Obama WILL be the next president

[Sylvus]

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2 ... -one-vote/

We live in a democratic society where each adult (except for some felons) gets one vote for president.

Except for Oprah. She gets one million votes.

A new study by Maryland economists Craig Garthwaite and Tim Moore argues that Oprah doesn’t just sell books, she influences votes too.

Using geographic variation in subscriptions to her magazine and the bump in book sales associated with her book club, Garthwaite and Moore estimate that Oprah’s endorsement of Barack Obama was worth one million votes to him in the primary election.

According to their numbers, Hillary Clinton would have gotten more votes than Obama if Oprah hadn’t endorsed him. I suspect that Oprah’s endorsement was especially influential because Hillary was a woman, but Oprah didn’t endorse her.

Perhaps Oprah should think of taking a more direct approach next time around: Winfrey for president in 2012?

[Spang]

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

It's a conspiracy by the conservative media. They knew what would happen...

If the media was run primarily by conservatives, I'd agree with you.

But it is, remember that thread the other day about the study published by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University?

Remember the report showing that 90% of media members contributed to Hillary and Obama versus the republican candidate? These little blips don't make the case. Just follow the news stories over the years and you will see the bias.

[Nick]

You must be a blind man desperately craving intellectual acceptance.

You wont find it here.

[Animale]

I'd wager that most times when the media holds a position that you don't think is right Mid, it isn't because they are biased... it's because you are wrong.

Animale

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Strange. I wonder why I can see the bias in Foxnews sometimes, but you can't see the bias in ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and most newspapers.

[Spang]

You see the big picture.

[Nick]

Regardless of immoral assholes like Midnyte and dickmasterr, it's worth stating for the record that any single asshole on this board (we know who you are) who supported Bush throughout the last 8 years and supports McCain for the next 4, is a fucking dickhead, truly, in all sincerity, after the mass genocide of Iraq, worthy of a righteous bullet in their unevolved shitheading face. Fact.


Call me a little to the left on this one, but back in reality...European and global reality outside bumblefuck CNN America, the worlds with me, not you. The 2004 re-election burned a lot of america's closest allies, consider this a last chance.


K?

K.




Also, Vote Obama, you stupid 2 time in 8 year get it wrong fuckwits.

Its about time the lying propogandist fucks got politically beheaded in place of actual evolution. Then some people may start believing the US is evolving, like the rest of the world, rather than becoming the boggle eyed idiot down syndrome brother with a machine gun of the western world. Which is, btw, what everyone currently thinks. And if you don't like, you can suck our dicks, fuckos.

[Winnow]

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Watch this Nick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlt2GE4EYo4

In many countries around the world, the angry little america hating trolls are being voted out of office for people like Sarkozy. Appreciative, conservative types. Your portrayal of America is wrong. It's a sin what's been done to the great American name over the past 7 years.

[Xatrei]

...It's a sin what's been done to the great American name over the past 7 years.

I couldn't agree more with this statement. However, it's the Neoconservative movement and its manifestation as the inept Bush administration that's done it, not the foreign perceptions of our own wrongheadedness. Cowboy foreign relations coupled with nearly 28 years of unwavering devotion to neoliberal economic policies has led us to this low point in our history. McSame will serve only to dig us deeper into the mess created by his chums.

[Fash]

...It's a sin what's been done to the great American name over the past 7 years.

I couldn't agree more with this statement. However, it's the Neoconservative movement and its manifestation as the inept Bush administration that's done it, not the foreign perceptions of our own wrongheadedness. Cowboy foreign relations coupled with nearly 28 years of unwavering devotion to neoliberal economic policies has led us to this low point in our history. McSame will serve only to dig us deeper into the mess created by his chums.

I couldn't disagree more with this statement. It's been pretty much business as usual, and while the perception is currently very bad it's simply not the reality of the situation. We're very far from a low point in history.

[Sylvus]

I couldn't disagree more with this statement. It's been pretty much business as usual, and while the perception is currently very bad it's simply not the reality of the situation. We're very far from a low point in history.

What is the reality of the situation, if the perception isn't reality? From our foreign policy to how the world views us, to the economy and the looming energy crisis, what would you say is currently going really well for the United States?

Don't get me wrong, I love our country. I just think we need to make some changes to get us back to where we need and deserve to be.

It may not be the Death Valley of lowest points in history, but we are at a low point. Probably the lowest point we've been at in my lifetime.

