Since Obama took office, a lot of bad luck has befallen America's enemies...

Osama Bin Laden: DEAD.
Mutassim Gaddafi: DEAD.
Muammar Gaddafi: RAPED TO DEATH.
Kim Jong-il: DEAD.
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan: DEAD.
Darioush Rezaeinejad: DEAD.
Majid Shahriari: DEAD.
Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani: DEAD.
Massoud Ali Mohammadi: DEAD.
Baitullah Mahsud: DEAD.
Anwar al-Awlaki: DEAD.
Harun Fazul: DEAD.
Ilyas Kashmiri: DEAD.
Ammar al-Wa'ili: DEAD.
Abu Ali al-Harithi: DEAD.
Ali Saleh Farhan: DEAD.
Atiyah 'Abd al-Rahman: DEAD.
Hamza al-Jawfi: DEAD.
Sheik Saeed al-Masri: DEAD.
Dulmatin: DEAD.
Abu Ayyub al-Masri: DEAD.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi: DEAD.
Muhammad Haqqani: DEAD.
Qari Zafar: DEAD.
Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan: DEAD.
John Boehner: still actively harming Americans

skilbride: Serious Black: I don't know if it's racism, and I don't think for most of them it's racism. What I do think it is for most of them is tribalism. The most tribal of the Republicans genuinely believe that the only ideas that can ever work, damn the evidence, are the ideas that members of their tribe came up with to fix the current situation. If someone from outside the tribe has any ideas, they are unequivocally bad, and they should be scorned as violently as is possible.

But how is that any different from most of the democrats you see (especially on fark.)

Both sides have reached a my way or the highway type attitude.

Like someone below commented about the EPA. The EPA is part of the reason why we're bleeding jobs overseas. The regulations that the EPA puts on manufacturing companies here is part of the reason it's impossible to compete with the countries which don't have these standards. You want to bring the manufacturing jobs back - getting rid of the EPA is one way to do it.

Not that I'm arguing the EPA doesn't have a purpose but you have to take everything into consideration - which I don't see most people doing on Fark.

Another way to do that is to eliminate child labor laws, OSHA, minimum wage, the 40 hour work week and many more. You're saying we should race to the bottom to compete? Or should we maybe refuse to trade and import from countries that don't follow the same standards as us?

We should stand as an example, not look at the worst the world has to offer and try to match it.

MeinRS6: Think of all of the things you would say if Obama had an (R) by his name and just go with that.

The recovery act was too small and too focused on tax cuts and not direct spending/jobs programs.

No one on Wall Street and the investment banks have been prosecuted for wrong doing that led to the financial crisis.

The Treasury's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) to help troubled home owners get mortgage adjustments was a horrible bureaucratic torture system and a failure that demands Geithner's resignation or firing.

Dodd-Frank should have cracked down on derivatives and brought back restrictions on affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms.

The Affordable care act should have included a public option to help put pressure on health costs. Or just replace the whole thing with a single payer system or Medicare buy-in. We need to make affordable health care independent of employment, especially obvious during an era of higher than average unemployment.

Hey, if the Republicans want to do any on this let me know.

overfienduglar: The GOP are fully will to tank the whole econmy to save the Bush-era tax cuts. That the real sticking point in the whole debt ceiling fight. If those are allowed to expire, they will cause a default, and blame the Dem's for being unwilling to comprise.



Obama offered 4 trillion in cuts, including entitlements, but Republicans rejected it because they didn't want to end Bush tax cuts for the rich and return to Clinton/Reagan-era tax rates.

Obviously protecting the rich from even the tiniest tax increase is their number one priority--NOT spending or the debt/deficit.

Protecting the rich from tax increases is the only thing they refuse to budge on. That is their only dealbreaker.

Anyone who votes Republican based on spending or the deficit is a gullible mongoloid who got played hard. If you were self-aware enough to have any shame, you'd castrate yourself for the sake of society.

jjorsett: So this week the GOP are evil geniuses who can tank the economy by their Machiavellian ways?

You say Machivellian I say douchebag.

They have actively had one focused goal since 2008; make Obama a one-term president. It has been all they can agree on and all they are, as a group, willing to focus and work together on. When he took office there was never a period where they allowed themselves to make a judgement based on his actions or policies. It was simply that they wanted him out.

