The Current Events, News, and Politics Thread
03-12-2013, 02:49 AM
#3982
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,017
Total Cats: 6,587
CASE 14. NANSEN CUTS THE CAT IN TWO
Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a baby cat. He seized the cat and said, "If any of you can say a word of Zen, you can spare the cat. Otherwise I will kill it." No one could answer. So Nansen cut the cat in two .
That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him what had happened. Joshu thereupon took off his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked away. Nansen said, "If only you had been there, you could have saved the cat."
Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a baby cat. He seized the cat and said, "If any of you can say a word of Zen, you can spare the cat. Otherwise I will kill it." No one could answer. So Nansen cut the cat in two .
That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him what had happened. Joshu thereupon took off his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked away. Nansen said, "If only you had been there, you could have saved the cat."
Mumon's Comment:
Why did Joshu put his sandals on his head? If you can answer this question with one word, you understand Nansen's efforts. If not, you are utterly in danger.
Why did Joshu put his sandals on his head? If you can answer this question with one word, you understand Nansen's efforts. If not, you are utterly in danger.
Reply
0
0
03-12-2013, 08:53 AM
#3984
Boost Czar
Thread Starter
iTrader: (62)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 79,488
Total Cats: 4,077
Meanwhile in racism:
CBC's Fudge Escalates Push for Obama Cabinet Diversity : Roll Call News
Diversity > Correct person for job.
CBC's Fudge Escalates Push for Obama Cabinet Diversity : Roll Call News
Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Marcia L. Fudge is escalating her campaign to urge President Barack Obama to pick African Americans for his cabinet, publicly releasing a letter that slams the first black president for a lack of diversity among his closest advisers.
Reply
0
0
03-13-2013, 01:07 AM
#3990
nuclear salt
This is something that I'd like to see happen...soon.
A New Molten-Salt Reactor Could Halve the Cost of Nuclear Power | MIT Technology Review
A New Molten-Salt Reactor Could Halve the Cost of Nuclear Power | MIT Technology Review
Reply
0
0
03-13-2013, 01:24 AM
#3991
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,017
Total Cats: 6,587
Very interesting. I'd honestly thought that sodium reactors were a dead technology in the US- it's reassuring to see some new innovation happening here.
What I find more interesting is an article linked to that in article: Economic Woes in Japan Could Trump Worries About Nuclear Reactor Safety | MIT Technology Review
I've heard many people argue about how "Japan has finally wised up and decided to abandon nuclear energy in favor of cheaper, safer alternatives." Turns out that these alternatives weren't no cheap after all, to the tune of 420,000 manufacturing jobs lost to overseas production in the face of drastically increased energy costs and an unstable energy supply.
I'd say that if Japan can suck it up and take a broader perspective on the matter, we (the US) ought to be able to do so as well.
What I find more interesting is an article linked to that in article: Economic Woes in Japan Could Trump Worries About Nuclear Reactor Safety | MIT Technology Review
I've heard many people argue about how "Japan has finally wised up and decided to abandon nuclear energy in favor of cheaper, safer alternatives." Turns out that these alternatives weren't no cheap after all, to the tune of 420,000 manufacturing jobs lost to overseas production in the face of drastically increased energy costs and an unstable energy supply.
I'd say that if Japan can suck it up and take a broader perspective on the matter, we (the US) ought to be able to do so as well.
Reply
0
0
03-13-2013, 01:46 PM
#3994
Boost Czar
Thread Starter
iTrader: (62)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 79,488
Total Cats: 4,077
Hundreds of family pets, protected species killed by little known federal agency | Fox News
please make sure to give this article as little grain of salt as possible, given the source.
please make sure to give this article as little grain of salt as possible, given the source.
Reply
0
0
03-13-2013, 03:21 PM
#3995
Boost Czar
Thread Starter
iTrader: (62)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 79,488
Total Cats: 4,077
Ex-Secret Service Agent: Obama 'Absolutely Not Telling the Truth' on White House Tours
Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino told Breitbart News that President Barack Obama was lying when he blamed the cancellation of White House tours on his former agency.
“The president’s absolutely not telling the truth when he said the Secret Service made that decision to cut [the White House] tours,” Bongino said. “That’s the core of it: he is not telling the truth.”
