"My sympathies to the land that used to be known as the United States of America.
Also, to the forum that used to be Tombs of Kobol. We will probably not be permitted to say things that go against the Party. We will have to keep our opinions to ourselves. The new Americanized KGB will probably shut down sites like this all over the internet.
Nice knowing you folks."
For example here. This weeping and gnashing of the teeth helps assuage my anger over other issues. As though Obama is going to overnight bring communism and thought control to the USA. Thank you for the links.
Well, work is split over the vote, and when they ask me I give them "I'm the boss" look. They know who and fuck if I am going to get into some possiblity argument that the universe will collapse. Already had that with an idiot who thinks because Obama won, his mother will now be thrown out, because we all know Presidents and presidents alone dictate taxes and every other policy under the sun.
I am glad the person I voted got into office because after eight years of this stupidity(most of which has made my job a weird hell in some ways in the past few). We need something better.
As for the conservative boards and such not? I hope you motherfuckers are pissing in your pants over your nonsensical bullshit. Sick and tired of hearing how if we aren't lock and step with you, America will drown in blood and cum.
MM /CF/WG/BOTM/JL/Original Warsie/ACPATHNTDWATGODW FOREVER!!
Sometimes we can choose the path we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all
I am so thrilled we all got to live a moment in history. A moment where you know people will be discussing it past your lifetime. The last time I felt like I was in a moment in history was during 9/11. Fortunately this is a far far better experience. I feel that we can finally bury the shit that was Bush and his administration from hell. We can move on as a country and put behind us the fear mongering and divisiveness that poisoned political discourse for a decade. The right has been spanked in 2 straight election cycles and is now indeed a minority in every sense. They so richly deserve that. But more importantly this is about Barrack Obama and his inspiring win.
He battled his way past the ever ravenous and treacherous Clinton machine and faced off against the fear mongers and closet (and not so closet) racists to bring us a win worthy of an America hungry for change. It is his moment and ours and I am proud to call him my president. I'm sure he'll piss me off and let me down more than once but for now this is a sweet tasting victory.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's GuildCybertron's FinestJustice League
This updated sig brought to you by JME2
MRDOD wrote:Latest report from Alaska: Stevens +1, 3100 votes ahead. 66% of Alaska counted.
Remaining senate seats:
Martin- 98% in; Chambliss 50%, Martin 46%. If Chambliss falls below 50%, the Democrats can try to take the seat during a runoff in December.
Franken- 96% in; Franken tied. +1,000 Franken. Franken's a weak candidate, and his winning of this is in doubt.
Merckley- 45% in; Smith tied. +3,000 Smith. Merckley is unexpectedly weak, his victory isn't assured. However, the urban areas have not come in yet.
With these 4, we would reach 59+Lieberman. 57 + Lieberman or Moderate Republicans would be good, 59 would be better.
No it wouldn't. It would give a single party total control over the entire lawmaking apparatus without any check whatsoever. That was bad when the Republicans had it, and I have no faith that it would be much better under the Democrats. Unchecked political power to a single faction is never "better" than not having it.
No it wouldn't. It would give a single party total control over the entire lawmaking apparatus without any check whatsoever. That was bad when the Republicans had it, and I have no faith that it would be much better under the Democrats. Unchecked political power to a single faction is never "better" than not having it.
You mean this.
A political opposition is nessissary in a democracy. A sure as hell don't trust the democrats, or any politician, enough to give them unchecked power. Ideally I'd like an end to parties altogether, and more independent candadites. But that doesn't seem likely.
So the GOP serves a nessissary function in our democracy. Unfortunately, its goals and tactics are such that it can no longer fulfill that role. Its goals directly undermine America's secular and democratic government, and its tactics are to treat the Democrats not as a legitimate opposition, but as an enemy to be destroyed. They are more than willing to engage in blatant hipocrisy and slander that could incite violence against their opponent, to deny people their right to vote, to illegally alter the results of a vote, etc. The GOP simply has no respect or tolerance for the law or the democratic system, and thus has forfitted any place within that system.
So, the solution is to beat the GOP badly enough that the party reforms from within. This should include prosecuting illegal tactics to the full extent of the law, dragging the names of the GOP leadership through the mud. This is part of why I fully endorse Biden's suggestion of criminal charges against the Bush Administration if he and Obama got in. It also means defeating them electorally across the board: Governorships, Congress, the Presidency, the works. The key is to avoid persecuting the party as a whole, or giving that impression. The last thing to do is to feed the "us vs them" mentality of much of the GOP.
So Obama needs to take a two-pronged aproach. First, he needs to consistantly beat the GOP across the board, this election and the next time as well. He needs to pursue investigations of the Bush White House for criminal charges. He needs to destroy the GOP leadership as a political force.
