Latest Election08 Talk Posts at VideoSift.com

Stop using Election08 / Archive Election 08

Farhad2000 (http://farhad.videosift.com) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:14:22 -0700

(21 comments - 427 views)
Sifters,

The election is over. Obama is the president. Can we stop using this channel?

- Farhad2000

Needed Channels! - What do you want to see?

Sagemind (http://election08.videosift.com/member/Sagemind) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:56:29 -0700

(36 comments - 742 views)
I just figured we could nail down the names of some much needed channels. I think it would be interesting if we all named our wants. Everyone is so different and we all post diverse stuff.

What have you noticed missing?

- Sagemind

Paul Krugman harshly criticizes Obama's economic policy

imstellar28 (http://election08.videosift.com/member/imstellar28) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:10:38 -0700

(4 comments - 553 views)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191393

"In his twice-a-week column and his blog, Conscience of a Liberal, he criticizes the Obamaites for trying to prop up a financial system that he regards as essentially a dead man walking. In conversation, he portrays Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and other top officials as, in effect, tools of Wall Street (a ridiculous charge, say Geithner defenders). These men and women have "no venality," Krugman hastened to say in an interview with NEWSWEEK. But they are suffering from "osmosis," from simply spending too much time around investment bankers and the like. In his Times column the day Geithner announced the details of the administration's bank-rescue plan, Krugman described his "despair" that Obama "has apparently settled on a financial plan that, in essence, assumes that banks are fundamentally sound and that bankers know what they're doing. It's as if the president were determined to confirm the growing perception that he and his economic team are out of touch, that their economic vision is clouded by excessively close ties to Wall Street."

- imstellar28

Obama Backs RIAA with $150,000 Per Track Punishment

imstellar28 (http://election08.videosift.com/member/imstellar28) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:14:31 -0700

(33 comments - 836 views)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/24/doj_supports_riaa/

"Barack Obama's Department of Justice (DOJ) has sided with the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) in its lawsuit against a Massachusetts man accused of illegally downloading seven songs."

http://www.osnews.com/story/21190/Obama_s_DOJ_Sides_with_RIAA

"This case needs a little history lesson, and El Reg thoughtfully provides us with one. In 2003, Tannenbaum (then 16) received a letter which accused him of downloading 7 songs from a P2P network, and the option to avoid further problems by paying a fine of USD 3500. Tenebaum made a counteroffer of 500 USD, but was denied. Nothing happened until 2007, when several recording companies took him to court, where Tenenbaum offered USD 5000 - the RIAA demanded 10500. No agreement was reached.

The case was never settled, and it still ongoing. Tenebaum is now a Physics grad student at Boston University, and is represented by law students from Harvard Law, mentored by Professor Charles Nesson. This is where things get complicated: the law students are not arguing against copyright, nor that Tenebaum has not violated it - they are arguing against what they call unconstitutionally heavy-handed damages that come from the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999, which states that for each willful act of copyright violation, damages of up to USD 150000 can be awarded.

Obama's DOJ has now sided unqeustionably with the RIAA. The DOJ's task is to weigh in on constitutional questions, and it has rejected all of the defendant's claims. The law students argue that the RIAA is acting as a civil enforcement entity, denying citizens of their right of due process. They argue that the RIAA should act like the private party that it is. The DOJ disagrees."

http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2009/02/06/riaa_takes_over_doj.php

"The new Obama administration is shaping up to be a disaster for Copyfighters everywhere. In particular the new Department of Justice is stacked with lawyers who've been on the wrong side of copyright and intellectual property lawsuits for the last eight years. "

- imstellar28

Yes, Pecan!

Krupo (http://krupo.videosift.com) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:19:19 -0800

(5 comments - 653 views)
This article about Obama's culinary tastes is hilarious.

"This month, Ben & Jerry's renamed its pints of butter pecan ice cream to the more timely "Yes Pecan," donating funds to an educational organization."
...
"Early last year, when the Obamas said pizza from Italian Fiesta Pizzeria in Chicago was their favourite, co-owner Patti Harris-Tubbs says people called her up to say, "I'll have whatever Obama likes." But Ms. Harris-Tubbs isn't sure which pie that is."

It goes on to talk about how to celebrate his inaugration with food, which sounded sort of odd.

- Krupo

The 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2008

Fjnbk (http://election08.videosift.com/member/Fjnbk) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:55:33 -0800

(6 comments - 791 views)
It doesn't disappoint.

http://www.buffalobeast.com/134/50mostloathsome2008.html

Guaranteed to infuriate you, no matter what political viewpoint you adhere to.

- Fjnbk

Tomorrow, the 111th Congress Gets Sworn In...

NetRunner (http://netrunner.videosift.com) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:50:38 -0800

(14 comments - 532 views)
Democrats now have large majorities in both the House and the Senate. They have a Democratic President (I might've mentioned his name once or twice before) that will be sworn in two weeks later. A major victory in my book.

But now, with the 2008 elections now over, the real battles will begin.

Here are the ones I foresee, in the order I think they'll be tackled, not their importance:

Did you buy that seat on eBay?

