politics


Just because the inmates are running the asylum right now, it doesn't necessarily… 1

Just because the inmates are running the asylum right now, it doesn't necessarily mean it will stay that way.

#politics

Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor

This piece in Rolling Stone, by a Cronkite School colleague, will help you understand why Arizona's political scene has become so rancid — and why the Democrats are suddenly sensing opportunity there.

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How GOP Overreach Put Arizona Back in Play | Terry Sterling | Rolling Stone
Republican extremism and scandal have taken their toll, and Democrats think they have a shot.

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As with almost anything that spews forth from the mouth of Newt Gingrich and his… 1

As with almost anything that spews forth from the mouth of Newt Gingrich and his colleagues, the words are generally little more than misinformation and outright lies.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/gingrich-you-cant-put-gun-rack-in-volt

You clearly can put a gun rack or even several bales of hay into a Chevy Volt.

High Gear Media's resident gun expert, Kurt Ernst, said experienced firearms instructors (he is one) consider gun racks "a really, really bad idea" in general.

Guns openly mounted in vehicles pose an obvious and severe theft risk.

And the racks are aftermarket accessories, of widely varying quality, whose significant weight and sharp edges can be dangerous in a severe accident.

But in today's Republican politics the truth should never get in the way of a good tirade.
#politics

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Latest GOP Slap At Volt: Can't Hold A Gun Rack (Hint: Bad Idea, Boys)
Real Americans only drive pickup trucks (imported oil be damned). It's obvious because slaps at green cars and fuel-economy rules have become a staple of political campaigning among certain candidates…

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According to Rick Santorum, the only reason to require insurance companies to provide… 2

According to Rick Santorum, the only reason to require insurance companies to provide pregnant women with free prenatal care is too encourage more abortions.

"One of the things that you don't know about ObamaCare in one of the mandates is they require free prenatal testing," Santorum began telling about 400 people here. "Why? Because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and, therefore, less care that has to be done, because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society. That too is part of ObamaCare — another hidden message as to what president Obama thinks of those who are less able than the elites who want to govern our country."

The more words we hear from Mr Santorum, the scarier he gets, especially for women.

#politics #culturewar #indecision2012

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Santorum says Obama looks down on disabled, encouraging more abortions

Rick Santorum accused President Obama of requiring free prenatal testing in the health care plan he signed in 2010 because it would detect if children were disabled, encourage more abortions and save…

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Guess who made this statement: 1

Dogmatic ideological parties tend to splinter the political and social fabric of a nation, lead to governmental crises and deadlocks and stymie the compromises so often necessary to preserve the freedom and achieve progress.

Remarkably it describes the position our politics are in today to a T, thanks in large part to the continuing shift to the right of the Republican party over the past two decades. The quote can be found in a new biography of Mitt Romney http://amzn.to/wWO1Ux but it wasn't uttered by the man currently running for the GOP nomination.

In fact, those are the words of his father George Romney when in 1964 as governor of Michigan, he declined to endorse or campaign for his party's nominee Barry Goldwater. George Romney clearly a man who would not find a place in the 2012 GOP.

#politics

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Amazon.com: The Real Romney (9780062123275): Michael Kranish, Scott Helman: Books
Amazon.com: The Real Romney (9780062123275): Michael Kranish, Scott Helman: Books

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One of my biggest problems with supposedly pious politicians like Rick Santorum,…

One of my biggest problems with supposedly pious politicians like Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and so many others, not to mention the religious leaders who support them is how they like to selectively pick and choose the teachings they will support.

What makes this worse is that all of these people so often stand and preach about how people can't just pick their beliefs a la carte but take all of the teachings or nothing at all.

Santorum and Gingrich are particularly egregious examples of this. University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole lists his top ten examples of catholic doctrine that Santorum ignores, all of which apply to Gingrich. On top of this Gingrich who converted to catholicism is also a serial adulterer and two-time divorcee.

#politics #indecision2012 #hypocrisy

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Top Ten Catholic Teachings Santorum Rejects while Obsessing about Birth Control
Juan | Uncategorized

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It's a sure sign that things are getting weird when I actually agree with Darrell…

It's a sure sign that things are getting weird when I actually agree with Darrell Issa on an important issue.

Congress is currently considering the Stop Online Privacy Act (in the House of Representatives) and the corresponding PROTECT-IP Act (in the Senate). These bills are extremely dangerous and would give both media companies and the government unprecedented censorship powers over the internet without judicial oversight. Call your senators and representatives and encourage to stop this before it's too late!

#copyright #media #politics #stop-sopa #stop-protectip

Reshared post from +Alexander Howard

Dear Colleague: A Bipartisan Attempt To Regulate The Internet?

