Random Thoughts

[El Vez]

Who would you rather be; Roky Erikson or Daniel Johston?

[miss buenos aires]

Who would you rather be; Roky Erikson or Daniel Johston?

Is Rory Erikson not mentally ill? Because I'd rather be not mentally ill.

[El Vez]

Roky did a few too many drugs back in the day and it left him sitting next to Michael Moriarty and John Nash for awhile. I don't think he's ever really recovered.

[ice nine]

I am stuck in Paris this WE

Boy, does that suck!!!

[verena]

Yes Miss, you are close. Thank you.

Rage, so sorry that you found my post not clear enough. I did my best, I was in a hurry. And pray don't get mad dear, because I am not going to answer your questions now. It is past four o' clock in the morning here boy, and if I don't get a few hours sleep tomorrow for sure I die !

[bobster]

Roky did a few too many drugs back in the day and it left him sitting next to Michael Moriarty and John Nash for awhile. I don't think he's ever really recovered.

Hey, if you're going to go off your meds, Michael Moriarty's really done it with style, hiding it all as a political conversion and coming off as some kind of guerilla theater satire.

I particularly liked how, if I remember correctly, he actually ran for the Canadian Pairlament while claiming the new Canadian flag was actually based on the Chinese flag because, I guess, Canada's modern rulers are crypto-Maoist.

The funny part about it was that he actually briefly got taken seriously for a bit by various groups in L.A. of conservative activists concentrated in the entertainment industry that have been put together by people like Lionel Chetwynd and David Horowitz. (I think I saw him on a C-Span panel once, or at least referred.)

Just shows to go you how political groups will pretty much accept any celebrity to lend some pizaaz to an event. Us liberals are just as bad. I've seen Roseanne at events and that lady is like a blend of Sylvester Stallone's mom with a touch of Michael Jackson. And Robert Blake used to be a stand-by get for peacenik events back in my not very active-activist days. Nuff said there.

But back to Moriarity...Darn good actor and pretty good jazz pianist, I've read.

[Mr. Average]

Thank you, kindly, Miss BA.

[Boy With A Problem]

El Vez wrote

Roky did a few too many drugs back in the day and it left him sitting next to Michael Moriarty and John Nash for awhile. I don't think he's ever really recovered.

Roky did indeed take a lot of LSD. However, may think he lost it in a mental institution. He got busted and rather do hard time (and very long) in Texas, he copped an insanitiy plea. At the institution he was subjected to shock treatments - bad shit if you don't need them - think RP McMurphy.

[Mr. Average]

Did a little research on the EU Constitution, and indeed it is intended as a constitution to galvanize the interelationships and cohesive nature of the EU. The document, two years in the making, and with strong support from the French, already has been accepted by over half of the population of Europe. Reasons cited for the French oppositions lead to the Consititution (reported this morning to be 11-12 points ahead of the yes votes) is principly tied to a 'dilution' of French culture (no surprise here) and to the fear that other EU immigrants will lower wages and pollute the economy with "cheap labor". These are not my words. These are direct transcriptions from the opposition leaders. Evidently, the French hold firm to the notion of protecting their own "language, Borders, and Culture", although the same degree of protectionism in this country is considered overt racism. Am I suggesting the French are racist. Before you go there, the answer is "No". I am suggesting that there is an incredible, global double-standard in play, as Americans attempt to protect our borders and ask only that the law of the land be enforced as it pertains to immigration.

[miss buenos aires]

The thing is, all EU citizens already have the right to work in any other EU country, so approving the Constitution would change diddly-squat.

Also, as far as I am aware, no European country is criticizing the US immigration policy. Historically, it has been much harder to gain citizenship in many Euro countries than here--just ask the Turkish family who's been in Hamburg since 1965 how hard it is to get German citizenship. So you're setting up a bit of a straw man here.

If you're talking about Americans liberals and our supposed blind embrace of all things European, I think you're distorting the issue there as well. To the extent that most liberals think about it, I think we generally support the EU constitution.

AND, I don't think anyone here has stated that protectionist Americans are more racist than protectionist Europeans. Verena herself just made reference to the hateful LePen's horrifyingly strong showing in the presidential election a few years back.

So Mr. A, I think you're comparing apples and oranges here. Please clarify what you mean, if I misunderstand.

[bambooneedle]

Napoleon was all for uniting Europe...

[mood swung]

Uniting Europe, one cake at a time.

