The Good Post Gallery

[Franzl]

Stop with all these idiotic "look at people defending themselves!" posts. Especially Miles, who ought to know better- it's one thing for krazen (a certified troll) and some newbie to do it, but it's beneath you.

One thousand Americans have died since Newtown at the hands of guns. One thousand. That number in and of itself is indefensible. Yet you people propose we do nothing. It's sickening. For what? Your right to overthrow the government? How about we cut crime by making it legal to be black for one thing (because it's practically illegal when one in three wind up in prison), and ending the insane "War" on Drugs?

In other words, never tell anyone when guns are used to defend innocent lives?

Well of course you're gonna sway people's opinions when you deliberately deceive them by distorting the news.

Here's a better analogy (or just an analogy):

It would be inane to constantly be posting articles along the lines of "Flight from Bakerfield to Seattle lands safely" or "Except for that one annoying baby, Toronto-Havana flight is without incident". Things working the way they should be is not news. However when things don't work the way they should be working, as in "Flight from Sao Paulo to Paris crashes over Atlantic Ocean with all aboard killed" or "All Boeing 787s grounded due to mechanical problem", then that is news. Management by exception, you know. My father used to harp on about that when I got a B in one class and I tried to point out all the other As I got. Still does, actually. But he's right.

Only problem with my analogy is that guns are less airplanes and more so hydrogen-filled airships. And we all know how those turned out.

The point is that if guns all were always used they way they should and no undeserving people were ever shot, I'm pretty sure no one would have a problem with them. But anyone with more than an iota of intelligence should realize that's not how guns actually end up being used, and mass-posting news about guns being used in self-defense isn't going to change that.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Eastern Poland wasn't founded on ethnic cleansing (or if it was, it didn't occur in the 20th century), so Eastern Poland.

What is now 'Eastern Poland' used to have the largest Jewish population on the planet. I gather that this is no longer the case. Of course it wasn't the Poles that did that, but then it mostly wasn't the Poles that removed (in an infinitely less evil way, of course) the Germans from Silesia and so on. Pretty much the entire of Central and Eastern Europe was 'founded' on 'ethnic cleansing.' Thank you, nationalism.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I think it's more that the educated rich in Central London and Paris and Scandinavia are still secure in the instinctive knowledge that they own the country and the government, and that when government becomes smaller, the parts of it that they use will never be affected.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Oh, how I long for the day when one of my posts will make it into the Good Post Gallery.

[Franzl]

Oh, how I long for the day when one of my posts will make it into the Good Post Gallery.

There's a relatively simple solution for that. Any idea?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Oh, how I long for the day when one of my posts will make it into the Good Post Gallery.

There's a relatively simple solution for that. Any idea?

It'll never happen until he defeats the evil racist revisionist Democrats!

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

They post photos of men who 'cheat'?  So, just photos of every male?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Oh, how I long for the day when one of my posts will make it into the Good Post Gallery.

'k then.
[context]

My guess is that I'm in the latter category.

[Paul Kemp]

Oh, how I long for the day when one of my posts will make it into the Good Post Gallery.

Those who only want never do.

[Donerail]

ROFL

I find this post to be the height of well-reasoned debate and logical argument.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Listen you piece of s**t, I am dr5unk as  but i am happy you did your patriotic duty and paid you taxes. God bless Obama and America.

[they don't love you like i love you]

What's your problem, Phil?

A sense of self-superiority based on something he really doesn't have much, if any, experience with beyond a fourth grade DARE class.

[opebo]

OK here's an experiment, translate this awesome and classic opebo post into both Polish and Czech and compare:

No, no, no.  If you are a poor, and you have a job at the Electric Company, you stay there, and say 'yes sir' and 'no sir, and just batten down the hatches and wait.  It will all be over soon enough.  No need to rush it by getting conned up the a**s by some Kiwi b******s and ending up living under a bridge.

