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"He Still Doesn't Know How to Use a Computer. Can't Send an E-mail..." -- Obama -- muppetmel, 09:29:45 09/17/08 Wed [1]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122149777671437025.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal Online
BEST OF THE WEB TODAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 Obama Needs a Tact Increase His "computer" error continues a troubling pattern.
By JAMES TARANTO
"John McCain is mocked as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate in a television commercial out Friday from Barack Obama as the Democrat begins his sharpest barrage yet on McCain's long Washington career," the Associated Press reports. You can see the ad here. "He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer," the narrator sneers. "Can't send an email."
There's just one problem: As theBoston Globe reported in 2000 (hat tip: Jonah Goldberg), "McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes." Obama presumably did not intend to mock McCain for having his arms repeatedly broken by his communist captors in Vietnam. Chalk it up to carelessness--but it isn't the only example of such carelessness.
Consider the "lipstick on a pig" line last week. True, Obama did not explicitly call Sarah Palin porcine, as we noted Wednesday. It is quite possible his use of the idiom was totally innocent, as he claims. But any sensitive adult should have realized that a reference to a pig in connection with a woman might strike others as unchivalrous or sexist (interesting how much those two categories overlap, but that's a topic for another column).
Blogger "Jim Treacher" compiles a list of other instances in which Obama has acted like--Treacher's word--a "jerk." He leaves out perhaps the costliest example: the New Hampshire debate in which Obama said to Hillary Clinton: "You're likable enough, Hillary." Karl Rove argued that this show of arrogance helped cost Obama the New Hampshire primary.
Does it matter? Remember when President Bush got pilloried when he referred to the war on terror as a "crusade"? He obviously did not mean to suggest that his goal was to impose Christianity on the Muslim world, but his critics were right to be concerned that he might have conveyed the wrong message internationally.
One of Obama's biggest selling points is if we elect him, the world will like America again. He also promises to meet directly, without preconditions, with adversaries of America such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez. It appears that he has a tendency to make foolish and aggressive statements--a weakness that now endangers only his campaign, but that could, if he were president, have serious consequences for U.S. foreign policy.
It is true, as Obama's defenders contend in rather harsher language than is warranted, that the McCain campaign and Obama's critics have interpreted Obama's various miscues in the harshest possible light. But would America's adversaries be any more charitable in responding to the words of a U.S. president?
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Trig's parentage ... -- muppetmel, 09:43:43 09/17/08 Wed [1]
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/17/enough_of_the_palin_feeding_frenzy/
"There has been legitimate criticism, of course. But there has also been a gusher of slander, much of it - like the slur that she isn't the real mother of her infant son, Trig - despicable."
Boston Globe Online
Enough of the Palin feeding frenzy
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / September 17, 2008
IN POLITICS, cheap shots and invective are occupational hazards. But when have we seen anything to match the frenzy of rage and contempt set off by the nomination of Sarah Palin?
Virtually from the moment John McCain selected her, Palin has been under assault. There has been legitimate criticism, of course. But there has also been a gusher of slander, much of it - like the slur that she isn't the real mother of her infant son, Trig - despicable.
For someone who has been in the national spotlight for only three weeks, Palin has been the victim of an astonishing array of falsehoods. Voters have been told that she slashed funding in Alaska for special-needs children. That she tried to ban books from Wasilla's public library. That she was a member of the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party. That she links Saddam Hussein to the attacks of 9/11. That she backed Pat Buchanan for president. That she doesn't want students taught about contraception. That she called the war in Iraq "a task from God." All untrue.
Hillary Clinton's supporters complain that coverage of her campaign was tainted by sexism, such as the Washington Post story that focused on her cleavage, or Mike Barnicle's description of her on MSNBC as "looking like everyone's first wife standing outside a probate court."
Obama too has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous comment - the Fox News segment that captioned a picture of his wife "Obama's Baby Mama," for example, and the infamous New Yorker cover showing the Obamas as terrorists in the Oval Office.
But the left's onslaught against Palin has been of a different order of magnitude.
"Ideologically, she is their hardcore pornographic centerfold spread," columnist Cintra Wilson wrote in Salon. "She's such a power-mad, backwater beauty-pageant casualty, it's easy to write her off and make fun of her. But in reality I feel as horrified as a ghetto Jew watching the rise of National Socialism."
