– Oh, that kind of marriage equality.
– I didn’t know anything about the story of the story KIRO ran about the Leschi custodian. But the response from the Washington News Council makes me glad there’s at least some type of accountability.
– The Interurban Trail in Edmonds.
– Another 36th District debate.
– How have you been celebrating National Pollinator Week?
Manufacturing, Jobs Reports Add Up to More Bad News
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 380,000 last week. The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, increased 3,500 to 386,250 — the highest level since early December.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47902094
OPINIONJune 20, 2012, 7:19 p.m. ET
Rove: Romney Shrinks the Campaign Money Gap
Obama ads won’t dominate the airwaves like they did in 2008.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....inion_main
Economy.
Jobs.
Economy.
Jobs.
Oh. And the money to keep hammering Obama on his record.
That’s freaking awesome.
Tough year for the unions.
They can’t even prevail on the minor issues:
COURT: UNION MUST GIVE FEE INCREASE NOTICE
AP 6/21/2012 2:12:50 PM
(AP) Court: Union must give fee increase notice
WASHINGTON
The Supreme Court says a union must give nonmembers an immediate chance to object to unexpected fee increases that all workers are required to pay in closed-shop situations.
The court on Thursday ruled for Dianne Knox and other nonmembers of the Service Employees International Union’s Local 1000, who wanted to object and opt out of a $12 million special assessment the union required from its California public sector members. Knox and others said the union did not give them a legally required notice that the increase was coming.
The union, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said the annual notice that the union gives was sufficient. The high court disagreed in a 7-2 judgment written by Justice Samuel Alito.
And, most notably:
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg agreed with the judgment but wrote their own opinion. “When a public-sector union imposes a special assessment intended to fund solely political lobbying efforts, the First Amendment requires that the union provide non-members an opportunity to opt out of the contribution of funds,” Sotomayor wrote.
Ouch. If thuggish force is out the window, what can the unions do to further their agendas?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....1-10-12-54
Which is exactly what you’d expect the challenger to an incumbent president to be doing right now. It’s not good news for Obama, but all this stuff you keep posting is really not news.
And the Democrat horror that is the month of June trudges on, unabated:
U.S. Commerce Secretary John
Bryson Resigns After Medical Leave
Bloomberg News, by William McQuillen Original Article
U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson resigned, less than two weeks after he was treated for a seizure following a series of minor traffic accidents.
I’m sure that what Obama wants most is a Senate confirmation hearing about the economy and the role of the Obama administration in aiding business, just before the Fall campaign, or maybe even during it.
Well, it’s what I want most, anyway.
@ 5
but all this stuff you keep posting is really not news.
Just a curiosity, Michael:
Have you ever made that point to RR?
I suppose the other thing I could say is that the post you reference does include the word ‘opinion’ right near the top, so that you wouldn’t get the idea it was a news item.
It might be newsworthy if I pointed out that Obama has taken in $30M less than he did in 2008 at this point in the election cycle, but I’d have to find the link.
I guess cleaning up the voter rolls isn’t such a bad idea, if you’re the average Floridian:
Most voters approve of governor’s purge, poll says
By Brent Kallestad, The Associated Press
6:20 a.m. EST, June 20, 2012
Three out of five Florida voters say they favor Gov. Rick Scott’s effort to purge potential non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls, a poll released Wednesday showed.
The survey of 1,697 Florida voters by Quinnipiac (Conn.) University showed 60 percent in favor and 35 percent opposed to the governor’s attempts.
That’s nearly 2-1 in favor of what Gov. Scott is doing.
Anyone still think that FL is going blue this year?
Romney could tap Portman for VP and probably bag OH because of it. PA would lean further red (OK, less blue) with that pick as well.
Or, he could tap Pawlenty and have a decent shot at tipping MN, MI, WI, and IA into the red column with that choice.
Meanwhile, he’ll still have Rubio to hammer away at the immigration issue.
Of course, all that has to be weighed against Obama’s secret weapon: Joe Biden.
Speaking of Commerce Secretary, I think this would increase the number of nominees to, what, four? during Obama’s term.
Senator Gregg was the first. When he found out that Obama wanted to take the Census out of Commerce and put it somewhere that would open it up to politicization, Gregg saw the light and backed out.
Governor/Congressman/Ambassador/Secretary/Secretary Richardson was next. Or, Judas, as Carville likes to call him. That didn’t last long. He had a shady past in NM and he was going to be investigated. He’s now under a second investigation. And then there’s always the chance he might have been drafted by Major League Baseball, and lost to the A’s.
Then Gary Locke. Locke’s now Ambassador to China. He wasn’t there long enough to make an impact although this may have been Obama’s best selection.
Now Bryson.
Next up……..
In keeping with the Obama tradition, giving this position to someone who has zero business experience would make the most sense. Commerce Secretary Cindy Sheehan?
Have a good day, all.
Mitt Romney to Rick Scott: Hush up about Florida’s dropping unemployment
HAHAHAHAAHAHAAA!!!
From kos, but reported elsewhere as well…
Clearly, a failing US economy is Rmoney’s best friend. You can easily see how this leads directly to Republican, treasonous, sabotage of the economy.
Reminds one of the October Surprise in 1980, in which Bob Casey undermined Carter and dealt with the Iranians…
Bob can spin spin spin all day long, and post the Rovian talking points du jour, but I’d rather be a Democrat this year, or any year really, than a “stinkin’ Republican” as my grandfather used to say, bless his immigrant, union-member soul.
That would be a vast improvement over Attorney General Gonzalez, or HAHAHAHA, Supreme Court appointee Hariet Miers.
Justice Miers? Really, that was proposed….see what happens when you elect Republicans.
They HATE government, and it shows.
@12
Good point about Harriet Miers.
Appointing your friends isn’t generally a good idea.
Eric Holder is an excellent example of that as well, BTW.
LOL… No, actually I haven’t.
The point I was trying to make, and maybe didn’t do so well, is that presidential elections tend to follow a pattern and what’s going on right now fits the pattern.
@15
Yeah, that point didn’t really come out in your earlier post. Maybe I missed it.
Nope, I didn’t.
If you mean close elections and swings of poll data from one side to the other, I agree.
Trying to think of the last election that occurred with a slowly sliding economy. 2008, 2004, 1996 are out. 2000 was but we didn’t know it at the time (March 2000 was the peak). 1992, maybe. It was recovering but people didn’t believe it enough to retain GHWB41.
Or am I still not following you?
From that noted right-wing rag, the Detroit Free Press:
Wayne County taxpayers on hook for $600M as generous pensions drain fund
Today, the Wayne plan is sending checks to 5,627 employees while only 2,282 workers are paying into the pension.
The pension liability is among many hurdles for the county as it heads into a new budget cycle facing a $155-million cumulative deficit, falling revenues and rising costs.
The funding shortfall exists despite a tenfold increase in the county’s contributions to the plan.
http://www.freep.com/article/2.....CFRONTPAGE
Things that cannot go on forever, don’t.
Hariet Miers was a sideshow – emblematic, but a farce.
Alberto “George Bush’s Real Estate Lawyer” Gonzalez was an unmitigated disaster, a deceptive, smarmy, enalbing lackey as Attorney General.
After AG the AG, Republicans should be muzzled about any Democratic Attorney General for at least a decade.
From the Wikipedia article on Alberto Gonzalez:
Illustrious career.
