blzrul

I see you've all been enjoying a fine little circle jerk here! If you'd have bothered clicking the link first to see the joke, you might have saved your fat little fingers some typing but think of the fun you'd have missed! However far be it from me to ruin your little pinhead party. Carry on.

Unbelievable. Shades of Ronald Raygun, who flatly stated that TREES give off more carbon monoxide than cars (was this the start of the GOP platform that "global warming does not exist, we are not dependent on foreign oil until it hits us upside the head")? So the question is do we really need a 72-year old white guy who's been in Washington for a zillion years and will probably also fall asleep in cabinet meetings and eventually forget what day it is and who we happen to be at war with for the moment?

By the way in the last four decades there have been 12 years of Democratic presidency and 28 years of Republicans. So when you complain about this country going to shirt and making rash statements about ideas proffered by the Democratic side of the aisle perhaps you ought to stop and wonder a bit.

I hate to break it to you but this country is socialist in a number of aspects since we all use a number of shared services and facilities provided by the government. Taking over an industry is not the sole bailiwick of socialism.

Simply calling out the irony of someone who was fat, dumb and happy, lost it all and still referred to "those people" as if they were somehow any less than him. Didn't say it was political - expect perhaps insofar as he liked to raise money for the party that cuts programs that might have helped him sooner. The onset of his mental problems came after he lost everything. For many street people the losses are the RESULT, not the CAUSE. Do not assume that only people with mental illness attempt or commit suicide. And lastly, I agree that the Salvation Army and other organizations do a great job for these sorts of people. If this case though this man was first saved by the very people he'd been content to label during his better days...what's more Christlike than people who have NOTHING still wanting to share it with others, particularly others who would be happy to be well-off enough to look down their nose at the giver.

I am so sorry for your loss. We lost our son at age 14 to Type I diabetes. It's devastating to lose a child. I would say that you shouldn't hesitate to approach the family and offer any help you can through the insights you gained. After my son died, I did some research and found that his death was probably caused by a very rare syndrome related to the diabetes. Research was underway ... yet our physician never mentioned it to us. I don't think he knew. Other physicians told me afterwards it was SO rare that mentioning it could panic parents. Yet, had I known about it, a simple baby monitor in his room might have allowed me to hear his distress in the middle of the night. I wouldn't have found him dead in bed the next morning. You can bet I told other parents about it - just in case. Lightening strikes. So don't hesitate - you are offering help. If they reject it, at least they tried.

Rick Steves lives in the Seattle area (Edmonds to be exact) and often gives seminars locally. While the travel thing is how he makes his living, his secondary purpose is to try to get folks to open up and understand each other's cultures. It's easy to hate people you know nothing about, and don't talk to....not so easy if you meet in the middle. You should also know that Steves is helping lead a movement to legalize pot.

While I would prefer that felony checks were run and brief (no more than 7-day) cooling-off periods were enforced, background checks aren't the only answer. Last week some guy with a clean record - except for his severe schizophrenia - opened up with his legally-carried pistol at a festival at Seattle Center. Fortunately no-one was seriously hurt.

Fortunately for him, they were more open-minded. He's hoping his book lands him on Oprah and he'll be a "success" once again. Should that happen it will be interesting to see what he does with it. Just one more sad story about how any of us is not that far away from living in a box. I don't see that this guy did anything wrong, just made some bad business decisions at bad times. It can really happen to anyone. How ironic is it that the very people he derided are credited by him with saving his life.

Exactly. My mother told me 20 years ago that by the mid 2000's Americans will be brown and she was right. So maybe people ought to give up on labels. I know it makes the pinheads uncomfortable but what the heck, walk on the wild side a bit people.

He's writing the Readers' Digest version. That's about all Americans can handle these days. If it's longer than My Pet Goat, it's just got too many words....

You'd like to think so but if you read history you'll find out it's much more than that. Once again I ask how many people here have read Sinclair Lewis' "Kingsblood Royal"....

I was talking about MY grandfather not Obama's.

But if I trot out my black grandfather, I'm allowed to check "African-American" on all of life's little checkboxes, although I am lily-white. Why is that?

Why are all you bigots calling Obama "black"? His mom was white. For some reason all y'all STILL insist that one drop of "black" blood makes someone "black"? Why doesn't it work the other way? If the racists can't vote for a "black" man then perhaps they should vote for the "white" half. Duh.

