Propeller Week In Review: February 15, 2008 — Feb 15th 2008

By James Marcus

OBAMAMANIA


Not surprisingly, Barack Obama's trajectory was at center stage this week. "Obama, McCain sweep Potomac primaries," with 121 votes and 260 comments, alarmed at least one member, who begged for a deus ex machina. "Bloomberg," exhorted RedStateLib, "please jump in as a third-party choice!" AlphaGnosis, not a fan, sounded resigned to an Obama in the White House: "Give it up, people, and salute your new president." EDWARDIII wasn't quite ready to fold: "Electing Obama is the kind of measure taken when people feel hopeless and bet on a hunch. The guy's a kid." But writeguy argued that all the candidates were, in a sense, wet behind the ears: "Unless someone is elected to a second presidential term, everyone assuming the 'big chair' in the Oval Office is a rookie." A related story, "Obama Wins Democratic Contests," nabbed 118 votes and 164 comments. Then there was "Rush Limbaugh Endorses Obama," wherein the pill-popping broadcast titan gave the candidate his satirical stamp of approval. For ybdogsct, Rush's endorsement was strictly optional: "Limbaugh's ignorance is contagious. We're all now a few IQ points dumber for having been subjected to [his] ignorant, incoherent, and inarticulate ramblings." RedRiverJ was more receptive to Limbaugh's skeptical take on Obama: "We love hope, faith, charity, all that. But that doesn't wipe out the Taliban inside Pakistan or pay for a trillion-dollar entitlement: universal health care." And finally, this story, with 133 votes and 47 comments, marked yet another victory for Obama: his second Grammy award. "Double dose of bad news today for Hillary Clinton," said david nwpa (he had hoped for an Alan Alda blowout in the spoken word category). Meanwhile, the battle continued in the rest of the thread. HarryWatson00 insisted that the election should hinge on the "personal morals and value system" of the candidate--where, presumably, Obama might come up short. Responded jovial: "The morals we had for the last 7 years included sexual scandal, unmitigated war, torture and detainment camps, carpet bombing, phosphor weapons, depleted uranium contamination of an entire country, and cronyism. Step down from your soapbox."

FROM MONKEY TO MAN

Another hot topic this week at Propeller: evolution. "Why Darwin Matters," with 121 votes and 141 comments, elicited war-weary responses from both sides. Endoscopy took the anti-Darwin line: "There is no factual evidence of one species transforming slowly into another species." After citing various links to the contrary, smithichie added: "I would no more vote for a person who denies evolution than I would vote for a person who denies gravity." But it was tchef who brought to the conversation back to the theological basics: "I'm still waiting for [the] creationists to explain to me why if God created everything, he only takes credit for the good things that I do and I get the credit for the bad things. Last time I checked the dictionary everything meant everything, good and evil." A related post, "Endin' the Feudin' Between Science and Religion," bagged 107 votes and 252 comments. According to sinophil49, both sides in the debate had sins to answer for: scientists shortchange the spiritual aspects of human existence, while fundamentalists mistake the Bible for a history book rather than "an aggregation of spiritual and behavioral guidelines to govern our moral lives and assuage our fear of death by providing some plausible possibility of an afterlife." Edmar14 took a similarly conciliatory tack: "Science attempts to continue where religion leaves off. Whether the universe was created by a big bang does not create a rift in religious belief. The big bang may be what God used to create the universe." With that sort of olive branch in plain sight, what's an atheist to do? Oh, that's right--derive some amusement from "Atheist Sees Image Of Big Bang In Slice Of Toast," an Onion story with 126 votes and 45 comments. Said Scrimshaw: "It's about time we have our day in the sun, especially after all those pictures of Jesus... on everything from a dirty window to a rusty underpass."

AND DON'T OVERLOOK....

"Blue Chip panel puts U.S. recession odds at 50 percent," with 125 votes and 51 comments, sparked a lively thread on fiscal realities. The mood was largely gloomy. Said Dicax Maximus: "If the US goes into recession, how long before the rest of the world follows?" Added getreal1: "When it's hard to afford staples like milk, eggs, and bread, you know there is trouble." Only simonsez saw a silver lining: "There is nothing wrong with a short recession; we need to catch our breath every now and then." Stories about global warming, Hillary Clinton, and hypersonic air travel got the community talking. So did "World's Worst Comment," with 110 votes and 317 comments, including this gauntlet thrown down by ameliog: "Any of mine will do. Take your pick." And last but not least, there was "Illiterate teacher taught high school for 17 years," with 163 votes and 127 comments. According to the old chestnut (often disputed), those who can't do, teach. But to judge from this story, those who can't teach--well, they teach anyway. Let chevydog put it in perspective: "Teachers are born, not made. A good one is priceless; a bad one not really worth the paper that the contract is written on."

Tags: week in review, wir

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