On the website of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commentator Heather Mallick was even cruder. Palin appeals to "the white trash vote" with her "toned-down version of the porn actress look," she wrote. "Husband Todd looks like a roughneck. . . What normal father would want Levi 'I'm a [bleeping] redneck' Johnson prodding his daughter?"
From radio talk-show host Randi Rhodes came the smutty suggestion that the governor of Alaska has an unhealthy interest in teenage boys: "She's friends with all the teenage boys," Rhodes told her audience last week. "You have to say no when your kids say, 'Can we sleep over at the Palins?' No! NO!"
The smears and sneers have been without end. One liberal congressman likened Obama to Jesus - and Palin to Pontius Pilate. A Democratic state chairman declared scornfully that Palin's "primary qualification seems to be that she hasn't had an abortion." A University of Chicago professor seethed: "Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."
The national media, meanwhile, have only further eroded what remained of their reputation for objectivity.
For months they refused to mention the infidelity of John Edwards, yet they leaped with relish onto Bristol Palin's pregnancy. Ravenous for any negative morsel on the GOP running mate, they deployed legions of reporters to Alaska, who have produced such journalism as the 3,220-word exposé in Sunday's New York Times that upon winning office, Palin - gasp! - fired opponents and hired people she trusted.
Yet the more she has been attacked, the more her support has solidified. In the latest Fox News poll, Palin's favorable/unfavorable ratio is a strong 54-27. She is named by 33 percent of respondents as the candidate who "best understands the problems of everyday life in America," more than those naming Obama (32 percent), McCain (17), or Joe Biden (10). Among independent voters, Palin's lead over Obama on this measure widens to 13 points. In a recent Rasmussen poll, 51 percent of voters said the press was trying to hurt Palin through its coverage, versus just 5 percent who thought it was trying to help - a 10-1 disparity.
Millions of Americans, not all of them conservative, instinctively identify with Palin. That is why the left's scorching assault, so ugly and unhinged, is backfiring. The longer it goes on, the more it undermines the Democratic ticket - and the more support it builds for McCain, and his refreshingly normal running mate.
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Vanity UnFair.... -- muppetmel, 09:49:31 09/17/08 Wed [1]
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/09/the-authoritative-trig-palin-conspiracy-time-line.html
Public Affairs
The Authoritative Trig Palin Conspiracy Time Line
by Vanity FairSeptember 5, 2008, 12:20 PM
The McCain campaign won’t countenance it, and Barack Obama has even declared it off-limits, but the question of Trig Palin’s parentage—whether his real mom is Sarah Palin or her five-months pregnant, 17-year-old daughter Bristol—has transfixed the blogosphere. To settle the matter once and for all, VF.com presents this handy timeline juxtaposing both the official narrative and the wingnut conspiracy theories. Vote for the most likely scenario after the jump.
http://mtblog.vanityfair.com/online/politics/Timeline-bottom.gif
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Gif didn't come through, so go to the Vanity Fair website for their .... -- muppetmel, 09:50:33 09/17/08 Wed [1]
... brilliant investigative journalism.
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Last one. Who's minding the website? -- muppetmel, 09:53:00 09/17/08 Wed [1]
August 7, 2008
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71601
Obama can't run a website
Barack Obama's official campaign website includes charming forum postings from the candidate's fans along these lines:
Jews should be "burned" and "thrown in the oven."
Israel murdered 6 million Arabs.
Israel is leading a "Holocaust" against Palestinians.
Jews control American politics.
If you're looking to spew anti-Semitic hate, it would seem Obama's official campaign website is your one-stop shop.
While the campaign refuses to discuss these postings found in a casual perusal of the site by WND, it is worth noting that the policy of the website it to remove offensive content once it is brought to the attention of the site's administrators.
This policy raises several questions for me as an Internet entrepreneur and journalist:
I'm not running for president, just running a large news website, but I wouldn't think of publishing the rantings of the public in an un-moderated forum. If I did, I would expect content like the above to find its way onto the site – if not from WND readers, certainly from those who hate WND.
If I were running for president, I can assure you I would have standards at least as high as I do for WND content – meaning it is reckless and irresponsible to an extreme to permit such racist, hate-filled content to be published.
If the Obama campaign is not getting complaints about this content from its supporters, what does that suggest about the character of its fans?
If Obama can't run a website, how can we expect him to serve as commander in chief?
