Politics

If the election were held today, which of these Iowa winners would you vote for? Barack Obama Mike Huckabee Note: This poll will close on Tuesday (the day of the New Hampshire primary).

First, allow me to start by paying my dearest condolonces to this lady, who heartfully applied democracy in most, if not all of its colors. May God rest her soul in peace, and may He punish those responsible for her assassination. Now we know that democracy is never bound to work in such regions as Pakistan, but in the long-distant solution or end, good will win over evil. Who do you think is responsible for her assassination, and what could be the reasons for that? What do you think about Pakistan's decision of not making an international tribunal for this assassination? How do you see Pakistan after the assassination of former PM Bhutto? How do you see the region…

http://www.slate.com/id/2177249/fr/rss/ Why are we doing this? This country harbors the former head of the international nuclear black market (A.Q. Khan). He supplied nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea, and Al Qaeda, but the exact extent of his activities is unknown because Pakistan refuses to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency or the US to interview him. This country remains a terrorist haven. But hey, throwing money at the problem will solve it. Why exactly are we giving them $10 billion?

We've talked around this before, I think, but there has been no concerted discussion on the topic. In all realism, what do you actually think the "Ron Paul Revolution" is actually going to amount to in the election cycle? Personally, I think he's going to be a blip in Iowa, and then rock the ticket somewhat in the more libertarian New Hampshire. New Hampshire is an open primary, so what Paul is probably going to end up doing is drawing some Democratic votes, especially of younger first-time voters. My most unconservative prediction: Paul will make a surprise 4th or even 3rd place showing in New Hampshire, hurt Obama because he's drawing the young voters and whate…

Check out this little bit of history. To read more about it, check out Operation Ajax. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax All over oil.

Dr. James Corbett, a history teacher at Capistrano Valley High School in California, has been sued by Chad Farnan, one of his students, over what he claims is an ongoing, daily assault on religion that takes place for 20-30 minutes at the beginning of every AP History class. The student recorded Corbett, who has been known amongst students for many years for this behavior, saying the following things: One thing I have to say, having heard the tape on BOR last night, is that the quotes don't really do the tirade justice. The guy was frothing at the mouth, big time. I mean seriously *angry* about religion. Totally platforming his case. After hearing it I …

One of the fascinating things about politics is the ongoing ebb and flow of political parties and their oft-changing positions over time. The Green Party is ostensibly an environmentalist movement, but at the moment their leading candidate for president is Cynthia McKinney, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist and former congresswoman from Georgia, who is most likely using the Greens as a sympathetic base for her disestablishment agenda. McKinney is a fascinating case, and as a native Georgian I've been following stories about her for years. I see her as a kind of mutant relic of the civil rights era. An extreme, closed-minded, uncompromising version of Jesse Jackson (who'…

A recently released top ten politicians list includes Hilary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, and Barack Obama. Being on this list is not an honor: The list is Judicial Watch's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians for 2007". http://www.judicialwatch.org/judicial-watch-announces-list-washington-s-ten-most-wanted-corrupt-politicians-2007 The list also includes top Democrats Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. (The list is void of Republican congresscritters this year only because Republicans are currently out of power in congress. Last year's list was chock-full of Republicans.)

In the spirit of non-partisanship in a particularly wacky election year, tell me: who in the political realm, despite having very different views from your own, do you find yourself respecting anyway? For myself, I always pay close attention to what Pat Buchanan says (despite being what he would likely characterize as an enemy in the Culture War*), because he's not only very smart but also one of the very few politicians who (usually) refuses to play the political bullshit game. Antonin Scalia is one of my favorite SCOTUS justices despite consistently pushing a legal philosophy I disagree with, because he argues for the philosophy with rare wit and intelligence that d…

According to a report tonight on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, the first issue of Consumer Reports -- from 1936! -- warns of the dangers of lead in paint. And so does the December issue, 71 years later. Wow. I put this in politics because, doggone it, if that doesn't say something about the importance of government safety oversight and the ultimate irrelevence of consumer awareness, I don't know what does. (BTW, I started watching Lehrer again a few days ago when they began broadcasting in stunning 1080i HD. Not that HD really matters a whole lot with news shows, but the notice caught my eye, and I have to say I'd forgotten how thorough and absorbi…

There's still time for the "November 5th" campaign to get more money, because the day is not over on the West coast, even though most were counting from East coast time. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071106/ap_on_el_pr/paul_fundraising;_ylt=AniaDIkzFEHghCC68re.2Ues0NUE http://www.ronpaulgraphs.com/directory.html I donated a small bit to this campaign, but I only predicted that he'd raise about half of this amount. Very impressive to say the least. Hopefully, Ron Paul will get more serious media coverage after this event.

