The Fiscal Cliff

[Jeff Lebowski]

Sort of. Probably more accurate to say its where the capitol building is and where the legislature meets. But the capital of Texas is found throughout the state where the people worry more about working hard than they do about keeping themselves weird.

WTH? Creekster doing the Uncle Ted Texas shtick?

[Jacob]

One of the talking points for the dems and their allies the MSM, is that Medicare Part D got off to a rocky start, but because the dems and republicans worked together to fix it, it is now a very popular program. Indication of course is if the repubs would work with the dems, Obamacare could be fixed and become very popular.

One of President Obama's campaign agenda's was to shut down the "donuthole", but we all know he flip flops constantly.

One thing the press of course doesn't report is that Medicare Part D was debated for 6 months. When it passed it had both republican and democrat support. Obamacare was rammed through by the dems and the dems alone. You really expect the republicans to now do everything they can to help the dems? LOL

Not to mention that Part D costs slightly less than O-care, but still costs the taxpayer an amount nearing $1T every 10 years and republicans aren't anxious to help add another $1T plus in O-Care, especially since it doubtful O-Care will do much to improve health outcomes for Americans.

[LA Ute]

One of the talking points for the dems and their allies the MSM, is that Medicare Part D got off to a rocky start, but because the dems and republicans worked together to fix it, it is now a very popular program. Indication of course is if the repubs would work with the dems, Obamacare could be fixed and become very popular.

One of President Obama's campaign agenda's was to shut down the "donuthole", but we all know he flip flops constantly.

One thing the press of course doesn't report is that Medicare Part D was debated for 6 months. When it passed it had both republican and democrat support. Obamacare was rammed through by the dems and the dems alone. You really expect the republicans to now do everything they can to help the dems? LOL

The Democrats loved Part D so much that the almost killed it in the Affordable Care Act, and would have if the didn't need the Florida Democrat senator's vote. (I'm blanking on his name. The ex-astronaut.)

And Jacob, Lee has no business being in the US. Senate -- no more than Obama has being president. Right place, right time, right name. Those are the reasons he's in the Senate, along with Utah's easy-to-manipulate caucus system.

[LA Ute]

WTH? Creekster doing the Uncle Ted Texas shtick?

Living in California for a long time can make anyone cynical about state government.

[byu71]

The Democrats loved Part D so much that the almost killed it in the Affordable Care Act, and would have if the didn't need the Florida Democrat senator's vote. (I'm blanking on his name. The ex-astronaut.)

I know politicians have low ethical standards and will manipulate, deceive and yes lie.

How about the press. Do you think they are actually so naive, stupid, incompetent as to not see the difference or are they just another group of politicians, mainly democrats?

[Jeff Lebowski]

I know politicians have low ethical standards and will manipulate, deceive and yes lie.

How about the press. Do you think they are actually so naive, stupid, incompetent as to not see the difference or are they just another group of politicians, mainly democrats?

Yes, of course. We sometimes refer to these liberal democrats masquerading as reporters at the Main Stream Media or MSM. Or sometimes we call them the Lame Stream Media (LOL!). Luckily for everyone, we have Fox News to give us the unbiased truth. They report, we decide.

[byu71]

Yes, of course. We sometimes refer to these liberal democrats masquerading as reporters at the Main Stream Media or MSM. Or sometimes we call them the Lame Stream Media (LOL!). Luckily for everyone, we have Fox News to give us the unbiased truth. They report, we decide.

You really think Fox is unbiased?? LOL

[Jeff Lebowski]

You really think Fox is unbiased?? LOL

They aren't?

[Indy Coug]

They aren't?

Of course they are. Thankfully, the existence of FoxNews excuses the decidedly liberal bent of the remaining major newspapers and TV networks.

[byu71]

They aren't?

I don't think so. That is why I use Msm because if I used just media the libs on the board would whine "what about Fox"?

[Uncle Ted]

Time for a third party...

Enough Left vs. Right Blame Game: Shutdown Was a Failure of Two-Party System

It's been more than a week since the government did not shut down, and it's been really fun to watch Republicans and Democrats blame each other for the whole thing. If you're on the right, the shutdown was thanks to President Obama, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and those darn Senate Democrats. And if you're on the left, the shutdown was due to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the Tea Party and those nutjob House Republicans. Well, I say they are all absolutely correct. It's everybody in Washington's fault and they should all shut the fuck up.