[Xatrei]

I couldn't disagree more with this statement. It's been pretty much business as usual, and while the perception is currently very bad it's simply not the reality of the situation. We're very far from a low point in history.

Of course you think that. I'm shocked. Things ARE bad, it's not just perceptions - it's not just a mental recession. Things are bad and getting worse for too many Americans. Their money doesn't go as far, they're losing their health coverage, and those with coverage are often undercovered. Government safety nets have been systematically dismantled by an unbroken chain of conservative leadership from Reagan to Bush to Clinton (liberal my ass!) to Bush-the-lesser. Our foreign and domestic policies have been noneffective if not unmitigated disasters, and the image of this country abroad is sinking like a stone. Oh, and we're teetering on the edge of massive financial disaster at home. Your guys are doing a bang up job, let me say. The people watch this happening to themselves, their neighbors and their families while they watch the rich get richer at the expense of those that are hurting. I'll welcome the revolution when it comes.

[Aslanna]

Yet another excellent reponse. Try to have a conversation with you is futile.

Now you know how 90% of VV feels about you and your posts.

Happy to help.

[Fairweather Pure]

Now you know how 90% of VV feels about you and your posts.

I think you're off by at least 9%.

[Nick]

In many countries around the world, the angry little america hating trolls are being voted out of office for people like Sarkozy.

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/ ... 3&nid=&id=

Still mainly negative fucko.

[pyrella]

Hopefully that posted properly!

[Gzette]

What is the reality of the situation, if the perception isn't reality? From our foreign policy to how the world views us, to the economy and the looming energy crisis, what would you say is currently going really well for the United States?

The NFL baby! Plus we're gonna FKing pwn the Olympics.

AMERICA FUCK YEAH. LICK MY BUTT AND SUCK ON MY BALLS

Sorry but the Olympiad gets my patriotic blood churning. I bet GW is slamming Dews right now and headbutting priceless works of art while humming Hail to the Chief.

In all seriousness, Nick, talking down to us is not helping. No matter who wins this election its gonna be nice not to have GW Bush anymore. There's nothing to defend, except maybe his little human rights tour yesterday (or maybe Tuesday I forgot).

[Zaelath]

In many countries around the world, the angry little america hating trolls are being voted out of office for people like Sarkozy.

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/ ... 3&nid=&id=

Still mainly negative fucko.

Does that mean Australia voted John Howard out of office purely because he had his tongue up Bush's arsehole? Or wait, could it be that it's a small factor in an election.

I can't believe how self important some of you fuckwits can be.

[*~*stragi*~*]

can i derail this thread yet

It wasn't derailed on page one? Damn, when did it go back on topic?!

nope here is my posting strategy

when i consider a thread to be ruined enough i will make a post and it should basically be everyones signal to stop posting in the thread because sylvus or midnyte probably ruined it with crybaby liberal crap about guns and lesbians and fat people

[*~*stragi*~*]

can i derail this thread yet

It wasn't derailed on page one? Damn, when did it go back on topic?!

nope here is my posting strategy

when i consider a thread to be ruined enough i will make a post and it should basically be everyones signal to stop posting in the thread because sylvus or midnyte probably ruined it with crybaby liberal crap about guns and lesbians and fat people

[Boogahz]

can i derail this thread yet

It wasn't derailed on page one? Damn, when did it go back on topic?!

nope here is my posting strategy

when i consider a thread to be ruined enough i will make a double post and it should basically be everyones signal to stop posting in the thread because sylvus or midnyte probably ruined it with crybaby liberal crap about guns and lesbians and fat people

Fixed

[Fash]

It's pathetic that on that poll, 48% of those polled from the US said they think we have a mainly negative impact. That is absolutely ridiculous and short-sighted. Ungrateful stupid bastards, every one of them.

None of you were polled in this, so don't take that personal.

An interesting contrast could be made... I would think that a lot of people in Iran would not feel comfortable stating positive feelings for the US in public or to strangers, yet I don't think 1 person in America would ever be threatened or paranoid by such a question.

You're going to be so floored when McCain wins in November! I'd say it will be fun, but you'll probably stick your head in the sand and refuse to give him a chance while looking hard for the bad side of everything. I would give Obama more than a fair chance, if he were to win, because I think we need a shmoozer with charisma and personality.

The dangerous possibility is when perception of our impact around the world is mostly positive but the reality is mostly negative.

[*~*stragi*~*]

can i derail this thread yet

It wasn't derailed on page one? Damn, when did it go back on topic?!

nope here is my posting strategy

when i consider a thread to be ruined enough i will make a double post and it should basically be everyones signal to stop posting in the thread because sylvus or midnyte probably ruined it with crybaby liberal crap about guns and lesbians and fat people

Fixed

i tried to quad post but it wouldn't let me

[Forthe]

It's pathetic that on that poll, 48% of those polled from the US said they think we have a mainly negative impact. That is absolutely ridiculous and short-sighted. Ungrateful stupid bastards, every one of them.

None of you were polled in this, so don't take that personal.

An interesting contrast could be made... I would think that a lot of people in Iran would not feel comfortable stating positive feelings for the US in public or to strangers, yet I don't think 1 person in America would ever be threatened or paranoid by such a question.

You're going to be so floored when McCain wins in November! I'd say it will be fun, but you'll probably stick your head in the sand and refuse to give him a chance while looking hard for the bad side of everything. I would give Obama more than a fair chance, if he were to win, because I think we need a shmoozer with charisma and personality.

The dangerous possibility is when perception of our impact around the world is mostly positive but the reality is mostly negative.

Fash you are living in fantasyland. Iraq, torture, renditions and an executive that is above the law. The USA has become a carbon copy of the evil USSR of the 70s and 80s in many ways.

[Xatrei]

Had I participated in that poll, I would have been one of those that said they had a negative view of the USA's influence in the world. This country has done plenty of things that any person with a conscience should be ashamed of, and if you were even remotely capable of setting aside your blind, "patriotic" nationalist bullshit, you'd know that to be the case.

[Xyun]

It's pathetic that on that poll, 48% of those polled from the US said they think we have a mainly negative impact. That is absolutely ridiculous and short-sighted. Ungrateful stupid bastards, every one of them.

None of you were polled in this, so don't take that personal.

An interesting contrast could be made... I would think that a lot of people in Iran would not feel comfortable stating positive feelings for the US in public or to strangers, yet I don't think 1 person in America would ever be threatened or paranoid by such a question.

You're going to be so floored when McCain wins in November! I'd say it will be fun, but you'll probably stick your head in the sand and refuse to give him a chance while looking hard for the bad side of everything. I would give Obama more than a fair chance, if he were to win, because I think we need a shmoozer with charisma and personality.

The dangerous possibility is when perception of our impact around the world is mostly positive but the reality is mostly negative.

Fash you are living in fantasyland. Iraq, torture, renditions and an executive that is above the law. The USA has become a carbon copy of the evil USSR of the 70s and 80s in many ways.

A carbon copy of USSR? I disagree. Instances of one administration over-stepping legal boundaries in a democracy is different than an entire political and government system based on totalitarian communism.

[Forthe]

Fash you are living in fantasyland. Iraq, torture, renditions and an executive that is above the law. The USA has become a carbon copy of the evil USSR of the 70s and 80s in many ways.

A carbon copy of USSR? I disagree. Instances of one administration over-stepping legal boundaries in a democracy is different than an entire political and government system based on totalitarian communism.

"in many ways.". The stuff your government has been doing is straight out of the conventional KGB boogeyman I grew up with.

[Nick]

word Forthe. the quicker these fishbowl thinking fucks start realising what the rest of the world thinks the quicker they can stop living in MTVCRIBS fantasy land and bring what could be the coolest country on Earth back to its rightful position in global "awesome" rankings.

Unfortunately, only Americans and the ultra poor think America is worth any more than a hearty "get fucked assholes" tag.

Still, better than China, but that's like saying shit is better than cancer at this stage in the game.

[Xyun]

Fash you are living in fantasyland. Iraq, torture, renditions and an executive that is above the law. The USA has become a carbon copy of the evil USSR of the 70s and 80s in many ways.

A carbon copy of USSR? I disagree. Instances of one administration over-stepping legal boundaries in a democracy is different than an entire political and government system based on totalitarian communism.

"in many ways.". The stuff your government has been doing is straight out of the conventional KGB boogeyman I grew up with.

I'm not defending the administration, but rather democracy. Communism and Fascism are the extremes of politics. Democracy is the happy middle ground where the pendulum can swing both ways so long as the citizens are free and have rights. However, incompetency and corruption supersede ideology. No government can properly function when the leaders are incompetent and/or corrupt, which is the reason this thread exists in the first place.

