A Tale of Two Republicans

[Phatscotty]

I hear people being scared of religious types all the time. I'm familiar with the advocacy groups you listed, but what I want to know is what major policy you or anyone else believes will be changed?

If they're totally incapable of enacting social policies, why do you think they'd be able to enact fiscal policies?

I didn't say they were incapable, I was wondering what social policies you or others believe they would implement?

I think they are far better with fiscal policies than Republicans or Democrats.

[saxitoxin]

I hear people being scared of religious types all the time. I'm familiar with the advocacy groups you listed, but what I want to know is what major policy you or anyone else believes will be changed?

If they're totally incapable of enacting social policies, why do you think they'd be able to enact fiscal policies?

I didn't say they were incapable, I was wondering what social policies you or others believe they would implement?

these -

- State "Trigger" bans making abortion illegal once Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton are overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
- The separation of church and state is an unconstitutional doctrine.
- We support counseling and the availability of professional therapy options for homosexual attractions and behavior.
- Focus on the Family opposes all forms of legalized gambling for both moral and pragmatic reasons.
- Legislative and enforcement actions to protect individuals and society from pornography.
- Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia violate the sanctity of human life, so we oppose both.

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/sociali ... ssues.aspx

That's ultimately aside from the more significant point, however. I don't think it's an act of civic responsibility to vote for someone who is mentally unhinged or unstable. A person who is eagerly following efforts to breed a magic cow in the hope it will conjure Jesus Christ to return and start a new world war, thereby prompting the judgment day, is not a person who should be placed in a public office that involves voting on nuclear weapons appropriations or launch authority or serving on the committee that confirms the appointment of USSTRATCOM commanders.

[Phatscotty]

I don't think Roe vs Wade is going to be overturned by the Supreme Court anytime soon. I've been hearing that concern pretty much all my life. Heck, Obamacare was just held up and the Second Amendment (Heller) was barely held up 5-4 and the 'Conservatives' seem to be on a Progressive streak atm.

I think the first amendment can be interpreted many ways. By separation of church and state I think most agree the government should not officially endorse or fund any specific religion, but when it comes to removing any mention of God from every single thing that receives a penny from the government, yeah I think it's being heavily abused in that sense and I associate the sudden explosion of school shootings with out of control radical secularism.

I don't see anything wrong with supporting counseling. With Federal dollars I do, but not the personal position. If there were 0% seeking counseling, then yes it shouldn't be an issue. But according to Mets n Mrs interpretation of 'mainstream'....so long as there is a small % of homosexuals who are confused or struggling at a young age, then that's just a mainstream position. And I think that counseling goes a lot of different ways too, not just trying to make gay people straight, but also dealing with the situation and seeking guidance how to fit in or fit out or deal with bullying or discrimination.

I don't see anything wrong at all with taking a position against gambling. I don't find it realistic at all that anyone could, even if they wanted to, ban all gambling nationwide. If someone like that does something like that, I will be criticizing them too, but I suspect that only goes as far as letting the states decide for themselves their own position on gambling.

I will look closer at what legislation is being taken to enforce protection from porn. That doesn't sound realistic to me at all, but I'll check it out and report back.

I don't see any problem either with being for authanasia or against it, unless again it's at a Federal level. if there is actual legislation trying to do that I will look at that too.

On all these issues I think the ball can be moved a little up or down the field, but I don't buy that any of those issues will survive a hail mary attempt, nor do I think anyone from the Tea PArty would attempt those hail mary's

[saxitoxin]

On all these issues I think the ball can be moved a little up or down the field, but I don't buy that any of those issues will survive a hail mary attempt, nor do I think anyone from the Tea PArty would attempt those hail mary's

sorry, but that's the least convincing campaign slogan I've ever heard

"Vote for Lee Bright! He thinks a ton of crazy things but, trust us, he won't actually try any of them."

