Politics

Excellent post Happy Friend! I choose to vote for the Democrats as I see them as being, clearly, the lesser of two evils -- I would venture to guess you feel the same way. I will be voting for Elizabeth Warren in 2012 and Obama as well. I think Obama/the Dems should capitalize the movement that's happening on Wall Street, and many cities now across the nation (I, personally, will absolutely be spending some time at the occupy Boston site this week)...

I deeply believe that the Democrats need to push HARD for campaign finance reform, and relentlessly drive to remove big/corporate/special interest money from politics. They also need to do whatever they can to completely neutralize the Citizens United decision (decided by a corrupt Supreme Court with multiple members on the take from conservative bag-men)... For example, Clarence Thomas somehow forgot he was receiving $700,000 dollars every year from the Heritage Foundation... Please... They should boot him off the SCOTUS immediately IMO.

Some may say, "oh the Democrats won't/can't do it, they're part of the problem..." But ANY type of radical change HAS TO start somewhere, with someone. Although the Tea Party was hi-jacked early on by corporate wolves and right-wing fanatics, I believe part of original goal was the very same thing as the Occupy Wall Street crowd, divorce big money from politics all together.

Until that happens, we will continue to be exploited physically, emotionally and psychologically by the same, extremely sinister, greedy, and often, down right evil forces who use their wealth to destroy democracy and the voice of the PEOPLE -- the OTHER 98%! I assume many of you won't agree that this is possible, but it HAS TO be possible, and it has to happen.

Let's get back to something resembling a government for the people and by the people, not some bought-off set cronies who will lie and cheat to protect the flow of dirty money. Do I think the Republicans are worse??? ABSOLUTELY. If they retain political power and congressional majorities, campaign finance reform will NEVER happen.

Some say the Democrats are the same as the Republicans, but I believe that's what the Republicans would have us think; that there's no other option but bought-and-paid-for puppets of the rich. I disagree, to a large extent at least... I know that the only party who has any chance of earnestly pushing to truly get money out of our political system.

At this point, forcing FULL disclosure of donors, and the amounts they've given, would be an excellent place to start. I hope we can at least stop the CEO of Bain Capital from setting up a dummy corporation to funnel a million dollars to Mitt Romney (the ULTIMATE puppet) in such a slimy, shadowy fashion...

I also believe that the right-wing and the Republicans are increasingly moving towards outright fascism and it's scary. The level of hatred and anger on the Right is misguided, ginned up, and very dangerous. I don't think people, on either side, should be allowed to take to the airwaves and blatantly lie while calling it news. It's not fair to the people of this country and we deserve better. We need to stand up and let these dishonest, hate and fear mongers know that we are not fooled.

We need to stop at nothing to achieve a radical dedication to to truth and honesty. If were not all working with the same set of REAL facts, we can't even start to change the way America works. I think the extreme pursuit of truth underlies everything we need to do -- it's the concrete foundation of a better future for this country.

 

Yeah the BNP are spacs and hated by pretty much everyone.

 

Just stop. Please.

I'm starting to think you've got a lot deeper issues than your political views. Your posts have lead me to believe you may, in fact, be a hard Right, hate-monger type. Although you may not realize it, your posts seem to indicate you're bigot, and maybe worse. Have some class.

 

I already told my story about the daughter of my mother's friend who was beaten up by her boyfriend (the son of a BNP member) because she'd had a black boyfriend earlier in this thread. As Marly and Boris have said, the BNP are nothing but racist morons, and I agree wholeheartedly with their statements.

 

You are a racist bigot arsehole.

 

Yes but at the same time trumping the benefits of an openly racist political party, with no regard for the thoughts or feelings of people who are of a race other than white, betrays common decency. And should you hold no regard to this, a principle that is held at the same standard as being civilised, then you forfeit your right to preach and look down at people for not maintaining this standard. In my opinion at least.

You do not have the right to end a discussion. You may be withdrawing from it in an attempt to do some 'damage control', but that is something altogether different.

 

Ron Paul at The National Press Club.

First a keynote speech and then a Q&A. This is Paul at his finest. Once he gets rolling it's like watching a verbal home run derby.

