World Politics

[rhubroma]

Another example of how we're losing the country to corporations:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/the-big-money-behind-state-laws.html?_r=1&hp

If these guys continue to have their way, there will be no public schools, public utilities, public infrastructures. Everything will be placed in to the private hands of business.

There once was a dream in which capital was to be put to the service of men, instead of men being placed at the service of capital, which has been killed, precisely because, in the words of Heidegger: “What's really upsetting is that we aren't capable of reaching, through a way of thinking that isn't solely based on calculation, an adequate confrontation with what is emerging in our epoch.”

 

[ChrisE]

Somebody doesn't have this efficient bombing/assassination stuff down very well.

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_new...blows-up-self-near-israel-embassy-in-thailand

A man thought to be Iranian was badly injured in Thailand's capital Tuesday after a bomb he threw at police bounced off a tree and exploded near him

 

[oldborn]

The genuine Global warming my a.. thread

Ok I do not believe in that Al Gore lie, it is all fake IMHO, earth is cooling down, ice caps are just fine, human CO2 is not a source of the problem (cos there is no problem), and I just found shark teeth in my garden (once there was sea here).

So my question is, why do you buy expensive Prius cars to be eco friendly, investing in so called green industry, building self sustainable low emission houses, it is all joke IMHO.
Even BP has green logo now, Jesus, I mean Jesus.
I would just start up mine old CO2 factory car and drive like a girl around.

It is all yours dudies, happy to hear other thoughts as well

Green is hype, just mine 65 cents.

 

[hughmoore]

Im reducing my rear out-gassing to reduce global warming.



Hugh

 

[oldborn]

Im reducing my rear out-gassing to reduce global warming.



Hugh

Oh no, that s not enough. I am eating only eco stuff and having 1 inch hose in my rear out gassing source all the time, then those gasses I use for heating, that is the way it should be done, you ...

DeanMartin457 please step in, we had rather interesting dialog, how you Aussies resolve those things, I mean Al Gore said Terra Australis is going to sink few years ahead

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I am merging this into the General Politics thread. Please continue the discussion here.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Speculation mounts cabinet testing Gillard support

I think a challenge for PM will happen within the next month though I actually think it could be Simon Crean that will challenge.

 

[Merckx index]

Accumulating evidence that Libya post-Gaddafi may be or become worse than what it replaced:

As Libya marks the first anniversary of its revolution on Friday, the dozens of well-armed militia groups operating across the vast country have slipped well out of the control of the nascent government in Tripoli, making the country ever more fractured as well as dangerous to ordinary Libyans attempting to adjust to the end of Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year dictatorship.

That assessment came on Thursday from Amnesty International, whose latest research on the country documents at least 12 Libyans who have died in militia custody since September, allegedly after being beaten, suspended upside down and given electric shocks. In a chilling 38-page report published on the eve of the anniversary, Amnesty describes a wave of terror and widespread abuse by militia groups, whose members in recent months have dragged hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Libyans from their homes or from roadside checkpoints into makeshift jails on suspicion of being Gaddafi sympathizers or having fought alongside the regime's forces during the civil war.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107024,00.html#ixzz1ml6oLTo1

This is going to get a lot worse before it becomes better, if it does. I think as a general rule, the more corrupt and absolute a ruler is, the weaker he makes the rest of society, so the more incapable that society becomes of healing itself when the autocrat finally goes.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Kevin Rudd is a Happy Little Vegemite >>> MUST WATCH!

Clearly it has come from within the party considering that leadership talks intensified today.

EDIT: Now an ALP member has come out and said that PM Julia Gillard should quit!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/mo...-feud-breaks-out/story-fn7x8me2-1226274755100

Australia will have a different PM within the next week imo.

 

[ChrisE]

Accumulating evidence that Libya post-Gaddafi may be or become worse than what it replaced:



http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107024,00.html#ixzz1ml6oLTo1

This is going to get a lot worse before it becomes better, if it does. I think as a general rule, the more corrupt and absolute a ruler is, the weaker he makes the rest of society, so the more incapable that society becomes of healing itself when the autocrat finally goes.

