Members DRW50 Posted September 15, 2014 Members Share Posted September 15, 2014 I'm terrified of that group ever being in power, even for 2 years. Once they get power they don't let go. They have too much media power and too much money as it is. Even when they controlled all bodies of Congress and the White House in 2004, the media still made sure the public blamed Democrats. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members quartermainefan Posted September 16, 2014 Members Share Posted September 16, 2014 Barring a miracle they are getting the Senate. Obama will be a lame duck who people will start to ignore as they take their cues from the democratic nominee. I think the most realistic hope is Obama just makes sure he vetoes every insane republican proposal and they wait til 2016 when the map favors the democrats. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members quartermainefan Posted September 16, 2014 Members Share Posted September 16, 2014 This thread has yet to discuss the upcoming vote that threatens to undo the world order. Will Scotland break up the UK and if so what happens to British nukes, the oil, the pound, the Queen, and everything else including the impact on Nato, the EU and the precedent for other territories in perhaps Spain and Canada to follow a similar path? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ThePrinceOfSunspear Posted September 17, 2014 Members Share Posted September 17, 2014 I can't tell if you're joking/over exaggerating Quartermaine but I have heard stuff along that lines regarding the economic ramifications of this vote. As for the Republicans I'm both terrified and yet oddly excited about the possibilities of them having power for the last 2 years. For one thing I think it means immigration reform is completely dead which is good because the Latino/Immigration groups and their demand for all out amnesty has pissed me off to no end. Rep Luis Guitterez and that one lady who appears on Up w/ Steve Kornaki have done more to make me anti-immigration reform than billions of dollars spent by Karl Rove or any Republican candidate ever could. President Obama might still announce his executive order but I think he would just signing his own death warrant politically if he did so and destroy part of his own legacy as well. However the Republicans will find a way to ruin their good luck. They always do. The question how far they'll go.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ellabelle Posted September 17, 2014 Members Share Posted September 17, 2014 I thought Begich was in pretty good shape? I'm in Arkansas, and we definitely want to keep Pryor. Tom Cotton would be a disaster. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted September 17, 2014 Members Share Posted September 17, 2014 (edited) I've been reading about this for the last few weeks. The strange thing is that all 3 heads of England's political parties- Cameron, Clegg and Milliband refused the more autonomous 'middle path' that Salmond proposed in 2012, opting for a Yes or No referendum in 2014-- now the last minute proposal that all 3 English party leaders are pitching is strikingly similar to what they flat out refused two years ago. Salmond and Sturgeon (I kid you not, these are their names) and other pro Scottish independence leaders are partly scoffing at the recent pitch, and the other part is asking for more specifics. Perhaps if Cameron, Clegg, Milliband and Gordon Brown all sing backup for Al Green while he sings "Let's Stay Together"? I believe tomorrow is the Vote. And some prognosticators are saying that polling indicates that it is too close to call. Politics in Europe is a bit more complex than just the rise of Anti-Semitism. It has also been about the steady rise of Anti-Immigration from North & West Africa as well as from Eastern European countries like Poland, which is why you see far right parties like UKIP in England and the National Front in France making surprising gains in the last few years. That, with the mainly harsh consequences of austerity measures (interesting that both the far left and the far right parties seem to hate austerity measures) and the EU and euro seeming to not live up to its promise-- all blend into a toxic stew that threatens to promote nationalism and derail the Euro project. I must admit a little surprise upon hearing about Sweden, which I've always read about having a pretty good standard of living. I would have thought Norway and Denmark before Sweden. I do think that many of these Far Right Wing parties are hiding behind protectionist sensibilities to promote their agendas. And people who are skittish about the EU's bent on austerity and making everyone conform to one rigid standard is what is propelling people to take a second look at these nationalist parties. And then there are the ones who've always been on the extreme right margins who are longtime supporters. Edited September 17, 2014 by DramatistDreamer 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ThePrinceOfSunspear Posted September 17, 2014 Members Share Posted September 17, 2014 Yep last I heard Begich is in good shape. I think Kay Hagan might be able to eak out a very very tiny victory in North Carolina and I'm praying she does. I'm surprised Montana is basically being assumed to go Republican. I really thought Jon Tester would help more in that race. But given all the ups and downs perhaps it's for the best. Iowa looks close but I think Braley will pull it out. That leaves Arkansas and Louisana. If Senator Landrieu can't win over 50% it goes to a run off and from what I'm hearing she'd be a huge underdog in that case but I hope that's not true. Meanwhile Mark Pryror seems to be falling behind Tom Cotton but President Clinton is campaigning very hard in AR so hopefully he gets close. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Huntress Posted September 18, 2014 Members Share Posted September 18, 2014 It's the other way around. Norway and Denmark have a higher standard of living than Sweden. Copenhagen is Europe's most expensive city to live in and Norway is the second-richest country in Europe. Sweden has also had a much higher rate of immigrants coming to the country, especially from the Balkan countries. 