Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 ... 387 388 [389] 390 391 ... 714

Author Topic: American Election Megathread - It's Over  (Read 764169 times)

MetalSlimeHunt

  • Bay Watcher
  • Gerrymander Commander
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5820 on: September 28, 2012, 09:27:15 am »

Also, Obama is leading in North Carolina now. By a very slim margin, but still.

Obama's worst state at the moment is unsurprisingly Utah, where the official polls are around 35% for him. I don't know how trustworthy those results are though, the LDS Church is known for manipulation...
Logged
Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.

kaijyuu

  • Bay Watcher
  • Hrm...
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5821 on: September 28, 2012, 09:30:18 am »

Honestly, 35% seems a bit high for around here. Then again I don't know many people in Salt Lake City, where it's much more liberal (comparatively).
Logged
Quote from: Chesterton
For, in order that men should resist injustice, something more is necessary than that they should think injustice unpleasant. They must think injustice absurd; above all, they must think it startling. They must retain the violence of a virgin astonishment. When the pessimist looks at any infamy, it is to him, after all, only a repetition of the infamy of existence. But the optimist sees injustice as something discordant and unexpected, and it stings him into action.

Leafsnail

  • Bay Watcher
  • A single snail can make a world go extinct.
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5822 on: September 28, 2012, 09:30:59 am »

I thought they were pinning all their hopes on Mitt Romney winning the debates.
Logged

mainiac

  • Bay Watcher
  • Na vazeal kwah-kai
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5823 on: September 28, 2012, 09:34:34 am »

Romney campaign pre-emptively gives up on debate.

Every presidential campaign for at least the past 12 years has done this.  They don't want the media spending a week talking about how they lost the debate so they downplay things relentlessly ahead of time.  Bush's people called Kerry "the best debater since Cicero."
« Last Edit: September 28, 2012, 09:36:29 am by mainiac »
Logged
Ancient Babylonian god of RAEG
--------------
[CAN_INTERNET]
[PREFSTRING:google]
"Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I will tell you what you value"
« Last Edit: February 10, 1988, 03:27:23 pm by UR MOM »
mainiac is always a little sarcastic, at least.

RedKing

  • Bay Watcher
  • hoo hoo motherfucker
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5824 on: September 28, 2012, 10:13:27 am »

As far as the China thing (c'mon, you knew I was gonna):

1. As mainiac already pointed out, the yuan is more paritable against the dollar than it used to be. This process actually started before Obama took office, in the latter Bush years. The obstacles to allowing the yuan to rise had always been twofold, from China's perspective:
      a. Abruptly unpegging the yuan from the dollar would have been a shock to both currencies. While China's purchasing power would have skyrocketed, so would the relative cost of its exports. And, it held over $1 trillion in dollar-denominated US securities and would have taken a bath on those. Beijing always argued that they weren't inherently opposed to letting the yuan stand on its own as a currency, just that they wanted to take the process slow. Slow is how the Chinese government likes to make changes, because fast changes historically tend to be really, really bad and disruptive and millions of people die. This is a recurrent theme you will find on a number of issues.
     b. They're a bit like a four-year old. If you demand that they do something, they're going to refuse on principle because "you're not the boss of me". Once the United States quit harping on the "currency manipulation" charge, they were surprisingly compliant with a plan of stepped "unpegging" of the yuan.

2. It always irks me that China is a convenient target for BOTH parties to use as a boogeyman, and to tar opponents by any association. This is one of the reasons I liked Jon Huntsman, and probably one of the big reasons why he stood zero chance -- he was the only candidate not touting China as this looming Red Menace/Yellow Peril on the horizon, because we all know America works best when we have an implacable, evil foe to oppose (Native Americans/British/Mexicans/European imperialists/Spain/Nazis/Japanese/Soviets/al-Qaeda).  ::)

3. Intellectual property rights are a big deal, but they're also virtually impossible to fix through talks with high-level authorities. China is NOT some monolithic, totalitarian state entity. It's not as if Hu Jintao is sending orders down the chain saying, "I totes want to see The Avengers on Blu-ray RIGHT NOW. Go pirate that shit for me. Oh, and make a few hundred thousand copies to sell in the night markets while you're at it."

The vast majority of IP violations are occuring at the very lowest level. Somebody gets a hold of some piece of intellectual property, sees the financial value in selling it, and boom...piracy. Doesn't matter if it's illegal or not. Hell, it's a running joke that half of daily life in the PRC is technically illegal. So because enforcement is a domestic problem within China (whether there's even a political will *to* enforce IP laws is another matter), blustering and threatening Beijing over the issue is counterproductive.

