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Thread: Evidence We're in a Third--or Fourth--Turning - Page 172







Post#4276 at 10-28-2002 04:05 AM by HopefulCynic68 [at joined Sep 2001 #posts 9,412]
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Evidence (IMO) for 3T:

One of the major national newsweeklies this week had three headlines on the front cover.

In small letters at the top of the page, there was a headlines about North Korean nukes. Beside it, in equally modest type, was a headline about how Al-Quada is making still alive and kicking.

The BIG headline?

Kurt Cobain, his diaries and his life. Full splash page, definitely the lead story.

Come on, folks!







Post#4277 at 10-28-2002 04:24 AM by Glass Joe [at la France joined Sep 2002 #posts 135]
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Quote Originally Posted by HopefulCynic68
Quote Originally Posted by Glass Joe
How Bush Lost Florida But Won In The Supreme Court And The Media
Not again!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

by jerry politex, www.bushwatch.com

Ever since Bush was selected by the Supreme Court by a vote of 5-4 to take over the U.S. presidency, the Dems have said that a fair and thorough recounting of the Florida vote would prove that Gore won. While the jury is still out on whether the reported Consortium recount, published late Sunday November 11, was fair and thorough, let's assume that it was. What does it tell us? It tells us that Gore won the Florida electoral vote, the U.S. Supreme Court took the presidency away from him, and the media is wrong in reporting otherwise. Here's how Bush lost Florida.

First, it is an established fact that Gore beat Bush in the national popular vote by over a half million votes. (*)
WRONG. It is NOT established that Gore beat Bush even in the national popular vote. Folks, evidently I'm going to have to go through this again, since they just keep running out this nonsense.

The Gore national-popular victory was by less than one million votes nationally, well less. That is within what is called the statistical margin of error for the count process. What that means is Gore might actually have won by twice as many votes as he was credited nationally. It's equally likely that he actually LOST to Bush nationally. The margin was so narrow that for all practical and realistic purposes it was a TIE. Anyone who tells you that Gore's national popular win is certain, or established, is either lying or doesn't understand that he's talking about.
Granted (although if the margin of error is equally likely to go either way it is more likely, statistically speaking, that Gore won the popular vote; it just is more like 70% likely rather than 99.7%)


Secondly, Consortium interpretations of the voting data conclude that thousands more people voted for Gore in Florida than Bush. The problem for Gore is that many more votes in his favor were declared invalid than similar votes for Bush. Third, discounting such invalid votes, Consortium interpretations conclude that Gore still beat Bush statewide in Florida by a thin margin of under 200 votes. Which brings us back to the Supreme Court decision.
A vote for Buchanan, whether or not it was intended to be for Gore, is not a vote for Gore. Likewise, a double-vote, regardless of intention, is not a vote at all. That isn't a scam or con, it's the way things are. In the final analysis, it is the responsibility of the voter to vote the way they intend to, or to ask for help if they don't understand the ballot.
That addresses the first two points but not the third


In its Dec. 12 decision the Supreme Court indicated that its conclusions were based upon equal protection law, and decided that in order to have equal voter protection in Florida the entire state should be recounted. However, even though there were weeks left for such a recount prior to the formal reception of the states' electoral college votes in Congress, the court decided that there wasn't enough time for such a recount, so five of nine members of the court decided, along party lines, to select Bush as the winner in Florida.
WRONG. What this doesn't mention is that there are built in legal deadlines that have to be met. Also, there were TWO SCOTUS decisions, both occasioned by the illegal actions of the Florida Supreme Court, which was packed with Democrats and trying to give the election to Gore by whatever means they could find.

