Mountainphan wrote:

Philly the Kid wrote:You couldn't hold my intellectual jock.

Does anyone have a good image of an intellectual jock?

I would think Ross Ohlendorf would be a good image as well. Keeping him on the Pirates is probably about the same as keeping him in a basement. So about that State of the Union tonight....

traderdave wrote:

Mountainphan wrote:

Philly the Kid wrote:You couldn't hold my intellectual jock.

Does anyone have a good image of an intellectual jock?

I would think Ross Ohlendorf would be a good image as well. Keeping him on the Pirates is probably about the same as keeping him in a basement. So about that State of the Union tonight....

I heard Obama may talk about PTK's enormous ijock tonight. Stay tuned...

cshort wrote:

Philly the Kid wrote:In the 40 years since 1970, we have had massive murder of people all over the world. East Timor, Haiti, Rwanda, Chechnia, Kurds, Bosnians, Iraq was embargoed for 12 years before being invaded, pick a region. Secret agnecies have never been more armed with tech and weapons and more insidious.

Suppose you're right. Those 40 years before 1970 were really peaceful - Mao, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot. All sweethearts that didn't have secret agencies working for them........

That's not the point. First of all, I'm not really sure there was more murder and war before than since. But the point is -- that we have not become a more peaceful world. We are not less militaristic in the US and once red/commie went away as a bogey-man, they found a new one, with arab-islamo-fundamentalist-terror.

What's worse, is that supposedly we have a more democratic world, the UN evolved post WWII, but it's still the powerful western nations exploiting the resources and labor of poor - often darker skinned people. It's not better in this regard. The people in Afghanistan or Iraq the last 8 years not feeling any better than those in Vietnam from 63-73.

Ironically -- guys like Sadaam and Noriega and some others -- were US payroll.

The School of the Americas, (has a another name now) trained and supported for instance the Honduran coup. Are we a better world? Is it trending to more democracy and people controlling their own resources?

Is America more righteous? Are people protected and cared for in this society? Is poverty solved and education at a high?? No.

I know most of the wise-guys on this board are 20's or early 30's but to those of you a tad older -- do you really think things are better today than then? I don't mean technology??

Philly the Kid wrote:I know most of the wise-guys on this board are 20's or early 30's but to those of you a tad older -- do you really think things are better today than then?

"Then" when? Pre-1970?

Absolutely.

I know for some aging hipsters, the peak of civilization was 1967, but that's nothing more than a punchline for most of society.

traderdave wrote:

Mountainphan wrote:

Philly the Kid wrote:You couldn't hold my intellectual jock.

Does anyone have a good image of an intellectual jock?

I would think Ross Ohlendorf would be a good image as well. Keeping him on the Pirates is probably about the same as keeping him in a basement. So about that State of the Union tonight....

is it too late to change the thread title to "Truss yourself..."?

this thread is unreadable

pacino wrote:this thread is unreadable

Agree.

Serious question -- is there anyone here who would describe their political leanings as very left - and very progressive? Who feeds on a steady diet of non-mainstream media, and would want to push the Dems to the left? Who goes beyond the irreverance of Colbert and Stewart, and really supports a different view of political discourse and policy?

Philly the Kid wrote:Serious question -- is there anyone here who would describe their political leanings as very left - and very progressive? Who feeds on a steady diet of non-mainstream media, and would want to push the Dems to the left? Who goes beyond the irreverance of Colbert and Stewart, and really supports a different view of political discourse and policy?

I would, but most of the country is much more moderate. Americans seem to react strongly to ideas that are at either end of the political spectrum.

Anyway


Oregon voters approved two measures yesterday, both designed to raise taxes instead of cut spending. So it seems some voters aren't anti-tax. Yay

kopphanatic wrote:

Philly the Kid wrote:Serious question -- is there anyone here who would describe their political leanings as very left - and very progressive? Who feeds on a steady diet of non-mainstream media, and would want to push the Dems to the left? Who goes beyond the irreverance of Colbert and Stewart, and really supports a different view of political discourse and policy?

I would, but most of the country is much more moderate. Americans seem to react strongly to ideas that are at either end of the political spectrum.

Is it the ideas, or how they see the people who present those ideas?

And is it a sound byte or a longer discourse that can demonstrate how the point of view was arrived at? I think a lot of positions are misunderstood or mischaracterized. And if someone is shouting - other people tune out. I don't think so-called extreme positions are always really extreme at all, and thus, I don't think this so called "most of the country" would find them unreasonable if they had a better chance to understand those positions in a non-hyperbolic chamber.

I consider myself liberal though not libertarian, and have huge problems with Progressivism. Left wing and right wing paternalism are equally odious.

Anyone who thinks they are certain about what is best is a dangerous person--history is filled with their victims. Thus, I see important philosophical continuities between progressives and neo-conservatives. Furthermore, I do not think it is an accident, or really much of a conversion when many Trotskyites became neo-conservatives.

Obama is so good at this. Once in a lifetime public speaker probably.

Did all the Republicans just stand and clap at saying jobs are the focus and we need a new jobs bill? High five for them if they did. It seems like that never happens.

Boner and Cantor make my skin crawl.

Philly the Kid wrote:I know most of the wise-guys on this board are 20's or early 30's but to those of you a tad older -- do you really think things are better today than then?

I was too young for the 60's, but remember the 70's well. They were a helluva lot worse than now. I also find it interesting that PTK thinks America lost hope with Reagan. Did you sleep through the Carter years? They were horrible. Reagan restored hope after Carter screwed things up. You may not have liked his politics, but no one can deny he restored optimism in this country.

I like this Obama. It feels like a long time since I've seen him.

Rev_Beezer wrote:I like this Obama. It feels like a long time since I've seen him.

It's a trap!

I just got home a bit ago. But I appreciate that he called out the Republicans for just rejecting everything and the Democrats for being cowards.

CalvinBall wrote:I just got home a bit ago. But I appreciate that he called out the Republicans for just rejecting everything and the Democrats for being cowards.

Yes, that was brilliant. He called out the Supreme Court for what they did last week too. The conservative justices looked none too happy.

GOP response(from Gov. McDonnell of Va) looks formulaic.