Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Happy Easter, and Good Tidings to all Moose

The baby didn’t cry this time; apparently, giant anthropomorphic rabbits aren’t as threatening as old fat men with white beards and red pajamas.

I hope that everyone, regardless of their religious beliefs, is enjoying today- be it with friends, family, or even a day to yourself. God Bless you and yours, and thank you for the friendship and community we have built here at The Motley Moose.

The evolving role of the US Military

Gizmodo points out a recently-release intelligence report that suggests the Chinese are developing an “anti-carrier” missile- basically, a short-range ballistic missile with a conventional, instead of nuclear, warhead on it. Combined with the new reports of the defense budget released recently, this has resulted in a great wailing and gnashing of teeth mostly from Republicans, of course, but there have been Democrats that have chimed in, as well- quite tellingly, mostly from constituencies that get lots of money from the “military/industrial complex”, as there have been a great number of programs trimmed and killed in favor of others.

Tuesday Night News Roundup and Open Thread

A couple of amusing points tonight:

Roger Ebert takes Bill O’Reilly to the farm:

That reminds me of the famous story about Squeaky the Chicago Mouse. It seems that Squeaky was floating on his back along the Chicago River one day. Approaching the Michigan Avenue lift bridge, he called out: Raise the bridge! I have an erection!

ConservativeWishful thinking pundit John Hawkins lays out the reason that the GOP will scream back into power in 2010. Here’s a tip, John- when one of your article’s defining points is literally “Hey, it can’t get much worse, can it?”, you’ve got problems.

-A dead man wins an election in Missouri. No, this is not a repeat from 2000.

What’s on your mind?

"We Have A President Who Has Never Received A Paycheck"

TalkingPointsMemo points out an (unsurprisingly) ridiculous claim from the April 7th “Morning Joe” show on MSNBC. President Obama, despite being a self made millionaire several times over (the sort of thing I thought Republicans admired) has, apparently, never earned a “paycheck” in his life.

SCARBOROUGH: Think about this: We have a president who has never received a paycheck. … This guy – think about it – he’s running Detroit, he’s running Wall Street, he’s gonna run other sectors of our economy. Andrew, he’s never received a check from a profit-making business in his entire life. Not one check. … Think about the radicalism of that!

Watch it here:

Really, Joe? How about the working at several law firm parts, the law professor part, the state legislature part, the senator part, or the president part? Maybe those last three don’t count- I keep forgetting, government creating jobs is all just a liberal myth, right? Come to think of it, though, President Obama also work at Baskin-Robbins when he was in high school?  

Like debtor's prisons? You'll love this!

I think now is as good a time as any to remind ourselves that taking advantage of poor people is definitely a bi-partisan past time here in the United States.

Payday loans, for those of you unfamiliar with the practice, are small, very short-term loans with extremely high interest rates (sometimes in the range of 400-800%) that are effectively advances on a borrower’s next paycheck. They’re typically obtained when a borrower goes to a check-cashing outlet or an online equivalent, pays a fee, and then writes a postdated check, or signs over the title to a vehicle, that the company agrees not to cash or take a lien against until the customer’s payday.

Thank God we’ve got Congressmen willing to stand up for working Americans against these sorts of shenanigans, right?

… right?

Obama's Drug Czar is screwed

As I was perusing the news this morning, I noticed an article from the AP on the confirmation hearings for former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, Obama’s presumptive Drug Czar- and something he said chilled my blood to the bone.

(Kerlikowske) said that as national drug czar, he would take a balanced, science-based approach to the job.

A thoughtful, balanced approach to drug policy with an emphasis on treatment over incarceration?

Dear God… this man is screwed.

Karzai sends Women's Rights back to the Stone Age

Two short weeks ago, in a speech on International Women’s Day, President Hamid Karzai gave a rousing speech on the need to fight the specter of the institutionalized marginalization, violence, and rape that Afghani women faced during the reign of the Taliban.

In a speech commemorating International Women’s Day on Sunday, President Hamid Karzai challenged Afghan religious leaders to denounce violence against women and reject traditional practices that treat women as property.

“The forced marriages, the selling of women these are against Islam,” Karzai told some 600 women gathered in a high school auditorium in the capital, Kabul.

How quickly things change. Seems Mr. Karzai’s not so sure he’s got the coalition build to support him in the upcoming Presidential election. So, what’s the answer, here? Why, some very disgusting electioneering- by signing the Shiite Personal Status Law.

Overnight Open Thread and News Digest

News courtesy of Fark.com!

Difficulty: Gov. Palin has to pick a Democrat to fill a Senate seat. Solution: Pick a Legislative Aide who was a registered Republican until a few weeks ago, and switched for the position.

Cornyn: “If Al Franken is seated as a Senator, then (Republicans) will start World War III”, stomp feet, cry.

John Murtha (D-Abscam): “If I’m corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district.” Well, I guess that makes it OK, then.

What’s on your mind? Check out the Daily Tubes from Hollede in the thread below!

President Obama, what's wrong with our money?

I proudly voted for President Obama, but I must admit, there are times I question whether or not this was appropriate. A case in point comes this morning, as I was perusing the news wire, and came across this report from New York Magazine:

New presidents are allotted $100,000 to overhaul the White House residence and the Oval Office… But the First Couple isn’t spending that money. They “are not using public funds or accepting donations of goods for redecorating their private quarters,” says Camille Johnston, director of communications for the First Lady. Nor is the couple, who reported $4.2 million in household income in 2007 tax returns, using money from the White House Historical Association, a privately funded foundation that paid for a $74,000 set of china shortly before Laura Bush left town.

