# Good riddance to bad rubbish: Chuck Colson is dead **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 22, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550 "2012-04-22T02:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/101 "2012-04-25T21:57:18Z")
I recall an old _Doonesbury_ from during the Watergate hearings. 3 panels showing Capitol Hill with those balloonless word-balloons Trudeau uses above it – two Congresscritters talking – “How are the hearings going?” “Terrible! Half the witnesses swear their boss can do no wrong, the other half swear he’s a crook!” “Who’s up next?” “Colson! And who knows what **he’ll** say!” 4th Panel: Colson seated before the Congressional committee: “Jesus asked me to be here with you today.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/102 "2012-04-25T22:00:42Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Wait, what? I’m not defending Colson! God damn you’re dumb. I just don’t think Republicans are waging biological warfare on Africa. Do you? **Der Trihs** does and that belief is insane. > [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Cite? Clarify, please. Cite that it’s an insane belief, or cite that **Der Trihs** holds it? ---
**Author:** ![Library\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@Library\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Library_Boy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/103 "2012-04-25T22:05:12Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Clarify, please. Cite that it’s an insane belief, or cite that **Der Trihs** holds it? I think if you prove one, it pretty much takes care of the other. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/104 "2012-04-25T22:50:17Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Clarify, please. Cite that it’s an insane belief, or cite that **Der Trihs** holds it? Cite that\*\* Der Trihs\*\* ever expressed the belief that “Republicans are waging biological warfare on Africa.” ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/105 "2012-04-25T23:43:59Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Cite that\*\* Der Trihs\*\* ever expressed the belief that “Republicans are waging biological warfare on Africa.” God damn, you’re dumb. The cite you want is post 28. Did you even read this thread? The thing’s been quoted four or five times already. > [@Der Trihs](#): > > The Republicans have always essentially looked at AIDS as a biological weapon to kill gays and Africans; something to be encouraged, not stopped. I suppose you could make a semantic case that that isn’t outright “biological warfare”, but if he believes that Republicans are encouraging the spread of what they view as a biological weapon to kill Africans, it’s close enough. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/106 "2012-04-25T23:57:13Z")
And for the record, I will never shed a tear for Colson. Let the motherfucker rot. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/107 "2012-04-26T07:57:01Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > God damn, you’re dumb. The cite you want is post 28. Did you even read this thread? The thing’s been quoted four or five times already. > I suppose you could make a semantic case that that isn’t outright “biological warfare”, but if he believes that Republicans are encouraging the spread of what they view as a biological weapon to kill Africans, it’s close enough. “essentially looked at” is a far cry from “waging.” You need to learn how to read. Seriously. Don’t hit “submit reply.” Don’t even bother composing the lame reply. Just go out and enroll in a “remedial reading for idiots” course. Today. Right now. Do it. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/108 "2012-04-26T08:35:13Z")
God damn, you’re just as bad as he is. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/109 "2012-04-26T08:46:51Z")
I blame Chuck Colson for this entire trainwreck of a thread. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/110 "2012-04-26T09:01:16Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > “essentially looked at” is a far cry from “waging.” You need to learn how to read. Seriously. Don’t hit “submit reply.” Don’t even bother composing the lame reply. Just go out and enroll in a “remedial reading for idiots” course. Today. Right now. Do it. I will actually answer this. Let’s look at this not with semantics, but with logic. “Republicans have always essentially essentially looked at AIDS as a biological weapon to kill gays and Africans” A biological weapon to kill. That’s what he is saying. They look at AIDS as a biological weapon to kill. That’s insane. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/111 "2012-04-26T10:07:38Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > I will actually answer this. Let’s look at this not with semantics, but with logic. > > “Republicans have always essentially essentially looked at AIDS as a biological weapon to kill gays and Africans” > > A biological weapon to kill. That’s what he is saying. They look at AIDS as a biological weapon to kill. > > That’s insane. No, it’s what _they themselves_ have been saying every time they claimed it was God’s judgment on homosexuals. And “insane”? Not wrong, but\* insane\*? Since when is accusing a group known to be bigoted of enjoying the deaths of the people they hate “insane”? Especially when so many openly gloat over those deaths. Your own position is far closer to “insane”; your absolute denial of even the possibility of Republican bigotry, to such an extent that anyone who thinks they are bigots is not merely wrong, but “insane”. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/112 "2012-04-26T11:12:51Z")
See, now one of the first things you could learn from your “remedial reading for idiots” course" (you HAVE signed up, haven’t you? Or do you want some help filling out the application form?) is that the word “essentially” (or the words “basically,” “figuratively,” or the expressions “as if” or “in essence”) is a CLUE that the words that immediately follow will be a kind of metaphor or other imaginative, not-literal summation. In your further coursework, you’ll learn that overlooking this basic fact will lead you to make what is known as a “strawman” argument, a fallacy in which you attack statements that your antagonist has not actually made. This allows you to jump up and down on what you think is the corpse of your defeated antagonist but which is actually a pile a straw, while everyone else points fingers at you and proclaims how dumb you are. HINT: this is generally considered undesirable, and should be avoided by people not wishing to earn a reputation for massive dumbness. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/113 "2012-04-26T11:36:00Z")
