Support NeoGAF

[sc0la]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...ative-deal-on-payroll-tax-package.php?ref=fpa


Not sure why Dems would throw people off of UI as part of some deal. I do not know how many current UI recipients are currently between the 75 and 99 week UI tiers, but it's probably a lot of folks that are going to be be dumped off. That's unjustifiable.

:lol at the drug requirement statement.

We will see what these "tiers" are but curtailing down from 99 to 75 is a bad idea at this time. Maybe tiers refers only to states that have hit certain thresholds.

A change from 99 to 75 would effect my family personally. If I lose access to benifits and I still have not found a job at that point we will likely have to move out of our house we rent and in with our parents.

Also it doesn't answer your question but over 600,000 people in the state of California have exhausted their 99 weeks (no data on how many have gone on to get jobs since then)

 

[AlteredBeast]

If you have time, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG_7zK8ODGA&feature=player_embedded

Very interesting video. Wonder why these facts and data points don't get more play? Specifically interesting was the sun strength vs. average temperature graph. Definitely worth a look for anyone,

I am not at all worried about climate change of any sort. I just want the air to be clean, waterways free from toxics and filth, and my environment free from garbage. If the sun decides to cool down again and we start getting colder (he did say that the past 12 years have gone down each year, right) then so be it.

My political story:

Grew up the youngest of 10 kids. Dad and mom worked ther butts off and we were very poor. We were probably on the low end of middle income but my dad had a heart attack and we lost our home, cars, and even our piano. After that, we lived 8 of us in a three bedroom apartment. My parents continued to work hard and, as kids grew up and moved out, we got a little better off until they bought a small home on the outside of town when it was just me left at home before I turned 18. Both my parents were staunch conservatives, even though my mom will almost never talk politics and it was always a rule in my house that my parents never directly influenced us politically. Who my mom voted for was never known and I definitely like that idea. My dad voted for Perot in 92 and even ran for state legislature once, but ran a shoestring campaign budget and lost. He was never the get-up-in-arms type about anything, but probably would have thought the world was going to hell In a hand basket about most issues. He taught me the value of hard work and self-reliance. We never had food stamps or anything else outside of the various tax credits (I am not ignorant about what the govt provides in the way to families with a mortgage and children). I don't look down on people who use those benefits but would never use them myself.

I remember when my sister had a report in 5th grade about the president and she asked my dad to describe Bill Clinton and my dad replied, "write down that he is a womanizer." my sister did, not knowing what that term meant, and got a very funny grade on the assignment. To my dad, and to me, really, a measure of a man is how he treats his spouse. Most of liberal GAF, and even the pathetic excuse for ConservaGAF couldn't care less about where a president puts his penis, but if half of the accusations about Bill Clinton are true, the man is piece of garbage in line with Newt Gingrich. How a person acts morally is most f what makes up a man for me. Rick Perry letting an innocent man die on death row was a deal breaker for who was an unknown to me at that point, Newt cheating on two different spouses, the various self-loathing homosexual GOP house members that have been caught soliciting gay sex while harping against gay rights, Bill giving Monica a facial and so on are an embarrassment to public office and I wish more people cared about electing honesty and integrity into politics.

I am very socially conservative outside of being an advocate for the legalization of marijuana. If absolutely vile shit like tobacco with all of the added carcinogens is legalized and glorified, then all natural, mostly harmless marijuana by necessity should be, too. Tax the hell out of it, I am never going to use it, but we might as well get revenue off of the unfortunate stoners who do. I was pro-life growing up, and, after having a child of my own 2 years ago, am even more so now. How anyone could advocate for abortion as a "woman's right to choose" is vile to me. Unless the life of the mother is in jeopardy, abortion is one of the most despicable acts that I can think of.

Seeing my dad powerless to pay for our mortgage or car loans because of medical bills made me very sad, and I wonder why the hospital didn't write the entirety of the procedure off, but I guess that is for-profit healthcare for you. The adage that everything that the govt gets its hands on turns to shit is true in some ways, but hilariously false in so many others. I believe that health care would be one of them. If UHC were passed, the country would immediately be a more just and fair country to live in. Nobody should ever lose their homes or cars because they get sick or even need a life-saving operation. That shows how far we have come from "Love thy neighbor" Christian nation?!? I don't see it in many respects. Too many people have the mentality of "as long as it doesn't come out of my pocket, I am ok with it" that mentality is truly despicable and a way that supposed Christians show their true colors as greedy, selfish shells of humanity.

I don't think Obama has been a bad president, really. I think Mitt Romney would be slightly better, but I think they are pretty much two sides of the same coin. If Santorum gets the nomination, I might vote Obama, or possibly Ron Paul as a write-in/ third party.

