Friday afternoon and evening open thread…. 23 February 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, Big Box Blogs, DC Politics, Political Blogs.trackback
A tid bit from the previous thread [thanks to aemd]… 😉
[F]or now, bloggers must be their own police. Participating in online political discussions without disclosing financial ties to a candidate would violate the unwritten rules of the blogosphere, website operators said.
“Campaigns and organizations promote their candidates and efforts, obviously,” Markos Moulitsas , the founder of DailyKos.com , a prominent liberal blog, said in an e-mailed response. “If they do it openly, it’s well accepted. If they use sock puppets ( create aliases to hide their identities), then it’s a big deal.”
But don’t challenge the tender little darlings… 😉
For the presidential campaigns, however, the stakes may prove too high to resist. About 15 percent of Americans get their political news online, according to a January study by the Pew Foundation, but political consultants said that percentage was higher among the party faithful who knock on doors, attend rallies, and make campaign donations. A good reputation among activists who get their news and views online, political strategists say, will be a crucial asset in the early stages of the primaries.
There is one under every rock, operating virally… 😉
With big corporations now hiring public relations firms to pay fake bloggers to plant favorable opinions of the businesses online, many political bloggers are concerned that candidates, too, will hire people to pretend to be grass-roots citizens expressing views.
**********************************************
UPDATE, 2:15 pm
This is two years old, from Garance F-R at TAPPED but it fits with the above… and boston.com’s tone of near innocent inquiry…
Which brings us back to Jordan. He was brought down not by outraged citizen-bloggers but by a mix of GOP operatives and military conservatives. Easongate.com, the blog that served as the clearinghouse for the attack on CNN, was helped along by Virginia-based Republican operative Mike Krempasky. From May 1999 through August 2003, Krempasky worked for Blackwell as the graduate development director of the Leadership Institute, an Arlington, Virginia–based school for conservative leaders founded by Blackwell in 1979. The institute is the organization that had provided “Gannon” with his sole media credential before he became a White House correspondent. It also now operates “Internet Activist Schools” designed to teach conservatives how to engage in “guerilla Internet activism.”
She touches on the less energetic leftischer side of the dial. Gannon and so on…
I rather imagine GF-R will be updating this article someday…
Marisacat 
DailyKos.com , a prominent liberal blog
Repeat after me MSM, “Daily Kos is NOT a liberal blog.”
Shorter Lieberman: the American people are idiots.
Pandering wanker:
Anything to support the war. WIth most Dems backing him up. Pretty funny really.
I wonder if I could call la migra on the Santa Clara University students who decided to throw a “South of the Border” theme party. If they really want a taste of South of Border life, I think we still have time to catch la migra on their 17 state immigration raid today.
3:46 pm PT.. just had a pretty sharp earthquake.
Holy Joe’s idea for a “political cease fire” reminds me of how the GOP and pro-war Dems (mostly of the southern variety) responded to the huge anti-Vietnam War moritorium/protests in the fall of 1969. They called for a moritorium on anti-war protests so Nixon could formulate a successful policy. Six months later, he invaded Cambodia.
MCat,
Thanks for unearthing that old TAPPED piece. I think there was something else that came out re RedState that pretty much exposed it as being a GOP/BushCo. propaganda organ, can’t remember what it was. I do hope someone starts drawing the obvious conclusions about the reality behind dKos, and the various other “progressive” sites.
Incidentally, Montana’s State Senate has voted to abolish the state’s death penalty! I wonder if the allegedly progressive BBBs will consider this worthy of praise, or treat like a hot potato best left to cool off.
Lieberman calling for a political cease-fire while he lets it be known he is contemplating switching parities should his beloved wars be threatened is too funny for words.
The picture that is emerging, with both parties supporting the Iraq war and, it seems, a war with Iran, is that war is US longterm policy. Maybe this was clear to others for a long time, but it is new to me, I have to admit. I did have hope I no longer have, at least in terms of either party.
