Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Pleefer on Open thread 11/24
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/24
- donndublin on Open thread 11/24
- donndublin on Open thread 11/24
- Regular on Open thread 11/24
- donndublin on Open thread 11/24
- Boxlock20 on Open thread 11/24
- SolDevVB on Open thread 11/24
- Phantom on Open thread 11/24
- sursum on Open thread 11/24
Open thread
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted Oct. 7, 2006 at 12:05 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
- Permalink
- Comments RSS
- Both comments and trackbacks are closed
84 Comments
I JUST POSTED A MASTERPIECE COMMENTARY OPPOSING THE WHITE ELEPHANT ARENA ON A THREAD SEVERAL BELOW ENTITLED, “HALFWAY THROUGH, THE ARENA TAX ….” HOPE YOU WILL READ IT AND COMMENT.
Kudos Jwink!
Quote of the Day:
“Nicole Brown Simpson was an an adulterous woman in every sense of that word. She adulterated her race and she adulterated her marriage. My goal is to prevent other white women from falling into the same tragedy. To the extent that Nicole Brown was seduced by the constant barrage of race-mixing propaganda in our culture which subtly hints that a white woman can “atone” for the “sin” of being Caucasian by hopping into bed with negroes, Mexicans or Asians, I could feel sorry for her. Perhaps she might have been rehabilitated one day had this been only a one-night stand. I’m not sure. But with the high rate of AIDS among black males I would not personally touch such a white woman with a ten foot pole. I’d like to be compassionate to prodigals where health and medicine indicate that there are grounds for doing so. But we must keep our own people healthy and the first step to such health is separatism of the strictest and most formidable sort. When we consider that Nicole actually had two children with Simpson, then I can only say to other white women considering the same kind of self-hate and insanity, if you lie down with dogs you will get up with fleas.” Michael A. Hoffman
Viva la raza Blanco!!
AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE:DAY 2085….
You are an idiot.
Many Caucasian women love the hot black men and it has nothing to do with self-loathing.
To others your sick racism may be morbidly amusing and illicit responses such as “Oh, Ian, you silly old racist kook” from many other bloggers, but I find it reprehensible. Especially as a minority woman who loves to engage in a little race-mixing.
Perhaps you could have the sensitivity to think about all the people on this blog who have been/are involved in interracial relationships. I probably would have attended many WEBLOG meetups had I not thought about meeting someone face-to-face who thinks I’m inherently inferior to him and a disgusting creature for dating white men. I probably would have delivered a swift kick to your shriveled balls and ended up in jail, and that would have totally ruined my vacation.
Grow the fuck up.
Oh, that sounded like I was insulting other bloggers, I apologize. I’m not saying anyone condones such repulsive speech, just that it might be a little different for people who are actually the subjects of his word-vomit.
Hi Tara. Having seen your picture I can say that this mostly Caucasian male could get real hot for your mixed-race beauty. I agree with you about Ian – he is sick.
I am told by people of the female persausion that Tiger Woods is hot. I wouldn’t really know but …
Tara, we’ve all kicked him in the tiny balls many times mentally, and unloaded on this dumbfuck plenty of times.He must thoroughly enjoy being humiliated and ridiculed because he always comes back, like the stewpud inbred that he is.Just like a dumb dog.
Ian is the “Fred Phelps” of this blog. As hard as it is, we need to just ignore him.
Let’s see Ian. No wetta’s for you. And I’m sure no “negroes”, Mexicans or Asians.Which “women” are left?Or is that post just your little way of coming out of the closet?
Oh c’mon Ben, Tiger Woods is totally hot! :-)
Here ya’ go Ian.It’s your thread ol’ pal.All yours.
2085 Days of useless Bush bashing by the cry babies.
Thanks, Tara.
If The Eagle would take some responsibility around here, hate speech like Ian’s would not get a public hearing.
It’s despicable that The Eagle allows its weblog to air the ravings of neo-Nazis and StormFront.
Hate speech is not free speech.
capn – problem is, just how would they draw the line? I figure just let the sun shine on it.
Mary C is right.
Pus–
Bush’s approval rating is at 38 and trending down ward.
That was BEFORE Woodward’s book and the Mark Foley affair.