Last week, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Representative Zoe Lofgren sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter to the other members of the House of Representatives entitled “A bipartisan attempt to regulate the Internet?”

I’ve posted the letter below in its entirety, adding a link to the bill page for the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (H.R. 3261: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h3261/show ) on Thomas.gov and a PopVox widget embedded on the blog post linked below.

<begin letter>

From: The Honorable Zoe Lofgren
Sent By: Ryan.Clough@mail.house.gov
Date: 11/8/2011

Dear Colleague:

The Judiciary Committee is close to consideration of H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act. We write to call your attention to a recent article about the bill in the Los Angeles Times, entitled, “A bipartisan attempt to regulate the Internet?” (available at http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/10/technology-a-bipartisan-attempt-to-regulate-the-internet.html).

We agree with the goal of fighting online copyright infringement, and would support narrowly targeted legislation that does not ensnare legitimate websites. We also believe that a consensus on the issue between the content and technology industries is achievable. As the attached article makes clear, H.R. 3261 unfortunately does not follow a consensus-based approach. It would give the government sweeping new powers to order Internet Service Providers to implement various filtering technologies on their networks. It would also create new forms of private legal action against websites—cutting them off from payment and advertising providers by default, without any court review, upon a complaint from any copyright owner, even one whose work is not necessarily being infringed.

Online innovation and commerce were responsible for 15 percent of U.S. GDP growth from 2004 to 2009, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. Before we impose a sprawling new regulatory regime on the Internet, we must carefully consider the risks that it could pose for this vital engine of our economy.

Sincerely,

Zoe Lofgren
Member of Congress

Darrell Issa
Member of Congress

</letter>

Previous coverage:
https://plus.google.com/107980702132412632948/posts/BMmaXAyrBYj
http://gov20.govfresh.com/issa-and-lofgren-dear-colleague-letter-versus-sopa/

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Reps. Issa and Lofgren warn that SOPA is “a bipartisan attempt to regulate the Internet” | Gov 2.0: The Power of Platforms
Tracking the tech that makes government better and empowers citizens.

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Protecting the powerful at the expense of the masses

Over the past decade in particular but for some time before that there has been an increasing movement to protect the powerful in our society at the expense of the common people. This movement has accelerated dramatically in the past year at least in part because of the Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case that essentially freed corporate interests to spend as much as they want on political campaigns while individuals remain shackled by campaign finance laws.

We can see the initial effects in places like Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan where newly elected republican governors and legislatures have moved rapidly to bring in legislation to strip public sector employees of collective bargaining rights and here in Michigan to dissolve local governments and school boards and replace them with private sector “emergency financial managers.”

However, the problem goes well beyond that into many other sectors of society. For example a company called Medical Justice that aims to protect doctors from frivolous malpractice suits sells them contracts that they can use with their patients. Doctors using these contracts force patients to sign them before providing treatment. These contracts are meant to provide a shield for the doctors from public reviews of their work. According to these “anti-defamation” contracts patients can either be prohibited from posting online reviews of their doctors or the doctors are given the right to edit or delete online postings from patients.

While bogus reviews from disgruntled employees or others with a grudge are always a potential problem, no such contract will do anything to stop it. Anyone can set up a blog or go on Facebook, Twitter or some other site and make negative comments. Doctors are ill-served by paying for such contracts and any patient presented with one should refuse to sign and go find another doctor.  If a doctor is truly providing bad service the public should know about it and the doctor should either improve or go out of business.  DoctoredReviews.com has an excellent response to this whole subject.

Another prime example of the powerful trying to gag the ordinary is pointed out by Seth Godin. In Iowa the legislature is moving forward with a law that would make it illegal to record activities at industrial farming operations without the owners consent. The reality is that many of these operations treat animals very poorly in the pursuit of higher profit margins. While there is nothing wrong in general with profit, the food produced by these farms is often of lower quality (taste and nutritional value) and more susceptible to contamination from pathogens like e-coli.

When public health is at risk, the idea of government banning anyone from showing what goes on these facilities is extremely troubling but unfortunately entirely consistent with politicians that have been funded by the wealthy and powerful.

Godin goes on to explain that public transparency is almost invariably better for business than gagging the public. Republicans like to go on and on about protecting free markets, but they really only care about one side of the equation.  A truly free market requires that both buyers and sellers be informed about the true value of a product and be aware the total supply and demand. Without this knowledge, one side can easily manipulate the other to their own benefit and that is never a good thing for the long-term health of a market or a society.

Regardless of whether the market is for medical services, chicken or labor, both sides of the supply demand equation must be educated and free to take their products/services or money elsewhere.