Going off my rocker on newsvine

I’m generally more of a reader than a participant when it comes to online discussions, so my activities last night come as something of a surprise. I went off on a comment made to an article posted on newsvine (link The article discussed is no longer posted online… author inexplicably deleted it earlier today – [...]

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I wanted to like Rudy

Believe it or not, there was a time when I wanted to like Rudy Giuliani. There was even a time, seemingly ages ago, when I thought he might make a good candidate for President. I knew about some of his negatives… the scandals in New York surrounding his messy divorce and the disaster he made [...]

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With apologies to my wife…

I simply couldn’t resist…
If you think they hate us now | Salon.com Excerpts:
Even if George W. Bush is the most awful American president in modern times, as many historians believe, and even though he has brought the United States into unprecedented disrepute around the world, as opinion polls indicate, the bombastic tone of the candidates [...]

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Who are you calling a socialist?

It occurs to me that even private health insurance represents a kind of “socialized” medicine. If I may be so bold, I’d like to tell you what I think of private insurance: the bastard child of socialism and capitalism. The idea behind insurance is to pool resources with a larger group, so that individual members [...]

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Intellectual consistency

Who am I to call for consistency of thought? I can’t keep my mind on the straight and arrow for a day, let alone a lifetime of policy decisions. Still, I got a kick out of a line I read in an article this weekend (I can’t for the life of me remember which one). [...]

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What a Giulliani/Clinton election wouldn’t be…

… a referendum on “family values.” Rudy is the one guy running with a worse marital record than ‘ole Bill.
At least Chelsea would still vote for her parents.
Rudy Giuliani’s daughter is supporting Barack Obama. – By Lucy Morrow Caldwell – Slate Magazine

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We’ll see you in September Iraqi leader tells Bush: Get Gen Petraeus out – Telegraph

Iraqi leader tells Bush: Get Gen Petraeus out – Telegraph:
“Relations between the top United States general in Iraq and Nouri al-Maliki, the country’s prime minister, are so bad that the Iraqi leader made a direct appeal for his removal to President George W Bush.Although the call was rejected, aides to both men admit that [...]

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Rebranding liberalism

Talking Points Memo | A ‘progressive’ resurgence?:
“… Rasmussen Reports had an interesting survey this week, which showed that when ‘liberal’ is replaced with ‘progressive,’ the broader dynamic changes significantly. According to the poll, 35% consider ‘progressive’ a positive description of a candidate, whereas 32% consider ‘conservative’ a positive label…. It stands to reason, then, [...]

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Broken

Earlier this week my mother was hospitalized involuntarily under the provisions of a Florida Law known as the “Baker Act.” When the legal requirement for the hospital to hold her expired, and they determined that her benefits (through her health insurance) had been used up, she was shipped out to the first facility that would [...]

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McCain v. Reid – TIME

McCain v. Reid – TIME
In this piece, John McCain (and the author) engages the enemy at home… the 70% of American citizens also known as “defeatists.”
“He derided ‘the fanciful and self-interested debates about Iraq that substitute for statesmanship in Washington.’ And he suggested that the Democrats had decided ‘to take advantage of the public’s [...]

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