Clipmarks | n2sooners's 'obama' clips

Your brain lies to you

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:28:19 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: This phenomenon, known as source amnesia, can also lead people to forget whether a statement is true. Even when a lie is presented with a disclaimer, people often later remember it as true.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

False beliefs are everywhere. Eighteen percent of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth, one poll has found. Thus it seems slightly less egregious that, according to another poll, 10 percent of us think that Senator Barack Obama, a Christian, is instead a Muslim. The Obama campaign has created a Web site to dispel misinformation. But this effort may be more difficult than it seems, thanks to the quirky way in which our brains store memories - and mislead us along the way.

The brain does not simply gather and stockpile information as a computer's hard drive does. Facts are stored first in the hippocampus, a structure deep in the brain about the size and shape of a fat man's curled pinkie finger. But the information does not rest there. Every time we recall it, our brain writes it down again, and during this re-storage, it is also reprocessed. In time, the fact is gradually transferred to the cerebral cortex and is separated from the context in which it was originally learned

Tags: brain, misleading, false beliefs

Barack Obama on Iraq - 2002

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:14:33 GMT

clipped by: jmk432
clipper's remarks: I love this quote! And it was in 2002!

Clip Source: en.wikisource.org

Barack Obama's Iraq Speech

Delivered on 26 October 2002.

That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.

Now let me be clear – I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity.

He’s a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the middle east, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.

Tags: barack, obama, iraq

Things Americans don't like to talk about

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:36:06 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Read the whole article, it is illuminating to say the least. I thought this passage said it best:

"

If you listen to a lot of conservatives, they'll tell you that the difference between them and us is that conservatives love America and liberals hate America.... They don't get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different Way. You see, they love America the way a 4-year-old loves her Mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups.

To a 4-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world."

Clip Source: dneiwert.blogspot.com

One of the oddities of the emerging media meta-narrative about Jeremiah Wright is the way it is now readily assumed by the broad range of talking heads that Wright's recent comments have only proven the charge that he is deeply "anti-American," embodied in the endlessly repeated "God damn America" sound bite.

But it's also apparent that the larger context in which Wright condemns American behavior -- the reason he shouts "God damn America" -- in fact reflects hard historical realities that Americans, and the American media especially, really don't want to talk about, let alone confront the present-day consequences thereof.

And doing so, evidently, is now proof of being "anti-American."

-- The genocide committed against Native Americans.
-- Slavery.
-- The "lynching era" and Jim Crow.
-- Sundown towns.
-- The forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

Tags: history, truth, wright, religion, obama, politics, america

Barack Obama: Faith Has Been “Hijacked”

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:34:07 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cbsnews.com

(AP) Sen. Barack Obama told a church convention Saturday that some right-wing evangelical leaders have exploited and politicized religious beliefs in an effort to sow division.

“But somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and faith started being used to drive us apart. Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us,”

“At every opportunity, they've told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design,” he said.

“There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its No. 1 legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich,” Obama said. “I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version.”

Tags: religion, politics, faith, barack obama, church, americans, abortion, gay marriage

How to Become President with Clipmarks

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:47:20 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: You heard it here first. In 2008, you just won't get elected without reaching out to the coveted Clipmarks community. And you can bet we'll be checking candidates' sign-up dates.

The publicity for Clipmarks 2.0 rolls on....

Clip Source: www.appscout.com

I was on some news program a few weeks ago talking about Barack Obama's YouTube videos and Hillary's online live chats, and at the end of the segment I said that the Internet empowers Regular-Joe candidates by giving them free access to a huge chunk of potential voters. The thing is, Obama and Hillary have tons of cash to run "real" political campaigns with slick TV spots and so on. They're taking the free route not to save cash but to reach YOU instead of the oldsters who watch the nightly news. If you're online, you're engaged, and politicians dig that.

Step 2: Keep a blog, but make it good. Link-baity lists like "17 Reasons to Enforce Anti-Spam Legislation" are good; "10 Reasons Mac Users Should Vote for Me" is better. Make sure you have a credible (yet hip) blogroll. And use ClipMarks to post snippets and ideas from around the Web and other blogs, to show that you can both talk and listen.

