Republican Judgement

[Minor Axis]

So you got nothing eh?

It would make you feel vindicated wouldn't it? Unfortunately (for you) I have a list of 4 Republican Presidents and a variety of Senators and Congressmen. But then would you believe me? It's just not worth playing name the fools I've voted for in the past. I'll give you one concession- The last Republican President I voted for was Bush Sr.

Michelle Bachman: "I infiltrated the IRS to learn how the enemy works.". Note, she prosecuted 2 cases, going after American citizens on behalf of the IRS to learn how the "enemy" works.

Does anyone here really believe this line of bullshit? Then how about her Federally subsidized farm subsidies?

 

[Alien Allen]

Bachman is a sideshow

I don't know why you would even both with referencing her as she has zero chance of winning the primaries and would be dead meat against Obama

I bet you voted for senior only the first time

 

[Minor Axis]

I bet you voted for senior only the first time

A gold star for the right winger although it's not that difficult to deduce I voted for Clinton.

Ok, let's look at another Republican front runner according to Faux News.

StatesmanJournal.com: Perry's Words About Government Power Contradict His Actions.

When Perry lobbed this potshot at President Obama — "You can't win the future by selling America off to foreign creditors" — was he thinking of his own failed attempt to use foreign investments and tolls to finance a controversial $175 billion road project in the Lone Star State?

When he said at the end of this speech that "the people are not subjects of government," government "is subject to the people," was Perry channeling the rage of the Texas farmers who successfully fought off his effort to seize their land to build that 4,000-mile Trans-Texas Corridor?

This man is the ultimate political hypocrite, like the Pied Piper, he'll pull the fools along behind him.

 

[Alien Allen]

not familiar with Perry other than the snippets in the press

one can cherry pick articles to make any candidate look bad or good

Obama is pretty good at being hypocritical in case you did not notice

It goes with the territory I am afraid

 

[Minor Axis]

Obama is pretty good at being hypocritical in case you did not notice

Explain please.

 

[Minor Axis]

NPR on Rick Perry: The Evangelicals Engaged In Spiritual Warfare. The international "Apostolic and Prophetic" movement, if you can believe it, calls them selves apostles and prophets. Consider the politician they have chosen to lead them, snake oil salesman, turned evangical megalomaniac.

"They teach quite literally that these 'mountains' (mountains representing arts and entertainment) have fallen under the control of demonic influences in society," says Tabachnick. "And therefore, they must reclaim them for God in order to bring about the kingdom of God on Earth. ... The apostles teach what's called 'strategic level spiritual warfare' [because they believe that the] reason why there is sin and corruption and poverty on the Earth is because the Earth is controlled by a hierarchy of demons under the authority of Satan. So they teach not just evangelizing souls one by one, as we're accustomed to hearing about. They teach that they will go into a geographic region or a people group and conduct spiritual-warfare activities in order to remove the demons from the entire population. This is what they're doing that's quite fundamentally different than other evangelical groups."

You will only see this kind of thing within the Republican Party.

 

[CityGirl]

I'll be watching Eric Cantors "republican judgement" over the next few days as Hurricane Irene bares down on the east coast. Should Va sustain costly damage, will he continue the same policy he was advocating in wake of the tornados in Joplin, MO? How fast will he be seeking federal aid?

 

[Minor Axis]

I'll be watching Eric Cantors "republican judgement" over the next few days as Hurricane Irene bares down on the east coast. Should Va sustain costly damage, will he continue the same policy he was advocating in wake of the tornados in Joplin, MO? How fast will he be seeking federal aid?

We'll find out soon.

More on Perry:
Perry Signs Pledge on Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

When are the Republican leaning voters going to get it that we as a country have much bigger fish to fry? The Governor of Texas spends too much time pandering to the fringe vote. I guess he is not smart enough to know it's going to haunt him in the general election.

 

[Alien Allen]

We'll find out soon.

More on Perry:
Perry Signs Pledge on Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

When are the Republican leaning voters going to get it that we as a country have much bigger fish to fry? The Governor of Texas spends too much time pandering to the fringe vote. I guess he is not smart enough to know it's going to haunt him in the general election.

This is the kind of crap that drives me nuts about republicans

I guess they just have to pander to their hard core base

I am as pro choice as you can get but on the flip side the democrats do the same thing there

As long as people make it appear these are important both parties will continue to be a problem

 

[Minor Axis]

There are so many things going on in this country, the argument becomes what do we want government to do for us and how much do we want to pay for it? And most important is the government competent to accomplish what needs to be done. Many conservatives believe that government can't ever function so why pour tax money into it? But this feeling is also self serving, in wanting to hold onto as much money as they make, they don't want to turn it over to an entity that will give it to someone else. "I made my money, don't force me to give it to someone else, that's socialism."

Well if you are in a good place, sure you want to hold onto your money but it is short sighted. Your ability to make money only exists in a healthy economy. Ever since the globalization process started (decades ago), large multinational corporations have been stealing jobs from Americans mostly to benefit top management and the net result is they are working hard to turn the majority of the work force into disposable workers without a future while management lines their pockets. As an average citizen, the only hope of righting this situation is a functional government. They will not look to greedy bastard corporations to fix the business environment.