Not quite IMO. Some societies and cultures are prone to this, from the ruler to how they conduct themselves before and afterwards.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Nevertheless we could see Greece exit the euro sometime this year and we could see some scaled down version of the Eurozone.

By the way dont be surprised if Ireland are next for a second one.

I agree with all you wrote. I won't be surprised if this latest bailout leads to more stagnation, especially as there's nothing tying it to stop the corruption that is rampant.

I can't find the link, but I read one dire op-ed where someone thinks Greece will continue to fall, they will drop out of the Euro, and elect a hard-line socialist government merging the Panhellenic and IST, akin to what Venezuela did for example. But where as Venezuela has oil, and as kooky as he is Chavez is, he is a leader, Greece has no oil, and no Chavez to step up.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Can someone tell me what is going on between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard?

Rudd was only PM a couple of years ago and now it looks like he wants to regain the Labour Party leadership. On CNN they are saying Gillard has the support of her party but Rudd is twice as popular from the public.

Then we see Rudd taking cheap shots at Gillard while he was out of the country in Washington and he resigns as Foreign Minster.

EDIT: Rudd just confirms in a press conference he is to challenge Gillard in a leadership battle on Monday.

The war has started between them in the media today. It is getting really nasty. Rudd will not win the vote on Monday no doubt but if he gets around 40 votes of the 112 Labor (no "u" in Australia) Party caucus then a 3rd candidate will come into play and will most likely result in a Gillard victory but the thing is with over a third of the party backing Rudd not Gillard then that will do a lot of damage to her chances of re-election.

The problem is that Australia is more likely to re-elect Labor in government if Rudd leads the ALP because he is more popular than Gillard. Either way, I won't be voting for them considering they have very similar policy beliefs bar one or two.

 

[redtreviso]

Banker leaves 1% tip

 

[patricknd]

Banker leaves 1% tip

maybe you should take his advice

 

[The Hitch]

maybe you should take his advice

lol nice one

 

[joe_papp]

now vs. the good ol' days

Is politics more corrupt and shameless now than it was "then," in the good ol' days? I'm not sure why, though I suspect it has to do w/ no longer being so completely consumed by cycling and as a result spending even more time consuming the "content" that I've always found interesting (Economist, op/ed in many of the major US dailies, Financial Times, etc), but it seems like in the past 10+ years (since 9/11, and since I started reading Glenn Greenwald) that politics in the USA especially has become so driven by cynicism and corruption and outright lying, self-interested, semi-delusional behavior that the few "good" leaders we have who dare to vote their conscience or otherwise not accept uncritically every component of their party's platform are branded as loonies or nutjobs (see "Dennis Kucinich and 'wackiness'") while a President who assumes the singular power to assassinate US citizens w/o due process is awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

It's better that I just quote Greenwald:

"So let’s recap the state of mental health in establishment Democratic circles: the President who claims (and exercises) the power to target American citizens for execution-by-CIA in total secrecy and with no charges — as well as those who dutifully follow him — are sane, sober and Serious, meriting great respect. By contrast, one of the very few members of Congress who stands up and vehemently objects to this most radical power — “The idea that the United States has the ability to summarily execute a US citizen ought to send chills racing up and down the spines of every person of conscience” — is a total wackjob, meriting patronizing mockery."

I dunno, but it just leaves me despairing of any future for this country (USA) as anything other than a plutocratic cube-farm slash police state. I certainly didn't feel like this in 2000 when I was doing a graduate fellowship in gov't/public policy at CMU.

 

[gobuck]

I feel your pain, Joe. Watch the movie "Fair Game" then tell us what you think.

 

[joe_papp]

I feel your pain, Joe. Watch the movie "Fair Game" then tell us what you think.

DL'd it...

I think both political parties suck, though. Just to be clear.

Love The Daily Show's satire of US Congress's cutting of funding to UNESCO ...

