The General Politics Thread

rio · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:41 am

Lies of the capitalist press!!!!1

Goat · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:13 am

Heh, no doubt.

traptunderice · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:51 pm

An awesome short blurb on the oil spill by Zizek:
http://versouk.wordpress.com/2010/07/09 ... ture-blog/

Slavoj Zizek on BBC Newsnight with some douchebag:
http://versouk.wordpress.com/2010/07/08 ... newsnight/

Goat · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:13 pm

traptunderice wrote:

An awesome short blurb on the oil spill by Zizek:
http://versouk.wordpress.com/2010/07/09 ... ture-blog/

What, taxpayers should pay, rather than the company/s that cause the problem in the first place? :huh:

Orion · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:35 pm

Goat wrote:

traptunderice wrote:

An awesome short blurb on the oil spill by Zizek:
http://versouk.wordpress.com/2010/07/09 ... ture-blog/

What, taxpayers should pay, rather than the company/s that cause the problem in the first place? :huh:

I don't think that was the point at all. I think the point was that nobody can pay for it all. It's impossibly expensive. So money doesn't make everything all better. Therefore, he concludes that off-shore drilling should be banned because there really is no good way to fix the calamities that could result from it.

I don't know that I agree, but I'm pretty sure that's what he is getting at.

Orion · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:47 pm

traptunderice wrote:

Slavoj Zizek on BBC Newsnight with some douchebag:
http://versouk.wordpress.com/2010/07/08 ... newsnight/

Why is that dude a douchebag? Seemed like a pretty good interview to me.

Goat · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:12 pm

Orion wrote:

I don't think that was the point at all. I think the point was that nobody can pay for it all. It's impossibly expensive. So money doesn't make everything all better. Therefore, he concludes that off-shore drilling should be banned because there really is no good way to fix the calamities that could result from it.

I don't know that I agree, but I'm pretty sure that's what he is getting at.

I suppose; I was talking about short-term solutions. At least if the company takes the hit, it's a warning to others to up the security and safety measures when doing the like. Governments taking on the cleanup costs and in effect paying for the company's problems will not help anyone. In terms of what you're saying, the potential disaster outweighs everything else, I also wouldn't agree - what does Zizek think of nuclear power, someone?

traptunderice · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:34 pm

Orion wrote:

Goat wrote:

traptunderice wrote:

An awesome short blurb on the oil spill by Zizek:
http://versouk.wordpress.com/2010/07/09 ... ture-blog/

What, taxpayers should pay, rather than the company/s that cause the problem in the first place? :huh:

I don't think that was the point at all. I think the point was that nobody can pay for it all. It's impossibly expensive. So money doesn't make everything all better. Therefore, he concludes that off-shore drilling should be banned because there really is no good way to fix the calamities that could result from it.

I don't know that I agree, but I'm pretty sure that's what he is getting at.

Dead on. There is no short-term solution though, Zad. Bankrupting BP might take care of some of the costs but it can't address them all and Obama surely doesn't have the power to do that anyways. He isn't saying gov't should take on the costs because no one can pay for the costs on the local economy, the ecosystem's purity, the people affected by having their vacations cancelled or ruined on the minor scale. He compares it to trying to compensate for Holocaust damages how is that hard to understand?

Goat · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:48 pm

I'm not having trouble understanding it, I'm arguing, is all. The holocaust reference is a bit odd - what, so there should be no compensation? The whole point of it is that money can't possibly equal the damage caused by said Nazis, but it can go some way towards alleviating the damage, and everyone knows this.

traptunderice · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:43 pm

Zizek's basic point is to stop worrying about tit for tat compensation and change the whole system that allows for the catastrophe in the first place. Going after BP for millions doesn't address how companies can fuck up the commons and rack up costs which can't ever be matched. You can either get wrapped up in the former or you can go after the latter. The common dichotomy for the Left and you I'm sure would love to bicker with BP and create a bill for them so they can simply throw their vast amount of wealth at it, never truly phasing them. These companies have nearly infinite resources and the standard approach could never gauge the full amount of the costs and it could never even be levied against that corporation due to conservative opposition, i.e., Jindal's wankery in Louisiana.

Goat · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:58 pm

It seems like chin-stroking, though. Change the system, sure, in whatever way you choose to do that, but in the short term there's a cleanup bill, and that should be thrown at BP. I doubt the republicans would block that, considering how anti-BP y'all are over there at the moment (or so it seems from here).

GeneralDiomedes · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:03 pm

Poor British Pension.

traptunderice · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:52 pm

Goat wrote:

It seems like chin-stroking, though. Change the system, sure, in whatever way you choose to do that, but in the short term there's a cleanup bill, and that should be thrown at BP. I doubt the republicans would block that, considering how anti-BP y'all are over there at the moment (or so it seems from here).

Republicans would block that. They've been claiming the gov't is getting in the way of BP fixing it all themselves so any type of encroaching on BP to say "pay the fuck up" would be rejected as crippling their capabilities to fix the damages themselves. The thing is that you can't mystify the situation and delay the alteration of the whole system by worrying about BP. They'll have to clean it up to save face so devote all attention to ending all offshore drilling.

Goat · **Posted:** Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:02 am

Hm. And Obama's just opened up Alaska to drilling, amirite?

Goat · **Posted:** Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:35 am

Tony Blair on Gordon Brown, as reported by Peter Mandleson:

Quote:

He thinks he can do no wrong. He has a lack of perspective, and a paranoia, about him.

Quote:

He's like something out of the mafiosi. He's aggressive, brutal, in order to get what he wants.

Quote:

There is no one to match Gordon for someone who articulates high principles while practising the lowest skulduggery.

I think Broon will go down in history as our Nixon in terms of character. Although we already had Heath...

traptunderice · **Posted:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:21 am

The Tea Party leader posted this on his site as 'satire'

Quote:

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Colored People have taken a vote and decided that we don't cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!

In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist (?) spirit called the 'tea party movement'.

The tea party position to "end the bailouts" for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn't that what we want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.

And the ridiculous idea of "reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government." What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!

The racist tea parties also demand that the government "stop the out of control spending." Again, they directly target Colored People. That means we Colored People would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.

Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government "stop raising our taxes." That is outrageous! How will we Colored People ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?

Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.

Sincerely

Precious Ben Jealous, Tom's Nephew National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Head Colored Person

Really fighting racism within the Tea Party, no? Can someone explain to me how this isn't racist?

GeneralDiomedes · **Posted:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:46 am

True colors will shine through .. at least the Republicans are smart enough to speak in code.

rio · **Posted:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:13 am

Could anything be more perfectly designed to get cry of the banshee racing back?

traptunderice · **Posted:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:34 pm

rio wrote:

Could anything be more perfectly designed to get cry of the banshee racing back?

noodles · **Posted:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 5:05 pm

haha oh man

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