Here is the insightful article (just ignore Allen's automatic rejection and keep reading. ):
Newsweek: Stop The Panic, It's Not 2008

Regarding the stock drop after the budget mess:

But S&P wasn’t faulting the U.S. for patching the mortgage mess. S&P was reacting to the more systemic cause of America’s budget problems—which are momentous. This cause, S&P noted, is “political,” though “ideological” would be a better word. It springs from a fantasy of the Republican right that has been embraced by the U.S. Congress for fully a decade. This is the fantasy that governments can operate without revenue—more precisely, that a government presiding over an expanding economy as well as an aging population can operate without increases in revenue.

Ever since the Bush-era tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, the government has suffered from self-induced anorexia. Those oft-debated but never rescinded tax breaks have steadily drained the Treasury and added to its borrowings. Consider that in 2000, the total U.S. government debt (the net accumulation of its borrowings since the Revolutionary War) was $3.4 trillion. Today it is $11 trillion. This matters now because with the economy slowing again, the debt hugely constricts our options. The normal response to the bad jobs market would be increased deficit spending, but the government is already operating at a $1.5 trillion annual deficit (that’s equal to a tenth of the GDP). It is borrowing half of what it spends. That’s enough to have spooked S&P and reminded the stock market a bit too much of Europe.

You can understand the budget by thinking of two parallel lines, one representing spending, the other revenue. During most of the postwar period, the spending line was a shade higher (the government typically ran small deficits). In 2001, when the budget last was in balance, the government collected roughly 19 percent of the GDP in taxes; it spent slightly less. But since the Bush tax cuts went into effect, the lines have wildly diverged. Spending has soared to 25 percent of GDP. And, alarmingly, tax receipts have crashed to 15 percent of GDP, the lowest level since World War II. Everyone, Democrats included, recognizes that spending must come down. But the Republicans insist that taxes—any taxes—are off limits. Regrettably, Obama has mimicked this position with a populist twist (he opposes reversing the tax cuts except on the “rich,” whom he defines as people earning more than $250,000 a year). Though coated in progressivism, this extends the myth that people can get something for nothing.

All the conservatives I know of say, ok, it's time to stop blaming Bush and blame Obama... WRONG! Although it is Obama's fault for not letting these tax cuts expire Read:

It’s hard to overstate the extent to which these (tax) cuts have been, and continue to be, the worm in Uncle Sam’s apple. They have cost the U.S. $3 trillion; the stimulus, by contrast, cost $1 trillion. If the cuts are extended, over the next decade they will bleed the Treasury of $5.4 trillion more. Obama had a chance to let them expire in 2010; he blew it. He has another chance after the 2012 election. This time Obama should let them expire; indeed, he should campaign on a platform of achieving budgetary sanity via adjustments on both taxes and spending. The Republicans will repeat their pledge of no taxes. Let’s see who wins.

Obama could point to the following numbers: U.S. debt held by the public was 32 percent of GDP when Bush took office. Now it is 72 percent. If the (tax) cuts expire, the ratio stays flat, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. But if the cuts are reinstated, the ratio soars to 95 percent by 2021. At that point, America should join the EU, because we will look like Europe (a point that should go over big in the red states).

 

[Alien Allen]

More of the same bull shit Minor

You liberals make it sound like the right wants all of govt eliminated\

Show me where anybody has stated that.

You want statistics just look at the growth in govt jobs over the last 40 years or so. You can go into any sizable city in any state and you will find the local, state or fed govt has some of the largest numbers of employees. That is not a good business model.

On a state and local level there are job reductions and wage and benefit concessions. Not seeing much of that on a federal level. But then why would congress want to do anything when they are getting set for life after being in office for a term. They got a cushy job with all the perks and people willing to lick their boots. No wonder things are fucked up.

 

[Minor Axis]

Ignore the alien and read:

Great reading for the open minded: Reflections of GOP Operative Who Left the CULT.

Both parties are rotten - how could they not be, given the complete infestation of the political system by corporate money on a scale that now requires a presidential candidate to raise upwards of a billion dollars to be competitive in the general election? Both parties are captives to corporate loot. The main reason the Democrats' health care bill will be a budget buster once it fully phases in is the Democrats' rank capitulation to corporate interests - no single-payer system, in order to mollify the insurers; and no negotiation of drug prices, a craven surrender to Big Pharma.

John P. Judis sums up the modern GOP this way:

"Over the last four decades, the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into an insurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority and threatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate and Iran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachment trial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today's Republican Party, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatened to nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to and who later led the fight to secede from the union over slavery."

How do they manage to do this? Because Democrats ceded the field. Above all, they do not understand language. Their initiatives are posed in impenetrable policy-speak: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The what? - can anyone even remember it? No wonder the pejorative "Obamacare" won out. Contrast that with the Republicans' Patriot Act. You're a patriot, aren't you? Does anyone at the GED level have a clue what a Stimulus Bill is supposed to be? Why didn't the White House call it the Jobs Bill and keep pounding on that theme?

