The Democrat Thread

[lostfan]

Eh that doesn't really strike me as that offensive

 

edit: Doesn't Hu Jintao speak English? I kind of thought all Chinese people did when they had that much rank or influence.

Edited January 19, 2011 by lostfan

[lostfan]

There is almost no difference between Tea Party views and regular Republicans.

Been saying this since 2009 when I first found out about the Tea Party.

[Balta1701]

Been saying this since 2009 when I first found out about the Tea Party.

I get people here very angry when I say that.

[lostfan]

I get people here very angry when I say that.

It's not even a controversial statement.

[iamshack]

I'd say we're not. In general, in terms of hours work, we work our ass off.

Hmm, I can understand if you think people work long hours in this country, but as a workforce, many, many more of us now work office jobs, sitting in front of a computer, doing clerical work or some kind of analysis. I don't want to get into the idea of whether this is truly "lazy" or not, but it is not the type of work that burns calories very effectively.

 

We used to have a lot more manufacturing and manual labor-intensive positions, and this is where our eating habits were developed. Americans ate whatever they wanted to because they could - the energy expended in doing their jobs required vast intakes of calories.

 

So we are still eating this way but not working the way Americans did in the past, and thus, the obesity, the heart-disease, etc.

 

Whether you want to call that lazy or not, the point is there is no need, in fact, we cannot afford to continue the eating habits we have as a nation, because we simply don't expend the calories working that Americans did in the past.

[StrangeSox]

Also, massive corn subsidies leading to high fructose corn syrup in most foods on store shelves.

[southsider2k5]

It's not even a controversial statement.

 

I feel like it is a statement clouded in ignorance and convenient stereotypes, but honestly, for the most part I quit arguing about it, because that is exactly how most discussions go. My actual experiences aren't going to change anyone else's judgments from afar.

[lostfan]

The way you react is so disproportional to what I said. You made it sound like I use the word "Republican" as if it was the N-bomb or something.

 

Show me the top 5 - hell, top 10 Tea Party principles on things like taxes, the Constitution, limited government, and property rights (as given in speeches, op-eds, TV appearances, essays, literature, political endorsements, and any other effort to publicize the movement, and not one person's opinion on what it means to them) and I will show you the Republican Party since at least 1980.

 

It's like if you took the things that are most important to the Dems right now (f***, I don't even know what they are at the moment because the party is such a clusterf*** and actually managed to push some of those items off the agenda recently... public option, cap and trade, consumer protection, immigration reform, equal rights for gays?) and called it something else.

[southsider2k5]

The way you react is so disproportional to what I said. You made it sound like I use the word "Republican" as if it was the N-bomb or something.

 

Show me the top 5 - hell, top 10 Tea Party principles on things like taxes, the Constitution, limited government, and property rights (as given in speeches, op-eds, TV appearances, essays, literature, political endorsements, and any other effort to publicize the movement, and not one person's opinion on what it means to them) and I will show you the Republican Party since at least 1980.

 

It's like if you took the things that are most important to the Dems right now (f***, I don't even know what they are at the moment because the party is such a clusterf*** and actually managed to push some of those items off the agenda recently... public option, cap and trade, consumer protection, immigration reform, equal rights for gays?) and called it something else.

 

I could take a few things that the Democrats have in their platform, picks some random Al Qaeda sect, and call them the same thing. That doesn't make it true.

[lostfan]

I could take a few things that the Democrats have in their platform, picks some random Al Qaeda sect, and call them the same thing. That doesn't make it true.

What the hell are you talking about? You're not making any type of sense. Did I compare Republicans to al-Qaeda or something?

[southsider2k5]

What the hell are you talking about? You're not making any type of sense. Did I compare Republicans to al-Qaeda or something?

 

The art of cherry-picking that Balta seems to have perfected.

[lostfan]

The art of cherry-picking that Balta seems to have perfected.

Oh I thought you were talking about what I just said, nevermind.

[StrangeSox]

Republicans:Tea Party::Democrats:Al Qaeda

 

So comparing any group to the Tea Party is just as bad as comparing them to Al Qaeda. Which says a lot for the tea party.

[Balta1701]

Really....no....no....no...just stop already.

[BigSqwert]

Really....no....no....no...just stop already.

Ugh

[bmags]

i believe godwin's law should apply to goebbels

[Balta1701]

i believe godwin's law should apply to goebbels

It doesn't?

[bmags]

It doesn't?

 

I thought it was hitler exclusive.

[CrimsonWeltall]

I thought it was hitler exclusive.

 

I think it's anything Nazi.

[Balta1701]

We're getting some more details about that bomb found in Oregon on MLK day. The quote here is more than a little worrisome.

A bomb left along the route of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade was sophisticated, with a remote detonator and the ability to cause many casualties, an official familiar with the case said Wednesday.

 

The bomb, which was defused without incident on Monday, was the most potentially destructive he had ever seen, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information about the investigation.

