Big Brother is here, and We are Him
“Character is what you do when you think that no one is looking.”
But here’s an interesting question: What happens to character when someone is always looking? How is the concept of character altered in a 24/7/365 world in which more and more of our lives are conducted in public and the sphere of privacy shrinks to the point that it threatens to implode upon itself like a black star?
We live in a world in which knowledge about what we buy, eat, drink, read, wear and watch is now bought and sold freely by corporate America. We are tracked in the virtual world as we travel from website to website; we are tracked in the actual world by the unblinking eye of video cameras recording us from the highway to the parking lot to the store to the bank to the restaurant and back home again.
If we rent a hotel room, board an airplane, make a cellphone call or fill our gas tank, someone somewhere knows it and records it.
And increasingly, such exposure is active rather than passive. It is something that we as a culture now seek. Millions broadcast the intricacies of our lives via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and other social media, and every utterance and act of our political leaders, sports figures and entertainers become fodder for gossip, exaggeration and distortion.
Everybody is watching everybody. Big Brother is here, and We are Him. And even those who personally resist such trends must acknowledge the cultural futility of their protest.
Consider, for example, the ongoing scandal involving U.S. Secret Service agents in Colombia. A dispute with a prostitute over payment in a hotel room in far-off Cartagena becomes international knowledge in a matter of hours. They thought no one was looking, but in reality everyone was looking.
But here’s a little sidebar that I find even more telling:
It turns out that one of the Secret Service supervisors fired in the Colombia scandal had been assigned to protect Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign. On his Facebook page, David Chaney had posted photographs of himself eying Palin behind his sunglasses, bragging that “I was really checking her out, if you know what I mean.”
Palin has expressed outrage at the posting, and she has every right to feel that way. In a profession in which discretion would seem to be a primary virtue, Chaney thought that because everyone is looking, no one would be looking. And here’s the thing: Up to the moment that he got caught in that hooker scandal, he was right. Those photos had been posted more than three years ago, and nobody took notice. It’s as if being transparent means being invisible.
So … what happens to character in such a world? At first blush, it might seem logical that as more of our lives become open to inspection, and as the odds rise that any misbehavior on our part will become public, social pressure and concern for reputation would force people to live more cautiously and abide by social norms.
That’s certainly how George Orwell thought it would work out. In “1984,” his version of the ever-watchful Big Brother enforced a repressive, sterile conformity on everybody within his purview.
But that’s not how things are working out in reality. With the full range of human frailty increasingly on parade, who cares? When all are shamed, none is shamed. Exposure becomes something to be sought rather than something to be avoided, and for good or bad, the result is a liberation from rather than reinforcement of social codes and morality.
And character? Character becomes what you do when everyone is looking and no one cares.
– Jay Bookman
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352 comments Add your comment
Jm
April 20th, 2012
2:03 pm
IPAB will look at payback periods though
Meaning if you want a device and you’re 80 and it will only extend your life a year at a cost $60,000, medicare ain’t paying for it
Which seems perfectly rational to me
But don’t put the blinders on folks
Jm
April 20th, 2012
2:05 pm
Mick 2:01
200 years is the blink of an eye even in modern human history
UNCLE SAMANTHA
April 20th, 2012
2:05 pm
there is one area in which you will not be asked to prove who you are or will be watched
when you VOTE……….
the libs don’t want you to prove who you are so its open season on fraud
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/08/DC-Polling-Place-Holder-Ballot
Talking Head
April 20th, 2012
2:05 pm
“Are you saying that the *board* knows their identity? I didn’t read it that way.”
Medicare will, not the board. Medicare will track individuals based on the charges the receive each year. The focus is on primary care, and the ACO’s will have reimburesment incentives to keep costs down.
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:06 pm
mary
Sorry mary, you are of course, correct. I, on the other hand, am just a sloppy blog writer who makes a good faith effort to get it write…
Doggone/GA
April 20th, 2012
2:07 pm
“the libs don’t want you to prove who you are so its open season on fraud”
Do yourself a favor and look into the issue of mailed in ballots and how much ID is required for THEM.
