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Have you heard about...? (Politics edition)

Started by VDB, November 30, 2010, 10:11:04 AM

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Buffalo Budd

Quote from: Hicks on November 10, 2017, 01:43:00 PM
Quote from: slslbs on November 10, 2017, 01:15:24 PM
In defense of Moore

Quote.  What Moore is accused of doing happens in the Bible

"Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist," Alabama state auditor Jim Ziegler told the Washington Examiner. "Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus."

:roll:

I don't see any reason societal standards should change over thousands of years.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go sacrifice 20 heifers and 10 yearlings.

Why stop there, Abraham didn't.
Everything is connected, because it's all being created by this one consciousness. And we are tiny reflections of the mind that is creating the universe.

Hicks

Quote from: Buffalo Budd on November 10, 2017, 02:11:44 PM
Quote from: Hicks on November 10, 2017, 01:43:00 PM
Quote from: slslbs on November 10, 2017, 01:15:24 PM
In defense of Moore

Quote.  What Moore is accused of doing happens in the Bible

"Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist," Alabama state auditor Jim Ziegler told the Washington Examiner. "Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus."

:roll:

I don't see any reason societal standards should change over thousands of years.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go sacrifice 20 heifers and 10 yearlings.

Why stop there, Abraham didn't.

Well you gotta wait until the kids are old enough to help you haul the wood up the mountain for their own sacrifice before you can do that.
Quote from: Trey Anastasio
But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.

PIE-GUY

QuoteOh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"

Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"

God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"

God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but

The next time you see me comin' you better run"

Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"

God says, "Out on Highway 61"
I've been coming to where I am from the get go
Find that I can groove with the beat when I let go
So put your worries on hold
Get up and groove with the rhythm in your soul

ytowndan

#2748
That would be so awesome if the Dems could pick up a seat in Alabama.  Special elections are fickle, and anything can happen, especially if one side is smothered with apathy and the other is riled up with anger. 

You get the right combination of odd circumstances and low turnout and you end up with Scott Brown getting elected in uber blue Massachusetts. 

Maybe I'm just dreaming. 
Quote from: nab on July 27, 2007, 12:20:24 AM
You never drink alone when you have something good to listen to.

birdman

Quote from: ytowndan on November 10, 2017, 03:59:13 PM
That would be so awesome if the Dems could pick up a seat in Alabama.  Special elections are fickle, and anything can happen, especially if one side is smothered with apathy and the other is riled up with anger. 

You get the right combination of odd circumstances and low turnout and you end up with Scott Brown getting elected in uber blue Massachusetts. 

Maybe I'm just dreaming.
We accept fiscal conservatives with open arms. Not those crazy alt right conservatives.
Who brought Massachusetts universal healthcare? Mitt Romney.
Paug FTMFW!

sls.stormyrider

Since 1991, this bluer than blue state had 7 elections for governor. The Republican candidate won 5

Brown is a pretty reasonable guy. Martha Coakley, the person he beat, was the worst political candidate I've ever seen.

On Jan 1st, in a car outside Fenway (Hockey Classic, Bruins vs Montreal) she was quoted as saying - you really want me to get out there in the freezing cold and shake people's hands?
umm - yes
"toss away stuff you don't need in the end
but keep what's important, and know who's your friend"
"It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

ytowndan

I certainly wouldn't want to try to explain MA politics around here, you dudes clearly know more than me.  So maybe that was a bad example.  Though I do want to clarify that I wasn't comparing Moore with Brown.  If anything I was comparing him with Coakley, not because she's some kind of equivalent extremist of the left, which she obviously wasn't, but because of how exceptionally weak her candidacy was.  And it's my hope that his will be as weak.

But just for my own curiosity, wasn't that election supposed to be a shoo-in for the Dems before Coakley ran a terrible campaign?  And wasn't it really low turnout?  Maybe my memory is failing me.

Quote from: nab on July 27, 2007, 12:20:24 AM
You never drink alone when you have something good to listen to.

sls.stormyrider

#2752
yes, it was supposed to be a shoo in for Coakley
I don't remember how the turn out was, but it probably wasn't great.

And yes, it would be quite awesome if the Dems picked up a seat in Alabama
and maybe your analogy wasn't so bad after all

on the topic of ironic quotes
Quote"nobody in the middle class is going to get a tax increase"
was changed to
Quote"You can't guarantee that absolutely no one sees a tax increase, but what we are doing is targeting levels of income and looking at the average in those levels and the average will be tax relief for the average taxpayer in each of those segments,"

of course, the largest tax break, both in absolute and relative terms, goes to the top tier of the economy and investor class
and the deficit grows on
"toss away stuff you don't need in the end
but keep what's important, and know who's your friend"
"It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

mattstick


birdman

Paug FTMFW!

GBL

If this is love, I'm never going home..

VDB

Quote from: GBL on November 17, 2017, 09:35:54 AM
This is interesting:

Tax hike on poor people? Check.
Theoretical tax hike across the board 10 years from now likely just to help balance out the theoretical ledger a smidge? Check.


