Keeping it civil instead of returning to our dark ways

[SlaveNoMore]

Sidd Finch
Well, if I look at Ann Coulter, I can agree that Osama should have targetted Republicans.


That means I don't agree with him, right?

You win.

:flag:

I fucking give up.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
You win.

:flag:

I fucking give up.

don't give up. you are the conscious of the Politics Board.



[nope. hasn't gotten old for me yet. carry on.]

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
As one of your people here keeps saying, there are a lot of "moral" people in the R party. Heck, there are a lot of "moral" peope in the D party...
You get a lot of tolerant people in the middle who have had enough of the poverty cycles and associated costs. They aren't all democrats or republicans.

C'mon. You may have voted for the right team in this election, but you are living in fantasyland if you think that anyone is going to vote for the dems because of the eminent fairness or increased efficiency of their public housing policy.

I mean, urban republicans these days are republican for a reason, and it's not because the GOP is the most fair when it comes to housing subsidies. If taxes go up one cent out come the "he's a tax and spend Dukakis Liberal!" placards.

Did either candidate spend a millisecond talking about the poor in this election? I sure didn't hear it, except in connection with health care, and we all saw how easily that plan was dismissed by GWB. Higher taxes....single payer....socialism.....all bad. Bad, bad bad.

I don't mean to denigrate your views or the views of all GOP voters when I say this, but I sincerely doubt that an appeal to people's better instincts wins in our current political climate of fear. You say a failure to act will doom us to an increasingly smaller share of the electoral pie, but to me your proposal puts us further on that path than not doing anything. The art of the possible, my friend.

You are one of maybe 5 people here on *your* side who I'd like to honestly see answer this question (its not a trap): What are the most important problems left to be solved in this country?

"Left" to be solved? Have we solved any?

But you flatter me, so I will attempt a real answer. The biggies to me are (not in any particular order) poverty, the deficit, schools, oil dependence and homeland security.

Whether it's from necessity or just me getting older and more conservative, I don't know, but I'm really not all that leftist on most of these issues. And frankly, neither are the leftists you decry. I mean, even wacko SF has been pursuing a housing policy of requiring affordable units in all market rate developments that sounds vaguely like your own Sec 8 proposal on a smaller scale.

The most depressing thing to come out of this past election for me is the realization that an enlightened policy regarding inner city poverty is unlikely to be a winning stategy as the country continues to grow into a suburban/rural majority. I feel that we're dismantling the social safety net at a time that we need to be making a better one (not nec bigger or more costly, but better). But as has been amply illustrated in the last three weeks, I am quite out of step with my countrymen and women.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
don't give up. you are the conscious of the Politics Board.



[nope. hasn't gotten old for me yet. carry on.]

If Slave is the conscious, I'm not sure I want to know who the sub-conscious is.

[Fugee]

For those of us trying to keep score at home, does Slave honestly not think Coulter is a foaming at the mouth lunatic (like any number of left wingers he can name) or is he just trying to yank Sidd's chain by refusing to admit it?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop

"Ty is an idiot who can't follow logic."

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
"Ty is an idiot who can't follow logic."

Harsh words from a man who can't get his zipper up before being photographed with world leaders.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Fugee
For those of us trying to keep score at home, does Slave honestly not think Coulter is a foaming at the mouth lunatic (like any number of left wingers he can name) or is he just trying to yank Sidd's chain by refusing to admit it?

The latter. Sidd knows it, too.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
The biggies to me are (not in any particular order) poverty, the deficit, schools, oil dependence and homeland security.

A lot of people who are pretty knowledgeable on the subject have argued to me recently that the deficit doesn't matter. I usually argue back, "But what if they stop loaning to us on favorable terms?" The reply is "Who else will they loan to? We own the fucking bank. We ARE the lending market." I usually slink away without a response at that point, bitching under my breath about why I should not have cheated through Global Economics 101.

Are those people mad? I'm not interested enough in the subject to google it. Give me an easy answer and don't bore me.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
I disagree.

As one of your people here keeps saying, there are a lot of "moral" people in the R party. Heck, there are a lot of "moral" peope in the D party. This appeals to their "morals" as a notion of fairness.

