If I Were A Buddhist I Would Blow Something Up (Maybe Myself)

Note to Obama - enough already with dissing the Buddhists in America.  This is from The Messiah's inauguration speech:

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.

And here is The Chosen One in his interview with al-Aribiya:

And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith -- and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers -- regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams.

Come on - per Pew Research, Buddhists in the United States outnumber Muslims.  In fact, Buddhism is the third most popular major religion in this country; Islam is fourth and Hinduism is fifth.  Well, a caveat - I don't want to peeve Unitarians, who are statistically tied with the Buddhists.  But regardless, maybe Obama could give them a shout-out at some point, yes?  Or must they blow something up first?

[CLICK FOR END OF THREAD]

Comments

[Jane]

Or must they blow something up first?

Then he will give them health care.

[clarice]

Hope all those rich Indians in Silicon Valley are paying attention>

[clarice]

Hit me baby to get to end of thread.
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/if-i-were-a-buddhist-i-would-blow-something-up-maybe-myself.html?cid=x>Hit me

[Danube of Thought]

The stuff about the common hopes and dreams is vintage Jimmy Carter. Or Phil Donahue.

[clarice]

DoT.See what I did for you? When the thread goes beyond one page. Hit the Hit me and you'll go right to the end of the thread.
Yes, you can kiss me now.

[bgates]

Unitarians, who are statistically tied with the Buddhists
-and theologically indistinguishable from them, too.

[bgates]

in all my travels throughout the Muslim world
There's an interesting phrase. Is he formulating foreign policy based on what he learned of the world as a child in Indonesia?

[MayBee]

How can Mr. Hollywood Support neglect the Scientologists?

[Rick Ballard]

"Is he formulating foreign policy based on what he learned of the world as a child in Indonesia?"

Nah. He's focused on his post hadj experience. That's when he became truly proficient in taqiya.

BTW - my "common dream" involves Mecca in a bombsight. I wonder how many of the wonderful folks in Riyadh wake up smiling about that one.

[cathyf]

Q: How do you force the Unitarians to move out of your neighborhood?

A: Burn a question mark in their front yard.

[Thomas Collins]

I'm beating DOT to the punch, er, kiss.

Mucho smoocheroos for clarice!

[bgates]

I wonder how many of the wonderful folks in Riyadh wake up smiling about that one.
I guessing "most", but that's based on a hunch that most of the wonderful folks in Riyadh are enslaved Filipinos and Africans.

[matt]

The noted Greenwich Village drunk and bum Joe Gould used to say

"in summer I'm a nudist,
In winter I'm a buddhist"

there's something profound and zen in there, but I just haven't found it yet.

[peter]

Cathyf, give credit to that windbag from NPR, Garrison Keiller for that gag about the ? Speaking of which, did you know that the lead singer of ? and the Mysterians legally changed his name to ? And his favorite color is orange.

[Stephanie]

"in all my travels throughout the Muslim world"

"I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim Countries."

Note the plural... his abaya is slipping...

[Danube of Thought]

Clarice, darling--I thought you'd never say it!

If I understand correctly what you've done, you or someone else needs to do it on the first page of every new thread--is that right?

Kiss, kiss...

[clarice]

Thanks, Peter.
And now a little sherbet..the latest in online scams--re-scamming the scammed:
"DIRECTOR

Email: [email protected]

Dear Beneficiary ,

SCAMMED VICTIM/$5.500,000.USD BENEFICIARIES.

REF/PAYMENTS CODE:06654 $5.500,000 USD at the owner of this Name and email address.
This is to bring to your notice that I am delegated from the United Nations To Central Bank Benin to pay 250 scam victims $5.500,000. USD (Five Million,Five Hundred Thounsand United State Dollars) each.at the owner of this Name and email address and your House address. You are listed and approved for this payment as one of the scammed victims to be paid this amount, get back to me as soon as possible for the immediate payments of your $5,500,000 USD compensations funds.

