Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

[vansmack]

Sorry, I just can't stop giggling with glee...
 
 Ship of Fools
 
 Among the gems:
 
 

 JOHN STUART MILL once dismissed the British Conservative Party as the stupid party. Today the Conservative Party is run by Oxford-educated high-fliers who have been busy reinventing conservatism for a new era. As Lexington sees it, the title of the �??stupid party�?� now belongs to the Tories�?? transatlantic cousins, the Republicans.
 
 Republicanism�??s anti-intellectual turn is devastating for its future.....The party�??s loss of brains leaves it rudderless, without a compelling agenda.
 
 The movement has little to say about today�??s pressing problems, such as global warming and the debacle in Iraq, and expends too much of its energy on xenophobia, homophobia and opposing stem-cell research.
 
 Richard Weaver, one of the founders of modern conservatism, once wrote a book entitled �??Ideas have Consequences�?�; unfortunately, too many Republicans are still refusing to acknowledge that idiocy has consequences, too.

The whole thing really is worth a read, Mr. manimtired.

[godsshoeshine]

that reminds me, i still havent got last weeks issue in the mail  :mad:

[vansmack]

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  that reminds me, i still havent got last weeks issue in the mail   :mad:  

http://www.economist.com/audioedition/

[godsshoeshine]

i keep forgetting about that, thanks
 
 however, i cant stare at evo morales' jacket via audio
  <img src="http://media.economist.com/images/20081108/4508AM2.jpg" alt=" - " />

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Sorry, I just can't stop giggling with glee...
 
 Ship of Fools
 
 The whole thing really is worth a read, Mr. manimtired.

here, let me reply for him: "LOL".
 
 manimtired is symbolic of the reason why any party (including the dems) occasionally feel like they don't need ideas: the base that will vote for them regardless.  i'm hopeful that this election proves that the base isn't enough and ones needs a thought-out platform, but maybe this is just a temporary situation.

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by vansmack:
 
 The movement has little to say about today�??s pressing problems, such as global warming and

what's global warming?

[vansmack]

Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
  what's global warming?

It's 40 years of the Democrat's in power.

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by vansmack:
   

Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
  what's global warming?

It's 40 years of the Democrat's in power. [/b]

yeah, this country already did that. . .i don't think we need to experience that again.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
  yeah, this country already did that. . .i don't think we need to experience that again.

Then I probably wouldn't have pissed away, in such a grand fashion, the 6 years I had if I were a Republican...

[godsshoeshine]

what's idiocy

[vansmack]

As I got all excited to switch back to Netflix today with the unveiling of the new Xbox 360 interface, SONY goes and pees on the party....
 
 NXE Netflix streaming loses Sony's Columbia Pictures movies
 
 Our Netflix streaming queues just got considerably shorter on the eve of the NXE launch. Acting on a tip, we popped into our Netflix account and sure enough, our "Instant Queue" had a new "Notes" column with an oft-repeated, red (nobody likes red!) notice: "Not available on Xbox." Logging onto Xbox Live (with an NXE account) confirmed that these titles were no longer available for streaming on Xbox 360.

[vansmack]

I tried to get a free trial of Netflix yesterday to test out the "Watch Instantly" stuff on the new Xbox 360 addin but they wouldn't let me because I was a previous customer (albeit, over 5 years ago, so remind me to point out the idiocy of that).  Anyhow, so I signed up for the cheapest subscription I could just to check it out.
 
 The selection is crap, but you netflix subscribers probably already knew that.  The quality was alright, but with the ultra-limited selection, I'm not even close to giving up my Blockbuster subscription.

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  I tried to get a free trial of Netflix yesterday to test out the "Watch Instantly" stuff on the new Xbox 360 addin but they wouldn't let me because I was a previous customer (albeit, over 5 years ago, so remind me to point out the idiocy of that).  Anyhow, so I signed up for the cheapest subscription I could just to check it out.
 
 The selection is crap, but you netflix subscribers probably already knew that.  The quality was alright, but with the ultra-limited selection, I'm not even close to giving up my Blockbuster subscription.

10 of the items in my queue of 40 items were available, maybe that says more about me, but I think thats pretty decent selection.

[vansmack]

That would have worked for me, but even with Smackette's learned tastes which far out pace my pop culture tastes, we had one on our current queue of around 30.

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  I tried to get a free trial of Netflix yesterday to test out the "Watch Instantly" stuff on the new Xbox 360 addin but they wouldn't let me because I was a previous customer (albeit, over 5 years ago, so remind me to point out the idiocy of that).  Anyhow, so I signed up for the cheapest subscription I could just to check it out.
 

btw, the new xbox experience was thoroughly bewildering to me. . .at least they had a polo shirt for my avatar.