@ zaglossus: I understand the original concept for Geico’s “Pinocchio” commercial was supposed to use Bill O’Reilly but the company got cold feet at the last minute. Geico didn’t want people to associate it with O’Reilly in any form or fashion.

Actually, compulsory voting isn’t really that unusual. Australia is one of 11 countries that has it and enforces the practice (there are more countries that don’t enforce compulsory voting). The only requirement is that you show up at the polling place, mark your ballot, fold it and put it in the box. According to Wiki, the Australian state of Tasmania, in a 2010 state election, had a turnout of more than 335 THOUSAND voters (the state’s total population is just over 507,000) with only 6000 people being fined the awesome amount of $26.

Bear in mind this was a STATE election where the total population is about 7/8ths that of Wyoming, yet the voter turnout was more than 1/3 MORE than Wyoming’s turnout in the 2012 PRESIDENTIAL election (and Wyoming’s 2012 turnout was about 2% less than 2008).

I don’t really see any problem with it (obviously, if FoxNoise and its talking asses heads oppose the idea, there must be some merit). Make the fine minimal (say $5) or make an “opt-out” provision available (a number of compulsory voting countries—both those that enforce and those that don’t enforce the concept—have exemptions) and perhaps exempt certain elections, such as party primaries/caucuses and municipal races and there wouldn’t really be any reason to oppose the idea. As to the fine, bear in mind that there is a movement (especially on the right) to reintroduce the concept of “property ownership” as a prerequisite for voting and, for decades, certain states required certain people to PAY a fee in order to vote (poll tax, anyone?).

Hell, you want to get people out to vote? Put a box on the tax forms for people to check with a $5 or $10 deduction for having voted (finally a reason to merit getting one of those stupid little “I voted” stickers—you just apply your sticker to your tax form, along with the copy of your W2; someone would need to figure out how to prove it for online tax forms) and there’d be such a turnout, it’d set records. Of course, failure to check off that box and you pay $5 or $10 (which would result in that much less of a refund).

I have to deal with a lot of this crap when I go to stores and it just sets my teeth on edge. One day, I just know I’m gonna go off on one of these “blessed day” ditzes.

Maybe I’ll just be nice and wish they “Have a nice f#ckin’ day.” Or I’ll go really off and tell them flat out “I won’t have a blessed day and you can take your blessing and shove it where the sun don’t shine.”

It seems that a certain douchey Doocy should be reminded that the Ten Commandments explicitly says “Thou shalt not lie.” And you’d think the “Christian” group looking to get a “religious” exemption would’ve been a bit more forthright in correcting Doocy’s lie.

God may not like the gays (or shellfish or pork eaters or folks who wear blended fiber fabrics) but He absolutely LOATHES the liars (and their cousins, the prevaricators). If He hated the gays as much as He hated the liars, we might’ve had Eleven Commandments (“Thou shalt not sex up a member of the same sex”).

I sincerely hope that, if GWU does mandate the sensitivity training, this spot is remembered by GWU officials when they deny the religious exemption.

Wait, wait, wait. I thought FoxNoise was about the Putin-loving and they not only allowed this man to suggest killing Russians on a FoxNoise program not once, but TWICE?

Oh, sorry. I forgot. This is FoxNoise, where the motto now seems to be: We smear Obama no matter how many sides we take to do it.

Hmm. Maybe Mr Hannity could explain why his employers are supporting the terrorists because “money’s more important” than stopping terrorists. After all, the Saudis aren’t exactly innocent of sponsoring terrorists (especially of the “Moos-lim” variety) yet not only are the Saudis are “allies in the war on terror” but they’re also in FoxNoise’s proverbial bed since one of NewsCorp’s financial partners is one of the Saudi royal family.

Maybe Sean should distance himself from FoxNoise unless he wants his “ties to terrorism” to be further detailed. Oh wait. Something he said about Hillary could be phrased in a way to describe himself: “In other words, I won’t criticize the Saudis because the money’s more important than the principal of standing up or being a champion for the victims of terrorists.”

[Megyn Kelly] suggested the government’s position was dishonest and illegitimate by describing it as follows: “The law doesn’t mean how we wrote it. What you read there, that’s not how we meant it at all.”
_________

In other words, just like virtually EVERY piece of legislation that GOPers write and pass across this country.

Of course, FoxNoise doesn’t care about THOSE laws. It’s only when Dems pass laws that allegedly do what Kelly was saying that it’s a problem.

BOR: “The fact is that Fox News is now a deep threat to the progressive movement and the far left despises us, so they are in full attack mode, desperately trying to marginalize FNC."
_______

O’Reilly said “now?” Really? He’s just come to this realization? FoxNoise has been a “deep threat” since it went on the air. And the “progressive movement and the far left” has despised FoxNoise since its debut.

There’s no “now” there, Billdo. You and your ilk have been a “deep threat” since the beginning. (The fact that you people prey on the simple-minded is just that much more despicable—especially when you refuse to accept responsibility for the evils you’ve caused. And I’m calling you out specifically, Billdo. Or does the name “Dr Tiller” mean nothing to you? His blood is on your hands, Lady Macbeth. His blood is on your hands.)

@ truman: OR, did she do “other services” for those grades?

You know—just asking.

@ Richard: Yeah. Have you ever noticed that FoxNoise doesn’t seem so interested in FULL-TIME employment numbers (unless they can use the lack of such to attack Obama)? I mean, that largely means there are decent benefits—maybe not great, but the Fed does protect “full-time” workers by covering them under overtime pay laws and FMLA laws. Again, not really much in the way of paid sick leave or paid vacations but knowing that your boss has to pay you for overtime work or allowing you to keep your job because you need to take time to care for a sick child or a sick parent because you’re counted as “full-time” is a pretty sweet deal.

BUT, when you look at overall employment statistics, there’s not really a breakdown in “full-time” versus “part-time” nor anything about “one-job worker” versus “two-job workers.” And those “income” stats shown in the still shot, I strongly suspect the income in the right-to-work states requires both spouses working to achieve the income. Also, “per capita” is extremely misleading. The “income” of a multi-millionaire is offset by the minimum wage workers’ incomes. You get someone like Sheldon Adelson or the Koch Brothers………well, let’s just say Adelson’s annual “income” is “just” half-a-millon. To average his income down to make the “per capita” income just, let’s say, $40,000, and let’s say the annual income for a 40-hour-a-week minimum-wage earner (at $10/hour min wage) comes to about $20,000, so you need TWENTY-THREE of those minimum wage workers (at $20K) to offset Adelson’s half-a-million.

And how much you want to bet that a lot of those right-to-work states just happen to have a whole bunch of millionaires and billionaires who can skew those per-capita incomes?

Why do I get the feeling that no one bothered to give the “viewer” question the correct answer?

Simply put, there was NO requirement that the Secretary of State use a government e-mail account for government business until AFTER Hillary left the position.

Hillary’s decision to “not follow the rules” was simply because there were NO RULES TO FOLLOW while she was Secretary of State.

(Then again, why wasn’t the Bush cabal held to the “rules we live by” standard by FoxNoise and its legion of sheeple? Oh. That’s right. IOKIYAR. And white. Colin Powell’s admitted he didn’t use a government e-mail while Condoleeza Rice did but I don’t see any criticism being directed Powell’s way by the FoxNoise kkkrew or its sheeple.)

Perhaps Alveda might tell us what kind of JOBS those “55 million babies” would be doing right now.

Perhaps Alveda might tell us how many of those “55 million babies” would be behind bars or been put to death (whether through the death penalty or rogue cops).

Perhaps Alveda could tell us how many of those “55 million babies” would’ve been killed thanks to Dubya’s little wars.

Perhaps Alveda could tell us how many of those “55 million babies” would be living below the poverty level and would be functionally illiterate.

Of course, this wretched excuse for a (barely) human being—whose sole fame comes from trading off her famous last name (at least Paris Hilton did something to merit her fame; sure she used her name to get in the door, but she did more than just use her name after that)—would never answer any of that because she has NO answers (just like all *con*servatives).

