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May 30, 2009 03:49 PM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 79 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Take care that no one hates you justly.”

–Publilius Syrus

Comments

79 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread

  1. .

    http://www.google.com/hostedne

    But, according to AFP, Sadr prohibits vigilantes from attacking or killing gays.  

    “The only remedy to stop it is through preaching and guidance. There is no other way to put an end to it,” [a spokesman] said, stressing that the movement could not resort to violence after a series of killings of gay men in Baghdad.

    Whatever you think of this position, it is a huge improvement over how things were.  

    I’m thinking Jared Polis may have had a hand in this.

    When was he last in Tehran, where the Sayyid is studying ?

    .

  2. Gosh, how did the Nuggets come out so flat? I just didn’t see the desire I wanted to see, and was understandably let down.

    That said, I enjoyed a great season!

    1. It was very disappointing that their shooting went so cold and they played the worst game of their play off run in this particular game but really, defeating LA for the conference title was always a very, very long shot. It’s still THE best season in Nuggets history. Nothing for our guys to hang their heads about at all.  They proved they were the legit 2 seed in the west, not a fluke. Beat LA at LA, an accomplishment in itself. Almost beat them in the opener. Took them to six.  Still love ’em to pieces. Go Nuggets!

    1. I thought it a bit pricey the last time I was there, but tasty as ever.

      I thought JnG filed bankruptcy, expanding too fast.  Yes? No?  Now out?

        1. I just don’t remember.  I don’t think I ever had the GC chile there.  Is there an acknowledge difference between CO and NM?  

          It amazes me how regional GC is.  There is a bit in some restaurants in Austin, I hear, but it is still pretty much a CO and NM thing, AFAIK.  

          There are two “real” Mexican hole in the wall joints near here.  One of them serves a “wet” burrito, but it’s just the table salsa.

          1. (no authority though) Jack-n-Grill’s green chile is considered a terrific example of New Mexican style “green chile” — more of a white sauce, lots of chiles, not so much spices. Almost a soup.

            What I refer to “Colorado green chile” (although it might not be its actual designation of origin) is more orange (tomato-based) color, pork infused, thick gravy-like.

              1. Travel Channel

                Jun. 04 10:30 PM MDT

                Travel Channel’s Man v. Food

                Denver

                Adam visits the Mile-High City for burgers with enough toppings to fill a dartboard, some Rocky Mountain oysters, and a showdown with the biggest burrito in the West: seven potatoes, a pound of ham, a dozen eggs, a whole onion, cheese, and chili.

                1. …but one of my destinations – twice – while I was back in God’s country was Santiago’s on S. Broadway in Englewood.  There are actually a chain of them, but that’s the only one I’ve patronized.  Take out only.

                  Breakfast burritos, $2a, meat varies with the day of the week.  Green chile inside, hot, mild, or half ‘n half.  While I can eat the hot, it does slow me down, so I get the half ‘n half.

                  The deluxe smothered burrito later in the day….oh mi goddess…. $5? big and swamped and tasty to the core.  I wish I had a table, I ate it on a bench in the Englewood city center.  Sloppy!  

                  Anyone ever eaten at The Creamery up in the Curtis Park hood?  I used to work at the other end of the block so I patronized it a few times per month for lunch.  It’s called The Creamery because the building was once, yeah, a creamery.  The #4 bean and beef burrito is the staple.  It’s just plain ground beef, beans, toppings, a a real good but not real hot red sauce.  It doesn’t fit anywhere into the taxonomy of burritos or chile.  But yum for its own sake.  

  3. America: the land of dreams.

    I am no embarrassed to be sentimentalist, much less to be empathetic. Or to say I fell in love with Susan Boyle the instant I heard her sing the words:

          I dreamed a dream in time gone by

          When hope was high

          And life worth living

    Almost 48. Never been kissed–well, sort of, but not really.

    And then there was Sonia Sotomayor. Not quite the same thing, but there was being Newyorican, in a Bronx housing project.

        But the tigers come at night

        With their voices soft as thunder

        As they tear your hope apart

        And they turn your dream to shame

    Except, of course, they don’t turn dreams to shame. Susan sang, and sang again. Sonia went to Princeton; bitch if you want about how she might have gotten in, but they don’t give summas as part of no stinkin’ affirmative action!