Note, too, that in the case of the second Florida Supreme Court decision, even the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court balked at the bizarre logic of the decision.
Every site I saw said that the real legal deadline was 1/6 (12/12 was just something the Florida Supreme Court said they would like to be done by before the SCOTUS stepped in)



The Consortium data indicates that they were wrong to think that Bush had won the popular vote in Florida.
No, Bush won the popular vote, since the decision to invalidate those so-called Gore votes was the CORRECT one, legally.
Even assuming that, we still have "Third, discounting such invalid votes, Consortium interpretations conclude that Gore still beat Bush statewide in Florida by a thin margin of under 200 votes. Which brings us back to the Supreme Court decision." (i.e. even undergoing the "correct" decision, Gore still won the popular vote)


Strangely, not one media member of the Consortium has reached the conclusion that if the Supreme Court had not selected Bush, Gore would have won the election by a Florida recount. Instead, in every instance of Consortium reporting, the big headlines say the data shows Bush won with more "valid votes," that he won because of the partial recount mandated by the Florida Supreme Court, or that he won because he would have had more votes than Gore under Gore's recount request. Buried in some of the stories are the six ways that Gore could have won. However, all of these suppositions are moot.
There were NO legal ways Gore could have won. Unless Gore could demonstrate a clear popular vote win in Florida, meaning undebatable, unscrewed up votes for him, not Buchanan, Nader, or anyone else, then all roads led to Bush, even if the Supreme Court of the U.S. did nothing.

Unless, of course, Gore could have turned the Bush electors, which they were debating making the attempt at. The legality of that would be debatable either way, and it's the ONLY way Gore could have won short of that undebated majority of the Florida popular vote, which he simply could not produce.

Remember, the Florida Legislature was already getting ready to overturn any pro-Gore decision that he might manage to sleaze out of it, on the grounds that he was trying to steal the election, and they had the power to do it under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
And North Carolina (democrats controlled the people who would choose the electors - is it the governors or state legislators? I forgot) was considering appointing a slate of Democratic electors in response...


The unvarnished fact is that the U.S. Supreme Court had the final say on the election, not the Consortium voting data, and, left with the choice of giving the election back to the people of Florida through a statewide recount or selecting Bush, they selected Bush.
That's not just incorrect, it's a bald-faced lie.
I'm pretty sure they genuinely believed what they were saying, and I don't see what's particularly wrong about it (consider the example of a basketball game with a 1 point differential; the losing team has the ball with 5 seconds left when the ref rules the game to be over)

That's what makes the New York Times headline for the Consortium story particularly egregious: "Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast The Deciding Vote." While the headline represents a badly needed attempt to restore credibility to the U.S. Supreme Court, it fails on the facts and it fails because the media cannot do what the Court, itself, has failed to do since its politicized decision in the case of Bush vs. Gore.
It was the Florida Supreme Court, and Gore himself, who turned the aftermath of the election into a circus, there is no legitimate debate abotu that. As for 'politicizing' it, it's inherently political, it's an ELECTION!

Sorry, Joe, but your article has it wrong on essentially every point.
I agree that Gore took a part, but Bush (and his legal team) definitely helped here...

and I may admit my article made a few mistakes but it still made the key point I was trying to show (the sentence beginning "Thirdly...")







Post#4278 at 10-28-2002 04:24 AM by Glass Joe [at la France joined Sep 2002 #posts 135]
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Quote Originally Posted by HopefulCynic68
Evidence (IMO) for 3T:

One of the major national newsweeklies this week had three headlines on the front cover.

In small letters at the top of the page, there was a headlines about North Korean nukes. Beside it, in equally modest type, was a headline about how Al-Quada is making still alive and kicking.

The BIG headline?

Kurt Cobain, his diaries and his life. Full splash page, definitely the lead story.

Come on, folks!
This sounds VERY 3T to me as well...







Post#4279 at 10-28-2002 08:25 AM by Stonewall Patton [at joined Sep 2001 #posts 3,857]
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Re: Odors of politics

Quote Originally Posted by madscientist
Quote Originally Posted by buzzard44
Senator Wellstone and family killed in a plane crash eleven days before an important election... Democrat... Liberal... Voted against the resolution on Iraq... Outspoken...

Something smells here.
This is not lost on anyone here in Missouri, who lost Mel Carnahan in a plane crash just three weeks before the 2000 elections. I'd be lying if I said that I had no suspicions.

