US Politics XXXVIII

[awesome possum]

Here's an article on it:

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/25/house-gop-no-2-someone-shot-at-my-office/

I can't figure out where the hell this bolded part even comes from...

Let me get this right... he's saying the anger that he and his Republican colleagues have whipped up in tea partiers, which in turn caused the craziest of them to issue threats to Democratic politicians has now caused some of the craziest liberals to get angry and react by threatening Republicans? But it's all the Democrat's fault? :shocked:

Is that man really this stupid?

[Shryke]

Let me get this right... he's saying the anger that he and his Republican colleagues have whipped up in tea partiers, which in turn caused the craziest of them to issue threats to Democratic politicians has now caused some of the craziest liberals to get angry and react by threatening Republicans? But it's all the Democrat's fault? :shocked:

Is that man really this stupid?

There's also people theorizing that some call he made to stop the threats against Congresspeople is what lead to this incident with his office. (technically I believe it's the office of someone who works for/with him, but same shit)

[alguien]

Let me get this right... he's saying the anger that he and his Republican colleagues have whipped up in tea partiers, which in turn caused the craziest of them to issue threats to Democratic politicians has now caused some of the craziest liberals to get angry and react by threatening Republicans? But it's all the Democrat's fault? :shocked:

Is that man really this stupid?

Not only that, but the "gunshot", which is still unconfirmed btw, did not actually go through any window of his office, but the office of a consultant of his.

Eric Cantor = hypocritical moron

ETA: apparently the shooter targeting the window of a building where Eric Cantor's consultant has an office is a master of physics and projectiles. Very clever of him to fire the bullet in the air and land into the window on a downward arc, breaking the pane but not penetrating the blind.

ETA (again): dear god I wish the Daily Show were running this week...

[adamsputnik]

Also, some good news outta Cali:

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/california-voters-to-decide-whether-to-legalize-marijuana/19413976

Now THIS will make the war on drugs debate interesting.

I hope it passes, too.

[Shryke]

Now THIS will make the war on drugs debate interesting.

I hope it passes, too.

Hasn't Massewhatsit (the unspellable state) already decriminalized marijuana?

And Obama has already told the DEA to stop worrying about marijuana stuff too.

While the DEA will probably throw a hissy-fit, the administration will probably just ignore the whole thing.

[Mauvka]

legalization of Medical marijuana passed with 56% approval in california in 1996. What are the chances of full legalization nowadays? I would think that attitudes would have moved more in favor since the nineties. Is approval likely?

[awesome possum]

ETA (again): dear god I wish the Daily Show were running this week...

Why is it that the show always seems to take a break when the most important events (outside of elections) are going down?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Etulftune,

It wouldn't shock me to see MJ legalized in California. I fully support it's legalization. Are the Feds still fighting against State by State legalization of MJ?

[Guy Kilmore]

Why is it that the show always seems to take a break when the most important events (outside of elections) are going down?

I sometimes feel like politicians time easily mocked press releases around their filming schedule.

ETA: Oh and Shryke, there is no reason to call FLoW son or boy, that is beneath you and does little to encourage healthy dialogue.

[Shryke]

Etulftune,

It wouldn't shock me to see MJ legalized in California. I fully support it's legalization. Are the Feds still fighting against State by State legalization of MJ?

Depends who you mean by "The Feds" really.

Obama seems to be on the "doesn't care, but isn't really FOR it side".

The DEA and the Drug Czar are crazily against it (and apparently essentially told OBama to "get stuffed" when he asked them to stop going after medical marijuana folks)

Congress, being old, is probably against it too.

And some of these people would probably love to use federal funding as leverage against states legalizing/decriminalizing, but I'm not sure exactly who gets to pull that lever.

[Shryke]

Oh, and now we've got White Powder being mailed around:

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/White-Powder-Package-Sent-to-Congressman-Weiners-Office-89136827.html

Law enforcement officials say a package with white powder was sent to Congressman Weiner's Queens office today.

A preliminary review shows the letter in part complained about the historic health care legislation passed by Congress this week, according to the source.

[alguien]

A couple more articles on the Tea Party from NPR:

GOP Pressured To End 'Tea Party Racism'

A Turning Point For Tea Party ... And The GOP?

ETA: oh, and since they were off this week, TDS released a little Teabag homage.

[IheartTesla]

ETA: apparently the shooter targeting the window of a building where Eric Cantor's consultant has an office is a master of physics and projectiles. Very clever of him to fire the bullet in the air and land into the window on a downward arc, breaking the pane but not penetrating the blind.

