American Politics Thread 2013: I'm a cool Rodham grandma in the USA

they're all just jealous they didn't think of it first

i wonder how U.S. conservatives in 2003 would react if they learned if France was spying on George Bush's phone calls?

total tangent but goddamn the freedom fries incident of 2003 was among the most idiotic moments in world history

merkel had a freedom phone

she just was not made aware of it until recently

in order to avoid detection by the NSA, future world leaders must resort to

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/2213489/mr-burns-baseball-signs-o.gif

i have no idea why any govt would trust the united states to not spy on them

Everybody has always spied on everybody. Some countries are better at it than others. Some countries get caught from time to time.

Right now I'm watching my upstairs neighbor thoughtfully pick at a booger oh shit call Snowden

Not enough Dineh in most countries, tbh.

d'Souza?

Clearly the solution is to fabricate intelligence that shows the Germans et al. were spying on us. That'll make things better.

NSA was spying on the German PM's cell phone? Yo, props.

well it's not like the germans are angels

"Economics students in Germany were more likely than students from other majors to recommend an overpriced plumber when they were paid to do it."

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/give-and-take/201310/does-studying-economics-breed-greed

you're forgetting one thing qualmsley: iraq

let's roll!

lol

http://www.nationaljournal.com/pictures-video/the-acela-is-a-great-place-to-stalk-or-overhear-government-officials-20131024

"Me and Steeler fan Michael Hayden."

I'm glad we're seeing more stories like this: how Dems saved Medicare D.

total tangent but goddamn the freedom fries incident of 2003 was among the most idiotic moments in world history

we'll probably be enjoying more of this shortly

could use a liberty gin and tonic right now

I've seen this in a couple stories and I find the phrasing of it kind of puzzling, not that I know anything about IT of course:

If any part of the web of systems fails to work properly, it could lead to a traffic jam blocking most users from the marketplace. That’s just what happened: On Oct. 2, officials identified a bottleneck where those systems intersect at a software component sold by Oracle Corp. that still hasn’t been cleared.

Seems that most important element of this shitshow was that the software wasn't tested very well. And it doesn't matter who sells the software component or who built it--it's how that component is integrated into the system. There were many pieces bolted together and that process was overseen by a federal agency, a very tough job given the circumstances.

Why the Government Never Gets Tech Right

But HealthCare.gov is only the latest episode in a string of information technology debacles by the federal government. Indeed, according to the research firm the Standish Group, 94 percent of large federal information technology projects over the past 10 years were unsuccessful — more than half were delayed, over budget, or didn’t meet user expectations, and 41.4 percent failed completely.

While that rate sounds awful, the same rates for large IT projects are insanely high in the private sector as well. That's one of the things they hammer you with in requirements writing classes ("It's always you fault! It's not that developers can't read or ask questions!") is low project success rates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/us/politics/in-white-house-pitches-rosy-view-of-health-care-site.html?hp&_r=0

pretty lame how everyone seems to be covering for everyone else tbh

While that rate sounds awful, the same rates for large IT projects are insanely high in the private sector as well.

Anyone who can increase the rate of success in IT projects--especially the large ones--is going to become insanely rich. But that would require removing the vocal nodes from all clients once the SOW has been signed off on.

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/raising-the-medicare-eligibility-age-is-now-a-really-bad-idea/

important post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/healthcaregov-fixes-wont-be-done-until-end-of-november/2013/10/25/22df29ba-3d93-11e3-b7ba-503fb5822c3e_story.html?hpid=z1

Don't worry, we got this. Everything with the website will be fine by the end of November

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/25/what_the_nsa_wont_admit_theres_no_evidence_that_data_collection_thwarts_terror_attacks_partner/

As embarrassing and maladroit as the "rollout" has been, the press struggling to look "balanced" by covering it as if the website's amateur interface represented a blow to ACA's efficacy is laughable.

d'Souza?

Navahos. Nobody could break their 'code' during WWII

total tangent but goddamn the freedom fries incident of 2003 was among the most idiotic moments in world history

we'll probably be enjoying more of this shortly

First time tragedy, second time farce, etc., etc.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/fullysic/files/2010/06/libertymeasles.jpg

When the United States entered the war in 1917 . . .
German street names in many cities were changed. German and Berlin streets in Cincinnati became English and Woodward.[19] In Chicago Lubeck, Frankfort, and Hamburg streets were renamed Dickens, Charleston, and Shakespeare.[20][21] In New Orleans, Berlin Street was renamed for General Pershing, head of the American Expeditionary Force.[22]

Businesses changed their names. In Chicago, German Hospital became Grant Hospital.[20] In New York, the giant Germania Life Insurance Company became Guardian.[23]
Many schools stopped teaching German language classes.[19] The City College of New York continued teaching German courses, but reduced the number of credits students could receive for them.[24] Books published in German were removed from libraries or even burned.[19][25] In Cincinnati, the public library was asked to withdraw all German books from its shelves.[26] In Iowa, in the 1918 Babel Proclamation, the governor prohibited all foreign languages in schools and public places. Nebraska banned instruction in any language except English, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban illegal in 1923 (Meyer v. Nebraska).[27]

Vocabulary changed. Sauerkraut came to be called "liberty cabbage",[22] German measles became "liberty measles", hamburgers became "liberty sandwiches"[22] and dachshunds became "liberty pups".[28]

German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles" German measles became "liberty measles"

We are a stupid, stupid country.

the word "germane" became "libermane"

aw, I would have done "germane" -> "libertyne"

you think we'd still let them have the measles at that point

and our president at the time was a Ph.D and college president

(in his defense, it was Princeton)

All the while in two World Wars nobody in Germany changed the names of the Englisher Garten or Pariser Strasse (in, like, six cities).

the Kaiser renamed the English Channel the Freheit Channel.

Not on my cable package. :(

Is ILX discussing Russell Brand someplace?

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution

I'm reading Garry Wills' A Necessary Evil and he quotes Lincoln: "Whenever the people shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." The revolutionary right can't be a constitutional right.

I was getting close to admiring old Oliver for his “calls it as he sees it, balls-out” rhetoric till I read about him on Wikipedia and learned that beyond this brilliant 8 Mile-style takedown of corrupt politicians he was a right arsehole; starving and murdering the Irish and generally (and surprisingly for a Roundhead) being a total square.

and why would we be discussing someone so functionally illiterate of his own country's history? I mean shit even *I* know about Oliver Cromwell

xp

Oliver Libertybell to you, mister

peeps are polluting my Facebook and Twitter feeds with Russellmania and his BBC appearance

my facebook wall is filled w/ ppl praising this idiot for telling it like it is, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he's only talking about uk politics. well, and the fact that he's an idiot.

is there any real reason to dislike him, besides that he always looks like a tool

I don't really have anything against him. he can be funny in a smug way. I like him in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.