Harriet Miers withdraws nomination

[oboe]

Interesting development.    I still wonder why Harry Reid was such a proponent of her.

But then, I still wonder why Robert Novak wasn't charged with the crime of publicly outing an undercover CIA operative, why Osama Bin Laden is STILL loose, why with a Republican-controlled White House and Congress we have such a huge budget deficit, and how on Earth could we have arrived at a place in history where we have an administration that advocates torture of prisoners.

As a dumbfounded, dying Steve McQueen said in The Sand Pebbles, "What the Hell happened?"

[lazs2]

but.... look at the bright side... we have let the stupid and useless and unconstitutional klinton "assault weapon/magazine ban" lapse.... we have  passed the protection act for fireams manufacturers and we will probly not get two more ACLU commie supreme court judges like bader ginsburg on the court...

If we had some socialist we would have been just that much farther down the road to big government and trashing the constitution.

Just getting decent supremes will be worth any minor little political crap that will be forgotten in a few months.... supremes are for life and effect us more than presedents and their men.

If you vote for a socialist then make sure that you admit that you are for socialism and not just "fed up with the republicans"  because that is what you are really doing.

lazs

[indy007]

I'm bored, I'll bite.

The FBI couldn't find a guy hiding in the woods in Georgia... and they have an excellent capture rate of Top 10 suspects. You expect intel agencies to locate a trained operative hiding in foreign territory on some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. A reporter asked a Afghanistan vendor selling balloons to children what he thought about the $50 mil reward. His response was, "How many balloons would that buy? More than 10?" If he doesn't make any big mistakes and nobody flips on him, he'll probably remain at large forever.

We can even make a fun experiment out of it if finding somebody is supposed to be easy. Come to Texas & join me on a 160 acre paintball field. It's nice & flat terrain, plenty of trails, easy on the ankles. Now, you come find me. Now lets sprinkle in a bunch of people that don't understand you, your language, your customs, your technology, or your ideology. They may or may not be lying to you at any given time. Okay, now come and find me. Oh yeah, things around you may randomly explode and/or take a potshot at you. Good luck! See you when I choose to!


Budget deficiet? Well, yeah, Bush is a spend-a-holic just as bad as the rest of the politicans. Congress votes to give themselves annual pay raises. Who else has a job where you can simply vote to give yourself more money (besides CEOs & company boards) ? It's ridiculous. If they were really out to serve the greater good like they pretend (both sides), they'd do it for free. They're not exactly putting themselves in a hazardous situation like police & fireman, who get paid far, far less.

[oboe]

If the assault weapon ban was truly useless, it wouldn't matter whether it was in effect or not - but, I know what you mean.

Both the Dems and Repubs seem to favor big government and large federal spending  but the evidence of the past 20 years indicate that the Dems at least recognize the responsibility to pay for it.

I'm OK with the lawsuit shield against gun manufacturers as far as that goes.   Suing gunmakers made about as much sense to me as suing GM or Ford for damages if one of their vehicles was being driven by an alcoholic driver and crashed.    Not sure about protections extended to dealers, but I'm not familiar with the details so I won't comment.

But my view is what you brought up is the little political crap.   (Except, I grant you that determination of SC justices isn't little).  A huge federal deficit that hangs over generations of future citizens is not little crap in my eyes.    Neither is going down in history with an administration that advocates the doctrine of preemptive attack and presses in FAVOR of the torture of prisoners.    Unbelieveable, really.

I think the Patriot Act went a ways down the road towards trashing the Constitution.    I don't see how the Repubs can be defended as protecting the Constitution in that respect.

btw, I just saw "Bowling For Columbine" for the first time this week.    On the whole, I thought it was worth seeing.   I didn't appreciate Michael Moore's sneak attack confrontational interview with Charleton Heston - in general in a debate like that, I'd rather see both sides well-prepared.   I felt sorry for Heston.    I enjoyed the interviews of the Michigan Militia mermbers, Marilyn Manson and James Nichols though.  One of Moore's points really resonated with me - the thought that our society is paranoid with fear, made so by the news media.   The movie came off to me as more anti-media, anti-American culture than anti-gun.   Sure was amazed how Canadians don't feel the need to lock their houses-- even in a city.   That's the way it was for me growing up in a small town in rural Minnesota.

