An email I received this morning:
It was once said that a black man would be president “when pigs fly”! Indeed. 100 days into Obama’s presidency…Swine Flu!
Where I'm likely to ramble on most anything.
An email I received this morning:
It was once said that a black man would be president “when pigs fly”! Indeed. 100 days into Obama’s presidency…Swine Flu!
Marshal Art's 
Good joke! Swine has been flying for approx. 100 days, freely and without question in many circles. (personally I love to bird hunt – some of the most challenging hunting around, and I love pork, so the specter of flying hogs seems to trigger a kind of Pavlov response!)You can be assured that Dan is actively composing a scathing response. Let me just say in advance :”lighten up snapper-head”
ha.. ha.. Ha-larious! Jokes at the expense of dead people. And we all wonder why nobody likes you.
Oh Blamin! You were so close! Instead of Dan, who I personally didn’t expect to comment, we get this new visitor with the false outrage. BTW, welcome GT. Always enjoy meeting new people.As to your comment, the joke’s got nothing whatever to do with dead people. It does not in anyway reference anyone who died of the disease. Do you mean to say that the mere mention of the disease is somehow insensitive?”And we all wonder why nobody likes you.”Who’s “we” by the way? You and the frog in your pocket? Sure, there are a few liberal visitors that might not like me, but that’s generally because they lack understanding and get frustrated when their lame arguments fail so easily here. But actually, lots of people like me. In fact, many even love me. That’s because I’m such a loving and caring human being. You should try that sometime. It works great.Come back soon, now, ya hear?
I like you Marshall.
Thank you, Marty. Right back at ya.See, GT? Marty’s doesn’t even agree with me most of the time.
Marshall:I’m black!**** Good joke!I like you!GodspeedRespectfully,Joseph**** Race only referred to because if someone takes you to task for a joke with swine flu as part of the punch line, it won’t be long before they accuse you also of racial insensitivity!
For the record, I like both Art and his weak arguments.Bulls suck.
I’ve seen that joke in my e-mail, too. Don’t blame Art. He didn’t compose it. But it’s still funny.
Thank you, Joseph. Joseph is a man who I believe doesn’t even have a race card in his deck. Always good to hear from you, Joseph.
Les,Thanks to you as well. Les is one of my favorite lefties. Doesn’t take himself too seriously, especially when he can’t overcome my weak arguments. He also wishes the Bucks sucked as much as the Bulls do.
You’re too kind, Art. That’s one of the biggest reasons you’re one of MY favorite righties, even though you’ve failed to win an argument in five years.
It’s an offensive joke.Shame on you.
Now Les,By what measure do you say I’ve failed to win an argument in five years? From what I can tell, you can say that I haven’t won any perhaps, as long as you acknowledge that I haven’t lost any either. I see only two ways to determine a win:1) One side concedes the point being made by the other thereby making the other the winner.2) One side quits the argument while the other stands ready to continue making it a win for the latter by default at least.a possible 3rd) Absolutely no one, including those who are normally compatriots, agrees with one’s argument in any way, shape or form. A loss at least.Well, by my tally, calculated by my vast staff of researchers, numbers 1 and 3 have never happened. Number 2 happens a lot. Therefor, I can claim victories by default, if not otherwise. Not good enough for me, but it’ll have to do for now. In fact, I feel compelled to do a little happy dance right now.
Rich,Welcome to my humble blog.To whom would you say the joke is offensive and why? I don’t see how it offends the victims of the illness or their survivors. In fact, such levity might actually be welcomed by those people. I don’t see it being offensive to blacks, and one of them (Joseph) checked in to say he enjoyed the joke. I can’t speak for the thickness of a pig’s skin, but I don’t see how any them would be offended. I don’t even see how Barry Obumble would be offended. The fact of the matter is, that despite the fact that good jokes can offend someone if that someone is overly sensitive, this type of joke is merely a play on words and the humor, such as it is, is derived from that, not through offending anyone. What’s more, I’m sure you realize that having to explain a joke sucks whatever humor, joy or fun might exist in the telling and experiencing of the joke, so thank you very much for that.Coincidentally, I checked your blog and your most recent post shows you being offended. Are you easily offended? Mine might be the blog for you. I welcome your comments any time you feel so compelled. I think your “moderate” perspective would bring a different slant to things here.One more thing. Should you find a way to explain why I should be ashamed for anything, I assure you I will likely be.
