Here's two cents worth from another mod.

 

P&R used to be chock full of substantive threads. It still has the occasional one, but they're few and far between. To me, the forum resembles a string of campaign commercials as much as anything else these days.

 

Maybe I'm talking out of school here, but periodically the BGP "powers-that-be" take stock of the board and see if there is anything that needs to be added, or in some cases, removed. P&R always comes up when discussing the latter category. Interestingly enough, the reason it stays is that there is a small group of members that BGP feels would no longer be represented should P&R be removed; and that has trumped things like "the forum has devolved into childish shouting matches." As Captain Kirk so eloquently put it in Star Trek III - "the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many."

 

As a mod, I'm not obligated to evaluate every single post on BGP. But I do "specialize" in specific areas - basketball, football, general discussion and P&R; so I try as best I can to read each post in those areas. I'm not always successful, so sometimes I have to concentrate on some areas more than others. Unfortunately, that often means that P&R gets excluded. The reason is simple - the high-school forums need more attention. For the most part, the P&R participants are big boys, and the gloves are allowed to come off a bit.

 

And because of that, I'm a bit surprised by this particular thread. I'm not sure whose skins are thinner - those that don't like the proliferation of the "Obama stinks" threads, or those that don't like people complaining about those that don't like the proliferation of the "Obama stinks" threads.

 

So, why do I read them? Because it's my job. That's why I get paid the big bucks. (Scratch that - Rule 6). But I'm pretty confident that what I'll get the majority of the time is half-truths, pseudo-science, and sweeping generalizations. And the majority of the time, I'm right. ColonelCrazy hit the nail on the head. "My daddy can beat up your daddy" is what most of them boil down to.

 

In summary, I'll defend RTS' right to post as many threads as he wants. And the vast majority of the time, I'll read them.

 

And, I'll go one further: I'll defend all poster's rights to respond to those threads with their feelings...unless they violate any of the rules.

I agree with this. And BP needs to stay on this like ugly on an ape and get it cleaned up and fix their issues so as to ensure it doesn't happen again. They need to be all over their producing rigs to check for safety concerns and get them fixed.

 

Obama doesn't need to do it, the government doesn't need to do it. BP needs to do it. They're responsible, and they need to do the work, and to pay for the work.

 

BP does need to stay on it, although I fear they will be broke and out of business before it's "completely" cleaned up, this thing is massive. They will be needing a LOT of help doing it. I know BP has a bunch of money, but at what point do we expect Obama and the government to help BP and and the ones directly affected? When BP is out of business? Is there anything our government or military can do right now to help BP and it's employees survive this tragedy? Or should the burden rest solely on BP until they are gone? I sure don't have the answers.

 

I think it will be impossible to "ensure" an oil spill like this won't happen again. Unless we allow drilling operations to move closer to the coastline in shallow water or expand drilling on land, the risk of this happening again will always be there.

 

Don't mean to threadjack.

Here's two cents worth from another mod.

 

P&R used to be chock full of substantive threads. It still has the occasional one, but they're few and far between. To me, the forum resembles a string of campaign commercials as much as anything else these days.

 

Maybe I'm talking out of school here, but periodically the BGP "powers-that-be" take stock of the board and see if there is anything that needs to be added, or in some cases, removed. P&R always comes up when discussing the latter category. Interestingly enough, the reason it stays is that there is a small group of members that BGP feels would no longer be represented should P&R be removed; and that has trumped things like "the forum has devolved into childish shouting matches." As Captain Kirk so eloquently put it in Star Trek III - "the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many."

 

As a mod, I'm not obligated to evaluate every single post on BGP. But I do "specialize" in specific areas - basketball, football, general discussion and P&R; so I try as best I can to read each post in those areas. I'm not always successful, so sometimes I have to concentrate on some areas more than others. Unfortunately, that often means that P&R gets excluded. The reason is simple - the high-school forums need more attention. For the most part, the P&R participants are big boys, and the gloves are allowed to come off a bit.

 

And because of that, I'm a bit surprised by this particular thread. I'm not sure whose skins are thinner - those that don't like the proliferation of the "Obama stinks" threads, or those that don't like people complaining about those that don't like the proliferation of the "Obama stinks" threads.

