– I did not mean to imply that Bachmann might have been anything other than awful for the country thus far.
– Time to Play on Rainier Ave.
– This pastry prevents Rick Perry from explaining why he thinks Social Security is unconstitutional.
Can’t Bring Yourself to Type the Word “Ass”?
Eager to share our brilliant political commentary and blunt media criticism, but too genteel to link to horsesass.org? Well, good news, ladies: we also answer to HASeattle.com, because, you know, whatever. You're welcome!
I read the linked article on the Civil War. Although I have a couple of McPherson’s books, I doubt I would pick up the one referenced in his article, because I see so much of the same disputes being played out on civil war discussion boards on the internet.
The crux of the debate is whether or not the North and Sough could have reached a compromise, avoiding a civil war. In my opinion, there were three reasons why that was never going to happen.
First, the interests of the two regions were too incompatable. Conflict due to this incompatability could be avoided as long as both sides stayed on their on turf, but the rise of commerce, steam boats and railroads, etc. increased interstate travel, bringing conflict over the status of slaves traveling with their masters, the pursuit of runaway slaves, etc.
Second, the South desperately wanted to keep it’s political balance of power with the North, and the westward expansion brought the slavery issue to the forefront among public issues.
Third, only a few years before the opening shots of the Civil War, most northern citizens were ambivilant against slavery, thinking that they didn’t want freed slaves moving north and competing for jobs, and as long as it was confined to the South it wasn’t there problem. But the Fugitive Slave Act brought the issue deep into the North, as bounty hunters sought to round up any blacks they could find and ship them South, with no trial to determine if they were a runaway or free.
Fourth, and here is probably the biggest factor, is the Dredd Scott decision, which is widely known as confirming the law (at the time) that a slave who went north with his master didn’t become free when he touched free soil. But Tanny’s decision went much further than necessary, and ruled that restrictions on slavery were illegal everywhere as a violation of property rights, effectively saying that no compromises (Nebraska Act, etc.) were constitutional. This forced the apathetic among the northerners to feel compelled to actively oppose slavery at every level.
Fifth, there was no real debate on the subject of slavery. Senate rules severely restricted debate on the essence of the subject. Postal employees in the South were required to seize and destroy any “abolitionist” newspapers, handbills, etc. Newspapers which dared question the validity or moral issue of slavery were soon burned or put out of busines by boycott, and their publishers run out of town. The pro-slavery newspapers in the South did not print speaches of northern politicians, only editorials which denounced their speaches in vile and tones, mis-characterizing much of what was said. Even Lincoln’s inaugeral address wasn’t printed in full in all but a few papers in the South. (In this point, I fear we are reaching the same result with Fox News).
So I don’t buy into the concept that the Civil War was an “avoidable” conflict.
Okay, five reasons, not three. I really should write these long comments in MSWord first, then I could spell-check and re-read them carefully before posting.
This week I was thinking back to the Grand Old Party Republican party:
– In 88, Pat Robertson got hardly anywhere because of concern about his faith affecting policy, and because he is a huckster and a whackadoodle.
– In 2000, serial racist nut Pat Buchanan felt compelled to run under the Reform Party banner because he was getting nowhere with Republicans.
Clearly, today’s GOP party is way more evil than your Father’s GOP:
http://www.alternet.org/story/152096
So has the GOP just finally rotted at the core, is this more a sign of the times we’re in, or just a reflection of the shambles the mainstream political press has become?
@1, & @2,
You must be a history and government major?
Before we get lulled into this new normal of whackadoodleness, it’s important to remember that we “live in interesting times.” Getting here was not inevitable.
Nope. But I took plenty of classes on those subjects. Three quarters of Western Political Theory, three quarters of undergraduate Constitutional Law, etc. But I wasted my last elective on “The Politics of Oil and the Soviet Union”, which I regretted – the textbooks were way too expensive, and it was a course where the subject matter was soon obsolete. It seemed like a good idea at the time (shrug).
