Politics: J'accuse!

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I invented that.

Why?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by bilmore
Why?

Ah... the age old question. And the subject of recent debate between TM and Coltrane. Why indeed do people post. I suppose one hopes to bring to amusement, althought i must admit my own motives are less altruistic. No, i post for hoped for feedback implying I have brought this amusement to other. I beleive at least with the water thing I did.

Or are you asking what it means? I know you've been gone.

TM said that he was going to say Keller'd instead of whiff- to imply the poster was deaf/dumb. I said i thought that harsh and recommended water, I posted an excerpt where Helen was taught her first word by having the letter spelled out in her hand while the other hand was in water. I feel it is a nice way of saying whiff.

[Berry Hunter]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Ah... the age old question. And the subject of recent debate between TM and Coltrane. Why indeed do people post. I suppose one hopes to bring to amusement, althought i must admit my own motives are less altruistic. No, i post for hoped for feedback implying I have brought this amusement to other. I beleive at least with the water thing I did.

Or are you asking what it means? I know you've been gone.

TM said that he was going to say Keller'd instead of whiff- to imply the poster was deaf/dumb. I said i thought that harsh and recommended water, I posted an excerpt where Helen was taught her first word by having the letter spelled out in her hand while the other hand was in water. I feel it is a nice way of saying whiff.

W-H-I-Z-Z, uh, I mean W-H-I-F-F.

[Berry Hunter]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
no but clinton felt we'd be safer if we stopped non-muslim from killing muslims. it was part of that winning their minds stuff Ty was talking about. I am sure it was sound theory, it being clinton and all. we just need to give it a few more years before we really start seeing the benfits.

We need to get back to winning hearts and minds the old fashioned way -- through movies, Marlboros, and massive quantities of made-in-the USA porno.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Someone else hadn't done it yet. He did it.

And thank God you're not running the War on Terror. ("Let's hang it up for the day, boys. Even if we nail a few more, someone else'll take their places.")

Now that I've actually watched the full tape*, I'm more convinced that these murderers were amateurs. A pro would never do something this stupid and repugnant. I also don't think this is the work of bin Laden. Its too low brow and thuggish for him. The people who did this are thugs, and you can't hope to nail every thug in Iraq.

* Which I wish I hadn't done, since I expected to become really disgusted, but actually just feel numb. I'm hoping this numbness is a natural defense mechanism. I really can't express the strange hollow sort of feeling this clip leaves with you. It flips a switch in the brain that says "Disregard - cannot be real. Must be Hollywood horror movie clip." Some images stay in your mind as memorable and moving. This movie was so disturbing, that I think the mind automatically jumps out of the "emotive response" box and views it clinically as nothing more than colored pixels. I'm thinking later the reality of what I watched will hit me and I'll throw up my first beer at happy hour.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
* Which I wish I hadn't done, since I expected to become really disgusted, but actually just feel numb. I'm hoping this numbness is a natural defense mechanism. I really can't express the strange hollow sort of feeling this clip leaves with you. It flips a switch in the brain that says "Disregard - cannot be real. Must be Hollywood horror movie clip." Some images stay in your mind as memorable and moving. This movie was so disturbing, that I think the mind automatically jumps out of the "emotive response" box and views it clinically as nothing more than colored pixels. I'm thinking later the reality of what I watched will hit me and I'll throw up my first beer at happy hour.

Wow! this is uncanny. My sister sent me an email basically describing the exact same feeling after she turned a trick with GGG.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
That is sort of a non-sequitur. I trust you are not comparing the ongoing cost of the operations.

("Sure, we will have to pay for monthly parking of 50 cars at a garage in Manhattan for the forseeable future; we're still paying to park three cars monthly in Green Bay, Wisconsin.)

S_A_M

No, merely for illustrative purposes of how long it will take us to get out. (Answer = we'll be out of Kosovo a generation before Iraq). This must be another one of those times where you guys here in your head what I must be thinking.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
You're analyzing this as if we were setting up a national legislature on a blank slate. We're not. If we were, and wanted equity, we'd have a unicameral legislature elected without regard to state boundaries (other than incidentally). Unfortunately, neither that, or even one in which reps. were elected state by state, was sufficiently popular to allow the ratification of the constitution.

To be fair, I haven't really begun to analyze this.

eta: In 1789, or 1888 for that matter, Wyoming wasn't a state. It is now. Why not make D.C. a state? If Puerto Rico wanted to become a state, would that be out of the question?

As for DC, why should they get two votes when Puerto Rico and none of the other territories get none? The simple answer is because they're not states.