In case anybody has heard references to the supposed prediction of the Wellstone crash, but has not actually seen it, this is it below. It sounds pretty darn goofy but it is interesting that he mentions both anthrax letters to senators and a "Mel Carnahan-style plane crash" a full six months before 911 even. Who knows?


http://www.voxnyc.com/archives/senat...ssination.html

(For educ. and discussion)



Democratic Senator to be Assassinated Soon.
Assassination teams actively preparing hit


May 25th 2001 - by Voxfux


Within months, one of a selected group of democratic Senators, likely from a state with a Republican Governor, will meet an untimely death. The death will appear to be either a plane ?accident? or by ?natural causes,? - Whichever is most easily accomplished. The reality will in fact be that the Senator was one of a group of several Senators (Narrowed down into a group of ?Selects?) targeted for assassination and was the one who was in the right place at the right time for the most convenient and clean "hit.?

You will see, within in the coming months, for absolutely certainty, the untimely death of at least one Democratic Senator, to "rebalance the scale". The private covert intelligence groups behind George Bush Sr. are extraordinarily well funded with petrochemical billions. They are deadly, work completely autonomously, in a terrorist formation identical to a terrorist organization, and are absolutely religiously dedicated to accomplishing their objectives. They will not rest until the Senate is under the control once again of the darkest force ever to seize control of the American Empire - The clandestine industrial / military / intelligence triad who is currently represented by George Bush Jr.

Few have the ability to comprehend the machinations of this dark force. It is beyond the scope of our ?Journalists.? And only a few intellectuals still remain who will even dare to approach this grim reality. But is a reality. This triad will employ cells of ex-military/CIA "cutouts" whose mission will be to carefully eliminate one of a selected group of Democratic Senators. Once, one of the senators is eliminated the mission is complete, the tracks get covered, the evidence quickly cleaned up and the history books will once again inscribe a lie for all of posterity to suck on. And we will never know the true nature of our world and especially the dark force which now controls the world and the writing of those history books.

The mission is already underway and several "candidates" are being evaluated for extermination. The method of elimination is also being evaluated and will be narrowed down to one of several choices. One being a carefully planned "plane crash." Another is through the delivery of certain biological agents to the Senator.

If the mode of assassination is to be "Natural" causes - then the cause of death will almost certainly be by chemical or biological agent delivered to the senator by this private covert intelligence group. If the Senator dies of a sudden respiratory illness it will most assuredly be an Anthrax hit - From a strain of Anthrax manufactured before 1977 (When Bush was ousted as CIA Chief). As always careful attention will be paid to limiting inquiry into any autopsy or coroner investigations. If the premature death event, occurs prior to the next Senatorial midterm elections, and is of "natural causes" the Senate must urgently resolve to conduct multiple and independent examinations into the ACTUAL cause of death, likely to be an anthrax or other chemical or biological agent - NOT NATURAL CAUSES.

If the death occurs just prior to the midterm senatorial elections, expect it to be in a state with a close race. Expect a ?Mel Carnahan? style hit.

If it is a plane crash, the Senate must resolve to assure that Bush administration officials are NOT in complete charge of the investigation. There must be an independent investigative team and evidence of the crash must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the intelligence services.

The mission to eliminate one or more of these Senators is assuredly underway this very moment. It is now the single most critical mission of the current Bush administration.

Cells will originate in Florida and Texas. Where such operations may operate freely and with the complete protection of those respective state governments. I suspect there are many cells forming regarding this mission. Once, any one of the Senators is hit, the mission is terminated and there will be NO evidence or any possibility to any serious inquiry. They will control the coroner and or the crash site, take possession of the body or wreckage (In the name of ?National Security.") The team making the successful hit will then either move up to the next level but more likely than not they themselves will meet an untimely death.







Post#4280 at 10-28-2002 08:36 AM by Stonewall Patton [at joined Sep 2001 #posts 3,857]
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Quote Originally Posted by HopefulCynic68
Evidence (IMO) for 3T:

One of the major national newsweeklies this week had three headlines on the front cover.

In small letters at the top of the page, there was a headlines about North Korean nukes. Beside it, in equally modest type, was a headline about how Al-Quada is making still alive and kicking.

The BIG headline?

Kurt Cobain, his diaries and his life. Full splash page, definitely the lead story.

Come on, folks!

