US Politics Mega-thread - Page 1347

On October 16 2014 18:53 Simberto wrote:


Hm, that's a lot of compensation. I think it would be quite hard to find a middle class or lower person that wouldn't willingly choose to go to prison for 100 days for 2 million dollars. That's 20000$/day. I'd probably even go to one of your american horrorprisons for that money, though i guess the chance of getting boiled alive in a shower would make me think multiple times about that.

Anyways, the point i was making is that this is at least an order of magnitude or two too much money to be just compensation for 100 days in jail. The sum is obviously so large to punish the organisation, not because this is just compensation for 100 days in jail.

On October 16 2014 19:51 OuchyDathurts wrote:


There is a difference between saying "I'd sure take $20,000 a day to be in prison!" and taking a man's freedom away, against his will, and sentencing him to more time in jail after he's already served his sentence and paid his debt to society. He had absolutely no say in the matter, they forcibly took his freedom from him. Because they did that he's now owed a debt.

It's easy to say no problem, 100 days is nothing gimme my $2 million please. That isn't what happened and that isn't an honest way of looking at the situation. A man was forced to go back to jail for his constitutionally protected beliefs (or lack thereof). Then was forced to sue, which was initially turned down, and had to be appealed before he received anything.

On October 16 2014 18:39 KwarK wrote:
And you assume that they haven't anticipated such expenses and built them into the budget? Or that if they overspend due to something like that the overseeing body will go "hey, you know those things that we're paying you to do, don't worry about those this year"?

The money doesn't come from shareholders, it doesn't impact the bottom line.

President Barack Obama is expected to issue an executive order Thursday paving the way for the deployment of National Guard forces to Liberia to help contain the Ebola outbreak there, sources told NBC News.

The sources said that eight engineers and logistical specialists from the Guard, both active-duty and reservists, would probably be included in the first deployment. They are expected to help build 17 Ebola treatment centers, with 100 beds apiece. The sources said that no decision had been made.

Defense Department officials said that the executive order was necessary to speed the deployments, and would allow the president to send additional forces as needed. Health officials have recorded more than 2,400 Ebola deaths in Liberia, the highest of any country.

On October 17 2014 03:37 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
I swear this congressional hearing on Ebola scares the hell out of me, not the disease, but the politicians who don't believe in Science but can't understand why planes are cleaned everyday. I mean the fuck...

On October 16 2014 18:39 KwarK wrote:
And you assume that they haven't anticipated such expenses and built them into the budget? Or that if they overspend due to something like that the overseeing body will go "hey, you know those things that we're paying you to do, don't worry about those this year"?

The money doesn't come from shareholders, it doesn't impact the bottom line.

When billionaire Chris Cline's company bought an option to mine a swath of northern Wisconsin in 2010, the company touted the project's potential to bring up to 700 well-paid jobs to a hard-pressed part of the state.

But the Florida-based company wanted something in return for its estimated $1.5 billion investment — a change to Wisconsin law to speed up the iron mining permit process.

So, Cline officials courted state legislators and hired lobbyists. And, unbeknownst to Wisconsin voters and lawmakers, the company waged a more covert campaign, secretly funding a nonprofit advocacy group that battered opponents of the legislation online and on the airwaves.

Since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on politics, hundreds of millions of dollars have flooded into the political system — much of it through nonprofit groups that have no legal obligation to identify their donors.

Usually such efforts remain hidden from view, leaving voters unaware of who's paying for the gush of campaign calls, flyers and attack ads. But a court filing recently made public by a federal appeals court in Chicago provides a rare look at how so-called "dark money" groups helped one company get what it wanted.

The document shows how, in its push for a new state law, a Cline Group subsidiary gave $700,000 to a conservative nonprofit in 2011 and 2012. That group, in turn, donated almost $3 million in 2012 to a second, like-minded nonprofit that also campaigned to change the mine permit process, tax filings show.

Both nonprofits worked to pass the mining bill. One helped to write the measure and launched a radio campaign even before it was introduced. The other tried to pressure a Republican holdout. Together, the two groups played a critical role in defeating a freshman Democratic state senator who'd voted against the bill, paving the way for its passage months later.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Access to affordable cancer treatments in the U.S and 11 other countries would be delayed for years if terms revealed today in the leaked draft Intellectual Property Chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were to go into effect, Public Citizen said. The text, obtained by WikiLeaks, analyzed in collaboration with Public Citizen and released today, also shows worrying developments in other patent and copyright issues and explains in part why TPP talks remain deadlocked a month before President Barack Obama’s declared deadline for a deal.

“The leak shows our government demanding rules that would lead to preventable suffering and death in Pacific Rim countries, while eliminating opportunities to ease financial hardship on American families and our health programs at home,” said Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines Program. Read Public Citizen’s analysis and background information.

Measures in the text, which advantage the patent-based pharmaceutical industry, face stiff opposition from most of the other TPP countries and health care advocates. Entrenched disagreements on these issues will be among the top challenges for TPP trade ministers who will be meeting in Australia at the end of October in an effort to meet Obama’s November deadline to complete negotiations.

Large brand-name drug firms want to use the TPP to impose rules throughout Asia that will raise prices on medicine purchases for consumers and governments. With billions at stake, Big Pharma wants the TPP to be a road map for rules that would govern Pacific Rim economies for the next several decades.

A U.S. proposal in the text – to provide long automatic monopolies for biotech drugs or biologics, which includes most new treatments for cancer – contradicts the policies included in recent White House budgets and if adopted would undermine key cost savings touted by the administration. The past budgets have included a specific pledge to shorten the same monopoly periods so as to reduce cost burdens on Medicare and Medicaid.

On October 17 2014 04:04 IgnE wrote:


Yes I am assuming that, because they didn't do that. "Oh yes, here's 2 million for our rehab center for lawsuits brought against it this year." That's simply not how government-run agencies work. They typically scrounge for every dollar they can get, and most don't get extra money for unforeseen circumstances, especially something like an adverse court decision. And you make this silly argument as if private corporations don't anticipate these kinds of expenses. It's private corporations that have control of their own budget. They aren't living from year to year on whatever is allotted them by the most recently elected politicians, and they are far better equipped than something like the only state-run rehab center in the area to "build these expenses into the budget."

I swear this congressional hearing on Ebola scares the hell out of me, not the disease, but the politicians who don't believe in Science but can't understand why planes are cleaned everyday. I mean the fuck...

On October 16 2014 22:14 aksfjh wrote:

I guarantee some project was shelved because of the payout from this lawsuit, and some people are going to miss promotions or get moved to other departments over this. At the very least, new procedures will be in place to guarantee people have religious freedom in the matter, something that definitely wouldn't happened if they just had to admit wrongdoing.

On October 17 2014 13:07 Danglars wrote:
Got a source for government agencies scrounging for every dollar they can get?

On October 17 2014 13:50 419 wrote:

Every time I hear this term (or variations thereof) I tend to suspect it is someone equating "anti-science" with "doesn't agree with me."