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[el retorno]

Actually, the 17th Amendment isn't implicated; the residents of TN would still elect their Senators. I actually like the idea of U.S. senators appointed by state legislatures, since that system strengthened state checks on federal power (a part of the system of checks-and-balances we don't hear about very often), but this is obviously not that.

It goes around the spirit of the law.

 

[Metaphoreus]

Why would you want to check federal power? We are having significant social problems right now because the federal government is not powerful enough.

First, would you care to elaborate?

Second, to answer your question, you would want to check federal power for the same reason you would want to check the power of any person.

It goes around the spirit of the law.

I see what you mean, though I don't think that's a big deal (at least, not in this case).

 

[Lathentar]

So there are two states I don't understand why any women live in. How can you live in a state that doesn't give you autonomy over your own body?

There are a lot of women that are prolife. So pretty easy for them I would imagine.

 

[Link]

Not to overgeneralize, but I find a lot of people are pro-life until they or someone close to them are dealing with an unwanted pregnancy.

 

[el retorno]

Not to overgeneralize, but I find a lot of people are pro-life until they or someone close to them are dealing with an unwanted pregnancy.

Sounds familiar...

I know women that are pro-life but anybody that's not a bible thumper generally can empathize with women in that situation and especially hates laws like these because they imposed unnecessary things on them.

 

[speculawyer]

The gop and the Taliban really are the same.

-Love guns . . . check
-Push their religion . . . check
-Discriminate against gays . . . check
-Anti-choice . . . check
-Not real keen on women's rights . . . check
-Don't have much respect for other religions . . . check
-Not keen on teaching evolution . . . check

If it were only the same Holy book, they'd be close allies.

 

[PhoenixDark]

So what happens if you have a miscarriage? Do they charge you for murder?

Involuntary manslaughter

 

[speculawyer]

Not to overgeneralize, but I find a lot of people are pro-life until they or someone close to them are dealing with an unwanted pregnancy.

Yep. In fact various abortion providers have provided abortion services to women that picket their own clinics. Go Figure.

 

[el retorno]

-Love guns . . . check
-Push their religion . . . check
-Discriminate against gays . . . check
-Anti-choice . . . check
-Not real keen on women's rights . . . check
-Don't have much respect for other religions . . . check
-Not keen on teaching evolution . . . check

If it were only the same Holy book, they'd be close allies.

As much as I hate the GOP they're not really the same. On paper you can draw comparisons but in practice they're nowhere near each other.

 

[Oblivion]

As much as I hate the GOP they're not really the same. On paper you can draw comparisons but in practice they're nowhere near each other.

Well, yeah...but that's only cause the CONSTITUTION that those clowns love so much, ironically keeps them in check.

 

[el retorno]

Well, yeah...but that's only cause the CONSTITUTION that those clowns love so much, ironically keeps them in check.

They're not proposing chopping peoples hands off and forcing women to marry their rapist at least.

 

[Oblivion]

They're not proposing chopping peoples hands off and forcing women to marry their rapist at least.

See: above.

 

[B-Dubs]

Well, yeah...but that's only cause the CONSTITUTION that those clowns love so much, ironically keeps them in check.

Well honestly they've sort of got 2 religions. Christianity and the Constitution. It makes for an interesting thing to watch once you consider it this way. They're beholden to two masters at the moment, neither of which agree on certain things. Hence all the contortions.

See: above.

Yea making girls have their rape babies is pretty fucked up.

 

[Oblivion]

Well honestly they've sort of got 2 religions. Christianity and the Constitution. It makes for an interesting thing to watch once you consider it this way. They're beholden to two masters at the moment, neither of which agree on certain things. Hence all the contortions.

Well, don't they solve that particular problem by just assuming the constitution and the Bible agree with each other?

 

[Oblivion]

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/romney-a...e-to-defining-civil-rights-issue-of-our-time/

This is a stupid defense.

Prior to last year, wasn't Obama and Hillary's position on gay marriage that they're personally opposed to it, but wouldn't enact or support any legislation that limits their rights?

 

[B-Dubs]

Well, don't they solve that particular problem by just assuming the constitution and the Bible agree with each other?

