People Under The Stairs Forums » Topic: Obama's First Year

you smoke dodo? on "Obama's First Year"

you smoke dodo? — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:59:31 +0000

Hey Trench I really enjoyed that pitbull article. The bit about the list of suspicious markers the DEA used to use for drug smugglers was hilarious.

He makes a very good point about unstable generalisations. I?ve been thinking a lot about causality, because I do quite a lot of work with stats, so I?m constantly trying to explain the difference between a correlation and a causal relationship, which is yet another layer of confusion on top of making generalisations on unstable relationships.

I think the problem is that most peoples constructed views of the world around them completely depend on these unstable generalisations, stereotypes etc, because it?s easier and less intellectually taxing to assume all Mexicans are lazy or all brown people are muslim etc. If you were to challenge these assumptions and force people to look at the reality of the situation, their world view would collapse in on itself. People are easier to control when they don?t question the status quo, when they keep within the intellectual boundaries that those in positions of power would like them to.

Great article though buddy, and you should check out http://www.coldtype.net, it?s a fantastic site with a lot of good essays. Check out Joe Bageant, he looks at a lot of stuff like this, and is a hilarious writer as well.

As for Sactown's point, the problem with mainstream media like the NY times is that you need to spend awhile defining the problems, because most people don't think that there is a problem. I also disagree that to generalise is human nature. I don't think it is particularly. But even if i'm wrong, institutional stereotyping, by the police, by customs etc, is what he's talking about, and that certainly isn't "natural". That has been put in place by someone specifically, it's not naturally occuring.

SactownConnection on "Obama's First Year"

SactownConnection — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:06:44 +0000

trenchmc said:
you smoke dodo? said:
at people assume i'm some kind of "islamist" whatever that even means, i'm actually much more dangerous than that... )

Dodo, you should check this out. This is the Malcolm Gladwell article I was talking to you about that discusses racial profiling.

http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_06_a_pitbull.html

Just read the article. Very interesting connections; I liked it a lot.

The only thing that troubled me (and it's not necessarily his fault) is that he spent a lot of time defining the problem, not very long with the solution (redefining your generalizations to avoid stereotypes). I say it's not his fault because that sort of stereotyping is a d*mn difficult issue to get rid of because of human nature (and that stupidity we talked about earlier). A definition of the problem and a tentative workaround is probably the best thing at this point, until someone brilliant comes up with some crazy solution that everyone can understand (if there even is one).

trenchmc on "Obama's First Year"

trenchmc — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:15:15 +0000

you smoke dodo? said:
at people assume i'm some kind of "islamist" whatever that even means, i'm actually much more dangerous than that... )

Dodo, you should check this out. This is the Malcolm Gladwell article I was talking to you about that discusses racial profiling.

http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_06_a_pitbull.html

you smoke dodo? on "Obama's First Year"

you smoke dodo? — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:17:28 +0000

you have to realize that the media in the US is controlled by the Republican party, and that they are basically waging a media war to discredit Obama, in an attempt to pave the way for (brace yourself) Sarah Palin's 2012 presidential run.

And the most f*cked up thing is that most people think the media is "pinko lefty liberal", whereas in reality it has a huge right wing pro corporate bias. It's crazy man.

Good lookin out with all that info Psyche. I think that it would make most american's heads explode if you explained to them that these perpetrators of violence were terrorists too, just not the brown skinned types they've been conditioned to believe are the threat (i'm a brown skinned type by the way, and agnostic, and it pisses me off that people assume i'm some kind of "islamist" whatever that even means, i'm actually much more dangerous than that... )

Psychedelicatessan on "Obama's First Year"

Psychedelicatessan — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:52:13 +0000

Xellerated said: Definitely trench, I'm surprised the crazy US evangelicals haven't blown up something yet.

List of Anti-Abortion Violence (from Wikipedia):

Murders

In the U.S., violence directed toward abortion providers has killed at least eight people, including four doctors, two clinic employees, a security guard, and a clinic escort.

