Brandon9000 wrote:Oh, wait! That's why we have radiation detectors in our ports.DrewDad wrote:Brandon9000 wrote:The fact that one single WMD of various types can obliterate an entire city.
You mean the ones that Saddam didn't have, and couldn't have delivered to a US target, anyway?
Why do you say that he couldn't have delivered a WMD to a US target, when all he would have had to do was disassemble a few, sneak the components into the target country, and reassemble them there? As I said, one single one of these weapons could probably obliterate a city.
Help me out again with how easy it is to deliver WMD. I seem to have missed that memo.
Brandon wrote:Iraq was invaded because we couldn't tell whether he had dismantled them as he had promised, or else merely gotten better at hiding them.
WOW!! What a terrific reason to invade a country, get thousands of Americans killed, destabilize the Middle East where a lot of the worlds oil comes from and slaughter well over 50,000 men, women and children.
All this done because we "couldn't tell".
Brilliant Brandon.
Blatham,
It sounds as if you're recommending that the Democrats concede the upcoming elections to the Republican Party. Rather than make any positive attempt to correct all the "terrible" policies of the past 8 years, the Democrats will have the satisfaction of gloating as the country is flushed away. This seems to be a continuation of the Democratic approach that has worked so well all during the present administration. No ideas or no solutions, only whining, complaining and "I told you so". Works for me, though I would hate to see the Democratic Party a successful suicide.
You remain so convinced that the Republican Party is the personification of evil, and will forever "become equated in the mind of Americans with pus, dead babies and scabrous disease". Some Democrats were confident that President Bush would be defeated in the last Presidential canvas for similar, though not quite so vividly described, predictions of how terrible things had become with a Conservative government. You guys were wrong then, and I'm pretty sure you're still wrong about how odious this Administration is with the American electorate. Either put up your best candidate and a platform to correct what you believe to be so wrong, or don't whine about losing later. I suspect that the Democrats will do neither.
Your advice to let the opposition self-destruct "when the other side is busy ripping itself to bits" applies equally well to the GOP. Let the Democrats remain fixed in its hatred of this President and unresponsive to the issues, and the Republican Party can win elections for a long, long time. The danger to the Republican Party is that it will become so used to dealing with nut cases that it will eventually become complacent and arrogant. That would be very bad for the country, so I sincerely hope that the Democratic Party will wake-up and revive itself.
farmerman
Let me ressurect this discussion to make some suggestions.
First, I don't agree with your initial premise (dems have no policy prescriptions). A more accurate description of real states of affairs is that your rhetorical question reflects a propogated myth - propogated through the purposeful Republican talking-point mechanism (constant repetition from multiple sources). Simply count the number of times in any given day where you will hear or read "the dems have no plans" from Republican reps. Count how many times you'll bump into it here from the folks who turn to nothing much but rightwing media sources.
But also, you've repeated it yourself. Not too surprising as the notion is also forwarded pretty regularly on the mainstream media. It has become a successfully propogated idea regardless of any connection to reality.
To get really clear on this matter, consider also how this portrayal/notion/unreflective meme re the Dems sets up the binary opposite portrayal of Republicans - they alone HAVE plans. But there is a whole package of inferences, explicit and implicit, attached to both ends of this binary opposition. You could note some of them as follows:
certain vs confused - kind of
possess knowledge vs lack knowledge - nope
bold vs meek - only as respects islamo facists
courageous vs cowardly - that's not quite fair.
tough vs wimpy - getting closer
steadfast vs vacillating - nope
manly vs feminine - yep (Now whether or not this is a good thing is another question).
can protect you vs can't protect you - Give me a guns blazing Repub any day
or even
steered by God vs directionless - While it's probably true that the Dems are not paying particular attention to God, they are hardly directionless. They have a very definate course that they follow. Execution may be a problem, but not strategy.
etc - yes, etc.
Note how often these exact phrases or immediate synonyms are constantly forwarded in Republican rhetoric.
Very infrequently actually. Please cite numerous Republican sources that contend
Dems are feminine and Repubs are masculine.
Dems don't possess knowledge.
Dems are directionless.
Dems are wimpy - wait, don't bother. I'll concede that one.
But of course, it is really complete bullshit. It has the same sort of truth status as the propogated meme Repubs are tighter with money (while government grew and debt spiralled under Reagan and now again).
Interesting choice of bullshit generalizations about Republicans.
