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Hurricane Could Make a Mess of Republican Convention

Hugh Pickens writes "ABC News reports that Hurricane Isaac, currently a tropical storm brewing southeast of Puerto Rico, is on track to hit Florida the same day that Mitt Romney and 50,000 Republican delegates, journalists, protestors and guests descend on Tampa for the Republican National Convention but whether it will skim the east coast near Miami or crash head-on into Tampa, is still up in the air. The worst possible scenario is that Hurricane Isaac stays on the western track, skating over the Caribbean Sea south of Haiti, crossing the primarily flat landscape of western Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico then curving east and hitting Tampa dead-on. 'Tampa is just as vulnerable as New Orleans was in the sense that the water will funnel into the bay area and from the storm surge which will flood completely the whole entire city of Tampa,' says meteorologist Max Golembo. 'It would be a disaster in the Tampa area.' If a hurricane or tropical storm is bearing down on Tampa, the priority of law enforcement is to evacuate residents, leaving GOP officials to make the decision of when to evacuate delegates says Hillsborough County Emergency Management spokeswoman Holly Wade. 'We have to look at a lot of factors, like timing and landfall,' says Wade. 'We provide the weather information, then we take that to the host committee, which decides if the event goes on or if the event gets altered.' A Category 2 hurricane could disrupt convention activities because the Tampa Bay Times Forum, site of the festivities, is within a mandatory evacuation zone for storms of that magnitude."

503 comments

  1. Fuck 'em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good.

    1. Re:Fuck 'em by halfEvilTech · · Score: 4, Funny

      This kids is what we call Karma...

    2. Re:Fuck 'em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If I've learned anything form republicans, its that natural disasters are caused by sins against God. So they completly deserve it and no one should lift a finger to help them.

    3. Re:Fuck 'em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Evacuating the GOP convention with a hurricane is just God's way of voting. I'd pay attention and not try to "misplace" God's ballot if I were them.

    4. Re:Fuck 'em by ozmanjusri · · Score: 2

      Evacuating the GOP convention with a hurricane is just God's way of voting.

      How come God gets so many mod points? And when do I get to metamod?

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    5. Re:Fuck 'em by Genda · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually, the problem is the Republican don't accept the Hurricane as valid ID for God to Vote, Of course God doesn't care, she's voting anyway.

    6. Re:Fuck 'em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot...providing a home for OWS losers since they were kicked out of their own.

    7. Re:Fuck 'em by dywolf · · Score: 1

      "insightful"? Seriously? There used to be standards in moderation around here.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    8. Re:Fuck 'em by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 1

      But think of the poor strippers?

      Oh wait, by the title of this post, you have....

    9. Re:Fuck 'em by DirtyLiar · · Score: 1

      Evacuating the GOP convention with a hurricane is just God's way of voting. I'd pay attention and not try to "misplace" God's ballot if I were them.

      I don't know...

      Is God a citizen? Or an illegal alien? Is he showing his displeasure with Republicans? Does that make him illegitimate in the eyes of Republicans?

      And will the new Republican anti-voter laws deny God the ability to vote?

      --

      THINK! It's patriotic

    10. Re:Fuck 'em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good.

      Fuck you!!! You are such a vibrating butt plug.

    11. Re:Fuck 'em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately God showed up to the polling place without a valid photo I.D., so he was not able to vote.

    12. Re:Fuck 'em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If a hurricane slams the GOP convention, its Obama the AntiChrist's fault. If it misses Florida, its God blessing Romney and his big oil & coal baron drafted energy plan. No regulation! Climate change is not real! Drill baby drill! Onward christian soldiers, marching off too war! Hurrah! Hurrah! G.D. insane lunatics.

  2. And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by tekrat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Absolutely nothing of value was lost.

    --
    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
    1. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I came here thinking the same thing, sadly enough. The best part would be the irony of it all, the self-righteous hypocritical lot.

    2. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by reubenavery · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We could maybe get back to actually governing this country.

      What a wild idea.

      Please, lord, wash them all out to sea.

      Love, /.

    3. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      whereas this thread so far shows the obviously self-righteous and hypocritical left .. so pile on the hate.

    4. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      whereas this thread so far shows the obviously self-righteous and hypocritical left .. so pile on the hate.

      It may show that the left is capable of hate. As for self-righteousness and hypocritical, let's see your work.

    5. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Desler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You don't have to be a leftist to hate the GOP.

    6. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by skipkent · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And Joe Biden said: "You don't have to be Jewish to be a Zionist."

    7. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's actually Snark. The left doesn't genuinely believe these things.

      The right? Does. That's why they The left is just responding to the initial comment.

      Of course the Right pretends they can't recognize a sense of humor so they feign outrage at the Left, while putting themselves on a pedestal.

    8. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by ackthpt · · Score: 2, Funny

      Absolutely nothing of value was lost.

      Perhaps some protesters. Hope they have better sense than to stick around when the wind starts to howl like a certain demented radio peRsonaLity.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    9. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not hypocritical for any thinking person to wish the whole Republican party into the proverbial cornfield. And it'll qualify as legitimate irony if a hurricane wipes them out.

    10. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Please, lord, wash them all out to sea.

      If "them" includes the democrats also, I might agree.

    11. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by AntiBasic · · Score: 1

      They told me if I voted for McCain, we'd see the ruling party openly wish for the death of others and it would be applauded... they were right.

      Way to be a typical liberal bigot. FOAD

    12. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the exact reference I was alluding to. (I'm the AC that mentioned the potential irony). But it wouldn't be the first time, remember Huckabee's states and the freak tornadoes during the last election?

      I joke about it because I'm not superstitious and I don't actually believe it's any kind of 'wrath,' but if you hold these clowns to their own standards they might get a clue someday of just how delusional and bigoted they are. Fat chance, I know.

      I think the problem with the right wing opposition is they're playing softball. Those who oppose the anti-science, religious-right, faux-fiscal-conservatives, should call these people out with a proverbial slap to the face along with a sincere and honest intellectual beat down in public view.

    13. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And Joe Biden said: "You don't have to be Jewish to be a Zionist."

      Which is entirely accurate. If you are one of the many evangelical Christians who actively work to support settlement building in the West Bank, then TA DAAA you are a Zionist. Now of course, the primary reason why those Christian evangelicals are helping is beause they believe they are helping to fufill the messianic prophecy of Revelations. In other words, they are actively trying to encourage the Apocolypse. But strictly speaking they are still Zionists, and passionately so.

    14. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by eddy · · Score: 1

      Who are "they"? The voices in your head, or your friends on right-wing forums who spew much worse 25/7 every day of the year? "The only good liberal is..." yeah, that's right. I know you kin.

      --
      Belief is the currency of delusion.
    15. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by jmorris42 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      > But strictly speaking they are still Zionists, and passionately so.

      From dictionary.com:

      "Zionism
      noun
      a worldwide Jewish movement that resulted in the establishment and development of the state of Israel."

      So no, don't see how a Christian can technically be a Zionist. But they can support them and most do. Sorta like how Lech Walesa can endorse Romney but isn't a Republican because you have to be a US registered voter for that.

      --
      Democrat delenda est
    16. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Theres some kind of irony in your post but I cant place my finger on it.

    17. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Cant agree here. I dont think its out of line for a republican to cry foul when someone on slashdot states to rousing cheers that all republicans are this or that. Broad generalizations tend to be bad, and when you mix in politics it just gets worse.

      You may some day have to accept that there is a large number of reasonable, intelligent, and even likable people who completely disagree with your views on government and policy. Just because someone has a political view doesnt mean you know squat about them, their finances, their situation, or their personality.

    18. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They told me if I voted for McCain, we'd see the ruling party openly wish for the death of others and it would be applauded... they were right.

      Way to be a typical liberal bigot. FOAD

      Grow a sense of humour, you typically uptight joyless puritan conservative dickhead.

    19. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Object to it as snark if you want, but trying to pretend they're equivalent is out of line.

      You may some day have to accept that there is a substantial difference between the two parties/ideologies, that one has become the home of a rather fanatical group of people who govern on a platform of fear and self-deception while engaging in vitriolic and deceitful attacks while simultaneously asserting a hypocritical protest that they are the victims of hatred and oppression, that the other side is the liars, the meanies, and the real oppressors.

      I'd even give you good odds that some conservative wanker will jump up and say "Yep, that's the Democrats/Liberals/Progressives" all right, as that's their method of operation. They project all of their faults onto you, and completely lack the integrity to examine their own actions.

      Just see how Mitt Romney can flip-flop all day, how Mitt Romney can lie about Obama on Welfare Waivers, the size of the military, or Medicare Cuts while pretending it's Obama's nose that should be growing to Redwood proportions as quickly as bamboo.

      Sorry, you may not like it, but things aren't equal, and if there's anybody reasonable, intelligent, or likable left in the GOP, they need to look around and see who else in is their party.

    20. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a conservative and I view the GOP with contempt and loathing.

    21. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Shhh! You're disrupting all their little paradigms! Insenstive clod ;-)

      Seriously, though, on another note regarding what looks like Miami '72 on steroids shaping up, DHS and FBI warn us now of "anarchists" disrupting the convention. Anarchists, my ass. Brown Shirts and agents provocateur for one actor or another, most particularly themselves, they mean. Probably to use as excuse to round up and detain as many Occupy and Tea Party suckers as they can.

      A client of mine, a recent guest of the Bureau of Prisons, coincidentally enough, called me up today, again wanting me to give her money when she owes me more than I owe her, but also wanting me to go to Florida next week to set up some video surveillance at a store of hers there. Now, if she makes good and gives me back a note and the difference between it and my invoices, I may do it, if she fronts enough cash, but somehow, I think I'm gonna be staying high and dry and, ahem, OBLIVIOUS, well away from the State of Florida, during the convention.

      Lessee, need to make sure they see this....;-)

      insert 377 words here ( http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/uncle-sam-admits-monitoring-you-for-these-377-words-6832/)

    22. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by danomac · · Score: 1

      Too bad we can't get the lawyers down there too...

    23. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Informative

      There is no one true dictionary any more than there is one true god. If you consult definitions in other dictionaries you'll see that there is no standard definition of Zionism that excludes gentiles from it.

    24. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by jd2112 · · Score: 1

      It would rake care of half of the problem ...

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    25. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by deanklear · · Score: 3, Informative

      The poster may be referring to the repeated statements by GOP celebrity favorites (Fallwell, Graham, B-list megachurch pastors, etc) who claim that disasters like Katrina and 9/11 are the fault of America's fall from the grace of the Christian God.

      So, it would be quite ironic to see a hurricane battering the place where they are trying to hold a convention.

    26. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      It's actually Snark. The left doesn't genuinely believe these things.

      Judging by the pollution on my Facebook page, not only do they believe it, but many actively hope for worse.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    27. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      Why is it that we only hear about people's political views and these 'star' politicians on slashdot in the run-up to an election? The political atmosphere is significantly different to what we see on here in the aftermath of an election, when people stop smearing character and start talking about how the politicians are affecting technology....

    28. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You may some day have to accept that there is a substantial difference between the two parties/ideologies, that one has become the home of a rather fanatical group of people who govern on a platform of fear and self-deception while engaging in vitriolic and deceitful attacks while simultaneously asserting a hypocritical protest that they are the victims of hatred and oppression, that the other side is the liars, the meanies, and the real oppressors.

      So Im an oppressor, a liar, a meanie? Im engaging in vitriolic attacks here?

      Stop and consider that Slashdot is majority left-leaning, by a huge majority. Then stop and consider the amount of vitriol and hate that comes out in anything to do witht he Right wing. THEN re-evaluate your statement.

      You can criticize Romney or any other specific politician for specific things they do all day long; thats fine and part of political discourse. But making broad sweeping statements like you just did is part of the demise of meaningful political discussion in this country. No longer can I just be "a republican"; in your eyes, I have become "the enemy", and THAT makes it impossible to have any kind of rational debate.

    29. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But after reading your comment I guess I am free to think of you as a sub-human fascist?

      The HUGE irony here is that another response just labeled MY ideology as centered on vitriol, and here I have just been labeled a sub-human fascist. Hypocrisy much?

      I would ask that before any of you post on politics, you stop and ask yourself if the rhetoric you are using is really justified or contributes to a sane, civil discussion. I contend that what you just posted is hateful and does not.

    30. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's actually Snark. The left doesn't genuinely believe these things.

      Judging by the pollution on my Facebook page, not only do they believe it, but many actively hope for worse.

      I think the reason for the pollution on your Facebook page is the fact that YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE!

    31. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So Im an oppressor, a liar, a meanie? Im engaging in vitriolic attacks here?

      Stop and read the last line if you don't feel you're covered by my description.

      Stop and consider that Slashdot is majority left-leaning, by a huge majority. Then stop and consider the amount of vitriol and hate that comes out in anything to do witht he Right wing. THEN re-evaluate your statement.

      Only if you promise to check out some right-wing forums, and honestly tell me that there isn't a group of people who call themselves part of the Republican ideology who engage in the behavior I described.

      Yes, you can come here and bewail how you are the victim of those mean oppressive leftists, but I don't buy it, because I've seen the other side, which people playing the victim on the right never ever seem to notice or mention.

      You can criticize Romney or any other specific politician for specific things they do all day long; thats fine and part of political discourse. But making broad sweeping statements like you just did is part of the demise of meaningful political discussion in this country. No longer can I just be "a republican"; in your eyes, I have become "the enemy", and THAT makes it impossible to have any kind of rational debate.

      Here's the thing, I'm only naming Romney because he's the principle of the party and I didn't feel like naming a host of others like Akin, Palin, Bachmann, West, Angel, O'Donnell, Limbaugh, that Judge in Texas, the various religious leaders and more.

      I'm sorry, but your party has become the home of a rather fanatical group of people who behave like I said. If you don't like it, start speaking out like I suggested.

      Why didn't you quote that part, I wonder? Here it is again:

      "Sorry, you may not like it, but things aren't equal, and if there's anybody reasonable, intelligent, or likable left in the GOP, they need to look around and see who else in is their party."

      Your removal of it is rather telling. The reason we can't have a rational debate is you want to be treated as a victim without looking around you and seeing who's taken up your banner.

      Maybe you want us to be understanding, that you're really not associated with them. Why am I not at all confident that you'd be as understanding if the situations were reversed?

    32. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Chill man, nobody is expecting tens of thousands to die.

      We all know they'll just group prayer the hurricane away. Or build a very large boat. The great magician is on the Republicans' side.

      Ok, ok... cheap shot... making it worse. Shame on me. ;)

    33. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well I was trying hard to think how a whole group of people wishing thousands would die in a watery cataclysm, could just be passed off as a group of people with a terrible sense of humor.

      Ask William Shakespeare.

      ALL.
      God save your majesty!
      CADE. I thank you, good people;—there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score, and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers and worship me their lord.

      DICK.
      The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

      CADE. Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment, that parchment, being scribbl'd o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings; but I say 't is the bee's wax, for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since.—How now! who's there?

      The difference between snark and serious actual intent is a wide gulf. You may not like the black humor of it, but don't pretend that it's the same as the people who actually DO mean it.

      But after reading your comment I guess I am free to think of you as a sub-human fascist? All of the best fascists come from liberal stock, all of mass slayings come from the roots of people just like you laughing at the physical dissolution of your ideological enemies.

      Indeed, pretending you are equivalent to anyone with a sense of morality is truly out of line. Thank you for the correction, we'll proceed to treat you accordingly.

      That's actually a rather common tactic of the right-wing. They do try to blame all of the tragedies they can on the left-wing, especially communism, because of all the convenient tragedies of this century. Heck, they still try to blame North Korea on Communism, even though they've dropped that idea some years ago for some other ideology which they can more easily pretend to follow.

      But they also say that liberals were behind Nazi Germany (after all, they're NATIONAL SOCIALISTS!), the American Civil War (the South just wanted to be free!) and the Russian Reveolution (never a mention of the autocratic Tsar!), which is funny because it's so preposterous.

      But even factoring in Poe's Law, there's some who do genuinely seem to believe it.

    34. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by ArcherB · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The poster may be referring to the repeated statements by GOP celebrity favorites (Fallwell, Graham, B-list megachurch pastors, etc) who claim that disasters like Katrina and 9/11 are the fault of America's fall from the grace of the Christian God.

      You mean like Jeremiah Wright?

      Sorry, but the right does not have monopoly on schmuck ministers. And for the record, I'm a Republican and I don't know a single person who likes Falwell. As for Graham, you won't find a better man. Of course, you wouldn't know that since you put him in the same category as Falwell.

      But remember, Obama sat in Wright's church for 20 years or so. I don't know of a single Republican President who has ever sat in Falwell's church.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    35. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

      Only if you promise to check out some right-wing forums, and honestly tell me that there isn't a group of people who call themselves part of the Republican ideology who engage in the behavior I described.

      Theres no need for that; I acknowledge that for any particular group you could name, I could find a subgroup who is hateful, and a subgroup that is not (excepting cases where such behavior is mutually exclusive with being in that group, obviously). Democrats can be irrational, hateful, etc, and so can republicans.

      You can argue that there are more in one group or another, but as soon as you start enmasse judging people based on their affiliation you have crossed a line. My being a republican does not mean I endorse every action of every republican who has ever lived; it simply indicates what role I think Government has allotted to it and how I think a country is best led.

      I'm sorry, but your party has become the home of a rather fanatical group of people who behave like I said. If you don't like it, start speaking out like I suggested.

      My goal in life isnt to fix whatever you think is wrong with my party, but Im not going to just remain silent in the forum I DO frequent (slashdot) while everyone goes full-bore hypocritical in calling all right-wingers hateful in the same breath that they imply that the GOP convention's death-by-hurricane would be welcome. Theres something in me that just gets riled up when that low level of discussion is hit and then someone has the audacity to label me (as part of a larger group) as the one who is the problem.

    36. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by deanklear · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And for the record, I'm a Republican and I don't know a single person who likes Falwell

      The founder of the Moral Majority had no support within the GOP?

      Captured on the tapes, Graham agreed with Nixon that Jews control the American media, calling it a "stranglehold" during a 1972 conversation with Nixon. He went considerably beyond that in offensive remarks characterized as anti-Semitic by Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League and evangelical author Richard Land.

      The Rev. Billy Graham urged North Carolina voters Wednesday to support an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage, a move that an observer said was highly unusual but another said was in keeping with the minister's moral beliefs.

      "Watching the moral decline of our country causes me great concern," said Graham, 93, who lives near Asheville. "I believe the home and marriage is the foundation of our society and must be protected."

      There are better men.

      I don't know of a single Republican President who has ever sat in Falwell's church.

      No, they are required to prostrate themselves at Liberty University -- founded by Fallwell and his friends -- for a commencement speech. Romney and Bush Jr paid homage, and McCain was even forced to show up in 2008 after calling Falwell an "agent of intolerance" when he ran in 2000.

    37. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by ArcherB · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You dug up something from 1972? Wasn't Obama snorting coke in 1972? Wasn't Clinton NOT inhaling in 1972? Either way, HERE is another take on it.

      And you are trying to hammer a minister on opposing gay marriage? Oh! The HORROR! What kind of prick does a minister have to be to believe and teach what the Bible says?!!?

      Wait... Didn't Clinton sign the Defense of Marriage Act? Didn't Obama say that he believed that marriage was between a man and a woman? Why are you not wishing for them to die horribly in a storm?

      Try again.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    38. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Theres no need for that; I acknowledge that for any particular group you could name, I could find a subgroup who is hateful, and a subgroup that is not (excepting cases where such behavior is mutually exclusive with being in that group, obviously). Democrats can be irrational, hateful, etc, and so can republicans.

      See, that's the false equivalency I was talking about.

      Sorry, but it's nowhere NEAR as comparable. Especially when Republicans accuse Democrats of being hateful because of a stand against bigotry and intolerance.

      That's right, the real intolerance is the person who says no to the guy who wants to discriminate against others.

      Because FREEDOM!

      You can argue that there are more in one group or another, but as soon as you start enmasse judging people based on their affiliation you have crossed a line.

      Now start applying that to your own side.

      I'll wait. Yeah, I never ever see a single conservative speak up when that kind of thing happens. They just get all aggrieved and portray themselves as the victim.

      Then they expect us to chase down Joe Biden because he used "chains" or "shackles" as a metaphor, which they happily used plenty of times beforehand.

      And no, I won't count the situation with Akin as being anything close to it, since even Akin isn't apologizing for the truth of his error, but rather pretending it was just misspeaking. The same goes for the Republicans, they don't want him to resign because he was wrong, but because what he said makes them look bad.

      The same goes for Jon Kyl's "not intended to be a factual statement" which is how he tried to pass it off.

      Like hell. I want genuine repentance not some "I'm sorry if I might have hurt your feelings by telling you the truth" excuse.

      My being a republican does not mean I endorse every action of every republican who has ever lived; it simply indicates what role I think Government has allotted to it and how I think a country is best led.

      Actually, it does mean you're willing to stand with them, that's the point of any such label. If you want to take how you want the role of government to be, I suggest not using a word that's not even directly related to the method, but a rather broader term that's been co-opted.

      Labels, names, they're like that sometimes.

      My goal in life isnt to fix whatever you think is wrong with my party, but Im not going to just remain silent in the forum I DO frequent (slashdot) while everyone goes full-bore hypocritical in calling all right-wingers hateful in the same breath that they imply that the GOP convention's death-by-hurricane would be welcome. Theres something in me that just gets riled up when that low level of discussion is hit and then someone has the audacity to label me (as part of a larger group) as the one who is the problem.

      That's the thing, you think we're being hypocritical. I think you're showing a decided lack of integrity in failing to notice who you've chosen to associate yourself with.

      It's not the Party of LordLimeCat. There's a lot of people who you have hopped into bed with, and you're worried that other people are judging that group, while you feel aggrieved because you're an individual and you don't feel you should be judged.

      Well, guess what? Your group does the same thing, on a far more epic scale. And they aren't being snarky, they genuinely mean it. It's 100% full-blooded belief.

      To me? The responses here are a laugh. To them, it's utter seriousness. They do believe. Me? I'm just being what I think is funny. You may not agree, you may think it cruel, or insensitive. That happens with jokes. But it's still a joke.

      That's why your attempts to portray things as the same, as equivalent, is misguided.

      It's not.

    39. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by deanklear · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What kind of prick does a minister have to be to believe and teach what the Bible says?

      We could get into an interesting argument on why the evangelical movement pushes for constitutional amendments for a untraditional lifestyle choices like being gay, but not for other things in the two spots the Bible mentions homosexuality, like wool blends, not eating shellfish, etc.

      We could have an even more interesting argument about why the importance of being non-materialist and helping the poor is called socialism instead of the fulfillment of the morality found in the Bible. Where is the constitutional amendment demanding that we help the poor?

      But I think you'd rather type a series of exclamations and question marks.

      Wait... Didn't Clinton sign the Defense of Marriage Act? Didn't Obama say that he believed that marriage was between a man and a woman? Why are you not wishing for them to die horribly in a storm?

      I don't wish for anyone to die horribly in a storm, which is why I said nothing of the sort. I said it would be ironic if the storm hit Tampa for reasons that should be self-evident.

      As far as Billy Graham goes, on the scale of evangelical leaders he's not the worst.

      But he's also remained curiously silent while his son goes on rants claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the government, or that "[Barack Obama's] problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim."

    40. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by localman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > So Im an oppressor, a liar, a meanie? Im engaging in vitriolic attacks here?

      Nope, that's not what he said at all. He said your party has become a home for such people. And that is undeniably true. He didn't even say they were the majority, or that there are no such people in the Democratic party. Just that there has been a settling of such people in the Republican party.

      The fact that you didn't pick up the difference does imply that the "self-deception" and "hypocritical protest" bit may apply to you. Or maybe not; maybe it was an honest mistake.

    41. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by localman · · Score: 1

      > What kind of prick does a minister have to be to believe and teach what the Bible says?!!?

      That's not the problem. He can teach it all he wants. The problem is that he's trying to make it the law of the land, even though it doesn't apply to people outside his religion. That does make him a prick. I'm not trying to force him to marry a man or stay alone, he shouldn't try to force me to marry a woman or stay alone.

      As to the other stuff, ya, I'm pissed at Clinton and Obama for being dicks on the issue. But aside from any individual opinions, there is an enormous difference between the way that Republicans want to handle homosexuality and the way Democrats do. The platforms of each party speak to this.