And it’s becoming more and more clear that to change the course this country is and has been on for way too long, will require more than just these phony elections. I say phony now because I see (thank you Kos) more of how the game is played.
So, what is the solution? A third party, even if it were possible, would not be enough. The only good result of waking up to the reality that war will always be with us is that, like ms xeno, people can now vote their conscience. The ‘wasted votes’ in the last election, went to the Dem. candidate. I regret having bought into that.
#4 Marisacat – hope the earthquake did not cause any harm. I have heard nothing on the news about yet.
Montana’s State Senate has voted to abolish the state’s death penalty!
Wow. And in the wild, wild west yet. Good for them! (I’ll bet they were infected with some socialist virus that made its way across the border from Canada.)
SB, it was one series of sharp jolts. Have not heard where epicenter was.
I am on rock and in a pre 1906 (1903 actually) wood frame with a really solid base, rock and concrete basement.. No problems in any of the quakes.
No problems in any of the quakes.
That’s good to know. Wouldn’t want you and CA falling into the ocean any time soon!
TPM doesn’t seem to buy the idea that Lieberman was really considering switching parties.
Hmmm…
Ijust dropped in at eteraz.org to see what is up.. and he has an entry on the Egyptian blogger… got to hand it to the fellow:
It’s interesting that his site hasn’t been blocked by the Egyptian government.
JJB,
I gave you a h/t over at my place for the Montana death penalty story. Thanks for posting the link.
Nader was interviewed by The Beard on the Situation Room today about problems with the airlines.
Good to know.
“Political bigotry”. Good phrasing and so apropo.
On Hillary:
And The Beard called his new book “lovely”. 🙂
matt s
thunderbolt
“they need to be primaried”
these lizards are beyond 5th column
and matt
sez
watch out bub in 08 you’ll face a texas lamont
and rahm you’ll face somethin nasty too
like what matt
a pillowing in a com -fee chair ??
and after this self righteous huff
that won’t even scare his own puff
the human cuff link
feels compelled to corrects himself
this texas brush popper
ain’t no blue dog
well one hopes
matt’s posse
will ” primary him ” anyway
what a power broker eh???
ps i know
i’m one post back
but its sooo perfect eh ???
paine… LOL I know = I laughed out loud when I read that. A week ago he was angry at the conservatives and Blue Dogs and Chet Edwards in congress. (and fine to comment a thread forward, no problems)
I was pretty angry at his piece last week, cuz the BoyShits shut people up to get this congress.
hang iwth it sweeties.
i talked to some UTeasips in austin late last night and heard that they had to reschedule the obama gathering to a bigger venue because of many many student requests for tickets. they switched it to auditorium shores on town lake. huge email word of mouth, woman i talked to and her friends were excited.
i just began reading news and see that he ended up speaking to a “massive outdoor rally in Austin” in intermittent rain. i called her back, yes they went, and she told me there were 17,000 in the audience, said she’s heard it was his biggest crowd yet.
University of Texas student body, and environs, loves them some obama.
oops that reminds me Wilfred has a review up over at LSF for the documentary on Nader… ”An Unreasonable man”…
http://liberalstreetfighter.com
liberal, you no-good Naderite. Thanks for Bu– oh, wait. Sorry.
😮
Nader is being too kind. The public is going to be sick of each and every one of them before 2008 even begins.
BTW, I am tickled pink (no pun intended) that DB is still blathering away on Mo Betta. Has the man ever been within twenty-five feet of a dictionary ? Doesn’t seem like it. He just pulls definitions out of a hat that have nothing to do with a word’s actual meaning, and then hopes his audience is too stupid to notice. Good Lord. How has he gone so long w/o getting a gig on FOX or at least one of Murdoch’s papers ? He’s pundit gold. Somebody should pick him up.
