Dems Raid Food Stamps to Pay Off Union Supporters

[prole]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm all for legalization. It's just that the rest of the program you're peddling would (further) fubar the country long before we saw any benefits from decriminalization. It's a great standard bearing issue though, could really bring those pasty Penn and Teller types out of their computer gaming dungeons and into the voting booths.

[JayB]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm all for legalization. It's just that the rest of the program you're peddling would (further) fubar the country long before we saw any benefits from decriminalization. It's a great standard bearing issue though, could really bring those pasty Penn and Teller types out of their computer gaming dungeons and into the voting booths.

 

You're on dangerous ground here. It's a slippery slope from marijuana legalization to allowing adults to consume trans-fats. Pretty soon the guys at the Elks club will be able to host a bingo-night without filing for a permit and then we're two steps away from armageddon.

[JayB]

But yes - get Marijuana legalization on the ballot and the 0.4% of the Washington state voters that have libertarian leanings will storm the ballot booths.

[prole]

Have you heard about Big Government's War on Sodium? Ask Fairweather about it, he's trying to gather enough signatures to get the State Attorney to file a complaint on constitutional grounds!

[prole]

But yes - get Marijuana legalization on the ballot and the 0.4% of the Washington state voters that have libertarian leanings will storm the ballot booths.

 

I'm more worried about the damage bozos like Rand Paul inflict if they're elected partially thanks to a "commitment to legalization" they never intend to pursue anyway.

[Fairweather]

For myself, until he becomes a real person, and not a faceless/nameless flamethrower who appears not to read more than the first 3 or 4 words of others posts, I've giving up reading his stuff. If JB ever stops ranting and becomes a climber, I'd probably start reading his stuff. Until then: I'm done with the person (I say person as I don't know if jb is a guy or a girl actually). I suspect if he used his real name, he'd be a lot nicer.

 

I have a picture of j_b that may help you understand:

 

[j_b]

More baseless whining and lies about the cost of public employees but still nothing about the banksters and their Washington stooges who broke the economy or the ruinous geopolitical wars of aggression ... no credibility whatsoever!

[j_b]

Gosh - Washington must be quite an anomaly, since pay and benefits constitute 60% of the state's budget.

 

which confirms that your provincialism and cherry picking aren't consistent with proper methodology to draw lessons relevant to the national scale.

 

Also interesting that Kulongoski, like Villaraigosa in LA - cleverly disguised himself as a labor advocate for a couple of decades and, in Kulongoski's case - two terms as governor - before peeling off the mask and revealing himself as a member of the regressive oligarchy!

 

so? is it supposed to be news that establishment Democrats have implemented regressive polices for decades now?

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Gosh - Washington must be quite an anomaly, since pay and benefits constitute 60% of the state's budget.

 

which confirms that your provincialism and cherry picking aren't consistent with proper methodology to draw lessons relevant to the national scale.

 

Also interesting that Kulongoski, like Villaraigosa in LA - cleverly disguised himself as a labor advocate for a couple of decades and, in Kulongoski's case - two terms as governor - before peeling off the mask and revealing himself as a member of the regressive oligarchy!

 

so? is it supposed to be news that establishment Democrats have implemented regressive polices for decades now?

 

Hi, j_b!

 

Have you climbed anything cool recently?

 

-- KK

[j_b]

Kulongoski proposed several ways in which to dial back compensation: getting employees to pay the 6 percent pension contribution many public sector entities pay on their behalf; engaging in statewide collective bargaining rather than the current fragmented process; and getting employees to pay more of their healthcare costs — or in some cases, any portion of that expense."

 

in other words, regressives starved the beast (bankrupted the state), then they turned around and said: see, even Democrats have to cut spending. Freakin' clowns! No credibility whatsoever.

[j_b]

I can tell from all these neanderthals attacking my person that I must be doing something right.

[billcoe]

But yes - get Marijuana legalization on the ballot and the 0.4% of the Washington state voters that have libertarian leanings will storm the ballot booths.