At the same time though, he's got to work with moderates and reformers within the party, and specifically the libertarian and fiscal conservative blocks. Show the republicans and the nation that the enemy is not the other party, but the radicals within that party. Live up to his promise of crossing party lines without caving to the neo-cons and the fundis like other democrats before him.
Frankly, the only way to save American democracy is probably to replace or reform the current republican party as the political opposition.
"a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic"-Joseph Stalin
"No plan survives contact with the enemy"-Helmuth Von Moltke
"Women prefer stories about one person dying slowly. Men prefer stories of many people dying quickly."-Niles from Frasier.
Rogue9 got it in one. The electoral vote was way in O's favor, but the popular vote IIRC was 52% Obama/46% McCain. This election was not a mandate for implementing the Demos' legislative wish list, and woe unto them if they think it was. If they get drunk on power, they'll have one hell of a hangover in two years.
The worst-case scenario is that the Demos push through every tax increase, fee increase, individual rights dimunition, and government size increase they can, along with stacking the Supreme Court with "living document" Constitution interpreters. The best-case scenario: Obama turns out to have a spine and will veto the more hare-brained legislation that comes across his desk. Here's an early litmus test: if he lets Paulson keep his job, we're in trouble.
The only people who were safe were the legion; after one of their AT-ATs got painted dayglo pink with scarlet go faster stripes, they identified the perpetrators and exacted revenge. - Eleventh Century Remnant
I was wondering, if we should nominate this thread or any thread covering this election into the famous threads section? I mean we are living in history right now, isn't it better to let the future generation view what we have discussed?
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
After Obama's speech, downtown Portland was like the Endor celebration in ROTJ. Impromptu parade up and down a few blocks, culminating in a gathering at Pioneer Courthouse Square. People waving Obama campaign signs and "President Obama" signs. Lots of honking, cheering, waving, chanting. A set of marching band drums was on hand and led the parade.
Then at the end everyone peaceably dispersed, without needing to be told to by the cops.
Hell yeah.
"There is no "taboo" on using nuclear weapons." -Julhelm
What is Project Zohar? "On a serious note (well not really) I did sometimes jump in and rate nBSG episodes a '5' before the episode even aired or I saw it."- RogueIce explaining that episode ratings on SDN tv show threads are bunk
Uraniun235 wrote:After Obama's speech, downtown Portland was like the Endor celebration in ROTJ. Impromptu parade up and down a few blocks, culminating in a gathering at Pioneer Courthouse Square. People waving Obama campaign signs and "President Obama" signs. Lots of honking, cheering, waving, chanting. A set of marching band drums was on hand and led the parade.
Then at the end everyone peaceably dispersed, without needing to be told to by the cops.
Hell yeah.
I live inbetween Berkeley School of Music and NEU, and there was an impromptu parade of students cheering that went down my street which included music from one of the schools bands. Was very cool.
Christ, have folks been checking the new sites like CNN, Yahoo, etc. They all have head lines like "America votes change" and "Yes we can" what does Foxnews.com have as their headline?
"As Obamma savors historic win he also faces A WORLD OF TROUBLE" Yes, the WORLD OF TROUBLE portion is all caps. The lead article proceeds to list all the obstacles he faces. Fuckin' Foxnews. May their ratings slide continue and may they share the Republican fate of being a minority that no one but the base listens to. Fuckers. The victory is not even hours old yet.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's GuildCybertron's FinestJustice League
This updated sig brought to you by JME2
My friend was in downtown Portland when that happened, and she said it was a zoo. She got out while she could.
In any case, I would have loved to be there.
Vendetta wrote:Richard Gatling was a pioneer in US national healthcare. On discovering that most soldiers during the American Civil War were dying of disease rather than gunshots, he turned his mind to, rather than providing better sanitary conditions and medical care for troops, creating a machine to make sure they got shot faster.
Count Chocula wrote:Rogue9 got it in one. The electoral vote was way in O's favor, but the popular vote IIRC was 52% Obama/46% McCain. This election was not a mandate for implementing the Demos' legislative wish list, and woe unto them if they think it was. If they get drunk on power, they'll have one hell of a hangover in two years.
The worst-case scenario is that the Demos push through every tax increase, fee increase, individual rights dimunition, and government size increase they can, along with stacking the Supreme Court with "living document" Constitution interpreters. The best-case scenario: Obama turns out to have a spine and will veto the more hare-brained legislation that comes across his desk. Here's an early litmus test: if he lets Paulson keep his job, we're in trouble.
Sorry to tell you, but popular election numbers being as wide as that does indeed mean this is a crushing mandate and he can expect to have an extended honeymoon period in which to push through the legislation he thinks is the most important. Normally the popular vote is much tighter than that, so number like we are seeing are truly extrordinary.
