Rand Paul?  meh.

Until Scarlet's funbags get pushed down, I'll not be able to focus on such things.

why does rand paul

 hate the planet?///

Ace, are you turning into a *gasp* Paulbot??

But seriously, there is nothing about this guy that has pissed me off yet. The fucker makes sense...and is sensible, unlike his daddy.

I'm not quite a libertarian - I'm more of a classic liberal/US constitutionalist, but gooddamn if he doesn't inspire the same feelings in me that Ace has toward Rubio.

Aqua Buddha rules!!!!

Yes, I make good, common sense points, but if the Dems want to push me, I can get as crazy as my pappy.  You want to get nuts?  Let's get nuts!!!

^{Posted by: AoS Random Analogy Generator at April 08, 2011 01:43 PM (TG/Az)}

Right turn, Clyde.

I always thought The Osterman Weekend was better than The Overton Window.

"Energy and Environment"?  Sure, hose it.  But we need to maintain our nuclear arsenal, and that is not done by the DoD.

Sorta. The navy teams with DoE to manage the nukes. The Navy does most of the work and DoE gets in the way.

The Osterman Weekend

I LOVED that movie.

When I started school we had no Department of Education.  Somewhere in the middle there we did have one.  And by the time I graduated it was several years old.

Never noticed its existence.  But it sure is a great way to make billions of dollars vanish and keep a lot of over-educated and under-skilled people employed in cushy jobs where they can kick back money to the Democrats. 

I think my question is, why doesn't the Department of Defense handle our nuclear arsenal?

It does. Then they go through DoE as a bureaucracy to deal with congress and administration. It's a bug not a feature

I've worked with both the DoD and DoE...and there is no fucking reason why the DoD cannot handle nuclear weapons. There are very different protocols and  for nuke power and nuke weapons.

Eliminating the DoE involvement in weaponry is nothing but a win-win-win-win 

The Osterman Weekend

Rutger Hauer makes me quiver!

I just read a little bit on this Overton Window stuff.  Is this supposed to be some important, unknown concept?  What is with the desire to give fancy names to trivial ideas?  Or am I missing something super-special in this concept? 

 I do a lot of work with DoE labs all over the country

I have also-and actual production facilities- and getting rid of union involvement and redundant regulatory hurdles associated with the DoE is the best-case scenario

absorb the 15 Billion+ in costs the the DoE is currently paying. 

Umm..the DoE doesn't pay for shit

Posted by: Alex at April 08, 2011 01:50 PM (kwNeL)

Yea, the teacher's unions would fight pretty hard against that.

It's a book by Glen Beck and a political theory but mostly the book.

That's 'Common Sense'.

If I'm not mistaken it was Carter who took nuclear security away from Defense and gave it to Energy. Send it back to Defense and eliminate Energy altogether.

IMO you keep State, Defense, Treasury, Justice, Homeland Security, merge VA into Defense, kill off Commerce, Labor, Energy, and roll all of the rest into one "Interior" Department while killing off most of their duties. For example, there's no reason to have a massive Transportation Department. The stuff that makes some sort of sense (FAA) can be rolled into something else; as for roads, just block grant that money to the states for maintenance and construction based upon road usage.

I just read a little bit on this Overton Window stuff.  Is this supposed to be some important, unknown concept?  What is with the desire to give fancy names to trivial ideas?  Or am I missing something super-special in this concept? 

Posted by: Henry Harold Humphries - you can call me 'H' at April 08, 2011 01:59 PM (iRJ9J)

Glad I'm not the only one.  So there's a political spectrum of acceptable ideas popular to one degree or another?  And that moves over time?  Often lurching towards more government and more authoritarianism?  Deep.  See: big government 1900 - present.  Or Stuff Orwell Jefferson Said Vol. 33.      

So long as we can somehow bring back black powder pistol duels for politicians.  That idea was scrapped far too quickly.   

Posted by: dagny at April 08, 2011 02:06 PM (hKbRi)

It's a fancy name for "publicly acceptable pol;itcal discourse".  I don't see the need for a new name, and it's silly that someone pretty much "trademarked" such a trivial concept.

It is my sense that the overton window has moved

That's not an easy job. 

It requires installing a whole new Header as well as a bunch of siding and drywall work.  

You'll need to have a painter come to do some Interior and Exterior work as well...I know a guy. 

Other than that, you just have to hope we don't find any wiring in the wall where you want to move the Window to. 

I can give you an estimnate and some references if you want them.

