The Republican Thread

[Controlled Chaos]

http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/files/201...19100051579.pdf

 

We cannot emphasize enough: do not allow yourself (or your boss) to get into a discussion of the details of CBO scores and textual narrative. Instead, focus only on the deficit reductions and number of Americans covered.

 

The inclusion of a full SGR [sustainable Growth Rate] repeal would undermine reform’s budget neutrality. So, again, do not allow yourself (or your boss) to get into a discussion of the details of CBO scores and textual narrative. Instead, focus only on the deficit reductions and number of Americans covered.

 

As most health staff knows, Leadership and the White House are working with the AMA to rally physicians (sic) support for a full SGR repeal later this spring. However, both health and communications staff should understand we do not want that policy discussion discussed at this time…

[Jenksismyhero]

That's pretty disgusting, though I tend to think the majority of people on food stamps are probably not like that guy.

 

It might be the minority, but it's still proof that the system has a loophole that needs to be fixed. I too was a cashier back in high school that used to see this kind of stuff happen all the time. Cart 1 was everything covered under Link/Wic (baby formula, milk, diapers, etc etc), cart 2 was 200 dollars worth of normal groceries.

 

I think the system should be changed so that you have to prove that you need assistance. I'm tired of seeing people in public housing who get the free house, the free food, the free healthcare, but have a cell phone. Screw that. When you're days from filing for bankruptcy, despite not having anything, THEN you can get help.

Edited March 19, 2010 by Jenksismybitch

[Balta1701]

These days, it's just silly to pretend that people can get by without a cell phone, or basic things like internet access and a computer. Even search for jobs requires them.

[Controlled Chaos]

These days, it's just silly to pretend that people can get by without a cell phone, or basic things like internet access and a computer. Even search for jobs requires them.

These days cell phones are free too. I saw a lady on the news a while back, that was like it's great. I use the free one until the minutes are all up and then I use my other one. Yeah lady ....that's what they're for.

[Jenksismyhero]

These days, it's just silly to pretend that people can get by without a cell phone, or basic things like internet access and a computer. Even search for jobs requires them.

 

You're kidding right? Might as well have the government provide people with cars too since it's such a pain to get around without one.

 

If you want the conveniences of life, learn to work for it. If you're a bum, you don't deserve a cell phone. Go to a public library. Go pick up a newspaper and look in the classified ads.

[southsider2k5]

You're kidding right? Might as well have the government provide people with cars too since it's such a pain to get around without one.

 

If you want the conveniences of life, learn to work for it. If you're a bum, you don't deserve a cell phone. Go to a public library. Go pick up a newspaper and look in the classified ads.

 

I don't know about anyone else's library, but ours has computers available to the general public.

[Jenksismyhero]

I don't know about anyone else's library, but ours has computers available to the general public.

 

I would have to believe all public libraries are open to anyone who walks in and gets a library card.

[southsider2k5]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...Ra_UqAD9EFOA2O0

 

PROMISES, PROMISES: Is gov't more open with Obama?

 

By SHARON THEIMER (AP) – 3 days ago

 

WASHINGTON — Federal agencies haven't lived up to President Barack Obama's promise of a more open government, increasing their use of legal exemptions to keep records secret during his first year in office.

 

An Associated Press review of Freedom of Information Act reports filed by 17 major agencies found that the use of nearly every one of the law's nine exemptions to withhold information from the public rose in fiscal year 2009, which ended last October.

 

Among the most frequently used exemptions: one that lets the government hide records that detail its internal decision-making. Obama specifically directed agencies to stop using that exemption so frequently, but that directive appears to have been widely ignored.

 

Major agencies cited that exemption at least 70,779 times during the 2009 budget year, up from 47,395 times during President George W. Bush's final full budget year, according to annual FOIA reports filed by federal agencies. Obama was president for nine months in the 2009 period.

 

Departments used the exemption more even though Obama's Justice Department told agencies to that disclosing such records was "fully consistent with the purpose of the FOIA," a law intended to keep government accountable to the public.

 

For example, the Federal Aviation Administration cited the exemption in refusing the AP's FOIA request for internal memos on its decisions about a database showing incidents in which airplanes and birds collided. The FAA initially tried to withhold the bird-strike database from the public, but later released it under pressure.

