Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

[JONJONAUG]

This from a private practice doctor on ObamaCare. "The end result will be rationing and delay of elective procedures, denial of expensive but effective treatments a la England, and most likely a single-payer system the likes of which is seen in other, less advanced health care systems around the world."

Yes, it would be terrible to live in a system where single payer lowers costs by drastically reducing the need for administration to chase after multiple insurance companies to pay for stuff that they've said they'd pay for, simplifying all appeal processes, and generally streamlining the system. And living in one of those nations with "less advanced health care systems" that champion preventative care, have higher life expectancies, and are rated higher by the WHO would be terrible.

How about $1.44 million of your tax dollars for the government to estimate the size of the population and examine the "social milieu" of male prostitutes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam?

Considering that this is a study about HIV transmission and not about social problems faced by male prostitutes, pretty good. Read your articles fully before posting them.

The NAACP approves of the legalization of marijuana .. because drug laws discriminate against minorities.

The text of the laws themselves may not be discriminatory, but enforcement undeniably is. Also it helps that the War on Drugs is almost completely a waste of taxpayer funds.

Thousands of sea turtles are dying because of the oil spill! Actually .. no.

Conterpoint: BP is literally burning sea turtles alive.

 

[Covar]

This from a private practice doctor on ObamaCare. "The end result will be rationing and delay of elective procedures, denial of expensive but effective treatments a la England, and most likely a single-payer system the likes of which is seen in other, less advanced health care systems around the world."

Yes, it would be terrible to live in a system where single payer lowers costs by drastically reducing the need for administration to chase after multiple insurance companies to pay for stuff that they've said they'd pay for, simplifying all appeal processes, and generally streamlining the system. And living in one of those nations with "less advanced health care systems" that champion preventative care, have higher life expectancies, and are rated higher by the WHO would be terrible.[/quote]
The fact that you used Government and streamlined in the same sentance tells me you've been drinking to much of the kool-aid.

How about $1.44 million of your tax dollars for the government to estimate the size of the population and examine the "social milieu" of male prostitutes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam?

Considering that this is a study about HIV transmission and not about social problems faced by male prostitutes, pretty good. Read your articles fully before posting them.

"In Study 1, formative ethnography will be used to describe the settings, venues, and overall social milieu in which male sex work is being situated,” says the NIH abstract for the grant

You should read the articles before commenting on them.

 

[JONJONAUG]

You should read the articles before commenting on them.

The way GasBandit phrased it made it sound like the study was supposed to be all about the social problems faced by male prostitutes. This isn't the case. You'd need to establish what kind of conditions they live in and properly account for them to give a frame for the rest of the study. His comment was misleading at best and an outright lie at worst.

 

[GasBandit]

You should read the articles before commenting on them.

The way GasBandit phrased it made it sound like the study was supposed to be all about the social problems faced by male prostitutes. This isn't the case. You'd need to establish what kind of conditions they live in and properly account for them to give a frame for the rest of the study. His comment was misleading at best and an outright lie at worst.[/QUOTE]

Or it was, you know, pretty much the exact verbiage from the study, as shown by Covar.



Links!

It's politics as usual.

Obama's new Medicare administrator. How do you folks like an "expert on rationing" in this role? And here's more on Obama's Medicare boss. He sees health care reform as a way to redistribute wealth .. and flatly opposes free markets. How's that hopey changey thing working out for you?

American Airlines "loses" 4 Glocks belonging to Netanyahu's security.

Former House member from Michigan pleads guilty to "acting as an agent for an Islamic charity with ties to international terrorism."

Here's the details on that runaway train wreck disguised as a health care plan in Massachusetts.

You have heard, haven't you, that the number one mission for NASA right now is to make Muslims feel good about their contributions to science! Here's Jonah Goldberg's take on this idiocy.

Justice Kennedy says that he'll wait until Obama's gone before he will retire.

Announce to the world that black men will not be free unless they kill white babies. Then show up at a polling place to threaten white votes with a steel club. Voter intimidation? Not according to Obama's Justice Department.

Tony Blankley examines the anatomy of a defeat in Afghanistan.

CNN Editor Fired for Praising Hezbollah Cleric...

And you think taxes don't have consequences? Could High Taxes Influence LeBron James' Team Decision?