As a transitory step, we can and should combine Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development (and another one I think I'm forgetting; Update: Oh, he Department of Health and Human Development, duh) into a much-diminished, much-smaller Department of [Whatever]. Human Development or whatever other euphemism for welfare you wish.

Department of ExtraConstitution Services?

BTW- What the hell is the Overton Windown

It's what the MBM days is OK to discuss in politics is all

Posted by: ace at April 08, 2011 01:40 PM (nj1bB)

Agreed.  And there's also the issue of the transition itself.  There needs to be one.  Like it or not, a lot of these funds that go from the states to the feds back to the states actually DO pay for things at the state level, be they salaries or programs or supplies.  It would be a helluva lot more efficient if the money never went to the feds in the first place, which is your point.  But if the DOE or the Dept of Ed or any of the other departments are just cut - BOOM - without a period of transition, then those taxes will STILL be going to the feds, will not remain in the states, and there will be a monetary and leadership vacuum that the states can't fill and the feds won't be required to address. 

I don't profess to be a master of federal economic policy, and I certainly welcome clarification or input, but I think one of two things would have to happen for this to work:

1) There will need to be a mandated period of transition -- say two to five years -- during which time administrative duties are transitioned to the states instead of the federal government.  Over that period of time, federal tax rates would have to be diminished at a set percent per year to ensure that states have the funding to continue those programs they feel are most deserving.  Likewise, states would have to revise their own legislation, tax codes and various bureaucracies to make an effective and efficient transition.

OR

2) An immediate disbanding of unnecessary federal bureaucracies, accompanied by an immediate chop in the federal tax code.  States would have to do all the same things as above, but they'd also have more money immediately at their disposal to improve existing programs and infrastructure at the state level.  This could lead to a disruption in some services or a downshift of expenses, at least temporarily, to local towns and counties.  Again, the money would be there.  The administrative aspects, however, would not. 

Either way you're going to flood the market with a lot of suddenly unemployed federal workers.  The lack of federal bureaucracy should help alleviate some of the burdensome restrictions that have choked the economy to a standstill, but until businesses start coming back to life, it's going to be very, very bleak in terms of unemployment numbers.  But I think we all understand that it's going to hurt -- and hurt a lot  -- before it gets better.

A solid amount of tax revenue would have to remain to fund remaining federal agencies, and a percent of the revenue formerly reserved for the disbanded agencies would need to be earmarked solely for paying down the debt and reducing the deficit.  Those funds COULD NOT be touched for any other purpose. 

I work in a federally-funded program in State government; specifically through the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, so I've been giving this issue a LOT of thought.  I'm not thrilled with working for the government because I know how much the government rips off my fellow Americans.  On the other hand, I'm human -- I don't want to lose my job.  So I've been trying to work out a solution that would be beneficial to everyone, and you're idea, Ace, is more or less what I've been thinking.  The problems, as I see it, are what I've stated above, and the fact that if it's going to happen it needs to happen NOW.  We really don't have time to waste.  The deficit and the debt won't allow it.

Trying to tear down these heavenly departments will only damn you faster! You'll be cast into the gaping depths of hell's ass, where your sweet testicle meat will be thrown into molten pudding for all of hell's demons to dine upon! Repent, lest ye be pan-seared in butter made from hell's putrid black cows!

I don't want to give the GOP an excuse to let up but at the end of the day we control one half of one third of the government.

Check your math.

Extremist.

It's a fancy name for "publicly acceptable pol;itcal discourse". 

Again..it's what the MBM says it is. The Overton Window always includes far-left ideas, but when it starts to extend to the "extreme" right, they jump into action to close that part off.

Commerce should be closed down too and combined, to the extent it's needed at all, into this slush-fund welfare agency.

Beureau of Indian Affairs would add some much needed color to that stew.

Posted by: nickless at April 08, 2011 02:16 PM (MMC8r)

HAH!  This x100!

I don't profess to be a master of federal economic policy, and I certainly welcome clarification or input, but I think one of two things would have to happen for this to work:

Shyeah...cut fed tax rates..so there is more $$$$ to spend, which will increase state sales tax revenue

A much more important concept than the Overton Window - what is publicly acceptable political speech/concepts - is not what is publicly acceptable to talk about, but the litany of publicly acceptable lies that everyone agrees not to call lies.  What many might call a shift of acceptable discourse usually begins with some publicly accepted lie finally being allowed to be publicly acknowledged as a lie.  This is what changes the range of political speech.  But, our society is deeply invested in many of the known lies we all publicly accept, so it is very difficult to get people to just say that they know they're lies (even though everyone knows it and always has).

