flanardiente

More attention than he deserves, but a great illustration of the "trickle-down theory," which he supported. posted 07/07/2008 at 07:16:38

Let's please not be so quick in these days of ideology to tinker with the Constitution. I'd be happy if we just honored the one we've got. posted 07/04/2008 at 23:33:29

Michale is a troll. That's been obvious for months. He probably gets paid minimum wage in whatever right-to-work state he lives in ($5.15? $6.75?). His verbal smirks seem to define his approach to political discourse, and to cover up his lies and distortions. In his narrow little universe he probably thinks of himself as the Second Coming of John Wayne, America's great hero of World War 2, except for everybody who actually served and wore the uniform. If we ignore him, he will, like all spoiled brats, eventually lose interest and go away. posted 07/05/2008 at 08:08:10

I'm starting to wonder about AzRealProgressive, but I think I can clear up one thing. Organized prayer in public schools was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 1963. It is still and always has been legal to pray in school. It's just not legal for the school administration to require it from the students. As far as "faith-based initiatives" go, I'm extemely skeptical of giving tax-exempt churches taxpayer's money to do ANYTHING. According to the Constitution--I apologize for bringing up this quaint outdated document--the government is charged with "promoting the general welfare." Not the church, which is allowed to promote as much general welfare as it wants or can. I tend to resent the fact that they want to use my money to do it.

As far as Obama goes, I'd like to remind everybody of a truth so simple and so transparent that, apparently, a lot of people have trouble seeing it. Obama is RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. This means he may not have the time to rub your progressive backs while cooing in your ears about your favorite causes. And even if he turns out to be an evil triangulator, would you rather see that tired old man who's sacrificed his dignity and principles get to sit in the Oval Office and advance the agenda of the corporate Borg? Get real. Politics is for grown-ups. posted 07/05/2008 at 07:31:18

Nipples on men?! posted 06/30/2008 at 23:02:55

Let's say Iran gets a bomb. Make it five bombs. Hell, make it a dozen bombs. You really think they're going to use these bombs against a nation that has 10 to 20 thousand nuclear warheads AND delivery systems? You really think they're going to use them against Israel, which has 100 to 200 bombs? And even if Ahmedinajad wanted to, do you really think the ayatollahs would let him? I know it makes you feel tough and worldly to imagine the "liberals" as fearful little "mice," but you're missing the point. We're not afraid of Iran, we're afraid of know-nothings like you, who get all your information from propaganda and lack the imagination or wit to think for yourself. This nation deserves better. posted 06/30/2008 at 01:17:29

One man steals a loaf of bread and some lunchmeat. Another man steals a lot of money from a bank. The bank robber usually does harder time than the shoplifter. The ability to discern the difference between these two similar but radically different acts is the basis of morality. Mr jdsooo apparently lacks this ability. Or maybe he's a sophomore studying philosophy at some underfunded community college and has suddenly had a flash that "killing a guy in a war's no different from, you know, just murdering a man in his own house! I mean, it's same thing, right? Wow!" I hope he's the latter, because he might even grow up someday. In the meantime, he shouldn't interrupt when the grown ups are talking. posted 06/28/2008 at 00:23:38

I'm liberal enough to have voted for Benjamin Spock once, and Scalia's "brilliance" is one of the great myths of our time, but I have to say I agree with the ruling. Prohibitions do not work. If they did, marijuana would be as hard to find as yellowcake. Plus, Americans have historically loved their guns and they're not about to give them up. As far as being our defense against a tyrannical government, though, look how well that worked out at Wounded Knee, Ruby Ridge, Waco. As far as the gun nuts of the NRA go, they remind me of the anti-abortion crowd that screams for fetal rights but loses all interest once the child is born. How do we keep guns out of the hands of criminals and crazies? It would be nice to hear from some responsible gun-owners on this. posted 06/26/2008 at 22:46:27

