The Political Hodgepodge Thread!

[Gehringer_2]

Nobody Seems To Know Where Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Is Right Now

Argentinian boy toy?

[Deleterious]

Detroit councilwoman to Obama: We voted for you, now bail us out - Fox 2 News Headlines

Yes indeed.

[Deleterious]

I like that he keeps hammering the leaders.

[ballmich]

Nicely done, Mr. Amash.

[Gehringer_2]

Detroit councilwoman to Obama: We voted for you, now bail us out - Fox 2 News Headlines

Yes indeed.

Hillarious. I liked that Snyder went the extra mile to do everything he could think of to help the city help itself. The state has given the city every shot at a fair deal, and Bing has had ample time to try and talk some sense into the local 'power structure'. But there has to be a limit.

Bankruptcy is going to be a lot more painful and will just delay ultimate progress by a couple of more years compared to the restructuring the State was offering, but I've come around to believing it is the correct next step. I guess this Council demands no less than the harsher of reality of a Bankruptcy Master.

[Auburndale Ray]

WAR...What it is good for...

[Auburndale Ray]

Perhaps some of you will get this...

[Oblong]

Romney can retire later - The Washington Post

Dana Milbank rips Romney for.... I'm not sure. He lost. He's moving on with his life. Not sure what is expected of him. He wasn't a sitting governor, senator, or congressman and hasn't held office for quite a few years.

[Deleterious]

Newly Released Drone Records Reveal Extensive Military Flights in US

[Deleterious]

https://twitter.com/UberFacts/status/276707006247759872

It is illegal to own a flamethrower in every U.S. state except California.

Now we know why Ballmich lives in Cali.

[Auburndale Ray]

Snow Plow for the 1%

[mtutiger]

Romney can retire later - The Washington Post

Dana Milbank rips Romney for.... I'm not sure. He lost. He's moving on with his life. Not sure what is expected of him. He wasn't a sitting governor, senator, or congressman and hasn't held office for quite a few years.

I don't get it either... frankly, the American people spoke and they wanted Mitt Romney to retire.

[Deleterious]

Darden - Darden Provides Update on its Restaurant Staffing Plans Under Healthcare Reform; Company Announces Commitments to its Current Full-Time, Hourly Employees

[Deleterious]

Sen. Jim DeMint to Head Heritage Foundation - WSJ.com

[ballmich]

https://twitter.com/UberFacts/status/276707006247759872



Now we know why Ballmich lives in Cali.

You see, this is why Feinstein wants the semi-auto weapons banned.... California's booming flamethrower industry would benefit.

[Deleterious]

Ron Paul Hits The Speaking Circuit

Time to cash in.

[ballmich]

Darden - Darden Provides Update on its Restaurant Staffing Plans Under Healthcare Reform; Company Announces Commitments to its Current Full-Time, Hourly Employees

I'll read between the lines here, because it's clear they received pressure not to make their planned changes to reduce workhours. I wonder if it was reaction from the public, or pushback from the administration (directly or through their agencies)?

[ballmich]

Sen. Jim DeMint to Head Heritage Foundation - WSJ.com

I'm not surprised. In fact, it confirms a lot of what I have seen in my personal life, and I think we'll start to see a lot more of this.

[Gehringer_2]

Sen. Jim DeMint to Head Heritage Foundation - WSJ.com

Wow - Jennifer Rubin with a body slam 'good riddance' in WaPo. Sounds like there was some bad blood there!

Good riddance, Mr. DeMint

[mtutiger]

Wow - Jennifer Rubin with a body slam 'good riddance' in WaPo. Sounds like there was some bad blood there!

Good riddance, Mr. DeMint

Go back a few months in her columns... chances are she probably was praising DeMint somewhere along the way.

[Auburndale Ray]

So...Is it really possible for Texas to become a separate country...

[Auburndale Ray]

[Deleterious]

Here's How the Obama Administration Is Considering Responding to Legal Pot in Colorado and Washington - Hit & Run : Reason.com

[Auburndale Ray]

Newly Weds in Washington State...
You may kiss the bride...

[Deleterious]

Comedian Colbert wants DeMint's US Senate seat | The Daily Caller

[ballmich]

NDAA Nullification Bill Passes Michigan House, 107-0 – Tenth Amendment Center Blog

I kind of thought the Michigan House voting 107-0 to nullify the NDAA might get some play in the forum, being that most folk here live in or are originally from Michigan. I think it's a pretty big deal, but maybe not.

[pfife]

Newly Weds in Washington State...
You may kiss the bride...

My opposite sex marriage hasn't been the same since gay marriage was legalized in Wash state

[ballmich]

Debt ceiling debate twist: Sen. Mitch McConnell filibusters himself - Yahoo! News

McConnell filibusters himself. Our goverment is full of *******s, from top to bottom, covering all parties.

