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[SmokeMaxX]

Are the American people really thick enough to think that this cold weather is an argument against global warming? Please don't tell me this is the case.

I was listening to some Conservative talk show radio earlier today and not only do they believe this, a caller started talking about a whiteout in Antarctica and the Conservative host said "what's that mean? No black people?" My jaw dropped.

 

[Oblivion]

BS

When they say "push" do they mean "off a cliff"?

 

[B-Dubs]

When they say "push" do they mean "off a cliff"?

I think it's implied.

 

[thezerofire]

Are the American people really thick enough to think that this cold weather is an argument against global warming? Please don't tell me this is the case.

yes, at least some of them. and most of the people I'm related to

 

[NYCmetsfan]

you'll never guess George Zimmerman's favorite NFL team

https://twitter.com/therealgeorgez/status/420398715765944321

 

[WayneMorse]

you'll never guess George Zimmerman's favorite NFL team

https://twitter.com/therealgeorgez/status/420398715765944321

Standing up to that horrible PC culture one dead black kid at a time!

 

[Oblivion]

you'll never guess George Zimmerman's favorite NFL team

https://twitter.com/therealgeorgez/status/420398715765944321

Hey, I got it right! And I don't even watch football!


Btw, I'm not sure which instance of White Whine is worse, Frank Luntz's or this:

In a rare in-person interview with Forbes in late 2012, Charles Koch defended the need for venues that allow donors to give money without public disclosure, saying such groups provide protection from the kind of attacks his family and company have weathered.

“We get death threats, threats to blow up our facilities, kill our people. We get Anonymous and other groups trying to crash our IT systems,” he said, referring to the computer-hacking collective. “So long as we’re in a society like that, where the president attacks us and we get threats from people in Congress, and this is pushed out and becomes part of the culture — that we are evil, so we need to be destroyed, or killed — then why force people to disclose?”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_01/poor_little_rich_boys048494.php

 

[NYCmetsfan]

They want more, not because we have not given them enough but because we have given them too much.

This is the absolute worst. This attitude is so offensive.

 

[empty vessel]

I just stumbled onto this

Which Communist said this?

And Adam Smith said that the public should be extremely skeptical of any policy proposed by business interests because businessmen are motivated to and often have deceived the public.

 

[Aaron Strife]

I'd bet money that Mark Warner will be her VP, if she gets the nomination.

Seems like the most likely candidate. Popular southern moderate etc

Still hoping for Clinton/Klobuchar.

 

[Oblivion]

And Adam Smith said that the public should be extremely skeptical of any policy proposed by business interests because businessmen are motivated to and often have deceived the public.

Didn't he also support progressive taxation? I might be confusing him with Thomas Paine...

 

[Karakand]

I also don't agree with historical materialism. I think ideas and non-material things matter and have mattered and I know marx doesn't dismiss them entirely but he claims they aren't the 'base' of social organization.

Saying that the basis of a society (I would revise this to "the basis of any sustainable society") lies in its manner of providing the necessities of life doesn't deny the importance of ideology--identifying a cause doesn't diminish the value of its effect(s). To paraphrase the author in question, people cannot live by Catholicism alone.

We covered that whole "gross income' method of measuring social class in a class on Marxism I took a while back. I think the overall consensus the class came to through group discussion is that from a marxist perspective, the idea of the so-called middle-class is a illusion created by the bourgeoisie, as the middle-class still don't own the means of production therefore are still very much a part of the proletariat from that perspective of class relationships, which is something that goes contrary to the fact that we like to separate the two in our society.

In a vanilla manner of speaking it's interchangeable with petty bourgeoisie. Members of that group don't sell their labor to employers, but they lack the capital to employ on a large scale or rapidly accumulate more capital. You're right that the overpaid white collar and unioned blue collar worker are excluded as they subsist by selling their labor to employers.

