Canadiens1131
ONE love, blood, life
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This comment from the Daily Beast's Facebook page perfectly articulates what I think about the GOP crop this election cycle:
GOP Nominee 2012 - who will it be?
- Thread starter Harry Vest
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
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kramwest1
has a
I keep asking myself if I would be less creeped-out if he giggled like W did when he says shit like that.
PhilsFan
Blue Crack Addict
Rick Perry is a despicable human being. I can at least muster a small amount of respect for Romney. Perry is just horrible.
Canadiens1131
ONE love, blood, life
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He has a pervasive GWB-like brand of wilful, almost gleeful ignorance.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
Canadiens1131
ONE love, blood, life
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Hey, look, I only elect actors, cowboys, and people I would want to have a beer with, okay?
learnin' things and knowin' things is fer elitists.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
If there's one group of people I want to have the nuclear codes, it's my college drinking buddies.
MrsSpringsteen
Blue Crack Addict
Huffington Post
WASHINGTON -- In Texas, firefighters aren't just battling the wild fires raging around Austin and Houston. The state's first responders have also had to deal with budget cuts affecting everything from fuel purchases to hoses and air tanks.
In some cases, fire officials say, firefighters have had to pay out of pocket for basic necessities like proper protective gear and fuel to get them to the scene. One fire department that battled the blazes in Bastrop County had to pay for a hose, recalled Bastrop City Fire Chief Henry Perry, speaking to The Huffington Post during a break from working the wild fires.
"That fire department has been on this fire every day," he said. "Before this fire, they were having to buy stuff out of their own pocket." Perry said he knows of at least one other department whose firemen had to pay for equipment maintenance and engine fuel.
Earlier this week, HuffPost reported that Gov. Rick Perry, the GOP front-runner for president, had signed off on millions in firefighting cuts as part of the state's most recent budget legislation. The Texas Forest Service's funding has gone from $117.7 million in the 2010-2011 budget years to $83 million in the 2012-2013 budget years.
Severe cuts have also hit assistance grants to volunteer fire departments throughout Texas. The grants decreased from $30 million per year in 2010 and 2011 to $13.5 million per year in 2012 and 2013. These are cuts that firemen are now dealing with.
"I don't agree with it. I understand what Governor Perry did," said Henry Perry (no relation). "Do I like it? No. I don't like it at all."
The cuts come at a time when Texas fire departments have already been slowing purchases of new fire trucks and other critical equipment as a way to save money, said Guy Turner, president of the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters. The association had endorsed Perry in his re-election for governor in 2010.
"What I fear will happen is equipment will start to fail and put our members at peril," Turner explained. "You can imagine if you're inside a structure fire and your engine quits."
Turner doesn't have to imagine it. He said he knows of firefighters whose breathing apparatus has malfunctioned during fires. There have also been "instances of hoses failing during the course of firefighting operations."
"For years, public safety was the golden calf -- that we were untouchable," Turner said. "Nobody's untouchable. It is a shame. They are basically putting a price on how much our lives are worth. It's disturbing at best."
Firefighters also have been hit with millions in cuts from a state matching grant program that helps local departments pay for essentials like proper clothing and engine upkeep. The departments already had difficulty matching the state grants. "These are the folks out there having to have fundraisers -- fish fries and pancake suppers and barbecues to raise money," Henry Perry said.
Chris Barron, executive director of the State Firemen's & Fire Marshals' Association of Texas, told HuffPost that one department in Bastrop County has had to beg for proper clothing to use in combating wild fires. Other firefighters have paid out of pocket for that gear. They can't wear their normal gear when battling these fires. "The last thing we want to do is wear something heavy and nonbreathable," he said.
Barron said his organization had started a wildfire relief fund in March with the goal of raising $500,000 for new gear. It has received $200,000 in private donations so far.
The budget cuts haven't just hit local departments in need of proper gear. They've hit the state agency charged with inspecting that gear. The Texas Commission on Fire Protection, which regulates and inspects the personal protective gear such as breathing apparatuses and protective clothing, took a 25 percent cut. The commission has gone from 41 to 31 employees. It's down to six inspectors covering 700 departments, including Houston's 4,000 firefighters.
