Probably user-submitted.

I'll bet the person responsible for monitoring the submissions on that site gets fired for this.

Shostie: Probably user-submitted.

That's what I was gonna say. I'm reasonably sure Obama didn't personally have anything to do with that link.

Obama works to win over the millions of Americans who voted for his opponent with bipartisan policymaking.

I regret his election if that was ever his goal. Why work with a collection of assholes who hate America and continue to do everything in their dwindling power to hurt the country ?

That aside, it was clearly in poor taste for Obama to personally put that on his website.

Mordant: Why work with a collection of assholes who hate America and continue to do everything in their dwindling power to hurt the country ?

Very simple. Someone has to work with the Democrats.

User submitted content is always a risk.

Pocket Ninja tapes FarkinNortherner having threesomes with Drew Curtis and Michelle Obama.

Mordant: Why work with a collection of assholes who hate America and continue to do everything in their dwindling power to hurt the country ?

Because having to work with the Federal government and Congress is kind of part of being President.

User submitted content is always a risk.

absoluteparanoia looks in through the window while Uchiha_Cycliste masturbates into a tube sock while Pocket Ninja tapes FarkinNortherner having a threesome with Drew Curtis and Michelle Obama.

touting the launch of Barack Obama's new Web site, USAService.org, which allows Americans to find -- and to promote -- local service

Would you like to know more?

I went to that site and did a search for within 100 miles of my zip code (central Arkansas). I got this, in Little Rock:

Health Care for America (Day of Service - January 19)
Members of ACORN, students and others will be asking spectators of the 2009 Martin Luther King Parade to sign petitions in favor of legislation guaranteeing health care for all Americans. We will also give people information concerning help with foreclsoures and high interest home loans, free tax filing and free health care services. We will meet at the ACORN office at 2101 S. Main Street at 8:00 AM on January 19 and go to the parade route from there.


The fact that the site explicitly ties all this up with Obama personally doesn't help. This isn't about community service. It's about pumping up Obama's popularity. If they really wanted this site to be what they claim, they would have made it entirely apolitical and nonpartisan. As it is, the very fact that it's a clearly pro-Obama site will turn away a good chunk of the population, and the blatantly political nature of some (not all, for sure) of the "days of service" just verifies that impression. As it stands now, the site will be of little use to people outside left-leaning community activist circles and whatever Obama supporters they can bring in.

And, I'm not saying all that as an attack on "the left", either. Some of these groups do some good work, and plenty of the events listed are unobjectionable. My objections would be exactly the same if McCain had done same thing, which is perfectly plausible given that he, too, has an (if anything stronger) obsession with government-directed "service".

If I were Obama, i'm not sure i'd even TRY to reach out to the wackjobs on the right. these are the same people who accuse Obama of 'socialism' while completely ignoring the fact that Bush (and McCain) turned out to be FAR more 'socalist' than Obama has ever been.

User submitted content is always a risk.

FarkNortherner fantasizes about James Woods while absoluteparanoia looks in through the window while Uchiha_Cycliste masturbates into a tube sock while Pocket Ninja tapes FarkinNortherner having a threesome with Drew Curtis and Michelle Obama.

Weaver95: If I were Obama, i'm not sure i'd even TRY to reach out to the wackjobs on the right. these are the same people who accuse Obama of 'socialism' while completely ignoring the fact that Bush (and McCain) turned out to be FAR more 'socalist' than Obama has ever been yet.

FTFY. Though really I think the use of the term "socialism" is just confusing and somewhat inaccurate to the point of being counter-productive. What we're seeing is much closer to Mussolini's corporate statism ("What's good for Fiat is good for Italy"), wherein big corporations and big government become mutually supportive collaborators, than anything that's an outgrowth of Marx's abominable ideas. And all indications are that Obama intendeds to build upon Bush's "spend more non-existent money until everything's better again" approach.

At least Obama won't tarnish the ideas of free enterprise and economic liberty by masquerading his grossly authoritarian statism behind generic "limited government" and "free market" conservative rhetoric, as Bush has done. Bush was lying when he said Iraq was a threat, and he was lying when he said he was a "free market guy".

User submitted content is always a risk.

