SPIN DOCTORS

With 150 votes and 436 comments, "Iran installing new centrifuges" was among our top stories of the week. As earthlingerer saw it, the Iranians had nothing to apologize for: "If I were Iran, with nukes on either side of me, and the 'world police' kicking in my neighbors' doors, shooting everyone in the face, and then stealing all their valuables, you can bet I'd be looking to create some 'back up.'" M. Simon gave this argument a tongue-in-cheek endorsement: "How will they be able to keep hanging 16 yr old gays if the USA deposes their government? We need to keep our hands off their culture." That last comment led to a mini-detour about gay rights in Iran--surely still in their infancy--as well as a little-known factoid from wasntme: "Iran has the world's most active sex-change hospital. All one needs are recommendations from two doctors. For four thousand dollars a pop, a man becomes a woman and vice versa." But as the conversation veered back toward Iran's growing nuclear muscle, Dicax Maximus held out little hope for negotiations with Ahmadinejad: "Talking to a sovereign nation is one thing, talking to a nutter who wants to remove another sovereign nation from the map is another." Bkumm, meanwhile, argued that Iran's anti-Israel rhetoric was mostly posturing: "Iran has no desire (despite their repeated outcries to the contrary) to see Israel off the face of the map. Why would they? Iran's influence is stronger and more far-reaching with Israel intact."

HESTON DEPARTS

The death of screen idol and gun enthusiast Charlton Heston at age 84 touched off some predictable disagreements at Propeller. HOUSEMD saluted Heston's acting skills and marital longevity: "Great actor, great man. One in a million from the Hollywood crowd that stayed married more than 24 hours." Poulenc took more of a wet blanket approach: "RIP, but please! Bad (OK, mediocre) actor--and a gun-hugger. Let's not let nostalgia for the movies of our collective youth cloud our sense of who the man actually was." This prompted some point-blank exchanges all around. Said 4mogger: "You are entitled to your opinion. And I am entitled to call you a slackjawed liberal. Thanks again to Heston and all of those like him that serve the cause of freedom every day." He was seconded by avoth: "Are people who, for whatever reason, badmouth the dead (especially among those who hold the deceased in high esteem) worth our attention?" Meanwhile, bluenote1522 delivered a mixed verdict, taking Heston's acting with a grain of salt but admiring his old-school class: "My wife loved this guy. I always liked him but thought his acting rather robotic. Admired his commitment to family as well. We have lost a bit of Hollywood with his passing. Old Hollywood, that is--I wouldn't give you a plugged nickel for today's Hollywood." Added GloryB: "RIP, Moses and Ben-Hur."

RECESSION ON THE WAY?

"Fed Officials Worried About Recession" got 185 votes and 69 comments. Some members, like not2needy, sounded a note of panic: "Black Tuesday! Looks like that's where we are headed again. I wasn't around during the Depression, but my mother told me many things about it. I don't want to go there!" GHOSTWHOWALKS had little in the way of encouraging words: "The Fed is doing all it can to insure a complete collapse of the dollar, and [is] being helped by the White House and Congress." It was markmawn2 who injected a little levity into the discussion: "Wow, this is all hype according to my local real estate associations. All good news will bounce back this spring, and house prices will once again be on the rise, and there will be pretty pink ponies for everyone. Ain't no bubble here." What was striking, in fact, was that almost nobody dismissed the economic jitters as Chicken Little behavior. True, amazed urged us to ride out the storm: "Hey, folks! Recessions happen--cyclically and regularly. We are due. No doubt recessions suck, but you just have to hang on through them and hope you come out okay on the other side." Still, the tone was pretty apocalyptic throughout much of the thread. Quite literally, in the case of cushi: "I read the Bible almost every day, and I understand what's coming down the pike! It's truly praying time now, because we're in for a very, very bumpy ride!" Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the Fasten Seatbelts sign. Please return to your seats immediately.

AND DON'T OVERLOOK....

Which story generated the lengthiest conversation this week? That would be "Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a True Patriot," with 167 votes and 623 comments. As OnionHead pointed out: "This is one article no one in the GOP will read." But the thread also included a bombshell from tanglang--he voted for Gore in 2000!--as well as some background info on that electoral pratfall: "It was not until shortly after the election and my 21st birthday that I sobered up and decided to become a productive member of society as opposed to the pothead liberal dropout that I had been for so long." A story about Condoleezza Rice as a potential vice-presidential candidate also got a big response, with 114 votes and 198 comments. For walden3, the idea of Rice as vice-president was a complete travesty: "What has she done right? Nothing, and that is the only and best reason that Republicans need to give her a promotion." BB64 rose to her defense at once: "Spend time reading her papers, listen to her speak, see the things she and her family lived through. It's shocking someone with her skills and intellect would waste time working for the government. As a people, we're lucky to have her on our side." Elsewhere, the community spoke up about prison closures, textbooks, global warming, and (sssh) performance problems at Propeller. And this story, about buildings made entirely of ice, bagged more votes than any other: 196. Chill out, folks, and we'll catch up on Monday.