"We lost personnel and we lost funding," said Jake Soteriou, the commission's executive director. He said he had not heard of the breathing gear malfunctions.
Will the budget cuts slow down the commission's inspections? "We're going to find out," said Soteriou.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that firefighters were paying for "oxygen tanks," which is inaccurate. Firefighters carry air tanks, rather than compressed oxygen, to breathe in smoke-filled environments.
WASHINGTON -- In Texas, firefighters aren't just battling the wild fires raging around Austin and Houston. The state's first responders have also had to deal with budget cuts affecting everything from fuel purchases to hoses and air tanks.
In some cases, fire officials say, firefighters have had to pay out of pocket for basic necessities like proper protective gear and fuel to get them to the scene. One fire department that battled the blazes in Bastrop County had to pay for a hose, recalled Bastrop City Fire Chief Henry Perry, speaking to The Huffington Post during a break from working the wild fires.
"That fire department has been on this fire every day," he said. "Before this fire, they were having to buy stuff out of their own pocket." Perry said he knows of at least one other department whose firemen had to pay for equipment maintenance and engine fuel.
Earlier this week, HuffPost reported that Gov. Rick Perry, the GOP front-runner for president, had signed off on millions in firefighting cuts as part of the state's most recent budget legislation. The Texas Forest Service's funding has gone from $117.7 million in the 2010-2011 budget years to $83 million in the 2012-2013 budget years.
Severe cuts have also hit assistance grants to volunteer fire departments throughout Texas. The grants decreased from $30 million per year in 2010 and 2011 to $13.5 million per year in 2012 and 2013. These are cuts that firemen are now dealing with.
"I don't agree with it. I understand what Governor Perry did," said Henry Perry (no relation). "Do I like it? No. I don't like it at all."
The cuts come at a time when Texas fire departments have already been slowing purchases of new fire trucks and other critical equipment as a way to save money, said Guy Turner, president of the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters. The association had endorsed Perry in his re-election for governor in 2010.
"What I fear will happen is equipment will start to fail and put our members at peril," Turner explained. "You can imagine if you're inside a structure fire and your engine quits."
Turner doesn't have to imagine it. He said he knows of firefighters whose breathing apparatus has malfunctioned during fires. There have also been "instances of hoses failing during the course of firefighting operations."
"For years, public safety was the golden calf -- that we were untouchable," Turner said. "Nobody's untouchable. It is a shame. They are basically putting a price on how much our lives are worth. It's disturbing at best."
Firefighters also have been hit with millions in cuts from a state matching grant program that helps local departments pay for essentials like proper clothing and engine upkeep. The departments already had difficulty matching the state grants. "These are the folks out there having to have fundraisers -- fish fries and pancake suppers and barbecues to raise money," Henry Perry said.
Chris Barron, executive director of the State Firemen's & Fire Marshals' Association of Texas, told HuffPost that one department in Bastrop County has had to beg for proper clothing to use in combating wild fires. Other firefighters have paid out of pocket for that gear. They can't wear their normal gear when battling these fires. "The last thing we want to do is wear something heavy and nonbreathable," he said.
Barron said his organization had started a wildfire relief fund in March with the goal of raising $500,000 for new gear. It has received $200,000 in private donations so far.
The budget cuts haven't just hit local departments in need of proper gear. They've hit the state agency charged with inspecting that gear. The Texas Commission on Fire Protection, which regulates and inspects the personal protective gear such as breathing apparatuses and protective clothing, took a 25 percent cut. The commission has gone from 41 to 31 employees. It's down to six inspectors covering 700 departments, including Houston's 4,000 firefighters.
"We lost personnel and we lost funding," said Jake Soteriou, the commission's executive director. He said he had not heard of the breathing gear malfunctions.
