***PetrinoInAlbany***

Indeed.

Mean-spirited, and without substance. That all you got? Jeesh...

I agree! Start with Cheney ... then Rumsfeld ... then Bush ...

War WASN'T the first choice?!?!? I can only assume you've been locked in an isolation tank or travelling in Eastern Tibet without a radio since 2003...

I had to laugh ... I was driving into work and heard (on ESPN Radio) the familiar strains of "Kobe Bryant scores 41 in a Lakers loss..."

Shaq dropped well over 150 pounds of useless weight when he shed Kobe.

We park in DRIVEways, and we drive on PARKways... Why is that?

If it's OK with you, I prefer to remember it as it was when I roamed the grounds ... many, MANY years ago.

No, in this case it's about choosing what you stand for. Torturing & abusing civilians in the name of "liberating" them ... in the name of anything, really ... is wrong. Killing and war as the "first choice" is wrong. If that belief constitutes me wearing "blinders", then so be it. At least when God asks me on my day of judgement exactly where I stood, I will be able to say - as you have graciously pointed out - that I was consistent and unwavering. But thanks again for pointing it out ...

Consistency helps, indeed. But consistent or not, perhaps the greatest strength lies in the fact that I'm right. Case in point: I've read the responses, but narry one saying that these acts we are committing over there are just & moral. Maybe it's just a question of relevance.

It's the State University of New York AT Buffalo... but also acceptable (familiar) is "University of Buffalo", which it was once properly called. My old man graduated from the smallest class that U.B. Law ever graduated, twelve guys in 1943. It was actually a private school back then. And when I got there in '77, we were still using the same damn gymn, over on Winspear. (*sigh*) The memories...

1) Lowell George (deceased, but still making people happy...) 2) Hunter S. Thompson (deceased, but he may not realize it yet...) 3) Lance Armstrong ----(Aside from the obvious reasons to admire him, he's dating Cheryl Crow and I'm not.)

University of Buffalo, in 1983. "We Bulls wobble, but we don't fall down."

Exactly my thoughts on the entire Bush presidency. (*wink*)

At least we "libs" (Democrats) embarrass ourselves. If you're a Republican right now, you've got a whole administration embarrassing you constantly.

From the reports obtailed by the ACLU using FOIL ... "The documents also include statements from six witnesses who said three interrogators and a civilian interpreter at Abu Ghraib got drunk one night and took a 17-year-old female prisoner from her cell. The four men forced the girl to expose her breasts and kissed her, the reports said. The witnesses -- whose names were blacked out of the documents given to the ACLU -- said those responsible were not punished. Another soldier said in January 2004, troops poured water and smeared mud on the detained 17-year-old son of an Iraqi general and "broke" the general by forcing him to watch his son shiver in the cold." When I read this, there was a haunting familiarity to some of it. Then I remembered where I had heard it before. My aunts, uncles and my own mother telling me stories of the Nazis running roughshod over Italian civilians during WWII. At that time, we (Americans) considered this type of thing evil ... morally reprehensible ... and wrong. Guess times have changed. Now the Attorney General of the United Stated of America openly condones torture. As someone who apprciates irony, it is not lost on me that we are doing this inside a prison that Saddam built. I don't really get the "liberation" part. But then, this war is being brought to you by the same morons who are calling winning a Presidential election by few votes a "mandate." Stay tuned. I'm sure the best is yet to come ...

I don't recall saying that I would not be part of the solution. Dialogue and discourse are always part of the solution. Why don't you run for office and stop trying to trash everything I say?

I suppose you do have a point. But as a man once said in a great movie, "If I die, it ain't gonna' be from a lack of shootin' back!"