 

"They haven't seen anything like this in this country," the official said. "This was the worst device, and most intentional device, I've ever seen."

[Balta1701]

Link

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, will announce a five-year plan on Thursday to make thousands of its packaged foods lower in unhealthy salts, fats and sugars, and to drop prices on fruits and vegetables.

 

The initiative came out of discussions the company has been having with Michelle Obama, the first lady, who will attend the announcement in Washington and has made healthy eating and reducing childhood obesity the centerpiece of her agenda. Aides say it is the first time Mrs. Obama has thrown her support behind the work of a single company.

 

The plan, similar to efforts by other companies and to public health initiatives by New York City, sets specific targets for lowering sodium, trans fats and added sugars in a broad array of foods — including rice, soups, canned beans, salad dressings and snacks like potato chips — packaged under the company’s house brand, Great Value.

 

In interviews previewing the announcement, Wal-Mart and White House officials said the company was also pledging to press its major food suppliers, like Kraft, to follow its example. Wal-Mart does not disclose how much of its sales come from its house brand. But Kraft says about 16 percent of its global sales are through Wal-Mart.

 

In addition, Wal-Mart will work to eliminate any extra cost to customers for healthy foods made with whole grains, said Leslie Dach, Wal-Mart’s executive vice president for corporate affairs. By lowering prices on fresh fruits and vegetables, Wal-Mart says it will cut into its own profits but hopes to make up for it in sales volume. “This is not about asking the farmers to accept less for their crops,” he said.

 

The changes will be introduced slowly, over a period of five years, to give the company time to overcome technical hurdles and to give consumers time to adjust to foods’ new taste, Mr. Dach said. “It doesn’t do you any good to have healthy food if people don’t eat it.”

[Balta1701]

As part of its efforts to fill its budget gap without tax hikes, Arizona has gone from letting people die because they couldn't get an organ transplant (casualties; at laest a couple) to instead cutting back significantly on Medicaid. The reason why I might find this latter move ironic?

Cutting 5,200 “seriously mentally ill individuals” from Medicaid would lower spending by $79.8 million. The governor proposed $10.3 million in prescription-drug funding to offset the eliminated coverage.

I for one can't think of anything that could go wrong there.

[bmags]

Link

 

I will applaud progress where it's made.

[StrangeSox]

Continuing the budget cuts talk from the ® thread,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews

 

Republicans are at work on a new resolution to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Ryan's approach would require cuts of about 15 percent at agencies other than the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security. The Republican Study Committee plan, by contrast, would reduce most agency budgets by about 30 percent.

 

According to Democratic estimates, cuts of that magnitude - if applied across the board - would require the Justice Department to fire 4,000 FBI agents and 1,500 agents at the Drug Enforcement Administration. The federal prison system would have to fire 5,700 correctional officers, the Agriculture Department would have to cut about 3,000 food safety inspectors, and the Head Start early-childhood education program would be forced to cut about 389,000 children from its rolls...

 

In addition to its demand for immediate reductions, the study committee recommended cutting more than $2.5 trillion in spending over the next decade by firing 15 percent of the federal workforce and returning to 2006 spending levels for non-defense agencies starting in 2012.

 

The plan targets a long list of programs for elimination, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, Amtrak and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

 

In addition, the plan proposes to cut off payments to the District - about $210 million a year - that compensate for burdens placed on the city by the federal government, such as the need for an extra police presence during major political events, and revenue lost because vast tracts of federal land are not taxed. It would also eliminate a $150 million repair budget approved for the Washington area's Metro system.

 

So, at least in the House, Republicans are again exempting a large portion of the budget from any serious consideration. Cuts will be in domestic programs, probably those that can least afford to be cut.

[NorthSideSox72]

Continuing the budget cuts talk from the ® thread,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews

 

 

 

So, at least in the House, Republicans are again exempting a large portion of the budget from any serious consideration. Cuts will be in domestic programs, probably those that can least afford to be cut.

And more importantly, they are targeting the programs that will have the least overall effect. Social Security, Defense, Medicare, Medicaid and Interest on Debt make up something like 85% of the federal budget - and they apparently don't plan on touching those.

 

This is where the cries from much of the Congressional Republicans - who by they way bear much of the burden of this debt with their own actions - for being concerned about deficits and debt are utter bulls***.

 

If you really want this to work, you have to cut Defense spending significantly (by cancelling or reducing silly programs within it and by getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan), address the Social Security burden (for example, by lifting the regressive Soc Sec tax cap, and raising the retirement age), reform Medicare and Medicaid (which is one of the parts of the Health Care Bill that actually was good), and start looking at eliminating or re-tooling programs not based on political liking but on pure efficiency. Further more, close the carried interest income and trading-for-a-living loopholes in the income tax code. Finally, they need to look at how that 15% domestic variable spending slice is used and try to re-target the spending in areas that result in actual job growth.

 

Doing all of that would be a real, actual solution. Neither party seems willing to do these things.