Like so many other things in life it is what you make of it.

Are there things about that site that suck?

/cough

(In my best Moe voice which isn't very good)

Why certainly!

Bumps thread just cause

Sounds like 35TOO is going to be at Borders with bells on!

Have fun you folks...it's too far for me.

ahh Summer, there seems to be alot of things to do at this time of year.

I had a nice date last weekend. We went to the East Lansing Art Fair.

Not much of a country fan myself but I do like bluegrass on occasion. My musical tastes are pretty varied but I am a rock n' roll type I suppose. Think I will pass on the country fest.

More suggestions are always welcome by all I am sure as might be invitations should anyone care to post them here.

The Michigan thread is pretty dead. Let's change that hehe

Where are all the secessionist?

Maybe they are off working on the gov's mansion?

"So why aren't the captured prisoners from Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan aren't prosecuted wherever they are captured, instead of bringing them to Gitmo?"

I think that is a question for the Bush administration, the CIA, congress and the foreign governments who conceived of and implemented this program.

Another reason why a truth commission might be helpful right? Some of the answers might help us sort out what comes next and might also ensure this doesn't happen again.

WoW...a post by Nogames I for the most part agree with. Some check...has hell frozen over?

The "war on terror" is indefinite that much is clear no matter who is in the White House.

The legal gray area that exists for some of these detainees is a real problem that could potentially affect not just these "foreigners" (not all are) but all Americans.

It is also important to remember not all these people were arrested/detained on battle fields but some were kidnapped off the street like some of the Spanish citizens now at Gitmo.

There is no blanket solution to these cases. That is why sorting this out is so thorny.

Ignorance is unbecoming.

Don't like his politics and positions...that's dandy...object intelligently or failing that at least bring some factual basis for your ravings that the rest of us can argue about please instead of posting ignorant lies.

Okay...I have to agree with Sir on this "I get a kick out of someone who accesses the Constitution online, once, having the balls to tell someone that they need to read the Constitution"

Simple solutions for simple minds eh?

Only...life isn't so simple and neither are the legal issues before that are connected to the detainee's at Gitmo. No matter how we proceed there will be a lasting impact on our legal system.

Anyone who claims to have it all figured out must have not only a brilliant legal mind but a crystal ball as well.

I have in past popped into these arguments with little primers on issues like "how a bill becomes a law" but in this thread perhaps we should hear more from SirQuixote?

Said it before and I will say it again...

It's only pork when it's served at someone elses table.

Senators have made careers on bringing home the bacon to their districts. They are celebrated and elected again and again.

Let's quit pretending to be outraged by it with posts like these. The reality is people love it or those pork farmers wouldn't keep getting reelected.

HA HA HA

Well my little secessionist friends from Texas...what do you have to say about this?

Rick (I put a hook in your mouth) Perry talked in fiery terms about how Texas didn't need or want federal monies or influence in his state and engaged in secessionist talk (something I contended at the time was pure B.S. to appeal the the neocon right, racists and Glen Beck types)to make political hay in the face of the next state elections.

Perry has gone to Washington with his hand out much more quietly than he was a few months ago when he was rejecting Washington and the stimulus. Not only is accepting federal stimulus money Perry is spending $11mil....yes ladies and gentlemen...$11 to fix the Governor's mansion!!!

Now..umm please tell me all you folks from Texas who have criticized the stimulus package...beyond the short term jobs created to rehab the mansion how will this $11 mil result in long term jobs or economic development? I ask that question because I have heard so many who criticize the stimulus ask the same when pointing to other stimulus expenditures.

Texas...hahah please do us all a favor walk to talk or Sierra Tango Foxtrot Uniform.

http://fe14.story.media.ac4.yahoo.com/news/story/maple/us/ap/20090521/ap_on_re_us/us_governor_s_mansion_texas


AUSTIN, Texas – While Gov. Rick Perry is criticizing Washington bailouts, state lawmakers are planning to use $11 million in federal stimulus money to help rebuild the badly burned Texas Governor's Mansion.

Approximately $10 million in state tax money will also be spent on a renovation, which is expected to cost about $20 million, officials said Thursday. A House-Senate committee agreed on the expenditures late Wednesday night.

The mansion was burned in an arson fire last summer.

Perry has railed against federal bailouts and what he called the free-spending, power-hungry ways of Washington. In January, he said Texas was endangered by Uncle Sam's "audacity."

Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle released a short, written statement late Thursday when asked about using stimulus money to renovate the mansion.

"We are continuing to work with lawmakers on the budget," she said.

The $11 million for renovations would come out of the $700 million rescue package for Texas, lawmakers said.

"If we're going to fix it up we're going to have to use stimulus money," said state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan. "We've made a decision to use the stimulus money. This is a good use of it."

The governor has been living in a three-story, limestone home with a heated pool, an outdoor cabana and a guest house.

The state is paying some $9,900-a-month in rent while the Governor's Mansion undergoes renovations, records show.

Were I so inclined to waterboard I am sure I could start with some posters here on Mingle2

I am not posting this because I think India is doing everything right.

I am posting it because in a country where so many people have big mouths and lack the ambition to get out and vote these pictures are pretty inspiring.

Hat's off to democracy...or well...to the dream and hope of democracy.

These are great pics.

Enjoy.

