so yeah, the american government shutdown...

[losCHUNK]

Yea man fuck bills

[GONNAFISTYA]

It's too bad they stopped the shut down. I was hoping to see the end of an arrogant empire...maybe with the Pentagon exploding...perhaps to the sound of John Williams' music.

Now, we'll have to wait another few months to see if it finally dies. Oh the wait is unbearable.

[losCHUNK]

I was surprised to see how many times it was shut down in the past, Jimmy Carter and Reagen must have been hated.

[seremtan]

i love the smugness of the WSJ on this: "we can get away with this kind of shit because we're so rich". yeah, i bet all those furloughed public employees trying to buy food for their kids with no money must feel pretty fucking smug right now, the bastards

[shaft]

Not to mention all the fox news anchors who claimed it was no big deal...life wasn't any different for them during the shutdown.

[GONNAFISTYA]

lol Conservative governance, etc.

[seremtan]

difference between liberals and conservative...

- scene: exploding Death Star

liberal commentator: "there was no need for such violence! those stormtroopers are just as much victims of the Empire as the resistance! Tarkin and Vader should have been put on trial!"
conservative commentator: "Tarkin and Vader - who's gonna weep for those guys? as for the stormtroopers - they put on the uniform, they made their choice."

- scene: exploding Pentagon

liberal commentator: "they were tools of oppression, they made their choice. woohoo burn baby burn!"
conservative commentator: "those were innocent people in there, with families, who never hurt anyone! if people have issues with foreign policy they should write to their congressman or woman!"

[seremtan]

This guy is on point.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151899681508984

on the point of a nervous breakdown...

[Ryoki]

How likely is the scenario of the GOP splitting apart over this i wonder?

From what i've been reading it's almost like the tea party monster of stupid has now grown out of control of it's designers... even folks like Drudge and the Koch brothers are calling what happened utter madness. It would be a fine day if that were to happen, both sides would be totally marginalized. Of course common sense says a split is not in any republican's advantage, but the tea party folks seem to be real bad at common sense. They're pretty good at blind ideology and ignoring facts that do not compute with their view of the world though.

Or the public might punish the tea partiers come voting time. But that's assuming the American voter has a political memory, so yeah, lols to that. Also, there's the thing with gerrymandering and districts and all that nonsense, which i completely fail to understand every time i try to educate myself about it. It's some highly arcane shit, and it seems to be in the republicans advantage.

Will be interesting to see what happens in any case...

[GONNAFISTYA]

lol....muricuh will keep shitting it's own bed and will learn absolutely nothing from this because stupid...



I mean, when you're 0 for 18 in your demands, get absolutely nothing for your troubles except everyone hating you and see it as a "victory" then you simply cannot be reasoned with...even on your best day...because you literally live in a different universe than the rest of us...

[lvlshot]http://www.msnbc.com/sites/msnbc/files/new_demandsx.jpg[/lvlshot]

I mean look at that chart. It's not a list of reasonable demands, it's literally a list of demands they lost they election on: even though they lost the election (and have been continually losing the "war of ideas") these idiots think they're actually in control and, despite losing the election, are saying it's the "will of the people". No, it's the will of the crazy voice in their head only they can hear.

lol muricuh, etc

[obsidian]

No, it's the will of the crazy voice in their head only they can hear.

The Tea Party are whiny little cunts who behave like those spoiled children who roll around on their backs at the store when they want something their parents won't buy for them. They have been told by voters that they can't have what they want so they stage this whole mess for some attention and a mad attempt in hopes that someone will cave in the embarrassment of having a stupid little shit as part of the country's government and throw them a bone to shut them up.

It's maddening to think that for most people, if you refuse to do your job for a couple of weeks, the result will be in your dismissal. Yet for these Tea Partiers, they can walk off the job, hold the country hostage, put thousands of other people out of work and pay, yet still get paid for their little unauthorized furlough.

[Pext]

it's literally a list of demands they lost they election on

interresting: is this the consensus of the media in the US on this matter?

the consensus here in germany is that obama won because he had the better campaigning tools in the swing states. his team was lightyears ahead with their statistics - enabling them to individually target the right people (undecided voters) at a personal level.

question to q3w: how did other countries' media report on this?