I shot a bullet into the air

It fell to earth I know not where

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

Long, long afterward, in an windowpane

I found the bullet, still profane;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend

Apologies to Longfellow :leaving:

[TrackerNeil]

I know I'm supposed to say, "These elements can be found in every party," but I don't remember Democrats shooting up houses after GWB's 2005 reelection, or when he proposed to privatize Social Security. I think these Tea Party people are not too far off in terms of what the Republican Party of today is indeed about. The Senate Republicans are out to delay an amendment to a law already passed and signed, for no reasons other than simple pique and satisfying their base, which IMO is the legislative version of breaking lawmakers' windows. Throw in the epithets hurled at Clyburn and Frank last weekend, mix with a healthy dose of birthers and you've got a picture of a splinter group that is pretty damned racist.

Yes, I said racist. I don't recall Tea Partiers objecting when GWB exploded the deficit, nor do I remember them questioning John McCain's place of birth (which really was Panama). As I see it, Barack Obama is easy for them to think of as an outsider, because of the color of his skin and the flavor of his name, and they just don't want an outsider in the White House. When they couldn't contest the validity of his electoral triumph, they questioned the legitimacy of his candidacy, and they've probably got some other "lingering question" up their sleeves for when birtherism finally dies an agonizing death.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

A couple more articles on the Tea Party from NPR:

GOP Pressured To End 'Tea Party Racism'

A Turning Point For Tea Party ... And The GOP?

ETA: oh, and since they were off this week, TDS released a little Teabag homage.

Anyone on either side who threatens violence is a jackass. On the other hand, anyone who uses the conduct of a few jackasses to stifle legitimate, vigorous dissent is not much better.

[Shryke]

I know I'm supposed to say, "These elements can be found in every party," but I don't remember Democrats shooting up houses after GWB's 2005 reelection, or when he proposed to privatize Social Security. I think these Tea Party people are not too far off in terms of what the Republican Party of today is indeed about. The Senate Republicans are out to delay an amendment to a law already passed and signed, for no reasons other than simple pique and satisfying their base, which IMO is the legislative version of breaking lawmakers' windows. Throw in the epithets hurled at Clyburn and Frank last weekend, mix with a healthy dose of birthers and you've got a picture of a splinter group that is pretty damned racist.

Yes, I said racist. I don't recall Tea Partiers objecting when GWB exploded the deficit, nor do I remember them questioning John McCain's place of birth (which really was Panama). As I see it, Barack Obama is easy for them to think of as an outsider, because of the color of his skin and the flavor of his name, and they just don't want an outsider in the White House. When they couldn't contest the validity of his electoral triumph, they questioned the legitimacy of his candidacy, and they've probably got some other "lingering question" up their sleeves for when birtherism finally dies an agonizing death.

Don't forget death threats (against the politicians children even), cutting gas lines and mailing white powder.

Hell, death threats against the President alone went up 400% after Obama took office.

[Annelise]

Anyone on either side who threatens violence is a jackass. On the other hand, anyone who uses the conduct of a few jackasses to stifle legitimate, vigorous dissent is not much better.

Stifle? Or do you mean disregard?

[Shryke]

Yeah, I don't see anyone trying to force the Tea Baggers to stop.

We're just calling them out for being biggoted morons.

[alguien]

On the other hand, anyone who uses the conduct of a few jackasses to stifle legitimate, vigorous dissent is not much better.

Disagree.

The people who threaten violence are WAY worse than those who use such examples to criticize an opposing party's behavior.

I agree that completely dismissing a party's argument by using blanket generalizations isn't right, but to even suggest that the two are in any way close in terms of levels of bad discourse is a highly flawed argument, IMO.

And when congressmen are waiving signs reading KILL THE BILL (Kill the pig! Drink its blood!) to a frothing crowd, when they suggest that dems who vote for a health bill are "dead", then I think asking just how responsible they are for the conduct of these jackasses, as you call them, is a legitimate question.

To flip things, I think Hannity is ignorant blowhard. But if crazy liberal protesters hurled bigoted terms and death threats at actual congressmen, I would be much less disgusted with him painting the Dems with the same brush (as he has often done) than with hypothetical protesters shouting n***er and f***ot or death threats at Congressmen. (again, I have yet to see that happen, but if it did, I would be much more completely disgusted with those bigoted assholes than with Hannity)

[alguien]

Hell, death threats against the President alone went up 400% after Obama took office.

However, none of that has anything to do with the fact that the president is black, right? :rolleyes:

In fact, to even suggest such a thing is almost as bad as those making the death threats themselves!