It is this broad and ever-widening gulf between the traditional Republicanism of an Eisenhower and the quasi-totalitarian cult of a Michele Bachmann that impelled my departure from Capitol Hill. It is not in my pragmatic nature to make a heroic gesture of self-immolation, or to make lurid revelations of personal martyrdom in the manner of David Brock. And I will leave a more detailed dissection of failed Republican economic policies to my fellow apostate Bruce Bartlett.

I left because I was appalled at the headlong rush of Republicans, like Gadarene swine, to embrace policies that are deeply damaging to this country's future; and contemptuous of the feckless, craven incompetence of Democrats in their half-hearted attempts to stop them. And, in truth, I left as an act of rational self-interest. Having gutted private-sector pensions and health benefits as a result of their embrace of outsourcing, union busting and "shareholder value," the GOP now thinks it is only fair that public-sector workers give up their pensions and benefits, too. Hence the intensification of the GOP's decades-long campaign of scorn against government workers. Under the circumstances, it is simply safer to be a current retiree rather than a prospective one.

 

[Alien Allen]

Those democrat polices really worked well for us too haven't they Minor?ruke:



You must have trouble sleeping at night with all those evil folks on the right lurking about :eek

 

[Alien Allen]

How do they manage to do this? Because Democrats ceded the field. Above all, they do not understand language. Their initiatives are posed in impenetrable policy-speak: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The what? - can anyone even remember it? No wonder the pejorative "Obamacare" won out. Contrast that with the Republicans' Patriot Act. You're a patriot, aren't you? Does anyone at the GED level have a clue what a Stimulus Bill is supposed to be? Why didn't the White House call it the Jobs Bill and keep pounding on that theme?

Now is some funny shit there Minor

"Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" :24::24::24::24:

Stimulus a jobs bill :24::24::24::24:

 

[Minor Axis]

Standard Alien response, filed.

 

[Alien Allen]

Standard Minor non response

 

[Minor Axis]

Just admit it Allen, this is a very simple premise: when business decided that making top executive rich was the most important thing, the middle class and average workers became expendable. This view is prevalent in corporate America. (I can't speak for the rest of the world.) An efficient government is the only entity that can bring greed under control (or peasants with pitchforks).

 

[Alien Allen]

Just admit it Allen, this is a very simple premise: when business decided that making top executive rich was the most important thing, the middle class and average workers became expendable. This view is prevalent in corporate America. (I can't speak for the rest of the world.) An efficient government is the only entity that can bring greed under control (or peasants with pitchforks).

Business is not about making the top executives rich. It is about making money. For small business that money goes to the owners. To big business that money goes to stockholders. Making the execs rich is a byproduct of that. I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem is with the golden parachutes where the top execs run a company into the ground and they get paid to leave.

You can talk about greed but the consumers are just as guilty. We want it cheap and easy. Not many people care about quality. They just want the cheapest price. Then they piss and moan when they get what they paid for. I used to be able to have a fair chance of closing a sale on a job 30 years ago even though we were always the most expensive. Now I have about a 1% chance. We get calls every week and the only thing they want to hear is the bottom line. They think it is like buying a car that every body does the same work and has the same quality control so price is their only guiding point.

It was not like that years ago. Our society has basically demanded what we have turned into. That and a govt that is not business friendly. I don't see anyway of righting the ship.

 

[Minor Axis]

Business is not about making the top executives rich. It is about making money. For small business that money goes to the owners. To big business that money goes to stockholders. Making the execs rich is a byproduct of that. I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem is with the golden parachutes where the top execs run a company into the ground and they get paid to leave.

You can talk about greed but the consumers are just as guilty. We want it cheap and easy. Not many people care about quality. They just want the cheapest price. Then they piss and moan when they get what they paid for. I used to be able to have a fair chance of closing a sale on a job 30 years ago even though we were always the most expensive. Now I have about a 1% chance. We get calls every week and the only thing they want to hear is the bottom line. They think it is like buying a car that every body does the same work and has the same quality control so price is their only guiding point.

It was not like that years ago. Our society has basically demanded what we have turned into. That and a govt that is not business friendly. I don't see anyway of righting the ship.

Maybe we agree that the country is going to hell, even if not for the same reasons.

As far as what I highlighted, for top executives, today as compared to the 1950's it's all about self enrichment. This is a prime motivator. And although consumers want it cheap, they would not be so quick on the draw if they thought about the fact that the item that is 30% cheaper means that they ended up taking a 50% pay cut (or lost their job), while the top executives at the big company have seen their pay to up in some cases 100's of percent.

 

[Alien Allen]

Maybe we agree that the country is going to hell, even if not for the same reasons.

As far as what I highlighted, for top executives, today as compared to the 1950's it's all about self enrichment. This is a prime motivator. And although consumers want it cheap, they would not be so quick on the draw if they thought about the fact that the item that is 30% cheaper means that they ended up taking a 50% pay cut (or lost their job), while the top executives at the big company have seen their pay to up in some cases 100's of percent.

We have had the issue of not made in America for years and it has had no impact. We are a fast food and throw away society.