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Bombadilillo
Feb 28, 2009

The dock really fucks a case or nerfing it.

Guilty Spork posted:

The guy also repeated the "shoved it down our throats" meme, as though there weren't any actual citizens who supported the ACA.

Also, he apparently can't handle the idea that anyone might have legitimately thought Obama would make a better president than McCain.

Congress passing it with a majority like any normal law has become "shoving it down our throats". Because R's hate it now. They usually save that phrase for the gay agenda though so thats a bit odd.

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LiquidFusion
Feb 11, 2004
Ezra < Me < Jake

MariusLecter posted:

Do people still believe that history will vindicate the Bush administration?

Also, Hoek's Death Metal Pizza rules. :rock:

History will definitely shine a brighter light on his administration yes. Hoek's owns so loving hard.

Ghost of Reagan Past
Oct 7, 2003

rock and roll fun

Guilty Spork posted:

The guy also repeated the "shoved it down our throats" meme, as though there weren't any actual citizens who supported the ACA.

Also, he apparently can't handle the idea that anyone might have legitimately thought Obama would make a better president than McCain.
Either you're a conservative or you've been brainwashed by the evil libs who want to destroy America (why do they want to destroy America? WHO KNOWS!).

WAKE UP SHEEPLE.

Sarion
Dec 24, 2003

Even if half the country favored ACA, its still shoving it down our throats. Cause that half of the country doesn't count. Its not their country, its ARE CUNTRY!

Also, 9 months of debates, committees, dozens of votes, dozens of amendments (some from Republicans), town hall meetings... its a strange way to describe "shoving it down our throats".

CellBlock
Oct 6, 2005

It just don't stop.



Sarion posted:

Even if half the country favored ACA, its still shoving it down our throats. Cause that half of the country doesn't count. Its not their country, its ARE CUNTRY!

Also, 9 months of debates, committees, dozens of votes, dozens of amendments (some from Republicans), town hall meetings... its a strange way to describe "shoving it down our throats".

Well, you see, I don't like it, and nobody inside my little echo chamber likes it. That means nobody likes it at all, and if Congress claims they heard someone say they like it, they're lying, and if you hear an actual person say they like it, then they're a gay communist socialist marxist and their opinion doesn't count.

myron cope
Apr 21, 2009

CellBlock posted:

Well, you see, I don't like it, and nobody inside my little echo chamber likes it. That means nobody likes it at all, and if Congress claims they heard someone say they like it, they're lying, and if you hear an actual person say they like it, then they're a gay communist socialist marxist and their opinion doesn't count.
Also it definitely violates the Constitution. I can't come up with specifics, but it definitely does (link to the onion "man defends what he thinks constitution says" or whatever the headline is)

Also,

quote:

At the end of the day these lesbains have sex sticking toys rubbers up theere vaginals
They put toys rubbers RIGHT UP THERE VAGINALS YOU GUYS

CellBlock
Oct 6, 2005

It just don't stop.



Yo' butt ain't made for that!

Sarion
Dec 24, 2003

That post about lesbians racing cilds reminds me of the crazy lady at the town council meeting ranting about gays. If she posted on facebook, thats how I would expect her to write.

Dr. Arbitrary
Mar 15, 2006

Bleak Gremlin
It's very ironic that people mention Sodom and Gomorrah when they preach hate. God didn't destroy those cities because of gay sex, they were destroyed because they were unbelievably cruel, to each other and especially to guests.

Iceberg-Slim
Oct 7, 2003

no re okay
This is a fun quiz. Listed below are 10 direct quotes. You have to guess which American politician said it. Your four choices are:

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Former VP Dan Quayle
President Barack Obama
Former President George W. Bush

Ready? Here we go!

Who said it?

1) "Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel "

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

2) "I've now been in 57 states. I think one left to go."

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

3) "On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line
of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience here
today".

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

4) "What they'll say is, 'Well, it costs too much money,' but you
know what? It would cost about--- It would cost about the same
as what we would spend. Over the course of 10 years it would
cost what it would costs us. (nervous laugh) All right. Okay.
We're going to do it. It would cost us about the same as it would
cost for about---- hold on one second. I can't hear myself. But I'm
glad you're fired up, though. I'm glad."