Federal judge orders Iowa sheriff to issue gun permit to man who had his permit yanked after he wrote several letters to the editor critical of the sheriff. Also orders sheriff to complete a college-level course on the First Amendment.

European authorities arrest members of an Al-qaeda cell plotting attacks against...Norway? Really? They're angry with the Norwegians now, too? I mean, Lutefisk IS a crime against nature, but c'mon.

Stoners: Legalize pot and California's budget troubles will be over. Researchers: Legalize pot and weed just becomes cheaper, bringing in no money at all. But at least they can console themselves with cheap weed.

If you wanted to simulate oral sex with a dildo in public, in front of a 7 year old girl, her mother and grandmother, the Fifth District Court of Appeals has got your back.

 

[JONJONAUG]

Announce to the world that black men will not be free unless they kill white babies. Then show up at a polling place to threaten white votes with a steel club. Voter intimidation? Not according to Obama's Justice Department.

I love this new right-wing talking point. You can simply read the actual reports and find out that not one single person has reported any actual voter intimidation, so there's nothing to prosecute. Or you can read this blog post by the conservative vice-chair of the Civil Rights Commission and realize that they have better things to do than deal with an isolated case by a fringe radical group.

It's politics as usual.

I don't think that "these guys are blatant hypocrites that cannot possibly claim to be fiscally responsible" is a kind of an attack that should be worried over.

 

[GasBandit]

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson

In Oregon they tried raising taxes on "the rich." The state passed a referendum in January to substantially raise taxes on those making over $125,000 per year and on corporations, but the hoped-for revenues never materialized, so Governor Kulongoski is calling for a 9 percent across-the-board cut in state spending.

Indiana has balanced its budget by not relying on federal funds. Governor Mitch Daniels said, "It would have never entered our mind to put funny money like that into the budget."

In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie managed to cut spending by 8.8 percent from last year and refused demands to raise taxes on "millionaires." Now he has called for a special session of the legislature to limit property tax hikes to no more than 2.5 percent per year.

Did you know that Obama and Pelosi have a lame-duck strategy?

The outlook for the nation's small businesses is not getting better.

This Amity Schaes person is sharp. This column: "Obama threatens to follow in FDR's economic missteps."

Fox to partner in 24-hour Arabic language news network.

Illegally enter the US and you get a job, a place to live, health care and schooling. Enter Korea illegally and you get 8 years hard labor and an inclination for suicide.

You're a black man beaten and called the N-word. Does the NAACP: a) Call for protests, b) Call for congressional investigation, or c) Declare that you're an "Uncle Tom" because you're Republican?

Illegal aliens stealing property from armed elderly man? Check. Elderly man shooting and hitting one of the illegal alien thieves? Check. Thieves going free and eldelry man going to jail? Check and mate.

 

[ElJuski]

Good on Indiana for fixing their budget. Now if they could only address their school systems, which no longer require teacher certification and are strongly emphasizing not education, but making sure that students have their asses in their seats and nothing else.

 

[AshburnerX]

Illegal aliens stealing property from armed elderly man? Check. Elderly man shooting and hitting one of the illegal alien thieves? Check. Thieves going free and eldelry man going to jail? Check and mate.

Ok, here's a few things wrong with what he did:

-Castle Doctrine only applies if your inside your house (or at least on property you own) when you attempt to defend yourself or your property. This guy opened fire in a public street.

- This guy opened fire on a public street. He could have missed and hit an innocent civilian, or the bullet could have ricocheted, or he could have hit the driver and caused THEM to hit somebody with their car... really, there wasn't ANY realistic scenario where shooting at their truck was a smart thing to do.

 

[GasBandit]

Well, all I can say is his neighbors don't seem to feel the same way you do.

 

[Troll]

Well, all I can say is his neighbors don't seem to feel the same way you do.

Because that matters oh-so-much when discussing the legality of a person's actions.

 

[GasBandit]

Well, all I can say is his neighbors don't seem to feel the same way you do.

Because that matters oh-so-much when discussing the legality of a person's actions.[/QUOTE]

Apparently very little matters where legality is concerned, considering it is an illegal alien who illegally took a trailer, then went to an emergency room to get treated, confessed his crime and STILL didn't get jailed or deported.

 

[AshburnerX]

Well, all I can say is his neighbors don't seem to feel the same way you do.

