ImageImageImageImageImage

Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V

Moderators: nate33, montestewart, LyricalRico

hands11
Banned User
Posts: 31,171
And1: 2,444
Joined: May 16, 2005

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#621 » by hands11 » Mon Dec 10, 2012 1:44 pm

If Rs were really worried about hand outs, waste and personal liberties, you would think they would be screaming about the jail system.

We arrest people for things like pot and put them in jail for it. How much does that cost all of us to house them and ruin their career chances. Since they claim to be strict constitutional conservatives, you think they would be fighting for equal protection under the law. Why do they not take up the fight against the imbalance of who is arrested for these kind of things.

Since they hate wasteful spending, why are they not concerned with how the government gives hand outs to privatized jails to warehouse people for profit for crimes that don't meet their libertarian ideas ?

How about getting the government out of our personal lives and not arresting people for things that are none of their business and then making us pay private companies for it.

Perfect example of why everything should not be privatized. We do not want jailing people to be a maximizing profits model just like we shouldn't privatize war. Those are government functions. There should be no profit incentive in jailing or killing people. To do so it kind of sick.

Next, punishment or rehab.
This is where Rs really fail humanity. Sure we all have a vengeance side to us. We want those who did really wrong things to pay for what they did. But what can be done to help people avoid this path in life to begin with and what can be done to help rehab people so they can go from the government paying to jail them to working and contribution to society. Oh course we want to the most dangerous people removed from society to protect the rest of us. But we do so much more then that.

Its a slippery slope. Go to much one way and you remove the punishment for doing wrong. Go to much the other way and you allow and environment to exist that produces more people that end up catch up in this system that we all pay for anyway.

Doing nothing cost money and lives. Doing something cost and is tricky also. So what do you do ? Rs are focused on things like 3 strikes. Punishment. Dems are more focuses on rehab and head starts to keep people out of these traps. Which is more human and respectful of human dignity and God like values ?

My observation is that Rs support the easy answers to problems. If it fits in a 3 word sound bit, it must be the right answer. Rarely is life that simple. Cutting taxes is not the answer to every economic problem. Nor is drill baby drill. Our economic issues are way more complicated then " we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. Being prolife is way more then just stopping abortions. And government is not always the problem. And while it may make them feel good, Dems are not the party of big government anymore then Rs are. Actually, I could argue that Rs support more big government and handout then Dems do.
popper
Veteran
Posts: 2,792
And1: 361
Joined: Jun 19, 2010

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#622 » by popper » Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:12 pm

hands11 wrote:If Rs were really worried about hand outs, waste and personal liberties, you would think they would be screaming about the jail system.

We arrest people for things like pot and put them in jail for it. How much does that cost all of us to house them and ruin their career chances. Since they claim to be strict constitutional conservatives, you think they would be fighting for equal protection under the law. Why do they not take up the fight against the imbalance of who is arrested for these kind of things.

Since they hate wasteful spending, why are they not concerned with how the government gives hand outs to privatized jails to warehouse people for profit for crimes that don't meet their libertarian ideas ?

How about getting the government out of our personal lives and not arresting people for things that are none of their business and then making us pay private companies for it.

Perfect example of why everything should not be privatized. We do not want jailing people to be a maximizing profits model just like we shouldn't privatize war. Those are government functions. There should be no profit incentive in jailing or killing people. To do so it kind of sick.

Next, punishment or rehab.
This is where Rs really fail humanity. Sure we all have a vengeance side to us. We want those who did really wrong things to pay for what they did. But what can be done to help people avoid this path in life to begin with and what can be done to help rehab people so they can go from the government paying to jail them to working and contribution to society. Oh course we want to the most dangerous people removed from society to protect the rest of us. But we do so much more then that.

Its a slippery slope. Go to much one way and you remove the punishment for doing wrong. Go to much the other way and you allow and environment to exist that produces more people that end up catch up in this system that we all pay for anyway.

Doing nothing cost money and lives. Doing something cost and is tricky also. So what do you do ? Rs are focused on things like 3 strikes. Punishment. Dems are more focuses on rehab and head starts to keep people out of these traps. Which is more human and respectful of human dignity and God like values ?

