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BREAKING: Arlen Specter becoming a Democrat

Started by AFK, April 28, 2009, 05:26:23 PM

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the last yatto

Quote from: Hawk on April 29, 2009, 04:52:31 PM
No matter how hard I stare I just don't see the real difference between the parties.
economic freedom
social freedom
Look, asshole:  Your 'incomprehensible' act, your word-salad, your pinealism...It BORES ME.  I've been incomprehensible for so long, I TEACH IT TO MBA CANDIDATES.  So if you simply MUST talk about your pineal gland or happy children dancing in the wildflowers, go talk to Roger, because he digs that kind of shit

East Coast Hustle

Rabid Colostomy Hole Jammer of the Coming Apocalypse™

The Devil is in the details; God is in the nuance.


Some yahoo yelled at me, saying 'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH', and I thought, "I'm feeling generous today.  Why not BOTH?"

Requia ☣

Quote from: Hawk on April 29, 2009, 04:52:31 PM
No matter how hard I stare I just don't see the real difference between the parties.

The differene is which set of lies you want to here.
Inflatable dolls are not recognized flotation devices.

P3nT4gR4m

They also spell their names differently which seems to be a tactic primarily employed to confuse the voters into thinking they have a choice.

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Requia ☣

There all all kinds of choices.  I prefer demanding a paper ballot and then writing obscenities on it.

Its about as useful as a real vote, moreso if you live in Utah, where the senator changes once every 39 (and counting) years.
Inflatable dolls are not recognized flotation devices.

P3nT4gR4m

I don't bother voting, being able to prioritise any action (even not voting as an ends in itself) as considerably more important than acting as if the whole concept of democracy was anything more than some crazed prehistoric greek fucker's vision of utopia.

I don't buy the "yeah its not perfect but it's better than the alternatives" argument either. That's like saying I should pick the smartest retard or the tallest midget. Why fucking bother?

The real thing that pisses me off about democracy is it's a wolf in sheeps clothing. It comes across as a nice, fluffy, idealistic pipedream but, like any idealistic pipedream it's implemented by pipedreaming idealists who are so easily taken in, and manipulated by cookie cutter power crazed dictators that you're dealing with a new royal family before the paint has even dried on the "freedom" signs but, unlike a traditional monarchy or dictatorship, you're less inclined to overthrow the tyrants because you've bought into the whole stupid notion that you have the power to instigate revolutionary change by putting a little 'X' in a little box.

Once and for all - there is no such thing as democracy, any more than there is such a thing as the power of invisibility or Hogwarts fucking School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - it's a fucking fairy story.  :argh!:


I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Adios

Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on April 30, 2009, 01:42:18 PM
I don't bother voting, being able to prioritise any action (even not voting as an ends in itself) as considerably more important than acting as if the whole concept of democracy was anything more than some crazed prehistoric greek fucker's vision of utopia.

I don't buy the "yeah its not perfect but it's better than the alternatives" argument either. That's like saying I should pick the smartest retard or the tallest midget. Why fucking bother?

The real thing that pisses me off about democracy is it's a wolf in sheeps clothing. It comes across as a nice, fluffy, idealistic pipedream but, like any idealistic pipedream it's implemented by pipedreaming idealists who are so easily taken in, and manipulated by cookie cutter power crazed dictators that you're dealing with a new royal family before the paint has even dried on the "freedom" signs but, unlike a traditional monarchy or dictatorship, you're less inclined to overthrow the tyrants because you've bought into the whole stupid notion that you have the power to instigate revolutionary change by putting a little 'X' in a little box.

Once and for all - there is no such thing as democracy, any more than there is such a thing as the power of invisibility or Hogwarts fucking School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - it's a fucking fairy story.  :argh!:



You need to stop holding back and tell us exactly what you think about things!  :lulz:

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

Faugh!

That's right, modern democracy is no better than totalitarian rule by inbred royals and the Church. I mean obviously we still have no say in government, any dissent is quashed and people disappear or end up hanged for treason. If we do ANYTHING the Church doesn't like, we get burned at the stake, just like then... yep no differences at all.

And its obvious that the President has full power to do anything he wants with no checks or balances.

