Model This!

On 5/4/2008 7:21 PM P. Roehling spake thus:

So what prompted this (flag flying from loco)? Did U.P. just write a check to the McCain campaign?

"David Nebenzahl" wrote

Inconsiderate of me, I know; but somehow it never occurred to me to stop an

8,000 ton freight train so that I could grill the engineer about why he had a flag (horrors!) attached to his locomotive. (There's probably a dark motive in there somewhere though, because there were *three* guys visible in the cab, which we all know amounts to a vast right-wing conspiracy.)

Probably a cabal of homophobic, racist, Nazi, neo-con-cult-member, nude sky-divers on their way to nuke the nearest whale in a Redwood forest: exactly the sorts of un-American losers we all associate with displaying the flag.

Or, it might be a case of simple patriotism.

On 5/4/2008 11:29 PM P. Roehling spake thus:

Hey, I was just askin' ...

A thing that is in ill repute after the past 8 years of draft-dodging chickenhawks accusing the sensible few who spoke out against their plans for the Great NeoCon New American Century War to Promote Democracy and Cheap Oil of being unpatriotic, if not outright fellow travelers of the vast Left Wing - Islamo-Fascist Alliance*.

• yeah, I know that sounds nuts, but creeps like David Horowitz are still raking in tinfoil hat Republican cash from it - I saw him pimping his new book "Party of Defeat" on CSPAN the other day.

"Steve Caple" wrote

It's only in ill-repute with people who don't understand that right-wing fanaticism is no more "patriotic" than is left-wing fanaticism. (All fanatics have this in common: they truly believe that there is only *one* correct philosophy; and it's *their* philosophy, and that anyone who disagrees with them in any way is the enemy.)

Despite their twisted logic, flying a flag with no visible political agenda attached isn't a statement of right-wing allegiance. It's apolitical.

-Pete

No. It's just something only the overly patriotic Americans do. :-)

Other nations demonstrate more restraint in their patriotism.

-- Cheers

Roger T. Home of the Great Eastern Railway at:-

48° 25' North Longitude: 123° 21' West

How about flying it upsode down? Our ship of state is damn sure in distress.

On 5/5/2008 12:23 PM P. Roehling spake thus:

Well, we really have no way of knowing that, do we? I mean, who ordered that the flag be flown? Probably not the engineer, conductor or fireman on the train, I'd guess. Which leaves someone higher up at UP. So I have no idea who was making a "statement", if any, or what that statement was.

Anyhow, don't stop trainwatching on our account. I liked your previous report on the warehouse facility.

On 5/5/2008 12:49 PM Roger T. spake thus:

Mostly. Certainly not China, judging from what I saw when I went to the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco and saw the thousands of Chinese folks all waving the same banners, flags and giant stuffed animals, all courtesy of the Chinese consulate there to counteract the "Tibetan propaganda".

But we (USAns) do tend to go waaaay overboard on the patriotism bit, I agree.

Now that's ridiculous. Nude skydivers would be voting Democrat, since the Republicans are anti freedom.....

mark "actually, my wife *is* a naturist, and it would be worth serious hospital time to call her a Republican...."

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." --Samuel Johnson.

mark "not wearing any flag pin... esp. those Really Patriotic ones made in China"

"mark" wrote

Uh, maybe I'm jumping to the wrong conclusion, but perhaps -just *perhaps*- you failed to turn on your irony detector before reading the paragraph above?

Oh, I've got nothing against nudity.

In fact, that's the problem.

-Pete

On 5/7/2008 12:11 AM P. Roehling spake thus:

Or perhaps yours failed when you wrote your reply.

"David Nebenzahl" wrote

David, you wouldn't know an ironic exchange if it bit you in the ass.

We're both kidding. And we both know it.

Too bad about you.

Only problem with nudity is that there isn't enough of it.

Try a Floriduhh beach, there's too much bare skin!

On 5/7/2008 7:41 PM Greg Procter spake thus:

I'm surprised at you, Greg; there's much more skin at any Yurpeen beach.

I've only been to Europe to look at model trains/shops - they have beaches?

Greg.P.

"Rick Jones" wrote

Well, each of us has only just so much nudity to offer the world, and in my experience the people who have the most to offer are in fact the ones you'd most likely rather not see.

-Pete