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Friday Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 08:26:41 AM EST
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Your turn. Just don't kill each other. It's Friday, time to wind down.

And a blogging note: TalkLeft is being moved to a new server Saturday night. Hosting Matters is so great, they got us our own server. No one else will be on it. TalkLeft has been crashing a lot recently, and it's not fair to the other sites that share a server with us. Either we're a very busy site, or there's something wrong with our code that no one has been able to figure out.

Either way, you may need to click your "refresh" button a few times Sunday to find us.

Update: Welcome, Altercation readers, and thanks, Eric!

< Hunter Thompson's Wife : We Were On the Phone When it Happened | Post-Script : Shameless in Colorado >

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    Friday Open Thread | 43 comments (43 topical)
    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 09:53:56 AM EST
    Check out Wonkette.com. They are offering a Reward for any info about Gannon/Guckhart sex interludes with Public Officials. Is there a way we can chip in and increase the bounty? Pass it on.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#3)
    by roy on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 10:04:44 AM EST
    Check out Wonkette.com. They are offering a Reward for any info about Gannon/Guckhart sex interludes with Public Officials.
    ("They" is not Wonkette.com, "they" is somebody Wonkette mentions.) That's brilliant. It's a way to not-quite-libel Mr. G. and further bash the administration, without worrying about pesky little things like proof. There's more proof of WMD in Iraq than of a tryst between Mr. G. and any public official.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 10:20:27 AM EST
    Roy Thank for your royal and Rightious correction. I am truly humbled. Roy you glossed over real facts about Your boy's prostitution ring. The issue is who he was screwing not if. Now check my spelling and grammar I'm testing you!

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#5)
    by kdog on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 10:31:44 AM EST
    I for one don't care who is boffing who in Washington. So childish, in my opinion.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 10:38:24 AM EST
    Are Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush having a gay relationship? Check out new posting at: [link deleted, not in html format]

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#6)
    by desertswine on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 10:42:39 AM EST
    From CP:
    Canada's announcement that it won't join the US missile shield provoked an immediate warning that it has relinquished sovereignty over its airspace.
    From now on, the US government will control any decision to fire at incoming missiles over Canadian territory, declared the top US envoy to Canada.
    "We will deploy. We will defend North America," said Paul Cellucci, the US ambassador to Canada.
    Now Canada doesn't even control its own airspace. We're going to defend Canada whether they want it or not. If we see anything flying over Canada that we don't like, we'll shoot it down. Why don't we just give Canada the old anschluss routine. They must be real happy about this.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 10:47:00 AM EST
    Disney is planning to shoot a sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean" in Dominica, in which the Caribs of Dominica will be featured as cannibals. Read more from a BBC report here. There is good insight on this subject discussed at this blog as well. Seems selfish and unfair that Disney continues to give creedence to these myths.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 10:49:54 AM EST
    A CIA agent was Outed during a time of War! This is not about a tryst with a White house intern. Gannon was in posession of info in a Secret CIA internal memo. This guy wasn't who he said he was he might have been part of a Terrorist "sleeper Cell" for all we knew. He was within a fatal shot's distance of the Pres. This is not about a soap opera sex tryst. This a NATIONAL SECURITY issue! Boy I sound like a Ruglican. :)

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:04:21 AM EST
    Those are valid issues that should be investigated Ed. Who Gannon was screwing is not. Unfortunately, a juicy sex scandal gets more air time than the blatant everyday corruption that is ignored.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:06:19 AM EST
    Keep up the great work.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:11:13 AM EST
    Are they charging $130, which is their lowest dedicated server price? Somehow I don't think even the great Insty needs that much firepower. If this were an eCommerce site or chat room maybe. I recently moved all three blogs to a new host: $6/mo for unlimited domains, 1G/15G. We'll see how that works out, but in the meantime: heh. -- BigMediaBlog: Comments for sites that don't have comments.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:18:30 AM EST
    KDOG What if? Here is an example of why Who Jeff was a humping could be very relavant. If Gucky boy had a Senior Admin official in his bed he could have coerced him into giving him more than a daily pass. There is no question in my mind if this was a Democrat Admin "WHO" he was smearing with KY jelly would be the Daily, no Hourly subject on Faux,MSN,CNN and every News paper in the Universe!

