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Poligaf episode 2010: The Empire Strikes Back

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C

Chichikov

Member
scorcho said:
the furor behind earmarks always struck me as daft. there's an almost universal disdain for the concept of earmarks, but in the same breath people love federal funding going towards projects in their local districts.

i'll be more excited when i see a serious - well, any at this point - effort to curb defense spending.
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That's not a good enough reason to not be happy to see them gone.

Also don't conflate federal funding with earmarks.

Earmarks are undemocratic and a fast lane to corruption; they have no place in our government, and we should all be very happy to see them gone.
 
G

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Chichikov said:
That's not a good enough reason to not be happy to see them gone.

Also don't conflate federal funding with earmarks.

Earmarks are undemocratic and a fast lane to corruption; they have no place in our government, and we should all be very happy to see them gone.
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Earmarks are undemocratic? What are you talking about? An earmark is tied to legislation that has to be approved through the legislature. Just because a particular earmark involves a program or project occuring only to one state/region/community doesn't make it undemocratic. Don't misuse words
 
J

Jackson50

Member
GhaleonEB said:
I don't think much will be done, but I'm hoping for some, small change. Because that will actually start the process of changing the rules before each Congress, rather than running with the status quo.
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If only incremental reform is possible, then I will unenthusiastically accept it. If they reform procedural motions, then that is a small yet significant first step. Inhibiting debate is antithetical to the purpose of a deliberative assembly.
 
C

Chichikov

Member
GaimeGuy said:
Earmarks are undemocratic? What are you talking about? An earmark is tied to legislation that has to be approved through the legislature. Just because a particular earmark involves a program or project occuring only to one state/region/community doesn't make it undemocratic. Don't misuse words
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They're not debated on the floor, and they can (and do) bypass federal agencies, local government or a proper bidding process.


PhoenixDark said:
No more federal welfare for southern hypocrites, I wonder how they feel about this
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Most of the federal help those states are getting is not from earmarks.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Jackson50 said:
If only incremental reform is possible, then I will unenthusiastically accept it. If they reform procedural motions, then that is a small yet significant first step. Inhibiting debate is antithetical to the purpose of a deliberative assembly.
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That's where Dan Coats has been specific in his call for reform: eliminating the cloture motion to introduce bills and begin debate. Even if the threshold remains on the back end, that would be somewhat of breakthrough. And it's one even the obstructionists on the Dem side might agree to, since they could still, um, obstruct.
 
P

PhoenixDark

Banned
Chichikov said:
Most of the federal help those states are getting is not from earmarks.
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True, but with some of the faucet being turned off I wonder what the reaction will be; McConnell seemed to acknowledge as much when talking about all the stuff he's brought to his state.
 
G

gcubed

Member
aren't you just creating more legislation by having to pass spending bills for every states project separately? and with the current state of congress you are basically sending all of that funding to die because you'll never get them approved.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
gcubed said:
aren't you just creating more legislation by having to pass spending bills for every states project separately? and with the current state of congress you are basically sending all of that funding to die because you'll never get them approved.
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All it really does is further empower the appropriators, as the spending that would have gone through earmarks instead go through appropriations and other bills. There were no earmarks in the stimulus or health care bill either, but plenty of funds directed at specific states and projects.
 
J

Jackson50

Member
GhaleonEB said:
That's where Dan Coats has been specific in his call for reform: eliminating the cloture motion to introduce bills and begin debate. Even if the threshold remains on the back end, that would be somewhat of breakthrough. And it's one even the obstructionists on the Dem side might agree to, since they could still, um, obstruct.
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Yeah. It would not abolish the filibuster, and I presume obstruction would continue unabated. But it would expedite the process and compel the Senate to debate the actual bill rather than parliamentary procedure.

Also, Cuba has freed a few of the 13 remaining political prisoners. This move is significant because the prisoners being released have refused exile.

Cuba frees political dissidents
The first of 13 Cuban political prisoners who refused to accept a deal to go into exile in Spain earlier this year has been released, according to his family.