Seriously, I know poors who work at the Power Company (true they're from the previous unionized generations so they made $70,000/year, but still), and they survived.  Every one of them - and they will get to die in hospitals with medical treatments.  Yes, Public Utilities are not government jobs, but they're the next best thing.

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...Looks pretty different to me actually.

[Talleyrand]

Perry's approval ratings have been consistently bad since the end of his first full term. He always wins through a combination of fracturing his opposition and convincing voters that if they vote him out of office, the state is going to be overrun by UN shock troops out to shut down the oil refineries and confiscate the guns. His reliance on personal graft and engendering fear of "meddling outsiders" is not unlike that of someone running an ex-Soviet petro-state in Central Asia.

Cute story.  Actually, Perry has won re-election so much by:

(1) Eliminating primary opposition through cronyism
(2) Staying out of the public eye as much as possible so straight ticket Republicans don't know how stupid he really is
(3) Being blessed with a state that elects its governor during the midterms where minority turnout is low

A lot of politicians win this way, but most are smart enough to know not to run for President and blow their cover.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

I was going to say "words fail me" but now I've found my voice:

This is just plain silly.

Calling the mass murder of millions by the Nazis "senseless" is clearly meant in context of "tragic", "horrible", and "a really, really really bad thing". To expand that molehill into several pages of pontificating argument that this proves liberals like Obama don't understand that there are organized dangerous forces for evil in the world today is beyond absurd. That's like trying to assess the merits of administration agriculture policy based on what type of vegatables he likes in his salad. Does anyone really believe Obama or other liberals don't understand that Nazism was a highly organized totalitarian cultural and military machine of genocide in furtherance of its ideology?

The article's point was as profound as a sophmore's letter to the college paper.

Everybody is a rational actor who does the good thing as their perceive it to be, even racists and Nazis.

That's what the National Review, I guess, is trying to say.  The only problem is that they don't extend this kind of understanding to everyone.  For example, I'm sure many National Review readers believe Palestinians fight the Israelis out of inherit evil and hatred, and not because they feel oppressed by a foreign government stealing their land.  Or that gays are interested in pursuing destruction of other families, as opposed to pursuing families of their own.

Rational actors is a truth that politicos only believe when it's convenient for them.

The millions of Germans who went along with Hitler's agenda without complaint weren't rational actors. Being rational requires some sort of critical thought process and those people did not use one. They did what they were told, they got a kind of high from being part of all the rallies and the banners and the pageantry of the Nazi state. It made them feel special and made them feel like their country was powerful and important after several years in which it had lost both of those things. If you asked an average Johann on the street to explain Nazi racial theory or the tenets of national socialism to you, he wouldn't be able to. It's not unlike the way most Tea Partiers have probably never read Ayn Rand or any of the Austrian economists; they just tell you they stand for "faith, family and freedom" or some combination. If you had asked an Obama delegate at the DNC last year to explain why they support him, they would have just given you some filler about how he's an "inspirational figure" who is "transforming America." Maybe the nifty logo got them on board.

[they don't love you like i love you]

At least Inks doesn't deal with his fellow moderators any other way than with the rest of us. You may disagree with his policy but you got to respect his impartiality.

I don't. This is an ONLINE FORUM not a state prison, Inks needs to chill with his extreme hard-line policing. He's obsessed with the means as opposed to the ends and it makes for having a highly negative impact on the forum. The moderating community as a whole has reached that point. A little drunk on power, a little high on themselves, and a whole lot of unnecessary expressions of control over relative calm. This shouldn't even be a conversation, it's ridiculous. I'm of the mentality that unless something is wildly, universally offensive, leave it the hell alone until a problem actually arises rather than stirring the pot more than if we didn't even have moderators. They have completely defeated the purpose of their existence by exacerbating exactly what it is they're supposed to quell. Just chill the Inks out, yo. Now you've got me all peeved over nothing...and I'm gonna have to smoke a j now. Thanks a lot.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Yeah Opebo is on a roll today.  It's almost like I hurt his feelings.