    There are silver spoons like the one GWB was born with, and there are silver-plated spoons like lots of the rest of us are given. And there are no spoons. Like Susan’s. Like Sonia’s. Like Michelle’s–a dad getting up at 4:30 to give him time to dress before going to work in the water treatment plant so his dream could go to Princeton. The list goes on. And that list is what we are all about:

        No song unsung, no wine untasted.

    1. And there are no spoons. Like Susan’s. Like Sonia’s. Like Michelle’s–a dad getting up at 4:30 to give him time to dress before going to work in the water treatment plant so his dream could go to Princeton. The list goes on. And that list is what we are all about

    2. Our shared spirit, when it rises above our selfish instincts, is like nothing else we can imagine in the whole universe. It is what makes humanity sublime, and it should remain a focus of our inspiration, education and modeling.

      1. That we’re all citizens of a community. We all came from different origins, but our roads have all led us here. As such, we share common aspirations both for ourselves and our society. Only our preferred means divide us.

        A moment of perspective. None of my parents or step-parents received their Bachellor’s degrees. My brother received his Master’s degree 2 or 3 years ago, and I was just accepted into the Master’s program at UCD.

        Our children carry with them all our hopes and dreams. The least we can do for them is to give them the best we can.  

  4. Once again, shocking ignorance on display by this war-time commander in chief.

    A POLITICO reader caught the exchange, which starts around 5:45 on this C-SPAN video.

    The transcript:

    Obama: What do you do Walter?

    Walter: I work at, uh, NGA, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

    Obama: Outstanding, how long you been doing that?

    Walter: About six years

    Obama: Yea?

    Walter: Yes.

    Obama: You like it?

    Walter: I do, keeps me…

    Obama: So explain to me exactly what this National Geospatial…uh…

    Walter: Uh, we work with, uh, satellite imagery..

    Obama: Right

    Walter: [unintelligible] …support systems, so…

    Obama: Sounds like good work.

    Walter: Enjoy the weekend.

    Obama: Appreciate it.

    1. the degree of straw-grasping desparation to catch Obama in a flub, such as that illustrated by the above unbelievably-lame attempt, is far more a tribute to the man’s intelligence and deftness than it is an indication of any defect…; any defect in Obama, that is: Such assertive folly as the poster exhibits does indeed reveal profound defects in the person grasping at the straw.

      1. Robert Jordan, that’s your man there! Wasn’t he great? Didn’t he leave the country and the world in a much better place as the leader of the most powerful country on the planet? To think, the country elected him to two terms!

      2. .

        I was expecting Steven J. Hadley to explain the meaning of life (he’s the guy pictured before the video starts,) and instead you give us this.

        But you’re wrong: that was from a teleprompter, and GW delivered pretty much exactly as that answer to a canned question was rehearsed.  He is actually quite smart, and had to work hard to come across as a moron.

        .

    2. Really? How about this little gem

      “I’m telling you there’s an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That’s the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

      Or this one

      “I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2008

      Or maybe you’ll like this one

      “Amigo! Amigo!” –George W. Bush, calling out to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Spanish at the G-8 Summit, Rusutsu, Japan, July 10, 2008

      Have a nice day.

      1. I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.

        And down the field they moved with $Trillions$ in “bailouts”, handouts, subsidies, fees and taxes.

        Government Motors (GM): will fail under Chairman Obama. Why has the Gov’t taken ownership? Why have the unions taken ownership? Why has management escaped? Where are the rights of the bondholders? Where has the rule of law gone?  http://www.newsmeat.com/news/m

        Commercial Property: the next sector to go wacky for forced bailouts. This will give Chairman Obama and Vice Chair Geithner another shot a control of the banks? http://www.denverpost.com/busi

  5. Both of these women should be an inspiration to all of us.

    The level at which Judge Sotomayor’s risen to is the law’s equivalent of major league baseball. Only, and I mean only the very top in the profession even get a sniff at SCOTUS (unless “W”‘s involved, but that entire 8 years was a setback to everything America stands for).

    Jo hit on something so wonderful about our nation. Judge Sotomayor took the opportunity she was afforded, and kicked in that door. Graduated 2nd in her class. Like Jo said…..summa! Not a legacy baby, just a really smart person that caught a break and made the most of it.  She brings more hard judicial experience to the job than any sitting judge had at confirmation.

    Thanks Jo.

    My vote for best green chile is Las Delicious. 5 locations, my family usually hits the one just north of I36 and Broadway.    

