The Republican Thread

[Balta1701]

Considering none of them would exist any more without the government...

[kapkomet]

Considering none of them would exist any more without the government...

 

 

Oh, we know. Nothing would exist without our government. That's why we're 1- a nanny state, and 2- rapidly becoming a socialist country.

[southsider2k5]

Considering none of them would exist any more without the government...

 

Then again if the government hadn't have put SOX, or Fannie and Freddie, or cheap loan requirements, maybe they never get into this mess in the first place.

[kapkomet]

Then again if the government hadn't have put SOX, or Fannie and Freddie, or cheap loan requirements, maybe they never get into this mess in the first place.

 

 

Nah, personally, I like that we're becoming a Euroweenie nation. But then, what will we call north american hockey players if we're a Euroweenie state?

[juddling]

Nah, personally, I like that we're becoming a Euroweenie nation. But then, what will we call north american hockey players if we're a Euroweenie state?

 

Canadian??????

[DukeNukeEm]

Remember when George W Bush stood in front of the "Mission Accomplished" sign? He was saying that his goal to establish the Fourth Reich was complete. It's very clear to me that's what it meant. And don't laugh at me; that just means you have no argument.

What do you mean? Suns never sets on the American Empire type deal?

[Balta1701]

Well that's cool, public jobs outpay private jobs now

Here's an analysis of what happens to that "study" when you take education into account.

* Jobs in the public sector typically require more education than private sector positions. Thus, state and local employees are twice as likely to hold a college degree or higher as compared to private sector employees. Only 23% of private sector employees have completed college as compared to about 48% in the public sector.

 

* Wages and salaries of state and local employees are lower than those for private sector employees with comparable earnings determinants such as education and work experience. State workers typically earn 11% less and local workers 12% less.

 

* During the last 15 years, the pay gap has grown - earnings for state and local workers have generally declined relative to comparable private sector employees.

 

* The pattern of declining relative earnings remains true in most of the large states examined in the study, although there does exist some state level variation.

 

* Benefits make up a slightly larger share of compensation for the state and local sector. But even after accounting for the value of retirement, healthcare, and other benefits, state and local employees earn less than private sector counterparts. On average, total compensation is 6.8% lower for state employees and 7.4% lower for local employees than for comparable private sector employees.

[southsider2k5]

The racists are even seeking Tea Party support...

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/us/polit...cks.html?src=me

 

Black Hopefuls Pick This Year in G.O.P. Races

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

Published: May 4, 2010

 

Among the many reverberations of President Obama’s election, here is one he probably never anticipated: at least 32 African-Americans are running for Congress this year as Republicans, the biggest surge since Reconstruction, according to party officials.

Barbara P. Fernandez for The New York Times

 

Allen West, running in Florida, says the notion of racism in the Tea Party movement has been made up by the news media.

 

Vernon Parker's competition for a House seat from Arizona includes Ben Quayle, the former vice president's son.

Shannon Davidson/Aurora Sentinel & Daily Sun

 

Ryan Frazier, a House candidate in Colorado, says the Republican Party needs to “engage every community.”

Enlarge This Image

Alex Wong/Getty Images

 

Princella Smith, in Arkansas, says she disagrees with President Obama but is proud of the country for electing him.

 

The House has not had a black Republican since 2003, when J. C. Watts of Oklahoma left after eight years.

 

But now black Republicans are running across the country — from a largely white swath of beach communities in Florida to the suburbs of Phoenix, where an African-American candidate has raised more money than all but two of his nine (white) Republican competitors in the primary.

 

Party officials and the candidates themselves acknowledge that they still have uphill fights in both the primaries and the general elections, but they say that black Republicans are running with a confidence they have never had before. They credit the marriage of two factors: dissatisfaction with the Obama administration, and the proof, as provided by Mr. Obama, that blacks can get elected.

 

“I ran in 2008 and raised half a million dollars, and the state party didn’t support me and the national party didn’t support me,” said Allen West, who is running for Congress in Florida and is one of roughly five black candidates the party believes could win. “But we came back and we’re running and things are looking great.”

 

But interviews with many of the candidates suggest that they felt empowered by Mr. Obama’s election, that it made them realize that what had once seemed impossible — for a black candidate to win election with substantial white support — was not.

 

“There is no denying that one of the things that came out of the election of Obama was that you have a lot of African-Americans running in both parties now,” said Vernon Parker, who is running for an open seat in Arizona’s Third District. His competition in the Aug. 24 primary includes the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, Ben Quayle.

