The 2012 US Election

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Túrin Turambar
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Post by Túrin Turambar »

River wrote:This has some interesting implications for the post-Citizens United political landscape, namely that the relationship between money and votes isn't as linear as everyone thought.
In spite of the panic that CU caused American progressives I don't think that there has ever been a good reason to assume that votes simply follow money. Freakonomics has a pretty solid chapter arguing that the reverse is true - money follows popularity - and that massive differences in expenditure could only shift the vote by a point or two.

At the end of the day, while a lot of people on the American left seem eager to blame 'corporations' for things that they don't like about their government the truth is that things are that way because that is what people voted for. For example, there is no public healthcare in the U.S. not because of any sort of campaign donations or because of the health insurance lobby but because the American middle class twice voted overwhelmingly to reject a move in that direction - in 1994 and 2010.
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River
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Post by River »

Our relationship with health care is completely schizo. For as long as I remember, candidates have talked about reform because people said that's what they wanted. The question was how. Then we finally managed to elect a bunch that delivered health care reform. What we got wasn't actually a public system. What we got is actually what the conservatives backed for as long as I can remember. And then, having got it, everyone freaked out about what a terrible thing it was...but then, given a chance to vote in the people who'd take us back to square one, we elected not to. And some of the people who voted for Romney said they did so with the belief he wouldn't really do what he said about repealing Obamacare.

I've given up on trying to make sense of it.
When you can do nothing what can you do?
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Cenedril_Gildinaur
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Post by Cenedril_Gildinaur »

JewelSong wrote:
Cenedril_Gildinaur wrote:
So they decided to post a new rule, about paying so much extra if you pick up your kid late. It made sense. Except for the law of unintended consequences.

What happened was that more parents started picking up their kids late now that there was an acceptable way to do so without being rude.
Then they weren't charging enough.

I worked for an after-school program. It ended at 6pm. 5 minutes past that cost the parent $10. The next 5 minutes, $25. 15 minutes late was $50.

Most people picked their kid up on time.
That's not the point of the story, but it makes a good branch because people here are commenting on how for many companies the fine would be less than the cost of insurance. And the fine is an acceptable way to do this. For employers to choose health insurance the fine will have to be higher than the cost of doing without.

Which means who will be betrayed ultimately?
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
-- Samuel Adams
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

In one of the least suprising decisions of modern politics, new Independent Maine Senator Angus King has finally confirmed that he will caucus with the Democrats. This really only mattered very much if the election had gone the other way and the GOP had picked up a couple of seats and Gov. Romney had won the presidency (in which case King could have helped determine who controlled the Senate, and would have had enormous power for a freshman Senator). As it stands, it gives the Democratic party a 55-45 edge in the Senate. He still will likely be a swing vote on some issues.
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Mr. Romney really should learn when to quit when he has already lost:

Romney Blames Loss on Obama’s ‘Gifts’ to Minorities and Young Voters
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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River
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Post by River »

Eff the contraceptives. The "free" (it ain't free if it's coming from your insurance premium) breast pump rental is what sold me.

Or not. :roll:

Mr Romney, here's a hint: you obviously needed those voters to win. Don't alienate them by calling them moochers. And it's really in poor taste to be pissy about a law that's templated on something you yourself implemented while governing Massachusetts.
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nerdanel
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Post by nerdanel »

As a member of the coveted Minority Slut* (Ms.) demographic, allow me to agree with Governor Romney. Ms. are not Real Americans** who came over on the Mayflower. Rather, to the chagrin of Real Americans, we swooped in prior to the 2008 election*** and started committing voter fraud by Voting While Brown and chipping in our votes to elect a socialist Muslim Kenyan dude. We thought he'd be the perfect Big (Brown) Brother, sympathetic to our desire to be given free Stuff and Things. See, we don't like to do work or pay taxes. This is because we are too busy having sex. Lots and lots of promiscuous, unmarried, immoral - but never fear, still heterosexual!, 'cause we aren't completely morally backwards - sex. To have the necessary oodles of heterosexual sex to qualify as a Ms., we need birth control. For free, 'cause we can't afford our own, because we're not working.

