I have hoped that the fact that this 72-year-old white middle class church-going, Southern-speaking, descendant of several Confederate soldiers and also several slave-holders --- who tears up when the Stars and Stripes are raised and the anthem is played --- speaks up about things maybe, just maybe, a few others in my demographic will also speak out.
As it happens, I know nothing about either the stock market or the world of blogging. Nothing whatever. However, may it please the court, some things are very important to me, and some things are very unimportant. It is my hope that you, the jury, will enjoy the journey on which we are about to embark. I'll try my best not to bore you along the way. I rest my case.
- Bob Brague, from Rhymes with Plague
This is what you need to do to get started: Thank the person who tagged you. Copy all below. Add your three posts to the list. List the blog name and url of those you tagged. Post and publish. Update with those that comment.
This is based on the SEO theory that links to posts inside your blog are more important than links to your home page. I have selected three posts I want to promote along with my site’s name. You will do the same thing. Keep it simple and spread our good work around to both share and build some ratings! Pick three posts that you feel are your best or those you simply want to promote. Your site name is listed with your 3 selected posts beneath.
Once you have your post up: Add the sites and post links of the folks you tagged onto your post. Try to add the site and post links to anyone involved to maximize the effectiveness. Tag a minimum of 5 people! Try your best not to double tag people so it will spread better!
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Okay, that’s it. Now all that’s left is adding some friends to the list. [please remember to use the blog title and not the authors name when you are adding blogs.
I’m going to nominate five blogs - but it’s only a “suggestion.” I promise you won’t have bad luck if you don’t participate. Consider it a free link. However, if you’d like to participate - jump right in.
In a very real and deeply disturbing sense, Bush's action in this matter reveals him as someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.On Tony Snow’s conclusion that OBL was “led” to the 2001 attacks by the perception of American weakness displayed when Bush Sr “walked away” in 1991.
I notice Snow doesn't mention conclusions bin Laden might've drawn from withdrawal of our troops in Lebanon following the Khobar Towers attack. Maybe that's because Ronald Reagan ordered that withwdrawal.I love this one on a Neo-Con bragging in 2003: “This war is over”.
This is just another iteration of the White House-GOP false-choice propaganda line: anything that deviates from The Decider's definition of staying the course is cutting and running.
As for Poppy Bush, I think he's so tickled pink his boy is president and so annoyed that so many fail to appreciate his boy's sterling qualities that he's in complete denial about George W.'s execrable performance in office.
Perfect case of chickenhawks counting their eggs before they're through laying them.When I reacted to Cruella Ann Coulter’s vile comments:
Ah, but saying shocking, incendiary, acid, insulting, shrewish, attention-getting things is Coulter's schtick. She thus generates buzz, sells books and gets booked on Fox and elsewhere, so she can perpetuate the cycle.I ran a wonderful RJ Matson cartoon that skewered the right-wing disdain for the courts:
Red-meat vendors like Fox keep hold of the eyeballs of right-wing hard cases through her appearances. Supposedly middle-of-road vendors like CNN have her on, then tut-tut and say ooh, what she said in mock shock after having thus made a bid for the eyeballs of right-wing hard cases.
It's a racket all the way around.
That is a good cartoon.On an essay by the Questing Parson about the “myth of redemptive violence”:
I tend to think right wingers have it in for judges because, unlike officials who serve in other branches, judges are nearly impossible to influence or control. Few belong to or identify with a political party. They're not subject to lobbying and most don't have their hand out for campaign money.
Judges are also relatively hard to intimidate by having Limbaugh, Hannity, Boortz and the rest of the noise machine go after them.
It behooves warmaking countries to frequently countentance calls to conscience from third parties and from people opposed to all wars. Not necessarily that countries at war can or should be immobilized or even shamed by what they hear from dissident voices. But they should maintain awareness that when hostilities end there will usually be an accounting and sometimes even a reckoning.On the lowering of military standards that have resulted from Bush’s policies, S.W., an old military guy himself, said:
If nothing else, it's worth remembering war is so terrible it takes a toll on victors as well as the vanquished, whether or not the victors realize in the short run that this is so.
How ironic this is, because a big feature of our all-volunteer force has been higher-quality, better-motivated recruits.On a quote by Edmund Burke about the perils of empire:
If there's one kind of person our military never needs or has any business accepting, it's thugs.
Integrity, discipline, grit and a sense of purpose about something greater than self and "what I want now" are keys to successful soldiering. Thugs by definition lack those attributes. Consequently, they are huge liabilities to other troops and to the mission.
Excellent advice, of course. Nevertheless, as Bush has told us, he hears the voices but he's the president, so he gets to decide.On Al Gore’s movie: An Inconvenient Truth:
Sort of like a kid telling his pals that since he bought the box of Cracker Jacks, he gets to play with the prize.
Heaven help us all.
Plain old common sense should be enough to convince any thinking person that two or three centuries of massive, escalating alteration of the atmosphere is bound to have negative consequences.On my prayer for the long life of Justice John Paul Stevens:
Add to global warming the combination of burgeoning world demand for energy — mostly fossil fuels — and predictions about "peak oil," meaning the time when we've maxed out what's economically feasible to extact, and it's not hard to see there are really big crises up ahead. Not that far up ahead, at that.
