carlfense

What are you talking about, carlfense? The economy is a shambles, jobs are in the toilet, and the economy has ground to a halt.

 

Thanks, Obama!

He should have invaded a couple more countries with no exit plan.

 

Iran for sure . . . and maybe North Korea?

Well he's only got 2 years left to totally screw everything up and then the Dems can blame it all on the GOP.

T_O_B

He's done pretty damn well for the first six years . . . I'd imagine that every GOP contender would love to switch situations with Hillary.

Yiiippppeeeee!!!!!

 

http://www.vox.com/2015/1/9/7515217/fha-premiums

Yikes. Between that and what is sure to be an endless push by the GOP congress to weaken/kill Dodd-Frank . . . and it's almost like no one learned anything.

Im actually starting to gain more respect for Brown.

CA does seem to be in a much better place . . . but the reality is that they were hit unusually hard by the recession and this bounce back in large part just reflects the broader economic recovery.

 

This is why it's such a contrast with the situation in Kansas. Kansas was not hit nearly as hard by the recession . . . but they've chosen to give benefits to their wealthiest residents at the expense of everyone else. In other words, a large part of the problem in California was underlying economic factors while the problems in Kansas were conscious choices by the Republican party.

Sure there are bad cops. There are bad corks in a bottle of wine. But I've never run across either, in my personal experience.

That's a pretty decent analogy. FWIW, I've run across two bad cops and last I heard both are working in a different field.

 

 

Even 38% of hardcore liberals think torture is justified sometimesin the poll.

This isn't a subjective issue.Good on the 62% of "hardcore liberals" with strong moral values.

 

Letting innocent people die by sticking to their strong moral values.

 

Oh. You think torture works. Gotcha.

Oskar Blues will be available in Nebraska tomorrow.

Even 38% of hardcore liberals think torture is justified sometimesin the poll.

This isn't a subjective issue.

 

Good on the 62% of "hardcore liberals" with strong moral values.

However apparently the goal is to artificially turn it into a crisis, for whatever reason.

Because what the GOP really wants to do with Social Security is so unpopular (even among their own voters) that the only way they can accomplish their goals is to make it look like they are required.

Democratically controlled Illinois would trade places with GOP Kansas in a nanosecond. Being broke is far superior to being in debt with no way out.

If we're cherry picking we could talk about Democratically controlled California's giant budget surplus compared to GOP Kansas' spiraling deficit.

Sort of like taxing our way to prosperity / "economic stimulus"?

Is it tough to maintain your beliefs given recent tax increases and economic results?

 

...except tax cuts don't add debt.

I suspect that this statement is quite a useful clue as to the answer to my previous question.

 

This is the kind of crap that I hate. Just keep it honest guys, regardless of party, and let your policies stand on their own 2 feet and justify them honestly.

Well, pardon me for actually defending something that I wish wasn't political.

It is an extremely complicated issue.

 

The way I understand it from the short little bit I have read today on this there are two ways of doing it:

 

A) The current way - which takes proposed legislation and projects what will happen going forward basically in a vacuum. This doesn't take into account affects the legislation has on the greater economy and how that affects tax income...etc.

 

B) Dynamic Scoring - This tries to take into account how legislation affects the bigger picture and in turn, how it affects the budget and tax income.

 

Well.....to me, (A) is much more clean cut and relatively easier to do. There are fewer variables. But, as we all know, legislation DOES affect the greater economy, tax revenue and the budget. So, in essence, what the CBO is putting out now, we all know is technically not what is going to happen.

 

(B) on the other hand, is very difficult to do and certain legislation done at one point in time may have a different reaction in the economy than it would at a different time. It is much more (as the name implies) dynamic.

 

So, to me, neither is perfect and if I were a manager trying to make a decision, I would want to see both projections.

 

I'll agree that both are flawed but option B seems to be a lot more susceptible to juking the stats.

 

I'll put a marker out there: if our CBO scorekeeper is forced to adopt partisan voodoo economics the Republican congress is going to focus primarily on fiscal policy that primarily benefits the wealthiest Americans. (Just kidding. That's what they're going to do regardless . . . but I suspect that they'll try to cloak it in their feigned interest in fiscal responsibility.)