  6. I can only speak for myself.

    Barron X showed class, decency and honesty in his most recent postings on this thread that I hope I’ve got the courage to display when necessary.

    Nice work sir.

    1. .

      80% of the time, I would say, I believe in God.  The other 20% I have some doubts.  Whether there really is a God or not, I know I’m not going to convert anyone here.  

      I usually try to act as if He is watching me.  

      While that may strike you as paranoid, it tends to bring out the best in me.  

      Even though I admit to being a pretty poor Christian (I know this because I’m married to a pretty good Christian,) people on this site may judge the entire belief system and all its adherents based on what I post here.  

      I sometimes take 30 minutes editing something before posting it.  Even so, I still manage to say some boneheaded stuff.  

      Thanks to everyone for their patience.

      .

  7. If you haven’t read Frank Rich in today’s Times, you really should. It’s here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05

    He puts the Cheney Circus clown act in good perspective–and with a reminder that people like YOU need to convey your thoughts to people like Udall and Bennet in the eternal hope they might show their colors as Democrats!

    1. Your poetry and passion are very much appreciated.  I bookmarked the Frank Rich article.  I’m sure I’ll need to refer to it in future posts, when the right-wing shills pop up out of their gopher holes defending how “secure” Cheney’s benighted policies made us.

      I’ve got a couple of links for you — both should serve to explain why I was so hard on you this week in our last exchange.  One is from TIME magazine, and illustrates my Cut the Crap pragmatic philosophy, and why I value wisdom, regardless of where it may come from.

      The other is something I wrote a couple of years ago and probably will explain my “rose colored” view of the world. Perhaps it is a bit self-indulgent, but it might have the effect I intend.  The link is a little stale, so I’ll just reproduce it below from the Rocky Mountain News:

      Harry Doby of Denver writes:

      Some things can be taught, others must be experienced. The best teacher I had in high school, Rhoda Radow, gave me the task to define happiness.

      As a 16 year old without life experience, I could not complete the assignment, so I turned in a paper on what happiness is not. She forgave me for that, and for a later assignment that I completely botched.

      38 years later, on this Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur, I think I can now finish the assignment.

      Happiness: Only do what you have to do, and what you want to do. The definitions of “have to” and “want to” are an accurate gauge of your character.

      Before doing something, ask yourself will it make you happier, wealthier or wiser? If not, why are you doing it (see #1)?

      Recognize your strengths and play to them. Recognize your weaknesses and avoid them.

      Acknowledge both upon request.

      Respect friends and strangers alike unless they have proven themselves unworthy of it.

      Tolerate others that do not share your views, lifestyle or beliefs as long as they do no harm to you or the ones you care about.

      Treat people fairly, and give them the opportunity to do likewise. Even if they fail to do so, continue to treat them fairly. This is for your benefit, not theirs.

      Be skeptical, but open-minded.

      Do not be cynical – ever. It will never bring you happiness or true satisfaction.

      Mrs. Radow, wherever you are, thank you.

    1. This type of vigillantism cannot be tolerated, even if against the most degenerate among us.  Tiller should have been brought to justice through the court system.  Now it is time to bring his killer to justice.  

      1. It’s terrorism. Some losers have decided that they can’t abide by someone doing something legal that they don’t approve of, so they go and murder him. This also sends a message to anyone so bold as to try to legally practice an unfortunate but sometimes needed medical procedure.

        This illustrates that anti-choice is all about control and nothing about life.

    2. After all, we need to see the gruesome results of the Pro-life movement’s most stunning achievement- Terrorism.

      If Libertad and the rest of God’s Madmen think their cause is so just and true, where’s the snuff porn showing a corpse lying in a pool of his own blood? Especially if it’s in the aisle of a House of Worship.

      I mean, it can’t be a sin to murder someone in their Lord’s House, if they’re just following God’s orders, right?

      So, LIbertad, where’s the photos? Aren’t you just gushingly PROUD of this terrorist who killed a man, in church, in front of his wife?  

      1. First, nothing justifies the Murder of Dr. George Tiller.

        Dr. Tiller was a familyman, grandfather and husband. He runs one of the clinics in America that aborts babies within 0-19 months of life outside of the mother.

        Second, for those that object to my sorrow at Dr. Tiller’s Murder, I found these comments for you, I hope they satisfy any cheer for the culture of death.

        Karma’s a MF……

        and

        An outrage? Like killing a baby isn’t?

        Last, nothing justifies the Murder of Dr. Tiller.

