Comments Posted By Michael B.
Displaying 111 To 120 Of 127 Comments
Rick, could you list a couple of good (reliable) links for those of us lightly educated on the Lebanese crisis? Who are these players (Hariri, Jumblatt, et al)? How did Hezbollah get such traction in Lebanon?
Also, do you know if McCain has promulgated a Lebanon position and/or solution?
Thanks for assisting me in my homework.
Link to background articles (PDF)
http://www.nowlebanon.com/Library/Files/EnglishDocumentation/Other%20Documents/NOW-SR-Eng.pdf
Link to players in the crisis:
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=42129&MID=115&PID=2
More good background here: Day by day reporting on the crisis.
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsCatArticles.aspx?ID=21567&MID=115&PID=2
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 12.05.2008 @ 12:46
Congratulations on your new home! I'll see/read you Monday.
And thanks for your "surprise." It is most welcome.
ed.
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 9.05.2008 @ 12:22
HEZZIES ON THE RAMPAGE IN LEBANON
retire05 said "Can anyone tell me one nation run by Muslims that has peace and stability?"
Turkey? 99% Muslim.
I wouldn't make that claim within earshot of any Kurds.
ed.
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 8.05.2008 @ 16:21
HILLARY: SHOULD SHE STAY OR SHOULD SHE GO?
Excellent point Rick, about the fact that McCain is still in it despite money problems and the disarray in the party's message. Several factors, however, spell doom for McCain in the general election: 1) registered black voters (even a high percentage of likely-voters) have historically been no-shows on election day. That will not happen this year; 2) Obama is breaking records in fund-raising from an enormous pool of small donations. Conservatives are punishing the Republican party for supporting centrist/left candidates by tightening their purse strings (I recently returned a RNC solicitation letter with a note, informing them that I'll start contributing again when they start supporting real conservatives); 3) If you think the press has been relentless on the Wright story, just wait until they go after McCain (Keating-five, alleged extra-marital affairs, profanity-laced tirades, tasteless jokes, etc.). Its coming, and it will happen at the tactically worst time for McCain; 4) the pool of actual voters (in the last election) was made up of 45% conservatives (or leaning), 45% liberals (or leaning) and 10% of that sh*t-for-brains group called "undecided" (another topic, really, but what moron doesn't know who they are going to vote for a week before the election?). Those undecideds gave the incumbent Bush the election in 2004- unlikely this year for war and economic reasons. Furthermore, while the liberal base is excited about their candidate, the conservative base is disillusioned, and many will stay home on election day.
I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. There's a storm coming in November, and it's name is President Obama.
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 7.05.2008 @ 12:54
THE "PATRIOTISM" ISSUE REARS ITS UGLY HEAD
It strains credulity to believe that any person of moderate intellect could not see Wright as out of the mainstream... it shatters credulity to believe that any person of ANY intellect could believe that Ayers is not unpatriotic (what part if "I hate this country" would they not understand?). You're giving him a pass.
I've read your blog long enough to know that you don't really give a crap what I, or anybody else thinks about you, and I admire that part of you as much as your keen insight and elequent pen. But if you will forgive me for my armchair psychoanalysis (in other words, don't flame me for this, I already know you don't care), I think you suffer from white guilt. For some reason, you seem to give him the benefit of the doubt on every non-provable question, when on every PROVABLE question he has demonstrated either overt dishonesty ("I never heard those issues") or extreme evasiveness/dismissiveness ("that's a distraction"). Since I have never seen you give others, even conservatives a pass, I have concluded that you want to make up for past failures of our ancestors. Or something. Neither I nor my ancestors ever owned a slave (I'm betting your ancestors didn't either). Whatever racial sins I have ever committed have been atoned for by 38 years of affirmative action. I am proudly color-blind, and will NOT give him a pass simply because his skin is darker than mine.
