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PoliGAF 2013 |OT3| 1,000 Years of Darkness and Nuclear Fallout

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J

jamesinclair

Banned
PhoenixDark said:
I agree overall but we need to be honest and consider the situation. As mayor, de Blasio will have a lot of power to institute his policies. I'm not too familiar with local NY politics but he'll be dealing with a lot of WALL-STREET DINOS, I'm going to assume he'll get major parts of his agenda done a lot easier than Obama; ending stop-and-frisk strikes me as easier to do than closing Gitmo, basically.
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Fixed.
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
You Can Also Blame Newt Gingrich for the Obamacare Website Screwup

To prevent another Healthcare.gov, Washington could use a digital brain trust. Too bad Newt Gingrich killed the one it had.

Johnson was referring to a specific action lawmakers took then: They killed a tiny federal agency called the Office of Technology Assessment. Established in 1972 as Congress' nonpartisan in-house think tank, the OTA studied new technologies and offered recommendations on how Washington could adapt to them. But then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) turned off its lights.

Today, members of Congress have legislative counsels to help draft laws. They have the Congressional Budget Office to analyze how much laws will cost. But they don't have the OTA's experts to tell them how those laws will work.

"An OTA review might have prevented some heartburn and embarrassment" associated with the Healthcare.gov rollout, argues Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), an astrophysicist who has previously introduced legislation that would resurrect the agency.

Warning Congress about problems with Healthcare.gov—and explaining them—would have been right in OTA's wheelhouse. The office, Rep. George Brown (D-Calif.) dryly remarked in 1995, was a "defense against the dumb." During its 24-year existence, the agency developed a reputation for sharp, foresighted analysis on the problems of the new information age: It called for a new, reinforced tanker design a decade before the Exxon-Valdez spill; emphasized the danger of fertilizer bombs 15 years before Oklahoma City; predicted in 1982 that email would render the postal service obsolete; and warned that President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (better known as "Star Wars") would likely result in a "catastrophic failure" if it were ever used.

Analyzing health care spending was one of OTA's specialties. One of its final reports, "Bringing Health Care Online," published in 1995, focused on the potential (and potential for mishaps) in electronic data interchanges. "Changes in the health care delivery system, including the emergence of managed health care and integrated delivery systems, are breaking down the organizational barriers that have stood between care providers, insurers, medical researchers, and public health professionals," the report warned.
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http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/office-technology-assessment-gingrich-obamacare

Dont get near the comments.
 
P

PhoenixDark

Banned
Politico notes that with so much riding on the line with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, "one would assume" President Obama "held weekly, if not daily, one-on-one meetings with his Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to isolate problems, challenge assumptions, apply executive pressure where needed and successfully manage a project of scale."

"A new Government Accountability Institute (GAI) analysis finds that from July 12, 2010, to Nov. 30, 2013, the president's public schedule records zero one-on-one meetings between Obama and Sebelius. Equally shocking, over the same period, the president's calendar lists 277 private meetings with his other Cabinet secretaries (excluding full Cabinet meetings)."
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http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/the-zero-meeting-president-100767.html?ml=m_t2_2h

You would think the president would be more concerned/hands on with regard to his biggest legacy item.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
itshappening(again).gif:

House conservatives are pushing to subvert a budget agreement being negotiated by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) that would mitigate some of the painful sequester cuts and remove the threats of government shutdown.

A letter signed by at least 18 conservative Republicans urges Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to bring up a "clean" continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government at the low sequester level when money expires on Jan. 15. The GOP signatories insist they want to avoid another confrontation and argue that Democrats would be responsible for a shutdown if they refuse to keep spending at levels established under current law.

"The Budget Control Act is the law of the land," the lawmakers write. "Our Democrat colleagues are now threatening to shut the government down in order to change that. We should not permit that to happen. Again, we encourage you to bring a clean CR to the floor."
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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/...arting-to-gel-among-hardline-nbsp-Republicans

Sadly I'm not as excited about the prospect with this one.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
In fact, one administration official tells The New Republic that preliminary estimates, just now becoming available, suggest the error rate has fallen from one in four during October to one in ten now. And most of those are files insurers received with errors, as opposed to files insurers never received. Plenty of work remains—namely, completing repairs that reduce the error rate further and dealing with the flawed data insurers have already received. But the administration is working with insurers and contractors on both issues. [...]
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http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115837/834-hysteria-why-obamacares-data-problem-real-fixable

That's for the back end issues.