        1. You’ve posted all manner of snuff porn and misleading photos to justify your narrow and moronic rants on this subject.

          Based on that, this murder is something you should cheer and celebrate. After all, someone took their bizarro-world interpretation of moral standards and religious texts TO THE EXTREME to justify the murder of a man. And to commit that murder in a House or Worship of the same branch of religion that all these Pro-life terrorists claim to be followers of.

          You shit in your nest, Libertad – you get to sit in it.

          1. Dannyboy you must be watching too much hollywood or day-dreaming too much about your own porn surfing.

            I have posted photo’s of Dr. Tillers handywork and that of a state death chamber on Pols.  I have been notified to abstain from such postings in the future and will comply.

            Nothing justifies the Murder of Dr. George Tiller, nothing.

            Danny, go find someone else to harass.

    3. assasinated a rightie? It’s freaking amazing how blind the right is to their violent and destructive inclinations. Right to life indeed.

    4. What is sad is that justice will finally be served (except it will be served on his killer).  The abortion doctor should have gotten the death penalty by a court of law, now his killer should meet the same fate.

      Or maybe the money KS would use to prosecute the killer and put him on death row should be used to solve cold cases instead.

      1. broke no laws. How could he have received the death penalty? Your “logic” escapes me. You have the right to your opinion, but not to the facts. It’s where you, and your ilk, always get tripped up.

        This was not only murder in the first degree, it violated the sanctity of a church. Have you people no conscience?

        1. The doctor was a murderer.  So was his killer.  So, do you agree that Dr. Abortion’s killer should get the death penalty?  I suppose all you people who oppose the death penalty will want to see it used for this one purpose.  No?  

          Your “logic” escapes me.

          1. all logic escapes you.

            The thing about laws is that they are products of legislation, not products of individuals’ or particular factions’ fancy. Some people would consider the eating of meat to be murder, others the aborting of a fetus, still others the inadvertent ingestion of small insects. Personally, I consider your posts to be the murder of intelligent discourse. Any of these could, conceivably, be legislated (constitutional challenges aside), and penalties could be assigned to them. Your particular preference does not a law make, any more than the particular preferences of others do.

            Having said that, this article both mentioned a state law prohibiting late-term abortion, and that this doctor was acquitted of having violated that law. Had he been found guilty, he would have been found guilty of a statutory crime that is not a capital offense.

            Try, just try, to preserve some tenuous tether to reality, okay Dory? Then, maybe someday, some form of logic will finally cease to escape you.

          2. …by your extension of logic, any potential murderer must be pre-emptively murdered to prevent future murder.

            This incredible twist of logic is what gives the Pro-Life movement it’s license to murder and conduct other acts of terrorism.

            With this same strain of logic, the Pro-Choice movement now has more than ample cause to start bombing the offices of Operation Rescue. We also need to send out a sniper team on Randall Terry  after all, we need to kill everyone involved in ProLife activities before one of their terrorists kills another person on their hit list.

        2. They oppose hate crimes laws because they want to reserve the right they seem to think they have to assault or kill people because they are gay, black, Jewish, or otherwise regarded as evil due to their differences in opinion or appearance.

          Here we have a crime committed against a Lutheran in a Lutheran church because his Lutheran beliefs support women’s access to abortion. “This church recognizes that there can be sound reasons for ending a pregnancy through induced abortion,” their statement of faith says. And he practiced his life and his profession according to those beliefs.

          This was a crime committed against a Lutheran because of his religious beliefs. He did not believe abortion was murder, and neither does the 5-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and neither does the Episcopal Church, not the United Church of Christ, nor any of the other denominations with which the ELCA stands in “full communion.”

          He was killed not to save a zygote that was in imminent danger, but in a church, in front of a crowd of like-minded people, likely in order to intimidate all of them and make a political statement with violence. If that’s the case, it was a hate crime.

          But this moron wouldn’t get that, because he’s an extremist. So, long answer, but no. They have no conscience.

      2. Or is abortion still a joke to you? Celebrating the murder of a man who never broke a law is disgusting enough, but you clearly don’t even care about the issue that drove some Kansas jackoff nuts.

