American Midterm Elections

[Skrtel Milk]

McCain isn't constantly badgered by the press and Democrats to produce a birth certificate to prove he was born on American soil

 

Obama will be haunted down by the "birthers" as long as he don't present his original paper birth certificate. He hasn't. The thing his camp have presented is Certificate of Live Birth - a digital document not signed by a doctor present at birth or a representative of the hospital.

 

Until he presents this they will hold his feet to the fire.

 

A silly thing from my perspective because there are a lot of other, more important thing to be focused on.

 

It doesn't help him either when his whole family talk about other countries being his "home country".

[WaltonRed]

Obama will be haunted down by the "birthers" as long as he don't present his original paper birth certificate. He hasn't. The thing his camp have presented is Certificate of Live Birth - a digital document not signed by a doctor present at birth or a representative of the hospital.

 

Until he presents this they will hold his feet to the fire.

 

A silly thing from my perspective because there are a lot of other, more important thing to be focused on.

 

It doesn't help him either when his whole family talk about other countries being his "home country".

 

1st off. Birthers are just racist mongs. If you think the CIa would allow the president to president without him being a US born citizen you must be a mong

 

2nd, you mean like the milliions of Italian americans and countless others who call other places home.

 

Its racism plain and simple.

[dennis tooth]

"The two-party system has given this country the war of Lyndon Johnson, the Watergate of Nixon and the incompetence of Carter. Saying we should keep the two-party system simply because it is working is like saying the Titanic voyage was a success because a few people survived on life rafts."

—Eugene J. McCarthy, 1978

 

If John McCain were president, we can never be exactly sure what would be happening, but I think we can make some educated speculations.

 

First of all, the "banksters" would be receiving their carte blanche bailouts and Ben Bernanke would have been re-appointed as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

 

Robert Gates would probably still be the secretary of defence and Sarah Palin would be offering late night comedians endless fodder for their monologues.

 

If John McCain happened to be the one infesting the Oval Office at this time, single-payer health care would surely be "off the table". I am confident that a health care "reform" bill probably would have contained massive giveaways to the insurance and big pharmaceutical industries, with no "robust" public option.

 

We citizens would, I’m sure, have been forced to purchase insurance from the very same insurance companies that spread out a largess of nearly $170m lobbying dollars to Congress in 2009. If we are one of the "lucky ones" that happen to already have coverage, we would have been taxed for the benefit.

 

McCain and 'justice'

 

Without a doubt, McCain’s Justice Department would be protecting war criminals - like John Yoo - of the preceding administration and the McCain Department of Justice (DOJ) would probably be vigorously defending the discriminatory practise of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell for the military.

 

More than likely, under this nightmarish scenario, McCain’s Federal Bureau of Investigation would be committing home invasion break-ins (designated as "legal raids") to intimidate activists.

 

McCain probably would have given himself the power to be judge and jury over any American citizen that didn’t approve of his foreign policy.

 

There is not even a shadow of doubt that McCain would be feigning strictness with Israel, while turning a blind eye to the continued expansions of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the completely immoral and destructive blockade of Gaza.

 

If the unthinkable occurred and McCain beat Obama in 2008, official unemployment would be hovering around 10 per cent (unofficial around 20 per cent). And one in every five homes would be in danger of being foreclosed upon. We might even be experiencing the widest income disparity between the rich and poor that we have seen since before the stock market crash of 1929!

 

McCain, being the "brave" military man, may have tripled troop deployments to Afghanistan and the needless deaths of US troops and Afghan civilians would probably have increased dramatically. I am sure that McCain would have given huge contracts to the US war machine for drones, mercenaries, airplanes and other military hardware.

 

Being a loyal Bushite, McCain would probably be conscientiously following the Status of Forces Agreement for the slow withdrawal from Iraq that was negotiated between the Bush government, and the puppet regime in Iraq.

 

At least we aren't bombing Iran!

 

I get informed all the time, that even though "Obama isn’t so great", at least he hasn’t invaded Iran yet, and McCain surely would have been bombing Iran by now.

 

Okay so rhetoric towards Iran would be heigtened, but whether McCain would have waged another military campaign during the current political climate would be an assumption too far.

 

Gosh, if McCain were president right now, the defense budget might be the largest - $741.2bn - since World War II. He might have even asked for billions upon billions of supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Horrors!

 

Of course, a McCain education budget would only be about 1/10th of the defense budget at $78bn. And, a McCain education plan would probably contain lots of rigorous testing if the states were to want more desperately needed funds.

 

If McCain were president, there would be an active "anti-war" movement. However - as during the Bush years - the "movement" wouldn’t be so much antiwar, but anti-war waged by the Republicans. The anti-Republican movement wants no systemic change, it just wants Democrats in office.

 

Blurring the political divide

 

However in almost every case, Democrat equals the status quo.

