lostfan

IMO, New Orleans has just been lucky this never happened before 2005, and I really wonder why people are trying to rebuild in the same spot. If you're going to rebuild, at least move it to higher ground, no?

Wasn't Katrina a 4 or a 5 before it made landfall as a 3?

I grew up in Chicago in a pretty hardcore Democratic family, blue-collar all the way, nobody in my family has ever voted Republican except my older brother who is now a Republican. And since Chicago and Cook County is one of the most Democratic regions in the country, I really didn't even know that people actually voted Republican, or why. Even by the time I graduated high school (2000 was the first election I participated in) I didn't even know what a conservative mindset was. I just assumed everything I thought was the same thing everyone else thought. I was actually kind of bewildered that Republicans could actually win states because I had never had seen them vote in large numbers... that was until I joined the military anyway. I had a really bad taste in my mouth from the 2000 election and I was pissed off for a while. I pretty much hated everything about Bush for that. I didn't even really know why. When 9-11 happened though I happened to have just recently joined the Army, so I jumped in line behind Bush and I was ready to go. America, f*** yeah! Let's go! I didn't get to go to Afghanistan though which kind of disappointed me. However, I did go to Kuwait to support a mission in Afghanistan. While I was there, the whole drumbeat of war in Iraq started. A lot of it seemed fishy to me, ESPECIALLY the part about 9-11 and Saddam since I KNEW that wasn't true and could verify it, but I was like whatever. Something has to happen. And it did. The war broke out. Eventually I came home but around this time I started wondering why I hated Bush so much and as we began to horribly mismanage the war and all of the reasons we went began to be debunked one by one I started resenting him more and more, and I became completely disillusioned with his leadership, especially after I went back for another tour and observed this firsthand. But, I was disillusioned with the general spinelessness of the Democrats, and I started reading more and more and identifying with a lot of conservative ideals... but not completely, because even now I think the Republican party in general is really slimy and there are some people involved with it I just can't get down with. I eventually just got tired of hating Bush and just started laughing. Eventually I just got completely disillusioned with politics altogether as I saw how divided this country was, and how nobody was willing to listen to the other side, and acted like their s*** didn't stink. I hated how since 2002 or so, if you were not in line with Bush's policies, you were a coward or unpatriotic, never said directly, always in thinly veiled terms. I didn't even think I was going to vote in 2008, especially since Hillary and Giuliani were leading the polls and I hate them both, but I gradually started following the elections and somehow got interested again... I'm not sure how. I was intrigued by Ron Paul at first until I came to the conclusion he is bats***, and I think I came fully back on board from listening to an Obama speech about why people are disillusioned with politics. So since then I've tried to be positive about politics, and why they act the way they do, and stay above the fray that I hate at the same time.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 10:14 PM) This has to be a Photoshop job. Yeah, that looks like a giraffe's neck.

I think this thread is a good idea, I will post my thoughts when I'm not preoccupied.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 09:24 PM) In 2002, he hit 27 HR with 104 RBI, along with a .304 BA and a .360 OBP. From 2004-2005, he hit around 80 HR, driving in around 220 RBI, with a .280 BA and a .365 OBP. That is superstar-esque. Not really. Do you think Aubrey Huff is superstar-esque? A superstar is somebody like A-Rod, Junior, Pujols, Frank Thomas, and so on. Guys who make the All-Star game, win MVPs. Paul Konerko has a solid .841 career OPS. That's good, but not great. If it's over .900, now we're talking.

QUOTE (KipWellsFan @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:37 PM) Luda! Luda is an Obama supporter though.