 

I'm more worried about the damage bozos like Rand Paul inflict if they're elected partially thanks to a "commitment to legalization" they never intend to pursue anyway.

 

I don't know Rand Paul but it seems to me that in this case you are discussing (legislating, decriminalizing or legalizing drugs) it's another example where the public needs to do better research. As the public votes in "lock them up and leave them locked up" laws, and more and more laws gets passed by the legislators (but few rescinded), we are seeing more people locked up for less and less reasons. We need to stop heading down that path, and let the social scientist/experts who study these issues and publish Phds, run the show with some scientifically studied best practices. Recidivism rates (wasted lives and costs) go up when you lock up and toss the key. As far as the public workers thing goes, I'd rather pay a councilor 1/2 the money that a prison guard makes (which would mean an immediate pay raise for them based on what I think their comparison salerys are) and they are still underpaid for what they can potentially do for our country if we would stop meddling and let them work. As far as that goes, I personally know some who are overpaid, but not all public workers are over paid, and in fact some of them work a hell of a lot harder and probably for much less scratch than lots of us posting here.

 

However, the fact that government programs, worker counts, military and just spending in general just keeps increasing as if we are drunken sailors with unlimited funds on shore leave - totally disconnected from reality or the economy, needs to be addressed and addressed real soon or we as a country will be going down the toilet - all of us. Every damn one of us. For myself, I see a connection between loss of freedom and increased government programs and desire for control. It's unhealthy and in my view undesired.

 

This kind of needless bullshit

"Fire-breathing bartenders arrested, face 45 years

By: Scott McCabe

Examiner Staff Writer

August 17, 2010

Bartender Tegee Rogers performs a fire-breathing trick, a Friday night tradition at Jimmy’s Old Time Tavern since 1999. (Courtesy photo)

 

Two fire-breathing bartenders face up to 45 years in prison each for performing flaming bar tricks.

 

Jimmy's Old Town Tavern owner Jimmy Cirrito said his bartenders have been entertaining his customers -- by juggling bottles of alcohol and spitting out streams of flames using matchbooks and lighters -- for more than a decade and no one's complained. But shortly after midnight on July 24, two of his longtime employees were hauled out of the Herndon bar in handcuffs and charged with three felonies each plus other misdemeanors

 

"They were being treated as if they were terrorists, charged as if they intentionally tried to burn down the tavern," Cirrito said.

 

Fairfax County fire investigators charged Tegee Rogers, 33, of Herndon, and Justin Fedorchak, 39, of Manassas, with manufacturing an explosive device, setting a fire capable of spreading, and burning or destroying a meeting house. They also were charged with several state fire code misdemeanors.

 

Both men have worked at the tavern nearly since it opened. They both recently became fathers and are very anxious about facing serious criminal charges, Cirrito said.

 

Jimmy's Old Town Tavern bartenders have performed the fire-breathing act for 13 years, at first doing the tricks on special occasions like birthdays or to honor a fallen fireman, police officer or soldier, Cirrito said. By 1999, the fire-breathing bartenders had become a Friday midnight tradition, he said. The bar uses the fire-breathing bartenders on its advertisements.

 

Cirrito said an investigator told him that the marshals received a letter in the mail with a photo taken of a previous performance at the bar.

 

Cirrito said he has never received a warning from the fire marshals, and he would have stopped if marshals had given him a warning.

 

"But I don't think we've done anything wrong," he said. "There's a lot of fire in restaurants. I've been served flaming desserts, I've roasted marshmallows on tables, I've seen 75 candles and sparklers on cakes, and I've seen bartenders perform the tricks coast-to-coast and no one's been arrested."

 

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Fire-breathing-bartenders-arrested_-face-45-years-510761-100943524.html#ixzz0x1TCJBrW"

 

Call them up and tell them to stop it or pay the price. Follow up with a nasty letter. Done. They cease and the public is safe. What did that cost? $10? $20? Then get on to something serious -murders, rapes, etc. What does this overreaction do for any of us? It could have been stopped just as fast with a phone call and much less staff time.

