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

[JONJONAUG]

You will not be shocked to hear that the UN is at the helm of a $2.7 billion carbon market scam.

Some companies are taking advantage of loopholes and now they're being clamped down on. Obviously the UN is a corrupt organization that's scamming the world because they're...going to investigate the claims and stop giving money to companies that are taking advantage of loopholes. Those bastards.

The blog Atlas Shrugs has uncovered 13 hours of audio, which they say makes Imam Rauf (of the "Ground Zero Mosque/Community Center") look like a "radical extremist cleric who cloaks himself in sheep's clothing."

After reading that blog for about ten minutes: Dude, these guys make Free Republic look sane. They haven't "unearthed" anything, all of this has been reported before. They're complaining that a guy has sympathy for civilians caught up in war, that he has seen the movie Fahrenheit 9/11, that he says discrimination or bigotry is a bad thing, that he believes long-term peace in Israel will require a one-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians learn to co-exist, and that he once explained the mentality behind suicide bombings.

None of the quotes given on their website show a support of suicide bombing, of killing Jews, of undermining American values, or terrorism.

 

[SpecialKO]

Yeah, I have a tough time taking anything from Pamela Geller's site at face value. She's one of the ones who came up with the "Ground Zero Mosque" phrase in the first place.

 

[GasBandit]

President Obama pranks Trip Director Marvin Nicholson by placing his toe on the scale while the latter weighs himself in the volleyball locker room at the University of Texas in Austin.

Labor union leaders in New York are upset with Democrats because they dared to accept "blood money" from the evil, hideous WalMart.

If Washington seems out of ideas on how to get the private-sector jobs machine running again, there's a pretty straightforward reason -- the people in government have virtually no experience in business.

We are so used to hearing the phrase "right-wing hate radio" that it is rate to hear it applied to the other side. The Media Research Center has collected numerous examples of the outrageousness of left-wing radio hosts.

The wussification of American continues .. a government elementary school in Missouri had banned the singing of "Happy Birthday" because of the "sensitivity of all student beliefs."

Do you want to see how asinine government can be, particularly when it comes to taxes? Here's how a little known tax clause boosts prices for New York bagels.

Thomas Sowell gives us a lesson on medical care facts and fables.

Here's a list from CNN on the 10 things Republicans must do in 10 weeks. And they're surprisingly well thought out.

 

[SpecialKO]

Labor union leaders in New York are upset with Democrats because they dared to accept "blood money" from the evil, hideous WalMart.

I'm always skeptical of articles at from any of NYC's tabloid-format papers, but speaking as a consumer, I wouldn't mind if they stuck one here in NJ.

Do you want to see how asinine government can be, particularly when it comes to taxes? Here's how a little known tax clause boosts prices for New York bagels.

That's just ridiculous. Not to mention more than a bit harmful to the many, many local bagel places that aren't big franchises.

 

[Covar]

The wussification of American continues .. a government elementary school in Missouri had banned the singing of "Happy Birthday" because of the "sensitivity of all student beliefs."

That's what they say. They're just trying to get out of paying royalties.

 

[Krisken]

There definitely needs to be some reform to the rules governing unions to keep them from being oppressive.

Of course, there are a lot of things that need reform.

 

[GasBandit]

I think I might be subtly changing my political affiliation...

Another of the best of pundit kitchen -

 

[AshburnerX]

I think I might be subtly changing my political affiliation...

I would pay to see the political debate between Libretarians.

 

[GasBandit]

"Unexpected," huh?

Top union goons have agreed to coordinate spending millions of dollars in the midterm elections to support pro-union candidates, most of them Democrats.

Government employees have become the new privileged class. What happened in Bell, California is a microcosm of what we are facing on a national scale.

Here's a frustrating read about $1.1 billion in stimulus allocated for New York's transit system. The money kept union pensions while raising prices on consumers 36%.

This story has a lot of folks gunched up .. A conservative group has been banned from holding a rally at Illinois's Old State Capitol because the site prohibits political demonstrations -- yet it's the same place where Obama announced his run for president and later, his choice of Joe "Recovery Summer" Biden.

