My fiancee can beat every song on GH3 on Expert except Through the Fire and Flames (and she’s gotten as far as 92% on that). Extremely annoying, especially since I can barely get through songs on Hard- lose my fingering too often when I have to move to the orange button.
There’s also the simple fact that it’s an interesting topic most people on the SDMB know something about.
Nice try, yarn-spinner… but everyone knows that a country that has embraced SOCIALISM wouldn’t have any wealthy businessmen!
Oh, I get it. It’s because all conservatives are morons. If they had a brain in their heads they’d be liberal, right?
Well, they certainly needn’t be.
No, hardly, LA. It’s about honesty and connection with reality, not basic intelligence. There are dishonest, choleric ideologues among liberals too, certainly. But among the antigovernment types, that’s pretty much all we see here, isn’t it?
Yes, Sam has a fine command of the English language (in spite of some unorthodox spellings 
). But don’t confuse articulateness with the quality of the underlying thought.
Just to clarify: that was certainly not my point.
Sam is a publicly acknowledged fan of Warren Zevon. This is, in itself, enough to suggest that he has excellent taste, which is often an indicator of sound reasoning. Frequently, at any rate.
And it is also true, as well, that he posts cogent arguments. Problem is, he frequently takes the “shotgun” approach: he posits a whole bunch of such arguments, each based on a conventional premise of conservative thinking, and posts them as if they were the accepted truth. To fairly argue, one must contradict each and every such conservative premise in order to argue against each and every conclusion. A tiresome rhetorical stratagem, but by no means illegitimate.
Regrettably, he sometimes jumps the track, as in the recent Palin thread. It was a sorry thing that ought not have seen the light of day.
All in all, rather like the girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead: when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad, she was horrid.
That’s why it’s so awesome to visit them in the summer and pound Labatt’s till sunset…ya know…round 10:30pm.
:smack:
Case in point. He has consistently said US unemployment rates have been historically low, even as they went above 7% and structural unemployment was much worse. I think he might have finally gotten it. He claimed the infrastructure stimulus was useless because all construction crews were working, even after being presented with evidence that projects had been stopped. Here is direct evidence against. A lot of his posts consist of citeless assertions, that others have to research to disprove.
It appears that bank regulation in Canada was stronger than here, and has worked pretty well. Maybe the problem is that he doesn’t get how bad it is now in the US. Maybe he believe Phil Gramm that it is all whining.
But he is the best the right has got around here, that I agree with.
Just to add to the points already made - yes, Sam Stone is Canadian and has conservative values that align more with the Rebublican party that the Democrats. This is entirely normal. We are not all one monolithic lefty bloc up North.
Like many others have said, Sam is a good contributor here, and argues his points well. I agree with him rarely, but value his input.
In terms of "why is he posting about US politics… I do so all the time and nobody has called me out about it. Canadians are very interested in US politics, as it has a huge impact on our country. Also, the last election cycle has been very interesting. Also, its a fun topic of conversation around the SDMB.
I don’t understand why people are singling out Canada. Why aren’t people asking why the other 50 states care about American politics?
I have also wondered the same as the OP. He seems to care about American politics more than most American dopers. I think he just has far more drive to convince people of his ideas than your average poster does. I have pretty much none, and I’ve never gotten that mindset anyway… so his extremity makes him all the more baffling to me.
I disagree with Sam, but I value his posts. The biggest reason I read the SDMB is as my own personal “fairness doctrine” for the news. I know I can always get the Right spin on whatever story comes up. Sam usually delivers it in a readable manner. Most of the other Rs around here can’t explain their side without being assholes about it.
Such ignorance! Canada isn’t a state, its a wholly owned subsidiary!
Canada is to the US as Austria is to Germany.
Come on now, people.
NHL expansion = Anschluss
Sam Stone is out working for a living in an office where he (fortunately for his productivity) can’t access the SDMB. I’m sure he’ll be only too happy to respond to this nonsense when he gets home in five or six hours, because for some reason he continues to engage in frequent discourse here, largely unrewarding as it seems to me. I wanted to allow my membership to expire unpaid, but he renewed it for me. We had a little chat about how I didn’t really give two dimes about what appeared next to my user name about the join date and number of posts and all of that.
“It’s important to me,” he said. So whatever. He doesn’t ask for much.
His unearthly tolerance also allows him to put up with me, so I guess I’ll not complain. He very, very rarely loses his temper in any way, shape, or form.
Most Albertans I know, unless they eschew politics as a preoccupation entirely, are very conversant in American political issues. That probably applies to most Canadians, though I have not traveled the entire country and can’t really say for sure. American political news appears on all the network broadcast channels – including Canadian ones – and is written up at length in Canadian newspapers. I remember getting on the school bus one day in grade four. “Gerald Ford is the new president,” announced my seatmate. I didn’t once think to freak out about her unnatural interest in another country’s election results. Any of my work peers can and will tell you how they feel about Sarah Palin and Freddie Mac at the drop of a hat. Why this should be surprising to people is what makes me question your overall ability to think things through – gee, we share a large border, numerous media outlets, and cultural features while having about one tenth the population and world influence of our neighbour? However could that evolve into an interest? Hmmmmmm, goodness, dunnnnnooooo.
I wish Obama voters had taken this advice to heart.
We did.
Well then, your wish is granted, because we very much did.
ETA: Dammit Bosstone!