On this day, let us all be proud of America

hehe - you're classic gold Buz. How many scary bad things can you associate with Obama in one post. Communism and Nazism is a good one - I love it. You covered the 20th and 21st Centuries quite nicely, I would have awarded bonus points for 19th Century demagoguery such as the 'Yellow Peril'.I will of course point out that Hitler used the same tactics that Buz is now using - appealing to fear and guilt by association. Normally I don't respond to people like Hitler who, in case you didn't know was instrumental in slaughtering millions. Does Buz want us to slaughter millions? He's certainly using the same kind of demagoguery as Hitler. And he's using the old 'if you repeat it often enough they'll believe you routine'. Which is what Hitler used, and Stalin. And they slaughtered millions. Maybe Buz is trying to slaughter millions too. Buz's opinions on mixed race marriage are closer to Hitler's than they are to Martin Luther King - and Hitler slaughtered millions. And communists, they appealed to fear too - and they loved guilt by association. Hitler. You want to know who loves to manipulate the fears and prejudices of red-blooded America? Terrorists. Come on people, its in the name. Islamic Nationalistic Jihadist Terroristic A-rabs. Fear them. Fear Buz. They want you to be afraid and hate. Like Hitler. And Stalin. And Pol Pot. And Castro. Who was a communist, but don't forget the Nazis. And the Chinese. Or the Jews.I think, just to be safe, we shouldn't listen to Buz because Hitler Hitler Hitler, Nazis, Communists, Islamists, fear, terror, terrorists. Nazis, bin Laden, Bosheviks, Turks, and Shiites!

I don't know - but we could say the same thing about any of the US Presidents. Maybe they weren't US Citizens over the age of 35. You'd have to be sure they were pretty good. What proof have we that McCain was born to John S. McCain, Jr. and Roberta McCain in Panama and that he didn't simply fake his birth certificate? After all how hard would it have been to get a fake birth certificate in 1936 in Panama that would pass as authentic today (enough to pass through the security checks that goes with the territory of becoming commander-in-chief of the US army)?

Way to go, Distortionist Buz. I never mentioned what your opinions towards minorities were. And omitted other facts. And offered your opinions on those facts that you did cite. Are you suggesting that the people and groups I listed did not use people's fear to advance their rhetoric/position/politics? Hitler liked to omit certain facts and state other facts with a dash of opinion - he'd talk about how Jews were greedy moneylenders but omit the fact that it was the only business they were tolerated doing because of old Christian dogmas against lending money to other Christians at interest. I think Hitler did use this kind of argument. My point stands. Hitler used this one as well if I recall. Don't listen to Buz. Hitler Hitler, Stalin.

What makes you so sure of that? Why are you making that assumption? That is interesting. True enough on the face of it - but then again, given the nature of politics, I think we can safely assume that Obama's birth certficate's authenticity has been scrutinised more than most previous US Presidents with greater technology at the disposal of the relevant parties. I'd be very surprised if after digging around for long enough you will find something other than one or two semi-reliable people who claim that they heard Obama's grandmother say this, but nobody bothered to ask her to repeat this vital piece of evidence while recording it.Still - it wouldn't surprise me to learn that at least 1 President of the US didn't technically meet the requirements set out in the constitution - and I don't think it really matters all that much, they were stupid and arbitrary rules to begin with.

How are you defining 'lynch mob'? There have been lynchings since 1930, it is just that either survivors of such events (edit: it seems Cameron is the only known survivor of a lynching ever in the US) didn't outlast James Cameron or they didn't survive (not surviving was quite a common event). For example Mack Parker (1959):

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Mack Charles Parker, an African American, was accused of raping a white woman. When he was arrested, a Mississippi state trooper offered the woman's husband a pistol to shoot Parker. Three days before Parker was to stand trial, he was dragged from his jail cell, beaten and shot. His body was found in the Pearl River 10 days later. The FBI investigated and even obtained confessions from some of the eight white suspects. However, the county prosecutor refused to present evidence to a state grand jury and a federal grand jury refused to indict.

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There was also a famous US lynching that took place in 1981.Edited by Modulous, : No reason given.

