Senate Ender Sigh's Srs Biz lol @ Murica Thread

This ad was paid for by the [insert whichever candidate the republicans nominate] for president campaign.

And Washington did not warn against being the world's police. He was referring to interference with other state's internal politics. It was a call to respect the sovereignty of a country. We still sent diplomats, negotiated treaties, and traded with other countries.

And finally, lrish and German are not races. Well, if you're Hitler and a neo-Nazi, then yes, German is.

 

Australian Labor Senator Doug Cameron is Scottish. As in, doesn't have an ancestor from there, is "och aye bonnie wee lass" Scottish. Born in Scotland. Emigrated later in life.

Labor's Penny Wong is mixed race Malay-Australian. And a lesbian. And a former cabinet minister.

The conservative Coalition's Matthias Cormann is of German-speaking Belgian birth and serves as the Minister for Finance. So yeah.

No hispanics, but I'm not sure if you've seen this wicked Marxist diagram before:



Notice how Latin America's like... nowhere near Australia? That would explain it.

But, you know, we have people from Southeast Asian decent in office. Which is, unlike Latin America, geographically close.

[/quote]And sure, we had to be coaxed into the world wars. George Washington warned of becoming the world's police. We believed in isolationism through the 1930's.. And our country is sliding back into that thought. But many of us, most of us, in the U.S. understand that the world needs American leadership. And as soon as we can rid ourselves of Obama, I believe you will again have that leadership.[/quote]

We had that leadership; it was a culturally ignorant Republican party lead by one of the worst presidents ever, George W Bush. The world doesn't want that. We quite like Mr Obama. He's the best you've had in a while.

 

cuba also has a way more diverse and representative legislature than the united states. according to race, as a matter of course, but also according to gender, (near parity between the sexes)

 

If Cuba liberalizes, that parity will likely disappear.

 

I was so going to like ES' post, until Obama

 

So who do you think would make a good U.S. president, Watto?

 

well duh

 

Well, it wasn't revelatory but it had to be typed.

 

2008 Obama.

 

Mr Obama has been far less offensive and far more humble than most US presidents in our lifetime, Watto. Take it when you can get it.

 

I know. The rest of your post was just better.

 

I don't see how he's any better than Carter, H.W., or Clinton. And the only big way his foreign policy hasn't mirrored Dubya's is that he won't outright invade and occupy a country (because he can't)-- oh, he also gives nicer speeches, I guess.

 

That's the spirit!!!

 

HW and Clinton were good presidents, but the reason I give Mr Obama kudos in spite of his cowardice on the Armenian Genocide front is that he understood acutely how silly Americentrism is and how the world needed a different President than the one who preceded him. He, in other words, had a bigger task to restore the US' respect and has done that. Even as its people work so hard to tear the country apart from the inside.

 

Bernie Sanders might be good, too. And don't let his age be a deciding factor, he's still really sharp and does seem to care a lot about issues that the Democratic party has forgotten about.

 

Reluctantly I type.
Because you all know all of this.

Obama has been responsible for a shadow war, the likes of which the world has never seen. The drone program has been expanded radically since he took office, and has cost the lives of over two and a half thousand civilians abroad. It's anyone's guess how many terrorists it birthed.
Obama promised to withdraw the troops in Iraq. So he did. Because he promised! He would withdraw his troops! No matter what! Wait, no matter what? That seems kind of stupid... oh hell!
Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay. So he did. Because he promised! Wait...

 

Look at how great drone warfare has worked out for Yemen. Now more than ever there really isn't a Yemen, but at least they have a few more dead bodies and destroyed buildings.

 

This is silly. Let's look at the bill Congress passed which prevented any action on his part on trying to close Gitmo.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR06523:@@@L&summ2=m&

