Republican plan

[schnurrbart]

Why does it always seem that the only way a repub can balance anything is to cut poor people of something?  Arizona Gov. is preparing to sign a law in which the state would eliminate 260-280K people out of Medicaid.  

[tomtoolbag]

  Isn't schizophrenia a hereditary disease?

  That would explain a lot of the governor's actions.

[kraft-t]

The republicans want to create a lot of jobs. They want to make higher paying jobs into lower paying jobs. An anti labor anti philosophy..

[schnurrbart]

The number of ultra rightwing fanatics in this state doesn't help any either.  Another bill going through the state house right now is one to eliminate red light cameras.  Seems that these folks feel their constitutional right to speed and run red lights is being violated.  One argument is that they cause accidents.  You know, the guy slowing down to stop, gets hit in the rear from some guy trying to beat the light by speeding up and the ones speeding through the light to beat it and hits someone going the other direction.  Yeah, they got good arguments!!

[tomtoolbag]

  I, at ONE time had a liking for those cameras, because I had to spend a lot of time as a duty-driver solely because I passed the written exam during in-processing in Germany. I had a couple of speeding incidents that hit the blotter report, and then I got sick of the endless weekends of duty-driver, and I would intentionally speed and do a double one-fingered salute when I tripped the camera. Yes, it cost me some off-duty time, but it got me off of the duty-driver position too.

  Beyond that, those cameras are basically used as a revenue generator. Yes, they may prevent some accidents, but they also cause others. My biggest issue with them is here in IL they are used in some areas, and you must pay to face your "accuser". Not only that, but the third-party that is the accuser has all the rights of law enforcement without the same consequences. The various corporations that make up the red light camera industry can only be subjected to "paper" consequences such as fines or a loss of their contract, strictly because they only exist on paper as a corporation, whereas the same isn't true for an actual officer of the law.

  That's why I don't like them because of their side-stepping of the basic elements of law that our society is governed by.

[BA Deere]

I`m not commmenting specifically on Arizona, nationwide the taxpaying middle-class is getting squeezed. The so-called poor seem to have plenty of money to get tattoos, cable tv, wear shirts with goofy writing and go to concerts. Over half the people don`t pay actual federal income taxes, the kind that would lower the national debt. Then we hear about all the jobs "Americans won`t do" gimme a break!  There is no way of taxing ourselves out of this mess, entittlements will have to be touched, sweetheart retirement packages will have to be hacked. For too damned long, if you`re poor America is the place to be, if us in the middle-class have to carry our own weight it`s time the the poor start acting poor as well....We don`t have tattoos or cable tv.

[schnurrbart]

Do you get to "face" your accuser with radar?  NO!  The only time they may cause accidents is when someone is violating the law.  I don't get it.

[schnurrbart]

Yep, all those pesky bums on welfare for whatever reason and all those lazy seniors need to have all their money taken away from them because it is hurting me!  Sounds like a great plan.  Do you get entitlements other than farm subsidies?

[tomtoolbag]

  The cameras are based upon a fear induced or false premise, and it's confirmed by the howls that have came around because they don't meet revenue projections. It's the same as in other areas where if you factor out the for-profit prison industry, any given state's atty in IL has a prosecution rate of somewhere in the 90s percent wise, and they have less than a half dozen cases actually prosecuted during their term. They use multiple charges upon the same act or elements of it to force people to plea-bargain and not receive a fair trial. Look at the various driving laws and convictions, where a given defendant's refusal to provide evidence against themselves by blowing into a machine or blood samples warrants a harsher sentence than complying. It was only time before this same type of damned if you do, damned if you don't mentality crept into other areas, where you are forced to choose between cost and actual innocence, which is the design.

  This has absolutely nothing to do with excusing acts of behavior, it has to do with acceptance of changing standards and the compliance of them. If you make the fine for running a red light $150, but make the formal challenge of it $250, that means you have to have the money to defend yourself, or comply. There isn't any technology around that isn't subject to some type of fault or error, even if it is small, and I wonder what the margin of error is for those cameras.

[BA Deere]

It`s been preached to me since I was knee high to a corn borer that "Social Security wouldn`t be there for you!!".  I believe that, I don`t and never have counted on it, SS is a quasi-welfare program. Look you snowbirds have hit life`s lottery and that`s cool. You got your midwest house and when the first snow flake hits you jump in your $200,000 motorhome to sit in the "Valley" or wherever all winter, seriously good for you! However that isn`t the way it`s been, retired folks used have to tough out the winter because  ..they didn`t think they could afford to go south for the winter, you know the rich get their ice in the summer and poor in the winter.   You guys beat the system......but why should you lottery winners get a  Soc Sec check every month? Oh I know "We earned it, the government made us a promise and it`s owed to us!!! Yada Yada Yada".  Folks, the system ain`t gonna last much longer at this rate, you older baby boomers have sucked this teat dry! It`s time to make the tough decisions of giving Old Widow Thelma who really needs Social Security a raise and you Bums that use your checks to buy fuel for your motorhomes need a 100% CUT!!