Ugh, that Robert Heinlein quote sounds like something an Ayn-Randoid would say. The economic elites are NOT the ones who create prosperity, nor are they the source of creativity in society.Originally Posted by James50
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism
A lot of the radical theocratic Evangelicals want to completely roll back women's rights, including birth control and the right to vote. They also want to legalize debt-slavery.
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism
They're in the same general ballpark. In any case, you're using the same rhetoric that other libertarians and anarchists have tried on me in the past. I don't find it convincing.
I actually do value individual freedom a great deal. But I also value justice, and sometimes that means that a few individuals get their toes stepped on.I also would never state that you love freedom. Your comments suggest otherwise.
If you'd like to have a rational conversation with me about my actual philosophy, and how I try to balance freedom with justice, fantastic.
But just shooting your mouth off that I'm a slave to the Man and "don't love freedom" is a nonstarter with me.
Rani, you're taking my statement here and going off on a tangent. My point is that some people get all bent out of shape about the feds oppressing them, when individual states can be just as oppressive, if not more so.
Yep. Not about liberty at all, except on our side. Of course, if we all agreed that what was in the womb in the early stages was a person, then there'd be no debate at all . . .
"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?"
My blog: https://brianrushwriter.wordpress.com/
The Order Master (volume one of Refuge), a science fantasy. Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GZZWEAS
Smashwords link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/382903
That is what struck me. After Paul almost won the straw poll, the media immediately annointed Rick Perry along with Romney and Bachmann as the "top tier." So who decides who is in the top tier? Aren't the voters supposed to decide? Am I just naive about that?
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mo...--the-top-tier
Last edited by Eric the Green; 08-18-2011 at 04:09 AM.
Interesting article, considering also that it confirms some of what I have said about them.
And those who say the Tea Party are not racist might want to read that article too. There is at least some doubt about that.Beginning in 2006 we interviewed a representative sample of 3,000 Americans as part of our continuing research into national political attitudes, and we returned to interview many of the same people again this summer. As a result, we can look at what people told us, long before there was a Tea Party, to predict who would become a Tea Party supporter five years later. We can also account for multiple influences simultaneously — isolating the impact of one factor while holding others constant.
Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today.
Wonderful Rick Perry
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...689,full.story
Reporting from Washington—
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has powered his political career on the largesse of donors like Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, who gave the governor $1.12 million in recent years.
And donors like Simmons have found the rewards to be mutual, reaping benefits from Texas during Perry's tenure.
Perry has received a total of $37 million over the last decade from just 150 individuals and couples, who are likely to form the backbone of his new effort to win the Republican presidential nomination. The tally represented more than a third of the $102 million he had raised as governor through December, according to data compiled by the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice.
Nearly half of those mega-donors received hefty business contracts, tax breaks or appointments under Perry, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.
Well, here's more:
Along with Simmons — who won permission to build a low-level radioactive waste disposal site in Texas, a project that promises to generate hundreds of millions of dollars — The Times found dozens of examples in which major donors to Perry have benefited during his tenure.
Auto magnate B.J. "Red" McCombs, who contributed nearly $400,000 to the governor, is the primary financial backer for a Formula One racetrack to be built near Austin. The state has pledged $25 million a year in subsidies to support the project.
The Houston-based engineering firm of James Dannenbaum, who gave more than $320,000 to Perry, received multiple transportation contracts from the state. In 2007, Perry appointed Dannenbaum to a coveted post on the University of Texas' board of regents.
A Mississippi-based poultry company run by Joe Sanderson, who gave $165,000 to Perry, received a $500,000 grant from a state business incentive fund championed by Perry to open a chicken hatchery and processing plant in Waco.
With its mix of big-money industries like oil and campaign finance rules that allow unlimited political donations, Texas has a reputation for monied campaigns. And its elected officials have long sought to elevate their political patrons.
Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said donors had benefited more under Perry's administration than they did under recent governors such as Democrat Ann Richards and Republican George W. Bush, Perry's predecessor.
"It's not unprecedented, but we haven't seen it in a while," he said.
In his 11 years in office, Perry has smoothed the path for corporate interests by stocking state agencies with pro-business appointees, said Jim Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...689,full.story
Great post Mike.
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
Have been paying attention to Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida? Hidden agendas become real when they can.
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
Please provide the specific legislation in Wisconsin that has been proposed that outlaws birth control. Otherwise the above and Odins post simply is nothing more than fear mongering.
And that's the trick. On the one side, you've got arguments from liberty, on the other side, you've got arguments from life. And since both are the necessary conclusions from a fundamental judgement-of-fact, neither is capable of compromising with the other. Which is as it should be, given the actual nature of the disagreement.
The problem is that the sphere in which people have elected (or not, maybe; it could be that people would be willing to do it right, were they not products of a system which resists the development of anything outside it) to decide the issue is the political-ethical one. That's not where a solution can possibly lie to what is fundamentally a metaphysical* disagreement.