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I dunno... -- SB, 10:49:06 09/17/08 Wed [1]
James Taranto...Jeff Jacoby...Joseph Farah...really? They are all right wing columnists and WND is a very conservative rag. That would kinda be like providing a fact to prove a liberal point with an article/opinion from the Huffington Post. No credibility. (and anyway, are we to believe vile anonymous blogs on a website are interpreted to be 'O'bama's camp'? Since Obama is popular with the Jewish Community-at least in my area-I'd be more apt to believe it was a troll who want people AGAIN to believe Obama is a Muslim. I know that would not occur to anyone who actually reads wnd, but...)
It's now tabloid politics and has been since the RNC. I think it was fairly respectable before that. That's what America seems to like and want. They may as well not even discuss the issues anymore. Just mock outrage at the dirt and whatever he said/she said. Pathetic.
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Umm... -- muppetmel, 10:58:13 09/17/08 Wed [1]
I'd be more apt to believe it was a troll who want people AGAIN to believe Obama is a Muslim.
Why wasn't it taken down?
I know that would not occur to anyone who actually reads wnd, but...
SB, I'm sorry you feel the need to do that. *sigh*
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For those who don't like the sources.... -- muppetmel, 11:00:06 09/17/08 Wed [1]
I'll reiterate the one from Associated Press:
http://www.macleans.ca/world/wire/article.jsp?content=w091227A
Obama mocks McCain as out-of-date computer illiterate in new commercial
September 12, 2008 - 8:02
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Most reasonable people know this ad is no worse than McCain's ads.. -- SB, 11:07:33 09/17/08 Wed [1]
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Last time I looked... -- scooter, 11:39:07 09/17/08 Wed [1]
there were worst things than calling someone computer illiterate.
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Feel the need to do what...exactly? -- SB, 11:02:27 09/17/08 Wed [1]
My meaning was simple......to a conservative reader of course they would want to think the worst of Obama.
Jeez Louise.
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Re: Feel the need to do what...exactly? -- muppetmel, 12:23:17 09/17/08 Wed [1]
... kind of like a liberal might think when they read Kos or Huffington.
I'll just remind you what I said very high up on this discussion thread:
Date Posted: 07:29:56 09/17/08 Wed
Author: muppetmel
Subject: Spoken like a true ...
In reply to: scooter 's message, "I have no idea what you're talking about..." on 06:59:30 09/17/08 Wed
... and loyal Obama supporter. Personally, I'm more willing to believe the folks who acknowledge both sides have gotten pretty down and dirty in this campaign.
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Muppy, you know I love you -- Carrie, 14:45:54 09/18/08 Thu [1]
But a lot of the articles you posted were from other people, not officially Obama or anyone in his camp, saying these things about McCain or Pallin. I give you the computer thing, because that came from an actual Obama ad, but the other stuff didn't seem to come from Obama.
As for the message board stuff, wasn't that slinging the same mud that McCain supporters are complaining about? "If Obama can't run a website, how can we expect him to serve as commander in chief?" I don't know if that was you or from the website you were quoting from, but I think it's pretty similar to the "McCain doesn't know how to use a computer" stuff.
I also wouldn't take anything I read on Obama's message board as an indication of how or what his supporters believe. You know how it can be when trolls come around and drag everyone down in the mud with them. Ignoring them might be the best way to handle it-- and not removing the posts might save Obama from claims of censorship.
Neither side is perfect and they both have their good points. As for me, though, I'm voting Obama because I have absolutely no faith in John McCain, especially after his pick for VP. Regardless of anything going on in her personal life, which isn't relevant and people should just shut it about that already, but I would not want her to be so close to the presidency.
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From the Boston Globe -- scooter, 10:23:17 09/17/08 Wed [1]
The McCain campaign itself did not take issue with the Obama ad, and spokesmen for the Arizona senator did not return calls seeking comment.
McCain, who has referred to himself as a computer "illiterate," has never cited his war injuries as the reason why he doesn't use e-mail or never learned other computer skills.
For example, when asked by Politico.com earlier this year what type of computer he uses, McCain responded: "I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all the assistance that I can get." In other interviews, he has said he never saw the need to use e-mail because of his staff support.
Earlier, in a March 2006 interview with Fortune magazine, McCain said his work style didn't require computer usage. But he did not cite his injuries.
