Politics!

[Alex Mac]

I know what you mean, but isn't universal healthcare a way to legislate morality?

I think that depends on whether is is something that people must have or simply can have. That is tricky territory but compared to marriage legislation and drug laws, for instance, I don't think there is a real comparison . One is a question of what the government should provide, what is feasible. The others are questions of how a citizen should behave due to some moral compulsion. And while arguably you uphold the laws set by government as part of the exchange of the social contract, issues like who can marry or smoking pot are of no real detriment to society as a whole so those shouldn't be factor into the equation at all.

[bridgetosolace]

Meghan McCain is one of the most pathetic "thinkers" the Republican party has. Her position is essentially just democratic; she only calls herself a Republican because of hawkishness, and there are plenty of hawkish democrats.

You can be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. It's not weird. Hell, it makes more sense than "No more big government!" and "We need a government powerful enough to stop people from having abortions!"

Is she a pathetic thinker? I wouldn't be surprised. Is she pathetic relative to other republicans, no. She seems quite clear headed and rational by comparison. Just young and naive.

their entire base would leave them behind and they'd be left with nothing..

Except for the independents.

Oh, and the majority of the republican party.

http://washingtonindependent.com/410...nize-their-gop

There is no plausible scenario under which Republicans can grow into a majority while shrinking our ideological confines and continuing to retract into a regional party. Ideological purity is not the ticket back to the promised land of governing majorities — indeed, it was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of some of our basic tenets as a party that we encountered an electoral backlash.

This whole thing about a base of homophobic racists being the majority of republicans is an illusion, I think. most people voting republican are either ill informed or just don't care what happens as long as their taxes are lower (ie. ill informed assholes). Admittedly, I have no data to support this.

Also, don't confuse conservatism with libertarianism. Libertarianism is the opposite of socialism and has a similar number of proponents. None.

[Berliner]

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/19/...ection-on-air/

Oops! We "accidentally" made the crowd look bigger than it really was. Whutta bunch of goobers.

[Adult Ed]

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/19/...ection-on-air/

Oops! We "accidentally" made the crowd look bigger than it really was. Whutta bunch of goobers.

Again!?

[Berliner]

Pravda means truth.

[scamboogah]

In Russia, newspaper reads you.

[Berliner]

I've been thinking about the effects of the differences in state laws and brain drain lately. We currently have some states that allow gay marriage and some that don't. I wonder if in the long run, the states that prohibit gay marriage are screwing themselves over economically as young, affluent gays who wish to get married move out of their native states and and into more hospitable states, essentially creating what I'm going to call an "interstate gay brain drain." This is what kind of happens naturally, with young professionals of all creeds moving out the sticks and into major urban areas, but I wonder if current laws will increase that with the gay population.

I also wonder how opt in health care or marijuana laws would affect interstate migration.

[akliner]

I've been thinking about the effects of the differences in state laws and brain drain lately. We currently have some states that allow gay marriage and some that don't. I wonder if in the long run, the states that prohibit gay marriage are screwing themselves over economically as young, affluent gays who wish to get married move out of their native states and and into more hospitable states, essentially creating what I'm going to call an "interstate gay brain drain." This is what kind of happens naturally, with young professionals of all creeds moving out the sticks and into major urban areas, but I wonder if current laws will increase that with the gay population.

I also wonder how opt in health care or marijuana laws would affect interstate migration.

I wish it would be as you say, but as a young, gay, (hopefully) one day affluent person myself, I really don't want to move to any of the states which currently allow gay marriage.

Maybe one day we'll get Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin. Then I can be an example of what you postulate.

[Umlaut]

Oh, come on Alex, everyone knows Iowa City is the new San Francisco.

[Berliner]

I'm talking about a time span of a decades.

[smartbunny]

Eventually we will move past all this religious bullshit, but when? We can only keep trying. Conservative Bible thumpers don't see themselves as extreme as the Islamic radicals, but they take away human rights just the same.

[Alex King]

Eventually we will move past all this religious bullshit, but when? We can only keep trying. Conservative Bible thumpers don't see themselves as extreme as the Islamic radicals, but they take away human rights just the same.

Amen!

[Berliner]

I don't see any big changes any time in the immediate future. I don't really expect any changes on the federal level anytime soon. And there are already 29 states that have constitutionally banned gay marriage. I think we can pretty much predict which states might ultimately allow gay marriage; the Pacific Northwest, the Mid-Atlantic, and New England. For those other states, I think it would be fitting if they were punished by the invisible hand for their decision.

[akliner]

Oh, come on Alex, everyone knows Iowa City is the new San Francisco.

For those other states, I think it would be fitting if they were punished by the invisible hand for their decision.

Well, clearly we're on a trajectory. Unless a higher court or legislation decides to say NO, INDIVIDUAL STATES, YOU MAY NOT RECOGNIZE THIS AT ALL, we'll probably see the territories you mention, in the near future, beging to follow suit.

As for punishing the Heartland for its overwhelming refusal to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples...I mean, I don't HATE the idea.

[Berliner]

Here's a geographical representation of gay couples in America.

Georgia: surprisingly gay. No one outgays DC though.

[Berliner]

Also, I regret using the word "punish" to describe the process, because it won't be a conscious boycott by the gay community. Gay marriage is not purely a cultural or social issue, but an economic one, and states that refuse to recognize gay marriage are acting against their own economic self interests.

Of course, it won't be the first time a conservative state has acted against it's own self interest.

/East Coast Elitism.

[Berliner]

I've been talking to others about this idea, and to clarify, I don't think that gays are in general more affluent or talented than the rest of the population. Census studies actually show they are on average poorer than most the general population. The way that brain drain works is that the most talented/skilled/entrepreneural members of a country leave, while the rest are stuck behind. I believe that in the face of state persecution, gays with the means to do so would be rather leave, leaving the rest behind.

[MikeDinosaur]

If you go to Atlanta you will be less surprised.

[Arnold Pomegranate]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/wo...s.html?_r=1&hp
Muslims deserve to be discriminated against until I learn to stop making careless typos while using the internets.

[scamboogah]

Who's (as in 'Who is').

If you're going to insult a country, make sure you're fluent in your own language first.