Bahrain is a key country in the Middle East, and is overlooked by most Americans. Check out the writings of Glenn Greenwald and the journalism of Amber Lyon is reference to Bahrain. Some crazy shit going on over there, and the government of Bahrain is basically paying CNN to run fluff pieces about how "progressive" they are while killing civilians with tear gas and other methods.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/04/cnn-international-documentary-bahrain-arab-spring-repression
http://rt.com/news/bahrain-favorable-cnn-content-538/
Dave seemed a little nervous on the vocals...not as powerful as his vocal on Gun Has no Trigger on Jimmy Fallon, but still amazing! String section was nice!
I'm annoyed that Spotify for PC takes up more system resources than iTunes. Need to work on streamlining that.
Netflix was worth about $17 billion a year ago before the stock collapsed...!
Gotta love this. Rio Bravo gets downvoted into oblivion for posting damning facts about Obama's drone wars and crackdown on civil liberties...and a stupid letter to a celeb from POTUS gets 14 upvotes.
Welcome to Idiocracy!
American politics is kinda like pro sports. Vote for your favorite team! I guess Jay Z would be like a cheerleader then...you're not wrong to think it's bizarre.
Gotta love American tribalism...don't understand something and get downvoted. LOL.
I wasn't shoving anything down anyone's throat, just throwing some apparently little known facts out there. Nobody was forced to read anything they didn't want to read.
I posted many times in that thread because I was trying to carry a dialogue with others who had answered my posts.
Wow, I can feel the love.
Lessons learned:
Stereogummers love them some Abe Lincolns and his crackdowns on civil liberties.
Stereogummers love them some two party system.
Stereogummers do not love them some anarcho-capitalism.
A vote is an endorsement. I don't see how you could see it any other way.
Obamacare was based on Romney's healthcare plan for MA. So... Also, Obamacare's deciding vote in the SCOTUS came from a Dubya appointee...so there's that.
Both parties are the same. I doubt Dems really want to federally legalize Gay Marriage, just as the Repubs don't want to federally ban Abortion. They would both lose their most powerful divide and conquer political footballs.
I dig it...!
"increasingly unwatchable Sons Of Anarchy..." I think this season has been amazing!
Someone needs to educate SAMCRO on the real definition of anarchy though... They should be called Sons of The State-because they murder, steal, and coerce without shame! ;)
I had another reply with a ton of links, it's still awaiting moderation. Hop on Google look at these issues if you aren't aware of them. If you don't know about them, and don't care, I seriously question your claim of being liberal. If you do know about them, and still endorse Obama (or Romney for that matter), then you are endorsing these actions.
Even you have to realize that the legacy of Obama and the Democratic Party circa 2012 has nothing to do with Liberalism, past or present:
Obama's Crackdown on Whistleblowers and Dissidents (more convictions of whistleblowers than all other administrations COMBINED)
Obama's Executive Kill List (which includes US citizens and will be passed to next president)
Obama's War on Drugs (Obama himself would never be able to be president if he was arrested in college under his own policies. Also, the War on Drugs is by far the greatest example of racism left in America)
Obama's Drone Wars (innocent children, no due process, blowback, terrorism recruitment)
Obama's NDAA (and his subsequent court battles to uphold Indefinite Detention without trial)
Obama's extension of the Patriot Act (signed by autopen)
= Obama's Legacy
I look at it quite differently. My decision to not vote is not based in apathy. I look at a vote as an endorsement of what the politicians are doing. In no way ,shape, or form am I going to endorse the endless wars and restrictions of free speech/civil liberties that is being championed by both major parties.
Regarding the non-aggression principle...most of history has revolved around the repression of women, human bondage, hatred, and force. Thankfully we have begun to move past some of these. Just because that's always how it's been, doesn't mean it always has to be that way. Here at the apex of the information age, we should be willing to give non-aggression a chance. It has a better chance now then ever before, where the internet and flow of information is able to hold everyone accountable for their own actions.
Before slavery was abolished, people wrung their hands and asked, "but who will pick the cotton?" Even if there wasn't a clear cut answer to this question at the time, it didn't mean that we should continue slavery.
The initiation of force without coercion is always wrong, and even if we don't have all the answers on how to solve some of the problems that might stem from this, we need to try to evolve as a species and move away from violence!
@Michael Hanna - sounds like you are arguing with yourself. I never said genocide, you did.
Fact is, sanctions are an act of war. If a country breaks sanctions set by the US, we will initiate force against them. Of course we aren't obligated to provide economic aid to every country. Are you suggesting that not having sanctions against a country is tantamount to economic aid? That is ridiculous man. I brought up Iraq sanctions because the warmongers in both parties are ramping up to war in Iran just like they did the war in Iraq. How did that turn out for us? You think we should initiate force against every world leader who is "insane?"
