>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

That said, can America still be considered a democracy at this point?


Last time I checked you still had mostly free and fair elections. There are some idiosyncrasies in your electoral system that aren't great*, and there's a definite problem of way too much corporate lobbying, but I think, on balance, you're still a democracy.

I give you a C-. must try harder

* you should really fix that shit. It lead to dubya being elected and that clearly didn't end well.

Another fake history action movie?

What's next?

Bill Clinton: International man of mystery?
Ray-gun: republicans in space?
Dubya and Clive: a comedy about a stupid-looking ape and an orang-utan?

Actually, they all sound awesome. I'm totally on board with this. carry on....

Taking after Dubya, I see.

To me, it's not whether or not the government was involved; it's whether or not the official story is correct. Some of the gathered and reviewed information contesting the official story is intriguing. Not sure why people are called wingnuts for wanting to learn more or challenge current held beliefs.

Do I think Dubya was behind some conspiracy? No. Do I think there could be more to that day than what the government tells me? Absolutely. Do I like to wear lady's underpants? Like a fucking boss.

Full orignal article: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/opinion/dubya-s-double-dip.html

Krugman's semi-recent commentary on the misreading of that quote: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/and-i-was-on-the-grassy-knoll-too/

Arnold Kling explains more fully: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/06/defending_what.html

Krugman wasn't calling for a housing bubble. He said Greenspan's fixation on using monetary policy without any attempt to directly deal with the drop in aggregate demand would lead us to one of two bad places: a double-dip recession, or a housing bubble. Krugman at the time thought the double-dip was where we'd end up, but we got the housing bubble instead.

Also, 1936 != 2002.

>> ^Crosswords:

Is that Lincoln on one side of the room and Regan on the other? One man the current republican party shares almost nothing with except for being in the same party and the other a man they remember as much greater than he actually was. Oh wait I see, its an analogy between Ron Paul and Herman Cain.


Actually, I'd argue that Lincoln is a great representational embodiment of the Republican Party. In fact, Dubya Bush and Lincoln shared a lot of the same traits. For one, they both suspended habeas corpus. Lincoln also imprisoned thousands of citizens without due process, and Bush imprisoned detainees in Gitmo in the same way.

In that way, Lincoln and Bush and Obama are all cut from the same cloth.

>> ^jwray:

>> ^blackoreb:
Let me get this straight - you are in favor of increasing government spending, so the government can spend more money on it's people? Very sociable of you.
>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:
I am in favor of any program that takes money away from government, and returns it to people.


He's also apparently in favor of increasing the national debt to pass short term tax cuts for the rich that don't really have any benefit to economic growth, just like dubya did.


But he's in favor of increasing the debt to return money to the people. I'm still not sure what the difference is, but apparently there's a difference. I've yet to hear anyone explain it in a logical fashion, though.

>> ^blackoreb:

Let me get this straight - you are in favor of increasing government spending, so the government can spend more money on it's people? Very sociable of you.
>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:
I am in favor of any program that takes money away from government, and returns it to people.



He's also apparently in favor of increasing the national debt to pass short term tax cuts for the rich that don't really have any benefit to economic growth, just like dubya did.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

Before labor was regulated in this country, self governing business men enslaved other self governed men. How is this an improvement?
As banking regulations were removed over the past few decades, self governing bankers defrauded millions of Americans. How is this an improvement?


I'd disagree. It wasn't labor regulation that freed the slaves in a country that claimed all men were created equal.

Also this "deregulation" didn't happen only under Dubya, it began in the 1970s with the Marquette decision and increased every decade since, trading one set of old regulations for a set of new ones. Hardly as simple as calling it "deregulation", but whatever.

OMFG. 40 minutes in, Moore says "If the Iraqi people had wanted to overthrow Saddam, they would have."

Like, I understand where he's coming from, but that is possibly the most naive statement I have ever heard from someone who has such a political personality. He takes his background as an American, and plasters it onto the Iraqis just as badly as Dubya did. Who the fuck would try to overthrow a million-man, mechanized army with stones and ceremonial knives? Oh man, I upvote for the debate-worthiness, but that bullshit statement made me end watching.

As soon as I saw him I was thinking "this is the guy who does a brilliant George Dubya"... and there he was.

>> ^quantumushroom:

These two leaders complimented each other.
Of course! They're both communists.


The Republicans, from Nixon to Dubya, are a much better complement to China.

Dubya graduated from fucking Yale! YALE! Talk about obliterating a veil of class and superiority. It's like, if you can't graduate from Yale... don't even attempt community college. >> ^braindonut:

>> ^shponglefan:
How do people this obviously retarded get into positions of power?

This dude was a judge... Honestly, people like this call into question the validity of an education being any indicator towards intelligence.

I love Chretien, he was da man. Now we have that fat fecking weasel that only neocon American wannabes have any time for, aka Stephen "Dubya II" Harper. Chretien was funny when he got pissed off at someone for asking stupid questions, not terribly eloquent, but he always seemed to be on the edge of grabbing them by the collar and shouting into their face, "stop asking me these stupid fucking question, twat!", mais en francais, of course, mon tarbarnac.

Reminds me of Dubya's "sovereign" moment.