We'll bail out Canada too if you give us equity. :) - Morton Fox
Take Alaska and we'll call it even. They'll greet you as liberators. - Kevin Fox
@Kevin you have to keep Palin though regardless of the election outcome - Steven Hodson
Steven ... You won't be the first to blame America. Our true enemies are laughing right now (some of them all the way to the bank) - Charlie Anzman
How many Canadians really drink Moosehead beer? - Thomas Hawk
Sorry, but your Canadian dollar is riding high! - Mike Reynolds
@Mike actually the CDN dollar is lower than the US buck right now by about 17cents ... three days prior when I did a PayPal transfer it was 11cents - Steven Hodson
Payback for Celine Dion (also, PAVE CANADA!). - Akiva Moskovitz
Sorry but I must respond to steves remark. A) We are not in a recession, in fact we had record job growth and that was when our dollar and yours were nearly equal, since then our competitive position has improved, B) Your (American) enemies all function using $$ (money) so no one wins when the world conomy goes into a bucket. Don't be stupid and assume your enemies are not governed by money like the rest of us. C) I love Moosehead but I prefer Sleemans :) - Sober & Somber Canuck
Roger - Don't be sorry. Dialog is what it's all about - Charlie Anzman
Your welcome! But, you can't blame everything on us. Every country has caused its own problems. - Mathew Ballard
@Roger the problem is that the keyword there is *had* and after the TSE drop this past week we might see some changes coming our way as well - Steven Hodson
@Mathew .. damn I knew I should have put a smiley on the end of that because of everyone's lack of a sense of haha lately :) - Steven Hodson
Moosehead: in Canada its a beer, in Maine its an activity! - Mark VandenBerg
Keep this up, we're all gonna be drinkin' Moose somethin' ... another two months we may be brewing our own. Personally, I'm finding it a bit fascinating (as horrible as it may be for some) how many economies faltered once ours did. But didn't everyone hate us because of America's prosperity? I'm so confused .... NOT. Bottom line, you guys can all argue over the economy and politics. I love this country ... and will continue to. - Charlie Anzman
This stuff freaks me out more than all the economic troubles. John McCain won major points with me today. It's the first time in a long while he was showing some leadership. - Robert Scoble
What's equally bad is what's happening from within the McCain campaign with regards to indirectly accusing Obama of being the Antichrist. - Michael A Hall
via twhirl
It seems to me like your classic good cop-bad cop routine. Can't give him much sincerity points right now. - Tsega Dinka
The Republicans are only feeling the ripples from what G.W Bush started two terms ago. Its really about time the Republicans have had to pay the piper for polarising the US the way they have.
Hopefully they will lose, Obama will win, prove the freaks wrong and things will settle down while the Republicans learn from their strategic errors. - Sober & Somber Canuck
I have just seen what you guys were referring to on CNN right now and this is crazy. I can't believe how openly hateful people are... I am scared of it and I am in Canada. Thanks for commenting it Robert so that I could read and learn about this.. - Sober & Somber Canuck
Roger: Republican hate has been fanned for a long, long, long time. Rush Limbaugh has been doing that kind of crap for more than a decade and his stuff is tame compared to the stuff I've heard from the religious right. When I attended a Silicon Valley fundamentalist church I heard stuff like this all the time from members. - Robert Scoble
Robert I think you are right the trend has been migrating in this direction but I know a campaign strategist and he informed me that it wasn't until Bush that certain strategies came in to play to maximise this polarisation. Fair enough if I am wrong but my source is pretty reliable for quality information. - Sober & Somber Canuck
"Hijacked?" You seem to be missing the point of rabble rousing. McCain doesn't want us engaging in intellectual discussion about the best way to deal with the economy, or health care. Intellectualism is for arugula-eating, latte-sipping liberals. No, he wants to draw a picture in your head of how SCARY and DIFFERENT and UNKNOWN the other guy is. He wants you to FEAR. And as Yoda taught us, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. - Karim
It's hilarious to me to hear heavy FriendFeeders talk about Republican hate without a sense of irony. Do you guys not hear the hateful stuff that comes from your keyboards that you say about Republicans? - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
@Mark: I don't think it's hate when it's against republicans. It's fear from what those idiots could do with our world (and with that I mean every nation). And yeah, there are plenty of republicans, which are no idiots, and just want to live in peace. But those will be incited from religious fundamentalists, and right-wing idealists. In Germany those people are called Neo-Nazis. - Ryo
