mid-term election

[Narrock]

Looks like the tea party candidates are sweeping this election so far. For those of you on the east coast and midwest... what is your local news reporting about exit polls right now in your precincts?

[Arlos]

Um, not to be mean or anything, but the polls haven't even CLOSED yet anywhere in the country, and no news outlet is legally allowed to post exit polling results until polls close. Maybe in half an hour we can start to know some things about the eastern time zone, but I highly doubt we'll have ANY firm numbers anywhere for hours yet. So, how exactly do you come by your claim that they are "sweeping the country?" You may expect them to, and I might even agree with you that I think they will be fairly successful, but no one can possibly KNOW yet.

-Arlos

[Narrock]

KFBK 1530am in Sacramento made the comment about the sweep. . This election is sening a clear message to obammy. This is going to spark a new "era of good feelings.". . It's just too bad that moonbeam the liar Brown is beating Meg Whitman, and Barbara Boxer is beating Fiorina.

[Drem]

as long as art robinson doesn't get oregon congress i don't give a shit what happens

[Arlos]

Looking at live returns right now on the CNN website. So far, it's all been incumbents or people from the same party as the previous incumbents that have been elected, with 2 exceptions: 1) The senate seat in Indiana just flopped to the GOP, since Evan Bayh retired. 2) A house seat in Delaware flopped from the GOP to the Democrats.

Not seeing a sweep by any stretch yet. Again, not saying it can't won't happen, just that no one actually has any idea yet.

-Arlos

[leah]

someday i want someone to explain the tea party to me in simple terms. straight facts, no bias. although i'm not sure who i'd get that from around here, lol.

wasn't that meg whitman chick a witch at some point?!

[brinstar]

no, that was christine o'donnell who (motherfucking FORTUNATELY) lost. that dumb ho would have a tough time out-thinking palin, which honestly should come easily to any mammal not in a coma


tea party agenda directly from wikipedia:

1. Identify constitutionality of every new law: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (82.03%)
2. Reject emissions trading: Stop the "cap and trade" administrative approach used to control carbon dioxide emissions by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of carbon dioxide. (72.20%)
3. Demand a balanced federal budget: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax modification. (69.69%)
4. Simplify the tax system: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the Internal Revenue Code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words – the length of the original Constitution. (64.9%)
5. Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality: Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in an audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities. (63.37%)
6. Limit annual growth in federal spending: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%)
7. Repeal the healthcare legislation passed on March 23, 2010: Work towards the repudiating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (56.39%)
8. Pass an 'All-of-the-Above' Energy Policy: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation. (55.5%)
9. Reduce Earmarks: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%)
10. Reduce Taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and extend current temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011. (53.38%)

that's their platform in their own words. i can't rephrase in plain english without my brinstarian accent, but here you go anyway:

1. use a fine-tooth comb to pick over a 200-plus-year-old document in order to validate or negate anything that anyone wants to do anywhere in our modern era
2. replace stricter policy with corporate tax breaks in order to facilitate industrial emissions control
3. stop spending money we don't have
4. replace IRS bullshit with single-rate tax code (i'd like to see their proposal though - i'd be very surprised if somehow the upper class doesn't retain ways to skirt the "fair and simple" code they're pushing)
5. create a new gov't department to examine the necessity, legality and frugality of existing gov't departments with the ultimate goal of shrinking federal gov't and returning more power to state gov'ts
6. put the brakes on future spending so we don't outpace ourselves
7. fuck the poor and sick in their asses without lube
8. try really hard to reduce foreign energy dependency by paying lip service to alternative energy sources such as wind, geothermal, and even nuclear - while drilling the fuck out of our land for oil
9. throw out the pork
10. keep the rich rich under the guise of cutting taxes for joe plumber

(arlos feel free to explain it better if you can)

some of their goals are actually not that bad (3, 4, 6, 9), but the rest are laughably horrible. unfortunately the biggest problem isn't just that the tea party organization as a whole is composed of awful awful people who IMO shouldn't even be allowed to fucking drive let alone vote, it's that the entire thing is an astroturf movement engineered and funded by the wealthy behind-the-scenes movers and shakers on the far right.

[Arlos]

The thing that isn't mentioned a lot is that the Tea Party was initially created and backed by paid lobbying groups made up of inside-the-beltway types, along with contributions from very very deep-pocketed corporations, especially the Koch brothers. (multi-billionaire oil-men with seriously out-there right wing views, who failed in trying to get actually elected, and so they now just buy election results they want. Look 'em up.) So yeah, in large part it's an astroturf (ie, something that pretends to be grass-roots, but really isn't) outfit.

If you can put up with 5 minutes of Rachel Maddow, she tracks some of that here, pulling the information directly from their own websites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_cEpN1Srs4

There's actually a 90 or so minute documentary called Astroturf wars (admission: only seen clips, not the whole thing) on the money trail funding the tea parties from corporate interests. http://astroturfwars.org/


Some of those espoused ideas that brin posted are pretty laughable. I mean, 2/3 majority to pass ANY new tax? Would never happen. Ever. A constitutional mandate for a balanced budget would be economic suicide. What happens if there's an emergency of some kind? What about a war? Deficit spending is sometimes ABSOLUTELY necessary. Hell, that's how we were able to fight WW2, if you want just one example. Oh, and those "regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation" = "Stop making us worry about pollution, and let us dump our crap into rivers, air and the ocean again."