And in order to do that they have managed to make themselves look anti-american, not anti-president. Right now your average hardcore right-wing Republican voter is what used to be the wingnuts of the party. They have no center; they have a constantly moving agenda to try and top one another to keep the wingnuts interested.

Weaver95: Aar1012: Is this even a question?

no, not really. the GOP has been fairly obvious about their plans - the country MUST suffer so that voters will turn against Obama. it's practically biblical.

Not only that, the country deserves to be punished for having the temerity to elect a Democrat.The larger question is, how willing are the repubs to injure themselves economically in order to stick it to Obama? The half a dozen or so billionaires who are largely bankrolling the anti-Obama effort obviously are willing to see suffering increase dramatically in this country if it achieves their aims--they are well-insulated from the economic fallout. Less enthusiastic one would think are the merely wealthy, the actual small business owners in whose name the repubs are carrying out their slash-and-burn tactics, who are not as securely rich as the SuperPAC set. If they can be convinced to work against their own interests--to lay off workers when they should be hiring, to limit production when they should be expanding--then the repubs will be successful in sabotaging the economy and winning the White House. I hope they're thinking really clearly about this; after all, Romney became spectacularly wealthy precisely by targeting these "littlest millionaires" and their companies, stripping them bare and hanging them out to dry. Romney made sure his dog was healthy and well-fed, but also did not hesitate to strap it to the roof of his car and sluice it down with a garden hose when it became inconvenient. Do you really want to be Romney's dog?

quatchi: The left's inability to counter this narrative effectively can get pretty gosh darned annoying at times.

True, but I ask you this; what media outlet can you name that was willing to run an honest story about this vote and have Democrats on to contradict the Republican line? One of the reasons the left has such a hard time countering Republican propaganda is because the US political media rarely gives them any space to do so, and even when they do more often than not it is treated as a "he said she said" situation, not a "those guys are blatant liars trying to manipulate public opinion" story.

Re: "Republicans have passed nearly 30 bills that would help small businesses create jobs and we are waiting on Senate Democrats to vote on these common-sense measures. The failure to act on these jobs

bills, as well as our crushing debt burden, is undermining economic growth and job creation."

This is what he is referencing:

http://majorityleader.gov/jobstracker/


Here are the objections to the first handful, with citations:

Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act - "Completely remove Clean Water Act protection of our waters from pesticide contamination" (Natural Resources Defense Council)

Energy Tax Prevention Act - "This bill would amend several core components of the Clean Air Act (CAA). Title III of the CAA would be amended to have the term "greenhouse gas" include: water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and any other substance subject to, or proposed to be subject to, regulation, action, or consideration under this Act to address climate change... The act goes on to state that the Administrator of the EPA may take no action involving the consideration of Greenhouse gases as pollutants or contributing factors to climate change." (Wikipedia)

Disapproval of FCC's Net Neutrality Regulations - I think that the Fark nation is well aware of this one.

Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act - "When I first read the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act I almost laughed. It reads like a temper tantrum in writing whose authors just want to get back at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for trying to do its job protecting our water... This bill is a blatant and parochial attack on the federal government's fundamental role in protecting our water and our health." (Clean Water Action)

Consumer Financial Protection & Soundness Improvement Act - "The Administration strongly opposes House passage of the Rules Committee Print of H.R. 1315 because it would amend the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in a manner that would expose American consumers and the Nation's economy to the same risks that led to the 2008 financial crisis." (The White House)

Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act - "This dangerous bill will not protect jobs. Rather, it will gut 70 year-old worker protections and put American workers and working families at risk. H.R. 2587 would open a huge hole in the National Labor Relations Act - a law that has protected American workers for more than 75 years. In contrast, H.R. 2587 is a reckless bill that will destroy workers' rights. The bill strips from law the only meaningful remedy available to workers when companies violate their rights. It would make it easier for companies to ship jobs overseas and would allow a company to close its doors and set up a new company down the street in order to bust a union. H.R. 2587 is not about creating jobs, it is about undermining workers' rights." (NEA)

Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on The Nation - "The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 2401, which would block two landmark public health regulations under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and require the preparation of costly, unnecessary, and redundant reports. While the Administration strongly supports careful analysis of the economic effects of regulation, the approach taken in H.R. 2401 would slow or undermine important public health protections." (The White House)

Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act - "'If the regulation to remove mercury from cement plants, which is already 13 years overdue, is delayed for even one year, up to 2,500 hundred people will die prematurely,' House Energy & Commerce Committee member Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Thursday. 'There will 1,700 cases of aggravated asthma, and 1,500 people will suffer heart attacks'." (The Hill)

--------------------------------------------------------------

I was going to go through them all, but that's depressing enough...

