Comments Posted By Jim
Displaying 81 To 90 Of 116 Comments
THOMPSON'S UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Just what I have come to expect at rightwingnuthouse and even the comments. Well thought out positions and even better thought out ideas. Thompson is the man for this season. We here in Iowa have got to show the rest of the country just what matters. Do we want Republican to mean Conservative or just come close? I plan to caucus this year for the first time. (I've been out of state for 30 years)I will do what I can to keep him moving.
Comment Posted By Jim On 31.12.2007 @ 15:33
NOW'S THE TIME TO COME OUT FOR FRED
Here in Iowa things are not all Huckabee. Thompson has more ground support than I myself realized. Illegal Immigration is a very hot topic around here. Huckabee can't pretend to be strong on that. I keep running into more and more people that have Fred! on their mind. Will see just how much success his bus trip will have. Jan 3rd is coming up fast.
Comment Posted By Jim On 20.12.2007 @ 16:58
1. I think the tapes were likely destroyed in an effort to avoid the interrogators identities becoming known. I mean, honestly, do we what these persons identities to become known? Then again, I will not say for sure that criminal misconduct has not occurred because I do not know all the facts.
Comment Posted By Jim On 7.12.2007 @ 18:54
2. To say that water-boarding is torture is not objective in and of itself. One can argue that is, but it is not clearly so. I personal feel that it is not, although other differs. There is much debate.
3. To say the United States should not have engaged in water-boarding even in the extremely limited (4 in total) cases we have seems incredible naivety. This essentially argues we should be willing to accept terrorist attacks on the United States for the sake of principle. Should we take this argument a step further and absolutely that any action that "violates principle" such as FDR ordering military trials for German spies, the militaries executions of German military infiltrators outside of uniform inside of American lines in WWII or Abraham Lincoln's violations of habius corpus even if this risked defeat?
JESUS, LORD! ARE THEY ALL HYPOCRITICAL BASTARDS?
Regardless of this Senator Craig business, I don't think it is hypocritical for a homosexual to oppose same sex marriage. It may be wrong (or not), but not hypocritical. As to Senator Craig, I don't know enough about his past statements regarding the issue to say whether he's a hypocrite. Perhaps he is. I know he publicly stated he was not a homosexual, but if he wants to stay "in the closest" frankly that's his business.
I tend to agree that Christian moralists (including Rev. Dobson, who to a does a good amount of good I think as well) are hurting Republicans with younger voters. It's a delicate balance. Younger voters are less likely to vote, and as they get older have usually move right on social issues as they start families (at least in the past). The GOP risks losing votes from it's traditional core post-1976 voters moving moderating on social issues. Then again, social cons really don't have anywhere else to go right now except no chance third parties.
Comment Posted By Jim On 27.08.2007 @ 21:58
i am supposed to feel sorry for you? this was the stupidest post i have read in quite a while - you are a moron, plain and simple. smoking is DEADLY to you and everyone around you. cabbage and spinach are FOOD... what the hell is wrong with you? i do not smoke, and do not think smoking should be banned. however, i DO think there should be NO HEALTH INSURANCE for smokers who give themselves CANCER and HEART DISEASE.
Comment Posted By jim On 22.08.2007 @ 21:20
Actually, chase movies like The Bourne Ultimatum are a rarity around Hollywood these days. The last really great chase flicks were the last Jason Bourne movie a couple of years ago and The Fugitive from way back in the 1990's.
Comment Posted By Jim On 13.08.2007 @ 16:22
In 2007, the bread and butter of the movie studios aren't searing dramas or car chase movies; they rely on massive budget CGI superhero movies and fantasy adventures. For example, the most anticipated movies for 2008 are already: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk (a reboot of the franchise), The Dark Knight: Batman Begins 2, and Watchmen.
RAGE AGAINST THE NIGHT - AND GLOBAL WARMING
Rick-
Your right-wing rantings don't change the fact that there has not been a discovery of a major new oil reserve in the last five years.
The experts disagree on the when of peak oil, whether it is now, 2 years from now, or 5-10, but peak oil is coming and if we don't implement policies to reduce our dependencies on oil we will be a second or third rate world power.
