All-Purpose NuILX thread for American Politics

Iran is scary.

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, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 9:06 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Permalink

otm

washingtonpost The Washington Post -- Obama now: "Ask Osama Bin Laden... or whoever's left out there, if I engage in appeasement" http://wapo.st/k5onQj

wow

this man is usually sane:

The Churchill Comparison
December 8, 2011 11:39 A.M.
By Ramesh Ponnuru
My friend Steven Hayward isn’t exactly for Gingrich’s nomination. He just thinks we ought to consider the possibility that he might turn out to be a great statesman–just as Churchill did, even though people criticized him in terms similar to the ones Gingrich’s critics use. “[W]e cannot prospectively identify those whom we will later come to laud as great statesmen.” He wonders whether we need someone unconventional given the special challenges of our time. And he thinks it’s possible that Gingrich has learned lessons from his earlier failures, as Churchill did.

These strike me as equally good arguments for giving the presidential nomination to Alan Keyes. People have called him grandiose and erratic, just as they said of Churchill. We can’t rule out with 100 percent confidence that he will be a fine statesman. He is certainly unconventional. And we can’t rule out the possibility that he has learned from his mistakes

I'm gonna go ahead and rule out some of those possibilities, if that's okay with y'all

Sebelius is making the correct political calculation. The majority of parents think they wouldn't want their young daughter to have unfettered access to contraception without their knowledge. Apparently, they would prefer to find out their daughter is having sex when she tells them she's already pregnant, wtf.

just do the recess appointment already

lol @ President Brown

"When the regulators go to work everyday, like most people go to work, their work assignment's a little different," Poe said. "In my opinion, they sit around a big oak table, sipping their lattes. They have out their iPads and their computers, and they decide, 'Who shall we regulate today?' And they write a regulation and send it out to the masses and make us deal with the cost to that."

oh my god

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/house-passes-bill-to-grant-congress-veto-power_n_1135030.html

tbf he's correct *sips latte*

wanna regulate some shit?

there's an app for that

there's no way that will stand up in court, even if it passes the senate (and Obama - any president, really - would surely veto anything this stupid anyway...?)

regulations create jobs. fact.

regulations created MY job, at a small business, in the private sector.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1plPyJdXKIY

hey decide, 'Who shall we regulate today?

Yup. This is how it works.

Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), argued that if Congress can stop rules in their tracks, businesses will flourish.

"Poll after poll of small business owners, of medium-sized business owners -- they will show you and tell you that major regulations are holding back their expansion and the ability of them to hire more workers," Quayle said.

less flashy but this is a bigger lie

yeah that really irritated me

like what regulation is there that says "don't hire people"

dude fuck you:

President Obama, noting that he was the father of two daughters, threw his wholehearted support on Thursday behind a decision by his Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, not to allow emergency contraceptives to be sold over the counter, including to young teenagers.
Related

“The reason Kathleen made this decision is that she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going to a drug store should be able — alongside bubble gum or batteries — be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could have an adverse effect,” Mr. Obama said to reporters at the White House.

the Welfare Queen again, buying vodka with food stamps.

http://www.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.982292!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_370/image.jpg

^^ overregulated

Over-pampered petulance.

re: plan b, all politicians bend before Big Dad

regulations create jobs. fact.

this is as stupid as 'regulations destroy jobs'. 'regulations' is a word that encompasses both 'good' and 'bad' regulations. and sometimes even things that we all agree are 'good' regulations are still going to, as a whole, result in a net job loss, which is still fine because it's prob not a good idea to run your economy w/ absolutely nothing but 'the most jobs possible' as the goal.

'ALL POSSIBLE JOBS' for campaign slogan

All those stupid anti-sweatshop and child-labor laws prevent this great nation from creating all the jobs we could be creating.

the obama/paternalism thing is just the worst; even on the purely political level all of this is meant to be operating on, he's forgoing so much high ground - the ability to say "believe in science, not spin", wrt climate science or a million other things; the promulgation of the idea that we should educate people in the use of something, rather than withdraw something from use lest it be used. a million things. awful.

