Propeller Week In Review: January 4, 2007 — Jan 4th 2008

By James Marcus

A DEATH IN PAKISTAN

It would have been nice to ring in the new year on a positive note. Alas, our top story for the last week, with 226 votes and a whopping 757 comments, was "Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Assassinated at Rally." In the thread, Islam got a pretty thorough shellacking. But one member, quackpot, argued that Muslims had no monopoly on terrorist violence: "Of the terrorists attacks in Europe last year, about half were Muslim-related. The other half were by various separatist groups." A similar point was made by dissent, who suggested that Bhutto's killing was less about Islam and "more likely to be about politics and power, something I find fascinatingly absent from most of the comments of the Muslim-bashers commenting here." Thinker, however, was having none of this: "Not all Muslims on the planet today are terrorists but almost all terrorists are Muslims." A spate of additional Bhutto-related stories also made our Top Twenty. For starters, there was "Benazir Bhutto's Assassination: What Killer Video Footage Reveals," with 107 votes and 39 comments. (The latter post offered neither a link to the video footage nor any evidence for its assertions, but at least one clip of the shooting can be found here.) There was also "Giuliani speaks out about Bhutto and Military Funding," in which the presidential contender pointed to the assassination as one more proof that the United States needs to "go on the offensive." MisterX took Giuliani's comments with a grain of salt: "Well, it's a good springboard for Rudy to flash the terrorism card again." But the ex-mayor had his supporters as well, such as libsRfunny, who insisted that "Rudy is much truer to his word than, say, Hillary Clinton or pretty much any other Democrat candidate." And finally, "Doctors were pressured to give Govt. view of Bhutto's Death" bagged 122 votes and 60 comments. Nobody seemed too hopeful that investigators would get to the bottom of this one.

THE RUMBLE IN IOWA

By now the Iowa caucuses have come and gone, with Obama and Huckabee as victors. But earlier this week, speculation about the outcome was rampant on Propeller. "Joe Biden Has Strong Dark-Horse Buzz in Iowa," with 124 votes and 109 comments, produced a lively conversation. Few candidates were spared. One member, purpose, gave a thumbs down to Fred Thompson: "I for one would be very disappointed to see that old coot Fred Thompson win the bid for president. But if you think there is a possibility then I'm buying stock in Geritol." (Never fear--Thompson polled a miserable 13 percent in Iowa.) Biden, who has now folded his tent, took some heat from walden3: "Granted Biden may come from the credit card capital of the land, but he still has never seen an anti-consumer or pro-banking bill that he didn't like." But it took an Iowa resident, baddad59, to remind us of the real purpose behind this shooting gallery: "It is a patriotic duty to discuss and argue the merits of each candidate, and I for one will listen to any valid argument." A second story along the same lines, "Can Biden Defy the Iowa Odds?," got 113 votes and 100 comments. And a third, "As Iowa sizes up the candidates, so do I," racked up 104 votes and 182 comments, including this dire assessment of a Clinton presidency from Spinward: "We get Sandy Berger back, Bill's cigars, bizarre fundraisers, and a Motel 6 sign in the White House lawn."

MUSIC, MAESTRO

With 115 votes and 36 comments, "Considerable Sounds: Best Of Year List" handily made our Top Twenty. Posted by one of our most active members, Radiofreeeuropa, it ran down the last year in music, awarding the palm to such disparate artists as Osvaldo Golijov, The Mars Volta, Annie Lennox, Brad Paisley, and Youssou N'Dour (pictured here). One member, mmrhe, gave his blessing to the list, especially for the presence of country stud and Telecaster wizard Paisley: "Kudos to your guy for having the guts to include Brad Paisley. There's nothing more boring than music critics trying to out snob each other." Both BoxMonkey and gamahuche applauded the choice of Robert Wyatt. There were also additional suggestions. It was humemacdonald who made the pitch for the White Stripes and Goldfrapp, while icono1 had just one word for Praxis: "Sweet, sweet, sweet." The Propeller Award for honesty, however, goes to marshx, who was quick to confess: "[I] never heard of any of the artists on the list!!"

AND DON'T OVERLOOK....

No week at Propeller would be complete without a call for the impeachment of at least one Administration official. This time, "Take This Survey: Do You Think Cheney and Bush Should Be Impeached?" put the issue back on the front burner, with 170 votes and 623 comments. (Incidentally, this story too was posted by Radiofreeeuropa. Way to go!) TemplarScribe recommended something a little more dramatic: "The rope's the only way to do away with this kind of evil, just like they did in the Old West. The irony shouldn't be lost on a couple of straight-shooting Texas cattle rustlers like these two." Responded Codi6934: "Threatening a President is illegal, and can cause the Secret Service to visit you." Elsewhere, Propeller members voted up stories about global warming, skyrocketing oil prices, and the United Nations. And just to show that the quirk factor hasn't tapered off too sharply, let us not overlook the popularity of "Know Your Meme: I Like Turtles," with 103 votes and 34 comments. The video left me speechless. Not palama, however, who responded with this burst of regional pride: "Maryland Terrapins... the only turtles worth talking about." No argument there.

Tags: week in review, wir

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