Pretty impressive considering I've never seen any broken website eventually improve functionality in my life.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
Haha, this is awesome:

Here’s a fascinating report from TPM on the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, a group of right-wing doctors that counts Sen. Rand Paul among its members.

More than half of AAPS’s members have stopped accepting Medicaid—not an idea Paul supports, by the way—and a smaller number is going further: They’re refusing to accept even private insurance—under the idea, I guess, that the entire private insurance market is now “tainted” by Obamacare. Instead, patients will have to pay out of pocket, then try to get reimbursed by their insurers on their own. (Maybe they could pay in chickens, instead?)
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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/right-wing-docs-blast-obamacare-socialism

I joked a couple of months ago that right-wingers should pull out of the private insurance market altogether since it's been "socialized" by Obamacare. And as usual, give these dudes enough time and they're stand up and say "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED".


edit: yes, this was a triple post, but what can I say other then Obama's America.
 
N

NYCmetsfan

Banned
Oblivion said:
Pretty impressive considering I've never seen any broken website eventually improve functionality in my life.
Click to expand...

Twitter.

failwhale.gif


Ironic considering a lot of the trolling about it was coming from it.
 
A

Aylinato

Member
Oblivion said:
Haha, this is awesome:



http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/right-wing-docs-blast-obamacare-socialism

I joked a couple of months ago that right-wingers should pull out of the private insurance market altogether since it's been "socialized" by Obamacare. And as usual, give these dudes enough time and they're stand up and say "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED".


edit: yes, this was a triple post, but what can I say other then Obama's America.
Click to expand...



Good they want free market then get off getting subsidized by the USA stupid freeloading republican doctors.
 
C

ClassyPenguin

Banned
Like compared to many online services, the failure rates that they have are unimpressive. Anyone remember Steam when it came out? I bet that, at scale, this failure rate is quite normative. I mean, the contractors and contract system are to blame but it's overblown.

Anyhow, states that had their own sites implemented their own sites have been quite smooth. Another great move by conservatives.
 
I

Incognito

Troll
Diablos said:
That is just really bad.

I hope they Skyped or something at least, lol.

Perhaps they truly hate each other.
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I'm pretty sure that report is wrong. Quelle surprise, Politico and all. I recall the White House press shop on twitter yesterday having a laugh about it, pointing to the protocol of reporting Cabinet secretary visits. I'll try and find the info once I finish the project of mine..
 
P

PhoenixDark

Banned
Still giving de Blasio time. He hasn't even been sworn in yet. Until he says he's going to make stop-and-frisk work, I won't believe it.
 
W

WayneMorse

Banned
PhoenixDark said:
Still giving de Blasio time. He hasn't even been sworn in yet. Until he says he's going to make stop-and-frisk work, I won't believe it.
Click to expand...

Considering his police commissioner said that police forces needed stop and frisk, and that he wanted to crush Occupy Wall Street, don't expect much from him.

I'm expecting his schools chancellor to be an advocate for charter schools as well.

He's going to be an awful mayor. Another DINO co-opting the progressive movement in order to get himself elected.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Particle Physicist said:
Obama has done the opposite of what he ran on? I am pretty sure he has accomplished a majority of his promises.
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His biggest campaign lie was definitely his kind on wistleblower stance during the campaign before turning into the toughest on wistleblower president in recent history. But even then it was far from the main issue he ran on and at first he at least pretended to care by opening up official channels for these whistleblowers even if those official channels ended up being useless.

Bill de Blasio really is on a whole other level in broken campaign promises. The main platform he stood on was reforming the police department and ending stop and frisk policies, and he majorly broke that promise before he even officially became mayor. It's extra surprising given his black family and 2 arrests for protesting.

Sure, at least Bratton sounds like he might try and make the policy less racist, but until racism is truly over, being prejudice towards "suspicious looking people" will always turn into racism.
 
W

WayneMorse

Banned
Remember when Obama said on the campaign trail in 2008 that he was gonna renegotiate NAFTA, then in 2009 the White House released a statement saying "That thing we said we were gonna do, well we're not gonna do it"?
 
W

Wall

Member
What is the status of the lawsuit against NYC's stop and frisk policy? I thought De Blasio said he was going to remove the city's appeal. I'm waiting to see whether he is actually going to do that, but I am not sure if that is still even an issue because I thought they removed the one judge from the case.

