Politics

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 …

While I've kept Hillary as a potential albeit undesirable candidate for my vote, much like Jon Stewart interested in her healthcare proposal (watch the video), she's just lost my vote. Celine Dion? I have to vote for that? What the crap? Hint to Hillary: People already think you're a harpy. Thinking about liking you makes me feel dirty inside. I hate to think you'll get the Democratic nomination, because you will be so devisive. And now you're going to make me listen to Celine Dion while you're campaigning? The horror! I'd just like to say I pledge my support to a man who is a uniter, not a divider. Obama '08!

Is Malathion still used in the US? Just checking. The political implications are being discussed in this thread.

Comrades! I come to you to inform you about the truth about communism. Now then, up to this point you got a rather one sided, and totally biased view purpotrated by those slimy capitalist pigs. All your life, you have been brainwashed into serving your corporate masters, of which all they do is exploit the masses in order to make a buck. Under Communism, this doesn't happen. In a communist society, the workers would own the means of production, and they wouldn't have to answer to any capitalist whore. You see, what these capitalist pigs don't understand is that the workers will inevitably rise up against them and overthrow their oppressive establishment. It is all na…

Okay so i was playing 'hitman2' 5 minutes ago, in case you don't know, this is a game where you go around assasinating people and causing general gorey slaughter by the bucket load with various interesting weapons. now, this game is rated 16+ as well. anyway, to the point. during one of the cutscenes i noticed a very crazy peice of censorship. the word 'goddamn'(it was in the subtitles) was bleeped out. what... the... hell...? what were the people who made that thinking? 'sure you can have all the gore you want, just don't cuss while your doing it' and why even use it if its going to get bleeped anyway? why can't people just leave things alone and let the profanity fl…

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/06/11/autism.vaccines.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories While the nature of autism is not well understood, most current research points to a combination of genetic causes. While I can't question their devotion to their children, these parents are blinded by a correlation implies causation fallacy (the time of the onset of symptoms and when the vaccine was administered) with absolutely no scientific backing.

Was scouring through the news this morning and ran across this... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,280413,00.html Personally, I'm against the death penalty in any crime, no matter how heinous. But, for the reasons people are put to death presently, I don't think this is too much of a stretch. A raped child, especially, is essentially dead when you consider who they are afterward compared to who they were. What do you all think?

Amusing quote from an article about the weekend's political happenings in France: Bwahahaha....

From this mornings paper. Link. So it's the students "Freedom of Speech" to have a PhD paper on "Laughing at the Disabled" but those who object are suspended for 6 months without pay for objecting to it? Obviously the student is expecting a pass but personally I think a smack in the mouth is more suitable. I would not find the intentional mockery and humiliation of the intellectually impaired acceptable in normal society and I fail to see why it should be acceptable in the name of "research".

Drunk driving deaths in the US are at a 16-year high. Almost 18,000 people died due in alcohol-related accidents. These are 2006 numbers which just became available from the DOT last week. 43,000 people were killed in accidents, so that's about 42% of all accidents. Yikes. But perhaps the real story here is that the trend is pretty flat, or so it sounds to me. The actual number of highway deaths has been gradually descending for a long time, though surely not as fast as we all would like to see. One glaring number is that 55% of the deaths involve people not wearing their seatbelts (but surely most had airbags!). Perhaps a little more spending on seatbelt educa…