Comments Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar
Displaying 31 To 40 Of 136 Comments
I think conservatives may have to make some difficult choices and compromises in order to build a viable coalition. Can present and potential policies on abortion be discussed without resorting to scripture or name calling?
Doug,Doug,Doug.... please stick to the stereotype - since you declare yourself to be an ardently pro-life social conservative, how could you possibly talk about "difficult choices" and compromise? you are supposed to be rooting or overturning of Roe V Wade and criminalizing of abortions.
Dont you know that social conservatives like you are the reason that enlightened people run scared from the GOP like the plague? And here you are trying to be reasonable and all..
You should hide yourself until election day comes.. thats what "moderates" want !
/sarc
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 31.07.2009 @ 21:42
Rick,
Levin's rants are not just about Obama or any other politician - its against an incrementally socialist system, as some one here put it. That is the perfect way to describe what is going on in your country (iam Indian)If any one thinks that the current "public" option is not a slippery slope to single payer healthcare, Barney Frank will disabuse you of any such notion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3BS4C9el98
I guess this is what Frum calls playing by the "rules" ! As in Washington DC based "rules". He may have inadvertently hit upon some other point that I have always wondered about.
A lot of conservatives claim that this is a right of center country - i consider myself conservative and i think it is true only to a certain level.
A country that has such huge entitlement programs like Medicare, Social Security and has such a bloated Government starting with FDR's reign cannot consider itself "right of center" - on top of this, there is now going to quasi nationalized healthcare.
For those who think that the public "option" will be great, I can only point to Medicare and its coming entitlement crisis.
For those who claim that this is a "right of center" country, I can only show the number of conservatives who happily live with Medicare and Social Security.
If America is still a right of center country, I believe that the center has shifted slowly but surely to the left. That will ofcourse have consequences, but this Republic may come full circle another 50 to 60 years from now, if it proceeds this way.
Also Levin's idea of a soft despotism is nothing original - he himself concedes that. Alexis De Tocqueville wrote about this in Democracy in America - http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/toc_indx.html
And Levin refers to Tocqueville. Of course Frum does not even address this argument ! if he did, he would not be blathering about "good faith" !
There is no such thing as good faith in politics. One side tries to win a decisive victory over the other. The Left is very close to doing it. The New Deal was the beginning of this permamnent victory.
Governments can come and go, but ideas about what should be the relationship between Government and individual can be strong and lasting - more lasting than political parties themselves.
The Left has slowly but surely succeeded in turning this country into the very anti-thesis of what it was founded on - liberty. When you so quietly and meekly accept such coervice mandates like Social Security and Medicare - when you allow your Government to automatically withdraw money from your paychecks EVEN BEFORE YOU GET TO SEE IT, I dont know how you can call yourself free.
Public Health "option" would be just another Government mandated program that taxpayers will be contributing to.
Whether they like to or not. Just as they had no choice about not participating in Social Security or Medicare. In fact none of these programs would work if people were given the free will of not participating in them.
Who in their right mind thinks that Social Security is the best way to fund your retirement/ safety net? And what happens to those who disagree with this notion ?? Well, tough. You HAVE TO PAY for some one else's retirement. Some one else WILL HAVE TO PAY for your own !
We are not talking about "collective" here - like say roads or infrastructure. We are talking about our private financial lives.
Levin is SPOT ON when he describes how incrementally, the Left has succeeded in turning this country into a collectivist paradise, whether people realize it or not. Whether people like it or not.
Frum does not have the intellectual capacity to take on Levin's core argument and instead completely sidesteps it. Talk about cowardice.
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 30.07.2009 @ 19:04
Rick,
Congrats as a White Sox fan ! As a baseball fan, you have to tip your hat to Buerhle and Dwayne Wise making that acrobatic catch - your description of the catch was cool ! Could have mentioned that Ozzie made the defensive switch to have DeWayne Wise for the 9th inning, but what the heck, let me throw it out there.I couldnt agree more that it couldnt have happened to a nicer guy - look at his reaction ! Such humbling sense of wonder - can you imagine this in a day and age where professional sportsmen in football and basketball indugle in such extravagant celebrations for the simplest of things ?
