News that makes us laugh, cry, or both

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue May 18, 2010 5:28 pm

Also, putting people out of work in a recession is just stupid. You've basically just cutting off demand - because that's also what people are as they need to feed/clothe/house themselves. And lowered demand is what a recession is.

Sure, that balances the budget. But it makes the reason the budget wasn't balanced worse.

-1 (layoff) + -1 (recession) = -2 (more recession).

-Crissa

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Tue May 18, 2010 5:47 pm

Republicans Conservatives hate public education, however, so any attacks on the school system should not come as a surprise.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Tue May 18, 2010 7:25 pm

Crissa wrote:Also, putting people out of work in a recession is just stupid. You've basically just cutting off demand - because that's also what people are as they need to feed/clothe/house themselves. And lowered demand is what a recession is.

Sure, that balances the budget. But it makes the reason the budget wasn't balanced worse.

-1 (layoff) + -1 (recession) = -2 (more recession).

-Crissa

This seems like a more generalized Tragedy of the Commons statement.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Tue May 18, 2010 8:01 pm

Thankfully it's only a tragedy of the commons if it's a commons (i.e. unregulated)

Orca · Post by **Orca** » Thu May 20, 2010 4:25 am

I got pointed to this - I rather liked this bit "Republicans who had attended the convention called Principal Mike McCarthy to complain about "anti-American" things they saw there, including a closed box containing copies of the U.S. Constitution that were published by the American Civil Liberties Union."

i.e. once the US Constitution is anti-American, what's left for them?

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Thu May 20, 2010 6:17 am

Well, it was improper accepting of ACLU propaganda! Of course they had to open it and find out the improper constitutions! It had more than two amendments! Can you believe that?

-Crissa

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Thu May 20, 2010 6:48 am

Crissa wrote:Well, it was improper accepting of ACLU propaganda! Of course they had to open it and find out the improper constitutions! It had more than two amendments! Can you believe that?

-Crissa

Please. Everyone knows that the second amendment trumps and replaces the first.

-Username17

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu May 20, 2010 3:13 pm

I would think that getting shot would shut a lot of people up real quick.

endersdouble · Post by **endersdouble** » Thu May 20, 2010 5:22 pm

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:I would think that getting shot would shut a lot of people up real quick.

And yet people complain when I use this method...

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Thu May 20, 2010 5:23 pm

endersdouble wrote:
Count Arioch the 28th wrote:I would think that getting shot would shut a lot of people up real quick.
And yet people complain when I use this method...

Oh no, it backfired!

Cielingcat · Post by **Cielingcat** » Thu May 20, 2010 8:36 pm

Like crazy father, like racist son.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu May 20, 2010 9:09 pm

Laugh or cry?

I don't know if i should laugh or cry at this. But some of the comments on the story definitely do make me want to cry.

Jilocasin · Post by **Jilocasin** » Thu May 20, 2010 9:57 pm

Pakistan bans Facebook

Oh, and more on the Texas School Board's shenanigans.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri May 21, 2010 1:46 am

Ceilingcat, your link isn't going to the Paul takedown for me.

And yes, Texas has decided not to teach Newtonian history. What's the creationist version of gravity again?

-Crissa

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri May 21, 2010 1:54 am

Crissa wrote:What's the creationist version of gravity again?

"I AM THE BLACK MAGE! I CASTS THE SPELLS THAT MAKES THE PEOPLES FALL DOWN!"

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Fri May 21, 2010 4:14 am

A friend of mine did a pretty good article on Rand Paul. Summary: he's not racist. He's wrong, but not racist.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri May 21, 2010 5:07 am

No, he's seriously racist.

Just because he won't stand up and be bigoted doesn't mean he gets out of his racist apologia.

-Crissa

Ganbare Gincun · Post by **Ganbare Gincun** » Fri May 21, 2010 5:31 am

Crissa wrote:No, he's seriously racist.

Just because he won't stand up and be bigoted doesn't mean he gets out of his racist apologia.

-Crissa

Rand Paul and the Teabaggers are just the most recent devotees of the Southern Strategy. They're using the same old collection of codewords and dog whistles that the Republican Party has been using since 1968.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri May 21, 2010 6:11 am

Like Frank said, just because you don't roast babies doesn't make you a good person. However, defending the right to roast other people's babies prolly does make one evil.

And that's Rand Paul's position: That Civil Rights are fine and dandy, just we shouldn't, you know, enforce them.

-Crissa

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri May 21, 2010 6:18 am

I love how he's talking about 'freedom' being something all good and awesome and then essentially saying 'it isn't nice' in the next breath.

But, evidently, Rand Paul's definition of Freedom includes the freedom to pour gasoline on a fire and con people or run a racist store. Because OBVIOUSLY the consequence of your actions would come back upon you and so it's all okay and doesn't require the Guv'ment sticking its nose into your business.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Fri May 21, 2010 6:53 am

Crissa wrote:What's the creationist version of gravity again?

"Water, fire, air and dirt. Fucking magnets, how do they work?"

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Fri May 21, 2010 11:56 am

Jilocasin wrote:Pakistan bans Facebook

And YouTube.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Fri May 21, 2010 12:36 pm

Crissa wrote:Like Frank said, just because you don't roast babies doesn't make you a good person. However, defending the right to roast other people's babies prolly does make one evil.

And that's Rand Paul's position: That Civil Rights are fine and dandy, just we shouldn't, you know, enforce them.

-Crissa

This is a terrible argument -- it can just as easily apply to the ACLU, who regularly defends the right of people to spout racist comments.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri May 21, 2010 12:47 pm

The only reason that we can drink at soda fountains with Black and White people at them in Kentucky is because the Federal Government said that people couldn't make Whites only soda fountains any more. Preventing the government from interfering in peoples' ability to discriminate if they want is just like preventing the government from interfering in peoples' ability to murder other people.

Asking for voluntary compliance with non-discrimination is like asking for voluntary compliance with freeing slaves, abstention from theft, and so on. Sure, many people may elect to not victimize their fellow men, but protecting society from the ones who choose to do so is the government's entire fucking point. If you won't protect people from discrimination and assault, there isn't any purpose to having police at all.

-Username17

mean_liar · Post by **mean_liar** » Fri May 21, 2010 1:12 pm

Shoehorning in the Civil Rights Act under the Intrastate Commerce Clause was always a kludge. It was righteous, but not exactly solid on its legal foundation.

Don't confuse "justice" with "law". There are things that are good which are not legal, but playing with that line is something that has to be done carefully and deliberately. Simply saying, "government should protect people" and expecting that to mean anything specific is asking for a host of problems, namely when the people you don't like start trying to protect you from things you don't think you need protecting from.