"I read my e-mails, but I don't write any," McCain said. "I'm a Neanderthal - I don't even type. I do have rudimentary capabilities to call up some websites, like the New York Times online, that sort of stuff. No laptop. No PalmPilot. I prefer my schedule on notecards, which I keep in my jacket pocket."
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Associated Press via Maclean's -- muppetmel, 10:38:33 09/17/08 Wed [1]
http://www.macleans.ca/world/wire/article.jsp?content=w091227A
Obama mocks McCain as out-of-date computer illiterate in new commercial
September 12, 2008 - 8:02
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - John McCain is mocked as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate in a television commercial out Friday from Barack Obama as the Democrat begins his sharpest barrage yet on McCain's long Washington career.
The new fighting spirit comes as McCain has been gaining in the polls and some Democrats have been expressing concern the Obama campaign has not been aggressive enough. Obama's campaign says the escalation will involve advertising and pushes made by the candidate, running mate Joe Biden and other surrogates across the country.
"Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says in a campaign strategy memo. "We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people."
The newest ad showcasing their hard line includes unflattering footage of McCain at a hearing in the early '80s, wearing giant glasses and an out-of-style suit, interspersed with shots of a disco ball, a clunky phone, an outdated computer and a Rubik's Cube.
"1982, John McCain goes to Washington," an announcer says over chirpy elevator music. "Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't.
"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an email, still doesn't understand the economy, and favours two hundred billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class," it says. It shows video of McCain getting out of a golf cart with former president George H.W. Bush and closes with a photo of him standing with the current President George W. Bush at the White House. "After one president who was out of touch, we just can't afford more of the same."
Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said the campaign was not making an issue of the 72-year-old McCain's age, but the time he's spent in Washington.
McCain has said he relies on his wife and staff to work the computer for him and that he doesn't use email.
The ad is being coupled with another positive spot that highlights Obama's change message, arguing he will provide better health care and tax breaks and bring people together.
A spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Alex Conant, accused Obama of "trying to destroy" McCain and running mate Sarah Palin with personal attacks.
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Well since the article mentions the lipstick and pigs thing, I have to point -- LAwoman, 13:58:45 09/17/08 Wed [1]
out that it is not the first time that comment has been used, and repeatedly, about Hilary?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR8IhMMhe8w
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Your examples ..... -- scooter, 10:25:49 09/17/08 Wed [1]
do NOT come from the Obama campaign. PLEASE don't conflate what Obama says with bloggers and anonymous comments on websites.
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Bad manners are bad manners -- muppetmel, 10:39:33 09/17/08 Wed [1]
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LOL Mupps! -- Jeannine, 10:35:14 09/17/08 Wed [1]
wow, you must have had to research for HOURS to find the OBSCURE references above!
I think what all this comes down to is a basic difference in culture and values.
Keep in mind that these are the people that chose Mr. "Barak is clean and articulate" Biden for VP. They pretend to be unaware that McCain's inability to email is not due to senility, but due to years of torture. These are people that think it is okay that their candidate for President has no problem with letting the survivor of a late term abortion die abandoned and alone. They hate Rush Limbaugh but think Keith Olberman is a smart, savvy guy. They don't acknowledge that media smears and talking heads are surrogates for their campaign, but blame Karl Rove for everything that is negative from the GOP side. They decry Sarah's religion but are okay with Rev Wright and his hatred of whites. "He didn't mean to call Palin a pig" but McCain wants to stay in Iraq 100 years. Everything bad is the republicans fault, all good flows from the democrats. All the current economic woes are the replublicans fault ---but the culpability of Jamie Gorelick, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank re: Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae is overlooked.
Liberals have no idea how fed up with this behavior the majority of people are. They think that the Huffington Post and Daily Kos represent America. They are wrong. They think we are stupid for not believing like they do. They are wrong again. The Palinophobia on the left is at manic proportions - what does that tell you?
Might as well laugh, you know?
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Well ... -- muppetmel, 10:44:43 09/17/08 Wed [1]
... you can laugh --- all the way to the voting polls. I think the bottom line is, on Election Day, we'll see who's strategy worked best. My bet is on McPOW-Barracuda.