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:08 pm
jm
Yes it is, but in terms of lasting goverment institutions, ours casts a giant shadow over all others…
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
2:08 pm
Progressive is just a sweet word for liberal. The best paid prostitutes are in the U.S. Congress – in both parties. You voters that don’t want term limits are their pimps.
RB from Gwinnett
April 20th, 2012
2:09 pm
Just spent 48 minutes on hold with the IRS tring to get a letter from them verifying my tax ID number is valid to make the state people happy.
That’s 48 minutes I wasn’t doing anything to further my business for a stupid rule in some state agencies rule book for those of you wondering about useless regulations affecting business….
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:10 pm
rb
Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to multi task????
Jm
April 20th, 2012
2:11 pm
Mick hardly
The roman empire lasted 2.5 times longer, and the catholic church (an institution in it’s own right with immense power and resources, for better or worse) has lasted 10 times as long
mm
April 20th, 2012
2:12 pm
“Just spent 48 minutes on hold with the IRS tring to get a letter from them verifying my tax ID number is valid to make the state people happy. ”
Would that be the state of GA run by republicans?
Jimmy62
April 20th, 2012
2:12 pm
I see the Democrat majority Senate, the same one that has failed to do it’s legal duty by passing a budget for the last three years, has now passed a bill putting “black boxes” in all new cars starting in 2015. More Big Brother from the party that loves to control everything about out lives.
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:13 pm
jm
The key word you used was modern, wasn’t thinking in terms of classical era…
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
2:14 pm
I’m voting for the ABM line of merchandise. Get Puffy on board, and you’ll make a million.
Thanks for making me spit up that delicious mouthful of coffee…
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
2:16 pm
You voters that don’t want term limits are their pimps.
And you voters who want term limits are too lazy to do your own damned leg work. Seems like a standoff in the OK Corral…
UNCLE SAMANTHA
April 20th, 2012
2:16 pm
doggone
are you telling me that mail in voting is the MOST SECURE…………..
am i being PUNK’D?
walk in with ID is the most secure…….. once you sign that you are that person then you have committed voter fraud
anyone can do mail in voter fraud because there is no way to track who did it
They BOTH suck
April 20th, 2012
2:18 pm
Wont be around for FNM…….. so I will kick it off early
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Yayz5o-l0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjDpKeiYxOU&feature=related
Everyone have a great afternoon, evening and an even better weekend
Peace
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
2:19 pm
The real Big Brother was watching Ted Nugent. Don’t speak against Oblama ’cause Big Brother is Watching you. I’m sure Big Brother monitors everyone that enters a comment on Jay’s blog in an attempt to silence those that do not worship the “Great Divider”.
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:22 pm
oblama
At the very least ding a ling ted disrepected the office. How many lunatic nra jack booted thugs might have he incited with his reckless comments? He’s an A+ wanker…
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
2:22 pm
mm – Do I have to explain everything to you? The IRS is not the state of Georgia but YOUR beloved Federal Government.
RB from Gwinnett
April 20th, 2012
2:26 pm
Mick, is your point that I shouldn’t mind being on hold for 45 minutes to get a stupid letter from the IRS because I can do other things while I’m on the phone?
I don’t think you understand the issue.
Kinda hard to make customer calls while you’re on hold…
Tundra Dude
April 20th, 2012
2:27 pm
Hiring a random stranger to hang around your room—possibly while you’re asleep—is dumb.
Not only dumb, it’s against the rules for SS agents to invite any foreign national into their hotel room.
Doggone/GA
April 20th, 2012
2:27 pm
“are you telling me that mail in voting is the MOST SECURE…………..
am i being PUNK’D?”
What did I actually say? LOOK IT UP YOURSELF.
carlosgvv
April 20th, 2012
2:28 pm
weetamoe – 12:53 “Jimmy Carter believes in the stand your ground rule”.
Oh really? He certainly didn’t believe it when OPEC decided to take us to the cleaners and more than doubled oil prices. If Carter had stood up to those miserable bandits then, we wouldn’t be paying thru the nose for gasoline now.