All this means is that Republicans are still demonizing governmental agencies who are supposed to protect us from greedy corporations who don't care about the environment or their workers, still doing unmentionable things to the "regulations kill jobs" chicken. That is how the GOP wants to create jobs, by poisoning the environment, stripping away worker rights, eliminating Net Nutrality and giving their banker buddles anything they want.

This is pure comedy. I went to look up these "30 job-creating bills" and found a website that boasts them proudly: GOP.gov.

I can't link on this archaic browser, but let me share with you some of what they consider "job creating."

The Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011: Allowing Congress to redefine what's meant by "high-impact," and makes regulators say "Mother May I" to the OIRA before doing their jobs.

Here's a classic. "The Regulatory Flexibility Improvement Act of 2011." More homework for regulators, I'm afraid: now, not only do they have to analyze, predict, and report on the financial impact of regulation on small businesses, but the impact of things like environmental and employment standards - all subject to judicial review, of course.

Then there's the "Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act," which forces the NLRB to redefine under what circumstances a union can be formed. There are some weird time constraints in there, with a huge to-do list.

Hm. There's the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act, the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act...You know, I'm not that skilled in pattern development, but that looks suspiciously like a pattern. The interesting thing is how many of these were so painfully obviously written by lobbyists - as lovely and vague as most of those titles are, they all refer to a particular industry - the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act, for instance, is an amendment to a pesticide law. How that creates jobs, I don't know, but I assume that since Mr. Boehner is in Congress and I'm not, he must be smarter than me.

There are a couple of bills designed to force the Secretary of the Interior to start issuing Gulf permits again, a shiat sandwich that comes with a healthy order of Keystone Pipeline. I don't know whether Congress or the oil companies have done ANYTHING WHATSOEVER to prevent another Deepwater Horizon level disaster, but I ain't holding my breath.

That's not even getting into the great big presents being offered to Wall Street. Here's a "Small Company Capital Formation Act" that exempts certain securities from SEC regulation and two bills that establish a minimum for the size of an equity security that has to file for an SEC permit.

http://www.gop.gov/indepth/jobs/tracker

It's incredibly disingenuous to call any of this stuff a "jobs bill" and then put it online for everyone to see, like no one was going to look. To be fair, they might get a few thousand jobs out of increased Gulf drilling, the Keystone pipeline, or that copper mine in Arizona that some donor wants to dig, but giving a few regulatory handouts to individual companies or industries isn't going to cause the shift in economic power that will increase the overall number of jobs.

What really worries me is that I think Republicans believe that it will. This whole idea of "We can create all the jobs you want - they'll be crap jobs, but hey, jobs" has been their philosophy for a long time. The idea that jobs created have to be sustainable and provide overall support for a consumer-capitalist economy, and not just be something to keep the plebs busy for eight minimum-wage hours per day, doesn't seem to occur to them. They really don't think much of us.

MeinRS6: Right. I can't think of a single thing Obama has done wrong.

It's just that I can't name any of them or link to any news stories from credible sources.

It's not that I just don't give a shiat about having this discussion again with a bunch of Farklibs. No, really. It's that I can't think of a single bloody thing that he should have done differently. The guy is a farking genius and that's why the economy is coming up farking roses.

And yet...

MeinRS6 2012-05-20 02:16:37 AM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 01:18:28 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 01:32:06 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 01:49:02 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 02:25:26 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 02:36:17 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 02:52:23 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 02:55:46 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 03:01:02 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 03:02:21 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 03:06:32 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 03:30:19 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 04:02:45 PM
MeinRS6 2012-05-20 04:15:19 PM

ad nauseum...

Vanakatherock: the entire Senate has rejected Democrat President Obama's budget bills 99-0

Lawls. You mean there are still some people taking that stunt vote shiat seriously?

Wotta buncha maroons.