LEARN 2 HISTORY  :argh!:
- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

AFK

Olympia Snowe made an interesting and similar commentary on Specter switching to the Dems.  What was interesting about her comment was how she referred to the GOP tactics of alienating moderates. 

I'm paraphrasing here but instead of saying "our tactics" she said "their tactics", as if she was not a part of the GOP.  I'm sure it was just a verbal faux-pas, and I don't think she's really going to literally leave the GOP, but I think, in her head, she knows that she at this point is pretty much only viewed as a Republican in name only. 
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

LMNO

There was a bit in the CNN article Rat posted that said pretty something similar:

QuoteAn unspoken part of this strategy has always been to play on the resentments of the largely white and conservative base toward other people, be they communists, liberals, blacks, immigrants, gays or atheists.


Republicans: The party of douchebags.

P3nT4gR4m

Quote from: Ratatosk on April 30, 2009, 03:15:07 PM
Faugh!

That's right, modern democracy is no better than totalitarian rule by inbred royals and the Church. I mean obviously we still have no say in government, any dissent is quashed and people disappear or end up hanged for treason. If we do ANYTHING the Church doesn't like, we get burned at the stake, just like then... yep no differences at all.

And its obvious that the President has full power to do anything he wants with no checks or balances.

LEARN 2 HISTORY  :argh!:

Maybe society has evolved in spite of shifts in politics. Maybe after hundreds of years the tyrants realised that it was much easier to just pull a bunch of wool over a bunch of eyes, rather than ride through the streets torturing an maiming.

People still disappear and people still get killed. It's just that nowadays they usually have a nice bedtime story handy to put enquiring minds to rest. Much easier and more cost effetive to say "it's okay folks we're having an inquest" and society will swallow that bullshit til it's backed up to their collective eyeballs.

Thousands of years of progress has given us shit like mobile phones and microprocessors you honestly think world domination is still stuck in the dark ages?

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

Quote from: LMNO on April 30, 2009, 04:18:27 PM
There was a bit in the CNN article Rat posted that said pretty something similar:

QuoteAn unspoken part of this strategy has always been to play on the resentments of the largely white and conservative base toward other people, be they communists, liberals, blacks, immigrants, gays or atheists.


Republicans: The party of douchebags.

And that was from a big player in the GOP.

I mean the Democrats play on opposite fears and stereotypes, but that's a pretty damning statement from one of the party 'faithful'.

So here's a question, it's a fluffy hippie one, but one that Sjaantze and I have been digesting for a few weeks.

When we look at the political machinations in the US, there appears to be a dramatic shift in the age groups involved. More importantly those younger citizens appear to be having a dramatic impact on both parties... or at least are involving themselves in big fights within both parties. The Internet is probably a part of this, but... if you will allow me to get esoteric for a second.

The Age of Aquarius?

IF we put on the astrological model for a moment, could we justly discuss the Age of Aquarius and its effect on our current Strange Times?

The Age of Aquarius is related to electricity, and here we are pushing for major changes in energy production.
The Age of Aquarius is related to computers, and here we sit on one of the most advanced computer networks, using some of the most advanced technology and brand new communication tools.
Democracy, Freedom, Humanitarianism, Nonconformity are all associated with the Age of Aquarius.

All of those seem to be driving forces among the generations born after the supposed dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

Megan McCain might be a good example of what I'm talking about here. If the ideals of the GOP are in decline (20some percent now say they're Republican?) and many young 'conservatives' (in my experience) seem more like Megan in their views than Newt and friends. Stepping away from the Sun God, stepping away from the old Aeon of Death focused patriarchs and a rise of humanitarians focused on a much less 'good old boys' sort of view...

Those that follow the dying god seem to be losing ground; the geocentric/egocentric view of the world seems to be fading among the post-hippie generations. (geocentric. = OMG THE SUN IS DYING!!! and associated psychological ramifications). The last age was the age of Pisces, the age of the fish, the age of religion as mass control and some astrological nerds claim that the passing of the age of Pisces to Aquarius will take perhaps 50 or more years (which depending on the theory, would mean that Pisces would be gone by 2020 or sooner).

