Today’s moment of right wing religious fanaticism comes from former child star Kirk Cameron, who says, “one of our parties is wondering whether the name God should be in the platform,” but according to America’s founding fathers, “God is the platform!”
The crowd cheers this line in a very disturbing way.
2 |
Targetpractice Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:03:45pm |
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Muslim] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
| 3 |
ReamWorks SKG Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:04:53pm |
Well, if a former child star says so, that settles it for me!
| 4 |
freetoken Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:06:15pm |
God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!
LGF is now approved.
| 5 |
Archangelus Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:06:16pm |
re: #2 Targetpractice
Sorry, nope, because in a decision between a former child star and the words of one of the founding fathers, i'm gonna have to go with the former child star...
/sarc
| 7 |
Achilles Tang Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:07:23pm |
Long live Sharia!!, or any of the other names it goes by./
| 8 |
freetoken Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:07:32pm |
Someone should tell Kirk that "god" is a noun, not really a name.
If Kirk really wants a "name" of god, "Allah" seems to be the contemporary pronunciation of the head of the ancient near east pantheon.
| 9 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:09:00pm |
re: #1 Dark_Falcon
Where's the Crocoduck, Kirk?!
Song that was going through my mind when I wrote that line:
| 10 |
Archangelus Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:11:30pm |
Seconds 12-19 of this sum it up nicely:
| 12 |
efuseakay Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:19:53pm |
There is already a country for theocrats like him. The Vatican.
| 13 |
makeitstop Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:20:23pm |
Well, the Democrats did put God in their platform, so he's talking about the Republicans, right?
| 14 |
researchok Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:21:50pm |
God is not the platform.
Freedom is the platform.
Kirk Cameron is free to believe as he will, without any interference or worry his voice will be silenced- not because of God but because of freedom.
| 15 |
Digital Display Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:24:29pm |
My God.. Tomorrow is Tuesday and 9-11. That day changed all of our lives forever. Charles normally will do a post for 9-11 and we share memories of that day. I'm glad America is healing as a nation.
| 16 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:25:02pm |
re: #12 efuseakay
There is already a country for theocrats like him. The Vatican.
No, sir. Kirk Cameron is a fundamentalist. He believes in Biblical Literalism, and the catholic Church does not believe in that. He might ally with some Catholic groups at times but its an alliance, not a friendship. Fundies regard the the non-literal use of the bible by the Catholic Church to be a grievous error. I think their literalism is the grievous error.
| 17 |
The Ghost of a Flea Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:26:27pm |
re: #12 efuseakay
There is already a country for theocrats like him. The Vatican.
I think even in the Vatican they like structured discussion. Kirk is over in the charismatic/improvised side of authoritarian spirituality. There's no debate to be had, because it's all gnostic insight.
Kirk would fit in better in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
| 18 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:27:30pm |
When God is on the money, the money is the platform.
That sounds like the political reality.
| 20 |
Randall Gross Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:30:17pm |
Since we've got a Kirk Cameron thread going I"m going to plug Potholer's latest Golden Crocoduck Nominee video:
| 21 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:30:35pm |
re: #17 The Ghost of a Flea
I think even in the Vatican they like structured discussion. Kirk is over in the charismatic/improvised side of authoritarian spirituality. There's no debate to be had, because it's all gnostic insight.
Kirk would fit in better in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
He still would fare too well against General Gordon, though.
/Hey, Gordon was bad-ass enough to be portrayed by Charlton Heston in Khartoum. (The Madhi was portrayed by Sir Laurence Olivier.)
| 22 |
The Ghost of a Flea Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:30:51pm |
re: #16 Dark_Falcon
I think their literalism is the grievous error.
In no small part because it's not actually literalism. It's small-g gnostic, with the approved insights coming from the Scofield Annotated Bible and the "prophecies" of John Nelson Darby. I live in an area where the sectarians influence that drive Kirk Cameron--pre-millenial dispensationalist, Rapture-ready, strongly pastor-based authoritarian religion--is common, and most folks can't differentiate between the Bible as text and the annotations they've been told are "the true meaning."
| 23 |
Gus Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:31:54pm |
If the bible is the "word of God" then I guess that the GOP party platform is a literal reading of the bible.
| 24 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:32:54pm |
What the hell ever happened to separation of Church and State the Founders were all about, you would think the teabaggers would be all over that.
| 25 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:33:06pm |
re: #22 The Ghost of a Flea
In no small part because it's not actually literalism. It's small-g gnostic, with the approved insights coming from the Scofield Annotated Bible and the "prophecies" of John Nelson Darby. I live in an area where the sectarians influences that drive Kirk Cameron--pre-millenial dispensationalist, Rapture-ready, strongly pastor-based authoritarian religion--is common, and most folks can't differentiate between the Bible as text and the annotations they've been told are "the true meaning."
That too. When you look at things objectively, the Catholic Church has a much more sane and mature approach to theology than these yahoos.
| 26 |
philosophus invidius Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:34:39pm |
Maybe he's a former star, but he's certainly not a former child.
| 27 |
Gus Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:35:53pm |
Just in time:
Bill and Karyn Frist end marriage after 31 years: Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and his wife of 31 ye... bit.ly/QEYZpf— WRCB (@WRCB) September 10, 2012
| 28 |
b_sharp Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:36:01pm |
re: #26 philosophus invidius
Maybe he's a former star, but he's certainly not a former child.
He's a child in spirit.
| 29 |
dragonfire1981 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:36:46pm |
re: #15 Digital Display
My God.. Tomorrow is Tuesday and 9-11. That day changed all of our lives forever. Charles normally will do a post for 9-11 and we share memories of that day. I'm glad America is healing as a nation.
One of my most potent memories of 9/11 occurred before the attacks. It was just as I woke up around 7 am. I was 20 years old, had started college only two weeks ago and had classes at 8 that morning.
I remember climbing out of bed and staring out my window: It was a beautiful, clear sunny morning. A near perfect late summer day. I remember saying to myself: "well, it's another day". Little did I or anyone else know that we were about to experience a day that would change history forever.
9/11 was Pearl Harbor for a different generation. A day which changed America and the world profoundly.
But 9/11 also marked the end of a time of relative peace and prosperity. The Iraq War in 1991 ended quickly. The USSR collapsed in 1992. Other than the Kosovo battles there were no major military conflicts from 1992 to late 2001. And the conflicts that were going on were on the other side of the world as they had mostly always been. America felt safe. Times were good in the mid to late 1990s.