[lazs2]

oboe... see... we really don't agree... what you see as little stuff is big stuff to me... what I see as little stuff (oh another politician actualy got caught being a crook... it's a miricle!)  they are all crooks... you do admit that the supremes are important tho..  we agree.

as for "paying for it"  very slippery... the socialists have never paid for anything... the government does not have any money...it is yours and my mopney they are spending and they are simply taking it away from us by force.  Paying for it means..... they will simply take more money away from us.

now... let's examine how Bush and republicans raise deficets and then how the socialists do it....

in the current case we are funding an expensive war.   This makes us have a big deficiet in the amount of money we are spending verses the amount of money we are extorting from our citizens.   It is also a finite number.... once it is paid... the debt is gone (simplifying here... there is interest to worry about)...

Now...let's take the social programs that the socialists impose on us and "pay for" with a new tax....  the debt and tax never goes away... the program doesn't even stay at the same funding level (even adjusted for inflation)... they not only have not paid for anything (our money remember?) but...they have created a program that demands that it be funded in bigger and bigger amounts forever (social security for instance or welfare).... the programs and expenses grow after the people who started em are long dead.


lazs

[Sandman]

Originally posted by oboe
Interesting development.    I still wonder why Harry Reid was such a proponent of her.

Bill Kristol was on The Daily Show a few days ago. He predicted her withdrawal.

[oboe]

I have to be brief, but:

We were running a deficit BEFORE the war.   The war was not the cause of the deficit, it just adds to it.   But yeah, we disagree on the importance of issues.   I'd be more suprised (concerned even) if we saw eye to eye on everything, wouldn't you?     I bet we could agree that the Federal gov't should stop spending so much money though.    

Indy, I understand it must be difficult to find someone in a foreign country who doesn't want to be found.   But we managed to find Saddam didn't we?    I don't think we are really looking for OBL anymore.   Looks to me like he got away with his crime.

Funny about the Kristol prediction.  GW never struck me as someone who would back off his original position, if he believed in it.

Why wasn't Novak charged with a crime?  Anyone know?

[Dowding]

That Daily Show thing has just started running over here. Really enjoying it. The Bush administration really must be thanked for their contributions to political satire. Everybody is getting in on the act.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

The deficit was coming, war or not, because taxes had gone up, and revenue was going to go down.

I'm as pissed as anyone about the spending. I blame Bush for not vetoing a huge bunch of it and I blame the rest of the idiots up there for the massive porkage. One of any number of areas where I find cause to be pissed at Bush.

Saddam ain't bin Laden. BIG difference there. Way too many people hated Saddam for him to stay free for long. Saddam was used to surviving by keeping people scared of him. He had no power, so there was nothing left to fear. Way different than bin Laden, who is a charismatic leader with legions of demented followers who follow out of love rather than fear. You are attempting to compare two very different situations that are not in the least comparable.

Bush didn't back off, Miers QUIT. Big difference there too.

Novak hasn't been charged because NO ONE has been charged, and it remains to be seen if a crime was committed. In all honesty, you cannot blow the cover of a covert agent if that agent is neither covert nor has cover. She was called home YEARS ago, when it was suspected her identity was revealed during the Clinton administration. When she was "outed", she had been driving to CIA HQ daily in a Jag convertible for a few YEARS. Some cover. No crime has been committed because she was no longer covert and had no cover. This is another sad case of partisan scandal politics. And BITH sides are guilty of it.

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Captain Virgil Hilts
Bush didn't back off, Miers QUIT. Big difference there too.

For all we know, the Bush admin asked Meirs to withdraw. It's the only way they could save face.

[Dowding]

Politicians and political figures are never sacked. They are asked to resign. Sounds a very similar situation here.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Originally posted by Sandman
For all we know, the Bush admin asked Meirs to withdraw. It's the only way they could save face.

And you don't know that she didn't withdraw of her own accord either.

[Eagler]

watch what you wish for

[Clifra Jones]

Originally posted by Dowding
Politicians and political figures are never sacked. They are asked to resign. Sounds a very similar situation here.

The same holds true with upper level management in most companies. You screw up your are asked to resign. You get a nice severance package and you go away quietly. Helps to keep the lawyers out of the situation.

[Clifra Jones]

Originally posted by oboe
 But we managed to find Saddam didn't we?

Large flat country where the majority of the folks hated Sad'm.

UBL is in a very mountainous country where most of the locals think he is a profit of Allah. Very different situation.

We could find/kill him. We would have to kill a lot of so called "innocent" people to do it. Not to mention pissing off the Pakistanis. Are you OK with that?