Also, how bout that Al Franken?
Is this still Wombat?

sls.stormyrider

^^
no surprises there
and the loophole that allows the investment class to pay capital gains instead of income tax persists

Can't say I'm surprised about Franken. I don't know him but that shit was "acceptable" back then.
I read this book a few years ago, and for while it was "understood" that female guest hosts would have sex with the cast - it was put almost like a rite of passage


You also have to wonder about the rest of Congress, too

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/16/politics/settlements-congress-sexual-harassment/index.html

Quote(CNN)Two things have become painfully clear on Capitol Hill this week: Lawmakers and staffers say sexual harassment is "rampant" -- but even members of Congress have no idea just how widespread the problem is.

The controversial and sensitive issue has taken center stage in Congress this week, with female lawmakers making fresh allegations of sexual harassment against unnamed members who are currently in office, and the unveiling of a new bill on Wednesday to change how sexual harassment complaints are reported and resolved. On Thursday, a woman shared her story of being groped and kissed without her consent by Sen. Al Franken in 2006.
So far, there's been little specific data to help illuminate just how pervasive sexual harassment is on Capitol Hill, but one figure has emerged: the total that the Office of Compliance, the office that handles harassment complaints, has paid to victims.
On Thursday, the Office of Compliance released additional information indicating that it has paid victims more than $17 million since its creation in the 1990s. That includes all settlements, not just related to sexual harassment, but also discrimination and other cases.
An OOC spokeswoman said the office was releasing the extra data "due to the interest in the awards and settlement figures." The OOC has come under fire in recent days for what lawmakers and Hill aides alike say are its antiquated policies that do not adequately protect victims who file complaints.
CNN has also learned that during the current Congress, no settlement payment approval requests have been made to the congressional committee charged with approving them.

Here's what we know -- and what we don't know -- about that money:
When was this money paid out?
According to a report from the Office of Compliance, more than $17 million has been paid out in settlements over a period of 20 years -- 1997 to 2017.
How many settlements have there been?
According to the OOC data released Thursday, there have been 268 settlements. On Wednesday, Rep. Jackie Speier, the California Democrat who unveiled a bill to reform the OOC, announced at a news conference Wednesday that there had been 260 settlements. The previous tally did not include settlements paid in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Where did the settlement money come from?
Taxpayers.
Once a settlement is reached, the money is not paid out of an individual lawmaker's office but rather comes out of a special fund set up to handle this within the US Treasury -- meaning taxpayers are footing the bill. The fund was set up by the Congressional Accountability Act, the 1995 law that created the Office of Compliance.
How many of the settlements were sexual harassment-related?
It's not clear. Speier told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that the 260 settlements represent those related to all kinds of complaints, including sexual harassment as well as racial, religious or disability-related discrimination complaints. The OOC has not made public the breakdown of the settlements, and Speier says she's pursuing other avenues to find out the total.
In its latest disclosure, the OOC said that statistics on payments are "not further broken down into specific claims because settlements may involve cases that allege violations of more than one of the 13 statutes incorporated by the (Congressional Accountability Act)."
Who knows about the settlements and payments?
After a settlement is reached, a payment must be approved by the chairman and ranking member of the House administration committee, an aide to Chairman Gregg Harper, a Mississippi Republican, told CNN.
The aide also said that "since becoming chair of the committee, Chairman Harper has not received any settlement requests." Harper became chairman of the panel at the beginning of this year.
It's not clear how many other lawmakers -- if any -- in addition to the House administration committee's top two members are privy to details about the settlements and payments.
A source in House Speaker Paul Ryan's office told CNN that Ryan is not made aware of the details of harassment settlements. That source also said that the top Democrat and Republican on the House administration committee review proposed settlements and both must approve the payments.
Similarly, a source in Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's office told CNN that Pelosi also is not made aware of those details, and that they are confined to the parties of the settlement and the leaders of the administration committee.
"Leader Pelosi has expressed support for the efforts of Rep. Speier who is working on multiple bills to reform the secretive and woefully inadequate process," the source added.
When asked about Ryan's knowledge of any sexual harassment settlements, a spokesperson for Ryan's office noted that the committee is conducting a full review of workplace harassment and discrimination.
What do these settlements tell us about the scope of the sexual harassment problem on Capitol Hill?
It is unclear how much of the $17 million is money paid to sexual harassment cases because of the Office of Compliance's complex reporting process. However, even knowing that dollar figure doesn't quantify the problem: a source within the Office of Compliance tells CNN that between 40 and 50% of harassment claims settle after mediation -- an early stage in the multi-tiered reporting process.
And the number of settlements reached may not be indicative of how widespread sexual harassment is, as many victims chose not to proceed with OOC's process for handling complaints. Tracy Manzer, a spokeswoman for Speier, told CNN last week 80% of people who have come to their office with stories of sexual misconduct in the last few weeks have chosen not to report the incidents to the OOC.
This story has been updated to include additional information from the Office of Compliance.


"toss away stuff you don't need in the end
but keep what's important, and know who's your friend"
"It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

GBL

More goodies, which are funny, and not funny, respectively:
If this is love, I'm never going home..

sls.stormyrider

Exactly
Who in their right mind really thinks that corporate tax cuts mean higher wages.
what do they think we are??? The answer to that is obvious
"toss away stuff you don't need in the end
but keep what's important, and know who's your friend"
"It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."