Ron Paul is an idiot, and in this case he's trying to gather more supporters from the "Internet" crowd. But, he's pretty-much solidly against net neutrality, and I'm not getting the sense he's going to take a sane position on anything here.
It starts out talking about his charity work in Africa which isn't really subject to much dispute, but then turns into an orgy of revisionist history and praise for probably the worst president the US has ever had in its history. The PATRIOT Act, rendition, Gitmo, Iraq, the destruction/subversion of about half of the Bill of Rights, the denial of chapter 7 bankruptcy protection to a huge chunk of the middle class.. who the Hell are they fooling? It feels like some sort of astroturf campaign.
Yay! Experimenting! ...of course I don't like how my life is one of things being experimented with, especially since SC basically tries to kill me on a daily basis anyway... some of the crumbling roads and lack of traffic enforcement reminds me of Death Race 2000.
Should make a government based on experimental government. Each region is separated into zones where different policies are tried out. Oh wait. -_- Would be an interesting book tho.
Spoilers: the more "liberal" states end up becoming advanced neo-urban societies, attain pure energy bodies, and spread through the cosmos.
Meanwhile, the rest debate the merits of executing the educated, rather than simply jailing them. ;^)
Ron Paul is an idiot, and in this case he's trying to gather more supporters from the "Internet" crowd. But, he's pretty-much solidly against net neutrality, and I'm not getting the sense he's going to take a sane position on anything here.
To borrow a line from elsewhere, the Polls are in - the vast majority of Paul's supporters are primarily active on the internet, and far less active anywhere else. It only makes sense for him to add an internet focus to his campaign, something that recaptures the wavering supporter's interest, to keep those moneybombs rolling in.
Check out this freaking scary thousands-of-upvotes GWB love-in that happened on reddit last night:
Yeah, I saw that, it was pretty Wierd. I mean, there was a "Look who I met today!" thread about him that was much less twilight-zone - essentially, a lot of "Well, he was a shit president, but he seems like a genuinely nice guy, aside from that" - but that's certainly odd.
However, it doesn't stand the test for any Astroturf Campaign. Who stands to benefit? Nobody, as best I can tell. Bush certainly doesn't - It's not like he's going to run for president again, if he even could, I don't know. It's not like he's got a book or anything on the way, and really, I can't see it helping sales anyway. His speaking career is already doing decently, and he's already doing well enough in everything else he's doing. Apparently, he's taken up painting too, as something neither here nor there, mostly pets and landscapes. Now you're imagining Bush at the easel, nattering about happy little trees.
I think the benefit could be in a general softening of the Repulican party's image for moderates/swing voters in the upcoming election. Bush is a pretty big black stain that could use some lightening if they want to improve their chances.
Every one of those negatives that was embraced by the current administration can not be used against him without also holding the current administration responsible for also supporting the same.
Every one of those negatives that was embraced by the current administration can not be used against him without also holding the current administration responsible for also supporting the same.
Absolutely true. I'm intensely disappointed in Obama.
Yay! Experimenting! ...of course I don't like how my life is one of things being experimented with, especially since SC basically tries to kill me on a daily basis anyway... some of the crumbling roads and lack of traffic enforcement reminds me of Death Race 2000.
Should make a government based on experimental government. Each region is separated into zones where different policies are tried out. Oh wait. -_- Would be an interesting book tho.
Spoilers: the more "liberal" states end up becoming advanced neo-urban societies, attain pure energy bodies, and spread through the cosmos.
Meanwhile, the rest debate the merits of executing the educated, rather than simply jailing them. ;^)
I think the benefit could be in a general softening of the Repulican party's image for moderates/swing voters in the upcoming election. Bush is a pretty big black stain that could use some lightening if they want to improve their chances.
Doubtful. Softening Bush's image like that would be trivially defeated by actual facts. There is also the point you must consider - Bush wasn't as much of a evil demon satan incarnate as he was made out to be, he did good deeds, too. It's just that they received approximately none of the attention that all the bad shit he did received.
I'm also inclined to think that he's "Safe" now. There is no longer any societal pressure to go into paroxysms of venom every time his name comes up - We have different republican faces for our two minutes hate, now days. So people are more inclined to speak of him with a little more kindness than they did, and you know what? I'm kinda glad. It's nice to hear something different about him, good or bad, other than the same five fucking jokes, and the conspiracy theories ripped straight from a Michael Moore movie.
