prole

Well, gol'durn, I just can't believe in 21st century America that A. people can't read what they themselves wrote about themselves! B. They can't read what other people wrote about them. C. They don't know the difference between "rein" and "reign". As far as my anger goes, consider it my personal sacrifice to my principles. Beats getting a boot-camp lobotomy.

hey homes, I have the day off. Taking care of some in-processing issues and such today and what-not. Apparently you have an issue with me. Care to discuss it? If not, I would suggest saving the hostility for someone who cares. Hope you have a great rest of the day. Remember that I am most likely not in your time zone ace... Yeah, I'd like to discuss it. You can't be "I'm a mindless robot, my country right or wrong, I'm just following orders, I've given up my rights, my identity, my ability and willingness to think critically, blah-blah" and expect anyone who hasn't been living in the Star and Stripes institutional echo chamber for the last 7 years to take your tired fairy tales about dictators, WMDs, freedom/democracy and the rest of it seriously. It's not hostility believe me. I'm just trying hard to understand how you're either not trolling or you're not a comic-book character come to life. ---ACE Obviously you have not read the thread. Others have posted eloquently the reason that I seem to you, a "mindless robot." I didn't say you were a mindless robot, you did. Apparently you want us to swallow the same line of horseshit justifications for a misguided war that you did. Not only that, but we should applaud you for "standing up for your principles" and sit around your campfire while you retell stories about Iran that your bosses tell you. Mmmm-hmmm!

hey homes, I have the day off. Taking care of some in-processing issues and such today and what-not. Apparently you have an issue with me. Care to discuss it? If not, I would suggest saving the hostility for someone who cares. Hope you have a great rest of the day. Remember that I am most likely not in your time zone ace... Yeah, I'd like to discuss it. You can't be "I'm a mindless robot, my country right or wrong, I'm just following orders, I've given up my rights, my identity, my ability and willingness to think critically, blah-blah" and expect anyone who hasn't been living in the Star and Stripes institutional echo chamber for the last 7 years to take your tired fairy tales about dictators, WMDs, freedom/democracy and the rest of it seriously. It's not hostility believe me. I'm just trying hard to understand how you're either not trolling or you're not a comic-book character come to life. ---ACE

Scott, If you are, as you've stated, a mindless automaton, that thinking is beyond your paygrade, and that you follow the orders of your superiors without question, what makes you think that you have any credibility when it comes to any of these issues? If you're looking for a personal CC.com ticker-tape parade , it happened back on page 2 of this thread. If not, get back to work doing whatever it is you think you do.

Coming out of the woodwork.

The Hardball clip is what Spray would look like without Wikipedia.

Looks like the "free market" is operating exactly as it should and only as it can in this case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

You're out of line. Period.

Four more years, four more years! Same ol' shit.

Those are hideous. It's like we're living in a comic-book from my childhood.

Despite the unfavorable exchange rate, I'm planning to redirect my check to stimulate the Canadian economy.

OMG, please don't probe me.

Are you in a spaceship?

"What? Who? Li'l ole me?" Give us a break. You know damn well that free-market fundamentalists have fought tooth-and-nail to dismantle any such rules and keep any new ones from being put into place. The explosion in risky financial instruments, increased volatility, more frequent crises are part and parcel of the "casino capitalism" that deregulation has helped to create. As usual, it's all down the memory hole--"oh hey look, Lehman stocks are up!"

From Dandies On The World Stage...the Rise of Presidential Bling And anybody's surprised this guy doesn't know the price of a gallon of gas?

As I'm sure you know Jay, such a simplistic line of questioning will never produce the smoking gun. What seems to missing here is a recognition of the unique form American imperialism takes in distinction from earlier European forms based on the acquisition of formal territories and direct resource extraction. While the US certainly engaged in classically imperialist adventures (particularly in the early 20th century) it's more informative to consider post-WWII US imperialism in terms of the American role in the management of capitalist crises, global policeman, and leader in the expansion of capitalist markets (of course, with American capital in a privileged position), and cultural hegemon. It's done this through any number of military, diplomatic and economic tools at its disposal from invasion, to foreign campaign finance to structural adjustment to embargo. When, where, what tools are appropriate to meet American geopolitical and economic goals are the questions. That American state seeks to extend and maintain a dominant economic and political position with respect to the rest of the world should be a given.

Link?!

This is a devil's advocate position? Whatta maroon.

"Golly gee, if only we had known something like this could happen when we were clamoring to deregulate the financial services industry!" Wash hands, a few bad apples, business as usual. BTW, I'm under no illusion that what is playing out here is any serious collapse (in the short term), if for no other reason than that the State has proven so willing and adept at managing increasingly frequent, if less destructive, capitalist crises and bailing out individual firms when the "free-market" inevitably shits the bed.

Some heavy-duty boilerplate there Jay. Sounds like everything's fine, just another day on Wall Street. "Nothing to see here, move along...you're getting sleeepy... your eyelids growing heaavy..."

Guess that wholesale deregulation of finance thing hasn't worked out so well. Funny how the phrase "since the Great Depression" keeps popping up. Here's a funny bit from the same article about Bear's most significant contributor in terms of "value-added":