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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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 Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:33 am Post subject: Guam might tip over and capsize ... |
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Now here's a real sharpie, US congressman, asking a general if the addition of 8,000 US troops and their families to Guam might not cause the island to tip over and capsize, as Guam is so small. Notice that he has trouble coming up with the word "wide" when discussing the size of the island, then uses the phrase "least widest."
It's guys this dumb that have given us National Socialist Health Care ... yeah Dumocrats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsFsn8ekyhw&feature=player_embedded# |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:46 am Post subject: |
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| I wonder how he would explain how Manhattan has escaped that fate. |
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Marc Ravalomanana
Joined: 15 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:37 am Post subject: |
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Wow, just wow. This guy is SERIOUSLY cognitively impaired.
I wonder about the etiology of such a subnormal intellect. Head trauma? Malnutrition? Drug abuse? A combination of one or more of the above? |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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| He's buddhist! In the Soka Gakkai sect. Ha ha ha, that's great. |
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chickenpie
Joined: 24 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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Jesus Christ where do you Americans get your politicians from?
George Bush and now this shiit....
What a fecked up country.  |
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Senior
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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Why didn't the General tell him to stfu? Theres no way I would put up with this type of idiocy.
Not to defend Bush, but the dumb guy shtick was an act(I don't know what the motivations were). Look at videos of him from the early 90s and he speaks at length on issues without any of the trademark tics and idiosyncratic language that would characterize him during the presidency. |
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Gillian57
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Senior wrote: |
Why didn't the General tell him to stfu? Theres no way I would put up with this type of idiocy.
Not to defend Bush, but the dumb guy shtick was an act(I don't know what the motivations were). Look at videos of him from the early 90s and he speaks at length on issues without any of the trademark tics and idiosyncratic language that would characterize him during the presidency. |
Wasn't that when he was still drinking and using? Perhaps all that self-medication assisted in his cognitive abilities, or perhaps it just fried his brains, like eggs in a vat of oil.
As for the retarded congressman, perhaps HE is the reason for the "No child left behind" movement in the public schools. Alas, too little, too late. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Johnson graduated from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) in 1976, was a member of Omega Psi Phi Kappa Alpha Alpha Chapter, Decatur, GA, and Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston in 1979; he practiced law in Decatur, Georgia for more than 25 years. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Johnson#Personal_life |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Senior wrote: |
Why didn't the General tell him to stfu? Theres no way I would put up with this type of idiocy.
Not to defend Bush, but the dumb guy shtick was an act(I don't know what the motivations were). Look at videos of him from the early 90s and he speaks at length on issues without any of the trademark tics and idiosyncratic language that would characterize him during the presidency. |
No, he's an idiot. Really. Ok, not an idiot, but as anti-intellectual as you can get. post any of those videos 'cause otherwise I'm calling BS on that one. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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He tried to excuse himself by saying he was speaking metaphorically about the Guam infrastructure and ecology ...
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| "The subtle humor of this obviously metaphorical reference to a ship capsizing illustrated my concern about the impact of the planned military buildup on this small tropical island." |
... but that's pretty hard to believe, given how much time he spent talking about the physical dimensions of the island, especially given he accompanied it with a hand gesture indicative of physically tipping over.
He should simply have admitted he spoke in error.
| Senior wrote: |
| Why didn't the General tell him to stfu? Theres no way I would put up with this type of idiocy. |
Some decorum is generally expected in events of this nature. I think the admiral handled it very professionally. |
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jaykimf
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
He tried to excuse himself by saying he was speaking metaphorically about the Guam infrastructure and ecology ...
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| "The subtle humor of this obviously metaphorical reference to a ship capsizing illustrated my concern about the impact of the planned military buildup on this small tropical island." |
... but that's pretty hard to believe, . |
I'd say it was a lot easier to believe that than to believe he actually thought the island would really tip over. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| jaykimf wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
He tried to excuse himself by saying he was speaking metaphorically about the Guam infrastructure and ecology ...
| Quote: |
| "The subtle humor of this obviously metaphorical reference to a ship capsizing illustrated my concern about the impact of the planned military buildup on this small tropical island." |
... but that's pretty hard to believe, . |
I'd say it was a lot easier to believe that than to believe he actually thought the island would really tip over. |
I don't think he really, on a day to day basis, believes islands can tip over due to being over-populated. However, given the way he was articulating himself in, it seemed to me that he was trying to think of potential reasons why moving those troops to Guam would be a bad idea, but was kind of struggling to do so. It's conceivable to me that as he struggled, something rather silly could just pop out. It happens; people just say silly things sometimes without fully thinking them through. |
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Senior
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| Senior wrote: |
Why didn't the General tell him to stfu? Theres no way I would put up with this type of idiocy.
