Itinerant Air-Cooled

That makes December 20th the last time anyone posted here?

I read the news each day utterly agog at what is happening, and I wonder what my fellow American VW hobbyists are even thinking of the situation in Washington. I wonder what I am thinking, too.

( ) Is it apathy?
( ) Is it shell-shock?
( ) Is it serene satisfaction?

I don't yet want to get all exercised, but I am curious what people here think of the current state of government in these here United States of America?
Colin SOTU tonight

I'm just waiting for the day when this treasonous group of criminals is finally removed so we can start picking up the pieces. I've got rough plans and diagrams for a guillotine that I'm fine-tuning...

tristessa wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 30, 2018 3:16 pm

I'm just waiting for the day when this treasonous group of criminals is finally removed so we can start picking up the pieces. I've got rough plans and diagrams for a guillotine that I'm fine-tuning...

Excellent! I have a pickle fork. I'll be sharpening it. I have a triage list similar to those I ask of my customers (from most-important to least-important).
So yeah, my Pickle Fork List goes from most egregious CEO who needs a street lesson to least egregious CEO who needs a street lesson.
Colin

( p.s.
( - ) Is it apathy?
( x ) Is it shell-shock?
( - ) Is it serene satisfaction? )

Anybody see the SOTU? I missed it. I did briefly see Joe Kennedy's Democratic "rebuttal", and though his words were acceptable, his delivery seemed tortured with fake cadences. Maybe it's just me.
Colin

I have a few hours carved out tonight to watch it… If it's anything like the debates, I won't be able to stomach the syntax enough to finish. I was watching a Trump speech in a taco shop with Emma and Sven last year, and the topic of translation came up. We know the rest of the world is laughing at the USA for his antics BUT when he is translated, let's say into Spanish at the taco shop in Newhall, do the translators keep his ridiculous syntax, grammar, and cadence? I don't think it's possible to completely understand our national situation if the translation services translate his message rather than his speech.

To answer your question, I don't want to watch at all now because the process disgusts me and life is too short to worry too much.
Robbie

I almost always watch the State of the Union. Have done so since the mid-60s. Even Nixon's. Great theater.
This one was baaaad. The attempt at "working together" sliding quickly into "immigrants are rapists and murderers" and many mentions of MS-13. Have you seen pictures of those North Korean Generals that smile and clap wildly at anything that Kim says? That was Mike Pence.

Amskeptic wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:07 pm

tristessa wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 30, 2018 3:16 pm

I'm just waiting for the day when this treasonous group of criminals is finally removed so we can start picking up the pieces. I've got rough plans and diagrams for a guillotine that I'm fine-tuning...

Excellent! I have a pickle fork. I'll be sharpening it. I have a triage list similar to those I ask of my customers (from most-important to least-important).
So yeah, my Pickle Fork List goes from most egregious CEO who needs a street lesson to least egregious CEO who needs a street lesson.
Colin

( p.s.
( - ) Is it apathy?
( x ) Is it shell-shock?
( - ) Is it serene satisfaction? )

This provides a hint.

Not so much apathy, rather resignation that as fun as it is to spar and poke the monkey, the ability to actually change a mind or even get someone to appreciate another frame of reference is limited. What I see here is hate. Hate is not logical, so it is impervious to logical arguments.

It's more shell shock.

What perturbs me more is that the Republicans have no appetite to rein him in. I'm keeping my head down until the mid term elections this year. I will be definitely going to the polls.

I used to enjoy healthy political debates, now I completely avoid them. Why? there used to be an agreement on what a 'fact' was, on what 'reality' is. People now cling to their bizzaro, tinted lens of reality and truth....this is on both sides of the political spectrum. So really, what's the point? As Hammy once said, it's like arguing with a pretzel.

colin, i think we done run off any folks that may pose an alternative view.
Yes im mad, frustrated and get tense opening up the internets every morning.
But we need to keep believing that alot of good people are out there. and we just need to keep being good people and not get consumed by this 24/7 reality show.

TrollFromDownBelow wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 01, 2018 5:47 pm

I used to enjoy healthy political debates, now I completely avoid them. Why? there used to be an agreement on what a 'fact' was, on what 'reality' is.

Yes!

This is a big one for me. I didn't even realize how strongly I thought like that until I read that post. Thanks, Troll. :)
Robbie

I, too, have veered away from political discussions here. Occasionally I have jumped in, but I don't want to lose the remaining six participants. I was shocked to discover that some people cranked up a real emotional knot that damaged the bonds of friendship here in Free Speech over the years. I took it deeply personally when we lost Hippie, vdubyah73, turk and other people I had actually worked with on their cars.

In retrospect, I should not have taken it personally.

So now, I have a new problem. I love this country. I see an attack against its institutions by what I have determined to be "self-interested" people. I see armies of foot soldiers who mirror and mimic the party line on news blogs. I can tell when there is no original thought in their hot insulting replies.