Now when we get bored with having sex in our free government housing, sometimes we decide on a change of scenery -- and head off to a university campus to have lots and lots of sex there. We accomplish this by taking out student loans that we will not be able to pay back because we are lazy and do not want to work. You can tell that we come from families that are lazy and do not want to work, too, because any respectable family worthy of university attendance would pay their children's tuition in cash, rather than asking the government for Gifts like high-interest loans that cannot be discharged except by death. Big Brother Obama looked out for us with way better gifts! He forgave our college loan interest**** and gave us those free contraceptives AND let us get onto our parents' health care plan, so we could get treatment for all the STDs we acquired while - and I can't stress this enough - having lots and lots and lots of sex.

Now some of us Ms. come from other countries, and we don't all have papers. This is because we are lazy and standing in line to get legal documents would force us to burn precious calories that we need to save to sleep, laze around, and have sex. But sometimes, when we are not given free birth control, sex leads to (brown) babies. This creates a Demographic Problem of there being too many of us brown people. Once we've had some anchor babies, our greatest DREAM is that we can get some free Stuff and Things for those babies, like amnesty and in-state college tuition so that our babies can grow up and go to school, where they will themselves do nothing but have lots and lots of sex thanks to free birth control and healthcare.

A final point about us Ms. We care ONLY about getting our free Stuff and Things paid for by job creators and hardworking Americans. We cannot wrap our pea brains around, and do not care about, "big issues for the whole country" like "military strategy, foreign policy, a strong economy, creating jobs, and so forth." Since we cannot be arsed to work, we especially do not care about job creation, because that just means the existence of more jobs that we can't be arsed to do. So while Team Romney did so much work, "all the calls, all the efforts, all of the organizational work, the fundraisers," we really could only be bothered to stop having sex long enough to do one thing: vote. We're pretty pleased with how that turned out.

*shorthand for "single woman"

** shorthand for fairskinned Americans

*** We come from faraway lands where brown skinned people can be found naturally. For myself, I was inspired to come to America in pursuit of Stuff and Things when Governor Allen (R-VA) welcomed my people, the Macacans (or as he called us, "Macaca, or whatever his name is") to "America, and the real world of Virginia." It was difficult to stay away from this country after such a warm welcome.

**** actually, when did this happen? Because I'm still paying my student loan interest.
I won't just survive
Oh, you will see me thrive
Can't write my story
I'm beyond the archetype
I won't just conform
No matter how you shake my core
'Cause my roots, they run deep, oh

When, when the fire's at my feet again
And the vultures all start circling
They're whispering, "You're out of time,"
But still I rise
This is no mistake, no accident
When you think the final nail is in, think again
Don't be surprised, I will still rise
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JewelSong
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Post by JewelSong »

Nel, you truly MUST publish this on a blog or something. It is brilliant.

But you're probably too busy having promiscuous, unprotected sex and getting Free Stuff.

:D
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River
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Post by River »

I agree with Jewel. However, as a white woman who voted for Obama, I'm left feeling excluded (especially since I was "living in sin" the first time I voted for Obama; the second time I was all properly wed and stuff though).
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Post by Frelga »

Oh wow, Romney really knows how to impress the voters. And by "impress" I mean "insult."

Meanwhile, apparently there are signatures being collected in multiple states on petition for secession from the Union. Because it worked so well last time. Although in California apparently they are being outpetitioned by the petition to deport all signers of the other petition out of the Union. Which I wouldn't want to happen, although I do find it amusing.
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River
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Post by River »

The governors of some of the states are feeling compelled to make public statements about how 1) the last time anyone attempted secession it didn't work out so well and 2) they're better off part of the union.
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Post by Impenitent »

And they desire secession because....?

Am baffled by the vagaries of US politics. Not that we don't have our own...vagaries...here in Oz.
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Post by River »

Because in every state there is a population of sore losers. My state went for Obama and restore a Democratic majority to the state legislature but we still have some idiots petitioning to secede.
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Post by WampusCat »

To his great credit, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has taken issue with Romney's comments about Obama winning the election with "gifts."

Jindal says Romney's 'gifts' argument 'absolutely wrong'
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River
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Post by River »

Yeah, I saw that. Jindal's been saying a number of things in the past week that suggest he's taking the "We gotta change course" side of the GOP. Which strikes me as a much healthier reaction than writing off ~51% of the country as freeloaders...especially if you and your party ever want to see the inside of the Oval Office.
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Dave_LF
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Post by Dave_LF »

Speaking of secession and real Americans, Public Policy Polling (the most accurate pollster this cycle, by some measures) found in June that in a (then) hypothetical Obama/Romney contest, Texas would go for Obama by 6 points if everyone who said s/he wanted to secede didn't vote. It actually went for Romney by 16.

