House of Eratosthenes

The answer to the question, I think, is that they aren’t really that stupid. The problem isn’t in their heads, it’s in their hearts. They’re full of hate.

Hat tip to Don Surber, by way of Let’s Think About That.

Man, I love the dumbass question form the obviously brain dead talking head bimbo –“…the small businesses will just keep the money”. Yea, because small businesses only employs like I donn’o, like a really small percentage of workers, ya’ know, fer sher, like totally.

She was too stupid to notice Hatch was indirectly slamming her.
- tim | 12/05/2009 @ 11:24
They’re full of hate.

Dang. That’s cynical, Morgan. This is only politics, yanno? It ain’t frickin’ JIHAD.
- bpenni | 12/05/2009 @ 12:48
Well Buck, there’s hate and then there’s HATE.

BTW, Socialism, Communism, Dictatorships, Nazism…they’re all “politics”, no?

1773/dumping tea was politics, our Constitution was/is politics. Most wars are about politics…and/or religion, but I digress.
- tim | 12/05/2009 @ 13:14
This is only politics, yanno? It ain’t frickin’ JIHAD.

Tell them that. You’ve lived out here on the west coast and you darn well know, this is an undeclared civil war. There’s a “their way” and an “our way” to do every li’l thing, and the difference between those plans is who’s hurt & who’s helped. Think there’s no “left wing” way to college garbage, birth a child, or time a traffic light? Think again. And no left-winger is ever allowed to think well of a right-wing plan, or ill of a left-wing plan, which leads them to miss irony time after time after time.

Heck, “They’ll just keep the money” is a perfect description of what went down with Barry’s swindle-us plan.
- mkfreeberg | 12/05/2009 @ 13:35
BTW, Socialism, Communism, Dictatorships, Nazism…they’re all “politics”, no?

After a fashion, Small-Tee. One out of your four might be defined as a bona-fide political philosophy, albeit one that doesn’t work, never has worked, and never WILL work. The other three? Malignancies on the Body Politic, all of which required radical surgery. Our Lefties haven’t even BEGUN to approach that sort of critical mass. Yet.

Morgan: I’m all for educating our misinformed brethren, not sliming them. They’re still Americans, no? The One and his minions are wrong, wrong, wrong… but I don’t think they’re up to no good (read that as “eeevil”), nor do I “question their patriotism.” Seriously.
- bpenni | 12/05/2009 @ 16:09
…but I don’t think they’re up to no good (read that as “eeevil”), nor do I “question their patriotism.”

I wonder if it would meet your approval to occasionally call them “extremists”?

I’ve talked with these types who say you can’t give tax breaks to small business because the businesses will “just keep it.” These are certainly not centrists, let me tell you. And it doesn’t cover all the bases to simply say they’re “misinformed” and leave it at that. They live in another world, and it is a two-dimensional world. A few too many viewings of Robocop, methinks. Government solves all the problems, businesses make all the problems. Nobody on their side ever makes a mistake, and nobody from the other team ever has a good idea. It’s good-versus-evil as far as they’re concerned. They live in exactly the same black-and-white world they claim the conservatives live in.
- mkfreeberg | 12/05/2009 @ 17:08
They live in exactly the same black-and-white world they claim the conservatives live in.

You’re describing the loony-left-fringe, Morgan, people like teevee talking heads, English-department-head academics, eco-weenies, and the like. But when you get beyond the fringe you see something else. I know… and like… more than few sensible liberals. Perhaps it’s just my former-lefty background, maybe it’s the types of people I hang with, maybe it’s something else entirely; I’m open to suggestion. All that said, I’m thinking you need to get out more. But then again, you HAVE mentioned you have the occasional conversation with folks to the left of Genghis Khan. But those people are ALWAYS wrong. Always. (to paraphrase one of your bumper stickers) 😉
- bpenni | 12/05/2009 @ 18:40
…I’m thinking you need to get out more. But then again, you HAVE mentioned you have the occasional conversation with folks to the left of Genghis Khan.

I did so get out. And I did so argue. And believe it or not, they think they’re being centrist.

See that’s the thing I think you’re missing. Once you come to the realization that “companies” are to blame…you can wreck gawdawful effects & intent upon them, and not see yourself as having become the whack-job you have in fact become. Not you per se, but they. That is the fourth milestone on the way to insanity…and those folks definitely done crossed it.

Oh by the way, they had a mega-corporation built up around themselves, ironically enough. A certain private-sector concern that used to sign some of your paychecks, that has been the subject of some of our offlines… 😉

We’re actually having pre-Christmas-shopping libations tomorrow afternoon, with one of the saner ones, and her husband. The joke we’ve been cracking is that Obama has to do something that’s really wonderful, or at least doesn’t suck, before they can screw up the courage to face us again…so unless we take the bull by the horns we’ll never see them again. So we did. See, I’m gettin’ out. But I think I can promise you that as far as they’re concerned, anything that isn’t glorious about the Obama administration is the fault of those evil terrible white Christian conservatives and those small business wanting their tax breaks.

