R22 Discussion Group

Listen to this - (just released so the MSM hasn't digested it yet)

Robert,
Thanks for coming out of the closet. Now would be a good time to duck out  of 
site because I'm sure the barrage is soon to follow.

Rummy

In a message dated 11/2/2008 11:12:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
infoman at mindspring.com writes:

Sigh....  I guess I must break my vow to myself to not stick my  toe in this 
political quagmire.

First a small bio - I am a medal  winning veteran, ivy league educated 
retired systems analyst (banking),  owner of a GB modified Starwind 19 with a 
Rhodes 22 in mast main purchased  from Stan, and considered by most of my 
friends to be a  conservative.  I took the political test and showed scored 
as a  moderate fiscal conservative and a moderate social liberal.  I hate  
party labels but if I was pressed I can best stomach being called a  
libertarian.  I have voted in every presidential election but either  against 
a candidate or writing in someone (one election I wrote in Colin  Powell for 
president).

I will make six points and disappear  again.

1.  I will defend anyone's right to vote, promote,  proselytize and work for, 
and donate to any candidate they wish.  I  do not defend the right to 
innuendo, falsehoods, scare tactics, and guilt  by association.

2. As a system analyst I had intimate knowledge of  credit and debit 
authorization systems.  Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and  Discover all have 
various levels of fees for their services depending on  the level of 
validation that is done at the time of information  collected.  What the 
Obama site is doing is not illegal.  What  you testers are doing by inputting 
false information most likely is  illegal.

3.  Brad, you keep hammering on the withheld video tape  of Obama at the 2003 
party for the Palestine-American Columbia University  professor Rashid 
Khalidi.  Perhaps you should also note that the  Center for Palestine 
Research and Studies that Rashid Khalidi helped found  received at least 
$448,000.00 from an organization who has John McCain as  a chairman.  I leave 
the reader to decide which is more  relevant.

4.  This latest youtube (no video is telling) is out of  context as usual. 
The full context shows that the statement was about the  fact that there was 
no need to pass laws forcing emission standards or  carbon sequestration 
standards because if a coal plant was built without  them, it would bankrupt 
itself if the cap and trade was in  place.

5.  To me, a microcosm of the election is the analysis of  Iran.  Obama says 
he would sit down with leaders with no  preconditions.  McCain and Palin 
laugh at this though it is a  recommendation of many world leaders and 
bipartisan think tanks.
Palin  sneers at sitting down with President Ahmadinejad of Iran.  Obama  
correctly notes that the president is not the ultimate leader of Iran but  
more of a figurehead; he would sit down with the Supreme Leader Ali  
Khamene'i.  I would also note the success of the "surge" in Iraq owes  much 
to the Anbar Awakening alliance with Sunni tribal  sheiks.

6.  This is opinion: Obama is the first candidate of a  major party I will 
actively vote for.  I feel McCain is past his  prime and careful examination 
of his speech patterns indicate beginnings  of mental decline.  I would 
prefer that no one with a temper like his  be anywhere near the "button". 
Please note if Hilary was the nominee I  would have been forced to vote for 
McCain against her.
My take is that  the way the Obama campaign has been organized and run is the 
best  indication of his organizational skills and intelligence.  I also have  
enough belief in the inherent honesty and goodness of most people that if  
there was the vast socialist, communist,  Islamic, left wing  conspiracy that 
the McCain supporters postulate it would truly have  surfaced.  The law of 
Occam's razor applies.

If I wanted to do  innuendo I would ask this:  how do we know that McCain 
isn't a  Manchurian candidate?  Was he brainwashed in a communist prison? 
No,  I don't believe this, but that accusation is about as probable as most 
of  those leveled against Obama.

All right, have at me.  I return to  lurking as I seem to have much less free 
time than most of the serial  posters here even though I am retired.  By the 
way, I have never  searched youtube or other sites at all, much less with the 
frequency  demonstrated here.

Final note - I am aware that the mainstream media  has its own agenda.  I am 
also aware of incidents and associations in  McCain's past that have been 
made available to the public that have not  been exploited by the MSM or the 
democratic party that to me are equal to  those that the republicans are 
excoriating Obama for.  To me, they  almost all are irrelevant.

I am sorry to have violated my promise to  myself not to post, but will 
assure you this is the last before the  election.  I truly believe that 
electing Obama has a chance to  restore the United States diplomatic status 
and moral authority in much of  the world.

Robert J. Nickerson
Colchester, Vermont

-----  Original Message ----- 
From: "Brad Haslett"  <flybrad at gmail.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List"  <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 8:50  AM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Politics - It Will Bankrupt  Them!

The Rhodes 22 Discussion Group

R22RumRunner at aol.com

Politics - It Will Bankrupt polluters!