 

[Puddles]

You seem like a stand-up guy, Altered.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Obama has tried to take stuff to the populace before, and while it may help him nationally, it hasn't helped him in Washington. He knows the House GOP freshmen are willing to fuck shit up from the debt ceiling debacle, and the stakes here are much lower and much more beneficial to Republicans in the case of failure. I wouldn't second guess him here. Slowed or reversed economic metrics would be much, much more detrimental to his reelection than these compromises will be, especially because he can explain them away as just that: compromises with radicals.

Explanations will matter much less than actual economic performance. At any rate, they have the political upper hand, so it is exasperating to see even a bit of it mortgaged away. None the less, it is a much cleaner victory than I was expecting, so that's something.

 

[AlteredBeast]

You seem like a stand-up guy, Altered.

Thank you.

 

[jamesinclair]

Seeing people change their political opinions is fascinating to me, in the sense of learning WHY they occured. From what I've read, John Cole, of Balloon-juice, was a hardcore right winger, moreso than many of the right wingers on gaf. Now he's one of the leftiest libs this side of Stalingrad.

I was thinking of my own transformation into dirty commie you see before you, and it's actually not as interesting..

I also started out on the right, thanks to my parents. I remember anxiously refreshing cnn.com back in 2000 in the school library hoping that Bush would win.

Obviously, wasnt satisfied with Bush, especially his war stuff, but I still thought the GOP was better at economics + "terrorism". So my motto in high school was "vote for the candidate and not the party, both have good points".

Mind you, I was living outside the US, so it gave me a pretty clear view as to how wrong the republicans were on almost every foreign policy issue. And american exceptionism was pure bs. Modern day manifest destiny.

2008? I was leaning towards Ron Paul because of the anti-war stance.

Meanwhile, I was in business school and majored in Finance. This was during the heart of the economic meltdown, and my education included the inside scoop as to how the banks were really ruining the planet. My classmates gave me a great perspective at the greedy shitheads that are the future CEOs of this country. Basically, studying how the banks packaged the subprime crap, how the rating agencies signed off on it, and how the insurance companies covered it was, to many people in my class "pure genius that we should strive to emulate". Theyre not entirely wrong. Many people got very very rich. And even a collapsing market can bring great wealth if you know it's coming and bet the right way.

That sent me sharply left, far left of the current corporate-democrat party. It also made me not want to ever work for any bank, insurance company etc. Now Im planning on going to grad school to shove sidewalks down everyones throat.

Besides sidewalks and curb ramps, my goal now is to become a billionaire so I can buy companies and fire all the greedy shitheads with high level positions. And then make them go out and lay more sidewalks.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Anyone have proof of the claim Romney is way ahead in MI absentee voting? The 100k number has to be wrong; if that's right, polling the state is irrelevant

 

[Al-ibn Kermit]

I was born just as my father was finishing up his PhD in nuclear physics at Berkeley. However, due to birth defects on my ear and jaw, my parents decided to stay in the United States rather than move back to Iran because of all the surgeries that would be required. I can't imagine how different I would be if it wasn't for that.

Anyways, for the next twenty years of my life I had over 1.2 million dollars of reconstructive surgery and I never knew the actual cost until a couple months ago. Until I got to like high school, I always thought that healthcare was basically free and then when I understood the system a little more, it blew my mind how people could advocate a system that is so half-assed and unfair. Regardless of how much it costs, it just always made sense to allow doctors to help people as much as they can in my mind.

Other than healthcare, I didn't have much of any political beliefs until I was 11 and Bush won against Gore. I didn't know what either candidate's politics were at all but I knew I had to be a staunch Republican simply because my parents voted for Bush, and they only voted for Bush since Gore picked a Jew as his running mate.

Then 9/11 happened and the day after, I was watching CNN and the anchor asked some correspondent whether he thought the 9/11 attack would be something that people basically start moving on from in a couple of weeks or if he thought this would really be something that stays important for quite a while and the correspondent responded that this will definitely be in the public conscience for a long time. And that was the first time that I became afraid of politics and of the media. It wasn't seeing the buildings fall and people mourn, what I was afraid of was the overwhelming uncertainty at how people and the government would then react.

Obviously the Iraq War and the Patriot Act and so on shoved me far to the democratic side on most things. I figured reasonable people have no real choice in what party they support now. When Bush won reelection in 2004, I felt that I had to lose faith in humanity. I realized that most people were stupid enough to be manipulated into voting for what I considered the objectively "wrong" candidate. I was 15 so obviously I was arrogant but it did make me think that right and wrong can be completely grayed out in politics.

Anyways I was still an extremely devout Muslim for about another year. Fearing God, hating the world, and self-flagellating myself for every teenage temptation (literally OCD about hitting myself/praying for any imaginable sin). That was pretty hard and made me lonelier then I've ever been. Eventually, I had to get myself past these "quirks", as I understood them at the time, and figure out a way to practice my faith that doesn't require me to constantly say a prayer and wash my hands with exactly 9 squirts of soap.