My observation is that Rs support the easy answers to problems. If it fits in a 3 word sound bit, it much be the right answer. Rarely is life that simple. Cutting taxes is not the answer to every economic problem. Nor is drill baby drill. Our economic issues are way more complicated then " we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. Being prolife is way more then just stopping abortions. And government is not always the problem. And while it may make them feel good, Dems are not the party of big government anymore then Rs are. Actually, I could argue that Rs support more big government and handout then Dems do.


I'm a conservative who is against the war on drugs and incarcerating people for smoking weed and perhaps some other drugs as well. I am also against different sentences for crack vs. coke use. Not sure about privatizing prisons. I don't see a big difference between public and private prisons but maybe there is one and I am uninformed about it. I do see your point that it seems a bit odd that private companies can profit off the misery of others.

You say Rs look for easy answers and Ds are more wise in understanding and solving problems in society. I see very little evidence that the war on poverty is succeeding. I see little to no evidence that the clean energy initiative is working. I see little evidence that our urban schools are achieving the results that our country so desperately needs.

In my view our leaders seem more concerned with the politics of achieving and maintaining power than they are in actually understanding and solving problems. Maybe term limits is the solution?

Edit - some of our reps are dinosaurs that hang around for 20 or 30 yrs. in office and seem completely out of touch with the rest of society. They sure do seem to enjoy the trappings of power though.
hands11
Banned User
Posts: 31,171
And1: 2,444
Joined: May 16, 2005

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#623 » by hands11 » Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:10 am

You say Rs look for easy answers and Ds are more wise in understanding and solving problems in society. I see very little evidence that the war on poverty is succeeding. I see little to no evidence that the clean energy initiative is working. I see little evidence that our urban schools are achieving the results that our country so desperately needs.

----

Pop, again, you would fit better as a conservative Dem given your views and open mindedness to things.

As for seeing no evidence that clean energy initiatives are working. Look again.

War on poverty. That is not a war that is even won but we have made better progress in the past and we are trying to do it again. Its called investing in the middle class and recovering from the Great Recession. It also means ending the trend of more and more wealth gathering with the top 2% while productivity continues to increase by wages stay flat. That is not the American Dream.

And for each of these topics, we could have made more progress if there wasn't one party constantly blocking that progress. And actually it is much much worse. We were living in that progress during the Clinton years but one party took us into two endless wars and huge deficits by passing tax cuts during those wars that were not paid for.
hands11
Banned User
Posts: 31,171
And1: 2,444
Joined: May 16, 2005

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#624 » by hands11 » Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:21 am

Debt Ceiling and the Filibuster.

Just in case any of you missed this, this is just crazy stupid and incompetent.

Mitch McConnell Filibusters His Own Bill

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/ ... _bill.html

Sen. Mitch McConnell is not a good leader. He is a good blow hard and good at getting nothing done. He is a antagonist. A good little robot with robot responses. Always partition. Never part of a solution. I have zero respect for his man and he is an embarrassment to a once proud party that is now is decay.

Guess he is so used to blocking stuff it was a reflex reaction. The Party of no tells themselves....no.
Zonkerbl
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 8,184
And1: 4,151
Joined: Mar 24, 2010
       

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#625 » by Zonkerbl » Tue Dec 11, 2012 12:17 pm

A list of ways to "tax plan" to avoid paying taxes:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ ... ml?hpid=z1

"Americans are moving to sell investment homes, off-load stocks, expand charitable donations and establish tax-sheltering gifts before the end of the year. "
I've been taught all my life to value service to the weak and powerless.
Wizardspride
RealGM
Posts: 15,736
And1: 9,857
Joined: Nov 05, 2004
Location: Olney, MD/Kailua/Kaneohe, HI
       

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#626 » by Wizardspride » Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:31 pm

Click on the link to read the rest.

http://www.fa-mag.com/news/obama-win...ate-12840.html



Obama Wins Almost 50% Of Republicans On Tax Mandate



President Barack Obama won the public argument over taxes so decisively that almost half of Republicans now say he has an election mandate to raise rates on the rich, a poll says.

Majorities of about 2-to-1 also read the election results as an endorsement of Obama’s pledge to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits, according to a Bloomberg National Poll of 1,000 adults conducted Dec. 7-10.

And Obama confronts his first post-election test -- negotiations with Congress to avert a slate of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January that have become known as the so-called fiscal cliff -- with his highest level of public support since his first year in office.

The president’s job approval strengthened to 53 percent from 49 percent in September. The last time he enjoyed that level of public backing was December 2009, when his job approval was 54 percent.