Here is a detailed and interesting treatment of 4T fascism:


October 26, 2002

Is America Becoming Fascist?

by ANIS SHIVANI

http://www.counterpunch.org/shivani1026.html







Post#4281 at 10-28-2002 09:13 AM by Virgil K. Saari [at '49er, north of the Mesabi Mountains joined Jun 2001 #posts 7,835]
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Re: DEMOCRATS STUCK IN THE PAST

Quote Originally Posted by Marc Lamb

This tells me that Democrat party is not the party with any new ideas, but one inexorably stuck in the past. :wink:
This was the line from the head of the Minnesota GOP...Mondale is stuck in the past. Isn't that being CONSERVATIVE in a sense; being stuck in the past? Mondale is another Progressive, but at least more mature than the Progressive Mr. Coleman. I'm still voting for Mr. Moore, an evil banker, on the Independence line.







Post#4282 at 10-28-2002 09:21 AM by Virgil K. Saari [at '49er, north of the Mesabi Mountains joined Jun 2001 #posts 7,835]
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Quote Originally Posted by cbailey
And if something WERE fishy regarding this tragedy ( and it sounds like even the Minnesota election itself has potential) this could be a catalyst.

Most Americans ridicule the idea that political conspiracy could exist. I've always thought that the chances of it happening were good. Really now, don't most of you agree?
No







Post#4283 at 10-28-2002 10:11 AM by [at joined #posts ]
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Quote Originally Posted by cbailey
I think what we're talking about here IS "seasonal" conspiratorial behavior.
And not their effectiveness, but whether there is a chance they could exist.
Thanks for the heads up. In the future, I'll assume you're merely seeking to make a statement with your questions. :wink:







Post#4284 at 10-28-2002 11:03 AM by [at joined #posts ]
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Re: DEMOCRATS STUCK IN THE PAST

Quote Originally Posted by Virgil K. Saari
Quote Originally Posted by Marc Lamb
This tells me that Democrat party is not the party with any new ideas, but one inexorably stuck in the past. :wink:
This was the line from the head of the Minnesota GOP...Mondale is stuck in the past. Isn't that being CONSERVATIVE in a sense; being stuck in the past? Mondale is another Progressive, but at least more mature than the Progressive Mr. Coleman. I'm still voting for Mr. Moore, an evil banker, on the Independence line.
One might think so. But one could be mistaken.

I know Coleman is a former Democrat. Is he for disarming gun owners? Government-run Healthcare? Raising "sosh security" taxes? Ignoring Saddam? Encouraging only "wanted children" be allowed entrance visas to the U.S.? Etc, etc...? Is it possible to garner even a single vote in Minnesota without being enthusiastically for these things?

I don't know these folks, in Minnesota, that well. Idependent Moore? Vermont, like the tundra up north, has two, and both are Socialists. Is Moore one, too? Being a banker (even an "evil" Capitalist one) does not preclude this. Al Nobel sold guns, for crying out loud. :wink:







Post#4285 at 10-28-2002 01:14 PM by Max [at Left Coast joined Jun 2002 #posts 1,038]
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Hey did you all hear about the Kentucky Fried Chicken in New York?
They are offering the "Hillary Bucket".

It comes with 2 large thighs,
2 small breasts,
and a whole bunch of left wings. :lol:







Post#4286 at 10-28-2002 01:50 PM by Sanford [at joined Aug 2002 #posts 282]
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HopefulCynic wrote:

Quote Originally Posted by HopefulCynic68
Evidence (IMO) for 3T:

One of the major national newsweeklies this week had three headlines on the front cover.

In small letters at the top of the page, there was a headlines about North Korean nukes. Beside it, in equally modest type, was a headline about how Al-Quada is making still alive and kicking.

The BIG headline?

Kurt Cobain, his diaries and his life. Full splash page, definitely the lead story.

Come on, folks!
To which Stonewall responds (directly quoting HopefulCynic!):

Quote Originally Posted by Stonewall Patton

Here is a detailed and interesting treatment of 4T fascism:


October 26, 2002

Is America Becoming Fascist?

by ANIS SHIVANI

http://www.counterpunch.org/shivani1026.html
Is it just me, or is this pretty funny all by itself?

