Open Thread

http://www.KansasProgress.com kansasconservative

A guy that made an ethics complaint against a state senator is in trouble with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission for talking about that ethics complaint with the press.

If he had NOT made the ethics complaint, he would have been able to talk to the press: http://www.kansasprogress.com/blog.php?action=viewEntry&entryUID=1980

I hope it’s not constitutional.

birdmojo

Think of the big picture.

NightTwister

Will that continue in RS4?

http://www.KansasProgress.com kansasconservative

Huh?

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

It won’t continue indefinitely.

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

The regulars say huh? to him all the time. Best not to argue with him because he’ll usually just get bitterly sarcastic with you.

NightTwister

Maybe comment length could be limited?

No matter what you give us Neil, we’re always going to want more.

Thanks for all you do.

RottDawg

Has anyone else heard anthing about the GA electorial voters plan to stink things up concerning PE Obama’s failure to produce a Birth Certificate? My understanding is that they can with the help of one house and one senate member force the issue?

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

They don’t need the help of a House member and a Senator in order to refuse to vote for him on the grounds that his qualifications are unproven, though.

Dave_in_Fla

A friend of mine has been trying to open a fast food resaurant in Los Angeles for the last month. It looks like they might finally be able to open in January. First they failed the fire inspection over some very trivial detail, that was fixed in 10 minutes. However, it takes another week to get the inspectors to return.

This week the problem is with the bathroom. Apparently, if you serve beer in Los Angeles, you must have a urinal. He is now delayed again, because the comfort of beer drinking men is much more important to LA than getting new businesses open during a down economy. And yes, his employees are sitting there unemployed while a uninal is installed.

Achance

inspectors. There’s going to be a lot of that around the Country in the next few years.

birdmojo

Whenever any criticism had come up against some extra power the Executive Branch was grabbing for itself (or, earlier, when the Republicans held the House and Senate and the Executive and Legislative Branches were both engaged in overreach), a handful of people made comments that made some minor appeal to the Constitution.

My reply to your post mirrored the posts given in response to those criticisms.

I was wondering if pointing out that the Constitution was not a suicide pact worked as a counter-argument to any question regarding any power-grab on the part of the government.

Looks like it does.

birdmojo

Starting in a few months, the Democrats will have the House, the Senate, and the White House. They will most likely pass as many pieces of legislation as Bush did between 2002 and 2006 and Obama will likely use his veto pen as many times as Bush did in that timeframe.

I imagine that you will begin to appreciate bitter sarcasm much, much more in the coming months.

Dave_in_Fla

I’m sure it never occured to him. Everyone works out of the goodness of their hearts, dontchaknow?

Achance

Ethics complaints are a fun toy. The complaint against a political figure makes screaming headlines on the front pages and is the lead story on the six pm news. The dismissal or rejection of the complaint comes six months later and is reported on page 84 in six point type if at all. So, it is fairly common that if you file a formal Ethics Act complaint, you the person you complained about, and the investigation agency are all gagged until the agency produces a finding.

We don’t have this provision in our Ethics Act, so it remains a favorite toy of unions, interest groups, political opponents, and general malcontents.

http://www.KansasProgress.com kansasconservative

Thanks for the input. It’s a little reassuring to hear that it’s more common, but I still need to be convinced that it’s fair/constitutional.

Actually, I’m curious to know our state laws to see if the legislature explicitly gave the commission the authority to do this.

Compounding the issue in Kansas is that the entire process is decided behind closed doors. An elected official actually NEVER finds out who the accuser is (regardless of the eventual decision) or why the commissioners voted the way they did — that doesn’t seem right, either; granted, the ethics commission in Kansas cannot put people in jail, but they can levy hefty fines.

It all seems weird enough that it wouldn’t pass constitutional muster, but I could be wrong.

birdmojo

Is that a thing can be unethical, immoral, and downright wicked and, somehow, still be Constitutional.

Moreover, a thing can be good, right, decent, and everyone agrees that it is necessary for the survival of the country (indeed, the human race!) as we know it and still be Unconstitutional.

In the former cases, people explain that surely the fathers didn’t intend freedom to this extent.

In the latter cases, people ask whether the Constitution is a suicide pact.

When enough of these cases happen, people generally stop reading the Constitution altogether. A great many exceptionally interesting things start happening after that.

AceInTX

I look forward to the fix on the Recommended List!

Beating A Dead Horse

Laughing 13

AceInTX

Blowing Kisses 2

RottDawg

Merry Christmas!!!!

Free QuickBook 2009 Pro

http://lifehacker.com/5115835/quickbooks-pro-2009-free-today-only-normally-199

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

RottDawg

if ya need something like that!

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

John_Wayne

My wife and I were watching Fox News yesterday between 5-6 PM. She was in one room and I was in another. Both of us were very amused and a bit shocked when we heard Gregg Jarrett say (this is verbatim to the best of our recollection):

“…Gov. Blagojavich has been rubbing his taint on people around him…”

Now I guess this can be taken a couple of ways. I know the word taint has been thrown around a lot lately in dealing with Blago, but could this be a new scandal that will make Larry Craig look like an alter boy? Did anyone else hear what we heard? We had a big laugh!!

redneck_hippie

Is that A. i. T. and BG5 going at it again?

IJB

Or is this one of those things where it’s right in front of my face and I’m not seeing it?…

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

bs

by using “site:www.redstate.com” as part of your search argument. it won’t be 100% current, but it’s not bad.

E Pluribus Unum

works good enough for me.

Diogenes314

So what happened?

Also I noticed that a diary was recently updated and reposted. What is the protocol on doing that (my first one is going to look rather timely if the Dems manage to steal Minnesota). Plus what’s up with ‘copyright violation’ when posting articles from other sites? I was under the impression that it was acceptable as long as the link was provided.

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

1. It was Abused.

2. Don’t do it. Edit, don’t repost.

3. Copyright doesn’t have a ‘provide a link’ exception. Fair use doesn’t allow the reproduction of entire works like that on our site.

bs

like HuffPo did

IJB

I’m guessing that wouldn’t solve the problem, but it might make it harder to abuse it?

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

Registration is cheap and easy after all.

Rod_Patrick

You have one happy camper here, Neil.

NightTwister

IJB

…Which I, incidentally, am in favor of (i.e. a “cooling off period” after people register, but before which they are allowed to post and gain other privileges, etc.), but I gather you guys aren’t down with that idea.

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

woodsman

who worked on this latest version of the site. This has been working very well.

Merry Christmas to all. (even the PC crowd who get get mad when I say this to them )

$peciallist

Kook Kount has been WAY down….

Joe_Schmo

Merry Christmas, Neil!

http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

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