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:29 pm
rb
Chill my friend, just a little ribbing. I feel your pain, everytime I need to get an att rep on the line it takes at least three transfers, and two very long holds – I get the feeling they want me to hang up. As far as the irs goes, most likely short staffed because of budget cuts…
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:32 pm
carlosgvv@2:28
Jeesh…shouldn’t we blame nixon too? I seem to remember long gas lines and price shock in his day. Of course your reasoning is a bit ludicrous to begin with…
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
2:33 pm
Mick – Disrespecting someone is now illegal? Talk about a Big Brother concept. I am sure it will be in Oblama’s next amendment to the Thought Police’s Hate Crime Law. I can see it now.s Nugent gets 10 years for disrespecting the President. How many did Oblama and Spike Lee insight in the Ziimmerman case with their nationally broadcasted uneducated comments? Why didn’t the police show up at The Black Panther Party’s door when they publicly threatened Zimmerman’s life – which by the way is an illegal act? Free Speech is still in The Constitution and it’s not illegal to disagree with the President. Nugent goes overboard to prove a point but he is wacko.
stands for decibels
April 20th, 2012
2:35 pm
Just spent 48 minutes on hold with the IRS
Well RB, sorry to hear, but you really can’t say you weren’t warned.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/story/2012-04-16/irs-staffing-workload-taxpayer-assistance/54323026/1
The long waits are the result of the IRS’ expanded workload and diminished workforce, says IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, whose 2011 annual report identified inadequate resources as the most serious problem facing taxpayers. In 1995, the IRS had a staff of 114,018 to process 205 million tax returns. In 2012, it has 90,907 people to process nearly 236 million tax returns. For this tax filing season, the IRS has 5,000 fewer employees than it did a year ago.
“This is the lowest staffing level I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been with the IRS 26 years,” says David Carrone, president of the Louisiana chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). The New Orleans Taxpayer Assistance Center has six employees, down from 12 eight years ago, Carrone says. Sometimes, it doesn’t even have that many: Louisiana has several one-person walk-in centers, and when that employee calls in sick, someone from the New Orleans office has to fill in.
Increasing the IRS’ budget has never been politically expedient, and the Republican Party’s anti-tax message has made the agency even more unpopular, says Bruce Bartlett, an economist who worked in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. “Beating up on the IRS is never going to hurt you politically, regardless of which party you’re in, and we’re paying the price for this kind of attitude.”
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
2:37 pm
Disrespecting someone is now illegal?
Nope. However, when you make a threat against the occupant of the White House, regardless to whether it’s a direct threat or not, you should expect a visit from the suited guys driving the Black SUV’s. It has nothing to do with the particular person in the WH, and it’s more about protecting whomever is living there at the time of the threat. I’m sure people got visits when Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, and even Reagan were in office.
Free speech is still free, but it does not give you immunity from the reprecussions of what you say.
ragnar danneskjold
April 20th, 2012
2:38 pm
The vice president is a wise guy indeed. Even he recognizes that the president’s agenda is “like legalizing rattlesnakes in the lobbies of hotels in Arizona.” politico.com/politico44/2012/04/biden-were-going-to-win-arizona-121100.html
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:38 pm
**Nugent goes overboard to prove a point but he is wacko.**
Has he been arrested? Charged with a crime? You are putting the cart before the horse. He can say whatever he damn well pleases but as I said before there are some fringe element people out there waiting to be activated by some message, all it takes is one. He is a celebrity, granted a whacko as you said, all the more reason to think things through. You can hate obama all you want, however, he is a good family amn with a wife and two kids, cut the president some slack, he doesn’t need any more haters being hatched!!!
Doggone/GA
April 20th, 2012
2:39 pm
“Free speech is still free, but it does not give you immunity from the reprecussions of what you say”
And the President, whoever is President, does not initiate the vists. That’s totally and completely up to the Secret Service. I’m not even sure the President can STOP them, let alone set them on the hunt.
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
2:39 pm
dB
I don’t feel sorry for anybody in that respect. When you ask for smaller government and get it, don’t b*tch about having to wait extra long because of it. And to think, they still want another 10% cut from government employee rolls. Nothing likeasking for and cutting employment and then b*tching about the results of what you asked for.
