My recently-wingnutty sister

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Thursday October 18, 2012 · 7:18 PM PDT

2012/10/18 · 19:18

My little sister got married back in September. We're about a decade apart in age, so I missed out on a lot of her late adolescence/early teenage years while I was a teenager and away at college. We've never been on bad terms, but we haven't talked on a regular basis since the mid-aughts. Regardless, she's my sis, and we have always been pretty good buds, when we do talk.

In the weeks before the wedding, given that I didn't know the area where her and her fiance live, nor had I ever been to her house, and had no idea where the church was, I figured I'd do a test drive so as not to be late for her wedding.

I found the church without too many problems, then drove around in a rainstorm trying to figure out where they lived, while my GPS was cutting out every few minutes. I never quite succeeded in that.

What I did notice was that pro-Romney yard signs were abundant where she lives. Noticeably so. That fact was noted and mentally filed away, and she had an awesome wedding, and life went on.

Fast-forward to the last few weeks: In the last few weeks, my sister's posts on Facebook have basically turned into a non-stop screed of Fox News-fueled anti-Obama posts. She changes her profile pic and cover photo to some new "Obama-sucks" image several times a day. I don't recall my sis as ever having had any political opinion other than "All politicians suck", ever.

My quandary: Back in 2004, I got burned arguing with my Bush-supporting friends. I would score argument wins, they'd concede the win, but ultimately they voted for Bush. I now only have serious conversations with people who are either Dems/Libs or people who are of the "all politicians suck" variety. I have verbal sparring matches with Repub/Conservative friends who I know well and with whom I know I can have a fun troll-tastic fight, and still be friends. As such, I've ignored my sister's anti-Obama posts, because I feel like engagement is ultimately futile.

My Question: Any other kossacks out there have any opinions on how to interact with a sibling who has turned Fox News wingnut? I'm strongly leaning towards "ignore and move on", but I feel like engaging my otherwise-rational sister in a debate on substance and fact.

Private Equity firm renegs on retiree life insurance

mergenow

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Thursday August 02, 2012 · 6:53 PM PDT

2012/08/02 · 18:53

I hate looking at this as a campaign issue, given the actual impact on people, but the "private equity screws the working class" angle is about as front-and-center pertinent as it's ever going to be. This is significant because it affects a lot of retired people in the Scranton, PA (Yeah, "The Office") and one of the areas of PA in which Mitt might have a shot due to the conservative, blue collar demeanor of the region.

Times-Tribune story link

Private equity firm Vector Capital bought up assets from companies that relate to an old, now defunct, RCA factory in the Scranton area. People who worked in, and retired from, the plant, had been vested into retiree life insurance policies. The PE firm has just notified people that the company will no longer be paying for their retiree insurance policies. Of course, they have the option of picking up the payments for the policies themselves, but how many middle class retired factory workers can afford that?

He expects to hear soon what the premiums will be to continue the policy but holds out little hope of continuing payments. He said Technicolor told him he cannot redeem the policy for its cash value.
"There's no way in the world I can afford a $60,000 life insurance policy at age 76," he said.

It seems to me that the Obama campaign should be jumping all over this development with local ads that tie Romney to Private Equity to exactly this situation. Both Bush and Kerry kicked off their 2004 campaigns in the Scranton area because it's both blue collar and conservative enough, and large enough, to be both a swing region, and significant in the state.

Bush using Katrina to push School Vouchers

mergenow

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Monday September 19, 2005 · 8:29 PM PDT

2005/09/19 · 20:29

According to WaPo, the administration was setting aside $488 million for private-school tuition and other help, to re-create as normal an environment as possible for the uncommonly large segment of children from New Orleans who had attended Catholic schools.

Of course the ChimpAdmin is using the Katrina Disaster to push it's ideological hobby horses, but let's get this one in front of everybody and let's get our opposition to this started now.

Let's fix public education, not gut it.

Independent World Television Network

mergenow

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Monday July 04, 2005 · 11:47 AM PDT

2005/07/04 · 11:47

I did some searching on this site, and didn't see any obvious posts or diaries that covered this topic, so I apologize if this has been covered before.

Via Buzzflash, we are informed of the beginnings of "Independent World Television"; intended to be a non-profit, sponsor-driven, world-wide broadcast network, presenting news of political and social import outside of the normal model of corporate- and/or government-controlled news media. The network appears to be the brainchild of a Toronto native filmmaker and CBC "veteran". More below the fold. Read More

US in Talks With Iraqi Insurgents?

mergenow

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Saturday June 25, 2005 · 7:31 PM PDT

2005/06/25 · 19:31

The UK Sunday Times is reporting that talks between US forces and some of the major Iraqi insurgent groups occurred earlier this month. The information in the story is attributed to "two Iraqi sources whose groups were involved," and are said to have "proved reliable in the past," whereas the Pentagon has apparently refused comment. If true, this would prove to be one hell of a development inasmuch as it seems to signal that the tough-talking administration may be realizing the scope of what they've gotten us into.

The article does manage to throw a wet blanket on the prospects by pointing out that Zarqawi's group has not taken part in the negotiations. Even ignoring the lack of participation of one of the (seemingly) most significant insurgent groups, the article makes it sound like the discussions haven't exactly been a resounding success, so far. Their key demand: a timetable of American withdrawal from Iraq!

Yesindeed, the main thing they want is the one thing news articles all week told us the Administration firmly refuses to provide. (more in extended entry) Read More

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