Random Political Thoughts

[albrecht]

The Baltimore Police Chief today, has asked for Federal (Police) agents to "help" in bringing their city back in control.

And so, the grand "experiment" begins..... in Federalizing local Police Depts.

Notice the Chief was *not* asking for the MD Natl. Guard.

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/06/03/baltimore-police-chief-attempts-to-hide-ineptitude-by-requesting-help-from-feds/

The spending per student in some of these hell-holes, like Baltimore, is more than in decent schools- even if one doesn't include the other freebies they get like free school meals, SNAP, subsidized housing, free bus passes, Head Start, etc. The problem is not the lack of funds (they get plenty) but the management of the funds (both personally and by the government agencies) and the culture (or, more properly lack thereof,) demographics, and racial makeup of the area. You can have the best teachers and spend the most money but they won't fix a broken sub-culture unfortunately in our country. Certainly importing MORE immigrants, often illiterate or unskilled or illegal, will not help the job or academic prospects for the children raised in these cities. So we make the problem even larger.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-05-21/news/bs-md-ci-census-schools-20130521_1_school-system-per-pupil-spending-districts
Interestingly when a bad neighborhood improves (because small businesses open, property values go up, and crime decreases) they complain about 'whitey' gentrifying it and pricing them out of their 'hood. Or they complain (or even burn and loot) the 'Koreans' opening shops because commerce and industry is an anathema to them, I guess.

[Lunger]

....
And so, the grand "experiment" begins..... in Federalizing local Police Depts.

...

Have a desire for more control?  Create a problem and then solve it by giving yourself more control. 

The sheep will bleat their approval. 

[albrecht]

http://youtu.be/7quQKT0gelw
Barney Frank's "husband" and all kinds of other activists, professors, political leaders, and politicians weigh in on issues of the day such as giving watermelons to blacks to get more votes, keeping the black vote with menthol cigarettes (and EBT cards,) and Clarence Thomas either not "knowing" he is black or being an "Oreo."

[3OctaveFart]

My hero.

http://catoinstitute.tumblr.com/post/120714503738/celebrating-the-unknown-rebel

The Golfer-in-Chief ought to read.

[136 or 142]

My hero.

http://catoinstitute.tumblr.com/post/120714503738/celebrating-the-unknown-rebel

The Golfer-in-Chief ought to read.

Though I doubt the Chinese government of the day cared about the U.S reaction to the massacre in Tiananmen Square one way or the other, had George H W Bush not played enabler in chief to the Chinese after it, the Chinese government might not be so brazen now.

[3OctaveFart]

Now I've seen it all. Your post actually made me laugh, dude.
Blaming the encroachment of the Chinese on daddy Bush.
That's a first.

[136 or 142]

Now I've seen it all. Your post actually made me laugh, dude.
Blaming the encroachment of the Chinese on daddy Bush.
That's a first.

Actually many have cited H W's response, or lack thereof, as one reason for China's military aggression.  I just assume you haven't heard that from Dimbaugh or Fake News where you know doubt get your 'news' from.

[3OctaveFart]

You are wrong to assume, bud.
I am an American living abroad. I get a much clearer picture of these things now than you can imagine.
And I would argue that other than Kissinger, no one knows Chinese politics and policy better than GHWB.
Beijing is simply lost to history. There's not a damn thing the elder Bush could do about it.

[136 or 142]

You are wrong to assume, bud.
I am an American living abroad. I get a much clearer picture of these things now than you can imagine.
And I would argue that other than Kissinger, no one knows Chinese politics and policy better than GHWB.
Beijing is simply lost to history. There's not a damn thing the elder Bush could do about it.

There are many China experts, I studied under one at University for a couple classes and he didn't care for GHWB (although he saved his venom for Thatcher and her incompetent handling of Hong Kong.)

[3OctaveFart]

There are not many China experts like Bush. He lived among them.
He was to China what John Quincy Adams was to France.
Bush was one of the first to anunciate the fear that the rest of Asia would and could line up with China. Are we not seeing that start to bear itself out?
Just because his son was a fucking dunce does not mean he was.
And note the past tense- as Dubya has all but retreated from public life.
We're never going to get any answers out of him.

[136 or 142]

Bush was one of the first to anunciate the fear that the rest of Asia would and could line up with China. Are we not seeing that start to bear itself out?

I believe most of Asia is actually lining up against China.

Wow, he lived in China. So do hundreds of thousands if not a couple million Americans.

To be sure, it was much rarer when he lived there, but I'd hardly say that automatically qualifies him as a China expert, or, more importantly that his views on China were correct simply because he had lived there.

As I said, while I don't know if my instructor had ever lived in China, he spoke and read Chinese and was an expert in Chinese history and military technology.  I don't know if GHWB can claim any of those.