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com ... y-bid.html

What does it say that the realest of real Americans don't want to be American at all?
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River
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Post by River »

To follow up with nel: Jon Stewart and Fox News on single women. Lots of discussion of lady parts so might not be safe for work. But it goes hand in hand with the Ms. Vote.
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Dave_LF
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Post by Dave_LF »

Who is this "Ms. Vote"? Is she the one who gives you free promiscuous sex if you vote for Obama?
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River
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Post by River »

The Ms. Vote:
nerdanel wrote:As a member of the coveted Minority Slut* (Ms.) demographic, allow me to agree with Governor Romney. Ms. are not Real Americans** who came over on the Mayflower. Rather, to the chagrin of Real Americans, we swooped in prior to the 2008 election*** and started committing voter fraud by Voting While Brown and chipping in our votes to elect a socialist Muslim Kenyan dude. We thought he'd be the perfect Big (Brown) Brother, sympathetic to our desire to be given free Stuff and Things. See, we don't like to do work or pay taxes. This is because we are too busy having sex. Lots and lots of promiscuous, unmarried, immoral - but never fear, still heterosexual!, 'cause we aren't completely morally backwards - sex. To have the necessary oodles of heterosexual sex to qualify as a Ms., we need birth control. For free, 'cause we can't afford our own, because we're not working.

Now when we get bored with having sex in our free government housing, sometimes we decide on a change of scenery -- and head off to a university campus to have lots and lots of sex there. We accomplish this by taking out student loans that we will not be able to pay back because we are lazy and do not want to work. You can tell that we come from families that are lazy and do not want to work, too, because any respectable family worthy of university attendance would pay their children's tuition in cash, rather than asking the government for Gifts like high-interest loans that cannot be discharged except by death. Big Brother Obama looked out for us with way better gifts! He forgave our college loan interest**** and gave us those free contraceptives AND let us get onto our parents' health care plan, so we could get treatment for all the STDs we acquired while - and I can't stress this enough - having lots and lots and lots of sex.

Now some of us Ms. come from other countries, and we don't all have papers. This is because we are lazy and standing in line to get legal documents would force us to burn precious calories that we need to save to sleep, laze around, and have sex. But sometimes, when we are not given free birth control, sex leads to (brown) babies. This creates a Demographic Problem of there being too many of us brown people. Once we've had some anchor babies, our greatest DREAM is that we can get some free Stuff and Things for those babies, like amnesty and in-state college tuition so that our babies can grow up and go to school, where they will themselves do nothing but have lots and lots of sex thanks to free birth control and healthcare.

A final point about us Ms. We care ONLY about getting our free Stuff and Things paid for by job creators and hardworking Americans. We cannot wrap our pea brains around, and do not care about, "big issues for the whole country" like "military strategy, foreign policy, a strong economy, creating jobs, and so forth." Since we cannot be arsed to work, we especially do not care about job creation, because that just means the existence of more jobs that we can't be arsed to do. So while Team Romney did so much work, "all the calls, all the efforts, all of the organizational work, the fundraisers," we really could only be bothered to stop having sex long enough to do one thing: vote. We're pretty pleased with how that turned out.

*shorthand for "single woman"

** shorthand for fairskinned Americans

*** We come from faraway lands where brown skinned people can be found naturally. For myself, I was inspired to come to America in pursuit of Stuff and Things when Governor Allen (R-VA) welcomed my people, the Macacans (or as he called us, "Macaca, or whatever his name is") to "America, and the real world of Virginia." It was difficult to stay away from this country after such a warm welcome.

**** actually, when did this happen? Because I'm still paying my student loan interest.
If you want to hurt yourself laughing, read this, then watch the Stewart clip. Or the other way around. And nel, you really really need to publish that somewhere.
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Teremia
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Post by Teremia »

Oh, gosh, and now I'm a married woman in love with Kristen Schaal AND nel....
:D :D :D
Thank you for making me start the day with crazy laughs!
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