gdp's Comments

Big Government : Governor Luis Fortuño Predicts Puerto Rico Will Become 51st State

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 17:51:39 +0000

Both of Luis Fortuños parents had American citizenship, so yes, he does qualify as a natural born citizen.

Big Government : Who Is Going to Bail Out China?

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:55:58 +0000

I'm not talking about institutions, but seizure of private stocks of gold bullion.

Big Government : Who Is Going to Bail Out China?

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:27:59 +0000

And yet FDR was able to seize private gold bullion stocks in 1933, paying the owners in paper money that was rapidly devaluing due to inflation. They managed to do it in an era that tended to have far stronger emphasis on private property rights then we do now.

Big Hollywood : Red Letter Media Eviscerates 'Indy 4's' Awful Storytelling and Left-Wing Politics

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:42:22 +0000

I've heard some people say that actually a subtle joke in these shorts is that only an deranged person would take the time to make movie reviews that are as long as the film being reviewed.

Big Hollywood : Red Letter Media Eviscerates 'Indy 4's' Awful Storytelling and Left-Wing Politics

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:40:25 +0000

Uh, Plinkett is just a fictional character, not an actual person. Apparently, he first appeared in one of Red Letter Media's early short films as an elderly hardware store owner that was something of a psychopath. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rfPpwEg4CQ

Big Hollywood : Red Letter Media Eviscerates 'Indy 4's' Awful Storytelling and Left-Wing Politics

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:31:25 +0000

Yeah, the Olsen Twins joke went too far. I know his character is set up as a deranged and geriatric serial killer, but that went beyond the pale.

Big Hollywood : 'War Horse' Review: A Bit Too Manipulative

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:01:13 +0000

So in other words, it's Black Beauty, but with a tad more heavy artillery.

Big Government : Gallup: Fear of Big Government at Near-Record Levels

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:02:53 +0000

So, that big dip around 2002 - I'm guessing that's 9/11? So that bought the government a few years of goodwill, goodwill that has pretty much all but evaporated by now.

Big Hollywood : Video Game Depicts Occupy Wall Street Types as Terrorists

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:05:27 +0000

Ubisoft is a French company though.

Big Journalism : Russian Newscaster Flips Obama The Bird

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:47:51 +0000

Main difference is, I suspect that Putin is at least proud of being Russian and is doing what he feels is best for his nation.

Big Government : Sunday Open Thread: Nuremberg Edition

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:58:16 +0000

But many of the Japanese war criminals got away scot free. Just look at what happened to the men who ran Unit 731. Most were never prosecuted, the records suppressed, just because we thought that they might have information on germ warfare that could be of use to us. The actions Unit 731 did were unspeakable, horrors enough to make Nazis almost seem like humanitarians. To imagine that we let them got off the hook is almost unthinkable, but that's what happened. Heck, the man in charge, Shiro Ishii, was even given a cushy job in the US. The worst you could say about von Braun was that he used forced labor.

Big Government : Perry Can Win If Leadership Trumps Debates

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:51:11 +0000

Hey, you got to take the good with the bad. Cain has a great handle on economics, but is abysmal when it comes to foreign policy. Gingrich knows the Washington system inside and out, but his personal history such as the affairs are a problem. There is no perfect candidate, and a potentially weak position on immigration seems like a fairly modest downside for Perry.

Big Hollywood : 'Patriocracy' Director Brian Malone: Striving for a Fair and Balanced Documentary

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 07:18:37 +0000

Another documentary came out three years ago with a similar concept. It was called Split - A divided America. I think that considering the topic, the film-maker did a pretty good job trying to remain fairly balanced, didn't seem to go out of his way to take cheap shots, corner someone, or maliciously edit footage. It's got some big name figures on both sides, and interviews with local politicians, everyday folks, ect. Not perfect, but certainly worth a watch. It's still up on Hulu. http://www.hulu.com/watch/37403/split-a-divided-a...

Big Government : Why the Super Committee Must Not Fail

Wed, 9 Nov 2011 17:37:09 +0000

The total of Federal expenditures in 2010 was around 3.5 to 4.5 trillion dollars. While the decisions of the Super Committee will probably not have much effect on the vast, future liabilities of the Federal government, 1.5 trillion in cuts is still a significant amount, percentage wise, of the amount of money the feds spend each year - we're talking about a 30 to 40 percent reduction. It would be a major step in the right direction, and could be an opening to finally start addressing those unfunded debts on Medicare, SS, and interest payments.

Big Government : #OccupyOakland Protests Wells Fargo, then Opens an Account

Wed, 9 Nov 2011 16:11:15 +0000

Remember how a Saudi prince bought up a significant amount of News Corp stock a while back? He's not a majority owner, bit still. he owns the second largest number of shares. Fox seems to have become a lot more unwilling to do stories hypocritical of, say, Sharia law, or Saudi Arabia since then. Oh sure, the commentators haven't really changed much, but the actual news service? That's another story. Remember that big documentary on Sharia law in America Fox put together a few years ago? I'm not sure that's the sort of thing they'd air nowadays.

Big Peace : US Vets Joining Occupy Wall Street Movement

Fri, 4 Nov 2011 03:57:31 +0000

Hopefully this won't turn into another Bonus Army. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army

Big Peace : Hackers Vs. Zetas? 'Anonymous' Hacktivist Group Threatens To Go To War With Mexican Drug Cartel

Wed, 2 Nov 2011 17:04:23 +0000

And Anonymous has called an end to it. The Cartels just started murdering random people and threatened to keep doing it unless Anonymous stopped. http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/11/01/1937238/a...

Big Government : A Regulation That's Right: Bring Back Glass-Steagall

Wed, 2 Nov 2011 17:03:00 +0000

Glass-Stegalls wasn't the biggest problem, it was the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking Act. That's the law which led to the consolidation of banks across the US on a massive scale due to mergers. We used to have dozens of major banks in the US, but now we're down to about 4, maybe 6 if you count PNC and US Bank. That is what led to banks that grew so large that it was feared that their failure couldn't be absorbed by the rest of the banking system like in other historic bank failures. "To big to fail", as it was put. http://wac.0873.edgecastcdn.net/800873/blog/wp-co... http://tweak3d.net/forums/attachment.php?attachme...

Big Government : We Are Losing Our Economic Freedom

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:26:13 +0000

Wasn't this already posted here a while back?

Big Government : American Exceptionalism Will Dominate the 21st Century

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:21:22 +0000

That is most certainly true. Even ignoring the political and social differences that make the US stand out from other nations, geography alone makes the US a powerful country. The rich natural resources of the US, the highly fertile land, a large network of navigable rivers, vast oceans separating us from most potential enemies, and a key position on trans-Atlantic and Pacific trade guarantee that.