Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Crazy Gang Nation

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  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    slashing military spending to keep making interest payments on US bonds would (arguably) delay an immediate sovereign debt crisis. But I'm not sure making the Tea Bagged GOP squirm is worth the risk.

    Probably something to the effect of, "cut military spending and we'll all be speaking Arabic!" Previously it was Russian, and before that it was Japanese.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Jason Kemp,

    I wonder if this RNZ interview might be useful. From US government shutdown Originally aired on Nine To Noon, Wednesday 2 October 2013

    What I did note is that although there have been previous shutdowns - none like this - even though it was possible.

    Todd Schoenberger, New York-based market analyst on the implications of the US government shutdown.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    soul on ice...
    Apparently Lockheed Martin say they'll run out of money by mid October!!! - so they're thinking of closing McMurdo Base and the Deep Freeze operation in Chchch - I'd have thought that would cost them way more than keeping it open - but then again they can probably bill the NSF (National Science Foundation) for mothballing and reopening costs - and not use any of their own billions of dollars profit, made mostly from the US Government...

    Nature has more details.

    I wonder if NASA astronaut Marsha Ivins will still be allowed to speak in Chchch on the 9th and Tekapo - at the inaugural Aoraki Mackenzie Starlight Festival on from October 11 to 13 ?

    She is retired, but who knows what that crazy gang nation will do - right?
    I hear they kept the golf course Obama plays on, open...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Richard Grevers,

    Attachment

    Randall Munroe's take on it...

    New Plymouth • Since Jul 2011 • 143 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    Yeah, but you'd think the very people screaming about government spending on steroids would be casting a gimlet eye over the $788 billion that went to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security in fiscal 2011, no? Don't be silly...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic,

    Yeah, but you'd think the very people screaming about government spending on steroids would be casting a gimlet eye over the $788 billion that went to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security in fiscal 2011, no? Don't be silly...

    The warnings from the last truly Lincolnite Republican President have proven prophetic. And when Eurasia is no longer a threat, it'll be doubleplusgood to declare perpetual war on Middleastasia instead.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I prefer Andrew Sullivan's take: We're seeing the radical right has turned the GOP into The Nullification Party.

    [T]hey simply do not accept the legitimacy of a President and Congress of the opposing party. The GOP does not regard the president as merely wrong – but as illegitimate. Not misguided – illegitimate. This is not about ending Obamacare as such (although that is a preliminary scalp); it is about nullifying this presidency, the way the GOP attempted to nullify the last Democratic presidency by impeachment.

    [...]Obama has played punctiliously by the constitutional rules – two elections, one court case – while the GOP has decided that the rules are for dummies and suckers, and throws over the board game as soon as it looks as if it is going to lose by the rules as they have always applied.

    And now, it's perfectly clear they've escalated to the decision that the full faith and credit of the Government of the world's largest economy is for suckers too. No matter what the cost.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Maybe they should just accept this, follow the pattern of the rest of the world and have the House Majority Leader run the US while the President spends four years playing golf.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Meanwhile, lovely history lesson from Rachel Maddow. What did right-wing saint Ronald Reagan do when the Senate Majority leader threatened to hold the debt ceiling hostage? You may be surprised...

    http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rachel-maddow/53118951/#53118951

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Let's Call The Shutdown What It Is: Secession By Another Means

    Interestingly, some analysis has been done on actual secession scenarios.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Tim Michie,

    Washington Post: Senate passes debt deal.

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Tim Michie,

    Freezer bird

    Senate passes debt deal

    as the Magic Boomerang
    returns to hand...
    the USA recommences its
    belly-up, debt-laden hurtle
    into the fiscally imprudent!

    Sigh... well, that didn't work,
    what would Skippy do?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Tim Michie,

    what would Skippy do?

    Or the Gipper even...

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report

  • Stephen R, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    what would Skippy do?

    According to the list, ( http://skippyslist.com/list/ ) there's a lot he's tried, and a lot he's been told he's not allowed to any more.
    including such gems as
    10. Not allowed to purchase anyone’s soul on government time.
    ...
    48. I may not use public masturbation as a tool to demonstrate a flaw in a command decision.
    ...
    176. Any device that can crawl across the table on medium, does not need to be brought into the office.
    ...
    195. Shouldn’t use Photoshop ® to create incriminating photos of my chain of command.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2009 • 259 posts Report

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