Eerily Prophetic, Volume 2

And this classic rant from “Network” could be recited word for word today as well. I find myself wondering, if someone went on the air and actually did this, whether we’d hear shouting throughout the country:

I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job, the dollar buys a nickel’s worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter, punks are running wild in the streets, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.

We know the air’s unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit and watch our tee-vees while some local newscaster tells us today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We all know things are bad. Worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything’s going crazy. So we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we live in gets smaller, and all we ask is please, at least leave us alone in our own living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my tee-vee and my hair-dryer and my steel-belted radials, and I won’t say anything, just leave us alone. Well, I’m not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad –I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to write your congressmen. Because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the defense budget and the Russians and crime in the street. All I know is first you got to get mad. You’ve got to say: “I’m mad as hëll and I’m not going to take this any more. I’m a human being, goddammit. My life has value.” So I want you to get up now. I want you to get out of your chairs and go to the window. Right now. I want you to go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell. I want you to yell: “I’m mad as hëll and I’m not going to take this any more!” Get up from your chairs. Go to the window. Open it. Stick your head out and yell and keep yelling. First, you have to get mad. When you’re mad enough we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. Things have got to change. But you can’t change them unless you’re mad. You have to get mad. Go to the window. Stick your head out and yell. I want you to yell: “I’m mad as hëll and I’m not going to take this any more!”

49 comments on “Eerily Prophetic, Volume 2

  1. and of course if someone actually voiced that opinion in the media, they’d be sucked dry until they went crazy and killed themselves just like in the movie.

    the thing is, as pointed out in his rant, the problem is both democrats AND republicans. until people are angry enough to do something about it, though, things will keep going to hëll in a handbasket.

    that isn’t going to happen though. it’s the same reason the congressional approval rating is so low. we know they are doing a šhìŧŧÿ job, but for someone reason, everyone thinks their congressman is the best thing since sliced bread.

    i’d really like to see a million man march where everyone had torches and pitchforks to kill the monster on the hill, but that isn’t ever going to happen. we are too much like lemmings. the latest series of comics on sinfest really hit the nail on the head.

  2. and of course if someone actually voiced that opinion in the media, they’d be sucked dry until they went crazy and killed themselves just like in the movie.

    the thing is, as pointed out in his rant, the problem is both democrats AND republicans. until people are angry enough to do something about it, though, things will keep going to hëll in a handbasket.

    that isn’t going to happen though. it’s the same reason the congressional approval rating is so low. we know they are doing a šhìŧŧÿ job, but for someone reason, everyone thinks their congressman is the best thing since sliced bread.

    i’d really like to see a million man march where everyone had torches and pitchforks to kill the monster on the hill, but that isn’t ever going to happen. we are too much like lemmings. the latest series of comics on sinfest really hit the nail on the head.

  3. When I lived in the District Of Columbia during the last Golden Age, I was always surprised that the locals, who complained about taxation without representation, didn’t just get up and surround Capitol Hill.
    Ah, anger… it’s out there. It’s in the emails I get about Obama’s religion, about his birth certificate, about how the world will end if he is elected President.
    I spent 24 years in the burgundy state of Nebraska. I’ve lived 14+ years in the indigo cities of DC and New York. As a new yorker, I’ve learned to complain without anger. Because anger can get you killed. Either by some stranger on the subway, by a disgruntlled white man with a Ryder truck, or by a religious fanatic using a 747 as a giant Molotov cocktail.
    So… take your righteous indignation, ponder the problems you face, and find a solution that helps yourself and doesn’t hurt others.
    (And I know you’re quoting, but we’re in a recession. When GDP goes negative for the year, then it’s a depression.)

  4. Actually before they get suck dry brian… The Republicans would respond to the Beale Archetype: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. [Beale-archetype], and I won’t have it! Is that clear? You think you’ve merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU…WILL…ATONE!

  5. Actually before they get suck dry brian… The Republicans would respond to the Beale Archetype: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. [Beale-archetype], and I won’t have it! Is that clear? You think you’ve merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU…WILL…ATONE!

  6. Whoa. Hold off brewing that next pot of coffee, okay? Those involuntary twitches may be connected to your state of mind.

  7. Whoa. Hold off brewing that next pot of coffee, okay? Those involuntary twitches may be connected to your state of mind.

  8. That is an eerie parallel, and the prediction by the Onion an even more disturbing prediction.

    Has anyone else noticed that you never see Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin together at the same time? Any chance Dan could have gotten a sex change years ago?