Because that matters oh-so-much when discussing the legality of a person's actions.[/QUOTE]

Basically this. It's not right that the car jackers got away, but the guy who endangered the public shouldn't have gotten away ether, just because his neighbors don't like Mexicans. Seriously, shit like this is the reason we have people who want to get rid of the 2nd Amendment.

 

[GasBandit]

I can hit just as many innocent people from my property as this guy could on his street. Does that mean I am endangering the public when I shoot someone who breaks through my front door? The problem with this situation is it is trying to snare someone they should be lauding with technicalities while looking the other way from those that should genuinely be behind bars and/or deported for willfully and with premeditation committing a crime while simultaneously already committing another crime.

 

[AshburnerX]

Technicalities!? He fucking shot at people in the street, without being in harms way! He had no reason to feel like he was in danger (the men were leaving as he shouted at them) and the law does not give you the right to protect your "stuff" with deadly force, under any circumstances. Your only allowed to do so when you have a reasonable expectation of getting harmed (which is why Castle Doctrine exists and why it's not murder to kill someone trying to kill you). Even in Castle Doctrine, you have to let them go if they are fleeing.

No one thinks the illegals shouldn't be punished (well... the idiot local authorities apparently do) but that doesn't excuse this guy's actions.

 

[GasBandit]

Technicalities!? He fucking shot at people in the street, without being in harms way! He had no reason to feel like he was in danger (the men were leaving as he shouted at them) and the law does not give you the right to protect your "stuff" with deadly force, under any circumstances. Your only allowed to do so when you have a reasonable expectation of getting harmed (which is why Castle Doctrine exists and why it's not murder to kill someone trying to kill you). Even in Castle Doctrine, you have to let them go if they are fleeing.

No one thinks the illegals shouldn't be punished (well... the idiot local authorities apparently do) but that doesn't excuse this guy's actions.

The guy was shot in the face. It's kinda hard to get shot in the face if you're driving away from somebody. The geezer was also quoted saying "he near ran me over." I think there's a little more to this situation than just some 82 year old guy chasing down a fleeing vehicle and shooting at the poor hapless oppressed mexicans inside, endangering the nearby field trip full of orphans. This was in colorado, it sounds pretty rural in fact. And in the dead of night. How many people were really endangered? I don't know. You don't know. But having lived there for quite a number of years, I DO know colorado cops - and they are WAY more interested in protecting their assumed monopoly on the use of force than they are in actually enforcing the law.

 

[AshburnerX]

The guy was shot in the face. It's kinda hard to get shot in the face if you're driving away from somebody. The geezer was also quoted saying "he near ran me over." I think there's a little more to this situation than just some 82 year old guy chasing down a fleeing vehicle and shooting at the poor hapless oppressed mexicans inside, endangering the nearby field trip full of orphans.

Yes, they probably DID nearly run him over... you know, as they sped away from the guy with the gun (who must have walked in front of their vehicle to shoot at them better, seeing as how he got one in the face). Your apparent sarcasm really doesn't change the fact that the guy shooting at them turned a bad situation into one that almost ended with a fatality, and that what he did was illegal. You don't get to perform a felony to prevent another felony.

This isn't the Wild West, Gas. You don't get to shoot a guy if he tries to take your horse anymore. If you have a problem with that, then I think it's time to write your Congressman.

 

[GasBandit]

The guy was shot in the face. It's kinda hard to get shot in the face if you're driving away from somebody. The geezer was also quoted saying "he near ran me over." I think there's a little more to this situation than just some 82 year old guy chasing down a fleeing vehicle and shooting at the poor hapless oppressed mexicans inside, endangering the nearby field trip full of orphans.

Yes, they probably DID nearly run him over... you know, as they sped away from the guy with the gun (who must have walked in front of their vehicle to shoot at them better, seeing as how he got one in the face). Your apparent sarcasm really doesn't change the fact that the guy shooting at them turned a bad situation into one that almost ended with a fatality, and that what he did was illegal. You don't get to perform a felony to prevent another felony.

This isn't the Wild West, Gas. You don't get to shoot a guy if he tries to take your horse anymore. If you have a problem with that, then I think it's time to write your Congressman.[/QUOTE]

I don't need, to, I live in Texas, where it IS Colorado's another story. But did you actually read what you just posted? They nearly ran over the man who shot them because they were speeding away from the man who shot them who then somehow got in front of the speeding vehicle to shoot them in the face in the first place? That's some serious space-time distortion right there.

