Politics

Hey! Get an Intellectual Hobby My experience leads me to conclude that there is a world of difference in picking up a fragment of knowledge here and there versus seeking knowledge for an answer to a question of significance. There is a world of difference between taking a stroll in the woods on occasion versus climbing a mountain because you wish to understand what climbing a mountain is about or perhaps you want to understand what it means to accomplish a feat of significance only because you want it and not because there is ‘money in it’. I think that every adult needs to experience the act of intellectual understanding; an act that Carl Sagan describes as “Und…

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/15/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes If the Dow knows all, then :D THE STIMULUS IS WORKING LIKE A CHARM :D But seriously folks... It seems Wall Street is bouncing back from the financial crisis... I wish we could say the same for the rest of America.

There seems to be quit the fear when it comes to discussing Marxism and socialism. Socialism is thought by popular belief to infringe on social rights, individual rights, and civil rights. When talking about socialism people suddenly resort to saying, "Ugh Socialism, I don't want to be part of no collective!". If you go into deeper discussion with the individual you realize that most of the information they have gathered on socialism came from news networks such as, FOX and men like Glenn Beck. It has been thought for as long as I can remember that socialism and it's ideals have failed to work. Closer examination reveals that Marxist ideals have worked in many countri…

Fox, the right-wing propaganda machine, has reached a new low... Approximately one month after running this ad in the Washington Post and two other newspapers: CNN's Rick Sanchez responded, asking if Fox really thought CNN failed to cover a massive protest in Washington. After giving you a run through of the total amount of coverage CNN had for the event, he addressed Fox directly, saying "you lie." Over the weekend, tens of thousands of gay rights protesters descended on Washington. And did Fox "WE COVER ALL THE NEWS" cover it? Kind of... they rebroadcasted ABC's footage, briefly. They didn't even send their own satellite truck. They gave it 3 minut…

All I can say is wow. It's just so bizzare that it almost has to be a Poe. The thing is, though, conservapedia is "serious" rather than parody. Could someone be pulling a prank on them? Possibly, but I don't know how likely that is. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedThe "Conservative Bible" can be found here.

I found this to be rather interesting, about Chinese ventures in Afghanistan: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/14/2098654.aspx It talks a lot about the "Global Chessboard" of influence between the West and China, and questions if the US lost out or is even getting short changed for our efforts over there. One part I found pretty telling though is how people there view the project: It strikes me as funny that it looks like "Good Cop/Bad Cop" with China as the Good Cop - doesn't bomb anyone but comes in providing jobs. I've always found it odd that nation building doesn't include local job creation from the ground up as a cornerstone el…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/12/guardian-gagged-from-reporting-parliament For the first time possibly ever, the media are being forcibly prevented from reporting proceedings of the UK Parliament. The gag order is directed at a specific question in the Commons, and prevents the Guardian from saying what the question was, who asked it, who it was directed to, or the reason for the gag order. I don't know much about British law, but a lot of people are saying it's a violation of the 1688 bill of rights, and a dangerous precedent. I hope they have a really good reason. So, all you British people, what do we think of this? Is this acceptable?

Obama has won the Nobel peace price. So, did he win it because of the foreign policies, which did change the way America acts towards other countries in the last 9 months, and admittedly improved the relations with many countries. Or did he win because the nobel prize committee wants to support Obama in a time when he is having a hard time? I think it's quite fast for him to win this prize. He's only been in office for 9 months... I think he should be rewarded after he has finished at least a 4-yera period in office.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/39362-1.html Awesome. The letter says they're looking for a "robust, Medicare-like public option". FINALLY! The Democrats grow a spine. Seriously. I was soooo worried they'd half-ass healthcare and leave us with a bill that didn't cover all Americans (or couldn't easily be expanded to in the future). It looks like half of them, but Senate representation at least, are willing to make a stand. Bravo. I would hope this sends a clear message to the Senate Finance Committee, who recommended a more expensive bill for political reasons, that a bill without a public option is not going to get the 60 vote majority needed to …

In a throw-away society is longevity of little value? For a period of some two hundred years America had an every moving new frontier. One of the appeals of this ever-present frontier was the sense that there was always a place for the rugged individualist. A place existed for the individual who was enthused about the prospect of uninhibited growth where each individual could test his or her capacity to be all they could be. No one had an edge over the other person beyond character and motivation. Darwin’s theory teaches us that mating and reproduction is the means whereby the species adapted to a changing environment and thereby created the possibility for surviv…

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000003216413 Obama continues his trend of doing something that annoys me followed by dome something totally and completely awesome. After immense frustration over the effect of lobbying on the healthcare bill, this is really, really nice to see. Now granted, these seem to be executive panels. This certainly doesn't spell the end of lobbying in Washington. But it's a very nice step in the right direction.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-scarborough/thank-you-mr-president_b_308022.html I'm not typically one to say anything positive about Joe Scarborough. I really do have to wonder if he murdered his intern. And he's not the type of person you ordinarily see in the Huffington Post. All that said, he wrote a rather interesting and provocative article for the Post, lauding Obama for trying to bring the Olympics to Chicago and doting on what political polarization has done to America. Specifically, he notes concern over the Republican response to Obama trying to bring the Olympics to his hometown of Chicago. Republicans in Arlington, Virginia applauded Chicago bei…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/01/lobbyists-millions-obama-healthcare-reform ...paying 6 lobbyists for every member of Congress. Oi. I cannot help but suspect that the recent defeat of the public option has something to do with this.