    I’m just sayin’…

  9. That is an eerie parallel, and the prediction by the Onion an even more disturbing prediction.

    Has anyone else noticed that you never see Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin together at the same time? Any chance Dan could have gotten a sex change years ago?

    I’m just sayin’…

  10. In his entire VP career, Dan Quayle didn’t say as many dumb things as Sarah Palin has said in the last 7 weeks.

  11. Has anyone else noticed that you never see Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin together at the same time?

    Dude, Dan Quayle was bad, but never this bad. Dan was a punch line. Sarah Palin is the entire joke.

  12. Has anyone else noticed that you never see Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin together at the same time?

    Dude, Dan Quayle was bad, but never this bad. Dan was a punch line. Sarah Palin is the entire joke.

  13. Jason, try reading Airhead Apparent by Paul Slansky and Steve Radlauer. You might reevaluate that assessment.

  14. Jason, try reading Airhead Apparent by Paul Slansky and Steve Radlauer. You might reevaluate that assessment.

  15. I’m beyond mad as hëll, which is why I’m voting against every incumbent on November’s ticket. I hope I’m not alone. Someone has to send these politicians a message, and that message is: do your job, or you’re out.

  16. I’m beyond mad as hëll, which is why I’m voting against every incumbent on November’s ticket. I hope I’m not alone. Someone has to send these politicians a message, and that message is: do your job, or you’re out.

  17. I’m with you, Dan. Although most of the mouth breathers will continue to vote for the same.

    As for Palin, I disagree. The more I read of her, the more I like her: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/20/politics/fromtheroad/entry4531447.shtml

    I find it troubling that Democrats are so terrified of a VP that has a disabled child and a Native American and lifelong union member as a husband. I think the last person in the White House who had any experience with Native Americans was because they killed them “taming” the west.

    Someone might say that just because someone has a disabled kid shouldn’t make them off limits. I agree totally, but it should totally ramp up your respect for them. I remember the family that brought their son with muscular dystrophy to our basketball games. BJ would cheer for us as best he could and there was a place on the court for him to sit. It made me sad, though, to think that his parents would only have a limited amount of time left with him. The fact that in his life they had to feed and change him ever day because he couldn’t do it on his own is about as textbook an example of “love” as I can think of.

    To know Palin and her husband thought about these things and decided not to terminate the pregnancy says a huge amount about their character, all of it positive.

    Hopefully in a few years, she will have the experience to make a difference.

  18. I’m with you, Dan. Although most of the mouth breathers will continue to vote for the same.

    As for Palin, I disagree. The more I read of her, the more I like her: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/20/politics/fromtheroad/entry4531447.shtml

    I find it troubling that Democrats are so terrified of a VP that has a disabled child and a Native American and lifelong union member as a husband. I think the last person in the White House who had any experience with Native Americans was because they killed them “taming” the west.

    Someone might say that just because someone has a disabled kid shouldn’t make them off limits. I agree totally, but it should totally ramp up your respect for them. I remember the family that brought their son with muscular dystrophy to our basketball games. BJ would cheer for us as best he could and there was a place on the court for him to sit. It made me sad, though, to think that his parents would only have a limited amount of time left with him. The fact that in his life they had to feed and change him ever day because he couldn’t do it on his own is about as textbook an example of “love” as I can think of.

    To know Palin and her husband thought about these things and decided not to terminate the pregnancy says a huge amount about their character, all of it positive.

    Hopefully in a few years, she will have the experience to make a difference.

  19. I find it troubling that Democrats are so terrified of a VP that has a disabled child and a Native American and lifelong union member as a husband

    Personally I don’t give a crap about any of that. What terrifies me is that she’s yet another folksy, incurious, intellectual lightweight. We’ve had one of those for the last eight years. How in the name of God anyone can’t connect those dots is beyond me. Plus I don’t recall Colin Powell mentioning any problems with her family or husband; he seemed convinced that she simply wasn’t up to the job.

    PAD

  20. I find it troubling that Democrats are so terrified of a VP that has a disabled child and a Native American and lifelong union member as a husband

    Personally I don’t give a crap about any of that. What terrifies me is that she’s yet another folksy, incurious, intellectual lightweight. We’ve had one of those for the last eight years. How in the name of God anyone can’t connect those dots is beyond me. Plus I don’t recall Colin Powell mentioning any problems with her family or husband; he seemed convinced that she simply wasn’t up to the job.