In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Obama said the decision, made as a part of sequestration, was not one “that went up to the White House.”
“But what the Secret Service explained to us was that they’re going to have to furlough some folks,” Obama said in the interview. What furloughs mean is--is that people lose a day of work and a day of pay. And, you know, the question for them is, you know, how deeply do they have to furlough their staff and is it worth it to make sure that we’ve got White House tours that means that you got a whole bunch of families who are depending on a paycheck who suddenly are seeing a 5% or 10%--reduction in their pay. Well, what I’m asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups--you know, who may have traveled here with some bake sales. Can we make sure that– kids, potentially, can--can still come to tour?”
Bongino, who served 12 years in the Secret Service including five years working directly at the White House before leaving to run as a Republican for U.S. Senate in Maryland, said Obama is lying because the Secret Service does not make such decisions.
“The Secret Service does not make political decisions,” Bongino said. “The Secret Service makes security decisions. His statement that it was a Secret Service decision internal budget decision--and keep in mind, I’m not speaking for the Secret Service, I’m speaking from experience of being with them. All he’d have to do is cancel one or two of his political trips and his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, which two years ago I was on and helped coordinate, he would save that money times ten. There was just no way this was a sound decision. To insinuate this is the first administration where the White House social office and the Executive Office of the President had no role in cancelling public tours at the White House, that he was the first president who was left out of the decision, is absolute nonsense.”
Bongino said he thinks the president is using “the Washington Monument strategy”--a ploy by a politician who tries to garner public opposition to spending cuts by eliminating popular public services first--in doing this to White House tours. “He wanted to inflict, there is no question in my mind, maximum pain upon the American people. But here’s the caveat: it had to be public pain. If you don’t see it, it doesn’t hurt.”
But Bongino said all the public pressure Obama has taken for the decision to cancel the tours caused the ploy to “backfire.” Regardless, the ex Secret Service agent who served three years at the George W. Bush White House and two years at Obama’s White House said Obama still will not admit he was wrong and is now trying to blame the Secret Service for his own behavior.
“Instead of coming clean and being honest with the American people that your office and likely you as well had a role in this, he’s again pulling the wool over your eyes just like he’s done on Benghazi, the immigration release [of thousands of illegal immigrants] where he said he didn’t know and Janet Napolitano said she didn’t know, this is nonsense,” Bongino said. “These are not security or budget decisions. These are strictly political decisions. Make no mistake about it.”
Bongino said the Secret Service is not correcting Obama because the agency has “a great, elite group of guys and they’re always going to take it on the chin.”
“I don’t speak for them but they’re obviously a patriotic group of men and women and they’re not lying when they say there will be overtime costs saved so it’s not like they’re being disingenuous,” Bongino said. “They’re trying to cover for this guy, I think, because they know it looks bad and they don’t want to get involved in the politics and I don’t blame them.”
Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino told Breitbart News that President Barack Obama was lying when he blamed the cancellation of White House tours on his former agency.
“The president’s absolutely not telling the truth when he said the Secret Service made that decision to cut [the White House] tours,” Bongino said. “That’s the core of it: he is not telling the truth.”
In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Obama said the decision, made as a part of sequestration, was not one “that went up to the White House.”
“But what the Secret Service explained to us was that they’re going to have to furlough some folks,” Obama said in the interview. What furloughs mean is--is that people lose a day of work and a day of pay. And, you know, the question for them is, you know, how deeply do they have to furlough their staff and is it worth it to make sure that we’ve got White House tours that means that you got a whole bunch of families who are depending on a paycheck who suddenly are seeing a 5% or 10%--reduction in their pay. Well, what I’m asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups--you know, who may have traveled here with some bake sales. Can we make sure that– kids, potentially, can--can still come to tour?”
Bongino, who served 12 years in the Secret Service including five years working directly at the White House before leaving to run as a Republican for U.S. Senate in Maryland, said Obama is lying because the Secret Service does not make such decisions.
“The Secret Service does not make political decisions,” Bongino said. “The Secret Service makes security decisions. His statement that it was a Secret Service decision internal budget decision--and keep in mind, I’m not speaking for the Secret Service, I’m speaking from experience of being with them. All he’d have to do is cancel one or two of his political trips and his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, which two years ago I was on and helped coordinate, he would save that money times ten. There was just no way this was a sound decision. To insinuate this is the first administration where the White House social office and the Executive Office of the President had no role in cancelling public tours at the White House, that he was the first president who was left out of the decision, is absolute nonsense.”