Could it be that we are indeed in the Age of Aquarius? Perhaps it was too late for those who danced to 'Let the Sun Shine', perhaps since they were born before the Age, they couldn't be successful in bringing it to fruition... perhaps it is their children, those truly born of this Age that will bring about the change hoped for in the past. We're talking about a span of time that involves 2000+ years, so a few decades to get things running might not be surprising.

---

Of course, I'm just using this as a model... the real question could be reworded to something like:

The generations of people born since the  early 70's appear to be less and less interested in the Religious Right and far more interested in humanitarian causes. People born in the 80s seem even further influenced in this way... "The Age of Aquarius" may just be a label, but the ideas tied to it seem to be gaining ground quickly. It may not be 'the stars' making these changes, just the natural evolution of humanity. One could argue that such concepts are visible in RAW/Leary's views of consciousness evolution. In fact, after the '06 election RAW said he was mildly hopeful since the Democrats seemed slightly more focused on 3rd/4th circuit processing, rather than the more backward GOP 2nd circuit focus.

Just a tiny spark of optimism, I don't think its likely... but I can dream ;-)



------------------------------------------------------

Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on April 30, 2009, 05:31:04 PM

Maybe society has evolved in spite of shifts in politics. Maybe after hundreds of years the tyrants realised that it was much easier to just pull a bunch of wool over a bunch of eyes, rather than ride through the streets torturing an maiming.

People still disappear and people still get killed. It's just that nowadays they usually have a nice bedtime story handy to put enquiring minds to rest. Much easier and more cost effetive to say "it's okay folks we're having an inquest" and society will swallow that bullshit til it's backed up to their collective eyeballs.

Thousands of years of progress has given us shit like mobile phones and microprocessors you honestly think world domination is still stuck in the dark ages?

No, I don't think World Domination is stuck in the dark ages. I do, however, think that its much better to be living in a modern democracy than in a dark age monarchy. It's not perfect, in fact giant chunks of it suck... but it beats the HELL out of most governments that people lived under previously.

You still can't trust the bastards, but the people do have more power than they used to. Not as much power as some of them think... but more than a serf in 1090 England, or a woman in 1650's Venice...
- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

LMNO

Or, it could be that we're just cycling through another period of cultural shifts: the pendulum swings, after all.

We just went through 8 years of being led by what could be called the logical conclusion of social conservatism, and all the holy fucktardedness of what that entails.  It makes sense that the cultural perspective would soon shift the other way.  The 60's radicals became the 80's douchebag capitalists, after all.  The clock on the wall says it's time to head the other way.


Of course, you could also say that this proves the theory that increased communication and increased intelligence leads to a more liberal mode of thought.  That's much nicer to say.

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

Quote from: LMNO on April 30, 2009, 07:17:04 PM
Or, it could be that we're just cycling through another period of cultural shifts: the pendulum swings, after all.

We just went through 8 years of being led by what could be called the logical conclusion of social conservatism, and all the holy fucktardedness of what that entails.  It makes sense that the cultural perspective would soon shift the other way.  The 60's radicals became the 80's douchebag capitalists, after all.  The clock on the wall says it's time to head the other way.


Of course, you could also say that this proves the theory that increased communication and increased intelligence leads to a more liberal mode of thought.  That's much nicer to say.

:lulz:

Although, I would point out that the past 8 years were not the logical conclusion of social conservatism... Bush wasn't really conservative in any way shape or form. He made no impact on the big social conservative issues; gay marriage seems to be on more firm ground now than in 2000, abortion law hasn't been successfully challenged. At worst, Bush's 'social conservative' views gave us pharmacists that could say No to the Day After pill. For all that he preached on the campaign trail, that's a tiny bump. Inside the beltway, social conservatives are mocked, or so I'm told. Bush wasn't even good at Fiscal conservatism... at best he showed us the logical conclusion of nationalism, neoconservative views and his own brand of dumb American Cowboy.

I mean really, when I think about what I feared from a Bush reign (which wasn't torture and war, but all the social conservative bullshit) I have to say we escaped relatively unharmed on that front. Inconvenienced sure, ala stem cell research, but that's about it.
- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson