How does Sarah Plain-lin answer questions
Posted by: aman on: October 5, 2008
This is ridiculously funny.
They missed a couple of winks from the “motherblinker”. That is important because, remember, she said, “You can’t Blink”.
Flowchart: Ezra Klein
Lou Dobbs and the liberal media
Posted by: aman on: October 1, 2008
- In: Media| Politics| United States
- 1 Comment
The populist champion railing against the free market is really what gets my goat. This guy, who calls himself Mr. Independent, is the most opinionated hateful guys on TV but since he rails against Bush as well, he seems to escape under the radar.
If you hear some of his positions though, it doesn’t take long to figure out what sort of a doofus he is. Calls China – “communist China” at every instance forgetting or perhaps not understanding, or maybe misleading the American public into this idea that Communism is rearing its head and we should be really afraid.
Today though, he raised his idiocy to a completely new level. There was a segment on his show about how the “elite liberal media” (oh yea!) is so biased against Palin and Biden is getting a free pass for his gaffes. And then he quotes a figure saying Biden is up 5 or 6 to 1 compared to Palin when it comes to gaffes.
Would someone tell this idiot that Biden has appeared in 84 interviews compared to Palin’s 3 (if you really want to count the one with Hannity) since they were chosen as the VP nominee. So now you are going to compare 3 interviews to 84 and pull out this figure of 5 to 1 out of your empty head and make is sound logical. Did this idiot even give a minute’s thought to how many gaffes Palin would commit if she were to appear for 84 interviews. And then there is this figure of 5 to 1. Just pulled a number out of thin air, like those morons at Faux do all the time.
Lou Dobbs is nothing but a populist hack who should shut his dumb mouth once and for all.
Of course, I have foreign policy experience
Posted by: aman on: October 1, 2008
McCain failed in his first executive decision. The first decision was choosing a running mate and he decided, rather foolishly, on the governor of Alaska – Sarah Palin. This lady, except being big on conservative wedge issues like Abortion and gun rights is the biggest doofus you could imagine in the position of a VP. She doesn’t even know what a VP does, and yet, she didn’t BLINK when offered this position.
Right wing and left wing pundits and the media have rightly lambasted her for her goof-ups; the most recent of which came on her interview with Katie Couric. She actually had the nerve to defend her statement that she has foreign policy experience because it is right next to Alaska. How absurd does it have to get before we get up and say, enough is enough!!!
Laugh, I say, if you can for a moment forget who you are entrusting your country to.
Transport costs could alter world trade
Posted by: aman on: August 17, 2008
- In: News
- Leave a Comment
Hitting where it hurts. Just like cheaper goods from foreign lands caused the spurge in globalisation and global warming, it seems that the rising costs due to transportation will finally be the death knell of it. And it is about time too.
A couple of days ago I had gone to Ikea and bought some candles. I came home and saw that those candles were actually made in Poland. For some reason I didn’t check it out in the store else I would not have bought it. Thinking about it, it just makes no sense at all to me. Why can’t they be made locally over here? Why do candles have to be put on a monstrous ship and transported across the atlantic. The candles cost $2.99. I cannot believe that the candles could not be manufactured here for about the same price. Why spend so much on transporting something that could so easily be made locally.
I could understand buying something from remote lands if there is no chance of it being produced locally. Think spices from India and the old silk route. But now with the technological advances, it is quite possible to produce most of our consumption needs locally. Buy local should be the new mantra.
No one will wake up though unless it hurts their purse strings. And that is exactly what seems to be in the offing. As this article points out, globalisation is reversible.
From the article:
Offshore momentum slows
Higher shipping costs are casting a chill on what had seemed an unstoppable trend toward the offshoring of U.S. jobs and production. In an April survey of nearly 1,000 companies by RSM McGladrey, the number planning to move offshore fell by 20% from a year earlier.
A follow-up report that the Minneapolis-based consultants released on July 31 showed that businesses are increasingly focused on their transportation costs. In a survey of 357 small and midsize businesses, 52% said they expect “dramatic increases” in their freight costs, vs. 20% that identified transport charges as a worry three months earlier.
“Where things are being made is going to change,” says McGladrey executive Tom Murphy. There already are tentative signs that well-established patterns are in flux. Through July 19, U.S. railroads had carried 5 million shipping containers, down 3.4% compared with the same period last year.
In May, Swedish furniture maker Ikea announced plans for a 930,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Danville, Va. The company decided to open its first U.S. production facility in part because the cost of shipping its Expedit bookshelves, Lack coffee tables and Besta entertainment centers exceeded the cost of making them, says spokesman Joseph Roth.
Some hope for the buy local proponents I guess.
Scott Ritter: Very few Americans function as citizens anymore
Posted by: aman on: December 22, 2007
It’s difficult to explain [the opposition]. First of all you have to note, from the public side, that very few Americans actually function as citizens anymore. What I mean by that are people who invest themselves in this country, people who care, who give a damn. Americans are primarily consumers today, and so long as they continue to wrap themselves in the cocoon of comfort, and the system keeps them walking down a road to the perceived path of prosperity, they don’t want to rock the boat. If it doesn’t have a direct impact on their day-to-day existence, they simply don’t care.There’s a minority of people who do, but the majority of Americans don’t. And if the people don’t care – and remember, the people are the constituents – if the constituents don’t care, then those they elect to higher office won’t feel the pressure to change.
