At Random

Chit-chat, current events
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jdb1

Re: At Random

Post by jdb1 »

charliechaplinfan wrote:I'm led to believe that Americans are boycotting Scottish goods after the decision of the Scottish government to return the Lockerbie bomber to Libya.

I don't know all the details here. There are a certain section of the justice system that believes he is innocent but the evidence hasn't been put forward to prove this. He is suffering terminal prostrate cancer, this isn't a valid reason for letting out a killer but if he is innocent convene a retrial whilst he is still alive, get this important evidence before the judiciary and let the people know why this man is innocent. As I understand it because he has been released we will never get to know the reason he might be innocent.

So the American public will continue to think that our justice system is soft. Rightly or wrongly, we will never know.
So . . . . where exactly does one get Scottish goods around here? No disrespect intended to the well-meaning Scots, but the haggis and plaid consignments around the NYC area appear to be confined to Kearny, New Jersey,and aren't exactly leaping off the shelves.

Klonny probably has a direct pipeline to All Things Scottish. Are you boycotting, Klon?
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ChiO
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Re: At Random

Post by ChiO »

Must I stop buying single-malt Scotch now? Oy!
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
jdb1

Re: At Random

Post by jdb1 »

ChiO wrote:Must I stop buying single-malt Scotch now? Oy!
Yeah, and you'll have to switch to those Chinese sporran knock-offs. And I guess we'll have to stop saying "butterscotch" and call it "liberty toffee."

Surely there is a better and more diplomatic way to show societal displeasure than this?
klondike

Re: At Random

Post by klondike »

jdb1 wrote:
So . . . . where exactly does one get Scottish goods around here? No disrespect intended to the well-meaning Scots, but the haggis and plaid consignments around the NYC area appear to be confined to Kearny, New Jersey,and aren't exactly leaping off the shelves.

Klonny probably has a direct pipeline to All Things Scottish. Are you boycotting, Klon?
I believe were you to take a "person in the street" survey in Glasgow or Paisley or Sterling or Dundee, you'd likely find that 7 or 8 out of every 10 folks you spoke to are as disturbed and/or outraged by this man's release as are the majority of reasonable people in every nation in the Western World.
Boycotting Scottish goods is a silly concept for several reasons, regardless:

A) Politically, it would be about equivalent to boycotting Boston baked beans because the 9/11 World Trade terrorists boarded those two ill-fated airliners at Logan Airport where they should have been stopped by Airport Security. Too random? OK, how about this one: Adolph Hitler invaded over a dozen peaceful nations, terrorized their populations, slaughtered over 6,000,000 detainees (Jews, Communists, Gypsies), and threatened to conquer & enslave the entire Free World. By his own admission, he could never have scrambled his way into winning the Chancellorship of Germany, nor have financed the assembly of his immense new German War Machine without the support, guidance, and massive monetary contributions of the American Industrialist he called "my greatest mentor & ally: Henry Ford!" Should we boycott all Ford automotive products? {I've always thought so, but I'm voting through my Chevy bowtie, so can hardly claim objectivity.}
B) How effective is a boycott when you would only ever consider purchasing occasional durable goods, and/or cultural iconography? Go ahead, browse through your local Wal*Mart (I won't, but if you lack all sense of regional identity & pride, you certainly can), I very much doubt you'll find any knock-off deck shoes or turquoise strappies or raffia beach sandals or melmac picnic-ware or back-to-school backpacks made in Edinburgh or Oban or Hawick. How do you boycott a nation that turns out no competitively priced daily/weekly/monthly consumables? This starts to sound as intelligent as renaming french fries "freedom fries" when those dastardly French poltroons dared to decry are efforts to invade Iraq in our quest for weapons of mass destruction. How dare they think objectively, and advise patience & caution - when we're willing to spend eleven million dollars a day to prove we're right - and dammit, what better proof than an escalating bodycount, and an outgoing VP whose Halliburton stock had jettisoned him into the Forbes 500?
But, I have digressed, j'avoir non?
Back to Bonnie Scotland . . by all means let us boycott them!!
To blazes with their scrumptious wild salmon, we'll save bucks by overpaying for the vacuum-packed farm-raised crap @ the Albertson's deli!
Real Scottish woolens? Faughh! Go ahead & order those half-priced balmorals & kilt hose from that outfit in Nebraska . . their stuff's not too bad . . they claim it's "Scottish By Design", right? What do you care if it's sewn & assembled in Pakistan . . . most of the people over there aren't terrorists, right?
And Scotch? Hey, the whole Single Malt business could be overrated, right? Canadian whiskey's cheaper by far, just ignore the fact it's all cut with rye . . heck, I'll bet learning not to gag at every mouthful is part of the provenance, for all we know!
Aye, it can be a bra'e new world out there, Laddies! :wink:
jdb1

