hello

The left is divided between NDP and Liberals which gave him another win last time. This coming election will not work out that way. Trudeau is going to take this (for what my prediction might be worth).

Re reaction to Ottawa event. The only real similarity to US reaction is what emerged from Harper's mouth. I've had one conversation about it, no email, and the press here let it go by the following day (other than some data on the crazy guy who did it).

Sure, no question that the US has been targeted. Entirely reasonable they would be given their mucking about in the world (for own benefit, most primarily). It would make no sense to presume any other outcome.

But the response to 9/11 was insane. More innocent lives are lost in countless ways each year, unnecessarily (tobacco, guns, drunk drivers). Far more personal and family tragedy in those than in 9/11. Then look at how the US has responded - the cost in lives, money, civil rights, etc. That makes no sense unless one factors in how hegemons behave.

I don't think you are going to find many Muslims in the middle east or elsewhere who would hold that the US is kinder, more helpful, more respectful of local traditions, etc than were the Europeans previously. If something like that is true or close to true, then the US is presently doing precisely the sorts of things that will make Muslims even more extreme. Which seems to be happening. Yeah, these people are a problem but we've sat by while stuff as ugly has happened elsewhere. The calculation is perceived self-interest, not altrusim. The point, though, was that the reaction was insane in relationship to real world effects of the event. Nationalist pride is a key feature of hegemons. 9/11 was an insult. Tobacco deaths are just business.

Fist was not clenched. My hands were open in the manner of the welcome you won't receive in the heaven you won't see.

"bitch slap" That's funny. I don't think the term had much traffic at that time even if it wasn't terribly long ago. But I would never bitch slap you, frank. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I'd do that to anyone. No, there is someone. George Will.

On a related not to the above (bitch slapping, George Will)...

I've been writing online now for nearly twenty years. That's something close to a million words. And I don't think I have ever used the vulgar term for a woman's naughty bit, that one that starts with C. Until a week ago. It was, for me, worth the wait.

In his column, Will wrote:


Given Will's recent statements on women, he's made himself something of a very deserving target. Of course, Udall isn't "now known here" as Mark Uterus. That's an opposition line that carries all the obvious baggage. Will slipped it in to forward all that crap. I quickly knocked off a tweet:

"Sheesh. Mark Udall has now become Mark Uterus. And George Will has now become George ****. There's so much to remember."

I suppose you also think it's reasonable for bank robbers to shoot policemen.

Well, of course it's "reasonable." That doesn't justify it, doesn't make it "right."

A bit more on Joni Ernst. She has refused to sit down with editorial staff of key state newspapers including the Des Moines Register (which endorsed Romney last cycle). She's doing a Sarah Palin/Sharron Angle thing of hiding her extremisms and stupidhood. So the DMR went the other way on their endorsement. How extreme is the lady, you might ask?

John Nichols ‏@NicholsUprising 11m11 minutes ago
Why the @DMRegister rejects Iowa R Joni Ernst: "she would abolish the EPA, the Department of Education and the federal minimum wage."

There's more but that oughta do for starters.

The right/wrong moral equation is an irrelevancy here. The point is that any hegemon or colonial ruler is going to get blowback. We are hardly surprised when Germanic types (my mother in law was one) push into Rome or when Indians or Israelis get out weapons to point at the Brits or when the Incas get really pissed at the Spanish or when Afghanis do what they did to the Russians.

The bank scenario is a spectacularly inappropriate analogy. Good grief.

Oh, I agree. I was just pointing out to oralloy that his post lacked basic logic.

OK, gotcha now. Do you suppose he'll find his way through the thicket on this one? I'm not entirely confident of it but hell, maybe there is a tooth fairy. Maybe she's a blonde with really nice thighs. Maybe.

That depends on whether or not you are an amoral scumbag.

Those of us with a sense of human decency don't think it's irrelevant here.



Only inappropriate in the view of people who can't tell the difference between America and the terrorists.

Do you have trouble telling the difference between America and the terrorists?



Try pointing out even one logical flaw in what I said.

More blatham blather.

Pretending that I am somehow "lost" or "misguided" is just your silly attempt to cover up the fact that you lack the wit and intelligence to confront what I say.

Of course t's reasonable for bank robbers to shoot policemen. It defies logic to expect a bank robber to act otherwise. Yout were trying to make an analogy that makes no logical sense.

Hmmm, I returned to B's post and saw that my typeface allowed me to misread the spelling of Ms Ernst first name. Sorry.

In your view, is there any difference between "a police officer shooting at a bank robber" and "a bank robber shooting at a police officer"?

Yes. Why?

"America fighting the war on terror" is like "a police officer shooting at bank robbers".

"The terrorists who launch attacks against America" are like "bank robbers shooting at a police officer".

Blatham is saying that America lacks this moral righteousness. The point of my post was to call him out on that outrageous claim.



Because if you couldn't tell the difference, you'd be like blatham and there would be no point in me trying to explain.

Blatham is right on this one. A valid analogy for the ongoing struggle between the USA and the Islamist terrorists might be a gang war between two mobs, not a gunfight between cops and robbers.

The US is a Westphalian state with a long history of supporting freedom and democracy.

The terrorists are a pack of fanatics who seek the murder of every non-Muslim on the planet and who think that women should be killed for learning how to read.

To claim that there is any equivalency is ludicrous and offensive.

The political idea of a Westphalian state contradicts actions in foreign countries.
Historically looked at, the USA isn't situated in 1648's Europe.