No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned. Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions. Mmm. Mmmmmmmm.
Posted on 05/18/2005 5:56:39 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Yeah, they're called neo-cons... the "jackasses" of the Republican Party.
It makes perfect sense; heck, it's in keeping with the neo-conservative ideal of an American Empire of which "The Weekly Standard" is the official mouthpiece. They're very honest and upfront about their desires.
Apart from their stance on most social issues, I find myself increasingly identifying with a libertarian stance, at least philosophically.
No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned. Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions. Mmm. Mmmmmmmm.
LOL... no arguing with that. Touche.
Aw, c'mon, man. It's just a movie.
But I have to admit I would sometimes prefer an Empire to what we have now, a half-ass socialist bureaucracy. At least an Empire is honest about its expansion. The EU and DC minions are simply fooling enough of the people all of the time now.
That said, I know full well that when that day comes, I'll be on the 'encase in carbonite' list.
So you want a full assed socialist bureaucracy? Which is what empires need to thrive on.
Not necessarily. The Mongols had a pretty simple 'bureaucratic' system: leave the current bureaucrats and rulers in place, demand a $#!#load of tribute.
Doesn't add anything, really, to the bureaucracy, except a layer of tribute. Which is just another tax.
Not that I want ANY bureaucracy in place, mind you.
PLEASE! Some people need to quit trying to sound so smart - it's not working! Iraq is not under imperial American control, any more than Germany or Japan. Or Cuba, for that matter.
What was called imperialism under (Republican) President McKinley over a century ago was later called Wilsonian Democracy (named for Democratic President Wilson). Neither description is accurate.
President Theodore Roosevelt got it right when he called the world America's 'new frontier.' It was this vision that realized a 'Great White Fleet' to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to bring the blessings of the American Way (the liberal Western political and cultural tradition) to those without.
We can argue about whether this vision and actions in accord with it are condescending. However, no one can seriously argue that oppression is intended when we try to help other countries out of their problems. Real conservatives know this.
Me too. Two guys to run the Galaxy? Now that's smaller government!
To: Destro
Keeping in mind that Anakin/Vader, from the very beginning, was Lucas's vision of a masculine type once abundant in this country that his hippy, leftist values obviously led him to disdain--resolute, ruthless in battle, determined in war, contemptuous of what he saw as the enemies of the society he wished to maintain--I'm really looking forward to this movie.
In the context of the times (1970's), Anakin/Vader was the ultimate "Hard Hat"--and the perfect metaphor for the leader of the "silent majority," a la Richard Nixon, that represented the forceful (and, yes, sometimes angry) backlash against the so-called "Counterculture" (who were always a tiny minority made up of malcontents, mindless screamers, incipient terrorists, and other assorted scum) and their enthusiastic boosters in the mainstream liberal media.
Many of us understood this immediately, and instinctively, back in 1977 when that first massive Star Destroyer--spitting laser bolts and brooking no further argument--filled the screen and the magic commenced; that's why a good many of us rooted for the Stormtroopers. Underneath those white helmets, many of us accurately speculated, lurked the ghost of the kid down the street who'd done his duty in Vietnam and returned to be spit on by leftists; and those doing the spitting, we again accurately surmised, where the "heroes" of the "Rebellion": Lucas didn't fool us from the git-go. I, for one, groaned while others in the theater cheered when the first Death Star exploded in Episode IV. I didn't fully understand why, at the time. I do now.
But neither did we turn away from that magic; we just took the side that Lucas disdained in his epic, and have been cheering it ever since. This is the real reason Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back, was and remains the most popular film in the franchise to date. Art has a funny way of backfiring on its creators that way when the tale told is compelling and powerful, but the vision behind it is blurred.
Anyway, enough of this high falutin' talk; suffice it to say that I was the only kid in my middle school who went to his 1978 Halloween Party fitted out as an Imperial Stormtrooper--and that outfit got the loudest cheers and most intense attention among any of my peers, particularly from the girls I was keen to impress at the time...
Long Live the Empire.
261 posted on 05/17/2005 6:20:40 AM EDT by A Jovial Cad
To: A Jovial Cad
I was very young at the time and I saw the Stormtroopers as robots not people - I guess I got it right because they were clones - non individuals. Soviet like.
The kid from the small town wanting to go to the military was Luke Skywalker - who was not a hippie nor was Han Solo a hippie nor was Obi Wan who kicked ass. The Jedis in fact are much like the Templar Knight warrior monks.
It is kind of funny to read your statement because it shows you have no conception of what it is to be in the spirit of the Founding Fathers who wanted a small standing army and hated militarisim like they found in their Hessian enemies.
What you are is in fact a Statist and what you mistake as patriotisim is in fact Statisim. That is not being a Conservative in the tradition of the Founding Fathers.
You need to repent and convert.
262 posted on 05/17/2005 9:16:40 AM EDT by Destro
To: Destro
Oh, for cryin' friggin out loud, it was just a movie after all.
And as for that bit about "mistaking" patriotism for statism, I need no lectures in patriotism from a keyboard coward such as yourself, who probably never served a day in uniform in his pathetic, pasty-faced life.
270 posted on 05/17/2005 1:05:34 PM EDT by A Jovial Cad
To: A Jovial Cad
and Hitler was a war hero.
271 posted on 05/17/2005 1:14:18 PM EDT by Destro
You ever play, "Knights of the old Republic II"?
I have yet to see any of the Star Wars movies. Who cares ?
No, I haven't. But I have a fairly decent collection of Darth Vader memorabilia going back to '77.
"The mass-extinction event at Endor is an inevitable physical consequence of the circumstances at the end of Return of the Jedi."
"Antilles found several stuffed ewok specimens on display with a note that the innocent creatures had been made extinct on their native world through the actions of rebels. Though unwelcome news to members of the squadron which detonated the battle station, this report appears to be objectively true. The museum display provides satisfying corroboration for the realistic fate of the ewoks."
"From the Imperial point of view, the holocaust at Endor was an act of reckless ecological vandalism by wild political fanatics. For the Rebel Alliance, the devastation was an unfortunate side-effect of the necessary destruction of a war-machine which was poised to deliver worse destruction throughout the civilised galaxy."
If you do, always play the dark side. My son was playing light side combatting the Sith. When he finally assembled the council they tried to strip him of all his force connection As punishment for disobeying the Jedi council. He butchered them for their betrayal and played Dark Side ever since.
That should help some of the Senate Democraps - TURN PURPLE with RAGE, LOL!
He'll do. Went to my Law School, Fordham, along with John Mitchell (different year). Our guys don't flip you in, like Dean did(Georgetown?)
bttt
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