Support NeoGAF

[soul creator]

when the hell did Iran become this "omg supreme nuclear terrorist" threat to humanity?

sheesh. And people wonder why "Islamofascists" hate us.

 

[reilo]

when the hell did Iran become this "omg supreme nuclear terrorist" threat to humanity?

sheesh. And people wonder why "Islamofascists" hate us.

I always laugh when Iran is equated to Nazi Germany or the USSR. Ahmedinidjad is a damn nobody. Iran and him are no threat to anyone - especially the US.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Man, McCain's pretty lucky he's never done anything or known anyone worth scrutiny ever.

He's a straight shooter. What's there to analyze? Aside from how very straight he shoots, always.

 

[ToyMachine228]

when the hell did Iran become this "omg supreme nuclear terrorist" threat to humanity?

Republicans have been building Iran up as a huge threat for quite some time. Are they currently our friends? Not really. But are they going to launch attacks against us or our allies without us first striking them? No. There are a lot of people fanning the flames with Iran, and that's the only reason Iran is all the talk.

 

[soul creator]

He's a straight shooter. What's there to analyze? Aside from how very straight he shoots, always.

Guy's a pro /arrested development

 

[mckmas8808]

Here's a much scarier thing that's going for a vote soon in the house

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9377



:/

My question is what is this for? What's the purpose of this? Why do it? And why do it now?

 

[Tamanon]

It's bizarre, the reason the US and others are refusing to negotiate is that they won't unless Iran suspends it's legal and lawful uranium enrichment program. Which is constantly monitored by the IAEA. Adding a blockade and restricting the fuel imports of a country because they're trying to expand their power gird.....that's just going to give taqfiris more recruits.

 

[mckmas8808]

I don't know, I think the odds are 50/50... whether they get struck militarily by israel and/or whether they get some sort of military reaction (involving combat/actual destruction of their property) by us. But I think it's more like 80% there is SOME sort of responsive reaction against them.

FINALLY DAMN!! We finally agree on something.

I say 70% chance that some kind of way US and Iran go head to head in some military form. Which will make oil prices go to $170 a barrel and gas prices at $5 a gallon.

 

[Suikoguy]

It's bizarre, the reason the US and others are refusing to negotiate is that they won't unless Iran suspends it's legal and lawful uranium enrichment program. Which is constantly monitored by the IAEA. Adding a blockade and restricting the fuel imports of a country because they're trying to expand their power gird.....that's just going to give taqfiris more recruits.

Yep, I don't get it either,
You need a higher level of enrichment for nuclear weapons then power.

 

[thekad]

My question is what is this for? What's the purpose of this? Why do it? And why do it now?

Because Israel is mad and it's an election year?

Gas will be more than $5 a gallon. Try 10.

 

[mckmas8808]

It's bizarre, the reason the US and others are refusing to negotiate is that they won't unless Iran suspends it's legal and lawful uranium enrichment program. Which is constantly monitored by the IAEA. Adding a blockade and restricting the fuel imports of a country because they're trying to expand their power gird.....that's just going to give taqfiris more recruits.

That's what I don't understand.

How can we (America) stop Iran from importing fuel? What type of fuel are we stopping them from having?

 

[mckmas8808]

Because Israel is mad and it's an election year?

Gas will be more than $5 a gallon. Try 10.

For gas to be $10 a gallon the price for a barrel of oil would probably have to close to $250. And that'll never happen in the year 2008. It's damn near impossible.

 

[Tamanon]

That's what I don't understand.

How can we (America) stop Iran from importing fuel? What type of fuel are we stopping them from having?

I guess they import refined gas?

 

[Gaborn]

FINALLY DAMN!! We finally agree on something.

I say 70% chance that some kind of way US and Iran go head to head in some military form. Which will make oil prices go to $170 a barrel and gas prices at $5 a gallon.

That's probably not unreasonable, I think odds are that we'll play second fiddle to Israel though, whether as a back up should they be attacked in turn from Iran (assuming Israel probably attacks Iran first) or in a "logistical support" role, doing things like bombing, providing medical/support convoys for the Israelis, etc. At the far end I'd say it's unlikely we actually go in, boots on the ground and try to take over Iran.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Some good tidbits from the Times' article about Obama's rapidly ramping 50-state effort.

By the end of the month, the Obama campaign will have a director and staff members in all 50 states. While some states will have only a few workers assigned to them, the biggest battlegrounds will have scores, many of whom will arrive by the Fourth of July.