Arnaldo Ramos, a 68-year-old economist jailed in 2003, was freed on parole on Saturday.

"He was freed, and I feel very happy," Lidia Lima, the wife of the dissident told the AFP news agency. "They brought him home just a few minutes ago."

Her husband was now resting in a house in central Havana, she said.

Luis Enrique Ferrer, another dissident who rejected exile, was also released on Saturday and will now go to Spain after reaching a deal with the government to give his home to family members remaining in Cuba, a local human-rights official told the Reuters news agency.​
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/11/201011146376175194.html
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Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
I've been off of Neogaf for the better part of six weeks.

All I want to say in Poligaf is that Fox News' reporting that Obama's trip in Asia was going to cost 200 million dollars a day is one of the dumbest things I have heard. They should apologize to the American people for reporting such a lie as if it was the truth.
 
S

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Jackson50 said:
Yeah. It would not abolish the filibuster, and I presume obstruction would continue unabated. But it would expedite the process and compel the Senate to debate the actual bill rather than parliamentary procedure.

Also, Cuba has freed a few of the 13 remaining political prisoners. This move is significant because the prisoners being released have refused exile.
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What's causing the changes in Cuba anyway?
 
J

Jackson50

Member
Suikoguy said:
What's causing the changes in Cuba anyway?
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Necessity. The Cuban economy has been ailing for years, and it was decimated by a precipitous decline in tourism and the price of nickel . The only option is to open the country to court foreign investment and aid. The moves are intended to appease the U.S. There could be a seminal vote soon in the House on a bill that would abrogate travel restrictions to Cuba. That would be a boon for Cuban tourism. The bill should soon appear before the House Foreign Relations Committee.
 
L

luxarific

Nork unification denier
TestOfTide said:
Don't sweat it too much, the runner ups were "Tea Party" and "retweet."

Though I do love how their justification was the fact that repudiate was apparently not a suitable word to explain what Palin was saying, as if a fucking tweet should be treated like a consistent sentence.
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Should have been "banksters".
 
I

Incognito

Troll
GOP frosh: Dude, where's my healthcare?

A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan from the government takes a month to kick in.

Republican Andy Harris, an anesthesiologist who defeated freshman Democrat Frank Kratovil on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, reacted incredulously when informed that federal law mandated that his government-subsidized health care policy would take effect on Feb. 1 – 28 days after his Jan. 3rd swearing-in.

“He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care,” said a congressional staffer who saw the exchange. The benefits session, held behind closed doors, drew about 250 freshman members, staffers and family members to the Capitol Visitors Center auditorium late Monday morning,”.

“Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap,” added the aide, who was struck by the similarity to Harris’s request and the public option he denounced as a gateway to socialized medicine.
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:lol :lol
 
A

antonz

Member
I wish I could get on the Politician Health Plan. Its sure as fuck better than anything the healthcare reform would offer even if it included a public option.
 
Scarecrow

Scarecrow

Member
kind of a weird question, but can I get some recommendations on books for each of the last half dozen or so presidents that are written without bias? an objective look at their careers?
 
L

leroidys

Member
Gallbaro said:
Thank god, maybe now the children will actually have an education system that is for their benefit, and not an employment center.
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How do you figure?

speculawyer said:
That guy who wrote the article suggestion that Obama not run again was on NPR's "Talk of the Nation".

Every single caller told him he was wrong. :lol

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/15/131334551/op-ed-president-obama-drop-out-of-2012-race
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I heard him on another radio show today, it opened like this.

Interviewer: Hi, how are you?
Him: I'm very well.
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ughhhhh
 
C

ClovingWestbrook

Banned
BTW, seems like Murkowski has pulled ahead of Joe Miller with the write in votes being for her on a wide scale. She supposedly will still be ahead of him even if he manages to have a percentage of them thrown out on technicalities. I am not a fan of hers but he is the scum of the earth so good riddance.
 
