tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post4589733159273150612..comments2024-03-17T08:27:53.658-05:00Comments on Stonekettle Station: Are You Better Off? Well Are Ya, Punk?Jim Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-49961927284247570912012-09-30T14:27:11.590-05:002012-09-30T14:27:11.590-05:00Thank you so much for your blog! I'm grateful ...Thank you so much for your blog! I'm grateful to read well-reasoned, articulate political commentary, and the sense of humor is a definite plus.<br />With Yuri, I would ask that you not lump all Christians together as hypocritical bigots, any more than you would say that all Moslems are terrorists. As someone who tries to live by the teachings of Jeshua ben Joseph, not someone who follows the teaching of a particular church, I would say that ANY spirituality that makes one more open to the oneness of all life, including humanity, and more desirous of seeking the rewards of feeding the hungry and visiting those in prison, is a good thing, and that all true spirituality leads to this end. People who use Christianity to excuse their bigotry, ignorance, or pride, have no real spirituality, and are living from their egos... but that's not the fault of Christ, and it happens in all churches, temples, mosques, and Freedom from Religion society meetings alike.Marihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16094383360881176815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-43092702398016471292012-09-26T10:44:59.138-05:002012-09-26T10:44:59.138-05:00You are a funny guy! Where have you been all my l...You are a funny guy! Where have you been all my life? I gotta say, you make me and my cat proud to be Alaskan!Halinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-240180509037456372012-09-18T19:45:24.140-05:002012-09-18T19:45:24.140-05:00Yuri Hooker, you made me laugh with your offerings...Yuri Hooker, you made me laugh with your offerings of materials to read. I'm glad that those books made you happy and are allowing you to march to the end of your life in a state of bliss... once you die, you won't have any chance to complain about the non-existence of a Heaven or even an afterlife. You will be dead and the atoms that made you in life will be going merrily into the recycling process that this Universe maintains.<br />And that will be that. Meanwhile, those of us who don't spend time worrying about gods or afterlives will be working to make this life better for our fellows, something that usually pays dividends by making our lives better. That's a hard concept to master. It requires a positive world view in which any effort applied to making our lives better isn't futile, but the best strategy for the survival of our descendants. <br />Back to those funny books, I read the four of them and some others that probably you should have but haven't. Anyway, this isn't the place to educate you. Have a joyous day and wish you that the Universe would give you his most benevolent smile. <br />Remember, don't drink and drive. rommeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02627037816708826189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-45392102612628033682012-09-18T14:44:54.281-05:002012-09-18T14:44:54.281-05:00Sorry for the unintentional multiple postings. (Oo...Sorry for the unintentional multiple postings. (Oops.)<br /><br />A friend pointed out that Billy Graham is, in fact, alive and kicking. My bad. I mistook Billy for his wife, Ruth. I believe he is no longer in active ministry. To my knowledge he was never involved in partisan politics and I am quite sure that as he approaches the other side of this "valley of tears" he is feeling increasingly that "the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us...for the creation was subjected to futility...in hope that the creation itself would delivered from its bondage to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Romans 8:17-21ish (This is one of my favourite descriptions of entropy and of the redemption not only of individuals but of the entire universe in the Bible!)<br />Yuri Hookerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12148022276628197527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-7441679737506036052012-09-18T13:43:12.104-05:002012-09-18T13:43:12.104-05:00I appreciate that you take the piss out of a wide ...I appreciate that you take the piss out of a wide swath of puffed-up hypocritical religious folks (hmm, kind of like Someone Else I've read about somewhere...) At times you go a little wide in your characterizations, notably when you lump a handful of partisan racist-assholes with some others who are clearly not in that category, eg. Billy Graham, not someone with whom I am personally taken, but who served as a kind of "personal chaplain" to a string of presidents regardless of their political affiliation. Also, he's dead, and you imply that he's alive, by asking the question: is he better off now than he was four years ago? I should think that Graham would undoubtedly reply in the affirmative (although that reveals my own personal agreement with him about Life/The Afterlife, or what Paul calls: "the hope of glory", meaning a Life that is emphatically absent of earthly political/scientific wrangling (full disclosure, I'm politically hung are a little to the left, I believe that the universe is billions of years old, that humans and dinosaurs never existed together, and that there is good evidence that we share a common ancestor with primates, and of course I believe in an afterlife which is full of bunnies that fart rainbows (or, as the character Katie in the recent movie version of "Horton Hears a Who" maintains, "In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies.") <br /><br />In any case, please don't judge all Christians, even all evangelical Christians, as unthinking Republican automatons. Such a characterization, it seems to me, is an