Crazy stuff. "Manufacturing an explosive device!" Bullshit! The assholes doing this prosecution should all be fired for lack of any common sense, intelligence and decency. They should be forced to pay us the money they have already wasted. Where is the accountability?

 

 

That's my thoughts. Take care all.

[j_b]

If people like you hadn't genuflected daily at the altar of Reagan and his war on drugs + 3 strike laws, many fewer people would be imprisoned for drug offenses. It's a little late now to grow an understanding of how jailing many people requires a big state and costs lots of money.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

If people like you hadn't genuflected daily at the altar of Reagan and his war on drugs + 3 strike laws, many fewer people would be imprisoned for drug offenses. It's a little late now to grow an understanding of how jailing many people requires a big state and costs lots of money.

 

maybe billcoe voted for Mondale

 

Lick sack, J_B!

[j_b]

Regressives always try to rewrite history because they don't want to be held accountable for the mess they made and they also try to pretend their solutions aren't the same old garbage that got us into trouble in the first place.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Regressives always try to rewrite history because they don't want to be held accountable for the mess they made and they also try to pretend their solutions aren't the same old garbage that got us into trouble in the first place.

 

impressive. you've got the debating skill of a 4th grader. congratulations!

[j_b]

Are you now claiming that your type of neanderthal isn't responsible for the human and fiscal fiasco created by the war on drugs?

[Fairweather]

I can tell from all these neanderthals attacking my person that I must be doing something right.

 

Neanderthals. Oligarchy. Plutocracy. Regressives. Corporate shills. Southern strategy.

 

Like a wind-up doll that repeats itself oblivious to any and all inputs, you're too fucking dumb to know when you're being mocked. This is beyond sad.

[j_b]

Right, a knuckle dragger like yourself is mocking me. BWAHAHAHAHA!

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Are you now claiming that your type of neanderthal isn't responsible for the human and fiscal fiasco created by the war on drugs?

 

hey fucktard, libertarians don't support the "war on drugs"

 

now, go eat a bag of bloody horse cock

 

[j_b]

99% of "libertarians" are reaganites.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

99% of "libertarians" are reaganites.

 

and you are a jizz-gargler

[prole]

[Nitrox]

I can tell from all these neanderthals attacking my person that I must be doing something right.

 

[JayB]

Schoolteachers Driving Cadillacs

by Paul Krugman

 

Jonathan Chait Cohn tells us that public-sector employees are the new welfare queens. Quite: any time you try to talk about the fiscal plight of state and local government, you get spittle-flecked denunciations of unions and their crazy pay packages.

 

So, how much truth is there to this? State and local employees are paid more, on average, than private-sector workers — about 13 percent more, according to this analysis by John Schmitt. But as Schmitt shows, that’s an apples and oranges comparison: state and local workers are much better educated and somewhat older than private-sector workers, and once you correct for that the comparison actually seems to go the other way.

 

I think the easy way to think about this is to realize that about half of state and local workers are teachers and academic administrators — which means that they’re college-educated, at minimum. And think about it: how many ambitious young people do you know saying, “My goal in life is to become a high school teacher — that would put me on easy street”?

 

Yes, firefighters and police get pretty generous pay packages; they also pull people from burning buildings.

 

And here’s a point I haven’t seen made: even if you believe that the age-and-education-adjusted calculations are wrong, and public employees do get paid somewhat more than they “should”, how big a deal is that? I went to the Census state and local finance data, and got this picture of the composition of non-federal government spending:

 

A few percent either way in workers’ compensation would not make a big difference to state and local spending. This is a phony issue.

 

Of course, so were the welfare queens.

 

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/schoolteachers-driving-cadillacs/

 

Oregon is apparently another dramatic outlier relative to the graph, since"...$3 of every $4 state government spends [is]going to salaries and benefits..."

 

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/08/can_oregon_downsize_state_gove.html