The constructed (haute) bourgeoisie illusion of which you speak is not something I really subscribe to, at least not in core capitalist countries today. Weberian definitions of class (of which I would say our gross income method is a vulgar shorthand approximation of) have a material basis.

From my reading of the Communist manifesto - Marx always appeared to be more prescriptive when it came to that whole idea of the "dictatorship of proletariat" as opposed to this more religious description of the idea that I constantly hear from a local socialist political group in my country (which is Australia).

Sure. Dictatorship of the proletariat is a bedrock for the existence of Leninist parties (both anti-revisionist and Trotskyist), which is probably why you encounter this phenomenon. (Disclosure: I'm not that familiar with the Australian left.)

What's a brocialist? is that what we call Russell Brand? and I don't necessarily believe that the economic aspect of the class war is all that matters when it comes to questions of equality, yet I'm going be humble for a second here and admit to you that my only knowledge of capitalism/political science/marxism come from a combination of watching five-seasons of The Wire, taking a free course on Marxism and a sociology of education unit in my own course - as well as participating in political activism events and discussion forums. I'll put those two on the good old reading list, thanks for the recommendation.

I think he provided an opportunity for that term to mainstream awhile back, but it's an epithet for someone in the left who can't look outside their own privilege (i.e. is almost certainly white, male, and cisgendered) and thinks waving a magic wand over class issues will fix all problems. The stereotypical example I would use is the majority of Britain's 4,569,082 Trotskyist parties but you're going to encounter people like that in travels anywhere on the left. Manarchist is a similar term, but it has a more narrow application.

I didn't mean to insinuate you were either and apologize if I came off that way.

So I turn on KTLK this morning expecting some liberal media and was bombarded by Shawn Hannity. I guess clear channel needed more right wing radio. Fuck me.

Clark Howard is still there talking about outlawing health insurance and ranting about teachers' unions.

RIP LA talk radio's version of Deus Ex 2's coffee shop war.

 

[empty vessel]

Didn't he also support progressive taxation? I might be confusing him with Thomas Paine...

Smith effectively wrote that progressive taxation would be "not very unreasonable." Which I suppose is to the left of radicalized conservatives today. It's more fun to throw at conservative Smith idolaters his view that businessmen are untrustworthy in matters of public policy.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

And Adam Smith said that the public should be extremely skeptical of any policy proposed by business interests because businessmen are motivated to and often have deceived the public.

My favorite adam Smith quote

"...in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public...The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention.

He never was really the god right wingers portray him as

 

[Roland Gunner]

Salma is as hot as Friedrich was wrong about macro.
The man was a rather unimportant economist who was wrong about pretty much everything. He was only pulled out of the academic dustbin because he could give faux-intellectual support to the political right in the US and UK.
He's like a more boring and obtuse Arthur Laffer.

I read Road to Serfdom years ago and 80% of it is about the inefficiency and harm caused by a centralized, command style economy. That's so true now that its not really worth arguing against, but was a bold stand to take in 1940's Europe. His other stuff may be garbage but, at the time, Road to Serfdom was a relevant and accurate work.

 

[Oblivion]

He never was really the god right wingers portray him as

Sounds like Jesus.

 

[Sibylus]

Burglars Who Took on F.B.I. Abandon Shadows (Mark Mazzetti, NYT)

So on a night nearly 43 years ago, while Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier bludgeoned each other over 15 rounds in a televised title bout viewed by millions around the world, burglars took a lock pick and a crowbar and broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation office in a suburb of Philadelphia, making off with nearly every document inside.

They were never caught, and the stolen documents that they mailed anonymously to newspaper reporters were the first trickle of what would become a flood of revelations about extensive spying and dirty-tricks operations by the F.B.I. against dissident groups.

The burglary in Media, Pa., on March 8, 1971, is a historical echo today, as disclosures by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden have cast another unflattering light on government spying and opened a national debate about the proper limits of government surveillance. The burglars had, until now, maintained a vow of silence about their roles in the operation. They were content in knowing that their actions had dealt the first significant blow to an institution that had amassed enormous power and prestige during J. Edgar Hoover’s lengthy tenure as director.