Worst. President. Ever.
http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/graphic-approval_files/pollkatzmainGRAPHICS_8911_image001.gif
Ben–
Simple.
If it sounds like something that Dr. Mengela would say, it’s out . . .
Speaking of polls …
Last night on Kansas Week they noted that voter registration here is 46% Republican and 27% each Dem and Independent. Shows that for a Dem to win he/she must take virtually all non-Rep votes solidly.
I suspect this is made even more difficult by the fact that Inds might be less likely to turn out.
2085 days the the Bush bashing cry babies have support terrorist.
i guess Guss the troll is one of those children who think that if they keep saying something dumb over and over, someone will eventually listen to them.
Ben H.: Who moderated “Kansas Week” last night in place of Dale Goter? Was it the usual hour long format? I thought it was discontinued.
Not sure – only caught parts of it.
Meanwhile – more on Hastert and what/when he knew …
Staffer Cites Earlier Role by Hastert’s OfficeConfrontation With Foley Detailed
By Jonathan WeismanWashington Post Staff WriterSaturday, October 7, 2006; A01
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert’s chief of staff confronted then-Rep. Mark Foley about his inappropriate social contact with male pages well before the speaker said aides in his office took any action, a current congressional staff member with personal knowledge of Foley and his behavior with pages said yesterday.
The staff member said Hastert’s chief of staff, Scott Palmer, met with the Florida Republican at the Capitol to discuss complaints about Foley’s behavior toward pages. The alleged meeting occurred long before Hastert says aides in his office dispatched Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.) and the clerk of the House in November 2005 to confront Foley about troubling e-mails he had sent to a Louisiana boy.
The staff member’s account buttresses the position of Foley’s onetime chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, who said earlier this week that he had appealed to Palmer in 2003 or earlier to intervene, after Fordham’s own efforts to stop Foley’s behavior had failed. Fordham said Foley and Palmer, one of the most powerful figures in the House of Representatives, met within days to discuss the allegations.
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/10/07/staffer-cites-earlier-role-by-hasterts-office/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2006%2F10%2F06%2FAR2006100601888_pf.html&frame=true
Something for raptor and some others here …
“Patriot Guard Riders are heroes, tooContributed by Jane Self – Posted: September 13, 2006 8:06:26 PM
If I still had my motorcycle, I would join the Patriot Guard Riders, my new heroes. These men and women from around the country have formed an amalgamation of bikers for the sole purpose of attending funerals of American heroes not only to show respect but to shield the mourners from interruptions created by any protesters. The various motorcycle groups and individual riders come from all walks of life, all political persuasions. Some are veterans, some are not. Some ride Hondas, some ride Harleys. As long as there is a funeral going on and the deceased’s family has requested their presence, PGR is there. It doesn’t matter what the temperature is or how far on the back roads of rural America they have to travel, they are there.
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/10/06/patriot-guard-riders-are-heroes-too/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.tuscaloosanews.com%2Fdefault.asp%3Fitem%3D181994&frame=true
Just putting it down to your level Dennis, comments like AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE:DAY 2085….Worst. President. Ever.Bush lies, are stupid and dumb as it gets but they keep getting said over and over. Where’s you comments on them?Besides my statements did change, I just used the opening statement of 2085 days. I have every right to voice my opinon, you have the right to ignore them if you wish. Here’s a new one for ya, 2085 days of the best president ever.
Guss?
I think you just posted evidence in writing that you are dangerously insane.
Go ahead though. Even a kook can be interesting.
Tell us how bush is the best presindent ever. I want to know what color the sky is in your world.
JR, I’ve seen it explained may times why Bush is the right president to have at this time, the value of the tax breaks everyone has gotten, the valid reasons for the war in Iraqi, you choose to ignore reason and go with the utterly useless bogus attacks and by the way you, JR, aren’t interesting.But just for you, on day 2085 of the best president ever, we have blue skies.
Tax cuts that favor the rich? You rich guss? Because they are the only folk that benefitted from bush tax cuts. Tax cuts in the face of record spending and a “war”? That isn’t “great” it’s insane. That’s why no other President had ever done it before.
I won’t bother further with you. Just that much tells me you are beyond me wasting my time You are even less credible than Paul Rosell and that is saying something. You will not fare well here.
