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Kend ~ A third party? I sure do think we deserve more choices! The Libertarian Party is a viable candidate. So is the Green Party. Hell, for that matter, how about the Socialist Party.
Freedom of choice is Freedom of Choice. Let there be Alternatives!
insurance almost always is exempt from income taxes as long as it isn't unemployment compensation, like arky12 pointed out. We can thank that senile bastard, the late Ronnie " I'm a better actor than the chimp" Reagan and a bipartisan effort from Congress, for that screwing over of the people. Nobody has the political balls to change this, but the Fraud St. and bankster bail-outs continue. No corporation or billionaire left behind!! Reagan is even quoted as saying unemployment "is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders", yet he had no problem sucking off the corporate handouts from GE, and drawing his govenors pension, social security, and President's salary, being the triple dipping napmeister he was. How 'bout spending some of your political capital and change this O!, or at least try to.
Phillip I think your right. It will come back to bite them in the bum. Here In Canada we have three main parties and a few small ones. Do any of you think the US should have more than two?
The Republican Party's actions in Tennessee will backfire on them and help to destroy the Republican Party. Their attack on democracy is transparent. When the electorate sees what is occurring they will make the Republicans pay for their undemocratic ways. The Republican Party is behaving more and more like a domestic terrorist organization. They are sowing the seeds for their own demise. Long live the truth!
Guess I checked the wrong box because i actually agree more with the 2nd option of all safety net should be exempt. I also think that unemployment benefits should be exempt from income taxes as well. Seems like a kick in the gut to someone who is already down that they get unemployment benefits then have to pay income taxes on it. They should be treated the same as SS.
A very interesting take. I hope you're correct, because I believe tea partiers are a bit over the top in their ideology and very short on facts.
It might go both ways, but GOP leaning groups contributed about double that of Democrat leaning groups. Many Unions have democratic solutions within their bylaws whereby members can say no to the dollars that are spent on political action via the dues structure.
the Hartmanns always bring up citizens united. It goes both ways, citizens united was brought in to counter the massive contributions the large unions where making to buy off politcations to get the huge raises in wages and benefits that hundreds of cities are going broke from.
Taking about corruption. It amazes me how community organizers can go into politics an come out worth tens of millions of dollars. There must be corruption everywhere with the amount of money they all have when they come out of office.
I am REALLY annoyed with this "guest" host! I turned 55 yrs. old this January. I am liberal, progressive and reasonably athletic. If discrimination against gays right is so unfair, (which it surely is!) why is it OK for you to characterize people over 55 as gender discriminating BIGOTS! How old are you? Bet I could KIck your @$$!
Outback ~ Thanks for the welcoming! Holding my tongue isn't as easy as I thought.
You've touched on a very 'touchy' subject--seriously traumatized veterans. The Government doesn't seem to want to take care of these people anymore than they want to take care of our unkempt population of mentally disturbed citizens. Of course, the shear numbers of traumatized veterans returning from all these illegal wars is certainly going to cost the Government a great deal of money and resources. If they address one issue they will surely be held to address the other issue. That is probably why they prefer to shift the attention away from their commitment to these disturbed people and put it on gun control. It's a win win policy for the policy makers.
It's also a contemptuously irresponsible mistake for the rest of the country! I hope We the People wake up in time to demand Public Funded Mental Institutions be reinstated before the unnecessary shedding of more innocent blood occurs!
BMetcalfe ~ The same thing I have to say to you I say to everyone including Thom. This problem cannot be solved by changing the law. The reasoning here is simple. Laws only affect the behavior of those who respect them. No potential mass murderer has any respect for Laws. Consequently, any change to the Laws will not impact the behavior of any potential mass murderer.
In fact, the only impact of such legislation will be on law abiding citizens.
I agree with many of the posts here that violence in our society has a numbing effect on many of us. It also leads many of us into a false sense of security with the use of violence. Perpetrators of violent archetypes in sports and entertainment are particularly responsible for this tendency. The movie industry in particular justifies a film's success in by how many explosions it can render in a 2 hour period. This tendency is expanding exponentially as the public becomes more and more numb to violence.
