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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Except in quite a lot of places, even if there is a smoking area you still have to go outside, such as in the UK and a few places in America. And, frankly, I don't want to drink outside in the cold with the clegs and the midges, I want to be inside.
Schild und Schwert der ParteiSlight topic change: remember how the GOP is all about "Debt BAD". Well, who would be surprised to observe that they don't all practice what they preach? This ThinkProgress article lists a few.
Now, I don't want to fall into the ad hominem trap, but it is at least interesting to note when a person who extols the virtue of frugal living is not doing so themselves.
Some of those numbers toward the bottom end of the list aren't that extreme, though. TP is reaching a bit.
edited 14th Mar '13 4:23:42 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"To be honest, the entire idea of "Debt BAD" is a ludicrous one. How else will the majority of people ever own a home without a mortgage? Or a car without a payment plan? Or even a goddamn snuggie without five easy installments of $5.55?
"The marvel is not that the Bear posts well, but that the Bear posts at all."
A loan or other financial support like scholarship, yeah.
TP is stretching a bit there. A few mortgages is not necessarily a bad thing. Considering a long-term home loan or mortgage is one of the better ways to improve your credit rating. Some people will actually take out a loan on their homes, even when they don't need one to keep themselves financially secure. Without knowing exactly what those Republicans have as their budget, a mortgage on a number of properties is not saying much.
The logic is that some debt will show various lenders that you are a reasonably safe investment for them. Ask anyone who has ever applied for a loan like that, and how that they get a ton of credit card applications they weren't looking for.
The question is whether this thing can be applied to the National Debt. It looks to some that the US is in more debt than it can handle, or question if it can afford to take on a bit more debt to bail itself out. Right now, it feels like the US is trying to pay its credit card bill with another credit card and digging itself into more debt without a clear end in sight.
Is this a bad thing? In the short term, it certainly looks bad. With a downgraded credit rating, there's certainly a lot to be done.
Glove and Boots is good for Blog!It's all false analogies. The government is not a household or a business and the same rules do not apply. A lot of people either cannot understand that or refuse to accept it.
For what it's worth, after digging into the TP article, I realized that it is very weak by their usual standards. They're typically above crass muckraking.
edited 14th Mar '13 5:10:30 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Some of these politicians had mortgages on multiple properties. Now, they might have bought (on loan, just like everybody else does) a house in their home state and another property in Washington, where they work. Makes sense. But some of them had more mortgages than that. Maybe they've taken mortgages to invest in housing? It's not that long ago that you could make some easy money doing that, and the banks would love you for it...
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.Alabama challenges Voting Rights Act in the Supreme Court.
....Seriously? Are the Republicans that desperate to suppress minority voters?
Senator Marco Rubio
, Senator Rand Paul
pitch competing visions for Republican future in CPAC showdown
Jim DeMint slams ‘establishment Republicans’ in CPAC speech
Representative Cantor: 'I hope' Obama is sincere in wanting to work with Republicans
Grover Norquist: Republicans who raise taxes like 'rat heads in a Coke bottle'
I'll give Norquist's metaphor an 'A' for imagination.
Senator McConnell (R-KY) calls Dem budget a 'left-wing manifesto'
Obama asks House Dems to make concessions for big deficit deal
GOP looks to block federal funds to schools offering abortion services
Paul Ryan: Obama outreach not ‘terribly charming’
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) VS. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) On Gun Control
edited 14th Mar '13 8:28:55 PM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016Romney, McCain were not conservatives, says Rick Perry at CPAC
Man, it's gonna be really awkward when Romney goes onstage to give his speech.
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016Your exaggerating. Cleveland was the second most Conservative President this nation ever had (Coolidge being the first).
I'll even compare Cleveland and Obama views on welfare:
Obama: "That's why we extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 18 million Americans; made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families who get their coverage through COBRA; and passed 25 different tax cuts."
Cleveland: "The people support the Government, the Government should not support the people."
Senator Graham wishes Christie were invited
This story has cheered me up immensely.
Rob Portman, a GOP senator, has reversed his position on gay marriage after his son came out:
That isn’t how I’ve always felt. As a congressman, and more recently as a senator, I opposed marriage for same-sex couples. Then something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way.
Two years ago, my son Will, then a college freshman, told my wife, Jane, and me that he is gay. He said he’d known for some time, and that his sexual orientation wasn’t something he chose; it was simply a part of who he is. Jane and I were proud of him for his honesty and courage. We were surprised to learn he is gay but knew he was still the same person he’d always been. The only difference was that now we had a more complete picture of the son we love.
At the time, my position on marriage for same-sex couples was rooted in my faith tradition that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. Knowing that my son is gay prompted me to consider the issue from another perspective: that of a dad who wants all three of his kids to lead happy, meaningful lives with the people they love, a blessing Jane and I have shared for 26 years.
I wrestled with how to reconcile my Christian faith with my desire for Will to have the same opportunities to pursue happiness and fulfillment as his brother and sister. Ultimately, it came down to the Bible’s overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God.
Good for him.
EDIT: Also posted in Gay Rights And America thread.
edited 15th Mar '13 8:26:39 AM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der Partei

Of course you have to go outside - at least if there's no designated smoking area (which should only exist if it can be ventilated so well that no one is bothered by it if they don't want to smell it.)
I'm old enough that before smoking in bars (and clubs and so on) was banned I was one of the people who would sometimes smoke in a bar. When the ban came I was really happy because it meant that people who didn't want to breathe what other people are smoking were still able to go to the best/most popular bars without having to worry about cigarette smoke.
I had been part of the problem because when I used to smoke in a bar I was always surrounded by people who were doing it anyway so it didn't really make a difference, but I would have preferred that no one smoke inside.
This is a tangent, I know, but I just wanted to post a defence of the ban on smoking in bars and so on.
Naturally, I don't want smoking inside to be allowed anywhere else, either. Well, you can do it in your own home if you don't have kids and none of the adults mind, at least if you own your home. But other than that...
edited 14th Mar '13 3:58:36 PM by BestOf
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.