Zennie

In my continuing quest to impart upon folks that there ARE more than two parties out there, I submit the following as a public service. This is a pretty well-known quiz that the Libertarian party puts out. I figured it might be good to clear the air on where folks REALLY stand on things. I scored solidly Libertarian. For the record, my answers were.... (Choose Y if you agree, M for Maybe, N if you disagree.) Personal Issues ------------------ Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet: Y Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft: M There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults: Y Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs: Y There should be no National ID card: Y Economic Issues ------------------- End "corporate welfare." No government handouts to business: Y End government barriers to international free trade: M Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security: Y Replace government welfare with private charity: M Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more: Y If people are curious, I'll explain my "maybes". My tendency on most of those were for "Y", but in a few cases I could see exceptional cases in which they may be necessary. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

OK Britney.... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

No I don't think he will. If he's stayed on this long despite his well-documented disagreements with the right-leaning members of Bush's staff, he'll stay on for the long haul. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'm really getting sick of being mistaken for a lockstep Democrat merely because I oppose GWB and his policies RE: the war in Iraq and on "terror"(ism). No... I've said it 1000 times and I'll say it again... I am NOT a Democrat. I am NOT a fan of Kerry. I am voting for kerry for one reason and one reason only... because I believe Bush & Co are dangerous, reckless, inept, irresponsible and need to be fired. If this were any other election I'd be voting for the Libertarian candidate. And need I remind the Bushies that I VOTED for Bush in 2000? This will be the first (and hopefully last) time EVER that I will have voted for a Democrat. God forbid I actually think for myself. Whew... now that that rant is over.... Yes, I agree that part of the movie was lame. Bush won the election by all reasonable measures. Get over it. There are far more important things to worry about than dwell on the 2000 fiasco. That was for dramatic effect. No. But I would have preferred that he'd have enough wits about him to calmly say "Excuse me, I'm very sorry, but I have some important business that needs tending to." And then calmly walk out of the room. The reason he looks like he's thinking is not because as Moore implies... that he's thinking about all his Saudi buddies screwing him over... it's because he's trying to figure out WTF to do... and he froze during 7 precious minutes of an attack upon our country. Yes, again typical Moore spinning .... I KNOW that... and I saw it for what it was. It doesn't negate that we went to war for fallacious, or at the very best... inept... reasons and cause an incredible amount of suffering in the process. No. His point is that the fatcats start wars, leave it to the poor to fight them and then reap the financial benefits of the plunder. Guilty until proven innocent eh? No. I'd just prefer that they be put out for cometetive bidding like most other government contracts rather than just handing them over to the Prez' and Vice Prez's buddies. We don't need one... we're force fed the truth According To Bush every single day on the news. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

To JohnRich. I don't mind Trent answering the questions so much... at least Trent isn't making unsupportable blanket statements about whether the "vast majority" of the information presented in the movie is or is not truthful based on the 9/11 report. The 9/11 report refuted nothing... except POSSIBLY the timeline and status of commercial air flights when the Bin Laden's were shipped out of the country .... WITHOUT first being questioned by the FBI. Trent & I interpret the facts differently... find certain things important and others unimportant... but I doubt we're too far off on agreeing as to what the fundamental facts are. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Virtually everything? Did you even WATCH this movie? 9/11 never happened? Dubya didn't sit frozen like a deer in the headlights for over 7 minutes when told our nation was under attack? Dubya & Cheney don't have financial ties to Saudi Arabia & the Bin Laden family? All those images of the suffering in Iraq (both by the Iraqi citizens and our soldiers) were manufactured? Bush never said "Some people may call you the elite... I call you my base..." to a bunch of fat cats (he did... and that clip was NOT taken out of context... I checked)? Iraq HAD WMD? Iraq had a hand in 9/11? Iraq harbored Al Qaida operatives & training camps? Iraq doesn't have massive reserves of OIL? We aren't handing out all manner of lucrative "rebuilding" contracts to large US corporations... such as Halliburton? Again... YES... the movie is MM's spin on things and should be taken with a grain of salt... but nothing in there has been demonstrated to be factually untrue. In fact... that's why I was for the most part unimpressed with the movie... it didn't tell me much that I didn't know already. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Oh, totally agree. He handles abusive, ranting idiots with more grace & politeness than anyone I've seen. Larry King is abusive to people who are being RATIONAL. On several occasions, however, you had very polite, calm, rational callers who would be making some good counterpoints and all of a sudden... "Well, time for a commercial break..." come back and "Next caller....". Drove me batty. Actually, I'm acknowledging that he has lost SUBSTANTIAL weight from where he was in the early 90s. He looks pretty healthy now actually (though, like you say.... lefties still call him a "fat idiot"). That's why i said "inversely proportional"... as he lost weight, it all seemed to shift to his ego. You ever check out his website? My God it screams "megalomaniac". - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'd be more concerned about repacking the pilot chute after time passes than the canopy. I've heard of people having scary hesitations when the jumped a rig that had been packed for a week and hadn't repacked their PC. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I think folks hate him because he does play fast & loose with information. And yes, those who would like you to think things are A-OK don't like the fact that he shows many things which demonstrate that things most definitely are NOT. Folks that want you to think a certain way want a monopoly on information dissemination. Anybody who has access to a wide audience with a countering view is perceived as a threat and reviled (hence Disney & the rest of mainstream Hollywood running from him like he had the plague). For many people, especially those within this administration and those who most vehemently support it, the answer is "Yes". I don't think MM intentionally MIS-directs. That is, I don't believe his thought process is "I know this direction is wrong, but I'm going to lead folks there anyway." I do believe he does actively try to direct folks toward his personal conclusions through skillful editing. Certain radio talk show hosts on the right are equally skilled at this tactic. Direction and misdirection are two different things. I don't think either MM or Rush intentionally lie. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I agree with you on that point and said so... I even said I didn't think it deserved to win the Palm D'Or at Cannes. BFC was a much better movie... just from an entertainment perspective. Unfortunately when I then went on to list a few things that I found positive about the movie a lot of folks seemed to forget that and lit a flamethrower under my butt. *sigh* - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

