(no subject)

[razorjak]

So Chimpy McFuckstick doesn't think we're heading into a recession.

He thinks it's "patentedly" unfair if the telecom companies are actually held accountable for their illegal actions.

...

I can't even go on. My brain wants to implode from listening to that dipshit.

Comments

[geekalpha.livejournal.com]

Hey, back off! Next you are going to say that he won't resolve that little Isreal-Palistine issue before the end of his term.

[mspaintchuk.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. Please translate the word solve from Shrub to English.

[geekalpha.livejournal.com]

It's like Schroedinger's "solved."

It's very similar to those Weapons of Mass Destruction that Neo-Con advocates will still say were found in Iraq along with Saddam's connections to Bin Laden. It's also similar to the End of Major Combat Operations.

When the Decider(tm) decides that the problem is solved, it will be solved. At that time we will all be able to marvel at what he really meant by "solved."

[montieth.livejournal.com]

"It's very similar to those Weapons of Mass Destruction that Neo-Con advocates will still say were found in Iraq along with Saddam's connections to Bin Laden.."

I would call Sarin, Mustard Gas and binary 155mm artillery shells as fulfilling that qualification to a T. Moreover, the documentation recovered underscored that the Iraqi plan was to secretly maintain the programs in a suspended state as much as possible and then reconstitute them as SOON as the sanctions were lifted.

"It's also similar to the End of Major Combat Operations."

At least it's not the 'Victory' that the Democrats want to hand us ala 1975. Because actually finishing the job is too rational.

[geekalpha.livejournal.com]

"I would call Sarin, Mustard Gas and binary 155mm artillery shells as fulfilling that qualification to a T."

I knew you would.

This is why the so vague as to be Schrödinger term "Weapons of Mass Destruction" was coined instead of the already sufficient and common terms of art "nuclear" "biological" and "chemical" used to describe weapons with special international restrictions. So that you could justify failed foriegn adventures by saying "hey! they had a warehouse with some worn-out cold-war artillery shells with Sarin gas in it! That is exactly the same thing as having nuclear bombs 45 minutes from leveling London with mushroom clouds! And having a "suspended program" is exactly the same thing as having secret labs building atomic bomb components and enriching uranium preparing for a huge terrorist after-market for atomic bombs.

Sarin and Mustard gas hardly qualify.
1. They are primitive.
2. It took 5 men and one liter of Sarin (an artillery shell would hold 5 times as much) to kill 12 people packed into a fucking subway in 1995.

This weapon is not that badass, and it is far from a ZOMG Weapon of Mass Destruction. By way of comparison, 2 high school kids with little planning totally crushed this terror group's high score with hand-guns. The "mass" is missing in the WMD here. 155mm shells filled with, oh I don't know, High Explosive would be much more "mass" than that!

"At least it's not the 'Victory'..."

You're right. It's much more effective to dump our increasingly debt-burdened economy into maintaining an expensive and ineffective presence in a hostile and destitute foreign country.

Yeah, that'll show 'em.

It's not like the region has a history of stubborn violence or anything, so I'm sure we heard the last gasps in 2003, deployed 300,000 Iraqi soldiers 2004 (right after the election it was supposed to be), turned the corner in 2005, stayed the course in 2006, deployed all the reserves in 2007 to victoriously get violence back down to the levels when we were winning back in 2005. Yeah, with failur-er successes like that, we would hate to just hand those shadowy bad-guys their victory.

I believe we had a discussion two years ago where I mentioned the words failure and lies to you. Not much has changed except that our economy is tanking and the national debt is increasing impressively.

I'm sure the terrorists are very impressed with us and our fantastic strategery.

[mspaintchuk.livejournal.com]

Finishing what job?

[montieth.livejournal.com]

The Arab Israel issue won't be resolved this century unless we end up having to go roman on those what won't realize they have a good deal when presented with one.

[geekalpha.livejournal.com]

Solved. Solved, do you hear!

The Decider said so.



Ye of little faith.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

I'll take his shit over the "change" snake oil that Obama's trying to sell.

