A disgusting vat of filth that no self-respecting intelligent person would wade into.

[Cletus Miller]

Originally posted by Spanky
Is it just me, or sometimes shouldn't the government just shut the hell up. If we are happy with the elections in Iran shouldn't we just keep it to ourselves. How does it help the guys that won when the US says we support them?

Ahmadinejad 'thwarted' in Iranian elections: US

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looks to have been thwarted from keeping his ultra-conservative allies in control of key offices despite efforts to "cook the books" in weekend elections, the State Department said.

The elections for municipal councils and a powerful religious assembly saw Ahmadinejad loyalists suffer setbacks at the hands of more moderate candidates in a number of key races, including for seats on the Tehran city council.



"It would seem that they are not the results that President Ahmadinejad would have hoped for," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said when asked to comment on the vote.

"I think, despite the regime's efforts to cook the books in terms of an outcome, they seem to have been thwarted in that regard," he said.

While noting the high voter turnout in Friday's election, McCormack said there had been "some fundamental flaws" in the polls, "in which there were numerous candidates that were excluded from even running."

"So the people didn't have that choice to make," he said.

The United States has declared Ahmadinejad's regime to be one of its principle international adversaries for its alleged plan to develop nuclear weapons and his frequent statements that Israel should be "wiped off the map".

Washington also accuses Tehran of supporting Islamic militants responsible for unrest in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

The voting for Iran's municipal councils and the Assembly of Experts -- the body which chooses the country's supreme leader -- was seen as the first popularity test for Ahmadinejad since he swept to power in 2005.

In one key race, centrist ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani overwhelmingly won a seat on the Assembly of Experts, thrashing a cleric seen as Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor.

Based only on what you quote, I don't see any statement that the US actually likes anyone who was elected, except relative to Ahmadinejad's allies. And noting Ahmadinejad lost face is actually kind of important.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Spanky
Is it just me, or sometimes shouldn't the government just shut the hell up. If we are happy with the elections in Iran shouldn't we just keep it to ourselves. How does it help the guys that won when the US says we support them?

Ahmadinejad 'thwarted' in Iranian elections: US

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looks to have been thwarted from keeping his ultra-conservative allies in control of key offices despite efforts to "cook the books" in weekend elections, the State Department said.

So you disapprove of the "nyah nyah nyah nyah" foreign policy school of thought? I too have trouble with it.

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Having dark skin is a "signal", right?

I just want to know before I fly to the Carribean to lie in the sun.

As some of you may know there is an immigration check point between LA and San Diego on Interstate Five. I always thought that this check point was unconstitutional, in addition to being a huge pain in the derriere. One time I approached the check point in an old cream color Ford LTD that was missing a hubcap. Although it was winter, I was sporting a dark tan, and had rather long hair and a goatee.

I was late, in a bad mood, and after spending an eternity in line, I finally got my turn with the immigration officer who when I drove up, asked me in Spanish what was in my trunk. I told him I didn't think it was really any of his business, but if he really wanted to know, I had a family of seven back there.

I was directed to a special inspection area and spent the next hour and half having my car fully inspected. How long does it take to figure out you are not hiding a live body somewhere in your car?

I understand the constitutional reasoning for allowing full searches at the border, but I have never understood how they can defend a border inspection station a hundred and fifty miles into the country. Is there an implicit permission to have your car searched for illegal aliens every time you get on the public roads? What is up with that station from hell? If I find the thing objectionable and offensive, and I am a Caucasian republican with little sympathy for the ACLU, why aren't other people bothered by it?

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Under what definition does three months of sleep deprivation not constitute torture?

1. Residency for an MD program; and

2. Associate in a law firm.

Originally posted by Sidd Finch


Would denying food and water be torture?

Only if you weren't allowed to bill the client.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Spanky
Just recently you told me that I was in error when I said you did not support CAFTA. That was when I said it was ripe that you would critisize Bush for his lack of committment to free trade when you didn't support CAFTA. So where do you stand? Did you support CAFTA? Or to really boil down the issue, if you were in Congress would you have voted for it?

I don't know. You'll recall that we discussed the details. I suggested that there was a problem with the bill, you told me I was wrong, and I said that I really didn't know.

Did you are did not not support the Governor's proposition?

I don't recall what he proposed exactly, but I do recall having a problem with a large Democratic state introducing reforms without getting large Republican states to do the same.

et fix "without"

[Adder]

Originally posted by Gattigap
I see that while most of our politicians are settling into the warmth of the holidays, Our Man Newt is out on the trail doing his best to bring back the crazy.

• Gingrich cited last month's ejection of six Muslim scholars from a plane in Minneapolis for suspicious behavior, which included reports they prayed before the flight and had sat in the same seats as the Sept. 11 hijackers.
  
  "Those six people should have been arrested and prosecuted for pretending to be terrorists," Gingrich said. "And the crew of the U.S. airplane should have been invited to the White House and congratulated for being correct in the protection of citizens."

...and if they float, they should be burned as witches.

I guess this is just my pre-9/11 mindset talking, but I think these dudes were assholes, but I think it might be more productive to focus on real terrorists than on pretend terrorists. On the other hand, how can you argue with logic like this?