Party leaders in Republican-leaning states like Georgia and Montana are already reporting an influx of paid Obama staffers and volunteers who were sent there to begin registering potential Obama voters.

Mr. Obama’s team is also sending resources to Virginia, which no Democratic presidential candidate has won since 1964. Abbi Easter, treasurer of the state’s Democratic Party, said Mr. Obama had dispatched five paid staff members to the state to begin organizing a voter registration drive.

“I’ve been doing Democratic politics in the state for 25 years, and this is such a novelty I feel like a kid at their first Christmas,” Ms. Easter said. She said she was also expecting help from as many as 100 of the 3,600 “Obama Organizing Fellows,” a group of full-time volunteers fanning out across the country to oversee local registration efforts. The mobilization is being helped along by Mr. Obama’s robust Internet operation specializing in reaching out to the younger voters who use social networking sites like FaceBook.

All of this, of course, is going to take more than the $43.1 million Mr. Obama had in the bank as of last month. Officials said they expected that Mrs. Clinton’s fundraisers could bring in a total of $75 million in the coming weeks.

But, members of both parties said, Mr. Obama had his real advantage in his own group of 1.5 million donors, many of whom have given small amounts and could be readily tapped again. “They’ll continue to give,” said Eli Pariser, the executive director of the liberal group MoveOn, an Internet fund-raising pioneer. “As long as he doesn’t treat them as an A.T.M., but as partners in the movement.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/u...&hp&adxnnlx=1214082229-UjZRwuT2pVSpd0YRFrEY0g

 

[thekad]

I guess they import refined gas?

Looks like it.

Despite holding the world's second biggest oil reserves, Iran lacks refinery capacity and imports more than 40 percent of the 70 million litres (440,000 barrels) of gasoline its motorists burn each day.

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/6/23/90541.shtml

mckmas: $10 was just a random guess, but another war with a heavy exporter of oil will probably make prices skyrocket well above $5, which looks like we may hit anyhow.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Obama, on McCain's photo-op trip to Iowa (which pissed me off so much when he refused to stay away at the Governor's request):

“I’m sure they appreciated the sentiment, but they probably would have appreciated it more if he hadn’t voted against funding for levees and flood control programs, which he seems to consider pork.”

 

[Tamanon]

I don't think it's a good idea for Obama to attack McCain on Iowa while it's still going on. But it's the weekend, it's when both campaigns always launch the fiercest and most off-color attacks to test reaction.

 

[thekad]

^ That's not even as bad as his "Forgotten People" tour where he acted like gave a shit about Katrina victims (though voting against relief and accountability). That was gag-inducing.

 

[mckmas8808]

I guess they import refined gas?

Is this even legal? Can we go to their waters and stop refined gas from going to their country?

 

[Gaborn]

Is this even legal? Can we go to their waters and stop refined gas from going to their country?

Unfortunately that's two distinct questions.

 

[maximum360]

I still think it's going to be a tight race (largely due to the media's obsession with making it so) but I thought this was an interesting pic:

Sadly it may have to take something like SNL for the media to stop treating McCain with kid gloves (or I can hope at least).

 

[adamsappel]

Wow at Olbermann coming out and saying he feels he is not qualified for Russert's job nor would he try to pursue it.

Didn't see this mentioned yet, but not so, according to NY Post's Page 6 (for whatever that's worth):

Matthews was heard loudly discussing what seemed to be his strategy for landing Russert's "Meet the Press" show at Wednesday's memorial reception for the NBC Washington bureau chief at the Kennedy Center in DC. After Brian Williams, Carl Bernstein, David Gergen, Barbara Walters and NBC brass eulogized their friend, Matthews huddled with an unidentified "agent type" and seemed to be plotting.

According to our spy, "Chris, with his loud voice, was going over a pitch for Tim's job. He was saying, 'You know, Tim's thing was this, and my thing is that.' It was unbelievably tacky."
Meanwhile, Matthews' MSNBC cable cohort Olbermann, who was also at the memorial, is "threatening to quit if he isn't installed as Russert's replacement," another insider said. "I know, it sounds ludicrous, but, then, Keith Olbermann is ludicrous."

