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Welcome to how the rest of the world does things, ord...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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The ongoing GOP war
08-01-2013, 03:05 AM
So Mr. President, defund Obamacare or we will shut down the government!!
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Because we all know how much the American people love political parties who shut down the government!
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Good article on the futility of this approach:
The Fantasy of Defunding Obamacare
My take on all this is: Yes, please, let's shut down the government, and can we start with the NSA?
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Quote:and can we start with the NSA?
Only, what, 17 votes short this week...
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actually shutting down the government worked in 95, Obamacare should be repealed, not just defunded, and quite frankly, the house has passed over a dozen budget bills over the last 3 years and the senate has killed every bloody one of them, so just who is the obstructionists and who's doing their bloody jobs
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Look up the statistics for expected lifespans in places and among age groups that do and do not have government-funded medical care - there's plenty of data out there on the government websites (US Census, Statistics Canada, etc.). If you look at the actual numbers instead of what various political parties and special interest groups spin them to be, you'll see that people who have access to government-funded medical care consistently live longer on average than people who do not.
The US Constitution guarantees the right to Life (and Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness), so something that provides life to more people is something that is constitutional.
Obamacare, in its role as government-funded medical care, is statistically likely to be something that provides life to more people than the alternative would.
Thus, repealing Obamacare can be argued to be unconstitutional.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
...by someone who's never actually read the Constitution, and has it confused with the Declaration of Independence.
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Saving the country from "lazy" blacks by making it harder for them to vote
Hey, at least the guy was honest about the GOP's intentions. The Supreme Court decision to null and void section 5 of the VRA probably ranks with the Dredd Scott decision.
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Because of course this one moron speaks for every republican ever!
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Quote:Morganni wrote:
Because of course this one moron speaks for every republican ever!
Well, there's this last paragraph of the link I posted:
Quote:They'll also have a long tail. I covered the 2012 legal battle over
Pennsylvania's new voter ID law. One of the stronger pieces of evidence
for the plaintiffs was House Majority Leader Mike Turzai's on-camera admission that
the law would "allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania." The
most damaging thing Yelton says in this tape isn't the line about "lazy
blacks," but the line about how the law will be de facto bad for
Democrats.
Then there's this:
The new voter Id laws in Texas
Every Republican? *snort* But a sizable minority and the leadership at the state and possibly the national level? We are talking a North Carolina precinct GOP chairman, the Pennsylvania House Legislature Majority Leader and the GOP leadership in Texas. 2 out of the 3 baldly admitted on camera the reason why these laws went into effect. the GOP in Texas hasn't said publicly why they want these restrictions, but if it's the old saw about voter fraud (widespread or otherwise), I'd give even odds that even they don't believe that.
If
moronicity is a disease, I'd say that the North Carolina precinct chairman and the Pennsylvania House Legislature Majority has a full blown case of it. Now, does the rest of GOP leadership have it and to what degree?
I didn't even know there was a word that defines "the state of being a moron". I had to look it up.
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It's more of a "We're entrenched and there's nothing you pansy liberals can do about it! Neener neener."
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
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State sponsored discrimination
02-25-2014, 02:54 PM
States sponsoring discrimination against the LGBT community:
Kansas
Arizona
What the hell is up with them? Since they can't covertly discriminate against LGBT's because they won the right to marry, now you openly discriminate them? There is religious grounds for not liking that lifestyle, but separation of Church and State is still in the constitution. Invoking God to do harm to others is kinda old fashioned.
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At least in Arizona, three of the Republicans who initially backed the bill have repudiated it, claiming they were misled about its contents. They pretty much admitted they didn't read the bill, or at least didn't do a close reading, they just voted for it. (Great job there, guys. Remind me to use you the next time I want to sneak something into law.) And according to the news, just about everyone on all points of the political spectrum is leaning on the governor of Arizona to veto the bill.
-- Bob
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Quote:ordnance11 wrote:
There is religious grounds for not liking that lifestyle, but separation of Church and State is still in the constitution. Invoking God to do harm to others is kinda old fashioned.
This.
I'm hoping that Texas Republicans, in their conservative wisdom, realize this and give Ted Cruz the bum's rush.
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Quote:I didn't even know there was a word that defines "the state of being a moron". I had to look it up.
There is. The word is "politician".
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Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
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I guess they were surprised by the backlash and backpedaled.
Most of the legislators that voted for that bill are (I hope) savvy enough to know that it would never hold up to a constitutional challenge. It was supposed to be just business as usual, passing unacceptable laws to pander to the extreme right-wing voters and complain that the feds interfere with the states when the Supreme Cpourt throwns them out.
Besides that, does anybody know exactly what that law said? Did it target specifically gays or was it worded to allow discrimination of ANYONE (gays, muslims, jews, blacks, women, etc) for whatever religious reason?
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If the coverage I've heard and read is correct, the law allowed anyone to refuse service to anyone if they claim "religious reasons" for doing so, without any kind of legal liability. (I.e., they can't be sued.) Period.
Edit: The law was fed to a pet legislator by a conservative Christian PAC specifically in response to a gay couple who sued a wedding photographer for refusing them service explicitly because they were gay, so it's reasonably been interpreted as primarily anti-gay in motivation. But (again) if what I've seen and read is accurate, it is so broadly written -- apparently to keep it from being incredibly obvious that it's an anti-gay measure -- that any discrimatory behavior can be covered by an appropriate claim of "religious reasons". This may be what the legislators overlooked in their haste to pander to the PAC -- and realized the first time an "unapproved" bigot used it against Jews or Blacks or someone else it's no longer okay to treat like dirt, they were going to end up looking like monsters for legalizing it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Quote:ordnance11 wrote:
States sponsoring discrimination against the LGBT community:
Kansas
Arizona
Sadly, they're not alone. California was on there too until last year, when a court decision overturned Proposition 8.
Regarding the Arizona bill that's getting all the fuss, it was already legal there to decline customers who were gay. Not that a detail like that is going to get in the way of a bunch of politicians grandstanding.
Relevant : http://medium.com/the-nib/7cd612b66089
-People may die, but ideas are forever. Je suis Charlie.
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"As a consequence of the sincerely held religious beliefs of the Proprietor, Creationists, Homophobes, Politicians and Irish will be denied service."
________________________________
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I would have added registered voters of certain major political parties to that list, but they typically have no visual tell to pick up on, apart from the expected bumpersticker or lapel pin (but that's a politician thing, and they typically sport a USA flag one anyway). Oh and lobbyists! Still its another rework of the standard "no service for Catholics and Irish" sign.
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Update: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/politics/ ... ?hpt=hp_t1]Arizona's governor is expected to veto the bill. Apparently with a large majority of citizens objecting to the bill, every major business concern in the state calling her and saying, "Veto it", the next Superbowl threatening to switch locations at the last minute over it, and four major corporations about to move into the state very vocally reconsidering doing so if the bill becomes law, she has to choose between pleasing a small but vocal band of bigots or keeping the Arizona economy on track and retaining any hope Republicans will win any position above dog catcher in the next election.
-- Bob
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Speaking of: Local attack ads are out in full swing, and I've gotta wonder: what do the PACs have to hide that they keep harping on the Accessible Care Act instead of.... talking up their candidate?
"Vote SO-and-SO: He's in our pocket!"
A lot more honest than "'You can keep your healthcare?' What a Crock! It's totally Obama's fault and not the Health Insurance Providers' for cancelling all the policies! Who was the local candidate again? Who cares? OBAMA'S BAD!"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
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