A Forum for Grinches and Ho-Ho-Hoes

[bilmore]

Originally posted by ironweed
How are we going to build a pipeline across Afghanistan when we can't even get the fucking F train to run from Brooklyn to Manhattan when it snows? Maybe if we flew some Taliban over to take potshots as it goes by there'd be a little money forthcoming for maintenance and repair.

I see your C train died, too. Bloomberg sure ain't no Churchill.

Originally posted by bilmore
I see your C train died, too. Bloomberg sure ain't no Churchill.

I thought it was Mussolini who made the trains run on time.

The best part of the C train fiasco was finding out that half the subway system depended on a bunch of vacuum tubes, toggle switches from Frankenstein's laboratory and William Alva Edison's pocket watch all locked up in a little room that nobody's been inside since 1937. Sweet. One day someone's gonna take a penny out of a fusebox somewhere and the whole city will grind to a screeching halt.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Diane_Keaton
Sorry, Bilmore, but you made a big point to say parental notification should be required so a parent gets to give the kid "information" and the parent's views, yet you didn't bother responding when Ty and myself said, "What if all the information was given before the crisis happened?".

If that was your point, I missed it.

"Giving information" in a vaccuum strikes me as pissing into the wind. I doubt that a discussion of the broad strokes of abortion philosophy with a disinterested kid means 1/1000th as much as that same talk when the kid is sitting there pregnant. A "these are your choices now" discussion is a bit more meaningful than "these would be your choices if this ever happened." Try to have the second type with a 13-year-old, and you're gonna lose their attention in about four minutes. This is a discussion that needs to occur between parent and kid at the time.

Like I said - there's no middle ground here. I won't budge off of that last sentence, and you won;t budge off of yours. Let's talk weather.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by ironweed
I thought it was Mussolini who made the trains run on time.

Well, Bloomberg may well be a Mussolini.

(I sat in bars and couldn't smoke. Effin' barbarian city.)

[bilmore]

"GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) - The suicidal man who authorities say caused the chain-reaction train derailment that killed 11 people has been charged with multiple counts of murder and could face the death penalty, the district attorney said Thursday."

Originally posted by bilmore
Well, Bloomberg may well be a Mussolini.

(I sat in bars and couldn't smoke. Effin' barbarian city.)

We only do that to the out-of-towners. After the tourists leave we all have a good laugh and light up.

Seriously, though, there is a speakeasy kind of thing going on in some neighborhood bars, after-hours in some Manhattan bars, and (thank god) the bar where we watch the Celtic matches on the weekend.

It is still a barbarian city, though, and rapidly becoming third world in terms of public transportation.

[sgtclub]

The following was apparently sent in an email from Condi to the entire state department:

• Colleagues, today is the first of many days ahead that we will work together to help our country build a safer, better world. I am honored to lead the State Department at this critical time -- a time of challenge and hope and opportunity. And, like you, I owe a special debt of gratitude to our dear friend Colin Powell, who has served our nation with distinction, and has done so much to strengthen the Department of State.
  
  September 11, 2001, was a defining moment for our nation and the world. Under the vision and leadership of President Bush, our nation has risen to meet the challenges of our time; fighting tyranny and terror, and securing the blessings of freedom and prosperity for a new generation. The work that America and our allies have undertaken, and the sacrifices we have made, have been difficult. And necessary. And right. Now is the time to build on these achievements-to make the world safer, and to make the world more free. We must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom. And the time for diplomacy is now.
  
  In these momentous times, American diplomacy has three great tasks. We will unite the community of democracies in building an international system that is based on our shared values and the rule of law. We will strengthen the community of democracies to fight the threats to our common security and alleviate the hopelessness that feeds terror. And we will spread freedom and democracy throughout the world. That is the mission that President Bush has set for you and me, and the great mission of American diplomacy today.
  
  As we begin our work together, President Bush and I will expect great things from each of you in the service of your country and of a great cause. More than ever, you will be active in spreading democracy, fighting terror, reducing poverty, and helping to protect the American homeland.
  
  I want each of you to know that I have no higher priority than the well-being and personal development of the men and women of the Foreign and Civil Services and the Foreign Service Nationals who work beside us. I know from experience how hard you work and the many risks you take. And I am especially aware of the hardships and sacrifices that your families endure as they also serve our nation. I want you to know that I will personally work to help ensure that you have the tools you need to do your jobs -- from training to budgets to mentoring to embassy security.
  