Um, what's the connection? Was Kobain a fascist?

If somebody posted about the World Series, would Stonewall respond that America is becoming a fascist state?

Is there ANY subject which doesn't remind Stonewall of his, er, concerns?







Post#4287 at 10-28-2002 01:53 PM by Sanford [at joined Aug 2002 #posts 282]
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In Stonewall's defense, I GOTTA think it was a mistake, pushing "quote" instead of "post reply".

Still, chuckle.







Post#4288 at 10-28-2002 02:14 PM by HopefulCynic68 [at joined Sep 2001 #posts 9,412]
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Quote Originally Posted by justmom
Hey did you all hear about the Kentucky Fried Chicken in New York?
They are offering the "Hillary Bucket".

It comes with 2 large thighs,
2 small breasts,
and a whole bunch of left wings. :lol:
Now, now...I now she's frustrating and more than a little scary, but let's leave the jokes about personal appearance to the Left. Hillary can't help her body-frame, and there's no need for us to lower ourselves to the level of the libs.

Though the bunch of left wings comment was perfectly accurate. :wink:







Post#4289 at 10-28-2002 03:42 PM by Marx & Lennon [at '47 cohort still lost in Falwelland joined Sep 2001 #posts 16,709]
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We'll know we're in 4T when the right forgets to take cheap shots at Bill n'Hill, and the left remembers that, for all practical purposes, RR has left the building.

Until then, it's open season.
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.







Post#4290 at 10-28-2002 07:46 PM by buzzard44 [at suburb of rural Arizona joined Jan 2002 #posts 220]
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Quote Originally Posted by Virgil K. Saari
Quote Originally Posted by cbailey
And if something WERE fishy regarding this tragedy ( and it sounds like even the Minnesota election itself has potential) this could be a catalyst.

Most Americans ridicule the idea that political conspiracy could exist. I've always thought that the chances of it happening were good. Really now, d on't most of you agree?
No
Absolutely.
Buz Painter
Never for a long time have I been this
confused.







Post#4291 at 10-28-2002 07:48 PM by Virgil K. Saari [at '49er, north of the Mesabi Mountains joined Jun 2001 #posts 7,835]
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A Party of One

Quote Originally Posted by Marc Lamb

One might think so. But one could be mistaken.

I know Coleman is a former Democrat. Is he for disarming gun owners? Government-run Healthcare? Raising "sosh security" taxes? Ignoring Saddam? Encouraging only "wanted children" be allowed entrance visas to the U.S.? Etc, etc...? Is it possible to garner even a single vote in Minnesota without being enthusiastically for these things?
Mr. Coleman is for Mr. Coleman...when he endoresed Mr. Clinton twice and Mr. Wellstone twice...and when he "improved" St. Paul in a public/private partnership (public funds/private returns)...when he ran for Givernor...when he wanted to run again...when he obeyed Karl Rove.


Mr. Mondale has achieved by being there; Mr. Coleman by slobbering up to anyone who could give him a hand up. They are Progressives of their Generational type. Mr. Coleman will be for any program, Bill, law, etc. that will propel Mr. Coleman. We had a character like that in the White House a while back...perhaps Mrs. Coleman go to New York and run for Mr. Schumer's job.







Post#4292 at 10-28-2002 07:55 PM by angeli [at joined Jul 2001 #posts 1,114]
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Oh, here is a random oddness.

A friend of mine loaned me a bunch of video tapes of old Buffy and Angel episodes, the better to keep Oprah off my screen, alas. I mean, roughly 15 tapes, all taped when the episodes were first broadcast in Spring, 2000. The guy who taped them had done it on a timer so each tape has all the commericals *and* the first 10 minutes of the nightly news tacked on to the end.

Aside from the disorientation of hearing the anchors talking about President Clinton in the present tense, you can really see the Turning change, both in the nightly news and in the commercials (though not noticably in the television shows)(no, I take that back. The current season of both Buffy and Angel has this running theme of something-really-bad-is-happening dread going on that's a notch more intense than usual and might be Joss Whedon trying to process the emotional impact of 911 without mentioning it directly.)

