"US Congress Bought & Paid For?"

Why is this a question?

oh my lol.

So much bullshizzee in these comments.

Obamy had been wondering what to do for a while. Needed to slap down some bitches Took out his pimp hand, but also hedged his bets - (a public option isnt a deal breaker? whatevs).

He's a smart politician, and made some wiggle room for the conservative/marginal dems. The fella who called out has stained his career with moderates/libs with his silly publicity stunt, and emasculated himself in the eyes of the Rush crowd with his emphatic apology.

Twas nothing of note.

You guys should see Aussie parliament - its more tactile ("pack of lies" vs "liar") but is much more ... robust and squabblish (sp? word even?) than anything in US congress.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-3200

There is no section 1255.

It's a shame. If she were nice, she'd be hot. Her hair is nice.

>> ^imstellar28:
You say to soften my approach. How can I soften my approach when its come to this, we are already past the point of soft words, are we not?
You're right that recently, I'm angry after seeing an Iranian girl look into my eyes and gurgle blood out of her nose and mouth until she faded away; murdered, at the hands of everything I protest against. What exactly should my reaction be?

Not to yell at people who wholeheartedly agree with you when you say:

If the Iranian people ask for our help, send in seal team six, but until then its up to them to fight the good fight - on their terms.

However, when you say this:

Its veiled in good intentions, for sure. It sounds good, but when you think of the American government "Expressing support" "condemning" and "affirming", what do you think of? I think of "shock and awe" and "operation kill the populace."

Most of us just see a deep distrust that's beyond the most cynical views most of us have of our own government.

Seriously, the whole legislation is less than half a page, and says essentially the same thing you are, only in a more formal (and less visceral) way.

If there's anyone you should be mad at, it's the whole right-wing machine calling for more overt meddling in the situation.

For more on that, here's the original bill the Republicans introduced, which reads as a litany of criminal acts perpetrated by the Iranian government. Thank goodness Democrats changed it!

Dear US congress,

Please extend your legal abortion age to at least 25 years.

Kind Regards,

Boney.

Top 10 Reasons to Oppose the Stimulus

As with medicine, the first rule of law making should be first, do no harm. The "stimulus" bill fails this test spectacularly. Among so many other reasons to tell your U.S. Representative and Senators in Washington to oppose the stimulus, the Top 10 are:

1. The Stimulus Will Not Work

Our history is replete with examples of "stimulus" spending failing to move our economy toward prosperity--Bush just tried it, Ford tried it. Even Christina Romer, Obama's Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers agrees. Romer wrote in a study, "Our estimates suggest that fiscal actions contributed only moderately to recoveries." The New Deal didn't end the Great Depression and Obama's stimulus package won't end this recession. In fact, two UCLA economists published a study in 2004 finding FDR's similar New Deal policies prolonged the Great Depression by seven years.

It fails because you don't increase economic output by taking a dollar from one person and giving to another. The idea of "stimulus" spending falls for the " broken window fallacy"--the allure of what is seen versus what is not seen. We will see the jobs created by the government spending. What we won't see are the jobs lost because consumers have less money to spend because the government got the money its spending from us--the only place it can get money.

2. The Stimulus follows the same plan that ruined Japan's economy

Japan, after a dramatic market crash and a drop in real estate prices responded with government spending not unlike what the US Congress is considering today. In fact, they had 10 stimulus bills between 1992 and 2000, spending billions on infrastructure construction, building bridges, roads, and airports as well as pouring money into biotech and telecommunications. While many countries enjoyed booming economies and falling unemployment during this time, Japan had a lost decade, seeing its unemployment more than double. They spent double the US level of GDP on infrastructure, and now have a lousy economy and have one of the highest national debts in the world.

After 10 stimulus packages, Japan has gone from having the second biggest economy in the world by a long shot, to being well behind the new number two, China, and is close to falling behind India. We do not want to follow their lead.

3. The Stimulus is full of Wasteful Projects

While we were told the stimulus bill would focus on rebuilding America's infrastructure--mainly the roads and bridges--only 5% of the current bill goes to such projects. The rest of the bill goes to pet projects like:
* $400,000,000.00 for researching sexually transmitted diseases
* $200,000,000.00 to force the military to buy environmentally-friendly electric cars
* $34,000,000.00 to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
* $75,000,000.00 for a program to end smoking which, if successful will bankrupt the State Children's Health Program Democrats are about to pass (SCHIP) that is paid for by cigarette taxes
* $650,000,000.00 for digital TV coupons
* $50,000,000.00 for the National Endowment for the Arts

These programs are just the 2008 version of the " midnight basketball" program that derailed Bill Clinton's attempt to ram through a "stimulus" bill in 1992. Despite that bill failing, the economy quickly recovered and the economic boom of the 1990s began.

