In These Times

"We’ve just destroyed the country, and it may never recover. " Well to be fair, one might wish to recall that the country was pretty dysfunctional before the invasion. "If we apply the same principle to ourselves, if the surge succeeds, it’s just a worse crime." Well now, if a cop breaks into a house and stops a rape, then is that a worse crime too? Iraqi's were essentially being held hostage in their own country. Our failure was that we did not improve their situation. One can point at specific errors that were made, but success - via freedom - …

Posted to Gunning for the Prize

"Further, Obama has embraced the mantra of personal responsibility." Yea! Hopefully we all can embrace this!

Posted to Holding Barack Accountable

I think the Venusians are behind this scandalous conspiracy. They want to take over the earth, having already ruined their planet by allowing the republicans to cause global warming there. . . . Watch the skies and BEWARE!!! :)

Posted to The Great Election Robbery of 2008?

Unfortunately it probably requires sacrificing a virgin and there are so few left." You neglect the Dungeons and Dragons game rooms. Lots and lots of virgins, but mostly male -- surely in this age of gender neutrality they would do?

Posted to The Great Election Robbery of 2008?

Surely we don't want to discriminate and just kill the bad guys. Shame on those who seek to understand for practical purposes! After all, in anthropology aren't we taught that all cultures are equally valid? So lets stop discriminating against such "equal" cultures like Burma, North Korea and Zimbabwe (not to mention the Taliban), they are merely different, not better or worse.

Posted to Anthropologists At War

"argue that Iran may seek nukes because one of its major adversaries is bristling with nuclear weapons. . . This is a reasonable argument" Yeah, and ir al-Qaeda wants nukes for the same reason, the argument is just as cogent! Nukes all around! While i would prefer no country possess these dangerous weapons, i really don't want the crazies to have them. Iran is clearly a crazy nation, Israel not so much (France is more worrisome, especially if it becomes the first western democracy to fail, as internal demographics begin to assert themselves). (But congrats to Salim, who has *finally* written …

Posted to Israel's Openly Secret Nukes

To the extent that some feminists want to make women man hating humorless people (the all sex is rape crowd, for instance), one cannot really feel much sympathy. Of course, these are the fringes, but some of their philosophy sadly bleeds into the mainstream (just as some fringe elements of radical Christianity bleed into that mainstream). I think women should delight in their femininity, just as men should delight in their masculinity. Both are wonderful things, and when the come together just right - well then, that is one of the many things that make life worth living. And just as …

Posted to Damned If Feminine, Damned If Feminist

You asked: "Hillary may not have been the ideal candidate because of her baggage, but how does Obama, with no baggage, or resume, or history, suddenly spring from nowhere?" Lots of charisma, a well built political machine and lots and lots of very small donors. Hell, as an outsider he is just fulfilling the national dream that anyone (anyone smart, personable and with loads of charisma anyway) can become president. Also due to the current administration, a desire for an outsider is at peak levels (certainly the current occupant is the worst since Carter, and arguably even worse than him). His …

Posted to Damned If Feminine, Damned If Feminist

"An examination of uncounted ballots throughout Florida found enough where **voter intent** was clear to give Gore the narrowest of margins." Even the article quoted relies on **discerning voter intent**. It is far from clear that "Bush did not win in 2000". And that Bush did in fact win. But given how close the contest was, it is even more clear that it was a statistical tie, and either side would have complained if they ended up on the wrong side of the tie. What is clear is that if Gore had held his home state he would have won the …

Posted to The Right's New Attack on Voters

One does wonder how and why spacetime came into being. How did it have such low entropy (what "wound up the spring")? Does free will exist, or are we all merely beads on a wire (i vote for the latter)? From a merely physical point of view, spacetime seems to have been created all at once, despite our belief in past, present and future. Nowhere in the sciences can we find a "specialness" about the present, it is just a moment, just as the chair i sit in now is just a location (really, to separate space from time is wholly …

Posted to Atheism’s Unholy Trinity

"Why not say don’t believe in geometry?" Fascinating example. Geometry is decidedly *not* real, rather it is an abstraction. It relies on five postulates that can only be assumed, not proven. The common form of geometry is Euclidean, which is applicable to surfaces that can be assumed to be "flat". It has concepts like points (a no dimensional abstraction!), lines (one dimensional, but no width or height0 and planes (read Flatland for an interesting discussion). There was a time when most physicists believed space was Euclidean (and separable from time), but now most of us tend to believe space-time is curved …

Posted to Atheism’s Unholy Trinity

mlwmohawk - The point is not that "science is wrong", rather it is by its very nature, it is incomplete. Furthermore it does not address many of the most interesting phenomena we as humans experience. Those who seek alternative explanations and methodologies are simply exploring in different manners that can be quite fruitful. I am not, of course, talking about Fundamentalists (of any religion, or science in some cases) who seek to close their minds; rather i am referring to others who use spirituality to enhance and open their minds to new possibilities. The Dali Lama comes to mind as a …

Posted to Atheism’s Unholy Trinity

Hi mlwmohawk - "because we probably are simply the sum of our parts" Well. at least you show *some* flexibility. It seems to me that your faith in science rivals the faith others have in various religions. Which makes me curious (after all, i am a scientist myself, mostly due to my own innate curiosity); Do you pretty much only believe in what you personally completely understand? Or do you believe in science, more or less, as a whole? How do you pick and choose between what to believe from science and what to doubt? Do you believe that one day, …

Posted to Atheism’s Unholy Trinity

Hi mlwmohawk - The "faith" that it seems to me you have in science is in its ability to explain (successfully research?) everything. From my point of view, it misses a great deal. This is not to say that it will not eventually get around to some of the interesting stuff (the current MRI scans of the brain in action are fascinating!) , perhaps it will. Or perhaps it will simply find that its methodology is limited and of no use in what are perceived to be some of the most important issues in human lives. Which is to say that …

Posted to Atheism’s Unholy Trinity

Jon B - Very nicely stated. Perhaps not unrelated, i agree with much of what you have written and process information in a somewhat similar way as to what you describe. On the subject of God, i would say that i place the probability of the idea of a "narrow" (anthropomorphic) God (like many Christians and Muslims seem to believe in) to be essentially zero. However, i would say that i place a much greater probability on the interconnection of all life, perhaps some sort of spiritual force that entangles us all together. While i am unable to provide a numerical …

Posted to Atheism’s Unholy Trinity

mlwmohawk - Thanks for the interchange. I think the difference between you and i is perhaps that you seem to exist in a "pure" state (things have been proven or not), while i exist in a 'mixed" state (that is i exist in multiple states simultaneously, leaving me open to possibilities that are neither proven/provable nor unproven/unprovable). From my experience, our differences are very stereotypical of engineers vs physicists. Jon B - I find Brian Greene to be an excellent author and have enjoyed a few of of his books (i am about 3/4 of the way through The Fabric of …

Posted to Atheism’s Unholy Trinity

I support Obama and hope he wins. However, i doubt that this will change racial politics in any substantial way. Some black folk will still feel persecuted, others will thrive and point out the obvious such as Cosby has and continues to do. The rich will continue to enjoy the benefits of being rich (isn't that why so many wish to be rich), the poor will continue to get the short end of the stick for a variety of reasons, many self induced (not finishing school, getting pregnant out of wedlock or at a very early age, using destructive drugs, etc) …

Posted to The Vendetta Against Black Men

"In states with large black populations, race is a major political force, but the African-American vote is big enough to offset a racially motivated white vote." Why is it just assumed that blacks that vote for blacks are NOT racially motivated (or females voting for females), whereas whites voting for whites IS racially motivated (or males voting for males)? "The news industry and politicians, on the other hand, are happy to discuss and exploit race, whether by manufacturing controversy (think Jeremiah Wright)" Wright has done this himself, surely one cannot think him un-newsworthy? So what is the fraction of blacks who …

Posted to Acknowledging the Race Chasm

"school officials have come up with an integration strategy that uses household income, adult education levels and race " Why include race at all? If we are to help disadvantaged people, the use of socioeconomic class as a metric makes much more sense than race.

Posted to Louisville Schools Class-ify Brown

If only she had kept to simply making cookies. . . (Anthony - not me! I like Obama, but detest HRC. And even more, detest family dynasties, including the current one.)

Posted to Hillary for Class President

Nice to see an article about a country that has really taken some huge missteps, that is not the US. Makes one glad to live here, instead of in a politically repressive regime like Russia (once the darling of the left). Or Venezuela for that matter. It would be nice of our ballets had a vote against all option. I would use if if the contest somehow becomes between Clinton and McCain.

Posted to Putin Is Gone! Long Rule Putin!

Yeah, notice how many people struggle to get to our exact mirror! Not to mention the "enhanced" life expectancy for Russian males. just like us in every way. . . Now if we could only convince the illegals, that problem would solve itself. I nominate NoWhiteShoes as the US ambassador to the 3rd world!

Posted to Putin Is Gone! Long Rule Putin!

While what was done to the distant ancestors of some of the black folk living in the Americas today was reprehensible (i.e., being captured by their fellow Africans, sold into slavery and brought against their will, often dying in transit, to the Americas), their descendants have benefited mightily from this atrocity. Nowhere in Africa is the standard of living near even the lower classes in the US. While no justice can be done to those who have long since departed this earth, their descendants can take advantage of their good fortune in living in this land of opportunity. Many Africans would …

Posted to A Speech Even Condi Could Love

"Why be afraid of the ugly truth?" In fact, we should seek to know both our good and bad sides. An article i read recently said that the solution to the illegal immigration issue is actually quite straightforward: simply give subscriptions to those that want to come to the US free lefty periodicals. That will convince them that the US is not a desirable place to come to. . . :) The lesson being that we should not only see the bad, but the good as well (as you allude to quite nicely above). It seems to me that the far …

Posted to A Speech Even Condi Could Love

"All British, French and U.S. (etc.) colonialists, around the world, viewed nonwhite indigenous people as less than human, perhaps more like monkeys. To think that people should consider themselves lucky to be the descendents of slaves is ignorant." Perhaps ignorant, but nonetheless undoubtedly true. Odd that you mention the above 3 nations by name, but leave off a supposedly "civilized" nation that actually committed genocide in **modern times**. Also odd that you ignored the role of Africans in the capture of the slaves (along with the genocides currently taking place on that unfortunate continent). You certainly have the right to express …

Posted to A Speech Even Condi Could Love

Natalie - Another article from Salim about race. From the same very limited pov. I guess your challenge has been answered. . . :( I guess there is an upside. There is something to say about job security.

Posted to A Speech Even Condi Could Love

While i would not have a problem with anti-alcohol ads, to single out a particular product seems way over the top to me. Plus the idea that alcohol is harmful in and of itself - when used in moderation - is just silly. Perhaps we should try to bring back prohibition? The generic postcard against milk is better, but neglects to mention soys negative effect on hormones. I guess adman are adman, even when they attempt to be "on the other side" (ala the anti-adman postcard). All in all, the site seems pretty dumb. But dumb people should have access to …

Posted to Adbusters' Ads Busted

One wonders what would happen if Israel allowed Arabs to freely immigrate into it at the rate they might desire. No, actually we know what would happen. Never mind.

Posted to Secular Jews and the 'Jewish State'

The only way that Israel and Palestine can live in peace in harmony is for Palestine to end its ongoing war with Israel. Given that many Palestinian embrace a religion of intolerance (Hamas being an excellent example of this expressed politically) and (justifiably) feel victimized, this seems unlikely. Perhaps a great Palestinian will rise up and teach that the path to their success is through non-violent means, but this seems unlikely, especially given their religious proclivities. Meanwhile Israel will continue to protect itself, just as any other nation would. Even if Israel were to embrace non-violence, the violence would still continue. …

Posted to Secular Jews and the 'Jewish State'

One might wonder if black voters are racist for voting - almost exclusively - for Obama. One also might wonder if there is sexism going on. That said, i would NEVER vote for Hillary, but hope to vote for Obama in November.My vote has NOTHING to do with his race, rather that he is an apparent outsider with integrity (but then again, so was Carter, who turned out to be a horrible president, although a good man).

Posted to The Clinton Firewall

"My horseback estimate is that the superdelegates will come down on MagicAl " Surely you jest? I put the odds at less than 100-1 that Gore will be the D candidate this year. Perhaps 20-1 he will ever again be the a candidate for national office. The election is the D's to lose. If Hillary bowed out, i think they would almost certainly win. The odds of Hillary bowing out are about the same as Gore stepping in, sadly for the D's.

Posted to The Clinton Firewall

One wonders if the message above is that if one is anti-Hillary does that automatically make them anti-woman in general? Perhaps we should rejudge Marie Antoinette or Andrea Yates as merely the victims of a sexist society? I suppose this then implies that D's will have to decide if they are anti-black or anti-woman. Since obviously one can only be against Obama if one is anti-black. . . Falsely playing the "sexist" card is just as stupid and despicable as playing the race card (and sadly, perhaps just as effective). One thing seems obvious, at least to me: Hillary is fully …

Posted to The Clinton Firewall

Imran - I know some about the middle east. Saudi Arabia for instance. Total pit, due to the intolerance of Muslims. The Taliban, Iran, etc. The religion is stuck solidly in the middle ages. But it is no worse than Christianity was back then, perhaps it will evolve? I hope so. (BTW, i am pretty sure that the IRA or Christianity had/has nothing to do with beastiality! :) SASboy - No. *Any* images of the Prophet is forbidden, even ones that are not funny. And many many crazies of Islam believe it is a *death* offense. Sadly.

Posted to Caricaturing Danish Muslims

"Muhammad depicted a man with a bomb under his turban" Given the events of the day, this seems to be a pretty appropriate cartoon. Furthermore, one has to question the morality of a group of people who would *kill* others for such an "insult". Perhaps some of you remember PissChrist )(a Maplethrope work of "art"). If conservative Christians had gone on a rampage killing over it, i doubt there would be any sympathy here or elsewhere for their response (and there should be none). "The biggest challenge for Danish Muslims" - ought to be to reign in their crazy segments! Such …

Posted to Caricaturing Danish Muslims

Wright is nutty, but he is not running for anything (i fact, i believe he just retired). He lived through bad times that most blacks under 40 can barely imagine. So what? He's just a kook, like Falwell, Robertson, et al. Let him fade to obscurity with little fanfare as did the KKK and other racist organizations. (In this country, playing with religion can burn you. Anyone remember Sinéad O'Connor tearing up a photo of the Pope on Saturday Night Live? Never saw her again. . . )

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

from http://www.reference.com/search?r=13&q=Beasttiality "A separate term, bestiality (more common in mainstream usage and frequently but incorrectly seen as a synonym; often misspelled as "beasttiality"), refers to human/animal sexual activity." (addted extra t due to blacklisting of actual term) Imran - I wish you were right in your claims, but sadly they seem to be more what could be than what is. But to you and to any "moderate" Muslims (of which i have a few friendships with), i wish you only peace and happiness. (Incidentally, even most of my moderate Islamic friends believe in polygamy, which i find to be unfortunate.) opeluboy …

Posted to Caricaturing Danish Muslims

opeluboy - Just out of curiosity, are you for are against Obama? Even he found much of what Wright said despicable (as did i). I give him a pass for the same reason i might give any racist a pass. Times have changed and their experiences differ from mine in a huge variety of ways. But i hope each generation improves on the last. . ..

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

Hi WTH - Does McCain's pandering to the religious right (Falwell, et al) bother you? I think part of the problem with the Bush presidency is due to either/both of his religious convictions and/or religious influences from the RR. That said, i agree with you on Hillary. If she runs, i will waste my vote on a third party candidate (which one matters not, it will simply be a vote of no confidence in the major parties).

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

theloneous - interesting post. To some of us, there are "multiple truths" and they even conflict with each other. It is sort of like the truth that an elephant is like a tree (if you feel only his leg). This truth conflicts with the truth that an elephant is like a snake (if you feel only his trunk). Both conflict with the truth that an elephant is like a rope (if you feel only his tail). While Wright may have spoken "the truth" in similar terms as your childhood paster, it seems to me that his truth was/is incomplete. To speak …

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

Kuya - very thoughtful post. I think you have laid out the issues very well. I particularly appreciate your final paragraph. countdown wrote - "The caricatures were never about “free speech” but part of this clearly orchestrated campaign to trash a despised minority and bolster political suport for the status quo. Which is always a popular strategy in Denmark.". Perhaps. But the worldwide response to them tells us a great deal about Muslims and tolerance (not to mention some were funny and all too appropriate).

Posted to Caricaturing Danish Muslims

theloneous - good points and nice post. An important aspect of tolerance is understanding, thanks for providing light here.

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

Perhaps Wright is cathartic to some black folks, who am i to judge? I prefer the Dali Lama - his message is one that i can embrace, at least in theory (and attempt to embrace in practice as well). But to each their own. (I imagine a candidate who claimed the Dali Lama as their spiritual leader would be essentially unelectable, though in many important ways Christ had a very similar message.)

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

Natalie - i know your question is rhetorical, but we all have freedom of speech, which allows (i.e., gives us the right) by its very nature speech that some find objectionable. While i find the snippets of hate spewed forth by Wright to be both objectionable and *counterproductive*, i could say the same about many on the conservative right (Falwell, Robertson, etc). As WTH points out, McCain is not a "true believer" or these sort of religious folks (to his credit), but then again, Obama has disavowed the hate spewed from Wright, even though he still respects Wright as a pastor …

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

HI WTH - The two points that you quote above do not seem to be contradictory to me. To say African or African American *people* are not superior (or inferior) to European people does not imply that the *cultures* are on an equal footing. That said, i think that both African-American-centered thought, and European-centered thought both think that they are superior to the other (and probably in general as well). Furthermore, just to play devils advocate, if technology causes a serious and deleterious global cataclysm (nuclear war, global warming, who knows what?), then perhaps western culture was a net loss to …

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

Hi WTH - I enjoyed the discussion as well. Thanks.

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

Natalie - i agree with your post above. What the black community (really any community) could really use is a leader who speaks a message emphasizing personal responsibility, even (especially!) in the face of adversity (who amongst us has not encountered adversity?). Life is not fair for a variety of reasons. Rather then complain or riot or give up, one needs to deal the hand they are given to their best advantage. I note in passing that we collectively have not managed to elect political representatives who are able or willing to deal with such huge known uncontested upcoming catastrophes such …

Posted to Is Wright Right About Racism?

"unidentified, 61-year-old homeless man" This i s a minor point, bow can we know his age if we do not know who he is? More to the point, the problem of homelessness is a serious one. One approach might be to round them up and "take care" of them in facilities. What should society do with those who do not and typically *cannot* take care of themselves? I dare say no one wants them in their own neighborhood, for many very good and valid reasons.

Posted to Seattle Battles the Homeless

"In 2008, however, analysts are struggling to account for white America’s apparent willingness to hand the nation’s reins to a black man" The answer is so very simple, but you and your type will not understand. White America does not care about race. We aren't voting for Obama because he is black. **Race has nothing to do with it.** Again, this is undoubtedly inconceivable to you and yours, since apparently all you can see is race. But perhaps if you talk to your children or their generation, you may get a glimmer of what America is really like.

Posted to The Man or the Movement

Natalie - thanks for the link, fascinating. When i had more time, the CS Monitor was one of my favorite reads. I do not recall seeing Salim ever write anything that was not centered on racial issues (and those from an extremely limited point of view), so i very much doubt he will even consider your challenge seriously. I am sure he has had his own unique history to shape his viewpoint, but from mine he looks to be a dinosaur. MLK had it right - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a …

Posted to The Man or the Movement

"Africa the richest and most productive continent on Earth" Huh? Perhaps you can expand on what you mean by this statement?