But 9/11 brought an act of war to our doorstep on a level not seen since that "Day of Infamy" sixty years earlier. Every year I rewatch some of the 9/11 footage and it still seems so surreal. I keep having to remind myself that it ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I am not watching visual effects, I am watching a real life disaster unfold before my eyes.
Few who lived through it will ever forget that day and few would argue it changed the course of all of our lives.
| 30 |
freetoken Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:37:56pm |
re: #28 b_sharp
He's a child in spirit.
Along that line, theologian Peter Enns digs in to the literalists:
| 31 |
Digital Display Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:40:20pm |
re: #29 dragonfire1981
Not enough updings for that post bro
| 32 |
Gus Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:41:02pm |
Oh God.
Obama's 9/11 proclamation does not mention God, and that is relevant because all pollsters are Soros flunkies. patdollard.com/2012/09/obamas...— Jesse Taylor (@jesseltaylor) September 10, 2012
See what I did there?
| 33 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:41:07pm |
re: #26 philosophus invidius
Maybe he's a former star, but he's certainly not a former child.
Well you could say he's childlike in some ways:
| 34 |
Sheila Broflovski Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:41:36pm |
Tomorrow is 9/11. What happened to Tilly's Story?
| 35 |
ArchangelMichael Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:42:33pm |
James T. Kirk to Kirk Cameron:
What does God need with a starship?
| 37 |
ArchangelMichael Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:45:01pm |
re: #33 Dark_Falcon
I had to buy some Fucking Magnets™ today. I can't even hear the word magnet now without thinking of that Derp-fest and all it's associated comedic ridicule.
| 38 |
Lidane Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:45:08pm |
Obama's 9/11 proclamation does not mention God, and that is relevant because all pollsters are Soros flunkies. patdollard.com/2012/09/obamas...— Jesse Taylor (@jesseltaylor) September 10, 2012
| 39 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:45:34pm |
re: #35 ArchangelMichael
James T. Kirk to Kirk Cameron:
What does God need with a starship?
Damn! Captain, Kirk Cameron's Deflector Shields are too strong for our Logic Torpedoes to penetrate!
| 40 |
Targetpractice Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:46:59pm |
re: #39 Dark_Falcon
Damn! Captain, Kirk Cameron's Deflector Shields are too strong for our Logic Torpedoes to penetrate!
Load the quantum torpedoes.
/
| 41 |
dragonfire1981 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:47:30pm |
Oh and something else 9/11 related: If you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY recommend the "Falling Man" documentary. It focuses on the famous controversial image from 9/11 of the guy falling from the towers upside down.
A majority of it is focused on the journey of a reporter who sets out to identify the man in the photo, but there's also ample discussion of the negative reaction to the photo and what it represents about the events of that day.
| 42 |
Gus Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:49:23pm |
re: #38 Lidane
[Embedded content]
:) See #32. But look!
Breaking: W Bush did not mention God for Patriot Day Proclamation in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, and 2008. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_D... #Obama #p2 #tlot— Gus (@Gus_802) September 10, 2012
| 43 |
freetoken Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:49:25pm |
CHICAGO! TEACHERS!
| 44 |
Shiplord Kirel Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:49:34pm |
re: #21 Dark_Falcon
He still would fare too well against General Gordon, though.
/Hey, Gordon was bad-ass enough to be portrayed by Charlton Heston in Khartoum. (The Madhi was portrayed by Sir Laurence Olivier.)
Heston bore a striking resemblance to the real Gordon.
| 45 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:50:44pm |
| 46 |
Targetpractice Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:51:25pm |
re: #43 freetoken
CHICAGO! TEACHERS!
Apparently Rush the Hutt put on his CT helmet today and declared that the whole strike is a fake, that Obama will step in in a couple days as a "Great Peacemaker" and use that to win over the unions.
| 47 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:51:56pm |
re: #40 Targetpractice
Load the quantum torpedoes.
/
Are you sure that's wise? Those could breach Cameron's skull, and if they reach the wingularity inside his head they might tear a hole in the fabric of reality.
| 48 |
Gus Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:51:58pm |
re: #42 Gus
:) See #32. But look!
[Embedded content]
I checked. He mentioned God in the original one, 2004 and 2005. The rest Bush didn't mention God. Derp.
| 49 |
Kragar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:52:25pm |
And this is why the GOP can suck on my salty white chocolate balls.
| 50 |
freetoken Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:52:34pm |
Soybean Reserves Smallest in Four Decades After Drought
The smallest U.S. soybean harvest in nine years will leave inventories in the world’s largest exporting nation at the lowest in four decades.
U.S. farmers will reap 13 percent less than a year earlier after the worst Midwest drought in 76 years, according to the average of 34 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Reserves will be the lowest since 1973 by March, [...]
Crop prices surged to records this year as drought parched fields across the U.S., South America and Russia. The U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its forecasts the past two months and the Bloomberg survey indicates the agency will do so again tomorrow, leaving Brazil as the top soybean supplier for the first time. Feed costs are rising for meat producers including Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN), the largest in the U.S., and three United Nations agencies said Sept. 4 that swift action is needed to avert a food crisis.
“The U.S. will simply run out of soybeans” for exports on March 1, said Doug Jackson, a FCStone vice president in West Des Moines, Iowa, who has been a grain-industry analyst since 1974. “The supply situation is unprecedented. The theoretical maximum South American shipping capacity may fall short, leaving world buyers wanting.”
[...]
TEACHERS!
Oh...um.. used that one already...
Carry on.
| 51 |
engineer cat Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:52:36pm |
9/11
the dire predictions of the years after the attack did not come true. we are not living in a constant state of fear of islamic terrorist attacks on american shores. the election of a democratic congress in 2006 did not, despite what i was told at the time, make al qaida think that were weak and irresolute and therefore trigger a refreshed wave of violence
there is no 100 years war between darkness and light dominating our lives
hell, we're not even living in the sociopolitcal atmosphere of early 2008, when the biggest issue was ending the iraq war and the big distinction in the democratic camp was barack's early-ish stand against it vs "she voted for the war!!!"
and two years from now, what will the issues be? something different, that's for sure...
| 52 |
Shiplord Kirel Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:52:37pm |
re: #45 Dark_Falcon
Wow, you're right!
Found another one, Heston as Gordon, in a very similar uniform to the one in the first pic.
| 53 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:52:43pm |
New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce:
43 straight months of employment above 8%. We need #jobs for #NM— Steve Pearce (@RepStevePearce) September 10, 2012
I'd say we need more money for schools. Or some kind of competency requirements to run for office. Or something.
| 54 |
Shiplord Kirel Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:53:46pm |
re: #53 wrenchwench
New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce:
[Embedded content]
I'd say we need more money for schools. Or some kind of competency requirements to run for office. Or something.