[3OctaveFart]

So I am arguing with some college kid whose professor thinks he's an expert on China and the guy who actually served diplomatic missions to China ... isn't.
That's great, now I have an answer for my wife when she asks what I am doing on this site.

[136 or 142]

So I am arguing with some college kid whose professor thinks he's an expert on China and the guy who served diplomatic missions to China ... isn't.
That's great, now I have an answer for my wife when she asks what I am doing on this site.

I returned to college as an adult student and left several years ago.

I never said GHWB wasn't knowledgable on China I said that his expertise didn't make his policy proposals automatically the right ones or that his serving on diplomatic missions is the only way that a person can become an expert on China.

Could GHWB read or speak Chinese?  Was he an expert on Chinese history or culture?

HW was envoy to China for little over one year 13 years before becoming President.  As far as I can tell, he had no major interest or knowledge of China prior to being appointed envoy, and though China was obviously important to Nixon it seems he appointed Bush more for his political connections (Bush was head of the RNC when he was appointed) than for any knowledge he had of China.

I would certainly say my professor who was a former officer in the Canadian Armed Forces is far more of an expert on China than Bush was at the time he became the envoy, and, unless HW Bush kept up to date on current events in China as Vice President, his expertise was most likely in his own imagination.

[3OctaveFart]

Who could have prevented China from becoming the situation it is?
One of the charming ironies of history in the latter half of the 20th century is that Nixon, whipping boy of the left, enjoyed a far greater relationship with the Chinese than any of his successors.
And at a pretty fucking precarious stage of the crisis.

[136 or 142]

Who could have prevented China from becoming the situation it is?
One of the charming ironies of history in the latter half of the 20th century is that Nixon, whipping boy of the left, enjoyed a far greater relationship with the Chinese than any of his successors.
And at a pretty fucking precarious stage of the crisis.

I have no idea, but I suspect my former professor would be able to provide a much better answer to this than GHWB could.

[3OctaveFart]

Have a good evening.

[paladin1991]

So I am arguing with some college kid whose professor thinks he's an expert on China and the guy who actually served diplomatic missions to China ... isn't.
That's great, now I have an answer for my wife when she asks what I am doing on this site.

Sweetie Pie.  Are you State Dept or one of 'Our Friends?'

[paladin1991]

Who could have prevented China from becoming the situation it is?
One of the charming ironies of history in the latter half of the 20th century is that Nixon, whipping boy of the left, enjoyed a far greater relationship with the Chinese than any of his successors.
And at a pretty fucking precarious stage of the crisis.

I remember one of my Poly Sci instructors telling the class much the same thing.  He went on to relate that was because Nixon was just as ruthless a mother fucker as any 'heathen Chinee.'  They understood each other on a reptilian level.

[3OctaveFart]

I think that is very accurate.
That old Tricky Dick was a piece of work.
All of that psychosis because he went to Whittier and not Harvard.
Because he was the son of a lemon rancher and not a Kennedy.
Wonder what he would think of the shit we're in now.

[paladin1991]

I think that is very accurate.
That old Tricky Dick was a piece of work.
All of that psychosis because he went to Whittier and not Harvard.
Because he was the son of a lemon rancher and not a Kennedy.
Wonder what he would think of the shit we're in now.

I can only guess.  But it might just be a general assessment of, "What a bunch of pussies.  Putin, sit the fuck down.  Congress, Republican, Democrat...who gives a fuck?  I'm the one who will pull the trigger.  Henry?  (Kissinger)  Call the head Chink....we need an understanding  ISIS?  Fm now on, speak of them in the past tense.  You know, like french honor." 

[3OctaveFart]

Eddie Snowden- a fukin low-level bureaucrat- did an end-around this government.
Nixon would have had his head on a sterling platter.

[FightTheFuture]

I think that is very accurate.
That old Tricky Dick was a piece of work.
All of that psychosis because he went to Whittier and not Harvard.
Because he was the son of a lemon rancher and not a Kennedy.
Wonder what he would think of the shit we're in now.

If Nixon were president today, and enjoyed the same harmonious relationship with the press that Obama does, I can assure you, the geo-political landscape would be far more to our liking.

[136 or 142]

Eddie Snowden- a fukin low-level bureaucrat- did an end-around this government.
Nixon would have had his head on a sterling platter.

You mean the same way Nixon had Daniel Ellsberg's head on a platter? Oh wait, Nixon tried but he completely failed to do that.

In fact, it was Ellsberg who ended up getting several of Nixon's men on a sterling platter.

It would not be accurate to say that Ellsberg brought down Nixon himself, but it would also not be accurate to say that The Pentagon Papers played no role in the impeachment process that led to Nixon resignation.