Posted to The Man or the Movement

"Nader’s insistence on hogging the electoral limelight in 2000 siphoned off crucial support from Democratic nominee Al Gore and helped sweep in our most disastrous president ever." I am withTheoPapathanasis granduncle : Gore lost the election due to his own stupidity. If he had simply carried his home state (Tennessee) Bush would be unknown to most of us. (Whether the world would be better or worse is unknowable to us mortals, however.) I would be nice to have a real alternative to the pathetic two party system we currently endure.

Posted to The Nadir of Nader

"“But the part that made my ears perk up was when he casually said, ‘Alex, if, when you are out in the field, should you encounter any Venezuelans or Cubans like field workers or doctors,’ that I should report to the U.S. embassy with their names and where they live,” van Schaick explains." This is unreasonable, as a *request*? Really? "The affair’s legal gravity is indubitable. According to the Bolivian penal code, Cooper could be given up to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole for espionage—Bolivia’s most severe sentence." This is unreasonable! To sentence someone to 30 years …

Posted to Recruiting Spies in the Peace Corps

FranLast seems to make the assertion that if a foreign national were to provide *open* and freely available information back to their country of origin, the US would charge them with terrorism (or there were be an ":outcry", whatever that means). I wonder, are there any facts (or even anecdotal stories) to back up this odd assertion? Say a foreign national provided a US municipal phone book back to their embassy with a few names circled - would that really upset anyone? If so, why? Usually "spying", when used in a negative sense, involves the collection of some sort of sensitive, …

Posted to Recruiting Spies in the Peace Corps

Marshalldoc - thanks for the sympathy, very thoughtful of you. Still, i wonder if you read the same article as i did. What actions were the students asked to do that you find objectionable, in particular? If we found that other nations did the same sorts of things with their students, would you be equally appalled (its not like they are being asked to fly planes into populated buildings, now that would be crazy!). And it is not like they even have to comply with the requests. If you are able, please explain what the problem is, from your pov. Perhaps …

Posted to Recruiting Spies in the Peace Corps

Marshalldoc - Good second post. Seems you are truly an American, if not understood just repeat louder. I am surprised you did not change your original post to all caps. PS - "Further, when at a loss for cogent argument there’s a reflexive knee-jerk for some justification for otherwise intolerable behavior (not infrequently an oblique reference to the 9/11 atrocity) that usually is unrelated to the issue at hand". Such as: "U.S. drove the Native Americans off their land (or killed them)" or perhaps "Fomented war with Mexico to obtain Texas" or even "Conquered the Philippines, Puerto Rico, & Cuba to …

Posted to Recruiting Spies in the Peace Corps

Yeah, pee in a can or get raped or die of dehydration - the choice is oh so hard to make! Need a rocket scientist to help? Especially since everyone is asleep! Do you really think that most men would even allow this to happen to their friends and comrades? Or do you believe that pretty much all men rape, it is only a few that don't and would intervene? The story as presented is simply not credible. This is not to say that no one ever got raped going to the latrine (maybe some men did too?), only that if …

Posted to Silenced in the Barracks

"Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration" Glad you gave the source. It clarifies matters. If it were true that women were being raped as claimed, why not bring guns to the latrine or go in groups or both? Or simply pee in a container near your bed? Surely no one is stupid enough to die from dehydration due to this sort of thing, when it is so very easy to work around it. While some men very well might prey on women, many more would happily prey on those who did. But hey, to those …

Posted to Silenced in the Barracks

I heard that rape was actually required of all military men, in order to prove that they could preform in 150 degree heat at night. In fact, for a woman to even use a bathroom she would have to submit to this and pretend to enjoy it. Note that over 99% or all men are evil (some are too disabled to qualify), whereas each and every woman is good, but victimized, unless she is scapegoated instead. (To the crazies who participated in the thread above, feel free to quote the paragraph above. After all, if is it written down on the …

Posted to Silenced in the Barracks

I have a long list of individuals that should be tried as war criminals." Bets are that none of them currently reside in Gitmo. Kinda funny, when/if you think about it! :)

Posted to The Hippocratic Oath Dies in Gitmo

Giving the money to individuals would only create more pain and suffering. The last thing that helps people is gobs of free money (but this would be good for the liquor industry and perhaps the addition recovery business eventually). It would be much better to somehow invest this windfall money into some sort of social infrastructure. Build schools, wells, etc and teach the people how to become gainfully employed and self sufficient. But even that seems to be unlikely. At least they are not lobbing missiles into our lands and trying to drive us into the sea.

Posted to Challenging Indian Land Trusts

Lakotaidaho - i agree with you in the sense that some of the money discussed "belongs" to individuals. It is "free" in the sense that any inheritance is free - it is due to an accident of birth. That said, just as lottery winners often destroy their own lives, large windfalls of such money given to individuals typically destroy lives rather than help (made even worse when coupled with addiction tendencies). Jimmy - From what i read here, many ITT readers would think that they would indeed be justified (well, unless it affected them directly, naturally). After all, we stole their …

Posted to Challenging Indian Land Trusts

This article is so very silly in such a wide variety of ways, where to begin? First one should note that white slavery also existed in the US. Might as well attempt to be somewhat accurate. Second, it must be just a tad insulting to tell black folks that they are not *really* black, unless they have slavery in their past. One might have also added in that the black folks kidnapped from Africa were largely kidnapped by other black folks. Perhaps this is not so relavant to the discussion, given that black folks here are doing so much better than …

Posted to How Black is Obama?

While not really germane to the discussion, it is amusing to note that we all descended from Africans. By the "one drop" rule, we are all black. Perhaps more to the point, we are all one big family, with all the benefits and detriments of being such.

Posted to How Black is Obama?

Nicely said, aaaa.

Posted to How Black is Obama?

"At this point, drug violations and property offenses account for a majority (59 percent) of females in state prison. By comparison, men in both of these offense categories add up to just 39.5 percent. Meanwhile, in federal prison, women and men convicted of drug offenses constitute nearly 60 percent of inmates." What a huge waste of resources, both financial and human. Guess we learned even less than nothing from Prohibition.

Posted to Women Behind Bars

How silly! Don Imus makes a comment that is not even particularly racist and he is vilified. Using the work niggardly has caused commotion, even though it is not racist in the least. Now you have some bozo spreading around the word "nigger" to make the big bucks. Fine with me. But i hope those who support this nonsense are not easily upset when they or their kids are labeled with such words.

Posted to Nas: Whose Word Is This?

Ha. Major major you must be psychic! Guess you really got me this time! Now if you could divine which stocks i should buy. . . :)

Posted to Nas: Whose Word Is This?

Hell, i am not only 110% white (definitely not pink or peach!), but a current slave holder. Not to mention i eat children for snacks, repress women for fun, and even worse, occasionally respond to idiotic posts with sarcasm! Cool to have a whole thread about the most important issue of all - me! :)

Posted to Nas: Whose Word Is This?

"I think Nas is seeking the spotlight and some ink to sell his CD" I agree, but seems that DonCorleone thinks that makes us stupid. But everyone has a right to opine however they please, however foolish they may be. . . :) Of course, as a father i teach that the word nigger is like the work fuck - it has little place in civil society. And no place in public discourse (barring my use of it as an example, for example). Sure, i really love the major - i suppose that makes me coprophiliac, for example?

Posted to Nas: Whose Word Is This?

The real problem is that the foolish Gazians have elected and apparently support a terrorist government. The fact that this travesty brings them great suffering is sad, but easily predictable. The solution is for them to declare peace, even if it means that Israel will not be driven into the sea.

Posted to The Experiment in Gaza

Yeah the Nazi party was legitimately picked by the Germans and offered a number of peace deals as well. The biggest difference was that the Nazis actually were powerful whereas Hamas is at best impotent and unable to control its own population. Until a government is established in Gaza that can control its home grown crazies, the violence will continue. For laughs, imagine how kindly the US would act if Mexicans began lobbing bombs into Texas, with the "legitimate" claim that Texas really belongs to Mexico. Even without this craziness walls are being built. . .

Posted to The Experiment in Gaza

If all else fails, perhaps Germany can implement a final solution to the problem.

Posted to The Experiment in Gaza

"the victim would “present a grave risk of injury to national security”. One wonders what should happen if the "victim" does present a grave risk to national security (e.g., the waterboarding "victims'). "So if you are the unfortunate innocent victim, what is your recourse against the perpetrators?" One might wonder if there are any "innocent victims". I somehow feel little empathy for September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or senior al Qaeda leaders Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. They got less than they deserve and are lucky we are NOT like them!

Posted to Extraordinary Rendition on Trial

Sadly the Congo is a nightmare. Arguably the very worst place on the planet. Sadly, the only place where Bonobo's live in the wild. They are being hunted down and killed (for food). When they are gone, which seems inevitable, the only peaceful primates will have left the planet. Sigh. (Too bad man does not behave more like Bonobo's, but our natures seem to be that of the Chimpanzee's. We, like the Chimps, evidently prefer making war over making love. Pity.)

Posted to In Search of Lumumba

The credit card companies suck, but in the same way as McDonald's (really fast food in general). They give us what we want, then when we get fat (or broke) we blame it on them. Sure, they add lots of fat and salt (or interest and penalties), but it is us who shove the food down our gullets (or apply for more and more credit that we cannot afford). The best solution would be self discipline and taking responsibility for our own actions. But hey, we are all just victims, with no choice but to do what the tube tells us …

Posted to Killer Credit

Tasers are a great improvement over lethal weapons. While they can cause death, they are far less likely to do real damage than guns or other weapons (knives, etc). They are also easy to use by the most vulnerable of us. The fact that they are abused (rarely) merely means that they are operated by humans. The lame attempt to categorize their use as torture is silly (hey, mace in the eyes is torture too, don't ya think?)! Banning tasers makes almost as much sense as banning knives. Stabbing, now that is torture and the effects last much longer than tasing …

Posted to Tupperware and Tasers

"After all, most people have been hurting for quite a while. " Most? Really? Maybe some, but not most or even close! "And with word that there are now 195,000 homeless veterans nationwide" One might wonder why the vets are homeless. I doubt it is very strongly correlated with economic opportunity. Much more likely it is due to: 1) the same reasons other people are homeless (drug abuse, alcoholism, etc); 2) mental problems directly associated with their service to the country (which would include some of 1 above, but only a fraction). We certainly should attempt to help, but there is …

Posted to The Stimulus Swindle

wth - While it may be true that incomes have declined in the last ~3 decades, it sure seems that the amount of material stuff that we (US citizens) have has skyrocketed. We all seem to "need" cable tv, dvd players, home computers, internet access, cell phones, etc etc. Surely we are already far beyond the point where this type of lifestyle can be maintained (or worse, promulgated to other less developed countries). One thought - instead of giving free money to everyone (ok, so it is "our" taxes, but still), perhaps we could use that money to build up a …

Posted to The Stimulus Swindle

wth - Great idea! A truly integrated mass transit system would be a real boon to the US. I love flying into WDC national, i get off the pLane and onto a subway. But travel by train (or bus!) and its hard to even get a rental car, much less a subway. . . we can do better - and should.

Posted to The Stimulus Swindle

One reference is Jeremy Siegel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street (he also wrote Stocks for the Long-Run), both excellent books. In the first, he goes back over the stock market since its inception (and markets in general back over several hundred years). The historical average for stocks (before inflation) is about 11.7% (inflation is about 3-4% as best i recall, yielding inflation adjusted returns at a bit over 7%). He gives the data in sliding 10, 20 and 30 years periods. When using 30 year periods, the stock returns are always quite good, but as you know, over shorter terms …

Posted to The Stimulus Swindle

The destruction of Brittney is due in large part to the massive wealth she has earned. Give any 20 year old (or almost anyone of any age) $100 million+ and they will become nuts. Excess wealth is a curse!

Posted to The Jamie Lynn Effect

For those who think the poor serve as cannon fodder (however misguided that view may be), the use of robots as soldiers should be welcome indeed. Still, making war too clean and sanitary does not make me more comfortable., but then again neither does the crazy Islamic nuts who place no value on human life.

Posted to RoboCop in Iraq

On the other hand, a robot soldier need not panic or even protect its own "life". It could, in principle, reduce civilian causalities. But if the Islamic crazies get them, they could become mobile IEDs. And these crazies have no compunction about killing and maiming anyone, children included (hell, they happily kill other Islamic crazies too!).

Posted to RoboCop in Iraq

One might say that the real point is that when our guys commit atrocities, they try to hide them because they *know* that they will be held accountable. When their guys commit atrocities, they are proud of their work. Mostly due to crazy Islamic thought patterns. . . But much of the fault does lie with us. We should never have allowed middle age people access to modern technology, especially weapons. Best fix - massively fund solar energy in order to make the Middle East irrelevant. Let them remain in the Middle Ages until they evolve further.

Posted to RoboCop in Iraq

The real way that Iraqi women can oppose the war is by taking a cue from Lysistrata. In fact, everyone should shun those who purposely kill and maim civilians. Safe to say, most of us who live in the US are shocked by the senseless violence perpetrated on innocent Iraqi civilians by the crazies there. A very sad commentary on the sick state of dysfunctional Islam indeed.

Posted to Resister in Exile

Kinda reminds me of some of the older Charlie Bronson movies here in the US. Tough guy takes out the bad guys, much to the delight of the audience. It seems pretty clear that the popularity is due to a need to establish order. . . Is it really surprising that threats of violence and torture are effective? I sure as hell would cooperate with someone rather than be tortured, i would think that most everyone would, with the small exception of the really crazy crazies. However, this is not to say that torture is moral or ethical, simply that is …

Posted to Bad Cop, Badder Cop in Brazil

"Although there is a diagnosis, pill or surgical treatment for each of their ills" Or they could just eat right and exercise. But i guess society somehow prohibits this (hmmm, even for people with "white privilege? shocking!). . . "enticed by sexually fulfilled couples" There is no reason most couples should not be sexually fulfilled. Again, the above prescription *eat right, exercise regularly) could benefit millions (even black folks, perhaps), if only the big drug companies and the government allowed it. . . "Or a definition of normality that diagnoses 15 percent of 16-year-old boys with attention deficit hyper-activity disorder (ADHD)" …

Posted to Warning: Drug Ads Can Make You Sick

Yeah this article nails it. The problem is not with blacks as individuals, but rather the systematic discrimination against all non-whites in the US. Having babies out of wedlock, dropping out of school, doing drugs, etc are not really bad, it is merely the white racism that continues to hold the black man down. Cosby is just an Uncle Tom who made it big and refuses to see that personal responsibility has nothing to do with how a black mans life turns out, since the white racists will hold him down anyway, most likely due to "bigger penis" envy. The only …

Posted to Come on Cosby, Stop Hatin'

"although he thinks waterboarding Zubaydah “probably saved lives,” he is now convinced the technique is a form of torture and that “Americans are better than that.” " Apparently there are a few people that are still alive who might be glad that Americans were NOT better than that. Perhaps under some circumstances, inflicting discomfort and extreme fear might be worth it. Especially on the likes of someone like Zubaydah.

Posted to Kiriakou and the Kite Runner

monomotapa post is amusing, but full of silliness. To dismiss those who like Cosby (and myself) believe that we are not helpless, that we can affect our own lives in a positive way, is both sad and typical of the old left. The attempt at personal assassination is quite telling, oftentimes when one cannot defend ones own beliefs, they take another tack and attack the *person* who expresses beliefs that are unpleasant to themselves. There really can be little doubt that *many* of the poor - regardless of race - are poor due to poor life choices. The big ones are: …

Posted to Come on Cosby, Stop Hatin'

So peace_out i assume that you are advocating that black people, especially teens, do not even play the game, since it is rigged? Or do you have concrete suggestions to help them do better in todays world? My suggestions are: 1) Do not have children at a young age (before you have a job that can pay for children, at least) 2) Do not have children until married 3) Finish high school 4) Avoid drug abuse All of the above can be done regardless of ones race. What are your suggestions? (Wait until society is "fair", perhaps? Or far worse, have …

Posted to Come on Cosby, Stop Hatin'

“whites are angry and uneasy.” Yeah, those white people are dangerous! Especially when they are "angry and uneasy"! Or perhaps there are a small amount of crazies out there who really do hate (and they come in all colors!) and they make for lots of press. Some even wear white hoods over their heads (talk about crazy). Note that these people are very very far from the mainstream and that all races/creeds etc are represented (in fact, one easily might believe that blacks are over represented in this lamentable group). At least no one here names their teddy bears Mohummed. :) …

Posted to Hanging Hate

Marshalldoc is exactly correct. When the US turns fascist and begins the systematic extermination of Jews, blacks, whites or whatever group it targets as ok to hate and kill, i would say “I never thought it would go that far". But since this is not going to happen (obviously, duh), it simply means i was correct. :)

Posted to Hanging Hate

Marshalldoc does bring up some interesting points, albeit accidentally. One really might wonder: which countries are "justest"? Which are the most corrupt? Which countries suffer from racism the most, which the least? While the US is not perfect (after all, it is a very diverse nation of imperfect people), it certainly *claims* to be a just country. Perhaps a fellow like Marshalldoc can identify a country in say Africa that might be "equitablest" compared to the US? Or in the middle east? Or even in Asia. . . The US seems to be firmly in the rarefied few countries that embraces …

Posted to Hanging Hate

"Hezbollah, the anti-Israeli group that the U.S. State Department has labeled a terrorist organization" Duh. Perhaps the continued violence by Hezbollah and Hamas is actually the current cause of much of the misery. If only they could wake up and embrace non-violence, the entire region - everyone - would benefit mightily. But i doubt the crazies running these terrorist organizations have any interest in peace, much less prosperity. Pity.

Posted to Youth Gone Wild

Hazballa and Hamas are labeled terrorist organizations at Israel’s behest." Yeah and all the missiles they send in are just meant to be peace offerings. Until the Palestinians realize that violence is not the answer, they will create their own little hell on earth, and share it as best they can with Israel.

Posted to Youth Gone Wild

IF this trend continues, next they will ask hard scientists (e.g., physicists, chemists, etc) to build *weapons* to defend our country. Surely a slippery slope, since science is meant (by university standards) to benefit all of mankind. Kinda funny when you think about it. But some of us have work to do.

Posted to Anthropologists on the Front Lines

Given the conditions of modern times, libraries are far less essential today. One can simply use the Internet to search and retrieve information, rather than waste time, energy and effort driving to a brick and mortar institution. That said, i love libraries! But economic realties will determine if they go the way of the horse and buggy.

Posted to Public Libraries For Profit

"Krugman compares U.S. per capita spending with Canada, France, Germany and Britain. Guess who spends the most? And guess who has the lowest life expectancy?" One has to wonder if the US poor health is self induced. Has anyone noticed all the fat people around in the US? While i am all for adequate health benefits for all, i think we should also be responsible for our own health. Eat right and exercise more. . . Calling the "rich" bloodsuckers" is not at all helpful. One wonders what the definition of "rich" actually is (someone with more money than me?)? Envy …

Posted to Tax and Spend? Hell, Yeah!

This article was very unexpected. And very nice. Well done.

Posted to Come on People! Bill Cosby is Right

isometruman, theblacksentinel and and others - OK, so what do you propose to make things better? If reparations is on your agenda, who pays and who gets paid? From my pov, race is just a non-issue. My own proposal would be to keep the estate tax (currently set to expire!) and increase taxes on those who are doing well economically (say those with family incomes of $100 K or more, with steeper rates as incomes rise into the millions and beyond). Use some of this money to benefit all low income citizens, regardless of race. This proposal avoids the problems associated …

Posted to Come on People! Bill Cosby is Right

Still complaining, but offering NO proposed solutions. Aviolding the issue altogether. Sad, but how typical. When will theblacksentinel learn that he is woefully unable to “see” the world from anything other than the chip on his shoulder sad vantage?

