Comments Posted By Still Liberal
Displaying 11 To 20 Of 99 Comments
UNITED STATES OUT OF THE UN -- NOW
Rick, I know you are not religious, but Amen, brother. Ineffective and corrupt are the best one can say for the U.N. I also agree with Michael Reynolds. Trump International Towers at 1st Ave & E 44th St in NYC chould be very hot property!
Comment Posted By still liberal On 20.12.2009 @ 17:47
If the more industrialized countries are to subsidize poorer more, with funds for "going green", what do these countries get in return?
In the NY Times article cited I found the following: "Maria de Fatima Monteiro Jardim, environment minister of Angola, noted that African countries suffer dire poverty."
Angola is one of the more corrupt countries on the planet, no easy distinction to accomplish due to a lot of competition. After a 27 year Civil War, the management of the country is a bit disheveled, to put it kindly. Billions of aid dollars remain unaccounted for and it's "great poverty" continues despite being a major producer of oil and diamonds, generating tens of billions of dollars each year.
What guarantees can Angola and other "poor" nations offer to protect investing one hundred billion dollars for non-carbon based energy support? If history teaches us anything, there are no protections for the money.
The while notion of a "green" economy has the same feel as getting rich selling Amway products or investing with Bernie Madoff. If your bulls**t detector is not going off at full alert, it should be. The demand for "green" is ginned up at best; using the same emotional appeal of feeding a child for $5.00 a month.
And while we are at it, if one more person states that we must "save the planet" I will barf. The planet is in no danger. People may possibly be, but not the damn planet.
It is absolutely self evident that if warming continues, mass migration of people will need to occur. Let's save our money for that problem, not wreck Western (and Eastern) civilization with draconian fixes to what are only possible problems.
Comment Posted By still liberal On 18.12.2009 @ 14:42
WHAT'S SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT CLIMATEGATE? EVERYTHING
I do not pretend to understand the science related to global warming. But common sense can be readily applied in this situation. It is readily apparent that humans can adapt to climate change far more easily that changing the climate will be. The Earth has warmed and cooled repeatedly without man-made greenhouse gases. Changing dependence on fossil fuels seems to be important if for no other reasons than they are a finite resource and petrodollars fuel terrorism.
It does seem impulsive to begin throwing away the advances of modern civilization because we have caused some damage to the atmosphere. Instead of a jerry-rigged system of buying and selling permission to pollute, a collaborate industrialized nations effort to develop alternative fuel sources seems a better investment of money. Ending the use of fossil fuels as our primary energy source will take a long time. We cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater. This is neither liberal nor conservative. Avoiding stupid, knee jerk decisions is hopefully a universal value.
Comment Posted By still liberal On 8.12.2009 @ 16:03
Thank you for this great post. For Mr. Burke, James Bradley's "The Imperial Cruise" is being appropriately gutted by most responsible historians, so that bit of attempted revisionism is not a real concern. Pearl Harbor will be a part of the American conscious as long as we are a nation. The heroic efforts of Americans following this jolting attack was a masterwork of national effort equal to or greater than our Civil War. The mobilization of the country for war and the efforts of our military and civilian population in defeating the Axis powers is a story equal to that of any in history.
My concern is the legacy of 9/11. The bravery of the military in Iraq and Afghanistan cannot be denied by any thinking person. But where was the sense of shared effort to deal with this attack on the American psyche? We created a massive new bureaucracy which was likely not needed.We invested wisely in our abilities to track terrorist's money, activities and planning. But we trivialized the matter with the color coded threat levels, shoe removal at airports, and attacking a country that had little or nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. We were told to go shopping and that no sacrifice of money in increasing taxes to pay for the wars was needed. What will Americans in 2077, sixty eight years from now, think of 9/11? It will likely not have the impact of Pearl Harbor on the national memory because of how we chose to respond to this assault on America.One word defines the difference: Leadership. In crisis, most of us eagerly follow a leader, someone who has a plan and can articulate it.
Question answered.
ed.
