The Glade 4.0

Well, hopefully Obama hasn't figured out that this is one of the hottest political strategy think tanks in the Western World.

Damn its hard to say political strategy with your tongue in your cheek.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Actually I do doubt that.

Otherwise we wouldn't have seen a straight party line last time.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

It's may very well be dead, but I doubt it. The house could simply pass the current bill, and send it to the President's desk. There's some spine in the progressives there, however, that may prevent that from happening.

It could be that this causes the Democrats to finally take away the tool that keeps the minority as the ruling party in the country, however. I doubt it. Senate democrats are simply too willing to say "not in the face" when republicans threaten them with Boss Limbaugh and company.

We shall see. I think this takes away Lieberman's power, which is a net positive. The Democrats still have an 18 seat majority in the Senate. If they were smart, they would simply use the tactics that the Republicans used when they were in the majority to jam through their agenda.

Sadly, that would require the democrats in the senate to be, you know, smart. I'm not holding my breath.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

Are you... are you saying... Bush was smart?

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Of course Bush was smart. Unfortunately, in politics the appearance of stupidity is far worse for you than actual stupidity.

In any case Bush passed things with a smaller majority (and apologies if I've already argued this here ...) because he passed popular bills like tax cuts. Not many voters complain about tax cuts. This healthcare bill on the other hand... well:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... sachusetts

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

What is the current percentage of residences that no longer pay federal income taxes?

Rofl, "Progressives". If you are balls enough to refer to a movement as "progressive" it better **** well have some groundbreaking ideas, like ways to make humans fly, breath underwater and teleport. Since so-called progressivism is effectively the greatest stumbling block and restrictive force to actual growth and progress, it may well be the greatest misnomer of all time.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Yeah it's close to 50% now and some of those get money back so they pay less than 0. I found this:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/30/pf/taxe ... /index.htm

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

The "no income tax" statistics are somewhat misleading though, while they may pay no taxes now, the big problem is many have no upside potential. There's no incentive to increase their income because it will all be taken anyway Those $60,000 households might have no liability, but they're still in the 28% tax bracket. They're just eliminating liability through deductions. If they were to increase their income, they would likely see very little of it.

For example, take a typical family living in California making say $70k. The wife decides to get a job making $30k. Since they file jointly, on that $30k the wife has to pay:

28% federal income tax
9.3% state income tax
7.4% SS/Medicare tax
1.25% local income tax
6% sales tax to buy anything with the money

That's almost 52% of the income gone. With a regular 40-hour workweek, she is making effectively $7.20 an hour, less than minimum wage. Why should she even bother working?

There's also no incentive to vote against ever more government spending. Nobody denies that the tax codes are crap, especially in places like california and new jersey.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

... How is that misleading? All that does is demonstrate problems with the structure and schedules we have. It is not misleading. The number itself is not misleading, it is just indicative of a problem.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Yea, Xeq, I don't get the "misleading" part of your statement.

I mean, I get the "this creates a disincentive to work" part; many of us have been claiming that for years.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

The statistics of that article are astounding for a liberal state. It's a good indication of just how badly the public feeling on healthcare has been misread, especially the changes in that feeling since the pre-election and pre-inauguration euphoria.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Yeah it's pretty clear the people out there want reform, but not Obamacare.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

But that makes zero sense! Obamacare is the *best* reform possible. It was a *mandate* and the 2008 election is irrefutable evidence of such.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

*Bullshit*.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I do not like green eggs and ham
I do not like them, Sam I Am.

Don't you hate it when the people that supposedly mandate it start changing their minds?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Wow, I'm so convinced.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

I'll weigh in on this as I have a fairly unique perspective on the race, as I know Senator Brown personally, I worked in the Massachusetts senatorial district he held, and I live on the Rhode Island/Mass. border.

First of all, I would like to thank anyone who is reading this, who lives in Massachusetts, and cast their vote for Mr. Brown. You have done us all a service. Thank you for acting as my, and millions of other Americans surrogates. I never thought Scott could win this... if for no other reason than he is honest and trustworthy. I would trust my child to be alone with him and his family in his house, or on a vacation. He is, with no hyperbole, one of the most ethical and decent men to ever hold office in my area.

Now onto the meat of this:

Monte, you have no idea what you are talking about. This election was an absolute indictment of the Obama/Liberal agenda in this country. Anyone with a drop of political savy understands the implications of what happened last night. In Massachusetts, one of the most liberal states in the country, despite effots by the national Democratic political machine and stumping by a former and current president, for a congressional seat held by the "Liberal Lion" of the Senate, the Democratic candidate was not just beaten but trounced.

Not only was she trounced, but she, a well known, widely supported, and entrenched Attorney General lost in districts no Democrat has lost in longer than anyone can remember. She lost in Hyannisport. She lost in Barney Frank's district.

She lost to a virtually unknown libertarian conservative Republican who ran on a single platform. Lowering taxes, and stopping this version of healthcare "reform".

Democrats who wish to remain in office, and in power are going to run away from this in droves. Because if this can happen to a 4-1 favorite in Massachusetts running for the Kennedy seat on his legacy of healthcare, then it can and most certainly will happen to them.

The American people are waking up, Montegue, and they are angry.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

Its easy to tell people all the reasons they should hate X especially if someone is telling them who is to blame for their woes.

Giving people a reason to hope is a harder sell. Fearmongering is something you've bought into hook line and sinker, so much that you have become an evangelist for it.

Who exactly are you responding to?

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The Dude abides.

Selling false hope amongst lies is very, very easy, too.

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Grenade 3 Sports Drink. It's fire in the hole.. Your hole!

What the hell are you talking about?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."