@ 18
Don’t forget that Holder’s career included that objective pardon of Marc Rich.
Since we’re going back a few years.
@ 17
I suppose I could also talk about Janet Reno.
@16
Wanye County population:
1960: 2,666,297
1970: 2,666,751
1980: 2,337,891
1990: 2,111,687
2000: 2,061,162
2010: 1,820,584
They should have already gone bankrupt, Detroit too.
@19
Give it your best shot.
She has nothing on the mendacity, the sheer dishonestly, the wheedling, the politicization and degradation of the law enforcement apparatus of this country that was presided over by smirking chimp’s smirking sidekick.
What do you call an enabling sidekick of a chimp?
I can’t get enough of Cereal’s wingnut talking points. They were so informative, that I hope that you repeat them endlessly.
Even if someone proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that your point is untrue, repeat it again in thirty seconds as if you were Zippy the Pinhead and the world was perpetually new.
The median income in America is $51,914.
Ronney got a $77,000 tax deduction on his wife’s horse, yet claims the rich pay too much in taxes.
Nothing to see here folks:
http://www.businessinsider.com.....lub-2012-6
Just a cheap date..
Farm bill passed the Senate.
So much for that ‘GOP obstructs everything’ line you libbies spew. A lot of bipartisan effort here.
Oh my! Here’s another talking point for Mitt (R-Money):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html
This is not how it’s supposed to work.. Insurance companies are supposed to fleece people and KEEP their ill gotten gains.. For “job creation”…
Mitt will set this right I’m sure..
What’s the median tax bill, NTfF?
Hint: the median is 50%. 47% pay nothing in federal income taxes.
Please compare your answer to Romney’s tax obligation.
Gov Skeletor (the Medicare criminal),
Shhhhhhh.. be vewy, vewy, quiet… Othawize Pwesident Obama will get cwedit fow the wecovewing economy..
http://www.businessweek.com/ne.....-job-gains
http://www.boston.com/politica.....story.html
Ooops.. He “misspoke”..
I wish we could fast forward to 2013-2014 with a new President and a crumbling economy. The only way that this doesn’t happen is if they go against everything they say they want to do. Bunch of hypocrites and bigots and crying teabaggers. Their only goal is to instill Social values, they have no other agenda, except to keep themselves rich.
I have no problem with same-sex marriages. Eventually we’ll have it available here in the US. It’s just a matter of time.
There will be some interesting affects on taxes, though. Gay couples and lesbian couples will qualify for the unlimited marital deduction when it comes to estate taxation. That could affect government funding somewhat. There are other tax laws that will come into play. It’ll be very interesting to see how same-sex marriage affects our society when it comes to taxes.
1.7 billion in revenue??? Damn! That’s good bidness:
http://www.propublica.org/arti.....try/single
And we all pay for it.
@29
The guy who touts being in secret meetings doesn’t think the Obama Admin is being open enough. That’s rich.
Uhhhh. This is fucking illegal…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html
Wake up FEC… Do your job..
Awful lotta money spent to defend ‘safe’ states, so early in the campaign. Maybe Obama’s likelihood of re-election is something less than 99.2%.
Financial disclosure reports released this week indicate that Romney’s Cold War strategy may be working. Obama spent $34 million on ads last month, a staggering sum so early in the election that did nothing but keep the incumbent from sinking further in the polls amid a painfully slow economic recovery. And while the campaign ran at a $5.4 million deficit in May, they just announced a new ad buy that includes defending two states — Pennsylvania and Nevada — that they previously deemed to be leaning in their direction.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckayc.....feat-obama
http://www.whatmittpays.com/
Single@50K Tax Rate 23%
Married No kids@50K Tax Rate 19%
Married With Kids@50K Tax Rate 13%
Mitt Romney’s Personal Rate 13.9%
Single@75K Tax Rate 26%
Married No kids@75K Tax Rate 21%
Married With Kids@75K Tax Rate 17%
Mitt Romney’s Personal Rate 13.9%
@1 Go ahead, try to blame Obama, this has nothing to do with trade-surplus nations suppressing domestic consumption that would otherwise boost U.S. export trade, or China and Japan manipulating their currencies to our disadvantage, or anything like that. Would a more aggressively “America First!” national leader improve our situation? Probably not, because then you set off tariff and trade wars of the sort that helped drag the world into the Great Depression. We need an intelligent and rational navigator to steer us through the highly complex economic shoals our country is in now, not a jingoistic and bombastic idealogue of the sort the GOP is serving up to us. We’re in a dangerous economic situation and there’s not much margin for error. Major policy mistakes of the sort we routinely get from GOP politicians likely would be very costly not only for America’s middle class and workers (whom Republicans don’t care about), but also the rich as well, who have the most to lose from a drastic plunge in the value of business, real estate, and financial assets.
@ 23, 27
NTfF, I didn’t ask what the rate was. I asked what the bill is.
What was the dollar amount Romney paid in taxes in the year of the deduction you reference?
What is the dollar amount of federal income taxes paid by the median wage-earner in the same year.
There’s a difference. A big one.
Check out this video, it’s hysterical. Scott Walker gets Honey Badger’d.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ti.....52742.html
Serves Walker right
@35
Actually, Mitt doesn’t have a hell of a lot to show for all his spending. Things look about the way you’d think they’d look with someone challenging an incumbent president at about this point in the campaign.
I can’t wait for all your breathless reports after the Republican convention about Mitt being up in the polls .
Don’t forget, thats on a $20 million/year income, which is anyone knows about so far. I’d be willing to believe that it could be twice that, being foreign investments that aren’t required to be declared as the money isn’t taxed unless it is brought into the country. Nobody knows how much he has in his Swiss and Cayman Island bank accounts. he hasn’t had to report it, nor divulge the sources of it.
That is his tax rate before deductions. He can deduct his “charity” gifts (tithing), which is supposed to be 10% of income. He can deduct the depreciation on his corporate holdings, so he loses no money when he shutters a factory and moves the production to China or Mexico, which he’s done many times over the last 20 years.
See, if you’re a multimillionaire, or have a multi-million dollar income, the banks and the government will bend over backwards to see you keep that fortune. Rmoney isn’t working for anyone but the 1% of the wealthiest people in the country. All he has to do is convince the rubes to vote for him.
re 27: Your talking point about 47% of people not paying any federal income tax is false.
There are more federal taxes paid than what is witheld on your paycheck. People who ‘don’t pay any federal taxes’ are simply using the same deductions that millionnaires and billionnaires who don’t pay taxes use. Why shouldn’t they?
AND, my 2008 tax table states that there is $1 of federal income tax on $5. Do 47% of wage earners earn less tha 5$?
Obama & Biden cannot even manage those who are supposed to guard them. Incompetence abounds.
I’m tardy getting on HA this morning because I’ve been watching the stock market sell off this morning. The Dow’s 244-point plunge today isn’t very significant because stocks are merely yo-yo-ing up and down, and we’re not setting new lows at this point. Despite what looks like a large nominal decline in stocks, the market is only giving up recent gains, and most stocks are still priced within the stagnant trading range that has existed for several months now.
Far more interesting and significant is crude oil’s nosedive from $110/bbl earlier this spring to $78/bbl today. (This is th WTI, not Brent, price.) Oil is down another $3 today and has finally broken below $80. This is different from stocks, because crude IS experiencing a meltdown. It reflects oil traders’ expectations of lower demand due to weakening economies around the globe, especially due to Europe falling into recession and slowing Chinese growth.
