Politics

Obviously, the Republicans didn't do so well in the last election, with Democrats taking control of both houses of Congress and the presidency. CNN posted this question in a recent article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/27/gop.comeback/index.html?eref=rss_topstories One Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky opines: But are they winning some? As far as I can tell they are operating in a completely contrarian mode, refusing to reach out to the Democrats in power and sitting around coming up with their own solutions in isolations, solutions which will never see the light of day. CNN notes: ...so I guess they are getting some le…

I didn't see a thread about this anywhere yet, but I might suck at searching too: As reported by both USAToday and CNN, there's apparently a group of firefighters who are bringing up a lawsuit for reverse discrimination on a written and oral test for promotions in the unit. This kinda makes me wonder what kind of questions exactly are on this test - shouldn't a promotion test, especially for fire-fighting, be based on some competencies and what they know, as opposed to asking "what nationality were your parents?" Does anybody have a better idea of what kind of questions could be given to promote any sort of on-the-line results? I couldn't think of an…

I've been following this for a couple of weeks now hoping to see if the truth leaps out from one sector or another, but so far it hasn't so I thought maybe it might be fun to bat it around here and see what we can come up with when we add a lot more smart people to ponder search parameters and overheard stories. Let's have a look, shall we? The presumed fact is as follows: "90% of all guns used by the Mexican drug lords are acquired in the United States." That factoid has been widely reported since mid-march, and spiked again in the last couple of days after it was again repeated by Mexican President Calderón during President Obama's trip to Mexico: http://f…

Today Washington's state legislature passed the "everything but marriage" bill. This is exactly what I support. It’s the fairest of all solutions for legalizing same-sex domestic partnerships. And it preserves the titular treasure that many heterosexuals hold so dearly. Now everybody’s happy in Washington state, where we all respect the rights of everyone. Why isn’t Washington’s new law a model of things to come for the remaining 45 states that still prohibit same-sex civil unions?

http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/12227/ With Democrats in power for a little over 11 weeks, and apparently irate over the "federal budget mess and other problems", Texas has decided it's time to "draw the line against the sand" against those tyrants in Washington. I'm a bit confused as to what exactly they're so angry about. They're asserting tenth amendment rights, but against what? The fact that the President is no longer a Republican? It practically sounds as if they're threatening secession... Perhaps the oddest part of this all is that the "ever-growing Washington bureaucracy" was massively expanded under Bush, who also brought ab…

Obama is taking something of a hardline stance over Israel's occupation of the West Bank: http://www.theage.com.au/world/obamas-stance-worries-israelis-20090417-aa90.html?page=-1 Essentially: want help dealing with Iran's fledgling nuclear program? Get out of the West Bank. Rahm Emanuel, whose father was a member of a militant Zionist group, is "laying down the law to Israel" Perhaps Obama can succeed where countless presidents in the past have failed (and Bush didn't even bother to try)

What the hell is wrong with news networks these days? This is a gross display. Remember when reporters used to question and report, and not insert snide remarks about the people they're supposed to be interviewing? Not to mention attacking a rival network in the middle of a news report. And I thought CNN claimed to be pretty neutral. 6G3fvNhdoc0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3fvNhdoc0 Not sure if video works for you guys

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_Administration_quietly_expands_Bushs_legal_0407.html Ugh, I'm not exactly a huge Ron Paul supporter, but there were parts of him that I liked, and one of those parts was that he would never do anything like this. He would do the opposite, dismantling this unconstitutional program and shutting it down for good. This is the sort of thing I was worried about with Obama (although moreso worried about it with Hillary)... I'd really like to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and try to convince myself the program must have some merit, but uhh yeah, no. F*ck that. Don't compromise essential freedoms for temporary safety, thanks…

It's my belief, discontent in this country (however voiced), whether coming from 'Tax Protesters', 'Tax Reform- Fair or National Sales Tax', 'Policy implication' or any particular issue has it's roots in a failure of Federal Leadership, over at least the past 4 years, with a dramatic turn toward Federal involvement in the past year or so. This I believe has been building, since the Election of Bush 41 and 'No new taxes' on through the Clinton and Bush 43 terms and exaggerated by the extreme hands on policy of the Obama Administration (well before inauguration) and to todays continuing double talk of current or future policy. Yesterday's demonstrations, appeared to me …

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/07/AR2009030701794.html?hpid%3Dtopnews⊂=AR Obama is investing in intercity high-speed rail projects, with the goal of eventually having a cross-country high speed rail system. I'm really glad to see this as thus far our government has seemed content with the Eisenhower Interstate highway system, and air travel as being the two most practical ways of traveling long distance. Buses and trains are nearly as expensive as flying in most cases and take many days longer. Maybe one day soon America will be one of those modern countries with newfangled conveniences like not having to drive everywhere.