Christ man, have you no decency?  Even in this place..

Let me explain the procedure to you: you insult people in other threads, and then your achievements are enshrined here by your admirers.  You don't just clutter the place up with your dimwit.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Man, making fun of folks who are old enough to play with computers but who also actually enjoy My Little Pony is a bit like making fun of people in wheelchairs, or of retards. Sure, we all do it, but only among close friends and certainly not in public.

Seriously, dude, you seem to be an awful person. Making fun of people in wheelchairs is not even close to acceptable, and we sure don't "all do it". Retards is an insult. As to making fun of people who enjoy a girly cartoon, this is perfectly acceptable, you can do it all day, go on.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Users who disapprove of Al should be banned on sight.

[Napoleon]

Users who disapprove of Al should be banned on sight.

That sort of post doesn't belong in this thread.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Considering the circumstances, I allowed myself to exceptionally troll the thread a bit (ie what many posters do on a regular basis).

[Oakvale]

Man, making fun of folks who are old enough to play with computers but who also actually enjoy My Little Pony is a bit like making fun of people in wheelchairs, or of retards. Sure, we all do it, but only among close friends and certainly not in public.

Seriously, dude, you seem to be an awful person. Making fun of people in wheelchairs is not even close to acceptable, and we sure don't "all do it". Retards is an insult. As to making fun of people who enjoy a girly cartoon, this is perfectly acceptable, you can do it all day, go on.

Taking angus seriously makes this a bad post.

[Antonio the Sixth]

OK, I'll redeem myself:

One of the more disgusting things about a crisis like this is that you always have people who feel a need to prove just how clever they are at the expense of the actual people living without food or petrol in the bombed remains of their city. The Assad regime is not intent on 'stability' (even the idea of a continuation of the status quo is absurd at this point, really), it just wants to annihilate its opposition or, at the very least, take as many people as possible down with it. From the beginning of this mess Assad has shown himself to be ruthless and ready to employ whatever force necessary to stay in power (and a good deal more if people also need to be taught a lesson).

None of this is news. The Assad family hasn't exactly a very glorious history when it comes to maintaining 'stability' or respecting human rights. Are there tactical considerations behind the West's support for the rebels? Possibly, but that's highly irrelevant. It's not as if Russia and China are being objective observators in this whole mess. Really, arguing in favour of Assad because of what you *think* may happen when he goes down, is beyond the pale. Yeah, I know you know all these cool facts about shi'a and sunni muslims (and alewites! and suriacs!), but the way people throw around religious divides as the be-all and end-all of politics in the region is about as absurd as it would be for a student of the 19th century to look at the relations between the Great Powers exclusively trough the spectre of catholic vs. protestant nations. It is also a good deal less innocent.

[Antonio the Sixth]

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[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Reactionary.

The 75 thousand or so that they'll spend on a full-time rent-a-cop could buy lots of computers, or art supplies, or musical instruments.  At a time when teacher's are being cut and class sizes are being expanded to accommodate shrinking budgets, this seems like a poor appropriate of funds.

Call me a weenie, but I think it's overboard.  It also creates an extremely hostile learning environment.  The culture is pretty freaky already, without raising a generation of children who think it is normal to pass through metal detectors and in front of armed guards just to learn.

I guess I'm losing my erection.  I've generally been a defender of second-amendment rights, as you'll know from my posts, but if maintaining the right to arm means that we have to live in a police state, then I'd be willing to rethink it.

Dad, why is there a policeman in my kindergarten class?  Oh, you know how it is, son, for the same reason that there's an Early Pregnancy Test vending machine in all the girls' restrooms.  One in eight of your classmates will be arrested before his 30th birthday, and one is six will get pregnant before she is married.  This is all very normal stuff.  Just be careful the way you sling your water bottle around on the playground.  You may get a bullet in your head if you pull it out of your pocket too quickly.

That's a creepy world, Gramps.  Not a world I'd want to create.