Propeller Week In Review: February 22, 2008 — Feb 22nd 2008

By James Marcus

CUBA LIBRE?

One of our hottest stories this week was "Castro resigns as president, state-run paper reports," with 150 votes and 252 comments. The community was quick to wade in. For loverman, Castro's exit was a cause for celebration, and he wasn't brooking any favorable comparisons to Batista: "Comparing Batista with Fidel is like comparing a high school JV to the NY Giants. Batista was certainly cruel for the short time he was in power (9 years), but Fidel outdid him tenfold." Another member, jmopinion, buttressed this argument with some statistics about Batista-era Cuba. (Example: "In 1958 Cuba had a higher per-capita income than Austria and Japan.") According to tkyrchncs, the United States should have invaded the place a long time ago: "It is a very dangerous thing to keep a scorpion in your pocket, and that is what has happened with Cuba." GregD had a more pragmatic question: "You think this might mean the end of the embargo?" And he got a pragmatic answer from BronxBomber: "I can only hope so! I'm dying for those Cuban stogies!" At which point gamahuche shared this cigar fantasia, which suggests that he may have watched Carmen one too many time: "Recently I got a care package from some English friends who were over there on a visit. A hand-rolled matured beauty--alas, not rolled on the inside of a sultry beauty's thigh, but by the hotel guy where they stayed."

MAC IS BACK

Among the presidential contenders, John McCain seemed to loom largest this week. "Why You're Going To Vote For John McCain and Like It," with 133 votes and 214 comments, stirred up the juices on both sides of the aisle. GLee stepped up for the senator from Arizona: "McCain offers more. Period. I would have gone with Romney but he needs to loosen up his tie a bit next time around." (Would anyone defend Mitt's way with a Windsor knot? Nope.) AlphaGnosis, who posted the originally story, posited a fate worse than death for the U.S. should McCain lose: "A GOP defeat could turn us into a squabbling minority party that is out of power for years while the Left remakes this country in the image of Belgium." For bluetexasvalley, this wasn't so bad after all: "[The Belgians] serve um-um mussels." Just for the record, the beer is pretty damn good too. A related story, "McCain adviser cannot campaign against Obama," raked in 126 votes and 137 comments. One member, oldgringo, saw some turbulence ahead for Democrats and Republicans alike: "I think that once Obama gets the nomination, the attack campaign will begin on both sides, and the candidates themselves may not be able to control the mud their respective parties sling." Another, fempatriot, wrote off the whole two-party system as a hopelessly compromised disaster: "Americans need to wake up and see the two parties for what they are: Tweedledum & Tweedledee--not a nickel's worth of difference [between] them."

ILLINOIS SHOOTING


"Reports: Several people shot at Northern Illinois University," with 126 votes and 259 comments, also prompted a lively conversation. Said mesodude: "Americans are violent. This is indisputable. If the shoe fits..." Which got a spirited response from fishifanb: "I'm an American and I abhor violence. So do all of my friends. Your generalization is very far from being indisputable." Mutania had a different diagnosis: "I have a feeling that this rampage was caused by runaway narcissism brought on by a whacked-out brain chemistry." Several members argued the case for more guns--that way, the Illinois shooter could have been picked off before the death toll started mounting. Hanyman thought otherwise: "A bunch of would-be Rambos carrying concealed weapons would not have the presence of mind to protect the public or distinguish innocent from guilty. Nearly any argument could escalate into a public shoot-out." But BB64 made the case for an armed citizenry: "People who go for the training, get the proper screening, and meet the legal standards should be able to carry a weapon. In the 37 states that permit this, crime is down. Why? Because criminals like soft targets. Easy marks." StillUnashamed seemed to agree: "The problem is not guns but the decay of our society."

AND DON'T OVERLOOK....

Which story collected the most comments this week? That would be "Sleaze charge: I took drugs, had homo sex with Obama," which collected 124 votes and a whopping 821 comments. True, Goppy spent much of the thread dishing out his comedic blend of misspellings and Gomer-Pyle-style incredulity (along with a rogues gallery of Republican sexual offenders). The conversation also detoured into a long argument about gay marriage before returning to the subject at hand. After examining Sinclair's court filing (available at The Smoking Gun), mozzer smelled a rat: "The papers do look official, but what I find interesting is that he filed pro se. To me, that means no competent lawyer would have anything to do with him. He's a nutjob acting on his own." Stay tuned for further updates. A related story, "Larry Sinclair: Welfare Recipient?," bagged another 115 votes and 467 comments. On a more wholesome note, "Teen selflessly helps a pilot out of plane wreck" racked up 128 votes and 12 comments. And elsewhere, Propeller members sounded off on superdelegates, Michelle Obama, and bank profits. Finally, "The Alphabetical Jukebox," a classic Sesame Street video, drummed up a paltry 24 votes but 160 comments, most of them on the goofy side. There was also a spate of dueling videos in alphabetical order--"Bell Bottom Blues," "Cinnamon Girl," "Devil with the Blue Dress," "Free Bird," "Great Balls of Fire," "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," "Monkey Man," and so forth--culminating in "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah." We might as well stop there, right?

Tags: week in review, wir

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