Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments WATCH LIVE: Pres. Obama’s Speech on Afghanistan bito, I think perhaps you really need to stop seeing this as an anti-Obama thing. Otherwise, you keep talking down to commenters here. Like we are impatient and want everything done yesterday. You know us better, or you certainly should. You seem to have a great deal invested in this president. Those of us who are taking a different point of view are not criticizing him, we are criticizing POLICY. We are criticizing the decisions and actions of the country he leads and the administration he is in charge of. We, or at least I, neither have a crush on the man nor feel any particular antipathy toward him. Our stance has its foundation in our opposition to war, and our recognition of how extreme a stain on humankind it is. Yes, we DO want the war over tomorrow, but our disappointment hardly arises from the fact that it isn’t going to happen that way. We would all be in loony bins by now if we actually expected the world to be like that. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 23, 2011 @ 3:34 am bito, “questions are easy, solutions are a whole other animal”. Okay, a whole other animal. Before everyone jumps on me to tell me how “impractical” it is, please be sure to convince me how it is MORE impractical than continuing a war in a place that has been referred to as “where empires go to die”, and will result in even more bloodshed and wasted lives in the best of circumstances. According to KQ, 60% of the Afghan people want us there. That’s about eighteen million people. Many of them live in the major population zones, which are far more stable. We have one hundred thousand soldiers there. Tell them their job is to spread information throughout the region. Start an information campaign that America will accept everyone who wants to leave. Send word that small contingents of U.S. troops will soon be arriving to set up pre-immigration centers. I know there are dozens of good arguments against this. Just as there are dozens of good arguments against keeping our gigantic military presence in a part of the world where tens of millions are extremely hostile to our presence, and see us merely as the latest invaders. Five years from now, some of the Afghan soldiers we will be fighting will have been born AFTER 9/11. Just because this is appalling doesn’t mean it isn’t true. They will have never heard of our tragedy, and will not see a shred of justification for our being there. Time for a change. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 23, 2011 @ 3:12 am bito, I can’t see to what degree you are perceiving irony in my comment, so don’t know how to respond. You began your reply to my comment with a rhetorical question, that somehow, you seem to feel, has relevance. It is my opinion that it doesn’t, and therefore I referred to it as “nonsensical”. This may have been rude. Frankly, I don’t think so considering the dismissive tone of the comment it was in response to. I’m a smartass, yes, but I really didn’t understand the nature of your comment to me. I agree with KT, it’s like any critical comment of the president’s action has to be met with knee-jerk dismissiveness, at best. THAT, I feel, is sad. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 23, 2011 @ 1:58 am KT, you realize I’m completely on your side about this, don’t you? » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 23, 2011 @ 1:54 am Bob Baer was elected by me to to prevent people from asking nonsensical rhetorical questions, and it appears he is failing. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 23, 2011 @ 1:26 am indeed, which is pretty much my point. Hearing Bob Baer speak about the subject on the link below, saying the war is based on politics and the need for a Dem president to appear “tough”, I can only shake my head in disgust and sorrow. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 23, 2011 @ 12:59 am We’re fighting them over there because we’re (Dems vs. Repubs) fighting each other over here. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 22, 2011 @ 10:08 pm The Professional Left and The Big Sam President c-lady, a great big, bear-ish, cyber-hug is coming your way in five, four, three, two…. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 26, 2011 @ 5:12 pm Okay, well said, and conceded. I still take issue with your charge of racism, and remain unconvinced, but both you and c-lady have opened my mind about the extent to which president Obama has to deal with attacks from the rear. It is unprecedented. I fear that we may see more and more of it in the administrations to come. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 26, 2011 @ 4:39 pm c-lady, I’m with you. Your arguments concerning the sabotage from his own party have caused me to open my mind more about this. I can’t argue. Thanks. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 26, 2011 @ 4:36 pm C-lady, I hear you on all those complaints. I agree with nearly everything you write. My disagreement with Marion’s piece is her conclusion – that racism lies at the heart of this. She has repeatedly written that progressives dislike the president because “he’s smarter than them and won’t do what they tell him to”. I think she is so far off the mark with this. I think that, in today’s world, to point to racism as the cause for the criticism of president Obama is to arrive at the gate of Rashomon. First of all, let’s consider that as far as recent presidencies go, what is actually happening to the president is hardly the most egregious case of harassment. Compared to Nixon over Watergate (deservedly) and Clinton over Monicagate (probably the most shameful display we have ever witnessed from a president’s opponents), the current president is practically being treated with kid’s gloves. Secondly, let’s consider that it was probably George Bush who was the first president to hold office in the age of the “internets”, when ANYONE with a blog could get their opinions to register as much as lifelong journalists, so long as they had whatever it takes to get peoples’ attention. Most people on the left really disliked Dubya, but while he was the “Mission Accomplished” hero, it was hard to lay into him. So, MAN, did the gloves come off when Iraq started going badly! And then there was Katrina. At the point where Mama Bush was talking about how much better off the folks in the Superdome were, the presidency of GWB was on life support. Almost NOBODY liked him anymore. Enter Barack Obama. He didn’t cause, he INHERITED the storms of criticism that had now become the norm. When Americans get their news from Comedy Central and Fox News, BOTH fictional but only one willing to admit it, the situation is pretty much hopeless from the get-go. ANY president would be being battered right now. There IS a huge amount of racism coming from elements of the right. Just where you’d expect it to come from; those who are less educated. Those who grew up in neighborhoods and within families where racism was passed along like mother’s milk. But Olbermann? Michael Moore? Cenk? Are you kidding me? Marion has yet to show one bit of actual evidence that the complainers on the left are figuring the president’s skin tone into their rationales. Until she does, I’ll assume they’re a lot like me in some respects. I criticize the president all the time, and it has nothing, nothing, nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that his skin is darker than mine. Or if his IQ is higher than mine, for that matter. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 25, 2011 @ 10:41 pm Marion, you have a very short memory. Deservedly, but nevertheless, George Bush Jr. got MUCH more criticism than Barack Obama. You are putting Mr. Obama at the center of what is unfolding and concluding that racism must be the cause. That is a projection that I have seen very little evidence from you to support, although you write articles like this all the time (this is in fact your second snark piece on Olbermann). The real epicenter is the current dynamics of how information is disseminated and processed in America. The new outlets, the ongoing thrust from news to “commentary” and news-as-comedy-entertainment; THIS is the real culprit. You just don’t like seeing it happen to a man you admire. But your explanation for it doesn’t hold water. Remember Colbert’s roast of Bush, right in his -friggin’ FACE? Remember “George Bush doesn’t care about white people?” Remember OLBERMANN, fercryinoutloud, bloviating night after night, taking off his glasses and bellowing, “YOU, Mr. Bush…..”? All the while he was getting slammed by certain quarters of Republican/conservative thought. Articles appeared musing whether he was the “worst president ever” while he was still in office. The last two years of his second term, he was reduced to a bad joke, and only got praise from diehard supporters. It’s a new world, Marion. Like ADONAI says above, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the Oval Office. This isn’t about the president; it’s about the current shape of political discourse, that was building before he set foot in the office, and by any reasonable estimate will only progress downward after he is gone. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 25, 2011 @ 6:14 pm Remember That Thing You Liked When You Were A Kid? Me and my brothers (and sometimes my sister) used to race anything we could think of to. We raced hamsters. We each put one at the bottom of the stairs, and had something they liked, like a piece of toast with a dab of peanut butter on it, at the top. They all dashed up in their cute, waddly way We raced golf balls down the same stairs. We used a ruler to make sure they all started descending at the same time. We raced crayfish. You CAN’T race crayfish, but we tried. The other fun thing we did was plug up the end of syringes that my mom, an RN, used to administer my allergy shots. Plug up the cap, and it pops up when you squeeze from the back. So you have a little gun with a sting about the same as a rubber band. (oh, yeah, we used to race rubber bands too). Lots of smarting asses around my house due to those syringe – guns. Ah, good times! » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 22, 2011 @ 6:40 am Terrific story, Abby! » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 6:45 am ….. on the “BitTorrent” issue… indeed. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 6:04 pm Buddy, Donald Trump begins the book that made him an international superstar, “The Art of The Deal”, with a story that almost surely isn’t true. He says he knows a famous artist, says they are “friends”, and that this artist had become so famous that anything he produces will sell for tens of thousands of dollars at least. He shows off to Trump by slapping some paint on a canvas for about ten minutes and then proudly proclaims, “There! I just made twenty five thousand bucks!” (Some “artist”, huh?) Trump then goes on to say that his own “art” is the art of deal-making, and he maintains it is as valuable and creative as any other form of art, such as painting and composing. In this world, the fact of being rich can do so many things for one. One can assumed to be smarter than others, better than others, and one need never worry again about the availability of willing sexual partners. Beyond that, one can even call oneself an “artist”, and make up bullshit stories to illustrate that. Bah! » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 5:21 pm Why You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About It’s up there with “Repo Man” and “Liquid Sky” that just leave you scratching your head. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 6:52 pm Totally agree, KT. There is a sense of “I” that is NOT the personality. My personality has changed in huge ways between when I was, say, eight, and now. Any random suburban eight year old probably has more in common with “me” when I was then than the present me does. Yet I can remember a few episodes from that period of my life as if they happened a few weeks ago. That “I” includes all the things that Adonai mentions, I feel, and perhaps a lot more. The brain can be altered through chemistry, for example. When antidepressants work (and they don’t for everybody), they actually enable a person to be more cheerful and optimistic. They don’t just deaden pain; they adjust the personality, nudge it away from pessimism and low self esteem. But the “I” is still the same. Our brains can best be compared with modern day computers that are equipped to handle the internet. The internet is not contained in the computers, but through the computers individuals can make their own contribution to the internet, as I am doing now. Some computers move faster than others, some have problems, some break down completely. But the internet is not affected at all. It just keeps on being. Our “I” is like that. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 6:42 pm Really nice analogy at the end, Caru. I agree! » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 3:21 pm Hugs back, MsB. Please stop by and read my stuff from time to time. Always like seeing you here. Yes, still in Tokyo. My pet ferret is fine! » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 2:16 am the badger surfaces….. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 2:04 am
» Posted By whatsthatsound On June 18, 2011 @ 6:47 am The Weekend Music Thread – Water Fun stuff! » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 19, 2011 @ 6:47 am I could have chosen either “On The Beach” or “See the Sky About to Rain” from the same album, in keeping with the theme. But the vibe of this song is just so damn watery. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 18, 2011 @ 8:17 pm LZ, “Down By the Seaside” » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 18, 2011 @ 6:30 pm Indeed, he was a true original. » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 18, 2011 @ 5:28 pm Buddy, not sure if only I, or us collectively, have been remiss in complimenting you on the beautiful reproduction of the Turner painting used as the image for this theme. That is some very gorgeous water there! » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 18, 2011 @ 4:59 pm yep, and ends with » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 18, 2011 @ 8:06 am Violent Femmes, “It’s Gonna Rain” » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 18, 2011 @ 7:21 am We’re all Water from Different Rivers, Yoko Ono » Posted By whatsthatsound On June 18, 2011 @ 6:26 amComments Posted By whatsthatsound
Many are at terrible risk of being tortured, raped and murdered, especially in the most warlike regions. So, a whole other animal: The American government offers every single one of them amnesty here. We can pay for their resettlement. We can help them to set up some sort of a life here. I imagine we can do this for far LESS than it costs to continue this war to nowhere. Because it doesn’t involve enormous military costs. It also doesn’t cost something even more valuable, the lives of soldiers.
We raced turtles. Slightly less difficult than racing crayfish.
Walk On!!!
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