boltaflex's Comments (48)

“Then God is the one thing you choose not to be intellectual about.”

“Andrew Sullivan. Shepard Smith. Chris Buckley.

These are conservatives willing to have thought provoking, respectful conversations with liberals.

Understandably, they don't get the press or attention of a Limbaugh or Coulter. And because they're reasonable, they can't command a television audience like Hannity or Beck.

Mr. Buchanan may be well prepared and a reasonably pleasant person. But his general politics don't seem to have changed much in 40 years, as his recent debate with Rachel Maddow clearly demonstrates.”

“Talk about trying to be clever, you're turning reality on its head.
The Pop Culture you refer to--obsession with fame, money, looks, image, voyeurism, violence, etc., is exactly the culture Michael Jackson wanted to be the King of. He wasn't leery of this culture, he immersed himself in every aspect of it, he celebrated it. Because of his obsession with being the idol of millions, he was a perfectionist, acutely aware of his image in public. He wore the mask on days when he felt too imperfect to show his face. Perhaps during or after the dozens of surgeries he underwent.

I'm a year older than Michael Jackson, and as a fan I saw fame and obsession transform him from a cute, happy, confident, brassy ten year old to a shy, reclusive, unhappy adult. It was painful for me to see this, and I agree with Mr. Lévy's general assessment.”

“....and upside down.”

“In my next life, I'd like to be a chicken cutlet.”

“I don't know what you teach, but I'll bet it isn't business ethics or copyright law.”

“Mr. Murdoch apologized only when there was no other option.
The first apology, by his editor, was so weak and insulting that things only got worse. Murdoch didn't fire the editor, he didn't direct the cartoonist to publish an explanation or apology.
Murdoch waited a week to apologize, after broad public outcry, outrage, loss of newspaper sales and plenty of subscription cancellations forced his hand.
Please locate the courage or class in Mr. Murdoch's actions.”

“But... I thought it was a shining city on a hill, Grandpa...­.”

“Yes, I missed that look the first time around--around 6:47 on the video. Great moment.”

“Funny!”

“Thank you, Jamie Lee, for such beautiful, lucid words and feelings.”

“Due respect, Navy_VET_EOD, couldn't the reason that McCain can't physically salute anymore be due to his POW injuries? That's my understanding; his arms were foreshortened after being broken and bound several times during his Vietnam imprisonment.
I've noticed on occasion that he has particular trouble bending his right elbow without pain.

I read your profile, thanks for your service.

OBAMA '08”

“Kind of a backhanded comment, waters96. Perhaps you were being flip, but this is not the way to applaud the endorsement of a respected journalist and writer.

Mr. Smerconish is always at least thoughtful and considered, whether you agree with him or not. I've actually agreed with a few of his earlier posts, like his support of lifting the Cuban Embargo for the good of both of our nations. He is not a Limbaugh or a Hannity or a Coulter. He's been a good guy all along.

I'm hoping that one of the first things we heal in an Obama era is the polarization of America.
If we don't, then this election won't really do us very much good.”

“Yes, the stated diagnoses on Ellesmere Island were incorrect. The ice ring breaks and then comes back every decade or so , and has done so for maybe hundreds of years. To be fair, it's been receding at an accelerated rate over the past 40 years, including the underlying ice layers. Researchers were overzealous, or misinterpreted the data or presented it incorrectly.
So congratulations, you've scored one half of one data error against an ocean of otherwise solid evidence.
You will never reach the shore in this fight, unless that's the point, you just want to argue.

If you like to argue truth and philosophy and what's right, then let's forget about the facts for a moment,
and answer a few simple, common sense questions:

What's the downside of a call to arms for a greener world?

What if AGW is one hundred percent wrong, but by going along with the idea we end up with cleaner air, water, soil, renewable fuels, healthier children, fish, plants and animals? What if we left the world better than we came into it, and all because we got too jittery about the weather? How bad would that be, Mr. Slagle?

How would a cleaner, greener earth interfere with your agenda, and how would your agenda serve a better purpose than that?”

“Steve Clemons and James Love are both correct. Palin hit a home run to her audience whether we like it or not. She can speak, she can connect, she can attack.
She's appealing, she's confident, she delivers rhetoric with assurance and disdain.
Since when do Republicans have to make sense to get elected?
This woman is a problem, and McCain (or whoever it was-Rove?) was shrewd to choose her.

