kwall

Wilson 2012

i was just thinking that we were overdue for a david foster wallace quote . . .

Nat Hentoff casts his lot with the crazies.

 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/08/20/i_am_finally_scared_of_a_white_house_administration_97969.html

what do you take issue with in this article? it sounds pretty scary to me. but then, i'm just a crazy.

you're giving Palin more credit than she deserves...

When Sarah Palin declares in a speech that our current private insurance system is "downright evil," and concedes that the current push for reform is designed partly to address how private denial of coverage is killing people, then we can talk about whether she has any intellectual honesty.

i'm not really interested in debating the intellectual honesty of sarah palin. i don't like her and i never did. my intent was to defend the fear that some people have about the government making these kind of calls. i understand that it's a subtle distinction between that and having a private insurer do it. subtle, but worthy of debate. too often, anyone that shares this fear is labeled as mindlessly taking their marching orders from sarah palin. it's just not true.

. . . implausible stuff like death panels . . .

"death panels" aren't really implausible. we already have them in the insurance companies. any group of people (panel) who can deny coverage for some life-saving procedure (hence, resulting in death) could be called a death panel. as i understand the whole "death panel" issue as raised by palin, it is a caution against assuming that the proposed government insurance agency will never deny coverage. of course, it must, and will.

seems to me that, here, as with most issues, the point of contention is that liberals are afraid of this power residing with businesses, while conservatives are afraid of this power residing with the government.

the fountainhead > atlas shrugged

OpenSecrets.org, has some illuminating numbers concerning lobby dollars: "Obama, who made health care reform a large part of his presidential election platform, brought in $18.8 million from the health care sector in the 2008 election cycle--far more than any other presidential hopeful. Money follows power as the industries ride the tides of Obama-styled change."

That's because no one hates capitalism more than big businesses. It's much easier to spend a little money lobbying the government to pass favorable policies than it is to actually compete. Furthering socializing the government only makes such rent seeking more prevalent.

I don't understand why the solution to that problem is to continue down that wrongheaded path.

it's not a problem. it's progress.

Well, the planet has been cooling for like 10 years...

that's why they're starting to call it "climate change". warming, cooling, whatever. it's a crisis, ok?

Seriously, man -- atleast the opposition is being invited to these things. When Dubya had these town hall things, it was invite only. Any sniff of opposition was stopped at the door.

yeah. it works the same with obama.

And what poll numbers? Something from Fox News? Cite your source.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/122255/Amid-Debate-Obama-Approval-Rating-Healthcare-Steady.aspx

Does any rational person actually believe that we're careening toward socialism?

i fancy myself pretty rational and i believe we're halfway there already.

No these are just hateful people.

i love you.

And you know this because you’ve actually sat down and discussed this initiative with the majority of constituents?

no, i'm just going by the reported poll numbers.

Sometimes, and this, I think, is one of those times, constituents need to be told to just go sit down and shut the fuck up already.

ahhh. smells like freedom.

i can't imagine why people are afraid of their country being taken away.

We have an opportunity to make some much needed changes in this country, but rather than do so as well informed adults, we’re going to proceed in a way that has become increasingly common as of late, like tragically ill informed, fearful little dipshits who would rather vote against their interests, than educate themselves.

you guys control all levels of government and, still, it's everyone else's fault.

not evil twin - alter ego. big difference.

. . . it seems like they're bowing to the pressure of a small mob of people who are angry at the idea of "death panels" and socialized medicine . . .

it might seem like they're bowing to the pressure of a small mob, but they're actually bowing to the pressure of a majority of their constituents, which is how it's supposed to work.

and that the government is somehow "taking their country away" (whatever the hell that means).

it means moving farther away from capitalism and moving ever closer to socialism.

Paying taxes on a gift is probably more difficult than it seems, considering Daschle owed 140 grand. That's alot of free ridin'

 

LouieB

it's not so much that he made a "mistake". it's that he was notified of the "mistake" several months ago, but only decided to address it when he was nominated.

I think the government should pay for me to go back to school, but my "lack of financial need" is kind of standing in the way.

 

Apparently we're supposed to use our emergency savings and our retirement accounts to pay for school. Kind of an incentive to be irresponsible with our money, I'd say.

being irresponsible with other people's money is much better.

Because people who believe in Jesus, by definition, believe I am going to hell for being Jewish.

jesus was jewish. by definition.

You can tell me that you don't believe this to be the case, but you are deviating from the teachings of your religion.

i think you need to brush up on the teachings of jesus.

typical

http://www.salon.com/comics/boll/2008/10/30/boll/index.html

did those guys also advocate sending income tax refund checks to people who don't pay income tax? that's where the charge of redistribution of wealth and socialism comes from. not from the tax rate alone.

I thought it was single making $200K and married was $250K.

biden says it's 150K.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122515067227674187.html

These numbers ought to raise serious concern because of Mr. Obama's extreme left-wing views about the role of judges. He believes -- and he is quite open about this -- that judges ought to decide cases in light of the empathy they ought to feel for the little guy in any lawsuit.

 

Speaking in July 2007 at a conference of Planned Parenthood, he said: "[W]e need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."

 

On this view, plaintiffs should usually win against defendants in civil cases; criminals in cases against the police; consumers, employees and stockholders in suits brought against corporations; and citizens in suits brought against the government. Empathy, not justice, ought to be the mission of the federal courts, and the redistribution of wealth should be their mantra.

Andrew Sullivan:

 

I think it's now fair to say it's a war. My view is that after the McCain peeps had made that crazy decision and realized after the fact what they had on their hands, they put their best face on it. They knew that the normal rules for a veep - a press conference, full media accessibility, airing of all the biographical details - would have required the candidate to quit before November. So they tried to shield her from actual democracy - a dangerous decision for the rest of us, but a rational, cynical decision for a campaign running a delusional liar as the potential next president of the US. Palin of course, lives in her own little, somewhat nutty, world and now believes her manifest destiny has been thwarted.

 

It's a massive, unmissable clusterfuck and has been for two months. They just can't hide it any longer. And the pick is a devastating one - because it basically destroys John McCain's credibility as a presidential decision-maker. His first major decision as a future president is one of the worst in American political history. That alone should be enough to seal his fate next Tuesday. You need nothing else.

 

The article Sullivan is referring to - http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/St...4663&page=1

excellent.

Not at all, actually.

Libertarian ideals sound great on paper, but are totally unworkable in reality.

what we have now is totally unworkable.

Libertarianism hasn't been tested on a large scale . . .

it worked pretty well here for the first hundred years or so. at least up until the 16th amendment was ratified.

You can say "we're just fucked," but that's not how i see it.

i was being facetious.

I wish people could only love Life.

 

If there's a God, it's Life, and we just keep destroying it.

be careful - you're coming dangerously close to developing a religious belief there.