BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Wesley S
Date: 13 Jun 11 - 08:00 AM

Here's a song I found that y'all may like:


Sarah Palin's Magical History Tour

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 11 Jun 11 - 06:26 PM

I ignore trolls.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,999
Date: 11 Jun 11 - 02:33 PM

"The far left has this strange obsession with Sarah Palin. If they were half as objective with Barack Oblabbo, they'd be hitting the ceiling, with what a phony he is!"

At last, you have said 'they' are objective. You just said she's a phony. Good for you. The first of 12 steps. -;

I was trying to do a wink there. Can't be arsed to do it 'til I get it right.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Neil D
Date: 11 Jun 11 - 01:52 PM

Colbert as Revere per Palin

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: EBarnacle
Date: 10 Jun 11 - 10:18 PM

Frog Pince, you misquoted him. It was "Murkin guns"

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 10 Jun 11 - 06:08 PM

He seems a lot more intelligent than Bush but I thought he was going to be refreshingly different in some way. As a Uker with no republican / democrat allegiance to make up my mind whether I should hate him or love him, he seems like just another American president to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Jun 11 - 05:40 PM

"The far left has this strange obsession with Sarah Palin."

*grin*...It seems almost everyone is fascinated with her ability to keep milking the system without DOING anything relevant or KNOWING anything useful.

As for Obama... you toss out appellations like 'phony' with no explanation or evidence. Just labeling him proves nothing. He is intelligent, educated, dedicated and hard working and keeps getting stuff done despite rabid, frothing attempts to interfere by right-wing slogan-flingers. I'd hate to see ANY of the potential Republican candidates try to deal with current problems.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 10 Jun 11 - 05:12 PM

The far left has this strange obsession with Sarah Palin. If they were half as objective with Barack Oblabbo, they'd be hitting the ceiling, with what a phony he is!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: frogprince
Date: 09 Jun 11 - 09:48 PM

Like Patrick Henry said, "Give me my good old American guns or give me death".

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Jun 11 - 08:48 PM

You gotta admit she's got more people aware of Longfellow, and quoting him than anyone in the last 60 years.

I wonder if she could do the same with John Greenleaf Whittier and Barbara Freitchie.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jun 11 - 06:10 PM

JUSTICE FOR ISRAEL BISSEL!!!!!!

Too long has he been denied his rightful place in history by the upstart Paul Revere!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 09 Jun 11 - 01:57 PM

My favorite was when the Vikings brought the Holy Grail to America. They'd gotten it from the Knights Templar.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 09 Jun 11 - 11:40 AM

IF SARAH PALIN RAN THE HISTORY CHANNEL

Sarah Palin or someone equally erudite DOES run the History[sic] Channel which, under existing "truth in advertising" statutes, should bill itself as the Fairytale Channel, the Myth Channel, the BS Channel, or possibly all three.

No real, actual historical fact need apply; the nonsense is so much more popular.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: J-boy
Date: 09 Jun 11 - 12:49 AM

I try to laugh but mostly I want to cry. It is so very sad that in the 21st century there are those still living in the dark ages. They will be the death of us all.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lighter
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 07:27 PM

Our overseas cousins may not realize that Michelle Bachmann, while less of a publicity hound, is farther right and somewhat less clever than Sarah Palin.

For example, Bachmann warned her constituents in 2010 not to answer questions on their census forms because the Socialists of Obama's Big Government could use that information against them, particularly
if they were gun owners.

When Bachmann was told that advising people to throw away their census forms was technically urging them to commit a felony, she told them instead just not to list their phone numbers (which was optional). That way Obama's thugs can't call them on the phone.

She also made a speech to a Tea Party gathering in which she praised the Founding Fathers for making sure that the Constitution prohibited slavery. There was applause, because the Tea Party is anti-slavery.

So stay tuned.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 06:09 PM

IF SARAH PALIN RAN THE HISTORY CHANNEL

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 02:41 PM

And that's not the worst of it... as may be witnessed in the next week or so.

Having said that, what has this got to do with Sarah?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 01:50 PM

The water and air are just fine you betcha

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 01:50 PM

The water and air are just fine you betcha

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 01:05 PM

As I said, LH - and if I may quote the late lamented Daniel Partick Moynihan, the brain-dead are "entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts".

Q.E.D.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 12:47 PM

The only "facts" most people ever pay attention to, Greg, are the ones which appear to support their cause or their view. They sift through all the world has to offer, grab onto those few facts, and disregard the rest. This is how policy is formulated. ;-D

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 12:24 PM

The "real enemies of freedom" are greed, pride, superstition, and ambition...I should have added "ignorance."

You bet. Also add delusion & willful disregard of proven fact.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lighter
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 10:36 AM

I should have added "ignorance."

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: EBarnacle
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 09:04 AM

Rather than have you follow a link:

You Betcha, Darn Tootin'
By XB Cold Fingers

Listen my children but you won't hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
From a presumptive "Presidential" candidate
Who's grasp of the facts just ain't that great
Facts are boring and are easy to check
But remembering them is just a pain in the neck.

Much better to write a few words on yer hand
Stick to the script and just say what you've planned
Say "you betcha," "darn tootin'" with a folksy old grin
Blame the elitist media who makes yer head spin
By askin' hard questions like "What do you read?"
And "what color blood does a liberal bleed?"
She makes things up as she goes along
And she bats her eyes when she guesses wrong.

Says "you betcha," "darn tootin'" with a folksy old grin
Blames the liberal media who makes her head spin
Just keep drivin' them humm-dingers
To the big mart and the Mall
Science is for suckers
Gawd will take care of us all.

While we frack up the water table
Blow the mountains up fer coal
And the Saudis and the Mullahs
Will sell us all our oil
Listen my children but you won't hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
From Palin, Beck and Koch's Faux News crew
Who say what they say when they know it ain't true
For hope and change are great but real hard
"Us versus them" is an easier card

Greatness you work for is much more grand
But harder than stickin' yer head in the sand
Greatness you work for you might not achieve
But fer greatness you've lost, it's real easy to grieve
There are lands where few pay taxes
The word of God is the Law of Man
Free speech is not permitted
In religious schools throughout the land
Being gay may be punished by death
As a crime against man and God
The army runs the government
From Tripoli to Tehran to Islamabad
You Betcha! Darn Tootin'

Copyright, c, 2011, X. B. Cold Fingers. All rights reserved.

By the way, I don't hate Palin and her followers; I despise their lack of willingness to think. If they do think, it is of their own needs to the exclusion of all others.

As that great philosopher, Mr. T said, with great vehemence: "I pity the fool[s].

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lighter
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 08:57 AM

The "real enemies of freedom" are greed, pride, superstition, and ambition.

Rate your favorite politicians!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lighter
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 08:55 AM

Yeah, well, there was that.