The man who claims to have wrote ObamaCare, Max Baucus, admits that he hasn't read the entire bill.

The Community Organizer can't even win when it comes to his education reform efforts.

If you oppose spending taxpayer dollars on teaching Chinese meditation techniques to cocaine addicts and studying hookah smoking among college students in Jordan, it is because "you know nothing about science." At least, that is according to Joe Biden.

The next big bubble to burst ... the municipal bond market? Not very sexy, but sure is important stuff.

Oil and natural-gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico may remain idle for months even if Obama's administration agrees to an early end for its moratorium on deep-water drilling, because of new government regulations.

It seems that some within the Mainstream Media have been trying to send the American public a clear message, "It is time for you to get over the 9-11 attacks."

Former Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman has come out of the closet. Is anyone surprised by this?

Basil Marceaux (R) for Governor of Tennessee -


And with a rebuttal, Chris Young (D) -

 

[Dave]

Top union goons have agreed to coordinate spending millions of dollars in the midterm elections to support pro-union candidates, most of them Democrats.

This is more fallout from that stupid Supreme Court decision that lets businesses and Unions spend as much as they want now. This is a big, BIG mistake!

 

[GasBandit]

Top union goons have agreed to coordinate spending millions of dollars in the midterm elections to support pro-union candidates, most of them Democrats.

This is more fallout from that stupid Supreme Court decision that lets businesses and Unions spend as much as they want now. This is a big, BIG mistake![/QUOTE]

Well, let's not pretend everything was flowers and sunshine under McCain-Feingold. All that meant was that unions and corporations had to hide behind PACs.

Which is not to say I don't hate how things are now, too.

 

[JONJONAUG]

Goodness, if he's even half as bad as you allege, then the federal government must be completely impotent if he's still running around free. Free to eat babies and stab kittens, and even worse... make jail unpleasant!

Yes, because it certainly isn't like the conditions within Maricopa County jails have been ruled to be cruel and unusual multiple times, or that the policy in Maricopa County jails allow guards to strap paraplegics into chairs and beat them until they are quadriplegics, or that abuse is so bad that Arpaio is listed as a defendant in over a thousand cases that are costing Arizona millions of dollars, or that Arpaio's office has has improperly cleared major cases including ones of rape and murder and yet somehow has the resources to arrest a bunch of prostitutes and illegal immigrants in what amounts to political grandstanding, or that a mentally disabled person has been killed by prison guards, or that his office has unconstitutionally used their authority to harass local media, and I'm just gonna stop now because I'm getting bored of this.

 

[Krisken]

All I have to say is this: GasBandit.... Glenn Beck.... GB.... coincidence? Lets go to the blackboard....

 

[tegid]

Holy shit!!

 

[AshburnerX]

My World will never be the same...

 

[GasBandit]

All I have to say is this: GasBandit.... Glenn Beck.... GB.... coincidence? Lets go to the blackboard....

 

[GasBandit]

Now even Democrats are admitting that they may lose the House entirely. Maybe this is why ... voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen.

In the meantime, what is becoming the "wedge issue" between Democrats and Republicans? The growing gap between government and private sector workers.

If you like your healthcare plan .... too bad!

Remember during the ObamaCare debate the uproar caused by Anthem Blue Cross out in California? Looks like they will finally be able to raise their rates to compensate for the increased cost in medical care.

The AP did some fact checking on the recent stimulus claims and found them to be "overly optimistic."

The state of Texas is putting up a fight against new EPA regulations, which some say are a backdoor way to implementing a global warming agenda.

EPA to ban lead bullets for being so toxic they could kill you. Yes, you read that right.

Sarah Palin is now at the receiving end of the wrath from the labor unions for her "anti-union rhetoric."

With all of the vicious attack ads flying around in Florida lately, this ad from Marco Rubio is a breath of fresh air. Speaking of Marco Rubio, it looks like he is a solid ten points above Charlie Crist in the polls.

Ron Paul: don't demagogue the NYC mosque.

Everyone get ready to boycott Chicago over religious intolerance.

