[Jackson50]

Do any here at poligaf watch washington journal? It's fun to watch this guy squirm. he labels himself as a "reporter" but admits (after being questioned on his bias) that "opinion journalism is my trade" the Weekly Standards Michael Warren When questioned on why there are so many of the foreign policy advisers in romney's camp that were there from the bush era: "there arent that many foreign policy experts"

There are plenty of experts. Only, his brand has been marginalized.

Pretty much everybody uses misleading infographics all the time. See Edward Tufte.

Yeah. Misleading graphs, whether intentional or not, are ubiquitous; truncating the Y axis is a popular tactic. This is especially common in the mass media. That doesn't excuse Fox, of course.

[Black Republican]

good luck to romney's horse rafalca tommorow morning

[PhoenixPause]

Virginia’s Virgil Goode: Could this Man Cost Mitt Romney the Presidency? Virgil Goode glides through the doors of a McDonald's in Farmville, VA, at 11:52 am and instantly three construction workers in the back booth rise to their feet. ”I’ve been wanting to shake your hand a long time, sir,” says Jeremy Clay of nearby Evington, extending a hand to the former Congressman. His buddy Jeremy Rawlings of Lynchburg does the same, and asks which line to sign on Goode’s petition to get on the presidential ballot. “If Obama gets re-elected, we’re all doomed,” Rawlings says as he scrawls his name. Goode asks in his Virginia drawl how business is faring. Two postal workers who have joined the group shake their heads—“We’re on the line,” one says. Goode asks about their families as they take photos on their cell phones. Then he orders a vanilla ice cream cone and heads down Main Street to gather more names. Goode is running for president on the Constitution Party ticket, and his candidacy has Republicans sweating: Goode is pulling fully 9% of Virginia’s vote, according to a mid-July Public Policy Polling survey, leaving Obama ahead of Romney 49% to 35%. In a tight election where Virginia’s 13 electoral college votes could make or break the Romney’s candidacy, even 2% for Goode could pull enough Republicans away to hand the historically red state to Obama in November. Goode could easily maintain at least a few percentage points in Virginia through the fall. He remains a popular local figure who served in the Virginia State Senate for 24 years and then then represented VA’s 5th district in the U.S. House until 2009. His platform is simple—he can recite it under 15 seconds. “One: balance the budget now, not later. Two: Get Americans jobs by ending illegal immigration and making legal immigration harder. Lastly: Impose term limits.”

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/01...#ixzz22LHlr5Ir

Interesting

[RustyNails]

BigSicily works in Fox News graphics department confirmed.

[reilo]

BigSicily works in Fox News graphics department confirmed.

If that was true, then the whole left portion of the graph would have been blocked off.

[Four_Chamber]

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/01...#ixzz22LHlr5Ir Interesting

I've been reading about this for a while. I don't think Obama will need Virginia but if Virginia goes to Obama, the path to the White House is gone for Romney. Goode, unlike other third party candidates, is popular enough where he can siphon off a good number of votes. I know he says he will draw votes from both candidates but what voters are going to be jumping on his anti-immigration platform... I doubt it will be folks who are voting for Obama.

[cartoon_soldier]

I've been reading about this for a while. I don't think Obama will need Virginia but if Virginia goes to Obama, the path to the White House is gone for Romney. Goode, unlike other third party candidates, is popular enough where he can siphon off a good number of votes. I know he says he will draw votes from both candidates but what voters are going to be jumping on his anti-immigration platform... I doubt it will be folks who are voting for Obama.

Goode in VA and Johnson in NM can act as big spoilers, though Gary Johnson will affect both parties.

[Jooney]

If that was true, then the whole left portion of the graph would have been blocked off.

... with the accompanying analysis indicating that taxes would return to historic highs!

[jamesinclair]

Well, suburban Atlanta voters have mandated that their city begin to circle the drain and collapse on itself.

These people need to visit Delhi, Sao Paulo etc to see what happens to cities that dont invest properly in transportation.

Heres a hint: Congestion isnt free, and Id bet large sums of money that the cost of congestion will outweigh the price of the failed tax many times over.