Just a year ago, Hillary thought her nomination was in the bag. Then some upstart came out of nowhere, ran a shrewd, innovative campaign, and took the prize from her. Half the Democratic party is still in shock that such a thing can happen, that somehow Hillary's pre-ordained Presidency has been stolen from her. They didn't take Obama seriously, and now there are a lot of bitter people unsure of who to vote for.
If we don't want to face the same mistake of hubris all over again from 2000, 2004, and the primaries, I beg all of you to take Palin seriously.”

“No matter how many embarrassing excuses Republicans make, they always turn out to be just believable enough to get elected.

Republicans position themselves as the true patriots of this country, and no one argues that point with them. Nothing could possibly be further than the truth, yet somehow Democrats allow this infuriating charade to continue.
Of course, God is also on the side of Republicans. Obviously.
Republicans don't have to be accurate or intelligent to get elected. Republicans can lie, stretch the truth, slander, pander, change their platform, whatever--they just wave the flag and mention Jesus, and it's another four years in office. No fact is safe, no logic or common sense has any footing.

What are Democrats going to do? How are we going to fight blind faith and nationalism in the face of real problems that need solving--problems that will never get resolved if Republicans keep the White House?
We'd better figure it out fast, because Obama didn't bounce all that high this week, did he?”

“Thanks for the insights into the theatricality of these conventions, Zachary. Here's another.

If there isn't an introductory video, it's obviously not an important speech.

Twenty minutes before Michelle O and the kids appeared, former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach (R) presented a cogent, thoughtful, and dramatic endorsement to Obama. A Republican! With real things to say about our nation, our parties, and where we're headed unless we enact real change very soon.

MSNBC.com streamed it. CNN TV aired it, I think even Headline News aired it.

But MSNBC TV cable news obviously didn't consider a Republican appearing at a Dem Convention to be newsworthy, or even worth discussing. Instead, they filled his spot with the 1546th interview of Debbie Wasserman (D-FL).

I sent an angry email last night to MSNBC, for all the good it will do.
Grateful as I am for Olberman, Maddow, et al, I was really pissed off at the way they disregarded any true news being made at the convention while they waited for the big, stagey, main speeches.”

“I like the idea of Sebelius as VP, but that would royally piss off the Clintons.

Wait a minute.

I like the idea of Sebelius as VP.”

“When Obama takes office---
Do you think Chartoff will remain?
Do you think FISA will conduct business as usual?
Do you think imprisonment without due process will continue?
Do you think crisis management will be conducted exactly the same way, or do you think it will improve at least slightly?
Do you think the recent FISA bill Obama voted for will remain, or be amended and rewritten by a full unimpeded Democratic majority?

Careful, these are tough questions.”

“In a surprising number of ways, the O'Reilly Factor is just like McDonald's:

Both are the worst possible choice of consumption,
which is why both are insanely popular.
Both are cheap, loud, and pander to the inner child in us.
Both require a trip to the bathroom after each visit.

Both feature a clown as the host.”

“The right wing MSM will eat this cover up and use it over and over.

Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Hannity, et al will say "Congratulations, New Yorker elitist upper crust magazine, even you get it right once in a while."”

“The NInth Amendment clearly states that such obvious, in your face, ground level implicit human needs like, say, the right to privacy, do not have to be repeated or even written into the Constitution to be recognized protected, or extended to protect them. Otherwise, the Constitution would require a billion different scenarios explained, described or enumerated, and linked to every Amendment when applicable, and that's crazy.”

“Oil is the only major commodity allowed to be traded on speculation with little or no collateral. The GOP stuck a loophole in the End of Enron bill so you could still speculate on oil here and overseas, and now our own oil supply is speculated on by foreign nations, and the corporations who have bases overseas profit by this. We have no control.

Morgan Stanley, through its overseas interests and speculative trading on oil now owns almost all heating oil or natural gas in New England. The moment the oil leaves the storage tank, it depreciates. So they drive up the price in expectation of the better global price. And the demand goes up. So the price goes up. So the demand goes up. So the price goes up. So the speculation goes up.

The only thing we'd have to do to fix this problem is to put two words into that 90's amendment, the one that ended speculative trading without sufficient collateral: Including Oil.

Once ended, the price of oil would drop 30 percent within months, 40 percent within a year.”

“This article ran all last week on Huffpo, in the "Popular Stories" Column.
It had hundreds of replies and responses.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/28/critic-olbermanns-special_n_103896.html”

“Only a curmudgeon would use a cudgel to bludgeon.”