When I asked the following question yesterday: “Do you think this bailout plan is a good idea?”, here are the answers on this blog:
Yes 16%
No 74%
I have no clue 11%
Boy suspended over anti-Obama tshirt
by Bethany Sanders
Sep 25th 2008 2:00PM
With only 40 days left until the 2008 Presidential election, there’s no doubt that things are heating up. As the candidates battle it out on the main stage, conversations at home are bound to turn to politics. Parents, of course, have a huge influence over a child’s developing political leanings. And parents who feel strongly about an issue are sure to pass those feelings on to their kids.
Whether or not it was his due to his parents’ influence, a Colorado boy is pretty certain that, if he was of voting age, he wouldn’t be casting his vote for Barack Obama. The boy wore a handmade t-shirt to school that declared, “Obama: A Terrorist’s Best Friend.” The school gave the boy three choices — change his clothes, turn the shirt inside out, or get suspended. The boy chose suspension, and now his family plans to sue. Hooo, boy.
The family is citing First Amendment rights, of course, while the school district says it has a right to ban any clothing that interferes with learning. I think that the school district did the right thing. The shirt was inflammatory, and they gave the boy several options to avoid suspension. But I’m sure there are others who think this is a gross violation of this boy’s rights.
Source: http://www.parentdish.com
Where do you stand on the issue? Click here to vote.
The boy was correct. Obama is a panderer to terrorists.
The biggest difference between USA and Europe is free speech.
Right or wrong, free speech keeps USA from being like gulag of Eastern Europe.
Support free speech or move back to gulag.
The boy IS correct — those who hate America will vote for O’Bama.
That said, however, what’s the point? The students cannot vote, and the Teachers’ Union is in the tank for O’Bama (as are most people who depend on big government).
Now, if he can show that those with pro-O’Bama shirts or anti-McCain shirts were not given a similar choice, then he has a VERY good case.
Reminds me of this forum…
Yesterday I posted a quick summary of house hearings on the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but the post was soon deleted by the webmaster, who apparently disagreed with the politics.
In the hearings, Republicans were pointing out many problems (corruption, overzealousness in lending to people who couldn’t make payments, etc.) and Democrats repeated say that there were no problems at Freddie and Fannie, that the questionable loans were really extremely low risk, that Franklin Raines was doing an explemplary job making sure that banks were making bad loans to the disadvantaged in the name of expanding affordable housing, etc.
Here’s a link to the astounding discussions in a House hearing in 2004. It clearly lays out the roots of the problem (but read it quick before this post gets deleted and the link is lost): http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/09/021644.php
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/09/021644.php
this idea that US is the home of free speech is quite amusing…one would think there was no other country in the world…the very idea/word is from somewhere else…it’s like the US lass who asked me “what we speak in England..is it french?”…yes, US may the the greatest nation on Earth (if you so believe) but there are others as well…much of the culture was imbibed – with the influx of people – from somewhere else…there are emerging democracies in parts of Europe just as there are established ones in Europe…there are republics, there are nations with a head of State (not necessarily a head of government) who’s a monarch…
Almost hope the republicans win so they can sort out their own mess…these end-of-time/Revelations/Rapture/Ann Coulter/Creationist types…Europe certainly shipped all its religious nutters to the new world!
That funny clip when they asked the US shock jock what appeasement meant and he hadn’t a clue…though he could bandy the word about…
Political parties seem to be inhabit a narrow church now…
Prez Palin and renact scences from “failsafe” and “dr. strangelove”
There was another high-profile case of a school censoring an anti-Obama T-shirts a couple of days ago too. It is not a surprise. The Missouri Obama team is threatening to prosecute people who run misleading anti-Obama ads on TV. Of course, “misleading” is in the eye of the beholder and means little beyond “I disagree, therefore it is misleading.” The Democrats are also talking a lot about bringing back the “fairness doctrine” which forces media outlets to give “balanced” coverage. If Obama wins, we are in for a chilling time of suppression of free speech.
think Cheney and Rumsfeld are quite taken aback by the questioning from a Dimbleby or Paxman when they’re here…compared to the soft/appeasing/fawning they get from Fox/CBS etc
the cynicism we have towards our politicians and the questioning we expect doesn’t wash with the idea about the US being the bastion of free speech…if there had been more it may have highlighted things bit better before the current qugmire got this far…free speech – how free? how much can one question/go against the grain and will you be “right back after a word from your sponsors”?