Atillethepun gets out a riding crop as FarkNortherner fantasizes about James Woods while absoluteparanoia looks in through the window while Uchiha_Cycliste masturbates into a tube sock while Pocket Ninja tapes FarkinNortherner having a threesome with Drew Curtis and Michelle Obama.

Mordant: Obama works to win over the millions of Americans who voted for his opponent with bipartisan policymaking.

I regret his election if that was ever his goal. Why work with a collection of assholes who hate America and continue to do everything in their dwindling power to hurt the country ?

That aside, it was clearly in poor taste for Obama to personally put that on his website.

Because the Republicans are still a sizeable minority and partisan dumbfarkery tends to come back to bite you in the ass politically? Not that I would expect you to understand that or anything.

Churchill2004: If they really wanted this site to be what they claim, they would have made it entirely apolitical and nonpartisan

That isn't within their power. Political bias of user supplied content, which is the only way a gazetteer of local events can successfully be compiled, is always a function of the perceived bias of the person or group requesting the content, unless that person or group is perceived as extremely politically neutral. That perception seems scarcely to exist in the US, irrespective of the topic, and is, in any eventuality, incompatible with any venture inspired by a political figure.

This is bad news for his approval rating.

Maybe he should take 8 months off until a terrorist attack. That worked for Bush.

User submitted content is always a risk.


Atillathepun directs FarkNortherner's fantasies about James Woods while absoluteparanoia looks in through the window while Uchiha_Cycliste masturbates into a tube sock while Pocket Ninja tapes FarkinNortherner having a threesome with Drew Curtis and Michelle Obama.

FarkinNortherner: That isn't within their power.

So they weren't the ones who plastered the site with glowing Obama quotes, and talk about how we'll all answer "President-elect Obama's call to service"? Or who chose to use the exact same fonts and styles as Obama's presidential campaign?

They might not have generated the specific egregiously political "service" events, but they set the framework with a website that openly devotes itself to Obama, and they did fail to screen out the political events. Whether they honestly approved an ACORN political advocacy event or the event wasn't screened at all, they're not giving any serious indication that they're trying to make this a non-political public service site. Quite the opposite.

Churchill2004: So they weren't the ones who plastered the site with glowing Obama quotes, and talk about how we'll all answer "President-elect Obama's call to service"? Or who chose to use the exact same fonts and styles as Obama's presidential campaign?

Oh get over yourself.

The fact that Obama's name is on this website is the only thing stopping you from helping your community?

Really?

Ya, that seems like a legit concern. *rolls eyes*

absoluteparanoia: Churchill2004: So they weren't the ones who plastered the site with glowing Obama quotes, and talk about how we'll all answer "President-elect Obama's call to service"? Or who chose to use the exact same fonts and styles as Obama's presidential campaign?

Oh get over yourself.

The fact that Obama's name is on this website is the only thing stopping you from helping your community?

Really?

Ya, that seems like a legit concern. *rolls eyes*

No, you condescinding twat. The fact that the website is blatantly pro-Obama and has explicitly political "days of service" belies the claim that it's about community service, and not Obama. The fact that the site is tied up with Obama means that the designers of it had no serious intention for it be about apolitical "service". It simply can't and won't be so long as it's so reverential towards Obama- a good chunk of the population simply does not feel that way about the man, a chunk of the population that will inevitably increase post-inauguration.

Churchill2004: The fact that the website is blatantly pro-Obama and has explicitly political "days of service" belies the claim that it's about community service, and not Obama.

This just in: Your a twat if you really believe that.

Colin Powell's name is also on there. This is blantant pro-Powell bullshiat.

Stop whining you Republican losers.

Your faux outrage is noted.

Directions for thread:

1) Read Subby's headline
2) Read TFA
3) Cockpunch subby

Kumana Wanalaia: Directions for thread Fark:

1) Read Subby's headline
2) Read TFA
3) Cockpunch subby

FTF us all....

So Obama put that up on his website? Show me where it says that, douchemitter.

Weaver95: If I were Obama, i'm not sure i'd even TRY to reach out to the wackjobs on the right. these are the same people who accuse Obama of 'socialism' while completely ignoring the fact that Bush (and McCain) turned out to be FAR more 'socalist' than Obama has ever been.