Consider how many people now live in places that require vehicular transportation to get to and fro. Consider how many people live and work in places where high summer heat and humidity and/or bitter winter cold mean they inevitably require lots of energy just so their homes will be habitable and their workplaces will be bearable.
Right now, it's as though we're all on an airliner with a brain-dead pilot. We had better start facing facts and developing ways to deal with these problems. We can't afford the luxury of electing dolts or people hellbent on enjoying the political rewards of denial.
As for Stevens, I too am with The Man on the Limb. One or two more like Thomas and Scalia, and this country's in for some rough sledding — for very long time.When I lamented that both sides in the fight over the separation of church and state often get it wrong:
I think much of what strikes you as efforts to pretend religion doesn't exist or to deny or ignore the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition are manifestations of a natural, inevitable phenomenon in our democracy: countervailing pressure.When Congress finally had a bit of debate on the War in Iraq:
That is, when you have people going on cable squawk shows and people such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity insisting America was founded as a Christian nation, has been a Christian nation all along, is a Christian nation now, and you have people calling in to talk shows presenting those notions as a given, inevitably, people who aren't religious, aren't Christian and even Christians who have a clue, will push back.
The more pushy the Christian-nation folks get, the more push-back they're going to generate.
And of course, the resulting hubbub will encourage the hottest heads and meanest mouths on both sides to ratchet up the intensity from time to time, especially when lawyers and the media get involved in a flashpoint situation.
Times were better and the level of respect shown was greater when it was considered good form among people of faith to let their religious beliefs work at the level of conscience and character building, internally, when they were taking care of the people's business in various branches of government.
Nowadays, I suspect, even people who'd prefer to operate that way fear they'll lose ground politically, especially in red states, if they don't at least match those who engage in conspicuous Bible thumping and wear their faith on their shoulders, like a chip.
Given that it didn't appear until an election year in which the public has turned sour on the war, this sudden appearance of dissension in the ranks of congressional Republicans rings hollow.
It's enough to make me wonder, if the November election turns into a landslide loss for the GOP, will we see neopacifist Republicans donning love beads and showing the peace sign in '08?
Coulter and Hannity, together. Perfect match.On another post about Coulter and my daughter’s suggestion that the Republicans “excommunicate her”:
Add O'Reilly to this vacuum for truth and decency, and you'd have enough concentrated evil to fuel a sequel to "The Exorcist."
Excommunicate her?On the potential for another Gore candidacy:
Not as long as she stokes their fires and money can be made off of her hatefulness.
Know their values not by what they say their values are, but by what they demonstrate their values are.
Gore has maintained he would be amenable to a draft but doesn't plan to run.On our addiction to oil:
If he does get drafted (unlikely) or decides to run, I hope he'll swear off political consultants, campaign wizards and anyone else who tries to shape the image he projects. If he wants advice on that, he should listen to Tipper and to his extremely bright and articulate daughter, period.
Gore is a good, capable, experienced man. He has a lot to offer. He doesn't need to come forth as a new Al Gore, just a steady, consistent Al Gore.
We most certainly could do plenty to improve our situation. What's needed is solid, sensible leadership. We need policy wonks who know a lot, care a lot, do their homework, then look and plan ahead. We need leaders who know what the people are capable of if summoned and challenged to do their best.On my lament that Republicans seem to rarely get beyond ad hominem attacks to any real discussion of the issues:
What we've got is cardboard cutouts labeled "leader."
Your conclusion is dead on target. Just try it and see what right wingers and their noise machine do with thoughtful, intelligent attempts at discussion.On a group of quotes from unlikely sources critical of Bush’s policies:
A favorite tactic I've run into is that they routinely reject out of hand any complaints or criticisms, saying "you're just a Bush hater, so what else could we expect?" That charge is supposed to invalidate the critic and criticism in one economical put down.
Then they feel the matter is settled, no further discussion needed.
That's an excellent and eye-opening set of quotes. I wish everyone could read them and then stop and think.
I'll toss in this additional food for thought.
It doesn't take a Z-big or Henry the K to figure out that a big reason Iranians elected Ahmedinejad and support his nuclear aspirations is because they feel threatened.
Iran has grudges against the U.S. that go back decades: our ousting of the country's democratically elected leader in the 1950s, our long support for the shah and our support of Saddam in the horrendous Iran-Iraq War. All that on top of the close U.S. alliance with Israel.
So, Bush brilliantly sends an army to invade the country next door, in an act of naked aggression.
Anyone who puts himself or herself in Iran's position would feel threatened and want nukes too.
Bush and his cronies are ignorant and extremely foolish. To paraphrase Rumsfeld, they don't even know what they don't know.
God help us all if their seemingly limitless willingness and ability to do the exactly wrong thing results in a war of aggression against Iran.
Statistics say that one of every four people is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three favorite bloggers. Now if they make sense . . . .