THE WRIGHT STUFF

Barack Obama's relationship to his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, has been at storm center the entire week. The lengthiest conversation of the week, with 825 comments, was inspired by "Obama Condemns Pastor But Defends Continued Relationship." Candida defended the candidate from what she defined as an obvious smear: "The preacher is not running for president, and claiming that his rhetoric, which may be offensive but falls far short of hate speech, is somehow reflective of Obamas's thoughts and beliefs is the smear." Another member, ybdogsct, concurred: "Through some torturous logic, some believe Obama espouses everything Wright uttered, despite the fact that Obama is half-white himself and (unlike McCain) has never been quoted uttering racist comments." Other members were far less forgiving of the connection. Said HOUSEMD: "It is just wrong for any senator to participate in anti-American/racist activities. [Obama] should have immediately and strongly condemned this the first time he heard Wright's hate sermons." Another, purpose, was similarly skeptical: "Senator Obama has proven one thing. He still has supporters even after being caught in a lie." But rumple4skin wasn't giving an inch: "Lettin' you know that I am not going to engage in your brand of dispute. Until you have spent time in a Black barber shop, hairdresser, or church, do not attempt to discuss issues you know nothing of other than what you heard on u-tube or faux." Quite a few related stories made it into our Top Twenty for the week, including "Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11" (140 votes, 694 comments), "Ringing the Bell: What Obama's Speech Says," (166 votes, 496 comments), and "A Church Under Attack Says 'No' to the Political Smears" (110 votes, 208 comments). It was the latter story that elicited this vote of no confidence from tkyrchncs: "It is my understanding that when a man of the cloth in full regalia standing at his pulpit on a religious occasion says 'God damn' something (in this case America), it is not just an expletive one might say on mashing his finger. It is calling down the Wrath of God."

BREAKING THE BANK

Another hot topic this week was the ongoing mortgage crisis. With 176 votes and 116 comments, "Mortgage relief plan falling short" produced a spirited conversation. DamnLiberals pinned the blame squarely on the homeowners (especially those who went in to make a quick buck): "Fools rush in.... I look at this as the new Gold Rush where people looking to strike it rich made dumb decisions and lost everything." Grrr had some other culprits in mind: "So it's the borrower's fault, and not the fault of the banks, the Fed, Congress, the POTUS, and Wall Street?" Not so, said TOD396: "No one forced these people to bite off more than they could chew. They made a conscious decision to buy a home and then things changed for them, and they now aren't able to make the payments." But it was IanFraiugun, the rare Propeller member with a degree in accounting, who took a middle course: "I do agree we should not bail out the lenders, because their greed in approving non-viable loans led to their problems. On the other hand, we need to find a way to help those borrowers that we badly misled by the lenders." As Shakespeare, no accountant, advised us in Hamlet: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." Currently both parties are taking it in the head. Could the Bard have been anticipating the subprime meltdown?

HEAT TREATMENT

Global warming never fails to raise the collective temperature of the community, and this week was no exception. "Glaciers Melt At Fastest Rate in Past 5,000 Years" bagged 159 votes and 136 comments. One member, airglide, dismissed the whole scenario: "Try another. An Alaska pilot can no longer land near a glacier where he used to take tourists, because the glacier has grown a half mile in the last two years." Case closed? Not according to wtagg, who insisted that we cast the evidential net a little wider: "Using one glacier is wrong as evidence. Exit Glacier and Portage Glacier are demonstratively retreating. Does that mean we are experiencing global warming? No.... We need to examine all glaciers in context." Meanwhile, at least one member, rwrnae, saw some benefits to a possible spike of the global thermostat: "Wish the damn ice would hurry up and melt, maybe it would drown D.C."

AND DON'T OVERLOOK....

"Right to bear arms at heart of high court case" rang up 116 votes and 155 comments, including this sardonic assessment of the Supreme Court from memestryker: "They don't give a rat's behind about the Constitution. They all are there to push their own agendas, and find arguments to support their own bias--on all sides." There were popular stories about the Iraq war, the swooning dollar, and Dick Cheney. Over at Considerable Sounds, the music business was pronounced D.O.A., and blothbelt blamed the industry's woes on its own sloth and inertia: "It needs a serious resuscitation. Mouth to ear in this case. It's as if the music industry is doing its best not to record anyone who is good enough to demand anything." And finally, this post about Sweden's prostitution statutes (very much a post-Spitzer story) sparked a short but fiery exchange. If you're curious, cue up "Private Dancer" and enjoy the thread at your leisure.