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Fun with counterfactuals

…in this case, not the least because it posits an America where the Obamas exist outside of the federal government.

Of course, to truly buy into the thought experiment, one must pretend that Billy Ayers and his cabal of dirty influence peddlers wasn’t responsible for building — and then championing — the perfect postmodern candidate, an Other carefully framed to meet the expectations of pop-culture fetishists and superficial diversaphiles who would, were the technology available to them, happily distill, dry out, cut, and then snort their own concentrated sanctimony.

But give it a shot anyway, people. Willing suspension of disbelief and all that.

(h/t bh)

157 Replies to “Fun with counterfactuals”

  1. Makewi says:

    For my part, I prefer to smoke the lost dreams of watching my children enjoy the sorts of liberty and opportunity that I had when I was just starting out. I find it interacts with my prozac less than other substances and only causes medium to severe sleep loss.

  2. bh says:

    In this alternate world, I’m pretty sure I’d have an extra 10 pounds of muscle. And the pragmatists would be giving us a hard time for picking on McCain so much.

  3. geoffb says:

    Bouncing one more link from the one in the post lands at this, which posits the possibility that a certain Star Trek producer could be said to have destroyed the Trek franchise and the world.

  4. geoffb says:

    Bad day, should have read farther.

  5. bh says:

    Bad day? That’s what powdered sanctimony is for!

    I’m supposed to meet a guy in the alley and score an eight ball. Want to go halves? Turns out it cost a couple trillion dollars… so, I’m a bit short.

  6. router says:

    he’s a good man though

  7. Sdferr says:

    Makewi, I try to use stuff like this: sometimes it works for a little while, sometimes not.

  8. router says:

    the o! is a fascist really:

    As discussed in my earlier PJM report here, the principal sponsor of Obama’s literary career has been Germany’s Bertelsmann Corporation, which offered him a reported $2 million advance when he was still largely unknown. Obama’s 2004-2008 tax returns list over $6 million in income from the Bertelsmann subsidiary Random House (and over $2 million in what appears to be indirect income from Random House). This would not be worth mentioning here, were it not the case that the “in-house” historian of Bertelsmann and the Mohn family, which controls the corporation, is none other than Dirk Bavendamm. As likewise discussed in my earlier report, Bavendamm is an openly revisionist historian of the Second World War who, among other things, describes WWII as “Roosevelt’s war.”

    As bizarre as it may seem, President Obama’s impending trip to Dresden suggests that German revisionists have a friend in the White House.

    ?

  9. cynn says:

    So what does all this prove? That Obama is a hapless sap caught up in the easy money orgy and therefore unfit to lead the nation? That he had a brilliant plan (cue Blackadder) all along? You guys are truly disintegrating.

  10. Makewi says:

    Yes cynn, its absolute proof of disintegration to point out that a man who plays fast and loose with his own money will probably do so with the money of others. Pay no attention to the proofs of this theory playing out before your eyes.

  11. Jeff G says:

    If by “you guys” you mean every idea upon which the US was founded, I’ll agree with you, cynn.

    Otherwise, own your embarrassment.

  12. Mr. Pink says:

    You are jumping to conclusions cynn calm down.

  13. louchette says:

    it may be the bourbon speaking, but have i told you lately how juch i love you? (and not in a creepy stalker way.) SRSLY, i’m snagging nearly this whole thing. if that’s okay?

  14. Mr. Pink says:

    Why would you say that about Obama cynn? He has such a sterling background how could anyone think that?

  15. geoffb says:

    What if’s can be fun. However you can’t just change one and only one thing.

    You can’t usually in the real world either, a lesson the political types never seem to learn well.

  16. lee says:

    I don’t think cynn is bright enough to be embarrassed. She doesn’t understand the tremendous gift she got by being born a U.S. citizen, and will only get it when Obama tears down what we have and she is living like his brother in Kenya.

    Even then, she will probably blame Bush.

  17. B Moe says:

    he’s a good man though

    He cares about the less fortunate.

  18. router says:

    well the annenberg project was the warm up act.