• "If you give me any signal in the age of terrorism that you're a terrorist, I'd say the burden of proof was on you," Gingrich said.

Well okay then.

I'm not sure that there is an asshole here other than Newt.

The imams may be a little assholish for blowing out of proportion the airline's treatment of them, but that doesn't mean that they deserved the treatment.

And anyone, crew member or otherwise, that hears something as obviously stupid and made up as "they sat in the same seats at the hijackers" and doesn't laugh, should not be involved in any conversations about airline security.

[Adder]

Originally posted by Spanky
As some of you may know there is an immigration check point between LA and San Diego on Interstate Five. I always thought that this check point was unconstitutional, in addition to being a huge pain in the derriere. One time I approached the check point in an old cream color Ford LTD that was missing a hubcap. Although it was winter, I was sporting a dark tan, and had rather long hair and a goatee.

I was late, in a bad mood, and after spending an eternity in line, I finally got my turn with the immigration officer who when I drove up, asked me in Spanish what was in my trunk. I told him I didn't think it was really any of his business, but if he really wanted to know, I had a family of seven back there.

I was directed to a special inspection area and spent the next hour and half having my car fully inspected. How long does it take to figure out you are not hiding a live body somewhere in your car?

I understand the constitutional reasoning for allowing full searches at the border, but I have never understood how they can defend a border inspection station a hundred and fifty miles into the country. Is there an implicit permission to have your car searched for illegal aliens every time you get on the public roads? What is up with that station from hell? If I find the thing objectionable and offensive, and I am a Caucasian republican with little sympathy for the ACLU, why aren't other people bothered by it?

Isn't it rather settled law that you can have sobreity checkpoints, as long as you either stop everyone or choose randomly or something? Is this covered by the same reasoning? Or is that because of some public safety considerations that don't apply here (dont think so)?

But, not being a republican with little sympathy with the ACLU, I too am bothered by it, although I have no hope that the courts would step in.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Under what definition does three months of sleep deprivation not constitute torture?

Would denying food and water be torture?

I've been sleep deprived since I started practicing law - do I have a claim?

[nononono]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Having dark skin is a "signal", right?

I just want to know before I fly to the Carribean to lie in the sun.

Uh huh. Yep, every person of darker-than-Casper skin is probably going to get in trouble. Nevermind that one of the imams stated that he'd already previously travelled 60,000 miles on US Airways without incident. http://www.startribune.com/462/story/864312.html Go figure. Maybe on those other trips he didn't act like a scary freak.

And Adder, there was not a single instance of "strange behavior." It was a series of behaviors, which, whether intended as threatening, a test run, merely to fuck with people's heads or just a poor sense of how to behave, that led to their ejection. Katherine Kersten summed it up well, though I acknowledge that none of what she writes has been proved in a court of law, if that's going to be someone's ridiculous standard. http://www.startribune.com/191/story/859326.html

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I've been sleep deprived since I started practicing law - do I have a claim?

STP.

[nononono]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I've been sleep deprived since I started practicing law - do I have a claim?

And what about kids who torture parents this way? Can we sue them? I realize they didn't ask to be born, but still, surely a little compassion for those who gave them life in the form of big dollars is warranted.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Gattigap
I guess this is just my pre-9/11 mindset talking, but I think these dudes were assholes, but I think it might be more productive to focus on real terrorists than on pretend terrorists. On the other hand, how can you argue with logic like this?

• "If you give me any signal in the age of terrorism that you're a terrorist, I'd say the burden of proof was on you," Gingrich said.

Well okay then.

pre 9/11, you couldn't say you had a gun even if it were a joke. Those guys had so many red-flags waiving that it seems a long shot it was all a coincidence. I've been flying out of the city with the greatest Muslim population in the States for a really long time. I have never seen anyone reciting prayers loudly in the airport anywhere, let alone at a gate.

You don't think they were looking to create a story? Really?

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
pre 9/11, you couldn't say you had a gun even if it were a joke. Those guys had so many red-flags waiving that it seems a long shot it was all a coincidence. I've been flying out of the city with the greatest Muslim population in the States for a really long time. I have never seen anyone reciting prayers loudly in the airport anywhere, let alone at a gate.

You don't think they were looking to create a story? Really?

Atta was a registered D, yes?

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by nononono
And what about kids who torture parents this way? Can we sue them? I realize they didn't ask to be born, but still, surely a little compassion for those who gave them life in the form of big dollars is warranted.

Sue your kids. I'm sure they aren't judgment-proof.

Wait, maybe I have you mixed up with b'n'b.

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Cletus Miller
Based only on what you quote, I don't see any statement that the US actually likes anyone who was elected, except relative to Ahmadinejad's allies. And noting Ahmadinejad lost face is actually kind of important.

["It would seem that they are not the results that President Ahmadinejad would have hoped for," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said when asked to comment on the vote.

"I think, despite the regime's efforts to cook the books in terms of an outcome, they seem to have been thwarted in that regard," he said. ]

The above comments seem to imply that the US is happy with the outcome because Ahmadinejad is not. Why comment at all on who should be happy?