It's funny that you mention that since my mother passed 6 months ago. Thanks. If she were still around, she would probably advise you and Michael Moore to head over to China and compare the quality of life to that of the United States. Michael Moore is great at trailing disasters with his soapbox in hand ready to appeal to populist rhetoric by pointing a bunch of fingers at evil-doer capitalists for the greed they exhibit by organizing the ways and means for civilization to move forward. I never voted for George Bush, but I would vote for him WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT IN THE FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL MESS HE CREATED over Michael Moore. If Michael Moore were running this country, we would be living in caves throwing our shit against the wall. That is, if he didn't annex our nation to Iran to apologize for us being such mean guys.
Tradtard, I feel so sorry for your loss but at least now you won't have to move out. I knew you were going to say that you turd errr. tard.
My country, right or wrong. To be defended when right and to be righted when wrong. Funny how right-wingers only ever remember the first sentence of that saying. America wasn't founded on "take it or leave it." If that was the case, we'd still be a British colony.
Who is the right-winger here? My only contention in this thread has been based on the fundamentally irrefutable truth that Michael Moore is a whiny bitch. He too often looks at the surface of a popular issue and focuses in on the red herrings of popular rhetoric. I don't disagree with many of his premises or conclusions, but a lot of them are oversimplistic and lacking in substantive thought. I think his broad attack on capitalism is one example in a consistent strain of thought. I really don't disagree with a lot of his conclusions though. I watched him on Larry King discuss how no one knows what a derivative actually is and they showed a context-based clip of him asking bankers to define a derivative and them being unable to do it. As if the world of derivatives is so complex that it defies human comprehension, and we are not even talking about valuation models so much as specifications. He then tried to define a derivative to Larry King by calling derivatives "stock options" that are pegged to anything in the realm of an investment bank's imagination. I am not knit-picking him here. He described all derivatives as "stock options" akin to gambling that provide no economic value. Give me a break, after all this is a trading site with some pretty knowledgable people among the ranks. He should at least know something about the products he chooses to criticize. There is a huge difference between an exchange-traded stock option and an over-the-counter swaption or a "securitized" pool of loans where banks are incentivized to "rip the face" off of an unknowing client. He later on that Larry King appearance talked about how the world is owed many apologies by the United States. Of course this country isn't perfect. The US can apologize to the Iraqi people for the war, but despite the civil turmoil that plagues their country they should be grateful that they have a chance to shape their own destiny and democracy. We don't need the Pussy Politics of apologists to look after this country's foreign interests because we have learned that the World isn't so perfect either. Obama's forward-looking pragmatism is credible and has made strides in the international community. We don't need him to bend over and apologize to tyrants who laugh at liberty. Lastly, I realized that I started a thread with a controversial statement. That statement made a lot of you eager to attack the "right winger" that I am not at all. Michael Moore peddles in the same sort of alarmist and conspiratorial fear-mongering that he accuses the far right of instigating. This country has been polarized by rhetoric and short on centrist pragmatism. There is no doubt that civility, when it comes to public discourse, is dead!
There is no doubt that civility, when it comes to public discourse, is dead! ---------------------------------------------- lol what is civil about "Moore's a whiny bitch"
I don't pretend that there is anything civil about it, but can you disagree with that statement? Agree with him or disagree with him, can you disagree with that statement? He has done very well with the opportunities that this country has offered, and his golden soapbox has not jaded him: He still has the same whiny bitch perspective that this country contniues to disappoint and disserve it's people. It's not like we are in the Congo here, man! This isn't sub-saharran Africa where we have to worry about militants slitting our throats in the middle of the night! We have to worry about whether or not the government or employers are going to have to pay for our cheesburger diet, and Michael Moore doesn't need to worry about that all thanks to CAPITALISM!
We all depend on other people to survive--we are social animals. So does that mean we cannot critique other people?
When did I imply that "we cannot critique..." others? If anything, I have exemplified my support for the liberty that this country's dialogue provides in declaring the universally irrefutable truth that: MICHAEL MOORE is a whiny bitch! I really don't think that there is much to debate with that statement in and of itself.