winsor

How do you justify all the deaths in Libya? I don't - why would you think that I would ... BTW that was America lead too I didn't say you did. I asked how you justified it. So you think leaving Ghaddafi in power would have been in the best interests for the Libyans? That when a repressed people seek to overthrow a brutal dictator the rest of the world should stand by and simply say "good luck with that"? Pretty much. It never ceases to amaze me that people seem to think we are some kind of American Superman, bringing Truth, Justice and the American Way to the oppressed peoples of the world. Okay, so Despots A, B, C and so forth are very, very bad people. Countries Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc. are woefully corrupt. What should we do about this terrible state of affairs? Beyond sending them sympathy cards, not much. People were bitching about one despot's search for WMDs, his flaunting international law, and his lousy human rights record. How did we react? By invading without a valid Casus Belli, using forces in possession of the largest stocks of WMDs in existence, and enacting such enlightened legislation as the "Patriot Act" , which puts "security" head and shoulders above such minor concerns as human rights. Boy, are we on the moral high ground. The numerically challenged among us are wondering why giving a blank check to the military to engage in an endless series of quixotic adventures seems to cost so much, and further wonder why we are in such deep kimchee economically. The bottom line is that in any of these endeavors we A) can't afford it, and B) virtually never achieve our intended goals when all is said and done. Any student of History (who passed by means other than cheating) can list the empires that have fallen because of the expenses incurred by military adventures whereby "victory" turned out to be unaffordable. We are hell-bent on adding the US of A to that list of unfortunates. We would have been better served to have maintained our allegiance to Ho Chi Minh in 1945, rather than stabbing the Viet Minh in the back after they had fought honorably alongside us against the Empire of Japan. The lessons of that series of blunders have been obscured by decades of misinformation and disinformation, and we would have been in much better shape had we learned them in the first place. Now, our ignorance is continuing to bite us in the ass. Everybody dies. It is not our obligation to bankrupt ourselves in the attempt to forestall the inevitable. BSBD, Winsor

Their undying gratitude is payment enough.

If we are paid an awful lot to be there, fine. If it costs us a nickel to do so, no. Ah ha! A Donald Trump supporter. I do not think I have paid any attention to Trump for decades. I am simply sick to death of incurring staggering amounts of debt in the process of waging war against an endless series of entities. Any victory we may achieve thereby is sure to be Pyrrhic - our defeat will be economic, not military, and we are its authors. Any student of History will tell you that, if you have to wager on the cause of collapse of an empire, selecting financial ruin is very nearly a sure bet. It would be nice if Accounting 101 - or at least Elementary School Arithmetic - was a qualification for elective office where management of public funds is involved. Unfortunately, the innumeracy of elected officials is near total, as demonstrated routinely. BSBD, Winsor

First off....if anyone here is supporting White power tags, it'd be you... Given the garbled grammar here, it is hard to tell quite what you are saying. Note that I said that I do not approve of either, and simply don't see an awful lot of difference between the two when all is said and done. Christians have clung desperately to Jewish tradition and family lore, and I am unaware that this was done with anything approaching Jewish approval. It is Christians who have associated themselves with Judaism, not the other way around. The Levitical priesthood (Kohainim) is doing quite nicely, thank you very much. Whatever may or may not have been in original accounts of events upon which the Christian Scriptures are supposedly based is hard to say, since the edited and redacted versions available today were prepared by sources with clearly defined agenda. The claim to authenticity of Roman priesthood by Levitical legacy is hollow, indeed. BSBD, Winsor

If we are paid an awful lot to be there, fine. If it costs us a nickel to do so, no.

It was pointed out that tying a noose at my workplace was grounds for immediate dismissal, since it is considered by racially biased special interests as promoting the lynching of negroes. OTOH, a cross, the means of execution of Jews by Romans which was adopted by the Church in Rome, is considered a good thing. The abolution of Pilate and villification of Jews - a key part of the sales pitch to Rome of transitional early Christianity - was clearly fabrication, but is now so entrenched that it is taken to be the unassailable truth. In any event, I figure there should either be no vanity license plates at all or anything you please. Going Godwin here, the difference between a Kreuz and a Hakenkreuz from a Jewish perspective is more a matter of the German efficiency associated with the latter than one of intent. I am not supporting "White Power!" license plates per se, but do not see a great deal of difference between them and Christian themed tags - neither group has a stellar track record. BSBD, Winsor

Though I strongly disagreed with a number of his positions, I found his presentation of them to be infinitely preferable to the witless espousal of positions with which I did agree. He was an intellectual gadfly, the likes of which are, and have always been, a rarity. He will be missed. BSBD, Winsor

