bjorn_skurj

I would be curious to know who on the left is aping the tea party. I would also be curious to know who among the lefts supposed friendly media actually drives policy and positions within the party the way Rush, Hannitty and others do. Also I would love to hear what radical voices are given credence on the left the way Nugent, Malkin, Hannity and others are on the right. Take the whole birther movement for example, what is a comparable psycho theory from the left that has gained as much traction within the party and or the media. How about the secession movement? And remember the democrats were the Conservative party in the civil war era.

 

Statements like " the left does it too" are BS to gain a false sense of balance where there is no balance. The left has nothing comparable to the rights media.

Come on up to Woodstock, N.Y., sometime and what I wrote may ring truer.

The problem is you CAN'T cut a deal and get shit done when you know that such deal-cutting will put your political career in serious jeopardy. THAT is what makes the Tea Party a real problem for the rest of the country.

I don't know of any rational Conservatives or Republicans who don't have a serious problem with the direction the party has been going in over the last decade. Unfortunately, the money is with that part of the party I find reprehensible. It really shows up locally, where state senate and state house seats are won by relative nobodies who are able to attach themselves to the faction of the party with the most money. This part of the party is also the most vocal and motivated to vote, which is why Ted Cruz can sneak away with a win in a primary runoff.

 

It's frustrating. But the presidential elections don't help any. The last two Republican nominees have been John McCain and Mitt Romney. Neither one of which could ever be described as far-right Republicans. This leads to a few different conclusions:

 

1) The majority of the party nationwide does not skew as far to the right as its most vocal members.

2) You see these candidates have to unnaturally move that way to placate a large, rich, vocal portion of the party anyway.

3) The fact that these more moderate Republicans have not fared well in the last two elections only fuels the fire of the far right, which leads to its growing voice.

 

It's a vicious cycle. This may be a bit of a stretch, but I think if the Democrats moved closer to the center as a whole, one of two things would happen: either the Republican party would come back that way too, and the political process would be restored; or the Republican party would move so far to the right that it would become marginalized.

 

That's probably just wishful thinking, though.

That's a very good analysis. I think some on the left have decided to copy the Tea Party playbook, as it were, and in the same way reject centrism and compromise. (Or maybe this is just MSNBC's marketing strategy.) Either way, until moderate Republicans no longer have to live in fear of being primaried by a Tea Party person, they're still gonna, in most cases, stick with the no-compromise stance. 

I'm sorry to have to bring this discussion back to teacher salaries, but I thought I would put this up to make teachers who do not have the good fortune to work in New York envious of their Empire State colleagues:

Kingston, NY is the only New York town to crack the top twenty best places for teachers to work. Kingston beat them out with its affordable cost of living index of 108 and the second highest median salary in the Northeast of $78,040. The city was the first capital of the State of New York for twenty years before Albany. The school district covers 640 teachers over eleven elementary schools. - See more at: http://www.valuepenguin.com/2013/09/best-cities-teachers-northeast#sthash.IJdY0qbc.dpuf

You do get what you pay for ...

And here's what our Congress-Man has to say about Syria:

http://www.kingstonx.com/2013/09/01/congressman-gibson-says-hell-vote-no-on-syria-attack/

The easiest way for voters (most of whom are parents) to understand the financial situation of teachers would be to take a look at the faculty parking lots of their kids' schools. And I'm not even a parent. The idea that they are overpaid or entitled is ridiculous.

 

 

Every state is different and communities differ within states. I would say in the Mid-Hudson Valley region of New York State, public school teaching jobs are among the most stable, the most well-paying and the most blessed with benefits. Teachers here enjoy a pretty strong union and, in general, drive nicer cars than many of the parents of their students. Objectively speaking, are they overpaid? I don't think so, but the 3-5 percent annual property tax hike school budgets command is not easy for many homeowners to take.

Hugs and vibes to the Tweedys and their friends.

Speaking of uncomfortable and dangerous places, our president will be talking about Syria at 2:15 p.m. EDT. If I were Assad, I would be packing away the good china as it's gonna get a little explosive at his house soon.

If there was supposed to be anything sexy about any of that, I missed it entirely.

Same here, but the $10k item is chambered in .22. Cheaper to shoot, but I'd rather shell out 4x that much for a nice .45 Thompson.

Geez ow - that is a lot to pay for authenticity, but ...

And hey, I am a reasonable, pretty liberal guy who (gasp!) thinks guns are cool. I don't view that as a defect, or a fetish and do not accept at all that it automatically makes one demented to be interested in and responsibly use firearms. If I ever hit it big, I plan to collect a wide range of World War II-era weaponry, including an M-1 Garand, a BAR and, if at all possible, a panzerfaust.

Chesterfield had perhaps the most elegant of pack design, but Pall Mall has to be considered too. Lucky Strike is a triumph of modernism. Camel has a dude with a giant cock. 

Ten grand for a Tommy gun is a little steep, but if I had that kinda dough, I just might. 

Lots of hugs to you, Tracy.

To be honest, we should have stopped having this discussion as soon as I reminded everyone that it's almost impossible to buy an actual assault rifle. End of story.

Can you still get fully automatic weapons in Oregon? Need that kind of heat while rolling through the PDX.

Only once in my 27 years of voting has someone even questioned my identity at the poll. Luckily, the woman sitting next to her who's known me since I was 9 vouched for me. Never have I had to pull out an ID.

It's pretty easy - in most states - to buy an assault weapon. It's pretty easy - in most states - to vote. In New York, it can be a little tricky to do either - the laws are designed to make both buying assault weapons and voting slightly less than convenient, both with the goal of restricting access. A single person can do a lot more damage with an assault weapon than a vote, so it makes sense to restrict one more than the other, I would think.

Back in the day, you could not put an asterisk over a man's crotch for marketing purposes. 

We're not gonna get into another land war in the Middle East unless we absolutely have to, but there will be airstrikes. (But because of the sequester, there will be 20 percent fewer airstrikes than we did on Libya.)

Except for the newspaper I edit, yes.

I heard some girl did something that many consider to be immodest.

Race is still pretty much the essential issue in this country and will become even more so as we move toward the point where white people will no longer be the majority and Spanish will be as common a language as English in most parts of the country. It is my hope that out of all the irrational talk and exploitation of the issue by all bands of the political spectrum that some rationality and mutual understanding one day arises. 

I knew this would happen back in Nineteen-Hunnerd and Eighty-Two, when we first got our MTV. 

I'm surprised Johnny Cash has not been brought up in the Oklahoma shooting. After all, did he not sing "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"?

Holy shit me too. This is what I get for continuing to pick up the phone.

Anyone who would fire Glenn Kotche from any percussion-related job is obviously a troll, or Coomer's mom.