crwtom

there are several million people who put their country first -- including both candidates. This is a largely trivial necessary condition -- but very far from a sufficient one for being an effective chief executive. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

There is one thing the Clinton's despise more than losing -- Republicans and Republican politics. The wounds and resentments on the latter are much deeper than over what happened this summer in the primaries or may happen in 2012. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

I'd guess the general strategy would be that Hillary Clinton will roughen up Palin before she even gets into the debate. Biden can then split his answers between curt acknowledgments of Palin's existence and spend the rest of his time appraising the dysfunctionalities of the GOP and McBush's tired and worn out outlook for the country. Remember - people vote for the top of the ticket. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

Also Bridge to Nowhere she was for it before she was against it ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

I do too -- for example Rumsfeld (AB Princeton), Wolfowitz (PhD U Chicago), Perle (MA Princeton), Rice (Prof & Dean at Standford), Cheney (aborted PhD U Wisconsin). The principals that go us into the Iraq war --- their own rational for the war to them was driven by highly academic ideology. On the other hand lack of such credentials has similar pitfalls - often even worse ones. Example is the same administration, same topic. Bush touted himself as the "real thing" and was less than academically inclined. He was surrounded by these ivy-league ideologues and ate everything they served him hook, line, and sinker. He didn't have the background to call the whole BS. Ideally you want someone who can effectively handle the ivy-leaguers in the upper tiers of administrative, corporate & diplomatic world, and at the same time is pragmatic and has a close-up understanding about the realities of the lunch box and inner city constituency. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

he's half white half black -- so he has to be against purple people? ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

what a load of vicious right-wing insinuation and propaganda pro-choice is not the same as "for abortion" I am pro-choice but would have never pushed for abortion if our child had been disabled or conceived out of wed lock or whatever. I am certainly not "for abortion". Just because I think it wrong for the government to intrude into the integrity of a woman's body and that a dumb-ass criminalization approach is unlikely to reduce abortions but very likely to make the problem a lot worse does not make me nonchalant with human life. This equation is pretty insulting to a large majority of pro-choice people. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

Talk about Teaching you children abstinence Now Hubby also has an Abstinence Problem This is getting better by the minute .... Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

Either way, no one to boast about. who is boasting? ... looks like you entirely missed the point. Even if the problems were as benin as in Alaska and Dixon was successful -- the pick as VP would be a major cause of headshaking and puzzlement. ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

Alaska has a population smaller than dozens of US cities, and thanks to oil revenues actually sends money to its citizens, rather than having to tax them. Hardly a challenge to run. a rough analogy to Sarah Palin would be Sheila Dixon, major of Balitmore, Maryland. Balitimore and Alaska have almost the same population. Both are women. Both assumed office only about 20 months ago. Both are relatively young Smaller differences: Socio-economic problems in Baltimore are likely a lot more difficult than in Alaska, and Dixon is a bit older with a number more previous public offices. What would be the talk if Obama (or any other Dem Nominee) would have picked Dixon as VP?? Regardless of Dixon's credentials this would have been a very bizarre thing to do. Another difference: As opposed to his opponent McCain is 72 with various health problems - so the competence of the VP to become the leader of the free world is really a non-trivial consideration. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

Why do you say that? The last I read Hillary is no longer in the running. so? You don't have to be a candidate to campaign - and Clinton will continue to campaign ... and she will take Palin apart on policy. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

That is too motherfucking awesome for words! Now that he has the draw of a FEMALE who could be the VICE PRESIDENT, Obama must have just shit himself a brick. I fuckin' love it! it's a weaker pick than Ferraro in 1984 The really good thing -- the Dems are now free to unleash Hillary on Palin -- Palin doesn't stand a chance against her ... ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

also blatantly tactical - you know they said that Obama picking another woman than Hillary for VP would have been a much worse affront than picking e.g. Biden. McCain just did that (if the rumors true) -- Palin as "consolation price" for Hillary supporters does not seem like a very convincing sell in the long run. For their supporters Hillary stod a movement for many and it was for the number one slot (The VP talk later was more like asking for final respects after the lost bid for the #1 slot) Palin doesn't match that even remotely -- this is more like the Ferraro Pick of Mondale in 1984 -- laced with very transparent political motives. Easy to pick apart ... Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

you can think of deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan as deployments along the southern flank of Russia -- so those may actually be a head start in a conventional conflict. ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

