RG5626's Comments (81)

“arkrishn3, I apologize for insinuating that you are a Republican. I jumped to conclusions based on your stance on Obama.

While I agree that there are many reasons to criticize Obama and in many ways he has lived a charmed live, I don't agree that he's had everything handed to him. Growing up as a mixed race child of a single mother is not exactly having a silver spoon in your mouth. I think the reason that he has been able to climb so high so fast was partly good luck and timing, but also because he's very smart, self confident, and charming. He was able to become a senator because Ryan’s campaign imploded due to divorce revelations. He was able to become president because anyone that the Democrats ran after eight years of Bush was going to win. But he still had to beat Hillary and the rest during the primaries and he did that by putting together a good team and running a smart campaign. He would have done better as president had he been a governor or been senator for longer, and he may not end up being a great president, but at least we are no longer moving in the wrong direction and I'm glad for at least that.”

“A case in point is Iran. By offering to negotiate about their nuclear program Obama may be causing a rift within the regime. If we can get a deal on trading unprocessed uranium for fuel rods, great. If we can't get a deal, then we will get more international support for sanctions by showing that we tried but that Iran would not negotiate.”

“Sorry, you guys had eight years and all you did was screw things up. Anyone on the left or right who thought that Obama was the Messiah where diluding themselves. For the rest of us, while there have certainly been some dissapointments, it's been a pretty good year.

I'll take smart and calm over stupid and reckless any day.”

“Don't forget the shoe bomber Richard Reid.”

“So every foreigner who gets arrested gets US citizenship? Shhhh! Don't tell the illegal aliens, they'll be lining up at the police stations for a chance to get arrested.

So what kind of names did you call Bush when Richard Reid tried the same thing after 9/11? Did you say that Bush was inept for letting that happen and then not taking him to Gitmo?”

“Harry, right as usual. However, I don't think there were any good options in the Afghan war. If the president pulled the troops out and the country fell back to the Talaban, he would have been seen as the man who lost Afghanistan. The status quo was not working, so now he's hoping that adding more troops will at least keep the government from falling any time soon. Unfortunatly it appears that the Afghan army is even weaker than first thought and will probably never be ready to defend the country.

While invading Afghanistan was probably inevitable, there should have been a debate after 9/11 about our approach to terroism so that we could have discussed the need for multiple approaches to the crisis. Even if there was a need for military options, there was even more need for intelligence and law enforcement options. Too bad Cheney et al attacked anyone who tried to have those discussion as weak on terror. I wish Powel or Rice had been able to stand up to Cheney and Rummy more effectively.”

“For a few months after 9/11 we had the country you wanted. We stood behind the president, not because we agreed with everything he did, but because we wanted America to be stong and win. Then the Republicans realized that to paraphrase a former Illinios governor: 9/11 was a f*%@#g valuable thing that could be used to invade Iraq and win in the next round of elections. Bush had a chance to not only rallty America, but the whoe world to our cause. He threw it away for a chance to play tough guy and win a few more congressional seats. What a waste.

PS: I even hoped for a win in Iraq once we invaded, though I believed it was a stupid move to make when it only hurt the war on terror.”

“His victim said that he switched from vaginal to anal sex because he did not want to take the chance of getting her pregnant.”

“You are of course free to look up to Mr. Polanski and down on those of us who are dismayed that anyone would defend his actions, but then don't you become what you accuse of of being? Does it make you feel better to be disgusted by those of us who think that sodomizing a 13 year old deserves punishment?”

“Well said. Fanned.

And while health care reform is far from ideal, it's one more step in the right direction.”

“Do you recall how fast Rudi turned on the troops late in the 2004 presidential campaign, when it was revealed that one of the largest munitions depots in Iraq was left unguarded after the invastion? Rudi said that it was the troops fault and not to blame Bush or Rummy.”

“Man, that's messed up. You would think that if you are able to commit to having kids together, you would be willing to commit to living together.”

“I'm with DrPhil on this one even if for a different reason. I don't think we have to rebuild the country before we leave since it was never a country with modern infratstructer to begin with (except for the major cities). But I fear that if we leave now, the Talaban will retake Kabul (after another long civil war) and we will be right back where we were in 2001 with Al-Qaida safe to execute more attacks world wide.

You may point out that Al-Qaida has been pretty safe in Pakistan for the last eight years and you'd be right, but at some point either Pakistan or the US has to clear that area out also.”

“Sandra has said that she can have chidren, but has chosen not to at this time. Do you know something she's not telling us?

It's not really Sandra Bullock trying to take this child from her mother. Her husband is seeking full custody and she is supporting that.

All that said, I agree that taking a child from their biological parent is extreem and should only happen when that child is in physical or emotional danger, not siimply because someone else might be able to give them a better life. I don't go for the "best interest of the child" stuff.”

“I think we are in agreement that the flooding was caused by the failure of the levees and not from the hurricane itself. But as others have pointed out here (and you have responded to) the levees would not likely have failed that day absent Katrina. I agree that it was a man made disaster since the levees could have held had they been built to hold the water that they could contain.

Thanks for your response. Most of my information about the reconstruction of New Orleans has come from you since this story quickly dropped off the radar of the MSM.”

“Harry,

A big fan of La Show. Are you really suggesting though that the levees would have failed that day even if there was not a storm surge cause by Katrina? While poor design/construction was certainly the reason that the levees did not hold, I think it's fair to say that Katrina contributed to their collapse.

That said, it's a tragedy that the President has not spent more time on this issue to stop the installation of substandard pumps and restart the whole project from scratch. Good luck in getting the White House to pay attention.”

“If it was a setup, why would the mother have called the police as soon as the girl got home. Wouldn't it have made more sense to offer silence for money? If anyone was being set up it was the girl who was told she was posing for a photo shoot.”

“Hey, what about geologist? We're all about understanding subsurface morphology.”

“I switched to Newsweek years ago, but since the latest revamp this year, it's become unreadable.”

“The tantrums were just an unfortunate side show. He built his career on winning matches.”

“While the foot fault call may have been correct technically, it did seem an odd time to call it since it was not blatent. Players step on the line all the time while serving and don't get called for it. I assume that Serrena got called out because she had been doing it pretty consistantly during the match.

Even if it had been a bad call though, she should have addressed her concerns to the umpire, not the linesperson. And she certainly should not have said what she said. It's too bad since it will only give more ammunition to those who already don't like the Williams sisters.”

“And a traitor. He sold weapons to our enemies.”

“It's not as though each insurance company has its own stable of doctors (most doctors accept multiple insurance plans). If I can go to my doctor and only pay $1,000 a year for my share of the premiums as opposed to $2,000, I'll pick the lower price. I agree that there will be less private insurance, but I'm not sure they will be able to charge premium prices. The reason that private universities charge more is that they lack the public subsities.

I have nothing against private insurance, but I think a public option will force them to keep competative on price.”

“There are many great public university's, yet somehow, Yale and Harvard have not closed down.”

“The people than can be frightened by this lie are the same ones that will believe Cheney when he says that holding terrorist suspects in US soil will bring our downfall. It's not rational, but is fed by anger that they are losing "their" country.”