Are we so immature as an electorate that we will only consider trusting a leader who exhibits the unbelievable arrogance of god-like omniscience?    Do we still, nearly a decade into the 21st century, require the infallible, all-knowing Father to lead us through life by the hand?    When I was a youth, I was taught that one of the surest signs of maturity was the ability to say "I was wrong", to apologize without any particular hope of forgivenes...

   It certainly has been an anodyne to the pain I feel being an American...    Especially since 2001, but, really, for most of my adult life (I'll be 58 in June), I've been ashamed to be an American. Yes, we've always been quick with help in disasters (I'm sure the people in the Indian Ocean Basin appreciated the mercy flights after the Christmas Tsunami) but I've long felt that our aid carries with it a stain of "look what WE are doing for you" paternalism which I find offensive in the extrem...

   "Other than impeachment, is there any way under the Constitution for the Legislative Branch to remove the warmaking power from the Executive Branch?" Illegitimati Non Carborundum! (Don't let the bastards grind you down!) The Nation is the People... ... the State is but the Tool! Reclaim Our Nation from the Grass Roots up!             LTF! (Live The Faith!)             S&SW! {:->             E A "Moon" Aldridge             Darkmoon" Ikonoklast

   Two of my dearest, most trusted friends (and adopted sisters) are exes.    "Cheryl" and I broke up back '74, lost touch for years before re-connecting in '80... lost touch again 2 years later when she followed her heart to Georgia, before finding each other again (this time for keeps!) in '85...    "Marie" and I split in '84, re-connected in '88 and haven't let go since...    We've seen each other through 8 bad marriages (and subsequ...

   ... after all, the 'pugs might not be running "*", but the Pachys will STILL be running one of the Amerikkan Hezbollah, so I'll be voting "Anybody But {fill in the blank}"!    But what a wonder if Feingold turned out to be that rarest of all characters -- rarer than unicorns, rarer than beautiful women unafraid to break out of the dumb-closet (there's lots of you here, afer all!), rarer even than men unafraid of women smarter than we are -- a candidate I can actu...

   This morning, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld a ban on same-sex unions, leaving Massachusetts as the only state granting full marriage rights to gays and lesbians.    Many, perhaps most, on both sides of this bloody debate were surprised by the decision... I wish I could say I was.    This debate, like the one over abortion, hinges ultimately over conflicts between secular law and fundamental religious beliefs... in this case between marriage as a secular institution and marriage a...

   I mean, this is the Commander-in-Chief, the civilian responsible for upholding the Constitutional mandate to "provide for the common defense"    Sadly, I have it on good authority that, as a civilian, the President can not be held answerable to Military Law, can not be charged with offenses under the Uniform Code (of Military Justice, or U.C.M.J.). My cursory reading of the relevant articles (Sub-Chapter 1. Sec. 802. Art. 2. "Persons Subject To This Chapter") tends to support this opinion. ...

     Not with your first premise -- you are correct, in that he is far from normal (whatever THAT means these days!), and has no interest in "normal" stuff... (I believe "*" wants to buttf**k the world, or at least, all those not members of the One True Church, but that's my not-at-all-humble opinion!)      I would also agree that "*" is desperate to be dominated. We differ only in the question of "*"'s preferred liege...      In my not-at-all-humble opinion, "*" has found his Master, and is des...

  For the longest time, people were clamoring that, for "*" to call himself a "good ol' boy" was nothing more than political grandstanding... after all, all the pundits pontificated, "everyone knew" that "*" was a DamnYankee!   Well, I guess the truth is now out for all the world to see: you DON'T need to be from the South to be a "hard-hittin' redneck dumb-ass"...   Of course, SOME of us saw this coming back in the Summer of 2000... but I would NEVER say "I told you so"...   The REAL question ...

__Anyone who really knows me -- and AG is one of the precious few -- knows that I am one cantankerous old coot, and getting more ornery the older I get. __But I was younger than AG is now when I came to the stark realization that there really wasn't much I could do to change the truth of my life: nevermind the outer facade, this world still comes down to Owners and Owned, and all the appearance of Democracy couldn't do a hell of a lot to change that. __Not unless I chose to make Acquisition my G...

__... the Official Signing of the Declaration of Independence, while watching the local public celebrations on the Idiot Box, I had my own little dream... __I had a dream, in which the citizenry would never again condemn the Soldier for fighting, but would, rather, be hard at work ensuring that that soldier was never again asked to do any fighting that was not needful, proper, unavoidable, and, above all, just. __I remember coming back from service in 1969, and being reviled for that service, mo...