that's what they said in 1919 - and they had the idea that draconic laws are the best way to lead public health policy. The "success" is manifested in two totally useless amendments to the constitution - one canceling the other - and many more dead people. Exactly the point also here. Such moralistic laws that try to solve social/health problems by a simplistic crime-&-punishment approach are for populist politicians who want to win the next election. I would trust a university president over a red-meat politician any time of the day. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

not without reason (see above) ... ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

if you ever dealt with making a diversity case for federal or state money you know these are two very different things. It does not get you any points if you recruit a black person from Tanzania or Cameroon. To count as a diversity effort the passport has to be US-American. On the surface the reasoning is, I guess, that these funded people will stay in the US and add to the diversity of the workforce with all the ramifications of serving as example for younger generations. My sense though is that somewhere in the back of the mind of many is also the equation "African-American"="Slave Descendant" -- so maybe calling it a "euphemism" is not so far off the target. (Technically, this is still different since you'd have to verify the nationality of three or four previous generations). The correlation of slave-decency (and later segregation) and the unusual difficulties of integration set the "African-American" group apart from most other "XYZ-Americans". All groups seem to be able to overcome the worst economic hurdles (and deal with the usual bigotry) in a generation or two. The devastating long term effects of slavery are more along the lines of the destruction of an "aspirational culture" of the group, consisting of family traditions/value, role models, pride in collective achievements/identity, work ethics and codes. Africans had all that (albeit in more primitive forms) in their home continent and all of that was thoroughly eradicated after they were released from slavery as "African-Americans". Many see the reparation of this damage as a responsibility of the whole country. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

ahhhh - the hedge-hog fantasies of the swiss. How their military loves to talk about luring invaders into their valleys and leading Guerrilla warfare from the mountains with stealth attacks from specially designed skies and bicycles. There reasons Switzerland was not attacked in WWII were its banks that everyone needed to launder and push money around (and of course their collaboration with the axis on numerous matters such as North-south transit, Jewish immigration, etc) The reasons they did not attack anyone was because the generals from the French speaking part wanted to declare war on Germany and the ones from the German speaking part were more sympathetic to Germany. The reasons that Switzerland is at peace now - again the banks and surrounding central Europe is a very peaceful place now. The main function of the Swiss army up until now -- mainly a men's club for social advancement. The rather short conscription service (only 18 weeks -- compared to 1-3 years in other countries) is important to young males mainly to forge relations for the impending professional world. The annual week-long exercises are sort of class reunions at the shooting gallery. In the past many job advertisements specifically required that you had to be a certain rank in the military (meaning, you had gone through a few more weeks of officer training and met a few more influential friends) ... which also tells you a bit about the role of women in the country. It appears much of that is changing though with newer generation, and more and more are choosing the route of civil substitute service. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

religion is an instrument of power-- so it is not true that it is "Not entirely correct" that it is about power (i.e., it is about power)

no I don't -- and I don't think anyone here really has ... Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

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Elizabeth Edwards' Oncologist considered her cancer a non-issue in 2006, when John had his affair. Moreover, even if it were coincidental, they obviously worked it out within their family a long time ago. This is classical republican playbook - not hesitating to take private family matters and put a spin for political gain on them, regardless of the additional pain inflicted on the family. There's absolutely no proof of that hypothesis. (1) Think about your favorite WH occupant who was dishonest to the public in a public policy or criminal law matter. (2) Think about your favorite WH occupants who was dishonest in a private /sexual matter. If what you say is true the people in (1) should be the same as the people in (2). I come up with disjoint sets of people. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

no theory of nature is ever "proved" -- all are best possible working hypotheses and their quality measured by consistency with reproducible experiment or repeated observation. That gives you measures of probability or confidence. Weighing physical evidence and logical coherence against each other it should be something like creationism: 0.000000000000000000000000000001 evolution: 99.999999999999999999999999999999 ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

GW Bush approval ratings in both countries are around 13 or 14%. and have been at this level for a couple of years. And the outcome of the 2004 election did blow a lot of people's minds in the old continent - although many did not put it as bluntly as the Daily Mirror cover there was fair amount of puzzlement about the sanity of US voters. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

It's also about $5,000 per US household. So it would need only about four reverse-stimulus initiatives. Happy anti-stimulation, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true