You guys really shouldn't be humoring s2s2s2's trolling.

s2s2s2: Mrtraveler01: All my chick-fil-a nuggets are gone.

worst part??????????????????????????????????

forever

How did you get chick-fil-a on a Sunday? Leftovers?

Yep. They're just as good microwaved. Especially when you dip them in Chick-Fil-A sauce.

/Chick-Fil-A FTW

s2s2s2: starsrift: s2s2s2: Like I said, government(and alcoholism).

That comment gave me whiplash.

Hold on a sec, let me get this straight: The Free Market would've solved the issues that CapnBlues pointed out if only the government hadn't made regulations that they didn't successfully enforce and so the Free Market got away with ignoring?

I am not nearly drunk enough for this logic.

Perhaps your hallucinating that I said anything about free markets is your problem. Alcoholism strikes again.

I'm sober as a priest on Sunday and I can't figure out what the hell you're saying. You're saying that Exxon Valdez was caused by the government interfering with corporations?

starsrift: s2s2s2: Perhaps your hallucinating that I said anything about free markets is your problem. Alcoholism strikes again.

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that there was a middle ground between a free market(defined as not being bound by government regulation) and a market adjudicated by government regulations. I thought it was either one or the other. Please, elucidate upon this third kind of market.

Ponies.

s2s2s2: Exxon Valdez: drunk captain.
BP Gulf Spill: government regulators failing to do their jobs.
Problems with fracture drilling: government allowing it to happen when they know it's bad.
Medicare fraud: failure to manage their system
The CDO / subprime crisis: government promising banks a covered ass to encourage bad lending practices.


Like I said, government(and alcoholism).

So in your government-free paradise, there would be more crashes of oil tankers, more offshore oil spills, widespread fracture drilling, no healthcare for the elderly, and a new financial bubble every few years.

Sounds great, where do I sign up?

starsrift: s2s2s2: Perhaps your hallucinating that I said anything about free markets is your problem. Alcoholism strikes again.

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that there was a middle ground between a free market(defined as not being bound by government regulation) and a market adjudicated by government regulations. I thought it was either one or the other. Please, elucidate upon this third kind of market.

I want the government to succeed in their regulation. Stating that they fail at it is not an endorsement of free markets.

cameroncrazy1984: s2s2s2: starsrift: s2s2s2: Like I said, government(and alcoholism).

That comment gave me whiplash.

Hold on a sec, let me get this straight: The Free Market would've solved the issues that CapnBlues pointed out if only the government hadn't made regulations that they didn't successfully enforce and so the Free Market got away with ignoring?

I am not nearly drunk enough for this logic.

Perhaps your hallucinating that I said anything about free markets is your problem. Alcoholism strikes again.

I'm sober as a priest on Sunday and I can't figure out what the hell you're saying. You're saying that Exxon Valdez was caused by the government interfering with corporations?

you're being trolled, my friend. i like s2s2s2 sometimes, but in politics threads, s/he can be really infuriating. I had forgotten to avoid engaging him/her.

s2s2s2 -- you're alright. let's just you and me let this go. I'm sorry for getting in your grill on this, and we both know we're not changing each others' minds. I'll even admit you're right -- government is the reason that BP spilled oil all over the gulf. ;)

Waxing_Chewbacca: Why was it bad example?

How is Medicare doing?

s2s2s2: I want the government to succeed in their regulation. Stating that they fail at it is not an endorsement of free markets.

Ah, okay. Cool.

cameroncrazy1984: s2s2s2: starsrift: s2s2s2: Like I said, government(and alcoholism).

That comment gave me whiplash.

Hold on a sec, let me get this straight: The Free Market would've solved the issues that CapnBlues pointed out if only the government hadn't made regulations that they didn't successfully enforce and so the Free Market got away with ignoring?

I am not nearly drunk enough for this logic.

Perhaps your hallucinating that I said anything about free markets is your problem. Alcoholism strikes again.

I'm sober as a priest on Sunday and I can't figure out what the hell you're saying. You're saying that Exxon Valdez was caused by the government interfering with corporations?

That's a reading problem then. I attributed that to drunk captain.

CapnBlues: s2s2s2: Exxon Valdez: drunk captain.
BP Gulf Spill: government regulators failing to do their jobs.
Problems with fracture drilling: government allowing it to happen when they know it's bad.
Medicare fraud: failure to manage their system
The CDO / subprime crisis: government promising banks a covered ass to encourage bad lending practices.