    The cloak of media invisibility is slowly beginning to lift from Barack Obama’s most important administrative leadership experience, helming an expensive educational reform effort in Chicago that failed to produce any measurable academic gains, according to the project’s own final report.

    ?

  19. psycho... says:

    “Subprime” is the wrong angle.

    Their economic behavior indicates expectation of a bailout.

    And hey look.

  20. lee says:

    Sowell has a counterfactual for you.

    This process of “interpreting” the Constitution (or legislation) to mean pretty much whatever you want it to mean, no matter how plainly the words say something else, has been called judicial activism. But, as a result of widespread objections to this, that problem has been solved by redefining “judicial activism” to mean something different.

    By the new definition, a judge who declares legislation that exceeds the authority of the legislature unconstitutional is called a “judicial activist.”

    The verbal virtuosity is breathtaking. With just a new meaning to an old phrase, reality is turned upside down. Those who oppose letting government actions exceed the bounds of the Constitution— justices like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas— are now called “judicial activists.” It is a verbal coup.

  21. bh says:

    What’s your angle here, geoffb? Because I swear, if you break out the T-square or anything that even sounds like multivariate analysis, I’m going to run out of the room screaming.

    Once was enough.

  22. cynn says:

    Oh, psycho’s in the brilliant plan camp. No surprise. Obama ran for president and won, simply because he wanted to retroacively fix his mortgage. Fucking genius.

  23. bh says:

    Obama ran for president and won, simply because he wanted to retroacively fix his mortgage.

    cynn, you’re confused.

    I find it entertaining though. Please, carry on.

  24. router says:

    Obama ran for president and won, simply because he wanted to retroacively fix his mortgage.

    no the O! won because he great at spending other people’s money and soros likes that when he shorts the dollar.

  25. Mr. Pink says:

    I would say he won because a ham sandwhich would have won against a Republican in 08 and the fact the media went into the tank for him. Also he lied about taking public financing and his opponent did not.

  26. cynn says:

    Oh, so you’re in the grand upheaval camp.

  27. geoffb says:

    “the T-square or anything that even sounds like multivariate analysis, I’m going to run out of the room screaming.”

    Please don’t bh.

    For the past 24 hours reality seems to be screaming at me but it’s speaking some alien language. Or maybe this is the dream part.

  28. cynn says:

    No, no, you’re in the Boy Scout Camp. And you’d better get the hell out.

  29. Barbula says:

    Just like a fascist – always wanting to put people in camps.

  30. Mr. Pink says:

    No I am in the camp where I am not willing to throw stones at people on the right that are saying far less than Obama=Genocidal Mass Murdering Hitler or burning him in effigy. Call me when that happens.

  31. router says:

    #

    Comment by cynn on 5/12 @ 7:00 pm #

    Oh, so you’re in the grand upheaval camp.

    oh go ask chrysler and gm creditors and the banks who try to give back tarp and the “justice” dept. going after business.

  32. bh says:

    Oh, so you’re in the grand upheaval camp.

    Keep trying. Hint: check the last two paragraphs of the linked post. It’s in English and everything. Sometimes things are less subtext and more, well, text.

  33. bh says:

    I hear you, geoff. Just kidding.

    Like a dog slapped around every time they hear a whistle, I’ve learned to duck and cringe when I smell MVA.

  34. kelly says:

    Maybe you should try the psuedo erudite mascara, cynn.

    Oh, wait, let me be the first to say it becomes you.

  35. Pablo says:

    Ask GM, you say?

    GM shares hit a 76-year low after execs dump stock

    General Motors To Import Chinese-Built Cars?

    I’m just glad Baracky is in charge of GM now. What could go wrong?

  36. cynn says:

    bh: I don’t get your rant. The last two paragraphs are an opinion bit. Yes, I think the Obamas should be beholden to the same crap circumstances that this crap econonomy begets. But unfortunately, HE WON. All bets are apparently off, and all payback is apparently on.

  37. happyfeet says:

    mortgaging is a lot what amounts to the theme of him and his skeezey woman’s tenure in the white house of our little country. What won’t our hungarian muppet Chicago street trash president mortgage is what we’re waiting to discover.

