Politics

Hi everybody. I just came across an article I wrote a while back in January on the Economic Recession. I went into explaining causes and economic phenomena rather than just chronicling events. I hope you guys like it. ecom1[1].doc

This is the sort of thing that, had it happened during the Bush administration, would have been pounced on as an example of our civil rights being trod upon. Note the last paragraph of this article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/11/cheney.surveillance/ I think Obama is right, and Congress needs to take its single-digit approval rating and buzz off. What do you all think?

Ok! Well here's a thread to discuss this aspect of the story: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/11/cheney.surveillance/index.html?eref=rss_topstories Congress was never briefed on a still-cloaked-in-mystery CIA counterterrorism program, under orders from Dick Cheney. Is this right? Should at least one member of Congress know about these sorts of programs? I think so. How about you?

Interesting article in the New York Times on Friday: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/us/politics/11protest.html?ref=politics These folks need to be careful. The issue is not Obama, it's acceptance of the science by the public. IMO only an extremist could believe that Obama lacks sincerity or motivation on the issue of global warming. He's going to continue to do the best that he possibly can, gradually ramping up over time. I think the mainstream environmental groups have it right in supporting these bills and keeping the general pressure on to move forward, not demanding the most aggressive bills possible and shoving it in the face of Christian conse…

This was a rather interesting: http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1549 According to a Pew Research Report: I agree with the majority of scientists. Do you?

The underlined part affects us here on SFN. Most are not living in Germany, but I still wish to explain why: Often, people ask about explosives and other dangerous substances, usually on the chemistry forums. The way the German law is explained in the Dutch newspaper suggests that answering such questions is punishable. It's highly unlikely that the person answering will be prosecuted... we don't have manuals to build bombs. But often, the preparation of explosive material is one of the hardest parts of building a bomb... and these things are asked (but not always answered). I think that the days of free information about anything you want on the internet ar…

Hey all. I don't know if this question is asked a lot (apologies if it is). I just wanted to know what the smart people on this forum think. The only decent reason I here from the anti-gun people is that it would reduce the number of accidental shootings. But then more children die from swimming pools than guns...so why don't swimming pools face the same judgement? I think that guns should be allowed, but with more strict regulations than what they have nowadays (the current laws make it easy for people who should not have guns to get them.). I also know from history that prohibition DOES NOT work, and that people who want illicit items will just buy them illicitl…

(LOL Faux Noise and D/R) So it seems the South Carolina governor who disappeared a few days ago on an apparent hiking trip has been found! Has been found... having an extramarital affair with some Argentinian woman. Yes, those Republicans, they sure know how to preserve the sanctity of marriage. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sc-governor-quits-gop-post-in-wake-of-affair Oh, and he quit. Is it me or is "Republican hypocrisy" just completely redundant at this point?

So yeah, Iran, rumors of a rigged election, 2 million people protesting in the streets... pretty absurd. What's your take? It seems to me like this will not end well.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090629-710951.html So in a nutshell the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against the lower court decision in which Sotomayor participated in the majority view -- her position was overturned. Some things to bear in mind here: 1) Had Sotomayor already replaced Souter (and there'd been no conflict of interest), the decision by the Court would have been exactly the same, because Souter was in the dissent, expressing the exact same view that Sotomayor expressed. 2) The dissent is not an extremist position -- it's a disagreement between intelligent human beings. Three long-standing, well-respected (liberal) Supreme Court justices …

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/05/president-oba-5.html President Obama has done a 180-degree reversal on this issue over statements issued less than a month ago, saying that he has been convinced that the release of photographs of Guantanamo Bay detainee abuse would endanger US troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which, by the way, was exactly the same position taken by the Bush administration. IMO this is an incorrect decision now just as it was then (though I am enjoying watching MoveOn.org squirm). What do you all think?

(The first question is more for JohnB, to hopefully provide us enough insight to stir good discussion) In Australia, voting software is open-sourced* and it's mandatory to vote. So.... To JohnB (or lurking Australians): how is (each) that working out for you and citizens generally? To others: what's your opinion of doing both those in your respective nations? As for me: open-source voting yes, and mandatory voting only for any citizens whose state makes it a law. *(or maybe not)

http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/3110/ So here's an interesting story: within the span of two days, Dr. George Tiller was assassinated by Scott Roeder, and two US Army recruiters were assassinated by Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad. Muhammad was charged with terrorism. Roeder was not charged with terrorism. What exactly is the distinguishing factor in these two cases? According to Wikipedia (lol) terrorism is: I'm unclear on how the actions of Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad qualify as terrorism while the actions of Scott Roeder do not. I think either they're both terrorists, or neither of them are. I will refrain from suggesting that Abdulhakim Mujah…

Obama extends benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/us/politics/17gays.html?ref=your-money I never realized that this was something he could pretty much do on his own. Its progress and shouldn't bother anyone who has a hangup with the marriage word.