In a way, but watching the gay marriage debate and them trying to find an actual legal argument is funny. It plays to the disconnect between the two and exposes the fact that they don't agree. They can convince a lot of people that the bible and constitution agree on a lot of things, but watching them try to round those corners is hilarious.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Thought I would let you know that Bill Ginsburg (the attorney with the bowtie who defended Monic Lewinsky) passed away two days ago. He was a dear family friend and I'm actually heartbroken at his loss. Figured this was relevant due to his connections to the Clinton case.

 

[el retorno]

Thought I would let you know that Bill Ginsburg (the attorney with the bowtie who defended Monic Lewinsky) passed away two days ago. He was a dear family friend and I'm actually heartbroken at his loss. Figured this was relevant due to his connections to the Clinton case.

The full ginsburg

Salute

 

[KtSlime]

In a way, but watching the gay marriage debate and them trying to find an actual legal argument is funny. It plays to the disconnect between the two and exposes the fact that they don't agree. They can convince a lot of people that the bible and constitution agree on a lot of things, but watching them try to round those corners is hilarious.

That is until they (conservatives) adjust their reading/interpretation of the Bible like they did in regards to slavery. It's better than not changing, but not quite as good as looking at the text for what it is.

 

[Oblivion]

Washington Times: Obama Claims He Hates the 1%, But He Lives Like He's One of Them!

 

[Link]

Washington Times: Obama Claims He Hates the 1%, But He Lives Like He's One of Them!

Still beating that dead horse? It's like this is their new Benghazi.

 

[Jooney]

Washington Times: Obama Claims He Hates the 1%, But He Lives Like He's One of Them!

What the hell is the Washington Times? Looks like a hack job.

Did you guys know that it's the fault of Obama and the democrats for not succeeding in getting judicial nominations appointed?

 

[RDreamer]

lol

 

[Oblivion]

Wait, Bush misleading on WMDs is a conspiracy?

 

[TacticalFox88]

As the Senate prepares to take up a comprehensive gun violence prevention plan later this month, gun advocates have amped up their already inflammatory rhetoric against any additional gun regulations. Ahead of President Obama’s visit to Colorado on Wednesday to promote the measure, one local gun organization promised to give him and other Democrats a hostile welcome.

In an interview with NPR, former NRA lobbyist and founder of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Dudley Brown compared deer hunting season with election season, when gun owners would be free to “hunt Democrats”:

Brown complains universal background checks are just a step towards identifying gun owners so the government can seize their weapons, and he calls the 15-bullet limit on ammunition clips arbitrary. He’s promising political payback in next year’s election that could cost Colorado Democrats their majorities.

“I liken it to the proverbial hunting season,” Brown says. “We tell gun owners, there’s a time to hunt deer. And the next election is the time to hunt Democrats.”
The analogy between elections and hunting is a favorite among conservatives; former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was widely condemned for her website’s map placing crosshairs over vulnerable Democratic districts in 2010.

Brown left the NRA in the 1990s because he felt the NRA was “kissing up to politicians.” The NRA, at the time, blasted Rocky Mountain Gun Owners as an “extreme right gun group” and called Brown the “Al Sharpton of the gun movement” for his inflammatory approach. Since then, the NRA has been pulled much farther to the right and is much more aligned with the “extreme” beliefs of RMGO. Both the NRA and RMGO believe there is a UN conspiracy to take away guns. The NRA and Republican lawmakers have warned of “tyranny” and compared Obama to Hitler and Stalin.

Yeah, because that kind of rhetoric totaaaaally helps your cause.

Spoiler

It does for some people.

 

[gcubed]

Wow. "What's the matter with Kansas?" Indeed!


But you are helping out rapists. Now they can rape women and if they manage to plant their seed, the government guarantees that they will get a son/daughter out of that rape.



I still think this may be part of a 'last hurrah'. They can see that their grip on the Supreme Court is fading and they want to take a last hack at Roe. v. Wade.

yeah, see, i'd never live in any of these states stupid enough to do this, and all its going to do is push it faster to the supreme court where they will get thrown out.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

The gop and the Taliban really are the same.

 

[empty vessel]

They're not proposing chopping peoples hands off and forcing women to marry their rapist at least.

Republicans/conservatives do indeed advocate torture. Visit any comment section on any article about crime. These aren't meaningful differences.

 

[Chichikov]

What the hell is the Washington Times?

The first newspaper to be founded by a messiah since the Nazareth Gazette.