I, for one, am very pleased to see that employment is above 8%.
| 55 |
Targetpractice Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:53:49pm |
re: #47 Dark_Falcon
Are you sure that's wise? Those could breach Cameron's skull, and if they reach the wingularity inside his head they might tear a hole in the fabric of reality.
The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther!
/
| 56 |
Kragar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:55:11pm |
re: #53 wrenchwench
New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce:
[Embedded content]
I'd say we need more money for schools. Or some kind of competency requirements to run for office. Or something.
Maybe raise taxes on high income earners to create jobs in schools, infrastructure projects and regulatory services, giving people more disposable income they can spend in other areas.
| 57 |
allegro Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:55:58pm |
| 58 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:56:13pm |
re: #53 wrenchwench
New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce:
[Embedded content]
I'd say we need more money for schools. Or some kind of competency requirements to run for office. Or something.
I just wish the Republicans would of helped Obama try and create some by letting his jobs plan come up for a vote.
| 59 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:56:33pm |
re: #55 Targetpractice
The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther!
/
OK, but if a hole reality is torn and Species 8472 ships start coming out of it, you're getting them blame!
/Serious Star Trek geekage
| 60 |
b_sharp Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:57:08pm |
re: #53 wrenchwench
New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce:
[Embedded content]
I'd say we need more money for schools. Or some kind of competency requirements to run for office. Or something.
Did he mean unemployment?
| 61 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:57:24pm |
re: #56 Kragar
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
| 62 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:57:34pm |
re: #56 Kragar
Maybe raise taxes on high income earners to create jobs in schools, infrastructure projects and regulatory services, giving people more disposable income they can spend in other areas.
Hush! Mr. Pearce is a millionaire, and will be having none of that silliness. He has also poured Tea all over himself. (The money is from oil, though.)
| 63 |
Kragar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:57:35pm |
re: #59 Dark_Falcon
OK, but if a hole reality is torn and Species 8472 ships start coming out of it, you're getting them blame!
/Serious Star Trek geekage
You went and brought Voyager into this? You son of a bitch.
| 64 |
freetoken Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:57:49pm |
re: #61 Dark_Falcon
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
False dilemma.
| 65 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:57:59pm |
| 66 |
Targetpractice Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:58:20pm |
re: #59 Dark_Falcon
OK, but if a hole reality is torn and Species 8472 ships start coming out of it, you're getting them blame!
/Serious Star Trek geekage
Risk is part of the game if you want to sit in that chair.
/
| 67 |
Charleston Chew Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:58:38pm |
Notice that he can't name any specific names for legal reasons because he's in a church.
| 68 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:58:45pm |
re: #61 Dark_Falcon
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
What's wrong with having many fine National Laboratories in our fair state?
| 69 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:59:11pm |
re: #61 Dark_Falcon
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
How about any kind of fucking jobs for now until we get out of this recession.
| 70 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:59:12pm |
re: #63 Kragar
You went and brought Voyager into this? You son of a bitch.
It was the logical play, if we're talking about holes in reality. After all, Species 8472 is so nasty even the Borg are scared of them.
| 71 |
Kragar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:59:25pm |
re: #61 Dark_Falcon
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
No amount of tax benefits will influence a company to create a job when there is no demand because people cannot afford the goods or services provided.
| 72 |
BongCrodny Mon, Sep 10, 2012 4:59:38pm |
re: #63 Kragar
You went and brought Voyager into this? You son of a bitch.
Hey, Voyager was my fifth-favorite Star Trek series.
| 73 |
Targetpractice Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:00:32pm |
re: #61 Dark_Falcon
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
States have already shed over 600,000 jobs since the recession began. If those jobs were still around, the UE rate would be under 7.1%.
| 75 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:01:13pm |
re: #71 Kragar
No amount of tax benefits will influence a company to create a job when there is no demand because people cannot afford the goods or services provided.
Sounds like you are familiar with New Mexico. Perhaps more so than our Governor.
| 76 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:01:33pm |
I get so damn tired of public or private jobs, fuck we need both of them.
| 77 |
Kragar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:02:11pm |
Who contributes more to the economy? A millionaire who offshores his wealth into banks and sits on it or a family man who spends his paycheck in his community?
The idea that the wealthy create jobs if you let them horde more wealth is a sick joke at this point.
| 78 |
recusancy Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:02:20pm |
re: #61 Dark_Falcon
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
Private jobs are in the positive during his presidency. Government jobs are in the negative.
| 79 |
Kragar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:04:25pm |
| 80 |
Decatur Deb Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:05:29pm |
re: #17 The Ghost of a Flea
I think even in the Vatican they like structured discussion. Kirk is over in the charismatic/improvised side of authoritarian spirituality. There's no debate to be had, because it's all gnostic insight.
Kirk would fit in better in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a descendant of Galileo's organization, with a list of the Nobel laureate members. (Note: current head is a Protestant, two members are Israeli.)
[Link: en.wikipedia.org...]
Things are never as simple as they seem.
| 81 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:07:18pm |
re: #78 recusancy
Private jobs are in the positive during his presidency. Government jobs are in the negative.
That's actually a good thing. There were too many people working for the government. A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run. A smaller government will seek to eat less of the national wealth due to a reduced constituency for increases in government wages and benefits.
| 82 |
BongCrodny Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:07:41pm |
From its peak in 1944, the top marginal tax rate has gone from a high of 94% to 35% today.
If that trickle-down shit worked, we should be looking at 0% unemployment right about now.
| 83 |
Patricia Kayden Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:07:44pm |
Since the US is not a theocracy, I would love to hear from Kirk and his ilk how "God IS the platform" for any political party. The Rightwing really is the Christian Taliban.
| 84 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:08:49pm |
re: #81 Dark_Falcon
That's actually a good thing. There were too many people working for the government. A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run. A smaller government will seek to eat less of the national wealth due to a reduced constituency for increases in government wages and benefits.
I don't agree with you on that. This country is to big and complex for to small of a Government.
| 85 |
Kragar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:09:40pm |
re: #81 Dark_Falcon
That's actually a good thing. There were too many people working for the government. A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run. A smaller government will seek to eat less of the national wealth due to a reduced constituency for increases in government wages and benefits.
Yeah, because once those union leaches who call themselves teachers and police officers get the money, we'll never see it again.
/
| 86 |
danarchy Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:09:53pm |
Question on the teacher strike. I read there are something like 29000 teachers striking making some 350000 students miss school. That math doesn't seem to add up. Seems there would be rediculously small class sizes.