 

[AshburnerX]

I don't need, to, I live in Texas, where it IS Colorado's another story. But did you actually read what you just posted? They nearly ran over the man who shot them because they were speeding away from the man who shot them who then somehow got in front of the speeding vehicle to shoot them in the face in the first place? That's some serious space-time distortion right there.

Not really. He could have only have shot the one guy in the face in one of two ways, while still being in position to be "almost" run over:

- He stepped in front of the truck and fired. They gun the truck and almost run him over. (Meaning he put himself into harms way, tried to kill them, and then complained about getting almost run over when it wouldn't have happened if he'd let them just take the truck)
OR
- He walked in front of the truck (once again, stupid move), they drive off while almost hitting him, and he fired the gun at them while they were fleeing (which is illegal) and one of them just happened to be looking back at him while they drove off, which resulted in getting shot in the face.

Regardless of how it actually happened, he had to have walked in front of the truck at some point to have been almost hit by it. In other words, he was only in danger because he put himself in danger. Self Defense doesn't apply if the whole reason you had to defend yourself was because of your own reckless action.

 

[JONJONAUG]

Stoners: Legalize pot and California's budget troubles will be over. Researchers: Legalize pot and weed just becomes cheaper, bringing in no money at all. But at least they can console themselves with cheap weed.

Can't believe I missed this.

Actual abstract of the study. There are clearly cost benefits both from tax income and from not having to prosecute and imprison people for weed possession/usage/selling/etc, you can't call this "no money at all". Plus huge variations in the numbers basically say "we don't know what will happen, this is just some educated guesswork".

You're making a claim that's about the same as saying that taxes on alcohol and tobacco don't bring in cash by saying "no money at all".

 

[GasBandit]

I don't need, to, I live in Texas, where it IS Colorado's another story. But did you actually read what you just posted? They nearly ran over the man who shot them because they were speeding away from the man who shot them who then somehow got in front of the speeding vehicle to shoot them in the face in the first place? That's some serious space-time distortion right there.

Not really. He could have only have shot the one guy in the face in one of two ways, while still being in position to be "almost" run over:

- He stepped in front of the truck and fired. They gun the truck and almost run him over. (Meaning he put himself into harms way, tried to kill them, and then complained about getting almost run over when it wouldn't have happened if he'd let them just take the truck)
OR
- He walked in front of the truck (once again, stupid move), they drive off while almost hitting him, and he fired the gun at them while they were fleeing (which is illegal) and one of them just happened to be looking back at him while they drove off, which resulted in getting shot in the face.

Regardless of how it actually happened, he had to have walked in front of the truck at some point to have been almost hit by it. In other words, he was only in danger because he put himself in danger. Self Defense doesn't apply if the whole reason you had to defend yourself was because of your own reckless action.[/QUOTE]

It seems either they were stealing the truck from the back of his house and decided to leave via the front, or this 82 year old guy is Jack Lelane or something, because otherwise I have a hard time visualizing how an octogenarian gets in front of a fleeing car that is leaving his property when the codger starts off in his house. But all this speaks to what I was saying before - we weren't there, we don't know the layout, we don't know how it all went down, we don't even know the population density where he lives. There's plenty an outlying road in Colorado where you can barely even see your neighbor's houses in the distance, still within a half hour of town.

Stoners: Legalize pot and California's budget troubles will be over. Researchers: Legalize pot and weed just becomes cheaper, bringing in no money at all. But at least they can console themselves with cheap weed.

Can't believe I missed this.

Actual abstract of the study. There are clearly cost benefits both from tax income and from not having to prosecute and imprison people for weed possession/usage/selling/etc, you can't call this "no money at all". Plus huge variations in the numbers basically say "we don't know what will happen, this is just some educated guesswork".

You're making a claim that's about the same as saying that taxes on alcohol and tobacco don't bring in cash by saying "no money at all".[/QUOTE]

That headline was a straight copy-paste from Fark. You caught me not reading one entirely before I posted it But, one could argue that if revenues from pot taxation are similar to revenues from alcohol, or even tobacco, that it won't come close to magically solving California's budget crisis as some say it would.

 

[Dave]

On the old man situation, I agree 100% with Gas.