Tags: clipmarks, president, politician, candidates, election, vote, campaign, usa, politics, web 2.0, web

Republicans: Only Our Pastors Can Say Crazy Shit

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:12:33 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: firedoglake.com

As the wingnut chorus predictably disses Obama's eloquent speech, it's important to remember how completely ridiculous and manufactured this whole Wright "controversy" is:

Neither Jerry Falwell nor Pat Robertson ever retracted or denounced their view that America provoked the 9/11 attacks by doing things to anger God.

Well, yeah. Duh.

The Republican Party has tied itself at the hip to a whole slew of "anti-American extremists" -- people who believe that the U.S. provoked the 9/11 attacks because God wants to punish us for the evil, wicked nation we've become -- and yet there is virtual silence about these associations.

Once again, it's important to keep making the point that when you've built an entire political movement on the backs of a crazy mob of Dixiecrat Savonarolas who make outrageous hateful comments pretty much every day, you've sort of opted-out of your ability to throw stones.

Campaign Clicks

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:19:58 GMT

clipped by: chithon
clipper's remarks: Great Site! Pick your favorite person running for President and click ads to fund their campaign!

Clip Source: politics.charityads.org

Support your favorite candidate by viewing ads and supporting the advertisers.
Every Click Counts! So come back everyday!

Tags: politics, election 08, clinton, obama, mccain, huckabee

Wrong Woman; Wrong Message

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:46:12 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.

To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

Ban Fox News.

Fri, 04 May 2007 14:31:34 GMT

clipped by: ashleystar
clipper's remarks: I effin hate this ish.

Clip Source: www.spinnwebe.com

“I think that nobody wants to play chicken with our troops on the ground,” said Obama. “I do think a majority of the Senate has now expressed the belief that we need to change course in Iraq.”

Tags: news, television, election, politics

When being the Best is Wrong

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:42:39 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.newstatesman.com

In a semantic mess, wanting the best has become "elitist"

"Elite" and "elitism" as terms have transformed into political slurs in Britain and the United States. Simply defined, elitism is a belief in government by the few, while elite means "the best". But the conflation of their meanings, born of not a little ignorance and slovenly language, has produced somewhat different strains of anti-rational toxin in the past few decades.

The political definitions of both elite and elitism in the US are now being broadened to include knowledge itself.

To escape the charge of elitism, a US candidate may now be required to display not only a beer belly, but also a preference for ignorance over expertise.

Republicans are slapping the elitist bullseye on Barack Obama, though his is a story of earned privilege through scholarships, hard work and brains.

Tags: elite, elitism, language, mediocrity

OBAMA TAKES ON FOX NEWS

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:09:22 GMT

clipped by: schreibe
clipper's remarks: FOX News......UGH! They are going down the slippery slope of slimy sh--, .......something like "hell in a hand basket" Whoever turns on that trash is xxxxxx..... sorry, I'm just getting too emotional. It's just a political game right. The truth doesn't matter any more right! Just make it up as you go along....RIGHT! UGHHHHHHHHHHH!

Clip Source: www.talkingpointsmemo.com

OBAMA TAKES ON FOX NEWS. If this is a sign of how Barack Obama intends to deal with the right-wing media during his Presidential campaign, then I'm all for it.

Obama is aggressively going after Fox News today for pushing that smear-job report claiming that he went to an Islamic “madrassa” school as a child. The report has already been completely debunked by CNN, but Obama isn't letting up. The Senator's office has just emailed out a blistering memo targeting Fox that says the following:

All of the claims about Senator Obama raised in the Insight Magazine piece were thoroughly debunked by CNN, which, instead of relying on unnamed sources, sent a reporter to Obama’s former school in Jakarta to check the facts.

These malicious, irresponsible charges are precisely the kind of politics the American people have grown tired of, and that Senator Obama is trying to change by focusing on bringing people together to solve our common problems.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

On his radio show this week, Gibson refused to back down. He claimed the CNN reporter who debunked the false report “probably went to the very madrassa” as Obama. Gibson implied that CNN’s report had covered up religious extremism at the school:

GIBSON [W]hat did they see when they went to the madrassa where Barack Obama went to school?

HOST: Kids playing volleyball.

GIBSON: Playing volleyball, right. They didn’t see them in any terrorist training camps?

HOST: No.

GIBSON: No. Um, but they probably didn’t show them in their little lessons where they’re bobbing their heads and memorizing the Koran.

HOST: I didn’t see any tape of that, no.

Listen:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO

Gibson is a member of the KKK…..fact? who cares? let’s report it anyway.

