Comments Posted By mannning
Displaying 431 To 440 Of 475 Comments
JESUS, LORD! ARE THEY ALL HYPOCRITICAL BASTARDS?
unless you want to count Obama's suggestion that we invade Pakistan as reality and forward thinking...
Comment Posted By mannning On 30.08.2007 @ 16:24
Re: #63 Of course I remember, and of course I know that the post was a gross exaggeration--deliberately so. But, Sir, I was not talking about yesterday when Slick Willie was in the WH, but today, when 7 candidates from the Demo party are roaming our landscape promising the most outrageous things for 2009+ that I simply had to give satire a go. Promises, promises, words and words, but no reality, no substance, and few thoughts worth mentioning, except vote for us and we will give you....
Comment Posted By mannning On 30.08.2007 @ 16:20
The problem is, there is nowhere else to vote but for the Republican party. Allowing the Democrats into full power is simply beyond anguish and nearing chaos. The party knows this well and counts on it to maintain their plush power positions. A third party is wishful thinking; it only ensures a Democratic win.
If the party is the President, then the one hope we have is to find in the assorted contenders one who can actually lead the party away from their addictions and faults, and towards the desires of the people for good, clean, and moral government all around.
Comment Posted By mannning On 29.08.2007 @ 16:15
Re #47 above: Please read my statement carefully. I wrote..."would have completed a human being"; that is, a human being that is in the process of growing. From the moment of conception a new human being is present. Thus premeditated or assisted abortion is murder.
Re #45 above: Remind me to stay away from your streets. Not only do they have pot holes, they are apparently full of immoral or amoral souls that care little for others. The stats belie your folksy thoughts.
Comment Posted By mannning On 29.08.2007 @ 15:34
People, I seem to gather, like to watch porn, fornicate without penalty, play with the same sex, cheat on their income tax (if they pay anything at all), get money free from the government, or get free services such as medical care, schooling, college, home bailout loans, a job for life, a government retirement pension vested after 10 years, superb roads, rail and bus transport, zero smog, pure water, and jolly companions--also for life. But only if they don't have to pay for it or work hard for it, or defend their nation for it.
They want someone to tell them that there is no global warming to worry about; it will be fixed by the government.
This is the script for a Democratic election campaign, and far too many voters will be taken in by it, sad to say. They will not read the fine print that says we need to raise taxes to do all of these wonderful things for you. That is because Dems will localize the raises to the well-to-do, the filthy rich, the robber barons of Wall Street, and those CEO's that make mega millions, all of whom collectively now pay over 70% of all taxes.
When that starts a negative economy spiral, and layoffs, who will they blame? The Republicans, of course!
Comment Posted By mannning On 28.08.2007 @ 23:30
Abortion: When you abort a fetus, you erase all of the structural information the fetus cells contains that would have completed a human being. That is surely murder.
There should be both a moral and a legal prohibition of that act, as well as social disgrace for the one who commits it. The GOP will surely lose voters if they fail on the abortion issue.
Gay Marriage: As I remember the situation, well over 60% of the total population of the US was in favor of banning gay marriage, as well as abortion, back in 2004. In fact, some 11 states passed negative provisions at that time regarding these issues, as I recall. Is someone claiming that these issues have now under 50% of the population's support? Seems a stretch to me.
The GOP will likely stick to its guns here, don't you think?
Comment Posted By mannning On 28.08.2007 @ 22:47
IS THE UNITED STATES AN IMPERIALIST POWER AND DOES IT MATTER?
Good post, Moran.
What seems to rile the world large and small is that we have the capability to act imperialistic at any time we choose, and in any domain we decide to use, whether military, economic, scientific, political, or even just tourism. We aren't measured so much by intent as by capability, and that sparks massive envy, jealousy, and negativity.
To ourselves, we are just plain old America, anti-imperialistic, materialistic, and rather isolationist. To many others, we are the epitome of modern-day, capitalistic imperialism.
So be it.
Comment Posted By mannning On 20.08.2007 @ 23:57
TIGHTENING THE GORDIAN KNOT OF WAR
Opinion:
Unless something happens this year to force our hand, we will not attack Iran until 2008, as I have predicted for some time. The probable month is February, and the latest is March. I look for the rhetoric to heat up significantly next month, with "revelations" coming fast and furiously about the Iranian activities in and for Iraq, and the progress of their nuclear efforts.By Feb 08 we will have replenished our precision and heavy bomb arsenal, built up our ammo supplies, furnished new vehicles to Iraq and Kuwait, moved troops from Baghdad and elsewhere to Kuwait and the border of Iran, and will have given sanctions a chance to work. The chance for Iranians to revolt will have either matured or not by Feb 08, and our diplomatic pressures will have succeeded or not to stop their nuclear weapons program. With no give on the part of Iran, we will see US action.
As I have said before, any air attack will be a comprehensive one to knock out the Iranian air defenses, command and control and communications facilities, aircraft and missile sites, and then the many sites associated with their nuclear program. Since many of these sites are embedded in their civilian built up areas, there will be substantial collateral damage and civilian casualties in the raids, despite our use of precision weapons. Of course, the Iranians will report massive civilian casualties, on the order of tens of thousands, and offer up pictures of many horrible events as proof.
It is the next scene that everyone worries about. Will the Iranians unite to meet the US threat? Or, will the revolutionaries seize the moment to strike for freedom? Will the Iranians move into Iraq to attack our forces? Will they try to close the Straits? Perhaps all of these possibilities and more. I suggest that these possible actions will have been gamed out in advance
and counter actions defined and prepared.
I do agree that at some point we will have to go into Iran to perform regime change.
Yes, it will be a threesome: perhaps the kingpin is Iran.Are we living in interesting times yet?
Comment Posted By mannning On 16.08.2007 @ 13:57
It doesn't really take a faction to leak stuff that has the power to embarrass the Administration. It takes one person with the access, the motive, and the ear of discreet reporters to do the job. If you think that the agency has no people that would do such a thing, you are naive in the extreme.
Comment Posted By mannning On 14.08.2007 @ 22:43
Ever since I had the good fortune to spend time in the CIA, and to meet a good 30% of the staff via in-depth interviews, I have had enormous respect for the overt side of the agency.
The covert side was not within my charter, however, and that is where the overseas action is. I have never met a more dedicated set of highly intelligent people, who were doing their utmost to bring home the goods for the nation.In recent times, there have been powerful indications that factions in the agency were in fact delving into the political side of our government, and leaking information in ways that the agency had not been known to do previously, at least not so blatantly. This must be stopped, and I trust that appropriate action has been taken to put an end to this practice.
Portrayals of the agency by Hollywood have followed the pattern of spoofing or denigrating a secret organization which few people have sufficient knowledge of to be accurate, and even then, if they use advisers, what they can divulge about the agency is precious little. The government and the agency cannot indulge in defensive disclosures of sufficient detail to ward off the many spurious accusations that have been laid at their door for decades.
Up to a point, it is a jolly good Hollywood game of spooks and conflicts, with imaginations running wild. But beyond that point, the nation can be hurt by the very existence of the agency. It is there to be blamed. That has happened over and over, such that a cult of anti-agency ideas has grown up, not only in Hollywood, but also in various nations worldwide. This cult is mostly ignored inside the government, since it cannot be prevented, and it cannot be debunked, not in public anyway. It is the price of doing business.
Comment Posted By mannning On 13.08.2007 @ 21:08