Just my thoughts about it.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (NJConservative) at April 08, 2011 02:19 PM (LH6ir)

Or that his biological father was replaced years ago by a martian changeling in a skinsuit.

Posted by: Bill Morrissey at April 08, 2011 02:20 PM (R7ZHx)

You're still here?  Why?

Posted by: Bill Morrissey at April 08, 2011 02:20 PM (R7ZHx)

You're still here?  Why?

The Wheels of Pixy's Banhammer do grind slow.

Palin Steele will be gone soon enough.

at the end of the day we control one half of one third of the government. Posted by: ace at April 08, 2011 02:12 PM (nj1bB)

Yes, but, its the one half of one third that has the exclusive power to initiate revenue legislation. For government shrinkers (and growers) its the catbird seat. You just have to be willing to use the power you have.

Pretty soon, Louise Slaughter will start playing Rand Paul speeches backwards on the House floor and claim that what he is really saying is that he wants to kill kittehs and bunnehs

What?? That wasn't true?

Posted by: The Vogon at April 08, 2011 02:23 PM (2pEj7)

That was wonderful. Now will you please free me?

Even Cowboy Vogon Poets Get the Blues

JC, i might be wrong but i thought when Gates answered that question is that it would be Halved and later re-imbursed. (I'm sorry)\

and i hope i misunderstood. 

Oh freddled gruntbuggly thy hell-spawned wingnut-itudes are to me

As Satanic gabbleblotchits on a lurgid corndog.

Ban I implore thee, my damned turlingdromes. And hooptiously drangle me with hell's puddingcups,

Or I will rend thee in the testicles with my blurglecruncheon, see if I don't!

^{Posted by: Bill Morrissey at April 08, 2011 02:29 PM (R7ZHx)}

Show some fucking respect, douchebag. 

He and his family fight for your right to be an asshole.

Posted by: Prostetnic Vogon Morrissey at April 08, 2011 02:31 PM (c45xH)

Once again, that was great. Now untie me!

Posted by: Bill Morrissey at April 08, 2011 02:29 PM (R7ZHx)

I seriously hope this is someone being an asshat sock. Otherwise, I'd be more than happy to meet ya face to face, and let you say it to me personally.

Posted by: Ed Anger at April 08, 2011 02:17 PM (7+pP9)

Scroll down on that link to the comments. You'll see I've been there a few times.

For every program you try to remove dollars from, the media is going to find someone who is *suffering* and will be *suffering more* if the programs get cut.

America started going downhill when every sob story reported in the media required a government solution. 

He and his family fight for your right to be an asshole.

Posted by: garrett at April 08, 2011 02:32 PM (WfSej)

The fuck they do.  They get paid by the hour just like everybody else.  Nobody twists your arm to join the armed forces so fuck him and fuck you.

If it's a real "contract" then the military people should be able to sue for breach when they don't get paid.  Throw some interest in there. 

Congress gets paid despite no authorization and the military is deemed non-essential.   

Is Karl Rove prank-calling the shots for Obama?

I seriously hope this is someone being an asshat sock. Otherwise, I'd be more than happy to meet ya face to face, and let you say it to me personally.

Posted by: Unclefacts Luxury-Yacht at April 08, 2011 02:35 PM (6IReR)

My mouth is full of man.

Posted by: Bill Morrissey at April 08, 2011 02:37 PM (R7ZHx)

Whoever you are, you're about to cross my line, asshole.

WARNING:  Eeyoreism follows.

Shutting down the various departments would be great, but it won't happen.  Even if we offered the same amount of funding, the caterwauling would be predictable:

Dept. of Education-  You hate the childrens!!!

Dept. of Housing and Urban Development-  You hate minorities and the poor!!!

Dept. of Energy-  You're doing the will of your Big Greedy Oil Company masters!!!

Explain that the same amount of money will be spent as block grants to the states, and it'll be "But those stupid flyover states will spend it all on moonshine and Intelligent Design classes!!!"

As far as merging some of the departments, Bush tried that and ended up with the Dept of Homeland Security.  Enough said.

This troll isn't even fun to bat around.  Just dim and sad.  

Whoever you are, you're about to cross my line, asshole.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at April 08, 2011 02:40 PM (d0Tfm)

I have sex with dudes.

Ahhh, Spring is in the air...

Vogon Poetry,

Klingon Opera, and

Bill Morrissey's musings.

Delightful./

@3: "But, but ... what will happen to MEEEeeeee_eeeee...."

In a sane world: rope, tree, bureaucrat.

In our world: lifetime job, ever-increasing pay and benefits, unlimited and unsupervised power over the rabble.  Pretty sweet gig ya got there.