Dudes, insanity is standing by a viewpoint when all facts prove otherwise. **Lobohan** , who is as left wing as they come, also pointed this out. Bush started [PEPFAR](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_Emergency_Plan_for_AIDS_Relief) for Christ’s sake’s. Republicans are people, too. Except for Colson, I’m pretty sure that guy was born of from some unholy union between a lizard and and a weasel. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/114 "2012-04-26T11:47:15Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, it’s what _they themselves_ have been saying every time they claimed it was God’s judgment on homosexuals. Who the hell is _they_? Again, aside from nut bags like Jerry Falwell who in fact is not a spokesman for the Republican Party, show where the Republicans have been saying AIDS is God’s judgment on homosexuals, openly gloat over their deaths and have encouraged the use of AIDS as biological warfare against homosexuals (oh, and black people. You keep forgetting you said they want to kill non-white people with AIDS too). Still no comment on Koop, the Evil Xian Repug who launched an unprecedented campaign to combat the spread of AIDS including advocating the use of condoms and sex education in schools demonstrating the proper use of a condom to the horror of religious extremists opposed to birth control, much less sex outside of heterosexual marriage? > [@](#): > > And “insane”? Yes, insane. You are a crazy person. Four people have already told you that your statements in this thread alone are those of a crazy person. That and there was that bout of paranoia where you claimed to be having your worlds distorted in order to slander you which was clearly a creation in your own mind in total variance with reality. You are capable of being reasonable, but as soon as something involving the Republicans or religion is mentioned you are incapable of rational thought and dive headlong into the deep end of insanity, honestly believing that Republicans and all religions are composed of nothing but murderous bigots gloating over how many people they kill without any hyperbole. That is insane. You and Falwell have a lot in common in your view of the world, but only an idiot would claim the nonsense you spout is indicative of the views held by everyone on the left and/or atheists. I should know, I’m on the left and think you’re bat shit insane when it comes to these two issues. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/115 "2012-04-26T11:51:34Z")
Let me quote that cite, **Der Trihs** , (OK, it’s wikipedia, but still…) > [@wikipedia](#): > > PEPFAR has been called the largest health initiative ever initiated by one country to address a disease. So you can both shut the fuck up. Republicans (a group I am decidedly not a member of) do not “essentially looked at AIDS as a biological weapon to kill gays and Africans”. That’s conspiracy theory thinking. It’s insane. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/116 "2012-04-26T13:43:42Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > do not "essentially looked at AIDS In your advanced coursework (many, many years from now), you will study how to quote so that your grammar makes sense. Meanwhile, I’d work on that “remedial reading for idiots” if I were you… No one is talking about Bush’s policies here. **Der Trihs** specifically referred to Reagan-era policies which, at best, treated AIDS as “not our problem” and neglected to act quickly against it, refused to spend resources on allowing it to spread, and through their neglect, displayed a total lack of regard for the health of AIDS-sufferers everywhere, and especially in Africa. The fact that later generations of Republicans have been less callous in this regard doesn’t begin to mitigate the criminal self-interest of the Republicans now under discussion, however much you try to shift the focus away from them. There are big words in the previous paragraph. Ask your mommy to explain them to you. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/117 "2012-04-26T13:58:44Z")
There is simply no point in this. This is my last post in this thread. Colson is worm food, you’re an idiot, and red shirt is insane. I’m done. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/118 "2012-04-26T19:37:04Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > In your advanced coursework (many, many years from now), you will study how to quote so that your grammar makes sense. Meanwhile, I’d work on that “remedial reading for idiots” if I were you… > > No one is talking about Bush’s policies here. **Der Trihs** specifically referred to Reagan-era policies which, at best, treated AIDS as “not our problem” and neglected to act quickly against it, _ **refused to spend resources on allowing it to spread,** _ and through their neglect, displayed a total lack of regard for the health of AIDS-sufferers everywhere, and especially in Africa. The fact that later generations of Republicans have been less callous in this regard doesn’t begin to mitigate the criminal self-interest of the Republicans now under discussion, however much you try to shift the focus away from them. > > There are big words in the previous paragraph. Ask your mommy to explain them to you. See, the problem here, **prr** , is that the sins you describe above appear to apply to the Republican Party of a generation ago; and **Der Trihs** , if [post 28](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14990741&postcount=28) is to be taken as an indication, sees those sins as equally applicable to the party today. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > They pretty much are the same thing. The Republicans have always essentially looked at AIDS as a biological weapon to kill gays and Africans; something to be encouraged, not stopped. ETA: Please consider reworking the portion of your quoted text that I have highlighted with various tags; it’s reading a little incoherent. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/119 "2012-04-26T22:34:29Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [The fucker finally died](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_CHARLES_COLSON?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-04-21-21-15-15), at 80 years old. > > Sorry, but I don’t buy into the born-again thing, especially not for someone as devious and cynical as Colson was, so no, he doesn’t get any credit for working the God angle. He was a son of a bitch and a fucking traitorous asshole. > > He will not be missed. Working the God angle only made him more of a douchebag. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/120 "2012-04-30T16:34:54Z")
To hell with that guy. Really. to hell with him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550.md?page=7)