Random Political Thoughts

[Pragmier]

I wouldn't rule out Fox News all together or any outlet for that matter. It's important to differentiate between Fox's newscast and it's opinion shows. The Fox Report with Shepard Smith is mostly unbiased. Their reporting on election night was also - and the on-air contrast with Rove was priceless.

Here's something else we can fight over! - what does 'biased' actually mean? Omission is very common. You're not lying if you don't say it.

To introduce an outrageous unsubstantiated claim, but remind us it's only a 'what if'? Ooops too late, it's anchored.

A tactic that's often subtle but worth noting is the use of slanted language to impress an opinion or elicit emotion. For example the host will prefix a fact or credential they don't like as 'purported'. Now that word adds some doubt and undermines. Or an opponent's error becomes a 'blunder'. A reevaluation of the situation becomes a 'flip flop' and so forth...

I was once listening to a talk radio show in which the guest was an Asian-American the host disagreed with. Quietly but definitely audible playing in the back during her introduction was David Bowie's China Girl.

[stevesh]

You're not lying if you don't say it.

And as George Costanza reminded us, it's not a lie if you believe it. A lot of the nonsense spouted by 'pundits' on the Left and the Right falls into that category.

[Sardondi]

And as George Costanza reminded us, it's not a lie if you believe it. A lot of the nonsense spouted by 'pundits' on the Left and the Right falls into that category.

"Truth is oft bespoke in jest."* And George's quote (okay, Larry David's) should be the masthead slogan.


* It's tempting to birth a quote, like La Streisand's "beating the drums of war" hoax-quote. But it's not genuine - it just looked better gussied up with quotes around it. The real one is Chaucer: "A man may say full sooth (the truth) in game and play." And it just doesn't trip pleasantly, does it?

[stevesh]

The real one is Chaucer: "A man may say full sooth (the truth) in game and play."

Chaucer ? What night and network was he on, and did he have a wacky neighbor ?

[Sardondi]

Chaucer ? What night and network was he on, and did he have a wacky neighbor ?

Yes, and he let flee a fart, so there's the Jersey Shore demographic.

[slipstream]

UN Demands Obama Administration Quash State’s Rights On Marijuana.

Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/un-demands-obama-quash-states-rights-regarding-marijuana/#ixzz2D95XHRrv
The article links to the UN press release.


When I read this stuff I come back to, well, why is alcohol legal?

[PB the Deplorable]

...  When I read this stuff I come back to, well, why is alcohol legal?

The UN also wants it's own drones.  And to take our guns.  And to tax us directly.


At least Obama is one of us and will stick up for our individual rights and national interests, right?  Right?

[Sardondi]

Compare today's UN and the UN of just 25 years ago (50 years ago is simply unrecognizable). Yeah, and anyone concerned about an increasingly powerful UN which is almost always aligned with enemies of the West is just a right wing nut unworthy of being heard. But we see it happening before our eyes: it turns Europe against the US/UK axis, and then the rest of the world against the West. The UN is already an instrument primarily for the advancement of Second- and Third-World interests, with a goal of ultimately taking power from the West. The UN will provide the moral pretext needed (insofar as it is: pretext may be entirely unnecessary when they take action) for justifying use of military force against Western interests in the next couple of decades or so.

[Unquenchable Angst]

After the first Gulf War.A lot of desert camoflaged humvees and other military equipment was being off loaded off a railroad siding behind an old concrete plant in Rockledge,Florida.As the weeks past into months the vehicles were being repainted as UN vehicles. I worked in a Nursery and Garden Shop next to all this happening.It looked like thousands of vehicles.All becoming UN. I am sorry I thought the John Birch Society was wrong . If the UN could get booted out of the US,would that building and area revert to the Rockefeller Family or could that be converted into a homeless shelter....

[PB the Deplorable]

I think at this point it's the lesser of 2 evils. 