Robert Byrd was a Democratic Senator for West Virginia for over 50 years before dying while holding office. While everybody else was off fighting the Second World War, Byrd started and led his own Klu Klux Klan chapter.

 

This is common knowledge, and a poor reflection on what passes for Congressional timber. So I don't see how the Dems can throw stones in their glass houses.

Didn't Byrd renounce his prior actions and apologize repeatedly?

 

I don't believe that Scalise has apologized beyond saying that it was a mistake that he regrets before promptly turning it into an attack on his political opponents.

 

 

 

Again, I think that the focus by some on actions pre-civil rights era is awfully revealing. It's almost like we aren't supposed to care about recent history. Weird.

 

 

Deschutes. Good IPA

Which one?

Fresh squeezed, I need to find pinedrops or whitewater somewhere now. Also had a brew made with crab apples. Like you would expect from crab apples.

 

Fresh Squeezed is fantastic.

Deschutes. Good IPA

Which one?

If you want a cheap, reliable pistol you could get a used revolver of some sort. But if you're not set on a pistol and just want something cheap for home defense purposes you might consider buying a little 20 gauge pump action shotgun with a short (but legal) barrel. They're pretty small; you could easily tuck it under your bed. And you probly wouldn't even need to fire a shot if someone breaks in. The pump action sound of chambering a shell will scare the sh#t out of anyone in your place.

+1. This is probably the best option.

 

AtB, do you have much experience with guns?

 

Dammit, guys. I've already spent close to $300 on brewing equipment and ingredients.

 

Sigh.

 

 

 

On a lighter note . . . if anyone needs a burner this is a really good deal:http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2014/12/reader-tip-kab6-banjo-propane-burner-80-28-shipped-best-price.html

That's it?! If I had to guess I bet I'm around $1,000 for everything.

 

Bet you didn't spend that all in two days . . .

. . . and is bringing in "his guys" which the last coach was "guilty" of...

At least Riley's "guys" seem to be otherwise successful football coaches and not HS golf coaches . . . or whatever that story was.

Huh. Certainly under the radar in the media.

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/30/6846367/mike-pence-2016

Anyone heard of Robert Bird - former Dem maj leader of the Senate (RIP) I'll give him credit, in his later years, he 'repented' of his KKK early years per this Wiki article.

And Abraham Lincoln was a Republican while Democrats supported slavery.

 

The dates of these things are revealing.

. . . I'd take him.

Fantastic long read. Too many good parts to quote so I'll just go with this one:

Mike Mullen thinks that one way to reengage Americans with the military is to shrink the active-duty force, a process already under way. The next time we go to war, he said, the American people should have to say yes. And that would mean that half a million people who werent planning to do this would have to be involved in some way. They would have to be inconvenienced. That would bring America in. America hasnt been in these previous wars. And we are paying dearly for that.

 

With their distance from the military, politicians dont talk seriously about whether the United States is directly threatened by chaos in the Middle East and elsewhere, or is in fact safer than ever (as Christopher Preble and John Mueller, of the Cato Institute, have argued in a new book, A Dangerous World?). The vast majority of Americans outside the military can be triply cynical in their attitude toward it. Triply? One: honoring the troops but not thinking about them. Two: caring about defense spending but really viewing it as a bipartisan stimulus program. Three: supporting a strong defense but assuming that the United States is so much stronger than any rival that its pointless to worry whether strategy, weaponry, and leadership are right.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/12/the-tragedy-of-the-american-military/383516/

There are several people, including Obama, that have very questionable ties to bigots. And I know you know that.

What/who specifically are you talking about?

 

Fox News, and Msnbc---even cnn, are horrible.

And Fox is indisputably the worst of the bunch. The other two have inherent bias but they are still news organizations. Fox isn't a news organization . . . it's a GOP propaganda arm.

 

Here's some proof. This is their coverage of this story over the last 24 hours:

 

But I'm very curious as to why -this guy- is an impediment to who the GOP nomination is.

Eh?