Tara, I don’t think Mr. Pistola Pequeño made it to any of the meetups–or even said he was coming. I am truly sorry if the open invitations kept you away (though I also recall qualifying my comments to Ian with “if Tara will have you”).
Tara should HOST the next meetup. The Eagle should provide transportation.
CapnBolshevik,
You still bucking for the job of blog commisar in charge of censorship and banning? America is not yet a politically correct stalinist shithiole, like canada. I am not a stormfronter nor a “neo-nazi”!
Tara,
I am sorry if I bruised your delicate sensibilities but da truth is da truth, deal with it.
Mary-Damoon,
Your holier than thou, mother-hen routine is getting old.
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
My posts are designed to provoke and to get people out of their comfort zones. There is method to my “madness”. I am crazy like a fox, not like a monkey.
Viva la Revolucion Blanco!!
That’s your problem JR, everyone who pays taxes had received tax breaks, but you are so closed minded you promote the same lie “only the rich”.I guess I don’t follow the WE bush bashing blog enough to know who Paul Rosell is, but I do appreciate you not bothering me, I’ll hold you to that. The ski is even more blue now.
Capn, the problem with the “Mengele” standard is that its relies on subjective interpretation. Consider that Paul burst onto the blog calling everyone “Stalinists.”
Threats, libel, defamation, i.e., the usual things that produce lawsuits, are easier to pin down. I got them to delete “everyone must die”–a fairly vague threat–because it was posted falsely under your name. They also deleted some nasty posts that were aimed at Will.
Ultimately, it’s their blog, and they can delete anything they want. I support the last two actions mentioned, but I hope they continue to tread lightly (yes, that includes Ian’s rants–he can serve as an object lesson and foil; no one–NO ONE–else on the blog has endorsed his racist views (well, okay, maybe Horst Wessel!).
Right, right, I wouldn’t go so far to ask for the Eagle to censor anything on the blog that offends me.It seems that in some ways Ian could be a decent guy minus his hateful views (try wrapping your head around that), and so I was trying to point out to him that perhaps he should think about his audience.
You know what we need? More visibility. In commercials and most TV shows you don’t see many interracial couples or obviously mixed children. When TV/movies do it, it’s still kind of edgy. I say throw it out there and make it visible to prevent the next generation from thinking it’s immoral to date outside one’s race…even with parents like Ian. Oh how I weep for your “kinder”.
Anyway, we could all use some cute, I don’t want to bogart the open thread!http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a66/ttchandra/kitten178.jpg
Yeah Ian, Nicole Brown really married OJ Simpson not because he was a successful football player, a Heizman Trophy winner, an icon of the world of football. You’re right as usual Ian, she really married him because of his race and because she hated herself.
right?
Tara
I am sorry you were put off of the meetups.
I don’t THINK Ian is local. He has never really said.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler blames syphilis as a Jewish blood sickness and argues that syphilis is a Jewish attempt at contaminating the “pure German bloodline.” Such ridiculous assertions are to be expected of these racists who argue that race is the motivating catalyst for people’s decisions in life.
I guess all those white American military personnel who took Japanese and Filipinas as their wives did so because they hate their race, as well as themselves. This is the faulty logic of every racist.
Hang on a second. O.J. Simpson is black?
“i guess Guss the troll is one of those children who think that if they keep saying something dumb over and over, someone will eventually listen to them.Dennis”
It works for Rush and Ann…
Guss, so how is your life better since Bush took office? Are you better off fiancially? Your cost of living gone down? Do you feel safer against terrorist attacks? Are you paying less in taxes? Do you have more job security? Doing OK with buying groceries, gas, and paying your utilities?I’m glad the sky is so blue in your tiny little world.
We’re still waiting, Guss. Please explain why Bush is the best president we’ve ever had.
This should be good.
Guss, I guess it depend on your definition of a tax break, or as it was explain to me by H&R Block and my Congressman Tiahrt. Employer were told that instead of the around 25% tax on every dollar earn, they were to only withhold out 15% on every dollar. This leaving the other 10% percent in your pocket, the catch?You still owe that 10% in taxes, to be paid at the end of the year. That is the definition of a tax break that Washington had. So in order to not owe any money at tax time you will have to change your withholding to cover that 10% that was not withheld during the year. Net gain = zero.