Read the whole interview here. On the same topic, also read what Iacocca has to say; where the hell is our outrage:
“Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening?” Iacocca writes. “Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course.’”
Good reading. I doubt whether it makes any difference to anyone whatsoever anymore, but it is good to see that there are still people who aren’t afraid to speak the truth.
5 reasons not to vote for Ron Paul
Posted by: aman on: December 20, 2007
There are plenty of reasons why you should vote for Ron Paul but try talking to a Ron Paul supporter and ask them to mention 1 reason why not to vote for Ron Paul and you will be called all sorts of names. They almost appear like the Bushies (thats slang for the Bush supporters) and almost think Paul is an incarnation of Christ who can do no wrong. I find this blind allegiance scary. It is okay to question even someone you support and I would certainly vote for RP if it Kucinich and Gravel weren’t on the ballot list. He is right on a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean he is right on everything. Also, questioning some of his policies or stance, doesn’t make you any less loyal than another supporter.
So here’s my list of 5 reasons why I would not vote for Ron Paul and the RP supporters would be well advised to ask him these questions.
1. War Reparations: Ron Paul doesn’t believe in providing war reparations to the Iraqis. He just dismisses that issue with a very cavalier atttitude saying “it was a mistake”. Well, yes, it was a mistake. But what mistake did the Iraqis commit? Did they ask the US to invade them and free them? Did they ask Saddam to rule over them in a despotic manner?
This position of RP is absolutely morally reprehensible to me. I detest this whole idea that the US is better than other countries. Every nation in the past has provided War reparations and so should the US of A. Not all Germans were Nazi sympathisers nor were all Japanese imperialists and yet Germany and Japan provided war reparations and that is the first step that the US should take while asking for an apology from the Iraqis and the world. Check this video see his position on War Reparations.
2. Net Neutrality: Comcast recently blocked some torrent traffic and everyday we hear of a new corporation choosing and picking what net traffic gets preference. Net Neutrality will make sure the Net remains Neutral but Ron Paul voted against it. I understand Paul is for limited government and intervention, but who else will police these corporations? Should the corporatiosn be left to police themselves. This is another ridiculous policy position by Ron Paul.
3. Global Warming: Ron Paul is obviously out to lunch here. His positions of free market and the cavalier attitude of personal responsibility is fatally flawed. That is all we have been doing so far. Asking the corporations to own up to their responsibility and it has not worked in the least bit. His positions are almost similar to Bush. When a majority of scientists in the world are pleading for some action his attitude on global warming is very scary.
4. Abortion: Ron Paul is against government intervention in private space but he doesn`t mind intervening in a woman`s uterus. He wants people to vote on whether a woman can have an abortion or not. The fact that he wants the states to choose and decide doesn’t change anything. What about a woman’s right in this issue since he is so for life and liberty. Since he is also against welfare, who will help the woman from the poorer class to feed her child. Who is he or anyone else to pass moral judgement on what a woman can or can not do.
5. United Nations: Ron Paul wants to move out of the United Nations. It is a noble organisation and its credibility is in tatters and that is all thanks to the US. Yet he will choose to completely move out of the United Nations and never intervene anywhere except if the security of the US is threatened. That means he won’t intervene in cases such as Rwanda and Darfur. That is morally reprehensible and disgusting.
It is no different than Bush’s position of intervening everywhere for US interests, just happens to be on the opposite SELFISH extreme.
Think about it Ron Paul supporters and question Dr. Paul on some of these issues. As Albert Einstein said: Unthinking Respect for Authority is the Greatest Enemy of Truth.
There is also another list of 10 reasons why not to vote for Ron Paul. Do have a look.
Cuban Missile Crisis and Bay of Pigs invasion one and same
Posted by: aman on: December 11, 2007
Just how profoundly ignorant from a historical perspective you have to be if you are in the Bush regime or indeed a supporter of the Bush regime was exemplified by none other than Dana Perino; the White House press secretary.The White House spokesperson who often starts sentences with “…if we take a historical perspective” knows nothing about history at all. How else can you justify her comments. According to this story when a reporter asked her:
“Do you want to address the remarks by President Putin, who said the United States setting up a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe was like the Soviet Union putting missiles in Cuba, setting up a Cuban missile crisis?”, she replied saying:
“I was panicked a bit because I really don’t know about . . . the Cuban Missile Crisis,” said Perino, who at 35 was born about a decade after the 1962 U.S.-Soviet nuclear showdown. “It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I’m pretty sure.”
Now this is a person who speaks for the White House or in other words for the President of the United States and she doesn’t even know the difference between the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs invasion by the US. She is just like the other Bushies, profoundly ignorant of just about everything including history.