SB
“The ‘wasted votes’ in the last election, went to the Dem. candidate. I regret having bought into that.”
nice line
Sabrina, I suspect that for the (would-be) heavy hitters in spaces like Kos, there will never be a right time to vote your conscience. Not with all the money and perks at stake. But don’t let that stop you. 😀 Hell, at this point, I’ll end up voting Libertarian if one’s on the ticket and there’s no other outside option. Really, if we have no power other than the power to withhold, we should do it whenever possible.
I told some apologist for the DP who wandered over to SMBIVA one day that it’s kind of like a handful of pebbles. That’s what the doubt and dislike for the DP is;The knowledge that you’re being screwed and blackmailed over and over again– and more or less dared to do anything about it. You get tired of feeling the weight and pain of having them in your shoes. You get tired of them feeling heavier and sharper every day as you grow older. So you take them out, finally, and feel instant relief. Maybe you throw or push them into a bank next to the stream. You have not altered the course of the stream, but you have now created something that sticks out in small resistance to the direction in which the stream heads. When millions of others get up the nerve to the same, the direction will change.
Or as, Marisacat more succinctly puts it, build from the ground up. 😀
Tractor tire-sized calamari caught by NZ fishermen.
I hate calamari.
oh I love calamari.. love it. Esp with a light batter and quick dip in the hot oil. Divine.
Another reason for NZ… LOL. I just saw the tick tock for the new digital body photograph machine in Phoenix airport. AWFUL. They have finally destroyed air travel post 9/11. It went from horror, the old cattle box car thing, to utter nightmare, rolling on for hours.
seems to me
if a congo district is so repugish then it needs the real thang…
a repug
not some damn blue balls dem
the independent dem gimmick in the general election
is the way to go
i say
if he ain’t to pink for his district
“general him”
that’s what we paine boyz
is fixin’ to stamp on every dough face
from nose-faratu lantos
to
harms way jane
to these pixie crat retreads
and
the zionic nassau county
mall manatee
shit dick russell’s dead
u ass holes as is john McCormack
long live
the solid squalid new south elephant walk
zoink the new dembo special
ring tailed papist and sold agin cotton mouths too
Marisacat, glad all is well and that there was no harm to anyone.
Nader has it right re Hillary. I’m surprised he was a guest on Blitzer’s show.
I know irony is supposedly dead – so many have said so. But, I have to say it was alive and well in Kos’ post on Kucinich today.
One of his many objections to Kucinich was this:
Rotfl – but what of Kos’ friend and partner, Jerome Armstrong? On what planet does he reside?
Again, different rules for those outside of Kos’ increasingly narrowing inner circle. Kos and his followers reside in the past, in the fifties. They yearn for a Ronald Reagan and share his fear of those who challenged the status quo in the sixties. It really is laughable how time after time they twist themselves into pretzels trying to justify their ‘rules’ for those they consider ‘undesirable’ while maintaining their hypocritical tolerance and bending of the rules for those they consider ‘friends’. Too funny really.
the zionic nassau county
mall manatee
LOL. I laughed at that. Another Bad Jew checkmark/demerit for me.
Also, I’m very pro-calamari. Going out for Greek food later, in fact. A big glass of Red would be nice, too.
Oh my, another √ for enlightenment in the 21st century.
Good on Montana.
Unfortunately, NY appears to be stalled in death penalty limbo due to the GOP state senate majority.
On the bright side, NY hasnt executed anyone since 1976, although the death penalty was brought back, I believe, in 1995. However, there were no executions, often death row empty or those put on it got out, and there has been a court ordered moratorium on it since 2005. I was happy about the moratorium, but I wish they would get it over and done with – finito. Apparently NY has been consistently polling with a healthy majority against it, among the lowest support for it in the nation. My state senator answered my email asking his positon on the DP (or his aide did), saying that anyone who still thinks its a deterrent is an “ignoramus.”Yet, there are always “ignoramuses” (ignorami?) trying to resuscitate it:
Senate continues to fight for death penalty in NYS
Although the Republican controlled (by only 2 seats now, I think) state senate tries, it cant get the revision Pataki tweaked into law (to end the moratorium) past the assembly, which is Dem majority.