The moral of this story, one person’s definition of a tax break is another person definition of a shell game.
Some of the most physically beautiful males or females I have seen in life have been of mixed race.I once asked several that were of Black and white mix, which race they seem to receive more acceptance from? Though they said neither did they receive total acceptances from, it was the Black community that they found better acceptance from. This is sad in that no one truly has a choice in the matter of what race to be born. Time are changing, though it is still a sad thing that those that are of a mixed race are still thought of as being unique. As my parents would say, “It is not the couple that they feel for, it is the children who may feel they truly do not have a home.”.
Some time ago, my oldest son decided it was time that his mother and I meet the girl he was dating.We had heard about her in general terms but no real detail, one detail he fail to mention was that she was black, dark skinned like dark Chocolate. LoL I have always like my son’s taste in the fairer sex and he did not fail me in this lovely girl. She was the most beautiful of such a dark skinned person I had seen ever.But I was a bit shocked that he had fail to mention her race to us, he said he knew it would not matter to us.At that moment I had never been so proud of him or ashamed of me in that I in general did not think it was a wise idea to race mix. I had never told him that and was glad I had not that day, Well for other reasons then race it did not work out.
As to Ian and the Eagle censoring the blog, Tara you are right in that I have found Ian does have some good character issues that often are hidden by his racist posts. And at time even in his racist post there are often real truths. At the last meet-up I attended at the Eagle the subject of Ian and censorship in general was brought up. The staff stated that the thoughts on some of what is in the blog is discussed as to should it be allowed happens on a weekly bases. But to censor tightly would stifles the idea of a free exchange, case in point…this open thread. If not for Ian post the topic of mix race and the dynamics of it would not be discussed to day. Something that should be talked through not hidden, for only through heartfelt working out of an issue can it be resolved. We say and it is often strived for the saying “It is the character of ones person and not the color of their skin that should be relevant”. My own racism and yes I along with everyone else have some racism. It is a part of our basic instincts, differences are perceived as danger.It has been so since the beginning of time, in fact it is the basis of the formation of society, alike banding together for the common good. To defend against those that are a common enemy often they are different them one’s self.
Reading these posts, I notice some words that would have been censored else where. But are not, why?They are offensive to some, if you heard your twelve y.o. say them you would be shocked by them and offended. So why are they allowed here? At times they are the only one that truly convey the feeling, the emotions on a subject. Some how screwed up does not carry the same intensity as fucked up, yet in both it implies a state of it being wrong.
Do I want Ian to be censored, no, for what he said need to be said if it is not said then it is never faced.To not face the hatred and the topic means it is never resolved. Often if not said aloud it is allowed to fester within. Racism is real and as I said is imbedded in our very being and nature. It can not be overcome by ignoring it but by facing it.
Ian isn’t important enough to be discussed.
Here’s something REALLY interesting–
“When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.” (2)”I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity. War settles nothing.” (3)
“Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels – men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.” (4)
“If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They’ll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads. But if an American wants to preserve his dignity and his equality as a human being, he must not bow his neck to any dictatorial government.”
What wild-eyed LIEBERAL SAID THIS?
None other than that radical . . .
Dwight D. Eisenhower34th President of the United States and native Kansan (1953-1961)
Hey, Pukes–
The latest polls are coming in and, man, do they look bad for your side–
Newsweek:
“Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating has fallen to a new all-time low for the Newsweek poll: 33 percent, down from an already anemic 36 percent in August. Only 25 percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, while 67 percent say they are not.”
Read that part again–”all time low.”
Seems like only a few days ago we heard about a bump up in the polls . . . just more wishful thinking by the people who brought you the
WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER.
I don’t have a link. But I heard today that on their holy of holies, national security, Republicans are now trusted less than Democrats to handle it.
In fact, Democrats lead Republicans in all polls on all matters.
Someone tell me when a 2nd Term President had good poll numbers just before Election time?For those of you who know about pollsters and statistics, a lot of the questions are geared to get a certain response to skew the poll numbers a certain direction.Poll numbers are as fickle as the people who are polled.
I think the President and the ’so-called’ Representatives of the people need to listen to all of the people instead of the polls.
Well TM Republicans are not polling well on …….anything.