    PAD

  21. The more Palin opens her mouth, the more reasons spill out to not want her anywhere near the White House.

    Today, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, she says she wants a federal ban on gay marriage.

  22. The more Palin opens her mouth, the more reasons spill out to not want her anywhere near the White House.

    Today, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, she says she wants a federal ban on gay marriage.

  23. Brian Woods: yes, thank you for having the courage to stand up and say the only reason anyone could possibly have to not like Sarah Palin is that they hate Natives the disabled. Bravo, sir.

    Because we all know that no one has more hatred for minorities than liberals do.

  24. The first reports about Palin here in Britain showed her handling guns, her background of having a teenage pregnant daughter and during a convention we saw the dad with their disabled baby and her speech that disabled children deserve our special love. It was also pointed out that Obama didn`t use the word “victory” once when talking about Iraq and Afghanistan and her determination to allow drilling in Alaska.

    I thought sarcastically, great, Americans love this, a patriotic fundamentalist Christian, exactly what Bush seemed to have attracted and what got him elected.

    Reports that she wants to force her values on others is not surprising, like being anti-abortion and anti-gay marriages. I expected that from the beginning.

    I wish I could vote in the USA because the prospect of seeing this woman as the US president frightens me. I say this because McCain is not a young man and nobody knows how much time he has left.

  25. The first reports about Palin here in Britain showed her handling guns, her background of having a teenage pregnant daughter and during a convention we saw the dad with their disabled baby and her speech that disabled children deserve our special love. It was also pointed out that Obama didn`t use the word “victory” once when talking about Iraq and Afghanistan and her determination to allow drilling in Alaska.

    I thought sarcastically, great, Americans love this, a patriotic fundamentalist Christian, exactly what Bush seemed to have attracted and what got him elected.

    Reports that she wants to force her values on others is not surprising, like being anti-abortion and anti-gay marriages. I expected that from the beginning.

    I wish I could vote in the USA because the prospect of seeing this woman as the US president frightens me. I say this because McCain is not a young man and nobody knows how much time he has left.

  26. At this point it appears that whoever wins we’d better hope that they live a long life. Palin isn’t ready for the job and Biden seems ready for a rubber room. I can only wonder what Obama must have been thinking when Joe went off script again and promised us an international crisis within 6 months of the elections (and, because this is Joe Biden and he can’t leave well enough alone, he additionally implied that Obama’s response to said crisis would be an unpopular one. Say what?)

  27. At this point it appears that whoever wins we’d better hope that they live a long life. Palin isn’t ready for the job and Biden seems ready for a rubber room. I can only wonder what Obama must have been thinking when Joe went off script again and promised us an international crisis within 6 months of the elections (and, because this is Joe Biden and he can’t leave well enough alone, he additionally implied that Obama’s response to said crisis would be an unpopular one. Say what?)

  28. PAD: I have no ability to watch Powell on Meet the Press because I am in Ukraine in the Peace Corps. That’s why I didn’t post anything in your Powell thread. 😀 Folksy is what’s gotten everyone save Bush the First elected since 1976. Carter: Folksy; Reagan: Folksy; Clinton: Folksy. It’s a role people think they have to play to get elected. I think it’s much too soon to know if Palin is intelligent or not. reading the news story I cited, though, she seemed to be warming up to the hounding the press gives people. I read Camille Paglia’s take on Palin and thought it was all very insightful. I certainly wouldn’t vote for her for president. She is, to me, a very appealing vp candidate, though. Certainly more so than Biden. (I personally think Biden is on the ticket so Obama can show “no hard feelings” when Biden got reamed for insinuating he was clean cut.) Would it have been too hard to nominate Bill Richardson? He’s certainly done a lot in NM the last several years. He has executive experience as well as experience in state and federal government. Sorry, tangent…

    Conor E: All I said was folks with disabled kids deserve way more respect than anyone has given Palin at this point. Keep in mind, though, the ProtoDemocrat, Andrew Jackson was known for his ability to kill Indians and Republican Abraham Lincoln is famous for stopping slavery dead in its tracks.

    Baerbel: I do not like McCain. I do think it’s entirely unfair to count his age against him, the same as it’s unfair to count Obama’s race against him. Discrimination is discrimination. As far as folks dying, young, healthy people die every day. George Burns smoked stogies and crossed the cto mark. I like to think Neil Gaiman summed it up best in Sandman: We all get a lifetime, no more, no less.

