Biden: Romney will "put ya'll back in chains"

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Right. I studied LBJ in a class I took in school, and he was no civil rights trailblazer. He signed it because the public wanted it, and the bill passed with overwhelming Republican support and declared the Democrats would have the "negro" vote for generations to come.

That said, most of the racist Democrats switched parties, so today's GOP isn't the same as yesterdays, but the Democrats still want to keep the black man down, remind them they are at a disadvantage, etc... and those type of things will never end racism in this country. Of course Biden was playing the race card here, but it's what I have come to expect from Obama. They must divide and conquer. It's like the GOP using gay marriage/abortion in the past. It's politics, but I wish it wasn't that way because we have bigger fish to fry than that.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The octogenarians and nonagenerians you mentioned made their peace with integration and changed their views; the others died out in the '80s. It's same way that some liberal Republicans have hung on in the north, many of them moderating on issues like abortion where the party now has a solid viewpoint.

Why did Thurmond switch to the Republicans if it was the exact opposite direction he should have gone in?

I assume he switched like many of the others because of the civil rights bill LBJ signed. Granted, it made no sense given it was the GOP that helped pass the bill with overwhelming support, but they were not always the most rational people.

That said, everyone knows Strom was no racist with that black child he fathered..

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Clinton probably did the most for the black man of any Democrat merely because the economy was excellent during his presidency and he signed welfare reform to encourage people to go to work. Obama has done the complete opposite. Something like 130 million Americans are getting money from the government now. That is insane!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Clinton probably did the most for the black man of any Democrat merely because the economy was excellent during his presidency and he signed welfare reform to encourage people to go to work. Obama has done the complete opposite. Something like 130 million Americans are getting money from the government now. That is insane!

You have got to be joking - you are normally a pretty reasonable fellow, what is going on here?  You do realise that if the government were failing to offer this sort of assistance, the circumstances would be far more grim?

I am not opposed to unemployment for a certain amount of time, but at this stage it is getting out of control. We cannot afford it financially in the long term or short term, and it is hurting the job market. For example, several family friends are in the HR business, one for a large resort and the other owns the largest firm in a city in NC. Throughout conversations, they have expressed that many of the people they interview and offer jobs turn them down because they can make a comparable sum through simply taking government checks. The resort is having to bring in people from Jamaica in order to run because locals do not want to work or cannot pass a drug screen.

Now we can get into an argument amount the minimum wage laws, which I agree should be raised, but my point is unlimited unemployment or the perpetual extensions of it does not help get people back to work. Humans are pleasure seekers by nature. If we have the option of working or making a bit less and simply sitting around collecting checks, most people will unfortunately choose collecting government checks. Obama will have to tackle entitlements at some point to ease the bleeding.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Clinton probably did the most for the black man of any Democrat merely because the economy was excellent during his presidency and he signed welfare reform to encourage people to go to work. Obama has done the complete opposite. Something like 130 million Americans are getting money from the government now. That is insane!

You have got to be joking - you are normally a pretty reasonable fellow, what is going on here?  You do realise that if the government were failing to offer this sort of assistance, the circumstances would be far more grim?

I am not opposed to unemployment for a certain amount of time, but at this stage it is getting out of control. We cannot afford it financially in the long term or short term, and it is hurting the job market. For example, several family friends are in the HR business, one for a large resort and the other owns the largest firm in a city in NC. Throughout conversations, they have expressed that many of the people they interview and offer jobs turn them down because they can make a comparable sum through simply taking government checks. The resort is having to bring in people from Jamaica in order to run because locals do not want to work or cannot pass a drug screen.

Now we can get into an argument amount the minimum wage laws, which I agree should be raised, but my point is unlimited unemployment or the perpetual extensions of it does not help get people back to work. Humans are pleasure seekers by nature. If we have the option of working or making a bit less and simply sitting around collecting checks, most people will unfortunately choose collecting government checks. Obama will have to tackle entitlements at some point to ease the bleeding.

I am  not aware of any efforts successfully passing to remove the limit of '99 weeks' when it comes to unemployment benefits, and as far as drug screening goes, that is obviously a waste of everyone's time.  If these fellows of yours that you mention are having trouble filling the positions, they are either unable to lower their standards in an entirely meaningful way or they are distributing such anecdotes with an undisclosed motive (lying).

I have no idea. I don't see why they would lie to me, but this has come from two people who hardly know each other, so it's a well orchestrated lie if it is.

And you're right, we haven't extended them again, but at this point I doubt we can afford to. Like I said earlier, we are in a situation now where we really need to raise taxes on the wealthy to the 1990s levels, but no one, including Obama, will have the balls to do it.