Posted to Come on People! Bill Cosby is Right

The US is NOT going to war with Iran, for better and for worse. We clearly do not have either the troop strength or the popular support for such an endeavor. Sanctions remain a possibility, however. .

Posted to The Accidental War

In These Times: Crazy left wing rag or Subversive Anti-American hate group? An analysis shows that ITT consistently either neglects the truth or engages in outright lies Seems i can write titles as well as ITT. Maybe i can get a job here? :)

Posted to Rudy Guiliani: Criminal or Liar?

Biofuels are not perfect but they are a tremendous improvement over oil Oil has serious drawbacks that are not associated with climate change. See Iraq and the entire middle east for examples. Most of the starvation in the world today is caused by strife, not lack of food or resources. See the entire continent of Africa for examples (sadly, they are overly abundant). That said, i continue to hope and lobby for solar power. It is truly carbon free and as Germany has demonstrated, it is feasible. Barring that, nuclear seems to be the only other viable alternative (and we all …

Posted to Biofuels Are No Cure for Climate Change

Perhaps one might be happier if they merely aborted the children (better dead than in El Norte?)?

Posted to Banana Republic to Baby Republic

The article does not say, but i assume that Alexis is a pre-op tranny (that is, he still has his penis, but may or may not have boobs). "I was raped, beat up, ridiculed,” says Key, who has been incarcerated seven times." While no one should have to suffer such abuse, one might wonder why s/he was arrested at least 7 times? "75 percent of transgender people in San Francisco are without full-time employment. " One might think that these individuals are desperately in need of counseling, and that their gender confusion is merely one of many symptoms. Bets are that …

Posted to Transgendered Behind Bars

HI Miss Doe -Yes you really have me pegged. In fact, i believe that the prison system should require rape, abuse and torture at the very minimum. Even if the person is innocent and only accused. In fact we should put all trannys to death, gays too and while we are at it, hetros as well. Needless to say, i am so very impressed with your *amazing* grasp of the English language, you must be a teacher (and thus should also be incarcerated and abused), Ha ha ha ho ha ho ho ho!!!!

Posted to Transgendered Behind Bars

Hi Kuya - I think that many of the guys who act the way you describe do so around *any* woman if they think they can get away with it. Generally that simply means that the women are in a defenseless position. The classic strong victimizing the weak paradigm. Ugh. I also think the sex trade is thriving pretty much everywhere. For a wide variety of reasons. Is it regulated in the Philippines? I think that is the best one can hope for.

Posted to Harassment Unchecked at Army Hotel

Hi Kuya - Glad to say they caught the pedophile. Still, as sick as he is, he is in fact sick. I pity him as well as his victims (and hope he is put somewhere where he can never ever harm a child again). I have ambiguous feelings about the sex trade. I think everyone should have the right to do as they wish, including trading sex (or "exotic" dancing) for money. However it is also clear that economic coercion (or much worse in some cases) is behind the "choice" to become a sex worker.

Posted to Harassment Unchecked at Army Hotel

Too bad Salim did not read your comments above before he submitted his article today. If he addressed the topics you brought up, he could have really had an interesting piece. But he went with the safe (here at least) and lazy race-based mantras. Pity.

Posted to A Mother's March For Justice

"most frequently used image to illustrate the movement was a woman learning karate; male editors actually insisted on this. " Did they have a meeting where all the male editors were given these rather odd marching orders? :) Can a woman be both a feminist and anti-abortion? Or do feminists themselves impose a rigid dogma on all other women? Seems to me the problem with feminism is that it is a victim of its own success. Equal opportunity and pay for equal dedication and work. Equal access to education. Goals that have been largely, if not entirely, met. PS - if …

Posted to The Times vs. Feminism

“Definitely not, I say: The flag stands for jingoism and vengeance and war.” Everyone has a right to their pov, no matter how narrow and shallow. (One might imagine the flag stands for a multitude of things to a multitude of people. . .) “I’m not the only older woman who can’t legally drive " Huh, does she live in Saudi? Or is she merely incompetent? “anyone with eyes in her head could see that mothers were still doing most of the work." Or not? Perhaps she needs to have her (rather older) eyes examined (too many gin and limes, which …

Posted to The Politics of Everyday

"Maybe it’s exactly because we have to work so much harder to get where we want to go." One would hope that this myth will die soon. . .

Posted to A Campaign of Ones Own

Taxes on cigarettes will go up to a dollar a pack (if the legislation passes). This will primarily benefit the poor, who will be less able to afford their nasty habit. Not to mention the funds will be used to pay for children's health care. A winner all around.

Posted to Tobacco Stains

"Louisiana and South Carolina both passed unconstitutional laws requiring a husband’s consent for a married woman’s abortion" I would hope that husbands would have input into such an important decision as to whether or not *his* baby is going to be aborted! Funny they pro side calls the anti side a "war on women", given that many of the anti's are in fact women. . . Abortion is both avoidable and "wrong". Avoidable by using birth control (rather than using abortion as birth control, which is surely not in the best interests of any woman). Wrong in that it takes a …

Posted to An Unholy Alliance

"WTC was destroyed with directed energy weapons." Damn, i thought it was destroyed by Martians. . . Ha ha ha!!! Oh wait, no ti was the Jews! Ha ha ha!!! Or could it have been the Islamic crazies who flew airplanes (!!!) into it? As hard as it is to believe that people could stoop to such evil, the videos are very very compelling. . . .

Posted to Chain Stores, Picket Fences and Tanks

But history suggests that, one way or another, all people eventually die. Instead of trying to rein in their excesses, people need to work toward hastening that happy, inevitable outcome. Just a minor change that makes just as little sense as the original. Must be really easy to be a contributor to ITT, given they abysmally low standards.

Posted to Chain Stores, Picket Fences and Tanks

No one wants war. But the idea of a nuclear armed medieval state is very very scary. Sanctions are a good idea, particularly if they target all advanced technology. We should avoid letting Iran acquire any technology that was not available in 1950 or so, unless it is clear that such technology cannot be abused by the crazies who rule that country. Of course, no modern weapons should be allowed in as well. This is not only for our own good, but for the good of Iran as well. They simply are not ready for such disruptive technologies and clearly are …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

David - The US is (obviously) not a perfect country. As are all countries, it is composed of imperfect men. I see little danger of it becoming fascist, that is simply rhetoric with little substance (however, Saudi Arabia, Korea, China, Russia, etc etc while not being "fascist" per se have human rights records consistent with same, so there is lots of room to point fingers). Iran has made it clear they want nukes. Some here believe it is their *right* to acquire them as well. I suggest that we - the West - should not help them in this pursuit, which …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

Does anyone here really believe that Iran (or North Korea) really want to build nuclear power plants to generate electricity? Their agendas are not hidden and are stated clearly. If they really want power, we should help them generate it via solar cells. . . David - the US is obviously not heading toward fascism. In fact, if we use the "14 points" misapproach to defining same, we were more fascist in the past then we are now (does anyone think the US is **more** sexist today than previous eras? Really? How about the "stolen" election of 1960? The brutal justice …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

"people making as much as six figure incomes virtual indentured servants." Talk about being irresponsible. Surely you don't blame this on Bush or anyone other than those who so badly mismanage their incomes? The trick to not being a wage slave is simple. Save a minimum of 10% of your income, preferably 20%. Invest in a broad based mutual fund (401K or IRA are optimal) and wait a few decades. Then decide what to do with the rest of your life. As a bonus - find a job you like and work can be fulfilling and even enjoyable. We live our …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

"Peace be with you, while I continue hoping no more innocent blood is shed in the name of the empire, be it in Asia or in your land" Maria - your hopes are my hopes. The details of how to get from here to there vary, but nonetheless, we both hope for peace and harmony in the world at large.

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

anarcho-liberation - i do not know where or how you live, but it sounds like an entirely different place (mindset?) than where i hail from. Here (the land of the free?) i am able to decide what profession i wish to pursue, how many children i want, what religion i wish to follow (if any), and how i wish to allocate my financial and other resources. My life is full of my choices, some good and some bad. In a wide variety of ways (antibiotics come immediately to mind!), these are the best of times, ever. (Disclaimer: No implication is made …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

mrraven has an interesting point that emphasizes my own. Even fundamentalist Texas is **far** more progressive than say, Saudi Arabia or anyplace in Africa. No forced FGM, no requirements to wear burkas, the ability for women to go to school (or the ice cream shop for that matter!) and choose their own careers/husbands/lives. Yep, compared to some western places, Texas may be a bit conservative, but compared to the middle east and Africa (and much of Asia) it is a wonderful place to be. I see little distinction between fundamentalist Christians versus fundamentalist atheists. Both have faith in the unknowable, they …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

mrraven - While i agree with you that Phelps is no good, i assert that he is quite far from the mainstream of US Christianity. He also has no control over the government, unlike the Mullahs. (Yea for the USA!) I would assert that the most important things in life are not scientific. Love comes immediately to mind, but you might also think of other things that are relevant to your own life as well. I am unaware of any proof that God does not exist (or that he does); thus i keep an open mind (what we do know is …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

Hi WTH - I agree that some fraction of Americans are unable to save due being employed in low paying jobs. Many of these same people are better off in later years, either through getting more job training or simply by advancing up the ladder. Some, of course, never advance and never do better. This is unfortunate, but has always been that way and is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. However, my assertion is that the vast majority of us (but not everyone) can save if we choose to. Many do not *choose* to, but buy nicer cars, electronic …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

"Well I say a pox on your house for an attitude of not caring that so many millions suffer both here in the U.S. and in the third world because of the policies you advocate." Yeah advocating savings for those who can and education in general is pretty darnright nasty of me (really, a pox?). Not to mention my persistent politeness, even when attacked with little or no provocation. Yep, i can really see where you are coming from - the question is can you? Anyway, i hope that you can work out your personal ssues and find a measure of …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

wth - You ask a lot of thoughtful questions in your post. While no one can answer them all for all people. there are solutions for many out there. For instance, when my wife's job disappeared, she retrained to be a nurse. It is a profession that we expect will be in high demand over our lifetimes and contributes nicely to society. Note that this "solution" works best for two income families and (in our case, at least) might involve getting student loans (which we found to be very accessible). In any case, those who can save should save. Hopefully for …

Posted to Another War We Can't Afford

"To believe that voting for Obama, or any other clown, democrat, republican, or otherwise, is going to seriuosly produce any real difference in this government is flat out stupid." So you believe that if Gore had won, there would have still been an Iraqi war? Seems dubious to me. From what i can tell, individuals can and do make significant differences in the life of a nation (and thus the world).

Posted to Obama's in the Eye of the Beholder

very system that is preventing the hungry from being fed and the homeless from finding shelter." Is this meant to imply that if i consume less, then somehow the "excess" consumption will get to the needy? Is there any sense of cause and effect here, or merely wishful thinking? "through a practice known as dumpster diving or, more euphemistically, urban foraging." Um, gross. According to Alf, some 35 percent of all food in the United Kingdom goes to waste. How many of the estimated 200 million children who go to bed each night starving would that help feed?" Bad logic. The …

Posted to A Freegan World

"to save the women of Afghanistan from their imprisonment under the Taliban. She invoked the familiar representations of the “oppressed Muslim woman” and the “civilized Western woman” who needs to intervene on her behalf." Ix this really the example you want to give? Under the Taliban women could not be doctors and since they were not allowed to be close to males, could not go to doctors. The brutality of the Taliban to women is well known - if the west had not rescued these women, they would still be ruthlessly subjugated. Of course, in much of the Middle East (Saudi …

Posted to Unveiling Muslim Feminism

"Black students constituted 50 percent of the student body, but more than 77 percent of arrests" If we add crap like the statement above, we should also add in how often the particular demographic causes problems. More than likely, the number of black arrests is too low statistically rather than too high. Of course, the real problem is not with the schools, but rather with parents who are absent, criminal, abusive, etc.

Posted to Restoring Classroom Justice

"Two years after Katrina, the richest country in the world leaves thousands of its climate refugees to live in poisoned trailers or camp in the kitchens of relatives far from their former homes." Given the nature of the low lying land, maybe these people need to learn to live somewhere else? It has been two years now, how many more before they can get on with new lives? The quote below seems silly in light of the quote above: "And what about the self-indulgent fools society continues to subsidize—with insurance premiums, taxes or extraordinary and repeated rescues—who insist on building beach …

Posted to Climate Change Refugees

Hey John - those effects have been going on for decades! And kudos to Germany for their aggressive development of solar power (if only the US had a real energy policy, sigh)!

Posted to Climate Change Refugees

"How about you all actually raise your damn kids with values other than self-indulgence and American-style feelgoodism." Hi Kuya - Thanks for being on the front line in the classrooms. I could not agree more with your quote above (as the father of 4).

Posted to Restoring Classroom Justice

Maria - I agree that the US should do more to cut carbon emissions. But if we cannot convince the Chinese to do the same, it will all be for naught. Coal mine fires alone in China produce more CO2 emissions that all of the cars in the uS. . . Still, i strongly advocate the transition to solar power. In the long run, i think it will be a very good investment, not just in the first world, but in the rest of the world as well. (Nuclear is my second choice, if we are serious about cutting CO2.) …

Posted to Climate Change Refugees

One might also wonder how Hilary slept at night (at least her husband was pre-satisfied!).

Posted to How Does Laura Bush Sleep at Night?

Perhaps the worst effect of the rich is that they inspire envy from the rest of us. It would be so refreshing to have a movement that espouses less consumption rather than more. Here we live in a nation of massive wealth. Even the poor have cable tv, color tv, washing machines, video game consoles, cars, etc and yet there is so much unhappiness associated with wealth or the perceived lack of same. Spend less, be happier. Live within your means. Old fashioned ideas that are out of time today. Pity. Pity.

Posted to The Secret Lives of Plutocrats

Guess it is a lousy time to be a terrorist. Poor guy.

Posted to Perverse Justice

Must be bad there Maria. If you ever have the chance, come to the US. Life is good here, as millions of illegals will testify! To be fair though, these are the best of times almost everywhere! But no worries to those who look for doom, it is and always will be looming. . .

Posted to Perverse Justice

Thanks Maria, but there is plenty of room for you too! Together we can all make "paradise" even better. . . Life is a journey, not a destination.

Posted to Perverse Justice

Wow. Utterly foolish. From start to finish. Wish i had back the few minutes i wasted reading this crap.

Posted to The Kids Aren't Alright

One does not have to be female to find themselves in a position similar to Flozelles's. In any case, i am glad she has been freed and hope she makes a life for herself. Hopefully she will make much better choices this time around.

Posted to Justice Denied

One does have to wonder: whose idea is it to lock up all of these non-violent drug users and why? One might have hoped we would have learned our lesson during prohibition. Whatever the reason(s), i would prefer not to have to pay the bills for this insane policy. . . On the other hand, by having this (foolish) war, we are are now tops in locking up our own citizens, even beating out China in this nasty statistic.

Posted to The Drug War's Collateral Damage

Nothing worth preserving? Man, you gotta get out more. This is arguably the greatest nation ever! But by composed of imperfect humans, it is of course flawed in many ways. . . Just be glad you were born here. In most of the world attitudes like yours would make you end up dead. (Gotta love freedom of expression!)

Posted to The Drug War's Collateral Damage

"“Bill Cosby card” (that is, focusing on individual behavior as the primary cause of racial disparity) in his latest speeches." Let's hope that he is saying it because he believes it. The hope of black americans is the same as the hope of white (or mexican or asian or etc) americans. To blame ones life on race is not only foolish, but more importantly counterproductive, you can't change your race. To make choices that allow one to move from the lower class to middle class is what we should be advocating. In this latter context, i have no problems with the …

Posted to The Squandering of Obama

Can you say crazy? I think you can. . . "Oh, by the way. Osama bin Laden is indeed near death at a US Military Hospital in Qatar and he really had NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11!" "Euro-Americans" - why don't we just stick to Americans (drop the Euro, Afro, whatever)? "about the 10-12 MILLION UNDOCUMENTED Mexican-Americans" So what fraction ya think are going to join the military and go to war? "solves a BIG portion of the ‘Immigration Problem’! " Yeah, sending off a few thousand Mexicans to war will solve all our immigration problems! Sure it will. "even with …

Posted to Illegal Immigrants: Uncle Sam Wants You

What a sad story. "In 2004. What did it for me was Fahrenheit 9/11, which really gave me a new perspective." Particularly tragic to base one's perspective on such rot. "I tried to imagine what it would be like to be in the suburbs I was from in Indiana and have a foreign army patrolling our streets and kicking our doors in and killing innocent people" Again, very sad. And a horrible, inane metaphor. I wish the best for this young man. Perhaps with more time his perspective will change and grow.

Posted to The New Children's Crusade

loudturtle - interesting post. Perhaps i should provide some of the underlying reasons for my response. First, i think it is sad that a soldier in the field, actually in Iraq, found his pov in the very biased movie such as F911. As opposed to looking around (as i suppose most of the soldiers there actually do). Furthermore, it is clear that those who are in Iraq and paying attention can come to a variety of opinions, both "pro"-war and "anti"-war. Somehow this soldiers direct participation in the war apparently had less effect than a propaganda film. I find that very …

Posted to The New Children's Crusade

farmer - your post above is one of the best i have read here ( Posted by farmer on Jul 16, 2007 at 8:12 AM)! It is so very rare and delightful to have a voice of reason to pop up here. . .

Posted to Is Cheney Evil or Just a Weasel?

farmer - Perhaps one of the less discussed but more important issues of today is the lack of a rational energy policy in the US. Germany is actively developing photovoltaics, we should begin to do the same now. It would help to accomplish several goals, the three biggest being more US (and the West in general) energy independence, reduction of the revenues going to the middle east and lower carbon emissions. With only a very small downside (that is the federal/state money used to subsidize new energy sources). While i like your idea limiting campaign funds, i do not believe it …

Posted to Is Cheney Evil or Just a Weasel?

Do you object to paying for the education of K-12 children? Just curious. One might make the argument that educating the workforce to their natural capacity would be good for the economy.

Posted to Mainers Give Grads Debt Relief

Wow. I thought Sicko was an autobiography. . . :) “I don’t think Michael Moore set out to make a balanced movie" - Yeah, he usually is so very careful to be objective. . . hahahahahaha!!!! (Not that i think the US has perfect health care and that it cannot be improved. I merely think that a hack like Moore could make a similar movie about, say, the Canadian health care system (how many more women have to die of breast cancer before we do something!?!), given how he is so very willing to slant the stories he tells. But hey, …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

"continued arms sales to the Sudanese government, which is accused of genocide in the Darfur region" OK, accused? What part of the Sudanese genocide is in doubt?