  38. lee says:

    So, I’m reading Big Hollywood, and I come across this blast from the past: (from a debate on ABC, moderator Charlie Gibson)

    GIBSON: All right. You have, however, said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, “I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton,” which was 28 percent. It’s now 15 percent. That’s almost a doubling, if you went to 28 percent. But actually, Bill Clinton, in 1997, signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent.

    OBAMA: Right.

    GIBSON: And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.

    OBAMA: Right.

    GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased; the government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?

    OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.

    I wish I got to decide what was fair.

    Barry be bunking with his bro. (and he could take his illegal alien Aunt with him)

  39. kelly says:

    “HE WON. All bets are apparently off, and all payback is apparently on.”

    Have I mentioned how good you look in brownshirt?

  40. N. O'Brain says:

    “Comment by cynn on 5/12 @ 7:00 pm #

    Oh, so you’re in the grand upheaval camp.”

    Seeing as how he’s trying to destroy America, well, yeah.

  41. Darleen says:

    cynn

    It is just a little historical “reboot” where one small factor generates an alternative timeline.

    Don’t you know your Heinlein? Haven’t you seen the new Star Trek?

    Most rational adults had Barry and Michelle pegged when the whining over arugula and fresh fruit started.

  42. serr8d says:

    Livin’ on a prayer, overextended and close to the edge. Apply a nice coat of polish (thanks, Billy!), say the right things to the shady people; ask for and get help in identifying and applying awkward pressures to the weak links of the opposition.

    If one can secure enough of the well-positioned and influential Chicago politicos behind and in front, doors will be opened. Unmarked monies and promises of more will burrow well below the threshold of detection. Those quiet, unwritten (but never forgotten) debts will amass.

    Just don’t forget the owing or neglect the ones who are owed. Keep those reparations coming. Or there will be horse’s heads.

  43. geoffb says:

    I’ve learned to duck and cringe when I smell MVA.

    Don’t worry, the only T-square I could bring to a discussion, you could use to beat me with.

  44. N. O'Brain says:

    “Don’t you know your Heinlein?”

    {RAISES HAND IN BACK OF CLASS}

    Oooooo oooooo I do I do!!!!!!

  45. cynn says:

    You know what lee? Make your point.

  46. N. O'Brain says:

    “Calling a tail a leg doesnn’t make it one.”

    -Robert A. Heinlein

  47. N. O'Brain says:

    “The acme of prose style is exemplified by that simple, graceful clause: “Pay to the order of. . . .”‘”
    -Robert A. Heinlein

  48. N. O'Brain says:

    “That old saw about “to understand all is to forgive all” is a lot of tripe. Some things, the more you understand them, the more you loathe them.”

    -Robert A. Heinlein

  49. N. O'Brain says:

    “All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly, which can — and must — be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function. As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a “perfect society” on any foundation other than “Women and children first!” is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly — and no doubt will keep on trying.”

    -Robert A. Heinlein

  50. N. O'Brain says:

    “Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded- here and there, now and then- are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

    This is known as “bad luck.”

    -Robert A. Heinlein

  51. geoffb says:

    Or you could try the Simpsons.

  52. N. O'Brain says:

    “Anyone who clings to the historically untrue–and thoroughly immoral– doctrine that ‘violence never solves anything’ I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The Ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more disputes in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.”

    -Robert Heinlein

  53. cynn says:

    Darleen: No, I don’t know Heinlein, Rand, NcMurtry, Star Wars or Trek, Oprah, or even the Bush memoirs. I prefer to think for myself.

  54. N. O'Brain says:

    “Comment by cynn on 5/12 @ 7:29 pm #

    Darleen: No, I don’t know Heinlein, Rand, NcMurtry, Star Wars or Trek, Oprah, or even the Bush memoirs. I prefer to think for myself.”

    Ah. You’re proud of your ignorance, then.

  55. geoffb says:

    If you have Robert Heinlein and this kind of thread then you need the world in a Klein bottle. All You Zombies.

  56. cynn says:

    I’m proud of my independence. And your excuse?