You are going to see MUCH lower gasoline prices this summer heading into the election. It won’t happen instantly, as it takes a couple months for lower crude prices to reach the pump, as refiners and marketers will pass through to consumers the higher prices they paid for oil now working its way through the distribution system. But spot and future oil prices are diving and retail gasoline prices will follow. In other words, don’t let the big numbers in the indexes fool you into thinking this is a market meltdown, because it’s not.
This will deprive the GOP of their hoped-for gas-price issue just as voters head for the polls. Bad news for the GOP. But more importantly for ordinary Americans, lower gas prices along with falling mortgage rates will put more disposable cash in consumers’ pockets, which will help households and individuals cope with debt and maybe even spend a little more — which would give the economy a bit of a boost and possibly prompt small businesses to hire a bit more. Lower oil prices and mortgage rates have many ripple effects, although the benefit of declining mortgage rates will be muted by homebuying being constrained by tight inventory in starter homes and refinancing being constrained by tighter lending standards — we’re not looking for a dramatic upswing in the economy here, only incremental improvements.
Overall, the global economic outlook is worsening. The U.S. is probably the brightest economic spot in the world right now, as our economy is improving (albeit sluggishly) while nearly everyone else’s is slipping. That’s going to make it much tougher for Romney to argue that Obama’s economy policies blew it and Obama has done a lousy job of leading us out of the Bush Depression. Romney will try to make that argument, but it isn’t a rationale fact-based argument, it won’t ring true to reality-based voters, and it won’t gain traction as the campaign progresses. Plus, Obama will be able to take him apart with facts and figures in the debates.
correction @44: The last sentence of the third paragraph belongs at the end of the first paragraph. The misplacement of this sentence was caused by the difficulties of using HA’s edit function — the cursor jumps around inside the editing window. The first paragraph of #44 should read:
“I’m tardy getting on HA this morning because I’ve been watching the stock market sell off this morning. The Dow’s 244-point plunge today isn’t very significant because stocks are merely yo-yo-ing up and down, and we’re not setting new lows at this point. Despite what looks like a large nominal decline in stocks, the market is only giving up recent gains, and most stocks are still priced within the stagnant trading range that has existed for several months now. In other words, don’t let the big numbers in the indexes fool you into thinking this is a market meltdown, because it’s not.”
@43 It’s not their job to manage them. Obama and Biden are top-level policymakers, not small-agency first-line supervisors.
The Secret Service obviously has some problems and the primary responsibility of straightening them out falls upon the agency head. These problems were largely inherited by the current agency management.
It’s now painfully obvious hiring mistakes were made by this agency during the previous administration, when many of the agency’s current early-career and mid-career agents were hired. Past mistakes will be corrected and the hiring process will be improved now that a more competent administration is leading our government.
@ 40
I can’t wait for all your breathless reports after the Republican convention about Mitt being up in the polls .
I figured I would just cut and paste anything written about Obama by Rujax, and substitute Romney’s name. Will save me a lotta time.
@ 42
OK. Then let’s look at all of the money that is paid by Romney and his family for various fees, taxes, assessments, etc., BEFORE he ends up with a taxable income line-item.
We’ll include gross corporate income taxes paid before dividends are paid out to shareholders.
You play that game and it works to your disadvantage. Start adding up the shit I mentioned, beginning with a corporate rate of 35%,and you’ll see how.
Nice try.
@47 It’ll spare you from having to engage in any intelligent thinking, too.
Yeah, it’s 2008 all over again:
“We don’t like what he’s doing, but we understand it,” says one Hollywood fund-raising insider. “He has to raise the money. It’s a bad situation.”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.c.....ign-339410
Hey Cereal –
Never got your answer to this one:
You claim you have work responsibilities.
Is it your job to post right wing propaganda on leftist blogs all day?
Or are you ripping off your employer by spending all your time on HA when you should be working?
Has to be one or the other … unless you were lying about having a job in the first place.
@ 49
Actually, RR, I’m spared having to use any real neuronal power any time I interact with you.
Typing out something so you’ll understand it is like reading Babar the Elephant to a six-year old.
@ 51
What if I’m the guy who signs the checks and meets the payroll for others?
Life isn’t black and white.
In Orange County, California, where nearly everyone is a Republican, an attorney couple angry at a PTA president tried to frame the woman by planting drugs and drug paraphernalia in her car and then calling the police. They didn’t get away with it. If convicted of the felony charges against them, these thirty-something lawyers will lose their licenses to practice law.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....r-son?lite
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Trying to blame someone else for a crime you committed, or frame him/her with a crime that didn’t happen, is one of the lowest things a human being can do to another person, short of torture and murder. What these lawyers tried to do is send an innocent person to prison, and destroy her livelihood and reputation, as revenge for a minor slight against their child. Thanks to great police work, it backfired, and they will go to prison, lose their livelihoods and reputations, and — not least — their voting rights. Sweet justice! But why are people who live in Republican Counties such jerks? It must be a social environment that breeds dishonesty and arrogance.
@53 What if I’m the customer who brings the money into your business in the first place? I’m more responsible for their jobs than you are.
re 48: We’re not the uninformed shmoes like over at uSP. The 35% corporate tax rate is not the actual tax rate paid after the loopholes are applied.
Countries that ostensibly have lower corporate tax rates than the U.S. have also closed all the loopholes. There is current legislation here that is being opposed by Republicans that lowers the corporate tax rate to 17% with a concomitant closing of the tax loopholes.
Your blather is BS. Everyone at this blog knows the facts, so who is your audience?
That’s called thinking several steps ahead, and seems to elude ‘check writer’ bob.
They must have let Politically Incorrect start posting comments again at uSP
How can Cereal state with such certainty the taxes Romney pays when Romney won’t release his tax returns?
@ 55
OK, you’re the one responsible for me being online here, then. Happy?
that whole recall defeat is still stinging ya, isnt it….
@48 “a corporate rate of 35%”
You sure are an ignorant fuck. Nobody pays the nominal corporate rate of 35%. Nobody. Many big companies pay zero, zip, nada. If your company is paying 35% you need a better tax accountant. It’s utterly implausible that a business shark like Romney pays anywhere near the taxes you describe. People like him not only dodge federal taxes but also know how to play all the state and local tax angles, too. You’re peddling a fantasy.
@52 “I’m spared having to use any real neuronal power any time I interact with you.”
It shows.
“Typing out something so you’ll understand it is like reading Babar the Elephant to a six-year old.”
As someone whose understanding is at a six-year-old level, of course you wouldn’t be aware of higher level complexities, so everything will look six-year-old simple to you. That shows in your postings, too.
or rather, its all the copy/paste that you do kinda got messed up…
spoken like a true idiot who has no clue.
@64 For your information, none of @44/45 is copy and paste.
For anyone smarter than you, it’s easy to spot copy-and-pastes in my comments because I enclose them in quote marks (“”) followed by attribution or a link to the source, but given your extant intellectual capabilities I do understand why you struggle with differentiating sourced quotes from my original writing.
@13 Not to mention (shudder!) Rahm Emmanuel.
@66
LOL…you are the king of copy/paste…embrace your reality.
Its easy to pick out- and nice try about the “I use quotations” meme…not.
@65 You’re too stupid to know an idiot when you see one.