But that was a one-time publicity stunt aided by professionals. Palin does her own stuff again and again.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 08:21 AM

And W wasn't an insinuating wise-ass with an eternal chip on his shoulder.

Could have fooled me! "Mission Accomplished" comes to mind, for one of many.....

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lighter
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 08:14 AM

Because of the high taxes on Big Oil, Alaska has, arguably, the most "socialist" economy of any state in the USA.

Do Palin's brain-dead supporters know that? Does *she* know that? Oh, sorry, that's probably why she resigned after half a term - in protest!

The travelin' train wreck called Sarah Palin is fascinating because she shows how far a person of limited sense and maturity can go in America. At least G.W. Bush has degrees from Yale and Harvard (Palin has a communications degree from the University of Idaho). And W wasn't an insinuating wise-ass with an eternal chip on his shoulder.

But many voters love insinuating, irascible wise-asses, because that's what they themselves want to be.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Deckman
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 06:14 AM

This conversation kinda reminds me of James Watt. Remember him? He was the appointed Director of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. Early on in his career, he was quoted as saying: "Once you've seen one tree, you've seen them all."

Perhaps this phrase might be appropriate: "If you've read one history book ... you've read them all!" bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 05:08 AM

How many of you knew this??????...as long as your bagging on Sarah Palin

Wentworth Cheswell

Historical Background:
From 1768, when he was elected constable until his death in 1817, this man of colour held a succession of town or local government positions. Besides serving as assessor, town auditor and coroner, he was also voted a selectman. From his appointment in 1805 onwards, Wentworth Cheswell would exercise the authority of Rockingham County's Justice of the Peace.

During the Revolutionary War, Cheswell was on the Committee of Safety. He acted as a messenger, transferring messages back and forth from Newmarket to Exeter.
Wentworth Cheswell is honored as a Revolutionary hero rather closely modeled on the figure of Paul Revere. As the town messenger on the Committee of Safety during the Revolution, he too, had made an all-night ride back from Boston to warn his community of the impending British invasion.

Pretty cool, huh?

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 01:26 AM

And now, a brief positive note about Sarah Palin.

She was a person who, on becoming Alaska's Governor, many people underestimated as a bimbo. In fact, she took on the Big Oil Interests that had been running the state for years. In fact, she made Big Oil TAXABLE and accountable for what had been long proclaimed their right: Taking the resources from Alaska with no financial responsibility to either the state or the country.
Think I'm joking? Look at the record. She flew in the face of the legislative branch,which was controlled by the Republican Party, and forged a center-left coalition of Dems and Republicans who imposed reasonable taxes on what was being taken from th state's natural resources.

Now, what happened to her? She bought into the Rightist Demagoguery which has become what passes for passion in the Republican Party. And it was an easy role for her to adopt, and a very profitable one.

She is no statesman, and lacks many of the speaking skills of a high school gym teacher. But I believe she once had the idea that opposing ideas could be brought together for the greater good, and actually performed this task well, and achieved something very difficult. What is it about our present day political process that perverts this impulse in favor of being a true believer?

In my mind, a more important question than who Paul Revere warned.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 01:10 AM

Or Trump. He makes Barnum look like a sideshow carny.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 09:26 PM

Oh, and BTW, again, Where is the fucking money?!?!!..and don't give me that crap, "Oh it would have been much worse", Democrap line of horse-shit!
A Trillion dollars is more money, ('seasonally adjusted', of course), than in takes to fight a world war. Where did it go? and what is it being planned to be used for????
Maybe its being used to get ready to fight the American people..you know, those fucked up 'Tea Partiers', and any other people who don't believe in the neo-polit-bureau-crats'

Keep arguing for stupidity...you might find some new morons to believe you!...maybe even nominate P.T. Barnum!!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 09:12 PM

Anybody who believed this crap, is too stupid to criticize Palin!~

Now watch this!!!

SUCKERS!!!!!!

So piss, bitch and moan all you want, about Sarah Palin(though I also am not particularly a fan), You've already had your chance to show how stupid and gullible you are...and you did quite well!!
Maybe you show 're-adjust your thinking apparatus!

And BTW, Little Hawk has a far hipper take on it, that some of you...but then, like psychotics, history shows us that man never learns from history.

Hope you enjoyed the links!! Your 'Messiah Idol' at his best!

GfS

P.S. I could have put this in the lying bastard of the year thread...but why not here....

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: akenaton
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 06:31 PM

Ah, but who decides what is "for the better".

I remember how her council house sales policy was hailed as a triumph. It was certainly a political masterstroke for the Conservative Party, but turned out to be a disaster for the poorest in society. Only a few small voices opposed it.

I cannot agree that Mrs Thatcher brought real change....it was all smoke and mirrors.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 06:27 PM

Hey, Ebbie, it's almost as bad in Canada! ;-D Only it's smaller. And a bit more polite and restrained. (political corruption, I mean...) (no wisecracks, please!)

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 06:13 PM

"...it has to be real change this time"

And "real change" means change for the better? If only that were true.

The truth is, in any situation, most of the possible changes available make things worse. The important thing is to find out the few changes that make things better and achieve them.

Margaret Thatcher brought "real change". So would Sarah Palin. And Bin Laden brought "real change" to the Two Towers.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: akenaton
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 05:59 PM

Mr McGrath....Thatcher reformed the system, made it work very well ...in the short term.
In the eighties, the system still had breath, enough breath to suck the fibre out of manufacturing and the class of people who served it.
We still believed in the booms generated by council house sales, IT, Financial products.

A present day "Sarah" does not have that option,it has to be real change this time.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 05:28 PM

Never rely completely on any one source, including Wikipedia. True.
But use them, and check them.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lighter
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 05:22 PM

Never rely on Wikipedia.

Never.

Never.

Never.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 04:35 PM

If only we had a 'Sarah.'

We did - she was called Margaret Thatcher.

There were differences of course,but they were basically cosmetic.

There were even people on the left who thought that she might be a way of breaking up a pretty shoddy consensus, and shaking things up, and that in the end that might work out for the better. And true enough, she shook things up.

She was a total bloody disaster. We haven't recovered from the damage done by her and the people who voted for her, and it seems as though we never will. Tony Blair just took it over and carried it on with different slogans.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 04:17 PM

Little Hawk, Obama has done 5% of the things that FDR did to curb the abuses by super capitalistic corporations and monopolies.

Yes it is only 5% but it is 5% that would not not have been done by conservatives.

Saving the American auto makers is 3 of that 5%.

FDR sweepingly nationalized the banks, called the banking execs the most despicable of people in the country and created the WPA.
He also tried to stack the Supreme Court but failed.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: artbrooks
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 04:15 PM

Yes, it does appear that the manager of the House of Representatives cafeteria changed the name to 'freedom fries'...and then quietly changed it back a couple of years later. I suppose that I was confused by the fact that nobody real did so or ever used the name.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 04:11 PM

The others have made so many gaffes of one kind or another that they'd be an open target for Democratic campaigners.