Doggone/GA
April 20th, 2012
2:41 pm
“Nothing likeasking for and cutting employment and then b*tching about the results of what you asked for”
They need a selection on their menu: For expedited service, press 9 – a $50 fee will be charged to your phone bill for this service”
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
2:43 pm
Doggone
That wouldn’t work. I could already hear the cries about being taxed for something they’re already paying for. Some people will never be pleased with anything.
Doggone/GA
April 20th, 2012
2:43 pm
“That wouldn’t work. I could already hear the cries about being taxed for something they’re already paying for. Some people will never be pleased with anything”
Yep…sounds like the “express lanes” on the Interstates here in GA, doesn’t it?
carlosgvv
April 20th, 2012
2:46 pm
Mick – 2:32
It started with Carter. By Nixon’s time it was too entrenched to undo. If OPEC had waited until Regan was president to suddenly jack up oil prices, do you really think he would have sat passively by and done nothing?
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
2:46 pm
Yep…sounds like the “express lanes” on the Interstates here in GA, doesn’t it?
That was exactly what I was thinking of when I posted that.
ragnar danneskjold
April 20th, 2012
2:46 pm
David Burge humor: Sugar and spice and everything nice, that what cookies are made of. Snips and snails and puppydog tails, Obama’s lunch.
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
2:47 pm
I saw Ted Nugent in concert in Biloxi. He can really play the guitar. He is no fan of Big Brother therefore he is no fan of Oblama. The attempt by Oblama was obviously an attempt to silence a dissenting voice.
JamVet
April 20th, 2012
2:48 pm
B, great Nick Drake at 1:52.
What a shame he was such a tortured artist.
And like BOTH, I’ll be out and about later, so back at you rock and rollers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqD–BNBmtI&feature=related
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:49 pm
**The attempt by Oblama was obviously an attempt to silence a dissenting voice**
**It started with Carter. By Nixon’s time it was too entrenched to undo**
Ignorance on display, enough said…
Tundra Dude
April 20th, 2012
2:50 pm
A dispute with a prostitute over payment in a hotel room in far-off Cartagena becomes international knowledge in a matter of hours. They thought no one was looking, but in reality everyone was looking.
Actually, he cudda gotten Serviced in Secret if she weren’t such a greedy scammer. She tried to hit him up for $800.00! Claims she’s an “escort”, when she was at the bar hustling.
First photos of Colombia escort in explosive Secret Service hooker scandal
http://nydn.us/ISseQR
Joe Hussein Mama
April 20th, 2012
2:50 pm
T. Head — “Medicare will, not the board. Medicare will track individuals based on the charges the receive each year. The focus is on primary care, and the ACO’s will have reimburesment incentives to keep costs down.”
Well, your objection seemed to be about the *board* knowing people’s identities, so that seems to invalidate your complaint.
Medicare already knows your identity, and has for many years, so that can’t be laid at Obama’s feet, if you’re complaining about that.
Doggone/GA
April 20th, 2012
2:50 pm
“The attempt by Oblama was obviously an attempt to silence a dissenting voice”
And the lies continue. I can definitely see this one gathering steam and cropping up over and over and over. It just has that “feel” of a lie that won’t die.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 20th, 2012
2:52 pm
RB — “That’s 48 minutes I wasn’t doing anything to further my business for a stupid rule in some state agencies rule book for those of you wondering about useless regulations affecting business….”
Maybe you should pay higher taxes so the IRS can hire more people. Then you won’t have to wait so long for them to answer your question.
stands for decibels
April 20th, 2012
2:53 pm
And the lies continue. I can definitely see this one gathering steam and cropping up over and over and over. It just has that “feel” of a lie that won’t die.
Mind you, the folks who are weeping over the poor, put-upon, persecuted Nuge, presumably were fine with (say) Bill O’Reilly regularly referring to George Tiller as “Tiller the Baby Killer” until such goading had the desired outcome.
Mick
April 20th, 2012
2:55 pm
stands
Unfortunately, some people don’t know how to connect dots…
Joe Hussein Mama
April 20th, 2012
2:55 pm
Just learned this over on Kyle’s blog — people smoke dope to LOSE weight.