  57. JHoward says:

    I’d prefer you do as well, cynn. So? And?

  58. JHoward says:

    Think, that is.

  59. JHoward says:

    And prove it.

  60. geoffb says:

    “Darleen: No, I don’t know Heinlein, Rand, NcMurtry, Star Wars or Trek, Oprah, or even the Bush memoirs. I prefer to think for myself.”

    Why read anything? It’s all second hand at best, and with postmodernism every book can be contained and explained in just.

  61. cynn says:

    JHoward, wtf are you talking about? I’ll answer anything.

  62. JHoward says:

    What are you drinking, cynn?

  63. cynn says:

    GeoffB: I might read them, but they don’t define me. Stop being shorthand for you own damn party.

  64. router says:

    yo cynn

    what is O!’s big vision of america?

  65. geoffb says:

    Did I ever talk about the projection on the Left. Oh, yeah, I did just recently.

  66. bh says:

    How do we run the Turing test if meya isn’t contributing comments as well?

  67. guinsPen says:

    the U.S. Senate … Michelle explained, “It was like Jack and his magic beans.”

    I think she meant Jack and his magic offs.

  68. N. O'Brain says:

    Comment by geoffb on 5/12 @ 7:31 pm #

    Muchas gracias, senor!

  69. geoffb says:

    You are welcome. It’s one of my favorites.

  70. Jeffersonian says:

    Of course, to truly buy into the thought experiment, one must pretend that Billy Ayers and his cabal of dirty influence peddlers wasn’t responsible for building — and then championing — the perfect postmodern candidate, an Other carefully framed to meet the expectations of pop-culture fetishists and superficial diversaphiles who would, were the technology available to them, happily distill, dry out, cut, and then snort their own concentrated sanctimony.

    That is fucking poetry. Well, it is if you’re Ogden Nash and hitting the meth pipe hard.

  71. cynn says:

    In my view, Obama is merely trying to pull this country back from the brink. The fact that he has dared to speak to leaders of other countries indicates that he is trying to repair the damage of the past.

  72. serr8d says:

    Yes, thanks, geoffb. How did you ever find that gem? The rooftop of that site is most unusual.

  73. router says:

    In my view, Obama is merely trying to pull this country back from the brink

    your opinion and what the communist in chief does are mutually exclusive.

  74. serr8d says:

    Oh, my favorite Heinline:

    “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

  75. Pablo says:

    What brink is that, cynn?

  76. serr8d says:

    Cynn, you’ve the pitching manure down pat. Can you cook?

  77. Jeffersonian says:

    No, no, you’re in the Boy Scout Camp. And you’d better get the hell out.

    I was at a Boy Scout Camp the other night for an Eagle ceremony. A lot of talk about responsibilty, citizenship, honor, bravery, reverence and the duty of the Eagle to exhibit them. No wonder the Left hates the Scouts with a blinding passion.

  78. cynn says:

    Well, you and Jhoward can go work that out.

  79. guinsPen says:

    Clink! Clink! Another Brink

  80. cynn says:

    Jeffersonian: I don’t hate the Rights or the Scouts. Just don’t be gay.

  81. happyfeet says:

    your president is dirty cynn

  82. geoffb says:

    Serr8ed,
    I knew the title and just googled.

  83. Makewi says:

    I am glad that Obama has dared to speak to foreign leaders in the hopes of repairing past damages. I wonder how that went.

    Later I’m going to dare to speak to people as well. I am sure other people have at some point wronged them, so it should be good for all involved.

  84. geoffb says:

    And your #74 is how I’ve tried to live, tried is the operative word.

  85. lee says:

    You know what lee? Make your point.

    My point?

    OK, you know that “change” thing Obama was always on about? What he has in mind is “changing” this country from “of the people, for the people”, to a monarchy, with him as king. He wants to rule, constitution and individual liberty be damned.

    He wants to fire CEO’s of private company’s, dictate how much can be spent on advertising, and decide who gets paid how much.

    He wants to run the banking industry.

    He wants to be able to determine how much a doctor can be paid, and which medical tests a citizen can have.