Only if you assume an intelligent populace - for which, condsidering events of the last 15 if not 30 years, is one helluvan assupmtion.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: akenaton
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:50 PM

If only we had a "Sarah", Wesley!

WE have a "left" "right" political combination punch, engineered to floor the people....again.

At least you have a chance to fight back!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: JennyD
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:44 PM

Jack - so far, Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota, Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and possibly Michelle Bachman. I think it very unlikely that Sarah Palin will run - this bus tour was all about garnering publicity and therefore money for her public speaking gigs, and also putting the kibosh on Mitt Romney's chances by competing with the announcement of his run. She's still hosting a show on Fox, and if she runs as a candidate that will have to go off the air because of legislation about equal air time. Sarah's all about the money, I think. You can google the others. The only serious contenders IMHO are Pawlenty and Romney. The others have made so many gaffes of one kind or another that they'd be an open target for Democratic campaigners.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:43 PM

I keep wondering if the Canadians and British who come here to complain about American values and politics spend even half as much time in the real world trying to actually improve the values and politics of their own countries?

Maybe.....

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Penny S.
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:40 PM

It hyas been suggested to me that the people who are editing Wikipedia to match Palin's views may not actually be her supporters. Who benefits of people think that her people would do such a thing?

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: akenaton
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:36 PM

Do yourselves a favour and go with Sarah, she is your only chance to break the one party system

Nothing in this world is easy you have to work at it

To change anything politically people must be united, and most here are still in thrall to the Old Divide and Rule. Do you really think a socialist revolution to bring change is possible ....it is not!

America is a conservative nation and there are many virtues in that conservatism....forget your petty differences and break the mould.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Don Firth
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:32 PM

Well, Ebbie, I'm afraid that Little Hawk apparently has the idea that since the corporations already rule the United States, we may as well just cancel elections and generally give up. Granted, there are a lot of really thick-headed people out there who are far more interested in "The Simpsons" than they are in watching something like "Frontline" or even "60 Minutes," and in the light of Thomas Jefferson's remarks about the necessity of an informed electorate for Democracy to survive, one should indeed be apprehensive about the future of the country.

But—

In addition to the marching morons that some folks here seem to think comprise the country's entire population, I know a lot of very well-informed and politically active people. And I am also aware that the "Tea Party" is not the only grass-roots organization that has formed recently. One I'm thinking of in particular has been meeting in peoples' living rooms all over the country, and has been growing quietly—and exponentially—for the past two years. And they don't show up at political rallies packing firearms, nor do they make a lot of noise. They study. They think. They meet and discuss. Then, they go to work diligently on various issues and for various well-chosen political figures.

No. I'm not ready to embrace the doctrine of the defeatist.

Don Firth

P. S. Do you know who first started circulating the well-known adage, "You can't fight City Hall?"

City Hall.

Think about it. . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:17 PM

The fact (The Simpsons doesn't resonate with right-wing breadheads there or here in the UK

I don't think even right-wing breadheads here would see the Simpsons as challenging or controversial. Most people here probably assume it's a reasonable accurate representation of what Americans are like...

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:13 PM

There we are then, pdq. I thought all you Amercans would have known about Henry Ford's gaffe while being cross- examined during a libel case he'd brought against a newspaper.

"Henry Ford was battling another set of demons. In May 1919, his million-dollar libel suit against the Chicago Tribune finally came to trial in the town of Mount Clemens, Michigan....Weeks of detailed questioning by the Tribune's adept attorney, Elliott G. Stevenson, sought to "expose Ford's mind bare" and establish him as pitiably naïve, ill-educated, and unpatriotic. It became painfully clear that the Flivver King was ignorant of most basic textbook facts: the fundamental principles of government, the dates of the Revolutionary War ("1812?" he asked tentatively), and the identity of Benedict Arnold (Ford thought Arnold was "a writer," confusing the traitor with Arnold Bennett..."
(from "Henry Ford and the Jews" by Neil Baldwin).

Ms Palin continues an old American tradition.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 02:12 PM

Very true, but if they were using Simpson's quotes then the joke really was on them.

No, Jack, the "joke"[sic] (and I don't find it the least bit funny, bye the bye) was on the U.S. population as a whole, if we let them get away with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Stu
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 02:05 PM

Blimey, no-one except Micca then. It wasn't meant to be taken literally, what I meant is the general population doesn't know about Paul Revere because:

1) We weren't taught US history in school.

2) We haven't bothered to find out.

To relate these to my lardy self, 1) certainly is the case 2) I've been finding out about a lot of things in the US in the past few years but that aspect of history isn't one of them (dinosaurs actually - woo-hoo!).

I rest my case M'Lud.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 01:52 PM

Little Hawk, I can't even begin to tell you how wholeheartedly I disagree with your take on things American.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: EBarnacle
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 01:27 PM

Read the April 2010 Atlantic for a discussion of the economic situation and how Geithner and Obama have addressed it. It also traces the history of the crisis.

Could you see Palin and her cronies do any better?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 01:06 PM

No one, Sugarfoot? I mentioned Paul Revere to Micca and he immediately started reciting "One if by land; two if by sea" and about a hundred more verses. Micca is in the UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 01:05 PM

It's not vital for the corporates that a president be stupid or ignorant, Donuel.....just compliant with corporate purposes. An intelligent president will do just fine as long as he or she is compliant. Case in point: Mr Obama.

The thing that really counts is marketing. Who can be marketed most effectively at a particular juncture to appeal to the public's need for either "change" or for maintaining the status quo? In 2008 it was Mr Obama who could be marketed most effectively, because the public was upset with the previous administration, they wanted change, and they wanted it in a big way. So he got by far the most funding, and he was marketed brilliantly.

If and when the timing was right, someone like Sarah Palin could get elected, providing the marketing was handled well.

My guess...and it's only a guess...is that the powers that be would prefer to see Mr Obama get another 4 years when 2012 rolls around. At least, that's how it looks now. He is wonderfully, gloriously compliant with the standard corporate and imperial overall objectives as far as I can see, so why wouldn't they want him to get another 4 years?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 01:02 PM

Gnu, my friend, sooner or later she'd open her mouth to speak, and the bubble would burst real fast, imo.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 12:37 PM

Coporate America has preferred stupid Presidents for hundreds of years and do everything they can to promote their election.

The more ignorant the president the more safeguards and loosening of laws that used to prohibit criminal profiteering.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 12:31 PM

What counts if you want to get elected president is...

1. funding! (you must have big corporate friends to back you, and you must be better funded than your opponents)

2. exposure! (you must be better known than other candidates are) (and exposure is achieved by having lots of media coverage and lots of funding)

3. the "cool" factor. You mustn't be seen as "a wimp" or "weird looking" or "soft on crime" or "unpatriotic" or uncool in some other way like that.

