Politics

Was watching an hour long interview with Dr. Ron Paul on a Google special - I guess they're interviewing candidates in some kind of town hall setting. And the subject of war, of course, came up and Ron made a point that I haven't really considered before. Many of my conservative friends are turned off by Ron because he sees no moral obligation to protect Israel, or come to the defense of Taiwan. But, and this is one of the reasons why I really like Dr. Paul, he spends more time making the point that you shouldn't be looking to your president to wage war in the first place. Only congress can declare war and only congress should declare war. It doesn't matter if t…

So the situation is basically this: most Democrats and a small number of Republicans want out of Iraq. Senator Dick Lugar ® wants out now but doesn't want to force Bush to do it. Harry Reid wants out now and wants to force Bush to do it. What just happened in the Senate is just a continuation of the extremely polarized political climate in this country. I said Reid and Lugar should cosponsor a bill, but it'd have to be one everyone can agree on. So how about this: The bill would sponsor an international summit between the U.S., Iraq, and the surrounding nations (Iran, Kuwait, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia). At this international summit America would…

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/16/reid-filibuster/ Will this technique work, or is it just another vain attempt by the Democrats to force a vote on Iraq withdrawal? It comes at a time when two Republicans are also pushing Iraq withdrawal, much to the chagrin of the White House: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1034793420070715

Obviously, the short answer is "depends." Different offices and different points in history require different sorts of leaders. I acknowledge that. But I'm speaking generally, and am talking not so much about personalities as resumes. For example, the most obvious path would be from lawyer to politician: the formal study of law is the most obvious training for a lawmaker. A competent lawyer understands how the law works and why it works that way, and must be adept at quickly learning about diverse and unexpected subjects, must know how to see issues from multiple angles (well enough to argue either side of an issue), and, of course, must know how to convince people. T…

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3359764&page=1 A recent spat of Republican mind-changing regarding the situation in Iraq has the White House in "panic mode", according to ABC. Do you feel like public opinion on the situation in Iraq is finally changing to the point that a drastic departure from past strategy is on the horizon, or will the "crack in the dike" among Republican opinion be patched up by more Tony Snowballing?

I have observed in a lot of different forums that as soon someone starts discussing and questioning sexual taboos, there is always someone else who immediately assumes the worst about this person and start denigrating and stigmatizing him with malevolent insinuations. The usual stereotyped assumption is that if he discusses this or that taboo is because he is a “pervert” and that he actually questions a taboo because “he has an interest” in such sexual practice. Some individuals even go as far as insinuating that the poster gets aroused just for discussing the matter !!! But making this inference is as true as saying that a psychologist who studies sexual behaviou…

I can't tell if this is just pre-G8 political maneuvering or if there's real substance here. I'm not a huge fan of missile defense (marginal effectiveness + marginal need = high profit for the military-industrial complex). But on the other hand, Putin isn't exactly scoring points with me either. (Are we really supposed to believe that he's afraid that we're so upset about his humanitarian and freedom gaffs that we're going to... nuke Moscow?!) I suspect this is really about what "plays in Perm". (Sorry.) What do you all think?

One of the arguments for nationalism is that if you allow different groups to live together then conflict will erupt. For example, Jews and Muslims living in the Middle East just don't seem to get along. The answer, according to nationalists is to divide people up so they can live among their "own people." Jews live among Jews and Muslims live among Muslims. Every day I hear about homophobia. Most people in the world are religious and most people tend to follow an Abrahamic religion, i.e. Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. The Abrahamic religions all seem to denounce homosexuality. Throughout history this has been the case. Sometimes I wonder why so many Christians hate…

I really hate thinking about this... but as far as I can tell any Democratic success, and many failures, inevitably seem to lead to this According to the polls Hillary is set to claim either the #1 or #2 spot at the primaries. Even if Obama wins, she's likely to get the VP slot. About the only way out of this, as far as I can tell, is a Gore/Obama ticket (yeah, I'll keep dreaming) I think in all likelyhood we'll see either an Obama/Clinton ticket or a Clinton/Obama one. In the latter case, Hillary is the presidential candidate. In the former, either they win or they don't. If they win, then it would seem almost inevitable that Hillary, as VP, would seek th…

Here in the Real World, I have to deal with things like schedules, time estimates, deadlines, and taking the heat for when I miss them. It would be unacceptable for me to give some excuse like "I don't know how long it will take, I just need more time" Condi did just that yesterday, asking for more time before the House takes any action, in response to them passing a withdrawal schedule: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/13/us.iraq.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories Is the Administration's inability to set deadlines and stick to them indicative of incompetence? Is their inability to even give a time estimate indicative of their complete inability to e…

Was thinking on this yesterday, and admittedly, I don't have my thoughts finalized on this... I think the federal government has ruined America. I believe the intent of this great experiment was to unite states with an open architecture they can all operate differently in, but still with each other. But, with all of the federal laws and power gained incrementally over the years, states don't have much individuality at all. We habitually force laws on all of the states without a moment's consideration to leaving it up to the states to decide individually. And when someone suggests such a thing, they are an "extremist". I don't understand why the idea of a l…

I'm a little swamped at the moment and behind on reading here (always a little crazy at the start of a new term), but I did want to drop by and leave this Associated Press clipping that I thought you all might find informative. It's basically a little Q&A about what constitutes Contempt of Congress, and it has a couple of tidbits that I wasn't aware of, such as the fact that the President can give a pardon for it, and what the maximum sentence is. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901162.html Here's another source for the same AP article in case that one gets locked out: http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jul09/0,467…

Two apparently conflicting stories: Google Wants More Vista Changes (re: Microsoft desktop search) Google Extends iPhone Partnership With Apple We haven't had a good debate about the politics of computer science recently. I think Google is very rapidly losing its "cool kid" appeal and becoming quite the evil empire. What do you all think?