    He wants to appoint judges who peek from behind the blindfold and determine law with empathy, rather than apply the law and constitution.

    He wants to establish a mandatory, unpaid youth corp of his design.

    He wants to spend not just our money, or our kids, but our grandkids money.

    He wants to determine tax code by his own idea of “fairness”, not sound economics.

    He wants to humble our country before the world, rather than promote it’s greatness.

    My point? Obama is a megalomaniac that wants to turn “I won” from a term of service to the individual people of this country into a dictatorial fascist state that bares no resemblance to the Constitutional Republic for which I stand.

    And you voted for the bastard, you stupid bitch.

  86. cynn says:

    Happyfeet: My Presideht may be dirty, but my hands are clean!

  87. bh says:

    Okay, a bit off-topic, and possibly discussed before, but:

    When Meghan McCain used the phrase “dirty moderate” in that silly piece at the Daily Beast, did anyone else wonder why she used “dirty”. That’s not a common phrase “dirty moderate”. “Dirty” isn’t either, really.

    Was that an unintentional nod to pw and hf?

  88. happyfeet says:

    I just don’t want you to get hurt. Be careful with this one promise? He’s not what he seems.

  89. bh says:

    Re: 74, I think I’m an insect pretending to be human.

  90. cynn says:

    lee: you can’t substantiate any of your ravings.

  91. geoffb says:

    Oh noes, Meghan is a follower of happyfeet, for reals.

  92. happyfeet says:

    oh. Now she’s mocking me personally is that how she’s gonna play it huh. I will just have to rise above, bh.

  93. Mr. Pink says:

    85

    You fit alot of my thoughts into one comment. Thank you.

  94. Jeffersonian says:

    Re: 74, I think I’m an insect pretending to be human.

    You’ve got a place in the administration, bh. All federal policy is henceforth being based on behavior models of ant and bee colonies.

  95. Mr. Pink says:

    “He wants to fire CEO’s of private company’s, dictate how much can be spent on advertising, and decide who gets paid how much.”

    Cynn do you read the f@ckin news?

  96. cynn says:

    Rejoice.

  97. Jeffersonian says:

    lee: you can’t substantiate any of your ravings

    Just off the top of my head, I can substantiate about 2/3 of them. What cave do you live in, Cynn?

  98. Mr. Pink says:

    “He wants to spend not just our money, or our kids, but our grandkids money.”

    Cynn do you read the f@ckin news?

    “He wants to determine tax code by his own idea of “fairness”, not sound economics.”

    Cynn do you listen to what Obama says or do you just imagine it?

  99. Mr. Pink says:

    “He wants to appoint judges who peek from behind the blindfold and determine law with empathy, rather than apply the law and constitution.”

    Cynn Obama said that less than a month ago when Souter announced his retirement.

  100. SarahW says:

    Cynn, you sound like Elizabeth Edwards. Like Megan McAllister. Maybe mostly like Shaggy.

  101. router says:

    megans lead us dear

  102. Andrew says:

    lee #85- U woke this lurker up.
    Thank you.

  103. N. O'Brain says:

    “Comment by cynn on 5/12 @ 7:54 pm #

    In my view, Obama is merely trying to pull this country back from the brink.”

    In my view, he’s trying to kick America into the fascist abyss.

    “The fact that he has dared to speak to leaders of other countries indicates that he is trying to repair the damage of the past.”

    The fact that he talks to fascist thugs kinda shows his true colors.

  104. guinsPen says:

    I’m a human pretending to be penguins.

  105. router says:

    hey megan you be hookin’ up with colon?

  106. cynn says:

    Then I would suggest you remove your ass ASAP; because any day now we will confisgate your shitty worthless property.

  107. N. O'Brain says:

    “Comment by SarahW on 5/12 @ 8:28 pm #

    Cynn, you sound like Elizabeth Edwards. Like Megan McAllister. Maybe mostly like Shaggy.”

    Rut Roh!

  108. N. O'Brain says:

    Is “confisgate” anything like Watergate?

  109. router says:

    i denounce the progg republicans f@@k ’em

  110. Jeffersonian says:

    Then I would suggest you remove your ass ASAP; because any day now we will confisgate your shitty worthless property.

    I’d say Cynn’s bucking for a czarina spot.

  111. cynn says:

    Nobrain: confisgate is even worse than seize (sp) because it’t so ominous.

  112. Sean M. says:

    The fact that he has dared to speak to leaders of other countries indicates that he is trying to repair the damage of the past.

    And this has gotten us where, exactly, so far?

  113. guinsPen says:

    Can we settle on Obsconded?

  114. lee says:

    Then I would suggest you remove your ass ASAP; because any day now we will confisgate your shitty worthless property.

    we will confisgate your shitty worthless property?

    hahahahaha

    Oh you poor deluded, useful idiot you!

    hahahahaha

  115. cynn says:

    I’m breathing, are you?

  116. guinsPen says:

    O!sconded.

  117. router says:

    Nobrain: confisgate is even worse than seize (sp) because it’t so ominous.

    steal? rob? unlawful takings?

  118. router says:

    I’m breathing, are you?

    how much are you costing the gov’t?

  119. Darleen says:

    I’m proud of my independence

    I don’t think the word means what you think it does. “Independence” is not a synonym for “ignorance”.

  120. Mr. Pink says:

    Cynn I am sorry if I am personally attached to OUR freedoms. When I hear “shit” freedoms which I fought for being taken away I get pissed. Even supposedly “dangerous” ones like smoking in a bar or driving with my cell phone on. So maybe you might find some CEO you never knew getting his freedom snatched away nothing to worry about, I don’t. My opinion is valid.

  121. cynn says:

    OK, so Darleen marches in and flips on the light, and Mr. Pink has major issues, guess I gotta go.

  122. cranky-d says:

    I would say, “Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out,” but I would rather it did.

  123. bh says:

    cynn brings to mind an old conversation I had.

    In the end, a lot of this comes down to how old you were when you figured out the way things are. See the Rhetoric and Pedagogy thread for the Hobbes discussion.

    If you figured that out early, you’re conservative/classically liberal. As you interpreted the new information coming your way, you had a mental hook to place it on.

    If you never figured this out or you figured it out after you fully developed your personality, you’re just eternally optimistic about the various utopian plans and schemes you hear about.

    cynn, what I’m saying is, you might not be able to grow up, because you can only grow up in your youth, not as an adult.

  124. cynn says:

    Plus he used a “snatch” variation.

  125. serr8d says:

    I’m breathing, are you?

    Ugggh. You’re conducting breathless mouth breathing. And here I thought you were coming along quite nicely.

  126. cynn says:

    oops, totally wrong website!

  127. router says:

    oops, totally wrong website!

    try koskids

  128. Darleen says:

    oh lordy, I missed this one

    The fact that he has dared to speak to leaders of other countries indicates that he is trying to repair the damage of the past

    Cuz, like using Israel as a tasty appetizer to get Iran to the table is really going to work out so well.

  129. lee says:

    Did I say megalomania?

    Why yes, yes I did.

  130. cynn says:

    I think they’re huffing too much over there; think I’ll sstay here.

  131. router says:

    I think they’re huffing too much over there; think I’ll sstay here.

    andy make you dandy

  132. Swen Swenson says:

    Comment by Jeffersonian on 5/12 @ 8:18 pm #
    Re: 74, I think I’m an insect pretending to be human.

    You’ve got a place in the administration, bh. All federal policy is henceforth being based on behavior models of ant and bee colonies.

    Termites actually. Check out E.O. Wilson’s Sociobiology for a truly frightening vision of a well-managed society in our brave, brave new world..

  133. bh says:

    E.O. Wilson’s Sociobiology

    That guy? Genius.

  134. B Moe says:

    I think they’re huffing too much over there…

    They might be on drugs, hard to tell these days.

  135. geoffb says:

    E.O. Wilson’s Sociobiology

    It’s been quite a few years since I’ve read that. Must be buried around here somewhere.

  136. JHoward says:

    In my view, Obama is merely trying to pull this country back from the brink.