 

Of course, in all of my above scenarios, Obama and his regime have done all of those things that people were afraid that McCain would do, but there’s an extremely small outcry.

 

Here we are, once again, careening madly down the path to electoral ruin—where voting for the "lesser of two evils" has become a national pastime.

 

When the elite class gives the appearance of only two choices on the ballot, we end up voting "against" a candidate far more times than we vote "for" someone.

 

What’s wrong with us? We are lazy, we are fearful, the establishment beats us down, we are ignorant, and we are defeated. Voting at least gives us the latent feeling that we are doing something, when we are really doing very little.

 

We righteously march down to our polling place, like good soldiers for the status quo. We vote. We get our little stickers with an American flag that proudly proclaims: I VOTED. But when we vote for a member of the political duopoly, we are only voting for "Dee or Dum".

 

The Democrats had their chance during the last four years, and instead of passing progressive legislation and ending the wars, they have pandered to the right, which has been emboldened by the power the Democrats gave it.

 

Now the Republicans are poised to take over at least the House of Representatives. And Democrats will begin to spew progressivism out of their lying mouths and abuse the energy of their newly-angry base to try to regain power - like the Republicans have done effectively for the past two years.

 

Will progressives ever learn that political pandering and fear-based voting never brings anything but defeat, or are we trapped in a vicious cycle of our own making?

 

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. Since then, she has been an activist for peace and human rights. She has published five books, has her own Internet radio show, Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox, and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Cindy lives in Oakland, CA, and loves to spend time with her three grand-babies. You can learn more about Cindy at Peace of the Action.

[Trumo]

The whole thing is just symptomatic of where politics is at globally. It's more about talking to the voters, being able to read an autocue and having a ready smile rather than the ability to do something actually worthwhile. People are more prepared to listen to a master of the soundbite rather than someone who's prepared to outline their plans in greater detail but who lacks charisma. Actually, it's not just in politics. It applies in business too. How many people are brilliant in job interviews but fucking incompetent at actually doing the job?

[mattyq]

Saw a bit of the Jon Stewart/Colbert Washington rally and the banners and was reminded again why America is such a great place and the vast majority of Americans are really cool people.

Obviously there are a lot of nutjobs but in a country of 300 million you're going to get them.

 

The 100 Best Signs At The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear: Pics, Videos, Links, News

[Skrtel Milk]

1st off. Birthers are just racist mongs. If you think the CIa would allow the president to president without him being a US born citizen you must be a mong

 

2nd, you mean like the milliions of Italian americans and countless others who call other places home.

 

Its racism plain and simple.

 

1st off. Then why can't he present his birth certificate?

 

2nd. Oh, CIA the organization caught with their pants down in drug trafficking and the murder of about 5-6 million people in secret drug funded wars since 1945. Yes, they wouldn't allow such a thing with their moral platform.

 

3rd. You base your argument on faith.

 

4th. I don't care. But yes, I might be a mong.

[WaltonRed]

1st off. Then why can't he present his birth certificate?

 

2nd. Oh, CIA the organization caught with their pants down in drug trafficking and the murder of about 5-6 million people in secret drug funded wars since 1945. Yes, they wouldn't allow such a thing with their moral platform.

 

3rd. You base your argument on faith.

 

4th. I don't care. But yes, I might be a mong.

 

1. why the fuck should he to a bunch of mongs? Then once he did that it'd be something else they'd want from him.

 

2. exactly, the same cia who've played a part in numerous terrible things (understatment) they'd think nothing of bumping him off or revealing him as a fraud if he was.

 

3. I dont base it on faith, its cos he's Black he's not allowed to call Kenya home but other people are allowed cos they arent President.

[Digger's Peg]

I think many Americans will relish not giving up half their paycheck anymore and love some tax breaks.

 

Obama couldn't follow through on...well...anything. He's a liar and a puppet and the guy talking about his speeches being shit is right. Without a teleprompter and all that he sounds like a dipshit....his wife too.

 

And that's the way it works in American politics if you aren't familiar. One side wins and fucks up, then the other side takes over and fucks up and it goes back and forth.

 

It's our turn to try now. You can bet that fuckin healthcare bill will be back on the floor reallllly soon.

 

Tax breaks? You do realise that under Obama, all Americans have the lowest tax rate in 60 years? Pay attention to your pay slip, not Fox. The proposed tax increase is for people earning over $200,000. Why are conservatives always ignoring this fact?

 

Oh, and I see you are relishing tearing apart the Heathcare Bill. I honestly hope that you have the very best insurance, have no kids, no pre-existing condition from before you started your health insurance plan, and have a large wad of money put away for the myriad of things your policy doesn't/refuses to pay for.

[Digger's Peg]

1st off. Then why can't he present his birth certificate?

 

It's been publicly available since early 2008...

 

[llego]

Its fucking grim right now.