(Sec. 1032) Prohibits funds from this Act from being used to transfer, release, or assist in the transfer or release to or within the United States or its territories or possessions Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other detainee who: (1) is not a U.S. citizen or member of the U.S. Armed Forces; and (2) is or was held on or after January 20, 2009, at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Guantanamo), by DOD.
(Sec. 1033) Prohibits the Secretary, for one year after the enactment of this Act, from using DOD funds to transfer any individual detained at Guantanamo to the custody or control of such individual's country of origin, or to any other foreign country or entity, unless the Secretary, at least 30 days beforehand, has made a certification to Congress relating to such transfer. Requires the certification to include, among other things, that the country to which the individual is about to be transferred: (1) is not a designated state sponsor of terrorism or foreign terrorist organization; and (2) has agreed to take steps to ensure that the individual cannot engage or re-engage in any terrorist activity. Prohibits any such transfer if there is a confirmed case that any individual previously detained at Guantanamo and then transferred to a foreign country or entity subsequently engaged in a terrorist activity, but authorizes the Secretary to waive such prohibition in the interests of national security.
(Sec. 1034) Prohibits the use of DOD funds to construct or modify any facility in the United States or its territories or possessions in order to house a non-U.S. citizen in DOD custody or control or previously detained at Guantanamo for the purpose of detention or imprisonment. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to facility modifications at Guantanamo. Directs the Secretary to report on the merits, costs, and risks of using any facility in the United States for such purpose.

Oh, sorry, did I interrupt the circlejerk?

 

That made it harder to close Gitmo, not impossible. I'm not sure why Congress being pieces of **** absolves Obama of being one.

More force-feedings! Congress said so!

 

Just to answer this repeated question.... Canada? This report is from 2011 so some of these seats may have changed, but the highlights are:

* Canada has a larger percentage of women MPs (though still paltry around 25%)

* Canada has a much younger average age of MPs (ten years younger than the US)

* The US does have the largest percentage of minority representatives (about 20% vs Canada's 10%), but we also have a higher percentage of minorities overall (40% vs 20%), so actually proportionally they are basically equally diverse

* Canada's representatives are much much less entrenched in their seats, right now with an average tenure of 5 years vs. the US's 10. So I would wager there's a higher likelihood women and minorities will continue to make their way into parliament more quickly there.

* Both are generally better than the UK on these issues (except even the crusty white UK MPs are younger on average than representatives in the US)


http://www.ppforum.ca/publications/edging-towards-diversity


Anyway, I was curious about your question so I pretty easily found an answer. This adds to Canada's general superiority over the US in quality of life as well.


On a different note with regard to American inventions... Realize that a huge number of our inventors and innovators were either the sons and daughters of immigrants or were immigrants themselves. Tesla, Einstein, Von Braun, Carnegie, Bell... It's especially the case in science and technology, where the US excels. I think the US does have a culture of innovation and personal drive, but I also know it's worked so well largely because the past ease of immigration encouraged people to come here and add to the culture and innovation landscape. Now we let people come here, get an education, then boot them out to take their ideas elsewhere. If we'd done that in the 1800s or even much of the 1900s, America as we know it would not exist. We now run the risk of making that nightmare a possibility in the next 50 years due to our insane immigration policies that took hold in the 60s.

Not to mention, even if someone isn't a genius, if they are running from one of the most dangerous places on earth, we have a moral obligation to bring them in as we did in the past. Discrimination against immigrants has always existed, especially in the first few decades of major influx... But it's never been this codified. It's both shameful and dumb.

 

I agree that Obama has an admirable appreciation of America's faults and other countries' positive attributes. That makes him a decent guy. But it doesn't make him a good President.




(Sorry for the double post but the stupid tablet tapatalk makes copying post quotes into an existing post impossible.)

 

Sure but I'm frankly not interested in his work domestically, solojones. No one leader can un-**** the USA. I'm interested in whether America acts like a good global citizen, which it did not under Mr Bush Jnr.

 

Of course not, I just think Obama has also had his share of horrible foreign policy. Remember that he has authorized ghastly numbers of irresponsible drone strikes. Hardly a good citizen there.

Again, I like his rhetoric... But that doesn't translate to his actions. Had he stayed in the senate a while, he would have been a great Secretary of State or UN Ambassador. But his rhetorical stance is now undercut for many people around the globe because it's hard to listen to talk of diplomacy over the sound of your wedding being bombed by a drone.

 

I think a little perspective is called for here.

If Obama had lost to McCain in '08, we would've probably sent troops to Iran, and would be currently embroiled in a regional war. I wouldn't be surprised if that had led to Russia rolling tanks from Ukraine to the Baltics, on the theory that US couldn't fight a two-front war.

Obama's far from perfect, but he's worlds above what the alternative would have been. Both McCain and Romney would've become war presidents, and possibly have led to the end of the country. Not militarily, perhaps, but economically and politically.

Peace,

V-03