This made me accept that I had free will and could question why I had belief or why I had to act a certain way. This made me more religious actually but at the same time, I was automatically opening my mind to the idea of gay people being allowed...to be gay simply because I was actually allowing myself to think of them as regular people. This was a sudden change from my previous position on gay rights which basically was the same as Santorum's. Over time I started to cool down and pull away from all my socially conservative beliefs.

Of all the the issues in the world in 2005, gay rights was what I dwelled on and what gave me a crisis of faith. I couldn't answer why I had to be anti-gay and for the first time, I let myself actually question why I even needed faith, and I had no answer. Instantly, I gave up what I considered pretty much the basis for all my morals. And then dove as fast as I could into learning more about the world and other moral/political systems. I'm basically a liberal on everything now I guess.

 

[Oblivion]

Kermit, are you still a muslim?

 

[Al-ibn Kermit]

No, that was like 7 years ago. I'm essentially agnostic right now, but leaning towards atheist.

 

[Oblivion]

Holy shit. I've met plenty of ex-Christians turned agnostic/atheist, but this is the first time I've seen an ex-muslim turned agnostic/atheist. We should get together and do various acts of depravity some time.



In other news, this is pretty awesome:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/02/14/adele-sings-about-newt-gingrich-parody-video/

 

[gcubed]

NH GOP looking a rescinding gay marriage rights. Keep fucking that chicken into irrelevance

 

[Chumly]

I grew up very upper middle class/bottom of the rich. Currently living very well off middle class on my own. Have never once been poor in my life. Grew up conservative and voted for Bush. Went through college still being conservative. Became gradually more liberal on social issues due to having friends that were gay.

The real change started after my Wife got a job as a head start teacher in a program for VERY poor and disadvantaged kids. From her experiences and from what I have volunteered for helping with it has really changed my life. Every one of her kids is on medicaid and their families qualify for food stamps. Some receive other welfare benefits as well. Their lives flat out suck. My wife does home visits to all of their homes and all of their homes are usually under furnished with people sleeping on the floor etc. At the end of the month she usually has kids come in the morning hungry because the family ran out of their food stamp money.

After experiencing all of this and then listening to republicans talk about people leeching off the government and going home to our extended families and listening to them bitch about people leeching off the government we have both found republicans and their values to be absolutely repulsive. Most republicans have no idea what it means to live in true poverty and what its like. I've basically became more and more liberal over the past few years especially after the tea party movement and listening to all of that crap.

Since were talking about our political background I might as well repost this.

 

[ToxicAdam]

A new Quinnipiac poll in Ohio shows Rick Santorum leading Mitt Romney among likely GOP primary voters, 36% to 29%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 20% and Ron Paul at 9%.

The Ohio primary is on March 6.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institute...tail?ReleaseID=1706&What=&strArea=;&strTime=0

President Barack Obama would get 46 percent of Ohio registered voters, to Romney's 44 percent if the November election were today, similar to the 44 - 42 percent result in a January 18 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. Obama tops Santorum 47 - 41 percent and beats Gingrich 50 - 38 percent in general election matchups.

In Ohio's U.S. Senate race, Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown leads Republican Josh Mandel, 48 - 35 percent. Voters approve 47 - 34 percent of the job Brown is doing and say 46 - 34 percent that he deserves a second term in the Senate.

 

[zargle]

Since were talking about our political background I might as well repost this.

My background is actually quite similar to yours. Grew up in a similar situation and went through college slowly changing views as well. My biggest shift came in the last year or so as I did an Americorps program where one of my main responsibilities was doing free tax returns for low income families and individuals. Very humbling to see families making less than I was on an Americorps stipend. I couldn't take a lot of the Republican rhetoric after that.

 

[Krauser Kat]

I think i have always had blood that ran bluer than the collar of my dads shirt. I grew up in a poorer house my mom had me when she was 19 and my sister when she was 17. She then worked through nursing school while cleaning houses and mothering us kids. She smoked weed, drank herself into oblivion and ran away from home and got knocked up before she was 20. There was nothing we could hide from her, so that kept me and my sister pretty much in line.

My uncle came out of the closet in the early 90s and was a graphic designer for some companies when i was growing pretty much making him my hero, since i loved drawing comics and wanted to do some kind of art when i grew up.

My dad worked 2 jobs, one at typesetting printing place and one as a manager at an arcade in the mall (fucking awesome birthday parties, with everything on free play).

Anyone who wanted to disrespect gays automatically became an adversary. My parents both got into management positions during my early teens all the way up until the bust in 2008. In high school i drew for the school newspaper and did editorial drawings for local newspaper.