It's a giant exercise in marketing, folks.

Could Sarah Palin get elected president if she had the funding? Definitely. She's already got the exposure, and she's got the "cool" factor to those who like her (which doesn't include very many people on this forum, needless to say).

Never forget that an election is an incredibly primitive, stupid, moronic process these days, driven by blind emotional responses, unrealistic criticisms and expectations of the candidates, unfullfillable dreams and hopes on the part of the public, and unresolvable hatreds, resentments, etc between supporters of one candidate and the other...

It's caveman-level stuff. It's a sad joke. Of course Sarah Palin could get elected president, and if you don't think so, you might get a nasty surprise one of these days.

Note that I said "might". I am not making predictions here, just suggesting possibilities. Anyone can get elected president in the USA, as long as they have enough funding, media exposure, and the "cool" factor.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 12:23 PM

The Americans are coming the Americans are coming
all over real America which is about 40% of 330 million.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lighter
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 11:19 AM

Republican columnist George Will - hardly Mr. Progressive - said it well the other day, even before the Paul Revere thing: "Do you want this woman in charge of nuclear weapons?"

I forced myself to watch every episode of her TV series. There were many great lines in it (all of them presumably rehearsed or semi-rehearsed). My favorite: Sarah and Todd go kayaking. Their guide has shoulder-length dark hair and a heavy beard.

As they push off into the river, Sarah shouts, "Hey, Matt! Ya look just like Jesus! I *know* we're in good hands!"

If she were about eight years old, this might have been cute. Nevertheless, I'm sure it impressed a great many people. She's so funny and smart!

(Second prize: she's helping to scale fish at the processing plant and says, "I love the smell of flounder in the morning. It smells like...work!")

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Stu
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 11:04 AM

Very true, but if they were using Simpson's quotes then the joke really was on them.

Back to Palin, from a UK perspective the will she/won't she aspect of her prospective electoral campaign dominates any coverage about the presidential elections (apart from her many gaffes, and no-one over here knows who Paul Revere was anyway), but she certainly seems to be casting a long dark shadow that keeps the rest of the potential candidates off our screens (in fact, who are the rest of the potential candidates?).

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 10:52 AM

The Simpsons may not be the spokepersons for the American people, but it shows that there are people in America that understand some of their societies dichotomies and hypocrisies and can lampoon them in a subtle and understated way...

yup- but Simpsons aside( where the phrases may have originated, but were quickly adopted by BuShite hawks & their fellow travellers; how soon we apparently forget) - there were also at the time (2003) a significant number of people in the US that were perfectly serions, and not lampooning anything at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Stu
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 10:39 AM

"And when did "The Simpsons" become the spokespersons for the opinion of the American people?"

The Simpsons may not be the spokepersons for the American people, but it shows that there are people in America that understand some of their societies dichotomies and hypocrisies and can lampoon them in a subtle and understated way. The fact it doesn't resonate with right-wing breadheads there or here in the UK is tremendously comforting as it means some people are still able to think freely and question those that tell us they know what's best for us.

I know self-deprecation doesn't always go down well with some folks, but then they're probably the sort who watch the X-Factor, and think nationalistic thoughts and vote for conservatives. But hey, I'm a smug fat git so who cares?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 10:33 AM

Palin doesn't scare me at all - she's simply an ignorant buffoon.

Now, her moronic adherents, boosters and supporters -- THAT'S a scary bunch.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: jacqui.c
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 10:28 AM

I agree with Don - Palin scares me. The idea that anyone could even consider her as presidential material is frightening. Someone on Facebook called her a 'two bit grifter' and, for me, that sums her up nicely.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 10:20 AM

I don't think anyone really hates Sarah Palin. But we can see that's she's unfit to run for anything other than mayor of her hometown. Wheather we think Obama is a great president is a totally different subject.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 10:09 AM

Notice how those who hate Palin, also think Obama is a great President??..Need I say more???

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 09:54 AM

Artbrooks: See
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant393b_files/freedomfries.htm
and/or numerous other reliable sources.

nobody in his or her right mind used the phrase except as a joke...
No normal American uses either of these phrases...

I'd have to agree, Lighter; unfortunately then, as now, there are a significant number of abnormal, not-in-their-right-mind Americans who were, and are, not joking at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 09:52 AM

Honestly, who do they think they're going to fool? All this hoo-ha is only going to make anyone who's unclear on the history go seek out alternative sources (yes, there still are some), like history books. And they'll then see that not only is she ignorant, she's dishonest too. I think this one could really backfire on her.

But then, I thought that when she put the crosshairs of a rifle sight over a map of Arizona, then denied any association when Gabrielle Giffords got it. (I notice she changed the maps too. Fast. Crosshairs? What crosshairs?? I don't see any crosshairs...)

Or when she stood, blissfully unaware, in front of a turkey being slaughtered while she prattled on about caring for animals, or whatever it was. I only remember that what we were seeing completely belied what she was saying.

I keep waiting for her to self-destruct and it keeps not happening :-( This time, maybe? Wonder how much all this intensive revisionism is costing? And what parlour-tricks the taxpayer would have to fork out for if she gets elected?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 08:47 AM

Still being edited every few minutes, but the page is now semi-locked to keep the Palinbots out.

But conservapaedia has gone full Palin revisionist:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/38680_Conservapedias_Paul_Revere_Post_Edited_to_Match_Palins_Botched_History

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 08:07 AM

Bonnie-

Thanks for the above link to the Longfellow poem as updated in the New Yorker. There are a lot of great verses, and this one is more greater than some:

How the rebels were the braver men
And still are today like they were back then.
How we beat the British at their worst
That's why the Second Amendment's first.

This calls for another stiff drink!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 05:40 AM

I'd suspect that a fair number of people who tell bolsters they'd like Ms Palin to be the Republican candidate for presidents might actually be Democrats wanting to be sure Obama wins.

Mind, I'd think they are mistaken - Americans seem quite capable of electing a nut when the mood takes them.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:58 AM

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere

[While Palin and Bobert drink their beer]

On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-Five
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year



No kidding. So let the New Yorker refresh your memory:

LONGFELLOW UPDATED

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Big Al Whittle (closed)
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 03:04 AM

'Pretty much teh same for "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." I heard it on The Simpsons in the '90s. It was a joke.

The next time I noticed it was on Fox News in 2003. Still a joke.

No normal American uses either of these phrases in everyday life.'

In england we thought it was bloody hilarious. we use the phrase all the time - rugby and football matches, wine tasting sessions, cross channel ferries, french restaurants, every time a Frenchman appears on telly, etc.

The french quite rightly think we are an uncouth nation.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 01:20 AM

If I remember rightly, Tia, Revere was given a 'tired' horse in place of his own, so that he wouldn't be able to ride rapidly.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: J-boy
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 01:12 AM

Sarah Palin. What kind of mutant streak of Americana spawned her anyway? All politics aside can't we agree that the woman is in way over her head?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 01:05 AM

Here are two versions from just a few hours ago.

