I promise you this: Newt can't win the nomination without winning the presidency, but he can only win the presidency if America gets back to fundamentals, to what gives our nation its vitality, men like George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, & women like Condi Rice & Sarah Jessica Parker too. This election, this nomination, are the dawn before Morning In America, or at least the night before that Morning, & the presidency depends on someone being the alarm clock waking up the nation for that Bright Morning, an alarm clock I like to call Newt Gingrich.
― by (mennen), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 01:53 (twelve years ago) link
I expect Obama to make a big show of drawing down troops in Afghanistan within the next 12 months but imho Bin Laden's dead time to cut our losses
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 22:49 (Yesterday) Bookmark Permalink
this terrible pedantic post is going to be awesome because i get to step into john mccain let's listen to our generals on the ground shoes for a lil minute, but: afghanistan is so complicated, & there are a p diverse range of pro- and anti- opinions re: continuing US involvement from people in afghanistan (or there were around a year ago, idk how things have changed), those being the people who we should be at the service of & considering our decisions based on, having already got so involved in fucking w/their country without a great plan, etc etc etc. i'm not even saying that we should or shouldn't pull out, but framing the decision wrt 'our losses' is nagl i think. like if the best thing - as in safest, I guess, rather than 'thing that inches us closest to something we can put a flag in & call victory' - was to be there in a five hundred year long agonising drawdown then that would be the thing to do.
― Never translate German (schlump), Tuesday, December 6, 2011 8:39 PM (19 minutes ago)
cool can we do this for free though?
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 01:59 (twelve years ago) link
we already know that America's not really run by the president, & indeed that's what "the founders" wanted. the president's a symbol & that's fine, that's all that person needs to be in a republic like ours. I think maybe that's where I differ from a lot of you, esp. Morbius, who expect more out of the Great Leader: I want a Great Government, but the presidency is just a small part of that.
― by (mennen), Tuesday, December 6, 2011 8:35 PM (24 minutes ago)
pretttttty sure he's got some important jobs dude, and btw the office of the presidency if you haven't noticed doesn't much resemble what "the founders wanted" these days
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 02:01 (twelve years ago) link
http://i.usatoday.net/news/gallery/2010/n100405_whegg/obama1pg-vertical.jpg
― by (mennen), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 02:09 (twelve years ago) link
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 01:59 (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink
yeah but c'mon i just- like i am not practical with this but i sorta feel like our obligation began when we got involved, rather than expired when we had problems - obviously that's part of a larger conversation about how we need to work out what we need to pay for & then raise the appropriate funds, rather than just work out that we don't really wanna spend money and argue over what we're gonna cut, &c.
but yes, i feel like if i come & smash up your house then i am obliged to either split, if being there is just gonna annoy you further, or clear up what i did, having trashed the place. i am dumb w/this & not pragmatic but i just feel like the money issue is that it should have been financed not we can't finance it
sorry i feel like an asshole making this point, i know it isn't like either of y'all are looking for a satisfying exit, i just think it's a weird obligation thing. wasn't the us obliged to pay vietnam a gazillion dollars, after the war, only to renege a year later & be all 'we're not gonna do that', leaving it the poorest country on earth? we are invested there in a lot of ways, leaving and cutting ties just feels so unconscionable to me, like equal investment in rebuilding would ~morally~ be the appropriate coda to being engaged in warfare. but yeah i know that doesn't exactly fit with how things are
― Never translate German (schlump), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 02:12 (twelve years ago) link
I'll give'em credit for this move.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 02:14 (twelve years ago) link
re: payroll tax cut extension
House leaders are hoping to entice conservative support by packaging the payroll tax extension with other priorities, such as a provision that would make it more likely that construction would begin soon on a controversial oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast.
hahah oh fuck off you idiots
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
leaving and cutting ties just feels so unconscionable to me, like equal investment in rebuilding would ~morally~ be the appropriate coda to being engaged in warfare
the problem is no amount of imperial meddling is going to make Afghanistan a better to place to live. I dunno if you could even say we're leaving it WORSE off than it was before, it's pretty much the same as far as I can tell - riven with sectarian conflict and aggro nutjobs who want to fight among themselves indefinitely, with no interest in being anything resembling a modern nation.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 16:41 (twelve years ago) link
Presidents often outlive us, study shows.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
it's the socialist healthcare they get
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
They all need to eat more pretzels.
― Nicole, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
Adams lost teeth but not brains.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
14 years for blogojevich.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 18:45 (twelve years ago) link
14 years of explaining his complete innocence to the prison guards.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 18:49 (twelve years ago) link
well, he said at sentencing that he was sorry for his "made terrible mistakes," but that he "never intended to break the law." the judge said, "the jury didn't believe you and neither do i."
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 18:50 (twelve years ago) link
a provision that would make it more likely that construction would begin soon on a controversial oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast.
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, they're so transparently servants of the oil industry
― Z S, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 18:54 (twelve years ago) link
Well, why not? Do you believe this climate change twaddle?