S

Salazar

Member
LovingSteam said:
BTW, seems like Murkowski has pulled ahead of Joe Miller with the write in votes being for her on a wide scale. She supposedly will still be ahead of him even if he manages to have a percentage of them thrown out on technicalities. I am not a fan of hers but he is the scum of the earth so good riddance.
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This. What Miller had done and said before the election was bad enough, but he levelled-up as a douche in the aftermath.
 
L

leroidys

Member
RustyNails said:
Did McAdams had a chance had Murkowski dropped out?
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Last I saw he was at around 25%

But he was polling higher than that by like 10 points leading up to the election. It's possible that a lot of the Murkowski votes could have gone to him.
 
J

Jackson50

Member
LovingSteam said:
BTW, seems like Murkowski has pulled ahead of Joe Miller with the write in votes being for her on a wide scale. She supposedly will still be ahead of him even if he manages to have a percentage of them thrown out on technicalities. I am not a fan of hers but he is the scum of the earth so good riddance.
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Good. His conniving, contemptible post-election behavior further sullied his reputation...if that were possible. He should urbanely concede as Foley did. He would regain a modicum of his dignity were he to do that.
 
R

RustyNails

Member
Remember Kamala Harris I posted earlier about? Its too close to call. She's now down by a few thousand votes in the race for California AG with 2 million absentee ballots still needing to be counted. Karl Rove swept the airwaves with anti-Harris ads. But fret not,

As the counties tabulate late-arriving absentees and provisional ballots, we’ll see many abrupt swings in the vote totals. The current count shows Cooley with a small lead for the same reason he appeared to be ahead early on Tuesday evening – the overwhelming majority of the ballots that have been counted since November 2nd have come from conservative counties where Cooley won by large margins. For example, the current vote tally reflects results from Orange County, which represents only 8 to 9 percent of the statewide vote; yet Orange County accounts for nearly one-fourth of all the votes that have been counted post November 2nd. The majority of the counties where Kamala surged on Election Day, including many counties where she defeated Cooley by a two-to-one margin, have yet to tally their uncounted ballots in any significant numbers.
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C

ClovingWestbrook

Banned
Also if Miller does end up losing, I wonder what this will do to the Palin brand. Significant losses in the Senate for the Republicans could be attributed to candidates backed strongly by Palin.
 
B

Blergmeister

Member
LovingSteam said:
Also if Miller does end up losing, I wonder what this will do to the Palin brand. Significant losses in the Senate for the Republicans could be attributed to candidates backed strongly by Palin.
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I think its more likely that the Palin Seal of Approval means jack. I'm sure she thought it meant somthing and only used it on candidates that needed the most help... but these candidates were destined to lose anyways. Some combination of the two at least...
 
R

RustyNails

Member
LovingSteam said:
Also if Miller does end up losing, I wonder what this will do to the Palin brand. Significant losses in the Senate for the Republicans could be attributed to candidates backed strongly by Palin.
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Marco Rubio notwithstanding, it means that she's out of her league on national and state-wide platform.
 
G

gcubed

Member
Gallbaro said:
Thank god, maybe now the children will actually have an education system that is for their benefit, and not an employment center.
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so yeah, i know a whole shitload of people in NJ that aren't enamored with Christies teachers union fight. Sounds like most think he's fighting the wrong group by going after teachers instead of administrators.
 
C

cartoon_soldier

Member
just gonna leave this here...

SpinneyGraf.png
 
A

Aaron Strife

Banned
RustyNails said:
Remember Kamala Harris I posted earlier about? Its too close to call. She's now down by a few thousand votes in the race for California AG with 2 million absentee ballots still needing to be counted. Karl Rove swept the airwaves with anti-Harris ads. But fret not,
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I can't believe Dems actually came out of California stronger than they were last year. No House seats lost, Boxer won, and they got the governor's mansion back.

I guess when you have clowns like Fiorina and especially Whitman it's bound to have a down-ballot effect.
 
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