4. The Government Can't Afford the Stimulus

President Bush pushed the government deep into a $1.2 trillion deficit this year, the third time he has set a record for biggest deficit ever, and President Obama's stimulus bill follows his lead, piling on more debt. The deficit in 2008 amounted to about 8 percent of GDP. The entire debt is about 35 percent of GDP.

Even for those who do still believe in Keynesianism, it is important to remember his theory didn't start with the government already over a trillion dollars in the hole, he was generally operating from balanced budgets.

5. We Can't afford the Stimulus

How much is $825 billion? The Heritage Foundation has calculated that that comes to over $10,000 per American family. To further put that in context, on average, families annually spend:
* $2,230 on apparel and services
* $3,595 on health care
* $4,322 on food at home
* $11,657 on shelter

6. The Stimulus is Bigger Than the Economic Output of Most Countries

If this bill were a country, it'd be the 15th largest country in world, ranking between Australia and Mexico. It is bigger than the economies of Saudi Arabia and Iran combined. In fact, the $875 billion it calls for is more than all the cash in the United States.

7. Central Planning like the Stimulus Doesn't Work, Ask the USSR

If centrally planned government spending on a grand scale produced economic growth, the Soviet Union would have won the Cold War. If government spending on a grand scale produced economic growth we would be in the middle of the Bush Boom right now. It doesn't. Working, saving, and investing leads to economic output and increases in productivity lead to growth.

As economics professor Steven Horwitz said, "The stimulus plans assume consumption is the source of growth. It is not. It is the consequence of said growth."

8. Remember the $750 Billion Bailout from this Fall?

It was just a couple months ago when we were told if we would just quickly hand over $750 billion to the Treasury Secretary to bailout his friends on Wall Street, he would make the economy all better. That didn't work, and neither will an additional $825 billion.

9. This Money Doesn't Grow on Trees

And this has nothing to do with paper money being made of cotton and linen. The only way the government gets money is through taxing, borrowing, or printing--that is, it has to take it out of the economy in order to put it back into the economy. If government borrows the money for the stimulus, then it will either have to print money later or raise taxes to pay it back. If it raises taxes to pay for the stimulus, it will, in effect, be robbing Peter to pay Paul - probably with interest. If it prints the money, inflation decreases the value of the dollar for every American - robbing Paul to pay Paul.

10. Economists do NOT Agree this is a Good Idea

No matter how many times supporters of the bill say it, economists do not all agree this bill is a good idea. In fact, hundreds of economists have come out against it, including Noble Laureates, who signed a letter the Cato Institute ran as a full page ad in several major newspapers opposing the stimulus. Still more economists submitted statements to the US House of Representatives opposing the stimulus proposal.

And this only scratches the surface, there are so many more reasons to oppose the stimulus.

>> ^cdominus:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hj111-5
Oh God no!


I would imagine those go up every time a new party takes over. Scary though for sure. Amendments are crazy hard to pass though, its like 3/4s of the states if memory serves.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hj111-5

Oh God no!

It isn't "religion" that explains US involvement. It clearly comes down to two things.. CIA and intelligence efforts require US give Israel whatever they need. They probably exceed US intel by an order of magnitude.

Also US Congress spends most of their money on defense. Israel is just an extension of that system of defense contractors. Israel means more weapons sales and a testing ground for weapons development.

Now the media keeps the waste of money and outragous abuses of Israel away from Americans knowledge and keep up this bullsh-t claims about "best ally" etc.

I mean how many times does your "best friend" have to get drunk and in a brawl that you have to get his back on...

Congress is famous of opening investigations and gather information. The question is. Will they act? Highly unlikely.

The US congress has no balls and no backbone. Their interests do no lie with the country, but rather protecting their asses and playing it safe for the next run for office. Oversight? What a joke. There is no oversight anymore. It is all a political power game to see who can get a foot up on someone else while at the same time protecting each others collective asses so the power game can continue uninhibited.

He who has the most cash and most dirt on everyone else wins.