Mr. President, this is exactly where people start thinking you’re a hoity-toity, liberal elitist! What’s wrong with our money, Mr. President? By God, if Joe Biden says it’s patriotic to pay taxes, then you’re essentially questioning our patriotism! I mean, what’s wrong with Cowboys and Indians wallpaper in the Lincoln bedroom? And why would you discount public funds, sir- are you planning on putting in Kenyan cultural art pieces? Perhaps a large portrait of Che Guevara? Something you wouldn’t want the general populace to know?

Mr. President, please come to your senses.

Thank you.

test

In other words….TEH RULZ.

MOTLEY MOOSE POSTING GUIDELINES

1.  Personal attacks will not be tolerated. If someone says something with which you disagree you should attack the argument, not the person who made it. Persistent harassment of another user will also be judged as a personal attack.

2.  There is no litmus test on the issues. Attack the argument, not the person who made it.  There are Democrats who, while generally agreeing with most of our platform, hold some views the rest of us don’t: they are allowed to make their case should they choose to do so respectfully.

3.  It is acceptable to say something nice about a Republican, or something negative about a Democrat, or to question a Libertarian’s sanity without being labeled a troll.  Not every politician is evil, nor a paragon of virtue- especially when based solely on political affiliation.  We won’t delete a comment to the effect of “John McCain adopted a southeast Asian child, and I respect him for doing that.”  That’s fine.  It’s also fine to say something like “Congressman Jefferson looks guilty as hell, I mean, they found a ton of cash in his freezer!”  They are both reasonable observations. Constructive criticism is not only acceptable, it is welcomed. Context is key.

4.  It is emphatically not acceptable to try to negatively dissuade other members from voting for political candidates.  We know that this is subjective and it is possible that someone could honestly believe that what they are promoting is best for their party, but there is a point past which this turns into trolling and it will be dealt with accordingly. If we see that a member’s only contributions are lamentations as to the general evil of a party, it’s nominees, or their supporters we will likely consider that person to be a troll.

5. Profanity is not allowed in Diary titles. Profanity is permitted in diary content and comments except where it runs afoul of rule number one.  We expect you to behave like an adult, of course, but you are free to use salty language.  Don’t abuse that privilege.

6.  Derogatory language against arbitrary groups is not acceptable. We strongly discourage labeling any group in a negative way, no matter the political affiliation.   A person is not evil because they belong to an organization you do not, or believe something you don’t, and casting wide nets of derision over them is against the fundamentals of (small letter d) democratic beliefs.

7.  No commercial interests are permitted in comments or diaries without explicit prior permission on our part. Explain to us why it makes sense to allow you to promote a commercial interest and we’ll think about it. It is incredibly unlikely that we will approve any such requests.

8.  One person is not permitted to have multiple accounts (so-called “sockpuppets”).  If a member is banned, they are not permitted to register a new account without prior approval from the moderation team. Accusations of sock-puppetry should only be made if absolute proof is known. If you have proof, provide it to the Moderators. Without solid proof, continued accusations will be seen as trolling.

9. The First Amendment does not apply here.  We are not an arm of the government and we are not a state-actor.  As such we are free to regulate your diaries and comments as we see fit.  We are disinclined to touch anything you write, respecting the fact that the free flow of information and ideas is essential to our society.  However, we have created this forum in large measure because we want a place wherein we can all organize for our issues.  If you’re here to harm that effort, we have no use for you and you are not welcome.  If you are here to take part honestly but disagree with the majority of us on some issues, that is fine.  Again, there’s a line and it isn’t easy to define.  If we see that a poster is getting hide-rated into oblivion, for example, that would be a good indication of trolling.


The following may result in immediate banning.

1. ‘Outing’ another member’s private info (be it their name, likeness, address, phone number, email, place of work, etc).

2.
Promoting Conspiracy Theories and/or repeatedly linking to sites that embrace and promote them.

3. Blatant trolling, spamming or any other flagrant abuse of our hospitality.

CONSEQUENCES:

Getting a warning every few months is no big deal, good people can make mistakes, but if a member cannot operate within our rules we will act to maintain the purpose of the site. We have no willingness to allow open Republican trolls or other obvious agitators to derail useful conversations and Moderators will act accordingly to stop the bleeding.

* Deleted Comments and/or Diaries, or the breaking of any of the above rules, will result in the user being issued a Warning. Repeating the offense can and will lead to the member being Banned.

* If a Comment or Diary is deleted by Moderators, an explanation as to the deletion will be left in their place.

* Any moderator can temporarily freeze/suspend an account, after which the Moderation Team will meet to decide what action to take next.
If you find that your account has been frozen you will be informed of the reason, and of the Moderation Team’s  decision, within 48 hours.

*
Banned members have the right to an appeal.
If reinstated, the community will be informed of the reasons.
Deleted content, however, is deleted forever. (be it a comment or a diary)

* Though the community will always be informed of the reasons for a member having been banned, we have the right to ban anyone at anytime for any reason.

The Moose Is Watching

Photobucket