“All of the people”
Well the coming mid-term will not be ALL the people but the best approximation of that. Chicanery with the voting machines is a very real possibility. Barring that, my guess is a solid anti bush anti Republican anti war message.
Will bush listen? No. He has said that even if only his wife and dog agree with him, he will drag us all along.
And I think Bush’s dog is even fed up with the man!
Hope you had a good wait Mary Caruso, patients is a virtue, but discussing virtues with this crowd would be a waste of time as explaining why Bush is the right president to have at this time. It has been clearly explained and aptly stated, you choose to ignore it because you don’t understand how serious a threat the terrorist are to our freedom and way of life. If you did then you would support the President with every tool he needs to stop terrorism.As far as your other questions about a better life since Bush took office, are you having problems with buying groceries, and gas? That’s your ignorance for not taking care of yourself and expecting the government to provide for you. They are providing security which is their job, and yes I feel safer, this President understands the enemy and is doing the right things to stop them. Day 2086, thank God for Bush.
Tara,
I PROMISE not to attend any blog get together that you wish to attend. I am a man of my word and I am sure that all of the blog’s neo-Babelists will revel at your presence.
V.L.R.B!!
Guss, Yes, I’m having to work harder in order to buy groceries, pay my utilities, and fill up my car. I’ve never expected to be taken care of by my governemnt, that wasn’t my point. I asked you how your life was better since Bush became president.If you think we’ll win the war on terror by attacking a government that had nothing to do with 9/11 and pissing off the whole Middle East and the Muslims worldwide, then you’re the ignorant one, my dear. Bush has been the terrorist’s best friend. When we attacked Iraq, it was like Christmas to the Islamic extremists and their cause.
Guss, I would imagine you’re pretty shallow, or else you’d be able to make a cause for why you feel the way you do. I’d be willing to bet money the best you can do is parrot the rhetoric you’ve heard listening to the right wing pundits.
Hi Mary. Interesting that you, me, and rosemarie were able to delve into the complicated issue of abortion and agree in part and disagree in part. BUT, we had a discussion – we talked WITH each other instead of AT each other. There are others here, however, who cannot do that.
With that I will wade into the tax cut discussion. There WERE cuts that benefited those NOT at the top – notably the 10% bracket, increased child credit, and reduction of the marriage penalty for those taking the standard deduction. However, these were NOT part of the plan proposed by Bush and the Republicans. The Democrats managed to get those included – barely. And, they are scheduled to ’sunset’ – that is to go away. In other words, cuts at the top are planned to be permanent while those at the bottom temporary.
Lets look at another tax issue from the past. It used to be that if a person had to sell his home and not replace it he got hit with a big tax on the illusary gain – AT ORDINARY INCOME RATES! I know, I got hit with that in 1987. I called it the Reagan-Bush-Dole tax because it had been increased by that team. It was later, under Bill Clinton, that we got the current tax break when we sell a home.
Now, with the small tax decrease that we DO get under the current tax scheme we get to pay higher prices for energy, medical care, groceries. AND, we get to look forward to having to deal with a huge overhang of debt. Not a good trade in my opinion.
So sorry about how those polls must hit ya Guss. Nothing like a cold bucket of reality huh?bush is the worst p(resident) in history.
Has anyone noticed how the price of food has sky rocketed? Especially stables like fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and milk. The cost of gas and shipping is causing everything to go way up in price. I feel so bad for the people living on a fixed income, like the elderly and the disabled. How they pay for their utilities and food and have anything left over is beyond me.
I agree JR, history will most likely show that he was one lousy president. I feel sorry for the next one that will have to try and clean up his mess when he leaves office.
Guss,
The economy is a FRAUD and unemployment and inflation numbers have been drastically understated. Shrub has been a disaster, from the economy, trade, the war for israel in Iraq and his treasonous immigration policies. He may not be the worst president ever but he is bucking to crack the top five!
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
Mary – some of what we are seeing with food – particularly freash food – reflects climate issues. I don’t know about you but my garden yielded very little this year. California and Florida have had problems. Hurricanes hitting western Mexico haven’t helped.