And this guy just threw the 18th perfect game in a professional league that is 100 plus years in a sport which requires such unique skills that it blows your mind way.
And lets not forget that Buerhle pitched a no hitter in 2007 - its amazing that he could now do one better !
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 24.07.2009 @ 19:29
PROSECUTING TORTURE AS A DISTRACTION FROM THE ECONOMY
One can take some solace that the current woes of the Republican Party can be traced in some measure to the number of people who associate them with torture. That’s the type of consequence which may affect whether this happens again.
Well for clearing up this misconception ALONE, this country needs a truth commission - where were all these moralists when Clinton was outsourcing torture to the Egyptians ? in the mid-90's ?
Both political parties have supported what is going on implicitly or explicitly - and both of them have tried to use it to their political advantage explicitly and implicitly.
A good old fashioned circus is probably what is needed. Let's start from the Clinton years and see how many Clinton officials took part in extraordinary renditions to Egypt and elsewhere.
And while we are at, lets figure out what Sandy Berger was doing stuffing intelligence material into his socks and when caught, had to quit from the Kerry campaign in 2004.
Lets then get to Bush and evil company who irreparably harmed America. And then lets come to Obama who in the fierce moral urgency of now has backed Bush policies to the hilt.
There is no short supply of astounding naivete in this country.
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 12.07.2009 @ 18:12
.For the idiot who thinks what the US did did not cause permanent psycholgical damage at least two of our (Aus)citizens beg to differ.
Hey Aussie, try investigating the racists in your own country before you start digging for dirt in America.
All the families of Indian students who have had their children killed/injured by murderous attacks would appreciate if you found out why so many of you Aussies are racist as hell.
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 12.07.2009 @ 16:01
Excellent post, Rick - you are right on the money about this being used as a distraction from what every reasonable recognizes is a flailing economy.
Whatever "benefits" that Keynesian stimulus can bring to the economic picture in this country,it will take some time to play out - which is exactly why there were conservatives who advocated a temporary suspending of the payroll tax - an immediate boost to the average worker's earnings and ability to pay the bills/spend/save etc
But when the stimulus was passed in such a rush as though the world was going to come crashing down if it was not done within a space of days, it only led to heightened and unnecessary expectations.
Let's face it - these people KNEW that they were favoring their patrons in the Democrat party and still sold the stimulus as a job "creation/saving" program. What else could they do?
But reality hits you in the face and it is rather painful - but Obama now tries to divert attention away from this mess by focusing on the one man without whom he would have had zero chance of becoming President. George W Bush.
Bush is clearly the gift that keeps on giving for the Democrats. The question now is, for how long ? You cannot stretch this for the next 12 months, can you ? Because thats how long it is going to take for ANY SMALL recovery, let alone meaningful one.
Bush, better get lawyered up - otherwise, you are going down like a sucker !
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 12.07.2009 @ 13:31
Obama is certainly subtle enough and ruthless enough to proceed. My own suspicion is that this is more in the nature of a brushback pitch: a warning to the GOP that pain can be inflicted.
Michael, you forgot to add that he is DUMB and DESPERATE ENOUGH to do something like that.
Brushback pitch ??
Better read this first
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101900835_pf.htmlDid you know that the Clinton White house was doing renditions with the Egyptian Mukbaraat in the 90's ? And do you know who the WH Chief of Staff was at that time ? Yep, its the same CIA chief as now - Leon Panetta.
These terrorists were sent to Egypt for the sole purpose of torturing the crap out of them - not to make nice with their lawyers.
If Obama wants to play a game of chicken here, he better be sure what he is doing. He resisted prosecuting Bush officials for two basic reasons
A. He himself wanted the powers that the previous Administration had, if in case there is another terrorist attack on this country.
B. If he starts digging dirt about what the Bush Administration did,he knew that he would find some Democrat party skeletons in it as well. Does he want to go there ?