 

[Aaron Strife]

It's way too early to gleam anything from polls this far out, but Quinnipiac has Democrats leading by 8 points on the generic ballot. A margin that large would surely be enough to slay the gerrymander.

 

[el retorno]

Republicans/conservatives do indeed advocate torture. Visit any comment section on any article about crime. These aren't meaningful differences.

Yes because we're judging people based on youtube comments now? The radical minority are not the same (the majority of the GOP is not calling for religious law and doesn't even like these crazy laws on Abortion and the like) and their utopia would not look the same. There is a giant "meaningful difference"

You live in a world of black and white though so I don't expect to change your laughable view the GOP is equivalent to the taliban. Everybody knows how the Bush years were like living under the taliban!

 

[pigeon]

It's way too early to gleam anything from polls this far out, but Quinnipiac has Democrats leading by 8 points on the generic ballot. A margin that large would surely be enough to slay the gerrymander.

Interesting tabs. Dems haven't gained any votes since July 2012 -- but Republicans shed 5 points into the other/nobody/don't know piles. At this point, probably not distinguishable from loser fatigue -- but it could conceivably be the beginning of the leak as Republicans start embracing immigration and gay marriage and losing their base. Guess we'll see!

 

[KtSlime]

Yes because we're judging people based on youtube comments now? The radical minority are not the same (the majority of the GOP is not calling for religious law and doesn't even like these crazy laws on Abortion and the like) and their utopia would not look the same. There is a giant "meaningful difference"

You live in a world of black and white though so I don't expect to change your laughable view the GOP is equivalent to the taliban. Everybody knows how the Bush years were like living under the taliban!

So you are saying that the Bush Administration did not use torture as a means to get what they wanted? Is not torturing people an advocation that it is okay to torture people, or is it like a father when he beats his child and he says something like "this will hurt me more than it hurts you"?

 

[PhoenixDark]

Interesting tabs. Dems haven't gained any votes since July 2012 -- but Republicans shed 5 points into the other/nobody/don't know piles. At this point, probably not distinguishable from loser fatigue -- but it could conceivably be the beginning of the leak as Republicans start embracing immigration and gay marriage and losing their base. Guess we'll see!

Something like guns could bring them back in force, in that case. We'll see. I think democrats will do well assuming Obamacare doesn't blow up the world (...), but ultimately the deck will be too stacked/gerrymandered to take back the House.

I really wish something could be done before 2020 to ensure the next Census doesn't lead to partisan rigging to the nth degree, but I doubt there's bipartisan support for that.

 

[Shadow Hog]

What the hell is the Washington Times? Looks like a hack job.

According to their radio ads last year, they give you "conservative commentary you can depend on".

I've chosen to never depend on them.

 

[RustyNails]

Something like guns could bring them back in force, in that case. We'll see. I think democrats will do well assuming Obamacare doesn't blow up the world (...), but ultimately the deck will be too stacked/gerrymandered to take back the House.

I really wish something could be done before 2020 to ensure the next Census doesn't lead to partisan rigging to the nth degree, but I doubt there's bipartisan support for that.

I will take it as the biggest victory in history if minesotans do their thing and unseat bachmann. I think that should be a bellweather on how the dem turnout is going to be.

 

[el retorno]

So you are saying that the Bush Administration did not use torture as a means to get what they wanted? Is not torturing people an advocation that it is okay to torture people, or is it like a father when he beats his child and he says something like "this will hurt me more than it hurts you"?

No I'm saying there is a large degree of difference.

Bush waterboarded. Thats wrong. They did not do anything like what the taliban does to its own people, chopping hands off, stoning women, etc.

I was referring to the fact that he said the GOP advocates torture for crime based on comments on videos, I've not seen that proposed by any GOP politician.

 

[el retorno]

http://www.wral.com/proposal-would-allow-state-religion-in-north-carolina/12296876/

RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide.

The legislation grew out of a dispute between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rowan County Board of Commissioners. In a federal lawsuit filed last month, the ACLU says the board has opened 97 percent of its meetings since 2007 with explicitly Christian prayers.

Overtly Christian prayers at government meetings are not rare in North Carolina. Since the Republican takeover in 2011, the state Senate chaplain has offered an explicitly Christian invocation virtually every day of session, despite the fact that some senators are not Christian.

