Listen to this comment from right wing talk radio nut-job Pete Santilli. There is a definite connection between his unwarranted, perverted attitude towards Hillary Clinton and the military attitude towards women in general who don't measure up in their eyes. Listen... and then somebody please tell me how you honestly think the military is concerned with policing itself in matters of rape. I'm sure that many, if not most, guys in the military who have heard this are high-fiving this idiot. The military is comprised mostly of low-intelligence, low-information, arrogant young chest thumpers with a macho attitude in the first place. You honestly think that rape is going to be seriously addressed any time soon? Not friggin' likely.
Excellent comment, Richard Daugherty. Normally I think it's snooty to point out someone else's grammatical mistakes, but in this case you are certainly justified. What Mr. Hart did is typical of the wingnuts, not just about grammar but life in general. They're quick to point out the flaws of lefties but most of the time what they perceive as flaws are not flaws but reality. It's just that they can't recognize truth, even when it slaps them in the face. Nine times out of ten what they're ridiculing or lambasting is something that doesn't exist in the first place. They are attuned to their own "reality." They have wandered so far out in right field that they're not even within the boundaries of the game any more. They stand on the other side of the foul line, lost in their own game, with their own set of rules.
Rape in the military is a problem with no easy solution. The very nature of the institution, with its own code of honor and justice and its heavy emphasis on rank and the wielding of power that comes with it, makes it difficult to see justice done in the same way as in civilian society. Dougmusm said, "... people in the military are people first and military members second," but that's not really true. We would all like to think that is the case, but it's not. Individuality in the military is highly - and usually successfully - discouraged, as is almost any sort of whistle blowing. Even when soldiers are right about their accusations, they are almost always looked upon with contempt by their military peers, whether it's a matter of some soldier reporting another for murdering innocent civilians, mistreating prisoners, or accusing a fellow soldier of rape.
The private who first reported abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was met with nothing but scorn from his fellow soldiers. Even his family and hometown hated him, such that he was forced to live in another city after getting out of the military. They didn't regard him as a hero for having the courage to stand his ground as an individual but as a traitor who stepped out of line and refused to follow orders. In other words, he was being a person first and a military member second, and he paid a heavy price for it, as does any whistle blower or any soldier who tries to assert his/her individuality.
I'm not meaning to imply that there's nothing that can be done about the high incidence of rape in the military, that we should just accept it as a necessary evil engendered by an institution that places heavy emphasis on machismo (machismo that is expected even from its female soldiers) and the "virtue" of following orders without question. But it will require some very difficult adjustments that frankly I don't think the military has it within itself to correct, at least not without sacrificing, to some extent, its own unique code of military "justice."
Great posts (12:55 and 12:56 p.m.), ibshame. I'm sure, though, that your words will fall on deaf conservative ears. Just a pack of "liberal lies," as far as they are concerned. After all, they have discovered that truth and reality have a definite liberal bias.
Oh my, another scandal of HUGE proportion. It's at least as big and as perilous as..."voter fraud!" We can't have the IRS going after a poor picked-on group like the Tea Party. Lord knows, those fine upstanding, self-proclaimed tax-haters would NEVER try to get away with phony tax exemptions. How dare the IRS resort to such unwarranted profiling against these uber-patriotic good ol' boys! Come on, you wingnuts, do your thing: form a committee paid for with our tax dollars, pass some new laws, impeach that Kenyan/Muslim/socialist Prez, waste more and more of our precious time...anything but work for the good of the country, anything but do something constructive. Oh, sorry...I used a word that's not in your vocabulary: c-o-n-s-t-r-u-c-t-i-v-e.
As usual, no response at all as to how Bush's flagrant lies, deception, and ineptitude were perfectly acceptable to these teabagging stone throwers. The poor guy just made simple honest mistakes, right? But Obama on the other hand...well, we all know he's the anti-Christ and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Impeach the vile devil! Off with his socialistic/Marxist/communist/Kenyan/Muslim head!