What really smarts is Obama’s invocation of his daughters to justify his own bad logic. It’s emblematic of the limits of the “As a father of daughters” strain of support for women’s rights. As a father, Obama may hope that he has created a family environment in which his daughters would feel comfortable telling him or Michelle if they need to use EC. Good for him. But he’s not Dad-in-Chief to all teenage girls. You don’t want to think about your daughters making a decision about their sex lives without consulting you? Too bad, Mr. President: there are thousands of girls and women who need to be able to make that decision without involving their family or doctor. You’re not their father; you’re their president.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165065/father-two-daughters-obama-embraces-politics-over-science-emergency-contraception

*lest it be misused

“The reason Kathleen made this decision is that she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going to a drug store should be able — alongside bubble gum or batteries — be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could have an adverse effect,” Mr. Obama said to reporters at the White House.

So he's taking acetaminophen off the shelves as well?

regulations create jobs. fact.

this is as stupid as 'regulations destroy jobs'. 'regulations' is a word that encompasses both 'good' and 'bad' regulations.

I was simply pointing out that the inverse is true as well, something the GOP cannot acknowledge.

Relevant excerpt from Ha-Joon Chang's "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism" (looks like an interesting book, btw):

http://truthout.org/there-no-such-thing-free-market/1307462405

this is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yncq4dwBhEc

Relevant excerpt from Ha-Joon Chang's "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism" (looks like an interesting book, btw):

http://truthout.org/there-no-such-thing-free-market/1307462405

― o. nate, Thursday, December 8, 2011 3:32 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink

v v good book

Obama's "my daughters" speech is so, so, so, so embarrassingly awful and grotesque

i think i'm pretty good about understanding what i consider his shortcomings, but i honestly did not foresee him going that route

local neighborhood news that feels emblematic:

The Lower Merion Board of Commissioners Finance Committee on Wednesday night voted unanimously to recommend that the full board amend the proposed 2012 budget in order to recognize an estimated $6.9 million in additional General Fund revenue from outstanding business taxes.

However, when it came to discussing what should be done with the $6.9 million, commissioners disagreed along political party lines, with Republicans proposing to give the some or all of the money back to taxpayers, and Democrats saying the money should not be refunded and instead be used for other purposes, such as paying down township debt.

http://balacynwyd.patch.com/articles/lower-merion-finance-committee-debates-how-to-allocate-6-9-million-in-unexpected-tax-revenue-02820b7d

Oh, paying off debt. I guess that's not a big Republican concern?

I shouldn't complain too much. We did approve a $4.4 million library renovation. Who is renovating libraries in America in 2011? We are!

regulations create jobs. fact.

this is as stupid as 'regulations destroy jobs'. 'regulations' is a word that encompasses both 'good' and 'bad' regulations.

I was simply pointing out that the inverse is true as well, something the GOP cannot acknowledge.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, December 8, 2011 2:46 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

true dat. my livelihood depends on regulations and shit. i r rent seeker yay.

i think i'm pretty good about understanding what i consider his shortcomings, but i honestly did not foresee him going that route

Whatever his other flaws, he was never mawkish.

I shouldn't complain too much. We did approve a $4.4 million library renovation. Who is renovating libraries in America in 2011? We are!

― Mordy, Friday, 9 December 2011 00:07 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink

lol, bravo at repping for this, i hope you enjoy your library, that's great news.

"ask bin Laden" is pretty mawkish, in a time-honored lethal 'Murrican way

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-appeasement-20111208,0,7522921.story?track=rss

It's an effective line though. He should have included Gadhafi as well.

American forces didn't actually kill Ghadhafi, and if he had everyone would have trotted out those pictures of him shaking dude's hand

The point is Ghadhafi is no longer a threat though - not that US forces killed him.

handshake pics are hard to supress

The point is Ghadhafi is no longer a threat though - not that US forces killed him.

so then why should he have taken credit?

Because US air power was a major factor in driving Gadhafi from power?

This election might be the reverse of the usual Democratic advantages, in that Obama might be better off trying to change the subject from the economy to his foreign policy successes.

A mistake: voters, Democratic or otherwise, are in no mood to hear about our success killing evil Muslims.