Displaying 1,051 To 1,080 Of 11,789 Comments Hoekstra Blames Everyone but Himself for the Deficits He Voted for Was the racist Chinese Super Bowl ad considered racist in China? » Posted By Khirad On February 6, 2012 @ 11:06 pm Read the lyrics of La Marseillaise – damned bloody. Ironically the German one is downright humanistic in comparison. And the Palestinian one is pretty violent too. How many times do you see “volcanic revenge” in an anthem? » Posted By Khirad On February 6, 2012 @ 8:49 pm I love that Romney tries the taken out of context thing and the sad thing is that that is at least marginally more honest than the “literary license” argument. Brewer also doubled down on the headless bodies until finally she said, “well, if I said that” — what? Like KT said, do we need to bring tape of what you’ve said? » Posted By Khirad On February 6, 2012 @ 8:28 pm Yea, or nay? Mitt Romney, ‘welfare queen’ » Posted By Khirad On February 5, 2012 @ 10:03 pm Sneakiness and distrust. Where I originally come from in the Pacific Northwest there was a pretty large Russian diaspora, second to Asians as our largest ‘minority’ (though white). Went to school with them, worked with them, one, Anastasya was a good friend (and brilliant), the other, Sergei, who I worked with was a real character–always scheming. He was adorably naughty and contemptuous of all authority. He even claimed to have links with the Russian Mafia. And I’m still not sure he was completely lying–there was probably a shred of truth to the boastful claim. I know that at first it all sounds incredibly bigoted, but I almost respected their extreme cautiousness. I know it could appear shifty, but they were products of their environment, and they couldn’t take it out of them when they came over here. They were always a little cold and guarded at first, but after you gained their trust…! Part of it is Russian culture, but it also dovetails as a lingering byproduct of Communism and authoritarianism in general, where the nail that stuck out got hammered. Trouble is figuring out which is which sometimes… where does culture start and the system end? It’s also sort of like you hear a lot of people coming to the US from many different areas of the developing world aren’t comfortable with going to the police, and not because they’re undocumented, but because where they come from the police cannot be trusted. » Posted By Khirad On February 5, 2012 @ 9:29 pm Is this the real Rick? [img]http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/fuzzbones/fuzzbones1103/fuzzbones110300725/9167634-business-man-showing-azerbaijan-flag-shirt.jpg[/img] » Posted By Khirad On February 5, 2012 @ 9:14 pm Letter to the Editor nailed it Brewer makes it up as she goes along Re: the Jan. 31 article “Brewer recasts tiff to help her PAC.” Hmmm … is Gov. Jan Brewer taking speech lessons from Arizona’s Sen. Jon Kyl? According to the news story, she is claiming on her Jan PAC website that in the much-publicized tarmac tiff in Phoenix with President Obama she really wasn’t pointing her finger at him and that she was telling him, “You have one more year.” When questioned about the disparity with her original comments about what was said and done, her spokesman is reported to have said that the governor’s statements “should not be taken as the absolute truth, but rather as literary license” and that “Brewer never told the president anything like what her comments on the Jan PAC website say.” Does this remind anyone of Sen. Kyl’s false statement last year about Planned Parenthood and abortions that he later said was “not intended to be a factual statement”? Karen Schickedanz Retired, SaddleBrooke » Posted By Khirad On February 5, 2012 @ 8:03 pm Well, obviously, that goes without saying. We’ve just never had the Imperial attached to Empire. What we need to remember about Russia is that while we are on top and have that worldview, it’s the same, but different still. I know this is a bit weird and may seem trivial, but for the Russian mindset I really think you just need to listen to their anthem to get the subtle difference I’m talking about. Or let me put it this way: America deludes itself into thinking we conquer for noble and benevolent reasons (much like the British Empire before); Russia conquers for the glory of the Motherland. Maybe that’s simplistic, and I do know that the Soviets too had their ostensible benevolent pretensions, but I almost think the Russians would be more honest and frank with you about it when pressed, at least. It all comes down to self-interest. That is the first universal rule of diplomacy. » Posted By Khirad On February 5, 2012 @ 8:00 pm It’s always had an autocratic bent: Czars, General Secretaries, and now Putin and whatever title he holds. I don’t know if it’s cultural or they’re just slaves to tradition and can’t make a clean break with that tendency. Otherwise, both really