All you really need is the best Dr. Seuss book ever... "Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose."  If you don't know it, hit the Amazon link below (so Ricochet gets credit!) and check it out.

...

The fact that you aren’t clever enough to not look at someone’s FB page that you find offensive is pitiful. The fact that you mention my children at all in your venomous attacks is sinful. The fact that you don’t have backbone enough to confront me using your real name is cowardly and slimy. The fact that you assume to know about my daily life and everything I read or watch is just creepy on your part. 

Listen Einstein, the fact that you don’t even have the intelligence to get your facts correct about the post that I shared just means the joke is on you. The fact that you would be so insensitive as to intrude into my home with your hateful words is despicable. You, my “friend,” are a disgrace to humanity, democracy and, I am pretty sure, your Republican Party. 

Sincerely,
xxxxxxxx

Sad, indeed.

sad, but there are some evil folks out there.  From a college classmate's wife (so I vouch for the authenticity):

Dear Wack Job,
I am writing to you, the coward who sent me anonymous hate mail (snail mail, no less) for something I shared on Facebook, to tell you sincerely that you need mental help. Thank God for Obamacare, right? There may be hope for you. The fact that you don’t have enough of a life that you have time to write anonymous hate mail is really sad. :( 
 (continued)

If you are still fatalistic, think Kris Kristofferson in Amerika...  like Red Dawn but without the epilogue.

Cross posted from the member feed--didn't see PR's post.

Some pollsters go to great lengths to make sure that not only do they have the correct partisan mix, but also the correct demographic balance to mimic the likely voting population.  However, one thing that is unmeasurable (and, I think, a very real factor in the post 2008, post-Tea Party eruption ear) is "the hang-up factor."  Pollsters have no way of knowing the response of people who simply hang up on them, and for independents, that truly matters... (more on who these people are on the member feed--hint:  the Tea Party?)

http://ricochet.com/member-feed/Why-the-polls-are-wrong

And I've seen the question of why Romney isn't jumping on this?  I can see three possibilities: 

1. There is more to this story than meets the eye, and someone in the WH has tipped the Romney campaign to this fact.  Romney campaign then wisely chooses to stay out of it.
2. There is more to this story than meets the eye, and someone opposed to the WH has tipped Romney to it, so the Romney campaign is going to let it explode on its own.
3. The simply concluded that there is no upside to them regardless of the direction it takes, and so they are leaving well enough alone (first, do no harm...)

Somebody alert Jonah (or at least Cosmo)!  This pro-cat thread must be stopped!

Paul, what I want to know is, was the pitch successful??

As I posted on the SMU thread...

On what planet do defenders of the Cult of Happy Valley exist?  Burn Beaver Stadium to the ground.  Blow it up.  And send a message that any culture that permits these monsters to offend not once, not twice, but multiple times should not exist.  Shame on you all.  Shame, shame, shame.

On what planet do defenders of the Cult of Happy Valley exist?  Burn Beaver Stadium to the ground.  Blow it up.  And send a message that any culture that permits these monsters to offend not once, not twice, but multiple times should not exist.  Shame on you all.  Shame, shame, shame.

Curious if anyone has done any analyses on the existence of captive health insurers similar to the Wisconsin teachers' union plan?  do other states / localities have them?  Seems like this would be a ripe issue for whacking union leadership about the head while protecting the actual educators...  and taxpayers.

John Roberts is the Bob Dole / Bob Michel of the Supreme Court--the judicial tax collector for the welfare state, more enamored with the status of his particular institution than of the Constitution and the Republic as a whole.

James, I don't think you read it correctly.  Quoted from his original post:  That's a very heavy lift, and it's why those of you who think anything less than full repeal is unacceptable are very likely to be disappointed.  (emphasis added).  Full repeal is not possible without getting to 60 votes in the Senate providing a filibuster proof majority.  Partial repeal will be possible in a very piecemeal function, and would leave such a mishmash that the unintended consequences would destroy the insurance market.  That may be the right technique to get the Democrats to negotiate, but it will certainly be a mess and could sway people to providemoregovernment intervention, not less.  I'd rather be the grown-up party and figure out how to add true market reforms, than get blamed (as we certainly would) for the mess.  Call me a Rob Long RINO squish, but a "d*** the torpedoes approach" is what got us into this mess in the first place (GOP primary voters in NV and DE, I'm looking at you).

Paul, unfortunately, as Ben points out, doing so is nearly impossible in the next Congress.  The key is to start building a policy consensus now on the smart things that can be added to the PPACA (like extending programs similar to what Mitch Daniels has done in IN), and on making the insurance markets more competitive (like repealing McCarran-Ferguson), not tilting at windmills.

Repeal may be good politics, and it is mostly good policy, but one problem:  Not gonna happen.  See Ben Domenech's post from a couple of day's ago.  http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Will-Republicans-Repeal-Obamacare  

The questions we should be really thinking about are, what aspects make sense, how can we make it better, and how can we move enough Democrats from places like WV move in our direction to amend it.  End it is a pipe dream, and the sooner we understand that reality, the sooner independents will no longer see us as mad dogs baying at the moon.

Sorry to discover this late--heard it mentioned on a podcast.  I'm interested--please keep me posted.