Also, I don't go for this conspiracy theory nonsense without proof. What you have isn't proof. Show me some sort of evidence. I don't believe there would be any astroturfing campaign going on here, with the expense and risk of astroturfing campaigns, for such a nebulous, hazy benefit as "well, it might help the republican party, maybe?"
The reason it's such a bizarre astroturf campaign, is because it probably isn't one.
The man is a war criminal and should have been tried as one. That he's receiving any sort of soft glove treatment or fond recollection is abominable.
Proof, please. That's a strong claim, you're going to need something hefty. And I don't mean some bollocks in Malaysia, a trial in absentia for show and pomp, I mean something that would make for a mildly convincing case in the Hauge.
If I hear the republican leaders in either the house or senate say a 'vast majority of Americans do not want health care reform' one more time, I swear to Christ I'm going to drive down there and punch every conservative congressjackass/senatard in the face. Has anyone in the party of the sane stood up in the house and said "I'd like to point out that my colleagues across the isle are lying through their teeth to push an agenda of demagoguery and stupidity in order to stay in power. Here are indisputable facts from dozens of sources that prove they have no idea what they're talking about."?
If I hear the republican leaders in either the house or senate say a 'vast majority of Americans do not want health care reform' one more time, I swear to Christ I'm going to drive down there and punch every conservative congressjackass/senatard in the face.
They all have totally sweet taxpayer funded health care. They'd be fine.
Has anyone in the party of the sane stood up in the house and said "I'd like to point out that my colleagues across the isle are lying through their teeth to push an agenda of demagoguery and stupidity in order to stay in power. Here are indisputable facts from dozens of sources that prove they have no idea what they're talking about."?
Those are some awful big words you're using, elitist. Sorry I didn't go to your ivy league patty-cake Colleague since I was too busy, badly running my own chain of oil drilling opperations and exporting manufacturing jobs with hardly any millions from my family trust pulling myself up by my boot straps and creating wealth.
Also you are shrill.
Those facts are out of context and in dispute (we'll dispute them later). Instead of shrilly screaming like a liberal girl you could have been creating jobs and wealth, which we did. We created a billion jobs but then health care reform destroyed them; just look at all the unemployment out there.
If they mean health care reform in the "buy insurance or pay a tax" form then they are right. No one wants that. It's not like you can walk into a doctors office and say, "I paid the tax now give me some free healthcare."
If they mean health care reform as in "only muggers not doctors should say 'your health or your wealth'" then they are wrong. No one wants to be in the position of having to choose between their health and their wealth. Unless something is cutting edge or experimental it should not be super expensive. In cases where stuff is experimental the doctors should be happy to have human trial subjects and charge less or do it for free!
If they mean health care reform in the "buy insurance or pay a tax" form then they are right. No one wants that. It's not like you can walk into a doctors office and say, "I paid the tax now give me some free healthcare."
If they mean health care reform as in "only muggers not doctors should say 'your health or your wealth'" then they are wrong. No one wants to be in the position of having to choose between their health and their wealth. Unless something is cutting edge or experimental it should not be super expensive. In cases where stuff is experimental the doctors should be happy to have human trial subjects and charge less or do it for free!
People who are not insured because they are either unable to afford it, or more hilariously are refused it because of a 'pre-existing condition' like 'my wife is pregnant' (I AM NOT MAKING THAT UP.) are ALREADY in a position of 'your health or your wealth'. They may not be paying anything, but once something bad happens and they need care, they're boned. And, in turn, everyone else gets boned because if they choose not to pay after they receive service, everyone else's health costs go up. So instead of destroying the financial health of those who can not afford to get sick, the 'tax' or as it is correctly called fee for not having health care is going to be, ideally, more than it would cost to get the marketed health care pools. Also, some of your ideas of how the medical industry actually works and how doctors actually feel are not based in any reality we live in or near. Doctors won't simply do free cutting edge stuff for people because the medical industrial complex (you know, the ones that make the cutting edge machines?) does not simply give away their tech for free. To assume so is rediculous. Additionally, if you have cancer, are you going to go with the HTMKFree 'We'll test this shit on you and see if it works or just kills you' health plan, or the 'It's expensive but we know it works' plan?
Yeah, the idea that trials (even on willing human subjects) would ever be free is almost laughable from the standpoint of anyone who's ever worked in a lab.
So, what's the deal with all these republican governors who are refusing health care money for their states? "No, you just keep that federal money. I'm going to make a political statement while the people of my state continue to just stay ill."