Caruso, shallow is trying to blame the President for all your problem and riding the anti Bush wave.Bush has even said there wasn’t a tie between Iraq and 9/11. Why are you still stuck on being stupid about why we are in Iraq? Do you understand that if we didn’t fight them there, we would be fight them here? But the problem you and the other Bush bashers don’t understand why we are fighting terrorist and what will happen if we stop. I couldn’t give a rat’s elbow about who’s pissed off at us or what polls say.JR you’re not very good at keeping your word are you?Ian, I understand why everyone ignores you.My life and my families lives are much better in the last 6 years thank you, ask yourself why you are having to work hard, Mary and what you can do about it instead of blaming others.
Guss
I said I would not bother trying to reason with you. I won’t. There is no reasoning with a zealot.
I did NOT promise to allow you free posting of your half baked ideas.
Please do not plead with me, this forum or anyone with an above room temperature IQ that bush is “protecting us” or in any way serious about security! The facts just do not bare that out.
The “fight them over there” thing? PLEASE! An angry Muslim on the other side of the planet is still an angry Muslim on the other side of the planet. bush has just sent them Americans to shoot at locally. What is more is the NIE has concluded that the Iraq war is creating more terrorists than it is killing/catching. bush (you are new. The lack of capitalization is not an error. It is a deliberate disrespect.) bush has done NOTHING to stop those angry Muslims coming here. We have a wide open southern border. bush has opened it wider! Only a tiny fraction of containers coming into this country are inspected. Those containers could contain anything. bush’s response was to attempt to sell port security operations to a Muslim nation!
Made us safer? That is a laugh
If your life is better these last six years guss, you must be in the investor class. Go play with your stocks and leave the care and maintenance of the country to those who truly care about it.
BREAKING NEWS
CNN, Fox news, and Matt Drudge are currently reporting that North Korea has conducted a successful test of a nuclear weapon. US intelligence is not yet confirming this.
The world just got a whole lot more complicated. And the idiot bush is in charge.
SWEET
Another Crack Pot with a Nuke!
Time to build that bunker in the back yard…
Anyone use Google Earth?
If you do, look up all of the Missle Silo’s in the US, there are alot! 18 just around Wichita.
Dial it back Tony
The right is gonna go totally ape…. over this. Don’t help them.
North Korea is likely many years away from a missile mounted nuke. They currently have no missile that can hit the US. Remember the failure of their longest range missile a few months ago? This is a change in things but NOT an excuse for a “shoot from the hip” war.
http://economistsview.typepad.com/
Paul Krugman explains why the right is so paranoid. The essay by Richard Hofstadter Krugman refers to follows the column:
The Paranoid Style, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: Last week Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, explained the real cause of the Foley scandal. “The people who want to see this thing blow up,” he said, “are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros.” …
[I]t wasn’t his first outburst along these lines. Back in 2004, Mr. Hastert said: “You know, I don’t know where George Soros gets his money. I don’t know where — if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from.”
Does Mr. Hastert really believe that George Soros and his operatives, conspiring with the evil news media, are responsible for the Foley scandal? Yes, he probably does. For one thing, demonization of Mr. Soros is widespread in right-wing circles. …
More generally, Mr. Hastert is a leading figure in a political movement … historian Richard Hofstadter famously called “the paranoid style in American politics.” Hofstadter’s essay introducing the term was inspired by his observations of the radical right-wingers who seized control of the Republican Party in 1964. Today, the movement that nominated Barry Goldwater controls both Congress and the White House.
As a result, political paranoia — the “sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy” Hofstadter described — has gone mainstream. To read Hofstadter’s essay today is to be struck by the extent to which he seems to be describing the state of mind not of a lunatic fringe, but of key figures in our political and media establishment.
The “paranoid spokesman,” wrote Hofstadter, sees things “in apocalyptic terms. … He is always manning the barricades of civilization.” Sure enough, Dick Cheney says that “the war on terror is a battle for the future of civilization.”
USGS (the earthquake folks) report no seismic activity indicative of a nuclear test on the Korean peninsula…..
hey JR,
There wern’t any WMD’s but that didnt stop them…
According to Google, there are over 1700 sources reporting Korea launced their Nuke…
Note the wording:North Korea has claimed to carry out what its neighbours have long feared — the test of a nuclear weapon.
Link: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061008/korea_nuclear_061008/20061008?hub=TopStories
“if we didn’t fight them there, we would be fight them here?”
