So Bush is Satan/Nazi/Worst Thing to Happen to Mankind

The BBQ Pit
101

pffffffffffffffffft! (sound of breath blown out incredulously between the lips)

Spare me this mockery of literature, Scylla. You, of all Dopers, have no claim of being a “lover of truth,” given your unyielding and continued support for the Iraq war all over this board. Any attempts to explain how “We know Saddam has hidden stockpiles of WMDs and can deploy them within 45 minutes” is evidenced by what’s (not) found in Iraq now will collapse under the overwhelming burden of impossibility. And the notion of you trying to pass yourself off as a vendor of wisdom would be a hilariously parody if it wasn’t for the realization that you actually believe the dribble you wrote.

(At least when elucidator breaks out the keyboard for one of his patented Literary Excursions, he gets the extra benefit of actually being correct underneath the flowing language and creative metaphors. But you’re just another Dittohead with delusions of grandeur…)

102

Oi! rjung! Didn’t you read the e-mail? You weren’t supposed to post that until after I’d posted this:

You tell em, Scylla. People can be so wrong, can’t they? Liar, weasel, bigot, and writer of mediocre fiction. That’d be a much better characterization, methinks.

P.S., rjung, I think I accidently forwarded a copy of the e-mail to Scylla’s imaginary brother. Again. Sigh. Oh well, I suppose I can still rely on Scylla being too stupid to think of making a copy of it.

103

Have there been a lot of people referring to President Bush as a Nazi? Are they doing this in the newspapers? On television? I’m a little puzzled by the OP’s accusations. I have seen a handful of people use that term at SDMB, but I thought they were mostly adolescents. Of course President Bush isn’t a Nazi. But I will do my best to see that he and the powers behind him don’t continue to erode the civil rights of the citizens as the Nazis did in the early stages of the Third Reich. That is why people are becoming alarmed.

Airman, I can’t speak for others who have posted here, but I find it impossible to detach myself and my sense of well-being from what is happening to other human beings. I hurt when they hurt and that is very personal.

But there are other ways that I have been affected. Because of the poor economy, the rising cost of health care, and insurance company bullies, the insurance that covered me at the rate of 90% for the last 35 years has now dropped to 70% for the hospitals where I prefer to be treated.

I’ve lost money that was set aside for my old age – now that I’m there!

The government has the right to peek at private information about me. No, I’m not a criminal either. All I did was apply for a credit card and I had to listen to a recording that told me that because of the terrorists, if I wanted to charge my Bose noise-cancellation headphones, the government could look at any information that I provide. I don’t like that. It makes me feel creepy.

I don’t like being called a traitor by fellow Americans because I don’t support the war in Iraq or the “Patriot” Act.

I’m ashamed every time the President opens his mouth to speak unless it is a prepared speech. Other countries sometimes think that he represents most Americans. That is humiliating! And it is humiliating that he is a Southerner.

Bush frightens me because he is trigger happy and unsophisticated and easily manipulated by people who didn’t get elected President! And he lies and I can’t trust the White House in my own country to do what is best for me.

I know now that in spite of what the Constitution says, I can be held for an indefinite period of time without charges being brought against me and without access to an attorney. If it can happen to one American citizen, it can happen to me.

104

I would say that, in your analogy, Schopenhauer would be the tangent, and Nietzsche would be the cosine.

105

Sorry. Please ignore the above post.

106

Hey, that was a nice tangent. I would say that in your tangent, Zoe was the cosine, and you just looked silly. :wink:

107

I travel over 100,000 miles every year:

UAE-Dubai/AbuDhabi: The most I’m ever asked there, if I’m asked anything at all, is how long I plan to stay. Once I was asked what the cd’s were for (I work in IT and take lots of pictures while on vacation).

Frankfurt: Never asked anything. The huge guys with sub-machine guns walking around the airports are kind of intimidating. I don’t see that many people with so many guns anywhere other than in Yemen.

Yemen: Lots of guns, but I’m not really afraid of anyone as the way they handle their guns makes it more likely that they will blow their own head off rather than mine. I keep expecting a loud bang and then to see the wall painted red and grey from the guard sitting in the corner using his AK’s muzzle as a chin rest.

US border: I get asked if I work in the Oil Industry (which I do) when they check my passport. They wave me on without a second look with stamps from Yemen and the UAE filling my passport.