 

Princella Smith, who is running for an open seat in Arkansas, said she viewed the president’s victory through both the lens of history and partisan politics. “Aside from the fact that I disagree fundamentally with all his views, I am proud of my nation for proving that we have the ability to do something like that,” Ms. Smith said.

 

State and national party officials say that this year’s cast of black Republicans is far more experienced than the more fringy players of yore, and include elected officials, former military personnel and candidates who have run before.

 

Mr. Parker is the mayor of Paradise Valley, Ariz. Ryan Frazier is a councilman in Aurora, Colo., one of four at-large members who represent the whole city. And Tim Scott is the only black Republican elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives since Reconstruction.

 

“These are not just people pulled out of the hole,” said Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a black conservative group. That is “the nice thing about being on this side of history,” he said.

 

He added that the candidates might be helped by the presence of Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee who is black and ran for the Senate himself in 2006.

 

“Party affiliation is not a barrier to inspiration,” Mr. Steele said in an e-mail message. “Certainly, the president’s election was and remains an inspiration to many.”

 

But Democrats and other political experts express skepticism about black Republicans’ chances in November. “In 1994 and 2000, there were 24 black G.O.P. nominees,” said Donna Brazile, a Democratic political strategist who ran Al Gore’s presidential campaign and who is black. “And you didn’t see many of them win their elections.”

 

Tavis Smiley, a prominent black talk show host who has repeatedly criticized Republicans for not doing more to court black voters, said, “It’s worth remembering that the last time it was declared the ‘Year of the Black Republican,’ it fizzled out.”

 

In many ways, this subset of Republicans is latching on to the basic themes propelling most of their party’s campaigns this year — the call for smaller government, less spending and stronger national security — rather than building platforms around social conservatism.

 

“Things have evolved,” said Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, who is heavily involved in recruiting Republican candidates. “I think partly the level of hostility to Obama, Pelosi and Reid makes a lot of people pragmatically more open to a coalition from the standpoint of being a long-term majority party.”

 

Many of the candidates are trying to align themselves with the Tea Partiers, insisting that the racial dynamics of that movement have been overblown. Videos taken at some Tea Party rallies show some participants holding up signs with racially inflammatory language.

 

A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that 25 percent of self-identified Tea Party supporters think that the Obama administration favors blacks over whites, compared with 11 percent of the general public.

 

The black candidates interviewed overwhelmingly called the racist narrative a news media fiction. “I have been to these rallies, and there are hot dogs and banjos,” said Mr. West, the candidate in Florida, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army. “There is no violence or racism there.”

 

There is also some evidence that black voters rally around specific conservative causes. A case in point was a 2008 ballot initiative in California outlawing same-sex marriage that passed in large part because of support from black voters in Southern California.

 

Still, black Republicans face a double hurdle: black Democrats who are disinclined to back them in a general election, and incongruity with white Republicans, who sometimes do not welcome the blacks whom party officials claim to covet as new members.

 

This spring, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia was roundly attacked for not mentioning slavery in his Confederate History Month proclamation, which he later said was a “major omission.” Black candidates said these types of gaffes posed problems in drawing African-Americans to their party, but also underscored their need to be there.

 

“I think what the governor failed to do was to recognize the pain and the emotion that was really sparked by the institution of slavery,” said Mr. Frazier of Colorado. “As a Republican, I think I have a responsibility to continue to work within my party to avoid those types of barriers. The key for the Republican Party is to engage every community on the issues they care about and not act as if they don’t exist.”

[ChiSox_Sonix]

What an absolute crock of s***. If I was a parent of one of those kids I would be livid at the school district.

Edited May 7, 2010 by ChiSox_Sonix

[Jenksismyhero]

What an absolute crock of s***. If I was a parent of one of those kids I would be livid at the school district.

 

Pssh. Totally insensitive position you're taking there. You know, not all people love America. In fact, some people disagree with America. You're trying to shove your beliefs that America is good and great right down their throats. This is America, we respect other people's beliefs. Jerk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(green)

[mr_genius]

Pssh. Totally insensitive position you're taking there. You know, not all people love America. In fact, some people disagree with America. You're trying to shove your beliefs that America is good and great right down their throats. This is America, we respect other people's beliefs. Jerk.

 

AMERICAN FLAGS SHOULD BE BANNED

 

FROM EVERYWHERE

[mr_genius]

What an absolute crock of s***. If I was a parent of one of those kids I would be livid at the school district.