Can't help but note the conspicuous timing, at a time when the FBI is once again formalizing its drift away from law enforcement into national security matters.

 

[Black Mamba]

Adam Smith also seemed to indicate he supported a Land Value Tax.

Try asking conservatives to go along with that one...lol

 

[Chichikov]

I read Road to Serfdom years ago and 80% of it is about the inefficiency and harm caused by a centralized, command style economy. That's so true now that its not really worth arguing against, but was a bold stand to take in 1940's Europe. His other stuff may be garbage but, at the time, Road to Serfdom was a relevant and accurate work.

I don't agree that central planning is bad, but beyond that, the main thesis of The Road to Serfdom is that a mixed economy will inevitably lead to fascist totalitarianism.
Yeah, people laughed at him in the 40s, but history has proved that this laughter was justified.

 

[zero shift]

I just stumbled onto this




Which Communist said this?

Fun fact. He was pretty much a socialist. He wanted workers to own their workplaces.

 

[Oblivion]

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/youre-ba...harine-ham-juan-williams-over-legalizing-pot/

Bill O'Reilly yelling at a fellow conservative for a change. Pretty funny. And goddamn at all those strawmen.

 

[PhoenixDark]

BS

I'm always impressed by the unified GOP message. One minute Paul Ryan is speaking about poor people, next minute the entire party is. Yet if democrats decided to compromise on this stuff, specifically the freedom zones (let's say with lower taxes, no major changes in worker regulations) the GOP wouldn't even consider agreeing to a compromise on the minimum wage (say, $1 increase).

I don't think republicans need a campaign to help win the poor white vote, that will come naturally this November. Will poor blacks and Hispanics show up to vote (for democrats)? Probably not.

 

[empty vessel]

My favorite adam Smith quote

"...in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public...The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention."

You left off the kicker: "It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."

Can you imagine a Congress and state legislatures in which corporate executives and industrialists were ignored? Instead, we get things like ALEC, which "works to advance the fundamental principles of free-market enterprise, limited government, and federalism at the state level through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators, members of the private sector and the general public."

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Enough with all this communism.

Here are 5 freedom loving conservative ideas our generation should fight for

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...e-reforms-millennials-should-be-fighting-for/

1. End the long-term unemployment crisis
2. Tear down the welfare bureaucracy
3. Eliminate job-killing income, payroll, and corporate taxes
4. Have Social Security invest in the private sector, not the government
5. Help small businesses grow

 

[TacticalFox88]

Mitch McConnell pulled a deplorable stunt on the Senate floor today when he offered to extend unemployment benefits, but only if Democrats kill Obamacare.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) offered on the Senate floor to extend unemployment benefits if the Obamacare individual mandate was delayed for a year. He claimed that they would “pay” for the unemployment benefits extension by killing Obamacare. The problem is that the ACA doesn’t add anything to the deficit.

In October when the CBO rescored the ACA, they found, “Those amounts do not reflect the total budgetary impact of the ACA. That legislation includes many other provisions that, on net, will reduce budget deficits. Taking the coverage provisions and other provisions together, CBO and JCT have estimated that the ACA will reduce deficits over the next 10 years and in the subsequent decade.”



McConnell was trying to eliminate something that reduces the deficit in order to pay for an extension of unemployment benefits. This is how delusional Republicans are about the ACA. They have invented their own reality on healthcare, and this includes their own version of a fiscal impact on the law that doesn’t exist.

Reid responded by saying, “this is a guise to obstruct, and I object with as much fervor as I can.” McConnell accused Reid of exploiting the struggles of the poor, and asked, “How many of these have been doing well during the Obama economy.”

Republicans have decided that they will extend unemployment benefits, but only if Democrats and Obama kill Obamacare. This is a non starter, and ruse designed to distract the American people from realizing that Republicans are denying an unemployment benefits to 1.3 million Americans.