India's massive general election
On May 16th, 2009, the Election Commission of India announced the results of its recent month-long India-wide election for their lower house of Parliament - the largest democratic election in the world. An estimated 714 million voters (from a population of 1.2 billion) were eligible to cast their vote in one of five separate phases at over 800,000 polling stations, starting on April 16th. Logistically difficult, massive in scale, and opposed by various rebel groups, separatists and protestors, the elections still managed to be held with minimal disruption, with an average voter turnout of greater than 56%. The big winner was the the Indian National Congress party, which will form the new government under the incumbent prime minister Manmohan Singh. As with any photo story from India, it is impossible to capture every aspect in just a handful of pictures - collected here are only some of the scenes that played out across the nation over the last month. (40 photos total)

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/05/indias_massive_general_electio.html

So, the kid had one chemo treatment. Treatments for this type of cancer cures it around 90% of the time...okay..

Wonder what the win percentage is for the alternate therapy they are using.

If the kid cannot read at his age (unless there is a learning difficulty* or some other issue) I would count that as abuse. But then, why bother learning to read when someone can tell you what to think?

I don't feel like reading through this thread again so I have to ask.

Have or do the parents now or in the past availed themselves of conventional medical treatment?

*a learning disability...the phrase and diagnosis is highly over used these days. Many times the disability is lazy a$$ parents, tv, crappy diets and overcrowded schools.

I never said they were created by religion...I said they were harbored by the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church chose at it's highest levels to cover up the crimes of pedophiles, to let known pedophiles continue to access children, to deny in courts of law that abuses were taking place even when they knew it had taken place, and to shelter priests who had abused children.

These rat bastards belong in prison. I mean good God??? Some of you people here defending the Catholic church are the same people who say pedophiles should be hung.

And the argument about the abusers being a small percentage of Catholics? Sorry but that's irrelevant.

A priest...but the very nature of his position has a heightened obligation to do right...he is after all..or is purported to be..a Man of God.

Stop for a minute and look at the monstrous nature of this crime.

The relationship that exists between priest and parishioner is considered so privileged and sacred that a priest cannot be forced to bear witness in a court of law. The priest ministers to his flock and is a position of divinely directed authority. Furthermore the Pope is the voice of God on earth. This is what Catholics believe.

I find it sicken to know that the Pope, who is again...for Catholics the voice of God on earth, can establish a policy to protect adult men who molest, rape and damage irrevocably children who are placed under their religious, moral and physical care in the name of God.

It's only slightly more sickening that anyone would argue it is okay in any way just for the sake of argument.

$crew your sacred cows...this is one more instance when I truly hope there is a judgement day that holds all men accountable for their actions.

Mancow Waterboarded, Admits It's Torture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoYxfmGA8Ak...
"It is way worse than I thought it would be"

By RYAN POLLYEA
Updated 12:11 PM CDT, Fri, May 22, 2009
And so it went Friday morning when WLS radio host Erich "Mancow" Muller decided to subject himself to the controversial practice of waterboarding live on his show.

Mancow decided to tackle the divisive issue head on -- actually it was head down, while restrained and reclining.

"I want to find out if it's torture," Mancow told his listeners Friday morning, adding that he hoped his on-air test would help prove that waterboarding did not, in fact, constitute torture.

The debate over whether waterboarding constitutes torture reached a fever pitch this week as re-ignited claims that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) knew as early as 2002 about waterboarding techniques being used, and former Vice President **** Cheney and President Barack Obama gave "dueling speeches" Thursday.

Listeners had the chance to decide whether Mancow himself or his co-host, Chicago radio personality Pat Cassidy, would undergo the interrogation method during the broadcast. The voters ultimately decided Mancow would be the one donning the soaked towel and shackles, and at about 8:40 a.m., he entered a small storage room next to his studio that was compared to a "dungeon" by Cassidy.
"The average person can take this for 14 seconds," Marine Sergeant Clay South answered, adding, "He's going to wiggle, he's going to scream, he's going to wish he never did this."

With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand, Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up.

Turns out the stunt wasn't so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.....

To read the entire story go here: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Mancow-Takes-on-Waterboarding-and-Loses.htm...

This just in..

In a desperate attempt to point fingers and vilify the Obama presidency desperate neo-conservative dopes make the leap from thinly constructed theories and predictions to making up news out of whole cloth.

Hilarity at 11.

The Vatican knowingly protected from prosecution and promoted pedophiles as well as allowing them to continue to work with children.

This is not a mere assertion but has been found to be fact in courts or law, judicial and even church inquiries.

Cop out?

Sorry but to deny it is the cop out.

The tithing of every catholic supports the efforts and actions of the church. Funny, Catholics object to their tax dollars support informing women that abortion is a legal option but don't mind their money supporting and promoting pedophiles?

Good faithful people in congregations all over the country are watching their churches close their doors in part because of the cost of financial settlements ordered to victims. Still...the church continues to shelter monsters.

Each person in every congregation that does not demand action and accountability for these monsters carries some degree of guilt but none more than the monsters themselves and the Pope who has chosen to protect them.

It is an institutional obscenity.

I say this as a former Catholic and as a person who's family is entirely Catholic. The Pope in allowing this is a monster...a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Funny too by the way that you would rather argue with me just because well...you have a burr in your saddle than admit what most of the world...including many members of the church itself readily admit.

I feel very sorry for you.

This just in...the OP is a lie.