Displaying 271 To 300 Of 1,384 Comments Arab Uprisings: Still Writing History henlopen – as a declared Socialist in the ‘social justice’ sense, you’ll find no apologist here for this President or any other in the last 50 years. On the other hand, I sincerely doubt this one is “hiding under the bed” either literally or figuratively. What I see in this President is a man that sees himself as someone that is very cautious about getting us entangled in a THIRD war when we cannot sustain the two we are already in. I’m sure there are those that believe that a few planes and bombs can fix things. I’m not one of them. We’ve done that for the last 100 years, and how has that generally worked out? (I exempt WWII in the remark.) » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 12:24 pm Truth, well thanks… As an old fashioned engineer and military instructor, I tend to get right to the bottom of things. When I taught troubleshooting, it was in a military context, and one thing you could not afford to do was to dither around on side issues. Old habits die hard, I guess. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 12:02 pm Cher – if I were a leader of the rebellion, the LAST thing I would want is US involvement. History shows what usually happens to US friends after a time… Ask Marcos, Noriega, the Shah, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Ho Chi Minh, or any number of guys over the last 75 – 100 years. Sooner of later, we declare them enemies and come for them. I’d be running for the hills if the US came and offered anything, frankly. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 11:47 am henlopen, the real and only issue here is whether the US wants to taint yet ANOTHER new regime (if that happens in Libya or elsewhere) as a “puppet of the Great Satan.” Whether they are or not, makes no difference. Politics is perception, and if we get involved on any side, we are screwed for decades in that context. We are the world’s favorite whipping boy, and we HAVE to break that habit of sticking our nose in militarily every time something happens, IMO. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 11:40 am Khirad, I recall that during the initial uprisings following the 2009 elections, that it was said that in Iran, these things happen over years, not days or weeks. Just because everyone “went home” after a few days, that was not the end of things. I don’t remember who said that, but is looks as if that was true. I don’t know much about the region, but it seems to me that these guys are in it for the long haul. Are the people that are anti-regime any “better” than who is in power now in Iran? I’m not asking this from a Western POV. I’m asking from a sort of objective POV. If the anti-regime people get their way, what do you see as an outcome? So many times, the “good” guys get into power and end up no better than who they replace. A short answer is fine, but it’s always something I wonder about. Same question goes for Egypt, Libya, and all the others that are in upheaval at the moment. From my perspective, there’s really no way to tell. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 2, 2011 @ 5:27 am choice – I don’t follow Clinton all that much, so I’ll take your word for it. What I DO know is that most foreign policy is nearly always in the hands of the Dept. of State old-time bureaucracy – analysts, experts in various regions of the world, long-time diplomats, and the like. Our whole strategy in the Cold War was to isolate the USSR, not allowing their money to appear on international exchanges, not connecting roads and rail with anything outside of their borders, etc. Even the gauge of their rail system was different than anything in Europe or Asia. To export anything, they had to offload from their trains and onload to another. It took 40 years and more, but we broke them economically through that strategy. From Truman through Reagan and all the politicians at the top in between, that underlying strategy was held by the lifers at State. I remember one being interviewed on PBS about it after the Berlin Wall came down. He said they fought tooth and nail behind the scenes to resist Presidents and SecStates’ efforts to switch strategies and tactics over the decades. With that in mind, I don’t see Presidents and SecStates as anything other than mouthpieces when important stuff comes up, usually. This time looks different to me. President Obama looks as if he’s taken charge in this, and has refrained from interfering. Makes me wonder what kind of shouting matches have taken place behind the scenes… » Posted By PocketWatch On February 24, 2011 @ 7:48 am Khirad – My first and only thought after reading this is: “And the historical US thinks it has any business trying to unravel a complicated region like this and control outcomes?!?!?!? What, are we THAT stupid?” I am so glad that President Obama (maybe on advice from Sec. Clinton?) just stands back and keeps talking about peaceful change and denouncing violence. I sincerely hope we are not trying to be cute behind the scenes! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 24, 2011 @ 7:01 am Peabody – It only makes sense that sooner or later we will be on the wrong side of the oil supply curve. Here is a small rant I posted in another place and time: Fact 1: Burning hydrocarbons pollutes the land, sea and air either directly through spills, spews, sludge slides, or any number of other things, and indirectly through pollution (it’s called smoke). Fact 2: Oil is a finite resource. Some day it WILL run out. Fact 3: Nuclear power plants and technology create byproducts and problems that can take centuries to mitigate (think Chernobyl or Bikini Island). Fact 4: Burning ANYTHING for power creates the same problems as burning oil, gas or coal as we currently do. Fact 5: The sun produces more energy than we could possibly use. This includes wind and hydropower, which are created as secondary effects of sunshine. Fact 6: Every green plant on the planet is over 90% effective in turning sunshine into energy. Question: What the hell are we waiting for? We need to get to alternatives sooner or later, and the sooner we get to that, the cheaper it will be. Just creating different stuff to burn makes no sense to me. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 24, 2011 @ 10:39 am Saudi Arabia Pledges OPEC Supplies to Replace Lost Libya Oil — Well, let’s see how the oil companies claim that there are shortages now… » Posted By PocketWatch On February 24, 2011 @ 8:01 am It costs only $17.07 (20 year average) to PRODUCE a barrel of oil. This apparently has little to do with the PRICE of a barrel of oil. Draw your own conclusions. This is partly what I was referring to there. Thanks for expanding the thought. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 10:09 pm 2CCP – There’s a guy over on HP {spit!} that has every fact known to man about hemp and hemp oil… goes by the moniker of “coinyer.” I wish he’d show up here. He’s very good on this subject. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 4:37 pm jdm – LOL I’ll look for something like that. Weird thing, tho…. my animation worked a few days ago and now it isn’t. AdLib suggested Java was buggered somehow, so I went to Sun and DL’ed the latest and greatest… no joy! Thing is, when I go to the Free Smiley site, all the animations are working…. Sometimes I hate these damned persnickity machines! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 7:17 pm Welcome! Roll up a rock and take a seat by the fire… Coffee’s over there somewhere… For a quick rundown on stuff in general, see the FAQ tab all the way up top, and see ➡Tips for Newcomers. To decompress or vent about issues you had behind the Huffington Curtain, check ➡Everything From “There” Belongs “Here”. The Help Desk button is over there on the right side of the panel (big red button, strangely labeled Help). And the OT Post thread is right there too, for anything Off Topic you want to share. Enjoy! 8) » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 1:49 pm Kali – Ahhhhh…. well you left too young to be corrupted by us bad bad boys! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 4:58 pm Wolf – It never seemed that way, but the more I talk about it, I guess I have… LOL » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 4:56 pm Lisa – That old myth among us boys about the toes of patent leather shoes acting like a mirror and you could see up a girl’s dress…. never heard that one? LOL The nuns used to frown on girls wearing patent leather shoes.. We were a nasty-minded bunch of little Catholics! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 11:06 am fox – LOL! Did you wear patent leather shoes? Just askin’ !!!!! Actually, I thought about being a priest or maybe a Benedictine monk for a long while. Even spoke with my folks about it. My mom, thank all the gods, told me to wait until I was out of HS before deciding. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 9:34 am Hi, Foxxy… “… bad Catholic girl…” Is there any other kind? I spent 8 years in a Catholic grade school… so I know. 😈 » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 7:26 am I had a girlfriend for a short time when I was about 20 who had a method that was somewhat unique for getting these guys to stop ringing her doorbell… She’d wear a scarf that was … um… diaphanous… tied around her as a halter top and some short-short-short-shorts and nothing else when she answered the door. They literally ran away. I didn’t. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 4:40 am Memo to Members: How We Choose Front Page Posts and Other Editorial Policies AdLib – I have this same issue. It’s not a problem for me, really. I have a 32-bit, Windows 7, and it shows up with IE8.0, Safari, and Chrome. I haven’t looked at it yet with my 64-bit desktop, same browsers. My display adapter is an Nvidia GeForce Go 6100 in this machine (laptop). Everything including drivers are fully updated. I’m religious about that. Just an FYI… ***EDIT*** Just DL’ed Firefox, and it works just fine. The rolldown menus are now on top. Hmmmmmm…. Also my animations are now working again! Other 3 browsers, not so much. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 8:41 pm AdLib – Thanks! I particularly like the Search feature! A keyword or two, and all the articles (Posts) that are related to the keywords pop right up. Excellent. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 6:44 pm jkk – I must have miscommunicated. I am not advocating an open non-anonynous (?) (what’s the opposite of anonymous, anyway? Am I having a brain fart?) style or forum here. Not at all! What I was referring to is that The Well uses that to keep out the flamers. Here, it’s done a different way, and that’s fine by me for the reasons you relate. What I like is the very open way of saying it: You Own Your Own Words. THAT I agree with! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 1:10 pm jkk – raw carrots? (I like those.. a favorite snack) » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 1:07 pm Khirad – been working ok for me the last couple of days. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 1:05 pm Abby – Since I started this marathon business series, I learned just how many small business people there are here, and it makes sense to corral that subject. There’s a lot to say, both from the standpoint of technical issues like you and I get into, but also from a larger perspective of ethics and community. Lots of meat to chew on (no offense to the “veggie-heads” among us » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 11:49 am jkk ref: The Well I know it’s a for-pay site, and I’m not suggesting that PPOV become so. They have been around since the old DOS days, using the old forum architecture. It is, as far as I know, the oldest and most respected such site in the world. What I like about them is that they require people to be out in the open. “You Own Your Own Words” is their guiding policy. You cannot be anonymous there. Again, not suggesting that PPOV do that, but the sentiment here is similar to that. They are owned by Salon, and obviously have a lot of money behind them. But I like the smoothness and ease of operation of the site and the way they are organized. Just offering it to AdLib to check out and see if there are any attributes he might use here. I’m always thinking of the future. Nothing wrong with seeing how others do things. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 11:42 am AdLib – Thanks! On a personal note, I have been thinking that my business series needs to be in some sort of aggregated place so as to be easier to find for people that want to refer back to it. There are many Comments under those Posts that are useful as well. seeing as how there seems to be a small community of business people here, I’m suggesting a Business Blog or some such in the Speaker’s Corner or something like that. I’m sure others may weigh in on this. BTW, have you ever heard of or seen “The Well” website? I am familiar with it from years ago, and it is a very slick version or model of what I imagine PPOV wants to be in some ways. Worth a look just for reference. Thanks. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 23, 2011 @ 10:31 am Cher – Ah! So it’s just a way to get the Dems back in house… LOL Good luck with that… Most state level politicians are small business men or have other means of support… It don’t pay all that much. Hell, if any of them need it, I’m sure someone will pass the hat. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 22, 2011 @ 4:45 pm jdm – if they have no quorum, how can they pass anything? LOL Boneheads! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 22, 2011 @ 4:13 pm Re: Buying cheap vs. quality My dad was a union carpenter, a master. He always told me to buy the best quality I could afford in tools. If you buy a cheap hammer, you’ll end up buying another, and another, and another, and in the end, spend more than if you just bought that expensive, high quality unbreakable one in the first place. That doesn’t even mention the work you ruin using poor tools… I apply that to everything I can. About L.L.Bean… They now carry a lot of foreign-made products, it’s true, especially shoes. But if you shop carefully and closely, they still have the old, high quality products. They are just mixed in with the other stuff. And they ALWAYS say if it’s American made. I like the Bean! They are the only place I can order clothes by catalog and they actually fit. Their good stuff wears like iron, and if you break a zipper or a belt loop breaks, they WILL replace it free of charge, no matter how long ago you bought the item. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 22, 2011 @ 4:08 pmComments Posted By PocketWatch
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