PaxMundis

This about "brokeback"or "sham" marriages ignores the fact that there are millions out there - like Ms. Nixon - who are *bisexual*, not gay or lesbian. posted 05/13/2008 at 13:32:11

Oh, and Reagan NEVER had a Republican majority. posted 05/12/2008 at 08:02:05

Nice try. NAFTA came into effect in early 1994, months before Newt took control of congress. I can still remember Gore "debating" Ross Perot on Larry King about it, and Gore belittling Perot's warnings about a "giant sucking sound". posted 05/12/2008 at 07:33:28

Mmmaybe. We'll never know, of course. And I still think that with Lieberman as veep (who, btw, in this scenario would be the presumptive nominee for the Dems in 2008) we still had a chance of going into Iraq. posted 05/12/2008 at 07:30:05

Sorry, not buying it. Gore is very much a politician. It was Gore the politician who tried to regulate the record industry in 1985, who cheerleaded for NAFTA, who supported the effort to keep Elian Gonzalez from his father, who chose a right-wing fear monger as his running mate, and who despite winning the popular vote could not even win his home state.

Besides, however bad Bush has been for the environment, it's plain bad science to suggest that we could turn it all around in 8 years, with or without Kyoto. Even Gore would never say that. And, of course, 9/11 would have happened regardless of who was president. posted 05/11/2008 at 22:25:03

With Lieberman as Veep? I wouldn't be so sure. posted 05/11/2008 at 22:16:18

Nice bit of science fiction there.
Yes, Bush has been disastrous, but spare me the "Al Gore would have saved the world" nonsense. posted 05/11/2008 at 20:43:37

It would have been better not to mention Big Russ at all... it was an obvious attempt to pander to Russert, whom everybody knows is fond of his father... just before that McAuliffe mentioned Russert's beloved Buffalo Bills... in other words, he was sucking up to Russert and made a total ass of himself. posted 05/12/2008 at 08:31:44

Sorry, but SNL's portrayal of Obama - by an actor in BLACKFACE - is horrible, regardless of youre political views. posted 05/12/2008 at 08:52:27

Give me a f*cking break. In the previous sketches, they've all but given Hillary garlands of flowers. In the parody of the infamous 3 AM commercial, the implicit message was that Obama is 1) naive 2)ready to appease our enemies 3) prone to stress and 4) kind of dumb. What it implied about Clinton, conversely, was 1) she looks funny wearing nightcream and curlers. Not exactly unbiased. posted 05/11/2008 at 11:48:35

It's in SNL's best interests that Clinton is the nominee, because they want to keep Poehler and this would give her a lot of airtime, plus it would remove the accusations of racism over having a non-black actor playing Obama. Still, it's good that they are finally giving Clinton the treatment. Took them long enough. posted 05/11/2008 at 11:43:57

Hey, Willie is the Greatest Living Texan. posted 05/11/2008 at 11:10:18

You could have mentioned the fact that Bernadette Dohrn was, of course, pardoned by.... BIll Clinton. posted 05/11/2008 at 10:44:29

Robodweeb - MTP is on an hour later where I am so I just saw that - GOOD LORD CLINTON HAS SURROUNDED HERSELF WITH IDIOTS. posted 05/11/2008 at 10:43:36

My God, if Obama picks Jim Webb I will set off fricking fireworks. posted 05/11/2008 at 10:18:05

For Nyland8: Terry McAuliffe is one of the more prominent (and slimiest) Clintonistas. He claims that Obama took his name off of the Michigan primary "to appease Iowa", which is utterly untrue. Obama took his name off because the DNC asked all the candidates too.

My God, I hate thtese people. If Hillary steals this somehow, I simply will not vote or write in WIllie Nelson. posted 05/11/2008 at 10:14:59

Seriously, how is this renouncing her? Edwards, Kucinich, and even Richardson could still be running, foolishly spending their contributor's money on a quixotic effort; to suggest we are "renouncing" them is idiotic. This sounds very much like you're saying "if we don't play by my rules, I'm taking my ball and going home," except it ain't your ball. posted 05/10/2008 at 09:16:50

Then, frankly, you're no better than the people Democrats blame for costing them 2000, namely Nader voters like me. I voted for Nader not because my candidate lost, but because Gore didn't represent what I wanted in a candidate. I've gotten a lot of grief for this, and I don't know 100% whether I'd do it again. But if you make Obama lose just out of spite, you're just plain nuts. posted 05/10/2008 at 09:09:40

Those millions of Democrats in Michigan should have been at least given the chance to vote for Obama. They weren't, and therefore it wasn't a fair election. Simple as that. posted 05/09/2008 at 09:05:40

"John Eskow would probably think the US should have negotiated with Hitler's Germany."

Ahmadinejad is not Hitler. For one thing, he lacks the absolute power that Hitler possessed. For another, he has not made any serious attempts at invading any of his neighbours. Once more, he may be a maniac but he's no fool: he knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, and any attempt at attacking them would be suicide.

"Hillary said that an Iranian nuclear attack on one of our strongest allies would be treated as a nuclear attack on the US itself."

Which is extremely problematic, actually. Israel can retaliate on its own.

"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad specifically said that Israel should be "wiped of the face of the earth?""

No, he did not. For one thing, he does not speak English. This may seem pedantic, but many people have said that what he said would be closer translated as that the current Israeli government should be "erased from history." Nasty, but not the threat that it was made out to be.

"Currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds this position. His view on Israel? Khamenei famously remarked that "this cancerous tumor of a state [Israel] should be removed from the region." "

He also said that nuclear weapons were "unislamic."

What remains is that a presidential candidate has said that she would like to destroy a sovereign nation because of the actions of its leader. That is inexcusable. posted 04/27/2008 at 11:06:46

Um, reread what Obama said. He said *either* would be better than McCain, and any of them would be better than Bush. Hillary, otoh, said essentially that McCain would be better than Obama. So, no, it is not a double standard on the part of Obama supporters. posted 04/21/2008 at 19:56:11

Mohammad Fayed is in an impossible situation: he cannot admit that it was his own negligence (hiring an alocholic as his chauffeur) that killed his son and his son's girlfriend. In order to avoid accepting this, he has concocted a conspiracy fantasy. It is incredibly sad, and if he had any sense he'd let it go. posted 04/07/2008 at 19:59:06

She was going to be the star of "The Girlie Show" but she was replaced by Jane Krackowski. I don't know if there's any bad blood between her and Tina for the replacement, but I wouldn't be surprised. posted 04/07/2008 at 20:06:26

People try to narrow Heston's politics down, but he was a strong and sincere follower of Dr. King. Yes, he was wrong about guns, but that doesn't mean we should throw out all his politics. posted 04/06/2008 at 19:53:52

I've heard the quote "well-behaved women rarely make history" several times in regards to Hillary, and I have to say that in all the "right" ways, Hillary is in fact the epitome of a "well-behaved" woman. She bowed to the HMOs on health care, she said nothing when her husband fooled around, and of course she VOTED FOR THE IRAQ WAR. posted 03/30/2008 at 13:03:06

You must be thinking of some other cartoons. One of the ones that I recall featured a drawing of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. Some of the others, if they were aimed at Jews, would have been considered hate speech.

"On top of that this is a 'culture' that practises genital mutilation, honour killing, and suicide bombing"

Genital mutilation (I'm guessing male circumsion is just fine with you, btw) is not a Muslim practise, it is a tribal one. Suicide bombing has also been practised by totally areligious groups like the Tamil Tigers. In previous centuries, Jews, Muslims and Christians coexisted peacefully in Muslim Spain. There is nothing inherently violent in Islam itself. In any case, how do you encourage moderates - insult an entire religion, or accomodate the more tolerant members? posted 03/28/2008 at 20:05:50

I'm not a Muslim, but I found the reprinting of the cartoons to be vulgar and hateful, not brave. The Danish papers knew exactly what they were doing, and there's a very thin line between "standing up to religion" and good old fashioned immigrant-bashing. posted 03/27/2008 at 19:16:55

Um, what empirical evidence do you need? It's pretty well-known that Americans in general do not like paying high taxes, whereas Scandinavian countries are much more comfortable with it. Personally, I'm in favour of socialism, but see how far that gets you in U.S. politics. posted 03/27/2008 at 19:14:51

There's a major problem with Harris' exultation of the Scandinavian countries - there, the citizens are taxed much more highly than any American would ever vote for. Dorothy Day, who devoted her life to helping the poor in the name of Christ, would agree that religious charities should be put out of business, because the government should be doing their job. However, Americans would never go for this. Harris mistakenly conflates Scandinavia's socialism with their atheism. It is just as likely that a more atheist America would let the poor fend for themselves as become a socialist utopia. Harris' argument is purely an act of faith, sorry to say. posted 03/25/2008 at 11:56:27

I would have no problem with stronger tax laws for religious organizations, but a blanket taxation would be disastrous, considering that in many cases religious organizations are the only charities that deal with extreme poverty and other problems. posted 03/25/2008 at 11:44:37

Such a scheme (a "penalty" for "religious code words") would be so antithetical to the First Amendment (you know, the one that gives us that "separation clause) that it would essentially make it meaningless.

They tried something similar in France. Did not exactly turn out that well. posted 03/23/2008 at 21:04:37