Canada: the only border where I feel like I’m actually done something wrong. They use dogs to check you on your way to customs. No where else have I seen that.
Where have you been? (at work in the desert along with the other 20 guys who got off the plane and passed through the line in front of me, idiot)
Why are you here (uh, duh! I’m a Canadian coming home. See the passport, moron?).
You are declaring $236, that is a pretty precise number(yep, me and my trusty calculator can add up all my receipts and convert them to Canuckian dollars. Sorry, I rounded it off to the nearest dollar. Is that okay? Should I be less precise?)
And it isn’t as if the impression I am getting is that they are looking for terrorists, or something important. It seems they only care that you pay the $1.15 in duty if you’ve overspent your limit. I say this because the only consistent question they ask is about my declaration. It isn’t the US border guards who are the ignorant ones, it is the Canadian customs agents, AFAIC.

108

I have something new to add to my list.

I don’t like being referred to as a member of a terrorist organization* by a cabinet member.

Hell, all I wanted to do was teach in the inner city and make life better for some people…

*The National Education Association has been referred to as a terrorist organization by the Secretary of the Department of Education. The NEA (which is not a union despite what the news articles say) has called for his resignation. The President of the United States says that his job is safe.

109

Why, of course it is! You’re talking about someone in the Bush administration, where you can leak classified information, display breathtaking incompetence and lethal ignorance, accuse citizens of terrorism, avoid taking responsibility for your errors, and refuse to testify under oath regarding vital matters of national security … all with impunity.

The Bush Administration is totally committed to job security – as long as you work for White House, that is. The rest of America can piss up a rope, as far as they’re concerned.

110

I just wanted to reach back to page one and clear up a bit of ignorance-mongering perpetrated by our OP’er:

The flippant allusion to the tragic results of November, 2000, aside, this is just plain wrong. Even if the “not really elected” technicality were to be attempted and allowed, the Constitutional amendment that limits a candidate to two presidential election victories also prohibits any person occupying the Presidency for more than ten years, cumulative.

So, fear not. Besides being unthinkable, in the sense of morally repugnant, the prospect of a third Shrubya inauguration is (at this time) constitutionally prevented.

Even were a new amendment to be passed, lifting this limit, I can’t see it happening without grandfathering Shrubya out of eligibility. Any eventuality to the contrary would be cause for giving up on the experiment, retaking the Union by militia, and throwing ourselves on the mercy of the English Crown.

Just kidding.

For now.

111

Yup, still here. I tried to post a reply last night but got timed out because the ISP is doing work in the area. (An aside, got 3 months free service cause I bitched so much) Anyway.

Based on the OP I wrote, I have to thank those that actually answered it. There were so many I won’t clog the page with specifics, but you’ll recognize who you are.

First, My father died in Viet-Nam, so I know the loss of someone to war. The kick in the nuts is that it was 3 weeks before Nixon brought them all home. Allow the righteous-indignation of saying it was Democrats that got us into the war, and a Republican that got us out.

Now to a cold, hard, brutal truth. This will hurt anyone who has lost a loved one in ANY conflict we’ve been in. Soldiers die. (I said it was brutal).

Follow me on this, then I’ll show you the exit from the highway when done.

When you volunteer for military service, you’re promised certain benefits (in the US). Among these are paid college tuition, free medical/dental insurance, pension after 20 years (pay is increased after more than 20), room and board if you live in the barracks, a living allowance if married and live off-base, and I think housing assistance if married/have kids if off-base. (correct me if I’m wrong on that last one).

Now, to get these benefits, there is one VERY important thing you must do. You must sign the enlistment papers. You are free to sign or walk away. By signing these papers, you are agreeing to do what the military asks. Being the military, this may involve going to serve in a situation where you could be killed.

You’re a single mom? Mine was, and I can’t imagine losing her when I was young. (She died when I was 29 and it was still tough) But, she did sign the papers. I understand she may have done it for the benefits, in fact, it was probably the motivating factor, but the benefits were the deal in signing that she would risk her life for the country.

Monty Python And now for something completley different

As far as Ashcroft listening to my calls? Eh, I suspect it would be some low-level FBI agent who has nothing better to do. And any Americans worried about the CIA, do a cursory study of the difference in agencies.

Thanks to Clinton/Gore, Carnivore is monitoring your transmissions now. Save the righteous indignation for a lesser message board.