Distrustful of government and riven by differences, metro Atlanta voters on Tuesday rejected a $7.2 billion transportation plan that business leaders have called an essential bulwark against regional decline. ... Shirley Tondee, a Brookhaven Republican, thinks the region must do something to solve constant transportation woes. But she voted against the T-SPLOST anyway. "I just don't trust that government is going to take the money and do what they say they're going to do," the retired sales representative said outside her precinct. ... The metro Atlanta tax would have built a $6.14 billion list of 157 regional projects — relieving congestion at key Interstate highway chokepoints and opening 29 miles of new rail track to passengers, among others — as well as $1 billion worth of smaller local projects. The list was negotiated by 21 mayors and county commissioners from all 10 counties, and it contained about half transit and half roads.

http://www.ajc.com/news/transportati...x-1488552.html

The proposed one-cent sales tax hike to support $7.15 billion in spending on transit and roads was roundly defeated Tuesday, with 62 percent opposing. Though approved by Atlanta city voters, none of the 10 counties considering the measure gave it the thumbs up, according to unofficial results. MARTA will most likely see fare hikes or service reductions in the next fiscal year, said Ashley Robbins, executive director of Citizens for Progressive Transit, which advocated for the spending package. The region’s transit agency, which receives no state support, has been spending down its reserves. Even with the $600 million earmarked for MARTA in the referendum, the agency was still facing a $2.3 billion shortfall over the next 10 years. In addition, the region’s suburban express bus service, GRTA, which serves about 10,000 daily, will most likely be forced to close. And Clayton County, a largely urban county south of Atlanta that lost its transit service altogether two years ago, will have no means to restore service. ... Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said he would focus existing resources toward plans to add an interchange at I-285 and Georgia 400. He said other projects would have to be delayed, and he indicated he was not eager to do anything to shore up MARTA. “MARTA needs to be fixed, and before the taxpayers are going to spend any more money on MARTA, I think they’ve also sent a message that they’re not going to put more money into something they perceive is not functioning appropriately with the revenue that’s available,” he said. The Georgia Department of Transportation, which ranks 49th nationally in per-capita transportation spending, is mired in debt. Roughly half of Georgia’s existing gas tax revenues must be put toward debt service, said Robbins. Without the revenues that would have come from the sales tax, the state may find itself returning federal funds, for lack of a 20 percent match.

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/08/01...06#more-284238



What kind of job creator would invest in a state that wont provide the infrastructure needed bring the labor, raw materials and customers to the business?

[pigeon]

Well, suburban Atlanta voters have mandated that their city begin to circle the drain and collapse on itself. These people need to visit Louisiana and Mississippi to see what happens to cities that dont invest properly in transportation.

Fixed. Resistance to infrastructure in Southern states is literally a two-hundred-year-old problem.

[Clevinger]

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/01...#ixzz22LHlr5Ir Interesting

dropping out of the race in 3, 2, 1...

[Tim-E]

Putting anything involving an increase in revenue to a vote is so incredibly stupid. The majority of people think that infrastructure is magically in perfect shape, so their dang blasted taxes aren't going to go up one penny if they have any say! All the people against it have to say is "Look, it's a TAX" and it will lose.

[jamesinclair]

Fixed. Resistance to infrastructure in Southern states is literally a two-hundred-year-old problem.

Those states dont have cities big enough to really show what happens when congestion kills your city.

Atlanta is one of two southern cities that can actually claim being home to large corporations (Miami being the other one). They actually have something to lose.

Actually, Miami is a fantastic example of what can go wrong.... Its a traffic nightmare, and they have the worst subway system in the country.

[Chumly]

Well, suburban Atlanta voters have mandated that their city begin to circle the drain and collapse on itself. These people need to visit Delhi, Sao Paulo etc to see what happens to cities that dont invest properly in transportation. Heres a hint: Congestion isnt free, and Id bet large sums of money that the cost of congestion will outweigh the price of the failed tax many times over. http://www.ajc.com/news/transportati...x-1488552.html http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/08/01...06#more-284238 What kind of job creator would invest in a state that wont provide the infrastructure needed bring the labor, raw materials and customers to the business?

