StrangeSox

Do we elect individuals or parties?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 19, 2012 -> 09:14 AM) I love when Science Fiction is too fictiony. Suspending belief within the rules of the fictional universe is one thing, but story and universe inconsistency are another.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 09:15 AM) I actually do, if the candidate didn't qualify to be on the ballot, which it was ruled that he didn't - the party he ran with shouldn't benefit from the fraud. The indiana court overturned that part of the ruling

Blasting the latest Sleigh Bells while setting up my new PC build

Well the laws keep coming fast and strong so I don't know if it's really dwindling.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 12:12 PM) And those are some pretty socially conservative states. That said, in many states that are not deep south or Oklahoma, watch what happens in the 2012 elections. The Republicans had a nice election in 2010, but have overreached all over the place, and that will hurt them in a lot of states that aren't in that category. Places like Oklahoma are just ass-backwards and will be that way for a long time. Which sucks for people living there. I don't entirely disagree with what you're saying here, but I think downplaying this as a fringe belief is mistaken. For a horrifying look at the reality of such laws, here's one woman's experience in Texas: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-ethics/2012/0...works-in-texas/

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 02:29 PM) Amazon tax fails to raise one cent That's just endorsing a race-to-the-bottom mentality, though. Amazon wanted to avoid having the products fairly and appropriately taxed, so they left the state for another that will let them offer lower prices by making it very easy for their customers to avoid paying the appropriate taxes (you're supposed to pay taxes on something bought online, but no one does). Rather than advocating against making businesses pay fair taxes instead of avoiding them, the author should be advocating for every state to adopt similar laws so that dishonest retailers can't avoid normal taxation.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 11:58 AM) Not all of society. Just the people in the evangelistic, religious right. The ones who have decided that freedom is a bad thing. They hold a lot of sway right now in some states, but fortunately, they are going to be routed out in November. Oklahoma passed a similar bill over the veto of the governor. Arizona is considering similar legislation. Virginia has their recent terrible law. Nebraska (iirc) has a lengthy waiting period law. Since the 2010 election, there's been an unprecedented attack on abortion access and women's health. Note that this was only mid-way through 2011 and the pace has not let up.

yup.

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 11:22 AM) I always prefer the party keeps the office. IMHO it is about as close to the voter's wishes as can be for that office. Only if the voters are electing a party and not a person. But I don't have a problem with this ruling.

Kansas has a great new anti-abortion law:

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 08:08 AM) As compared to motherjones.com? Not that I'm defending the Washington Examiner...having never bothered to read it. Yeah, since they're relying on the actual wording from the CBO instead of the dumb misrepresentations.

the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the lower court's ruling, so Daniels can pick a permanent replacement instead of it going to the Democratic candidate. http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/1...ed-voter-fraud/

The cost of PPACA has gone down, not up. http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/03/...s-gone-down-not From the CBO: I'm sure the Washington Examiner will be publishing a follow-up piece to keep with their high journalistic standards.

Corey Robin with a good piece examining just how terrible Arizona's proposed new law allowing employers to require employees prove birth control isn't being used for, well, birth control in order to have it covered by insurance is. http://coreyrobin.com/2012/03/14/birth-control-mccarthyism/

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 15, 2012 -> 11:21 PM) Obama has talked vaguely about tax reform. He has acknowledged the need for entitlement reform and major deficit reduction. But he has never thrown himself All In. He has never displayed an inner passion, a sense that these projects are his life mission, or a willingness to bear the pain that taking on these challenges necessarily entails. It will be interesting, over the course of this campaign, to see what’s underneath the cageyness. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, arouses Obama’s passion to go All In. David Brooks, NY Times lol David Brooks.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 15, 2012 -> 08:12 PM) The other thing that happened there is that the expansion with growing government spending was much stronger than the expansion without growing government spending. And this is not a coincidence. Bingo, that was the point of the graph.

It's not a normal school but a school for special needs or something along those lines.

Some of Kony's actual victims speak up: http://tumblr.thedailywh.at/post/192959107...e-victims-speak

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 14, 2012 -> 07:00 AM) Point 1. No he doesn't. He's gotten this far without one, why put together specifics that people can attack? Mitt Romney's economic plan doesn't have enough specifics that its impact on tax revenues/deficits can be evaluated, why should Santorum do m ore than that? Secondly, it's nice to see Tom Freidman continue to write articles that could come verbatim out of President Obama's state of the Union Addresses while pretending that somehow he's this wise centrist and both parties would oppose him on them. And to write that article without indicating anything about which party thinks that 1 dollar of tax increases for $4 in deficit reduction is socialism, or which party thinks that infrastructure spending is socialism. Friedman really is fantastic at writing articles bemoaning the lack of a centrist third party that is 90% the standard democratic platform.

It literally started out as a recruiting film.

I sucks to lose one of the truly liberal members of Congress, but I don't really know that he was very effective in shaping policy, pulling discourse leftward or getting anything major done.