blzrul

Gee you're right. It might be really really fun to have a Republican gay president to throw in their faces.

Well according to the cons I heard interviewed this morning the issue is not merely Rummy's incompetence but arrogance. That from the right. No new revelations to the left however. He won't go before the "elections" 1/30.

Good Lord, who cares? I'm waiting for the book about Jesus being gay. After all he was 33 and unmarried, living with his mom when he could. What more proof does one need? Oooooo now THAT would be fun to watch and see how fast the neocon wingnuts banned it, burned it, whatever.

"Of, relating to, or being a group of civilians organized in a military fashion" - you figure it out.

I know more about it than you think I do. And, I'm not trying to convince anyone. That is the problem with you guys, you want to drown out all points of view that conflict with your own. I stand by my comment within the context it was meant. If you disagree, that's fine. But I spent enough years in a paramilitary organization and came across enough mavericks to understand how dangerous they can be and therefore why they are discouraged. Don't be so quick to assume I'm trying to be insulting. When I mean to insult, you'll know it.

I didn't say it was bad. As a first responder for 8 years we functioned much like a military. We drilled constantly both physically and in a classroom environment, because in emergency situations we needed to be able to respond immediately and dispassionately with as little conscious thought processing as possible - as much as we could we needed to act by reflex. We had roles, responsibilities, processes and a chain of command. If one link was weak or broken, the whole chain collapsed. So for example when a driver or pump operator decided to "innovate", or do something he thought was best but outside of his role as driver or pump operator, he let the team down. His action may have had good consequences but that didn't matter. He was disciplined. His creativity and innovation was NOT encouraged and NOT rewarded. We saved our innovation and creation for a couple of situations: pre-planning and training (for disasters etc) and for the line officers who supplied the incident direction and strategy on the scene. Again it was all done within certain guidelines and processes. As an officer I had a specfic function and control, and chain of command. If my team was taking search and rescue, that's what we did. We didn't stop to ventilate even if we saw a good opportunity or need because that was assigned to another team. So - I wasn't slamming any military institute in my comment about creativity and innovation. We didn't blanket encourage it, and they don't either. There's a time, and a place, and the field is NOT generally the place for it unless the situation is a "situation".

and neither do you,

Damn, I missed that in her post. Debbie, my wife's best friend's son is an E-4 in the Air Force. He used to be an E-3 (obviously)...but was bumped a rank (in addition to lots of other praise) when he, on his own initiative, identified and fixed a potentially fatal flaw in the ejector seat on the F-15. And that's just one example. Overall...the US military is quite possibly the best trained and most effective man-for-man the world's ever seen. A quality of every effective and well-trained army in history is the encouragement of creativity and initiative in junior officers and NCOs. Ergo...the US military strongly encourages creativity and initiative. As I recall from performance reviews Ive seen, it's a very big part of the review. And if you're still not convinced...soldiers are scrounging for armor in Iraq. If that doesn't show creativity and initiative, I don't know what does. 161706[/snapback] I'm not talking about THAT. My cousin, a career Marine, was very creative and invented some tools needed to do a better job repairing aviation equipment (which the Marines promptly tried to take away and productize). I'm talking about this situation specifically where people apparently saw a need, saw a solution, used it and are paying the price - pragmatically knowing that they probably weren't supposed to but doing it anyway TO HELP THEIR COMRADES. They exercised their judgement and are paying the price. And so it goes, that if you're sitting around and you think of a better way to kill more people with fewer casualties to your team, or you invent a tool, or whatever - that creativity that's ok, but in the field you tow the line or else. By the book. The situations are a little different.

Then all that stuff during boot camp to condition people to follow orders unconditionally and without question encourages creativity and initiative? Please. You can't be a team player if you're questioning the status quo and looking for better ways to do things.

Is there more to this story than meets the eye? Equipment was abandoned by the Army, a group of reservists took it in order to make deliveries of fuel to their compatriots, and they're in jail? There's got to be more to it than the story - I wonder about the coverup etc. I should say I HOPE there's more to it, because on the surface it appears that these folks worked to find a way to complete their mission despite lacking the tools (transportation) they needed. Of course the armed services don't exactly encourage creativity and initiative, but still.....