That's a fundamental failure to grasp China that I see repeatedly in the Romney camp. As highlighted in this quote:
Quote
We were told that labeling China a currency manipulator would send a clear signal to China that the U.S. is serious about unfair trade practices and that the U.S. would be “more likely to make progress across a range of issues.”
WRONG. You don't come in, talk tough like John Wayne, badmouth them, and then expect them to bow down and acquiesce to your demands. If that's your idea of diplomatic negotiation, UR DOIN IT WRONG.
This is a country where a "business meeting" means going out for dinner and drinks for three hours, and all the useful discussion happens in small groups with a cup of baiju in your hand.
A country where you can get things done by knowing a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy whose brother can call in a favor from an old schoolmate who is cousin to a government official.
A country where "It will be difficult," is the local equivalent of saying "Oh HELL no!"
One does not merely walk into Mordor China and make demands (in part, because it's very difficult for them to deliver on things like IP enforcement, and it's a loss of face to admit that they have little to no control over the black-market economy; and in part because of 1.b. above)
Logged

Remember, knowledge is power. The power to make other people feel stupid.
Quote from: Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Science is like an inoculation against charlatans who would have you believe whatever it is they tell you.

FearfulJesuit

  • Bay Watcher
  • True neoliberalism has never been tried
    • View Profile
« Last Edit: September 28, 2012, 10:20:35 am by dhokarena56 »
Logged


@Footjob, you can microwave most grains I've tried pretty easily through the microwave, even if they aren't packaged for it.

RedKing

  • Bay Watcher
  • hoo hoo motherfucker
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5826 on: September 28, 2012, 10:22:06 am »

Logged

Remember, knowledge is power. The power to make other people feel stupid.
Quote from: Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Science is like an inoculation against charlatans who would have you believe whatever it is they tell you.

mainiac

  • Bay Watcher
  • Na vazeal kwah-kai
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5827 on: September 28, 2012, 10:23:35 am »

I love how he will create a government funded underclass.  Only in GOP land would the parasites be cackling in glee at being at the bottom of the totem pole.
Logged
Ancient Babylonian god of RAEG
--------------
[CAN_INTERNET]
[PREFSTRING:google]
"Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I will tell you what you value"
« Last Edit: February 10, 1988, 03:27:23 pm by UR MOM »
mainiac is always a little sarcastic, at least.

RedKing

  • Bay Watcher
  • hoo hoo motherfucker
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5828 on: September 28, 2012, 10:40:05 am »

Lucky duckies. They get all the government cheese they want.
Logged

Remember, knowledge is power. The power to make other people feel stupid.
Quote from: Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Science is like an inoculation against charlatans who would have you believe whatever it is they tell you.

Owlbread

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5829 on: September 28, 2012, 10:42:56 am »

I love how he will create a government funded underclass.  Only in GOP land would the parasites be cackling in glee at being at the bottom of the totem pole.

Actually, it's the same in Toryland too in the UK. Some right wingers and conservatives are convinced that people "live off the system" because they are feckless and whatnot.
Logged

kaijyuu

  • Bay Watcher
  • Hrm...
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5830 on: September 28, 2012, 10:51:28 am »

Half the things listed don't sound bad at all :P Dunno how radical that makes me if I actually agree with some of the strawmen positions they're attacking. The only ones that would raise an eyebrow from me if actually implemented are the ones that force private organizations to do stuff, like a Christian school hiring non-Christian teachers. Oh and maybe the Sharia Law thing; dunno the context of that (if it would allow wife beating or something like that I'd be against it).


And a "government funded underclass" is something I actually hope becomes reality some day. Then the underclass could focus on improving their lot in life, rather than spending all their time on just surviving, which keeps them where they are.
Logged
Quote from: Chesterton
For, in order that men should resist injustice, something more is necessary than that they should think injustice unpleasant. They must think injustice absurd; above all, they must think it startling. They must retain the violence of a virgin astonishment. When the pessimist looks at any infamy, it is to him, after all, only a repetition of the infamy of existence. But the optimist sees injustice as something discordant and unexpected, and it stings him into action.

Nadaka

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
    • http://www.nadaka.us
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5831 on: September 28, 2012, 10:56:17 am »

The sharia law thing probably would allow wife beating, or execution depending on the justification.

http://news.yahoo.com/gop-fires-vendor-questionable-registrations-221750586--election.html?bcmt_s=m#ugccmt-container

GOP funded voter registration company caught in fraud scheme.
Logged
Take me out to the black, tell them I ain't comin' back...
I don't care cause I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me...

I turned myself into a monster, to fight against the monsters of the world.

scriver

  • Bay Watcher
  • City streets ain't got much pity
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5832 on: September 28, 2012, 10:59:26 am »

looming Red Menace/Yellow Peril on the horizon

...Looming Orange Penice on the horizon?

Yeah, I'd stay away from that too :P
Logged
Love, scriver~

Leafsnail

  • Bay Watcher
  • A single snail can make a world go extinct.
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5833 on: September 28, 2012, 11:33:19 am »

...Force plantation owners to release their slaves

...Force states to accept women's suffrage

...Force courts to stop executing gays
Logged

Darvi

  • Bay Watcher
  • <Cript> Darvi is my wifi.
    • View Profile
Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5834 on: September 28, 2012, 11:36:00 am »

The Force is strong with this one.
Logged
Pages: 1 ... 387 388 [389] 390 391 ... 714