On this faithful recommendations, I want you to know that during the last U.N. meetings held at Cotonou, Benin Republic , it was alarmed so much by the world in the meetings on the lose of funds by various individuals to the scams artists operating insyndicates all over the world today.

In other to compensate victims, the U.N Body is now paying 250 victims of this operators $5.500,000 USD each in accordance with the U.N. recommendations.
Due to the corrupt and inefficient Banking Systems in Benin republic, the payments are to be paid by Central Bank Benin as corresponding paying bank under funding assistance by The Rabo Bank, London for funds remittance.

Benefactor will be cleared and recommended for payment by ECO BANK PLC Benin.
According to the number of applicants at hand, 190 Beneficiaries has been paid, half of the victims are from the United States, we still have more 60 left to be paid the compensations of $5.500,000 USD each.

Your particulars was mentioned by one of the Syndicates who was arrested as one of their victims of the operations, you are hereby warned not to communicate or duplicate this message to him for any reason what so ever as the U.S. secret service is already on trace of the other criminals.So keep it secret till they are all apprehended.

Other victims who have not been contacted can submit their application as well for scrutiny and possible consideration.
You can receive your compensations payments via WIRE TRANSFERS. I shall feed you with further modalities as soon as I hear from you.
do contact me back first through this my e-mail address: [email protected]

Yours faithfully,
MR. Akinwuntan Patrick
SCAMMED VICTIM/REF/PAYMENTS CODE:06654 $5.500,000. USD"

[MikeS]

Thanks for the Hit Me Clarice.
I think Typepad has the capability to display in the reverse order, (Last comment first).

Which would be even a little better.
regards,

[Elliott]

TM,

I'm sure there's a Dalai Lama angle. Here's the story Stephanie directed our attention to last weekend:

The Dalai Lama, a lifelong champion of non-violence on Saturday candidly stated that terrorism cannot be tackled by applying the principle of ahimsa because the minds of terrorists are closed.

"It is difficult to deal with terrorism through non-violence," the Tibetan spiritual leader said delivering the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture here.

Be sure not to miss his remarks about the 43rd President of the United States.

[clarice]

PUK, you might have some fun with the ecobank guy..Just saying..

[peter]

Sure ain't much on those highly touted Blago tapes. LUN

[PeterUK]

Clarice,
Paid me out sweet as a nut.Glad it was in dollars because of the exchange rate.Unfortunately my $5.500,000 was the only $5.500,000 Benin had. Sorry.

[matt]

actually, there is much greater commonality within and between between the various Buddhist sects compared to Unitarianism.

[Amused bystander]

You forgot the Methodist. Surely they count too?

[Tom Maguire]

That "end of thread" trick is very slick. I ought to be able to tack on one to the end of posts easily enough.

[Pagar]

So keep it secret till they are all apprehended.

Is that why we can't find out anything about the birth certificate?

[clarice]

Oh, TM , that would be great!

[Rick Ballard]

"the Methodist"

AB,

You just had to do it. Now our "common dreams" will be forever marred by the horrifying images of the aftermath of the lids coming off those covered dishes...

[Amused bystander]

RB: yes...another tragedy of the commons.

(or at least the tupperware)

[Danube of Thought]

Off-topic: Soon this goat will be sending out e-mails offering large sums of cash. LUN

[Old Lurker]

"That "end of thread" trick is very slick. I ought to be able to tack on one to the end of posts easily enough."

Yay! It works! We are saved!

[clarice]

You'd BETTER split that, PUK. Or else!

[Sue]

Speaking of birth certificates, I am working on getting a Texas birth certificate issued for a child adopted in China. When I get it back from the state, it will be a Texas issued birth certificate. Just because Hawaii assures us there is a Hawaiian birth certificate doesn't mean anything, or so it would seem.

[clarice]

Taranto BOTW today
"In an interview with one of the Middle East's major broadcasters, President Barack Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward the Islamic world, saying he wanted to persuade Muslims that 'the Americans are not your enemy,' " the New York Times reports. "The interview with Al Arabiya, an Arabic-language news channel based in Dubai, signaled a shift--in style and manner at least--from the Bush administration."