Even if some of those are teachers aides or other support you would still have awfully small classes. Am I missing something?
| 87 |
gwangung Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:10:13pm |
re: #81 Dark_Falcon
That's actually a good thing. There were too many people working for the government. A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run. A smaller government will seek to eat less of the national wealth due to a reduced constituency for increases in government wages and benefits.
Actually, no. I do not think there are too many people working for the government, particularly for services rendered.
Moreover, a great deal of government spending is contracting out work to the private sector to get the job done. You're oversimplifying things here, abstracting to a higher level than warranted.
| 88 |
bratwurst Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:10:51pm |
re: #81 Dark_Falcon
A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run.
But every dollar and job in defense is sacred! /
| 89 |
allegro Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:10:52pm |
re: #81 Dark_Falcon
That's actually a good thing. There were too many people working for the government. A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run. A smaller government will seek to eat less of the national wealth due to a reduced constituency for increases in government wages and benefits.
No thoughts on an effective government? It's all dollars and cents? Really?
| 90 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:12:09pm |
re: #85 Kragar
re: #81 Dark_Falcon
That's actually a good thing. There were too many people working for the government. A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run. A smaller government will seek to eat less of the national wealth due to a reduced constituency for increases in government wages and benefits.
I specifically exempted police officers from my post's conclusion.
| 91 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:13:14pm |
| 92 |
recusancy Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:13:43pm |
Ideology trumps everything I guess. Small government is better then smaller unemployment.
| 93 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:13:55pm |
re: #86 danarchy
Question on the teacher strike. I read there are something like 29000 teachers striking making some 350000 students miss school. That math doesn't seem to add up. Seems there would be rediculously small class sizes.
Even if some of those are teachers aides or other support you would still have awfully small classes. Am I missing something?
Many of those teachers are high school teachers, who teach several different classes each day.
| 94 |
Targetpractice Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:14:20pm |
re: #81 Dark_Falcon
That's actually a good thing. There were too many people working for the government. A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run. A smaller government will seek to eat less of the national wealth due to a reduced constituency for increases in government wages and benefits.
How exactly is adding millions to the unemployment line a good thing in the long run?
| 95 |
BongCrodny Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:15:31pm |
Another fun factoid from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In 1991, the top marginal tax rate was 31%.
That increased to 39.6% in 1993.
Interestingly, the unemployment rate in 1993 was 6.9%.
...and fell every year after that from 1994 to 2000.
| 96 |
Lidane Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:16:11pm |
re: #94 Targetpractice
How exactly is adding millions to the unemployment line a good thing in the long run?
Because of reasons, that's why!
| 97 |
bratwurst Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:16:34pm |
re: #92 recusancy
Small government is better then smaller unemployment.
Except where defense is concerned, yes! /
| 98 |
Irving Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:17:03pm |
re: #81 Dark_Falcon
That's actually a good thing. There were too many people working for the government. A decline in non-defense and public safety government employees is a good thing in the long run. A smaller government will seek to eat less of the national wealth due to a reduced constituency for increases in government wages and benefits.
...so high unemployment's a good thing now? Hang on, I'm getting a bit dizzy.
| 99 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:18:35pm |
How exactly is adding millions to the unemployment line a good thing in the long run?
Lets see if He pulls a Romney on that question.
| 100 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:19:01pm |
re: #98 Irving
...so high unemployment's a good thing now? Hang on, I'm getting a bit dizzy.
The more people that work for the government, the greater the constituency for increased government spending.
| 101 |
BongCrodny Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:19:11pm |
I've posted this before, but I think it bears repeating.
While the jury is still out on Obama, it should be noted that every Democratic President since JFK -- including the much maligned Jimmy Carter -- has left office with with an unemployment rate lower than when he took office.
Every Republican President -- except for Ronald Reagan -- has left office with a higher unemployment rate than when he took office.
| 102 |
Lidane Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:19:24pm |
re: #98 Irving
...so high unemployment's a good thing now? Hang on, I'm getting a bit dizzy.
High unemployment is a good thing if you're talking about a bunch of union workers being unemployed. You know, because unions are bad something something.
Never mind all the job benefits that people demand these days which weren't possible before a union fought for them. They're EBIL! Eleventy!
| 103 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:20:10pm |
re: #100 Dark_Falcon
The more people that work for the government, the greater the constituency for increased government spending.
For things that need to get done.
| 104 |
jaunte Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:20:21pm |
| 105 |
gwangung Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:20:23pm |
re: #100 Dark_Falcon
The more people that work for the government, the greater the constituency for increased government spending.
Remarkably data free.
| 106 |
Lidane Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:20:53pm |
re: #100 Dark_Falcon
Because the Republicans are all about reduced government spending. Except on defense. Or oil subsidies. Or corporate welfare. Etc.
| 107 |
Sheila Broflovski Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:21:24pm |
re: #61 Dark_Falcon
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
Like the auto industry?
| 108 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:21:36pm |
| 109 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:21:41pm |
re: #103 Tigger2
"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."
| 110 |
bratwurst Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:22:17pm |
re: #106 Lidane
Because the Republicans are all about reduced government spending. Except on defense. Or oil subsidies. Or corporate welfare. Etc.
Well those are different...because they predominantly serve Republicans!
| 111 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:22:22pm |
| 112 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:22:25pm |
re: #109 Dark_Falcon
"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."
Read above comment.
| 113 |
jaunte Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:22:37pm |
The US Navy was originally built to protect private, American-owned shipping.
| 114 |
allegro Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:24:10pm |
| 115 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:24:21pm |
I was wondering why I haven't seen a single Romney yard sign. Just got this email.
Fellow Republicans and Conservatives:
As many of you know, New Mexico is currently in a tier 2 status with the national folks at Team Romney and they feel money is best spent on the 'battleground' states such as Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, etc. Therefore Team Romney is currently sending no free signs or bumper stickers to New Mexico. This could change at some point in the future [dreamers] but many of our constituents are requesting these items NOW -- which puts a lot of pressure on all of us working hard to get Mitt Romney elected President of the United States.
Xxxx County Conservatives CAN make a difference! But - we need your donations NOW to make it happen! County Chairmen and Chairwomen can place a minimum order for 1000 signs @ $1.85 each. If we each "buy" 10 signs for $11.85 we can order 1000 signs for Xxxx County. Will you HELP us by making a donation - any amount - so Xxxx County can order 1000 ROMNEY for PRESIDENT campaign signs?? You can send your donation to: Republican Party of....
| 117 |
BongCrodny Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:24:51pm |
re: #111 Dark_Falcon
I'm certain that's a completely unbiased assessment, given that when I clicked on the link I got a pop-up ad from National Review that read "669 Reasons to Defeat Barack Obama."
| 118 |
Sheila Broflovski Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:25:10pm |
re: #111 Dark_Falcon
What breathtaking bullshit. Five years ago, all the mid-level automotive jobs were shrinking. Engineering jobs were few and far between, and contracts were very short term, like, 4-6 weeks at a time.