[Deleterious]

California School District Owes $1 Billion On $100 Million Loan : NPR

Lockyer is poring through a database collected by the Los Angeles Times of school districts that have recently used capital appreciation bonds. In total, districts have borrowed about $3 billion to finance new school construction, maintenance and educational materials. But the actual payback on those loans will exceed $16 billion.

Some of the bonds can be refinanced, but most cannot, Lockyer says.

Perhaps the best example of the CAB issue is suburban San Diego's Poway Unified School District, which borrowed a little more than $100 million. But "debt service will be almost $1 billion," Lockyer says. "So, over nine times amount of the borrowing. There are worse ones, but that's pretty bad."

More at the link

On second thought. Maybe I don't want schools teaching kids economics and/or personal finance. Good lord.

[Deleterious]

I'll read between the lines here, because it's clear they received pressure not to make their planned changes to reduce workhours. I wonder if it was reaction from the public, or pushback from the administration (directly or through their agencies)?

Papa John's, Applebee's And Others Pay Huge Price For Anti-Obamacare Politicking - Forbes

The public reaction was not good. Much deserved IMO. If you're going to open your mouth about this stuff, you deserve any and all backlash you get.

[Auburndale Ray]

[Auburndale Ray]

BROKEN DREAMS OR NIGHTMARES...

[Ingefanclub]

Newly Weds in Washington State...
You may kiss the bride...

I wonder if these guys are just old friends who decided to take advantage of the benefits you get from being married.... health benefits, tax benefits among other things.

[Melody]

I wonder if these guys are just old friends who decided to take advantage of the benefits you get from being married.... health benefits, tax benefits among other things.

Wasn't there a movie a few years ago with that plot?

It'll probably tick somebody off, but I'll say it anyway. When I first saw that photograph on facebook, the song "Dueling Banjos" started playing in my head.

[Antrat]

I wonder if these guys are just old friends who decided to take advantage of the benefits you get from being married.... health benefits, tax benefits among other things.

They don't look gay enough for you? I find it more unbelievable that two macho guys who are straight would pretend to be gay for tax purposes.

[Gehringer_2]

They don't look gay enough for you? I find it more unbelievable that two macho guys who are straight would pretend to be gay for tax purposes.

So, the thing is, if you take a step back and think about the implications of a societal shift where any two people can get 'married', no questions asked and no stigma attached, it could turn out be the best thing to happen to old people in the US since cataract surgery. Living alone is a huge mental, physical and emotional killer for the aged. If 'gay' marriage were to morph all the way to 'friendship marriage' and the economic advantages began driving pairs of seniors of all combinatorial arrangements to live together instead of alone, who knows what savings might accrue to society in terms of their improved health and productivity......????

[Antrat]

So, the thing is, if you take a step back and think about the implications of a societal shift where any two people can get 'married', no questions asked and no stigma attached, it could turn out be the best thing to happen to old people in the US since cataract surgery. Living alone is a huge mental, physical and emotional killer for the aged. If 'gay' marriage were to morph all the way to 'friendship marriage' and the economic advantages began driving pairs of seniors of all combinatorial arrangements to live together instead of alone, who knows what savings might accrue to society in terms of their improved health and productivity......????

I don't think we're very close to the stigma being erased. But even if it were, I still think situations where straight people marry for financial or medical coverage reasons would be extremely rare.
I just don't see this ever becoming such a rampant thing that it actually becomes a huge fraud crisis.

[hueytaxi]

This whole thing began with Denny Crane and Justice Scalia.

[Gehringer_2]

I don't think we're very close to the stigma being erased. But even if it were, I still think situations where straight people marry for financial or medical coverage reasons would be extremely rare.
I just don't see this ever becoming such a rampant thing that it actually becomes a huge fraud crisis.

But I wouldn't see it as a crisis at all, more of an improvement. And beside it's only 'fraud' based our conventions of terms under which we thought people should live together in the past. If the overall benefits are greater than the tax cost to the treasury (which they might well be) then why would it be a crisis?

This concept strikes my mind as I happen to have known a pair of relatively hardheaded older widow/ers who decided to set up housekeeping together years ago. Since they happened to be of opposite sex, they got 'married' to do it, but the 'marriage' was certainly a 'sham' by any yardstick you might apply to 20 yr olds getting 'married'. Yet the arrangement worked out great for them for a number of years. They were both better off for not living alone and almost certainly were less a burden on the larger society than they would have been otherwise.

[Melody]

So, the thing is, if you take a step back and think about the implications of a societal shift where any two people can get 'married', no questions asked and no stigma attached, it could turn out be the best thing to happen to old people in the US since cataract surgery. Living alone is a huge mental, physical and emotional killer for the aged. If 'gay' marriage were to morph all the way to 'friendship marriage' and the economic advantages began driving pairs of seniors of all combinatorial arrangements to live together instead of alone, who knows what savings might accrue to society in terms of their improved health and productivity......????

Unless one or both has assets and/or is drawing a pension from a former spouse. (Oh, the stories I could tell about this issue.)

Under present law, for the most part the elderly come out best just shacking up.