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Reason Morning Links: Egyptian Pigs, Global Censors, and Rossum's Universal Robots
• Jack Kemp is dead.
• Violence increases in Iraq.
• We move one step closer to new federal controls on health care.
• Farmers fight back against the Egyptian government's porkocide program.
• Freedom House's annual report on freedom of the press is out, and it's the first ever to show media liberties declining in every region of the world. The study also demotes Israel, Italy, and Hong Kong from "free" to "partly free" status.
• Resilience vs. sustainability.
• Are "failed states" really an innate security threat?
• Note: All of the above stories are beside the point, because the robot rebellion is beginning. We all know how this ends:
High Every Body|5.4.09 @ 8:27AM|#
Violence increases in Iraq.
[Obama fan voice]
Unpossible! They really love us, ever since January or November or
so. I don't have to click through to see the falseness on its
surface.
[/Obama fan voice]
|5.4.09 @ 9:06AM|#
Iraq bloodshed rises as US allies defect
Obama's withdrawal pledge is at risk as militias paid by the US begin to rejoin the insurgency
Y'know, I ain't no friggin' genius when it comes to diplomacy and
international political developments.
Yet somehow when reading claims that we are "winning" the debacle
in Iraq, this skeptical, cynical, uneducated dumbass has repeatedly
cautioned something along the lines of "When a stable functioning
democracy exists six months after U.S. troops presently
propping up the government leave, tell me then that we've
won".
Red teamers - you're pretty sure by now you'll not get to crow,
aren't you?
I've also cutioned the Obama fanboys that I don't think he'll be
willing to take the political heat that will come from admitting
that this whole thing has failed and the withdrawal of U.S. troops
will be delayed indefinitely.
Blue teamers - The Chosen Ones's 16 months for a withdrawal has
already turned into 19. Do you still think that timeline
will hold?
That's NO U.S. troops performing combat actions in
Iraq after August of 2010. I will not accept an "anti-terror
operations" exception since that's what we've been claiming to do
for 5 years now.
Short version - Fuck! I knew this goddam shit would happen.
|5.4.09 @ 9:12AM|#
Are "failed states" really an innate security threat?
In the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and South America? No.
Mexico? You betcha!
BlueBook|5.4.09 @ 9:15AM|#
Meh, that robot mauling actually happened back in '07 and was
basically a new twist on the old "man runs over self with truck"
story.
The new Terminator: Salvation trailers do look promising
though. Some of the battle scenes almost look like they were lifted
right out of Red Dawn, with the Ruskies digitally replaced
by Stan Winston machines.
High Every Body|5.4.09 @ 9:17AM|#
J sub D,
Oh, stop trying to make Obama look bad with all that failure talk.
;)
robc|5.4.09 @ 9:40AM|#
Mexico? You betcha!
also Canada.
Isnt a failed Mexico (or Canada) and expansion opportunity?
Hugh Akston|5.4.09 @ 9:43AM|#
Isnt a failed Mexico (or Canada) and expansion
opportunity?
You know what Rahm said, never pass up a good crisis.
|5.4.09 @ 9:45AM|#
Jack Kemp is dead.
Effectively neutered by putting him in charge of HUD. Kemp was as
libertarian as the GOP gets. His was an important voice in the
Republican Party before it went neo-commie.
High Every Body|5.4.09 @ 9:52AM|#
Jack Kemp is dead.
I wonder who Joe Biden is quoting here? He frequently forgets to
credit the few things he says that make sense.
Kemp, Economic Revolutionary [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
I thought this was good and right, from Joe Lieberman yesterday: "There was no one who could make capitalism more relevant to the poorest people on their way up, or freedom more real to people throughout the world fighting for it."
|5.4.09 @ 9:57AM|#
Red teamers - you're pretty sure by now you'll not get to
crow, aren't you?
Things started going south right after Obama took over, and that's
Bush's fault? I don't get it.
Really, Blue team - the whole "its Bush's fault" thing has played
out. You can only throw somebody under the bus so many times.
High Every Body|5.4.09 @ 9:58AM|#
RCD,
You mean it is not Reagan's fault any more, or Nixon's? I am so
behind the times.
|5.4.09 @ 10:05AM|#
Things started going south right after Obama took over, and
that's Bush's fault?
Maybe you read different papers than I do. This thing has been a
fuck story from the gitgo.
