HPL - that was a good one! Buckyballs, indeed. 
It’ll take a lot longer than 36 hours to be able to find cites to defend a pile of indefensible crap.
True, but today I’d need a machine gun (or perhaps a shotgun, given both the subject of the OP or the wide range of topics my little post has suddenly engendered around here), but I don’t have time to get 'em oiled up and firing.
You’re forgetting that Starving Artist is, quite possibly, the single most stupid posting the SDMB.
Why are you surprised?
-Joe
Dude, we’re in a Clothahump thread, and you think Starving Artist is the stupidest poster on the SDMB? Compared to Humpy, SA is like Cecil himself.
Yeesh. Makes you wonder if Clothahump snuck into Merijeek’s room while Joe was off making a sandwich.
Starving Artist may show the greatest disparity between eloquence and thoughtfulness, though: he’s able to say things elegantly that betray no evidence and no critical thought, but only his own biases and prejudices congealed into a hideous terrine of wrong.
Daniel
Wow, that was beautiful. Now what the hell are you saying?
Ohhh…that SA, while able to put together a coherent thought, has a complete disconnect from reality. ClothaH2, meanwhile, is much like the “Reagan Smash!” segment from “Family Guy” - pounding away at a brick wall until he gets tired.
Tell me if this is what you’re getting at:
I just see SA as dumber because she/he has the potential to show some thought but doesn’t. You know, like I’ll look at my dog and say “he’s pretty smart” and I’ll look at SA and say “he/she is so goddamned stupid”. But we all know my dog can’t work a doorknob and we assume that SA can, so technically he/she is more intelligent than my little pup…but it’s unlikely anyone would ever comment on it.
-Joe
In that there hasn’t been evidence (that I’m aware of) of Administration people trying to hush up those involved, I’ll withdraw the term “coverup”. What that leaves is an astonishingly stupid attempt to pretend that nothing happened and that no one would be interesting in the VP shooting an elderly man and putting him in the hospital. Having the news leak out via a private party and then (as the press secretary did) suggest that this is an acceptable way for it to become known is well beyond lame and on into arrogant stupidity.
The story is a natural attention-getter. Not releasing it in a forthright manner (and having Cheney stonewall) just makes things worse. It was suggested in USA Today that an appropriate response for the VP would be to go down to Corpus Christi, visit his (ahem) victim, then hold a news conference in the hospital parking lot to express regret and take responsibility. Simple, forthright, intelligent - wait, we’re talking about the Bush Administration. Never mind.
Maybe Gary Hart will emerge to lambaste this latest instance of “media bias” and the horror of invading a public figure’s private life. :rolleyes:
And then the Iraqi Shiite clerics (who were the ones that came on top in Iraq) are showing their thanks to one of the coalition members by burning or stepping in the Danish flag and threatening the Danes with death. Yep, freedom is on the march.
Even though cartoons are the reason today, the fact is that even before that, the majority of Shiites did want all coalition forces to leave. Right now Shiites are not part of the insurgency, but the longer the coalition forces stay, even those allies will turn against us.
Officially, the Iraq government still wants the Danes to stay, but this move IMHO just means that the political leadership is not respected by the Shiite majority, a recipe for future trouble.
You know, Daniel, there is poetry in that line. (And you accuse me of eloquence!)
If it weren’t aimed at me I might ask to use it as a sig.
Oh, that’s the new yardstick, is it? My, I remember not so long ago when the yardstick was Iraq becoming a stable, enlightened democracy with religious toleration, close ties to the West, a revitalized economy with tons of overseas investment, vastly increased oil revenue, and fully supported US bases, to provoke a “democratic domino effect” throughout the whole Middle East.
Then the yardstick was supposed to be at least getting the Iraqi infrastructure rebuilt and eliminating the insurgency.
Now the yardstick seems to have been reduced to just getting the Iraqi troops minimally competent enough that we can save some face as we leave them to deal with their ongoing guerrilla war, terrorist attacks, and crippled institutions by themselves.
What’s the next “yardstick” going to be? Simply enabling the Iraqis to provide covering fire against anti-aircraft attacks as our troop planes depart?
The pro-war faction keeps moving the goalposts for how they define success, and hoping nobody will notice that the goalposts have moved.
Yes, the story is a natural attention-getter; and I’ve said, I find no fault with the press reporting it.
But let’s look at things from what might have been Cheney’s perspective: First, he probably wasn’t all that concerned – given that he had just shot one of his best long-time friends with a shotgun – with making sure that the press had it’s best story of the day in time to make the evening newscasts. He was likely overcome with worry and fear over the well-being of his friend; he was probably having to contend with answering questions at the hospital and perhaps dealing with the police; the Secret Service was probably badgering him to return to Washington or some other place where he wasn’t so publically exposed as if word were to get out and the hospital become inundated with reporters, news crews, etc., they couldn’t properly attend to his safety; and Cheney himself was probably not desirous of having hundreds of local and national television and print people descend upon the hospital itself, which would only add to the confusion and difficulty of attending to the real matter at hand…which was not the timely care and feeding of the news media. Most probably, he only wanted peace and quiet and to let things play out in terms of his friend’s well-being and care without having to contend with what would surely become a press frenzy no matter when it was reported.
Now, could the situation have been dealt with in what hindsight shows to have been a better way? Certainly! But the fact that it was dealt with in the way it was by no means indicates ignoble or duplicitous intent.
Don’t forget the garnish.
Well, with respect, and not to dredge up past threads… but I do remember a past instance on the subject of media bias where you were making claims and not giving people cites. You know as well as I do that on this board if you make a claim you prove it with a cite. Tossing out an assertion like you have done (an incorrect assertion, by the way), and then refusing to offer cites does nothing to further debate and just ends up being flamebait.
Take that as you will.
I can’t believe LHOD forced me to learn a french word. What the Anglo-saxon version tureen wasn’t good enough for you?
Jim
Sorry, but I’m afraid I’ve been involved in so many media bias arguments around here that I’m not sure which thread you’re referring to; but the thing is, Finn, not everything a person may say here is cite-provable. If you can point me to a definitive cite, one way or the other, that settles unequivocally the issue of media bias, I would be happy to accept it. But you can’t, because no such cite exists. There are only examples pro and con; and to me these do not constitute a ‘cite’, as the term is intended to be used: which is as proof.
Thank you. The way I will take it is that in regard to subjects like this it really makes no difference as to whether a so-called cite is offered or not; as the cite itself, not being probitive, becomes its own flamebait.
But at any rate, most of the stuff I had to back off from earlier (and which I should still be doing now as I’m letting stuff ride that I should be attending to) had to do with several of the things I’d said and not just the issue of media bias.
Just like six inches in nearly 10 inches.
See, as thick as he is, Muthahump is able to achieve a just noticeable difference in his posts. SA can’t even do that. Then there’s the fact that he has to announce that he has to go in every three posts. Then there’s the Waltonesque “Goodnight Johnboy! Goodnight Zoe!” routine. Yep, dumb as a fencepost, but without the utility.
Hentor! And here I thought you were comin’ around and we were gettin’ to be buds…
I’m awfully sorry if I ever gave you that impression.