Messages

Was overthrowing Saddam a good thing? I mean, okay, his mass killings and such were stopped, but the Americain troops  seem to be doing okay at those.

The key thing is that the death involved with American troops will end (hopefully), while the mass killings would have been continued for decades under Saddam's kids even after his death if it weren't for American intervention. Don't take this as support of the war, but I believe in fair judgement if you're going to make a comment like that.

I don't think that the terms Liberal and Conservative, whose application is sketchy to begin with, can really be applied to federal American politics in the 1860s.

They can if you know and consider the mass attitude of society at the time. I wouldn't try to categorize Lincoln though, because I also think he was a mixture of both.

Great game, awesome idea. I think you could have milked the Ready jokes a little more than that, but it was still fun nonetheless.

lol. does avatar refer to that little piccy thing?  ...yeah that's me 

why do pretty women do that?!

H.. Hey! 

Lincoln didn't care whether the slaves were free or not, which he said repeatedly. He was more concerned with the preservation of the union.

http://www.absofacts2.com/abrahamlincoln/data/lincolnquotesslavery.htm

I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.

...

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.

Mike is also upset that his documentary may not be aired as promised.

I've read that it was the french translation and weighed in at about 3 gb. I doubt it gets very widely distributed.

http://www.maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=creeve

Maddox doesn't seem very depressed.

My multi-million dollar ad campaign had to be cancelled due to low investor confidence.

I especially liked the second debate, where the look of desperation on his face was consistently shown because the camera angles often showed them both at once. You could see a look of laughter in Kerry's eyes when Bush talked.

C-span has all of them.

http://www.c-span.org/2004vote/debates.asp?Cat=Current_Event&Code=PresVP_04&Rot_Cat_CD=PresVP_04

[Liberal:]

I've noticed that too. The throwing around of "liberal" as a dirty word is just laughable. It's happening in my home state with two senator candidates as well. I'm thinking about writing the "dirty liberal" and telling him to put the definition in one of his campaign commercials, because that would really put things in perspective.

Liberal:
Noun
1. A person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties
2. A person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets

Adjective:
1. Showing or characterized by broad-mindedness
2. Having political or social views favoring reform and progress
3. Tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition
4. Given or giving freely
5. Not literal

Other than the laissez-faire markets, I'd consider it an insult to not be called a liberal.

Bush may as well be screaming, "I'm a close minded bastard and all of you intellectual weirdos who are for progress and broad-mindedness need to shut the hell up and go to church!" which sadly wouldn't actually anger many people here.

Don't mock potato power, it's quick, easy, and environmentally friendly. Just poke two nails of different metals (example: copper and zinc) and boom, electricity. About 400 of those might power a computer, with a DC->AC converter. For a little while.

I kept watching for the Wilco tracking.

Nick Dangerous is the winner! Not so much classical themed, but I thought it was more cheerful and had more density.

Thank you both for participating, both awesome works.

Nick, you may now start a new thread in the competitions forum with your own rules and theme.

I've played guitar for nearly five years now and I first started singing four years ago. I'm still terrible at singing, I just don't have the voice for it. I've tried to accomodate by choosing a more forgiving style (rock allows for it pretty well, as well as goofy stuff like Ben Folds).

My approach to guitar has been fairly unique.. I played in a punk cover group for a couple of years and never had any satisfaction from it so I decided to make my own style. Since I couldn't find a decent bassist for my second group, I tried to cover for that. I was playing in a two-man group with a drummer and me. The only way around not having a bassist is to create riffs that keep you from noticing that there even should be one. I did it by playing bar chords and modifying them with my pinky and ring fingers. Often I could make it sound like as many as three guitars were playing, albeit simple riffs. This failed any time I wanted to solo, so the style was pretty monotonous as I think solos are an important break in songs.

Nowadays I've moved to a blues/rock fusion, it allows me to keep lyrics short and to the point (so my singing voice is almost irrelevant) and my guitar riffs the same. Creating melodic riffs is pretty difficult.. it just comes to me every now and then and I go with it. There's no easy way to come up with a good song but to play around with a lot of unfamiliar chords and scales until you come up with something interesting, or just mess around a lot and pick out the good stuff from the massive amount of crap you'll create.

I had similar experiences with people at school overglorifying what our bands did.. they were really just astounded that anyone they knew could play musical instruments and write songs on their own, so they didn't notice how crappy it was. I don't know where you live, but where I grew up few people had ever seen a live band that wasn't playing western cover songs. You'll see the same thing at a lot of local scenes that thrive mostly on indy pride rather than music quality. But hey, milk that cow for as much as it's worth while you can.

However beer tastes like sweaty balls and urine.

Oh, man!  You've tasted Sweaty balls and urine?  Bummer!

You have too, through beer. You don't have to make fun of us just because you happen to LIKE the taste of sweaty balls and urine.

You're not real. I keep telling myself that, but I think it's time for you to know too, you can't be real.

Catholics are quiet about religion, and for John Kerry that's a good thing because if he goes talking about Bush's religious hypocrisy then Bush will tackle Kerry's stance on abortion and gay marriage (which he is against, but won't take a stance on).

Here's my answer: Ignorance, stupidity, and wealth. Everyone knows that Bush is a tax cutter for the rich, including the rich. Look at this map from the 2000 election.

Blue: Democrat (Gore)
Red: Republican (Bush
http://www.makethemaccountable.com/misc/Maps.htm


Notice the high correlation for rural areas to vote for Bush? The six O'clock news factor. What junc said.

The Bush campaign's main messages are:

Terror
John Kerry changes his mind as new issues arise
John Kerry will raise your taxes

Bush has instilled more terror in Americans than any terrorist ever will, but people away from places where politics are actually questioned don't think about it.

Oh, and look at that bible belt shine!