People wonder why the south is stuck as a giant shithole

[el retorno]

Putting anything involving an increase in revenue to a vote is so incredibly stupid. The majority of people think that infrastructure is magically in perfect shape, so their dang blasted taxes aren't going to go up one penny if they have any say! All the people against it have to say is "Look, it's a TAX" and it will lose.

I was just talking to my dad about this with property taxes and other tax issues that are put on the ballot. Why are they put to a popular vote? There´s a reason why we have a representative system. They´re going to get shot down because not many people are going to personally vote for a tax increase on themselves.

[thatbox]

I was finishing the paper as I ate dinner just now, and EJ Dionne has written an explanation of my Romney three-dimensional checkers possibility:

Here are the two great campaign mysteries at midsummer: Why does Mitt Romney appear to be getting so much traction from ripping a few of President Obama’s words out of context? And why aren’t Romney and other Republicans moving to the political center as the election approaches?

Both mysteries point to an important fact about the 2012 campaign: For conservatives, this is a go-for-broke election. They and a Republican Party now under their control hope to eke out a narrow victory in November on the basis of a quite radical program that includes more tax cuts for the rich, deep reductions in domestic spending, big increases in military spending and a sharp rollback in government regulation.

In the process, the right hopes to redefine middle-of-the-road policies as “left wing,” thereby altering the balance in the American political debate.

What should alarm both liberals and moderates is that this is the rare election in which such a strategy has a chance of succeeding. Conservatives have their opening not because the country has moved far to the right but courtesy of economic discontent, partisan polarization and the right’s success in defining Obama as standing well to the left of where he actually does.

...

The words did, however, play to a stereotype of Obama as an advocate of big government who mistrusts business. The distortion resonated, said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster, because key voter groups that Romney is trying to win suspect the four words reflect “secretly what he [Obama] believes.”

Moreover, Republicans want to recast the Obama campaign’s most effective line of attack — that Romney is a very wealthy out-of-touch financier who “pioneered” the outsourcing of jobs, kept a lot of money in foreign accounts and refuses to release additional tax returns — as being less about Romney than about the president’s supposed hostility to “success” and to business. Much is riding on the interpretation (or willful misinterpretation) of a short sentence in a long speech.

The go-for-broke strategy has a chance for another reason: In this election, the number of genuine, middle-of-the-road swing voters is very small. For both candidates, this puts a premium not only on high turnout among party base groups but also on very large victory margins within them. McInturff thinks we may be moving from an electoral model based on swing or undecided voters to a world of what he calls “committed versus elastic” voter groups.

...

Republicans want to play down the implications of what they would do in power and paint Obama as someone he isn’t. Normally, this strategy wouldn’t work. But this is a moment when abnormal levels of economic turmoil are feeding a profound mistrust of government. Conservatives are making a large bet that if ever there was a year when they could mainstream out-of-the-mainstream ideas, this is it.

Essentially, this election, there may be more to gain from base-pandering than courting independents and undecideds, which is how we (may) have arrived at NAACP boos and anti-Palestinian bigotry.

[Skiptastic]

I was just talking to my dad about this with property taxes and other tax issues that are put on the ballot. Why are they put to a popular vote? There´s a reason why we have a representative system. They´re going to get shot down because not many people are going to personally vote for a tax increase on themselves.

Depends on the purpose of the taxes. Indiana did vote in a 1% property tax limit, but my city (which is pretty darn conservative) voted to authorize a raise in property taxes to support the school system.

[cartoon_soldier]

I was finishing the paper as I ate dinner just now, and EJ Dionne has written an explanation of my Romney three-dimensional checkers possibility:

And the Media allows such a strategy

[Dram]

Heidi Wys, Adviser To Powerful Puerto Rico Lawmaker, Faces Calls To Resign After Anti-Obama Tweet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...p_ref=politics