Comment Posted By Jim On 10.07.2007 @ 07:45
I JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF PARIS HILTON
I too, am ashamed to admit that I rather like Paris. She is kind of cute.... (not beautiful, but cute.)If she were a normal gal, say, the cashier at my local grocery store, I could probably work up a bit of a letch for her.
That having been said, I do feel a bit sorry for her on a couple levels. Firstly, she seems to be unswervingly stupid. Secondly, as rich as she is, finding a competent Attorney should not have been anything resembling a challenge. (perhaps one that could have actually convinced her to keep her pie hole shut in front of the Judge.)
I guess I find all this puzzling, and think that her celeb status, personal ignorance and poor representation has made a mountain out of a mole hill.
Violating your probation conditions for a DUI??? Trust me... You are not even a fair sized minnow in the probation pond. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
For me at least, all it took was being forthright, contrite, and no trying to BS a Lady Judge with a highly calibrated BS detector. Did I have to go back to Jail?... NO. Did I get the "I better not see your ass back in my Courtroom again, or you are TOAST" look?... Damn right, I did!!!
So... while I, like many others, find amusement in the plight of Paris, and her spoiled, over-sexed, vacuous and charmingly meretricious ways... I do think she got the shaft... pun intended.
Comment Posted By Jim On 12.06.2007 @ 22:20
"There was no honest debate over the war, criticize the war you were a traitor, support the war effort against Saddam you were a pawn of Halliburton. I was blasted by both sides, most of it was juvenile name calling." -grognard
I think this is somewhat of an exaggeration. This is not to say that polemics have often dominated discussions on both sides, especially on forums and message boards. However, to say there was no honest debate either between the pro-war factions and anti-war factions or inside those factions does not squire with my own admitted subjective evaluations. In addition, I cannot count how many times political pundits on the right have emphasized who question the war (let alone it's strategy are not "unpatriotic" (this does not of course speak to every individual Ann Coulter-ish commentator or person on a message board).
...
In re: to compromise between the Democrats and the Republicans on the subject of Iraq such a compromise would require a sufficient number of persons in both parties to come to an agreement that both believe is satisfactory.
Currently, the Democratic leadership has professed (through the the moderate Harry Reid) that the "war is lost." They have proposed a (rather ludicrous, in my opinion) plan to cut down the most of armed forces in Iraq but leave some at bases to hunt down terrorists. Should such a plan be implemented (although I seriously doubt the Dem leaders intend it as a long term strategy) it would raise questions of U.S. options should violence in Iraq escalate in the event of a general American withdraw.
Comment Posted By Jim On 1.05.2007 @ 10:33
"This became apparent when Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney would paint what was happening there in the rosiest of hues – so many schools built, so many clinics opened up, etc. Meanwhile, the insurgency grew, became more vicious, and al-Qaeda began to implement their strategy of pitting Shia against Sunni in order to foment civil war."
It would appear that both the Secretary and the Vice President seem to have seriously misunderstood the media atmosphere (more so then the President, who is proven no Reagan in combating a hostile media). It is entirely possible they believed the strategies of the time were destined to be successful; however if they believed that by attempting to counter news of constant stream of violence in Iraq with positive news they would be able to break through the near total blackout on the latter subject they were sorely mistaken.
...
While the situation in Iraq seems to be showing some signs of potential improvement in the long run with the present surge, there are justifiable criticisms of many tactical decisions of the war planners.
In terms of the question of how the U.S. would be affected should we "lose" it would depend. I would disagree that we would not be able be able to confront, as it was stated, "any enemy anywhere." However it is likely that policy makers will shift to a increasingly isolationist platform more akin to the immediate post Vietnam era. This does not bar the American people to shift attitudes on a case by case basis (such as polls revealed after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan). Realistically, we must expect al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups to claim victory (ala Somalia) and for such groups to proceed to attempt to achieve there mission goals (whether or not a withdrawal from Iraq would cause those groups to flourish is, of course, subject to much debate).
Is there any circumstances in which I think the U.S. should withdrawal? Despite my own beliefs in mass chaos, and bloodshed, as well as long term risk of terrorist strikes against Western targets there is such a case of a withdrawal, if it were clear that the U.S. and it's coalition partners are literally achieving a net-neutral or net-negative result then it would render the U.S. presence pointless.
Comment Posted By Jim On 30.04.2007 @ 21:48