I could have received credit for a minor in history, but the University charged an extra fee to process the paperwork (I think it was $150 or so, if my memory serves me correct). At the time I was working a work-study job, there was no way I could come up with that kind of money, so didn’t do it – another regret. But I was heading off to graduate school, so I didn’t think it mattered that much.
The “Western Political Theory” class was of great value, in part because the professer had high standards and the course was pretty tough, it was really hard to keep up with the required reading. We went through a book a week, which is pretty hard to do given some of the old language forms and difficult theory to follow. (In addition to your other classes, of course). But what can you say about a course which starts with Plato’s “Republic”, and ends with Sarte? Our textbook was just an outline, he required us to go read all the books – Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, Hobbe’s “Leviathon”, John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government”, etc.
I still have Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and Marx and Engle’s “The Communist Manifesto” on my bookshelves, visitors seem puzzled if they see them, but it’s a great conversation starter.
But beyond that, much of what I know now regarding history, government, and politics was acquired by reading books and participating in discussion boards since I got out of college.
“speaches of northern politicians, only editorials which denounced their speaches”
“I really should write these long comments in MSWord first, then I could spell-check”
Indeed! Peaches for speaches, I always say.
Just kidding you.
Bank of America to Rick Perry: “We will help you out.”
Video Link
At least we know now who is funding what, and whose interests potential future president Perry will be paid to defend
It looks to me like the wrong West brother ended up in congress.
http://videocafe.crooksandliar.....s-unemploy
A slave owning voter in the antebellum South also had more than the one vote allotted to non-slaveowning folks both north and south.
Hence, the feeling of lost entitlement that galls many Southerners. Another thing that disturbed white northerners was that slavehunters who had gone north to retrieve runaway slaves would often just declare a not-well-connected white person as a slave with mixed blood.
This further infuriated the north toward the southern states. You could look it up.
Jon Stewart hit on something that I had grown sick and tired of hearing from wingnuts, such as with the $4 Billion in tax breaks for private jets and how, since it “wouldn’t make a dent” in the deficit, we shouldn’t even bother. Of course, any single fucking dime they can grab from anybody else, especially the poor, is worth going after. On HA, that asshole lostinaseaofblue was always hating on poor people for simply having a damned $300 TV set. The underlying message, besides hatred and contempt for the poor, is that the poor should suffer for being poor because, like the wingnuts in the video say, they’re just “animals” and “takers”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....31177.html
Warren Buffett a “socialist”? Good fucking grief!
These hate-filled freaks spew their hatred for the poor with one breath and their love for Jesus with the next. Fuck them. They piss on everything Jesus stood for. If there’s a hell, it was made for people like that.
Obama Derangement Syndrome anyone?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....bya-rebels
Serve it up right wing asshats!
Metallica!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....unty_Court
At least they didn’t get the needle. 17 years of their lives left in a cage. I’d sue.
You go Bruce Bartlett!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....31334.html
A “good old Ronald Reagan” kind of guy calls for more “aggregate demand” in the economy?? Oh my how Keynesian!
And best of all he calls Rick Perry an IDIOT!
Note to Bruce: the oil and gas industry has showered at least 11 million dollars of love on that idiot. They elected an idiot once and I sure do wish they fail when they try it again.
# 14: They probably can’t sue.
The prosecutors offered them a choice: (a) a new trial, but they would remain locked up during the trial, which could take another two or three years; or (b) take an “Alfred” plea on a lessor offense, allowing a conviction to be entered with a sentence limited to “time already served”, allowing their release within the time it would take to process the paperwork.
All three defendants took the Alfred plea. I don’t know if the deal was contingent upon all three accepting, or if any of them could choose for themselves.
In any event, an Alfred plea followed by a conviction on the offense pretty much forecloses any argument that the state was liable in prosecuting them. In essence, an Alfred please says that although they are not admitting guilt, they conceed that a jury would probably convict them on the evidence.
