Bucky wrote:that dude who said "voter id...which will ensure romney wins pennsylvania...done!" should be impeached.

But actually, it did serve to sway me. Whereas before I was ambivalent about voter ID, now I'm dead set against it. And it will make it extra certain that I get to the polls in November.

I'm counting on jeff to set you straight any minute now

pacino wrote:welp, six years after Congress decided they want to make the USPS go bankrupt, they're about to default on a $5 billion dollar payment in August to fund their pension system. Their pension system that has to be funded by 2022. Funded for the NEXT 75 years' worth of workers. This means they have to fund, in the next six years, full defined benefit retirement accounts for workers not even born yet. Why? In order to blow them up so we can privatize the USPS. This would then accomplish several things: shut down access for lower-income and rural people, raise rates, lower wages, cut workers, cut benefits, and then give the ability to Congress to then dole out tons of subisidies to them to keep those rural offices open. Currently we are giving zero dollars to the USPS.

What a brilliant, and sad, scheme we are seeing unfold.

in fairness, the postal pension funding thing has been a football for a generation, one that postal service execs probably figured they could just more or less outlast, rather than negotiate. Now they're in a tough negotiating position - but the situation will likely get negotiated further.

Just another attack on stay at home mothers by this administration

drsmooth wrote:

Bucky wrote:that dude who said "voter id...which will ensure romney wins pennsylvania...done!" should be impeached.

But actually, it did serve to sway me. Whereas before I was ambivalent about voter ID, now I'm dead set against it. And it will make it extra certain that I get to the polls in November.

I'm counting on jeff to set you straight any minute now

Smooth, you're ridiculous and a waste of space. At least I adjust my arguments occasionally. You just play from the liberal playbook.

That said, I was nearly swayed the same way Bucky was. But then I hear the whining from the liberals and the key line of defense is "There hasn't been any fraud" and I get so nauseous at the idiocy of that argument.

TenuredVulture wrote:I have a rock in my yard that prevents tiger attacks. It has a 100% success rate. If you send me $20, I'll send you a tiger attack prevention rock. Think of the Children! Paypal is fitlastic@juno.com.

Sure your rock might be proof against tigers, but my concern is dragon attacks. To make sure we aren't all roasted alive by dragons, I think we need to have jet fighters scrambled in the air over every American community of more than 500 people, 24 hours a day.

What's that you say? You're worried about cost? How can you put a price on American lives?!? What a monstrous question--you might be in league with the dragons!

And why yes, I do happen to be a manufacturer of fighter planes.

why do you lock your door in brooklyn? Why not just leave it open? I didn't say hire an armed guard to sit outside your apartment. Asking someone to prove they actually are who they claim to be is locking a door. As simple as reaching into your wallet.

And if you had a wife with no arms, unlocking that door might prove an unnecessary burden.

That's silly, but I'm trying to work within your analogy that doesn't fit.

You're right, what you said was silly. It's 2012, get an ID if you want to vote

You know what, have at it. This law, or at least the shoddy execution mobettle points out, is not worth defending and not worth being associated with some pretty hateful/racist people.

i know this isn't exactly breaking news but this "you didn't build that" crap is such nonsense.

drsmooth wrote:

traderdave wrote:

Phan In Phlorida wrote:OHH.. EHM.. GEE!

This is a political take-off of Joaquin Phoenix's performance art from two years ago, right? Goodness, at least Sarah Palin had the good sense to serve on the PTA before running for higher office.

You gentlemen are clearly unacquainted with the milieu of the New York State Senate's NYC delegation. She'll fit right in. And PTA service WILL be a higher office for her to shoot for from there.

That made me

As for the Chick-Fil-A nonsense, why is this even news? The founder and his family have never hidden the fact that they are a "Christian values" type company. I mean they are closed on Sundays because God rested on Sunday, for crying out loud. It would be news if Cathy said he was in favor of same sex marriage. It is not as if you walk into a restaurant and there are anti-gay marriage posters on the wall and bibles on every table. The servers do not ask me if I am gay before they take my order. This is one guy, who, admittedly, is the #1 guy at the company, expressing his opinion about a social issue.