Staying in the UN, we have a large influence - especially with veto power on the Security Council.  Funding 25% of operations (how did this get to be Our Fair Share?) we have a certain amount of control.  Hosting it here in.NY gives us additional contol and influence.

The UN is the foundation for the 'Progressives' ultimate goal of a One World Government with them, of course, in charge of it.  That's why the Left in our country and abroad are only too happy to hand over more and more of our sovereignty to the UN.  It's also explains why the Left here and abroad are so tight with the Islamic Terrorists and Muslims in general - they share the very same goal of taking our freedom and establishing that One World Govt.

[Nucky Nolan]

UN Demands Obama Administration Quash State’s Rights On Marijuana.

Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/un-demands-obama-quash-states-rights-regarding-marijuana/#ixzz2D95XHRrv
The article links to the UN press release.


When I read this stuff I come back to, well, why is alcohol legal?

That's a strange demand. Is the UN so hot and peeved over Dutch hash huts and pot pubs? Portugal has extremely lenient drug laws, and I don't remember the blue-helmets reacting this way to them. Maybe they just don't like the challenge posed by the states to the State, statists that they are.

[Nucky Nolan]

The UN also wants it's own drones.  And to take our guns.  And to tax us directly.


At least Obama is one of us and will stick up for our individual rights and national interests, right?  Right?

They'll use their sky blue drones to disarm marijuana farmers who refuse to pay toking taxes on their crops. Statist madness is ten times worse than "reefer madness".

[Sardondi]

.....Statist madness is ten times worse than "reefer madness".

New site motto. (And I'm so glad not to be the only person here who uses the word "statist"!)

[Nucky Nolan]

New site motto. (And I'm so glad not to be the only person here who uses the word "statist"!)

It serves as a good antonym of "libertarian". It's also not linked to just one political philosophy. It's not relegated to either the Left or the Right. It helps people to see the proverbial forest.

[PB the Deplorable]

It serves as a good antonym of "libertarian". It's also not linked to just one political philosophy. It's not relegated to either the Left or the Right. It helps people to see the proverbial forest.

Statist is the umbrella term for Marxists, Leftists, 'Progressives', Maoists, Nazis, Socialists, Liberals (circa 2012), Troskyites, etc.  These are the people that want to controll the rest of us. 

The Right are the Libertarians, the Conservatives, the Tea Party, the Liberals (circa approx 17xx - 1965).  They stand for Liberty and Personal Responsibility.

People confuse Nationalism with 'Right-wing, but that is what can actually be either Left or Right.  Notable Nationalists are George Washington and our founding fathers, Gandhi, Ho Chi Mihn, Hitler, Mao, Churchhill, De Gaulle, Bolivar, etc, other peoples that defend their countries from outsiders, and/or have gained their independence, and governments that secure their borders. 

[Nucky Nolan]

Statist is the umbrella term for Marxists, Leftists, 'Progressives', Maoists, Nazis, Socialists, Liberals (circa 2012), Troskyites, etc.  These are the people that want to controll the rest of us. 

The Right are the Libertarians, the Conservatives, the Tea Party, the Liberals (circa approx 17xx - 1965).  They stand for Liberty and Personal Responsibility.

People confuse Nationalism with 'Right-wing, but that is what can actually be either Left or Right.  Notable Nationalists are George Washington and our founding fathers, Gandhi, Ho Chi Mihn, Hitler, Mao, Churchhill, De Gaulle, Bolivar, etc, other peoples that defend their countries from outsiders, and/or have gained their independence, and governments that secure their borders.

That's a good list of statists. I might add conservative Republicans who want to punish American adults if they smoke a plant in their own homes. Why should the State decide what we can consume or inhale? Hypocrite that I am, I do see an exception for the new "make-you-go-crazy" so-called bath salts.

[Sardondi]

Statist is the umbrella term for Marxists, Leftists, 'Progressives', Maoists, Nazis, Socialists, Liberals (circa 2012), Troskyites, etc.  These are the people that want to controll the rest of us. 

