US Politics - From barbarism to decadence

[WhiteHaven]

I know terrorism is so....2001, but given that some highly suspicious packages were intercepted today, including one that had actual explosives in it destined for a Jewish center in Chicago, I figured it might be worth at least one post.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/airports_suspicious_packages;_ylt=AuJ1rXTeGPp_Lf6FjTpPfKis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNzbzY1MW8xBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMDI5L2FpcnBvcnRzX3N1c3BpY2lvdXNfcGFja2FnZXMEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMyBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5

So who do you figure is responsible?

What? You guys want to start another war again? Oh no...there are elections. How convenient that Osama wants to bomb the living shit out of the US-Citizens when there are elections coming up.

[Altherion]

Looks like Obama is not popular as he once was even among Democrats:

Democratic voters are closely divided over whether President Barack Obama should be challenged within the party for a second term in 2012, an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks Poll finds.

...

Among Democrats, 47 percent say Obama should be challenged for the 2012 nomination and 51 percent say he should not be opposed. Those favoring a contest include most who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton's unsuccessful faceoff against Obama for the 2008 nomination. The poll did not ask if Democrats would support particular challengers.

The 4% difference is within the margin of error so it's an even split. Of course, he hasn't started campaigning yet and there is nobody in the party who can oppose him so barring some massive scandal, he will be the Democratic nominee, but if the Republicans play this right, it can be good news for them in 2012.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

Looks like Obama is not popular as he once was even among Democrats

That's because they're racist.

[TerraPrime]

Re: FLOW

Uh, yes. Why?

Oh no particular reason. I just never knew, and that was the most interesting thing you said in that post.

That's because they're racist.

Oh really? Have Democrats started using posters depicting Obama as a monkey? Or maybe they have begun insinuating that Obama likes watermelon and fried chicken? Or maybe they have suggested that the family pet ought to be a rottweiler? Oh I know, posters depicting Obama as wearing a turban have started to surface at local chapters of the Democratic offices, right?

[MinDonner]

You're so intolerant, TP.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

I guess you missed the whole "Bush is a chimp" thing, huh?

But in any case, would you mind linking the source for the Obama/monkey thing so I can get an idea of exactly how many people out of the tens of millions of Republicans have actually referred to him as a monkey?

[Shryke]

Let's have a voter intimidation/suppression/hate crime round-up!

1) Gotta love the total non-reaction over the Republican party deliberately misleading voters in order to fuck up their voter registration and prevent them from voting:

IMPORTANT VOTER REGISTRATION INFORMATION

The Secretary of State’s Office has recently learned that a voter registration form has been mailed to some Alabama residents by a state political party. These registration forms have a return address for the Alabama Republican Party, rather than the local Board of Registrars. The Secretary of State has advised the county Boards of Registrars to process these completed forms as they would any other voter registration forms they receive.

http://www.sos.state.al.us/elections/

2)Black voters deliberately misled:

Misleading fliers are showing up on the windshields of vehicles at a predominately African-American polling place in Houston that claim to come from a non-existent group called the "Black Democratic Trust of Texas."

The fliers were placed on the windshields of vehicles at and near the Sunnyside Early Voting location and tell voters not to voter straight Democrat, according to Texas Democrats and local news reports.

"Republicans are trying to trick us!" the flier reads. "When you vote straight ticket Democrat, it is actually voting for Republicans and your vote doesn't count. We are urging everyone to VOTE for BILL WHITE. A VOTE for BILL WHITE is a VOTE for the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC ticket. We have fought too hard to let Republicans use voting machines to deny us our basic rights. We must guard the change and NOT VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET DEMOCRAT!"

"YES WE CAN," the flier reads.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/fliers_from_fake_group_mislead_black_voters_in_texas_video.php

3) Black Voters Harassed:

Two middle-aged white Republican activists in Texas allegedly harassed and intimidated at least seven elderly African-American voters at their homes in eastern Texas, according to a complaint filed with the Justice Department on Thursday.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/elderly_black_voters_allegedly_intimidated_at_thei.php

4) Another Young Women assaulted while protesting a Republican candidate:

A 72-year-old man was arrested two weeks ago for allegedly assaulting a 23-year-old activist protesting Dino Rossi's Republican campaign for Senate in Washington state, according to local reports.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/washington-man-arrested-for-assaulting-anti-rossi-protester.php

5) And what the fuck, let's throw in some gay lynching while we're at it:

A volunteer for a nonprofit that works for legal protections for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered returned to her Santa Ana office Thursday night to find a noose hanging from the doorknob.

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2010/10/equality_california_noose_sant.php

[awesome possum]

I guess you missed the whole "Bush is a chimp" thing, huh?

Yeah, that was so totally racist and not because Bush came across as a clueless monkey half the time.

Let's have a voter intimidation/suppression/hate crime round-up!

1) Gotta love the total non-reaction over the Republican party deliberately misleading voters in order to fuck up their voter registration and prevent them from voting:

http://www.sos.state.al.us/elections/

2)Black voters deliberately misled:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/fliers_from_fake_group_mislead_black_voters_in_texas_video.php

3) Black Voters Harassed:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/elderly_black_voters_allegedly_intimidated_at_thei.php

4) Another Young Women assaulted while protesting a Republican candidate:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/washington-man-arrested-for-assaulting-anti-rossi-protester.php

5) And what the fuck, let's throw in some gay lynching while we're at it:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2010/10/equality_california_noose_sant.php

Dude, but... but... ACORN!!!!!

[Commodore]

Nate Silver has an amazing gift for presentation. This election night guide is super sweet.

[Commodore]

Rubio is beyond unstoppable in Florida. And I've already said it, but I'll say it again, this guy may be POTUS someday.

He definitely says the right things and has certain demographic appeal, but he hasn't sold me yet.

My vote is for Fat Reagan, total badass.

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

Yeah, that was so totally racist and not because Bush came across as a clueless monkey half the time.

Don't forget the long history of associating white people with animals, particularly one or more of the great apes.

[Spastic Plastic]

This one's either gonna go over FLOW's head, or he'll answer with another question. It's pointless to even argue with someone who'll debate back and forth about tiny minutia to justify an indefensible position.

[Altherion]

My vote is for Fat Reagan, total badass.

Should Christie's attitude spread, it would mean the next and penultimate stage in the deterioration of the US. The only good thing about it is that there is nowhere further down to go -- once the government cancels the already started construction of badly needed infrastructure, the only other thing it can do to cut costs is stop maintaining existing infrastructure and this is one of the few things that has the potential to bring about real reform.

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

We are the evil that we should be fighting

Obama waiver allows U.S. aid to 4 countries using child soldiers

President Obama has granted a waiver allowing four countries to continue receiving U.S. military aid even though they use child soldiers, officials said Wednesday.

Human rights groups reacted with surprise and concern, saying the decision would send the wrong message.

"What the president has done is basically given everybody a pass for using child soldiers," said Jo Becker, children's rights director at Human Rights Watch.

Administration officials said cutting off aid would cause more damage than good in countries where the U.S. military is trying to fight terrorism and reform abusive armies.

Obama sent a memo to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, dated Monday, saying that it was "in the national interest" to waive a cutoff of military assistance for Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Yemen.

Some of the worst, most repressive regimes in the world, and we are paying them to slaughter their own people, in the name of keeping ourselves safe. Disgraceful.

[TerraPrime]

We are the evil that we should be fighting

Some of the worst, most repressive regimes in the world, and we are paying them to slaughter their own people, in the name of keeping ourselves safe. Disgraceful.

Uh.... Yemen I can understand. But, Sudan? Chad? Congo? We're fighting terrorism there, too? Since when?

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

The US has an embargo on certain items to Sudan, I know. Possibly for ties to Iran? Not directly fighting terrorism, maybe, but they're Eeevul.

Here's a snippet from the US Bureau of Industry and Security site:

No person may export or reexport items subject to both the EAR and OFAC’s Iranian Transactions Regulations without prior OFAC authorization. The Department of Commerce maintains anti-terrorism controls on exports and reexports to Sudan, as delineated in Chapter 4.

The U.S. Government has a general policy of denial for the export and reexport of all items controlled for chemical, biological, missile, and nuclear proliferation reasons, military-related items controlled for national security or regional stability reasons (CCL entries ending in the number 18), and certain items controlled for national security or foreign policy reasons, such as aircraft, cryptologic items, and explosive device detectors, for all end-users in Sudan.

[awesome possum]

I suppose if we control the monsters there, that means China or Iran don't. Doesn't make it any less disgusting and vile and more business as usual.

[Altherion]

Some of the worst, most repressive regimes in the world, and we are paying them to slaughter their own people, in the name of keeping ourselves safe. Disgraceful.

Don't think of that law as a means of actually doing something about child soldiers. It's just an excuse to cut off military aid to a subset of the countries we do not currently like. It's not even in the name of keeping ourselves safe (Chad has nothing to do with that). On the bright side, at least they didn't exempt Somalia and Burma.

[alguien]

We are the evil that we should be fighting

Some of the worst, most repressive regimes in the world, and we are paying them to slaughter their own people, in the name of keeping ourselves safe. Disgraceful.

This is very disappointing. Moreso because of a letter I once received from Obama (most likely his staff) when he was a senator and I did some volunteer work for Invisible Children, where he specifically outlined how he was against this and what he would do to fight it.

Not really seeing even the political sense in this move. How do the practical gains outweigh the moral negatives here?

[Shryke]

This is very disappointing. Moreso because of a letter I once received from Obama (most likely his staff) when he was a senator and I did some volunteer work for Invisible Children, where he specifically outlined how he was against this and what he would do to fight it.

Not really seeing even the political sense in this move. How do the practical gains outweigh the moral negatives here?

It all depends on what kind of "aid" is going on here. And there's also the potential that, if the US stops aid, the Chinese will simply take their place and that may reduce the US's ability to control the situation. You'd need a better idea of what exactly is going on between the US and the countries in question in the first place.

The article says:

Senior U.S. officials said Wednesday that Yemen was exempted because ending military aid would jeopardize the country's ability to fight al-Qaeda. In Sudan, U.S. military assistance will be critical in helping the unstable southern part of the country build military institutions if it votes to secede in a January referendum, as expected, officials said.

Congo was exempted because U.S.-funded programs there are aimed at helping the military become more professional and less abusive, officials said. Chad got a pass because of its role in fighting terrorism and assistance with the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. In addition, U.S. aid goes toward helping that country's military end its practice of using child soldiers, officials said