20% of the Swedish population are "immigrants", whereas in Denmark it's only 10% and in Norway about the same. In Germany, we had elections in two federal states (Thuringia and Brandenburg) last weekend, and a rather new party, the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, Alternative for Germany) won seats in both parliaments. This party is very conservative and is against the Euro. In both states they had about 13 % of the vote. But the federal states that were part of the GDR before the fall of the Berlin Wall have always had different political views than the more liberal states in the West. Germany has been reunited for almost 25 years, but the discrepancy between East and West hasn't changed that much. In the public eye and in the media, people from the East are still seen as backward and cranky. Furthermore, these people still feel neglected by the government even though their cities are now in a good economical shape (thanks to all the money from the West), while the big cities in the West are mostly broke. It's a mad world. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted September 19, 2014 Members Share Posted September 19, 2014 (edited) I actually wasn't saying that I thought of Norway and Denmark because of the economic standard of living but due to the recent tragic incidents that happened in Norway and Denmark in the past few years, namely the Theo van Gogh murder and then the mass shooting that happened at that conference/camp in Norway. I haven't heard of any thing of this sort happening in Sweden, which is why I was a bit surprised. I wasn't talking merely of earnings when I meant standard of living but overally quality of life, I guess. Sorry, if I was unclear (typing very quickly most times). Edited September 19, 2014 by DramatistDreamer 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted September 19, 2014 Members Share Posted September 19, 2014 Scotland votes against breaking away from the United Kingdom http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-29270441 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted September 19, 2014 Members Share Posted September 19, 2014 The polls were off in their predictions, as they usually are. I wonder when legitimate news shows will stop relying on polls to provide the weight of expectations? I wonder if Cameron & company will follow through with their last minute appeals to give Scots more autonomy. It seems Cameron is facing a backlash from members of his own party for mentioning these concessions earlier in the week. Now you have some members of the Conservative party threatening to caucus their own English Parliament. Then you have Alex Salmond and certain pro Scottish independence voices, on the other side saying that this issue can be brought up again in a few years. Is this over? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marceline Posted September 19, 2014 Members Share Posted September 19, 2014 They were? Most of the polls I saw said it was basically a 50/50 split. Admittedly, I didn't start paying attention until this week so I missed a lot of the discussion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ThePrinceOfSunspear Posted September 19, 2014 Members Share Posted September 19, 2014 Steve Kornacki, the Democrats in New Jersey, and that idiot reporter who's been on MSNBC like 24/7 should all be embarrassed to show their faces given the recent Chris Christie news. All this time has gone by and not a shred of evidence has come out tying the governor to the incident. While I'm absolutely shocked that the feds haven't found anything to indict on I am also a little bit happy about that. Because if he does run for President I want it to be a fair competition and for him to have a fair shot at matching up against Secretary Clinton (assuming they both make it out of their primaries). But back to Kornacki and I think his name is Brian Thompson who covers NJ politics or whatever...those two have absolutely despicable in their attempts to throw every single type of conspiracy theory out there to make Chris Christie look bad. I mean the innuendo, the so called "insider info" and leaks they were getting from the grand jury about some of Christie's aides testifying against him or possibly have making a deal to indict Christie. It's just hilarious how far the two of them tried to smear him. Just like now Steve's next target is Governor Cuomo in New York (who I happen to like and respect since he isn't some crazy liberal who thinks it has the Democratic way or the high way). Anyways the bottom line is Chris Christie isn't my most favorite Republican ever...In fact he probably wouldn't even make the Top 10 list. However I think the way this special committee has conducted this "investigation" and the way the media (and especially certain people on MSNBC) have covered it has really given credence to some of the complaints I hear from the Right...Chris Christie does act like a bully and probably was one in school at a certain point. His brashness is very offensive to me most of the time and I don't find his behavior to be that of a President but he still doesn't deserve to be attacked unfairly without a shred of proof only for the feds to conclude that there really isn't anything tying him to it. /rant over If he does get indicted I reserve the right to apologize to the above mentioned....lol 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted September 20, 2014 Members Share Posted September 20, 2014 The polls claimed it would be extremely close 50/50 but with well over a 1 million+ votes difference, it was 55/45 at best. It wasn't a landslide but not as close as was predicted. The Bridge is ovah, as KRS-1 would say. More disappointing is Christie pulling NJ out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which even the majority of state Republicans believe is a mistake. It's a cynical move on Christie's part to get backing from Americans for Prosperity A.K.A. the Koch Brothers. And it shows that he's willing to toss the people of NJ aside, so he can get in good with the Koch Brothers and their money. Personally, I'll be surprised if he makes it past the first hurdle in 2016. He probably won't get any further than Giuliani did in '08. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted September 20, 2014 Members Share Posted September 20, 2014 Jon Walsh was never really getting traction and then he dropped out because of plagiarism accusations. The woman running now is trying her best but it's a huge longshot. What do you all think of the race in Kansas? Some think that Republicans will lose governor, secretary of state, AND Senate. I don't see it happening, especially not this year, but I guess we can live in hope. Disgusting: http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2014/09/were_gov_bentleys_comments_abo.html 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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