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

5) "The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice,
savings and inefficiencies to our health care system."

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

(6) "I bowled a 129. It's like - it was like the Special Olympics,
or something."

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

7) "Of the many responsibilities granted to a president by our
Constitution, few are more serious or more consequential than
selecting a Supreme Court justice. The members of our highest
court are granted life tenure, often serving long after the
presidents who appointed them. And they are charged with the vital
task of applying principles put to paper more than 20 centuries
ago to some of the most difficult questions of our time."

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

8) "Everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to
the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma. They end
up taking up a hospital bed, it costs, when, if you, they just
gave, you gave them treatment early and they got some treatment,
and a, a breathalyzer, or inhalator, not a breathalyzer. I haven't
had much sleep in the last 48 hours.

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

9) "It was interesting to see that political interaction in Europe
is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot
of I don't know what the term is in Austrian--- wheeling and
dealing."

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

10) "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good
judgments in the future."

A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush


This was a trick quiz. All of the correct answers are the same
person. Each of these quotes are directly from President Barack
Obama. And now you know why he brings his teleprompter with him
everywhere he goes...even when talking to a 6th grade class.

And some members of the media continue to insist he is "The
smartest man ever elected to the Presidency". Yeah, right. Send it to all your family and friends so they, too, can see
how smart he is.





------ End of Forwarded Message

And the same press was merciless against Quayle for misspelling "tomatoes"!



--N

myron cope
Apr 21, 2009

Iceberg-Slim posted:

And the same press was merciless against Quayle for misspelling "tomatoes"!



--N

Ahaha, did you add this part in, Iceberg-Slim?

Technogeek
Sep 9, 2002

by FactsAreUseless

Dr. Arbitrary posted:

It's very ironic that people mention Sodom and Gomorrah when they preach hate. God didn't destroy those cities because of gay sex, they were destroyed because they were unbelievably cruel, to each other and especially to guests.

Ezekiel 16:49 is so much fun to bring up when those cities get namedropped.

The Bible, King James Version posted:

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

(As is pretty much always the case, the KJV was chosen for the quote solely because of the archaic wording.)

Iceberg-Slim
Oct 7, 2003

no re okay

myron cope posted:

Ahaha, did you add this part in, Iceberg-Slim?

One of my missions is to rehabilitate Dan Quayle. When you get a low score in Civilization, I want it to read "0bummer"

Sulphuric Sundae
Feb 10, 2006

You can't go in there.
Your father is dead.

Iceberg-Slim posted:

And the same press was merciless against Quayle for misspelling "tomatoes"!



--N

It was "potato," singular. And it was only an issue because he told a 12-year-old he was wrong and added the "e" at the end.

Also, if Obama's so dumb, why isn't there a page-a-day calendar of Obamaisms? :colbert:

Edit: The closest thing I could find quickly delved into "And look at what Rev. Wright said!"

Sulphuric Sundae fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Aug 14, 2012

Iceberg-Slim
Oct 7, 2003

no re okay

This is the story of the blonde flying in a two-seater airplane with just the pilot.
He has a heart attack and dies. She, frantic, calls out a May Day.
"May Day! May Day! Help me! Help me! My pilot had a heart attack and is dead.
And I don't know how to fly. Help me! Please help me!"
She hears a voice over the radio saying:
"This is Air Traffic Control and I have you loud and clear. I will talk you through this and get you back on the ground. I've had a lot of experience with this kind of problem.
'Now, just take a deep breath. Everything will be fine! Now give me your height and position."
She says, "I'm 5'4" and I support Obama."
"O.K." says the voice on the radio....
"Repeat after me: Our Father. . Who art in Heaven. . . .."

mugrim
Mar 2, 2007

The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Iceberg-Slim posted:


This is the story of the blonde flying in a two-seater airplane with just the pilot.
He has a heart attack and dies. She, frantic, calls out a May Day.
"May Day! May Day! Help me! Help me! My pilot had a heart attack and is dead.
And I don't know how to fly. Help me! Please help me!"
She hears a voice over the radio saying:
"This is Air Traffic Control and I have you loud and clear. I will talk you through this and get you back on the ground. I've had a lot of experience with this kind of problem.
'Now, just take a deep breath. Everything will be fine! Now give me your height and position."
She says, "I'm 5'4" and I support Obama."
"O.K." says the voice on the radio....
"Repeat after me: Our Father. . Who art in Heaven. . . .."

