gunnergoz

"The burning Bush" has an almost biblical lilt to it...I can dig it!

There seems to be a rule in history that entities grow to the point that they can no longer effectively survive, and then they atrophy, deflate and/or are destroyed by forces they cannot control. When I see all the small businesses that over the years have been killed off due to a monopoly-encouraging economic model lovingly fostered by the richest folks in America, I get nauseated to my core by this. It used to be said that the business of America is business but in fact the business of America has been the enrichment of a few at the expense of the rest of us. The failure of the auto industry is symptomatic of the way these people create wealth-creating corporate monstrosities and then they abandon them and run off with their riches, bonuses and perks, leaving the workers and country holding the dinner tab.

Fell on their swords? This game was on my must buy list based on the web site's info but I'm glad I didn't snap it up on release. On the one hand, they are at least working the problem. On the other hand, why and how did they ever release it in such an untested state?

I mean, gosh, this is pretty important stuff here...

But is that what we really want?

Ok, good idea.

Eww, now I feel like the forum's been...tainted. Quick Henry, the Flit!

Well, that went nowhere fast...

Tripe. What an ego.

All life is politics...

But it misses the point that what Obama was selling about himself was not his blackness, but the attitude of change he would bring to DC. It's a complicated mix of things to grasp, I grant you. That this racial element of the "Obama phenomenon" is what is being seized upon by these cartoonists, is itself indicative of the ways local issues and perspectives warp and alter the perception of what is happening elsewhere.

Hmmm, that sounds a bit too KKK for my tastes, but I would heartily endorse a tar and feathering of a few of the administration including the big cheese himself.

Right, I'm not A DAMN BIT BITTER over the last 8 years of someone systematically disemboweling the America I knew.

Er, I beg to differ, but this is a tired old rehash of the initial GOP argument of "who?", as if Obama suddenly transported into this dimension from another one. He was hardly a dark horse candidate (no pun intended.) Obama's written about himself, his life and bio details are well known, his history as a community worker and later involvement in politics are all part of the public record. I'd suggest that if somebody claims that nothing is known about the man, then they haven't bothered looking very deep. Willful ignorance of a factual record is not much of an argument, is it?

Well, soon the Bush cabal will be gone and there will no one to blame and kick around except the Democrats and Obama. I expect the Republicans and conservatives will get plenty of practice criticizing and undercutting the new administration over the next 4 years. It remains to be seen if this "change we can believe in" can overcome the reluctance of the other side to taking part in any change at all.

Bah! I got socks older than these guys...

Nor do all lawyers support Obama - a fact for which I'm sure the latter is greatly relieved.

Since the official US policy at the time was racially-biased segregation and discrimination, it seems only fair and just to me to have the film industry reflect that in their productions...WWII veterans were not treated uniformly for their sacrifices; how they were treated after the war reflected the social norms of the time. Hence the justification for specialized treatments for minority experiences in film and novels. If one were to listen to you, the Jim Crow era never existed and the USA was a paragon of equal treatment and opportunity for all races - everyone got treated the same then and everyone gets praised the same now. To me, your flippant attitude concerning the history and perspective of other groups and minorities seems to reflect a certain personal centrism, i.e. a belief that the experience and recollection of your collective group (presumably white people) is the norm. I think that's plain naive but you are welcome to disagree.

I recall arguing that Spike Lee had a point about Clint Eastwood under-representing Black Marines in Flags of our Fathers. OK, so now Spike has his chance to prove he can slug it out with Clint as a producer of war films...and it looks like a misfire. Too bad. I'll probably still see it but if the reviewer is even halfway impartial, it looks like a flop and that's unfortunate because Black WW2 veterans still deserve a movie worthy of their sacrifices. http://www.military.com/entertainment/movies/movie-reviews/movie-review-miracle-at-st.-anna?wh=wh