Yes, recent polls show Obama with some of his lowest approval ratings yet, especially as Obamacare's glitch-filled launch plagues the new health care law's predicted success. Other polls show the GOP bearing the brunt of public scorn with equally low approval ratings, so if you listen to both sides, you should know that they all pretty much suck. The president and Congress are the veritable no-star motels of political history -- a Chinese restaurant to be avoided in the wee early hours of the morning. And yet, every weekend around 4 a.m., we stumble back in and give it another try. It just tastes so good when you're drunk, man!


So it should be no surprise that another poll shows nearly half of Americans want to replace all of Congress, as the hatred for both sides is finally spewing over, and maybe, just maybe, people are ready to act on their "throw the bums out" intuitions. Of course, while this all sounds nice on paper, the reality is our ridiculous/sad two-party political system ensures that whenever we do throw the bums out, we just replace them with... more bums! Yes, any Republican or Democrat who replaces another Republican or Democrat will still be a Republican or Democrat and likely buckle to the Republican or Democrat establishment interests. In our shining-house-upon-the-hill democracy, no matter which bums you throw out, you just replace them with new bums who support the same bum establishment's bum agenda. It's a bummer.


So when yet another poll shows 60 percent of Americans are ready for a third political party in the U.S., can you blame them? After all, the very least voters deserve in this sham of a political system is as many options as there are polls. Even other sensible Western countries like Great Britain have major third parties, like the Liberal Democrats, who are currently involved with a coalition government in the U.K. What is a coalition government, you ask? Well, I don't know, but it has something to do with the fact that Liberal Democrats were voted into power because the Labour Party was too pro-war for too long, and the Conservative Party is, as my British friend says, "A bunch of twats." So British voters elected their third option, the Liberal Democrats, and though the party didn't win enough votes for a majority, they now share power with the Conservatives, keeping Parliament honest and doing some awesome things like voting against war with Syria. It's pretty simple math: when you have another contender chasing the top two contenders, the top two need to contend against more than just each other.

[...]

Perhaps our only hope is for certain Democrats and Republicans to leave their political homes over specific issues and start a new party. For example, take two of the major policy debates from the past year: defunding the NSA and opposing war in Syria. Republicans and Democrats lined up on both sides of these issues, as progressives on the left and constitutionalists on the right seem to agree that NSA spying and needless war in the Middle East are wrong. This coalition could band together to start something new, like the Progressive Constitutionalist Party! With an acronym like PCP, you know it'll be addicting and take the U.S. by storm.

Or, if Americans are serious about throwing the bums out, maybe we should just vote for as many political parties outside of the Republicans and Democrats as we can -- Independents, Libertarians, Greens, Constitutionalists, Socialists and even "The Rent is Too Damn High" candidates should all become the norm. If not, we can certainly prepare for more of the same from The InBumBent Party.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/travis...b_4156575.html

[calicoug]

The bonehead caucus system could work if the people who are bitching about Lee, me included, would get off of our dead asses and participate. We sit back and let the radicals make the effort, reap the rewards and then we bitch from the sidelines. Note I keep using the term "we" as I certainly include myself.

I would though like to see the caucus system changed because I don't think the general public will. We have other things to do and we can always bitch later.

This.

[calicoug]

Up yours. I have gone to every caucus for the past 20 years. It is a ridiculous system that is easy to manipulate. The Tea Party actually holds training sessions to teach their people how to manipulate the caucus process with the express intention of packing the convention to get a 60% majority and avoid a primary. They don't even hide it.

Everyone in Utah needs to support the "Count My Vote" initiative that intends to abolish the caucus system. Not surprisingly, the Utah legislature is fighting it.

http://countmyvoteutah.org/

I don't think he's talking about you. It's fantastic you participate. More people need to do the same. The system isn't working because people are apathetic and the ones (at least in Utah) who aren't tend to be radical.

[The_Douger]

Most people around here don't even understand how the caucus system works.

[Uncle Ted]

Most people around here don't even understand how the caucus system works.

Apparently the Tea Partiers do. Those Harvard Law b*turds are gaming the system.