News that makes us laugh, cry, or both

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Wed May 20, 2009 7:49 am

FrankTrollman wrote:or the Bush administration's Refusal to deploy federal resources during the events surrounding Katrina. I mean, we're talking deliberate actions that directly cost the lives of thousands of Americans.

Thats not what I'd define as a gaffe. To be a gaffe it'd need to be a mistake, you don't accidentally not send aid to hurricane victims. Thats what I'd classify as malicious.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Wed May 20, 2009 7:52 am

Really, at least a difference of ideologies (Communism v. Capitalism) actually *meant* something.

No it didn't. Not with Norway and Chile on the Capitalist side and Cuba and India on the Communist side. They were just arbitrary lines based on which direction the guns happened to be pointing.

When Truman shook hands with Stalin to start a fake war to keep people in line on both sides of the curtain it was the worst mistake of his career. We should have just had a peace where we pledged to assist each other and not have any wars anymore.

I mean, there'd still be wars. It's just that we wouldn't have had nearly as many Red Scares or Gulags in the US or Russia.

-Username17

Caedrus · Post by **Caedrus** » Wed May 20, 2009 8:12 am

FrankTrollman wrote:
Really, at least a difference of ideologies (Communism v. Capitalism) actually *meant* something.
No it didn't. Not with Norway and Chile on the Capitalist side and Cuba and India on the Communist side. They were just arbitrary lines based on which direction the guns happened to be pointing.
When Truman shook hands with Stalin to start a fake war to keep people in line on both sides of the curtain it was the worst mistake of his career.

I mean, there'd still be wars. It's just that we wouldn't have had nearly as many Red Scares or Gulags in the US or Russia.

-Username17

You're right, of course. The choices made and politics conducted there were complete bullshit. I guess I just felt that the tensions were slightly less bullshit in their origins, but then again that's not saying much of anything, since it's still complete bullshit either way. I agree that the politicians were at least as fucking crazy at pretty much any point in the past.

We should have just had a peace where we pledged to assist each other and not have any wars anymore.

Wouldn't that be something. Nations working out their differences like mature adults.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Wed May 20, 2009 8:45 am

Lago PARANOIA wrote:
How do you propose to know what the policy's merits even are until you know what the policy is? And how do you know what the policy is until it's been communicated to you? Magic? Psedoscientific cow fart telepathy?
How about some basic fucking thought and research into what someone is telling you? If someone gives a big speech on why single-payer health care is good and the deciding factor was whether that person had good hair and a manly voice then your decision-making process sucks monkey fuck.

The key reason is that there are abillion ideas thrown at you a week, and indepth research/thought requires time that is just impossible to allocate to all ideas. So something has to attract your attention first.

mean_liar · Post by **mean_liar** » Wed May 20, 2009 1:07 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:
How do you propose to know what the policy's merits even are until you know what the policy is? And how do you know what the policy is until it's been communicated to you? Magic? Psedoscientific cow fart telepathy?
How about some basic fucking thought and research into what someone is telling you? If someone gives a big speech on why single-payer health care is good and the deciding factor was whether that person had good hair and a manly voice then your decision-making process sucks monkey fuck.

Communication is vital.

Here's the stimulus package:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_off ... b_external

It's dense, poorly organized, and references a lot of crap that I can't keep straight. Frankly, I need someone to explain it to me.

Primary sources are important documents but you may be overstating your knowledge base when you assume that they're all you'd ever need to reach an informed conclusion.

Not only that, but there are so many counterclaims available for any given argument you have to sift through a lot of documentation to have a well-founded confidence, which requires time and effort and well-directed Googling and probably a Lexis-Nexis account. It's a high hurdle.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:08 pm

it isn't clear cut as communism/capitalism.

it's fucking retarded is what it is.

America wanted Pakistan because they were targetting Afghanistan and so they were supplying weapons to Pakistan and America gave Pakistan some Uranium at that time.

USSR allied with India to get pakistan off Afghanistan's back.

ALong the way, the ISRO was developed which also lead to creation of nukes for India in the long run.

It's a shit storm.

Cuba and India was a trade pact way back when but I don't know enough about that.

