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RB Holbrook

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
2 years 41 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 02/15/13 at 12:49 pm in response to Obama tells Republicans: I’m tired of begging for cooperation

I think the President's policies are more popular than you think. A Washington Post poll showed that most Republicans surveyed supported specific gun control measures that the President later advanced. When asked later if they had a favorable imporession of President Obama's proposals, support plummeted (72% had an unfavorable impression). For Republicans, it wasn't the policy but the name attached to it.

"[T]o Mr. Obama, annihilation of all opposition is always the ultimate goal...

Posted on 02/08/13 at 01:57 pm in response to David Gergen on the poison in our political system

I think it's clear what the problems are, and the solutions are not difficult to conceive. The real problem is going to be getting the extremists and whackos to agree to reforms that could result in them being shut out, or to get the big money folks to give up their leverage over the system. "Doing the right thing" is not reason enough anymore, or, worse still, too many are convinced that their particpation in the dysfunction is the "right thing ("God wants us to save America from Agenda...

Posted on 02/11/13 at 06:26 pm in response to David Gergen on the poison in our political system

It's not about who gives what. It's about crafting the best policy.

Perhaps we should start with a more basic question: Why were the fiscal cliff negotiations necessary in the first place? Who was holding the US and world economy hostage over what should have been a routine vote?

Posted on 02/12/13 at 11:22 am in response to David Gergen on the poison in our political system

"Who is stealing from the next generations?" Let's see what issues the next generations will face: Crumbling infrastructure , in the name of saving a buck now? Environmental degradation, tolerated to placate powerful corporate interests? Higher education that is unaffordable (again, at the behest of powerful corproate interests)? Primary and seconday education that is useless (p.c.i., as well as full-throated religious types)? A stagnating economy, with little prospects for growth...

Posted on 02/13/13 at 11:00 am in response to David Gergen on the poison in our political system

. . . cutting defense spending? Or, if we want more specifics, how about ending corporate welfare transfers, like subsidies to the timber industry to build roads in national forests? Subsidized irrigation projects out west? Etc. Plenty of federal money flows to parts of the private sector that don't need it. Let's start with that. It might not amount to the same level of savings that limiting Medicare payments to the cost of tea and sympathy, but it would show that budget reductions...

Posted on 02/13/13 at 02:52 pm in response to David Gergen on the poison in our political system

. . . I did suggest starting points for spending cuts. Is that not a compromise? Or is it only a "compromise" if the spending cuts are limited to those that hurt the less-advantaged?

"Seriously," the rest of your post could best be directed at the Republican Party.

Posted on 02/07/13 at 06:00 pm in response to Walker vs. Dayton smackdown: Which governor has the better economy?

If you look at the charts, Minnesota's economy has been outperforming Wisconsin's since the mid- to late-1960s. It's not just a recent slowdown.

I don't see how "no one can find a job in Madison, and Milwaukee's a pit" contradicts the overall conclusions here.

Posted on 02/01/13 at 02:59 pm in response to Former FBI official calls ATF choice Jones 'atrocious'

I almost wasted more than 3 minutes looking for this story.

If I understand your post, an assistant US Attorney was involved in some police incident at his home. Somehow, this reflects on Mr. Jones, because a massive federal investigation (into what was probably a violation of state law) was not undertaken. The reason a suburban police call has not been splashed all over the front pages is because of some massive media conspiracy.

I think I know all I need to know, thank you...

Posted on 01/31/13 at 02:56 pm in response to Minnesota GOP insiders wonder where they go from here

It doesn't seem to occur to Republicans that the problem is not messaging, it's the message. Social issues are not resonating with voters the way they have in the past, and trickle-down economics is not a model that many find compelling (probably because it has been tried in the past, and foud not to work).

The message is only part of the problem. The 2012 election, and its aftermath, showed that there is a strong vein of contempt for Americans running through the Republican Party...

Posted on 02/01/13 at 04:21 pm in response to Wind power is a reliable technology that provides societal and consumer benefits

Not yet, anyway.

At least thirty-one people were killed immediately by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. There may have been 20 or so other deaths shortly afterwards. The World Health Organization estimates that the ultimate death toll will be around 3500, due to radiation exposure from the incident. As of 2005, 4000 cases of thyroid cancer have been attributed to radiation exposure from Chernobyl.

These are the lowballing figures that are endorsed by WHO and, if I...