Obama also addressed Muslims directly, saying, "We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful." Can you imagine George W. Bush saying anything like that?

Oh wait, sorry, Homer nods: That last quote was from Bush's speech on Sept. 20, 2001.

Still, the pace of change is just dizzying! OK, so it's not so much what Obama said, but where he said it. Bush would never have given an interview to Al Aribiya.

Darn it, we messed up again! The Associated Press reports that "Obama's choice of Al-Arabiya network, which is owned by a Saudi businessman, follows the lead of the Bush administration, which gave several presidential interviews to that news channel."

Even so, change is all around us! As the AP notes, the new president's policies are completely different:

Obama's predecessor, former President George W. Bush, launched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which prompted a massive backlash against the U.S. in the Muslim world.
Bush just went around launching wars for no reason! It's not as if these wars were provoked by an attack on America or an invasion of a neighboring country, or else the AP would have mentioned it. Obama, by contrast, just wants to give peace a chance, as another Associated Press dispatch notes:

Obama is expected to double the number of American troops in Afghanistan this year, as the country becomes one of his foreign policy priorities.
The Washington Post reports that "the change in Washington appears to have rattled al-Qaeda's leaders, some of whom are scrambling to convince the faithful that Obama and Bush are essentially the same." Good luck with that, guys!
"

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

Mr Uk has always been scrupulous in his undertakings with regard to S.C.A.M. operations. I can certify that equitable division of proceeds (less certain necessary, if remarkably high, expenses) has been meticulously completed after each transaction and proceeds deposited immediately in the appropriate accounts at First Federated National of St Jane's.

[pst314]

"give credit to that windbag from NPR, Garrison Keiller for that gag about the ?"

No, don't. The joke predates Prairie Home Companion by many years.

[clarice]

I do hope the two of you do not take my question as an indication that I in any way question your honesty or fairness. Despite the disheartening number of scams being uncovered in the financial area these days, you two are pure as the driven snow in my eyes and nothing could ever bring me to question your doings. As Mr Noel said of Mr Madoff into whose maws he was shoveling his clients' money:"Look not. See not."

[Jane]

Oh good. Revenue. We need it!

[clarice]

Cathyf, earlier i missed your joke about the "?" being burned on a unitarian's lawn. Loved it.

[pst314]

"I don't want to peeve Unitarians"

Not that they'd ever do anything--the church that replaced Just War Theory with Just Suicide Theory.

[peter]

pst314, I did not know that. But we all agree, Garrison Keillor is a windbag.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

You may rest assured that no appeal, no matter how desperate, has ever overturned the completely honest convictions shared by every member of the staff at First Federated National during their entire term of service. Staff are only hired based upon satisfactory completion of five to ten years at institutions with worldwide renown for very high security. We treat all of our clients money as if it were our own.

[Extraneus]

Speaking of the great Religion of Peace, there's a very disturbing post at Hot Air on the subject. Worth remembering who we're talking about here, although I imagine Obama has already considered this in some depth before touting his "contiguous" Palestine idea.

[Pofarmer]

"in all my travels throughout the Muslim world"

"I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim Countries."

Note the plural... his abaya is slipping...

The whole passport doctoring thingy is kinda coming into focus. This guy has been dishonest on sooooooo many levels. It's really unbeleivable that NOBODY in the MSM wanted to report on any of it. And it ain't like it was hidden stuff, most of it was just tucked here and there, barely hidden. It's not like they had to subpoena sealed divorce records or anything.

[Pofarmer]

On another note. Missouri news had a little piece on the closing of Gitmo that illustrated why the conservative position is so difficult. First, they have on Kitt Bond, eloquting on why we need Gitmo, how these are foreign terrorrists collected in foreign lands by methods that cannot and should not be revealed for the security of the Country. Then the announcer just has a statement by McCaskill saying "Gitmo has not made Americans safer." How do you argue with that.