Oh, and to be fair to poor old Kos, I heard from a number of feminists in ’04 that they didn’t trust Kucinich’s conversion, either. Why the conversion made him less trustworthy than, say, Kerry’s waffling on choice (and everything else) was never clear to me. I still think that the majority of feminists have bought into the horse race mentality of picking the good looking “electable” patrician, even when he’s completely worthless. I mean, countless Dems who claim to be anti-death penalty seem to have no trouble making up countless excuses for backing the inevitable macho/macha sizzler of the Black and/or mentally retarded alleged criminals when said candidate is up for office. (Anyone notice how Ann Richards’ pro-death penalty stance was whitewashed more or less everywhere in the liberal feminist blogosphere when she died ? I sure noticed.) They believe in the expediency of that kind of conversion, in the very value of expediency– but not when Kucinich converted in the opposite direction. Sounds like a self-esteem problem to me: A lack of deep belief that one’s core values might actually be attractive to newcomers.
It’s entirely possible that Kucinich finally made the connection between his impoverished childhood and the fact that he was one of seven or eight (?) children. Late in the day is better than never. I have problems with him, but not with that.
OK: This ‘Dancing Israeli Movers on 911’ story by Christopher Ketcham/Counterpunch is really creeping me out.
Especially when combined with the apparent and very authentic-looking FBI-sourced report (166 pg pdf) to Congress 3 yr ago that I had never heard of before.
I caught an appearance of Kuc a couple weeks ago, via Cspan iwht his wife. It was gag worthy, to me.
Platitudes, vaguely but boringly new age-y… vaguely religious self help phrasings.. passages from the Bible. And a low key undertone sneer of the lecture of religion.
he smiles, she smiles, but it just is flat for me…
Honestly I have always felt there is more tough ohio leg to him than he reveals. The party uses him for diversion, so factions of same party have a target board.
I never bought the conversion myself.
They can all run, but gee it is retread. And iwth the length of run, Obama is going to have to be inventive.
Oops. Bad first link on #28; Dancing Israeli Movers on 911
…The party uses him for diversion, so factions of same party have a target board…
Bingo.
Which begs the question: If a candidate has a genuine conversion, for genuine –as opposed to expedient– reasons, does the conversion make a sound ?
(Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)
Is there any room for genuine *anything* in this mess ?
NYCee, NY resident here also. The news from Montana is great. Funny how we think we are so enlightened here in NY though. There was huge support for the death penalty, airc, when it passed into law here. However, I have read that support for it nationally, is diminishing drastically since then. The Innocence Project’s work has contributed much to that. And although he ended up convicted of corruption, Gov. Ryan’s moratorium on the death penalty in his state has caused me to have a soft spot for him also.
I wasn’t aware of the moratorium in NY state I’m embarrassed to say. I hope they move quickly to end this barbaric practice now. I do remember reading several years ago, that Montana had considered releasing all non-violent inmates (drug related etc.) to make room for real criminals. Don’t know if that happened, but Montana seems to be a little ahead in these matters. Certainly ahead of NY where drug related ‘criminals’ fill the jails.
Ms xeno:
There is one on the Republican ticked, ms xeno. Rep. Ron Paul. What got me seriously into politics was the 2000 selection of George Bush and the #1 issues for me became the Iraq war, torture, The Patriot Act etc. All other issues took a back seat in the next several elections.
While Ron Paul is not close to being a liberal on many issues (pro-life, eg) he has been consistently against US foreign policy and has voted accordingly, even against funding for the wars. Strange that he did not fear being called ‘anti-troops’. He also voted against the Patriot Act and all other legislation that undermined the Constitution, ie, the MCA, and is against the Drug Laws I believe.
