Quote:Pete, if Magi doesn't usually read these posts, will you please ask her to read this one.

Quote:Hi,
Done.

As a member of both "those who fought in Vietnam" (and as volunteer at that), and "the peacenik atheist hippies", I often find these debates to be somewhat simplistic. And this article does devolve into an apologia for blogging about half way through. But there are some interesting points made, so thanks for the link.

--Pete

Quote:This article from The Atlantic Monthly just blew me away this morning. As a revoltingly-liberal Democrat born in 1950, ergo Baby Boomer to the core, Hillary Clinton has been worrying me for quite awhile. Yet I couldn't see Obama as the alternative. I guess that's because my crystal ball is out of commission and I can't see the future.

But I can see the present, and Sullivan's article gives tremendous perspective there, plus an insight that, at my age, I'm sure I would have missed. I hope you will all find it worthy of your time, as I did.

Pete, if Magi doesn't usually read these posts, will you please ask her to read this one. I'd like to chat with her about it in game and get her response. (Yours too of course.)

Quote:When Clinton was President and Republicans took over Congress, they played the role of obstructionists and our government literally did nothing except maintain the status quo for months at a time (even having no approved budget for the current fiscal year at one point). That was fiscal conservatism in a literal sense, and the country seemed to thrive for it.

Quote:I think to some (me included -- depending on the issue), stalemate is preferable to any motion in the wrong direction. Last time I checked, the federal budget is still unbalanced, debt is soaring, Social Security is still on the road to bankruptcy, our borders are still as porous as cheese cloth, and the military is about 1/2 to 1/3 the size it really needs to be to adequately protect the free worlds democracies. We have failed or are losing on all the pseudo "feel-good" wars; the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on illiteracy, and soon enough now the war on terror. There is plenty to do, just no one is willing to work on it lest they commit political suicide. I would suggest some day we should just skip the politicians and just get some good citizens in their to make some good decisions and get the job done.

Quote:If Obama can talk John Edwards into running as his VP, I'll vote for him. Otherwise, I'll vote for Romney.

Two people I won't vote for are Hillary and Giuliani. The last thing the US needs in a president is a New York clique approved lap dog. That is what both of those people are.

Occhi

Quote:If Obama can talk John Edwards into running as his VP, I'll vote for him. Otherwise, I'll vote for Romney.

Two people I won't vote for are Hillary and Giuliani. The last thing the US needs in a president is a New York clique approved lap dog. That is what both of those people are.

Occhi

• Require members of Congress to work out on the Total Gym 15 minutes each day – or else they can't vote on anything.<>
  
• Cut spending by dismissing the Secret Service, at least for my eight years in office (why would I need them?).<>
  
• Resurrect Bruce Lee and appoint him head of homeland security (OK, the CIA and FBI too).<>
  
• Give a presidential pardon to … no one, ever. Baretta was right in the '70s, "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time. Don't do it!"<>
  
• Turn the Rose Garden into a new fighting ring for the World Combat League, in which liberals and conservatives will fight for legislative leadership and priority. (For fun, Saturday night fights will feature a recurring bout between Hannity and Colmes). "American Idol" already told me they will provide the entertainment.<>
  
• Require Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to personally pay for national, comprehensive medical coverage for every American (or meet me in the Rose Garden).<>
  
• Increase jobs in America by sending ninja teams to sabotage and steal them back from other countries.<>
  
• Tattoo an American flag with the words, "In God we trust," on the forehead of every atheist. <>
  
• Give a tax credit to anyone naming their children Walker or Texas Ranger (excluding Will Farrell).<>
  
• Resolve the Iraq war by bringing all of our military personnel home immediately, then going over there by myself for "martial arts negotiations."<>
  
• Hang Saddam Hussein (Whoops – scratch that – already did it undercover).<>
  
• Convey my plan for world peace to the United Nations: taking the governor of California with me on our "kick butt and ask questions later" USO world tour.<>
  
• Give every new military enlistee abroad a copy of my upcoming new book, "The Threat of Justice," with the words, "Arnold and I will be back to pump you up!" above my autograph.<>
  
• Bring on Donald Trump as my apprentice. When my presidential term is complete and he has obtained his black belt, or whichever comes first, he can buy the White House and of course rename it (to, what else, "The Trump House").<>
  
