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[SalmonGod]

The thing about the US having no mandated paid vacation time, sick leave, or maternity leave has come up again.

Really?  That must suck.

Yeah... I've complained about my workplace a lot here... and it really is horrible... but I've stayed with them for three reasons.

1.  I have really good seniority, which means that I'm very last on the chopping block when they do lay-offs.  It's the best job security I could possible find right now.
2.  Decent health insurance benefits, which is incredibly rare in America right now.
3.  Four weeks worth of paid vacation (moving up to 5 next year), which is REALLY good by current American standards.

Many low-level jobs offer zero benefits and zero vacation.  American businesses in general have been treating their employees with barely hidden contempt and mockery in recent years, and are quite open about not giving a shit about families.  I've had to damn near get into a yelling match with my boss over the phone about taking government protected (via FMLA) UNPAID days off to take care of my son when my wife wasn't available to do so.  He's diabetic.  It's kinda important.  He could die.  Boss still thought I should be at work.

[palsch]

Here, have something else to talk about: Israel lobbyist suggesting false flag attacks to get US to war with Iran: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M84l19H68mk

Can anyone find anything about this guy being an Israel lobbyist outside assertions from conspiracy theory sites (visit the homepage linked from that video for an example of that)? The only history I can find for him are the IMF and World Bank, plus his work at the Washington Institute which is a general Near East policy think tank. Everything I've read about him makes him out to be a financial wonk who is also an expert on Iran. I'm having a really hard time finding the Israel connection.

As for his actual words, there is a little bit of context. After an hour long discussion (the part shown is around 1:15:15, with direct context for a few minutes before that) they are asked questions by journalists. One of them is about the US's ability, diplomatically and politically speaking, to use force against Iran in the case that they don't respond to diplomacy or sanctions and develop a nuclear bomb. The journalist asking mentions a poll showing that 70% of American are against such an intervention.

The first response is about Obama's being willing to use force as a last resort, based on his commitment to prevention of Iran getting such a weapon as opposed to a strategy of containment.

Then it's the guy in the video who solely addresses the popularity aspect of going to war with Iran. He basically says that the US rarely gets to declare wars without a clear threat to (or attack on) their own interests. As such, if the US were to go to war with Iran it would be most likely started by someone else.

It was odd language and phrasing, and the guy is somewhat weird (he later makes some remarks about Iranian subs that are odder than the clip shown IMO, suggesting covert military ops have a place alongside sanctions), but I actually think it's an interesting point and, frankly, right. If the US were to ever end up in an armed conflict with Iran it wouldn't be because they fired the first shots. IT would be because (most likely) Israel had made a strike against their nuclear facilities. The site of the Institute giving the talk have a lengthy article on that scenario that is worth reading.

[Truean]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-28/obama-leads-in-latest-swing-state-polls-as-debate-nears

I You declare yourself, "job and company killer"

"Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Mother Jones magazine has released a video of Mitt Romney in 1985 discussing Bain Capital. He says the firm manages companies to "harvest them at a significant profit.""

I mean, just wow. "Harvest" companies.... Harvest? He's not talking about farming. He's talking about being a corporate raider who goes in, takes all the value and leaves a trail of destroyed companies and destroyed jobs in his wake.

I don't understand how on earth people can vote for this man. He's basically written off half the country (47% including vets, the elderly, and tons of other people), and now he's on tape showing that much touted "business experience" consists of raiding companies, plundering the wealth and skipping a now jobless town.... And, they're still trying to spin this stuff somehow into something positive, which I can't imagine.

[Descan]

Though, to be fair, a proper "harvest" sows the seeds for NEXT years crop.

So you can stretch the metaphor to mean good things.

... Still bullshit, but fair is fair.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Though, to be fair, a proper "harvest" sows the seeds for NEXT years crop.

So you can stretch the metaphor to mean good things.

... Still bullshit, but fair is fair.

I don't know about you, but I'd prefer that human civilization maintain a exponential increase in quality rather than a cyclical process of great prosperity and mass die-off. 

[Darvi]

I think I have the GOP's plan figured out.

They know that the '12 elections are a lost cause, so they knowingly got a nutbag candidate so their next candidate '16 looks sane in comparison.

[FearfulJesuit]

Nahh, they're too disorganized for a plan like that.

[RedKing]

Yeah, or you can harvest apples without killing the tree.

Problem being, the Bain approach would be to harvest the apples, sell the apples, then chop down the tree and sell it for firewood, then take the chunks that weren't suitable for firewood and have them ground into pulp to sell to a paper mill. 

[darkrider2]

I think I have the GOP's plan figured out.

They know that the '12 elections are a lost cause, so they knowingly got a nutbag candidate so their next candidate '16 looks sane in comparison.

I'm not sure I've seen the republicans ever try to think in the long term. It's probably more of a "Meh, he's the best we could get (he's the one all our sponsors chose)".

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Yeah, or you can harvest apples without killing the tree.

Problem being, the Bain approach would be to harvest the apples, sell the apples, then chop down the tree and sell it for firewood, then take the chunks that weren't suitable for firewood and have them ground into pulp to sell to a paper mill. 

Then declare the orchard ground an industrial dumping site.

[Gantolandon]

I don't understand how on earth people can vote for this man. He's basically written off half the country (47% including vets, the elderly, and tons of other people), and now he's on tape showing that much touted "business experience" consists of raiding companies, plundering the wealth and skipping a now jobless town.... And, they're still trying to spin this stuff somehow into something positive, which I can't imagine.

At this point, I'm not sure if you shouldn't wish he won instead of Obama. His anti-charisma would ensure that it would be very hard for him to pass something actually harmful, at least without causing significant outrage. His opponent, at this point, can do almost anything he wants and no one will bat an eye, because he is still better than Romney.

The joys of two-party system...

[Euld]

Someone shared this on Facebook.  Still not sure how the government "uses guns" to immorally steal money from the rich to give to the poor.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[kaijyuu]

People who post things like that don't understand the concept of responsibility. You're getting "forced" to help people because it's your goddamn responsibility to help them, not because it's compassionate.

[SalmonGod]

I really don't like Penn & Teller.  This is just one more case.  I understand what he's saying, but it's also pretty stupid if you think 10 more seconds into it.  Their show is also blatant political propaganda.  What really bothers me is they somehow manage to appeal to normally intelligent people who I would expect to be able to see through that kind of... bullshit.

Anyway, they're well-known as libertarian.  From the libertarian perspective, everything the government does is carried out with the threat of force behind it.  Very rarely is encouragement offered instead.  If you don't cooperate with what the government wants, you face an escalating series of consequences, which eventually involves guns and cages and years of your life.

Of course, what he's failing to include in his statement (because he's too busy, as usual, declaring absolutist moral ultimatums) is the obvious reality that most people don't have the resources to just go out and help the poor on their own.  In fact, most people are poor or one case of bad luck/judgment away from being poor.  The government exists, in theory, to give such people some power in society so they don't live purely as slaves to the rich.  I suppose he thinks such people are also immoral self-righteous bullying lazies.

[Nadaka]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/congresswoman-wants-protect-silly-internet-laws-002611165.html

Apparently, there is someone in government trying to keep things like SOPA from happening again.