That has all turned around dramatically.
| 119 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:25:14pm |
re: #113 jaunte
The US Navy was originally built to protect private, American-owned shipping.
Yes, and we should determinately keep building Littoral Combat Ships and destroyers to help protect our commerce and ensure that China doesn't try any major power-plays.
| 120 |
jaunte Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:25:55pm |
re: #117 BongCrodny
"669 Reasons to Defeat Barack Obama."
I hope one of them was "so we can afford to hire an editor."
| 121 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:26:47pm |
re: #120 jaunte
I hope one of them was "so we can afford to hire an editor."
They already have a damn good editor in Rich Lowry.
| 122 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:26:52pm |
re: #120 jaunte
I hope one of them was "so we can afford to hire an editor."
Or somebody willing to put their name on stuff like what Dark linked to.
| 123 |
austin_blue Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:27:45pm |
"My country 'tis of thee,
Our sweet theocracy.."
Umm..not so much. History is hard for these folks.
| 125 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:28:20pm |
You small Government people are a joke considering we have over 300 Mil people in the country. It takes more then a small Government to handle that, your small Government meme is so 20 century.
| 127 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:29:18pm |
re: #122 wrenchwench
Or somebody willing to put their name on stuff like what Dark linked to.
Editorials credited to the editorial board as a whole have been accepted as a practice for decades. Nothing dishonest about it.
| 128 |
allegro Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:30:46pm |
re: #125 Tigger2
You small Government people are a joke considering we have over 300 Mil people in the country. It takes more then a small Government to handle that, your small Government meme is so 20 century.
It doesn't even make sense. What is "small"? No one can answer that. They just spout the small government meme without thought because that's what Fox and Norquist told them to say. It's entirely empty.
| 129 |
BongCrodny Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:30:57pm |
re: #121 Dark_Falcon
They already have a damn good editor in Rich Lowry.
Someone's got a case of starburst fever! :-)
| 130 |
Pawn of the Oppressor Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:31:32pm |
Oh boy, here's "god" again... God god god god god god god... Never do we think for a moment about how his devotees are fucking up the planet, just so long as you BELIEEEEEEEEVE, yadda yadda... Sorry... I'm tired of religion.
Oddly enough last night I was re-reading the Christian Bible (current girlfriend goes to a Church of Christ... and me an atheist! Argh! :) ) and I was reading in Luke (?) where Jesus gave an example of two fellows in a Synagogue, one a Pharisee who was thanking god for not making him a sinner, and the other a tax collector who was admonishing himself as a sinner and praying for forgiveness. "Which of these is better?", and so on, went the lesson...
Well all I can think is, thank god I'm not Kirk Cameron, or anybody like him, forever imprisoned in his self-constructed world of religious lunacy, cut off from all common sense, just another long link in the chain of Dumb that stretches back through history, noteworthy only in the sense that he is precisely like every fundie religious goofball who has come before, and will come after... Another "moral guidepost" who serves really as an example of what NOT to do.
Same shit, different century...
| 131 |
bratwurst Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:32:30pm |
re: #129 BongCrodny
Someone's got a case of starburst fever! :-)
Well Lowry IS good about cutting lose his racist writers...every month or two after someone else unmasks them.
| 132 |
PhillyPretzel Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:32:37pm |
As to Kirk Cameron if I recall correctly he had an actress fired from "Growing Pains" for posing nude years before she appeared on the show.
| 133 |
recusancy Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:32:44pm |
| 134 |
aagcobb Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:32:50pm |
re: #24 Tigger2
What the hell ever happened to separation of Church and State the Founders were all about, you would think the teabaggers would be all over that.
There is no separation of church and state in the Constitution! Its freedom of religion, not freedom from religion!eleventy!
| 135 |
Charles Johnson Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:33:50pm |
re: #34 Learned Mother of Zion
Tomorrow is 9/11. What happened to Tilly's Story?
Links got broke, but I fixed 'em up.
| 136 |
wrenchwench Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:34:11pm |
re: #127 Dark_Falcon
Editorials credited to the editorial board as a whole have been accepted as a practice for decades. Nothing dishonest about it.
Yeah, you are correct. However, The National Review has shown themselves to be such a cesspit lately, I was not satisfied with a mere downding on your link to them. I had to go for the cheap, snarky, not entirely true remark. I award myself a Pinocchio.
| 137 |
Amory Blaine Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:35:06pm |
re: #29 dragonfire1981
I was in my car on my way to class for a test when the first tower was hit. On the radio Mancow was in hysterics so I probably didn't believe him.
| 138 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:35:20pm |
re: #128 allegro
It doesn't even make sense. What is "small"? No one can answer that. They just spout the small government meme without thought because that's what Fox and Norquist told them to say. It's entirely empty.
I always liked the term adequate Government, to get the things we need done taken care of.
| 139 |
Charles Johnson Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:35:35pm |
There was a lot of debate about whether Tilly's story was genuine, by the way.
| 140 |
engineer cat Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:37:26pm |
re: #61 Dark_Falcon
How about creating jobs in the private sector, instead of growing the government?
it would be nice if that would happen, but contrary to what some people think, jobs created by the government are actually jobs, and are they generally doing useful things to the same extent people with jobs in the private sector are doing
and they are worth creating with our tax money, aside from the issue where they do useful stuff like repair public infrastructure, since employed people buy things and that stimulates the economy and helps us all out
and the economy doesn't care who cut their paycheck
so - if we want to increase employment, lowering the number of government employees on the pretext that you're "shrinking government" is a bass akwards way of going about it, don't you think?
| 141 |
jaunte Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:37:44pm |
Canadian the only illegal alien caught in U.S. fake-voter dragnet
"...after months of searching, only one alien falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen has been caught, charged and convicted in Florida. It turns out he is a Canadian, a man who registered and voted in at least two presidential elections while masquerading as a citizen so he could also buy and “bear arms,” that other right cherished by many Americans."
| 142 |
Digital Display Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:42:08pm |
re: #139 Charles Johnson
There was a lot of debate about whether Tilly's story was genuine, by the way.
