Politics

[Polish Leppy 22]

Reid on Obamacare Delay: "People Are Not Educated On How To Use The Internet" | Video | RealClearPolitics

Just when I thought Harry Reid couldn't get any more demented...

 

[ACamp1900]

First he was like, "You can't be a minority and think differently than me, besides those other guys are racists"

but now he be like, "The reason our great plan isn't working is because you are all too ignat."

 

[Buster Bluth]

That said soon or later the GOP is actually going to talk about ideas and not just sling mud at Obamcare.

Doubtful. They have the same corporate masters that the Democrats do.

Other than Rand Paul occasionally nobody of consequence from that party really offers any ideas to address problems facing this country.

What do libertarians say other than "don't do anything!" when it comes to the federal government?

As for the ACA there is a lot of corpratist bull in the bill. However was the days of pre existing contitions, life time limits that kicked people offf the rolls, an no limits in annual out of pocket cost that bankrupted folks much better? You got something better I'm all ears as I'm not a fan of elements of the ACA but how is going back to the way things where somehow better?

Universal catastrophic care + embracing competition in non-catastrophic care scenarios. It's pretty damn simple actually. No one should go bankrupt because they get cancer, etc. No one should expect others to pay for their birth control and cold medicine.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I recently linked to a review of Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty-first Century" by The New Yorker's John Cassidy. He just posted another column which illustrates Piketty's argument through six simple graphs. The last one is particularly interesting:

The last chart is a bit different. It concerns Piketty’s theory that capitalism has a “central contradiction”: when the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of economic growth, inequality tends to rise. (That’s because profits and other types of income from capital tend to grow faster than wage income, which is what most people rely on.) The purple line shows Piketty’s estimate of the rate of return on capital at the world level going back to antiquity and forward to 2100. The yellow line shows his estimate of the global growth rate over the same period.

The important point to note is this: setting aside the period from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century, which is roughly what we would call modernity, the growth rate has been below the rate of return, implying steadily rising inequality. The twentieth century, far from representing normality, was a historic exception that is unlikely to be repeated, Piketty argues. In the coming decades, he says, the growth rate will most likely fall back below the rate of return, and the “consequences for the long-term dynamics of the wealth distribution are potentially terrifying.”

 

[connor_in]

Condi Rice Blasts Obama on Weakness, Leadership | The Weekly Standard

 

[chicago51]

Universal catastrophic care + embracing competition in non-catastrophic care scenarios. It's pretty damn simple actually. No one should go bankrupt because they get cancer, etc. No one should expect others to pay for their birth control and cold medicine.

I tend to agree with this.

Basic catastrophic coverage consisting of one doctor visit a year, some basic annual test like cholesterol screenings to catch problems early on saving the system money over the long haul, and major medical procedures.

Things like therapy services, perscription drugs, minor procedures, etc goes through insurance.

Break up the insurance that have too large of a share of the marketplace.

No complicated mandates.

 

[connor_in]

 

[connor_in]

 

[ACamp1900]

My. Man.

Should be a question on our litmus tests...

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

#KeepBigGubernmentOutMyMarijuanaJar

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

Brilliant. He is one of several minority conservatives (not in public office) who need more air time in public light.


Ben Carson
Dinesh D'Souza
Michelle Malkin
David Webb
Herman Cain (Dems should love him given all his affairs)

 

[GoIrish41]

Brilliant. He is one of several minority conservatives (not in public office) who need more air time in public light.


Ben Carson
Dinesh D'Souza
Michelle Malkin
David Webb
Herman Cain (Dems should love him given all his affairs)

He is one of ONLY several minority conservatives ... period. The lack of inclusion in the GOP is why their message does not resonate with minority voters. Finding a few black people willing to repeat a message typically spoken by a bunch of old white guys isn't going to help them.

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

He is one of ONLY several minority conservatives ... period. The lack of inclusion in the GOP is why their message does not resonate with minority voters. Finding a few black people willing to repeat a message typically spoken by a bunch of old white guys isn't going to help them.

If it were a GOP lack of inclusion and old white racism, all of the above would be Democrats. That is not the case. Why the conservative message isn't reaching/ resonating with minorities can be argued for days. My hope is that the people above and others change that.

