Just who the fuck are you Ashley Banfield? Is this not asked EVERY.FUCKING.TIME there is a natural disaster anywhere on the globe? The fuck? I've never really cared a lot for the whole liberal media debate, it exists, but I suppose since I don't consume much MSM so it's relatively a non-issue for me. But God damn, when I turn the TV on for 3 minutes and get bombarded with this kind of shit, I can see how the discussion about the liberal media happens.

8/19/2010 7:05:08 AM

comes back to the fundamental question; are we the world's police force/moral authority/perpetual helping hand? or should we revert to a more isolationist state and not meddle in the affairs of others, great and small.

8/19/2010 8:19:22 AM

with great power...

8/19/2010 8:27:02 AM

"The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities."
-George Washington

"Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations--entangling alliances with none, I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one of] those which ought to shape its administration."
-Thomas Jefferson

"In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken part, nor does it comport with our policy, so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded, or seriously menaced that we resent injuries, or make preparations for our defense."
-James Monroe

8/19/2010 9:16:42 AM

Why is this "liberal"?

8/19/2010 9:49:52 AM

Natural disasters are a great way for America to extend the influence of the empire. Get in there fast and with enough resources to build shelters and provide supplies for those in regions who would waver on their support of our causes. If we do a better job than the UN and the taliban in getting refugees settled and back on their feet then they will look more kindly on our efforts in their region. Send unemployed Americans over to do infrastructure work and offer them tax free incomes at a rate much lower than contractors.

Refugees get superior aid, unemployed Americans get back to work, and the American Empire gains allies in the fight against the Taliban. Removing the Taliban and replacing it with a stable economy friendly to the US is good for everyone.


[Edited on August 19, 2010 at 10:11 AM. Reason : ee]

8/19/2010 10:09:11 AM

^Sounds like the plot to a bond movie or something. Deep in secret government facility, work is being done on a global earthquake generator.

8/19/2010 10:13:46 AM

why generate them ourselves? There are plenty of disasters to clean up right now.

8/19/2010 10:16:07 AM

global warming isn't a problem, its an opportunity

8/19/2010 10:16:34 AM

Quote :

"Why is this "liberal"?"

Why isn't it? It's kind of in the same vein of the whole "certain people have a vested interest in seeing the US fail in Iraq" talk that used to be popular on the internets. Those people were liberals.

Quote :

"comes back to the fundamental question; are we the world's police force/moral authority/perpetual helping hand? or should we revert to a more isolationist state and not meddle in the affairs of others, great and small."

You missed the point of this thread entirely. I would expect to see us lend a hand in these disasters. I'd rather not see some bimbo blonde sitting on her cushy couch in New York fucking act like she knows what is "enough" or give even the impression with the way she asked the question that what we are doing isn't enough. How about just report the fucking news that we are sending X amount of supplies in. Or how about report on the fucking fact that the US is again doing more than any other fucking country in the Universe to lend a hand in yet another natural disaster.

8/19/2010 4:51:38 PM

Quote :

"Why isn't it? It's kind of in the same vein of the whole "certain people have a vested interest in seeing the US fail in Iraq" talk that used to be popular on the internets. Those people were liberals."

Well criticizing the liberal party in power for inadequate foreign aid is hardly a big liberal talking point. I guess you're getting more pissed off at the news, which I don't really know that well considering I just listen to NPR and read occasional online news articles

8/19/2010 5:18:25 PM

We don't want to be an empire

8/19/2010 6:22:09 PM

What is this "We" crap? You know damn well that many Americans want exactly that. I can't say why, but to deny their existence is absurd.

8/19/2010 11:00:12 PM

Continuing to be an empire is the only way to maintain a growing economy. We need raw materials and we need cheap labor. That means we need stable allies in the locations that have those resources (the 3rd world).

Trying to maintain our current global reach without the resources to back it up will only continue to grow our debt while other countries establish holds on 3rd world resources (China).

Therefore the only alternative to Imperialism is to retract our military/aid from the rest of the world and concentrate on building an internal economy not dependent on the rest of the world's resources. This would mean slow to no growth, very slow to no innovation, but would probably increase stability and employment. We would essentially become europe.

I would prefer Imperialism. Becoming a dead culture with no purpose but to continue to exist is terrible. Without forward progress there is no point. Without Imperialism there is no progress.

8/19/2010 11:35:12 PM

Just a question, but didn't the US have it's greatest relative periods of growth when it stuck to itself? We didn't really bring the rest of the world with us, but we sure passed them up.

8/20/2010 12:01:16 AM

We had our highest period of growth right after we came out of a war. Morale was high, war-built infrastructure and the technology to build it was widely available, raw materials were still abundant, and best of all the rest of the world was rebuilding. The combination of new ways to exploit abundant internal resource wealth with mass demand for exports created a unique situation which probably wont happen again.

8/20/2010 12:08:28 AM

This dumb bitch was asking if were doing enough and it's apparently the damn Pakistanis that are holding things up

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/08/20/ospreys-may-aid-pakistan-relief/

Quote :

"I asked a senior Pentagon official if it would be fair to say Pakistan does not want more aid, and the official said no. If that’s case, then there can only be two other reasons: Pakistan doesn’t have the capacity to absorb more aid yet or Pakistan is wary of inviting too many Americans in and is gauging public reaction to see if the public would be willing to entertain a greater U.S. presence. Gen. Berger indicated that some of the Pakistani airfields are at or near capacity already, pointing to Ghazi air base. Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/08/20/ospreys-may-aid-pakistan-relief/#ixzz0xBaxCrxo"

8/20/2010 6:00:21 PM

Quote :

"We had our highest period of growth right after we came out of a war."

A lot of other people grew then as well, that's why I was trying to emphasize "relative", granted I have no data to back that up (although I might be able to find GDP comparisons for the 1800's for the US and other countries).

8/20/2010 6:29:36 PM

Quote :

"I would prefer Imperialism. Becoming a dead culture with no purpose but to continue to exist is terrible. Without forward progress there is no point. Without Imperialism there is no progress."

What? Europe is a dead culture? Europe has no progress? innovation?

Europe leads the world in innovation. Its the US that hasn't come up with shit, has no space program and nothing but military action in the last decade...

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html

Wake the fuck up.

We can't hold a fucking candle to several countries in europe right now.

This imperilism shit is not whats the key. We need to focus our resources on infrastructure and educating our population. We need a fucking sustainable society that doesn't require us to spend billions of dollars per month to secure oil fields. We are 100 years behind in transportation. Obama pledges 8 billion to US high speed rail. Spain is a fucking small ass country spending 200 billion. We suck right now. read history. Imperialism drags nations down

[Edited on August 21, 2010 at 12:41 AM. Reason : look at britain]

8/21/2010 12:40:27 AM