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Dogen
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 9515
Location: Bellingham, WA
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 Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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About face! Republicans all over the country start changing their stance on immigration reform. Well, sort of. It's a work in progress.
| HuffPo wrote: | LITTLETON, Colo. — It was little surprise when freshman Rep. Mike Coffman in 2010 voted against a bill to grant citizenship to some young undocumented immigrants. After all, the Republican Marine Corps veteran had just won the seat in Congress formerly held by firebrand Rep. Tom Tancredo, who had pushed the party to take a harder stance against illegal immigration.
The bill, known as the DREAM Act, died in the Senate.
Now Coffman has changed course. He has introduced legislation to let unauthorized immigrants brought into the country as children to earn citizenship if they serve in the military. And he spoke hopefully about an immigration overhaul that a bipartisan group of senators outlined last week.
Since the November elections, many other Republicans nationwide have tempered their tone on immigration – if not reversed course completely – after years of tacking right to appeal to grass-roots activists who dominate GOP primaries. On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor became the latest high-profile Republican to shift gears. A leader of the conservative caucus and previous opponent of the DREAM Act, Cantor called for allowing undocumented immigrants brought here as children to become citizens.
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But it's unclear whether that will translate into enough Republicans supporting a pathway to citizenship. Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner who is seen as one of the state's few GOP stars, spoke forcefully after the election about the need to appeal more to minorities. "The tone is catching up to where Republicans have been for the last couple of years," Gardner said in an interview. But he, too, still balks at the idea of citizenship.
He said Congress must first secure the border before discussing citizenship. "If you address that first, we can have a conversation down the road."
Brophy said many Republicans are honestly wrestling with a difficult personal issue. He noted that one newly elected state senator who voted for the in-state tuition bill in committee last week has already been targeted for a possible primary challenge. |
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 9133
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:02 am Post subject: |
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Imma just leaving this here:
Rand Paul’s tea party SOTU response: ‘What America needs is not Robin Hood but Adam Smith’
| Quote: | Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul accused both Republicans and Democrats of being "guilty of spending too much" in his tea party response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address Tuesday night.
"It is often said that there is not enough bipartisanship up here. That is not true. In fact, there is plenty of bipartisanship," Paul said in a speech for Tea Party Express that streamed live on the group's website shortly after Obama's speech. "Both parties have been guilty of spending too much, of protecting their sacred cows, of backroom deals in which everyone up here wins, but every taxpayer loses."
Despite being an elected member of the Senate, the junior senator from Kentucky at times spoke as though he were an outsider—even using the word "they" when referring to other members of the institution to which he belongs.
Paul delivered his remarks following the official Republican response, given by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio from the capitol. Paul joined Rubio in accusing the president of working to undermine the "free market," but Paul's remarks also included a call for an amendment to the Constitution that would require the federal government to balance its budget every year, a tea party rallying cry.
"What the president fails to grasp is that the American system that rewards hard work is what made America so prosperous," Paul said. "What America needs is not Robin Hood but Adam Smith."
Paul advocated for term limits for members of Congress as punishment for not passing a budget and reining in spending.
"If Congress refuses to obey its own rules, if Congress refuses to pass a budget, if Congress refuses to read the bills, then I say: Sweep the place clean. Limit their terms and send them home," Paul said. "I have seen the inner sanctum of Congress and believe me there is no monopoly on knowledge there. If they will not listen, if they will not balance the budget, then we should limit their terms."
The speech gave Paul, who has said he's thinking about running for president someday, an opportunity to brand himself as an alternative to the party establishment. Because being an outsider, of course, is what being a tea party lawmaker is all about. |
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WheelsOfConfusion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 11226
Location: Unknown Kaddath
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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Rubio was also a fucking idiot in his response. Namely this, regarding Obama's insistence on tackling climate change:
| Quote: | | “When we point out that no matter how many job-killing laws we pass, our government can’t control the weather — he accuses us of wanting dirty water and dirty air.” |
Well, you know. Yeah. That's exactly what you fuckers are about, in the name of free markets and profits of course. Clean air and stuff is supposedly expensive, according to you guys. Too expensive for us cash-strapped American businesses to afford.
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 9133
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah! How else are those poor American businesses supposed to maintain the highest profit margins in history? 
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...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 9133
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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Kenshiro
Joined: 04 Oct 2012
Posts: 47
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| Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:51 am Post subject: |
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The Republican party has this hilarious history of being hesitant to accept minority groups of various kinds into their ranks when thlse groups are forming and being vocal. And then, many years down the road they wonder "well fuck, why don't they like us? We're cool, right?"
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 9133
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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Possible beginnings of American austerity:
Gov't downsizes amid GOP demands for more cuts
By TOM RAUM | Associated Press – 23 hrs ago
| Quote: | WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and other fiscal conservatives keep insisting on more federal austerity and a smaller government. Without much fanfare or acknowledgement, they've already gotten much of both. Spending by federal, state and local governments on payrolls, equipment, buildings, teachers, emergency workers, defense programs and other core governmental functions has been shrinking steadily since the deep 2007-2009 recession and as the anemic recovery continues.
