June 2012
33 posts
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I’m usually a fan of media that mixes news reporting with speculation and opinion. I think the media needs to be more biased — objectivity is an illusion so long as humans are creating the print and broadcast media meant to inform us — so long as that bias is presented clearly and transparently.
On the whole, though, today’s coverage of yesterday’s SCOTUS ruling is...
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54 Smart Thinkers Everyone Should Follow On... →
And that’s when I clicked “Close Tab”.
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The government "shouldn't force people to get...
golden-notebook:
The government forces you to:
send your kids to school
pay taxes
have insurance for your car
get immunized and comply with public health regulations (with waiver exceptions obviously but still)
sign up for Selective Service
pay into taxes for police and firefighters
We live in a society that requires give-and-take. We live in a society that requires actions on our part...
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wait. I just woke up. I don't understand.
littleorphanammo:
So, I have to pay for health care I can’t afford or pay a fine?
And that was what was ruled constitutional?
Because I can’t afford either the health care or the fine.
Am I missing something? I legitimately do not understand why I’m supposed to be happy. A token ‘expansion of medicaid’ is actually not going to help me or most of the people I know because we make too much to...
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“There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.”
– Winston Churchill
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All right, y'all, let's get cracking on the...
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andrewgraham:
Prediction: The Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that the individual mandate is a tax.
Post from last weekend. What’s that they say about a broken clock being right every now and again?
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“In the end, you have to make a prediction and take responsibility for it. I...”
– Tom Goldstein, SCOTUSblog (via brooklynmutt)
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MSNBC panel is debating the merits of compulsory voting. What do we all think of this?
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“Voter ID, which is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania —...”
– Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai touts his state’s voter ID measures as a strategy to disenfranchise likely Democrat voters.
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Just watched The Newsroom premiere and liked it. How many followers will this lose me?
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Bloomberg:
The U.S. Supreme Court should uphold a law requiring most Americans to have health insurance if the justices follow legal precedent, according to 19 of 21 constitutional law professors who ventured an opinion on the most-anticipated ruling in years.
Only eight of them predicted the court would do so.
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Prediction: The Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that the individual mandate is a tax.
Explaining the individual mandate
Bob: Hi, insurance company. I'd like to buy some health insurance.
Insurance company: No. You had cancer when you were 3 years old, and the cancer could come back. We're not selling you health insurance.
Bob: It's not my fault I got cancer when I was three! Besides, that was years ago!
Insurance company: If we sell insurance to you, we'll probably lose money, and we're not doing it.
Bob: But I need insurance more than anyone! My cancer might come back!
Insurance company: We don't care. We're not selling you insurance.
Obama: Hey, that's totally not fair. Bob is right, he does need insurance! Sell Bob some insurance.
Insurance company: If we have to, I guess.
Mary: This is cool. Obama said the insurance company has to sell insurance to anyone who needs it.
Sam: Hey, I have an idea. I'm going to stop paying for health insurance. If I get sick, I can always go buy some insurance then. The insurance company won't be able to say no, because Obama's told them they have to sell it to anyone who needs it!
Dave: that's a great idea! I'm not paying for health insurance either, at least not until I get sick.
Insurance company: Hey! If everyone stops paying for insurance, we'll go bankrupt!
Obama: Oh come on Sam and Dave, that's not fair either.
Dave: I don't care. It saves me money.
Obama: Oh for god's sake. Sam, Dave, you have to keep paying for health insurance, and not wait until you're sick. You too, Mary and Bob.
Mary: But I'm broke! I can't buy insurance! I just don't have any money.
Obama: Mary, show me your piggy bank. Oh, wow, you really are broke. Ok, tell you what. You still have to buy insurance, but I'll help you pay 95% of the cost.
Mary: thank you.
Obama: I need an aspirin.
Insurance company: We're not paying for that aspirin.
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squashed:
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching a web site today that catalogs consumer complaints. Banking trade groups are not happy.”
— CNN: Got a credit card gripe? Now you can tell the world
One of the better ways to minimize consumer complaints is to avoid doing things that consumers complain about. When you are terrified by transparency, maybe you...
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Mohandas Gandhi: John McCain calls Supreme Court... →
thecallus:
abaldwin360:
Former Republican presidential nominee John McCain says he’s “worried” that billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who reportedly may contribute up to $100 million in support of GOP hopeful Mitt Romney, and others could have an undue influence on elections as a result of the Supreme…
Obama reneged on campaign promises to to run on public money when he outraised McCain. He has 0...
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“I’m not familiar with all of the intricacies of how the program is being...”
– Marco Rubio supports Florida voter purge, doesn’t know how it works
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“Free enterprise is the way America works. We need to apply that to healthcare.”
– Mitt Romney, apparently forgetting that the United States is essentially one gigantic insurance company with a profoundly expensive standing military, not exactly a projection of free enterprise.
Most people want the government to subsidize healthcare. If Romney is honest-to-god interested in...
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“Under one president, real per capita government spending [three years in] was...”
– Paul Krugman
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Because it's a cynical kind of morning
Magazines and newspapers straight-up selling seats on their editorial boards to corporations or wealthy individuals through an exchange-style bidding system. What do we all think of this idea?
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George Zimmerman's bond has been revoked and he...
newsweek:
Tracking it here.
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“Let’s hurl some acid at those female democratic Senators who won’t abide the...”
– Jay Townsend, the GOP spokesman who should be out of a job, right now, no questions about it.
Look, everyone who’s reasonable hoped that, after a serving lawmaker got shot in the head awhile back only because she was a serving lawmaker, folks who earn a living by making sounds with their...
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thepoliticalnotebook:
Among 35 major national print publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, men had 81 percent of the quotes in stories about abortion, the research group said Thursday, while women had 12 percent, and organizations had 7 percent.
In stories about birth control, men scored 75 percent of the quotes, with women getting 19 percent and organizations...
