StrangeSox

There was some crazy lady a couple of years ago that intentionally smeared peanut butter on her kid's backpack after the school instituted a peanut butter ban because one of the students was severely allergic.

The "both sides" argument really isn't historically valid, not with this current iteration of Congress. Like lostfan said, the use of the filibuster is unprecedented and we routinely see bills fail with 50+ votes in favor.

The DoJ Inspector General released his report on the Fast and Furious scandal this week. Fast And Furious Report Destroys Right Wing Conspiracy Theories

Yeah the "both sides!" nonsense is pretty annoying.

Seems like I'm always going against people having a fantastic week. Already down 27 points thanks to Brown

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 20, 2012 -> 04:56 PM) If you're fine bailing out people who purposefully (or negligently) f*** up and lose everything and the only thing that matters is the economics, than you might as well get rid of the bankruptcy system and step in and pay for the employees of poorly run businesses to keep their jobs and for the businesses to continue operation because their net effect is probably more than the cost of helping them out. According to Balta, bailing out GM was actually a net positive, so why not extend that logic to every business? Why not pay off my student loans so I have more money to spend in other parts of the economy (which will eventually make more than the cost of paying off my loans)? That doesn't flow from "the economy is not a moral reward/punishment system." I'd rather the Fed Reserve send you checks to pay down your student loans and mortgages than to send checks to banks to buy MBS's. Indefinitely? No, but until we actually recover and get to full employment.

It's not a video but a letter. when you click the link, soxtalk changes "f***" to, well, "f***" in the address bar. change out those asterisks to the appropriate letters.

Cigarette smoking rates have been declining steadily for a long time.

From a Black Man to Mitt Romney: f*** You

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 20, 2012 -> 08:36 AM) By this logic there should never be bankruptcy, the gov't should just step in and pay everyone off. That's bunk and you know it. Morality has nothing to do with it, just like government should have nothing to do with fixing other people's egregious errors. Can you lay out in more detail how "the economy isn't a moral game" leads to "there should be no bankruptcies"

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2012 -> 07:49 AM) This is the exact platform of our President. Not exactly but yeah I think him and the rest of the neoliberal technocrat Dems buy into "markets as an external moral force"

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 20, 2012 -> 01:30 PM) We all made it through school eating peanut butter...kids that were allergic to it...well, they just didn't eat it. As far as I'm aware, it's a lot more prevalent and more severe these days than it used to be, like a lot of other allergies.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Sep 20, 2012 -> 01:29 PM) I've heard of schools banning it completely so that other kids can't even bring a PB&J sandwich from home. Because kids are disgusting, especially with peanut butter, and the likelihood of them getting peanut butter on a desk, door handle or anything else a kid with peanut allergies might touch is about 100%.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 20, 2012 -> 11:02 AM) I think his point was that instead of giving kids with nut allergies something different than peanut butter, schools have decided to just not give peanut butter to anyone so that the kids with the allergy don't feel left out or different. That's not why they institute peanut butter bans. Even the residue can cause severe reactions for some people. Have you ever been on a flight when they're prepping it for someone with peanut allergies? The wipe down several rows around the seat that person is going to be sitting in because even a tiny amount can be deadly.

I don't remember our school having daddy-daughter dances.

Agreed, a great country and a great example why.

why can they never, ever seem to figure out Bruce Chen? He is not a good pitcher.

via

What Mitt Romney Doesn't Get About Responsibility

They got some laws passed to restrict protests.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 19, 2012 -> 05:00 PM) GM has about 75,000 direct, full time employees in the United States. If they pay, on average, $5000 in taxes total per year, a rate low for even people like Mitt Romney, then the U.S. government has received $15 billion in taxes solely from GM employees in the United States over that time period. And, conversely, they haven't been paying medicaid and food stamps and all the other aid an extra couple hundred thousand people would otherwise need.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 19, 2012 -> 04:54 PM) "At a 14 billion+ loss to the American people and a boon to my reelection chances because I pandered to the auto unions." The collapse of the us auto industry would have done far more damage than 14b.

You know what would be great for students? A completey disgruntled workforce and Rahm with no checks.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Sep 19, 2012 -> 05:31 PM) or if you lose your house because you can't afford the massive tax increase on it to pay some teacher 100K a year to work half the year. That is your fault you lazy, irresponsible moocher!

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 19, 2012 -> 04:42 PM) People shouldn't be rewarded for being stupid. The banks shouldn't have been bailed out, and these idiots should have lost their homes. We're not talking about people 2 years away from owning their home outright. We're talking about idiots that took on a 30 ARM with a balloon payment a few years down the line that was way more than they could afford. They don't deserve to keep their home. Your desire to see bad people punished, to make the economy a morality play hurts everyone.