(Been in front of a mirror lately?)
@68 Braying like a jackass doesn’t make your noise true.
Presented without comment:
http://news.yahoo.com/adopted-.....gAQNzQtDMD
pot, meet kettle.
@57 Do you get a feeling he’d be a lousy chess player?
its starting to look bad for Sandusky.
if found guilty, a simple .45 to back of the head is appropriate.
quick, easy, painless, elegant….and final.
@65 et al.: “idiot”
Instead of being so fucking lazy why don’t you go to an online thesaurus and spruce up your comments with some variety? You’re
too damn boring. Here are some suggestions:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idiot
Sheesh. What we put up with from our brain-dead trolls.
@74
That’s a waste of a perfectly good bullet. Use the back of an axe.
@74 Who cares? I’m not following that story. I have better things to do. Why are you posting about him? Is he running for Congress or do you have a sick fascination with child molesters?
Hey limp-dicked rabbit, then stop reading and responding.
You make a good point.
@72 Still braying like a jackass.
My guess is a jackass thinks (that’s not the right word) if he keeps braying another jackass will find him and he’ll have a mate.
its much more newsworthy than your stock/investment “advice”(insert laughter here).
why are you responding to it if its so irrelevant?
kettle, meet pot.
@78 Respond to what? Did you actually post something? Where?
losing track of your own conversation? holy shit, turn up your oxygen tank before you pass out!
@82 Rinse and repeat #80 as many times as it takes.
@84 Yeah, it does feel like I’m talking to myself. There’s no other intelligent life around here.
On that note, I have work to do. Later.
Those of us who feel like Obama has fucked us over now understand why:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-G.....-to-barack
Apparently we married him.
I find the breathless Sandusky trial reporting over the top.
Vastly worse was the systematic, decades-long, nation-a dn world-wide molestation of children, mostly boys, by Catholic priests – AND the systematic, relentless and aggressive cover-up perpetrated by the Church hierarchty.
That should color every bit of coverage of the Catholic bishops as they prattle on about the institutional sexism they defend as religious ‘liberty’. Particularly today, as those toads begin thier adorable ‘fortnight of freedom.
Blech!
61. who run Bartertown? spews:
Actually I’m a huge Scott Walker fan. I just posted my comment this way to suck the idiots into watching it. I know it worked!
@ 89
Good point.
Except that last part. The protest in question is a very valid First Amendment issue.
@88 Those of you who feel Obama has fucked you over have your heads up your asses. To the rest of us, he’s a welcome relief from 30 years of selfish GOP policies that have reamed 95% of the American people.
31, 69, 90: There’s something indescribably revolting about wingnuts sucking each other’s dicks. Maybe that’s just because I’m a hetero rabbit.
Why Shale Gas Is A Big Deal
Apart from the environmental concerns …
“Over the last four years, fracking, along with traditional drilling, has unlocked a staggering 3,400 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in North America, enough to supply U.S. consumers at current demand levels for more than 100 years, according to business and economic research firm IHS in Englewood, Colo.
“In its 2012 study, the group found that shale gas production alone will create some 1.5 million jobs by 2015, and 2.4 million by 2035. … The IHS study further concluded that the shale gas boom will continue to drive economic growth, receiving $3.2 trillion in cumulative investment between 2010 and 2035, and contributing $332 billion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.
“Earlier data from IHS concluded that shale gas contributed nearly $19 billion in tax and royalty revenue at the state, local and federal level in 2010, and that over the next 25 years that number could exceed $933 billion to fiscally strapped states, as well as the federal government.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47280026
93. Roger Rabbit spews:
Sounds like you are a homophobe who needs serious political correctness and sensitivity counseling. Or are you say 2 lefty’s sucking each other turns you on??
92. Roger Rabbit spews:
Dumb shit. Do you know how many people are even worse off than 3-1/2 years ago?? How insensitive you are about the 50% African-American Teen unemployment. Do you think the welfare addicts are really feeling “welcome relief”? I suspect they are just more numb to the lack of meaningful employment. It’s very, very sad to see the entitlement mentality and inability to work that is plaguing so many Americans. It’s also sad to see the class envy being perpetrating as if that will somehow get these chronically unemployed off the dole and into meaningful, self-sustaining employment.
You must think chronically unemployed people are too lazy & stupid to help themselves and that welfare ought to make them happy..happy enough to vote for the great 1/2Black hope?
No, people are not overjoyed except government Union slugs. Are you a government Union slug on pension Roger Rabbit? Seems like you must be. Totally out of touch with humanity and what folks really desire which is real hope.
you are pathetic.
re 96 “It’s very, very sad to see the entitlement mentality and inability to work that is plaguing so many Americans.”
Why are they called entitlements?
Not that anyone cares, or should …
Was unusually away from the news stream all day today while I had to work hard today to earn those large piles of greenbacks that make kicking back and commenting possible. :-)
Glad to see our recent troll was here. Dog forbid s/he was involved in what I am. Hard enuf already.
Generally today leaves me pessimistic about the future of our great republic.
As one “furiner” on my team commented,
‘I now understand why one in two people can still vote for Republicans after what they did to your country. You have many stupid and superstitious people in your country. Nearly 50% of your country would be dead in a year in the rest of the world.‘
As proud as I am, I could not argue.
Thank Dog I owned in the money PUTS yesterday.
Where’s my beer? bye…
@94. Roger Rabbit,
Know when I first heard about that Shale petro?
In the 1970s from that failed president Carter.
Good thing Reagan straighted us out.
/snark
re 98: ‘I now understand why one in two people can still vote for Republicans after what they did to your country. You have many stupid and superstitious people in your country. Nearly 50% of your country would be dead in a year in the rest of the world.‘
What really impresses me is when a reporter questions a rural African villager — and they speak English.
We are so fucking dumb here in the U.S.
ABSOLUTE bullshit.
I suspect the only reason you say so is that it is a meme being used to undermine the Obama administration.
Whatever your motivation, you’re absolutely wrong.
The Catholic church sees part of its mission to run hospitals. Great, good for them. They seem pretty good at that.
To run those hospitals they have to hire nurses, janitors, administrators, secretaries, lab technicians, parking lot attendants, radiology technicians – a whole host of necessary, valuable positions that they advertise for in the community and hire people from the community, not necessarily Catholic, according to and regulated by applicable laws.
In this role the Catholic Church has to follow workplace safety laws, minimum wage laws, medical and family leave laws. Their workplaces, these hospitals and associated ancillary and administrative facilities, are subject to inspection and regulation by both independent accreditation boards and state health, safety and hospital regulatory agencies.
MOREOVER, these hospitals are UTTERLY DEPENDENT on Medicare and Medicaid dollars. They don’t run them for free, no, essential to their operation are BILLIONS of dollars of our public money. Not only that, they are subject to very strict oversight and auditing by CMS, and if they don’t like what they find, the FBI follows right quick like.
So. In this mission of theirs, the Catholic Church is an employer in the public sphere, running a business, albeit not-for-profit, that hires people and engages in other activities that are within the regulatory purview of any number of government agencies.
Now, though, the Catholic Bishops, in their role as Republican shills, are demanding that their secular employees who are ladies, and further, who want medicine for their lady parts, must find some other way to access said medicine because…well, because, apparently lady parts makes baby Jeebus cry. Or something.
