[Nuclear1]

Alright, so the big news.

For those not familiar with recent American politics, the massive protest movement known as the Tea Party has essentially won its first primary election in Kentucky--Ron Paul's son just beat out of the more moderate and mainstream Republican candidate in that election.

Updated 19 May

Pennsylvania -- Arlen Specter is out.  Retired Admiral Joe Sestak has taken the Democratic Primary in a 53-47 victory.  Sestak has very, very liberal leanings.

Arkansas -- There's going to be a runoff between Democratic incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln and her opponent, Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.  44.5% for Lincoln, 42.5% for Halter.

Indiana -- In addition to the retirement of long-time conservative Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh, Rep. Mark Souder (R) of Indiana's 3rd has resigned in light of a sex scandal. The 3rd includes Indiana's northeast, including Fort Wayne.  No candidates have been announced yet.

November 2010 is looking to be interesting.  Thoughts?

[Flipside]

So Fox News is going to be running the US?

[Nuclear1]

If Paul wins in Kentucky and that trend goes through in other states...Fox will certainly have a couple seats in Congress.

[iamzack]

Thinking about that makes me tired. -.-;

[Nuclear1]

Well...good news comes in.  Joe Sestak has officially defeated Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania primary.

For the record, Sestak is very, very liberal--pro-choice, gun control, pro-healthcare reform, and a hardcore environmentalist.  This all in addition to his military experience.

If he can win in November...the US will have an awesome new Senator.

[SpardaSon21]

gun control

That's awesome?

[Nuclear1]

An assault weapons ban is, which is what he's most in favor of.

[SpardaSon21]

Eh, aren't those so-called assault weapons really just civilian rifles that happen to look like military weapons?

[Mars]

Many semi auto rifles, like the civy version of the M-16 can be easily modified to full auto weapons.

[Qent]

Last I checked, the assault weapons ban targeted features that lay people associate with fully automatic weapons, but aren't actually technically related to them.

[Mars]

Last I checked, the assault weapons ban targeted features that lay people associate with fully automatic weapons, but aren't actually technically related to them.

Right you are.

[Sushi]

So Fox News is going to be running the US?

If Paul wins in Kentucky and that trend goes through in other states...Fox will certainly have a couple seats in Congress.

 

Seriously? Since when does Fox News have anything to do with this?

As far as I can tell, public sentiment is mostly just anti-incumbent. People are sick of congress, period, and are much more willing than usual to try someone or something new.

[iamzack]

...

I call bull**** on that, sushi. That was the exact opposite of "public sentiment" last election.

[Nuclear1]

Actually, Tea Partiers are thoroughly convinced that their representatives in Congress aren't loony to the right enough, and the only reason they've survived to this point is the media coverage they've been given, mostly by Fox News.

Hence, Tea Party candidates for Congress are essentially Fox News candidates for Congress.

[iamzack]

I highly doubt that any teabagger is going to vote out a republican infavor of a democrat in the name of "vote out all the incumbents!!!"

[Scotty]

Many semi auto rifles, like the civy version of the M-16 can be easily modified to full auto weapons.

Unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing with it, you're more likely to kill yourself than modify those weapons into full auto rifles.  The easiest and cheapest (and therefore, most common) way is to file away at the part of the receiver that keeps the weapon from firing the second round with out another pull from the trigger.  When you do that, the next time you just let go of the bolt to load the weapon, it will go off if you're not careful, and it will not stop until the feed of ammunition is disabled.

Unless you actually have the parts to do it, and know very well how, those civvy versions will never be reliable full auto weapons.

Tl;dr:  Don't.  You'll just hurt yourself.  And I guess kind of a "No, it's not easy" comment.
 

[Nuclear1]

I highly doubt that any teabagger is going to vote out a republican infavor of a democrat in the name of "vote out all the incumbents!!!"

Well...the teabaggers of the New York 21st apparently weren't too bright in that manner...

[Bob-san]

I highly doubt that any teabagger is going to vote out a republican infavor of a democrat in the name of "vote out all the incumbents!!!"

Well...the teabaggers of the New York 21st apparently weren't too bright in that manner...

The 21st District's already got a new congressperson in 2008. The 20th too (where Kirsten Gillibrand is from, before she stepped into Clinton's vacant seat in the Senate).

[FUBAR-BDHR]

The people in this country are just plain fed up with everyone in office and will continue to vote them out hoping for change that will never happen.  New people come in, get money shoved in their face and cast their votes accordingly.  Why else would someone spend millions to win a job that doesn't even pay a quarter million?  It's a broken system that no one is willing or able to fix.  

[Nuclear1]

I highly doubt that any teabagger is going to vote out a republican infavor of a democrat in the name of "vote out all the incumbents!!!"

Well...the teabaggers of the New York 21st apparently weren't too bright in that manner...

The 21st District's already got a new congressperson in 2008. The 20th too (where Kirsten Gillibrand is from, before she stepped into Clinton's vacant seat in the Senate).

Damn, I misspoke.  I meant the 23rd.   The one that had the special election last year.