The industry claims that together with the first amendment that the box office profits more than justify this tendency of violence. They claim that this is what the public wants. The public always gets what the public wants in a free Capitalistic society. Strange! A responsible parent doesn't give a baby everything it wants. If they did, they would wind up with a very spoiled child--if they were lucky--or a very dead infant--if they weren't lucky.
If we value our rights we cannot pursue any legal action limiting the freedoms of the entertainment or the sports industry. They should hold themselves accountable for their own actions. We the People however can certainly influence that industry by simply boycotting the most violent aspects of it. I personally have been doing this myself for years. I suggest more of you do so as well. Don't be in such a hurry to see that new high budget Van Damme movie, or invest in pay-per-view Boxing matches. Wait if you must see it. You'll be able to see it for free eventually; and, you'll discourage the glorification of violence at the same time.
D'AnneMarc- Well up jumped the devil! ;-) And welcome back into the discussion. I do believe you've come close the the root cause of all of these mass shootings. It IS insanity. But combine the loonies set loose previously with all the seriously traumatized veterans returning from the unspeakable horrors of wars that the puppet masters are intent on perpetuating, and I believe we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. Don't disarm rational citizens now, of all times!
Nachos - Thanks for your kind (if too generous) words regarding my post. I certainly don't think of myself as anything other than a concerned citizen, alarmed at what I see happening and doing my best to encourage a few people to open their eyes.
Neither am I a gun slinging conservative. I'm actually a slightly liberal leaning progressive that happens to believe the Founders correctly anticipated an unfettered government eventually sliding into the kind of decay we are presently witnessing. By "government" I don't mean the three branches, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial, which constitute our formal system of government, but the oligarchy which now owns all three, lock, stock and barrel.
Neither am I an anarchist or or proponent of violent civil action. In fact, I would much prefer a peaceful reversal of the decay now in process. There is a pretty good book that documents the power that people have to change things through non-violent civil disobedience: "A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-Violent Conflict" by Ackerman and Duvall. It's good reading if you haven't already read it, and here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_21/183-5825085-1260611?url=sear...
I will certainly check out the courses you mentioned, and thanks.
I guess to sum it up, I'm conservative only in the sense that I believe in "belt and suspenders". There are ample historical examples of people submitting to brutal repression through giving up their "options". Let's not make that mistake!
Now, I'll shut up about it (until Thom posts another idiotic statement regarding gun control;-)
Oh well! I tried to stay away. So much for that plan!
PUBLICLY FUNDED MENTAL INSTITUTIONS!! Not one of you mentioned this. I'm ashamed of you.
Quite frankly, blaming mass shootings on guns is like blaming an auto wreck on the car's bumper. Well, gee, if the bumper was bigger and had more padding the driver wouldn't have been hurt so bad. Yeah, well if the driver was looking where he was going the accident wouldn't have happened in the first place!
When a murder occurs in society, the first thing investigators look for is motive. Who had a motive. In mass murder there is no sane motive. Resolving any issue through the death of innocent strangers is an insane motive. Insane people, or severely mentally 'disturbed' people if insane is a word that bothers you, are the real cause of this problem. Until this cause is directly addressed their will be no solution to this problem.
The only 'FACTS' I will use to support this argument is to ask for how many mass murders occurred in this country before President Ronald Reagan defunded public mental hospitals? Ask yourself that question and remember, machine guns were readily available since the Prohibition era of the 1930's.
BMetCalfe, Are you writing from a Mental Hospital???Are you off your meds???Do you hear voices and see "things"???Do the dogs talk to you???Do you have a message for us from the future??? In a nut shell...Are you Bat F'en Crazy??? Give me liberty or give me death. The best government is a government that governs least.
Fact - PATRIOTFORPEACE,
Patriotism is the last refuge for the scondral. (Gore Vidal)
Fact; Violence is a byproduct of an economic system that divides classes, creates fear and hysteria, and promotes surfdom.
Hi-O OUTBACK, Had to pop in on this one.
You are the right person to carry the tourch of Liberty. You are well read, well versed and what you have said here is the type of attitude this country needs from a leader.
The "equal" right to Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is for ALL. Unfortunatly there are a "few" people who prove themselves not worthy of such rights. That being said, those of us who are responsable and live as best we can as law abiding U.S. citizens should not be punished for the ill minded behaviours of the few who deliberatly disrecard the wellbeing of others and have no respect for life. Be it by gun, "blunt object, or fist.