 

So, why do I read them? Because it's my job. That's why I get paid the big bucks. (Scratch that - Rule 6). But I'm pretty confident that what I'll get the majority of the time is half-truths, pseudo-science, and sweeping generalizations. And the majority of the time, I'm right. ColonelCrazy hit the nail on the head. "My daddy can beat up your daddy" is what most of them boil down to.

 

In summary, I'll defend RTS' right to post as many threads as he wants. And the vast majority of the time, I'll read them.

 

Maybe the fact that this country is as divided as it's been in a long long time has an effect on the type of threads we see today in P&R. Maybe we are following the examples of our leaders with the immature finger pointing. When a government in a free country such as ours gets as much power as the current one has, then turns completely away from half or more of it's people that disagrees simply because "we won", things will get ugly. People on the other side will feel cast out and will take every opportunity to get a word in. People on the winning side that are happy, will continue to discredit or ignore almost all remarks that oppose them.

 

I say BGP P&R thread is a representative sample of the United States of America right now...Perfectly normal.

RTS, this is a good topic. I'll tell you how I feel about it. I am tired of being beat over the head about silly stuff. If you have a beef, a legitimate issue to discuss, the I would love to discuss it. But, I think the pettiness is beneath you. I don't even post in most threads any more. Not because I disagree with what you are saying, or that I agree. Frankly, much I could care less about. I don't expect you or most people to agree with me on the topics that are posted in here most often. Frankly, you guys would be disagreeing or ignoring most threads I would start, because those issues aren't important to you. I've quit trying to "discuss", and I'm ashamed to say that I've devolved into playground tactics in dealing with my frustration in these threads.

 

No matter what I said, you would NEVER believe I was anything less than a Cindy Sheehan. You've formed your opinion of me, and it is pretty much that I'm an idiot and that I should be committed as I'm a danger to myself and society. :lol:

 

Often topics you bash "liberals" and "democrats" and the President for are those that I've either not yet formed an opinion on, or that I really don't care about. In those threas, I won't have much to say. I try to use those threads to learn more so that I can form an opinion. But, sadly, not much education is going on in most of those. I'm not a person prone to forming opinions quickly. I'm a researcher, a thinkiner and a talker first. I like to look at things from both sides if I have no experience with them. Often, even with things I do have experience, I still try to put myself on the other side of the issue. For me, there are a finite number of absolutes. I am a firm believer that there's not much that is cut and dry in this world, that there's always something else to consider. I think that's a good thing. But, I'm sure that most of you will call me "wishy-washy".

I understand that sometimes you might think something is petty, that doesn't mean it is to me and visa-versa. Like I've been saying, we all view things differently and we all have our own perception of things. To me, that's part of what makes life interesting.

 

I certainly don't equate you with Cindy Sheehan. I think you're a very intelligent person and I also think you're a very good hearted person. We just disagree politically and that's OK. I've considered you as a friend for a long time now, makes no difference to me that we don't always see eye to eye.

 

Believe it or not, I try to research things as well. I read articles, listen to radio and watch the news (several sources) to form my opinions. The problem for me is I just so disagree with how the left wants things, I don't want our country to go in the direction they do.

 

I respect you and your opinion, I'm just passionate about politics, as TB&G pointed out.

RTS

 

If you were to stop bashing whoever you want to bash, however you want to bash them, over ANYTHING you feel like bashing them for, I will assume you are giving up your American right to do so. Keep in mind that your posts will be read, maybe not responded to, but they will be read. Everything you have ever posted, whether anyone on this board thinks it is relevant or not, must be relevant to you or you wouldn't post it. Don't allow those that insinuate you are being petty or closed minded stop you from posting something they will close their mind to, that's their problem, not yours.

 

People need to thicken up their skin and get over the fact that some people don't like the way Obama governs. For some people, smaller government, lower taxes and personal responsibility matters to them politically. It's very hard to find something positive to post if you are one of these people. To be positive because we should respect the office is a bunch of baloney. The office and the man filling it are two different things, Mr. Barack Obama has a lot of work to do in order to earn the respect of conservatives. To cry and whine about RTS nitpicking at Obama is ridiculous. Pout about it for a few minutes, either do or don't rebut and get over it for crying out loud.