Ah well, at least over the next 2 years people will have a chance to see just how awful the GOP is at actually running anything, and just how radically far right many of these people are, and we might have a chance for life to improve again in 2012. Over the next 2 years though... Well, lets just say if you thought Washington was paralyzed NOW.... you ain't seen nothing yet...

-Arlos

[Narrock]

Great post Arlos. Yeah Leah, even more simplified: the tea party conservatives are republicans who are sick of their own party not sticking to true conservatism. They are a grass roots movement.

[Narrock]

Yes Arlos, I'd consider this a sweep. . 60+ seats gained by the Republicans in the House. It's the biggest sweep since 1938. But... Omfg Jerry Brown is our next Governor. God help us. LoL. Brown is such a freak. And Gavin twosome Newsome won too. Yuck.

[Narrock]

I'm so happy that prop 19 got defeated. Legalization of Marijuana is just so wrong on so many levels.

[10sun]

I'm so happy that prop 19 got defeated. Legalization of Marijuana is just so wrong on so many levels.

Curious about your thoughts on this.

Why?

[Tossica]

In reality the tea party platform consists of hating niggers and fags. That's about it.

[10sun]

The Tea Party platform is essentially libertarianism dumbed down and made accessible to the masses.

[Reynaldo]

The biggest win of all this is just getting Pelosi outta there.

[Tossica]

The Tea Party platform is essentially libertarianism dumbed down and made accessible to the masses.

except for the whole pushing Christianity thing.

[Arlos]

And the people pushing to eliminate the 14th, 16th and 17th amendments.

And the celebration of ignorance as if it was a virtue.

Oh, and the Tea Party isn't really libertarianism. It's got some elements of it, but the tea party is FAR more into social conservative issues. Where Libertarians would be strongly against, say, the war on drugs or any government regulation of social issues, the tea party tends to hold rigidly to evangelical religious right social conservative positions. I could take them a lot better if they really DID follow libertarian ideals there. At least then there'd be some social sanity to go along with the economic/corporate insanity, but the tea party is the worst of both worlds.

As for the tea party backing and origins, I'm willing to concede that there may be some legitimate grass-roots elements to it, but there was a FUCKTON of completely fake, corporate money-driven astroturf elements driving and organizing it.

You know, I have never understood the hate for Pelosi. Yeah, she leans liberal, but so what? LOTS of people in congress from CA lean liberal. I tell you, having Captain Orange, the Giant Oompa Loompa, Boehner as speaker, given some of what he's said, really scares me. Pelosi got shit done, at least. I doubt 10% of the radical right wing crap that Boehner tries to push through get anywhere.

Oh, and we've only seen the first wave of the takeover from our new Corporate Overlords, with this first election after the Citizens United ruling. The ability to dump unlimited money into any race or any issue without ever having to report funding sources in any way whatsoever.... Yeah, they already dumped 100s of millions into this election, how about the presidential election? How much money are they going to spend to make sure that corporate issues are addressed, frequently at the expense of the middle class or average citizen? Ugh.

-Arlos

[brinstar]

cf. millions of out-of-state dollars pouring into tragically successful campaign to oust the judges who approved gay marriage in iowa

i'd like to see an amendment to the federal constitution outlawing that practice. you want to influence state politics, stick to your own goddamn state.

[KaiineTN]

Tea Party started strongly libertarian, but was slowly taken over by social conservative influence. It's a shame. Libertarianism is more of a middle ground that both Democrats and Republicans can get in on.

Anyways, I'm glad that Republicans didn't take the Senate. If they had, it would have been that much easier for Obama to blame Republicans and get re-elected. Having the houses divided is the best chance for Obama to be a one term president (but jesus christ if the choice is between him and Palin, /slitwrists). Also, I'm of the opinion that the less Congress gets done, the better, so having the houses divided is advantageous. It's good for business/the economy because it takes some regulatory uncertainty out of the equation.

[Narrock]

Tea Party started strongly libertarian, but was slowly taken over by social conservative influence. It's a shame. Libertarianism is more of a middle ground that both Democrats and Republicans can get in on.

Anyways, I'm glad that Republicans didn't take the Senate. If they had, it would have been that much easier for Obama to blame Republicans and get re-elected. Having the houses divided is the best chance for Obama to be a one term president (but jesus christ if the choice is between him and Palin, /slitwrists). Also, I'm of the opinion that the less Congress gets done, the better, so having the houses divided is advantageous. It's good for business/the economy because it takes some regulatory uncertainty out of the equation.

It's never good if one party is control of everything... absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[Drem]

I'm so happy that prop 19 got defeated. Legalization of Marijuana is just so wrong on so many levels.

Curious about your thoughts on this.

Why?

[Narrock]

I'm so happy that prop 19 got defeated. Legalization of Marijuana is just so wrong on so many levels.

Curious about your thoughts on this.

Why?