 

[AshburnerX]

Now even Democrats are admitting that they may lose the House entirely. Maybe this is why ... voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen.

If the Democratic party learns anything from the past 4 years, I hope it's the need to convey a unified agenda to it's members and to get all of it's members of Congress on the same page. They had 2-4 years to do pretty much anything they wanted and failed miserably BECAUSE they were unable to unify in the same way the Republicans did against... just about everything that Democrats tried to do.

EPA to ban lead bullets for being so toxic they could kill you. Yes, you read that right.

This is actually a real environmental concern in some of the more war-torn areas of the world, where some conflicts have actually poisoned the soil and water with lead from bullets... but I don't see how casual hunting in the US could ever come close to this. Why is the EPA even concerned about this? You'd need a full scale conflict with hundreds, if not thousands of weapons being used every day for YEARS to do that kind of ecological damage.

Then again, Gun Owners in the US are a cowardly and superstitious lot. It really doesn't take much to get them to go out and do a run on ammo stores. Maybe raising the price on ammunition will make think twice about it.

 

[Troll]

Now even Democrats are admitting that they may lose the House entirely. Maybe this is why ... voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen.

If the Democratic party learns anything from the past 4 years, I hope it's the need to convey a unified agenda to it's members and to get all of it's members of Congress on the same page. They had 2-4 years to do pretty much anything they wanted and failed miserably BECAUSE they were unable to unify in the same way the Republicans did against... just about everything that Democrats tried to do.[/QUOTE]

They did have a unified agenda. The problem is "President Bush is evil!!!" only works for so long.

 

[AshburnerX]

Now even Democrats are admitting that they may lose the House entirely. Maybe this is why ... voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen.

If the Democratic party learns anything from the past 4 years, I hope it's the need to convey a unified agenda to it's members and to get all of it's members of Congress on the same page. They had 2-4 years to do pretty much anything they wanted and failed miserably BECAUSE they were unable to unify in the same way the Republicans did against... just about everything that Democrats tried to do.[/QUOTE]

They did have a unified agenda. The problem is "President Bush is evil!!!" only works for so long.[/QUOTE]

That's not an Agenda, that's a propaganda statement. The Agenda is what happens after the propaganda takes effect... and apparently nobody had the foresight to think anything up. The closest thing they had to a unified agenda was the Government Healthcare Plan and they fucked that up by cowing to the Right and Special Interest Dems, creating a plan that NOBODY likes.

 

[Krisken]

They did have a unified agenda. The problem is "President Bush is evil!!!" only works for so long.

Actually, Frontline had a fantastic episode which documented what happened during the healthcare debate (and pretty much left us where we are now). From deals needing to be made with his own party to the demands being made by pharma and various medical groups, that they passed anything is incredible.

 

[GasBandit]

____________ needs to have an agenda other than wanting to be in power.

A) The Republican Party
B) The Democrat Party
C) All of the above.

 

[GasBandit]

A George Will column that is well worth your attention.

There is serious chatter that the October surprise will be: amnesty.

Make no mistake - a value-added tax will be proposed by Obama's deficit commission. Even Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's "road map" for America contains a VAT. Nancy Pelosi has confirmed that it is "on the table."

From the Heritage Foundation .. Joe Biden is wrong; An Obama tax hike is the only thing we can't afford.

Here's a must-read article from Forbes: A troika of big government, big business and big labor is attempting to run the country to its own advantage.

Should the Republicans offer voters another Contract with America? They didn't do too well at upholding the last one, as good as it sounded.

Signs are pointing to a stunning repudiation of the Obama agenda and Democratic team this fall. The "fundamental transformation" stops here.

The American economy could experience painfully slow growth and stubbornly high unemployment for a decade or longer, according to an authority on the history of financial crises.

Turns out Sharif El-Gamal, the leading organizer behind the Ground Zero community center/mosque, owes $224,270.77 in back property tax on the site. But they could get tax free financing.

The share of young people aged 16 to 24 who were employed this summer fell to 48.9% -- the lowest rate on record since 1948.

The Obamapologist (just took that one off the top of my head just now, what do you think?) Media does its best to keep playing the race card.