[Forthe]

I'm not defending the administration, but rather democracy. Communism and Fascism are the extremes of politics. Democracy is the happy middle ground where the pendulum can swing both ways so long as the citizens are free and have rights. However, incompetency and corruption supersede ideology. No government can properly function when the leaders are incompetent and/or corrupt, which is the reason this thread exists in the first place.

I certainly wasn't besmirching democracy, just responding to Fash's assertion that the negative view of the US brought on by Bush was undeserved. I think the prevailing attitude in much of the world is the US has lost its way and is slowly becoming what it once fought against.

[Winnow]

I admit that the western world has lost a little respect for the United States. What we need is Russia to kick it into gear and start causing trouble all over the world. That way the U.S. can go clean house and get back into good standing with the little guys for another 20-40 years. People don't care enough about the Middle East besides the oil for our efforts there to matter. Of course, if that happens, China will mop up in the aftermath.

The United States of 1870-1992 isn't coming back. Just like people remark that we'll never have another "EQ" experience, times change. You get one shot to experience what the U.S. did. It can't go back and kick England's ass again or rekill the Indians. Look at Europe. Those people just sit around and rot, remembering their glory days in the 1400-1700's (really -200BC-200AD). When they tried to become interesting again we we got a big dose of Napoleon and Hitler. Nice...and they bitch about America?

I don't know what the future holds beyond three years from now but you little guys are going to have to pitch in to make the world a stable place that can continue to develop technologically. Let Star Trek be your guide. All races living together under one United Federsomthing (of course the captain is white) but there's a black communications officer, euro engineer, Russian pretty boy (what did he do anyway?), Asian guy in charge of hitting the Warp Speed button, old crabby medical guy, and an alien smart guy. The show did lack a Middle Eastern representative so throw in one of them as the bartender guy.

[Xyun]

The show did lack a Middle Eastern representative so throw in one of them as the bartender guy.

I'll take that job!

[Niffoni]

Obama Barackrolls YouTube.

Worth sticking around to hear his sultry crooning. Finally, the internet is good for something.

[Nick]

ook at Europe. Those people just sit around and rot, remembering their glory days in the 1400-1700's (really -200BC-200AD). When they tried to become interesting again we we got a big dose of Napoleon and Hitler. Nice...and they bitch about America?

[*~*stragi*~*]

ook at Europe. Those people just sit around and rot, remembering their glory days in the 1400-1700's (really -200BC-200AD). When they tried to become interesting again we we got a big dose of Napoleon and Hitler. Nice...and they bitch about America?

what is that smell? oh it's a rotting euro posting.

[*~*stragi*~*]

when i clicked that last emoticon i really put on sunglasses irl

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Y2 ... mM=&w=MA==

They Wanted More School’
Obama on education reform.

By David Freddoso

In his book The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama tells of a “youth town hall meeting” he conducted in 2005 at Thornton Township High School, in what he describes as a predominantly black suburb of Chicago. To prepare for the visit by their newly elected and highly popular senator, students there were surveyed about the quality of their education, with the idea that they could present their concerns.

Obama writes:

[T]heir number one issue was this: Because the school district couldn’t afford to keep teachers for a full school day, Thornton let out every day at 1:30 in the afternoon. With the abbreviated schedule, there was no time for students to take science lab or foreign language classes.

How come we’re getting shortchanged? they asked me. Seems like nobody even expects us to go to college, they said.

They wanted more school.

Senator Obama probably did not know that the average teacher in Thornton Township District earned an impressive $83,000 that year, short days notwithstanding. (The figure does not include administrators, who made much more.) In fact, more than one-quarter of the district’s teachers made more than $100,000 in 2005, according to figures compiled from the Illinois Board of Education by Champion News under the state’s freedom of information laws.

But Obama did at least identify the short school day at Thornton as a problem. Unfortunately, he has been less than audacious about the same problem in the nearby City of Chicago — a place where the teachers’ union that strongly supports him has been shortchanging children for decades in precisely this same way.

The elementary-school day and year in Chicago proper are the shortest of any major U.S. city. It lasts five hours and 45 minutes, and the schools are open just 174 days per year. This is entirely a result of the intransigence of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), a staunch ally of Barack Obama and an early endorser of his presidential candidacy.