Isn't this great? The queen makes Rushdie a knight and the next thing you know the radical pinheads stop fighting us and start beating each OTHER up! Well heck, I say add Mohommed to the BBC corner bug and maybe the whole problem goes away! Ah, well, darnit, I guess some "innocent" civilians would probably be caught in the middle. (sigh) Oh well. I love this headline from US News: "US Ignores Rushdie Protests by Muslims" Um, duh? What were they supposed to do? Oh right, issue a press release. Because, you know, press releases solve everything. I'm curious how the far left will make the west wrong on this one. Over in this thread one member's painti…

http://www.space.com/news/terror_research_030103.html Funding is already scarce.......................... does anyone know about or have a link to the current relationship b/w funding and security issues?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/28/bush.subpoenas.ap/index.html This is sounding like Watergate all over agene…apparently the White House is unfamiliar with the precedent set in United States Vs. Nixon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Nixon Thoughts?

Do all sexual taboos were demolished or there is a lot still remaining ? If so what are they ? Is feminism really based in the reality of human nature –or- mostly in dogmatic beliefs ? Do they really want equality or dominance ? Was their movement hijacked by men-haters ? Well, I just gave few examples of dogmas and taboos and some questions about them. You can add whatever else you spotted or identified and discuss.

As far as conservatives who liberal moonbats such as me can like go, you think Scarborough would rank right up there. He thinks Bush is an idiot and that the Iraq War is a giant farce. Awesome. That's almost enough to make me forgive him for his first criminal case during his lawyering years being defending a psychopathic evangelical who murdered an OBGYN because he performed abortions. But uhh, yeah... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VdNcCcweL0 So yeah, Mika Brzezinski is something of a moonbat herself. She's the daughter of Carter's NSA director after all, and Carter is clearly representative of everything wrong with Democratic politics, whatever. …

... using the same principles set up during the civil rights movement that prevented forced segregation of america's schools. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6250414.stm The idea is that no school should have quotas based on race requirements, which should be seen as unconstitutional. I think its a step in the right direction. We should be focusing on the social and economic factors that caused the "natural" segregation of schools, and let the problem sort itself out. Otherwise, you have a racist system. It was a close one, but the supreme court made the right decision, IMO. It sucks for the black students who don't have access to a good educa…

With political and media pressure mounting to pull out in the near term, I think we should discuss what the world will look like after we fail. The question was put to John Edwards last Sunday as to whether genocide would result from a US pull out and I thought Edwards didn't really have an answer. He was also asked why some want to put troops into Darfur to stop genocide but not leave troops in Iraq to prevent genocide. Let's assume that Iraq is a losing cause and we're going to fail miserably. What does that future hold?

Amusing AdSense banner taken from right here on SFN. I had no idea he was being held!

While I generally support "the left", and to a certain extent the crazy left (a.k.a. the "far left"), I really, really, really hate slippery slope arguments. They go a little somethin' like this... hit it! "Domestic spying? Next thing you know we'll be under the rule of a FASCIST REGIME!" "Patriot act? Next thing you know we'll be under the rule of MARTIAL LAW!" "Bush? Next thing you know we'll be electing HITLER as our president" etc. etc. Don't get me wrong, the erosion of civil liberties piss me off. But please, don't use that to paint some fantasy scenario that's hundreds of times worse than you can possibly even imagine. The Bush admin…

Hello. I'd really appreciate if you give me a hand with my politics h.w my h.w consists of 10 questions of multiple choice, i already answered 8 questions but I'm not 100% sure if they are right, and also haven't been able to answer two questions, here they are. 1. When did civil rights become part of the Constitution? a. in the 1954 Brown v Board of Education case b. in 1789 when it was founded c. with the adoption of the 19th Amendment d. with the adoption of the 14th amendment 2. According to the ruling in Atkins v Virginia, a. executing the mentally retarded is cruel punishment under the 8th Amendment b. evolution must be taught in the classroom if…

Hello, how are you? Could you please help me with this question, what are the pros and cons of a president having the power of line item veto? I think one bad thing is that this would cause a change having to be made to the constitution, and i don't think this would be a good idea because then this would open the door to make aditional changes to the constitution, also it would affect the role the congress plays, the president would not need much of the congress. but also as president clinton said, this is good because helps to control wasteful spending which congress like to give aways to their districts. I'd really appreciate your help, i need somebod…

Interesting article in Slate yesterday about placing a monetary value on immigrants. But I think he makes a major logical error. http://www.slate.com/id/2168060 Here's a quote to show roughly what the article is about: In my view, his error is in the implication that we're not responsible for the current value of Mexican workers. That's like holding us responsible for the color of the moon. This is one of the most common fallacies proponed by the far left -- that Americans are responsible for everything and thus need to pay for everything to be fixed. I do agree with him about the value of Mexican labor and that even once you parse out all the …