    My checklist for a legitimately good candidate crumpled with both of them voting in favor of domestic surveillance. Obama claimed he wouldn’t, but hung Dodd and Feinstein out to dry…probably because he thought he would look soft on terrorism. McCain, the Orwellian Republican that he is, never had any doubt he wanted to spy on Americans.

    The best I can hope for now is that Obama will show some leadership and bring back some of FDR’s banking industry reforms.

  29. PAD: I have no ability to watch Powell on Meet the Press because I am in Ukraine in the Peace Corps. That’s why I didn’t post anything in your Powell thread. 😀 Folksy is what’s gotten everyone save Bush the First elected since 1976. Carter: Folksy; Reagan: Folksy; Clinton: Folksy. It’s a role people think they have to play to get elected. I think it’s much too soon to know if Palin is intelligent or not. reading the news story I cited, though, she seemed to be warming up to the hounding the press gives people. I read Camille Paglia’s take on Palin and thought it was all very insightful. I certainly wouldn’t vote for her for president. She is, to me, a very appealing vp candidate, though. Certainly more so than Biden. (I personally think Biden is on the ticket so Obama can show “no hard feelings” when Biden got reamed for insinuating he was clean cut.) Would it have been too hard to nominate Bill Richardson? He’s certainly done a lot in NM the last several years. He has executive experience as well as experience in state and federal government. Sorry, tangent…

    Conor E: All I said was folks with disabled kids deserve way more respect than anyone has given Palin at this point. Keep in mind, though, the ProtoDemocrat, Andrew Jackson was known for his ability to kill Indians and Republican Abraham Lincoln is famous for stopping slavery dead in its tracks.

    Baerbel: I do not like McCain. I do think it’s entirely unfair to count his age against him, the same as it’s unfair to count Obama’s race against him. Discrimination is discrimination. As far as folks dying, young, healthy people die every day. George Burns smoked stogies and crossed the cto mark. I like to think Neil Gaiman summed it up best in Sandman: We all get a lifetime, no more, no less.

    My checklist for a legitimately good candidate crumpled with both of them voting in favor of domestic surveillance. Obama claimed he wouldn’t, but hung Dodd and Feinstein out to dry…probably because he thought he would look soft on terrorism. McCain, the Orwellian Republican that he is, never had any doubt he wanted to spy on Americans.

    The best I can hope for now is that Obama will show some leadership and bring back some of FDR’s banking industry reforms.

  30. (I personally think Biden is on the ticket so Obama can show “no hard feelings” when Biden got reamed for insinuating he was clean cut.) Would it have been too hard to nominate Bill Richardson?

    It seemed like a smart pick at the time…and they’ll win so it couldn’t have been too bad. He’s lucky that nobody pays much attention to Biden. Richardson seemed like a good choice but there must have been something that they didn’t like. Or thye just thought it was too risky having an African American AND a latino on the same ticket.

  31. All I said was folks with disabled kids deserve way more respect than anyone has given Palin at this point.

    So because she has a disabled kid, that gives her the slack to imply people in competition for public office of being terrorists? You need to reform your thinking to be compatible with reality.

    Richardson seemed like a good choice but there must have been something that they didn’t like.

    Maybe it’s because Richardson is a dumb-ášš who tried to coerce Wen Ho Lee into confessing, by violating his civil rights and leaking to the press he was under investigation — as opposed to actually building a case against him.

    By Richardson’s own account, Obama saved him in one of the primary debates. They were talking, and Richardson lost track of the topic. Obama whispered NAFTA, and Richardson saved himself by going into his talking points.

    Maybe it’s as simple as the smart candidate knowing the dumb-ášš candidate when he sees him, leaving everyone who only knows there’s such a thing as being smart from being told so wondering why he wasn’t picked.

  32. All I said was folks with disabled kids deserve way more respect than anyone has given Palin at this point.

    So because she has a disabled kid, that gives her the slack to imply people in competition for public office of being terrorists? You need to reform your thinking to be compatible with reality.

    Richardson seemed like a good choice but there must have been something that they didn’t like.

    Maybe it’s because Richardson is a dumb-ášš who tried to coerce Wen Ho Lee into confessing, by violating his civil rights and leaking to the press he was under investigation — as opposed to actually building a case against him.

    By Richardson’s own account, Obama saved him in one of the primary debates. They were talking, and Richardson lost track of the topic. Obama whispered NAFTA, and Richardson saved himself by going into his talking points.

    Maybe it’s as simple as the smart candidate knowing the dumb-ášš candidate when he sees him, leaving everyone who only knows there’s such a thing as being smart from being told so wondering why he wasn’t picked.