As for the income inequality piece of his campaign, there is really isn't much that a mayor can do about that. I guess we'll see if he pushes to fund pre-k programs with a tax on the wealthy like he said he would in his campaign.
 
W

WayneMorse

Banned
Wall said:
As for the income inequality piece of his campaign, there is really isn't much that a mayor can do about that. I guess we'll see if he pushes to fund pre-k programs with a tax on the wealthy like he said he would in his campaign.
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Getting rid of stop and frisk is a step, make NYC a place that's fair and equal to all people instead of just being a playground for rich white people.
 
P

PhoenixDark

Banned
Particle Physicist said:
Obama has done the opposite of what he ran on? I am pretty sure he has accomplished a majority of his promises.
Click to expand...

Are we talking about the same Obama who said he'd end civil liberty abuses and protect whistleblowers? What about the Obama who said he'd end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, would make sure Wall Street never played with Main Street's money again, etc etc etc.

I get that stuff like Gitmo wasn't going to happen due to obstruction. But Obama has made more than a few blatant reversals on past views, on issues he has power to change (NSA, drones, whistle blowing, etc).
 
A

Aylinato

Member
PhoenixDark said:
Are we talking about the same Obama who said he'd end civil liberty abuses and protect whistleblowers? What about the Obama who said he'd end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, would make sure Wall Street never played with Main Street's money again, etc etc etc.

I get that stuff like Gitmo wasn't going to happen due to obstruction. But Obama has made more than a few blatant reversals on past views, on issues he has power to change (NSA, drones, whistle blowing, etc).
Click to expand...


Too many corporate democrats in power in Washington for the Wall Street reform to happen. Not enough progressives are given any actual power(like just letting Warren lose onto Wall Street would be amazing)
 
P

Particle Physicist

between a quark and a baryon
PhoenixDark said:
Are we talking about the same Obama who said he'd end civil liberty abuses and protect whistleblowers? What about the Obama who said he'd end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, would make sure Wall Street never played with Main Street's money again, etc etc etc.

I get that stuff like Gitmo wasn't going to happen due to obstruction. But Obama has made more than a few blatant reversals on past views, on issues he has power to change (NSA, drones, whistle blowing, etc).
Click to expand...

True or false, Obama has accomplished a majority of his campaign promises? I did not say he has done everything he promised, but jamesinclair stated that as soon as he came into office he turned around and did the exact opposite of what he campaigned on, which is just false. I also don't remember him campaigning against things like drone strikes.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
So what possible reason would De Blasio hire this dude to begin with? How does the NY legislature look like?
 
P

PhoenixDark

Banned
I can somewhat defend Obama and de Blasio's hiring process in the sense that the pool of people with government experience is rather stagnant. In the case of the president, you need a staff of people with DC experience, and the last group of democrats with any executive experience worked for Clinton. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to avoid the problems Carter faced. He filled many positions with people with little DC experience and paid the price.

Overall Obama has done a good job in certain aspects, like the labor and civil rights folks he has hired. I like Thomas Perez, I like Debo Adegbile (btw look at the right wing's explosion over him, it's hilarious). It's harder to fill treasury spots, and Obama filled his with Wall Street cronies; in hindsight it shouldn't have been surprising, given Obama's Goldman Sachs backed campaign. Capped off with the fucking boy wonder himself, Larry Summers. I wonder what things would look like if Christina Romer had become secretary of the treasury instead of Geithner.
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
Hey guys, remember when the NY mayor race was seen as an attack of the Bloomberg administration?

How the people picked the exact opposite?

Outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg this morning praised his successor’s first administration picks and vowed once again to hold his tongue after he leaves City Hall at the end of the month.

Mr. Bloomberg said that he’d spoken with both Mr. Shorris and Mr. Bratton this morning before his weekly radio show and sounded content with the choices.

“Shorris used to work for our administration. Really good guy. And Bratton I’ve known for a very long time,” said Mr. Bloomberg, who has vowed to provide a “world class” transition to Mr. de Blasio.
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http://politicker.com/2013/12/bloomberg-praises-de-blasios-first-administration-picks/
 
W

WayneMorse

Banned
Oblivion said:
So what possible reason would De Blasio hire this dude to begin with? How does the NY legislature look like?
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The NYC city council is actually quite progressive after the election.

de Blasio picked Bratton because he's scared of crime rising again or some shit. He'll probably pick a pro-charter schools chancellor next and drop his pre-K education policy because Cuomo said no.