This is honestly more offensive than almost all the political ones.

"Women are dumb, amirite?"

StealthArcher
Jan 10, 2010




mugrim posted:

This is honestly more offensive than almost all the political ones.

"Women are dumb, amirite?"

And of course, "Liberal? gently caress you you can die worthless scumsucker got mine."

Teriyaki Hairpiece
Dec 29, 2006

I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

Iceberg-Slim posted:


This is the story of the blonde flying in a two-seater airplane with just the pilot.
He has a heart attack and dies. She, frantic, calls out a May Day.
"May Day! May Day! Help me! Help me! My pilot had a heart attack and is dead.
And I don't know how to fly. Help me! Please help me!"
She hears a voice over the radio saying:
"This is Air Traffic Control and I have you loud and clear. I will talk you through this and get you back on the ground. I've had a lot of experience with this kind of problem.
'Now, just take a deep breath. Everything will be fine! Now give me your height and position."
She says, "I'm 5'4" and I support Obama."
"O.K." says the voice on the radio....
"Repeat after me: Our Father. . Who art in Heaven. . . .."
Don't worry, that blonde will be okay as long as she has a hatchet.

LP97S
Apr 25, 2008
I got this one just a while back.

Bruce Leroy
Jun 10, 2010

NatasDog posted:

Here's a new one:


Dan Cathy is the same as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Reverend Wright. I don't even recognize the third person in the photo, but I'm sure he's a terrible person according to my brother in law.

It's a completely false strawman argument. Of course liberals think Louis Farrakhan and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are hateful bigots, you'd have an incredibly difficult time finding a liberal who doesn't have a negative opinion of those two. As for Reverend Wright, it's not so much hate and racism from him as it is him being outraged about the racist treatment Black Americans receive and he's actually completely correct about that. This is evident from numerous research studies like one that found Blacks and Latinos are almost exclusively targeted by NYC cops in their "stop and frisk" program (with the added bonus of being without probable cause) and there were more "stop and frisks" of Black men in a single year than there are actual Black men in NYC. Maybe "God drat America" was hyperbole and out of line, but Reverend Wright has actual facts and evidence to back his arguments that America is still racist towards Black people and it's something people should be more pissed off about.

StealthArcher posted:

And of course, "Liberal? gently caress you you can die worthless scumsucker got mine."

I don't think it's being that sociopathic. It's really just saying that being an Obama supporter means you're dumb and hopeless, and when you combine that with being a blonde woman (cool misogyny) there's pretty much no hope of you landing a plane on your own.

I know it's been brought up a number of times, but that stupid airplane "joke" and the Obamaisms "quiz" really remind me of that essay by Umberto Eco about Ur Fascism. At least with the Bush Administration, Bush was depicted as the dummy and Cheney was the evil, Machiavellian one, so there was at least a bit of logical consistency involved with matching criticisms of malevolent intent and incompetence. With the Obama stuff, the guy who's supposedly dumb and inept is also depicted as some kind of mastermind traitor plotting the downfall of America.

Dr Christmas
Apr 24, 2010

Berninating the one percent,
Berninating the Wall St.
Berninating all the people
In their high rise penthouses!
🔥😱🔥🔫👴🏻

Bruce Leroy posted:

It's a completely false strawman argument. Of course liberals think Louis Farrakhan and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are hateful bigots, you'd have an incredibly difficult time finding a liberal who doesn't have a negative opinion of those two. As for Reverend Wright, it's not so much hate and racism from him as it is him being outraged about the racist treatment Black Americans receive and he's actually completely correct about that. This is evident from numerous research studies like one that found Blacks and Latinos are almost exclusively targeted by NYC cops in their "stop and frisk" program (with the added bonus of being without probable cause) and there were more "stop and frisks" of Black men in a single year than there are actual Black men in NYC. Maybe "God drat America" was hyperbole and out of line, but Reverend Wright has actual facts and evidence to back his arguments that America is still racist towards Black people and it's something people should be more pissed off about.

