The Unpersuaded
It’s a good thing somebody’s evaluating this stuff against data, and not whim or instinct. (via)
Posts tagged politics
Posted 1 week ago
Potus 2012
The more I think about it, the more I get exhausted and theorize: this is America’s opportunity to just say fuck it and confirm that being rich is all that matters, and there’s no level of varnish or subtlety required on that score any longer. If we elect Romney.
Posted 2 months ago
Santorum backs nullifying existing gay marriages
There are 18,000 married gay and lesbian couples in California and at least 131,000 nationwide according to the 2010 census, conducted before New York state legalized same-sex marriage in July.
Rick Santorum says he’ll try to unmarry all of them if he’s elected president.
Does someone need to remind Santorum that he’s running for President, and not Mullah In Chief for the American Taliban?
Posted 2 months ago
Supreme Court to decide if corporations can be sued for human rights abuses
The Supreme Court will weigh next week whether corporations can be sued in the United States for suspected complicity in human rights abuses abroad, in a case being closely watched by businesses concerned about long and costly litigation.
The high court on Tuesday will consider the reach of a 1789 U.S. law that had been largely dormant until 1980, when human rights lawyers started using it, at first to sue foreign government officials. Then, over the next 20 years, the lawyers used the law to target multinational corporations.
The case before the court pits the Obama administration and human rights advocates against large companies and foreign governments over allegations that Royal Dutch Shell Plc helped Nigeria crush oil exploration protests in the 1990s.
Administration attorneys and lawyers for the plaintiffs contend corporations can be held accountable in U.S. courts for committing or assisting foreign governments in torture, executions or other human rights abuses.
Attorneys for corporations argue that only individuals, such as company employees or managers involved in the abuse, can be sued, a position adopted by a U.S. appeals court in New York. Other courts ruled corporations can be held liable.
Citizens United says that corporations are people with the same free speech rights. So if they are people they get the responsibilities along with the rights.
Emphasis mine.
Posted 3 months ago
Rep. John Boehner explains the 2012 GOP
In December 2010, Rep. John Boehner sat down with Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes to discuss his new speakership and the future of the GOP. Then Stahl asked about compromise. The following exchange occurred:
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: We have to govern, that’s what we were elected to do.
LESLEY STAHL: But governing means compromising.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: It means working together.
LESLEY STAHL: It also means compromising.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: It means finding common ground.
LESLEY STAHL: Ok, is that compromising?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: Let me be clear I am not going to compromise on my principles, nor am I going to compromise the will of the American people.
LESLEY STAHL: You’re saying “I want common ground but I’m not going to compromise.” I don’t understand that, I really don’t.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: When you say the word compromise, a lot of Americans look up and go, “oh, oh, they’re going to sell me out.” And so finding common ground, I think, makes more sense.
LESLEY STAHL: [Your] goal had been to get all the Bush tax cuts made permanent. So you did compromise.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: We found common ground.
LESLEY STAHL: Why won’t you say— you’re afraid of the word!
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: I reject the word.
John Boehner won’t say the word and you can’t make him. To today’s GOP, everything is a last stand and to give an inch is to give in completely.
This is the oddest election season, and I believe will go further down the rabbit hole before it ends.
This isn’t just the GOP, btw. This characterizes all American politics - the substance doesn’t matter, as long as no one attaches an undesirable-in-the-press word to our name, shit is getting done.
Posted 3 months ago
”When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference - like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. That’s not right. Americans know it’s not right. They know that this generation’s success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to their country’s future, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility.” — President Barack Obama.
Posted 4 months ago
Posted 4 months ago
ACTA in a Nutshell –
What is ACTA? ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A new intellectual property enforcement treaty being negotiated by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan, with Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada recently announcing that they will join in as well.
Why should you care about ACTA? Initial reports indicate that the treaty will have a very broad scope and will involve new tools targeting “Internet distribution and information technology.”
What is the goal of ACTA? Reportedly the goal is to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.
Essential ACTA Resources -
- Read more about ACTA here: ACTA Fact Sheet
- Read the authentic version of the ACTA text as of 15 April 2011, as finalized by participating countries here: ACTA Finalized Text
- Follow the history of the treaty’s formation here: ACTA history
- Read letters from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wherein he challenges the constitutionality of ACTA: Letter 1 | Letter 2 | Read the Administration’s Response to Wyden’s First Letter here: Response
- Watch a short informative video on ACTA: ACTA Video
- Watch a lulzy video on ACTA: Lulzy Video
- Reuters: ACTA signed in Tokyo: Article
- United States ACTA: Read
- European Union Trade Commission ACTA: Read
- Australian Gov’t ACTA: Read
- Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic: Read
- ACTA Undermines Access to Medicines: Article
Say NO to ACTA. It is essential to spread awareness and get the word out on ACTA.
Posted 5 months ago
@Google: Lawrence Lessig: Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It
Long - but worth every minute.
Posted 8 months ago
Meet Peter Waldron, the Michele Bachmann staffer widely credited with being responsible for securing the Christian voters that led to Bachmann winning the Iowa Straw Poll last weekend. You’ve probably never heard of him before, because he’s spent a good portion of the past number of years in Africa.
Or rather, in jail in Africa. For terrorism.
Waldron, who posed as an American CIA agent (He’s not one.) while in Uganda, worked extensively with David Bahati and Pastor Martin Ssempa to promote the country’s internationally-decried Kill The Gays Bill – the piece of legislation seeking to punish homosexuals with the death penalty.
At some point during his pretend spy games or his campaigning to round up and kill off all of Uganda’s LGBT citizens, Waldron was arrested for illegal possession of assault rifles and ammunition just days before the country’s first multi-party election in two decades. Now what on earth would a good ol’ Christian fella need assault rifles for on election day?
Waldron was charged with terrorism, and locked in jail for 37 days until the Bush administration intervened and had him set free in 2006.
Which bring us to today. Peter Waldron has been hired to serve as a senior staff member for Michele Bachmann‘s presidential campaign. Again, a convicted terrorist who advocates the murder of an entire country’s LGBT population, and who allegedly planned on getting all assault rifle-y on election day has been hired by Michele Bachmann to help her win the American presidential election.
No – seriously.
there ya go.
AAAAAARRRGGG. and I thought that last one was bad.
member of Broken Fader Cartel. appreciator of dilapidated things. lover of animals and haverchuckles. Curator of stupid hoomans. Oh yeah, I've worked here and here for a good long while now.
