[speechlesstx]

You really don't want an answer to that question?

It was a rhetorical question.

[speechlesstx]

I drank fracking fluid, says (Democratic) Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper

The first-term Democrat and former Denver mayor told a Senate committee on Tuesday that he actually drank a glass of fracking fluid produced by oilfield services giant Halliburton.

The fluid is made entirely “of ingredients sourced from the food industry,” the company says, making it safe for Mr. Hickenlooper and others to imbibe.

(SEE RELATED: Fracking’s rise in U.S. inspires the world)

“You can drink it. We did drink it around the table, almost rituallike, in a funny way,” he told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “It was a demonstration. … they’ve invested millions of dollars in what is a benign fluid in every sense.”

Sen. Al Franken, Minnesota Democrat, found humor in the governor’s admission and asked if the experience was part of some bizarre occult practice.

“No, there were no religious overtures,” Mr. Hickenlooper responded.

While some laughed at the governor’s statement, he brought up the incident to make a serious point: that oil and gas companies have taken major steps forward in fracking technology.

[paraclete]

Speech, you know some people will do anything for a vote

[speechlesstx]

speech, you know some people will do anything for a vote

I think you missed the point there Clete, a Democratic governor of one of the most liberal states in the nation with probably more earth worshipers per capita than anywhere else having something good to say about fracking? Amazing.

[paraclete]

I think you missed the point there Clete, a Democratic governor of one of the most liberal states in the nation with probably more earth worshipers per capita than anywhere else having something good to say about fracking? Amazing.

Yes I thought it AMAZING too, I wonder when will that wonder juice be exported to the industry here. I expect it will be after the little red fox tastes it

[tomder55]

Our town supervisor has promised to drink a glass of the sewage treatment discharge when the new plant is completed.

[paraclete]

You mean to say you don't get potable water from sewerage yet, what a backward nation

[tomder55]

Not backward... semi-rural . We don't have sewers yet.. there was never any need until recently... septic systems leach clean water back into the aquifer until population overwhelms it .

[speechlesstx]

It's come to this, again, and again and again lately... we don't have a spending problem, dang it! Take it away Sen, Tom Harkin (D-IA)...

First of all, I want to disagree with those who say we have a spending problem. Everyone keeps saying we have a spending problem. And when they talk about that, it’s like there’s an assumption that somehow we as a nation are broke. We can’t afford these things any longer. We’re too broke to invest in education and housing and things like that. Well look at it this way, we’re the richest nation in the history of the world. We are now the richest nation in the world. We have the highest per capita income of any major nation. That kind of begs the question, doesn’t it? If we’re so rich, why are we so broke? Is it a spending problem? No.”

It's a bit odd for a Dem to be talking American exceptionalism and high per capita incomes these days, but I digress. Since when is $3.5 trillion a year not a spending problem?

And the man whose budgets have been DOA even for Democrats gives us this squirelly non-pledge, “let me repeat: Nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime."

Are Americans believing that? Are you falling for it?

[talaniman]

Why do companies get tax breaks for shipping jobs,and factories overseas?

Fact Check: Tax Breaks for Shipping Jobs Overseas | Communications Workers of America

In fact, Senate Republicans recently blocked a Democratic bill that would have provided a tax credit to companies that move jobs back to the United States and ended a tax break for companies moving operations overseas.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money...fshoring_N.htm

Whatever the employment impact, the deferral provision is costing the U.S. government money. A new study published in Tax Notes this month concludes that multinationals shifted almost $50 billion in income to low-tax countries in 2004, depriving the government of $17.4 billion in tax revenue. To recoup some of the lost cash, Congress in 2004 allowed corporations a one-time opportunity to repatriate profits at a special 5.25% tax rate. In 2006, corporations paid $354 billion in federal taxes.

So far, the Democrats have been alone in targeting for change the foreign income deferral. Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona has called for a cut in the corporate tax rate to 25% but has not mentioned deferral.

[tomder55]

Companies can deduct the expenses associated with moving their operations overseas, but they can do so only because "ordinary and necessary" business expenses;including closing and opening plants ;are tax deductible for ALL businesses . Instead of closing loopholes the President really means he wants to add more incentives into the tax code. I for one ;as you are aware of by now ,favor closing all loopholes and expenses in exchange for lower rates and simpler codes. But no ;there are NO specific tax credits or incentives for moving a company overseas . Romney was right .

