uncool2pillow

I was surprised how often the Dead came up as an influence in Our Band Could Be Your Life. CCR and the Dead were huge influences on the hardcore bands whether you can hear it in the music or not.

Cat Scratch Fever is an awesome riff, but that's about it.

Has anyone made this case here? Obviously I'm one of the more right-leaning people here. It it wrong for me to appreciate political music even if I don't appreciate the politics it espouses?

You quote Sanders as saying SS is fine for 21 years. Yesterday, you said Republicans destroyed it. Which is it? Maybe that they want to destroy it

That's interesting analysis. I am so glad you so easily gleaned the "TRUTH" from this chart. A few points... 1) What specific policy changes did Republicans make that affected SS solvency? You know the truth, this should be an easy question for you to answer. 2) This chart has a helluva lot more to do with demographics (aging baby boomers and recent unemployment affecting SS revenue) than it does with policy. 3) Republican periods of Congressional and/or WH dominance actually show more recent stronger solvency under Republicans than Democrats (90-91, 2000-03). What tweaks? Gore'

Some interested listeners, though.

I was being flippant

Since it came right after my post and was on the same topic, it seemed like a direct reply. Sorry if it wasn't intended in the way I took it. I've seen that pie chart before, but you're right. Doesn't include entitlements and we need to look at the whole budget, including entitlements. Further, cutting the military sounds fine, and it might make sense in certain areas. I would like to see military outlays from that chart broken down further to look at weapons expenses, soliders' benefits & salary, etc. It might make cuts there seem not so easy.

1) There was no parody. Just stupid condescending stereotypes. 2) If your attempt at parody is all you have, then your arguments must be feeble. Said Romney and Ryan want to put black people in chains.

I agree with this. It may be more reasonable for medicare (make the wealthy pay a premium -- even my 70+, retired, affluent parents think this is reasonable for them) than for social security.

Good lord, one cannot enter into a serious discussion w/o throwing around stupid shit like this. Yes, I am a gun toting, tobacky-chewing, flag-waving redneck who wants nothing but a big army, and low taxes for billionaires. Social security is going broke. Raising taxes to pay for it should be on the table, but it's not going to be enough. It's no wonder nothing ever gets done with entitlement reform when even bringing up the subject results in a reply like this.

Kevin, the system as it is currently set up is doomed to fail. We cannot continue to pay the low rate we're paying and keep paying out retirees as the baby boom retires. You aren't for privatization and I have reservations about that as well, though the long term historical the stock market is up and as people age they generally move from riskier to safer investments. What do we do to save it? Increase the tax rate? Means tests? Increase retirement age?

The age we begin getting social security should be raised to 70 for anyone currently 50-55 and younger. It's never changed while life expectancy has. No idea how many years of solvency that adds and what it does to the job market by keeping people in the workforce longer, but it seems like a no brainer.

"The amount of radioactive cesium in the fish is not thought to be damaging to people if consumed..." Sparky, you're a well read guy. And as a fellow history teacher, I mean this sincerely. I worry for your students. I hope you do not try to instill fear, paranoia, and conspiracy into their minds the way you do into this board. Critical thinking, seeking out alternative media, and independent thought are things we agree upon, but that does not automatically lead to hidden conspiracies about deadly radiation or apocolyptic financial disaster around every corner.

Weird, I did and it was delicious.

Would this be an insensitive time to point out that I'm not dead from Japanese radiation yet?

NPR did a piece on the movie. You couldn't invent a story that cool, I don't think.

But I just read he only has 6-8% body fat. How does he do that? All I really knew about Ryan was his budget proposal, which was way too damn extreme for me. The more I've learned the more I've come to see him who's pretty damn smart. He will make the campaign more interesting for a while at least. I've already been to the Iowa State Fair, otherwise I'd be off to see him there today. Also, I just checked. Palin was born in '64, which would put her at the older end of my definition of gen X.

Quite a few conservatives who are lukewarm on Romney will now be a bit more excited about the ticket making them more likely to show up in Nov.

Probably not, but the debates would've been the most entertaining television ever!

Interesting choice... Not as "safe" as Pawlenty or Portman. Doesn't seem to have mass appeal, except to the base. I don't see much of an upside except exciting the tea party. I was really, really looking forward to seeing the Christie/Biden debates.

Romney announced VP candidate at 9 AM ET tomorrow... Can't win the election with a good pick, but can certainly lose it with a clunker.

Ricky Gervais tweeted today that he and Karl Pilkington are honored that they were used as the models for the soccer game. That was a good laugh once you look at them.

Via Chicago: An Acceptable Level of Distraction

That's a rather conservative notion.