StrangeSox

It seems odd for someone who wants to be the POTUS to want to hold international speech to a markedly different standard than what we hold at home. The US really is an outlier on speech, and that's a good thing imo.

Does Mitt want to indict Ahmadinejad over speech?

Cheap natural gas prices and a lack of a buyer have led to Dominion deciding to shut down the Kewanee nuclear plant in Wisconsin. I have to imagine that this is a strong sign that Crystal River won't go through with their $3B+ repairs to come back online. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/articl...hut-down-spring

Italian Scientists were sentenced to jail for six years for failing to properly warn the public about the risks and dangers of earthquakes. This is some good commentary on how silly the case was.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:43 AM) Without that D next to your name, there is no point. If I was rich, I'd do exactly this, because I'd have the money/time to burn to do this. I'm not. You do not need to be rich to run for local elections. My FIL has held local elected office for most of his adult life (and now has a full-time position). They were minor positions, but they can still have an impact if you want them to. However, if you're a staunchly conservative person and live in a strongly democratic area, well, that's democracy. I wouldn't expect my politics to be very successful in Alabama.

Letting perfect be the enemy of good etc. Obama isn't perfect on gay rights, but he was miles better than Republican alternatives. He stopped enforcing DOMA and forced an end to DADT.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:41 AM) I live in Clearing, so no, I can't. And not to spoil the ending for you...but the democrat will win, regardless if they even campaign or not. Hell, if a dead body could get a D next to his name on that ticket, they'd win. So work within the system to get candidates more to your liking instead of talking about how hopeless it is to start a third party. That's the whole idea behind conservatives primarying people like Dick Lugar.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:39 AM) And that's a big problem. You're vote, by and large, doesn't matter here. And start local with what? I can't form a political party that share my positions. That's not even a suggestion, so much as it is a brushoff because you have nothing to actually say here. That's like say, oh wow, you don't like Google, go build your own search engine! People that make suggestions like this should f***ing stab themselves in the neck. I guess you can't vote for local and state politicians in Bridgeport? Weird! edit: or run for elected position yourself!

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:36 AM) Jon Stewart is a comedian, the problem is a lot of people take him as a journalist. He's not. I think Nate Silver had a good line about this on the show:

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:26 AM) To make it a finer point, it's not that we're mocking one or the other. Both parties take part in this kind of nonsense. They take something Romney or Obama said, ignoring their boarder point, and focus on the words they happened to use, even if they KNOW what they meant/how they meant it. This is what "political discourse" is today...then again, it's always been this way, I'm simply old enough to realize that now. That doesn't mean I have to accept it, just because it's long been accepted by people of the past. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class disappear...regardless of Democrats or Republicans having control. And the entire time, the politicians are part of the rich getting richer. Because, you know, they care about you. Keep voting them in, sheep. I'm not saying don't vote. Vote. Just don't vote for democrats or republicans. Start showing both parties how badly they're wrecking the place and SHOW them that a third party CAN and will take them down. Nope. Instead, what we get is more of the same. hi kap! You don't necessarily need a third party to shift ideology. Look at the success the Tea Party had in shaping Republican ideas these past several years. You want more progressive (or conservative or whatever) politicians? Start local, start at the state level and begin building a bench of qualified, experienced politicians that share your positions. I'm still not sure if I'll vote for Obama or not, but I have that 'luxury' being in Illinois. A protest vote for the President could assuage my conscience, but it won't really send any message.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:18 AM) He's mocked because democrats want to ignore the boarder point he made. And in this case, he actually DOES have a valid point. We are borrowing and spending on things like PBS that don't actually need help. It's corporate welfare. Sesame Street alone is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But that malnourished kid that hardly eats when schools out...f*** him/her, we need to to fund Big Bird. If we're borrowing money, we're borrowing money. That malnourished kid isn't suffering because PBS also receives funding. If anything, PBS is likely the only source of educational programming that child has access to. While PBS and NPR would survive without the CPB and larger public stations like WBEZ and WTTW would continue on, many smaller stations would go under, depriving many Americans of access to some of the only decent programming on TV. Romney is mocked because his plan is a joke and his numbers are nonsense. He refuses to release any details except for cutting PBS.