I got really into church camp and loving everybody all that jazz. The more i learned about the bible more estranged i got from it, those stories are crazy. Some people i knew at camp had more hard line conservative views not wanting to be associated with people like that and how christianity in general was reacting to the changing world took me farther out of it. I just did not want to be associated with people who used 2000 year old book to justify hatred of others.

911 happened, i knew wars were coming and i did not want any of it. I refused to pledge allegiance and was sent to detention. I explained to the principle, war was going to be wrong course of action and 100x more innocent people would die because of 10000 americans. An american life is worth just as much as an iraqi life or an afghanis. She had none of it and i got detention.

Went to college meet some atheists and more liberal people to echo chamber off of and now you have me.

 

[Arrowgigantic]

For the first seven years of my life I grew up lower middle class and then my mother died and I was instapoor until my dad remarried five years later. 3rd Grade, I woke up at 5 on schooldays and my dad dropped me off at a pancake restaurant a family friend waitressed at on his way to work. Poor people daycare. Sat around reading and listening to whatever came on the jukebox for hours until I could grab a 40 minute metro bus ride to school.

Yeah, liberal for life.

 

[Zzoram]

Since were talking about our political background I might as well repost this.

Ya, I could never support politicians who feel that giving starving children breakfast before school is "spoiling entitled lazy leeches of society".

 

[Frank the Great]

i was always pretty socially liberal and anti-war, even as a kid, but i didn't really know or care about any real issues. i was into punk rock and stuff and was more interested in complaining about how fucked up everything was without choosing sides or educating myself. my parents are immigrants who couldn't (and still can't) vote so politics was never a part of our lives. i remember being really disappointed when kerry lost in 2004, though. i guess i always leaned democratic a little bit.

then i got to college and went through an intense libertarian ron paul phase for a year or two. then i read some milton friedman and took some poli sci classes and realized how batshit crazy and just flat out wrong (it was privately owned roads, that made a lightbulb go off in my head, i think) that it all was.

then i became pretty moderate. still socially liberal, i supported bams because of the war. over time i became way more educated than i was before and well versed in many issues, and i now side with the "left" (in this country) on most things simply because i feel the other side is not interested in proposing realistic and serious alternatives to many problems, but instead prefers to either pander to emotions or live in an ideological la-la land. i still consider myself moderate though, i have some positions that many find surprising (mainly on things such as state's rights, and i am not totally anti-religion.)

 

[RustyNails]

Politically apathetic for the longest time.

2007, take notice of Ron Paul. His foreign policy message struck a cord with me in a time when we were getting shit mired in Iraq. Feller dropped truth bombs left and right. Wasn't too long I realized his domestic policies were kooky at best, and that's when I took a hit of hopium from a tall, lanky dude selling change.

 

[AlteredBeast]

For the first seven years of my life I grew up lower middle class and then my mother died and I was instapoor until my dad remarried five years later. 3rd Grade, I woke up at 5 on schooldays and my dad dropped me off at a pancake restaurant a family friend waitressed at on his way to work. Poor people daycare. Sat around reading and listening to whatever came on the jukebox for hours until I could grab a 40 minute metro bus ride to school.

Yeah, liberal for life.

It is interesting to see the dynamics of poverty and how is shapes a world view. Thanks for sharing

 

[Miletius]

I grew up as a military kid and I've spent most of my life overseas, although not quite out of America(since I lived on a base for about 1/2 the time). For a while this meant leaning Republican since a great deal of the stereotype that soldiers support the Republicans were/are true. My mom and dad were both immigrants and while my dad could vote he never made a deal out of politics. My mom didn't make a deal of it at all, although she's more political now about her home country than she was when we were living there, funnily enough.

The three things I consider most important to my early political education are:

1) Coming from an immigrant family, my father's side was quite poor and uneducated and seeing how far he's come with the help of the US as well as seeing how far my sister and I have come from his starting place.

2) Growing up in an semi-international environment. Seeing how US foreign policy translates overseas, growing up around massive poverty and inequality as well as noticing how things run 'better' in other countries. Learning to accept the differences in people since you grow up around so many different types of "others."

3) Moving out of my parents house and pridefully(stupidly) not accepting financial help for a time created a situation where I was desperately poor. This helped focus and refine my leanings into an actual political philosophy. Having good friends along that were really interested beyond casual conversation helped too.

 

[Arrowgigantic]

2007, take notice of Ron Paul. His foreign policy message struck a cord with me in a time when we were getting shit mired in Iraq. Feller dropped truth bombs left and right. Wasn't too long I realized his domestic policies were kooky at best

To be honest, his idea for closing our bases in Germany, Japan, and Worst Korea are also kooky at best.