I’m sorry your background happens to be inextricably intertwined, at least as you see it. But this is what sloppy thinking does. At a certain point, after a certain level of saturation, it creates a certain humiliation for the person engaging in it. This is your error, my friend: You’re overprotective. When an idea is wrong, it’s a cancer and you have to cut it loose. Doesn’t mean you’rr cutting the person loose who holds it, or turning your back on some piece of your life to which you owe fealty. It’s just a bad idea, that’s all, and bad ideas need to be dropped like hot potatoes.
- mkfreeberg | 12/05/2009 @ 21:22
“Once you come to the realization that “companies” are to blame…you can wreck gawdawful effects & intent upon them, and not see yourself as having become the whack-job you have in fact become.”

I totally agree. Every leftist I know thinks the problem is “corporations”, “religion”, “money” or something like that. The honestly believe that the gun itself is responsible for the murder. So ban the gun, and no more problems! Ban the cigarettes! Ban the trans-fat! There’s a desperate need to find some way to excuse people from taking responsibility for their own choices. You can’t expect people to take responsibility for themselves!
- JohnJ | 12/05/2009 @ 22:14
A certain private-sector concern that used to sign some of your paychecks, that has been the subject of some of our offlines… 😉

Are you saying EDS was a Lefty-Lib organization? I’ll channel McEnroe here: “You CAN’T BE SERIOUS!!” Sheesh, Morgan. We were hated and despised by the frickin’ UAW, who called us “terrorists” and a “para-military organization.” Perot and his successors were also famous for staffing up with military vets and retirees, who aren’t exactly known for their squishy, leftie views. There were so many ex-Air Force Communications Command guys in Southfield, MI (the hub of EDS’ network services at the time) back in the mid-80s that we called our building “AFCC North.” Now it’s been ten years since I left the company and “things” certainly may have changed; shit happens. But they send me and my bank account a nice lil love letter every month, and I won’t stand for you defaming them. 😉

I’m sorry your background happens to be inextricably intertwined, at least as you see it. But this is what sloppy thinking does.

Give me a fucking break. That statement is nothing more than presumption and assumption. “Sloppy thinking?” Sloppy thinking also involves a certain inability to entertain notions that conflict with rigid dogma. Pot, kettle, black…

That said… it’s good that you’re having drinks with the enemy today (or whenever). Try to appear interested if the conversation turns to politics. And no smirking. 😉
- bpenni | 12/06/2009 @ 13:06
Now it’s been ten years since I left the company and “things” certainly may have changed; shit happens.

Oh, I think Iraq changed quite a lot. The folks I met were hand-shakers glad-handlers first, technical guys second. And they flew in straight from the beltway. You’d think a government run by a Republican President would lean in some direction other than hard-left. But at the agency level, it was clear the war had aroused a passionate consensus not too far different from MoveOn.Org literature.

So when you’re trying to impress “the client,” and the agencies are all blue-staters, it seems it doesn’t take the contractor long to follow suit. I was really surprised how they marched in lock-step together. Dan Rather got in his trouble, and there was just this “feeling” that it was much ado about nothing, move on, et al. Didn’t take ’em long to figure out I didn’t fit in.

So what a quick procession it is. Like I said, “sloppy thinking.” It’s not directed at you necessarily, more at them. We’re all good people, we detest war. Since we detest war, we “all know” George W. Bush is an idiot. Now we’re going to call him an idiot in the middle of a staff meeting…when we are supposed to be working for him. Hey, it’s alright, everyone knows it’s true. Now we’re going to figure out who doesn’t agree, and get them bounced out, destroying their livelihood. It’s okay, they aren’t real people.

We’ve talked before about our different perspectives about this behemoth. It could be a geographic thing. Or, as we’ve both pointed out…you left in ’99, and my experience with them started four years later. Could have been a break-neck whip-lash thing.

I’ll tell you one thing that completely stunned me. The project lead, while we were having our “good time discussing politics and exchanging views” happy-talk…’fessed up that Saddam Hussein was, in fact, dangerous, and more likely than not trying to acquire a nuclear weapon. But we were STILL obliged to leave him alone.

So yeah, you’re a little over-protective. Some of those folks might have been working for your old company, sure. But some of their ideas are not only wrong, but dangerous. They need to be criticized, at the very least.
- mkfreeberg | 12/06/2009 @ 13:53
So yeah, you’re a little over-protective.

Mom taught me not to bite the hand that feeds me. And EDS pretty much pays for my cigars and beer these days, albeit not much else. And… as you’ve noted… things can and do change over time. God only knows what “things” are like now that they’re “an HP company.” But… I’ll defend the status quo ante just as long as they continue to pay me… 😉
- bpenni | 12/06/2009 @ 17:28

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Why Are They So Doggone Stupid???Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Why Are They So Doggone Stupid???
Saturday, December 5th, 2009