Then there are a lot of "practical" people in both parties who like the idea of governmental efficiency and effectiveness. This appeals to them because it promises progress on a number of fronts domestically.

So you lose the libertarians who aren't voting for the Republican or libertarian party. So what. You get Urban republicans who look at this and think, about time the G quit picking on my city.

You get a lot of tolerant people in the middle who have had enough of the poverty cycles and associated costs. They aren't all democrats or republicans.

But hey, if you don't like mine, get another.

You are one of maybe 5 people here on *your* side who I'd like to honestly see answer this question (its not a trap): What are the most important problems left to be solved in this country?

I have a yard.

[ilikenewsocks]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop

"I used to watch that show all the time! You too? My favorite part was always ... check this out ... 'Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance!' ... Hey, is one of these guys Schroeder?"

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Are those people mad? I'm not interested enough in the subject to google it. Give me an easy answer and don't bore me.

There is no easy answer. You're not crazy. There are plenty of reasons to potentially be concerned about the U.S. deficit, national debt, trade deficit, and falling currency (a side-effect of the deficit/debt).

At some point (not saying its any time soon for the U.S.), people do stop "lending money" to a government (i.e. buying its bonds). It may be better to sit on your money than to lose it if you really think there is a possibility of default. Also, the U.S. won't be the biggest source of such investments forever. The times are a-changing, and China and India loom on the long-term horizon.

S_A_M

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
I don't think that's the case in Ohio. Bednarik is also challenging Ohio. Nader is apparently challenging New Hampshire.

In Houston, we have a huge question mark about whether an election will be challenged. Rookie Dem Hubert Vo beat out longtime vet Talmadge Heflin for a Texas leg House seat by 36 votes. The problem for the Rs is that Heflin is the only one that knows anything about budgeting. They wouldn't care as much if it had been some oSo there are two options.

1.) Recount. It's been really funny for Dems in Houston to hear all the Rs yelling "Let all the votes be counted" over and over again in the first week. That rallying cry sort of died down when it was pretty clear that a recount wasn't going to salvage their guy.

2.) Bring the election in front of the (Republican) House and ask for the results to be set aside and a new election to be held. Which makes the Rs look like sore losers who change the rules when it looks like things aren't going their way.

As far as I've been able to tell, there are no allegations of voter fraud on either side, and there were probably 12 people on each side watching the first count. (The R. chair of elections in Harris county was quite in a tizzy about the whole thing.) But the Rs really, really don't want to loose Heflin and the House Speaker Craddick has said flat out that Heflin will be in the House.

This whole thing hasn't really endeared the Rs to the Asian population here in Houston, who aren't really committed to either party. Vo immigrated to the US from Vietnam 30 years ago.

An update.

Two days ago, Heflin called for a recount. No one was surprised, and the Dems said, "sure, go ahead. You're entitled." Everyone was actually sort of glad for this, because it gave an opportunity for voters to see that the new eSlate machines actually do have a paper trail that can be followed up on. Every vote can be printed out with these machines.

In the meantime, life went on in Austin. Someone moved into Heflin's old digs in the legislature. Apparently he had a nice office that someoen wanted to snag. And Speaker Craddick went ahead and appointed someone else to head the appropriations committee. It was clear that the Rs. in Austin were giving up the fight and accepting that the Ds gained seats for the firs time in 32 years.

This morning, Heflin's lawyer Andy Taylor (who represents the Rs in the redistricting suits), announced that Heflin was bringing the election to the legislature and asking that the results be put aside and call for a new elction. I imagine that Heflin thinks he has support on this in the legislature or else he wouldn't do it. The recount hasn't even started yet, so I'm guessing that they're not really confident that they're going to find 32 votes that were missed.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by Fugee
For those of us trying to keep score at home, does Slave honestly not think Coulter is a foaming at the mouth lunatic (like any number of left wingers he can name) or is he just trying to yank Sidd's chain by refusing to admit it?

He doesn't want to give one of his up without me giving one of mine up.*

It's sort of like talking with a Muslim about Israel and Palestine. You say "can we start by agreeing that blowing up school buses is bad?"** And the response is "Yeah, but look how many people Israel kills!" And so forth.



*This ignores that I give "mine" up all the time. Hell, I even attack Ty once in awhile.

**This is not designed to reinstate the bussing discussion.