      Does this justify wanting people to actually die in a storm? No. Would there be irony if they did? Yes, because of comments that prominent, respected Republicans have made.

    42. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Nimey · · Score: 1

      Absolutely true. There's some teabilly in my town that's got American and Israeli flags on his front fence, but judging by his bumper stickers he's definitel /not/ Jewish. Some sort of Christian extremist who's probably looking for the End of Days in his lifetime.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    43. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Quila · · Score: 1

      They project all of their faults onto you

      That's pretty much what you're doing here:

      govern on a platform of fear: "Republicans are evil racists who will oppress the minorities the first chance they get"

      and self-deception: "The Republicans are the party beholden to big business" while Democrat Dodd goes off to head the MPAA and numerous Democrats are basically owned by the banks

      while engaging in vitriolic and deceitful attacks: Claiming Romney's responsible for the layoff of the cancer victim's husband, when he was no longer in active management of Bain at the time. In fact, it was a major Obama bundler who was managing Bain at the time of that plant closure. Even better, his wife had her own insurance after that closure, and he got another job with the option of health insurance for her, then she got cancer and died five years later.

      Obama's team has gone so far as to suggest Romney could be guilty of a felony over Bain management. That's pretty low. He should put up or face a libel suit.

      Shall I continue?

    44. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure SuperKendall was replying to me, not you. Given that the quote was from my line. Nothing of yours.

      That you're aggrieved for your own sake, but not demonstrated that for another is not in your favor.

      Too bad, because if you'd made that statement without prompting, it'd be a good sign.

    45. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why? You called my gamble.

      I'd even give you good odds that some conservative wanker will jump up and say "Yep, that's the Democrats/Liberals/Progressives" all right, as that's their method of operation. They project all of their faults onto you, and completely lack the integrity to examine their own actions.

      Thanks for proving me right.

      C'mon dude, if Obama would have to face a libel suit over anything said about Romney, what's to be done about Romney's mendacity? Or the rest of the Republican party? Surely at least one birther has filed enough frivolous lawsuits to merit judicial sanctions.

    46. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Sorry, but it's nowhere NEAR as comparable. Especially when Republicans accuse Democrats of being hateful because of a stand against bigotry and intolerance.

      IIRC it was repubs who had to try to get civil rights laws, and southern democrats resisted it bitterly. We can try to sling mud all day long, but things arent as onesided as you seem to think. And honestly, with all the hate I see on the mostly-dem slashdot, its a bit much for you to assert that the right (presumably the christian right) is the source of it all, especially given the comment that kicked off this thread coming from a leftie.

    47. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Just that there has been a settling of such people in the Republican party.

      And apparently in the Dem party too, if comments amounting to "I dont care if the entire GOP convention drowns" are what passes for acceptable around here.

    48. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      ...so pile on the hate.

      You only have two minutes. So make it count.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    49. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody on the left takes ministers and holy men seriously. That is how 98% of Catholics use birth control and still considers themselves Catholic. We just think the guys with the funny hats take themselves too seriously. TV commentators and news persons you guys call "liberals" are actually staring at the minister wondering if these guys are nuts.

      On the right side, however, your TV commentators and news persons are declaring their undying devotion to God in between their propaganda pieces.

      And you nut jobs are still pretending the two sides are equal?

      We know you have to do the false equivalence thing because that is the only way you can make the argument.

      "We suck? Yeah? Well, they suck, too! So THERE!"

      Good luck living in your delusional world.

    50. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Quila · · Score: 1

      Thanks for proving me right.

      I merely showed that your paranoia is just that. You aren't the oppressed. You are on equal terms with the Republicans as oppressors, aggressors, liars and cheats.

      C'mon dude, if Obama would have to face a libel suit over anything said about Romney

      The standard mudslinging is one thing, but accusing someone of a felony is entirely different, and very actionable.

      Surely at least one birther has filed enough frivolous lawsuits to merit judicial sanctions.

      The left went after Bush with quite a bit of tenacity. You even had a major news outlet knowingly publishing fraudulent documents about Bush's National Guard service. Even worse, they coordinated the action with the Kerry campaign, with the admitted desire to influence the election. It took a lot of outside pressure for them to finally admit, half-assed, that they were wrong ("Fake, but accurate!").

    51. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice try, but today's Republicans are pretty much last century's Democrats and vice versa. It's cute that you hoped to pull that one, but some of us pay careful attention to the actual people who gravitate to towards the parties of any given era, and not the brand names. We aren't that stupid. Perhaps you might be.

    52. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Slashdot has an intellectual lean, not a right or left leaning. I would guess that the majority of people here, by a large margin, are social liberals, fiscal conservatives, and against government intervention in their daily lives.

      If it wasn't for the bible thumpers, they would be Republicans. If it wasn't for the fiscally ignorant, they would be Democrats. If it wasn't for the distrust of government, they might even be politicians.

      But, the lack or rational debate is a function of unbudging dogma. The republicans became "The Party of NO" in the 90's, and really haven't gone anywhere since.

    53. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Given what is leading the GOP, I prefer the statement: "I would LOVE to see the entire GOP convention drown".

      Sorry, if that upsets you, but you should look at the so-called "leadership" you know and love and what they have done to this country in the name of trying to make Obama a "one term president". Patriots would have swallowed their pride and worked with the president, given that they lost the election. However, the GOP was bitter and resentful, and played all sorts of stupid games like "he's a Kenyan" or "he's a Socialist" instead of trying to do SOMETHING to help the economy recover.

      Not long ago, the real patriotic Republicans (you know, the ones with real integrity and pride) would actually say that "elections matter, and we lost the election" ... remember that one? I know memories for you guys have to be short because otherwise you would have to remember some very unfortunate choices you have made in the recent past (like electing a guy, twice, who ran 2 wars and a medicare program OFF BOOKS, so there was no need to balance those years' budgets).

    54. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If you actually followed the National Guard service incident, you would have noticed that no one actually bothered to follow up on the facts of whether he did go AWOL with administrative cover. The only thing anyone ever spent time on was the stupid fake document. The document wasn't the point, but due to stupidity on CBS's part, they managed to screw themselves and become the news.

      Those of us with logic will notice that redirection and not forget that no one ever addressed the real issue.

    55. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Wow dude, you're pulling that BS on us?

      C'mon, you think we don't know that those Democrats were the Social Conservatives of their day, that the Democrats of today necessarily follow those views, or that the Republicans of Today necessarily follow those of the ones they claim?

      You could not invalidate yourself any better without claiming that the Civil War wasn't really about Slavery.

      But anyway, the Christian Right is the source of its hate, and that includes playing the victim NOW, today, while they engage in bigotry or intolerance. Or haven't you noticed who is opposing same-sex marriage, who supports voter ID restrictions, who is all for imposing draconian immigration control measures.

      Today.

      Not in days of the past.

      Today.

      This is one of the more obvious Republican deceptions, you try to pull this stunt almost as often as you do the one about being the victim of bigotry and intolerance.

      Don't expect us to buy it.

    56. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you showed me that you'd behave in exactly the way I'd expect you too. LordLimeCat just did the same thing. He pulled out the old stunt about Democrats of yesterday opposing the Civil Rights package. Never expecting us the notice that they were the conservatives of their day, and that their ideas are not part of the Republican banner. That's a really tired bit of noise there. Why do you conservatives keep bringing that kind of thing up? Don't you realize that the same arguments used by them at the time are the same ones that have been adopted today about state's rights and preventing same-sex marriages?

      You can try to present the Bush National Guard situation as the same thing, but it actually highlights the difference. That attack was proven false. Quickly. Sure, you can say CBS was slow to react, but why are they important to you? Do you think any corporation would admit their mistake that quickly? The real story is that actual refutation came quickly, and resolved it. Can you say the same happened in the Birther movement? Nope. They're still around. They're still making claims about layers and whatnot, and they never admitted to anything.

      Of course that's not even mentioning the Swiftboating of Kerry, but that's a different problem.

      Sorry, but Republicans get away with a lot, and never take responsibility for anything.

    57. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Given what is leading the GOP, I prefer the statement: "I would LOVE to see the entire GOP convention drown".

      But of course WE'RE the party of hate, of vitriol?

      This is unbelievable that yall are playing both sides like this. Have you no shame?

    58. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They were only the "Party of NO" when a Democrat was in charge. They were the "Party of YES" when a Republican was in charge. Please get your facts straight.

      When Bush was in charge, it was perfectly okay with run 2 wars and a huge Medicare reimbursement program OFF BOOKS.

      When the black guy was in charge, it was really really important that everything be accounted for. Can't have irresponsible accounting, y'know?

    59. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Quila · · Score: 2

      you would have noticed that no one actually bothered to follow up on the facts of whether he did go AWOL with administrative cove

      They'd been trying to nail Bush on his guard record since the 2000 election. Four years of investigation had turned up nothing substantial. They needed a smoking gun to nail him, and those obvious forgeries (Microsoft Word? Come on!) provided it. You can't complain about no follow-up, because the investigation had already been done. Those of us with logic will notice that this was a last act of desperation to make the failed investigation produce something damaging to Bush.

      The only stupidity on the part of CBS was getting caught. They knew what they were doing. They wanted a hit piece on Bush that would swing the election for Kerry. They were even in contact with the Kerry campaign about the upcoming story. Unfortunately for them, this interwebs thingy exists, and within hours people had exposed the fraud publicly. The other mainstream news outlets eventually had no choice but to pick up the story, finally forcing CBS to back down.

    60. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by zieroh · · Score: 1

      As an independent, I can state with authority that the right has veered wildly toward batshit crazy in the last four years. Honestly, I genuinely think it's racism that they're too chickenshit to actually cop to.

      --
      People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
    61. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by zieroh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm a fairly long-time Slashdot member. My user number isn't anything to write home about, but I've been here enough years to make some observations. You know what my general, detached impression is? Slashdot doesn't lean left. It's actually full of misguided libertarians who haven't quite grown up yet.

      --
      People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
    62. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by khallow · · Score: 1

      See, that's the false equivalency I was talking about.

      Well, you're correct, except about the false part. Look up the meaning of equivalency. There's nothing fake about it here.

      Sorry, but it's nowhere NEAR as comparable. Especially when Republicans accuse Democrats of being hateful because of a stand against bigotry and intolerance.

      I imagine it's not because of the stand, but because of the irrational hate and vitriol that sometimes accompanies that stand. For example, I've been accused of racism merely because I advocate for a fiscally conservative government.

    63. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by khallow · · Score: 1

      No offense, but I prefer the Andrew Jackson approach. Lose an election and spend the next four years campaigning to win the next one. Too bad the Republicans didn't have anyone with the balls to do that.

    64. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That this party has wreaked havoc on this country in very measurable ways, and you've done nothing to moderate the behavior of your party, then yes, I would lump you in together with the unsavory elements of your party because you've enabled them. This party has been captured by extreme elements that brazenly do in the open what was so shameful in eras past that those people were the isolated and marginalized elements. Now they run the joint. By today's standards, not even Ronald Reagan or Dwight Eisenhower would have been acceptable to this party. And Nixon, by todays standards would be a F'ing Socialist!

    65. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Artifakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not just that there are subgroups that are hateful.

      There's a guy who shot up a Unitarian church in Knoxville, TN, and he had a big selection of books by Ann Coulter with highlighted passages that seem to explain why he did it.
      There's another guy who shot Representitive Giffords (and a six year old to get to her), and again, had a bunch of material by Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and others in his personal library.
      There's another guy who shot a guard at a Holocaust memorial center, again with a bunch of right wing connections, and many of the same books.
      (I'm not naming any of these scumbags. It's their victims that deserve to be remembered.)
      The amount of hate mail and death threats sent to the current president in his first month in office was at least 10x as large as anyone before him recieved in the same time.
      Just today in the news, there's a sitting judge in Texas who advocates raising taxes for one reason and one only - to fund training his local Sherrif's dept. into a force that can fight off the invading UN troops he expects momentarily.

      So it's not a case of arguing that there are more in one group or another. There's no logical argument as to the actual facts.There are about 10 times as many in your group as the other, if you go by the hate letters, or an infinitely higher percentage if you go by the bodycounts. That's the point. ALL the murderers are on your side. Apologists for the right keep pointing to people such as reverend Wright, or some 'eco-group' that pours paint stripper on gas guzzlers, as though some jerk who never actually killed anyone cancels out at least one mass murderer, maybe all of them, however many you get. What's wrong with your party, the whole party, is that it is willing to equivocate so that when there is a nutbar fanatic actually killing in the name of your cause, they are willing to claim that is balanced by a person on the other side saying something mean spirited. You just stooped to that same tired argument, so I will label you, you personally and not you as part of any larger group, as the one who is the problem. Stop coddling killers! Stop helping a political party that coddles killers. Stop using this false equivalency, or stop being surprised when decent people start talking about you like you need tarred and feathered and run out of their town.

         

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
    66. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by khallow · · Score: 1

      Captured on the tapes, Graham agreed with Nixon that Jews control the American media, calling it a "stranglehold" during a 1972 conversation with Nixon. He went considerably beyond that in offensive remarks characterized as anti-Semitic by Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League and evangelical author Richard Land.

      Two observations to make here. First, Nixon wasn't exactly wrong. Second, Graham probably was there to provide advise and comfort. One such strategy is to draw out and emotionally connect to a person by agreeing with them on trivial things.

    67. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Quila · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Why do you conservatives keep bringing that kind of thing up?

      "You"? I'm libertarian (small "l"). Same sex marriage isn't a constitutional right, it's defined status. Do we deny the constitutional rights of siblings by not allowing them to marry? No, because the traditional definition of marriage has always excluded siblings. It also excludes same-sex marriage. Now if you want to change that definition, I really don't care on this issue, go ahead. It doesn't affect my marriage. But that definition is made by the states, not by the federal government.

      This isn't an issue of constitutional rights, so the federal government has no business in the issue except to the extent of defining how states will treat the legal acts of each other in this regard.

      Sure, you can say CBS was slow to react, but why are they important to you?

      This isn't about corporation in general. This is about leftists using their corporate influence in the media to promote Democrat candidates. They were slow to back down because they wanted their attack on Bush to succeed. By their own admission they wanted to influence the election.

      Birtherism is interesting. It would have helped if Obama had not been so secretive about his past, as he still is. While it's obvious he was born in Hawaii, I still think he's hiding something. I agree with the deal: He releases his college records, Romney releases the tax returns. But that will never happen.

      Sorry, but Republicans get away with a lot, and never take responsibility for anything.

      Both sides get away with a lot, and that's my point. But since the press is generally left leaning, the left gets away with more in that arena. Here's Biden, the Vice President, running around talking about "they'll put y'all in chains", horrible race pandering with a fake accent, swept under the rug. Meanwhile some idiot obscure congressman talking about rape is the double New York Times headline. Democrat Mel Carnahan actually used to do blackface acts, and somehow that didn't matter. To a press constantly lambasting Republicans for their corporate ties, it seems no big deal that Chris Dodd is now the head of the MPAA. It didn't matter that Ted Kennedy halted the construction of clean-energy windmills because they would interfere with his view from his multi-million dollar estate.

      There are only a couple major news outlets willing to go after the administration for the Fast & Furious scandal, the rest happy to repeat the lie that this tactic started under Bush, so it was his fault. Your Democrat Attorney General lies multiple times in front of Congress over this issue, no big deal according to the press. And now Obama, who criticized the Bush administration over impeding investigations by invoking executive privilege, himself invokes executive privilege to keep Congress from seeing Fast & Furious documents. Actually it has gotten so hypocritical and ridiculous that even Jon Stewart had to make fun of that.

      The sheer audacity of Democrats amazes me. In an unprecedented move, they blocked Miguel Estrada from being nominated to the DC circuit, where he was obviously being groomed for the Supreme Court. The reason? Leaked in memos, they didn't want the Republicans getting the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. They screamed for a special prosecutor over the Plame leaks in the Bush administration, but block the appointment of one in the recent Obama administration leaks of classified information about the Bin Laden killing.

      All of this, yet you seem to think Republicans are the bad-guy hypocrites, the Democrats the innocent victims. I'm sure you can come up with more bad things the Republicans did, and I can too. But that's the point -- they both do it.

    68. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh I see plenty of fakeness.

      Just like I see the fakeness when every single Republican seems to complain that they get accused of racism whenever they say something. No matter what it is, some Republican wants us to believe they're always subjected to accusations of racism. Which might have merit if they gave any credit to when they're genuinely being racist or sexist or otherwise discriminatory, but it's denial all around.

      Seriously, it is because of that stand against bigotry and intolerance. Just look up the discussion on this site about Dan Cathy and his position on Same-Sex marriage. He said that God would disapprove it, that the country suffered because of it.

      Saying that represents bigotry and intolerance, that his freedom is being censored was treated as the true wrong. And no, not just because of the few government officials who overreached in their comments, but any opposition to Cathy at all. He was lauded as practicing free speech, and how just because he disagreed wasn't a reason to silence him.

      Yeah, then they forget to mention that he was paying groups lots of money to try to change the laws.

      Sorry, but it's still nowhere near as comparable. Especially since I've found in my experience that complaining about the racism accusations is mostly crying wolf.

    69. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you on your premise about marriage. I will agree it is not explicitly mentioned in the US Constitution, but I do believe it falls under the blanket statement of rights, and I do consider it a right. So do many other documents of rights.

      Incest is prohibited not because of any traditional objections based on ideas of the past, if that were the case, then we'd have to respect the myriad of cultures that did engage in such marriages. No, the problem with incest has legitimate concerns regarding abuse and inbreeding. The same cannot fairly be said of same-sex marriages.

      Besides, the problem with states rights is that it's always used to justify some right to abuse others, and prevent a wrong from being righted. I find that argument to be one that's quite problematic as it doesn't even brook discussion. Not even on a state level. That's my problem with it. You seem to be missing the nuance there.

      As for CBS, no they were slow to back down because they got egg on their face and nobody ever admits to being wrong. Just ask Akin this week.

      You may think the Press is left-leaning, perhaps they are, but your examples are not at all proving what you think.

      Biden used that metaphor. So what? Why did it make news? And yes, it did make news, maybe not the same headlines, but it did. With a bunch of Republican pundits complaining about it, and saying how unfair it was. Never mind how they'd used shackles and chains as metaphors themselves. And yet the media hardly brought that up. Only Jon Stewart did. Watch his 8/15 show to see.

      And Ted Kennedy got ripped a lot for those windmills. And I've seen a ton of coverage of this Fast & Furious scandal as well. I seriously do not think we're reading the same news.

      What I see is a bunch of people making a big deal over nothing.

      And that's what make you think the Democrats are the victims, when I'm seeing things stirred up over nothing, you're seeing great injustices that were ignored. You take it as evidence of Democratic Misconduct, I take it as evidence of how much is heaped on them.

      Sorry, but we've got a great deal of dissonance going on.

      BTW, Huckabee just said that Akin was a victim here, that he just made a little mistake. No, he outright stated something utterly untrue. It wasn't one word. It was a whole idea. This is what I mean about not being responsible.

    70. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by tsm_sf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would ask that before any of you post on politics, you stop and ask yourself if the rhetoric you are using is really justified or contributes to a sane, civil discussion.

      Oh come on, your party has decided that they're the voice of god. Sane, civil discussion is no longer an option. If there's no room for compromise, and there isn't with you folks, there's no point in discussing anything.

      You've picked your side, and you threw your lot in with the anti-intellectual fundamentalists. You chose to support this attitude. Have the balls to take the criticism that will come your way. God will protect you.

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
    71. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Just days after some guy involved with the same sex marriage campaign shoots up the Family Research Council you want to talk about who has more extremists? Do animal rights saboteurs and eco-warriors count as rightists? How about the Unabomber?

      Was the French Reign of Terror committed by rightists? The Killing Fields? Cultural Revolution?

      Amy Bishop (shot up U. of Alabama)
      Lee Harvey Oswald (defected to Soviet Union)
      Weather Underground
      Bill Ayers
      The FALN
      Joe Stack (upset at the Catholic church and corporations)
      "Dr. Chaos" Joseph Konopka
      Jared Lee Loughner - you forgot to mention The Communist Manifesto among his books

    72. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Genda · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is it than when anyone mentions gravity, evolution or sanity they are suddenly left leaning. Personally I love what Barry Goldwater said;

      Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.
      .....
      The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom.... I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are?... I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism."

      Have y'all ever considered that instead of liberal leaning maybe we just have a sane grasp of physical reality? Hhhmmmm?

    73. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As for Graham, you won't find a better man.

      Oh yea? For varying definitions of "better"...decide for yourself.

      Despite of having some very respectable attributes, he clearly worked to deny homosexuals civil rights due to the tenets of *his* religion. Sort of douchbaggy, if you ask me.

    74. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Maybe im just kind of disgusted at everyone in this thread. The really sad thing is Im pretty sure everyone is over the age of 20; this is apparently what passes for mature these days.

    75. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Aside from the No true scotsman you just tried to pull, we have yet MORE name calling; not just a subhuman fascist, not just worthy of being drowned in a hurricane, but stupid to boot.

      Does anyone catch the irony of it all here, that Im supposed to be in the party of hate, given all the crap ive gotten since posting?

    76. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

      Never expecting us the notice that they were the conservatives of their day, and that their ideas are not part of the Republican banner. That's a really tired bit of noise there.

      Where does all the "race traitor" language come from these days? I seem to remember a certain reporter who got called all sorts of nasty things because he dared to be both black AND republican. Where does all the language trying to stir up racial tension come from?

      I think it would be a bit much to say that all of the fault is on the right. People are people, but theres plenty of mud being slung from both sides.

    77. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Genda · · Score: 1

      Have you spent any time watching CSPAN? Read a Congressional Record? Do you have a clue what the Republican Party as a whole is saying? I'm sure there are guys in the party who are great to do shots with (avoid Cheney he shoots for real...) Its just that what y'all keep proposing sounds good until you look at it, then you have to go... HUH? The Ryan Plan for instance. Its base on making a 2.7 Trillion dollar cut to social service, eliminate Medicaid, pretty much gut Medicare and Social Security, eliminate educational subsidies (that's genius), eliminate the social security net for the poor and close tax loopholes for the middle class. Then give the wealthy 4.3 Trillion dollars. Now in my head, that implodes the middle class, throws any future of having the next generation perform any task more complex than ask "Would you like fries with that?" (taxbase? that's what HB1 Visas are for), gives the wealthy bastards who already have most of the money the rest of the money (which by the way will be AWESOME for those offshore banks where they're storing their money now...) and shoots the deficit up 1.5 Trillion dollars a year. Eight years of that should fix everything right up. See that's either Ryan being a disingenuous jerk sucking up to a mouth breathing constituency who can't do math or that's Ryan begin certifiably bug fuck. I can't tell which.

      See, the Democratic Party, is dishonest, power hungry, financially irresponsible, morally questionable. The Republican Party is just insane. Like set you hair on fire and whistle "Camp Town Races" "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" Gob Smacking Loopy. You can't say the things that emanate from the Republican side of the aisle and not be either a felating shill for the wealthy in this country or flat out ready for a 20% Thorazine drip.

      I just find it ironic that Reagan closed the mental health facilities in the 80s, and it appears they've all found residence in D.C. as standing members of Ronny's own party. Truth is stranger than fiction.

    78. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Genda · · Score: 1

      I'm all for fiscal conservatism. I think a government needs to be transparent like glass, and should account for every penny is spends. The thing is, I'm okay with people of underprivileged classes getting support for education and learning useful trades. That's a great way to spend tax money. It expands the tax base, provides a strong middle class and move the next generation out of being underprivileged (by the way I'm color blind when it comes to privilege... and it just so happens women and people of color still have it tougher than white guys.)

      Consider taxes are the way society invests in it present and its future. Some needs to be spent to keep schools and courts and libraries open. Some needs to be spent to protect us from threats outside our country. Some needs to be spent to protect us from criminals and disasters like fire. And some needs to be spent for bridges and roads and power lines and sewage treatment. These are all vital services and we use government to provide them. We don't have to. We can privatize them, but then you start having problems because wealthy people get all the services. For example, a wealthy neighborhood can afford to build good schools and poor people get no schools. This is a disaster in a technological society where you have to be at least literate and preferably literate as well in math, science and technology to function with some level of grace and power. The answer is that we try to set at least a minimum standard for schools and social services, so society can function with a modicum of ease and freedom (societies with disparate classes are inherently more violent, disruptive and inefficient.)

