US Politics Mega-thread - Page 880

On February 15 2014 09:57 Sub40APM wrote:

that war would last about 22 minutes, which is about as long as it would take for each side's ICBMs to reach each other.

On February 15 2014 08:21 Introvert wrote:


It is the average face because it brings in viewers, that much should be obvious. We all agree that the media sucks, yes? All they want to do is hype and exaggerate? That's exactly what's going on here. But since, in this case, it aligns perfectly with what you want to believe or already did, you take their presentation at face value.

When you go underneath it, you find a much more moderate and prolonged discussion that doesn't involve any hatred. Just because you've never LOOKED for it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

On February 15 2014 08:21 Introvert wrote:


It is the average face because it brings in viewers, that much should be obvious. We all agree that the media sucks, yes? All they want to do is hype and exaggerate? That's exactly what's going on here. But since, in this case, it aligns perfectly with what you want to believe or already did, you take their presentation at face value.

When you go underneath it, you find a much more moderate and prolonged discussion that doesn't involve any hatred. Just because you've never LOOKED for it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

On February 15 2014 10:43 Danglars wrote:
As long as there's people wanting proof of hate, there's news makers willing to go out there and find it. Somehow every feminist extremist gets a free pass (not the mainstream!) and the corresponding religious individual gets no quarter. Simultaneously, discovering the nuance of condoning the sin detached from the individual seems beyond most here. I mean, unless you're protesting a Christian establishment on grounds of their faith ... that's readily accepted.

On February 15 2014 11:03 Jormundr wrote:

This is a terrible argument. You're saying that I'm being brainwashed by the anti-anti-gay media when you yourself are reproducing the standard politically correct mantra of the anti-gay media.
I'm saying that the well rehearsed rhetoric you have displayed is not commonplace among people who are not public figures. I'm saying that the majority of the anti-gay movement isn't in either of these camps because most of them are just in the "I don't like icky gayness because it makes me uncomfortable and I'm against gay marriage because our churches have rights" crowd.

To reiterate -
The anti gay movement is not made up of a majority of fag stoning bible bearers. The anti gay movement is not comprised of a majority of overly politically correct angels who are just trying to spread love and friendship everywhere (I don't know why you chose this position). The majority of people in the movement are there because they're uneasy about the whole subject and they've been told they need to fight.

P.S. I live in rural NC. I deal with people who think pastors are going to be forced to perform gay marriage ceremonies every day. Maybe your experiences in what is likely the most liberal state in the country don't represent the whole body of anti-gay movement thought.
P.P.S. As to your allegation that the left picked up gays for popularity, I would argue that that's dumb. This is pretty obviously a bipartisan agreement to engage in lengthy, flashy political debate for the benefit of both parties. I half joke, but if true it would at least add some sanity into a ridiculous world.

On February 15 2014 10:35 ArTiFaKs wrote:
So what are your guys thoughts on the growing Prison Industrial Complex in the US? And how state Prison budgets are rapidly growing into multiple billions of dollars, while public schools are rapidly being shut down due to lack of funding? I mean, I know some people like to think that there's some massive conspiracy about how the super-elite have this plan to reduce the population to functioning retards while slowly killing people off with bad medicine/foods and whatnot, but is there a logical reason why the US has adopted this philosophy of the felonization of the population while slowly shitting on the public education system? I'm sure there are many factors that account for this but I just wanted to hear some thoughts on this issue, as I've been reading/hearing more and more about it and it is particularly troubling for me.

This is an older article from last year about Philadelphia building a $400 million Prison Complex while closing 23 public schools and laying off thousands of school employees:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattstroud/2013/06/17/philadelphia-schools-closing-while-new-400-million-prison-under-construction/

On February 15 2014 11:23 Introvert wrote:


My allegation about the left using gays is because of how quickly every Democrat politician changed their mind. You telling me all of them did a 180 in less than a decade? Bullcrap. Also, they have a history of using groups for class warfare. The poor, Blacks, Hispanics, immigrants. It's not a new tactic from them. Group politics is their specialty.

On February 15 2014 11:07 Velocirapture wrote:


I think most people differentiate between overreactions to a real problem, such as the extremes of social equality movements like feminism or even conservative movements like the tea party, and the completely arbitrary and irrational belief that homosexuality is wrong. It is your right to have irrational beliefs, we all do, but this one is killing thousands of American children and ruining the lives of many more for literally no good reason.

The whole love the sinner and hate the sin line is essentially asking homosexuals to live a measurably more unhealthy self-destructive lifestyle. There are a lot of reasons to be pessimistic about American politics but I think the least we can strive for is a government that doesn't systematically endorse a culture that hurts Americans for no earthly reason.