 

[Buster Bluth]

This isn't brilliant, it's ignorant and stupid. I could turn it around and ask how much of your salary you're willing to give to live in a civilized society. <12% of the federal budget goes to welfare and such. People who receive these benefits aren't storing them somewhere, they're spending basically every penny they have, which last time I checked helped the economy.

Shit like this is why the GOP is dying.

 

[connor_in]

He is one of ONLY several minority conservatives ... period. The lack of inclusion in the GOP is why their message does not resonate with minority voters. Finding a few black people willing to repeat a message typically spoken by a bunch of old white guys isn't going to help them.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

FML "Conservatives" are comparing themselves to abolitionists now...

 

[chicago51]

#KeepBigGubernmentOutMyMarijuanaJar

I recall reading that legalizing pot and ending the war on drugs would save $13 billion annually or $130 billion over the next decade as they always seem to calculate things in DC over a ten year period.

That is not taking into account the new revenue stream of taxing marijuana.

Nor is counting the dollars saved by state and local governments across the country.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Just throwing this out there...

Of the 19 free states that fought for the union, 17 of them voted for the liberal.

Of the 11 states that succeeded, 9 of them voted for the conservative.

 

[Buster Bluth]

For the record, I don't think conservatives have an alarming problem with racism.

They do have an alarming problem with their inability to consider poor people anything other than lazy freeloaders, consider gays worthy of equality, accept the separation of church and state, rethink our imperialistic foreign policy, etc etc etc etc.

 

[Bluto]

For the record, I don't think conservatives have an alarming problem with racism.

They do have an alarming problem with their inability to consider poor people anything other than lazy freeloaders, consider gays worthy of equality, accept the separation of church and state, rethink our imperialistic foreign policy, etc etc etc etc.

Solid bunch of posts. The GOP on the national electoral level does have a solid track record of sublime race baiting and outright blatantly racist messaging. Nixon got the ball rolling and Lee Atwater was the master of this.

Anyhow, I've been to the State GOP convention after party twice in Cali to drink some beers with a childhood friend who's a GOP big shot. Both times in a room of a couple hundred there were about 15 "people of color" in the room, half of which were performing in the band onstage.

 

[Bluto]

If it were a GOP lack of inclusion and old white racism, all of the above would be Democrats. That is not the case. Why the conservative message isn't reaching/ resonating with minorities can be argued for days. My hope is that the people above and others change that.

They won't because they're just as much a bunch of elitist jerk offs. For the record I think Diane Feinstein is an elitist jerk off as well.

 

[connor_in]

SMDH

 

[chicago51]

Solid bunch of posts. The GOP on the national electoral level does have a solid track record of sublime race baiting and outright blatantly racist messaging. Nixon got the ball rolling and Lee Atwater was the master of this.

Anyhow, I've been to the State GOP convention after party twice in Cali to drink some beers with a childhood friend who's a GOP big shot. Both times in a room of a couple hundred there were about 15 "people of color" in the room, half of which were performing in the band onstage.

I can't embed videos using the phone but I was planning on posting a Lee Atwater (Reagan top campaign advisor) audio clip on winning the racist vote either really early in the morning or after work.

Not that I think what Atwater said is a reflection on what a majority of Republican voters think. I personally don't think Reagan (despite having an advisor like Atwater) was a racist either. In fact Reagan really didn't do much harm at least during his presidency to the social safety net.

I do believe though that racial feels in poor whites at times have been exploited by folks like Atwater so they to vote against their own economic interest.

 

[connor_in]

Just throwing this out there...

Of the 19 free states that fought for the union, 17 of them voted for the liberal.

Of the 11 states that succeeded, 9 of them voted for the conservative.

BB...are you really looking at the the voting record in the most recent election of states that picked sides in the civil war 150 yrs ago?

Please tell me how you extrapolate the HI and Alaskan vote compared to their demos from the 1860's.

Oh and what party ruled the South during the heyday of the KKK? Oh and wasn't IN with the Union...but big with the KKK later (even home to the grand dragon). It's too bad republicans/conservatives/tea partiers never tried to put up African Americans...women...Latinos...etc in elections huh? Oh wait...

 

[chicago51]

BB...are you really looking at the the voting record in the most recent election of states that picked sides in the civil war 150 yrs ago?

Please tell me how you extrapolate the HI and Alaskan vote compared to their demos from the 1860's.