    From what brink, cynn? Remember: You’re the independent thinker; maybe enough with the talking points, eh? In your view, from what brink, cynn?

  137. JHoward says:

    lee: you can’t substantiate any of your ravings.

    Probably lee can substantiate all of his ravings, cynn. Probably I can substantiate all of his ravings, cynn.

    But would it batter to your view?

  138. ThomasD says:

    Re: Cynn’s ‘brink’

    Obama seeks to pull us back from the brink of another 230 years of a belief in individual freedom, traditional religion, limited government, property rights, the rule of law, free markets, laissez-faire economics and market competition.

  139. LTC John says:

    I want to know how getting the President of France to mock him, the German PM to tell him “nein, danke” and the Israeli PM to ignore him is pulling us back from the brink? Maybe it was the cutting missile defense, nuclear weapons PM/QA or the F-22 that kept us from danger?

    Wait, was it the deciding a car maker’s advertising budget that saved us from the plunge?

  140. kasper says:

    The problem with people like Cynn is that this country’s freedoms have allowed them the luxury of being utterly stupid. The election of Obama gives them even more reason to luxuriate in their stupidity.

    Cynn’s lack of critical-thinking skills represents a waste of human potential. Cynn actually knows that about herself. She and her ‘peeps’ maybe at one time could have amounted to something even they liked. But in truth, they don’t like themselves much … because there is nothing to like, is there, Cynn? And it our fault isn’t it, Cynn?

  141. Matt says:

    *In my view, Obama is merely trying to pull this country back from the brink.*

    By spending like a drunken sailor and taxing the living shit out of everyone who makes money (and thus contributes to employing the less fortunate, who Obama claims to care so much about). I mean, you don’t agree the government running automakers is not a good thing ?

  142. Matt says:

    Have to add I disagree with lee – Obama’s not trying to be king. Instead, he’s being run by a group of people who a. want to hold onto power at all cost and b. believe the only way to do so is by making people, companies, everybody more dependent on governement and thus beholden to the people in power (ie them).

    Claiming Obama wants to be king or “destroy the country” or constantly harping on the stupid birth certificate thing is counter productive to making a common sense argument about obama and his parties’ real motivation. They pander because they want to stay in power, they want to stay in power to reap the benefits of power, they lie to cover up their pandering so they can stay in power and they crush dissent because dissent sheds light on their lies.

    I don’t care if Obama wants to be emperor of the universe- what I do care about is he’s undermining the founding principles of this country so he and his buddies can Alinsky in the socialist paradise they believe will keep them and their party in power in perpetuity.

  143. kasper says:

    Matt: “Obama’s not trying to be king. Instead, he’s being run by a group of people who. want to hold onto power at all cost and b. believe the only way to do so is by making people, companies, everybody more dependent on governement and thus beholden to the people in power (ie them).
    Claiming Obama wants to be king or “destroy the country” or constantly harping on the stupid birth certificate thing is counter productive to making a common sense argument about obama and his parties’ real motivation.”

    Holding on to power by “making people, companies, everybody more dependent on governement and thus beholden to the people in power (ie them).” = “wants to be king or ‘destroy the country'”

    Common sense tells me that IS Obama’s ‘real motivation.’ Same difference.

  144. Carin says:

    Not only do I think Obama (or at least his party’s) motivations is to increase a permanent voter base (expanding federal employees, expanding various forms of hand-outs), but I also think there must be some sort of ego/hero complex. He’s going to be Martin Luther King Jr and change the world. Except the changes he’s making are statist in nature. He wants to reorganize “us” to suite his vision.

    And that vision is very, very flawed. He imagines himself a new FDR.

  145. Pablo says:

    I don’t care if Obama wants to be emperor of the universe- what I do care about is he’s undermining the founding principles of this country so he and his buddies can Alinsky in the socialist paradise they believe will keep them and their party in power in perpetuity.

    That’s pretty much the same thing, Matt. Basically the how and why sides of the same coin.

  146. Mr. Pink says:

    Cynn I am not the one with a problem you are. You are denying what is going on and what is easily verifiable in mainstream news because of the manlove you have for one politician you never met. You might as well have a Tigerbeat poster with Zach Efron up on your bedroom wall.

