Propeller Week In Review: October 19, 2007 — Oct 18th 2007

By James Marcus

YOU CAN CALL ME AL

After bagging both an Oscar and an Emmy, Al Gore hit the trifecta with the Nobel Prize--and our membership responded in spades, with 243 votes and 693 comments. As we noted last week, climate change has long been a hot-button issue here at Propeller. That ensured a feisty comment thread, with the pro-Gore and anti-Gore contingents getting in their digs. One member, deathray, offered the ex-VP a laurel and hearty handshake: "Helping bring awareness about global climate change, and a call to action on dealing with it, is noble work." Another, capecoraIM, suggested that what Gore really deserved was a superhero costume: "It would be green and have a great big GW on the front and a 1-800-Buy-Them slogan on the back to promote his CO2 offset business." The debate spilled over into two related stories. "Gore gets a cold shoulder," with 462 comments, prompted Obaku's cheerful observation that "if you are not prepared to die on every day, you are stupid, delusional, and in denial." There was also "Gore Derangement Syndrome," a link to a National Review piece whose author suggested that Gore share his prize with Osama bin Laden.

TALKING HEADS

As usual, Ann Coulter earned a warm and fuzzy spot in the heart of many a Propeller participant. This time, it was her suggestion that Jews needed to be "perfected" into Christians that got the ball rolling. Endoscopy chalked up this twaddle to mere semantics: "Keep in mind that that phrase is used by Messianic Jews. These are Jews who became Christians and go to their own separate temple to worship." PapaWolf, a proud member of the Eastern Orthodox Church, responded with the online equivalent of a snort. "If I told any of my friends, including my Jewish friends, that I've been 'perfected,' I'd get my butt kicked," he noted. "And they'd be laughing the whole time." Another pundit, Rush Limbaugh, also made our Top Ten with two different stories. "I'm Drug Free And Better," which scooped up 125 votes and 313 comments, included some hairsplitting about the definition of dope in the discussion thread. And a post about the sale of the notorious "phony soldier" letter on eBay also generated a lively conversation.

WEIRD SCIENCE

Two science-related stories--one intriguing, one frightening--got the attention of the Propeller community. First: scientists reported the discovery of several new, freaky-looking marine species, including a transparent sea cucumber and an orange worm with ten squid-like tentacles. Remarked Mutania: "God is quite the artist." Less exhilarating was this post about a potential staph epidemic in the United States. "I thought America had the best healthcare," said bumbaklotartattack. "What's up?" Eagle Eye attributed the sluggish response of the health industry to "typical corporate crapola, there are big bucks to be made in medicine and they don't want the average person to lose faith in the medical community." Also worth noting, with 114 votes: this story about genetically modified plants that help the environment (as opposed to the ones in the movies, which eat human beings and nearly destroy Western civilization.)

AND DON'T FORGET....

The Propeller community sounded off on atheism, torture, and the mugging of Air America host Randi Rhodes (if indeed she was mugged). This post, on a wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric among U.S. elected officials, sparked a fiery discussion thread. And on a lighter note, there were these stories about condoms and the return of "granny panties" at Victoria's Secret. One disappointed member, natashas, was unable to watch the latter video. But Uncle Dave assured her that she was probably better off that way: "All you need to do, Natasha[s], is get a mental image of an inverted silk parachute made into a pair of bloomers for your dear old granny. The real trick will be erasing that image." On that scary note, we'll sign off until next week.

Tags: week in review, wir

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