Phi for All

I don't understand why the the White House isn't giving out civics lessons, trying to get people to understand that this is not the procedure for discussing and negotiating how we legislate our country. If this is allowed to continue, either side could conceivably do this whenever they don't represent enough legitimate votes. How can people not see how much this undermines our democracy? I understand your argument, but do you really think Sen. Cruz could get enough support to turn the Tea Party into a single-party totalitarian state? Overthrowing democratic procedure is a good, fascist start, but will that be enough?

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I do this all the time and no one ever catches on.

What's happening now, with the shutdown, is outside our normal process. Votes have been cast (legally), laws written (legally), funds allocated (legally). The shutdown tactic to make changes without due process needs to be reviled in the media, rather than portrayed as some kind of "standoff" or "battle" or even a "difference of opinion". One side didn't have the votes to make this happen but is being allowed to shut us down because so many people misunderstand what's really happening. I think if they did, even if they don't like Obama, they'd agree that what Cruz and his group are doing is ultimately bad for our democracy, and VERY hypocritical since they're waving their pocket Constitutions as they step all over it.

Our love of the concept of "convenience" does tend to outweigh our love of efficiency. Get a parking spot as close to the gym as you can so you don't have to walk so far to work out! Spend five times the energy trying to make the remote control work as it would have taken to get up and change the TV manually! It's hard to tell the difference sometimes between lazy and smart. If I collect all the stuff I need to take upstairs so I make one trip instead of five, am I being smart or lazy? If I buy a device that performs a task five times faster than I could without the device (like a power drill for driving screws instead of a screwdriver), is that lazy or smart?

I would think it would be difficult enough writing crime shows where actual, real forensic tools don't eliminate a lot of plot variables. It seems like inventing something magic like this would paint the writers into corners on a regular basis. Or does this "wand" break down often enough that they can't use it to solve everything? Poor bad guys. You train hard to be a professional villain guard, you qualify every month on the range with your Uzi, and your boss's villa has been carefully and expensively prepared to repel invaders. But when you get the hero/intruder in your sights, you spray a whole clip at him from thirty feet away and you don't hit him, not... even... once. If you're lucky enough that the hero doesn't have a split second to put a single round between your eyes from on the run and over his shoulder, I would hope your professional villain boss provides professional villain counseling to help you cope with how surreal it must have been to miss every... single... time! Normally you're such a great shot, you fully expected to shred that guy with all the time and firepower you had. I mean, it was thirty-two frikkin' bullets, how could you possibly miss with ALL of them?! He was running down a hallway, dammit, why were you aiming at the walls?! The professional villain counselor is hopefully a better shot.

I used to know.

I agree, but I also think that biologically we can't set the beginning of life at conception. If that becomes the legal definition of life, women lose all rights to their own bodies in favor of a potential life. You'll have women being charged with manslaughter after miscarrying at the gym during their first trimester.

The timing for this is perfect, imo. We aren't going to make major changes when things are going well. Oil has helped put our civilization where it is but the cumulative pressures to ease away from it are very convincing to me. I've seen many markets stifle innovation that threatens to replace them. Oil has the power and infrastructure to keep itself in business far past what the market would normally allow. Let's remove the subsidies, let people in the US see what gas really costs in a free® market. Then watch the interest in sustainable energy climb. I'd hate to see us give up on energy independence and crawl back into the hole of "convenience" as we continue funding our own demise. Also to add, I'd like to see the US initiate more space projects. It's an area where we currently dominate but not for long if we don't invest more. We need this kind of high-precision industry. First, I think we all agree we're spending too much. We differ on where it's too much. For me, the very reason for having a government is to provide a basic human societal framework we can count on as long as we're willing to work to help that society. Some risks are beyond us as individuals and cooperating in groups is one of our strengths as a species. I don't see the government as a separate entity that should suffer when we suffer. It should provide us all with a baseline for living with each other as it represents each of us (I guess this POV sees us as People in a democracy rather than as people who may or may not be deserving of help). It should be something we can count on in times of suffering. It should be something we fund because we know the investment is low for us personally and has tremendous potential gains for us as a society.