Meanwhile, the hypocrites in Hollywood have no problem decrying Cathy's believes through Twitter on iPhones and the like, whose components are largely manufactured in a country that plays more than a little loose with human rights. I don't agree with Cathy's position at all but I am not going to stop going to Chick-Fil-A because of said opinion.

jeff2sf wrote:You know what, have at it. This law, or at least the shoddy execution mobettle points out, is not worth defending and not worth being associated with some pretty hateful/racist people.

Yes.

To answer Adi, this is emblematic of everything that is wrong with our political system. People don't govern for the people, but for the party. It's totally not what we elected people to do.

AND, it reeks of another incident in my life circa 1998 or so, when I was still living in the city. A guy knocks on my door to get me to switch my registration to "D" in order to vote for Marty Weinberg in the mayoral primary. (I was "I"). At this point, I was still reading the Daily News every day and was pretty locked in to the election- my candidate-of-choice at that point in time was John White, who was head of the PHA. So he's trying to convince me, etc., etc., then he drops a "...we need to stick together and get Marty in...because you don't want one of THEM getting in". I knew what he meant, but asked for clarification, which he continued to dance around. So I decided to play along. We filled out my change-of-registration sheet, I signed it, handed it back to him. "I feel better now. I wouldn't be able to vote for John White if I was still registered independent". He was one unhappy camper. Frankly, I'm surprised my form was submitted. And I remained registered "D" to this day because of that incident, but I consider myself "I".

traderdave wrote:As for the Chick-Fil-A nonsense, why is this even news? The founder and his family have never hidden the fact that they are a "Christian values" type company. I mean they are closed on Sundays because God rested on Sunday, for crying out loud. It would be news if Cathy said he was in favor of same sex marriage. It is not as if you walk into a restaurant and there are anti-gay marriage posters on the wall and bibles on every table. The servers do not ask me if I am gay before they take my order. This is one guy, who, admittedly, is the #1 guy at the company, expressing his opinion about a social issue.

IIRC, it's news because of documented financial support of anti-gay groups and that Cathy affirmed that the company supports anti-gay organizations.

td11 wrote:and that letter from mayor of boston to chik-fil-a was pretty cool. idk about other liburlll politicians though

Menino said that it'd be difficult for Chik-fil-A to obtain licenses in Boston from the city to open restaurants due to the gay marriage stance. Although he backed off today admitting it was not his place to make those threats. Rahm Emanuel was supportive the other day of a Chicago alderman who is blocking Chik-fil-A from locating in his district over the president's statements.

I think it's embarrassing that government officials would threaten private businesses over the political beliefs of their executives when the company itself is run in a legal, non-discriminatory fashion.

they just give millions to further discriminatory policies

whew. just realized i'm part anglo-saxon. so i'm good.

jerseyhoya wrote:

td11 wrote:and that letter from mayor of boston to chik-fil-a was pretty cool. idk about other liburlll politicians though

Menino said that it'd be difficult for Chik-fil-A to obtain licenses in Boston from the city to open restaurants due to the gay marriage stance. Although he backed off today admitting it was not his place to make those threats. Rahm Emanuel was supportive the other day of a Chicago alderman who is blocking Chik-fil-A from locating in his district over the president's statements.

I think it's embarrassing that government officials would threaten private businesses over the political beliefs of their executives when the company itself is run in a legal, non-discriminatory fashion.

Have you been involved in local politics in NJ? Businesses get blocked from towns and cities for much pettier or corrupt reasons.

pacino wrote:they just give millions to further discriminatory policies

If you want to boycott Chik-fil-A as a private citizen, more power to you. If elected officials want to advocate a boycott of Chik-fil-A, more power to them.

Elected officials cannot block a store from opening using the power of the state because they don't like the political opinions of the executives of the company or disagree with the (legal) causes they support with some of their company's profits. I think that's a pretty basic line that anyone who gives half a shit about the first amendment would know not to cross.

Gotta go with jh there. The bigoted fucks have every right to their deplorable views. The much cooler way to make them hurt is to render them unprofitable. I loved that the Muppets immediately cut business ties with them after the guy's remarks.

My boss (a lesbian) actually mentioned yesterday how bummed she was to find out Chik-fil-A is run by homophobes, as she was a fan. Never tried the place myself, certainly won't now.

(Chipotle isn't run by bigots, right? RIGHT?!?)

feel like neither of you read my earlier post.