Government Shutdown (US)

There's a great line in the film "Charlie Wilson's War", when the title character complains that he doesn't want to be too closely identified with helping the Afghan rebels because it might be offensive to his Jewish supporters and he is asked, "How many Jews in your distict?"

"Seven. But congressmen aren't elected by voters, they're elected by contributors."

Until we change that, I'm afraid it's going to be more of same.

Hope you get your HUD situation straightened out.

 

Unfortunately, that plays right into their hands.

 

True, but what are they doing to get younger people like me any less jaded, or give us any desire to participate? Most of us between 18-35 are either like me and want nothing to do with it period, or they just parrot whatever "mega-star X" says.

 

I would think the desire to throw the bastards out would be enough.

 

Bingo. It's definitely not about the Congressional paycheck they get from the gov., it's the millions they get in graft and campaign donations.

I channel surfed CSPAN this morning. I caught some hearings about graft in the EPA, been going on for a decade, had to do with the CAFE Standards and money that found its way into an employee's pocket via a sweetheart deal from Mercedes-Benz and a decade long pay bonus that was on auto-pilot while the employee, John Beale skipped a lot of work.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/EPAI

I don't know all the details, it's complex. Beale has pled guilty to stealing close to a million. But somewhere in all that he got a deal from Mercedes while Beale conveniently worked in the EPA office working on the C.A.F.E. standards.

Then there are all the revolving doors. Write legislation benefitting a company, then take a high paying job with the company shortly after.

And there's a slew of insider trading going on in Congress.

Gingrich has quite the deal, he raises campaign money then pays his own company for campaign work.

Our Representative, Dave Reichert, has his elderly mother on his payroll.


It's definitely about the money and the failure of mainstream news media to provide the investigative reporting we really need for a half-way functional government.

 

That's because if the media report someone in Congress for doing something shady, then they or their affiliate will have their press privileges pulled.

 

You get the government you vote for, Dude. I don't agree though with your assessment of the 18-35 yr olds. My son's 24, he's very well informed, and yes, there is some futility in the mix, but not voting only makes it worse, IMO.

 

A press pass for Air Force One or the White House Press Corp is fortunately not the only source of political news. But you do have to make an effort to be informed.

But until more people become media literate, we won't likely see much progress.

 

I'm with Ginger on this. You can't stand on the sidelines and complain. You have to at least vote, otherwise you're letting them steamroll you. You might think it's not much, but it's infinitely better than nothing.

Look at it this way: the Tea Party candidates won by forfeit because you, and people like you, decided the system was broken and that voting was pointless.

 

Aw, now you see?? I had just decided to stop kicking around the forum for the night and finally settle down to working on my novel, and then I see that @minstrel has posted something in my political thread and I had to come back and see what it was. So, thank you, minstrel, so bloody much for messing up my plans for a productive evening!

 

Gaah! Whatever you do, don't not write on my account! (Damn, where's that unpost button ... oh, I forgot. Deleting posts is impolite ...)

 

@GingerCoffee Ma'am, you can read so please take time to read my post again, and properly. I did not mention any CT - just your bad manners for dragging when into your lost argument. You are free to spend how long you like posting long-winded rants about your insulate views but believe me when I say I skip past them, even when you're on a roll making 4 in a row as you have on this page alone.

All I asked was when you do try to drag me into your futility that you at least have the manners to tag me in it so I can respond rather than whispering behind the bike shed.

I'll thank you in advance.

 

Is behind the bike shed anything like under the bleachers? If it is, that sounds like fun.

 

What are they distracting us from, erebh? And how is that not suggesting a conspiracy to distract the American public?

Of course some people believe the issue is being used as a good time to release news they'd prefer wasn't paid attention to, but that's not a conspiracy to hide said events.

 

I'd not be so quick to brush off a well informed person as entrenched and desperate.

 

Yet another difference between you and I then. I'm pretty well informed myself. And, to clarify, I'm not brushing you off... I'm just not playing

 

And yet you used the ad hom, "desperate". That doesn't say, not playing. It says ad hominem dismissal of any different conclusions another might have drawn.

 

What makes me sick, is that the Republicans right now, instead of spending time trying to iron out a resolution, are sitting in an empty House trying to pass bills to fund only parts of the budget in order to save face. Get it done. If they weren't getting paid until it got done, they would have a solution tonight.

 

That's your perception, but it's not what I said. The way you shouted down erebh was, imo, an attempt to discredit his thoughts and discount his viability to even have an opinion - because he just got here and clearly has no idea what he's talking about (in your opinion). Your PM to me furthered that same stance, as you attempted to get me to understand that he had no right his views. It all seems pretty desperate to me, but hey, I could be wrong.

EDIT: Also, just in case you missed it.. what you did with erebh was 'ad hom' all day, so pot? Meet kettle.

 

All I will say on the matter is that I second this^

 

still can't find the @ button, tsk tsk...

Go ahead and think all the US govt has on their plate right now is the shutdown, ok...

I will not, repeat, I will not get into an argument with you so be a good girl and move along.

And as for PMing people about me behind my back... well that in itself says a lot about you but I'll bit my docker's tongue.

 

Careful there @Andrae Smith some people might think you believe in the Lizard People...

 

There's no sense going any further, Trish. Erebh made a specific claim he has yet to elaborate on or support. He also makes no secret he believes in a One-World-Government conspiracy. You are the only one who said pointing that out was the equivalent of calling him crazy, a falsehood since I never used that characterization. It's not an ad hominem to ask someone to elaborate on the specifics of and/or support a claim. Nor is it the equivalent of shouting someone down.

I take back the first sentence I used in response to your post. I only intended to take the discussion out of the thread and the public sphere. But I never intended to insult erebh despite the fact he insults me from time to time. Here is the PM, lest anyone think I'm talking behind erebh's back:

"He is one, sorry. Erebh is convinced Obama is in on the OWG conspiracy.
I wasn't trying to call him out on it, just reply to his claim that made no sense. He also just got here from France and he's from Ireland. (Maybe you know this.) I doubt that people who are not as exposed to the politics of the last 4 decades in this country have been saturated with the intensity of the right/left divide we have here. I'm not sure what kind of coverage they've had in other countries, some, but not as much as we have."​

I apologize for carelessly answering your statement, "Why don't you just come right out and call him a crazy conspiracy theorist?" I did not call him "crazy" and apologize to erebh for being careless about that in my reply. I only meant he is a conspiracy theorist, which he makes no secret of. People can add their own adjectives to a belief that "Obama is in on the OWG conspiracy." And if you also believe that, people can draw their own conclusions about what such beliefs say about you or any person.

My position is such a belief is unsupportable. It is not that someone holding said belief is crazy, and I will not let you paint me as calling anyone crazy when those were your words, not mine.

 

Well who's to say there are no lizard people @erebh ? And who are they to tell me what to believe. The point of life is to have one's own experience. Politic viewpoint, like religion these days, is a matter of personal perspective .Therefore who is to say what is truly right or wrong? What is "right" and "wrong", "good" and "bad", "true" and "false", "normal" and "out there" all perspective So let Some People (I know just out to watch for) say what they they will.

I'm not here to preach but everyone is entitled to there own perspective. I like to tell people, "live my life, share my thoughts, know what I know, then you can have your say of my view." I could say a lot about things some many people would call ludicrous, but to me, it's true enough based on what I know and where I've been. Everyone should have their own experience and judge for themselves what is true. The reality of this planet and it's history have been warped and the minds of people molded.

But I'm not here to talk about that. All I have to say is that with this much going on between the political parties, I just wonder what agenda is really being hidden. The fact is, we should be aware of the possibility that there might be more here than what meets the eye. Which is all you said. Anyone can draw from that whatever they like.

 

I'm not aware the @ notation results in a notification in the current thread format. I use bolding of names so people can see when I've said their name in a post.

As for your reply here, you've dodged and still aren't saying what it is you think the Ds and the Rs are conspiring together with a phony government shut down to cover up.