[clarice]

Pofarmer, we know he lived in Indonesia and traveled to Pakistan--plural--two Arab countries. We know his father and step father were both Moselms.

I'm afraid I don't get what you're saying.

[hit and run]

Where's Charlie? This thread could really use Charlie.

[kim]

Oh, boy; John Theon, James Hansen's old boss at NASA has just declared himself a skeptic and denounced Hansen as an embarrassment to NASA. Humpty Hansen's headed for a great fall.
=========================================

[narciso]

Yes, Po, that's one of those effusions of words that substitutes for an argument, did anybody ask Claire McKaskill to explain what she meant by that. If she mean the sixty two detainees, including 9 members of 'Saudi probation' who have returned to the battlefield. That's the result of letting them out, not keeping them in. And that was more than likely due to the public relations
campaign waged on behalf of Kuwaiti and Saudi interests by white shoe Wall Street and DC firms like Shearman, Wilmer,
Covington,et al. Now mind you,that doesn't readily lend itself to a soundbite

[kim]

clarice, a lot of people think Obama traveled to Pakistan while at Occidental College with an Indonesian passport. His made up identity is going to be a good excuse to dump him someday. I can't help but think that if he actually is ineligible, it is known, and it's a trump card waiting for the most opportune turn of the game. It really bugs me that he would not show his birth certificate. That was not whimsical behaviour.
==============================================

[E. Nigma]

Indonesia and Pakistan are Muslim (Islamic) countries, not Arab.

Carry on.

[clarice]

Kim, I;ve never understood that claim. Nothing preented him from going over on his US passport. In fact, IIRC his mother was working there at the time for Ford Foundation.

[kim]

I find it a little odd that he'd say 'in all my travels throughout the Muslim world' when much more accurate would be 'through the Muslim world'. Or has he, in fact, traveled throughout the Muslim World?
==============================

[clarice]

E. Nigma, Of course, you are right. Thanks for the correction.

[kim]

I think it would be nice to see a little provenance on his US passport, too, clarice. Someone's taken a peek; I wonder why?
==================================

[Mel]

clarice-

Pofarmer is referring to the travel by President Obama, on his (was it Kenyan?) other passport, to Pakistan.

[clarice]

So what? I know lots of people with dual citizenship and dual passports. there's nothing illegal or improper about that. In fact, some people who need to travel a great deal do it largely for convenience or safety.

As for someone trying to get a peek at his passport--people in that group were trying to look at others, as well at the same time.

Nosey parkers.

[Danube of Thought]

I certainly hold no brief for the man, but it's entirely possible for him to have held two passports simultaneously--one of them issued by the U.S.--and to have traveled on either one, whether it was Kenyan or Indonesian.

[Mel]

Ordinarily I would agree, but as candidate, or now POTUS, one would think dual citizenship would present a challenge towards perceived loyalties.

And why Mr. Axelrod astroturfed the subject.

[Jane]

I thought the word came down that the passport peeker was actually working for O and he looked at the others to distract.

[Mel]

Sen. Demint's warning about a new cry "wolf" campaign to get the new "stimulus" (I think it should be spelled s-u-p-p-o-s-i-t-o-r-y) bill.

(LUN)

[Mel]

The missing word is...

"passed".

Sheesh.

[kim]

Good Heavens, this link to end of thread works.

clarice, some aren't sure he had a US passport at the time. The hit on the passport information was made by Obama's people and there is a theory that they only checked the other two in order to divert attention from the fact that they were seeking to discover what the passport file for Obama was. He has lots of tangled webs to keep tangled.

Look, it's easy to sound like a truther about all of this, but we know his is a made-up story. What's the real story, please. Clearly it's pertinent, and likely in a negative fashion.
========================================

[kim]

Well, I see Jane and mel just made my two points for me. At least I'm not imagining them, clarice, even if I place undue emphasis upon them. Zero is a phony. Too bad the unholy apparatus of a totalitarian government is our punishment for falling for the fake.
===========================================================

[clarice]

Try aiming for the nuts, not the ankles..This passport thing seems small potatoes compared to almost everything else--like his view on the important issues.

