Open Chat... All Day, Every Day! Express Your Views, Debate, and Challenge the Views of Others!

In order to keep up with the nature of free, spirited debate, I wanted to place the chat feature at the top of the homepage. This ensures people can come here and share their views on anything they wish and not have it be related to any specific discussion. Here, people can share ideas, links, and views "unmoderated" and an their own pace. To me, this makes The Elephant in the Room blog truly a place for debate.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

November 13, 2012 - Morning Headlines

- The extra-marital affair investigation that caused General Petraeus to step down appears to have reached General John Allen who is currently serving as NATO's International Security Assistance Force commander in Afghanistan (CNN): http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/13/us/petraeus-allen-investigation/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

- President Obama will meet with labor officials and business leaders to kick off a "campaign" aimed at putting pressure on Congress to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 annually and to avoid the upcoming "fiscal cliff" (ABC News): http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-discuss-fiscal-cliff-labor-leaders-17704952#.UKIzguT7Jqw

- Though most of the power losses due to Hurricane Sandy have been fixed, approximately 19,000 residents on Long Island still have no power as tensions run high (USA Today): http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/13/long-islander-utility-sandy-power/1701699/

*** Be sure to paste any news links you want debated or find interesting below ***

9 comments:

  1. I wanted to share this with a simple comment:

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/tech/social-media/romney-facebook-friends/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

    Come on, CNN, really? A post election hit piece?

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  2. This is what's wrong with the country http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/analysis-liberals-line-white-house/story?id=17707098

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  3. I always enjoy David Frum's articles. Stays away from the typical sensationalism and keeps a very grounded, realistic point of view in openly criticizing both parties.

    Probably too moderate of a conservative for some, but of all the opinion pieces he typically comes closest to representing my own ideals and points of view.
    http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/opinion/frum-conservatives-despair/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

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    Replies
    1. Sometimes it's tough to tell whose side Frum is on.

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    2. Fair comment; he does seem to criticize Republicans even more than Democrats.

      But I also tend to prefer that perspective over what we typically see from most political commentators/strategies (on both sides). Rather than continually focusing on 'what's wrong with the other party!' it tends to be more about 'what we can improve about our party.'

      The ladder of which, while it might not score the most political 'zinger' points, is IMO a far better discussion/analysis that both parties should engage in more often.

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    3. I think another fair prop is, what do you think is wrong with the democrats? Everyone, because of the media, is going nuts on the GOP, but what do you feel could be changed about your party?

      Shall we meet in the chat below? :)

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    4. A little too busy to join the chat today, perhaps another time. :)

      As a minor note, I'm actually not a member of the Democratic Party. I'm a bit more in between the two parties (fiscally conservative, socially liberal), as opposed to committed to one over the other. That's a long discussion though.

      As far as what the Democrats could change/improve, quite a bit on their side as well. Without going into too many points.details, here's a couple:

      ‘Tax the rich’ mantra – This is getting long past the point of being overplayed; tired of hearing about it. While I don’t completely disagree with the cause, I don’t think it should practically be the center platform of the party. I, personally, would much rather see a call for _everyone_ to pay a ‘fair share’ as opposed to just focusing exclusively on the rich. I would completely support a minimum federal income tax (similar principle to the ‘Buffet Rule’) enacted across *every* tax bracket. Perhaps a minimum overall tax percent of 2/5/8/12/16/20% in the respective 10/15/25/28/33/35% brackets; ensuring that everyone pays something (just tossing out numbers for an example).

      Entitlement Reform: Almost completely ignored by the Democratic Party. I don’t quite agree with the GOP’s solution, but at the same time I respect them for at least bringing the discussion to the table and offering up something. I feel like the Democrats almost completely ignore it… And worse, is that they demonize any serious attempt to address this issue as ‘leaving granny out to dry!’ or some other ridiculous hyperbole.

      Obamacare - Not a fan of this solution, though at the same time I think it’s better than keeping the status quo of the previous 10 years which was definitely not ideal. This is almost flipped from the previous point; I don’t fully agree with the Democrat solution, but I applaud offering up something, and feel as if the Republicans are almost completely ignoring it.

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  4. Saw this and I thought it was cute...

    The election is over, the talking is done.
    My party lost, your party won.
    So let us be friends, let arguments pass.
    I’ll hug my elephant, you kiss your ass.

    Let the the honest and fruitful debates begin : )

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  5. Good afternoon!

    Dara, first... love it! That's very cute. When I saw that come through, I just had to jump in.

    As far as the other comments go, this is good stuff. Open, fair debate about daily issues discussed in the news.

    Hopefully tomorrow I will have up a major post up... if I can finally finish writing it... :-)

    Hope everyone has a great day!

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