September 3, 2013

Should the US have gotten involved in Europe in WWII?

No, in many ways Syria doesn't compare to the European war in the 1930s and 1940s. But I'm curious as to how DUers feel about this.

September 3, 2013

Who would you most trust to make a decision on Syria?

Of these choices...

September 2, 2013

Obama wins IMPORTANT backer on Constitutional claims

By letting Congress hold nonbinding votes before bombing Syria, our President is proving that he goes the extra yard in hearing everyone's opinion before being the decider. But some on the fringe, like Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky) and Sen. Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) have questioned President Obama's claims - Sen. Obama went so far as to say: Barack

“The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”

Fortunately, help has arrived for our unfairly-criticized President. Obama's claims are now strongly echoed by UC Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo, formerly of the George Bush administration. Yoo, who you'll remember had the breakthrough realization that the president is permitted to crush a child’s testicles if he alone thinks he needs to, concurs with Obama in his bold editorial Like it or not, Constitution allows Obama to strike Syria without Congressional approval.

I think that Yoo's opinion should put this question to rest for all Americans If both sensible Democrats like President Obama and sensible Republicans like Professor Yoo can agree, then this is mainstream opinion. Settled law. Fringe players like Senators Paul and Obama can go back to their extremist caves and sulk while we in-the-know types move forward with getting The People’s Work done.

Those people being Jamie and Lloyd, of course.

Regards,

Third-Way Manny

September 2, 2013

Foreign-government-supported news sources

While news sources substantially or significantly supported by foreign governments can be useful, they can also cause great mischief. And I know of your (warranted) concern around RT.

Would it be useful to add a field in the LBN submission form where the submitter can acknowledge if the item comes from a source such as RT, al Jazeera or Fox News (the House of Saud)? Perhaps a list of suspect sources could be on the form.

Then when the news is displayed, a caveat to the reader could be displayed with it.

Thanks for all of your good work!

- Manny

September 2, 2013

Attacking Syria: Congress should insist that its vote be *binding*

The President has said that he'll give Congress the ability to express an opinion before attacking Syria, but that their vote will not be binding on him.

Seems to me that Congress should insist that their decision be binding. Unless the US is in imminent danger - which we clearly are not - Congress must vote to begin hostilities. The Imperial Presidency needs to end.

September 2, 2013

Whose asessment of the Syrian gas attack would you trust most?

Which of the following have the most credibility in this matter?

August 31, 2013

Sorry, I'm confused by the President's speech.

What I think I heard was:

1. I've decided to attack Syria.
2. I *will* attack Syria
3. I'll give Congress the opportunity to agree with me before I attack.

Is that right?

If so, then it's a lot like his last speech about Spy On Everyone.

August 31, 2013

WTF? Obama, Assad to meet?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/

QUESTION FROM VOTER: Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?

OBAMA: I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them -- which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration -- is ridiculous. Now, Ronald Reagan and Democratic presidents like JFK constantly spoke to Soviet Union at a time when Ronald Reagan called them an evil empire. And the reason is because they understood that we may not trust them and they may pose an extraordinary danger to this country, but we had the obligation to find areas where we can potentially move forward.

And I think that it is a disgrace that we have not spoken to them. We've been talking about Iraq -- one of the first things that I would do in terms of moving a diplomatic effort in the region forward is to send a signal that we need to talk to Iran and Syria because they're going to have responsibilities if Iraq collapses...

August 31, 2013

Why thwart the UN inspection? Why the rush? Does this smell right?

UN inspectors are leaving Syria a day early, apparently because the White House needs to bomb stuff right away. So they will be unable to complete their planned mission.

Why?

After pulling a string of garbage ranging from the Iraq War, to providing refuge for war criminals, to forcing down the plane of an elected head of state, to spying on everyone, the US doesn't exactly have a trustworthy reputation these days.

Wouldn't it make sense to wait a few days for the UN to do its job, and build back a little goodwill? Instead, we're flipping off the rest of the world yet again. Perhaps there's a reason to thwart the UN mission, but I can't think of a good reason, and I've not heard one articulated yet.

This has a bad odor about it.

August 30, 2013

I'm a little scared. I need some hugs tonight.

This Syria stuff has me a little unnerved to begin with, with all of the people getting killed and the indisputable fact that Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. But now I find it's worse than I thought: I just read that our president believes that we might be next on Assad's list to be gassed!

This is very scary. I don't know what to do, where to turn. I don't even know what a Syrian gas bomb would look like if I saw one on my neighbor's porch: is it shaped like a jawbone?

I fixed some tea and pulled my children close to me under a quilt, it's times like these that help us to remember how vulnerable we all are in these dangerous times of terror, and how President Obama has kept us safe. I do know that our President is looking out for us, and once he bombs the shit out of Syria - hopefully before the meddlesome UN has a chance to write their fucking bullshit report investigating the gassing - we'll all feel a lot better.



Sincerely yours,

Government Sock Puppet Manny