Go vote

[bigrougabagel]

Oh absolutely. I see them everywhere, it is just unsettling to see it at walmart. As the one near me has that, an eye doctor, pharmacy, barbershop, bank, H+R block and a subway. I understand they put those in there because it is good for business, and they are obviously making a profit. Perhaps it's just me being old, but having all those places under walmart's umbrella sends me into spiraling fears of the company store/town scenario.

[Kuya]

Conveniance stores are starting to creep me out

[bigrougabagel]

That's just because you finally figured out that mirror in the bathroom is 2 way.

[Atreides]

for whatever reason the pharmacy in the target near me is like... NEVER open. I think their hours are like 12-6 and they're not open on saturday (and nothing in my county is open on sunday, fucking blue laws) so if you have an asthma attack you are pretty much fucked lol

also Target charges a shitload for contact lens exams

[bigrougabagel]

Good thing that everything is closed, gotta keep sunday pure of booze and life saving medicine, because you know, god wants it that way.

[Atreides]

Bergen County's Blue Laws are actually non-religous, I forget the reason they were originally thought up but this is one of the most diverse areas in the country. There's even a town in Bergen County that has a substantial orthodox jewish population, who can't drive on friday night until saturday night so it essentially keeps them from shopping for the entire weekend, so to get around it everything in that town is just open on Sunday and closed on Saturday instead.

It doesn't apply to "necessities" so pharmacies and supermarkets are open, although some towns have stricter laws than the county and restrict the sale of certain items (like pet food or appliances, leading to some supermarkets actually fencing off entire aisles lol). Liquor stores can be open but only after noon, and bars/restaurants are open usually too. Entertainment is immune but it varies from town to town, although nearly all movie theaters and blockbusters are open, and somehow most gamestops are able to be open as well.

They've tried to repeal the laws a bunch of time but people surprisingly really like it, considering how many cars there are on the road the other 6 days of the week it's actually quite nice to drive around on sunday. The owners/executives for the malls in the county (of which there are like...6) have actually voted to keep the laws in place numerous times too.

[Cream Soda]

Let's go be heard tomorrow guys!

[Atreides]

go away

and p.s. keep claiming you don't care when marco rubio de-funds the department of education and your pell grant disappears

[Cream Soda]

As a fellow Hispanic, I like Rubio.

[Atreides]

i guess it's just too bad charlie crist isn't broke

[Kuya]

What do you guys think of the argument of this article?

The setbacks Democrats are poised to suffer in the midterm election have to be viewed in a trans-Atlantic context. The backlash against Barack Obama and the contemporary Democratic Party is part of a global wave of popular disapproval of social democratic parties that abandoned their traditional working-class constituents in order to woo bankers and professionals.

Parties or coalitions of the left hang on to control in Norway, Spain and Austria. But every major country in Europe -- Britain, France, Germany and Italy -- is now ruled by the center-right. From the Baltic to the Mediterranean, social democratic parties are crumbling.

It would be a mistake to believe that the voters, in rejecting social democrats, are rejecting the middle-class welfare state that social democratic parties built in the 20th century. On the contrary, center-right parties like David Cameron’s Conservatives and the ruling Moderate party in Sweden have been forced to limit their libertarianism in order to win office.

The truth is that voters have not turned against the old-fashioned social democracy of the mid-20th century. In Europe as in the U.S., universal social insurance programs for the middle class, as opposed to means-tested welfare programs for the poor, remain popular among voters on the right as well as the left. Voters in Europe are not voting against public pensions and universal healthcare. Instead, they are tossing out a more recent generation of social democrats who went too far in their embrace of markets.

The greatest assault on traditional social democracy in the last generation has come from "Third Way" leaders of center-left parties like Tony Blair, and their continental European counterparts. Like the Clinton Democrats, these "modernizing" social democrats embraced free markets with a convert’s zeal, celebrating globalization and deregulating finance, while seeking to privatize or dismantle parts of the older welfare state. The politicians of the Third Way were far more libertarian than the voters in their own parties and their actions helped to make possible the global economic crisis.

Having given up traditional social democratic economics for a watered-down version of libertarian conservatism, the Third Way social democrats in Europe, like the Clinton and Obama Democrats in the U.S., sought to replace the traditional bread-and-butter concerns of working-class voters with idealistic campaigns about multiculturalism, climate change and obesity that appealed to more affluent, college-educated voters.

Is this a valid theory on why certain center-left parties are losing? Because they've abandoned economic issues for cultural issues that do not address the growing anxiety of the working class? Seemingly creating the impression that these parties are disconnected from the concerns of "the people".

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/2...t_parties_lind

[Matricide]

Just voted.

[Max™]

What do you guys think of the argument of this article?



Is this a valid theory on why certain center-left parties are losing? Because they've abandoned economic issues for cultural issues that do not address the growing anxiety of the working class? Seemingly creating the impression that these parties are disconnected from the concerns of "the people".

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/2...t_parties_lind

http://bp0.blogger.com/_tYBpc88ktts/...lSPECTRUM3.gif

This is why it's so hilarious to hear cuntbags on various news channels call Obama a socialist. If he was actually close to being one, he'd be more accurately a Democrat/left wing.

[kuronosan]

I think the theory is horse shit, personally. Their main concern lies solely with the working class, which includes the college generation.

The dissatisfaction comes from the Baby Boomers, who number so much and are so involved in the country's politics that they want to feel secure when they retire. They're mad because they feel forgotten and uncared about, so they're going to believe whatever bullshit anyone tells them to make them feel more financially secure.

The destabilization in the U.S. came from the Repubs and Bush, not from Clinton.

[Atreides]

as much as I love that "false spectrum" pic, someone really needs to remake it without the ridiculous ClarisWorks 1995 font effects

[Kuya]

http://bp0.blogger.com/_tYBpc88ktts/...lSPECTRUM3.gif

This is why it's so hilarious to hear cuntbags on various news channels call Obama a socialist. If he was actually close to being one, he'd be more accurately a Democrat/left wing.

That's a terrible spectrum. But i think i said this before.

[Kuya]

I think the theory is horse shit, personally. Their main concern lies solely with the working class, which includes the college generation.

The dissatisfaction comes from the Baby Boomers, who number so much and are so involved in the country's politics that they want to feel secure when they retire. They're mad because they feel forgotten and uncared about, so they're going to believe whatever bullshit anyone tells them to make them feel more financially secure.

The destabilization in the U.S. came from the Repubs and Bush, not from Clinton.

I don't think the author is saying that destabilization started with Clinton. It is more accurate to say that the author is saying that The Center-Left has adopted a more similar economic world view as the right.
I didn't really understand what your first sentence and first paragraph said.

[eunhye]

[yt]UPIP-i3sdVk[/yt]

[Atreides]

in no way do I condone what that guy did but the message is somewhat lost when you preface it by saying "once again we see the _____ for who they really are", that's true for both sides of the aisle.

Tom Periello is pretty respected by Republicans too, although I don't think he'll win simply because his district is generally not a blue district (even though Charlottesville tends to be pretty liberal because of the University of Virginia) and he was swept into office in the whole anti-republican wave we saw in 2008

[Conrad]

I am encouraging everyone I know to go vote today, regardless of their political beliefs. I'm dragging my parents out after work to the polling station down the street, and I'm reminding people that it's election day here at work.

I really do wish that America, like Canada or England, has an option to vote None of the Above. I think that a vote of no confidence option would get more people out to the polls -- look at all of the people in this thread who are saying "I don't like any of the candidates, so I'm just not voting." To those people: would you go vote if you could choose None of the Above? (Keeping in mind that you could always make a write-in vote for the same thing, even now.)