It must give these people a true sense of impending doom to realize that everyone on Earth without exception is NAKED beneath their clothes. posted 06/23/2008 at 22:50:59

Who died in Vietnam in George W's place? Who took Cheney's place on the front lines? Did little Billy Kristol's daddy have contempt for those in uniform? Or just a sense of entitlement? posted 06/23/2008 at 22:46:38

Interesting to read the remarks posted here and contrast them with the literature, interviews and art in the old '60s-'70s Playboy mags. Hefner got stuck in that lame Brat Pack "swinger" mode a long time ago and he contributed much to that weird postwar twist that saw the glorification of the airheaded blonde who looked like a teenage boy with oversized mammaries, but he also gave print and time and more importantly, money, to writers, musicians, artists and progressive causes. I started out as a teenager looking at the naked girls but there's some truth in the old cliche, "I only read the articles," especially when I got older and the girls by then all looked alike. I suspect that if I met him, I'd probably find Hef shallow and a little two-dimensional. But Playboy, at least for a couple of decades, was the most prominent literary magazine in America and a potent force for good that helped to change the mores of the time for the better. Yes, it was also slick and superficial, and yes, he exploited women. And yes, he was also more grown up than about nine-tenths of the posts I've read here tonight. It felt like I was in a high school restroom, reading felt-tip comments scrawled on the wall. posted 06/23/2008 at 06:02:20

I'm reminded of the last day of Joe McCarthy's relevance, broadcast live on TV, when he was famously rebuked by Joseph Welch, "Have you no sense of decency left, Senator?" Nothing much happened. The hearing went on. Life went on. But McCarthy, for a brief moment, sat naked before everyone in the room and the millions watching on TV (I was one; I ditched high school to see the hearings), and all the fear he inspired evaporated and all that was left was an ugly not-very-bright man who drank himself to death three years later. So it should be with all of these cowardly boastful not-very-bright scavengers that trot at the feet of their masters and am I the only one who's getting really tired of listening to their yipping?

Good job, Frank, good as a horsewhip. posted 06/19/2008 at 02:31:21

Opposition to gay marriage is almost entirely religious. Christian opposition to homosexuality is almost entirely based on a list of prohibitions and "abominations" listed in Leviticus, which also include the "abomination" of eating shellfish--clam chowder anyone?--and a screed by good old St Paul, the original televangelist, in Acts, whose own sexuality, not to mention mental stability, is problematical at best. (I'd include links, but--it's in the Bible, anyone who's really interested can find it.) Those who strenuously oppose gay marriage on non-religious grounds invariably turn out to be the kind of hairpins whose interests in gay sexual practices would have a roomful of psychologists nodding like they were falling asleep. The whole "gay agenda" thing is as moronic as the "gateway" drug thing is for marijuana. Benjamin Franklin--who as we all know sure as hell wasn't gay--thought that the motto of the new Republic he helped birth should be "Mind Your Business."

Having said that, congratulations to George and Brad and everybody else. I'm not gay and I've never been married, but I raised and supported a whole VW microbus full of kids and I'm still best friends with their mothers. posted 06/19/2008 at 02:59:53

Americans have long cherished their right to be ignorant. We're not the only people in the world who do this, of course. Being the richest and most powerful country in the world has tended to shelter us from the consequences of our ignorance. Until now. posted 06/17/2008 at 00:46:17

"If you allow the troops to do their jobs, they can turn things around in Iraq..."

And if we'd allowed the troops to do their jobs in Vietnam, we would have won the war, and today Viet Nam would be a great trading partner!