Because Bachmann is trying to take the crown of 'craziest bitch that ever stumbled into political power', she is very literally trying to start a McCarthy-style witch-hunt. If you read any of the articles online (here's one) and substitute anything that refers to Muslims with "Communists". You literally get a nineteen-fifties style political boogeyman. Not only is this appalling, but other Republicans have chimed in to support her insanity.
In an extra-double stupid crazy overdose, and after a few minutes, Anderson Cooper shows that some of her 'evidence' comes from a guy on the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate group watch list.
You guys know that Rush knows exactly what Bane is, right? This kind of sensationalism isn't a mistake. He's a shock jock, and he says things expressly to get his listeners riled up, regardless of accuracy. His goal is to perpetuate the outrage that keeps listeners tuning in, and the money flowing into his pocket. And it works -- you're talking about him right now, feeding the troll.
Comments
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/w3hns/bush_in_zambia/c59zic3
It starts out talking about his charity work in Africa which isn't really subject to much dispute, but then turns into an orgy of revisionist history and praise for probably the worst president the US has ever had in its history. The PATRIOT Act, rendition, Gitmo, Iraq, the destruction/subversion of about half of the Bill of Rights, the denial of chapter 7 bankruptcy protection to a huge chunk of the middle class.. who the Hell are they fooling? It feels like some sort of astroturf campaign.
Meanwhile, the rest debate the merits of executing the educated, rather than simply jailing them. ;^)
However, it doesn't stand the test for any Astroturf Campaign. Who stands to benefit? Nobody, as best I can tell. Bush certainly doesn't - It's not like he's going to run for president again, if he even could, I don't know. It's not like he's got a book or anything on the way, and really, I can't see it helping sales anyway. His speaking career is already doing decently, and he's already doing well enough in everything else he's doing. Apparently, he's taken up painting too, as something neither here nor there, mostly pets and landscapes. Now you're imagining Bush at the easel, nattering about happy little trees.
I'm also inclined to think that he's "Safe" now. There is no longer any societal pressure to go into paroxysms of venom every time his name comes up - We have different republican faces for our two minutes hate, now days. So people are more inclined to speak of him with a little more kindness than they did, and you know what? I'm kinda glad. It's nice to hear something different about him, good or bad, other than the same five fucking jokes, and the conspiracy theories ripped straight from a Michael Moore movie.
Also, I don't go for this conspiracy theory nonsense without proof. What you have isn't proof. Show me some sort of evidence. I don't believe there would be any astroturfing campaign going on here, with the expense and risk of astroturfing campaigns, for such a nebulous, hazy benefit as "well, it might help the republican party, maybe?"
The reason it's such a bizarre astroturf campaign, is because it probably isn't one.
The man is a war criminal and should have been tried as one. That he's receiving any sort of soft glove treatment or fond recollection is abominable.
Also you are shrill.
Those facts are out of context and in dispute (we'll dispute them later). Instead of shrilly screaming like a liberal girl you could have been creating jobs and wealth, which we did. We created a billion jobs but then health care reform destroyed them; just look at all the unemployment out there.
A vast majority of Americans agree.
If they mean health care reform as in "only muggers not doctors should say 'your health or your wealth'" then they are wrong. No one wants to be in the position of having to choose between their health and their wealth. Unless something is cutting edge or experimental it should not be super expensive. In cases where stuff is experimental the doctors should be happy to have human trial subjects and charge less or do it for free!
Also, some of your ideas of how the medical industry actually works and how doctors actually feel are not based in any reality we live in or near. Doctors won't simply do free cutting edge stuff for people because the medical industrial complex (you know, the ones that make the cutting edge machines?) does not simply give away their tech for free. To assume so is rediculous.
Additionally, if you have cancer, are you going to go with the HTMKFree 'We'll test this shit on you and see if it works or just kills you' health plan, or the 'It's expensive but we know it works' plan?
1. make things bad
2. blame the Democrats
3. get votes (no ??? necessary since this is all they seem to need to do)
http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2012/06/22/federal-lawsuit-goes-after-hildale-colorado-city-for-discrimination/
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/15/3705772/apostate-challenges-radical-flds.html
(Wrong thread, my mistake.)
In an extra-double stupid crazy overdose, and after a few minutes, Anderson Cooper shows that some of her 'evidence' comes from a guy on the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate group watch list.