In a 2011 ruling on a similar lawsuit against the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not ban prayer at government meetings outright, but said prayers favoring one religion over another are unconstitutional.

"To plant sectarian prayers at the heart of local government is a prescription for religious discord," the court said. "Where prayer in public fora is concerned, the deep beliefs of the speaker afford only more reason to respect the profound convictions of the listener. Free religious exercise posits broad religious tolerance."

House Bill 494, a resolution filed by Republican Rowan County Reps. Harry Warren and Carl Ford, would refuse to acknowledge the force of any judicial ruling on prayer in North Carolina – or indeed on any Constitutional topic:

"The Constitution of the United States does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal courts the power to determine what is or is not constitutional; therefore, by virtue of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the power to determine constitutionality and the proper interpretation and proper application of the Constitution is reserved to the states and to the people," the bill states.

"Each state in the union is sovereign and may independently determine how that state may make laws respecting an establishment of religion," it states.

The Tenth Amendment argument, also known as "nullification," has been tried unsuccessfully by states for more than a century to defy everything from the Emancipation Proclamation of the Civil War to President Obama's health care reforms to gun control.

The bill goes on to say:

SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

Eleven House Republicans have signed on to sponsor the resolution, including Majority Leader Edgar Starnes, R-Caldwell, and Budget Chairman Justin Burr, R-Stanly.

 

[Aaron Strife]

Something like guns could bring them back in force, in that case. We'll see. I think democrats will do well assuming Obamacare doesn't blow up the world (...), but ultimately the deck will be too stacked/gerrymandered to take back the House.

I really wish something could be done before 2020 to ensure the next Census doesn't lead to partisan rigging to the nth degree, but I doubt there's bipartisan support for that.

I think the most you could hope for is for the 2016 nominee to have long enough coattails to get Democrats elected in districts that aren't on anybody's radar. We even saw this in 2012, where districts like FL-10 were kept within a few points that were generally regarded as likely or safe Republican seats. If Obama had a big blowout victory like 2008 it might have carried enough Democrats across the finish line in swing districts to recapture the House, but that was never going to happen.

However I'm curious as to what effect OFA's microtargeting efforts will have on the 2014 races. If Obama puts as much muscle into the House races as he did in his own re-election, that could make a profound difference - it doesn't seem like he was interested in jockeying for House seats in 2010 or 2012, but I think he's realized he's not going to get to add much to his legacy with a Republican House.

I will take it as the biggest victory in history if minesotans do their thing and unseat bachmann. I think that should be a bellweather on how the dem turnout is going to be.

I really hope the DCCC invests in this race. Before 2012 I didn't think it was winnable for the usual reasons (deep red district, Bachmann's fundraising is through the roof, etc.) but Graves kept it close despite being outspent 20 to 1. If he'd cut that gap even by half he'd probably be a sitting Congressman by now. I hope he gives it another run. Everything he's said since the election indicates he will.

That being said, MN-02 might be a more enticing target. There's rumors that John Kline might be leaving to challenge Franken, and Obama won the district both times.

 

[empty vessel]

Yes because we're judging people based on youtube comments now? The radical minority are not the same (the majority of the GOP is not calling for religious law and doesn't even like these crazy laws on Abortion and the like) and their utopia would not look the same. There is a giant "meaningful difference"

It's not youtube. It's any print media source, but I don't see why youtube should be off-limits for discerning the views of the American Taliban, i.e., Republicans. The majority of the GOP is calling for religious law. Outlawing abortion is religious law! It's in the party platform: "Faithful to the 'self-evident' truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. ... Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and wellbeing of women, and we stand firmly against it."

I assume your desire to differentiate white American conservatives from brown Muslim conservatives has something to do with your unwillingness to extend your position that it is okay to indiscriminately kill the latter to the former, but there is no meaningful difference at all between them.

 

[789shadow]

http://www.wral.com/proposal-would-a...lina/12296876/

Oh for fuck's sake.

 

[el retorno]

It's not youtube. It's any print media source, but I don't see why youtube should be off-limits for discerning the views of the American Taliban, i.e., Republicans. The majority of the GOP is calling for religious law. Outlawing abortion is religious law! It's in the party platform: "Faithful to the 'self-evident' truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed."

I assume your desire to differentiate white American conservatives from brown Muslim conservatives has something to do with your unwillingness to extend your position that it is okay to indiscriminately kill the latter to the former, but there is no meaningful difference at all between them.

