Kucinich if there's any hope left in the universe.
Let's all pray.
Oh god, no. Kucinich is the Democratic equivalent of wacko conspiracy theory nutjob.
How so?
Okay, not all of it is conspiracy stuff, but he does believe he was visited by space aliens. In other negatives against him, he's a big fan of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, is one of those "organic is the only legitimate farming" nutters, is against nuclear power purely from an anti-science perspective, wants to integrate traditional medicine with "complementary and alternative medicine" (aka BS like homeopathy), and so on. He's basically the anti-Ron Paul.
I will be very surprised if we're able to get back onto politics within the next page. It'll probably be circle jerks about how terrible religion is for the next while. Best to hunker down and enjoy it.
Ah the biweekly religion circle jerk might be extra frothy this week.
To get back to politics. Who do you guys think will follow after Obama? Is someone being groomed in the wings or are things just going to go to shitter city after hes gone.
I suspect Hillary will run, as well as Andrew Cuomo.
I read the linked article. It sounds like his daughter's godmother wrote an account with details that Kucinich did not confirm outside of the fact that yes, he believes he saw a UFO. I don't see much crazy about that.
As for the other stuff, there isn't a candidate on the planet that doesn't believe some sort of bullshit that I'm not on board with.
It's what happens when you grow up in the US south, in a Conservative Christian family, and are taught conspiracy theories and biblical prophecy (as truth: I'm talking "The Creature from Jekyll Island", A Beka Books, John Birch Society, and basically this stuff) as part of your homeschooling education... And when the idea that Satan put fossils in the ground to trick people is not uncommon.. I'm not saying it's the ONLY problem. I'm saying critical thought is not a high priority, compared to faith and ideology. And that's something the R party has been taking advantage of.
Luckily my family did not force that down my throat, although they always threatened it, but I know people that had to deal with that. My son does have to learn from the A Beka Books at his daycare but that is something we have no choice in, and at least he is young enough for it to not be too big an issue.
I read the linked article. It sounds like his daughter's godmother wrote an account with details that Kucinich did not confirm outside of the fact that yes, he believes he saw a UFO. I don't see much crazy about that.
As for the other stuff, there isn't a candidate on the planet that doesn't believe some sort of bullshit that I'm not on board with.
You forget that Kucinich is also nearly as anti-science as some Republicans, albeit from the opposite end of the spectrum.
I read some I, Robot today, specifically the chapter titled Runaround. It relates the story of a robot named QT-1 who was made to manage a space station. QT-1 simply cannot believe that it was created by squishy, stupid humans, or that the points of light in the sky are massive balls of energy and/or dirt. He spends some time reflecting and concludes that he must have been created by a higher being, who he calls the Master. The humans (Powell and Donovan) try to convince QT-1 that he's wrong, but can't because, while QT-1 is perfectly logical, it's reasoning is purely a priori, and it's initial assumption is an unshakeable matter of faith. Powell and Donovan are at first perplexed, then terrified when the robot forms a cult with the other robots and locks them out of the engine room. They freak out; "We're fucked! How can QT-1 be fit to run a space station? This crazy robot cultist is going to get us killed!".
After much sweating and worrying, QT-1 shows the humans the most recent systems readouts. To their great surprise and relief, the station is running perfectly. QT-1's belief in the Master, despite being a falsehood, has no bearing on it's motivation and ability to run the space station. In the end they leave the station with QT-1 in control. After all, who cares what a robot believes as long as it does no harm?
This story sums up my opinion of religious people.
I will be very surprised if we're able to get back onto politics within the next page. It'll probably be circle jerks about how terrible religion is for the next while. Best to hunker down and enjoy it.
Ah the biweekly religion circle jerk might be extra frothy this week.
To get back to politics. Who do you guys think will follow after Obama? Is someone being groomed in the wings or are things just going to go to shitter city after hes gone.
For the Democrats, Deval Patrick and Julian Castro, although they might need a couple more years of seasoning. For the Republicans, Paul Ryan is not going away even if he and Mitt lose the election.
So, Intrade has Romney at a 20% chance of winning, which is low but not entirely out of the question. That brings up the question - what would it take for Romney to win? What kind of scenarios add up to give this ~20% chance?
So, Intrade has Romney at a 20% chance of winning, which is low but not entirely out of the question. That brings up the question - what would it take for Romney to win? What kind of scenarios add up to give this ~20% chance?
FiveThirtyEight goes into way more detail about this sort of thing. His election day-cast puts Romney at a 17.3% chance, but the "now-cast" (i.e., if the election were held right now, rather than over a month from now) puts him at 2.2% chance. http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
Using those kinds of very specific percentages is silly when dealing with soft quantifiables such as apathy, public opinion, and 40 days of possible gaffes, especially when the debates haven't happened yet.
I'm not taking issue with the prediction, just using decimal points in social science with such a large time frame remaining.
What I do predict, if Obama wins, is a doubling down on ultraconservative thought within the Republican party. Santorum will be the "far left liberal" in the stage of amazing candidates that will come to bear for the 2016 primaries.
I seriously hope that is the case. Like, yeah I'm sorry americans it sucks your nation will have to go through that, but god damn the Republican primaries were good television. It was like four solid months of gold from the Daily Show.
What I do predict, if Obama wins, is a doubling down on ultraconservative thought within the Republican party. Santorum will be the "far left liberal" in the stage of amazing candidates that will come to bear for the 2016 primaries.
How far right can they go before their members start to wear brown shirts.
What I do predict, if Obama wins, is a doubling down on ultraconservative thought within the Republican party. Santorum will be the "far left liberal" in the stage of amazing candidates that will come to bear for the 2016 primaries.
How far right can they go before their members start to wear brown shirts.
Fuck it, they should just hire Nick Clegg as an adviser, that would actually be an improvement from where they are now.
I love him, if only for the possibility of him helping to tip the balance away from Romney in the electoral college. He also has Roger Stone working for him,how's one of the most entertaining people in politics.
What are you's guys' views on Gary Johnson? From what I can see he seems cool and not crazy, but am I missing something?
Ron Paul minus the Racisim, conspiracy theories, and borderline-scam money grubbing ways. Or at least, if he does have those, he's better at hiding it than crazy uncle Paul. A lot of the same really shithouse political ideas, though, they're practically running from the same playbook there, and they have identical, completely-detached-from-reality ideas about economic policy, both entirely reliant on the Austrian school. Oh, and they're both Ayn Rand obsessives, and the only reason Johnson isn't called Dr No like Paul, is because he's never been a doctor. They call him Governor Veto instead. I don't know at this time if he share's Paul's earmark habits.
Comments
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2007/11/shirls.html
As for the other stuff, there isn't a candidate on the planet that doesn't believe some sort of bullshit that I'm not on board with.
After much sweating and worrying, QT-1 shows the humans the most recent systems readouts. To their great surprise and relief, the station is running perfectly. QT-1's belief in the Master, despite being a falsehood, has no bearing on it's motivation and ability to run the space station. In the end they leave the station with QT-1 in control. After all, who cares what a robot believes as long as it does no harm?
This story sums up my opinion of religious people.
EDIT:
Some hypothetical scenarios here.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
I'm not taking issue with the prediction, just using decimal points in social science with such a large time frame remaining.