Usa Thread

[Steve]

Obama has a chance in Florida.

 

Granted Florida has its share of 'red necks' but the State has a sizable elderly populace. If the elderly vote, which they may if Social Security and Medicare is on the line, Obama has a good chance of carrying the State.

 

I think its a slim chance though. If Romney gets the nomination I'll vote for Obama so I hope he does well in Florida but I'll write him off in that state I think.

 

If Paul wins the nomination (highly unlikely) I'll vote for him. The others I wouldn't vote for over Obama because either I don't see any improvement or some other reasons to vote for them.

[Steve]

http://news.yahoo.com/awlaqi-killing-reignites-us-debate-rights-152720230.html

The killing of US-born Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi has renewed the debate over how far Washington can go in hunting down and assassinating alleged terror suspects who are American citizens.

Awlaqi, killed in Yemen with several other suspected militants, had been at the center of a court case filed last year challenging the US government's right to target its own citizens for assassination which highlighted questions about constitutional rights.

US President Barack Obama on Friday said the killing of Awlaqi was a "major blow" to Al-Qaeda, adding it marked a "milestone in the broader effort to defeat" the terror network.

And many US lawmakers and other Americans cheered the news of Awlaqi's death, but civil rights backers said the case raises serious questions.

Glenn Greenwald, a lawyer and commentator, said there had been no effort to indict Awlaqi on any crimes and that there was "substantial doubt" about his involvement in any attacks against the US.

"He was simply ordered killed by the president: his judge, jury and executioner," Greenwald wrote on Salon.com.

"What's most amazing is that its citizens will not merely refrain from objecting, but will stand and cheer the US government's new power to assassinate their fellow citizens, far from any battlefield, literally without a shred of due process," he added.

Last year, civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of the cleric's father, Nasser al-Awlaqi, saying it was unconstitutional for the CIA to order the death of an American citizen without due process.

A judge dismissed the case without ruling on the merit of the suit, but said it raises serious constitutional issues.

"Can (the president) order the assassination of a US citizen without first affording him any form of judicial process whatsoever, based on the mere assertion that he is a dangerous member of a terrorist organization?" US District Judge John Bates wrote in December.

Pardiss Kebriaei, an attorney at the the Center Constitutional Rights who worked on the lawsuit, said that if Awlaqi were indeed killed by US forces or with their help, it would be illegal.

"If it was in the absence of imminent threat of deadly harm, this was an illegal killing under the US constitution and international law," she told AFP.

While I won't lose a bit of sleep over this guy, and I was smiling when I read we got him with a smirk that said "F*ck you,you treasonous rat bastard" and any American who would aid terrorists against his own country isn't fit to have citizenship, I have to admit that it is wrong to target citizens for death without due process. Its a process that will come back to bite us when its used wrongly and trust me, there will come a time when it will be.

[Flashermac]

I don't honestly see how his citizenship plays into this. So it would have been all right to take out the scumbag if his citizenship had been Saudi or Pakistani, but not since he had been born in the US? Maybe the drone should have played him his Miranda rights before blowing him up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kamui]

Hello Kamui, you're right about Germany that's why I specifically left them out in my post. However, France, England and Holland have sizable black populations. In America Blacks have become national icons in just about all areas.

 

I think only GB has a sizable number of blacks. In France it's Arabs (Algeria) mostly. In the Netherlands it is people from Indonesia (Molukken), e.g.. The slave ships went North America and Haiti e. g.

[Flashermac]

And the first ship to bring them - in 1619 in Virginia - was Dutch!

[Steve]

I think only GB has a sizable number of blacks. In France it's Arabs (Algeria) mostly. In the Netherlands it is people from Indonesia (Molukken), e.g.. The slave ships went North America and Haiti e. g.

France doesn't count race in its census interstingly enough but the guestimate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people_in_Europe is that it has a higher slightly higher black population than England.

 

In any event, irregardless of the black populations, I'll expand it to minority groups to address my point. Minorities in America have achieved a lot and I would guess its much more than the largest minority population in Europe. I used blacks because America and a few European countries said to be more progressive than America also have sizable black populations.