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:27:29 AM EST
    Big Media Blog, TalkLeft takes up more than 1G of space and uses more than 40G a month in bandwidth - over 1G a day. Anyone who wants a cost estimate for their site can make an inquiry with Hosting Matters. There's a lot involved with being a good hosting company besides cost. Reliability and technical support are crucial and out of all the companies I've tried, I've been happiest with HM. They've been very good to TalkLeft and me.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#14)
    by kdog on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:29:57 AM EST
    You are absolutely right in regards to the "if it were a Dem" scenario. Exactly why I think it's best to keep the high ground.
    he could have coerced him into giving him more than a daily pass
    Investigate this fact, whether it happened in bed or over breakfast is irrelevant. Sexual slander is the Repub's game, not mine.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:57:07 AM EST
    TalkLeft, Just want to thank-you for the tight ship that you run here, and for this CyberAgora that you have created, in which well thought out thoughts from all sides of the spectrum can air.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 12:05:41 PM EST
    You can visit the Guckert site at: www.poorpoorpitifulme.com Jeff/Jim. The left thanks you. A certain blond fascist pundit says ANYONE can get a day pass to the WH press room. Wha?

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#17)
    by roy on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 12:20:23 PM EST
    Just want to thank-you for the tight ship that you run here, and for this CyberAgora that you have created, in which well thought out thoughts from all sides of the spectrum can air.
    Hear, hear! Although I don't know what a CyberAgora is. Hopefully a good thing.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 12:43:22 PM EST
    Kdog I tend to agree with you but, Remember it was Guck schmuck that took us into the underworld. We're just following HIS trail. I also feel there is a case for probable cause here. This entire matter is to bazarre with little logical explanation unless "Blackmail" enters the picture. Let the hounds continue sniffing out the rats.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 02:23:52 PM EST
    AP story: Conn. legislative panel backs civil unions Yeaaaaaaa!

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 02:29:42 PM EST
    Allan Bloom,U. of Chicago mentor to a few in the administration, was known to "initiate" certain select students into the inner sanctum so to speak..Sounds like there might have been a little Symposium going on upstairs.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#23)
    by glanton on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 02:45:59 PM EST
    et al: I hate how the HST threads have turned into arguments. So I'm putting this here instead. This is a sort of wouldn't it be great idea, and I realize it will never happen. But given the neocons' blustering about courage, which starts at the top with Dubya holding himself up as a straight-shooter who fears no opponent in the "march to freedom," I hereby propose a constitutional amendment. Let any President or assmblage of Congreepeople who decides to start a war be required by law to go conduct that war on site, on the ground. No more daily strutting around surrounded by wealth and privilege, eating gourmet meals and throwing out an occasional soundbite while people scream, die, and lose. If you are so "courageous" as to start a war, then go there, hear the screams, smell the gunpowder, see the blood and the loss firsthand. As a consolation, these rulers would still be allowed to use the press as a mouthpiece for bragging about how steadfast they are. Any takers?

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#24)
    by desertswine on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 02:46:07 PM EST
    Nowhere in the article is it mentioned WHY blacks are infected at a rate TEN TIMES as high as whites. It's too politically incorrect.....if I say it here I'll be censored again....
    I'll say it... poverty and intravenous drug use.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 02:49:21 PM EST
    Ward Churchill can now add Art Fraud and assault to his increasingly dubious list of credentials. News 4 Colorado CBS4 News reporter Raj Chohan: “This is an artwork we’ve got called ‘Winter Attack.’ It looks like it was based on a Thomas Mails painting; it looks like you ripped it off. Can you tell us about that?” That prompted Churchill to take a swing at Chohan. It only gets better for America's favorite Anti-American, terrorist inciting, heritage-faking, reporter assaulting, copywright-infringing/art-forging Lefty Professor...

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 03:50:01 PM EST
    "It's too politically incorrect.....if I say it here I'll be censored again....so the lefties will continue to blame the rich white American male...." Most of the best posters here are on that censored list, Eclaire; It's a badge of honor for a select few. Congrats. Anyone who doesn't believe me need only read the post above this one.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#28)
    by jondee on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 03:51:35 PM EST
    The ole blood,guts and glory 81st Keyboard Division has been going strong for awhile now..