      If your actions have a consequence that impacts minorities unfairly then maybe the racist label is one you should look at very carefully. There are acts of commission and acts of omission. Letting a man drown because he's black is patently racist.

    79. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Genda · · Score: 2

      Friend, I don't want anyone to drown, some do, but the middle class in this country has seen their real income drop more than a quarter and nearly a third since 2000. We have watched the largest shift in wealth in human history. We've watched war on the thinnest of pretenses against people who did nothing to us. We've seen the fastest growing economy in 50 years turned into a smoking hole.

      We watch greedy self serving bastards line their pockets with tax payers money while politician all but blow them. DID you see the Republicans interviewing Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan on his loss of Billions of dollars on bad speculation. They fawned, and flirted, and pat his popo to make it feel all better. I was dumbstruck. Honestly the only other thing they could possibly have done was go down on him. For just a brief flash, drowning or some other act of god might have seemed desirable. So, I can say without any loss of compassion or conscience, these people are just the worst and need to be forcibly removed from office with all due haste. Killed, not so much. Fired? You bet your ass.

    80. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Darby · · Score: 0

      And contrary to AIPAC and other fascist organizations, you don't have to be anti-semitic to hate zionists.

    81. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      In case anyone is wondering what Im referring to, its stuff like this:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPkX4FSDw18&feature=related
      Juan williams is being called a "house negro" becaues he dares become more conservative, he dares criticize vitriol from the left. Theyre comparing him to Uncle Ruckus from THe Boondocks. THATS not rascist, not at all-- so long as its coming from the left, right?

    82. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Darby · · Score: 0

      As an independent, I can state with authority that the right has veered wildly toward batshit crazy in the last four years

      Four years?!? 32 at the least, and that's ignoring Nixon's treason. Remember Reagan? The war on personal liberty? Selling crack to American school kids to buy weapons for Osama bin Laden? Bringing the extremist religious loonies out of the woodwork and telling them it's their right to impose religion on government when the exact opposite is one of if not the most defining design feature of this nation? Intentionally presenting babies with fetal alcohol syndrome as "crack babies" to demonize blacks and unwed mothers? Setting up terrorist death squad training camps whose product raped and murdered thousands including nuns? Reagonomics, the continuing pursuit of such delusional policies which is the cause of our current economic climate? The fact that that monster has been canonized by Republicans not in spite of but because of all of those diseased policies?
      Then the Bushes?!?!?

      No, the Republicans have been absotively posilutely batshit insane for decades.

      It's far more than racism that's wrong with those people.

      I have no use for the Democrats either, but most of what's wrong with them today is they're doing nothing but implementing the Republican's policies since they've been bought by all the same people.

    83. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Genda · · Score: 1

      Okay I guess we do this by the numbers...

      "You"? I'm libertarian (small "l"). Same sex marriage isn't a constitutional right, it's defined status.

      I'm all over the place. Because I think small government is awesome though I do believe some things are best done by a government, Federal, State and Local. Marriage is a contract. Allowing people of the same sex to participate in the contract as a function of saying, that its time to stop hating people who are different than you (as has always been the concept of greater freedom and liberty under our culture) makes perfect sense. At a state level and at a National level.

      This isn't about corporation in general. This is about leftists using their corporate influence in the media to promote Democrat candidates. They were slow to back down because they wanted their attack on Bush to succeed. By their own admission they wanted to influence the election.

      I'm sorry but between FOX News and the concentration of media owned by large corporate interests (ClearChannel, Hearst, GE, etc.) pushing the corporate and often conservative line, you simply can't even begin to blow that smoke. I can show you that there is a powerful nationwide campaign on conservative talk radio owned and operated by large monied interests just stuffing that American Psyche with conservative trash, As for influencing vote, Nationally a recent tally was done on C3 501 nonprofit organizations that were in fact illegally engaged in political campaigns over the last 10 years and the VAST majority were Republican, and in fact the blatant disregard they have for tax law, honesty, civil propriety or even simple accuracy will be the subject of a soon to be published book on this fascinating and ongoing scandal.

      Both sides get away with a lot, and that's my point...

      Dude... I'm sorry but this "You guys do it too..." thing is just creepy. Biden's a douche bag for the MPAA, nobody's arguing that. Its one of the things I hate most about the Obama White House, and it tells my he's in Hollywood's pocket (as though the pushing for obscene laws wasn't hint enough.) On this issue my friend, I'll stand toe to toe with you. When Democrats engage in shitty politics I kinda wanna see them go away too. But you can't honestly compare the silly crap that's happened in the Obama White House to the yellow cake boondoggle in the Bush Administration, lying full out to the American People about weapons of mass destruction, and when a respected expert reports that Iraq has no yellow cake, Rove (aka. Turdblossom) out's his wife as a CIA agent, all of this so Cheney could pump a trillion dollars into Halliburton with no compete contracts. If you lined up all the Bush atrocities; letting 9/11 just happen (they'd had been fully warned about Bin Ladin and they ignored him), putting Justice (Corporations are Human Beings) Scalia in the Supreme Court, Faking the Iraq War, Letting Bin Ladin go because Bush was tight with the Bin Ladin family, Stuffing the House Staff with incompetent frat brothers and brown nosers, Hurricane Catrina, The Dot-Bomb implosion, The Housing, Banking, Insurance, Automobile Industry implosion, Sorry I just can't go on, its like watching a loved on being poisoned. You can't compare Obama to Bush. That's like comparing Spanky of "Our Gang" to Hitler. It just doesn't wash, sorry. I'm not saying I like Obama or agree with any of it, but you can honest compare a gopher hole to the Grand Canyon, it just destroys any credibility. Now looking at the Republican ticket, I could have lived with Romney, before he sold his soul to the clowns that made Ryan his running mate. Too bad.

    84. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Genda · · Score: 0

      Don't go making blanket statements that don't hold water. Billy Graham is a great man and humanitarian, and I'm pretty sure people from both sides of the aisle will agree that you can tell a tree by the fruit it bears. More than a few clowns who espouse to be christian miss the mark by a country mile and political persuasion has nothing to do with it. The thing is that even the Catholic church that Ryan grew up in said "We do not agree with your political views. A Christian is suppose to protect, empower and promote the needs and interests of the poor, the weak, and the sick. Your actions are dedicated to serving the wealthy. Yours is not a Christian agenda." That's pretty harsh stuff coming from your own church.

    85. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Apparently the fact that the right wing doesnt think 90% of the things you mentioned is the government's role-- that makes us fair game for all the insults you want to throw our way.

      Is it possible that we dont want all the social programs, not because we hate poor people or are racist, but because we think the Government has proven itself incredibly bad at doing those things, and that a great number of them are counterproductive?

      No, of course not, its perfectly reasonable to call anyone with that attitude a mouthbreather, crazy, and worse.

    86. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 0

      The Killing Fields?

      If you REALLY want to go there, Im pretty sure that was a far, far left movement. As was Nazi Germany, if we really want to bring up the past 100 years. And the Soviet Union.

      But heres the thing-- I personally find it inappropriate to try and place responsibility for the holocaust into the lap of the modern democrat. Even if they believed SOME of the same things, Im not about to call Obama Hitler. But from all the responses Im getting from leftists in this thread, its seems that THEY have no problem with that kind of behavior, so long as its directed at the right wing.

    87. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Oh come on, your party has decided that they're the voice of god.

      Look over the full thread of responses Ive gotten, and then tell me who has slung more mud here. This whole discussion has made me feel dirty.

    88. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

      "Full" is overstating things a bit, especially when you consider that Slashdot has a worldwide following. When the conservatives in Europe are left of center in the US, you can safely say the entire European audience is left-leaning. Then you look at votes in the US and see a 50/50 split all the time, so at least half of the American audience is left-leaning (for some fairly distorted value of "left", in this case). So, just counting on my fingers here, Slashdot is majority left-leaning, and by a much wider margin than a typical vote in the US.

    89. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shit man, are you from the US? I'm not (never even been there) but even I know that immediately after the whole civil rights thing in the US the democrats and republicans all switched shirts for some stupid reason that I don't even care about.

    90. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Quila · · Score: 2

      Allowing people of the same sex to participate in the contract as a function of saying, that its time to stop hating people who are different than you (as has always been the concept of greater freedom and liberty under our culture) makes perfect sense.

      It's a policy question, not a rights question. One problem of the left and right, although more of the left, is that they fell asleep during civics class. They have no idea how our government is structured. If they did, they'd know this is not a federal issue.

      I'm sorry but between FOX News and the concentration of media owned by large corporate interests

      Corporate? That doesn't mean they don't push the leftist point of view. Ah yes, Fox News, the one marginally conservative news outlet among all the liberal sources. And talk radio, various radio hosts who have become popular because people like what they say. The left tried this, Radio America, and it failed despite massive cash infusions. Nobody wanted to hear them. What was their answer? "Fairness" doctrine, let's silence free talk radio! We must allow equal time for opposing views, even if nobody wants to hear them in that format.

      Dude... I'm sorry but this "You guys do it too..." thing is just creepy.

      The problem with partisans is that they are very selective. It's not just Biden being in the pocket of the MPAA, Obama hired MPAA shills to top DOJ spots. Obama just hasn't been around long enough to do real damage. Let's use a green energy program that Bush set up (yes, Bush) to pump 500 million to donors' pockets, and have the taxpayers pick up the tab. No-compete contracts? Continued under Obama. 9/11 happening? Ask Clinton why he didn't take Osama handed to him on a silver platter, instead leaving him to plot 9/11. Corporate personhood? Citizens United only affirmed earlier decision by the SEC, specifically the one that let ads for the anti-Bush Fahrenheit 9/11 air before the 2004 election (yes, CU was a slapdown of a conservative complaint). Bin Laden family? A generally respectable family with business interests across the world that had disowned Osama years prior. Katrina? Nobody remembers the incompetent local and state Democrat administrations that screwed everything up horribly initially, only to be made worse by later federal screw-ups. Frat house administration? How about staffing with looney leftists who haven't a clue, or the best one, hiring a tax cheat as Treasury Secretary. Did you know a good chunk of Obama's top administration still owes huge in back taxes? Banking? Bush went to Congress twice before the crash, asking them to rein in these practices, but powerful Democrats on the banking committees like Frank and Dodd said, "Dont' worry, everything's fine."

      I could just go on and on, but Obama has done such bad stuff in only three and a half years compared to Bush's eight, it's scary to think of what he'll do with four more.

    91. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by khallow · · Score: 1

      Just look up the discussion on this site about Dan Cathy and his position on Same-Sex marriage.

      Someone who happened to say something that you disagree with? We can't have that!

      Saying that represents bigotry and intolerance, that his freedom is being censored was treated as the true wrong.

      I'll just note here that he wasn't speaking in his capacity as an officer of Chick-Fil-A when he spoke. That's why I consider the boycott of Chick-Fil-A a case of opportunistic bigotry.

      Especially since I've found in my experience that complaining about the racism accusations is mostly crying wolf.

      Then you haven't been paying attention. Accusations of racism have gotten so common that they have lost their punch. It's good that you have heard the story about "crying wolf". Then you have a good chance of recognizing gratuitous accusations of racism in the future.

    92. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Keep trying, the problem was that WE, on the left, couldn't say we disagreed with Dan Cathy.

      That wasn't allowed, not by the people complaining about how intolerant and bigoted that was. They said we were wrong to disagree, as he was just stating his opinion. The concept that he was using applying his opinion to the law? That was underplayed.

      And trying to split hairs with Chik-Fil-A is ignoring how they are a company that prides itself on its moralistic virtues. Yet you say apparently we can't disagree with them, you say it was opportunistic bigotry.

      Thanks again for showing me why the right keeps looking for excuses to complain about the left.

      And do keep playing that bit crying wolf over racism accusations. What's gotten so common in my experience is those complaints, they've lost their punch.

      Maybe you should recognize the gratuitous complaints about being accused of racism in the future.

      I dare you to try.

      But you can't even recognize the gratuitous nature of the complaints about being the victims of bigotry and hatred from the left on the part of the right, so I have my doubts.

    93. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      It is not full of them, they just happen to appear here somewhat more often than in real life. And boy they are loud.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    94. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sorry, but your post clearly indicated being upset at the thought that you were being labeled "a sub-human fascist" when it wasn't even you being subjected to that label. That's why you called it hypocrisy. But it's not, because it's in support of you, not opposition. If you were intended to express a more generalized outrage, you really failed to express that idea at all. You were just aggrieved because you thought it applied to you.

      And if you think that anything today is particular different, maybe you need to look at some prior political dialogue. Nothing today is especially different from what you'd find in the past.

      But still, you were just being offended at what you thought was a criticism to yourself.

    95. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a policy question, not a rights question. One problem of the left and right, although more of the left, is that they fell asleep during civics class. They have no idea how our government is structured. If they did, they'd know this is not a federal issue.

      Except it's an attempt at justifying an abuse of rights by relying on a policy that lets that happen.

      That's been my problem with the states' rights argument, it's so heavily been used to excuse doing nothing and letting wrongs continue.

      Much like say the old Restrictive Covenants were. Oh it's just a private right to contract, the state (government at all) can't interfere with that, let individuals be free to make that decision.

      Except it's inherently corrupting the state by requiring government enforcement of a contract. Much like letting a state get away with abuses of its citizens by waving your hands and saying "it's not a federal question" is just being used to let wrongs continue.

      That's the reality I've seen. It's just a bunch of excuses.

    96. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If we had more Goldwater types in the GOP, it might be a party worth listening too. Personally, I'd respect the party more if it did consist of "Goldwater Republicans" instead of....whatever it is now. (Not all views were great, but for the most part....)

      "When you say "radical right" today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye."

      "Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the nuts."

      Re: Iran Arm's Sales: "I'd say it's the god-damned stupidest foreign policy blunder this country's ever made!"

      Supported desegregation (of the military anyway), cracking down on companies that were polluting, socially liberal, fiscally conservative...

      wtf happened?

    97. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by ArcherB · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "We do not agree with your political views. A Christian is suppose to protect, empower and promote the needs and interests of the poor, the weak, and the sick. Your actions are dedicated to serving the wealthy. Yours is not a Christian agenda."

      Source? Not that I doubt you, but you quote yielded no results.

      Either way, they are half right. It is the Christian's job to do such things. Not the government's. When government forces your property from you at gunpoint and decides how to dole it out, they strip the citizen the freedom of making that choice. Paying taxes is not charity. Charity is charity.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    98. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'll just note here that he wasn't speaking in his capacity as an officer of Chick-Fil-A when he spoke. That's why I consider the boycott of Chick-Fil-A a case of opportunistic bigotry.

      I'll just note that he did a lot more than just speak his personal opinion. His company and the charity his company funded was shown to support various groups considered to be anti-gay. His statements only reinforced what the LGBT groups were already suspecting and complaining about.

      That's why I consider the boycott to be fair game and not "opportunistic bigotry": it's his company/charity that acted in a way people don't like, so people are now boycotting the company itself.

      Oh, and the "not speaking as an officer" bit? Considering he's the president and a C-level exec, he should know better that his words and actions could have a lot impact on his company, even when he isn't "on the job". Again, the LGBT people were already complaining at his company at that point, so he should be well informed that people are watching him what he says and does, even when not on the job. So I have no sympathy for the guy.

      Now, the (few) politicians who said they'd prevent CFA from opening stores in their cities or such went overboard, but the boycott itself isn't. It's people exercising their right to choose which fried chicken stores they spend their money on. It's the closest thing to free market working, and you call that opportunistic bigotry? So what would be a not-opportunistic and not-bigot thing for people to do?

    99. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amen, and I just voted in a local primary as a Republican, mainly to keep one good person and, er, a "devil I know" (no offense, Clyde) in office and to say no to TSPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, a sort of back door tax to fund the urban center based Regional Governance that seems to be quietly taking over from the county government system and municipalities in Georgia. Another layer removed from the voters, Councils sat on by "stakeholders", and other Maoist UN Agenda 21 inspired touchy-feely empowerment crap actually designed to line the pockets of the 0.01% and reward obliging minions, underlings, and stooges. Good old BBC actually had it right about Dr. Who's "Sunmakers". Sigh, yes, metaphorically, of course, though sometimes you wonder. But I digress, because what I actually wanted to point out, too, was that it's not hypocritical for any thinking person to wish the whole Democratic party into the proverbial rice paddy.

      To anyone bemoaning all the hostility and partisanship, the us-vs-them mentality, well, why do you think there's a 2-party system to begin with? It's easier to manipulate, and a cinch to coerce support for things that would otherwise not be. Duh.

    100. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm, the man that shot Giffords was a Democrat... They originally tried to blame it on the "Republican rhetoric", but there are just as many examples of Democrat violent rhetoric. Both sides are out of control, the fact that it is so divisive is the problem. We are all Americans, with opinions about the best way to run the country. Not enemies, Americans.

    101. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but it's nowhere NEAR as comparable. Especially when Republicans accuse Democrats of being hateful because of a stand against bigotry and intolerance.

      IIRC it was repubs who had to try to get civil rights laws, and southern democrats resisted it bitterly. We can try to sling mud all day long, but things arent as onesided as you seem to think. And honestly, with all the hate I see on the mostly-dem slashdot, its a bit much for you to assert that the right (presumably the christian right) is the source of it all, especially given the comment that kicked off this thread coming from a leftie.

      Uhm... what do you think the Dixiecrats were (Southern Democrats)? Where do you think they went after that? The next generation of Southern politicians mostly went to the GOP. Parties change. The Republicans from that time are also drastically different from the Republicans today. Read a little history, it may enlighten you.

    102. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by nbauman · · Score: 2

      You may some day have to accept that there is a large number of reasonable, intelligent, and even likable people who completely disagree with your views on government and policy. Just because someone has a political view doesnt mean you know squat about them, their finances, their situation, or their personality.

      The Republicans (and conservatives) used to be like that. I used to read the Wall Street Journal editorial page every day just to see a well-argued factually accurate idea that I disagreed with, and sometimes I'd be forced to say, "You know, they're right." But they've gone off the deep end since then. OK, you believe that individuals can make better decisions for themselves than the government can make for them. But what about abortion? Evolution? Prayer in the schools? The war on drugs? Gays? I wish Barry Goldwater were back.

      http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=3079:goodbye-to-all-that-reflections-of-a-gop-operative-who-left-the-cult

      Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult
      Saturday, 03 September 2011 11:09 By Mike Lofgren, Truthout | News Analysis

      To be sure, the party, like any political party on earth, has always had its share of crackpots, like Robert K. Dornan or William E. Dannemeyer. But the crackpot outliers of two decades ago have become the vital center today: Steve King, Michele Bachman (now a leading presidential candidate as well), Paul Broun, Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, Louie Gohmert, Allen West. The Congressional directory now reads like a casebook of lunacy.

      I could see as early as last November that the Republican Party would use the debt limit vote, an otherwise routine legislative procedure that has been used 87 times since the end of World War II, in order to concoct an entirely artificial fiscal crisis. Then, they would use that fiscal crisis to get what they wanted, by literally holding the US and global economies as hostages.

      Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care.

    103. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      You were just aggrieved because you thought it applied to you.

      Even if I was wrong about his post-- which on second reading it appears I was-- I've already been called all sorts of things, both personally (stupid, crazy), and as part of the larger group (vitriolic, bigotted, etc). The entire notion that the right is some bastion of hate is ripped to shreds by a casual perusal of this very thread.

    104. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, I love Slashdot. There is a lot of very intelligent people here but the ones that get into political discussions all turn STUPID. Don't you people realize what is going on? American politics has become nothing but professional wrestling. There are two parties, Orange and Yellow. Just because someone is a member of a particular party do you really think that it makes them right or wrong? The Orange president, candidate, politician has lied, broken promises, engaged in cronyism, acted opportunistically, done the opposite of what he claimed to be doing, misled, told half truths, and generally acted without principals or conviction. The Yellow president, candidate, politician has lied, broken promises, engaged in cronyism, acted opportunistically, done the opposite of what he claimed to be doing, misled, told half truths, and generally acted without principals or conviction. Which one is which? Is the Yellow a Democrat or Republican? You cannot tell because they are the same. They are the same people bought and paid for year after year by the people that run the show. The county is flat on it's back in the middle of the ring and the two parties of the current political system keep pounding the shit out of it. The Democrats fuck you in the ass and the Republicans fuck you in the face all the while they each club the hell out of whatever they can reach. They are human beings and you are forgetting that. There is no test or rite of passage they must face in order to be in power. All they need to do is convince a little more than half of the people who actually vote to do so in their favor. It's the fourth grade all over again. This is OUR clubhouse and only people that have passed the supersecret initiation and know the password can get in. Everyone else is the enemy and they can all just go to hell.

      As long as you people keep this up then the ones who are destroying and looting this country along with systematically dismantling the constitution have nothing to stand in their way. Inch by inch and year by year they consolidate their power while you bicker and argue over who gets to play on the swings first. None of these people operate in your best interest. They all lie. Each party laments the state of the country but they are the ones to blame for and as they strike you with one hand and stroke you with the other while telling you that they can make it all better if you just elect them you stupidly believe it.

      Tell me I am wrong. Tell me that Bush was better than Obama. Tell me that Obama was better than Bush. Take the names off and do a three card shuffle. Can you find the lie? Bush signed the patriot act. Obama did too. Bush opened GTMO. Obama promised to close it but it is still open. The list goes on and on and on folks. The last verse of "Won't Get Fooled Again" is what you elected on 04 Nov 2008. It's what you will get on 13 Nov 2012. No matter who "wins" the election this time you can best believe that it will not be you no matter what kiddie club you belong to.

    105. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      When Bush was in charge, it was perfectly okay with run 2 wars and a huge

      2 Wars with congressional approval, you mean. As opposed to a War with NO congressional approval, because Obama seems to think (and stated as much IIRC) that UN approval trumps congressional.

      But no, lets ignore all that and continue hating on Bush and the republicans; everything must be their fault.

    106. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      That may be, but it seems distinctly anti-right, which is perhaps what I should have said. See the hatred that comes out whenever the article is on something republican. See the hatred in this very thread.

    107. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.'

      And yet, when Dan Cathy states a personal opinion that, while he will respect and treat all people, that he disapproves of certain behavior-- the left immediately DEMANDS that his opinion be changed. This isnt a case of "he mistreated some people"-- it was entirely his opnion-- but that doesnt matter. He has to condone certain behavior, and approve of it.

      Totally not the same thing, right?

    108. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You missed the thing he was there to provide, and the comma between it and "advise".

    109. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by dywolf · · Score: 1

      because there are absolutely no religious, bigoted, greedy, corporatist, tax-cut loving, rich, stupid, irrational, or ignorant people in the democratic party. AT ALL.

      now that's true self-deception. and it's rampant on /.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    110. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      And another thing, is kangaroo kosher? How about tapir?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    111. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by dywolf · · Score: 2

      Definitions according to /. :
      Republican: Bigotted. Religious fanatic. Greedy. Rich. Corporate Bought. Ignorant. Sleazy. Dishonest.
      Democrat: Tolerant. Aethist. Informed. Rational. Educated. Charitable. Working man. Honest.

      -signed, a moderate (leaning to slightly liberal) observer that refuses to register with either party.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    112. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Eli+Gottlieb · · Score: 1

      Slashdot is not majority left-leaning, though thank God it manages to be better than Reddit most of the time.

      Like most of the internet, Slashdot unfortunately leans mostly "libertarian" (ie: proprietarian anarcho-capitalist).

    113. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by VisceralLogic · · Score: 1

      It's not just that there are subgroups that are hateful.

      There's a guy who shot up a Unitarian church in Knoxville, TN, and he had a big selection of books by Ann Coulter with highlighted passages that seem to explain why he did it. There's another guy who shot Representitive Giffords (and a six year old to get to her), and again, had a bunch of material by Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and others in his personal library. There's another guy who shot a guard at a Holocaust memorial center, again with a bunch of right wing connections, and many of the same books. (I'm not naming any of these scumbags. It's their victims that deserve to be remembered.) The amount of hate mail and death threats sent to the current president in his first month in office was at least 10x as large as anyone before him recieved in the same time. Just today in the news, there's a sitting judge in Texas who advocates raising taxes for one reason and one only - to fund training his local Sherrif's dept. into a force that can fight off the invading UN troops he expects momentarily.

