That was kinda rude. I'm conservative, extremely pro-Bush and I don't consider myself isolated at all. Wiener.
- By: Mary Beth on September 1, 2004

Schwinny, the movie may well be hilarious. I hope it is; would like to see it in that case. But I think you are a bit paranoid ... take Henderson's advice to Hoder ... step out of Da Nile (state of) and meet some of us. You are in a lib-rad echo chamber. My comments were harsh. But I thought, among other things, that Hoder's comment about the Saudi education system was ludicrous and well beneath a blogger of his stature. Mine merely stated an unpopular but important truth: One way or another, the Iranians and/or the world (probably us) is going to pry the cold (dead?) fingers of Khamenei off the nuclear trigger. I do hope it can be peaceful, and internal. As to left liberals versus conservatives, nobody argues, Schwinny, that the New Deal was one of the high points of liberal achievement, and frankly, not many conservatives really want to repeal any of it. It's done, it's over. But the very fact you need to go back 60 years to cite such an accomplishment should tell you something about conservatism's rising popularity. The Democratic Party is now a spent force, intellectually bankrupt. Speaking of FDR leads us to Truman, who began the Cold War and still stands as the last truly great Democratic president. There are no Trumans, no Scoop Jacksons, and not even any real JFK's in your party any more. Reagan's idol was FDR, as he said often. Last night, McCain quoted FDR. Face it Schwinny, the baton has passed. P.S.: El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Philippines, are all emerging democracies now. And Chavez is a thug. If you can't see that, you are not worth my time. P.P.S.: I wonder Hoder's perspective on this ... suppose Schwinny's hero Jimmy Carter hadn't pulled the rug out from under the (deeply flawed) Shah? Then you'd have no Khomenei, no Hezbollah, probably no Iran-Iraq war, and less of a need for the Saudis to aggressively promote Wahhabism to maintain "leadership" in Islamic thought. Could/should such a thing have happened? Just asking. Plus, Iran would probably have remained much wealthier, but I know this is revisionist history.
- By: William Ehart on August 31, 2004

You've been in Canada too long, Hoder. Get out and meet some actual American conservatives.
- By: Alan K. Henderson on August 30, 2004

Oh and Napoleon dynamite is hilarious.
- By: Schwinny on August 29, 2004

It must have been left-liberals that were arming Saddam in the first place. It must have been left-liberals knocking off elected governments throughout latin america. It must be left-liberals trying to make Chavez look like a thug. It must be left-liberals that have one hand on the throttle of US foreign policy while the other hand is counting the dollars in their pockets due to their ties to the military. It must be wafflers that brought the new deal together and actually stood up for those who would have otherwise continued to have been second-class citizens. Conservative what? Conserving nature? Conserving human dignity? Conserving peace? How about conserving the historical white patriarchy? What conservatives seem to want to conserve is power. You're with them or against them... Conservatives seem to be becoming more warlike and more religious... and they're saying that they're the only ones who can protect everyone from those who they call religious and warlike (and because the religion is different - "they're " crazy)... Christians ran the crusades - that shit wasn't a little off the bubble? And please don't try to call for secularism throughout the world's politics when there's people here saying "I can finally feel God in the White House" Sure seems like we're just trying to castrate the non-Christian political powers of the world... If we're going to be calling for secularism over there - then let's get it straight over here. Get your war-loving god out of my government, my schools, and off my tax-free properties (and stick a cross in it). I'm sick of everyone's god teling them to kill... If anyone's god is out there cheering for a baseball team or a soldier - that's a fucked up god. People don't win races because god made them run faster and the US isn't in control of the largest stockpile of WMD in the world because they prayed enough the night before. Which God gives a shit who wins on this planet in this life? You think there's victory laps to be run when the sun bakes the blood of the loser? American intervention - it may be necessary? Who WOULDN'T be afraid of intervention from a country that is decreasing the quality of life of its own citizens via terrible domestic policy? Yeah - what we need is to give GW another 4 years to continue policies which are tearing apart the fabric of the world and trying to carve out more precious pieces for our elite US financial interests. How hard is it for conservatives to get this message from Iraq? Yeah, we didn't like Saddam, but you never came until there was something at stake... oil power, regional military influence, etc. Thanks for getting rid of Saddam, but please get the fuck out and take your shitty American-backed puppet government with you. Those who died on 9-11 didn't deserve it and Osama is just another George W Bush... but there isn't support for hatred against america because we have and they don't... it's because we squeeze people and they hurt. It just so happens that those who are squeezing also like to vote republican... so yeah, I kinda blame you (while not letting those who commit atrocities against americans a get out of jail free card.) I'm not waffling.. I believe in things - many more things than most conservatives I know. I'm commited to moral stands on issues, but am not so egotistical to think that my ideas are complete and that the world around my ideas stays constant. America is great and I believe we can produce enough to ease the suffering of enough people and raise the standards of living of people around the world while putting an end to tyranny. It's not hard to find people in every nation who will stand together behind simple truths which are the founding of OUR nation. We are all equal and should be able to pursue life, liberty, and happiness (so long as it doesn't stifle another's)... Your dehumanizing of liberals, mullahs, and towel-heads... shameful. The governments of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and, currently, the US are denying its citizens these basic things and it's up to those who will not kill the others to force changes to ensure that these things stop. Nov. Vote for Kerry - the first step in the right (haha) direction... Next, we'll need to get people in the US their basic health and life needs met so that they can get back to producing those things which can improve the world. Capitalism can work and democracy is pretty cool... they just have to be done right. The American economy and political system is on the fritz due to conservative "shadowy figures"... There's plenty of corruption on the left as well... it needs to get handled in due course, but first we need to make sure Bush doesn't "bogeyman" us into fearing our own shadows... Don't send alcoholics out to tell the drug addicts how they should live their lives.
- By: Schwinny on August 29, 2004

