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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (16168)	4/6/2010 10:59:24 AM
From: longnshort	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

When Will Sen. Reid Condemn the Actions of His Supporters?by Larry O'Connor Remember our Rogues’ Gallery of Reid supporters from last week? Let’s call them “The Searchlight Four”. They were the highest profile members of the “Rent-a-Thug” protest in support of Sen. Harry Reid on Saturday, March 27th. Their preferred method of showing support for the Majority Leader of the United States Senate? Throwing eggs at a bus full of private citizens assembling in the Senator’s hometown to exercise their 1st Amendment rights. Let’s re-aquaint ourselves with the Searchlight Four: This is “The Eggman” Jesse Walker threw an egg at the Tea Party bus. He is a member of IBEW Local 357 and he was also instructing Andrew Breitbart on the finer, nuanced points of racial politics in America today: “The demographics of this country is changing, your way of thinking is dead.” This is “Eddie” Edward “Eddie” Gering was in the midst of the egg-throwing and when Breitbart pointed out the atrocious behavior, Eddie smugly taunted him and took pride in the vandalism: “All right man, glad you approve! Thanks Man!” Eddie is the Vice President of IBEW Local 357 and hauls in a six-figure salary on the backs of his union brothers and sisters while their Pension Fund is under-funded. Union, yes. This is “The Thug” Identified elsewhere as Jim Nardi, he stood on the side of the highway in Searchlight lecturing on class warfare and social justice, then thrust his finger at Breitbart and threatened him: “Get him outta here or I’m going to jail today!” This is “The Weasel” Identified elsewhere as Brian Dimarzio, the Field Director for the Nevada State Democratic Party. He is seen in many of the videos wrangling people, trying to get them in line or trying to keep them from talking to the cameras. Most importantly, he is seen accusing Breitbart of throwing eggs and saying as much to a law enforcement official: “They’re throwing eggs and blaming us, it’s ridiculous.” Last week, Big Government released video footage showing these thugs intimidating, taunting, threatening violence and hurling eggs at Andrew Breitbart and other Tea Party activists in Searchlight Nevada. Their obnoxious behavior, one presumes, was their way of showing support for their man, Harry Reid. The men in question were holding Harry Reid signs, wearing Harry Reid shirts and chanting Harry Reid’s name. Unlike the Tea Party protestors who spontaneously assembled on the mall in Washington the day of the health care vote, these individuals were organized, identified and affiliated with the State Democratic Party and/or IBEW Local 357. And yet, unlike the calls of condemnation made by the media and politicians to John Boehner and Mitch McConnell for the still-unproven racial slurs allegedly hurled that day in Washington, there have been no such calls for Harry Reid, the Nevada Democratic Party or IBEW Local 357 to condemn or disavow the actions of their supporters and protestors that day in Searchlight. On Thursday we notified Sam Lieberman and Travis Brock, Chairman and Executive Director of the Nevada Democratic Party. Even after a follow-up today, we have received no response from them regarding the actions of their employee, Brian Dimarzio. On Friday, the bus driver who had to deal with the hazard and mess of the eggs, filed a police report with Las Vegas Metro (Event Number 100327-1662). •The State Party has not made any public comment about the actions of their employee. •IBEW Local 357 has not made any public comment about the actions of their members. •Senator Harry Reid has not made any public comment about the actions of his supporters. •Members of the main stream press have not asked Reid, or the party or union for any comment about the actions of the people in the videos. In unrelated yet deliciously ironic news, Sen. Harry Reid announced today that he will kick off his re-election campaign with a bus tour of Nevada. Yes, a bus tour. biggovernment.com

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (16168)	4/6/2010 12:21:28 PM
From: Lane3	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

How about posting something to demonstrate your expertise in something...?? You're making my case for me. It's all about the thrall of experts for some folks. I'm expert in only a few arcane areas so there's not much there to demonstrate, even if I were so inclined. Very rarely on these threads do I assert expertise. In almost all subject areas I am pretty ignorant. Now, where one is ignorant, there are a few choices on how to proceed. If the arena doesn't matter, you ignore it, seems to me. If it matters and you have analytical skills, you assess the credibility of the experts based on the quality of their arguments. If it matters but you don't have the skills to make that kind of assessment, then there are a few choices. What most people seem to do is judge the message based on their biases. If it resonates, they believe it. If it doesn't resonate, they consider it either unreliable or a lie. Another popular approach is to be awed by credentials and to buy whatever the credentialed have to say. A third common option is to throw up one's hands and just go with the flow. Unfortunately, another common approach is to regale the world with opinions regardless of ignorance. My approach is to use my analytical skills. That is my strength. Where that is insufficient because the subject matter is simply too arcane, I make a judgment based on the quality of the presentation. Where that is insufficient due to the absence of a rationale, I weigh credibility based on the attitude of the expert. Statements against interest, in particular, afford a lot of credence. Any expert who flies the flag of his credentials I assume to be full of it. "Because I said so" didn't work for me when I was a kid with either my father or the Catholic Church and it doesn't work now with experts. Which is why I am not impressed with the logical fallacy of appeals to authority so frequently used by posters. And why I am favorably impressed when posters offer rationales, even weak ones. And why I never assert authority that I don't solidly have. Aren't you glad you asked?