QUOTE (Nokona @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:25 PM) Do you have a drinking problem? Sometimes you're ability to post completely inane things is unbelieveable. Please refrain from personal attacks.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:40 PM) It matters to an extent, but I've never seen Obama as massively unqualified in terms of experience. I agree, it does matter to an extent. It's not like *I* could just start a campaign and come out of nowhere and get elected. But it gets pushed as if it was the #1 thing. Like this was World of Warcraft or something, you have a Level 62 Senator taking on a Level 24 Governor and one automatically wins. I didn't think Obama was some complete random n00b either though, to keep the references to video games.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 02:47 PM) Great use of a 2nd round pick. Could really have used an OL with that one instead. I was kind of hoping to see him get pushed around by Ugoh in Week 1 so it could sort rub Angelo's nose in the pile of s*** he left on the living room, so to speak.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:35 PM) So if McCain were to lose his life somehow during his 1st term we would have a President who is an expert at nothing. Governing a tiny state (population-wise) in a remote region of our continent for the past 2 years hardly qualifies someone to be the leader of the free world. I personally think the experience thing is overrated and there shouldn't be so much weight attached to it. It's about policies, leadership, approach, ideas, and so on. All of that is more important than experience.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:31 PM) I completely agree that McCain can no longer play that card. Instead, he'll play the "judgement" card and attack Obama's liberal voting record. Probably. The only way that it makes sense is if he wants to change strategies entirely.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:30 PM) The reason all the Obama supporters are bringing up experience isn't that we all don't think she's ready. Or at least it isn't for me. She's had an excellent rise through the system and the McCain campaign seems to think she'd be useful. I can live with a former governor as VP even if she was only a brief one. The reason why we're bringing up the experience thing is because the same people who are going to vote for McCain have been spending the last few months talking about how much of a novice Senator Obama is. How he's not experienced, how he's not ready, how he's only been in the Senate for 4 years, whatever. If you're going to apply that standard to Senator Obama, then you have to apply it to the other side. 100% correct.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:17 PM) Relatively inexperienced vs no experience. McCain himself has cited that the highest priority issues of our time are national security, Iraq, and Iran...3 things Palin has absolutely no experience in. No... McCain considers himself an expert there (whether or not that's accurate is another issue). He did need to solidify his "conservative" credentials so on that front the pick makes sense. But as far as how experienced she is relative to Obama doesn't matter, it just cancels out the argument from the GOP side.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:14 PM) So, let me get this straight: A relatively inexperienced Obama - who will DEFINITELY occupy the Oval Office, if elected - gets a free pass. But a relatively inexperienced Palin - who will only sit in the Oval Office in the unlikely event of McCain dropping dead - is a flawed choice? I can tell that the Obama-maniacs are nervous right now. Ok. Let me attempt to rephrase the logic again. This VP pick does NOT give Obama something to attack McCain with. He (directly, anyway) is not going to attack her for being inexperienced. McCain attacks Obama routinely for being inexperienced. IF he plans to continue using that line of attack, then this pick does not make sense, because he effectively nullified that argument by picking someone who fits the same profile. Therefore, unless they simply don't care as has been suggested in this thread, the reason for the pick is something of a head-scratcher.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 06:06 PM) And you're comparing a presidential hopeful to a vice presidential hopeful. Who's in charge? It's the president, and if we're talking about experience, McCain has more than Obama, but I agree that this experience thing should not be talked about anymore. IMO the qualifications for VP should be the exact same as they are for president. If you feel that someone is unqualified for whatever reason, you should not pick them as your VP, plain and simple. The VP should be just as "ready" as the top candidate.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 07:00 PM) i would also suggest you do the same Please elaborate. If I'm somehow violating the rules I would like to know, honestly.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 05:47 PM) oh thats classic I was trying to be nice about this at first. If your sole purpose in this thread and in this forum is to antagonize and ridicule others in violation of the rules, then please, just don't post. You agreed to the rules, you're expected to follow them. The same applies to everyone else, by the way.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 05:46 PM) you're not an Obama fanboy? This is getting annoying. Please stop.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 05:37 PM) i read the fist 6 pages and just gave up. don't get all pissy because i pointed out that Obama hasn't done anything. the filibuster is rapidly becoming a dailykosII and basically i am going to just stop posting here (like a lot of the former regular conservative posters have) or i will have fun playing along with the direction of the content. i have no problem posting smart alecky garbage either. Do you see what I'm talking about? You're making this assumption that anybody that disagrees with you on anything, or doesn't accept what you said, is some kind of mindless Obama fanboy.

Thanks Jim. I was thinking about going to Okinawa but i'm not sure how to get there on public transportation... isn't there a ferry or something? Most of my time will be spent around Tokyo, actually in Yokohama. She told me she will take me to some big Buddhist temple, and this would be in the spring so the cherries would probably be blossoming. I've got a while to figure this out but I'm about 85% sure I'm going now. I'm applying for my passport tomorrow morning.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 06:23 PM) i'm just pointing out the flawed logic in a lot of these pro-Obama posts claiming McCain's VP doesn't have the necessary experience.. That isn't the logic... the logic is that it dampens the effectiveness of the "inexperience" attacks. Obama's not going to go after Palin for being inexperienced.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 04:11 PM) More or less. Of course it depends on how you use them. If you're like Nixon or LBJ and just let them tear each other apart and get some sick sociopathic pleasure out of it then they really dont mean that much. But a Bill Clinton, JFK or (occasionally) Ronald Reagan makes very good use of their staff. In JFK's case he made it a point to lean on his staff in areas he knew he was weak in.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 04:10 PM) Well, I wasn't trying to insult anyone. The words I used were a little harsh, I don't think you were trying to insult anyone and I wasn't really trying to say that. I'm just saying that's the type of language that leads to verbal sparring and more snark. QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 04:11 PM) This, and the MILF post earlier, are the snark and B.S. that I think mr. genius was referring to. I agree with that... but that's not been what's in this thread. It's been mostly actual discussion.

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 03:02 PM) "I was sweatier than a priest in a motel parking lot." Or, I was more nervous than a hooker in church.