Blogs For Victory

22 Responses to “Open Thread”

1. Rasmus says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 11:34 am

   Hi All,

   I would like to ask all of you about something. Americans, and perhaps especially people on the right, tend to talk a lot about patriotism. calling someone un-patriotic has become the biggest insult and the accused will go to great lengths to disprove the accusation. American politicians are almost competing when it comes to demonstrating patriotism by wearing flag pins and standing in front of 16 huge American flags when doing a speech. I’m really curios about this. I’m from Denmark and I have lived 4 years in Luxemburg, 8 years in The Netherlands and 2 years in Spain and I don’t think I have ever heard a politician from any of those countries use the word “patriotism”. It seems like something most of Europe stopped talking about a long time ago.

   Help me understand this.

2. Rasmus says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 11:57 am

   Just to elaborate on my previous entry. Personally I believe Europeans are very patriotic and proud of their respective countries. Spaniards generally think Spain is a great country, the Dutch think Holland is the best place on earth and so on, but Europeans do not feel a need to carry their patriotism on their sleeves. Patriotism is something you have inside yourself and accusing people with whom you disagree of lacking patriotism is really you misunderstanding what democracy is all about. I don’t think it matters if you support your government or not as long as you support your country. Governments come and go but you will always be a citizen of the same country (unless you change citizenship of cause). In Europe you hardly ever see flag-pins and politicians usually don’t even have a flag in the background when doing speeches (and when they do they limit it to one or two). Are Americans doing this to remind themselves which country they are from?

3. jayhay says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

   Good luck on that Rasmus… It’s like half the country is still in high school, chanting “We’re #1! We’re #1!” There’s no sense that other countries work for their citizens, and ours works for ours. It’s a zero sum game for them, either you swear that the U.S. is the greatest, or you are some kind of communist traitor. It’s just the sad state of things here at this point.

   Here’s a good sense of the mentality and where that rhetoric leads:

   “Adkisson targeted the church … “because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets.”

   Adkisson [said] that “he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them in to office.”

   Inside the house, officers found “Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder” by radio talk show host Michael Savage, “Let Freedom Ring” by talk show host Sean Hannity, and “The O’Reilly Factor,” by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly.

4. Leo Pusateri says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

   Yeah, Jayhay… and the Unibomber had a copy of “Earth in the Balance” by algore.

   What’s your point?

5. Rasmus says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

   “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross”
   Sinclair Lewis (i think)

6. Casper says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

   Leo Pusateri,

   “Yeah, Jayhay… and the Unibomber had a copy of “Earth in the Balance” by algore.”

   Considering that Gore’s book came out in 1992, fourteen years after the Unibomber began his career, I doubt it had much of an impact on him doing what he did. On the other hand, considering the books Adkisson owned, expressed the same kind of hate he wrote about in his letter, one might make a conection

7. Magnum Serpentine says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

   Today, I watched the House of Representatives and with-out exception, the Florida representative, Bilirakis a republic, 1) constantly brought up some obscure bill that is not part of the bill being debated and then he demanded a vote on that bill, even thought it was not being debated; and 2) constantly voted to obstruct the bill that was being debated on from being voted on. 7 bills now and 7 obstructions by the Obstructionist republics and 7 blocked votes.

   Talk about off topic.
   Talk about obstructionism

8. Magnum Serpentine says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

   Seems Senator Ted Stevens, a Republic party member, from Alaska has been indited for seven counts of making false statements to federal investigators

9. HeyHey says:
   July 29th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

   The latest McCain “gaffe’…. Senator McCain said this to George Stephanopoulos in his interview on Sunday:

   MCCAIN: I believe that, when he said that we had to leave Iraq, and we had to be out by last March, and we had to have a date certain, that was in contravention to — and still is — the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General David Petraeus.

   Of course, Gen. Petraeus is not the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Mike Mullen is. That is a terrible mistake, if he really meant that. This is supposed to be his field of expertise and he has talked about Gen. Petraeus approximately one billion times.

   Another gaffe or grandpa moment? I wonder if McCain is all there sometimes.

10. JoshuaCalvert says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Vice President Cheney’s invitation to address wounded combat veterans next month has been yanked because the group felt his security demands were Draconian and unreasonable.

    The veep had planned to speak to the Disabled American Veterans at 8:30 a.m. at its August convention in Las Vegas.

    His staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney’s arrival and couldn’t leave until he’d finished talking, officials confirmed.

    “Word got back to us … that this would be a prerequisite,” said the veterans executive director, David Gorman, who noted the meeting hall doesn’t have any rest rooms. “We told them it just wasn’t acceptable.”

    What an ass! Support the troops? Yea right..

11. Fark says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    he Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.

    You read it right: tougher on the Democrat.

    During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative.

    Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center.

    That’s what I felt like was going on. Obama was criticized for the smallest insignificant things while McCain has largely has gotten a pass so far.

12. Some Assembly Required says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

    This just in, McCain has suggested that he may in fact increase taxes. So he was against Bush’s tax cuts, then he was for them, now he’s saying he maybe against them and raise taxes. I would consider this huge for you conservatives. Just as big as his revised ‘16 month’ Iraq plan.