uninformed oversimplification designed more to protect one's intellect from the "taint" of belief, rather than an attempt to evaluate the claims of the Bible with any degree of honesty. Sadly, many of my brothers and sisters have made it very difficult for anyone to take Christianity seriously, but to anyone who wishes to investigate it, four books spring to mind that are written from disparate backgrounds and for a variety of purposes: <br /><br />-C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" <br /><br />-Tim Keller's "The Reason for God" <br /><br />-Eric Metaxas' excellent (and very recent) biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: a German intellectual, theologian and pacifist who publicly identified the Nazi threat in 1933 and but managed to stay alive until 1945, when he was finally (and accurately) linked with the Stauffenberg plot and, in Hitler's last executive order, was executed along with Admiral Canaris and Johann von Dohnanyi (the head of the Abwehr and one of his assistants, respectively--The Abwehr was the German version of the CIA)<br /><br />-Frances Collins' "The Language of God" (Collins is the former head of the Human Genome Project, a highly regarded scientist and both an Evangelical Christian and a believer in evolution.<br /> Yuri Hookerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12148022276628197527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-83742470459416516102012-09-18T13:42:16.823-05:002012-09-18T13:42:16.823-05:00I appreciate that you take the piss out of a wide ...I appreciate that you take the piss out of a wide swath of puffed-up hypocritical religious folks (hmm, kind of like Someone Else I've read about somewhere...) At times you go a little wide in your characterizations, notably when you lump a handful of partisan racist-assholes with some others who are clearly not in that category, eg. Billy Graham, not someone with whom I am personally taken, but who served as a kind of "personal chaplain" to a string of presidents regardless of their political affiliation. Also, he's dead, and you imply that he's alive, by asking the question: is he better off now than he was four years ago? I should think that Graham would undoubtedly reply in the affirmative (although that reveals my own personal agreement with him about Life/The Afterlife, or what Paul calls: "the hope of glory", meaning a Life that is emphatically absent of earthly political/scientific wrangling (full disclosure, I'm politically hung are a little to the left, I believe that the universe is billions of years old, that humans and dinosaurs never existed together, and that there is good evidence that we share a common ancestor with primates, and of course I believe in an afterlife which is full of bunnies that fart rainbows (or, as the character Katie in the recent movie version of "Horton Hears a Who" maintains, "In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies.") <br /><br />In any case, please don't judge all Christians, even all evangelical Christians, as unthinking Republican automatons. Such a characterization, it seems to me, is an uninformed oversimplification designed more to protect one's intellect from the "taint" of belief, rather than an attempt to evaluate the claims of the Bible with any degree of honesty. Sadly, many of my brothers and sisters have made it very difficult for anyone to take Christianity seriously, but to anyone who wishes to investigate it, four books spring to mind that are written from disparate backgrounds and for a variety of purposes: <br /><br />-C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" <br /><br />-Tim Keller's "The Reason for God" <br /><br />-Eric Metaxas' excellent (and very recent) biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: a German intellectual, theologian and pacifist who publicly identified the Nazi threat in 1933 and but managed to stay alive until 1945, when he was finally (and accurately) linked with the Stauffenberg plot and, in Hitler's last executive order, was executed along with Admiral Canaris and Johann von Dohnanyi (the head of the Abwehr and one of his assistants, respectively--The Abwehr was the German version of the CIA)<br /><br />-Frances Collins' "The Language of God" (Collins is the former head of the Human Genome Project, a highly regarded scientist and both an Evangelical Christian and a believer in evolution.<br /> Yuri Hookerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12148022276628197527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-5602461389447176502012-09-18T13:39:23.244-05:002012-09-18T13:39:23.244-05:00I appreciate that you take the piss out of a wide ...I appreciate that you take the piss out of a wide swath of puffed-up hypocritical religious folks (hmm, kind of like Someone Else I've read about somewhere...) At times you go a little wide in your characterizations, notably when you lump a handful of partisan racist-assholes with some others who are clearly not in that category, eg. Billy Graham, not someone with whom I am personally taken, but who served as a kind of "personal chaplain" to a string of presidents regardless of their political affiliation. Also, he's dead, and you imply that he's alive, by asking the question: is he better off now than he was four years ago? I should think that Graham would undoubtedly reply in the affirmative (although that reveals my own personal agreement with him about Life/The Afterlife, or what Paul calls: "the hope of glory", meaning a Life that is emphatically absent of earthly political/scientific wrangling (full disclosure, I'm politically hung are a little to the left, I believe that the universe is billions of years old, that humans and dinosaurs never existed together, and that there is good evidence that we share a common ancestor with primates, and of course I believe in an afterlife which is full of bunnies that fart