Decision ‘08

At Long Last - An Open Thread!

I’m off to Vegas, folks, my home away from home…it’s a relatively short trip, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Meanwhile, you get to live the dream - that’s right, it’s the first ever Decision ‘08 Open Thread! Now, if I come back on Monday and you haven’t taken advantage of this, I’m going to be very, very disappointed. You don’t want Atrios’s audience showing you up, do you?

Some suggestions…it’s a great time to call me a knucklehead behind my back, to ask peter how much stock he owns in the Times Company (just kidding, peter!), to post a review of United 93 if you happen to see it tonight, to…well, surprise me, and post anything you want - it’s an open thread, baby! Woooooohoooooooo…

So enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you after some much needed R & R at the craps tables…

22 Responses to “At Long Last - An Open Thread!”

1 too many steves Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
1. The best short term action the government could take in light of the increase in gasoline prices is:

A. Give every taxpayer $100
B. Fix the price charged for a gallon of gasoline
C. Implement a windfall profit tax on the oil companies
D. Break up the oil industry oligarchy
E. Suspend, indefinitely, all gasoline taxes.
F. Nothing.

2. Which of the following Vegas places is Mark most likely staying:

A. Bellagio
B. Venetian
C. Mandalay
D. MGM
E. Hard Rock
F. Holiday Inn Express

If I were my college history professor (Western Civ, 19th Century Europe) I would expect you to fully explain your answer by writing several coherent paragraphs in a small, blue essay book. But I’m not him, so that bit is optional.
2 Gwedd Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Comrades,

“too many steves”: you missed an answer. Question 2G should read “the backseat of his minivan.”

Actually, Question 1G should read “go home and wuit trying to fix things.”

There are times when I truly wish that Congress should simply adjourn for a year or two and let’s see what happens. No bills allowed except for continuing funding of programs in place, keyed to inflaction/COLA. No riders/ammendments/pork of any nature allowed. No debate. Vote from home. Just close the doors and walk away and see what happens.

Maybe I am too much the optimist. I dunno.

Speaking of Mark, what do you think the odds are that when he returns he’ll institute a subscription service to cover his loss, er, I mean, expenses for his trip?

Respects,

Gwedd
3 Gwedd Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Comrades,

I tried using the blue essay booklet to submit my answers, but it doesn’t seem to work. I wrote down my responses, then folded the book and stuffed it into my CD drive, closed the door and hit send. I keep getting a “drive error” message. The drive door doesn’t seem to want to open now and there is a faint hint of electrical smoke….. any ideas what I should do to remedy the problem?

Respects,

Gwedd
4 too many steves Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
A for effort Gwedd. Btw, I agree with your suggestion on Congress. Perhaps we could get them to convene only every other year or two? My answer, on my list, is NOTHING.
5 Gwedd Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Comrade,

Thanks… the smoke is pretty much cleared away now and the fire department has left….

As to the price of gas, well, let it settle itself. I agree with the “nothing” response. The Greens and Rainbow Warriors have stopped any and all expansion of energy construction, be it nuclear power or new refinery and now we see the fruit of their labours.

For what it’s worth, I don’t own a car. I haven’t had one for almost 10 years now. I walk in toen, or take the bus when needs be. If I need a lot of groceries, I walk the mile and a half to the supermarket, then get a cab home. I save money and help employ the cabby and put food on his table that way. Plus, it’s good exercise. I figured that owning a car would cost me nearly 600.00 a month, including gas, insurance, registration, taxes, and maintenance. That’s more than 100 trips a month in the local cab company. Better than 3 a day. When I need a car, I can rent one and still come out less.

I know that many folks need one to commute to work, but in many cases, that’s a self-inflicted wound. It might be time to do the math as to whether living in the ‘burbs is worth the cost when everything is considered… God.. I sound like a lefty, but I’m not. I just happen to have a limited income and I have prioritized my spending. Things will be getting better, but until then, it’s walking and taking the transit bus.

Respects,

Gwedd
6 Muffin the Cat Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Muffin’s answers:

1. Nothing. We are our own worst enemies with gas. Too many people in this country feel gas is a right and even $1.00 a gallon is way too high. It is our right to drive the most inefficient SUV gas guzzling monster vehicle available and it is the government’s responsibility to provide us the means to propel it at a price the consumer feels is reasonable such as $0.50 a gallon if even that high. We are finally getting our comeuppance. I have the same opinion on health care. We are the problem.

2. Holiday Inn Express or as suggested “the backseat of his mini-van”. When Mark returns we will find out this answer.
7 Gwedd Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Comrades,

Look, here’s the way I see it, and I may be way off base, but here goes. Gas is around $3.00/gallon. Milk is $3.49 /gallon where I live.