My thoughts on Rush... if anyone cares. I listened to him religiously for about 2 years. And I'm talking back in the early 90s. When he emerged on the scene I think he was a very positive influence because he provided an alternative point of view that really wasn't available anywhere else. So if you took his show and merged it with the information you were getting elsewhere, I think you got a better handle on what all the nuances and POVs were for a particular issue. I stopped listening when: a. I got bored with the same old things being rehashed over & over; b. He had a nasty habit of cutting folks off who were making very good counterpoints; c. It seemed like his ego and weight were inversely proportional; and d. Most worrisome, I realized I truly was letting him do my thinking for me, rather than me doing it on my own. The last one is a very easy trap to fall into. And in recent years I think that's the biggest problem I have... many people listen to him use him as their ONLY source of information and opinion.... any contrarian view presented elsewhere is immediately branded "liberal" and dismissed with an airy wave of the hand. They're "right" you're "liberal"... end of story. Question: have you ever heard Rush or any other Ditthead change their position on a major issue and admit they were wrong? I haven't. They cling so hard to their beliefs that the fact that they might actually be incorrect seems more than most can handle emotionally.... so they resort to namecalling & ignoring the conflicting information as "biased". Reality check... if you handle information this way your as guilty, if not moreso, of bias as the person you're accusing. And, yes, many on the left are also guilty of this. And it's equally bad. I will give Rush credit for changing my position on abortion. And though I disagree with him now about many things, I do still agree with him on that front. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I know I stopped watching it when I realized after about 3 shows that he was basically replicating the radio show that I had listened to the same day. I wasn't getting anything new out of it. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

OMG!!! That's perfect! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Since righties like to call Michael Moore a "fat idiot" and lefties like to call Rush Limbaugh a "fat idiot", we should have a TV show called the Fat Idiot Hour. MM & RL would argue an issue for an hour, then at the end of every show they would don boxing gloves and slug it out to determine the winner of that hour's debate. I know I'd watch that. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

For a while there he actually had a TV show. It was mainly a rehash of the stuff discussed in that day's radio broadcast. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Rush Limbaugh. That is, if he still has his TV show... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Sheep shouldn't vote. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Huh? How can this be? Dubya fixed the Clinton/Gore recession. Buncha liberal lies.... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Good point. Marriage is evil... EVIL I tell you! Tried it once and I'll never do it again. I propose a constitutional amendment banning ALL marriage. Anybody with me? Let's go! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Ya know, I'd pay good money to watch those divorce proceedings. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

If you're not sure, the easiest way to find out would be to open the pack job and take a quick peek at the brake settings & risers. That *should* clear up any slider up/down questions. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Well, I'm in the process of finalizing my order right now. Rock Dragon 266 is $1625. If you get a package deal with a Warlock, the package is $2280. I'm doing the package deal. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Heh. Looks like I'll be one of the early reviewers. Looking forward to getting one! I'll have my order in this week. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Heh, actually BASE landings are where the knees meet the gravel (and mud, and rocks, and water and cow poop). - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

If the UN wanted to, again, no biggie. If there's nothing to be concerned about (and actually there IS if any districts use the electronic voting terminals) then why is it such a big deal if they come over and monitor? What's there to be afraid of if we're on the up & up? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon