Nutjobs Ranting About Politics.

[Return of the Sarge]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Club might want to think about this as he sets up his island:

Ty, the folks on the island are very talented. But we are a very small island and would not think of trying to compete with Germany in machinery.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by bilmore
Kerry... has fudged and obfuscated enough to make me believe that he will do none of it. The True Kerry could not win this country, and he knows that. Look at his history of campaigns - he has done this over and over. Plus, he always comes up with some image-fix in the short weeks before voting day, wins the vote, and then sort of quietly ignores what he promised to do in that short period. Those who ignore history are doomed to _________. (Fill this in for extra points.)

Doomed to repeat it. George Santayana.

Now, on to your main point here. The historic Kerry who makes campaign statements he has no intention of keeping.

Compare and contrast with Bush's "compassionate conservative" tripe. We already covered stem cell research. Let's look at his tax cuts.

I'll give him a nod for the child tax credit and for starting to move towards equalizing the marriage penalty. But he gets more demerits for the dividend tax break. The only people who benefit from this are the wealthy. The vast majority of middle class and working sitizens who own stock do so through either 401(k) plans or IRAs. A dividend tax break does nothing for the average taxpayer whose dividends are all tax-free to begin with. And we can move on to capital gains or the estate tax. Again, tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.

Now, how about education. Bush's No Child Left Behind program has failed to make significant inroads. Kerry's proposal has a lot more promise. Provide federal funds to increase the salary of good teachers, dependent upon a commitment to weed out bad ones.

John Ashcroft. Enough said, right?

All candiates make promises. Few end up keeping all of them. So we choose based upon who we feel has the better overall program. If you start handicapping candidates based upon what we actually believe they will accomplish, we will all end up voting for Gerald Ford, who promised nothing and made us all confident he would deliver just that.

[bilmore]

In the interests of bringing the conversations back into a civil posture, I bring you . . . .

Ted Rall!

(Bet you didn't know that Republicans . . . excuse me, I mean Necropublicans, per Teddy boy . . . were gleefully impaling people on 9/11. Teddy always brings out that "I wish I could meet you in a dark alley" sort of emotion in me, and today he's outdone himself.)

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by baltassoc
Italy, where it just isn't an election unless someone's head gets blown off with a high-power rifle.

If someone had posted this hatred about an Islamic country Sidd and AG would be calling them a racist and demanding an apology, if not trying to have the poster banned. I realize that balance will not occur, but I cannot help but continue to point to the hypociscy that is rampant here.

The fact that Ty or the other "leaders" hides their hate better than the lower IQ'd is of no moment. This type post should be deleted.

[Return of the Sarge]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../ts_nm/iraq_dc

Why the hell are the Iraqis not storming the damn most already. As I understand it, all 3,000 of Sadr's fighters are surrounded there. If the Iraqis can put this uprising down, mostly on their own, wouldn't that not be a huge confidence booster for the Iraqi people in the new government?

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by bilmore
Troops are useless in the present Korean situation, except as hostages for NK to threaten.

As to Europe - this was a long-overdue combination of punitive action (via the loss of the spending) and strategic thinking (there's no reason to keep them there - the SU is gone, no one's running tanks from EG into NATO country, and they are way out of position for any currently conceivable conflict.) We kept them there as a sign of solidarity. They spit on us. The people I know who were there tell me that they were treated like crap by the locals. So, in the face of their disdain, and the strategic pointlessness of their presence, why pay to keep it going?

And, "forces the EU to build up troops"? Ain't gonna happen. Not at all. Think "occupation authorities."

Occasionally, we even find ourselves in agreement.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by taxwonk
But he gets more demerits for the dividend tax break.

Just a quick thought as I run to a meeting:

Didn't I just read that the top 20%'s share of total taxes dropped from (I'm trying to remember the exact numbers, but I may be off, but I'll have the scope correct, at least) 64.6% to 63.7%

(Those are the folk above $183k/year, so I'm guessing those are the rich to whom you refer when you claim they disproportionately benefit.)

Does that drop - from 64.6% to 63.7% - really justify the kind of false class warfare hysteria we're seeing here?

[baltassoc]

So, Bilmore,* was this a bizarre freudian slip, or a subtle play to the local crowd? Does the red threat still play big in Wisconson?

Bush speaks of 'Soviet dinar' in speech about Iraq

* I address this at Bilmore merely because he was there,** not to be antagonistic. Or any more antagonistic than normal.

** Or perhaps at a different stop yesterday; I confess I don't keep track of Bush's campaign movements. Or Kerry's, FWIW.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Return of the Sarge
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../ts_nm/iraq_dc

Why the hell are the Iraqis not storming the damn most already. As I understand it, all 3,000 of Sadr's fighters are surrounded there. If the Iraqis can put this uprising down, mostly on their own, wouldn't that not be a huge confidence booster for the Iraqi people in the new government?