rainbows (or, as the character Katie in the recent movie version of "Horton Hears a Who" maintains, "In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies.") <br /><br />In any case, please don't judge all Christians, even all evangelical Christians, as unthinking Republican automatons. Such a characterization, it seems to me, is an uninformed oversimplification designed more to protect one's intellect from the "taint" of belief, rather than an attempt to evaluate the claims of the Bible with any degree of honesty. Sadly, many of my brothers and sisters have made it very difficult for anyone to take Christianity seriously, but to anyone who wishes to investigate it, four books spring to mind that are written from disparate backgrounds and for a variety of purposes: <br /><br />-C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" <br /><br />-Tim Keller's "The Reason for God" <br /><br />-Eric Metaxas' excellent (and very recent) biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: a German intellectual, theologian and pacifist who publicly identified the Nazi threat in 1933 and but managed to stay alive until 1945, when he was finally (and accurately) linked with the Stauffenberg plot and, in Hitler's last executive order, was executed along with Admiral Canaris and Johann von Dohnanyi (the head of the Abwehr and one of his assistants, respectively--The Abwehr was the German version of the CIA)<br /><br />-Frances Collins' "The Language of God" (Collins is the former head of the Human Genome Project, a highly regarded scientist and both an Evangelical Christian and a believer in evolution.<br /> Yuri Hookerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12148022276628197527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-85425268065641163542012-09-18T08:03:12.366-05:002012-09-18T08:03:12.366-05:00Sorry, Anonymous, but are you listening to yoursel...Sorry, Anonymous, but are you listening to yourself? You have 3 complaints in the "Are *We* better off?" category, government debt, government deficit, and the country being divided. Then you give the GOP mantra that the solution will not be found in Washington DC. Politicians created the problems, so we have to elect politicians to pass laws and budgets to fix it, because legally no one else can do so. (You followed up with the obligatory "greatest country, greatest possibilities, etc." patriotic sounding jingo right after you run down the government. Why you do not see these are self-contradictory comments is beyond me. Yes, it is possible to be a patriot and call out the cowards who hide behind the flag to get their way.)<br /><br />The government is spending money it does not have, because lying politicians have promised you "homeland security", "patriot" acts, 2 overseas wars, drugs (Medicare Part D, full price drugs with no negotiation with the drug companies), and Social Security with "tax cuts because it's your money" instead of tax increases. Those same lying politicians are using divide and conquer tactics, social unrest that they foment, and lying news organizations (Fox News) to get elected. Please notice these big spenders are the GOP. They tax CUT and spend, which is far worse than the Democratic tax and spend, because at least the Democrats are being responsible and paying for the policies. <br /><br />The Congressional Research Office just put out a report showing there is no connection between tax cuts and increasing the economy. In fact, the only thing correlated with tax cuts is an increase in income inequality. As other economists have been saying for many years, these are "tax cuts for the rich". Jerry A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01835584492326180042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-17980606435654487092012-09-17T16:54:10.887-05:002012-09-17T16:54:10.887-05:00Am I better off now than I was 4 years ago? Bette...Am I better off now than I was 4 years ago? Better question might be "am I better off now than I would have been had not X happened?" My business is less, but from more factors than the ecomony, so, no, I am not better there than I was 4 years ago. If the economy had fallen off into the abyss that would have happened without President Obama's interventions, then would be way worse than 4 years ago. <br />the point that it's not just about me, but about the country and the world is well spoken. So, yes, we are heading in a better direction than we were 4 years ago. Good Old Joe Biden, "GM is Alive and OBL is dead." Are we were we'd like to be, no, but at least, we're heading there. sophienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-15556370903333473982012-09-16T09:50:03.967-05:002012-09-16T09:50:03.967-05:00Amen. My husband and I face a similar situation to...Amen. My husband and I face a similar situation to yours (minus the teenager, add more cats). But dammit, it's not just about us. My former boss said that Republicans' attitude could be summed up as "I've got mine, screw you." (How very Christian of them.) The selfishness abounds and astounds. Then they have the gall to bitch about taxes, because of course they have in no way benefited from schools, roads, public safety, clean water, clean air....aaaarrrrgggh. I don't know if my liver can manage until Election Day. And it's possible it could get worse after that. Yikes. Darciehttp://bakin-n-bacon.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-89482468467282044312012-09-15T18:18:30.976-05:002012-09-15T18:18:30.976-05:00Jim, what were you thinking? You didn't digre...Jim, what were you thinking? You didn't digress even once!<br /><br />But seriously, this! Very much this! Thank you.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00273212686600552771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-29053076312142005312012-09-15T18:11:11.602-05:002012-09-15T18:11:11.602-05:00(Stands up and applauds after reading this.)