Lessee:
1. Increase in taxes for funding of UN programs
2. Federal Ban on assault weapons
3. Federal Ban on concealed carry
4. State level bans on handguns is fine because the 2nd amendment doesn't apply to those bodies (DC is apparently a state to him)
5. Wants to eschew the multilateral actions in Iraq and with regards to Syria
6. Wants to implement nationalized health care
7. wants to curtail free trade. Cause we know a tariff war with Canada will help the economy.
8. Wants to invade Pakistan.
9. Wants to cut back and close down the ABM programs. You know the 'un -ested' ones like SM3 which just shot down a satellite.

What did I miss?

Oh yeah, wants to cut and run from Iraq.

[geekalpha.livejournal.com]

Suspension of Habeas Corpus
Extraordinary rendition to secret foreign prisons
Torture
Secret wholesale warrant less surveillance on U.S. Citizens
"Free Speech Zones"
No declaration of war, and no foreign body that could ever surrender to end that "war."

It's a good thing the party out to defend the principles of The Constitution is in power, and not those filthy liberals! < /sarcasm >

[mspaintchuk.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the bit about changing the Constitution to fit the word of God that Huckabee was slinging. That is protecting the Constitution right?

[geekalpha.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I forgot about redefining the separation of church and state. Good call.

So, by my count the following have been undermined in the last 8 years:

- The basis of Common Law dating from the Magna Carta
- The U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, The Powers of Congress
- The U.S. Constitution, The first Amendment - freedom of speech, assembly, and separation of church and state (the third being inextricably implied by freedom of religion. It keeps religion free)
- The U.S. Constitution, Article 4, Secret warrant-less surveillance.
- The U.S. Constitution, Article 8, Cruel and Unusual punishment.
- The Geneva Conventions

[montieth.livejournal.com]

Yah know what, my right practice my right to self defense is a HELL of a lot more impacted by existing and future laws than my right to worship as I please has ever been in my entire lifetime.

I've got 2 Inches of complex, contradictory and confusing legal code from the state State and Federal level on a shelf in arm's reach. How much law is there which prevents me from worshiping as I please? Is there a National Agency which enforces your religious beliefs?

I'm a hell of a lot more worried about the Gun control factions on the left than the religious right. Even Christopher Hitchens who is NO friend of the religious right has stated similarly where the Religious right's power actually has little net effect.

And I'm an Atheist.

[mspaintchuk.livejournal.com]

Bah, we don't need no stinkin' facts!

[montieth.livejournal.com]

As regards 2,3, and 4 after the shooting at Northern Illinois University he said the following:
I think there is an individual right to bear arms, but it's subject to commonsense regulation" like background checks, he said during a news conference.
He said he would support federal legislation based on a California law that would facilitate immediate tracing of bullets used in a crime. He said even though the California law was passed over the strong objection of the National Rifle Association, he thinks it's the type of law that gun owners and crime victims can get behind.


Make sure you finish that.... "At his news conference, he voiced support for the District of Columbia's ban on handguns, which is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court next month."

This is the the total ban which in effect said, you had a right to read books, but only if you NEVER opened it and you violated the law if you carried the book from one room to another, never mind that there were NO legally operating Book stores in the District due to their legal interventions AND you were NEVER granted a permit to obtain books in the first place. What amazing support of such rights.

Further, DC is not a state. DC is a creature of the federal government which is, if you except 14th amendment inclusion of the 2nd amendment, STILL bound by the Bill of rights and thus the 2nd Amendment DOES Apply to the Laws in DC directly.

"As a state senator in Illinois, Obama supported banning the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic firearms, increasing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms and requiring manufacturers to provide child-safety locks with firearms. He has also supported a ban on the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns. He sponsored a bill in 2000 limiting handgun purchases to one per month. He also voted against a 2004 measure allowing a self-defense exception for people charged with violating local weapons bans by using a gun in their home. Although out of line with most of his anti-gun voting history, in 1999, Obama voted "present" on SB 759, a bill that required mandatory adult prosecution for firing a gun on or near school grounds.