Another thing I'd like to add is that Chick-Fil-A's doings actually affect people. One thing that pro-gay rights people have lost in the narrative battle is pointing out how they donate to anti-gay groups that actually interfere negatively in the lives of gay people in more ways than preventing marriages.

Of course, the words of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is actually president of a country, sure as hell affect more people more negatively than a fast food chain, no matter how deep its coffers.
I guess I'll say that Chick-Fil-A affects Americans, and as Americans, have a better chance of changing how they negatively affect society.

Bruce Leroy
Jun 10, 2010

Dr Christmas posted:

Another thing I'd like to add is that Chick-Fil-A's doings actually affect people. One thing that pro-gay rights people have lost in the narrative battle is pointing out how they donate to anti-gay groups that actually interfere negatively in the lives of gay people in more ways than preventing marriages.

Of course, the words of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is actually president of a country, sure as hell affect more people more negatively than a fast food chain, no matter how deep its coffers.
I guess I'll say that Chick-Fil-A affects Americans, and as Americans, have a better chance of changing how they negatively affect society.

My point was more that it's a false accusation of double standards/special pleading (as it's actually an inaccurate strawman argument) and the fallacious argument that we shouldn't be pissed off about what one person said or did because someone else did/said something just as bad or worse.

But yeah, I'm kind of perplexed at how people are just now getting pissed off at Chick-fil-A. Personally, giving money and free food to viciously anti-gay groups is a hell of a lot worse and actually tangibly harmful compared to Dan Cathy just saying stupid poo poo. So, it strikes me as a bit hollow, or at least odd, that people are suddenly up in arms against Chick-fil-A for the relatively toothless issue of Dan Cathy's stupid, hateful words when they should have been protesting years ago when he was giving millions of dollars to bigoted groups that are actually robbing gay people of their rights and dignity.

That said, Chick-Fil-A supporters are correct about the mayors of Chicago and Boston unfairly trying to discriminate based on speech, as this should be protected by the First Amendment, though they're loving wrong about Chick-fil-A protests and boycotts also being infringements. I'm completely opposed to homophobia, but it's wrong for the government to discriminate against speech and sets a bad precedent that a business can be denied a license or residence based on its legal speech, as the bigoted status quo would almost always be in the position to do the discriminating, NOT the supporters of minority rights (e.g. certain municipalities shutting down sex toy shops, Murfreesboro, TN trying to stop the building of a mosque, states and municipalities trying to shut down Planned Parenthood clinics, etc.). I'm aware of the documented cases of gender and religious employment discrimination at Chick-fil-a (as well as the accusations that their franchisee policies basically exclude anyone who isn't conservative, Christian, and heterosexual) and those are valid reasons to subject them to extra scrutiny, but those weren't the arguments made by most of the recent Chick-fil-A protesters.

myron cope
Apr 21, 2009

Maybe people just didn't know about CFA supporting anti-gay stuff before he brought it to the forefront. I know I didn't. Why would you check into a fast food place's stance on an issue like that?

XyloJW
Jul 23, 2007

myron cope posted:

Maybe people just didn't know about CFA supporting anti-gay stuff before he brought it to the forefront. I know I didn't. Why would you check into a fast food place's stance on an issue like that?

I'm not sure why it became a big deal this time. He's made these statements before, and they've been confronted about the conspicuous lack of non-Christians in their upper eschelons, and the requirement to attend a Christian Marriage Camp in order to earn a promotion. They dodged those accusations by saying "Oh, if you're not Christian, we're not going to FORCE you to go to the camp, it's just a team building, trust exercise, that's all!"