I am not making this up. (laughing)
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 20th, 2012
2:57 pm
How many did Oblama and Spike Lee insight in the Ziimmerman case with their nationally broadcasted uneducated comments? Why didn’t the police show up at The Black Panther Party’s door when they publicly threatened Zimmerman’s life – which by the way is an illegal act? Free Speech is still in The Constitution and it’s not illegal to disagree with the President. Nugent goes overboard to prove a point but he is wacko.
So many lies and misconceptions……so little time….hmmmm where should I start first?
a) How did the President “incite” anything? Some instances (verifiable AND factual), please.
b) The black panthers “threatened” Zimmerman about the same way your man Nugent “threatened” the President; something you were cool with so why the indignation now? Besides how do you know the police DIDN’T show up?
c) Not illegal to disagree with the President, but VERY illegal and VERY serious to talk about insurrection OR harming the President in any way. Don’t believe me? Why don’t you, (I dare you), take out an ad on a billboard in your city and say some of the exact same things that Nugent says. Oh and put your name on it too. (I double DOG dare you).
oh well, to paraphrase stands, I spend WAY too much time trying to reason with the unwashed unreasonables on this blog.
I can’t help it though, I still believe in my fellow man.
ragnar danneskjold
April 20th, 2012
2:58 pm
The president must be suffering from the munchies. “Simon Templar” tweets that, “Obama just fired Head of Canine Training Section of Sec. Service, Greg Stokes.”
JamVet
April 20th, 2012
2:58 pm
If Ted Notcogent was still 19 years old, I can see why he would think he can make veiled threats against the President of the United States of America and everything would be hunky dory.
It’s just a testament to his stupidity and minor-figure machismo…
Doggone/GA
April 20th, 2012
3:00 pm
“Mind you, the folks who are weeping over the poor, put-upon, persecuted Nuge, presumably were fine with (say) Bill O’Reilly regularly referring to George Tiller as “Tiller the Baby Killer” until such goading had the desired outcome”
I wouldn’t be a bit surprised
JOE COOL~DoWnToWn THUG
April 20th, 2012
3:00 pm
Why do yall even entertain “Oblama”? smh. That dude would blame Snooki getting pregnant on Obama.
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
3:00 pm
The S.S. obviously concluded that Nugent wasn’t a threat to Oblama’s life. Threatening anyone’s life is illegal. I certainly don’t want any physical harm to come to the President. Still you represent The Thought Police. I do not hate Oblama and never will. The only groups that I hate are child molesters and murderers.
stands for decibels
April 20th, 2012
3:01 pm
And as long as I’m up here on this soapbox, in the annals of irresponsible public goading, this surely deserves some note…
“Whatever do you mean, sfd? It’s not like anyone would just go out and shoot people on account of them being liberal or anything!”
Lumpkin, JD
April 20th, 2012
3:04 pm
Well, this is what the Left has always wanted!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 20th, 2012
3:04 pm
Carlosgov: He certainly didn’t believe it when OPEC decided to take us to the cleaners and more than doubled oil prices. If Carter had stood up to those miserable bandits then, we wouldn’t be paying thru the nose for gasoline now……………… ………………….. carlosgvv
April 20th, 2012
2:46 pm
Mick – 2:32
It started with Carter. By Nixon’s time it was too entrenched to undo. If OPEC had waited until Regan was president to suddenly jack up oil prices, do you really think he would have sat passively by and done nothing?
Finally! The proof that I needed that you are just talking out the side of your neck and have NO IDEA what the heck you’re talking about!!!
Nixon was president BEFORE Carter – Carter was a Governor of Georgia before he went into the Whitehouse, he wasn’t even in the Senate so how could HE have made ANYTHING so hard for NIXON when Nixon time was BEFORE his? Duh!
stevie ray...clowns to the left, jokers to the right..here I am...
April 20th, 2012
3:07 pm
JAY,
At what point to you think someone will be hired to re-write old newspapers like Winston Smith? Seems the more we know about each other, the more boring yet polarized we may become…seems like the concept of a “second chance” in life may be eliminated…I doubt people would ultimately live too differently since it’s difficult over the long haul not to be true to yourself….for better or worse..
