tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post114878857959797362..comments2024-01-22T18:22:29.391-08:00Comments on hedera's corner: What have we done to our soldiers?hederahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1150171650431894452006-06-12T21:07:00.000-07:002006-06-12T21:07:00.000-07:00Stephen, I wish you luck. More power to your voti...Stephen, I wish you luck. More power to your voting arm: "outcumbents" forever!hederahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1150169147039521562006-06-12T20:25:00.000-07:002006-06-12T20:25:00.000-07:00Well I live in Missouri. As far as I am concerned...Well I live in Missouri. As far as I am concerned, none of these people should stay in office. Which me luck.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1149827220830075242006-06-08T21:27:00.000-07:002006-06-08T21:27:00.000-07:00Yes, and talk about a safe seat. The entire distr...Yes, and talk about a safe seat. The entire district is plastered with bumperstickers reading "Barbara Lee Speaks For Me". <BR/><BR/>I'm sorry to say that Pete McCloskey lost to El Pombo. However, as someone pointed out, Pete took 30% of the vote against what is supposed to be a safe Republican candidate; if the Dems can put someone really strong up, maybe they'll dislodge the lout.hederahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1149824776579104852006-06-08T20:46:00.000-07:002006-06-08T20:46:00.000-07:00You get to vote for Barbara Lee? Damn, we're talk...You get to vote for Barbara Lee? Damn, we're talking serious jealousy here. My rep is Tom Feeney, a pathetic lesser Tom Delay. I do get to vote against him, since a Democrat has decided to challenge, even though the district is a marvel of safe-seat machinations. They finally succeeded in putting me in a district that makes absolutely no sense for my community. On a good day they are merely anti-democratic bags of offal.<BR/><BR/>Anonymous DavidAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1149655799198879422006-06-06T21:49:00.000-07:002006-06-06T21:49:00.000-07:00I feel hypocritical saying this, but I do plan to ...I feel hypocritical saying this, but I do plan to continue voting for Barbara Lee; after all, she was the only one with the balls to stand up and vote "no" on the Iraq war. That has to count for something.<BR/><BR/>The trouble with the incumbents is that, with the current system of campaign financing, no one but a Tool of the Special Interests or a raving lunatic would run against them, so your alternatives tend to be limited and unappealing. Also in several of the races in today's California primary, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed, in which case I don't bother to vote because I have no choice. And what <I>about</I> those meaningless names you've never heard of, that run for the "Democratic party committee", and you're supposed to vote for six of them, and five of them are incumbents? I voted for the only outcumbent and left it at that.<BR/><BR/>Ah, to be in Contra Costa County (well, only for election purposes, one wouldn't want to <I>live</I> there), where one could vote for the noble and virtuous Pete McCloskey, come out of retirement to joust against the Evil Richard Pombo. That contest is practically Shakespearean in its grandeur, even if Pete loses.hederahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1149602015452939122006-06-06T06:53:00.000-07:002006-06-06T06:53:00.000-07:00I agree. Personally, I'm not voting for anyone cu...I agree. Personally, I'm not voting for anyone currently in office. Try a clean sweep, and see if anything improves.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1149310297062234402006-06-02T21:51:00.000-07:002006-06-02T21:51:00.000-07:00All we can do is keep voting. If we allow them to...All we can do is keep voting. If we allow them to discourage us from participating, they've won.hederahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1149278448169403222006-06-02T13:00:00.000-07:002006-06-02T13:00:00.000-07:00Amen,It made me physically ill when Gore's adviser...Amen,<BR/><BR/>It made me physically ill when Gore's advisers got him to call for a limited recount in Florida when he wanted a statewide recount, and it made me even sicker when Joe Lieberman threw in the towel and said to count the unlawful military ballots. I cringed when friends said it was more important to get it over with and accept Bush as president, even buying the notion that there wasn't a significant difference and that Bush would have to govern from the center. But PNAC was published in the 90s, and these people tried to foist it off on Clinton, who rejected it. It was the defining document for this administration - all they needed was an excuse. <BR/><BR/>And you are right, it is in all our names, because it is the US military, not Bush's personal army, although I think he believes it is. Contemporary Americans are predominantly passive political couch potatoes who do become exercised about specific scenes in the show unfolding before their eyes, but they don't get off the couch. The solution for them is to watch a different channel. Reality is a tv show. That other reality sort of isn't, at least not in any compelling way. And even if it is, the last thing we collectively are inclined toward is taking action, I think in part because individual action is pretty much social suicide, and there isn't any broad-based action to join in with.<BR/><BR/>Be really be interesting to see how November plays out. I think it will signal whether there is hope, or we are as a civil body politic honestly hopeless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1148950550883555512006-05-29T17:55:00.000-07:002006-05-29T17:55:00.000-07:00Yes, George Santayana.I got to thinking about this...Yes, George Santayana.<BR/><BR/>I got to thinking about this whole incident. We may never find out what "really" happened here. I recall reading in an early story that the incident was unmentioned until a video taken by an Iraqi came to light. Trouble is, with digital video manipulation, you can't tell any more; I work with a guy who spent years in the advertising industry, shooting commercials, and he says with the right equipment, any video can be made to show anything, and it's absolutely untraceable.<BR/><BR/>I'm now seeing that there are some photos (digital again, I'm sure...) taken by Marines on the ground in Haditha at the time; and some other Marines on the ground at the time whose cameras have unaccountably lost those photos.<BR/><BR/>The really scary reaction was to a column in a site called <A HREF="http://www.gulf-news.com/opinion/columns/region/10043346.html" REL="nofollow">gulfnews.com</A> (should you be interested in breaking news from the Persian Gulf). The columnist reported on John Murtha's reaction to Haditha, and her column was posted on a well known right wing web site (not named), where it got 119 responses: all accusing her and Murtha of un-American behavior and threatening them both in various ways, all assuming that any accusation of the Marines in Iraq was disloyal in some way. Ten percent of the wackos make 90 percent of the noise, but this is still disturbing.hederahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-1148944871687188032006-05-29T16:21:00.000-07:002006-05-29T16:21:00.000-07:00Remember the individual who said something along t...Remember the individual who said something along the lines of, "If we can't learn from history we are doomed to ..."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com