Politics
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- ukit0
- GeorgesII0
America PLEASE wake up
they can't rob you like that, its right there, the big fat huge pink elephant in the room.
please wake up.
700 billions will finish you
http://globaleconomicanalysis.bl…
don't let this fly, pass it around,
wake up
- ukit0
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Senator Barack Obama is heading to camp next week in Florida – debate camp, that is.
Mr. Obama is going to sequester himself near Tampa Bay beginning Tuesday for intensive preparation in advance of the first presidential debate on Friday. A tight circle of key advisers will be on hand, including Greg Craig, an adviser and foreign policy specialist, who is playing the role of Senator John McCain.
The choice of Florida – particularly the critical swing region near Tampa Bay – will be announced by the campaign in the coming days. It was, of course, selected with politics in mind.
While Mr. Obama will have no rallies or town meetings next week, aides said, his mere presence (fueled by a few photo opportunities) will surely draw considerable local media attention and put to rest any suggestions that he does not intend to aggressively compete in the state with Senator John McCain.
“I’m confident that we’re going to win this thing, but can I make this point? There are easier ways to win it and harder ways to win it,” Mr. Obama told contributors at a fund-raising reception on Friday evening. “It would be really nice for us to win Florida. I’ll tell you, we can win this thing without Florida, but boy, it’s a lot easier if we win Florida. If we win Florida, it is almost impossible for John McCain to win.”
- ukit0
The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to an unusual free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin on Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a much more structured approach for the questioning at the vice-presidential debate, advisers to both campaigns said Saturday.
At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
- Cool. Hope Ahmadinejad and Putin will agree to structures disagreements and miliatary action, just to be fair. Pig.mikotondria3
- well i mean, biden's a wordy guy too, and if they let him keep rolling on it could hurt obama. but this still sucks.colin_s
- He'll destroy her either way.jjoeth6
- GeorgesII0
post from ozmonster on some reddit thread.
"I realized that I have been depressed for a long time.
The medico-corporate establishment says I have a brain imbalance to which they offer a magic pill.
I say I am depressed because my life fucking sucks. I am depressed because I expected more from life.
I have allowed myself to become victimized by the effects of power, greed and endless consumption. I am perpetuating the blindness, weakness and small thinking of my father, and his father, and his father before him. I am slave who
thinks I am free.
Unless you are one of the wealthiest 1%, you are me.
Our children will be born into a life that is not theirs. They will refuse to believe they are slaves. Most of us refuse to believe now. Some of us don't care as long as our steaks taste good. Some of us prefer to look at shadows on the cave wall.
Well my steaks taste like shit. And I finally realized why. I have always eaten them as a slave. I have never tasted freedom.
This is getting surreal.
We're actually living through a period of time that some future history student will learn was the largest and most destructive con game ever pulled off. It will be taught that a tiny fraction of the world's wealthiest and powerful
covertly made slaves of not just men of the world but of generations of men. This ruling elite, it will be taught, used world banks and multi-national corporations to accomplish this goal.
This deception will be taught to future generations as a virus that infected our entire species and almost went uncured.
At least I hope that is how our period will be taught. The alternative is unthinkable.
The worst part (and potentially the best part) is that I can see it all happening before my eyes now. I somehow shook the seemingly impenetrable cloak of this deception that has made this virus so virulent. I somehow broke my chains and left the cave. I now can see my children's future ... my genetic legacy's future being stolen from them, from me, before they are born.
I look back on history and can now see parts of my legacy being pilfered before I was born. In fact, this theft has been going on undiscovered for generations and is almost complete. Once it becomes complete, it will be irreversible.
Because our ancestors allowed this larceny to take seed, fester and grow right under their noses, they were weak minded and plagued with limited thought. They couldn't even see it happening. Some tried to point it out along the way and
others warned it would happen but all resistance was splintered and marginalized.
We continue to allow the theft to grow and most of us still cannot see that it even exists. It has reached a point now where it has become seemingly unstoppable.
The only thing that could have exposed the deception has been consumed by it and now works to perpetuate its influence and control while ruling as the fourth branch of the government.
I can see it all happening before my eyes but I feel like the only one."
I wanted to scream, you're not the only one. They're bankrupting the US as we talk. And people still view Obama as the saviour, I'm not american and if I was I'll probably vote for Obama. but seriously the guy is suicidal, he's going to get in power during one of the greatest crash ever seen. How will he keep his promise?