"Thick", really? Not "replete" or "amply supplied"? How about "well-endowed"?

I really like how you use observable, reality-based evidence to support your stance. Just the facts, accurately checked, devoid of attempts to guess at motivation or conspiracy. Very rational. It's clear you're not just parroting some ridiculously charismignorant pundit who condenses complex issues down to mini-byte arguments.

Double meh, Americans put a humongous penis right inside the Oval Orifice! TWICE!

I think you guys should put your shirts back on. CharonY, buy the right size and they won't shred when you breathe deeply like that. And EdEarl, I hope that ends the flexing and the oiling too. You're going to make someone fall or poke an eye out.

What are you talking about? http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-budget-and-deficit-under-clinton/ Unlike you, I know there are many types of Republicans, most of whom don't take such an extremist, radical and non-conservative approach to the political process. They don't mask their strong-arm tactics with hypocritical claims of "negotiations" and they don't paint anyone who doesn't agree with the wide brush you're flailing around with. I'd like to talk to the other types of Republicans, the ones who want us to be strong again, to be smart again, to care about what happens to the country as a whole again and not just what the corporations want us to care about. I'd like to talk to the ones who aren't afraid of Americans with health insurance, who aren't afraid of homosexuals or atheists or minorities. You're the ones who have to live with the crazies in your party. The Democrats craziest, most left-wing screwball politician is in Arizona with John McCain. His most radical idea was to ask Switzerland to monitor our presidential elections for voting improprieties. The Republican's most radical right-wingers have shut the whole government down. Which party's extremists are causing the most trouble? Please, for the sake of your party, let them know you tried it their way and it didn't work, time to move on.

If you're talking about the debt ceiling issue that's coming up shortly, it has nothing to do with increasing our borrowing. The debt ceiling is just agreeing to pay what Congress has already purchased. But, like this current budget shutdown, the Republicans want to circumvent our normal, Constitutional process by refusing to approve purchases they already appropriated the money for. The debt ceiling should be very perfunctory and standard, done with dignity in recognition of paying our debts honorably. The President tried to explain this to the American public recently, and FoxNews accused the President of using "fuzzy math" when he said: Fuzzy math?! This from one of the top news sources in the US. They don't bother to check their facts. The debt ceiling isn't the appropriate process for discussion, that time has passed. They didn't have the votes when they were passing their budgets and appropriations through Congress. Now it's just angry losers refusing to sign a pro forma document so they can force the issue into a position where the only concession on the their side is that they'll stop the shutdown when their demands are met.

Why doesn't your story mention that the Moore farm is on federal land? That's information readers should probably have. I'm sure lots of federal property got treated to closure in a procedural reaction to the shutdown. It sounds like they've had time to untangle some of the special circumstances and the farm was back open today.

Seriously, is there something in Revelations about making a penis joke about the Virgin Mother that triggers the apocalypse? I'm guessing no physics here. You don't need flying buttresses to keep an erection going these days?

The kind with the worm dissolves buttons.

I think the teacher would like the imagery of "animal" behavior from people who like to "party". John's been drinking like a fish, lumbering around like a bear, howling like a wolf, dancing like a peacock. Though perhaps I'm being too literal.