So, imo, he is way ahead of all those Dems who voted for all those issues. The way I see, the big issues (foreign policy and the shredding of the Constitution, the daily destruction of individual rights need to be fixed first or they will continue. So, yes, I would consider supporting someone who promises to restore rights, change our foreign policy from war to diplomacy. It might take two terms to do this. After which the country may begin to be ready for a real Liberal and we can deal with all the rest.
#24. I like that Kucinich speech! That’s very buddhist of him. And, btw, if kos is as pro-religion as he says he is, why is he mocking that speech? Religion isn’t just about churches and steeples. It’s about spirituality. But I suppose if all you’re interested in votes and money from religious people, you can just say “rah rah religion” while you pay lip service to the actual beliefs.
ms xeno,
DB is just an attention whore and there’s no doubt he hates women. He was trying to pump his “equality” bullshit on my blog while denying that women make less money for the same jobs than men. Facts don’t matter to him one bit. He’s just a troll. (and #20 was quite poetic!)
RE Kucinich:
I never picked up much religiosity (or Cruise-osity) in any of Dennis K’s public performances that I have seen.
There was a reporter invited on CSpan WJ a few days ago doing a biosketch segment on him tho who indicated DK had been quite a determined scrapper growing up. They showed a HS yearbook football team group picture with DK. He was literally half the size of anyone else on the team of 30-40, yet he was right there in the middle of the picture.
There was one other thing that Kucinich did recently that really impressed me. He held a panel discussion/forum (also carried on C-SPAN) with two of the lead authors of the 10/06 Lancet/Johns Hopkins Iraq War civilian deaths study, with Juan Cole as the other panelist. Dennis knew his stuff and did a fine job leading the presentation/discussions
It’s not so much about “religiosity” as it is about spirituality, which Kucinich obviously displays. My point is that kos doesn’t seem to have a problem with mocking that side of him and that is an affront to people like me who are buddhist and are aligned with that kind of philosophy. That’s insulting. Then again, who hasn’t kos insulted yet?
well I suggest seeing him with the new wife.
I REALLY liked the panel that he did with the Lancet authors. Caught it twice. But i stopped being thankful for what they do. It is the least. They SHOULD do it. I acknowledge it. ENOUGH.
But I don’t like having the old “stuff” ladled out to me, including quoting chapter and verse of the Bible. Which he did. I just drop out. It is all very ordinary, in my book.
I know about this life, I have read his personal history. In 2004 I made sure to catch him in the more low key interviews wehre he might open up. I understand how it informs him. There is a long running rumor that his client services thru his district offices is lousy. Same rap on Tubbs-Jones. If that is true, well it kind of makes a mockery of all the “help” and spirituality “help” he weaves in.
Make the fucking government work.
I can say one thing, Nancy pisses me off, but a bright, smart, responsive office. And when I used to call, they always knew the issue I referred to from the press and could discuss it, at least briefly. That actually did make a difference.
Oh for crap’s sake! Now they’re scared of “creeping pacifism”. Some days I swear that place is just like freeperland. Dog forbid anyone should actually be anti-violence or antiwar! The US would go to hell in a handbasket. Oh wait…it already has… See: Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Just say no to evil pacificism!
Excuse me while I bang my head against the wall once again.
If Gandhi was around, he’d be banned from there in no time flat.
LCatnip(#37): Agree w/what you said.
skymutt? Neoliberal Brookings fellow first responder??
i think gandhi was banned.
NFN —–
This might really creep you out. I know there were Art Students running around because they came to my office. I thought one was cute so I took them to the conference room to talk to them. One had a foreign name and I commented on it. He said he was “North African”. I sat up a time and they came and sold prints to people. I didnt think anything about it at the time but when these stories started coming out the next year it was really creepy. We had 3 clients that ended up being involved in some weirdness. I got a phone call from one of our sales reps saying one companies offices had been raided by the FBI and had yellow tape over the doors. Another ended up under investigation for alledged terrorists ties (they had sent money to an org that ended up the Terror list after 9-11). The other was involved in some questionable business practices and went under during all the corprate accounting scandals. You would probably recognize their names.