It is, I suppose, entirely accurate that Republicans:
* Kill babies
* Hate minorities
* Want to enslave women
* Clamor for dictatorships.
* Hate homos
* Kill women
* Despise the poor
* Celebrated Katrina
* Kill men
* Long for a monarchy
* Want to screw minority women
* Kill dogs
* Like acid rain
* Are dedicated to making the rich richer
* Want to kill Howard Stern
did you know brandon that there was now a heavy duty tin foil available at like Food Lion or Krogers? Time for a new hat. reinforced.
Consider, as the GOP goes forth shootting itself in the foot and still declaiming its virtue, the Dems are unable to mount any successful campaign that contains new ideas and solutions.
Since the DEms, more than the GOP, have a true "big tent", I feel it may be difficult for them to verbalize a single approach to get the country off the present dangerous track. In a sort of roundabout way, I find this a good thing. We dont represent a cluster of the Borg whose overall mission is purely world domination..
ps to george
Re restaurants etc...definitely get to the Banana Leaf on Denman Street and, one block from there and Delilah's at Comox and Denman. Also the Boathouse (two blocks away on water) and the Fishhouse in Stanley Park. All those restaurants are top notch and in the area where I lived previously. If you haven't booked a hotel yet, I'd recommend the Sylvia or the Coast Plaza, both in that same neighborhood which puts you right on or near the ocean at English Bay and near Stanley Park.
As to sights, you must get on the seawall which takes you some seven or more miles around Stanley Park and the city. Also, take the tram up Grouse Mountain (restaurant up there too)...that's one agenda item you really can't miss as it goes up some 3000 feet and gives a wonderful view of the city and the Fraser River Valley. Best bet is to go up in the afternoon to get a daylight view, then stay through to nighttime.
I'm afraid I simply no longer consider that the formulation and explication of rational or workable policy prescriptions are terribly important in the American election cycle. The complexity of the problems faced (made particularly acute after the last six years) and the sophistication of the remedies necessary will be appreciated by what percentage of the voting population?
As a fourth year philosophy prof wrote on one of my ethics papers, "Beautifully written. Truly so. Otherwise completely without value." That's close to the exact wording.
Blatham sayQuote:.I'm afraid I simply no longer consider that the formulation and explication of rational or workable policy prescriptions are terribly important in the American election cycle. The complexity of the problems faced (made particularly acute after the last six years) and the sophistication of the remedies necessary will be appreciated by what percentage of the voting population?
Wellthen you must realize that its all about marketing silly. How long have you felt otherwise?.
Show me a race that (in the whole) is being served up by anything but kneejerk response. Even in my state the issue of Sen Santorum's obvious misdemeanors is being hobbled by the "me too" position of the pro-life, pro-Catholic Bullshit, pro family values crap, that the Democratic candidate brings. His present lead in the race is more determined by his fathers reputation.
\There is good marketing and (like evolution) not quite as good marketing. So in the Darwinian sense of survival of the fit enough, the better marketers win.
[Quote:As a fourth year philosophy prof wrote on one of my ethics papers, "Beautifully written. Truly so. Otherwise completely without value." That's close to the exact wording.
Whats the phrase most said by philosophy grads?
"You want fries with that?"
In many saddening aspects, America is no longer the hope or beacon for the world as a model of liberty and responsible citizen-involved democratic governance. The views of Canadians and Brits towards the US are overall very poor now and it is downhill from there. Perhaps it would be better if the US fell to the unimportant and ineffectual status of, say, Italy. You are already a good ways there if one compares the media control and the marketing/corruption of Berlusconi and Bush. But of course, the US is so militarized and self-righteous that it won't go down without blowing up everyone else just for spite (as in Newman's wonderful song).
So the Dems better get control. And they better maintain some semblance of integrity and honor towards the democratic ideals.
.
In many saddening aspects, America is no longer the hope or beacon for the world as a model of liberty
and responsible citizen-involved democratic governance. The views of Canadians and Brits towards the US are overall
very poor now and it is downhill from there. Perhaps it would be better if the US fell to the unimportant and ineffectual
status of, say, Italy. You are already a good ways there if one compares the media control and the marketing/corruption
of Berlusconi and Bush. But of course, the US is so militarized and self-righteous that it won't go down without blowing
up everyone else just for spite (as in Newman's wonderful song).
So the Dems better get control. And they better maintain some semblance of integrity and honor towards
the democratic ideals.
.
I refuse to read
long posts that are
through no fault of the authors
stretched out and extending beyond
the screens full field.