  33. Mike: If you read my first post, which it looks like you sort of did, this is what I said:

    “Someone might say that just because someone has a disabled kid shouldn’t make them off limits. I agree totally, but it should totally ramp up your respect for them.”

    Also, in the article I cited, Palin says, “I would think that anyone running and wanting to serve in Congress is quite pro-America. You know, that is the mission, to better this country. So I would question what the intent of that would be.”

    Again, I am doing my best to follow the political landscape from 5000 miles away while I serve as a volunteer trying to improve the image of the USA abroad in the Peace Corps. Peace Corps is not a favorite project of the current administration, so we don’t get a lot of American newspapers and magazines. If you feel like citing something so I can evaluate it, feel free. I prefer that to rhetoric.

    As far as Richardson, as late as Sept 07 when I left, he hadn’t been charged, tried or convicted of anything. In the United States we have this principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” If you have some news article you can cite about the charges, trial and/or conviction, please link it.

    For my money, Richardson did a lot for Native Americans, got some US prisoners freed, lowered taxes in New Mexico, restarted their film industry, been rated one of the most fiscally responsible Democrats in the nation and generally done a really good job.

    I don’t know why on earth we’d want someone who was fiscally responsible in the White House again since the last eight years have been managed so well, but it’s just one of those little things I like, personally.

    His handlers were really rude to me a couple of times when I was sent to interview him, but he was always very nice. That also scores him points.

    All that said, until we all learn to deal in facts instead of rumor and innuendo, we aren’t much better than lying politicians ourselves.

  34. Mike: If you read my first post, which it looks like you sort of did, this is what I said:

    “Someone might say that just because someone has a disabled kid shouldn’t make them off limits. I agree totally, but it should totally ramp up your respect for them.”

    Also, in the article I cited, Palin says, “I would think that anyone running and wanting to serve in Congress is quite pro-America. You know, that is the mission, to better this country. So I would question what the intent of that would be.”

    Again, I am doing my best to follow the political landscape from 5000 miles away while I serve as a volunteer trying to improve the image of the USA abroad in the Peace Corps. Peace Corps is not a favorite project of the current administration, so we don’t get a lot of American newspapers and magazines. If you feel like citing something so I can evaluate it, feel free. I prefer that to rhetoric.

    As far as Richardson, as late as Sept 07 when I left, he hadn’t been charged, tried or convicted of anything. In the United States we have this principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” If you have some news article you can cite about the charges, trial and/or conviction, please link it.

    For my money, Richardson did a lot for Native Americans, got some US prisoners freed, lowered taxes in New Mexico, restarted their film industry, been rated one of the most fiscally responsible Democrats in the nation and generally done a really good job.

    I don’t know why on earth we’d want someone who was fiscally responsible in the White House again since the last eight years have been managed so well, but it’s just one of those little things I like, personally.

    His handlers were really rude to me a couple of times when I was sent to interview him, but he was always very nice. That also scores him points.

    All that said, until we all learn to deal in facts instead of rumor and innuendo, we aren’t much better than lying politicians ourselves.

  35. Brian, review the transcript of the last Obama/McCain debate, and search for the words, “Ayers” and “terrorist.” Obama called him on it, and McCain took it and liked it. I’m not asking you to take my word for anything.

  36. All I said was folks with disabled kids deserve way more respect than anyone has given Palin at this point.

    So because she has a disabled kid, that gives her the slack to imply people in competition for public office of being terrorists? You need to reform your thinking to be compatible with reality.

    …I am doing my best to follow the political landscape from 5000 miles away while I serve as a volunteer trying to improve the image of the USA abroad in the Peace Corps. Peace Corps is not a favorite project of the current administration, so we don’t get a lot of American newspapers and magazines.

    Brian, review the transcript of the last Obama/McCain debate, and search for the words, “Ayers” and “terrorist.” Obama called him on it, and McCain took it and liked it. I’m not asking you to take my word for anything.

    What does Obama/McCain/Ayers have to do with showing respect for parents of disabled kids…?

    You referred to your own uninformed status, and I answered you in a manner in which you don’t have to take my word for what I say.

    [not Brian]

    Richardson seemed like a good choice but there must have been something that they didn’t like.

    Maybe it’s because Richardson is a dumb-ášš who tried to coerce Wen Ho Lee into confessing, by violating his civil rights and leaking to the press he was under investigation — as opposed to actually building a case against him.