[Mr. Average]

Miss BA:

It was an editorial NOT aimed at the EU or the French. It was aimed at the group that is generically referred to as the "Hate America First" group, who are quick to criticize US policy on anything...ANYTHING, and fail to compare and contrast it with the way things are done in other parts of the world...in other civilized societies.

The French people have every right to vote out the EU Constitution to protect borders, language, and culture. If that right is threatened by this Constitution, real or imagined, then I understand the trepidation.

You indicate that the French workforce has no real barriers to entry by non-French citizens (or, to be fair, that is how I read your post). But there MUST be something, because of the stated fear that cheap labor would invade France and damage the economy. So, in some substantial way, the ratification of the EU Constitution MUST have some implications along these lines.

I was not implying that the French are lambasting the US on our immigration policy. Lord knows they have plenty of other items on their agenda to lambast the USA. I was drawing a parallel reference, that is all. To be clear, there is No USA, No American Culture, No national identity without immigration. The true isolationists are the ones who, somehow, think that because they were born here, and that there parents were born here, that they are true 'natives' to this land mass called the United States. A silly notion, but held by a remarkable number of short-sighted people. And potentially a racist notion.

I am of Irish-German descent, and my mothers grandfather immigrated from Germany.

There is a law of the land, and it should be representative of the majority voice of the people. If the French, and the Danes (I think they vote on Wednesday?) people vote no on a constitution that they believe will weaken their social, cultural, economic position, then so be it.

Legal immigration is the law of the land. In the USA, the law is being transgressed for political gain, not just to populate the voter ranks, but to provide cheap labor that is tantamount to 'insourcing' out our own labor force. Meanwhile, a significant amount of the monies earned for cheap labor is not 'repartriated' back into the US economy. It is sent out of the US to bolster the personal economies of a depressed people...depressed by their own repressive government policies.

This is one of the rare occasions that I can relate to the French and their right to control their destiny.

And if Pedro was indeed voted in as Class President, did Napolean recieve illegal dance lesson contributions from the new mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villarogosa? according to the Drudge report, there might be something to this....

[miss buenos aires]

Miss BA:

It was an editorial NOT aimed at the EU or the French. It was aimed at the group that is generically referred to as the "Hate America First" group, who are quick to criticize US policy on anything...ANYTHING, and fail to compare and contrast it with the way things are done in other parts of the world...in other civilized societies.

The French people have every right to vote out the EU Constitution to protect borders, language, and culture. If that right is threatened by this Constitution, real or imagined, then I understand the trepidation.

You indicate that the French workforce has no real barriers to entry by non-French citizens (or, to be fair, that is how I read your post). But there MUST be something, because of the stated fear that cheap labor would invade France and damage the economy. So, in some substantial way, the ratification of the EU Constitution MUST have some implications along these lines.

I was not implying that the French are lambasting the US on our immigration policy. Lord knows they have plenty of other items on their agenda to lambast the USA. I was drawing a parallel reference, that is all. To be clear, there is No USA, No American Culture, No national identity without immigration. The true isolationists are the ones who, somehow, think that because they were born here, and that there parents were born here, that they are true 'natives' to this land mass called the United States. A silly notion, but held by a remarkable number of short-sighted people. And potentially a racist notion.

I am of Irish-German descent, and my mothers grandfather immigrated from Germany.

There is a law of the land, and it should be representative of the majority voice of the people. If the French, and the Danes (I think they vote on Wednesday?) people vote no on a constitution that they believe will weaken their social, cultural, economic position, then so be it.

Legal immigration is the law of the land. In the USA, the law is being transgressed for political gain, not just to populate the voter ranks, but to provide cheap labor that is tantamount to 'insourcing' out our own labor force. Meanwhile, a significant amount of the monies earned for cheap labor is not 'repartriated' back into the US economy. It is sent out of the US to bolster the personal economies of a depressed people...depressed by their own repressive government policies.

This is one of the rare occasions that I can relate to the French and their right to control their destiny.

And if Pedro was indeed voted in as Class President, did Napolean recieve illegal dance lesson contributions from the new mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villarogosa? according to the Drudge report, there might be something to this....

[Mr. Average]

"Echoooooooooooo....."


What did I miss by this transcription...

[miss buenos aires]

Hm. That wasn't supposed to do that. I'll try to recreate my post later.

