STP

Why do you continue to manufacture a debate concerning guns and religion? Our inalienable rights as outlined in the Bill of Rights stand together, not alone. And, why do you insist on prodding everyone to subsume his individuality into some collective citizen image?

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE REAL OBAMA NOW?

Since when has the Vatican been the representative expression of the Europeans?

I fail to understand why any effort is spent on ridiculing Palin, etc. when the Left should be putting pressure on Obama to select a cabinet that represents the Left as opposed to a lighter, more palatable image of the current corporatist, authoritarian Right.

The rise of neo-fascism in Italy, and elsewhere, is tied to the collapse -- or rather the surrender -- of center-left parties to the pernicious doctrines of the Right. Everywhere, these parties --- Democrats in America, Labour in the UK, various Social Democrats throughout Europe – have turned themselves into pale copies of conservative parties, adopting policies that have degraded society, destroyed communities, entrenched injustice, rewarded greed, poisoned the earth, embraced militarism and aggression, inflicted vast suffering on developing nations (through the straightjacket of "market reforms," i.e., corporate-crony welfare), subverted democracy, diminished liberty and gutted the very notion of the common good. -- Duce Bags: Italy Leads Fascist Revanche in Western Democracies Also: Blinded by the Story: Liberals and Progressives as Political Creationists

Rahm was one of the original architects of NAFTA and aggressive anti- gun laws passed by the Clinton administration. -- Rahm Emanuel the next president of the United States?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neel_Kashkari Kashkari? Cash carry? [bTW, check out these dynamic maps at newyorkfed. ]

No. They were called plumbers because their mission was to plug the leaks of classified information, primarily leaks such as the Pentagon Papers (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1871.html ). I think it was particularly telling that Daniel Ellsberg said the documents [Pentagon Papers] "demonstrated unconstitutional behavior by a succession of presidents, the violation of their oath and the violation of the oath of every one of their subordinates". -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers In this generation, the Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame affair is similar but this time the whistleblowers were basically ignored. Have things changed so much that an administration in power is beyond reproach? [video:youtube]sL9xwcIDlvw [video:youtube]z0oxr-jGOsY

So Obama will reject the added powers gained by the Executive Branch during the Clinton and Bush presidencies? He's going to reverse the course of government? His subsequent change of heart on FISA allowing telecom immunity argues against it ( Obama's support for the FISA "compromise").

Nice song. The sound at the beginning of Ode to Barack almost replicates the sound I hear on this song: [video:youtube]5roebfnD-bc Am I the only one who hears a slight resemblance? Or maybe a portion of the Beatles, I've just seen a face? Will code html for food?

Is it just me or does it obviously seem like a shoe in (shoo in) for Obama? You might say that it appears this way based on the merits of the Obama campaign but isn't it just as much, if not more, based on the flaws of the McCain campaign, especially choosing Palin as the VP candidate? As I see it, the Republican leadership cynically sees religion from a utilitarian position (for example, as described in Machiavelli's views on Savonarola). Someone pointed this out earlier that the Republicans use the religious base as a means to an end. I suspect Obama will also appeal to the religious instinct by invoking a sort of civic religion, re: civilian service to the country.

Couple that with the fact that Diebold will not release their code for examination, then you have the makings for well founded suspicion. I suppose one could argue that closed source code is proprietary information and as such should be treated accordingly. You see more of a partisan specter while I see a overall growing trend towards information control. Take closed source systems and wed it to 'trusted computing' and you get something like Palladium. Sure the threats posed by the Internet may be mitigated by Palladium but on the other hand information will be more tightly controlled. And not just operating systems using Palladium but also the potential exists using a 'cloud computing' platform. I find it a little more than ironic that privacy rights and such get so much attention today even though the environment is increasing becoming one where privacy no longer exists.

With articles like the following: (Beginning of Hyperinflation ), it doesn't take partisan inspiration to fan the feelings of fear. [Regardless of the specifics of the article, the general outline appears applicable to the US. Of course, unless the opposite is true: Is the gold market sensing deflation? ] I suspect despite who wins that person will be forced to take measures that are dictated by the circumstances, be it global as countries succumb to collapse or domestic as private sector unemployment grows. So, in reality there may not be much significant difference in their responses. I mean, how do you account for actions like the $700 billion bailout under the current administration?

I suppose in one respect, Obama may be considered to have been abandoned by his Kenyan father. Sure, his Kenyan relatives are part of his genetic heritage but not really part of his upbringing unless you consider the unconscious pull of his father's identity on the young Barack. In my humble understanding, the immigrant issue is much more complex to do it justice in one post or so. Quick solutions do appear to be the norm at election time and especially during crisis.

I don't believe these 'distant' relatives have much bearing on who Barack is. Basically, it's meaningless unless you subscribe to a sort of 'blood' guilt or a family sin that affects its members by some method of transmission from the initiator to the associated. Shameful perhaps to some minds but it seems rather antiquated and promotes the idea of collective guilt. Rather, I'd look more at what Barack has assimilated to produce the political creature that he is. To those seeing and hearing him, [the Prince] should appear a man of compassion, a man of good faith, a man of integrity, a kind and a religious man. And there is nothing so important as to seem to have this last quality. Men in general judge by their eyes rather than their hands…Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are…The common people are always impressed by appearances and results. — Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, chapter X I'd also be interested to see if Barack has integrated into his worldview the ideas of Leo Strauss, one of whose principle ideas is the need for secrecy, or the idea that the elite know the real reasons for the movement of things while the masses who being considered incapable of understanding are led by deception.

At another time in history, this was called Romanticism, which occurred in response to the Enlightenment values of rationalism, scientific realism, and empiricism. And yeah, nationalistic at its core. The German expression: Sturm und Drang But what Joe the Plumber currently represents is very mediocre in contrast.

Also known as 'velocity of money'. As velocity increases on a very large scale, it has the effect of inflating the money supply.

[video:youtube]epMeGr-wDc0 Fast forward to about 2:40. Then, look at this: http://www.polyguardvaults.com/index.cfm?ID=9 Then, check out the aerial shot and zoom in: 33°33'57.36"N 83°29'6.26"W Happy Halloween!!

[video:youtube]x-gfNkyqG18

"But...but...but...Ronnie and Maggie along with Pope John Paul led the Crusade against the former Soviet Union, Maggie by flooding the oil markets with North Sea crude and Ronnie by accelerating the Arms Race."

I'm gonna poop on this thread. [video:youtube]PmILOL55xP0

Obama will have a mandate. That together with the powers gained by the Executive Branch during the Bush Administration could mean we're in for some real change.

Change in fauna/flora. Should favor siliceous secreting microorganisms over calcareous plankton.

Thinking: "Where the hell's my oxygen mask?"

I just wonder if we can rightly place a large part of the blame for this global economic crisis squarely on the Republicans. Why is Europe in a similar mess? Seems it's more a function of extending credit without proper oversight and the resultant formation of a bubble. Europe's looming crisis BALTIC DRY INDEX `Biggest Bubble of Them All' Is Globalization: Chart of the Day Where were you during the Battle in Seattle? [video:youtube]ZBOq8XWS798