An adviser to Puerto Rico's most powerful female lawmaker faced calls to resign on Wednesday after she sent a tweet to President Barack Obama urging him to buy the first lady a double-banana sundae and take her to Kenya. Heidi Wys sent the tweet last week shortly after Obama tweeted that Michelle Obama's birthday was coming up. "Who cares?" Wys wrote in response. "Take her to Burger King, buy her a sundae with double banana, take her to your homeland, Kenya!" Wys is the main adviser to House of Representatives President Jenniffer Gonzalez and has earned $630,000 since 2008 for her services as an administrative consultant, according to records with the Comptroller's Office. Several legislators are demanding that Wys step down or that Gonzalez ask for her resignation. In response to a July 30 tweet by a Puerto Rico online newspaper, Wys urged reporters to follow an investigation to probe the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate. Wys, who is white, also said in another tweet that she is not racist and that her favorite nieces are black, but added that she does not support Obama. "I fight Obama with all the strength in my heart and passion as a descendant of germans!!" she wrote on July 30. On June 18, she sent another tweet to Obama in response to a general invitation to have dinner with the President. "Wah! Wah! I feel like vomiting! Dinner with a guy borned in Kenya and claims he was borned in Hawaii!" she wrote, with some misspellings. Wys is a member of Puerto Rico's New Progressive Party, which supports statehood, but she said she does not identify herself as a Democrat or Republican.

It's weird how Obama has this affect on people.

[Black Mamba]

Heidi Wys, Adviser To Powerful Puerto Rico Lawmaker, Faces Calls To Resign After Anti-Obama Tweet http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...p_ref=politics It's weird how Obama has this affect on people.

What's weirder to me is how people in these positions can be so fucking stupid.

[Clevinger]

"with all the strength in my heart and passion as a descendant of germans!!"

haha, what the fuck?

"Dinner with a guy borned in Kenya"

lol

[Dan]

Wys, who is white, also said in another tweet that she is not racist and that her favorite nieces are black, but added that she does not support Obama.

I can't stop laughing. That's a hysterical twist on the "some of my best friends are black" trope. It's also a public slam on her other non-black nieces.

[Clevinger]

oh my god, how did I miss that?

[GhaleonEB]

I wonder how her non-black nieces feel about that.

[Dan]

I was just talking to my dad about this with property taxes and other tax issues that are put on the ballot. Why are they put to a popular vote? There´s a reason why we have a representative system. They´re going to get shot down because not many people are going to personally vote for a tax increase on themselves.

I found this:

Results were still pending Tuesday night in the state's other 11 regions. The Transportation Investment Act of 2010, which set up the referendum, was touted to raise as much as $19 billion if approved district by district. Leaders with the Metro Atlanta Chamber, which pushed to create the referendum in the Legislature and then poured millions into a campaign to pass the tax, did not immediately return telephone calls.

I'm guessing one reason is that it was the only way it could even clear the legislature. Voting directly for higher taxes was probably unacceptable to a lot of politicians. The entire thing probably had no chance of being approved. Instead they managed to agree on a referendum, or really 12 different referendums by region (each made up of many counties). From what I see, three passed it, so they'll see the bump in sales tax and get various projects completed. The rest, which includes Atlanta, will just see congestion continue to get worse.

I also found this little bit:

Deeper insecurities were at play as well. A poll conducted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year found that 42 percent of respondents believed new mass transit brings crime.

[Aaron Strife]

What's weirder to me is how people in these positions can be so fucking stupid.

Twitter has done wonders for political transparency. Some people don't know how to hold their tongue.

[Dan]

Unfortunately her Twitter feed has seemingly been scrubbed of all her personal tweets. Only retweets remain. I wanted to find the exact quote about her black nieces.

[SouthernDragon]

Those states dont have cities big enough to really show what happens when congestion kills your city. Atlanta is one of two southern cities that can actually claim being home to large corporations (Miami being the other one). They actually have something to lose. Actually, Miami is a fantastic example of what can go wrong.... Its a traffic nightmare, and they have the worst subway system in the country.

It's one of the reasons I'm leaving Miami. I'm planning on writing to the mayor, too; a lot of Miamians are ok with the situation because they've never been anywhere with decent transportation.

[RDreamer]

The fuck!?

"I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that's Pearl Harbor day. The other is September 11th, and that's the day of the terrorist attack," Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly (R) said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."