Coleman McCarthy - retired Washington Post Journalist - started Classes On NonViolence (online), and wrote a book titled I'd Rather Teach Peace. I highly recommend reading his book; it is quite an eye opening read. Classes on Non-Violence is free to download and consistes of 16 classes each with 4-5 essays by an array of authors, and nonviolent peace and freedom activist like; Gene Sharp, Gahndi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Janis Jopplin, Dorothy Day, Albert Schweitzer, just to name a few.
We learn
We practice
We correct
We pass it on.
Already the electoral process is an essentially parliamentary process unmonitored by the constitution, where the two major parties vet and groom potential candidates for years befor the popular vote gives the electorate a referendum between the star chamber selection of the GOP vs the Dems.
The party machines used to insulate the local and state parties from insurgencies - the idea that some populist movement could just show up and, with minimalist "dues paying," gain enough numbers and traction in the parliamentary system of the political party such that they'd gain real power before they'd essentially assimilate as "party regulars."
In the 60s, the Goldwater Republicans did this in the GOP with smarts and energy. Recently, the Dean progressives made inroads with the Dems as a relatively peaceful if naive insurgency.
But I believe this move in Tennessee is not to assure a GOP Senate. It may well be the old guard GOP trying to lock out the Tea Party insurgency in the only desperate way they can. It's undemocratic and ultimately likely ill-advised - but the Tea Party is probably going to be shown by history to have been a bought-and-paid-for populist insurgency that has undermined the political machinery systemically and catastrophically (whether that was an intended consequence or not).
Even as former Democratic state committee woman, I do not see this aimed at the Democrats. I could easily be wrong! I just would like to throw an alternative analysis into the mix.
BMetcalfe, I had to chuckle at your post, you are kidding I hope. You are kidding? Right? If you are not then you are the poster child of why freedom loving people despise the liberal mindset. What is next- population control, re-education camps, cameras and drones in every neighborhood. I guess in your world life would be so easy if the all knowing benevolent government protected your every move. No need to make decisions and your mind can just dream up more rules and regulations for utopia.
2950 - So your answer is that you'll remove yourself from having to make that decision by claiming the odds are low or zero of the event happening at all. In fact, zero if you don't keep a gun on hand. But I'll respond that I regard this as denial, if you acknowledge that violence is not infrequently committed by criminals and the deranged in the homes of decent, unsuspecting citizens. There are several hundred people killed by lightning in this country every year (interestingly, many on golf courses). I know people who are quite comfortable going outside in a thunder storm. They'll claim that their odds of getting hit by lightning are near zero. Not me! My solution is to stay indoors. That alone won't necessarily save me from Thor's wrath, but it sure cant hurt.
Megalomaniac - I believe you are right when you bring up "American's in a looping iteration of hate...." as a potential cause for increasing violence. Never in my nearly seventy years have I seen such deep divisions between people; the callous disregard for the welfare of fellow human beings both at home and abroad, the pervasiveness of greed flowing from the top down. And the same old tools of oppression are being put into play here as have been employed countless times in the past: instill fear, divide the populace on issues, control the media, disarm and subjugate the people and then have your way with them. Bush's taking liberties with our civil liberties, but then especially, Obama's expanding upon them. Would anyone have expected this as a remote possibility even 20 years ago? (I don't want to hear about Lincoln. The country was in a state of civil war at the time.) All of this just reinforces my paranoia about the future of this country. All of this and the dumbing down of the population at large gives me very little choice but to plan for the worst, not that I think my meager preparations will make a difference in the grand scale of things.
BMetcalfe - My only comment is that you've described the perfect nine point formula for total government control of the people. Please, don't change a word!
No, they don't go far enough. But we have to start somewhere, and this is a start.
PS You're new Avatar is bigger, meaner, and scarier than the previous one; yet, is still on that collision course with Palindromedary's. Coincidence? fashion blog
It wouldn't surprise me if any one of them were part of a terrorist support network. I believe that most of them are financial terrorists anyway.
sugar to make it go down easier, but it offers entertaining and completely accurate satire that places the stories in a humane and kind perspective. fashion blog
like just the opposite, somehow. It would be good to know who supported what. fashion blog