 

[gcubed]

I grew up roman catholic in Pennsyltucky surrounded by racists and homophobes (look up hazleton, or you may not have to, you should know the name). My family was lower middle class. My school was 99.7% white. My family was never really highly political, my brother-in-law is a union finisher (drywall) all his life and my dad worked in a factory. If they had any social stigmas it was never known to me or my siblings. My brother in law was a pure D puller due to his union card (which, in turn, watching him go through life destroying his body doing the work i gain more of an appreciation for a union covering his family while he is out of work for a few months due to an economic downturn, him retiring about 10 years early, etc).

I never took an interest in politics until i left my hometown and moved to Philadelphia. Moving from a down home place that is pure white, to being a minority was an eye opener. Combined with the fact that i met people from all walks of life during school started making me a bit more aware. I'm married now and my wife and I are both successful at our careers (doctor and engineer). My wife is an unabashed liberal who grew up in rural illinois (yeah, she didn't fit in). She's way more liberal than I am. Anyway, one of the 3-4 couples my wife and I go out with on a regular basis is a married lesbian couple (we had the honor to be at their wedding recently) and have numerous gay friends. I just can't support any platform of social conservatism.

I'll tell you what, my political "awakening" happened almost in lock stop with my rejection of organized religion.

 

[Hop]

I grew up roman catholic in Pennsyltucky surrounded by racists and homophobes (look up hazleton

My sympathies.

 

[gcubed]

My sympathies.

i was out of there by the time all the recent shit hit. I've been in Philly for 14 years, but i still have family there and watching it from afar still makes me ashamed of where i grew up. Its such a shithole today though compared to when i was younger, if they focused more on revitalizing the area instead of brown people it would be in better shape

 

[Averon]

So Obama will meet Walker at the runway today in WI. Expecting any hijinks? Walker got a recall election coming up, so pulling a Brewer would be a fine way to shore up his base, which hates Obama.

 

[GhaleonEB]

So Obama will meet Walker at the runway today in WI. Expecting any hijinks? Walker got a recall election coming up, so pulling a Brewer would be a fine way to shore up his base, which hates Obama.

Walker got the stomach flu, cancelled the meet and greet.

 

[gcubed]

Walker got the stomach flu, cancelled the meet and greet.

Obama made him sick

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Obama made him sick

Kenyan voo-doo spell.

 

[Miletius]

This is a much better option than having him make a scene.

 

[Hop]

i was out of there by the time all the recent shit hit. I've been in Philly for 14 years, but i still have family there and watching it from afar still makes me ashamed of where i grew up. Its such a shithole today though compared to when i was younger, if they focused more on revitalizing the area instead of brown people it would be in better shape

The problem is the number of people who see "revitalizing the area" as "getting rid of brown people". Luckily the sentiment hadn't really hit the Wilkes-Barre area where I was when I left (6 years ago) but I wouldn't be surprised if it's creeping up. Those areas aren't the best at really taking care of their problems.

 

[speculawyer]

No, that was like 7 years ago. I'm essentially agnostic right now, but leaning towards atheist.

It is a hard world to maintain faith in with all that modern science has shown us. But the golden rule at center of many faiths is as valid as ever. It is too bad though that much of what drives people politically with modern faith are those exceptions to the golden rule. Instead of treating people as you would like to be treated . . . being left alone to live as you choose, much of modern religion in politics is about forcing a religion's views (such as anti-gay) on others. That's not good.

 

[speculawyer]

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institute...tail?ReleaseID=1706&What=&strArea=;&strTime=0

Wow. Those seem to be big changes. Amazing what the drop to 8.3% seems to have done. (That is my guess as to why the Dems poll better lately.)

 

[AlteredBeast]

It is a hard world to maintain faith in with all that modern science has shown us. But the golden rule at center of many faiths is as valid as ever. It is too bad though that much of what drives people politically with modern faith are those exceptions to the golden rule. Instead of treating people as you would like to be treated . . . being left alone to live as you choose, much of modern religion in politics is about forcing a religion's views (such as anti-gay) on others. That's not good.

Agreed entirely. The Golden Rule is something so far and away from anyone politically that it just irks me to see someone stand up for their Christian values while doing things so opposite of what that entails.

 

[RustyNails]

To be honest, his idea for closing our bases in Germany, Japan, and Worst Korea are also kooky at best.

Why? I thought it was a waste of our resources to station our troops in Germany and Japan. SK I understand I guess, but it's not like Chancellor Merkel will start invading Poland again.

 

[ToxicAdam]

Wow. Those seem to be big changes. Amazing what the drop to 8.3% seems to have done. (That is my guess as to why the Dems poll better lately.)

Yea, judging by that Ohio poll and another recent Michigan poll that has Santorum with a comfortable lead (9 points), it would seem that moderates/independents are abandoning Mitt.

 

[learnedhand]

I'm really enjoying these personal stories. Thank you.

