Patting the wrists, rolling the eyes.

[Shape Shifter]

When does Bush become Pope?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I'm defending the proposition that torture is not always morally wrong.

Force is also justified outside of the self-defence context.

When? On your ipse dixit?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by bilmore
It takes guts to say this to me following your little cow homily.

That's undeniably droll, but you should know that you don't want to refer to a "cow" as "he," and that if you are talking about a male bovine, it shouldn't be depicted as having an udder. Come to think of it, this is the same sort of deep understanding of the facts that informs your posts on Iraq.

Would you rather I post a homily about elephants?

[sgtclub]

• WASHINGTON - Former national security adviser Sandy Berger will plead guilty to taking classified material from the National Archives, a misdemeanor, the Justice Department said Thursday.
  
  Berger is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Friday, said Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra.
  
  The former Clinton administration official previously acknowledged he removed from the National Archives copies of documents about the government's anti-terror efforts and notes that he took on those documents. He said he was reviewing the materials to help determine which Clinton administration documents to provide to the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
  
  He called the episode "an honest mistake," and denied criminal wrongdoing.
  
  Berger and his lawyer, Lanny Breuer, have said Berger knowingly removed the handwritten notes by placing them in his jacket and pants and inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio. He returned most of the documents, but some still are missing.
  
  The charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine.
  
  The materials related to a 2000 report on how government reacted to the terror threat prior to the millennium celebrations.
  
  Berger stepped down as an adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign last July after The Associated Press reported that the Justice Department was investigating the matter.
  
  Many Democrats, including former President Clinton, suggested politics were behind disclosure of the probe only days before the release of the Sept. 11 commission report, which Republicans feared would be a blow to President Bush's re-election campaign.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...be_3&printer=1

[bilmore]

"Republicans--I have been among many--are now in the stage of the Hillary Conversation in which they are beginning to grouse about those who keep warning that Mrs. Clinton will be a formidable candidate for president in 2008. She won't be so tough, they say. America will never elect a woman like her, with such a sketchy history--financial scandals, political pardons, the whole mess that took place between 1980 and 2000.

"I tell them they are wrong. First, it is good to be concerned about Mrs. Clinton, for she is coming down the pike. It is pointless to be afraid, but good to be concerned. Why? Because we live in a more or less 50-50 nation; because Mrs. Clinton is smarter than her husband and has become a better campaigner on the ground; because her warmth and humor seem less oily; because she has struck out a new rhetorically (though not legislatively) moderate course; because you don't play every card right the way she's been playing every card right the past five years unless you have real talent; because unlike her husband she has found it possible to grow more emotionally mature; because the presidency is the bright sharp focus of everything she does each day; because she is not going to get seriously dinged in the 2008 primaries but will likely face challengers who make her look even more moderate and stable; and because in 2008 we will have millions of 18- to 24-year-old voters who have no memory of her as the harridan of the East Wing and the nutty professor of HillaryCare.

"The Hillary those young adults remember will be the senator--chuckling with a throaty chuckle, bantering amiably with Lindsey Graham, maternal and moderate and strong. Add to that this: Half the MSM will be for her, and the other half will be afraid of the half that is for her. (You think journalists are afraid of the right? Journalists are afraid of each other.) And on top of all that, It's time for a woman. Almost every young woman in America, every tough old suburban momma, every unmarried urban high-heel-wearing, briefcase-toting corporate lawyer will be saying it. They'll be working for, rooting for, giving to the woman.

"I am of course exaggerating, but not by much.

"Can a Republican beat her? Sure. She'll have to make mistakes, and she will. And he (it will be a he; it's not Condi, because the presidency is not an entry-level political office) will have to be someone who stands for big, serious and solidly conservative things, and really means it, which will mark a nice contrast with Mrs. Clinton, who believes only in herself. He will also have to be able to do the delicate dance of running against a woman without seeming scared, patronizing, nervous or macho. It isn't going to be easy. But it's doable."

(OpinionJournal, today.)

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by bilmore
Hillary - the next POTUS

I think she is going to be really tough to beat. I also think that Peggy overly discounts Condi's chances. Put aside everything other than electability, she could neutralize the female factor and cut into the black vote.

[Spanky]

Does anyone know of a good long distance company? One of those smaller ones that gives really good rates.

[Adder]

Originally posted by bilmore
Interesting progression:

1. The war will not bring elections.
2. The elections will be a farce.
3. The war and the elections will have no effect on anyone else.
4. Everyone else was already democratic. (Or, they had cows. I'm not sure which.)

You are getting better and better at straw men.

Have you thought of going into politics?

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Adder
You are getting better and better at straw men.

Have you thought of going into politics?

ftr,fww, When I stated earlier that me and the snake (or the worm) had reached an agreement on the rules about torture I was referring to Adder and not shape shifter.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Adder
You are getting better and better at straw men.

Strawmen? No.

Fun exaggeration? Of course. Ty points out that, while we idiot Republicans weren't looking, the SA masses have been fighting for some bit of social power from, and acountability for, their evil overlords, who in turn have been chuckling nastily as they count the bux we regularly send their way. So, no, says Ty, we can't take any Iraq-war-spreading-the-feeling credit for their unrest.

If you look at my progression, you can see it nicely through the pages of posts here. I left off step 5 - the "so now they're democratic, and they're electing people we don't like!" meme - because I didn't want to seem too prescient. It intimidates people, ya know.

Have you thought of going into politics?

Low pay. No thanks.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by bilmore
If you look at my progression, you can see it nicely through the pages of posts here. I left off step 5 - the "so now they're democratic, and they're electing people we don't like!" meme - because I didn't want to seem too prescient. It intimidates people, ya know.

Holy shit. It's like ... you can read our stereotype like a book.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Holy shit. It's like ... you can read our stereotype like a book.

And I can juggle, too.

Yet, I can still stop and speak with the little people.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I think she is going to be really tough to beat. I also think that Peggy overly discounts Condi's chances. Put aside everything other than electability, she could neutralize the female factor and cut into the black vote.

Stop it. Both you and Bilmore. We know what you're doing. We know Hil can't win. Stop trying to provoke us into supporting her for 2008.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Stop it. Both you and Bilmore. We know what you're doing. We know Hil can't win. Stop trying to provoke us into supporting her for 2008.

There's no question that she's your nominee. And she can certainly win. I say this, not as a jedi mind trick, but because at one point in time I hated her far more than DU hates Bush.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by sgtclub
There's no question that she's your nominee. And she can certainly win. I say this, not as a jedi mind trick, but because at one point in time I hated her far more than DU hates Bush.

Doesn't matter. According to a noted Koranic scholar, we won't even get there.

(US will cease to exist in 2007.)

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...=1111980180248