The General US Politics Thread

@Ogodei: Hey now, don't insult the grade school argument, it actually has a point to it.

I did read about this DHS funding argument in the NZZ newspaper. I find it somewhat disturbing what escapades are happening about that bill. I am fully agreeing now with the article in that same newspaper a few months ago that America needs to drop the midterm elections, they aren't providing anything useful at all.

Crooks and Liars takes a quick look at Scott Walker, and how the current Congressional gridlock, and how the mainstream Republican voters aren't voting in the GOP primaries (and GOP women are increasingly voting Democrat out of personal self interest)

(Wisconsin State Journal) Scott Walker's biggest job creation effort collapses: The company that has planned a huge mine in northern Wisconsin announced that it was closing its office near the mine site, saying the project was not feasible now.

Balloon Juice round up of how CPAC's going

edited 28th Feb '15 3:26:04 AM by PotatoesRock

The thing about U.S. politics is that we really don't like to change our institutions, and midterm elections are a part of that. Throw in the fact that midterm elections are the *only* thing keeping the Republicans competitive on a federal level at this point (those pro-Bush majorities of 10 years ago have collapsed and how), and you're not going to see that change anytime soon.

The reform you're more likely to see is something (or a few different things) to encourage more diverse turnout in off-presidential years which will make the electorate younger and less white in those elections.

North Carolina ethics committee decides that buying prostitutes for politicians is perfectly legal and does not need to be disclosed, as sex costs nothing, no matter who's paying for it.

A wee bit twisted from the original there. They made a statement saying that "sex has not monetary value" which was in turn interpreted by a newspaper editorial article as "no monetary value=legal prostitution". The ruling itself was that it was legal for politicians to have sexual relationships with lobbyists and that said sex cannot be considered a form of lobbying.

Edit- to expand on the prostitution thing, I suppose they're implying that if one is charged with soliciting prostitution, the defendant could cite the ruling as precedence, and claim that since sex was ruled to have no monetary value, he was paying an escort fee or something similar and not for the sex itself.

edited 28th Feb '15 9:41:38 AM by carbon-mantis

....Where's that Picard facepalm gif when you need it?

not a gif though sorry :P

edited 28th Feb '15 10:21:10 AM by Joesolo

She's not a prostitute, she's a special contractor for the lobbying firm.

edited 28th Feb '15 11:18:35 AM by Ramidel

That actually brings up a good point - provided that a lobbyist is willing to go to bed with the politician they're currying favor from, would that be, strictly speaking, illegal? Pretty sure that was the plot to The American President, come to think of it.

Also, with the FCC reclassification, I've heard the concern that internet access might start getting taxed like other utilities - any thoughts?

Don't people already pay taxes on their internet bill?

Yea, we do. I get the feeling that they're just trying to scare people about the new regulations.

Net Neutrality is a thing that shouldn't be controversial, but became so. Remember the whole "Net Neutrality is the Obamacare of the internet" thing from Ted Cruz? It didn't really mean anything, but Cruz's fans and those who think like him eat it up.

If Obama is for it, it's bad. That is the thought process.

Complete with the jokes about "making the internet run at the speed of government".

And who's fault is it that the government is running so slowly, Ted?

That's the thing: It sounds catchy for a soundbyte. That's all it needs to do. It's like the whole "Muslim No-Go zones"...it doesn't matter what proof is offered or evidence to the contrary.

When this stuff hits the public consciousness, it doesn't go away. People will think Net Neutrality is bad because it stifles the internet and makes it go slower rather than forces a level playing field

edited 28th Feb '15 2:46:33 PM by Lightysnake

I'm just glad that anti-vaxxing hasn't been caught up in partisanship yet. That would be a disaster.

It's getting there with Republicans taking the anti vaccination side.

I was just about to say. Anti-vaccination is becoming an issue. Look at Rand Paul, Chris Christie, etc. who have been pushing the "it's just personal choice, big government can't force you" thing.

Maybe this won't be all bad. The Republicans could die of plague and we'd get the country for a generation or two.

In my experience anti-vaxxers are actually more likely to be liberals.

In my experience anti-vaxxers are actually more likely to be liberals.

Yep. In fact, it's commonly cited by the false equivalence Cult of Centrism types in response to claims that Republicans are anti-science. That and anti-GM Oness.

It's definitely not an exclusively liberal phenomenon—the anti-vaxxers I know are all conservative.

The liberal ones are all about homeopathy and not introducing toxins and so on into the body because they're fucking morons and the conservative ones think the government is trying to corrupt our precious bodily fluids with vaccines and fluoride water or some other bullshit.

To be fair, the Anti-Vaccination campaign is more or less as old as vaccination itself.

Personally I just think it's natural selection adapting to the fact that modern healthcare has pretty much abolished it with regards to homo sapiens.

The problem is that vaccination isn't just a personal choice. Herd Immunity is a real thing and unvaccinated kids can pose a real danger to it.

Really, anti-vaccination is an issue neither ideology has a real monopoly over. It seems spread out enough amongst the left and right.