Comment by nigel — January 24, 2007 @ 6:33 pm

Of course, FOX Gnus probably won’t show Gibson in his little padded pouch mini-briefs dancing and bobbing his head and reciting from Bill O’Reilly’s book for all his colleagues’ pleasure after each of their shows’ tapings, will they?

Tags: fox news, politics, fear

Your brain lies to you

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:15:41 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This phenomenon, known as source amnesia, can also lead people to forget whether a statement is true. Even when a lie is presented with a disclaimer, people often later remember it as true.

With time, this misremembering gets worse. A false statement from a noncredible source that is at first not believed can gain credibility during the months it takes to reprocess memories from short-term hippocampal storage to longer-term cortical storage. As the source is forgotten, the message and its implications gain strength.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

False beliefs are everywhere.

Eighteen percent of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth, one poll has found.

Thus it seems slightly less egregious that, according to another poll, 10 percent of us think that Senator Barack Obama, a Christian, is instead a Muslim. The Obama campaign has created a Web site to dispel misinformation.

But this effort may be more difficult than it seems, thanks to the quirky way in which our brains store memories - and mislead us along the way.

The brain does not simply gather and stockpile information as a computer's hard drive does.

Facts are stored first in the hippocampus, a structure deep in the brain about the size and shape of a fat man's curled pinkie finger. But the information does not rest there.

Every time we recall it, our brain writes it down again, and during this re-storage, it is also reprocessed. In time, the fact is gradually transferred to the cerebral cortex and is separated from the context in which it was originally learned.

Tags: brain, behavioral science

Hillary must win 80% of every remaining primary to tie Obama

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:08:15 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: How her arguments have changed as hope dimmed

Clip Source: www.slate.com

According to Slate's Delegate Calculator, Clinton would need 80 percent of every remaining vote to catch up with Obama on pledged delegates. There's no chance anyone inside the Clinton campaign believes that is going to happen.

When Hillary started falling behind in primary delegates, her campaign emphasized her lead in superdelegates

They gave that up when superdelegates started drifting Obama's way

Then the Clinton campaign started arguing that you can't nominate

someone who lacks a popular-vote majority

They're starting to give that up because Clinton now has little chance of surpassing Obama in the popular vote. (That's just as well, because

the caucuses screw up popular-vote counts as a reliable measure of candidate support.

This isn't arithmecracy. It's arithmetic idolatry—the worship of irrelevant numbers

Does that mean the end of her campaign is near? I'm beginning to suspect so. Hand me that slide rule …

Tags: clinton, election, obama, politics

Obama's tire pressure remark - fact vs fiction

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:07:28 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: McCain has responded to Obama's suggestion that we better maintain our cars in ways that promote fuel efficiency with childish (yet somehow effective) criticism.

The amazing thing these days is that facts don't seem to matter. McCain is jumping on Obama with lies and accusations that, in my opinion, discredit his own reputation for running clean, dignified campaigns.

Clip Source: www.time.com

The Bush administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 barrels per day by 2030. We use about 20 million barrels per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage by 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone else did, we could reduce demand several percentage points immediately. In other words: Obama is right.

Tags: politics, alternative energy, oil, obama, mccain

White Radical Evangelicals Get a Pass

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:14:24 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: "Thus, white evangelical Ministers are free to advocate American wars based on Biblical mandates, rant hatefully against Islam, and argue that natural disasters occur because God hates gay people...By contrast, black Muslim ministers like Farrakhan, or even black Christian ministers like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are held with deep suspicion, even contempt. McCain is free to hug and praise the Rev. Hagees of the world, but Obama is required to prove over and over and over and over that he does not share the more extreme views of black Ministers."

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Some hateful, radical ministers -- white evangelicals -- are acceptable

Yesterday, though, the equally fringe, radical and hateful (at least) Rev. John Hagee -- a white evangelical who is the pastor of a sprawling "mega-church" in Texas -- enthusiastically endorsed John McCain.

Here is just a small sampling of the belief system of this welcomed McCain supporter:

* All Muslims are programmed to kill and we can thus never negotiate with any of them.

* God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin.

* The End Times -- Rapture -- is imminent and the U.S. Government must do what it can to hasten it, which at minimum requires: (a) a war with Iran and (b) undying, absolute support for a unified Israel, including all Occupied Territories

Tags: mccain, obama, farrakhan, hagee, black ministers, white ministers