  147. Matt says:

    You know, maybe its Jeff’s tutelage but I fear hyperbole when the situation appears so dire. I think you folks are right obviously- king, emperor, Flash- aaahh-aaahhhh- Savior of the Universe… whatever you want to call it, he wants to be it. But we say “King” the and left blows it up into an argument about kings and they’ll say stupid things like “well its not like hes’ wearing a crown” to distract from the real point. The people who don’t get politics also say “well come on, even if he’s wrong, he doesn’t want to be king” and the discussion with the less informed gets bogged down into a semantic discussion about “what is a king.” It happens that way, I think, because the left realizes people are not very bright and are easily distracted by shiny argument (read : distracting and stupid but kinda interesting- more interesting to them then say intentionalism).

    Nobody is more frustrated then I am about the rather dire situation we see developing- I think we just have to argue against it without exaggeration, as our common sense fact based arguments should be sufficient without the attempts to inflame based on hyperbole.

    That being said, I generally nod my head when happy types “hungarian socialist muppet” and have used same in discussions with co-workers- then we get bogged down in a discussion about what a muppet is and whether muppets can come from hungary and whether hungary is actually socialist. I should practice what I preach I guess =x

  148. Pablo says:

    But we say “King” the and left blows it up into an argument about kings and they’ll say stupid things like “well its not like hes’ wearing a crown” to distract from the real point.

    Right. Not a crown. And I’ll recall something I said yesterday.

  149. Sdferr says:

    Matt, do you find anything of Charles Krauthammer’s analysis of Obama’s intentions to be useful, for instance? Krauthammer mostly sticks to the facts or, in the alternative, Obama’s own words as matter from which to draw inferences and conclusions (only throwing in the rare hyperbolic jest, and even then apologizing almost immediately for taking the liberty).

    I thought it interesting that last night, during the discussion of the apparent Obama admin moves to maybe, possibly, refuse to publish forthwith the photographs of US service personnel in various ugly compromised positions of wrongdoing, and maybe, possibly, push back against the ACLU and take the case further up the appeals process, Krauthammer contrasted Obama’s belief that with his ascension to the Presidency all former US policy and history could be set aside, that he, Obama, couldn’t be held responsible for the things he himself had not done and that therefore he could accede to the ACLU without any untoward consequence to himself. Now, Krauthammer points out, Obama seems to begin to understand that should he publish the photos, and should US personnel be harmed, killed even, in any subsequent backlash, he, Obama, will be held accountable for having issued the order to publish the photos. The immaturity of Obama’s position, both before and after this change of view, it seems to me, is the problem, no matter what “ends” Obama may choose to pursue.

  150. A fine scotch says:

    cynn,

    Here’s substation for at least one (with the aim of adding a second) of Lee’s ravings in a very aptly timed article from the WSJ:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124215896684211987.html

    Headline: “U.S. Eyes Bank Pay Overhaul”

    Paragraph #1:
    “WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has begun serious talks about how it can change compensation practices across the financial-services industry, including at companies that did not receive federal bailout money, according to people familiar with the matter.”

    I’d highlight the portion in the middle “INCLUDING AT COMPANIES THAT DID NOT RECEIVE FEDERAL BAILOUT MONEY” but my HTML-fu is lacking.

  151. Rob Crawford says:

    Instead of “king”, how about “Presidente”?

  152. A fine scotch says:

    Oh, and the word ravings in the above should read “ravings” (with quotes), as once again, cynn uses a word that doesn’t mean what she thinks it means.

  153. Rob Crawford says:

    Didn’t one of Obama’s advisors say something about “ready to rule on day one”?

    American Presidents don’t rule. They govern, or serve. They are not our rulers — in the American Experiment, we’re supposed to be our own rulers.

  154. Mr. Pink says:

    Also you had the video the celebrity tools put out where they said they were ready to serve Obama.

  155. Makewi says:

    In the end, a lot of this comes down to how old you were when you figured out the way things are.

    Since I was involved in that discussion, where would you plot me on your scale? I’m just curious.

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