Inauguration day 2009

[Alleya]

Security at that event was pretty bangin' all around, not surprised at all.

[0ni0n]

I think we need a new 'Vandole' custom title for when people whoosh themselves so hard it hurts.

Second.

[Kael]

Thats sweet. I want bullet resistant clothing too D:

[Churchill]

Can we keep sending billions overseas to other countries? I thought that was an excellent Eisenhower/Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon/Carter/Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush policy and we should definitely keep up the good work making sure the rest of the world is taken care of at our own detriment.

[archibaldcrane]

Can we keep sending billions overseas to other countries?

What would stop us?

[Churchill]

Common sense?

[Tristam]

Can we keep sending billions overseas to other countries? I thought that was an excellent Eisenhower/Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon/Carter/Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush policy and we should definitely keep up the good work making sure the rest of the world is taken care of at our own detriment.

Except that, for the US, aid as a percentage of GNP is the lowest of any industrialized nation with the exception of 2002 when we were in second or third to last. Don't worry, we're cheap bastards. In fact, in terms of raw dollar amounts, we weren't even the largest contributor until 2001 (Japan was).

Now I'll let you guess how much of that "aid" is a function or consequence of our investment in the Iraq war and we can debate whether or not it can really be considered "aid." Our Humanitarian aid is about 12% of our total foreign aid spending, and less than half the total dollar amount of our Military aid. Things like military and development aid are really just ways of spending money on foreign policy goals that serve our interests more than the countries that recieve the "aid"

edit: required reading
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/31987.pdf

[Churchill]

You made a point to assume I didn't know any of the information you posted.

I really don't care if we are giving 1USD a year as a total for foreign aid, the government has no responsibility doing it.

This goes for the money we spend in reconstruction efforts that are a result of an imperialistic foreign policy - not to mention forward bases in Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, India, etc...these should go away.

[Tristam]

ah, ok, your earlier post seemed to me like you considered (like many do) our foreign aid as if we were babysitting other countries and giving food to the poor, but I think we're somewhat on the same page at least with your last post.

[Correction]

How often do U.S. Presidents have to turn to attorneys to make sure they explained their own executive order properly?

For all the dumb tags put on Bush, least he appeared to have all his executive orders understood before making them public during a press conference.

You're becoming the biggest crybaby on the boards.

Nope, wait, you're already there. Grats.

[Elvis]

NSA Whistleblower: Bush Administration Spying on Journalists - Recording "Everything"

Keith's exclusive with Russel Tice who says that the Bush administration was syping on and targeting journalists and had access to all Americans phone calls, emails and computer communications.

Russel Tice: The National Security Agency had access to ALL American's communications: faxes, phone calls and their computer communications. And it didn't matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country and never made a foreign communications at all, they monitored ALL communications.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3041/...7bf11b.jpg?v=0

[SwampdonkeyPLD]

Wow, that guy sure has balls.

[Kiro]

Well there goes my desire to work for the NSA someday. lolz @ spying without a butterfly knife and a cigarette.

[Kuya]

Still can't prosecute Bush and Cheney?

[Kiro]

Teach me how to snipe and I'll prosecute 'em myself.

OH GOD I BET THE NSA READ THAT OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FU--

[SwampdonkeyPLD]

Still can't prosecute Bush and Cheney?

I can't help but wonder what might happen to the country if political parties start prosecuting each other on the way out.

[Correction]

I can't help but wonder what might happen to the country if political parties start prosecuting each other on the way out.

Leaders might behave more ethically?

[Elvis]

Teach me how to snipe and I'll prosecute 'em myself.

OH GOD I BET THE NSA READ THAT OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FU--

http://chasness.files.wordpress.com/..._the_state.jpg

[Maguspk]

Well there goes my desire to work for the NSA someday. lolz @ spying without a butterfly knife and a cigarette.

I don't care if some former analyst thinks the NSA was doing something wrong, I'd still aspire to working there. It's without a doubt at the top of the cryptography world, it'd be extremely hot on anyone's resume to have worked there.

Also, a lot of this is fear mongering, they were collecting info on all Americans, omfg! I don't think people realize how insecure our telecommunications are, it doesn't take someone in the NSA to eavesdrop on calls. It is interesting that they chose "journalists" according to this guy, but the accusations are so unspecific I'm inclined to believe he doesn't know the full story and it's more a "OMFG LOOK WHAT BUSH WUZ DOING!" tactic.

[Kuya]

I wonder what this country would be like if there were no consequences for perverting the Constitution and infringing on the rights of Americans.