The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => History => Topic started by: pmcd9 on October 02, 2013, 07:28:33 pm
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My right wing friends have been pretty quiet on this issue. I've been getting most of my news on this issue from the Facebook echo chamber, but it seems pretty clear to me that this one rest squarely on the shoulders of the House republicans.
What say ye?
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That's about the size of it.
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That is very much my opinion as well. The ACA was passed by both houses of Congress, signed by the President, reviewed by the Supreme Court, and survived a de facto referendum in the 2012 election. It passed, its' a frickin' law, let's roll with it. Yeah, it's not perfect--I'd prefer single payer, but that's a whole 'nother discussion--but to hold everything else hostage is just grossly irresponsible, and shows you don't give a shit about the Constitution or democracy, you just want to impose your will.
Trouble is, thanks to gerrymandering, the craziest Republicans who are responsible for this don't have much to worry about. They come from districts that are solid red and elected the person who said the meanest things about Obama. MAYBE more reasonable Republicans will step up in those districts and run in primaries, but for now we're stuck with this bullshit. They're doing what they think their constituents want them to do, and fuck the rest of us.
If you see the FB thread I posted today, one of my loony-bin high school friends has posted a bunch of nonsense. I have been reluctant to engage, but I'm not going to delete anything either. If you want to know what some folks are thinking, read that. Though I do kind of want to ask, "If Obama really considers himself a king, and this regime is so oppressive that you think armed insurrection may be necessary, how come Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh aren't dead or imprisoned?"
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Now, it may pull a Principessa Jolanda (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1baub0TZj8) but fuckit, let's find out.
I don't think that's gonna happen, but yeah, let's find out already.
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the fact that the shutdown didn't affect the exchange rollout yesterday is the most absurd part of the shutdown. the only thing that negatively impacted the rollout was the incredibly, unexpectedly, unprepared for high demand. if that on its own doesn't speak to the need for the ACA then what the hell does
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If anything, I think they should gerrymander districts so that they ALL are as competitive as possible.
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The like 2 crazy libertarians I know on FB just think this is the bee's knees. One said the continued rising of the sun and chirping of the birds is definitive proof that the shutdown should be the permanent state. Of course these guys also don't believe in snow plows or fire departments.
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I read this story, and I don't know how you would interpret it as anything other than "Christ, what an asshole":
http://gawker.com/gop-congressman-makes-park-ranger-apologize-for-shutdow-1440577868
And yet, on Facebook, there it was. "How dare the Park Service put barricades around the memorial! They should just leave it open! They're just doing this to try to make the Republicans look bad!"
If they did leave the memorial wide open, and it was vandalized because there was no NPS staff there, I'm sure that would somehow be Democrats' fault too.
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Recently I told my mom that I just don't believe that our system works anymore, and she agreed. That was a pretty intense moment.
I just hate all of them. Right now my roommate, who is already always broke, is working without getting paid. (http://www.thenation.com/article/176496/americorps-vista-members-work-no-pay-during-shutdown) How is that legal? Part of his contract is that he can't have a second job. Also, he already basically gets paid below minimum wage. He makes less than half of what I make, I forget how the math works out on that. 6$ an hour? Like 11k a year.
Paying air traffic controllers is essential but moms and kids on WIC aren't? The FDA isn't? Fuck every one of these people. I want them all to get thrown in a big, cold lake. Wet undies and squishy shoes for everyone. You are so bad at your job that kids are going hungry? People getting healthcare makes you so mad that you want our whole country to fall into the ocean?
Are they still holding fundraisers for their reelections during the shutdown? Now that I am thinking about that I am thinking the lake might be too mild.
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I try not to say that I want truly bad things to happen to people. But I want Punishment and Lessons and Consequences.
Ted Cruz gets to play maniac, and the DNC gets to play its favorite role, the reasonable liberal who doesn’t actually have the power to do anything.
