Indefinite Detention? But I Have Soccer Practice at 4: U.S. Politics 2012

I can't really see the US pushing him on it at all, ever.

http://ussc.edu.au/blogs/Are-red-states-addicted-to-government-spending

With interesting quote from Yglesias, down below:

The poor Mississippians subsidised by rich New Yorkers aren't hypocrites at all. They vote according to their self-interest — for the party that wants to maintain transfers to them. However, on election day, their middle and upper income neighbours are more likely to vote Republican than middle and upper income people New York.

Matt Yglesias, meanwhile, has a good explanation of how federal transfer help even the well-off in red states:

One is that high-income people living in low-income states are generally very conservative in their political ideology but probably benefit more from federal income support programs more than they realize. If you own fast food franchises in the Nashville area, for example, you're going to form a self-perception as a self-reliant businessman but the existence of Medicaid and the Earned Income Tax Credit are helping to ensure that your customers have adequate income to sometimes eat at your Taco Bell. These chains of dependency snake even longer. If you sell luxury cars in Florida, many of your customers are probably medical professionals who are earning high incomes because other people have Medicare benefits. The aggregate geographic transfer patterns, in other words, do make a real difference to the economic life of the nation. The existence of transfer payments props up the entire local economies of low-income, low-productivity parts of the country.

Low income Mississippians aren't decrying government spending while relying on the taxes of rich liberals. But middle-class Mississippians might get more out of government spending than they thought.

http://ussc.edu.au/blogs/Are-red-states-addicted-to-government-spending

eh they can only be voting for their self-interest if they're
a. conscious of it
b. they're not doing some cognitive dissonance thing

what we need to do is just rename everything 'government benefits'

you're not getting social security anymore, you're getting your 'government benefits check'. you're not getting a tax credit, you're getting a government benefits credit. also all highways are renamed to like 'government benefits route 23'

robbery? call the police government benefit
flames engulfing your home? call the fire government benefit

but yeah there's a difference between cagey voters who are cackling and secretly thinking 'have cake and eat it too' and people who genuinely think that they hate cake but have been eating nothing but cheesecake for 10 years and just never really understood that cheesecake is a form of cake, or maybe just decided not to think about it when the subject came up.

"guvmint, hands off my Social Security" etc

I like that government benefits idea.

men & women in uniform: GI GB

I'm an elite government benefits special forces soldier

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/CBGB_club_facade.jpg/250px-CBGB_club_facade.jpg

Country, Blues and Government Benefits

(someone else do the OMFUG part, I'm lazy)

but yeah there's a difference between cagey voters who are cackling and secretly thinking 'have cake and eat it too' and people who genuinely think that they hate cake but have been eating nothing but cheesecake for 10 years and just never really understood that cheesecake is a form of cake, or maybe just decided not to think about it when the subject came up.

― iatee, Wednesday, February 15, 2012 10:14 AM (1 hour ago)

hahahaha

but yeah there's a difference between cagey voters who are cackling and secretly thinking 'have cake and eat it too' and people who genuinely think that they hate cake but have been eating nothing but cheesecake for 10 years and just never really understood that cheesecake is a form of cake, or maybe just decided not to think about it when the subject came up.

lol ... you're still describing morons, though.

CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, the president's tweet was incorrectly attributed to Bo, the Obama's dog. When the president personally writes a tweet, he signs the messages with his initials ("bo"). We regret the error

That's from the Huffington Post

huff huff post

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_02/boehners_bad_week035434.php

was gratified to hear this

er, read whatever

Interesting. I'm glad Mark and Susie are making a stink about this

The Democrats, who could have easily afforded the $5,000-a-plate Obama fundraiser, stood on the curb outside the W Hotel as Buell delivered a tough assessment of the president: "I don't know where he stands on anything," she said.

Though I appreciate her not running into his arms, I think he's made it fairly clear where he stands....

Joe Kennedy III goin for Barney Frank's seat apparently

Meanwhile, in Michigan:

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/michigan-emergency-manager-pontiac-detroit

A+ trolling from Michael Steele and The Root/Slate, calling for the end of black history month:

http://www.theroot.com/views/black-history-month-again

Up next: Michael Steele has his appendix removed, in protest.

Well, this is not a black history month it's an AMERICAN HISTORY month.

payroll tax cut extended:

The agreement came together this week after House Republicans dropped a key demand Monday, saying they would accept the extended payroll tax cut without spending cuts elsewhere in the budget to cover the measure's roughly $100 billion cost.

so glad the GOP made that big stink in December and all they got out of it was forcing Obama's hand to cancel the Keystone pipeline. way to go fucknuts.

the incompetency on display is hilarious/sad

The Michigan emergency manager debacle is really scary. This is the guy in charge:

Schimmel is also a former adjunct scholar and director of municipal finance at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank that shares his enthusiasm for privatizing public services. The center has received funding from the foundations of conservative billionaire Charles Koch, the Walton family, and Dick DeVos, the former CEO of Amway who ran as a Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2006. ... "Our goal is to outlaw government collective bargaining in Michigan," wrote Mackinac's legislative analyst in an email to a Republican state representative last summer.