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
3:07 pm
Debbie Does Dallas – The Black Panther Party in an interview on T.V. took out a contract on Zimmerman’s life and offered an award to whoever killed him. Nugent wasn’t any where near that level. No one came to arrest them – why? Nugent views his opinions but he didn’t threaten anyone’s life.
stevie ray...clowns to the left, jokers to the right..here I am...
April 20th, 2012
3:10 pm
DEBBIE,
I think TED NUGENTS point was that he loves the feel of an automatic assualt rifle et al and will not relinguish same no matter what. Ergo, if the law changed and made them illegal, he’d go to jail or have his guns’ pried from his dead hands…as it were. The president never should have weighed in on Martin, Spike never should have released wrong address, and the silly Panthers are clearly trigger happy.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
April 20th, 2012
3:10 pm
Well, this is the reason why I’ll always be grateful Chip Rogers got a law passed to keep people from chasing me down and putting a chip in my brain. You got to admit, from watching what we do it’s only a small step to controlling what we do.
Anyhow, I do my best to look out for spy cameras and such. I check inside the toilet before I even set down. With all the preverts in GA, you never can tell what people will want to get film of and sell on the innernet tubes.
I’ve been hauling and humping all day and you
drunksfolks are all set to swap weird music. Have a good Friday night everybody.RB from Gwinnett
April 20th, 2012
3:11 pm
Mick. I’ve spent WEEKS on the phone with AT&T. Im done with them. I will never again willingly do business with them in any form.
stevie ray...clowns to the left, jokers to the right..here I am...
April 20th, 2012
3:12 pm
JAMVET,
How on earth did you interpret the NUGENTS comments as a threat to the spineless wonder? Jumping to conclusions are we? Any NRA member will tell you, for better or worse that they will not give up their guns unless pried from dead fingers…he was simply riffing on that credo…no pun intended…
JOE COOL~DoWnToWn THUG
April 20th, 2012
3:13 pm
“The Black Panther Party in an interview on T.V. took out a contract on Zimmerman’s life and offered an award to whoever killed him”
Video link?
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
3:14 pm
The president never should have weighed in on Martin
So, now you’re saying the president should ignore questions from the press? If you remember, he didn’t say anything until he was asked about it. I’m just trying to find out where you stand on that. If it’s ok for a president to duck questions from the press, how does the press go about keeping politicians honest?
Doggone/GA
April 20th, 2012
3:15 pm
“The Black Panther Party in an interview on T.V. took out a contract on Zimmerman’s life ”
No, they didn’t. And by calling the “The Black Panther Party” you are falling into the trap they have set for you like any other prey animal. It is the NEW Black Panther Party and they have NOTHING to do with the Black Panthers, who have completely disavowed them AND their use of “Black Panther” in their name.
But you’ve been here long enough to know that.
Peadawg
April 20th, 2012
3:16 pm
“So, now you’re saying the president should ignore questions from the press?”
People ignore and brush away questions from the press all the time.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 20th, 2012
3:16 pm
OK so I’m listening to Talk Radio (now and all day today — very boring day and I had to do something to stay awake), it’s like they have a playbook that everyone has to follow.
This morning LimpBalls — Blacks & Guns (commenting on Anne Coulter’s article); says Blacks SHOULD be profiled.
Borcht – There is NO racial Profiling!! This is just something that the liberal media made up!
And now this guy (don’t know his name) — ANOTHER thing on Racial Profiling!
It’s like they can’t think for themselves and have to just pattern their comments around whatever talking points that come from the big Rightie in the sky.
BlahBlahBlah
April 20th, 2012
3:17 pm
Once again, the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of George W. Bush.
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
3:20 pm
People ignore and brush away questions from the press all the time.
I am not talking about people. I am talking about the president. If the president is allowed to deflect questions from the press, who’s going to hold the president accountable for things?
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 20th, 2012
3:21 pm
OH Bama! – Not only are you amazingly dim, BUT you have the audacity to wade in your dimness like a hog in sh##t.
I was searching for that tune from The Wizard of Oz for you, (you know “If I only had a brain”?), but I figured you’d be too dim to even understand that I was insulting you and instead take it as a compliment. sigh……
My Party has ALL the answers. Your party is full of poopyheads! (formerly That Black Guy)
April 20th, 2012
3:21 pm
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
12:01 pm
____________________________________________________________________________
Oblama, do you see partisan politics in EVERY topic?