Like I said, government(and alcoholism).

So in your government-free paradise, there would be more crashes of oil tankers, more offshore oil spills, widespread fracture drilling, no healthcare for the elderly, and a new financial bubble every few years.

Sounds great, where do I sign up?

I smell straw, and misrepresentation.

Mugato: Could you imagine if the situation was reversed and in some crazy alternate universe, Obama was the born with a silver spoon in his mouth child turned corporate raider and destroyer of jobs who became a billionaire and Romney was the middle class kid who actually went to school for something useful and became a modest millionaire? How many times would the word "elitist" be used to describe Obama?

Romney just seems like such a strange choice for a party who spent the last 4 years trying to paint Obama as an out of touch elitist who eats arugula and fancy mustard, and takes $200m/day vacations to exotic locales.

It seems like they're giving up on everything they have ever attempted to criticize the president for. They somehow managed to find an actual elitist who is more "other" than Obama.

CapnBlues: cameroncrazy1984: s2s2s2: starsrift: s2s2s2: Like I said, government(and alcoholism).

That comment gave me whiplash.

Hold on a sec, let me get this straight: The Free Market would've solved the issues that CapnBlues pointed out if only the government hadn't made regulations that they didn't successfully enforce and so the Free Market got away with ignoring?

I am not nearly drunk enough for this logic.

Perhaps your hallucinating that I said anything about free markets is your problem. Alcoholism strikes again.

I'm sober as a priest on Sunday and I can't figure out what the hell you're saying. You're saying that Exxon Valdez was caused by the government interfering with corporations?

you're being trolled, my friend. i like s2s2s2 sometimes, but in politics threads, s/he can be really infuriating. I had forgotten to avoid engaging him/her.

s2s2s2 -- you're alright. let's just you and me let this go. I'm sorry for getting in your grill on this, and we both know we're not changing each others' minds. I'll even admit you're right -- government is the reason that BP spilled oil all over the gulf. ;)

I still blame the hookers and cocaine provided to the regulators by BP.

Who doesn't love hookers and cocaine?

starsrift: s2s2s2: I want the government to succeed in their regulation. Stating that they fail at it is not an endorsement of free markets.

Ah, okay. Cool.

You are far too reasonable, and reading proficient. Thank you.

udhq: Mugato: Could you imagine if the situation was reversed and in some crazy alternate universe, Obama was the born with a silver spoon in his mouth child turned corporate raider and destroyer of jobs who became a billionaire and Romney was the middle class kid who actually went to school for something useful and became a modest millionaire? How many times would the word "elitist" be used to describe Obama?

Romney just seems like such a strange choice for a party who spent the last 4 years trying to paint Obama as an out of touch elitist who eats arugula and fancy mustard, and takes $200m/day vacations to exotic locales.

It seems like they're giving up on everything they have ever attempted to criticize the president for. They somehow managed to find an actual elitist who is more "other" than Obama.

You forget that 50% of Romney wouldn't be 3/5ths of a person when the Constitution was framed.

udhq: Mugato: Could you imagine if the situation was reversed and in some crazy alternate universe, Obama was the born with a silver spoon in his mouth child turned corporate raider and destroyer of jobs who became a billionaire and Romney was the middle class kid who actually went to school for something useful and became a modest millionaire? How many times would the word "elitist" be used to describe Obama?

Romney just seems like such a strange choice for a party who spent the last 4 years trying to paint Obama as an out of touch elitist who eats arugula and fancy mustard, and takes $200m/day vacations to exotic locales.

It seems like they're giving up on everything they have ever attempted to criticize the president for. They somehow managed to find an actual elitist who is more "other" than Obama.

But he'll wear jeans once in awhile and be described as a self-made man, compared to elitist out of touch FauntlerObama. And it's working (new window):

It's still awfully resonant. After Romney spoke here, I met Bill Wilton, 64, an exterminator and Vietnam veteran who was squarely for Romney. One reason: "He came up from nothing. His father immigrated here from Mexico."

udhq: It seems like they're giving up on everything they have ever attempted to criticize the president for. They somehow managed to find an actual elitist who is more "other" than Obama.

Accusing others of doing what they do (and far greater) is their modus operandi and has been for years. They aren't giving up on it.

UNC_Samurai: Please don't respond to that little wankstain troll. He posts the exact same crap, almost verbatim, in every thread he enters.

Doesn't that violate the posting rules?

