prognostication

[SultanOfSurreal]

just because i have the intelligence to see the writing on the wall doesn't mean i'm exuberant about the continued administration of a corporatist shill whose policies both at home and abroad are functionally identical to george bush's

however it is fun to use the opportunity to rain on the parade of the idiots around here

[saxitoxin]

doesn't mean i'm exuberant about the continued administration of a corporatist shill whose policies both at home and abroad are functionally identical to george bush's

you started to have me with that

however it is fun to use the opportunity to rain on the parade of the idiots around here

but then lost with me with that

It's like when Berkeley beats the Farm and Stanford fans yell "we'll win next year!" as they dutifully file-out of Strawberry Canyon. Asserting your conviction of some future success that may or may not occur at some point in the unpredictably infinite space of time is meaningless gibberish that has no effect - either depressive or inspirational - on anyone. It's just boorish, intellectually bereft, testosterone-fueled chest-thumping. If you have a lot of pent-up testosterone you'd be better just jerking-off than furiously shaking some D pom-pons.

[SultanOfSurreal]

doesn't mean i'm exuberant about the continued administration of a corporatist shill whose policies both at home and abroad are functionally identical to george bush's

you started to have me with that

however it is fun to use the opportunity to rain on the parade of the idiots around here

but then lost with me with that

It's like when Berkeley beats the Farm and Stanford fans yell "we'll win next year!" as they dutifully file-out of Strawberry Canyon. Asserting your conviction of some future success that may or may not occur at some point in the unpredictably infinite space of time is meaningless gibberish that has no effect - either depressive or inspirational - on anyone. It's just boorish, intellectually bereft, testosterone-fueled chest-thumping. If you have a lot of pent-up testosterone you'd be better just jerking-off than furiously shaking some D pom-pons.

you take laughing at people on the internet way too seriously bro

also

some point in the unpredictably infinite space of time is

lol ok whatever you say carl sagan

[saxitoxin]

doesn't mean i'm exuberant about the continued administration of a corporatist shill whose policies both at home and abroad are functionally identical to george bush's

you started to have me with that

however it is fun to use the opportunity to rain on the parade of the idiots around here

but then lost with me with that

It's like when Berkeley beats the Farm and Stanford fans yell "we'll win next year!" as they dutifully file-out of Strawberry Canyon. Asserting your conviction of some future success that may or may not occur at some point in the unpredictably infinite space of time is meaningless gibberish that has no effect - either depressive or inspirational - on anyone. It's just boorish, intellectually bereft, testosterone-fueled chest-thumping. If you have a lot of pent-up testosterone you'd be better just jerking-off than furiously shaking some D pom-pons.

you take laughing at people on the internet way too seriously bro

Sometimes, when there's a long-running, inside joke going on, the people on the outside start to think they're on the inside.

SOS - for reasons that may eventually become clear - you have no idea how many people you privately delighted with your last comment.

[SultanOfSurreal]

Sometimes, when there's a long-running, inside joke going on, the people on the outside start to think they're on the inside.

SOS - for reasons that may eventually become clear - you have no idea how many people you privately delighted with your last comment.

spooky

[john9blue]

[Falkomagno]

… … … … … … … … .._„„„„„„„_
… … … … … … … ..„-“;:;:;:;:;:;:;:`•„
… … … … … … … ./:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:::\
… … … ... … … … .|-,:;:;:;:;:;_:;:::_„|
… … … … … … …„*-,:;:;:::(::::`””*\:/
… … … … … …_„-“`”*•„::::::`:::::::::/..„„_... YO MAN, I’M REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU AND I’M
… … … … ...„•*;;;;;;;;;;;;;;”-„:::„-„_„*..{;;;|::”-„… GONNA LET YOU FINISH BUT
… … … … „*;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;*„/… … ..\-“:::::*„… …
… … … …/;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;\... … …\::::::::/”-„…

[PLAYER57832]

You are a drone, Player. You are a piece of robotic machinery ........

I see, so to you every thread is now about attacking me, now? That's a lot of power you have handed me.

Come again? I couldn't hear over the shrieking ...

you are an idiot
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=93718&p=2854242&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2854242

Too bad such a good painter has to be an idiot
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=129719&p=2850555&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2850555

only an idiot or someone with a firm agenda would believe hat
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=126445&p=2782197&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2782197

this guys an idiot
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=126994&p=2798470&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2798470

she is an idiot is based on multiple idiotic comments she has made.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=127081&p=2797171&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2797171

he is some kind of idiot
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=126445&p=2782197&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2782197

LOL not only are you intent on allowing me to control your debates

but you are so paranoid you define any criticism as name calling and "shrieking"...

[HapSmo19]

You're an idiot.

[PLAYER57832]

You're an idiot.

Since your definition of an "idiot" is anyone who doesn't think exactly like you... thank you for the compliment.

And... funny to find yet another person who finds me such a threat they have to divert just about every thread to insult me.

[HapSmo19]

A threat? ...Only to yourself

[saxitoxin]

You are a drone, Player. You are a piece of robotic machinery ........

