him go: as the Eurythmics said, some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused..It's not like they haven't been warned.

    Parent

    Someone tell that to (5.00 / 1) (#49)
    by brodie on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 03:27:42 PM EST
    Piers Morgan, who ruined yet another show last night with what looked like a full one-hour dose of the obviously "strained" Charlie Sheen.  Let's see -- he'd already done several network morning shows earlier in the day, in addition to having been all over the news for his radio interviews over the weekend.

    And Piers thought by the evening people would still be hungry for more Charlie.  

    Right.  

    Parent

    He's a drug and they are addicted (none / 0) (#12)
    by ruffian on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 11:49:59 AM EST
    He and the media need an intervention. Co-dependent no more.

    Parent
    Booman wants you to share with him (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:23:23 PM EST
    what the stupidest thing is that you have ever read.  He can't be serious :)

    Are his posts eligible for (5.00 / 2) (#20)
    by Anne on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:33:31 PM EST
    consideration?

    Man, there's a lot of crazy around these days.

    Parent

    I was thinking (none / 0) (#24)
    by Zorba on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:40:54 PM EST
    the exact same thing, Anne.  ;-)

    Parent
    That would be delightful (none / 0) (#27)
    by sj on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:46:09 PM EST
    If his comment thread started offering links to his own posts.  It might even make it worth bouncing over there again.

    Parent
    RIP Suze Rotolo 1943-2011 (none / 0) (#2)
    by hilts on Mon Feb 28, 2011 at 07:13:20 PM EST
    Sorry to hear this, and that she had a long illnes (none / 0) (#9)
    by ruffian on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 11:46:13 AM EST
    I highly recommend her memoir, A Freewheelin' Time. she was an excellent writer and it gave me a lot of insight into that period in Greenwich Village.

    Next time kdog and oculus- Greenwich Village walkabout

    Parent

    It's on! (none / 0) (#15)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 11:57:40 AM EST
    My old man saw Dylan at Cafe Wha, way back in the day, when he was just a common folk singer and not "Dylan"...he thought he s8cked actually, but then again my old man was a jazz guy:)

    I'm gonna have to check out that memoir...glad you're home safe, with no more travel hassles I hope.

     

    Parent

    Interesting Yin - Yang (none / 0) (#48)
    by jondee on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 03:22:27 PM EST
    phenonenon going on in the NYC music scene in those days: young, white college age kids getting down to earth and back to the roots; and a couple of miles away people like John Coltrane, Elvin Jones and Eric Dolphy had set the controls for the moons of Jupiter..

    Parent
    great dkos diary (none / 0) (#4)
    by fiver on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 08:11:38 AM EST
    Re: Janitors and their life of luxury (none / 0) (#5)
    by Harry Saxon on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 09:59:40 AM EST
    Sacrifices must be made.

    Click or Salon Me

    A "so typical" story... (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 10:04:01 AM EST
    from down under...banks f*ck up, and common folk will pay the price for it, if apprehended.

    Just once in my life can a bank pay for its own mistakes?  It's their automatic teller, their programming, their everything...if they wanna give away money thats their business.

    But their mercenary partners got their back, as usual...pin it on the proles.

    I've finally seen 'Inside Job' (none / 0) (#14)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 11:55:47 AM EST
    Now I'm royally pissed.  Not that I didn't know most of it.  It is another thing though for someone to gently tally it all up as it happened and then even get interviews with some of these conartists or show their testimony or some of the crap they said before they blew us up.  Oy God, you won't believe it when you see it.

    Parent
    Court action re Wisconsin Capitol (none / 0) (#7)
    by Towanda on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 10:36:24 AM EST
    From a lawyer friend:  This morning, Judge Moeser issued a temporary order that the Department of Administration shall open the Wisconsin Capitol to members of the public during business hours and at times when governmental matters, such as hearings, listening sessions and court arguments are being conducted.

    This ex parte restraining order is in effect until the hearing, which is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. today.

    (That the public shall have access to the Capitol is in the state constitution, Article 1, Section 4.)

    If Scott Walker was so taken with (5.00 / 1) (#41)
    by Anne on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 02:00:17 PM EST
    California, he ought to have moved there, instead of trying to make Wisconsin in its economic image:

    From WisPolitics, via David Dayen:

    Meanwhile, while the Governor's budget isn't fully public yet, details are leaking out, and it includes a real whopper:

    Gov. Scott Walker today will call for big cuts in state aids to schools, local governments and the UW System and a tight cap on property taxes as part of his plan to balance a $3.6 billion budget shortfall, sources tell WisPolitics.com.

    Walker won't call for any tax increases, fee hikes or fund transfers, according to sources with knowledge of the proposal. He also won't propose repealing combined reporting, but will call for allowing companies to claim a portion of what they pay through the tax as a future credit. And he won't peel back the new tax bracket Dem Gov. Jim Doyle and a Dem-run Legislature created in the 2009-11 budget for the state's top earners.

    But Walker is proposing a long-term capital gains exemption for reinvesting in a Wisconsin business for five years or more.

    The sources said the guv's budget, to be introduced at 4 p.m. today, will call for a strict property tax cap that would largely only allow increases for new construction. The provision would allow local governments to exceed the cap through referendum.

    What a tight cap on property taxes has to do with closing a budget gap is beyond me. However, it has a lot to do with turning Wisconsin into California. This is the second half of the Prop. 13-style legislative agenda of Gov. Walker. First, he signed last week a bill requiring a 2/3 majority for income or sales or franchise tax increases. That only applies to this legislative session, to be clear. But this cap on property taxes is the second half of the Prop. 13 agenda. Now there are basically no outlets for revenue, and if these are extended down the road it would necessarily ratchet down state spending over time. Walker has created this self-induced crisis as a pretext to bust unions. There's a reason that we've seen a wave of sudden retirements among public employees in Wisconsin - the workers know there's a target on their backs, and despite the trouble implementing this agenda Walker still holds a lot of power.

