OBAMA NATION?

Which story prompted the longest conversation at Propeller this week? That would be "Why Does Obama Hate America So Badly?," with 57 props, 46 drops, and 281 comments. The thread included a spirited debate about Obama's virility index, especially as perceived by the British. Said pc25: "Seems they are starting not to like President Pantywaist much there." Replied hefaa1: "President Pantywaist sure slaps the Republican members of Congress around pretty. There are also three Somali pirates at the bottom of the ocean that don't think he's a sissy either."

Taking a more geopolitical point of view, stalemate urged the president to toughen up, and quickly: "Doesn't Obama realize that if he keeps flip-flopping, there may not be an America for him to govern? Obama, wake up. Be a man and quit being such an apologetic, begging wimp. Muslims only respect strength in their counterparts." To which mesodude replied: "Stop giving orders from your keyboard and sign up yourself and all of your family members. Then we'll know you're serious and not just another fearful con chickenhawk who loves to cheer from the sidelines." And AbuAmirah had an even more pungent response (which has been slightly redacted here for our PG-rated audience): "How do you know who and what it is that we respect? Do you know any Muslims? Hell, no. Have you ever been in a mosque? Hell, no. All you know is what they tell you on conservative talk radio and Faux News."

For libsRfunny, the POTUS still had some explaining to do. Indeed, he ridiculed the idea of Obama as a cool, reflective leader: "The Moron-in-Chief signed a $786 billion spending bill that he didn't read and that he didn't allow members of Congress to read or debate. I don't know anyone with a shred of common sense who would call that 'thinking before acting.'" For truthiness, however, this was nothing but sour grapes: "Here is the crux of it, the Republicans appear to be scared because, unlike Carter, President Barack Obama is a formidable opponent. He is kicking your asses left and right. Your party doesn't know what to do, because Rove's strategies don't work on him. He won't be distracted, he won't get sucked into name-calling BS, he just keeps on doing what he was elected to do."

CURIOUS GEORGE

"Billionaire Soros Bankrolling Calls for 'Torture' Probe" racked up 48 props, 19 drops, and 179 comments. Candida was all for George Soros putting his money where his mouth was: "So what? He is a thinking person, so he should join all the other thinking persons. In addition, he has lots of money, and what better way to use it than to promote justice?" Responded slate: "Isn't Soros a non-citizen? I mean it's one thing for citizens to support things and even send money, but a foreigner having his fingers in the American Pie doesn't bother you lefties?" (In a subsequent comment, slate conceded that Soros was indeed an American citizen.)

Meanwhile, Beau7890 saluted just about anybody who was willing to spearhead an inquiry into our interrogation tactics: "Torture is morally wrong. I don't give a rat's ass if Kim Jong-Il, Hitler, or Cheney himself calls for investigation of our use of torture--it should be investigated anyway. Anyone who has a problem with investigating simply because George Soros is calling for it is not rational." But BB64 still excoriated the Hungarian-born billionaire, who he branded as a socialist and political meddler: "Wow, Soros is bankrolling this. Does this surprise anyone? He's typical of all huge socialists. Insists you and I pay taxes while he avoids them. You want to follow corruption, just follow his money trail to the 527s."

Then there was the related issue of how torture may damage America's image on the world stage. For prophyporcrites, that horse left the barn a long, long time ago: "Hurt our image? We are the only country to use a nuclear weapon on innocent civilians. We nuked a few hundred thousand Japanese to death--I think waterboarding is a little less hurtful to our image than that!" But willottica sardonically (I think) argued against throwing in the towel quite yet: "Alright, since your image is already tarnished, you might as well give up the pretense of democracy, too. The two-party system already guarantees that political choice is severely limited and fairly inconsequential. Why not just admit that it's a tyranny by the wealthy and get over it?"

AND DON'T OVERLOOK....

A story about the defection of Senator Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party generated 65 props, 2 drops, and 133 comments. Several members, including RedRiverJ, were delighted to see him go: "Good, he should take Collins and Snowe with him." Replied most_reasonable: "Arlen finally realized that there was no room in the new GOP for honest, integrity, and competence. Something that has now been more and more apparent to the American public." Meanwhile, chevydog saw the whole spectacle as pure electoral calculation: "One has to wonder about the role that age played--or maybe should have played--in this. Arlen's not in the best of health, and he'll be 80 when the election rolls around. I suppose he could have retired gracefully; I'd hazard a guess that that still may happen. Either way, it won't translate into a Republican seat in PA." (A related post, "Limbaugh Urges Specter to take McCain with Him," earned 66 props and 105 comments. Said mntnman444: "[Limbaugh] recruiting for the Democrats... Now I've seen everything.")

And finally, there was "Miss California loses for supporting marriage between a man and woman," with 52 props, 15 drops, and 125 comments. Said Klarissa: "The question should not have been asked in the first place. It was inappropriate for the occasion." Replied Dionys: "Why? It comes down to the fundamental rights of humanity within the US legal system. Can one marry the adult partner they've fallen in love with or not?" Meanwhile, dailyblueberry questioned the whole point of beauty pageants to begin with: "Should we give credence to beauty contests? I say no. It sends the wrong message." But it was sonofreason who most effectively stared into the crystal ball: "Next year, Elsie the Cow will be a judge posing the question: Should Americans eliminate beef from their diet?" Game, set, match.

TEA FOR TWO

For the second week in a row, the Tea Party protests have claimed the lion's share of attention here at Propeller. This time, it's mainly the after-party fallout. "FBI Spied on TEA Party Americans!" racked up 62 props, 23 drops, and 224 comments. RedRiverJ had nothing but contempt for the bureau's surveillance efforts: "Our politicians leave our borders wide open, allowing criminals, rapists and terrorists easy entrance to our country while our FBI spies on Americans exercising their freedom of speech." Replied hamy: "Now you are saying that it's wrong to spy on protesters when before, during Bush, you were all for it. So why now? Is it because you're party isn't in power anymore?" (Added tanglang: "Did [libsRfunny] say it was OK for Bush to spy on folks at rallies?" Replied Bacalo: "No, just in their homes.")

Meanwhile, "CNN's Roesgen Grills Tea Party Protestor Who Calls Obama a Fascist," generated 100 props, 14 drops, and 197 comments. "Some will try to dismiss this story," argued jovial, "but there are more and more reports coming to light. You just can't dismiss all of them. The rhetoric is becoming increasingly uglier." There was agreement from not2needy: "It's because these supposed tea parties weren't quiet tax protests, they were more [like] anti-Obama rants. Media such as Fox only add fuel to the fire." Several members pointed out that many of the 250,000 protesters nationwide would probably be getting a tax break rather than an increase. But for icewater, that didn't invalidate the concerns of the protesters: "I appreciate my generous tax refund, but I think what most of these people are worried about is the soaring national debt, which will be repaid only through excessive taxation in the future or by inflation, which will basically rob people of the buying power of their money. Either way, it's bad."

There was also "GOP hopes to build momentum behind tea parties," with 98 props, 1 drop, and 159 comments. The thread featured a brief skirmish about a protester who tried to dump teabags in the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania, fell in, and was rescued by EMTs. Spadecaller had an abbreviated response: "LMAO!" Replied capecoralM: "How mature of you to take pleasure in someone falling into a river and being in danger." To which Progressive responded: "She fell in through her own stupidity, but was fortunate to be rescued by non-partisan EMTs."

CRUEL AND UNUSUAL

The ongoing debate about torture also provoked plenty of conversation over the past week. "9/11 Plotter Waterboarded 183 Times" racked up 55 props, 11 drops, and 125 comments. GLee, who also posted the story, suggested that Khalid Sheik Mohammed hadn't been tortured enough: "Can we have him [waterboarded] one more time? 184 is a much nicer number. Having said that, let me qualify the above statement. This character brought about massive deaths of civilians with no regard for innocents." No way, said Tangent001. He argued that waterboarding "had been condemned as torture both in WWII (when we prosecuted the Japanese for doing it) and Vietnam (when we prosecuted our own troops for doing it). If Pelosi and other Dems sanctioned its use, hang them out to dry as well. I refuse to put party before country." UnusualSuspect insisted that in the post-9/11 world, it was more important than ever to keep our hands clean: "My youngest sister was in the Pentagon on 9/11--[luckily], on the east side of the building. But even if she had been killed that day, I would (as would she, I'm sure) still be against waterboarding." Replied Locky12: "But waterboarding is not torture. Only the loony left calls it torture."

A related story, "Rush Limbaugh: It Isn't Torture if You Can Survive It," generated 67 props, 9 drops, and 123 comments. PsychoHosebeast speculated the Limbaugh might be persuaded otherwise: "Someone hook a car generator up to this guy's nuts in the shower while he's handcuffed to the shower head and see if he changes his mind." For prophyporcrites, there was still some question about whether waterboarding was the worst of all possible persuasive techniques: "The marine I work with--who was waterboarded a few times as part of his training--told me he'd rather be waterboarded than break a finger, break his nose, get knocked out, have his jaw broken again, [or] have to breath tear gas again." But mntnman444, who also underwent the military's SERE training, had another story to tell: "I guarantee you nobody is smiling in SERE. [In] most cases, including mine, a bag is put over your head and you are bound naked while water is poured over your face. It's terrifying whether it's real or not, and I have no doubt that fat boy Limbaugh couldn't even qualify for the training."

AND DON'T OVERLOOK....

"Iran: Death Penalty for Offensive Bloggers" rang up 102 props, 1 drop, and 22 comments. For engineer, this violent response to dissent was one more sign of a sick, sick nation: "The fanatical nutcases of Iran. Time to take the reactors out, [although] I hope someone does it other than Israel." Added b-happy: "They need to be dealt with forcefully, and now is the time to grow some balls and tell them to stop." Islamstudent, meanwhile, reaffirmed that the Iranian government's policy was way over the top: "Death for blogging? And I complained about being banned [from] a blogging website, Mixx, for questioning Muslims about Islam."

A story about secession in the Lone Star State, "Can Texas Go It Alone?," rang up 70 props, 2 drops, and 103 comments. Said ranchhasawhiteass: "We ain't gonna secede from the Union. Hells bells, the other 57 states couldn't survive without us." Another member, djn3nunez3, had little but scorn for the idea and for Texas Governor Rick Perry (seen in photo above): "It was tried 150 years ago or so. Didn't work out too well then either. I hope Perry keeps talking nonsense." To which bigG responded: "I think that is inevitable, dj, unless of course he chooses to never talk again." Meanwhile, bluetexasvalley denied that any of the pro-secession bloviators had a real constituency to address: "Ron Paul represents a handful of East Texas rednecks and Rick Perry represents George Bush. That's not the real Texas."

Finally, there was a link to this YouTube video of George Harrison performing "Here Comes the Sun." Charlson had a positive response: "Terrific music! Miss you Harrison, your music was great." Added GehlLady: "Timely for me, thanks! One of my all-time favorites." Perhaps this optimistic, Abbey Road-era gem will allow us to end the week on a less rancorous note.