What's really striking is the production values of the commercials. They are just *beautiful*, with great landscapes and wonderful animation and photography that takes the breath away. That and the message of so many of them is all "what a great expanding world we live in today". There is an undercurrent of optimism and humor and exuberance that hasn't figured out its irrational. By comparison half the ads for this week's ep of Angel broadcast last night were youth-oriented anti-drug and anti-smoking messages.

The news is about the upcoming election, Clinton pardons, new scientific studies about the benefits of breast feeding or whatever, and new technology.

It makes me intensely homesick for the Unravelling, which I think I'll always feel as a part of me the way Boomers are about the Awakening. What we complained about at the time was corruption and scandal and malaise. What we took for granted was the optimism and excitement of the post-communist world and its new techologies and breakthroughs, the luxury of the lead news story being about corrupt politicians.
-------
"You're so nice.
You're not good, you're not bad,
you're just nice.
I'm not good, I'm not nice,
I'm just right.
I'm the witch.
You're the world!"
- Steven Sondheim, Into the Woods







Post#4293 at 10-28-2002 07:58 PM by [at joined #posts ]
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I wanted to say something about the conspiracy theories behind Senator Wellstone's plane crash. It is a tragic fact that plane crashes are an occupational hazard of being a politician. They have these insane schedules and even though the flying conditions are unsafe, they decide to "chance it' to keep their campaign commitments. It is as nutty as the 100+ work weeks of medical interns.

The list is huge. Off the top of my head, I can add to Wellstone and Carnahan, Senator Heinz from Pennsylvania and Representative Hale Boggs (Cokie Robert's father). Former Senator Lance Faircloth had a close call.







Post#4294 at 10-29-2002 01:40 AM by HopefulCynic68 [at joined Sep 2001 #posts 9,412]
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Quote Originally Posted by angeli
Oh, here is a random oddness.

A friend of mine loaned me a bunch of video tapes of old Buffy and Angel episodes, the better to keep Oprah off my screen, alas. I mean, roughly 15 tapes, all taped when the episodes were first broadcast in Spring, 2000. The guy who taped them had done it on a timer so each tape has all the commericals *and* the first 10 minutes of the nightly news tacked on to the end.

Aside from the disorientation of hearing the anchors talking about President Clinton in the present tense, you can really see the Turning change, both in the nightly news and in the commercials (though not noticably in the television shows)(no, I take that back. The current season of both Buffy and Angel has this running theme of something-really-bad-is-happening dread going on that's a notch more intense than usual and might be Joss Whedon trying to process the emotional impact of 911 without mentioning it directly.)

What's really striking is the production values of the commercials. They are just *beautiful*, with great landscapes and wonderful animation and photography that takes the breath away. That and the message of so many of them is all "what a great expanding world we live in today". There is an undercurrent of optimism and humor and exuberance that hasn't figured out its irrational. By comparison half the ads for this week's ep of Angel broadcast last night were youth-oriented anti-drug and anti-smoking messages.

The news is about the upcoming election, Clinton pardons, new scientific studies about the benefits of breast feeding or whatever, and new technology.

It makes me intensely homesick for the Unravelling, which I think I'll always feel as a part of me the way Boomers are about the Awakening. What we complained about at the time was corruption and scandal and malaise. What we took for granted was the optimism and excitement of the post-communist world and its new techologies and breakthroughs, the luxury of the lead news story being about corrupt politicians.
Wow.

Usually, Angeli, I understand where you're coming from whether or not I agree. But that doesn't match my emotional recollection of the '90s at all!

To me, most of the 90s felt just about the way 2002 feels, except maybe 1 notch less intense. If this is 4T mode, then I've been in 4T mode since about 1985.

I actually think the commercial change has more to do with the collapse on an illusory economic bubble than a Turning change, but that's IMO.







Post#4295 at 10-29-2002 04:35 AM by Stonewall Patton [at joined Sep 2001 #posts 3,857]
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Quote Originally Posted by Jenny Genser
I wanted to say something about the conspiracy theories behind Senator Wellstone's plane crash. It is a tragic fact that plane crashes are an occupational hazard of being a politician. They have these insane schedules and even though the flying conditions are unsafe, they decide to "chance it' to keep their campaign commitments. It is as nutty as the 100+ work weeks of medical interns.