The studies that formed the basis of the CRA would suggest otherwise. They showed pretty systematic behaviour. White couples got better terms than non-white couples. I am reminded of a book from the '60s along the lines of "How to Lie with Statistics." I have more than a sneaking suspicion that, if you did not identify who was of European, Eskimo, sub-Saharan African or Asian extraction, any anomalies in the loan process would likely be the opposite of those you might expect. Terms are generally based on an individual's track record, and I know few bankers who would say "Well, it does not look like you qualify, given the number of creditors chasing you and liens you have outstanding. However, you have the kind of ethnicity that convinces me that we should give you money, so I am going to approve the loan at the best rate we can manage." It's okay to say that one ethnic group or another is filling up the ranks of engineering grad schools without being charged with racism, but to say another ethnic/socioeconomic group tends to do very badly in the same curriculum, regardless of the advantage you might build into the system, the charge flies immediately "You be racist!" I like the audition process at Juliard, where the committee is on the other side of the screen from the performer being evaluated. There is no way to tell if the person looks like Scarlett Johansson or Whoopie Goldberg, Magic Johnson or Danny DeVito. All population groups are not equal. White folk from Westchester, NY are not interchangeable with white folk from Throgs Neck, the Bronx, and black folk from Manhassett, NY are not interchangeable with black folk from Harlem, NY. Quite why there exist these differences would fuel rather a number of PhD dissertations, but there is no particular value judgment in noting that such differences exist. Anyone who makes a living in Marketing and is not aware of these differences is likely to go broke. There are places where you could not give anchovies away, and others where they would not feed chitterlings to their dogs. Much of the perceived "racism" in lending was Government-enforced, and of the "reverse" variety. I knew people whose job it was to arrange loans (with the best of intentions) to people of fashionable ethnicities who would not otherwise qualify. The terms reflected the level of qualification, and typically turned out to be a losing deal anyway. So the claim that, statistically speaking, one group got a worse deal than another may be quite accurate. On a case by case basis, however, it will likely turn out that the apparently oppressed group got a better deal than would have been the case had they been of the seemingly dominant ethnicity. It would be nice if things were ever as simple as they were made to appear by people with agenda, if not conflict of interest. BSBD, Winsor

Made possible by the SOFA agreement signed by Bush. So, you admit it is all Bush's fault!

Feel free to move to one of those straight democracies (assuming you can find one) so you can see what the difference ACTUALLY is instead of what you THINK it is. Try Switzerland (I think Iceland qualifies, as well).

LDS - Little Dick Syndrome. Goes over well in SLC - Salt Lake City.

yes Uh, believe it or not, everyone is not Christian. There is, of course, the Yule Festival, Kwanzaa , Hanukah (a minor holiday on a par with Purim - whose familiarity is due to its proximity to the Yule), and whatever Scientologists, Mohammadeans and what have you do when the days get shortest. Jesus was actually born in the Spring, according to Christian Scriptures and Roman records. Moving the "birthday" to the Winter Solstice was done for purely political reasons. Easter had the Spring covered, and the event was closely tied to Pesach (Passover), so moving it to September would have been a tougher sell. Expensive gifts tend to be out of the blue and when appropriate; holidays and birthdays can be handled with nice chachkas. If the ad agencies are to be believed, the Holidays are a perfect reason to give each other new Mercedes (right). BSBD, Winsor

Nah, more like the anthropological version of kudzu.

Really? When? I thought the posts were from a bot, with the intent of generating a groundswell clamoring for killfile capability. I make a point of skipping over them, and only pick up the odd quote in a reply.

I view Iran in a manner akin to Cuba. I get along just fine with Persian or Cuban colleagues and associates, but I do not have much use for either the Cuban or Iranian government. BSBD, Winsor

If this is a competition to see who can say the most blindingly stupid thing, you win hands down - again and again. What's the point?

Let me know when you start Economics 101 (and whether you pass...).

Go in your own plane (if you still have it). Strangely enough, I do commute to the tune of 20 hours a month in the Cherokee. I make the 1,300 mile round trip by POV when the weather is too ghastly to fly even for me, and fly commercially only as a last resort. I am under no obligation to humor officious morons. BSBD, Winsor

Hey! Just because that's the way it has worked every time it has been tried doesn't mean that, uh, ... Yeah, I guess it does.

I can get you a good deal on a Ferrari or Lamborghini. A little Bondo and some touch up paint and it's good as new.

Attached is the form I carry in case they want to send me through the machine or touch me thereafter. I have not said word the first to a screener for 7 some-odd years, and will not accompany them out of public scrutiny. They don't like it, but fuck them.

So the "South" (I'm Virginian, by birth and choice, BTW) can't get over the fact that their great-great grandmother was forced to marry her rapist? Negro, please. In the Balkans and Eastern Europe, the 19th Century is like yesterday. Russia absorbed the Ukraine and China absorbed Tibet, and in each case carpetbagged the subordinate society such that the demographics were swayed in their favor. Nevertheless, you can be born in Kiev and be Russian, or born in Lhasa and be Chinese. The relationship between North and South is similar. If the decendants of Africans who were enslaved by other tribes and sold to Europeans can bitch about how tough they have it here (I see precious few coughing up airfare to Mombasa or Lagos to rectify the issue), I do not see why people whose families were slaughtered should not look askance at the orginization responsible, regardless of the passage of time. My family reserves the right to observe traditions stemming from a period of slavery (by Africans, no less) that ended some 3,500 years ago. Our concept of history goes back a little more than the most recent 90 days - which seems to be the American cutoff. BSBD, Winsor

You took him to task for his "misdirection," which appears to be from critiquing what you hold dear. You were not clear on that point so you are right - the claims were implicit, not explicit. BTW, though Jillette is an illusionist, his standard approach is to reveal the basis of the illusion once it is performed. His presentation is a far cry from those who pretend that their stock in trade is magical.

That would be "Regimental."

Hardly an achievement. Okay, so you are wise to that statistic. "Haig was the greatest Scotsman who ever lived! He killed more Englishmen than anybody, ever!" A cynical Scot, who shall remain nameless...