(Stands up and applauds after reading this.)<br /><br />Marc McKenziehttp://redshoulder.deviantart.com/gallery/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-22108875367832115142012-09-15T13:59:37.990-05:002012-09-15T13:59:37.990-05:00You know, I admire that you were able to accomplis...You know, I admire that you were able to accomplish what you have without any help from anybody. I, myself, built a business that has clients, however I did need a little help from someone. Yes, I moved to a state and city knowing no one so that made it that much more difficult. I got off my ass and sent out letters and got one lead out of 30 that got me started. It was help from someone else and I bless that person every day. You misunderstand Jim's message and I won't try and explain it further.aggirljhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04042452498738771756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-7997446011095598472012-09-15T11:18:39.288-05:002012-09-15T11:18:39.288-05:00If I was asked "Am I better off?", I wou...If I was asked "Am I better off?", I would have to say "kinda". Financially, I'm better off because I (yes, I, not someone else), when faced with a pay cut because sales at the company I work for were in the crapper, I decided to start my own business. Nobody on the left, the right, the center, or from Mars helped me design it, develop it, build it, and run it in a profitable way. If they had, I'd have appreciated knowing that before working 9 hours every day at my normal job, then another 9 every night and 16 each weekend day building this business. Maybe I could have actually seen my family instead of trying to provide for them.<br /><br />*I* am as healthy, not really more or less than before. A by-product of The Health Care Reform Act now requires me to get a physical every year to maintain my insurance program at it's current rate, which is pretty high, but not unbearable. I guess that is good, if my Dr. would actually figure out how to work with the system instead of screwing up billing and charging me for a bunch of "required" tests. I assume that will get better though as the system gets older and the wrinkles ironed out.<br /><br />Are *We* better off? I don't particularly think so. Our debt is 15,000,0000,000,000 and our deficit is 9,000,000,000. That is not sustainable, even with "new" math. The rest of the world hates us, arguably more now than ever before. The country is divided and it seems like at the brink of civil war. Neither side (and yes, that DOES include you) is able or willing to have an actual discussion without it turning into "You are a RACIST!" and "Yeah, well you are a MARXIST".<br /><br />So what's the answer? I haven't a clue. But I know that it won't be found in Washington D.C. People need to stop looking for the government to fix things and provide everything for them. Even with the problems we have, we still live in the greatest country on Earth, with the greatest possibilities for success. You just need to get off your ass and go after it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-38959955552245006812012-09-15T10:32:56.280-05:002012-09-15T10:32:56.280-05:00Am I better off than I was four years ago? Let...Am I better off than I was four years ago? Let's see...<br />-I still cannot marry the person I love, and want to spend the rest of my life with.<br />-Because of that, my partner is stuck with employer provided health insurance with a huge deductible. So huge, in fact, that we end up paying for all of her medical expenses out of pocket almost every year. She has Geo Metro health insurance. <br />-I, on the other hand, have Bentley Continental health insurance provided by my employer. I used to have Maybach health insurance, but, you know...budget cuts and all. Since my partner isn't my SPOUSE, and my employer doesn't offer domestic partner benefits, she can't be on my health insurance.<br />-I'm stuck in a job I hate, because I haven't been able to find another one that would provide health insurance that's even close to what I have now.