It's obvious that experience and environment heavily influence political/religious leanings. And I believe those that fall to the extreme on either side have simply had limited exposure to the wide range of experiences different people go through. Rich, poor, black, white, Christian, Muslim, etc. Real empathy for another is difficult/impossible to develop for many if they've never walked a mile in another's shoes.

I grew up pure U.S. midwest upper-poor white trash (I use "trash" in the endearing sense, ha!). My parents offered no political or religious guidance. They were just trying to get from one day to the next, and such topics were never discussed. My dad's family came from the Tennessee hills (literally isolated, back-woods hillbillies) and are extremely Christian. He was the youngest of 14 and dropped out of school in the 8th grade to work on the family farm. Mom's family was classic middle class, but with little to no interest in religion. My parents married and lived poor.

When I was 10, they divorced, and mom quickly married an upper, upper middle class man who came from a rich family that owned several businesses throughout the Midwest. They were mildly Jewish; certainly not hardcore. They were professionals, educated, successful and proper. All sides of my family were hard-working, well-meaning, and loving people.

But can you imagine this juxtaposition through the eyes of an eleven year old boy? Growing up in a poor neighborhood, half a block from a junkyard we used as a playground, and which was at least 50% black. Struggling just to provide clothes and food, then suddenly waking up in a mansion (the house actually had an elevator) in an all white neighborhood.

Maybe youth allowed such transition to seem ordinary to me. It did not seem unusual at all that one night I'd be visiting my dad's relatives and sleeping in the same grungy bed with 4 cousins in a dilapidated cabin hanging off a mountain in Tennessee, and the next night sleeping on crisp white sheets in an upscale community. It seemed fine that one side of the family went to church 4 times a week, and the other side ignored religion completely. I never considered either "better" than the other.

I'm fairly progressive on most issues. My profession brings me in contact with every type of person who is usually in some type of personal/financial distress. I do not judge. Everybody has their reasons. Everybody has their circumstance, sometimes self-inflicted, other times not. Every one of us could write a novel about our pain and our joy. I was lucky in that my parents always maintained a very amicable relationship, and that both my families were loving and supportive. It nurtured a sense of understanding and empathy that I cherish each day.

Did not intend to blog. Please excuse.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Yea, judging by that Ohio poll and another recent Michigan poll that has Santorum with a comfortable lead (9 points), it would seem that moderates/independents are abandoning Mitt.

I'm wondering how Romney's attack machine - which apparently fired up the past couple days, with the Super PAC beginning its carpet bombing of Michigan - will work this time around. With Florida he started out with decent favorability, and tore down Gingrich while shredding his own. In MI and OH he seems to be starting out at those levels. If Romney is successful in tearing down Santorum, Romney probably won't benefit as much as he did in Florida since he's damaged himself so much along the way.

 

[AlteredBeast]

I'm really enjoying these personal stories. Thank you.

It's obvious that experience and environment heavily influence political/religious leanings. And I believe those that fall to the extreme on either side have simply had limited exposure to the wide range of experiences different people go through. Rich, poor, black, white, Christian, Muslim, etc. Real empathy for another is difficult/impossible to develop for many if they've never walked a mile in another's shoes.

I grew up pure U.S. midwest upper-poor white trash (I use "trash" in the endearing sense, ha!). My parents offered no political or religious guidance. They were just trying to get from one day to the next, and such topics were never discussed. My dad's family came from the Tennessee hills (literally isolated, back-woods hillbillies) and are extremely Christian. He was the youngest of 14 and dropped out of school in the 8th grade to work on the family farm. Mom's family was classic middle class, but with little to no interest in religion. My parents married and lived poor.

When I was 10, they divorced, and mom quickly married an upper, upper middle class man who came from a rich family that owned several businesses throughout the Midwest. They were mildly Jewish; certainly not hardcore. They were professionals, educated, successful and proper. All sides of my family were hard-working, well-meaning, and loving people.

But can you imagine this juxtaposition through the eyes of an eleven year old boy? Growing up in a poor neighborhood, half a block from a junkyard we used as a playground, and which was at least 50% black. Struggling just to provide clothes and food, then suddenly waking up in a mansion (the house actually had an elevator) in an all white neighborhood.

Maybe youth allowed such transition to seem ordinary to me. It did not seem unusual at all that one night I'd be visiting my dad's relatives and sleeping in the same grungy bed with 4 cousins in a dilapidated cabin hanging off a mountain in Tennessee, and the next night sleeping on crisp white sheets in an upscale community. It seemed fine that one side of the family went to church 4 times a week, and the other side ignored religion completely. I never considered either "better" than the other.

I'm fairly progressive on most issues. My profession brings me in contact with every type of person who is usually in some type of personal/financial distress. I do not judge. Everybody has their reasons. Everybody has their circumstance, sometimes self-inflicted, other times not. Every one of us could write a novel about our pain and our joy. I was lucky in that my parents always maintained a very amicable relationship, and that both my families were loving and supportive. It nurtured a sense of understanding and empathy that I cherish each day.

Did not intend to blog. Please excuse.

Yeah, but do you hate gays?

 

[Arrowgigantic]

Why? I thought it was a waste of our resources to station our troops in Germany and Japan. SK I understand I guess, but it's not like Chancellor Merkel will start invading Poland again.

Those bases aren't for keeping Japan and Germany in line, they're used for logistical support and presence for other theaters. For instance, the stabilized but severely wounded in Iraq go to Germany for care. It's a four and a half hour flight.

 

[speculawyer]

I'm really enjoying these personal stories. Thank you..

Yeah, they are very interesting (although mine was pretty boring . . . I should add more color.). I've read every one. I'm amazed about the number of people that go through transformations and that gives me encouragement. I thought people mostly get indoctrinated with a view during their early years and stick with it but that seems not to be true.

 

[RustyNails]

Those bases aren't for keeping Japan and Germany in line, they're used for logistical support and presence for other theaters. For instance, the severely wounded in Iraq go to Germany for care. It's a four and a half hour flight.

Yeah but we can have logistical things taken care of with US staff and other non combatant personnel. Surely we dont need thousands of armed US service members over there or in Japan. Similarly, we don't need US bases in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. Primary reason why Bin Laden flipped out and became an outcast is due to presence of US military personnel inside Saudi Arabia.

 

[prodystopian]

Pffft, you call that shot fired?
I'll show shot fired.
That scene not only sucks, but it's a prime example of -
a. everything that is wrong about The West Wing
b. how big of a hack Aaron Sorkin is

Why?

 

[Skiptastic]

It is a hard world to maintain faith in with all that modern science has shown us.

Only if your faith forces you to ignore modern science. I've been of the thought like those old astronomers that to understand science is to better understand God's work. Modern medicine and evolution were never considered blasphemous at my churches (Methodist). So I get a bit miffed at both sides of this coin, both the religious folks that ignore the scientific method and the atheists that say you can't believe in God and modern science.

I'd go into my swings in politics but it's pretty boring and in the end, I just pretty much hate everyone.

 

[ToxicAdam]

I'm wondering how Romney's attack machine - which apparently fired up the past couple days, with the Super PAC beginning its carpet bombing of Michigan - will work this time around. With Florida he started out with decent favorability, and tore down Gingrich while shredding his own. In MI and OH he seems to be starting out at those levels. If Romney is successful in tearing down Santorum, Romney probably won't benefit as much as he did in Florida since he's damaged himself so much along the way.

Attacking Santorum is going to be tricky, because a lot of his 'baggage' is tied into his religious zealotry. That's a very hard thing to attack without turning off far more people. Especially the very conservatives he needs to keep if he wants a chance in November.

Romney has tried to paw at him with things like his alliances with Specter and his pervious voting record as a Rep, but that's not going to carry any weight.

 

[SouthernDragon]

I used to be active in PoliGAF, so I'll throw my short story into the ring.

My dad leaned heavily right, and my mom was pretty neutral on most things (at least politically). Growing up with my immediate family climbing out of poverty and with half of the extended family well off and the other half poor gave me a lot of views on what makes people successful... and not so successful.

This gave me compassion and an appreciation of how many different factors, including luck, affect where you end up.

I started out neutral myself. I didn't know jack about the war in Iraq, or why Bush v Gore and then Bush v Kerry was so intense. I decided that, for my first vote in 2008, I'd read books and articles about all the candidates and politics for the last 10 years.

Ended up voting Obama and identifying as liberal.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Some more info on me:

Economics - I can't imagine anybody who wouldn't want a free market system. To me humanity is an organism. I see it much like Herbert Spencer. Humanity grows, changes, evolves. Right now we are currently growing our quality of life, growing our economy. This obviously won't last forever though. Mass automation will happen leaving the jobless in the ten digits. Population growth will eventually stop. There will be one day where we will have to jump off our Capitalist model, but it is not this day. Because of this I strongly believe in a free market economy. However that economy has to have regulations. People have proven over,and over,and over again that you need some sort of watch dog so that people don't abuse the system. The crazy thing is that the real problem isn't even being solved. Compare for a much worse financial crisis in the next ten to twenty years folks.

As for taxes I really just scoff at people who get pissed about millionaires getting taxed more. These are people who make so much money that they don't even know what to do with it. They own multiple houses, buy $800 jeans, own thirteen cars. You mad that you are getting taxed 50%? That isn't the point. You make way too much money for what you do. Wow so you are a NBA player? Fantastic. Does that really warrant $6,000,000 a year? Are you so smug that you really think if we were founding a new society and everyone got together, that they would agree that you should have 100 times more money sitting in your bank account than the average person because you can play ball? Get the fuck out of here. And don't give me this job creator bullshit. "Job creators?" What about the job holders? You can't make an iPad without people writing the software, troubleshooting the hardware for angry guests, having thousands of workers on a assembly line making the product. Also who built the factories? The headquarters? What about the roads you drive on who funds that? What about the education those workers get? And who purchases these products in the first place? I'm not saying that some people don't contribute to society more than others but stating that a "job creator" is some untouchable entity is laughable.