 

Throw me a bone. Give me something I can rave about since Obama has been in office that shows me he is interested in shrinking government, lowering taxes, encouraging small businesses to expand, or promoting personal responsibility and I'll give him a big hooray.

 

Note: Allowing government to reach deeper in my pockets to give it to someone else does not fall into the personal responsibility category.

 

Everyone should thicken their skin about Obama bashing threads but it is okay to have thin skin about the bashing of the Obama bashing threads . . . oh the irony.

BP does need to stay on it, although I fear they will be broke and out of business before it's "completely" cleaned up, this thing is massive. They will be needing a LOT of help doing it. I know BP has a bunch of money, but at what point do we expect Obama and the government to help BP and and the ones directly affected? When BP is out of business? Is there anything our government or military can do right now to help BP and it's employees survive this tragedy? Or should the burden rest solely on BP until they are gone? I sure don't have the answers.

 

I think it will be impossible to "ensure" an oil spill like this won't happen again. Unless we allow drilling operations to move closer to the coastline in shallow water or expand drilling on land, the risk of this happening again will always be there.

 

Don't mean to threadjack.

 

Same argument made for the bailout of the banks, I had always assumed that you were against that. hmmmm

Everyone should thicken their skin about Obama bashing threads but it is okay to have thin skin about the bashing of the Obama bashing threads . . . oh the irony.

 

We all should thicken our skin. Is that better Ace?

Same argument made for the bailout of the banks, I had always assumed that you were against that. hmmmm

 

Bailing out banks and helping out in an environmental disaster are two different things my friend.

 

Look Ace, I'm for shrinking government, not doing away with it. Why is that so hard to understand? I'm fully aware that government must be some part of our lives, at what point are they too much of a part though?

Everyone should thicken their skin about Obama bashing threads but it is okay to have thin skin about the bashing of the Obama bashing threads . . . oh the irony.

Another one the guilty parties. You talk about irony yet you can't see the irony in your own comments. You're one those that think the threads are petty and can't see how petty it is that you complain about the threads or the number of them.

RTS

 

If you were to stop bashing whoever you want to bash, however you want to bash them, over ANYTHING you feel like bashing them for, I will assume you are giving up your American right to do so. Keep in mind that your posts will be read, maybe not responded to, but they will be read. Everything you have ever posted, whether anyone on this board thinks it is relevant or not, must be relevant to you or you wouldn't post it. Don't allow those that insinuate you are being petty or closed minded stop you from posting something they will close their mind to, that's their problem, not yours.

 

People need to thicken up their skin and get over the fact that some people don't like the way Obama governs. For some people, smaller government, lower taxes and personal responsibility matters to them politically. It's very hard to find something positive to post if you are one of these people. To be positive because we should respect the office is a bunch of baloney. The office and the man filling it are two different things, Mr. Barack Obama has a lot of work to do in order to earn the respect of conservatives. To cry and whine about RTS nitpicking at Obama is ridiculous. Pout about it for a few minutes, either do or don't rebut and get over it for crying out loud.

 

Throw me a bone. Give me something I can rave about since Obama has been in office that shows me he is interested in shrinking government, lowering taxes, encouraging small businesses to expand, or promoting personal responsibility and I'll give him a big hooray.

 

Note: Allowing government to reach deeper in my pockets to give it to someone else does not fall into the personal responsibility category.

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

Post away RTS .. You know who I side with. Obama is "leading" this country in the wrong direction and it's time for the left to start admitting it.... Many in his own party are deserting him and his endorsements for politicians is the kiss of death in the elections... Just hope we get a new congress this fall and maybe they can limit the damage hes done and prevent him from causing more harm to the country...

You and I think a lot alike, my friend. :thumb:

Here's two cents worth from another mod.

 

P&R used to be chock full of substantive threads. It still has the occasional one, but they're few and far between. To me, the forum resembles a string of campaign commercials as much as anything else these days.

 

Maybe I'm talking out of school here, but periodically the BGP "powers-that-be" take stock of the board and see if there is anything that needs to be added, or in some cases, removed. P&R always comes up when discussing the latter category. Interestingly enough, the reason it stays is that there is a small group of members that BGP feels would no longer be represented should P&R be removed; and that has trumped things like "the forum has devolved into childish shouting matches." As Captain Kirk so eloquently put it in Star Trek III - "the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many."

