j_b

After decades of running up the deficit through "free trade", wars of aggressions, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, the corporate party cuts $40 billion from necessary social and developmental programs, yet ignores the bloated war budget and tax cuts for those who don't need them. Austerity, here we come: the budget proposal from Obama's catfood commission is touted as the middle of the road compromise. This farce would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic for so many. Spending Cuts Will Reduce Jobs "A $60 billion cut, when assigned a fiscal multiplier of 1.5, would impact GDP by roughly $90 billion for the rest of this fiscal year alone. This would result in a decline in output by a little more than one-half of a percentage point of GDP, resulting in a loss of around 590,000 jobs."

Sociopaths can be extremely smart but it doesn't make them likable; it's often the contrary in fact. Extreme intelligence is not required to be decent with the rest of the human race.

That's OK, contrarily to some, I don't claim to have a lock on humor.

the banksters drove the economy over the cliff and the bushistas started 2 quagmires because none of my best friend is a Republican?

I especially like the part about holding hands while her friends tells her all about illegals and welfare queens. So loving

No, what I said is that I never had a right winger as "best friend" and you keep spewing about "friends", whatever the hell that means. I am usually quite intolerant of bigots, racists, and warmongers yet you'll hardly find anybody who interacts as much with the opposing viewpoint as I do. Ergo your caricatures don't really capture my reality at any rate.

generalize much, perhaps?

Well, let's say that I may have been on friendly terms with a conservative who had dignity and didn't make outlandish claims about others, but "best friend"? Not very likely. My best friends all have some form of egalitarian perspective. People who spend a lot of time together tend to have the same sensibilities toward the world around them. Like people who stay married for example.

My best friend is a sociopath [/twitch]

conversations about grammar or shrill whining or whatever else your pathetic pal feels like trolling about today?

If what Kastama says is true roped off areas that are out of bound but accessible from the inbound area wouldn't be affected by the bill, which seems odd as this scenario certainly involves many if not most incidents. All these distinctions certainly aren't apparent from the verbiage in the bill. As for Alpental, only the Denny mtn SE bowl would be involved (the inbound area), whereas the Tooth-Bryant basin is considered backcountry and would therefore be excluded by the bill?

oops, must have moved when he grabbed it ..

"Detroit had 33.8% of its residents below the federal poverty level in 2007, the highest among large U.S. cities.[106][107] In contrast, Metro Detroit suburbs are among the more affluent in the U.S.[108]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit It seems like a good thing that bond markets account for all liabilities so that demagogue politicians can't promise tax cuts and government services but I am not too sure about the intent of Moody's Investors services to do so at this juncture.

Indeed, it is a sad state of affair when the senate is divided 50-50 about gutting the Clean Air Act, which also points to the dinosaurs among Democrats. Who are the 4 Dems that voted for the Inhofe-McConnell flat earth rider?

Another nicely done Joseph Stiglitz piece: Japan's disaster and the global recession provide stark lessons on societies' failure to manage risks Experts in both the nuclear and finance industries assured us that new technology had all but eliminated the risk of catastrophe. Events proved them wrong: not only did the risks exist, but their consequences were so enormous that they easily erased all the supposed benefits of the systems that industry leaders promoted.[...]This brings us to the next question: are there other "black swan" events waiting to happen? Unfortunately, some of the really big risks that we face today are most likely not even rare events. The good news is that such risks can be controlled at little or no cost. The bad news is that doing so faces strong political opposition - for there are people who profit from the status quo.

Naw, you don't want that money, there is little to no correlation between wealth and being content. Sending the taxman when they kick the bucket however seems like the thing to do. Aren't we supposed to promote meritocracies?

hey look, douchebag is back with more non-sequitur. With your kind of logic, I'd conclude that you go around looking like Attila.

Sure, it could be a good source of revenue but sales taxes aren't the way to a sustainable revenue scheme. In fact, decreasing sales taxes concurrently with creating a state income tax on higher income would be my preferred solution.

Whatever you trundle, make sure you don't take out the stumps. Save the stumps!

Meanwhile in Olympia: About 50 people protesting budget cuts under consideration by Washington state lawmakers spent the night in sleeping bags on a hard marble floor of the state Capitol in Olympia. The Washington State Patrol asked demonstrators to leave but also told them officials would not arrest anyone who stayed overnight. They were a mix of members of several community groups and college students who are lobbying lawmakers to end 567 tax breaks on certain industries and services. Some called proposed budget cuts immoral and said they would disproportionately hurt the poor. The state faces a $5 billion budget deficit. A few lawmakers mingled with the crowd. Later in the night, several senators brought food for the protesters. Labor groups planned more protests Thursday and Friday. Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Budget-demonstrators-spend-night-at-Wash-Capitol-1326235.php#ixzz1IqhFZX9j

No, it wasn't a joke for me. It has always been about liberals content with working on these issues and ignoring everything else Obama is doing. AND, now it's about sense of humor, for suffering your and your pals constant mind-numbing stupidity, perhaps?

the only child who pretends he hasn't been called a recurrent liar and won't try to disprove it, is you. Nobody else.

The bill doesn't say "confines of a ski area". Someone in the testimony uses that formula, but there could be an area of gray such as an access road through the ski area?

the bill says "a person shall not". It doesn't say it has to be a ticket holder.

"A person shall not ski on a ski slope, trail, or area that is designated by a ski area operator as closed to the public and that has signs posted indicating the closure. Any person who violates the provisions of this subsection commits a civil infraction and is subject to a monetary penalty of up to one thousand dollars." http://www.nwbroweather.com/2011/02/senate-bill-5186-passes/ Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: This bill deals with the areas within the confines of a ski area and hopefully, will prevent someone skiing into an area where avalanche control activities are occurring. Currently, if a sign says an area of the ski area is closed, the person skiing in the closed area can have their pass pulled. Persons are not taking the signs seriously. This bill will let people know that we are serious. We want to avoid costly expenses on rescuing these individuals and paying for unnecessary lawsuits. The bill should be amended to remove “national” for the ski patrol. Ski areas have ski patrols that are not all national ski patrol members. Persons Testifying: PRO: Senator Kastama, prime sponsor; John Kircher, Crystal Mountain; Paul Baugher, Northwest Avalanche Institute.