Apparently, JoAnne Kloppenburg was so unhinged by yesterday's events that "she" changed "her" name to Bill Morressey....

Indeed, the decision to keep nuclear weapon design and production separate from nuclear weapon handling and use goes back to the 1940s.  The Army Corp of Engineers and their Manhattan Project lead by General Leslie Groves did a great job in building the infrastructure and delivering the weapon.  However, Groves pissed off the commie scientists who worked for him and got Truman to give them their own department to run - the Atomic Energy Commission.  the AEC's first chairman was Leo Strauss, certified socialist, who was the source of the infamous line about commercial nuclear power being "too cheap to meter."

The military guys struck back with their own scientists (Edward Teller) and got the commie leader (Oppenheimer) canned as a poor security risk since Oppenheimer fought against development of the H-bomb.

The AEC got changed into Energy Research and Development Agency (ERDA) for a few years before Carter rolled in into a super agency - the Department of Energy.

Most of the weapons budget by DoE is now site cleanup with too little going for new development and maintenance of nuclear weapon stockpiles.  So we're paying for a new brick outhouse to clean up the old brick outhouse and wasting LOTS of money.  We could spend a LOT less on DoE's nuclear weapons work and still get clean sites and new, better weapons.

@5: "Great idea, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. If the House Republican conference cannot agree to cut back to '06 levels and prior, then they won't cut DOE"

Hell, they didn't even cut it when they had the White House, House, and Senate.

Bill, came out of the closet, is that why He's upset?

Bill it's really alright. life will go on.

Posted by: willow at April 08, 2011 02:42 PM (h+qn

Once a demon finds its way out of hell, it's a real bitch getting him back down there.

I have sex with dudes.

Male farm animals don't count. Neither does your mother.

 the post has become about Bill and his foibles.

They get paid by the hour just like everybody else.  Nobody twists your arm to  join the armed forces  accept a union job so fuck  him and fuck you."  them.

Fix'd

I have sex with dudes.

Living ones?

@201: "Little Green Footballs is a far superior blog, you all are dumb motherfuckers in here."

Untrue! I only dated my mother; never got any action off of her.

Posted by: Bill Morrissey at April 08, 2011 02:51 PM (R7ZHx)

By gad this guy is clearly an intellectual heavyweight. Is it Charlie Johnson hisself?

FYI, Ace: The heinous troll (R7ZHx) is on this thread.

I think my question is, why doesn't the Department of Defense handle our nuclear arsenal?

Because, back in 1946, the United States decided that nuclear weapons RDT&E, procurement, and life-cycle management would be performed under civilian management, and not military control. This was done through legislation, so changing it would require revising the Atomic Energy Act.

Until the early 1950s, the military didn't even have permanent possession of nuclear weapons; today, the military acts as a "custodian" on behalf of the "owner," the Department of Energy (specifically, the National Nuclear Security Administration).

Posted by: Bill Morrissey at April 08, 2011 02:51 PM (R7ZHx)

I get that kind of quality discourse by the 12 year-olds on Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Actually, it's higher quality there.

Mr. Firehorse at #210

Howabout the companies that OWN the transmission wires and the generation plants manage the grid?  The 2001 California problems were because the state created a new bureaucracy, the California Independent System Operator, to take over control and run the system as a "deregulated market."

A few companies gamed the new loophole - El Paso Natural Gas and Enron - but most just got screwed.  The biggest electric utility in the state, Pacific gas and Electric, went bankrupt because of the state's bungling.

Bill must have gotten laid off from his job squeezing anal glands out down at the Vet's. Now he is even more useless.

Yup, he should be defaulting on those student loans any day now.

Whitehall at #223: Excellent points. I can't help but think that if a certain insurance company was deemed too big to fail, then the system that distributes electricity is certainly too important to fail in any prolonged, significant way.

I'll cop out and reiterate what I said originally: I don't know. But I guess the best thing would be for government to do what it ought to be doing all along -- establish some rules so that everything can work dandy, then get out of everyone's way.

While we're on the topic of executive branch deportments, here're a few nagging questions:

Why isn't Veterans Affairs part of the Dept. of Defense?

Why does the Dept. of Agriculture issue money?

Has the Dept. of Education done anything worthwhile, ever?

Another cryptic tweet from National Review:

RT @AndrewStilesNRO: Boehner on his way into House chamber: "I'm a happy warrior"

Posted by: ace at April 08, 2011 02:02 PM (nj1bB)

___________________________________________

I know what it is silly. Just making fun of the typo :-)