There is no scandal to Benghazi involving the president. Mistakes were made by Foreign Services, yet given the situation, not criminal. Live and learn, unfortunately.
What gets me, Ghost, is the regional blindness, something that I inherited. How do we change things?
Lol, how ill-informed you are. Three Southern states, primary amongst them Louisianna, does not hold its own weight and is supported by the Fed gov.
I already explained the nature and intent of my ironic questions. Feel free, as you have, to be insulted. I regret the subtlety. No more obtuse comments. "In the clear" as we used to say in the service. Okay with you?
Lol, I am new to political threads. What I am used to is respectful and substantiated dialog. That you offer neither, dutchman, is a surprise and has taken me aback. This is your Rome and I must learn to deal with it. But that does not mean nor will it ever come about that I will resort to insult. Civility may seem a "queer, liberal idea" to you, but unless we start resorting to this mamsy-bamsy way of dealing, America is dead.
Why insult, even if what I propose is absurd? What's the point of being offensive?
Rush calling a woman a "slut." Beck claiming Obama a racist: he "hates white people." Issa stating that Obama is the most corrupt president ever; he is practicing "gangster politics." What does this help?
You disagree with me, fine, but rather than relate your point, you insult. Fine. Its America. You're free to answer as you please. But you don't look very good doing it.
Good points. I watched a program on Lincoln tonight and was astounded that Slave-holders had any argument whatsoever (other than crass and inexcuseable economics). I did not listen to their arguments, finding it utterly absurd that any plausable argument existed in a humane world. Yet they did have a point.
I grew up in da Bronx. Southerners, in general, were toxic idiots: stupid, mean, and intolerant. Then I was drafted. My perspective changed. Having been raised to look at the best in people, I found it in Southerners. Shouldn't we all accept that as the ground to seeing and work from there?
It is estimated that 750, 000 Americans died in the Civil War. The issue in the supposed land of the free that ignited this struggle: slavery. When the Declaration of Independence was signed, it did not apply (obviously) to blacks but also to women, natives, or whites without property. Rights for these groups came grudgingly slower, for some at least a century. But it happened!
The United States of America have always had their differences, even well before the union. Working out those differences through the most magnificent government Constitution ever contemplated or formed has been a light for the world. The self-interest and pride of the South tried to destroy this Beacon, and lost.
This present rather blase talk of dissolving the union is so sick and against our basic ideals as to be treasonous or insane. Some of these states talking in this way are heavily supported by the Federal government and would be in big trouble without such support.
Dividing America into feudal states will maintain our dominance in the world? The American dollar is the standard. The breakup into various sovereignties will subjugate us to whomever is dominate, most likely China. The American Dollar will mean nothing. Losing the American Dollar as standard will prove absolute ruin for this land.
How most Republicans have been acting, saying the Governement is the problem, has acted to erode pride in America and respect for its ideals and traditions. It also dishonors the deaths of all those who fought to keep this nation united.
Or a hand extended. Why must it all be oppositional? The only resolution death. There are middle ways to everything that are not subjugating our values. But it needs thought, prayer, and commitment; it will not be easy or quick.
Sorry, the idea of well-reasoned and well-researched debate seems basic to me. Being honest, respectful, and keeping an open-mind imperative. Insulting the opposition seems a cheap trick to "win" the argument. That any and all insult by either side is not consider wrong and out of place in a discussion needs to be a standard. Hating each other does not resolve the very serious problems facing we the people.
If we truly want change and not to become a third rate nation, we need to come together in earnest and not push against with pre-supposed distrust and animosity.
I am not beyond engaging in an emotional binge, feeling ever so self-righteous (and condemning) when I hear a legislator who is well-educated say, "...legitimate rape." But I quickly cooled and looked to see what he might have meant. This is essential. Of course, there will be those women for obvious reasons and less than noble reasons that prefer others to think, by their accusations, that their pregnancy was an attack, not consensual. Ergo, not legitimate. Yet even such due consideration, on such an emotional issue, will invite accusations of insensitivity. Political correctness inhibits open discussion.
Tearing down is so much easier than building up. It takes courage, decency, and honor to build, ignoring the little minds who have neither the nerve nor the intelligence to look for solutions but only to exorcise their pain through hurting others.
Escalating in arms, having violence as the basis of our response to the element of threat, is a serious mental disorder. This is the way of the world since Civilization began. Continuing to do so perpetuates war and misery. Daring to find another way to respond, through pacifism, is our only hope.
There is no scandal; there is highly regrettable errors. Making this investigation a partisan witch hunt is a disservice to the country. We should not be out to get someone but to correct the errors that got people killed.
Of course Communists were heavily involved in the Labor Movement: their creed was better working conditions for labor, which was desperately needed in this country, if you are familiar with well-documented abuses by Big Business for centuries.
Labor was little more than slaves. There was no one to look out for their interest. They had no power. Criminal abuses were common. That an ugly and failed philosophy like Communism might use a prominent failure of Capitalism to gain popularity and acceptance, does not mean that there wasn't something terribly with Capitalism as practiced back then.
Democracy without some needed socialism is social darwinism. How we care for the least of these is not only an imperative of Christianity but of any good government.
Karl Rove, who funded and funneled almost a billion doallrs to defeat Obama is the president's flunky? Curious?
Bush and Cheny were known within the security forces as "Murder Inc." They consistently and grossly violated the limits on the Patriot Act. FISA was passed in 2008 that helped to legitimize what Bush and Cheny did with outlaw zeal.
What bothers me most about your response to this blog and the other one we have conversed about, is the apparent total lack of investigation. Being open-minded is a requisite for honest comment. I am not saying that is necessary to comment; it's America, right, say whatever you please. But if you want to be taken seriously, make a real difference, have the facts.
How is an ironic question insulting? Just to have the beliefs you hold it is clear that you have worked for a living. If I had asked if you have ever breathed, it would be insulting?
Yet, for me, this is avoiding the issue. Having such hatred for unions (or is it the assumption they are liberal) should be thoroughly investigated by a reasonable person, unless you are prone just to repeat Conservative talking-points without thought?