The combined findings give Obama “an opportunity to negotiate from a position of strength,” said Ann Selzer, the founder of Selzer & Co., a Des Moines, Iowa-based firm that conducted the poll. “This is what the public is saying he was elected to do.”
President Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries
hands11
Banned User
Posts: 31,171
And1: 2,444
Joined: May 16, 2005

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#627 » by hands11 » Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:25 am

So back to what is really going on and which party backs each action.

First, a station break that pretty much nails the entire story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ZsXrzF8Cc

So you have a handful of mega rich who want to continue to buy our government and take it away from representing the masses of people. And there is one party that is there mega mouth piece.

And what is worse is that you can't even totally true the Dems. At least at the highest level you can't. HSBC...Nothing. Drug laws. States rights. Failure by Eric Holder. Why ? There is a ton of money in keeping drugs illegal. Dismantling the unions is going to make the Dems Republican light because they will have to sell out to the same money supply. Which is what big money wants to happen. Head the win. Tails, they mostly win.

Until the election process is reformed, they people voices will not be representation.

Seems the press as been late to announce the War we really have been in.

The War on Democracy.
hands11
Banned User
Posts: 31,171
And1: 2,444
Joined: May 16, 2005

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#628 » by hands11 » Sat Dec 15, 2012 4:45 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B0RbU_UhCA[/youtube]
montestewart
Forum Mod - Wizards
Forum Mod - Wizards
Posts: 14,567
And1: 7,700
Joined: Feb 25, 2009

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#629 » by montestewart » Sat Dec 15, 2012 6:36 am

hands11 wrote:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B0RbU_UhCA[/youtube]

I haven't read any reviews of this film. Is it good? (No spoilers, please.)
User avatar
Nivek
Head Coach
Posts: 7,406
And1: 959
Joined: Sep 29, 2010
Contact:
         

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#630 » by Nivek » Sat Dec 15, 2012 6:06 pm

I like pine's strict constructionist idea on 2nd amendment. Everyone who wants one can have a muzzle-loading musket.
"A lot of what we call talent is the desire to practice."
-- Malcolm Gladwell

Check out my blog about the Wizards, movies, writing, music, TV, sports, and whatever else comes to mind.
barelyawake
Head Coach
Posts: 6,085
And1: 665
Joined: Aug 07, 2004

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#631 » by barelyawake » Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:38 pm

Better non-lethal weapons is the answer. The question is how can we deflate the gun market; increase personal protection; deal with the issues of safety and suicide regarding home protection; stop the infringement of rights; and find a way to stop a gunman in a dark, crowded theater or one who is surrounded by kids?

The answer is inflating the non-lethal weapons market so the market has incentive to innovate non-lethal weapons that are viable option for long range immobilization of an attacker. Basically, we need ray guns. But, more effective netguns, pepper-spray, sound devices and stun guns are a good start. What do you want in a crowded, dark theater when a gunman starts shooting: 100 citizens armed with guns, unarmed or armed with truly effective, long range immobilization weapons, so there are no unintended victims?
User avatar
Induveca
Head Coach
Posts: 7,379
And1: 724
Joined: Dec 02, 2004
   

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#632 » by Induveca » Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:47 pm

I personally like the obvious solution. If banks can be manned by armed guards at every entrance in the US, so can schools. My high school as a kid had guys with heavy weaponry at the doors. There were multiple security points to get even near the children.
User avatar
pancakes3
General Manager
Posts: 9,117
And1: 2,600
Joined: Jul 27, 2003
Location: Virginia
Contact:

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#633 » by pancakes3 » Sun Dec 16, 2012 12:35 am

That's an expensive solution. Shocking considering the source.
Bullets -> Wizards
User avatar
Induveca
Head Coach
Posts: 7,379
And1: 724
Joined: Dec 02, 2004
   

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#634 » by Induveca » Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:11 am

pancakes3 wrote:That's an expensive solution. Shocking considering the source.


This is a situation where cutting certain funding for a dire need isn't a horribly difficult thing.

Should kids enjoy 1/3rd less after school programs in exchange for a secure environment? Obviously the answer is yes.

Easiest solution is forcing gun lobbies to fund it through federal gun permit cost increases.

There should be nothing "partisan" about this, unfortunately every comment in US politics is perceived as such.....and roped into the gang mentality with every other supposed "talking point".