Government Assistance: While I agree things like social security exist, I strongly believe in social justice and killing two birds with one stone. FDR really knew his shit back in the day. Don't have a job? Before you collect unemployment why not enroll in a government program to become a worker? Why not work maintain roads and bridges? Why not work construction and build houses and buildings? Why not offer a training program if you want to become a police officer or a firefighter or nurse? What's wrong with killing two birds with one stone? The problem isn't that these people need money, but that they need a job to make money.

Also the fact that everybody isn't guaranteed more or less the same level of public education and healthcare is insane.

Etc: 70 years from now people will look back and at our modern world: Cover our horrific education crisis, see our healthcare system like we do pre-New Deal FDP, see our consumption of sugar and fat worse than we currently do of legal cocaine in the early 1900's, LGBT movement = Civil Right movement light, Obama will be looked in good light as he will always be seen as the first colored president, depending on how things play out in the world we could see this as the beginning of America's fall as THE global superpower.

That immigrants from all nations come to America and take low paying, under the table, or others suspect jobs. Many don't pay taxes on what they make because much of what they do is on the underground economy. They don't have health insurance which puts a financial strain on the states in which they live because they have to pay for the immigrants' emergency healthcare, since routine checkups never happen due to lack of insurance. They send money back home to their families, taking that money further out of the economy. It can take multiple generations for them to fully integrate into American society and norms, further placing themselves outside of the community in which they live. many are isolated due to religious or language barriers and they have no voice in politics, further worsening their situation.

This isnt always the case and many immigrants are able to fully integrwte themselves into society and none of these problems are as prevalent as your local fear-mongering politician might make them out to be, but together, they don't paint a pretty picture with what happens to millions of Americans with little to no voice thanks to cracks in the system and massive amounts of immigration on such an impressive scale.

Upward mobility in a society that involves this might make America look terrible against Scandinavia, but with so many odds stacked against millions of people in America, sometimes. Just graduating high school and getting a full time job with benefits is a huge win over what their families might have had even 10 or 20 years ago.

Universal healthcare
Pass a bill in which immigrants become citizens as long as their children go to college
Lessen the time it takes to become a full United States citizen.

3/4th of the problem is solved.

 

[Miletius]

Yeah but we can have logistical things taken care of with US staff and other non combatant personnel. Surely we dont need thousands of armed US service members over there or in Japan. Similarly, we don't need US bases in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. Primary reason why Bin Laden flipped out and became an outcast is due to presence of US military personnel inside Saudi Arabia.

The US bases in both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are there because the powers that be in each area want us to be there though. Prince Sultan is way out in the middle of the desert. We could easily pack both of those bases up and go home but we are there to support our allies for what it's worth.

The same argument could be made about bases in Japan, we are serving as deterrence on behalf of our ally (who by and large wants us to be there) from an attack against the powers that be there (NK and China). It's really only the Okinawan island that detests us in Japan, way more hostility towards us in SK but we won't ever pack that up and go home.

 

[Allard]

Only if your faith forces you to ignore modern science. I've been of the thought like those old astronomers that to understand science is to better understand God's work. Modern medicine and evolution were never considered blasphemous at my churches (Methodist). So I get a bit miffed at both sides of this coin, both the religious folks that ignore the scientific method and the atheists that say you can't believe in God and modern science.

I'd go into my swings in politics but it's pretty boring and in the end, I just pretty much hate everyone.

Yeah really don't like the 'general' religious hate on this forum as if being religious also means you can't understand modern science. My aunt is a minister for a Methodist church, she believes in science and 'personal faith' and thinks of churches as communion of other peoples thoughts about faith and god rather then a sanctuary to be lead by a single very loud voice. Her church is also one of the few in WA that openly allows gays to attend church. Unfortunately the ones in power within the larger church communities have to be the dangerous and obnoxious ones, and people like my aunt get drowned out in the mix.

As for my own political leanings, my family has been pretty liberal most their lives so in some sense I was indoctrinated, but because of living around other conservatives in high school I always moderated my left leaning views in front of others and was left open to other peoples interpretation, I noticed that as long as you don't become an asshole about it others might listen to your version of politics. In fact my best friend from High School was a Ron Paul Libertarian and his mom was the community leader of the cities Republican party, can't find more opposing views, especially how we grew up but we both learned from each others backgrounds to try and find a consensus to work with. Policy debates were actually fun when we weren't worried about insulting each other .