Sheesh. Where did all the money go? Mine's sure vanished in the market the last few days. Forget early retirement, I'm gonna stock up on dog food. Yawn. Another Bush, another recession.

My dilemma is Mandarin? Or Cantonese?

So tell me Mr. Perfection, what have YOU done to alleviate all this? It clearly is eating your gut out, given the vitriol you are dispensing. So I expect your frustration comes from trying, and failing, to change the system. Right? Oh yeah, you're going to tell the world in three pages how to fix the healthcare crises. That's great. Maybe it will be a breakthrough. But if no-one executes it you might as well turn in slighty-used, or even well-soiled, toilet paper. And like it or not, our elected officials will play a role in the change. I was prepared and looking forward to reading your paper. I am even more so now, and will give your thoughts the same kind of open-minded consideration as you give to others. I will also be as gracious as you in expressing my disagreement. By the way, Obama was probably doomed to lose W. VA anyway. So he lost by 5% more than he would have. Big freaking deal. I think that has more to do with the color of his skin than it does with Reverend Nutjob. They're used to wacky ministers in that part of the country. I was actually making the point that most American's AREN'T that shallow and stupid. You apparently disagree heartily and I am sure you are QUITE the authority....when it comes to those qualities anyway.

228 more days of Bush's bull sh--. By then, oil will hit $300 a barrel, unemployment will be at 14% and we'll be scrambling to learn Chinese.

Oh shoot. Might as well throw in the towel then. Yup, the cause is lost. Annoint McCain our new Bush III and get set for more war, recession, gloom and doom. Nice avatar.

One of Obama's first acts as the defacto head of his party is to influence a change in the donation policy. Howard Dean just announced: "As we move toward the general election, the Democratic Party has to be the Party of ordinary Americans, not Washington lobbyists and special interests. So, as of this morning, if you're a federal lobbyist, or if you control political action committee donations, we won't be accepting your contribution." Obama's campaign donation strategy to date has adhered to this principle to the point where they warn you if you buy a shirt and round up the payment as a donation, it counts against your limit. One would wonder how they'd keep lobbyists out except I believe they have to register so it's simple enough to weed them out or, if they slip through, they'll get their money returned to them. Of course this would be something the press and opponent would have a field day with (although the opposition's campaign is run and staffed by lobbyists) but I guess that's a chance one takes. It IS interesting that Obama seems to bet that Americans aren't as gullible or ill-informed as most politicians seem to think - and he's won that bet so far as people aren't peeved over flag pins, nutjob reverends, or ill-advised middle names (I said people, not wingnuts. Wingnuts are hopeless cases who can be called people only in the biological sense.) When you think of the unprecedented amounts of money he raised during the primaries, mostly from individuals, it really makes you think it IS possible to shut out the bloodsuckers. It's a start at least. You have to start somewhere.

I was on the phone and online yesterday at 6 am PST / 9 EST. I got right through Account Manager (while I was holding for the ticket office) and by the time I was starting to search for seats, my call was answered. I got 14 tickets for 2 games without a problem.

I thought that considering with all the practice at Clinton-bashing that the media has had for over a decade, she was treated pretty darned fairly. We watch a number of outlets here and from what I saw she was judged on her own merits, not on her husband. Hillary needs to realize that people want a change and while the general population may not be a pack of geniuses they know that the Clintons are the 1990's. Their time has come and gone. For all McCain has been around since the dinosauers, up until he buckled under to Bush's attacks in 2000 he was known as a maverick and agent of change. If he gets that back we'll have us a real horse race. The problem is that after Bush treated McCain like crap, he sucked it up and acted the party hack for 8 years. Now he's got to overcome that. It is pretty funny to hear McCain say "Obama voted for something Bush favored" (as a negative) whilst campaigning with Bush just a week ago...

They're sick of all pin-headed, moronic penny-ante crap. Like "where's your flag pin?". That kind of bull sh-- is the sole property of the wingnuts who cover under their beds, jumping at every sudden noise and scurrying from place to place with their heads down because they think there is a terrorist under every rock.

Oh who knows. People are sick of this crap. The only people it will inflame are the Clinton people.