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Maher outs Mehlman; CNN censors

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by ifilus, Nov 10, 2006.

  1. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Name one specific case, not just a blanket statement. Blanket statements are a sign of a really weak argument. And you make a whole lot of them, dog.
     
  2. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Actually, that was pretty funny...

    Now, dog is right, our rights have been taken away. Issue hasn't met opportunity yet so we don't notice they are gone.
    And as for the argument about it being OK for a Dem to be gay but not a Republican, I think the line there is drawn because of the Republican campaign mantra over the last few years of hammering home conservative family values. A gay RNC chair would violate the very core of the idology they sell. So its kept quiet.
     
  3. Boomer7

    Boomer7 Active Member

    Isn't Bill Maher more of a libertarian than a liberal? On his ABC show, he always seemed like a small-government kind of guy. Believe it or not, you don't have to be a socialist to disdain the Bush presidency.
     
  4. dog428

    dog428 Active Member

    I have named a specific case. Each and every time the NSA listened in on a phone conversation without first obtaining a warrant, and the person on either end of the line was an American citizen, that was a violation of the law and that person's rights as a US citizen. I don't give a damn if they were receiving bomb-building tips from Osama himself, it's still ILLEGAL.

    And the people who are breaking these laws and violating our rights are the people we've entrusted to protect them. The law is the law. It applies to everyone all the way up the food chain, and should be especially meaningful to the jackass occupying the White House.
     
  5. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Got one single name? I didn't think so.

    And I sure as hell want them listening in on calls to or from known terrorists. No warrant needed in those cases whatsoever.
     
  6. ifilus

    ifilus Well-Known Member

    Still, he does make some good points:

    "One of the tenets of Scientology is that anyone who criticizes the religion is fair game for any and all kinds of retribution. You can file lawsuits against them, you can harass them, you can spread lies about them, and it's OK because the critic is fundamentally evil.

    "This is the same reason Republicans have no problem running push polls, or handing out leaflets with false accusations, or calling Dems and telling them that their polling place has been changed... all this dishonest, sleazy stuff is OK because it's in the service of a greater good.

    "I'm not saying Dems don't indulge in vote shenanigans from time to time, but it's never on the same level. And when the Democrats do win, the impetus isn't to work with them, it's to destroy them - that was how Bill Clinton was received.

    "For a good chunk of the GOP base, the Democrats are literally in league with the Devil, so any means of keeping them out of power is legitimate.

    "In fact, this attitude is only a matter of degrees away from the belief radical Muslims have that any wrong perpetrated against the "infidels" is justified.

    "This also ties into the so-called father of neo-conservatism, the philosopher Leo Strauss, who argued that the only way to stop liberalism from ruining society was for the elites (a.k.a his neocon followers) to exploit myths (religion) or create new myths (the Islamic Menace) that will unite the hoi polloi in an orgy of nationalistic fervor. Sounds like fascism? Yup. But an interesting feature of Straussism is that the elites don't care if the myths they are exploiting are actually true; that's irrelevant as long as they're effective. Which is why we get Karl Rove talking about the Christian "nut-jobs," and the Kerry-hates-the-troops nonsense from last week. All those Republicans parroting the talking point re Kerry knew it was bullshit but they didn't care because it was an effective myth."
     
  7. steveu

    steveu Well-Known Member

    These next two years are going to be very interesting. I don't think it'll end well, but there should be some reallllllyyy good threads on this board.
     
  8. dog428

    dog428 Active Member

    Fortunately for all the rest of us, the law disagrees with you.

    But hey, I'm sure you're much smarter than the guys who wrote those terrorist-enabling, American-killing laws.
     
  9. Crimson Tide

    Crimson Tide Member

    Aw, come on. It's a classic!
     
  10. blondebomber

    blondebomber Member

    You know, I can't name one person who has been lynched in the past 10 years. Does that mean the president should allow his underlings to do such a thing if, you know, it ever came up that the government might need to?
     
  11. Oz

    Oz Well-Known Member

    Sounds right. Guy bashes the Democrats for having no spine and for screwing up every opportunity they get.
     
  12. blondebomber

    blondebomber Member

     
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