"Obama was also a board member of the Joyce Foundation which funds and maintains several gun control organizations in the United States.

"He supported several gun control measures, including restricting the purchase of firearms at gun shows and the reauthorization of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban." (Source: wikipedia)

He comes from a state where the Gun laws are about as unfair as you can get and the largest city in that state is a virtual desert of the right that he supposedly supports.

He admittedly sought a ban on the sale of semi-automatic firearms back in
1998. However, people's opinions about things do change.


Only because he didn't get a chance to vote for it because it died in the Judiciary committee. I trust Obama's new leaf on gun rights as much as I trust Giuliani's. Which is NOT AT ALL. The launch window had 10s of seconds of duration and the maneuver time of the kinetic kill vehicle was in the order of

RE #6. If he wants to reform the tort laws that'd be a good start to lowering the cost of insurance for the medical institutions. If it means he dictates what the prices can be then he's going to destroy the system.

Re 5 and 8.
<a h reaf="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/totten/2392>This isn't hearsay, it's good analysis of what Obama said. Obama's words: "I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will." That is a call to invade. Unilaterally (I thought Bush lost points for being unilateral). Perhaps its ok because it's more "change!"

[montieth.livejournal.com]

As regards 9, shooting down a satellite is pretty fucking easy. It's path doesn't change and it keeps doing the same thing over and over. A missile doesn't.


A Ballistic missile warhead does not necessarily maneuver so it's not quite as difficult or easy as you portray both. Further, the interception was a hit to kill, not a proximity warhead function (closing speeds make reliable fuze function difficult). The hit required less than a meter's precision at over 17,000 miles per hour of the target and a closing speed of 24,000 mph.

Moreover, SM3 is an expansion of a proven system, Standard Missile which has had decades of development, testing and operational use. That program is a further growth of an even older set of systems which were also largely successful. SM-3 has had 12 operational tests and 11 successful intercepts in those test. We now have a 12th' successful intercept of an unusual target which it was not designed to hit and which involved modification of three production missiles/warhead combinations to adjust for the target parameters (hit the fuel tank and not the 'warhead').

[canticle.livejournal.com]

Your nation is so in debt to the nations it fears that China has no need to launch missles to destroy the United States.

They just need to sell off their US denominated currency reserves, resulting in instant global economic chaos, with the US as the center. They'd be more prepared to weather it than the US, that's for certain.

Obama and the Assault Weapons Ban.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

You're one of the people I remembered stuck to their guns on Obama not being a bad politician/president for guns, dispite a LOT of contrary evidence.

He admittedly sought a ban on the sale of semi-automatic firearms back in
1998. However, people's opinions about things do change.


Still think he changed his opinion or do you think he was just telling people what they thought they wanted to hear? AG Holder just announced plans to re-introduce the Assault Weapons Ban. I'm pretty darn certain we'll see MORE types of weapons included in what's banned. Down to things with enbloc clips like Garands and weapons like the M1 Carbine classified as assault weapons. The versions I've seen floated around for the past year or so are FAR more intrusive and FAR more expansive.

We're also hearing rumblings of plans to close down exports of ammunition to countries like Canada and other State department level controls on the import of firearms parts to pretty much close down inexpensive soviet block parts for AK and SKS type weapons. Barrels, magazines, etc

Consider this the "I bloody well told you so." comment.

[absurdhero.livejournal.com]

Darting boldly against the incoming tide of logic as usual.

[canticle.livejournal.com]

I'm more impressed that a nation which ostensibly cherishes freedom has 1% of its entire population in jail or prison.

In other words, the nation that holds itself up as a beacon of freedom has found the ways and means to imprison a full percentage point of its population.

I always life when some rabid libertarian argues that the US is the nation which has the most freedom of all. 1% of the population is behind bars, I suppose that makes the remainder feel safer.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

We're also a nation which attracts an interesting mix of good immigrants and criminals. We're still holding the Cubans what Castro released from his jails.

I do however have a serious problem with the nonviolent crimes and especially the casualties of the war on drugs. That has been an issue on both sides of the political fence.