BS: Obama- Well or unWell?

Subject: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 01:02 PM

A man named John Schindler in the 'Conservative Tribune' says:

"The European Union government website listed at least 24 countries from which at least one told Schindler they believed Obama was "quite mentally unwell."

These countries include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom."

No names, of course. This is a conservative site, after all.

Question: Have you heard any such sentiment in your country?

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 01:37 PM

You can read about the author at

http://20committee.com/

I doubt a diplomat would have expressed such a concern to a guy whom I think is not in his country's employ at present. Just a bit too manipulative an article to pass the sniff test.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 02:17 PM

And no names. I agree.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Greg F.
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 02:30 PM

Standard Republican smear-tactic Faux News bullshit.

Of course, that won't stop millions of brain-dead U.S. voters from believing it........

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: GUEST,gillymorg4
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 02:33 PM

It sounds like less than nothing.
Thanks to Mr. Obama and Obamacare I will undergo a total knee replacement next month with major medical. I would have preferred universal h.c. but he took what he could get and I'm grateful.
VIVA Obama!

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 02:33 PM

And I bore a baby by Bigfoot.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Wesley S
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 03:36 PM

"from which at least one told Schindler they believed Obama was "quite mentally unwell."

At least one what? Prime Minister? Man on the street wearing a tin foil hat? I could find at least "one" that would tell me that the world was floating on the back of a giant turtle. He needs to be more specific.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 03:55 PM

Astute ass-toot diagnosis....

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 04:43 PM

"And I bore a baby by Bigfoot."

Me too. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 06:38 PM

Ah, Steve! That was you!

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 07:29 PM

Braggards, both of you :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 07:53 PM

I never bore babies. They either find me amusing or frightening, but never boring.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Elmore
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 09:51 PM

Well.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 09:59 PM

You too, Elmore?

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 10:42 PM

Almost a direct quote from 'Julius Caesar' by that English guy.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Oct 15 - 03:12 AM

Ah, Yoricks, I knew him well.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Greg F.
Date: 17 Oct 15 - 09:38 AM

I thought that was Horlicks.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 17 Oct 15 - 12:07 PM

In answer to your question, "Have you heard any such sentiment [that Obama is unhinged] in your country?"

Not at all. There are people who like him and people who don't, but not based on his mental stability. Many of us do however think both the Republicans and Tea Party offshoot are certifiably batshit crazy and so are the people who elect them. It's only many of us here in Canada and not all of us because we have the 'Tea Party North' in our prime minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada. Nine years of that piece of garbage and with luck we get rid of him on October 19. It will not be soon enough for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Amos
Date: 17 Oct 15 - 12:47 PM

Obama's acuity is head and shoulders higher than that of his severe critics. The ones who scream the loudest about him do, indeed, appear batshit crazy. In the middle ground there are those who think little of some of his policy decisions--the TPP comes to mind as a large-scale risky deal--and there are some whose arguments have merits worht discussing. On the other extreme are those who idolise him--he has chartm, style, wit and courage, and he's good looking, I believe (not really being a judge of such things).

His wife has the same spectrum of detractors and admirers.

Perhaps the moral of this story is that it doesn't profit one to care much about simple opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 17 Oct 15 - 01:32 PM

Good post Amos

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Greg F.
Date: 17 Oct 15 - 02:24 PM

batshit crazy ... and so are the people who elect them. [them = batshit crazy Republicans] {emphasis mine}

Now THERE'S your problem! the U.S. has now raised up at least two generations of complete and utter morons who can't tell fact from fiction or fantasy from reality and are totaslly unable to reason critically - or ion many cases to think at all.

Lets keep those Republican cuts to education funding, the Republican demonization of teachers, the astronmical costs of a college education coming!!

USA! USA! USA! USA!

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 17 Oct 15 - 03:29 PM

I like that too.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Amos
Date: 18 Oct 15 - 02:21 PM

This is not a new phenomenon. There were hordes of rabid, frothing, cussing angry people screaming insults at a small child outside of New Orleans fifty or more years ago, because she was going to school, and she happened to be born with dark skin. We've had a good chunk of loonies in our population forever, I suspect. But somewhere around Clinton vs Reagan, the right wing decided to unleash the loonies as a political force by invoking their key hatreds and obsessions as important national issues and stirring them up to throw their weight behind the party. The looniness became a major infectious vector in American political discourse because of this manipulation, amplifying the extremists until rational voices became swamped in the racket.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: akenaton
Date: 18 Oct 15 - 03:23 PM

Are all republicans, racist? Or even a major proportion?

From over here, I see a huge polarisation of perception about two political Parties which are both centre/right.
They sort of remind me of the Tories and the Lib/Dems in the UK.

Surely its time to bury the colour issue I just don't believe it has any bearing at all on modern politics....and both Parties work for big business.

I think many of the Republicans fear left wing liberal ideology, as they believe that it will weaken the economy, alter the state of mind of the people and destroy the Church........They are probably right in that assessment, as Capitalist economies are more efficient under right wing governments and in the UK these fears have already come to pass.

There seems to be no socialist voice at all in America, where national politics are concerned?

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 18 Oct 15 - 03:53 PM

Bernie Sanders is about as close as you'll get to a socialist in American politics.

I both messaged you on the 'cat and emailed you. But that was days ago. Trust things are well, Ake.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Amos
Date: 18 Oct 15 - 04:10 PM

There are voices which support socialism in general principle, but we shy away, historically, from the use of the word because (a) of its associations with communism and (b) it is seen as antipathetic to meritocracy and the sturdy spirit of individual ability which we cherish as a myth (and much less frequently as a fact). There is much to be said for individual perception and ability--it is the sole source of innovation and real progress. But at the same time we have to build a more perfect union, and that means a balanced set of workable agreements in law. The trick is to build a society that grants free range to individual ability to seek fame, fortune and change while at the same time preventing the steamrolling of those who are less nimble, less able, or less fortunate.

It's a tricky balance indeed; too many petty rules drain the lifeblood out of anyone, and hamper real advances that could otherwise be made. But it is also true that complete laissez-faire leaves the road wide open for a stampede of self-serving greedniks who don't mind trampling others to make their gains. When those who succeed in gathering large amounts of cash can then buy the playing field, the pendulum has swung too far to the right. When the social net gets so demanding as to prevent initiative and erase the incentive to win the game by making it too burdensome, it has swung too far to the left.

I believe in personal ability and in freeing up individual creativity to the greatest extent possible. But I also believe in people helping people and living by a code of decency that has ethical boundaries of conduct. I think this dichotomy is felt by most Americans, wherever they come down on the spectrum.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 18 Oct 15 - 04:18 PM

I find that disappointingly right-of-centre of you Amos. Bits of it are OK though.

Surely Dennis Kucinich is to the left of Sanders, although he seems to have faded from view somewhat of late. Quite a lot of what he said seemed fairly sensible.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: akenaton
Date: 18 Oct 15 - 04:53 PM

Hi #....Just E.mailed....Take care. :0)

Amos great post, very informative and I agree about the American ethos, it would be unwise to lose that energy. It can be lost too easily as we become more and more dependent on government "assistance", which of course is not assistance at all, but hush money to keep the peasants from becoming too Bolshie

If that sense of national and personal pride could be allied to a socialist social system we would have "cracked it"

Believe it or not, I still think the ordinary American people can show us the way forward.   best A.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Amos
Date: 18 Oct 15 - 06:18 PM

Thanks, both Richard and ake.

Richard, I assure you I am not right of center in our current scrimmage. Most people on the right wing would call me a pinko faggot commie liberal bastard, or something of that ilk! :D I am curious what it is in my post particularly you found disappointing or even right-of-center?

A

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Oct 15 - 12:31 AM

On the other hand, someone being reported as quite possibly crazy is Ben Carson. Or so I read.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 19 Oct 15 - 07:37 AM

"On the other hand, someone being reported as quite possibly crazy is Ben Carson."

Mrrzy, calling someone crazy isn't very nice. Let's get to the bottom line. Ben Carson is fu#king nuts.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Noreen
Date: 19 Oct 15 - 02:29 PM

To answer the OP: No, I haven't heard any such sentiment here in the UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 19 Oct 15 - 06:50 PM

Amos, it is your insistence that effort can make you rich that betrays you as right of centre. It simply isn't so. If it were, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. It's part of the mantra of the rich to define the poor as inferior. Pretty well all of the USA is so far to the political right of the rest of the world that you don't see it.

Ake as usual betrays the fact that the closest he gets to socialism is national socialism, with his preference that the poor should starve and persons of different skin colour and religion should be cast beyond the pale.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Oct 15 - 10:15 PM

My thought is that ake - who prides himself on having been a card-carrying Communist in his younger days- never was a real one. Otherwise he would be celebrating Bernie Sanders' ideas on equity.

Sorry, Sharlie ake. I'm afraid you are just a wannabe.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Amos
Date: 19 Oct 15 - 11:50 PM

I never said that, Richard, so I suspect you must have hauled it up from your own dustbin of despised memes. What I said was that innovation and progress are born from individual ability and that policies should not be so in favor of the less-abled that they cripple the able. Or words to that effect. Surely you can discern the difference?

First proposition: Individual ability is the source of innovation and progress.

Second proposition: The exercise of individual ability will always succeed.

Importantly different, I would say.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 20 Oct 15 - 12:25 AM

Sorry Amos, it's the typical right of centre accusation that socialism is the politics of envy. I'm glad that you hoe a row to the left of much of US politics. I'm sad (and often angry) that most US politics is so far right.

Subject: RE: BS: Obama- Well or unWell?
From: Amos
Date: 20 Oct 15 - 01:57 AM

I concur that calling socialism the politics of envy is small-minded and usually self-serving horseshit, Richard.

I have to add that there is a subspecies of human who survives mainly by draining the efforts of other people, and who will do almost anything to avoid exerting any effort themselves; such beings exist more surely than vampires do. And often, they end up cloaking themselves under far-left politics. But, on the other extreme, purely destructive psychos often cloak themselves under far-right diatribes. Both extremes are sorry rationalizations or projections. And that does not change the merits of either socialism or meritocracy.

A