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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The Ames Straw Poll is nothing but a fundraiser for the state Republican Party. It doesn't even do a good job of predicting the eventual nominee. I don't know why anyone in the party even bothers.
Imagine a world where Tim Pawlenty had actually stuck around longer instead of bowing out because of the straw poll. The "anyone but Romney" part of the conservative base might have actually given him a boost in the polls instead of, say, Herman Cain or Santorum. Sure, he was boring, but give him some spotlight and let him flare out for crying out loud.
I wrote about a fish turning into the moon.Any news on the "Fiscal Cliff?" Or is it a tense, western style standoff. (Or more likely, the democrats trying to desperately figure out how much they're going to have to conceed when the Principle Zealot Tea Partiers throw a tantrum.
Oh, going way back a few pages at Fish 1:
You said even if we continue to fact check, and call politicians on their lies, it wouldn't eliminate the problem. That's the Perfect Solution Fallacy at work. The point is, we can do something, and we have a responsibility, as citizens, to do something. What matters is chipping away at the culture of "lying" and "from a certain point of view" that pervades politics.
In a lot of cases that are "debated" there is an objective truth. The universe is not post-modernist. There's a reality out there. As human, we are imperfect, and can't always perceive it perfectly, but it's out there, and to continue to progress as a species, we should try to adhere as closely to reality as possible.
Edit: And when there honestly isn't an objective truth, what needs to be done is for us to figure out what works better for everyone.
edited 21st Nov '12 4:21:59 PM by DrTentacles
@Pykrete: Tim Pawlenty would have had to have run a far better campaign that Romney, as well as somehow convince a lot of his fellow Republicans to not say the things they did or at least make heartfelt apologies. I feel like this election was as much against all that clusterfuck everyone else caused as much as it was a rejection of Romney.
And yeah, it really wasn't that close because those percentages in this case means millions of voters that went for Obama rather than Romney.
Michael Moore: Fiscal cliff 'invention' of the rich to keep tax breaks
And here are some graphs and diagrams that help explain the Fiscal Cliff
I don't like Moore that much (He's kinda an asshole, especially when he's correct), but he's got a point there. The cliff is, if not an invention of the rich, a tool for them. They'd be most affected by the any inflation that would result. (I honestly think it would be a decent idea to inflate the US dollar, but that might just be the student loan debt talking.)
Moore is basically right. Letting all the tax cuts expire and proposing tax cuts for the middle class would give Obama huge leverage against the Republicans.
He still has no integrity as a filmmaker, but that's another issue.
The problem with the Fiscal Cliff is it isn't just a bunch of tax increases. There's also an end to a bunch of federal unemployment benefits and across the board spending cuts as a part of the sequester. I mean, it's not as catastrophic as people are making it out to be, but it still isn't good and Moore is still wrong.
*Has researched this a bit in the making of this
video.*
edited 21st Nov '12 5:19:34 PM by deathpigeon
Naturally, the solution is to go over the cliff, deflate the dollar, and offer a bill that undoes the cuts to vulnerable programs and reinstates the middle-class tax cuts while leaving the cuts to the military and the increased rates for the richest in place.
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.![]()
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That is a good plan, and getting the Middle Class tax cut reinstated is possible.
But the Republican House would block any measure that would undo the cuts to social programs, so any cuts made are gonna stay around for quite a while.
edited 21st Nov '12 5:49:45 PM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016If the Republicans insist on the Bush tax cuts being reinstated entirely, it would be a good time for the Greens to wake up and start running the ground game they should have been running years ago.
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
The thing is that be it due to the Fiscal Cliff or The Grand Bargain, Social programs are going to be cut. That's inevitable at this point. We should go off the Fiscal Cliff because it is the lesser of the two evils.
edited 21st Nov '12 6:22:33 PM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016Yeah, we lost those programs when we lost the House in 2010, and that was lost years before when we weren't paying attention to governorships and state legislatures. Recall that the Republicans won a net gain in Governor's seats across the country this month. Best to put us in a good position to win them back.
Which means the Greens have to forget about the Presidency for the moment and focus all their efforts on getting Governors, state legislators, and House members elected. Work from the bottom up.
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.I do not know. The whole health care thing makes me very angry. There are people like me who do not have cars and must walk anywhere if I want to get anywhere and still manage to be obese and just have shitty genes that just made me unhealthy to begin with.
edited 21st Nov '12 6:20:11 PM by ohsointocats
What baffles me about the fiscal cliff situation is all the organizations which formerly made a living off of agitating for deficit reduction that suddenly made an about-face and complained about all the deficit reduction. What gives?
You can't even write racist abuse in excrement on somebody's car without the politically correct brigade jumping down your throat!

Speaking of Rand Paul...
Rand Paul "Interested" in 2016 Run for the White House
Also 97 House members oppose Susan Rice
edited 21st Nov '12 4:05:01 PM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016