Politics As Usual

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
He slept on the job for 8 years. Why stop now.

CSpan puts me to sleep too.

Imagine -- if he was the best President since FDR while sleeping, what could he have accomplished if he kept, say, Reagan/Bush-type hours?

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by sgtclub
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtri...reaking_1.html

I don't know much about this publication, but here is what they are reporting:

I don't know much about that publication either, but based on the other work product of its "U.N. correspondent," I'm going to remain skeptical for a while longer.

[SlaveNoMore]

Sidd Finch
Imagine -- if he was the best President since FDR ...

You have a far, far more vivid imagination that I do.

Observation: the locals clearly got to you during your vacation.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
nnnnhhh, sorry no. This was for interrogation. You have to distinguish being vicious for no reason to innocents from interrogating people who know shit. I know you have a problem with interrogation, but believe me this story only has legs because of the cruel for no reason angle.

The article refers to sworn statements that two handlers were having a "contest" to see how many prisoners they could make piss themselves.

Plus, Hank -- your memory is slipping. Remember the post of mine from (probably may) that quotes retired MP Generals as saying that the use of dogs in interrogations both violates Army regs and is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord? [paraphrase]

This will continue to hurt your side, a lot.

S_A_M

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
No no, it was attY last year. But you guys are both from California. What you said was:

"can you explain to me how you can criticize the UN for both not screening the recipients of their aid and for exercising discretion as to who gets what house?"

My concern is that I'm not sure how I can criticize "the UN for both not screening the recipients of their aid and for exercising discretion as to who gets that house" without actually stating criticism of the UN for both "not screening the recipients of their aid" (in the broad sense reflected in this quote). If I didn't say it, did I not do it? And if I didn't do it, is this like, like (as my lower lip begins to quiver) a straw man question?

I think you should know by now that if I were (was?) not allowed to ask straw man questions I would ask no questions at all. I'd be reduced to trying to demonstrate my intellect by saying things like "The square of the hypotenuse of an isosceles triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the remaining sides."

BUT, to bore everyone further on a Friday where I cannot bring myself to do work, I was taking your original reply to my questions as criticizing the UN for not screening the recipients of their aid. As in, once this freeze is over they're gonna just build the guntoter his goldarned house and it's probably going to have a tub with spa jets thrown in - oh wait, I'm putting words in your mouth again. Your words are better:

As an umbrella, i believe the outrage can properly be stated that the U.N. is incompetent for not screening the recipients of their aid to determine the individual's justifiable and compensatable need for relief....
its hard to like the passer-outers of public money when they knowingly distribute the public money to the guntoters, especially if the aid is positively influenced in any way by the guntoting.

I don't follow how my sense is too broad.

I took your subsequent post as criticizing the UN for apparently giving different people different benefits. I got that from this:

As for resources, the last few paragraphs of the article detail how different people are getting different things. Apparently, they are exercising some discretion in the building. Contrast that to public housing's one-size-fits-all 8 room romper-pads. Whereas, I'm not sure I've seen any articles about the U.S. bestowing such benefits on individual Iraqis.

In the context of "All in favor of letting these guys rebuild Iraq, please show your hands again," that sure looks like criticism of the UN's apportionment of aid to me. Am I wrong? Were you just observing the different situations without implying that one was superior?

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Enter your best caption for this photo:

Clinton: "Hey, John, you got your daughter's phone number handy?

Kerry: "Not a chance, fat boy."

S_A_M

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
You have a far, far more vivid imagination that I do.

Heh. I knew that would stir you freaks up. Pavlov, meet my dog Slave. See how he drools when you say "Hillary!"


Some day, a few decades from now, I'll be explaining to my son how he might not have to pay 80% of his salary to the Federal Goverment Debt Reduction Plan had the country followed the fiscal prudence that the Clinton Administration imposed for 8 great years (years of superb economic growth despite what the Repubs claimed would be disastrous consequences of essential tax increases). Then he'll ask me what "Social Security" was, and I'll explain how Reagan lied to the country about this thing called a "Trust Fund", and 20 years later his disciples finally broke the news they'd known all along -- that the Trust Fund was a stealth tax increase on the poor that would have to be decimated to pay the price of Republican profligacy. Then we'll crawl back into our bunker to wait out the day's bombings, brought to us courtesy of the 4 million Al Qaeda recruits who signed up because they were pissed off at the series of revelations about Presidential memos that said "Geneva Schmeneva, just torture the fucking towelheads!" And we'll laugh (muffled slightly by the filter masks everyone has to wear given the long term effects of the reversal of the Clean Air Act brought about in the early 00s), and we'll turn on the TV to watch the New Man Show, where the Juggy Girls jump around in Ashcrofts, bathing suits that run from neck to lower thigh and named after the man who pressed through the law requiring them.


(Note: I'm kidding about some of that.)

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
This will continue to hurt your side, a lot.

Isn't it pretty to think so?

I wish I shared your pessimism, but right now the country is so polarized and hateful toward anyone not American that W could personally fuck any randomly selected Iraqi male in the ass on primetime CBS and Bush's core constituency would say he deserved it. Oh, and then they would call on Michael Powell to fine CBS for broadcast indecency --- damn liberal media.

Remember, we're talking about a GOP consisting of people like Slave/Club/Bilmore, who will vote Mugabe for Pres. if he registers GOP and promises tax cuts, and people like Delay, who is the nation's most sought-after voter demographic because he's descended from people who stood on hills waiting for the Millenium, never waning in their faith that the Preacher's ability to predict the Second Coming is being better refined with each wrong prediction. It's perfect, really. Pandering to millenialist Christians = campaigning without accountability. An unfulfilled promise, to them, is proof of Satan's hold on the world, and motivates them to turn out in even greater numbers for the next election.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Then he'll ask me what "Social Security" was

As my friends in the ME say, "God Willing."

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Imagine -- if he was the best President since FDR

for the munitions industry, maybe.
they both spent 8 years letting our enemies gain in strength and numbers while they basically did fuck all. then there were lots of boms going off for awhile. oh yeah they both would fuck ugly in a sec. at least one would marry ugly.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Gattigap
In this space, I've expressed incredulity that McCain would ever seriously consider joining a Kerry ticket.

Seems that even though the answer is still no, McCain is taking the offer, and has considered it, seriously.

I still think it's unlikely, but am surprised and impressed that McCain's people have tried to think it through, and think that the idea has merit beyond those of the simple acquisition of power.

CNN (well, AP) reports that Kerry didn't quite offer the job to McCain, but that McCain has declined overtures. Which doesn't surprise me, either, but it's smart politics by Kerry to be getting these stories.

[Atticus Grinch]

[Tyrone Slothrop]

How Gyula Horn won the Cold War.


Gyula Horn

[SlaveNoMore]

Sidd Finch
Some day, a few decades from now, I'll be explaining to my son...

Some day, a few decades from now, I'll be sitting with Sidd Jr., sipping on a cocktail and smoking cigars, laughing about how one day, a long time ago, his daddy was a socialist.

eta At some point in the conversation, Sidd Jr. and I will laugh heartily over the topic of some thing called a lockbox

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
How Gyula Horn won the Cold War.


Gyula Horn

That analysis is thin, to say the least.