Abouta weeks worth of comments

Apparently it is not considered possible that the soldiers were in fact right and and people in the assaulted building had indeed attacked them?. Apparently it could not be that some money grubbing Iraqi lawyer is trying to get some money for his relatives being killed while aiding and abetting a bunch of mad bombers? It is not at all a sleazy lawyer tactic to get some little kid to call for the soldiers execution on a video tape, right? My yes they are such terribly credible witnesses. Oh I thoroughly, agree we should get out. Get out and let the idiots kill themselves. If the oil companies need protection let them hire their own.

In response to comments on Islam Hates Women (?) or (!)  |  By: Lily Mazahery

Surely there have been many intelligent and educated individuals who could have renounced religious beliefs over the course of history but have not done so for whatever reason. Why is that?"

The leaders of the "American Founding Fathers" did almost to a man. The sheep (as Bruce! calls them) soon forgot. "God says" is just so handy for manipulating people that most of the con-artists we let be leaders simply cannot resist using it.

In response to comments on Military values?..  |  By: Donald McCullough 

Sam In away I agree but in a way not. If your goal in a war is to support your side against another side in a foreign country then you will lose. If your goal is to take over another country and run it till it can run itself in a way you approve then you can win but it can take a very long time, decades even. If your goal is to destroy a government that was a threat and let the survivors make whatever new one they can then you can win. This is much faster but you may have to do it again and again over the decades. Unfortunately since World War Two we have always chosen the first which is a lose-lose choice but sounds nicer to the general public. The lesson is simple enough for our country's leaders! If the general public will not accept the concept that the offending government needs to be destroyed come 'hell or high water' then stay the heck out of an open war with them because you will lose both literally and politically.

In response to the article Military values?..  |  By: Donald McCullough  

he response bothers me because it is meaningless and so disrespectful of the vast majority of the soldiers. To suggest that if our troops did indeed do this that it was because they didn't know better. How stupid are you trying to say they are? If they did this, find the responsible ones, try them and hang them or shoot them or whatever the military punishment for murderers is and be done with it.

In response to Could a 'day of financial reckoning' be good for the Country long term?  |  By: Bruce !  | 

In a way I agree but what another world war, maybe a mass famine or a total financial collapse? Seems pretty harsh for a cure. I believe this is related to a problem which is relatively new for the human race and I have mentioned this one before. We have no believable 'frontier'. No place to run when we can't take it anymore and no place to send those who just won't 'fit in'. Think carefully and I think you will agree that this is a situation that is new in all of recorded history. We have no place to run away to. And until much less than a hundred years ago we always did.

In response to Beware the Care Bears...  |  By: Donald McCullough  

I agree that these subliminal messages are everywhere. In fact they are almost universal. And I don't think it is getting better. I think they are just going underground, so to speak. The sixties family comedies were pretty blatantly sexist in one direction or the other. Either Dad was the boss and always the savior of the day or he was a bumbling idiot good for bringing home the bacon and not much else but everybody was duty bound to pretend he was "important". As a young boy it always seemed to me that women were always depicted as subservient or conniving sneaks. And it used to make me so mad that most of the girls I knew seemed to want to live 'up' to that standard.

In response to comments on Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night, by Dylan Thomas  |  By: Edward Nudelman  | 

Laura, "Why is it that these wild (admirable? passionate?) men only caught the sun while it was dying?" Perhaps because it always inevitably does? The admirable passion part is that they try anyway.

In response to Gay or Ignorant, You Pick  |  By: Mandi G.

I suspect that any guy who tells you he has never seen a guy he would call 'just plain pretty' is lying.

In response to "For Whom Was The Mission Actually Acomplished?" or "Iraq -- Yet Another Step Closer to Becoming A New Iranian State"  |  By: Lily Mazahery  

Think maybe it is time to get out and let the silly buggers shoot each other? After all who are we to tell them they can't kill each other willy nilly over whose version of god is better. They want god to tell them what to do well let him. Leave them alone and they will turn their country into another 'powerhouse' like Afghanistan soon enough. We can always squash them if they get caught exporting their crap again. It would certainly be cheaper and easier to deal with then trying to make generations of ignorant religious fanatics into reasonable facsimiles of civilized people. Maybe they like being backward ignorant religious fanatics. There is a definite appeal to being the best martyr on the block. Has more status then being the hottest, dustiest, dirtiest place in the world, which is their other claim to fame.

The problem is really only a problem because we are trying to fix it. All we really want is to keep their petty little wars petty and over there. We have no need to 'give them democracy'. They clearly don't want it. We can work as much as we need to with a dictator, do it all the time. If some dictator actually becomes a threat or danger to us then blow him up and go home and see who shows up next. No need to prop one up or help the survivors elect the new one or any of that. We have no right to tell other countries how to run themselves. We do have a right to put a stop to their being a threat to us. We should confine ourselves to that and forget all the do-gooder 'bring em democracy' stuff.

In response to Today's Topic: Jurisdiction and Executive Privilege  |  By: Gather Editorial Team  | 

Down with incompetent, venal boobs! Let the two or three guys that are left run things. Out of the 500 plus there must be at least that many that aren't incompetent thieves and liars, no? Oh I suppose maybe not. The system is so flawed that it favors, in fact almost demands, egomaniacal thieves and liars. Career politicians and representative democracy just do not go together.

In response to comments on Same sh*t, different war...  |  By: Donald McCullough

I agree with both you and your barber, Bert. It is time to try something else but it probably won't happen because 'the powers that be' profit so nicely off both sides. Haliburton in the prison business yet? The problem with 'money pits' is that the people at the bottom of the pit have a very large interest in keeping it open.

In response to more syrup please ..  |  By: sigalit shapira-blaauw

"and what was he thinking giving dogs so much empathy and people so little."
Now that is an interesting question. Hey I like your poetry and stuff.

In response to meeting writers-a celebrity story  |  By: sigalit shapira-blaauw  

I consciously avoid famous people. ( on those very rare occasions when it might come up) It is almost impossible that they live up to my wishes. Cowardly of me, maybe, but I like to think it saves us both a 'spot of bother'. I wonder if I have missed anything good?

Pick a Finger (Or I Don't Want to Join Your Damn Group)  |  By: Mandi G.

Groups? Groups? We don't need no stinkin groups!. This gathering thing is too much fun. I can yoyo my blood pressure all up and down the scale. Let martin chill drive me nuts, read mcCullochs stuf or yours mandi for some in between, look at jessies pictures or read a little poetry here or there to mellow out, write something to get it out there............... And chuckle at all kinds of stuff.

In response to Correcting a 36 year old mistake...  |  By: Donald McCullough

Hoo Rah for new tricks. They tell me when you get old enough you are constantly learning new tricks. Course thats because you forgot them from yesterday........