          1. (referring to your signature line, which can be changed). The moral proscription against abortion to which you subscribe has nothing to do with intelligence or the lack of intelligence. It is a moral judgment. Either of the competing moral judgments involved in this issue, proscribing abortion or proscribing the infringement on a woman’s right to make the choice, can be rationalized, but their rationalization is more of a parlor game than a meaningful exposition. Where intelligence and stupidity come in is in the process of considering the various implications of various policies for various parties and for society as a whole. This involves considering, among other things, where the proscription against murder comes from, what purposes it serves, what competing rights are involved in the issue at hand, when and how rights are created, what consciousness is and what its relevance to the issue at hand is, and what intended and unintended consequences are likely to eminate from what sets of rules.

            I seriously doubt you have given much thought to all of these complex, interwoven dimensions to the issue of abortion. Therefore, maybe “stupid” isn’t the best choice of words for you to be using, lest you draw too much attention to that fact.

            1. Still some of the stupid genes make it in to the gene pool.  Exhibit A:  Steve Harvey.

              But, retroactive abortion is against the law.  Perhaps abortion wasn’t legal when your parents had you.  Too bad.

              1. You can never hide from yourself, at least not forever. The amount of talent and intelligence it takes to call those who disagree with you “stupid” and lament that they weren’t aborted (remarkably, as part of an ongoing tirade against abortion) obviously impresses no other human being, not even those who are staunchly pro-life, being about as classy (though not nearly as difficult) as farting “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” at a cocktail party. I find it hard to believe that it can for long impress even you. And while the rest of us are blessed with the pleasure of not knowing you (and not having often to either smell or hear the refrains of which you are so proud), only enduring you, when we choose to read your posts, as the generator of a small buzz of meaningless static on a public internet forum, you are not so fortunate. You alone among us are burdened with your own constant companionship.

            2. Let’s say you win an argument with a moron.

              You just proved you are smarter than a moron.

              Is that how you want to be remembered?  Why even bother fighting with the fake doctor?  He’s a head case.

              1. or for the sake of winning an argument against him, but rather “for the record,” so to speak. If there’s one thing that is evident from interacting with people broadly enough, it’s that this clown isn’t as atypical as rational people of good will would like. Therefore, he’s representative of some segment of the consumers of public discourse. One tact is to surrender to the unreasonableness of such people, and to ignore them in that spirit. But what is the point of discourse if not to capture those on the cusp, to persuade the persuadable by the force of reason, evidence, and good will, presented in some combination? No, the absurd poster to whom I responded will never be persuaded of anything, but others a bit like him, but not yet quite as insulated from reason and evidence and good will, might be. If not for that hope, there would be no purpose to this forum, or to anything we discuss here, other than to have two parallel sermons delivered to two parallel choirs, with those across the aisle yelling to tone it down. I actually think that the parallel sermons can find a subtle harmony from time to time, and that appealing to reason, evidence, and good will is the means to achieving those rare but precious moments of mutual understanding.

              2. Spoken like a guy who has a blog.

                Spoken like a guy who has a blog that used to have a link with a small time newspaper.

                Spoken like a guy whose link was among dozens of links on a small town newspaper and who for some reason took alot of pride in that.

                Spoken like a guy whose link is gone.  Now the only way to find him is to do massive google searches and finally give up because a tree that falls in a forest with nobody around does not make a sound.

                Ha ha ha ha ……   ha

  8. I don’t post here that much, and I don’t have the same writing ability as many of the great people on this site, but I wanted to let everyone know that I’m going to be leaving the community for a while.

    Here’s the story, but to put it briefly, I was supposed to move to Korea in 7 weeks to begin a teaching job. On Wednesday, I was informed by the Director of this school that I was no longer welcome there, as I am openly gay.

    I am taking some time to decompress and figure out what to do with myself, but I wanted to quickly share what happened. We disagree on this site about the nature of gay rights, equal marriage and the like. I am a gay man and can’t change that. As a result, I have been fired from my upcoming job having uprooted my life to leave the country.

    Homophobia is real and pervasive, and this week it affected me.

    Here’s the link to check out what happened.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/

    I wish you all the best!

    1. but it is evidence once again that life and politics do not operate in mutually exclusive spheres: Real people are hurt, or helped, or left alone, by the policy choices we, collectively, make.

      We are now in a stage in the battle for gay rights in some ways analogous to the early acceleration of the African American civil rights movement, but we don’t have a supreme court that is going to get ahead of the people on this one, as we did in 1954.

      The truth is, Adam, that, as unfair as it may be, history has put you in the position of either accepting an injustice directed against a group to which you belong, or to take a stand and fight against it. And I don’t mean in South Korea.