    Source

    I’m honestly beginning to wonder if he is just waiting for Obama to come out with a platform so he can ‘adopt’ it as his own. What ever happened to that Gas Tax holiday anyway?

13. congressive says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    So Stevens is a fascist criminal after all. How did that “bridge to nowhere” turn out for you Republican “small government” supporters, anyway? Keating Five McSame will surely do a better job than Chimpy McBusHitler of policing these crooks.

    It won’t be long until Fox News is “accidentally” putting a (D) in front of Steven’s name.

14. CanadianObserver says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 6:35 pm

    Obama was criticized for the smallest insignificant things while McCain has largely has gotten a pass so far.

    11. Fark | July 29th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    ———————————-

    You’re not kidding. McCain’s constant mix-ups are just shrugged off as having no consequence.

    However, it is more than a little frightening to think of this man occupying the Oval Office and being granted all the power that comes with the Presidency. Scary, real scary. But of course y’all had 8 years of practice with the other fellow.

15. phnx says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 11:55 pm

    Congressive, in case you weren’t paying attention, Stevens and the infamous Bridge to Nowhere was resoundingly criticized by every conservative on this site. This as opposed to the lack of condemnation of Jefferson on the left. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been and are involved in corruption. The only difference is that those on the right are condemned by their peers, while those on the left are defended.

    In case it was lost on you, it was the Bush administration Justice department brought the suit despite the fact that Stevens is up for election.

    Let the chips fall where they may.

16. phnx says:
    July 30th, 2008 at 12:30 am

    Rasmus,

    There are probably many reasons, here are a few:

    1. Your geopolitical map was established long ago by the aristocracy, not by the revolution of the common people, throwing off the yoke of a distant power.

    2. Wars fought on your soil over the last few centuries have pacified your populace.

    3. Socialism has emmasculated your societies, and virtually destroyed the entreprenuerial spirit.

    4. You have not had to worry about national defense having found shelter under the protection of the US, and the defeat of the Soviet Union.

    5. Proximity of your neighbors and the advancement of weaponry have forced you seek peaceful accomodation with your neighbors.

    6. You have surrendered your national sovereignties to the European Union.

    That said, there was no lack national flags displayed from apartment balconies during the recent Euro cup. Your wars are now fought on futbol pitch, and your ‘patriots’ are nothing more than soccer hooligans.

17. cam says:
    July 30th, 2008 at 1:56 am

    Hate to change the topic. What happened to all the talk of drilling for oil? Here’s an idea. Make a complete listing of all of the leases to oil companies and then let’s go down the list and see what areas are open to drilling and are actually being drilled. It is time to bring the oil company executives in fromt of congress and go tract by tract though all of the land leases to the oil companies. It is time to find the truth. If it is the oil companies that are failing to take advantage of the oil lease they have been given it is time to take back these rights and passing them along to someone who will drill. If it is the environmental lobby who is blocking access to these lands for an unreasonable cause it is time to tell them to get behind us.

    While drilling for oil does not seem to be a good solution to the current energy crisis we find ourselves in I believe we should do the people’s will. If the people want to try drill our way out of this mess then so be it.

    In the mean time, while the economic stimulus is in place, we should go full speed ahead on government financing of alternative energy sources. Government involvement is needed to keep the focus on alternatives even when the profit motive evaporates when the price of oil comes down.

18. phnx says:
    July 30th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    Cam,

    It may interest you to know that these leases are not openeded. They are generally 5 to 7 year leases during which time the oil companies have an opportunity to explore and exploit. If nothing happens they must renew with an additional payment to the government or they lose the lease.
    IN many cases, the oil companies are prevented from exploring and exploiting by environmental groups, filing lawsuits.

    So since you are interested in drilling, you will also support preventing the explotation of these leases by the environmental wackos, right?

19. okiedokie says:
    July 30th, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    “IN many cases, the oil companies are prevented from exploring and exploiting by environmental groups, filing lawsuits.

    So since you are interested in drilling, you will also support preventing the explotation of these leases by the environmental wackos, right?”

    In a few cases, yes the oil companies are prevented from drilling but in MOST cases they are free to explore and drill the areas they have leased but they don’t. Now why is that?

20. phnx says:
    July 30th, 2008 at 10:41 pm

    Okiedokie,

    Before drilling, there is exploration. Oil companies only drill if thesonar soundings reveal the presence of commercialy viable deposits of oil. If they don’t drill during the time of the lease, they lose the lease without realizing any revenue, only expense (lease costs and exploratory costs).

21. Some Assembly Required says:
    July 31st, 2008 at 8:11 am

    I just heard this story from Canada. It’s almost unbelievable.

    “He was listening to music when suddenly the person next to him began to stab him in the neck with… a large butcher knife,”

    Source

22. cam says:
    August 2nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    phnx,
    Problem is that both sides are arguing generalities. One side says Congress is not openning enough leases. The other says that the oil companies are not drilling the tracts they already have leases on.

    It looks to me that there is only one way to see who is telling the truth. Bring the oil company executives in front of congress and account for every tract that is currently leased as well as those that are on their wish list. Then let’s find out which ones are being drilled and which are not and why. Then let the chips fall where they may.