In case you haven't heard Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested a few weeks ago for attempting to sell Barack Obama's now-vacant Senate seat. Despite his initial promise not to appoint anyone, last week he held a press conference to announce he was appointing Roland Burris. Senate Democrats now are working overtime to find a way to block Burris from being seated, since any appointment made by Blagojevich under these conditions will be suspect.

There's a Constitutional question here about whether they have the authority to do this or not, but there's no doubt they can delay seating him until the legal actions (both indictment and possibly impeachment of Blagojevich) play out.
He's good enough, smart enough, but Doggone it, will the Senate seat him?

One of the sub-stories of the 2008 election has been the Minnesota Senate election, which pit incumbent Republican Norm Coleman against Democrat (and SNL alum) Al Franken for one of MN's Senate seats.

The original election results gave Coleman a very narrow lead -- some 200-ish votes out of nearly 3 million cast. Under MN election law, this triggered an automatic recount. This afternoon, the recount officially ended, with the board certifying Al Franken the victor by 225 votes.

Coleman is vowing to contest the election results, and John Cornyn (R-TX) is promising to filibuster any attempt to seat Franken.

So, likely tomorrow we'll already see sparks fly as Democrats seek to block the seating of one of their own for ethical reasons, while the Republicans seek to block a legally elected member of the opposing party for their usual self-serving reasons.
How big is Obama's Package^*?

In case you've been living in a cave for the last bit, you might've heard we're having, well, a slight case of the Great Depression lately.

Obama's been talking about a stimulus package since, oh, April at least, and now it's time to see if he can make it happen.

There have been a lot of numbers floated about the size of Obama's stimulus package. Republicans have talked $0. Democratic Congressmen have talked $300-$400bn. Biden's hinted at $700-$800bn. The press speculated $1 trillion or more.

Now the papers are abuzz with news about the package including $400bn worth of tax cuts. Many people seem surprised, but again, Obama's been talking about this for a loooong time...he plans on putting the "cut" portion of his tax plan into the simulus package. I'll be surprised if that's not the starting point for the bill that gets proposed -- the much vaunted middle-class and small-business tax cuts he campaigned on.

During the campaign Republicans called it socialism. Let's see if they dust that one off for another try now.

Whatever trick they decide to go with, Mitch McConnell just vowed, on Meet the Press, to delay all attempts at economic stimulus until he's satisfied there have been "enough" hearings.

The opening moves are already in play on this one.

* His stimulus package, pervert.
Eric who?

To me, Obama's choice for Attorney General was the pick I watched most closely. This is the cabinet position that will ultimately tell us whether we will see investigations into the crimes committed by the Bush administration, or whether there will be a bipartisan cleanup.

He's nominated Eric Holder, and what I've seen so far gives me hope -- especially the way the Republicans seem to be gearing up for a big battle over Holder's confirmation.

Expect blasts from the past, as Republicans dig up Clinton-era bogeymen like Mark Rich and Elian Gonzalez to try to derail Holder's confirmation.

I'm not sure why they think that will work, but I guess since he was Deputy Attorney General under Clinton, that's good enough to make him unsuitable in their eyes.

This is one to keep an eye on. Hopefully this doesn't end up ranking with the other three battles I'm mentioning, and Holder passes with relative ease, but I've got a feeling this one will wind up being a big fight.

Those are just the opening act, things I expect us to see through this month and next.

A little further off, we're going to have fights about the Employee Free Choice Act ("card check" if you're a Republican), and Universal Healthcare. Expect Republicans to pull out every single stop to try to stop Universal Healthcare.

Frankly, I hope none of these battles get joined, and that the Republicans decide to try and constructively participate in the legislative process, rather than try to block any and all actions that Democrats try to make.

Unfortunately, when you look at recent history, that seems rather unlikely.

- NetRunner

Merriam-Websters top 10 words of 2008

gwiz665 (http://gwiz665.videosift.com) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:41:26 -0800

(8 comments - 559 views)
I think that the words they chose are hilariously tragic.

They paint a picture, I think..

The words are:
10. turmoil
9. misogyny
8. rogue
7. precipice
6. trepidation
5. bipartisan
4. maverick
3. socialism
2. vet

and the number one word of 2008:

1. bailout (noun)
a rescue from financial distress

source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/08words.htm

- gwiz665

election08 --> elections

nibiyabi (http://election08.videosift.com/member/nibiyabi) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:14:27 -0800

(5 comments - 388 views)
I propose that we make a simple change to fix the awkwardness associated with the sudden sharp downturn in *election08 invocations and inevitable collapse to zero: change the channel to *elections and it is set forever.

- nibiyabi

I just want you fuckers to know ONE thing...

kronosposeidon (http://election08.videosift.com/member/kronosposeidon) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:30:12 -0800

(11 comments - 1003 views)

...and it's this: Obama was elected Jesus on November 4.¹ Yeah, that's right: JESUS. So unless you wish to incur the wrath of the newly elected Almighty, I suggest you first ingest a nice big cup of shut-the-fuck-up.

Cry, piss, and moan all you want, and the result will still be the same: The President-elect of the most powerful nation on Earth is a dude with an African name, whose parentage consists of a Kenyan man and a white American woman. So either deal with it, or move further south. Of course moving further south would place you in the Gulf of Mexico. That's fine.
____________

1. Fafblog is where I shamelessly stole Balloon Jesus, many moons ago.

- kronosposeidon