nailed it. If there is one other constant to Russia, it is that it will always do what’s in Russian interests. Of course, that is true of all, but with Russia there’s always a (now quieter and latent) assumption of a Greater Russia. They still have an “Empire State of Mind” you might say. The continued anti-Putin protests in Russia are why I hold out some hope. Though the ultra-nationalist and Communist contingents give me pause. » Posted By Khirad On February 5, 2012 @ 1:47 am I couldn’t make that up if I tried. Even if they found a near empty office, what’s the deal? Is there an Azeri expat community in Greeley? Or is Rick just a secret Muslim? » Posted By Khirad On February 5, 2012 @ 1:39 am Rick Santorum was on CNN talking from Greeley, Colorado. On the office bookshelf behind him was an Azerbaijani flag. Someone please explain this. » Posted By Khirad On February 5, 2012 @ 12:32 am The Clippers have fans? » Posted By Khirad On February 4, 2012 @ 10:55 pm There’s this satellite company in Israel that makes clever commercials and so I was going through them, when– » Posted By Khirad On February 4, 2012 @ 7:21 pm A Yahoo! comment that was actually half-good: Watch right-wing Republicans start referring to people without healthcare as healthcare-free independent disease managers un-incumbered by government health and hospital bureaucracy. Sounds like a Gingrich whitewash, doesn’t it?…”I want to let you all know that I’m extremely concerned with the heavy healthcare burdens which you all carry… I am going to relieve you of your burdensome health care coverage” …soon you will be free to simply die when you fall sick… no paperwork… no red tape… just a shallow dirt grave with your initials carved on it and a shovel for your relatives to push the dirt over your rotting stinking diseased corpse… I’m here to help you… remember me in November… the government free grim reaper”… my family just calls me “the Newt”. (fill in the Republican candidate name of your choice). I would have said Liberty Reaper. » Posted By Khirad On February 4, 2012 @ 7:09 pm I remember that. By the way, I forget who, but someone was talking about when France was demoted and why. Of course many of our Founders were Francophiles and emulated the French, and the French were celebrated for being allies, but then around 1820ish? it was first used to attack a candidate for being ‘other’ and ‘effete’. Quite interesting, really, these inherited cultural and political narratives and prejudices. And to think, we’re now on best terms with the British who now look to and follow us in many regards, and we are totally obsessed with their royalty at every checkout counter rather than the French Republic. Ironique, non? » Posted By Khirad On February 3, 2012 @ 8:27 pm It’s also just really schmaltzy. He’s got the whole gimmick now, “singing” patriotic ditties, and all that. He just needs an American flag knit sweater and foam Statue of Liberty hat now. Think like those crafty places with all the scented Yankee candles and American flag needlepoint throw pillows and “antiqued” pictures of bald eagles. Throw in a lot of distressed furniture for that rustic look of a barn, and throw on some red-blooded country. It’s not about facts at all, this crap is directed by emotion. I can’t even tell if they’re being chauvinistic all the time. I wonder if the thought that citizens of other countries are just as proud of their countries enters their minds, they’re so insulated and oblivious to the outside–generically “scary”–world. He’s essentially trying to say he really ♥’s the USA, that she’s his soul mate, and he will protect her from all the bad people. And like I said, he stepped all over it with anyone with half a brain and awareness. » Posted By Khirad On February 3, 2012 @ 8:21 pm I don’t even know where to start. I think he really gets in trouble when he panders to what he thinks he should say so he says these patriotic glittering generalities without thinking, trips over himself, making himself sound like a dumbfuck to anyone with half a brain. Or he could just be an idiot. » Posted By Khirad On February 3, 2012 @ 4:07 pm I’m gonna put this in TOOT cause I hear the blowhard Gingrich on CNN, and I hear the other GOP (and AIPAC wing of the Democratic Party) pols saying the same thing for so many years, and it’s like, I want to scream. Because, either they’re idiots themselves, or they have blatant contempt for the American people they’re talking to. Okay, first Gingrich says no American President has the right to lecture or tell the Israeli government what to do. Um, you mean like bowing and apologizing for America? It’s okay when it’s Israel? Of course it is, everything is okay when it comes to Israel. If Bibi said you had to rape a child to save Zion… Nothing new here, I’ll leave it at that. I actually don’t hate Israelis, but if I did, I’d tell you to convert and move to