Kind of like after 9-11 a popular poster here posted about his dad being a hero getting people out? And somebody posted, Didn't your dad die several years before 9-11? Awkward! Other than that Charles the posts here about 9-11 have always been personal and powerful.
| 143 |
Kragar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:44:59pm |
re: #132 PhillyPretzel
As to Kirk Cameron if I recall correctly he had an actress fired from "Growing Pains" for posing nude years before she appeared on the show.
The guy is a complete douche.
6 Beloved TV Shows (That Traumatized Cast Members For Life)
Growing Pains
The Show:
80s middle-class family learns to live and love and finds Leonardo DiCaprio living in a dumpster.
But Behind The Scenes...
Teen heartthrob Kirk Cameron learns to love Jesus and finds sin in all of his costars.
Kirk Cameron's born again Christianity caused more troubles on-set than a scientist at a Scientologist convention. In the later seasons of Growing Pains, Cameron was a holy terror, tut-tutting costars for "immoral" behavior and demanding puritanical script revisions.
All this from a man who dressed like a Thai rent boy.Although Cameron's definition of immoral was laughable, it was his be-mulleted mug on the cover of Tiger Beat, so ABC put up with the sanctimonious little shit.
Under Cameron's thrall, Growing Pains made Mayberry look like Sodom and Gomorrah. For instance, Cameron called for rewrites when his character, Mike Seaver, laid in bed with a woman, even though Seaver was just acting in a play. Things grew so insane on-set that Cameron once called the president of ABC and accused the network of shilling pornography.
All this pales in comparison to the number Cameron did on costar Julie McCullough's career. McCullough played Mike Seaver's girlfriend, Julie Costello. She had also once appeared nude in Playboy.
Cameron forced ABC to fire McCullough and her sweater puppets--after all, nothing offends the Lord more than a nice pair of pert yams. Once McCullough got the pink slip, the writers scrambled to rejigger the upcoming Mike-Julie wedding episode. Ultimately, Mike Seaver was stood up at the altar, a fitting metaphor for how Cameron had alienated almost everyone he'd worked with. It's hard to stay pissed at Cameron. After all, his career's been in the gutter for a while, and nowadays he spends his time proving God's existence using bananas and disproving evolution using Photoshop.
| 144 |
Amory Blaine Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:45:02pm |
Government employment has shrank the last couple years.
| 146 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:48:16pm |
re: #137 Amory Blaine
I was in my car on my way to class for a test when the first tower was hit. On the radio Mancow was in hysterics so I probably didn't believe him.
Well, given that he subsequently had a interview with Alex Jones that left Jones thinking Mueller was seeing a conspiracy that wasn't there, I can see why you didn't.
As for me, my dad was driving me to a training class with Sprint at the time of the impacts by the planes. We had the radio off, so I did not know what was going on until I got to the building where the class was to be.
| 147 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:49:13pm |
re: #136 wrenchwench
Yeah, you are correct. However, The National Review has shown themselves to be such a cesspit
lately, I was not satisfied with a mere downding on your link to them. I had to go for the cheap, snarky, not entirely true remark. I award myself a Pinocchio.
Have an upding for being honest.
| 148 |
lawhawk Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:49:34pm |
All done. I've finished my annual retrospective on the rebuilding efforts at the WTC and remembering the events of 9/11.
| 149 |
Tigger2 Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:50:10pm |
re: #144 Amory Blaine
Government employment has shrank the last couple years.
Yeah a lot of Teachers, Policemen and Firemen have been laid off, People that we need to be working.
| 150 |
aagcobb Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:51:28pm |
| 151 |
engineer cat Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:51:29pm |
re: #145 Gus
All done.
Wingnut Nontroversy of the Day: '#Obama's 9-11 Proclamation Does Not Mention #God'
when will we be hearing about the constitutional amendment requiring that the word 'god' be pronounced aloud at least once in all government utterances?
| 152 |
Sheila Broflovski Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:54:28pm |
| 153 |
Our Precious Bodily Fluids Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:56:16pm |
re: #145 Gus
All done.
Wingnut Nontroversy of the Day: '#Obama's 9-11 Proclamation Does Not Mention #God'
As opposed to Mohammed Atta, who mentioned God 15 times in his "official 9-11 proclamation"...
| 154 |
Coracle Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:59:43pm |
re: #145 Gus
All done.
Wingnut Nontroversy of the Day: '#Obama's 9-11 Proclamation Does Not Mention #God'
Number of times "God" is written in the US constitution: 0
Number of times "Creator" is written in the US constitution: 0
Number of times "Church" is written in the US constitution: 0
Number of times "Religion" is written in the US constitution: 1
("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof")
Number of times "Faith" is written in the US constitution: 1
("Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts")
| 156 |
lawhawk Mon, Sep 10, 2012 5:59:58pm |
I don't get why anyone would think that Kirk Cameron would say anything even remotely related to the real world. He is so completely misguided about the 1st Amendment and the separation of church and state - that it's amazing that so many people listen to him as some kind of authority.
| 157 |
lawhawk Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:02:42pm |
re: #155 darthstar
He's the symptom of a much bigger problem - a complete misunderstanding about the constitution, the law, and that the nation was founded on religious freedom - not imposing one religion's ideals over those of all others.
| 158 |
darthstar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:05:12pm |
re: #157 lawhawk
He's the symptom of a much bigger problem - a complete misunderstanding about the constitution, the law, and that the nation was founded on religious freedom - not imposing one religion's ideals over those of all others.
He's a low-information voter. No wonder he's embraced by the religious right.
| 159 |
Daniel Ballard Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:06:06pm |
re: #148 lawhawk
All done. I've finished my annual retrospective on the rebuilding efforts at the WTC and remembering the events of 9/11.
Your blog is absolutely outstanding on this.
| 160 |
Lidane Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:06:22pm |
re: #156 lawhawk
I don't get why anyone would think that Kirk Cameron would say anything even remotely related to the real world. He is so completely misguided about the 1st Amendment and the separation of church and state - that it's amazing that so many people listen to him as some kind of authority.
The people who listen to him also think that David Barton is a historian and that Fox News is an actual news network. It's symptomatic of the current American wingnut right.
| 161 |
Gus Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:06:27pm |
BREAKING: AIG's debt to the U.S. government has been repaid; Treasury says $182B committed to AIG during financial crisis has been recovered— CNBC (@CNBC) September 11, 2012
| 162 |
palomino Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:09:08pm |
This isn't surprising in a nation going through the (mostly) bloodless cultural civil war the US is now experiencing.