They want to designate that specific of their employees, for arbitrary reasons that God has told the Pope (former Nazi and head of the Office of Inquisition), that those employees are not entitled to full employment benefits, specifically full medical care. Those specific employees happen to be women. Men still get full medical benefits. See, it’s God’s will that they (keep on) treating women as second class citizens, they’ve been doing it for millennia.
First Amendment rights my ass.
So, thought question here (I know I’m going out on thin ice with you)…if the Mormon Church ran a hospital in 1965, before they recognized that African Americans were entitled to full rights within their congregations, and further, that this church was running a hospital for all comers, and billing insurances, including Medicaid and Medicare — would it be OK for this hospital to only consider hiring ni.., er, blah people.., er, African Americans only for janitorial positions, but never for administrators?
What’s the difference?
This is appropriate for this thread too…WITCH!! WITCH!! BURN HER!!!
Speaking of The Inquisition….fear, surprise and ruthless efficiency!!!
I like it when my honey “badgers” me! Oooooh great feeling.
The Catholic church also competes for state and federal dollars which are used to provide social services to the general community, not just Catholics. I’m not a Catholic and I’ve worked for Catholic Charitable Services. Working for CCS was just like working for any other social services provider. There was nothing inherently Catholic about it and 100% of the funding for the job that I did while working for CCS came from the state of Colorado.
The thing is, CCS competes with all sorts of other folks for state and federal dollars and now some folks in the Catholic Church think that they should have a different set of rules to operate under than everyone else that they’re competing against. Sorry, no. That’s not how it works.
http://nyti.ms/Ko2zS6 after Sandusky this whole group of people involved in this cover up should be gased
EXACTLY!
Where was it that the CCS or similar Catholic charity decided to go out of business rather than take gay couples as clients? Was it an adoption service?
Oh, yeah…
Take THAT evil foster kids trying to validate the gay ‘lifestyle’ by getting placed with HOMO parents!!!
In Boston…
However, in Jesus’ name and in the tradition of humble charity and unconditional love that IS the Catholic Church…
There’s an interesting craven Romney twist to the whole thing as well, surprise, surprise…go check it out.
@107
It’s too bad that the Catholic Left is all but dead and gone. They did some good works and were a true model for following the teachings of Christ.
Plus, the Catholic Worker kids always had a knack for scoring good weed.
104. Puddybud spews:
Me too. But it’s kind of hard to get warmed about about some dude “badgering” a dude, don’t you think Mr. PuddyBud? Especially when Dude looks like a Lady.
You and puddles need to go get a room….
As a gay man who adopted a son from foster care, it is sad that the church has chose to close agencies rather than work with gays.
There are parts of my Catholic upbringing of which I’m still proud to have been associated with. Things like liberation theology – I knew JPII was an asshole when he disbanded those Jesuits in Central America.
The Catholic Worker Movement and Dorthy Day.
They lived one of my favorite phrases, “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.”
This is an excellent graphic, so true.
…you can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you…
The miami heat have triumphed in the nba finals..
Suck on it Bennett and McClendon you right wing scum!
It’d be sweet if they sold.. Maybe they learned you can’t buy everything.. Good bidnessmen and women cut their losses short.
We shall see..
Sorry Roger DUMB Wabbit, the gays are on your side on this blog!
@116 I don’t have a side, putz. I belong to no organized political party.
@117 That’s an old Democratic joke. He probably won’t get it.
Want to cut spending and eliminate deficits? Just let good Republican farmers from good Republican states run federal programs, and they’ll root out all the waste, fraud, and abuse!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47903496
How Real Is Voter Fraud? – Part 1
“Between 2000 and 2010, there were:
649 million votes cast in general elections
47,000 UFO sightings
441 Americans killed by lightning
13 credible cases of in-person voter impersonation”
Source: Mother Jones, Jul/Aug 2012, p. 35
How Real Is Voter Fraud? – Part 2
“While defending its precendent-setting photo ID law before the Supreme Court, Indiana was unable to cite a single instance of voter impersonation in its entire history.”
Source: Ibid.
How Real Is Voter Fraud? – Part 3
“A 2005 report by the American Center for Voting Rights claimed there were more than 100 cases of voter fraud involving 300,000 votes in 2004. A review of the charges turned up only 185 votes that were even potentially fraudulent.”
Source: Ibid.
How Real Is Voter Fraud? – Part 4
“In support of a voter ID law, Kansas Secretary of State … Kris Kobach cited 221 incidents of voter fraud in the state between 1997 and 2010. Yet those cases produced just 7 convictions — none related to impersonating other voters.”
Source: Ibid.
How Real Is Voter Fraud? – Part 5
“Last December, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus declared that Wisconsin is “absolutely riddled with voter fraud.” In fact, the state’s voter fraud rate in 2004 was 0.0002 percent — just 7 votes.”
Source: Ibid.
How Real Is Voter Fraud? – Part 6
“In 2008, John McCain said fraudulent registrations collected by ACORN were ‘one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.’ The Congressional Research Service found no proof that anyone improperly registered by ACORN tried to vote.”
Source: Ibid.
How Real Is Voter Fraud? – Part 7
“Federal convictions for election fraud, 2002 – 2005:
Voting whie ineligible: 18
Voting multiple times: 5
Registration fraud: 3”
Source: Ibid.
Roger Rabbit understands how impossible it is to prove Fraud in Court. ACORN has been convicted of submitting thousands of false registrations. Roger would suggest we assume none of them got thru undetected. Even in King County, ACORN was busted.
Here is an article from the wsj about voter registration fraud that has been caught.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....02435.html
Oh, so ‘Mr. Scipture’ is over here now – the adherent to the literal and complete understanding of his good book – braying about
ACORN!!!!
How very, very tiresome these bigots are.
Really Roger DUMB Wabbit? You been a DUMMOCRAPT poseur all these years?
Puddy doesn’t get that reference, either. (see the gay marriage and scripture discussion on the other thread)
It’s difficult dealing with people who misapprehend irony, humor, snark and most common cultural references. It’s our cross to bear.
I would have everyone in a company taxed at 90% at what ever they made that was 200x the least paid worker, temp, subsidiary or off-shored job. They pay minimum wage of $9.04 or an approx annual salary of $18K. Then anything over $3.6 Mil is taxed at 90%. They pay their foreign workers a $1 an hour? Then anything over $400k is taxed at 90%. They want to take home more, pay their workers more. That would really be “a rising tide lifts all boats.”
@ 131
Good luck with that. Which adverse effect would you prefer:
1. Companies relocating overseas?
2. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of foreign workers falling back into abject poverty?
3. US firms becoming outcompeted by foreign firms because of idiotic lefty-inspired pay rules?
$400K is not a lot of money. It just isn’t. For a company CEO to have to be forced to go before Congress every time someone like Schumer or Waxman gets a stick up his ass and decides to call a hearing to make an example out of a US company, that CEO has to be earning far more than that. If I were wealthy, in my late 50s, and my choices were retire early or deal with assholes like Schumer/Waxman, I’d choose retirement unless the compensation made it worth the latter. At $400K, not anywhere close.
@132. Serial “Ridicule the looks of the president’s daughter and proud of it!” Conservative spews:
1. Companies relocating overseas?
> Then we would know who the real Americans were. How did America treat the Facebook guy who renouced his citizenship to avoid taxes. If they want to sell here, they better have offices and factories here. Otherwise, pay the tarrifs. Idiotic righty-inspired pay rules have already spawned all sorts of offshoring, so how would this be worse?
2. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of foreign workers falling back into abject poverty?
> Amusing. NOW you care about foreign workers? Do foreign workers vote in American Elections and pay American taxes? I want to employ Americans, why don’t you?
3. US firms becoming outcompeted by foreign firms because of idiotic lefty-inspired pay rules?
> As apposed the worker’s paradise we have now with all the idiotic righty-inspired pay rules. If you mean the foreign products might cost less? They already cost less NOW because they don’t pay their workers or worry about environmental issues or safety.
$400K is not a lot of money. It just isn’t.
>> Of course not, that’s the POINT! You know what is not a lot of money? Being unemployed.
Don’t use foreign offshore workers! Employ Americans at minimum wage and make $3 Mill. Heck, Working for minimum wage isn’t a lot of money!
Also, are you saying these CEOs are just in it for the money? If they had to take a cut in pay, they wouldn’t do their job. B.S.
@ 133
Maybe you should run for something, then, and introduce a bill. Otherwise this is just idiotic rambling.
Actions have consequences, and draconian moves affecting the top damn sure will adversely affect those at the bottom. Count on it.
OK, time for a little diversion.
CW has it that some part of Obamacare will be bounced by the Supremes and that it will be 5-4.
If there are more than five votes, which of the liberal wing would be most likely to sign on to (or concur with) the majority opinion?
Here’s where I came up with my question (in the comments section):
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2.....acare.html
@134. So according to Serial “Ridicule the looks of the president’s daughter and proud of it!” Conservative, we should do nothing to temper the excesses of unfettered capitalism or they might pull an Ayn Rand and throw a petty tantrum and destroy the economy?
Don’t mess with the 1% or they will take their toys and go home?
Are you kidding?
Otherwise this is just idiotic rambling.
>> Then why do you post here all the time?
@ 134
I’m saying we should live in the world of reality. 90% taxation is not in that realm. It’s a liberal wet dream, nothing more.
@135
[Shrug] The insurance companies are saying that they’ll keep most of “Obamacare” even if the Supreme Court throws the whole thing out.
@138. This reminds of where companies have better pay and benefits to keep the unions out.
But what are the key elements that insurance companies WON’T keep?
@ 138
I read ‘some’ of Obamacare – young adults on parents’ policy is one (easy one – simple to do the actuarial math). Retroactive coverage of pre-existing conditions would be very expensive.
The insurance companies aren’t just going to step up and fill a $2-3T hole if the law goes down. Someone has to pay for it. And if the mandate is tossed, there’s no funding.
Great. You like the idea, but the rate is too high, the 90% taxation is too much, the poor millionaires and billionaires would be out on the streets.
So we just haggling over the rate. I can go down to 70%, like under Kennedy.
@ 141
I didn’t say I liked anything you wrote. I said what you proposed was unrealistic.
You want to increase taxes on high income? Go ahead. Howzit workin’ out so far? You keep moving the threshold and your own side doesn’t know where that level is right now. Your elder statesmen – Clinton, Summers, et al. – don’t want to do it at all.
You want to pass rules or laws about how companies conduct themselves overseas? Would those be American laws, or will you force them on sovereign nations?
President Obama addresses National Association of Latino Elected Officials
I agree, if we focus all of our interests on the 1%, it’s not good for the economy.
Why is getting a good job, working hard, having health coverage, saving for retirement, getting a good education for our kids and helping our kids to have better lives than we did, so hard for conservatives to support?
Mitt Romney: Bring jobs back to America by making America more like China
This is why I don’t want Romney for president. Unlike conservatives here who must want it by the policies they promote, I don’t really want America to be another china.
(Later, off into the rain.)
@ 143
Why is getting a good job, working hard, having health coverage, saving for retirement, getting a good education for our kids and helping our kids to have better lives than we did, so hard for conservatives to support?
I think we need to provide those things to people here legally before giving them to those who are not.
We’ve got 23 million underemployed. Giving a green light to those not here legally that we’re establishing a path not just for them but for those who will surely follow them is a financial challenge we’re not able to meet right now. You are kidding yourself if you think that Obama’s policy is limited to the 800,000 people supposedly eligible. Just like all government programs, the mission creep will extend far, far beyond that.
Conservatives would also be more supportive if he hadn’t done it by fiat after failing by legislation.
So serialbob, you blithely skipped over my question to you @101.
I’ll repost here:
How would that be different from the Catholic Church treating its female emplyees the way it desires – that is, withholding health care that the Church doesn’t approve of, but which falls withing the definition of comprehensive health care, while doing so for men?
More dishonest bullshit from serialbub.
Look at that sentence. It’s a model for weasel-speak. Conservatives blocked the Dream Act in the Senate, causing it to fail becasue it only got 55 votes in a 100 vote chamber. So bub is trying to tell us that if only Obama hadn’t acted ‘by fiat’ they would support him.
How transparent can you get. What a dishonest piece of shit.
@146
Blithely skipped over as in didn’t see it at all
WTF kind of question is that? I guess that I would have to respond that in 1965 anything Mormons did that would be helpful to African-Americans at all would be over the objections of the Democrat Party, party of Bull Connor and the like.
But times change, both for the Democrat Party and for the Mormon church.
You don’t get to cherry-pick your history.
@ 147
And Democrats blocked Bush’s efforts to partially privatize Social Security in 2005, then cheered themselves for it at the 2006 SOTU. How would you feel if Bush had then gone ahead and instituted it using some sort of ginned-up presidential authority as his basis?
You wouldn’t like that? Now perhaps you understand my position.
I’m referring to the Mormon ecclesiastical doctrine regarding Black people. Pretty explicit, and a part of their ‘religious freedom’ much akin to what the Catholic Church is claiming with regard to their position on treating their male and female employees differently.
You claimed above that the Catholic Church was raising a valid First Amendment issue, I countered that it is no such thing. Here is the whole post:
Becasue that is what the people wanted. That’s why it was political poison for you Republicans. It was a case of your side trying to steal retirement benefits and transfer them to Wall Street. The only reason Bush didn’t do it by executive order, if he even could, was that it was obvious that it would have been an even bigger disaster.
That’s the way it is with the right-wing – do all you can, get all you can, morals and precedent and rights aside – until someone with more political power stops you.
The reason Obama’s maneuver is so galling to your side is that it’s politically smart – it’s a winner because that’s what people want. You’re just on the wrong side and don’t have good tool to undermine it or spin it, until you can find out how to make low-information voters afraid of something – precisely as your trying to do above.
Voter fraud is Rethuglicant legislators talking the low wattage voters into electing them…promising to “fix” things, then do fucking NOTHING but pass tax breaks for big business, gut environmental regulations, try to bust unions…and pass anti-birth control, anti-aborion and anti-woman bills.
THAT’s defrauding voters.
That’s fucking voter fraud.
@ 153
Written by Rujax, the dimmest bulb in the HA lighting aisle.
Boo hoo hoo… Willard (R-Money) won’t be able to use gas prices after all!
http://www.bizjournals.com/sou.....ml?ana=twt
@ 151
People also want Obamacare overturned.
You are missing my point. You are arguing popular opinion as defense for action, which is irrelevant. There’s either a reason for Congress to exist or there is not. Popularity contests shouldn’t be part of the determination of relevance.