Yeah, here's the deal on that.

The so-called "Obama budget" that was rejected unanimously by both parties in both the Senate and the House was a stunt.

A Republican stunt. A freaking repeat at that.

The bill in question, the so-called "Obama budget" was actually submitted by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)

This vote, on a Potemkin "Obama Budget," is not intended to be taken seriously. It's a stunt designed to get a slag into the newscycle, and they tend to work. What happens is a Republican legislator presents a "budget proposal" that's designed to be a satirical presentation of an "Obama budget." Democrats don't vote for it, because they recognize that it bears no resemblance to their budgetary preferences. Back in March, it was Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) who got the Harlequin role in this bit of legislative commedia dell'arte.

Or as Nancy Pelosi put it... "It was a caricature of the president's budget, so we voted against it."

But still RW and conservative corporate media outlets crank out the "Obama's budget FAILs! LOLOLOL!" sound byte and millions of LCDers buy in totally.

The left's inability to counter this narrative effectively can get pretty gosh darned annoying at times.

jjorsett: So this week the GOP are evil geniuses who can tank the economy by their Machiavellian ways? Next week we'll be back to them being God-flogging retards who think Jesus is talking to them through their toasters. Pick an attack and stick with it. And you might want to rethink a reelection strategy consisting of looking like a bunch of whiny losers making up excuses why things continue to go wrong on their watch.

You sound concerned. Very concerned. Almost trollishly concerned.

MeinRS6:
I disagree with liberalism.


Shame for you to live in a country founded on liberalist philosophy.

MeinRS6: I saw that one coming. Libs love to play the race card so much that they cannot help themselves.

So even the most simple "I wish Obama didn't increase the debt more than all other presidents combined" quickly brings the "You're racist!" response, because they've got nothing.

Then on Fark, after they call you racist and a few other names, they start saying that you are someone else. It goes like clockwork, but they think they are being highly original in the process.

I don't like Obama because he ran on on a platform of change but for the large part he's been mostly the same.

Yes - there are good things he's done like repealing DADT, but how about the fact that he said he wouldn't go after medical marijuana and then... went after medical marijuana.

Actually, the truth is, every single issue that I personally agreed with him on has become a broken promise:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/pro m ise-broken/

Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
End no-bid contracts above $25,000 (THIS IS HUGE because I see how government contracts are run since it's what I do professionally, ack)
Forbid companies in bankruptcy from giving executives bonuses
Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs
Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices
Allow imported prescription drugs

and the list goes on and on and on and on

but you know. racism.

tenpoundsofcheese: steamingpile:
As for the tax rates, how about just close the loopholes the old time rich use to evade some taxes? .

which tax loopholes?
please be specific.


Why would you ask for this kind of evidence? Are you really unaware that tax loopholes and subsidies for big industry take huge chunks of revenue?

Boehner responded in a statement: "Republicans have passed nearly 30 bills that would help small businesses create jobs and we are waiting on Senate Democrats to vote on these common-sense measures.

Ya and what kinda crap did you attach to those Bills you slimy POS?

The guy who will be running to replace Dick Lugar said this on MSNBC:

"I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view," Mourdock declared. "If we [win the House, Senate, and White House], bipartisanship means they have to come our way, and if we're successful in getting the numbers, we'll work towards that."

Spin that how you want, but it paints a pretty stark picture. The Republicans have been obstructionist, they have been employing the starve the beast strategy, they are projecting their faults onto Democrats, and they are using religion to snooker the rubes....again.

The fact Boehner is threatening to turn the debt ceiling limit into a wrestling match again shows you what they're about.

Vanakatherock: the entire Senate has rejected Democrat President Obama's budget bills 99-0

Fark Me Runnin: It's a good thing that the GOP holds 100% of both the house and the senate, otherwise 0bama's budget could have potentially received more than zero votes in favor.

Remind us all, who specifically wrote and proposed the bill you are calling the "Obama budget"?

Once you've done that you both can apologize to everyone for being such dishonest sacks of shiat.

Vanakatherock: Mrtraveler01: Vanakatherock: Mrtraveler01: Vanakatherock: Mrtraveler01: Vanakatherock: Mrtraveler01: Vanakatherock: The Democrat Senate has not passed a budget bill in over 1000 days.

I see you fell asleep during HS Civics class.

