Thread in which the world laughs at America

[Sava]

If you sing "three dollar bill" to the theme of Gilligan's Island, it's pretty cool.

A THREE DOLLAR BILLLLL

[Tupac Shakur]

It's interesting how you seem to think that is a good thing. It's demonstrably less democratic to have an authoritarian party that controls the votes of its members. The whole point of legislative bodies is to get the individual votes representing the opinions of their constituents, not the opinions of the ruling overlords of the party.

Is this a tacit admission that Canada is less democratic than the United States? Party discipline is much stronger in the Westminster system than in the US Congress.

[DaShi]

And who can forget spending an entire year wrangling over a healthcare law while they had a supermajority?

You were in favor of government arguing over bills before, even to the point of nothing getting done. What changed? The name of the party?

[DaShi]

What was the point of posting that, TMM? We all know Limbaugh is a vile ****ing piece of hypocritical scum, we needn't any further illumination.

He actually believes that crap.

[DaShi]

That's fair.

I'm glad that Paul Krugman is falling in line with something I had been saying here for awhile. That American's idea of fair and balanced are just criticizing both sides without consulting facts or using reason.

[DaShi]

Is this a tacit admission that Canada is less democratic than the United States? Party discipline is much stronger in the Westminster system than in the US Congress.

This is true.

[DaShi]

If one truly wishes to look at the authoritarian approach and arm twisting one only need look back to the universal health care passage. In those instances the blue dogs were runnning scared but were compelled by party discipline, bribery, and other sausage making techniques to betray their constituencies.

Bull****. Much of the original plans for the healthcare bill were gutted to appease the blue dogs and even the republicans. The blue dogs eventually realized that compromise with the majority was necessary to keep government functioning properly while the republicans behaved just as they do today (though minus the blackmail). This is why I argued back then that the republicans are obsolete. The democratic blue dogs filled the reasonable opposition side that the republicans abandoned.

[Ben Kenobi]

Much of the original plans for the healthcare bill were gutted to appease the blue dogs and even the republicans

Which is why it funds abortion? I call Bull**** on that.

[DaShi]

No one cares about your strawmen, Ben.

[Elok]

whoosh

Dude, you've got your parties mixed up. Pelosi was downright dictatorial in the way she ran the house because she couldn't ever get the Dems to fall in line. Boehner doesn't have to twist arms. The GOP just has less infighting.

I believe that a large part of their present unity is caused by the army of tea-party fanatics that has them all by the balls. Not all of their unity, but certainly the knowledge that they could lose their seats if they move an inch from the pseudo-libertarian "party line" (or break some asinine pledge) is having some effect.

[Tupac Shakur]

Over the course of history, Congress and the White House have seen highs and lows. Times that can be remembered with pride and other times when politicians failed to meet the American people’s expectations. Right now, we are at a very, very low point—the worst I’ve seen since I moved to Washington in September 1972. Never in my memory have both parties and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue appeared as dysfunctional as they do today. The stakes are so high and the performance is so utterly disappointing. The goals of most of the debt-ceiling proposals being debated are so modest that victory would really be a defeat in terms of what needs to be done.

The Cook Report: A Laughingstock

[Guynemer]

Yup.

But this is what we voted for, and besides shut up, there's something about Casey Anthony on the looky-box.

[DanS]

This is a good one...

Washington Is Annoyed at Wall Street's Failure to Panic

I think it should be "Democrats are Annoyed at Wall Street's Failure to Panic"...

This whole theater proves once again that the US will do the right thing, but only after having exhausted all of the available alternatives.

[Tupac Shakur]

Rising signs of strain emerged across financial markets on Thursday as investors pulled out billions of cash out of money-market funds, in turn driving the funds to rein in lending in short-term markets.

Financial markets have become increasingly alarmed at the deepening divide in Washington and the potential that the U.S. could be downgraded by credit-rating agencies or, worse, default on its debt.

Banks, meanwhile, are scrambling to design emergency plans to avoid a trading logjam in the huge markets for Treasurys and short-term funding facilities if Congress fails to raise the U.S. borrowing limits by next Tuesday's deadline.

Lending Markets Feeling the Strain

[Dauphin]

This one is better.....

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43527239/