On February 15 2014 12:09 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Even so, do you support the principle that prisons can (or even should) be run on a for-profit basis?

In 2009, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) apologized profusely to the White House for shouting, "You lie!" as President Barack Obama told Congress that Obamacare would not cover illegal immigrants. Now it would appear that the White House owes Wilson an apology, as Covered California--the flagship of state Obamacare exchanges--is recruiting illegal ("undocumented") immigrants to sign up for the program, regardless of their eligibility.

The Covered California website includes a special page entitled: "No temas si eres indocumentado/a y quieres inscribir a tu familia en un seguro médico" ("Fear not if you are undocumented and want to enroll your family in health insurance"). The website goes on to explain that information shared with Obamacare cannot be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It does not explicitly warn that illegal aliens are ineligible.

On February 15 2014 15:08 Danglars wrote:
Joe "You Lie" Wilson is getting his just rewards now. Maybe you remember ...
source

There's a lot of spanish-speaking immigrants near where I live, so just going about daily life I saw a lot of Covered California ads in Spanish with a hispanic presenter detailing all the wonderful things about it (leads with pre-existing conditions covered yay). They're marketing the Obamacare exchanges on many bus stops and there's a signup tent in a parking lot 2 blocks away. Something about that Obamacare ad in Spanish made me wonder if they were marketing this to illegal aliens to boost signups. All this in clear violation of Obama's promise before Congress (and does anybody see him chastising CA for doing this, ever?)

On February 15 2014 15:27 Introvert wrote:


This is why the Republicans are idiotic to think that they will ever win the Hispanic vote. It's crap like this that will make immigrants perpetual welfare-state-using-democrats.

On February 15 2014 15:34 Sub40APM wrote:

Asian Americans and Jewish Americans also vote overwhelmingly for the Democrats and they are both statistically financially better of than whites....

On February 15 2014 15:37 Introvert wrote:


The difference is the time frame. These newer Hispanic immigrants have come after the massive growth of the welfare states. It's not like the Irish, etc in the Industrial Revolution, or the Jews in WWII. They didn't have a system to feed off of.

I think it was Milton Freedman who made the point that you can't have wide open immigration and a welfare state at the same time.

In the late 19th-mid 20th century, we didn't have those two things. Now we do.

Edit: A question: Aren't the European states with large social programs very closed off in terms of immigration? A "yes" answer would be quite informative.

What documents will be verified for enrollment into Covered California?
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In accordance with federal law, if you are seeking potential federal premium assistance, you will be asked to provide information during the enrollment process to verify your income, citizenship and residency. This information includes:

Social Security numbers for U.S. citizens, or document information for immigrants with satisfactory status. Families that include immigrants can apply. You can apply for your child even if you aren't eligible for coverage.
Employer and income information for everyone in your family. A family is defined as the person who files taxes as head of household and all the dependents claimed on that person's taxes.
Federal tax information. If you don't file taxes, you can still qualify for free or low-cost insurance through Medi-Cal.
If you do not want or do not think you qualify for help paying for your health coverage, all you need to provide is the Social Security numbers described in the first bullet above.

Covered California hará más simple y asequible que usted y millones de californianos obtengan un seguro privado de calidad, que no pueda ser cancelado ni negado por condiciones médicas preexistentes o en caso de enfermedad. Aquellas personas que sean residentes legales de California serán elegibles para adquirir cobertura de salud a través de Covered California. Más adelante durante el año, podrá adquirir un seguro de salud asequible para usted y su familia en línea, en persona o por teléfono. Habrá una página web especial donde usted encontrará una serie de herramientas diseñadas para darle información sobre los Planes de salud autorizados que se ofrecerán a través de Covered California. También podrá acceder a una red estatal de apoyo disponible en persona o por teléfono.

On February 15 2014 16:48 rod409 wrote:
I think you guys can calm down

Covered CA FAQs

My Spanish isn't good anymore but I pretty sure the bolded part says you need to be a resident. I actually couldn't find the page the Breitbart site showed an image of.

Covered CA Spanish

Less than two weeks after President Obama insisted that there wasn't even a "smidgen of corruption" involved in the IRS targeting scandal, it appears that the scope of that scandal is widening.

Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, revealed yesterday that the committee's investigation had found that it wasn't only conservative groups applying for 501(c)(4) status that came in for IRS targeting and harassment. Existing 501(c)(4)'s were targeted, as well. In fact, Camp stated,

At Washington, DC’s direction, dozens of groups operating as 501(c)(4)s were flagged for IRS surveillance, including monitoring of the groups’ activities, websites and any other publicly available information. Of these groups, 83% were right-leaning. And of the groups the IRS selected for audit, 100% were right-leaning.