Hossein-jan, Your post was dead-on and I hope you don't apologize to some of our thin-skinned American friends like William Ehart. Will doesn't trust mullah towelheads carrying nukes, and neither do I, but Will - I don't trust crackers with nukes either. Especially not the ones who were the first and only country to ever use them on a civilian population. America - I love you. I just wish you'd stay where you is -Morrissey
- By: Iraj on August 28, 2004

I'd much rather be Napolean than a member of a moon worshiping death cult.
- By: Joel on August 26, 2004

Hey, Hoder -- I like your blog a lot, but from the four responses you have gotten on "Napoleon" so far, including mine, it does seem you've rubbed some American readers the wrong way, and maybe fallen prey to some stereotypes or lazy assumptions. Cultural awareness and sensitivity go both ways, you know. Your insinuation that Bush supporters are poorly educated idiots is not just a smear, it is a moral judgment you have no standing to make. Some of the most evil leaders in world history, as well as the greatest poseurs, have been sophisticated, urban intellectuals. Hoder, have you ever been to small-town America? It's where I grew up. Before I went to university in Washington, D.C. It's where I live now. I consider myself well-educated, sophisticated, and well traveled, but also a conservative. Yes, I'm voting for Bush, again. I don't think GWB is God's gift (actually, I don't know anyone who does), but I think he's the person we needed on 9/11 and the one we need for the next four years. I voted for Reagan. I voted for Bush's father, but was disappointed he wasn't more "conservative." For one thing, he didn't finish Saddam (I guess you have to be really senstive to world opinion to be that stupid). He was a creature of power and privilege, had served as a diplomat, but didn't have the "vision thing." I find it rather hard to believe that a blogger like you who's agitating against tyranny, comparing Khamenei to Kim Jong Il, could find a harsh word for American conservatives. After decades of liberal and left-liberal domination of American ideas, conservatives have emerged over the past 25 years. Only American and British conservatives had the clarity and courage to call communism evil, and they were mocked for it at the time. Would you like us to go away and put the Soviet Union back together for you? Only conservatives mustered the will to confront Saddam with real consequences. (Unfortunately, we had to do it twice.) Perhaps your derision is aimed at "social conservatives," who may have been the types portrayed in that movie. The most extreme of those say we had 9/11 coming because of our immorality. But our social conservatives would be modern liberals compared to the mullahs who run Iran, Hoder, as you well know. A new brand of conservative, very active on the Internet, is the libertarian conservative. I had assumed this phrase described you. I fall somewhere in between. For now, both these groups of conservatives will generally be voting for Bush. If not for these groups working together, the leadership of the U.S. would remain in the hands of the left-liberals, the wafflers, the indecisive, the liars, and the people who are too clever to believe firmly in anything, or to take a stand for anything. Clinton, Gore, Kerry. I knew when I voted for Bush that he would take Saddam out, one way or another, even before 9/11. Am I stupid to think that was a good thing, and overdue? Now here's one for you. I do think your mullahs are going to fall. I hope the Iranians can do it themselves ... but frankly, I don't think they can make it happen anytime soon. The mullahs MUST fall before they possess nukes. If you can't make that happen, you are going to need help, and you are likely to get it whether you want it or not. The issue, and the threat, are bigger than Iran itself. It's a threat to the whole world. Like Hitler was. When I and my fellow bible-thumpin' yahoos and geeks from the boondocks vote for Bush this November, we will be giving him authority to help overthrow the mullahs, peacefully or NOT. The mullahs are practically inviting armed intervention with their reckless interference in Iraq, on behalf of what? An uneducated, violent idiot like Muqtada? I understand your country better than most, and I realize that it deserves greatness and prosperity on its own terms. A secular Iranian government would get a wink and a nod from the international community to possess nukes, as have several other countries. But I'm sorry, Hoder. We trigger happy Americans just ain't gonna take any chances on your home-grown religious crazies getting nukes. If no one else will stop 'em, we will, and I'm votin' fer Bush jes to make damn sure. Now, we conservatives speak pretty clearly and unequivocally, don't we? Notice I didn't mention France or the U.N. I know you don't like the idea of American intervention, Hoder. But it's likely to be a reality and a necessity. If you can make it happen some other way, bring it on, dude. Clock's tickin'.
- By: William Ehart on August 26, 2004

I would bet then you were a big fan of Farenheit 9/11 too. heh
- By: jane on August 26, 2004

Maybe you could explain?
- By: Ron on August 25, 2004

It takes a somewhat warped perspective to take a comedy that pokes fun of people (is there truth and depth in that kind of portrayal?), and turn that into a political statement like that. oh 'those people' .... it seems some bigotries are better than other bigotries, eh? Anyway, Bush deserves to be re-elected for alot of good reasons, but it seems you have your excuse for when he does win."The people have spoken, the bastards."
- By: Patrick on August 25, 2004