Welcome to the Fascist states of America
Posted by: aman on: November 30, 2007
It is incredible seeing the complete apathy of the populace in face of actions such as these. If actions such as holding a journalist from a Pulitzer prize winning AP journalistic team for 19 months without any charge alarmed you, that was only the tip of the iceberg.
Now the fire fighters are being trained to report people who express discontent with the government. Absolutely mind numbingly amazing! This is the sort of stuff that goes on in Burma and North Korea and used to happen in Eastern Europeans states like Poland, in Chile under Pinochet, in Russia under Stalin not to mention Hitler and Mussolini. State spies are everywhere and USA is definitely moving in that direction. This should be alarming but except the Keith Olberman show, this hasn’t even been mentioned in the so called liberal media. Here are some details that have emerged:
It was revealed last week that firefighters are being trained to not only keep an eye out for illegal materials in the course of their duties, but even to report back any expression of discontent with the government.
A year ago, Homeland Security gave security clearances to nine New York City fire chiefs and began sharing intelligence with them. Even before that, fire department personnel were being taught “to identify material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities” and were also “told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States.”
This program seems to be turning [firefighters], essentially, into legally protected domestic spies, does it not?”
And before the Bush apologists come in here and try to defend this and call it a liberal conspiracy, this is not a partisan view. LewRockwell, one of the prominent conservative magazines says the same thing about the current state of affairs in the US of A.
Thought police anyone? It is pretty amazing that George Orwell’s predictions are all coming true in a hurry.
As Sinclair Lewis said: When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.
Guarding against US interference in Indian foreign policy
Posted by: aman on: November 29, 2007
What I have always failed to understand is the almost unconditional support to the Indo-US nuclear deal. Anyone with the temerity to question it and set some conditions has to be labelled a communist sissy without so much as a second thought to the concerns raised. Whether those concerns are valid or not could only be determined with careful consideration but that almost never happens. While I want to make it clear that I am “for” the deal, although it is yet one more example of the hypocrisy of the US foreign policy, it should not be unconditional and without safeguards.
And the first safeguard should be non-intervention by the US in India’s foreign policy or internal affairs. For anyone who has read ever the bare minimum about US foreign policy or taken a peek into the history, there are multiple examples of the arm-twisting of nations by the United States. And that makes it a very valid argument. Today came yet another example of a US attempt to influence and India’s policy with a letter by Democrat Tom Lantos to the Indian prime minister warning him that “New Delhi’s ties with Iran had significant potential to harm India-U.S. relations and the landmark deal.”. According to this report:
The letter — signed by Democrat Tom Lantos, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, senior Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and others — was the third, and strongest, in recent days expressing concern over relations between New Delhi and Tehran.
They urged India to end what they said was “military cooperation” with old friend Iran and terminate participation in the development of Tehran’s energy sector.
And this is not new. There has been instances in the past too where the US has tried to further its own interests by trying to influence Indian foreign policy. The Indian government should, and I believe it will, protest at this open interference in India’s internal affairs and foreign policy. I wonder what the realists think of this interference.
As Douglas MacArthur said -“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation”
Land of the free, with exceptions
Posted by: aman on: November 28, 2007
- In: Democracy| Media| News| Opinion| United States| War on Iraq
- 5 Comments
The highly delusional state of the US populace would be mildly entertaining, were it not for the gravity of the situation and the respect of basic human rights and the tenets of International law and democracy. United States is called the “land of the free and home of the brave”. Bravery, it seems, has taken on a different meaning. It now means invading a country that caused no harm to the United States and dropping cluster bombs from high up in the sky and killing civilians. And “land of the free” means, you can hold a journalist for 19 months without laying any charges because he dared to publish pictures and stories that the objective (pun intended) embedded journalists never cared to show.I am talking about the AP journalist Bilal Hussein who has been in custody for 19 months without any charge whatsoever. From this report in the Washington Post:
Bilal has been imprisoned by the U.S. military in Iraq since he was picked up April 12, 2006, in Ramadi, a violent town in a turbulent province where few Western journalists dared go. The military claimed then that he had suspicious links to insurgents. This week, Editor & Publisher magazine reported the military has amended that to say he is, in fact, a “terrorist” who had “infiltrated the AP.”
We believe Bilal’s crime was taking photographs the U.S. government did not want its citizens to see. That he was part of a team of AP photographers who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for work in Iraq may have made Bilal even more of a marked man.
In the 19 months since he was picked up, Bilal has not been charged with any crime, although the military has sent out a flurry of ever-changing claims. Every claim we’ve checked out has proved to be false, overblown or microscopic in significance.
And if the above sound ridiculous, it doesn’t stop there. Now suddenly the military is going to charge him with something. Yes, something. What the charges are won’t be discussed, not even with his lawyer.
And there’s still some more, as if the above wasn’t enough. According to this report by Associated Press:
The Pentagon also raised the possibility that Bilal Hussein, who was part of the AP’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo team in 2005, could continue to be held even if the Iraqi court acquits him.
So why have a trial at all? Why not just hang him like Saddam with a puppet court.
USA is indeed the land of the free and home of the brave. Shameful!!
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