Posted to China Plays Hardball with Soft Power

"I put Moore and Gore in the same class as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh— opportunists who jump in front of a parade and know how to make big bucks by fanning the flames of fear." I agree, especially in regards to Moore (aka Sicko). I also find it just a bit amusing that partisans of both sides tend to be angered/dismayed by such (obvious) comparisons. Perhaps it is impossible for kettles and pots to see themselves, but they sure seem to be able to see each other. . . Since i am neither a left wing extremist or a right …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

wth - There used to be a saying "Feminists have no sense of humor". I think it applies to many (certainly not all) of the leftists who frequent this site. I typically do not respond to posters who make very little sense or to posters who quickly become overtly hostile. Why bother? It just riles them up and inspires them to post rants or attacks. Which really benefits no one (well, unless it serves as some sort of cathartic release for them). On the other hand, i have had some very nice "conversations" with people here, both those who think very …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

brian28 - Yeah, Moore has become a real money making machine. Making leftist propaganda films has been good to him. Give the people what they want and all that. . . In any case, i do agree that the US health care system can be improved. However, any fix to the system must NOT make working/middle class health care suffer. After all, we are the ones who actually support such things through our labors. And for many of us, the system is working fairly well. For an interesting review of this "documentary" see: http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1563758/story.jhtml (Excerpted from the above review: A 52-year-old …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

brian28 writes: "ann coulter, orielly, hannity, write books for the right wing propaganda neo-cons and make millions of dollars doing it, I don’t see wolf nit-picking the shit out of their books". A pity, i love to poke fun at them as well! I put them in the same category as Moore, successful entertainers that distort the issues to their - very profitable - advantages. I guess i don't remember any ITT articles that started out that if you are against ann coulter, orielly, or hannity you must be pro-cannibalism or pro-Hitler!

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

wth - it appears that any criticism of Moore (peace be upon him) on this website is tantamount to walking into a mosque and declaring that Mohammad was not really right about lots of stuff. . . But at least (as far as i know, anyway) no fatwa has been issued for our deaths. :)

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

wth - just out of curiosity, why do you even bother responding to LB? While he makes claims of being so very enlightened, at the same time he reacts in much the way a spoiled child might (his last few posts being excellent examples). I am sure that LB is a fine person, but his, um,*style* of communication makes it so very difficult to discuss anything meaningful with him (unless you happen to be in complete agreement, in which case he undoubtedly would imagine you to be very intelligent and perceptive).

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

One word - photovoltaics. Let's end our reliance and exploitation of the crazies in the middle east. Let them live in the middle ages if they want, we need to extricate ourselves from them. It does not help that our "friends' (Saudi's) are among the worst of the bunch (it must really suck to be born female in that sad part of the world!).

Posted to Iraqi Unions Fight the New Oil Law

*In the school diversity cases from Louisville and Seattle, Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas again seemed to taunt the nation’s legacy of overcoming hate and division through effective state action. They all but insisted that public servants confronting segregation become complicit by ignoring racism altogether or pretending it doesn’t exist." This is actually a very good thing. This ruling will help end racial discrimination once and for all. The basis of helping others should not be centered on race, but rather on economic status. To provide extra help for rich blacks (or their children) is absurd. But to provide help to …

Posted to God--And Progressives--Save This Honorable Court!

Matt W on opines: "This argument assumes that racism no longer exists and does not operate in society on any level.". The argument he wishes to refute is that we should end racism by becoming less race conscious, really by becoming colorblind to race. Thus he seems to believe that only by racist policies can we fix the racism problem. Odd logic that has been tested for several decades yielding not only a lack of success, but dismal failure instead. I argue that race should be irrelevant to policy makers. Our efforts are much better focussed on providing help to people …

Posted to God--And Progressives--Save This Honorable Court!

“Until I saw your film, I didn’t know that black women could be raped.” If this is a real quote, then the person who uttered it is retarded. Or does not live anywhere on this planet. . .

Posted to Stories of Survival

Gender transforming surgery is, to me, fascinating. It certainly brings up a number of issues: If married, does the marriage become void (well, except in Mass)? Teaching your spouse to like your new genitals must be an interesting endeavor, to say the least. Does one lose the ability to orgasm as a result of such surgeries? Does it matter if it is male to female or vice versa? I suppose in cases like this (male to female) Bobby *really* might have two mommies. While i could not care less what gender a reporter (sports or otherwise) might be, i cannot imagine …

Posted to He Shoots, She Scores

Many if not all of the arguments presented in this article for Iran's "power" are based on its oil. If we really believe in global warming due to burning fossil fuels, their power should wane over the next decade or two. Of course, if the crazies (Ahmadinejad is a great example!) in Iran get nuclear weapons, we would be foolish to believe they would not use them (they are so crazy they even state this very clearly). So i would say that oil may be a source of influence for Iran, but only for a limited time (less than 20-30 years). …

Posted to Iran and America's Tug of War

kafs0 - The president of Iran makes it clear he would use nuclear weapons, if only he had them. While i am sure you are a nice enough fellow, i think i will listen to what the crazies say and be wary of them. If i were Iran (or the US or any other country), i would spend my resources on helping the population. While the west has done a fair job of this, the middle east remains pathetic. The problem there is not so much outside enemies, but rather a populace that is still living with a middle age mentality, …

Posted to Iran and America's Tug of War

kafs0 I don't think anything we do can possibly "fix" the middle east. Their problems are very severe and mostly unrelated to the US or West (the virtual enslavement of women is a good example). However, if we stopped giving them weapons (via the transfer of large sums of money for oil), i think it would calm the region down a bit. Germany has been investing in photovoltaics in a very serious way; the West in general should follow this example. Otherwise the pursuit of energy very well might become ever more violent. Our best strategy is to end any dependence …

Posted to Iran and America's Tug of War

"George Monbiot has a challenge for those concerned about global warming: Stop flying." How funny! One has to hearken back to those horrible days of September 12-14 2001 to know the real irony of this "challenge". We gained fascinating data due to all US flights being grounded on those sad days. And we learned something of great interest. Condensation trails in the upper atmosphere actually cause an effect called "global dimming'. They reflect a very significant amount of sunlight, causing temperatures to cool on a worldwide basis. Furthermore one has to wonder what the sun's role is on global warming. For …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

LB - you clearly freely judge wth and find him lacking. Perhaps you should try understanding his pov (even if you disagree with it)? Of course, given that you are so very powerful and the rest of the populace (e.g., wth, me) which holds only normative/informed opinions are so very impotent, perhaps you should be more gentle? And you are so very polite, in sharp contast to other posters snarkiness. What a blessing you are to read! I bet you are just as kind in person, a truly noble citizen who sees all, knows all - not fooled by the media …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

LB - you are welcome. I am happy to hear you have some knowledge of the cosmic ray effects on cloud formation. I suppose we disagree on the net effects, but that's ok. I also do forgive you, although not in regards to your bluntness (no harm, no foul there). Best of luck to you. WTH - One amusing aspect of the man made CO2 global warming crowd that is not overly discussed is that, even if we cut emissions by half tomorrow, the damage is already done. If you can get through the horrible movie Gore made (horrible because about …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

"While the Center is on the city’s north side, where most “out” GLBTs live, its mission is to serve a wider constituency. " They why have a "special" GLBT center? A center that serves *everyone* would be, well, in everyone's interest. "Unlike its peers around the nation, the non-profit community center will offer a dizzying array of programs and amenities: youth and mental health counseling, violence intervention, an HIV/AIDS hotline, culinary training, mentoring, legal assistance, a cyber center, a 175-seat theater and a basketball court." Yeah, straights definitely don't need these services and entertainment. . . At least it is only …

Posted to A GLBT Center of Their Own

Yeah the US is awful. In fact, it is the worst country in the entire world (well, except for all the others). MediaFriend - do you really believe what you write? If so, have you ever considered finding a more hospitable place to live? But perhaps no place is better, so one has to make due as best as one can? Reagen may have been intellectually challenged (!!!), but he turned out to be a prophet. "Tear down this wall, Mr Gorbachov!" Sounded nuts when he said it - until the wall came down! Then voodoo economics produced very good results. …

Posted to The Enduring Lies of Ronald Reagan

MediaFriend - i feel for you. I hope you manage to build a life you are happy with. Having traveled rather extensively, i will assert you are far better off here than the vast majority of other places (but if you read the papers, you already know this). While one can not (typically) change the world, one can always change oneself and how they perceive the world. Again, best of luck to you. tabonsell - your class was wrong. Communism is alive and well in far too many places still. But ending it in the former USSR was clearly largely due …

Posted to The Enduring Lies of Ronald Reagan

"almost a third of military women reported being the victim of rape or attempted rape during their tenure in the military." This is an argument for Plan B? Really? Maybe we should focus on rape prevention. . . (of course, the statistic above may very well be hugely exaggerated). "they [military women] are only allowed to have abortions if they are the victims of sexual assault and are willing to report the assault." This is an apparently ridiculous claim. Is this somehow officially codified? Even if it is, how could it possibly be enforced? (It would be much easier to believe …

Posted to Democrats Shy Away From Emergency Contraception

"For the Kamunens, blood is thicker than oil." Or love of sleeping late and finding/banging a gf is more important that work of any sort. Lousy poster boys for the antiwar movement and sad excuses for proud Finns.

Posted to Thicker Than Oil

wth - Finland is also the only country that repaid its WWII debt fully. A proud and wonderful people and land (ok, i am biased, but proudly).

Posted to Thicker Than Oil

If we really think that DC should be treated as a state and given a representative (i do not), what is the justification for NOT also giving them a couple of senators? The taxation without representation claim rings quite hollow in the argument, given that DC is so very heavily subsidized by the US government (as a federal district should be, imho). At least the article pointed out that this is strictly a partisan issue, not one of any true significance. Which might make one think that maybe, just maybe, it would be better to address real issues if there are …

Posted to D.C. Fights For A Vote

The problem with abortion is that by its very nature, it terminates a life. While this may be a good trade in some eyes, since it frees the prospective mother to be, it is nonetheless a problem with the marketing of abortion. To equate abortion with a medical procedure like removing a tumor is too transparent for most people to really believe. The already big advantage the pro life groups have will only grow stronger as medical techniques get more sophisticated. As this happens, the humanness of the fetus will continue to grow and the time a fetus needs to become …

Posted to Not By Spin Alone

Jane writes" "Those who oppose access to legal, safe and free abortion are frauds of the highest order." Wow. Do you think there should be **any** limits to abortion at all? Or are you in favor of the absolute position that it is merely a woman's choice (and the man really does not even need to know)? (Free? Really?) Given your very strong feelings on the subject, i rather doubt it is one that you can or even would care to discuss rationally. Nothing wrong with that, your mind is made up. However, you might wish to reconsider if it is …

Posted to Not By Spin Alone

"it suggests that people have a profound sense of economic fairness" This is a very wrong analysis. Rather the correct analysis is that we do not want others to have stuff we do not have. It is only "fair" in the same sense as if i go and take away *your* ball so no one can play the game. In other words, we the people are a petty bunch indeed. (The studies that show how we treat people when we can inflict physical pain on them are also very interesting.) That said, i think it is fair to assert that democracy …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

"Even the Rev. Al Sharpton" *Even* him? Wasn't Al Sharpton the man who "stood up" for Tawana Brawly? Isn't he the man who condemned the Duke Lacrosse players for "raping" the poor misunderstood stripper? Does he really have *any* credibility left at all? It is far past the time where "disadvantaged blacks" are worth discussing. Rather we should discuss "disadvantaged people", regardless of color, to see what we as a society can do to better help those who fall into this *economic* group. (OJ being a great example of how guilty people, black or white, can walk away from their crimes …

Posted to Blaming Hip-Hop for Imus

"One out of 60 U.S. military personnel serving in the Gulf War theater of operations were contractors; in the Iraq War by late 2006 that ratio was by some counts almost one to one." Really? One to one, REALLY? I would love to see real figures of how many US soldiers are in Iraq and how many contractors are there.

Posted to These Guns for Hire

wintermute - thanks for the update. I find it incredible that there may be 100,000 contractors on the ground in Iraq. I have posted in a link that seems to be congruent with your assertion above. I am amazed that this is (apparently) not well known public information. Thanks again! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/04/AR2006120401311.html

Posted to These Guns for Hire

"making snow from wastewater violated the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), based on the religious practices of the Navajo, Hopi and Havasupai tribes." How very funny! Skiing on "natural" snow is ok, but it is irreligious to ski on snow made from reclaimed water? Perhaps the natives are just anti-environmentalists? How did such nonsense get into their religion in the first place (hint - this is obviously a bogus argument)! My vote is with the resort.

Posted to Sacred Lands, Sewer Snow

The 9th Circuit is out of touch with reality, hence their constantly overturned opinions. Obviously the balance of nature must include the repurification of "wastewater". The *religious* aspect of the argument (as presented here) is merely silly and i expect the Supremes will agree with me, whether they take my "vote" into account or simply figure it out themselves (it is not very difficult in this instance). If there are truly health arguments that are viable, they might be more persuasive. Otherwise i would rather we get to use a small faction of the land for public good, even if someone …

Posted to Sacred Lands, Sewer Snow

'If the Bushies stole the 2000 election and the 2004 election then we have fraudulent Supreme Court.' Interesting assertion. Are/were you bothered by the Kennedy appointees as well? (Factually Bush did not "steal" the infamous 2000 election, rather both the election and its aftermath in Florida were botched by the Gore team.) Still remember that the rich child GW Bush never even bothered to travel abroad before he was elected prez. Not once! Given this little factoid, is it even vaguely surprising that his foreign policy is, well, what it is?

Posted to Sacred Lands, Sewer Snow

"Wolf is scornful of many things, religious feelings among them. Wolf probably has these feelings himself and is confused about them" General Hint: Ascribing motives to people one does not know leads to incorrect and foolish assertions. Better to stick to the issues, rather than to attempt to analyze the author of any particular post. Kuya, very thoughtful posts, i enjoyed reading and pondering them.

Posted to Sacred Lands, Sewer Snow

"Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly. Don Imus is just one of them. He happens to be stupid." Yeah but lets not forget the Al Frankin's and Michael Moore's as well. And stupid is fine, but let's add liars - they are all liars. What the hell, if we are going to judge, lets judge 'em all! (But be very careful, they are merely reflections of ourselves, in the long run. Which is why they are so very successful.)

Posted to Curiosity and a Cat Named Studs

I do not understand why we need to have laws against "hate crimes". Aren't laws against crime enough? Do we really want to try to determine motivations of crime? Surely we have sufficient laws to combat "generic crime". If we do decide to put hate crimes on the books, do we want to charge black on white muggers with hate crimes? What if they only wanted the money? How do we tell? "Studies show that victims of hate crimes rarely report the assaults to law enforcement because of fear and isolation. " This is a problem with crime in general. But …

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

"Anyway, when I was young, I noticed these contradictions and, of course, they were quite acceptable to a lot of people, but not to me." I guess that is why he became unstuck in time, to fix it up. Too bad (for us) that he was not able. Seriously, humans are obviously imperfect creatures. And when you put us in groups, our imperfections multiply. To expect perfection is simply foolish. But it is fun to kibitz about how bad things were/are etc. "“What did you learn?” and he replied, “I’ll never believe my government again.”" Sounds like he learned the wrong …

Posted to Kurt Vonnegut's Last Interview

"Yes they should get better law enforcement for Hate Crimes there are too many of those “IN AMERICA”. " Not to mention in the rest of the world at large (just as a simple guess, i would imagine "hate crimes" are **much** more prevalent in the Middle East and Africa - i have no opinion where the US stands relative to the rest of the developed world). "Get some understanding, some compassion and love of your fellow man. " Good "advice", but a complete non sequitur. "Your remarks are so childish and nasty. " I have no idea who or what …

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

"One attacks black people because they are black. If a black man robs me because he believes I have money, that is not a hate crime,That’s robbery. If he specifically attacks me because I’m white, then that’s a hate crime." Tell us, oh wise one, *why* the distinction? Should a robber who robs for money be treated better than one who "hates" the person they are robbing? How about those who hate/envy rich people? Is that an *extra* crime too? Should not *actions* be more important than words or thoughts (do we need telepaths to determine motivations, or are allegations enough?) …

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

"I do not advocate censorship of those who disagree with me as I’m not a right-winger. " I thought you *were* in favor of censorship - aren't you a lefty? Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the concept of political correctness? :) "In addition, you make baseless accusations." Like "Since we obviously have lower echelon reasoning voicing opinions" or perhaps "Living in the South, i look at the older gentlemen, listen to their conversations and wonder just how many have sheets hidden wa-a-a-a-y back in their closets. You know, the sheets with the funny holes cut in them. I,at times,also wonder what …

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

Sorry to have confused you. The obvious observations i made were simply an aside. Why don't we discuss the actual topic? The question is: "Two identical crimes are committed, one with "hate" and the other "not", the one with "hate" deserves a harsher punishment because ...".

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

Aunty - long diatribe, short on the actual topic. I really don't see anything worth responding to in your post. You clearly need to work harder to make yourself stay on topic! wth - nice post. Moving on, here is one possible argument for distinguishing "hate" crimes from real crimes. IF you make it a federal offense, then if the states fail to successfully prosecute the real crime, then the feds can (ala the Rodiny King case). But for this to be fair, it should not enumerate select groups - rather it should be a crime for *anyone* to take away …

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

wth - you are more patient than i. Has anyone noticed, the *only* reason given here for enhancing penalties for "hate" crimes is that, if we do not, we are lacking in empathy and therefore must be republican right wingers? This is one of the reasons the left is in such a bad state - it has no intellectual roots that are accessible to its rank and file.

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

Natalie - nice post! Good job of deconstructing what little there is of our poor Aunt (who knows so very little about the topic, but seems to have such in depth data on us posters!). . . :)

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

"Don’t you think it would be better if we, each of us individually and all of us consensually, made efforts to get our spiritual, social and material houses in order in the here and now, than to leave it up to future generations?" In fact, i think this is the only way most of us can contribute. I use compact fluorescent lights for most of my fixtures and hope and dream of the day i can put up photovoltaics on my roof (no more money for crazies in the Middle East ought to be our new slogan. Note that Germany now …

Posted to Kurt Vonnegut's Last Interview

wth - "She survived because the .25 cal. bullet bounced off her head (lucky he didn’t have a 1911).." SO did the fellow who shot her also "hate" her (or maybe women in general?)? If so, he should definitely be arrested. If not, well then, no harm, no foul, boys will be boys, yada yada yada. OR we could simply make ALL violent crimes illegal, attempting to deter each of them regardless of motivations. Or is that just way too easy and fair?