 

The FAA claimed the same exemption to hold back nearly all records on its approval of an Air Force One flyover of New York City for publicity shots — a flight that prompted fears in the city of a Sept. 11-style attack. It also withheld internal communications during the aftermath of the public relations gaffe.

 

In all, major agencies cited that or other FOIA exemptions to refuse information at least 466,872 times in budget year 2009, compared with 312,683 times the previous year, the review found. Agencies often cite more than one exemption when withholding part or all of the material sought in an open-records request.

 

All told, the 17 agencies reviewed by AP reported getting 444,924 FOIA requests in fiscal 2009, compared with 493,610 in fiscal 2008.

 

The AP examined the 2008 and 2009 budget year FOIA reports from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Federal Reserve Board.

 

Other FOIA exemptions cover information on national defense and foreign relations, internal agency rules and practices, trade secrets, personal privacy, law enforcement proceedings, supervision of financial institutions and geological information on wells.

 

One, known as Exemption 3, covers dozens of types of information that Congress shielded from disclosure when passing other laws.

 

In sentences that are often vaguely worded and buried deep in legislation, Congress has granted a wide array of information special protection over the years: information related to grand jury investigations, the additives in cigarettes, juvenile arrest records, the identities of people applying restricted-use pesticides to their crops, and the locations of historically significant caves are a sampling of the broad range of information the public cannot get under FOIA.

 

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was so concerned about what he called "exemption creep" that last year he successfully pressed for a new law that requires FOIA exemptions to be "clear and unambiguous."

 

The federal government cited Exemption 3 protections to withhold information at least 14,442 times in the last budget year, compared with at least 13,599 in the previous one, agency FOIA reports show.

 

The prolific use of FOIA exemptions is one measure of how far the federal government has yet to go to carry out Obama's promise of openness. His first full day in office, Obama told agencies the Freedom of Information Act, "which encourages accountability through transparency, is the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open government."

 

Obama told agencies they shouldn't hide information merely because it might make them look bad. "The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA," Obama wrote.

 

Following up on Obama's words, the Justice Department advised agencies against withholding records sought under FOIA "merely because an exemption legally applies." Most recently, the White House encouraged agency officials to hold contests, complete with prizes, to encourage employees to promote open government.

 

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House Counsel Bob Bauer called on agency heads Tuesday to improve their handling of FOIA requests and assess whether they are devoting the resources needed to respond to requests "promptly and cooperatively."

 

Describing the Justice Department's actions on FOIA on Monday at the start of Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information, Attorney General Eric Holder said his agency is making progress. He noted that Justice provided everything sought in a FOIA request in more than 1,000 more cases than it had the previous year.

 

"Put simply, I asked that we make openness the default, not the exception. Today, I'm pleased to report that the disturbing 2008 trend — a reduction in this department's rate of disclosures — has been completely reversed," Holder said. "While we aren't where we need to be just yet, we're certainly on the right path."

 

Much of the Obama administration's early effort on FOIA seems to have been aimed at clearing out a backlog of old cases: The number of requests still sitting around past the time limits spelled out in the open-records law fell from 124,019 in budget year 2008 to 67,764 at the end of the most recent budget year over the 17 agencies, the AP's review found. There is no way to tell whether those whose old cases that were closed ultimately received the information they sought.

[Harry Chappas]

These days, it's just silly to pretend that people can get by without a cell phone, or basic things like internet access and a computer. Even search for jobs requires them.

 

 

Computers yes that is why libraries have them

 

Cell phones no

[NorthSideSox72]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...Ra_UqAD9EFOA2O0

This is one area where ObamaCo has really pissed me off. They have failed miserably at this, something that they claimed was a major emphasis for them.

 

[BigSqwert]

Likewise.

 

And what happened to the health care debate on C-SPAN? He kept telling us on the campaign trail how he'd make everything visible for us yet the White House went ahead and cut deals on the side with big pharma.

[Balta1701]

Likewise.

 

And what happened to the health care debate on C-SPAN? He kept telling us on the campaign trail how he'd make everything visible for us yet the White House went ahead and cut deals on the side with big pharma.

We saw with the "Health care summit" what happens when you put things on CNN. Everyone's fanny tightens up so much you could make diamond out of coal

[mr_genius]

It might be the minority

 

na. i think most people would agree that the entitlements in this country are getting way out of hand.

