I'm curious to know how many of my OS colleagues are wondering about some of the issues making me scratch my head more and more lately...for example:
1. How can we have gotten to the point when we have three people as lame as Bachmann, Palin and Perry seriously being named in the same sentence with the words "candidate for president?"
2. Isn't it ironic that the proof Obama isn't a closet Arab/Muslim rests in his total inability to strike a great bargain-- a skill highly prized in Arab and Muslim cultures?
3. Given the low ratings for the president and even lower ones for congress, is the US government being run on auto pilot?
4. At this time when the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is so much in the news does anyone believe we're safer now than we were on 9/10/2001?
5. What does the popularity of Dancing with the Stars and the totally talentless Kardashian clan tell us about the demise of US culture?
6. Are those popular pesky plastic coffee "pods" going to be the indestructible plastic-bag equivalent of the next century's environmental nightmare?
7. Why is the dollar still the world standard currency when the euro has been worth $1.43 for several years now?
8. Should our children and grandchildren learn Chinese, Arabic or some other foreign language to guarantee their future survival?
9. What country do you think is REALLY, “the greatest country on earth" and why?
10. With the busted economy so much the main issue for most Americans, is anyone remembering the men and women fighting endlessly in Iraq and Afghanistan and trying to bring them home?
11. If Obama DID brings them home, saving all that bloodshed and money, would that help his popularity or hurt it?
12. When you read People magazine or watch TV panel shows, do you find you don't know half of more of the so-called celebrities being featured?
13. Even though you may love your e-reader, do you ever miss books?
14. If an Obama daughter got pregnant would that be as acceptable as a Palin sibling having an out-of-wedlock pregnancy? Honestly?
15. Are you surprised Chaney's new book proves he has loyalty to no one, including W?
16. If former-rocker-turned-congressman Sonny Bono were alive, would he be defending his transgendered son Chaz's right to Dance with the Stars as mom Cher did?
17. What is the biggest sacrifice you've had to make in this bad economy?
18. Is anyone going to have the guts to announce as a challenger for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination?
19. Do you care if Lindsay Lohan fades into drug-induced oblivion?
20. If you had the power to simply appoint the next president, whom would you name?
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3. Auto pilot works better than our government. This is more like a plane that has lost all power and only momentum is keeping it in the air.
4. N-O.
5. I'm convinced that when some descendant of Edward Gibbon writes "The Fall of the American Empire," there will be a chapter on reality-TV.
8. My daughter wants to learn Chinese. It makes sense.
11. Y-E-S.
12. Yes. I remember the time in a supermarket checkout line that I looked at the tabloids, and the only person on a cover that wasn't some reality-TV star was Kelly Ripa. When the hardest working person on a cover is a co-host of a shallow TV talk show, we've reached bottom.
13. I happily alternate between my eReader and real books. The eReader is functional and convenient, but it lacks the magic of a physical book.
16. Yes, Sonny Bono would defend her. People are often more tolerant when it's their own offspring.
18. I've come to the reluctant conclusion that he needs to be challenged.
19. Yes I care. Lohan is the exact same age as my oldest daughter and that's way too young to give up on somebody.
20. I'd appoint somebody from OS. Maybe Scanner or L in the Southeast. Hey, maybe Joan Walsh!
2. Those who don’t want to believe that BO is the legitimate President of the U.S. never will.
3. I wish.
4. We don’t have to worry about the Trade Towers falling on our heads…
5. That you’re worrying to much about the demise of US culture.
7. Why? Are they suddenly rolling in affluence over there or something.
8. Our children and grandchildren should gain every opportunity to guarantee their future survival.
9. The U.S. still sets the table, cooks the food, and lets the world eat for free.
10. Many bad choices were made that got them there in the first place… including their own.
11. Who cares, just wrap it up and bring everyone home.
12. More like 1 out of 6.
13. I don’t have an e-reader.
15. Back when he chaired the “committee” to find W’s running mate, and picked HIM, I said that he was the scariest man in Washingon.
17. Being borderline broke, I’ve given up a sense of hope and better times for the future.
19. Yes. I still view her as the little girl from “Parent Trap” that I watched over and over again with my daughter. I like her, I hope she works it out.
20. I would find the wisest man I could and appoint him to name the next President.
Yes, Catherine, what a great choice!
Jeff, I appreciate your answers and thanks for making me thing some more.
3. It's being run?
4. Safer? I don't feel less safe than before it. Paranoid? I feel more paranoid thanks to this culture of fear that has been created and perpetuated as a result.
5. See Question 1.
6. See Questions 1 & 5 in relation to the appreciation of coffee and demise of taste. And, Yes.
10. See answer to question 4, and I think it has become a normal state of existence for this country that we occupy those two countries.
11. Neither and who would care, would anyone notice? He'd be blamed for helping terrorists by someone.
14. No, the double standard would apply - sadly.
15. A psychopath has loyalty to no one.
18, 19. No.
