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Republican? Just scream and lie.

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  • Republicans have controlled the state legislature for three decades. They've mismanaged everything very badly, including ignoring several state Supreme Court rulings ordering the legislature to fix the unconstitutional way in which it funds education. As a result, Ohio's population has continued to shrink. Brain drain has become a slow cancer as educated residents move to states with more opportunity and less oppressive policies.

    Still, Republicans continue to win seats by promising what geriatric, frightened, undereducated, socially conservative, Bible-thumping, ignorant biddies want to hear: Low taxes. Now, they haven't kept taxes low; Republicans have just operated in such a way as to disseminate a high tax burden on local jurisdictions in the form of levies and bond issues. But that makes no difference to know-nothing voters.

    So, now facing an $8 billion state budget deficit, Republican leaders are sharpening knives and casting blame on the very public employees that have a chance to save Ohio's economy -- the teachers. Nevermind that teachers already make 2.2 percent under the equivalent private sector salaries. No, teachers need to stop leaching off the system and bleeding Ohioans dry, Retardicans say!
  • They want to cut education because smart people won't vote for them, and they know it. Keep 'em dumb to stay in office.

    New law. If an elected official ever says anything that is directly contradicted by well established fact, and refuses to recant when presented with evidence, jail. Jail? Doesn't have to be a lot of jail, just a small amount of jail. Months, weeks, or even days. Not years.

    You might think that's crazy extreme. Well, the harm that is caused by a person in such a position of power believing in bullshit, or pretending to, far outweighs the harm caused by a single drug user, a single drug dealer, a single burglar, and many other crimes that we do put people in jail for. So why not?
  • Don't even get me started. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio is pushing House Bill 5 to break all public employee unions, meaning teachers, firefighters, police, and other employees would no longer be able to do collective bargaining. Kasich plans to bomb Ohio education back into the stone age by reducing new teacher salaries to $17,000 and salaries for teachers with master's degrees to $32,000. He wants to have the power to fire any teacher who strikes, and fine them twice their daily salary for each strike day; this includes hiring permanent scabs during any public employee union strike.
    Can you give a source for those figures? Not that I necessarily doubt you, but I haven't been able to find them and I'd like to have my bases covered.
  • My favorite bit was the guy who wants starting teacher pay to be 32k with a master's degree. It's an understatement to call that insulting. I love that the guy who said it also has no master's degree, doesn't belong to a union, and makes several times what he wants starting teacher pay to be.
  • edited February 2011
    Anti-intellectuals should be purged from society. We should ostracize all of them to a community of tents in the Sonoran Desert.
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • I feel like a new Mecca could be made in Wyoming if we could get enough people there. It doesn't even have 600k people. All we need is the construction and technology.
  • edited February 2011
    From the Union busting bill in Wisconsin.

    16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state-owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).

    In summary, the governor gets to sell any of the power plants that the state owns, without taking bids, and without over sight because he alone deems that it is in the "public interest".

    haha... Wisconsin, you deserve everything you get for tossing Russ Feingold out. Why would you not take bids?
    Post edited by Cremlian on
  • The most idiotic thing about the situation in Wisconsin is that the governor is trying to "fix" problems that mainly he himself caused.
  • edited February 2011

    WooooooooooW the governor is a stupid dude.


    It's Legit.....
    Post edited by Cremlian on
  • edited March 2011
    Looks like some chickens are coming home to roost for one Mr. John Ashcroft. That's what you get for using a law that was meant to protect material witnesses and/or stop them from fleeing the country to lock up and torture American citizens.
    I fucking hate that entire administration.