This recent shrinkage has largely been obscured by an increase in spending on benefit payments to individuals under "entitlement" programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans benefits. Retiring baby boomers are driving much of this increase. Another round of huge cuts — known in Washington parlance as the "sequester" — will hit beginning March 1, potentially meaning layoffs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers unless Congress and President Barack Obama can strike a deficit-reduction deal to avert them.
With the deadline only a week off, Obama and Republicans who control the House are far apart over how to resolve the deadlock. While last-minute budget deals are frequent in Washington, neither side is optimistic of reaching one this time. Even as the private sector has been slowly adding jobs, governments have been shedding them, holding down overall employment gains and keeping the jobless rate close to 8 percent, compared with normal nonrecessionary levels of 5 to 6 percent that have prevailed since the 1950s. "It's a massive drag on the economy. We lost three-quarter million public-sector jobs in the recovery," said economist Heidi Shierholz of the labor-friendly Economic Policy Institute. "We're still losing government jobs, although the pace has slowed. But we haven't turned around yet."
A larger-than-usual decline in federal spending, notably on defense programs, helped push the economy into negative territory in the final three months of 2012. Economic growth, meanwhile, has been inching along at a weak 1-2 percent — not enough to significantly further drive down the national unemployment rate, which now stands at 7.9 percent. Although federal spending is projected to decline from 22.8 percent of the gross domestic product recorded last year to 21.5 percent by 2017, it still will exceed the 40-year-average of 21.0 percent, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Spending peaked at 25.2 percent of GDP in 2009.
The budget office also said the economy is roughly 5.5 percent smaller than it would have been had there been no recession. The Defense Department already has made deep spending cuts, and outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said 800,000 civilian Pentagon employees were notified this week they likely are to be placed on periods of unpaid leave due to lawmakers' failure to act.
The recent downsizing in government is most pronounced at the state and local levels. Most states have constitutional or statutory requirements for balanced budgets. That means nearly all states are prohibited from running budget deficits, while the federal government is not. Not only can the federal government run deficits, but it can print money — through actions by the Federal Reserve — something states are prohibited from doing.
Those calling for a smaller government mostly don't take notice of the wave of recent cutbacks. Their clarion call remains Ronald Reagan's mantra: Government doesn't solve problems, it is the problem. "This spending issue is the biggest issue that threatens our future," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, says. "When are we going to get serious about our long-term spending problem?" And Florida Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, delivering the GOP response to Obama's State of the Union address, said "a major cause of our recent downturn was a housing crisis created by reckless government policies."
Soaring recent government deficits are partially a side effect of the worst recession since the 1930s, which took a huge bite out of tax revenues at the same time spending increased on recession-fighting programs like unemployment compensation and stimulus measures under both Presidents George W. Bush and Obama. "The problem going forward is one of demographics and rising health care. It is the baby-boom generation retiring," said Alice Rivlin, a White House budget director under President Bill Clinton. "It's the fact that everybody is living longer." |
Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/govt-downsizes-amid-gop-demands-more-cuts-082500640--politics.html
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Felgraf
Joined: 10 Jul 2012
Posts: 349
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| Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="Darqcyde"]Possible beginnings of American austerity:
Gov't downsizes amid GOP demands for more cuts
By TOM RAUM | Associated Press – 23 hrs ago
| Quote: | | *Snipped so I don't spam with quotes* |
Fffff. Austerity is the worst possible idea, in my opinion (not an economist) when we're just barely coming out of a recession. ESPECIALLY the sequester. I really, really hope the sequester doesn't go through. It's going to (from what I understand?) utterly, completely, and totally screw up research grants from the NSF and NIH for YEARS.
What a wonderful time to be a few years from finishing up a physics PhD. =/.
"We need more people in hard sciences! We need more researchers in emerging fields!" "Sweet, that's great. I've fallen in love with an emerging, exciting field! It shouldn't be hard for me to find a job when I'm finished with my-"
"And now because we have no foresight whatsoever, we're going to try to cut government spending across the board! Including research!"
I realize that there's a LOT MORE people who would get screwed if the sequester goes through, mind. And people that are a lot worse off than me will get hosed. Still, it's just... gah. |
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 15625
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:42 am Post subject: |
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this is yet another example of the gop's absolute failure to understand any sort of data collection and analysis. it's really not that they don't understand the analyses, it's that they refuse to recognize that the data even exists. i mean, it was pointed out several times during the election that the number of government (particularly state government) jobs has been dropping steadily. but then they would have to come up with a message other than "government evil. kill government". which would require, you know, thought, and some connection (however brief) to the real world.
right now, i'm hoping that we get enough of an economic collapse to actually wake people up for the 2014 elections. at some point, all these other-than-1%ers have got to realized that they are cutting their own throats when they vote for republicans.