20. Rw005g
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Many good questions to consider here Mary Ann Sorrentino. It requires much thought to answer especially whom to consider for president besides MR Obama.
11: I hope it would help him--I'd be glad to see it happen for almost any reason. I fear that no matter what Obama did, he'd be vociferously blamed for pulling the troops out prematurely. (Yeah they haven't been there for quite a decade yet. Let's not rush our fences.tongue from cheek)
In answer to 14: Between berating the Obamas as bad parents and making smug, insulting assumptions about "African Americans" I think the Right Wing would be delirious with joy and make life hell for the poor girl. So for their sakes (and for other reasons than the ugly public fallout), I hope both Malia and Sasha will remain un-pregnant and politically untouchable so long as their father is in office.
15. That evil bastard? Of course I'm not surprised.
18: Alan Grayson, possibly.
20 Alan Grayson in a heart beat. He's a progressive, and he's an unapologetic FIGHTER. He's not afraid to call the Republicans out on their crappy behavior. For VP, Howard Dean.
If I thought it would make Obama a better fighter for his causes and capable of driving harder bargains, I'd conduct an experiment wtih Alan Grayson and Barack Obama in a high castle tower during an electric storm some dark night.
rated
dear lady...so I dare not put what products ensued
from it, in answering your very pertinent questions,
on this blog, so as not to muddy any water herein.
except: number 11:
"IT WOULD CERTAINLY HELP HIS POPULARITY
BUT THE QUESTION OF HIS RE-ELECTABILITY
WOULD HINGE UPON THE TIMING OF THE ACTION,
AND IT SURE WOULD LOOK SUSPICIOUS TO ALOT OF
GOOD HARDWORKING PATRIOTS
LABORING ON THE HIGHWAYS
OF OUR DELUSIONAL INFRA-
STRUCTURE,
AND SOME OF THE REST OF US, TOO, MAYBE...
I DUNNO.
I GUESS THE SHORT ANSWER IS "DEPENDS"
:)
1 – The culture has descended as to who can produce the catchiest bumper-sticker slogan. Idiocracyy is looking more and more like a revealed truth.
5 – It reminds me of how the more odious Roman emperors would throw the gaudiest games. The need to feel smarter than the folks you’re watching must seek out ever lower standards.
7 – The nominal value of a currency has nothing to do with its “strength”. Readt convertibility is the main criterion for taking the role of the world currency. That is normally the currency of whichever power has the greatest international trade and investment. Someday that will likely be China.
8 – Chinese would be very useful.
9 – the Scandinavian countries seem to have hit the best balance of economic prosperity, personal freedoms, longevity, low crime rates, low rates of corruption, decent medical care for everyone, excellent levels of literacy and education and low rates of poverty.
12 – Sort of. I don’t read People but when I check out Huffpo’s Entertainment page, I’m less than 50% in identifying who’s split,getting married, having a baby etc. Even first names seldom help.
14 – The furies of the holier-than-thou crowd would have descended on the Obamas and tainted all blacks as well. You’d see a slew of articles on Afro-American broken families and what a poor example for the nation’s youth is being set by the Obamas. The radio shows would feature Dr. So-and-so explaining how the Obamas’ poo parenting was hastening the country’s moral decline.
18 – Has Kucinich ruled it out?
20 – I agree with much of what Paul Krugman writes, but I bet he wouldn’t be able to get much done with this Repub congress.
8. I think all children should learn Spanish and possibly Chinese, but that's just my opinion. That's the world today, and understanding another language can only help even if in a small way.
9. The whole idea of "greatest country" on earth is a little bit like "best friend," too broad to answer.
10. Last month we lost more soldiers in Afghanistan than we have in a long time, possibly ever; they need to come home. I don't think they will. We stirred up more of a mess, spent money on infrastructure they cannot possibly support and leaving them with it might be worse than when we arrived. Terrible conundrum created totally by us.
13. I love my eReader even though I fought it forever; I will still always have some books, poetry, art, etc.
17. Sacrifice, hmmm? I still have a roof over my head and plenty to eat and am not going broke anytime soon. That being said, losing my job in 2009 means a much different retirement than if I had been able to stay in that job until retirement (which would have been 11 years).
20. If I could appoint the next president, I would probably go with Hillary Clinton . I think I might regret not voting for her. Yes, she had boatloads of baggage, but I think she's really smart and tougher than BHO.
This was tragically beautiful and needs to be repeated...thank you (and I quote...)
"Last month we lost more soldiers in Afghanistan than we have in a long time, possibly ever; they need to come home. I don't think they will. We stirred up more of a mess, spent money on infrastructure they cannot possibly support and leaving them with it might be worse than when we arrived. "
Abrawang..."Idiocracy" may be my new favorite word.
Thank you.