Some people have no sense of humor. I had a chuckle or two.Actually that joke was quite mild compared to some I’ve seen regarding W.
“From what I can tell, you can say that I haven’t won any perhaps, as long as you acknowledge that I haven’t lost any either.”And that’s the point of the blogosphere, isn’t it? In fact, I’d say that’s the point of political debate as a whole. Which is why your #2 option often happens.
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Sorry, MA, that was wrong of me.
And I thank you, Feodor, for acknowledging that and acting accordingly.
“And that’s the point of the blogosphere, isn’t it?”Perhaps, but not the point of this blog>. As I've often stated, my hope is to persuade or be persuaded. When option 2 occurs (I almost said "number" 2), it's because of pride and the discomfort associated with conceding. If I've been wrong in those situations, it would be ME who leaves, rhetorically speaking. There's one guy who visits who simply ignores the point and moves on. I don't think I've walked away yet.
Wow Marshall!, that’s a pretty noble aspiration, to persuade or to be persuaded!I would venture to guess that most of your regular posters aspire to the same. (At least those that aren’t “hit and run” bomb throwers)Personally, I feel the same way. I spend a tremendous amount of time researching, and actively searching out views that are contrary to my “gut feelings”. I just haven’t found much to change my views. I constantly question my assumptions and play the “what if”, game.And because I constantly question, I find myself returning back to this blog to sample your “antagonist”. I can truthfully say that there’s precious little that changes my mind, Mostly I see a rehash of sound-bite liberal policies that have been debated adnauseam, but every now and again, thanks to posters like Les, something is bought out that makes me “dig a little deeper”.Granted, I truly believe the conservative philosophy is, by far, the only way to proceed in our society, if we are to save any semblance of what’s made our county great.George Will cautioned against what he called the “excesses of capitalism”. I commend him for being honest.Is their anyone from the left, anybody at all, that’s warning against the excesses of liberalism?
Good points, Blamin.Some have said they don’t care if they change anyone’s mind. I don’t know why they bother presenting their opinions.Les is one of the few that comes the closest to bringing something new to consider, which is why he’s my favorite lib. But for the others, I just wish they wouldn’t act as if right-wingers don’t do their due diligence. In my case, most of their arguments are what compel me to research at all. Typically, I find enough to show their position to be very shakey.As to your last question, none that I’ve ever heard.
“…it’s because of pride and the discomfort associated with conceding.”While that may be true for some, I don’t think that’s the general rule – at least with you and I. We’ve simply reached an impasse on most of the issues we’ve quarreled about over the years, and I’m not sure the smoking gun evidence we would need to convince the other of our respective cases is out there. (Except, of course, the fact that Milwaukee is cooler than Chicago. That’s a no-brainer.) I guess we just don’t see the existing data the same way. Therefore, many of our arguments almost take the form of merely arguing not to lose, which accomplishes nothing. Hence my earlier comment.
Well, I didn’t see that I was ever losing, but I’ll concede the point. What I won’t concede is that Milwaukee thing. The only thing Milwaukee has over Chicago is that it ain’t located in Illinois. Oh! and it didn’t spawn our loser-in-chief. Damn. I love Milwaukee.
“Well, I didn’t see…”Obviously.
I haven’t checked the average temperatures year round of Milwaukee and Chicago, but knowing Wisconsin is north of Illinois, I’d say Milwaukee is cooler than Chicago, if you don’t count wind chill.
Les,It might be obvious that I didn’t see, but that’s because there was no obvious indication that I ever lost.