 

[Eriol]

Did you know that Obama and Pelosi have a lame-duck strategy?

This is one of the things about your guys' political structure that makes NO SENSE. That you even HAVE lame-duck sessions for ANYTHING other than an emergency (war, disaster MAYBE) makes no sense. In most British-derived parliamentary systems (Britain, Canada, Australia, etc), prior to the election the "house" is DISSOLVED and thus have no legislative power whatsoever. Then their replacements come in post-election. No lame-duck whatsoever.

As I said above, I think you guys should pass a law (or something) that NO sessions should be held in the "lame-duck" period for anything other than HUGE emergencies. That's a lot easier than changing your entire system, and would make sense, and prevent even speculation about crap like that.

 

[GasBandit]

For the last couple of days, the National Governors Association has been meeting and the consensus is clear: the governors aren't happy with Washington. Unlike the federal government, most of these governors are forced to balance their budgets year-in and year-out. While these governors are trying to balance budgets, Obama and the Democrats continue more spending burdens on the states like new ObamaCare unfunded mandates. Democrat governors are particularly upset with Washington because they managed to sell hope and change, but failed to deliver any jobs to their states.

As the governors grumbled the co-chairs of Obama's debt and deficit commission addressed the crowd and offered a painful truth: our nation's fiscal future is on the fast-track toward disaster.

Remember this? Obama's chart showing how the stimulus plan would work.

Attorney General Eric Holder is considering another lawsuit against Arizona .. this one on the grounds of racial profiling.

Is Obama a socialist? Looks like 55% of likely voters believe that to be the case.

Disappointment is running high among progressives. Time for liberals to analyze their Obama "despair."

Economics according to our Community Organizer: One Job Forward, Two Jobs Back. ... $1.85 billion to create 85 permanent "green" jobs.

The financial regulation bill is almost law, but did you know that it contains a provision granting the federal government the power to subpoena any financial information it wants from any financial institution without showing probable cause that a crime has been committed?

Obama's newly appointed administrator of Medicare and Medicaid said that healthcare systems must redistribute wealth. Does Obama agree?

Chief Doughboy Robert Gibbs admits that there is a chance the Democrats could lose the House to the Republicans.

A warning that federal tax officials will need more congressional funding to administer ObamaCare has rekindled the partisan debate over its cost effectiveness.

Our government at work ... in 2009, states made $7.1 billion in overpayments to the unemployed.

Nanny state alert ... Nine stores in Manhattan and the Bronx have been hit with $200 fines for leaving their doors open on hot days in the hope that the escaping cool air would lure sweaty customers.

South Carolina Republican Bob Inglis says he lost the primary due to '"demagoguery" that threatens the party's long-term credibility.'

Nevada sheriff arrests District Attorney. District Attorney refuses to charge himself.

LAPD to train Afghan police force. Afghan police now understand how to properly let looters burn half the city after the local team wins a world championship.

(Fark Headline) It makes no sense to mount an expensive legal defense when Governor Brewer could simply ask Obama "By what authority" his Department of Justice is suing her state and naming her as a defendant. Rofl.

President Obama leaves this week for his third vacation since declaring he would not rest till the oil leak is stopped, the clean up is complete and the Gulf Coast back to normal.

Rush Limbaugh backs up his threat to leave New York, sells his condo there for a 6.5 million dollar profit.

 

[GasBandit]

It used to be said that democracies end in tyranny. Now democracies are fulfilling the complementary expectation of Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman that democracies end in bankruptcy.

Competition improves healthcare. I guess we can then assume that the quality of healthcare declines in the face of government control.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is getting his way - not by compromise and bipartisanship, but by confrontational conservatism. if it bugs you to log in, username is lkjhzuio and password is yxcvbnm

We have spent more on economic stimulus since 2008 than we have spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

Did you know that new financial regulations will create a diversity czar for all financial regulators?

More on the lie of Obamacare

Here's a not-so-comforting headline: Crisis Awaits World's Banks as Trillions Come Due.

So how did Funny Man Al Franken really win the election in Minnesota? Felons voting illegally may have put him over the top.

Michael Bromwich, head of the government agency that oversees offshore drilling says he is not afraid to fine lawbreaking oil companies or even put some executives in jail.

 

[GasBandit]

Cat fight! Cat fight! Cat Fight!


Whew... I need to cool off after that.

