[merylsilverburg]

Originally Posted by Redpyramidhead

Well, I am guilty of stating the obvious, apparently. I just tend to feel that even though something may be common knowledge at this point in time to politically aware people, it is still ok to bring it up in order to illustrate a point.

Yes, it's fine for you to state the obvious to inform people or to bring it up to illustrate a point. I never said you were wrong in this. But the only reason why I said in my prior post that "false patriotism and nationalist propaganda was nothing new for this country" was because of the way you seemed so stunned at the fact that the voting was lost only by 1 vote. It just seemed like you weren't expecting the government to be so swayed or brainwashed like that for such an outcome to happen (and again, no offense, but you don't have to be "politically aware" in order to "see" this). That's why I only merely commented (not to offend, as I said in my earlier post) that this news wasn't anything new and the results of the loss of vote by 1 wasn't such a revelation.

Originally Posted by Redpyramidhead

It seems that every now and then I am fighting a losing battle when it comes to expressing my thoughts and ideas because my somewhat heated nature of debating a topic is often interpreted as hostile or overly agressive. This way of speaking may work better in a forum (whether in person or online) where people are more used to heated political or social debates debates, but tends to offend in a forum like this one.

Well these forums are originally a gaming forum not a political one, so yeah, maybe some of us aren't used to or prepared to handle comments that work better in a political setting. I, for one, have never been to a political forum or gotten caught in a political debate nor do I want to because I am not so politically aggressive.

Originally Posted by Redpyramidhead

I apologize if you felt personally attacked, but I was just expressing my views. I did this by targeting it towards a specific audience, which would be anybody I felt is too comfortable with the fact this issue is going on. That is my opinion. Not fact. Because it is only my opinion, I don't think you should have to feel personally insulted by what I said. I was not saying that you personally would be ok with infractions upon the first amendment. I was only referring to what I feel is the larger issue at hand.

Well if you are so accepting of opinions then you wouldn't respond to Infernal's post with "Only in America would somebody not look at the numbers and not care what it meant." Infernal not seeing the big deal of the 1 vote is still his opinion/views...he doesn't see the big deal, that's his opinion. You personally are so infuriated by this outcome but I don't see Infernal replying "Why are you getting so hellbent over this? Are you an all-America lover and you love the government that much?" He wasn't stamping on your opinions or how you felt.

And later you say "But then again, maybe you are for such a thing. Maybe you are for infringing upon the 1st Amendment." I don't believe Infernal declared this or gave any impression that he is totally for people to step all over the First Amendment. Maybe he just feels that there are other bigger problems for the Senate to handle other than this issue. And, IMO, I can't help but feel this problem is just an excuse for the Senate not to take care of the other important issues at hand. It's like they're coming up with stupid little things to keep the US minds off of what really matters. I mean, it's even possible that the 1 vote thing was fixed in order to get people talking about "how close" it was and make a big deal out of it. Maybe this is jumping to extremes, but everything is like a big drama reality show now, so it wouldn't surprise me.

EDIT: By the way, RobHardo, how...did...you get so much Gils? I didn't even think numbers went that high. j/k