LOL
you funny, funny people
Of course in Europe one may criticize and even insult another religion without fear of legal prosecution by the state, and of course one may even fly a swastika if one chooses. Just more freedom in Europe. Europeans just know better.
Of course in Europe one may freely criticize or insult a religion without fear of legal prosecution by the state, and of course one may freely fly a swastika if one chooses. Europeans are just freer and more tolerant. Europeans just more honest, just know better.
The state of free speech in UK is much more worrisome than in the US. For example, a section of Public Order Act 1986 reads:
“5. Harassment, alarm or distress.
– (1) A person is guilty of an offence if he-
(a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or
(b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.”
In other words, speech that one person might find offensive is illegal. This kind of political correctness on steriods is sometimes seen on college campuses in the US, but it is still a long way from official US policy.
“Freedom of speech” is more of a punch line in this country anymore. It simply doesn’t exist.
I am just curious of Anonymous’ take on the Bush Administration lead by Hank Paulson, formerly from Goldman Sachs coming out to the rescue of Goldman Sachs & Co with 700 billions of our own money.
Fannie Mae was not the only actor in this whole mess. Some like Lehman Brothers deservedly paid the price as it should be in a free market economy.
Actually, the T-Shirt is lying:
Al-Qaeda definitely has more interest in keeping the Republicans in the Oval Office and as many US troops as long as possible in the Mideast, …simply because this is fuelling their cause.
With US troops staying in the US Al-Qaeda would not survive very long…
“…the T-shirt is lying” ?! Can’t you admit an honest disagreement? This is what is so frightening about the Obama thugs in Missouri threatening people who “lie” about Obama and say “misleading” things–for so many modern liberals, if you disagree with them, you are a liar.
Yes, with US troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, al Qaida would disappear–much like on 9/11/2001.
Let me make this very clear again:
This blog does NOT promote Senator Obama OR Senator McCain. However, we will not allow name calling or insult.
If you want to support either candidate, state your reason. But to call President Bush an idiot, an a…, McCain a jerk, or Obama a n…. is NOT acceptable.
If any of the moderator catches such posts, they will be deleted.
Blog Admin
you dont fight terrorism by invading countries like iraq or anything. you fight the root causes of terrorism like poverty and lack of education and so on.
invading countries that are home to terrorist groups is more like stirring an anthill with a stick. at best there will be a small improvement. at worst terrorist leaders will get many more recruits (people are outraged because some relative got killed or something etc), which is what is happening today in most places.
What I find most outraging with the republicans in general is the ratio of how each dollar is split in the budget – a few cents for education and healthcare, and a few quarters for military…
Well, time to realize that in a global economy, miltary != absolute power anymore. I would NEVER vote for this militaristic gun ho and his joke of a VP nominee
Technically its a reasonable opinion, without polling evidence, to think that 75% of terrorists would support Obama.
That does not mean he is weak or that he could not seek and achieve peace.
Surely 99% of KKK and Nazi would prefer McCain? its not his fault.
Actually,
We prefer Obama. He dresses better and has a better front lawn for burning crosses.
Have a nice day.
A classic materialistic sentiment: “root cause of terrorism is poverty.” No, the root cause is demagogic hate mongering propaganda and clinging to a violent, extreme view of Islam. Poverty has zero to do with it. For example, the terrorists who struck on 9/11 were well-to-do, well-educated, and materialistically had everything in the world going for them, but they were exquisitely trained in hatred and Wahabbi Islam.
One of the defining characteristics of modern liberalism is a thorough materialism: e.g.,
–root cause of terrorism is poverty;
–People are poor? Give them money.
–Education system is a mess? Spend more money on it.
–Murder rate is too high? Ban guns.
–Too many teen pregnancies? Hand out condoms in schools.
–Pregnancy is inconvenient right now? Kill the baby.
Conservatives, by contrast, advocate solving problems via culture and never assumes material conditions are root causes.
I say: “Give the boy a gun and make news”.