And speaking of the media .. 88% of 2008 campaign donations by TV media went to Democrats.

A Georgia man has won the right to fly the American flag outside his home after getting sued by his homeowners association.

 

[GasBandit]

Some more for today:

Iranian media call French first lady 'prostitute'.

Illinois just can't seem to elect a governor of either party who doesn't end up in jail after their term.

Teachers unions attack LA Times for reporting effectiveness of its members.

Reverend Jeremiah Wright is very upset that people think Obama is a Muslim, when everybody should know that Obama was a member of his hate-whitey CHRISTIAN church for nearly 20 years.

 

[GasBandit]

Here's a great column by Michael Barone: Down with Big Government, Big Business, Big Labor.

The Obama administration insists on this drilling moratorium that they KNOW will cost people their jobs. A judge continues to knock down the moratorium .. but that makes no difference to the rulers who create the laws as they see fit.

As if you needed it .. here are more arguments against the value-added tax from the Cato Institute.

This is Obama's idea of border security? National Guard requested: 3000. Number promised? 1200. Number delivered? 30.

In the market for a used car? Good luck finding a bargain: The price of "pre-owned'' vehicles has climbed considerably over the past year. You can thank inflated and artificial government policy (cash for clunkers) for that.

The wussification of America continues .. if only we had a loser pays system in this country.

"James Lee is Al Gore is Prince Charles is the Unabomber"

Democrats are trying to keep control of Congress by scaring the wig off grandma with a phantom GOP plot against Social Security. As usual.

A new Gallup poll shows Republicans with a record 10-point edge over Democrats on the "generic ballot" test. This may be explained by the fact that the number of self-identified conservatives outnumbers self-identified liberals in all 50 states.

Unions hire non-union protesters to protest for them. If you really want to see what labor unions do best, watch them as they flex their muscles out in California.


National Lampoon's Summer Recovery Vaction?



---------- Post added at 02:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:56 PM ----------

I've been telling you this for years, we need to get the federal government out of our children's education. This column should sum it up for you: Our Schools, Dumb and Dumber. Speaking of government education, take a look at this article about how charter schools have managed to change the education system in New Orleans for the better after Hurricane Katrina.

Faced with mounting debt and looming costs from ObamaCare, many local governments are leaving the hospital business.

Politicians in New York gave in to union demands to give back campaign contributions from 'anti-union' WalMart.

 

[JONJONAUG]

[/COLOR]I've been telling you this for years, we need to get the federal government out of our children's education. This column should sum it up for you: Our Schools, Dumb and Dumber. Speaking of government education, take a look at this article about how charter schools have managed to change the education system in New Orleans for the better after Hurricane Katrina.

Wow this article shows that the author not only has a poor grasp of what the Department of Education actually does, but that he is also in sore need of an editor (apparently the biggest education related union has 3.2 members).

The biggest thing the Department of Education does is try to provide equal access to education for all Americans. This includes laws to provide access to education for the handicapped, making sure civil rights legislation is enforced, providing funding to schools that need it, collecting data and disseminating research on schools, and helping students who cannot normally afford education through Federal student loan programs. They interfere very little in state and local affairs and even NCLB is simply holding states accountable to standards that they set for themselves (it's still kind of a bad idea though). The DoE is also really freaking tiny when compared to the rest of the Federal government (only 1.3% of the Federal budget), so calling it a huge drain on funds isn't accurate at all.

 

[AshburnerX]

Politicians in New York gave in to union demands to give back campaign contributions from 'anti-union' WalMart.

Walmart's usual reactions to their employees attempting to unionize are:

A.) Fire the employee/group who started it, thus putting the fear of God into everyone else. This usually works.
or
B.) Shut down the store permanently, damaging the local economy and leaving a massive, empty building in the middle of a (formerly) viable business district. Considering that local governments usually pay for a lot of the store's construction just to attract Walmart, it's a Double Fuck You to their customers.

 

[DarkAudit]

Libertarianism is pretty much dead.

Nowadays libertarian's just a word to use when you want to say "conservative" but need an extra syllable.