"Canadians for McCain-Palin"
And for anyone who wants to tell me I should butt out of your election because I'm Canadian, let me say the following:
1. My husband is a U.S. citizen and can vote.
2. He also is solidly behind McCain-Palin.
3. As a citizen of the world, I say, what happens with the U.S. election is critical and that is why I am keenly following this.
4. I'm off to stump for Stephen Harper's Conservatives for the October 14 Canadian elections.
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P.S. babe... -- muppetmel, 10:47:21 09/17/08 Wed [1]
... it didn't take long at all. Firstly, it's all over the "internets." Secondly, I know where all the happening discussions are going on. Whoowhee, people need to learn to behave!
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As usual... -- scooter, 10:51:50 09/17/08 Wed [1]
you don't let facts get in the way. Right wing editorials and anonymous comments are NOT facts. I could get a thousand examples of hateful, racist anti-Obama quotes from the internet. What would it prove? My original post was about the official Obama campaign and what THEY were saying, not what every nutjob posting comments on political websites were saying.
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Link -- muppetmel, 11:00:34 09/17/08 Wed [1]
http://www.voy.com/212585/547.html
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This is getting ridiculous.... -- scooter, 11:09:27 09/17/08 Wed [1]
show me a quote from John McCain (not one of his surrogates) where he says he cannot use a computer due to his war injuries.
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You don't think.... -- muppetmel, 12:19:10 09/17/08 Wed [1]
... "Teleprompter" Obama gets help with his talking points? Then you're extremely naive.
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Re: You don't think.... -- JosieJ, 19:47:26 09/17/08 Wed [1]
Wow. What does that have to do with John McCain claiming that he cannot use a computer due to his injuries. People needing to behave? I'm sorry, but I didn't see any condescending or name calling start until this thread, and I'm really only seeing it from one poster. "you should say please" "bad manners" "people need to learn to behave" "extremely naive" "Good luck with your great country"
I have not seen a truly negative ad from either side to this point. Disagreement on policy issues, and probably some statistic-bending spin, but there has really been no mudslinging between Obama and/or McCain, and I give them credit for that. I'm not naive enough to think that some of the sillines that has just not come out of their mouths couldn't have come from some of their supporters, but the two of them on their own have really behaved pretty respectfully themselves. "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear" - A little critical thinking for yourselves is a GOOD thing!
This may be a VERY broad generalization, but this kind of behavior almost makes me want to believe what Janeane Garofalo has to say about a minute into the below clip. And unfortunately it's been demonstrated in living color here.
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Josie, may I suggest that before you hold up the wisdom of Janeane Garafolo -- Jeannine, 05:40:44 09/18/08 Thu [1]
you look at her history - and the rest of the clip. About one minute in she says that Democrats are nicer than Republicans. I know that is your point. What about the part, later in the clip, where she says it would be great to put all Republicans should be in jail? That is wisdom? NO.
She, along with Maher, are part of EXACTLY what I was talking about. Oh so smart, oh so smug and oh so above us dumb republicans. Using her words to chastise conservatives is about as effect as if I posted a clip of Rush Limbaugh chastising the left.
There is a long history on this board. Sometimes emotions run high - that is the reason we have this board, to keep it off the main board. People get angry and post how they feel. If you don't parse what is said, you will also see people explain what they meant, calm down, and get back to the point they wanted to make.
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Re: Josie, may I suggest that before you hold up the wisdom of Janeane Garafolo -- JosieJ, 18:09:13 09/18/08 Thu [1]
First of all, it was VERY obvious that her crack about putting Republicans in jail was a JOKE. She's not only an occasional panelist on this show, but remember, she started as a stand-up comedienne.
I also said it ALMOST made me want to believe that. The love of my life is a full-blown Republican. He is a gentle soul who has never chastised my manners or condescended to me, nor I to him. No matter what happens in the election, he is who I am growing old with. There's a difference between a reasonable discussion, which, Jeannine, you and I have enjoyed a number of (and I hope to continue to!), and a passive-aggressive display of disrespect as I have seen.
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and that would accomplish what? -- Jeannine, 11:40:14 09/17/08 Wed [1]
absolutely nothing. Waste of time and effort.
I have wondered for a long time... what is your screen name at HuffPo, Scooter? I am dying to read what you have to say there. Just wonder how it CONFLATES with what you post here.
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Well, it would prove your argument... -- scooter, 11:47:45 09/17/08 Wed [1]
but since you can't do that, you decide to attack me personally.
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