That's not "religious law" they may base their personal reasoning in religion but its not "religious law" its a definition of life that difference and views an embryo as more important than the women, gay marriage is I will give you that.

And seriously again with the racism charge? Its ridiculous, there is nothing in my comments about race. There is a GIANT difference between the two. The US does not massacure its people, doesn't not blow up religious sites, does not chop off hands, does not stone women, does not ban other religions, does not traffick women, does not beat women, does not force people to dress a certain way, does not kill gays, etc.

 

[KtSlime]

That's not "religious law" they may base their personal reasoning in religion but its not "religious law" its a definition of life that difference and views an embryo as more important than the women, gay marriage is I will give you that.

And seriously again with the racism charge? Its ridiculous, there is nothing in my comments about race. There is a GIANT difference between the two. The US does not massacure its people, doesn't not blow up religious sites, does not chop off hands, does not stone women, does not ban other religions, does not traffick women, does not beat women, does not force people to dress a certain way, does not kill gays, etc.

...yet. Let the wound fester long enough and it will. I'm sure that many of the conservatives would have no problem doing most of those things if they could get away with them. I still think we are quite a few decades away from Taliban level of inhumanness, but if we head in the direction that the religious right wants to lead us we'll get *back* there some day.

 

[el retorno]

...yet. Let the wound fester long enough and it will. I'm sure that many of the conservatives would have no problem doing most of those things if they could get away with them. I still think we are quite a few decades away from Taliban level of inhumanness, but if we head in the direction that the religious right wants to lead us we'll get *back* there some day.

No, that's insane. Maybe 2-3% but this is crazy thinking.



Also the US Cairo Embassy took down the John Stewart tweet.
Why are we censoring ourselves? Same embassy that had the apology for the Muslim Video.

 

[KtSlime]

No, that's insane. Maybe 2-3% but this is crazy thinking.

Dude, societies have collapsed into this barbaric behavior since we started making societies, what makes you so certain it couldn't happen here with poorly educated people making the wrong decisions during terrible circumstances.

 

[el retorno]

Dude, societies have collapsed into this barbaric behavior since we started making societies, what makes you so certain it couldn't happen here with the bad people making the wrong decisions during the terrible circumstances.

Where do you see taliban type proposals of which you seem to think were on the road to afghanistan?


Also the US Cairo Embassy took down the John Stewart tweet.
Why are we censoring ourselves? Same embassy that had the apology for the Muslim Video.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/p...wn_twitter_feed_after_muslim_brotherhood_spat

 

[KtSlime]

Where do you see taliban type proposals of which you seem to think were on the road to afghanistan?


Also the US Cairo Embassy took down the John Stewart tweet.
Why are we censoring ourselves? Same embassy that had the apology for the Muslim Video.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/p...wn_twitter_feed_after_muslim_brotherhood_spat

Censoring ourselves is a good start down that road.

It doesn't matter who leads us down the road, only that we end up at the end or not. My allegiance is not to any particular party. Obama makes bad decisions too. Currently he makes more good decisions than the alternative, but not by much IMO.

I don't think we have to go full Taliban before we determine that the direction some very powerful and influential members of society are pulling us is not the correct direction.

 

[el retorno]

Censoring ourselves is a good start down that road.

So the Obama administration is leading us down to a radical GOP religious state?

 

[mckmas8808]

this x100. I give Obama credit for talking about what's happening in Chicago but overall no one gives a shit. No one is talking about banning handguns, whereas trying to ban automatic weapons is like shopping at Whole Foods: a no-effort attempt to do something good, that doesn't really accomplish anything.

The sad thing is that when democrats take the House again, and still hold the senate, no one will be talking about gun control. This issue is only important for about 30-60 days after a tragedy, then people go back to the real world while blacks and brown kids die daily on the street corner.

Dude shopping at Whole Foods IS better than getting crap at Wal-Mart. It's does accomplish something.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Oh for fuck's sake.

The first amendment isn't good enough, apparently. It's like they have to make sure everyone knows they're the majority, everyone should acknowledge it, etc. The Christian persecution complex is amazing to watch.

More than 2b Christians were celebrating Easter on sunday for instance, yet many got upset over the Google/Chavez thing. WHO CARES.