Usa Thread

[Steve]

The Lincoln bedroom and other benefits of supporting the sitting President has been going on for some time. I don't like it but it happens on both sides. Obama is using his office and its wrong. Dubya, his dad and Reagan did the same. Clinton as well.

 

The rantings of Chris Rock, Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin and others are to be expected from celebs. Why some think an actor or singer is more informed than anyone on this forum I don't know. Both sides have them. There are some very powerful industrialists on the right as well. Many keep a low profile.

 

Also, this attack on academia by the right doesn't wash. Not saying a large number of academia aren't left, even far left but they don't change minds. If that were so, there wouldn't be many conservatives out there. There were plenty of liberal profs at my school but it was a conservative state and the students reflected mainly what their parents ideology happen to be.

 

Every conservative went to these same schools but remained conservative. Santorums ravings about academia are out of whack with reality.

 

As far as oil, I don't know why someone doesn't tell the real truth of it. The oil companies want the supply to America to be limited to keep prices high. Its all bs.

[Steve]

What the f*ck is wrong with Arizona?

 

Why Are You On Birth Control? Employers Asking

 

The Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee has recently voted in favor of legislation that will make it legal for an employer to ask women what they need contraception for and fire the employee if they don't agree with the answer. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss this insane legislation and try to figure out why any woman would vote for a Republican.

[Flashermac]

Uh ... is there more than one reason for a woman to use a contraceptive?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flashermac]

Major US Airport To Evict TSA Screeners

 

One of America’s busiest airports, Orlando Sanford International, has announced it will opt out of using TSA workers to screen passengers, a move which threatens the highly unpopular federal agency’s role in other airports across the nation.

 

“The president of the airport said Tuesday that he would apply again to use private operators to screen passengers, using federal standards and oversight,†reports the Miami Herald.

 

With Sanford International having originally been prevented by the TSA from opting out back in November 2010 when the federal agency froze the ability for airports to use their own private screeners, a law passed by the Senate last month forces the TSA to reconsider applications.

 

Larry Dale hinted that the move was motivated by the innumerable horror stories passengers have told of their encounters with the TSA, noting that the change was designed to provide a more “customer friendly†operation.

 

The agency has been slow to reissue the guidelines on the the rule change, prompting Republican Representatives John Mica of Florida, Darrell Issa of California and Jason Chaffetz of Utah to press TSA head John Pistole to implement the mandate.

 

Appearing at Orlando Sanford International yesterday, Mica said he had written to 200 airports advising them of the opportunity to op out of using TSA screeners.

 

Orlando Sanford is in the top 30 busiest airports in the world, with large numbers of takeoffs and landings.

 

The TSA has been keen to downplay the opportunity for airports to dispense with their screeners, fearing a mass exodus that could undermine the justification for the agency’s continued existence, especially given the fact that its reputation has been repeatedly savaged by a number of scandals.

 

The most recent controversy involved a viral You Tube video created by engineer Jon Corbett which demonstrated how the TSA’s body scanners were virtually useless because they are unable to detect objects carried on the side of the body carried in a pocket.

 

The TSA responded by threatening the media not to cover the issue while putting out a blog statement that completely failed to rebut the claims made by Corbett.

 

A November 2010 poll found that the TSA’s “enhanced pat downs,†some of which include touching genitalia, angered 57% of regular adult fliers.

 

West Yellowstone Airport in Montana has already replaced its TSA screeners with private security. Bert Mooney Airport, also in Montana, is attempting to do the same.

 

However, when Texas lawmakers attempted to pass a bill last year that would have outlawed invasive TSA pat downs, the feds threatened to implement a blockade that would have imposed a de facto “no fly zone†over the lone star state.

 

Kicking out the incompetent, criminally-inclined and abusive TSA across the nation will not only encourage millions of peeved Americans to start flying again, pumping much needed money into the travel industry, it will also create thousands of new private sector jobs.