Chick-fil-a's anti-gay, exclusively Christian status has been a matter of public record for years now, but I guess third time's the charm, when it comes to the public actually paying attention.

NatasDog
Feb 9, 2009

XyloJW posted:

I'm not sure why it became a big deal this time. He's made these statements before, and they've been confronted about the conspicuous lack of non-Christians in their upper eschelons, and the requirement to attend a Christian Marriage Camp in order to earn a promotion. They dodged those accusations by saying "Oh, if you're not Christian, we're not going to FORCE you to go to the camp, it's just a team building, trust exercise, that's all!"

Chick-fil-a's anti-gay, exclusively Christian status has been a matter of public record for years now, but I guess third time's the charm, when it comes to the public actually paying attention.

From my perspective, I always knew they were staunchly christian. What kind of idiot looks at a place that closes on Sunday and doesn't get that? However, being christian doesn't automatically make you anti-gay or anything else really. There are a ton of churches that preach tolerance and 'good' christian values, and I never did the homework to see which brand of christian they were.

Oh, and I did point out the strawman and false equivalency arguments inherent to that Chik-Fil-A poster when my brother-in-law in posted it; he just didn't have any kind of response so I didn't bother posting my :iceburn: itt.

He must be getting tired of getting sniped by me though, because he posted this passive/agressive gem last night:


So I made one of my own and posted it on my wall:

Doctor Butts
May 21, 2002

NatasDog posted:


He must be getting tired of getting sniped by me though, because he posted this

I wish I could do this poo poo. Unfortunately, I can't because of family dynamics. Since I know in my heart that one of these days I'm gonna go off on the person and just TROLL THE EVERLOVING gently caress out of the person, I blocked myself from seeing any of the person's updates without removing from friends list.

Sulphuric Sundae
Feb 10, 2006

You can't go in there.
Your father is dead.
Yeah, I have no problem with a company believing in Christian values. We have a froyo chain in Virginia called Sweet Frog, with lots of stuff around emphasizing that FROG stands for "Fully Rely On God." It's delicious and my money isn't hurting gay people. I worked for a Christian-values-based grocery store for 7 years, and I'm pretty sure the CEO had some less-than-positive opinions on gays. But the company didn't donate to any anti-gay organizations. The boss may have donated himself, but company money went to bettering the community.

But the right is ignoring the donations issue the left has and just saying we're trying to crush free speech.

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth
Five Guys is the burger place with bible poo poo on their straws or something, right? They don't give money to hate groups do they? I'd think they'd be a perfect example of people being just fine with a company being Christian as long as they don't, you know, give money to people who want people like me to die.

The Rokstar
Aug 19, 2002

by FactsAreUseless

Glitterbomber posted:

Five Guys is the burger place with bible poo poo on their straws or something, right? They don't give money to hate groups do they? I'd think they'd be a perfect example of people being just fine with a company being Christian as long as they don't, you know, give money to people who want people like me to die.
In-N-Out, and correct.

NatasDog
Feb 9, 2009

Doctor Butts posted:

I wish I could do this poo poo. Unfortunately, I can't because of family dynamics. Since I know in my heart that one of these days I'm gonna go off on the person and just TROLL THE EVERLOVING gently caress out of the person, I blocked myself from seeing any of the person's updates without removing from friends list.

The problem with that approach is that you'll never change anyone's mind by ignoring them. I prefer to challenge them and if they engage argue with facts and well sourced replies. Eventually they either disengage or concede that maybe their argument is flawed after all. If they choose they can always defriend or set their status updates to not show up on my feed, but I put that on them instead of taking the easy way out and doing it for them.