Mamluks? If any group was enslaved as children and brought up to obey their masters, it's Christian Neo-Conservative "Moral Majority" Republicans. Especially anybody who would vote for Bush, and still hold him in high regard after seven years of disgraceful pandering to corporate interests. I would never accuse any follower of the Bush doctrine of having good taste.

What is the point of even mentioning the Congressional rating? You may as well say, "Bush may have a poor approval rating, but so did King Louis the XVI." Declaring the shit of another leader smelly doesn't make Bush's shit smell any better.

>> ^quantumushroom:
Yeah, because Olbermann's show gets poor ratings and no votes on VideoSift, right, QM?
Ayyyy!!!....no one's accusing you lovable mamalukes of having good taste.
And the taxocrat-controlled US Congress has even lower approval ratings than Bush.

Yeah, because Olbermann's show gets poor ratings and no votes on VideoSift, right, QM?

Ayyyy!!!....no one's accusing you lovable mamalukes of having good taste.

And the taxocrat-controlled US Congress has even lower approval ratings than Bush.

H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007
-http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-1955

Sorry admins. In your desperate attempt to please all of the people, all of the time, you ignore a fundamental law of the universe...that it is in a constant state of flux, chaos, and disorder, as much as you would like to see things (idol worship of mammon) flow progressively forward, you follow the same flawed model that has made some of the most dangerous individuals on the planet, the most inebriated with power consolidation and empire, into the neuvo-hitleresque herders, who have been granted license by the herd, to place rings in noses, and meat in corrals....as many as they see fit, to improve upon their totalitarian tactics, with a view to world domination.

You think that it is fantasy, the ramblings of perceived deranged and damaged minds....once you give in to the radical fringe's demand for "justice", you open the way to all manner of coop, control, enslavement, fear, and death.

Projected onto the internet dynamic, is may seen in the plethora of tunnel-reality blogs, the very beasts you seek to break from with this project....it is not reasonable, that one person, or group of persons, fueled by their emotional, irrational demands for "absolute fairness", should dictate...cloaked in what appears to be simple courtesy, respect, and the absence of ill-will or"hate" towards individuals, is the me me me me screaming, of an un-actualized, ego-driven child, screaming for the sake of screaming, in order to impose their will over all, and all the while, the only entitlement they truly have, has been stolen from them at birth by the grinch, and returned to them looking nothing like xmas.

Only the admins and these demanding children know who these vermin are, (ohhhh, was that hate speech??, go back to elementary school, motherfuckers!) but be damn these weaklings, vampires, and energy suckers. The only thing that will be missed, as these leech-like patrons come and go, is another juvenile link, some borrowed flavor-of-the-week diatribe about racism, fascism, or equal rights for the batshit-insane...and as sure as they leave, another will pop up in their place, devoid of anything but a pom pom and bullhorn for the home-team(prevailing, superficial yet destructive dogma, place in their minds by their programmers)And that is what prompted this post...some pm's to admins by a minority fringe, most likely some of the more vocal up-and-comers, who in their passion for promulgating fairness and love, non-hate and flowers, are really just screaming, "Listen to me and do what I say!!"...

"That's trying a bit too hard to make our attempted assistance for community safety/well-being seem like the work of the Gestapo, especially when this change does not harm anyone in any possible way."

funny lucky, you described in that statement, one of the fundamental flaws of not learning from history's mistakes....("we are only trying to help you, why are you so mad?..this can't possibly be bad, if on the surface, it looks simple and natural??")"what does "harm" mean in the context of that sentence? Rationalizations like these, are why the world is going down the shit-hole, at break-neck speeds.

but don't mind me, I am simply an observer...trapped in a world I never made.

Civil rights became an issue in the US congress because the states where the grievous inequality was occurring weren't doing anything about it, and it wasn't like southern congressmen were voting for it. Strom Thurmond fucking sat and filibustered for a little over 24 hours straight in an attempt to block the bill. It basically took a set of people not immediately connected to the popular vote of the southern states to do anything about it. Its great to think popular vote is the holy grail to all our problems, but when the dignity and integrity of a minority population is set to suffer at the whims of the majority there needs to be an intervention.

Buffett: "I just follow what the US congress tells me to do." That about sums it up. He is making a great point here.
It wouldn't surprise me if his secretary was a millionaire, however, understand that the reason he pays so few taxes is because he doesn't spend his earnings. He is notorious for that. He drives a beater Buick or something. You can earn money-just don't spend it (in the US anyhow).
And if you own a business make sure it doesn't make any money. Then you can be like him in a way.