I have no words anymore. None. The republican party has straight up shit its pants, proceeded to put their dirty underwear atop their head, and is currently prancing around yelling gibberish at the top of their lungs.

[el retorno]

Depends on the purpose of the taxes. Indiana did vote in a 1% property tax limit, but my city (which is pretty darn conservative) voted to authorize a raise in property taxes to support the school system.

I have seen limits on the future get struck down (in more affluent districts where they know the harm many of these proposals do). But the only increase I ever see are millages.

I hate statewide ballots. Because people also vote against them because they don´t see the benefits, they think it will get misspent in their state capital or washington.

I like direct democracy in local matters but the further it gets away the more a representative system works better.

[Cyan]

The fuck!? I have no words anymore. None. The republican party has straight up shit its pants, proceeded to put their dirty underwear atop their head, and is currently prancing around yelling gibberish at the top of their lungs.

Shit, somehow I thought this was related to Chick Fila.

I've been in that thread too long.

[dabig2]

The fuck!? I have no words anymore. None. The republican party has straight up shit its pants, proceeded to put their dirty underwear atop their head, and is currently prancing around yelling gibberish at the top of their lungs.

this goddamn country.

[Hobbestetrician]

The fuck!? I have no words anymore. None. The republican party has straight up shit its pants, proceeded to put their dirty underwear atop their head, and is currently prancing around yelling gibberish at the top of their lungs.

People in Pennsylvania recently seem to like to compare things they don't like happening to them to tragic terrorist events where thousands of people actually died: http://deadspin.com/5928585/penn-sta...ng-into-towers

[el retorno]

I also found this little bit:

It's one of the reasons I'm leaving Miami. I'm planning on writing to the mayor, too; a lot of Miamians are ok with the situation because they've never been anywhere with decent transportation.

This brings me to something I was thinking about while listening to NPR today. They were talking about the Indian blackout and corruption and how the middle classes and upper classes there have no incentive to commit to these public infrastructure projects. They have private guards, use private transport, drink bottled water, generate their own electricity, etc.

It just struck me how similar that is to the US. The 1% and even a large portion of the middle class is so reluctant to contribute to the country because they don´t use much of what the country would produce with these products (you can argue they do but they don´t see it that way). Rich folk are going to fight against many transportation projects because they use their private jets, private cars etc. They fight against public schools or at the very least don´t promote them because they don´t use them. Look at movies set in the 50s and all the public pools and baseball fields. Do those even exist anymore that aren´t a part of a subdivision which will kick out any poor minority who doesn´t live there. With the growth of suburbs public pools, libraries and other public goods have decayed because people don´t see their personal benefit from them. Their now seen as charity and not something for they themselves to use. They have a pool in their backyard why do they need to fund one for one that is just gonna be used by the poor black kids. And with the collapse of political machines and their replacement with corporate machines they can actually affect policy.

That I think is the biggest problem facing progressives and liberals is the lack of public goods and public projects that everybody used. There are big projects but theres always private money which takes out the public in them. Look at sports stadiums. The public contributes so much money to them but since there is a bit a private money they get handed over to private hands to reap all the rewords. Things like that highway in ATL and much of what the stimulus was spent on was since by many as just going to the poor folks that didn´t contribute to anything (FOX loves playing up this angle). They got nothing while their houses got foreclosed. There needs to be a better spread of money spent if only to get the government better PR (building things that maybe are not for a better economy but to spread the message that your money helps you too). That´s Warren´s message but its so tough to get through to people.

Robert Reich in his new book Beyond Outrage goes into this much better (At least I think it was in that book, its like 2 bucks on amazon but a pretty good read).

I don´t like much of EV´s actual policy solutions but one thing I think he understands really damn well is how politics in practice works. People need to demand things and organize for any of this to actually change. Its sad that when I talk to my dad he agrees with so much of this buy just doesn´t see it changing and just gives me the standard "its the way things are" whenever I bring up hypocracy in the republican talking points, he can´t even fake outrage anymore.... Maybe I´m still young (mid 20s) and naive.

[daedalius]

The fuck!? I have no words anymore. None. The republican party has straight up shit its pants, proceeded to put their dirty underwear atop their head, and is currently prancing around yelling gibberish at the top of their lungs.