• Create new immigration legislation: to deport all liberals (then force them to listen to Bill O' Reilly every day for five years, at which point they may return).<>
  
• Ask producer Mark Barnett to film "Survivor – Camp David," where world leaders will meet annually, for an all-out cage-fighting championship. The winner will take home $1,000,000 in Disney Dollars, good in Europe or America.<>
  
• Send an autographed photo of me and my horse (no dogs in my White House) to everyone who commits to read my new WorldNetDaily "presidential column" and blast a blog who dares to disagree with me.<>
  
• Complete the plan to bring Tony Blair to the U.S. as my vice president.<>
  
• Expose the real WMDs – my fists and feet.<>
  
• Replace Letterman, Leno or Conan once monthly, since stand-up comedy is what most governmental officials do anyway.<>
  
• Ask Al Gore to provide me with a special governmental study on the connection between spotted owl extinction and global warming. (I'm pretty sure Michael Moore will film the docudrama).<>
  
• Help Rosie transition from "The View" to the pew – it might help her get over that anger problem. If the pew doesn't work, she can spar Trump in the Rose Garden.<>
  
• First and foremost, however, my greatest priorities will be to …
  Personally smoke out bin Laden by myself and round-house kick him all the way back to America, where my United Fighting Arts Federation will handle the justice issues.<>
  
• Make all Chuck Norris facts come true (well, not quite all of them – I'm a happily, married man!)<>
  [st]
  Seriously. I'm not sure that I like anyone in the field. I don't like the positions of Clinton, Obama, Giuliani, Edwards, McCain, or even Ron Paul.

Quote:The last thing the US needs in a president is a New York clique approved lap dog. That is what both of those people are.

Quote:Especially since the last Texas clique approved lap dog has done so well for the country.;)

Quote:Otherwise, I'll vote for Romney.

Quote:Romney is MA equivalent of Giuliani. I doubt you'll find ANY MA resident willing to vote for him, except maybe the staunchest, craziest, hardcore Republicans around. I'd take McCain over Romney or Giuliani any day.

Quote:We need a candidate that is strong on border security... I don't want to have to learn Canadian.

Quote:Guess we'll just get our Christmas lists filled directly by China, then.

Quote:Aren't they?

Quote:Romney is MA equivalent of Giuliani. I doubt you'll find ANY MA resident willing to vote for him, except maybe the staunchest, craziest, hardcore Republicans around. I'd take McCain over Romney or Giuliani any day.

Quote:You ought to be happy that you're at least getting a cut.

Quote:I wouldn't vote for McCain now even though he was one of my senators. He's become too much like Bush in his foreign policy and we definitely need a change on that level. Overall, I'm not too happy with most of the Republic front runners cause they all seem like they want to be a bigger and badder George W Bush on foreign policy and that's bad IMO.

If Colin Powell decided to come out of retirement and actually run for President, he would get my vote in a heart beat (considering what has been leaked on his thoughts and feelings of the Bush presidency).

Quote:I think whether from D's or R's, the bluster of tough foreign policy is easier done from the arm chair and harder when done with consideration of the lives and limbs of soldiers, police and innocent civilians and their widows and orphans. The currency is blood, so we better be real sure that we are getting our monies worth. Were I a soldier, I would want my leaders to soberly be sure they were expending my blood for a very good cause. I think Bush knows and believes he is getting something for this, he knows it is very unpopular, and he knew before he ever did it that it would be very unpopular. He did it anyway, because you don't always get to do the popular thing when you are responsible for leading the free world. I don't think he knew how hard it would be to secure the peace in Iraq, but hindsight being 20/20, I think they would have sent in an additional 100,000 troops like all the retired generals on CNN said they needed.

Should we play the war card? Not unless we must and have exhausted all other options, but to take it out of the deck would be worse. I don't like it, but we have progressively evolved into the role of world police force now. We took out Saddam, and now we live with a weak Iraq in the heart of Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Sauds who would all fight it out to carve Iraq all up. Civil war would just be a start of the conflict drawing in regional powers and then we'd all be back there to stabilize the world economy yet again. You can't easily suck that Gulf War back in the bottle. I think if we left too soon, it would be like Detroit without any cops.