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Mike O'Brien
Byrne Robotics Member
Official JB Historian
Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10927
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| Posted: 08 November 2008 at 7:00pm | IP Logged | 1
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081108/us_time/mychanceencoun terwithobamainhawaii
Interesting article about a chance meeting with Obama in Hawaii.
Good thoughts in it.
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Flavio Sapha
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Brazil
Posts: 12912
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| Posted: 08 November 2008 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | 2
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Rich's post reminded me of Lou Reed's THERE IS NO TIME song lyrics:
This is no time for Celebration
This is no time for Shaking Hands
This is no time for Backslapping
This is no time for Marching Bands
This is no time for Optimism
This is no time for Endless Thought
This is no time for my country Right or Wrong
Remember what that brought
This is no time for Congratulations
This is no time to Turn Your Back
This is no time for Circumlocution
This is no time for Learned Speech
This is no time to Count Your Blessings
This is no time for Private Gain
This is a time to Put Up or Shut Up
It won't come back this way again
This is no time to Swallow Anger
This is no time to Ignore Hate
This is no time to be Acting Frivolous
because the time is getting late
This is no time for Private Vendettas
This is no time to not know who you are
Self knowledge is a dangerous thing
The freedom of who you are
This is no time to ignore Warnings
This is no time to Clear the Plate
Let's not be sorry after the fact
and let the past become our fate
This is no time to turn away and drink
or some vials of crack
This is a time to gather force
and take dead aim and Attack
This is no time for Celebration
This is no time for Saluting Flags
This is no time for Inner Searchings
The future is at hand
This is no time for Phony Rhetoric
This is no time for Political Speech
This is a time for Action
because the future's Within Reach
This is the time
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Gene Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 October 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 4597
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| Posted: 08 November 2008 at 11:08pm | IP Logged | 3
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For me, it was the moment I realized that 'universal truth' was entirely
subjective, itself.
**
Hmmm. Why did that stop you from exploring other ways of thinking or new ideas, Dave?
(I agree with you, BTW.)
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Rich Rice
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 April 2008
Posts: 195
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 1:58am | IP Logged | 4
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Resurrecting common sense. Which has been in short supply for ages.
"Trains" is but a metaphor for government doing the nuts and bolts of the infrastructure important to the well being of good social order. We are a divided nation. And so long as we fester in that divide without finding some common ground upon which to work, nothing will get done. Nothing.
If one insists upon divides such as "we are a center right country", then fine. All the people on this board wailing and flailing for gay marriage are far, far, crazy left wing and to be ignored. Because 'center right' would be what we have now: a marriage ban in California set into the Constitution. How's that working for everyone?
You'd think we would be able to agree there is a severe water problem looming in our future. People on both the left and right drink water. -How about starting there? Some will get jobs. Others will see something being done. Water for farmers. Water for evangelicals. Water for the gays.
Our national power grid is for crap. Ports need overhaul. Our aviation system is strained. There is a car industry in need. -Rather than piss away human existence chattering about stupid stuff, or predicting future gloom and doom based on ideology, how about fixing this massive mess we're in?
What you get is average people making pronouncements, exercising the power of their vote over issues they know absolutely nothing. Fix health care? How about locking 500 of the most influential, respected people from all sides of the problem and have them make say, 5 broad recommendations of viable systems using the best and avoiding the worst of all models, American, Canadian and Foreign... and then put that before Congress. -If one can get the parties (government, corporations, health providers) involved to set aside their personal interests in favor of the common good, all the better.
The way one can allow the system to work when there are 13 states and a world of land and resources to be mined is very different from running a system of 50 states with all sorts of taxed resources. As the problem gets more complex, thinking and reasoning has to get better and better and better.
Too much ideology. Too little reasoning. Our nation is broken. Let's fix it.
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John Bodin
Byrne Robotics Member
Purveyor of Rare Items
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3911
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 2:14am | IP Logged | 5
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Rich Rice wrote:
| Too much ideology. Too little reasoning. Our nation is broken. Let's fix it. |
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Well-said, Rich.
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Mike O'Brien
Byrne Robotics Member
Official JB Historian
Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10927
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 5:48am | IP Logged | 6
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Interesting list of facts about our President-Elect:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/ba rackobama/3401168/Barack-Obama-The-50-facts-you-might-not-kn ow.html
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Mike O'Brien
Byrne Robotics Member
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Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10927
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 6:11am | IP Logged | 7
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"No, n- yeah, yeah, whatever scares you the most, yeah"
Ok - hold on to your hats - awesome just got MORE AWESOME.
One of the few things that kept liberals laughing during the Bush years was the awesome comic strip GET YOUR WAR ON - which started as a clip-art internet phenom, was published in two collections and eventually became a regular feature in Rolling Stone Magazine ...
And now it's animated. And it's even more hilarious than usual. I damn near bust a gut at the above quote that I'm using as the hyperlink...
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Joe Zhang
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12842
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 6:12am | IP Logged | 8
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" He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics"
Aww, no way !
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Mike O'Brien
Byrne Robotics Member
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Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10927
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 6:21am | IP Logged | 9
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I know - that one stood out to me - I know a lot about Obama, and as far as I know - he's not a current comic book fan - that probably meant, like, when he was a kid.
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Eric Smearman
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Joined: 02 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 5880
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 6:46am | IP Logged | 10
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Don't think that I'd consider Do The Right Thing a date movie let alone a first date!
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Joe Zhang
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12842
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 7:30am | IP Logged | 11
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"he's not a current comic book fan"
No ! He's one of us. One of us. One of us.
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Mike O'Brien
Byrne Robotics Member
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Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10927
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| Posted: 09 November 2008 at 7:32am | IP Logged | 12
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You think THAT'S an awkward date film - I took a girl to see Spike Lee's documentary 4 LITTLE GIRLS - about the kids killed in Birmingham - (it played at the Mill Valley Film Festival, but otherwise skipped theatrical release) - yet it still made for a good date.
Just.. you know - sad, due to subject matter. But that was a really good date.
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