[southsider2k5]

We saw with the "Health care summit" what happens when you put things on CNN. Everyone's fanny tightens up so much you could make diamond out of coal

 

yeah, it tends to get a lot harder once you get past the glittering generalities.

[Balta1701]

yeah, it tends to get a lot harder once you get past the glittering generalities.

But then things wind up being more than 10 pages long. That's horrible.

[lostfan]

That actually goes for everything and not just healthcare. Like I said in another thread, by far the most depressing thing resulting from this entire ordeal isn't going to be the passage or failure of whatever the final bill will be or what's in it, but how it's exposed so many Americans as being intellectually lazy. Most voters don't really think about anything in anything more than glittering generalities and the more you break it down and the louder you are for/against it, people will just swallow the Kool-aid based on their already-determined perceptions. If you try to explain anything they don't want to be bothered, they just run back to their favorite information source to find a slant they prefer.

Edited March 20, 2010 by lostfan

[ChiSox_Sonix]

FYI

[Y2HH]

That actually goes for everything and not just healthcare. Like I said in another thread, by far the most depressing thing resulting from this entire ordeal isn't going to be the passage or failure of whatever the final bill will be or what's in it, but how it's exposed so many Americans as being intellectually lazy. Most voters don't really think about anything in anything more than glittering generalities and the more you break it down and the louder you are for/against it, people will just swallow the Kool-aid based on their already-determined perceptions. If you try to explain anything they don't want to be bothered, they just run back to their favorite information source to find a slant they prefer.

 

I'd say a vast majority of voters don't vote for issues or platform, they party vote.

 

IMO, party line voters are as much a problem in this country as the paid off politicians.

[Rex Kickass]

FYI

 

Astroturfing an internet poll is not an accurate reflection of anything.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Astroturfing an internet poll is not an accurate reflection of anything.

 

Of course it's not.

[Rex Kickass]

Of course it's not.

 

I'm glad you agree with me.

[Jenksismyhero]

I read this morning that Ann Coulter's appearance at the University of Ottawa had to be shut down for security reasons. I'm not really a fan of talking heads like her, but I do find it pretty funny that there's not more of an uproar about this type of thing. Imagine if Michael Moore was in the same situation.

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...Y-kQnAD9EKVOKG1

 

And it's Canada, I know, and they have their own version of freedom of speech, but it's pretty ironic that a protest got so out of hand over a woman speaking her mind about...yep, free speech (or lack thereof).

Edited March 24, 2010 by Jenksismybitch

[southsider2k5]

I read this morning that Ann Coulter's appearance at the University of Ottawa had to be shut down for security reasons. I'm not really a fan of talking heads like her, but I do find it pretty funny that there's not more of an uproar about this type of thing. Imagine if Michael Moore was in the same situation.

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...Y-kQnAD9EKVOKG1

 

And it's Canada, I know, and they have their own version of freedom of speech, but it's pretty ironic that a protest got so out of hand over a woman speaking her mind about...yep, free speech (or lack thereof).

 

Left wing terrorism...

[CanOfCorn]

That actually goes for everything and not just healthcare. Like I said in another thread, by far the most depressing thing resulting from this entire ordeal isn't going to be the passage or failure of whatever the final bill will be or what's in it, but how it's exposed so many Americans as being intellectually lazy. Most voters don't really think about anything in anything more than glittering generalities and the more you break it down and the louder you are for/against it, people will just swallow the Kool-aid based on their already-determined perceptions. If you try to explain anything they don't want to be bothered, they just run back to their favorite information source to find a slant they prefer.

 

Not to mention any legislation takes years, perhaps decades to completely take effect. The immediate reaction to any legislation is dangerous.

 

 

[GoSox05]

I read this morning that Ann Coulter's appearance at the University of Ottawa had to be shut down for security reasons. I'm not really a fan of talking heads like her, but I do find it pretty funny that there's not more of an uproar about this type of thing. Imagine if Michael Moore was in the same situation.

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...Y-kQnAD9EKVOKG1

 

And it's Canada, I know, and they have their own version of freedom of speech, but it's pretty ironic that a protest got so out of hand over a woman speaking her mind about...yep, free speech (or lack thereof).

 

 

I don't remember Moore ever telling a 17 year old muslim student to go ride a camel. Or talking about how Jews need to be perfected.