The Right are the Libertarians, the Conservatives, the Tea Party, the Liberals (circa approx 17xx - 1965).  They stand for Liberty and Personal Responsibility.

People confuse Nationalism with 'Right-wing, but that is what can actually be either Left or Right.  Notable Nationalists are George Washington and our founding fathers, Gandhi, Ho Chi Mihn, Hitler, Mao, Churchhill, De Gaulle, Bolivar, etc, other peoples that defend their countries from outsiders, and/or have gained their independence, and governments that secure their borders.

I apologize - I don't mean to sound as if you hadn't also been ringing the statist bell, because you have. And yes, Nucky, that's a great antonym for "libertarian".

And while we're at it, I don't know why there's such reluctance to admit that fascism comes just as much from the left as form the right. 

[PB the Deplorable]

... And while we're at it, I don't know why there's such reluctance to admit that fascism comes just as much from the left as form the right.

Fascism doesn't come from the Right at all.  It's simply another form of Statism. 

Many of the intellectuals fleeing Nazi Germany were Leftists, and could not and would not admit the National Socialist Workers Party was also Leftist.  So the big lie had to be the Nazi's were 'Right-wing'.  That the Nazi's were also Nationalist, and some Nationalists are Right-wing made it easy - tell the lie often enough, and presto, the Nazi's were now 'Right-wing'.


As far as pot is concerned, no group is 'pure' anything.  The Conservatives are wrong on this one.  It comes from our Puritan/Prohibition/Christian past/

[Unquenchable Angst]

Say Goodbye to ABC TV !!!!!
ABC News Joins Obama- Bans American Flag Lapel Pins!!!!!

ABC NEWS BANS FLAG LAPEL PINS
Barbara Walters said that this was going to hurt ABC bad. And she works for
ABC.
YESTERDAY THE BRASS AT ABC NEWS ISSUED ORDERS
FORBIDDING REPORTERS TO WEAR LAPEL PIN OF AMERICAN FLAGS OR OTHER PATRIOTIC INSIGNIA. THEIR REASONING WAS THAT ABC SHOULD REMAIN NEUTRAL ABOUT 'CAUSES'.
SINCE WHEN IS PATRIOTISM TO BE DISCOURAGED?
I URGE YOU TO BOYCOTT ABC AND ITS SPONSORS AND AFFILIATES.
WE ARE SLOWLY LOSING EVERYTHING OUR COUNTRY STANDS
FOR AND EVERYTHING OUR MEN AND WOMEN FOUGHT AND DIED TO
PRESERVE!
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY AS YOU CAN.

THIS HAS BEEN VERIFIED THROUGH:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/abcflag.htm
THIS ONE NEEDS TO BE CIRCULATED...QUICKLY !!!!!!!!!

[Unquenchable Angst]

http://a4cgr.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/03-1130/

Department of inJUSTICE drops Monsanto anti trust suits.


http://www.projectcensored.org/

[PB the Deplorable]

... WE ARE SLOWLY LOSING EVERYTHING OUR COUNTRY STANDS
FOR...

We've already lost the Obama Media.   The people making decisions are Statists, and Statists hate what the United States stands for and what made us great.  I think it's a good thing they remove our symbols from their clothes.  They are no longer with us and shouldn't pretend to be.

The day we knew for sure we'd lost the media was on a PBS roundtable discussion back in 1989.  Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree asked panelists Peter Jennings and Mike Wallace a hypothetial question:  if they were traveling with the enemy on the battlefield as journalists, heard of plans to ambush American soldiers, and had the opportunity to warn them, would they warn the American troops or would they be 'neutral' and just cover the event.

Neither one even blinked before answering that they were journalists first and getting ambush footage for the evening news would come before warning the U.S. troops. 

Pretty easy to guess what young journalism majors are being taught by watching how the corporate news industry operates.  In lockstep.

We should demand every one of them remove their flag pins.

[Pragmier]

Say Goodbye to ABC TV !!!!!
ABC News Joins Obama- Bans American Flag Lapel Pins!!!!!