'Nuff said. I'll leave it to you whiners to keep fanning the smoke from this little cap gun, trying to make a bomb out of it. You'll never succeed but your attempts are worthy of the best quixotic wind-mill jousters. Blathering whimpering idiots.
That's not my gas I'm passing, chatt_man. What you hear and smell is the putrid gas from the Bush administration that still lingers. That's the gas that you whiners need to deal with and fumigate first, before you make such a big deal over a little Obama fart.
The unnecessary, illegitimate, phony Iraq war with over 5000 American soldiers dead as a result (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis but what's a little collateral damage, right?), the ignoring of intelligence prior to 9/11 that there was soon to be a terrorist attack on American soil, the many attacks on embassies and consulates resulting in deaths and injuries under Bush's watch, the drastic cuts for embassy security set in place by Republicans back in 2011 and 2012....all these things have been brought to the attention of the nitwits who are whining about this god-awful, unconscionable "conspiracy" of Obama and Hillary Clinton, but they do not respond to those facts at all; or if they do it's only to say "But it's not the same thing." They just whine and scream "Conspiracy....cover-up...off with their heads!"
Blathering idiots, one and all. But keep it up, you knee-jerk, reactionary rabid righties. The longer you play this game the stupider you look. You wasted precious time and money with Monica-gate, Whitewater, and the Vince Foster "conspiracies." Now you're being true to form trying to turn this Democratic mole hill into a mountain. I repeat: blathering idiots, one and all.
One final thought and then I'm going to shut up for today:
I imagine that most of you have seen the movie, "Lincoln," with Daniel Day Lewis? There is a scene towards the end where Tommy Lee Jones's character, Thaddeus Stevens, the Republican congressional leader and staunch abolitionist, in his oration, lets loose with a litany of insults and derogatory names for his antagonists. Of course, there was a lot of poetic license taken in the making of the movie, but that particular scene was not a stretch by any means. There really was a lot of name-calling and mud-slinging that took place in those days. Political cartoons and debates were also much more vicious and personal than they are today. You people who are making such a fuss, claiming to be so offended by name calling and insults are showing what ninnies you are. Politics is by nature dirty and personal. I appreciate people calling a spade a spade and making it clear exactly what side of the fence they stand on rather than feigning politeness, civility, and decorum, all the while seething with hatred for those on the other side. I detest teaparty conservatism as much as you teabaggers detest liberalism and I'm not going to pretend that I want to make nice and sit down and have a beer with you teabaggers.
I think that we are at a critical crossroads. We can either come to fruition as a nation, with a NEW New Deal for the 21st century, with liberty and justice for ALL, or we can continue on this road to ruin that Reagan, Bush et al, and their brand of corporatism/fascism/crony capitalism have taken us down. IMO we are headed for either outright revolution, or more likely (since most people are too apathetic to bother to take to the streets) economic ruin, which will engender its own form of revolution.
I never flag anyone on this forum and I never bat an eyelash when someone lets loose with an insult or a name, whether it's directed at me personally or at someone who shares my beliefs. This is a political forum, after all, and it is only natural for it to get down and dirty sometimes. I can, and often do, write comments that are devoid of name calling but I'm sure I will continue to let loose with some insulting names from time to time. Name calling can be childish and destructive, yes, at least if one does not accompany it with sound reasoning; but truth is not necessarily limited to sterilized, church-lady-ish, profane-free commentary either.
To you people who are taking your exits because you believe this forum to be a cesspool of useless bickering, I say good riddance. Personally I'm much more insulted by willful ignorance and closed-minded, self-righteous arrogance than I am by name calling. Having said that, I realize that there are many on here who think that I in my liberalism epitomize the very things that they detest so much. So be it. Let the debates, the struggle, the battles continue. Ain't it grand!
You wingnuts feigning indignation - that's really cute. JonRoss you say that you regret that you "lowered" your standards but your standards were already in the gutter as far as I'm concerned. I regretted most everything you had to say, too. It was a sad waste of time reading it. Bye.