Don't miss it.....
popper
Veteran
Posts: 2,792
And1: 361
Joined: Jun 19, 2010

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#635 » by popper » Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:21 pm

At a minimum, residents who own guns in a household where a mentally ill person resides should be required to keep their weapons locked up. They should also pay a fee for the local sheriff to confirm the foregoing. Don't most of these mass murderers have documented mental issues?
DCZards
General Manager
Posts: 9,944
And1: 3,916
Joined: Jul 16, 2005
Location: The Streets of DC
     

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#636 » by DCZards » Mon Dec 17, 2012 12:22 am

Induveca wrote:
This is a situation where cutting certain funding for a dire need isn't a horribly difficult thing.

Should kids enjoy 1/3rd less after school programs in exchange for a secure environment? Obviously the answer is yes..


Armed fortresses to educate our kids in is not the answer. There HAS to be smarter and better solutions than that. And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the value/importance of after school programs. My guess is that some of the sickos responsible for these mass killings could have benefitted from the right kind of after school program.
montestewart
Forum Mod - Wizards
Forum Mod - Wizards
Posts: 14,567
And1: 7,700
Joined: Feb 25, 2009

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#637 » by montestewart » Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:56 am

DCZards wrote:
Induveca wrote:
This is a situation where cutting certain funding for a dire need isn't a horribly difficult thing.

Should kids enjoy 1/3rd less after school programs in exchange for a secure environment? Obviously the answer is yes..


Armed fortresses to educate our kids in is not the answer. There HAS to be smarter and better solutions than that. And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the value/importance of after school programs. My guess is that some of the sickos responsible for these mass killings could have benefitted from the right kind of after school program.

When I taught at Cardozo High School, the school was always locked down, locked and sometimes chained doors (the school looked like a fire trap with apparent fire code violations) metal detectors, and armed DCPD strolling around, yet someone still got a gun in and shot some kids in the cafeteria.

You're quite right, fortresses aren't the answer, and they frequently don't even serve their intended purpose very well.
User avatar
doclinkin
RealGM
Posts: 13,120
And1: 5,271
Joined: Jul 26, 2004
Location: .wizuds.

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#638 » by doclinkin » Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:06 am

'Well regulated militia'... -vs- kids getting murdered regularly.

Seems to me guns ought to be as tricky to get as a driver's license. You have to jump through various hoops, take classes, buy insurance etc in order to qualify to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Why not _regulate_ weapons and ammo the same way? Seniors are required to re-test periodically to ensure their faculties haven't decayed. Why not ensure that gun owners are not mentally ill, require them to take a competency test, as well as a gun safety course etc.

Because there is nothing well-regulated about our current system.
User avatar
Induveca
Head Coach
Posts: 7,379
And1: 724
Joined: Dec 02, 2004
   

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#639 » by Induveca » Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:12 am

TSA, while annoying, deters psychos.

If this tragedy isn't perceived on the level of terrorism, because it came from an American citizen, then not sure how to respond. It has happened again and again. Put in a serious security protocol, then these kids will be prepared for a future that will require more and more of it......

It's a win/win quite frankly. Schools should have ONE door. Walled in physical education areas and EXCESSIVE security for adults. 24 hour notice of arrival, no pass/no entry etc.

It's the logical process for upper middle class to wealthy schools in the 3rd world. At all costs, you protect your children from psychos. Not sure why the "leave your door unlocked" 1950s mentality has persisted in most "wealthy" public schools in suburban areas. So foolish. I suspect it's the 1960s architecture of the school with 10 entrances which has caused the avoidance of the obvious solution.

New world, more violence, economic frustration, tons of enabling social programs, legalizing drugs and tons of cheap firearms. Recipe for more disasters........with everyone hyping up the "poor vs rich" 3rd world style bull expect more vs less.
montestewart
Forum Mod - Wizards
Forum Mod - Wizards
Posts: 14,567
And1: 7,700
Joined: Feb 25, 2009

Re: Political Roundtable Cosmic String of Cataclysm - Part V 

Post#640 » by montestewart » Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:44 am

Induveca wrote:New world, more violence, economic frustration, tons of enabling social programs, legalizing drugs and tons of cheap firearms. Recipe for more disasters........with everyone hyping up the "poor vs rich" 3rd world style bull expect more vs less.

"legalizing drugs" doesn't seem to fit in that list very well.

Return to Washington Wizards