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

Google "black attack white rape" to get the link the paragraph below was extracted from. (ITT blocks my posting of this link for some reason.) "Imus calls some black women "Nappy headed hos." A black woman accuses college Lacrosse players "rapists." Just words but with huge media coverage. A white couple is carjacked. The girlfriend is forced to watch as the man's penis is cut off and he is shot 3 times. The girlfriend was kept in the house, raped for 3 days then murdered. No coverage." Crimes of violence are not to be tolerated. I really don't care if the …

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

General Hint: Ascribing motives to people one does not know leads to incorrect and foolish assertions. Better to stick to the issues, rather than to attempt to analyze the author of any particular post. 'Wolf you’re a real right-winger.". Besides being a non-sequitur, your opinion is not only incorrect, but nonsensical (one *might* say "cabdriverinchicago you’re a real right-winger for **supporting the death penalty**, but i would not. Note the context of the assertion (the assertion itself is no more valid than the original, but at least it is tied to something cabdriverinchicago apparently believes. . . )) I think that …

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

"Why don’t people just shut the f**k up and stop ragging on the media like it’s everyones punching bag and just allow them to do their f**king job." OK cabdriverinchicago, now you are "officially" a right winger! The media behaved just as you want, just before the Iraqi war. . . :) Of course, there are some who think that the media is NOT doing their job - that is, that they are overtly biased. People who believe that occasionally speak up. One might think this was a good thing, a "check and balance" if you will. But you ask a …

Posted to Defining Hate in the United States

Kuya - the "edit"t thingy only shows up when there are more than about 5 posts (why, i do not know). (It shows up when you click "extended discussion, which only shows up when the discussion gets "long enough".) When my boys were born i had a very difficult time deciding whether to circumcise them or not. Ultimately i choose not to (i am circumcised myself and have no complaints). If i were starting again, i would still mull over the options and i *might* choose differently today. "African-American men are more “at risk”? Why would that be? " Let me …

Posted to Circumcision Promotion Divides AIDS Activists

as the Catholic Church testified in a public statement. " Wow! The Catholic Church can talk? Or was this a "spokesperson" for the Catholic Church. We all know how reliable such people can be, odd that the *person* was not identified, only the organization. . . "Sánchez de Lozada has a fortune estimated at $50 million, largely garnered through the privatization of the country’s state-owned mines." Now this is the real story. It is a shame that the rich can steal from the poorest of the poor and then leave the country behind. I would rather we give the ex prez …

Posted to Gone, But Not Forgotten

"The U.S. military’s response to the hunger strike is not surprising: punitive force-feeding, a dangerous and painful approach. " So what is the recommended response? Feeding them pork egg rolls? Bacon and eggs? Or just letting them starve to death in peace? "Freedom is just as important as food or air." Iraq is now "free", but it is less than hollow. Freedom without responsibility is worse than enslavement. The crazys in Iraq now have freedom to kill other citizens and freedom to repress a population. They were better off under Saddam. And collectively we very well may be better off with …

Posted to The Guantánamo Hunger Strike

I personally don't like the way she came to power. She inherited it from her husband (to be fair, GW inherited it from his father, which also left me cold). Some of this article strikes me a just plain silly, for example: "And millions of us fought (and continue to fight) these battles wearing lipstick, skirts and a smile: the masquerade of femininity we are compelled to don." What you want to go around naked? No problem. . . "After all, baby boomer women couldn’t be “as good” as men in school or the workplace; we had to be better, to …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

bobbyanna - nice post. I agree with much of what you said. . . "Even with reproductive rights, not all the stakeholders are women." I would say men and women are equal stakeholders here. "as there really is no monolithic Black vote" Well, there is in fact. 90%+ of blacks vote democratic. Of course, this is probably due to simple ignorance, as opposed to enlightened self interest. "In fact, it can convincingly be argued that within every sub-group, the lines that divide are most often economic" I totally agree. Personally i think all race based or gender based helping programs (think …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

LB opines : "When men start becoming pregnant, then they will have an equal stake in reproductive rights. Until then, I don’t think so. " When women can get pregnant without mens contribution, then they can have the *exclusive* lock on human reproduction. Till then, we - men and women - are in it together. And each parent should have a say about both the pregnancy and, if carried to birth, the raising of the child. This is, of course, just my opinion. Obviously there are others out there, many held very fiercely. (Though no matter how strongly felt, it is …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

Well there is always Obama, for those who want a liberal and "something extra". Miat - if a man rapes a woman, should we hold that against the rapist's wife? (Perhaps in the case in point, the wife somehow participated?)

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

You even play a game with a very young child where he covers his own eyes and shouts "you can't find me!"? It is sweet. Seems we have a grown up poster who thinks such techniques really work? Where oh where is that annoying namecaller? He is so very stealthy. . . :) Immigration - without the illegals who would pick our food and do the work we don't want to do? Hell, if we could actually deport them all tomorrow, the US economy would certainly suffer mightily. As long as a large gradient exists between a nation of plenty and …

Posted to Abuses Alleged During Immigration Raid

Somalia, home of modern day pirates. Congo, *only* home of the most advanced and only peaceful primates on the planet (Bonobos). Hey at least Congo made laws against slavery almost a decade ago (even though they are not enforced - hey Salim, here is a place for reparations). Rwanda, we all know (ain't movies grand?). Sudan/Darfur. . . Let's face it, Africa is a mess. Hopeless as far as i can tell. Perhaps we should evacuate the entire continent and allow it to revert to a natural state? Hopeless. . .

Posted to Globalism with Combat Boots

Matt - thanks for writing. Addressing the underlying causes of violence will help, but not eliminate violence. It is ingrained in our DNA. While i am not in favor of violence, there are obviously people out there who are poster boys for the death penalty (McVeigh, Bundy, etc etc) and we have to deal with them in some fashion. I have no objections to giving them the death penalty as long as their guilt is conclusively proved (which seems to be a problem here in some parts of the south). texasindependent you make a good case that Texas does a much …

Posted to Inside the Death Chamber

JusticeForAll - I agree with your point 2 you make above. However note that occasionally we release very dangerous criminals who then commit mayhem on other innocent people. While the state in cases like this is not directly responsible for murder, they do share some culpability. texasindependent - for the death penalty to be a real deterrent it must be faster and more certain. For cases where guilt is absolute, i endorse this approach. For cases where we have *any* doubt, i think the death penalty should not be used at all.

Posted to Inside the Death Chamber

texasindependent - while i agree justice should not be rushed - especially in capital cases - i also assert that there are times when guilt is known absolutely. Bundy comes immediately to mind, as does McVeigh. Cases like theirs should be expedited through the system. Cases where guilt is harder to prove absolutely (Peterson comes to mind) should not result in the death penalty at all, imho. Given how bizarre some posters apparently are, i wonder why anyone would even *read* their posts, much less respond to same. Again, just imho.

Posted to Inside the Death Chamber

Lethal injection would be among my last choice, if i had to choose. One might think that cruel and unusual crimes deserve cruel and unusual punishments. While i am sympathetic to such views, i prefer simply ending such peoples lives as we would a rabid or feeble dog - with no animosity and with certainty.

Posted to Inside the Death Chamber

Compact fluorescents. They generate light but not heat. They last longer and will save you money in the long run. The only downside is the initial investment, which can be made gradually as people replace the old fashioned incandescents. I use them in all of my fixtures except the ones that have dimmers.

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

The issue should first be to get insurance to pay for this very important vaccine (Gardasil). Mandating it as a public health measure is also a good idea.

Posted to Gardasil, Iraqi Superbugs & Radiation

Kuya - thanks for your inspiring post. It is nice to know that hate is not inevitable, especially under the circumstances you grew up under.

Posted to Slavery and the State of Denial

The "lineup" used in the Duke rape case is an example of how things can go horribly wrong when political correctness goes bonkers. I like the idea of the double blind lineups. No system will be perfect.

Posted to Rethinking Lineups

"They reasoned that state violence—the enslavement of the working class in a cycle of poverty—was far worse than their simple mail bombings." Or to put it more simply, they were violently deluded. I bet they would be fond of Crazy Ted if they lived later! "Most historians agree that Sacco and Vanzetti’s arrest, trial and conviction was a miscarriage of justice" Sort of like the Rosenthal's? Only now, it is beyond debate that they were in fact guilty. (But i wonder, does anyone here still believe in *their* innocence, despite the now known facts?) These guys were clearly violent. They were …

Posted to The Lessons of Sacco and Vanzetti

Speaking of “stupid and sad” I believe wolf was referring to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. " Thanks for catching my typo. I am glad you agree that they were stupid, sad and quite guilty, despite the shrill protests of the left for decades. Perhaps one can learn from such foolish mistakes? It seems odd to me that you would think that violent letter bombers are best referred to as "free thinking individuals". Are you a fan of crazy Ted? Perhaps he too, as a "free thinking individual" has been railroaded? Take heart, he is alive and thus a "free Crazy Ted" …

Posted to The Lessons of Sacco and Vanzetti

wth - interesting post. Remind me, roughly where do you live? Here where i live (in the deep south of all places) the public schools are very good indeed (which is NOT to say that discipline issues are not important). However, the city i live in is an island - move 40 miles in any direction and the schools go from very good to abysmal quickly.

Posted to Democracy Haters

The Kremlin opened its archives and the doubt is gone now as to the Rosenberg's. Providing nuclear technology to the Soviets back then is about as bad as it gets. It would be almost as bad as doing the same for Iran now (which some here think would be ok, as far as i can tell).

Posted to The Lessons of Sacco and Vanzetti

"she’s tackling a topic that makes both straights and gays wince: " Not me, i think it is hot! Me and two bi ladies enjoying each others company. . . Buffy was a great show. She was portrayed as a real hero, but with real flaws.

Posted to Bisexual Healing

Y'all are off topic. Where are the hot lesbians when you need them? :)

Posted to Bisexual Healing

"Over or not, productivity certainly has been OVERRATED!" I don't think so. The time it takes to obtain the necessities of life (shelter, food, clothes, etc) is at a very low point. Folks living in primitive cultures (e.g., the Kombi in West Papua, a stone age level people) spend most of their time working hard to eke out meager existences. Even the "poor" in the US and other developed countries live a materially rich existence compared to how most people lived 100 years ago. I think this is due to extreme increases in productivity - how we raise food, wash clothes, …

Posted to Productivity: Is The Boom Over?

"Another effect of increased productivity is increase unemployment. If 8 workers can suddenly produce what it used to take 10 workers to make, 2 workers will soon be unemployed." The US has a very low rate of unemployment. New jobs are created that often are better than the old ones that go away. No more people making buggy whips, but lots building computers. That said, the least intelligent of us are having a harder and harder time getting ahead. Being strong, which was very valuable 50-100 years ago is now almost worthless. But this might lead to an adapting population, as …

Posted to Productivity: Is The Boom Over?

wth - thanks for the link and your thoughtful comments. We live in a strange economy - probably the best the world has ever seen, yet it does have very significant deficiencies. I suppose the hope for those in the bottom 10-20% is to advance, which i imagine most do. Those who cannot, either due to lack of intelligence, ambition or whatever are being left behind. Still i have to wonder if a significant number of hard working Americans are also being left behind due to no fault of their own. This seems unlikely to me, but i would be interested …

Posted to Productivity: Is The Boom Over?

wth - thanks again. If nothing else, the experiences you site make me believe even more that living on a fraction of ones income is extremely important (say 80%). It is only by saving over a long period of time that we can overcome our "indentured servitude" status and become financially stable, even when the world around us is not. One thing that puzzles me greatly is why a company would lay off a worker that is making it money? It seems to be against the companies self interest. . .

Posted to Productivity: Is The Boom Over?

recursive prophet - good thoughts; the lack of civility here is tough to deal with, if one wants to actually engage in a real discussion that is. Of course, the worst offender here is the one that shrieks the loudest and longest and is the obviously the least informed. Perhaps if he is ignored consistently he will eventually grow bored and leave. One can only hope. :)

Posted to Productivity: Is The Boom Over?

How odd. The single person here who could most benefit from modern psychiatry does not believe in mental illness! How funny, but also how very sad. . .

Posted to Preaching Revolution

God is like your favorite color. Some have a very strong opinion on which color is best, others don't care much. Facts are useless in resolving the "dispute". To each their own. One of the great things about the west is that we can all live side by side, regardless of religious belief. In stark contrast to most of the Middle East. . .

Posted to Reclaiming What Makes Us Human

"every American, regardless of income, can receive a college education." While one might hope that every *qualified* applicant to a college would be able to afford it, it is foolish to believe that every student leaving high school *should* go to college. The bottom half academically are mostly unsuitable for college and should pursue job training opportunities that they are better suited for. This is not a bad thing - plumbers, carpenters, etc are all good honorable professions and can pay quite well. Other than that nitpick, i am all for raising taxes for the extremely wealthy. But i doubt that …

Posted to Which Side Are We On?

"Stern argues that “the most essential change is to get everyone in a system where they have health care,” then work to improve it." Terrible argument! In order to be politically possible, any changes to the health care system must not lead to worse coverage for those who are covered already (the vast majority). If we attempt to screw the middle class to help the lower class, it will be a non-starter. In any case, medical care in the US is expensive here due to very good reasons (e.g., MRI machines cost big bucks as do their operators). We can no …

Posted to The Health Care Monster Returns

"reduction in useless (from a societal point of view) coslty cosmetic/elective surgeries that skew valuable resources away from better uses." lams712 - are you saying that people should not be *allowed* to get such procedures? Even if they pay for it with their own resources? If so, that sounds like a big step backwards to me. David - i have heard that in Canada one cannot get heart bypass surgery after a certain age (60 i think). Is this true? If so, that is a very nasty downside to the Canadian system.

Posted to The Health Care Monster Returns

David - glad to hear it. There are enough scary stories already with out fake ones.

Posted to The Health Care Monster Returns

Why encourage him/her/it? It is so easy to simply not even read his/her posts, and there is no worry that you will miss anything of value. I only wish that there were filters to i would not even have to bother seeing the posts (hint ITT). JMHO.

Posted to The Health Care Monster Returns

My daughters will both be vaccinated. I only wish that insurance would pay the $$$s instead of me.

Posted to HPV Vaccine: Betting on a Mercky Record

So nice to live in a free society where we can imagine it is as bad as the former USSR out loud with no possibility of retribution. We can even say Bush is a Hitler or that the war in Iraq is a genocide. We do not have any responsibility to be accurate and very very few people are ever persecuted for political speech, regardless of accuracy. We can say what we please with no fear or retribution (military folks cannot disparage their chain of command, however) Perhaps davinci can enlighten me though? Any Jon Stewarts in the former USSR? How …

Posted to In Defense of a Free Press

davinci - you do make a good point on the US prison system, especially since a very significant fraction (~50%, i think) are there due to minor drug related crimes. I do not get your point that "Americans are allowed to say anything they want but the political class simply ignores them". I suppose in the Netherlands (actually one of my favorite places to visit) if you speak your mind your political class listens? If it does, i strongly recommend that you speak out against Muslim extremists in your own land, but be careful, they are deadly on your turf. One …

Posted to In Defense of a Free Press

WOW! You guys have *really* lost it. Implied threats? All whites are devils? Maybe y'all should cut back on the caffeine, or whatever it is that you are on? Peace to you all. Maybe y'all can find a nice warm lady and have some fun on Valentines Day? Take a day off from anger and hate. . .

Posted to 8 Reasons to Close Guantnamo Now

theloneous - i am glad you wrote “Black folks don’t really care what white people think”. So true! And it is also nice and symmetric (substitue White for black and it remains just as true).

Posted to Baracks Black Dilemma

Hi theloneous - Fortunately there are people that *do* care what other people think. While some individuals may be constrained by color, i think (hope?) that most are not. In some communities, it is the ideas that matter, not the color of the person espousing them. I find racism to be a sad fact of life. Regardless of who holds it dear. I rather doubt i would feel comfortable in your household, given the attitudes expressed by your family.

Posted to Baracks Black Dilemma

Christians have faith healing, i guess others have their own "techniques" such as homeopathy. Both are equally effective (spilling goats blood under the full moon is also just as effective). But to be fair, we asre a superstitious species. And hope is very oftern better than nothing. Just don't give up real medicine for hope. . .

Posted to Faith Healing with Homeopathy

"because the US is the leading rogue terrorist state " Ha ha ha ha!!!! ho hee ha ho ho ho!!! You are *hilarious* - you should apply to be on The Daily Show! Too funny! Keep up your entertaining posts, they are priceless. :)

Posted to Love the Warrior, Hate the War

scorp - nice expose, but nothing very surprising. Personally i feel sorry for guys like Mike. Who said "stupidity and arrogance make for a terrible combination!"? So true.

Posted to Love the Warrior, Hate the War

If the bent over ladies had nice butts, i don't see the problem. Perhaps they should shed their daisy dukes for thongs! A fine looking woman is a work of art that should be appreciated. Spanish tv has always been more liberal when it comes to showing off the femaie form (the US seems to have a phobia about bare female breasts, for example).

Posted to Portrait of the Activists as Young Women

"Now just about everyone is coming around to accepting it was better under Saddam." Except for the hundreds of thousands he murdered (using WMD - e.g., his gassing of the civilian population). And the ones he shredded in plastic shredders. Oh and the ones he ordered raped. . . Maybe much or Iraq is in bad shape now, but it was in bad shape before the invasion. The northern Kurdish region continues to be in pretty good shape (but to be fair, it was before the war, due to US protection).

Posted to Iraqi Health Care: Hostage to War

I do agree that the problems in the middle east are caused by the west. The root cause of the problem is that we have provided primitive cultures with modern weapons, which makes a much sense as providing 9mm handguns to teenage boys. We did this because we are addicted to their oil. That is the mistake, to fix it is to first understand it. David - remind me again why the aggressive US attacked the peaceful Iraqi's in '91. Jack, while the killing of Kurds used to be as acceptable as killing of blacks is now in Darfur, i am …

Posted to Iraqi Health Care: Hostage to War

"I regularly present my views in mixed company and at the very large corporation of which I am a top executive. " Jack - you are funny! And, i am sure, very important indeed! :)

Posted to A Dark Night in Iceland

Hey Jack - You really should re-read some of your posts! They are very funny, and like you say, each is a winner! i do wonder why you are obsessed with anuses and poop, though. I suppose big important executives use little boy personas to keep it on the down low?: Anyway, best of luck to you and yours, for some odd reason i think you may need it. Bha bye.

Posted to A Dark Night in Iceland

"Stern grew up in a middle-class, professional family, which he ruefully acknowledges does not provide him the traditional blue-collar credentials of union leaders." If he really wants the genuine blue collar experience, i recommend that he live on the average wage of the people he is organizing. But this is about as likely as Rummy joining the Army to go fight in Iraq.

Posted to Does Andy Stern Talk His Walk?

"The average cost of winning a House race was just shy of $1 million. A Senate seat comes closer to $7.8 million." OK, so "This should be a national scandal."? What price would be a reasonable price to allow a candidate to let their potential constituants know what they stand for and against? Moreover, is it really worth taking away freedom of speech rights in order to "correct" this "problem"? Perhaps we ought to select Congressman the same way we select juries?

Posted to Outlawing Legal Bribery

"Wolf, maybe this formula is worthy of consideration ... the price of a postage stamp multiplied by the number of constituents." Hmmm, we elect 435 Congressman out of population of 300 million. A first class stamp costs $0.39. By this measure we should spend about $250,000 per congressman, Similar for the cost of a senate seat. David, it looks like we are nearly following you formula, perhaps off by a factor of 4-8. I wonder, how do we acess the value of people making phone calls or doing other political work for free (like MoveOn volunteers)?

Posted to Outlawing Legal Bribery

So we (that is, politicians hoping to be congressmen) spend ~10 times the amount that they "should" to get elected. And this is scandalous? (There are ~100 million households in the US.) Perhaps the scandalous thing is not the dollar amount, but rather where it comes from? Personally i would prefer my congressman was not indebted to a large corporation or organization (whether it be Greenpeace, moveon or Exxon). But limiting speech here in the US is a big no-no. While i am aware of the problems money brings to elections, i would rather not cut off free speech rights. …

Posted to Outlawing Legal Bribery

"Can Bond refuse to be what he is supposed to be: a mindless killer serving at the enjoyment of his masters" Obviously the author doesn't "get" Bond at all. But that would never stop him from writing, poor fellow. Obviously a fan of truthiness. :)

Posted to The Spychopath Who Loved Me

scorp - nice posts. I wish that someone here had the background to spar with you, but alas, the lefty readship here seems to be so very lacking, at least intellectually. But they sure are passionate!

Posted to The Spychopath Who Loved Me

"The USA is one of the repressive societies on earth and the disgraceful thing is that it is mostly voluntarily by the sheeple and NOT state coercion" Now that's funny! Hmmm, maybe i should move somewhere that is "better". . . Nah!!

Posted to The Spychopath Who Loved Me

We really should see more of what we are trying to save. A topless walk for saving breasts would be a wonderful way to raise money, consciousness and, um, you know. . .