[Dukasaur]

When has a 3 party system worked in America. What is the problem with a 2 party system? Does that problem remain no matter how good or bad one or both parties are? Isn't our shitty parties actually a reflection of a shitty people who are shirking their responsibilities (collectively)? Do you think the people of America are holding up their part of the bargain? holding their leaders accountable? educating themselves with the process? Would there still be a major problem to you with a 2 party system if 1 of the parties was the Libertarian party? What is your ideal situation for number of parties?

It doesn't matter if you have two parties or twenty, if their policies are indistinguishable.


Making a mockery of capitalism by bailing out the bankers whenever one of their fraudulent Ponzi schemes goes sour:
Democrats
Republicans


Bombing the shit out of third-world countries and killing tens of thousands of innocent people:
Democrats
Republicans


Making a total mockery of the Fourth Amendment and steadily chipping away at any presumption of privacy or security from unjustified searches and seizures:
Democrats
Republicans


Maintaining the illegal concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay:
Democrats
Republicans


Maintaining the world's largest prison population and condemning millions of people to prison for the "crime" of wanting to engage in social and recreational drug use:
Democrats
Republicans


Steadily increasing the size and power of the government's bureaucracy despite various dissimulating protestations to the contrary:
Democrats
Republicans


Demonizing poor people who exploit nickel-and-dime loopholes in the system while holding banquets for defense contractors who pillage millions and bankers who rob the taxpayers for billions:
Democrats
Republicans


Maintaining a covert war against the people, building a steadily-expanding police state, and fanning paranoid fears of a terrorist around every corner:
Democrats
Republicans


Supporting Tweedledee because some trivial semantic difference in his propaganda has led you to the mistaken conclusion that he's less evil than Tweedledum is just self-delusion.

[Phatscotty]

I'm well aware of the similarities between Republicans and Democrats.

do you have opinion on the following: Why is it the 2 parties are so similar? Does that problem remain no matter how good or bad one or both parties are? Isn't our shitty parties actually a reflection of a shitty people who are shirking their responsibilities (collectively)? Do you think the people of America are holding up their part of the bargain? holding their leaders accountable? educating themselves with the process?

[Phatscotty]

On all these issues I think the ball can be moved a little up or down the field, but I don't buy that any of those issues will survive a hail mary attempt, nor do I think anyone from the Tea PArty would attempt those hail mary's

sorry, but that's the least convincing campaign slogan I've ever heard

"Vote for Lee Bright! He thinks a ton of crazy things but, trust us, he won't actually try any of them."

That isn't what I meant. I meant how realistic are those concerns? Let's just stat with Roe vs. Wade. You really think that is going to be overturned? I find it extremely unlikely

[saxitoxin]

On all these issues I think the ball can be moved a little up or down the field, but I don't buy that any of those issues will survive a hail mary attempt, nor do I think anyone from the Tea PArty would attempt those hail mary's

sorry, but that's the least convincing campaign slogan I've ever heard

"Vote for Lee Bright! He thinks a ton of crazy things but, trust us, he won't actually try any of them."

That isn't what I meant. I meant how realistic are those concerns? Let's just stat with Roe vs. Wade. You really think that is going to be overturned? I find it extremely unlikely

As a matter of personal policy, I don't vote for crazy people on the assumption there are probably responsible people who would restrain their craziness once they're in office.

[saxitoxin]

On an unrelated note, I laughed at this quote from the South Carolina newspaper The State ... both the quote itself and "the recent unpleasantness" in lieu of "civil war." There's a charming, aristocratic politeness to it.

“We tried that, and it didn’t work out so well,” state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said on a suggestion by another lawmaker that South Carolina take over some then-closed federal park sites, such as Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, the scene of the start of the recent unpleasantness.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/10/20/3048 ... rylink=cpy

[Dukasaur]

I'm well aware of the similarities between Republicans and Democrats.

do you have opinion on the following: Why is it the 2 parties are so similar? Does that problem remain no matter how good or bad one or both parties are? Isn't our shitty parties actually a reflection of a shitty people who are shirking their responsibilities (collectively)? Do you think the people of America are holding up their part of the bargain? holding their leaders accountable? educating themselves with the process?