Cabeza De Vaca|5.4.09 @ 10:11AM|#
"Things started going south right after Obama took over, and
that's Bush's fault?"
WTF?
|5.4.09 @ 10:11AM|#
"Really, Blue team - the whole "its Bush's fault" thing has
played out. You can only throw somebody under the bus so many
times."
The war in and of itself is wrong no matter which party is running
it. You can't force democracy on a country. It's something they've
got to do on their own, if they're willing.
libertarian democrat|5.4.09 @ 10:16AM|#
Ron Paul would have already had us out of Iraq.
Suck it Obama voters.
I voted Ron Paul in the primaries. I have little doubt this is
true.
On the other hand, I have no doubt that McCain wouldn't have, and
that is a more relevant comparison.
(I voted Barr, not Obama, however)
robc|5.4.09 @ 10:34AM|#
I voted Barr, not Obama, however
Which is what I did, thats why I didnt tell you to suck it. If all
the anti-war Obama voters had registered GOP to vote for the real
anti-war candidate, McCain wouldnt have got the nomination to begin
with.
Well, under that scenario, I guess we would have ended up with a
Paul v Clinton primary race.
|5.4.09 @ 10:40AM|#
Maybe you read different papers than I do. This thing has
been a fuck story from the gitgo.
You must have taken time off from reading the papers. Things were
on the upswing last year.
Sure, sure, if Obama had been god-king in 2001, we probably
wouldn't be in Iraq at all right now. I'm not so sure that a
nuclearizing Iraq under Saddam would be better than what we have
now, though.
|5.4.09 @ 10:43AM|#
Janet Jackson's boob is in the news again.
That thing has a mind of it's own anymore, especially after it got
that shield with which to protect itself.
|5.4.09 @ 10:45AM|#
Sure, sure, if Obama had been god-king in 2001, we probably
wouldn't be in Iraq at all right now. I'm not so sure that a
nuclearizing Iraq under Saddam would be better than what we have
now, though.
Yeah. I forgot about that press conference when the Bush
administration laid out all of the evidence of Iraq's WMD programs
our troops unearthed. Here's the
link
robc|5.4.09 @ 10:55AM|#
RC,
If Bush had pulled out of Iraq the day after Saddam was captured
and said "We have given you a blank slate, dont fuck it up or we
will kill off the next dude too", you might have been able to argue
it was a success.
An uptick in 2008 doesnt make up for 5 years of suckitude.
|5.4.09 @ 11:00AM|#
NutraSweet
We've got to make a documentary about this.
"The Boob that wouldn't Die".
|5.4.09 @ 11:08AM|#
I'm thinking that it gets loose after gender reassignment surgery and recruits an army of liposuction fat-armed dog testicles to seize control of the American Southwest.
|5.4.09 @ 11:19AM|#
If Bush had pulled out of Iraq the day after Saddam was
captured and said "We have given you a blank slate, dont fuck it up
or we will kill off the next dude too", you might have been able to
argue it was a success.
Not if we had to go back in again, you couldn't. And we probably
would have had to do so, what with the Saddamite bitter-enders and
the Iranian-backed militias being the only real contenders.
Would Iraq be nuclearizing now if we had left Saddam in charge? I
think the odds are that yes, he would. The sanctions were breaking
down, he had quite a bit of intellectual and material capital left
from his first go-round, he had oil revenue to buy more, he had a
long history of refusing to cooperate and violating
non-proliferation treaties, and he had his bitterest enemies the
Iranians nuclearizing.
There weren't any good options in 2001-2002. I am still far from
convinced that doing nothing would have been the least worst thing
we could do.
We're still in the time will tell part of this. Maybe Bush got
lucky on the timing of his departure, but I think he at least left
Obama an Iraq with a realistic possibility of being functional.
We'll see how it turns out, but whatever happens, its Obama's now.
Saying "its Bush's fault" can do nothing to improve the
outcome.
|5.4.09 @ 11:23AM|#
I'm thinking that it gets loose after gender reassignment
surgery and recruits an army of liposuction fat-armed dog testicles
to seize control of the American Southwest.
With a zany Pudsy Bear for a sidekick.
High Every Body|5.4.09 @ 11:31AM|#
With a zany Pudsy Bear for a sidekick.
If it's near lunch time it's Pudsy Bear time.
Say bye bye to SugarFree for 20 seconds . . .
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