Re: At Random

Post by jdb1 »

The old epithet "Park Avenue Liberal" springs to mind. Someone who spends far too much on their Sunday brunch lox and Scotch thinks nobly refusing to buy any more (at least, temporarily) will make a big diff. Get down into the trenches with the rest of us disaffected, Biff and Muffy. An American boycott of Scottish goods will be about as effective as a Hungarian boycott of poi.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: At Random

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Well admittedly I thought it was a silly notion. How ever much you protest at the decision of the Scottish judiciary they still say they are right. They must be sick that such a great big fuss has been made of Magrehi on his return to Libya.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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movieman1957
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Re: At Random

Post by movieman1957 »

I can understand it if they are sick about it but I sure hope they aren't surprised by the reaction.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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ken123
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Re: At Random

Post by ken123 »

]Maria Bartiromo on CNBC asked Congreeman Anthony Weiner ( D - NY -also Judith's Rep in Congress ? ) the question "if medicare is so good, why dont you have it", not knowning that medicare starts at age 65, Mr Weiner is 44. Ms Bartiromo wins the Erin Burnett ( another CNBS inro babe ) Dumbbell of the Week Award . IMHO CNBC rates just above Fox News for the quality of its anchors/commentators. Kramer, Kudlow are they ever right in the predictions :(
Last edited by ken123 on September 2nd, 2009, 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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mrsl
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Re: At Random

Post by mrsl »

Look at it this way; they're dumb enough to seriously quote Sara Palin.
Anne


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* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *

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jdb1

Re: At Random

Post by jdb1 »

ken123 wrote:]Maria Bartiromo on CNBC asked Congreeman Anthony Weiner ( D - NY -also Judith's rep in Congress ? ) the question "if medicare is so good, why dont you have it", not knowning that medicare starts at age 65, Mr Weiner is 44. Ms Bartiromo wins the Erin Burnett ( another CNBS infro babe ) Dumbbell of the Week Award . IMHO CNBC rates just above Fox News for the quality of its anchors/commentators. Kramer, Kudlow are they ever right in the predictions :(
Ugh, Ken, don't remind me. Yes, Slick Tony Weiner is my Congressman, but not because I voted for him -- I did not. I haven't really paid much attention to any of these commentators, liberal or conservative, feeling that almost everything an entertainment-oriented 24-hour a day news channel delivers to us is nonsense, but maybe I'll take a look. Trouble is, you have to sit through reams of trash to get one or two cogent and/or useful bits of information.

I could go on for hours about Anthony Weiner, and how he is New York City's least effective representative in Congress, just as he was a big nothing as my City Councilman, and how he is merely marking time in Congress until Mike Bloomberg is no longer in the running as mayor of New York so he himself can run, and how he's not really interested in or qualified to be our mayor, but he's the type who has to be in charge to prove something he must feel inadequate about, and . . . . . . But I won't.
jdb1

Re: At Random

Post by jdb1 »

Can someone tell me please . . . . .

The wonderful pictures we are now getting from the Hubble telescope -- are they color-enhanced to facilitate our viewing? What I mean is -- if I went up into deep space and looked at a galaxy, would it appear to my eyes in the same vivid colors that we are seeing in the photos? (I don't mean the infrared ones.)

Thank you.
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movieman1957
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Re: At Random

Post by movieman1957 »

Try this link. It is fr the Hubble web site.

http://www.hubblesite.org/gallery/behind_the_pictures/
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
jdb1

Re: At Random

Post by jdb1 »

Thanks very much, Chris. It looks like the answer to my question, according to the Hubble PR people, is "Yes and No." I had a suspicion that the images we're being shown were amped up a bit for the Wow factor, but that's OK by me. I'd like to think that if I ever did get to see what's out there, it would look even more wondrous than those photos.
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MichiganJ
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Re: At Random

Post by MichiganJ »

To our British friends, beware the Thin Mint and the Oreo!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... veals.html
"Let's be independent together." Dr. Hermey DDS
klondike

Re: At Random

Post by klondike »

Wild link, MJ!
I know we've all joked over the years about the poor state of British dental care (culminating I guess with Mike Myers' Austin Powers personna), but how bad do your teeth have to be to bust one on a chunk of cookie (wet or dry)? :shock: :roll: :shock:
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