Slashdot Mirror
Debt Reduction Super Committee Fails To Agree
Hugh Pickens writes "VOA reports that the latest effort to cut the U.S. government's debt apparently has ended in failure as leaders of the special 12-member debt reduction committee plan to announce that they failed in their mandate from lawmakers to trim the federal debt by $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Democrats and Republicans blame each other for the collapse of the effort. 'Our Democratic friends were never able to do the entitlement reforms,' said Republican Senator Jon Kyl. 'They weren't going to do anything without raising taxes.' Democratic Senator Patty Murray, one of the committee's co-chairs, says that the Republicans' position on taxes was the sticking point. 'The wealthiest Americans who earn over a million a year have to share too. And that line in the sand, we haven't seen Republicans willing to cross yet,' Now in the absence of an agreement, $1.2 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts to domestic and defense programs are set to take effect starting in January, 2013, and the lack of a deal will deprive President Barack Obama of a vehicle for extending a payroll tax cut and insurance benefits for unemployed Americans, which expire at the end of the year." (Though the official deadline for the committee's hoped-for plan is tomorrow — the 23d — they were to have provided it for review 48 hours prior.)
I can see where the right-wingers think it's a trollish comment, but the message is sound. I've been to Tea Party rallies, there's nothing but racism to be found there. "Obama's a socialist" from the same guys carrying around pictures of him and his family with chimpanzee heads pasted on, guys with barely-concealed KKK tattoos, and don't forget the one with the "Werez da birf certifikit hez a muzlim nigger" sign.
Spoken like someone without the first clue of what the Constitution and its construction were really all about. You remind me of people like this.
The problem is that no amount of "oversight" will ever be enough because you are essentially asking the government to police itself. You simply cannot separate the oversight body from the rest of the government without creating a quasi-police state with a bunch of unelected people having "oversight" over the elected ones. That sounds very much like Tyranny to me.
Which is essentially what happened to the US under the "Articles of Confederation": 13 tyrannical states that proceeded to act like spoiled brats, impose taxes/tariffs on each other, harass each other's citizens, and so on with no legal recourse for resolving the disputes between states because the Federal government lacked any enforcement power. The solution was a STRONG federal government, with equally-powerful legislative and executive branches able to contradict each other and a judiciary with final-say veto power but who were limited to stepping in ONLY in the event of a conflict filed by affected parties (citizens or governmental bodies).
But please, go back to imagining what you think the constitution says, rather than paying attention to what it ACTUALLY says and what ACTUALLY happened and what the Founding Fathers ACTUALLY wrote and said on the matter. It'll make you feel better in your ignorance.
You whine about Fox but ignore MSNBC, ABC,CBS, CNN, PBS.
You talk of angst and division and distrust, yet you don't mention Olberman, Mathews, etc.
You talk about disrespect and conveniently forget about "bush hitler" (just google that), Bush burned/hanged in effigy, etc.
You talk about mobs and anarchy but fail to mention OWS with its rapes, assaults and deaths, not to mention the horrible stench.
I'm sure you believe you have an open mind, but it is clear it is as tightly closed as a bear trap.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Who was your friend?
He's asked that nobody bring up publicity for him personally any more, because his place of business got harassing phone calls about "the mexican" after an email campaign from the local Republican front groups. So I'm withholding that. I hope you understand.
What position was he running for?
I said it in my initial post: state senate.
How did he do in his race?
He lost the primary to an opponent who went to a lot of trouble running the "don't let the mexican into the race" whisper and email campaign. I'll point out: my friend agrees with most of the "republican principles" that you do, which is why he was running in the first place. Unlike most Republicans, he's willing to sit down, hash out differences, agree to disagree if necessary, and do so politely. I guess that qualified him as a "wimpy illegal" as far as the Tea Partiers are concerned.
How many people were shouting racist epithets? Did anyone object to it?
What date was the event?
This'd be in the primaries for 2010.
How many people were shouting racist epithets? Did anyone object to it?
If anyone was objecting, aside from his friends and family in attendance, you couldn't hear them over the majority of the crowd. And the only "objection" from the Republican Party folks on stage was the moderator coming up to the podium and saying "ok folks, let 'im speak, he came here to speak and he's a candidate, let 'im speak so he'll go away."
blah blah blah bullshit bullshit "no true scotsman" more bullshit...
Provide a slew of photos of the racism of Tea Partiers, and they'll claim it was "doctored."
Provide video, and they'll claim it was "edited" or "produced."
Provide more video from other angles, and they'll claim it was "infiltrators" or "agitators."
Get 'em into the bar where they're holding the weekly meeting, give 'em a few beers, and watch the racism fly. I've seen it too many times. I'm not calling you a liar about the things you claim you've experienced, but if you claim your experience is any more representative than my own, then you're just lying.
So please, answer my questions, provide some proof other than anecdotes or manufactured racism from leftist "Crash the Tea Party" types, and then we can talk. Otherwise I find it difficult to believe you.
One of the questions, I answered in my initial post unprompted, which proves you lack reading comprehension skills. Some of the questions, I am not going to answer because I have been asked by my friend - who has given up on politics and also now on the Republicans after dealing with the racist bullshit they spewed in the primary race - not to spread information that would result in some asshole like you googling it and calling to harass him at work.
And I have no trouble understanding that you "find it difficult" to believe me. After all, your worldview and self-worth depends on not finding out that you've hitched your wagon to a platform and party with an incredibly strong racist streak, which means even when you're watching it in plain sight, you're more than willing to dismiss it as "isolated", or "infiltrators", or a hundred other excuses.