 

On a serious note, there was a violent protest at the school today demanding the US flag not be allowed. Mexican flags flying, vandalism, attacks.

 

Basically proving AZ did the right thing

[NorthSideSox72]

On a serious note, there was a violent protest at the school today demanding the US flag not be allowed. Mexican flags flying, vandalism, attacks.

 

Basically proving AZ did the right thing

LOL, idiots being idiots proves that other idiots must be right?

 

[lostfan]

That incident was f***ing retarded though. Actually I think Cinco de Mayo is an American holiday anyway.

[StrangeSox]

That incident was f***ing retarded though. Actually I think Cinco de Mayo is an American holiday anyway.

 

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a holiday held on May 5 that commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.[2][3] It is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla and in the United States.[4][5][6][7]

 

Thanks wikipedia!

 

But yeah that incident is retarded.

[lostfan]

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a holiday held on May 5 that commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.[2][3] It is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla and in the United States.[4][5][6][7]

 

Thanks wikipedia!

 

But yeah that incident is retarded.

Yeah one Mexican state... lol... but some dumbass thinks it's insensitive to Mexicans to wear a shirt with an American flag on it in the United States on Cinco de Mayo. I thought it was kind of funny actually.

[lostfan]

Somebody posted this on Facebook. I lol'd.

 

I propose that the Democrats change their emblem to a JackAss with a CONDOM. It more accurately reflects their stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks (who live like Republicans), and gives you a false sense of security while you're actually being screwed.

[CrimsonWeltall]

Yeah one Mexican state... lol... but some dumbass thinks it's insensitive to Mexicans to wear a shirt with an American flag on it in the United States on Cinco de Mayo. I thought it was kind of funny actually.

 

I don't think the administrators problem with it was that it's "insensitive". They probably thought the people showing up in the American shirts were trolling and going to start trouble.

 

Still, dumb.

[StrangeSox]

I don't think the administrators problem with it was that it's "insensitive". They probably thought the people showing up in the American shirts were trolling and going to start trouble.

 

Still, dumb.

 

I would be inclined to think that they did wear the shirt on Cinco de Mayo intentionally to make a statement, but it's still not ok to ban them from wearing it.

 

I fought school administration over similar issues back in HS; I fully support the student in this case.

[southsider2k5]

I would be inclined to think that they did wear the shirt on Cinco de Mayo intentionally to make a statement, but it's still not ok to ban them from wearing it.

 

I fought school administration over similar issues back in HS; I fully support the student in this case.

 

The thing is, many schools stop things like that from happening to prevent even worse events. They'd rather have a protest over a shirt, than a race-based gang fight later on. Legally they are 100% within their rights.

[StrangeSox]

Read on another board, conveys my thoughts:

 

The entire situation is retarded. A couple of retarded kids confused cheap provocation with actual political discourse. Then the school confused cheap provocation with a serious threat of race riots and gang violence and a bar holiday with any holiday with a real sense of cultural importance. Then the newsmedia confused this with a real news story.

[mr_genius]

Read on another board, conveys my thoughts:

 

the only tards in this story is the assistant principal and any super sensitive student who would get all offended. Who the f*** cares if someone wears a US flag shirt? If you can't deal with that 'disrespect' you are an idiot.

Edited May 7, 2010 by mr_genius

[StrangeSox]

the only tards in this story is the assistant principal and any super sensitive student who would get all offended. Who the f*** cares if someone wears a US flag shirt? If you can't deal with that 'disrespect' you are an idiot.

5 students wore these shirts (which ironically violates the US code on the flag) and bandannas on Cinco de Mayo. Do you think they weren't trying to make a political statement?

[southsider2k5]

5 students wore these shirts (which ironically violates the US code on the flag) and bandannas on Cinco de Mayo. Do you think they weren't trying to make a political statement?

 

They were, which is exactly why they were shutdown by the staff.

[mr_genius]

5 students wore these shirts (which ironically violates the US code on the flag) and bandannas on Cinco de Mayo. Do you think they weren't trying to make a political statement?

 

I don't know if they were or weren't. and it really doesn't matter. getting offended by those shirts is dumb.

 

sad thing is the students walking out of class in protest are probably the ones with the worst test scores. they should worry about their academics a little more IMO and forget about some Old Navy shirt.

Edited May 7, 2010 by mr_genius