The tensions are there......

[calculon000]

Re: Fahrenheit Single Digital

Temperatures in the single digit fahrenheit have come to Columbus almost a month early. I-70 usually is just south of the normal freeze line, but the optimal 20 degree dry air mass has not arrived. Winter '04 has started wet, icy, and accumulating snow.

My city just had a week of pseudo-summer with no snow, which is actually pretty normal because we get Chinooks like that all winter and there's always one right before Christmas.

The SUMMER of 2004 was messed up though. Alberta is a dry climate, and it pretty much rained all summer this year. We got more rain than Vancouver during the summer. Not that I minded it, I like rain

 

[4too]

Don't Worry Be Happy

Don't Worry Be Happy


Fireblade, focus on this.

... "infotainment"... and most people dont care where they get their news anymore. ...

There exists a conservative 'agenda' that is quite open on how it will promote the movement for a permanent Republican majority.

Neutralizing and turning the perceived bias of the "media' is one.

Imagine an electorate whose only grasp on reality is wondering if Ann C.'s 'rack' is 'real', or if her 'carpet' matches her 'drapes'.


4too
...........

C.

More rain than the temporate rain forest of the northwest Pacific Coast?

Like, ... no way!

Really?


4too - 2

 

[Per]

Oh, me, me, I get it! Delightfully sexy double entendre! Two of them! I speak 4too now!

 

[Ratty Sr.]

I love how all of you judge the US based on Fox News. It is like me judging France based on a routine by Jerry Louis, or Germany on how they make a car, or the Netherlands based on a joke about wooden shoes. Stop whining, you hypocrites. Not every American likes Fox, not all of us desire to stand bestride the world, and not all of us in America are ignorant, arrogant, callous, or stupid. Fox News does not represent the country. It's so damn easy to lump a country under one label and write off 300 million people as hopeless, and then turn around and get puffy about a crack at your own home.

Fox is the most popular TV station in America. Views expressed on Fox reflect views of majority of American population. That's a fact you can't ignore. Of course there are moderate, liberal and intelligent Americans. There were also moderate, liberal and intelligent Croats in 1991 (and they were all indiscriminantly labelled as traitors), and you can be pretty damn sure that there were moderate, liberal and intelligent Germans in 1934. But that doesn't change the fact that majority of American people today revel in stupid arrogance and ignorant right-wing views, and that your undemocratic government and servile media houses do everything they can to maintain the perpetual state of fear and stupidity. In the democratic world, a nation is judged by its actions and actions of its government, and I'm sorry to say that American nation has lately often been showing the world its worst face.

I speak 4too now!

Don't you mean 4tooese?

 

[Dapper Dan Man]

I love how all of you judge the US based on Fox News. It is like me judging France based on a routine by Jerry Louis, or Germany on how they make a car, or the Netherlands based on a joke about wooden shoes. Stop whining, you hypocrites. Not every American likes Fox, not all of us desire to stand bestride the world, and not all of us in America are ignorant, arrogant, callous, or stupid. Fox News does not represent the country. It's so damn easy to lump a country under one label and write off 300 million people as hopeless, and then turn around and get puffy about a crack at your own home.

Fox is the most popular TV station in America. Views expressed on Fox reflect views of majority of American population. That's a fact you can't ignore. Of course there are moderate, liberal and intelligent Americans. There were also moderate, liberal and intelligent Croats in 1991 (and they were all indiscriminantly labelled as traitors), and you can be pretty damn sure that there were moderate, liberal and intelligent Germans in 1934. But that doesn't change the fact that majority of American people today revel in stupid arrogance and ignorant right-wing views, and that your undemocratic government and servile media houses do everything they can to maintain the perpetual state of fear and stupidity. In the democratic world, a nation is judged by its actions and actions of its government, and I'm sorry to say that American nation has lately often been showing the world its worst face.

I speak 4too now!

Don't you mean 4tooese?

To be technical.....if the dumb, ignorant, servile, biased, and inept are the majority of Americans...then it *is* a democracy in the truest sense of the word. I am liberal, and a "Democrat", but I am certainly not a populist by any means. To me, a smaller minority is easier to observe, overthrow, and otherwise deal with than a "democratic" oppressive majority. I believe in democracy only when the extent the majority of citizens are "educated", and hence understand the necessity of perception in politics.

Yes, I've heard the term "traitor" tossed about fairly easily here, etc. However it does not mean people who ARE moderate or left leaning arent doing anything about it. However, the question remains: how does one stop a populist movement ethically without becoming worse through the means?

I happen to be 'patriotic', in the sense I love my country's ideals; the original framework of the Constritution, the Bill of Rights, the Articles of Confederation, and various other treatises drafted in a braver age. However, being patriotic doesnt mean having to be right wing or conservative. I'm equally as supportive of world institutions such as the U.N., just happy with the country that allowed me to grow up into the individual I am. I lament for my country, but it is unthinkable to leave without making an effort to change things, or to disregard the GOOD things about my country. Im not trying to be blindly patriotic, but to be fair, a populist movement int he wrong direction can happen in ANY country, anywhere in the world. It isnt an American phenomena, it is a HUMAN phenomena.