Oh and what party ruled the South during the heyday of the KKK? Oh and wasn't IN with the Union...but big with the KKK later (even home to the grand dragon). It's too bad republicans/conservatives/tea partiers never tried to put up African Americans...women...Latinos...etc in elections huh? Oh wait...

I think BB said that the Republican Party doesn't have a problem with race but a problem with assuming that all or even a majority of poor people are lazy bums that refuse to work. That somehow the relatively small amount we spend on welfare is somehow responsible for all our troubles.

Democrats and Republicans sort of flipped flopped in values starting under Taft as he took the Republican Party in a less progressive direction, although he did break up Standard Oil. Teddy Roosevelt was furious at Taft and his direction he was taking the party that is why he returned from his post presidential Africa safari and ran as a third party candidate to screw Taft.

Although up until recently the GOP has always had a moderate stance on programs for the poor certainly Bush family did for the most part.

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

This isn't brilliant, it's ignorant and stupid. I could turn it around and ask how much of your salary you're willing to give to live in a civilized society. <12% of the federal budget goes to welfare and such. People who receive these benefits aren't storing them somewhere, they're spending basically every penny they have, which last time I checked helped the economy.

Shit like this is why the GOP is dying.

Oh really? And at what % does Buster believe welfare and social programs are unacceptable in the federal budget?

Let's touch base on November 5, 2014 and see how "dead" the GOP is. Dems can't defend obamacare, many think Repubs will hold House and take the Senate. Looking at 2016, Rand Paul got a standing ovation recently at the camous of Berkeley.

Pendulums swing back amd forth...

 

[EddytoNow]

IMHO it would be wrong to label Conservatives/Republicans, in general, as racists. Their problem with racial perception stems from their need to keep the relatively small racist sub-group of their party voting Republican. Since most elections, at least nationally, are decided by a few percentage points, the Republicans could not win a national election without the racist vote. If the racists stay home on election day or take their vote to a third party, the Republicans lose. Their words, often spoken during a heated election cycle, are quite often veiled appeals to the racists they need to win elections.

The Liberals/Democrats are likewise tied to the minority vote or the vote of those not invited to the Republican table. Their policies cater to the disenfranchised with the message that government can help to solve their problems with social programs.

If the Republican party wishes to remain viable in the future, it has to include more of the poor and more minorities at their table, even at the risk of losing the small sub-group of racists that would find such inclusion intolerable.

 

[GoIrish41]

7.1 million. Boom.

 

[connor_in]

7.1 million. Boom.

April Fools!

 

[chicago51]

7.1 million. Boom.

Yea I'm surprised at the surge at the finish.

There is going to be a lot of talk about who has paid but there is also people still finishing their registrations. Even the number ends up being less I don't see how more people getting access to health care is not a good thing.

Sure some of the 7 million in fact probably a majority either already had coverage or had cancelled plans because the plans sucked. That said the 7 million does not take into account all those under 26 getting coverage from their parents and from Medicaid expansion.

We are better off with consumer protections that now exist and living in a society with many of those who couldn't get access because of pre-existing conditions or other reasons now had the opportunity.

By the way still no death panels! Except for the one's in private insurance industry that fight with providers to deny life saving treatments that don't fit in with their profit and loss goals.

I still prefer universal at least for a basic package then people can buy private plans to supplement that coverage. The health care system is also still a mess and there is a lot more reform that can be done. They ACA has a lot of corporate bull in it as well so it is still hardly perfect.

By the way some Republican governors like those in OH, NJ, and AZ have hearts and common decency and took the Medicaid expansion money.

To those governors and state legistlatures who did not out of soley political issues as far as I am concerned they are murders. Yes I said it. Not taking that money at least during the inital few years when it is 100 percent federally funded and your state residents are still paying taxes for it makes them sociopaths and murders. Because people will die because of it and there is already examples of this.

Opting Out Of Medicaid Expansion: The Health And Financial Impacts – Health Affairs Blog

I'm sure I'll get ripped for this but a Harvard study suggested 17,000 people will die from states not expanding Medicaid. So I stand by my statement of "murderers." Not that Obama is a saint with his drone strikes without due process and all so add him to the killers list.

17,000 People Will Die Uninsured in Red States Because GOP Leaders Refused Medicaid Expansion | Americans Against the Tea Party