Comment Posted By still liberal On 7.12.2009 @ 16:32
I have to agree with Rick on this one. If one purports to make a life changing decision, some thoughtful reflection, instead of knee jerk blurbs is in order. I read the post and all I see is complaints about conservatives, not conservatism. Rick's recent posts on conservatism have been thoughtful and even hopeful, even while tanning the hides of the right wing goofballs the LGF dude was moaning about. Principles and convictions still matter, even though screaming and arm flapping gets a blogger more attention.
Comment Posted By still liberal On 1.12.2009 @ 12:33
IT'S STILL A GOOD IDEA TO REDUCE CO2 EMISSIONS
There are some very useful science links of the right side of this blog. Some understanding of the topic is a good thing. I swear, the next time I hear someone saying whether or not they "believe in" global warming, evolution, or some other scientific idea its time to go medieval! Belief is in the realm of faith, not science. Science works to provide the best explanation of observed phenomenon. Once can accept the evidence presented or find the evidence lacking for specific reasons, but belief is not a part of science.
Comment Posted By still liberal On 28.11.2009 @ 16:15
THE ABSOLUTE MORAL AUTHORITY TO ACT LIKE AN ASS
I can appreciate Uncle Jimbo's gung-ho military attitude and ready defense of the men and women in the military. However, I don't think a Master Sgt. would focus too much on the political implications of roughing up prisoners. After Abu Graib and other military and hired civilians' mistreatment of prisoners, it is in the funding interest of the military to avoid acts that put them in a bad light with our civilian population.
And astute military people must always remember that our system has overall civilian control of the military and how and what activities they will be charged to do.
As an old buddy from the Army said, the Army's job is to "bust things and kill people." But this has very limited application to dealing with insurgencies and this must be calculated into our current Afganistan equation as well.
Comment Posted By still liberal On 25.11.2009 @ 15:02
'THE COST OF DYING:' FALSE CHOICES OR THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN HEALTHCARE?
Living wills and advanced directives. A living will allows a person to state exactly what level of end of life care they want. Everyone should have one. My wife of 25 years was diagnosed with bile duct cancer and lived just 3 months after the diagnosis. We had doctors coming out of the woodwork to offer tests, pain relief surgery, breast exams, pap smears, and on and on after she was clearly not going to live much longer and was settled in her mind about the terminal diagnosis.
I would have paid any price to get her better, but there was no chance of that. She chose death with dignity and made peace with every important person in her life before letting go of life.
Everyone can make their own choices about end of life care. Death is a natural part of life and no amount of money, compassion, guilt or anything else will change this basic fact. The cost of end of life care is a major issue and working with individuals and families in making these decisions must be a part of health care, regardless of any or no changes in provision of care. Hospice, or palliative care is an essential service and it is much more humane (and cost effective) than throwing services at dying people that make no difference, but are authorized by our current insurance system.
There is not a system on the planet that does not "ration" health care in some manner. Do it thoughtfully and carefully.
Sorry for your loss.
We have to have a fundamental change in the way our society deals with death. That is the unstated lesson I draw from this. It can be done if most people take advantage of the same things you and your wife ended up embracing. But apparently, the vast majority are unaware of these options and therefore go into the final stages of life in fear and ignorance.
ed.
Comment Posted By still liberal On 23.11.2009 @ 11:44
Obama is more than a little naive and a born people-pleaser, neither of which is a compliment and both on display in the photo.
With that acknowledgment, do you suppose the Japanese are freaking out about the Emperor shaking hands with the leader of the nation that used weapons of mass destruction against their country?
America is interdependent with the rest of the world and you know it. Knock off the jingoist "Americans bow to no one" horseshit. Bush the Lesser was photographed kissing Saudi royalty, the primary sponsors and funders of militant Islam. I would much rather a clumsy bow from a President than a President who has done business with and personally benefited from sucking up to sponsors of terrorism.
Comment Posted By still liberal On 15.11.2009 @ 22:03
SOME SHORT NOTES ON KSM AND AMERICAN JUSTICE
I thought cameras were not allowed in federal courts for criminal trials. Has this changed?
Comment Posted By still liberal On 14.11.2009 @ 13:59