Don't tell me you don't recognize trolls when you see them? They contribute nothing to the discussion and are just trying to stir up trouble and piss you off. Typically it kicks in when they perceive a potential attack on their side. They'll tell you they're joking around, but they're not. Maybe Santa Claus will bring them lives for the holidays. Notice I didn't mention Christmas either.

I agree, oddly enough I would have voted for either one although their politics in some areas are at different poles. That's why I say we get what we deserve. If this is indeed a nation of idiots, as it seems, then it's only right that our representatives be idiots.

....and I'm still not saying that but reports have surfaced that this guy was having TWO extramarital affairs simultaneously. Of course around here that will be the subject for much chest-thumping, however in our new Values-Based Society that's certainly a no-no. We impeach guys over sex. On the other hand, if that's the real reason why he withdrew, I may actually have cause to respect him, because a REAL Republican would have looked down his nose when the question came up and either refused to answer it or say "it's different in my case".

I'm not quite there yet - I keep thinking that a great leader will arise that we can all rally 'round as a nation but so far it hasn't happened. I guess we get the leadership we deserve. However that isn't to say that every individual can't do their part to make their little part of the world a little better. In fact that's all one can do. But if everyone did it, collectively things would improve some.

Read my post. I didn't say I thought it was anything but what it was. Period.

Umm well I THINK it just might be AGAINST THE LAW. I know that the GOP likes to hold others to higher standards than themselves, and have so far successfully brazened out a number of situations, but maybe this guy has some integrity. On the other hand this might just be the tip of the iceberg. Who knows.

Or a flat-out !@#$ like you. I have looked but come up empty in your case.

Link He can't be much of a Republican if he actually backs down at the hint of something unsavory. Most of them just look down their noses and say "that's different". I wonder what the REAL story may be....

What have we become? A nation of cupcakes if you ask me. The excesses in this country are obscene. We spend bazillions on stuff like Viagra, Cialis etc. while children around the world die for lack of basic inoculations. Shoot, children in our own country lack basic food, housing, clothing and education. And we sniff "hey, we can't take care of the world" and then viciously lash out at each other for not being Christian enough. Frankly I always like to look for the good in people and do believe that in the end "good" triumphs. But I am not smug or stupid enough to believe that because this is America, we are "good". I don't think that's for any earthy being to say.

The lawsuits in Washington state are not around HAVING a recount. That's provided for by state law. Under 2000, an automatic machine recount. After that a candidate can request a hand recount, but that candidate must pay for it. If it turns out that the candidate who requested the hand count (which would of course be the person with fewer votes) actually wins the hand recount then the state must reimburse the candidate for the cost of the recount. The lawsuits filed in Washington revolve around those pesky provisional and absentee ballots. Some want to discard them, some want to count them. So far those have not been all heard - yesterday was supposed to be the first hearing, but the hand recount is already underway. Dino Rossi had gained a net of 11 votes by the end of the day, bringing his mandate so far to 53 votes.

If it needs to be liquid, open a money market. You'll get a better return than you are now. If not, I concur with DCT. Invest it in the market, be patient, and be prepared to ride out the hights and lows. I have two money market accounts among my investments; I like to keep a certain amount liquid in case there's another layoff in the house.

Well that's just on PPP. Every so often I go over to the Wall and find that the wingnuts are FAR outnumbered over there. That's why they seem to congregate here and why it often feels like a wingnut cesspool. If you take a minute and count there aren't that many of them. They're just vocal and persistent is all.

"Facts"? In my line of work I am wise enough to distinguish facts from fiction.

Man you need to get a life. If the first lady was such a big factor Clinton never would have been re-elected would he, because Liddy Dole is arguably "more likeable" than Hillary. Laura Bush is a good wife to George and that's the way it should be.

And let's not forget Black Sunday waaaayyyyy back when. It was even a movie too. Imagine, someone from the Middle East highjacking an aircraft with the aim of attacking and killing 70,000 innocent people people! Wow.