I tried to respond with logic, fact, rationality. Didn't work.

I then tried to shut them down with less logic, fewer facts, pithy rational arguments, and added witheringly scornful attacks against their feeble arguments or scathing critiques of their witless stupidity, and especially their obvious obliviousness to the definitions of true patriotism. I wanted to see what alpha behavior might do for the fence-sitters. I discovered that there is a boundary where I get lumped in as being just another nasty troll, but if I stay just under that line, I got more positive feedback.

As of right now, I am committed to resuscitating my participation in public discourse. I am prepared and informed. If my interlocutor should make the error of critiquing my delivery rather than my facts, I will steer it back to the issue we are engaged in. If my moral foundation or manners comes under attack, I point out that the current occupant of the White House has lowered the bar to just above free-for-all, and let's get back to the issue, shall we?

I have an ace in the hole here. I love my country and I am informed, and my platform is one of inclusion, acceptance, robust consideration of the facts, a review of historical context, and a refusal to be lied to, to be gas-lighted, to be distracted. The lattice work of my convictions and principles I will lightly state as in accordance with the teachings of Christ Himself. It is personal, and it does not come up as a bludgeon in conversation, it is my guide. If you are engaged in a discussion/debate, having facts on your side really helps, so does a quiet heart-felt commitment to truth, so does a deep love of your fellow humans.

My current opinion of this country is that we are better than this, and we can stop the devolution by voting the republicans out of the House and Senate in sufficient numbers that they lose their majorities in both. I do not think removing Trump from office before his term is up is important IF he loses majorities. He is transactional, not principled.

I am desperately afraid of two forces rending this country as we write/read here:

1) the influence is money has reached ever higher levels, and I do not think anyone can suggest that the Koch brothers' promise to dump $400,000,000.00 into the mid-term elections is a good thing. I ask my fellow patriots to not be swayed by sneering attack ads pleasepleaseplease. Please do not let the Koch brothers succeed at this.

2) I am desperately sad that our political and personal discourse is losing so much heart. I no longer hear deep conviction or heartfelt principles or inspiring promise. Much of our discourse has been damaged by the influence of dark money backers that make politicians sound weird and wooden (or "impassioned-but-what-for?" as they try to ride two horses at the same time. That then offends the listener. Many of us listeners are so demoralized by being blanketed by platitudes and lied to in such banal ways, that we have to turn away just to save our sanity.

Fine! But I beseech everybody here to at least do the one thing you have been granted the power to do. Vote. No excuses. November 6th, 2018.


When I have my long-ranging conversations with people all across the country, I necessarily go from personal to political to philosophical in that order. I need to know the people I interact with. It is the key first step, to invest in another person's beingness, before pulling out their hopes and tying them to the current political situation that has bearing on their future and their children's futures. I see (especially younger) people that I communicate with lose interest or get distracted ever quicker. We cannot find a broad consensus if we are so short on time that we only plug in briefly with members of our own tribes, and only memorize the talking points of our own news sources.

The loss of "face time" is only exacerbated by our new reliance on social media and phones. I knew I hated little phone screens . . .

I love my country! I have met too many people! My heart breaks for so many of us!

I am furious with the feckless politicians in Washington who do not represent us and who do not uphold the Constitutional requirement to look out for us! The people! The list of legislative denials of the Will of the People is growing longer every day. Meanwhile, the humid sticky dark ties between the plutocrats and OUR representatives is getting only stronger. It is up to us to utilize and realize our last best hope to turn this around. Vote November 2018.
Colin

(p.s. I know fully half of you are Trump supporters. Feel free to defend him and school me)

Personally I love seeing the American Dream being exposed for what it is, a fucking lottery to keep you slaves paddling the boat. So sad.

Spezialist wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:49 pm

Personally I love seeing the American Dream being exposed for what it is, a fucking lottery to keep you slaves paddling the boat. So sad.

And what are you going to do to help save the country? Just stand to the side and lob bitter insults to us unwashed "slaves"?
What are you going to do to express your love of this country, or is love something you are not acquainted with?
What are you doing to help your fellow human beings chart their personal paths in the service of contributing to the betterment of us all?
I have no patience for sardonic bitter self-annointed seers.
Colin

Well, I was impressed with the student turnout for the March yesterday. Maybe there is hope for the fall elections that the Dems can take back the House and Senate and impeach the Motherfucker.

Bleyseng wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 25, 2018 5:51 am

Well, I was impressed with the student turnout for the March yesterday. Maybe there is hope for the fall elections that the Dems can take back the House and Senate and impeach the Motherfucker.

I was impressed with those students as well. I am not at all impressed with the hateful bitter conservative alt-right lunatics who photo-shopped Emma Gonzales "ripping up the Constitution", then spread it virally.

The problem with despicable people is that they exist.
Colin