[talaniman]

Its an old law that needs updating, badly.

[speechlesstx]

But there apparently exemptions for unions from stalking laws...

Why do unions seek exemption from anti-stalking laws?

Valentine’s Day is a time when couples go out for romantic dinners and exchange gifts, while singles meet up in bars, hoping to make some bad decisions. Valentine’s Day is also a day when people with crazy ex-boyfriends or -girlfriends are reminded of how thankful they are for anti-stalking laws.

Every state has made stalking a crime. These laws help protect people who might otherwise live in fear. Yet labor unions have successfully, and disconcertingly, lobbied to be exempt from anti-stalking laws in at least four states – California, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Nevada.

“The most glaring examples of union favoritism under state laws,” notes a 2012 U.S. Chamber of Commerce report, “tend to occur in criminal statutes and allow individuals who engage in truly objectionable behavior to avoid prosecution solely because they are participating in some form of labor activity.”

Pennsylvania unions now enjoy a loophole that the state’s anti-stalking law “shall not apply to conduct by a party to a labor dispute.” In Illinois, anti-stalking laws exempt “any controversy concerning wages, salaries, hours, working conditions or benefits … the making of collective bargaining agreements.”

These exemptions prove that organizing tactics used by unions can have something in common with those of stalkers – and can perhaps inflict similar emotional distress.

While a number of states have exemptions that have allowed union members to intimidate and harass, California is by far the worst actor. As in other states, it is a crime in California to interfere with a lawful business through physical obstruction or intimidation of workers or customers.

Yet California has exempted unions from this law. The negative effects were clear in 2008, when United Food and Commercial Workers Union members picketed a new Ralph’s grocery store in Fresno. They went beyond traditional picketing, harassing customers and instigating confrontations with employees on store property. When store workers finally called the police, authorities refused to come and put a stop to the union’s disruptive behavior.

So much for fairness, union thugs and bullies are apparently above the law. Say, is that why libs want gun control, so they don't have to fear that guy packing while being stalked and harassed legally?

[talaniman]

So union activity is like a stalker? You have got to be kidding!

Freedom of assembly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Freedom of assembly is often used in the context of the right to protest, while freedom of association is used in the context of labor rights and the Constitution of the United States, is interpreted to mean both the freedom to assemble and the freedom to join an association.[2][not in citation given]

The United States Constitution explicitly provides for 'the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances'" in the First Amendment.

Without a union your boss would pay you non union employees minimum wage, no benefits, and reduced hours.

[tomder55]

Here is some freedom of assembly for you
Goon City - Jillian Kay Melchior - National Review Online

[speechlesstx]

So union activity is like a stalker? You have got to be kidding!

I have nothing against peaceful protest, but if what happened at Ralph's were instead someone protesting an abortion clinic you'd be screaming bloody murder, they'd be going to jail. Union bullies get a pass. Even you should be able to see there's something wrong with that picture.

Without a union your boss would pay you non union employees minimum wage, no benefits, and reduced hours.

Dude, and you guys talk about us living in the past. We've progressed way beyond that BS.

[Wondergirl]

Dude, and you guys talk about us living in the past. We've progressed way beyond that BS.

Guess you haven't worked in a non-union public library with low pay not compensating the work done, crummy benefits, and few full-time jobs that can easily be reduced to something slightly more than part-time. Only love for the profession keeps us there.

[speechlesstx]

Like all those union teachers do it for the children...

[Wondergirl]

Like all those union teachers do it for the children...

And the non-union ones do too. It's all those administrators that are the problem and money-sucker-uppers.

[Wondergirl]

Interesting article just out --

Patrick Ruffini, up-and-coming GOP strategist, attends RootsCamp, watches Democratic organizers share tactics and lessons learned from the 2012 campaign, and tells [Robert] Draper that “the thing I was struck by at RootsCamp was that in many ways, the Democratic technology ecosystem has embraced the free market — whereas the Republican one sort of runs on socialism, with the R.N.C. being the overlord.”

Ben Domenech, a founder of the RedState blog, explaining why there's a perception that, as Draper puts it, “technological innovation runs at cross-purposes with the [GOP's] corporate rigidity,” says that “there are always elders at the top who say, 'That's not important.' And that's where the left has beaten us, by giving smart people the space and trusting them to have success. It's a fundamentally anti-entrepreneurial model we've embraced.”

Why technology loves Obama - Salon.com