 

Its still a fact that minorities have achieved more in terms of political seats of power and oorporate leadership in America than in Europe.

[dave32]

Hello Kamui, you're right about Germany that's why I specifically left them out in my post. However, France, England and Holland have sizable black populations.

 

When I visited Berlin in early 90s, after high school - but before Uni, ended up extending a three week trip to a year. I was that guy staying on the couch that never left.

 

There was a large and tight-knit community of black American expats from the military. A lot of them hung out around the u-bahn stop Oskar Helene Heim. Kinda like Washington Square. I used to call them the OHB Brothers. Got to know some of those guys, interesting thing was --> they did not like to spend time with African expats in the city, oh no. And they got pissed off when people called them African. The rest of Germany definitely did not have many blacks, but there were quite a few in Berlin (then). And btw, I could not detect any racism at all, except perhaps with the much older generation, between whites and blacks in Germany.

 

EDIT: I should say in Berlin instead of in Germany. If you left the city and headed south, it was a whole new ballgame. Have no idea what it's like now that the assimilation of East Germany and switch to the Euro have taken place (the reunification just started when I was there and it was not something people were happy about after the initial euphoria subsided, it placed a crushing burden on the West).

 

But, there was overt hostility between the Turks and the Germans. You saw graffiti like "Turken Raus!" all over public restrooms. The 'edgy' part of town was the Kreuzberg, where the Turks lived, and many Germans wouldn't go there. My understanding is that there was a depleted resource pool after WWII and Turks migrated to fill those jobs. They didn't really adopt German culture though and there was a clash of values. From what I could see it was a mutual rejection of each other from both sides.

 

My favorite convenience food in Germany was the Doner Kebab. Love em. I laughed when I went to Pattaya and saw the Germans had exported it there. It's a Turkish dish.

[robaus]

Better brush up on your Spanish, FM.

You may get called up as a reservist!

 

Rick's about to invade Mexico!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15140560

 

I exaggerate, I know... makes a great attention grabber though! hehe

 

But, it would certainly make more sense than invading Iraq looking for non existent WMD.

 

It would make even more sense to decriminalize illicit drug use in USA, register addicts, and offer treatment as an illness rather than a crime... would totally bankrupt the drug cartels in Mexico and USA and reduce crime in US cities by about 60%. The war on drugs was lost long ago.

 

[Flashermac]

No problem, let Rick Perry lead the charge! He can call upon his vast military experience.

 

I shake my head at the mess in Mexico, since I grew up near the border. Mexico in the 1950s and '60s was a delightful place to visit. My parents used to go to dinner and dance in Juarez almost every weekend. Nowadays, Juarez is the "murder capital of Mexico". One reason there are so many Mexican illegals in the US these days is because they are fleeing for their lives.

 

I would much rather see the US military on its own borders than stirring up a hornet's nest in Afghanistan. But Old Hippie has to go before me. He is maybe 20 years younger and is fluent in Spanish. I'll provide backup for him from some place like Colorado.

[Flashermac]

It's Obama Fried Chicken!

 

 

 

 

 

Is Obama abandoning his bid for a second term in the White House and is giving Colonel Sanders a run for his money by opening a chain of fried chicken joints?

 

Now that's change you can't really believe in.

 

But in Beijing, China, a restaurant is actually calling itself OFC with a logo that looks alarmingly like the President dressed in the colonel's clothes.

 

The catchphrase underneath, apparently says 'We’re so cool, aren’t we?'

 

The Obama Fried Chicken could be a response to the U.S. filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization about Chinese tariffs on American chicken exports.

 

According to the New York Times, the tariffs affect an industry that employs about 300,000 people and range from 50 to 100 per cent, which means some Chinese importers paid as much as twice the price for American chicken.

 

Maybe the Chinese have something of an Obama-chicken obsession.

 

Earlier this year in Hong Kong, an Obama lookalike was employed to advertize KFC.

 

The restaurant's sign was first spotted by TheShanghaiist.com and picked up by msnbc.com.

 

There are, of course, New York versions that caused quite a stir.

 

There is one in Harlem and one in Brooklyn.

 

Some people have complained the name plays into old racial stereotypes.

 

 

 

 

Finger lickin' good!