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If a government shutdown meant that planes would be grounded, it would never have happened. If a government shutdown meant the NSA would turn off the lights, not a single Republican would have signed on. If it meant that soldiers would stop killing, that police would stop putting people in jail, or that any of the many things that the government does to keep the economy running would come to a halt, it would be a cold day in hell before Ted Cruz would make himself the face of the shutdown. But the Office of Management and Budget helpfully requires every federal agency to have a plan for all the important stuff to continue, if ever there’s a shutdown. They must distinguish between essential services and inessential services, between the government functions that matter and those that don’t. That means that when the Republicans threaten to blow up the government if they don’t get everything they want, they know that the technocrats won’t let them hurt anyone who matters. The OMB won’t let them hurt the business community, or wreck the economy, or imperil America’s status as world’s warmonger. They know that poor people will suffer the most, and rich people will suffer the least. There are some things that transcend partisan divisiveness. (http://thenewinquiry.com/blogs/zunguzungu/essentially-vicious/)
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The Bloggess (http://thebloggess.com/2013/10/we-are-the-government/) said how I feel best:
right now everyone is a little freaked out about the fact that our Government is basically the equivalent of your dad not coming home because he’s passed out at the bar.
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I wonder if the republican party realizes that it is on the wrong side of history. Gay marriage will be legalized, some form of government healthcare will be realized, the government will continue to operate parks, etc. Being the dick who wants to stop progress isn't a noble objective or an electable platform.
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I wonder if the republican party realizes that it is on the wrong side of history.
Probably not.
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I think they are securely operating within the delusions of their platform and base constituency. I think that constituency is shrinking however, and the remainders aren't the sort of person I'd want as a neighbor.
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I think they are securely operating within the delusions of their platform and base constituency. I think that constituency is shrinking however, and the remainders aren't the sort of person I'd want as a neighbor.
I know quite a few of those people and they make great neighbors. They have crazy ideas about governance, but they make great neighbors.
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who's jerry manderling and why are people blaming him for the shutdown
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(https://scontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1374852_731081683585183_259421560_n.jpg)
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The Bloggess (http://thebloggess.com/2013/10/we-are-the-government/) said how I feel best:
Yeah, that's pretty good.
How about this lake (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929360.100-deadly-lake-turns-animals-into-statues.html), Inev?
That's awesome.
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Apparently if you've been furloughed you can get some free games (http://www.gog.com/news/special_promo_shutdown_promo) from gog.com. It's not a job, a viable economy, or a functioning government, but hey, free games.
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Actually I read somewhere that Smokey the Bear was the only government twitter account that is still active... yeah, this seems to be true even though the regular USFS website has the usual notice about being shut down.
https://twitter.com/smokey_bear (https://twitter.com/smokey_bear)
Also apparently there is no "the". Education.
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The Tea Party seems to be gaining some traction with the public by blaming President Obama for closing National monuments and denying veterans access (http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/10/14/exclusive-video-vet-protesters-remove-barricades-dc-memorials). Obviously these folks are nuts, but I gotta wonder why are the national monuments barricaded? I have some ideas on the matter, but it's just speculation. Since I'm not a tea party whacko I am actually interested in knowing what's actually up with this. Does anyone have any insight they can provide?
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the memorials are managed in the national parks system. rangers serve at parks as much to protect the visitors from danger as to protect the park from visitors. without funding to pay the rangers to do their jobs, the parks and visitors are both vulnerable. to try to prevent any danger or damage without rangers, they've closed off access. unfortunately, people can bypass the barriers because we are in fact smarter than raccoons, putting themselves in danger and exposing the park to vandalism or worse.
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did you see the video Somebody nice shared on the pokeplace this morning because christ
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just watch it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jd-iaYLO1A), it's five minutes long. i don't know who either of the people talking are.
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the memorials are managed in the national parks system. rangers serve at parks as much to protect the visitors from danger as to protect the park from visitors. without funding to pay the rangers to do their jobs, the parks and visitors are both vulnerable. to try to prevent any danger or damage without rangers, they've closed off access. unfortunately, people can bypass the barriers because we are in fact smarter than raccoons, putting themselves in danger and exposing the park to vandalism or worse.
This was my thought as well. In this day in age it's more protect the park from idiots.
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This was my thought as well. In this day in age it's more protect the park from idiots.
Case in Point (http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/national_world&id=9291757)
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Case in Point (http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/national_world&id=9291757)
Of course this also reinforces my belief that Boy Scouts are terrible people.