While 1.3 million Americans suffer, McConnell and Senate Republicans are playing games.

I've never seen a group of individuals so fucking salty.

 

[AdventureMike]

Enough with all this communism.

Here are 5 freedom loving conservative ideas our generation should fight for

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...e-reforms-millennials-should-be-fighting-for/

1. End the long-term unemployment crisis
2. Tear down the welfare bureaucracy
3. Eliminate job-killing income, payroll, and corporate taxes
4. Have Social Security invest in the private sector, not the government
5. Help small businesses grow

I feel incredibly ill after having read through all of that.

Obama's "wasteful infrastructure spending" is just making my head hurt.

 

[WayneMorse]

Unemployment extension passes Senate to die to the House!

Also remember that the extension is only for 3 months.

 

[Plinko]

Enough with all this communism.

Here are 5 freedom loving conservative ideas our generation should fight for

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...e-reforms-millennials-should-be-fighting-for/

1. End the long-term unemployment crisis
2. Tear down the welfare bureaucracy
3. Eliminate job-killing income, payroll, and corporate taxes
4. Have Social Security invest in the private sector, not the government
5. Help small businesses grow

Kevin Hassett, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute who was one of Mitt Romney's lead advisors during his 2012 run, has proposed that the government directly hire the long-term unemployed. This could be implemented by simply paying businesses to bring on more workers, and then phasing the subsidy out over time.

"Reduce government spending!"

*Spends billions to hire more workers*

Also, what guarantee is that all this money would go directly toward workers? The private free-market enterprise system has become a greed-driven disaster in some cases. How in the world is this a "solution?"

Edit: And the rest of that list is even more LOL-worthy. I was literally laughing at my computer screen. A land-value tax replacing all payroll taxes? Social security in the private sector? Are there people who really believe this stuff will work?

 

[NYCmetsfan]

"Reduce government spending!"

*Spends billions to hire more workers*

Also, what guarantee is that all this money would go directly toward workers? The private free-market enterprise system has become a greed-driven disaster in some cases. How in the world is this a "solution?"

Edit: And the rest of that list is even more LOL-worthy. I was literally laughing at my computer screen. A land-value tax replacing all payroll taxes? Social security in the private sector? Are there people who really believe this stuff will work?

What about these reforms?

1. Guaranteed Work for Everybody
2. Social Security for All
3. Take Back The Land
4. Make Everything Owned by Everybody
5. A Public Bank in Every State

http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...s-millennials-should-be-fighting-for-20140103

 

[WayneMorse]

What about these reforms?

1. Guaranteed Work for Everybody
2. Social Security for All
3. Take Back The Land
4. Make Everything Owned by Everybody
5. A Public Bank in Every State

http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...s-millennials-should-be-fighting-for-20140103

The comments on that article make me so depressed, people really can be brainwashed against their self interests so easily.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

The comments on that article make me so depressed, people really can be brainwashed against their self interests so easily.

All those comments seem to be Jonah Goldberg readers. I don't like all the ideas in there (eliminating other taxes for land value, sovereign wealth funds) but engage with the ideas instead of being ignorant amateur comedians

 

[Aylinato]

Looks like someone forgot the Onion is not supposed to run factual articles

http://www.theonion.com/articles/congress-agenda-for-2014,34877/

it's so truthful it hurts.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Are the American people really thick enough to think that this cold weather is an argument against global warming? Please don't tell me this is the case.

I think it more raises the point that using the specific term "global warming" is politically idiotic. Even if greenhouse gas caused warming is the root of the problem, periods of cold weather like this and increased storm activity are also results. Why frame an argument around the word "warming" when radical downshifts in temperature can also occur?

 

[K-19]

In France, work is a constitutional right. The state has the theoric obligation to ensure work for everybody, Fundamental rights of 2nd generation.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I think it more raises the point that using the specific term "global warming" is politically idiotic. Even if greenhouse gas caused warming is the root of the problem, periods of cold weather like this and increased storm activity are also results. Why frame an argument around the word "warming" when radical downshifts in temperature can also occur?