    By Richardson’s own account, Obama saved him in one of the primary debates. They were talking, and Richardson lost track of the topic. Obama whispered NAFTA, and Richardson saved himself by going into his talking points.

    Maybe it’s as simple as the smart candidate knowing the dumb-ášš candidate when he sees him, leaving everyone who only knows there’s such a thing as being smart from being told so wondering why he wasn’t picked.

    As far as Richardson, as late as Sept 07 when I left, he hadn’t been charged, tried or convicted of anything. In the United States we have this principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” If you have some news article you can cite about the charges, trial and/or conviction, please link it.

    Richardson doesn’t need to have been charged with a crime for anything I’ve said about him to be true. Thank you for not invalidating anything I’ve said.

  37. All I said was folks with disabled kids deserve way more respect than anyone has given Palin at this point.

    So because she has a disabled kid, that gives her the slack to imply people in competition for public office of being terrorists? You need to reform your thinking to be compatible with reality.

    …I am doing my best to follow the political landscape from 5000 miles away while I serve as a volunteer trying to improve the image of the USA abroad in the Peace Corps. Peace Corps is not a favorite project of the current administration, so we don’t get a lot of American newspapers and magazines.

    Brian, review the transcript of the last Obama/McCain debate, and search for the words, “Ayers” and “terrorist.” Obama called him on it, and McCain took it and liked it. I’m not asking you to take my word for anything.

    What does Obama/McCain/Ayers have to do with showing respect for parents of disabled kids…?

    You referred to your own uninformed status, and I answered you in a manner in which you don’t have to take my word for what I say.

    [not Brian]

    Richardson seemed like a good choice but there must have been something that they didn’t like.

    Maybe it’s because Richardson is a dumb-ášš who tried to coerce Wen Ho Lee into confessing, by violating his civil rights and leaking to the press he was under investigation — as opposed to actually building a case against him.

    By Richardson’s own account, Obama saved him in one of the primary debates. They were talking, and Richardson lost track of the topic. Obama whispered NAFTA, and Richardson saved himself by going into his talking points.

    Maybe it’s as simple as the smart candidate knowing the dumb-ášš candidate when he sees him, leaving everyone who only knows there’s such a thing as being smart from being told so wondering why he wasn’t picked.

    As far as Richardson, as late as Sept 07 when I left, he hadn’t been charged, tried or convicted of anything. In the United States we have this principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” If you have some news article you can cite about the charges, trial and/or conviction, please link it.

    Richardson doesn’t need to have been charged with a crime for anything I’ve said about him to be true. Thank you for not invalidating anything I’ve said.

  38. Here’s something else that’s eerily prophetic. Dig out your DVD of Trading Places or rent it from Netflix. Go to the climax of the movie where Louis (Dan Ayckroyd) and Billy Rae (Eddie Murphy) are about to get their revenge on the Duke brothers. They are about to sell short stocks for concentrated orange juice that the Duke Brothers think will soar in value because they have an advanced copy of a weather report on the Florida orange crop which revealed a harsh winter. (Harsh winter=less oranges=less juice=less supply=greater value.) But for those who have seen the movie, their report was forged by Louis and Billy Ray, who know that the supply of orange juice was unaffected.

    Where am I going with this? Trading of stocks for commodities futures is not held at the NYSE but the World Trade Center. There is an upward shot of the twin towers and Louis says to Billy Rae words that would have a completely different meaning 18 years after the film was originally released in theatres:

    “Nothing you have ever experienced will prepare you for the absolute carnage you are about to witness.”

  39. Here’s something else that’s eerily prophetic. Dig out your DVD of Trading Places or rent it from Netflix. Go to the climax of the movie where Louis (Dan Ayckroyd) and Billy Rae (Eddie Murphy) are about to get their revenge on the Duke brothers. They are about to sell short stocks for concentrated orange juice that the Duke Brothers think will soar in value because they have an advanced copy of a weather report on the Florida orange crop which revealed a harsh winter. (Harsh winter=less oranges=less juice=less supply=greater value.) But for those who have seen the movie, their report was forged by Louis and Billy Ray, who know that the supply of orange juice was unaffected.

    Where am I going with this? Trading of stocks for commodities futures is not held at the NYSE but the World Trade Center. There is an upward shot of the twin towers and Louis says to Billy Rae words that would have a completely different meaning 18 years after the film was originally released in theatres:

    “Nothing you have ever experienced will prepare you for the absolute carnage you are about to witness.”

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