I see, so to you every thread is now about attacking me, now? That's a lot of power you have handed me.

Come again? I couldn't hear over the shrieking ...

you are an idiot
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=93718&p=2854242&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2854242

Too bad such a good painter has to be an idiot
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=129719&p=2850555&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2850555

only an idiot or someone with a firm agenda would believe hat
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=126445&p=2782197&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2782197

this guys an idiot
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=126994&p=2798470&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2798470

she is an idiot is based on multiple idiotic comments she has made.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=127081&p=2797171&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2797171

he is some kind of idiot
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=126445&p=2782197&hilit=PLAYER57832+idiot#p2782197

you are so paranoid you define any criticism as name calling and "shrieking"...

I define chronically shrieking "idiot" at other posters as "name calling."

[notyou2]

Sultan could be correct.

Copied from here http://www.straight.com/article-353350/vancouver/gwynne-dyer-midterm-election-losses-won-t-be-so-bad-barack-obama

By Gwynne Dyer, October 17, 2010

If the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress, it could set the stage for the reelection of President Barack Obama in 2012.

About eight months ago, I was visiting an old friend in San Francisco. For reasons I couldn’t then explain, I found myself betting him and his son $100 each that the Democrats would lose their majority in both houses of Congress in the U.S. midterm elections this November.

It seemed like easy money to them then—surely the Democrats wouldn’t lose the Senate—but I think they are going to owe me $200.

Much is being made of this in the media at the moment: how disappointed Obama’s former supporters are, how angry and mobilized the Republican “base” are, how extremely hostile to him the new Republican-controlled House and Senate will be.

How can he be so calm about this? Why doesn’t he get out there and fight?

Well, he has made a few fairly fiery speeches recently, but basically he knows speeches won’t do much good. His supporters are disappointed because it has been a long, grim recession, and for most Americans it is still not over.

Obama couldn’t get another economic stimulus bill through Congress at this point even if he thought it was a good idea, so he can’t hurry the recovery up.

Some of the people who voted Democratic in 2008 are also very cross because Obama has not brought American troops home from Afghanistan as fast as they hoped, or hasn’t got any legislation about climate change through Congress. But he can’t deliver on those things this year either.

All he actually has at his disposal is words, and they won’t be enough to remotivate disillusioned Democrats.

The Democrats lack all conviction, while the Republican base is filled with passionate intensity.

Obama’s approval rating of 44 percent is not especially low for a U.S. president two years into his first term—Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were considerably lower at this point in their presidencies—but most of his supporters won’t bother to vote in this election, while almost all of his enemies will.

If you really believe that your country has been hijacked by a Muslim Communist who was born in Kenya (or a cannibal troll who was born in Mordor, or whatever), then you will certainly get out and vote.

If all of the retired white people vote, and only the usual midterm proportion of all the other demographics does, then the Democrats will lose both houses of Congress.

So why isn’t Obama more worried about it?

He will certainly regret that so many long-serving Democratic senators and congressmen are going to lose their seats this autumn, but it really does not much matter to him who controls the Congress for the next two years.

He can’t hope to get any more legislation even through the current Congress since the Democrats lost their “super-majority” of 60 seats in the Senate last January, so what’s the difference?

Nor does Obama actually have to get more legislation through Congress right now. It would be nice to have a tough climate-change bill, no doubt, but from a political point of view, there is no new law that he simply must pass before he faces reelection himself in 2012.

Indeed, he stands a very good chance of winning a second term in 2012, in large part because of what is going to happen this November.

Getting majorities in both houses of Congress will leave the Republicans nowhere to hide on the critical issue of cutting the huge federal deficit. They have already said that they will not raise taxes—even for those earning more than $250,000 a year—and they have pledged not to cut defence spending.

What’s left? The only other big-ticket items in the budget are entitlements: health care and pensions.

The United States has not yet gone through the painful debate about how to tame the deficit that has already happened in most European countries, but it will have to do so soon.

That poses a particular problem for Republicans, because if they will not raise taxes on the rich or cut defence spending, then they have to support brutal cuts in health care and pensions or lose all credibility as deficit-cutters.

But cutting entitlements would alienate the Republicans’ own most important demographic: older white people. They will not risk that.

By contrast, the Democrats would not be alienating their own base if they cut defence spending and raise taxes on the rich, so they can be coherent and consistent on the topic.

A Republican-controlled Congress may well come to be seen as an obstacle to fiscal responsibility even by many Republicans.

Make the further, quite reasonable assumptions that the U.S. economy will be growing strongly again by 2012, and that U.S. troops will be gone from Iraq and on their way out of Afghanistan, and you have a credible scenario in which the Democrats win back both houses of Congress as well as reelecting Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Obama can veto any Republican attempt to repeal the legislation he has already got through Congress, and he will retain a free hand in foreign affairs.

He could even try to get new legislation on immigration through Congress: it wouldn’t pass, but he could thereby lock up the Latino vote. No wonder he looks calm.

[clapper011]

keep the discussions on topic and stop trolling each other ladies and gents.

[Neoteny]

Huzzah for useless accommodationists who are still better than the fiends who will actually act on their campaign promises?