 

that's great and all but let's get down to the real important issue here: where is his blimp. where is it.

 

So Ron Paul has released his official plan to restore America. With a balanced budget in 4 years, apparently.

Meanwhile, in Operation Wall Street:







I do think their hearts are in the right place but the people themselves aren't.

As much as I love this movement, it's not targeting the source of the problems. Ever see a dog attack a sprinkler head? That's what this reminds me of. These people are protesting the end of the line with all their might in a battle that may not make any change at all, instead of putting their energy toward the source of the problem and making real change.

I applaud their efforts and encourage them to continue as it may eventually lead towards a demonstration against the source, but this will be all for naught if all the energy is directed toward Wall Street and the banks.

 

The People will never be able to attack the source since they kept from it in a variety of ways.

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/19/new-york-fed-student-loan-debt-now-over-1-trillion/

nice!!!

The most interesting part in this story is not that student loan defaults are up (primarily in private, for-profit organizations) but that "many of the major players propped up by the taxpayers after the crash of 2008 have traded in derivative schemes backed by student loan debt"

Remember 10 or so years ago when a very bright lady said the derivative market needed oversight and regulation? shame Greenspan and his cronies were such assholes and chased her off.

burn, baby, burn.

 

Gadhafi is dead, time to open up some starbucks in Libya now?

 

USA - Worlds only superpower, Spy satellites, stealth aircraft, drones, super-trained special forces, CIA spy network. 10 years on they find Bin Laden at home.

Libya - Toyota RAV 4 with 12 bore shotgun mounted on the back. 2 months on and they find Gaddafi at home.

 

Governaments wants only our strenght and money!

 

History books normally make things look more sterile than what actually happened. But in this case our kids will have the video. Hussein and his sons, Bin Laden, Ghaddafi and his sons, all on video. Is this the best we can do? Murder for murder?
Two to the head? Even if we boiled Ghaddafi in oil, yanked his penis off with plyers, and then filled his mouth with leeches, finally decapitating him with a blunt axe, it would still not bring back those he killed, or undo the evil he's done.

our kids and their kids will have these videos as a testimony to fact that that we are the most savage animals on the planet. Is this the best that humanity has to offer? Is there no higher form of intellect? You blow me up, I blow you up and we leave video so that our kids can continue the tradition.

As I watched the coverage of Ghaddafi's murder/assassination/brought-to-justice I found myself wondering can mankind even make it to the next page. After 1000s and 1000s of years of so-called-civilization and here's where we are at: publicly broadcast murder and mayhem?

I do artificial intelligence research and programming these days. I have to reconsider the whole concept. Artificial Intelligence wants to develop computer systems to perform like humans, But if this is what it means to be human then the goal of artificial intelligence is an evil to be avoided at all costs.

The current politcal environment on the planet underscores the savagery, duplicity, greed, ignorance, and selfishness of much of humankind. Perhaps we do need to be written out of the script. Perhaps the Universe is better without us than with us.

Folks I don't see how all this is gonna end. Capitalism left unchecked will ultimately feed on itself. And Democracies where the people are willfully ignorant and uneducated can only lead to corrupt tyranny and debauchery fueled by more and more greed and more and more lust for power. Revolution is pointless if you replace corruption with corruption.

Where can Occupy WallStreet Lead?

Best case scenario, we end up with global Unions where everyone has a decent wage, health care , and a humane retirement. In other words, create a global middle class. The problem is the global corporations will never stand for that, Greed and maximum profit are just to strong for them to resist.
So if we did have global labor unions, the corporations would respond by replacing people with more and more technology. The corporations would see to it that Robot development would burgeon and excel. Soon it would not be about a middle class with decent wages and benefits, it would be about basic human dignity in the face of robot work forces. This would lead to global terrorism against corporations, which will undoubtedly give the corporations an excuse to protect themselves with hired mercenaries (blackwater and boys)

Total Mutual Annihilation. Sad thing is, we see this comin in slow motion and still can't stop it. Art imitates life. This whole scenario plays out in an Armored Core game. How fuQyn sad is that?
Maybe the best thing is an asteroid about 5 miles wide hitting the Earth head on

 

L O L at Tengu posting in the politics thread again.