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Topic: Obama inauguration (Read 595 times) |
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DJ dAndroid
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Ballet Mechanique
 
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Obama inauguration
« on: 2009-01-20 12:57:18 » |
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"We will restore science to it's rightful place."
There's no such thing as a chosen one. But Barack Obama sure can speak.
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Shouldn't robots have the same right as humans to have gender and express their sexuality?
_Clayton Bailey_
http://www.claytonbailey.com/monrobot.htm
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letheomaniac
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Re:Obama inauguration
« Reply #1 on: 2009-01-21 01:40:14 » |
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[letheomaniac] 'We will not apologise for our way of life' - B.H.O. You will not apologise for your so-called 'freedom' or you will not apologise for your crass consumerism? I personally would like an apology. The world in which I live is considerably less safe thanks to the US and their doctrine of spreading 'freedom' and consumer culture around the world.
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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker
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letheomaniac
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Re:Obama inauguration
« Reply #2 on: 2009-01-21 06:00:16 » |
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[letheomaniac] I must point out that the only reason I'm so skeptical about Obama is because not only is he is a politician, he is also quite possibly the single most ambitious human being alive today. To describe his rise to the office of US president as meteoric would be an understatement. I mistrust ambition because ambition is self-serving and a president is supposed to serve the people, not himself.
Quote:| But Barack Obama sure can speak. |
[letheomaniac] Is being really really good at telling people what they want to hear actually a suitable qualification for someone wanting to run a country? I can think of a couple of other brilliant orators that rose to power on this basis and then proceeded to lead their nations off a cliff. Still, the US has already crossed that Rubicon, so I guess no worries there.
I wish you the very best of luck Barack, because you are going to need it. I would hate for you to become the fall-guy for the policies of the presidents that preceeded you. 
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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker
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Mermaid
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Re:Obama inauguration
« Reply #3 on: 2009-01-21 11:57:04 » |
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i remain unimpressed by obama. something doesnt gel together about this man. but as long as he doesnt do much damage by wanting to 'reform' and as long as he reverses some of dubya's crap, i think the united states has the ability to self heal.
something bothers me about obama now. i just cannot put a finger on it.
and true..i was surprised by the bellicose 'we wont apologise...' line. wtf?
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MoEnzyme
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infidel lab animal
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Re:Obama inauguration
« Reply #4 on: 2009-01-21 13:00:24 » |
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Quote from: letheomaniac on 2009-01-21 06:00:16
[letheomaniac] I must point out that the only reason I'm so skeptical about Obama is because not only is he is a politician, he is also quite possibly the single most ambitious human being alive today. To describe his rise to the office of US president as meteoric would be an understatement. I mistrust ambition because ambition is self-serving and a president is supposed to serve the people, not himself.
Quote:| But Barack Obama sure can speak. |
[letheomaniac] Is being really really good at telling people what they want to hear actually a suitable qualification for someone wanting to run a country? I can think of a couple of other brilliant orators that rose to power on this basis and then proceeded to lead their nations off a cliff. Still, the US has already crossed that Rubicon, so I guess no worries there.
I wish you the very best of luck Barack, because you are going to need it. I would hate for you to become the fall-guy for the policies of the presidents that preceeded you.
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The only thing worse than a politician with excessive ambition, is a politician in power with no personal ambition. Cheney has never run for president, and only became VP because he was friends with W. He has repeatedly said his lack of political ambition was his strength. To the contrary, I think it sealed his susceptibility to corruption and his lack of accountability. It is by means of a politician's ambition and vanity that we can hold them accountable at all.
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I will fight your gods for food,
Mo Enzyme
(consolidation of handles: Jake Sapiens; memelab; logicnazi; Loki; Every1Hz; and Shadow)
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DJ dAndroid
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Ballet Mechanique
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Re:Obama inauguration
« Reply #5 on: 2009-01-21 15:54:57 » |
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Quote from: letheomaniac on 2009-01-21 06:00:16
[letheomaniac] I must point out that the only reason I'm so skeptical about Obama is because not only is he is a politician, he is also quite possibly the single most ambitious human being alive today. To describe his rise to the office of US president as meteoric would be an understatement. I mistrust ambition because ambition is self-serving and a president is supposed to serve the people, not himself.
...
[letheomaniac] Is being really really good at telling people what they want to hear actually a suitable qualification for someone wanting to run a country? I can think of a couple of other brilliant orators that rose to power on this basis and then proceeded to lead their nations off a cliff. Still, the US has already crossed that Rubicon, so I guess no worries there.
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Call me an optimist and you'd be correct, but since when is a lot of ambition immediately something to distrust? I mean can you even have vision without ambition? Personally I often have a hell of a time just getting out of bed, let alone having a determination to rise to power and influence such as Obama now wields! Should I be trusted over "him?" He or any politician knew he wouldn't get handed this, thus he set out campaigned to get it. I say good for him! Now is "officially" when we find out what we're "stuck with?!" If he isn't a liar, corrupted, swayed, bought, scared, influenced badly, whatever. And he sticks to all the indeed flowery AND ambitious promises he's made, awesome yes?
