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Barack Obama Retains US Presidency
Fox News, NBC, and CNN have called the U.S. election for incumbent Barack Obama. Of the so-called 'battleground states,' Obama carried Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire, which, along with all of the solidly Democrat-leaning states, was enough to push him beyond the 270 required for victory. You can check this chart to see the full list of states that have currently been called, and by which news networks. The NY Times has an excellent interactive map showing all election results updated in real time, as does CNN. It's currently projected that the Republicans will retain control of the House of Representatives, and the Democrats will retain control of the Senate.
The original intent of the founding fathers...
The founding fathers.. bla bla bla... Maybe you should read some history about the Whiskey Rebellion and the original Aliens and Seditions act. It took a lot of yelling and screaming to get the bill of rights into the constitution. And it took another 75 years to abolish slavery. There was no absence of aristocracy amongst the founding fathers. Not a poor man in the bunch. The government still maintains sovereign immunity, amongst other perks none of us are permitted. I would wager that they would think we have far too much freedom.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
The electoral college is necessary to balance power between large and small states.
No it's not. That was never the purpose. The electoral college was needed for southern states to get some credit for slaves that they wouldn't get if there was a direct election of president. (See, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States).) Besides that, the effect of the electoral college is to put the focus on a few swing states. No one cares about CA and TX and numerous other states because those states will reliably go for a particular side.
You seem to be mixing up Afghanistan with Iraq. It is understandable, because they speak foreign languages in both countries.
Iraq had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden and 9/11. It was all about the imaginary weapons of mass destruction.
If Benjamin Franklin knew about the state of the world today there would've no second amendment and healthcare for all.
It has nothing to do with the state of the world, it's America we are talking about.
It's the current state of America that sux to the max.
Even the tiny Singapore fairs much better, in comparison.
Caning, death penalties, CCTV trained at peoples homes to catch them dropping litter?
How do you calculate that? In CA it's about 630,000 people per electoral vote and in WI it's 570,000 people per electoral vote. That's a 1.1 ratio, not a 3.8 ratio.
And both seem to want to increase government surveillance and trade freedom for safety.
They're trading our freedom for something, but it's not safety (as Bruce Schneier points out on a regular basis).
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
LBJ just escalated a policy that had been set in place long before by Truman in '49. The presumption by Truman, then supported by Eisenhower, was that a domino effect of communist revolutions across Indochina could lead to a Trotskyite victory for communism over the long run (the so-called 'domino theory'). Going back to all the way '49 the United States sent 'advisors' and significant funds and weapons to French controlled Vietnam to sustain operations against communist guerrillas.
Thus, the foreign policy of the United States was to prevent a communist win by engaging in proxy wars rather than direct conflict. But the French lost control and pulled out, ultimately losing Algeria as well. The French gave up on colonialism as a result, but this left the United States to sustain cold war operations in Indochina. Eisenhower increased the 'advisor count' (special operations troops) as a result and Kennedy continued the policy until his assassination.
LBJ just escalated a longstanding policy supported by both Democrats and Republicans back when the country had a unified foreign policy across the parties. And you'll notice that contrary to his campaign pledge to 'end the Vietnam war', Nixon escalated as well. Who just happened to have been Eisenhower's Vice President.
Opposition to the Vietnam war in the Democratic Party in the late sixties and early seventies was only seen in a minority wing of the party that had little policy control at the top. By the time popular majorities opposed the war, Democrats then just rode the populist wave with anti-vietnam war rhetoric. But they had been staunch supporters of the policy from the start of the cold war. Just as had been Republicans.
Listen you fucking idiot, there was a plane. I personally know someone who watched it go into the building with a bunch of his coworkers. The poor bastard was in tears when we talked later that day. Get your head out of your ass.