Keystone decision was just delayed amirite

xp I can't convince my parents at all that this isn't a good step for failed cities that are so corrupt (and this has racism in it btw) that they've been in the red for (x) years, and need a businessman to come in and balance their budgets.

Keystone decision was just delayed amirite

no. State Dept said they can't complete the review and denied the application - they will have to reapply

xp I can't convince my parents at all that this isn't a good step for failed cities that are so corrupt (and this has racism in it btw) that they've been in the red for (x) years, and need a businessman to come in and balance their budgets.

Maybe you should remind them that it basically amounts to rule by regency and we fought a fucking war of independence to get away from that shit.

But probably swear less, IDK...

Just keep referring to the "emergency manager" as what he really is, an appointed Regent of the Governor his Lordship.

aw look at the cute widdle idealists

Obama was interrupted twice by critics of his policies who raised their voices and rushed toward the stage before they were removed.

As Obama hailed the end of the Iraq war and efforts to “focus on the terrorists” in Afghanistan, one woman stood and shouted repeatedly, “stop the killing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

She was swiftly pushed out of the auditorium by an event worker and police officer.

Later, as Obama spoke about regulatory protections put in place under his administration, another guest stormed down one of the aisles shouting. “We don’t want deepwater drilling here,” she yelled as a police officer nudged her to the exit.

Obama made light of the episode.

“This is what San Francisco is always about,” he said, drawing laughter and applause. “There’s always something going on in San Francisco. Folks are not shy about sharing their ideas in San Francisco. It’s fun.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/heckled-obama-at-california-fundraiser-theres-always-something-going-on-in-san-francisco/

Laurel & Viceroy otm. I thought this point was particularly salient:

Emergency managers aren't new in Michigan, which has been in dire financial straits for decades. Public Act 4 (officially titled the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act) beefed up a 1990 law that brought in state-appointed managers to several cities in the 2000s, without much success at stemming the flow of population, jobs, and tax revenue. Pontiac has been under some form of state-appointed management since 2009. Schimmel's predecessor laid off dozens of police officers, hired the county sheriff to patrol the city, and dismissed Mayor Leon Jukowski (whom Schimmel has rehired as a consultant paid at half his previous $104,000 salary). During that time, Pontiac's credit rating had dropped from B to triple-C. "They aren't creating revenue," Williams says of the managers. "You can't just cut your way out of a deficit."

Michigan has turned into a laboratory for recession spending cuts, and turns out it is exactly what is NOT needed...

A pissed Tom Harkin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/us/politics/high-gas-prices-give-gop-issue-to-attack-obama.html

hmmm maybe they should regulate speculation then...?

ya I can't think of any other reason for gas to ever get expensive other than speculation

that's the cool thing about infinite resources like oil, they stay cheap forever (til speculators start fucking things up)

speculation plays a small role, supply/demand drives the price

I believe I read somewhere recently that the recent upticks in price at the pump are, in fact, NOT demand-driven but are the result of speculation, but I'm damned if I can find the link. If only there were some large assemblage of people - let's call them "journalists" - who might have the resources to look into such of thing and might have found it relevant to the news at hand.

Ah, here's one article, from Jan. 23:

#COVINGTON -- Gas prices continue to rise nationwide, despite declining oil prices and demand, but the rate of increase is slowing, according to a spokeswoman with AAA Auto Club South.

#The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.38, according to AAA. That's an increase of nearly 16 cents from a month ago and 27 cents from a year ago. In Georgia, the average price is $3.41 per gallon.

#"(The increase) is not specific to one state. We're seeing that nationwide. It's pretty common that prices increase after the first of the year," usually because the market rallies with optimism that the economy will improve, said AAA spokeswoman Jessica Brady. Another factor driving up prices of late is the threat from Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to block oil shipments.

#Prices are not rising with the rapidity they did at the first of the year, when they jumped as much as 10 to 15 cents in one week, Brady said. But retail prices are still increasing, though oil prices have dropped and demand is the lowest it's been in a decade.

#"It's speculation, not the basic fundamentals of supply and demand," controlling prices at the pump, Brady said. "If that was the case, prices would be much lower. Demand is at a 10-year low. It's not having the effect it should on the market."

well yeah, if iran hadn't threatened to cut off oil to the EU last week, there wouldn't have been the jump in prices. but the broader rise in prices over the last decade is driven by demand increasing at a greater rate than supply, which is stagnating.

Demand is at a 10-year low. It's not having the effect it should on the market.

that would be true if oil was a U.S. market, but it's a global market. U.S. demand is at a 10-year low, but in the developing world continues to increase put pressure on stagnating global production, which sets the overall trend of rising prices.

can't imagine why the aaa club of the south would be biased on this issue zach, I'm pretty sure america is the only place w/ cars

ha ha

arg, totally butchered my last sentence there but it should read "but in the developing world demand continues to increase, put pressure on stagnating global production and sets the overall trend of rising prices."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/images/2006/10/19/dmu_head_in_hands_315x420.jpg

when i put that into google image search i initially typed "hand in heads", no joke. you all are too kind to put up with me

I'd be wary about "head in hands" too tbh