Posted to Seeing Red about Thinking Pink

On a vaguely related subject: do colored progressives "get" how wrong it is to charge clearly innocent white men with the rape of a black (exotic dancer) women? The Duke case is a prime example of how race politics can lead to the horrible abuse of the legal system. It is amazing that the case has not been dropped, the DA fired and the boys issued a full apology by the state (and the exotic dancer should be charged with filing false reports as well). The OJ trail also was a clear case of race politics gone amuck. . . Or …

Posted to White Progressives Don't Get It

"Morality should be a code of values based on reality" Thus the strong should domimate the weak. We should all self optimize in whatever ways are best for ourselves. Really who needs morality? It merely protects those who cannot protect themselves. (Hey, this is just the devils advocate in me writing.) "other examples of the religion of science include “string theory”." Maybe but maybe not. There are experiments envisioned that may be able to distinguish not only if string theory (M Theory) is correct, but also which versions might be correct. Nothing wrong with theory getting ahead of data (as long …

Posted to The Godless Fundamentalist

"These middle class workers found their ... , or, like many Enron employees, their 401(k) retirement accounts collapsed with their employer" Silly foolish naive. NEVER invest all of your retirement savings into a single company, ESPECIALLY the one you work for (Duh!). That is the lesson that some (very greedy and foolish) poeple should learn from this particular thing. (I feel as sorry for them as the people who lose it all at a craps table, tragic but stupid.) I am all for economic reform, but we need to address the greed of the US consumer, middle class or poor. The …

Posted to Live At Your Own Risk

OK this is off topic but brought up by some of the more foolish comments here. . . If you want to better understand Jesus and Christianity, check out the Amish reaction to the recent school shooting. From that, you can figure out what Christianity is all about. Frankly i think it is almost confounding to those of us who are not of that faith. (To better understand Islam - unfortunately - check out how they handle mere *insults* to their faith and founder.)

Posted to The Role of the Religious Right in the Foley Affair

David - always nice to hear from you. I rarely post here anymore - it is really a place for others to vent and i have little need of venting myself (at least electronically). Too many people "talking", no one listening. . . Still i wonder why you think i was in any way duplicitious? While i almost certainly will not post here again anytime soon, i will read your response and cogitate on it. Have a good day, my friend.

Posted to The Role of the Religious Right in the Foley Affair

Rising expectations. By historical standards, the "poor" in the US are very well off indeed. But put them in front of their color TVs and show them how the rich live and they are unhappy. Even with washers, dryers, tvs, radios, more than enough food to eat (who ever dreamed the "poor" would be fat one day?), etc etc etc. A violent revolution would merely destroy the capital that we collectively possess and make us all a bit poorer. A very very bad idea.

Posted to White Blight

For fun, one might wonder what would happen if Mexico decided that it wanted back Texas. . . I am sure if they began shooting rockets into Texas and randomly blowing up/killing civilians, we would see their point and apologize and then give them whatever they wanted. . .

Posted to Lets be Realists, Let?s Demand the Impossible!

While the immoral and evil GWB would use war as a way to gain political favor, surely the devout and faithful who run Hezbollah are above such methodologies that cause the death of innocents for their own selfish gains. . . Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Ho ho ho ha heeee hee ha ho!!!! Guffaw!!! ha ha ho hee he ho haaaa! PS - I would not shoot at planes with guns. I also would not shoot or kill innocent civialians. Both are stupid and the latter is immoral. I guess i am just funny that way. Buck buck! …

Posted to Examining Irans ties to Hezbollah

Reminds me of the popular song Bitch back a decade ago. Reclaim the word for your own purposes. Similarly with the word nigger (althought this is disputed by Sheidlower) used by rappers today. I suppose the Fags might be next? Still, i wonder. Which straight person here would be comfy going up to a big masculine lady and asking her is she is a "dyke"? I think i would be just as likely to approach a light brown skinned fellow and ask him if he were a nigger. . .

Posted to Sticks & Stones and Dykes

Redhorse - i think you missed the point i was making. But before moving on, a few little things. America. to go, to be, too much African While you assert that nigger has not been claimed by those of African descent, it is my experience that it has. While i occasionally use it among my black friends (they really give me little choice!), i rarely use it among whilte groups. So i am sorry if i offended you. In forums like this it is difficult to determine intents and emotional overtones. Rest assured that i mean no disrespect in the use …

Posted to Sticks & Stones and Dykes

Redhorse - How does it make you feel to threaten another individual with violence? For the crime of speaking their mind? Given your ability to divine who and what i am, why bother to read the posts i write? After all, it appears you can represent me better than i! Have you ever heard the expression that liberals feel with their hearts while conservatives think with their minds? Perhaps, even if this is only somewhat true, it might be best to be somewhere in the centre. . . Either way, i feel no need to disparage you or yours. I *choose* …

Posted to Sticks & Stones and Dykes

Human history is filled with war. From the very beginning. Primates also engage in "warfare". It is in our DNA. While there have been many "small" wars since WWII, there has also been relative peace. This was at least in part to the development of the superpowers. Is it a concern that medieval states like Iran and Korea are developing very powerful modern weapons and delivery systems? What should be the US response if N Korea was to launch a nuclear strike against a US city? I imagine that most N Koreans are just people trying to get by, but their …

Posted to Regime Change and Its Discontents

frog - well, perhaps you are on the right track. While US leaders are mediocre, the leadership in other parts of the world is really cause for concern. N Korea and Iran with nukes and delivery systems seems to be a valid cause for concern for the world at large. Furthermore their leaders make the western leaders look like statesmen. The world is getting smaller, advanced technologies have spread to parts of the world that they don't belong. The entire developed world is to blame for this problem. It very well may take the entire developed world, working together, to avert …

Posted to Regime Change and Its Discontents

What are the options here? Should everyone have to embrace gayness, or can we have it both ways? Perhaps text books that offer the various opinions on whether being gay is good or bad. Many mainstream Christians believe that gay sexual behaviour is bad, should we merely censor that point of view? If so, what other voices are we allowed to muzzle (for our own good, of course)?

Posted to Curriculum Wars

Oh, so people who do not embrace "gayness" are both (generational?) bigots and warmongers (at best, some are probably pro-famine or pro-disease). Thanks for clearing *that* up. Perhaps we should require all teens to experience "gayness" so that they will be properly educated? Thanks for the sage words and "history' lesson!

Posted to Curriculum Wars

Black or white who cares? When the politicians become corrupt - often by being bought off by special interests - we all suffer the loss of representation. To think that the color of ones skin is important is merely silly. (One might hope that class would be a better predictor, but even here we find that even the initially earnest can be bought - at discount prices no less.)

Posted to Black Politics Paradigm Paradox

"someone with your own limited capacity" Is there any other kind of capacity? :) You're funny! Have a good day, my friend.

Posted to Black Politics Paradigm Paradox

Um, didn't a Kennedy "steal" the election of '60? One also might wonder: if an election is very very close, does it really matter who wins? In cases like this the electorate is clearly very evenly split. It is a given that the declared loser in such close elections will claim unfairness. Lastly i think it is absolutely pathetic that another party (even along the lines of a third party) could not come up with a candidate that could win against such a weak president as Bush.

Posted to Was the Presidential Election Stolen?

HI Sally - thanks for the reference. I love Colbert! I was traveling last week and may still run across the interview as i catch up (yea for Replay TV!),

Posted to Was the Presidential Election Stolen?

"first, every single recount undertaken after the Florida and Ohio debacles showed that Gore and Kerry had the most votes," This is simply untrue or intentionally misleading (perhaps you mean that they won the US popular vote, which is not relevant to determining victory in our political system). That said, in the election of 2000 it really did not matter who won - the vote was split almost exactly equally. (One can't help but note that if Gore had won his home state, there would have been a clear winner. . .) "There is no question that politics in this country …

Posted to Was the Presidential Election Stolen?

"The rage of hate between the two parties no matter who is in charge will result in nothing getting done for years to come." Too true. If only people - including politicians - would be respectful of different points of view (which seems unlikely, cause anyone who thinks different is a bigot, or wimp, or traitor, or, ad nauseam) and be willing to compromise (same problems) this would be a better place. Of course, that means winning - and losing - with dignity.

Posted to Was the Presidential Election Stolen?

It would be a wonderful world if human nature would allow the governing of ourselves by consensus. Perhaps in the far far future. . .

Posted to Anarchist Cheerleader Elected

"OR maybe the the jack-boot of oppression that we all feel pressing down on our necks " Does anyone here think this is somehow accurate, as opposed to extreme paranoia (and perhaps extreme political dissatisfaction?)? Is is really accurate to equate the US, which is holding 100's of prisoners in a very controversial manner, with a system that held millions of prisoners as a form of political coercion? Nothing wrong with hyperbola, but one should not be fooled/frightened by one's own exaggerations. .

Posted to Postmark Guantánamo

Redhorse - the point i tried to make is simply that \the US is not in danger of descending into Fascism. Use of phrases like "OR maybe the the jack-boot of oppression that we all feel pressing down on our necks “ seems a lot over the top, at least to me (i don't know anyone who feels such a pressure). One might argue that the anti-obscenity fines that have recently increased are objectionable. For this to be a significant concern to me it would have to be aimed not at obscenity (which i am somewhat indifferent to, although i would …

Posted to Postmark Guantánamo

Hi Frog - All countries have imperfections. I sadly remember over ten thousand French citizens dying of a heat wave (!!!) not so long ago - a tragedy by any reckoning (in that short time period, roughly 5 times as many French citizens died compared to the total deaths of US servicemen in Iraq over the few years), It is almost impossible to imagine such a thing happening in the modern world, but as i said, all countries are imperfect. I note that the limits on free speech by various European countries would be scandalous in the US today, but not …

Posted to Postmark Guantánamo

Hey frog - some clarifications are in order. I am not "anti-french" (or anti-US, etc). Rather i see that we are all imperfect and accept that as our lot in this world. We should all strive for improvement, while remaining somewhat humble. Each of us (and each of our respective countries/cultures) are not all that we can be. Before the US invaded Iraq, it was a brutal dictatorship. Under the leadership of Saddam it had engaged in killing of its own population, war against its neighbors, and even providing incentives to those who would take their own lives to kill innocents. …

Posted to Postmark Guantánamo

"Heresy to say “maybe Iraq was better off under saddam”, but I reckon many may be coming around to that conclusion." Lots of people believe this on all sides, so not really heresy. Avert our eyes, ignore the suffering, don't know, don't care. This is what one would have expected from a president who never even bothered to travel abroad before he was elected. As you know, while it might have been a goal to build a better country there, this was a tertiary goal. US policy is in line with Europe and the rest of the world in that regard …

Posted to Postmark Guantánamo

I am all for stopping sending modern technology (via $$$s) to primative societies. It is harmful both to us and to them. That said, there are problems with every energy source. The need for massive amounts of water to grow and process corn is a significant one.

Posted to Biofuel Challenges Big Oil

If only our soldiers would stop murdering the innocent Iraqis, then the Sunnis and Shiites (and Kurds too) could live in peace. Praise be unto Allah.

Posted to Iraq on the Big Screen

Women only make up 7% of the prison system? Surely this means that we are vastly discriminating against men. Just a women should be more evenly represented in the Congress, they should have equal representation in prisons. That said, lets dump all the drug users out of prison. If for no other reason than to save money. And while we are at it, lets change the laws that put them there in the first place.

Posted to Convict Nation

While this is an undoubtedly naive question, i would like to see if there is a cogent answer available here. Are women underrepresented in prisons? Why should men make up an astonishing 93% of inmates? Why should we believe that women *should* be equally represented in politics (they obviously are not, now), but not in prison? Perhaps the entire system is corrupt, or perhaps there is an intrinsic reason for the discrepancy? I wonder, is it a sign that our system is getting "fairer" since the female prison population is growing so much faster than the male population (if this also …

Posted to Convict Nation

Hmmm. I am glad my tax dollars don't pay for this. But i may watch an episode, just to check it out.

Posted to Pow! Shazaam! Its ғMinoriteam!

While i am in favor of legalized cannabis, i think it is a bit naive to think that there will not be deleterious consequences of such a policy. Increased rates of cancer for smokers (eat it!), increased auto accident rates, etc. But one has to compare this to the cost of enforcing an unpopular law - increased incarceration rates, decreased freedom, etc. If nothing else, adding a new drug to the litany of legalized ones could benefit from our history. This can be done by clearly labeling cannabis as a carcinogen (something tobacco fought far too long!) and a public ad …

Posted to Science: The Drug Wars Latest Victim

nemo - bummer. But i love the cafes that ignore the law! Going way waaay off topic. .. Kuya - i am a fan of science too (or at least a practitioner). But none of the things that matter are even addressed by science. Love. Life. Death. Meaning. How is found in science, but why is for each of us to define, apparently.

Posted to Science: The Drug Wars Latest Victim

"One of our performance projects, Mapa Corpo (2004), was rejected by a dozen U.S. museums and universities when they learned the nature of the central image: a nude body covered with 40 acupuncture needles, each bearing a small flag of one of the “coalition forces.” Audience members were invited “to decolonize the body/map of the performer” by extracting a needle/flag." Um, Ewwww!!!! If i read this right, no one actually censored it, they simply refused to sponsor it. Which seems pretty reasonable to me. . .

Posted to Disclaimer

"Why burn the American flag?" Why not? Sure it offends, but since we allow such things as the Danish cartoons (sort of), we should all be able to take it. Freedom of speech (expression) and all that. The real question, it seems to me, is why would ANYONE pay to see someone burn a flag (US or otherwise)? "Yet I know the work is good because I show in Europe. " I can't tell if this was tongue in cheek or not, but it did bring a chuckle to me. We can also call people nasty epitaphs. Perhaps we should, because …

Posted to Disclaimer

xianne - the use of nasty epitaphs is already punished in the US (political correctness). Students get kicked out of school, people lose jobs, etc. Not to even mention the recent tightening being done by the FCC. . . One might wonder if i am *entitled* to be *paid* for the use of these (already censored) words. I would say no., but if one can find a paying audience, then one can earn money in all kinds of pursuits. Epistrophy - I am sorry to hear the you despise others whose views are different from your own. It is far too …

Posted to Disclaimer

who does the curator work for? Anyone here really wanna take a chance. One that can prove something, perhaps? Why not do a play where Mohammed (BBHN) is portrayed as a gay? Surely that would be provocative! Hell, do it in Iraq (maybe as a USO show?) and see what happens. . Of course, it should be done with tax dollars to achieve maximum effect.. Of course, doing anything to Christianity is ok. Those guys can take it, even though they do whine alot (Maplethrope, Last Temptation, DeVinci, etc). Not really big into the killing, with the very minor exception being …

Posted to Disclaimer

Epistrophy - does this mean you not only despise me, but you also fantasize about me? You did get the last thing you wrote right though and i appreciate that you were able to discern something about me that is actually rather accurate! As for your rather odd fantasy about young boys, um, Ewwww1 (isn't that the response that raised your ire in the first place?). It seems to me that a topic of legitimate discussion (do we have this here?) is not so much as whether artists are censored here in the US (anyone have a good example of this?), …

Posted to Disclaimer

xianne - interesting list. How many got US taxpayer funding? :) The question is not whether art should be censored, rather whether it should be taxpayer funded and who decides. MM - Your idea of a police state is quite different from mine, to say the least. However, moving on. . .. Is it your contention that all antigovernment art or offensive art should be funded by taxpayers? Who decides who should get funding? The beauty of the free market allows us all to "vote" with our dollars, as opposed to being forced to fund art we find objectionable (which is, …

Posted to Disclaimer

"they may soon find themselves screaming in the streets like their French counterparts." Who are these counterparts? Are we referring to the crazy Algerian/French youths that burned 100's of cars in France? With the ignition being the French govt attempting to make rules that made it easier to hire - and fire if necessary - young workers? "A Federal Reserve survey says the median net worth of households under 35 rose just 1.3 percent in the last decade after inflation." Doesn't this mean that the under 35 crowd is actually better off now than a decade ago? "She graduated five years …

Posted to Hey Millennials, Debt Becomes You

mandyminor - hey we agree that education should be cheaper or even free! So we agree on an important issue. Funny story. I too was a child of a nasty divorce. I too had to work my way through college (physics in my case). I worked part time (SAGA food service, it it still there?) and lived very inexpensively. Still i graduated with some debt (about $2K). This was a while ago, back in 1982. Still USF holds fond memories for me. Of course, i had no dying grandmother to help (but i did help my destitute mom, mostly with my …

Posted to Hey Millennials, Debt Becomes You

Reminds me of the Monkey Business - that cost a presidential election. . . Of course, both Dems and Repubs are whorehoppers, nothing new there!

Posted to Hooray for Hookergate!

"Or maybe the baby should be taken away from unfit parents." I like your analogy. :) Any foster parents in mind? I think that is the crux of the problem. . .

Posted to Do you think the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq?

"They are reasonable people" Now you are just making fun!

Posted to Do you think the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq?

"It is the ultimate corruption provided by the wage -slave system that it encourages us to believe that we are individual units in competition, and that turning from that competition in order to affect the rules of the game means losing out on material reward, means not being the one chosen for promotion, means endangering the success of your children, means facing the possibility of demise and ruin as a product on the market. " Reading this makes me what would have happened if our hunter-gather forebearers had felt this way. Being a slave to killing animals or gathering food, being …

Posted to What Ails Us?

Insurance. Practically the only way to get people to get it is either: 1) force them to buy it (as most states do now for auto insurance) or 2) give it away for "free" (that is, force companies or government to provide it). People just don't want to spend their hard earned dollars on insurance when they see all the other, more tangible, goodies out there. Math: "In 2003, HMOs nearly doubled their profits from just a year before, adding $10 billion to their bottom line." Seems like alot of money. Refunded to all Americans this profit comes to about $30 …

Posted to Careless Industry

"Was Giuliani a racist? Former city education commissioner Rudy Crew, one of the few black officials in his administration, says his support of school vouchers was racist." Huh? What is this supposed to mean? "the Republicans’ Talibanic wing" Yep, i have heard that they are planning to re-enslave blacks, make women wear burkas, and force Sunday school attendance for all. Ha ha ha. Seriously, this is as silly as the Nazi remarks that were so fasionable a few years back (but have now, happily, died out). Hugely overexaggerating does not help one to make a reasonable argument!

Posted to Giuliani: Hero or Race Baiter?

Black men in crisis. Ho hum. Solutions to black men in crisis - now that could be dynamite!

Posted to Black Men: The Crisis Continues

I wonder - why help/focus on poor black people? Why not just help/focus on poor people. . .? Even then, the problems are very difficult to even begin to address. How do you help children abandoned/neglected by their parents? How does government - or other agencies such as churches, etc - help individuals who reject their help? Or are unaware that help exists? Can institutions solve the problems of individuals? Can the macroscopic fix the microscopic? Either way, it seems better to concentrate on the actual problem - poverty. Regardless of whether the impoverished are black, white, red, yellow or even …

Posted to Black Men: The Crisis Continues

tina1 - i also know teachers who have had similar experiences (in both black and white schools), But there is more. What about the child sitting next to the troublemaker, whose life is disrupted (both by the troublemakers themselves and even worse, their being abandoned by competent teachers)? The good kids pay the same price as the "bad" ones. (Here there is an obvious solution however - the principle should back up the teachers. But that is a rarity, at least where i live.) Furthermore, parents who have little financial resources tend to be: 1) not that bright; 2) scrambling to …

Posted to Black Men: The Crisis Continues

Baraka - you are so very confused. And so hostile! Where to even begin. . . ? If you really want to know about someone, you should ask questions (hint - i am not a Christian, for instance)! But maybe you aren't interested in actual people, only with the weird stereotypes you make up in your head? I had a difficult time not laughing as i read your version of who *i* am. :) Better yet, rather than vent here (or even in addition to) you might actually attempt to put your energy into helping others. Have you made efforts to …

Posted to Black Men: The Crisis Continues

I would rather we use nuclear energy (as does France) rather than give $$$ and therefore modern weapons/technology to the barbarians in the Middle East. It's safer in the long run.