 

[reilo]

Didn't see this mentioned yet, but not so, according to NY Post's Page 6 (for whatever that's worth):

Olbermann made that statement in direct response to that Page 6 article. He called them flat-out for that bullshit and said neither Mathews even discussed Russert's job at the funeral, and that he himself never threatened to quit nor has he vied for Russert's job.

 

[Tamanon]

Didn't see this mentioned yet, but not so, according to NY Post's Page 6 (for whatever that's worth):

Um, that's what he was responding to.

 

[adamsappel]

Oh. Heh.

 

[sc0la]

South-North bound? So it's stuck on an infinite loop and going nowhere? Very apt!

Spoiler

I know you meant South TO North bound, but going South and North at the same time is so much more appropo

I didn't mean To, I very much meant in circles.

 

[Gaborn]

I still say Olbermann is incredibly annoying. He's basically the liberal counterpart to O'Reilly, they're both basically obnoxious jackasses, O'Reilly just brays louder.

 

[esbern]

okay i'm out of the loop for a bit.....why does the public financing issue matter? what exactly is defined as public financing?

 

[Gaborn]

okay i'm out of the loop for a bit.....why does the public financing issue matter? what exactly is defined as public financing?

Essentially the big concern is that the more money politicians accept the more they become beholden to special interest groups and corporations and their positions. That tends to (it is believed) desensitize the candidate to the needs of individuals and families, because you're going to support donors. So to some Obama opting out of public financing (which limits the total amount of contributions a candidate can get while providing matching funds for them) suggests a contempt for the system and a pressure to be more tied to interest groups and corporation.

Personally though I've never liked the idea of "campaign finance reform" I view it as a first amendment issue, whether or not a candidate chooses to be corrupted by taking money from various groups and feeling beholden to them should be up to the candidate, and then the American public should decide what weight to give to whatever ties they do or do not develop, so I think Obama's 100% doing the right thing (even apart from the question of whether or not the public should be giving taxpayer money to it).

 

[ToyMachine228]

okay i'm out of the loop for a bit.....why does the public financing issue matter? what exactly is defined as public financing?

Obama declined it because he can raise more than that by himself and it will be an advantage over McCain.

 

[Jonm1010]

Didn't see this mentioned yet, but not so, according to NY Post's Page 6 (for whatever that's worth):

Murdoch has used some of his entities to try and smear Olbermann as a retalliation for Olbermann attacking Hannity and O'Reilly so often. I dont have the quote but there was a threat made to Olbermann that they would use their outlets to destroy Olbermann, namely the Post. So I would take what the post says about him with a grain of salt.

 

[Insertia]

I still say Olbermann is incredibly annoying. He's basically the liberal counterpart to O'Reilly, they're both basically obnoxious jackasses, O'Reilly just brays louder.

Hah.
Olbermann is nowhere near O'Reilly level is stupidity. He's liberal and doesn't hide it, but he actually reports from both sides and doesn't have his head up the Dems ass. He actually has creditability.
O'Reilly panders to the ignorant conservative crowd. The guy has zero cred. The Factor is more of an entertainment piece than a serious outlet for news.

 

[Gaborn]

Hah.
Olbermann is nowhere near O'Reilly level is stupidity. He's liberal and doesn't hide it, but he actually reports from both sides and doesn't have his head up the Dems ass. He actually has creditability.
O'Reilly panders to the ignorant conservative crowd. The guy has zero cred. The Factor is more of an entertainment piece than a serious outlet for news.

eh, maybe Olbermann's not as stupid as O'Reilly but I still find him as annoying and in the same vein.

 

[Slurpy]

eh, maybe Olbermann's not as stupid as O'Reilly but I still find him as annoying and in the same vein.

How in the hell is he in the same vein? Does he preach hate, divisiveness, intolerance, ignorance, and bigotry as O'Reily does? Or is he simply the 'same' because hes on the opposite end of the spectrum?

 

[Gaborn]

How in the hell is he in the same vein? Does he preach hate, divisiveness, intolerance, ignorance, and bigotry as O'Reily does? Or is he simply the 'same' because hes on the opposite end of the spectrum?

Wow chill, I just meant in terms of interview style, in terms of the anger both show, both are very passionate and polarizing in their own way. Olbermann's an attack dog, yes he uses more facts than O'Reilly does but when either one gets a hair up their ass they go at it very similarly.

 

[Kitschkraft]

I don't know why that struck me.

One of the greatest platformers of all time....with the man with the best platform...