I don't think any Democrat on Friendfeed has ever declared that we should kill anybody on the opposing side, or bomb them. Nor have we accused a Christian American of actually being a Muslim Arab, as if being the latter were necessarily a bad thing, or as if that necessarily made him/her a terrorist. - Victor Ganata
Why can't he take responsibility for his involvement in these people's reactions? - flammable
McCain is beginning to stew in his own juices. It was inevitable really. - Jim Jannotti
John McCain does not win any points here. The Country First messaging coupled with linking Obama to a terrorist was like putting lighter fluid on hot coals. I'm glad he's backed away from doing this, but that doesn't win him points it simply gets him back to even. - AJ Kohn
+ 2008 Victor! There simply is no equivalent on the left to compare to Rush Limbaugh. That, if nothing else, should be the gauge to measure hatred between the two major political parties. - JodyUnwired
@Mark: Exactly. After eight years of absolutely repulsive bile representing the utter norm of Democrat discourse on Republicans - a gushing torrent every day on sites like DailyKos and Huffpost - it's astonishing to see one crank being depicted as the touchstone of Republican hate. - Rob Sterling
@Ryo: So your position is that it's not hate if it's against Republicans because Republicans are the equivalents of Nazis. Thanks for your contribution - you can sit down now. - Rob Sterling
@Jody: I doubt you've ever listened to Rush Limbaugh. There are hateful right-wing talk show hosts - Michael Savage comes to mind - but Limbaugh is assuredly not one of them. He is a mainstream, chamber-of-commerce Republican. - Rob Sterling
I'm a Nazi because I'm a Republican? Glad we got that cleared up today. Interesting to be hated and feared and told that I want to bomb and kill people. I also thought I was an agnostic, but apparently because I'm a Republican I'm a religious fundamentalist. This has been an educational morning. - JMakesAwesomeSauce
Personal attacks are nothing new in American politics, regardless of the origin. Campaigns will latch on to whatever seems to work at that point in time. They call it "strategy" :) +1 to Karim for being able to tie Yoda to politics! - Tim Hoeck
Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins: neoconservatives and Christian fundamentalists have engaged in a systemtic hate campaign for months to smear Barack "Hussein" Obama as anti-American, the Antichrist, an Arab terrorist, a Muslim terrorist, a traitor, and an enemy of the American people who should be destroyed by any means. The program of incitement to violence and assassination has taken hold, as one can easily understand by reviewing videos of McCain/Palin rallies in recent days. On what basis are you charging that Democrats have engaged in similar behavior? - Sean McBride
Calling George W. Bush and Sarah Palin STUPID, which they and most of their supporters manifestly are, is not remotely equivalent to smearing Barack Obama as an anti-American Arab and Muslim terrorist and traitor. It is a measure of the low level of intelligence of most Republicans these days that they are unable to make these simple distinctions. The Republican Party has become a haven for the stupidest thugs in American society. The Republican brand name has been permanently destroyed -- it will never recover. - Sean McBride
Some key factors which contributed to the destruction of the Republican Party and conservative movement http://friendfeed.com/e/a0e548... Conservatives are deserting the Republican Party in droves -- it has become a joke and a monstrosity. - Sean McBride
It's clear that the religious fundamentalist, anti-intellectual, and racist arm of the Republican party is asserting control. If you are a Republican who does not agree with their aims or philosophies, how do you intend to take back control of your party? Or are you tacitly agreeing with the bullshit that they sling around? This is not an issue that you can remain silent on and maintain any sense of morality or ethics. - Victor Ganata
You're right Victor. And I'm not one to agree. Right now I don't know what to do to take back control. But I do know that it has to be done. - JMakesAwesomeSauce
Victor - my bet is that the Republican brand name is unsalvageable at this point. Religious extremists with a fascist agenda have destroyed the party from within and have driven out most of the best minds. I expect to see a radical reorganization of the mainstream party system in the United States in the coming years. - Sean McBride
I've stopped arguing with people. When someone tells me Obama is a terrorist, I respond, "Practice saying President Barack Hussein Obama." Then I ask them if they want my information I've gathered on emigration to Canada. - Trish R