A simple answer, but not a particularly principled one.

Explain this, though: If democrats so strongly believe that DC citizens should have a real voice in the House and Senate, why are they generally opposed to retrocession of DC to Maryland, even if it takes a huge payoff?

I have no idea. I was not aware that Democrats felt this way. How does Maryland feel about it?

Living outside the Beltway, as I do, this is not an issue I think about very much. This exchange reminds me of the scene in the movie All The President's Men with the editorial meeting at the WaPo, where the one guy tries to push the Home Rule issue again. Jason Robards tells him it's boring, right?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Berry Hunter
We need to get back to winning hearts and minds the old fashioned way -- through movies, Marlboros, and massive quantities of made-in-the USA porno.

It does appear that the made-in-Iraq stuff isn't winning hearts and minds.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Why not make D.C. a state? If Puerto Rico wanted to become a state, would that be out of the question?

No new states.

FYI - from what I understand, the Puerto Ricans vote down pursuing statehood when it gets on their ballots. Apparently, they get tax advantages or extra federal money or something like that and it benefits them to remain a territory.

[dtb]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
As for DC, why should they get two votes when Puerto Rico and none of the other territories get none? The simple answer is because they're not states.

DC residents don't pay federal taxes? I did not know that. [Johnny Carson voice on that last bit]

[dtb]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Now that I've actually watched the full tape, [...]which I wish I hadn't done, since I expected to become really disgusted, but actually just feel numb. I'm hoping this numbness is a natural defense mechanism. I really can't express the strange hollow sort of feeling this clip leaves with you. It flips a switch in the brain that says "Disregard - cannot be real. Must be Hollywood horror movie clip." Some images stay in your mind as memorable and moving. This movie was so disturbing, that I think the mind automatically jumps out of the "emotive response" box and views it clinically as nothing more than colored pixels. I'm thinking later the reality of what I watched will hit me and I'll throw up my first beer at happy hour.

When someone posted a link the other day, I thought maybe it was of that video, so I didn't click on it, because there's NO WAY IN HELL that I want to see that. My imagination is bad enough, but to actually see it -- no way.

For some inexplicable reason, my husband was looking for it on the internet, but I asked him to do it at work, or somewhere not at home, because I didn't even want to hear it.

I felt nauseated when I was reading the newspaper on Sept. 12, 2001, and turned the page to find an up-close photo of a person in mid-air who had jumped from a high floor. I gasped and felt that numb feeling you describe. It still haunts me if I think about it (and I try not to).

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Living outside the Beltway, as I do, this is not an issue I think about very much.

With good reason. Living in the district, in contrast, means you're subjected to this debate regularly. I was stunned to read the positions of teh candidates in the last election guide (I think they were candidates for mayor). Every one of the democrats took the position that statehood was the only acceptable solution, and specifically rejected retrocession or some other alternative short of statehood.

Four reasons why not a state:

1) Constitution would need to be amended
2) Land area is smaller by far than any other state. (Even little Rhody is 15x larger).
3) No natural resources
4) Too Democratic.

I would think Maryland would take it if paid enough money for the welfare obligations and to cover the lack of a tax base (those gov't properties aren't taxed). BUt given that the district is underfunded now, that's not likely. My own feeling is that, if this is done, the actual District should be reduced to include essentially the Capitol/S. Ct. area and then everything south of Penna. ave and north of Maryland Ave. (SW), plus whatever part of the whitehouse doesn't fall within that.

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by sgtclub
This must be another one of those times where you guys here in your head what I must be thinking.

No, that's my own personal affliction, not SAM's.

In fact I'm having a great argument with the imaginary you right now. You're saying some crazy stuff about how we should make Iraq a state so we can start taking back some of the reconstruction money and replace it with some good old fashioned unfunded mandates. I am currently googling my response, which draws heavily on the federalist papers and the writings of Howard Zinn.

[dtb]

Originally posted by Not Me
No new states.

FYI - from what I understand, the Puerto Ricans vote down pursuing statehood when it gets on their ballots. Apparently, they get tax advantages or extra federal money or something like that and it benefits them to remain a territory.

Technically, yes, they "vote it down", but not by a large margin. The last plebiscite in PR I could find (1998) resulted in the following outcome: Territorial Commonwealth - 0.1%, Free Association - 0.3% (this is what PR is), Statehood - 46.5%, Independence - 2.4%, and None of the Above - 50.3%. (This vote had a 71% turnout rate.)

Puerto Ricans don't pay federal taxes. Puerto Rico does, however, receive a lot of federal money.