Saw this earlier.

Immediate thought "my mind is full of fuck"

[Stinkles]

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/01...#ixzz22LHlr5Ir Interesting

yup. Legal immigration is too easy - I just filled out a form...

[jamesinclair]

Deeper insecurities were at play as well. A poll conducted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year found that 42 percent of respondents believed new mass transit brings crime.]

Completely true, you have no idea how many stolen plasmas Id see on the subway every day.

It's one of the reasons I'm leaving Miami. I'm planning on writing to the mayor, too; a lot of Miamians are ok with the situation because they've never been anywhere with decent transportation.

A lot of cities will face a japan-style demographic problem soon as the youth flee to jobs in cities they WANT to live in, not a traffic-soaked hellhole.

Not everyone can leave....but those who can.....can you say brain-drain?

Its not like theres no precedent, right detroit?

[jamesinclair]

This brings me to something I was thinking about while listening to NPR today. They were talking about the Indian blackout and corruption and how the middle classes and upper classes there have no incentive to commit to these public infrastructure projects. They have private guards, use private transport, drink bottled water, generate their own electricity, etc. It just struck me how similar that is to the US. The 1% and even a large portion of the middle class is so reluctant to contribute to the country because they don´t use much of what the country would produce with these products (you can argue they do but they don´t see it that way). Rich folk are going to fight against many transportation projects because they use their private jets, private cars etc. They fight against public schools or at the very least don´t promote them because they don´t use them. Look at movies set in the 50s and all the public pools and baseball fields. Do those even exist anymore that aren´t a part of a subdivision which will kick out any poor minority who doesn´t live there. With the growth of suburbs public pools, libraries and other public goods have decayed because people don´t see their personal benefit from them. Their now seen as charity and not something for they themselves to use. They have a pool in their backyard why do they need to fund one for one that is just gonna be used by the poor black kids. And with the collapse of political machines and their replacement with corporate machines they can actually affect policy. That I think is the biggest problem facing progressives and liberals is the lack of public goods and public projects that everybody used. There are big projects but theres always private money which takes out the public in them. Look at sports stadiums. The public contributes so much money to them but since there is a bit a private money they get handed over to private hands to reap all the rewords. Things like that highway in ATL and much of what the stimulus was spent on was since by many as just going to the poor folks that didn´t contribute to anything (FOX loves playing up this angle). They got nothing while their houses got foreclosed. There needs to be a better spread of money spent if only to get the government better PR (building things that maybe are not for a better economy but to spread the message that your money helps you too). That´s Warren´s message but its so tough to get through to people. Robert Reich in his new book Beyond Outrage goes into this much better (At least I think it was in that book, its like 2 bucks on amazon but a pretty good read). I don´t like much of EV´s actual policy solutions but one thing I think he understands really damn well is how politics in practice works. People need to demand things and organize for any of this to actually change. Its sad that when I talk to my dad he agrees with so much of this buy just doesn´t see it changing and just gives me the standard "its the way things are" whenever I bring up hypocracy in the republican talking points, he can´t even fake outrage anymore.... Maybe I´m still young (mid 20s) and naive.

Very good points.

Its also amazingly inefficient.

Everyone having a pool is an enormous money sink.

Why does everyone need a basketball hoop in their driveway that gets used twice a year when a public one on every block would be cheaper and more useful?




Speaking of poor black kids and pools....

Thats a model i can believe in.

http://app.dpr.dc.gov/dprmap/details.asp?cid=3

Check out the amazing (completely free) aquatic centers found in multiple parts of DC




Not shown: The kids splash pool, gym and dance room

When I lived there, I was pretty much the only white guy using it. Every new apartment complex advertising their amazing (tiny) private pool, and of course they charge $2,000+ rents a month to use it. The white incomers love it.

Theyre really missing the fuck out.

[PantherLotus]

Yeah but I bet they don't want to swim with black people anyway.

[SouthernDragon]

Miami is a perfect example of the insularity.

All the rich people live and work in specific areas, so they don't want to fund anything. Ever.