It could all be a bizarre coicidence but it did make me more receptive to some of these oddball stories.
Indeed. Kos banned Gandhi (Rich Kastelein) at the same time he banned Chris Floyd.
someone just sent this to me. I cannot go thru the Kuc thread (thanks I will just remember the first 700 post anti Nader one and make it twice thrice as mean)
And this, which elicited[sp?] that comment:
[I think people are starting to get KOS INC’s number/schtick]
SB
Holy Joe is pathological. He’s driven by some weird pathology, wrapped around his Zionism, I think, that blinds him to the world’s complexities.
oh, and as for the solution … breakdown, then something from the ashes. The institutions in this country are so damned broken, so corrupt … only a destruction followed by a rebirth has any hope … as dangerous as that is. I am fervently hoping to watch the candidates for the two parties to shred each other.
I’m a pacifist when it comes to attacking other people. Get in my grill and I’ll defend myself, but it’s not “pacifist” to say that you shouldn’t launch imperial wars to make the wealthy richer.
evil MissD waves hello. She has posted several times but forgotten to do the name/email thang so those posts are in limbo, which I think some pope said doesn’t exist anymore. so all those souls in limbo were eradicated just like New Orleans citizens.
I hate when stuff like that happens.
the damn fucking day has been so stressful, when the bus pulled up after work-which ended an hour or so later than usual–I pulled out the keys to my apartment,instead of my bus pass.
Haven’t caught up on a 10th of the news today, but I’m still in the “Obama because no one will support the Elizabeth Holtzman/Dick Gregory ticket.”
NFN, that is funny, really! ‘Kos banned Gandhi’! lol!
And he would also ban Jesus if he showed up preaching about love and peace.
Catnip, I like very much that passage from Kucinich’s speech (which was not a political event btw, which makes Kos’ derision of his beliefs all the more reprehensible.)
But what is really ironic is his statement that he, Kos, claims that he is on this planet, inferring that Kucinich is not. While his own friend and partner, Jerome Armstrong apparently depends on Astrology for his enlightenment even on such matters as Osama Bin Laden!
Is this any less ‘other worldy’ than Kucinich’s speech? Has Kos ever wondered whether his friend is ‘reality based’ enough to be playing such a prominent role in politics? I doubt it. But again, different rules for those he dislikes. And that is why his credibility is pretty nearly zero with a growing number of people.
I don’t give a damn really about all this, but if Kos insists on making a big deal out of some people’s beliefs, he better expect to be asked to explain his own hypocrisy.
NADER: … dropping out, it’s all about money. It’s all about crushing dissent. It’s all about fewer voices and choices for the American voters.
—————-
Thanks for that, LC. Nader just got my vote again, if he decides to run. (And I hope he does.)
Ah, yes…Jerome…Kos’ stock-touting star-father.
Says alot.
Has Kos ever wondered whether his friend is ‘reality based’ enough to be playing such a prominent role in politics? I doubt it.
No kidding. That stuff was way over my head and I don’t care that Armstrong’s into astrology but the kos hypocrisy seems to be never-ending. Thou shalt not disturb the cheerleaders, however.
# 47
My sympathies, Miss D, on pulling out your keys instead of your bus pass. I know I’m zoning out after a stressful day when I’m closing the office, and catch myself entering a phone number into the number pad on the alarm system.
Catnip, just put Jerome/astrology into google and see what comes up. Kos quotes this guy on the FP. the posse that goes after Opol are ‘concerned’ about what rightwingers migh think of his diaries. But check out the fun the right had when they discovered Jerome’s astrological political predictions. So, they lie. It is Opol’s left politics they hate.