As for his oratory skills, I seem to recall reading somewhere may well have been here, that it's nice to finally have a President who can actually form complete sentences! He's "really, really good at telling people what they want to hear" hopefully both because he's clearly very intelligent and maybe has a surplus of empathy? And yes, I trust the smarts. Intelligent people don't want the world or simply their country to go kablooie! And if nothing else, that ambition may also extend to that he's smart enough to recognize ahead of time how he wants the history books to remember him.
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Shouldn't robots have the same right as humans to have gender and express their sexuality?
_Clayton Bailey_
http://www.claytonbailey.com/monrobot.htm
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Mermaid
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Re:Obama inauguration
« Reply #6 on: 2009-01-21 16:07:40 » |
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worse case scenario..an intelligent crook is better than a fundamentalist intelligent crook.
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DJ dAndroid
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Re:Obama inauguration
« Reply #7 on: 2009-01-24 19:58:37 » |
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As good an Obama thread as any to place this. And a couple days late but oh well.
Source: MSNBC
Obama orders CIA prisons, Guantanamo shut
President also orders that all interrogations must follow Army manual
Jan 22/09
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Thursday moved quickly to undo a contentious Bush administration national security program, ordering the CIA to close down secret overseas prisons and the Pentagon to close down the Guantanamo prison within a year. The president also banned the harshest interrogation methods.
The CIA has used secret "black site" prisons around the world to question terror suspects, usually plucking them from one country and moving them to another where U.S. agents operated a prison. A senior White House source said the CIA will be allowed to continue these "renditions" but not to countries that torture and not to its own prisons.
With three executive orders and a presidential directive signed in the Oval Office Thursday, Obama started reshaping how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans.
The centerpiece order would close the much-maligned U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — a complicated process with many unanswered questions that was nonetheless a key campaign promise of Obama's. The administration already has suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.
"We intend to win this fight. We're going to win it on our terms," Obama said of the war on terrorism. But he also said he didn't want to have to make a "false choice" between successfully waging war against terrorist organizations and hewing to U.S. human rights ideals in the process.
'Founding Fathers' cited
"This is following through not just on a commitment I made during the campaign but an understanding that dates back to our Founding Fathers, that we are willing to observe core standards of conduct — not just when it's easy but also when it's hard," the president said.
"We will be setting up a process" to figure out the logistics of closing down Guantanamo, Obama told reporters gathered in the Oval Office of the White House.
In related actions, Obama:
Created a task force that would have 30 days to recommend policies on handling terror suspects who are detained in the future. Specifically, the group would look at what do do with the 245 Guantanamo detainees.
Required all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of drowning and has been termed a form of torture by critics. However, a Capitol Hill aide says that the administration also is planning a study of more aggressive interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual — which would create a significant loophole to Obama's action Thursday.
Directed the Justice Department to review the case of Qatar native Ali al-Marri, who is the only enemy combatant currently being held on U.S. soil. The directive will ask the high court for a stay in al-Marri’s appeals case while the review is ongoing. The government says al-Marri is an al-Qaida sleeper agent.
At Guantanamo Bay, reaction was mixed to the prison closure.
"Let’s hope that if we return, this will be a museum memorializing a really shameful chapter in American history," said Stacy Sullivan of New York-based Human Rights Watch, who was at the war crimes trials as an observer.
Defense attorney Brian Mizer — a Navy lieutenant commander — called the order "a great day for America."
But prosecutor Jeff Groharing said he hopes the military trials will resume. Victims of terrorist attacks "need justice to be done," the Marine major said.
Economic tension
The Republican opposition in Congress, meanwhile, said it would seek a meeting with Obama to voice growing concerns about portions of his plan to spend $825 billion in a bid to reverse the country's perilous economic slide.
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said his party wanted to work with the new administration, but that many facets of the stimulus program wending its way through Congress would not create jobs, a vital requirement as unemployment numbers climb. Cantor spoke on CBS television Thursday.
Obama on Thursday was also visiting the State Department to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and his top national security advisers.
Mitchell tapped for Mideast
Obama used that appearance to name George Mitchell, the former Senate Democratic leader, to serve as special Mideast envoy, a step to make good on a campaign pledge to be more robustly involved in efforts to help with peace efforts in the volatile region.
Mitchell, 75, returns to a role he pursued during President Bill Clinton's presidency when the former senator took on several difficult diplomatic assignments, including chairing peace talks on Northern Ireland.
Mitchell also led an international commission to investigate violence in the Middle East. His report, issued in spring 2001, after Clinton had left office, called for a freeze on Israeli settlements on the West Bank and a Palestinian crackdown on terrorism.
Obama has vowed to move swiftly to meet challenges in the Middle East and other troubled overseas regions.
Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was named Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
On his first full day in office, Obama made telephone calls Wednesday to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Economy starts the day
Obama was starting his day Thursday with a private meeting on the nation's struggling economy, a signal to the millions of Americans hit by tighter credit, increasing home foreclosures and the dollar's shrinking value.
Some of Obama's other promises already were being implemented on his first full day in office.
On Wednesday, he signed executive orders to limit his staff's ability to leave the administration to lobby their former colleagues. He also limited pay raises for his senior aides making more than $100,000 a year — a nod to a flailing economy and voters' frustrations.
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Shouldn't robots have the same right as humans to have gender and express their sexuality?
_Clayton Bailey_
http://www.claytonbailey.com/monrobot.htm
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