Those freak usa people have that comming for years, and even don’t have a clue why…
MCCain is a nut job supported by an even a bigger witch-hunting nut-job.
“No, the root cause is demagogic hate mongering propaganda and clinging to a violent, extreme view of Islam. Poverty has zero to do with it. For example, the terrorists who struck on 9/11 were well-to-do, well-educated, and materialistically had everything in the world going for them, but they were exquisitely trained in hatred and Wahabbi Islam.”
Propaganda etc is of course of course important. but i hope you agree that with less poverty and more education it ought to be much harder to manipulate people into committing acts of terrorism(generally at least; there’ll always be some freaks out there).
Free speech is not free if it is limited to what someone considers inoffensive. My t-shirt says “McCain 2008: The Manchurian Candidate”.
Anon 3:45:00,
The “root cause” is hatred and allegiance to a warped ideology, not poverty or education. In fact, “education” contributes to the terrorism problem as the madrasses pump out a steady stream of psychopaths. A culture of tolerance, liberty, and respect has the potential for drastically reducing the number of terrorists. Poverty is at best a secondary cause, and govt attempts to fight a “war on poverty” or other such nonsense would not be helpful in either reducing either poverty or extremism. In fact, with the trillions of dollars of wealth transfer to the poor in the US “war on poverty”, poverty was not decreased and tensions were not reduced either.
He can wear it wherever he wants but in school. If it is a public institution funded with taxpayer’s money, politics and religion should be left at the door.
about the bailout- americans that want the bailout to happen, have to understand where the money is coming from. the money is coming from our pockets!
“He can wear it wherever he wants but in school. If it is a public institution funded with taxpayer’s money, politics and religion should be left at the door.”
Well then, the schools should not be allowed to teach History, Political Science, Civics, Social Studies, English, or Math beacuse we may offend sensitive people out there as we describe how it is fitting and appropriate to kill your enemies with extreme prejudice, especially grasping Europeans who wish to to invoke their inferior wold view on the new world. So, the American KILLED them all! They lived free for a while. Now we have more grasping Europeans trying to take over the new world again: Kissinger, Zbrynski, Meuller, Franco, Pallo, Garza, and Rothschilds. They will die the same way. Don’t mess with the USA. We’ll kill you deader than crap.
Methinks the blog admin should bone up on the status of political speech in the USA. One major benchmark is the 1964 Supreme Court case New York Times v. Sullivan. As a practical consequence, you can say just about anything you want about a public figure. So don’t invite Americans to talk about politics if you might not like what they say.
Beyond that, there are cultural differences. It always amused me how in Congress it’s ok to insult someone’s intelligence, but not their character; but in the British Parliament, it’s the other way around.
People can make comments or express their opinions without profanity and insult. I agree with Susan’s policy. If they can’t follow the simple rules then their posts should be deleted.
It’s hard to believe that citizens of the world’s remaining superpower would actually begin to believe that someone like Barack Obama panders to terrorists…
Please…
Scugrad, nobody actually believes Obama panders to terrorists. What many, and perhaps most, of us believe is that his view of the world and his policies are out of touch with the realities of the threat of terrorism and will make it easier for the Islamic terrorists to accomplish their goals.
the truth hurts
CReating irrational fears is the only strategy Republicans know. Its ammusing to see the number of people agreeing with the T-shirts message. Just shows, people are reallly dumb enough to get influenced by such propaganda. Its a sad truth that almost 50% of the country is dumb. 🙁
🙂
“Its a sad truth that almost 50% of the country is dumb. :(“
Then what are we do do about the dumb blue states? We can’t ship them off to Russia. They have too many dumb people already…
Maybe Iceland will take them in and teach them chess!
🙂
Martin,
Here is an analysis of our budget by the Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/research/features/BudgetChartBook/index.html
As you can see, even with the Iraq War, defense spending is only 4% of our GDP, well below the average of 5.5% over the last 45 years. (Social Security alone is 4.3%.) Total discretionary spending, of which defense is part, is 7.5% of GDP, and 38.8% of the total budget. Thus, our defense spending, including the Iraq War, is less than 21% of our total budget.
Meanwhile, mandatory spending, which includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, is 52.9% of the budget.
If you look at the numbers for 1965, Defense was about 44% of the budget. Now, it is less than half that.