Everyone puts up with the bullshit because they don't know of anything better. Traffic is just what it is, right?

[PhoenixPause]

Heidi Wys, Adviser To Powerful Puerto Rico Lawmaker, Faces Calls To Resign After Anti-Obama Tweet http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...p_ref=politics It's weird how Obama has this affect on people.

Wys, who is white, also said in another tweet that she is not racist and that her favorite nieces are black, but added that she does not support Obama. "I fight Obama with all the strength in my heart and passion as a descendant of germans!!" she wrote on July 30.

oh boy

[Trey]

I can't stop laughing. That's a hysterical twist on the "some of my best friends are black" trope. It's also a public slam on her other non-black nieces.

I wonder how her non-black nieces feel about that.

Too good.

[PantherLotus]

i can feel the passion of a million burning germans coursing through my veins right now

[B-Dubs]

It's one of the reasons I'm leaving Miami. I'm planning on writing to the mayor, too; a lot of Miamians are ok with the situation because they've never been anywhere with decent transportation.

I visited a friend down there last summer and it feels so...isolated?...compared to NYC. Here if I want to go somewhere its easy, because god help you if you try and drive in Manhattan. When I was there, you needed a car. It just felt weird to drive in a city, and by weird I mean annoying.

[el retorno]

Yeah but I bet they don't want to swim with black people anyway.

There no doubt is a racial component to it. Or rather class which is obviously built on racial lines.

There´s a reason why welfare queen is such a popular term.

oh boy

WTF at the german quote. Is that saying what I think its saying?

[Flying_Phoenix]

This brings me to something I was thinking about while listening to NPR today. They were talking about the Indian blackout and corruption and how the middle classes and upper classes there have no incentive to commit to these public infrastructure projects. They have private guards, use private transport, drink bottled water, generate their own electricity, etc. It just struck me how similar that is to the US. The 1% and even a large portion of the middle class is so reluctant to contribute to the country because they don´t use much of what the country would produce with these products (you can argue they do but they don´t see it that way). Rich folk are going to fight against many transportation projects because they use their private jets, private cars etc. They fight against public schools or at the very least don´t promote them because they don´t use them. Look at movies set in the 50s and all the public pools and baseball fields. Do those even exist anymore that aren´t a part of a subdivision which will kick out any poor minority who doesn´t live there. With the growth of suburbs public pools, libraries and other public goods have decayed because people don´t see their personal benefit from them. Their now seen as charity and not something for they themselves to use. They have a pool in their backyard why do they need to fund one for one that is just gonna be used by the poor black kids. And with the collapse of political machines and their replacement with corporate machines they can actually affect policy. That I think is the biggest problem facing progressives and liberals is the lack of public goods and public projects that everybody used. There are big projects but theres always private money which takes out the public in them. Look at sports stadiums. The public contributes so much money to them but since there is a bit a private money they get handed over to private hands to reap all the rewords. Things like that highway in ATL and much of what the stimulus was spent on was since by many as just going to the poor folks that didn´t contribute to anything (FOX loves playing up this angle). They got nothing while their houses got foreclosed. There needs to be a better spread of money spent if only to get the government better PR (building things that maybe are not for a better economy but to spread the message that your money helps you too). That´s Warren´s message but its so tough to get through to people. Robert Reich in his new book Beyond Outrage goes into this much better (At least I think it was in that book, its like 2 bucks on amazon but a pretty good read). I don´t like much of EV´s actual policy solutions but one thing I think he understands really damn well is how politics in practice works. People need to demand things and organize for any of this to actually change. Its sad that when I talk to my dad he agrees with so much of this buy just doesn´t see it changing and just gives me the standard "its the way things are" whenever I bring up hypocracy in the republican talking points, he can´t even fake outrage anymore.... Maybe I´m still young (mid 20s) and naive.

This is the crux of the entire issue with America. Why is America the world superpower but arguably has a lower quality of life for the average individual than Germany, France, or Japan? This is it. It isn't the 1950s anymore. Most Americans (white at least) aren't poor, they've "made it". They no longer need public pools. They don't need to use the library. Public transportation? What the fuck is that? And while there are things they use such as public schools, roads, police, those tax returns, etc. It isn't as obvious. But what demographics haven't "made it" for the most part? Pretty much all the others. Specifically blacks and hispanics.