<br /><br />Is the country better off? Hmmm...<br />-Osama bin laden is dead. <br />-DADT has been repealed.<br />-The Iraq conflict is pretty much done.<br />-The war in Afghanistan is winding down. Maybe.<br />-The economy is still struggling, but there are glimmers of hope.<br />-Much of the country is experiencing weather extremes that appear to be caused by global warming.<br />-Multimillion dollar corporations make six or seven figure donations to SuperPACS run by right wingnuts hell-bent on turning our republic into a plutocracy, and they are allowed to remain anonymous. On the other hand, the poor Catholic priest who went out on a limb and made a $1000 "anonymous" donation to the organization opposing the Minnesota marriage amendment gets outed, and will likely be fired.<br />-Voter restrictions are passing in more and more states. <br />-As a result of the previous two items, the U.N.'s Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security, headed by Kofi Annan, has singled out the U.S. for criticism, saying that the rise of SuperPACs and voter restrictions is undermining the U.S. system of government, as well as our international credibility as a defender of democracy and fair elections.<br />-Women in many states do not have access to birth control or abortion. In fact, in a few states, women are required to submit to an unnecessary, invasive medical procedure in order to have an abortion.<br /><br />Is the world better off? <br />-Global warming continues to affect the planet (see above), and yet many people living in the country that is the biggest contributor to same insist that any proof that humans are one of the primary causes is "junk science."<br />-Wingnuts in the U.S. do stupid things, like posting videos to YouTube that offer egregious offense to one of the world's major religions, because they are determined to provoke conflict with the Arab world. Which leads to a terrorist act against U.S. citizens. Which leads the U.S. wingnuts, including the leading wingnut presidential nominee, to react with outrage. Yes, outrage. Exactly the kind of reaction that's will help bring a lasting peace in the Arab world, don't you think? <br /><br />The overall answer leans toward no. That doesn't mean I'm not required to examine my thinking, and encourage others to do the same. Kudos to you for challenging readers to do so. <br /><br />North Shore Dwellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-3327969266867381982012-09-15T06:51:58.890-05:002012-09-15T06:51:58.890-05:00Very well said. I've been reading your posts ...Very well said. I've been reading your posts and it's amazing how well you articulate what I've been thinking for the last several years. Thank you.Lucas Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-7697285881033931742012-09-15T04:15:27.016-05:002012-09-15T04:15:27.016-05:00Dayum. Seriously, DAYUM!
When I travel back up no...Dayum. Seriously, DAYUM!<br /><br />When I travel back up north I'm definitely buying you a beer mate. Don't worry, it won't be Fosters!Alaskan Dave Down Underhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13726448407614912997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-26787208757551823792012-09-15T03:11:29.984-05:002012-09-15T03:11:29.984-05:00Very well said. We're going through much the s...Very well said. We're going through much the same thing ourselves.South Jersey Docnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-13277586064846301962012-09-15T00:40:12.382-05:002012-09-15T00:40:12.382-05:00Thank you Jim. Yes, I'm an American, what more...Thank you Jim. Yes, I'm an American, what more can I ask for? Especially with Americans like you. Well said.John Kahlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09563449180130121965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-53965630086447293052012-09-14T23:38:14.547-05:002012-09-14T23:38:14.547-05:00Aaagh! Oh, all right, croak!