 

As a mod, I'm not obligated to evaluate every single post on BGP. But I do "specialize" in specific areas - basketball, football, general discussion and P&R; so I try as best I can to read each post in those areas. I'm not always successful, so sometimes I have to concentrate on some areas more than others. Unfortunately, that often means that P&R gets excluded. The reason is simple - the high-school forums need more attention. For the most part, the P&R participants are big boys, and the gloves are allowed to come off a bit.

 

And because of that, I'm a bit surprised by this particular thread. I'm not sure whose skins are thinner - those that don't like the proliferation of the "Obama stinks" threads, or those that don't like people complaining about those that don't like the proliferation of the "Obama stinks" threads.

 

So, why do I read them? Because it's my job. That's why I get paid the big bucks. (Scratch that - Rule 6). But I'm pretty confident that what I'll get the majority of the time is half-truths, pseudo-science, and sweeping generalizations. And the majority of the time, I'm right. ColonelCrazy hit the nail on the head. "My daddy can beat up your daddy" is what most of them boil down to.

 

In summary, I'll defend RTS' right to post as many threads as he wants. And the vast majority of the time, I'll read them.

mcpapa, it isn't think skin with me, it's just that it's so odd to me to complain about threads you don't like. Isn't the simple thing for most people to just not read them?

 

This political forum is really the best one I've seen, if you want to see what you just described you should check out some other sites. This forum and those that post is/are really very civil.

If I may-

 

Let me start by saying I come here to try to understand other perspectives and I enjoy defending my beliefs. I have no real problem with the some of the threads that RTS creates about Obama. I think he should be criticized and analyzed. That said, I don't really mind all the threads on Obama (I counted, RTS had started nearly 40 about him since late-January), I just find some of them silly and ridiculously partisan. Discussing economic, environmental and immigration policies? Great! Starting threads about "Is Obama Bipolar?" and threads taking one Obama quote out of context (Obama Opens up About Relationship With Rudd) seems a bit excessive.

 

I just like to think that everyone can see both sides of an issue. I'd like to see RTS (or anyone else) jump on Glenn Beck when he says something stupid or offensive. And I think there's an attitude there, as evidenced by the title of this thread, that really turns me off. It's kind of my business because I pay to be here. I don't mind defending my ideas, but I hate sometimes having to wade through the muck to get there.

Another one the guilty parties. You talk about irony yet you can't see the irony in your own comments. You're one those that think the threads are petty and can't see how petty it is that you complain about the threads or the number of them.

 

Really, can you show me one thread where I have said, "this is a petty or useless, thread". I am sure not, however, if you have the right/ability to post the thread, what do I not have the right/ability to say it is petty or useless? Why does that door not swing both ways?

I would like to add that I hope this forum stays around for a long time. It’s the best of its kind.

 

As to the topics a poster chooses to post about or the number of threads a poster starts, my response is twofold. I don’t particularly care about those things. I don’t read or comment in threads that I don’t care about. I don’t think that is a high standard for others to emulate.

 

On the other hand, I do think the content of a poster’s comments plays a part in their credibility on the forum. I’m sure that’s different to everyone. As for me as an example, I would say if you are as likely to criticize Obama’s Opening Day fastball as you are to criticize his foreign policy, then without good evidence and a well reasoned argument your opinion is going to be chalked up to mere derangement rather than substantive criticism. (This wasn’t based on RTS, I’m being generic about Obama)

 

This brings me to something else I would like to add. I think we could all tone down the bickering and stop being so snide to one another. I’m guilty of it myself. But, it doesn’t contribute to any debate or discussion, it simply derails it into a playground shouting match and cements posters into defensive postures. So I would implore us all to drop the insults, turn the other cheek every now and then, and support our arguments with evidence instead of taunts. After all, if you’re right, you should be able to prove it fairly easily, trying to insult the poster instead just means you can’t do that.

Really, can you show me one thread where I have said, "this is a petty or useless, thread". I am sure not, however, if you have the right/ability to post the thread, what do I not have the right/ability to say it is petty or useless? Why does that door not swing both ways?

I'm pretty sure you have in the past, I know you've complained about the amount of Obama threads just like I know you think I hate poor people because I don't like Section Eight Housing.