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 03:52:42 PM EST
    desertswine - The issue is that any missle coming in from say, North Korea, will have to be intercepted over the pole and/or the Northwest Terrorities. Whether or not Canada likes it or not, this means that we will have to launch and climb through their airspace. Look at a globe. glanton - Wonderful idea. Kind of, in days of old.... Do you want to be a knight, or a serf? Maiden fair? Problem is, of course, that you're bringing a broadsword to a gunfight. Not too smart. desertswine - Agreed. Plus lack of education and a reduction in the fear factor because we aren't talking about AIDS, and people think we have it whipped. Wrong. GregZ`- The Caribs were cannibals.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#30)
    by jondee on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 04:01:39 PM EST
    Eclaire - So I suppose you just consider it your duty to blame the poor - balances things out. Afterall it takes a lot of guts to kick a man,or a woman,or alot of kids when theyre down. You get a rush out of that? They could probobly use you at Guantanamo.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#31)
    by Richard Aubrey on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 04:02:28 PM EST
    Is copyright infringement protected by tenure? Canada's only potential contribution to the anti-missile system is to concur in shooting down an incoming missile. That's if they joined us. Now we don't have to ask them if they'd mind. I see the Navy is five-for-six in its new SAM, shorter range than the anti-missile system in the northwest, but possibly the lessons can be used. This board is seeming to be awfully homophobic all of a sudden. I'm surprised. Really.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#32)
    by glanton on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 04:09:22 PM EST
    PPJ: Yes, times have changed, now American Presidents can wear suits and stay out of harms way, but still carry themselves with all the pomp and live according to all the luxury becoming of a divine King. "Hail to the Chief," and all that. I hear him called a "Terror Warrior" on FNC and the radio all the time. Other more timid folk in the MSM just use the phrase CinC about 80% more than that phjrase was ever applied to Geprge Washington, Abe Lincoln, or FDR for examples, in coverage. BTW: Now we don't have serfs, but we do have an underclass. Clearly you do not know what that is. They're the ones always getting laid off, or the ones living from paycheck to paycheck or (gasp!) the homeless, the uninsured, the expendable. These are the types our wars touch. This particular President risks nothing, which is of course normal; but he carries himself as though he were Henry V, which is the height of hypocrisy. Not getting high or planting a few reporters.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 05:01:39 PM EST
    Another plan this host has: 27/mo for 3.5G/70G. It's hosted at the Planet in Dallas, a major datacenter. The catch is: only 99.5% guaranteed uptime and you have to pay extra if you need support. HM has interesting plans, but since they didn't take an abuse complaint I had seriously, I have no interest in doing business with them.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 05:44:57 PM EST
    Re: AIDS rate among blacks.... By JEFF DONN Associated Press Writer BOSTON (AP) - The HIV infection rate has doubled among blacks in the United States over a decade while holding steady among whites _ stark evidence of a widening racial gap in the epidemic, government scientists said Friday... .... [text deleted] Heres where it gets good.... Still, they show a striking rise in the prevalence of the AIDS virus from 1 percent to 2 percent of blacks. White rates held steady at 0.2 percent. Largely because of the increase among blacks, the overall U.S. rate rose slightly from 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent. .............. So, if you were under the impression that HIV is twice as prevalent among blacks, errrr..... pay attention.... Blacks have AIDS at TEN TIMES the rate as whites. (whites .2%, blacks 2%) rest of the comment is trolling, deleted.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#34)
    by jimcee on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 07:30:25 PM EST
    Glanton, Please spare the pity for those of us who may have been broke at one time or another. I have been laid off, fired, and I've quit and joined. Grew up blue collar, came of age in Jimmy Carter's America with its "Misery Index", couldn't afford college and went to work. I was able to travel the world, do work that others romanticize about and live rather close to the bone on many occassions but have lived a fairly full life. Your pity for the poor is rather insulting. Life is what one makes it and if I had listened to enlightened folks like you I would have laid down like some sheep and begged for your guidance and would have been the poorer for it. Economic poverty is tough but often temporary in the US but it is really hard to unwillingly starve. Moral poverty is dangerous and self-serving. What I have done in my life was not because someone told me my life sucked, it came from people that approached life with an optimistic outlook and that was a good thing. Positive is Good. Negative is Bad. Pity is a bad political motive.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#35)
    by glanton on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:36:07 PM EST
    Jimcee, DO you ever respond to the actual point of people's posts? Read mine again. Then yours.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#36)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 06:03:13 AM EST
    Glanton. Wrong. Since, including, the Civil War, one half of the men of the relevant age group have been mentally, morally, or physically unfit for service. As time went on, that included lack of education. Many of the underclass--if you ever met one--are unfit for reasons having to do with health, criminal record, or poor education. During the Viet Nam war, LBJ and McNamara, concerned that the casualties were connected to voters, came up with "McNamara's Hundred Thousand", by reducing the requirements for the draft. This meant that about a hundred thousand more guys would be drafted who otherwise wouldn't have qualified. They were a disaster. Units would go to the field with empty slots, leaving these guys at base camp. It was terrible. THOSE were the underclass. The military society is (was, anyway) more like Southern lower middle class. There is no place in the military for the underclass, which, as it happens, is a moral and behavioral distinction, not an economic distinction. See Myron Magnet's "The Dream and The Nightmare" about what you can do to help.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#37)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:18:41 AM EST
    Richard A - You are correct, but that conflicts with the urban myths. What's making this worse, is that fewer and fewer people have any contact with the military in any form, so they believe almost anything they hear. We used to get people into the squadrons that were useless except for mess cooking and/or cleaning. These were mostly people who had volunteered to keep from being drafted. Glanton - I have never heard Bush referred to as a "Terror Warrior." If I heard it I would be LOL. Do you have a link? A President does not need to be a warrior. Lincoln and FDR come immediately to mind. Richard Aubrey is correct, the military is a way out for the poor, and it was, at one time, heavily southern. It now has a very large number of blacks and hispanics doing the same thing. I say God bless them. I have traveled their road, and they will learn much. These are the people who should be our leaders in the years to come.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#38)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 09:13:40 AM EST
    I was pleasantly surprised to read a few sane comments this time. Rare on this site. More on the infection rate of blacks. At this rate (doubling every decade), in about 55 years, EVERY BLACK IN AMERICA will have AIDS. No one wants to clearly state the reason for this increase, so I will do so.... Promiscuous sex without condoms. It is BEHAVIOR that is causing the increase. Now CENSOR ME AGAIN, talkleft, for stating a true fact. The same thing is happening in AK, where natives have AIDS at a similar rate. They are VERY PROMISCUOUS, and wouldn't dream of using condoms. End of story.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#39)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:38:01 PM EST
    Jim. I would modify your statement that the military is the way out for the poor. The really, really poor are disproportionately NOT in the service. They lack the education, frequently have health issues, may have criminal records, suffer from poor pre-and post-natal nutrition. I would say the lower middle class is about as far down the economic scale as you're going to get in looking at soldiers. This looks like the underclass to those who don't understand the underclass, lower middle class, or the military, or who are lying to make political points. James Webb, in his new book on the Scotch-Irish, talks of a fighting culture. The S-I were mostly in the south, so they were poorer than others. Military bases are mostly in the south due to the longevity of certain senators and congressmen, not to mention weather. Personally, I think lefties, especially the ones who are so white they glow in the dark, should enlist so as to relieve some of the burden currently carried by their less fortunate little brown brethren. If we want to lose wars, I mean.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#40)
    by glanton on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:45:14 PM EST
    RA writes, "The really, really poor are disproportionately NOT in the service. They lack the education, frequently have health issues, may have criminal records, suffer from poor pre-and post-natal nutrition." This is in all likelihood true. In fact, the really, really poor in this country don't belong anywhere, do they? We even have people on this thread trying to suggest they don't exist at all. You don't see them represented in the media, that's for sure. It makes for a much better Grand Narrative if we frame things from lower-middle up, makes it look like we have all this moral high ground, the land of milk and honey and all that. One of the many conveniences of conservative rhetoric: "Only if you 'bring it on yourself' will you suffer in America. And if you do 'bring it on yourself,' then screw you."