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 18:56 (twelve years ago) link
totally. it was in the 50s around here recently. you see? it's C-O-L-D-E-R than expected, not h-o-t-t-e-r.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
with that alone, you can ignore what you hear from egghead "scientists."
when time magazine sums up the twenty first century it will just be the word scientists in sarcastic quote marks
― Never translate German (schlump), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
I like the implication that TIME magazine is run by and written for cockroaches
― OH NOES, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
TIME 2100: They blinded us with "Science."
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:01 (twelve years ago) link
Maybe it is!
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/projects/hitler/sources/40s/414-141HitlerTime.jpg
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:01 (twelve years ago) link
dude! ugh.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:02 (twelve years ago) link
blast from the past: 90s icon Mumia taken off death row
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
woah really, I thought he'd already been executed
― OH NOES, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
blago's wife is my landlord -- thankfully my rent being four days late this month is prob the least of her worries now
― v-shasty, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
haha that's awesome jord
― iatee, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:32 (twelve years ago) link
I really need to figure out who's who in this here sandbox.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:32 (twelve years ago) link
oh god:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the scientists at the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday and refused to allow emergency contraceptives to be sold as freely as aspirin, setting up just the kind of clash between politics and science that President Obama had promised to avoid.
Under the law, Ms. Sebelius has the authority to overrule the agency, according to an F.D.A. spokeswoman, but no health secretary has ever done so before. Her decision continues a history of political meddling in the agency’s decisions regarding emergency contraceptives that tarnished the drug administration’s credibility during the Bush administration. Ms. Sibelius’s decision to overrule a recommendation by government scientists will also almost certainly reverberate in this presidential election season.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/health/policy/sebelius-overrules-fda-on-freer-sale-of-emergency-contraceptives.html?ref=politics
rust belt catholics, thumbs up to u
― slandblox goole, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
weak. i kinda haven't heard a lot about her since she's been in the admin but sorta remember feeling like she was one of the good guys, blarg
― Never translate German (schlump), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
This is such bullshit, but it doesn't surprise me.
― Nicole, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
Catholic bishops for Obama 2012
― Another Suburbanite, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 20:36 (twelve years ago) link
wow what the fuck at that hhs ruling, fucking shameful
otoh mumia!
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 7 December 2011 21:27 (twelve years ago) link
What devotees of sadomasochism do to their bodies is nothing compared to the torments that those addicted to the news and political commentary inflict on their minds almost every hour of the day.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/dec/05/goodbye-serenity/
― o. nate, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:21 (twelve years ago) link
Just noticed these details on this...
The drug, Plan B One-Step, has been sold for several years over the counter to women age 17 and older, but girls under that age need a prescription.
“I have concluded that the data … do not conclusively establish that Plan B One-Step should be made available over the counter for all girls of reproductive age,”
― Another Suburbanite, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:27 (twelve years ago) link
loved that, kinda a perfect halfway between a newspaper letter & a sobering memoirxp
― Never translate German (schlump), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:30 (twelve years ago) link
btw
“Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut, I will reject,” Obama said. “Everybody should be on notice. The reason is because the payroll tax cut is something House Republicans and Senate Republicans should want to do regardless of any other issues.
The tax cut “shouldn’t be held hostage to any other issues they may be concerned about,” Obama continued. “My warning is not just related to Keystone. Efforts to tie a bunch of other issues to something they should do anyway will be rejected — by me.”
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
mad ups to obama for this
― Z S, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:37 (twelve years ago) link
I'm still worried that he'll just approve it 2013 but who knows...
re: payroll tax cut, he knows he's got the GOP backed into a corner so he can afford to be a dick about it
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:39 (twelve years ago) link
Backed into a corner... Reid and company keep watering down the Dems proposal and nobody mentions that the Republicans never insisted that the Bush tax cuts be paid for
― Another Suburbanite, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:41 (twelve years ago) link
nobody mentions that the Republicans never insisted that the Bush tax cuts be paid for
uh Obama and Reid have both said this iirc
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:45 (twelve years ago) link
also I don't know how it's been watered down...? Bill in the Senate sets the payroll tax cut even higher than it currently is now, unless I've misread something.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link
has this been posted? the boy boy young ratigan went ham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=G4yDCUJJm_U
― v-shasty, Thursday, 8 December 2011 00:57 (twelve years ago) link
yeah that's relatively old i think - ratigan is pretty awesome
― k3vin k., Thursday, 8 December 2011 01:05 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i think that happened 2 or 3 months ago. i'm pretty bummed that it doesn't have 3 million views and my idiot facebook feed wasn't saturated with it for a solid week following
― (will), Thursday, 8 December 2011 01:10 (twelve years ago) link
this plan b no longer OTC bullshit has me exactly as fucking pissed off as y'all might imagine
― undervalued aerosmith tchotchkes sold in bulk, Thursday, 8 December 2011 02:06 (twelve years ago) link
this kind of has to go here too btwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2fKmeFR_ko
― Dranke, the German Drake Impersonator (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 8 December 2011 02:08 (twelve years ago) link