@ 154
You’re right, YLB. The economy could be doing so poorly by November that gas prices will only be a little higher than when Obama was elected.
You want to think about the implications of that for Obama’s chances at re-election for a bit?
“I know the economy is doing poorly and unemployment has spiked to 8.6%. But look how low gas prices have fallen!.”
Not exactly good October campaign ad material for The One.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....13969.html
A very useful definition of money is “a claim on the labor of another”.. Since all right wingers seem to care about is money then it only follows that they’ll do anything, anything to obtain the cheapest labor possible.
Along with controlling women’s bodies it’s an all-out consuming obsession with them. And controlling women’s bodies is just the most degenerate of all forms of cheap labor seeking.
Heh. Anybody remember the Tony Montana character from the movie Scarface? Great line:
‘
Very succinct encapsulation of the right wing psychopathology.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06......html?_r=2
Anything but raising taxes, sentencing reform, education… Right wing politicians love out-sourcing – the shoddily run outfits contribute big to right wing coffers.
Heh. Our trolls keep bleating that Obama had filibuster proof majorities for two whole years..
Bullshit.. Try 14 weeks..
http://www.mediaite.com/online.....on-speech/
@ 157
If you have a point to make, maybe try a little harder than quoting a comedian.
In most businesses labor costs are the largest expense, so yes, controlling those costs is important.
Funny that Chris Rock didn’t mention his job at a UAW plant or at a Boeing factory. Probably because he was 17 when he worked at McDonald’s.
Stand-up comedians recalling when they were teenagers on their first job really shouldn’t drive economic policy, YLB.
Bub sez:
Bloomberg sez:
156 – The causes cited by the industry analyst mad e no mentions of the U.S. economy..
The peak of gas consumption in this country was back in 2007.
More bullshit. Quote the truth whereever you find it.
@ 160
I wasn’t one of them.
Point is, he had it, it gave him the opportunity to do whatever he wanted.
Now that he’s imperiled, he’s moved on immigration policy. He didn’t act when he had the ability to do it in an overtly constitutional manner.
I pointed to the article which details right wing efforts to drive poverty wages even lower..
And then commented on the right wing cult’s motivation..
@ 164
My first laugh of the day.
Chris Rock = Truth.
This is why I find you to be an idiot, Lib Sci. Thanks for the reinforcement.
Not at all. You’re just whining.
Only if you don’t value democracy. Look, the whines that Obama is only “scoring political points” is silly; what he did was respond to the concerns and desires of his constituents, which is what he is supposed to do in a democracy.
Your counter comparison regarding Bush’s failed attempt to steal Social Security and give it to Wall Street was telling. It’s the same only in that the rich guys were Bush’s constituency. However, the attempt at SS theft was so blatant is was a massive political loser. Sure, he could have tried to do it ‘by fiat’ as you say, but it would have only compounded the disaster that was the legislative attempt to steal social Security – which was wildly unpopular.
That’s your problem – your side is really only responsive to a tiny minority. Fortunately for you, politics of fear and ignorance is often wildly successful with the masses of low information voters. When people understand what the right is really up to, you lose.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/a.....?ref=fpblg
Willard is so fucked.
I thought right wingers wake up laughing every day at the self-defeating statements and actions of progressives and liberals..
Right up until liberals and progressives win and then they’re sad for just a minute and after a little right wing hate talk radio and Faux News…
back to laughing again..
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
Dream Act
You clearly do not understand the human concept of comedy, and its subtle but essentail relationship with truth and contradiction.
Are you a Romney?
@129 Sigh … it’s so tiring having to constantly explain things to cultural illiterates.
“I belong to no organized political party. I am a Democrat.” — Will Rogers, (1879 – 1935)
This quote has been around longer than you, puddy, so I’m surprised you’ve never heard it and don’t know what it means. The punch line implies that Democrats are perpetually disorganized; and like all popular witticisms, it’s funny because it’s based on a truism. If you still don’t get it, go to a Democratic convention, and you’ll see what Rogers was talking about. Here’s another Will Rogers gem:
“A fool and his money are soon elected.”
Obviously he was talking about Republicans that time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.....one-liners
@127 I didn’t suggest we assume none of the bad registrations got through. Rather, I suggest we deal in facts instead of assumptions. I posted facts presented in a magazine article about what actual voter fraud is in America and you haven’t refuted any of those facts. You’re so in love with your own snarkiness that apparently you don’t have any time for that.
Here’s a suggestion: Let’s enforce the election laws we already have. If a paid voter registration worker submits phony registrations, prosecute that person. If a paid Eyman signature gatherer (or any other signature gatherer) submits phony signatures, prosecute that person. If you want to go further and legislate, then let’s outlaw paying signature gatherers on a per-signature basis and require sponsoring organizations to pay them on an hourly basis. Monetary motivations appear to be behind the abuses in both Eyman initiatives and ACORN voter registration drives. In this respect, not to be overlooked is that Eyman is still around, whereas ACORN isn’t.
@132 “$400K is not a lot of money. It just isn’t.”
Try telling that to 99.99% of America’s workers. You’ll get laughed out of the room.
Serial Conservative @134: “this is just idiotic rambling”
And what you do on this blog is … ???
Guess we know who will be carrying the US flag during the Opening Ceremonies:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/po.....pic-games/
I hear they’ll have Bill Ayers on board to step on it just before it’s carried in.
“Guess we know who will be carrying the US flag during the Opening Ceremonies”
If you mean leading the delegation for the opening ceremonies, perhaps the First Lady? The president’s mother? The president himself?
http://georgewbush-whitehouse......31-16.html
“I hear they’ll have Bill Ayers on board to step on it just before it’s carried in.”
The wingnut obsession with a seventy-something year old failed “terrorist” from the middle of the last century is quite fascinating. That was like five wars ago. You evidently haven’t much to work with. But it’s better for you to obsess over an irrelevant old man than to even acknowledge today’s right-wing terrorists and the dead they leave behind, such as nine year-old Brezinia Flores.
The only trampling of our flag was by you with your cheap shot comment.
@135 “CW has it that some part of Obamacare will be bounced by the Supremes and that it will be 5-4. If there are more than five votes, which of the liberal wing would be most likely to sign on to (or concur with) the majority opinion?”
First of all, where are you getting your CW from? Fox? The wishful thinking on wingnut blogs? That’s not what the objective mass media are saying.
“Conventional wisdom both at the Bar Association and on Wall Street is that the court will uphold the law.” — Barron’s, June 9, 2012
http://online.barrons.com/arti.....08440.html
Barron’s isn’t exactly a lefty poopsheet.
“As the Supreme Court prepares to hear historic oral arguments on President Obama’s health care reform law this week, a survey of legal insiders released Monday morning found a widespread expectation that the Court would uphold the central pillars of the law.” — National Journal, March 26, 2012
http://www.nationaljournal.com.....w-20120326
The “legal insiders” polled in this survey are attorneys who clerked for Supreme Court justices and have a much better feel for the justices’ philosophies and thinking processes than you or I do. National Journal is owned by David Bradley, who describes himself as a “neocon guy” (Wikipedia). The survey was sponsored by two organizations, one conservative, the other centrist.
Roger Rabbit Commentary: CW in the Reality Based Universe is that Obamacare will be upheld in toto. The stock market has priced in this result. Insurers are acting on this assumption, although they have contingency plans, of course.
There were rumors on Wall Street the ruling would come yesterday, but it didn’t, so we’re probably looking at either next Monday or next Thursday.