    Yeesh.

    Parent

    New polls (none / 0) (#29)
    by christinep on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:12:04 PM EST
    Good news from polls released in the past day--PPP, Pew Research, & NYTimes--all of which show that the longer this goes on the more support grows for bargaining rights and/or public employees.  The NYTimes poll clearly shows a 2 to 1 position in favor of the public employee unions position. (And, looking at the wording, it seemed quite neutral in the question-framing.) Nationally, it is not selling; and, in Wisconsin specifically, Gov. Walker is slipping. I suspect that after the release of the budget later today--a budget which is previewed as cutting more employment and cutting/reorganizing education in Wisc.--he will slip even more.

    It is still a long way from over, Towanda. Yet, I'm starting to reflect on how this has truly reinvigorated labor unions & public employees in so many ways. It certainly seems that way...it certainly seems like the Repubs have again overreached.

    Your reports are appreciated. Keep filling in the details.  BTW, any signs of cracking with the Republican state senators.  (I'm speculating that the mounting pressure from the national attention, the polls, etc. may result in a kind of divide & conquer on and among themselves.

    Parent

    re: reinvigorated labor unions (none / 0) (#32)
    by sj on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:32:42 PM EST
    I straight out declare that I'm using no data whatsoever, but my perception has been the longer this goes on, the greater the support for the demonstrators.*

    Being stongly pro-union (for all members of the workforce) I have been troubled in recent years at the successful maligning of unions.  I was afraid that the undercutting and chipping away at the protections would continue until... something.  Uprising(s) of the sort that gave them their birth, I guess.

    Thank you, Wisconsin -- for showing the aspects of this issue in almost harsh relief.

    --------------------------------
    * Was true in Egypt, also.  One or two day demonstration and all we have is a foot note -- if that.  But persistance now....

    Parent

    Hmmm. "Uprising(s) of the sort that (none / 0) (#39)
    by christinep on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:57:35 PM EST
    gave them birth..."  Very perceptive.

    Parent
    Great puns (5.00 / 1) (#40)
    by jbindc on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:58:42 PM EST
    "labor uprising"...."gave birth"....

    Parent
    Too late for Wisconsin (none / 0) (#54)
    by Towanda on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 09:03:27 PM EST
    where Walker will get his way with the budget -- including devastation of a world-class university system, but that is to be expected of a college dropout.  But the Koch brothers had to start in some state, and Walker is their most willing puppet.

    So, as many Wisconsinites have said, they know that their effort is to wake up other states in time to fight back against the Kochs' nationwide plan.

    Parent

    Say it ain't so O.... (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 11:27:41 AM EST
    Not another 900 million bank bailout...for Kabul Bank no less.  

    But look, over there, a teacher is making a decent salary!

    Ah, the price of nation-building (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by ruffian on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 11:50:55 AM EST
    Can we stop now? Please?

    Parent
    They only need 900 million (none / 0) (#11)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 11:49:18 AM EST
    That's nuthin these days :)

    Parent
    Tell that to... (none / 0) (#23)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:40:12 PM EST
    a certain union-buster-wannabe governor Tracy:)

    Parent
    You know what he's doing (5.00 / 1) (#25)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:42:21 PM EST
    has nothing to do with money anymore.  That was his smoke screen until the winds blew it away :)

    Parent
    Really, it is a fine lesson (none / 0) (#51)
    by ruffian on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 03:35:29 PM EST
    we are teaching the Afganis about modern banking: take the money out of your mattresses and put it in a bank. The bank will 'invest' it in the riskiest way possible. If the investments don't pan out, the American taxpayers will backfill.

    Parent
    Judge opens WI Capitol (none / 0) (#22)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:39:47 PM EST
    Until a hearing can take place on the matter.

    Here

    Watching something called Tinga Tinga Tales (none / 0) (#30)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 01:14:26 PM EST
    with Zoey, amazing colors, beautiful children's program.  I'd love to do a kids room in Tinga Tinga.

    Chris Dodd (none / 0) (#44)
    by jbindc on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 02:56:43 PM EST
    I christen thee... (none / 0) (#46)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 03:16:51 PM EST
    Chris "No Shame" Dodd...hope the connections are worth the stain, MPAA.

    Parent
    Wow, did Dodd luck out -- (none / 0) (#47)
    by brodie on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 03:17:23 PM EST
    Prez of MPAA, for $1.2 mill/yr plus presumably a very large travel expense amount.  And it sure looks better for him than a job on Wall St, which would have confirmed some of the negative views of his senate tenure heading the Banking Comm'ee and that unfortunate business involving Countrywide.

    Tough break too for Dan Glickman, but it wasn't the ideal post for a soft-spoken type who had to follow nearly 40 years of the dynamic and powerful Jack Valenti.

    Parent

    Watson loses! (none / 0) (#45)
    by jbindc on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 03:04:51 PM EST
    A little bit of Tuesday Fun (none / 0) (#50)
    by CST on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 03:31:40 PM EST
    "It's Time to Play `Sheen, Beck, or Qaddafi?'"

    Link

    Try and guess which rant belongs to whom.  I found Beck to be the easiest one to pinpoint.  Sheen sure manages to sound a lot like an unhinged dictator.

    Yikes (none / 0) (#52)
    by sj on Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 03:53:46 PM EST
    I found I was just making random selections.  Oddly, Qaddifi's (if that's how it's being spelled these days) quotes made a smidgeon of sense compared to Sheen and Beck.

    Parent