Basically de Blasio is to Bloomberg as Tony Blair was to Thatcher, same shit different smell.

In such a short amount of time de Blasio has reached Nick Clegg levels of lying to get elected.
 
N

NYCmetsfan

Banned
https://www.gingrichproductions.com...ne-nelson-mandela-and-american-conservatives/

props to newt for this.

Mandela was faced with a vicious apartheid regime that eliminated all rights for blacks and gave them no hope for the future. This was a regime which used secret police, prisons and military force to crush all efforts at seeking freedom by blacks.

What would you have done faced with that crushing government?

What would you do here in America if you had that kind of oppression?

Some of the people who are most opposed to oppression from Washington attack Mandela when he was opposed to oppression in his own country.
After years of preaching non-violence, using the political system, making his case as a defendant in court, Mandela resorted to violence against a government that was ruthless and violent in its suppression of free speech.

As Americans we celebrate the farmers at Lexington and Concord who used force to oppose British tyranny. We praise George Washington for spending eight years in the field fighting the British Army’s dictatorial assault on our freedom.

Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote and the Continental Congress adopted that “all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Doesn’t this apply to Nelson Mandela and his people?

Some conservatives say, ah, but he was a communist.

Actually Mandela was raised in a Methodist school, was a devout Christian, turned to communism in desperation only after South Africa was taken over by an extraordinarily racist government determined to eliminate all rights for blacks.

I would ask of his critics: where were some of these conservatives as allies against tyranny? Where were the masses of conservatives opposing Apartheid? In a desperate struggle against an overpowering government, you accept the allies you have just as Washington was grateful for a French monarchy helping him defeat the British.

Finally, if you had been imprisoned for 27 years, 18 of them in a cell eight foot by seven foot, how do you think you would have emerged? Would you have been angry? Would you have been bitter?

Nelson Mandela emerged from 27 years in prison as an astonishingly wise, patient, and compassionate person.

He called for reconciliation among the races. He invited his prison guard to sit in the front row at his inauguration as President. In effect he said to the entire country, “If I can forgive the man who imprisoned me, surely you can forgive your neighbors.”

Far from behaving like a communist, President Mandela reassured businesses that they could invest in South Africa and grow in South Africa. He had learned that jobs come from job creators.

I was very privileged to be able to meet with President Mandela and present the Congressional Medal of Freedom. As much as any person in our lifetime he had earned our respect and our recognition.

Before you criticize him, ask yourself, what would you have done in his circumstances?
Here is my statement from yesterday on President Nelson Mandela:

President Nelson Mandela was one of the greatest leaders of our lifetime.

He emerged from 27 long years in prison with a wisdom, a compassion, and a commitment to help other people that was astonishing. His life was a triumph of the human spirit.
When he visited the Congress I was deeply impressed with the charisma and the calmness with which he could dominate a room. It was as if the rest of us grew smaller and he grew stronger and more dominant the longer the meeting continued.

His thoughtful disciplined but friendly and warm personality made him a leader who could define the right policies and the right behaviors.
Nelson Mandela was truly the father of an integrated, democratic South Africa.

He will be an inspiration for generations to come and an historic leader worth studying for as long as people want to learn about greatness in serving others.
Callista and I extend our condolences and our prayers to the Mandela family and to the people of South Africa.
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I believe Newt voted for the sanctions bill.
 
R

rocketknight

Member
Colorado judge's reasoning for ruling that the bakery who refused service to a gay couple was (duh) breaking the law: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/12/06/3035121/colorado-bakery-broke-law/

Best part is in describing how baking cakes is not an exercise of religion!
Conceptually, Respondents’ refusal to serve a same-sex couple due to religious objection to same-sex weddings is no different from refusing to serve a biracial couple because of religious objection to biracial marriage. However, that argument was struck down long ago in Bob Jones Univ. v. United States.
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B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
WayneMorse said:
The NYC city council is actually quite progressive after the election.

de Blasio picked Bratton because he's scared of crime rising again or some shit. He'll probably pick a pro-charter schools chancellor next and drop his pre-K education policy because Cuomo said no.

Basically de Blasio is to Bloomberg as Tony Blair was to Thatcher, same shit different smell.

In such a short amount of time de Blasio has reached Nick Clegg levels of lying to get elected.
Click to expand...

Can we actually let someone take office before we go insane? God damn, you don't like the pick we get it.
 
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