I have a love for technological advances. But to me, greening doesn't mean the killing/withholding of technology or even blunting the advancement of society. In fact, the old guard methods resisting compatibility with the natural systems of the living world actually seem pretty backwards (in thinking). The future world, upon remembering the technological advancements of this era, likely won't be congratulating those who urged "more of the same" policies in alignment with the industries best positioned to rake in the most $$ from such crafted logic. As beautiful as the marvels of technology are to me, I love the marvels of nature far better -- however, it also se…

On Thursday the US House passed a bill that proposes directing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the tobacco industry. Interestingly, they would not actually be allowed to ban tobacco, but would instead be required to state what nicotine levels the companies could include in their products. Which in my mind raises a really significant question: Doesn't that put the FDA in the position of saying what nicotine levels are "safe"? I realize they won't state it that way, but that's how we normally view government regulation -- they're saying that this level is safe and this other level is not. At least that's how we normally view food and drug regulation. D…

Title Erratum : "exercise" Let A and B two people wanting to make a community. Suppose A has 1'000$, B has 5'000$. What is the common money (common to A and B) ?

What is America’s “Achilles heel”? I'd say it’s our polarizing hypocrisy. Americans are an ambiguous species—a population of hypocrites. We tolerate homosexuals but we oppose gay marriage. We embrace the principle of free choice in our democracy but we oppose a woman’s right to reproductive choices. We punish athletes for artificial performance enhancement but we reward beauty queens for artificially enhancing their boobs. We legalize guns, alcohol, gambling, drag racing, and sometimes even prostitution, but we outlaw an innocuous weed that was once used to make rope. America’s ambiguity may be fatal. Indeed our economy is the worst hypocrisy of all. We uphold th…

More and more often I have seen some rather severe criticism of Obama, not just from the Fox Noise side of the media, but from the likes of Keith Olbermann, Rachel Madow, and Bill Maher: EoFY_UdZNe4 1uuWVHT1WUY It's almost as if this new breed of entertainer journalist (which the Daily Show was at the forefront of) can exhibit a degree of journalistic integrity and not just be partisan mouthpieces! Amazing!

President Obama called today for a renewal or re-enactment of PAYGO, which was a government law effective mostly during the Clinton administration. I think this is a VERY good idea and directly addresses concerns about ongoing profligate spending now that certain precedents have been set by the various massive bailout and relief programs. The article I've linked below erroneously states that it requires that all spending be balanced with savings elsewhere -- actually the way it worked was that you could decrease cost elsewhere OR attach a corresponding (same value) revenue increase from some source. The point being "neutral" impact on the budget (no deficit increa…

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28788175/ Shortly after halting trials for those imprisoned at Gitmo, Obama has officially announced he is shutting it down. Words cannot express how happy I am about this. Gitmo was a big black eye on America's international image and one of those things that made me ashamed to have associated with the government of my country. I feel better about America today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aT01vl_zTYJ8&refer=home Yeah, this situation isn't getting any better. Is there any resolution in sight? I'm afraid the resolution is going to be: North Korea uses a nuclear device on another nation (i.e. South Korea) and the world will have to forcibly remove Kim Jong Il from power.

Dr. Michael Weiner (pronounced "whiner") a.k.a. Michael Savage, is a PhD nutritional enthomedicine radio commentator, who, well, apparently decided being a well-educated person isn't a good thing and decided to fashion himself after a redneck. Anyway, the UK has deemed him a persona non grata. What do you think? Personally I'd like to talk to him about his motivations, specifically whether he ever had gay sex with Allen Ginsberg.

This was a rather interesting interview: http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=5457154 General Petraeus says he thinks a responsible closure of Gitmo is a good idea. He would like us to move forward beyond scrutinizing past cases of torture, but suggests that existing methods of interrogation work just fine and there was no need for "extended interrogation" techniques. He suggests that torture has lost us huge points in the court of public opinion and thus is counterproductive to winning in Afghanistan. I've had mixed opinions about Petraeus in the past but this was a very interesting interview to watch and I'm generally please…

Thankfully in a good way -- Justice Souter is stepping down at the end of the current session (June). Souter is generally considered part of the liberal side of the court's current socio-political balance (though he was actually placed there by Bush 41), so his Obama replacement would be unlikely to change the balance. With a 60-seat majority in the Senate any confirmation will likely be pro-forma, so it could be someone much farther to the left. On the other hand the president runs the risk of angering moderate conservatives with an extreme candidate. So this could be an interesting decision for that reason. IMO Obama will pick someone considered liberal but…