Politics!

[CaptainBreakfast]

There's this bullshit too:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010...e.html?_r=1&hp

[nathansmart]

omg what is happening to this country?

[Ian Brill]

Air America ceases to be

As soon as I read the news I went to Marc Maron's Twitter. It did not disappoint.

"RIP http://airamerica.com/ Thanks for all you did for me, the country, the voice of truth and justice and screw you for slowly ruining it."

[ProfessorShutYoMouth]

What a week.

They're talking a constitutional amendment in response to the Supreme Court's decision:

President Obama and congressional leaders have vowed to fight back against Thursday morning's Supreme Court decision rolling back restrictions on corporate campaign spending. Among the possible responses under consideration: an amendment to the Constitution.

"It's time to take matters into our own hands to enact a constitutional amendment that once and for all declares that we the people govern our elections and campaigns, not we the corporations," said Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) in a video produced by a coalition of progressive groups led by Public Citizen and Voter Action.

"This is a ruling that really jeopardizes the rights of ordinary Americans to have a voice in the political process," Edwards told HuffPost.

The suggested amendment would strip a corporation's personhood for First Amendment purposes. The Supreme Court ruled that federal restrictions on corporate money for campaign advertisements violated corporations' free speech rights.

I find it funny that the Democrats go from "Hey, let's abandon this health care thing...it's too hard" to "Let's amend the Constitution!" in the space of 24 hours.

Personally, I'd like to see them get the Fair Elections Now Act passed.

[bridgetosolace]

I can't possibly express to you how much more important for the country as a whole this amendment would be than even universal health care.

It will never happen, but holy god please try.

I'm not one to protest, but this is something I would support publicly.

[funnyclown]

I can't possibly express to you how much more important for the country as a whole this amendment would be than even universal health care.

I agree. Next to this, universal health care looks like little more than a nice perk. This is an opportunity for the sort of move--amendment or not--that truly represents the kind of change Obama was supposed to bring to Washington. It's also an issue that could resonate across party lines. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I'm excited by this.

[Teaflax]

Is Lieberman familiar with what left wing parties are like just about anywhere else in the world?

Very few American politicians seem to be. If they are, they tend to just say that America is different, so it doesn't matter.

Because if he was he would realize the Democrats are already pretty fucking centrist.

Honestly, in every other Western nation, they approximate to the majority right wing party and the Republicans to the loony fringe right. The perceived center in America has been pulled incredibly far right from about the Reagan years onwards. Just witness the difficulty of getting any kind of significant health care reform which pretty much all outside observers think should be an absolute no-brainer.

[crimestick]

Nice rebuttal, Ibuprofen.

[Umlaut]

FINALLY, some "Activist Judges" the Fox News crowd can get behind!

Honestly, this is the worst American news of the week-- a week in which a Republican took Ted Kennedy's senate seat and it was confirmed Jay Leno would be taking back the Tonight Show.

I really, really hope that Congress can not be totally ineffective for once in their lives and overturn it.

[nathansmart]

Ibuprofen actually makes a good point about drug prices in Europe vs. American prices.

[Berliner]

I think there have been a lot of very significant studies are questioning the theories that fiscal Republicans have always taken for granted. For the past thirty or so years, Republicans was always assumed that economic equality and absolute economic growth did not go hand in hand. In this framework, America chose absolute economic growth and Europe chose economic equality. America therefore grew at more vital pace while Europe slowly chugged along.

A lot of studies now are starting to put that into doubt. It could be argued that America has sacrificed economic equality over nothing. Everything that was gained in the beginning and the middle of the 2000s has been lost. The Anglo economies of the US and UK have lost the most and suffered the worst. Plus, studies have shown that, against conventional wisdom, Europeans are actually more productive than Americans when you factor in the larger number of holidays and vacation hours they receive.

You would think these kinds studies would make Republicans have some sort of existential crisis, but it feels like their solution to the problems that America is facing now is to go even further into their ideology over pragmatism. They believe that the market can solve everything. Less regulation. More tax cuts. It's like a blind belief that every problem can be fixed by the same tool. That a hammer can not only drive in a nail, but can also screw in screw.

The biggest thing I'm worried about for future of the US is its lack of willingness towards government investment on infrastructure. It seems like the consensus is that if it can't be done privately, it shouldn't be done at all, and the government will only waste the money. From the last five years, I've seen private individuals make insanely stupid investments in real estate and I've seen private businesses make insanely stupid investments in the stock market. The market is supposed to even that out, but it hasn't. The government is doing that. Could the government spending some money on healthcare, a high speed railway, alternative energy, or fixing schools be more of a waste of money than buying a McMansion with a interest only balloon loan?

I always will be fairly liberal (in the economic sense) because I've seen the good it can do and the improvements it can make in people's lives in China (and Asia in general). The economic reforms there have taken 400 million people out of absolute poverty in about 20 years.

At the same time, looking at America in the past five years, I hope people are learning the lessons of what capitalism as an ideology and as a solution for every social problem will do to a country.

Now time to go back to studying for Business School.

[nathansmart]

what a waste of time Berliner

[Umlaut]

tl, dr


(jk i a t 1 w l t p)

[Berliner]

what a waste of time Berliner

Business school or the time it took me to write that post?

[nathansmart]

Business school or the time it took me to write that post?

being Asian

[MikeDinosaur]

If Berliner doesn't get health care passed I'm blowing up his flight to Canada.

[Berliner]

I have to go back and say if health care doesn't pass, it's more the system's fault than the Democrats in this case. They have all the votes they need in the House. They had 60 votes in the Senate, and now they have 59. Both of these are pretty clear majorities, and its crazy that there can't be a vote. You can say that the democrats represent 59% of the population, but its actually much higher than that because some states have more people than others, and I think the Democratic Senators combined represent closer to like 70 or so of the US population, even splitting Massachusetts. The fact that a bill that is supported by the Representatives of a clear majority of the US people can't be voted on is actually blatantly antidemocratic, and it just goes to show how outdated the filibuster is. (And I would think the same thing if the Republicans controlled the Senate.)

[Berliner]

Whoops, 70% is kind of off base.

[Berliner]

http://www.samefacts.com/2010/01/cor...ce-to-tyrants/

[Umlaut]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmag...00123_1007.php