More cartoon riots, this time, with tear gas!
Iran moves ahead with its drive to get nuclear weapons.
Saddam Hussein is reminded that he is no longer the dictator of Iraq.
Al Gore proves he’s a whore for Saudi oil money, and will someone please figure out a penance I can pay for having voted for him in 2000?
It’s time to let Ariel Sharon go. Critical but stable means he could have gone peacefully. He isn’t waking up, and if he does, he won’t be Arik.
Behave today.
Far be it from me to suggest a penance, Meryl, but perhaps the Hulk might have something to say?
As for Gore’s words about “friendship and mutual understanding”: I wonder how he would feel if any of his daughters were to marry a Saudi man.
On Gore:
I wonder what Gore’s old friend Marty Peretz, of the New Republic, thinks of Gore’s mid-East policy, a policy that seems to encompass traveling there to suck up to Jew-haters.
For Penance you will need to convince 15 Democratic Jews to learn that they can no longer vote democratic in any future election at least until Democrats learn to support Israel and denounce any and all Arabic countries until there is a Jewish Synogague in Saudi Arabia, when Arabic/Islamic Countries pay reparations to Jews who fled during the Wars for Israeli Independence and stop running anti-Semitic cartoons. :) There that would be penance enough.
Al Gore has gone off the deep end a long time ago. I supported him back in 1988 when he ws the Lieberman of that time. We lucked out when he was not President back in 2000.
Yup. It’s time to let Sharon stand down. He’s served our people, his country, and the cause of decency long enough, and if there is justice and a heaven (I’m not betting either way), it’s about time for him to be kicking back and sharing a few war stories and beers with Mickey Marcus, Colonel Meinertzhagen, Wingate, Yadin, Dayan, Yonnie Netanyahu and the rest.
Rest in peace, Arik.
A simple penance idea: 777 posts from now on with at least 7 swear words in each.
And I do not mean “darn” and “sheesh”.
P.S. Surely you know that 7 is considered a lucky number? See the case of Abu Hamza for one…
You have already unburdened yourself of the fact that you voted for him. That is enough penance. To go the extra mile, keep blogging. Simple decency, unafraid, is the greatest obstacle to foolishness and evil.
Medical decisions about Sharon are in the hands of his family. No matter how well-intended you or I may be, his family should have that decision.
Chag sameach on this TuBishvat.
chsw
Meryl, don’t feel bad about voting for Gore in 2000 (as I did, though now I’m very happy he lost). I feel *much* worse about voting for Jimmy Carter in 1980 – I’ll never forgive myself for that one.
It took me until 2004 to start voting Republican. But now I don’t foresee going back to the Democrats at least until they get some sanity on foreign policy. I’m not holding my breath.
Penance: start looking at Bush objectively and not through the lens of “9/11 justifies everything.” A simple posting that “he can’t keep using that as a trump card to end all discussion” will suffice…
I totally agree with you re Ariel Sharon. What if they keep him alive a few more days, week, months or even years? What kind of life would it be for such a man?
Doctor,
9/11 doesn’t justify “everything”. But it certainly justifies not voting Democratic, at least until they forcefully reject the Michael Moore wing of the party which to all appearances is now running the show.
Doc,
9/11 doesn’t justify everything. It certainly doesn’t justify Bush’s extravagant spending on welfare and other entitlements, the poison wrecking our economy. But it does justify fighting the war against the jihdi terrorists. That is the most urgent thing right now, unless you want to see a rising tide of terrrorism engulf the world, culminating in nuclear terrorist attacks.
Michael and Gary,
I have not at any point said that we shouldn’t be fighting the war on terrorism [which is not exactly the same thing as the war on Iraq, a different discussion entirely]. I refer to using 9/11 as a conversation stopper whenever criticism is leveled at the Administration [labeled as “against the troops” or “pre-9/11 thinking”]. And I will insist the Democratic Party push back against Michael Moore when Bush and his administration stop kissing the tushies of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Focus on the Family, and the other extreme relgious conservatives who have captured the Republican Party [or has everyone forgotten the infamous “God does not hear the prayers of Jews” speech during the Reagan campaign of 1980?]
The Iraq Campaign is a key element in the war against the jihadi terrorists. I will merely mention part of the matter. It allows us to fight the jihadi terroists on ground of our own choosing. Geographically it allows us to fight in the Middle East rather than in New York City. Tactically it pits the jihadis against skilled American troops rather than civilians such as airline stewardesses. Strategically it seizes the inititative from the jihadis. We cannot win this war by defensive measures; you cannot defend everything. By going into Iraq we forced the enemy to respond to our moves, rather than we responding to theirs. To win a war it is essential to take the initiative away from the enemy. Finally it allows us to fight on our own ground ideologically. We pit the grand ideas of liberty and prosperity in a modern country against the Islamists’ grand idea of a revived Medieval Caliphate. Ideas too are essential to winning.
The Bush strategy of spreading consensual government in the Middle East has the potential to cut off from the jihadis their chief sources of recruits and funding. Depriving the enemy of his sources of supply is a good strategy, and that is what Bush is trying to do.
The administration’s strategy, including the Iraq Campaign, is farsighted and sophisticated. It’s too bad so many of Bush’s critics are unable to comprehend such a sophisticated strategy. But then, their failings of imagination and knowledge are hardly Bush’s fault, now are they?
Falwell and Robertson and their ilk get mocked whenever they say sonething stupid, including by bloggers such as Meryl, and by Republicans for that matter. As for those terrible religious right types, the ordinary people, the widespread derision of such people is primarily based on snobbery and ignorance. I know, because I used to share it. I learned better. No, I am not a Christian.
On the other hand the even more rabid stupidities of the leftists such as Moulitsas, the Daily Kossacks, Michael Moore, Jimmy Carter, and many others get respectful hearings among the Democrats, not least because of their role as money pots for the Dems. Robertson and Falwell get marginalized when they say stupid things. The hysterical airheads on the left get lionized.
Clearly an area where disagreement exists…let’s leave it at that in this venue [although if we ever meet elsewhere it could definitely get colorful]