[miss buenos aires]

Basically, my two points were these:

Mr. A still seems to have a confused argument regarding left-wing types in America (so charmingly and rational-discussion-facilitatingly called the "Hate America First" crowd) and their presumed opinion of European politics. I'm still not sure of his point, but feel compelled to point out that no one, whatever their political leanings, is compelled to adopt anybody's foreign or domestic policy wholesale, and in fact, many of the same people who criticize American immigration policy take exception (in fact, the same exceptions) to European immigration policy, admiringly as they might regard other facets of European society (social safety net, 35-hour workweek, etc).

My other point was that though all EU citizens have the right to work anywhere in the EU, an enthusiastic adoption of the Constitution would no doubt lead to expansion into more easterly countries, with more depressed economies, and thus more desperate citizenry who would love to have a crack at a job in France.

[Goody2Shoes]

If your car smells like there's a dead body in it, maybe it's just a rogue cantaloupe that escaped from one of your shopping bags, and has been lurking, unbeknownst to you, under one of the seats for god knows how long.

[Mr. Average]

To deny that there is an internal group dedicated to damaging the reputation of the United States of America on a global basis is to ignore the obvious.

I am in support of the French vote to control thier own destiny. And the cheap labor source is indeed from the east. Turkey, for example, as expressed interest in participating more actively with the economies of the EU.

I'm sorry my messaging was confusing. I get the notion that people stop reading when they are faced with the notion that there may actually be a subversive element in this country dedicated to destroying our language, borders, and our culture, as hybridized as it is and will continue to become.

The Amnesty International reporting of late is absolute disgraceful, as it conveniently ignores worldwide aggression, hate, and history, and artificially amplifies the issues that Newsweek and others continue to propogate. The reference of our war prison system as comparable to the Stalags of Stalin and The Nazi's. Do people really buy that bull shit. I hope the left is not so naive as to compare death camps where, literally, millions upon millions were put to horrifying death (approximately 20,000,000 deaths in total estimated in the Stalags of Stalin and Hitler). By comparison, how many documented (and let's go nuts here and allow NewsWeek, CNN, and CBS into the argument) and undocumented deaths have occurred in US-based prisoner of war camps (e.g., gitmo).

I know that I am way off topic, but good golly, how can people swallow this shit, then repeat it. If that isn't part of a dedicated and well-funded "Hate America First" campaign, I don't know what is.

Back to the subject, I think it is great that the French had the freedom to vote down the EU Constitution. Great. All good.
I just hade the "random thought" that in the USA the people here shuld have a similar right to protect our borders. At this point, the control of our borders is completely absent.

And there are tangible and very real effects. Keep your eye on LA. Watch closely.

[mood swung]

G2S, be glad it wasn't chicken.

[lawngnome]

Mr. A, I'm not saying I argee with anything you say (in fact I violently disagree with most of it), but I think you'll enjoy this, if you've not already seen it.

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2005-05-15-1.html

Interesting, if somewhat less than sensible...

[Mr. Average]

What do you violently disagree with? I didn't know that I was writing something that would be deemed controversial. It is historical fact. How can that be denied? Even if you are 1000% anti-war, the comparison is absurd on its face.

[miss buenos aires]

I'm sorry my messaging was confusing. I get the notion that people stop reading when they are faced with the notion that there may actually be a subversive element in this country dedicated to destroying our language, borders, and our culture, as hybridized as it is and will continue to become.

I don't think that's it. I think that sometimes your arguments are just completely garbled and intellectually lazy, with lots of extra verbiage thrown in to substitute for clarity and insight. Believe me, I read that to which I propose to respond.

[lawngnome]

To deny that there is an internal group dedicated to damaging the reputation of the United States of America on a global basis is to ignore the obvious.

That part mostly. While I agree that there are groups of people that enjoy negatively juxtaposing America with other nations, I think the idea of an organized group devoted to making America look bad to the rest of the world is a tad silly and paranoid. What does this group do? Do they, as Card claimed, expose national scandals during wartime? Thus weakening America's image and threatening national security? Yeah, the Iraqi prison abuse scandal made a few US sodiers look like assholes to the rest of the world, but when you tie a guy to a chair and electrocute his testicles, you are an asshole! I doubt the rest of the world is stupid enough to think that all American soldiers behave like that, let alone you and me in our living rooms.

And even if such a group exists (You have to wonder who these people would be, journalists? terrorists? used car salesmen?) they're doing a really poor job. If the rest of the world is so brainwashed, then why is there potential for a New York- based Olympics? Isn't that place the pinacle of American evil?

[selfmademug]

I think the idea of an organized group devoted to making America look bad to the rest of the world is a tad silly and paranoid.

Or, gosh, delusional. There are days when I think there is no right and no left; only relatively sane realists, and looneys.