2014 Election Day Thread

[Salodin]

I actually went through the market place to buy insurance since I've currently contract instead of full time(hopefully I'll be full time in 3 months, if not i'll be 6). I'm currently paying 860/mo for insurance for 3 of us.

Stop saying things like this, it makes me not want to have kids =(

[kuronosan]

What I want to know is who the hell is opposed to the ACA in such a majority that it needs to be repealed?

[Serra]

Can they get rid of it at this point? I feel that since people have bought in and started using it (wasn't it like 7 or 8 million people?), there's no way they can get eliminate the ACA now. It's a nice talking point for Republicans, but their chances to get rid of it ended with the first deadline (if not sooner).

What I want to know is who the hell is opposed to the ACA in such a majority that it needs to be repealed?

People who can afford their own insurance, who have insurance provided by their employer, or people who are so blind they don't think there's anything wrong with our healthcare system. Also people who have never had to deal with a pre-existing condition.

[archibaldcrane]

But really, rich people who are paying extra in taxes to pay for it.

[archibaldcrane]

Yeah, pretty much expecting my health insurance to be gone in a year or two thanks to republicans. As inevitable as it is, kinda hoping it happens sooner rather then later so the dems can use it against them in 2016 when people are crying cause they can't afford their doctor any more.

Obama will never allow Obamacare to die. The only fear is from a Republican president in 2016.

[archibaldcrane]

Looking at his track record on getting the GOP to compromise I'd say it's foolish to get your hopes up.

They haven't held both houses before. They have more to lose now if nothing gets done. Obama's not running for a third term.

[Talint]

Obama will never allow Obamacare to die. The only fear is from a Republican president in 2016.

Attach full Obamacare repeal to debt ceiling limit increase. Done.

Or the supreme court takes up the pedantic interpretation of reading of the law that has caused stupidly partisan conflicting rulings and finally get the ruling republicans want that can kill Obamacare.

There are still a few outs for republicans on killing Obamacare. Not that I think it will seriously happen, but I said that democrats were going to get a net positive of governorships on election night, so what the fuck do I know.

[Dantrag]

Stop saying things like this, it makes me not want to have kids =(

Nah dude. Fucking best thing ever having a kid. Also, I pay so fucking much due to actually making above the median income for the nation. One of the guys I know pays around 1/2 of what I do and has more kids.

[Andalusian girls]

The Supreme Court already upheld the most constitutionally challenging part of the legislation (individual mandate) with Chief Justice Roberts joining the liberal bloc, and it is very likely the result will be the same when they hear the procedural issue on subsidies this coming term.

Republicans in Congress will never pass a root-and-branch Obamacare excision, Democratic Senators will filibuster and Obama will veto and Republicans have nowhere near the votes to overcome either.

there will be a large face-saving vote for their Obama hating constituency, but repeal is dead on arrival and there is little push within the party for much healthcare reform of their own conception. the extent of healthcare legislation, of significance, will likely be the targeting of unpopular and noncritical components of Obamacare such as the tax on medical devices, and an attempt at tort reform.

reckon this Republican Congress will focus primarily on economic issues, McConnell said tax reform and new trade agreements with a couple dozen countries in Europe and Asia were among his priorities and the administration let out word they were amenable to discussing both. Keystone is obviously a go, other forms of domestic energy expansion very likely as well, and increased charter school support is their most pressing educational goal. war powers legislation against ISIS will be passed easily, one thing everyone can get behind is blowing up naughty Muslims.

expect a major push from both sides for immigration reform but in wildly divergent forms, Republicans fixated on shutting down the border before all else and Obama aiming to provide as much of a pathway to citizenship as he can with executive orders. it has the potential to turn into the ugliest fight of the term if Republicans begin making their authoritarian czar kaiser dictator tyrant subverter of democracy accusations.

the moderate leaders are desperate to achieve legislative success to contrast with the gridlock of the prior term so they can point to the 2016 electorate and say 'look at the Republican adults who can get things done', but those adults must control the tempter-tantrum throwing Canadians in the party. the campaigns the party ran this year were shockingly disciplined compared to the publicity fiascos of 2012, and tea party members lost more often than they won, but they did just let the lunatic fringe of their party shut down government for a couple weeks to no result.

[Dantrag]

I hope he doesn't do too much with executive orders. That in turn would probably fuck over his party for 2016.