To me, it looks like the state was doing something which is ethically questionable: using the criminal process to gain an advantage in a potential future civil matter. But they really do that all the time: that’s why a use-of-force complaint is often followed by a prosecution against the victim for one offense or another (causing a disturbance, interfering with a police officer, failure to follow an officer’s instructions, or assault upon a police officer by hitting an officer’s billy club with one’s head or body. The prosecutor might then offer to drop the criminal charges only if the victim drops the complaint against the officers as well.
I came to this site by chance. I cannot believe all the leftist bullshit that is printed here. I know of a few of the stories in the archives. Goldy, you are one big dumb ass. I read a couple of stories regarding the Union (SEIU and others). Man they fed you a bunch of bullshit! I guesss you print what they feed you without checking the facts. People like you are what is wrong with America! Nuff said!
@16: Alford plea, but otherwise right.
# 18: Like I said before, I really ought to write these things in MSWord first, then check them before I hit “send”.
Remember how the wingnuts were criticizing the government workers (teachers, etc.) for their “overly-generous pensions”?
Well, in just six months or so the “Super Congress” will have to agree on more cuts. And it’s not going to be easy, since the easy targets have already been cut. This one’s going deep into the bone. And the only way to reach the targets is by hitting the military budget.
But instead of cutting back on contractor expenditures or weapons procurement (those guys have lobbiests with big purses of potential campaign contributions), the subject being raised is military pensions. Is it really fair, they argue, to pay someone half their salary for the rest of their lives after working only twenty years on the job, along with other benefits (PX privildges, VA medical care, etc.)? Isn’t this out of line with what is being offered by private industry?
But politicians should be very careful about looking to military pensions. There are an awful lot of retired military folks out there, and they are more than willing and capable of mounting an organized offensive against anyone who touches those pensions. They will argue, with some justification, that they already earned those benefits, that they stayed in the service in large part because of the promise of those benefits, that military service beyond twenty years is physically difficult or impossible for all but the most desk-bound servicemen/women, and that many of them are subject to call up for researve service in a national emergency, in any event.
Whichever politicians try to touch those pensions will be hit with an avalanche of criticisem from the other side, who will portray them as being thieves (of earned benefits), disloyal Americans who hate our servicemen, etc. And it will be especially difficult to pull off in the face of the rather generous pensions offered to members of Congress for only a few years of service.
Democrats really need to avoid this issue, and fight hard to retain the current benefits. Even if Republicans in the Super-Congress propose the cut, fight for the cut, threaten to filibuster against any agreement that doesn’t include the cut, and vote for the cut, you can be sure that once the cut is made, they will then campaign against the Democrats on the committee, blaming them for the cut.
So forget the pensions, and forget cutting any other benefits which servicemen/women recieve directly from the government. The real savings would come from closing foreign bases, and reducing our military footprint around the world. Benefits received by soldiers here in the U.S. at least find their way into the local communities, but that’s not true of foreign bases.
“I came to this site by chance.”
Then it must be our lucky day. Another troll looking for a horses ass? Geez, I wonder why? I’ll help you out here, troll. For horses, wingnuts usually just head to Enumclaw. For goats, they go to a barn in Montana. Just follow the screams of the goats.
This IS a left wing site you moron. Trust me…we feel exactly the same way about you “paul” and we have FACTS to back us up…not the absolute horseshit you asses make up.
Birthers. Nothing but white faces in the crowd. Coincidental, I’m sure. Move along, folks. There’s nothing racist going on here.
http://videocafe.crooksandliar.....irth-certi
23 – Heh. Yeah. Love those birthers. Diverse ethnically and so full of youthful exuberance!
You have to laugh if not for the nausea.
Let’s see some Cass Sunstein idiot was talking in another thread about shovel ready jobs. Didn’t Obummer disagree with Cass Sunstein’s favorite idiot? Yes he did!
The rest of rhp6033’s comments above are useless as always!
Eh, another incoherent babble-fest from a hate-filled loon. I’d try to inperpret it for you folks but I haven’t a decoder ring. But I think I can summarise it anyway. “HATE! DENIAL! HATE!” That’s all a hate-filled loon ever brings, so why hope for anything different?
@19: I always learn something new from your posts, despite the spellos. Don’t hold back and don’t ever stop.