Will the budget cuts slow down the commission's inspections? "We're going to find out," said Soteriou.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that firefighters were paying for "oxygen tanks," which is inaccurate. Firefighters carry air tanks, rather than compressed oxygen, to breathe in smoke-filled environments.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
He made cuts to education, made cuts to police and fire, balanced the budget with stimulus money, and then asked for federal emergency money. All the while made extensive repairs to the governor's mansion while living in a rental home that was costing tax payers up to 10,000 a month according to some reports. This is your fiscally responsible tea party favorite.
PhilsFan
Blue Crack Addict
He may be a despicable human being, but he pisses off the right people, so you should vote for him.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
i agree.
also, i want to have a beer with him.
i bet after he has a few he'll wind up making a pass at me.
kramwest1
has a
deep
Blue Crack Addict
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
did that super-white audience really just cheer at the hypothetical presented of letting a 30-year old in a coma without health insurance die?
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
Wolf: "Are you saying society should just let him die?"
TeaBaggerSoCalledChristian: "Yeah!!!"
They make me sick.
TeaBaggerSoCalledChristian: "Yeah!!!"
They make me sick.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
I'm hoping that's just the high fructose corn syrup from one too many Big Gulps talking.
Tiger Edge
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
How dare you. This is the United States of Corn we're talking about.
Maybe in 30 years, that guy can get a corn heart and live forever.
Maybe in 30 years, that guy can get a corn heart and live forever.
Let's just hope those that cheered let him die never have a situation where a loved one, or even themselves are tragically injured or sick where they have to choose between going broke to live, or if they stick to their tough person mentality of "fuck'em, this is America, Freedom baby!!!" and let the person die.
Tiger Edge
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
I totally hope they do. 
Canadiens1131
ONE love, blood, life
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Another gem from the debate (1:35):
Ron Paul Booed at CNN - Tea Party Debate - YouTube
Ron Paul booed by the dum dum audience for telling the truth about Islam and why September 11th happened.
God Help America.
Ron Paul Booed at CNN - Tea Party Debate - YouTube
Ron Paul booed by the dum dum audience for telling the truth about Islam and why September 11th happened.
God Help America.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
Small government is just a catch phrase for these folks, if they were serious about it then Reagan wouldn't be there revisionist hero and Paul would actually be the front runner.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
Ron Paul booed by the dum dum audience for telling the truth about Islam and why September 11th happened.
God Help America.
the good thing, though, is that no one except for maybe Gingrich has the stomach for crusading adventures in dry countries any more. that might be one good thing we can pull from the trainwreck of the W presidency. the Iraq war is over, Afghanistan is winding down, and the neocons lost.
i know some posters will be crushed that we're no longer willing to wholesale invade countries that displease us, but the rest of us are quite happy.
PhilsFan
Blue Crack Addict
But we have an approaching energy crisis. It would be more fiscally responsibly to blow the shit out of nations of brown people with oil than to invest in some green energy, right?
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
why would we invest in future technologies when the Gulf of Mexico and ANWAR are just sitting there and ready to be destroyed by oil spills?
Even though I don't agree with much of Ron Paul's ideas, he is 100% correct in the reasoning behind the 9/11 attacks. We have pushed these people to the brink of war, and while there are probably a good number that would hate us if we didn't have these bases, or bombed their countries....we may have just dealt with smaller attacks abroad. Not flying planes into our buildings.
We really are just a spoiled, stuck up country. We can do no WRONG and to ever admit a wrong doing is a sign of weakness and unamerican. Remember that Reagan personally destroyed the soviet union, and eliminated taxes!!!!
I'm extremely concerned with where the country will be in four years, let alone the next election cycle has a very good chance of being one of the most digusting years in our history
We really are just a spoiled, stuck up country. We can do no WRONG and to ever admit a wrong doing is a sign of weakness and unamerican. Remember that Reagan personally destroyed the soviet union, and eliminated taxes!!!!
I'm extremely concerned with where the country will be in four years, let alone the next election cycle has a very good chance of being one of the most digusting years in our history
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
INDY500
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
It's not the "crowd" it's 2 or 3 (possibly drunk) Ron Paul groupies that shout out.
Did anyone care to discuss Ron Paul's answer? He's the one running for president.
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