 

[Kitschkraft]

Just to throw an interesting factoid into the whole gay marriage discussion:



And it seems to be an official policy of his (former) denomination

From what I understand, one of the big reasons he was at the church was because it's one of the most progressive churches in the area.

Blacks are against gays more then any other group in America, to find a black church so supportive of gay marriage was probably quite a task for him.

It's a shame that he's probably at a more conservative church now, because of media meddling.

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

It's a shame that Kucinich didn't have the popularity to win the nomination. This is the kind of stand that Obama should be taking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM2HLbcUafA

 

[Tyrone Slothrop]

How in the hell is he in the same vein? Does he preach divisiveness, intolerance, ignorance, and bigotry as O'Reily does? Or is he simply the 'same' because hes on the opposite end of the spectrum?

olbermann shares o'reilly's problem in the sense a lot of his tirades are (arguably) founded on an inflated sense of self importance more than anything else

 

[Mumei]

I don't mean to flare up this debate again (although I will participate in another topic if someone cares to make it), but I did want to mention this for the "civil rights and marriages give you the same rights, so it doesn't matter" crowd:

"Racially segregated schools are inherently unequal," is what the Court said in Brown. The Court made a point of saying that even if segregated schools were completely equal in services, amenities, and so forth, they would still be inherently unequal.

Again, I don't want to bring up the debate again, but I was at work at the time, so I couldn't respond earlier, and I wanted to point that out.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

PHOTOS: BARACK OBAMA today at the U. S. Conference of Mayors in Miami

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) waves as he arrives at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami, Florida, June 21, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a luncheon at The Unites States Conference of Mayors 76th Annual Meeting in Miami Saturday, June 21, 2008.
(AP Photo/Hans Deryk)

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is greeted by mayors standing at front row tables during a luncheon at The Unites States Conference of Mayors 76th Annual Meeting in Miami Saturday, June 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Hans Deryk)

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., puts on a Miami Beach hat before he boards his campaign charter plane at the airport in Miami Saturday, June 21, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

 

[Zaptruder]

Wow chill, I just meant in terms of interview style, in terms of the anger both show, both are very passionate and polarizing in their own way. Olbermann's an attack dog, yes he uses more facts than O'Reilly does but when either one gets a hair up their ass they go at it very similarly.

There are pretty massive differences you're dismissing when you equate Olbermann with O'Reilly like that though. It just shows how fucked up your own priorities are when it comes to assessing and evaluating this sort of stuff.

 

[Gaborn]

There are pretty massive differences you're dismissing when you equate Olbermann with O'Reilly like that though. It just shows how fucked up your own priorities are when it comes to assessing and evaluating this sort of stuff.

So... I can't express an opinion that I find them stylistically similar and I find both extremely annoying for basically the same reasons? Ok then. :lol

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Blacks are against gays more then any other group in America, to find a black church so supportive of gay marriage was probably quite a task for him.

We are?

 

[Gaborn]

We are?

Well, statistically that's absolutely true, the black community is extremely disproportionately socially conservative compared to it's economic perspectives, especially on gay rights issues.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

It's a shame that Kucinich didn't have the popularity to win the nomination. This is the kind of stand that Obama should be taking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM2HLbcUafA

I agree. The fact that Obama hasn't taken a hard stance against the current FISA resolution is extremely disappointing. Kucinich was far and away my favorite of all the democratic candidates. It's a crying shame that most United States citizens not only have difficulty recognizing a politician who is genuinely honest and a public servant in the truest sense, they actually think he's a crackpot because he has the balls to openly speak the truth.

 

[Stinkles]

olbermann shares o'reilly's problem in the sense a lot of his tirades are (arguably) founded on an inflated sense of self importance more than anything else

I agree, but tone and content are not the same thing. O'Reilly is a shallow hatemonger who adjusts his views as the administration does. I suppose the argument is more like good blowhard versus evil blowhard.

 

[Gaborn]

I agree, but tone and content are not the same thing. O'Reilly is a shallow hatemonger who adjusts his views as the administration does. I suppose the argument is more like good blowhard versus evil blowhard.

And all I said was I found both blowhards annoying and similar in that they were both blowhards because of their style :lol :lol :lol I never used the word "content"

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Well, statistically that's absolutely true, the black community is extremely disproportionately socially conservative compared to it's economic perspectives, especially on gay rights issues.

I never knew that there was a statistic stating that. You learn something new everyday. That's sad.