 

[calculon000]

Re: Don't Worry Be Happy

More rain than the temporate rain forest of the northwest Pacific Coast?

Like, ... no way!

Really?

Seriously. It was weird. We usually have summers that make Alberta the dry, arid climate that it is.

 

[The Vault Dweller]

Beautifully said Fireblade.

Unfortunately when looking at movements that represent the majority of a nation's populace they are unstoppable internally. Since the ruling power keeps itself in existance and the opposition in suppression there is really nothing that can be done since they wont change it themselves. The only real hope is that the movement itself will have some sort of split or rift leading to two groups. Other than that only intervention of a foreign government(s) has solved such situations in the past...and almost always through military force. WW2 Era Germany, the USSR, etc. all had internal resistance to their majority movements...they were only stopped through war (Germany) or a fracture in the movement. (USSR)

So could we see ourselves as decent American's liberated by the European's after the "WW3 of the United States of American vs. the sovereign European states + the modern Arab Nations + Canada" ?

Its starting to look like my nation's not gonna have any allies and be completely surrounded by enemies not only strong, but numerous.

,
The Vault Dweller

 

[Dapper Dan Man]

Beautifully said Fireblade.

Unfortunately when looking at movements that represent the majority of a nation's populace they are unstoppable internally. Since the ruling power keeps itself in existance and the opposition in suppression there is really nothing that can be done since they wont change it themselves. The only real hope is that the movement itself will have some sort of split or rift leading to two groups. Other than that only intervention of a foreign government(s) has solved such situations in the past...and almost always through military force. WW2 Era Germany, the USSR, etc. all had internal resistance to their majority movements...they were only stopped through war (Germany) or a fracture in the movement. (USSR)

So could we see ourselves as decent American's liberated by the European's after the "WW3 of the United States of American vs. the sovereign European states + the modern Arab Nations + Canada" ?

Its starting to look like my nation's not gonna have any allies and be completely surrounded by enemies not only strong, but numerous.

,
The Vault Dweller

I....honestly dont know what I would do in a situation like that. I have always wanted to work for the government. To make a difference...do work worth doing, etc. The CIA, FBI, NSA....all intrigued me. Yet, there would be conflicting loyalty, no? I wouldnt like to see an invading army, liberating or no, on American soil. I also feel America would never be quite the same as it was, and what I hope it to be. The lesser of two evils, and even though I would probably support such a thing..it would tear me apart.

A sad day for us, eh?

 

[calculon000]

*snip*

If every American though like this, regardless of their political or religious beliefs, the whole world would be a MUCH better place.

 

[Ashmo]

Well, in Germany the big commercial tv channels (most of which belong to American companies by now anyway) tried to get publicity with infotainment news shows and failed miserably. The most watched news shows are still the plain old informational news on the first, second (alternative) and third (regional) programme.

 

[Big T]

Perhaps we should try to invent a way to move countries around - so we can tow Canada to Europe and give them England in return.

Fuck you Jebus.

I'm sorry to bump a thread with such a pointless post, but really. Fuck you.

If you really think that GB/UK or "England" as you term it (a phrase which has meant nothing outside of sports (and a dying national identity)) for a long while now is really more similar to the US than the EU, then either you or I are more deluded than previous estimates had advised.

 

[quietfanatic]

It's a joke no doubt. The sad fact is that Australia is becoming closest to America and Canada. Thankfully we are still very different.

 

[calculon000]

Canada is NOT that similar to the USA. We allowed gay marriage for instance because our government has no official religion.

 

[quietfanatic]

Interestingly, Toronto and Sydney are very close in terms of the outlook of the people and the population. You would expect us to be closer to the Kiwis than Canadians, but we aren't. This is most probably because of the dour, Scottish influence. I only hope that we maintain our identity and do not become too Americanized. I wonder if the geography of Canada protects it from American influence?

 

[Jebus]

Perhaps we should try to invent a way to move countries around - so we can tow Canada to Europe and give them England in return.

Fuck you Jebus.

I'm sorry to bump a thread with such a pointless post, but really. Fuck you.

If you really think that GB/UK or "England" as you term it (a phrase which has meant nothing outside of sports (and a dying national identity)) for a long while now is really more similar to the US than the EU, then either you or I are more deluded than previous estimates had advised.

Dude, It's christmas. Be nice.

And I hope santa claus' going to leave a sense of humor under your tree.

 

[calculon000]

But he did write it before Christmas regardless.

 

[Colt]

I think that I agree, for the most part, with Fireblade on this topic. Stuffing all Americans together into one group has never been a good idea. We're too diverse, for better or worse. As far as Fox News goes, I never watch them. I'm much more cosmopolitan than your average American, I think. Probably spending too much time around you people and others.


I must also agree that i would never want to see a foreign military standing on American soil, good intentions or no. It would have to get really bad for that and then, I would be fighting against the same people in all likelihood. This is one of the reasons why I support firearms ownership. I'd rather not be in a situation like that and have to send a message to Germany asking "Invade just once more, for old times' sake?" Americans need to stand up for what America is and not look to the world to fix our problems. - Colt