I pay $4.50 a pint for Guinness at the local pub. That’s $16.00 a gallon if my math is correct. I don’t complain about it too much because I like my pint or two. Or three. I blame my Irish heritage. But I digress.

It’s all relative. If you choose to love an hour away from your job, then you can’t complain too much about the cost of transportation. You made a decision (and you are, i assume, an adult) to live in the ‘burbs, with better schools and better air and less crime, etc. But now it costs to commute. Everyone gets a certain size pie each month, and we each have to get so many servings out of each pie. That means that if we want big servings for the first 2 or 3 folks, then the other servings have to be smaller. Or else everyone gets a smaller piece of the pie.

Perhaps I am drifting here, but it seems to me that the chickens have come home to roost for some folks. They made a decision to move a certain distance from their jobs, and that’s their right to do so. But they didn’t leave a cushion in their transportation costs to allow for increased gas prices. I understand their concerns, but I have to ask why they didn’t figure that possibility into thier monthly budget.

I lose money each month with the rising prices because I have oil heat. When oil goes up, my heating coasts go up, and because my furnace also heats my hot water, it mans that I HAVE to figure those costs. That means something else gets reduced, be it groceries, luxurey items, phone calls, clothing, etc.

What it boils down too, again, is prioritizing. Finding out what is most important to you and your family, and how you can financially address it each month.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Respects,
Gwedd
8 politicaster Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
I’m willing to bet the answer to 2 is not Bonnie Springs, were I stayed last time I was in the area. This place says you can “enjoy swimming, horseback riding, the petting zoo, cocktails, dining, and the excitement of the Old West”. The peacocks will make sure you don’t sleep past 7am. I was visiting Red Rock Canyon park, just to the west of town, which is getting closer to the park every time I visit. In fact there’s a new Red Rock casino that just opened. I’ve done the strip, seen the Cirque, and all that. But usually I find myself flying into Vegas and heading to the outdoors. Grand Canyon, Zion, and more are not too far away.
9 Colin Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
1. Nothing. Definitely nothing. The market will work this out, and once gas is back at around a dollar, people will once again forget that oil is a finite resource.

2. Depending on how the tables treat him, and how many comped drinks he has while at the tables, the answer might be G: Passed out slumped up against the fountain in front of the Monte Carlo.

3. Anyone have any intelligent insights about that IAEA report issued today? Now that the seriousness of the Iranian nuclear matter has been acknowledged by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, will that give us a freer hand to operate with? I’ll go ahead and say no. We can always hope that the administration hasn’t been completely bled of its unilateralism, because this is a scary situation. Krauthammer said it best when quoting Bernard Lewis today: this is 1938.
10 politicaster Says:
April 28th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Per question number 1, I’m in favor of F., though I do hope someone’s looking into to whether there’s any price fixing or collusion going on. Hopefully the higher prices will convince automakers not to market such big SUVs. I don’t have a problem with SUVs — they’re right for some people. But when GM comes on TV and says to be cool you’ve got to drive a tank meant for unmaintained ranch roads on city streets, I get kind of miffed. Where I grew up we had two miles of pretty awful dirt road, but we managed to get down them in a Chevette. (Those were the days).

And higher prices are already convincing folks to at least look at the gas mileage on the sticker before buying.
11 fatman Says:
April 29th, 2006 at 2:56 am
I have a question: just how much of the oil we use actually goes into our gas tanks?

Think about it for a minute. Sure, we use a lot of the oil we produce to power our cars, generate electicity and to heat our homes (thankfully, I don’t). But I’m willing to bet my last Social Security check that we use far more oil to make the plastics that have replaced wood, metal and glass in our buildings, the man-made fibers that have replaced wool, cotton and linen in our clothes and the plastics that we use for food containers, medical equipment and cooking utensils. Heck, the Austalians replaced paper money with polypropylene money.

Now I’ll admit I don’t know just how much oil we use for for power generation (including cars) and how much we use for plastics, lubricants and who knows what else. But if we really want to get serious about reducing our dependence on oil, we’re going to have to start reducing–sharply–our dependence on plastics.

For a better take on this subject, Jeff Harrell at The Shape of Days has a much more comprehensive look at it here:

http://theshapeofdays.com/2005/09/petroleum_isnt_.html
12 Fred Says:
April 29th, 2006 at 9:48 am
“Did you catch Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, on the Imus Show responding to criticism from Talk Radio’s Michael Graham?”

