pacino wrote:

slugsrbad wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/04/politics/ben-carson-prisons-gay-choice/index.html

Dr. Carson just wanted everyone to know that being gay is a choice, prison proves it!

I'd someone going to ask him when he decided not to suck dick?

There's still time. He hasn't been to prison yet.

Hillary should have hidden all her correspondence in a large safe in her office.

Ben Carson ' s decided not to talk about gay issues at all because of THE LIBERAL PRESS

Monkeyboy wrote:Hillary should have hidden all her correspondence in a large safe in her office.

Lol

So what's the big deal if Iran has a nuclear weapon? I'm against nukes in general, but if we, russia,israel, jndia,pakistan,etc have them...why not them?

drsmooth wrote:the emailgate coverage already has its own grating vocabulary. Witness references to "pages" of email. "They" (the commentariat) presumably mean "55 thousand email messages" when they say "55 thousand pages of email". What they are mainly signalling is they have no fucking technical idea what they're talking about, though technical mumbo-jumbo is featured in much of the early yammering about the thing, and ignoring that the principal issue is not the volume but the practice, the flouting of prescribed, and sensible, email process that is the most troubling.

People in politics tend to be older. They probably printed all of the emails. Hence referring to the amount in "pages".

slugsrbad wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/04/politics/ben-carson-prisons-gay-choice/index.html

Dr. Carson just wanted everyone to know that being gay is a choice, prison proves it!

To the anti-gay rights movement homosexuality only means icky sex acts. It's a great tactic for attempting dehumanizing gays and turning the debate away from love towards accusations of perversion and mental instability. I think we've reached a point culturally where that's less of an issue though.

Really though e-mail might be the video cassette of communication. Awesome for its time, but when compared to DVDs and DVRs, a clearly inferior technology. Kids today barely use it, old people don't use it much--it's probably a mostly gen x thing.

Hey Pacino - figured I would respond here as it might be a good general discussion.

So, yes, as a BOE member I was definitely tuned in to Christie's budget address. For anyone interested, Christie's 2015-2016 budget included a whopping $5.2 million increase in school aid; that is a 0.07% increase over 2014-2015. Only 83 school districts (14%) received an increase in aid and their median increase was $34,810. In other words, 86% of New Jersey's school districts are either going to raise taxes or cut staff and programs this year (maybe both for some) because our costs certainly did not stay flat vs. 2014. AND, if all that were not enough, Christie's pension commission is recommending that the cost of teacher's pensions be shifted to individual districts as opposed to being paid by the State. The commission insists that the pension obligations can be shifted to districts in a cost-neutral fashion but I do not see how that is possible since the State, with its $34.4 billion budget, has not been able to make full payments.

As to the Exxon thing, it is yet another stark example of just how corrupt the system is (and that system's esteemed leader). I am not a Sweeney fan but I agree with him that there positively needs to be a DOJ investigation. How in the hell can you possibly justify settling an $8.9 BILLION lawsuit, in which Exxon was already found liable, for $225 million? Why did the Christie administration ask the judge to defer his ruling? Was it to pave the way for a $500,000 Exxon contribution to the RGA in 2014? Why was Christie's chief counsel even in the building during these settlement discussions, let alone leading them? Let's get AG Hoffman on the record. Oh, and Christie's boy Porrino even threw in contamination at 16 Exxon gas stations around the State for free. Maybe the worst part of the whole thing is that some are suggesting that the hasty settlement is just so Christie can plug the budget.

I love this quote:

"The notion that this settlement represents something less than what is fair for New Jerseyans is absurd and baseless," said Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for Christie.

Sure because anyone with common sense would agree that settling a lawsuit, in which the defendant was already found "guilty", for 2.5% of what your own experts concluded were reasonable damages is eminently fair. Honestly, how are these fucking guys able to sleep at night?

I figure you are closer to it so have more info. That Exxon settlement is just mindblowing to me.

TenuredVulture wrote:Really though e-mail might be the video cassette of communication. Awesome for its time, but when compared to DVDs and DVRs, a clearly inferior technology. Kids today barely use it, old people don't use it much--it's probably a mostly gen x thing.

it still remains the primary source for businesspeople of all ages to communicate. IM is used intra-company, but 1-1 correspondence only.

Bucky wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Really though e-mail might be the video cassette of communication. Awesome for its time, but when compared to DVDs and DVRs, a clearly inferior technology. Kids today barely use it, old people don't use it much--it's probably a mostly gen x thing.

it still remains the primary source for businesspeople of all ages to communicate. IM is used intra-company, but 1-1 correspondence only.

So then more like a fax.

It works really well for lots of academic communication--there's no way we can limit ourselves to 140 characters. But students aren't using it. And increasingly, my in-box is full of mass e-mails, many of which aren't really relevant to most people who receive them.

Soren wrote:

slugsrbad wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/04/politics/ben-carson-prisons-gay-choice/index.html

Dr. Carson just wanted everyone to know that being gay is a choice, prison proves it!

To the anti-gay rights movement homosexuality only means icky sex acts. It's a great tactic for attempting dehumanizing gays and turning the debate away from love towards accusations of perversion and mental instability. I think we've reached a point culturally where that's less of an issue though.

I'm an older white guy who grew up in a time and place (60s) where all of us straight white males took for granted our superiority over persons of other gender, race, or sexual preference. I'm not proud of it - but that was the environment. We were blue collar; perhaps there wer more enlightened views in the better parts of society. But everybody used the N word and the F word.

In the 70s, we learned how to stop being bigots. It's not like throwing a switch - but most of us understood. We still could refer to office mates as men and office females as girls and not realize it was demeaning. And of course it was still OK to make fun of homosexuals.

80s and forward, we saw progress on all fronts.

2015, it's rare when I hear outdated views on race, gender, or sexuality, except at the lowest levels or from folks in retirement homes, left behind by the times.

That is why it is especially galling to hear someone like Carson spouting these idiotic views. And yes, these idiotic views do tend to come exclusively from the fringe right wingers.

Changing your views isn't easy - but clinging to them in the face of factual counter-evidence should be even tougher.

Phred wrote:

drsmooth wrote:the emailgate coverage already has its own grating vocabulary. Witness references to "pages" of email. "They" (the commentariat) presumably mean "55 thousand email messages" when they say "55 thousand pages of email". What they are mainly signalling is they have no fucking technical idea what they're talking about, though technical mumbo-jumbo is featured in much of the early yammering about the thing, and ignoring that the principal issue is not the volume but the practice, the flouting of prescribed, and sensible, email process that is the most troubling.

People in politics tend to be older. They probably printed all of the emails. Hence referring to the amount in "pages".

Not sure which "they" you're suggesting printed them, but I'm pretty sure no "they" has actually done that.

I'm pretty sure they mean 55,000 pages of emails, not 55,000 messages. I guess that doesn't have to be in printed form, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is.

But a senior State Department official told Reuters on Thursday the task would take time.

"The review is likely to take several months given the sheer volume of the document set," the official said....


A total of 55,000 pages of documents covering the time Clinton was in office has been turned over, according to the State Department.

Sam Stein ‏@samsteinhp
Bob Menendez to be charged by DoJ with corruption, reports CNN

I'd be excited if there was any chance he'd step down. He is the worst type of politician.

TomatoPie wrote:

Soren wrote:

slugsrbad wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/04/politics/ben-carson-prisons-gay-choice/index.html

Dr. Carson just wanted everyone to know that being gay is a choice, prison proves it!

To the anti-gay rights movement homosexuality only means icky sex acts. It's a great tactic for attempting dehumanizing gays and turning the debate away from love towards accusations of perversion and mental instability. I think we've reached a point culturally where that's less of an issue though.

I'm an older white guy who grew up in a time and place (60s) where all of us straight white males took for granted our superiority over persons of other gender, race, or sexual preference. I'm not proud of it - but that was the environment. We were blue collar; perhaps there wer more enlightened views in the better parts of society. But everybody used the N word and the F word.

In the 70s, we learned how to stop being bigots. It's not like throwing a switch - but most of us understood. We still could refer to office mates as men and office females as girls and not realize it was demeaning. And of course it was still OK to make fun of homosexuals.

80s and forward, we saw progress on all fronts.

2015, it's rare when I hear outdated views on race, gender, or sexuality, except at the lowest levels or from folks in retirement homes, left behind by the times.

That is why it is especially galling to hear someone like Carson spouting these idiotic views. And yes, these idiotic views do tend to come exclusively from the fringe right wingers.

Changing your views isn't easy - but clinging to them in the face of factual counter-evidence should be even tougher.

Perhaps it's rare to hear outright racism, but it's still there, and it's real.

pacino wrote:Perhaps it's rare to hear outright racism, but it's still there, and it's real.

For certain.

But to hear any sort of racist, sexist, or homophobic nonsense from a public figure like Carson - that's tragic.

swishnicholson wrote:I'm pretty sure they mean 55,000 pages of emails, not 55,000 messages. I guess that doesn't have to be in printed form, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is.

But a senior State Department official told Reuters on Thursday the task would take time.

"The review is likely to take several months given the sheer volume of the document set," the official said....


A total of 55,000 pages of documents covering the time Clinton was in office has been turned over, according to the State Department.

The officials responsible for directing the printing of those emails should be summarily fired, and a congressional investigation commenced forthwith. It's 2015, there is no conceivable reason to print any of that data.

And the person who said this:

Some State Dept doofus wrote:"The review is likely to take several months given the sheer volume of the document set," the official said....

well, they have to go yesterday.

TomatoPie wrote:

pacino wrote:Perhaps it's rare to hear outright racism, but it's still there, and it's real.

For certain.

But to hear any sort of racist, sexist, or homophobic nonsense from a public figure like Carson - that's tragic.

I must confess to a huge halo bias with guys like Carson.

I mean, the guy is a hugely accomplished neurosurgeon. My default is a guy with the kind of brainpower you need to be that has his shit comprehensively together, so it always confuses me when they don't