1. Marijuana is a gateway drug.
2. THC is a very powerful mind-altering drug.
3. Marijuana smoke is carcinogenic and has more toxins in it than you are aware of, or want to admit.
4. They're going to make it so that employers cannot force employees to take random drug tests UNLESS there is a workplace accident. FUCK THAT.

These are the facts. I'm not interested in debating this issue, or the facts I just presented. If you want to pretend these facts don't exist, or you want to believe in junk science that downplays the negative effects of marijuana use, then go ahead and wallow blissfully in your ignorance... that's your perogative. I'm just glad it got shot down. NEXT.

[Nusk]

good reasons why prop 19 defeat was smart

1. allowed individual cities to regulate and tax marijuana instead of on a state level creating 1000s of different tax codes and regulations creating a boondogle and increasing beaurocracy.
2. because of 1 it does not incentivise entrepreneurs to create businessess and therebye lowering prices to compete with illegal sources
3. Employers will be unable to prevent marijuana use by their employees unless they can prove that such use impairs job performance. Exactly how they would prove that marijuana use impairs job performance would be difficult, at best. It should be noted that alcohol abuse is not a protected class, whereas proposition 19 would create such a protected class for marijuana users
4.Proposition 19 creates a state law that conflicts with federal drug laws. On the surface, this does not seem to be a big deal, since President Obama has stated that he won't enforce the federal law in California. However, there is another issue that could cause the loss of billions of dollars to the state. Public contracts and grants require grantees to effectively enforce the drug-free workplace requirements (which includes marijuana use) outlined by the federal government's Federal Workplace Act of 1988. Not only may schools lose their federal grants, but medical research institutions could lose millions of dollars annually
5 there is no standard for measuring THC under the prop to determine a DUI. currently any amount is illegal but since it is decriminalized you also need to establish at what point does it impair driving.

[10sun]

I'm so happy that prop 19 got defeated. Legalization of Marijuana is just so wrong on so many levels.

Curious about your thoughts on this.

Why?

1. Marijuana is a gateway drug.
2. THC is a very powerful mind-altering drug.
3. Marijuana smoke is carcinogenic and has more toxins in it than you are aware of, or want to admit.
4. They're going to make it so that employers cannot force employees to take random drug tests UNLESS there is a workplace accident. FUCK THAT.

These are the facts. I'm not interested in debating this issue, or the facts I just presented. If you want to pretend these facts don't exist, or you want to believe in junk science that downplays the negative effects of marijuana use, then go ahead and wallow blissfully in your ignorance... that's your perogative. I'm just glad it got shot down. NEXT.

Thank you for responding. It was an earnest question on my part as I hadn't given it much thought aside from the obligatory, "fuck it, let them do what they want; I don't care" casual thought.

The first three points don't bother me that much due to alcohol & cigarettes being legal, however I hadn't given any consideration to the fourth which is pretty important.

The fact that there is no standardized method of testing impairment, not only in the workplace, but say during a traffic stop is troublesome to say the least. It doesn't matter if an employer doesn't want their employees to be functionally impaired on the job because determining how to test someone's THC content in their bloodstream and then figuring out a legal impairment limit hasn't been done.

[Arlos]

Gonna respond to those 4 points 1 by 1:

1. Marijuana is a gateway drug.
This is unproven at best.

2. THC is a very powerful mind-altering drug.
Vastly less so than alcohol

3. Marijuana smoke is carcinogenic and has more toxins in it than you are aware of, or want to admit.
Smoking is hazardous, to be sure, but there are multiple ways to ingest marijuana. There are vaporizors, it can be baked into food, and there are ways of smoking it that lessen the impact. Not to mention, tobacco smoke, in the volumes most smokers smoke, is significantly more harmful in the long run.

4. They're going to make it so that employers cannot force employees to take random drug tests UNLESS there is a workplace accident. FUCK THAT.
OK, now this one I can understand, if only because it would have completely fucked some employers, who would have lost contracts because of the inability to comply with some of the restrictions in federal work contracts. In the long run though, I don't see any need to test for pot at all, any more than people get screened for whether or not they had a beer last night for dinner. Obviously, you don't go to work stoned, any more than you do drunk. But they don't drug screen you for beer, right? And since Alcohol is WAY worse for you than marijuana...


The Lancet (one of the top-2 most prestigious medical journals in the world. Based out of Britain, has been in existence for literally hundreds of years.) just published an article where they went through a huge range of drugs used today, both legal and illegal, and graded them based on the harm they cause the user combined with the harm that is inflicted on others by the user's use of the drug. If you want to look up the article yourself, here's it's DOI: doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6

Harm to the user included the following factors: Drug-specific mortality, drug-related mortality, drug-specific damage, drug-related damage, psychological dependence, drug specific and drug related impairment of mental function, loss of tangibles and loss of relationships.
Harm to others included the following factors: Injury, crime, environmental damage, family adversities, international damage, economic cost and community cost.

Attached is the same table of combined harm, the second one shown simply, the first is broken down by each individual harm type. Note please the drug that is by FAR the worst of all drugs as far as harm is concerned, and how much worse it is than pot, or even heroin.

-Arlos