Spamming?

winterwhile: Obama Made Everything Worse.


just about summs up his job performance in 4 words

please

dems... run on his job performance...... please

winterwhile, I am now begging you to please, for the love of all that is holy, please answer my question as to whether English is your second language or not. I really need to know.

I cannot comprehend anyone with basic cognitive reasoning skills writing the things you do, with the sole exception of there being some sort of massive language barrier with little understanding of the English language, OR mental retardation of some sort. And I really don't wish to insult you by calling you mentally handicapped. It HAS to be that you just don't understand what you're writing.

udhq: What I don't understand is the narrative of Romney being successful.

Being born rich and staying rich off your family connections shouldn't be upheld as something for ordinary Americans to aspire to, and I don't see how that talking point will hold up in a general election where his opponent is an actual self-made millionaire who was born into a middle class broken home, worked hard and got himself educated, and wrote a couple of best-selling books.

You forget, the Republicans have successfully argued that:
--An army photographer turned B-list actor whose most famous role was wrangling monkeys > a US Navy submarine commander
--Incomplete stint in a CONUS-based flyboy unit > Vietnam fastboat officer

This time neither of the two were military officers, but they're betting they can pull the same stunt with money.

CapnBlues: BladBoy: What is it about healthcare that makes Republicans so mad? Don't they ever get sick?

I think it's mostly not wanting to contribute to the greater good of anyone they deem as somehow unworthy of inclusion in Their America.

This.

That's why when people start talking about how well universal healthcare works in other countries, the first thing they start saying in response is "but ________ has a homogeneous population. What works there won't work here."

Translation: "darkies will abuse it! I don't mind cooperatin' with decent white Christian folks, but I ain't about to let ni**ers and spics take advantage of me!!!"

The other sizable chunk is the dipshiats who've bought into the "evil gubmint cain't never ever do nothin' right!!!!" propaganda.

Kumana Wanalaia: UNC_Samurai: Please don't respond to that little wankstain troll. He posts the exact same crap, almost verbatim, in every thread he enters.

Doesn't that violate the posting rules?

Spamming?

Unless it's a Modmin protected troll. Then you violate posting rules for pointing it out.

Mrtraveler01: All my chick-fil-a nuggets are gone.

worst part??????????????????????????????????

forever

Can this please become a meme.

Because i would like that??????????????????

forever

CapnBlues: worse than the private sector has? I find that hard to believe.

Really - exactly how has the private sector fark'd it up?

Mugato: udhq: What I don't understand is the narrative of Romney being successful.

Being born rich and staying rich off your family connections shouldn't be upheld as something for ordinary Americans to aspire to, and I don't see how that talking point will hold up in a general election where his opponent is an actual self-made millionaire who was born into a middle class broken home, worked hard and got himself educated, and wrote a couple of best-selling books.


Could you imagine if the situation was reversed and in some crazy alternate universe, Obama was the born with a silver spoon in his mouth child turned corporate raider and destroyer of jobs who became a billionaire and Romney was the middle class kid who actually went to school for something useful and became a modest millionaire? How many times would the word "elitist" be used to describe Obama?

elitist is a word that was thrown his way during the last election cycle, by both Hillary and McCain

Link (new window)

If you want a picture of the future

imagine winterwhile derping about dem-o-rats preventing him from masturbatingcreating jorbs

forever

bravian: CapnBlues: worse than the private sector has? I find that hard to believe.

Really - exactly how has the private sector fark'd it up?

Specifically healthcare? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that medicare spends 97 cents per dollar on care, where as Obamacare mandates private insurers must now spend at least 80cents per dollar. Prior to this, the national average was in the 60s.

And then there's the 45,000 people who die preventable deaths every year in this country due to lack of access.

udhq: bravian: CapnBlues: worse than the private sector has? I find that hard to believe.

Really - exactly how has the private sector fark'd it up?

Specifically healthcare? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that medicare spends 97 cents per dollar on care, where as Obamacare mandates private insurers must now spend at least 80cents per dollar. Prior to this, the national average was in the 60s.

And then there's the 45,000 people who die preventable deaths every year in this country due to lack of access.

I recommend everybody do some reading on how democracy initially came about in ancient Greece.

There were what were essentially private companies who would respond to house fires and demand huge sums of money to extinguish them. After a while, they figured out that they could make a lot more money if they paid someone to go around setting fires for them to put out.

Eventually, the world's first democratic government grew up around the idea of putting these companies under the control of the public, since the profit motive essentially incentivized them to kill people and destroy property.