      So it's not a case of arguing that there are more in one group or another. There's no logical argument as to the actual facts.There are about 10 times as many in your group as the other, if you go by the hate letters, or an infinitely higher percentage if you go by the bodycounts. That's the point. ALL the murderers are on your side. Apologists for the right keep pointing to people such as reverend Wright, or some 'eco-group' that pours paint stripper on gas guzzlers, as though some jerk who never actually killed anyone cancels out at least one mass murderer, maybe all of them, however many you get. What's wrong with your party, the whole party, is that it is willing to equivocate so that when there is a nutbar fanatic actually killing in the name of your cause, they are willing to claim that is balanced by a person on the other side saying something mean spirited. You just stooped to that same tired argument, so I will label you, you personally and not you as part of any larger group, as the one who is the problem. Stop coddling killers! Stop helping a political party that coddles killers. Stop using this false equivalency, or stop being surprised when decent people start talking about you like you need tarred and feathered and run out of their town.

      Speaking of mass murderers with political material in their libraries, I hear Stalin had some Leftist material...

      --
      Stop! Dremel time!
    114. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by jahudabudy · · Score: 1

      Wasn't Obama snorting coke in 1972?

      At 11 years old? I kinda doubt it....

      --
      ...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
    115. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by mike1214 · · Score: 0

      Setting up terrorist death squad training camps whose product raped and murdered thousands including nuns?

      They may have killed a few thousand, but they were at war against those like you - funded and supported from abroad - whose ideological compatriots had murdered millions.

    116. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      Real income dropping? Like the increase in cost of healthcare due to legislation? My company just announced that healthcare premiums are going up by 50% because of the new laws. http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20120823/NEWS0107/208230314/
      War on the thinnest of pretenses against people who did nothing to us? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/world/middleeast/obama-threatens-force-against-syria.html
      Greedy self serving bastards line their pockets with tax payers money while politicians blow them? http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/obama-fundraises-with-players-in-solyndra-scandal/ http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/314694/bad-worse-obama-s-gm-bailout-michael-barone

      I won't mention the shift in wealth or the smoking hole in the economy because you can't pin that on the 4 or 8 years of any one president much less any one party.

      Before you reply, did I say anything good about Republicans? But stop calling the kettle black if you are the pot. BOTH parties should be fired. Don't get blinded and think that only the right are corrupt assholes.

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    117. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      I don't know which comments you've been reading, but I don't think libertarians populate this site at all. Or at least from my perspective it seems like I'm the only one.

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    118. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      Its base on making a 2.7 Trillion dollar cut (to proposed increases) to social service, eliminate Medicaid (by returning money to the states), pretty much gut Medicare and Social Security (both of which cannot survive with current incomes and disbursements), eliminate educational subsidies (because studies show increased government funding improves test scores right?), eliminate the social security net for the poor (you mean like disability pay for life?) and close tax loopholes for the middle class (I agree, we should close loopholes for everyone).

      Wow, even with all that he doesn't manage to balance the budget until 2030... That is insane. As for your rich with "the rest of the money" (is there only a limited amount of pie and you think your slice is too small?) and their overseas bank accounts... Maybe we should not ask why they are sheltering their money, but why as a society we lay claim to their money to the point that they HAVE to hide it overseas to keep money grubbing hands like yours off of it?

      There are crackpots in the Republican Party (Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, the idiot with the "legitimate rape" comment). There are also crackpots in the Democratic Party.

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    119. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      That's crazy talk. Individuals aren't charitable on their own. They have to be FORCED to help other people.

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    120. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You really have no idea what retarded republicans sit on Science and Intelligence committies? Yes, one is allowed to rage against the whole gop, because it now stands for ignorance and pandering to the worst wingnuts. You don't need to be leftie to actually be reality based, but it seems lost on you.

    121. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Excellent. It's good to have the cards laid out on the table. Unfortunately for you, we have more guns and will win.

    122. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Quila · · Score: 1

      Incest is prohibited not because of any traditional objections based on ideas of the past, if that were the case, then we'd have to respect the myriad of cultures that did engage in such marriages

      Polygamy is also prohibited, simply because of tradition. So is homosexual marriage. Marriage is not a right. It is a fabricated legal construct deemed for the good of the society, and operating under the rules of that society.

      Let's not go down the road of trying to turn everything into a constitutional right so that people get to do it. How about sex with twelve year-olds? Why not? Constitutional right to privacy should cover that. Why not marry your horse? Bestiality laws are based on tradition, basically society's "ick factor." Same with homosexual marriiage. When society wants it to change, it will change. It is not for the minority to force that change on the majority against the majority's will.

      I personally don't have a problem with homosexual marriage. But what I have a problem with or not does not affect the structure of our government.

      I find that argument to be one that's quite problematic as it doesn't even brook discussion.

      Then by your argument everything is a federal issue. Since that eliminates the need for the states, you are obviously incorrect since our system was set up with sovereign states. You don't get to yell "rights" and magically all issues get decided by a few sympathetic guys in robes instead of the duly elected representatives of the people. That's a kritarchy, not a democracy.

      As for CBS, no they were slow to back down because they got egg on their face

      They were slow because they wanted their attack on Bush to succeed. It was their last chance to railroad his reelection. They admitted the story was meant to influence the election.

      What I see is a bunch of people making a big deal over nothing.

      That's exactly your partisan view. Complaints about what your party does are making a big deal over nothing. Complaints about what the other party does are legitimate criticisms. What your party does can never be "great injustices", only what the other party does. The partisan Republicans have the same view of your party. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here in the middle and watching the outrageous conduct of both parties, amazed at how blind the loyal can be to their own party's misconduct.

      No, he outright stated something utterly untrue. It wasn't one word. It was a whole idea. This is what I mean about not being responsible.

      You mean utterly untrue and irresponsible, such as saying Romney was still actively running Bain in 2001, and was guilty of a felony for saying he wasn't? At least Akin had a valid point as a personal opinion (which is what his statement was, however wrong parts of it were), that the baby shouldn't be killed because of the actions of the rapist. Obama's accusation was wrong, and purely for the reason of unfairly attacking his opponent.

    123. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Genda · · Score: 1

      When a guy has an opinion, that's a protected right. When a guy with hundreds of millions of dollars starts inflicting his opinions on millions of others, we start to walk into that grey zone where I'm getting uneasy. When a guy with millions of dollars starts to use that money and power to influence national politics so he can make his opinion the law of the land, I'm now passed "Butt pucker" and fully into "Just hold up a minute there Sling Blade..." You read Deuteronomy? Leviticus? Are you familiar with the laws of Moses? You can't cherry pick. I'll follow this law but not that. If your children disrespect you, you must kill them. That's the Law of Moses. Or if you choose not to honor that law, then by all mean stop picking the laws that justify your personal prejudice and ignorance. Because the Bible then just becomes a thin excuse to be a bigoted scumbag, and I'll bet that doesn't make God all warm and fuzzy either. Remember, above all else, love. If that ain't love you're showing, it isn't Christian.

    124. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      When a guy with hundreds of millions of dollars starts inflicting his opinions on millions of others

      What exactly do you mean by "inflicting"? It is a personally held opnion that has no functional impact on the running of his store.

      Answer this plainly-- does he or does he not have a right to disapprove of homosexuality?

      When a guy with millions of dollars starts to use that money and power to influence national politics so he can make his opinion the law of the land

      Speech like that makes it sound like you have a box where you put money in and out pops certain laws. What actually happens is people use their money for advertising and lobbying, which fundamentally are expressions of free speech and one of our most protected rights.

      You read Deuteronomy? Leviticus? Are you familiar with the laws of Moses? You can't cherry pick. I'll follow this law but not that. If your children disrespect you, you must kill them.

      That is a shallow and uninformed, out of context reading. Im not about to go into a full explanation for WHY those particulars are no longer relevant; the short answer is "some of the stuff in Leviticus is of a moral nature, and some is of a ritual / only-applicable-to-Israel nature. The long answer is, use google, this question has been answered a zillion times.

      bigoted

      Bigotry by definition requires mistreatment of a particular class. That has not happened; Dan Cathy (and myself) simply see homosexuality as not much different than sex outside of marriage, or adultery. Like with either of those, Im not going to mistreat you because you have sex outside of marriage, but Im not going to approve of those actions either. Its not bigotry, and this charged language is part of the problem honestly.

    125. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      This is all dishonest in the extreme.

      There's another guy who shot Representitive Giffords

      ...who, by all accounts was either independent, or far left:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Lee_Loughner#Views_on_politics ...even though the media attempted to paint this as some right-wing conspiracy. Not only did he apparently dislike Bush, he was also pretty anti-religion; and apparently his anger at Giffords wasnt her affiliation, but that she was "fake".

      And the rest of your post, listing off random anecdotes, is some bizarre attempt to place the blame for EVERY right-leaning criminal's actions onto our lap. If I were to do the same, you might have to answer for Stalin and the Killing Fields-- or even the recent shooting of a guard outside of the Family Research Center by someone with leftist leanings; but we commonly refer to that particular tactic as the "Association fallacy".

    126. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

      Only if you promise to check out some right-wing forums, and honestly tell me that there isn't a group of people who call themselves part of the Republican ideology who engage in the behavior I described.

      And the foaming-at-the-mouth liberals over at Huffpo/DailyKos/pick-your-blog-of-choice don't count as a counter-example? It's also rather funny that Republicans in general give way more percent of their income on average than Democrats (who are supposed to be champions of the downtrodden).

      The reason we can't have a rational debate is you want to be treated as a victim without looking around you and seeing who's taken up your banner.

      Umm, hello kettle? Do you remember the 99% movement? The cries of "rich people are fucking us over"? Victim complex is hardly isolated to Republicans. Why don't you just admit that hate and victim complexes on both sides of the equation are part of the problem? Persisting this "us vs them" complex only makes it worse.

    127. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

      Actually, it does mean you're willing to stand with them, that's the point of any such label.

      You do realize there's only two parties that are politically relevant -- and those parties encompass a wide range of ideologies? We can't exactly pick and choose -- if you want fiscal responsibility, you have to lean Republican and sadly accept some religious zealotry that comes with it. I'd love to break into a multi-party, multi-topic system. But in the reality we live in, that's not feasible. To write off an entire party of individuals because of a few kooks is downright stupid.

    128. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

      If your actions have a consequence that impacts minorities unfairly then maybe the racist label is one you should look at very carefully. There are acts of commission and acts of omission.

      This is a slippery slope. One could very easily see affirmative action programs as racist -- one could also see calls for their removal as racist. Similarly, the fact that a large percentage of white people vote Republican could be seen as racist -- in the same way, the fact a large percentage of black people vote Democrat could be seen as racist. If you go looking for a pattern, you will find one.

    129. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by ToadProphet · · Score: 1

      Not sure how the term 'Jewish movement' excludes non-Jews. Whites were abolitionists, men were feminists, etc, etc.
      It's really semantics anyhow, and can easily be resolved by using 'pro-Zionist' instead.

      --
      It's on America's tortured brow, That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
    130. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 1

      OK, you get the guns, we get the science books. Let's see how that works out in the long run.

    131. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by khallow · · Score: 1

      And trying to split hairs with Chik-Fil-A is ignoring how they are a company that prides itself on its moralistic virtues. Yet you say apparently we can't disagree with them, you say it was opportunistic bigotry.

      Did I say that you weren't allowed to engage in opportunistic bigotry? Not at all. The US is a free country. Just don't expect to be respected for doing so.

      As it turns out, I support same sex marriages and disagree with Dan Cathy on that subject. What I don't support is the sort of bullying where someone's employer is targeted because the person has unpopular opinions. That's dirty pool.

      It doesn't matter if Chick-Fil-A has "moralistic virtues" or not. It doesn't matter if a key official makes bigoted remarks. Is the business actively discriminating in its hiring, promotions, and so on? If so, it is likely breaking the law for which there are remedies (and for which I would respect a boycott). If not, then there's no case for a boycott.

    132. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by khallow · · Score: 1

      I frequently make typos. You're free to start caring about them. Just don't expect them to be corrected because I don't have the means to do so.

    133. Re:And if a hurricane wipes out the GOP... by Quila · · Score: 1

      That's been my problem with the states' rights argument, it's so heavily been used to excuse doing nothing and letting wrongs continue.

      States have no rights. States have powers. The federal government also has powers, delegated to it by the states. Those powers not delegated belong to the states. However citizens are also citizens of the United States as a whole, and the federal government has an interest in preventing the rights protected by the federal constitution from being infringed.

      That said, you don't get to frame everything as a rights issue in order to invoke the federal government. There is no right to marry. There is no problem with equal treatment under the law here. Gays have every right that straights have to marry a person of the opposite sex, not too closely related, of appropriate age (with parental permission requirements applying at younger ages), and not being currently married to someone else, depending on the laws of the state. As citizens they have the ability to perform the same exact action under the law. That their personal preference is for people of the same sex is irrelevant.

      Much like say the old Restrictive Covenants were. Oh it's just a private right to contract, the state (government at all) can't interfere with that, let individuals be free to make that decision.

      A private contract that is contrary to law or public policy is not enforceable.

  3. there is a God after all by alen · · Score: 4, Funny

    just like the right wingers said there was

    1. Re:there is a God after all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there is a God after all

      ...who wanted to smite the homosexuals...

      just like the right wingers said there was

      FTFY.

      Maybe God doesn't have a problem with gay people, He just has a problem with gay people who are too ashamed to live as He made them. You know, the sort of kinky degenerates who, instead of respecting the sanctity of marriage, prefer get it on with meth-addled hookers, sext under-18 Congressional pages, and take a wide stance on the issue, particularly in airport washrooms.

    2. Re:there is a God after all by ichthus · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      And Obama. Don't forget, he's a "Christian."

      --
      sig: sauer
    3. Re:there is a God after all by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 2

      "I'm not saying God is, you know, causing earthquakes. What God does is God's business, I have no idea. But I'll tell you this: whether you call it Gaia or whether you call it Jesus -- there's a message being sent. And that is, 'Hey, you know that stuff we're doing? Not really working out real well. Maybe we should stop doing some of it,'" - Glenn Beck on the Japan tsunami.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    4. Re:there is a God after all by bennomatic · · Score: 1

      Yes, except I don't think he was joking, where the GP poster, I am fairly certain, was.

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
    5. Re:there is a God after all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the conservatives are the hateful ones?

  4. It's all a plot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is just an excuse to forgo the brokered convention Paul's delegates will force... They have broke every rule in every state to stop the Paul revolution, and now it looks like they have paid off Isaac to make an appearance to silence Paul's voice.

    1. Re:It's all a plot by Richy_T · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yup. The chemtrails are finally paying off.

    2. Re:It's all a plot by skipkent · · Score: 2

      Actually, the GOP was afraid of bad weather in some of the states leading to Paul wins. If the delegates pussy out because of a storm, I'm more than positive the Paul people will fight there way to the convention. I just don't know what the rules are... Can they cancel the convention? Do all delegates have to show?

    3. Re:It's all a plot by idontgno · · Score: 3, Funny

      Geez, HAARP gets screwed again out of its appropriate and long-overdue credit.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    4. Re:It's all a plot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ron Paul is totally irrelevant, period, no discussion nor debate needed.

  5. Twisted logic by RCourtney · · Score: 5, Funny

    And if some people's/group's twisted logic is applied this must surely mean that God hates Republicans.

    Me? I feel bad for everyone in Florida and hope the convention errr I mean hurricane passes quickly.

    1. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, they'll probably say that they got enough warning to prove that God DOES LOVE the Republicans. He just wanted to warn them of the perils of that Muslim Communist in the White House.

      I really do detest those people who think that any kind of God worth worshiping would indiscriminately kill people in order to send a vague and uncertain message.

      If that's their idea of what a Supreme Being would do, I'd like to kick their God's ass. But I'd settle for theirs.

    2. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're making reference to the beliefs of a tiny fringe minority that has no influence whatsoever in the Republican Party--but can always get media attention.

    3. Re:Twisted logic by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Me? I feel bad for everyone in Florida and hope the convention errr I mean hurricane passes quickly.

      Everyone? Limbaugh lives there.... ;)

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    4. Re:Twisted logic by Jeng · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, this could be good for the GOP since who in the hell wants to protest in the middle of a hurricane?

      --
      Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
    5. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which is orthogonal to my main point, which was against the idea of any respectable Divine Being who would engage in such murderous conduct.

      My problem is with THOSE people who do make THOSE claims.

      That they'd also come up with a twisted logical explanation to excuse themselves is merely a demonstration of the falseness of their reasoning.

    6. Re:Twisted logic by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5, Funny

      Rush Limbaugh actually claims that this is part of some grand Obama conspiracy - that somehow the NWS is actually aiming the hurricane at the convention.

      --
      retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
    7. Re:Twisted logic by Jeng · · Score: 1

      I always find it funny that Republicans started spouting conspiracy theories as soon as Bush was out of office.

      Now that Obama is in office the President is not an American and is put in place by a vast conspiracy going back to before he was born and now we have a weather manipulating device to destroy the GOP convention, but we didn't have it back when Katrina fucked over New Orleans.

      I can't wait for my relatives to start talking about chem trails.

      --
      Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
    8. Re:Twisted logic by Sir_Sri · · Score: 1

      It's what they get for selecting a cultist (mormon) as their presidential nominee, and for calling on Akin to resign.

      No matter how crazy you think they are, they'll find another level, don't worry, blaming it on a muslim fascist communist in the whitehouse could work too if it's him cavorting with the devil to disrupt the election plans of the republicans.

    9. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At first, I thought that might've worked more completely if you started with "this must surely mean that God hates Floridians", but yeah, that would've given the joke away too soon. Well-played, sir or madam. Well-played.

    10. Re:Twisted logic by khallow · · Score: 1

      You know 911 truthers? They didn't happen. They were a lie generated by the mandarins of the Obama administration to retcon history and cover up the alarming rise of conspiratorialism.

    11. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Feel bad? Man, in Florida a Cat1 hurricane is a good reason to wax up your surfboard. Cat 2 is still nothing. We got this.

    12. Re:Twisted logic by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      Citation? Please tell me he actually said this!

    13. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just what to know who Pat Robertson will blame.

    14. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny you should mention that. There have been some weird, barred cumulus formations that have shown up over SC and NC the last couple of days on the Accuweather loop. Yesterday around 4:30-5:30 they were lined up along the coast of SC, today around the same time from about Murphy to just outside Charlotte. Gone now but you can still catch them on the loop as of 8:00 pm EDT. Probably some kind of bizarre radar artifact, but...strange. I've seen the ones over coastal SC a number of times before this summer, too.

    15. Re:Twisted logic by cdrudge · · Score: 3, Informative

      Close, but not quite.

    16. Re:Twisted logic by Darby · · Score: 0

      This is the most perfect juxtaposition of whoosh and Poe's Law I think I've ever seen :-)

    17. Re:Twisted logic by Anarchduke · · Score: 1

      That's it. We absolutely HAVE to get the police box away from Obama's control.

      --
      who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
    18. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you actually ever listened to his show, you'd know he says these thing with the total expectation that morons like you will think he's serious.

      Of course, I'm sure there is a certain subset of Democrats who actually believe that the government can control the weather (using HARP probably) and that Bush used it to "get" the blacks in New Orleans.

      Gawd, you are so stupid.

    19. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Brandon Raub might disagree with that assessment. HaHa, only serious ":-)"

    20. Re:Twisted logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God.

  6. Just watch... by Oh+Gawwd+Peak+Oil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If there is a disaster, just watch as the Florida Republicans all demand federal aid.

    1. Re:Just watch... by reebmmm · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not to mention I'm sure they're tracking this approaching storm using the national weather service, relying on local emergency response services, using publicly-funded roads, hosting the event in a taxpayer-funded stadium, etc.

      Let the spin, begin.

    2. Re:Just watch... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let the spin begin.

      Too soon?

    3. Re:Just watch... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let the spin, begin.

      The hurricane beat you to it.

    4. Re:Just watch... by readin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Republicans want lower taxes and less government spending so that people can decide what to do with their own money. But if the government has already taken the money from you it is not hypocritical to ask for that money back.

      --
      I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
    5. Re:Just watch... by readin · · Score: 1

      Not to mention I'm sure they're tracking this approaching storm using the national weather service, relying on local emergency response services, using publicly-funded roads, hosting the event in a taxpayer-funded stadium, etc.

      When was the last time you heard a Republican trying to get rid of the National Weather Service? In 30 years of following politics I've never heard of it (maybe Ron Paul?). The same goes for local emergency response services - local.

      Nor do I know of Republican politicians proposing to get rid of publicly funded roads. Even if some desire more privately financed roads that doesn't make them wrong for relying on publicly funded roads - publicly funded roads have the monopoly. Just the fact that I rely on my local cable service mean I shouldn't complain about them having a monopoly?

      The same can be said of taxpayer-funded stadiums - do you know of any stadiums that aren't taxpayer funded? Republicans pay their taxes like everyone else. They may not like the money going to line the pockets of stadium building corporations, but what's done has been done and the companies that want to build stadiums the honest way can't compete so what other stadium choices do the Republicans have?

      --
      I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
    6. Re:Just watch... by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Not to mention I'm sure they're tracking this approaching storm using the national weather service, relying on local emergency response services, using publicly-funded roads, hosting the event in a taxpayer-funded stadium, etc.

      Let the spin, begin.

      Damn Socialists!

      Remember when Rick Santorum was pushing to get weather forecasting all privatized and "pay per view"? Disclaimer: State College PA, home of Accuweather is in the heart of Santorum's old district.

    7. Re:Just watch... by RabidReindeer · · Score: 2

      Let the spin, begin.

      The hurricane beat you to it.

      Whoosh?

    8. Re:Just watch... by reebmmm · · Score: 2

      My post was written mostly with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

      That said, the Republican party is hell-bent on running part of this race on the idea that individuals, not government, creates things. That the government does almost nothing -- other than defense -- right. Heck the whole theme of this convention goes directly to this: "We built this" (which gets singulars and plurals mixed up and makes Obama right, but that's irrelevant) by turning a truism about modern society on its head: nobody builds anything by themselves. Maybe Ted Kaczynski-types, but otherwise, every private endeavor is supported by millions of publicly financed goods.

    9. Re:Just watch... by Oh+Gawwd+Peak+Oil · · Score: 1

      It's interesting, then, that the Republican-leaning states get more money from the federal government than the Democratic-leaning states do.

    10. Re:Just watch... by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Insightful

      What's truly sad is you do not realize that the support structure which you claim is what really "builds" new business, was itself wholly funded by businesses that came before and the taxes the current business pays...

      Businesses truly are not built by the government, or else every business started would be a success. That alone makes the case obvious. It takes people and hard work to build a business, not the government which at best often acts as a significant drag.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    11. Re:Just watch... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Rick Santorum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum#National_Weather_Service_Duties_Act

      Facts. They're a thing now.

    12. Re:Just watch... by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      When was the last time you heard a Republican trying to get rid of the National Weather Service?

      But why ever not? As a public service paid for out of taxation it's "socialist", surely?

    13. Re:Just watch... by BasilBrush · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's truly sad is you do not realize that the support structure which you claim is what really "builds" new business, was itself wholly funded by businesses that came before and the taxes the current business pays...

      You seem to have forgotten that people pay taxes.

      Businesses truly are not built by the government, or else every business started would be a success.

      And that comment makes no logical sense whatsoever.

    14. Re:Just watch... by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Republicans want lower taxes and less government spending so that people can decide what to do with their own money.

      No, Republicans wan't those things because they are to the advantage of the rich and disadvantage of the poor.

    15. Re:Just watch... by readin · · Score: 0

      It's interesting, then, that the Republican-leaning states get more money from the federal government than the Democratic-leaning states do.

      You make the rules of the corrupt game and then you get upset that we play better by them? Why not take our advice and get rid of the corrupt game? You force us to sit down and play poker then complain when we walk away with the pot. How about we end the game and go do something productive instead?

      --
      I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
    16. Re:Just watch... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It doesn't come up often, but I've heard quite a few right-wing posturers whose anti-government agenda is quite expansive, they would eliminate everything if they could.

      They're really just right-wing anarchists, but usually they won't have the courage to admit to the label.

      They do want to privatize the weather service, local emergency response, roads, and more. But while I can understand USING them, praising them is another matter. My local electric company has operated an ISP recently, the right-wing side of the paper is against it, but they are copiously silent on the Cable monopoly and have been for years. Coincidentally they tend to have big adds from Comcast.

      The same goes for taxpayer-funded stadiums, they don't just use them, but seek them out. They don't have the courage of their principles.

    17. Re:Just watch... by readin · · Score: 1

      Republicans want lower taxes and less government spending so that people can decide what to do with their own money.

      No, Republicans wan't those things because they are to the advantage of the rich and disadvantage of the poor.

      Less government generally favors the poor because it weakens one of the tools the wealthy use to oppress the poor.

      --
      I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
    18. Re:Just watch... by readin · · Score: 1

      Republicans aren't totally libertarian, but their philosophy has a strong libertarian element. But even libertarians recognize the need for certain government functions such as defense, police, and courts. Conservatives tend to include traditional government functions like roads and other infrastructure. Modern conservatives generally favor having environmental protections, food safety and some form of safety net, but the extent of these are something many conservatives disagree about.

      A good conservative, when presented with a problem, will ask "Will this be taken care of by a free market? If not, how can this be solved in a way that works with the free market and human nature while preserving individual human freedom? And finally, is the cure of government intervention going to be worse than the disease."

      It seems to me that a liberal, on the other hand, simply asks, "What's the most straightforward way for the government to solve this problem" without much concern for how it impacts the free market and other forms of human liberty (except of course sexual liberty which liberal seem to hold sacred).

      --
      I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
    19. Re:Just watch... by readin · · Score: 1

      When was the last time you heard a Republican trying to get rid of the National Weather Service?

      But why ever not? As a public service paid for out of taxation it's "socialist", surely?

      Republicans aren't pure libertarian. A good conservative has a strong libertarianism streak that is moderated by historical experience and common sense. A conservative recognizes that freedom is not just a means to an end, but a good in and of itself.

      There is an argument to be made that weather forecasts could and should be privatized. But the weather service was and continues to be an important part of national defense, and it seems to be working well enough. It is very conservative to say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

      --
      I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
    20. Re:Just watch... by readin · · Score: 1

      Rick Santorum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum#National_Weather_Service_Duties_Act

      I'm surprised and impressed you found one! Well at least he didn't get the nomination. This Tea Party supporter thinks the National Weather service is one of the few things the government does well.

      --
      I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
    21. Re:Just watch... by Nimey · · Score: 1

      No, the Republicans in general want government so small that it'll fit in a woman's vagina.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    22. Re:Just watch... by Darby · · Score: 0

      Republicans aren't pure libertarian

      No, but like a unicorn fucking itself up its own ass with its own horn it both does not exist and would be a bloody mess.

      A good conservative has a strong libertarianism streak that is moderated by historical experience and common sense.

      No, by definition a conservative (good, bad or indifferent) is anti-liberal. Liberal in this context is best defined by we hold these truths to be self evident, that all people are created equal. "Conservative" means opposed to individual liberty and supporting the restoration of aristocracy and the power of the church. You know, the things that diametric opposition to defined America by?

      "Conservative" as a political word only came about after Liberalism the child of the Enlightenment and the defining feature of America came about.
      A Libertarian by definition is a wholly owned tool of Koch industries who founded the party for their benefit using such tools.

      A conservative recognizes that freedom is not just a means to an end, but a good in and of itself.
      LOL
      No. In modern usage, "conservative" means either socially conservative which is extremist Christian hatred based and governmentally funded oppression or fiscally conservative which means that any collective opposition to oppression should be violently shut down by tax dollars.

      There is an argument to be made that weather forecasts could and should be privatized

      No, not one that wouldn't be a lie or laughable.
      You'd have to pay back *all* of the investment that made it possible in order to take advantage of such at my expense after my expense which isn't feasible economically. Absent that, you're just another leech on the government tit.

      Socialized cost, privatized profit. That is conservatism.

    23. Re:Just watch... by bogjobber · · Score: 2

      There would be a lot fewer people capable of doing good work without public education. Those people would have a hard time getting to work without government-built roads.

      Obviously to have a healthy economy it is necessary to have both government-provided services and private enterprise, so why the false dichotomy present in your post? Why is it that we are unable to have a political discussion in this country without running to ideological hyperbole immediately? How can you even take yourself seriously?

    24. Re:Just watch... by Tyndmyr · · Score: 1

      *shrug* I've built things by myself. Seriously, it's not that hard. I know we're all geeky sorts here, but building yourself a tool shop ain't hard. And from there, you can build basically anything else. More germane, though, is that Obama's reasoning is self-perpetuating logic. Justifying additional government-dependancy by current government-dependancy is a cycle that can continue forever.

      --
      Support more choices in goverment-Vote 3rd party.
    25. Re:Just watch... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's truly sad is you do not realize that the support structure which you claim is what really "builds" new business, was itself wholly funded by businesses that came before and the taxes the current business pays...

      You seem to have forgotten that people pay taxes.

      Worse, Republicans are fond of saying (when opposing tax increases on business) that businesses don't pay taxes, they collect them from their customers. So by Republican logic, businesses don't pay taxes, taxes pay for infrastructure which benefits business... hey, this works out for them....

    26. Re:Just watch... by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

      You seem to have forgotten that people pay taxes.

      Except not really. The top 20% pay for 80% of taxes. So technically the vast majority of infrastructure is paid for by the rich generation preceding the current one. And it continues to be paid for by those people.

    27. Re:Just watch... by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

      Socialized cost, privatized profit. That is conservatism.

      You do realize the Dems bailed out the banks and let the CEOs get away scot free with massive payouts? And you blame the Republicans for corporatism? TARP only passed because of a Democratic majority in Congress. Not to mentioned the bills to follow (including the auto industry bailout)...

    28. Re:Just watch... by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      So not true.

    29. Re:Just watch... by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Republicans aren't pure libertarian. A good conservative has a strong libertarianism streak that is moderated by historical experience and common sense. A conservative recognizes that freedom is not just a means to an end, but a good in and of itself.

      That's not really a very good description of conservatism. Conservatism is the politics of management of fear and uncertainty.

      It is very conservative to say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

      It's very conservative to fear things that are new and accept things that are familiar. That's the essential difference between public services that are accepted (weather, highways, police, education) and those that are called "socialist" (health).

  7. Coincidence, I think not! by Grayhand · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mother Nature seems pissed at the Republicans. Might wanta rethink that anti global warming stance. Apparently all the droughts and tornadoes wasn't making the point obviously enough so she decided to take aim at the deniers and try to take out as many as possible in one shot. If I was Exxon and Monsanto I'd be updating your life insurance policies.

    1. Re:Coincidence, I think not! by Richy_T · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Decided to give the "weather is not climate" thing a convenient rest, eh?

    2. Re:Coincidence, I think not! by jmorris42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > Might wanta rethink that anti global warming stance.

      And I'm sure you will be ready to be take it back next time there is a big AGW related congressional hearing, media event, Goracle pronouncement, whatever that gets another freak snowstorm or whatnot. Probably not so much. Confirmation bias is a bitch for the subject to recognize ain't it.

      --
      Democrat delenda est
    3. Re:Coincidence, I think not! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, I think he decided to make a joke.

    4. Re:Coincidence, I think not! by jsepeta · · Score: 1

      Somehow, that never deterred Emperor Bush when 4 hurricanes swept through the South. He just kept on being a selfish, entitled douchebag.

      --
      Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
  8. Maybe they could pray? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Theres a god right?

  9. Re:All we need is one at the Dem's convention, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And then finally we need to round up and send the liberturdians to Somalia where they can revel in the 'small government'.

  10. Don't worry! by TheSync · · Score: 5, Funny

    People only get killed in cases of "legitimate" hurricanes!

    1. Re:Don't worry! by fm6 · · Score: 1

      And of course, people killed by legitimate hurricanes are asking for it!

    2. Re:Don't worry! by DirtyLiar · · Score: 1

      Exactly.

      What hot-blooded young hurricane could resist the temptation when those people dress like that?

      Probably God whispered in it's ear too!

      ^_^

      --

      THINK! It's patriotic

  11. God Hates Republicans! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh... wait...

    ~Westboro Baptist Church

  12. I'm praying for the hurricane! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Isaac was Abrahams son wasn't he? Hmmm!

  13. Yes, yes! by buglista · · Score: 1

    FUCKING YES!

  14. Raging currents by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cold air, meet hot air.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    1. Re:Raging currents by Richy_T · · Score: 1

      Hot air meet hot air, actually. Hot air squared.

    2. Re:Raging currents by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 2

      Maybe they'll just line up all of the politicians, get them started talking and then point them at the hurricane. That should blow the storm back out into the Gulf.

      Cheers,
      Dave

      --
      They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
      Ben
    3. Re:Raging currents by DirtyLiar · · Score: 1

      ROTFLMAO!

      --

      THINK! It's patriotic

  15. Prediction... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You're about to see a lot of liberals collectively turn into Pat Robertson.

  16. What does this have to do with slashdot? by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    Weather? Really?

    1. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by Grizzley9 · · Score: 3, Funny

      It gives the left a chance to show how noble, tolerant, and mature they can be.

    2. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by Desler · · Score: 2

      Or it's just amusing to laugh at a bunch of idiots who poorly planned their convention. You don't need to be a leftist to do that. Do these morons not realize they planned this during a period that is usually the peak of hurricane season?

    3. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

      Slashdot has had a conservative bend for some time, and conservatives are also the loudest commentators here. Hence the convention is covered to keep the conservatives looking at slashdot a little longer.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    4. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It could be that yes, they realized it, and calculated that it would give them more media attention. Which so far, it has.

    5. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by khallow · · Score: 1

      Do these morons not realize they planned this during a period that is usually the peak of hurricane season?

      I don't see the stupidity here. They're constrained by the political calendar. Unless, of course, you think it's ok to shove the US elections back a few months so that the Republicans can have a convention in Florida without having to worry about hurricanes.

      If things get rained out, they can always hold the convention elsewhere. And if things aren't rained out, then they can hold the convention as planned.

    6. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by Nimey · · Score: 1

      ...or they could have the convention somewhere that doesn't get hurricanes?

      Crazy, I know.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    7. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by khallow · · Score: 1

      Yes, that's pretty crazy. What's more useful to a political party? A slightly smaller risk that weather inconveniences you at your convention? Or strengthening your standing in a swing state?

    8. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by Nimey · · Score: 1

      Like Ohio?

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    9. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by khallow · · Score: 1

      Yes, and like Florida. I can't imagine why you think one should never have conventions in the Southeast because of hurricane season. After all, Florida isn't the only state to get them. North Carolina, Louisiana, and Texas get roughly half as many hurricanes each.

    10. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by asylumx · · Score: 1

      Or.... they could have it somewhere other than Florida? Maybe? Last time they had it in Minnesota. Fat chance of a hurricane there.

    11. Re:What does this have to do with slashdot? by Feyshtey · · Score: 1

      Yeah, they should go somewhere that a natural disaster is an impossibility. I'm sure there's somewhere in the nation that has no risks right around this time of year. No floods. No droughts. No tornadoes, or hurricanes, or quakes, or fires, or earthquakes or... .

      Hey wait a minute....

      --
      "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
  17. Isaac versus Akin by Scowler · · Score: 2

    This could be a blessing in disguise (for the GOP), if it happens, as it will drive that other storm that originated in Missouri out of the front pages.

  18. Pat Robertson by Hatta · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder what Pat Robinson would blame this one on? God punishing the Republicans for nominating a Mormon?

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    1. Re:Pat Robertson by idontgno · · Score: 1

      +1 Funny Because it's True

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  19. vaguely familiar? by nimbius · · Score: 1

    the priority of law enforcement is to evacuate residents, leaving GOP officials to make the decision of when to evacuate delegates

    if its anything like the last time the GOP was involved in a hurricane, GOP leaders will determine delegates should be evacuated to a sports arena, fed MRE's, and largely ignored until theyre all dead.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:vaguely familiar? by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 2

      That time it was Democratic leaders who made those decisions, while the Republican President was practically begging the Democratic governor to issue the orders that would allow the President to take action.

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    2. Re:vaguely familiar? by jmorris42 · · Score: 1

      > and largely ignored until theyre all dead.

      Nice going on perpetuating a myth. The Louisiana National Guard was on top of the situation in the SuperDome. Despite the fevered ravings of Geraldo Rivera and the rest of the retards with sat uplinks there was no cannibalism, no mass horrors, only the problems to be expected with thousands of people sheltering in a place not really built for it; no power, cooling, working toilets, etc. And because of the media people suffered longer, the breathless reports of shooting at rescue teams was pure BS yet it delayed everything while the preperations were changed to add armed escorts.

      Most of what you saw on the TV about Katrina was eventually revealed to be false, but it is still accepted as Truth or at least 'truthy' by the general public. Just like Gore won FL and the Supreme Court 'stole' the election. Except nobody ever managed to produce a ballot total that gave Gore a win if they applied Florida election laws as they existed on election day. Including the Miami Herald, not generally known as a Republican leaning operation. Much of what you think you know ain't so.

      --
      Democrat delenda est
  20. Ah by Stargoat · · Score: 2

    Ah. But what if it were called Hurricane Ditka?

    --
    Hoist Number One and Number Six.
    1. Re:Ah by sconeu · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up! One of my favorite SNL sketches.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    2. Re:Ah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot who thinks he's clever, Stargoat. You've always been. Every time your "name" has popped up above a comment on the occasional online article or essay I've read, you've sunk further into "look at me! I'm grumpy! Will you like me, please, people?" idiocy than the prior time. Now I just roll my eyes and scroll past whatever attention-getting nonsense your tiny mind has spewed forth. You're transparent; you get that, right? Everyone who reads your hostile silliness sees you for what you are: An angsty little weakling in desperate need of attention and approval (with the existence of this webpage being a case in point). Sad.

  21. Re:give Brownie this heckuva job by Richy_T · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's only a Republican convention so only half the rats, alas.

  22. "Gat Back"? When did you start? by SuperKendall · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    We could maybe get back to actually governing this country.

    The Democrats had solid majorities in every branch of government for two full years.

    During that time, not a single budget was passed. Nothing changed from when Bush was president except that spending skyrocketed and energy production in America was subdued or stopped whenever possible.

    So exactly what are we all to look forward to when you get "back" to governing? Drone strikes on any Republicans that survived the storm?

    Just another liberal happy to kill for the cause I suppose. There sure are a disturbing number of you around these days, unwilling to debate and only to destroy.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  23. Poor planning by clovis · · Score: 1

    I'm not from Florida, but even I know that you don't plan on doing anything down there during hurricane season that you can't back out of.
    This is really poor planning. I usually voted for that side, and that kind of not thinking ahead has made me more sad than usual.

    1. Re:Poor planning by tekrat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh, you mean like how that side decided to go to war in Iraq without raising taxes to pay for it? How that side cut taxes for the rich while raising spending within the government (particularly in defense spending) with no way to pay for it? And then complain when we have a deficit? Frankly, both sides of the political spectrum are unable to plan ahead in the slightest, but the GOP position is untenable -- they are the epitome of short-sighted.

      --
      If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
    2. Re:Poor planning by clovis · · Score: 2

      You just listed a bunch of ways that our rulers enriched themselves and grabbed much, much more power.
      I don't call that poor planning.

  24. Pat Robertson is not amused. by LanMan04 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    http://mediamatters.org/research/2005/09/13/religious-conservatives-claim-katrina-was-gods/133804

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/01/us-televangelist-pat-robertson-links-haiti-earthquake-to-pact-with-devil.html

    ""Did God have anything to do with Katrina?," people ask. My answer is, he allowed it and perhaps he allowed it to get our attention so that we don't delude ourselves into thinking that all we have to do is put things back the way they were and life will be normal again."

    --
    With the first link, the chain is forged.
  25. So much for "tolerance" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I get a kick out of the calls for "tolerance", "diversity", and so on everywhere except when conservatives (and any innocent bystanders) stand to suffer.

    Stay classy, liberals...

    1. Re:So much for "tolerance" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's called Karma. Suck on it.

    2. Re:So much for "tolerance" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I get a kick out of the calls for "tolerance", "diversity", and so on everywhere except when intolerant, freedom-destroying authoritarians stand to suffer.

      FTFY

      (Though "stay classy" is a good advice for any situation.)

    3. Re:So much for "tolerance" by Desler · · Score: 1

      You mean like how Pat Robertson told us that Katrina was God punishing people? Bigoted assholes who whine about people not tolerating them makes my irony meter explode.

    4. Re:So much for "tolerance" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The big difference is that Democrats are more able to make and take jokes about stuff like this. Republicans only seem to like jokes that involve denigrating people based on race/gender/orientation.

      It's pretty sad that you think all this joking on an internet forum would translate into less help by local and Federal Democrats when all the delegates needed help. I think that's cause, as a Republican, you wouldn't help if the situation were reversed. Just keep in mind that most people have empathy, unlike you, and so while you can't relate to it you can certainly rely upon it.

    5. Re:So much for "tolerance" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why assume everyone cheering the hurricane is a democrat? How much "tolerance" can any sane person be expected to have for evil scumbags like Akin and Ryan?

    6. Re:So much for "tolerance" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, they probably just want to avoid being looked upon as "bleeding hearts". We all know how the right despises people who care for their fellow man.

    7. Re:So much for "tolerance" by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      No no no, since this involves a Mormon it should be "Keep sweet"...

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    8. Re:So much for "tolerance" by bussdriver · · Score: 1

      Sad thing is Republicans do not have a sense of irony.

    9. Re:So much for "tolerance" by Daetrin · · Score: 1

      It's almost like the Republicans (or at least some prominent members of their party) pissed a lot of people off by doing something similar in the past. I think there might be some folk wisdom that applies in this case. What was it again?

      Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?
      Let he who is without sin cast the first stone?
      Turnabout is fair play?
      Don't dish it out if you can't take it?
      People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?
      What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander?
      Judge not lest ye be judged?

      Something like that anyways.

      --
      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    10. Re:So much for "tolerance" by mevets · · Score: 1

      It is not their fault. Lacking genes for humour and insight relegates them to their current plight.

    11. Re:So much for "tolerance" by furytrader · · Score: 1

      Now that's some civil discourse for you! Keep it up - you're doing your master proud!

  26. COBRA!!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This looks like a job for the Weather Dominator COBRA!!!!!!

  27. Republican Convention... by gatfirls · · Score: 1

    Could Make a Mess of Hurricane.

  28. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Jeng · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And the reason nothing passed was the Democrats were attempting to be bi-partisan. You can see how well that worked out for them.

    GOP, the party of NO!

    --
    Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
  29. Re:give Brownie this heckuva job by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3

    It's only a Republican convention so only half the rats, alas.

    A better rationale for combining the RNC and DNC conventions into a single event, I have yet to see.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  30. THE HURRICANE ISN'T DESTRUCTIVE by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny

    It just has "a wide stance".

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
    1. Re:THE HURRICANE ISN'T DESTRUCTIVE by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't worry, I hear it's not a legitimate hurricane. The body politic has ways of shutting that whole thing down.

    2. Re:THE HURRICANE ISN'T DESTRUCTIVE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just tell them the hurricane is caused by global warming. They'll ignore it.

    3. Re:THE HURRICANE ISN'T DESTRUCTIVE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just tell them the hurricane is caused by global warming.

      Look there has been a major hurricane at every National Convention for the last century. Besides which, God makes the weather, not man.

    4. Re:THE HURRICANE ISN'T DESTRUCTIVE by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      They'll outlaw it.

      This must the devil's work. A Christian god (is there another kind?) would never do this to a republican.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    5. Re:THE HURRICANE ISN'T DESTRUCTIVE by Genda · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then you're saying God hates the Religious Right... okay, I can live with that.

  31. Ah, the tolerance of the Left by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or should I say the hypocrisy ... or double standard ... well, they all fit really. I love they post calling the right "self-righteous lot" while being self-righteous. Or the numerous posts on this science/math based site that clearly have no understanding of how percentages work especially in regards to taxes. Don't even get me started on this mythical creation known as "fairness" ... "fairness" is nothing more than personal opinion and laws/governments should not be run by such.

    Both democrats and republicans have gone insane ... time for new political parties.

    1. Re:Ah, the tolerance of the Left by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you think making jokes mocking people like pat robertson, ect., for the idea that god is being vengeful against those that pat robertson says is the same as seriously saying that atheists and gay people and whatnot are responsible for hurricanes, tornadoes and mass shootings? Gotchya. The victimization of the White male christian continues. oh the humanity.

  32. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by scot4875 · · Score: 1

    Just another liberal happy to kill for the cause I suppose. There sure are a disturbing number of you around these days, unwilling to debate and only to destroy.

    That's some nice projection you've got going on there. I invite you to visit any number of message boards and count the number of death threats vs. liberals vs. death threats against conservatives and see if it supports your assumption.

    --Jeremy

    --
    Jesus was a liberal
  33. How does this effect convention procedures? by taxman_10m · · Score: 1

    I know that Ron Paul's strategy somewhat relied on a second round of balloting in which delegates could vote for him. Anyone have any clue what the storm means in this regard?

  34. We Live IN Hope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just in case the storm fails us we might consider operatives from Occupy and others establishing positions and watching and recording in strip clubs, escort services, massage girls, and in-call and out-call dating services so that we can get tape and films of these people who claim to cling to firm family values while they chase tail all over Tampa. Unless one is actually part of the convention just why would anyone really want to see and hear this nonsense? They estimate 50,000 will travel to Tampa for this event and I'll bet that drinking, drugs and sex are the real reasons for most of them.

  35. Never Say Never Again by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2

    God! Tell me which way to vote!

    j/k Jesus could come down and pee a rainbow with a name on it and I'd still make up my own mind. Actually, I'd probably vote opposite just to piss Yahweh off.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  36. Not Me! by fm6 · · Score: 1

    My name is Isaac Rabinovitch. I have no connection whatever with this hurricane. Please don't complain to me about it.

  37. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by flitty · · Score: 5, Informative

    You don't get debates from liberals because you make stuff up. Dems only had a supermajority in the senate for four months, most of which were in recess. The republicans have used the filibuster (or threatened to fillabuster) nearly every bill, basically negating the majority. http://washingtonindependent.com/74033/the-four-month-supermajority Federal spending rose at anywhere between 3.2-5%, a rate below average, and if you start measuring the rate from October 2009, spending has been the slowest in 60 years http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/us/politics/fact-checking-obama-and-romney.html?pagewanted=all Oil drilling and fraking has been approved at a faster rate under obama than Bush II. (fraking due to technology). http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/03/obama-oil-drilling-up-on-my-watch/1

    --
    Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
  38. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by SydShamino · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Democrats had a filibuster-proof majority in the senate for about 17 weeks, far less than the "2 years" you just made up. (The 17 weeks is from Al Franken's confirmation to Ted Kennedy's illness.)

    During that time, there seemed to be a lot of internal discussion and compromise within the Democratic party - you know, the kind of give-and-take compromise that is supposed to make our government work. All of that is still alive and well within the Democratic party. It's just the big blog of "NO NO NO IT'S ALL MINE NO" coming from the extreme right that keeps the government from doing anything differently than the overall failed course it's on of late.

    --
    It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  39. Wicked Wizards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    With a little luck, the hurricane will transport all the Republicans to the land of Goz, where they can become the wicked wizards and legitimately rape all poor Dorothy's that happen to come along, and then deny her an abortion. Then they will all go to the convenience store to buy guns in order to fight over who gets to keep the baby, good old fashioned wild-west style, 'cause a man has to defend his rights and stuff. The one who remains alive will then declare himself God, finally proving that god does indeed exist and that evolution is all a bunch of crap.

    1. Re:Wicked Wizards by tekrat · · Score: 1

      I would very much to subscribe to your newsletter....

      (but you forgot the part about Jesus-riding dinosaurs)

      --
      If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
    2. Re:Wicked Wizards by wmbetts · · Score: 1

      That's because he didn't right them. Dinosaurs aren't real. They're bones were put here to test our faith.

      --
      "Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me". - stolen from Dan C alt.os.linux.slackware
    3. Re:Wicked Wizards by wmbetts · · Score: 1

      That's because he didn't ride them. Dinosaurs aren't real. Their bones were put here to test our faith.

      fuuuuu.jpg

      fixed it.

      --
      "Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me". - stolen from Dan C alt.os.linux.slackware
  40. It does appear to be a cosmic setup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good thing for Mitt that "Heck of a Job Brownie" doesn't still run FEMA. Either way Tampa will be in the eye of the hurricane. But take heart.

    ... the priority of law enforcement is to evacuate residents, leaving GOP officials to make the decision of when to evacuate delegates...

    I'll bet that if they're own butts are on the line, they move faster than when it's only the 99.9%.

    They can debate the economics of deficit spending, and perhaps, if they're 'conservative' or Republican enough, even a woman's obligation to follow a religious tenet. It's a bit harder to snow a tropical storm.

    1. Re:It does appear to be a cosmic setup by RabidReindeer · · Score: 2

      Good thing for Mitt that "Heck of a Job Brownie" doesn't still run FEMA. Either way Tampa will be in the eye of the hurricane. But take heart.

      ... the priority of law enforcement is to evacuate residents, leaving GOP officials to make the decision of when to evacuate delegates...

      I'll bet that if they're own butts are on the line, they move faster than when it's only the 99.9%.

      They can debate the economics of deficit spending, and perhaps, if they're 'conservative' or Republican enough, even a woman's obligation to follow a religious tenet. It's a bit harder to snow a tropical storm.

      Don't get too excited now. Later projections keep moving the eye track West. And it's not even a full hurricane, so far, and won't be for quite a while if it follows current projections and gets torn up moving over the mountains of Haiti and Cuba. While having God's Wrath (so to speak) descend on the Republican Convention would be sweet irony for some, I'd actually lay better odds on it skirting Tampa, building up in the Gulf, then slamming New Orleans. Now THAT'S irony.

    2. Re:It does appear to be a cosmic setup by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Good thing for Mitt that "Heck of a Job Brownie" doesn't still run FEMA.

      RNC Host Committee CEO Ken Jones said, "I have full faith and confident with the state of Florida, with FEMA, the local emergency management that if there is a bad weather incident, we will get people out, we will make sure they're safe and get on their way and out of harms way."

      So...wait a second? Is he saying that he's depending on the Federal Government to rescue them? I thought Republicans were all about self-sufficiency...

    3. Re:It does appear to be a cosmic setup by DirtyLiar · · Score: 1

      So...wait a second? Is he saying that he's depending on the Federal Government to rescue them? I thought Republicans were all about self-sufficiency...

      I don't see any Republicans arguing with you!

      --

      THINK! It's patriotic

  41. Conventions *are* for Sex by tekrat · · Score: 1

    Isn't that the REAL reason for EVERY convention? Did you know that for YEARS, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas coincided with the Adult Entertainment Expo?

    --
    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
  42. Brilliant by twotacocombo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What bunch of geniuses decided to hold a national convention in Florida in the middle of hurricane season? Oh, wait...

  43. Making it rain by wcrowe · · Score: 1

    Yeah, some of the strip clubs might have to shut down, then what would they do?

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
    1. Re:Making it rain by SternisheFan · · Score: 1

      Yeah, some of the strip clubs might have to shut down, then what would they do?

      It's gonna be raining Republicans' money down on all those women! **** Re:your sig, Proverbs 21:19 ...You been married, huh? Me, I had a great ex-girlfriend, it was her sisters! Oy!

    2. Re:Making it rain by wcrowe · · Score: 1

      Yes, 19 years, to an angry and contentious woman.

      Proverbs 21:9 is another good one.

      --
      Proverbs 21:19
  44. Let 'Em Drown - by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I don't mean Tampa.

  45. Withholding judgement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    until I hear from Pat Robertson.

  46. Aenima by Nadaka · · Score: 1

    I am praying for rain,
    I am praying for tidal waves,
    I want to watch the ground give way.

    1. Re:Aenima by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Learn to swim, fsckers!

    2. Re:Aenima by DirtyLiar · · Score: 1

      I hope your joking.

      If not, that in as much bad-taste and morally bankrupt as the Republicans praying for Obama's death.

      --

      THINK! It's patriotic

  47. And if it doesn't... by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

    ... they will claim that god spared them because he supports their cause.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  48. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Can't let the lies go unanswered, sorry pal. The Democrats did have a majority in the Senate, but they did not have a fillibuster proof majority in the Senate. The Republican minority was therefore able to stop most bills from even coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote. This included not only budget items, like a bill the House passed which would reward companies that bring jobs back here with tax breaks instead of rewarding outsourcing, as well as most judicial appointments and financial accountability and re-regulation of some parts of Wall Street. This is the Republican party whose current Senate minority leader said that his NUMBER ONE goal was to make Obama a one term president. Not fix the economy, not bring jobs back, not fix unemployment, sure as hell not punish the banksters who caused all this, but his number one goal was politics.

    BTW, among other things tht make them lying hypocrites is that this is the party of "Let's have a straight up or down vote" on judicial nominees in years past when the tables were reversed. Go look it up. Since facts matter little to Republican voters, they have an easy time getting away with being two faced.

    Now, I'm about to do what no Republican will ever do: admit the other side has a point. Sometimes politicians do things they know won't pass to say they did them. So would the House have passed progressive legislation if they knew the other side in the Senate wouldn't be able to stop it? Admittedly unknown. The Republican leaders are batshit crazy, but the Democrats are also beholden to large corporations. But that's what if games. The House passed stuff, the MINORITY party prevented it from being voted on in the Senate a record number of times, and nothing got done, just like was planned because of politics. Meanwhile,we all pay for it.

  49. Muah ha Ha HA! by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

    At long last my brilliant plan comes to fruition!

  50. Can you americans... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...just have another civil war and get it over with already? Please?

    1. Re:Can you americans... by SternisheFan · · Score: 1

      ...just have another civil war and get it over with already? Please?

      Oh, you'ld. like that, wouldn't you? Actually there is some chatter in the news today that there'll be another civil war if Obama wins again (yawn). As for the hurricane, also in the news are stories aboit strppers and hookers descending on Tampa. They know that these God fearing, family oriented, moral Republicans are going to be raining lots of money on them!

  51. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Informative

    And the reason nothing passed was the Democrats were attempting to be bi-partisan. You can see how well that worked out for them.

    GOP, the party of NO!

    GOP became the party of Filibuster in the Senate. Just because you had a majority, doesn't mean you get things all your own way, a party needs 2/3rds support to end a filibuster. Democrats didn't have that and the GOP effectively stonewalled things, particularly nominations for cabinet and other federal posts.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  52. Re:Is KDawson back? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Oh shut up and let us laugh. After all these were the fuckers who were talking about how God hates Lousiana while doing jack shit about the worst humanitarian crisis the US has seen in a long time.

  53. News for nerds, huh? by QQBoss · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mods, why was this allowed through the filters? It ain't tech, it isn't geeky in a technology sense (I will recognize there are hurricane geeks), and it is really just political trolling no matter how you look at it which I am willing to watch meaningful threads degenerate into but having it start off degenerate is a waste at every level.

    Timothy, you suck for posting this.

    1. Re:News for nerds, huh? by furytrader · · Score: 1

      Thank you for stating this.

  54. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sometimes politicians do things they know won't pass to say they did them.

    Agreed. The GOP has used abortion as a means of solidifying their base, but they have absolutely no intention of passing any anti-abortion legislation. They'll make some noise about it, but not pass it.

    I wonder without the abortion issue how many people in the GOP would stay in the GOP?

  55. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by cpu6502 · · Score: 1

    But liberals are supposed to be better than that. They are supposed to be tolerant of alternate lifestyles, alternate marriages, alternate viewpoints, et cetera. Instead they show themselves to not be tolerant at all w/ comments about hoping the Republican delegates die.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  56. An example of what's wrong by miltonw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And here we have a perfect example of what's wrong with America's election system today. The article mentions something political and most commenters run for their extreme positions, bunker down and start insulting. We're supposed do to that. We're supposed to become extreme and polarized. We're supposed to hate the "enemy". Both parties do this. Both parties are to blame. And we are to blame because we fall for it.

    For almost all of the operation of the Federal government, Republicrats and Demublicans are in FULL AGREEMENT. They don't argue about most of the operation. Both parties pretty much want everything to just go along as always -- and deeper and deeper into debt.

    They are in a lot of agreement, so there is not much of a reason to choose one over the other. To solve that, they all emphasize, magnify and distort their relatively minor, alleged differences -- but once elected, it's business as usual.

    And here we all are, spewing hate because that's what our masters have decided we will do so that they can control us.

    A pox on both their houses. No politician will ever do what's good for us, the "little people".

    1. Re:An example of what's wrong by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      You are a repub. Very obvious. How is that voter disfranchisement going?

    2. Re:An example of what's wrong by miltonw · · Score: 1

      Huh? Does not follow.

      I do not accept any party affiliation. You, however, consider yourself a "Democrat" don't you? How do you like having others tell you what to think?

    3. Re:An example of what's wrong by Roger+Wilcox · · Score: 1

      How anyone can not see the obvious truth of the parent post is a mystery to me. At the end of the day, both major parties have made a full-time job of cronyism, lending the forces of law and military to the highest bidder. The situation is truly despicable, yet the common man continues to defend his chosen party. What a "choice" it is.

      Propaganda is thick in the media and most people seem to eat it up without a second thought. Take Ron Paul as an easy example: an honest, principled man stands against all the lies and the corruption for 30 years... and thanks to the political machine people think of him as a crank and a looney. His supporters were effectively stonewalled from the very start of the election cycle, with legally questionably and ethically deplorable shenanigans by establishment Republicans every step of the way. Today, the RNC chairman releases a gem in the media "I hope that Ron Paul supporters and delegates saw a Republican National Committee that was fair, open and honest." The caption even said "the Romney campaign has bent over backward to show respect to the Paul forces." These lies aren't even thinly veiled. They are obvious lies. How can so many people remain so ignorant?

      I am deeply troubled over the political destiny of the USA. I'll leave it at that.

      A quote to ponder: "War is Peace. Ignorance is Knowledge. Freedom is Slavery." The implications of this quote and the opportunities afforded those who would seek to understand it are more relevant here and now than ever before.

    4. Re:An example of what's wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    5. Re:An example of what's wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If only we could root out all the morons like you.

  57. The hurricane is not the problem by HangingChad · · Score: 1

    Republicans will make the convention a mess, not the hurricane.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  58. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by cpu6502 · · Score: 0, Troll

    "increased spending" being the key. It shouldn't be going up at all, especially from a man who said, "Adding 2 trillion to the debt is unpatriotic." Spending should have been frozen at 2008 levels (0% increase) until the budget deficit had fallen to zero.

    As for filibustering, isn't it funny that the Democrats used the same tactic during the Clinton and Bush years? Why is it acceptable for the Dems to use the filibuster but evil for the Reps to use it? Hmmm.

    BTW I'm libertarian. That means I'm on either party's side because I think the both suck. The Dems try to control my money ("we know better than you how to spend it") while the Reps try to control my sex life ("obey the bible or be damed"). It would be nice if we had a party like the one Jefferson founded in 1796 that didn't interfere at all, except to protect us from thieves and killers.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  59. Be very afraid by gmuslera · · Score: 1

    the mess that hurricane could end making if they survive.

  60. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 0

    Dems only had a supermajority in the senate for four months

    One vote shy of a supermajority is still a solid majority. It's only due to the rank incompetence of Democrat leadership of that time that the US wasn't saddled with a vast amount of bad law.

    And I see the usual pathetic whining about filibusters. I wonder if you'll keep singing that tune when there are solid Republican majorities which are thwarted by filibusters?

    Oil drilling and fraking has been approved at a faster rate under obama than Bush II.

    Even now, Obama has to follow the law sometimes. And fracking is a major technology development that really kicked in over the past few years so yes, we would expect more approvals for oil drilling than in the recent past before fracking became a big thing. One would have to be a much larger obstacle than Obama currently is to prevent a surge in oil drilling approvals.

  61. Re:Is KDawson back? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We're trying to make the world a better place. If God could show some intiative and wipe out the GOP that would be a FANTASTIC boost to the effort.

  62. Oh great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I forgot about that damn RNC. Now the streets will be clogged with something dumber than the tourists. Politicians.

  63. bitter? by bussdriver · · Score: 1

    me too. Some politicians have done and some still do what is good for us-- but they are the freaks who manage to get past the two party filter that keeps their kind out of office and usually running in the 3rd party penalty box where they are constantly reminded how "fringe" and unimportant they are.

    I see it as a good cop and bad cop routine. Most people fight over which one is the bad cop and are proud of their choice of the good cop. Both are against YOU and they need not like each other to do their jobs.

    1. Re:bitter? by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

      Exactly. All we're doing is spewing hate against the "enemy" (politicians), and complaining about how most of them are against us and don't care about what's good for us.

      What I believe - which I admit is a very unpopular position these days - is that most politicians are basically good people. They have their faults, but so does everyone. They're well meaning, and they're fighting for what they honestly believe to be right. Unfortunately, many of them are not well qualified for their jobs. They're responsible for setting economic policy without having a firm understanding of economics, science policy without having a firm understanding of science, etc. And many of them don't even realize how poor their understanding is (because let's face it, you don't get elected for being humble). Instead they make decisions based on the things they do understand: their religions, the attitudes and beliefs they inherited from their parents, the beliefs of the people who voted for them (most of whom don't understand these subjects very well either), etc.

      And even if they did understand all these subjects, it would still be hard for them to accomplish anything useful, because "the enemy" (a.k.a. the other party) is opposed to anything they do, tries to obstruct them whenever possible, and will portray anything they do in the worst possible light. And why does the other party do that? Because it's what they were elected to do! People voted for them because they were confident, opinionated, and political.

      We have the government we elected.

      --
      "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
  64. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by cpu6502 · · Score: 1, Informative

    That works both ways you know. Around 2003-4 the Republicans became aware that the mortgage lending market was "too hot" and they needed to act to slowdown the exuberance. But that time it was the Democrats who filibustered and stopped mortgage/banking laws from being rewritten & made tougher. The Democrats wanted mortgages to be easy to get, even for people too poor to pay them back.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  65. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And slashdotters should be better than extrapolating "truth" from a few slashdot posts onto a class of millions, yet here we are, reading your drivel.

  66. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And I hope Obama wins not because I like him but because I want 4 more years of his policies. When he starts a war with Iran and Libya it will destroy the perception that he is a "peace prize" winner. I want Obama to leave in 2016 with the same bad reputation as Bush had in 2008. He may be democrat but he is nowhere near as good as our last democrat president Clinton.

    I guess crazy is out in force tonight. So what's the idea here? To create some sort of destructive feedback where increasingly worse candidates are elected?

  67. Yeah that makes sense... by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    That's ok. Because nobody believed him except a few low information voters who needed to be duped.

    So what you are saying is, you prefer to vote for people who explicitly deceive other people. Because you yourself couldn't possibly be fooled! No sir.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  68. Maybe it's a sign by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    God hates GOP'ers

    1. Re:Maybe it's a sign by Naut · · Score: 1

      I hate when I forget to log in ;(

      --
      i have no sig
  69. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Dahamma · · Score: 1

    I guess the one thing they just cannot tolerate is intolerance...

  70. Re:Is KDawson back? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, most of the weren't "the fuckers" you're talking about. But I guess seeing people as people is too much to ask for around here. After all, if we don't have nice little labels what can we do? It hurts our little heads to be real human beings. How very fucking progressive.

  71. Democrats are true party of NO by SuperKendall · · Score: 0, Troll

    The Republicans tried to pass reasonable spending bills multiple times.

    The Democrats in the senate said no.

    Same goes for many other bills, including far more reasonable health care bills that actually reduced costs instead of forcing all of America to buy the most expensive insurance policy the industry could dream up.

    Every time, the Democrats said NO. Not on their watch, would costs be reduced or the budget balanced.

    That's fine, just don't pretend it's Republicans that are blocking anything.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Democrats are true party of NO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OF COURSE the Republicans were being "reasonable" ... oh yeah ... by your own definition of "reasonable" ... you forgot "common sense" and other soft adjectives. Whenever it is what you want, it is "reasonable". Whenever it is what the other side wants, it's "extreme" and "radical" and "we've never seen anything this big/bad/ugly/aweful/etc ... in the history of the Union".

      Yeah, right.

      Care to define "reasonable" instead of trying to snow job your way through it?

    2. Re:Democrats are true party of NO by happyhamster · · Score: 1

      "Republicans" and "reasonable" in the same sentence are oxymoron.

  72. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    >> One vote shy of a supermajority is still a solid majority.

    No, it means that without *unanimous* agreement among Democrats, nothing will get passed -- because not ONE Republican is willing to vote for legislation proposed by a Democrat, regardless of the virtue, pragmatism, and philosophical compromise embodied in the bill. (Meanwhile, Democrats use their own brains, and vote independently, supporting legislation when it makes sense.)

  73. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I invite you to visit any number of message boards and count the number of death threats vs. liberals vs. death threats against conservatives and see if it supports your assumption.

    I invite you to actually do that. First, I think you'll find that almost no one actually makes death threats. And a good portion of those that do are weapon-grade crazy with little to no identifiable political leaning.

    For those advocating some sort of societal violence or collective punishment, though generally those fall far short of death threats, I wager they tend to be more left than right. There's been a lot of advocates for imprisonment for holding the wrong beliefs in the AGW debate, for example. OTOH, there's a lot of people unnaturally ticked off about Muslims and I've run into a couple of advocates for deliberate nuclear war and genocide. That's pretty hardcore as these things go.

  74. no problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The pros come directly to your hotel room so the delegates don't need to risk the weather.

  75. That is so 4 years ago! by bussdriver · · Score: 1

    Haven't you heard? All the conservative Christians have since redefined Christian to include Mormons! So anybody who doesn't accept Mormons as Christian simply because modern Mormons changed their minds is an intolerant Christian and probably racist against white people!

    I know an evangelical couple who 4 years ago would have protested against a "cultist" (their word) being nominated. My what a difference 4 years of propaganda and a black man can make... some conservatives.

    I wonder what they can get them to believe next? Scientology when Tom Cruise runs?

    1. Re:That is so 4 years ago! by desertfool · · Score: 1

      If I recall correctly, less than 50% of the total population knows the Romney is Mormon.

      It doesn't disqualify him in my mind. I am against ALL religions equally.

      --
      Just a dude. Stuck in IT.
    2. Re:That is so 4 years ago! by desertfool · · Score: 1

      And really, the storm is so far away, it could still hit well away from Tampa. It is a statistical guess at this point.

      --
      Just a dude. Stuck in IT.
  76. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by mevets · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no reason to tolerate intolerance. Absolutes are for fools.
    Of course, not all conservatives are assholes, but the GOP panders to these assholes, along with the stupid and selfish to form their base of support. That is fine, but it is hardly cricket to simultaneously pretend that the GOP has any credibility, either effectively or morally.
    They intentionally bent over for these loons, and earned the reputation themselves.

  77. GOP Takes Florida by Storm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm surprised no one has posted the obvious headline: GOP Takes Florida by Storm.

  78. Tampa Jail Reserved for Protesters? by Penurious+Penguin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Looks they are preparing for either a hurricane or vortex of some serious protest: http://www.abcactionnews.com//dpp/news/region_hillsborough/orient-road-jail-cleared-out-to-handle-rnc-arrests -- They have transferred inmates out of an entire facility in expectation of filling it with protesters. Odd.

    --
    Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
    1. Re:Tampa Jail Reserved for Protesters? by tomhath · · Score: 1

      What's odd about this? Everyone expects protesters, even though very few people have any idea what the protest is about. It's become a ritual every four years.

    2. Re:Tampa Jail Reserved for Protesters? by Penurious+Penguin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's odd? For me, it's odd to expect mass arrests resulting from lawful, constitutionally protected activities.

      --
      Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
    3. Re:Tampa Jail Reserved for Protesters? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's odd? For me, it's odd to expect mass arrests resulting from lawful, constitutionally protected activities.

      The FBI / DHS have issued a warning about anarchists planning to blockade roads and bridges, shut down transit systems and use molotov cocktails and/or acid-filled eggs. Which of these is a "lawful, constitutionally protected activity"?

    4. Re:Tampa Jail Reserved for Protesters? by Penurious+Penguin · · Score: 1

      Since when did warnings become time machines? And I do actually dare you to cite the rate of successful predictions on their part. Hint: Use numbers and try not to lie. And I also recommend pepper-spraying yourself the next time you're sitting down not bothering anyone; it should help you understand your question. Hint2: Occupy [guess].

      --
      Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
    5. Re:Tampa Jail Reserved for Protesters? by hedpe2003 · · Score: 1
      I live in Tampa and was considering attending the event. So when I heard the local ACLU was holding an open conference call for people to find out info and ask questions about the protests... naturally... I called in.

      It included a number of Tampa city officials. It was made clear to me that the police are working very closely with the ACLU - and are taking civil liberties seriously.

      From the Tampa Bay Times:

      "If detained, ask what crime you are suspected of. You may remind officers that taking photos is a right and does not constitute suspicion."

      No surprise, the tip comes from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

      Perhaps less predictable is who printed it: the Tampa Police Department.

      Also, (last I heard) the police will not be using any sort of mass crowd control measures like teargas (I'm sure they will have their standard pepper spray on them still).

      We will see after the convention if your concerns are warranted; but I'd assume this is just standard 'better safe than sorry' preparation.

      --
      Comprehensive solutions via a competition of ideas like no other.
    6. Re:Tampa Jail Reserved for Protesters? by Penurious+Penguin · · Score: 1

      Wow, cool reply! And thank you for the info. I'll not be unhappy at all if you are right. Concerns remain though, if not here then elsewhere. I do believe we have established a Police State, which is going to keep growing. Would love to be wrong though.

      --
      Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
  79. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    >> Around 2003-4 the Republicans became aware that the mortgage lending market was "too hot" and they needed to act to slowdown the exuberance. But that time it was the Democrats who filibustered and stopped mortgage/banking laws from being rewritten & made tougher.

    Republicans had the Presidency, the House, and the Senate from 2003 to 2007 -- a ridiculously convenient opportunity to address the mortgage lending market problems. Democrats can't filibuster for four solid years!

    http://uspolitics.about.com/od/usgovernment/l/bl_party_division_2.htm

  80. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Interesting how propaganda works. It's not clear whether the original poster thought that filibuster proof is a "solid majority" or not. But three repliers did and they all characterize the first poster as either lying or making something up. That's an interesting though unhealthy uniformity of thought.

  81. hurricane could make a mess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And that would change what?

    Nada !

  82. Four Months Of Nothing. by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Democrats had a filibuster-proof majority in the senate for about 17 weeks, far less than the "2 years" you just made up.

    What's made up is the notion Democrats were not in full control of the government for two years.

    Otherwise Obamacare would not have passed.

    But back to that short window of even greater control, the filibuster proof majority. Do you need a filibuster proof majority to pass a budget? Or even to TRY?

    Another way to put 17 weeks into perspective is to say FOUR MONTHS. Are you seriously saying that even in a four month window Democrats were incapable of producing a budget, or any other meaningful legislation? I guess so. How does a window of four months with total control over the U.S. excuse ANYTHING they have done (or not done!).

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Four Months Of Nothing. by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      It never ceases to amaze me how the group that likes to stomp and swagger and march in lockstep breaks down into helpless crying babies when presented with history. Apparently, this group is so feeble and helpless that Democrats were able in a few short years to more than negate everything that the Republicans did while holding most of the Federal Government for the better part of a decade.

      What's even more amazing is that we're talking about DEMOCRATS here. As in Will Rogers: "I belong to no organized political party, I'm a Democrat". Which they spent a lot of time demonstrating while they had the majority - I can't count the number of votes that failed because all the Reublicans voted against it plus a handful of loose-cannon Democrats. You didn't see much of the opposite - Maybe a little McCain, some Olympia Snow kind of stuff, but McCain sold it out to run with Palin and Snow just gave up and quit.

      George Washington was right. Political parties are poison.

    2. Re:Four Months Of Nothing. by SydShamino · · Score: 2

      "Do you need a filibuster-proof majority to pass a budget?"

      Have you been awake for the past two years? The government hasn't been able to pass a budget for quite a while, so the answer is obviously yes.

      --
      It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  83. Wait a second! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'Tampa is just as vulnerable as New Orleans was in the sense that the water will funnel into the bay area and from the storm surge which will flood completely the whole entire city of Tampa,' says meteorologist Max Golembo. 'It would be a disaster in the Tampa area.'

    And yet the headline and summary are all about a political convention potentially being disrupted?

  84. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You need 60 to get pass a filibuster, not 66. Ostensibly, they could have passed a budget when Ted Kennedy was still alive, but I think the loss of the seat surprised them.

  85. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by LordLimecat · · Score: 0

    And the reason nothing passed was the Democrats were attempting to be bi-partisan.

    Tell me youre not trying to blame things on a minority that could not possibly have obstructed the majority from passing whatever they wanted.

    Your post seems to indicate that regardless of who is in office or what happens, it will STILL always be the Right's fault. Things just dont work that way in reality.

