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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (624590)	8/16/2011 10:38:48 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576608

Obama steps up his game President Obama held a town-hall-style event in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, yesterday, and the change of scenery seemed to do him some good. Jonathan Cohn noted, “It looks like President Obama really has found his inner Harry Truman,” and if so, it comes not a moment too soon. The video of the event is online and worth watching, but a few things jumped out at me. It was encouraging, for example, to see the president continue to press the line that our politics is broken, while laying out specific measures — payroll tax break, infrastructure investment, etc. — that would help the economy. I’d prefer a more ambitious approach, but at least this shows Obama’s focus is where it should be. When the discussion turned to health care, the president played a little rhetorical game I hadn’t heard before. In discussing the Affordable Care Act, he noted that some call it “Obamacare,” adding, “Let me tell you, I have no problem with folks saying ‘Obama cares.’ I do care. If the other side wants to be the folks who don’t care, that’s fine with me.” He also slammed his GOP presidential rivals for rejecting a 10-to-1 deal on debt reduction, suggested Mitt Romney has a case of “amnesia” when it comes to health care, and said, “[O]ne of the most effective ways that we could help the economy is making sure that we’re not seeing more teacher layoffs.” Congress disagrees, but Obama’s right. But what struck me as especially important is when the president took the time to defend government itself. “You’ll hear a lot of folks, by the way, say that government is broken. Well, government and politics are two different things. Government is our troops who are fighting on our behalf in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s government. Government are also those FEMA folks when there’s a flood or a drought or some emergency who come out and are helping people out. That’s government. Government is Social Security. Government are teachers in the classroom. Government are our firefighters and our police officers, and the folks who keep our water clean and our air clean to breathe, and our agricultural workers. And when you go to a national park, and those folks in the hats — that’s government. “So don’t be confused — as frustrated as you are about politics, don’t buy into this notion that somehow government is what’s holding us back…. [D]on’t buy into this whole notion that somehow government doesn’t do us any good; government is what protects us. The government is what built the Interstate Highway System. Government is what sent a man to the Moon. It’s what invested in the research and development that created innovations all across this country.” For all the talk about President Obama’s reluctance to establish progressive “stories,” this is a fundamentally liberal message, identifying government activism as a force of social good and national progress. It’s the core of the Democratic Party’s message, and Obama appeared only too pleased to state it explicitly. Before opening the floor to questions, the president explained, “I want everybody to understand that I’m not here just to enjoy the nice weather. I’m here to enlist you in a fight. We are fighting for the future of our country. And that is a fight that we are going to win. That is a promise that I make with your help.” The more Obama makes appearances like this one, the more likely it is he’ll see supporters eager to join that fight.

To: Alighieri who wrote (624590)	8/16/2011 10:49:11 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1576608

Last nite, I was watching Piers Morgan at the gym and who did he have on as a guest but Mark Sanford. Yes, the same Mark Sanford who got lost on a hiking trail and fell in love. My first reaction.........Sanford is back from Argentina and pushing a new book ala Palin on his falling in love and losing the SC governorship. Just as I was getting ready to turn away the lovestruck pol started to talk. Morgan asked him why he wanted to come on his show. Sanford's answer.........to warn America of the terrible danger it faces if it stays on its current road. I nearly fell off the treadmill. This idiot who made a complete mockery of himself and his office now wants to tell us how to live our lives. Is it a lack of brains, or an overload of testosterone that makes these Rs so bold; so arrogant? I don't care for his show at all but Morgan just managed to turn me off even more than I already was......giving this SC airhead teevee time is an insult to the American public.

To: Alighieri who wrote (624590)	8/16/2011 12:19:20 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576608

Al, > it could not just have something to do with where the greatest need is, could it? I thought the "greatest need" was saving this country from default by taxing millionaires. Raise the long-term capital gains tax, for instance, and Buffett will just reallocate some of his funds in equities toward tax shelters like muni bonds. He'll still end up paying more in taxes (which for some odd reason he can't do without Congressional approval), but it won't be as much as you think, and the very act of reallocating funds to reduce his tax liability will make him a hypocrite. Bottom line is that Buffett will never give up maximizing his ROI and that of his clients. And that's something that will always contradict his big government altruism. Tenchusatsu