I don't know if this is a Third Great Awakening or not, but the GOP has morphed into an overtly religious party, very unlike what it once was...and very unlike the Dems. This makes the choice for me that much easier. A party with religious litmus tests, like the GOP, can't possibly be a force for inclusion or effective governance in a diverse and developed modern democracy.
| 163 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:09:17pm |
| 164 |
The Ghost of a Flea Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:09:45pm |
re: #158 darthstar
He's a low-information voter. No wonder he's embraced by the religious right.
He's also one of the bigger names in the parallel cinema industry of the Bartonverse, both as an actor and director...but most importantly as a True Believer.
Also, he's been hoisted up for attention by people like Tim LaHaye and David Barton. He's supposed to be the charming face of the Rapture-ready, telling you that you're going to Hell unless you say their magic words.
| 165 |
darthstar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:10:00pm |
Pretty cool. Pigmentless...and yet the color lasts decades.
The plant that produces the world's most intense natural color that lasts for decades. ow.ly/dBKQH— Smithsonian Magazine (@SmithsonianMag) September 11, 2012
| 166 |
lawhawk Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:10:13pm |
re: #161 Gus
And I think that the feds ended up making a modest profit on that rescue too.
| 167 |
gwangung Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:10:27pm |
| 168 |
darthstar Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:11:41pm |
| 170 |
palomino Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:12:49pm |
re: #163 Dark_Falcon
I disagree, vehemently.
Face it, NRO has a race problem...firing Derbyshire and that other guy in the last couple of months is just the latest iteration thereof.
More importantly, on the biggest domestic moral question of the last 60 years--civil rights for blacks, duh--NatRev and its overly esteemed founder, got things wrong...dead wrong.
| 171 |
goddamnedfrank Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:17:10pm |
re: #118 Learned Mother of Zion
What breathtaking bullshit. Five years ago, all the mid-level automotive jobs were shrinking. Engineering jobs were few and far between, and contracts were very short term, like, 4-6 weeks at a time.
That has all turned around dramatically.
NR and Romney also deliberately ignore the 2009 credit freeze. The managed bankruptcy sounds like a good idea until you realize it was tried, and that no banks were willing to loan the money necessary for restructuring. Romney, NR, and the Republican Party are all complicit in selling and retelling an egregious lie.
| 172 |
Daniel Ballard Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:18:46pm |
re: #150 aagcobb
Okay so what part of this is inaccurate?
Bill Clinton bizarrely tried to claim that the bailout has been responsible for the addition of 250,000 jobs to the automobile industry since the nadir of the financial crisis. Auto manufacturers and dealerships have indeed added about 236,000 jobs since then, but almost none are at GM, which has added only about 4,500 workers, a number not even close to offsetting the 63,000 workers that its dealerships had to let go when the terms of the bailout unilaterally shut them down.
| 173 |
dragonath Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:18:50pm |
re: #170 palomino
And on the most important international issue of the next 60 years... oops, they got that wrong too.
| 174 |
SanFranciscoZionist Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:19:47pm |
re: #4 freetoken
God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!God!
LGF is now approved.
I thought that was just a very extended orgasm.
| 175 |
Shiplord Kirel Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:20:08pm |
I've noticed something interesting about the active right-wingers and tea-partiers I know personally. The local leaders are typically people from middle class or upper middle class backgrounds who have less social and financial status than their parents. One of the authors of the notorious Lubbock County GOP platform, for example, calls himself an "investment adviser" but his real business is running an MLM operation based on health supplements. His office is in a seedy strip mall in a rundown part of town. His father was a distinguished physician. A mad-dog right-wing radio host here comes from a prominent ranching family. He is a big fish in a little media pond but he has gone as far as he can go and represents a distinct and obvious step down the status ladder from his parents. The local conspiracy guru is the ne'er do well son of a retired Air Force officer.
I'm not sure what this pattern means but it is striking how often it recurs. I could speculate that this movement attracts people who feel entitled to status but who have demonstrably failed to achieve it for themselves. They therefore seek to further limit social mobility and increase the importance of heredity and background in determining the social order, at the expense of merit. One obvious expression of this would be their opposition to public schools. Their parents were educated people and could afford to educate them themselves if they had to. Public schools seriously level the playing field for poor kids with uneducated parents. Someone like me, a poor kid who went to an Ivy League college, is a threat to the natural order in their eyes. Someone like Obama, well, my God.
| 176 |
SanFranciscoZionist Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:21:04pm |
re: #8 freetoken
Someone should tell Kirk that "god" is a noun, not really a name.
If Kirk really wants a "name" of god, "Allah" seems to be the contemporary pronunciation of the head of the ancient near east pantheon.
According to David Cooper, God is a verb.
[Link: www.amazon.com...]
| 177 |
aagcobb Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:21:38pm |
re: #172 Daniel Ballard
Okay so what part of this is inaccurate?
Bill Clinton bizarrely tried to claim that the bailout has been responsible for the addition of 250,000 jobs to the automobile industry since the nadir of the financial crisis. Auto manufacturers and dealerships have indeed added about 236,000 jobs since then, but almost none are at GM, which has added only about 4,500 workers, a number not even close to offsetting the 63,000 workers that its dealerships had to let go when the terms of the bailout unilaterally shut them down.
And those dealerships would've stayed open if GM had shut down?
| 178 |
SanFranciscoZionist Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:21:50pm |
re: #12 efuseakay
There is already a country for theocrats like him. The Vatican.
Won't work. They are Marian idolaters, and also they believe in evolution.
| 179 |
Sheila Broflovski Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:22:45pm |
re: #172 Daniel Ballard
Okay so what part of this is inaccurate?
Bill Clinton bizarrely tried to claim that the bailout has been responsible for the addition of 250,000 jobs to the automobile industry since the nadir of the financial crisis. Auto manufacturers and dealerships have indeed added about 236,000 jobs since then, but almost none are at GM, which has added only about 4,500 workers, a number not even close to offsetting the 63,000 workers that its dealerships had to let go when the terms of the bailout unilaterally shut them down.
Most auto industry jobs (in the engineering and IT fields) are contract assignments. What this means is that many people work AT GM, Ford or Chrysler but are officially employed by the contracting agencies. Therefore, even though the "Big 3" may not have so many new direct hires, they are giving out more contracts.
| 180 |
SanFranciscoZionist Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:23:30pm |
re: #17 The Ghost of a Flea
I think even in the Vatican they like structured discussion. Kirk is over in the charismatic/improvised side of authoritarian spirituality. There's no debate to be had, because it's all gnostic insight.
Kirk would fit in better in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
I think he's right where he wants to be. In a country where he can run his mouth with no fear of consequences.