Not to defend Bush, but the dumb guy shtick was an act(I don't know what the motivations were). Look at videos of him from the early 90s and he speaks at length on issues without any of the trademark tics and idiosyncratic language that would characterize him during the presidency. |
No, he's an idiot. Really. Ok, not an idiot, but as anti-intellectual as you can get. post any of those videos 'cause otherwise I'm calling BS on that one. |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z12lrlNsjgQ
Here is on that claims he developed dementia during his presidency. I'm trying to find just some raw footage from the 90s of him speaking. |
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hellofaniceguy
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: On your computer screen!
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| Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 2:37 am Post subject: |
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The 8 thousand he was talking about does not include family members, support staff, workers, etc who will also move to Guam....the island just might tip over!
A construction company is now building a 20 thousand bed housing complex for migrant workers who are coming to Guam for the build up! 20 thousand more people! |
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jaykimf
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:52 am Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
| jaykimf wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
He tried to excuse himself by saying he was speaking metaphorically about the Guam infrastructure and ecology ...
| Quote: |
| "The subtle humor of this obviously metaphorical reference to a ship capsizing illustrated my concern about the impact of the planned military buildup on this small tropical island." |
... but that's pretty hard to believe, . |
I'd say it was a lot easier to believe that than to believe he actually thought the island would really tip over. |
I don't think he really, on a day to day basis, believes islands can tip over due to being over-populated. However, given the way he was articulating himself in, it seemed to me that he was trying to think of potential reasons why moving those troops to Guam would be a bad idea, but was kind of struggling to do so. It's conceivable to me that as he struggled, something rather silly could just pop out. It happens; people just say silly things sometimes without fully thinking them through. |
"Johnson�s office told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Congressman is known for his �deadpan� delivery and that he was using a �facetious metaphor.�
Later, in response to questions asking if the video was an April Fool�s joke, Johnson issued a formal response to his �tipping over� comment:
�I wasn�t suggesting that the island of Guam would literally tip over,� said Johnson. �I was using a metaphor to say that with the addition of 8,000 Marines and their dependents � an additional 80,000 people during peak construction to the port on the tiny island with a population of 180,000 � could be a tipping point which would adversely affect the island�s fragile ecosystem and over burden its already overstressed infrastructure." http://chattahbox.com/us/2010/04/01/april-fools-joke-congressman-fears-island-of-guam-would-capsize/
Apparently a deadpan facetious metaphor is a little too sophisticated for some people.
"Literal and figurative language is a distinction in traditional systems for analyzing language. Literal language refers to words that do not deviate from their defined meaning. Figurative language refers to words, and groups of words, that exaggerate or alter the usual meanings of the component words. Figurative language may involve analogy to similar concepts or other contexts, and may involve exaggerations. These alterations result in figures of speech. In traditional analysis, words in literal expressions denote what they mean according to common or dictionary usage, while the words in figurative expressions connote�they add layers of meaning. To convert an utterance into meaning, the human mind requires a cognitive framework, made up of memories of all the possible meanings that might be available to apply to the particular words in their context. This set of memories will give prominence to the most common or literal meanings, but also suggest reasons for attributing different meanings, e.g., the reader understands that the author intended it to mean something different.
For example, the sentence, "The Ground is thirsty", is partly figurative. "Ground" has a literal meaning, but the ground is not alive and therefore neither needs to drink nor feels thirst. Readers immediately reject a literal interpretation and confidently interpret the words to mean "The ground is dry," an analogy to the condition that would trigger thirst in an animal." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literal_and_figurative_language
"A figure of speech is a use of a word that diverges from its normal meaning,[citation needed] or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it such as a metaphor, simile, or personification.[citation needed] Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity between literal and figurative interpretation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech |
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