 

 

My link

[kamui]

Chris Rock Attacks Conservative Author Over Tea Party Question

 

 

The New York Times bestselling author of the explosive new book, Hollywood Hypocrites: The Devastating Truth About Obama’s Biggest Backers, Jason Mattera, had his crew’s camera snatched and hurled by comedian Chris Rock when he asked the star why he has called the Tea Party racist.

 

“I was stunned,†said Mr. Mattera in an exclusive interview with Big Hollywood. “Tea Party members get called the worst things imaginable and still remain peaceful. But ask a big Hollywood celebrity to explain himself and the guy goes ballistic, wrestles the camera away from my camerawoman, chucks it 50 feet, and then challenges me to a fight. It’s unreal. And it perfectly illustrates why I decided to investigate and write Hollywood Hypocrites.â€

 

The confrontation, which took place around 2:00 a.m. on January 23, 2012, at Spike Lee’s Sundance Film Festival after party at Tao night club, ended with Chris Rock challenging the conservative author to a fight, says Mr. Mattera:

 

“Chris Rock shouted, ‘You want to throw down? Let’s throw down right now!’ Of course, he was standing safely behind two bodyguards when he said it.â€

 

The clash was ignited when Jason Mattera inquired about disparaging comments Chris Rock made about the Tea Party in an Esquire article in 2011:

 

"When I see the Tea Party and all this stuff, it actually feels like racism's almost over. Because this is the last — this is the act up before the sleep. They're going crazy. They're insane. You want to get rid of them — and the next thing you know, they're fucking knocked out. And that's what's going on in the country right now."

 

Jason Mattera says his confrontation with Chris Rock is just the opening salvo in a series of forthcoming ambush celebrity interviews with some of the big name stars he chronicles in Hollywood Hypocrites.

 

“Hollywood celebrities preach to us to vote for Barack Obama and his leftist policies, yet not even they live by the values Obama and the progressive left stand for,†said Mattera. “If conservatives and Republicans are going to win in 2012, we must muzzle Obama’s backers. And that starts with a full-scale investigation of the positions they take and the lives they actually lead.â€

 

Among the celebrity targets Jason Mattera’s investigates in his new book are:

 

- Alec Baldwin

- Matt Damon

- Leonardo DiCaprio

- Madonna

- Bruce Springsteen

- Whoopi Goldberg

- Bono

- Arianna Huffington

- Jon Bon Jovi

- Spike Lee

 

Andrew Breitbart endorsed Jason Mattera’s book, saying that it “unleashes a barrage of body blows to Hollywood’s holier-than-thou limousine liberals that may make them think twice next time they open their pretty mouths.â€

 

As for when he plans to release his next celebrity interview for Hollywood Hypocrites, Mr. Mattera says: “As President Ronald Reagan used to say, ‘You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!’ The next video is likely to drop sometime next week.â€

 

LOS seems almost normal in comparison to the US these days.

 

Flash, I said this before. Please look for more reliable sources. Breitbart.com is a right wing noise machine which has posted a lot of bs and falsehoods in the past. Breitbart was known to manipulate information so much that it got a complete different meaning.

Remember Shirley Sherrod?

 

When you rely solely on those sources you are not better informed than an undereducated Fox News/Limbaugh fan.

 

You really should know better.

[Flashermac]

[kamui]

 

Cheap shots.

[Bangkoktraveler]

What the f*ck is wrong with Arizona?

 

Why Are You On Birth Control? Employers Asking

 

The Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee has recently voted in favor of legislation that will make it legal for an employer to ask women what they need contraception for and fire the employee if they don't agree with the answer. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss this insane legislation and try to figure out why any woman would vote for a Republican.

 

 

Arizona is the heart of the Republican nut heads.

 

This type of crap is only the tip of the ice burg of the shit going on in Arizona.

[Hugh_Hoy]

 

Well, Flash, I saw video of the incident. To be honest, I'm sure Hollywood types get tired of having a camera in their faces, unless they're getting paid millions for it. On the other hand, we know they love publicity, unless it's like this incident. Mr. "Rock" is friggin' lucky he didn't go into his tirade in California. He could be looking at charges of disturbing the peace, battery, robbery, and issuing terrorist threats. For sure, his legal bills (criminal and civil) would be more than I'd like to pay. He and Baldwin and dozens more are just a few of the A-holes that they make of themselves.

 

HH

[Flashermac]

Starstruck David Cameron's embarrassing fawning over Barack Obama and his 'beautiful words'

 

What David Cameron described as his "guys night out" watching basketball with President Barack Obama in the swing state of Ohio was cheesy and embarrassing enough. But has there ever been a speech given by a British prime minister that was quite as cringeworthy as Cameron's "toast" to Obama at last night's State Dinner?

 

Watch the video. Cameron starts speaking at the 8:20 point and almost immediately hails Obama's "strong and beautiful words". It's downhill from there.

He takes a cheap shot at Richard Nixon - the easiest possible target in front of a gathering of Obamaphiles - and his own Tory predecessor Ted Heath. He makes corny jokes about cricket and Watergate ("call in the plumbers" - Geddit?) and then lauds Obama's "strength, moral authority and wisdom". No mention of Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher.

 

Then comes what must surely be one of the most obsequious things Obama - who is well used to adulation - has ever heard. Obama, says Cameron "has pressed the reset button on the moral authority of the entire free world".

 

What? Pass the sickbag. Whichever way you look at it, that's ridiculous. Under Obama, despite his campaign promises and indeed an executive order when he took office, Guantanamo Bay has remained open. Drone strikes have increased exponentially - it being judged easier to kill suspects than capture and interrogate them. Military trials outside the federal system continue, as does indefinite detention without trial.

 

Certainly, Obama has delivered some "beautiful words" around the world, starting in Berlin before he was even the Democratic nominee and continuing in Cairo. In Strasbourg, he apologised for the times when "America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" towards its allies.

 

But Obama has certainly shown arrogance and dismissiveness towards the UK in a way that President George W. Bush never did. Israel considers the US an unreliable ally under Obama. Iran's green revolutionaries might question Obama's "moral authority" after he allowed them to be crushed by Tehran's theocratic regime, as might the Syrian rebels and civilians currently dying at the hands of President Bashar Assad.

 

Then there was this passage, in which Cameron chucks in the names of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King for no apparent reason at all - other than, presumably and patronisingly, because Obama is black: "Half a century ago, the amazing courage of Rosa Parks, the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King, and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens.

 

"But in the fight for justice and the struggle for freedom, there is no end, because there is so much more to do to ensure that every human being can fulfill their potential. That is why our generation faces a new civil rights struggle, to seek the prize of the future that is open to every child as never before. Barack has made this one of the goals of his presidency, the goal he's pursuing with enormous courage."

 

What on earth is Cameron talking about? Gay marriage? Obama's against that, publicly at least. Healthcare reform? Or maybe it's just what it sounds - utter vacuity.

 

As I argued in this newspaper piece, Cameron is foolish to have ignored the Republicans during this trip. Mitt Romney, the likely GOP nominee, was in New York yesterday and today and was presumably available for a meeting. Cameron's predecessor Gordon Brown met candidates Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain in Washington in April 2008. President Obama met Cameron in London in April 2009 when the Tory was opposition leader.

 

He only added to this error by his fawning praise of the man he referred to earlier in the day as "Mr President Barack" - which only reinforces the sense that the UK the much junior partner in the much-vaunted (in the UK) "special relationship".

 

For a British prime minister to align himself with one side in American politics is a rookie error. To do it with the party on the opposite side (supposedly) of the political spectrum is pure folly.

 

And, of course, 41 of the 364 guests were - surprise, surprise - major Obama fundraisers. The White House drew up the guest list but if there's anyone with backbone in Downing Street (maybe a forlorn hope, I know) there will be a protest about the way Cameron was used to entertain Democratic donors being rewarded for their largesse in an election year.

 

Come next year, Cameron - assuming he is still in office - may very well find himself having to deal with a President Mitt Romney. If so, the first thing he'll have to do is mend some fences.

 

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