The list is huge. Off the top of my head, I can add to Wellstone and Carnahan, Senator Heinz from Pennsylvania and Representative Hale Boggs (Cokie Robert's father). Former Senator Lance Faircloth had a close call.

Add to that Senator Inhofe whose propeller had been unbolted from his plane and fell off in flight. The difference is that he managed to glide in safely for a landing. Had he not, perhaps we would have been told it was engine failure.

The federal government has no credibility at this point, particularly with respect to plane crash investigations. The lies continue even through that plane which crashed on Long Island shortly after 911...unless of course you believe the feds that all those decorated officers of the NYPD and NYFD entered into some sort of conspiracy in taking out that full page ad in the NY Times at their own expense to report that they witnessed the plane explode in the air, contrary to federal claims. If Democratic supporters across the nation are going to hold the feds accountable this time and demand that they reconcile obvious inconsistencies in the reported facts (and some inconsistencies have already surfaced in the Wellstone case unfortunately), then that is a positive sign because that is as it should be. It is a fact part of regeneracy.

A noted liar has no credibility. The federal government has no credibility in this area. This does not mean that anything deliberate happened to Senator Wellstone. It simply means that the federal government's word is no good. Part of regeneracy is cleaning out the house, returning to open and transparent investigations free of inconsistency, and restoring that good word. We are not there yet, far from it. But we may be beginning to get there thanks to Democratic supporters across the land.







Post#4296 at 10-29-2002 04:38 AM by Stonewall Patton [at joined Sep 2001 #posts 3,857]
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Quote Originally Posted by angeli
Oh, here is a random oddness.

A friend of mine loaned me a bunch of video tapes of old Buffy and Angel episodes, the better to keep Oprah off my screen, alas. I mean, roughly 15 tapes, all taped when the episodes were first broadcast in Spring, 2000. The guy who taped them had done it on a timer so each tape has all the commericals *and* the first 10 minutes of the nightly news tacked on to the end.

Aside from the disorientation of hearing the anchors talking about President Clinton in the present tense, you can really see the Turning change, both in the nightly news and in the commercials (though not noticably in the television shows)(no, I take that back. The current season of both Buffy and Angel has this running theme of something-really-bad-is-happening dread going on that's a notch more intense than usual and might be Joss Whedon trying to process the emotional impact of 911 without mentioning it directly.)

What's really striking is the production values of the commercials. They are just *beautiful*, with great landscapes and wonderful animation and photography that takes the breath away. That and the message of so many of them is all "what a great expanding world we live in today". There is an undercurrent of optimism and humor and exuberance that hasn't figured out its irrational. By comparison half the ads for this week's ep of Angel broadcast last night were youth-oriented anti-drug and anti-smoking messages.

The news is about the upcoming election, Clinton pardons, new scientific studies about the benefits of breast feeding or whatever, and new technology.

It makes me intensely homesick for the Unravelling, which I think I'll always feel as a part of me the way Boomers are about the Awakening. What we complained about at the time was corruption and scandal and malaise. What we took for granted was the optimism and excitement of the post-communist world and its new techologies and breakthroughs, the luxury of the lead news story being about corrupt politicians.
Angeli, that is a fantastic analysis.







Post#4297 at 10-29-2002 11:14 AM by Sanford [at joined Aug 2002 #posts 282]
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10-29-2002, 11:14 AM #4297
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Nice post, Angeli.

On a side note, a lot of the usual videotaping of TV shows in the days and weeks immediately following 9/11 will be of particular interest to historians.

I have one where what's-his-name, the appointed head of the now nearly nonexistant "Homeland Security Agency" (or whatever they were going to call it) appeared during a commercial break to make a public service announcement.

I've grown pretty skeptical about Congress ever agreeing on a new agency, with those arguing that we need the agencies we already have to work better gradually winning the argument (partially by default).

If so, expect that any references to the "Homeland Security Agency" will soon seem extremely dated, if not unintelligible.