As long as we keep up the perception that this is a battle against evenly matched foes, each side nobly persevering in their duty to defend their People, deadlocked in a titanic struggle to maintain decency, integrity and the American way of life, I don't see any solutions. Americans usually admire calling a spade a spade, but we love battles more, so this isn't being perceived as the hostage situation it really is. Anything Obama does that isn't capitulation will be viewed as uncooperative by the Reps, and capitulation means the Dems are right back here every time the Reps lose in Congress. While the Intelligent Design crowd couldn't sell their "Teach the Controversy!" stance for education, they've shown marked success with the whole "Obamacare Battle" strategy. One thing I'd really like to know is if all this Tea Party sentiment is legitimate or not. I know the movement started in upstate NY to protest taxing non-diet soft drinks. It called the representation involved in such laws into question and was basically a great exercise in civic movements. Then the Tea Party started to attract some very wealthy supporters and the message seemed to change as well. Now many people suspect that the Tea Party is being used by corporations who want everything privatized and are just piggybacking their special interests along with the party's. But why do there seem to be so many people supporting the Tea Party stance? I know lots of people who admired Ted Cruz' efforts and don't like Obamacare but when questioned don't know much about either. They all agree that big government is bad but can't say why a program that subsidizes oil isn't part of the same big government that wants to coordinate national disasters. They scream about mandated healthcare coverage like the government doesn't mandate anything else. I doubt the mandate was driven by the government anyway, since the insurance industry has the most to gain if everyone has to be insured. I get the feeling many who share a few Tea Party ideals never wanted it to go this far. They rebelled against wiser heads and took up with this underdog and now they're regretting it, realizing how rabid and radical this conservative movement has become. And many people still want government to be smaller, they just don't want it to be smaller in ways that benefit corporations more than people. They still want better representation, and hopefully now they realize that the current Tea Party doesn't represent them either. They want what they want but aren't willing to shut down the whole government to get their way. I hope, anyway. I also hope this doesn't cause too many more people to give up on interest in their government. I think we've lost most of the younger ones already with crap like this.

If you're still around in a couple of years, I'm going to wave this one in your face on Quote Night. We're all here to learn, and that's best accomplished when we attack the argument and not the person. Socially, it's good to have a tool that lets people know you don't appreciate an uncivil tone or poor answers. It's better to let reputation handle that instead of letting Moderators judge what's uncivil and what isn't.

I've heard of people taping a tennis ball to their pajama back to keep them from rolling over, but a contact trigger there that fires a catapult filled with rolled-up socks sounds like more fun!

Snoring can be a symptom of a more serious condition. Best practice is to always see your doctor (this goes for everybody) for a professional diagnosis on any health matter. If the doctor thinks the snoring is affecting your health, insurance will usually pay for a sleep study to assess individual habits and occurrences. Any advice given on the internet can't take specific circumstances into account. Does your roommate get enough sleep? Fatigue can contribute to snoring if she's working too hard. Does she drink enough water? Proper hydration keeps tissue and mucus from getting sticky. Does she drink alcohol before going to bed? Too much relaxes muscles in her throat that vibrate as she breathes. Has she gained some weight recently? If the snoring came with the weight, it could be occluding her airways. Has she tried sleeping in a different position? Lying on her back probably triggers snoring more often, so lying on her side could help.

I wish I could claim it. I paraphrased it from somewhere.

The problem with your "sheer stupidity" detector is that you're using the 180 degree setting and pointing it only where you want. To be truly effective, you need 360 degree coverage. I see your point here but I think it's more than just two sides finger-pointing. Boehner got backed into a corner by the Tea Party but the media is backing the whole Republican party into a corner. Even news outlets that are supposedly more liberal continue to talk about compromise and report each time Boehner asks for a chance to sit down and negotiate. They use cutesy pics of boxing gloves popping out of both the White House and Congress, making it seem like a legitimate fight is taking place. It gives the impression this is a battle which will be won through persistence, toughness and dedication, not that this is a completely inappropriate, ineffective and desperate gambit that threatens to undermine our political process, and lose what grounds we've gained economically. The media aren't using the more appropriate graphic of Cruz holding a gun to Boehner's head while Boehner holds a gun to the President's head, while the President stands with the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government firmly behind him, telling them, "There is nothing to negotiate, this deal's been done". When vandals smear feces on a statue, the media should just call them vandals instead of trying to be fair and say they might just be sloppy organic gardeners. The media has made this all about perseverance and pride and whose dick is bigger, all of which are completely at odds with what is actually happening to the country. It's obvious to me that this fake impartiality must increase ratings and give the illusion of fairness. It sure does lengthen the news cycle and insure more internecine posturing, which just makes the cycle even longer and more lucrative.