so you're voting Ron Paul?

Foucault borrows the concept from Jeremy Bentham and then elaborates on it:

http://foucault.info/documents/disci...nOpticism.html

If I could but possess, pelagius's financial acumen, PAC and Goat's wit, Jeff's engineering expertise, SIEQ's philosophical insights and vocabulary, Creekster's former cycling ability, Seattle's writing ability, Solon's classical knowledge, CHC's critical training, AA's potential and Mike's ingenuity, I'd really be unstoppable.

Whether or not we should double or close Gitmo, I'm trying to think of a worse analogy than that of a concentration camp ... and it's just not coming.

In the unlikely event he's still on the ballot when the primary comes to Texas I will vote for him. Otherwise I probably won't vote in the GOP primary. Chances are it'll all be decided before I get the chance to vote for anyone as the nomination process is so skewed towards a small handful of states.

Whether Gitmo fits the decription of a panopticon or not, I am uncertain as I'm a little, or rather a lot rusty on my Foucault, but I do remember some of the details of concentration camps having studied German and lived in Germany, and the comparison is very poor and in poor taste. Perhaps the Japanese internment camps creates a better analogy.

that's the power of a super-organism. It takes the best attributes of each individual.

Of course we seem to have a few hive beetles and wax moths in our hive as well. :)

I know how you feel.

Those are excellent choices, but if I were to glean attributes from among the board, I think I'd steal modesty, discernment, maturity, and a nicely-sized income.

Well for that I'd need a nympho, horny ass wife. I'd be on for that.

I suspect that the 24 hour news network has ended the era in which the President could be a popular figure. There is and always will be too much exposure for American voters not to find something they don't like about the government leaders.

The only way around this that I can see is for government leaders to get off the front pages of the papers is to stop doing things that are newsworthy-- id est, decreasing the size of the government. You'd think that if the government can't find things that are important enough to get on the front page of the paper that people actually like, that it would be a rather glaring sign.

I suspect America has wanted a more conservative government ever since Reagan came along. Bush I and Bush II's greatest flaws have been a very UNconservative approach to spending and regulation ("read my lips" comes to mind). Meanwhile, Clinton's greatest victory is the fact that he yielded so much ground to the conservatives.

Umm..... Good luck with that. Don't look at me.

Yeah, well, I think you came out on top of that list. You've got something that's marketable. Me? I'll I've got going for me is the fact that I may someday be worth something.

I don't have the Nazi death camps specifically in mind (and neither does Foucault). It's more about the control of movement, the surveillance of behavior, and the partitioning of the infected from the healthy. Foucault's discussion of the 17th century plague, and the techniques to control it with prison logic, have application to today's discussion of terror. Terror is our plague in some senses.

The Nazi camps did impliment a measure of panopticism, but they had many other aspects as well. I would argue that the Nazi camps are an intense, but not particularly representitive, instance of a much broader mode of thinking. In Foucauldian terms, Gitmo could be thought of as a center for those infected with terrorism.

Your forgetting Mormon Red Death's sexpertise

You need to find a middle gear, dude
 

Also, I think if Bush is anything, he is principled. Isn't that what everyone complains about, his inflexibility? If anything, Mitt is the opposite of Bush because of his malleability.

I still have my questions about Mitt, and I don't expect all my questions will be answered in a twinkling.

I'll ask this question: Does anyone think a politician changes his mind because he actually well decided or realized he was wrong...or do you think a politician will change their mind 99.9% of the time for political gain?

I've no reason to NOT believe Romney when he says that on a couple of issues, abortion one of them, that he came to realize that he was just flat out wrong.

Have any of you ever realized you're flat out wrong on something and changed your mind or thought process about it or did you change your mind because you realized it would bring you gain later on?

That's a fantastic point. I question whether Washington himself would have been as universally loved if he'd had CNN covering everything he did and said.

When I liked Romney I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

But when I realized that my values regarding torture, Gitmo etc. didn't match wth Romney's I stopped giving him the benefit of the doubt.

My guess is no leader shares your very idealistic views toward torture, and that you dismissing Romney for a silly, intangible reason.

McCain does.

Here is a good page that talks about McCain's positions on a number of moral issues.

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/...028d71df58.htm

McCain can't win, only Giuliani or Romney.

Don't count out the experienced horse who has a good kick.

It is very, very early.

McCain is a great man. But he's not faring terribly well in the debates, and he's falling farther behind in fundraising. I also think that in our youth-obsessed culture he may not be very electable.

No money and bad debater. The younger voters will be turned off by him. He's no Ronald Reagan who didn't act or appear old.

Bush is a dummy, he stinks at communcation.

Romney is too slick, I don't trust that.

Bush is inflexible and stubborn. He won't admit to mistakes and that's why we're screwed in Iraq.

Romney changes his mind on the issues. I don't trust that.

Can't win in politics today.

All this is true, but it's eclipsed by the real reason he won't get nominated: the conservative base doesn't like/trust him.

and just who is it that the conservative base likes?

That appears to be the $64,000 question.

Maybe he was about to plant a knife in Ted's back? That kind of a shifty look he has there.

Is it just my computer, or did you post a reply to my post before I even posted it? That's impressive.

I chalk it up to your supernatural Satanic powers. :)

Indeed. That, and photos like this one.

http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/.../17/mccain.jpg

Barbara, other than Romney's change of mind on abortion, what other mind-changes has he had that leads you to believe they are "rather frequent".

By the way, Anne Romney's (not Mitt's) $150 donation to Planned Parenthood in 1994 didn't exactly buy Mitt any support from the group - they had plans to picket a Mothers day appearance he was making.

I am watching you, Focker.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ck_byrnesb.jpg

I'm not sure I want to take on an entire board of Mormon Republicans regarding my feelings on Mitt.

I have a list of concerns. I do not have the time to detail them with the appropriate sources, but I will do so after the kids go to bed.

Which reminds me, please bring Mrs. Meanie back. Her stay here was far too brief.

I've got your back.

Down with Mitt!!!!

Geeze and we thought you like us. So in reality you're Aaron with better teeth?

I forget most of you are in your thirties where idealism still thrives and realism has not yet set in.

Arch, what do you expect from a crime fighter?

If it's okay to be critical of BRM, then it's okay to be critical of Romney. :)

:(

I assume you were joking, but I'm sorry if I failed to convey my tone.

I merely meant that I do try to be respectful of the board and its majority populace, and bashing a favored political candidate does not seem polite.

However, with Mike and Seattle (unlikely bedfellows) behind me, I shall make my case ... Rocky theme anyone?

Well I just thought she would include us as polyandrous husbands and now we find out she really doesn't like us afterall, especially those of us who sacrificed on Mitt's altar.

I burnt the offerings of two evangeical handouts the other day in her name to purchase her salvation.