[kim]

Besides, clarice, face it; it may ultimately be a more effective means to constantly challenge the legitimacy of Obama's administration than was the eight years of harping over Bush being appointed by the Supreme Court.
=========================

[narciso]

It is kind of curious that employees of John Brennan, the former frontrunner for CIA, demoted to white house counter terror advisor, firm' the Analysis Company, were caught analyzing passport and other records
of his.

[clarice]

Curious, but understandable. Give a bunch of people access to others' secret records and you can be sure they'll be aimlessly poking into stuff that's none of their business. Just because.

[kim]

Every single foreign policy decision of his can be second guessed with 'Well, where are his loyalties?'. It has occurred to me just now that that may help explain putting the Clintons in charge of the world.
========================

[kim]

Oh, sure, it might be 'curious, but understandable'. That starts sounding like the excuses for Berger. Sure, there may be nothing in it, clarice, but there is smoke enough for there to be a regular conflagration below. We know they are all ferocious liars.
================================

[narciso]

True, I remember the previous example of Barbara Tampico (sic)the Bush staffer caught searching Clinton and his mother Virginia's passport files, for incriminating information as if they'd really be any there. The CIA's Chaos files, or the NSA's Minaret files, which would obviously be more restricted,would be the place to look. You're right, it's a very picayune angle of attack, when there are so many other more fruitful avenues. But it would be a great peg for a novel though
having seen glanced through the recently Downie roman a clef, which seemed to presage the Palin and Gillibrand candidacy

[daddy]

Yesterday a Singapore paper had a story on what I thought was a brand new Islamic terrorist escapee from a Singapore Prison. I can`t find it today on the internet but just scowering through the web on recent Islamist Terrorist escapee`s is frightening enough all by itself. Mass jail breaks of terrorists in Iraq or Afgahanistan or Yemen should come as no big surprise, but in Singapore, a multi-culti nation with a hardcore law inforcement reputation and a minority Muslim population, a limping Islamic Al Quaida associated Terrorist Commander simply walked out of custody less than a year ago. (www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/28/asia/sing.php)
Hopefully I`m mistaken and the story I read yesterday was just a regurgitation of this previous terrorists escape, but whether or not there is a second escapee, it is inconcievable to me that escapes by Islamic terrorists from Singapore Jails don`t occur without inside help. Now I see Malaysia and Indonesia, both massively dominated Muslim countries, say they want some of the Gitmo prisoners, and with 94 already tagged for transport to Yemen, why doesn`t Obama just pardon them himself and cut out the farce.

[harlan]

Yes, but you see...WE, (royal "we")are engaging in a little wishful thinking.

"WE" desire that islam be more prominent than it already is...much, much more.

[harlan]

Yes, but you see...WE, (royal "we")are engaging in a little wishful thinking.

"WE" desire that islam be more prominent than it already is...much, much more.

[harlan]

Yes, but you see...WE, (royal "we")are engaging in a little wishful thinking.

"WE" desire that islam be more prominent than it already is...much, much more.

[Pofarmer]

why doesn`t Obama just pardon them himself and cut out the farce.

Because he want's to cover his ass in case they are, ya know, bad people.

[Mel]

clarice-

I remember now. The "big" deal was that he had traveled to Pakistan on an Indonesian passport. In order to obtain one of those, you must declare Indonesian citizenship, solely. This was in 1981, apparantly, and Pakistan was under martial law, also not an easy place to travel to with US citizenship. If you recall, the ISI was busy building up the Taliban at the time, and trying to play the "Great Game" against the USSR and the US of A, at the same time. Something about a "caliphate" , as I recall.

That's how I remember the fooferaw, that Axelrod astroturfed.

Seems people get concerned when you give up your citizenship to travel, and then claim it never happened to run for office.

Who knew?