Look, I don't hate the man, I fear him- I fear higher taxes (both personal income and capital gains), I fear mass murder in Iraq after he pulls out our troops, I fear a president that will forego 225 year of precedence by holding one on one, face to face talks with terrorist nations, I fear the appointment of 3 more Souter clones, etc. (he has promised all of these, and more!). I think it is your duty (and mine, and every conservative in this country) to NOT give him the benefit of the doubt, because he has proven that he doesn't deserve it.
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 5.05.2008 @ 17:00
99% great post! Agree with you on everything, except... I hate it when you make sweeping, matter-of-fact statements like "His heartfelt rhetoric about his love of America cannot be denied". The very judgment that he used to ally himself with Wright and Ayers allows a reasonable person to question his love of country- after all, his two buddys are unashamed of their contempt for this country I love.
It seems to me that you are explaining (eloquently) why us "yahoos" question his patriotism in one sentence("voters place themselves in Obama’s shoes and ask themselves if they would act the same way as the candidate has acted for the last 20 years"), then in the next sentence, hope for everybody to ignore those questions and simply acknowledge that he is a patriot. By my definition of patriot, I cannot, and I am somewhat surprised to see that it passes muster with you.
The point is well taken and each must decide for themselves about what Obama feels. My sense is that it Obama doesn't see Wright or Ayers as unpatriotic or "mainstream" because of the elitist liberal circles he runs in. And that goes back to we all have different ideas of what constitutes patriotism. Imposing your view or my view of patriotism just can't be done for the reasons I explain above.
ed .
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 5.05.2008 @ 11:41
FEAR NOT - THE REPUBLIC WILL SURVIVE A PRESIDENT OBAMA
You have missed the biggest threat that an Obama presidency presents- he may very well appoint 2 to 3 Supreme Court justices (almost certainly Stevens' replacement, and Ginsburg, Scalia and Kennedy are all over 70 years old- health issues are possible over the next 9 years). His liberal voting record, as well as his core beliefs (at least the ones he has shared) ensure that we would have 1, 2 or possibly 3 more Souter clones on the bench. Sorry if this seems hyperbolic, but I am not certain that the Republic will survive with a socialist, hard-left Supreme Court.
One more disagreement- "there is no denying the enormous attraction that candidate Obama brings to the table". I deny it. For God's sake man, what attracts you to him? Do you find him cute? Funny? Honest? Sincere? Smart (OK, I'll give you that one)?
I've listened to him in every debate, most pressers, and plenty of sound bites, and I am inspired about as much as when I listen to Olberman, Matthews and his other sycophants. I have a healthy fear of him, not because of his skin color, but because of his public agenda, but even more because of a justified fear of his private agenda.
I agree with your point about appointing SCOTUS judges but the way the court has been going in the recent past, they tend not to take gigantic steps away from precedent. It will be bad but I don't think it will be the end of the world that some on the right believe.
As for Obama inspiring me? Just label me as being a sucker for a good speech and let it go at that...
ed.
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 1.05.2008 @ 10:22
THE TOTAL WITLESSNESS OF OBAMA APOLOGISTS
And apparently, I can't spell "knew".
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 28.04.2008 @ 14:52
Rick, you MUST click over to Malkin's site and read Wright's speech to NAACP in Detroit. I am dumbfounded... speechless... amazed...
Two points: 1) if I (white male) made ANY of the same statements, I would be labeled a ranting racist. 2) perhaps it is because I am white, but it amazes me how important it is to some blacks (note the resounding applause in the background) to justify the differences between whites and blacks, especially with regards to education and intellect.
I have never really noticed the differences. My valedictorian in high school was black. I disliked him, but not because he was black, but because I finished a distant 3rd. He was smart, but I new plenty of black guys in high school that couldn't spell "cat". I didn't really notice them because of all the white guys that couldn't spell "dog".
Anyway, check it out and let me know your thoughts.
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 28.04.2008 @ 14:51
Towering fly ball to left center... it's got a chance... Hundt is racing to the wall, but he's not going to get it... that ball is gone, 460 feet over the center-field wall!!! Moran hits his 12th homer of the year, and we're only in April, folks!!!
Comment Posted By Michael B. On 28.04.2008 @ 09:07
