The 'we're still here' open thread

than I Sane!

The only time I see fox news is when some restaurant/business has it on (which in itself it totally annoying, of course). Never ever would I turn it on by my freewill. Am usually jacked up enough as it is without watching unimpeded wingnuts slop in their swill.

I haven't been able to listen to Bush for years, because I have so little control over the rage that I feel for what he has done to us. I read the transcripts instead.

The Hannitys, O'Reillys, and Rushs are more than I can stomach even when they are being rebutted. I envy your cast iron attitudes.

On the occasion above, I was visiting a friend in the hospital and the semi-comatose wingnut in the next bed had on Fox News my entire visit. So tidbits of O'Reilly's and Hannity's comments would catch my attention. Thought I was going to have to be admitted myself after that 2-hour nauseating telecast.

O'Reilly was railing about Rosie O'Donnel being a radical leftist, like he's some type of "moderate" conservative. He made a point to say the radical element of the left is taking over the party (Hannity, too) and there are no moderate voices who would take over in November. Of course, the Republican party is full of moderate people controlling Washington -- NOT!

I'll actually listen to some of the right wingnuts -- usually can stomach it for about 5 minutes -- sometimes just to reiterate to myself just how crazy they really are. But I'm with "m" on Bush -- have not listened to him since his lie-filled 2004 State of the Union address. Every time I see him I think, "He's not really a president, he just plays one on TV!"

Flying by the seat of my rants...

...absolutely nothing about reforming corruption. They are not even trying to give the appearance that they are working on it. What has the Ethics Committee done in 6 years?

Just hope I'm around long enough to see how history will judge this do-nothing Congress and this renegade, havoc-wreaking administration.

Rep Jerry Lewis (R-Ca), head of the appropriations committee, has resolved future corruption issues in the House. He has just fired all sixty contract investigators that were digging into misfeasance and malfeasance in government.

Lewis, who has already spent $800,000 on lawyers defending his own apparently illicit behavior as the result of these investigations seems to have decided that he spent enough from his campaign war chest. So he decided to save himself some money with the firings.

Am kidding of course, but one would think so given the lack of coverage for something seeming so noteworthy.

Scanned MSNBC and the larger sites in the blogosphere for this and - nada. Down the memory hole...

And was far to the left on everything except one which was slightly right. And I consider myself a conservative libertarian. To be more fair, it could have been labeled Rational vs Bush Fantasyland.

...and I was left on everything but one, where I was "center".

The questions really depress the heck out of me. The "morality" of ourselves and our country distilled down to three of the most sensationalized 'questions of the day'.

If I could add just one question it would be:

Do you enjoy thinking or not?
Yes/No

I'd be really interested in knowing the results of that one. I'm pretty sure, and no I'm not being sarcastic, that around 35% of respondents would say no...

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.
William James (1842 - 1910)

I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
Terry Pratchett

Few people think more than two or three times a year. I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

With the popularity of shows like American Idol, Jerry Springer Show and Elimidate, I would venture that number closer to 60-70%.

I think that's where the Repubs have it over the Dems/Progressives. While Dems try to appeal to people intellectually or to their sense of logic or reason, the Repubs do not. Evidence the Repubs now trying to say they've not been "Stay the Course" in Iraq when it's been their mantra for months. This tactic proves they are depending on the non-thinking, uninformed to buy such an obvious, outright lie!

How do you counteract that type of treachery without being treacherous yourself?

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-- Albert Einstein

What I meant was that 35% of the sheeple would actually be bold enough to check the box that "they don't like to think". The other 35% would still have a sense of pride which wouldn't let them tell the truth. :)