Because the planet is warming.

Should we not refer to a recession as a recession when one sector of the economy is doing well or expanding?

 

[Wilsongt]

I am tired of the term "global warming". It's a shitty buzz term. Global Climate Change is significantly more accurate.

 

[WayneMorse]

All those comments seem to be Jonah Goldberg readers. I don't like all the ideas in there (eliminating other taxes for land value, sovereign wealth funds) but engage with the ideas instead of being ignorant amateur comedians

I think a big part of it has to do with the fact that the majority of readers have had capitalist propaganda shoved down their throats all their lives, and a lot of them have a hard time understanding or accepting hard left socialist policies. Part of it is the authors fault to, if you want to get people into socialism, especially Americans, you really need to guide them into what socialism is, start by pointing out the flaws of capitalism and go from there, don't go straight into talking about abolishing private property.

 

[RustyNails]

So what kind of news Kay Hagan can expect for Friday's job numbers? I am optimistic that we will go below 7.0 UE rate.

 

[Aaron Strife]

So what kind of news Kay Hagan can expect for Friday's job numbers? I am optimistic that we will go below 7.0 UE rate.

Unemployment skyrockets to 8%

Kay Hagan's numbers, and only Kay Hagan's, take a huge nosedive

Though considering how low they are already, that's saying something!

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I think a big part of it has to do with the fact that the majority of readers have had capitalist propaganda shoved down their throats all their lives, and a lot of them have a hard time understanding or accepting hard left socialist policies. Part of it is the authors fault to, if you want to get people into socialism, especially Americans, you really need to guide them into what socialism is, start by pointing out the flaws of capitalism and go from there, don't go straight into talking about abolishing private property.

I don't know if people got this. But the Washington Post 5 Conservative Ideas was the same list as the #fullcomunist ideas from rolling stones.

Its not that the ideas are capitalist or socialist (I think they're best described as market socialism) they're ideas to solve problems. People don't discuss ideas and they're is a reactionary attempt to look at the label of right or left, capitalist or socialist. To easily dismiss out of hand. They even have their stock insults ready to go. And even Plinko here seemed to dismiss out of hand right ideas.

I do think its fair to say that the right isn't presenting new ideas or even older recycled ones (mike lee actually seems to have some but they're not ) but they should at least be looked at before being insulted.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I am tired of the term "global warming". It's a shitty buzz term. Global Climate Change is significantly more accurate.

No, global warming is more accurate. You don't need to placate people who think a few cold days doesn't mean the mean temperature of the earth is rising.

 

[Joe Molotov]

No, global warming is more accurate.

then y we still got snow?

 

[NYCmetsfan]

then y we still got snow?

My idiot self decided walking a only a few blocks meant I didn't need to wear a hat . My ears almost froze off. So much for 'warming'

 

[NYCmetsfan]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewi...enger-mcdaniel-blamed-gun-violence-on-hip-hop

This is old but still racist

Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel (R), the conservative challenger to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), argued that hip-hop and a society that "values rap and destruction of community values" is the reason for gun violence.

McDaniel made the comments in the promo for a syndicated radio program he hosted from 2004 to 2007. Those comments were flagged Saturday by the Darkhorse Mississippi blog and reported Tuesday by Mother Jones.

"The reason Canada is breaking out with brand new gun violence has nothing to do with the United States and guns," McDaniel said in the teaser. "It has everything to do with a culture that is morally bankrupt. What kind of culture is that? It's called hip-hop."

The corrupting aspects of hip-hop, per McDaniel, aren't based on race. It promotes "destruction of community values," he said.

"Name a redeeming quality of hip-hop. I want to know anything about hip-hop that has been good for this country. "And it's not—before you get carried away—this has nothing to do with race. Because there are just as many hip-hopping white kids and Asian kids as there are hip-hopping black kids. It’s a problem of a culture that values prison more than college; a culture that values rap and destruction of community values more than it does poetry; a culture that can’t stand education. It’s that culture that can’t get control of itself."