Climate change not ...Aaagh! Oh, all right, croak!<br /><br />Climate change not even engaged. US civilian police forces militarizing. Israel creeping up on a war with Iran and trying to drag the USA along. ("Nice Presidency you have there. Be a shame if anything happened to it.") The covert operations that lead up to assassination of Osama bin Laden may <a href="http://adviceunasked.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-worst-thing-obama-administration.html" rel="nofollow">lead to the survival of polio in Pakistan</a>. (Yes, really. Follow the the link.) A major US political party turning racist, sexist, anti-Islamic. The banksters still running riot. <br /><br />No, the world is not better off than it was four years ago. Some things--you listed some of them--are getting better. But the world? Where are we going and what are we doing in this handbasket?<br /><br />Croak!Raven Onthillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06634556869209594389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-57054416049077385372012-09-14T23:35:19.293-05:002012-09-14T23:35:19.293-05:00Jim,
I had asked to paste your post to my home p...Jim, <br /><br />I had asked to paste your post to my home page however my facebook connection wouldn't allow it. So I just linked and hope they might accidently click it. On facebook I am SheilaRivera. I just wanted to say thanks anyway I know you put a lot of thought, time and effort into your blog and I really appreciate you sharing with the rest of us. It really does brighten my day and make me feel so not alone.sundaysuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01320570627763923498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-78083030482502214372012-09-14T23:09:16.469-05:002012-09-14T23:09:16.469-05:00Hi Jim,
Bravo Zulu on an exceptionally fine piece...Hi Jim,<br /><br />Bravo Zulu on an exceptionally fine piece of writing. This is precisely spot on the problem I have felt about "that question" since the first time I heard it several years back. Whether the individual is better off is nowhere near as important is whether the community as a whole is better off....still important, mind, especially to the Individual, just not as important. I hear echoes of Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" as I read what you have written and find myself nodding in agreement that it is the well being of our society as a whole that should be guiding our actions.<br /><br />Also, I was surprised to still find a typo so late as I am coming to the comments. In what I think is paragraph 22 (not counting the opening quote from JFK as a paragraph), the one beginning "It amuses me..." you have mistakenly identified the United States as a county rather than a country. Darned spellcheck never works for me either on such...nothing like the eye of someone else to help catch them and I am glad to be of service.<br /><br />Thanks, Jim. You say what needs saying and you say it exceedingly well, shipmate!<br /><br />Fair winds and following seas to us all,<br /><br />Old Navy Comm O<br /><br />PS Is there a way for me to use my sign off as a login instead of always using the anonymous and then signing? If there is a trick to it, I haven't yet figured it out. Anyang advice appreciated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-90446035035592357542012-09-14T21:06:07.338-05:002012-09-14T21:06:07.338-05:00I agree with a previous comment that this may be y...I agree with a previous comment that this may be your best ever! So many excellent truths. And as Jack would tell Mitt, " You can't handle the truth"BlueMuleBBQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15715169145826770134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-55711847074294457622012-09-14T19:08:35.219-05:002012-09-14T19:08:35.219-05:00"Barack Obama's 'plan' for this c..."Barack Obama's 'plan' for this country has failed...bullshit. Barack Obama's plans remain untried."<br />Absolutely. I keep hearing, from who I thought were sensible people on the left, saying things like: I guess I will hold my nose and vote for Obama.<br />I don't need to hold my nose. <br />It is amazing that he was able to do anything at all with the mega tonnage of ballast tied to him in the form of obstruction at every turn. It doesn't take an "O-bot" or an ultra partisan to see where the problem lies with this country:<br />The R.E.P.U.B.L.I.C.A.N. Party...or whatever the hell it has morphed in to....<br />Anyone who watched the manufactured "debt ceiling" crisis, and didn't finally realize that they were willing to burn this country to the ground, to get the black man out of the white house, just doesn't get it...If they would ruin us, for power over us, they are never to be trusted again.blackdaughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05554233110211227532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-10499997262293174382012-09-14T18:08:03.426-05:002012-09-14T18:08:03.426-05:00Jim, I was somewhat surprised to see you mention J...Jim, I was somewhat surprised to see you mention John Cusack in the same breath as Jon Voight, et al, as I was unaware of Cusack's views re Obama, and more specifically that he had gone Glenn Beck.<br /><br />A google search "John Cusack Obama" turned up this page: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11264-john-cusack-and-jonathan-turley-on-obamas-constitution<br /><br />I gotta say Jim, that what I read is NOT the same anti-Obama diatribe one might hear from a Limbaugh aficionado. Further, Cusack expresses concerns MANY people on the left have about Obama. Specifically the expanded use of extra-judicial assassination by drone.<br /><br />Now I am fully cognizant of the differences between the Republicans and Democrats at this time in history, and I would tell anyone who intends to vote, to vote Obama, but I believe being honest in our criticism about "our guy" is as important, if not more so than our criticism of their guy.jrevelatornoreply@blogger.com