 

[GasBandit]

Libertarianism is pretty much dead.

Nowadays libertarian's just a word to use when you want to say "conservative" but need an extra syllable.

That guy sounds like a bizarro freeper.

 

[Sara_2814]

Libertarianism is pretty much dead.

WTF? That Reason quote in the first link is taken entirely out of context. The previous paragraph in the Reason article discusses how that conclusion was arrived at:

Despite all these problems, polls conducted in Iraq since the war began have shown a complex picture that does not fit into the left-wing narrative of the war any more than it does into a pro-war script of U.S. soldiers being greeted as liberators. Survey after survey has showed Iraqis more or less evenly split on whether the 2003 invasion was right or wrong. (In a 2009 survey, only 28 percent said that it was "absolutely wrong.") This is a remarkable fact considering than it is a natural human instinct to strongly oppose the invasion of one's country by another power—particularly one with a different culture and a different majority religion—and that the respondents included people who held privileged positions under the Saddam Hussein regime. When the question is phrased differently, between 60 and 75 percent of Iraqis have agreed that Saddam's ouster was worth it despite the hardship. Only a quarter prefer the way things were in prewar Iraq.

Oh, and the quote in the blog is missing the first three sentences of the paragraph:

Do these findings give us a mandate to depose oppressive regimes everywhere? Of course not. They do, however, put our actions in perspective. Whether or not Operation Iraqi Freedom was a blunder, only time will tell—as even some strong critics of the war, such as former Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean, concede. But it is not too early to say that Americans are not the villains in this story. That role belongs to the dictator who drove so many of his subjects to welcome a foreign invasion, and to the extremists who unleashed carnage on their own.

Kind of changes things when you put it into context. You may disagree with the conclusion, but that paragraph has an entirely different meaning than what the blogger made it out to be.

Interesting how the extreme left seems to suffer from the same problems with illiteracy and dishonesty as the extreme right.

Nowadays libertarian's just a word to use when you want to say "conservative" but need an extra syllable.

LOL! I'm libertarian and I am not even close to "conservative" in the sense this guy is using it!

Yep, there are "liberal" Libertarians.

That guy sounds like a bizarro freeper.

QFT

 

[ThatGrinningIdiot!]

Thanks to Gas, I cringe whenever I hear someone claim to be a Libertarian.

 

[AshburnerX]

Gas has been busy. It happens from time to time. I fully expect him to be back to his usually antics right around election time.

 

[GasBandit]

What happened to this thread? I came to this forum specifically for this thread.

Sorry for the problems, but as my blog on this site made mention, political season is tearing me a new one up one side and down the other in my day job. I'm starting to get a little bit of time back to post, but am nowhere near my usual levels of skiving during work hours just yet.

I hope it's not as late as election day, but I can't PROMISE I'll be back to full updates before then, though I am going to try.

 

[North_Ranger]

Take your time, you brigand of vapors, you.

 

[GasBandit]

Alright, let's see how this goes. I've put off restarting because so very much of the articles being jostled around lately are STILL about the election, which is old news IMO.

To be a great president, Obama should not seek reelection in 2012 ... according to a Democrat strategist.

With Congress returning the Washington, first up on the agenda is the ethics trial of Charlie Rangel. Apparently he doesn't have a lawyer and walked out of proceedings.

Here's a look at history's biggest Ponzi scheme.

Alan Greenspan says the United States must move to rein in its massive budget deficits or it faces the risk of a bond market crisis.

George Will explores the following question: What's driving Obama's subsidies of Chevy's Volt?

The big test for Republicans is not whether they can work with Obama and take part in "governing." It's whether they can maintain long-term credibility as spending hawks.

The Health and Human Services Department has now handed out 111 waivers to companies AND many unions seeking to be exempt from ObamaCare regulations.

Chris Christie to a New Jersey educator threatening to leave state over salary cuts: "Let me help you pack."

Want an example of unnecessary government? Did you know that we have a department of Dairy Management, which exists for one purpose: to encourage Americans to drink more milk and eat more cheese?

California supreme court upholds in-state tuition for illegals.