All I know is that there was a great push many years ago to "deregulate" everything because that would make everything work oh so well. All that I can see as a result is chaos and plundering by a relative few, at the expense of the many. I recall the mantra in a movie about Wall Street - "Greed is good." Perhaps for the predatory few, but what of the rest of the populace? It could be said that greedy persons invested in homes that they could not afford and since then have lost them - but in the end all they did was sign on the bottom line as they pursued the American Dream. Just as millions of Americans still remain in great personal unsecured debt...because they want the things that middle class life in a modern world is supposed to bring them. Now it is clear that the ideal life described by the media for the middle class is really a come-on, soliciting the listener to take on debt loads for years without end. There are few who can live the lifestyle of a middle class or upper class person without incurring debt, and most of those probably inherited their assets - or are part of the predatory pack that is causing all this economic cannibalization. Given that the average person has a limited attention span and lack of analytical capability, both of which are characteristics encouraged by the media and the state-run education system, the "sheep led into the shearing pen" syndrome is understandable. They see, they want, they borrow and they borrow even more when it is offered, all without consideration of the end result. I frankly don't expect any more great things coming from this country, with the sort of leadership that has been nurtured and fostered, and given the sad state of awareness and ability bred and encouraged in the citizenry. It's the Roman Empire all over again and the barbarians are at the gates, eager to divvy up the spoils.

You tell 'em, John. Well said.

Let me guess...pork-dipped M-16 ammo?

No pretending involved. Religiously-dominated personalities behave this way almost without fail. This is from observation, not assumption. When one accepts membership into the body of the religiously inclined, one by definition concedes control over the external world (and often the internal one as well) to this removed power. This power can be dogma, leaders, assumptions, beliefs, values...the key point is that the person takes responsibility from their own shoulders and yields it to the religious aspect of their lives. Now responsibility is magically removed from them as long as they follow the religious script they have signed up for and announce to all that they follow. And they can then allow others to modify this script because these religious elders are entitled to so so because they have direct communications with the deity. It's like handing another person your puppet strings and saying, "manipulate me, I'm yours to move and to shape." In that respect, I see Christians as being similar Muslims, Hindus, Satanists or Jews for that matter...each group is locked tight into its belief system and membership excludes heretical or individualistic thought. Each religion is free to then attack the others as "false" and their members as "infidels." And obviously, no one outside of the religion can possibly have a decent value system, since only "god" can confer one worth observing and respecting. "Pretending?" More like 50-plus years of direct observation and study of present affairs and past history.

No, actually, it is a fact based upon close observation. Religious beliefs foster thinking along channels that preclude and discourage deviation by eliminating alternate ways of perception. The believer thinks and acts along these dogmatic and institutionalized lines of approved thought and action so long that he gets into a type of mental and behavioral rut and can't rise over the top of it to see outside of his own belief pattern. The reality is the rut behind him and the rut ahead of him. On either side are insurmountable obstacles to seeing anything any other way. Religion encourages him to keep his head down, look, backwards for inspiration and forward along the rut he's already trod (along with his predecessor believers) for the route to the future...and the same old results and outcomes...which are all "gods will" after all. I don't see people in that position "thinking" at all...I see them following scripts and feelings, with nary an original thought. They have "found" the answer, why look farther or think any deeper?

The whole problem with this religion mixed with politics thing is that it gives people one more excuse to stop thinking critically and as a bonus they get to justify doing what they want by proclaiming it was really god's will all along. Anybody who opposes the true believer is obviously pagan, heretical or diabolical - and clearly the enemy, in any case. The Democrats play this religious thing very amateurishly because they actually are secularists and just don't have the guts to admit it...and once the religious theme is on the table, you ignore it or challenge it at your own political risk. The Republicans revel in the religious thing because it suits their self-righteous side to a T and nicely justifies anything they want to do. This whole tired game is pretty soon to come to an end, since in a couple of generations, white Americans will be the minority, and the new and diverse majority will be calling the shots according to their own terms, notions, values, beliefs and priorities. I'm not even sure today's American political parties will survive - and if they do, they will hardly be recognizable.