My legs are my best body part. At least of the ones I can show in public without being arrested.

making more loan money available to pay for college is stupid. it only exacerbates the skyrocketing costs of colleges. what incentive do they have to cut costs and keep their service at a reasonable price?

I told a guy on my rec sports team that I'm going to opening day, and Obama's throwing out the first pitch. I jokingly said I'd boo him if it wasn't a good pitch. He gave me this look, roughly:



Next followed an inquisition whereby he determined whether or not my opinions were acceptable. :

Him: YOU'RE NOT REPUBLICAN ARE YOU?
Me:How often do you have the opportunity to boo a President? It's a Washington tradition.
Him: [not distracted by my nonanswer] YOU'RE NOT REPUBLICAN ARE YOU?
Me: Uh, I'm libertarian.
Him: [confused] YOU DIDN'T LIKE BUSH DID YOU?
Me: No.
Him: [visibly relaxed] Good.
Someone else: I liked Bush. Obama's like the worst President evar. The economy sucks now that he's in charge.
Him: BUSH CAUSED 2 RECESSIONS AND STARTED 2 WARS.

At this point I was thankful I wasn't engaged in the conversation anymore, and quite easily decided I shouldn't mention that you can't blame Bush for the 2001 recession anymore than you can blame Obama for the current one. I can't imagine what the guy would have said if I joked I was going to bring AA batteries.

Werthless wrote:I can't imagine what the guy would have said if I joked I was going to bring AA batteries.

Secret Service has you on a list now

Thinking about the "Tea Party Movement".

It's clearly a force in American Politics right now. But a force for what? They're against the current health care reform bill, I think it's safe to say, but what else?

I don't think it's quite accurate to call it an "astro turf movement". Because it's not. But the problem with a grass roots movement is that it's tough to control, it's tough to keep everyone associated with the movement "on message". And, historically, the Republican Party and "the conservative movement" has worked assiduously to keep everyone "on message". The attempt of Americans for Prosperity to use the Tea Party to further its own agenda is likely to backfire.

The point is, there really is no such thing as "the tea party movement". It's a bunch of people who are upset about stuff. But they're not all upset about the same things. Attempts from both the left and the right to define this movement are sure to go awry. Google tea party, and you'll find lots of websites with teaparty in them. Which is the real tea party? All of them, or none of them.

This is a real problem--a sort of mini French Revolution problem if you will. One thing almost everyone misses is that at least some of the forces that brought Obama to the White House are also driving the tea party. (I doubt there's a huge overlap between Obama voters and tea party members. Rather, I'm getting at a degree of discontent.

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:

Werthless wrote:I can't imagine what the guy would have said if I joked I was going to bring AA batteries.

Secret Service has you on a list now

"now"?

Werthless wrote:

Beck and Limbaugh do cartoons now?

Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre today announced that he has ended his run for Republican backing in the 12th Congressional District, and threw his support behind Sipprelle.

TV's buddy isn't going to be a Congressmans

TenuredVulture wrote:Thinking about the "Tea Party Movement".

It's clearly a force in American Politics right now. But a force for what? They're against the current health care reform bill, I think it's safe to say, but what else?

Smaller government? Healthcare has been the center of debate, but the movement itself was started as a reaction to the government bailouts for both banks and overextended consumers. I wonder if Rick Santelli ever realized his rant would lead to this.

jerseyhoya wrote:

Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre today announced that he has ended his run for Republican backing in the 12th Congressional District, and threw his support behind Sipprelle.

TV's buddy isn't going to be a Congressmans

Tough to feel badly for ANY politician but I do feel just that for Mr. Halfacre based on what I read in the article. Seems like he fell victim to one of my biggest pet peeves in politics which is self-financing, multi-millionaire candidates.

Gov. Chris Christie offers more state aid to N.J. schools that freeze teacher pay

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he will offer more state aid to school districts whose teachers agree to a wage freeze for the 2011 fiscal year.

...

Christie said the offer won't cost the state any more money because the state would save on Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes as a result of the wage freezes.

School districts who get the additional aid could set it aside to offset steep cuts in school aid next year. Under Christie's proposed 2011 budget, school districts would lose state aid that equals up to 5 percent of their budgets. For many districts, that will mean layoffs and program reductions.

Already teachers in several districts, including in West Essex, Boonton, Montclair and Metuchen, have voluntarily offered to freeze wages.
Christie started off trying to balance his first budget since being elected in November with a $1 billion hole, the result of stimulus money that has run out.

Under the proposed budget, every district would get less from the state for the coming school year than it does now.

But if teachers agree to wage freezes, districts could see more than a 7 percent increase in aid. For example, a district that saves $1 million in salaries as a result of wage freezes would receive an extra $75,000 in state aid.

"Maybe that helps to fund another teacher position or two, or a sports program that they might otherwise had to cut," Christie said.

sounds dumb

pacino wrote:sounds dumb

why?

jerseyhoya wrote:

Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre today announced that he has ended his run for Republican backing in the 12th Congressional District, and threw his support behind Sipprelle.

TV's buddy isn't going to be a Congressmans

Do they make a card for when a friend (who's candidacy you don't necessarily support) drops out of a race? Is it appropriate to send one?

cshort wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Thinking about the "Tea Party Movement".

It's clearly a force in American Politics right now. But a force for what? They're against the current health care reform bill, I think it's safe to say, but what else?

Smaller government? Healthcare has been the center of debate, but the movement itself was started as a reaction to the government bailouts for both banks and overextended consumers. I wonder if Rick Santelli ever realized his rant would lead to this.

I don't think the rank and file really supports smaller government. Many are pro-life, which means bigger government. Many are hawks on national security, and that also expands government. Many are opposed to Obama's cuts in medicare as well.

They might be for reducing the deficit, but they're not serious about it, since to really cut the deficit, you're going to have to cut medicare, social security, or defense, or raise taxes. I don't know of anyone other than Ron Paul talking about doing any of those things.

TenuredVulture wrote:

cshort wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Thinking about the "Tea Party Movement".

It's clearly a force in American Politics right now. But a force for what? They're against the current health care reform bill, I think it's safe to say, but what else?

Smaller government? Healthcare has been the center of debate, but the movement itself was started as a reaction to the government bailouts for both banks and overextended consumers. I wonder if Rick Santelli ever realized his rant would lead to this.

I don't think the rank and file really supports smaller government. Many are pro-life, which means bigger government. Many are hawks on national security, and that also expands government. Many are opposed to Obama's cuts in medicare as well.

They might be for reducing the deficit, but they're not serious about it, since to really cut the deficit, you're going to have to cut medicare, social security, or defense, or raise taxes. I don't know of anyone other than Ron Paul talking about doing any of those things.

The average American has no idea of what the federal government spends its money on. The average guess for how much of the funds go to foreign aid is 20%. So many politicians of both parties have told them all the money to be saved from 'waste and fraud' that a lot of people think you could balance the budget without cutting any real programs. In polls, few realize how large a fraction of the budget is made up of Medicare and Social Security. These tea party folks are all saying the government shouldn't touch their social security and Medicare.

allentown wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:

cshort wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Thinking about the "Tea Party Movement".

It's clearly a force in American Politics right now. But a force for what? They're against the current health care reform bill, I think it's safe to say, but what else?

Smaller government? Healthcare has been the center of debate, but the movement itself was started as a reaction to the government bailouts for both banks and overextended consumers. I wonder if Rick Santelli ever realized his rant would lead to this.

I don't think the rank and file really supports smaller government. Many are pro-life, which means bigger government. Many are hawks on national security, and that also expands government. Many are opposed to Obama's cuts in medicare as well.

They might be for reducing the deficit, but they're not serious about it, since to really cut the deficit, you're going to have to cut medicare, social security, or defense, or raise taxes. I don't know of anyone other than Ron Paul talking about doing any of those things.

The average American has no idea of what the federal government spends its money on. The average guess for how much of the funds go to foreign aid is 20%. So many politicians of both parties have told them all the money to be saved from 'waste and fraud' that a lot of people think you could balance the budget without cutting any real programs. In polls, few realize how large a fraction of the budget is made up of Medicare and Social Security. These tea party folks are all saying the government shouldn't touch their social security and Medicare.

You're right that most people don't realize where the money is spent. That being said, I think many people would sacrifice (reduced benefits, increased taxes), if they knew the money was actually being used to reduce debt - simply because it would benefit their kids. The problem is they can't trust the government to actually use the money for deficit reduction. The Republicans had an opportunity under Bush to do it, and they completely crapped the bed.

pacino wrote:sounds dumb

I don't think Christie is doing a good job, but this seems like a good compromise all the way around.

cshort wrote:...I think many people would sacrifice (reduced benefits, increased taxes), if they knew the money was actually being used to reduce debt - simply because it would benefit their kids. The problem is they can't trust the government to actually use the money for deficit reduction. The Republicans had an opportunity under Bush to do it, and they completely crapped the bed.

I'd like to believe this, but I don't think it holds up unless you can somehow convince a majority that *everybody* is sacrificing, in the face of political forces that will perceive potential gain by convincing large segments of the public that they're being played for suckers. Add in that the ripest targets--the rich, who have seen their take-home income far outpace their tax burden over the last 30 years or so, and the middle class, who get the most goodies--supply the money and votes respectively, so nobody wants to go after them.

Ideally there would be some bipartisan grand bargain in which every sacred cow is bled if not slain: a big package of higher taxes and fairly deep spending cuts. And I do think this will happen eventually--but, sadly, only in response to some fiscal disaster rather than proactively, to avert it.