I've heard recently that Obama is now against habeas corpus in certain places, eg Bagram, Afghanistan. Is it time to start worrying? http://washingtonindependent.com/38335/obama-bungles-bagram http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/us-resists-rights-at-bagram/#more-9221

Here's a rather informative infographic: http://www.wallstats.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/WallStatsDATlarge.jpg Spending is up 10%, while revenue is only up 7% Defense tops spending again, followed by social security and medicare

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/13/cuba.travel/?iref=mpstoryview This should be interesting. He's lifting mainly the ones that prohibit Cuban exiles from traveling to see family members and sending them large amounts of cash. The cash they've been able to send has already had a major impact on the Cuban economy, so that will certainly increase, but the Elephant in the Room (American tourism) is still off the table. For now. This seems to be a certain degree of pandering to the exile community. Which reflects typical Cuban exile denialism, IMO. "I'll send MY money to MY relatives, but as long as nobody else does that the regime will suffer and wither a…

Capitalism: "Imagine. Can you imagine what would be the result of a society where the initiation of force is banned from all relationships? It would not make every man moral, nor would it prevent every injustice. But, think what it could do? It would result in: a society of good will and benevolence, where each man sees his neighbor not as part of a gang ready to rob him, but as a potential trader, from which he can gain immense values. A society where each man is prepared to judge and be judged -- not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. A society where each man can worship his own god, in his own way -- even if that god …

:D THE STIMULUS IS WORKING LIKE A CHARM :D http://www.smartmoney.com/Investing/Economy/Dow-8000-5-Reasons-Driving-the-Rally/ ...or rather, WSJ's SmartMoney reports 5 reasons for the rally, including "Team Obama". Yes, specious reasoning aside, multiple forces are working to change the economy for the better. I'm really glad to see this. Is this just temporary, or is the economy actually beginning to recover?

I think we are in a depression. There is no formal definition, but... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKMkV532Xkq0&refer=home With such a large decrease in just one quarter and with all the company and bank failures, it should be easy to call this one.

Anyone catch Frontline tonight on PBS? I know it varies when it's actually shown, so if you haven't gotten it yet you might get it Wednesday or Thursday night. The episode has already been posted, though, and it's available for viewing online here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tentrillion/ I thought it was awesome, and it's going to be a real sore point for just about everyone who watches it -- Obama supporters, pure-market economics supporters, Bush supporters, Clinton supporters -- everyone takes a hit here. I love it when the truth bites hard. My only complaint about it was that it was a bit too one-sidedly against the Bush administration in…

”Same-sex marriage” comes to Iowa: Please bear in mind that Iowa is a heartland state, not a coastal state like California or Massachusetts. As such, the corny folks of I-O-Way must be wise to the rights of others besides the straights. Is this a sign of things to comes?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090404/pl_nm/us_obama_europe Wow. The dream of hippies everywhere, and Obama is actually going to try for it. This is unprecedentedly awesome.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5355NK20090406 This is awesome. Iran gets the fuel they need for their experimental nuclear reactors, and uranium enrichment remains under strict control. It's win-win!

I was wondering what the fine people of this forum think about regulation. I know roughly the idea of capitalism is to create a fair and free playing ground. It seems to me the train of thought is you either have capitalism or socialism. What if you could make both parties happy and make regulations. Not just any regulations but something that will really cut down on greed and bad management of capital. We have regulations I know, but we don't really enforce them. These days companies don't even have to answer to the president. Really reward good behaviour, and make it difficult to be bad companies. I m not saying "tell them how to run a business". They…

We have an interesting mix of views on the role of government, so I thought I'd start a thread on the topic, to try and better understand where (at a base) most people are coming from. A government seems responsible to govern conduct to protect people from each other and at times, themselves, and at times steer the "shape" of a society to protect the "moral integrity" of the whole or at least provide incentives/disincentives to things we consider generally beneficial. At it's loosest it seems to be that the guiding principle for new laws is "popular consent, without gross infraction to case law or constitutional rights" where there isn't a huge burden to prove the…

We can play the guessing game without knowledge of the variables they'll use to make it happen, but in the end I think the problem will be solved in a way that no one here would normally suspect. A innovative way that confounds our expectations (lacking access to their plans). Unfortunately, it seems Obama will keep a few nukes in stock. He said he would not drop U.S. weapons unless other nations agreed to do the same, a tenet of old-school arms control, and promised to "maintain a nuclear deterrent that is strong, safe, secure and reliable." Even so, it will be a huge step in a better direction. That philosophy is riddled with lack of foresight …

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/01/jillette.skid/index.html I really respect Penn. And this is another one of those articles where he expresses his own inability to know what the outcome will be given a paritcular set of circumstances. This article is him expressing that Obama is doing something that Penn philosophically agrees with, but rather than outright attacking Obama for it (actually he roundly compliments Obama, if somewhat sarcastically) he points out that what Obama is doing could actually work. This is more than I've seen from any other free market libertarians, who seem to be foaming at the mouth ranting over Obama's perceived madness. …

Apparently the administration is going to seek executive compensation limits for all financial services companies in the US. Even ones that aren't receiving bailout money. No, really. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us/politics/22regulate.html?ref=business Some of the stuff they're talking about in there makes sense, such as commodities trading exchanges for derivatives and so forth. But setting artificial limits on pay doesn't sound like a good idea to me. We want these companies to be competitive with each other, that's part of the point. And if we're going to have executive compensation limits here, why not all American companies? Isn't the re…