I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread keeping track of shameless Democrat behavior, so we can remind the world of it come election year. Same with the Republicans, which I also made a thread for here.

Couple good articles worth reading. This first one is from today's Christian Science Monitor: http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/10/03/palin-limbaugh-beck-%E2%80%A6-now-it%E2%80%99s-republicans-seeing-the-downside/ The second one, which I found through a link in the CSM article, is from David Brooks at the New York Times, who points out that these demagogues don't actually represent most conservatives: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/opinion/02brooks.html?_r=2&ref=opinion Sane words in crazy times. What do you all think?

I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread keeping track of shameless Republican behavior, so we can remind the world of it come election year. Same with the Democrats, which I also made a thread for here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/health/policy/30health.html?bl The Senate Finance committee has rejected two amendments which include a public option. Committee chair Senator Max Baucus cites his fears that such legislation would fail to get the 60 votes necessary to bypass an inevitable Republican filibuster. Oddly enough, the main issue with the public option doesn't seem to be cost. In fact, the CBO estimates the public option would actually save $50 billion over Max Baucus's current bill, which would spend $774 billion over a period of 10 years (i.e $77.4 billion / year) Republicans are fearful that the program wouldn't be fair to private insurers and …

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/business/media/02views.html I guess Obama has to pull for his home city, but I hope Rio wins. It's about time South America hosted an Olympics. What do you all think?

Oh my. ABC News just ran a story on this and I'll post the link here later after the print version it appears on their web site. But Google News did produce one article from some local outlet that I've quoted and linked below. Apparently tens of thousands of Christian evangelicals are participating in "alternate health care" plans that entail spending a fixed amount every month tailored to be viewed as cheaper than a real health care plan -- in order words you cancel your existing insurance-based plan and go with this one instead. The plan consists of sending your payment each month to those members of the plan who are currently in need of medical care, at the…

So there's been all this talk lately about whether or not gun rights are in jeopardy with our current congress and president running things. My question has more to do with: Should Americans be allowed to own and use firearms? And is the ability to acquire firearms the main cause of gun-related crimes in this country? Where do criminals really get their guns?

Seems easy enough. hUNCpnRBf9o Here's a link to the plan: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/health_care/plan/ What are your thoughts?

Good background on the developments regarding this week's revelation of Iran's second nuclear processing plant may be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/26/AR2009092602022.html?hpid=moreheadlines One of the more interesting things I heard this week was some insight from ABC's Jake Tapper, who reported that there seems to be a developing consensus regarding the handling of Iran, at least with regard to nuclear weapons. The general idea seems to be that pursuing and pressuring seems to be paying off. In short, when Iran cheats, it gets caught. And more importantly, when it gets caught it weakens their diplomatic support from Chi…

Some Democratic senators are moving to shut down warrantless wiretapping programs. Among them: Al Franken. http://washingtonindependent.com/60611/al-franken-reads-the-4th-amendment-to-justice-department-official The tacit opinion expressed by Mr. Kris both concerns and enrages me: It's okay until the Supreme Court says otherwise! That sort of attitude sickens me. ANY US Attorney questioned as to the constitutionality of their actions should have a suitable rationale in their mind. Responding "this is surreal" when questioned as to the constitutionality of their actions simply enrages me and screams ineptitude. But I get it, they simply respond to executi…

I notice that the thread "Are there any relevant secular reasons to oppose gay marriage?" as has been reopened but we are forbidden from discussing some arguments because they are "shifting the question" or "beyond the scope of the debate". So, I wanted to ask another question: Are there any relevant secular reasons to support gay marriage? In other words, how would instituting gay marriage benefit our society? How would instituting gay marriage benefit me? Why should I support gay marriage? It seems to me, there needs to be a good reason for changing a law, and presenting that good reason should come before any opposition to change.

I'm not big on politics, but in general it seems like there's much more ignorance surrounding the republican party... Are democratic and independent voters as brainwashed as the republican party, or does it just seem that way? The majority of the republican voters (fanatics) seem to be either.. A.) Gun owners who think Obama will take away their guns (which going by his voting record is a myth or conspiracy theory). Or B.) just political fanatics, who will overlook reality on all the issues just to maintain faith in their party.