Ron Paul takes the lead in Iowa.

[Dinner]

[Zevico]

Good lord. That vid takes me back to Mr Fun's "Moveon" ads. Why not put him at the front of a classroom with a chalkboard and a piece of chalk so he can tell you how obvious everything is?

[Dinner]

I believe he's trying to make fun of a common style campaign ad in the US.

[kentonio]

Ken, to be clear, I would be thrilled if Medicare were eliminated. Thrilled.

Wow. Just wow.

Since a corporation is made up of people, it's absurd to believe that those people lose the right to express themselves politically simply because they are organized into a corporation.

They don't lose a damn thing, they retain the right to express themselves as individuals, what is sick is to give a corporation which as you point out is composed of lots of people who certainly do not share the same beliefs the power to spend vast sums influencing the political process. Is a cub scout troop a citizen? An army battalion? A book club? the idea is nonsensical, and corrupt as hell.

[giblets]

If corporations didn't spend the money lobbying wouldn't it go to the shareholders instead who could then use it to express themselves?

[Felch]

Wow. Just wow.

I'm 28. I'm almost certainly never going to benefit from Medicare. Why should I care if it's eliminated? All it is to me is a tax for a program that will be bankrupt before I can ever benefit from it.

They don't lose a damn thing, they retain the right to express themselves as individuals, what is sick is to give a corporation which as you point out is composed of lots of people who certainly do not share the same beliefs the power to spend vast sums influencing the political process. Is a cub scout troop a citizen? An army battalion? A book club? the idea is nonsensical, and corrupt as hell.

It's not a citizen, it's a person. The two are distinct, you ****ing moron. And a cub scout troop or book club certainly may petition Congress, or spend money on political activities, according to the Constitution. Americans have a right to freely associate with one another, and may act as groups to change how our country is run. The scout troop might spend money to petition for more park funding, and the book club can help finance a pro-library candidate for office. An army battalion doesn't have political rights in the same respect, but that's because it's a military formation and not a free association.

I realize that you get your information through some sort of third hand route, but Citizens United isn't Walmart. It's a non-profit organization formed specifically to influence the political process. Denying them the right to express themselves would be an unreasonable restriction on the freedom of speech. Furthermore, the Citizens United decision extended the same rights to unions that it did to corporations. Do you think that the Labour Party should be able to work directly with the trade unions, or should it only be able to work with unorganized individual union members?

[MrFun]

They don't lose a damn thing, they retain the right to express themselves as individuals, what is sick is to give a corporation which as you point out is composed of lots of people who certainly do not share the same beliefs the power to spend vast sums influencing the political process. Is a cub scout troop a citizen? An army battalion? A book club? the idea is nonsensical, and corrupt as hell.

amen

[HalfLotus]

The Romney Con:

[HalfLotus]

More on Mitt and the primaries:

Romney could win every primary between now and Super Tuesday and it wouldn’t make a difference when it comes to what really counts, namely winning delegates.

To start with, less than 15% of all GOP delegates will be selected between now and Super Tuesday, and all in states where delegates will be allocated proportionately. So even if he wins every primary/caucus, Romney is not going to be able to amass a signficant delegate lead. In fact, I’d wager that on the morning of Super Tuesday, Romney will have less than 40% of the delegates awarded to that point.
Secondly, the only reason that Romney is going to be able to win primaries is because the opposition to him is still fractured among multiple candidates. That won’t be the case by the time Super Tuesday rolls around, by which time it will likely be down to a three-man race (Romney, Paul, and either Santorum or Gingrich).

Third, to win the nomination outright, Romney does not just have to win primaries/caucuses, he has to win MORE THAN FIFTY PERCENT of the delegates. Otherwise, he’ll end up in a brokered convention, in which anything could happen. Given that he didn’t even break 25% in Iowa, may not break 40% in New Hampshire, and is stuck around 30-35% in South Carolina, that’s may be a pretty tall order. The key numbers to look at are Romney’s vote percentages as compared to those of all the religious right candidates combined (i.e. Santorum, Gingrich, Perry, & Bachmann), since those four voting blocs will coalesce into one single anti-Romney bloc by the time Super Tuesday rolls around and the winner-take-all contests begin. And by that metric it doesn’t look good for Romney. He would have lost Iowa 25%-53%, would still win NH, but would lose South Carolina by double digits. Until he starts breaking 40% somewhere outside of NH, I’m going to remain highly skeptical of his chances at actually winning the nomination.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archive....php?ref=fpblg

[Zevico]

A lot of the world "burning" is due to US intervention. Take a look at Iran - direct result of the US's proping up of a crazed dictator known as the Shah.