      There is no moral imperative either way, but maybe, with luck, you’ll find a different career, demanding your attention, closer to home. In any case, I wish you all the best.

    2. .

      I hope you still have the option of taking the job.

      Nobody should have to work in a hostile environment, and you shouldn’t, if you think it will get the best of you.  But if you are strong enough (not that likely at your age, tough even at my age) then I ask you to consider accepting and having a lonely 6 months or so, until folks get to know you.  

      Our household is 1/2 Korean, and totally against gay marriage.  But we also believe people ought to be able to use public accommodations and serve in public jobs without suffering discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  

      Korea is culturally like the US in the 1950’s, in some ways.  I can imagine you going a full year teaching there without one single student confiding to you their homosexuality.  Social pressure against it is something that you can’t now imagine.  But just serving as a model of a normal person who happens to be homosexual could bring unspoken comfort to one or two lost souls who might otherwise take their own lives.  

      I’m proposing a huge sacrifice, and no small amount of pain, and promising zero appreciation in return.  Not very attractive, I know.  

      But Koreans are good people, and some young married couple on the faculty is going to take you in and befriend you, as long as it is crystal clear to everyone else that they aren’t gay.  That may take 6 months to develop.  After that, people will start to treat you like a human being, and you will have paved the way for greater tolerance in the future.

      If being a pioneer was easy, someone else would have already done it.  

      Now you stay in touch, you hear ?

      .

    3. If there’s anything we here can do to help, let us know. And keep up the good fight – it is awful that people have to fight for their civil rights, but those battles are always won over the long haul.

      Civilization is a work in progress.

  9. $94.00 — price of one share of GM, 2000

    $    .75 — price of one share of GM, 2009

    GM is not just any American company. Its bankruptcy should cause us to pause…for at least as long as it takes our barista to brew a grande decaf mocha latte…and wonder how we got on this track and where we imagine we’re going from here–to say nothing of how we’re going to get there. I’ve heard lots of voices proclaim, “well, we can’t return to the past.” Fair enough. We’ve already ploughed through the period when the #1 train stopped at Wall Street. Now what?

    1. They kept making cars out of plastic and metal. What they should have been doing is Flash-based internet driving simulations. Adapt or die, as they say. They and all their workers deserve what they got or are about to get.

      1. GM didn’t realize their business model was broken and they clung to the old ways when other, nimbler car companies sped by them like fledgling mammals.

        Pretty soon, we’ll live in a world where bloggers manufacture cars, trucks, tanks and other modes of transportation. Some will do it in their spare time, others will figure out a system of micropayments that GM simply failed to grasp.

        You say the worst recession of our lifetime hastened the demise of GM? I say I believe what I want to believe: It was the Internet that killed the old broad, and not a moment too soon!

    2. You’ll see a giant difference over the years.

      Take a look at DEC, Compaq, Lotus, Word Perfect, Novell, etc – all companies that stopped evolving, and died (or were bought at fire sale prices).

      1. …is a stretching the point a bit, is it not? But perhaps by doing so, you help make my point, so thanks for that (as often in the past; every straight (wo)man needs a her/his comedian!).

        GM is a symbol* of American industrial might. It was not only the leading car manufacturer in the United States, but also in Europe (Vauxhall [UK], Opel [Germany]–both before WWII–and later, Saab). It supported a vast network of suppliers, dealers, and parts shops. I happen to be somewhat familiar with Lotus in particular, and I assure you, the lives and livlihoods of millions upon millions of Americans did not depend on filling out a 1-2-3 spreadsheet–or any other brand of spreadsheet–to get to work, drive to and from the new exburban house, get to soccer and back to dinner on time, or get the ice cream home before it melted! Some other time we could discuss how Microsoft Office came to dominant the applications market–but that isn’t the point here.

        * Symbol: An object that stands for something else, often something rather larger than the symbol. Religions are filled with symbols. In this case, GM is a convenient symbol of American industrial might, the larger trend towards deindustrialization, and the loss of American pre-eminence not only in the car industry, but in global economic activity in general. Soon to be followed, I have argued, by loss of influence in diplomatic and political affairs.

        Or, as they say elsewhere: GM is bankrupt. Long live the king!

        1. And you are just giddy.  Please try to contain yourself as you describe in your words the decline of Ameria.  The Blame America First crowd has spoken.  Isn’t it ugly?

          Lastly GM was ruined by another American institution.  The Union.

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