Part of the problem can be found here:


That's at least part of the problem, but it isn't the whole thing. I think the rest of it goes deeper, right to the fact that homo sapiens is a pack-forming animal, and when the pack is threatened we are instinctively willing to surrender some of our individual rights to help ensure the survival of the pack. Unfortunately, leaders since the dawn of time have learned to cynically exploit this tendency, and to twist every problem into a power-gaining mechanism for themselves.

That's not a uniquely American phenomenon by any means. We talk about it vis-a-vis the U.S. because the U.S. is the world's most powerful country and therefore the most dangerous, but in fact the exact same thing goes on in every country. Dictatorship is the normal state of affairs for established nations. Egypt was a dictatorship for 5,000 years under the Pharoahs, had a brief flowering of relative freedom under the Ptolemys, and then sank back into despotism under the Romans and the Arabs. That's pretty much what you find with every society you look at -- long dark ages of despotism, brief bursts of delicious freedom, and then a return to despotism.

Can anything be done about it? Possibly. Instincts can be overcome by the rational mind. Not easily, and not reliably, but they can. I think that although the mass of humanity looks dumb as a stump at any given moment, humans are actually getting smarter and more rational over time, and the multiplication of learning opportunities, first through printed and now through electronic media, will help the learning process. As with anything, it's three steps forward and two steps back. The Internet has helped expose many of the Establishment's lies, but it also breeds new lies to replace them. I don't expect things to get radically better in any short term, but I think in the long term they will.

[saxitoxin]

Lee Bright has just filed another extension to the FEC's financial disclosure requirements. He now has until December to release his financial statements.

http://www.fitsnews.com/2013/11/16/lee- ... not-filed/

At this point we can only guess what's in the mysterious documents. Some of the comments are interesting, though who knows if they're true ...

Bright's business isn't just "struggling," as he says. It's nearly completely defunct. So much so that Senator "Not So" Bright is now working for an "Environmental Services Company." What his job title is, or how he got the job in the first place, remains a mystery. One thing is for sure: the environmental industry is heavily regulated by DHEC and by the legislature. And since legislators have to be in Columbia 3 days a week, 6 months a year, he would need a pretty permissive and forgiving employer.

Lee Bright is not a good businessman. He owes so much money to so many people and businesses. He would also call around to people to help him float his budget every month. Wonder what he did in return? He never went to college, did not get any training in business, and had limited training in any kind of trade. Not to knock non-college graduates but unless you have a skilled trade or learned to run the family business with experience, you have nothing. That was Lee Bright.

[Phatscotty]

Isn't that what we hate about parties and the party system....they always put their party ahead of their country or what's best, right?

This is a different

[saxitoxin]

Isn't that what we hate about parties and the party system....they always put their party ahead of their country or what's best, right?

This is a different

So he's not going to endorse a Republican?

[Phatscotty]

Isn't that what we hate about parties and the party system....they always put their party ahead of their country or what's best, right?

This is a different

So he's not going to endorse a Republican?

He's not endorsing the GOP, no. I would bet he backs someone who is far more Libertarian or Constitutionalist in the primary against the GOP.

[saxitoxin]

Isn't that what we hate about parties and the party system....they always put their party ahead of their country or what's best, right?

This is a different

So he's not going to endorse a Republican?

He's not endorsing the GOP, no. I would bet he backs someone who is far more Libertarian or Constitutionalist in the primary against the GOP.

Would a Libertarian accept an endorsement from someone who supports troops in Afghanistan, is opposed to same-sex marriage, is opposed to drug legalization, and wants to ban abortion?

[Phatscotty]

IDK. We'll have to see who runs and what they stand for.

I know of a Libertarian who supports GPS trackers on every automobile in Virginia for taxation by the mile purposes and took money from Obama's #1 bundler, and still got 6.5% in a recent governor's race (See: Democrat governor).... so it depends on what kind of Libertarian you are talking about. I guess they have been a bit confusing lately.

If they are just a tool for the Democrats, then no, they probably won't take an endorsement from a Tea Party Senator, regardless on his position of where people like to stick their penis/rub their vadge. Really it should be none of anyone's business, not sure how it became the most important factor to consider when voting.

If they are a fiscally Conservative Libertarian and want more than 5% of the vote and have a good chance to be a fiscally Conservative Libertarian Senator in the Federal government who happens to have an R in front of their name but does not participate in the GOP and in fact stands against the GOP and puts their career on the line to do so, then I think they should accept the endorsement, yes.

[saxitoxin]

If they are a fiscally Conservative Libertarian and want more than 5% of the vote and have a good chance to be a fiscally Conservative Libertarian Senator in the Federal government who happens to have an R in front of their name but does not participate in the GOP and in fact stands against the GOP and puts their career on the line to do so, then I think they should accept the endorsement, yes.

If I'm not mistaken, Tim Scott was never elected, he was appointed by Gov. Haley. And Gov. Haley announced she's not endorsing Graham before Tim Scott did. Lindsay Graham, for his part, didn't endorse Gov. Haley in 2010, and Gov. Haley apparently has a habit of making revenge endorsements when people cross her.

So, I'm not sure how doing what your sugar mama tells you to do is a big risk, but on the scale of risks, I suppose it's a bigger risk than showering without a bath mat.

[Phatscotty]

[saxitoxin]

Lee Bright has just filed another extension to the FEC's financial disclosure requirements. He now has until December to release his financial statements.

http://www.fitsnews.com/2013/11/16/lee- ... not-filed/

At this point we can only guess what's in the mysterious documents. Some of the comments are interesting, though who knows if they're true ...

Bright's business isn't just "struggling," as he says. It's nearly completely defunct. So much so that Senator "Not So" Bright is now working for an "Environmental Services Company." What his job title is, or how he got the job in the first place, remains a mystery. One thing is for sure: the environmental industry is heavily regulated by DHEC and by the legislature. And since legislators have to be in Columbia 3 days a week, 6 months a year, he would need a pretty permissive and forgiving employer.

Lee Bright is not a good businessman. He owes so much money to so many people and businesses. He would also call around to people to help him float his budget every month. Wonder what he did in return? He never went to college, did not get any training in business, and had limited training in any kind of trade. Not to knock non-college graduates but unless you have a skilled trade or learned to run the family business with experience, you have nothing. That was Lee Bright.

The extension just expired and it was worse than anyone imagined ...

This website told readers (repeatedly) the U.S. Senate campaign of Lee Bright was headed for an implosion … and last week it finally happened. Bright – a State Senator from Spartanburg, S.C. – owes creditors up to $3 million, most of it attributable to the spectacular failure of his trucking business.

“So he knows how to run a business like Government,” S.C. Rep. Gary Simrill tweeted last weekend. “I want somebody who can run Government like a business.”

Read more at http://www.fitsnews.com/2013/12/16/lee- ... PcBd2ku.99

Unless his parents are willing to let him move back home after his house is sold at sheriff's auction, he absolutely must get that Senate seat to erase his debt through vote trades with his creditors. He'd fit right in with the rest of Congress, at least.

[BigBallinStalin]

He'd fit in with the President as well, but we shouldn't expect His supporters to come clamoring in about how great He is and of how much He has done for us.l

[Phatscotty]

Lee Bright has just filed another extension to the FEC's financial disclosure requirements. He now has until December to release his financial statements.

http://www.fitsnews.com/2013/11/16/lee- ... not-filed/

At this point we can only guess what's in the mysterious documents. Some of the comments are interesting, though who knows if they're true ...

Bright's business isn't just "struggling," as he says. It's nearly completely defunct. So much so that Senator "Not So" Bright is now working for an "Environmental Services Company." What his job title is, or how he got the job in the first place, remains a mystery. One thing is for sure: the environmental industry is heavily regulated by DHEC and by the legislature. And since legislators have to be in Columbia 3 days a week, 6 months a year, he would need a pretty permissive and forgiving employer.

Lee Bright is not a good businessman. He owes so much money to so many people and businesses. He would also call around to people to help him float his budget every month. Wonder what he did in return? He never went to college, did not get any training in business, and had limited training in any kind of trade. Not to knock non-college graduates but unless you have a skilled trade or learned to run the family business with experience, you have nothing. That was Lee Bright.

The extension just expired and it was worse than anyone imagined ...

This website told readers (repeatedly) the U.S. Senate campaign of Lee Bright was headed for an implosion … and last week it finally happened. Bright – a State Senator from Spartanburg, S.C. – owes creditors up to $3 million, most of it attributable to the spectacular failure of his trucking business.

“So he knows how to run a business like Government,” S.C. Rep. Gary Simrill tweeted last weekend. “I want somebody who can run Government like a business.”

Read more at http://www.fitsnews.com/2013/12/16/lee- ... PcBd2ku.99

Unless his parents are willing to let him move back home after his house is sold at sheriff's auction, he absolutely must get that Senate seat to erase his debt through vote trades with his creditors. He'd fit right in with the rest of Congress, at least.

Odds are he will not see the inside of a jail cell

A new study of how criminals vote found that most convicts register Democratic, a key reason in why liberal lawmakers and governors are eager for them to get back into the voting booth after their release.

“Democrats would benefit from additional ex-felon participation,” said the authoritative study in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

The authors, professors from the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University, found that in some states, felons register Democratic by more than six-to-one. In New York, for example, 61.5 percent of convicts are Democrats, just 9 percent Republican. They also cited a study that found 73 percent of convicts who turn out for presidential elections would vote Democrat.

[saxitoxin]

Canadian Government - Ted Cruz May Be Spy and/or Insane

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz vowed months ago to renounce his Canadian citizenship by the end of 2013. It's now 2014, and the Calgary-born Republican lawmaker is still a dual citizen.

"Unless there's a security issue that hasn't been disclosed, unless there's a mental health issue that hasn't been disclosed, there's no reason for anything other than a lickety-split process to occur," Richard Kurland, a Vancouver-based immigration attorney, said in an interview Friday.

Canada's best-known citizenship renouncer, Conrad Black, said in an email Friday that it "doesn't take long" for the revocation process to work.

Stephen Green, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, was equally perplexed.

"It's not complicated at all," said Green, whose firm, Green and Spiegel, reached out to offer help to Cruz at one point but never received a return phone call from the senator's office.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ted-cruz- ... 67?cmp=rss

Cruz' father is best known as an armed insurgent with Fidel Castro's RAF-M/L (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba - Marxist/Leninist), though he has since declared himself reformed. There has been no independent verification of his ideological rehabilitation, however, and some have noticed Cruz's life story is eerily simmer to that of the communist sleeper agent Raymond Shaw in the classic film The Manchurian Candidate -

[Dukasaur]

Well there's your answer! He's waiting to see if a better offer from Cuba will be put on the table!

[Phatscotty]

Canadian Government - Ted Cruz May Be Spy and/or Insane

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz vowed months ago to renounce his Canadian citizenship by the end of 2013. It's now 2014, and the Calgary-born Republican lawmaker is still a dual citizen.

"Unless there's a security issue that hasn't been disclosed, unless there's a mental health issue that hasn't been disclosed, there's no reason for anything other than a lickety-split process to occur," Richard Kurland, a Vancouver-based immigration attorney, said in an interview Friday.

Canada's best-known citizenship renouncer, Conrad Black, said in an email Friday that it "doesn't take long" for the revocation process to work.

Stephen Green, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, was equally perplexed.

"It's not complicated at all," said Green, whose firm, Green and Spiegel, reached out to offer help to Cruz at one point but never received a return phone call from the senator's office.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ted-cruz- ... 67?cmp=rss

Cruz' father is best known as an armed insurgent with Fidel Castro's RAF-M/L (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba - Marxist/Leninist), though he has since declared himself reformed. There has been no independent verification of his ideological rehabilitation, however, and some have noticed Cruz's life story is eerily simmer to that of the communist sleeper agent Raymond Shaw in the classic film The Manchurian Candidate -

Marxist, just like Obama