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#42)
    by glanton on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 08:19:50 PM EST
    Maybe Doctor Ace's true identity is Ric Flair?

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#43)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 07:51:56 AM EST
    Glanton, I suppose I should be hip enough to have heard of Ric Flair. I haven't. Please enlighten me. I don't know that conservatives are trying to make the underclass invisible. Part of the motivation of welfare reform is to redress what Shelby Steele said; that decades of white guilt and welfare have done what slavery and Jim Crow could not; destroy the black family. The amount of money gone in transfer payments to the underclass beggars conception. That's not ignoring. Underclass is a matter of attitude and behavior and expectation, and it's poison. Act that way and you will become poor if you're not already and you'll not likely get unpoor. Individuals may, but the community will not. Businesses who don't like drunks throwing up in their doorways will leave. Businesses who have to bear the expense of fencing the employee parking lot and hiring security to protect the employees' cars will leave. Anybody with a buck to spare will leave. Calling those folks racist won't make a penny's worth of difference. They'll still be gone. Being born in that circumstance is like being born with a zillion dollar debt against you. Blowing a drug test for employment means you'll be unemployed. Not showing up for work, ditto. Lots of problems. I'd say conservatives might want to change the underclass into the lower class with a foot on the ladder. It's a matter of compassion. There's no benefit to conservatives to have a population of the permanently screwed to use as political cannon fodder. Only liberals need the underclass.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#41)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 10:19:12 AM EST
    Glanton can shuuuure talk the talk. But does he walk the walk?

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#45)
    by glanton on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 12:47:32 PM EST
    Above by me.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#44)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 02:10:50 PM EST
    "There's no benefit to conservatives to have a population of the permanently screwed to use as political cannon fodder." No, conservatives don't use them for anything, they don't recognize them at all. Again, recognizing such would disrupt the Grand Narrative, the blather about "city on the hill," "land of opportunity," and all that. Clearly some liberals do merely use the underclass for political gain. But some are undoubtedly genuine in their desire to help, to recognize a society's investment in protecting its weakest citizens.

    Friday Open Thread | 43 comments (43 topical)