Just for fun, see if you can tell which one was written by the Palindrone:

1)
Revere was questioned by the British officers and told them of the army's movement from Boston, and that British army troops might be in some danger if they approached Lexington, because of the large number of hostile militia gathered there.Fischer, pp. 133–134 He and other captives taken by the patrol were then escorted east toward Lexington, until the sound of musket fire from the town center alarmed the patrolmen. Revere explained to them that it was probably an arriving militia company that had fired a volley upon its arrival. The sound was followed not long after by the pealing of the town bell.Fischer, pp. 135–6 The British confiscated Revere's horse, and rode off to warn the approaching army column. Revere was horseless and walked through a cemetery and pastures until he came to Rev. Clarke's house where Hancock and Adams were staying. As the battle on Lexington Green continued, Revere helped John Hancock and his family escape from Lexington with their possessions, including a trunk of Hancock's papers.

2)
Revere was captured and questioned by the British soldiers at gunpoint. He told them of the army's movement from Boston, and that British army troops would be in some danger if they approached Lexington, because of the large number of hostile militia gathered there. Everything Revere told his British captors had a single goal, to move the soldiers away from Lexington, where he had left Hancock and Adams. Revere had reason to believe the patrol's mission was to arrest the two Patriot leaders. He and other captives taken by the patrol were still escorted east toward Lexington, until about a half mile from Lexington they heard a gunshot. The British major demanded Revere explain the shot, and Revere replied it was a signal to "alarm the Country". A few minutes later came a flurry of shots that seemed to alarm the British captors even beyond the panic they were already in. As the group drew closer to Lexington, the town bell began to clang rapidly, to which one of the captives proclaimed to the British soldiers "The bell's a'ringing! The town's alarmed, and you're all dead men!" The British soldiers gathered and decided not to press further towards Lexington, to instead free the prisoners and to head back to warn their commanders.Fischer, pp. 133–136, 142–148. The British confiscated Revere's horse, and rode off to warn the approaching army column. Revere was horseless and walked through a cemetery and pastures until he came to Rev. Clarke's house where Hancock and Adams were staying. As the battle on Lexington Green unfolded, Revere assisted John Hancock and his family in their escape from Lexington, helping to carry a trunk of Hancock's papers.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 12:53 AM

Go to the wikipedia page on Paul Revere, and click on "history".
You will see a flurry of Palin Minion revisions beginning late in the day on June 5. Luckily, there are folks out there monitoring and correcting. That page has been edited every few minutes for the last three days. The Palindrones (I get credit for that word, okay?) are using ever more subtle tactics, but are not giving up. Recently they are just trying to sneak ringing bells into the account. ANYTHING to make Palin seem less stupid. Reading the revision history is hugely entertaining and illuminating.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Songster Bob
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 11:28 PM

"Freedom Fries" were ordered as the new title for "French Fries" in the US House of Representatives cafeteria by a Republican Congressman. Whether the menu actually listed them that way, I'm not sure, but I suspect it did.

That Republican, by the way, changed his mind a few years later (and, I think, his party -- but then lost his seat).

Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Coyote Breath, cookieless
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 11:03 PM

Nah, I'd like to hang out with her at deer camp, drink a few brewskis, maybe arm wrestle, sing a few good old songs.

President?!!

Not as long as I draw a breath!

But, then, I said the same thing about Bush and look what happened!

Still, she'd be the only president who looked good in a bikini.

Gotte go, it's time for my meds.

CB

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 10:55 PM

Rachel Maddow reported this evening that the wikipedia page about Paul Revere was edited today by Palin supporters to better reflect her view of history.

Here's to Israel Bissell!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: J-boy
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 10:54 PM

Well said Lonesome.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lighter
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 10:18 PM

Wikipedia on "freedom fries" is the way I remember it. But the renaming was a publicity stunt, and nobody in his or her right mind used the phrase except as a joke. And not very often then, either.

Pretty much teh same for "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." I heard it on The Simpsons in the '90s. It was a joke.

The next time I noticed it was on Fox News in 2003. Still a joke.

No normal American uses either of these phrases in everyday life.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 09:58 PM

Deckman... I'll second that! That is one shockin good piece there LEJ. Flesh that out a bit more and yer a Long Fellow. Litterarily speakin a course... I dunno how the girls find ya.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: EBarnacle
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 09:43 PM

12 beers, yeah. 10 of them before meeting her.

There was a Boston professor interviewed on All things considered [NPR] this evening. He spun Palin's utterance in an effort to make it seem somewhat credible. His half truths and her nonsense do not add up to a true or logical statement.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: artbrooks
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 08:54 PM

"Tis true, 'tis true. I've also worked with people that were very pleasant - and very delusional.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 08:49 PM

I love Ms. Sarah...

I think she would be fun to have a beer with... No... I lied... She'd be fun to have about 12 beers with... She's entertaining... I mean, I oove people like her... Maybe that's why I loved my job as a social worker working with mentally ill people...

I mean, they ain't boring...

Yep, I'm sure that Ms. Sarah has a right decent approval rating... That doesn't mean that people want her to be president... It just means that we like her...

I like her...

Presidential material??? Nah, not even close... But I like her...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Deckman
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 08:43 PM

EJ ... WOW! BOB(DECKMAN)NELSON

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 08:40 PM

"Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere."
                           - Longfellow
as again he rides with message clear,
though the British our faithful friends now be,
that the Foe we now face is our own fear,
who stands on selfishness and greed
as his ignorant armies boldly cheer,
trading their Freedom for a miser's creed
                               - Me

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 08:18 PM

Warnin' those doggone british with the bells and guns and such that by golly they weren't gonna take away our freedoms. Ridin that horse through the villages and so forth and seein those lamplights and the bells and things and warnin those dang redcoats that, goldarnit, we just weren't gonna give up our freedoms and guns and bells and horses and lamps and stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: artbrooks
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 08:15 PM

Personally, I've never seen the Simpsons and I wouldn't accept an unattributed Wiki article as proof of anything. Did anyplace anywhere ever rename french fries as 'freedom fries"?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 06:28 PM

Greg, Bush and his bully-boys said a helluva lot of stupid things during the time they held sway. And when did "The Simpsons" become the spokespersons for the opinion of the American people?

When the Simpsons idiocy was embraced by the BuShites and a substantial segment of the Boobocracy,vide the "freedom fries" idiocy, q.v.

Do read the article - even tho its Blog-O-Paedia, its pretty close to the truth.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 05:58 PM

The true story of Israel Bissel and Paul Revere - from an HBO special.