And if the Confederacy had allowed its troops to do their job, they would have won the Civil War! posted 06/17/2008 at 01:37:00

The only Repubican on that list with any credibility is Colin Powell. But I doubt he'd go for it. posted 06/16/2008 at 00:30:11

Personally, I think Mayhill Fowler is a flyweight, more interested in herself than anything else, but when you look at how the corporate media has abandoned all those ethics it so vigorously defends when someone like Mayhill scoops them, the whole thing takes on a different flavor. Briefly put: if we get only platitudes from the punditocracy, then it's a relief to hear a politician talk like a real person. As for context, that's what bloggers are for--they keep each other honest. posted 06/14/2008 at 02:22:56

I'm always amazed that people actually buy into this tough talk by a gang of elitist cowards, most of whom were either born rich or spent their entire adult life sucking on the government tit, and just about all of whom declined to fight in Vietnam, who couldn't or wouldn't protect us from 9/11, couldn't or wouldn't capture Osama, and five years after using the might of the American military to invade and con posted 06/13/2008 at 01:01:17

Muslim Islamic Fanatical machine? Muslim overlords? Drank too much Kool-Aid, didn't you? Have you considered that if one-tenth of what you're afraid of is true, that Mr Bush couldn't have helped the Muslim Islamic Fanatical machine better (economy in ruins, military broken, Constitution shredded) if he'd been one of them! And considering how he likes so much to hold hands with his Saudi masters, maybe he is. posted 06/11/2008 at 22:48:01

I know, some of your best friends are gay, right? posted 06/11/2008 at 04:48:36

The purpose of a terrorist attack is to spread terror. 9/11 did just that. Bush and his cronies fell right into Osama's plan and have spent the last seven years doing what he, Osama, could not--destroying our civil rights, depressing the economy and breaking the back of our military. Heck of a job, W! posted 06/07/2008 at 22:15:47

The sad truth is that the American people are NOT stupid. It's much worse than that. They're not INTERESTED. Americans have always cherished their right to be ignorant, and it's revealing that this right, above all others, has been left intact and untouched by the gauleiters of the Bush machine. It looks like stupid, but it's really the impatience of the working-class guy who spends his days tiptoeing through the usual minefield of office politics and the threat of unemployment and rising prices and all he wants to do now is watch one team beat another team on the hardwood gym floor, and his war cry is DON'T BOTHER ME. What makes it sad, rather than stupid, is that in the end, he's never going to know what hit him, and his family, or why. It's all the fault of the Jews/ liberals/ illegal immigrants/ gays/ Democrats. He's not stupid. He probably couldn't do his job if he was. He uses his recliner and his TV to relax his body and his mind, and he uses his ignorance as a couch for his responsibility to know what's going on. If he actually thought about it--he might not even agree with me!--but I'd feel a whole hell of a lot better. posted 06/08/2008 at 07:30:02

Why would Obama, who legitimately won the right to run for President, have to justify anything he's ever said and done to this sleazy corrupt indicted thief? And who cares?

You ever notice how these cowardly money-grubbing wimps always glorify themselves with super macho handles? How often did he look in the mirror and whisper, silently, to himself, "the Hammer!" You can keep the name, Tom. You just have to change the front vowel. And by the way, shouldn't you be in jail? posted 06/08/2008 at 07:48:34

Bobby was ruthless and opportunistic. He was also ON OUR SIDE. I honored Gene McCarthy for his courage in opposing that filthy little war, but Bobby placed it in a larger context, which included not only opposition to the war but grass-roots action on institutionalized poverty and racism. And unlike McCarthy--who, again, I respected--he was not aloof. He waded into the crowds and drew energy from them. And, like Obama, he didn't talk so much about he was going to do but what WE were going to do. posted 06/05/2008 at 22:46:32

On top of that, MLK was an adulterer, as was FDR, Dwight Eisenhower was a racist, Nixon hated Jews, LBJ was a bully, Reagan was dumb as a fence post, John McCain calls his wife names in public and Barack Obama belonged to a church where the pastor said a couple of dumb things. posted 06/06/2008 at 02:17:37

This urweatherguy is going to be sitting around in the seventh year of Obama's Presidency, griping: We still haven't found out who he is, what he stands for! posted 06/06/2008 at 02:42:02