And if anyone posted this kind of stuff as a diary or in comments, on dk, they’d be troll-rated off the board as a total nut-case. And Kos would pat the troll cops on the head for getting rid of a ‘non-reality-based troll’. Utter hypocrisy
Mitm, I hope you’re wrong re everything having to break down and start all over, but sadly, you may be right. And thanks for the link to Wilfred’s post on LSF. I am going to try to sign up there ~ I was very disturbed btw, when I followed the links you provided to when you were banned and the NP diary afterwards. It gave me a little more insight into NP also.
I saw people there who joined in, who I recognized and who now have had their own issues with the site. That you were banned along with others should have caused outrage had that been a real progressive site. I thought the whole thing was very sad to read.
Miss Devore, sorry you had such a bad day – hope you’re relaxing with a glass of wine or something and it’s the weekend, well I hope it is for you.
As for the important news?? Well, Anna Nicole Smith will not be buried yet after all. Her mother has filed suit to take control of the body. Karma maybe? I wonder because I heard on Court TV that a similar battle for the body took place when AN Smith’s husband died. She and his family fought over the body. The judge ruled for both of them and divided the ashes (I know, this is horrible but true). ordering that no one was to use them for any kind of publicity or monetary gain.
Well, it gets worse. After the decision, Anna Nicole did not pick up the ashes and they remained in the funeral parlor for five years. When the Marshall family realized this they demanded they be handed over to them. At which point, Anna Nicole finally picked them up.
And ….. it gets even worse, if you can believe it. It seems that when Anna Nicole started her new show (never saw it so I’m just reporting what the Marshall attorney said) she used the urn with her husband’s ashes as a prop, walking through the house, supposedly talking to him ‘And honey, this is the kitchen, and this is the bedroom where you should not be seeing what goes on’. She then, apparently, plonked the urn down on the TV set.
When asked if the family sued her, the attorney said they did not. They did not want to give any more attention to the show, which, they believed was why she defied the court’s order. She was hoping for a big fight which would get ratings for the show. A wise decision, although probably painful, on the part of the family.
Sorry about that, but Miss Devore said she was not caught up with the news lol! And in other news, well, the Libby Jury has not yet reached a verdict. The war in Iraq rages on. And someone suggested this week that Congress pass a law stating that evidence extracted from witnesses through torture, should not be allowed in court. Is it just me, or is there something wrong with that? Shouldn’t it be that a bill was introduced in Congress, making it a serious crime to engage in the torture of any human being?
New Thread:
The Congealing Fuckball
hey Sabrina … that banning was only a matter of time. NOTHING can be allowed to disrupt the manufacturing of consent.
catnip:
and #20 was quite poetic!
Awww… Thanks. 🙂 I cribbed that metaphor from somebody. Don’t remember who. But, yeah, I really think that the constant betrayals and mindfucks the base endures really do weigh them down and hurt their hearts. In some cases, it creates the sort of pathology you all have been examining in the BBBs. People who feel hurt and helpless look for scapegoats, and there are always hucksters ready to help them find the most convenient one.
(Of course, in some cases, people behave like greedy assholes for other reasons. Such as being greedy assholes. :p )
Original context here. (Scroll about halfway down.) And the post-mortem, should you be really hard up for entertainment…
Sabrina:
…While Ron Paul is not close to being a liberal on many issues (pro-life, eg) he has been consistently against US foreign policy and has voted accordingly, even against funding for the wars. Strange that he did not fear being called ‘anti-troops’. He also voted against the Patriot Act and all other legislation that undermined the Constitution, ie, the MCA, and is against the Drug Laws I believe…
Yep. If he runs outside the Big Two, there’s a strong case for voting for him– exactly for the reasons you site. The truth is that the DP is just as hell-bent on emptying the treasury to line their own pockets as is the GOP. If legislation by itself doesn’t trash what’s left of our safety nets, the impact of perpetual Total War certainly will. We may as well bone up on the sort of Libertarianism espoused here and use whatever abilities we have to make it work. Because we’ve been cut loose by our leaders to fend as best we can, whether we like it or not…
ms xeno,
Good stuff. Thank you!