“The Braves won” – Oblama: “No thanks to Obama”
“Weatherman says it’s going to rain” – Oblama: Those rascally democrats and their weather machine”
Give it a rest sometimes.
JOE COOL~DoWnToWn THUG
April 20th, 2012
3:24 pm
Imma take a page out Oblamas book:
Nuggets comment was a threat to the President AND a message to his followers and Republicans that they should all die or be in jail before letting Obama become re-elected.
Did i do a good job?
JamVet
April 20th, 2012
3:24 pm
Take it up with the Secret Service. They obviously were not amused by his riffing off whatever slogans.
I suspect he will be a lot more careful in choosing his still idiotic words though.
Or not…
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
April 20th, 2012
3:25 pm
“Oblama, do you see partisan politics in EVERY topic?”
You make it sound like he is the only one.
josef
April 20th, 2012
3:26 pm
Hate to bust the blame game bubble, but this Big Brother thingie came about during the Late Misunderstanding with the creation of the Secret Service under Pinkerton with its Fouche, Lafayette Baker…
Just more technology to an old practice and now a bit more democratic give the access of one and all to much of the technology.
Me? I don’t really give it much thought. Growing up in Mississippi at the time I did, I have always accepted just such as normal and routine…
Oscar
April 20th, 2012
3:27 pm
osephus™
April 20th, 2012
3:20 pm
_______
That happens on the first Tuesday in November every four years, and is coming up this year. In between there is the congress. And you can organize a protest somewhere near the White House. I guess that’s about it.
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
3:27 pm
Give it a rest sometimes.
Not gonna happen. Screen name shows that his obsession with blaming Obama for everything would not let him stop, even if he wanted to.
JamVet
April 20th, 2012
3:28 pm
You make it sound like he is the only one.
No, he didn’t.
Unless I’m missing the parts written in invisible ink!
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
3:28 pm
Debbi Does Dallas – You really showed what you don’t know this time but you are probably very young so I will let it go this time. JFK ran against Nixon and won. JFK was, unfortunately assassinated, LBJ assumed the last year of JFK’s term, then LBJ ran and won on the JFK sympathy vote. LBJ was very unpopular due to getting the U.S. involved in Vietnam. He declined to run for a second term. Nixon ran and won and then was removed from office due to Watergate. Jimmy Carter ran and won. Carter ran again and was defeated by Ronald Reagan in one of the greatest landslides in history due to the recession. Reagan won two terms and was followed by Bush I. Then we got Bill Clinton, Bush II and Obama. This is your history lesson for the day brought to you at no charge by one who lived through it all.
Recon 0311 2533
April 20th, 2012
3:29 pm
That was certainly interesting testimony at Zimmermans bond hearing. Zimmerman takes the stand and apologizes to Travon Martins family. The lead investigator under questioning from Zimmermans attorney was asked if he had evidence as to who started the struggle? He replied that he did not. He was asked if he had evidence that contradicted Zimmermans testimony that after being told not to follow Martin that he had started walking back to his vehicle? The lead investigator replied that he did not. Also there was evidence showing a close up photo of Zimmerman’s bloody head and face taken at the scene by an eye witness who testified that he saw the fight where there was a man on top of another man punching him repeatedly and then he saw the man who was on top laying in the grass appearing to be dead. I had thought that the evidence against Zimmerman was pretty solid that he was guilty of unauthorized and therefore unlawful pursuit and was therefore correctly charged of first degree murder Now it’s looking pretty muddy.
Peadawg
April 20th, 2012
3:29 pm
” If the president is allowed to deflect questions from the press”
If it has absolutely nothing to do w/ him, he SHOULD deflect it. Even something as simple as “I’ll wait to comment until all the facts come out and the trial is over” would suffice.
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
3:30 pm
Oscar
If you don’t know what the president says/thinks, how effective is a protest against him/her going to be? You need a reason to protest if you expect your protest to gain traction. How effective is a protest against the president going to be if he said nothing about what you’re angry about? The next thing would be castigating the press for not getting the president to say anything.
Recon 0311 2533
April 20th, 2012
3:30 pm
Correction on my last. Second degree murder.