Maybe achieving a peaceful resolution and bringing Sadr into the political process (where he'll lose big-time, as his support is a paper-thin layer of fanatics) is the best thing the new government can do as it attempts to bring civil order to the country, establish legal processes, and gain the support of its citizens who mostly just want some sort of peaceful government that works. I think pulling this off would be a coup for them.

It may not work - hell, it probably won't work - but it's worth trying.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by bilmore
Just a quick thought as I run to a meeting:

Didn't I just read that the top 20%'s share of total taxes dropped from (I'm trying to remember the exact numbers, but I may be off, but I'll have the scope correct, at least) 64.6% to 63.7%

(Those are the folk above $183k/year, so I'm guessing those are the rich to whom you refer when you claim they disproportionately benefit.)

Does that drop - from 64.6% to 63.7% - really justify the kind of false class warfare hysteria we're seeing here?

As I noted a few days ago, looking at the total share of taxes doesn't really measure the disparity in the tax cuts. You have to compare effective tax rates. The top 1% of filers enjoyed a 6% drop in their effective tax rate. The middle class got less than 1%.

And really, Bilmore. I responded to one of your posts with a simple recitation of facts. You call that "false class warfare hysteria." Who's engaging in hyperbole here?

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by bilmore
Maybe achieving a peaceful resolution and bringing Sadr into the political process (where he'll lose big-time, as his support is a paper-thin layer of fanatics) is the best thing the new government can do as it attempts to bring civil order to the country, establish legal processes, and gain the support of its citizens who mostly just want some sort of peaceful government that works. I think pulling this off would be a coup for them.

It may not work - hell, it probably won't work - but it's worth trying.

They've tried 4 times now. Sadr is similar to Araphat. He is not a willing partner in peace, mostly because he knows that if he gives up the violence his own usefulness is gone. Look at what you just posted. It is clear he will have little support in the democratic process. Little support = little power. He is not going to give that up. I think he should be crushed and crushed quickly, preferrably by the Iraqis, so they can move forward.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by baltassoc
So, Bilmore,* was this a bizarre freudian slip, or a subtle play to the local crowd? Does the red threat still play big in Wisconson?

No, but the "Saddam cut off their hands because the currency value dropped" does. Big time.

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
If someone had posted this hatred about an Islamic country Sidd and AG would be calling them a racist and demanding an apology, if not trying to have the poster banned. I realize that balance will not occur, but I cannot help but continue to point to the hypociscy that is rampant here.

The fact that Ty or the other "leaders" hides their hate better than the lower IQ'd is of no moment. This type post should be deleted.

He who ignores history is doomed to repeat it.

The history of Italian politics in the last half of the 20th century is a bloody one, at least by the standards of a Western democracy. For the 50 years following WWII, Italy had both a substantial Communist block and several small not-inconsequential neo-facist parties. The extremist portions of these two groups were not shy about using violence, and regularly assassinated office holders and candidates they found particularly offensive. Mostly, however, they just killed each other.

With the decline and fall of communism in the last 15 years, these groups have mainly disappeared, the communists finding themselves adrift and the facists going legitimate.

I'm more than happy to discuss (and condemn) the violence - both terrorist and state sponsored - in the United Kingdom, but such violence seems to be more tied to seasonal activities than to political cycles, so is less relevant here.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by taxwonk
As I noted a few days ago, looking at the total share of taxes doesn't really measure the disparity in the tax cuts. You have to compare effective tax rates. The top 1% of filers enjoyed a 6% drop in their effective tax rate. The middle class got less than 1%.

And really, Bilmore. I responded to one of your posts with a simple recitation of facts. You call that "false class warfare hysteria." Who's engaging in hyperbole here?

Why do you not look at the burden side as well?

[bilmore]

Originally posted by taxwonk
As I noted a few days ago, looking at the total share of taxes doesn't really measure the disparity in the tax cuts. You have to compare effective tax rates. The top 1% of filers enjoyed a 6% drop in their effective tax rate. The middle class got less than 1%.

And really, Bilmore. I responded to one of your posts with a simple recitation of facts. You call that "false class warfare hysteria." Who's engaging in hyperbole here?

I note that you like to discuss these issues in terms that do not readily reveal what your numbers really mean. Thus, you don't like to see that your hated rich pay almost three quarters of all taxes paid in this country. It's safer - less revealing - to use your "more accurate" statistic that can be recited in a vacuum.

There simply isn't all that much tax left to cut in the lower groups. When the top earners are already made to shoulder the vast majority of the burden, of course any cut is going to fall to their benefit.