US Politics Mega-thread - Page 1532

On December 20 2014 01:31 farvacola wrote:
This just goes to show you that the number of "principled" conservatives who have actually adopted a substantive position in furtherance of states' rights pales in comparison with those have used the concept as nothing more than a vehicle for their political agenda. This is not to say that the same dynamic doesn't take place with liberals, but I think there's a good bit of history in support of the notion that states' rights, as a concept, is almost always a placeholder for some other political belief. The US is clearly in need of another Daniel Webster.

On December 19 2014 20:36 GreenHorizons wrote:
Bipartisan bill that won't cost tax payers a dime AKA: Dead on arrival.... Guy couldn't even be there to object himself...

+ Show Spoiler +

Long-anticipated regulations regarding the disposal of coal ash — a toxic byproduct containing hazardous materials such as arsenic and lead — are due to be released Friday by the U.S. government.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to the Friday deadline as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups. The agency had first proposed rules governing the storage of waste material created through the burning of coal in 2010 in the wake of a massive spill at a ruptured holding pond in Tennessee. But regulations were never finalized, prompting activists to sue in 2012 for rules to finally be put in place.

Environmental groups say tighter standards are needed to ensure against a repeat of incidents like the Tennessee spill, that cost more than $1 billion to clean up, and a similar spill earlier this year that polluted the Dan River in North Carolina.

The practice of storing coal ash in holding ponds supported by permeable, earth barriers can lead to both contamination of surrounding groundwater and the risk of catastrophe when dikes fail — as happened in both Tennessee and North Carolina.

The EPA has said contaminants such as arsenic, mercury and cadmium in coal ash could cause cancer if they get into the water supply.

The agency has put forward two proposed sets of rules, the more aggressive of which would classify coal ash as hazardous waste, over which the agency would have direct oversight. The alternative would label it non-hazardous, with states acting as the primary regulators.

Both environmental groups and industry backers say it is unlikely that the EPA, after years of review, will label coal ash as hazardous waste.

On December 20 2014 01:55 ZasZ. wrote:


I think you have it backwards. Rather than using states' rights as a placeholder for a political agenda, they seem to suspend their belief of states' rights in order to pursue a political agenda. They're all for small government until they need the big, bad fed to intervene and prevent gays from getting married, women from getting abortions, or people from smoking weed in their free time.

If there were a Republican candidate that was fiscally conservative AND actually believed in small government and states' rights without being bullied by the religious far-right, I may actually vote for them. But it seems like those people don't exist and that party will be forever poisoned by the far right. I'm pretty lukewarm on Obama's presidency, but it speaks volumes that I still think I made the right call in 2008 and 2012...Republican candidates have been so much worse.

On December 20 2014 04:11 JonnyBNoHo wrote:

Has Warren actually done anything productive? All I ever hear out of her is hyperbole mixed with lies.

On December 20 2014 04:42 IgnE wrote:


Which part is she lying about?

On December 20 2014 05:05 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
In other words you don't know but because you are a contrarian you have to.

On December 20 2014 04:48 JonnyBNoHo wrote:

I didn't watch the whole video that GH posted, I'm really tired of her crap at this point. She was full of shit when it came to the derivatives legislation a couple weeks back, and reiterated that line at the start of the clip.

Edit: and about her cheekbones

On December 20 2014 07:03 GreenHorizons wrote:
I like how people avoided the states rights issue in order to step on Warren. What's wrong with the legislation being proposed...? "No one knows, but look at her cheekbones!" "Yeah she has funny nicknames! tehehe"

Politics really has devolved into an elementary school playground hasn't it?