THIS HAS BEEN VERIFIED THROUGH:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/abcflag.htm
THIS ONE NEEDS TO BE CIRCULATED...QUICKLY !!!!!!!!!

I'm curious how you connected this to Obama? The link posted has this title:

During the Days After 9/11 ABC News Discouraged the Wearing of American Flag Pins by Reporters

"The Truth: The terrorist attacks on America of September 11, 2001 ..."

Let's circulate this QUICKLY!!  :

Neither one even blinked before answering that they were journalists first and getting ambush footage for the evening news would come before warning the U.S. troops.

Actually, Peter Jennings said he would warn the Americans, then Mike Wallace gave the opposite opinion. The audio is not very clear, but later in the discussion it appears Jennings was somewhat swayed by Wallace's argument. But Jennings most definitely DID "blink".

Here's the video at Media Research Center.


Apart from all that, the Media Research Center gives the PBS airing of this as a reason for defunding public broadcasting. Which makes no sence - this was not a slanted panel. Also at the roundtable are others (including military and Newt Gingrich) that opposed and criticized Wallace, and he was pressed by the moderator.

They claim:  "PBS journalism panel presses Mike Wallace, Peter Jennings to agree they would need to sell out American troops to maintain journalistic integrity." That's not what the video shows. And for the record, I do believe Wallace was wrong.

[Sardondi]

FWIW, the bottom line is both Wallace (proudly) and Jennings (with some reticence) declared they were more loyal to the amorphous concept of "journalism" than they were to the lives of the sons of the men and women who made their very comfortable lives as neo-aristocrats possible.

While I've never heard him address it, I would think that Wallace's journalist son, Chris, lacks his father's alienation and cold hateur, and suspect that his answer would be very different indeed.

[Pragmier]

Chris Wallace Remembers His Dad Mike Wallace on FOX NEWS SUNDAY

Very touching.

[b_dubb]

this thread has gone so far to the right that it has left the .... Internet?

[Nucky Nolan]

this thread has gone so far to the right that it has left the .... Internet?

Shirley, you jest. Only Chairman Mao could post that with a straight face.

[PB the Deplorable]

this thread has gone so far to the right that it has left the .... Internet?

So post something else. 

I try to keep mine to what policies are in the best interest of the US in foreign affairs, and what makes for a healthy economy - mostly on topics that most people in both parties agreed with not that long ago - and which people in office and potentially in office are the best and least fit to make that happen

[Pragmier]

Well well it seems the Brotherhood may have overplayed their hand. Let's hope true democracy wins out.

Islamists battle opponents as Egypt descends into political turmoil

The large scale and intensity of the fighting marked a milestone in Egypt's rapidly entrenched schism, pitting Morsi's Brotherhood and ultra-conservative Islamists in one camp, against liberals, leftists and Christians in the other.

[Nucky Nolan]

Well well it seems the Brotherhood may have overplayed their hand. Let's hope true democracy wins out.

Islamists battle opponents as Egypt descends into political turmoil

The Arab Spring led to a bloody fall. What unknown devil will replace this one?

[PB the Deplorable]

The Arab Spring led to a bloody fall. What unknown devil will replace this one?

The kingdoms are being phased out, and the military dictatorship strongmen are being phased out. The only contenders left are the Jihadi's.

The Arabs and others need democratic infrastructure before they can achieve any kind of lasting democracy - democracy doesn't just start from nothing.  The US has been encouraging things like legislative bodies, a free press, a military under civilian oversight, an indpendent judiciary, etc, but these ideas institutions take time to become accepted as normal and entrenched.  Look how easy it was for Morsi to basically declare himself above the law and purge any opposition.


Any democracy is going to be short lived and any democracy movement willl likely be weak and won't even out live the regime they are tryong to overthrow.  Islam is not only the religion, it's the law and the government as well - and that is incompatable with democracy.  The first step is the reform of Islam.  Good luck with that.