--
*I think that's the right name of the branch of philosophy that includes questions of 'what is a "person"?'
"Qu'est-ce que c'est que cela, la loi ? On peut donc être dehors. Je ne comprends pas. Quant à moi, suis-je dans la loi ? suis-je hors la loi ? Je n'en sais rien. Mourir de faim, est-ce être dans la loi ?" -- Tellmarch
"Человек не может снять с себя ответственности за свои поступки." - L. Tolstoy
"[it] is no doubt obvious, the cult of the experts is both self-serving, for those who propound it, and fraudulent." - Noam Chomsky
With all due respect I couldn't disagree more. Sure it makes sense from a pragmatic point of view - I have health insurance for my family. BUT what about poor folks, or retired folks, or anyone who can't afford to pony up something like 10-15k per year? It's hugely intrusive if you can't afford it.
Not having car insurance is easy to solve if you can't afford it. Ditch the car. Not having health insurance if you can't afford it? Ditch life? That doesn't work. Our system is certainly broken, but this doesn't fix anything.
This does not follow from the earlier point. I certainly agree that legislation outlawing birth control would be a travesty. However, legislation mandating everyone to spend 10-15k per year on health insurance DOES exist, while legislation outlawing birth control is HIGHLY UNLIKELY.Having the government -- state OR federal -- telling me I can't use birth control (some anti-abortion folks DO take it that far) is much more intrusive.
It doesn't follow.
I'm not saying that people should pony up that amount. Don't retired folks already pay a small amount into the Medicare system? Don't poor people covered by Medicaid still have co-pays on their prescriptions?
You know what my next response is going to be: single-payer, or Medicare for all. That would be ideal.
The system can't afford all these visits to emergency rooms for issues that might have been spotted if people had the means to get primary care in the first place.Not having car insurance is easy to solve if you can't afford it. Ditch the car. Not having health insurance if you can't afford it? Ditch life? That doesn't work. Our system is certainly broken, but this doesn't fix anything.
Again, I'm not arguing the likelihood of either occurring, I'm arguing the level of intrusiveness involved in each case.This does not follow from the earlier point. I certainly agree that legislation outlawing birth control would be a travesty. However, legislation mandating everyone to spend 10-15k per year on health insurance DOES exist, while legislation outlawing birth control is HIGHLY UNLIKELY.
It doesn't follow.
But, anyway....I'm going to be off the grid for some time, so you all will have to continue without me.
Just what we need: Texas-sized, Texas-style cronyism in the federal government. Not!
More here
Rick Perry is as much a big-government fellow as any liberal... except that his style of big government would simply enrich a few and make life miserable for those who lack connections.
Last edited by pbrower2a; 08-18-2011 at 10:08 AM.
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" (or) even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered... in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by (those) who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
The Religious Right is now very definitely trying to put Planned Parenthood entirely out of business. If they actually favored birth control other than abortion I do not think they would be doing that.
David Kaiser '47
My blog: History Unfolding
My book: The Road to Dallas: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
The Corporate Media simply ignores non-establishment candidates, or make them look like buffoons. Or, if the non-Establish candidate has a serious shot (like Howard Dean) they politically assassinate them.
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism
GOP's worse nightmare
- the scenario that makes them constantly lie to you -
http://moslereconomics.com/2011/08/1...ings-slipping/
Yes, it's naive from a political standpoint of getting anything like this through CongressPresident Obama’s ratings slipping
As bad as it’s ever been.
I could turn it all around over a two day weekend.
Full FICA suspension
One time revenue distribution to the state govts of $500 per capita
$8/hr Federally funded transition job for anyone willing and able to work
(see my ‘proposals’ on this website)
Unemployment starts falling towards 4%
Stocks double in short order bailing out pension funds
Strong approve would go to 65%
Strong disapprove would go to less than 35%…
but that's because Americans have lost, no given over, their minds.
Now back to your usual programming -
"federal debt is bad, federal debt is bad, federal debt is bad, deficits will kill you, deficits will kill you, deficits will kill you, freedom fries, freedom fries, cut spending, cut spending, obamacare, obamacare, freedom fries, freedom fries,..."
"The Devil enters the prompter's box and the play is ready to start" - R. Service
“It’s not tax money. The banks have accounts with the Fed … so, to lend to a bank, we simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account that they have with the Fed. It’s much more akin to printing money.” - B.Bernanke
"Keep your filthy hands off my guns while I decide what you can & can't do with your uterus" - Sarah Silverman
If you meet a magic pony on the road, kill it. - Playwrite
Breaking News
Breaking News
S & P Downgrades Iowa’s IQ
Straw Poll ‘Alarms’ Ratings Agency
AMES, IOWA (The Borowitz Report) – Calling the results of today’s Iowa straw poll “alarming,” Standard and Poor’s took the unprecedented action of downgrading Iowa’s IQ.
While the effects of such an extraordinary measure are hard to predict, experts say the IQ downgrade could result in Iowans having difficulty completing sentences or operating a television remote.