March 10, 1993: Dr. David Gunn of Pensacola, Florida was fatally shot during a protest. He had been the subject of wanted-style posters distributed by Operation Rescue in the summer of 1992. Michael F. Griffin was found guilty of Dr. Gunn's murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

July 29, 1994: Dr. John Britton and James Barrett, a clinic escort, were both shot to death outside of another facility in Pensacola. Rev. Paul Jennings Hill was charged with the killings. Hill received a death sentence and was executed September 3, 2003.

December 30, 1994: Two receptionists, Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols, were killed in two clinic attacks in Brookline, Massachusetts. John Salvi, who prior to his arrest was distributing pamphlets from Human Life International,[6] was arrested and confessed to the killings. He died in prison and guards found his body under his bed with a plastic garbage bag tied around his head. Salvi had also confessed to a non-lethal attack in Norfolk, Virginia days before the Brookline killings.

January 29, 1998: Robert Sanderson, an off-duty police officer who worked as a security guard at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, was killed when his workplace was bombed. Eric Robert Rudolph, who was also responsible for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing, was charged with the crime and received two life sentences as a result.

October 23, 1998: Dr. Barnett Slepian was shot to death at his home in Amherst, New York. His was the last in a series of similar shootings against providers in Canada and northern New York state which were all likely committed by James Kopp. Kopp was convicted of Dr. Slepian's murder after finally being apprehended in France in 2001.

May 31, 2009: Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed as he served as an usher at his church in Wichita, Kansas.
Another doctor, George Patterson, was shot and killed in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 1993, but it is uncertain whether his death was the direct result of his profession or rather a robbery.

Attempted murder, assault, and threats

According to statistics gathered by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), an organization of abortion providers, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, there have been 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery, and 3 kidnappings committed against abortion providers.[10] The attempted murders were:

August 19, 1993: Dr. George Tiller was shot outside of an abortion facility in Wichita, Kansas. Shelley Shannon was charged with the crime and received an 11-year prison sentence (20 years were later added for arson and acid attacks on clinics).

July 29, 1994: June Barret was shot in the same attack which claimed the lives of James Barrett, her husband, and Dr. John Britton.

December 30, 1994: Five individuals were wounded in the same-day shootings which killed Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols.

October 28, 1997: Dr. David Gandell of Rochester, New York was injured by flying glass when a shot was fired through the window of his home.

January 29, 1998: Emily Lyons, a nurse, was severely injured, and lost an eye, in the bombing which also killed Robert Sanderson.

Anthrax threats

The first anthrax hoax letters claiming to contain anthrax were mailed to U.S. clinics in October 1998, a few days after the Slepian shooting, and since then, there have been a total of 655 such bioterror threats made against abortion providers. None of the "anthrax" in these cases was real.

November 2001: After the genuine 2001 anthrax attacks, Clayton Waagner mailed hoax letters containing a white powder to 554 clinics. Waagner was convicted of 51 charges relating to the anthrax scare on December 3, 2003.

Arson, bombing, and property crime

According to NAF, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, property crimes committed against abortion providers have included 41 bombings, 173 arsons, 91 attempted bombings or arsons, 619 bomb threats, 1630 incidents of trespassing, 1264 incidents of vandalism, and 100 attacks with butyric acid ("stink bombs").[10] The first clinic arson occurred in Oregon in March 1976 and the first bombing occurred in February 1978 in Ohio.[15] More recent incidents have included:[5]
December 25, 1984: An abortion clinic and two physicians' offices in Pensacola, Florida were bombed in the early morning of Christmas Day by a quartet of young people (Matt Goldsby, Jimmy Simmons, Kathy Simmons, Kaye Wiggins) who later called the bombings "a gift to Jesus on his birthday."

October 1999: Martin Uphoff set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, causing US$100 worth of damage. He was later sentenced to 60 months in prison.

May 28, 2000: An arson at a clinic in Concord, New Hampshire on resulted in damage estimated at US$20,000. The case remains unsolved.

September 30, 2000: A Catholic priest drove his car into the Northern Illinois Health Clinic after learning that the FDA had approved the drug RU-486. He pulled out an ax before being shot at by a security guard.