So, wait. Now I have to take a HS Civics class to understand that Democrats haven't passed a budget in over 1000 days, or so you may understand it better, 3 years? Thanks, I'll sign up!

You forgot where budget bills start didn't you?

And where did I say they started a budget? I said they haven't PASSED a budget. Yes, I know the House creates budget bills and sends them to the Senate. Who is to blame for the Senate not passing them, when the Democrats lead the Senate? Is it the Republicans? Of course it is, you know, because minority rules!

So in other words, you're just upset that the Democrats in the Senate didn't rubber stamp the GOP's budget plan regardless of how stupid it was.

Boo farking hoo!

So, since the Senate hasn't passed a budget dating back to when the Democrats held control of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives at the same time, who gets the blame then? Republicans? Of course they do, because taking responsibility for your own parties complete failure to do what they're paid to do isn't the cool thing to do.

So you're saying the Democrats in the Senate should just rubber stamp every GOP budget bill?

No, I'm saying Democrats haven't even passed a budget created by Democrats. Is it really that hard to understand? And even if Senate Democrats PASSED a budget created by Republicans, it would then be vetoed by Obama, yet the Republicans would be the blame.

Can you get more disingenuous? When Republicans filibuster the budget bill you can't blame that on Democrats.

Uncle Tractor: [i560.photobucket.com image 640x256]

(Think I'm exaggerating? Feel free to name a greater threat.)

The best selling book in the US is softcore bondage porn for women.

*wonkajpg*

Tell us again about your reality where everyone wants a return to straight laced values.

Serious Black: The most tribal of the Republicans genuinely believe that the only ideas that can ever work, damn the evidence, are the ideas that members of their tribe came up with to fix the current situation.

I don't think it's even tribalism. More reductionism, as these folks love their simple answers. "Cut taxes, cut regulations, is American Idol on tonight?" Done.

I find it hard to reason with, or respect the intelligence of, people that can buy into the flimsiest and previously debunked theories (birthers) against this presidency but can write off established shadiness of the last president. No wmds, Halliburton no bid contracts, wars never declared, the establishment of the most freedom restrictive laws and organizations in US history and on and on. That stuff doesn't exist to them. But the President's already proven birth records do.

republican are becoming close to traitors.

Electing Republicans to "fix" the economy is like an alcoholic "curing" a hangover with beers for breakfast.

(Think I'm exaggerating? Feel free to name a greater threat.)

cheap_thoughts: FirstNationalBastard: As long as their team wins, they don't care if the world burns.

Pretty much this.

Considering a sizable number of them want the Israelis to destroy the Dome of the Rock and rebuild the Temple of Solomon to hasten the coming of armageddon, I might say that not only do they care, they're actively trying to bring it about.

What a stupid question. Of course not. Why, remember how easy it was to get the GOP to vote on the payroll tax cut extension?

While Mitch McConnell did say, "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president," he also admitted in the same interview, that if Obama were to do "a Clintonian back flip, if he's willing to meet us halfway on some of the biggest issues, it's not inappropriate for us to do business with him." That's all. Just half way.

Half way and then a little bit more.

Half way and a bit more than that.

Well, three quarters of the way would be better.

Maybe a bit more than three quarters.

Maybe Obama could come just a little bit closer?

Obama should know by know that he takes his orders from the Republicans. His obstructionism and that of the party is preventing the Republicans from fixing the economy.

MeinRS6: Right. I can't think of a single thing Obama has done wrong.

It's not that I just don't give a shiat about having this discussion again with a bunch of Farklibs. No, really. It's that I can't think of a single bloody thing that he should have done differently. The guy is a farking genius and that's why the economy is coming up farking roses.


You posted a snarky-ass reply (as usual). Someone ask you a direct question to list even ONE specific thing that you think Obama is doing to ruin the economy.

So instead of having a reasonable discussion, you make yourself look even more an idiot by not answering the question and being sarcastic.

You sometimes have your bright spots, showing bits of actual intellectual discussion. Right now? You're just being an ass.

eraser8: MeinRS6: Like Obama and the Dems need any help to destroy the economy.

And, how, exactly, have Obama and the Dems destroyed the economy?

Be specific.

Think of all of the things you would say if Obama had an (R) by his name and just go with that.