offred's Comments (3177)

“I'd rather see that money used to hire Americans to upgrade our infrastructure and to build a 21st power grid for the U.S.

Let every hawk and war profiteer who's ever been quoted in support of either war be assessed a special tax to fund the Afghan war, since the U.S. can't afford it right now.

Start with the Cheneys, Bushes, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill-O, all Halliburton execs and staff, all Blackwater execs and staff, etc.

In fact, any company executive or manager whose company makes a profit from the war industry should also pay a windfall tax during a war. For example, KBR and Dyncorps execs should pay an extra 5 percent in taxes.

Not that such a tax would prevent them from lobbying for war, but it would make it less profitable.”

“Gee, as president, you don't get to opt out because you don't know much about a particular topic. You get up to speed REALLY QUICKLY.

Now that Palin has more time (done with being governor; with helping her ghost writer--I hear it was William Ayres; and nearly done with the book tour), she should work with some Republican political veterans with really broad backgrounds in foreign affairs, economics, geography, etc., and do a crash course to prepare herself for political life.

I don't think she has the discipline or the self-awareness to do that though, and I get the impression there aren't any Republican bigwigs jumping at the chance to school her.”

“I've had a sneaking suspicion that that was the case, too.”

“I'd rather we use all that money to put people to work rebuilding our infrastructure and updating our power grid.

Let every hawk and war profiteer who's ever been quoted in support of either war be assessed a special tax to fund the Afghan war, since the U.S. can't afford it right now.

Start with the Cheneys, Bushes, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill-O, all Halliburton execs and staff, all Blackwater execs and staff, etc.

In fact, any company executive or manager whose company makes a profit from the war industry should also pay a windfall tax during a war. For example, KBR and Dyncorps execs should pay an extra 5 percent in taxes.

Not that such a tax would prevent them from lobbying for war, but it would make it less profitable.”

“"Johnson resigned."

Nixon resigned. Johnson completed his term of office after choosing not to run for another term.”

“Good catch, OfJohn!

Always delighted to discover a fan of "A Handmaid's Tale."”

“Male chauvinist pig. Must be a member of the Republican Party 2.0, to be called the New Chauvinist Party.

"Chauvinism..., in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a blind belief in national superiority and glory. [1] By extension it has come to include an extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of any group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. Jingoism is the British parallel form of this French word. [1]A contemporary use of the term in English is in the phrase male chauvinism." [Wikipedia]”””

“Only in your fantasy world.”

“Scorned, hell! That should be a firing offense.”

“So if Republicans sign on to this purity pledge, does it mean they'll wait till they're married to have sex? Will they exchange silver chastity bands with Rush Limbaugh?”

“CNN is incapable of in-depth reporting. It's all about ratings. (Besides, Vanity Fair magazine covered these murders not long after they happened; nice that CNN waited until the trial to cover the incident--­propagandi­zing much?)

Last week CNN had a series of reports in the morning about the upswing in militia activity since Obama took office. While the reporter actually tried to present a balanced view, some nitwit producer (probably the one who came up with the "Paula Zahn--a little bit sexy" promo) titled the series "Militias: Terrorists or Patriots."

Gosh, I wonder how the FBI agents who track these militia types feel about CNN suggesting these nutjobs might be patriots or the family members who lost relatives in the Oklahoma bombing by militia member Timothy McVeigh.”

“Let every hawk and war profiteer who's ever been quoted in support of either war be assessed a special tax to fund the Afghan war, since the U.S. can't afford it right now.

Start with the Cheneys, Bushes, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill-O, all Halliburton execs and staff, all Blackwater execs and staff, etc.

In fact, any company executive or manager whose company makes a profit from the war industry should also pay a windfall tax during a war. For example, KBR and Dyncorps execs should pay an extra 5 percent in taxes.

Not that such a tax would prevent them from lobbying for war, but it would make it less profitable.”

“Hear, hear!”

“You're right, that was an overly broad and not well thought out statement on my part.

Yes, I approve of the church speaking out on issues such as civil rights, world peace, capital punishment, etc. I have been upset, though, in the last five or so years when bishops openly tell Catholics not to vote for pro-rights candidates and priests openly announce that pro-choice candidates--such as John Kerry and Ted Kennedy--would not be able to receive communion in their churches.”

“Not openly. It's still don't ask, don't tell.”

“I support abortion rights in cases of rape, incest, physical danger to the mother, or severe abnormalities of the pregnancy. I'm not saying American women commonly use abortion as a form of birth control; I, however, believe there would be far fewer abortions if information about and access to contraception were more readily available and if conservative politicians and churches didn't call it immoral and a sin.

I do remember several decades ago that it was common for women in the Soviet Union to have had two and three and four abortions. I've been appalled at women I've known here in the U.S. who have had more than one abortion, and not for any reason I cited above; they just didn't think to use birth control; were under the influence of something and forgot to use it; didn't want to bother with getting and using contraception, etc. Repeated abortions because you don't take the responsibility for using contraception just strikes me as irresponsible. Yes, sometimes birth control fails, but if it fails more than once, then there are other options out there in birth control and personal behavior.

I'm always amazed at women today I've encountered who still seem to think they have no control over whether they get pregnant and how many children they have. Not all of these women were Catholic either; some were Protestant. I'm also appalled that "abstinence only" seems to be the only education kids have gotten over the last decade.”

“"USA's subsidy of Israel's PUBLIC health care system"

Can you suggest some links for this? I haven't heard of this and if it's true, Lieberman should be called out as a hypocrite.

Not that any of the mainstream media will do the work necessary to research it. CNN last week trumpeted the coverage of the US soldiers accused of shooting four Iraqi citizens and then dumping their bodies in a canal. Vanity Fair did an article on that several years ago.”

“As an ex- and recovering Catholic, I would say, "Bye, bye, Roman Catholic church."

I support abortion rights only as a last resort, NOT AS A FORM OF BIRTH CONTROL. However, the Roman Catholic church is irrelevant to today's world until it accepts the right--and NEED--of people to use contraception, allows women and gays to be priests, and roots out the corruption that perpetuates emotional and sexual abuse by its clergy. It also needs to pledge that it will no longer try to use its influence on political issues in the United States.”

“No, but maybe we would fight fewer wars if they were less profitable for the war profiteers.”

“Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) also begged for a do-over: "I still hope we can start over and get to work on a bipartisan bill."

Yeah, right, Enzi, and then you''ll hold the football so we can kick it.

Who do you think we are? Charlie Brown?”

“"And then we could start over with a common-sense, step by step approach."

In case you hadn't noticed, the new Karl Rove-inspired Republican buzzword for the week is "commonsense." Palin repeated it about a dozen times during one of her book interviews.

To all Republicans: The buzzword changes Monday, so listen to Fox News for the new one--and for further instructions from the mothership.”

“Excellent idea. In fact, any company executive whose company makes a profit from the war industry should also pay a windfall tax during a war. For example, Blackwater and Halliburton execs should pay an extra 5 percent in taxes.

Not that such a tax would prevent them from lobbying for war, but it would make it less profitable.”

“"Dithering" is a good thing.

It means that you're taking the time to get your ducks in a row, such as sufficient coalition partners; workable reconstruction, financing, and exit strategies; and unbiased military and diplomatic intelligence, not the kind where the secretary of defense and vice president kick the intelligence back and say, "Get it right the next time" (meaning give me what I want, not the truth).

It means also that the president is taking the time to place the war in the context of the rest of the U.S.'s needs, not just relying on giving the generals--who are only looking at the war in a military context--anything they ask for.

Sure, we can send 40,000 more troops, then 100,000, then half a million, but should we? That's the kind of "dithering" Obama is doing.

Is the potential loss of American lives worth the end goal? Can the American economy afford this questionable expenditure? Can the United States afford to lose its slow recovery from being the biggest bully on the block by making the same mistakes that Russia and Great Britain made in Afghanistan, France and the U.S. made in Vietnam, and France made in Algiers?

More power to Obama.

The hawks who agitate to prolong this quagmire are not patriots.”

“Great Britain MAKES medical doctors retire at 65. I think we need to adopt that policy for senators, congressmen, and Supreme Court judges.

We need new blood, and younger people need to be able to move into real jobs sooner, rather than waiting for wealthy old geezers to retire.”

“McCain should just retire. He doesn't need the work. He married a beer heiress, and thanks to us, the American taxpayers, he's got a cushy pension and health care package.

Unfortunately, more of us U.S. taxpayers will have to work into our 70s to support ourselves. That means a longer wait for young Americans to step into their jobs. All ages are screwed.”