Revolting Uniting

[Surfbird]

@ Fuchs

Well your right, our president is indeed the head of the country and he maybe would give away his opinion. Our old one (that got abolished due to cases of fraud, which is good because he was a dweeb) wouldn't, our new one probably would.

Anyway, I did not relate Merkels passive behaviour to the gay-marriage or a similar ethical theme, more for general political questions.

Merkel has been critiziced a lot for her passive behaviour. There are political questions people expect a reaction from. I know it goes away from the topic of gay-marriage but there are questions that people expect Obama and Merkel to comment on in their countries.

Her job is a lot more than just keeping the gouvernment together. People expect statements and a clearly drawn political line, but do not get that.

What our president says is not that interesting to the people, he is just the representative of our country and his words are usually not worth a lot, because he is not the one who can make a change. Again: you are right, he would definately be the one stating his opinion about ethical themes.

So home policy unfortunately comes down to Merkel, and she does not say anything most of the time.

So better there is an important politician that gives away a populistic opinion, than one that does not take stand at all. No matter how much Obamas and Merkels positions differ, in general political questions people demand a reaction from both, we usually do not get one, nor the coalation, nor her own party which leads to different political camps in the gouvernemnt itself, which leads to an implausible gouvernment at the moment. Mission of keeping the government together imo failed, and a clear political line is missing there.

Obama got one, and as you said he has great success, in Germany we lack something like that atm, that was all I wanted to express with that

Edit: Thanks for clearing that up mudra, estimated Obama himself a bit wrong then. I nevertheless like that he said that, even if it's pure populism.

[Harmonikater]

he needs to wait for the perfect moment to say it

unfortunately he had the moment picked by his sidekick

And you are totally right, basically all things they say are populism. Those who truly hold only to their opinions are very rare and most of the time extremists.

even though i disagree with most of what Ron Paul says, i still respect him for having pretty much always had the same position on his issues. (unlike certain flipfloppers)

Also, if you research his views on gay marriage, one finds that he spent most of his life going back and forth  between supporting it and being against it, so he absolutely plays this purely for politics.

well thats not good. hopefully the other candidate have a record of consistency.

oh wait.

[Flyboy1942]

teehee



http://www.smbc-comics.com/

[Zoologic]

I'm quite confused with US situation.

Race card is a major problem and the contrast between liberals and conservatives.

I used to follow a discussion, whether a certain minorities are heavily discriminated against in US. Surely the liberals are on fire regarding how profiling is one of the major issues. But statistics does say, that the majority of crimes are committed by that minority and the majority of the victim are also the same group. I settle by that fact, period.

Then, the case shifted into, whether the prosecution are biased if the victim is from the majority. The case become blurred because the majority really take advantage in certain situation, while the minorities sometimes played their cards well. A fact came from BBC told us, that death penalty was easily given to black perpetrators when the victim is white. But that draws statistics spanning from the segregation era, when racism was sponsored by the government. (unclear)

A real case emerged, a Hispanic guy shot a black teenager. Typical reaction emerged. My only reaction was, disgusted towards the media, not the case itself. Because they quickly jumped into the "whiteness" of that Hispanic guy. It is not a fact finding anymore, but a racism issue. Fuck it! Then I read Mudra's post, adding another (unchecked) fact that the guy was actually a teacher to poor black community. The liberals and media stirred the issue too much in this case, so I couldn't care anymore for the outcome here.

Am I being steered by Mudra's opinion?

[Kelmola]

"States' rights" mentioned.

Last time I heard this being invoked, it was followed by "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!"

[Zoologic]

It is like "yeah whatever you guys at there say, but personally I don't like -insert some group of people- the way I live should be me, myself to decide."

Well yeah, they are just making the lives of several groups of people more difficult. At least, they shouldn't forget to put a sign "go away from here if you are -insert some group of people- and please apologize for accidentally visiting this area."

What a fucked up logic.

[Captain Pyjama Shark]

HBO's Rome is literally the best tv show that I have ever seen.  Finished the first season today.  brilliant.

[LHeureux]

Started watching Falling Skies.

Ok so far all series that I watched where humans are in an apocalyspe (Falling Skies, The walking Dead) always go the same way : they find a good place to stay, then the relationships within the group goes down and the series forget it's roots (killing zombies and aliens), then it becomes humans vs humans.

Boooooring

[Tedacious]

HBO's Rome is literally the best tv show that I have ever seen.  Finished the first season today.  brilliant.

I really gotta rewatch it for the fourth time.

If anyone hasn't seen it, you shouldn't need any persuasion; The most costly show ever, and it's HBO.

[Fuchs]

HBO's Rome is literally the best tv show that I have ever seen.  Finished the first season today.  brilliant.

Then live with this happiness and do not touch season 2. I admit, season 2 was fun to watch but they cramped so much in that season that it feels empty, lame and leaves you with a troubled feeling like "That's it?".

[Tedacious]

Really? I liked Season 2, not as good as the first but still really great.
the "that's it?" feeling might come from the fact that they planned for a third season, but it was too costly relative to the low ratings.

[Fuchs]

They squeezed 2 or even 3 seasons into 1 season. That's what made it empty compared to season 1. I know about the troubles with Rome, Ted.. The world wasn't ready for a show of such epic proportions.

[Kelmola]

The world wasn't ready for a show of such epic proportions.

But is it any readier now?

If it were, I have been having a fantasy of seeing a season-length HBO adaptation of The Egyptian ever since I read the book. The novel (at least the Finnish original - don't know about the "abridged" ie. censored English translation that is the only one available) is already neatly divided into 15 "books" that could be made into individual episodes. Hey, if it was already good enough for Hollywood once, and they're back to remaking the old epics, then why not? Yes, there was an abortion of a movie way back in 1954, which completely alters the message, invents a happy ending, adds exaggeratedly overt fundamentalist Christian preachings, not to mention ditching all the philosophical ponderings and most of the plot along the way, making the end result incomprehensible. So at least the remake could not be any worse...

[Thorondor123]

TV series based on Surgeon's Stories (Välskärin Kertomuksia). Ten episodes per book.

Make it happen HBO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtPmpY3P6wQ
(Prologue for the novel... eeeepiiic)

[Dukat]

Really? I liked Season 2, not as good as the first but still really great.
the "that's it?" feeling might come from the fact that they planned for a third season, but it was too costly relative to the low ratings.

Season 2 was a disappointment. Was still good enough to legitimate watching, but overall it is only shadow of season 1, I totally agree.