I'm not an expert on the coup, but I do know that it occurred in the context of the Cold War. Consider the following context:

- The United States took every step it could to get Communists out of power in Europe. That meant funding non-Communist groups and where possible, excluding Communists from government. No coups, perhaps, but there was definite interference. And it was, needless to say, for the Americans' benefit in the long-term to ensure non-Communist governments in Europe.
- Equally, the US nuclear umbrella and massive military presence in Europe, as well as the strenght and size fo the American military generally, was designed to deter the SU from attacking Europe. It was also designed to encourage the SU to enter into an arms war which, financially speaking, it was unlikely to win.
- These actions constituted a very sensible interference in the domestic politics of these European nations by the United States.
- If you're wondering why the CIA-sponsored coup occurred, it was to ensure that the pro-Soviet government of the day would be replaced by a pro-Western government. Which it was. And that served American interests for nigh on two-and-a-half decades. Predicting what would happen after two-and-a-half decades, and stating that American actions caused that, is in one sense true but in another speculative. By that I mean that it's fair to say that at the time of the coup it was impossible to guess that in 2.5 decades' time the Shah would fall to an Islamist government. And no, he wasn't crazed. Brutal, yes, as all dictators are.

Again that doesn't make the decision, in that particular case, right or wrong. I simply don't have that level of knowledge of Iran's society and politics at that time to make that judgement. But I can certainly point out that the premises on which you frame your contention is speculative.

[HalfLotus]

History of U.S. Intervention in Iran - 1953 Until Present

[Boris Godunov]

That debate was everything Romney could have hoped for. Bland, non-confrontational questions and utter timidity from his opponents. That should have been a debate where everyone was piling on him. But he went through almost the whole debate without a scratch. I thought Newt was supposed to be gunning for him--why'd he chicken out? And Paul spent his time attacking Santorum, which is strange strategy.

And it doesn't matter that Romney won't have locked up a huge delegate lead after Super Tuesday. If he wins all or nearly all of the primaries and caucuses through then, his nomination will be inevitable beyond the dead hooker/live boy scenario.

[OzzyKP]

It's not a citizen, it's a person. The two are distinct, you ****ing moron. And a cub scout troop or book club certainly may petition Congress, or spend money on political activities, according to the Constitution. Americans have a right to freely associate with one another, and may act as groups to change how our country is run. The scout troop might spend money to petition for more park funding, and the book club can help finance a pro-library candidate for office. An army battalion doesn't have political rights in the same respect, but that's because it's a military formation and not a free association.

I realize that you get your information through some sort of third hand route, but Citizens United isn't Walmart. It's a non-profit organization formed specifically to influence the political process. Denying them the right to express themselves would be an unreasonable restriction on the freedom of speech. Furthermore, the Citizens United decision extended the same rights to unions that it did to corporations. Do you think that the Labour Party should be able to work directly with the trade unions, or should it only be able to work with unorganized individual union members?

That debate was everything Romney could have hoped for. Bland, non-confrontational questions and utter timidity from his opponents. That should have been a debate where everyone was piling on him. But he went through almost the whole debate without a scratch. I thought Newt was supposed to be gunning for him--why'd he chicken out? And Paul spent his time attacking Santorum, which is strange strategy.

And it doesn't matter that Romney won't have locked up a huge delegate lead after Super Tuesday. If he wins all or nearly all of the primaries and caucuses through then, his nomination will be inevitable beyond the dead hooker/live boy scenario.

Paul has attacked every front runner to come along but seems to have left Romney alone. I imagine they know how much the base hates Romney. If they can kill off all other anti-Romney alternatives and get it down to a two man race, they think that'd be their only shot to win. So attacking Santorum/Gingrich is pretty smart.

[Hauldren Collider]

I'm 28. I'm almost certainly never going to benefit from Medicare. Why should I care if it's eliminated? All it is to me is a tax for a program that will be bankrupt before I can ever benefit from it.

I think it's worth noting that all indications are that kentonio is one of those morons who believes and insists that the republican party's ultimate goal is to put money in the pockets of rich people.

Cue a whole bunch of retards chiming in and saying "wait, but that's true!"

[giblets]

It's true for both parties, idiot.