Ike and the Internet

In a farewell address 50 years ago tonight, President Dwight Eisenhower warned that America’s “permanent armaments industry” may well have “grave implications” for our democracy. The money quote: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”Given the fact that Eisenhower was a war hero and pro-corporate Republican, his statement seems particularly bold. Yet, in January 1961, it was a one-day story. Americans listened respectfully, then moved on. Truly a vanished world, wouldn’t you agree? Just imagine what the reaction would have been, if Ike had been forced to contend with the Internet…    iHateYouAll, 9:30 pm: Old Baldy was so hilarious in that speech tonite, like, could u believe how much he is against the troops. funny how he refused to bring up what i know I heard somewhere, that 68 percent of Americans think he is senile while 47 percent know he is a Soviet agent bent on weakening this country. funny how he covers up those facts, LOL.kissmySputnik, 9:31 pm: my mom is frying Crisco in the kitchen upstairs and it stinks down here from it but not as bad as the stink tonite from Dwight “Not So Bright” Ike, ha ha. bravo to iHate for that great poll, i did not know it, tho the Soviet agent information is soooo cool because it sounds like the stuff I am told about how Eisenhower was not really born in Texas at all. he keeps saying he was american born, and i guess i take him at his word. not.RedsUnderBed, 9:31:20 pm: good riddance to the doddering surrender monkey who spits on the “military industrial complex” that has kept us safe and the next thing you know he will go back on TV, to preempt my favorite show Bonanza, just to burn our flag. he never explicitly promised NOT to burn it, did he. or maybe it’s didn’t he. as for him, he is a Republican In Name Only who ought to be frog-marched into retirement and forced to be asked day after day why he hates America.hepcat, 9:31:26 pm: you wingnuts are so nowheresville. can’t you dig what president grandpa was doing in that speech? he says he’s against the “military industrial complex,” but for eight years he was just a lackey for that war machine, man. He was just an Organization Man, man. the face of friendly fascism, man. he and the CIA pulled off coups in Guatemala and Iran, man. America is next, you wait, IBM is gonna turn us all into computer punchcards, man.kissmySputnik, 9:31:35 pm: hepcat’s hitting the reefer again. meanwhile, here in the real world, i just got an email telling me that President RINO’s retirement in Tahiti will cost U.S. taxpayers $200 million a dayA-bomber, 9:31:48 pm: Sputnik, your brain is deader than Buddy Holly, the real facts are that Ike is retiring this week to the country next to Europe, and it will cost us $356.9 million a day according to what I knowiHateYouAll, 9:31:59 pm: funny how A-bomber thinks he is so smart all the time. but how come he didn’t know to mention the biggest of all Eisenhower socialisms, which is that this president invented the interstate highways, with an initial cost of $750 billion? which is why from now on i will drive on back roads only, which is my way to take back america.A-bomber, 9:31:07 pm: i resent how iHate has been picking on me here every single day for six straight years and i bet he drives on Ike’s socialism highways, too. Hypocrite. iHate’s brain is more twisted than Elvis’ hips when they gyrateRedsUnderBed, 9:32:14 pm:  zzzzzzzzzzzz like i am so fed up with how A-bomber and iHate fight all the time that I have decided I Will. Never. Post. Here. Again. Ever. See ya.kissmySputnik, 9:32:20 pm: Good riddance to Reds! Glad he’s gone. Betcha he was really a beatnik sock puppet who plays bongos in the Village with hepcat. we have no way to know who he really is, so clearly he is a Soviet moleRedsUnderBed, 9:32:25 pm: oh yeah? go bang on this bongo: Job-killing Eisenhower’s job-killing attack on the military-industrial complex will kill American jobs, which is why I hear somewhere that the job-killer is retiring to Cuba to golf with that new guy Castro and cost the taxpayers $500 million a day.hepcat, 9:32:31 pm: Hey, Reds, you should double your daily dose of Librium, maybe that would clear your head. true fact is, Ike and his corporate masters have a plan to dose us all with Librium and march the war machine right down his interstate highways, which I was told is why he really built them. and yeah i know that Ike was a big shot general who beat the Germans but that was so 16 years ago, man.      TwilightZoned, 9:35 pm: Will you people please stop already? IMHO, everyone on this board needs to kick back with a drink and a cigarette. iHate’s poll makes no sense. Sputnik, A-bomber, and Reds are wrong about President Eisenhower’s retirement; he is going to a farm in Gettysburg, at a fraction of the costs mentioned here. The initial cost of the highway system was $12 billion, not $750 billion. Also, mr. hepcat just seems paranoid. And none of you ever stay on point. The topic was supposed to be the president’s address; he was simply warning that we can’t have both guns and butter indefinitely, without endangering our way of life. How about all of us trying for some moderation and civility around here? Eisenhower himself has said, “I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and throw rocks at those in the center.” So from now on let’s all meet in the civil center. What do you all say to that?iHateYouAll, A-bomber, hepcat, Reds, Sputnik, 9:35:01 pm: LOL LMAO BWWWWWHAHAHAHAHA!!