Most white people can't really relate to these people. They have a different culture, come from different backgrounds, and most of all look different. Its hard to feel symphathetic to someone that you consider alien. Whats worse is that gang culture has infiltrated these communities thanks to the lack of financial, economic, and prohibition support. "Why do I want to have MY money go toward these people? They're ghetto, their kids are out of control as they kill people, you can't help people who don't want to help themselves." Hell even though welfare is seen as the epitomy of ghetto lazy 18 year old black mothers with 9 kids who are on it as long as possible, according to the census statistics the average person is white, in their thirties, and is on it for 1 to 2 years (this has been the case for twenty years now). People don't see these things as helping them they see it as helping others that they don't relate to and see as leaches. And while I realize that Kosmo isn't exaggerating THAT much when claims that 50% of welfare reciepents who show up to his drive thru seem to be abusers, this isn't the type of thing you solve by cutting taxes for rich people. This is actually solved the same way that you save the middle class. Investing in social justice, jobs, and the economy of middle and low income Americans. These people have been seemingly abadoned by American society. And as such they don't trust the system. The only way to fix this is to change their environment and this goes hand it hand as it will also strengthen the disadvantaged middle class.

Unfortunately it seems like we have a 1930s situation of "fuck you got mine". America was very similar today as it was in one hundred years ago. Huge wealth disparities, falling average classes, high crime with communities (poor country whites and immigrant city) that were basket cases, with everybody having a distate for each other. It took the financial apocalypse for people to get over their differences. Perhaps the middle class needs to be squeezed out more until they finally realize that "these projects don't just benefit THOSE people, but they also benefit ME!"

[Aaron Strife]

I think the white middle class also doesn't realize how screwed they really are.

For years they were sold the idea that everyone should earn a degree, everyone should own a car, everyone should own a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and work a 9-5 office job every day, and that this was the American lifestyle and something we should aspire to.

Except we're now at a point where all people are doing is racking up thousands of dollars of debt by living outside of their means, buying lavish houses they can't afford, gas-guzzling cars, getting fucked over by student loans, and paying off credit cards with more credit cards. On top of that blowing money on TVs, video games, booze and cigarettes etc.

It infuriates me whenever I see a report go something like this: "Lower gas prices have spiked the sale of low-mileage SUVs." It's like, newsflash fuckwits, those low gas prices are going to spring back in six months. In 2008 gas was almost $2/gal and it was awesome, now we're high-fiving each other when it gets close to 3. There's a big section of the middle class that's not willing to give up on a lifestyle that only the privileged can truly afford.

I've sat down with my mom, a baby boomer, and told her I'd rather rent out an apartment than buy a house. My own personal experience is that we're half a million dollars in the hole on our house and have been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for about five years now. But to her it's insanity to want anything else than home ownership, because it's a much better investment. I don't know, something about the best-case scenario being "live in this house for ten years, pay it off and then own it, only to move somewhere else after that ten years" isn't very appealing to me. I would much rather rent out a nice apartment in Minneapolis close enough to a well-paying job that I wouldn't have to walk or could take the bus.

[empty vessel]

Except we're now at a point where all people are doing is racking up thousands of dollars of debt by living outside of their means, buying lavish houses they can't afford, gas-guzzling cars, getting fucked over by student loans, and paying off credit cards with more credit cards. On top of that blowing money on TVs, video games, booze and cigarettes etc.

Hey, I blow money on booze and cigarettes etc.

[SouthernDragon]

People have been suckered into thinking a home is an investment.

It's not. It's a liability. If you are pay money every month out of pocket, it's a liability. It'll only generate a return if you a) rent the house or b) sell the house at a gain.

With b), you now have no home. I don't think the idea of long-term ownership is to sell the house, but what do I know?

[Aaron Strife]

Hey, I blow money on booze and cigarettes etc.

If you can budget for it, that's one thing. I don't think the majority of people do and they wonder why they're shit broke.

I totally buy frivolous crap I don't need.