Military Justice
Listen to this comment from right wing talk radio nut-job Pete Santilli. There is a definite connection between his unwarranted, perverted attitude towards Hillary Clinton and the military attitude towards women in general who don't measure up in their eyes. Listen... and then somebody please tell me how you honestly think the military is concerned with policing itself in matters of rape. I'm sure that many, if not most, guys in the military who have heard this are high-fiving this idiot. The military is comprised mostly of low-intelligence, low-information, arrogant young chest thumpers with a macho attitude in the first place. You honestly think that rape is going to be seriously addressed any time soon? Not friggin' likely.
Pete Santilli, Radio Host: Hillary Clinton Needs To Be 'Shot In The Vagina' by Tsubasaizle
Grammar lesson on 'whoever' and other letters to the ediotrs
Excellent comment, Richard Daugherty. Normally I think it's snooty to point out someone else's grammatical mistakes, but in this case you are certainly justified. What Mr. Hart did is typical of the wingnuts, not just about grammar but life in general. They're quick to point out the flaws of lefties but most of the time what they perceive as flaws are not flaws but reality. It's just that they can't recognize truth, even when it slaps them in the face. Nine times out of ten what they're ridiculing or lambasting is something that doesn't exist in the first place. They are attuned to their own "reality." They have wandered so far out in right field that they're not even within the boundaries of the game any more. They stand on the other side of the foul line, lost in their own game, with their own set of rules.
Military Justice
Rape in the military is a problem with no easy solution. The very nature of the institution, with its own code of honor and justice and its heavy emphasis on rank and the wielding of power that comes with it, makes it difficult to see justice done in the same way as in civilian society. Dougmusm said, "... people in the military are people first and military members second," but that's not really true. We would all like to think that is the case, but it's not. Individuality in the military is highly - and usually successfully - discouraged, as is almost any sort of whistle blowing. Even when soldiers are right about their accusations, they are almost always looked upon with contempt by their military peers, whether it's a matter of some soldier reporting another for murdering innocent civilians, mistreating prisoners, or accusing a fellow soldier of rape.
The private who first reported abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was met with nothing but scorn from his fellow soldiers. Even his family and hometown hated him, such that he was forced to live in another city after getting out of the military. They didn't regard him as a hero for having the courage to stand his ground as an individual but as a traitor who stepped out of line and refused to follow orders. In other words, he was being a person first and a military member second, and he paid a heavy price for it, as does any whistle blower or any soldier who tries to assert his/her individuality.
I'm not meaning to imply that there's nothing that can be done about the high incidence of rape in the military, that we should just accept it as a necessary evil engendered by an institution that places heavy emphasis on machismo (machismo that is expected even from its female soldiers) and the "virtue" of following orders without question. But it will require some very difficult adjustments that frankly I don't think the military has it within itself to correct, at least not without sacrificing, to some extent, its own unique code of military "justice."
Treading
Great posts (12:55 and 12:56 p.m.), ibshame. I'm sure, though, that your words will fall on deaf conservative ears. Just a pack of "liberal lies," as far as they are concerned. After all, they have discovered that truth and reality have a definite liberal bias.
Treading
Oh my, another scandal of HUGE proportion. It's at least as big and as perilous as..."voter fraud!" We can't have the IRS going after a poor picked-on group like the Tea Party. Lord knows, those fine upstanding, self-proclaimed tax-haters would NEVER try to get away with phony tax exemptions. How dare the IRS resort to such unwarranted profiling against these uber-patriotic good ol' boys! Come on, you wingnuts, do your thing: form a committee paid for with our tax dollars, pass some new laws, impeach that Kenyan/Muslim/socialist Prez, waste more and more of our precious time...anything but work for the good of the country, anything but do something constructive. Oh, sorry...I used a word that's not in your vocabulary: c-o-n-s-t-r-u-c-t-i-v-e.
The Whistle
As usual, no response at all as to how Bush's flagrant lies, deception, and ineptitude were perfectly acceptable to these teabagging stone throwers. The poor guy just made simple honest mistakes, right? But Obama on the other hand...well, we all know he's the anti-Christ and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Impeach the vile devil! Off with his socialistic/Marxist/communist/Kenyan/Muslim head!
