j_b

Most people don't think balancing the budget is priority number #1. People first say they want jobs and balancing the budget the conservatives way (includes Obama) is a "job killer". Why is the corporate media trying to get us to buy the frame put forth by the catfood commission (Obama's commission) that budget has to be balanced now by cutting essential social programs?

"Asked what most viewers and observers of Fox News would be surprised to learn about the controversial cable channel, a former insider from the world of Rupert Murdoch was quick with a response: “I don’t think people would believe it’s as concocted as it is; that stuff is just made up.” "We Were a Stalin-esque Mouthpiece for Bush" -- Fox News Insider

I couldn't balance that budget, but it's likely because it included many catfood commission talking points. Anyway, the issue is less to balance the budget today, than to stop the stupid bleeding (wars, tax cuts for the wealthy,tax evasion by corporations, gift to pharmaceutical industry, etc ...) and get the economy going based on fair trade, rebuilding sustainable infrastructure, cutting out waste, etc ..

What's mind boggling is the refusal to consider what we'd be like if we had been conquered before our industrial revolution and the civil war, and our wealth had been captured by tyrants and foreigners. What was the state of human rights in this country at that time?

it had nothing to do with eco-righteousness and everything about knowing who rides the bus. [ exactly, you don't even know and yet you are pontificating. I don't have the numbers but I am willing to bet that a large majority of bus riders in seattle/king county are lower midde class and poor (although with your economic legacy it's hard to tell the difference nowadays)

more drivel devoid of all historical context, like what were islamic societies before colonialism and what have they been in the 150 years since.

you just have to build the line further out, which can only happen if you have build a central grid. Are you really this clueless? here comes the attacks on public workers. Did anyone ever hear JayB bitch about doctor salaries and their unions? what an hypocrite!

you clearly don't ride the bus very often. hyperbolic blowhard.

It sure is, but it's no excuse to claim that Islam as a whole is worse than judeo-chritianity based on rhetorical hypocrisy about 'suicide bombers' and 'collateral damage', and big fucking blank in response to the historical record of who used terror, and of colonial-imperialism in the ME.

rising health care cost will break the bank too. Single payer is in order.

You are subject to a little historical amnesia perhaps? I wonder what could have prevented most arabs from self-governing in the last 1.5 century. I wonder who installed autocrats and supported them during all that time? Now, that's full on denial of the legacy of colonialism and imperialism. For example, Islamic fundies wouldn't have power in Iran if it weren't for big oil and imperialists. Remember how your side didn't like Mossadegh (the prime minister for secular democracy) because he wanted Iranians to profit from their resources, how there was a coup d'etat agasint him, and we supported the iranian security state that terrorized its people for decades until the Iranian revolution?

ah yes, the reptilian red-baiter beneath the pseudo-intellectual veneer Cheating again. Islamic religion being violent doesn't make it more violent than judeo-chritian or other religions as can be seen in the widespread use of violence and terror by widely differing heritage. as viewed through the distorting lens of Islamophobia.

... tic toc tic toc

The argument is so ridiculous that I didn't understand how it related to this thread, but considering JayB's red-baiting tendencies beneath the mouthy veneer, it is actually quite in character.

I read somewhere that the average cost of owning a car is ~10k/year.

when transportation to and from the burbs costs you more than your mortgage, it's naturally reflected in property values. But as long as "free market" zealots keep subsidizing the highway lobby, and prevent public investment in mass transit don't expect that reality to be reflected in the planning of our communities and transportation schemes.

we didn't talk about this recently. You are cheating again but your diversion won't make up for the fact that your thinly veiled islamophobia has no rational basis. Contra terror isn't more benevolent than terror by islamists, for example. Terrorists committing suicide are not more evil than those who get away with it, despite your and Harris' twisted logic and demagoguery. etc .. all points that you have yet to address. Cheater. and I never said what you just claimed I said. There were/are left wing apologists for stalinism but I personally always fought them as hard as I fight extremist libertarians like you.

acknowledging 150 years of western colonialism and imperialism in the ME is 'inherently patriarchal'? the $3 trillion we are spending to control Iraq and Afghanistan only speak to our egos?

In the meantime, we spend nearly twice as much on health care as other developed nations, thanks to the insurance middlemen who take 30% of all expenditure for not delivering any care themselves, and doctors and administrators paid disproportionate amounts thanks in great part to doctors' unions.

after years of cheering on Bush and his disastrous policies, might I add.

Be careful or j_b will call you a Social Darwinist. no, that takes years of Kocksucking or its equivalent, which you and your pals have done.

Bullshit. If time was the limiting factor you would address the salient points formulated by the opposite side instead of rehashing ad inifinitum the same debunked ideas in long-winded monologues.

you are a troll. You have nothing to say beside ad-hominems.

what an ignoramus blowhard you make (sigh) "Social Darwinism, term coined in the late 19th century to describe the idea that humans, like animals and plants, compete in a struggle for existence in which natural selection results in "survival of the fittest." Social Darwinists base their beliefs on theories of evolution developed by British naturalist Charles Darwin. Some social Darwinists argue that governments should not interfere with human competition by attempting to regulate the economy or cure social ills such as poverty. Instead, they advocate a laissez-faire political and economic system that favors competition and self-interest in social and business affairs. Social Darwinists typically deny that they advocate a "law of the jungle." But most propose arguments that justify imbalances of power between individuals, races, and nations because they consider some people more fit to survive than others. The term social Darwinist is applied loosely to anyone who interprets human society primarily in terms of biology, struggle, competition, or natural law (a philosophy based on what are considered the permanent characteristics of human nature). Social Darwinism characterizes a variety of past and present social policies and theories, from attempts to reduce the power of government to theories exploring the biological causes of human behavior. Many people believe that the concept of social Darwinism explains the philosophical rationalization behind racism, imperialism, and capitalism. The term has negative implications for most people because they consider it a rejection of compassion and social responsibility." Robert C. Bannister, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. Professor of History, Swarthmore College. Author of Social Darwinism: Science and Myth and On Liberty, Society, and Politics: The Essential Essays of William Graham Sumner. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE "Social Darwinism," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000