I submitted my design ideas for the Reagan stamp(s) to the USPS, but they haven't gotten back to me yet... - -I was thinking a four-stamp commemorative issue would be cool, each one showing a key aspect of his presidency... - - The first could be a tableau showing a homeless mother with small kids begging on the sidewalk... Hell, we could even time the release with National Camping Week! - - The second could be the actual cover of the torture manual we wrote for the Nicaraguans... - - The third could be a shot of Reagan, Ollie North, and Noriega toasting each other in the back of a limosine. On the back of the limo would be a "JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS" bumper sticker... - - The fourth could be a shot of two 747's over Kennedy missing each other by fifteen feet. - --- Like I said, they haven't gotten back to me yet. Oops... check that. There's two guys from Homeland Security at my door right now. I'll be back later. Maybe.

Sorry, but I went back and looked for the "generalities' that I allegedly sprinkled throughout my post. Couldn't find them. Could you be a tad more specific?

Thieves, child-molesters, and rapists know what they want too. It doesn't validate their positions...

For the record, SpongeBob is NOT gay. OK, he had a little heroin problem back in the 70's ... but who didn't?

Conservatives ... and their bastard children, the Republicans ... love generalizations. Let one PROUD liberal Democrat get a little more specific ... - - ANTI-WAR AT ANY COST -- More a reaction than a "platform." Our way of countering the "ALL WAR, ALL THE TIME" mentality. War and killing are always meant to be a LAST resort. Take a quick walk down recent-memory lane and look at Bush's first six or seven "main" justifications for the war in Iraq. Lie after lie, and in the end, he got his war. Forgive us for thinking peace is a good thing. - - ANTI-BUSINESS, RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS -- Wanting business to play by the rules does not constitute "anti" anything. As for that little fixation with drinkable water and breathable air, well ... air and water are neccessary to sustain human life. (Despite what the White House may say...) - - TAX INCREASES -- Are you paying attention? Clinton left a SURPLUS. Bush already has run up the largest deficit in US history, and he's not done. Enjoy the war and the "rebuilding", but someone's going to have to PAY for it. My guess is it won't be Halliburton. - - GAY MARRIAGES -- Another gross over-generalization. I am dead against compromising the sanctity of marriage. I know - I don't fit the model. Maybe the truth is that the whole gay marriage "issue" was a tool to get "conservative" voters out in 2004. - - ANTI-SMOKING IN BARS -- Again, I am a LIBERAL DEMOCRAT, and I HATE the new laws. Watch those generalizations... - - LEGALIZE MARIJUANA -- The alternative? How about the status-quo? Spend hundreds of millions of dollars and endless law enforcement man-hours to interdict less than 1% of the incoming pot. Yeah, seems to be working. Seriously, how about regulating and taxing pot? We do it with alcohol and tobacco. - - ANTI-LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR THE MOST PART -- Not at all. We're more concerned with the selective, arbitrary nature of what the Republicans call "law enforcement." Rob a gas station with a .22 and face ten to fifteen in a state prison. Break every business law in the book and steal two or three hundred million as a corporate CEO or CFO, and you're going duck hunting with Vice President Cheney. Seems a little tilted, doesn't it? - - MILITANT VEGETARIANS -- I'll keep that in mind later as I'm enjoying the 24 ounce steak at Delmonico's... - - LAST SECOND ABORTIONS -- Didn't Ronald Reagan all but force a woman out in California to have an abortion years ago when it threatened his blooming acting career? Do as we SAY, not as we DO, I guess. Abortion isn't a political issue rightly. It's a moral issue. I apologize for destroying yet another broad characterization, but as a Christian, I am very anti-abortion. - -LET'S PRETEND THAT WE ARE CONSERVATIVES -- Many Democrats ARE conservatives. Some are fiscal conservatives. Some are social conservatives. Case in point: Clinton's SURPLUS versus Bush's drunken sailor fiscal policy. - --- I just think that the whole "Democrats all think this" and "Democrats all want that" nonsense is a matter of painting a picture using too-wide brush strokes.

Well, then, why aren't you at an enlistment center?

I didn't ask if he was back on the ground. They're desperately short on personnel and would take YOU in a minute. I asked if he got his medal yet. I refuse to watch FOX, so I may have merely missed it if he did ...