After watching Obama talk and talk about the "fierce moral urgency" of restoring America's "moral standing" and "leadership" in the world AND his ACTUAL ACTIONS, you should know better about him.
Here's Obama's latest 180 - Indefinite Detention !
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104045.htmlHere is Rachel Maddow saying "Shame on you Mr.President"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uuWVHT1WUYAnd we are going into the "torture policies" of the Bush Administration ?? Really??
When you have lost Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, you dont have much hope - with what face do you now say that you want to investigate "torture policies" ?? To restore America's "moral standing" ??
Pain can be inflicted, Michael - the worst of which is of the self inflicted kind.
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 12.07.2009 @ 13:02
Chuck,
You are quite the genius who seems to have it all figured out.Being a bigot is your freedom - and may be you just want to openly express your bigotry.
As they say, the known devil is always better than the unknown devil.
Thanks for showing who you are.
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 12.07.2009 @ 20:31
Why don’t we worry about what Romney thinks of the economy and global warming and leave his religion out of it?
C'mon Mark - if Romney is a Mormon who believes that gold tablets were handed over to Joseph Smith, then he may as well believe "anything" as Chuck likes to put it.
See, if you are a person of faith, it must directly imply that you have to be an irrational person automatically.
Also,please dont ask how such men of faith from Washington to Lincoln to FDR to Reagan lead their country during trying times - it was sheer luck inspite of their irrational belief in their faiths.
Case closed.
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 12.07.2009 @ 18:03
I don’t see how asking someone who claims to believe something, to openly admit to that belief is beating them up. I just wanted to know if Romney really believes that an angel gave magical gold tablets and magical glasses to Joseph Smith.
Chuck, Stop being disingenous - when was the last time, you or any one else was eager to question Obama on whether he believed if Jesus actually was born to a Virgin ? Or if he rose from the dead? Or if he was tempted by Satan thrice while roaming in the wilderness ?
How many people were interested in knowing if JFK actually believed in the Holiness of the Virgin Mar?
Some how, you are able to live with all the Christian Presidents that believe in all this OR may profess to belive in all this, without questioning them - but you are concerned about Mitt Romney's beliefs in what Joseph Smith did or did not get ?
What's next ? Do you want to know if he wears the undergarments the Mormon faith prescribes to men ?
Furthermore, if he does actually believe that, then that’s really great for him. I just don’t want someone who believes that, running my country. Why? Because it’s absolute and complete nonsense. Someone who can fall for that, is someone who can probably fall for anything.
Yeah, many of the 43 Presidents believe that Jesus was born to a Virgin and that he rose from the dead - so, hundreds of millions of your countrymen and women have "fallen for that" and voted these men into office.
So are the hundreds of thousands of people - rational people- like doctors, lawyers, scientists and people from all walks of life.
Its called FAITH - and no, no one needs to publically defend it - if you think people of faith are DUMB to fall for all that hooey, then you wouldnt vote for any politician. Heck, you are the guy who voted for Obama. And you take a, pardon the pun "holier than thou" attitude ?
What is it about the Mormon faith that invites more scrutiny than the Christian faith ?
Now, if he’s like Bush, and just pandering to his religious base because they have very lucrative business ties and much money to be had, then more power to him. At least he’s being politically savvy and honest with himself
As far as you are concerned, its IMPOSSIBLE for Bush to genuinely have faith - nothing can be done to correct it, as you seem to know Bush on such a personal level that lesser mortals like us dont - Lucrative business ties ?? Sorry, but his family does have ties to oil tycoons - what does this have to do with Christians ?
67 Million Americans kept their eyes widely shut last Novemberabout a man who went to a hate mongering church for 25 years and picked the title of his most famous work from a hate mongering race hustling pastor.
Did you ever want to know if Obama was genuine about his faith or was using it as a political tool to advance his career in the black community ?
I am sure you appreciated his "political savvy" - and yet when it comes to Romney, you are sooooo concerned if he really wears Mormon undies.
Your dishonesty speaks for itself.
Comment Posted By Nagarajan Sivakumar On 12.07.2009 @ 17:50