June 11, 2001: An unsolved bombing at a clinic in Tacoma, Washington destroyed a wall, resulting in US$6000 in damages.

July 4, 2005: A clinic Palm Beach, Florida was the target of an arson. The case remains open.

December 12, 2005: Patricia Hughes and Jeremy Dunahoe threw a Molotov cocktail at a clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana. The device missed the building and no damage was caused. In August 2006, Hughes was sentenced to six years in prison, and Dunahoe to one year. Hughes claimed the bomb was a ?memorial lamp? for an abortion she had had there.

September 13, 2006 David McMenemy of Rochester Hills, Michigan crashed his car into the Edgerton Women's Care Center in Davenport, Iowa. He then doused the lobby in gasoline and then started a fire. McMenemy committed these acts in the belief that the center was performing abortions, however Edgerton is not an abortion clinc.

April 25, 2007: A package left at a women's health clinic in Austin, Texas contained an explosive device capable of inflicting serious injury or death. A bomb squad detonated the device after evacuating the building. Paul Ross Evans (who had a criminal record for armed robbery and theft) was found guilty of the crime.

May 9, 2007: An unidentified person deliberately set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

December 6, 2007: Chad Altman and Sergio Baca were arrested for the arson of Dr. Curtis Boyd's clinic in Albuquerque. Altman?s girlfriend had scheduled an appointment for an abortion at the clinic.

January 22, 2009 Matthew L. Derosia, 32, who was reported to have had a history of mental illness [27] rammed a SUV into the front entrance of a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Psychedelicatessan on "Obama's First Year"

Psychedelicatessan — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:45:34 +0000

guys this whole "lack of progress" thing is pure propaganda.

compare Obama's first year to that of oh, say George W's.

or Bill Clinton's.

you have to realize that the media in the US is controlled by the Republican party, and that they are basically waging a media war to discredit Obama, in an attempt to pave the way for (brace yourself) Sarah Palin's 2012 presidential run.

from Mediamatters.org:

Media ignore Obama's accomplishments to claim he has "little to show for '09"
January 27, 2010 5:44 am ET ? 100 Comments
In the weeks approaching President Obama's first State of the Union address, some in the media have claimed that Obama has lacked accomplishments in his first year as president and thus, in the words of Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden, Obama has "little to show for '09." In fact, Obama's first year in office has been marked by a series of significant achievements, including creating jobs as a result of the economic stimulus, eliminating wasteful spending, increasing government transparency, and expanding federal health insurance programs to cover millions more children.

Media baselessly claim Obama "has little to show" for first year that "amounts to a long parade of rebuffs"

Columnists attack Obama effectiveness. For instance, a January 1 Washington Times column by Pruden is headlined "Obama has little to show for '09." In a January 26 Wall Street Journal column, Bret Stephens asserted that "Mr. Obama's first year in office amounts to a long parade of rebuffs," adding that Obama's "personal salesmanship has failed to overcome the defects of legislation."

Obama had numerous accomplishments in his first year

Passing stimulus, generating jobs. On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill into law. In December 2009, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued a report estimating that "in the third quarter of calendar year 2009, an additional 600,000 to 1.6 million people were employed in the United States" due to that legislation. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, CBO has increased its estimate to 800,000 to 2.4 million additional employed through the fourth quarter of that year. Moreover, a November 20, 2009, New York Times article reported that the "consensus" among "dispassionate analysts" is that "the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working," citing nonpartisan analyses of gross domestic product and total employment figures by several companies specializing in economic forecasting. Further, a January 25 USA Today article stated that, according to its "quarterly survey of 50 economists," "[u]nemployment would have hit 10.8% -- higher than December's 10% rate -- without Obama's $787 billion stimulus program," adding, "The difference would translate into another 1.2 million lost jobs."

Eliminating wasteful spending. Obama was able to achieve some significant cuts to wasteful spending -- most notably, the elimination of the F-22 fighter jet program after he successfully lobbied the Senate to vote to strip out financing for more jets from a defense funding authorization bill. The Washington Times reported on January 14 that Obama won "60 percent of his proposed cuts" and also managed "to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled President George W. Bush for years."