Harry Reid plans to force cap-and-trade legislation to the floor by the end of July. Never let a good crisis go to waste, right Harry? He must be afraid that if he doesn't do it soon, he will be unable to gain any sort of oil spill momentum that he may have.

Speaking of Harry Reid, according to him, there aren't any illegal/undocumented workers in the construction business in Nevada.

No, the Bush tax cuts did not cause Obama's current trillion dollar deficits.

Every year, the Annual Report of the Social Security Board of Trustees comes out between mid-April and mid-May. Now it's July, and there's no sign of this year's report. What is the Obama administration hiding?

The federal deficit has topped $1 trillion with three months still to go in the current budget year.

That hopey-changey thing doesn't seem to be working out for all that many people. From the Washington Post: The fading embers of Obama's coalition. Some say he is suffering from a major credibility crisis. Newsweek says this is because he hasn't blamed Bush enough.

Sending tweets that the government doesn't like? That will get you thrown in jail for 15 years in Venezuela.

What country ranks #1 for pornographic web searches? Don't worry, it's safe for work.

Over the course of nine hours, Seven thieves steal several thousand laptops from the US Special Operations Command, in full view of several security cameras. If only SOCOM had some sort of access to some sort of elite or rapid reaction troops.

The good thing about dying this year is that George Steinbrenner avoids the Federal Estate Tax which could have cost his estate close to $500 million dollars had he died in any other year.

Atheists outraged at Christians praying for Christopher Hitchens' recovery from cancer.

Obama's plan to reduce AIDS - "Step 1: Stop getting AIDS"

 

[JONJONAUG]

Speaking of Harry Reid, according to him, there aren't any illegal/undocumented workers in the construction business in Nevada.

Harry Reid may be a guy who can't get shit done in the Senate despite having a majority and doesn't give enough attention to his own home state, but at least he's better than the alternative that he's running against who, among other things, wants to ban abortion in cases of rape and incest, wants the US to remove itself from the UN, is in favor of abolishing the Department of Education and the IRS, and has made statements saying that she prefers to appear on Fox News over other stations because it provides her with a fundraising platform. Hopefully she'll continue to self-destruct enough before November to give Reid the lead.

No, the Bush tax cuts did not cause Obama's current trillion dollar deficits.

This is true only for 2010 due to the bailouts, but even if the economy was perfect the deficit due to the Bush administration's policies would still total about a third of the current deficit. It isn't the only cause of the deficit, but it is certainly a major factor. If the economy continues to remain stable (as in not get worse from here), then starting in 2012 we'll be back to the Bush tax cuts and the wars in the Middle East making up the majority of the deficit.

Over the course of nine hours, Seven thieves steal several thousand laptops from the US Special Operations Command, in full view of several security cameras. If only SOCOM had some sort of access to some sort of elite or rapid reaction troops.

This is a report of a theft from a private contractor for SOCOM, not SOCOM itself. Apparently they do networking or something, I don't feel like reading through their website

The good thing about dying this year is that George Steinbrenner avoids the Federal Estate Tax which could have cost his estate close to $500 million dollars had he died in any other year.

Damnit MSNBC, just leave the stupid to people like Limbaugh. At least MSNBC is just making his death politically charged and not also confusingly racially charged.

Atheists outraged at Christians praying for Christopher Hitchens' recovery from cancer.

Surprise, people putting words in comment fields on the internet are total assholes.

Obama's plan to reduce AIDS - "Step 1: Stop getting AIDS"

Yes, usually making plans on how to reduce rates of infection and putting these plans into effect is how you would reduce rates of infection.

 

[GasBandit]

No, the Bush tax cuts did not cause Obama's current trillion dollar deficits.

This is true only for 2010 due to the bailouts, but even if the economy was perfect the deficit due to the Bush administration's policies would still total about a third of the current deficit. It isn't the only cause of the deficit, but it is certainly a major factor. If the economy continues to remain stable (as in not get worse from here), then starting in 2012 we'll be back to the Bush tax cuts and the wars in the Middle East making up the majority of the deficit.

As noted in a previous post, we've now spent more on "stimulus" than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. And it wasn't Bush's tax cuts that were the fiscal problem, it was his spending. New spending programs, the medicare prescription debacle, etc etc. I remember how often people used to say "Bush and the Republicans are spending like drunken Democrats." Oh if we only knew that soon Obama and the Democrats would be spending more each month than Bush and the Republicans did in a year.