However, Obama never ran on any kind of 'far left' battleplan for the office, so it would be obtuse to expect one now, but I wouldn't consider that evidence of any remaining executive power of the mouthbreathing right. It doesn't take a spine to cave into gutless, brainless appeals for an un-reasoned centrism though--we need programs to help us regardless of their origin. If the republicans try to play partisan hardball with this administration, after an massive victory based on a unity campaign, they're going to be the ones needing the ass lube. We as a country overall have had enough of that bullshit.
You know, what I'm struck by this morning when listening to some of the rhetoric is the idea that Palin is somehow still a viable for 2012. There are many people who believe she held a lot of responsibility for McCain's loss. I wouldn't go that far personally, but I do think she helped to make it a rout. It's very clear that she embodies a lot of the republican message, but she brings with it so much of that all-white-real-America bread with her that doesn't speak at all to other ethic backgrounds. Even thinking about Sarah Palin as the 2012 nominee for the Republicans isn't reinventing themselves and looking for areas where they can pick up votes. Even if she suddenly gets smarter and more disciplined 4 years from now, even if she gets the nomination, can anyone really see Palin as president with her farther right agenda?
It's Jodan, not Jordan. If you can't quote it right, I will mock you.
Count Chocula wrote:Rogue9 got it in one. The electoral vote was way in O's favor, but the popular vote IIRC was 52% Obama/46% McCain. This election was not a mandate for implementing the Demos' legislative wish list, and woe unto them if they think it was. If they get drunk on power, they'll have one hell of a hangover in two years.
The worst-case scenario is that the Demos push through every tax increase, fee increase, individual rights dimunition, and government size increase they can, along with stacking the Supreme Court with "living document" Constitution interpreters. The best-case scenario: Obama turns out to have a spine and will veto the more hare-brained legislation that comes across his desk. Here's an early litmus test: if he lets Paulson keep his job, we're in trouble.
Yeah, because insuring Roe v Wade isn't overturned is a bad thing. Remember the last time we had a bench full of the living document people? It was when schools were desegregated, sodomy was legalized and police were required to read rights.
Count, you are mindlessly repeating talking points. I can tell because an active court DECREASES government power over individuals... which you think he will cut.
As for increasing the size of the government and taxes, so what? As we have repeatedly seen on the board that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
PRFYNAFBTFCP
Captain of the MFS Frigate of Pizazz +2 vs. Douchebags - Est vicis pro nonnullus suscito vir
"Are you an idiot? What demand do you think there is for aircraft carriers that aren't government?" - Captain Chewbacca
"I keep my eighteen wives in wonderfully appointed villas by bringing the underwear of god to the heathens. They will come to know God through well protected goodies." - Gandalf
"There is no such thing as being too righteous to understand." - Darth Wong
Name Votes Pct.
Yes 5,195,136 52%
No 4,779,297 48%
95% of precincts reporting
PRFYNAFBTFCP
Captain of the MFS Frigate of Pizazz +2 vs. Douchebags - Est vicis pro nonnullus suscito vir
"Are you an idiot? What demand do you think there is for aircraft carriers that aren't government?" - Captain Chewbacca
"I keep my eighteen wives in wonderfully appointed villas by bringing the underwear of god to the heathens. They will come to know God through well protected goodies." - Gandalf
"There is no such thing as being too righteous to understand." - Darth Wong
Sorry to tell you, but popular election numbers being as wide as that does indeed mean this is a crushing mandate
Here are the 2008 and 2004 popular vote numbers, from CNN.com:
2008 Obama 62,979,092 McCain 55,783,699
Total votes: 118,762,791
Difference between Obama and McCain: 6.1%
2004 Kerry 59,028,109 Bush 62,040,606
Nader (!) 411,304
Total votes: 121,480,019
Difference between Bush and Kerry: 2.5%
The 2000 elections were close, with Gore winning the popular vote by a 0.052% margin. The 1996 elections (Clinton/Dole, with Perot as spoiler) were won by Clinton with an 8.6% margin in the popular vote. Yesterday's vote was the widest difference in popular votes we've had in the last three elections, but it didn't break any records.
A 6% disparity IMO does not translate into a crushing mandate for change. Obama won't ignore the wishes of the 55+ million people who did not vote for him. He may not make them happy, but he won't ignore them.
The only people who were safe were the legion; after one of their AT-ATs got painted dayglo pink with scarlet go faster stripes, they identified the perpetrators and exacted revenge. - Eleventh Century Remnant
Okay. I think I've gotten over my distraught and grief at Prop 8's results. I'm looking forward to repealing DOMA, repealing DADT, passing ENDA and passing the Matthew Shepard Act under Obama and the Democrats. That said, I'm interested in seeing how the courts are going to rule in regards to Prop 8. It's time to get back up, and fight again. See you all in court, bitches!
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
PRFYNAFBTFCP
