Politics

My mother is employed at a high school to do home tutoring. Basically, people who are out of school for long periods of time still need an education, obviously, so the school sends home tutors to the kids houses. For the most part, these kids are either too sick to go to school (usually with an physical malady but sometimes psychological) or the kids got suspended for misbehaiving. Her most recent case got me pretty angry. A group high school kids (I believe they were all female) was caught driving recklassly on school property. The school gave them breathalizers and it turns out all but one of them was legally intoxicated (the sober one wasn't the one driving,…

"...ask what you can do for your country." That famous quote from President Kennedy's inaugural address in 1961 came strongly to mind recently. Specifically, it was in the "Second Amendment" thread, from this quote:

In a rah rah article on military deployments here there was an interesting quote by the defence chief. http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/special-forces-may-face-total-recall/2006/09/27/1159337222421.html This sounds fairly reasonable, there still seems to be a fair number Taliban members and they are cashed up with opium money, so it will probably take a while. It'll be interesting to see if NATO can keep supplying forces for ten years, especially to the south.

7-11 stores announced today that they'll no longer stock Citgo gas, which is Venezuela's US distribution company. That cuts out about 2100 stores that Venezuela will now have to find another market for. In the end it doesn't matter a whole lot, but I would call the impact significant. Here's a story on it: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060928.RCITGO28/TPStory/Business This of course follows in the wake of Chavez's pretty anti-Bush comments in the UN. I think it's interesting the amount of negative reaction that has taken place as a result of those comments (which are not exactly atypical of Chavez). Danny Glover received him with open a…

Lately, since the House elections are coming soon, there have been a lot of political ads on TV. And i mean a LOT. And so far in every single ad I've seen, all they do is bash the other guy. I have absolutly no clue what anyone stands for and not one candidate has made a commercial on their beliefs. I know why not to vote for everyone but no one will stop insulting the other guy and actually inform people of their views. And then in a recent commercial I saw, again all it did was criticize the other guy, but this time at the end it said "no wonder he is leading a negative campaign"(refering to the other candidate). WHA???? I just watched 2 minutes of you bashi…

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061016/whalen R. J. Whalen used to be on Richard Nixon's staff circa 1966-1968. Has been a senior editor at Time and at Fortune magazine. I don't know much more than that about him. Seems to be an insider. anything surprising here? anything worth comment. I rely on those SFN members who watch current events closer than I do. in case there's interest, I'll get some sample quotes. Here's a personal note he includes about his background. It is not directly relevant to the main story but interesting all the same: ===quote from Whalen=== Let me interject a personal note. At the height of the Vietnam War, between 1966 and 196…

anybody catch his interview in this months discover magazine? apparently he is considering running for president in 08 (only 846 days 8 hours 46 mins away) and seems to be the only poitician I know of who actually understands how science policy has to be done. Namesly he believes that science policy takes time to be successful, and that the budgets need to be set with an eye 5-10 years into the future. He also talked about how he believes that NASA has failed in its mission, primarily because of the bureacracy surrounding it, and that it should be heavily overhauled in order to better facilatate the burgeoning space industry in the United states. I'm not sure wha…

Chris Wallace has become something of a controversial figure of late. First he was chastized by hardline conservatives for rebuking the ABC special The Path to 9/11 for ficticious depictions of members of the Clinton administration with ficticious dialogue. Then he was simultaneously lauded by the right and chastized by the left for his interview with Bill Clinton, where Clinton accused him, among other things, of supporting the ficticious allegations purported by the ABC special which directly contradicted the findings of the 9/11 Commission, among other factual inaccuracies including alleging the wrong airline was responsible for the security breeches of the 9/1…

This is purely speculative, but perhaps there is a moral to be found somewhere. I'm not committing to one, anyway. It occurs to me that if Israel had been founded not as a "Jewish state" but as a purely secular state that happened to give refuge to Jews (and anyone else, I guess), then everything since then probably would have happened very differently. (Yes, I know there are lots of non-Jewish Israeli citizens, but it was founded as a Jewish state, presents itself as such, has a Star of David on the flag, and furthermore, everyone knows it is, so shush.) Things that would be different: General Middle Eastern hatred towards Israel: It seems like it would be harder…

The immigration thread has me wondering why we have not been hit again. We have, by various accounts, 11-20MM undocumented people in this country. It isn't that hard to get in and it isn't that hard to stay here. I can see why terrorists have not been able to hijack plans but, let's face it, it's not that hard to think of scenarios where a few suicide bombers could make a very public statement. My theories are: 1. We have disrupted Al Queda at least to the degree that they haven't been able to implement a "Black Sunday" kind of scenario; 2. Al Queda doesn't want to start with what it considers small time acts, the stray bombers and less significant ameri…

I once sugested to my old history teacher that the purpose of the "right to bear arms" wasn't neccisarily to defend people from great Britan or to organise Malitas for national defence, but had a third meaning that tends to be ignored. The third purpose for the "right to bear arms" was a result of the forefaters considering the possibility that in the future their government may become corrupt and if it was neccisary the citizens (who have weapons at there disposal) could rebel much the same way as the forfathers rebeled against Britan. My history teacher found this very concept of having toi rebel against the United States Governement ludicris, but it seems obvious to …

As Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan prepares to step down, Shinzo Abe has definitively gained the support of the Liberal Democratic Party, which controls the lower house of Parliament and therefore the election of the Prime Minister. Abe has managed this without publically explaining very many actual policies at all, with the notable exception of a promise to spearhead an amendment to the Japanese constitution that would allow for an offensive and independent military. He is also known for his vocal belligerence towards China and North Korea, and the controversy surrounding his repeated visits to Shinto shrines honoring WW2 dead, including 14 acknowledged war cri…

I haven't been very welcome in Politics as of late. The reason, I believe, is because the ideas I wish to communicate require such an accumulation of baggage trivia that there's no way I can easily communicate them, and most of these topics Pangloss and I disagree upon. So, I want to go off on a political rant, but rather than going off on one that will invite enmity, it will be one I think is simpler to express. Fundamentally, Pangloss and I are both libertarians, but while Pangloss is conservative (more of a traditional Libertarian) I am a "liberaltarian". I've experienced the dichotomy between these two types at places like Defcon, and it is a weird one, the sor…

What are your thoughts on Ahmadinejad's statements? I can see this going south so let's try to keep personal views of the current US administration outside of the discussion. Personally, I don't trust the guy and he scares the crap out of me! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14911603/

What do you think of Al Gores plant to eleminate payroll tax in favor of a tax on Carbon Dioxide emmissions?Al Gore Pushes 'Pollution Tax'

People cry for Bin Laden's blood. He was behind 9/11, right? Well the real mastermind of 9/11 has been in US custody since March 2003, before the Iraq war. His name is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Hijacking jetliners and flying them into the World Trade Center was his idea. He pitched it to Bin Laden, who provided the financial backing, and recruited some radical Islamicists to do the deed. But where is he? For some reason, this isn't public knowledge. There hasn't been a trial. What's up? Shouldn't this guy be brought to justice? Or is that happening behind closed doors, and if so, why?

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's president -- hosting a visit from Iraq's prime minister and expressing support for his country's beleaguered war-torn neighbor -- says the Islamic republic supports a "united" Iraq and will help the nation "establish full security," an Iranian news agency reported. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at a news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after private talks were held on Tuesday, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. It is al-Maliki's first visit to Iran since he became prime minister earlier this year. "Iran will provide assistance to the Iraqi government to establish full security. We believe strengthening the I…

Has the political process become so perfected that all issues can be almost immediately drawn to a person's moral/religious beliefs? That is to say, if there is a political line being drawn between parties, is it for their policies, or the reason behind the policies? Often argumentation involves a few distinct properties. These usually filter down to breaking apart the argument to find what makes your opponent think their side of the problem is more correct. Often this drops to a basic difference in principles. Most of a persons principles are either defined or governed by what can be described as their religious nature, or moral belief structure. Do you think…

here is the text of the pope's apology: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5353774.stm "Dear Brothers and Sisters, The pastoral visit which I recently made to Bavaria was a deep spiritual experience, bringing together personal memories linked to places well known to me and pastoral initiatives towards an effective proclamation of the Gospel for today. I thank God for the interior joy which he made possible, and I am also grateful to all those who worked hard for the success of this Pastoral Visit. As is the custom, I will speak more of this during next Wednesday's general audience. At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reac…

Got a call from the "dove foundation" trying to get me to support censorship stuff...really bothered me. Are there any good foundations that have a good reputation for fighting these orgs? I find myself compelled to donate to some group that desires the exact opposite goal of these guys...not sure which ones are actually good though. Any suggestions?

In an engineering thread,

I have to admit I am enjoying this immensely. How dare they suggest St. Bill might have some responsibility? It will be interesting to learn to what extent ABC ultimately bows to the democrats. The dems problem is that it's impossible to do a story on the path to 9/11 which doesn't emphasis the multiple years of failure before Bush took office more than it does the eight months he had in office pre 9/11/01. Note how Clinton used his charitable foundation to press his demand: The entire matter has me chortling in my margarita tonight. How many times have we heard about the respected sanctified 9/11 commission report yet this film has the head…

Nicotine Levels Basically, nicotine levels have been rising over the years, especially those popular to young people. This makes them more addictive. I placed this in politics to ask the question - should the government do anything about it?

Given our recent discussions about political partisanship and polarization, I thought this might be an interesting thing to discuss. Americans will be getting a rather blatant, in-our-faces demonstration this week in how the media fuels and instigates political polarization in this country. CBS ran a 2-hour documentary tonight which it advertised as having "the only footage shot within the World Trade Center on 9/11". NBC is running a special "Dateline" Monday night about the families of United 93 victims. The president himself will be cashing in on the anniversary, with a 20-minute prime time speech tonight at 9pm Eastern. But the grand prize would have to g…

Bi-partisan that is Looking at the Queensland election this weekend, the interesting thing about Australian politics has been two trends over the last few years. One is that at the federal level the right wing parties have been becoming increasing dominant. They have been in power for ten years and now control both houses of parliament. The other is that at the state (and territory) level the left wing parties have been becoming increasing dominant. Every state and territory government is left wing. What this means is that people are voting for different parties at different elections. People presumably see through the rhetoric and are voting for what they feel is th…