JamVet
April 20th, 2012
3:31 pm
Besides, Notcogent hasn’t done a damn thing even remotely musically interesting in 30 years or more.
A proverbial flash in the pan with a demented shtick.
Unlike these guys…
She’s so respectable
She’s so delectable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-eUfBflR6s&feature=related
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
April 20th, 2012
3:32 pm
“No, he didn’t. Unless I’m missing the parts written in invisible ink!”
He singled that person out when that charge could just as easily have been thrown at you along with a dozen others here.
josef
April 20th, 2012
3:32 pm
I’ve tried to keep out of it, but giving President Obama sh*t for weighing in on that media circus is plain silly. The same folks giving him a hard time for doing it would be giving him a hard time if he HAD have ignored or brushed off the question. The Reporter is the one who should be castigated.
Oblama
April 20th, 2012
3:33 pm
Debbie – sorry I got you mixed up with Carlos. He was the dummy this time. As I said Carter was after Nixon. They both were in office during gas shortages and long lines. Carter famously said that the world would run out of oil in 10 years back when he was still in office. Guess his estimate was a little uniformed.
JamVet
April 20th, 2012
3:34 pm
then LBJ ran and won
on the JFK sympathy votebecause Barry Goldwater was such an extremist and insane train wreck of a man that he suffered not just a defeat, but an epic humiliation.But Yippee!
He did win Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
And nothing else.
Says a ton about those five state, huh?
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
3:35 pm
If it has absolutely nothing to do w/ him, he SHOULD deflect it.
People SHOULD obey the law, and we both know how often that happens, right? Unlike some of y’all, I don’t give a crap what the president weighs in on. He is human just like us, and he’s bound to have opinions on things just like everybody else. If you’re weak enough that his opinion affects yours, then that would be a reflection more on the lack of self-confidence on your part or whomever’s affected by his opinion, IMHO.
Coming from my professional perspective, I’m more inclined to believe someone who directly answers a question as opposed to trying to brush it off. Brushing things off gives the perception that somebody has something to hide. I could imagine how much more Obama would be castigated about transparency if he deflected questions without answering. No matter what that guy does, he’s gonna lose in the court of popular opinion.
Thulsa Doom
April 20th, 2012
3:35 pm
Well now sometimes ole Doomy just has to put aside his partisanship and acknowledge when Obama makes sense and makes a great speech in doing so. Yep. Its a truly wonderful and beautiful speech in the video at the bottom of the page in the link. Its only 7 minutes but definitely worth everyone’s view.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/04/alabama_football_title_honored.html
Peadawg
April 20th, 2012
3:35 pm
Even if he did need to weigh in on it, don’t say something as stupid as “if i had a son he’d look like that” or whatever. I just don’t the relevance.
If I had a dog, it’d look like the one he ate many years ago. See? Completely stupid.
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
3:36 pm
He singled that person out when that charge could just as easily have been thrown at you along with a dozen others here.
Maybe by singling that person out, the poster was trying to avoid using a broad brush swipe that people are often called out about. Did’ja ever think of that?
Peadawg
April 20th, 2012
3:37 pm
“I could imagine how much more Obama would be castigated about transparency if he deflected questions without answering.”
Depends on if the question.
Thulsa Doom
April 20th, 2012
3:37 pm
“The Reporter is the one who should be castrated”- josef
You’re a little harsh there aren’t you josef?
Brosephus™
April 20th, 2012
3:38 pm
If I had a dog, it’d look like the one he ate many years ago. See? Completely stupid.
You see stupid. Other’s see opinion. Opinion does not automatically equate to stupid because that’s just how you see things, when you are being honest. If he were being completely honest and forthright when he made that statement, who are you to judge and call him stupid for expressing his opinion?
JamVet
April 20th, 2012
3:38 pm
Carter famously said that the world would run out of oil in 10 years back when he was still in office.
Patently false.
But if so, cite please?
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
April 20th, 2012
3:39 pm
“Maybe by singling that person out, the poster was trying to avoid using a broad brush swipe that people are often called out about. Did’ja ever think of that?”
I went by what the person wrote. Did’ja ever think of that? Quite a concept I know.