 

[GasBandit]

Americans harbor doubts that a financial-regulation bill about to be passed by Congress will do what the President says it will: help avoid another crisis and make their finances safer. Why? Try this from the Wall Street Journal, too. In a recent note to clients, the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell needed more than 150 pages merely to summarize the bureaucratic morass created by Dodd-Frank. These lawyers are telling their clients that this wonderful financial reform law will require no fewer than 243 new formal rule-makings by 11 different federal agencies.

This obit appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal today:

Spoiler

Charlotte M. Tidwell McCourt, 84, of Pahrump, passed away July 8, 2010, after a long illness. She was born Dec. 25, 1925, in Wellington, Utah, and was a 40-year resident of Nevada. Charlotte held a zest for life and loved serving her family of five children; 20 grandchildren; and 65 great-grandchildren. She had been the wife of Patrick L. McCourt for 67 happy years. Active in her community, she assisted in many political figures' campaign efforts. As an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Charlotte served as a leader in the Relief Society for over 20 years. She and her beloved husband also served a full-time mission in the Cabanatuan Mission in the Phillipines. Charlotte is survived by her husband, Patrick; children, Pat and Nellie McCourt, Dan and Lanny Shea, Bill and Marsha Sortor, David and Sherry d'Hulst, and Tom and Ann McMullin; and many grandchildren. A memorial service was held Saturday, July 10, at the LDS Chapel, 921 E. Wilson, in Pahrump. We believe that Mom would say she was mortified to have taken a large role in the election of Harry Reid to U.S. Congress. Let the record show Charlotte was displeased with his work. Please, in lieu of flowers, vote for another more worthy candidate.

The Obama administration said this week that there is no reason to sue so-called sanctuary cities for refusing to cooperate with federal authorities, whereas Arizona's new immigration law was singled out because it "actively interferes" with enforcement.

How about this ... BP may get tax refund because of oil disaster expenses.

A great column from Michael Barone: We are once again--as in the days of the early republic and not in the heyday of the Progressives and the New Dealers--a republic of property owners.

The one thing Democrats and Republicans may be able to agree on? Raising the retirement age.

This message from Tim Pawlenty: Washington under President Barack Obama is not just broken -- it's broke.

Are "conservatives" serious about the deficit? History suggests that they are not.

Do we have our very own Greece on our hands in America?

Check out how the price tag for this government school managed to top $578 million.

 

[GasBandit]

Remember how Obama denied up and down that federal mandate of health care coverage was a tax? Well now that people are questioning the federal government's authority to enforce it, he's saying that it's perfectly within the federal government's authority because the feds can lay and collect taxes and NOW it's a tax. BOHICA, more lies. Turns out, despite Obama's repeated insistence, you WON'T necessarily be able to keep your doctor if you like the doctor you're seeing. And there's more coming down the pipe... Apparently the IRS can't keep up with all its new responsibilites vis a vis ObamaCare, so it will need more money. More taxes.

The Community Organizer is playing up the class-warfare angle stating that Republicans are the party of the rich.

Kevin Williamson is right when he says that you just can't trust the Republicans when it comes to government spending. It's a catch 22. (National Review Article critical of Republicans, y'all)

From Robert Samuelson: An Ugly Preview of ObamaCare.

Here's a must-read column from Mort Zuckerman: Obama's Anti-Business Policies Are Our Economic Katrina

In the coming weeks, Harry Reid will propose cap-and-trade legislation, which has nothing to do with helping our environment and everything to do with controlling our lives.

Renouncing ones citizenship is becoming more and more prevalent. The reason? Our onerous tax laws.

House Minority Leader John Boehner says that we need a moratorium on new federal regulations to help spur job creation.

This from the WSJ: Hidden in Washington's Historic Finance Bill Are Major New Rules Affecting Nearly Every Corner of the Investing World.

Joe Biden says that Obama's stimulus package would have been bigger if it weren't for the Republicans. Good ol' Joe.

Barney Frank believes that some Republicans are rooting for failure. Oh how we've come full circle.

The Obama Bumper Sticker Removal Kit.