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-march-15-2012-

argh this world is *** at times, it seems.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Julian Assange has revealed he will run for a seat in the Australian Senate next year while on house arrest in the UK. Wikileaks are also fielding a candidate in Julia Gillard's seat of Lalor.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

France shooting: Four die in Toulouse Jewish school attack
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17426313#TWEET106950

 

[Zam_Olyas]

On the Apparent Coup in Mali
http://sahelblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/on-the-apparent-coup-in-mali/

 

[Bala Verde]

On the Apparent Coup in Mali
http://sahelblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/on-the-apparent-coup-in-mali/

Interesting blog. Apparently the AU or ECOWAS has peacekeepers on standby and they are currently negotiating how to resolve this constitutional crisis. Good to see the regional organizations are taking immediate action and are stepping up their efforts to contain the spread of further violence.

On a different note, US politics:

[112th] H.R.4268 : To abolish the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Amash, Justin [MI-3] (introduced 3/27/2012) Cosponsors (2)
Committees: House Financial Services

today's news:

Business Bets on the G.O.P. May Be Backfiring

Exports have been one of the bright spots of the fragile recovery, but without Export-Import Bank financing, companies could struggle to complete contracts with overseas buyers. Those buyers will most likely turn to foreign competitors whose governments have more robust versions of the bank, businesspeople say.
[...]
“There’s not a bank in the United States that’s going to loan money to that customer of mine in Argentina to buy my airplane,” said David Ickert, vice president of finance at Air Tractor, which makes crop-dusting and firefighting airplanes in Olney, Tex. “There is not a free-market system that operates like that. It does not exist. We need the Ex-Im Bank, period.”
[...]
The bank is financed with a small percentage of each loan it makes to foreign buyers of American exports, producing $3.4 billion in profits for the federal government over the last five years.

 

[The Hitch]

Well it looks like George Galloway will be elected as an MP for Bradford West and will return to Westminster. He just said on Sky he is here for the long term. I remember when he beat Oona King the last time in the 2005 general election and he was accused afterwards of lacking commitment in his role as an MP. He even went into Celebrity Big Brother while he was still a sitting MP.

He obviously must of done well with the muslim vote as muslims make up 38% of the population there.

Galloway goes around Britain looking for heavily divided communities where he can exploit racial tensions to get a victory.

He really is a remarkable man.

He describes the fall of the berlin wall as the "worst day of my life":

He claims that reports by human rights watch groups and Amnsesty international that say that homosexuals are executed in Iran are western propaganda.

He said the elections there were fair and reports that they were not, well western propaganda of course.

He says that Assads regime is a "breath of fresh air" " the last castle of the Arab dignity and the Arab rights"

While in Damascus to praise Assad, he praised the "heroic" 145 operations by a branch of of Al quaeda in iraq which included the Canal hotel bombing, which took place to kill, one of my personal heroes Sergio Viera de Mello

When asked if he would describe himself as a stalinist, he said he would if it was not " making a rod for my own back"


To Saddam he said publicly “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength your indefatigability! And I want you to know that we are with you until victory!" He informed Saddam that he was loved by everyone in the west, and will be remembered for centuries, long after the western politicians would be forgotten.

Privately he met with Saddam regularly throughout the 90's and received large ammounts of money from him. This was alleged by among others Tariq Aziz. Galloway denied this strongly, only a few years later this video came out which showed he was on first name terms with Uday Hussein, who even noted that george had lost weight since his last visit.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=287_1290472133

His election doesn't mean much. He failed greatly as mp for bethnal green so couldn't stand for reelection, as he had in his previous post (why he had to move in the first place). He had one of the lowest voting records in parliament and as his reality tv appearance showed, didn't really care for the job.

His voice in parliament will mean nothing

 

[Bala Verde]

1:0 for liberty and freedom

Supreme Court Ruling Allows Strip-Searches for Any Arrest

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.

I am glad those law enforcement 'offcials' graduated top of their class, are extremely well qualified to make such decisions and will certainly not abuse these new, unfettered powers.

No way we can use those TSA full body scanners (none of the images will be saved on a database forever) instead?

 

[rhubroma]

1:0 for liberty and freedom

Supreme Court Ruling Allows Strip-Searches for Any Arrest



I am glad those law enforcement 'offcials' graduated top of their class, are extremely well qualified to make such decisions and will certainly not abuse these new, unfettered powers.

No way we can use those TSA full body scanners (none of the images will be saved on a database forever) instead?

I've been saying for years America is moving toward fascism.