The Democrat Thread

[Balta1701]

Commentary.

To understand how radical a move this is on the part of the Court, you have to understand how Arizona's "clean elections" law (and similar laws in a few other states) works. The law was established to address the fact that self-financed candidates can obliterate their opponents with money. But you can't limit the self-financed candidate's spending, since that would violate his free speech right. So what the clean-election law does is give matching funds to the "clean" candidate (who has entered the system by getting a large number of small contributions) to enable her to keep up. This is a clever solution: The self-financed candidate's rights are intact, because he can spend as much as he wants, but the more he spends, the more matching funds will be given to the "clean" candidate, leveling the electoral playing field at least partly.

 

Until now, conservatives on and off the Court have justified their ongoing assault on campaign-finance regulations by pointing to the primacy of the individual's right to free speech. Spending limits constrain speech, they argue, so they shouldn't be allowed. But the Court decided in Citizens United that money is speech, and corporations are persons, so you also can't limit what a corporation can spend on electioneering. There are lots of reasonable grounds to disagree with that decision, but it was at least a coherent position. But there is simply no sane way for them to argue that the Arizona law should be struck down on free-speech grounds. What the plaintiffs in this case are arguing is that I have a First Amendment right to make sure your voice isn't as loud as mine.

 

That this absurd argument could be persuasive to the Court makes sense only if you remember the fundamental principle that guides the Roberts Court: The powerful always win. Whenever there's a conflict between those with money and power on one side, and those without it (or with somewhat less of it) on the other, that's all you need to know. Ideas like freedom of speech and constitutional originalism are nothing more than tools to achieve that outcome.

[StrangeSox]

Balta, they have the freedom to purchase more speech then you. Duh.

[Balta1701]

Balta, they have the freedom to purchase more speech then you. Duh.

But we don't have the freedom to decide to do something about that.

[StrangeSox]

You have the freedom to stop being so lazy and earn more money, like a good American.

[Balta1701]

You have the freedom to stop being so lazy and earn more money, like a good American.

You figure out how to convert between γOs (t) and 187Os/186Os without putting the numbers into Excel and I'll be much more productive.

[mr_genius]

i'm just so shocked fiorino won. She's such a terrible candidate. She was a failure as an executive, failure as a McCain flac, and the only thing remarkable about her campaign has been incredibly modern and awesome viral commercials. Otherwise she says a bunch of stupid s***.

 

Oh wait, she's republican. She'll probs be president.

 

Fiorina should be pretty easy to beat. Terrible record as CEO for HP. There's so many things to run against her on.

 

 

[mr_genius]

The Dems will take both. The Republican primaries pushed both of those candidates so far to the right that it's going to be way too easy for Brown and Boxer to run the "Carly Fiorina said xxxx about immigration" ad.

 

I also predict a Dem sweep. I think the Brown vs Whitman will be close.

[StrangeSox]

You figure out how to convert between γOs (t) and 187Os/186Os without putting the numbers into Excel and I'll be much more productive.

 

It's not my fault you chose a career that isn't valuable. The Free Market has spoken, Balta, and you need to listen up. Until then, you'll just be another of those liar scientists rolling in the fraudulent research grant money.

 

Or go work for BP! I here they're having some kind of geological issue.

[bmags]

Fiorina should be pretty easy to beat. Terrible record as CEO for HP. There's so many things to run against her on.

 

oh but on the other hand the republicans have done a wonderful job turning around the disaster the created, oh f***, sorry, it's the democrats fault, because the escalating debt dies down immediately once another party takes in power, i forgot. The republicans are amazing, they take into account what real americans (white poor uneducated people) think, in other words, they give white poor uneducated people power when they have none, because despite everything they managed to not do s***, educate themselves, and become wealthy. I believe they are the lowest of the low, but in fact, they are the highest of the high, we should all worship them, because they are white and were born in the rural areas, bastian of morals.

[NorthSideSox72]

oh but on the other hand the republicans have done a wonderful job turning around the disaster the created, oh f***, sorry, it's the democrats fault, because the escalating debt dies down immediately once another party takes in power, i forgot. The republicans are amazing, they take into account what real americans (white poor uneducated people) think, in other words, they give white poor uneducated people power when they have none, because despite everything they managed to not do s***, educate themselves, and become wealthy. I believe they are the lowest of the low, but in fact, they are the highest of the high, we should all worship them, because they are white and were born in the rural areas, bastian of morals.

I can't figure out what your response has to do with the post you quoted.

 

[StrangeSox]

Look at the time stamp and consider where he was last night.

[Balta1701]

Look at the time stamp and consider where he was last night.

LOL, damn Kane...

[StrangeSox]

Kaneeeeerrrrrrrr!

[Balta1701]

This is kinda funny.

In a bizarre twist, unhinged state Rep. Sharron Angle actually won the Republican Senate nomination in Nevada this week. It's likely, then, that a lot of folks will be stopping by Angle's campaign website to learn more.

