My dad, who is a staunch republican, was talking to me about this whole thing, and as the words, “Maybe the government just needs to stay out of the whole thing” came out of his mouth, he started laughing.  He realized how everything the republicans have been saying about this is EXACTLY the pro-choice position.  We had a good laugh about that.

“although if you’re like me Comcast has been refusing to buffer videos properly for the better part of a week, “

You maybe one of the lucky Comcast customers whose bandwidth is being restricted for overuse.  You see, you may have thought you bought a certain bandwidth, but they really don’t want you to use it all, so they will restrict it when you use too much.

This is in contrast to, oh,every other country in the world, where they would take that as a sign to build more infrastructure.

Have any Democrats actually made much of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy? The usual righty talking heads are acting like Obama is personally suggesting putting a scarlet letter on Ms. Bristol, but all the exploitive coverage I’ve seen comes from cheesy tabloid TV shows, and magazines like ‘People’.

“This is in contrast to, oh,every other country in the world, where they would take that as a sign to build more infrastructure.”

Building more infrastructure is for commie pinko leftists who don’t live in the greatest country in the world.  See also, effective disaster relief, transparent government, and science.

You see, you may have thought you bought a certain bandwidth, but they really don’t want you to use it all, so they will restrict it when you use too much.

This is in contrast to, oh,every other country in the world, where they would take that as a sign to build more infrastructure.

I’m not sure if Comcast’s point is to actually restrict the bandwidth usage. It seems odd that they are just suspending the account if a user goes over the limit. They aren’t charging extra for the bandwidth overage (to discourage use), they aren’t letting customers sign up for greater bandwidth use, they aren’t even giving the user a warning before suspending the account.

It almost seems like they are more interested in stopping the spread of streaming video sites than actually restricting bandwidth. But I can’t imagine why a Cable TV provider would have any reason to be against online video content….

Building more infrastructure is for commie pinko leftists who don’t live in the greatest country in the world.

Seeing the look on my mother’s face when I suggested that it was absolutely unacceptable that she might not have electricity for a month or six weeks, because this is America, goddammit, I’m of half a mind to think that there are some who actually think this way.

I’m also finally starting to understand the motivation of Republicans.  I think they actually idolize developing countries’ economic situations, because there you have a small cabal-cum-oligarchy of the extremely wealthy, who feel absolutely no responsibility towards the massive rabble of the poor*.  If you are a rich person in a poor country, your M.O. is not to help the government to become stronger and serve more of the people, or help the poor lift themselves up into prosperity.  Your M.O. is to build thicker walls with more razor wire around your compound.

People on the extreme right, especially people who could be considered upper middle class or well-off, are happy to go out and buy a backup generator that can power the whole house.  Happy to buy an alarm system.  Happy to have their children privately educated.  They complain about paying taxes to fund disaster preparedness, better infrastructure, crime prevention, law enforcement, public education, etc etc etc.  Even though all of that is far cheaper than the gigantic tank of an SUV they had to buy because the roads flood out a few times a year.

* Which is not to say that some rich people in poor countries don’t sympathize at all, but it’s sympathy on an individual level.  It’s making sure to pay your maid a fair wage, not running for office on a platform of expanding the economy so that your maid can go to college and get a better job.

That was Comcast screwing up the video? How do you know? I spent days fitfully assuming that one of my millions of Firefox add-ons had glitched and trying to figure out which one. In my defense, last time it was Flash.

Have any Democrats actually made much of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy? The usual righty talking heads are acting like Obama is personally suggesting putting a scarlet letter on Ms. Bristol, but all the exploitive coverage I’ve seen comes from cheesy tabloid TV shows, and magazines like ‘People’.

Didn’t you know that Barack Obama personally directs the liberal-controlled media and has been issuing directives telling them to cover the story when they really, really want to be comparing the economic policies of McCain and Obama instead?
/snark

That was Comcast screwing up the video? How do you know?

I don’t, although it happens in more than one browser; my assumption was based on the news about Comcast’s bandwidth restriction as noted above (although Dorothy’s post makes me wonder if I’m misunderstanding what Comcast is doing.)

all the exploitive coverage I’ve seen comes from cheesy tabloid TV shows, and magazines like ‘People’.

Like Mnem pointed out, once you believe that all media is part of a wide-ranging liberal conspiracy, you can blame anything you see, read, or hear on Democrats.

Hm, I wonder if this is what got the editor of Us on TV the other day talking about how Palin pwns everyone, evar?  I mean, I usually think she’s a wackjob, but I thought that was especially egregious.

I was crying laughing at work watching this, The Daily Show was great this week!

If you are a rich person in a poor country, your M.O. is not to help the government to become stronger and serve more of the people, or help the poor lift themselves up into prosperity.  Your M.O. is to build thicker walls with more razor wire around your compound.

It’s really an extreme version of the types of selfishness you see among the elite in the U.S.  In third world countries, it would actually benefit the elites to improve the lives of those around them.  Give people a chance and they’ll become doctors, engineers, educators.  In the end, you’ll have a country with good health care, clean water and air, paved roads, and an educated public.  It’s a win-win for all involved, even those rich people who had to sacrifice a little of their wealth and privilege to make it happen.  But, no.  The elites in those countries fear and/or hate the poor so much, they’d rather sit on their hands.