As one of the “conservatards” I would like you to get my title right. Not “righttard”, “conservatard” and one who voted for the fascist state.

The first of them telling some guy how they (and I’m paraphrasing here) should shut the hell up because it’s this dude’s blog and he can write whatever he wants. Notwithstanding the fact that this blogger allows comments.

And then the bigots show up calling people “Righttards” (sp?) and some other weird crap because they apparently don’t have anything rational to say.

As bizarre as all of that was, I just figured this guy had a few lunatic fringe readers that were incapable of having a rational discussion, but then he starts posting a defense of not only the weird connection he made between the success of the iPod and the Iraq war, but of the censors and bigots railing on the people who commented on the bizarreness of the supposed connection.

All of which really brings into question the insight and logic of the entire article. Up until that last comment, I thought I was actually reading an insightful analysis of life at Apple. Now I have to question every statement made in the entire posting. How sad…

Well I was quite ready to drop this thread after nat’s last response to me as it was pretty clear my posts were not being read very carefully, if hardly at all. In an attempt to bolster thgd’s sometimes bizarre assertions (I addressed this in a post #35), he claimed: I said Daniels views were “third-rate” and “invalid” (I never did); pigeonholed views as “right” and “wrong” (I didn’t); and was trying to boost my ego by making personal attacks (what personal attacks?!). I was hoping someone could explain that post to me but the discussion seemed already lost. Again, please see my post #35 to see where I was trying to go with this.

Obviously, some have simply decided to bundle me in with a few others and run with it.

So, airmanchairman, I’m more conformist and ill reasoned! Given some of vitriol and eye-popping theories floating in this thread, that’s tough talk indeed. I would love to hear more.

And please, if you could, unlike thgd and nat (and perhaps others), stay on-topic and confine your comment to things I actually wrote. That would be helpful.

And a great 2008 to Apple, which makes great products and tries to bring true innovation to all of the areas in which it operates.

And a great 2008 to Daniel, who sponsors this forum, and produces the best analysis of where Apple is and where its going.

I do not think that you are a bad person and that is not my intent to say so. I just strongly disagree with many of your statements and try to counter them without degenerating down to left or right wing name calling (I’m not alway successful).

[Why, are you a shareholder in right wing paramilitary groups operating above the law? Are you a murder advocate? ]

No, not a shareholder. There are legal issue about private security firm and the use of deadly force acting as agents of the US. The main reason for the use of these security firms is there are not enough troops to do all the security jobs. But if you must know, I do know people who have served in Iraq who know people who work for these security firms. I have heard them talk about the stress and fears while in Iraq. Knowing that they may have to make split second decisions which could result in either their comrades death or their own death or possibly the death of innocent civilians. And, if they do make the wrong decision and kill civilians, its something that will haunt many of them for the rest of their lives and they know that a lot of people back home are ready to hang them for it. Its very difficult for these men since many terrorist dress as civilians, hide among civilians and use the civilians as a tool for their terror. I will not condemn all these men as a whole for any atrocities that a few may have committed, if any. So you tell me, am I a murder advocate?

[What chance do Iraqi people have now that they can’t do business, educate their kids, and push for reform? Bush gave them one choice: cower and die or join a fanatical rebellion and try to push us out. America doesn’t offer Iraq anything. Look what we’ve done to other countries, like Vietnam or the Philippines or Cuba or Iran or Nicaragua: we set up bad dictators that resulted in worse conditions for people, not better, and commonly that drove them into desperate revolutions. The US isn’t on the verge of turning Iraq into another Texas suburb.]

They have a chance and its up to them, all we can do is help. They can’t do business because of the radicals has moved in and terrorized the citizens. For a change, in regards to Iraq, the administration is not following the same old formula used by Europe and past US administrations of supporting dictatorships. We are not supporting another Saddam or Shah of Iran. We are trying to set up an elected government which most westerners enjoy, which is shared by Sunni, Shia and Kurds. This is a very difficult thing to do especially when most of the world stands by and does nothing, Iran and Syria try to undermine it, and al-Qaida make Iraq its central campaign. We are trying to protect the citizens not murder them. That is the key to the “Surge” strategy, not the 30,000 troops. Its not US military that are killing the citizens, (yes, I acknowledge that civilians have died as a result of US action) its the terrorist and insurgents which bomb the markets, kill the local leaders, and murder the citizens. Thats why the citizens of Anbar are working with the US to retake their communities back from these radicals. Thats why Anbar citizens are fighting al-Qaida and local clerics have forbidden anti-american literature posted on their Mosques. They want to, as you said, do business, educate their kids, and live and prosper, and not live under a dictatorship that is supported by the US and Europe. They want help and only a few are willing. A question one should ask themselves is what happens if this were to succeeded.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Sara Jane Moore, who took a shot at President Ford in a 1975 assassination attempt, was released from prison Monday. Moore, 77, had served about 30 years of a life sentence when she was released from the federal prison in Dublin, east of San Francisco, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said.
She was 40 feet away from Ford outside a hotel in San Francisco when she fired a shot at him on Sept. 22, 1975. As she raised her .38- caliber revolver and pulled the trigger, Oliver Sipple, a disabled former Marine standing next to her, pushed up her arm. The bullet flew over Ford’s head by several feet.

In recent interviews, Moore said she regretted her actions, saying she was blinded by her radical political views.

“I am very glad I did not succeed. I know now that I was wrong to try,” Moore said a year ago in an interview with KGO-TV.

Just 17 days before Moore’s attempt, Ford survived an attempt on his life in Sacramento by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson.

Moore said that she was convinced at the time that the government had declared war on the left.

“I was functioning, I think, purely on adrenaline and not thinking clearly. I have often said that I had put blinders on and I was only listening to what I wanted to hear,” she told KGO.

Moore’s confusing background—which included five failed marriages, name changes and involvement with political groups like the Symbionese Liberation Army—baffled the public and even her own defense attorney during her trial.

Should democracy succeed in Iraq, which is clearly an open question, and should it help shape other countries in the region, then how will this war be viewed? The entire region to this point has been led by corrupt monarchs and brutal dictators who support terror when it coincides with their interests (see Hezbollah and Iran). Given that we are in the middle of this conflict, I think it would be good if we all least held out that wish, that the result would be good. Would you have supported Lincoln in his impossible dream halfway through the Civil War, with 300,000 still to die? Would you have been a voice for beating slavery, or would you have said let’s let slavery continue because that is the price of peace?

Of course the Byrds made clear war is a part of the plan, words adapted from the Bible -Ecclesiastes.

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

Hello, Basil Fawlty here.

“Don’t mention the war, I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it”