 

But a funny thing happens when one visits Angle's official campaign site: there's nothing there except a donation button.

 

In general, U.S. Senate candidates have plenty of resources on their sites -- a biography, an issues page, a calendar of events, volunteer opportunities, etc. Indeed, Angle's website used to have all of these things. She had a site -- filled with "spelling mistakes and grammatical errors" -- that had all kinds of information about Angle's nutty beliefs and background.

 

But now that she's actually won the primary, Angle's website has essentially been scrapped altogether. You can visit the homepage, donate money, and that's it. There's nothing else to click on.

 

Here's guessing someone at the National Republican Senatorial Committee gave Angle's team a call on Wednesday morning, demanding that the bizarre content -- reflecting the candidate's actual beliefs -- be taken down immediately.

 

Of course, the fact that voters can't go to Angle's site and learn a single thing about her isn't exactly a vote of confidence in her candidacy.

[bmags]

Man, I'm so impressed how much I typed last night!!! WOOT!!! After getting knocked down by a horse cop no less

 

work sucks so f***ing much right now oh my god.

[BigSqwert]

The President of the United States talks to the Pretend President of Facebook

[StrangeSox]

This is kinda funny.

 

From the politico article:

"build nuclear power plants inside Yucca Mountain; abolish the federal income tax and institute a “simpler, fairer, flatter tax system”; “defund Obamacare”; pull the United States out of the United Nations; ban nearly all abortions; get rid of the Energy and Education departments[...]"

 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/...l#ixzz0qT4kVRaT

 

Methinks there's an issue there. Also, I don't think most people realize everything the DOE does. It's not just regulating power plants.

[Balta1701]

Ok, this one takes me back to the first Ghostbusters movie, the scene in the Mayor's office, after the mayor of NYC throws Peck out of his office, where Venkman says "I'm gonna miss him!"

Comcast lobbyist authored letter signed by Pa. representatives

 

 

As Comcast Corp. was seeking political support in Washington for its proposed merger with NBC Universal Inc. in early May, a letter of support was circulated among Pennsylvania lawmakers and later signed by most of the state's congressional delegation.

 

The May 13 pro-Comcast letter was authored by David Urban, a former chief of staff for Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and now a lobbyist for Comcast, and signed by 15 of 18 Pennsylvania representatives.

 

Submitted into the public record at the Federal Communications Commission by Rep. Robert Brady (D., Phila.), the letter seems a raw display of Comcast's political clout in Pennsylvania, where the cable giant has its corporate headquarters, employs 11,000 workers, and contributes to political campaigns.

 

The pro-Comcast letter was timely, arriving as a coalition of 68 lawmakers from other states, led by Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), began calling for more public hearings on the proposed merger last month.

[mr_genius]

Man, I'm so impressed how much I typed last night!!! WOOT!!! After getting knocked down by a horse cop no less

 

work sucks so f***ing much right now oh my god.

 

haha

[Balta1701]

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) was injured by a mohair goat on Thursday during a press conference to highlight subsidies to the mohair industry.

[lostfan]

oh but on the other hand the republicans have done a wonderful job turning around the disaster the created, oh f***, sorry, it's the democrats fault, because the escalating debt dies down immediately once another party takes in power, i forgot. The republicans are amazing, they take into account what real americans (white poor uneducated people) think, in other words, they give white poor uneducated people power when they have none, because despite everything they managed to not do s***, educate themselves, and become wealthy. I believe they are the lowest of the low, but in fact, they are the highest of the high, we should all worship them, because they are white and were born in the rural areas, bastian of morals.

I'm impressed by the surprising lack of s***ty grammar in this post.

[bmags]

Look at all those commas!!!!!! And really, the point, is, that Barack Obama? Yeah, he's an alien too, man, and he's, like all of our presidents, a member of the stonecutters.

[Balta1701]

Rule number one is; don't tease the panther.

[Balta1701]

Here’s what (U.S. Ambassador) Crocker said yesterday:

 

That [diplomatic channel over Afghanistan with Iran in 2001] actually did produce some modest results. More importantly, it was the beginning of a process of sitting down away from the klieg lights and bounce things back and forth. I was in Kabul at the time of the ‘Axis of Evil’ [speech] and I can tell you it was a very interesting meeting in [u.N. official] Lakhdar Brahimi’s office after that with my Iranian counterpart.

 

It did not end the channel. But it certainly changed the tone. And the key Iranian response to the ‘Axis of Evil’ was to send Gulbuddin Hekmatyar back into Afghanistan. We had been talking to the Iranians up to that point about the possibility of Hekmatyar, who was under house arrest, being transferred to the Karzai government.

 

So in response to one rhetorical move — co-authored by David Frum, no less — that created an arbitrary category for Iran, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and North Korea, the Iranian leadership hedged its bets on cooperating with with the U.S. on post-Taliban Afghanistan and released a murderer back into the war zone.

Link

[southsider2k5]

Link

 

Its funny that things like this can get the blame, yet the death to America, death to Israel speeches don't mean anything apparently...