NIcaragua and CHile is again to get to Fidel, Guevera, and the rest of those crazy, crazy des-POTS living in the jungles below Mexico.

By the way, Caedrus, if that one off line about me being very cynical was a jab at my name, I'll give you a golf clap for that.

Absentminded_Wizard · Post by **Absentminded_Wizard** » Sat May 23, 2009 6:02 am

How not to roll out a new currency

Caedrus · Post by **Caedrus** » Sat May 23, 2009 6:21 am

A_Cynic wrote:By the way, Caedrus, if that one off line about me being very cynical was a jab at my name, I'll give you a golf clap for that.

Yay, golf claps.

Gelare · Post by **Gelare** » Sat May 23, 2009 7:21 am

AW's article wrote:Several legislators have pointed out that the new bills were printed without the signature of the Minister of Finance, as required by the country's Monetary Law, effectively making them fake bills. "These bills are illegal and worthless and should only be used to play Monopoly," says opposition legislative leader Wilfredo Navarro.

Caedrus · Post by **Caedrus** » Sat May 23, 2009 8:40 am

http://epicputin.ytmnd.com/ <---Random Bush Gaff.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sun May 24, 2009 9:57 pm

A story about costco?

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Mon May 25, 2009 10:25 pm

http://www.thestar.com/article/639876

Perhaps justice shall be served. Slowly, but surely the we are winning.

zeruslord · Post by **zeruslord** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:19 pm

French lawyers look cooler than ours.

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Tue May 26, 2009 2:37 pm

The novel award winning scientist responsible for inventing Viagra is finally stiff

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Tue May 26, 2009 4:37 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8067908.stm Oh COME ON, Germany! This is ridiculous.

Heath Robinson · Post by **Heath Robinson** » Tue May 26, 2009 5:15 pm

Oh, joy. Kids shot other kids in Germany, so they're cracking down on stuff to silence the mothers who're bad at dealing with events of mind blowing improbability. It seems that so many people are now prying into others' lives and trying to stop them doing what they don't like purely because knowing that they stopped other people having fun arouses them. Not that things have ever been different, but I thought we were meant to be better these days.

The trivialising violence excuse? Complete bullshit. Germany plays Rugby.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Wed May 27, 2009 6:21 am

Huh. Well, that ain't good.

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:07 am

angelfromanotherpin wrote:Huh. Well, that ain't good.

Very, they have nukes and are rather nuts. Thats not a recipe for anything good.

zeruslord · Post by **zeruslord** » Wed May 27, 2009 7:48 pm

Colin Powell is apparently bad for the GOP

CNN wrote:Colin Powell stirred up the Republican Party's very public internal debate about the direction of the party and asserted it's losing because it doesn't appeal to moderates like him. Two Republican leaders questioned Powell's GOP credentials. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said Powell should leave the party. Former Vice President Dick Cheney said he thought he already had.

But among all voters questioned, Powell has a favorability rate of 70 percent compared to 30 percent for Limbaugh. A poll a week ago found that Cheney had a favorability rate of 37 percent.

Republican strategist and CNN contributor Mary Matalin challenged what she called the "liberal-lite" wing of the party and said Republicans win when they run on their conservative convictions.

Somehow, those numbers don't quite seem to match up with what she says. Just saying.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed May 27, 2009 8:39 pm

my friend pointed me to a blog talking about something in the whole prop 8 debacle that made me laugh:
Supreme Court gives the people what they want, and not one thing more.

It seems I can now laugh in the face of any conservative who thinks they won on that piece of bullshit.[/url]

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Fri May 29, 2009 5:48 am

Minimum Wage is Good for the Economy

Not really news but someone was railing against it before and I couldn't find the right thread

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Sat May 30, 2009 8:01 am

Scientology is banned from editting Wikipedia

Caedrus · Post by **Caedrus** » Sat May 30, 2009 11:03 am

ckafrica wrote:Scientology is banned from editting Wikipedia

+1 for the good guys!

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Sat May 30, 2009 5:40 pm

Another victory for `good censorship'!

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Sun May 31, 2009 1:44 am

Given that the OSA has people assigned to spread disinformation, lies, or simply deleting the truth, I think it was called for. But then, I'm biased.