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General politics thread (was: General U.S. politics thread)
Because one stinkin' thread should cover most of the smaller stories.
Right now, we watch as, in the wake of the recent mass shootings, news producers are told not to talk about gun control...but instead entertain theories about the role of religion.
Hat-tip to one of the comments of the latter in pointing out This quote from the Bible.
Edit: Changing the thread title from "General U.S. politics thread" to "General politics thread".
For the record, this post was previouly edited at 2012-12-18 00:13:43.
Comments
Fox News run by shameless, slimy assholes only concerned with lining their pockets? That's not news, just one of the laws of physics. NEXT!
Why are we focusing on fox news when every major news outlet plays the same games with headlines?
Its not like CNN isn't the same top-down type of management either.
Because CNN doesn't inspire the same mixture of derisive laughter and raw boiling rage in me. :V
Because Fox News has views we disagree with more.
Because Rupert Murdoch is a bad person.
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/12/23/senator_arrested_for_drunk_driving.html
This wouldn't be the first time that Idaho's had a hypocritical senator.
That and a stupid one. I mean if you are a goddamn senator, it is totally within your power to get somebody to drive you home if you're drunk.
That would involve admitting that he was drinking.
Wonkette says that Crapo, despite being a Mormon who supposedly abstains from drinking alcohol, worked to get tax breaks to beer barley farmers.
Someone at Daily Kos Elections has pointed out that this incident implies that Crapo didn't go home over Christmas break, for whatever reason:
Speculation has started as to why, though I don't know of concrete evidence or clues yet. In the meantime, enjoy his mugshot.
----
So, you hear about the crazy gun incidents where people get killed, but what about those where people don't get killed?
Such as this.
Background info: FreedomWorks is a conservative "tea-party" organization that backs (or opposes) candidates in elections. It was headed by former Republican House Majority Leader Richard K. "Dick" Armey, though he recently left. Earlier stories reported that he had a dispute with (who I think is) the current leader, Matt Kibbe, accusing Kibbe of abusing the organization to help promote his book, or something like that. Also, some disagreement over which candidates the organization should support, establishment Republicans versus insurgent tea-party types.
Well, turns out there's more screwballery going on than just this. Apparently, Armey staged a coup in the organization the day after Labor Day, ousting the top two people at gunpoint.
Six days later, he got paid off by a wealthy conservative guy from Illinois, who's pledged to give him four hundred grand a year for twenty years. And the top two people went back to work.
And I guess they really do have a use for guns other than hunting and self-defense.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/legally-recognize-westboro-baptist-church-hate-group/DYf3pH2d
Hell yeah.
...
What?
No, seriously, what is going on here?
Reminds me of a case where local FBI equivalent caught a dangerous terrorist smuggling fission material. As in, you know, some kid collecting minerals bought a piece of uranium ore. BTW how does it happen? Spree killers have absolutely no problem getting into schools loaded to the teeth, but kids are arrested for not even doing as much as I did back in school.
^^^ From what I can tell, the U.S. government has no laws against hate speech. So um, what practical effect would it have if an organization is "officially recognized as a hate group"? I mean, they can't arrest anybody for "spreading vile hatred" or whatever
^^^,^^ This happens all the time after a major shooting incident. People in general get incredibly paranoid about anyone even remotely unstable.
Funny enough, I did stuff like this in middle school and my parents thought I'd get arrested too. I guess they were right for once.
Must've been a very scary doodle.
Again, I blame sensationalism.
Asked my dad about the details, since he's a lawyer. If reclassified as a hate group, WBC would lose their tax-exempt status and be subject to FBI scrutiny.
Watch, as the Republicans go off the ideological deep end!
Also, this story about the politics of the fiscal cliff vote contains my favorite line about it:
I love how DeFazio just confuses the shit out of them.
I feel kind of bad being in his district. He does a damn good job where it counts and I'm glad to keep him there, but it also means I'm not casting a vote somewhere that would help kick out one of the utter crazies.
I hope eventually somebody will go "Hey guys, do you know what's actually present at school shootings? Guns!"
[citation needed]
Anyhow, here's the original article...from my old hometown paper: http://www.courant.com/community/southington/hc-southington-games-0103-20130102,0,4488.story
What my experience (though not statistically rigorous) tells me is that there might be a desensitization toward violence but that runs counter to "increases in aggressiveness, fear, and anxiety". If anything, videogames are used as stress relief, even if they may desensitize people to violence. That said, I don't play these so-called "violent" games anyway so I don't have a very apt perspective.
I'm not exactly too sure how I feel about this. On one hand, this is stupid. On the other hand, such a backlash might cause the industry to shift back to making less of these sorts of games, which I don't like.
(I remember when my mom looked at Mega Man X and thought it looked kinda violent. Oh, MMX is tame compared to this shit.)
While I appreciate this, it'll take much more than this for people to reconnect with their families. Parents will need stable, well-paying jobs that allow them time and peace of mind to interact with their children, for starters.
Mike Crapo pled guilty to drunk driving, and admits that he drank vodka and tonic (but not vodka shots) at home, and then went out driving, trying to relieve stress.
Unfortunately, he told the police that he drank "several shots of vodka", and his local paper reports that he "attended a social gathering in Alexandria, Va.".
In pointless uselessness news, Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett is now suing the NCAA saying that their punishment of Penn State was too harsh.
In other pointless uselessness news, I hear the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted to make a grand statement that the Defense of Marriage Act should be defended in the courts.
I wish that was the worst the House had done lately.
The speaker effectively held the aid package for Hurricane Sandy hostage (by ending the last session of the 112th congress before it could be voted on), somehow retained his seat, and then the house passed through a bill less than a sixth the size of what it should've been. Supposedly the rest is going to be delivered later, but even if it is, this stunt holds up relief for weeks if not months.
They say that policy certainty is important for businesses.
Actually, it's also important for, like, everyone else, too.
Something that got rather dramatically less coverage...
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/sanantonio.asp
Well like the article said, the news media reports negative stuff for the most part.
IJBM: When the media does not make a big deal about shootings that don't involve deaths, or involve fewer deaths.
A few days before Newtown, there was a shooting in an Oregon mall. Which killed three people I think.
And then a couple days after Newtown, there's this.
IJBM: People resorting to violence to solve problems.