'Nuff said. I'll leave it to you whiners to keep fanning the smoke from this little cap gun, trying to make a bomb out of it. You'll never succeed but your attempts are worthy of the best quixotic wind-mill jousters. Blathering whimpering idiots.
The Whistle
That's not my gas I'm passing, chatt_man. What you hear and smell is the putrid gas from the Bush administration that still lingers. That's the gas that you whiners need to deal with and fumigate first, before you make such a big deal over a little Obama fart.
The Whistle
The unnecessary, illegitimate, phony Iraq war with over 5000 American soldiers dead as a result (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis but what's a little collateral damage, right?), the ignoring of intelligence prior to 9/11 that there was soon to be a terrorist attack on American soil, the many attacks on embassies and consulates resulting in deaths and injuries under Bush's watch, the drastic cuts for embassy security set in place by Republicans back in 2011 and 2012....all these things have been brought to the attention of the nitwits who are whining about this god-awful, unconscionable "conspiracy" of Obama and Hillary Clinton, but they do not respond to those facts at all; or if they do it's only to say "But it's not the same thing." They just whine and scream "Conspiracy....cover-up...off with their heads!" Blathering idiots, one and all. But keep it up, you knee-jerk, reactionary rabid righties. The longer you play this game the stupider you look. You wasted precious time and money with Monica-gate, Whitewater, and the Vince Foster "conspiracies." Now you're being true to form trying to turn this Democratic mole hill into a mountain. I repeat: blathering idiots, one and all.
Tea party bitter over Obama golf outing
One final thought and then I'm going to shut up for today:
I imagine that most of you have seen the movie, "Lincoln," with Daniel Day Lewis? There is a scene towards the end where Tommy Lee Jones's character, Thaddeus Stevens, the Republican congressional leader and staunch abolitionist, in his oration, lets loose with a litany of insults and derogatory names for his antagonists. Of course, there was a lot of poetic license taken in the making of the movie, but that particular scene was not a stretch by any means. There really was a lot of name-calling and mud-slinging that took place in those days. Political cartoons and debates were also much more vicious and personal than they are today. You people who are making such a fuss, claiming to be so offended by name calling and insults are showing what ninnies you are. Politics is by nature dirty and personal. I appreciate people calling a spade a spade and making it clear exactly what side of the fence they stand on rather than feigning politeness, civility, and decorum, all the while seething with hatred for those on the other side. I detest teaparty conservatism as much as you teabaggers detest liberalism and I'm not going to pretend that I want to make nice and sit down and have a beer with you teabaggers.
I think that we are at a critical crossroads. We can either come to fruition as a nation, with a NEW New Deal for the 21st century, with liberty and justice for ALL, or we can continue on this road to ruin that Reagan, Bush et al, and their brand of corporatism/fascism/crony capitalism have taken us down. IMO we are headed for either outright revolution, or more likely (since most people are too apathetic to bother to take to the streets) economic ruin, which will engender its own form of revolution.
I never flag anyone on this forum and I never bat an eyelash when someone lets loose with an insult or a name, whether it's directed at me personally or at someone who shares my beliefs. This is a political forum, after all, and it is only natural for it to get down and dirty sometimes. I can, and often do, write comments that are devoid of name calling but I'm sure I will continue to let loose with some insulting names from time to time. Name calling can be childish and destructive, yes, at least if one does not accompany it with sound reasoning; but truth is not necessarily limited to sterilized, church-lady-ish, profane-free commentary either.
To you people who are taking your exits because you believe this forum to be a cesspool of useless bickering, I say good riddance. Personally I'm much more insulted by willful ignorance and closed-minded, self-righteous arrogance than I am by name calling. Having said that, I realize that there are many on here who think that I in my liberalism epitomize the very things that they detest so much. So be it. Let the debates, the struggle, the battles continue. Ain't it grand!
Tea party bitter over Obama golf outing
You wingnuts feigning indignation - that's really cute. JonRoss you say that you regret that you "lowered" your standards but your standards were already in the gutter as far as I'm concerned. I regretted most everything you had to say, too. It was a sad waste of time reading it. Bye.