Politics: J'accuse!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
http://www.stratfor.com/corporate/in...ge=basicsample

[Link to free sample article on http://www.stratfor.com/. Not sure how long the link will be good for, but I figured I'd post the link while it was.]

What are the bigger implications of negotiating with terrorists?

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Yeah, that's pretty bullshit. But much worse, I caught a clip from an interview he did on Meet the Press (I think) on the Daily Show the other day - the one where he is shown an old tape on which he claims he committed atrocities in Vietnam, after which Russert asked him "did you commit atrocities?" and he responded [paraphrase] "Did I ever have hair that dark, that's the question that haunts me." Not the way for him to convince me that he is smarter than and a better public speaker than Bush. Particularly when I've seen him deal quite well with some of his other rather stupid '70s-era statements by simply and honestly observing "overheated 20-somethings with a cause say stupid things."

Perhaps you'd have been more impressed if you caught the entire interview, and not just the snippet that John Stewart used to lampoon him. I can't find a transcript (hey, I got work to do), but here's a link to a video of the entire interview

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/

Kerry went on to admit he'd done a lot of things he wasn't proud of. Unlike Bush, who stood at the rpess conference podium last week like he was wetting his pants when asked if he'd made any mistakes, and after about 30 painful seconds still couldn't come up with anything more than a complaint about how could he be expected to think on his feet.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
http://www.stratfor.com/corporate/in...ge=basicsample

[Link to free sample article on http://www.stratfor.com/. Not sure how long the link will be good for, but I figured I'd post the link while it was.]

People pay for this??!?! What in that article was anything more than information you can cull from news stories coupled with obvious conclusions drawn therefrom.

Here are a few of my favorite "insights" from the article:

"it is clear that the civilian leaders were authorized by the guerrillas to negotiate a cease-fire. The proof of that can be found in the fact that the leaders are still alive and were not executed by the guerrillas for betraying the purity of their cause. "

"The guerrillas are not cowards. Cowards don't take on U.S. Marines."

"In any three-player game, the swing player is in the strongest position."

"The Sunnis did not want to see a Shiite-dominated Iraq."

"Unpleasant political choices will have to be made in Iraq"

[Not Me]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wi...-regional-wire

• NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- The student editors of an alternative Rutgers campus newspaper should immediately apologize for publishing a cartoon that mocked the Holocaust, the university's president said.
  
  Richard L. McCormick said the full-page drawing on the cover of Wednesday's issue of the Medium, a student-funded weekly publication, was "outrageous in its cruelty." It shows a man throwing a ball at another man sitting on an oven at the campus' spring fair. The text reads, "Knock a Jew in the oven! Three throws for one dollar! Really! No, REALLY!"
  
  Ned Berke, 19, the editor who selected the cartoon, said he made a last-minute decision to use it as a substitute for another cover that was not working.
  
  "I appreciated that (the cartoon) was clever. It took a serious situation and made it ridiculous," Berke, who is Jewish, told The Star-Ledger of Newark.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

psst. Ty, isn't that Luke:18:25

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
psst. Ty, isn't that Luke:18:25

Astonishingly, both Luke and Matthew agree that Jesus said that. An early example of the journalistic practice of getting it from two sources. Not clear that the rest of the Bible was cite-checked in this way.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Astonishingly, both Luke and Matthew agree that Jesus said that. An early example of the journalistic practice of getting it from two sources. Not clear that the rest of the Bible was cite-checked in this way.

Jeez, I thought these divided up responsibilty. So one way Jesus was like hitler is he'd give 2 guys the same responsibility?

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

Originally posted by Sexual Harassment Panda
Perhaps you'd have been more impressed if you caught the entire interview, and not just the snippet that John Stewart used to lampoon him.

Not really. I've been duly impressed with his occasional handling of his more embarassing past statements before, but it was just such a catastrophically inappropriate moment to crack a joke. The recovery is irrelevant, the damaging thing is that a question about murdering civilians and committing war crimes could be met with a casual josh about his hair at all.

As I said, I was shocked (that he'd make such a gaffe, not just at the comment). Kerry's never struck me as being that stupid, but maybe I haven't been paying attention.