    Oh, and this shocklingly racist bullshit from Texas just breaks every bound of human decency. It can be summed up thusly:
    "Fuckin imm'grants taken all our jrrrrbs! GTFO! This is Amr'ka!...unless you want to be a servant. Than we cool, Pedro."
    Post edited by GreatTeacherMacRoss on
  • edited March 2011
    Is this whole Koch/Walker thing a crazy conspiracy theory or is it true?
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • Is this whole Koch/Walker thing a crazy conspiracy theory or is it true?
    Well, that call is confirmed to be real, what that actually says, is another story.
  • Why then, are people still framing this as a union issue and not a corrupt governor issue?
  • Why then, are people still framing this as a union issue and not a corrupt governor issue?
    Because that seems more "balanced".
  • Rush Limbaugh makes negative comments about Michelle Obama's weight. I'm sorry, if there's anyone who shouldn't be addressing anyone's weight it's that scotch-swilling Oxycontin-munching smokestack lardass.
  • Here you go, Adam. This will make you feel better: Canada says right-wing broadcasters need not apply.
  • Here you go, Adam. This will make you feel better: Canada says right-wing broadcasters need not apply.
    I saw that. I wish we had that sort of law here. Can you imagine what they would have to broadcast if they weren't allowed to just lie?
  • I can imagine the Supreme Court cases about speech and the press, opinion, speculative journalism, spin, and the merits of "watchdog" pessimism.
  • I can imagine the Supreme Court cases about speech and the press, opinion, speculative journalism, spin, and the merits of "watchdog" pessimism.
    I'd have no problem if Fox explained clearly that they were not news or journalism, but in fact a mouthpiece for the conservatives in my country. My beef with them is they make shit up and pass it off as truth.
  • I can imagine the Supreme Court cases about speech and the press, opinion, speculative journalism, spin, and the merits of "watchdog" pessimism.
    While it seems like the Canadian law against lying on the news is effective, I think it has serious issues, and violates free speech. I think a better way to make the law is to frame it with the commerce clause, since we can limit commercial speech all we want. I have a better idea. All media calling itself news must be non-profit. It's like how any beverage using the word juice has to actually be 100% juice extracted from actual fruits. Let them have all the crazy right wing lying programming they want, they just can't use the word news to describe it, or the network that it is on, if they want to make any profits.
  • edited March 2011
    So everything that is news is NPR? Awesome!
    Post edited by Hitman Hart on
  • So everything that is news is NPR? Awesome!
    NPR with much better productions values and no pledge drive. It's basically the greatest thing ever. :P
  • So everything that is news is NPR? Awesome!
    NPR with much better productions values and no pledge drive. It's basically the greatest thing ever. :P
    I'd be happy with NPR with no pledge drives alone.
  • While it seems like the Canadian law against lying on the news is effective, I think it has serious issues, and violates free speech.
    We do limit free speech in cases where it causes an immediate perceived harm. To have a news organization knowingly pass fabricated facts as the truth does our union a great deal of harm, on a daily basis.

    It may currently be a bit of a stretch, and you may be correct that the commerce clause would be an easier approach, but putting forth the case that an organization in a place to be respected and listened to as an authority on a subject should be censored, and censured, if they are abusing the authority that the people have placed in them in good faith.

    The Press has always been seen as the fourth estate of politics, as such we should ensure that it serves the people and not its own quarterly earnings statement.
  • NPR with much better productions values
    waaa? you mean like the video? because I've found their radio stuff to be very well produced.
  • NPR with much better productions values
    waaa? you mean like the video? because I've found their radio stuff to be very well produced.
    There are fewer technical difficulties, and the flow is a little more like commercial radio. Also, they have a team of comedy writers writing skits for their human interest shows. So that's pretty fun.
  • Oh, and this shocklingly racist bullshit from Texas just breaks every bound of human decency. It can be summed up thusly:
    "Fuckin imm'grants taken all our jrrrrbs! GTFO! This is Amr'ka!...unless you want to be a servant. Than we cool, Pedro."
    I think you are misunderstanding the nature of this exception, and misrepresenting it. The proposed bill appears to be: if you knowingly hire a illegal, you will be fined $10k. That is unreasonable for many situations, because generally the majority of independent maid and lawn services are entirely illegals, and there is no reasonable way to check this on hiring one, and most people don't care enough to check if they could. The exception that this article points out is that if you are a family independently hiring these people you are not subject to that fine. This exception does not seem to include any business hiring illegals as "servants" and really is only a protection for individuals or families, not an exception based on position, or type of position.
  • Oh, and this shocklingly racist bullshit from Texas just breaks every bound of human decency. It can be summed up thusly:
    "Fuckin imm'grants taken all our jrrrrbs! GTFO! This is Amr'ka!...unless you want to be a servant. Than we cool, Pedro."
    I think you are misunderstanding the nature of this exception, and misrepresenting it. The proposed bill appears to be: if you knowingly hire a illegal, you will be fined $10k. That is unreasonable for many situations, because generally the majority of independent maid and lawn services are entirely illegals, and there is no reasonable way to check this on hiring one, and most people don't care enough to check if they could. The exception that this article points out is that if you are a family independently hiring these people you are not subject to that fine. This exception does not seem to include any business hiring illegals as "servants" and really is only a protection for individuals or families, not an exception based on position, or type of position.
    It still doesn't sit well with me, and I can't shake the feeling that there are loopholes.
  • Well, they're purposefully constructing a loophole. I think in this case, provided they make it do what they say it will do, it shouldn't do much more that keep individuals from getting hit by a law directed at companies. I guess if someone set up weird fronts for doing business they might get through, but that has a whole host of problems anyway.
    Of course there is the decent chance that people will find a way to circumvent the law, but there always is.
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