It's the same with modern private healthcare: if your job is to make money, you have an incentive to let people die, rather than paying for expensive treatments. That conflict of interests should not exist.

JohnnyC: I'm pretty sure that the only thing Republicans love is hate.

Some of the male congress members love male members. But they hate themselves for it later.

Farker Soze: If you want a picture of the future

imagine winterwhile derping about dem-o-rats preventing him from masturbatingcreating jorbs

forever

I hate you

Somacandra: Mrtraveler01: I hate you

And this is the best part.......forever

I lol'd.

As Ctrl-Alt-Del points out, winterwhile is not just a troll but a spamming troll. (new window)

You know, it strikes me as disingenuous to compare the demands of the poor and working classes for social and economic democracy (and today increasingly the middle classes, following a several-decades decline in socioeconomic power) to the demands of the wealthy for increases to an increasingly unjust social and economic order.

To pretend like these are the same is absurd on its face. But there are subtler variations on the theme -- in Obama's address, was there not a kind of Faustian compromise despite the new tone and rhetoric? We will find a way through, not despite but working with the corporate-owned media, the do-nothing-while-Rome-burns millionaire's club in Congress, Streets Wall and K, etc., to find solutions within acceptable parameters for the stakeholders involved. There are real changes should he be elected to serve a second term, to be sure, but it's clearly a change aligned with a neoliberal-cynical worldview that is beginning to show some wear and tear. I of course agree with almost all of the policy proposals but the truth is that those are ultimately low-hanging fruit -- some basic and fundamental changes to the social and economic order are required.

Of course, the reactionary right makes it so difficult to get even moderate social and economic change to happen that I certainly see the value of compromise. I am just concerned it won't be enough, and that we are entering a phase of deepening crisis and need to start thinking about larger solutions and alternatives before it's too late.

/there must be some kinda way outta here

BladBoy: What is it about healthcare that makes Republicans so mad? Don't they ever get sick?

I find it confounding that the Democrats can't explain clearly and sensibly that universal health care is good for society and good for all, and the current for-profit health care system makes cost go up and care go down.
The GOP themselves never clearly explain their opposition, they just spew "Obamacare" and "socialized" and "massive increased spending"....but none of that explains why they think health care for all is a bad thing.

johnnyrocket: I find it confounding

Take a few courses in marketing and demographics. It will all make sense to you.

UNC_Samurai: Please don't respond to that little wankstain troll. He posts the exact same crap, almost verbatim, in every thread he enters.

Or better yet, just put him on Ignore.

/Did that a long time ago.

johnnyrocket: BladBoy: What is it about healthcare that makes Republicans so mad? Don't they ever get sick?

I find it confounding that the Democrats can't explain clearly and sensibly that universal health care is good for society and good for all, and the current for-profit health care system makes cost go up and care go down.
The GOP themselves never clearly explain their opposition, they just spew "Obamacare" and "socialized" and "massive increased spending"....but none of that explains why they think health care for all is a bad thing.

Because the arguments about universal health care are actually two separate ones. There is the issue of cost and affordability, and then there is the issue of universal coverage. Democrats, generally win people over with the second issue. With the exception of the hurr durr "Let them die" crowd, most people accept the notion that all people are entitled to at least some level of health insurance. And that has been the biggest success with the MA plan. Coverage is something like 98% of the population which is within the statistical error so basically, 100% coverage has been achieved.

The second issue is one of cost and affordability. Here's where the MA plan hasn't really achieved a goal of reducing cost, because the premise it would was flawed from the start. Cost inflation is the result of many factors, most of which the MA plan doesn't deal with. Unfortunately, that part gets lost in the idealogical haze as Republicans have set out to paint all the ills of health care at the foot of a this plan. Their strategy is never to offer any real workable alternatives. It's to poison the waters of debate so much that the average voter doesn't know what to believe, but fears any kind of change.

Farkin'round: UNC_Samurai: Please don't respond to that little wankstain troll. He posts the exact same crap, almost verbatim, in every thread he enters.

Or better yet, just put him on Ignore.

/Did that a long time ago.

I did, but a lot of people did not, and then quote him.

If I've got to put up with seeing his nonsense, I want other people to realize just how much of a waste of space he is.

winterwhile is probably the best representation of the Republican party Fark could possibly have.

Hetfield: Somacandra: Mrtraveler01: I hate you

And this is the best part.......forever

I lol'd.

As did I.