Granted. The insult 'socialist' has as much to do with socialism as 'fascist' has to do with fascism. They are meaningless insults/

/Bush was not a fascist. When you see fascism, you'll know.

According to Mussolini, Bush is Fascist. He said...

..."Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power"

Sounds like Cheney might be a fascist, too.

Fascism is the merging of corporations and state.

We just bought 2 trillian dollars worth of corporate debt. That would make Bush the literal definition of a fascist if he had gotten a receipt. As it stands he was just giving away free money for nothing in return.

At least with socialism you get returns. This was just raiding the treasury.

hellbilly: According to Mussolini, Bush is Fascist. He said...

..."Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism

Sounds like Cheney might be a fascist, too.


But until recently Corporations have been directing the State not the otherway around which is Facism.

/TMYK

hellbilly: According to Mussolini, Bush is Fascist. He said...

..."Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power"

Sounds like Cheney might be a fascist, too.

Yeah, even if I grant that point, fascism has a lot of other baggage too. While a reduction in civil rights isn't cool, it falls short of what we would expect in a fascist state. ie secret police, extrajudicial killing of dissenters etc.

absoluteparanoia: This just in: Your a twat if you really believe that.

Colin Powell's name is also on there. This is blantant pro-Powell bullshiat.

Powell is on there endorsing the site. That's a bit different from having an Obama quote at the top of each page, using Obama's campaign visuals and texts, and declaring that he purpose of the site was so we could all follow Obama's plan.

Regardless of whether or not having such a site is a good idea (I'm not unsympathetic, in theory it's just another way for people to self-organize over the Internet, which is great), I think it's a bad idea to have it be tied to President personally. I agree that such a thing will inevitably be too political, but whoever set up this site didn't even try to hide it.

Eh, I'd hate for the Republicans to spend all their faux-outrage before Obama actually DOES make a misstep. It would really be a shame, like a finely tuned Olympic runner having his car break down twenty miles short of the race and showing up late and winded.

And you know, Obama will eventually do something really wrong. Unlike his predecessor, he seems to actually want to start fixing some of the larger problems we're facing . . . and few of them are simple or easy, hence Bush's reluctance to do so. He's not perfect, even though he's closer than most and many (including me, and I voted for Nader) want him to be. So, until he screws something up, you might want to conserve (tee-hee) your energy, Repubs. At least wait until he does something entertaining, like questioning what the definition of "is" is.

Control_this: This is bad news for his approval rating.
Maybe he should take 8 months off until a terrorist attack. That worked for Bush.

Bwahahahaha!
Well played, sir/ma'am.

globalwarmingpraiser: hellbilly: According to Mussolini, Bush is Fascist. He said...

..."Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism

Sounds like Cheney might be a fascist, too.


But until recently Corporations have been directing the State not the otherway around which is Facism.

/TMYK

Wrong. Facism is discrimination based on facial features.

Fascism: Fascism is an authoritarian nationalist ideology focused on solving economic, political, and social problems that its supporters see as causing national decline or decadence. Fascist governments typically seek to prepare a nation for armed conflict with other nations, to defend itself or to expand its state to allow for the growth of a nation. Fascists aim to create a single-party state in which the government is led by a dictator who seeks unity by requiring individuals to subordinate self-interest to the collective interest of of the nation or a race.

Fascist movements commonly oppose: communism, conservatism, democracy, individualism, internationalism, laissez-faire capitalism, liberalism, and pacifism. In addition to explicit opposition to these ideologies and systems, fascist governments permanently forbid and suppress all criticism and opposition to the government and the fascist movement.

Bush may be close, but not quite.

Shoes?

let's grab bush by the back of his texas cowboy belt and throw is asss out the whitehouse door!

forget the shoes.

CTaylor80: Eh, I'd hate for the Republicans to spend all their faux-outrage before Obama actually DOES make a misstep. It would really be a shame, like a finely tuned Olympic runner having his car break down twenty miles short of the race and showing up late and winded.