The CTU has vigorously resisted all attempts to increase instruction time in Chicago schools. In 2007, the CTU thwarted Mayor Richard M. Daley’s attempt to make teachers teach for full school days. They negotiated a new contract that contained no extra hours but significant pay raises for the next four years. Deborah Lynch, the previous CTU president, agreed in 2003 to a 15-minute increase in the school day (from five and a half hours) in exchange for a seven-day reduction in the school year and large annual raises. The minor concession she made — a net five hours of extra teaching time per year — was used against her in the next teachers’ union election, which she narrowly lost.

Chicago schools are well-funded at 20 percent above the national average, and Chicago teachers are well-paid. Unlike most Americans, they enjoy nearly absolute job security and receive sizable annual pay raises, regardless of economic conditions. And they finish the school day when many other people are headed back to the office after lunch.

At entry level, Chicago teachers earn $43,702, plus $3,059 in pension contributions from the school district, according to CTU’s salary schedules. A starting teacher this year who does nothing to further his own education during the coming summers will be making more than $60,000 by 2012. Those who take graduate-level classes will boost themselves into the $100,000 range by the end of their careers.

Chicago teachers have terrific pay and hours, and summer vacations. Their students, on the other hand, are getting a raw deal. The city’s elementary schools produce underachieving and barely literate high-schoolers. The Chicago Tribune reported in 2005 that Chicago public high schools have a four-year graduation rate of just 54 percent. According to one recent study, only 6 percent of entering freshmen in Chicago public high schools will obtain college degrees by age 25. Only 31.4 percent of Chicago high-school juniors met or exceeded state standards last year on the Prairie State Achievement Examination.

Obama has acquired an undeserved reputation for reform in education because he offers very mild rhetoric about a merit-pay program for teachers. Even here, though, he takes all of the teeth out of the idea by promising his allies that the measure of “merit” will not be determined by objective student achievement — “arbitrary tests” — but by some yet-undiscovered measure to be chosen by teachers’ unions. It is the rough equivalent of President Bush developing a plan for oil prices in conjunction with Saudi sheiks or Exxon executives.

Obama’s merit pay for teachers would also come only in exchange for six-figure teacher salaries, which many states and districts simply cannot afford. True to his ideological liberalism, he reflexively dismisses any ideas such as educational vouchers or tax credits to help Chicago children get a decent education. The unions oppose such policies, and thus so does Obama.

Obama has argued, rightly, that it is “unacceptable in a country as wealthy as ours that children every bit as special as my own children are not getting a decent shot at life.” But he quietly accepts educational failure in Chicago because — as with many issues in his career — he does not waste his political capital on reform when it might cost him something or pit him against his political allies. This is especially true of unions like CTU.

In The Audacity of Hope, he writes of CTU and the other unions whom he counts as allies: “I owe those unions. When their leaders call, I do my best to call them back right away. I don’t consider this corrupting in any way.”

Is it corrupting? CTU rewarded Obama for his silent loyalty in October 2007 by endorsing him for president. Everyone wins, except for the public-school children in Chicago.

Obama’s approach to education is part of a much broader pattern that characterizes his political career, as with his backing of Chicago’s machine bosses, his sponsorship of legislation and earmarks to help such donors as Tony Rezko, and his support for special-interest subsidies in Washington. Obama participates in or at least remains silent about real problems and systemic corruption that is caused by his own political allies.

Like the other special interests who have invested in Obama, the CTU knows he can be trusted never to seek real reform. He is a reliable partner who does not rock the boat.

— David Freddoso is a National Review Online staff reporter and author of The Case Against Barack Obama.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDVDs

[Spang]

Thanks for your riveting commentary.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Thanks for your riveting commentary.

Go fuck yourself. I'm posting links and articles with information about the candidate titled in this thread. Read them if you wish to educate yourself. If not, shut the fuck up.

[Spang]

Thanks for more of your riveting commentary.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

You're welcome.

[Kaldaur]

I loved the Barack Obama rick roll, hahahah

[miir]

So you whine about media bias then link/quote/post rightwing op-ed horseshit like national review?
Gimme a fucking break.

[Fash]

So you whine about media bias then link/quote/post rightwing op-ed horseshit like national review?
Gimme a fucking break.

So you hate children from Chicago too?

[miir]

I don't read it for the same reason I don't read left wing op-ed shit.

[Fash]

Don't read much then do you?

[miir]

I stay away from blatantly biased op-ed sites.
I'm capable of developing my own opinions.