“This downgrade would be very upsetting to Republicans in Iowa,” said an S & P spokesman. “Fortunately, there’s no way they’ll understand it.”
The winner in the straw poll, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn), gave a rousing victory speech that was simulcast in English across the state.
But there may be tough sledding ahead for Rep. Bachmann, as a new poll shows her losing support to Texas Governor Rick Perry among voters who describe themselves as morons.
Gov. Perry kicked off his presidential campaign today in South Carolina, unveiling a new stump speech in which he promised to repeal the twentieth century.
"The Devil enters the prompter's box and the play is ready to start" - R. Service
“It’s not tax money. The banks have accounts with the Fed … so, to lend to a bank, we simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account that they have with the Fed. It’s much more akin to printing money.” - B.Bernanke
"Keep your filthy hands off my guns while I decide what you can & can't do with your uterus" - Sarah Silverman
If you meet a magic pony on the road, kill it. - Playwrite
...But I thought "The Left's" talking-point was to de-legitimize S&P?
Prince
PS:"You Guys" need to make up your mind!
I Am A Child of God/Nature/The Universe
I Think Globally and Act Individually(and possibly, voluntarily join-together with Others)
I Pray for World Peace & I Choose Less-Just Say: "NO!, Thank You."
This election is going to have a lot of polarizing action and Obama to say the least will have a real challenge.
"Suppressed" Late-waveGenXer & GenY Cusper born in 1979
"Has Oswald missed the specifics would have been different but the saeculum would of still carved it's path. The Second Turning would of came one way or another. It was Time."
The Fourth Turning pg.170 Chapter 6 The First Turning
http://angelolosito.webs.com/
I can understand how mandating that people buy health insurance is "government interfering in your own affairs," as the conservatives love to say about legislation that only regulates bad conduct by business. But it does indeed make sense, and without the mandate that everyone participate, it won't work and insurance will remain too expensive for everyone. And the legislation contains mitigating provisions for those who are poor (plus Medicaid remains). Retired folks are already covered, of course, if they paid Medicare taxes.
It's a start. And you can still ditch the system (though if they catch you, you pay a tax penalty). You're not "ditching life" if you don't have health insurance; you just pay for service.Not having car insurance is easy to solve if you can't afford it. Ditch the car. Not having health insurance if you can't afford it? Ditch life? That doesn't work. Our system is certainly broken, but this doesn't fix anything.
Holy smokes! Is it possible that Obama could simply quit? I thought of this the night he announced Bin Laden's death, but it was just my gut trying to make sense of a sudden White House announcement.
HereSo, at a time when the only issue that really matters is jobs and falling living standards, the president will head into the fall campaign next year with not much to say except "it could have been worse." That's not a winning message, obviously. Which leaves him with a campaign based almost entirely on (what Bill Clinton used to call) "the politics of personal destruction."
Such a campaign would leave President Obama stone cold, even if he's perfectly willing to do it to get the job done. He would hate every minute of it. He didn't travel the road he traveled and scale the mountains he climbed, to have the capstone of his political career read: "Mitt Romney is a Mormon weirdo" or "Rick Perry is a psychopath."
In Washington, the "plugged-in" people will tell you gravely that the president isn't enjoying the work. He feels, it is said, "beleaguered" and "unappreciated" and "deeply unhappy" about the state of our politics. The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has been nibbling around this Obama gloom for a while; she's always had great radar for presidential funks. If you read between the lines of her columns, you get an almost tactile sense of Obama's blues.
A long-time Democratic politician told me the other day that he would not be "terribly" surprised if Obama called it quits early next year. When I asked him if he really believed that, he said "no, not really, but you can smell it. It's in the air around him."
Well, OK, let's do the thought experiment. Late this year, before New Hampshire or Iowa, Obama comes on TV some Sunday night like LBJ did in 1968 and says he is not running. Instead he says he will devote himself to real deficit reduction that would bring entitlements under control and make his re-election impossible.
So who becomes the front-runner? Hillary Clinton? Russ Fiengold? Bernie Sanders? Come on all you lefties with S&H in your back pockets out there, give me a hand. What would happen then?
James50
The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. - G.K. Chesterton
The Peggy Noonan quote that the country is "tuning the president out" is apt, but I think its due more to all the screaming on both sides of the political spectrum, especially the 24/7 relentless news. A number of Obama supporters I've spoken to have said they wouldn't blame him if he did decide not to run.
In comparison to many I don't consider myself a lefty. Well, in truth, I'd probably prefer a democratic socialist gov't a la Europe, but this is the country I was born in and choose to live and work in, so I accept the reality of the USA.
Sanders could never run, really, as he's a Socialist. Feingold's too liberal for many Dems and for the country in general. HRC is probably pretty darn tired at this point. Maybe Andrew Cuomo? He's a governor of a large state with a high approval rating. He's no Xer, but a Boomer/Joneser--born in '57, the same year as I was.