It’s hard to rationalize how Medicare is constitutional and Obamacare isn’t. Medicare requires workers to pay money to the government for health coverage they won’t get until age 65. Obamacare requires most people to pay money to private insurers for health coverage they get right now. I don’t see a constitutional distinction between requiring people to pay taxes for future health coverage and requiring them to pay premiums for current health coverage. I think the precedents upholding the constitutionality of Medicare decide this case.
The individual mandate of Obamacare isn’t any more arbitrary than Medicare taxes. Its purpose is to relieve buyers of health insurance from the financial burden of providing health care to the uninsured. Most of the uninsured get health care. Their freeloading adds about $1,200 to the average insured’s annual health insurance premiums. Making freeloaders them for their health care in order to relieve others of this burden seems like a proper function of government. By doing this, the government is protecting me from financial predation by these freeloaders. As a lawyer, I think that’s well within the police and commerce powers granted by Congress by the Constitution.
As for what I think will happen, my guess is it’ll be a 5-4 decision, but it might not be. SCOTUS might try for a unanimous decision, as they did in the Watergate tapes case, in order to increase the nation’s acceptance of what is certain to be a controversial and politically-charged decision. But I doubt the 9 justices can find enough common ground to write a unanimous decision. I do think there’s a possibility of a 7-2 or 6-3 outcome, although 5-4 seems more likely to me.
I’m not looking for a bifurcated decision that strikes down portions of the law and upholds the rest. It’s possible, but that would create chaos in health care, so the Court will avoid that result if it can. I’m referring to the major provisions, not peripheral stuff like pre-existing conditions, lifetime coverage caps, and covering children on parents’ policies to age 26. That stuff can be easily severed, but I’m guessing if the Court strikes down the individual mandate it’ll say that’s too integral to the legislative scheme to sever its other parts. So, if mandate goes, I think the rest of the main program goes, too.
Conservatives should be careful of what they wish for here. If Obamacare is struck down, that opens the door to a single-payer government-run universal coverage program by expanding Medicare to cover all Americans. If the private-sector solution envisioned by Obamacare is invalidated, that’s the obvious alternate route, because Medicare has already been upheld and is already an established program.
@137 “I’m saying we should live in the world of reality. 90% taxation is not in that realm. It’s a liberal wet dream, nothing more.”
You should brush up on your history reading. The top marginal rate was 90% throughout the prosperous 1950s, and it didn’t destroy the economy.
I’m not saying we should return to 1950s tax brackets and marginal rates. I’m against that. But I am saying a guy making over $1 million a year should not get an overall effective rate lower than a family making $50,000 a year. For several years now, I’ve said in these comment threads that I would accept a flat-rate federal income tax if it were truly flat-rate — that is, exempt subsistence income from taxation, then tax everyone at the same percentage rate. I support that because it would be fairer than what we have now.
@139 “But what are the key elements that insurance companies WON’T keep?”
Without the government forcing people to buy health insurance, they’ll have a smaller insured pool and collect less premiums, so they’ll be less willing to take sick customers. They’ll fight on pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps.
@142 Federal revenues have dropped to 16% of GDP, the lowest in 60 years. Republicans and Democratics alike have expanded spending, with GOPers being the bigger spenders. Result: Higher deficits.
You want to talk reality? Okay, let’s do that. The only way you can get meaningful deficit reduction is by taking action on both the revenue and spending sides of the equation.
The rich got the lion’s share of the tax cuts, so it’s only fair and logical they should pay the lion’s share of tax increases. Defense spending grew 80% over the last decade, so it’s reasonable for defense to bear some of the cuts. Democrats have already said they’ll put entitlement spending on the table, even though their constituents will hate it. The Republican position is to give the rich and corporations additional tax cuts, increase defense spending, and gut social welfare programs. How the hell can any Democrat vote for that? Who’s being reasonable, and who’s being ridiculous? The GOP’s outrageous demands don’t deserve the time of day.
The Democrats don’t have to cave in to the GOP (although they won’t stop them from being the jellyfish they usually are). All they have to do is let the Bush tax cuts expire automatically, and they get revenue increases. There’s no way the GOP will get 60 Senate seats in the next Congress, so Democrats can block any slash-and-burn GOP budget that guts entitlements or social welfare programs. And that’s exactly what they should do if Republicans continue to reject compromise.
Oh noes SS Trust Fund is going down much earlier
Oh I didn’t have my libtard speak decoder ring on today!
@165 is right, Obummer had 60 senators for 5 months. He chose not to react! They thought Martha Coakley was a shoo-in. EPIC FAYLE!
“libtard speak decoder ring”
Old technolgy, Puddy. Once I downloaded my wingnut-speak decoder app, I no longer needed a ring. And it decodes wingnut screen names too, which is a hoot! Heh. “Serial Conservative” decodes as “Seriously Constipated”.
http://www.americablog.com/201.....-dick.html
Of course the asshole puddypussy would throw his kid under the bus…
…being a REAL christian and all.
And the Marianas Trench dweller knows this how?
Such a moron!
http://www.faithinpubliclife.o.....an-laughs/
H/T http://www.rightwingwatch.org/
More christian goodness…it’she looove. “They’ll know we are christian by our loooove.”
Right puddypussy? Still lovin’ all godesses’ creatures are ya?
Especially the goats?
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2.....ly-values/
What the fuck is WRONG with these assholes? They think they’re immune because they’re religious??
A crusty old guy I used to work for told me one time…”You see the sign of the fish…and you’re gonna get screwed.”
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2.....ok-or-two/
This is too easy.
@183 Who cares. The government can always print more money. And why not? If they can do it to puff up stock prices, they can do it to prop up Social Security.
Wrong!
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/mor.....r-2-years/
More from that article:
@194
I think that’s an interesting point.
If you’re a mendacious, narcissistic, manipulative greedhead, but want to be camouflaged as a friend-of-the working-man, wholesome, trying-to-do-good public servant, what party to you join?
Not the republicans – everybody knows they’re preoccupied with either money or -ssshh- vaginas. No, you join the Democrats and pretend – like LIEbermann, Pryor, Baucus, Lincoln, Ben Nelson. Preening egomaniacs preparing for the post-Congress lobbying gig by acting like Republicans while wearing a Democratic uniform.
Our trolls here seem to be the kind to want to delete all social safety nets so everyone suffers so they have an extra dollar in their pockets they lord over the homeless person on their way out of church.
@196 America, even in recession, is the richest country in the history of the world. It can afford to house, clothe, and feed those whom capitalism has failed.
Here’s another group whom conservatives call “immoral” because they’re unemployed and poor.
http://brandtsrandomgovernment.....-vets.html
The Difference Between Democrats And Republicans
With less than two weeks to go before student-loan interest rates are slated to double … thee administration is [negotiating] with Republicans over how to pay for the extension.
“While Democrats want to cut subsidies for oil-and-gas companies, Republicans have suggested raising the amount federal employees contribute to their retirement accounts or adjusting state Medicaid payments.”
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com.....rates?lite
Roger Rabbit Commentary: You read that correctly. Republicans want to take it out of federal workers’ pay and medical care for the poor — so Big Oil can keep its federal welfare.
The two parties are not alike. They have different values and priorities; and, frankly, their values and priorities SUCK!!! I don’t see how anyone with a conscience can vote Republican.