It’s so effin’ easy for these Republicons to talk about ending “Obamacare” (funny how they’re less willing to discuss how many of their ilk supported the idea when the Heritage Foundation set up the original plan as a counter to “Hillarycare”—not that any of those folks were willing to actually, you know, do anything to enact the HF’s proposal into law; they’re also less willing to discuss how supportive they were when it was known as “Romneycare” for Massachusetts) but they suddenly become LESS talkative when it comes to DETAILING how they’d replace the system.

Because, you know, real governing is hard to do, compared to all the “Vote for me” rhetoric they spew each election cycle. (Then again, when the people who actually do show up to vote tend to be the morons who vote for those idiots because they fall for the shtick every single time. I don’t recall exactly where it was—maybe ThinkProgress?—but there was a report that explained why so many state legislatures and governors tend to be the braindead GOPers. The explanation was because of the way the cycle comes between Presidential elections, when the majority of voters tend to be either political junkies or the party “faithful,” the latter tending to be more GOP loyalists than Dem loyalists.)

But Priscilla is dead-on. Any time a “child” is seen/heard promoting liberal/progressive ideas, well, that child has obviously been brainwashed or is just “parroting” things he or she has been taught, and doesn’t really understand it.

But when you’ve got little 5 year olds toting signs in front of abortion clinics or 12 year olds spouting right-wing talking points, well, that just shows how “intelligent” the child is.

Who wants to bet that this youngster will be another “15-minute” conservative? Wasn’t it just a couple of years ago when some boy was the right-wing’s darling, only to suddenly be dropped when he failed to continue spouting the right-wing line?

Oh. So the question in the headline is actually intended to be more than merely rhetorical?

Alrighty, then. I’ll play along.

Um, because…………FoxNoise and its website pander to racists?

I think leaving it as rhetorical probably works for the best.

“Fox loves to quote former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying he wanted Israel “wiped off the map” (even though that’s not what he said).”

It IS amazing, isn’t it? It always seems to me that whenever a right-winger is misquoted or misattributed (the Sarah Palin “I can see Russia from my house,” for instance), the right-wing goes into immediate “correction mode,” demanding retractions from anyone who makes the mistake. BUT, let the right-wing take an incorrect quote or attribution and they’ll keep playing it until the end of time—no matter how many times they’re corrected on it.

Reading Melissa Frances’s comment was like something from “1984.” “The dangerous precedent was that folks from other nations who oppose a sitting president can come and address Congress for the American people. Oh no! We can’t allow that! We don’t want opposing viewpoints to be aired!”

Well, in fairness, it’s usually the President who arranges for a foreign head of state to address the Congress (as the foreign head of state is usually in the country to meet WITH the President). As to the last line, that’s so rich, coming from FoxNoise where “opposing viewpoints” are limited to those which are pre-approved by FoxNoise. Not to mention their preference is so-called Democrats willing to toe the FoxNoise/GOP party line. A Democrat willing to support the Administration’s view will either not be invited at all or will be shut down very quickly.

“Isn’t that the very heartbeat of our country? Isn’t that democracy, that you disagree publicly, you hash issues out? Are you so afraid to let the other side hear the argument?”

And again, irony abounds with this statement being uttered by anyone on FoxNoise (especially, as was noted, FoxNoise cut off/censored comments being made by Democrats, aka “the other side”). I would ask, however, that FoxNoise consider how they would feel if Obama extended an invitation for Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khameini, to speak before Congress? You know, just so our country and its democracy has a chance to “let the other side hear the argument?” Or what about an invitation to Raul Castro (or any Cuban government official) to speak before Congress? While we’re speaking of “the other side,” how about offering equal time to Netanyahu’s opposition? Shouldn’t Israel’s people have a chance to hear “the other side” speaking in front of Congress?

@ truman: Yeah, I can. In fact, most of us (legitimate) commenters can. Of course, we tend to have longer memories than the average FoxNoise host, guest or viewer.

Oh. It doesn’t hurt when the criticism is directed at a Black Democrat. For FoxNoise, that’s just another day. Even at the height of the Dubya (p)residency, liberal/progressive criticism of Dubya never reached the level of sheer derangement that’s on daily display on FoxNoise.