  86. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by jmorris42 · · Score: 0, Troll

    > GOP became the party of Filibuster in the Senate.

    Exactly. When they became the minority they behaved pretty much indistinguishable from how the Ds behaved when they were in the minority. The only difference is because one side has the commanding heights of the culture/media the talking points change.

    D's fillibuster: The fillibuster is a vital part of the checks and balances of power designed by the Founders. It protects the country from the momentary majorities by the forces of intolerance and bigotry when the voters fall for their lies for a brief time.

    R's fillibuster: The forces of reaction are abusing our system to prevent the Glorious Leader's Five Year Plan and this anacronism needs to be removed. Heck it wasn't even the old racist white guys you rethuglicans worship who invented the damned thing anyway. First one didn't occur until 1837 and from 1917 to 1949 it required two thirds instead of the current three fifths so it isn't like it has never been adjusted and is holy writ or anything.

    --
    Democrat delenda est
  87. turn about. :-) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mean by using their own rhetoric against them?

  88. As Pat Robertson would say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it must be the wrath of God*. ( *because there is no other plausible explanation for hurricanes),

  89. a tried and tested solution: by cas2000 · · Score: 1

    maybe they could all be locked in a stadium for a week or so without sufficient food or water.

    optionally shoot any who try to leave just in case they're up to no good.

  90. That would be a shame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who will get the blame? The gays, muslims, or the gay muslims?

  91. Way too early to predict by biometrizilla · · Score: 1

    The track and strength of this storm are way too uncertain at this time to project where and when landfall will occur and what kind of damage will be done. The computer model runs have had it hitting everywhere from New Orleans to the East Coast over the past few days and still haven't locked onto a repeatable solution. Another sign of the times when an over-hyped storm forecast gets hijacked into a quasi-political/religious argument.

  92. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by tranquilidad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Can you name the critical Obama policy bills the GOP successfully filibustered? After successfully filibustering said bills, what attempts did Obama make to lobby moderate Republicans to vote for cloture to end the filibuster OR what changes did Obama and the Democrats make to the bills to make them palatable to all parties and bi-partisan?

    Harry Reid did change the generally accepted method of introducing bills for a vote practically eliminating the ability to debate and amend the bills. This action changed the Senate from a deliberative body that could compromise to one that could only vote up or down on any particular bill. What surprising result sprang up from this? Oh, yeah, the minority party had enough votes (41) to prevent cloture and, therefore, a vote on the bill.

    It takes too sides to reach a compromise. Introducing bills in a manner where debate and amendments are disallowed doesn't exactly create a playing field where compromise and bi-partisanship can occur.

  93. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by frosty_tsm · · Score: 5, Informative

    For noncontroversial issues the Democrat majority didn't have any problem ramming-through TARP in two weeks.

    Signed by Bush, voted for by Sen. McCain. At the time it was voted on, TARP was bipartisan.

  94. We should know in about two hours. by Animats · · Score: 1

    The National Hurricane Center shows the 3 and 5 day prediction cones. The 3 day cone is just now touching the tip of Florida. Miami is well inside the 5 day cone, and Miami will definitely be inside the 3 day cone shortly. 5 day cones are somewhat speculative, but once an area is within the 3-day cone, assume it will get hit. The NWS says that they have two hurricane hunter planes up taking observations, and the data from those will feed into the prediction computation for 0000 UTC, in less than 2 hours. So check back then.

    If Miami is in the 3-day cone after the next update, it's going to get hit. Remember, hurricanes are typically about 300 miles across. The question is then how bad things will get. Current prediction is it hitting as a Category 1 hurricane, which is not too bad. It might reach Category 2.

    The convention starts a day after the hurricane hits, so many people will be arriving just as the storm hits on Sunday. Flight cancellations are likely. The "Welcome event" at the ballpark, scheduled for Sunday, will probably be cancelled. (It's a domed ballpark, so maybe not. But attendance will be down.) Probably by Tuesday or Wednesday, Tampa will be cleaned up and running again. The convention schedule, though, calls for the official vote on the Republican presidential nomination to be made Monday evening. Don't be surprised if that slips to Tuesday.

    The convention center is right on the waterfront ("awesome waterfront views"), so flooding from storm surges is a strong possibility. There are probably crews placing sandbags right now.

    1. Re:We should know in about two hours. by biometrizilla · · Score: 1

      8PM 3-day cone is out. Doesn't reach Miami. Center of 5-day cone passes well West of Tampa early Tues morning (2AM). If the hurricane were to follow that track Tampa won't experience anything worse than it gets during a heavy afternoon thundershower during the summer. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/234951.shtml?3day#contents

    2. Re:We should know in about two hours. by Animats · · Score: 1

      Update - the 3-day prediction cone hasn't reached Tampa yet, but the storm track prediction has moved left. Right now, it looks like Tampa will be on the outer edge of the storm. Probably not too bad.

  95. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Tell me you've really never heard of the filibuster. It's very possible for the minority to obstruct the majority.

    Go crack open an American Government textbook while the adults are talking.

  96. Tampa/GOP is ready, everyone else is screwed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am currently working with the City of Tampa, preparing for the RNC. All I really have to say is that this exact scenario has been expected for over a year now. Tampa in late August? You can almost expect a hurricane, and the emergency management involved is highly prepared for such a situation.

    The real disaster will be in the outskirts of Tampa, not as much prepared as the city center. Tampa has not had a direct hit in a very long time, and our electrical infrastructure will be destroyed in some areas (think Charlie, Frances, Gene). Usually yearly storms will take out the weak trees, but our lack of a big storm in decades will cause much more damage to the Tampa area than it would to Miami or West Palm for example.

    1. Re:Tampa/GOP is ready, everyone else is screwed. by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      You can almost expect a hurricane, and the emergency management involved is highly prepared for such a situation.

      You needn't have bothered. I'm sure they'll reject your nanny state, big government, communist assistance in favor of a vastly superior free market private rescue plan.

      I mean, they'd be hypocrites otherwise, right?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  97. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    We could maybe get back to actually governing this country.

    The Democrats had solid majorities in every branch of government for two full years.

    During that time, not a single budget was passed. Nothing changed from when Bush was president except that spending skyrocketed and energy production in America was subdued or stopped whenever possible.

    So exactly what are we all to look forward to when you get "back" to governing? Drone strikes on any Republicans that survived the storm?

    Just another liberal happy to kill for the cause I suppose. There sure are a disturbing number of you around these days, unwilling to debate and only to destroy.

    Osama Bin Laden was killed.

    The recession is over.

    General Motors and Chrysler, and the industrial heartland of the country, were saved from a catastrophe that would make the dust bowl look like nothing.

    An end has come to the era of people being condemned to death by for-profit insurance companies using the excuse of "pre-existing conditions" to deny people their basic human right to health care coverage.

    Colonel Gadaffi was ousted from power without a single American soldier being deployed on the ground, and without adding countless billions to the deficit.

    That god-awful war in Iraq, the biggest foreign policy blunder since Napoleon invaded Russia, has ended.

    Since Obama took office, oil imports have dropped by an average of 1.1 million barrels per day and in 2010 domestic crude oil production reached its highest level since 2003.

    How you got an "insightful" mod I do not know.

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  98. And act of... by jrmech · · Score: 1

    Can we please get a Democrat to say it was an act of G-d? Wouldn't it be funny to see the republicans say "not-uh" (in Cartman's voice).

  99. Best thing for the convention by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    This would be ideal for the convention. Looks like it will be a tropical storm some distance off the coast. Won't hurt the GOP a bit but might be enough to soak the OWS/Green Party/Acorn employees who have been hired to show up. Cops will probably arrest them and make them sit in the rain all night.

  100. Uh, whatever.. it's too far away by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This storm is days away from even approaching the US. The weather service can't even predict tomorrow accurately. Several days? No chance.

  101. Hurricane - shareware by EricScott · · Score: 1

    Back in the late 80's I wrote a hurricane tracking program called Hurricane (what else) and released it as shareware. I also obtained hurricane data back to 1886 from NOAH and by overlapping every storm track and summing the affected area with wind speed, I found that a section of Florida from Tampa, south to Sarasota, had the least cumulative wind speed. Actually that is the safest area in the southern U.S. when it comes to hurricanes.

    But here's hoping for some change on that

    1. Re:Hurricane - shareware by biometrizilla · · Score: 2

      I'm sure the hundreds of thousands of Tampa residents and non-convention go'ers would be appalled by your lack of concern for them.

  102. Re:Message Boards vs. reality by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    Your example: supposed message boards (of course you ignore years of message boards seeking the assassination of GWB).

    There's no ignoring. That's a figment of your imagination. People were far too busy finding photos of chimpanzee dopplegangers to be making death threats.

  103. Re:Message Boards vs. reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Liberals: Shooting up Sikh temples, and faking attacks on Democratic HQ's. Even Gifford's shooter, while unhinged, was unhappy because she was not a "pure" enough liberal.

    Um... the Sikh shooter was a white supremacist ex-military dude. That group tends to skew Republican. CNN speculated he was a registered Democrat, but I don't think there was any responsible journalism on the topic. Could be though.

    Gifford's shooter was registered Independent. His roommate claimed he was liberal, but his paranoia about the government has Tea Party echos, and law enforcement hasn't really determined anything about his motives.

  104. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The data you are referencing in regards to Obama's spending is largely a fraudulent purposeful misrepresentation. The "spending" data being cited discounts federal government transfer payments because under Obama's definition of "spending", money that is taxed and then transferred- via welfare payments, social security, etc (government transfers) is not defined as spending and allows him to make the ridiculous claim that his administration has been spending less.

  105. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Martin+Blank · · Score: 2

    I'll agree with you on most points, but we would still be in Iraq to a small degree if Iraq hadn't refused to agree to a new Status of Forces agreement that would extend immunity from Iraq prosecution. Baghdad wouldn't budge, and so the complete withdrawal happened, save for some Marines at the embassy.

    I'm not taking sides on this, just pointing out that things could have been different had the Obama administration had its way.

    --
    You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  106. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
    So, everyone who doesn't agree with my political beliefs is either stupid, selfish, or looney. Got it.

    Gosh, it's like a parody of leftist beliefs from a newscast from the 80s. Diversity. It's not just a catchphrase, it's a reality. Tolerate opposing viewpoints - unless those disagree with our own.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  107. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by hey! · · Score: 1

    There is no reason to tolerate intolerance. Absolutes are for fools.

    Absolutely!

    Of course, not all conservatives are assholes, but the GOP panders to these assholes, along with the stupid and selfish to form their base of support.

    Well, without making a partisan remark which will surely be questionable, let me say that in the US we've fallen into the habit of identifying "conservative" with "Republican" and "liberal" with "Democrat". We've bought the brand messages. The GOP is a radical party now. This doesn't mean they're *wrong*, they want to remake the country according to a grand vision. They all that grand vision "conservatism", but it's not conservatism in the Burkean sense.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  108. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

    Now c'mon... that is a completely reasonable and perfectly logical post.

    You know better than that, and besides, it doesn't make good airplay on MSNBC or CNN, yanno?

    Unless a story can be drawn as an 'Us versus Them' dogfight, it'll never make the newscasts.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  109. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by SydShamino · · Score: 4, Informative

    Without a filibuster-proof majority, the "majority" can't do anything. Thus the OP's claim that they had a "solid majority" implying they could have gotten work done (but didn't) was disingenuous.

    --
    It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  110. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

    *ahem*:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/gary-k-owen-eileen-qutub-washington-state-emails_n_1773555.html

    --and the point where it goes from HuffPo's "alleged" to the actual news where "Man admits [sending] death threat"--

    http://www.kgw.com/news/Man-arrested-for-death-threat-against-WA-candidate-165745706.html

    Yeah, dude's nuts. OTOH, the target of his death threat has an "(R)" after her name whenever it appears on the newscasts.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  111. Details, details... by DragonWriter · · Score: 1

    The Democrats had solid majorities in every branch of government for two full years.

    For a definition of "solid majority" which includes a majority to thin to actually pass any substantive measure through the Senate given the existence of the filibuster, which requires a 60-vote supermajority to cut-off debate and proceed to a vote.

    During that time, not a single budget was passed.

    Well, except for the budgets passed for FY 2010 in 2009 and FY 2011 in 2010.

  112. Re:Message Boards vs. reality by Penguinisto · · Score: 1
    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  113. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "There's been a lot of advocates for imprisonment for holding the wrong beliefs in the AGW debate"

    Prove it, assw.pe.

    I call bullsh.t

  114. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Penguinisto · · Score: 0

    Can't let the lies go unanswered, sorry pal. The Democrats did have a majority in the Senate, but they did not have a fillibuster proof majority in the Senate.

    ...so where were all the filibusters? How many of them were there? For what bills?

    Wait, you mean they didn't even filibuster that massive healthcare thingy that Pelosi said everyone had to vote for before they could know what was in it?

    Seriously - the DNC had free run in Congress this whole time, judging by the lack of actual filibusters. Hell, they even had a four-month filibuster-proof run that they could have passed whatever the hell they wanted to in.

    So, err, what happened there?

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  115. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by LordLimecat · · Score: 0

    Tell me you've really never heard of the filibuster. It's very possible for the minority to obstruct the majority.

    No, its not. Modern congressional rules do NOT allow anyone to filibuster at any time they like. With sufficient votes, a filibuster can be prevented, and IIRC the house AND senate had that for quite some time.

    FYI...
    House rules:

    In the United States House of Representatives, the filibuster (the right to unlimited debate) was used until 1842, when a permanent rule limiting the duration of debate was created.

    Senate rules:

    Senate rules permit a senator, or a series of senators, to speak for as long as they wish and on any topic they choose, unless "three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn"[44] (usually 60 out of 100 senators) brings debate to a close by invoking cloture under Senate Rule XXII.

    (All taken from the wikipedia article on the filibuster.

  116. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by ad0gg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    GOP is the christian conservative party. Bush said that he was on a mission from god. When it comes to religion, there is no debate or compromise. Only way politics works is with compromise, so what do we get, a non working government.

    --

    Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

  117. Well, it';s been proven by publiclurker · · Score: 0

    that satire requires a certain level of intellect to comprehend. I guess that's why you fail so completely at getting it.

  118. If we are lucky! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, if we are lucky, it will blow all of those asshats out to sea and drown them...

  119. Still scapegoating your betters by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    instead of pretending you are man enough to accept responsibility for your failures. Just how many years does it take for something like you to reach maturity anyway?

  120. Um, Libya's pretty much done by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    I take it you haven't pulled your head out of your ass in awhile. By all means, stick around though. Listening to you babble on is kind of like watching a raccoon with his head stuck in a jam jar.

  121. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Penguinisto · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Osama Bin Laden was killed.

    Courtesy of US Military intelligence, lasting over eight years or more. Unless you can point to an image of Obama holding an M-16 in one hand and Bin Laden's severed head in the other, he (nor you) can't claim that one.

    The recession is over.

    Even the New York Times isn't letting that bit of propaganda slip by unchallenged: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/us/recession-officially-over-us-incomes-kept-falling.html

    General Motors and Chrysler, and the industrial heartland of the country, were saved from a catastrophe that would make the dust bowl look like nothing.

    They were 'saved' by a loan that was given them when TARP was passed... in 2008. Signed into law by that guy you likely loathe to the core of your soul.

    An end has come to the era of people being condemned to death by for-profit insurance companies using the excuse of "pre-existing conditions" to deny people their basic human right to health care coverage.

    So Medicare and Medicaid didn't exist before 2009 then?

    Colonel Gadaffi was ousted from power without a single American soldier being deployed on the ground, and without adding countless billions to the deficit.

    ...thanks to the "Arab Spring", certainly. Same with Egypt, Tunisia, and hopefully Syria. Contrary to popular belief, the rest of the world is perfectly capable of fixing itself on occasion without a US president or military helping out.

    That god-awful war in Iraq, the biggest foreign policy blunder since Napoleon invaded Russia, has ended.

    ...on schedule, no less. A schedule that was set years before Obama took office.

    Since Obama took office, oil imports have dropped by an average of 1.1 million barrels per day and in 2010 domestic crude oil production reached its highest level since 2003.

    ...recent massive spikes in fuel costs had a lot more to do with it than any US governmental policy. Unless of course you can point us to one. You can do that, right?

    How you got an "insightful" mod I do not know.

    ...because he actually used a bit of logic in his post, instead of blindly praising some politician for things that he obviously had little-to-no (mostly "no") hand in shaping.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  122. Unfortunatly for you by publiclurker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    what you consider reasonable is what any thinking person would consider batshit crazy. Remember, while you would like to consider yourself a rational person, the grownups here know better.

  123. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    They have no more reason to tolerate you than the Taliban. although, the damage caused by them was somewhat less.

  124. You do know by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    That continuous lying does not change reality, it only shows how bankrupt your positions are.

  125. that's right scapegoat by publiclurker · · Score: 2

    the minorities and poor. Anything to deflect responsibility from the guilty parties. After all, if self centered greed and contempt for others are your main reasons for existing, they must be good.

    1. Re:that's right scapegoat by cpu6502 · · Score: 1

      I'm not blaming the poor. I'm blaming the policies that made it illegal for banks to turn-down housing loans. (Else they'd be prosecuted for discrimination.)

      --
      My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  126. Allah will provide! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Allah will provide!

  127. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Osama Bin Laden was killed.

    Courtesy of US Military intelligence, lasting over eight years or more. Unless you can point to an image of Obama holding an M-16 in one hand and Bin Laden's severed head in the other, he (nor you) can't claim that one.

    Going into the right country was kind of a prerequisite for getting the guy. There was plenty of US intelligence that was ignored by Dubya's administration because it didn't fit with their neo-con objective of stealing Iraq's oil. John McCain campaigned on the basis that he would not use force on Pakistani territory without the permission of the government. Obama was proved right on this one, because if he had gotten the government's permission it's a good bet that someone would have tipped Bin Laden's handlers off and he'd still be hiding somewhere. Fact is, the President made all the right calls and has as much right to take the credit for what goes right as he has to take the blame for what goes wrong.

    And contrary to the lies spewing out of Fox News who were appalled by Bin Laden's death, Obama gave plenty of credit to the intelligence community and the personnel involved. If he wanted to take all the credit he could have done something really outlandish and obnoxious, like, say... I don't know ... dressing up in some sort of flight suit and getting a Navy pilot to land him on the deck of an aircraft carrier before making a triumphant speech about it? Nah, that'd be crazy.

    The recession is over.

    Even the New York Times isn't letting that bit of propaganda slip by unchallenged: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/us/recession-officially-over-us-incomes-kept-falling.html

    Educate yourself. A recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth. We're no longer in negative growth. This is not "propaganda". This is fact. (I know that conservatives have a hard time with facts but I'll try my best to use them on you in the vain hope that they'll sink in eventually.)

    General Motors and Chrysler, and the industrial heartland of the country, were saved from a catastrophe that would make the dust bowl look like nothing.

    They were 'saved' by a loan that was given them when TARP was passed... in 2008. Signed into law by that guy you likely loathe to the core of your soul.

    Maybe you missed the bit where Romney said he'd let Detroit go bust. He was opposed to saving the motor industry, Obama was for it. Fact.

    An end has come to the era of people being condemned to death by for-profit insurance companies using the excuse of "pre-existing conditions" to deny people their basic human right to health care coverage.

    So Medicare and Medicaid didn't exist before 2009 then?

    Oh, so if you can't afford health insurance then you automatically qualify for Medicaid? So we do have universal health care after all?

    Colonel Gadaffi was ousted from power without a single American soldier being deployed on the ground, and without adding countless billions to the deficit.

    ...thanks to the "Arab Spring", certainly. Same with Egypt, Tunisia, and hopefully Syria. Contrary to popular belief, the rest of the world is perfectly capable of fixing itself on occasion without a US president or military helping out.

    The Libyan rebels were taking a pounding until NATO came in with air strikes to back them up. They could not have taken Gadaffi out by force without outside support. Fact.

    That god-awful war in Iraq, the biggest foreign policy blunder since Napoleon invaded Russia, has ended.

    ...on schedule, no less. A schedule that was set years before Obama took of

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  128. God Says SUCK IT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well if they think god is on their side they might want to rethink that....

  129. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by asylumx · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sorry bud, the facts don't line up behind your argument. The Republicans filibustered far more during each of the last six years than the dems did each year when they were the minority from 2000-2006. In fact, if you look at this on a graph, you'll see the it stays pretty steady when dems are minority, but usually increases a great deal when reps are the minority. You can see a ton of charts that show this in different ways if you google image search "republican filibuster chart", but here's a pretty good one: http://assets.thefiscaltimes.com/TFT2_20101228/App_Data/MediaFiles/3/2/4/%7B32460E0F-8033-4BB9-AC50-4E29BEE8DBC1%7Dfilibuster%20chart.jpg?w=587&h=549&as=1

  130. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by jonadab · · Score: 0

    > He may be democrat but he is nowhere near as good as our last democrat president Clinton.

    Clinton was (as Democrats go) relatively moderate. He understood basic macroeconomics in a conservative, Adam Smith sort of way. He deliberately balanced the budget (which required actively fighting Congress on the issue; many Democrats opposed him on this). He signed a free-trade agreement on purpose. His administrative style was fundamentally sane -- liberal in some areas, but sane (except maybe for that business in Somalia, but every President is entitled to one major brain fart.)

    Obama is much, MUCH more left-wing. Moreso perhaps even than Gore. If you like Clinton better than Obama, you are not a true dyed-in-the-wool liberal. You'd probably get along pretty well in a swing state, like Ohio, where we like to cross party lines occasionally and vote for the winner.

    --
    Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
  131. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by ArcherB · · Score: 0

    Just another liberal happy to kill for the cause I suppose. There sure are a disturbing number of you around these days, unwilling to debate and only to destroy.

    That's some nice projection you've got going on there. I invite you to visit any number of message boards and count the number of death threats vs. liberals vs. death threats against conservatives and see if it supports your assumption.

    --Jeremy

    I don't think it's projection when he's posting on a forum with hundreds of posts wishing for Republicans to die. Projection is when your project your own faults onto others who do not have those faults. So, in this case, it is hardly what I'd call "projection".

    Next, I challenge you to go to "right wing" sites and find me some death wishes. May I recommend Hot Air, Red State or even News Busters. Now, granted, you will find a few whack jobs out there, but nothing like what you have seen here and nothing like what you may find on Democratic Underground or Daily Kos.

    Sorry, but in light of what I've read here, it would appear that you are the one who is projecting.

    And that "liberal" Jesus was against sexual deviancy, which includes homosexuality. That's not exactly what I would call a "liberal". Sure, Jesus was a liberal for someone living he first century, but not a liberal by today's standard. You should really clarify that.

    --
    There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
  132. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by mysidia · · Score: 1

    You don't get debates from liberals because you make stuff up. Dems only had a supermajority in the senate for four months, most of which were in recess.

    Obviously they cared more about having long recesses than getting things done....

  133. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by ArcherB · · Score: 0

    I guess the one thing they just cannot tolerate is intolerance...

    See, that's the problem. They accuse Republicans of being intolerant so that they may show bigotry towards them. Remember, Dick Cheney, the most hated of all Republicans and who is seen as the most right wing extreme, has a lesbian daughter. His daughter is a Republican too, by the way. Gee, you'd think that all Republicans were as intolerant as the left would have us believe, shouldn't Cheney have shot his daughter in the face by now? You'd think that he would at least not talk to her or shun her from family functions. Mary Cheney even got married. Dick Cheney said of his new daughter-in-law “Mary and Heather and their children are very important and much loved members of our family and we wish them every happiness.”

    Those intolerant bastards!

    Even if you want to say, "yeah, but Dick Cheney is different". Um... yeah. I haven't seen Dick get a lot of love from the gay community. (I mean Dick Cheney, of course)

    --
    There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
  134. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by mysidia · · Score: 1

    Republicans had the Presidency, the House, and the Senate from 2003 to 2007 -- a ridiculously convenient opportunity to address the mortgage lending market problems. Democrats can't filibuster for four solid years!

    Well, yes, the democrats can filibuster repeatedly. And the Senate has a heck of a lot of other important business to do as well; the republicans couldn't bring up one particular matter for four solid years.

  135. Pat Robertson. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He can pray it away.

    Did it before.

    Just send the check in the mail.

  136. Admiral Ackbar by PlasmaEye · · Score: 1

    A Category 2 hurricane could disrupt convention activities because the Tampa Bay Times Forum, site of the festivities, is within a mandatory evacuation zone for storms of that magnitude.