For those who are interested in viewpoints outside of Romney's and Obama's, DemocracyNow! has been running an "Expand the Debate" segment. http://www.democracynow.org/special/expandingthedebate They run the debate, pausing the tape to give the candidates an opportunity to respond to the question http://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/17/exc...bate_with_third

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:14 AM) Like I said, disingenuous at best. Romney doesn't want to cut PBS and only PBS, he wants to cut spending in areas that can easily sustain themselves without public funds, because...well...we don't have money as it is for basic services such as the homeless, starving children, or health care. Maybe when both of those problems are solved we can start funding things like PBS again. THAT was his point. His point wasn't that he wants to cut Big Birds head off as you -- and many others -- keep making it sound. And why was he being mocked? Because that's the only specific he's actually bothered to mention.

I think what we need is a better press corp that would actually ask tough questions full-time, not better 90 minute segments three times every four years. I have deep concerns about a lot of Obama's foreign policy, yet I knew that those questions wouldn't even be asked.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:09 AM) I tuned in to about 30 seconds of the second debate, and caught Romney talking about workforce participation rates in 2008 vs 2012, which was a great point. If we had the same participation rates now, the unemployment rate would be 10.7% instead of 7.8. Did that ever come up again? BINDERS!!!! Serious question, don't we expect workforce participation to be dropping off with the baby boomers bubble?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:05 AM) But this is the only opportunity to see them engage with each other, that's the key. You want to see how they compare on the same stage. Yes, you shouldn't ignore the prior year or 2, but I think there's some value there. Why should I really care how they engage with each other? I've enjoyed the entertainment of having Mitt's bulls*** called out to his face, but I certainly didn't need that to decide what their policies are and whether I support them or not. I gain far more information from endless hours of pointless interneting than from watching the debates.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 09:03 AM) Sorry we disagree that it's a crock of bulls***. But, we agree on the bolded part -- which is exactly WHY my post isn't bulls***, but truth. There IS substantive issues to discuss from these debates, and my entire point of that post was simple: nobody is f***ing discussing them, because they're too busy discussing Big Bird, etc. So, while trying to dismiss my post as bulls***, you actually proved it was true. There is substantive criticism behind mocking Mitt's Big Bird and binders and "we have less ships than 1916!"

Well like I said, we have literally years worth of their campaigning now and 24/7 access to their campaign and surrogates' websites. A grand total of 4-1/2 hours weeks from the election really shouldn't matter much given the amount of information out there.

I guess I never expect anything substantive out of these debates to begin with. They're purely entertainment and I actually find it a little depressing that people can be swayed so heavily by 90 minutes instead of what these two candidates have said and done over the past 18+ months. People have always engaged in ridicule and political discourse has rarely been civil.

I'll just say that people were talking about Big Bird because that's the only policy specific Romney has actually offered, and it was a dumb one. These debates are largely devoid of substance anyway. Additionally, ridicule and satire have long been powerful political and social tools, and people rushing out to make tumblrs and facebook groups and whatnot shows an active and engaged citizenry.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 08:03 AM) This is probably the best post in the history of filibuster. This board should be closed and every post that comes after it should be deleted, beginning with this one. seconded edit: quick question, why is the buster one of the only subforums that doesn't ever delete anything? I went looking for an older thread on camping/hiking in SLaM and found it only went back several weeks.

QUOTE (Jake @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 08:02 AM) I doubt he broke the rules, but it clearly looks like he went with the tackling method most likely to injure rather than most likely to tackle the QB. Luckily for him, he's so immensely talented that he pretty much always gets you down no matter how he goes after you. Also, Jay Cutler is easily the toughest son of a b**** we've had behind center since I've started watching the Bears. I do recall a delirious Chris Chandler trying to take snaps at one point, though Bruised ribs are a b****, Jay's going to be hurting today. When I bruised my ribs (and broke one) playing flag football ( ) two years ago, I didn't even really feel it until the next day. Took about a month to get back to normal.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 07:52 AM) I know most people here are Bears fans, but the calls of the Suh play being dirty is hilarious. It wasn't a dirty play, but he is a dirty player.

I appreciate that the Obama campaign has its own lulz crew: http://cavalrymenforromney.com/

well he could have started with basic geography of the region: Iran's potential impact on the Strait of Hormuz, where a good chunk of the world's oil supply floats through, is a serious concern for any policy towards Iran.