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Smooshie
Joined: 24 Jan 2013
Posts: 141
Location: NYC
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:36 am Post subject: |
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| mouse wrote: | this is yet another example of the gop's absolute failure to understand any sort of data collection and analysis. it's really not that they don't understand the analyses, it's that they refuse to recognize that the data even exists. i mean, it was pointed out several times during the election that the number of government (particularly state government) jobs has been dropping steadily. but then they would have to come up with a message other than "government evil. kill government". which would require, you know, thought, and some connection (however brief) to the real world.
right now, i'm hoping that we get enough of an economic collapse to actually wake people up for the 2014 elections. at some point, all these other-than-1%ers have got to realized that they are cutting their own throats when they vote for republicans. |
Nah, that'll never happen.
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Felgraf
Joined: 10 Jul 2012
Posts: 349
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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OH GODDAMNITSOMUCH
Abortion and contraception coverage opt-out bill heads to Oklahoma Senate
By BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau
Published: 2/22/2013 1:50 AM
Last Modified: 2/22/2013 7:32 AM
| Quote: |
OKLAHOMA CITY - Employers in Oklahoma could opt not to include contraceptives and abortions in employee insurance plans under a measure that secured passage by a Senate committee Thursday.
The measure, Senate Bill 452 by Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, passed the Senate Business and Commerce Committee by a vote of 9-0 with no debate and now heads to the full Senate.
"Notwithstanding any other provision of state or federal law, no employer shall be required to provide or pay for any benefit or service related to abortion or contraception through the provision of health insurance to his or her employees," the bill says.
Under the federal Affordable Health Care Act, employee group insurance plans are required to cover contraception unless the business offering the benefit meets the conditions of being a religious organization, said Mike Rhoades, Oklahoma Insurance Department deputy commissioner of life and health insurance.
Jolley said the measure is the result of a request from a constituent, Dr. Dominic Pedulla, an Oklahoma City cardiologist who describes himself as a natural family planning medical consultant and women's health researcher.
Pedulla says he is morally against contraception and abortion. He said he had to give up his small group health plan because the only plans available in the state required coverage for contraception and sterilization. He and his family were on the plan and had to find more expensive insurance elsewhere.
"Every small group plan forces you to choose those options," Pedulla said.
Women are worse off with contraception because it suppresses and disables who they are, Pedulla said.
"Part of their identity is the potential to be a mother," Pedulla said. "They are being asked to suppress and radically contradict part of their own identity, and if that wasn't bad enough, they are being asked to poison their bodies."
Studies show that women using contraceptives consider pregnancy more unwanted than wanted, he said.
Another Oklahoma City doctor, Eli Reshef, medical director of the Bennett Fertility Institute, noted that depriving women of contraception increases the likelihood of abortion.
"If one does not have access to contraceptives, unintended pregnancies can occur," and "with unintended pregnancies, abortions will increase," Reshef said. "Half of all unintended pregnancies will end up as an abortion."
Ryan Kiesel, ACLU of Oklahoma executive director, said that "by denying a woman access to contraceptive coverage and other insurance coverage dealing with reproductive health care, you make it that much more difficult for a woman to control her own economic future."
A law passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin two years ago prohibits routine insurance coverage for abortion unless it is necessary to save the life of the mother. Those who want elective abortions covered may purchase a separate insurance rider and pay for it with an additional premium.
Tony Lauinger, chairman of Oklahomans for Life, supported the bill that led to that law but said Senate Bill 452 was not requested by his organization. |
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=504&articleid=20130222_16_A1_CUTLIN363111
Apparently, Women are all worse off because of female contraception! It "suppresses and disables who they are".
Which is apparently babymachines.
Handmaiden's tale was not supposed to be a how-to book, you @#%#@ idiots.
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Heretical Rants
Joined: 21 Jul 2009
Posts: 3256
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Studies show that women using contraceptives consider pregnancy more unwanted than wanted, |
WHAT FASCINATING FINDINGS
I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 9133
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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Obvious statement is obvious? 
NO. FUCKING. WAY.
Also of note:
| Quote: | | Women are worse off with contraception because it suppresses and disables who they are, Pedulla said. |
Hear that ladies? Those damn prophylactics are like a frontal lobotomy.
Curse you Trojan Man!!!!
*shakes fist angrily*
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Samsally
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 5441
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:45 pm Post subject: |
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It's funny because were were JUST talking about how the very thought of getting pregnant used to trigger my anxiety and turn me into a complete mess of a person, incapable of rational thought and basic functioning.
And by "funny" I mean "wow I feel kind of sick. I didn't know you could get angry enough to be nauseous."
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 9133
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, that's pretty much why it needs to be mocked; you need to endorphins from the "funny haha" to help deal with it.
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