Sotomayor nomination. On May 26, 2009, Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court to replace the retiring Justice David Souter. She was confirmed by the Senate on August 6, 2009, and sworn in August 8, making her the first Hispanic justice, and only the third woman, on the court.

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The first bill President Obama signed into law, on January 29, 2009, was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which expands the rights of workers to sue employers over wage discrimination claims.

SCHIP expansion. On February 5, 2009, Obama signed a bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover 4 million more lower-income children.

Public lands bill. On March 30, Obama signed an omnibus public lands bill, which The New York Times reported "allows for 2 million more acres to be declared wilderness... [with] more than 1,000 miles designated as scenic rivers, and adds land for national trails."

Credit card reform. On May 21, 2009, Obama signed into law a bill providing what USA Today called the "most sweeping changes to the credit card industry in 40 years," adding restrictions on interest rate increases and fees and restricting the marketing of credit cards to college students.

Transparency. The Washington Post reported that moves by the Obama administration to improve government transparency "included a ban on lobbyist gifts; restrictions on the hiring of lobbyists; publication of White House visitor logs and other records; and a move to bar lobbyists from serving on advisory boards." A report by Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, and U.S. PIRG stated that: "The cumulative effect of the Administration's actions has been to adopt the strongest and most comprehensive lobbying, ethics and transparency rules and policies ever established by an Administration to govern its own activities."

Tobacco regulation. On June 22, 2009, Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which, for the first time, gave the U.S. Food & Drug Administration the authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of tobacco.

National service. On April 21, 2009, Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which expands the scope of AmeriCorps and provides opportunities for young people and senior citizens to join in service programs.

Stem cell research. On May 9, 2009, Obama signed an executive order easing restrictions on the use of federal money for embryonic stem cell research.

i personally think Obama is mediocracy personified, but i still think he is better than the alternative.
those f***ing republicans scare the sh!t out of me.

EarthTraveler on "Obama's First Year"

EarthTraveler — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:26:09 +0000

you smoke dodo? said: this is what i'm talking about. Stupid.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/27/fox-news-most-popular

That's just... spot on, Dodo
The Bush channel, is the most trusted news channel.
WAKE THE f*** UP!!!

you smoke dodo? on "Obama's First Year"

you smoke dodo? — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:35:38 +0000

this is what i'm talking about. Stupid.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/27/fox-news-most-popular

you smoke dodo? on "Obama's First Year"

you smoke dodo? — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:49:05 +0000

It's interesting about Obama's approval rating. I think that people disapprove for the wrong reasons. They disapprove cos they think he wasn't born in the US, because they think he's trying to "socialise" the country, because he's attempting healthcare and financial reform, and stupid people are scared of change and because fox news tells them to be scared. What people should disapprove of is his continued bloodthirsty foreign policy, his bombing campaign in pakistan, his continuing of the raping and pillaging of iraq, and the razing of afghanistan, his pointing the gun at whatever country produces the most recent jihadi nutter, and his continued support of Israels occupation and apartheid in palestine. That's what people should be pissed off about. But i don't expect to ever see that, because, like sactown said, your country is imploding with stupidity.

SactownConnection on "Obama's First Year"

SactownConnection — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:25:21 +0000

The feelings I have for U.S. politics right now are incredibly complex. I kept trying to define emotions I was feeling in simple terms, and it wasn't working. So now, I'm just sitting back and watching the circus. I know what I'd like to see happen, but I'm pretty sure it won't get accomplished quite the way I wanted it.

Am I happy Obama's in the White House? Yes.
Disappointed at the slow progress? Yes.
Do I blame typical political games for the worst of it? Yes.
Do I think the negativity in this country has gone through the roof? Yes.
Do I think the Republican politicians are egging it on? Yes.
Are they succeeding in dividing this country? Seems that way.
Do I wish everyone would just quit pointing fingers and start moving on solutions? H*ll yeah.

I just think the country's going to have to implode with stupidity (and maybe even get razed by a foreign power) before people see the correct choices.

To put it succintly: We could've worked together and killed all the bullsh*t, but instead, this country's gonna learn the hard way and there isn't a thing we can do about it.