My brother in law's a bit less confrontational though, so he just posts image macros from places like 4chan and other lovely right wing facebook pages, which I troll with 1 liner sarcastic replies. Occasionally he'll engage me, but usually he just ignores my replies and continues spamming his wall with terrible opinions. He's just young and has lived in a conservative bigoted echo chamber all his life so he has no idea how to react when someone with a conflicting opinion weighs in with their viewpoint. He's a big gun nut too, which I'm not particularly against, but the fervor he has for his guns is more than a little too intense; to the point of being annoying. I tend to let those fly though, since at a basic level I don't disagree with him there. My hope is that by engaging him regularly and refusing to back off he'll have the same moment of critical self reflection I had in my late 20s and stop being such an ignorant tool. Unfortunately he works for my dad, who is also a conservative bigot, so I don't have a lot of hope that that'll happen unless he moves elsewhere and finds himself in a foreign environment where not everyone is a sociopath like I had to. I joke with my dad that he's the bigot son he always wished he'd had. It's sad on some level, but you can't help the family you're born into; all you can do is distance yourself and hope that one day they'll realize their error and come around.

E; Here's the latest one he found amusing enough to post, even though it's about as old and tired as the "Why's there no white history month?" one he posted earlier this year:


And my reply: This may help alleviate your confusion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States

NatasDog fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Aug 14, 2012

Taerkar
Dec 7, 2002

kind of into it, really

Not to mention that most of the times it's 'For Spanish press Five' or something similar to that. I call a lot of businesses at work and I can't recall any that don't default to English.

Bombadilillo
Feb 28, 2009

The dock really fucks a case or nerfing it.

Taerkar posted:

Not to mention that most of the times it's 'For Spanish press Five' or something similar to that. I call a lot of businesses at work and I can't recall any that don't default to English.

I've brought that up before and there were a lot o provided examples where it was literally "press 1 for english"

You can remind idiots that its not liberals forcing these companies to provide Spanish, its the precious FREE MARKET. The companies can make more money by providing diverse services! Of course that’s not a revelation if you think about it for half a second and people usually understand it. They sure as hell wont accept it as an answer.

So it really comes down to loving foreigners, not in my America. It’s a dog whistle. Because “para espanol oprima numero dos” it totally ruining their lives, and lieberals are the entitled ones.

Ashcans
Jan 2, 2006

Let's do the space-time warp again!

You should let him know that yes, actually, America did move. It moved right into the land that was called 'Mexico'. And took over places like the Philippines, Guam, Panama and Puerto Rico. If you're so pissed off by 'foreign' languages, maybe you should quit invading and occupying places those languages are spoken.

Doctor Butts
May 21, 2002

NatasDog posted:

The problem with that approach is that you'll never change anyone's mind by ignoring them.

The Facebook person posted some bullshit about how if people don't agree about his version of economics, they are dumb and they should not be allowed to vote.

Some 'discussion' ensued, and I linked this:
http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/workingpapers/157-07.pdf

The person's response was essentially along the lines of I shouldn't believe everything I read online, especially from the liberal media. He also left the argument by complaining that I was the one who did not have interest in listening to 'common sense, irrefutable' evidence. He also basically inferred that his evidence is irrefutable because he's talked to 'a lot of people and business owners' who agree with him completely.

This is not someone who can be reasoned with. It is quite obvious that the person did not even open the file, let alone read it. It was dismissed immediately simply because it had 'berkeley.edu' in the address. The person who accused me of not arguing in good faith left the argument like a loving child.

Doctor Butts fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Aug 14, 2012

NatasDog
Feb 9, 2009

Doctor Butts posted:

This is not someone who can be reasoned with.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, you're fighting an uphill battle against anyone who you engage in open debate with entrenched views. Economics is one of the more ridiculous ones because free market proponents always fall back on the 'the market wasn't free enough, government got in the way' defense, despite all evidence through history pointing to the relaxation of oversight and regulation leading to major crises. The best you can hope for is a concession to 'agree to disagree'. My goal is more to sway people on the sidelines than for those who actually post ridiculous poo poo on their facebook walls. In my brother in law's case I hope for a breakthrough one day, but it's a slim to nil chance that I'll actually get to see that happen.

rscott
Dec 10, 2009

email my Grandma forwarded me posted:


Winds of Change....
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward
this email to a minimum of twenty people on their
address list; in turn ask each of those to do
likewise.


In three days, most people in The United
States of America will have the message.
This is one idea that really should be passed
around.