[Andalusian girls]

his issue is that he promised the sun and stars to the Latino base and they are growing increasingly disillusioned by his failure on immigration, and by the fact that he has deported more illegal immigrants than any other president.

many Latinos culturally are very traditional, very religious, natural allies in some ways to the GOP yet turned off by the nativist rhetoric of the immigration debate. if that singular Democratic advantage begins to weaken it could prove critical in individual races where Republicans need only break even with the Latino vote so long as they continue to regularly win the white vote and lose the black vote. In Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Utah this election Republican candidates managed to split the Latino vote 50:50 or 45:55, which proved good enough, even as they lost the national vote by a wide margin.

while the Latino vote will not go to the elephants in a majority anytime soon if the Democrats do not prove they are the party of immigration you will continue to see this local diffraction where conservative Latino voters begin looking at secondary issues and see a lot to like with the hard-working religious folk.

but as you say the potential backlash of enacting major reform over an opposed legislature is enormous, in the short term.

[Serra]

Obama will never allow Obamacare to die. The only fear is from a Republican president in 2016.

Again, I don't see how anyone repeals it now that people have bought into it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that once people have bought into a government program and have started using it, it's nearly impossible to eliminate it. In 2016, more people will have been using it and will lose access to health insurance if they repeal it.

[Dimmauk]

Corey booker/Julian Castro ticket will keep Latinos for the democrats

[Mazmaz]

I was working for a company that contracted out to the EPA. I just got the fuck out of there last week. I didn't want to be there in case there was another shutdown. I love that people think that oil sands are a good way to get oil /sigh.

Do you feel like sharing your thoughts on Keystone, if not in this thread, then in a new thread?

[Dantrag]

Do you feel like sharing your thoughts on Keystone, if not in this thread, then in a new thread?

My views on Keystone are only based on my opinion and research. I worked for IT at the EPA and the reason I left was 1) Lack of work. 2) Lack of good structure(there were about 10 different contact companies that worked on different parts of the same thng) 3) I knew republicans were going to win. And on the off chance the tea party decided to rear it's ugly head I wasn't going to wait around and find out if they were going to shutdown the government again as I get paid hourly for the next few months.

But as a quick snippet:

Its even thicker than normal oil, so you would have to pre-process it before even putting it in the pipes, that or heat it. Processing it releases between 15-25% more greenhouse gases than normal crude.

As far as the pipe line, I don't know how good our pipe lines that we currently use are so I have no idea on their safety or how they impact the environment. I do not honestly believe that the deal would create anywhere near to 10,000 jobs like they were saying a few years ago. Also I think the plan was to build brand new refineries for the sands(I guess depending if they didn't pre-process it on site).

We keep hearing about how there's more oil than we originally thought and then we hear less then more etc etc. Figure that out first before you start trying to extract oil from a more difficult place.

[BaneTheBrawler]

It is my understanding that pipelines are MUCH safer and more efficient than the existing alternatives, which are trucks and trains. But the article I read didn't really mention anything about environmental impact, and was from a decidedly pro-business source.

[kuronosan]

I don't support the pipe line because it's a money grab. It won't make anything cheaper.

If they were concerned about energy they'd back cleaner initiatives instead of trying to squeeze our resources dry.

[Xno Kappa]

Can anyone link an objective piece to read on the Keystone pipeline? I never really followed that issue.

[Restrat]

One key to it is the EROI of the oil there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_...nergy_invested

As you can see it's pretty bad, many times less that regular oil (which averages about ~20 depending on where it's being extracted, although some places are much higher). Also to note it ethanol is awful, I have even seen research showing it has a negative EROI. So whenever you read about how much oil they will get, keep in mind 1/3 of that amount is actually used up just by getting that oil out of the ground and in a usable form. Getting one million barrels of oil from the oil sands will produce 5.5 times the amount of greenhouse gases compared to other oil sources. This is why many environmentalists are opposed to it. Their view is that if we get these tar sands running and use all that oil and lose any hope of limiting global warming to 2 degrees (Celsius), the current "goal" of the world community.

[notorious bum]

I mean, even without knowing about the absolute shit sludge that it is, what do you expect the oil barons to magically lower their market prices when they are allowed to lay the rest of their leaky ass pipe to the refineries and ship that shit to China, India, etc? That's like saying offshore drilling is worth the destruction of the gulf's ecosystem because you'll see prices dip at the pump. The Kock Boys stand to make at least 1 TRILLION if Keystone is approved, they are currently actively fighting to prevent more solar/wind energy in the country, as we speak.