That was my guess too. Beautiful Somalia!

A select group of "elites" - robber barons and warlords controlling all the money and power.
Millions of poor, starving, disenfranchised, silenced, sick, homeless, and powerless.
No laws or annoying regulations.
No government!
Total anarchy!
And guns everywhere, all over the place, as far as the eye can see!

Absolute Eden for the teabaggers and other "don't tread on me" types!

Funny thing is, they'd have apoplexy if they were transferred over there. But... but... but... this ISN'T what we wanted at all! (Response: Sorry, but YES. You bet yer ignorant willfully-stupid asses it is. It's what you've been demanding since your elders first voted for reagan. I'm sure you THOUGHT this was what you wanted, until you saw it in action. But then again, I seriously doubt that any of you assholes even have the faintest idea WHAT you want. All you really do know anymore is how to get yer hate on and get it all worked up.)

NO. This isn't just some bullshit hypothetical argument.

It's an accurate prediction of the future in the full vision of the teabaggers. Only they're unable to envision anything beyond their own selfish little myopia.

I was part of a forum last summer in which there were several rigid howard jarvis worshippers. One, a crotchety little old lady who could almost literally have come from Central Casting, proved utterly unreachable. But others not quite so much. One fellow I sat next to may have at least begun to think a TINY bit beyond the Pox Propaganda.

I gave a hypothetical, too, that actually is based on quite a bit of truth. The state of our roads here in CA is WIDELY agreed to be pretty shabby. Especially around my area. Not enough money to do road repair and simple things like filling potholes because no one dares raise taxes and so many fund-raising bond issues are defeated at the polls. I posed the question to everyone about that - how much more do you stand to have to spend on auto repair, fixing your wheel alignment, replacing oddly-worn tires, maybe in some extreme cases having to replace your front axle because that one pothole was bad enough to bend it just to the point where it made your car dangerous or more difficult to drive? How often do you have to go in for wheel alignment since most of the roads around here are so damn bad? How much more is that gonna take out of your pocket for car repairs than the few extra dollars we ALL are asked to chip in, in taxes, to underwrite general road repair? This guy next to me stopped arguing so vehemently and admitted in a subdued voice - "well, I didn't think of that..."

And that covers ALL the roads. Not just the ones that affect me directly in my own geographical area. Listen, I've got a daughter living in the Pacific Northwest, and I've got a son with a rock band who tours nationally, which means they're out on the road EVERYWHERE. They've been through at least three-quarters of the lower 48 states by now, some places getting quite a few repeat visits. And while it doesn't affect me in So Cal (because I'M not driving through Georgia or the Florida Panhandle or New Hampshire or Flint Michigan. But he is, and the five other young dudes with him are in that same vehicle. And dammit, I care! I care a LOT. I want ALL the roads repaired and kept in good shape for EVERYONE in this country!

Taxes are DUES. DUES we all pay for the privilege of living in a country like this, and all the wonderful things and advantages and opportunities that it offers that MAKE such a wonderful country in the first place. No one who wanted the privilege of belonging to a high-class country club would begrudge paying those often exhorbitant dues to belong there. Well, America is like the greatest and most wonderful and desirable country club in the world! The wonderful freedoms and amenities and opportunities and blessings and riches of this country - are worth us all chipping in to help underwrite. That's how we MAKE it that wonderful, in the first place!

Freedom indeed is NOT free. True that. But it costs much more than exclusively the blood of patriots. It also costs tax money.

THAT is a FABULOUS idea!!!

Hey, you can split the country and live your wonderful tax-avoidance life. But if you want to come back in, well, there's a price to pay for that avoidance, y'see... We do have to even things out a little so all the rest of us can afford the luxury of YOU.

It's the World's Largest Entitlement Program

republi-CONS' and CONservatives' firmly-held belief that THEY have the Divine Right to rule. That they are the ULTIMATE "Chosen People."

Argument I'm having on Facebook: hey, conservative friend, let's help you get around paying taxes!

Ray: And your taxes will be so high you will never afford healthcare again!
10 hours ago · Like

calimary: Ray! Hey my friend, I just had a FANTASTIC idea! Let's help you make one of those flying cars. That way you can travel around town without using any roads. Those are paid for, paved, and repaired, through taxes (which your side hates). The only problem is, the airways above us that all those other flying machines use is all pretty well organized and regulated - so we'd have to help you navigate around that somehow too. That effort has of course been bankrolled by taxes. Maybe an orbital vehicle then?
7 minutes ago · Like

calimary: You should DEFINITELY grow ALL your own food, because using food you'd buy at the market - well, that market pays taxes, and charges them on nonfood items you'd also buy there. And the food they sell has all been inspected - that involves tax money, you know. And we're well aware you're not fans of paying taxes. So let's help you get around them, okay? And of course you'd need your very own water well or something, because the public water systems, including what comes out of your tap at home - well, taxes help ensure that this water is clean and its infrastructure is maintained. Can't have that then, either.
7 minutes ago · Like