There's one place the stimulus money is working and creating jobs: the companies that make roadsigns proclaiming "The stimulus money is working and creating jobs"

Chicago cop who served in Afghanistan and Iraq has warning: Gang members are coming home with military training

Where can you find a job where you can wander a food court asking for free food, stalk a woman for hours, sexually harass 2 other women, and still keep your job and be paid $129K/year? Yes, you guessed right, The Massachusetts State Police Dept

 

[Necronic]

We have spent more on economic stimulus since 2008 than we have spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

People that want to be fiscal conservatives should be honest with how they quote financial data. First off, most of TARP has been repayed, with interest, meaning that it only cost ~80 bil. Second, counting the financial cost of the wars from 2008 is wholly disengenous. If you look at the total costs of that war it's cost is tremendously higher (depends on your accounting, but the Iraq war alone has already cost between 0.8 and 3 trillion dollars).

I agree that another stimulus package would be stupid, but if you want to make an argument about stuff like that you can't quote disengenuous sources who intentionally skew numbers through creative accounting.

 

[GasBandit]

We have spent more on economic stimulus since 2008 than we have spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

People that want to be fiscal conservatives should be honest with how they quote financial data. First off, most of TARP has been repayed, with interest, meaning that it only cost ~80 bil. Second, counting the financial cost of the wars from 2008 is wholly disengenous. If you look at the total costs of that war it's cost is tremendously higher (depends on your accounting, but the Iraq war alone has already cost between 0.8 and 3 trillion dollars).

I agree that another stimulus package would be stupid, but if you want to make an argument about stuff like that you can't quote disengenuous sources who intentionally skew numbers through creative accounting.[/QUOTE]

There was more to stimulus spending than TARP (there was even more than one TARP). A great deal of it isn't ever coming back. Though, technically, more than half of it still hasn't even been spent.

 

[Necronic]

I think its still fair to count the Stimulus money as spent for the sake of this comparison. However, the numbers quoted in that article count the full value of TARP and (I believe) the auto company loans both of which have been mostly paid back. That leaves ~850 bil for stimulus plus unpaid portions of TARP. On the other side of things we have wars, which cost at least 950 bil between the two of them (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf).

However, those numbers only count the appropriations explicitly given to the wars themselves, and not the DOD general budget, which, interestingly enough, has almost doubled since 2000 (~600 bil in 2k to ~1.1 tril in 2010.) I think that its fair to argue that a lot of that simply has to do with a general national reaction to 911 and a republican majority undoing the cuts to the military spending during the Clinton years, and not an increase specifically to fund the wars.

However, it should be blatantly obvious that most of that money is going to help fund the wars in one form or another. That would put the spending well above the 1 trillion dollar mark. Then of course you have the interest over time etc (which is where the 3 tril comes from), but that affects both the stimulus and the military budget so really it would be disengenuous to apply it to one and not the other.

In the end, the Wars are only marginally more expensive, maybe 50% or so, but they are more expensive.

 

[GasBandit]

In the end, the Wars are only marginally more expensive, maybe 50% or so, but they are more expensive.

As you described, it depends on where you want to make your cut. I'm not sure I agree that ALL the post 9/11 buildup can be attributed to the current wars, as Clinton gutted us dangerously and I think there needed to be and would have been increases in general military expenditure even if 9/11 didn't happen and we weren't engaging in two land wars in asia.

 

[Necronic]

True, but if it hadn't been for the buildup we would have to have increased the explicit appropriations to the wars. I think a reasonable guess (and it's reasonable because its a wild guess) could argue that 20% of the buildup could be attributed to the war expenses. That puts us at 120 bil extra in the explicit appropriations, per year (forgot that the DOD buildup is an annual expense) which over the course of 6 years gives us an additional 720 bil in war related expenses.

That leaves us with the wars costing at least ~15% more (with just the appropriations) up to a conservative estimate of 1.7 trillion, with the assumption that 20% of the increase in the DOD budget increase actually went to fill funding holes in the war appropriation bills.

Hrm, actually I should be ammortizing that 720 bil since the budget increases were gradual, but that's a pain in the ass. Let's just cut it in half, should be a good guess. That leaves us with ~1.34 tril in war related expenses.

 

[GasBandit]

Coming soon: the resumption of your regularly scheduled politifest. Sorry folks, work and personal stuff took me out of commission for a little while.

Necronic, Haterade's giving me DNS errors btw.