- Lloyd?TheBlueOne
- the sky is falling! the sky is falling!sputnik2
- BeautifulMachine0
from my view point, the dems are winning the style war:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/689f-SNnk20&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/689f-SNnk20&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>- OMFG that movie looks AWESOME...when's it come out?!? haha so dramatic....tommyo
- <--- post #666********
- 666 > The devil made Palin do it!********
- HA! TOTALLY! that's a riviting movie trailer!!! scary...BeautifulMachine
- dog_opus0
Î I didn't watch the video, but I don't have to to agree that, generally speaking, Dems do seem to end up with better design. However, I think that, like all design, it's all a matter of the audience with whom you're looking to communicate. Judging from QBN, graphic designers fit a leftist stereotype. Speaking in generalizations, leftists seem to appreciate design more than rightists.
Politicians like McCain and Bush are looking to project an image of tradition and stability, so it's shrewd not to take risks with slick design. If I remember correctly, though, I liked Bush's stuff better than Kerry's in the last election. I'll have to look it up to be sure, though.
- Fox News, by far, hands down, 100% indisputably has the worst on-air graphics setup. Their typography blows hard.tommyo
- TheBlueOne0
Welcome, Empire America. Up until now it's been kinda of leftwing hyperbole about the imperial thing. If this goes through democracy is dead. two unelected assholes will now control the entire economy.
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
The great American Experiment is over folks. Put a fork in it, it's done.
- Sitting down with the wife tomorrow to figure out where we want to be ex-pats.TheBlueOne
- motherfuckers who couldn't deal with it in the first place is some kind of lunacy.TheBlueOne
- ukit0
- dog_opus0
I'm not planning on bailing out of Battleship America, but things are way more dire than way too few Americans understand. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/2…
In many ways, too many of us have just taken freedom and the pursuit of happiness for granted. This is gonna be one hell of a wake-up call, most likely.
- tommyo0
I've got guns.
- JasonW0
Political humor:
- ukit0
- johndiggity0
it's actually the money robert rubin earned from bailing out mexico during their bond crisis that will fund this. the amount taxpayers stand to make of this legislation due to just the premiums alone is more than worth it.
- TheBlueOne0
"folks on the left and the right have referred to the recent onslaught of government bailouts as “socialism”. On the surface, it may seem that way, given that government now “controls” vast swaths of the nation’s financial system. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Let me say it more plainly; this is not socialism. Socialism is a form of government that seeks to equalize the playing field for all, insuring that that the fruits of labor are shared equally (but not fairly, necessarily. That’s one of the major reasons why socialism doesn’t work). Does anyone seriously think that captains of finance have embraced the philosophy of “workers of the world, unite!”? The same guys with multi-million dollar “golden-parachutes”, sometimes taking home more than a billion dollars in a year. The same guys who have embraced shady accounting practices so that they and their companies pay as little in taxes as possible, sometimes percentages of income far less than the average American worker. The same guys who have broken union after union over the decades. We’re supposed to believe that just this week this crew has decided to abandon Friedman and embrace Marx with open arms? Come on...
Let’s look at it another way; does anyone seriously believe that the average American stands to benefit financially from the actions taken this week? That the profits of AIG, or BS, or Fannie and Freddie will be split equally amongst the masses? Of course not. Instead, tax payer money will flow from the Treasury to shore up the accounts of what should be insolvent corporations. Essentially out of your pocket and into the hands of Wall St, only making a quick pit stop in DC. Or worse, putting it on the national credit card by selling even more treasuries. This is not socialism. Instead, this more resembles a different form of societal structure: kleptocracy.
Second, how did we get to the point that simply the failure of one company would mean utter chaos for society at large? This fact alone illustrates very nicley that the financial system ceased to be a free market long before last week. The lifeblood of free markets is competition. Competition gives birth to fair pricing of goods and services as well as efficiency of commerce. If one business fails, another takes its place.
The fact that these corporations were to big to fail means they were too big. Period. If AIG couldn’t hack it, then some other corporation would have stepped up to the plate. That is if the market place was truly free. But clearly it was not. Instead, what existed was at the very least a pseudo-monopoly. Many markets left to themselves will gradually evolve into monopolies, and one of the roles government needs to play is to insure that monopolies don’t get to the point where they distort free markets to the point where they aren’t really free anymore. Obviously government failed to meet that obligation in the financial sector the last few years.
I suppose that’s what happens when the foxes are put in charge of the hen house. Only time will tell if the foxes can keep fooling everyone into believing that there are still some hens left."
- socialism, pffffft
give it the real name
its fascismGeorgesII - Or the even bigger elephant in the room:
http://www.cornersto…
TheBlueOne
- socialism, pffffft
- TheBlueOne0
If this bailout gets approved as currently written and Obama gets elected all of his plans for the middle class just evaporated. He's been kneecapped before he even takes the oath. Game over.
