dryad

Speaking of other beloved religious leaders, I don't really understand why the Dalai Lama is in the lower left corner. I would have expected to find him more in the upper left, somewhere near the Pope. Tibet was always a theocracy until it got taken over by China, and it's certainly not socially libertarian. Tibetan Buddhism is extremely romanticised in the western world, but when you see it in practice it's actually just as dogmatic, superstitious and judgemental as any other religious orthodoxy. If you put the Dalai Lama, the Pope, Hitler, and Bush all in the same room, probably the only thing they would all be able to agree on is that homosexuality is wrong and gays will go to whatever version of hell each of their respective religions endorses.

Yeah, I thought that was a pretty surprising quote too. It just goes to show that nobody is completely innocent. Not even Gandhi. Nonetheless, when you add up the total sum of his contributions, I would rather be sitting in the lower left corner with him than elsewhere on the chart.

Everybody underestimated Hitler and Mussolini at the beginning, and there are quotes from Churchill, FDR, etc. to that effect. Killing off Jews was never enough to cause concern because everybody hated Jews. Do you need to be reminded that the US did not get involved in WWII until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor? And that FDR did not allow shiploads of Jewish refugees into the US, and sent them back to Europe, to their deaths?

And guess who was the voice of pacifism with the following quotes: Dwight D.Eisenhower, go figure. One learns something new every day. More interesting quotes and factoids here

Poking around this website yielded the following tidbit... Guess who said the following: Thomas Jefferson, go figure.

Me too.

I might go too. My weekend plans sort of bit the dust so I may as well go party.

As a scientist (and as woman) I find that really damn scary.

How has my life been affected by Bush's policies? Besides everything that has already been said, it has also made it more dangerous for me to travel abroad. Numerous times I was told not to tell anybody I'm American for fear of being targeted, and this was just in Nepal, a place pretty far removed from any areas of direct American military involvement. Not to mention all the other anti-American bullshit I got. The world really does hate us now, and if you're American, you're assumed to be an asshole until you demonstrate otherwise.

Blake, what exactly is your point? Did anybody ever suggest that Washington and Jefferson were perfect models of progressive ideology by modern standards? Of course they're not. They didn't want women to vote either. Times change, and one can only judge historic figures relative to the standards of their own time. No state-sponsored religion was a pretty radical concept back then, for example. Oh wait, maybe it still is.

Doctor Discovers the 'Orgasmatron'

Rock season is basically over anyway so don't fret. Just think how bad it would have sucked if this happened in June! Whatever you do, do your damndest to not reinjure it - hence I would recommend against skiing in case you wipe out and hurt it again. If you push yourself too hard you'll be gimpy much longer. In the meantime, there are plenty of other things you can do to keep in shape and get outside like hiking and snowshoeing.

3 words: instant runoff voting

How do you explain the swath of Kerry land in southern Texas?

I was about to go off on a long rebuttal to klenke's advocating of Lieberman. I wanted to say that Lieberman isn't a real Democrat, that the only reason he's a Democrat is because he's Jewish, that he's a Torah-thumping self-righteous finger wagger just like the Christian fundies, etc etc. But then I realized, wait, no, klenke's right. Maybe a pseudo-Republican is exactly what Democrats need. Someone cynical enough to roll around in the muck and beat the repubs at their own game. Somebody who can convince the folks in the red states that he hates commies, ragheads, fags and abortion just as much as they do, for example. But still be enough of a Democrat to not actually do anything about this stuff once he gets elected. Maybe appealing to people's base fears and hatreds is the only way to win an election these days. But hey what do I know? I'm just a latte-sipping brie-cheese-eating REM-listening compact-car-driving Seattle liberal thoroughly out of touch with the mainstream.

You're giving this way too much thought. I don't care if a guy asks me out just because he likes my ass because it's only for 1 damn date. If we then discover we have nothing in common other than the fact that he likes my ass, there will be no second date. End of story. No sweat.

Say goodbye to Roe v. Wade Say hello to drilling in ANWR

I'll be happy to ditch Krispy Kreme in favor of Dunkin' Donuts.

This is what I've been saying all along.

Selkirk gets it. That's why he's such a ladies man! Or should I say, ladies

I feel the same way as minx on this one and I finally figured out why. This election demonstrates the final triumph of anti-intellectualism in this country. The last election was a sign, but a lot of us were optimistically thinking, yeah maybe people could be fooled into electing a dumbass one time, but they'll see the error of their ways once they see him in action, plus he wasn't really elected anyway, so this will all sort itself out the next time around. Well, wrong. The majority of Americans saw the idiocy and decided they liked it. Now we bicoastal urban secular non-NASCAR-watching "culturally elite" types fully realize just how fundamentally different we are from the rest of America, and this sense of disconnect is depressing.

Yes NOLSe, you have the idea. being confident enough to go up to the girl and ask her out = good being an egotistical self-cented prick = bad It's a fine balance.

BTW, thank you for starting this thread and giving us something to spray about besides than the election, which is too depressing to contemplate. I'm going to go cry in my beer now.

This is so lame. Just be a man and ask the girl out, straight up. What's the worst that can happen? You get a drink tossed in your face? Big f'in deal. Suck it up and move on.

Took some noobs to Vantage. Nice and sunny.