Post#4298 at 10-29-2002 01:41 PM by angeli [at joined Jul 2001 #posts 1,114]
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10-29-2002, 01:41 PM #4298
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Ahh, the production values could be due to advertising dollars. But the overall tone is darker.

Take the anti-drug commercials.

During Sunday's broadcast of Angel, there were two Partnership for a Drug Free America ads, repeated a couple of times each.

One was two boys getting high, one picks up a gun and says, hey dude, is this loaded. It goes off. Blackout. Message in white text: drugs distort reality.

Second anti-drug commercial, a girl and a boy getting high at a party. things get out of hand, fade to black as we hear the girl moaning no ... Message in white text I don't remember the exact wording but it was similar.

On the tapes, during Angel there's one anti-drug commercial, repeated about twice, a much shorter spot.

Its a group of kids sitting in a garage talking about stupid gross things (would you rather eat a maggot pie or go to school naked, that kind of thing.) They all pass around a joint, but nobody smokes it, supposedly because they're having too much fun. Text Message: Friends, the anti-drug.

Totally different mood.

And Partnership for a Drug Free America presumably has either the same amount of cash it did before or more because they are paying for more airtime now in the same network.

But yeah, HC, I miss the Unravelling painfully. Most of all I miss cheap, safe travel and a mostly welcoming world that just seemed to be getting smaller and more accessible. Information that wanted to be free. Garage bands, small press zines, road trips, getting by with a little help from your friends. The night train to Crackow. The steam train to Darjeeling. Anti-American sentiment that amounted to complaining about Star Wars.

The opening bars of the crisis and its circling o' the wagons makes me feel claustrophobic. I want the entire world back and who knows if I'll ever get it.

I don't feel different more 4t, but the world sure does.
-------
"You're so nice.
You're not good, you're not bad,
you're just nice.
I'm not good, I'm not nice,
I'm just right.
I'm the witch.
You're the world!"
- Steven Sondheim, Into the Woods







Post#4299 at 10-29-2002 02:13 PM by Stonewall Patton [at joined Sep 2001 #posts 3,857]
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10-29-2002, 02:13 PM #4299
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Quote Originally Posted by angeli
But yeah, HC, I miss the Unravelling painfully. Most of all I miss cheap, safe travel and a mostly welcoming world that just seemed to be getting smaller and more accessible. Information that wanted to be free. Garage bands, small press zines, road trips, getting by with a little help from your friends. The night train to Crackow. The steam train to Darjeeling. Anti-American sentiment that amounted to complaining about Star Wars.

The opening bars of the crisis and its circling o' the wagons makes me feel claustrophobic. I want the entire world back and who knows if I'll ever get it.

I don't feel different more 4t, but the world sure does.
Another outstanding analysis.







Post#4300 at 10-29-2002 04:40 PM by elilevin [at Red Hill, New Mexico joined Jan 2002 #posts 452]
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10-29-2002, 04:40 PM #4300
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Missing the unravelling

Angeli wrote:
But yeah, HC, I miss the Unravelling painfully. Most of all I miss cheap, safe travel and a mostly welcoming world that just seemed to be getting smaller and more accessible. Information that wanted to be free. Garage bands, small press zines, road trips, getting by with a little help from your friends. The night train to Crackow. The steam train to Darjeeling. Anti-American sentiment that amounted to complaining about Star Wars.

The opening bars of the crisis and its circling o' the wagons makes me feel claustrophobic. I want the entire world back and who knows if I'll ever get it.

I don't feel different more 4t, but the world sure does.
Amen.

In schools, drills have become much more serious. Yeah, we had them after Columbine, but the students acted happy just to be out of class and there was a lot of joking and clowning around and it was tolerated by staff and administration. Now the drills are more numerous and we have drills to cover many different situations. They are conducted over and over until we get them right and they are conducted with a grim sense of purpose. The students do not joke and clown around much and those who do are shut down by other students or staff almost immediately.

In many ways, the students I teach seem more innocent than those in graduating classes before Y2K. Yet, I find myself needing to get them to laugh a little.

So I really miss the unravelling at work.
Elisheva Levin

"It is not up to us to complete the task,
but neither are we free to desist from it."
--Pirkei Avot
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