[Danube of Thought]

If Obama had dual citizenship at the time of the travel, he could have had passports from both countries, or only from one of them--and either one would do. It strikes me as awfully strained to suggest that having had dual citizenship, or two passports, at one time poses a question of where his loyalties now lie. This is a subject on which it is, indeed, easy to sound like a truther, and I don't think it will ever gain enough traction to cast any doubt at all on the legitimacy of his presidency among large numbers of serious people. I think it will be far more productive going forward to focus on the merits of what this man says and does than to suggest that whatever he does is based on some sort of divided loyalty.

[Mel]

Alarm time all.

Have a good night, and play nicely.

[Elliott]

Seems people get concerned when you give up your citizenship to travel, and then claim it never happened to run for office.

Even if the theory were correct, he probably only would have gotten himself in hot water with the Indonesian authorities as he likely wouldn't have done anything to lose U.S. citizenship.

[narciso]

Like I said Danube, a good subject for fiction, not so much for reasoned political speculation. In fact considering the time period involved it would more likely indicate
he was aligned with the left wing opponents of General Zia, like the Tariq Alisof the world in the time that Salman Rushdie
chronicled in his novel Shame; than any Islamist sympathies

[Pofarmer]

Even if the theory were correct, he probably only would have gotten himself in hot water with the Indonesian authorities as he likely wouldn't have done anything to lose U.S. citizenship.

Thing is, supposedly, Indonesia doesn't allow dual citizenship. In order to get the Indonesian passport he would have had to renounce his American citizenship, at least to the Indonesians. I'm sure the paperwork has been all gone bye, bye, though. No big deal. Nothing to see here, move along, just the new president.

[Elliott]

Interesting point, narciso.

DoT,

A central element of the theory is the claim* that Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship. However, as I was suggesting above, I don't think the U.S. government would have cared even if he had put one over on Suharto.
________________
*Never verified by me.

[clarice]

TP says that TM alone can fix open links or he can ban HTML. I told them it was preposterous for them to keep writing these polite responses that were meaningless. A week ago, anyone could close a link inadvertently left open..Now it is impossible and the burden is on the web owner. If they had a more convenient system before it is inexpliable that they cannot return to that.

[clarice]

I think the TP responders are techies who know how to fix certain things, cannot deal with our responses and cannot take them up higher to be dealt with. We are stuck in the first ring of some bureaucratic hell. They must respond with meaningless gibberish no matter what we write.

[clarice]

daddy, If that story is true, I share your concern. One doesn't just escape from a Singapore prison. Heck you can't even chew gum or eat durian there without landing in the pokey.

[Pofarmer]

Pagination still sucks.

[Elliott]

Sorry, Pofarmer, didn't see yours before I posted. As Clarice has noted, the U.S. prescribes specific steps for someone wanting to renounce his or her citizenship. So, even if all this had transpired as theorized, I don't think it would have made him ineligible for the Presidency.

[cathyf]

Well, clarice, speaking as an old fogey software developer, I have learned that the best response to something like this breaking-in-firefox problem is to respond, "Hmmm... That's not supposed to have changed. Let me file a bug report and we'll try to track down what changed and fix it."

These kids think people will think that they're stupid if they admit to breaking their software and not knowing it was broken. It somehow hasn't occurred to them that we think they are way stupider for saying, "It was always like that," when we know darn well that it wasn't.

[narciso]

I suppose that is the official response, but considering that the period of which we speak in the mid 60s, was right after the US Govt, particularly the CIA, had provided lists of communists, that Suharto and the TNI had used to purge their foes, it wouldn't be too hard to imagine a little backsliding. The big stickler to this theory, is that Anne Dunham's center left sympathies to be charitable again, would likely not have found favor with the likes of the relevant agencies of the period or maybe not. The idea that either she or her young son were assets of any kind is even
more unlikely.

[Pofarmer]

So, even if all this had transpired as theorized, I don't think it would have made him ineligible for the Presidency.

Still makes him an opportunistic, unpatriotic, unprincipalled, asshole.