the country you clearly love more than ours. But then again so do many good Israelis and I wouldn’t wish upon them even more reactionary blowhards than they already have. But no, my number one pet peeve in tough talk rhetoric continues to be this following chestnut, which completely ignores simple facts about the Iranian government and internal developments in the last two years. —- There are so many levels of wrong there. People that are being manipulated with big scary Mahmoud are being played for idiots. Period. It doesn’t matter how scary he is, he’s out of office in a year, doesn’t have any control over the military or foreign policy, and limited connection with the nuclear program. How can I make this simpler? Talk slower, use smaller words? It’s pretty effing plain to understand. I mean, I know I’m a broken record on this, but it’s like nails on the chalkboard it’s so wrong, wrong, wrong! And since when did an old Ayatollah with a white beard and black turban not become scary? At least when we railed against Khomeini our propaganda had the right boogieman. ***long, sustained, epic facepalm*** My soul dies a little more every time I hear such asinine pandering. » Posted By Khirad On February 3, 2012 @ 1:58 pm Holy crap, AdLib, Gazprom?! Now THAT is different! And there’s the double Russian/Iran whammy there. (Especially since time stopped at 1990 for conservatives when it comes to knowledge of Russia.) » Posted By Khirad On February 3, 2012 @ 1:21 am No one buys the blind trust excuse. One hand not knowing what the other is doing is a great way to set up a “plausible” denial for another Iran-Contra, though. » Posted By Khirad On February 3, 2012 @ 1:16 am So by “energy” my best guess would be Total and Eni, or something like that. If he still is that gets into tricky sanctions territory, though the EU has banned oil imports anyway. Not that it is ever as clean as that. I hate to say it, but he can probably squirm and “blind trust” himself out of this one. It would be an endeavor to make it stick. But, as was said in The Ides of March, making him deny/explain it is almost just as worth it tactically. I was hoping he was involved with an Iranian bank or something. » Posted By Khirad On February 2, 2012 @ 3:07 pm The State of the Primary in Cartoon form (which is more than fitting, no?) » Posted By Khirad On February 2, 2012 @ 2:27 pm Link the one to Iran, I want to see who it is. » Posted By Khirad On February 2, 2012 @ 2:26 pm I hope Newt picks this up, as I’m really not comfortable with the race-baiting this will entail. Oh, I’m not saying this isn’t one of the greatest arguments against SuperPacs, etc. I’m just saying as a Democrat that warning of a Chinese takeover via undisclosed contributions makes me cringe a little. » Posted By Khirad On February 2, 2012 @ 2:26 pm David Fitzsimmons: Fools in Phoenix were right: Ethnic studies were revolutionary » Posted By Khirad On February 2, 2012 @ 1:32 am I know what you mean. I don’t find her attractive in the least, and it’s not ’cause she’s 45. Hell, there’s a lot of very attractive 45-year-olds. No, it’s not that… » Posted By Khirad On February 2, 2012 @ 1:02 am Mitt’s hair has more life. » Posted By Khirad On February 2, 2012 @ 12:59 am The sooner the better. I just want to rub it in California’s face. 😛 » Posted By Khirad On February 2, 2012 @ 12:57 am The Good Wife http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/23/120123fa_fact_levy » Posted By Khirad On February 1, 2012 @ 3:19 pm PSL, split with Workers World Party, Which split from the Socialist Workers Party. And then there’s the vanguard Socialist Party (USA), and a handful of other socialist parties, as well as the Communist Party USA. You know, I’m for a Socialist Party in the US, but first the far left needs to stop being a farcical caricature of itself or romanticizing Cuba and the Soviet Union… But I digress. » Posted By Khirad On February 1, 2012 @ 12:07 amComments Posted By Khirad
http://www.juancole.com/2012/02/hoekstra-blames-everyone-but-himself-for-the-deficits-he-voted-for.html
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/02/06/was_the_racist_chinese_super_bowl_ad_racist_in_china
Romney’s wealth is based on the private equity business model, founded on tax-payer subsidies.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/20122164215194680.html
It’s said we should be worried about Iran nuking Israel, because Ahmadinejad is dangerous and has said as much that he would.
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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/30/1058729/-State-of-the-primary?via=blog_792316
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/david-fitzsimmons-fools-in-phoenix-were-right-ethnic-studies-were/article_0e65882a-3184-56f7-baba-8a3f2fb00573.html
Can Callista Gingrich save her husband?
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