Showing posts tagged politics
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Study says Republicans use social media more effectively than Democrats.

“Many people believe that Democrats are the more tech-savvy party in the U.S., but Twitter-happy Republicans in Congress are turning that theory on its head.

Republicans in Congress use Twitter “more effectively” than Democrats, according to a recent study from Edelman. Tweeting members of the Grand Old Party not only saw more retweets, engagement and amplification than their Democratic brethren, but their tweets were also more substantive — Republicans were 3.5 times as likely to mention specific legislation and they included 52% more links and almost 60% more multimedia than Democrats in their tweets.”


  

What the rise and fall of Bo Xilai says about China’s future

Chongqing: the city in a cloud

“Very few in the West may have heard of it, but this sprawling megacity with a population of 32 million is bigger than most European countries. And the electrifying rise and fall of its high-profile Communist Party secretary - an ambitious and charismatic politician called Bo Xilai – has arguably caused the biggest political ructions in China since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.”

(Source: telegraph.co.uk)

  

164 Anti-Immigration Laws Passed Since 2010?

A Mother Jones analysis.

“To get a better sense of the legislative push that most famously included Arizona’s draconian SB 1070, Mother Jones built a database of the 164 (often curiously similar) anti-immigration laws passed by state legislatures in 2010 and 2011. As you can see, the number of restrictive laws jumped last year, when five states—Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Utah—passed Arizona-style bills.”

  

Why is President Obama keeping a journalist in a Yemen prison?

“Unlike most journalists covering Al Qaeda, Shaye risked his life to travel to areas controlled by Al Qaeda and to interview its leaders.” 

“On February 2, 2011, President Obama called Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The two discussed counterterrorism cooperation and the battle against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. At the end of the call, according to a White House read-out, Obama “expressed concern” over the release of a man named Abdulelah Haider Shaye, whom Obama said “had been sentenced to five years in prison for his association with AQAP.” It turned out that Shaye had not yet been released at the time of the call, but Saleh did have a pardon for him prepared and was ready to sign it. It would not have been unusual for the White House to express concern about Yemen’s allowing AQAP suspects to go free. Suspicious prison breaks of Islamist militants in Yemen had been a regular occurrence over the past decade, and Saleh has been known to exploit the threat of terrorism to leverage counterterrorism dollars from the United States. But this case was different. Abdulelah Haider Shaye is not an Islamist militant or an Al Qaeda operative. He is a journalist.”

  
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It’s un-American to silence Limbaugh.

Although he despises him, First Amendment attorney Marc J. Randazza defends Limbaugh’s rights in an intelligent, well-written opinion piece. 

“Rush Limbaugh has a right to his views. Just as important, his fans have a right to hear him. Those of us who disagree with him have a right to fight him, but we must do so on our own. Using the government to support our view is constitutionally intolerable. Trying to bully him off the air is wrong.”

(Source: nicewebtools.com)


  
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MITT ROMNEY: Well you know, it’s hard to imagine all the things they’re [Democrats] going to try and turn into attacks. I mean, that’s the first time I’ve heard the one you’ve mentioned. Look I have worn a garbage bag for rain gear myself. And we’re out there in the rain. And the rain was getting us soaked. I didn’t have a rain coat myself. I would have liked one of those. So you know it’s just the nature of the process.

BILL O’REILLY: I know you were kidding around and anybody who knows you, knows you were kidding around with the folks. I mean, I do it all the time. But you know anything you say can and will be used against you. I have to Mirandize you tonight, governor, in front of the nation, okay? You have the right to remain silent.

MITT ROMNEY: Yes, yes exactly.

After Romney told two NASCAR fans, “”I like those fancy raincoats you bought. Really sprung for the big bucks,” he answers O’Reilly’s question about why he keeps saying those things.

(Source: The Huffington Post)


  

Good Debate: Is the relationship between Afghanistan and the U.S. unraveling? 

  
Reuters Photography Blog: Meet the Russian Voters [Following a parliamentary election in December…something changed. Widespread claims of vote falsification brought out around 5,000 people onto the street in Moscow, a show of opposition to the authorities that hasn’t been seen for years. The movement grew, organized and strenghtened in the fertile fields of social networks. It provided leaders that in principal have no political leverage apart from a following online. People like Alexey Navalny, anti corruption blogger, and Yevgrnia Chirikova, an environmental activist battling the destruction of her local forest to make way for a new highway. Would they be able to maintain their voice of protest and public displays of opposition throughout the winter (a bigger problem for those not aware of it – ask the Grande Armee of 1812) in order to make a difference in the presidential vote? The protests did grow, a couple more followed, the numbers swelled – up to 100,000 came out to call for fair elections in January. The authorities seemed to be at a loss on how to snuff out this unplanned voice of opposition… Aha – we have an angle, the people are moving, thousands and thousands of them, showing their support with their feet. But rather than faceless pawns, they are real people. People who want their vote to count.]

Reuters Photography Blog: Meet the Russian Voters

[Following a parliamentary election in December…something changed. Widespread claims of vote falsification brought out around 5,000 people onto the street in Moscow, a show of opposition to the authorities that hasn’t been seen for years. The movement grew, organized and strenghtened in the fertile fields of social networks. It provided leaders that in principal have no political leverage apart from a following online. People like Alexey Navalny, anti corruption blogger, and Yevgrnia Chirikova, an environmental activist battling the destruction of her local forest to make way for a new highway. Would they be able to maintain their voice of protest and public displays of opposition throughout the winter (a bigger problem for those not aware of it – ask the Grande Armee of 1812) in order to make a difference in the presidential vote? The protests did grow, a couple more followed, the numbers swelled – up to 100,000 came out to call for fair elections in January. The authorities seemed to be at a loss on how to snuff out this unplanned voice of opposition…

Aha – we have an angle, the people are moving, thousands and thousands of them, showing their support with their feet. But rather than faceless pawns, they are real people. People who want their vote to count.]