Posted to Do you think the benefits of nuclear energy can outweigh it's risk?

David - While the barbarian that runs Iran (and those who run other Middle Eastern countries) might seem to some to be no worse than the "barbarian' that runs the US (and those who run Europe, as well), i think there are important differences. Both cultural and individual. Either way, perhaps we can agree that giving modern technology to the Middle Eastern states is very probably a bad idea? Do we really want them to have the military capabilities that the US (or France or England or etc) have? Can they - and their methods of governing - really be trusted …

Posted to Do you think the benefits of nuclear energy can outweigh it's risk?

David - i have to say your response really surprised me. I guess we just see this very very differently.

Posted to Do you think the benefits of nuclear energy can outweigh it's risk?

David - Good to ask questions, it can correct a wide variety of misunderstandings. I do think that much of Middle Eastern culture is inferior in many ways to Western culture. Not allowing women to drive (Saudi), believing that strapping on suicide vests to kill innocents (misguided Islam) is a good thing, dictators running countries with no checks and balances (Middle East in general), etc etc. This is NOT to say that the people are inferior or even substantially different from us - only in a different and inferior culture. One might wonder if immigrants tend to migrate there or other …

Posted to Do you think the benefits of nuclear energy can outweigh it's risk?

Looks like the Iranian president likes my analogy. He thinks of himself/his country as a 4 year old, which seems about right (one might add petulant). But he is dead wrong about one thing - we are NOT trying to get him to "give up gold for chocolate". Rather we want him to give up (dangerous) guns for chocolate. If he was more mature, he would do so gladly! :)

Posted to Do you think the benefits of nuclear energy can outweigh it's risk?

Sounds like Mama was not able to reason with *Laura*. . .

Posted to Solidarity from Barrio to Barbershop

november - “In These Times” has moved from a left stand on issues to a right wing white supremacist stand." Can one be against illegal immigration without being a "white supremacist"? In fact, is there any connection between the two? Why did you make the assertion above?

Posted to Keeping America Empty

november - sorry you got so confused. I set up no strawman, simply asked you - politely - why you made an assertion. What a waste of my - and apparently your - time.

Posted to Keeping America Empty

I am happy to see the author got this one right! "Lying to Congress and the public in order to invade Iraq, illegally spying on and wiretapping Americans, authorizing torture and renditions, trying to strip Americans of their rights by seeking to detain people without access to legal counsel, the indefinite detention of non-citizens against whom no formal specific charges have been made and, possibly, leaking the name of a CIA operative all seem to be worthy of impeachment hearings. But that’s just the propaganda of the left, right?" Yep, pretty much it is exactly that - propaganda of the left. …

Posted to Congenital Liars and Hypocrites

Good question Harrower. I think your item 1 is actually a good thing. Enemy combatants can sit in Cuba and rot. I have no problem with that. Item 2 i claim to be false. (BTW - Do you feel that Roosevelt led the uS into WWII with full disclosure to the American people, just out of curiousity?) Item 3 will be decided by the courts. In any case, i know of no personal gain Bush gets from this. Do you? For 4, the president can authorize leaks as he chooses. No big deal. I will give you 5 though. But still …

Posted to Congenital Liars and Hypocrites

buzzdainer - Nice reply.

Posted to Congenital Liars and Hypocrites

Ugh, getting beat up and beating up people for money. Personally i find such a "sport" to be reprehensible. But this is a free country and obviously opinions vary. Ugh. Capitalism is the worst economic system known. Except for all the rest.

Posted to The Ultimate Fighting Anarchist

johnnyincentx - so many words, so little understanding, but so much passion!

Posted to The Ultimate Fighting Anarchist

Arrogance and stupidity. A very poor mixture indeed.

Posted to The Ultimate Fighting Anarchist

I am sympathetic to the cause. That said, i doubt that workers like maids are ever going to make a living wage. They simply are not that valuable. They have minimal skills. $12/hour seems more than fair to me. We gave unskilled auto workers ridiculously large salaries and handsome benefits, due to their unionization. They make far more than can be justified. GM may go bankrupt as a consequence. If you kill the golden goose, you get no gold. Workers in these fields need to make sure their demands are reasonable. . . (Now if there were only some way to …

Posted to Hotel Workers Rising Tide

Even better, lets eliminate money altogether. We could all just get along and share. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. (Also see Imagine, by Lennon.) Next maybe we could learn to levitate and communicate via telepathy. . . Time for me to return back to the real world.

Posted to Hotel Workers Rising Tide

"The point is paying hard-working people enough to survive, and provide for their families." But salaries are not set by the cost of living. They are set (in some vague way, at least) by both the productivity of the worker and that availability of similar workers. Imagine you have two workers. One is a single mom who supports her 3 kids and perhaps an elderly parent. The other is a student. Both work at the same job (maybe as a maid, or fast food worker. or some such). Should we pay them what they need to survive, even if that means …

Posted to Hotel Workers Rising Tide

Harrower - i agree that executive compensation (stealing?) is way out of hand. Many executives are given huge salaries and bonuses, even when their companies are not performing well. This is an affront to the stockholders, who should sue the board of directors for malfeasance (but they won't, because of cronyism and the buddy system). This is a serious problem and should be addressed. This does not seem likely to fix the problem at the other end of the spectrum. Poorly educated folk with little or no marketable skills will still be paid under a living wage in most places. They …

Posted to Hotel Workers Rising Tide

cabdriverinchicago - here's an easy idea. Tie the minimum wage to either the cost of living index or congressional pay increases. Put it on autopilot. Why has no one seriously championed this, presumably in the Dem party? Seems like a no-brainer to me. . . BTW, do you have any references for your assertion: "The return on labor investment is at an historic high!". If so, i would like a reference. Off subject. The real problem with the western - particularity US - economies is avarice. Not of the rich, but of the middle class. Two and three cars are needed …

Posted to Hotel Workers Rising Tide

cabdriverinchicago I note that i *have* lived on or near minimum wage, for about a decade (1976-1988). It was very difficult, which was one of the motivators for me to get a degree (call me doctor). I doubt that minimum wage is going to ever be enough to support a family - do you think it ought to be that high? If so, should students get paid a "living wage"? How about heads of households, if they are doing the same work? (Ah the 50's, when men were paid more, since they supposedly supported families . . .) I agree that …

Posted to Hotel Workers Rising Tide

"The military is about war. " Well the author undestands this. Maybe we should let the recruits know this as well (it is a closely guarded secret?). "I was about $60,000 in debt from student loans. ... and had completed three years of college " Given such irresponsible spending habits, i would recommend that the (fictitious) person do something drastic. Joining up might be a good solution. Both to obtain money and to - hopefully - learn fiscal responsibility. "When I met with the recruiters in their downtown Manhattan office, they kept holding out their golden ring: money. " Employers should …

Posted to Just Say No to Uncle Sam

Harrower - Given your experience, i wonder if there is a way to see if the military is giving significant amounts of false information to its potential recruits (either intentially or not). If so, i would suggest that rather than attempting to ban recruiters to campuses, the schools should offer a workshop on what to ask them. That is, to help those who do not have the wisdom you had at the end of high school. The author represented herself as only 3 years into a degree, yet with $60K debt. This seems very very high to me. I would strongly …

Posted to Just Say No to Uncle Sam

"playing down non-white aspects of one’s identity along four axes: appearance (Don’t wear a sari, turban, veil, corn-rows.); affiliation (Speak excellent, unaccented English.); activism (Avoid ethnic or race-based organizations.); and association (Cultivate predominantly white social networks.) " White kids do this too, if they want jobs. Speak politely in correct English, not wear outrageous clothes, not bring up hot button topic and trying to fit in. This is just how anyone fits into a society. Calling it "acting white" is a misnomer - rather it should be labeled "acting educated and polite". Perhaps the important thing to note is that there …

Posted to Acting Your Race

It is time we compensate all US current and former slaves! They have suffered enough. We should provide them with a stipend of 5 times the minimum wage for life, free health care and free housing. Mental health care should - of course - be included. Furthermore we need to ensure that the institution of slavery is ended in the US once and for all. Oh, this is 2006? My bad!

Posted to The Battle for Fred Hampton Way

Abortion involves either preventing a fertilized egg from implanting or removing it afterwards. As opposed to such birth control techniques as using a condom (or anal/oral sex, for that matter), which prevents fertilization from taking place. While one may be on either side of the issue, one ought to know the difference. . . It is interesting to consider whether the state should *force* pharmacists to dispense products they believe are harmful. Perhaps we could just ship off the ladies who get pregnant to Iraq, where they might be able to lose the baby for their country?

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

I don't think anyone in the US is serously proposing to ban birth control (such as condoms), just abortion (such as Plan B - really a terrific name). Mostly since they see abortion as a way to kill a baby, not a way to free a lady.

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

cabdriverinchicago - um, are you at all familar with "sarcasm"? I find your views of those who hold opinons different from your own (on this subject) to be rather naive. You might try asking more questions and offering your own a bit less - this technique can be quite illuminating. Or if this is a bit much for you we can just stick with pro-abortion - good pro-life - bad (Sarcasm again)

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

By the way, here is a claim by a radical website that says that Plan B does in fact (some of the time) prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb. But the website may have some evil conservative agenda (controlling women or some such), you know you can't believe everything on the Web (damn those conservatives). Of course, the source is the official Plan B website. . . http://www.go2planb.com/ForConsumers/AboutPlanB/HowItWorks.aspx Plan B® works like a regular birth control pill. It prevents pregnancy mainly by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary, and may also prevent the fertilization of …

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

Harrower - are you in favor of the genocide in the Sudan? Sure might help with the population thing. Even the war in Iraq could be helpful from that pov. The Pro-lifers i actually know (hey, Harrower, you know any? If so - talk to them!) have no problem whatsover with sex education. They mostly do it at home, as opposed to thinking the state/schools should take up this task (but there are exceptions to every rule). I do agree that we should try to make unwanted pregnancy rare. In a perfect world, there would be no desire to abort a …

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

cabdriverinchicago - thank you for your thoughtful response. Perhaps you might be interested in my response. . . "No one would argue that an unimplanted zygote is a life because it cannot become an actual human life as can an impanted zygote." There are many people who believe life begins at *conception*. While one might believe this to be true or false, it seems to me that it is at least a reasonable assertion. (What other choice is there? Birth? Viability? 18? Retirement?) I agree with you that the state should tread softly on this issue. One does wonder when the …

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

One might wonder when "life" actually does begin. Conception, implantation, viability, birth, whatever. I think it is non-trivial to come up with a good answer to this question. I tend to think that life should be *protected* when it becomes viable, but this is just my own opinion. I agree that birth control is most effective when practised earlier. Condoms being the optimal solution since they also inhibit the spread of disease. (In my case a vasectomony was and is the ideal solution.) The state - for right of wrong - has been and is involved in private health decisions. A …

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

Harrower - OK. Well i know some fanatics too, but they are in the minority of those i come into contact with. Lucky me. "As for Sudan… trying to equate the mass extermination of an entire regional demographic with the use of contraceptives and early pregnancy abortions is pretty silly." I agree totally. But the context was how it affects overpopulation. . . "The Pro-Life movement suffers from an unrealistic desire to save every potential life without any regard to how this will further aggravate the existing problems that overpopulation is responsible for." I think this is as silly as the …

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

cabdriverinchicago and Harrower thanks for the discussion. To me, how one arrives at their opinions is more interesting than the opinions themselves. I appreciate your sharing your thoughts here.

Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs

How sad. I hope that the writer "figures out" much more of life before she is too much older. Me i plan to have a healthy and happy life as i grow older. Tennis and reading, along with (of course!!!) sex. Surely there is more to look forward to than getting obese (why keep the apeitite for food and not sex?) and stupid. . .

Posted to Sex and the Septuagenarians

At least when I’m old I’ll get Social Security, Medicare I love eternal optimists! :)

Posted to Sex and the Septuagenarians

If nothing else, the cartoons demonstrated how incredibly easy it is to incite large numbers of Muslims to violence. Again. Lets see, just for fun. How many people were killed as a result of the extremely offensive "piss Christ"? Of Farrakhan’s nastiness regarding Jews and "blue eyed devils"? Maybe the anthropologists are wrong after all. Some cultures are not only superior to others, but vastly so. . .

Posted to Islam vs. the West: Clashing Sensibilities

Each year, more than 6,000 workers die This implies that about 10 times more people die from car accidents on the highway than while working. One might wonder what an "acceptable" number of deaths might be. . . George Will (yeah, i know lots of you hate him or his opinions, but read on) once wrote an interesting opinion piece about lost luggage on airplanes. While it is possible to design a system that never loses a bag, the cost would be prohibitive. I would imagine the same calculus needs to be applied to workplace safety. . .

Posted to Coal Miners Slaughter

opeluboy - is anyone who does not subscribe to the leftist agenda a freeper? Do you think that debate is a waste of time? Personally, i like the back and forth, at least until it becomes overwhelmed with personal attacks (which happens all too frequently here, which is why i post infrequently thesedays). Perhaps the problem is that some people take their politics far too seriously?

Posted to Coal Miners Slaughter

Type 2 diabetes is caused by excess weight, lack of exercise and poor diet, and is directly related to poverty. We as a society need to enforce exercise on poor people, especially people of color (as opposed to clear people, i suppose). This can be accomplished by taxing them sufficiently so that they cannot afford to eat fast food, and then using the money collected to enrole them in gyms (after all, it is expensive to exercise). Oh, maybe the real solution is to tax TVs - the number of hours spent in front of them is directly related to obesity. …

Posted to Let Them Eat Crap

luminous beauty - "I actually have more hope for the Iraqis than for us. Once the US gets outta there." I also have hope for the Iraqis now. Did you have the same hope while they were ruled by Saddam? I did not (i note that, in my humble opinion, his children were likely to be even worse tyrants than he was). . . One possibly interesting note. According to the recent issue of Time magazine (19 Dec), most Iraqis that are not in the Sunni region: 1) think they are better off now than they were before the invasion; 2) …

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

A rant. I am completely mystified by how certain people are of the opinions they hold and espouse. The war was just. The war was immoral. The war was necessary. The war was all about corporate profits and stealing oil. Etc. I am simply unable to think in such terms. To be so very certain. When i look at complex events, i try to see them from as many points of view as i can. Which leads more to a grey scale point of view, almost devoid of black and white. To a large extent, both the right and left eschew …

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

luminous beauty - from the link you posted, it is not clear to me that the two polls are all that different. There is, however, one striking difference: Newsday did not break down the results by region, as the Time poll did. It seems likely to me that the Sunnis are the "losers" in this conflict, the Kurds and Shiites the "winners". Thus the Sunnis, having lost their privileged status, are unhappy, whilst the formerly oppressed Kurds and Shiites are quite a bit more upbeat. Is this controversial?

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

luminous beauty - "there are no shades of grey between the danger of being blown to bits by implacable combatants and living peacefully in one’s own home." I do not disagree. However, i do not think i would classify living under the rule of Saddam and UN sanctions as "living peacefully in one’s own home", at least for a significant fraction of the Iraqi population. . . I think your quote above could apply to any US soldier sent to WWII (that is, he left his peaceful home at the risk of being blown to bits). Do you agree?

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

wolf - "One possibly interesting note. According to the recent issue of Time magazine (19 Dec), most Iraqis that are not in the Sunni region: 1) think they are better off now than they were before the invasion; 2) think the invasion was a good thing. The Sunnis, of course, strongly disagree." luminous beauty - "It’s the same poll, wolfie. You were making false general conclusions. Now you want to be more specific. " I would be happy to admit my error. Can you point it out for me? (Perhaps you missed the part "most Iraqis that are NOT in the …

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

luminous beauty - " Nor do I easily tolerate sophisties that cloak themselves in moral terms." You have completely lost me. What are you (sophisties, moral terms?) referring to here?

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

luminous beauty - "Nonetheless, you would exclude the Sunnis from ‘most Iraqis’. Rather selective and disingenuous, don’t you think?" This is NOT my intent. In fact, i stated: "The Sunnis, of course, strongly disagree.".

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

luminous beauty - i have no desire to exclude any part of the population of Iraq, for the purposes of the poll i quoted or any other reason. In fact i explicitly included them when i stated: “The Sunnis, of course, strongly disagree.”. If i were to state that blacks vote overwhelmingly democratic, would that be excluding other Americans? How about if i say that people who make more than $100K/yr vote overwhelming republican, would that be excluding (i do not know if the latter is true, it is meant merely as an example of the use of demographics)? Is the …

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

whattheheck - I remember the day when the war with Iraq began. I was completely amazed that we were actually going to war, and had many doubts as to the threat Iraq might pose to us. However, i had a Palestinian friend who had been constantly inundating me with the horrors of the UN/US sanctions, so i thought/hoped that the invasion would ease the plight of the Iraqi people. I remain hopeful, for their sake. Me, i am truly thankful that I am not the Prez (as i imagine are many of the posters here!). Merry Christmas! And may freedom spread …

Posted to Tale of Two Wars

"With religion you often run up against people who already know all the answers and don’t find any need to argue the point." This statement is really much more true for ideologues, whether they are secular or religious. But really, to some extent, we all have the same tendency, especially as we age and our ideas become more set. For instance, how many people here think that their opinions on such things as abortion or the death penalty (not to mention the war in Iraq) can be changed by an enlightened conversation with another person? Still, it is fashionable on the …

Posted to Lapham's Way

wileywitch - hope you feel all the way better soon. Take care and have a Merry Christmas!

Posted to Lapham's Way

"I agree that African-Americans have suffered and are currently suffering far more in the Unites States’ penal system by a landslide" I personally think it is primarily a class thing, not a race issue. OJ being a famous example of a Negro who got away with murder (i suppose M Jackson got away with crimes too, but i don't think any race wants to claim him!). On the other hand, any subculture that denigrates education (say as a "white thing") will tend to keep its own population in the lower classes. . .

Posted to Torture in the Homeland

Were only colored folk put in "concentration camps"? How many died in the camps? Where were these camps and for how long were the "victims": put there?

