RobBob

This is most coincident yet fortuitous meeting, honorable Mr. Momoh sir. My esteemed father-in-law, the late Mr. Jonathan Gumbabi, former minister of defence in the nation of Guinea Bissau, recent was killed in a mysterious automobile accident. If I could request your bank account number and fax signature, I would be able to forward 8% of the 36 million dollars that my honorable father-in-law hid in his estate and which must be moved to a safe bank as soon as possible. Awaiting your most kind reply, Robert Dada

Stepping around GregW's transparent troll a bit, i find the question of behaviors of cultures as a whole to be most interesting. There are a ton of variables as to why certain cultures seem to function as a productive unit over long periods of time...race, relative isolation, perceived outside threats to name a few. My question is, of the long-lasting cultural groups in the world, do you really think that the "modern world" will change the nature of those cultures? Or for instance does the German psyche as a whole still hold ideals of a northern-european Hansa in its subconscious? Is the bushi culture deeply ingrained in Japan likely to disappear as communication, trade, and travel continue to expose us all more to each other? Or will both these cultures remain in relatively the same spirit, long after our democratic experiment has flamed out? Who was it that said "the more things change, the more they stay the same"? Do you really believe that Japan, for instance, has changed its martial nature for good? Ask its neighbors what they think. Hell, I don't know the answers to these questions, but it is interesting to think about them. If you look at the 'really big picture,' how important is it that the US is fighting a "war on terrorism?" We are chasing a relatively small number of rats around the world. Maybe the backlash of our stomping on the terra in righteous anger is that we give some of these old cultural groups the excuse to show independence from their alliances with us...and a shift to their former selves.

I liked the way the badgers got closer and closer before the surprise ending.

mmmm...tanlines..

One Tyrannasaurus Rex and one Fireman have been put to bed, stomachs full of candy. Now it's time to kick back and enjoy a couple of cold ones and some spray. Who's awake?

Maybe j_b is Michael Moore. j_b = Michael Moore = Dan -?

j_b, I must say that usually you are this over-the-top wrong about stuff. All you have to do is listen to Moore himself talk about his work. The guy is an unethical bullshit.

[Associated Press] - October 31, 2003 -NEW YORK (AP) - A man trying to fish out his cell phone from a commuter train toilet got his arm stuck, forcing the train to stop and causing delays throughout the rail system. Thousands of commuters were delayed and several trains were rerouted while rescue workers tried to pull him out, a Metro-North Railroad spokesman said Thursday. Edwin Gallart, 41, of the Bronx, dropped his cell phone in the toilet of his train shortly after it left Grand Central Terminal during rush hour on Wednesday, Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said. The train was held at a station after a passenger heard Gallart's cries for help. When train workers failed to pry Gallart's arm free, police officers and firefighters were called in to use a blowtorch to break apart the stainless steel toilet. Meantime, all 600 passengers aboard the train were put on other trains and all northbound trains had to be rerouted, causing significant delays and thousands of dollars in additional costs for Metro-North, which might seek damages from Gallart, Brucker said. Gallart's home telephone number was unlisted and he couldn't be reached for comment. Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Wow...last night 7-8:30pm was a terrific light show. Violet background, with blobs of light green appearing and fading.

Beck, it's 4:08am. Why are you up?

oh really, j_b? Please enlighten us further on this subject. Are you a Harvard-case man, or a Chicago-theorist? Don't take it personally when I say that I believe that your understanding of financial markets is probably close to nil.

oh please. the market was up slightly today, but so what? The stock market reflects a whole lot of information, including reaction to yesterday's trades, opportunities in other investment areas, etc. I guess if your measure of success was the stock market in the 90s, you probably loaded up on stock of unprofitable companies whose stock prices were soaring, didn't you?

cite this 'fact' for us please.

This is bullshit. Recoveries begin with cost-cutting and layoffs, generically. The public's mood always lags the economy. Go back and look at the late 80s. The recession started while public sentiment was high, and we were out of recession when GB Sr. was ousted from office. He was correct to say that the recession was over. The problem was, public sentiment lags the econmic trend and people through his ass out.

two kinds of people in this world. winners, losers. some just don't understand the difference!

hmmm...that appears to be your opinion, j_b, and you are entitled to it.

erik, you won't see me voting for Bush and Ashcroft. Admittedly I voted for Bush the first time, but he's got us stuck in the shit in Iraq and clearly possesses no ideas of his own on how to get us out. Ashcroft is a dangerous zealot, and Rumsfeld is reminiscent of a nazi henchman. If I were Bush, I would pit those two against each other somehow and watch them flame their careers out together. But that doesn't have anything to do with Michael Moore. Look, every fifteen year old likes to make humor by putting down adults in positions of competence and authority, and make them look dumb, even if it means taking them out of context. Michael Moore has made a career out of that, but he's not fifteen anymore. He's a misanthrope.

your love is like nuclear waste

the hate is just a thread away. Let's get to the heart of this Michael Moore debate.

Amazing. I make reference to a TV show where Michael Moore showed his ass...after being questioned about some specific instances that the interviewer believed he misled his audience, he weaved and dodged using the Bill and Hillary word-game tango. j_b, the more your blood pressure appears to rise in defense of Michael Moore, the dumber you sound. Of course it is my opinion that he lied. Unless I am willing to spend the next week in Chicago in a fact-finding mode in order to prove to some internet stupe that he lied, it will continue to be my opinion, based on the 'facts' as they were presented by the interviewer and Moore on The View several days ago. Guilty. Of lying. And being unable to contribute positively to normal working American society.

j_b, what do you know about what my position is on gun control? Fact is you don't know where I stand. Your quote of Moore notwithstanding, NO, I do not NOT believe that the average Joe could have walked into that bank and walked out same visit with a gun. The thing was vetted by Moore or his staff having phoned ahead, despite his protestations otherwise. I don't know where you're coming from claiming that an opinion that differs from yours about Moore is "spew." Catbird, if you have seen Michael Moore in defensive mode, it doesn't resemble any moviemaker I've seen. More like somebody who is instantly vituperous when he's the one being scrutinized. There's a term for that: hypocrite.

Hmmm, I was thinking about the radiation that one must be getting if one were to be high on a mountain somewhere during this magnetic storm...then I realized that , hey, I was on a Tokyo-NY flight on Mar 14, 1989, and saw that huge aurora over Fairbanks...supposedly the biggest in 50 years. (As amazing as the aurora was the goose-like sound of hundreds of Japanese passengers doing their version of "ooooh and ahhhh" as they woke up and looked out the window.) No wonder my head always feels funny...

okay, if you want to play that game, one that I remember was the bit about him walking into the bank and getting a free gun. The interviewer asked him if he did not in fact have that event pre-staged. He refused to answer directly, instead ranting about "TV lies," and using Clintonesque dodges to imply that it wasn't pre-arranged. But it was pretty clear that Moore's stunt WAS pre-arranged, and that the average Joe could NOT have walked into the bank and walked out same visit with a free gun. Moore is no more than an agitator, a self-promoting bullshit one at that. Must be motivated by some deep inferiority complex, because he clearly couldn't manage third shift at a Dairy Queen on his own. Anybody can throw rocks at human organizations...I choose to admire many of the folks that have the skill to build'em, rather than the ones who want to tear'em down.

I happened to see Michael Moore on "The View" a few weeks ago (I was in the gym on a treadmill, assclowns ). They pretty much turned him into a defensive little wanker with some good direct questioning about specific indiscrepancies in his diatribes.