 

Thank god we held the senate and kept Harry Reid.

[Joe Le Taxi]

I have to know where you guys get your information from. Reading foreigners views on our political landscape cracks me up sometimes.

 

And Section 31, we have not realized the Rome inevitability yet, but i would say we should look to British history to try and avoid it.

 

I quoted an American and referred to reliable statistical figures about US views on evolution and on Obama; I don't see how that can really be defined as a foreigner's views. If you google any of the above then you'll see exactly where I get the views from, Hermano.

 

It's a Jersey thing...

[aikido]

It's a Jersey thing...

 

Easy now, you'll upset our guidos (6)

[Skrtel Milk]

It's been publicly available since early 2008...

 

 

That's not a birth certificate.

 

We'll just put this one down. Too much emotions involved.

 

I give you all my mong love.

 

Edit: Cheers, llegovski! Much appreciated! :)

[Section_31]

(1) Americans have been raised having it good.

 

(2) The Republicans under Reagan set about waging war against the working man and making the states all about big business, Wall Street, the elite.

 

(3) Decades on and the working class is floundering. Whole industries have been off-shored, America depended too much on the banks.

 

(4) Under the Republican watch again, the banks were allowed to run wild - sowing the seeds of the credit crunch.

 

(5) The bubble burst, credit was no good.

 

(6) America's great love of cheap goods which paved the way for globalisation meant that - without the finance sector - it was exposed and had no 'real' economy left to speak of. Its car industries were dying, its inner cities floundered. The banks - which had been allowed to become predatory just like all big business in the States, went wild - reposessed homes and allowed firms to go bust - because that's what they do, they don't think in the long term, they have the eye on the quick buck - just like the war planners of the Pentagon and the people who built the levvies of New Orleans.

 

(7) Obams KNOWS all of this. He tried to pump cash into the country's industry, to turn ordinary 'middle class' people the power to become the economic engine rather tham big business. Big business doesn't like this, and neither do the many senators and media moguls on their pay roll.

 

(8) Progress has been slow, and his enemies have pinned points 2-6 above all on him, promissing the people they can have the good times again, they can have cheap 'gas' and food, and that their industries will burn bright again, that homes will be affordable again.

 

But they won't, the damage has been done long ago - the family silver has been sold, people are just being led by the nose into blaming the wrong people. When they realise this, I fear the ultimate outcome will involve hunting riffles and lots of mass-produced American flags.

[dennis tooth]

Obama's a sell out who is running out of outs to sell to people, the realists know, the idealists know and the pragmatics are wavering. His right wing policies could never and have not impressed the right wing while the left wing can see through and wonder what hope is left.

 

It was clear all along though if you saw what his policies were. Another centre-right like Clinton and Blair but at least the old man doesn't get his hand on the nukes-it could be worse which is were American politics is at the moment-one direction, the pull of the elites and it's inhabitants with it. Down the hole with the rest of us.

[a stoner]

I must admit I really couldn't give a shit about them.

[piscinin]

I must admit I really couldn't give a shit about them.

 

You should because like the little brother that we are, we will be getting the hand me downs. Our system has all the same fatal flaws the only difference is timing and magnitude.

[Whelan]

Fuck me!

 

 

[YOUTUBE]lA-cpzGWVwE[/YOUTUBE]

[Bladeofchaos]

Im lost for words about that interview.... Why can't we have the rapture so i can get my planet back.

[Section_31]

The American Taliban

 

"We are engaged in a social, political, and cultural war. There's a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But the bottom line is somebody's values will prevail. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe."

 

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

 

"Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."

 

"Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of 'kill everyone who doesn't smell bad and doesn't answer to the name Mohammed'

 

"The New York Times and Washington Post are both infested with homosexuals themselves. Just about every person down there is a homosexual or lesbian."

 

"All Latins are volatile people. Hence, I was not surprised at the volatile reaction."

 

"Your tax dollars are being used to pay for grade-school classes that teach our children that cannibalism, wife-swapping and murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior."

 

"Homosexuals are weak, morally sick wretches."

 

 

[setreal]

That's not a birth certificate.

 

We'll just put this one down. Too much emotions involved.

 

 

Yes it is. No emotions. Its just a fact.

[King Emlyn]

[YOUTUBE]wniGFm_jgRI[/YOUTUBE]

[King Emlyn]

I just give up with these youtube thingies.

 

EDIT: Ah got there

[Section_31]

[YOUTUBE]wniGFm_jgRI[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

 

:thumbup:

[Digger's Peg]

Fuck me!

 

 

[YOUTUBE]lA-cpzGWVwE[/YOUTUBE]

 

:wallbutt:

 

Two things that immediately struck me in the first minute of that

 

1) The commentator is European

2) The USA was the epicentre of the worldwide recession

 

I really can't understand why the Christian Right aren't embarrassed by this kind of reporting