That's fine, but he might want to express a little enthusiasm about it.
| 181 |
SanFranciscoZionist Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:25:34pm |
re: #23 Gus
If the bible is the "word of God" then I guess that the GOP party platform is a literal reading of the bible.
I am not a scholar, but I have read the Bible reasonably thoroughly, and there is not a single word in it about American exceptionalism, literal or figurative.
| 182 |
Daniel Ballard Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:27:07pm |
re: #177 aagcobb
Not a point the article makes, and GM would have gone BK but not disappeared anymore than Zales did. Are those numbers all wrong considering the source or is just the editorial content off?
| 183 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:27:37pm |
re: #177 aagcobb
Irrelevant to the point RWC is making. Clinton made a claim that is misleading and despite the bailout GM is still in serious trouble and is massively in the red jobs-wise once the dealerships are added in.
| 184 |
dragonath Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:27:59pm |
re: #175 Shiplord Kirel
I was thinking of that during the DNC when Obama was telling stories about "exceptional" people. There was very very little of that during the RNC.
| 185 |
Daniel Ballard Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:29:20pm |
Since it seems GM would have continued on some for after BK, and this would have broken the unions why are we talking about GM? Seems GM is a code here for union issues.
| 186 |
The Ghost of a Flea Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:31:25pm |
re: #181 SanFranciscoZionist
I am not a scholar, but I have read the Bible reasonably thoroughly, and there is not a single word in it about American exceptionalism, literal or figurative.
Of course you can't. You opened a Bible without your pastor or a pastor-approved study guide (and/or possibly an audio or video read-along guide put out by one of the megachurches). And you're probably not even using a Scofield Annotated version. This entire nutty form of "Christianity" has to do with extra-Biblical materials. Jesus and his parables don't enter into it...all that niceness and forgiveness stuff is for the next world. This is really what dispensationalists believe: they've scooped out the heart of the New Testament.
| 187 |
Sheila Broflovski Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:33:38pm |
re: #185 Daniel Ballard
Since it seems GM would have continued on some for after BK, and this would have broken the unions why are we talking about GM? Seems GM is a code here for union issues.
Why do you think this is all about the UAW? Do you know how many salaried professional engineers and contractors work at GM and GM suppliers like Delphi?
| 188 |
SanFranciscoZionist Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:34:02pm |
re: #186 The Ghost of a Flea
Of course you can't. You opened a Bible without your pastor or a pastor-approved study guide (and/or possibly an audio or video read-along guide put out by one of the megachurches). And you're probably not even using a Scofield Annotated version. This entire nutty form of "Christianity" has to do with extra-Biblical materials. Jesus and his parables don't enter into it...all that niceness and forgiveness stuff is for the next world (this is really what dispensationalists believe).
I thought the parables were about the free market...
//My best insights about odd Christian interpretations come from Slacktivist, himself an evangelical, who has taught me the darndest things.
I am particularly fond of his "You just might be an evangelical" series, which includes: "If you take every word of the Bible literally, except for "wine" and "to seven churches in Asia", you just might be an evangelical."
I had to have it explained to me. But I did get "If you've ever played the tambourine while wearing a tie you just might be an evangelical," without help.
| 189 |
Daniel Ballard Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:34:17pm |
re: #179 Learned Mother of Zion
It will always intrigue me as to why the employees at the dealerships got so little attention. The effect of the closed dealerships in those small towns got more attention. Seems to me we had a willful bent to protect the union and to hell with the rest of the fired people.
| 190 |
recusancy Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:34:28pm |
re: #185 Daniel Ballard
Since it seems GM would have continued on some for after BK, and this would have broken the unions why are we talking about GM? Seems GM is a code here for union issues.
It's code for jobs here in Michigan.
| 191 |
The Ghost of a Flea Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:35:22pm |
re: #188 SanFranciscoZionist
I thought the parables were about the free market...
//My best insights about odd Christian interpretations come from Slacktivist, himself an evangelical, who has taught me the darndest things.
I am particularly fond of his "You just might be an evangelical" series, which includes: "If you take every word of the Bible literally, except for "wine" and "to seven churches in Asia", you just might be an evangelical."
I had to have it explained to me. But I did get "If you've ever played the tambourine while wearing a tie you just might be an evangelical," without help.
I, too, adore the Slactivist. Though it's been a bit chilling realizing exactly what my neighbors believe in....
| 192 |
BongCrodny Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:36:13pm |
re: #181 SanFranciscoZionist
I am not a scholar, but I have read the Bible reasonably thoroughly, and there is not a single word in it about American exceptionalism, literal or figurative.
"In the beginning, God created America."
| 193 |
Daniel Ballard Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:37:40pm |
re: #190 recusancy
Was in Van Nuys too. GM was not going to evaporate, it was going to downsize differently and survive anyway. Even if competitors bought it and killed it, if a given number of domestic cars sells it takes a given number of workers and contractors to build them. Regardless of the label. Ford, or whoever. Even domestically made Toyotas count.
| 194 |
Sheila Broflovski Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:40:28pm |
re: #189 Daniel Ballard
It will always intrigue me as to why the employees at the dealerships got so little attention. The effect of the closed dealerships in those small towns got more attention. Seems to me we had a willful bent to protect the union and to hell with the rest of the fired people.
It will always intrigue me as to why the employees in the IT department and the call centers got so little attention. The effect of moving the IT department and the call centers overseas has been to deprive professionals of high-skilled, high-paying jobs and drive down customer satisfaction.
BTW: I work at a call center. Not taking calls (I am several layers behind all that) but customers really appreciate that their calls are serviced here and not somewhere overseas. I mean, we do have Asian call centers but they are for the customers in Asia. :)
| 195 |
Daniel Ballard Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:49:47pm |
re: #194 Learned Mother of Zion
You are right onshore service reps rock. And I think the IT department also lacked Auto Union cover. This furthers my point about this argument really being in great part about the Unions. A non union auto makes would be anathema. Well I gotta say the very successful FedEx is non union, a huge employer and well respected by most of it's employees. UPS is union and they seem to do well too. The lesson I take is the union is optional.
| 196 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Sep 10, 2012 6:59:55pm |
re: #195 Daniel Ballard
You are right onshore service reps rock. And I think the IT department also lacked Auto Union cover. This furthers my point about this argument really being in great part about the Unions. A non union auto makes would be anathema. Well I gotta say the very successful FedEx is non union, a huge employer and well respected by most of it's employees. UPS is union and they seem to do well too. The lesson I take is the union is optional.
Quite Concur. Unions are not sacred institutions. They are organizations that theoretically exist to benefit their members, and are just a prone to human failings as the corporations they sit across the table from.
| 197 |
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