That's the thing about the Daily Show, though. If JS lampoons you, you've pretty much earned it (see: 8 gazillion Bush clips passim).

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

Originally posted by Not Me
People pay for this??!?!

No. That's the free content.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski So one way Jesus was like hitler

Like Sargeant Hulka, I'm going to have to tell you not to get too excited. I know it's Friday and all.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

• An Iraqi exile group may have violated restrictions against using taxpayer funds to lobby when it campaigned for U.S. action to oust Saddam Hussein, according to documents and U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
  
  If the charge - which is the subject of an upcoming probe by Congress' General Accounting Office - is borne out, it means that U.S. taxpayers paid to have themselves persuaded that it was necessary to invade Iraq.
  
  Officials of the Iraqi National Congress, which played a central role in building support for last year's invasion of Iraq, deny that the group crossed the line prohibiting lobbying, or that it broke any other rules.
  
  But officials at the State Department, which managed the INC's U.S. government grant, said they believe it did, despite what a senior official said were repeated warnings to the group to avoid lobbying "or even the appearance of same."

more

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop

• An Iraqi exile group may have violated restrictions against using taxpayer funds to lobby when it campaigned for U.S. action to oust Saddam Hussein, according to documents and U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
  
  If the charge - which is the subject of an upcoming probe by Congress' General Accounting Office - is borne out, it means that U.S. taxpayers paid to have themselves persuaded that it was necessary to invade Iraq.
  
  Officials of the Iraqi National Congress, which played a central role in building support for last year's invasion of Iraq, deny that the group crossed the line prohibiting lobbying, or that it broke any other rules.
  
  But officials at the State Department, which managed the INC's U.S. government grant, said they believe it did, despite what a senior official said were repeated warnings to the group to avoid lobbying "or even the appearance of same."

more

more or less than the oil dollars that went to the French amb. to the UN? and this guy's lobbying wasn't effective- you all are saying "Sadaam is bad" wasn't why we went to war. Which means that this tax break wasn't even money well-spent. At least Sadaam could count on the Frnech vote, as promised per his receipt.

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Not really. I've been duly impressed with his occasional handling of his more embarassing past statements before, but it was just such a catastrophically inappropriate moment to crack a joke. The recovery is irrelevant, the damaging thing is that a question about murdering civilians and committing war crimes could be met with a casual josh about his hair at all.As I said, I was shocked (that he'd make such a gaffe, not just at the comment).

Good point. Overall, I thought he did very well, but that was an awkward moment.

That's the thing about the Daily Show, though. If JS lampoons you, you've pretty much earned it (see: 8 gazillion Bush clips passim).

Equal Opportunity Satire. It's a wonderful thing.

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

Originally posted by Sexual Harassment Panda
Good point. Overall, I thought he did very well, but that was an awkward moment.

I was somewhat impressed that his eyes didn't bug out of his head in the deathly silence that followed as he realized what he had said. Mine would have (and I would have flushed purple and had difficulty breathing - one of the downsides of having a sense of shame).

Equal Opportunity Satire. It's a wonderful thing.

Best thing on TV.

[dtb]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Funny you should quote this (and yes, I know this isn't the place for this -- or maybe it is -- you decide!).

It is remniscient of a quote out of my new favorite book, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", used to illustrate the critical importance of comma placement. Apparently, the original writings that later became the bible did not have punctuation (there was no such thing as a comma in those days), and the punctuation marks were added later. As you will see, comma placement in this particular example has tremendous doctrinal consequence. Examine the difference between the following:

• "Verily, I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

and

• "Verily I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

(What follows is a quote from the book, page 74):

Now, huge doctrinal differences hang on the placing of this comma. The first version, which is how Protestants interpret the passage (Luke, xxiii, 43), lightly skips over the whole unpleasant business of Purgatory and takes the crucified thief straight to heaven with Our Lord. The second promises Paradise at some later date (to be confirmed, as it were) and leaves Purgatory nicely in the picture for the Catholics, who believe in it.

(Me again):

See? Punctuation can be FUN!