Stuart

Nice analogy, but to extend it a bit:

What if there were other trees standing nearby? What if a slight reduction of fire made the difference between a charred standing hulk or the complete collapse of the trunk? (I spent more than a little time back in 2001 wondering how close either of World Trade Center towers came to surviving, had the fire burned out more quickly or the structure endured the heat for a while longer.)

I think the war was ill advised, and I did not expect the surge to work. It apprears to be working out as a short term solution.

The surge did do was facilitate the effective partition of Iraq into three ethnic regions without enormous violence (think India/Pakistan 1948). I still expect those regions to pull apart into three separate states, of which the most oil-rich will be a close ally of Iran.

I understand the media thinking they have Obama trapped in an awkward gotcha, and it's their nature to pursue that. The surge did work to reduce violence. It's possible the slight reduction of flames on the tree would have a larger positive outcome.

But as Frenbar points out, where is your precious water? posted 07/24/2008 at 19:27:00

Silly rabbit, courts are for kids.

Let our children learn about the three branches of government and balance of power in civics class. As for us grown-ups, we now have to trust our our freedom loving President or the Harvard Law graduate who would replace him. posted 07/09/2008 at 17:28:38

The political corruption in Louisiana had little to do with the Charity system. The system served as a wonderful incubator for doctors--some of the readers here may have been treated by a Tulane or LSU doctor with Charity experience in their past.

One such doctor told me that sad but true reality was that Charity could handle gunshot wounds better than any facility within a thousand miles.

The fact remains that the Federal governement doused Charity, the VA, Baptist, Mercy, and several other hospitals with their faulty floodwall design. Listen to them today, up in Missouri: "these are not 'failures'" and "the levees weren't designed to handle this." If not "this", what?

The Federal Government, via the Corps of Engineers. broke New Orleans. It is only right to hold them responsible for putting it back together. Those who don't believe that are best advised stay clear of any bridge, tunnel, dam, or other civil work managed by the Corps, because if the Corps isn't responsible for their work, who is? posted 06/27/2008 at 13:48:16

Carlin definitely ranks in the first order, with Lenny Bruce and and Mort Sahl.

When the polite humor of Vaughn Meador and Alan Sherman on my parent's console stereo gave way to the George's seven words, anything seemed possible. Can he really say that? He just did! I suspect that legions of those who were teens in the 70's had similar experiences.

He may not have invented that kind of humor, but George Carlin gave us the first taste of the kind of irreverence that would become the primary comedy foodstuffs for many us. Would "This Is Spinal Tap" been as funny, or even possible, if not for "Occupation: Foole" or "Class Clown?"

Remember that George Carlin was the very first host of Saturday Night Live, even if he only did it once.

Only later did I (and I suspect legions of other 70's teenagers) discover Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl. As great as they were, it is George Carlin's voice that comes to mind every time Jon Stewart gets bleeped. posted 06/23/2008 at 13:55:59

Is one question enough? "What's your view of executive power?" leaves more wiggle room than a hotdog in a hallway (pardon the inside joke from this new parent).

The prospects should all submit to an old-fashioned print-world interview: What's the VP's role in policymaking? How about that pesky fact that the VP is also a member of Congress? Is it acceptable for the VP to set up parallel policy and legal apparatuses? We all saw how well Mr. Cheney's secret conclave of oilmen worked out in the end. Would you promise not to convene such a body if you were Vice-President?

A simple "What's your view" query would work only if the questioner were allowed follow-up upon follow-up. posted 06/10/2008 at 11:23:32

Ha! Thanks for the clarification, and hail to the chief.

Baseball size. posted 03/30/2008 at 23:53:43

If Congress could establish independent investigations for each of the two Shuttle catastrophes, why hasn't this been done for the levee failures?

For the Shuttles, an independent investigation cleared away the fog of denial and finger pointing. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board's final report refuted such official nonsense as NASA Administrator Sean O'Keffe's comparison of the errant foam chunk to "a Styrofoam cooler blowing off of a pickup truck ahead of you on a highway.'' At the Challenger hearings, Physicist Richard Feynman swept aside inconclusive, mealy -mouthed testimony with the simple act of dunking an O-ring segment in icewater and snapping it in half.

The Shuttle disasters claimed fourteen lives. The levee failures killed over one thousand people.

Would Americans have accepted the final analysis of the Shuttle losses from NASA internal reports or from a study paid for by the agency, and conducted by friends of the agency? That is exactly what the Corps of Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers hope will happen.

Congress knew better than to trust NASA to investigate its own failings. The Corps of Engineers is no different, and the precedent speaks clearly: impanel an independent commission (hopefully with at least one member to carry forward Richard Feynman's spirit) and keep this from ever happening again. posted 03/30/2008 at 22:50:49