[seremtan]

the GOP and Dems are two wings of the business party. Obama won because business decided he would be better camouflage for their campaign of wealth concentration than the other guy, who - like Bush - would blab about it the whole time and draw too much undue attention to what the business people were doing

also, the whole 'first black prez' thing was a nice distraction too. pretty sure Rosa Parks didn't stick to that seat just so some Harvard lawyer could become the acceptable face of empire and plutocracy. not sure though

[GONNAFISTYA]

From what I remember, the main pillars of the last election campaign were healthcare & jobs...with the Repubs repeating their "drill baby drill" mantra for flavor. I don't know how much of an issue it was, but the healthcare and jobs bit was talked about constantly. My takeaway was that the yanks elected the person they thought could help on both...and it wasn't a Republican...who ran on repealing "Obamacare" (based on his exact same healthcare idea he implemented in Massachusetts) and his "business acumen" (which obviously nobody trusted) and lowering business regulations.

Their demands to "deny healthcare coverage to the President" was simply childish spite from complete and utter psychopaths.

But yeah...the yanks can clear up whether or not the Republicans are trying to have an election-issue/policy debate at gunpoint after the debate's been over for more than a year.

[Plan B]

the GOP and Dems are two wings of the business party. Obama won because business decided he would be better camouflage for their campaign of wealth concentration than the other guy, who - like Bush - would blab about it the whole time and draw too much undue attention to what the business people were doing

also, the whole 'first black prez' thing was a nice distraction too. pretty sure Rosa Parks didn't stick to that seat just so some Harvard lawyer could become the acceptable face of empire and plutocracy. not sure though

Cynical, but I agree.
Still, assuming Obama follows the same rough strokes route his GOP counterpart would have, this Obama-care thing pushing through would constitute a fly in the corporate agenda ointment, no?
But yeah, probably a nice little trade off.

[seremtan]

does it though? i mean, what is it exactly? it certainly isn't NHS-style public healthcare

[losCHUNK]

does it though? i mean, what is it exactly? it certainly isn't NHS-style public healthcare

I *think* obamacare just provided healthcare cover to people that weren't poor enough to be eligible for Medicaid, but aren't rich enough to afford their own ?

I also *think* it's extending rules from existing policies to those that weren't eligible before, an idea from the Republicans ? . Sounds like a classic case of storm in a teacup.

[Transient]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZkk6ueZt-U

[seremtan]

my first thought watching that was "this is fucking complicated, and i'm glad i just pay 10% of a my taxable salary straight from my pay cheque for full coverage public healthcare"

but then again... when people know they can rely on government without any thought or effort on their part, it tends to normalise the idea that government is the answer to every problem - which is bad for freedom

it's kind of the same thing with sales tax. when it's listed separate from the unit cost (as it is in the US where it's added at the cash register), you're constantly aware of it, and that awareness helps to maintain a constant downward pressure on tax rates. on the other hand, when sales tax is included in the unit cost on the price label (as it is in the UK) it becomes invisible. of course, we know it's 20%, but that's just an abstract value until you actually cash it out (literally) in pounds and pennies

[losCHUNK]

Remember the tory cuntbags promised to drop it back to 17.5 when the economies been brought back from death, but they said that when they increased it from 15 to 17.5 in the 80s. Which was initially a temporary measure to kickstart the economy after the war. Fucking Tory cunts.

I think it's also worth mentioning that private healthcare is forced to deal with A&E cases ?, so the government would have to be involved somehow ?, and why should the private sector stump up the cash for these costs which are obviously passed on to paying customers ?. It's a social policy.

I'd say public healthcare is the responsibility of the government just as much as education. I am probably biased having been raised in a British bubble tho and can't see how this would impact on freedom because the option for private healthcare is still available. I would also hate the idea that my health would be handled by an insurance firm n all.

I think you're hinting at the people who see the NHS as an entitlement to be abused rather than a privilege ?, can't really argue with that cos we know it happens, but I also hold the opinion that those people have kids to stay out of work and 'free' healthcare wouldn't responsible for that.

[Transient]

my first thought watching that was "this is fucking complicated, and i'm glad i just pay 10% of a my taxable salary straight from my pay cheque for full coverage public healthcare"

You're right, it's all a bit too complex. Fortunately, lots of doctor's offices offer free help from specialists who can guide people through the process of getting enrolled.