calimary: You'd probably have to hire your own security guards, though - since calling the police for something involves those dreaded public employees your side resents so much. I mean, heaven forbid your house catches fire. More of those dreadful public employees would be scurrying around your private property at will! ICK!
6 minutes ago · Like

calimary: See, taxes have been so badly misrepresented over the past few decades - as something that only takes away. No one ever bothers to think WHAT WE GET FOR OUR TAX MONEY. But please make no mistake - NO ONE on our side ever claims there isn't waste. So absolutely, you monitor closely and streamline so the tax money coming in from all our participants in this country is used as wisely and efficiently as possible.
4 minutes ago · Like

calimary: But there's been NO on-going emphasis on the common good. And how we ALL benefit. There's been precious little emphasis, for example, on all the ills the Affordable Care Act has addressed, done away with, and fixed, to protect ALL of us from being ripped off! Hey, Ray, even my conservative friends are forced to concede that health care (ESPECIALLY!) should NOT be a for-profit affair. No one should be able to make a buck off your health or mine. Because then you really do get those "death panels" miz sarah was squawking about in 2008, only it'll be the insurance INDUSTRY, the businesses, the bean-counters, that decide whether you live or die - THEY will be the death panels. Oh wait ... we already have that. THAT is what the Affordable Care Act is designed to prevent, or at least circumvent. Health insurance and health care should be a public utility.
a few seconds ago · Like

I think we all ought to start approaching taxes a little differently. TIME FOR THE GREAT NATIONAL RE-EDUCATION.

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!!

LOVE IT! This will go with my "Dogs Against Romney!"

Thank you for suffering me!

I apologize for being insufferable here - I'm really not trying to honk my own horn. I'm just always pleased when I think I've figured something out reasonably. It seems helpful to try to figure out someone's motivation. To try to understand what makes them do what they do and why and where the "feet of clay" are hidden. 'Cause you know they're there. Everybody's got 'em. Seems to me if you can kinda understand what moves them, you may - repeat, MAY - have a shot at out-thinking them or anticipating their next behavior.

Sometimes I feel like this whole thing is a freakin' chess game. One that's certainly played on multiple levels!

Anyway, forgive me for sounding obnoxious! I always try to do what I'm good at!

And considering the many rulings that stuck it to Democrats in particular and liberals in general

that he undoubtedly played a key role in shaping, he may have started to take on this false testosterone aura about being the "CONservative of Record" on the high court. That does a few things to the ego - especially an ego as gigantic as his. After awhile you start taking it to heart and thinking you're more of a colossus than you could even WISH you were in the realm of fact-based reality. This was evidently personal to him. Therefore, he took it personally when confronted with rulings he opposed. And rather ardently opposed in these two cases, it would seem.

Whoa! Chicken Noodle News! That takes me back!

I remember how so many people I worked with referred to it that way. I think you called it, too. They were already predisposed toward a ruling that must surely HAVE to go against President Obama and make his future look bleak. HAH! They had a pre-existing condition about their health care coverage (their "news" coverage, that is)! They did buy into the narrative of this damn message machine that's gone haywire, on steroids!

It does serve them right. Don't swallow the onslaught of strongly-slanted wrong-wing propaganda, CNN! Don't assume it's the truth just because you keep hearing about it all the time. We know you HAVE to keep an eye on outlets like Pox Noise because you have to watch everybody and every competitor if you expect to keep up. But you're letting that side of things get to you. The infection has spread, doctor. It's more like a cancer that's metastasized.

Besides, I think they're looking at the biggest plum, hungrily, because they "ain't got no." The biggest plum in the ratings wars is Pox. So, I can see the lemming-brain assert dominance and prepare for an Obama-adverse outcome, and outdo Pox at its strength and grab away all their viewers. Yeah. Fat chance. That wouldn't work anyway! The branding is complete and utterly locked in: you want CONservative? You turn to Pox Noise. It's a no-brainer in more ways than one! You want liberal leaning? You go to MSNBC especially since so few of us are equipped to get Current. Those are the choices and they've been consistently and successfully branded for some time. That image, that perception, has been reinforced for a LONG time now. It's very well-established. People are always gonna go to Pox Noise for the CON view. They won't just magically migrate over to CNN all of a sudden. Brand loyalty has already been solidly established and locked in. At least you know what you're getting with Pox Noise, and they're reliable as hell on this single score.

CNN would be well-advised, I think, to try to shoot for straight objective stuff. Sideline anyone with an attitude or agenda. Bring the most neutral you've got up front and start grooming them to take over. Even maybe recruit some "old-timers," relatively-speaking.