  Colleagues, I am honored to be your Secretary during these historic times. Together, we will serve our wonderful country and the cause of freedom for which it stands.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by sgtclub
[Porn for club]

Shouldn't she be out diplomatting or something?

[bilmore]

Originally posted by sgtclub
The following was apparently sent in an email from Condi to the entire state department:

• Colleagues, today is the first of many days ahead that we will work together to help our country build a safer, better world. I am honored to lead the State Department at this critical time -- a time of challenge and hope and opportunity. And, like you, I owe a special debt of gratitude to our dear friend Colin Powell, who has served our nation with distinction, and has done so much to strengthen the Department of State.
  
  September 11, 2001, was a defining moment for our nation and the world. Under the vision and leadership of President Bush, our nation has risen to meet the challenges of our time; fighting tyranny and terror, and securing the blessings of freedom and prosperity for a new generation. The work that America and our allies have undertaken, and the sacrifices we have made, have been difficult. And necessary. And right. Now is the time to build on these achievements-to make the world safer, and to make the world more free. We must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom. And the time for diplomacy is now.
  
  In these momentous times, American diplomacy has three great tasks. We will unite the community of democracies in building an international system that is based on our shared values and the rule of law. We will strengthen the community of democracies to fight the threats to our common security and alleviate the hopelessness that feeds terror. And we will spread freedom and democracy throughout the world. That is the mission that President Bush has set for you and me, and the great mission of American diplomacy today.
  
  As we begin our work together, President Bush and I will expect great things from each of you in the service of your country and of a great cause. More than ever, you will be active in spreading democracy, fighting terror, reducing poverty, and helping to protect the American homeland.
  
  I want each of you to know that I have no higher priority than the well-being and personal development of the men and women of the Foreign and Civil Services and the Foreign Service Nationals who work beside us. I know from experience how hard you work and the many risks you take. And I am especially aware of the hardships and sacrifices that your families endure as they also serve our nation. I want you to know that I will personally work to help ensure that you have the tools you need to do your jobs -- from training to budgets to mentoring to embassy security.
  
  Colleagues, I am honored to be your Secretary during these historic times. Together, we will serve our wonderful country and the cause of freedom for which it stands.

(P.S. You're all fired.)

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by bilmore
(P.S. You're all fired.)

Yours very truly,

Douglas Feith
Assistant Secretary of State

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by bilmore
"GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) - The suicidal man who authorities say caused the chain-reaction train derailment that killed 11 people has been charged with multiple counts of murder and could face the death penalty, the district attorney said Thursday."

I wonder if they put him on suicide watch down at the jail.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
I wonder if they put him on suicide watch down at the jail.

Round the clock.

I suppose it's barbarous to suggest that there's a cheaper way here somewhere . . .

(ETA - Okay, they are alluding to his mental illness, so, yeah, it would be barbarous. Never mind.)

[Shape Shifter]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...th_2&printer=1

A former Gitmo translator has written a book on the practices of female interrogators. gatti, get busy. I want to option the movie rights.

[Replaced_Texan]

The bunny banning by the new Education Secretary caused me to raise eyebrows before, but the more I read about it the more its pissing me off even more:

Buster appears briefly onscreen, but mainly narrates these live-action segments, which show real children and how they live. One episode featured a family with five children, living in a trailer in Virginia, all sharing one room. In another, Buster visits a Mormon family in Utah. He has dropped in on fundamentalist Christians and Muslims as well as American Indians and Hmong. He has shown the lives of children who have only one parent, and those who live with grandparents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/ar...on/27bust.html

Seems appropriate that this administration would encourage the trailer trash but ban the gays.

[Adder]

Originally posted by bilmore
I think you miss the point. We have a right to freedom from unreasonable search, too, but this freedom is tempered when applied to children - see the school locker cases. My point was, we may hold that there is a Const. right to have an abortion, but that right is (or should be, IMHO) tempered for children. What is held as a right for adults in our society may not always be appropriate for free exercise by the will of children.

To my recollection, none of the school search cases rest on the status of the searchee as a child.