    In other words: "This city cannot withstand a hurricane of that magnitude!"

  137. Only one true dictionary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is no one true dictionary any more than there is one true god.

    How can you claim that there is only one true dictionary when humanity has not spoken a single language since the tower of Babel?!

  138. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't need 2/3rds support to end a filibuster: you have your facts wrong. (Finding the correct ratio is left as an exercise for the reader.)

  139. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Left's problems with Dick Cheney are unrelated to the problems with Same-Sex Marriage.

    I would note, however, that Dick Cheney hasn't done much to change the overall ideology of the Republican Party, which is still against Same-sex marriage.

    FWIW, we know there are Log Cabin Republicans too. We just think they haven't noticed that the party isn't going to accomodate them.

  140. If that happens... by emaname · · Score: 1

    ...queue Pat Robertson.

    "You have been smitten because of your sinful behavior and..."

    Oh. Sorry. Wrong party.

    I just realized that is who the Dems are missing. They don't have some pompous, self-righteous guy to condemn people after disasters.

    --
    An effective "democracy" creates the illusion the people have a say in their government.
  141. Shut that whole thing down. by minkie · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't worry about it. If it's a legitimate hurricane, the Republican party has ways to try and shut that whole thing down.

  142. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by localman · · Score: 2

    Where are the filibusters? They're right here you dishonest prick: http://politicalirony.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/senate-gridlock1.jpg

    More than double than the democrats under Bush. Let me guess, now you're going to justify it by saying it was a good thing they stopped so many bills and they were within their rights to prevent tyranny of the majority. That's you being dishonest again because you're retreating from your first position without admitting anything.

    You ever wonder why it's hard to get anything positive done? It's people like you.

  143. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Penguinisto · · Score: 0

    Your link says: "Apologies, but we were unable to find what you were looking for. Perhaps the search box will help."

    But sure - feel free to sling around insults and show your intolerance towards anything that challenges your worldview.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  144. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you can't look at Congress now and see anyone better suited to be President than the current candidates, I think the question becomes answered. You're likely not going to get another new-blood President anytime soon, so the current group is indicative of where the country is headed in 8 years time.

  145. It's God's will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's God's will, right Republicans?

  146. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You need to learn how to read charts. That chart and every other chart you can find show pretty much the same thing. Without the colors to tell the difference, you wouldn't be able to tell whether it was Dems or Reps causing the filibusters.

    The number of filibusters by either side has been steadily rising. It doesn't matter who started it. All that you can guarantee is that the other party will do the same shortly after.

  147. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by rs79 · · Score: 1

    "The Democrats had solid majorities in every branch of government for two full years."

    Every bank run and financial collapse has occurred during a republican administration. Not one ever under a democratic administration.

    But I'm sure that's just a continuous 200 year long coincidence.

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?
  148. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by rs79 · · Score: 1

    Either a bunch of mean spirited batshit insane republicans die or our daughters do.

    I know which choice I'd make.

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?
  149. Hurricane Irene by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because Mother Nature has ways of shutting that thing down.

  150. Re:Message Boards vs. reality by rs79 · · Score: 1

    Why don't you try backup up some of these assertions?

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?
  151. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 1

    Just get the one damn vote you need to get that filibuster proof majority. It's sheer incompetence that the Democrats couldn't overcome the Republican filibuster. I agree with the original poster. They were given opportunity on a golden plate and they fucked it up.

  152. Clearly... by robbo · · Score: 1

    God's punishment for subscribing to creationism.

    --
    So long, and thanks for all the Phish
  153. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 0

    "There's been a lot of advocates for imprisonment for holding the wrong beliefs in the AGW debate"

    Prove it, asswipe.

    I call bullshit

    Here's a pretty good rebuttal.

    Small sampling of threats, intimidation and censorship:

    NASA's James Hansen has called for trials of climate skeptics in 2008 for "high crimes against humanity.â Environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lashed out at skeptics in 2007, declaring âoeThis is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitorsâ In 2009, RFK, Jr. also called coal companies "criminal enterprises" and declared CEO's 'should be in jail... for all of eternity."

    In June 2009, former Clinton Administration official Joe Romm defended a comment on his Climate Progress website warning skeptics would be strangled in their beds. "An entire generation will soon be ready to strangle you and your kind while you sleep in your beds," stated the remarks, which Romm defended by calling them "not a threat, but a prediction."

    In 2006, the eco-magazine Grist called for Nuremberg-Style trials for skeptics. In 2008, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki called for government leaders skeptical of global warming to be thrown âoeinto jail.â In 2007, The Weather Channel's climate expert called for withholding certification of skeptical meteorologists.

    A 2008 report found that 'climate blasphemy' is replacing traditional religious blasphemy. In addition, a July 2007 Senate report detailed how skeptical scientists have faced threats and intimidation.

    In 2007, then EPA Chief Vowed to Probe E-mail Threatening to 'Destroy' Career of Climate Skeptic and dissenters of warming fears have been called 'Climate Criminals' who are committing 'Terracide' (killing of Planet Earth) (July 25, 2007) In addition, in May 2009, Climate Depot Was Banned in Louisiana! See: State official sought to 'shut down' climate skeptic's testimony at hearing.

    There's also numerous acts of intimidation in addition to the money quotes above.

    In addition, I personally have gotten such threats. I've taken a lot of controversial views (for example, Fukushima) and been accused of all sorts of things. But the AGW people are loopy in a way that no one else has been. What follows is a reply when I asserted that there were massive biases inherent in current climate research and failed to back down.

    Think about what a defective disgusting human being you are. You demand that the world take your fucking folk theories of science seriously while you deride , debase, pursue, accuse and slander actual hardworking, men and women who have done the real, hard work required to have an opinion worth listening to. People who have lived their lives with zero expectation of fame or power or even big money, but rather have courageously pursued the truth wherever it leads them , however unhappy that place may be.. You accuse them of lying, of power seeking of having ambitions to control the world and why? Because you don't like the message they're bringing you. Shoot the messenger much? You're the fucking lowest dirtiest kind of human on this planet, no different than the Nazis who chased the Jewish scientists out of their Third Reich. You're a low life nothing attempting to raise himself up into a position of authority over subjects you have zero knowledge of in order to achieve your preferred political ends and suppress inconvenient truths.

    How's it feel to play the role of the most despicable character in every history from Roman times onwards? How's it feel to be a completely worthless, unaccomplished ignorant human being , noisily proclaiming your superiority over people whose a

  154. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Son, the recession isn't over when we have to run the national credit card to the tune of a billion dollars a year on top of the endless Fed QE.

    There was NO recovery. Just debt buying consumption.

  155. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 1

    If you can't look at Congress now and see anyone better suited to be President than the current candidates

    Since they're not running, then they aren't better suited.

  156. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NO! NO! NO!

    Hey Democrats! Quit deluding yourselves. Here is what really happens:

    The Republicans are playing for keeps. They want results. HOW they play the game is of no consequence to them. When they are acting insulted and shocked ... shocked ... I say ... they aren't shocked; they are putting up that face because that is the tactically correct thing to do at that point in time, and you fall for it every time they do it. They pretend they are being civilized, and they just cannot believe the stunt YOU just pulled. You feel badly, and you eventually cave.

    Notice, however, if THEY had just pulled the stunt, and you are shocked, they simply say: "Hey! There is no rule that says I may not do that! Tough sh-t! I'm doing it!" It takes you Democrats quite a long time to figure out that they are holding firm, and they just won't budge, and you keep grumbling to yourselves, "They can't really do that for REAL, can they? That's just outrageous!" Well, they did, and you are screwed. So all of your supposedly "gentlemen's rules" are out the window as soon as it isn't convenient to them. They will play hard ball because they are serious about winning. You guys are losers because you THINK you might still be gentlemen. They have no such illusions.

    Good luck keeping control of anything this election cycle, Democrats. You haven't got the balls.

  157. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 0

    No, it means that without *unanimous* agreement among Democrats, nothing will get passed

    Ok, so you don't understand politics then. It's not that hard to get that many votes. Keep in mind that they could have pulled in several republicans and eliminated the need for unanimous agreement. They just failed due to incompetence.

  158. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    ...increasingly worse candidates are elected?

    That has been the trend over the last 50 years.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  159. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    We should stop pretending that the republicans are in opposition to the democrats. It's a very old game. Diffuse the blame and stay in office.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  160. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start?...christian... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    conservative party. And it looks like God may just be kinda p5d ...er.... ANGRY about how such associations reflect on God's self (in an Old Testament tempest-and-flood sort of way).

  161. And God Said... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And God said to the GOP, who claimed to be "The Right": A POX ON THEE! And they felt the storm, strengthened by the global heat which they denied and created, and GOD smote them with a curse, and they were washed away, and the earth beneath them was cleansed, and they were nevermore.

  162. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You might want to try again. The link works for me. This was also posted by another person up above: http://politicalirony.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/senate-gridlock1.jpg and here is the relevant wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_in_the_United_States_Senate Quote: "The Senate Republicans of the 111th Congress again broke the record for the number of filibusters in a session, passing 100 cloture votes in the first eleven months."

  163. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The link works for me.

    What loser browser and ISP are you using?

  164. Oh please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mountain_ear/58683008/

  165. Mother Nature ... by Chemware · · Score: 1

    ... the biggest climate protester of them all !

  166. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 1

    There is no reason to tolerate intolerance. Absolutes are for fools.

    I'm sorry but you can't handle that level of rank hypocrisy. Give it to me and I'll make sure it gets a good home.

  167. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Darby · · Score: 0

    Nothing changed from when Bush was president except that spending skyrocketed and energy production in America was subdued or stopped whenever possible.

    So, apart from the fact that you're lying about spending skyrocketing when it was already a skyrocket in flight starting with Reagan what you're saying is that Obama has done little besides *continue* with *Republican* policies.
    You feel that it's great when Republicans push these policies yet it's "disturbing" and you throw around words like "kill" and "destroy" when current Democrats merely follow the road blazed by Republicans.
    After all of that you're just acting butthurt when people point out the hypocrisy that defines the current Republican party?

    I sometimes wish I couldn't be surprised by this sort of cowardly nonsense any longer, but other times I think I'd be a better man if I'd slit my wrists if I ever could be.

  168. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Darby · · Score: 1

    Just get the one damn vote you need to get that filibuster proof majority. It's sheer incompetence that the Democrats couldn't overcome the Republican filibuster. I agree with the original poster. They were given opportunity on a golden plate and they fucked it up.

    So they "fucked up" by ending up following Republican policies? Yet they're the bad guys and the people whose policies they're following are the good guys.

    Wow.

    The stupid it hurts and the goggles zey do nothing.

  169. I'm not normally a religious man but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh please. oh please ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease....

  170. As our Westboro friends would say by backwardMechanic · · Score: 1

    God hates...

  171. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by bogjobber · · Score: 1

    Source please?

  172. It would be totally awesome. by Anarchduke · · Score: 1

    If only the Ron Paul supporters were able to make it to the convention. If his delegates aren't at the convention, they can't vote for Romney.

    --
    who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
  173. Symbiotic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You need law and order and basic enforcement of contracts before you can have businesses as we know them today.

  174. Vote for the WORST candidate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Personally, I think this country is doomed. Yes, for real doomed. So, in order to speed things up and get it over with, I'm encouraging everyone to vote for the worst possible candidate. That way after everything implodes maybe we can fix it within our lifetimes.

  175. be afraid RAINS and WIND brains are broke by TheRealHocusLocus · · Score: 1

    be still my beating heart
    hurricane schmirricane
    DO YOU REALIZE that because hurrricanes make everyone take cover and keep the idiots off the roads, there are far fewer deaths from the hurricane than would have been traffic fatalities during that period. HURRICANES SAVE LIVES. they treat potential for disaster as disaster
    shows a short circuit in the risk assessment
    misdirected erudition with emotional angst

    Katrina: "It's a hurricane, this things goona get us!"
    SHOULD HAVE BEEN: "Look Marge, the City is below sea level. This is gonna get us."

    Fukushima: "Evil radiation meltdown sub-Denver levels bad bad bad fear doom Nature hates us!"
    SHOULD HAVE BEEN: "Look Marge, all the backup generators are in the basement not protected by a watertight door. This is dumb in a way that has nothing to do with radiation."

    brains are broke
    cannot think
    call it like it is

    --
    <blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
  176. ABC Wishful Thinking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just wishful thinking on the part of the liberal rag ABC.

  177. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I hope Obama wins not because I like him but because I want 4 more years of his policies.

    That's funny, considering that's the exact same reason I hope for a Ron Paul win. The way I figure, 1 of 3 things happens.

    1) It's great for everyone, and I don't care that I was proven wrong.

    2) It sucks for some/most/all, and you are among those that it sucks for. I'm happy because you've finally been proven wrong.

    3) It sucks for some/most, and you are among those that it does not suck for. In the ensuing revolution, you then become one of those who are up against the wall, which in turn makes me happy.

    It's win/win/win! Well, win/win/lose for you I suppose, but hey, the odds are in your favor.

  178. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by FatAlb3rt · · Score: 1

    Do you really think that's how it works?!

  179. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    GOP became the party of Filibuster in the Senate. Just because you had a majority, doesn't mean you get things all your own way, a party needs 2/3rds support to end a filibuster. Democrats didn't have that and the GOP effectively stonewalled things, particularly nominations for cabinet and other federal posts.

    Fail -- turn in your voter card. You're obviously unable to make an informed decision. 60 votes are needed to end a filibuster, which the Democrats had between the time that Specter changed parties and Scott Brown was elected. Of course, they can't filibuster a budget, so that only requires 51 votes. Somehow, the Democratic Senate majority hasn't been able to pass one since Obama's been elected.

  180. God hates the GOP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's the only reasonable conclusion they can come to, right?

    Right?

  181. Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reality has a well known liberal bias.

  182. Its not hurricanes that kill people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its flying debris that k.... oh wait.

  183. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For noncontroversial issues the Democrat majority didn't have any problem ramming-through TARP in two weeks.

    Signed by Bush, voted for by Sen. McCain. At the time it was voted on, TARP was bipartisan.

    And the first time Bush tried to get it through, it was blocked by the Democrats. They, of course, caved in shortly after and gave support.

  184. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Osama was rotting away in some shack...complete waste of effort.

    The recession is over? 8+% unemployment, little to no growth, and an impending world wide recession. Yay Obama!.

    GM and Chrysler are bleeding money, the Feds (us taxpayers) are still on the hook for billions of dollars and corruption in the Union and Fed agencies that run GM is rampant (Let's just kill those non-union pensions...fuck'm)

    Meanwhile, FORD, which took no bail out money, is doing great.

    Obamacare is draining medicare of needed fund, Dr.s are retiring in droves, and employers aren't hiring because the cost of employing someone is unpredictable or through the roof.

    Islamic Radicals have pretty much taken over the mid-east. Including Iraq as the fledgling Democracy that we had in place has been replaced by terrorists.

    Oil imports are down because 1. The economy sucks and 2. Production on private land, largely out of the feds control, is up....what a fucking moron you are.

    How you got +5 Informative is obvious, Slashdot is a Leftwing Retard haven.

    Just know that when the shit hit's the fan, people like you will be the one wondering where yoru obama bucks are and why FEMA isn't feeding you.

  185. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Golddess · · Score: 1

    Some "opposing view points" do not deserve tolerance. Nazism* for example, if I may Godwin this thread.

    *Well, as long as they stick to words and not actions, I frankly don't give a fuck. It's when they cross the line into actions that they do not deserve tolerance for their "opposing view points".

    --
    "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
  186. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey fiannaFailMan, Monica called. She want's her Blue Dress back.

    So after you finish giving Obama a blow job, ship it UPS please.

  187. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by HapSlappy_2222 · · Score: 1

    unwilling to debate and only to destroy.

    Bwahaha! Are you for real?

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-history-of-the-filibuster-in-one-graph/2012/05/15/gIQAVHf0RU_blog.html

    It's getting to the point where NOTHING gets done by ANYBODY. You know who's unwilling to debate and only to destroy? Every-fucking-one in congress. Lately, the republicans have been spearheading the initiative, but I have no doubt that if (and it's a BIG if) Romney's elected, the Dem's will do the same damn thing.

    All these people saying "but your party does it tooooo!11!!1" are either blind or stupid; when you get kicked in the balls, and kick the guy who kicked you in the balls on the way down, all that's left is a writhing mess of retards. --- Congress.

  188. Poor Tampa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Getting screwed twice in a week

  189. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by cpu6502 · · Score: 2

    >>>At the time it was voted on, TARP was bipartisan.

    At the time it was voted on, TARP failed to pass. The democrats loved the idea but the republicans rejected it, so it failed with only ~40% in favor. So they made a second bill (call it TARP 2) that was filled with lots of pork. That bill did eventually pass but only just barely. The majority of republicans still voted nay to it, but were outnumbered by the Democrat Congress.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  190. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by cpu6502 · · Score: 1

    >>>And the reason nothing passed was the Democrats were attempting to be bi-partisan.

    False. The Democrats are a single party but not a single mind. Obamacare could have swept through without a single republidick vote, but the "blue dog" Democrats were opposed to it. There Democrat party was split over the bill.

    In order to winover their votes Obama had to promise to use a signing statement to block abortion funding. That's the only reason it passed with a slim 50.5% majority.

    For noncontroversial issues the Democrat majority didn't have any problem ramming-through the Stimulus Bill in four weeks. Or the DTV Transition in just a few days (they pushed it back from February to June). Like my own Maryland legislature the Republicans could have stayed home from 2009 to 10, and it would have made no difference in what was passed because the Dems were in control.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  191. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 1

    What is it with conservatives and their inability to get plain facts into their thick conservative skulls?

    A recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth. We're now in positive growth and it's been that way for quite some time. Fact.

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  192. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 1

    OMG so much bull in there I can't even be bothered refuting all of it. Let me just congratulate you on flip-flopping back to the "Bin Laden was no big deal anyway" default position beloved of GW Bush. If Bush had gotten OBL (yeah, big "if" since that would have involved having enough of a brain to send troops to the right fucking country) then you'd have been praising Bush as the greatest president since Lincoln.

    Fucking conservative dickhead.

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  193. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by cpu6502 · · Score: 1

    >>>Republicans had the Presidency, the House, and the Senate from 2003 to 2007 -- a ridiculously convenient opportunity to address the mortgage lending market problems. Democrats can't filibuster for four solid years!

    Agree 100%.
    Now apply that SAME logic to the years 2007-10 (when the Democrats held a congressional majority plus the presidency for 2 years) and stop giving them excuses for why the country is in a shambles now. They have no one to blame but themselves.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  194. Disappointing discussion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So many posts of "good" and "I hope they drown".

    Hurricanes are lethal and destructive forces. People die in these things, families become homeless, resources get used to fix things that wouldn't have been broken prior to the storm.

    To revel in death and misfortune wrought upon even a homeless junkie prostitute with AIDS is a dick move.

  195. If "everyone believes it" by ToddInSF · · Score: 1

    It's probably only half true.

    The trivial news of the day issues don;t even remotely brush the real, serious problems and dirty backroom deals that are important.

    Turn on the TV and the radio, go on your favorite sites, and enjoy the deafening bleating of the ignorant masses. /. included...

  196. One can only hope... by Somebody+is+Grar · · Score: 0

    If it does, it must be a sign from GAWD that the Republican Party is not doing GAWD's will.

    --
    Grar II
  197. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, everyone who doesn't agree with my political beliefs is either stupid, selfish, or looney. Got it.

    The question is, where did you get it? Certainly not from mevets comment. He said that people he disagrees with are pandering to the stupid, selfish and looney in order to gain political power. mevets didn't say, but it is true that in the process, they end up taking on the agenda of the stupid, selfish and looney.

    See, this is exactly the shit many people in this thread have pointed out. You (and many of right-wingers) have your preconceived notions about the opposition, and loudly proclaim every statement out of their mouths to be yet more justification for your opinion, regardless of how many contortions or outright fabrications you have to make in order to fit their statements into your view of them. And of course the absolutely asinine assertion that unless I allow you to force your beliefs on me (e.g., same-sex marriage) that I am somehow intolerant. It's like the Christians that scream about religious persecution when they aren't given everything they want. Somehow, me choosing to not participate in your rituals is equivalent to persecuting you - "He didn't say Merry Christmas, why is he attacking my holiday?!"

  198. Bravery by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

    *radio voice*

    The percentile for Romney is now over 80 because of his show of bravery earlier this month. Romney was brave enough to ride out a hurricane in Florida while the "other candidates" were all wimps living under safe rooftops.

    I can hear it now.

  199. What?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the heck does this have to with anything technology based? You know, a Slashdot type of subject. Liberals suck @$$h0l35 for feeding purposes. AND they are nothing more than a box of used, unwashed vibrating butt plugs. Slashdot has WAY too many liberal biased articles on it. What a shame, but Slashdot is most likely too liberal to understand the concept of shame.

  200. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

    Dems only had a supermajority in the senate for four months, most of which were in recess.

    Only four months? Do your realize how much you can pass in four months? Do you remember the first four months of Obama's presidency? A great deal of legislation got passed, including one gigantic stimulus bill. If they wasted the supermajority period, it's their own fault for doing so.

    Federal spending rose at anywhere between 3.2-5%, a rate below average, and if you start measuring the rate from October 2009, spending has been the slowest in 60 years

    Conveniently skipping the drunken orgy of spending that went on in the first half of 2009?

  201. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

    Republicans had the Presidency, the House, and the Senate from 2003 to 2007

    The Dems won the Congress in 2006. It's part of the reason Bush's last two years were effectively "lame duck". It's also the only reason TARP ever saw the light of day.

  202. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

    Osama Bin Laden was killed.

    A task achieved by on intelligence community, supported by the bloated defense budget Obama is trying to cut. Attribute Osama's death to Obama simply because he said "sure, go ahead" when presented with actionable intelligence is stupid.

    The recession is over.

    Which technically started and ended on Obama's watch (2008): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late-2000s_recession
    The first quarter of negative GDP was Q1 2008: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth
    Particularly damning is that the sharpest downturn was in September of 2008 after the spending of ungodly amounts of stimulus money.

    General Motors and Chrysler, and the industrial heartland of the country, were saved from a catastrophe that would make the dust bowl look like nothing.

    Failures of companies deserve to fail. Fuck corporatism.

    An end has come to the era of people being condemned to death by for-profit insurance companies using the excuse of "pre-existing conditions" to deny people their basic human right to health care coverage.

    Fixing that loophole without the additional 999 pages of expensive budget-breaking cruft would have been far preferable.

    Colonel Gadaffi was ousted from power without a single American soldier being deployed on the ground, and without adding countless billions to the deficit.

    Not exactly attributable to actions of the US...

    That god-awful war in Iraq, the biggest foreign policy blunder since Napoleon invaded Russia, has ended.

    We still have people on the ground over there, and it was already winding down at the end of Bush's term.

    Since Obama took office, oil imports have dropped by an average of 1.1 million barrels per day and in 2010 domestic crude oil production reached its highest level since 2003.

    Global commodities dynamics are not a function of government. Or do you believe the resurgence of natural gas (and shift away from coal power) is also because of the government? (rather than regular market forces...)

  203. Re:Message Boards vs. reality by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    You know you're on a loser if your evidence is the blog of the insane Michelle Malkin.

  204. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by OneAhead · · Score: 1

    Hey why didn't anyone tell me Fox went into the business of providing internet connections?

  205. Re:Message Boards vs. reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know you're on a loser if your evidence is the blog of the insane Michelle Malkin.

    Truer words were never spoken.

  206. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 1

    Yes. There are historical cases where people who weren't running managed to get nominated, but those are quite infrequent and none has occurred in recent memory.

    But that's not going to happen in this election cycle. First, Romney has enough delegates to win outright. Second, some portion of those delegates were won what I see as apparent manipulation of primary/caucus vote tabulation. Which indicates to me that he also has the support from any shadow powers in or behind the Republican party as well.

  207. Re:"Gat Back"? When did you start? by khallow · · Score: 1

    So they "fucked up" by ending up following Republican policies?

    Why do you expect the answer to this question to be anything but "Yes"?

    Yet they're the bad guys and the people whose policies they're following are the good guys.

    The problem is that in this case, health care policy, the resulting bill was both grossly unconstitutional and a really bad idea to boot. No need to reduce things to white hat/black hat.