And then to type 'nd' rather than 'th' makes it a pretty impressive typo

Does the military ever make mistakes?

War, Christianity, and Justice for Some. We can be proud of America, but we shouldn't be getting too proud just yet. There are still some who want to make it a mirror image of Iran.Remember the thirteen Jews that were arrested in Iran, ranging from a rabbi to a shopkeeper and a teenager? They were refused visits by family and legal council, weren't told the exact charges against them, their simple religious practices (dietary requirements for instance) were denied and so on. As Buz would have it, we should trust the arresting forces that they were spies. The civilized world agrees that we should presume they are innocent until such a charge can be proven beyond reasonable doubt.It was all OK though - after ensuring that nobody had access to them except court appointed representatives, some of the men confessed. No doubt Buz would be happy with a confession under those kinds of circumstances.

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Dani (Hamid) Tefileen: Age 29, merchant, sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges "of cooperation with the Zionist regime, membership in the espionage network and gathering classified information."

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Asher Zadmehr: Age 49, university English instructor, sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges "of forming illegal group and an espionage network and of cooperating with the Zionist regime."

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Naser Levy Hayim: Age 46, Hebrew teacher, sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges "of running the espionage network and cooperating with the Zionist regime and recruiting people for the network."

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Ramin Farzam: Age 36, perfume merchant, sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of "membership in the espionage network and cooperation with the Zionist regime."

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Javid Beit Yakov: Age 41, sporting goods merchant, sentenced to 9 years in prison on charges "of membership in the espionage network, cooperation with the Zionist regime and making new recruitments to the network."

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Farzad Kashi: Age 31, religion teacher, sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges "of membership at the espionage network and cooperation with the hostile Zionist regime."

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Shahrokh Paknahad: Age 23, religion teacher, sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges "of operating a branch of the espionage network in Isfahan and cooperating with the Zionist regime."

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Farhad Saleh: Age 31, shopkeeper, sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges "of cooperating with the hostile Zionist government and membership in the espionage network."

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Faramarz Kashi: Age 35, Hebrew teacher, sentenced to 5 years in prison on charges of "membership in the espionage network and cooperation with the hostile Zionist regime."

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Ramin Nematizadeh: Age 23, merchant, sentenced to 4 years in prison on charges of "membership in the espionage network and cooperation with the Zionist regime."

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Buz might be happy with that kind of judiciary, but I'm glad that there are plenty of people still around to say "Go fuck yourself, Buz.". Keep up the good work, kuresu.

I get the feeling that other people get the feeling that this works both ways and it rather depends on the issue under discussion and the specific 'reps' and 'dems' in the discussion and that there are people on each side that ignore it when the other side genuinely compromises on a certain issue. And I feel that if the economy had been doing really well, we'd be hearing people telling us that they feel that "Bush's policies" have lead to prosperity and economic wonders. And you also feel that the policies of Bush (or those in his administration) have had nothing to do with lowering regulation of certain businesses that hold the future of Americans in the balance of their success? Do you feel that anything Bush might have done might have had an impact on unstable oil prices?Sometimes I watch American news, and I am often appalled by the editorialising I see where hosts prefix things with 'I feel...', 'It seems to me...', why the aversion to supporting things with some argumentation and evidence? For all their hatred of 'moral relativism', there seems to me to be what I feel a certain (and this is just my belief) 'factual relativism' in the common discourse of the States. It's not unique to the USA, of course, but I wondered if you had any thoughts on that?

I guess this confirms my feeling. You give him credit when things are going well - but deny his responsibility if he has created a bursting bubble rather than a stable economy. The government is responsible for regulation. You either feel there should be regulation or you don't. Which is it? You had regulation of the banking industry. The previous administration reduced that regulation. This lead to short term prosperity, but introduced instability. It was a risky decision that could have made everyone rich, but was more likely to lead to bubbles that would burst.Either you give credit for the successes and accept responsibility for failures of that policy to Bush et al, or you say that both prosperity and crash were unrelated to Bush et al. You don't get to eat and have your cake on this one.