Trish, I have never, in my life, heard a Republican or Conservative threatening to move to Canada if their candidate didn't win. That's almost wholesale a Democrat or Liberal thing to say. - Akiva Moskovitz
@Sean, it's pointless to engage Hopkins. He just runs in, throws a bomb and scurries away. - Rick Powell
Akiva Moskovitz - discussing the possibility of moving to Canada is not a threat or an attack of any kind. It is the expression of a personal preference. Once again, we see that neoconservatives are unable to make the most simple of categorical distinctions. Stirring up a bloodthirsty and hate-filled lynch mob with smears of anti-Americanism, terrorism and treason is a radically more extreme kind of rhetoric than contemplating the possibility of moving to Canada. - Sean McBride
For Hopkins, whom I refuse to call by his ridiculous middle name: "As nearly as possible, no nationalist ever thinks, talks, or writes about anything except the superiority of his own power unit. It is difficult if not impossible for any nationalist to conceal his allegiance. The smallest slur upon his own unit, or any implied praise of a rival organization, fills him with uneasiness which he can relieve only by making some sharp retort," - George Orwell. - Rick Powell
Rick - I haven't discovered a neoconservative on Friendfeed yet who is capable of engaging in a rational debate. They specialize in hit and run tactics, with the emphasis on running. They have mosty self-ghettoized themselves on FF. They more closely resemble a cult than a reasonable political movement. - Sean McBride
By the way: what does "Rizzn" mean? - Sean McBride
who the hell knows? Who cares? It's an annoying affectation. - Rick Powell
But in regards to the subject of "hate," Mr Rizzn recently said that I'm the sort of "mean partisan" he "detests." Meanwhile, I liked his extremely well-written, cogent and reasonable article on politics and social media. He seems to be two different people at times. - Rick Powell
McCain scored some points with me for trying to walk it back. Don't know whether that's conscience or a look at the fact that the all-hate, all-smear campaign isn't moving the needle out of the fever swamp. But I'll wait to see if he reigns in Palin, if his surrogates stop painting Obama as a pal of terrorists, if they change the tone of their advertising. I'm giving McCain some credit. But if he's really a leader, let him start by leading the people he's hired into the light of decency. - Michael Hussein Markman
Michael - McCain scored no points from me; he continued to lose points. He has already walked over the cliff. He is trying to scramble back to a safe ledge after realizing that the incendiary hate campaign was badly backfiring. I've seen enough of McCain now to realize that he has no fixed principles other than a raging appetite for war. He is an opportunist who will say anything, depending on which way the wind is blowing. - Sean McBride
I think the Republicans have received some hate back. Nearly all of us learned from Yoda that fear leads to hate. - MiniMage LightBlueRanger
"Rizzn" Hopkins is a self-admitted shit-stirrer who can't defend his own arguments. His idea of Socratic dialogue is to ask the only black people participating in a thread on racism to *leave.* He is a rabble rouser, which I guess is why he felt compelled to "defend" the rabble rousing in the Republican party. - Karim
As for this whole stupid "hate on both sides" argument, where do we see the crowds in the Obama rallies foaming at the mouth and screaming "Kill him" and "Off with his head?" When has a Democrat proclaimed to an Obama meeting that she can't trust McCain because "he's a Scot?" - Karim
@Karim: You do realize that at the Republican convention, leftist protestors threw bricks and debris down on buses from highway overpasses, right? So people opposed to McCain actually tried to kill GOP delegates. Does that count as hate? - Rob Sterling
Rob, I realize that there was violence at the GOP convention, but the people involved were mostly identified as "anarchists" (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... and http://elections.foxnews.com/2...), as well as "anti-war protesters." The first link says some of the protesters were "even disgruntled Republicans." - Karim
Wow. Bashfest while I was gone. I really don't need to add anything to this thread. Much of the justification of hate on this thread more or less proves my point. Good job guys, performing admirably. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
Famously, several respected journalists were also arrested and assaulted. My remarks were about Democrats vs. Republicans. You're trying to enlarge the scope of "Democrats" to include anyone who is against McCain and war. Does this mean you want to include anyone who is conservative, racist, fascist, pro-war, white supremacist, neo-Nazi, etc. in the McCain camp? - Karim
@Karim: Conveniently, the "anarchists" have a decidedly leftist agenda. - Rob Sterling
Rob, either you can limit the discussion to the behavior of Democrats vs. Republicans, or you can expand the scope such that brick-throwing anarchists are automatically assumed to be in the Obama camp and pro-lynching KKK Grand Dragons are automatically assumed to be for McCain. One of those conversations is productive and one of them isn't. - Karim
wow. There is now way in hell I am going to defend what clearly ignorant and angry people have said at the rallies - i will say that i think it is completely unfair and misleading to say that the mccain campaign has said X, Y and Z. For all of his faults McCain deplores that kind of crap - Marco (aureliusmaximus)
Marco: the incitement to hatred and violence, the smearing of Obama as an anti-American terrorist and traitor, is coming from the very highest levels of the McCain campaign, the Republican Party and the neoconservative mainstream media (especially Rupert Murdoch's Fox News). There is not the slightest chance that Sarah Palin could have made the inflammatory statements she made without the knowledge and approval of John McCain. There is nothing remotely this vile coming from the highest levels of the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign. - Sean McBride
sean -i almost went back in and completely edited my comment. i won't try to justify everything mccain and the campaign has done and said, i do think that in many cases there has been an unfortunate intersection between the actual intention of what the campaign has tried to convey and the reaction the resulting abhorrent and ignorant statements have elicited from some in the crowd - this unfortunately isn't a good format to dig into all of the different nuances and elements at play - Marco (aureliusmaximus)
@Karim: Call 'em what you want, but they're Obama supporters and they're behaving as badly or worse than anyone on the right. - Rob Sterling
@Rob: Just reread my comments, and don't try to put words in my mouth,I never said. This is as clear as it can be: "And yeah, there are plenty of republicans, which are no idiots, and just want to live in peace. But those will be incited from religious fundamentalists, and right-wing idealists." So if your not incited by them, you shouldn't feel addressed. - Ryo
Actually Mark is spot on. 0Bama supporters are some of the most angry people I have seen. - Spencer Scott
Rob, first off, show me where they're all "Obama supporters," or where the brick-throwing people are registered Democrats. The two articles I cited identified them as "anarchists" and anti-war protesters. Anarchists aren't Democrats *by definition.* You can't simultaneously believe in the abolition of government and a bicameral legislature. The first article I cited said some of the protesters were *Republicans*, a point you seem happy to ignore. - Karim
If a large number of the anti-war protesters happen to support Obama in this election, I'm just guessing it has something to do with Obama not saying anything insanely stupid like we might be in Iraq for "100 years, 1,000 years, or 1,000,000 years." EDIT: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty blamed the week’s violence on a small group of 'anarchists, nihilists, and goofballs who want to break stuff and hurt people.'" note NOT "Obama supporters." (http://www.winonadailynews.com...) - Karim
Second, I read about 16 people being charged with felony obstructing and felony riot. *Not* "attempted homicide.* - Karim
Third: the Iraq war has killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, killed over 4,000 Americans, and cost hundreds of billions of dollars. While everyone agrees violent protest is wrong, and I'm not justifying it, I just don't see how you can put violent protest *against a war* on the same level as some racist assholes who want to kill a respected member of our government because his skin color isn't the same as their own. - Karim
Multiboxing, the only way to get any enjoyment out of content made for 10+ people that you paid for but can't get to participate in just because you refuse to use the Kneepads of Allure in a Guild. What, me bitter? - Alexander Williams
via NoiseRiver
That would make them the official anti-iPhone team. Just watch MSFT surprise everyone and instead launch Office as an iPhone app.... - Louis Gray
I highly doubt MSFT will integrate RIM's mail server / service to WINMOs. If anything, I think they'll leave RIM as is, since the OS is clearly superior to MSFT's. If anything, they'll acquire RIM and rid WINMO to be a player in the mobile market. Think about it: Google (Android), Nokia-Symbian, Apple, MSFT-RIM. At this point, Office is not a factor, since Documents to Go already dominates the market and is coming for the iPhone... - Mona N.
And to add to that, I would rather see a MSFT and Palm marriage, since I have a soft spot for Treos :) - Mona N.
“Ping Spencer Scott (sscott) hey Spencer are you available via IM at all .. working on a post and was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions (Stardock related)”
