Interesting page on her website.: http://giffords.house.gov/2010/10/us-rep-gabrielle-giffords-calls-for-foreclosure-moratorium.shtml

Other people who have stood up to banks: Rod Blagojevich, Eliot Spitzer, Julian Assange, Paul Wellstone.

It would be interesting to compare and contrast the rest of the targets on Sarah Palin's hit list: http://i.imgur.com/gs0t7.jpg

Targeted Democrats: Ann Kirkpatrick (Arizona), Harry E. Mitchell (Arizona), Gabrielle Giffords (Arizona), John Salazar (Colorado), Betsy Markey (Colorado). Allen Boyd (Florida), Suzanne M. Kosmas (Florida), Baron P. Hill (Indiana), Earl Pomeroy (Alabama), Charlie Wilson (Ohio), John Boccieri (Ohio), Kathy Dahlkemper (Pennsylvania), Christopher Carney (Pennsylvania), John M. Spratt, Jr. (South Carolina), Tom Perriello (Virginia), Alan B. Mollohan (West Virginia), and Nick J. Rahall II (West Virginia).

[edit: These people were targeted because of healthcare politics and geographic vulnerability and the shooter seems to be a lone nutjob. I'm withdrawing my bank conspiracy theory.]

It must surely suck to live in South Carolina.

This is one of these half-truths the right likes to tell people about the Civil Rights Act.

Sure, more Democrats opposed it than Republicans, but those weren't northern and western liberal Democrats, those were conservative Southern Democrats. If you look at the breakdown of votes by party and region, you see that it was the representatives of the former Confederate states that voted against it.

Also, think about some notable individuals who voted against it. Arizona Republican Barry Goldwater, conservative hero even today, voted against it. One of the so-called Democrats who voted against it was South Carolina Democrat Strom Thurmond, who later became a Republican.

In fact, if you think about the former confederate states, do they tend to vote Republican, or Democratic today?

As for the point about the KKK, they too changed parties in the same time period. They really liked (and still like today!) the kind of reasoning people like Barry Goldwater and Rand Paul use on the Civil Rights Act -- it's wrong because it takes away freedom from racists to discriminate.

Modern conservatives run on a platform that includes dismantling legal protections from discrimination. They use their persuasive clout to stoke racial resentment, and to vilify anyone who expresses even the slightest complaint about racial insensitivity. When called out on it, they hold up events from 50 years ago; not as proof that they're interested in racial equality, but primarily to try to discredit the people who champion equal rights in 2010 as being somehow hypocritical.

Democrats don't deny our past. We definitely don't claim to have always been pure on the question of race, and we don't claim to be pure on it now. What we do claim is that we're committed to using legislation to blunt the worst effects of it, and use whatever persuasive clout we have to kill off the rest of it.

A detailed analysis: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/06/something-fishy-in-south-carolina.html

It may be that there are no shenanigans afterall.

@blankfist, but if they inherit a war from Obama, they'll have blood on their hands too (since you don't give credit to Presidents who inherit and try to responsibly end wars).

Since you bring up the idea of "peace" and "non-peace" parties, tell me, if we just had a straight up vote for Peace party and War party, how many states do you think the Peace party would actually carry?

For that matter, which states? Places like New York and California, or places like South Carolina and Texas?

Are you sure Peace could carry enough states to win the White House?

Would it help or harm Peace's chances if they said that not only are they ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with all possible haste, they will also officially declare an end to the "war on terror", repeal the patriot act, withdraw all deployed troops from around the world, pass deep cuts in defense spending, end the "war on drugs" and legalize all drugs, announce that we're going to withdraw from NATO and the UN, and abolish the CIA and NSA?

>> ^littledragon_79:
Wow, the y/t poster is a paranoid moron. He should try reading the law as to how/where CBP are allowed to operate. And if he doesn't like it write his reps or run for office. Since the checkpoint is inland, he would be fine then with the local SO or State Police running it? Or maybe the FBI or military? And an illegal working for CBP? Nice try.
I know there's a lot of anti-establishment, the cops are always wrong, we live in a police state mentality here, but don't get too paranoid folks. The cops aren't always wrong, sometimes they need to use force (but F tasers), we don't live in Nazi Germany, and we should be vigilant in keeping government in check. But harassing these guys is like harassing a Walmart greeter because you don't like their policies. Dick move.
As for the whole camera thing, who cares if the guy has a camera. Do your job, and don't be a dick about it. Although, my instructors old us not to advertise that we were BP Agents and try not to have pics taken...since some cartels have bounties out for killing Agents.