[Pofarmer]

The thing is, he was willing to pull a fast one on the U.S. to do the easy thing. That's not a great quality in a President. I'll go with the "Imagine if George Bush had done such a thing" line.

[narciso]

Of course, the plot thickens when one considers the Charles Geithner, Tim's pa, was also with the Ford foundation in Indonesia, in a roughly overlapping period. Which speculation were you referring to Elliot, his likely leftwing even bohemian sympathies in authoritarian Pakistan, the real source of any incriminating information, possibly why he kept John Brennan on.

Of course, distressing but somewhat predictable news, Arlen 'Single Bullet' Specter has decided to vote to confirm Holder. Who would think that Ira Einhorn's former attorney would have trouble is discerning the motives of people in his perview.

[Elliott]

I just think it's a big if. However, I remind myself that a close working relationship with Bill Ayers was at one point a big if as well. I've always found Cashill's theory rather plausible and a couple weeks ago he had an column on Obama's 1983 Columbia article.

[Elliott]

That's it, narciso. Though I suppose it would be helpful to know what side of the fence his friends' families were on.

[Rick Ballard]

Elliot,

That Dunham/Obama article is almost as coherent as Michelle's senior gibberish. Clarice is right. S.T.U.P.I.D. Mr. BHOfumbles Q. Teleprompter.

The HLR should be ashamed of what it has done to its reputation.

[bgates]

From Elliott's link, the opening paragraphs of "War is Bad", by Barry O (age 21):
Most students at Columbia do not have first hand knowledge of war. Military violence has been a vicarious experience, channeled into our minds through television, film, and print.
The more sensitive among us struggle to extrapolate experiences of war from our everyday experience, discussing the latest mortality statistics from Guatemala, sensitizing ourselves to our parents' wartime memories, or incorporating into our framework of reality as depicted by a Mailer or a Coppola. But the taste of war-the sounds and chill, the dead bodies-are remote and far removed. We know that wars have occurred, will occur, are occurring, but bringing such experience down into our hearts, and taking continual, tangible steps to prevent war, becomes a difficult task.
I'd like to ask those with experience of Harvard how much of an outlier this sub-Luciferian prose is. A second question, for anyone who's read the books that have Obama's name in the place where the author usually goes, are the books that bad?
Third question, since I struggle to extrapolate experiences of publishing from...my...experiences, could a guy really get a book deal by forcing innocent words to associate with each other in such unnatural patterns as "the taste of war-the sounds and chill"?

[Stephanie]

You know you're low when you have lower ethical standards than a convicted felon, but that's where former Sen. Norm Coleman finds himself.

His fellow former senator, Ted Stevens of Alaska, decided not to contest his narrow defeat.

Stevens had little realistic chance of overturning the result, and Alaska needed both its senators as hundreds of billions of dollars were being spent by Congress. Even though he betrayed the public trust, Stevens' last public act put his state first.

Not so for Coleman, of Minnesota, who has gone to court to block Al Franken from taking office as the newly elected senator. The case could drag on for weeks or even months -- and all the while, Minnesota will be fighting for federal funds with one senator tied behind its back.

Quick get Deval Patrick to appoint a senator to fill Kennedy's seat, too. They are deprived of a functioning senator...

(since Kerry is the other senator, maybe he should appoint 1 3/4 senators, though)

Begala is decrying the "situational ethics" of Coleman while demonstrating the same himself - hypocrite. Tim Johnson - SD was out of the senate for 9 months with a stroke and the dems had big problems with that governor appointing a replacement to serve the people. Could it be the party affiliation of the governor they were concerned about then and not the fact that the people were without full representation....

ASSHAT.

[Elliott]

Most students at Columbia do not have first hand knowledge of war.

True. Ayers was still at Bank Street College.

[narciso]

Oh, dear lord, that was painfully vapid and uninformed, i'd say he had to have been
smoking something to be that inane; but then again, he's supposedly sober now and he hasn't really changed in twenty five years has he. God help us,