Robert Wuhls "Assume the position"

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 05:58 PM

Don, I try to avoid "lecturing" you these days as much as possible, because it merely provokes endless back-and-forth responses and counter-responses which waste part of your life and part of mine in an utterly futile manner, and I can't see any advantage in it. ;-) We are both most eager that the other should not misunderstand us or assume that they know what we are thinking....but we have no way of arranging it, I'm afraid. I know this from long (and somewhat bitter) experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 05:01 PM

999... you don't think she's a babe? Ya need glasses bud. I mean, I don't wanna TALK to her but I would... in a New York minute.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:54 PM

Little Hawk, I am aware of all these myths, but you and a whole bunch of others have an exaggerated idea of the number of people here who actually believe all that.

I was alive and aware during WWII and I followed the news avidly—and I heard of the peripheral stuff about who was or was not a good fighter or a bunch of cowards or whatever.

Please! Do not lecture me on what you think I know or don't know.

####

Greg, Bush and his bully-boys said a helluva lot of stupid things during the time they held sway. And when did "The Simpsons" become the spokespersons for the opinion of the American people?

And Ake, hatred and jealousy for Sarah Palin's looks and popularity!?? I don't think anyone "hates" or is "jealous" of Sarah Palin. Where she draws the flak is that the woman is a total air-head, as is graphically demonstrated every time she opens her mouth. American citizens with an I.Q. over 65 are given to tremble in fear whenever the thought occurs that there is a chance, even a remote one, that she could ever become president!

Let me put it this way:   Since the Japanese earthquake, geologists in the Pacific Northwest where I live have been pointing out that off the Pacific Coast of the United States and western Canada, there is a subduction zone very much like that that caused the Japanese earthquake. They tell us that the last major earthquake (9+ on the Richter Scale) from this fault occurred some 300 years ago, and some geologists are saying that there is a 1 in 3 chance of another such quake within the next 50 years. Such a quake would be a major disaster to several large cities, from Southern California to Vancouver, B. C., including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle where I live.

To say the least, the thought of this possibility gives one who lives along this subduction zone a frisson of horror. One doesn't know what sort of things might happen during such an event, but one knows that, whatever might happen, it will be ghastly.

The idea of Sarah Palin becoming president tends to evoke a similar emotional and intellectual response.

Not hatred. Not jealousy.

Fear.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:53 PM

That woman couldn't teach a rock to play dead.

Someone mentioned she's good looking. PUH-LEEZE. How long ya been in the woods for?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:52 PM

Hear, hear McGrath.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:43 PM

Q... bloody amazing. She actually wasn't stunned as me arse?... on that point, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Big Al Whittle (closed)
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:32 PM

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x56b24_paul-revere-the-raiders-louie-louie_music

God I love that!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Songbob
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:23 PM

Sarah Palin's 40% favorability rating is a lot higher than the 27% rating most of the right-whingers get -- there's a constant level of support for truly bat-guano-crazy thinking that seldom goes much above or below 27%, for some reason. Palin gets all those votes and a few others, I guess, mostly just low-infomation folks that can't tell her from Tina Fay.

I have decided that the 27% level represents those that Lincoln described:

Some of the People All of the Time.

If you take those "All of the Timers" with enough of the "Some of the Timers," you can win elections (witness the off-year election of 2010). And with the Supreme Court allowing unlimited corporate money to buy media time, etc., we may just get that result.

God help us.

Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Big Al Whittle (closed)
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:23 PM

There was a band called Paul revere and the Raiders

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:18 PM

Most of us scramble the tale too, or at best know bits of the Longfellow poem.

Revere gave the sexton the lantern signals days before his ride- which was not to the Church. He warned colonists along the route that the British would take in Middlesex County.

He was captured and did warn some British troops that they would encounter danger if they approached Lexington. The troops freed Revere and others they had captured, and went back to warn their superiors.
Probably this was what Palin halfway remembered.

In some parts of the country, the story was not taught. In Santa Fe, we took New Mexico history, which was mostly about the Spanish-Mexican rule, and the Indians. We also had a course in world history.
When I entered university, I found that U.S. history was required, and I had to take it as a make-up course.

I think Palin would make a terrible president- she is ignorant of world cultures, and knows squat about economics.

But faulting her on Revere's Ride is picking on something most people would scramble.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 03:46 PM

I'm sure American soldiers are as brave as soldiers generally are, and ready to die if it comes to that. That's what war is about

The cowardice is on the part of politicians who know that dead soldiers are a lot more politically damaging at home than dead foreign civilians. That's what politics is about.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 03:38 PM

*g*, Wesley. However, Kevin really is not that sort. He just surrendered to a moment of snarky. Right, Kevin?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 03:31 PM

Ebbie - I'm guessing that Kevin would prefer that they meet out in front of the Longbranch saloon and shoot it out at 50 paces. Y'know - real man to man stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 03:14 PM

In a recent Bloomburg poll, as well as others, she was disapproved by over 60% of the people polled.

That's fine as far as it goes, Kat, but the other brain-dead 40% are a bit troubling, to say the least.

God Help America if 40% are that stupid, ignorant & moronic.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 03:02 PM

"It's been suggested that nations that rely on unmanned drones to deal with the enemy shouldn't really make too many comments about cowardice..."

Oh, Kevin, that's snarky. The bravery of the American soldier at the moment is not at question.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Big Al Whittle (closed)
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 02:42 PM

Time of the season. I can remember folks thinking that Goldwater was scary. They're not scared of Palin, just like they weren't scared of Baby Bush and Reagan.

They aren't repelled. Therefore, i think they will eventually vote for her; first one term, then another.

In time she will considered as one of the greats - and her years in office will be looked back on, as years that were good for America.

If your kids die in Afghanistan, or you get wiped out by a depressive with a legally owned uzi - then its just collateral damage.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 01:49 PM

...you are so full of hatred and jealousy either for her looks or her popularity, that you miss the main issue.

There you go making blanket assumptions. It's her total lack of intelligence with bothers most of us. As far as her popularity goes...it's not. In a recent Bloomburg poll, as well as others, she was disapproved by over 60% of the people polled.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 01:47 PM

So many facts, so little time!

You seldom hear of Paul Revere's other great ride. He was placed in charge of artillery for the capture of a half-built British fort in Penobscot Bay. The Rebels assembled an amazingly large fleet of armed ships and transports, some sixty ships in all, and when they arrived off Fort Castine the British commandant was quite ready to surrender but no one bothered to ask. After the Rebels dithered around for two months, a British relief fleet arrived, chased the Rebel ships up the river where most of them were run ashore and burned, or sunk. Paul Revere managed to escape, along with his baggage, and galloped south to Boston. He survived a court martial for cowardice conduct.

Charley Noble, a proud patriot

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: pdq
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 01:35 PM

Er, Benedict Arnold?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 01:27 PM

Paul, you're confusing him with the guy who invented the egg dish.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 01:09 PM

He's worse than that traitor, Arnold Bennett!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 01:02 PM

Warning the British that we were armed and waiting?