_*Congressional Reform Act of 2012*_

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in
office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in
Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move
to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into
the Social Security system, and Congress
participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other
purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan,
just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay
raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system
and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they
impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present
Congressmen/women are void effective 12/31/12. The American people did not
make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congressmen/women made all these contracts for
themselves. Serving in
Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding
Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people
then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive
the message. Don't you think it's time?

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not,
just delete.
You are one of my 20+ - Please keep it going, and
thanks.

my response posted:

Grandma, this email is full of misinformation, starting with the attribution to Warren Buffet. Don't take what I'm writing as an attack on you or what you believe in, I know your heart is in the right place. From the top, point by point:

1) Completely meaningless. Congresspeople do not have "tenure" in of the fact that they are up for election every 2 years for the House of Representatives and 6 years for the Senate. A Congressperson is not able to retire with full benefits after serving one term in office, the size of a congressperson's pension is related to the number of terms served, the age that they retired and when they started serving. It is limited by law to 80% of their salary at the time of retirement. Furthermore, this point presupposes that members of Congress do no work while Congress is in session which is patently false. The fact that the vast majority of the work they do while Congress is not in session is related to fundraising is a sad reality due to the assertion by our Supreme Court that corporations have the same rights as people and that money deserves more of a voice than living human beings. The fact that the vast majority of people serving in Congress right now are millionaires is not a coincidence, it takes a lot of money to be successful in politics in today's America. Something like 94% of elections are decided by the candidate who spends the most money.

2) Again false. Since 1984 Congress has been required to pay into the Social Security Fund just like every one of us.

3) Not a really relevant point as there is nothing prohibiting congresspeople from contributing to a 401(k) or similar retirement plan.

4) A rhetorical canard; relying on the fact that to the average person the salary Congress receives seems rather large for the amount of "work" they do. The current pay of the average "rank and file" congressperson is $174,000 a year, which seems rather low considering the importance of their job to the lives of the American people. Many members of middle management in large corporations receive far higher compensation for work of less import and CEOs of corporations receive compensation in the millions of dollars for oftentimes destroying the the companies they lead. They then get golden parachutes consisting of millions of dollars more to get them to leave. Instead of worrying about the frankly trivial amount of money Congress makes, perhaps we should be worried about the outsized salaries these supposed captains of industry get for running their companies into the ground, costing working Americans their jobs, their pensions and the American economy with their shortsighted greed.

5) Per the PPACA law of 2009 (aka Obamacare), all congresspeople and their staff are required to purchase their health insurance on the public exchanges just like the rest of us who do not have their insurance provided to them by their employer.

6) Again, outright false. As far as I can recall, the only law that doesn't apply to members of Congress that applies to other citizens of the united states are in regards to insider trading. If this point is meant to refer to the immunity from low crimes and misdemeanors in the Constitution, that clause is absolutely necessary to prevent a political enemy of a congressperson from accusing a member of Congress of a crime to prevent them from voting on a crucial piece of legislature.

7) This last point is completely nonsensical. I have no idea why it is included in this email.

The last paragraph is probably the most interesting and frustrating for me. The unabashed worship of our founding fathers in this country has done more damage to progress in this country than just about anything I can think of off the top of my head. The country our founding fathers conceived of bears little to no resemblance to the one we have today and that is a good thing! The country our founding fathers thought would be best did not let women vote and thought black people did not deserve to be free men and women. They did not conceive the social safety nets that are a hallmark of our modern nation and that are being eroded further and further with each passing year. Luckily they had the foresight to recognize that the future held things that they could not conceive of and let the Constitution be a mutable document that could be adapted to the needs of the people it is meant to protect. Citizen legislators are a pipe dream of credulous people who do not realize the amount of time, effort and expertise it takes to govern a country of 300 million people. The only interests served by that concept would be the interests of large corporations, who quite frankly, have their interests catered to enough as it is.

Again, this is not meant to be an attack on anyone's political views, it is meant to simply prevent the spread of misinformation.

How did I do?

Sarion
Dec 24, 2003

rscott posted:

How did I do?