In the same segment McDaniel argued that waterboarding, as used on Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, one of the masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks, was an effective tool only demonized by liberals.

"Waterboarding is something they do to people to make them talk. It is torture, to the liberals. It is a fairly humane form of torture, if you classify it as such," McDaniel also said. "Here's what happens: You make the guy believe he's going to drown. And as you know it's a pretty strong fear—drowning. Well this guy, Muhammad, he spoke all day. He spoke all night. Anything and everything, just let me avoid the waterboard. Because you see Mr. Muhammad here apparently had a problem with drowning. And that worked."

In 2013 news broke that the tea party favorite attended at least one Neo-Confederate event.

McDaniel is a favorite of outside conservative groups and has been endorsed by The Senate Conservatives Fund, FreedomWorks and The Madison Project.

I still blame Canada for their export of this community destroying monster

 

[Wilsongt]

No, global warming is more accurate. You don't need to placate people who think a few cold days doesn't mean the mean temperature of the earth is rising.

It's warming, but it isn't just temperature being affected. A whole slew of problems are occurring. Right wing idiots take that term and run with it. Lol it's is warm lil al gore lol scienc

 

[Tom_Cody]

No, global warming is more accurate. You don't need to placate people who think a few cold days doesn't mean the mean temperature of the earth is rising.

I understand where you're coming from, and I recognized that in my prior post.

I think it more raises the point that using the specific term "global warming" is politically idiotic. Even if greenhouse gas caused warming is the root of the problem, periods of cold weather like this and increased storm activity are also results. Why frame an argument around the word "warming" when radical downshifts in temperature can also occur?

My point is just that that the term "global warming" is flawed in a political context. Record-setting wind speeds as well as (directly ironically) record cold temperatures are also a consequence. Why use such a narrow term.

then y we still got snow?

Right, exactly. Why frame the argument around an imperfect term?

Regarding Drudge and other idiots on the right laughing at the cold weather: it's fun to call out idiots, but wouldn't we all be better off if they weren't confused?

 

[Aaron Strife]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewi...enger-mcdaniel-blamed-gun-violence-on-hip-hop

This is old but still racist

I still blame Canada for their export of this community destroying monster

Those ruffians, hooligans, hoodlums, roughnecks, yahoos, knuckle-draggers.

I just love synonyms for that word.

 

[Black Mamba]

All those comments seem to be Jonah Goldberg readers. I don't like all the ideas in there (eliminating other taxes for land value, sovereign wealth funds) but engage with the ideas instead of being ignorant amateur comedians

I don't see where in that article he argues to replace all taxes with a LVT. Or any taxes.

And he's right. We should be doing a LVT as it's a tax on economic rents, the most efficient tax out there. And in relation to land, it's making sure the wealthy pay for something they have no right to be already charging everyone else to cover.

After the LVT, then you can tax whatever money you need to tax out of the economy by the necessary means (capital gains, income, etc).

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Regarding Drudge and other idiots on the right laughing at the cold weather: it's fun to call out idiots, but wouldn't we all be better off if they weren't confused?

It will morph into mocking the fact that it snows every winter. And is hot every summer.

Changing the name isn't going to increase acceptance with the people who don't believe and its in their interests not to believe

I don't see where in that article he argues to replace all taxes with a LVT. Or any taxes.

He doesn't in the article but has in other and clarified on twitter that's his idea.

I like land taxes I just don't don't think its wise to get rid of all of them. As you point out taxes can be used for other things than revenues (yes I know that that's not the money the government actually spends)

 

[Black Mamba]

I'd also like to point out Dylan Mathews wasn't being serious in his post.

He's making a point about economic arguments and how they're framed, not actually advocating what he wrote in the article. Dylan isn't a conservative.