Isn't that treason? Shouldn't this Revere guy be arrested?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 12:52 PM

Also it helps to believe you are fighting for something worth fighting for - as the Italian partisans demonstrated after the fall of Mussolini.

It's been suggested that nations that rely on unmanned drones to deal with the enemy shouldn't really make too many comments about cowardice...

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 12:40 PM

Don - You've clearly been lucky enough not to be within earshot of the ignorant people (or the ignorant periodicals) of which I am speaking, people who enjoy characterizing the French as cowards and who rave on about "freedom fries" when they are under stress. ;-)

There is a similar myth, by the way, about Italian cowardice in WWII, and that one was created by Allied propaganda. The Italian soldiers, airmen, and naval personnel generally fought with great courage....but their country was lacking in some vital things which you need in wartime:

1. intelligent leadership
2. a large enough economy to fight that war effectively
3. enough modern and competitive equipment

Their navy was courageous and had fine ships, but it lacked radar, and it lacked aircraft carriers and a naval aviation arm. This rendered it extremely vulnerable in the Battle of the Mediterranean. It also lacked sufficient fuel to conduct operations after about the halfway point in the conflict, so the ships mostly sat helplessly in harbour after that.

Their air force again was very courageous in combat, but many of the Italian aircraft were obsolescent, and the more modern planes they had were not available in sufficient numbers.

Their army was courageous on an individual basis, but they lacked the modern equipment they needed to win battles. Their tanks were hopelessly outclassed by the Allied tanks. Their artillery was not adequate.

The presence of the German Afrika Korps alongside the Italian army gave the Italians much-needed assistance, as the German equipment was far superior, but it wasn't enough in the end...as we all know.

*****

The MCC song about the southern town is a really beautiful song, captures the feel of those sleepy towns perfectly.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 12:40 PM

"Now there is a popular American myth that the French can't fight and are cowards."

Really!?? That's news to me!

Don Firth

Have you forgotten the "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" in the BuShite run-up to the Iraq War & the re-naming of "French fries" to "freedom fries" n the congressional cafeteria?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese-eating_surrender_monkeys

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 12:37 PM

And the "British" were mostly Germans anyway. (Like King George.)

The scary thing is, as Big Al said there, the Americans have a bad record of electing dumb presidents when given the chance. The thought of Ms Palin in the White House is terrifying.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 11:33 AM

Dick-

"Paul Revere's ride"?

Well, I guess the British might have learned a lesson after their march on Concord and Lexington but it's not because Paul Revere told them directly.

One thing about Palin is that she never backs down!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 11:19 AM

Sorry, ake, you are wrong. That links to a beautiful rendition of a song - with Mark O'Connor on fiddle, no less - but you are describing the American south; the song says nothing whatever about the soul of America. I suspect you have never been here.

I am a church beside the highway where the ditches never drain
I'm a Baptist like my daddy, and Jesus knows my name
I am memory and stillness, I am lonely in old age; I am not your destination
I am clinging to my ways
I am a town.

I'm a town in Carolina, I am billboards in the fields
I'm an old truck up on cinder blocks, missing all my wheels
I am Pabst Blue Ribbon, American, and "Southern Serves the South"
I am tucked behind the Jaycees sign, on the rural route
I am a town
I am a town
I am a town
Southbound.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: akenaton
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:16 AM

Sorry wrong link.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hBeykKAXaw

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: akenaton
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 04:10 AM

This is not about Sarah personally, though most of you are so full of hatred and jealousy either for her looks or her popularity, that you miss the main issue.

If you want real change in your society, someone must tackle the one party system....get off the political see-saw and let the virtues which have always resided in "Middle America" shine.

None of it will sit easily with the centre left, blinded by years of political psychobabble, but like the young ash tree we must learn to bend with the wind, before we achieve our objectives.
The revolution in America will never come from the left, there have been too many smoke screens over the years

Demolish the monolithic Party system first, get some real representation on the ground.....only Sarah has the nerve and charisma to stand up to the system, but she will only be what YOU want her to be.

Forget world domination,this
   is the real America

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: akenaton
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 03:41 AM

Pardon, c'est moi.....Chongo :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 01:44 AM

"Now there is a popular American myth that the French can't fight and are cowards."

Really!?? That's news to me!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 11 - 01:38 AM

Yes, those who have fought beside them know perfectly well that the French are not cowards. I was speaking rather about a generally ignorant attitude that one hears from some people whose opinions are not based on their own experience, but on superficial gossip and hearsay that they've picked up somewhere. Let's ask Sarah Palin about the French and see what she says. ;-)

When it comes to naval history, the British more often were the victors in the almost interminable series of wars between France and England, but now and then the French bested them....as did the Dutch, on occasion. (The USA also had some spectacular small action victories over British ships....as in the case of the frigate Constitution defeating the British frigate Guerriere and another British frigate whose name I don't recall. These were pinpricks to the dominant Royal Navy of the time, had little effect on the overall naval war situation in the War of 1812....but they certainly did embarass the British Navy...and gave the USA something to celebrate for the next century and then some.)

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: artbrooks
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 10:35 PM

I rather doubt that anyone who ever served in the US military would ever consider French soldiers cowards (and, IMHO, no other American's opinion counts). The service of the Free French contingent of the Allied Forces in Europe served in an exemplary manner. Their small contribution (one battalion) to the UN forces during the Korean War went home with three US unit citations. Their troops in Bosnia during the three-sided war there did quite well, considering the restrictions imposed by the UN. The French governments did them no favors by requiring them to execute abysmal foreign policy, but that is a different story.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 10:32 PM

Danged. The last two post-ers spoke well to ollaimh's assertion. I would add two things:

1: What makes anyone sure that their own history books are freer of bias and error than thoe of the Americans?

and
2: ...one of the only french naval victories ... " One of the only? What does that sentence actually mean? One of the only? One of the many, yes. One of the few, yes. One of the only?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,ollaimh - PM
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 08:59 PM

with my stir of the pot; most americans don't seem to know that there were four times the number of french soldiers at yorktown as american soldiers. the french won that one folks!

and their naval victory stopped the british supply armada. one of the only french naval victories over the british but very timely for the continental army. the french wanted revenge for the seven years war and to break up as much of te british empire as they could.

although their commanders came home full of republican ideal--which didn't go well for the bourbons and the ancient regime.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 09:31 PM

The assistance of France was indeed vital to the success of the American Revolution, and the French were regarded very positively by Americans all through the 1800s because of it...and right up until their unfortunate defeat in 1940 by the new German blitzkrieg tactics. Their military prowess was much admired prior to WWII.

Now there is a popular American myth that the French can't fight and are cowards. NOT TRUE! The French fought very hard in 1940, lost over 200,000 men in desperate combat with the invading Germans, but were utterly unable to deal with the revolutionary new German military tactics which would have defeated any army in the world at that time, given relatively even odds on the battlefied in terms of numbers.

It seems rather sad to me that America's longstanding admiration and affection for French courage has recently been replaced by this post-WWII denigration of French capabilities.

If you read Mark Twain, for example, his admiration for the French is notable, while the British are still held in considerable suspicion. Interesting how these things change in the wake of one war or another...former enemies soon become new allies and friends...former friends are soon scorned.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: artbrooks
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 09:06 PM

7,800 French, 8,000 American regulars (Continentals) and 3,000 militia.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,ollaimh
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 08:59 PM

with my stir of the pot; most americans don't seem to know that there were four times the number of french soldiers at yorktown as american soldiers. the french won that one folks!

and their naval victory stopped the british supply armada. one of the only french naval victories over the british but very timely for the continental army. the french wanted revenge for the seven years war and to break up as much of te british empire as they could.

although their commanders came home full of republican ideal--which didn't go well for the bourbons and the ancient regime.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 08:23 PM

. . . chewing gum and twisting a strand of hair while they're doing it.

Get 'em out of the gene pool!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 07:37 PM

"...with a rising inflection at the end."

Don'tcha just cringe at the way little brain dead girls talk these days, asking a question or not? It just grates on me when I hear it. I just wanna smack them and say "Don't talk like that... it's not SPEECH!" It's worse than BABY TALK!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Amos
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 07:31 PM

LOL!! If you fail the test, change the reality!! LOL!! Wodda buncha maroons.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Amergin
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 07:05 PM

Some of her fans have been going onto wikipedia and trying to rewrite this history in her favour. Fortunately, their additions get caught and removed.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Amos
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 06:42 PM

The woman is incredible and carries this insufferable bubble of impenetrable indifference to reality about her. She is a potential catastrophe in fancy underwear.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 06:37 PM

Department of explanation and clarification:
(later, still Palin):
"Part of Paul Revere's ride — and it wasn't just one ride — he was a courier, he was a messenger. Part of his ride was to warn the British that we're already there. That, hey, you're not going to succeed. You're not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have. He did warn the British."
And this: "In a shout-out, gotcha type of question that was asked of me, I answered candidly. And I know my American history."

I guess a gotcha question is any one ending with a question mark, or asked with a rising inflection at the end.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 05:44 PM

I still contend that she will NOT run for the presidency of the US. Primarily because it is too much work with too little pay but also because she is not noted for taking criticism well.

However, if she DOES run, I would bet that she would go all the way to election day- but only because she does not realize the depth and width of the opinions against her. I am convinced that she thinks that the people who turn out to see her are her power base, and that everybody that counts loves her.

If she does run I hope she garners 19% of the total vote.

I still say she will NOT run.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,999
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 05:33 PM

When she passes on, America's IQ should rise by a point or two.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 12:56 PM

Problem is, plenty of AMERICANS don't realize that she personifies most, if not all, that is wrong with America, PERIOD.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Justa Picker
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 12:49 PM

She personifies EVERYTHING that is wrong with America in the eyes of the world.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Big Al Whittle (closed)
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 12:47 PM

You Americans are SO predictable. there was all this fuss about Reagan and Bush being dumb, but you elected them.

I bet it will be the same with this Palin woman. After all this nonsense, you'll still elect her. Two terms - a racing certainty!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 12:45 PM

"You realize that you messed up about Paul Revere, don't you?" "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace asked the potential 2012 presidential candidate.

"I didn't mess up about Paul Revere," replied Palin, a paid contributor to the network.

"Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there. That, hey, you're not going to succeed. You're not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have," she added. "He did warn the British."

You Betcha!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 12:17 PM

Simple. That's what happens when you try to take away our guns.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 12:58 AM

Damn straight. Too bad Revere wasn't at Yorktown to warn the British too, because in his absence the bloody rabble DID win! ;-) And you see all the trouble that has caused in the world since!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Amos
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 03:44 PM

Good thing that Revere fella warned all those British about how we would be armed. Imagine what might have happened at Lexington otherwise!! The rabble might have won!!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 02:22 PM

A tuning fork? At least a pitch fork for her.

Sorry about that but she presents an unclear and present danger to the earth.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Deckman
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 02:11 PM

Well ... you know ... some of those tuning forks can be dangerous!

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: gnu
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 02:03 PM

A drive by? What kind of weapon? Were they worried you, being a folkie, wouldn't get off a clean shot?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Deckman
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 01:49 PM

I was in Wassilla a couple of weeks ago and tried to drive by her house. They wouldn't let me ... they musta' found out I was a folksinger. You KNOW what they say about FOLKSINGERS! bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 01:09 PM

She'll pass it, Spaw. Hell, she can see Russia from her porch.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: catspaw49
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 12:42 PM

Remember back when they kept people, mainly African-Americans, from voting by making them take a test?   I think we need a new version of that policy.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Greg F.
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 12:30 PM

run ... her mouth, which she does very well...

Very Well? Apparently not.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 12:15 PM

Excellent, Ross.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 11:48 AM

Are you suggesting that any child would benefit from 100% attention from Sarah Palin?

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Bobert
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 11:47 AM

Just accept Ms. Sarah as an entertainer and leave the rest of it alone and everyone will be fine...

Everyone knows she has no real ability to run much of anything except her mouth, which she does very well...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 11:30 AM

I wonder how her child with Down syndrome is faring while she tells the rest of us how to live.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: artbrooks
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 10:37 AM

It is clearly posted that one should be quiet and respectful in the rotunda of the memorial. I suppose that it is possible that there are varying definitions of this.

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 10:26 AM

Great stuff!
BTW, this is a very cool site. Check out some of the other clips they have there:

Fox News Hack
"Fox is of course saying this didn't happen."

And, more alarmingly: Thomas Jefferson Would Like You To Dance
"On April 13, 2008, Mary Brooke Oberwetter and a group of friends went to the Jefferson Memorial to commemorate the 265th birthday of Mr. Jefferson. But park police didn't want them shaking it with Uncle T.J. They were arrested.

"Fast forward to May 17, 2011, and the appeal of that case was decided in favor of the cops.

"Last weekend, a flash mob of folks came to the memorial and defied that, dancing until they, too, were arrested."

Sobering stuff...

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 02:32 AM

A friend told me that today David Brook (conservative journalist) was asked what about Sarah Palin. He said, carefully, Well, I think that every minute that you think about Sarah Palin is a minute you don't get back.

Nailed it. I suspect that she is a sign of our times. lol

Subject: RE: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 01:54 AM

Betty Buckley just posted this in her twitter feed:

RT @HCookAustin: Palin Thinks 'Roe versus Wade' were George Washington's two choices for how to get across the Delaware River. #PalinHistory

Subject: BS: Palin: Teaching History to the Natives
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Jun 11 - 11:23 PM

By George, I think she's got it!


http://front.moveon.org/a-priceless-american-history-lesson-from-sarah-palin/