Quite well. The only things I might have added is for:

4) They already don't vote themselves pay raises. Their pay is already increased automatically, almost exactly the way the email describes. Instead, what happens is Congress sometimes votes to block the automatic pay raise. This action is sometimes included as amendments to other, unrelated, bills. As a result, someone may be voting against "mandatory abortions for all!", but the bill also includes "no pay raise this year". As a result, when elections roll around their opponents go "they voted in favor of a pay raise!", even though that's not at all what was happening.

5) They already have a health care plan that's the same as what lots of Americans have: Employer-funded health insurance. The plans they currently have access to are exactly the same as the plans available to all Federal Employees. Members of Congress, the President, FBI agents, CDC Research Scientists, your mail man, they all get the same insurance at the same prices. There's this weird idea, that point 5 seems to be hitting on, that Congress has super-special free healthcare. It's not, its the same as everyone else who works for the Federal Government.

You are correct about PPACA though, and its good to point it out; since "they passed Obamacare but exempted themselves!" is still a thing that people try to argue.

7) What the gently caress does this even mean?

Errant Gin Monks
Oct 2, 2009

"Yeah..."
- Marshawn Lynch
:hawksin:

quote:

As far as the idea that tax cuts hurt economic growth and increase the tax burden on the poor:
--The Kennedy tax cuts (91% to 70%) increased revenue from $94 billion to $153 billion. These tax cuts actually increased the tax burden of the top 10%.

--Revenue during the Reagan era skyrocketed after (most economist say--because of) the Reagan tax cuts, and the tax burden of the top 10% increased again (meaning the top 10% pay more of a percentage of the total tax burden) at one point reaching 57% in 1988. The economy grew by about 33% during the Reagan years.

--The Clinton economy didn't really boom until his 1997 capital gains and income tax reform policies went into place (including a reduction of the death tax, increased tax credits for education, retirement and children).

--After the Bush Tax cuts, revenue increased. Cutting capital gains taxes actually doubled the revenue from capital gains taxes. The bush tax cuts also resulted in an increase in the tax burden of the top 10% now pays about 70% of the total tax burden even though they earn just 43% of all income (including capital gains from the sale of assets). Economic growth after the Bush Tax Cuts was 4.1% in the 6 quarters after the tax cuts.

Fact is that reasonable tax policy is progressive, but not punitive.The purpose of taxes shouldn't be to punish venture capitalist for making money while dramatically increasing productivity and economic growth simply because they made more money than some other guy. Furthermore, Rich people do not benefit as much from government services as poor people. When you look at the transfer payments, police, public education, and other services--the poor consume dramatically more government services per capita than rich people.

Can someone please tell me why this guy is an idiot? Especially since he is living under crippling debt from going to medical scohol, taking care of his blind wife and his kids.

Crackbone
May 23, 2003

Vlaada is my co-pilot.

Errant Gin Monks posted:

Can someone please tell me why this guy is an idiot? Especially since he is living under crippling debt from going to medical scohol, taking care of his blind wife and his kids.

First, he's wrong about some of his facts.
http://www.factcheck.org/2011/07/sessions-wrong-on-bush-tax-cuts/

Reagan also increased taxes twice after lowering them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/opinion/the-great-taxer.html

His second problem is he's conflating increased tax revenues with revenue per captia. Revenues rise whether there's a tax cut or tax hike, because of both inflation and population growth. The important number is how much per person the government takes in per person, or the ratio of revenue to GDP. It's like saying everything's fine because you got a 3% raise this year, even though your cost of living (rent, food, insurance) went up 5%.

I know Krugman tends to be immediately discarded by right-wingers, but here's the article.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/reagan-and-revenue/

Finally, his claim that the rich do not benefit from government services is absurd. The rich man has more property protected by the police and fire departments. If he's got a business he's probably got a fleet of vehicles that utilize public roads. If he's got customers he benefits for an educated, healthy, wage-earning populace.

Also, marginal utility of a dollar, motherfucker.

Crackbone fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Aug 14, 2012

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Keshik
Oct 27, 2000

Yeah, those facts are totally bullshit. Pure fiction.

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