Bongino said he thinks the president is using “the Washington Monument strategy”--a ploy by a politician who tries to garner public opposition to spending cuts by eliminating popular public services first--in doing this to White House tours. “He wanted to inflict, there is no question in my mind, maximum pain upon the American people. But here’s the caveat: it had to be public pain. If you don’t see it, it doesn’t hurt.”
But Bongino said all the public pressure Obama has taken for the decision to cancel the tours caused the ploy to “backfire.” Regardless, the ex Secret Service agent who served three years at the George W. Bush White House and two years at Obama’s White House said Obama still will not admit he was wrong and is now trying to blame the Secret Service for his own behavior.
“Instead of coming clean and being honest with the American people that your office and likely you as well had a role in this, he’s again pulling the wool over your eyes just like he’s done on Benghazi, the immigration release [of thousands of illegal immigrants] where he said he didn’t know and Janet Napolitano said she didn’t know, this is nonsense,” Bongino said. “These are not security or budget decisions. These are strictly political decisions. Make no mistake about it.”
Bongino said the Secret Service is not correcting Obama because the agency has “a great, elite group of guys and they’re always going to take it on the chin.”
“I don’t speak for them but they’re obviously a patriotic group of men and women and they’re not lying when they say there will be overtime costs saved so it’s not like they’re being disingenuous,” Bongino said. “They’re trying to cover for this guy, I think, because they know it looks bad and they don’t want to get involved in the politics and I don’t blame them.”
Reply
0
0
03-13-2013, 03:30 PM
#3996
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,017
Total Cats: 6,587
Quoting from the above:
So, cancelling public tours of the White House as a cost-saving measure inflicts "maximum pain" upon the American people?
I'd have thought that declaring Marshal Law and imposing a curfew, or completely halting Medicare / Medicaid services, or something like that would have been a more effective tactic.
Originally Posted by Some guy
He wanted to inflict, there is no question in my mind, maximum pain upon the American people. But here’s the caveat: it had to be public pain. If you don’t see it, it doesn’t hurt.
I'd have thought that declaring Marshal Law and imposing a curfew, or completely halting Medicare / Medicaid services, or something like that would have been a more effective tactic.
Reply
0
0
03-13-2013, 03:32 PM
#3997
Boost Czar
Thread Starter
iTrader: (62)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 79,488
Total Cats: 4,077
Obama isn't very smart, remember.
But, really, there's not a lot he can do sequesterly speaking that will inflict direct "pain" to the average american public, this is one way to do so.
So a few federally employees have to take 1 day pay cut. That doesn't help promote his view point, pissing off elementary kids does.
But, really, there's not a lot he can do sequesterly speaking that will inflict direct "pain" to the average american public, this is one way to do so.
So a few federally employees have to take 1 day pay cut. That doesn't help promote his view point, pissing off elementary kids does.
Reply
0
0
03-13-2013, 03:38 PM
#3998
It is funny that Obama said that secret service agents will lose a day of work and a day of pay. In reality they just lose a day of pay. Secret Service agents, FBI agents, and CIA agents do not get those days off for national security reasons. They just work for free,
Reply
0
0
03-13-2013, 04:27 PM
#4000
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,017
Total Cats: 6,587
I'd posit that Dan Bongino isn't very smart, as he's the one proposing that temporarily suspending tours of the White House will inflict "maximum pain" on the population.
I am by no means pro-bama, but this reeks of partisan bickering to me. Some random guy who got dismissed from the SS has a grudge. He tried to run for Congress (Maryland, R, Senate) in 2012, and lost by a huge margin to the incumbent democrat. Now he's pissed off, and wants to paint a certain caricature of the present administration.
I am by no means pro-bama, but this reeks of partisan bickering to me. Some random guy who got dismissed from the SS has a grudge. He tried to run for Congress (Maryland, R, Senate) in 2012, and lost by a huge margin to the incumbent democrat. Now he's pissed off, and wants to paint a certain caricature of the present administration.
Reply
0
0