Posted to Torture in the Homeland

"a nation that hardly believes in mathematics." Being a physicist myself, this generalization totally fails with me. :) Actually, you are correct in one regard. I simply do not believe that the expression “concentration camps” is useful or justifiable. Very short term refugee camps maybe. These camps helped people a great deal. They should be rather grateful for the assistance. Furthermore, they were helping those who could not help themselves - which is largely the poor. Just as NO was largely black, so were the displaced. Of course, many were also white. Whatever "extreme racism and sadism" took place was the …

Posted to Torture in the Homeland

wileywitch - at various points in my life i have held different political views. Libertarian was very appealing to me many years back, but it is clear to me that taken to extremes it would be a terrible system. Today i am much more of a pragmatist. One of the problems that i perceive in our society is the overwhelming sense of entitlement many people have. This is in stark contrast to times past, where people in need would actually refuse charity, out of a sense of pride. In my opinion, we would be better off somewhere in between these two …

Posted to Torture in the Homeland

luminous beauty - Nagle's incredible incompetence was in not stocking the superdome and not moving the busses. Furthermore, the crumbling of the city police is also in his bailiwick. If he had done a reasonable job, much suffering could have been averted. Hell, had he done a terrific job, he might have been able to run for governor or more. . . (again, this is not to diminish the truly amazing incompetence of Brown) The empowerment of any group in this land is best achieved by fostering a desire and respect for education and a work ethic. To the detriment of …

Posted to Torture in the Homeland

wileywitch - i agree that we should anticipate and fix problems before they arise. In the case of NO, it was a problem waiting to happen for decades at least. It was only a matter of time until something like this happened. And with the Greenhouse effect, you can bet that storms will be more and more intense in the coming century. Your discussion of the government being entitled is what has led some to try to starve the government of funds. It is clear to me that is what the neocons plan. Cut the taxes of the wealthy and eliminate …

Posted to Torture in the Homeland

wileywitch - why do you think i criticized Nagle more than Brown? I would say i criticized them both. In my view, Nagle was responsible for the first few days after the storm and the feds for the rescue after that, once they had time to mobilize. Again, this was a disaster that was waiting to happen for decades. So as to the levies, one can blame Carter, Reagan, etc as well as Bush (but clearly Bush gets the nod for appointing a complete incompetent to head FEMA). While i enjoy discussion, i find that people who tend to flame are …

Posted to Torture in the Homeland

ladydiver - while i am sympathetic to your friends situation, taking the law into her hands and serving as judge, jury and executioner was just wrong. Clearly. That said, one might hope for a reduced sentence, due to her circumstances. Was the abuse ever reported? What actions - short of murder - did she take prior to her killing? How much of her story is a "he says she says" story (that is, undocumented)? It amazes me that such things can go on for 20 years (!!!). I would hope that the lesson to be learned is to seek help sooner …

Posted to Bad Girls

Why should anyone care about property rights when people are dying? We should just take what we want, and let the big companies be damned - we don't need them anyway. After all, what have they ever done for us, um, well, besides discovering new drugs to cure sickness? And while we are at it, why not steal new plasma tv's? Hell, they are insured anyway. Why worry about technicalities of the law, after all, it is just there to protect the fat cats. . . We are entitled to whatever we want and can take. Isn't this the modern paradigm? …

Posted to Their Patents or Your Life

The flu can be a deadly serious disease, as it was in 1918-19. At that time it killed 10's of millions, mostly young and heathy adults. This was (presumably) since they were out and about, and hence exposed to the flu . I imagine that if no steps are taken to prevent such a pandemic, many here will hold the administration responsible if/when it hits. While i would prefer a administration that leads, i would also prefer an informed populace that understood this important issue. In that event, the rulers of the land would do the "popular" - and right - …

Posted to Their Patents or Your Life

Smallpox - gone. Due to nasty drug companies, who ripped off smallpox itself! (And put smallpox on the endangered species list!) Polio - um, heard of it, but never knew anyone to get it. Again those nasty drug companies. Modern drugs have changed the world (particularly the west, but the whole world as well), and in only the last half century or so. I don't recall any such things happening in the middle ages or before. . . It is nonsense to say that natural methods worked effectively against such killers as: bubonic plague, smallpox, polio, rabies, etc etc. Surely we …

Posted to Their Patents or Your Life

George Packer should take a lesson from Mike Moore - why provide both sides of a story when one will do? So the war in Iraq is BAD, any evidence of thoughts otherwise should be discarded, perferably banned from publication if possible. They are both inconvenient and muddy the simple picture that we should fill our minds with (all that complexity can hurt your brain!) Remember, Iraq was a peaceful paradise until GWB attacked it with no provocation whatsoever! He did so merely out of Christian spite toward this peaceful Muslim society. Our only goal is to rape their land and …

Posted to The Limits of Empathy

"But James Nachtwey, the award-winning war photographer, wrote in 1985 that if everyone “could see for themselves what white phosphorus does to the face of a child … they would understand that nothing is worth letting things get to the point where that happens to even one person, let alone thousands.” Ok. But isn't this ttue of war in general, whether just or not? Isn't having limbs and life torn from someone (a child or anyone, really) just as terrible? Or having bullets rip through your flesh, leaving one multilated, dead or dying? One might think that terrorism is the most …

Posted to White Phosphorous Lies

wileywitch - nice post. One might also remember the flip side of all this. Despite having nuclear weapons the US has never actually used them, other than to end a world war (full idsclosure, if not for that, i would not be writing this). While some might think that the US is superior due to its superior military might, i would venture that whatever superiority the US possesses is best exemplfied by its NOT using nuclear weapons. I rather doubt that any arab country would have had the restraint that the US has shown over the last 60 years (and hopefully …

Posted to When Boys Will be Jarheads

"Regardless, there is no amount of remorse that will bring back the dead or erase the memories of those who take part in an aggressive war and have consciences to be disturbed by that fact." Is this not the nature of [b]all[/b] wars, justified or not? After all, most of the killing is just ordinary people killing each other, with the leaders sipping brandy somewhere. Perhaps we should [b]never[/b] engage in war again? We can submit, rather than fight. Perhaps nothing is worth the price war extracts?

Posted to When Boys Will be Jarheads

luminous beauty - nice thoughts. So can we then unilaterally avoid war, by creating the conditions for peace? Would this always be effective (maybe using WWII as one example), or just some wars? What should we do if there are cases where this approach fails? BTW, where does the moniker "luminous beauty" come from? Is it your appearance or something else?

Posted to When Boys Will be Jarheads

wileywitch - while i would not be against ending war (if i knew how) i would be against eliminating the public school system. I believe it is one of the reasons why the US (and much of the western world) has been so very successful. From what i can tell, it is a boon to the lower and middle classes - if anything, i would fund it better. luminous beauty - i suppose the only true unilateral thing we can do is to control our selves. I hope you succeed in your aspirations.

Posted to When Boys Will be Jarheads

luminous beauty- "May I ask the etymology of your nom de plume?" Of course. It comes from my middle name, Wolfgang. Good luck in your pursuit of enlightenment.

Posted to When Boys Will be Jarheads

wileywitch - i think it is worthwhile to try to imagine the things you write about above. But to be fair, one might establish a baseline of "normalcy". If our leaders could do anything they wanted to, such as shredding us alive, bombing us, using chemical weapons on us, etc etc it might make a difference in how we felt about our government being changed from the outside. If we were in constant fear of being killed or tortured, or having our children killed and tortured in our stead, it might make a difference as well. If our families were dying …

Posted to When Boys Will be Jarheads

While i am in favor of updating the laws against soft drugs (repealing them, really), i am surprised that more people are not against it, especially here. Isn't the liberal ideal a state that protects its citizens, even against themselves? Isn't that why we "need" social security (we as individuals are not responsible enough to save on our own), for instance? Further, when people start buying via legitimate outlets such substances as pot, who will lead the vanguard as it becomes clear (duh) that smoking it causes cancer? So i wonder why liberals in particular are not jumping on the bandwagon …

Posted to Cops and Harm Reduction Hotties, Oh My!

While it is true that pot does not NEED to be smoked to be used, i rather doubt this is relevant. From what i can tell, the vast majority of people who actually use pot do so by smoking it, with a relatively small minority ingesting it in food. While i am against "scare tactics" i prefer accuracy to wishful thinking. Clearly pot not only contributes to cancer, but to other diseases as well (emphysema comes to mind). Discussions that start as neilemac's post does remind me of the cigerette companies of the old days. BTW - i do not wear …

Posted to Cops and Harm Reduction Hotties, Oh My!

"Wolf, you must have missed the recent Univ. of Colo. study on marijuana and cancer. It turns out that the THC actually counteracts any cancer causing agents in the smoke." Yes i missed it. I also doubt that **anything** could counteract smoking cancerous effects, regardless of the substance being smoked. I suppose if true, then mixing tobacco and pot would make a "safe" conbination? (Very unlikely!) Furthermore, smoking pot surely causes emphysema . Clearly smoking ANY substance has its share of risks. . . It does not give me a good feeling knowing that THC is fat soluble and concentrates in …

Posted to Cops and Harm Reduction Hotties, Oh My!

neilemac - you still polute your lungs with that tar? Ugh. (You do know that pot has tar right? At roughly 10 times the concentration of tobacco.) Listen up. I am only going to say this one more time (you get the last word). It is not difficult and should not be controversial. Pot is harmful when smoked (duh). It has particulates, tar and a whole host of damaging chemicals. We should be very clear about this, whether we choose to indulge or not, whether we believe it should be legal or not. To do otherwise is to recreate the debacle …

Posted to Cops and Harm Reduction Hotties, Oh My!

Let's take a poll, for the fun of it! Who thinks:: 1) Pot is harmful to one's health? Say on a scale of 1 to 10 (7 being tobacco's for reference on this arbitrary scale) 2) it is neutral to ones health? 3) It is good for ones health? I pick option 1, with a value of 5 (not as harmful as tobacco, but still significantly harmful).

Posted to Cops and Harm Reduction Hotties, Oh My!

Yawn. A women president. Oh. I suppose someone will write an analogous article about a black president. Or a Hispanic president. Or some other, um, twist. Yawn.

Posted to The President's Husband

"Mainstream commodification of alternative culture hardly seems noteworthy these days. While it may be infuriating to see corporations routinely boost their profits by mining rebellion from the fringe and repackaging it for the middlebrow, how are you going to stop TimeWarner, short of taking over its Manhattan offices and hauling the suits off in tumbrels?" Infuriating? Why would anyone think that? To me, it seems like a pretty good thing. . .

Posted to Bohemia Revisited

It would be interesting to see Steve's response to this article. Seems that the laws are rather recent - and the quote: "That includes Bill Clinton, under whose administration the prosecution of Americans for marijuana went up hugely, so that now there are more folks in prison for marijuana than for violent crimes." makes me wonder if he was a closet fundamentalist? (Kidding!). I hate it when i agree with the conclusion of an article like this, but find that the attempted argument is terrible. But i should be more generous - Keillor was probably very high when he wrote it. …

Posted to A Foul Tragedy

Here is how i would start. Perhaps others have useful ideas as well. . . Write your Congressmen. Write letters to the editor (polite and cogent - starting the war of words is counterproductive).

Posted to A Foul Tragedy

luminous beauty - everything ok? You seem more caustic than normal, but i also get the notion you are more kidding than serious in your posts above. . . That said, i entirely agree with your recommendation: "If you really want to influence your congressman, get a group of like-minded individuals together, write up a simple and clear petition or declaration, and personally deliver it to his/her local office. Yes, be polite and cogent, but more importantly, be sure to flatter and/or flirt with his/her staff."

Posted to A Foul Tragedy

Yes this is the guy to follow. Maybe he should run for president. . . :) "Republicans in Congress won’t extricate the United States from the quagmire the president has gotten us into." Nor will Democrats (half of which were for the war). Nor will they cure cancer. Some issues just take time and energy and patience (and perhaps luck as well). If we are really going to decide issues primarily by popularity, perhaps it is time to go to a direct democracy? Use the Internet to allow us all to vote on everything. (Which i think would be an utter …

Posted to Democrats: It's the War

jeeni wrote - "One after another, experts testified that there will be little difference in the consequences if we pulled out of Iraq today or ten years from now." Not that i doubt the integrity and earnestness of the experts that testitfied that day, but i really do not believe that *anyone* can make such predictions with any amount of accuracy. If one could really predict the future of such very complex events, they should give stock tips. . . But, if nothing else, it clarifies what some might consider an option for an exit stategy (cut and run). I was …

Posted to Democrats: It's the War

"There were no WMDs in Iraq. . .. These facts were all known by the U.S., Israeli, and British intelligence long before this little “misadventure” began." This is, of course, silly. It was known by all sides that Iraq had WMD, it was not even particularly controversial (but there was controversy over whether/when they might have the means to deliver them to sensitive targets). Of course, as it turned out, it was also not correct. It is also worth noting that Cindy Sheehan lost more than her son over this war, She also lost her family. Of course, in matters of …

Posted to Democrats: It's the War

From http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45726 "The Sheehan family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan family supports the troops, our country, and our president, silently, with prayer and respect. Sincerely, Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins."

Posted to Democrats: It's the War

gar1948 - you think what is going on in Sudan is ok? If not, planning to take up arms there? How about domestic violence? I assume if you are not a cop, you are in favor of same? Problem with strawman arguments is they burn so very easily. . . Oh, don't forget that in the "WMD conspriracy of intellilgence", virtually all of Europe were co-cospirators. Clinton too. Pretty much everyone. . . But i will agre there were no WMD (kinda funny that Saddam tricked us, i bet he is really grinning over that now!). And personnally, i really had …

Posted to Democrats: It's the War

Thanks Scorp. I don't have the time or patience to gather the information you find/found. Excellent rebuttal.

Posted to Democrats: It's the War

"Therefore, although Iraq probably does have BWs, and weapons of mass destruction in general, war with Iraq cannot be justified at this time since Iraq would not and probably could not use any weapons of mass destruction." The concluding sentence from the link supplied by jams above. From my pov, if Iraq wanted to use WMD, they would not have needed or desired to use missiles. Much better would be to use the terrorist methods they (Saddam) embraced - supply suicide nuts with weapons and money and set them to it. Perhaps in a US subway, perhaps in Israel, perhaps not …

Posted to Democrats: It's the War

THERE IS NO VALID JUSTIFICATION FOR shaunb62's POST!!! But that's ok. We are an inclusive group here, and welcome intelligent discourse. I gather you are against the war? Would you have preferred to keep the sanctions going, which were killing the innocent children of Iraq? Or abolish them and expect that Saddam would mellow as time went by (Gee, those poor guys in the shredders, what a shame)? Or some other option?

Posted to Democrats: It's the War

The state should provide two things: 1) freedom to do as one pleases, as long as it does not interfere with other's freedoms 2) freedom from coercion (especially state coercion!) The Netherlands seems to have found a nice compromise. The US "protects" its citizens far too much from themselves (making victimless activities into crimes, e.g., drugs, prostitution, etc).

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

One might wonder what good purpose drug laws accomplish. . . Seems to me that they serve no useful purpose and, worse yet, they divert huge amounts of resources to imprisoning a significant fraction of our populatoin. I wonder - is there any difference between the arguments for prohibition in the 30's versus the prohibition currently practised via the drug laws?

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

Does it really help anything to engage in name calling? I fail to see how it might be useful, other than "venting ones spleen" (maybe that is enough?). Furthermore, i doubt any of us here make policy, so we are all merely expressing opinions of little import (although one can imagine changing someones mind here, it seems to be a rare occurance at best!).

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

Liz - my point is not who should make policy, rather it is that we (here) do not. But we can influence the making of policy, via several methods. The simplest (and typically the least effective) way is to discuss issues with those around you, including boards like this and letters to the editor of your favorite papers. While i doubt you will see a lot of minds changing here, face to face communications tend to be more balanced (and much more civil, at least for me). The next step up is to write letters to the people who actually represent …

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

Jay - why do you believe (do you believe?) that soft drugs should be illegal? Do you think that the price paid in building prisons and loss of productivity from incarcerating people (about 1% of the US population, i think) is worth it? I do not remember ever seeing a cogent argument for the US drug laws, but would like to.

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

SteveHeath wrote - " Illegal drug dealers actively market to minors. Legal drug dealers check age ID." Rather than address each straw man in your list, i will just address the first (typically people start with their strongest points). By your reasoning, the US should be free (somewhat free?) of underage drinkers. Where i live, this is not only not true, it is not even vaguely close to true. Drinks flow unabated to the underage crew. While we might come to similar conclusions on this issue, i prefer arguments that are more compelling. . . and that skip the clearly false …

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

"However, your theme suggests that we would benefit as a society by restoring criminal Prohibition of the drug alcohol, since the legal, regulated system of distribution still has “minors using alcohol unabated.” Is that what you’re suggesting, or do you agree that the legal,regulated system of distribution is preferable to an illegal, completely unregulated system?" Not preferable, but i think it would stem the tide of underage drinking. "Finally, I suggest you more carefully review your choice of adverbs. “Drinks flow UNABATED to minors” is a preposterous claim, unless you are suggesting that the legal alcohol dealers in your cited area …

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

"There is no country in the world that has adopted a legal, regulated system of distribution for currently illicit drugs." Maybe so (but hair splitting at best). I note that when i was in Amsterdam earlier this year, the cafes freely sold pot and hash. Making it effectively legal..And very, um, high quality (pun intended).

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

Hi Jay - thanks for the claification. Still i have to wonder, is the cost of the drug war really worth it? Is pot/hash that dangerous? In any case, it is currently legal to buy pot in CA with a prescription. Note that almost any mental or physical oomplaint can be used by the doctor as a valid reason for prescribing same.

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

Moving on to the hard drugs. Is the claim that they too should be legalized (SteveHeath?)? Does anyone really believe that this would be a good thing?

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

druid - dangerous drugs can contribute to ancillary violence and death. It is ok to risk your own life, but when you risk others, no so ok. People doped up on meth are dangers to themselves and others. Same for many of the other "dangerous" drugs. Plus the need to obtain such drugs often compels the users to illegal activities. Not to mention the driving whilst on drugs. . .

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

Jay - again, thanks for the reply. In matters like this, i prefer a bit of redundancy, just to ensure i am really getting the message being sent.

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

"Contrary to what JC says, according to many studies, your average US state penitentiary is probably worse than jails in the Soviet gulag or in Saddam’s Iraq" Maybe it is because the Soviets and Iraqis imprisoned innocent dissidents, who were less likely to attack, rape and kill each other? The vast majority of harm in US prisons is not that the guards harm the prisoners, but rather that they are incapable of protecting them from each other. (This is not to say that this is not a real and serious issue/problem.) Of course, studies often have political agendas. I would be …

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

SteveHeath : "The first question we ask is, “Do you believe that the American demand for drugs can be reduced by any significant amount?" I was amazed that only 5% answer yes to this, but then realized it may simply be how the question is phrased. Perhaps the question should be reworded: “Do you believe that the American demand for drugs can be increased by any significant amount by making them legal?"? It is clear to me the answer here is yes, but next meeting perhaps Sreve can gather some real statistics (as opposed to my cavalier conjuncture)? Dr.D: "How about …

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

Disseminator - have you thrown out your records yet?" Not yet. Do i have to throw out my classical albums too, or just the stuff from the 60's and later (i assume i can keep my wife's Amy Grant albums too?)? :) More seriously, i think Jay has valid worries on the effects on society of legalizing soft drugs. I have no doubt drug use would rise and many bad things would occur as a result (driving offfenses, even more underage usage, some people would probably become unable to function, money misspent on drugs instead of necessities/kids, etc etc). However, i …

Posted to Liberalisms Brain on Drugs

Wasn't the sexual revolution a liberal revolution? Is it a conservative agenda that has made sexuality a huge commerce in San Francisco? I suppose i do agree that, in the end, our ability to do with our sexuality what we please (including buying and selling same) is a conservative leaning. But i would suggest it is more along the liberatrian path than the republican path. . .

Posted to Babes in BushWorld

Taliban - liberal or conservative? Burkas might make the lives of less pretty women more "fair" (why should the hotties be our standard?). Still, i prefer freedom of choice. Even though it leads to such "unfairness". Besides, a good DVD of Girls Gone Wild is a fun way to begin an evening! (Me a puritan or leaning that way? How funny!!!)

Posted to Babes in BushWorld

An amusing tidbit. In Alabama, a law has been passed and upheld making the sale of sex toys illegal. Of course, viagra is available to whoever might need or desire it. . . (Personally, i think vibrators scare some men. I prefer to sample the whole spectrum of what is available to us as sexual beings.) I wonder. Sexual perversion,/i>. Loaded phrase. Does it refer to gays, masturbators, exhibitionists, voyeurs? I find very little to put in such a category, probably only rapists and child molesters, certainly not anything done by consenting adults.