The y/t poster is paranoid. I doubt the border patrol agent is "illegal", though that's incidental. First, BP are nothing like Walmart greeters. That's a bad analogy. Harassing someone who wants to keep you from freely moving in a supposed free country and trying to steal your private property is nothing like harassing a gentle underpaid elderly woman saying hi to everyone entering Walmart. The BP are pests and abuse their power constantly.

And, yes, we do live in a police state once the government recognizes it has a right to kill its own citizens without due process. There's nothing paranoid about noticing the increased security measures that encroach on our liberties, or states forcing subversives to register, or little 12-year old girls being marched out of class wearing handcuffs, or the countless cases where law enforcement destroy videotape evidence, or the endless beat first ask questions later cases, or local and state police being supplied military weapons by the Pentagon, or being arrested for videotaping officers, or the use of sedatives on the public by police officers.

That's just to name a few.

and here is an example of the intelligence in our government.
this man conflates free lunch with test scores?
and the people listening accept this as a point of clarity?
this man does not make ONE salient point that does not drip of:
eugenics.
class differentials.
government control.
basically all he was saying is "if we keep feeding this people who cannot be good wage slaves they will continue to breed".
he complains about the problem being "political correctness".since when is mercy and compassion a political correct quandry?
this LT governor makes hypocrites blush.
ooo...lookie here.turns out mr andre bauer is a southern baptist.
well well...think jesus would speak like he does?
AND he is gay.
not that i care but he votes ANTI-gay.
thats it.this man wins the hypocrite of the century award!
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/12748/south-carolina-lt-governor-andre-bauer-outed

This is the first time I've ever felt anything like respect for BillO's brand of journalism. The skeptic in me says that he is still trying to help the GOP by eliminating Palin from the candidate pool, but still - good to see her get some questions tougher than, "What newspaper do you read?"

Side note: She seems incapable of linear thought. All of her answers sound like Ms. South Carolina, "Um, the economy, and the taxes, and the jobs, and the healthcare, and the Iraq, like such as..." That's a bad choice for a leader.

That girl and Miss Teen South Carolina are clearly related, although Miss Teen South Carolina obviously got the looks.. and the brains.

>> ^westy:
More interesting how is a Miss South Carolina conceived ?


a punch in the face, a bottle of moonshine and a banjo playing in the background.

More interesting how is a Miss South Carolina conceived ?

White culture? Sure, if by culture he's referring to the failure that is white suburbia in America. Row after row after row after row of houses that all look the same, filled with bored, uncreative white Christians watching reality television. What's fun? Shopping at Wal-Mart!!! That's America's "white culture".

Show me a more apt description of white culture in America, I'll drive down to South Carolina and steal one of my cousin's trailers. Maybe I'll get laid, who knows.

I'm gonna go listen to some Black Flag.

Yeah true. I'll do that next time.
I seem to have lost a star point during this whole thing (190 sifted, 2 quality sift talk, 191 points), but can't say I mind

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Hey, no hard feelings. Glad you all got that figured out.

I've done the same trick as you, by discarding to get room in the queue and getting the old video back at some later point, I'll just recommend letting the discarded stay discarded and just submit it again if it comes up, then you automatically see if someone has posted it while your own was gone.

In reply to this comment by demon_ix:
Cool. blankfist's post is restored! *discard for good.

Hey, no hard feelings. Glad you all got that figured out.

I've done the same trick as you, by discarding to get room in the queue and getting the old video back at some later point, I'll just recommend letting the discarded stay discarded and just submit it again if it comes up, then you automatically see if someone has posted it while your own was gone.

In reply to this comment by demon_ix:
Cool. blankfist's post is restored! *discard for good.

Hey lucky.
So, it seems I screwed up and promoted a discarded video that was sifted again while it was discarded.
http://www.videosift.com/video/South-Carolina-Mayor-Forbids-Police-Foot-Chases

The second submission belongs to blankfist:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Mayor-Outlaws-Police-Chases-Government-Fail?noredirect

When I promoted my post back, I didn't check around for any new submissions of the video, so this is my fault. Is it possible for you to reverse the dupeof and resurrect blankfist's post? Since my video was discarded at the time, his isn't a dupe, and mine is. His post was declared dupe already by dft, but probably without realizing the whole story.