“He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform….I know that money corrupts….I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government.”

http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2006/04/mccain-says-clean-government-more.html

Of course, without the First Amendment how will we know we have “clean government” or not? Senator McCain seems to take protecting the rights of Americans rather cavalierly.
13 Sean P Says:
April 29th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
According to boxofficemojo.com, United 93 only grossed $3.7 million on Friday (behind both RV and Stick It). Is anybody else as surprised as I am?
14 dmac Says:
April 29th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Sean - I believe that the opening # of screens was fairly modest for a film’s opening:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/

Note that the number of screens opening for The Passion was almost twice that number - so if the film gets a good groundswell, it may do fairly decent business.

But one look at the moronic films that got much better opening screen numbers will tell you that it will be an uphill climb for ‘93.
15 too many steves Says:
April 30th, 2006 at 3:20 am
Some folks are not going to go because it is too soon for them - my wife is in that category and wants to wait until it is on dvd (not sure she’ll be ready then). Add that to the fact - cited above - that it opened on a relatively few screens and that the reviews continue to be positive, then I think we will see the momentum grow and the numbers climb.
16 Sean P Says:
April 30th, 2006 at 9:07 am
dmac: True, 1795 is a low screen count these days (Shrek 2 opened on over 4000, I believe), but it was twice the number of screens that initially showed Fahrenheit 9/11 — and don’t doubt for a second the Kossaks will be gloating over that fact when the preliminary figures get announced this afternoon.
17 dmac Says:
April 30th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Yeah, good point. Regrettably, I don’t think I’ll be seeing this flick - my wife is a flight attendant for American, and had flown previously with some of the people who were on that flight. We heard all about the flight recordings before the plane crashed - as well as some other details we’re not at liberty to discuss. Don’t think we want to relive that incident, at least not at this time.

I do hope the film becomes a great success.
18 Gwedd Says:
April 30th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Comrades,

As I posted on another thread, I won’t be going to see this one. We simply cannot know what really went on there, as there were no survivors. We might guess, we can extrapolate, but in the end, it will be historical fiction, and in that sense, it’s too soon, too close to home.

I won’t go because it would also bring back too many images. I was tasked to go into a couple of accident sites and recover remains. I don’t need to imagine what was going on before those folks died. I have enough personal images already. I know what an accident site looks like first hand.

I would like to think that I would have the courage to fight back, to deny the hijackers the satisfation of success. I don’t know, however, how I would react. No one actually would unless and antil they are in that situation.

Additionally, how do the families feel about their relatives being portrayed in certain ways? How do they feel about those actors being paid to enact those roles, to interpret, based upon scant evidence, how those real passengers acted, felt, responded?

How would YOU fgeel if your own worst nightmare was relived on the silver screen, and people were being paid to enact it, and were paying to see it? You think those Hollywood execs are doing this out of patriotism? NO! they know that tragedy sells, and sells big. Shakespeare knew it, the Greeks knew it, the Romans knew it, and Hollywood knows it.

I have a jaded view of this film, and rightly, I believe, so. If I knew that Hollywood filmed and distributed this for free, that every dime taken in went to the families of those who dies, then that might be one thing. But to profit from this sort of thing makes me want to puke.

Anyway, that’s my take on it. I’ll get off my soapbox now…

Respects,

Gwedd
19 AcademicElephant Says:
May 1st, 2006 at 8:51 am
Hope you had a good time, Mark–thought you might enjoy this:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187308,00.html
20 dmac Says:
May 1st, 2006 at 9:30 am
Gwedd - I believe that this film was made with the implicit participation and approval from the ‘93 relatives - Beamer’s father wrote an op - ed in the WSJ last week, praising the film.

No one else from the families have complained about the film, or it’s depicition of the more harrowing scenes. So one could assume that everyone saw an advance screening, and that they’re basically on board.
21 Dennis Says:
May 1st, 2006 at 9:55 am
It would be really nice if we could see a contrarian groundswell against the populist bleating about gas prices these days. Watching Republicans abandon their alleged free-market principles and Democrats abandon their alleged environmental principles in a heartbeat in order to to show who can demagogue the most is astounding even by Washington standards. Usually at least one side sticks to its guns on a given issue.

As for Mark, I’m guessing he was staying at the priciest suite in the ritziest casino in town. Don’t forget, he’s flush with that big blogads cash. I’m picturing him walking around town with a top hat and a diamond stickpin.
22 Dennis Says:
May 1st, 2006 at 1:33 pm
Hmmm, Mark’s not back yet. I hope he didn’t find himself on the losing end of any high-stakes games with guys who have names like Jimmy the Horse and Frankie Two-Times.