And you know, Obama will eventually do something really wrong. Unlike his predecessor, he seems to actually want to start fixing some of the larger problems we're facing . . . and few of them are simple or easy, hence Bush's reluctance to do so. He's not perfect, even though he's closer than most and many (including me, and I voted for Nader) want him to be. So, until he screws something up, you might want to conserve (tee-hee) your energy, Repubs. At least wait until he does something entertaining, like questioning what the definition of "is" is.

Couldn't have said it any better myself.

LordJiro: globalwarmingpraiser: hellbilly: According to Mussolini, Bush is Fascist. He said...

..."Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism

Sounds like Cheney might be a fascist, too.


But until recently Corporations have been directing the State not the otherway around which is Facism.

/TMYK

Wrong. Facism is discrimination based on facial features.

I really need a new laptop.

LiquidTester: hellbilly: According to Mussolini, Bush is Fascist. He said...

..."Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power"

Sounds like Cheney might be a fascist, too.

Yeah, even if I grant that point, fascism has a lot of other baggage too. While a reduction in civil rights isn't cool, it falls short of what we would expect in a fascist state. ie secret police, extrajudicial killing of dissenters etc.

There is a legitimate point to be about how Bush (and Obama, McCain, Pelosi, Reid, and most any one else who has any power in the US) support an economic policy that is Fascist (in the narrow, Mussolini sense) in that it's about businesses and the government being mutually supportive. The government protects business from competition and secures private oligarchy or monopoly privileges in exchange for an increased control over the businesses, and a closer intertwining of the goals of the state and the goals of the business. It's not really a uniquely Fascist idea- you can see similar things in 18th Century European mercantilism, 19th Century American protectionism and the "American System" a la Henry Clay. Alexander Hamilton was a huge advocate of this kind of system- part of his rationale for a national bank explicitly and openly included tying together the interests of the wealthy and the new Federal government, in order to promote government stability and national unity.

Most people tossing out the accusations of "socialist" and "fascist", though, are indeed simply engaging in uninformed hyperbole intended more to conjure images of Auschwitz than the nuances of different types of state control over the economy.

Churchill2004: I agree that such a thing will inevitably be too political, but whoever set up this site didn't even try to hide it.

What would be the reason to hide it?

"Hey bill, make a community service page for volunteers and make sure that it has no connection to the president at all. We don't want this inititive tied to a leader. We want this website to look like it was made by a some hippy in his basement. "

Save your outrage for when Obama farks up the fix for a problem that Bush created.

I would like to break away from the discussion of the merits of this story and the risks of user-submitted comment to make the observation that a shoe-throwing contest in honor of Bush leaving the White House is so far less than what that miserable failure deserves that he should consider himself lucky we don't live in a different society where it would be considered the height of restraint to merely obliterate all mention of the man from the official histories and his images from state portraits.

This nation cannot too soon see the back of that man and his hateful coterie.

absoluteparanoia: Fascism is the merging of corporations and state.

We just bought 2 trillian dollars worth of corporate debt. That would make Bush the literal definition of a fascist if he had gotten a receipt. As it stands he was just giving away free money for nothing in return.

At least with socialism you get returns. This was just raiding the treasury.

Good thing no Democrats voted on the bill.

I bet Churchill2004 is equally upset that the peace corps has Kennedy written all over it.

CTaylor80: Eh, I'd hate for the Republicans to spend all their faux-outrage before Obama actually DOES make a misstep. It would really be a shame, like a finely tuned Olympic runner having his car break down twenty miles short of the race and showing up late and winded.

And you know, Obama will eventually do something really wrong. Unlike his predecessor, he seems to actually want to start fixing some of the larger problems we're facing . . . and few of them are simple or easy, hence Bush's reluctance to do so. He's not perfect, even though he's closer than most and many (including me, and I voted for Nader) want him to be. So, until he screws something up, you might want to conserve (tee-hee) your energy, Repubs. At least wait until he does something entertaining, like questioning what the definition of "is" is.

To be fair, Bush did try to do something about that big boondoggle called Social Security. But the talks pretty much died in the House.

MyRandomName: Good thing no Democrats voted on the bill.

Your point being? I was talking about Bush, not Congress.

But he didn't start a war with a country that didn't attack us, right?