- At least Obama is planning on rescinding the Bush tax cuts to bring in additional revenue.ukit
- johndiggity0
every major player in finance is going to have to pay premiums to get in this deal, if they want their money insured by the us government. plus this is probably only going to last for one year max. the government is basically acting as a big bank, making money not only on the interest spread, but the premiums as well. 700 billion spread across just about every major investment and commercial bank in the world is not a lot in the scheme of things.
- Ah, so it will all work out. Like say, the way the Iraq war paid for itself.TheBlueOne
- ukit0
- hallelujah0
Krugman: When I heard news about this plan my first thought was "Kommisar Paulson is seizing the means of Production". This is the most socialist move we've seen by any administration in God's knows how long, and it's coming from the Bush Administration
But then of course, Bush has always been a socialist when it comes to his cronies and lobbyist buddies in the financial markets on Wall Street. He only believes in darwinistic capitalism when it comes to Main Street economics, when it comes to your paycheck, your health care and your pension. All of which have just been completely fracked to the tune of nearly a $Trillion in additional U.S. Debt.
Krugman: Look, this is really scary. This is really bad, This Could be 1931 - The collapse of EVERYTHING, so you have to do something big. There are no athiests in foxholes and no liberterians in a financial crisis. When things are really bad, and people are at all rational - well,thank God we've got Hank Paulson as President - we get a response.
Maher: Well, I've been listening to financial experts, and no offense, but it seems like they don't know what's going on.
Krugman: Yeah, right look. Anybody who knew what was going on would have been in a Bomb Shelter by now. This is panicky. Quite Seriously, Like, I was looking at the numbers on Wednesday and I thought "The World is coming to an End", and apparently the people at the Treasury Dept. thought the same thing. This was - boy - this was the worst thing I've ever seen.
Maher: So, the market's rebounded. What's your prediction for next week, and the week after that - are we out of the woods or is everything just beginning?
Krugman: We're probably just at the beginning.
Maher: Aw, geez.
Krugman: We probably won't have everything melt down in two days, which could've happened. The best scenario is that the economy's probably going to get worse for another year, and the housing market is going to get worse for another two years. This is not the solution, this just avoiding disaster!
Maher: To me I think, from a layman's point of view for the last 20-30 years, America doesn't make anything. We used to manufacture stuff, cars and stuff. Arab and Colombians drill oil, Indians make code for computers. China makes DVD's - they make them out of pigshit and mercury - but they make something. Y'know what America makes? Debt. The Financial Services industry just makes debt, it's really pushing money around on computers screens.
Krugman: Well, your right, and in way we actually do have fair trade with China. They sell us poisoned toys and tainted sea food and we sell them fraudulent securities.
Krugman: Everything did eventually come back after 1933. but really, we need a better Government than what we've got.
- 2nd paragraph: not krugman; editorial comment by the posterhallelujah
- ukit0
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, dogged by allegations of corruption, formally announced his intention to resign Sunday at a Cabinet meeting.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not give a timetable Sunday when he would officially leave office.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not give a timetable Sunday when he would officially leave office.
"This was not an easy or simple decision," he said before the meeting.
His office said he would submit his official letter of resignation to President Shimon Peres at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
However, Olmert will remain the prime minister of a transition government until a successor assumes power either by forming a new coalition in the current Knesset or through new general elections.
There are many possible scenarios that could play out in coming months.
Peres is likely to call on Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who won by a narrow margin to lead the ruling Kadima party last week, to form a coalition.
The Labor Party, the largest of Kadima's partners in government, could pull out of the coalition, which could force early elections or force the government to take on new coalition partners.
If elections are called, former prime minister and Labor leader Ehud Barak could vie for the top spot, but polls have shown he may not have enough support.
Some observers think former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the opposition Likud Party, is also a potential candidate for the office.
Whoever succeeds Olmert as prime minister will be handed a set of daunting challenges, including determining the fate of Israel's talks with the Palestinians, its indirect talks with Syria and its tough talk on Iran's nuclear aspirations.
If Livni replaces Olmert, she will be the second woman in Israel's history to serve as Prime Minister. Golda Meir served from 1969 to 1974. Video Watch Livni win Kadima vote »
Livni, a 50-year-old who entered the Knesset less than 10 years ago, owes her victory to her reputation for clean hands in a party that lost Olmert to allegations of graft.
She told reporters on Thursday that she intends "to bring together Kadima factions and to go on this new path together."
Livni is the chief Israeli negotiator with the Palestinian Authority as the two sides work toward a peace deal. She also refuses to be tied to the Bush administration's vision of a peace deal by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, police have recommended that Olmert be indicted on corruption charges.