FINALLY Congress gets something done. The new bill calls for a raise in MPG to 35 by 2013, and includes a whole bunch of other measures (such as regulation on incandescent light bulbs) aimed at decreasing foreign dependency for oil. It also included 9,000 earmarks totaling a whopping $14 billion. I wonder how Ron ("Dr. No") Paul voted.

Having a bit of a time trying to find both a constitutional and pragmatic answer on this one. Constitutionally, I'm thinking since congress declares war, then that's where the authority comes from, regardless of the opinion of the sitting president. Pragmatically however, as commander-in-chief, he's the commander of the Army, Navy and Air Force. And therefore, without his approval, obviously he could theoretically refuse to mobilize a single piece of equipment or personnel right? Provisions include taking control of state's Guard when "called into federal service" - but I don't know if that means congress commands them or the president. So, is it possib…

For the purposes of this thread, assume that global warming is happening, or at the very least, is likely. If you want to debate whether global warming is actually is happening, there are already threads here, here, and here. Since threads about whether global warming is happening or not tend to get quite heated, I would rather this one keep only about what to do about global warming given that you accept it is happening. There have been several ideas about what to do about global warming. For example: Reduce waste (ie, efficiency) Reduce our carbon output (ie, stop burning fossil fuels) Increase carbon uptake (ie, grow more plants) Sequester carbon dioxide (ie, k…

Now then, lets see where you guys REALLY stand in on the political spectrum. This is how I tested: You can take the test here: http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Joe "I swear I'm a Democrat" Lieberman, 2000 running mate of Al Gore and 2006 "Connecticut for Joe Lieberman Party" victor over both the Democratic and Republican challengers for his Senate seat, has formally endorsed John McCain. I think it will give him a significant boost among independents, but probably not among Republicans. Of course, we can always hope. If the Republican Party grows up and nominates McCain instead of the various crazy ass/sleazeball first tier candidates, my faith in the democratic process will be partially restored.

Hey again guys, First, I'll say it again - I'm not too well versed in American Politics, but I did take a course in Political Science this semester (Politics and Leadership) and we've had a large section about the Federalist Papers, some of the aspects of the Constitution, and the meaning of Separation of Powers in American Politics. I was wondering something, though. This is very different from what I am used to (my country is more of a Parliamentary system), so I'm not sure if my confusion is because of a misunderstanding of the process, or is coming from the fact that I notice things as an "outsider".. you'll be the judge Every time we spoke about the Pres…

How about that awesome story out of Venezuela over the weekend? Is that not amazing or what? If you haven't heard, the country voted on whether or not to grant near-dictatorial powers in a radical change to the country's constitution. The changes would have allowed Hugo "The Democratator" Chavez to remain "president" for life, declare states of emergency at will, and permanently silence already-muffled criticism from the media. Chavez has overwhelming popular support, mainly due to his sweaping, oil-revenue-driven social programs, and has never lost an election. Most observers gave the "no" side absolutely no chance of success. But in what may be one of th…

For someone not raising that much money, he's certainly getting a lot of support in the polls. I, personally, would never support him, but I'm not interested in personal politics in this thread. I just want to know why you guys think he'll polling so high and where this support is coming from. He's grassroots support is pretty big (second to probably only Ron Paul). He got an impressive endorsement from Chuck Norris. Maybe that made him attention on the net (Where he's an internet meme ) He's an ordained minister, so he probably has some evangelical support (he's endorsed by Falwell's son). Also he's got a pretty voice, so maybe people like that too. I…

The stupefyingly influential Oprah has endorsed Barak Obama, saying, among other things, that he is the best choice for feminists. I'm beginning to think he's the candidate to beat now, replacing Clinton. NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/us/politics/02women.html?hp http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/fashion/02oprah.html?hp

We generally give greater credence to the opinion of a group than that of any individual. We assign greater authority or status to an idea or theory that a group agrees with, rather than accepting without question any individual's theories or observations. This seems to be contrary to the idea of elected leadership and military authoritism and heirarchy. So how come we accept both of the latter, but still question (our own) individual observation or conclusion?

Did Morgan Spurlock find Osama Bin Laden? How could he do it if the US Military can't? There's a certain bit of humor, IMO, if he really did find him.

...again. http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/11/news/economy/fed_rates/index.htm Wall Street cries as the decrease was lower than expected. Well, that's certainly not in the spirit of Laissez Faire capitalism. If you buy mortgage backed bonds, and they turn out to be worthless, isn't that sucks to be you? Apparently not in America. Here the federal government bails out the rich, and the common joe eats the bill. Suck it, America.

Same rules as with the Democratic Primaries, except I have excluded one Presidential candidate, Mark Klein, to keep the options under 15 and because I've never heard of him and because he hasn't actually announced. If you really feel like you want to vote for him, make a comment and a moderator might add him on. Select the one candidate you you would support as nominee for President of the United States from the Republican Party. Vote for the candidate you could honestly support. I back McCain. Post who you support if you wish.