Meatie Pie, if your understanding of history is as good as your understanding of China, I can understand why your understanding of China is pretty much zero despite the fact that you seem to think of yourself as being quite knowledgable on China.  But, then it's been shown in numerous studies that many stupid people like yourself have a high opinion of themselves.

[onan]

I have never been able to wrap my head around the disconnect regarding Snowden and the government. Snowden is the bad guy because he discredited the government... which so many here find to be the bad guy.

[136 or 142]

I have never been able to wrap my head around the disconnect regarding Snowden and the government. Snowden is the bad guy because he discredited the government... which so many here find to be the bad guy.

I don't see the problem, it's pretty clear Meatie Pie likes ruthless dictators and doesn't like people who challenge them. I would suggest he move to Russia.

On the other hand, I would be surprised if Albrecht wasn't a big fan of Snowden.

I'm sure Man-Boy doesn't like either the government or Snowden, but then he's too stupid to even know when he's contradicting himself.  Not that having problems with the government or some of the things Snowden did is necessarily a contradiction.  Disliking government spying on its citizens while also disliking the person who blew the whistle on this (though I believe it had actually been disclosed before Snowden came along) is a contradiction however, but a person can dislike, for instance, that Snowden chose to go to Russia for asylum.

[Lunger]

I returned to college as an adult student and left several years ago.

I never said GHWB wasn't knowledgable on China I said that his expertise didn't make his policy proposals automatically the right ones or that his serving on diplomatic missions is the only way that a person can become an expert on China.

Could GHWB read or speak Chinese?  Was he an expert on Chinese history or culture?

HW was envoy to China for little over one year 13 years before becoming President.  As far as I can tell, he had no major interest or knowledge of China prior to being appointed envoy, and though China was obviously important to Nixon it seems he appointed Bush more for his political connections (Bush was head of the RNC when he was appointed) than for any knowledge he had of China.

I would certainly say my professor who was a former officer in the Canadian Armed Forces is far more of an expert on China than Bush was at the time he became the envoy, and, unless HW Bush kept up to date on current events in China as Vice President, his expertise was most likely in his own imagination.

Well I can speak and read Mandarin.  I was an analyst for 15 years working at the NSA with China as my target.  I am an expert on China.  So, I can tell you that you have no idea what you are talking about. 

To think that China was or is going to continue its 'sick man of Asia' image and kowtow to to the West or anyone outside its borders is incredibly misinformed and naive.

Stick to childish rants about Fox News or George Bush and leave the heavy lifting to men.

[136 or 142]

Well I can speak and read Mandarin.  I was an analyst for 15 years working at the NSA with China as my target.  I am an expert on China.  So, I can tell you that you have no idea what you are talking about. 

Of course you were. And I'm Santa Claus.

[3OctaveFart]

You mean the same way Nixon had Daniel Ellsberg's head on a platter? Oh wait, Nixon tried but he completely failed to do that.

In fact, it was Ellsberg who ended up getting several of Nixon's men on a sterling platter.

It would not be accurate to say that Ellsberg brought down Nixon himself, but it would also not be accurate to say that The Pentagon Papers played no role in the impeachment process that led to Nixon resignation.

Meatie Pie, if your understanding of history is as good as your understanding of China, I can understand why your understanding of China is pretty much zero despite the fact that you seem to think of yourself as being quite knowledgable on China.  But, then it's been shown in numerous studies that many stupid people like yourself have a high opinion of themselves.

You come to these discussions apparently armed with nothing more than knowledge gleaned from your "instructor's" survey courses. Do you know how smart Ellsberg was? Comparing him to a weasel worm like Snowden is an insult.

I do wish Ed would have pulled a page from history and asked the Vatican for succor. That would have been so cute.

And I continue to be amused by charges of my unique arrogance. This board is packed with the intellectually vain- it is one of the real endearing aspects of it. Young grasshopper, the farther you get in your studies the more your notions will be challenged. Embrace that. And learn how to return a serve or get out of my hair.

[3OctaveFart]

I don't see the problem, it's pretty clear Meatie Pie likes ruthless dictators and doesn't like people who challenge them. I would suggest he move to Russia.

I don't like my country being embarrassed by a loser traitor.
Being raised in the Cold War we were taught these chickenshits were to be treated with contempt, not celebrated.
Even if it meant he was disgracing an unpopular and failed president.

[VtaGeezer]

GHWB, The Man With The Magic Resume, went from Head of the RNC to first Envoy to Red China to Dir. CIA in under 15 months.  China expert?  Nonsense.  A China expert would have blown the whistle on unleashing of a billion 10¢/hour workers on the US middle class.   Poppy was the prime mole for the nacent multinational corporatists.