And yes, I have NO problem with airport security going through our luggage. If they want to seperate me from the herd and strip-search me? Cool. Do it to my wife? Considering it has to be a woman agent, no problem. Maybe she’ll be hot.

Tap my phone? Couldn’t care less, the agents will have to listen to my take-out order, or listen to the neice talk about the latest junior-high gossip. After tweaking my scanner, I can now pick up even cellphone calls. You think you have privacy?! You don’t know guys like me that are good with electronics. If your conversation is transmitted over anything involving land-lines, cell lines, radio transmission or the internet, it can be hacked.

Maybe more later, but I feel carpal tunnel setting in. :slight_smile:

112

I agree that comparisons of Bush to Hitler are generally hysterical and cheap debating techniques. (Though IMHO it may be justified in explaining, for instance, why you SHOULDN’T be able to lock someone up without trial if you say they’re a communist/kulak/terrorist to people who can’t see why that’s scary.)

OTOH, your post made me think of a wonderful one-line comeback I couldn’t resist making: But it’s a good job you didn’t say “Yes, but how are you personally worse off” to Oscar Schindlar, isn’t it?

113

duffer nice that you came back.

Even nicer that it wouldn’t bother you if the Feds were tapping your phone to listen in on your jr. high school gossip, but as many of the rest of us are adults who cherish our freedoms, our constitutional rights and all, who do mind at the possability of our phones being tapped/recorded/documented w/o review or (more to the point) suspicion that a crime has been committed, that we may indeed have been responsible for the crime, etc; and seeing as in your OP, you didn’t posit “how am I, duffer harmed by this”, allow me to be underwhelmed at your response.

114

Yes, because everyone knows that world events are unimportant. The bottom line is “How much money am I making; how do I feel?” Me, me, me. Thanks for that valuable insight, December…er, Duffer. You give the words “self centered” new meaning.

115

Well, congratulations, you can tap my phone. Whoopdee-fucking-do. That’s not the point. The point is that, while neither my fiance nor I say anything that salacious or important, it’s very, very disconcerting to think that some jackass is sitting on the line as a third party actually giving a shit what we’re saying because my fiance is Indian. Also, our mail from India is regularly cut open. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to receive a letter that has been roughly handled and opened at some point by a third party you’ve never met and taped shut again? Same for any packages we receive - if it’s from India, it’s always been opened before we get it. And that does affect us - what if they damage the goods that are inside? Sometimes the letters have been so badly handled they’re nearly illegible. And why the fuck should some yahoo be able to invade my and my fiance’s privacy because of his country of origin?

116

Have you considered moving to North Korea? If you enjoy that kind of stuff, I hear they do those things all the time over there. You’d probably really dig it. Actually, I hear Saddam Hussein was really into that, too. I even hear a lot of Republicans claiming we invaded Iraq because the government trampled on peoples’ freedom. If that doesn’t peg your irony-meter, I don’t know what will.

117

May I ask how old you are?

118

I’m 43. And I think he nailed it.

119

Well Ike, I have to admit that in all honesty that bothers me that you feel that way. I remember we had a little to-do a year ago, that I thought was resolved quickly and without any hard feelings. In fact, you offered to buy me a beer. So, I have no reason up till now to think you thought ill of me, nor any reason to think ill of you.

But, just to show up out of the blue and endorse a wholehearted character asassination as you’ve done indicates some pretty strong feelings. If you thought it was important enought to express your displeasure in this fashion, I hope you’ll do me the courtesy of explaining it. Feel free to email me if you beleive it’s innapropriate to discuss here, but I’ll listen and consider whatever it is you have to say.

120

I seem to remember that phone tapping and surveillance has been going on for quite a long time well before 9-11. I don’t think Bush is entirely responsible for this, although I’d say he is just as guilty as anyone else who had the power to stop it and didn’t. I’m quite sure if a democrat gets elected this year you won’t see much of a change in this practice (given the general character of politicians).

I get mail in Yemen on a regular basis. It is cut open on a regular basis. I am quite sure that it isn’t in Canada they are doing this, but in Yemen itself. I can say this because it happens in interoffice mail from one site to the next inside Yemen, too. I never have it happen inside Canada. Is there some sort of stamp from US govt agency that makes you think it is an American Yahoo vs. an Indian Yahoo?