Regarding drones...the fact of the matter is that they have a 98% failure rate in getting the bad guy. They will (and already have) create blowback, and are the next wave of terrorism recruitment tools. We have already used to drones to kill an innocent 16 year old American citizen who grew up in Denver. Why is this not huge news? Robert Gibbs, a senior adviser to President Obama's reelection campaign, said that Abdulrahman al-Awlaki's death can be justified because he should have a "far more responsible father." Actual quote. Then why was he killed 2 weeks after his father was drone bombed, in a separate strike? There is NO justification for this. A Republican congressman Peter King was asked about this, and his reply was "that's the breaks."
..but when they only give you a choice between Coke and Pepsi, there is no fucking point.
Don't bitch when Obamney gives you four more years of the same -- I didn't vote for either of them.
Correct, ~3,000 people killed in the drone wars wouldn't be enough to qualify as genocide...I never said genocide anyway.
Hard to tell the damage we are doing in Iran with the sanctions. The long running sanctions in Iraq were supposedly responsible for the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children.
Even you have to realize that the legacy of Obama and the Democratic Party circa has nothing to do with Liberalism, past or present:
Crackdown on Whistleblowers and Dissidents:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/obamas-whistleblowers-stuxnet-leaks-drones
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/05/obama-campaign-brags-about-whistleblower-persecutions
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-18/obama-pursuing-leakers-sends-warning-to-whistle-blowers.html
Obama's War on Drugs
http://hightimes.com/legal/jgettman/7841
http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2012/10/29/small-change-obamas-war-on-weed-budget-should-be-going-down-not-up/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/obama-marijuana-raids-rolling-stone_n_1451744.html
Obama's Drone Wars
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/map_of_the_week/2012/10/drone_strikes_map_shows_pakistan_drone_strikes.html
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/world/asia/pakistan-us-drone-strikes/index.html
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2012/10/obama_s_drone_war_is_probably_illegal_will_it_stop_.html
Obama's Executive Kill List
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/10/how-team-obama-justifies-the-killing-of-a-16-year-old-american/264028/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uH5PF_4sd0
Obama's NDAA (Indefinite Detention without trial)
https://www.aclu.org/secure/sem-he-signed-it-well-fight-it?ms=gad_SEM_Google_search-indefinite-detention_NDAA_aclu%20ndaa_p_14364291742
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/09/obamas_ndaa_law.php
http://www.businessinsider.com/historic-ndaa-battle-underway-tv-networks-silent-2012-8
Obama Extends Patriot Act
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/27/patriot-act-extension-signed-obama-autopen_n_867851.html
Notice how Romney pretty much agreed with everything Obama has done in the foreign policy debate? That's because he can't wait to get his Bush Neocon team behind the wheel with all the new shiny powers Obama has put in place for the Executive!
Tell me again how Obama is a liberal?
You may call it cowardice, I call it refusing to beg for scraps from violent thugs.
You really think the Democrats stand for Liberalism? Might want to re-check the definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism
Check out the video I posted below "The Truth About Voting."
My core beliefs stem from the Non Aggression Principle, and none of the candidates out there support this to my liking. I believe every problem, be it social, economic, or foreign policy, can be easily solved by adhering to the Non Aggression Principle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_principle
"Don't Blame Me, I Didn't Vote"
I was so proud of Jill Stein getting arrested outside of the second presidential debate... What a great way to highlight the corruption of the Council on Presidential Debates! The CPD is run by a Republican and Democrat, and their sole purpose is to keep other parties out of the debates and to keep the bullshit two party system going... Jill Stein tried to join the debate, and was arrested and tied to a chair for eight hours!!! Unreal. Of course, the corporate media almost completely ignored this incident.
Reality Check: Who Is Really Behind The Presidential Debates?
http://www.fox19.com/story/19730894/reality-check-who-is-really-behind-the-presidential-debates
"If you dropped the social issues from both parties’ platforms, there really isn’t much of a difference in the economic policies they’re advocating."
Bingo. There really isn't much of a difference in the foreign policy platforms of either party either. Romney supports the Patriot Act, Drone bombings, NDAA, Kill List, Iran sanctions---just like Obama.
Divide and conquer through slightly esthetic differences between the right and left arms of the same rotten corrupt beast!
Lincoln's Crackdown
Suspects jailed. No charges filed. Sound familiar?
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2001/11/lincolns_crackdown.single.html
Stefan Molyneux: The Truth About Voting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igbBItLemsM
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