There is absolutely zero evidence that our former ally Saddam had any desire OR capability of coming over here to fight us. That dog just don’t hunt guss.
Osama bin forgotten, on the other hand, was and is a danger. Too bad BushDaBum made the decision to divert our attention away from this ally of the House of Saud.
Yikes, I look for the Japs to tear up their pacifist constitution and go nuclear.
V.L.R.B!!
J R – interesting … USGS should be able to detect one fairly easily. I wonder if this might just be bluster on the part of Kim il Idiot.
Tony,
I’m likely one of those “sources”. Let’s not jump the gun.
Let’s wait…. just a minute.
USGS reports just now SOME activity…….
USGS will have a report in 30 minutes…..
Everything is President Bush’s fault.
I know lots of stuff so listen to me…please…I beg you…please tell me you’re out there listening to me!
Thanks JR – they should be able to give a decent estimate of size.
Maybe they think they need a deterrent to try to prevent destruction/invasion/occupation of their country. Gee, I wonder what might make them so paranoid?
Australia notes seismic activity……..
An official at South Korea’s seismic monitoring center confirmed that a magnitude 3.6 tremor felt at time of alleged North Korea nuclear test wasn’t a natural occurrence. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition his name not be used, because he wasn’t authorized to talk about the sensitive information to the media.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nkorea9oct09,0,6854070.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Hmmmm…just like I thought. Only able to repeat the spin of the wingnuts.Did you ever entertain the idea that if we didn’t invade Iraq, we wouldn’t be fighting with the Iraqis? There is no evidence of terror training camps there before we overthrew Sadamm.We should have stayed in Afganistan and finished the job of finding Ben Laden.Bush invaded Iraq because of his own agenda, not because he wanted to stop terrorism. 9/11 just gave him the excuse to make the biggest blunder of his administration.
Sounds like the test has been confirmed. Now what? Definitely creates an interesting situation.
I wonder how many of those who are adamantly opposed to N Korea (or Iran) “keeping and bearing arms” demand for themselves that same right?
Mary – there was one known alQuada-linked site in Iraq prior to the invasion. It was in the far north in Kurdistan and operated under the ‘umbrella’ of the no-fly zone.
China might be pissed off about N Korea’s test:
China on alert over a nuclear neighbourMichael Sheridan, North Korean/Chinese borderTHE North Korean refugee had one request for her captors before the young Chinese soldiers led her back across the steel-girdered bridge on the Yalu River that divides two “socialist allies”.“She asked for a comb and some water because she said that if she was going to die she could not face going to heaven looking as dirty and dishevelled as this,” recounted a relative of one soldier who was there.
What happened next is testimony to the rising disgust in Chinese military ranks as Beijing posts more troops to the border amid a crisis with North Korea over its regime’s plan to stage a nuclear test.
The soldiers, who later told family members of the incident, marched the woman, who was about 30, to the mid-point of the bridge. North Korean guards were waiting. They signed papers for receipt of the woman, who kept her dignity until that moment. Then, in front of the Chinese troops, one seized her and another speared her hand — the soft part between thumb and forefinger — with the point of a sharpened steel cable, which he twisted into a leash.
“She screamed just like a pig when we kill it at home in the village,” the soldier later told his relative. “Then they dragged her away.”
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/10/08/china-massing-troops-along-north-korean-border/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesonline.co.uk%2Farticle%2F0%2C%2C2089-2393599_1%2C00.html&frame=true—–
“For those of you who know about pollsters and statistics, a lot of the questions are geared to get a certain response to skew the poll numbers a certain direction.”
Gosh TM, would that be like Saint Sam the Brownback’s push polls?
You know the ones that slyly convinced voters that Jill Docking is a liberal jew from massachusetts who wants to let gay people rape your children and also wants to disband the military and make christianity illegal?
Like those brownback push polls?
heheheheheheh
What is good for the goosestepper should be good for the gander.
You can’t show a blind worm how to blink.
Fish don’t grow on trees.
There were WMDs in Iraq.
We can fight ‘em there, instead of in our streets.
George W. Bush is a great president.
Mary C. is against personal responsibility.
And since she is a Nurse, Mary C. knows the virtue of patients.
Brought to you by “Words of wisdom” from Gass.