__... with the United States, rather than the multilateral talks with the Peoples' Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea currently being promoted, under some impression that they can "get a better deal" with the US alone. __This might well be true, but whether it is or not, it is also quite irrelevant. __These sovereign nations -- China, Japan, and South Korea -- are their neighbors... the people with whom North Korea must coexist. They alone have the most important, most significa...

... posts like THIS are the reason why YOU are one of those people! Thank you for this... I look forward to more of these inspiring, humbling, ennobling images! :*{{{{{hugs}}}}}

..... and, to paraphrase that great political philosopher Seven-Of-Nine, "I might lose, but I will NOT comply!" ..Everyone has made great points, and it warms this old crusader's heart to hear (okay, read) these words of determined non-compliance. I'm not sure I can actually add much to the debate, Miss Honey (GAWD! I love how that sounds! :loveya:) but, as one who was maced and tear-gassed on the Mall in 1970, who was on several lists (including, so I was informed, Mr Nixon's "Enemies" list) a...

... but let's be wary of "Masada" syndrome (aka "if I can't make the rules, I'll destroy the playground!") Frankly, the deeply paranoid part of my psyche is terrified that, if the eunuchs in the "Regress of the Disunited States" ever DO muster enough courage to actually BRING a Bill of Impeachment against the "C-i-T" (all together now, children: "Commander-in-Thief"! }( ), the members of the unholy cabal might just decide that "God" was telling them to nuke the Godless minions of the Anti-...

... coming out of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. Or, properly, I should say, coming out of the mouth of the "saintly" PASTOR of the Cornerstone Church, the "Rev" John Hagee... This "anointed-by-God" shauspieler has been preaching and writing that Iran is, for all practical purposes, the business office of the Anti-Christ, if not His home congregation... I'll not go into the filth I heard spewing from that "christian" man's mouth, except to say that, if it sounds like "jiha...

MMI decided years ago that I could either a) be open, and risk the pain, or b) be guarded and become cynical... MMI chose to take the pain... MMI couldn't see any justification for blaming "the next one" for the sins of "the last one"... guess I've never been much for "presumptive guilt"... MMMiss Honey, Joanie, SG, CP, please realize that we are not ALL looking for a mommy, arm candy, barbettes or Paris Hilton-oids... some of us are still searching for a woman companion of intellectual powe...

MMMore than 40 years ago, I saw the Plains, as far north as Central Alberta, flooded entirely out... all that remained of America was the Appalachian Archipelago, and the High Plains between the Rockies and the Sierras... everything else -- including Florida and the Carolinas, was gone... No New York, no Ohio... no Kentucky... no California, either, or my current home, the Pacific Northwest... all GONE! MMBack in the late sixties, some hippie "guru" told me that Howard Hughes had plans for a mu...

MMI proudly wear a "Jail Bush" button on my camo hat... MMEverywhere I go, that button incites discussion... mostly supportive, often curious ("Why?"), once in a while, hostile. MMMostly, it's the "kids" (bear in mind, I'm pushing 60, and - presumably -- have grandkids in addition to a now-draft-age son and a soon-to-be draft-age(17 this May) daughter, so I'm entitled to call these young adults "kids".) who respond. My usual tack is to engage them in discourse, determine what they know, incite t...

MMOnce again, I'm minded of the value placed upon this thing called citizenship by those who have ha to struggle to attain it. MMJohn Kay, of the late '60s R&R band Steppenwolf, was an emigre' from an Iron Curtain nation... when Kay wrote "Monster", many assailed him for what was seen as a diatribe against America, the nation whose succor and sanctuary he, like so many, had received. One magazine interviewer asked him about this seeming, and his reply was that he didn't want to see his new home...

: :woohoo: :applause: :thumbsup: :applause: :patriot: MMOn Wed Mar-08-06 11:09 AM, you wrote: MM"My Citizenship Interview was today... And my swearing in is in a couple of weeks! I will be an American on Mar 18!" :thumbsup: :party: :toast: :spank: :hi: :loveya: :hug: :yourock: MMWelcome, com-matriot! :evilgrin: :party: :toast: :spank: :hi: :loveya: :hug: :yourock: MMNow, give 'em HELL, darlin'!!! :thumbsup: :evilgrin: :patriot: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :patriot:

Seems to me, the answer is "Not as long as we continue to give blind obeisance to traditional (TWO-)party politics. The Demopublicans give us all the choice of an old-fashioned Politburo-sponsored Soviet election: vote for the party-sanctioned candidate of your choice, but VOTE! (or ELSE!) It's been this way for too long, but (IMO) the final nail in the coffin was the decision to replace local caucuses with Winner-Take-All primaries. I'm afraid the only possible solution remaining to us is ...